Vettel relieved, Leclerc foams with anger

Four-time world champion Vettel finished third in Istanbul on Sunday, his first podium finish since second place on October 3, 1 in Mexico City. “Of course it’s nice after the long dry spell,” said the German, who has mostly been far behind with Ferrari this season.

The former Red Bull dominator will remember the 121st podium finish of his career, despite his 53 Grand Prix victories and 4 world championship titles. Because in the fourth-to-last race of his failed mission with Ferrari, Vettel took advantage of a driving mistake made by his teammate Charles Leclerc in the last few meters. Shortly before the checkered flag he moved up to third place, while Leclerc had to settle for fourth place in the end. For his race to catch up from 3th place on the grid, Vettel was voted driver of the day by the fans.

Leclerc (pictured) had to admit defeat to his teammate on Sunday. © APA/afp / TOLGA BOZOGLU

“I did a shitty job” Charles Leclerc Leclerc was extremely upset with himself after his mistake in the last corner. After crossing the finish line, he cursed in English over the pit radio: “I did a shitty job. I'm sorry for the team. I'm so stupid." The Monegasque, who called himself an "asshole," then followed up fairly: "Congratulations to Seb. He deserves it. It hasn’t been an easy year for him, I hope he can enjoy it now.” Vettel shows understanding for Leclerc Vettel then showed understanding for his teammate's outburst: “It's good that he's angry because he made a mistake and lost the podium. It was a tough race. Any of us could have lost the car a few times on this wet track. But of course it hurts twice as much when it happens in the last lap.”

"He is a good boy" Sebastian Vettel on Charles Leclerc In the World Cup standings, Monegasque (5th place) is a whopping 97 points ahead of Vettel (64th place) with 13 points. Nevertheless, the two seem to get along better this year than last year, when there was much more friction. Maybe also because Vettel was almost never able to compete at the front with the current Ferrari - in contrast to Leclerc. “I am happy about everything he (Leclerc Note d. Red. ) achieved and will continue to achieve because he is a good boy,” said Vettel after the race in Istanbul. Vettel taunts Binotto However, Vettel couldn't resist a little bit of criticism against Ferrari team boss Mattio Binotto. As is well known, Vettel is not said to have the best relationship with the Italian, who was not there in Turkey at the weekend. “I think we have collected more points than in any other race this year - and that's when Mattia isn't there,” joked the 33-year-old. A plague season for Vettel and Ferrari Incidentally, Ferrari is still in 6th place in the constructors' championship - behind Racing Point, McLaren and Renault. That would have been difficult to imagine before the season. For Vettel, third place was by far the best result this year. He achieved 3th place in Hungary, 6th place in Spain, plus four 7th places.

“I had no doubt that I could still achieve a good result” Sebastian Vettel A terrible assessment for someone who wanted to start an era with Ferrari, just as his great idol Michael Schumacher had once achieved with the Scuderia. Our own mistakes, mistakes from the team, plus a car that simply can't keep up with the Mercedes. But one thing wasn't: "I didn't doubt that I could still achieve a good result."

Inspired, Vettel now wants to “squeeze everything out of the car that you can squeeze out” in the last three races for Ferrari. It should be a dignified farewell on the home straight before he wants to start again for Aston Martin (currently Racing Point) next year.

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Vettel relieved, Leclerc foams with anger

After his first podium finish in 1, Sebastian Vettel was visibly relieved. Teammate Charles Leclerc, however, was in anything but a good mood.

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