Sebastian Vettel has proved to all critics who claim that his time has passed that this is not the case. Appropriately, he was all out after the race. “How crazy this is,” he said after an amazing run from 20th place to second. He enjoyed the enthusiasm of the home crowd celebrating him, although it was not entirely clear among the fans who was more looking forward to it. Either Dutch fans at Verstappn’s victory or German at Vettl’s brilliant performance.
“It was a long race. Sometimes it felt like it would never end. I had a lot of fun, but it was very difficult to make the right decisions all the time. But at the moment, I’m just just happy. It took me a while to get the glass. I didn’t do best with intermediates tires. But once we put on the tires for the dry track, it started. Most of my race went clean, but I admit I have trouble being able to remember everything that was going on on the track. It was too much. Let me also say a big compliment to Max, he drove today's race brilliantly. ”
And when did Vettel smell the opportunity in the race to be able to reach the podium as well? “I would say that was before the last phase of the safety car. Because I saw that I had good speed and that I could overtake without any problems. Some racers were very careful in the first corner and I gained the most here. This way I managed to get close enough to be able to attack in the next turns. After the disappointment in the qualifiers, I knew that I had nothing to lose from the last starting place and that anything could happen in the rain. But then the race got even crazier than I expected. Ferrari is going through a difficult phase at the moment, but this race has shown that you must never lose hope and faith. I am very happy because I was able to see the enthusiasm of the fans in the stands. You don't experience a race like this every day. ”
Regarding the collapse of Mercedes, Vettel said: “Nothing has changed, they are still the best. It's up to us now and Red Bullu to improve, reduce the backlog and then put pressure on the competitor. And then the competitors make mistakes. ”
Asked by reporters if this second place might feel like a win, Vettel replied: “Well, as far as I know, Max won today. But I know what you meant. Of course, I am very happy, because we got the opportunity, which we also grabbed with both hands. Understandably, this is a nice feeling, because everyone knows that not everything went smoothly with us this season. ”
