Question: Sebastian, you got the start you wanted today but sometimes staying on the track in the early stages seemed impossible. Holding onto the lead even more impossible.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, indeed, I was struggling a bit in the first stint with the intermediate tyres. Lewis was a bit faster and then I lost it down into turn two. Yeah, quite tricky. He was pushing quite hard and I tried to be on the edge and at some stage I realised it would be too late, so I opened the car as I know the white lines, and in particular the green paint afterwards, is very slippery. It is easy to have a spin and lose the lead. After that the circuit was drying. I think we could maybe have come in a lap earlier, and then on the super softs I was feeling quite good initially but there was quite a lot of drop off. I think it was the same for all of us with the track being quite green. I think both times I would have loved to come in a lap earlier, but it was quite good fun to see all of a sudden both of the McLarens very close again. But then in the last stint I had to let Jenson go. I did feel I had more speed in the car but I had a couple of problems with the brakes and it was difficult to know, 20 laps to go, how the car would be in the end, so I couldn’t push as hard as I would have liked to. But still, second today is an important step. Nevertheless, I think the win was within reach but we didn’t get it. We need to work hard as both of the McLarens are very, very strong in all sorts of conditions, so it is clear now for a couple of races that they have done a step forward and we need to make sure we come back, definitely.
Question: Sebastian, for yourself, not the victory but you do increase your lead in the championship. Is that what matters most at this stage?
Sebastian Vettel: As I said I think the win was in reach today. Not impossible, but that’s the emotions I am going through right now. Looking at the championship it was a good race with a lot of people finishing behind us, except Jenson, so we will see. Still a very long way to go and we see with the races like this especially, how quickly things can change. I think the most important message is that especially McLaren in the last two races were very competitive and we are not happy with that. Surely Jenson is. But we need to come back so we are pushing hard for Spa.
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Formula 1: Jenson Button Nudges Sebastian Vettel to Win Hungarian Grand Prix
Formula 1: Hungarian Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: Sebastian, it just didn’t seem that you had the pace of the McLarens today. Would that be a fair judgement?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I think it is fair to say that. Start of the race I was struggling a little bit on the intermediates. I tried to keep Lewis behind but most important was to move away from the pack behind and build up a gap, so tried to defend and ran a little bit wide into turn two. Opened the car, as it is very easy to do a mistake on the paint. It is very slippery. Managed to stay ahead of Jenson and then pulled away slightly at the end of the stint. Arguably we maybe should have come in a lap earlier. But both times then on the super soft I was feeling reasonably confident in the beginning of the runs. Tyres saw some wear but it was the same for everyone. But then in the end of the stint I was struggling to keep up with Jenson. Second stint I think overall was a little bit better. I was able to change a little bit the car during the pit-stop. Both times I think a lap earlier could have helped us a bit and it would have gained us some time. We have to look into that, but, all in all, I think the last stint I felt the pace was there. I had some issues with the brakes and Jenson wasn’t slow either. He was still some three or four seconds ahead at that stage, so first of all I have to close the gap and then overtake him and if you don’t have the confidence it was more important to bring the car home. I think the pace was not so bad but fair to say Ferrari in race pace and McLaren for the last couple of events seem to have made a good step forwards. We need to have a look at why but then we need to look at ourselves as I think there is plenty of stuff to learn and things we can improve without looking at the others. That has to be the target for the next race and for the second half of the season.
Question: There’s still a long way to go, isn’t there?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, there is. Today I’m not 100 per cent happy because I started from pole. I had the feeling we could have won the race, but pace-wise it was not impossible. It was a difficult one, especially with the conditions as Jenson said, with the rain, very, very slippery at some stages, many drivers making small mistakes here and there. I saw Jenson nearly lose it two corners from the end. It always depends, obviously but yeah, as I said, not a hundred percent happy. The target is to win and not to come second. Still, I know it’s good points today, everyone except Jenson finished behind us but as you said, there’s a long, long way to go. Always remember, last year we’ve seen how quickly things can change so we need to make sure we see the chequered flag.
Question: Sebastian, at a certain point, when you were fourth, with Fernando and Lewis in front of you who were your most serious rivals for the championship, how were you feeling and do you feel a relief in that regard because you overtook them?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, you should be watching closer. I think my toughest rival is… I think Mark was second in the championship before this race. I don’t know how many points… and I don’t really care and I don’t care in the race, I don’t calculate… I see Fernando ahead of me and he’s on a different set of tyres, obviously struggling so I could get past him fairly straightforward but I don’t think about the championship when I’m racing. I think about trying to win. As I said earlier, that’s why I’m happy but not entirely so. We go out there, we try to get pole on Saturday, we did so yesterday and we try to win on Sunday which we didn’t do today. As I said, I think there has been a chance and we didn’t use it, so we need to look into that. As I said earlier, Jenson scored more points today, other people scored less but that’s not really important. There are still so many races to go so our target has to be to win races and I can tell you that we still feel very hungry, I feel very hungry - hungry in Hungary - to win races, full stop.
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