Sebastian Vettel believes he would have won the Australian Grand Prix today had a brake failure not pitched him off the road just before half-distance.
The Red Bull driver led the race from pole until a front brake failure sent him into the gravel at turn 13.
It is the second race in a row Vettel has lost due to a mechanical issue after a spark plug problem slowed him in Bahrain.
"We had a braking failure," confirmed Vettel. "Earlier on the lap I felt some vibrations. There was nothing I could have done and I lost the car. It's a shame - I think we had the race under control even though the conditions were difficult."
Vettel has called for his Red Bull squad to make a push so that he can improve his finishing record and get his title challenge on track.
"It breaks my balls," he said. "We are all pushing and trying to do our best. It's nobody's fault, but we need to get on top of it and make sure that we see the chequered flag in Malaysia.
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Showing posts with label Vettel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vettel. Show all posts
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Vettel heads all-Red Bull front row
Red Bull team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will start tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix from the front row after dominating the qualifying battle in Melbourne today.
Adrian Newey's design was the fastest thing around Albert Park throughout the three sessions, and Vettel edged his Australian team-mate by just over a tenth of a second to claim pole position with a 1m23.919s best in the final part of qualifying - the only lap below 1m24s so far this weekend.
The track cooled considerably during the final part of qualifying and for a while it looked as though nobody would get near the Red Bulls, as both leapt to the top of the timesheet early on.
Home hero Webber had a go at toppling his young German team-mate late-on, but lost time in the middle sector of his best lap, having been fastest of all in sectors one and three, and had to settle for second.
Only Ferrari's world championship leader Fernando Alonso hooked together a good enough lap to get close. The Spaniard's late 1m24.111s best put him third, just under two tenths shy of pole.
The rest found themselves a whopping six tenths off the Red Bull pace in final qualifying. Reigning world champion Jenson Button qualified his McLaren-Mercedes fourth, two tenths clear of Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
Both Mercedes drivers struggled to get the best from the softer tyres, so wound up sixth and seventh, with Nico Rosberg again getting the better of his seven times world champion team-mate Michael Schumacher.
Williams' Rubens Barrichello, Renault's Robert Kubica, and Force India's Adrian Sutil rounded out the top 10, as McLaren's Lewis Hamilton made a shock exit from qualifying in Q2.
The 2008 world champion aborted a quick lap during his first run and sat in the garage last of the 17 runners at the midway point of the session.
Hamilton improved to seventh fastest on his second run with the same set of soft tyres he used for his first, but fell to 11th as others improved, Hamilton's tyres fell away, and the fuel tank began to run dry.
Sutil, Barrichello and Kubica were thus able to join the rest of the drivers from the 'big four' teams for final qualifying, while both Toro Rossos, both Saubers, Nico Hulkenberg's Williams, and Tonio Liuzzi's Force India were all eliminated.
Circuit newcomer Vitaly Petrov was the only runner from the established squads to drop out in first qualifying. Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi sat ‘on the bubble' for much of the session, before dropping the Russian into the hot seat with a late improvement.
Petrov looked set to save himself with a minute of running remaining, but suffered a massive oversteering moment through the ultra-fast turn 12 having set two personal best sector times. The Renault man did improve on a last-gasp final lap, but only got within 0.220s of Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.
As expected, the six drivers at the three new teams were all eliminated in Q1. HRT again propped up the grid, but encouragingly got within six seconds of the outright pace in Q1 and within a second of Timo Glock's faster Virgin in 21st.
The Lotus drivers finished up fastest of the new teams, with Heikki Kovalainen just over three tenths clear of team-mate Jarno Trulli in 19th, but over two seconds adrift of Petrov's time.
Adrian Newey's design was the fastest thing around Albert Park throughout the three sessions, and Vettel edged his Australian team-mate by just over a tenth of a second to claim pole position with a 1m23.919s best in the final part of qualifying - the only lap below 1m24s so far this weekend.
The track cooled considerably during the final part of qualifying and for a while it looked as though nobody would get near the Red Bulls, as both leapt to the top of the timesheet early on.
Home hero Webber had a go at toppling his young German team-mate late-on, but lost time in the middle sector of his best lap, having been fastest of all in sectors one and three, and had to settle for second.
Only Ferrari's world championship leader Fernando Alonso hooked together a good enough lap to get close. The Spaniard's late 1m24.111s best put him third, just under two tenths shy of pole.
The rest found themselves a whopping six tenths off the Red Bull pace in final qualifying. Reigning world champion Jenson Button qualified his McLaren-Mercedes fourth, two tenths clear of Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
Both Mercedes drivers struggled to get the best from the softer tyres, so wound up sixth and seventh, with Nico Rosberg again getting the better of his seven times world champion team-mate Michael Schumacher.
Williams' Rubens Barrichello, Renault's Robert Kubica, and Force India's Adrian Sutil rounded out the top 10, as McLaren's Lewis Hamilton made a shock exit from qualifying in Q2.
The 2008 world champion aborted a quick lap during his first run and sat in the garage last of the 17 runners at the midway point of the session.
Hamilton improved to seventh fastest on his second run with the same set of soft tyres he used for his first, but fell to 11th as others improved, Hamilton's tyres fell away, and the fuel tank began to run dry.
Sutil, Barrichello and Kubica were thus able to join the rest of the drivers from the 'big four' teams for final qualifying, while both Toro Rossos, both Saubers, Nico Hulkenberg's Williams, and Tonio Liuzzi's Force India were all eliminated.
Circuit newcomer Vitaly Petrov was the only runner from the established squads to drop out in first qualifying. Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi sat ‘on the bubble' for much of the session, before dropping the Russian into the hot seat with a late improvement.
Petrov looked set to save himself with a minute of running remaining, but suffered a massive oversteering moment through the ultra-fast turn 12 having set two personal best sector times. The Renault man did improve on a last-gasp final lap, but only got within 0.220s of Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.
As expected, the six drivers at the three new teams were all eliminated in Q1. HRT again propped up the grid, but encouragingly got within six seconds of the outright pace in Q1 and within a second of Timo Glock's faster Virgin in 21st.
The Lotus drivers finished up fastest of the new teams, with Heikki Kovalainen just over three tenths clear of team-mate Jarno Trulli in 19th, but over two seconds adrift of Petrov's time.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Points finish a consolation for Vettel
Sebastian Vettel says the only consolation about his late race heartbreak in the Bahrain Grand Prix is that he did not miss out on any champagne - because the drink is not sprayed on the podium there.
The Red Bull Racing driver appeared to be in full control of the Formula 1 season opener until a spark plug problem slowed his car and saw him slip down the order to eventually finish fourth.
And although the points he gained could prove vital at the end of the season, Vettel said there was little to take from the event – apart from being glad he did not miss out on champagne.
"Well, we have a very nice trophy here, it's one of nicest in the season," he said in his reaction to the events of the day. "I didn't miss champagne because there wasn't any but... It's important to finish, that's the secret of the season, so to finish fourth, overall is not a bad result. But I could have won."
Vettel said he felt totally comfortable at the front of the field, even though his closest challenger Fernando Alonso reckoned he had plenty in reserve to launch a late-race attack.
"It was a straightforward race, excellent start, excellent first stint, I think we were looking better than anyone else on the super soft, against probably people's expectations," he said.
"Then we had the freedom to stop a lap later than Fernando, or the Ferraris, and obviously we lost a little bit because of that. Nevertheless I think, up to the point where we had the failure, it was looking very good, and at any time I think we were in control."
He added: "Anyway we were lucky not to retire at some stage. In the end we still finished fourth. In the end it seemed to get slightly better again with less fuel in the car. It was costing a lot at some stages, you could see the people passing me, and they didn't have any difficulty. We just lost power. Every time I was on the throttle I just had less power.
"I had to try to push as hard as I could on the brakes and in cornering. Fortunately I still had reasonable tyres, I was trying to manage those, which I think was the secret to finishing fourth. But I should have won today."
Vettel believes that Red Bull Racing can at least take heart from the fact that the team appears to have delivered a car that is both quick over a single lap and is able to look after its tyres.
"For me there is nothing I could have done better," continued Vettel. "It sounds maybe a bit harsh, but at any time I think we had a good position and we were controlling everything. There is a lot of positives.
"I think we have made a huge step forward in the tyre management side. You could see in the first stint the Ferraris were struggling more than we were with tyres. That's very positive and the speed was good. But the result obviously wasn't."
The Red Bull Racing driver appeared to be in full control of the Formula 1 season opener until a spark plug problem slowed his car and saw him slip down the order to eventually finish fourth.
And although the points he gained could prove vital at the end of the season, Vettel said there was little to take from the event – apart from being glad he did not miss out on champagne.
"Well, we have a very nice trophy here, it's one of nicest in the season," he said in his reaction to the events of the day. "I didn't miss champagne because there wasn't any but... It's important to finish, that's the secret of the season, so to finish fourth, overall is not a bad result. But I could have won."
Vettel said he felt totally comfortable at the front of the field, even though his closest challenger Fernando Alonso reckoned he had plenty in reserve to launch a late-race attack.
"It was a straightforward race, excellent start, excellent first stint, I think we were looking better than anyone else on the super soft, against probably people's expectations," he said.
"Then we had the freedom to stop a lap later than Fernando, or the Ferraris, and obviously we lost a little bit because of that. Nevertheless I think, up to the point where we had the failure, it was looking very good, and at any time I think we were in control."
He added: "Anyway we were lucky not to retire at some stage. In the end we still finished fourth. In the end it seemed to get slightly better again with less fuel in the car. It was costing a lot at some stages, you could see the people passing me, and they didn't have any difficulty. We just lost power. Every time I was on the throttle I just had less power.
"I had to try to push as hard as I could on the brakes and in cornering. Fortunately I still had reasonable tyres, I was trying to manage those, which I think was the secret to finishing fourth. But I should have won today."
Vettel believes that Red Bull Racing can at least take heart from the fact that the team appears to have delivered a car that is both quick over a single lap and is able to look after its tyres.
"For me there is nothing I could have done better," continued Vettel. "It sounds maybe a bit harsh, but at any time I think we had a good position and we were controlling everything. There is a lot of positives.
"I think we have made a huge step forward in the tyre management side. You could see in the first stint the Ferraris were struggling more than we were with tyres. That's very positive and the speed was good. But the result obviously wasn't."
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Vettel and Red Bull triumphant at Yas Marina
Once a brake problem slowed McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel had no competition in Sunday evening’s inaugural day/night Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A brilliant win cemented his second place in the drivers’ world championship behind Brawn GP’s Jenson Button, who enlivened the end of the race with a superb challenge to the second-placed Red Bull of Mark Webber in the closing stages.
Hamilton led from pole and built a lead of 1.4s when he refuelled on the 17th lap. Vettel was able to run until the 20th, and emerged comfortably in the lead. Soon afterwards Hamilton’s challenge ended when McLaren had to withdraw his car after the telemetry revealed a problem with the right rear brake pads which were suffering from excessive wear.
Webber thus moved up to second, with Button at that stage a distant third ahead of Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian had run ahead of the Englishman on the opening lap but clipped Webber’s left-rear wheel with the right-hand endplate of his front wing, causing understeer. Button overtook, and chased after Webber while, at one stage, unsuccessfully fending off impressive rookie Kamui Kobayashi, until the Toyota driver finally refuelled.
€n the closing stages Button found the softer Bridgestone option tyre cured the understeer he’d had on the harder primes and homed in on Webber like a heat-seeking missile. On the final lap he drew alongside at the end of the 1.2km back straight, but Webber handled the situation beautifully, hogging the inside line and forcing Button to go to the outside where he didn’t want to go. They ran side by side for a while, but the Australian was able to keep his second place by 0.6s.
Behind them, the race was relatively uneventful. Nick Heidfeld signed off BMW Sauber’s tenure as a joint team with a solid fifth place ahead of Kobayashi, who proved to be the find of the second half of the season. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was seventh, two-stopping where Kobayashi stopped once, and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi survived a challenge and a brush with BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, which left the Pole spinning, to take the final point.
Nico Rosberg was ninth for Williams with a recovered Kubica 10th. McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen fought up from his 18th place start to take 11th, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s uncompetitive Ferrari, Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams, Fernando Alonso who took his Renault until the 34th lap before his sole refuelling stop, and similarly single-stopping Vitantonio Liuzzi whose Force €ndia was the last unlapped runner.
Ferrari’s Giancarlo Fisichella jumped Romain Grosjean’s Renault in the closing laps for 16th, and the Franco Swiss driver was so unsettled that Force €ndia’s Adrian Sutil also sneaked by.
Besides Hamilton, the only other retirement was Jaime Alguersuari. The Spaniard mistakenly tried to refuel in Vettel’s Red Bull pit instead of his own Toro Rosso camp and was frantically waved back round. He stopped soon after out on the track.
€n the constructors’ world championship, McLaren retained third place ahead of Ferrari, while Williams lost sixth at the last gasp by 1.5 points to BMW Sauber
Hamilton led from pole and built a lead of 1.4s when he refuelled on the 17th lap. Vettel was able to run until the 20th, and emerged comfortably in the lead. Soon afterwards Hamilton’s challenge ended when McLaren had to withdraw his car after the telemetry revealed a problem with the right rear brake pads which were suffering from excessive wear.
Webber thus moved up to second, with Button at that stage a distant third ahead of Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian had run ahead of the Englishman on the opening lap but clipped Webber’s left-rear wheel with the right-hand endplate of his front wing, causing understeer. Button overtook, and chased after Webber while, at one stage, unsuccessfully fending off impressive rookie Kamui Kobayashi, until the Toyota driver finally refuelled.
€n the closing stages Button found the softer Bridgestone option tyre cured the understeer he’d had on the harder primes and homed in on Webber like a heat-seeking missile. On the final lap he drew alongside at the end of the 1.2km back straight, but Webber handled the situation beautifully, hogging the inside line and forcing Button to go to the outside where he didn’t want to go. They ran side by side for a while, but the Australian was able to keep his second place by 0.6s.
Behind them, the race was relatively uneventful. Nick Heidfeld signed off BMW Sauber’s tenure as a joint team with a solid fifth place ahead of Kobayashi, who proved to be the find of the second half of the season. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was seventh, two-stopping where Kobayashi stopped once, and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi survived a challenge and a brush with BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, which left the Pole spinning, to take the final point.
Nico Rosberg was ninth for Williams with a recovered Kubica 10th. McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen fought up from his 18th place start to take 11th, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s uncompetitive Ferrari, Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams, Fernando Alonso who took his Renault until the 34th lap before his sole refuelling stop, and similarly single-stopping Vitantonio Liuzzi whose Force €ndia was the last unlapped runner.
Ferrari’s Giancarlo Fisichella jumped Romain Grosjean’s Renault in the closing laps for 16th, and the Franco Swiss driver was so unsettled that Force €ndia’s Adrian Sutil also sneaked by.
Besides Hamilton, the only other retirement was Jaime Alguersuari. The Spaniard mistakenly tried to refuel in Vettel’s Red Bull pit instead of his own Toro Rosso camp and was frantically waved back round. He stopped soon after out on the track.
€n the constructors’ world championship, McLaren retained third place ahead of Ferrari, while Williams lost sixth at the last gasp by 1.5 points to BMW Sauber
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Q and A with Sebastian Vettel
Q. How do you approach a weekend on a new track?
Sebastian Vettel: Pretty much like every weekend. Obviously the team and myself try to prepare. It's clearly a bit different because it's a new circuit, so what do we do? We try to collect as much data and information as we can. The GP2 cars tested here last weekend and I've done some laps on the simulator too. Other than that we come here, do the usual track walk and get some information about the circuit. It looks quite interesting, quite challenging. I would say it's a mix of Singapore and Bahrain. Singapore because there are some quite slow corners, some left-right combinations, kind of Mickey Mouse. It's kind of smooth, so not bumpy at all. It's very smooth and has some long straights - one straight that's even longer than at Shanghai. We will see. It should be good for us. The car was competitive in the last few races, no matter where we were.
Q. Is the sun setting a concern?
SV: Now I don't know, but tomorrow we will have the practice in changing conditions with the sunlight and it depends on the circuit layout and the combination of where the sun goes down. To get a real idea you can only tell by sitting in the car and watching where the sun goes down. We will see, but if the sun is very low, and depending on the corners, it could be quite critical.
Q. What kind of visor did you use in Australia?
SV: A dark visor, because we started in the daytime and it was quite sunny. It was close to sunset when we finished. It was starting to get dark and the sun was very low at the end of the race. For here it will be something like medium because it will be dark for the last part of the race and bright to start off with. Actually it's a good question.
Q. Does the disappointment of Brazil ease a little after two weeks?
SV: It's normal to be disappointed. For sure it took some time, so it was a big disappointment. But in the end you have to see the positives and I think it was a very good season for us. A lot of things happened, we learned a lot of things, lessons... all in all there are a lot of things we can do better next year, but for now the focus has to be on securing second place in the drivers' championship and having a very good race on Sunday.
Q. So you're happy to finish second in the championship now then? In Brazil you said it didn't matter.
SV: Sometimes you get out of the car and say things. You don't have a lot of time to think about it. Generally I'm not here to finish second or third. This hasn't changed, but for now third is worse than second, so I want to win the vice title or be second in the championship.
Q. If someone had told you at the start of the season that you'd finish second in the championship, how would you have reacted?
SV: These questions always appear at the last few races, either positive or negative. This year was special because the rules changed so much that we didn't know what to expect. In the first test already we had a good feeling with the car. We were very happy, but we didn't know until Australia how competitive we were. It was very important to be competitive from the beginning right to the end. On top of that, this year was very up and down anyway for the different teams at the top. That was very important. If anyone had have told me, I'd probably have said 'If I have a car that's good enough to finish second, then why can't I be first?'
Q. Is Australia the big regret for the points that you gave away?
SV: No. Obviously there is one more race to go, but looking back, I don't think there's only one race where things went wrong. It's no secret in the end that the guy who wins the championship is the guy who scores the most points. You don't score points for first only, but also for second and third and down to eighth. Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where you're not strong enough to win, but still it matters to bring the car home third, fourth, fifth and collect points. I think that at every race this year we were strong enough to finish in the top five - which no-one else was - except maybe Monza. Sometimes you may call it bad luck, but at other times we made mistakes with the strategy. Other times it was a mistake from myself. All in all, we had five races where we didn't finish and didn't score points. Australia was only one of those and it was a racing incident. You are going to have those kinds of situation when you are racing; I'm not on the circuit to wave people past as soon as they appear in my mirrors. I would say that these kinds of things just happen. But there were too many other things happening as well, and these things cost us important points.
Q. Have things you've done this year been the cause of that? For example, strategic decisions that were too aggressive because you wanted to win races and didn't think you'd be competing for the championship?
SV: Yeah. In the end, we are a team and we have done decisions that at the time you feel is best. After the race you learn whether you have made a good decision or not. Sometimes our decisions were not the smartest and for sure it's something we can improve on for next year. Obviously we were a little bit handicapped by the engines, but also everyone was expecting us to change at least one more engine before the last race, and here we are and we haven't had to do that. Thanks to Renault we made it. It's pretty simple in the end. Looking back we can see that there are things we perhaps could have done better, but the important thing is that we learn from those decisions and don't make those mistakes again.
Q. How do you compare these modern circuits to the older tracks like Spa and Suzuka? Which do you prefer?
SV: Well I haven't driven this circuit yet, so I don't know. As far as new circuits go, one thing missing is the history. When you go to Spa or Monza and you walk the track, you know that 10, 20, 30 years ago, Formula 1 was taking place and you can feel it. It's something special. Some of the corners are legendary... Eau Rouge, Parabolica etc. This is something new circuits cannot deliver yet because they are too new. But sometimes, obviously, circuits like here or Bahrain, all the new types of circuits, have much improved safety, but sometimes it’s difficult to give the circuit character, because they look the same. Inside the car, each circuit feels individual, but it looks all the same. There's lots of runoff everywhere so maybe sometimes you don't pay enough for your mistakes.
Sebastian Vettel: Pretty much like every weekend. Obviously the team and myself try to prepare. It's clearly a bit different because it's a new circuit, so what do we do? We try to collect as much data and information as we can. The GP2 cars tested here last weekend and I've done some laps on the simulator too. Other than that we come here, do the usual track walk and get some information about the circuit. It looks quite interesting, quite challenging. I would say it's a mix of Singapore and Bahrain. Singapore because there are some quite slow corners, some left-right combinations, kind of Mickey Mouse. It's kind of smooth, so not bumpy at all. It's very smooth and has some long straights - one straight that's even longer than at Shanghai. We will see. It should be good for us. The car was competitive in the last few races, no matter where we were.
Q. Is the sun setting a concern?
SV: Now I don't know, but tomorrow we will have the practice in changing conditions with the sunlight and it depends on the circuit layout and the combination of where the sun goes down. To get a real idea you can only tell by sitting in the car and watching where the sun goes down. We will see, but if the sun is very low, and depending on the corners, it could be quite critical.
Q. What kind of visor did you use in Australia?
SV: A dark visor, because we started in the daytime and it was quite sunny. It was close to sunset when we finished. It was starting to get dark and the sun was very low at the end of the race. For here it will be something like medium because it will be dark for the last part of the race and bright to start off with. Actually it's a good question.
Q. Does the disappointment of Brazil ease a little after two weeks?
SV: It's normal to be disappointed. For sure it took some time, so it was a big disappointment. But in the end you have to see the positives and I think it was a very good season for us. A lot of things happened, we learned a lot of things, lessons... all in all there are a lot of things we can do better next year, but for now the focus has to be on securing second place in the drivers' championship and having a very good race on Sunday.
Q. So you're happy to finish second in the championship now then? In Brazil you said it didn't matter.
SV: Sometimes you get out of the car and say things. You don't have a lot of time to think about it. Generally I'm not here to finish second or third. This hasn't changed, but for now third is worse than second, so I want to win the vice title or be second in the championship.
Q. If someone had told you at the start of the season that you'd finish second in the championship, how would you have reacted?
SV: These questions always appear at the last few races, either positive or negative. This year was special because the rules changed so much that we didn't know what to expect. In the first test already we had a good feeling with the car. We were very happy, but we didn't know until Australia how competitive we were. It was very important to be competitive from the beginning right to the end. On top of that, this year was very up and down anyway for the different teams at the top. That was very important. If anyone had have told me, I'd probably have said 'If I have a car that's good enough to finish second, then why can't I be first?'
Q. Is Australia the big regret for the points that you gave away?
SV: No. Obviously there is one more race to go, but looking back, I don't think there's only one race where things went wrong. It's no secret in the end that the guy who wins the championship is the guy who scores the most points. You don't score points for first only, but also for second and third and down to eighth. Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where you're not strong enough to win, but still it matters to bring the car home third, fourth, fifth and collect points. I think that at every race this year we were strong enough to finish in the top five - which no-one else was - except maybe Monza. Sometimes you may call it bad luck, but at other times we made mistakes with the strategy. Other times it was a mistake from myself. All in all, we had five races where we didn't finish and didn't score points. Australia was only one of those and it was a racing incident. You are going to have those kinds of situation when you are racing; I'm not on the circuit to wave people past as soon as they appear in my mirrors. I would say that these kinds of things just happen. But there were too many other things happening as well, and these things cost us important points.
Q. Have things you've done this year been the cause of that? For example, strategic decisions that were too aggressive because you wanted to win races and didn't think you'd be competing for the championship?
SV: Yeah. In the end, we are a team and we have done decisions that at the time you feel is best. After the race you learn whether you have made a good decision or not. Sometimes our decisions were not the smartest and for sure it's something we can improve on for next year. Obviously we were a little bit handicapped by the engines, but also everyone was expecting us to change at least one more engine before the last race, and here we are and we haven't had to do that. Thanks to Renault we made it. It's pretty simple in the end. Looking back we can see that there are things we perhaps could have done better, but the important thing is that we learn from those decisions and don't make those mistakes again.
Q. How do you compare these modern circuits to the older tracks like Spa and Suzuka? Which do you prefer?
SV: Well I haven't driven this circuit yet, so I don't know. As far as new circuits go, one thing missing is the history. When you go to Spa or Monza and you walk the track, you know that 10, 20, 30 years ago, Formula 1 was taking place and you can feel it. It's something special. Some of the corners are legendary... Eau Rouge, Parabolica etc. This is something new circuits cannot deliver yet because they are too new. But sometimes, obviously, circuits like here or Bahrain, all the new types of circuits, have much improved safety, but sometimes it’s difficult to give the circuit character, because they look the same. Inside the car, each circuit feels individual, but it looks all the same. There's lots of runoff everywhere so maybe sometimes you don't pay enough for your mistakes.
Vettel out to clinch runner-up spot
Sebastian Vettel is determined to wrap up second place in the drivers' world championship at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver currently holds second, two points ahead of Rubens Barrichello, meaning that he is likely to hang on to the runner-up spot by finishing within one place of the Brazilian.
Despite Vettel's obvious disappointment in Brazil at failing to take the title fight down to the final round, he is happy with his season.
"Generally I'm not here to finish second or third," the German said. "This hasn't changed, but for now third is worse than second, so I want to be second in the championship.
"Of course it's normal to be disappointed [as he was in Brazil], but when you look at the positives, this has been a very good season for us. A lot of things happened and we learned a lot of lessons.
"All in all, there are a lot of things we can do better next year, but for now the focus has to be on securing second place in the drivers' championship and having a very good race on Sunday."
Vettel said that strategic errors from Red Bull, plus his own on-track mistakes, had robbed him of vital points across the season.
"Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where you're not strong enough to win, but still it matters to bring the car home third or fourth or fifth and collect points," he added.
"I think that at every race this year we were strong enough to finish in the top five, unlike anyone else, except maybe for Monza.
"Sometimes you may call it bad luck, but at other times we made mistakes with the strategy. Other times it was a mistake from myself.
"All in all, we had five races where we didn't finish or didn't score points. What's important is we learn from this and don't make the same mistakes next year."
The Red Bull driver currently holds second, two points ahead of Rubens Barrichello, meaning that he is likely to hang on to the runner-up spot by finishing within one place of the Brazilian.
Despite Vettel's obvious disappointment in Brazil at failing to take the title fight down to the final round, he is happy with his season.
"Generally I'm not here to finish second or third," the German said. "This hasn't changed, but for now third is worse than second, so I want to be second in the championship.
"Of course it's normal to be disappointed [as he was in Brazil], but when you look at the positives, this has been a very good season for us. A lot of things happened and we learned a lot of lessons.
"All in all, there are a lot of things we can do better next year, but for now the focus has to be on securing second place in the drivers' championship and having a very good race on Sunday."
Vettel said that strategic errors from Red Bull, plus his own on-track mistakes, had robbed him of vital points across the season.
"Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where you're not strong enough to win, but still it matters to bring the car home third or fourth or fifth and collect points," he added.
"I think that at every race this year we were strong enough to finish in the top five, unlike anyone else, except maybe for Monza.
"Sometimes you may call it bad luck, but at other times we made mistakes with the strategy. Other times it was a mistake from myself.
"All in all, we had five races where we didn't finish or didn't score points. What's important is we learn from this and don't make the same mistakes next year."
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Sebastian Vettel has winning habit that began with Bernd Rosemeyer
18 October 2009, 02:05:35 | Richard Williams
The German is the Formula One world title outsider but few doubt his championship credentials
By the side of the A5 autobahn from Frankfurt to Darmstadt stands a grey stone stele, about 6ft high, bearing the name of one of Sebastian Vettel's most illustrious predecessors. On Wednesday, as Vettel was arriving in Brazil to pursue his outside chance of depriving Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of the 2009 world championship, a small group of enthusiasts gathered to place a bouquet commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernd Rosemeyer, who died on that spot in January 1938 in the course of a speed-record attempt.
Like Vettel, Rosemeyer was a natural. In 1935, aged 25, he graduated from motorcycle racing straight into the Auto Union team. The following year, thanks to three grands prix victories at the wheel of the company's tricky mid-engined car, he was crowned European champion, the pre-war equivalent of today's world title.
In those days German drivers were as dominant as German cars, and today it seems one of grand prix racing's most puzzling anomalies is that although Vettel is the 44th German driver to take part in formula one since 1950, only one of his predecessors – Michael Schumacher, of course – managed to capture the world title. Even though he failed to make it through the near-lottery of yesterday's rain-drenched first qualifying session, no sensible judge would bet against Vettel becoming the second.
With four wins to his credit, three of them in his second full season in the top flight, Vettel is making the same sort of impact as Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton. These were drivers who did not need to serve an apprenticeship in grand prix racing. They were blindingly fast from the start, and their speed, matched by their early results, conferred an authority that outweighed their inexperience.
No eyebrows are raised when Vettel's Red Bull-Renault starts a race from pole position. It seems an utterly normal occurrence, a tribute to the symbiosis between a talented young driver and the fine car created by Adrian Newey, the team's chief technical officer. And the sight of Vettel on the top step of the victory podium is starting to become almost as unexceptional.
To snatch this year's title from his two rivals he needs to win at Interlagos today and in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight's time, while hoping that misfortune strikes the Brawn drivers.
"The pressure is on the people in front of me," he said here on Thursday, during a press conference shared with Button and Barrichello. "For me it is pretty straightforward. You don't have to be a genius to work out that from now on we simply have to win the two races and hope that these two mess it up."
Born in 1987 in Heppenheim, a small town overlooked by a medieval castle among the Odenwald mountains in south-west Germany, Vettel came from a modest background – his father runs his own small roofing company – and started racing karts before his eighth birthday. After winning Germany's Formula BMW series in 2004, he spent two years in the European Formula Three series before becoming the BMW-Sauber team's reserve driver in 2006.
When Robert Kubica missed a race after a spectacular accident in Canada the following year, Vettel took his chance. Eighth place in the United States grand prix made him the youngest driver to score a world championship point and earnt him a mid-season transfer to the Toro Rosso team. A year later a commanding performance from pole position on a wet weekend at Monza gave the team its first victory and made him, at 21 years and 74 days, the youngest winner in grand prix history.
Suddenly even Lewis Hamilton, on his way to becoming world champion at 23, did not look quite so young any more. Vettel was also winning friends through his seemingly open and uncomplicated nature, his mischievous sense of humour and – it has to be admitted – his excellent command of idiomatic English, although there was a sign of a more volatile side to his temperament when he hurled his steering wheel away and marched straight through the garage after yesterday's reverse.
This season his errors in Australia, Monaco and Singapore have been balanced by commanding wins at Shanghai, Silverstone and Suzuka, but the mistakes and a series of Renault engine failures have probably cost him the chance of becoming the youngest champion of all – or, some would say, merely deferred the opportunity until next year.
"Looking back, I had five races where I didn't finish, so of course that didn't help," he said. "But we cannot change it now, so nothing to regret. I still think it's a good season for us, the best one we have ever had, so it's very positive and we can still do it." While yesterday's misfortune turned such an outcome from improbable to near-impossible it did nothing to damage his prospects in the longer term.
The German is the Formula One world title outsider but few doubt his championship credentials
By the side of the A5 autobahn from Frankfurt to Darmstadt stands a grey stone stele, about 6ft high, bearing the name of one of Sebastian Vettel's most illustrious predecessors. On Wednesday, as Vettel was arriving in Brazil to pursue his outside chance of depriving Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of the 2009 world championship, a small group of enthusiasts gathered to place a bouquet commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernd Rosemeyer, who died on that spot in January 1938 in the course of a speed-record attempt.
Like Vettel, Rosemeyer was a natural. In 1935, aged 25, he graduated from motorcycle racing straight into the Auto Union team. The following year, thanks to three grands prix victories at the wheel of the company's tricky mid-engined car, he was crowned European champion, the pre-war equivalent of today's world title.
In those days German drivers were as dominant as German cars, and today it seems one of grand prix racing's most puzzling anomalies is that although Vettel is the 44th German driver to take part in formula one since 1950, only one of his predecessors – Michael Schumacher, of course – managed to capture the world title. Even though he failed to make it through the near-lottery of yesterday's rain-drenched first qualifying session, no sensible judge would bet against Vettel becoming the second.
With four wins to his credit, three of them in his second full season in the top flight, Vettel is making the same sort of impact as Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton. These were drivers who did not need to serve an apprenticeship in grand prix racing. They were blindingly fast from the start, and their speed, matched by their early results, conferred an authority that outweighed their inexperience.
No eyebrows are raised when Vettel's Red Bull-Renault starts a race from pole position. It seems an utterly normal occurrence, a tribute to the symbiosis between a talented young driver and the fine car created by Adrian Newey, the team's chief technical officer. And the sight of Vettel on the top step of the victory podium is starting to become almost as unexceptional.
To snatch this year's title from his two rivals he needs to win at Interlagos today and in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight's time, while hoping that misfortune strikes the Brawn drivers.
"The pressure is on the people in front of me," he said here on Thursday, during a press conference shared with Button and Barrichello. "For me it is pretty straightforward. You don't have to be a genius to work out that from now on we simply have to win the two races and hope that these two mess it up."
Born in 1987 in Heppenheim, a small town overlooked by a medieval castle among the Odenwald mountains in south-west Germany, Vettel came from a modest background – his father runs his own small roofing company – and started racing karts before his eighth birthday. After winning Germany's Formula BMW series in 2004, he spent two years in the European Formula Three series before becoming the BMW-Sauber team's reserve driver in 2006.
When Robert Kubica missed a race after a spectacular accident in Canada the following year, Vettel took his chance. Eighth place in the United States grand prix made him the youngest driver to score a world championship point and earnt him a mid-season transfer to the Toro Rosso team. A year later a commanding performance from pole position on a wet weekend at Monza gave the team its first victory and made him, at 21 years and 74 days, the youngest winner in grand prix history.
Suddenly even Lewis Hamilton, on his way to becoming world champion at 23, did not look quite so young any more. Vettel was also winning friends through his seemingly open and uncomplicated nature, his mischievous sense of humour and – it has to be admitted – his excellent command of idiomatic English, although there was a sign of a more volatile side to his temperament when he hurled his steering wheel away and marched straight through the garage after yesterday's reverse.
This season his errors in Australia, Monaco and Singapore have been balanced by commanding wins at Shanghai, Silverstone and Suzuka, but the mistakes and a series of Renault engine failures have probably cost him the chance of becoming the youngest champion of all – or, some would say, merely deferred the opportunity until next year.
"Looking back, I had five races where I didn't finish, so of course that didn't help," he said. "But we cannot change it now, so nothing to regret. I still think it's a good season for us, the best one we have ever had, so it's very positive and we can still do it." While yesterday's misfortune turned such an outcome from improbable to near-impossible it did nothing to damage his prospects in the longer term.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Vettel: Runner-up spot not important
Sebastian Vettel says he does not care about finishing runner-up in this year's championship after losing his chances of taking the title in Brazil.
The German driver finished in fourth position at Interlagos, just one place ahead of Jenson Button, who secured the title with one race remaining.
Although Vettel leapfrogged Rubens Barrichello in the standings, the Red Bull driver admits he's not worried about his position now that he can't be champion.
"Second is the first loser," said Vettel. "I'll just try to do my best in Abu Dhabi. Obviously the target is to win, as we have a winning car.
"I don't really care about second or third."
Vettel, who started the race from 15th place, claimed he could have won the race had he not endured such a difficult qualifying.
"All in all it was a good race, starting from the back and finishing fourth," he said. "Maybe it was the maximum we could do. Obviously without the problems in qualifying we should have won that race, but we didn't, so there's not much more to say.
"I was only focusing on the laps, on the circuit, on the car. I was quite busy. I realised finishing fourth was not enough. I was praying for rain, and there was the smell of rain, but it never came down."
The German driver finished in fourth position at Interlagos, just one place ahead of Jenson Button, who secured the title with one race remaining.
Although Vettel leapfrogged Rubens Barrichello in the standings, the Red Bull driver admits he's not worried about his position now that he can't be champion.
"Second is the first loser," said Vettel. "I'll just try to do my best in Abu Dhabi. Obviously the target is to win, as we have a winning car.
"I don't really care about second or third."
Vettel, who started the race from 15th place, claimed he could have won the race had he not endured such a difficult qualifying.
"All in all it was a good race, starting from the back and finishing fourth," he said. "Maybe it was the maximum we could do. Obviously without the problems in qualifying we should have won that race, but we didn't, so there's not much more to say.
"I was only focusing on the laps, on the circuit, on the car. I was quite busy. I realised finishing fourth was not enough. I was praying for rain, and there was the smell of rain, but it never came down."
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