Sebastian Vettel said he had significant handling problems in his Ferrari after spinning and finishing fifth in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Although the Ferrari driver took the lead at the start of the race he said he quickly discovered his car was not handling well.

“It was very difficult,” he said. “I realised after more or less half a lap after the start that it would be very difficult. The car was extremely difficult to drive for me.

“I think Charles [Leclerc] struggled less and he had no difficult to follow and pass me. It was quite tricky.

“The second stint I think we calmed down a little bit with the medium tyres but overall not the pace that we should have had today.”

Vettel was overtaken by Leclerc and then came under attack from Lewis Hamilton. When the Mercedes overtook Vettel on the outside of turn four the Ferrari driver spun, and lost his front wing as he returned to the pits.

“Obviously it was very close,” said Vettel, who accepted responsibility for the spin. “I tried to get back on the inside just like the lap before.

“I think turn four was one of the trickiest corners. It was my mistake, I lost the rear, then I spun, and I think during the spin I damaged the tyres so much that I had quite a lot of vibrations which then I think led on to the failure of the front wing.”

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2019 F1 season