Vettel: Ferrari would have been worse off in Spain with normal tyres

Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari's tyre struggles during the Spanish Grand Prix would have been even worse had Pirelli brought its regular compounds to the race instead of the reduced-tread versions used to prevent overheating and blistering.

Pirelli brought a modified version of its F1 tyres to Barcelona for the race after issues arose through pre-season testing on the resurfaced Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, reducing the tread by 0.4 mm.

Vettel struggled more than most to manage his tyres, forcing him to take an additional pit stop compared to his competitors at the front of the pack.

The extra visit to the pits meant he squandered second place to his one-stopping rivals as he was left to settle for P4 come the chequered flag, more than 25 seconds back from race winner and title contender Lewis Hamilton.

After completing a back-to-back comparison with the regular tread tyres during the first in-season test day in Barcelona on Tuesday, Vettel said he thinks he would have struggled even more had the changes not been made for the race.

"I think it’s pretty straightforward. Normally you don’t get the chance to revisit these kind of decisions that are made, but I think we did now with the day that we had today," Vettel said.

"I think the result is that if we had the normal tyres on Sunday, we would have probably been even worse off.

"I think it was the correct call, and it was our fault not to have the same tyre wear or life as other people."

Vettel completed more than 130 laps en route to P3 during Tuesday's test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the Ferrari driver relishing the chance to try and find a solution for its difficulties at the last race.

"It’s good to have the test to be able to compare and I think we have some ideas. Now it’s up to us to turn those ideas into reality," Vettel said.

"It was good in terms of timing, coming from a poor weekend for us. We were not quick enough and more than not being quick enough we were struggling to make the tyres last. These things have a link.

"So it was good to have a possibility to revisit it, and now it’s up to us to take action."