World Champion Sebastian Vettel was in philosophical mood after a difficult Spanish GP, taking heart from the fact that despite his own problems he had outscored two key title rivals in both McLaren drivers, as well as team mate Mark Webber.
However, Vettel was frustrated by the RB8’s unexpected lack of pace on race day, which left him unable to keep up with the leading group.
Vettel was also delayed by a drive through for speeding under yellows, and also lost a few seconds in the pits when his nose was changed. He acknowledged that he was unlikely to have finished better than fifth, even without those extra dramas.
“Obviously the drive through cost us one position in the end,” said Vettel. “To battle the first four was impossible, especially after the first two stints. All in all I think it was a mixed up race, sometimes quick, sometimes slow, so a bit difficult to understand everything, a lot of things to go through. The car was changing a lot. I had a nose change as well, so a lot of things today.
“Look at the McLarens today. I think they have a very competitive and very beautiful car. They were even worse off than us. In the end I don’t think it really matters where you start the race, it matters if you have the pace. We didn’t have the pace to be better than P5, we finished P6.
“All-in-all, valuable points, I think if you look at the whole year, they might be very useful, but difficult to understand. I don’t know if you are into betting but if you put some money on Williams before this weekend, you are better off now. It’s difficult for us as well to understand what’s going on.”
Vettel had no idea about RBR’s prospects for Monaco.
“Look at today’s race, it was pretty crazy, what was going on. Maybe we’ll have an HRT or a Marussia on pole in Monaco! It’s difficult to say where we are. Today we were not quick enough, a drive through here or there, P5 would have the maximum.
“Not quick enough, not as quick as we’d like to be, but we keep fighting, and there’s a lot for us to understand and pick up and learn, so we’ll see in two weeks.”
He added: “I’ll maybe go to the casino and put some money on Williams! It’s obviously nice for you, because a lot of things happening. But for us, it’s a bit tricky to understand. We were in quite a good position Friday morning and Friday afternoon, yesterday not so good, and today a bit mixed.”
Adam Cooper F1 
He can’t be too unhappy really. He jointly leads the championship with Fernando, and neither the Red Bull or Ferrari has the pace of the McLaren or Lotus cars it appears, ergo they’re both doing a very good job to be where they are. Thus far this season Vettel and Alonso are my stand out drivers by some margin, the Championship really should be McLaren/Lotus dominated given the pace both of those teams seem to consistently have. It speaks volumes of the abilities of Alonso/Vettel that they are where they are in my opinion.
…….cant disagree with your assessment there Paul. Have to say all of these “random” results are being caused by these pathetic Pirellis tho! Drivers having to conserve these tyres at the expense of real racing is starting to wear thin already, if youll pardon the pun! Bernie Shekelstone wants sterile racing with no chance of accidents in case somebody gets hurt and decides to sue him. This is watered down motor racing only designed along with the DeRS, KERS and rubber band tyres to improve “the show” as all the team principles keep calling it now. Long gone now are the days of courage and skill, all the drivers are only able to drive at 80-90 per cent of the cars potential to preserve tyres!!!
“… an HRT or a Marussia on pole in Monaco!” – BRING IT ON!