Korean Grand Prix: Pre Race Interview With Sebastian Vettel

Question: Sebastian, I expect you have had a fairly busy week. Tell us about it, well not even a week, five days.

Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, we had a very busy Sunday to be honest. After the race there were a lot of things to do but once we got beyond that and once I found myself in the bar with the boys we enjoyed that night very much. We had a very good time. Did some karaoke, which I think is traditional in Japan. It was a very good night, very special, and after a couple of drinks everyone was quite happy so we definitely had a good time and it was quite special as some time in the night Michael [Schumacher] came as well and joined us and we had a couple of drinks together. I think after he came I felt much worse as I started mixing a little bit, which wasn’t the best strategy. No, all in all, it was a fun night. We continued going straight to Tokyo. I had an event there with Infiniti and saw a lot of fans there so it was good. We weren’t as fit as usual maybe, so still quite tired but it was quite a nice day as well. Tuesday, I had a bit of time for myself and allowed myself to let things sink in a little bit more. I had a good time in Tokyo and then got here yesterday.

Question: So the second World Championship, has it sunk in as the first one jumped up on you? This one has crept up on you more?

Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, it is obviously a big difference. I think last year we did it the last minute and we always kept believing and got it done in the very end of the championship. We never led the championship. This year it has been a different story. We led it from start to finish so it is obviously a different year. Even though it was likely and the championship got closer and closer in the last coupe of races we always tried to focus on that particular race. In some ways when I crossed the line, of course we knew we could have done maybe a little bit better and always you have the freshest emotions in your head and we knew what we could have done better for that race on Sunday. We got beaten by Jenson (Button) and Fernando. We would have loved to win, but we are out again this weekend and try to get another win. Surely the championship in that regard is decided bit it doesn’t change anything to our approach really.

Question: Sebastian, Stefano Domenicali said in the future you could accept Sebastian in Ferrari. is it true? And do you think that Ferrari has the ability to manage two World Champions in the same team?

Sebastian Vettel: Well, I think, I mean I have a contract as well. I am very happy where I am. I think we have just won the second title together, now we are focused on the Constructors’ championship and not really thinking what is happening in, I don’t know, five or six years. As I said I am very, very happy where I am and I think if you look in everyone’s face in our team we are having a good time, we are very competitive, we are very focused when it comes to racing. But the proof of last Sunday was we also know how to have a good time so I am very happy.

Question: Sebastian, have you and the team already analysed what the problem was with your tyre wear, because it was much higher than at Ferrari and McLaren?

Sebastian Vettel: Maybe Lewis had even a little bit more? It’s true that in other races we always had - in a way - the luxury to go maybe a lap or two longer but had to pit for strategy reasons, so we were never really limited by tyre wear, whereas in Suzuka we were the ones pulling into the pits first - well, Lewis was - we were quite early, earlier than we expected and earlier than we wanted and we suffered more degradation than we thought, especially after the strong performance we had on Friday. We have a couple of ideas. Obviously on Sunday everything turned out to be a little bit different. You know the race is long, so you have to look after the car and not only the tyres as well. I think, to some extent, we understand why tyre wear was more excessive than we thought, or we need to come here and confirm that I think we have another good chance in that regard, to understand more about tyres as the tyre approach for this weekend is very, very aggressive. So I’m not sure how many stops we will see but surely more than two, maybe even up to five. I don’t know - we don’t know yet. It all depends tomorrow - on the other hand, if it’s wet, it doesn’t really give us an idea, so we could be surprised on Sunday, we will see.

Question: Sebastian, I’m just wondering if you could tell us what you sang at the karaoke on Sunday, and also, if you’ve had a chance to explore South Korea

Sebastian Vettel: You wanted to know which songs? We had Yellow Submarine, Hey Jude, My Way - no Japanese songs, our Japanese is not so fluent. I think the funny thing is that whereas I might usually be quite in control of not showing the German accent too much, I think after a couple of drinks it was quite obvious where I come from. It was a fun night and then, as I said, I spent a day in Tokyo on Tuesday and came here yesterday, so I didn’t see much of Korea. I think really to judge the country you have to go up to Seoul which I have heard a lot of good things about. It should be a nice city. It’s a shame that we are so far away. Obviously it’s a bit different down here, a bit more quiet but tomorrow we start the engines again and we will create our own action.

Question: You keep saying that you’re going to keep trying, to win some races and to keep on winning; I was wondering how hard it is to still have motivation when everything is done. Racing for fun can’t be as good as winning when races count.

Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I think we love racing and I think the moment you come to a race thinking that it doesn’t really matter where you finish it’s the moment when you should probably stay at home. Of course, the championship was the ultimate target. Reaching that, before the end of the season, is not usual, but nevertheless we come here with pressure, even if people don’t put pressure on us as usual or as much as usual, we put pressure on ourselves because we love racing, we will enjoy racing as usual, but we will make sure that we do the best we can and we will not be happy leaving this track knowing that we could have done better. That’s what I said: the approach will remain the same. This has been a tough venue for me last year, we have been in very good shape until ten laps to the end, so obviously there is still something to be done. Obviously I’ve never been on the podium and I’m looking forward to a good race but first of all we need to focus on Friday to prepare our car as much as we can, to be in good shape. I think that’s for the whole team, we’re not lacking motivation.

Question: Sebastian, last year the track was nearly ready for the Grand Prix, have you seen any improvements to the track this year and are you happy with them, if there are any?

Sebastian Vettel: I think generally there hasn’t been a lot going on since we left, but they obviously made some changes, for instance, at the last corner they moved the wall so it’s a little bit better to see, a bit easier for us. The pit entry becomes a bit more visible - things that were a little bit borderline last year are a bit better this year but other than that… The circuit was ready just in time last year. Obviously they’ve had a year break to finish everything if there were some things still to be finished. As I said, it looked unchanged in many ways. I don’t know how much racing has been going on so for sure we will see a lot of track improvement throughout the weekend.

Question: There’s been a lot of talk about races, but since you’re in Korea, I would like to ask a question that is specific to Korea. The Korean interest in motor sports is not that high, unfortunately, so a lot of the F1 driver hopefuls are struggling to become professional drivers. Sebastian, Fernando and Lewis, you all became World Champions despite difficult conditions so can you say a word of encouragement to F1 hopefuls in Korea, based on your experiences?

Sebastian Vettel: As you described, I think it’s the same for all of us. We know pretty well what is going on in our own countries in terms of what possibilities there are because we’ve run through the system ourselves, therefore it’s hard to judge what’s going on over here. I think that generally we are very open for new races to come onto the calendar, so this one was spectacular in terms of the race we had last year. Unfortunately, as I said, I think there’s a lot more going on in the area around Seoul, there are a lot more people. Down here it seems to be a bit too quiet but we obviously hope that our appearance here helps the interest in motor sport in this country and therefore maybe the chance that one day we will have a Korean driver in Formula One. I came across a couple of kids - not many to be honest - from Korea, one or two, I remember, I forgot the names, a little bit hard to pronounce for us. There’s nothing that speaks against a Korean driver but I think it’s a bit difficult to judge, as we don’t know really, especially in karting, how much support there is and how much opportunity there is for people here.

Choose a Newsfeed