Question: Sebastian, for three quarters of a lap on your first flying lap it looked absolutely brilliant. Then it started to go wrong. Talk us through the latter stages of qualifying?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, Q1 and Q2 were very smooth. I was very happy with the car, no problems. Then in the last qualy, the first lap was brilliant up until turn 12. Under braking I slightly locked the front which was no issue. Then it was very weird as the inside front just kept on locking and never came back. After turn 12 going into turn 13 turning to the right then the wheel started turning again. Then the same thing going into turn 14, the last corner. I locked the inside of the wheel very easily. The car didn’t seem to stop. I just went straight. I did lose a lot of time there. That was quite bad, otherwise I think it should have been easily quite a lot quicker. Then the same thing. I thought ‘ok, maybe I was just a bit late.’ Then the second run I got the confirmation in the first lap, the first turn, when I hit the brakes and I just went straight, so I lost the ability to stop the car properly. Especially the inside wheel, it didn’t do what it was supposed to do. I think there is no question. Q1 and Q2 we were top of the game. Then Q3 we were not anymore which was a bit frustrating. All weekend I felt pretty good, especially today. The car is back to normal, so I was able to push. Then something else turns up. We will see, but it is good to be third. I think we are quite lucky not to be fourth, just for a couple of hundredths just to Jenson. Otherwise I would have had to start from the dirty side. We are on the clean side tomorrow, so let’s see, it’s a long race. But with this year’s regulations and no more fuel pit stops it is a bit difficult to make up places but we will see what we can do.
Question: Sebastian, third on the grid, do you feel that locking brake is something that’s going to re-occur? Is that something that worries you for the race itself?
Sebastian Vettel: We need to see what it was. Obviously it was very strange and I had another run afterwards. I locked the front in the first run at turn 12 in Q3 which was not a problem, you can carry on, but it didn’t stop locking and then as soon as I changed direction and got up to speed again, and then into 14, the last bit where you just need a bit of brakes the same thing happened, I went straight on. Then, obviously, I had the confirmation on the last run: approaching the first corner the same thing happened, so we need to see what exactly happened. I think there’s no question that before that we were quite comfortable and quickest in Q1 and Q2, so we need to see what it was. We can’t change it now, the story is written. It’s still good to be in P3 with a horrible last sector on the first run but, yeah, I think in the end we are a bit lucky not to be fourth. Still, we need to understand why - what exactly happened?
Question: And up until then you had been so happy with your new chassis.
Sebastian Vettel: Yes, definitely, I think we made a big step forward. Apart from the chassis we had a couple of other things we found that possibly let us down. Obviously in Monaco we finished second but at some stage we lost more than a second to Mark, so that was obviously too much and I think that for the whole of this weekend it was quite a bit better, especially today, so back to normal but when it counted today it didn’t all come together, so we need to see why.
Question: Sebastian, does your brake trouble look like the same problem you had in Malaysia, Australia or in Spain, or is it different?
Sebastian Vettel: In Australia I had no real chance to carry on. In Barcelona it was something completely different. I don’t know what it was. We need to see. It was just strange. It’s not a big deal if you lock up the front left going into 12, this is what all the guys do; it’s just a question of why it felt so weird from the inside and then obviously into 13, I lost a little bit but then again in 14 it didn’t work and I just went straight as if something is wrong. I thought that at this stage OK, maybe I just made a mistake. I have to do it again, but then on the second lap in Q3 arriving at turn one the same thing happened, so I was not able to stop the car as well as I usually could, so then the front left locked again, didn’t come back and I just went straight and I had already lost a lot of time. Obviously the second run in Q3 was done.
Question: Sebastian, you used to qualify in front of Webber and in the last few races you were always in the back…
Sebastian Vettel: Pretty bad, isn’t it? In the back… we’re still third.
Question: What’s your interpretation for that? You have always had problems to justify it or maybe you have to admit that Webber is faster than you at the moment?
Sebastian Vettel: Well, I think if you look at all the races, I think we have always qualified in the top three so far, which I think is not too bad. If you take the last two races in particular, Barcelona and Monaco, I think it’s difficult to say, looking back, how much we lost because of potentially the chassis being damaged or other things going on in the car which we didn’t want to. I’m not the type of guy who just says the car was broken and then that’s it. I always try to do my best and if I’m too slow I try to do better. But nonetheless, I think if you look today, Q1/Q2 is a pretty straightforward answer. We were quick enough and then in Q3 for some reason we lost it. As I said, we need to see why. Obviously if you look at the whole picture… you mentioned every race is its own story, so we need to see what happened here and then we will see what we can do tomorrow. I think the pace should be very good.
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