Vettel and Ferrari endured a nightmare Saturday as they struggled to get the wet tyres working during qualifying, however Vettel did good to finish on podium at Italian Grand Prix.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL claims his Ferrari had a technical issue which left him unable to produce consistent lap times in the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix.
The German started alongside his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen on the third row but fought his way up to third.
But the four-time world champion revealed afterwards that he had taken damage during an excursion off the track that had left his car suffering an unknown problem.
"The last 15 or 20 laps, something was wrong after I went off,” Vettel said over team radio after the race ended.
“That’s why I went up and down.”
Vettel has now lost the F1 World Drivers’ Championship lead and trails Hamilton by three points after the Brit’s second consecutive win.
But it had briefly looked as though it might be a more successful afternoon for Ferrari as Vettel made up three places.
And he admitted he was optimistic about his chances before he hit clean air and realised he could not match the Mercedes cars for raw pace.
“It was entertaining at the beginning,” Vettel said on the podium.
“Then obviously we were a bit isolated and we didn’t have the pace of the leading two but nevertheless so going around see the people gives me a lot of hope.
“Even if this race was difficult I know that we have a very very strong car and a very strong end of the season.”
The result generated the first time that Hamilton has led the points table this year, and the first time there has been a back-to-back winner, and he now has 228 to Vettel’s 225, while Bottas remains in touch on 197.