Sebastian Vettel said he had to risk switching to slick tires during the Turkish Grand Prix but admitted the risk backfired.
Vettel pitted on lap 38 shortly after Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen both made their stops at the front. Both the Mercedes and Red Bull took on new sets of intermediate tires.
But Vettel and Aston Martin decided to switch to slick tires. They opted for the harder medium mixture, whereby the soft one has proven to be fragile in practice.
“We had to try,” said Vettel of the decision. “The Inters, there was nothing left, and so we thought dryly [tyres] might as well be, but I couldn’t break her in.
“It was worse than I expected because it was still damp, a bit wet or wet here and there, but the main thing is that I couldn’t break in the tire and then you slip all the time. It was clear that it would never come. “
Vettel was able to very carefully turn a lap on the slick tires before fighting his way back into the pits and skidding at the entrance.
He said that in hindsight it was “a breeze” to stick to intermediates, but at the time it was less clear.
“I was already trying, a few laps ago and the Inters didn’t get any better,” he explained. “If you look at the intermediate tires, there is nothing left of them. You look like a slick. I think I had a reason, but obviously it was the wrong decision. “
“The people were on intermediate courses, but it was a similar situation to last year,” explained Vettel. “Last year I thought I wanted to try the slick tires 15 laps to go when the track was a little worse. So I thought it was worth a try, but it turned out to be wrong. “
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2021 Turkish Grand Prix
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