Vettel: Ferrari´s aggressive strategy in F1 opener was wrong

Sebastian Vettel admits Ferrari’s aggressive strategy was wrong in hindsight after it cost him victory at the Australian Grand Prix.

Vettel started the race in third, but a quick getaway saw him climb into first after the opening bend at Albert Park, ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

The Ferrari driver was leading Nico Rosberg when a crash involving Fernando Alonso on lap 19 saw the race red flagged, but the team decided to pursue with the super soft tyres as Mercedes switched Rosberg to new mediums.

That move meant Rosberg did not have to stop again for the rest of the race, while Vettel was forced to come into the pits once more.

Rosberg went on to win the season-opening race, finishing ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Vettel, but the German does not want to blame anyone for the error in judgment.

“We went for the aggressive route, maybe in hindsight we could have done something else, but I’m not going to blame anyone,” said the four-time world champion.

“The team seems in good shape, we know we can up our game, and we want to put pressure on these [Mercedes] guys.

“This is the right car that should allow us to put a lot of pressure on these guys.”

Despite the disappointing end to the race and Raikkonen’s retirement, Vettel believes Ferrari have managed to close the gap to Mercedes in 2016.

“Definitely, we were a lot closer than last year,” he said. “This was one of our worse tracks.

“We expected to be stronger in qualifying, that wasn’t the case as we had a bit of a rough session. Today was a lot better for us.

“We are on the right track and things are coming together. All in all we are a lot closer so plenty of positives.”