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Vettel regrets mistake in dispute with Ocon in Baku: "We could have fought for fifth place

The four-time world champion took the flag at the Azerbaijan GP in sixth place, but even with a great performance, he revealed that the final result could have been even better

Vettel regrets mistake in dispute with Ocon in Baku: "We could have fought for fifth place

The sixth place in Baku was very good for Sebastian Vettel and Aston Martin, but the final result could have been even better. The German driver himself guaranteed it, this Sunday (12), after the Azerbaijan Formula 1 GP.

Vettel was in ninth place in the race when, on the 13th lap, he tried to overtake Esteban Ocon at turn 3 of the Azerbaijan circuit. The four-time world champion completed the pass, but fried his tires and ran off the track - returning to the circuit soon after, but only in 12th place behind Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda. The mistake cost the Aston Martin driver his best chances in the race, according to him.

Sebastian Vettel em Baku (Foto: Aston Martin)
Sebastian Vettel in Baku (Photo: Aston Martin)

"Overall, sixth place is very good. We are very happy with the result. We had an amazing pit-stop and managed to overtake Mercedes. After that, I thought I had overtaken Esteban (Ocon), but I braked a little late because I was sure he would fight for position. I wasn't sure and I had to go off the track, I lost a lot of time. If that hadn't happened, I think we would have had a fight for fifth place in hand. But still, very good result," said Vettel, who also admitted to seeing an improvement in Aston Martin's pace in Baku.

"We've been chasing the limits of this car more than ever, and it looks like we've been rewarded. But we also need to be realistic: this weekend we were stronger than Alfa Romeo and tied with Alpine and AlphaTauri. This puts us on a different level. Overall, we are very satisfied and this is a great result," added the four-time champion.

Formula 1 returns next week, June 17-19, in Montreal, with the Canadian Grand Prix. GRANDE PRÊMIO follows all the actionLIVE and in REAL TIME.