‘Something doesn’t stack up’ - Vettel on F1 British GP struggles

Sebastian Vettel was left puzzled by his lack of pace at Formula 1’s British Grand Prix and insists something “doesn’t stack up” regarding his weekend-long struggles.

Vettel, a two-time winner at Silverstone, failed to make any progress from his starting position on his way to a lowly 10th in the race, while Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc took his second podium of the season.

The four-time world champion endured a disastrous Friday when an intercooler issue ruled him out of first practice, before a persistent brake pedal problem hampered him right up until qualifying on Saturday afternoon, where he could only manage P10 as Leclerc claimed fourth on the grid.

Vettel admitted he never felt comfortable with Ferrari’s troubled SF1000 and his misery was compounded when he was mugged in the closing stages by the late-charging AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly.

“The result was very poor, but the car was very difficult to drive,” Vettel explained.

“I struggled to find confidence, and I don’t know why, so we need to have a good look. But certainly, if I struggled for so many laps in the race and it was the beginning to the end, there’s something that probably doesn’t stack up.

“It was not a very stressful race – I just didn’t have a chance. People around me were faster than me, I got overtaken. It was very difficult… to stay on track, so basically it was not a tough race at all because I could never attack – the car didn’t allow me to do what I like.

“So now we need to have a look why and now obviously we have the next weekend so we can try and do better.”

Asked whether set-up differences may have influenced the stark contrast in performance between the Ferrari drivers, Vettel replied: “On paper, both cars are pretty similar so it’s not the set-up

“Also if you look around the lap, there’s not one place where maybe I’m driving poorly or there seems to be an issue. It’s the whole lap where I’m losing time, so we’ll have a look.”