Sebastian Vettel 'could have won' Turkish Grand Prix with slick tyre swap

Turkish Grand Prix

Vettel 'could have won' Turkish Grand Prix with slick tyre swap

Vettel took a stunning podium with a last-corner move having started 11th in Turkey

Ewan Gale

Sunday 15 November 2020 14:21

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel believes he could have won the Turkish Grand Prix had he made the switch to slick tyres on a drying track in the latter part of the chaotic race at Istanbul Park.

Vettel claimed his first podium of a difficult season when he overtook team-mate Charles Leclerc in the final corners of the race at Istanbul Park.

But despite the result, Vettel conceded he wished he had swapped onto a set of dry tyres in order to contend for victory.

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"[With] 20 laps to go I was thinking of the dry tyres because the circuit was constant, the tyres were worn anyway so I thought maybe we would have slicks," said Vettel, whose best finish of the season had been sixth in Hungary.

"It is just nobody dared to put them on and there was some rain forecast in the end that didn't come. I would have really liked to have put them on because I think that could have been a chance to win but, equally happy with third."

Vettel's race was built upon his electrifying start, which saw him move from 11th to fourth in the first three corners. His performance stalled mid-race on intermediate tyres but he came back strong and was delighted with a "surprise" podium.

"It was quite intense, quite long but good fun," he explained. "I had a really good opening lap and I think I found myself in P4. I was quite happy on the extreme [wets] and then we switched to inters.

"It was a bit more difficult in the beginning and only towards the end, I started to find the pace again.It was very intense in the last lap. A bit of a surprise to snatch the podium but certainly very happy.

"I saw that Charles was quite close to Sergio [Perez] and I heard that Sergio was struggling with his tyres. The laps before, I was already chasing them down and then I could see them fighting.

"As soon as I saw Charles locking up, I saw that there was an opportunity for me. It was very close with Sergio also, I think he had nothing left on his tyres."

Before you go...

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Perez worried his tyres would "explode" en route to Turkey podium