Sebastian Vettel insists that it would have taken a lot to remove him from the final point-scoring place in the Canadian Grand Prix, even though he admits that he was in probably the most difficult position of anyone in the top eight at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
That the German was even in position to score a point was laudable in itself, however.
Scuderia Toro Rosso had shown potential on the opening day, once Vettel and team-mate
Sebastien Bourdais had got the new STR3 dialled into the Montreal layout, but a disastrous matter of minutes on Saturday morning appeared to have undone all the good work of day one.
Both cars hit the same piece of wall exiting the return leg chicane but, while Bourdais got off relatively lightly after a glancing blow, Vettel destroyed the right-hand side of his car to the point where the
STR crew gave up on the idea of repairing it in time for qualifying. Instead, the German - who had opened the team's 2008 account last time out in Monaco - had to sit out the afternoon's proceedings while a spare car was built for him.
Starting from the pit-lane should have spelled the end of any point-scoring ambitions for Vettel but the unpredictability of the Canadian Grand Prix, combined with a tricky track surface and a solid strategy, allowed him to not only keep in touch with the pack, but also make his way through it, eventually rising to eighth place, but with both a delayed
Nico Rosberg and
McLaren's
Heikki Kovalainen desperate to rescue their weekends with at least a point.
"Starting from pit-lane wasn't easy but, straight away, I was able to catch the field, with a very good pace as the car felt quite good," Vettel reported after claiming his second straight points finish, "I was able to make up a couple of places and then, after the safety car came out, which for sure helped us, we ran a one-stop strategy.
