Vettel warns against complacency

After three wins in four races, reigning Champ Sebastian Vettel had every right to celebrate on Sunday following his triumphant performance in Turkey

But instead of revelling in his Red Bull team's dramatic one-two finish - Mark Webber claiming his highest finish of the season - ahead of all their rivals, the 23-year-old German said he was keen to make sure everyone kept their feet on the ground and remained calm.

He now leads the title race by 34 points ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who could only manage fourth place on Sunday.

"It's good to get as many points as you can at every single race," said the reigning World Champion. "But we see how quickly it can change.

"We saw it last year with this guy (Fernando Alonso) coming and going, so we have to really go step by step, see every race as its own and try and maximise our points.

"A good start to the season always helps, but there is a long way to go. Four out of 19. So, you can work out how many more points there are to get so we have to keep focused."

Vettel thanked his team for their hard work in repairing his car, dubbed 'Kinky Kylie' after he had almost destroyed it in a major accident during Friday's rain-hit first practice session.

"All in all I am very happy," he said.

"On Friday, I had an accident and crashed the car badly. All the guys, even Mark's guys helped and fixed the car. It meant some extra hours which I am sorry for, but yesterday and today made up for it.

"I am pleased with the results and a big 'thanks' to the team."

He admitted he was open about his strategy and said the Red Bull team had learned from their mistakes in China where they were beaten by Hamilton.

He said: "It wasn't easy from the start to know what is going to happen.

"You have an idea about the tyres and how long they will last, but you have to wait for the first and second stints to see the trend. I could have stayed out on primes (soft), but if the safety car comes out you are on used tyres.

"So I had a another short stint. I was very much in control, I am very happy with how we communicated with the race and how we reacted.

"I am very pleased and since China we have definitely made a step forward. We have learned our lesson and have to make sure we keep momentum into the next race."

Source: Planet-F1

Button: Who knows? Maybe we can win

Jenson Button has not ruled out a third straight win in the Australian GP despite his new MP4-26's mediocre performance in pre-season testing

The 2009 Champion, in an interview with his team's official website, said: "Albert Park has been good to me: I've won there for the past two seasons.

"It's a great circuit for racing, it always seems to create unpredictable races.

"And, perhaps because it's habitually at the start of the season when a precise pecking order has yet to be established, we often see fast cars running out of sequence - and the excitement that that brings.

"With the added issue of multiple tyre stops, it could be a very exciting and unpredictable race weekend."

On his prospects for next Sunday's season-opener he added: "I'm regularly being asked if I can make it three wins in a row this year.

"On paper that might not look likely, but, seriously, who knows? I most definitely wouldn't rule it out."

He said he had added motivation this year after the triple trauma suffered by Japan of last Friday's earthquake, tsunami and radiation scare.

"I go to Melbourne this weekend resolving to not only try my best, but also to salute the brave people, and my many friends, throughout Japan."

His team-mate, fellow Briton and 2008 Champion Lewis Hamilton, conceded that on paper at least, McLaren faced a tough task to cope with the speed shown in testing by the likes of rivals Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

"We can't hide the fact that testing has been tougher than we expected," said Hamilton, who won at Albert Park in 2008.

"Our test mileage hasn't been as high as that of our rivals, nor have we had the outright pace of the fastest cars.

"Still, I have a good feeling with MP4-26: I like driving our car, I think it will look after its tyres quite well and I understand that we'll be making further performance steps ahead of this opening race.

"Nevertheless, we know we go to Melbourne ready for battle: some teams are extremely well prepared - both from a pace and reliability point of view - but that can sometimes count for little in the unpredictable and somewhat chaotic opening races where it's equally vital just to take points home.

"I strongly believe that, while our preparations haven't gone as smoothly as we'd have liked, I get the impression that we'll be arriving in Melbourne with everything finally meshing together - and that makes me really excited."

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh acknowledged that McLaren would not figure among the favourites to win in Melbourne, but he echoed his drivers' optimism that a decent showing was possible.

He said: "Do I think our testing pace is representative of the pace we'll show in Australia? No.

"Do I think we head into the weekend as race favourites? Unfortunately, no.

"But do I feel that we have the capacity to surprise a few people and be competitive? Very much so."

Source: Planet-F1

"One of Räikkönen's best performances"

According to Kimi Räikkönen’s experienced co-driver Kaj Lindström the ex-F1-star has taken steps forward as a rally driver

The second Sweden Rally in Räikkönen’s career brought him the 8th position and a bunch of good special stage times.

- It's a great thing that we have improved, and we have to improve from here on, but it was one of the best performances from Kimi, Lindström evaluates.

According to Lindström Räikkönen still has studying to do in the precision of making the notes. It can be seen in the driving when the special stages are driven for the first time.

- When the note is being done, there are some spots, which are not that detailed and when a spot like that occurs in the first run you start to look out for other "spots" that could be in the note, Lindström said.

- On the second run when the notes are more reliable, the driving comes already wicked well.

Räikkönen reached one fourth position and a bunch of position within top 6.

- We didn't have any bigger problems. Always you could go faster though, Räikkönen said.

- Always something stays to bug you. Now we spinned once, there was one puncture and the beginning of the race was somewhat difficult, but it improved towards the end. It's nice that I have learned something.

Räikkönen's season continues at the end of March in Portugal WRC-rally.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Leijona