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Sebastian Vettel says he was pleased to see Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas start the 2019 season with a race win.
Bottas dominated the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, crossing the line 21 seconds ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was second.
While Vettel struggled with his Ferrari throughout the day to eventually come home in fourth, he says he never doubted Bottas' speed after the challenging 2018 campaign.
"I like him. I’m very happy for him," Vettel said. "He’s a very decent guy. I don’t think he’s any different, I think he always had the speed.
"Last year didn’t go well for him for many reasons but I was very happy to see when I was told that he won the race.
“Obviously he was far away, straightaway, far away from us, which is not good news for us. But he’s a nice chap so I’m really happy and pleased for him today.”
Vettel made his one and only pit stop of the race earlier than his rivals, switching to the medium tyre.
The German didn't have much confidence in his second stint which saw him lose touch with the cars ahead and overtaken by Max Verstappen, who claimed the final step on the podium.
"The whole second stint, on the medium tyres wasn’t very strong,” Vettel said. “The first stint I was fairly happy.
“So at this point as I said I’m not sure why but I’m sure there’s a reason so we need to get a little bit deeper and have a good look. But clearly there was something going on.
"I didn’t have the same trust and feel in the car that I’ve had in the first stint so I was struggling with overall pace throughout the second stint and obviously at the end I was struggling really with tyres.
“Arguably yes, we were a little bit early in the box, on the other hand there were people stopping at the same time as us that didn’t struggle that much in the end. So I don’t think it’s the strategy to blame, really."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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calle.itw
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Correction: he was happy Hammy didn't win.