Sebastian Vettel: “Ferrari deserves to return, the spirit of this team never breaks”

We needed this podium Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel, at the end of a decidedly bitter 2016 season. Better late than never one might say, after 9 fasting races and a four-time world champion who was beginning to show signs of desperation. But as a true world champion that he is, Hag he pushed until the end and, at the end of a splendid race, the Cavallino returned to the podium. The pilot of the Ferrari thus he ended the year taking fourth place in the general classification - he was fighting with his teammate and with Verstappen – and looking to 2017 with the will and awareness of being able to bring the Red team back to the front row.

These were the German driver's first words at the end of the day: “I think it was an important race for us today, although obviously towards the end I would have liked to gain two more positions: we had the speed but it was difficult to try to overtake. In any case, I believe that as a team we deserved this podium and I hope it gives us all some momentum, because it has been a difficult year with many ups and downs. I'm really happy to have arrived on the podium, even if there wasn't champagne but soda!”.

“I think there's no need to make up stories or anything like that about our season, we expected a lot more,” he continued Hag without beating around the bush. “Clearly the disappointment was very big after a few races when we realised, and this didn't help our feeling within the team. But after the first half of the season, when we could have done much better by scoring more points, we showed great strength and managed to react. In the last few events we had a great pace in the race, we were always on par Red Bull – probably even a little bit faster – not on Saturday though, and this made Sunday more difficult for us. All in all I think we showed some moral strength, we improved; this team has a spirit that never breaks. Everyone else is more than justified in going on holiday but we will not rest even for a second: we will work hard because the Ferrari deserves to come back."

Hag he also gave a brief analysis about himself this season: “This year there were situations where I wasn't happy with my performances. I've been a bit of a detriment to myself lately, I've struggled to get things together on Saturday and that's obviously made Sunday more difficult. For example in Mexico, I could have easily been second or third without any trouble; but if you have to start from fifth place or higher, if you want to recover then it's harder. This reflects the year quite well; overall we have learned a lot and made a lot of progress behind the scenes, and this will certainly help us in the future."

“I think Nico deserves the title, no one can doubt it. Surely we talk about the reliability problems that Lewis had but if we look back we will always find someone who deserved something more than another. I don't like to get stuck in these discussions, because in that case we would have to give the 2008 title to Sponge: without the engine failure in Hungary he would have won the championship. But Lewis deserved it that year and Nico deserves it this year. It's a question of respect, it's Nico's day and congratulations to him! I'm sure he'll enjoy the rest of the night,” he concluded Hag.