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Question: Mark, you pushed Sebastian very hard but ultimately I guess the start was the decisive part of the race.
Mark Webber: Yeah, that’s right mate. Most of the races are decided as we know pretty much on the Saturday or the first lap. You can follow each other around but eventually… in the old days you could play with the strategy a little bit, change the fuel loads and have a look at going long or a bit shorter. Having a bit of a play, but that is not how it is now. Fair play to Seb. He drove a god race and won the race. We had to manage a few problems through most of the second part of the race. I had a very, very, very hot engine for some reason, so we had to turn the engine down quite a lot. Then it was about really just focusing to keep Fernando out. The safety car brought everyone back, but it was a pretty straightforward Grand Prix. I am absolutely stoked for the guys and girls. I have known a lot of them at Milton Keynes for a long time and for them to be part of this amazing effort, over so many years to come through and get the constructors’ world championship is a phenomenal effort from them. Also everyone who started the programme. Dietrich Mateschitz and everyone who put everything into getting this up and racing against Ferrari and McLaren. At the end of the day we have beaten them fair and square. The rest can say what they want but we have the Constructors’ at the moment and it is a very, very good achievement by the team.
Question: Mark, the team want you to race each other and that means you are eight points behind Fernando instead of potentially one. How do you feel about that?
Mark Webber: That’s the way it is. That’s how they handed the points out today. Go to Abu Dhabi, we have to get a few more on Fernando now. One would be nice but it was not possible today but we go with eight and it is still a big, big chance for me to pull it off, so very exciting. We are still absolutely in the hunt. It was very good for me to come back off a bad race in Korea, so very happy with how I drove all weekend and so I look forward to five days time and getting to the next venue.
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Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Wins Brazilian Grand Prix
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Question: Mark, what about the start and the overheating engine; when did that start?
Mark Webber: The start wasn’t too bad. I had a good run around turn one, on the inside for two and then I lined Nico up. I was waiting for him to brake for four and I thought ‘hmm, that’s going to be a bit deep, I don’t know if you’re going to hit the apex’ and thank God he didn’t and that opened up my race a bit more. Then I thought OK, keeping an eye on Fernando, where he was. I saw in my mirrors that Lewis didn’t have the best first lap and Fernando was there. I was just watching my pit board for a while, to see when Fernando cleared Nico. And then… not much to comment on the race really. After that, as you say, the engine was cooking. I’m not sure… obviously I haven’t talked to the guys yet but obviously we had to short shift and control reliability from there and get the car home. So it was a relatively comfortable race for us. Obviously Seb and I were going OK.
But today’s all about the team, today’s about the team, yeah, nothing else; what they’ve done this year and previous years. People like Adrian Newey, David Coulthard, people who have played a big role in the early days, along with Christian Horner. The list of the people back at base is incredible but we’ve got some soldiers back there like you wouldn’t believe and I would love to be in the trenches with those guys and girls because they do an incredible job for us, because Adrian pushes them very, very hard on the design front. Rob Marshall and his team, all of them; you don’t win a constructors’ championship if you’ve got a car that’s not reliable, so they’ve done a very good job on all fronts. Yeah, we’ve hit a few logs in the river along the way, but this is sport. Today’s all about the team, and I want to thank everyone that’s been involved.
Question: Mark with the constructors’ title now out of the way, and the drivers’ picture pretty clear, if this is the top three going into the final lap in Abu Dhabi, Mark, would you expect Sebastian to do the honourable thing and allow you by, given the occasionally uneasy relationship you two guys have had this season?
Mark Webber: To cut a long story short, I think it depends on how it is on the last lap.
Question: Mark, could you feel anything with the engine, or was it just information from the team?
Mark Webber: Just information mate. Normally they don’t ring us up unless there are issues, so the phone rang… it’s never nice when they have to ask you to manage something. The safety car helped a bit but then very quickly it was back again the first lap after the safety car. I’m not in the best position to answer all your questions in terms of what it was but it was right on the edge apparently, but we got it home.
Question: Mark, given that a win today would have meant that you would have gone to Abu Dhabi knowing that a win would be enough to win the championship, and given that there’s a precedent saying that in the title run-in team orders are allowed, should the team have swapped you and Sebastian?
Mark Webber: It helps but it’s not in the team’s philosophy. That’s how it is. It was a good drive by Seb today for the win and that’s how it is. I think the team’s position has always been on the sporting side and that’s how it is. Obviously Fernando got some points in Hockenheim, which has happened in the past in Formula One and will happen again in the future. Everyone has different ideas, but that’s how it is at the moment, so I will go there and do my best.
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