Q: Sebastian, when you start from P2 and finish the race in P4 something must have gone wrong. What happened?Sebastian Vettel: I wish I knew. It’s a question mark for me as well. I think at the beginning we were in a good way. Then we pitted first and went out on the track again in fourth. That was hard to swallow. From then on the race was decided. From that moment on I tried to save my tyres to eventually be able to attack towards the end of the race, as I assumed that with lower fuel the car would be quicker. But within one lap I was running in heavy traffic which made me lose six seconds, so the podium was history from that moment on.
Q: It sounds like a strategy issue. You started on hard tyres, did a short stint, but then on the softs you were unable to close the gap…
SV: Well, the first stint was so short because we were surprised at how close the others were able to stay near us. So the impression was that if we had stayed out longer the gap would have been even smaller. With the early stop we lost the position but probably saved P4 and valuable points. In the end, we will have to sit down and analyze when everybody was pitting and in what position they were afterwards.
Q: You were told via team radio to go a little slower as there was a problem with the car. What kind of problem?
SV: This I cannot answer at the moment. I just received the order to go slower and then tried to ‘carry’ the car over the finish line.
Q: This race saw many pit stops. For the TV audience it’s great, but how was it for you?
SV: I would not mind stopping more often - if I always stayed ahead of the rest!
Q: Your Montreal race weekend in general seemed a bit mixed …
SV: Well yes, something of that sort. It’s somewhat difficult to accept if you pit in the lead and go back on the track again in P4. This is something that will keep me occupied for a while. I have to find out what happened with the two McLarens and Fernando (Alonso) after they went back on the track again. Obviously they’ve been able to avoid traffic. At that moment I didn’t know what the challenge was as I was not sure whether they would pit again. But after three laps it was clear and from then on I had two options - either pass them all or just accept it as an unlucky day.
Q: Was it a race that was lost because of strategy?
SV: We will have to analyze that. I still believe that our strategy was good. But obviously the others found a slightly better one.
Q: You obviously had a minor issue with Force India’s Adrian Sutil. Can you say what it was?
SV: I asked him if he had lost his back mirrors. If they show you the blue flag for two laps, it should be obvious enough. Of course he was in a fight with Nico Hulkenberg but I was at that time still in the position to fight for the podium.
Q: Next stop on the calendar is Valencia. Do you think that you will be stronger there?
SV: I don’t think that we haven’t been strong here. I think that we’ve been faster here than we all thought. It simply was not our Sunday afternoon!
Source: Formula1.com
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