2021 Brazilian GP : Post-Sprint reactions from Vettel and Stroll

Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team driver Sebastian Vettel will start the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix in P9 after moving up one position in the F1 Sprint. Lance Stroll also gained one position thanks to strong tyre management and a calculated overtake on Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda on the final lap to finish 14th.

Sebastian finished the 24 lap Saturday Sprint in P10th after battling with Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo all throughout the race. With Lewis Hamilton’s five place grid penalty, Seb will move one place higher in P9.

Sebastian Vettel (P10)

“I made a good start and gained a couple of places, but we had to fight hard to stay there with fast cars, such as the McLaren [of Daniel Ricciardo], behind us. I was in the train of cars, benefiting from the DRS, which certainly helped.

“The race pace was decent but starting on the Medium meant that we were faster towards the end [compared with those on Softs].

“I think it will be similar tomorrow. It is a long race, and we will need to fight hard to score points because there are some quicker cars, including Lewis [Hamilton], behind us.”

Lance Stroll (P14)

“We have moved up a place for tomorrow’s race, which is a positive. There was not a lot of action around us at the start, so we were still P15 after the first lap. Then, at the end, [Yuki] Tsunoda started to suffer on the Softs in front of us, while we had managed our Mediums pretty well.

“He lost DRS from the car in front of him and we got him on the last lap, so I think it was probably the right thing to do [starting on the Mediums].

“It was tough to overtake today, but it is a long race and anything can happen at this circuit, so maybe there will be a few opportunities for us tomorrow. We will see what we can do from P14 and aim to make up a few places.”