Sebastian Vettel refused to criticise Ferrari's strategy after missing out on victory in Canada, saying the switch to the two-stop seemed like the right call to make at the time.
Vettel beat both Mercedes drivers off the line to lead in Montreal but soon sacrificed track position by pitting on lap 10 after the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car. Lewis Hamilton, trailing in second, stayed out, extending his ultra-soft stint before switching to softs on lap 24.
When Vettel made his second stop to soft tyres on lap 36, Hamilton reclaimed the lead. Vettel only would only get to within four seconds to the world champion and ultimately the pace of the Mercedes and several mistakes at the final chicane ended his chances of catching the No. 44 car.
Asked if he felt his fresher tyres would have made more of a difference, he said: "Yeah that was the plan. Obviously we committed fairly early when we were in the lead. As the second car in a row, which was Lewis, you have the chance to choose -- if the car in front pits you might stay out, if the car in front stays out you might pit."
Vettel says Ferrari made an early decision to go on the two-stop strategy and simply underestimated how long Hamilton could make his soft tyres last.
"We committed fairly early to that strategy and it was probably the right thing to do in terms of getting to the chequered flag the right way. Obviously we lost track position and we didn't expect the soft that Lewis put on -- well, first the ultra-soft and then the soft -- would last.
"I think I was surprised to see how long the super-soft lasted and then how the soft lasted. We could have kept going [on super-soft] so the degradation wasn't as high as expected. Maybe that's where we've lost the race but I want to make one thing clear, I'm not a big fan of blaming anyone or anything."
Vettel's chase in the final stint was compromised by several lock-ups which saw him run deepat the final chicane and lose valuable time. The four-time world champion admits he was trying too hard to catch Hamilton out in front.
"I think I was a bit caught out by the wind to be honest. I shouldn't have been, I had all the information. It was very gusty and here and there I got caught out. I was trying everything all around the lap, getting very close to the wall on the exit of 4, exit of the last corner, exit of 9 as well. Really trying everything and in the end it was too much, which loses you over a second.
"I was around four and a half seconds to Lewis and then back to five and a half, didn't do myself any favours but I had to try. For some reason yesterday I was very good friends with the last corner, today not so much. Not great from my side to miss the braking. Quite tricky with a bit of bottoming and locked up about three times."