Vettel: I had to surprise Bottas to overtake

Sebastian Vettel won his fourth race of the season at today’s British Grand Prix but reveals that he had to surprise rival Valtteri Bottas to overtake him in the closing laps of the race.

Ferrari opted to switch Vettel and his team mate Kimi Raikkonen onto a two-stop strategy when the safety car came out for Marcus Ericsson 32nd lap crash at Abbey, and the German had to battle past Bottas to retake the lead.

Bottas and Hamilton were left out by Mercedes, who deemed track position more important and Vettel had to work hard to regain the lead he took at the first corner of the race.

Vettel, who extended his championship lead to eight points used DRS and a late dive down the inside of Bottas into Brooklands to finally overtake him, after the pair squabbled plenty of times on that corner.

Speaking to Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle after the race, Vettel said: “Obviously the safety car spiced it up, but it was a nice battle with Valtteri, he was pushing like crazy.

“I had the advantage on the tyres, but not so easy to find a way through and then I think I surprised him, so I wasn’t sure if I’d make the corner, but I did so it worked really well.”

The four-time champion, who equalled Alain Prost’s 51 GP victories today also mentioned his neck issue which affected his practice for this race, revealing that it felt better today.

He said: “Very very happy, thanks to the team, supporting me, also people in the background, because yesterday I was a bit damaged, much better shape today, there was no problem.”