Sebastian Vettel says Mercedes ‘got lucky’ with Mexican GP strategy

Sebastian Vettel waves to Mexican crowd

Sebastian Vettel felt Mercedes "got lucky" with their strategy but conceded they were faster after Lewis Hamilton claimed victory at the Mexican GP.

Ferrari had locked out the front row after Max Verstappen was handed a grid penalty, but Vettel finished second after Hamilton nursed his second-stint tires for 47 laps, while pole-sitter Leclerc was fourth after a two-stop strategy hindered by a slow second stop.

Vettel felt Mercedes had been "brave" pitting Hamilton 14 laps earlier than him and not coming in again, but said Ferrari did not have the race pace to truly hunt the Briton for victory once behind.

"If you start on the front row you are fighting for victory. In the end, we sort of did, but not quite enough," Vettel told Sky Sports F1.

"Ultimately, if you are fair, we didn't have the speed really to force the victory despite the strategy. With hindsight you are always a bit smarter, Lewis obviously had nothing to lose so he might as well try and it worked for him.

"We expected the tires to hit a cliff sort of, but for him it was fine – he had significantly more laps on it and I think seeing that Valteri stayed out so long was confirmation that for them it was a huge risk. There are these days that it pays off but certainly it was not all knowledge.

"We didn't get beaten really in strategy terms. They won, got a bit lucky and they just had a bit more speed.

"We are taking risks, but there is no point being stupid. At that point of the race, fitting the hard tire without stopping again I think was a brave move. It could have gone either way. They had the two stop as their preferred strategy – if you are in that position, you might as well try; finishing third or fifth in the end is not a big difference but if it allows you jump to first, then you are the winner, so you give it a go."