After reliability issues in Bahrain and Australia, Red Bull finally unlocked the RB6’s true potential over the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend. From Mark Webber’s spectacular pole position to Sebastian Vettel’s superb victory on Sunday, the team dominated in Kuala Lumpur. Vettel reviews his race, explains how he managed to move ahead of Webber at the start and looks ahead to the next round in China…Q: Even though your team mate was on pole, you ended up winning the race…
Sebastian Vettel: In qualifying Mark had the poker face, and truly deserved pole position. For me, the most important thing was to have a good start. I was patient and tried to avoid wheel spin, which was the right thing to do. Then it was a long sprint towards Turn One where I used Mark’s tow and was able to dive in from the inside. But amongst team mates you are always a bit more careful - it does look very stupid on TV if you crash into your team mate’s car. In the end I think both of us tried to respect each other. During the race Mark was behind me all the time and kept pushing me, trying to push me into a mistake. There were stages when he was quicker, and at other times I was quicker. But in the end, when you are leading you are able to listen to your tyres, dictate your own pace and also react to what the guy behind is doing.
Q: At the start, did your intuition take over or was it a planned strategy?
SV: For me basically everything is more about intuition. Of course you can plan for any kind of situation, but looking back you realize that you just react to what is going on around you. You concentrate on the lights at first, and once they go off, you try to get away as quickly as possible. As Nico (Rosberg) mentioned, he pushed a bit too hard. I did the opposite, knowing I was on the dirty side of the track. I gave it a little time and pushed the throttle with patience. Coming down into Turn One, I came out of the slipstream, and then had to decide when the right time to attack was.
Q: Were you concerned about your car’s reliability at any point?
SV: Not really. I might have thought that I was really happy with the car and prayed that it would last for the next 20 laps. But there are so many other thoughts. I would say that we have proved what our car can do when it holds together. And to be fair, the failures that we had at the first two races were very rare and unlucky.
Q: It’s looking very tight in the driver standings at the moment. Do you think it will stay so tight all season?
SV: Yes for sure. We have seen how quickly things can change from one race to another. We had the pace this weekend, and we deserved this result especially after the first two races. It feels good to be back. Even though we don’t need this kind of motivation in the team, as everyone loves what they are doing. But still, these results remind you why you are here.
Q: Towards the end of the race, you tried to lap Lotus's Jarno Trulli but you suddenly held back…
SV: There was a yellow flag out, because Fernando (Alonso) had pulled off the track. Under yellow flags you are not allowed to overtake, but then Jarno was slowing down to allow me to pass. That was quite a critical situation, as I had to pace myself until the green flag was out again. Of course, in terms of the race, it would have been more exciting if the gap between Mark and myself was closer, but I had a good lead so I had the luxury of being able to waste a few seconds.
Source: Formula1.com
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