Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari’s gamble to contend for world championship, had a disappointing qualifying session at French Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s young driver, has been proving to be a promising bet for Ferrari. He started the race from third position while Mercedes managed to start from front two positions.
German starting at seventh position was disappointed to race with no competition at Paul Ricard Circuit. He had to race and compete against McLaren drivers.
“I had a pretty lonely race, apart from a bit of confusion at the start, given that the timing of the lights going out caught us a bit by surprise,” Vettel said.
“It was fun fighting with the McLarens, first [Lando] Norris then Carlos [Sainz].
“The first stint went pretty well and that meant I could close the gap to Charles and Max [Verstappen].
“Then in the second one, I had a few more balance problems and I didn’t feel totally comfortable with the car.
“I think today’s fifth place was the most we could have done, given that Charles, Max and me were all running at pretty much the same pace.”
The Mercedes’ driver had to compete against each other. However, Lewis Hamilton managed to claim another victory this season.
Hamilton is leading the race with six victories in eight races. Bottas had good start this season and had managed to claim two victories. This accumulated to eight victories for Mercedes with zero defeat.
Hamilton is leading the championship with 187 points with Bottas on 151 points at second place.
Vettel is currently leading Ferrari standing on the championship chart with 111 points with a difference of 76 points to Hamilton.
The German with no position on podium managed to get an extra point for recording the fastest lap.
“At least getting the fastest race lap means I get an extra point,” Vettel said.
“We still need to understand why Friday was so complicated with some of the parts we brought here not working as we had hoped.
“Our car is not yet strong enough and it’s down to us to improve.
“We still don’t have the pace to beat Mercedes, but I know that everyone at Maranello is working with so much positive pressure – and passion.”
