Vettel was sacrificed by Ferrari: "Think it was clear"

For Sebastian Vettel, the Russian Grand Prix was another race to forget. The German got no further than a 13th position in his Ferrari and scored no points for the fifth time this season.

"I didn't have a good first lap and couldn't benefit," says Vettel to Motorsport-Magazin.com. "Then I got stuck in traffic and my tyres died." Vettel drove mainly against the Ferrari customer teams.

Vettel thinks he was left out on track to help his teammate Charles Leclerc, who finished sixth at the Sochi Autodrom. "I think it was clear that I was left outside to slow down the Renaults. That did not help me, of course. We might have been able to pick up a point, but that doesn't change much either," continues the four-time world champion.

After the chaos in midfield at the start, Vettel didn't come any further forward. He was also stuck behind Antonio Giovinazzi for another fifteen laps. "I could not benefit from the accidents and collisions of others, I had nowhere to go. I really couldn't catch up and I had real problems," concludes Vettel.