Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel has revealed that he lost radio communications with his team during the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, so he was not completely sure how long was left of the race.
The grand prix got underway in wet conditions on Sunday, and Vettel initially went for a spin at Turn One after making contact with Fernando Alonso.
The red flag was deployed after Carlos Sainz’s heavy crash, and after lengthy delays, the drivers got underway again after a Safety Car restart.
As the track got drier, Vettel and Nicholas Latifi were the first to take the gamble of switching onto the Intermediates.
READ: Sebastian Vettel feeling ‘sad’ after 2022 Japanese GP
That turned out to be a genius call, as those on extreme Wets were losing copious amount of time ahead of them, so when they re-joined, both Vettel and Latifi ended up in the points.
The four-time champion ended up in sixth place, and after Alonso pitted for another set of Inters towards the end of the race, he was on the charge.
The double world champion cleared George Russell at the start of the final lap of the race, and set off after Vettel for the rest of the lap.
The Spaniard dived down the inside of Vettel going into the final chicane, but Vettel held on, leading to a dash to the line.
A photo finish saw Vettel finish sixth, marginally ahead of the Alpine.
“Well, it was very, very close, he was a bit aggressive, I would say,” explained Vettel, quoted by F1i.com.
“But yeah, there was a bit of a confusion because I lost radio and I looked at the pit board, and I think race direction changed their mind of how long the race is going to go, and I didn’t know.
“I think we got away with it.”
Vettel went on to elaborate on his lap one collision with the 41-year-old, before his superb points finish.
“We did touch, I went to the left because he had a poor start, and I had a good start,” he added.
“Then I got a lot of wheel slip and some aquaplaning and sort of lost the car, and then touched, and lost the car entirely. But then we had a great recovery in the end.”
The decision to switch onto Inters before anyone else was something the 53-time race winner had spoken about with his team prior to the race.
“Yeah, we spoke about it before, the team worked something out, and I obviously made the call judging the conditions. But it worked really well,” said Vettel.
“Yeah, we dragged the car up to where it probably doesn’t belong, even splitting the Alpines, which are a lot faster than us.
“But we managed to hang in there, so I really enjoyed the weekend, and I love everything about this place.”
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Vettel will leave F1 at the end of the season, and while he is someone who prefers to look forward, he has a particular melancholy feeling about having raced at the Suzuka Circuit for the last time.
“I feel sad to have driven my last race here, but it has been a wonderful weekend, and to all the fantastic Suzuka fans I can only say, ‘Thank you’,” he stated.
The eight points for Aston Martin on Sunday puts them 11 points clear of Haas in the battle for seventh in the Constructors’ Standings.