Sebastian Vettel: “I think every race is an opportunity”

Sebastian Vettel says he had a “decent” first day in Austria, despite finishing the afternoon session in a gravel trap after a spectacular spin.

Vettel was third fastest in FP1 and fourth in FP2, with his time in the morning session standing as third fastest overall for the day.

He faces a five-place grid penalty, thanks to a gearbox change but he believes he still has a shot at winning on Sunday.

“Always, I think every race is an opportunity,” he said. “I think it was a decent day, I’m not entirely clear where we are, we didn’t have much running, in the afternoon in particular. But overall, we should be OK.

Regarding the spin he said: “We had an issue with the brake distribution [balance]. It caught me by surprise. It didn’t matter too much, we lost a couple of minutes, it didn’t make a big difference.”

Vettel says there’s no point fretting about his grid penalty.

“It is what it is. It’s obviously never great if you get plus five. Now we know, so we don’t need to worry any more.”

Meanwhile he didn’t join the chorus of complaints about the revised kerbs, which was led by Max Verstappen: “Maybe they need to build stronger front wings and they would stop complaining! I don’t know, I haven’t been on them, I haven’t experienced how harsh they are.”