Question: What a surprise to see you here Sebastian! Another race, another pole. That is four in a row now.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah I mean obviously we did it again but I tried to keep reminding myself and the team as well that every single time it’s tough. I don’t think today was as straightforward as we probably planned, especially in Q2, I didn’t feel 100 per cent comfortable. I had a bit of a mistake in the run I had in Q2. But I was confident and in Q3 we were able to improve by quite a lot. But, as I say, step-by-step. It all starts from zero again. Today we did a good job, one more time, but all that is eight metres tomorrow so we are looking to score some points tomorrow. It will be a long race. I think we can be as happy as we can be with the car, with everything around us. We had very good long runs on Friday so I think we have reason to feel good. But it is also a threat to feel too good. I pay attention so that does not happen and tomorrow is a new day and whatever happened today is not really of much of an importance except that we got a very good spot on the grid.
Question: Sebastian, you sat in the car for two minutes when you finally came into parce ferme before you were given the thumbs up to get out. What was the reason behind that?
Sebastian Vettel: Well it was pretty easy. With the new regulations and the fixed weight distribution the FIA has the chance whenever they want to check that and unless I get a thumbs up and it is okay from an official that I can jump out of the car I have to remain seated. Otherwise, if I do it the other way around I might get into trouble. Maybe I didn’t see him or didn’t see the steward the first time so I ended up waiting and waiting until we clarified and someone said okay it is good to go out.
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Question: KERS will be very important off the start tomorrow. Will you be running it as your team-mate has had a few problems in that sort of situation.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah it’s true Mark (Webber) did not have a good day. Already this morning he had some problems and in qualifying it was quite a shame as I think the car is quick enough. He has had a tough weekend so far so it is a shame that we are not both up there. But I think he improved the last race pretty well from where he was after the first lap so I hope he has a good race. Looking at us our KERS was running and we were using it and we will be using it as well tomorrow from the start. It is important I guess against those two red or silver or whatever guys.
Question: Sebastian, it seems to have been an absolutely perfect weekend for you so far?
Sebastian Vettel: I mean yesterday was very good. I think we had a strong day, no problems with the car and a lot of laps. We are very happy also with the pace we thought we had. Today, this morning, was smooth so compared to last weekend it was better preparation for qualy. In qualy I was reasonably happy, as happy as I can be, with Q1 and Q2. Then going into Q3 we were able to get even more out of the car again and I was very happy with the lap I did. Still it is difficult to judge. Second time this year we were in a good or strong situation with a big gap before the final run, but you never know. You know to a certain extent how much you pushed harder and probably where you gained the lap time to yourself compared to before but you don’ t know how much the others have left. Lewis decided to do only one run so we went back out but as soon as we saw there is no threat we abort the run and came in so we were able to save the tyres a bit. Overall very happy. It is not easy obviously. It all starts again from zero but people tend to forget that. I am very happy with the team at this stage, the way we all remain focussed. I think we did a very good job today. We are happy but tomorrow is a new day so looking forward to that.
Question: We have heard a lot about tyre management overall. Not just looking after the tyres but having enough for the race itself. What’s your situation as we heard from Lewis what his situation is?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I didn’t count. I don’t know how many sets he has left. Obviously he saved a set of options which can be important but the main thing is that you know your tyres are in good shape and I think we did a very good job. We did what was necessary. In hindsight with the qualifying system we have had now for quite a while it is very easy to save a set of tyres and then not making it and then you miss out more than probably starting the race with a set less or a scrubbed set rather than a new set. It is quite a shame for Mark as he was quick. He didn’t really have a smooth weekend. He had some problems. I think in the end it was tight with the timing and he went out on a set of hards, of primes, and as you said tyre management, the way you bring the tyres in, can be important and the hard tyre is probably not as easy as the option. Not much he was missing, but it is shame that we could not have both cars up there but looking at myself obviously very happy.
Question: Sebastian, today this is the third successive pole position in the new season; are you satisfied with all the components of the RB7, including the KERS and the DRS? Do you think there is any more room for the car to be improved?
Sebastian Vettel: Obviously I’m very happy to be on pole position. I think we can be as happy as we can be for tomorrow. As I said, we had a very good run on Friday so yesterday, free practice, I think we were happy with the car we had and with the long runs, also managing the tyres. As I said, we’re as happy as we can be going into the race tomorrow, with all the components on the car including KERS, so I was working without any problems today and yeah, I’m confident we will tomorrow. I think between Malaysia and here we have done another little step forward given that there is only very little time, so I’m looking forward to the race here. As Jenson said, it’s usually quite exciting and a lot of things can happen, so it won’t be an easy race and regarding the improvements on the car, the team is pushing as hard as they can. We brought a few things here. Overseas it’s pretty difficult to react; I think once we go to Europe – I think it’s the same for everyone – then it’s a bit easier to bring the parts, customs are less strict. It makes our life or the team’s life much easier. I think that to stay where we are now we have to keep pushing hard because I can assure you, people like McLaren, Mercedes or Ferrari, for sure they are not resting at this stage, so we have to keep pushing at least as hard as they do.
Question: Sebastian, are you expecting it to be more difficult back in Europe as other teams will have big improvements?
Sebastian Vettel: As I said earlier, we have to go step-by-step. As I said, teams like McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, obviously they are not as happy as they want to be and they are pushing very hard, so to stay where we are, we have to push harder than them to stay there, so we are all aware of that. Since halfway through 2009 we have had a very, very competitive car and we enjoy running at the front but we still haven’t forgotten how it feels to run at the back, not only finishing fourth, fifth, sixth, even further down. That’s Formula One, just as Jenson says, it’s competitive. Sometimes you might be in a comfortable situation, other times it will be very tight and other times you will be behind but then again, there are so many races left and so many things can happen. I can’t predict the future. As I say, I’m happy as I can be at this stage but I can’t predict the future, but I’m confident that we will have good races in the future as well, but first of all, there’s a race tomorrow.
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