Vettel bemoans early Monaco exit

Running fourth early on, the Chinese Grand Prix winner held up the pack for 11 laps before finally giving up on the green-walled Bridgestones, having lapped as much as three seconds slower than championship rivals Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and also Kimi Raikkonen's third-placed Ferrari.

Once onto the prime tyre, Vettel began to push harder in his Red Bull, but six laps later clattered the barrier at Turn 1 while running in 13th position.

"Not much to tell, I was braking maybe a little bit too late, locked the rears, lost the car and hit the wall," Vettel told the BBC. "Of course we lost a lot of time already in the first stint, being on the wrong tyres.

"We thought that those tyres would work with a short stint anyway. But they didn't."

"Of course it is disappointing," he added. "Sometimes this happens and in Monaco you make a little mistake and you have to pay the price."