Vettel relieved after "hairy" Stroll near-miss

Sebastian Vettel has labelled his near-miss with team-mate Lance Stroll during the São Paulo Grand Prix sprint as being "a bit hairy".

The German started the 24-lap event 13th and eventually moved his way through to ninth with late moves on Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, though ran out of time to chase down a point for eighth place.

But during his charge, Vettel was forced to overtake Stroll in a tense battle.

Exiting turn three, Vettel tried to steal a march down the inside for the run into turn four but Canadian Stroll moved across, forcing the four-time world champion onto the grass.

Stroll's actions earned him a 10-second time penalty that leaves him provisionally 16th on the grid for Sunday's grand prix proper.

This move came just two races after Stroll received a three-place grid penalty for causing a heavy collision with Fernando Alonso at the United States Grand Prix.

Addressing his race, Vettel said: "We were making progress, we started 13th and finished ninth.

"I had a good start and then really didn't know where to go, I was a bit stuck and then had a good couple of opening laps with Daniel [Ricciardo], that was a lot of fun.

"After, it was a bit close with Lance but I think we work together.

"It is tough, you lose time when you are fighting but I seemed to be stronger and then I was able to pass Esteban fairly comfortably and even caught Pierre and with a couple more laps I could have even overtaken Kevin [Magnussen] as well."

Providing insight to his excursion alongside Stroll, Vettel added: "It was tight, obviously we don't see as well as you do on the camera.

"The gap closed and I was half off the track which was a bit hairy. But fortunately, I was able to rejoin."