Vettel says Silverstone strategy did not 'make any sense' as ends up P12 after early spin

This was not Sebastian Vettel’s finest moment, a phrase that has been used all too often this season. The German spun at the start, dropping to last, and then criticised his team for giving him a strategy which did not “make any sense” as he trailed home 12th in the 70th Anniversary GP…

Starting just outside the top 10 in 11th, Vettel was in a good position to capitalise as he was starting on the hard tyres and all in front, bar Max Verstappen, were on the medium compound. However, it all went wrong within seconds, as he cut the inside of Turn 1, kicking up dust and unsettling the car, causing him to lose control and spin.

READ MORE: Max Verstappen defeats Mercedes duo to seal brilliant Silverstone win

From last, he recovered to the fringes of the top 10, but when he pitted for fresh rubber, he re-joined in traffic, something Vettel was unhappy about, criticising the team on the radio for “messing up” his strategy.

Explaining his comments, Vettel said: “Well we spoke this morning and said there was no point pitting knowing that we will run into traffic - and that’s exactly what we did.

“We went also onto a hard tyre, which we then only had on for ten laps, probably not even that, so it didn’t make any sense.

“I mean why would you put the hard for ten laps and put the medium for 20 laps? So I was running out of tyres towards the end, so we spoke about exactly that.”

READ MORE: Delighted Leclerc says fourth place ‘feels like victory’ after strategy gamble pays off

Vettel said earlier in the weekend that he had “run out of answers” to explain his struggles with the car – and on Sunday, still was at a loss to explain why his team mate Charles Leclerc was outperforming him.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess something is there that I’m missing so I’m not sure what it is. Nevertheless I try to get out of bed and do as best as I can. Today we could have been higher up.

“For my side with the spin I’m not sure what happened there, also with strategy we could have recovered better. The main difference is we don’t have clean races from where we start. He [Leclerc] had a couple of clean races so far so…”

Vettel is languishing in 13th place in the drivers' standings, with just 10 points. Team mate Leclerc is fourth with 45.