Glass half-empty for Ferrari's Arrivabene

SILVERSTONE, England - Sebastian Vettel's third from the 2015 Formula 1 GP on Sunday (July 5) met with more pessimism than optimism from his Ferrari F1 team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.

"I think the glass is half-empty, not half-full," the Italian told reporters.

"We were doing a very good strategy job - the rain was helping us. Had it been dry the result would have been completely different."

WHEN THE RAIN CAME

Ferrari started the race with both its cars on Row 3 of the grid, behind the two Mercedes at the front and the Williams pair on Row 2. With the race starting in sunshine, the first four cars fought their own battle with Felipe Massa leading the first 20 laps for Williams and looking comfortably faster than Ferrari.

Only when it rained, and after Vettel pitted earlier than others for intermediate tyres, did the podium become within reach - although not for Kimi Raikkonen who finished a disappointing eighth.

It was the first time since Monaco in May that a Ferrari driver finished in the top three - even if Vettel won in Malaysia in March and the team has been the closest challenger to champions Mercedes. Asked what the problem was, Arrivabene replied: "We have to discuss it in-house. We were quite slow on the straights without gaining anything on the high-speed curves."

Vettel, a four-times champion who switched from Red Bull at the end of 2014, acknowledged that the result could have been very different.

"Without the rain we would not be on the podium," he said. "It was not a very good weekend for us. We expected to be stronger. I think we were surprised by Williams' pace during Saturday qualifying and on Sunday (when dry).

"I think you could see it was not a good weekend for us because the gap to the top was larger than at previous events."