Vettel happy to ride Ferrari’s luck in ‘motivating’ win

Sebastian Vettel says his victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix can provide Ferrari with “fresh motivation” heading into the rest of 2018.

Vettel ran third during the opening stint but was handed the chance to vault race-leader Lewis Hamilton when a mid-race Virtual Safety Car was deployed after both Haas drivers stopped on track within minutes of one another. 

Having run longer than both Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen in his stint, the German dived into the pitlane and was able to retain his lead as he returned to the track. The incident caused confusion and handed Ferrari a slice of fortune, but Vettel controlled proceedings thereafter to fend off Hamilton and seal his ninth win for the Scuderia.

“We were a little bit lucky today,” Vettel said. “Lewis had a great lap yesterday, and he deserved pole position and had a very good race by controlling it at the beginning. Then we got a bit lucky but we will take it. 

“We put a flag up for every win at Maranello so I asked them to do it this morning. We are not there yet where we want to be exactly with the car and if I don’t feel it, it is a bit tricky, we all know. It was a good start, a good win and fresh motivation for the next couple of weeks.”

Vettel admitted he had been praying for a Safety Car after struggling to match Hamilton and Raikkonen in the opening stages of the race.

“In the race with my start I was hoping for a bit better but it didn’t really work so I had to stay third and towards the end of the first stint I lost a little bit of connection to Lewis and Kimi ahead as I struggled a little bit with the tyres. 

“I was praying for a Safety Car and there was a car that stopped at turn 4 and I was like ‘no, not there’ and then somebody stopped, I think it was the Haas, on the exit of turn 2 and then when I saw it I was full of adrenaline even though the race was frozen.

“But still to come into the pits and everything was on the limit because they told me it was really close to Lewis. We got out ahead and I know it is a difficult track to pass. He kept some pressure on especially at the beginning of the last stint and then at the end in the last five laps I could enjoy it a little more.”