Sebastian Vettel admits securing victory at the British Grand Prix, a race dominated by local favourite Lewis Hamilton in recent years, was a welcome boost to the Ferrari team.
The German took advantage of a poor start by the Mercedes driver to take the lead into Turn 1 before using his fresh Soft tyres to overhaul Valtteri Bottas at Brooklands in the closing laps to claim his third Silverstone win and the Scuderia’s first since 2011.
For Ferrari, it was their engine advantage which proved decisive as they dominated the speed traps down the straights, with the German manufacturer only have the edge in the high-speed turns which were not flat-out.
“We’ve won on their home ground!” Vettel declared in Italian on the radio after crossing the finish line.
“For us it was important,” he told Sky Sports later. “This is a track we’ve struggled a lot in the past so to come here with something to fight with made a difference. To come out on top is great.”
Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene also acknowledged the significance of Ferrari’s achievement but claimed Vettel had been the difference maker.
“Today he fought like a lion,” he said. “Especially here, because it’s not easy. It’s the home base of Mercedes, the home base of Red Bull, home base of Williams, so you have to be quite strong at Silverstone.
“Also because the public, and it’s absolutely right, they push for Hamilton like in Monza they push for us,” he said. “[But] I’m always careful of this sort of thing because maybe in Monza they give us a lesson back!”
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Though it did see Bottas move back ahead at the time, the 31-year-old does think that Mercedes potentially made a second big strategy error in two weekends by not pitting for a second time behind the Safety Car.
“He had a free pit stop and I think I saw the Mercedes crew were ready when I came in, and I was pretty sure then that if we didn’t pit they would,” he said.
“Ultimately we did the right thing, we had a fresh set of Soft [tyres]. That required me to pass him, but it was fine on track.
“It was a nice battle with Valtteri. I was pushing like crazy. Obviously, I had the advantage on the tyres but it wasn’t so easy to find a way through. Then I think I surprised him.
“Wasn’t sure I was going to make the corner but I did, so it worked really well, so very very happy.”