BAHRAIN: Sebastian Vettel admits he thought his chances of victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix were lost in the closing stages of the race.
The Ferrari driver secured his second victory in as many races on Sunday night after holding off a late charge from Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas. Vettel pitted from the lead on lap 18 with the aim of running a two-stop strategy, but Ferrari had to change its plans when it became clear Mercedes would last the race on a one-stop.
As a result, Vettel had to complete 39 laps on one set of soft tyres while Bottas’ strategy meant he had the more durable medium compound to complete 37 laps to the flag after his pit stop. The Mercedes’ tyres were in a better condition in the final ten laps and Bottas quickly shaved four seconds off the Ferrari’s lead between lap 49 and lap 54.
At that point, Vettel thought Bottas would win the race, but he didn’t let on over the pit-to-car radio.
“I think I came on the radio with ten laps to go saying I had everything under control but that was a lie. I had nothing under control!” he said. “When they told me the pace of Valtteri at that time I was thinking there was no way to do that.
“I was making the maths inside the car and with 10 laps to go, that pace, he’s going to catch me. I really tried to keep it as clean as possible. Both Mercedes at the end of the stint was very strong and well I think by going onto the medium they saw what we did by going onto softs.
“I thought that was checkmate because we need to come in again. That was the original plan and then we diverted and the tyres I tried to make them last and nurse them as much as I can, and it worked. But just. There wasn’t much. at the end of the straight Valtteri had a bit of a sniff but fortunately, he ran out of laps.”