Sebastian Vettel says he pitted late in the Hungarian GP in the hope that his rivals' tyres would drop off - they never did.
In fourth place as the laps counted down, Vettel surprised many when he ducked into the pits for a new set of fresh rubber on lap 59 of 69.
The late stop, though, was not because of a tyre issue but rather it was in the hope that his rivals would suffer just that and that Vettel would then have the better rubber.
They didn't and he finished fourth.
"We thought we'd try something in case their tyres fell off the cliff, but it wasn't the case. We'll try again next time," said the Red Bull racer.
Vettel's efforts on Sunday were also undone by Jenson Button as the German found himself stuck behind the McLaren and losing ground to the front runners as he struggled to overtake.
Once Button pitted, the reigning World Champion's pace was evident as he put in some quick laps to ensure that when he pitted Button would no longer be an issue.
However, the lost time proved to be too much as Vettel was not able to close in on the trio ahead.
"It's probably not the result we could have had today, our speed was a little bit better than that.
"Obviously Jenson was quite slow and there we lost quite a lot and we couldn't just pit and come out in clean air because there was traffic. There's not much we could do."
Vettel remains third in the Drivers' Championship on 122 points, 42 behind Championship leader Fernando Alonso.
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