Question: Sebastian, a very incident packed race. Talk us through that pace car start and the conditions that faced you.
Sebastian Vettel: It was the right decision to start under the safety car. Basically it was okay at some points but at some corners on every lap you were having a lot of aquaplaning. Sometimes less, sometimes more, depending on the rain. It was very, very difficult throughout the whole race. I think we both knew, Mark and I, that we were on the short strategy, so we had to push at the beginning to get away from the pack which we succeeded. And yeah, it was a very difficult race. As I said, a lot of aquaplaning and sometimes you were just catching the car and just keeping it on the circuit. You tried to push and tried to get away from the car lap by lap. I think I had the best conditions because I had no car running in front of me more or less for the whole race, so that was quite comfortable but still it was really difficult with the aquaplaning especially in the last corner. It is going a bit uphill and the water goes down and there is some place where basically you have no control, so you just try not to touch the car there, don’t downshift, don’t brake too much and every lap you had to be cautious. But what should I say. I am extremely happy, second time now in the wet I have won a grand prix. Now we can have some more rain. The car was fantastic. It is definitely necessary to mention that the team did a really, really good job in preparing the car. Yesterday in qualifying we did a good job but nevertheless we were struggling a bit with the reliability but we were able to fix it overnight. We found the problem and that speaks for the quality of our team and everybody was just trying to fix it. We succeeded. Both cars just finished the race and even having a top two. A double win for Red Bull is incredible and I am extremely happy.
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Question: Sebastian, it was also an incredibly strong car. Let’s have a look at lap 19. Can you talk us through this incident on the back straight? I don’t know if Jarno Trulli was going slower than you but you got a nasty punt from the rear from Sébastien Buemi.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I mean I was surprised. I thought this car was Rubens (Barrichello) as I knew he was in front of me. I was just going off throttle to check if everything was alright, I passed him and I really didn’t see that Sébastien was coming. I am very sorry for what happened. To be honest I was just taking care. I didn’t want to run into the car in front of me. Obviously it is impossible to see anything in the mirrors as there is a lot of spray, so I moved to the right, checked if everything was alright and then I realised it was a Toyota and not Rubens and then I continued. And unfortunately Sébastien hit me already. It is a shame for his race but on the other hand I am very lucky to have finished mine.
Question: And it didn’t affect your car at all?
Sebastian Vettel: No, it didn’t. After that I was quite happy that nothing happened. I could continue in a normal way, still it was difficult enough with the conditions, a lot of aquaplaning and I am just extremely proud and happy to sit here now.
Question: Sebastian, let’s have a look at you crossing the line to win your second grand prix. A nice moment?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, unbelievable. Some 10 laps from the end I obviously tried to observe the gap to the car behind, which was Mark, and was trying to adapt more or less to his pace. Just trying to have everything in control but it is extremely difficult. At some point I tried to bring the car home but then I realised ‘don’t do that as you lose the focus,’ so I tried to be really focussed corner by corner and not looking too far ahead. Then at the end, in the last two laps, I backed off a little bit as I didn’t want to risk going over the lakes in a stupid way anymore. So, just fantastic. Winning the second race having won one for Toro Rosso and now one for Red Bull is fantastic. I am extremely happy and hope we can continue working in this direction.
Question: What a fantastic drive. Just give us some indication of what sort of concentration and mental effort is required.
Sebastian Vettel: A lot. It was a long race. I don’t know how long it was. Basically we finished the 56 laps but in terms of time I don’t know. It felt quite long. I think first of all it was the right decision to start behind the safety car. There was a lot of water already on the lap to the grid. I was surprised at how much standing water there was in places and throughout the whole race I think everyone was struggling with some aquaplaning. In some places more and in some places less. I knew we had a short middle stint and an aggressive strategy, so every lap earlier the safety car pulled in would give us more chance to open a gap to the guys at the back. At the point the safety car came in I just tried to push and basically tried to get as much gap to the guys behind as possible which I think was the key to success in the end. Also in the second stint I think we did the right thing. Fantastic strategy, extremely good effort by the team to get both cars reliable after the trouble we had yesterday. To be honest we were quite confident going into the race that nothing should happen but obviously you never know and especially the last couple of laps when I was in the lead and quite comfortable I was just hoping and nursing the car back to the finish line but on the other hand you also always have to keep the focus and not to do any silly mistake as with these conditions having a lot of aquaplaning in some places, especially the last corner, it was absolutely necessary to keep your head up and watch out what the conditions were like. When it started to rain a bit more there was also more aquaplaning and the tyres basically had a peak at the beginning and then it was difficult to keep the tyres alive and towards the end of the stint it was always getting more difficult to get rid of all of the standing water and obviously to come back with the result I am extremely happy to have won the race. I think it is an enormous job by the whole of Red Bull. Greetings to Austria and we are both very happy and very pleased.
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Question: You had the advantage of a clear track having started on pole but were there disadvantages as well?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, when I was not in the lead, basically, especially when I was trying to catch Jenson. It is extremely difficult to see the car in front of you which we all know and that makes it so difficult to get the race started in wet conditions. Sometimes I knew I was behind him as I could see the spray but I did not exactly know where he was, so it is extremely difficult first of all to get close and then stay close and even pass. I think Mark and Jenson had a bit more exciting race in terms of overtaking each other. For me I was quite happy that I always had clear vision to the front similar to last year’s race in Monza, so for sure I had the best chance to do well and at the end it was close sometimes to keep the car on the track especially entering turn one. Sometimes there was kind of a river running down the track and you just lost the car on snap oversteer. You just caught it and you were hoping for the car and the tyres to stick again. In 100 per cent of the cases it did, so it doesn’t feel comfortable to have this kind of situation.
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