Vettel After Win: "Ferrari Have Taken Step Backwards"

Sebastian Vettel has said that Ferrari is less competitive than last year compared to Mercedes compared to last year, even though the German won the first race of the season and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen came in third.

Vettel started third but after a tactical mishap from Mercedes, the German took the lead after pitting while the Virtual Safety Car was active. From that point on, Lewis Hamilton couldn't mount a real challenge and Vettel saw out the race.

“Today we didn't have the true race pace to match [Mercedes],” Vettel said after his victory in Melbourne.