Korean GP: Post Race press conference

14/10/2012

Sebastian, you've got to be happy with the way it's gone? Perfect start, perfect race, third straight win, you've got to be happy with the way things are going?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, very pleased, fantastic, I'm very, very happy. I think it was a fantastic race. Obviously the foundation was to have a good start, which I wasn't sure because I was starting on the dirty side but I have to say I had reasonable grip and a very good launch. I think Mark had a little bit of wheel-slip and I was able to get even side-by-side. Even then it wasn't over because it's a long way. When I was up-shifting to seventh gear I could hear Mark coming, he was side-by-side and then I tried to use my KERS to defend and fortunately had a good exit after the third corner, so was able to stay ahead. And after that tried to push. It was quite close in the first stint, Mark was always on my toes but towards the end I felt I had a little bit more left in the tyres and could go a little bit longer. We had two brilliant pitstops. The only mistake I did was once I locked-up the front right quite badly into Turn Three, bit of a mistake from my side but fortunately by then we had quite a cushion to the cars behind and were able to control the gaps in the end. I think we were all a bit worried about the front tyres because we've seen a lot of people locking up wheels and overshooting the apexes. So, really, really happy. I have to thank the boys on this one. The mechanics in the garage because they have been flat-out, arriving here obviously there's not much break from Japan to here, flat-out every night and working very hard on the car. I think we have done another step and that is exactly what we need and hopefully we can carry that momentum through to the next races.

Mark, second place. Pole position was obviously a good start for you - unfortunately on that start you just didn't get off the line - but what was the race like for you? What difficulties did you have, if any?
Mark Webber: The start wasn't sensational. I'll have to look into it but yeah, probably the initial getaway wasn't too great but after that it was... everyone wants... it's not the best corner to lead off so I thought, OK, we won't risk too much in the first corner, and then we got a good slipstream off Sebastian but it was just neck-and-neck for us along the back straight. After that I just tried to hang in there as best I could. But then it was just about tyres, looking after the front right. And at the end of each stint it was difficult to keep the front right alive. Yeah, the first two stints were quite tricky for me and then the last stint I was much happier with the balance but it was all too late then. So, good drive for Seb, great day for the team, the guys did a great job. Of course I'm disappointed but I'm happy to get a good result in the other side as well. Thanks to all the fans for coming out today. Cheers.

And Fernando, well the championship battle is on now isn't it? You've led for so long in this championship, you're six points behind - I think you should be happy today because the car was quite competitive. Do you feel that? Do you feel there's more to come from you and Ferrari?
Fernando Alonso: Yes, definitely. I think we have to be happy with the performance today, we finished third and fourth, just behind Red Bull that at the moment are difficult to beat. So, it was a good day for the team, for Felipe, for me, and I think we also overtook McLaren in the Constructors' Championship, which is something that maybe we didn't expect two or three races ago, so definitely we are moving in the right direction. We just need a little last step to be as competitive as Red Bull and I think it will be a beautiful last four races to the end.

Seb, a last thing from you, obviously you're leading the championship finally, how are these guys, especially Fernando, going to be able to beat you? What are you going to do?
SV: It's tough but that's what it is about. I'm looking forward to the next couple of races. We had a good last couple of races but y'know we've seen the championship is pretty much up and down, a lot of things can happen. What do we do? I think we have to focus on ourselves; we need to have our best possible results and then we go from there. I think at the end of the year if we have enough points there's a lot of people telling us so we don't have to do the mathematics ourselves.

Press Conference

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