BOTTAS WINS
Vettel was astoundingly quick late on during his
first stint on the Pirelli ultra soft tyres, and one would
have bet on him winning with ten or so laps to go.
But in the end it was too much, too late for the Ferrari
challenge to pay dividends. Second place was his
reward as well as increasing his championship lead to
13 points after four rounds.
Vettel told Eddie Jordan on the podium, “I tried
everything to catch Valtteri. I thought there would be
an opportunity on the back straight. I thought there
was an opportunity but I was not sure what Felipe
Massa would do and ended up losing out. It doesn’t
matter, though. Big congratulations to Valtteri. It is his
day.”
Raikkonen followed his teammate through in
third, his first podium of the season and certainly a
stronger showing all weekend by the veteran Finn.
He said on the podium, “Unfortunately we could
only get third place but we’ll try for better next time.
I have had a little bit of a rough start to the season
– far from ideal – but this week has been a step
forward,but we still only finished third. We’ll keep
trying, keep improving, but all the small details have
to be there to get the first place.”
After qualifying fourth, many expected Lewis
Hamilton to bounce back in the race but the Silver
Arrows driver, by his own admission, simply not
on the pace and indeed failed to match Bottas’ all
weekend. His plight on the day exacerbated by an
over-heating car.
Hamilton told reporters , “Big congrats to Valtteri.
He did an exceptional job all weekend,” he said. “I
wish I could have backed him up in terms of points
but I think i did the best I could. Once I got through
the first couple of laps I was kind of stuck. Through
the race I understood it. Speed-wise I know where it
is and I will try to fix it for the next one.”