Vettel claims he was "one lap away" from a podium finish

Sebastian Vettel believes that he was one lap short of a podium finish in today's Canadian Grand Prix. The German came across the line to secure fourth position after his race turned into a recovery drive.

Vettel had his front wing damaged at the first corner on lap 1 as Max Verstappen overtook him around the outside. Ferrari attempted to stay out but the damage was too much and the four-time world champion was forced into the pits.

His pre-planned one stop strategy turned into a two-stop as he once again pitted on lap 50. From there he pushed hard on fresh ultra soft tyres to overtake his teammate and the two Force India's. However, he couldn't get ahead of Ricciardo who finished third, although he claims he was just one lap away from doing so.

"I wanted to get a trophy and I didn't get one," commented Vettel. "Obviously the beginning of the race didn't go our way, but I was still believing that we could fight back and probably get a podium. At the end, when I came back to that group, I was fairly confident, but yeah, [I was] one lap short."

On his clash with Verstappen, he added: "I don't think three cars into Turn 1 works. I had a bit of a poor position, I need to have a look, maybe I could have done better. I was stuck... with Lewis in front, I couldn't really brake any deeper, otherwise, I'd push him off, I had Valtteri on the left, and Max then suddenly appearing on the right.

"Max saw his gap, fair enough, and ran over my front wing, which you don't do on purpose because the chance of a puncture is very high. In the end, I was the one who had damage, which was a bit unfortunate."

Fergal Walsh