Sebastian Vettel says Valtteri Bottas cost him "an awful lot of time" while playing rear-gunner to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Vettel had beaten polesitter Hamilton into Turn 1, but the pace of the Mercedes driver behind forced Ferrari into an earlier-than-anticipated stop for soft tyres on lap 14. Mercedes extended the opening stint for both its drivers in response, eventually bringing Hamilton in for the medium compound on lap 21, meaning Bottas inherited the lead.
Bottas was kept out and soon became something of a roadblock for the charging Vettel, who was hoping to build a gap to Hamilton while he had the benefit of the quicker tyre. For four laps he was stuck behind the driver of car No.77, who turned in a great defensive move to keep the German at bay, before Vettel made the move stick with a thrilling move of his own on lap 25.
Reflecting after the race, Vettel, who would later be caught and passed by Hamilton, said it came at a crucial point in the grand prix.
"Valtteri... I was catching him and I knew that they won't pit him," he said. "He was all over the place with his tyres so they used him a bit to block me but he still managed somehow to get a decent exit so I didn't quite make it the first time round."
"The second time round down the straight I thought 'OK now I have to find some way even if it's over the grass!' so I used a bit more of the track. It was really close, I faked it on the inside, went back on the outside and then on the inside to surprise him which worked but I nearly lost the car doing that because I had the DRS open and it was quite an aggressive move on the steering wheel.
"But it worked so I was really happy but equally I looked down and I'd lost an awful lot of time so I wasn't that happy because the real fight was with Lewis."
In getting past Bottas when he did, Vettel maintained the lead of the race, but Mercedes' decision to take on the medium tyre for the second stint gave Hamilton a tyre advantage for the final stint. Vettel, on mediums of his own at the end, emerged ahead of Hamilton from his stop but, despite one wheel-banging defensive move, was unable to keep the Mercedes man behind for long.
He admits being surprised at how Hamilton was able to lean on his soft tyres throughout the final stint.
"I thought it would be more difficult for him the longer he tries. But then I had no tow from any car in front and he sailed past. He managed a really good exit, he was very quick in the last sector and went on to win the race. We did everything we could, we tried everything. I think the car was good, nothing to blame there. I think our weekend was a bit scrappy overall but I think it's still a very, very good result."