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Question: Mark, an eventful race for you. You lost ground at the start and then again to Fernando during the race. How did you make your comeback?
Mark Webber: Yeah, it was eventful wasn’t it. The start wasn’t that easy out of that side of the grid, which we probably expected a little bit. But it is not the end of the world as we have seen the last race starting 18th, it doesn’t really matter if you are on the dirty side or whatever, even if you’re at the front. I spent a few laps trying to clear Nico (Rosberg), which is obviously not ideal and Seb got a bit of a gap. I was then a little bit on the back foot from there. I cleared Nico and the guys pitted me a bit earlier than I expected, as I knew that the undercuts were coming into play and clearly there was a gap for us to come into. That’s the way it went. We made our bed in terms of our strategy from then on. The fight with Fernando in the middle of the race was a little bit unexpected. He drove fantastic today. It was a good fight. Both of us used the DRS to get the moves done, so that was part of it, but the tyres play a huge role. In the end I had a fresher set of tyres from qualifying and got the job done on Fernando and that was it really. Congratulations to Seb: another victory. He is on a roll obviously but this is the maximum I could get today.
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Formula 1: Victory From Pole at Turkish Grand Prix For Dominant Sebastian Vettel
Formula 1: Turkish Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: There were a lot of multiple phase overtakes today, passes lasting several corners. What was that like?
Mark Webber: I just think it is the way the circuit is on that last sector there. You try to get into the braking for 12 and then the guys can either run round the outside at 13 and then you have to try and have the rhythm or the line correct even to open the next lap. That is the reason why it is like that around here.
Question: Mark, tell us about the start, were your worst fears realised?
Mark Webber: Yeah, it was, but no panic these days. It’s a long race, last year’s regulations and years before, when passing was very very difficult - yeah, you might be panicking a bit more but no huge panic. Good start from Nico and yeah, he was struggling in the first few laps. Obviously then Seb got the nice cushion and the gap and it’s a bit like in tennis or squash, when you have the ball in control of what you want to do, Seb drove a great race and then when you’re in control of the manipulation round the stops it’s an accumulation of making life easier, so it worked out well for him today. I got the maximum I could, really. I would have not liked to have had the fight with Fernando earlier in the race, middle part but again, he drove a very good race and we had a little bit on there with Fernando using the DRS eventually to execute a move coming close to me. That was good and then at the end of the race I could come back. Obviously I had a slightly better set of tyres than Fernando did which is very important these days. We know the tyres are virtually everything and I arrived back on him and thankfully returned the favour. I was saying to myself ‘I can’t finish third having started eighteenth on the grid and then finished third having started on the front row.’ So I needed to finish second, so thank God we did that. The guys did a great job all weekend, maximum result for the team, so we can’t do much more than that as a team. Yeah, wasn’t a bad car race, I think. I’ll have a look at it on telly, see what it’s like.
Question: Do you think you could have fought for the win if it hadn’t have been for the gap at the start?
Mark Webber: Would have been difficult to beat Seb today. It would have made it easier, of course. When you get that four or five second buffer, probably four seconds, Nico was doing his race and that’s fair enough. Could have made a cleaner move initially then Nico got me back so in the end, the result is as it deserves to be, I think.
Question: Mark, do you feel that there is somewhere that you can beat Sebastian?
Mark Webber: Yeah, Seb is on top of his game, he’s had a good start to the season, no question about it, nearly the maximum so that’s ideal for the rest of us, but it’s up to us to do the best we can to try and bring this to a stop sooner rather than later. Every driver on the grid has weaknesses, some more than others but it’s up to you to try and interrogate those sometimes when you can and that’s what being in sport is all about. Seb’s off to a great start, the team has done a good job.
Question: Mark, for a driver, which way of reaching the podium is more enjoyable: your Chinese style or this Turkish style?
Mark Webber: Hmm. A lot more people probably enjoyed my China drive than I did, to be honest. I think that when you come up against drivers like Fernando and Jenson and Felipe, Nico, these guys, and you catch them at 2.5s a lap, it’s nice but it’s not very rewarding in terms of how you pass them. These guys have absolutely nothing to fight back with, so it was a podium which of course I took. Of course I had to drive well, consistently on the limit, blah, blah, blah as all the other guys were, but that was the tyres they had. Today was a different type of race. Of course, I was at the front - in the top few - the whole race and it was again, it was just fighting with Fernando, with just one guy. The race in China was fighting with lots of different guys. I had a new guy on the pit board for the Chinese Grand Prix and it was a very tough race for him to start at, so I think he made a much easier job today. Also referring back to the previous question about how the racing is, it’s best I stop there.
Question: If everything goes right, India is all set to host its first F1 race. I wanted your thoughts on a) F1coming to India and b) the pressure of driving in front of a billion people?
Mark Webber: Yes, obviously India has had some big events over the last few years, with the Commonwealth Games and the cricket World Cup - I don’t know which side won the World Cup - yes I do - but I’m looking forward to going out there. Obviously Formula One going there is a big event, it should go smoothly. All of us always love to go to new venues, it’s a beautiful country in many areas, so I’m looking forward to going to experience it and have some of the cricket players come and say hello to us guys.
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