Q: Let’s talk to this man, who is on pole position. Nice smiley face. You must be a happy boy?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, let me breathe! It was quite intense. First run in Q3 I was very happy and then tossed it away in the last corner. No, really happy that I got the second run and I got it clean and I knew in the last corner I just knew I had to stay away from that kerb. Then obviously you’re looking around trying to see where the others are. Very happy. The car was excellent all weekend so far, so looking forward to tomorrow.
Q: We’ve go to talk about the car, because these guys, your mechanics, have done a brilliant job for you. But when we look at her, she just seemed to do everything you needed to do day and that seemed to be the comfort factor that you had?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, you know best. If the car is responding to what you want it to do it’s a pleasure. Otherwise it’s a fight. Australia was more of a fight. I think we worked on the balance. I think we looked into it a lot and I think we improved it as well yesterday and today – even though it’s not easy because we do the practice session when the sun is up and qualifying and the race when the sun is down. But yeah, the car is responding, so very pleased.
Q: Well done. Seb, you’re going to be starting right at the front, no one in front of you. You’re going to be feeling pretty good once those lights go out.
Sebastian Vettel: Feeling good now, tomorrow’s a different story. It’s a long, long race and we’ve seen that it’s not easy to make the Pirelli tyres last so… The car is quick – that usually helps! Let’s see when the lights out, but for now I’m very chuffed and for the team as well. We had some issues this morning but we overcame those, so, yeah, looking forward to tomorrow.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Seb, your 51st career pole position in Formula One. It didn’t look that likely after FP3. Was it as surprising to you, the way the weekend has panned out?
Sebastian Vettel: I think it’s surprising for us to be, after Australia, that competitive. So, obviously, we, I think, have a good base. The car is working; in Australia, I think we struggled with the feel for the car. Here it’s been better, so we improved a little bit, working the car, y’know, the beginning of the season, it’s always difficult because you don’t know yet the car that well. It’s getting better, so obviously today was quite nice and the car came alive. I didn’t have much session this afternoon, so it was a bit tricky to know what to expect but I felt quite good right from the start and knew that I could make progress throughout the session. Q3, that’s when I wanted it to peak, and I think I peaked in the first run, just before the last corner. I wanted a bit too much. So, I knew I had a bit in me and yeah, basically, it was a bit copy/paste the final lap I had, but the last corner I managed to stay away from the kerbs, so yeah, very happy with both laps in the end and happy obviously with the result, with the car, the way the car was handling and responding, so, yeah. Chuffed.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Seb, do have an idea why you feel the car more here: is it the track characteristics, the updates you’ve got on the car, was it set-up that you made changes?
Sebastian Vettel: Well, we mostly tried to work on the set-up, understanding the car so we tried different things obviously. Across the weekend, you don’t have that much time so in Australia, the first race in Australia, it’s a tricky track, it’s improving a lot throughout the weekend, it’s very bumpy so it’s difficult to change too much in drawing conclusions. I think after the weekend, after the race distance, especially when you have so many laps, I think we had a very good understanding and feel and obviously we’ve been talking about it and looking into it and I think overall I’ve been happier this weekend with how the car has been responding, how the front end was responding so yeah, overall, I think you also see it in the results but I think the good news is that we are a lot closer in all the conditions, if you look at all the sessions across with everyone so I think that’s the only difference. For the rest it’s the same car as in Australia.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, this pole position, is it only up to the better balance of the car or do you have a party mode working as well as the Mercedes one this time?
Sebastian Vettel: No, I think we answered that already in Australia. As I said, I was happier with the balance of the car so obviously there’s a lot of factors. It’s how comfortable you are in the car, whether the car’s responding or not to what you like it to do. The track, Valtteri has mentioned, the surface, the temperatures, so there are a lot of things but I think we are very very happy that we build another very strong car and we are able to put it on the front row on our own, beating everybody today, so I think that’s a great result and deserves some credit for the team, the effort that everyone is putting in so I think that’s the best thing about today but the race is tomorrow so even if it’s a good day, the main day is coming tomorrow.
Q: What will be the key tomorrow?
Sebastian Vettel: Just the first time in the weekend you get in the car it’s still a bit weird but as Valtteri said, you get used to it. I think it would be funny now if we take it off, it would feel a bit naked but yeah, it’s fine. I think the most difficult thing is to get in and out. And for the rest, yeah, nothing to add from Valtteri.
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