Vettel: After the last safety car "I gave it everything" in hunt for podium
F1 News
Sebastian Vettel started the German Grand Prix from the back of the Formula 1 grid, but Saturday's horror qualifying session will now be forgotten about now after he drove into P2.
He clinched a podium place in the final five laps after the final safety car of the race. He had to negotiate Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll before getting onto the podium. He also slid past Daniil Kvyat to take 2nd.
"Before the last Safety Car, I realised I was quite a bit quicker and could move past people. I was a little bit faster and could time it right. I saw people being cautious on the first corner and it worked getting into DRS range and I had moved down the back straight. But this race was so long," Vettel said.
"It was a long race, at some stage, I thought it was never-ending but it was very tough and I'm just happy. It was a lot of fun."
Saturday's qualifying session was ended early for the German after a turbo issue. On the radio, it sounded like the Ferrari engineers were trying to fix a turbo related problem during the race. Vettel admitted he found it hard to get going.
"It took a while, at the beginning with the intermediates I couldn't get going but eventually it was good that the afternoon took so long and I stayed tidy for most of the race. For me, it was just a case of go and get the next car, and then the next car," Vettel added.