Sebastian Vettel celebrated the "best second place" of his Formula One career after a podium at his first Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver.
Vettel jumped slow-starting team-mate Kimi Raikkonen off the line and stayed second for the entire race to the delight of the tifosi in attendance. The Ferrari driver has 40 F1 victories to his name but says second place at the team's home race ranks higher than any of them.
"It's an incredible day, it's the best second place I ever had in Formula One," Vettel said. "Thanks to all the tifosi for giving me those emotions today on the podium. "It's fantastic to see so many fans, feel the support we get as a team. It just makes our lives so much more worth living when you see all the fans coming underneath the podium. In terms of emotions it's more than a victory."
Vettel's only regret was not being joined on the podium by Raikkonen.
"[Raikkonen's start] is a shame because otherwise I believe we could have both cars on the podium today. The speed was there, unfortunately not enough to win, but we've tried everything. Monza is known to be a power track and we all know how dominant Mercedes was here last year. I believe the engine guys have done a great job. There are for sure things that we need to improve: we'll do step by step."