WATCH : Why Sebastian Vettel Struggled During the Austrian Grand Prix

While nobody was expecting any miracles from Ferrari in yesterday’s race, Sebastian Vettel was particularly upset with his car. The German had a miserable race and finished in tenth, while his teammate ended up on the podium. But Vettel wasn’t annoyed with his early contact with Carlos Sainz. It was the SF1000 which caused him a major headache.

Could the SF1000 be why Sebastian Vettel had a difficult race?

In the post-race team radio, Vettel didn’t hold back from telling the team just how “difficult” the car was. Historically, Vettel never acknowledges the team’s shortcomings publicly on the radio. Even after a tough race, the 4 times World Champion usually apologizes and maintains an optimistic tone.

“Very difficult race. The car was very difficult to drive, I don’t know. Very poor braking stability, very, very, very difficult with the rear. It was nowhere near the same car as we had two days ago,” said Vettel.

But yesterday was different, and some onboard footage explains the reason behind Vettel’s views. Reminiscent of the second rate F14 T, Vettel wrestled the car at nearly every medium speed corner. The SF1000 simply looked unstable and unpredictable and completely justifies Vettel’s post-race remarks.

The German nearly lost the car on 3 separate occasions, which explains why he was content with only a single spin after the race.

Interestingly, teammate Charles Leclerc’s onboard footage told a different tale. The Monegasque looked a lot more comfortable with the car en route to an unlikely podium. It wouldn’t be wayward to suggest that the one on his way out of the team was clearly unhappy with his machine.

Then again, we aren’t privy to sensitive telemetry and the setups on both cars. Whatever the reason, Leclerc was far more confident with the SF1000 than Vettel during the race.

While Ferrari may have clinched an unexpected podium, the team has its work cut it out. As things stand, the Scuderia is the fifth-best team on the grid. With McLaren and Racing Point showing their true pace on Sunday, the Maranello outfit has some margin to make up to the top 3.