Vettel: ‘It wasn’t an easy race’

2011 Australian Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Melbourne, 2011

Sebastian Vettel said he didn’t have an easy race in Melbourne despite winning by over 20 seconds.

Speaking in the post-race press conference he said: “I don’t think it was an easy race.

“Obviously the start was crucial, being on the clean side I had a very good get-away but I didn’t know if it was enough until I saw that Lewis and Mark were battling for position. So I was clear with that.

“And then the first stint I was more or less trying to hold the gap. But we saw how quickly you reach, at some point, the cliff, and the tyres start to see some more degradation. Lewis caught up, we came in, I think it was the right timing, just, I couldn’t really have done more laps.

“After my stop obviously it was crucial to get past Jenson which I could do immediately so that was very, very important.

“After that I think the second part of the race I didn’t know what was going on behind Lewis, if he was under pressure or not. So with him dropping off in terms of threat, and the amount of pressure he put on, I could obviously control the situation.

“All in all a very good race. I think there was a lot of things to learn today. We need to definitely have another look onto the race and move forwards from here.

Vettel said he thought the rules changes over the winter had been “very positive”:

“I think we have to make some compliments to Pirelli. Obviously after the tests we were all a bit scared coming here and in the end we didn’t see as many stops as expected. All in all, I think it was a smooth race.

“The rear wing, I think, is still very fresh, this is a special circuit. Turn one I don’t think is the best place for overtaking in the whole year so we need to see but surely it helps to come closer.

“I was coming closer to Jenson which helped me two corners later to pass him. So I think it worked as expected, obviously I can only judge with me I don’t know what happened behind.”

2011 Australian Grand Prix


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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    23 comments on “Vettel: ‘It wasn’t an easy race’”

    1. Totally agree with this…

      “The rear wing, I think, is still very fresh, this is a special circuit. Turn one I don’t think is the best place for overtaking in the whole year so we need to see but surely it helps to come closer.

      The straight is also not particularly long.

      I think we will see it’s true colours on a more traditional circuit. Bahrain would have been good for that.

    2. What I found interesting is that when drivers fitted new set of tyres they took a couple of laps to get up to speed, which will be crucial for strategy.

    3. Ferrari needs to learn from Renault.
      Fernando nice job you’re a fighter never give up :)

      1. Or maybe they just need to drop Alonso and hire Petrov.

        1. After Abu Dhabi, that’s never going to happen.

        2. what are you talking about???
          Alonso is the best @ the moment 4th despite 3 stops ;)

          1. Yeah, after Button eliminated himself, Webber had a bad pitstop and Massa… Let’s not talk about overtaking Massa…

    4. But we saw how quickly you reach, at some point, the cliff, and the tyres start to see some more degradation. Lewis caught up, we came in, I think it was the right timing, just, I couldn’t really have done more laps.

      now we get this problem. What if Vettel is on P1 with Alonso for example close to his tail. Webber is on P3 with Button very close to his tail. both drivers need to pit because otherwise Button is going to overtake Webber and Alonso is getting even closer to Vettel. wich driver comes first? Do you sacrifice a podium for Webber to play safe on the win? Or are you going to gamble on thw win?

      1. No question, get Vettel the better strategy. Red Bull did that last year in Australia as well.

        And their strategy with Webber was dodgy at best this year as well. That said, Webber did not really look on it today, or rather from FP3 on.

        1. Bigbadderboom
          27th March 2011, 14:05

          Agreed, It was the only strategy they could have given him due to the high deteriotion he was suffering with the new tyres. Not one to start conspiracy theories ;). But Seb and Mark were chalk and cheese today, I wonder if they were running identical hardware! After quali yesterday Mark did take a long hard look at the front underside of Sebs car? or maybe Marks having a crisis in confidence!

      2. The would not gamble the win. Looking away of this “red bull favors Vettel so much” thing. A Win is always more important then a 3rd place. First of all because it is a win, and that is the bigger trophy, secondly because the points difference between 1st and 2nd is bigger then the difference between 3rd and 4th. So the position they would NOT want to loose is of cause the win. That is if both cars are equally close to the guy behind. If Vettel has 1,5 seconds to Alonso and Webber only have 1 second over Button it could be better to try and secure both places by pitting Webber first. Also tyre condition would be taken into consideration.
        But in most situations they would be able to pit both cars on the same lap, they just need just need to be over 4 seconds apart, which is likely when there is a Ferrari between them.

      3. See it this way…
        If you go from 1st to second, you lose 7 points. If you go from 3rd to 4th you lose 3 points. So from a team’s perspectice, letting Webber go a place down isn’t as bad as letting Vettel lose a place talking about the constructor’s championchip.

    5. Australia was never going to be great advert for DRS the sport wanted, but we got a few nice fleeting glimpses to show us what’s to come, starting with malaysia i reckon. Not too difficult for Vettel today for the most part but there was a genuine challenge there in the form of Hamilton for a while, so not the complete walk in the park some expected.

    6. Vettel’s comments remind me of this.

      1. Actually that sounded exaclty the way Petrov talks, certainly not what he said though.

      2. That clip is Brill. never saw it before!!

    7. If the McLaren gets close enough to the RBR in the DRS zone during a race they will have the bonus of KERS & th DRS to overtake. The RBR won’t have the KERS to defend!

      1. “IF”

        dream on. Not till atleast Istanbul.

    8. not that im picking but i think keith has moved to the north:

      “Sebastian Vettel said he didn’t have an easy race t victory in Melbourne.”

    9. This season reminds me of the start of 2009 season. One car really far ahead and rest just about huddling together and moaning. Vettel won the race without KERS after so brilliantly showing it in their marketing video as the best thing since sliced bread. Hypocrisy? No, F1.
      I have a new flatmate and he was watching F1 for the first time. It took me SO long to explain each little thing that I gave up and changed the channel. And this was just Saturday.

    10. Just the start a raining WC needs, as I said before that he have matured a lot from last season. Just hope the car is reliable enough so that he can continue his hunt all over again.

      1. Also I need to add that his pass over Button was very crucial as if he would had been struck behind him for sometime then Hamilton would have challenged him for the win given his car was OK.

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