We Didn’t Need the Rain: Vettel

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was understandably distraught after crashing out of his home race. But he said that he won’t lose asleep from his costly error.

The Ferrari driver looked set to extend his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton with a victory at Hockenheim. Unfortunately, he slid off the road at the stadium section close to the end of lap 52 of 67. For the uninitiated, a brief rainshower hit the track and Vettel collided with the barriers.

When asked about his thoughts on such a disastrous outcome, Vettel said: “I was in the barrier, and I realise I don’t get out from there, so how do you process that?

“I don’t think it was a huge mistake, it was a huge impact on the race because we retired.

“But it’s not like tonight I will have difficulties to fall asleep because of what I’ve done wrong.

“It’s disappointing because up to that point everything was sweet. We didn’t need the rain.”

However, instead of wallowing in self-pity, Vettel said that he would take away some positives. The 4-time World Champion was happy with Ferrari’s performance, having taken pole position and led the race for a long time.

“We have a strong car, so we can be as confident, more confident than anybody else,” he added.

“It was a very positive weekend, just one of those moments, and my mistake. “Apologies to the team, they did everything right and I had it in my hands. Small mistake, big disappointment.”

The German now trails Hamilton by 17 points in the championship with 10 races still to go. Hamilton on the other end of the scale, started from 14th place and won the race, through Vettel’s misfortune. Lewis led a Mercedes 1-2 with Kimi Raikkonen in the surviving Ferrari in 3rd.