Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel has insisted that claiming second place in the Monaco Grand Prix is a major achievement for his team.

The German edged out Lewis Hamilton into the runner-up spot after the Briton was held up during a pitstop, and finished behind winner Nico Rosberg.

"We were there in the moment when it mattered and able to pip Lewis when he came out of the pits," BBC Sport quotes Vettel as saying.

"When we decided to pit we were a bit too far back but nevertheless, second is a great finish for the team."

Vettel went on to say that Ferrari's choice of tyres made the race challenging, claiming that he had to carefully conserve them to secure a podium finish.

"The thing is these tyres are not made for cooling down and going again," he added.

"Me and Nico saved the tyres earlier because we maybe knew we couldn't attack Lewis too much which helped when we restarted but it was incredibly difficult. After a few laps they warm up but at first it was hard."

Vettel's Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished the race in sixth place.