Speaking on Saturday, as a second torrid day at Silverstone came to a close, Sebastian Vettel, while discussing his struggle for pace, appeared to hint that the cause of his problems might have more sinister roots.

"Obviously the last two days haven't been good," he told Sky Sports, "and therefore we lost a little bit of momentum. I thought that other than that, the first weekend was trouble, the second weekend didn't really happen, the third weekend was sort of the first smooth weekend and now we're in trouble again. So it's been a bit of a rough start, but you know, there's not much choice.

"I'm determined to hang in there," he continued. "I think the guys are pushing as much as they can. I don't think there's any bad intentions by anyone. So we obviously had some issues yesterday and this morning, but we have to, I guess, at this stage pull through and we'll come out on the other side."

In terms of "bad intentions" amidst speculation that the team has basically 'given up' on the German, he subsequently told Channel 4: "I don't want to accuse anyone of bad intentions... but from my side it was not ideal today."

Of course, he didn't want to "accuse anyone", merely put it 'out there' at a time he and Ferrari are already at odds over the manner in which he was dropped.

Speaking at race end, the German remained baffled.

"The car was very difficult to drive," he said. "I struggled a lot to find my confidence and I don't know why, so we need to have a good look.

"I struggled for so many laps in the race, and it was from the beginning to the end, there's something that probably doesn't stack up.

"It was not a very stressful race," he added. "I just didn't have a chance. People around me were faster than me. I got overtaken. It was very difficult to manage myself to stay on track.

"Physically it was not a tough race at all because I could never attack the car. It didn't allow me to do what I like. Now we need to have a look why and obviously we have the next weekend so we can try and do better."

"If you look at our race today, at least on Sebastian's side, it was a difficult race," team boss, Mattia Binotto told Channel 4. "On his car, we can do a lot more.

"He lost some track time on Friday, which was not helping," added the Italian, Vettel missing FP1 due to an intercooler issue, while time was lost in FP2 due to a brake pedal problem that persisted throughout Saturday.

"He was never confident with the car this weekend," admitted Binotto, "so there is a lot of data to look at, to try to understand and to address it. So while eventually on Charles we will look at the data, and try to optimise and let's see what we can do, there is much to do on Sebastian."

Ahead of the race, sharp-eyed viewers spotted the German elbow-bump Lawrence Stroll as the two passed in the paddock.

Check out our Race Day gallery from Silverstone, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Editor, 04/08/2020 20:50

"@ openwheeler

And as the anti-racism gestures and rhetoric continues… we have this bollocks.

Ignoring your obvious anit-Gre,at Briton bias, I would be grateful if you could go through a few of these little read posts and point to one that is anit-German.

Regular readers will probably be aware that we have a soft spot for Sebastian, like Michael before him.

Take your anit Gre,at Briton bile elsewhere."

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2. Posted by openwheeler, 04/08/2020 20:30

"I understand the frustration of Gre,at Briton formula 1 fans. It must be grating to have a British driver, groomed by a respected British Racing team make progress towards becoming the greatest of all time before he retires in a Mercedes Benz machine. But this anit-German prejudice colors so much of the commentary, not only on these relatively little read posts, but in the regular Sky commentators. Vettel has, to this point in his career, demonstrated not only his driving skill, but his tolerance for this boring bias which attributes his victories to good luck or some sinister machinations and howls with delight at every difficulty he has which is unfailingly attributed to a mistake on his part. My personal favorites among the current field are first Verstappen, second Hamilton, third Ricciardo, fourth Raikkonen and fifth, the other Finn, Bottas. All of them are RACERS. They are smart, hard working and clearly love racin --especially in the wet when conditions separate the men from the boys. None have any patience for ignorant fans."

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3. Posted by Barslug, 03/08/2020 23:37

"Maybe it’s as simple as you are no longer the golden child of the team. You are no longer given preferential treatment and you no longer get the best choice of parts. Basically you are now having to deal with what your teammates have had to deal with for the last decade. Get used to it! "

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Vettel baffled by car performance

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