)((163.jpg)
Question: Sebastian, never an easy day at the office here in Malaysia but as you told the team on the radio, ‘I love coming to work’, and when you take home the win it is hardly surprising.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah I guess so. Another great day. The start was crucial. I thought I had a really good start and then I saw Lewis lining up behind me quickly. Then I was surprised going into turn one as all of a sudden I saw something black in my mirrors. I knew it was a Lotus and then I realised it was Nick. Obviously for the first stint it was a good thing to happen as I could pull away lap by lap. I think the grand prix was different to what we saw two weeks ago especially with tyres going off. On the one side you do not want to be the first in as the shorter you get the more stops you might have to do in the end, but on the other hand if someone goes in he has the advantage on new tyres and might undercut you. I think it was quite difficult and it was tight with Lewis but I always had a couple of seconds in hand so we could control that – but still it was never easy until the last stint. Lewis had a problem, I don’t know what happened to him but I realised Jenson was behind and I could comfortably control the gap so with not too many laps to go it was quite good. Very pleased as I said. I love what I do and I don’t think I can be happier at this stage.
Question: Sebastian, never an easy day at the office here in Malaysia but as you told the team on the radio, ‘I love coming to work’, and when you take home the win it is hardly surprising.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah I guess so. Another great day. The start was crucial. I thought I had a really good start and then I saw Lewis lining up behind me quickly. Then I was surprised going into turn one as all of a sudden I saw something black in my mirrors. I knew it was a Lotus and then I realised it was Nick. Obviously for the first stint it was a good thing to happen as I could pull away lap by lap. I think the grand prix was different to what we saw two weeks ago especially with tyres going off. On the one side you do not want to be the first in as the shorter you get the more stops you might have to do in the end, but on the other hand if someone goes in he has the advantage on new tyres and might undercut you. I think it was quite difficult and it was tight with Lewis but I always had a couple of seconds in hand so we could control that – but still it was never easy until the last stint. Lewis had a problem, I don’t know what happened to him but I realised Jenson was behind and I could comfortably control the gap so with not too many laps to go it was quite good. Very pleased as I said. I love what I do and I don’t think I can be happier at this stage.
Click Here to Read More
Formula 1: Pole Sitter Sebastian Vettel Wins Malaysian Grand Prix
Formula 1: Malaysian Grand Prix - Race Results
Video: Hamilton & Alonso Hit With 20-Second Penalties at Malaysian Grand Prix
Question: Sebastian, defending champion and two wins out of two in your defensive year. I would imagine you are feeling very positive going through to China now – or is there a renewed threat from McLaren?
Sebastian Vettel: Well I mean first of all we can be happy today and enjoy and try to take that momentum into the next race. As you said two races, two out two is perfect, couldn’t be any better but there is still a very long way to go. The championship is far away. There are a lot of points still to get so we have to keep our feet on the ground. At the moment things are looking good. I think we worked hard over the winter so if that is the reward then I think there is no problem putting even harder work in. I am very happy with that and tomorrow starts China and we see how we get on there.
Question: Sebastian, what a start to the season. Your 12th win and I think it is four wins in a row if we count last year as well.
Sebastian Vettel: I don’t know. I don’t count. I think it is better not to. Yeah, very good result. I was very pleased with yesterday’s result especially as we knew going into qualifying it will be tight and we expected similar in the race so the start was very important. Again thanks to the boys, thanks to the team. I think it shows how – I mean we had some bad experience two years ago so we don’t need to do that again –important KERS is and it saved our life today at the start. I was focussed on Lewis behind me and all of a sudden Nick was there so it was quite funny in a way. I had to defend a little bit into Turn Two, focus on a good exit which was crucial as then I was ahead and could use the first stint to build up a little gap. I think we were a little bit quicker than the Renault, which was behind, or the Lotus. Then I tried to take that gap into each stint. It was a bit of a luxury situation as we could wait for other people to do the stop. Of course, they were closing then as it is quite powerful. If you change tyres you come out and you are much quicker than the guys out on the circuit with the used tyres, But with a couple of seconds in hand we had this luxury so there was no need to panic. Coming in first, especially the first stint, it started to drizzle quite heavily and I was surprised. It didn’t have a really big affect on the handling and the grip level but still there were drops on the visor and you could even smell it. It was quite big. Then it started to get less and it was not a problem anymore. When you come in for your first stop and you know it is drizzling around turn five-six-seven-eight then you just pray for the rain to stop as other people might stay out, one or two laps, and they get a free stop as it starts raining. It was tight. All in all I think it was a difficult race today. As Jenson said you never knew how hard to push, how hard to save your tyres. Everyone was trying to do the same. I think there was a lot to learn today and a lot to take into the next race but for today very, very happy obviously.
Question: The only time you did seem to lose a little bit of time was to Lewis in the second stint. Did you have a problem with the tyres?
Sebastian Vettel: Not really. As I said we had a decent gap. He pitted earlier than Nick and earlier than us and I think he went to another set of options after his first stop. As I have just tried to explain it is very powerful and I think we were stopping at the right time in the first stint but tried to push probably a bit longer for the rain whereas he came in and that one lap can make three to four seconds difference. Naturally he caught up and then I was just trying to look after the tyres and look after the gap. He was closing in three-tenths a lap at this stage but we again tried to push that stint as far as we could so I wasn’t worried when he was catching up these couple of laps.
Question: Formula One is a little difficult to understand. In qualifying, some teams are one second slower than in race conditions where everyone is together. Can you comment on that?
Sebastian Vettel: Racing has changed. I think the big secret is to be on top of your tyres all the time. If you told everyone that on lap 11 or lap nine for instance, please go as fast as you can, it would probably look a little bit different. On the other hand, you try naturally to go as fast as you can but also at the same time try to look after your tyres, trying to predict what is going to happen. Obviously, you know strategy-wise what is your sort of plan, how many laps you need to achieve etc etc. There are a lot of tactics going on. Sometimes you’re holding back, other times you’re pushing flat out, so, therefore, I think the gaps between the cars, how quick people go, who’s quickest on whatever lap might change quicker than what we are used to seeing. I think that’s one of the biggest reasons, from my point of view.
Question: Sebastian, halfway through the race, your engineer asked you not to use KERS any more. First of all, what was the problem and secondly it seemed from that moment on you were half a second quicker per lap?
Sebastian Vettel: That didn’t work, then! Yes, correct, at some stage he told me not to use KERS, then we activated it again. I don’t know what was the problem. Obviously, something was wrong, otherwise, as I have said many times, it’s lap time. Obviously, as I tried to explain before, I think it’s very difficult to read the true pace. At some stage, in the third stint, I think, so my last stint on options, I was lapping a second a lap quicker than Lewis for two or three laps, I think. At that stage, I don’t think I used KERS, I think that’s the time you are talking about. But surely, I can assure you that not running KERS, for us, is a disadvantage. As I tried to explain, we worked very hard and we got it working, but in the race something happened, I don’t quite yet know what it was but we used it for the majority (of the race) and I don’t think pace has anything to do with it… especially turning it off and then going quicker, has anything to do with that.
Question: Sebastian, last year in the first two races you had a technical problem in Bahrain and you gave away a win. In Australia you had a problem with the front brakes. Now you have won two races out of two; how different is your approach to these two races?
Sebastian Vettel: No difference. Obviously, what happened in Australia, what happened here today was good but that’s two out of 19. I can’t calculate as quick as Jenson, but I will take it a bit easier. He was obviously good at maths. Shame he became a racing driver then! Obviously, there’s a long, long way to go. I don’t have to tell you, from the experience that I have: ask Jenson, two years ago, how important it is to have a good start to the season. Ask Michael. I think he had a couple of good starts to the season. Every point you can take on board is important and how important, we’ve seen the last couple of years where the championship has been decided by not much, only a few points, so every point you can take, the better it is. For what we did in Australia, and what we did here, we can be very proud. We have worked very hard and we have a very strong package, but that’s it. Tomorrow, we focus on the next race. I’m sure the boys are very happy but they are already packing up and getting ready for the next one so step by step: there’s a long long way to go, a lot of things can change. We’ve seen within 10 days how the pace can vary. It was much tighter here than in Australia. Some people were already talking of brutal dominance or whatever. I tried not to read anything and we came here and it was completely different. That’s just two races in. I don’t think I need to explain how many things can change. Look at last year. I think Fernando is a very good example. People wrote him out of the championship, he came back, then they wrote him off again, he came back and he was the favourite going into the last race. It will be very similar this year, I guess. It’s all about being consistent and getting your stuff together and making sure you use everything you have.
| 
|