Question: Sebastian, an utterly dominant weekend for you. Fastest in qualifying. You totally controlled the race. You must feel great.
Sebastian Vettel: I do. What a race. Obviously yesterday with pole position and I think strategy-wise we were the favourites but first of all you have to do the start. We were pretty confident and had good starts in the past. Not that that was always the case at the beginning of the season, but we were confident of defending the position. But it was closer than I thought it was going to be. Going into turn one all of a sudden I saw a silver arrow on the left hand side and obviously I had the inside and it was my advantage but it was closer than I thought it would be. After that it was head down and try to push every single lap. The car was fantastic. I was able to pull a gap quite quickly, a big one, enough. Obviously with the strategy we were two laps longer than Lewis and a lap longer than Jarno in the first stint, so it all worked out. Until the end I was pretty much in control. I fitted soft tyres for the last stint and second and wanted to have a little bit of fun. I did one very quick lap, I think 32.5, then my engineer came on the radio and said ‘ok, be aware of your tyres. There might be a safety car or something’. Two laps later there was the safety car. Obviously, it is not what you are hoping for when you are in the lead by roughly 10 seconds. But, nevertheless, I was still taking care of my tyres and at the restart I was able to use it. I had a bit of a cushion with Romain (Grosjean) behind me. A very good restart and then three to four phenomenal laps again to build a gap that was safe enough to win the race in the end, so fantastic. As you said, finally we made it. I was screaming on the radio. I think in the last couple of races it was a little bit up and down. Sometimes we had the pace, sometimes we didn’t and yeah, finally we made it, so it is good to be back in first position also on Sunday.
Question: You took a very assertive line down in the middle at the start. Tell us about your tactic there to keep Lewis out.
Sebastian Vettel: First of all the tactic was to get a good start, so I focussed on myself. The pull-away was good and after that basically looking left and right. On the right hand side Jarno, to see if he has a better start than I have and on the left hand side Lewis. Then quickly I noticed I have a decent start, it seems to be good, so I stayed in the middle, where I am. I was ready to go to the inside in case Lewis had a really good start and then try to get to the inside of turn one and two. It wasn’t the case, so I stayed in the middle and all of a sudden he came on the left hand side alongside me nearly. But then I had the advantage going into turn one. Fortunately, apart from that, I didn’t have wheel-to-wheel racing this race. I was hoping for a clean race. Obviously when the safety car came out it is not what you are hoping for but nevertheless the speed of the car was fantastic. The circuit is unbelievable. When I was crossing the line for the last lap I really enjoyed the first sector again. It was similar to those two, like qualifying, every single lap pushing to the limit of the car. In the esses, going uphill, it is fantastic, especially when the car works that well around here. It is great, so I really enjoyed myself today.
Question: Sebastian, you’ve taken the championship on to the last two races. Sixteen points behind the leader but as Lewis knows to his cost from two years ago when Kimi Räikkönen closed that margin down, it can still be done. What are your thoughts on the last two races?
Sebastian Vettel: You said it all. It can still be done. It is looking much better now. It would be nice to have a couple more races left, but two races to go. We are here to fight and the best thing we can do is win like we did today. I think we have a great car, still improving, the boys back in the factory are pushing very hard. We will see what we can do. We will focus on us, on ourselves, and simply try to win. Whatever Rubens and Jenson are doing it is in their hands, so I will keep on pushing.
Question: All the drivers have said this weekend ‘what a great circuit.’ What does it mean for you to win on a circuit that all drivers respect so much?
Sebastian Vettel: To be honest I came into the last lap and I was regretting a bit that it was over. I was enjoying the first sector for the last time. Fantastic. Obviously I had clean air the whole race, so I was able to push at my own pace just be aware of the tyres all the time. I didn’t want to run into something funny, so I was listening to the tyres, to the car, but simply fantastic. This circuit is amazing. If you get 53 laps in a row you appreciate it even more. It is made by God’s hands, I would say. It is fantastic, especially when you have a car that works so well especially in all the high speed corners, so fantastic. I am very, very happy. Good points today for the championship. I think it looks a bit better now, so a shame only two races to go. But that’s life. We are here to fight, so let’s see. Anything is still possible as you can see. It can change quickly.
Question: Sebastian, at this stage of the championship, looking back at past races, which are the points that you are most missing now?
Sebastian Vettel: Looking back I think we have had a great season. Obviously, we should have been more consistent in order to fight for the championship right now, it was a little bit too much up and down. Sometimes things didn’t go our way. That’s part of racing, I guess, it happens. We made some mistakes, we’ve had some trouble during the season, it can happen, but obviously when you want to fight properly for the championship, then they shouldn’t happen. But nevertheless, I think it was a very good season so far. The car is fantastic. We had three one-twos, there’s not much more to say. Looking at the championship positions, we could have collected more points, as I said, been more consistent, less up and down. In more than three or four places we had the pace to win and we didn’t, so… Sometimes it goes in your favour, other times it doesn’t.
Question: Sebastian, how do you believe the next two race tracks may suit your car compared to the Brawns?
Sebastian Vettel: Well, to be honest I was a little surprised to see the Brawns struggling here. Generally, a good car is a good car, and as they have proven, especially at the beginning of the season, their car is very competitive. I think we were all a little bit surprised. Looking at us, looking at our car, I think we should be in good shape for the next two races. Brazil is a track we know, Abu Dhabi is unknown for everyone, so we don’t know, but I think independent from the circuit type, we have always been competitive. Just looking at the last two races, we’ve been on totally different circuits: Singapore was rough, bumpy, a street circuit and very low speed and here, high speed. I think especially the parts we got for Singapore and a little bit here again, we made another step forward with our car, so it should be good. I can tell you afterwards.
Question: Sebastian, ten points for you today, one for Jenson (Button); it was like a tailor-made result for you. You haven’t given up the fight even though it was really, really tough after the last race, so what kind of feeling does it give you? How much more confidence do you have regarding the championship now?
Sebastian Vettel: First of all, I’m very happy to be in Formula One. The cars are fantastic, but more so, I’m here to challenge and in the end we want to find out who is the best, the best in one race and the best over the whole season. That’s why I am here, and ultimately that’s my target. As I’ve said many times already, I will fight until the end, until the last breath. It was obviously a good day for us, two more races like this and it’s looking better, but we will see. I think our task from now on is pretty straightforward: we have to push ourselves to the maximum and try to win, get as many points as we can and everything else is not in our hands. You can ask the man sitting next to me (Lewis Hamilton) thinking two years back. I think Kimi had quite a big gap (to Lewis) with two races to go. Everyone said to Lewis it will not be a problem, sitting in one of the most competitive cars, just get a couple of points, but you can see sometimes, as I said before, things just don’t work your way. Anything is possible. The bottom line is that we’re here to fight.
Question: Sebastian, what else can you do to win the championship? What is the next step you can take to win it?
Sebastian Vettel: As I said before, it’s straightforward: win the next two races and then see what the others are doing. We just have to look at ourselves, trying to increase our own performance, get our maximum together, and if that’s good enough to win, that’s very good, if it’s good enough for second we have to finish second and not third, fourth, fifth or not at all. So we will see. The next circuit we know, we were good there last year, this year we go there with a stronger car, so it should be better and the last race in Abu Dhabi is a bit unknown. I’ve driven it on the simulator a bit but it’s difficult to know what to expect.
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