Sebastian Vettel said there was no way he could have beaten Mark Webber in the German Grand Prix, readily admitting that his Red Bull teammate was too fast today.
Vettel lost ground at the start but eventually got back to second, while Webber overcame a drive-through penalty to score his first win in Formula 1. Although Vettel is ahead of Webber in the championship, he said he could not complain about being beaten at the Nurburgring.
"Contratulations to him -- today he was unbeatable so he totally deserved to win," said Vettel.
"Another one-two finish for the team. I am very, very happy. I would like to say I am very, very pleased with second but yesterday Mark did a better job and that is why he deserved to win."
The German felt his start prevented any chance of challenging for victory, as he fell behind Felipe Massa's KERS-shod Ferrari and could not pass it until the first stops.
"All the KERS cars got past me, I started fourth and then went into first corner eighth," said Vettel. "And then basically I struggled a lot with the soft tyre. There was no way to pass Felipe, he used his special button when I was quite close.
"I was lucky to have the right strategy, in the end it brought us back to the correct position."
Second place still closed Vettel to within 21 points of Jenson Button, who could only finish fifth, in the drivers' championship, as the German moved up to second.