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Turkish GP: Post Race press conference

NEWS STORY
07/06/2009

Jenson, on your slow down lap you used the word 'outrageous' to describe this car. That was an outrageous win for you today.
Jenson Button: Thank you. I mean today the car was the best it's felt all year. We have been quick on other occasions and the car has been a bit loose and hasn't really suited my style but today the car was immense. It really was. I have got to say a massive thank you to everyone. It just keeps getting better. I don't know if this circuit suits our car more than others. I think some of it was due to the rubber on the circuit: That really helped our car. But, yeah, the car was fantastic today. I wish I could have all the boys on the podium. I had one of my engineers but they all deserved to be up there as they did a great job.

Mark, a great result for you. More fuel on board at the start of the race and a two stop strategy compared with your team-mate's three stop strategy. Talk us through that.
Mark Webber: Well, it was a very good afternoon for me. The first stint I knew I had to try and hang in there as long as I could and that worked out pretty well. I managed also to go a lap longer and save a bit of fuel as well. That really opened up me going away from the rest of field. I knew Sebastian's strategy as well, so I knew I would have a chance to have a sniff at him as well to get another position. I knew the podium was pretty much taken, it was just a question of whom out of Sebastian and myself would get the second place behind this guy who was on another planet. I knew the second stint was crucial for me and I had to push really, really hard as usual as all the drivers are doing in the race but when someone is on a different strategy it is invisible to see them obviously and it turned out well for us. My engineer kept me in the loop with what was happening and I did enough damage in the middle stint to be able to jump Sebastian and at the end it was okay, we just turned the engine down and brought the car home.

Sebastian, P3 for you. Another great result but from the pole this time sadly no win. But you were leading for a little bit on the first lap.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, up to turn nine and ten. It worked out okay at the start. I stayed ahead. Then I nearly lost the car at nine and ten. It was my mistake. I think all race it was difficult there. It was a bit of tail wind and it was extremely difficult, so even on the second lap I nearly lost the car again, so it was quite tricky. But still I think it would not have made a big difference as Jenson was just too quick today, so I think I wouldn't have been able to hold him anyway. After that I knew my strategy. But we have seen that Jenson was not behind us and we were not opening a gap to him. It was the opposite, so I thought we were switching to two stop. We did not and then obviously in my second stint I was in traffic to Jenson and he was on a heavier fuel load than me. I nearly passed him. There was one chance but it was quite tricky and after that I lost a little bit of time there and it turned out that the three stop possibly was not as quick as two stop today. Nevertheless a good result for the team. I am not happy but I think we can be very satisfied to take second and third and it is getting closer, so that is a good thing.

Jenson, it must have been a nice moment for you on the opening lap when you are following Sebastian. We get towards turn nine and ten, a little bit of wind there, and he leaves the road.
JB: Yeah, at the start I was very happy that I got away in second position. My start was good actually on the dirty side of the grid. Sebastian covered the inside which I was surprised about as going onto the dirty side I didn't think was the best idea. We sat behind him for the first half of the lap and then Sebastian ran wide on the exit of ten and that was my opportunity. It is difficult to overtake here and as you might have seen we were sat on the limiter for a lot of the straight, so I would not have had the opportunity to pass at the end of the straights.

You were under pressure from Sebastian on the second stint when he had a lighter fuel load. What was the situation like for you there?
JB: It was okay. I knew that he was going short. We sort of knew what lap he was going to stop on. But it is still never a nice feeling, even when you know you have got more fuel in the car, to see a car catching you eight or nine tenths a lap. I just had to be as consistent as I could. I knew that if Sebastian was behind me it was going to be difficult to overtake, so I backed off in the corners I could to help the exits and as soon as Sebastian pitted I pushed a bit harder and got the lap times down a bit. It was still an exciting race but I must say I personally think the races before this, especially Bahrain and Barcelona, I think the Red Bulls were on our pace. I really do but today we were a step ahead, so it is a nice feeling.

Mark for you the start was opened up a little bit with Rubens Barrichello making a slow start. Give us your thoughts off the line and then behind Jarno Trulli on the opening lap.
MW: I didn't get a bad start compared to Rubens. He had a very poor one and Jarno had a very good start and then I was behind Jarno for the first sector and there were quite a few opportunities to have a stab at him. He made quite a few mistakes on the first lap. I was on the outside of turn eight but I was also mindful of the fact that I had Ferrari and a KERS car behind and I didn't want to lose another position to him. It turned out when Jarno ran wide, doing the same mistake as Sebastian, that was very fortunate for me and I just got my head down. Of course the track was different today, so it did play a role in the first lap.

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