SEBASTIAN VETTEL HUNGARY GP Q&A | DON'T PANIC!

After a couple of races not particularly covered in glory, Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel comes to Hungary saying that’s just the way it’s going to be...

by Matt Youson on Jul 30, 2011

Sebastian Vettel has won six races out of ten this year, and in the other four taken three second places and a fourth. He comfortably leads the F1 Drivers’ Championship. But all is not rosy in the garden of Red Bull as Vettel’s fourth place in Germany is his worse finish since Monza last year and the generally improving Ferraris and McLarens seem intent up on making a fight of it this season.

Vettel may take some satisfaction - though probably not much in the way of consolation - from having consistently stated that a dip in Red Bull’s dominance was inevitable at some point this year, and simply a fact of life when competing against teams with the resources and calibre of Ferrari and McLaren. It was a view he espoused again when sitting down the press before the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. This is what he had to say…

Seb, what have you done over the past few days? Have you analysed the performances from the past races?
"What did I do? I went back home, had a couple of days rest and did some training in preparation for this weekend. Obviously we have analysed what happened last weekend, but, y’know, there’s only three days in between the races, so it’s not much time for the team because we have to get all of our stuff back into the trucks and come here. It’s a lot of work and very short nights. We had a deep look but now we have to re-focus on this race. We cannot spend too much of our time thinking about Nürburgring instead of driving here."

'We can’t change the result at the Nürburgring but we can change the result here.'

What do you take away from the results in Germany?
"Well, we finished third and fourth, it’s a result that’s not a disaster but we’re not happy with it. So, we can’t be satisfied but we have to accept it. For here, obviously our target is to do better than third and fourth and, yeah, we have a couple of things to play around with to try to make the package a little bit more competitive again. I think Nürburgring was pretty tricky, particularly for myself: I didn’t really feel comfortable Friday through Sunday but I think we have understood most of it - and this is a different track with different conditions.

"We can’t change the result at the Nürburgring but we can change the result here. There’s no point trying to find any excuses, that race is done. I think the people who finished ahead of me deserved to finish ahead of me but as I said, I’m not happy with that and I want to have it the other way around this weekend.

Why did you not feel comfortable in Germany? Was there something wrong with the car or the tyres?
"No, I think it was a tricky weekend with the conditions. It was very cold but I don’t want to blame it on conditions. Obviously, Mark was a little bit quicker throughout the weekend and I was struggling a little bit and I never really found a good balance. But, as I said, though we didn’t have the easiest time and I think we have understood most of it.

"We’ll have more time in the break to look at the Nürburgring again with the conditions we had and compare that to other races - maybe this one as it’s straight after - but it’s hard to say within only a few days."

Source: Red Bull

No reason to panic, says McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says there is "no reason to panic" as McLaren target a return to form at the German Grand Prix

Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button are both 95 points behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel with 10 races to go.

But Hamilton believes the decision to postpone the ban on using exhaust gasses to enhance downforce will benefit McLaren.

"We are back to what we know and our race pace has been pretty quick all year," said the 2008 world champion.

Button added: "We can be on good form here and challenge the Red Bulls and Ferrari."

Before Fernando Alonso's win for Ferrari in the last race, at Silverstone, Hamilton and Button were the only drivers to deny Vettel victory this season.

But the decision by governing body the FIA to restrict the use of exhaust gasses to generate downforce had a major impact on McLaren's competitiveness at the British Grand Prix.

Teams have been using so-called off-throttle blowing of the diffuser to flow gasses over the rear floor of the car even when the driver is not pressing the accelerator.

After intense debate, the ban has now been postponed until the 2012 season and both Hamilton and Button are confident that will help them regain lost ground on their rivals at the Nurburgring.

"At Silverstone we were further behind because we were hampered by the rule change," added Hamilton. "It benefited others but didn't benefit us at all."

Button agreed, saying: "We're probably doing a better job with our diffuser than some of the other teams so when they take away the blowing it hurts us a lot, having that back should help us.

"I don't think we're scared of anyone this weekend - I don't think anyone has a big advantage over us.

"We have some updates and we're going back to the old regulations. I'm looking forward to this race."

Button and Hamilton have not been on the podium in the last two races, at Silverstone and Valencia.

While Button took a thrilling victory in Canada last month, Hamilton, who won in China, has to look as far back as early May for his last podium when he was second in the Spanish Grand Prix.

"I'm praying we are as competitive as we were in Barcelona," Hamilton said.

"I hope our car works like a dream this weekend, I'd love to have another win."

Button was forced to retire from the British GP at his final pit-stop when he tried to rejoin the race without a wheel nut on his right front wheel.

The 2009 world champion said he has since visited the "wheel nut department" at McLaren's factory in Woking and described the atmosphere as good, despite a difficult weekend on home soil.

"It was just a mistake and it lost us a lot of points," Button reflected. "It's amazing what one non-finish makes. I went from second to being fifth in the championship.

"We just have to make sure we don't do that again because the last two races have been pretty tough for us in terms of points.

"We are taking it race-by-race and we come here with some good upgrades. I hope we can really fight the other guys and take some good points off Sebastian [Vettel]."

Grey clouds loomed over the Nurburgring in the Eifel mountains on Thursday and a burst of heavy rain saw both McLaren drivers, despite being known for their wet-weather skills, still hoping the miserable conditions would not prevail all weekend.

"Can you sort the weather out, it's rubbish," commented Button. "I like it in the middle, wet, dry, wet, dry."

Hamilton agreed: "I'd like it to be dry but I also quite like changeable conditions."

The drivers will reacquaint themselves with the Nurburgring, which returns to the calendar after Hockenheim hosted the German GP in 2010, during Friday practice.

Source: BBC Sport