Sebastian Vettel bounced back from his world championship disappointment in fine style on Sunday when he won a sunlit Brazilian Grand Prix for Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel feels his victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix is further evidence of Ferrari’s re-emergence as a dominant force in Formula 1 while treating the win as a distraction from the heartache of missing out on world titles in 2017.
The four-time F1 world champion clinched his fifth victory of the season, and first since July in Hungary, after sprinting past Valtteri Bottas at the first corner before controlling his pace to keep clear of the charging Mercedes to take the chequered flag.
While refusing to hide the pain of missing out on the F1 drivers’ world title last time out in Mexico, and accepting criticism from Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne over driver errors, Vettel has repeated his believe in the strong progress the Italian manufacturer has made in 2017 which he hopes leads to “domination” of the sport from next season.
While Vettel pulled clear by 1.9 seconds ahead of Bottas, it was Hamilton setting the fastest laps as he sliced through the field. By lap 21, of the 71, following an immaculate demonstration of speed and passing moves, he was up to fifth before settling for fourth place.
“It was fun,” said Hamilton. “Just like my karting days when I started from the back. But I messed up yesterday and I know I was quick enough to win from pole to flag, but I made the job a lot harder.
“When I woke up this morning my goal was to do the team proud and score points. I tried, but ran out of tyres at the end.”
It was Vettel’s first win in eight outings since the Hungarian Grand Prix in July and his fifth of the season. It was also Ferrari’s first win in Brazil since 2008.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks for us, but it’s nice to get both cars on the podium here,” said Vettel.
“I had a good getaway and then I had wheelspin, so I thought I missed my chance but I think Valtteri had the same so I surprised him.
“I wanted to pull out a gap and then to control the race from there and it worked out.”
