Vettel: There was more up for grabs

The double Mercedes DNF was 'manna from heaven' for Ferrari, who were left scratching their heads a day earlier as they were forced to watch the Silver Arrows annexe the front row.

However in the race, as Mercedes imploded Vettel's damage limitation plan became maximum attack, "We had a really good car, really good pace."

"We were quite far back after lap 1 and recovered well. I’m obviously happy with the podium – I think it was a great race – but equally, I think there was more up for grabs, so a bit mixed."

“Obviously it would have been nice to start further up. I tried to get some [positions] back at the start at Turn 1 but it didn’t quite work. I was left with nowhere to go and lost the momentum. And then it was the same thing a little bit at Turn 3.

“I had to fight with the Renaults and the Haas at the beginning of the race and lost a little bit of ground. I lost a little bit more time at the stop, so for us it was pretty much damage limitation. But I think the pace was very good, the tyre management was very good. So positive day but could have been better.”

It was a telling moment when Vettel out dragged Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes out of Turn 3 on lap 39 to claim third place. With Raikkonen between the German and second place, Ferrari were expected to 'make the call' to swap their drivers, but it never came and Vettel had to settle for third behind the Red Bull of race winner Max Verstappen and the Finn in second.

Vettel explained, “I was trying to hunt both [Raikkonen and Verstappen] down. Kimi was pushing as hard as he could, I was pushing as hard as I could, the both of us were catching, but not enough. Obviously, I was further back on lap one, I lost with the pit stop, so I think I arguably had to recover more than others, but I’m fine with that."

“We had great speed, the difference was made with the tyres today, which worked well. The strategy worked well, but I think Max won the race because he deserved it. I tried my bit to come back, obviously saving tyres, but pushing at the same time, but you’re a little blind because the race is long and it was more than 50 laps to do on the same tyres."

"I tried to do all that and I think most of it more or less right. But I think it could have been a bit better today without the plus-three positions at the start," added Vettel who took his tally to 146 points, one more than his archrival Hamilton ahead of next weekend's British Grand Prix.