Sebastian Vettel hopes his recovery from 20th to P2 at German Grand Prix can help Ferrari push on after a tricky season.

The Scuderia appeared to have the fastest car through practice but wouldn't show it in qualifying as first Vettel in Q1 and then Charles Leclerc in Q3 fell victim to reliability problems.

On Sunday, however, the four-time world champion made his way steadily through the pack and pounced in the closing laps to earn a well-deserved podium.

“Starting last today, I think I was very excited about the race in these conditions," he said via Crash.net. "The race turned out a lot crazier than I thought beforehand, but yeah, very happy obviously for the team, first of all.

“I think it’s a tough period for us. We’re pushing very hard, we are doing mistakes, we are not where we want to be. But I think we need to keep believing in ourselves and our abilities and our strengths, and I’m confident our days will come.

“Obviously today very happy for myself, home race, it was great to see the crowd, especially in the end, every time I passed a car they were like really excited. I really did enjoy that.

“Crazy race, a lot of decisions to make, a lot of communications between the car and the pit wall, but I think we stayed calm and tried to do the best at the time, most of the time we were right, some of the time we were wrong, but we kept it clean and that was the key."

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Last year, Ferrari was also very strong at the next three circuits upcoming on the calendar at Hungaroring, Spa and their home race at Monza.

And with the optimism that a result like that at Hockenheim can bring, Vettel is keen to use it to make progress going forward.

“I think in this period it’s very important that we keep the morale and the support in the team,” he stated.

“From the inside that is happening, from the outside, I hope that is happening as well.

“I know the Tifosi are behind us but sometimes the headline can shift either way so it’s important that we keep the support because I think things are moving.

"We are working very hard, and when it comes to passion, we put a lot of effort and a lot of hours in, people are very determined and impatient as everyone else to get the results finally but it will take a little while.

“We know what we have to improve and that’s what we are working on, but in the meantime, I hope that people are a bit patient and give us patience and time. So in that regard it feels like a small victory.”