Interview With Italian GP Winner - Sebastian Vettel
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Sep 15, 2008
Team Red Bull
Question: What were your emotions winning your first grand prix?
Sebastian Vettel: Unbelievable. The whole race we had no problems, the car was working really fine. I had a fantastic race with a very good strategy but all that was gone when I got the chequered flag and crossed the finish line. The lap back to the pits and the whole podium ceremony was just unbelievable. I think for sure this is the best day of my life. These pictures, these emotions, I will never forget. It is unbelievable. It is so much greater than you might think it is. It is great. Again, I can just say a big, big thank you to all the guys working in the team. I think they did a fantastic job. Who might have thought about that at the beginning of the season. We had a poor start but then it got better and better and in these conditions we can make a bit of a gap by staying longer on full throttle. It is great, fantastic. I am speechless.
Question: Talk us through your race and being so much quicker in the speed trap.
Sebastian Vettel: Well, for the speed trap I think there is an explanation. We didn’t go for a more downforce configuration, thinking it might be dry today, so we stuck to the dry level and didn’t touch it, so on the straight lines we were bloody fast compared to all the others. The safety car helped me and being first and having no visibility problems at all was the key and I could make quite a good solid gap of about six to seven seconds to Heikki straight away. Then I was pushing very hard and sometimes went a bit over the limit and nearly lost the car as it was so difficult at the start as there was a lot of water. I think it got trickier when we were in the middle of the race and there was no standing water anymore. I think all the people went left and right looking for some water to cool down the tyres. It was very, very slippery and then in the last stint I was in a very good position. I stayed a bit longer than Heikki and he put on the intermediate tyres, so I was on the radio with my team talking to my engineer and he said ‘it is fine, let’s go for inters.’ I think it was the right choice. What a weekend. A perfect weekend. Pole position, race win, unbelievable. I don’t know what to say really.
Question: What was going through your mind in the closing stages?
Sebastian Vettel: Sometimes I was thinking there is still P1 on my board, how can it be. I am fuelled to finish, there is nothing, no pits stops, so just keep it together. Then I have to say I was extremely focussed every lap. I didn’t lift and try to save the engine or the tyres or anything. Of course I was looking after my car but I was trying to keep attention because especially towards the end when there was kind of a dry line throughout some corners it was crucial to stay on that dry line. Just half a metre too wide and you can be off, so it was extremely difficult to keep up your concentration but in the end I was just trying to push and trying to increase the gap to the guys behind. Unbelievable.
Question: Sebastian, are you sure you are going to quit the team at the end of the season after this victory? And secondly, how are you going to face the pressure that will perhaps include comparisons with Schumacher?
Sebastian Vettel: First of all, about this comparison to Michael. I think first of all you have to realise what this guy achieved in the past. To compare anybody among us drivers - probably Fernando is the closest, he’s a two time World Champion - but to compare anybody to Michael I think is a bit ridiculous. Obviously I’m very young and at a very early stage of my career and therefore I think there’s no need to make a comparison. He’s probably one of the best drivers we have ever seen. I’m proud, in a way, because I know him. He’s a very nice guy and completely down-to-earth. For the future, no matter what happens, first of all next year I am going to race for Red Bull Racing, but I don’t see that it’s a step backwards. Obviously now we have probably been stronger in the last couple of races, we have been stronger than they were but there’s no secret, I think the package is similar. We have been working very hard, I believe, because many people find the excuse in the engine. I believe that we have a strong engine in the back with the Ferrari package, but I don’t think that’s all. In the end, you still have to get the job done and for my future, regarding pressure and so on, I have been in similar situations in the past, obviously not in Formula One as we know, but I’m approaching the next race, and obviously a normal race is difficult for us to win and to repeat this kind of result: pole position and victory but we will fight. People have seen, now, and we have underlined in the last couple of races that we have a strong package, going towards the end of the season, so I hope that we can score some more points. Going into the top ten, last qualifying, I think is still a big success for us as well as scoring some points. I won’t go to Singapore and feel like a hero and the superstar and expect another race win just like that. It’s not going to be like that. Where I come from and how I grew up, I am down-to-earth enough to realise what happened today and to understand the approach for the next races.
