Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel admits he made his final stop one lap too late at the Japanese Grand Prix after being beaten to second place by Nico Rosberg.
Vettel got the jump on Rosberg when he was forced wide by Lewis Hamilton at Turn 2 on the opening lap and was able to build a gap to the Mercedes driver in the opening stint thanks to the Williams of Valtteri Bottas between them. In the second stint, Rosberg pitted on lap 30, at which point Ferrari brought in Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to successfully undercut Bottas in the battle for third.
A storming out-lap from Rosberg followed as Vettel pitted the following lap, with the Ferrari driver narrowly beaten to Turn 1 out of the pits by the Mercedes driver. Though he was not blaming Ferrari, Vettel conceded he and the team underestimated the pace Rosberg would have on fresh rubber.
"Well I think we thought we were safe because the tyres were in reasonable shape but I think Nico was a surprise, the pace he had on the out lap," Vettel said. "So I was very happy with the in lap which came at the same time but it was just a question of a couple of tenths in to Turn 1 and he just had the upper hand.
"Then it was clear it would be difficult because he was catching before and also the fact that Lewis disappeared. They had a bit more speed today, had we pitted one lap sooner I think it could have been more interesting and challenging for Nico to get past - it's not so easy here to follow the cars through the high-speed sections so I think we had a good chance but probably underestimated the out lap that he had."
However, Vettel says that moment should not get in the way of another strong result for Ferrari behind Mercedes.
"With hindsight it's always easy, so nevertheless I think it's a great day. A good recovery, Friday was not that good for us - I know it was wet but still the feeling we got was not that great - and Saturday morning as well but a good qualifying and obviously that was the base for another podium today."