Sebastian Vettel: F1's ever changing map - interview

Shortly before his run to pole position at the European Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel, F1 world champion, answers a few questions about winning, losing and gadgets he doesn’t have...

by Matt Youson on Jun 26, 2011

Few drivers have ever looked as secure as Sebastian Vettel after seven races of the F1 World Champion. Nevertheless, after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Canada, and with a potentially unhelpful tweak to the technical regulations coming in for the European Grand Prix, questions are being asked about how robust Vettel’s position really is.

Seb, as usual, seemed to find the whole thing very amusing as he sat down with the press before securing yet another pole position as Red Bull Racing locked out the front row of the grid in Valencia.

So Seb, are you worried about the new regulation that bans a change of engine map between qualifying the race on Sunday?
SV: Not worried at all. I think it’s something everyone was playing around with. Yes, I think it makes a difference to everyone but I don’t think it makes a bigger difference to us than other people. I think it will be the same for all the teams.

Even if it doesn’t affect your pace in the race, might it affect your pace in qualifying?
SV: We had some phases last year where people thought we have a lever in the car and it turned out we didn’t. I was asking myself whether we did, only nobody told me! So maybe I should ask myself whether we have something special again this year – but from what I know, I can assure you there’s nothing special changing between Saturday and Sunday.

Why are McLaren closer to you in the race than in qualifying?
SV: Hmmmm… I don’t know – maybe they have a reason why they are over-performing in the race compared to qualifying. We’ve had some races that have been very straightforward for us with good race pace, and others where we felt we had underperformed. It’s difficult to rate our true race pace because it depends a lot on the track, the conditions and how the race unfolds.

Business as usual this weekend?
SV: Ah, we’ll have to wait and see. It’s a long way to the finish. We can’t afford to simply do our jobs and expect everything to be fine, we have to push as hard as we can. As I’ve said before, there are going to be races where you really struggle and the most important thing is to not forget why we’re here.
This track is usually difficult for us, but we’ve had a very competitive car everywhere so far – so that makes us reasonably confident. Canada shouldn’t have suited us, but we were very good in the dry conditions there too.

A few races ago you said a moment would arrive where Red Bull Racing needed to have the KERS working because other teams would be getting closer. Has that moment arrived?
SV: Yes. If you look at the last three races, I haven’t been cruising around, quite the opposite. I’ve been leading but have been attacked all the time: it’s no secret that I haven’t always had KERS available. Just by looking at the projected lap time benefit, you’re talking about three to five tenths – that makes a big difference.

Will we see a bit more overtaking in Valencia this year?
SV: Yeah, I think so. In some places we’ve seen the DRS can be very powerful. Arguably at some places it was too easy to overtake. It depends largely on the track, how many zones you have and how long the zone is.
At tracks like Monaco, I think the difference was fairly small, whereas in Canada or Turkey, we had a lower speed corner and then a very long straight and arguably overtaking was too easy. Of course we are still playing around with all the new systems we have, especially the rear wing. But I think here it will be a big help.

With a bit of time to reflect, how do you feel about the result in Canada?
SV: I can see people were very excited, but it was pretty straightforward! The race presented plenty of opportunities to make a mistake or to get something wrong. In hindsight I think we did a very good job and I made one mistake half a lap from the end.
I think you could see that I was a little bit disappointed and angry – because when the win is so close it’s always going to be like that. It’s never easy to win races and I felt I could have done it there.
But my only chance was to push as hard as I could on that last lap to make sure I had enough cushion going onto the back straight. Otherwise I faced the same destiny as Michael [Schumacher] had against Jenson, where there is no chance to defend – but I didn’t get that far. We finished second and it’s very good points. So my feeling now is it could have been worse!

Source: Red Bull

Alonso Tops Closely Contested Practice Two at Valencia

Fernando Alonso set the pace in Friday's second practice for the European GP, which saw four teams represented in the top four

The Ferrari driver posted a 1:37.968 to edge Lewis Hamilton by 0.227s while Sebastian Vettel was a further 0.070s adrift.

Michael Schumacher, who put his Mercedes GP up into fourth place, was just 0.050s behind Vettel with Felipe Massa just over a tenth behind him.

In fact the top seven drivers, which included Jenson Button and Mark Webber, were separated by less than six-tenths of a second.

Report: Track temperature was up to 38'C as Paul di Resta was forced to wait in the pits as his team worked furiously to repair the damage done to his car by Nico Hulkenberg in Practice One. Jerome D'Ambrosio was the first man out, leading the field as the clock began the countdown for Practice Two for the European GP.

Sergio Perez set the early pace with a 1:44.432 before he was overhauled by Pastor Maldonado. But with more drivers heading out it was all change with Felipe Massa, Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov and Rubens Barrichello all slotting in ahead of them. Massa was in the P1 slot with a 1:40.857. Fernando Alonso was the next to lead the way, 0.203s up on his team-mate.

Sebastian Vettel joined the action, taking third place behind the Ferraris while Lewis Hamilton moved into fourth place. Vettel continued lapping, taking the P1 slot wiht a 1:40.062. Webber joined his team-mate at the front, taking second. Vettel goes even faster, a 1:39.790. Maldonado took fourth on the softer option tyres.

Alonso put in a fastest second sector time but could only close the gap to the leading Bulls. Just 0.128s behind Vettel now. However, the Spaniard's efforts were then undone as Vettel went even quicker, extending his advantage.

Heidfeld was the one who finally overhauled the Red Bulls withe a 1:39.040, using the softer tyres. His reign, though, was short-lived as Rosbert, also on the soft tyres, went 0.028s quicker. But he too lost out rather soon as Webber went 0.481s faster. Webber's time was then topped by Vettel, the German posting a 1:38.265. Hamilton was the next in the P1 slot, 0.070s up on Vettel. Michael Schumacher put his Merc GP into third place, 0.120s off the pace.

And it was all change as Alonso then went quickest, 1:38.184 for the Spaniard. Still no times from di Resta and Jaime Alguersuari, the latter stuck in the pits with an engine problem. Di Resta eventually managed to get out, taking 14th place.

The session ended with Alonso in the P1 slot, followed by Hamilton and Vettel.

Times
01. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.968 35 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.195 + 0.227 26 laps
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m38.265 + 0.297 31 laps
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.315 + 0.347 30 laps
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.443 + 0.475 32 laps
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.483 + 0.515 30 laps
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m38.531 + 0.563 26 laps
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.981 + 1.013 33 laps
9. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m39.040 + 1.072 35 laps
10. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m39.586 + 1.618 27 laps
11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m39.626 + 1.658 31 laps
12. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m40.020 + 2.052 34 laps
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m40.301 + 2.333 34 laps
14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m40.363 + 2.395 7 laps
15. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.454 + 2.486 32 laps
16. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.531 + 2.563 37 laps
17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.083 + 4.115 34 laps
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m42.156 + 4.188 39 laps
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m42.239 + 4.271 25 laps
20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m42.273 + 4.305 21 laps
21. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m42.809 + 4.841 36 laps
22. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m44.460 + 6.492 29 laps
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m46.906 + 8.938 16 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Kovalainen does not blame Webber for crash

Source: WeeklyF1

Sebastian Vettel Q&A: It feels good to be back

On Saturday in Valencia Sebastian Vettel took his fourth pole position of the season, and Red Bull’s eighth. Although they’ve struggled, on occasion, to convert their dominance in qualifying into race results, Red Bull - and Vettel - hope that, with a little luck on Sunday, victory at the European Grand Prix could be theirs for the taking…

Q: Tell us about qualifying?
Sebastian Vettel: It was quite okay I would say, even though on the first run in Q3 I was not happy at all, as I had a huge moment in the first sector. So I thought that I might come in and pit early, but then you never know what will happen on the second try. So I stayed out, and I was still in a decent position. On my second attempt I made no mistakes and got it right at the chequered flag. But I had to wait a long time, as there were many cars still out. Sitting in the car and waiting felt endless. It's good to be on pole especially here, as this circuit is not really one of our favourites. But when you’re on the front row, how could you complain?

Q: Were you surprised by the speed that you have here?
SV: We did a good job here, as it was quite tough as we were also introducing a couple of new parts to the car. One of these things is the F-duct. It didn't work quite correctly yesterday, but we made a step forward overnight. Both, Mark and I are using it. It is an advantage, yes, but at the moment not as big as other people find it, but we will get there. We are still miles away from McLaren, as they are able to gain around four tenths when using it. All in all, the team did not get a lot of sleep last night, at the maximum two hours. It is good to be able to say thank you to the team by putting the cars in first and second position for the race.

Q: Renault are now firm Q3 runners. Are you surprised about that?
SV: It always depends on the updates that are made to a car, but mostly how you as a driver like the track and how your car in general likes the track. We saw this trend last year, where some teams on specific tracks perform better than at other tracks. But in the end you never know in Formula One, and it’s always a surprise. Of course you have the top teams and they will be at front, but still there is always the possibility to do great even if you are not one of them. So far this season it has been very entertaining and I hope that we are able to continue that way.

Q: The team said ‘welcome back’ to you over your radio. What exactly did that mean?
SV: We were very happy, as during the last three races we were amongst the top three, but things have not gone as we expected. Sometimes we screwed up, and sometimes we had bad luck. So now we are on pole, it’s very satisfying.

Q: Looking ahead to the race, what will be crucial for you to win?
SV: For sure a very good start with a clean first lap, and then maybe some luck, which we might not have had at the last couple of races. Then we should be able to stay in this position possibly until the end of the race. We have not had any issues throughout the weekend so far, so I am very optimistic for tomorrow. Also the car’s pace with heavy fuel load on Friday and with lighter fuel load on Saturday was extremely good. We have always been able to be at the front.

Q: Will McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton be a threat in the race?
SV: We know that the McLaren has a good top speed, and that they are quicker on the straights, but we are faster through the corners. So what we need is to be able to create a gap, as we are faster if you look over a full lap. So this would be our plan, but in the end things turn out to be different anyway. At least this is what we have learned from the last few races.

Source: Formula1.com