Sebastian Vettel spoke during the FIA press conference after completely dominating qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, round one of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship. The world champion thus starts his title defence in fine style, sending a clear signal to his rivals ahead of the first race of the season. It is his 16th pole position of his F1 career.
A totally dominant performance. Half-a-second faster than last year’s pole position and you didn’t even use the KERS button. You must feel on top of the world?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I mean it was a bit of a funny winter. A lot of things changed. The cars changed a lot. Winter testing has been busy and we all try and work our way around the tyres, the new Pirelli tyres, but coming here we were all surprised how well they were working on one lap and also what we have seen on Friday with a bit more fuel in the car was quite promising for Sunday, so we will see how we get on. Surely we have done the first step and starting the season that way is like you want to and it is just a good sign for all of us in the team. We have been working very hard to get that new car, the RB7, where it is now, so I think it is mostly down to the people back in the factory plus the people Down Under now preparing the car and making it ready. I think it was a pleasure today, quite fast, and I am very happy with the result. But if you look at the points we have zero points just like everybody else so we will have to see tomorrow.
In the race tomorrow looking after the tyres is going to be crucial. It is a step into the unknown really for all of you on these new tyres. What are you looking for and what are the key indicators going to be for tomorrow’s race.
Sebastian: Well, I think the key is always to finish the race, to see the chequered flag. Last year, half-way through, we had to retire. But I am quite confident. We had a very, very good preparation in the winter. We hardly suffered any reliability issues. The car was reliable from the first minute and obviously not too slow, so things are looking good. But it is a hard race with the new tyres. It is a bit racing into the unknown. We kind of can guess how the tyres will behave, but in the end we have to see how it is and also racing all the others, having probably more than one stop, it will be quite entertaining for us as well. A lot of things that we need to keep an eye on and focus on, so looking forward, but today was the base and couldn’t have been any better.
That margin over the rest of the field. Does it come as a surprise to you?
Sebastian: Yes. I just said it was a long winter and we all tried to find our way with these new tyres, which always wasn’t easy. Coming here, since Friday onwards, we were surprised how good the tyres worked. It should be fine tomorrow. We were a bit afraid after what we have seen, the degradation we have seen in Barcelona, so that’s positive and, car wise as well, we came here with a good feeling but never kind of knew where we would be. Even though the gap now might appear to be very big, it is a long season, a lot of things can happen and today no-one has scored any points. It is a good position to be in, it is the best position, pole position, so I am very happy with that. I think for all the guys who have been working very hard on that car, some were a bit, how can I say, surprised that not a lot of things changed in the car compared to last year but we have proven that things changed and we have done a good step. As I said we need to keep our feet on the ground and see how we get on tomorrow.
You didn’t use KERS? Is that correct and, if so, why not?
Sebastian: We didn’t use it in qualifying, that’s correct.
Reason?
Sebastian: Not fully charged.
You were particularly good in the third sector. Is that something you have concentrated on?
Sebastian: Well, third sector I think, end of sector two, is just before the high-speed section, 11/12, so after that there is not that many straights anymore. We know that we are probably not the fastest guys on the straights for couple of reasons but in the corners we tend to do not too bad. If you look sector one, sector two there are some straights or more straights and maybe that is the reason. I don‘t think today, even though the result looks for some people quite clear, you know, I think we don’t get over-excited what happened now. We have to keep on working and we want to improve the car. We have things coming up, good things coming up, so let’s see what we can do.
Do you think Melbourne is the best track for your car?
Sebastian: I don’t know. There are a lot of tracks to come, that’s for sure. Last year we were competitive here, the year before as well. We seem to like the place. I like coming here as well, the track is a challenging one, it’s quite rough in some places. It’s a demanding track for the driver and the rhythm is right, so after one lap you feel happy, I would say, not that you don’t feel happy at other tracks but I think here the satisfaction you get is quite good. You feel and you sense the speed around here, so that’s something I enjoy a lot and obviously our car likes it as well. All in all, I think that’s a good match. So far it has been quite good.
Are you surprised by Ferrari’s performance?
Sebastian: Yeah. I think they had a very good run in the winter. Yesterday it was a bit difficult to judge. I thought they’re reasonably competitive and more or less there. I was surprised in qualifying. Q1 I saw that they put on some option tyres already. It was quite tight for Felipe to get through – not tight, but he had one last shot. And then it’s difficult to judge from the inside of the car what was going on, so that’s really all I saw, more or less. After that, you focus more on yourself. In Q1 you have a bit more time to watch TV, I would say. Yeah, I was surprised.
Source: YallaF1
