Formula One news

It was falling apart, says Vettel

Sebastian Vettel experienced a race of mixed emotions in Marina Bay on Sunday night as his Singapore Grand Prix came apart in more ways than one. Having lost his right-hand wing mirror, the German then damaged his rear diffuser by running wide and over the kerbs at Turn 5.

"My point of view: As I said, I wasn't in a rush and therefore can't really explain why I got caught," German Sebastian said after receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, questioning his speed limiter. "We have to check if it's maybe an electronic issue but it was working before and after so it's difficult to say.

A front row start led to fourth in the race for Vettel

"It was falling apart! It's a very tough race for the car, with a lot of bumps; at one point, my mirror started to vibrate and then shake more and more - up to the point that it fell off completely, so after that I felt that the car wasn't exactly the same. Nowadays, every single bit of downforce is useful and, on top of that, towards the end we had a problem with the diffuser."

With team-mate Mark Webber now out of the running, both Sebastian and the team can still win their respectively championship titles. "We will try to attack the maximum and try to win," Vettel added. "I think we were quite close today and definitely had a chance."

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