Post Race Podium, Drivers Q & A

 DRIVERS
1 - Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull)
2 - Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)
3 - Nick HEIDFELD (Renault)

Q: Sebastian, never an easy day at the office here in Malaysia but as you told the team on the radio, ‘I love coming to work’, and when you take home the win it is hardly surprising.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah I guess so. Another great day. The start was crucial. I thought I had a really good start and then I saw Lewis lining up behind me quickly. Then I was surprised going into turn one as all of a sudden I saw something black in my mirrors. I knew it was a Lotus and then I realised it was Nick. Obviously for the first stint it was a good thing to happen as I could pull away lap by lap. I think the grand prix was different to what we saw two weeks ago especially with tyres going off. On the one side you do not want to be the first in as the shorter you get the more stops you might have to do in the end, but on the other hand if someone goes in he has the advantage on new tyres and might undercut you. I think it was quite difficult and it was tight with Lewis but I always had a couple of seconds in hand so we could control that – but still it was never easy until the last stint. Lewis had a problem, I don’t know what happened to him but I realised Jenson was behind and I could comfortably control the gap so with not too many laps to go it was quite good. Very pleased as I said. I love what I do and I don’t think I can be happier at this stage.

Q: Different to Australia but in some respect very much the same. Lap 29, you are told you cannot use KERS. Did you know the problem and how much of a difference did it make to your car and your feelings at the time?
SV: Yeah, it was not according to plan, but then it was coming back. It was a little bit on-off during the race. It is something we have to work on but still never forget two weeks ago we didn’t race it at all and today it was very crucial at the start. Without KERS again we would have been in a completely different position and the race would have unfolded in a different way. It was giving us what we needed and being in a luxury situation, being a little bit ahead, we had a little problem so we turned it off and it went back on. But coming here only 10 days overseas, reacting the way we did, we can be very proud of ourselves. We cannot stop pushing. We have seen how close it is, much closer here than in Australia, so that’s how quickly things can change. We have to keep our heads cool, keep working, keep pushing, but I am not worried to be honest. All the guys, they know that this is the only way forward so for today we all enjoy and we can be very proud.

  Q: Jenson, I would imagine you will enjoy second place?
Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, it was a really confusing race in a way, trying to understand the pit-stops and whether it was worth looking after tyres or not through the stints. So it was pretty tricky. Then, the last stint, when we put the prime tyre on, the car came alive and I had so much more grip. I had a feeling that the tyre wasn’t going to go the same way as the soft tyre and my pace was much better in the last stint. A fun race. A couple of really good battles. Happy to come away with a second. I had the team telling me to back it off and look after the tyres but in a racer’s mind you want to push as hard as you can as you want to try and catch the leader. Even though it was not really on you have still got to give it a go, so I had a lot of fun out there and great to get 18 points.

  Q: The team told you no-one had achieved a 19 lap stint on the prime tyre at any stage this weekend and you did it in your final stint. Give us an indication as to how difficult it is to preserve these tyres.
JB: Well the thing is it’s very difficult to understand what to do with the tyre. If you try and preserve it sometimes you make the situation worse as you are not carrying as much speed through a high-speed corner and then you get less downforce and you damage the tyre more so it is a very, very tricky situation to be in. But I think we did pretty well. As we went through the race I think we understood the tyre a lot more and our consistency was much, much better with the tyre and we didn’t get down to the canvas so a big thank you to the team. They did a magnificent job today with the pit-stops and the strategy and I think we have made some good progress so, looking forward to China, we should be excited and hopefully we can challenge these guys.

  Q: Nick, congratulations on your first podium since Malaysia in 2009. So much happened in the middle of the race but, specifically, tell us about your start and then tell us how you managed to hang onto third place under pressure from Mark Webber at the end?
Nick HEIDFELD: The start was fantastic. Good fun. In Australia I made up many positions on the start but I didn’t expect the same happening when starting from sixth rather than 18th or whatever it was in Australia. I found myself actually fighting with Sebastian who watched me in the mirror and just paced himself to keep me behind. After that I did the best I could but Sebastian was quite a bit quicker. Then in the first stint there were some drops [of rain] coming down and I called the box to say my tyres were going off and they said ‘stay out, there might be rain coming so we don’t want to do an extra pit-stop’. Then, our first pit-stop was not perfect, lost one or two positions, and after that I was a bit lucky with Fernando (Alonso) who lost his front wing or damaged his front wing and had to do an extra pit-stop. I had some good pace later on, especially on the prime tyres, similar to the McLarens probably and had to defend from Mark towards the end when he came flying by. But I think once he was behind me his tyres also started to degrade. I used my KERS just in places where I needed to defend and it is great to come third. Second podium for Lotus Renault. It is a great step forward from last season.
 
  Q: Sebastian, defending champion and two wins out of two in your defensive year. I would imagine you are feeling very positive going through to China now – or is there a renewed threat from McLaren?
SV: Well I mean first of all we can be happy today and enjoy and try to take that momentum into the next race. As you said two races, two out two is perfect, couldn’t be any better but there is still a very long way to go. The championship is far away. There are a lot of points still to get so we have to keep our feet on the ground. At the moment things are looking good. I think we worked hard over the winter so if that is the reward then I think there is no problem putting even harder work in. I am very happy with that and tomorrow starts China and we see how we get on there.

  PRESS CONFERENCE

  Q: Sebastian, what a start to the season. Your 12th win and I think it is four wins in a row if we count last year as well.
SV: I don’t know. I don’t count. I think it is better not to. Yeah, very good result. I was very pleased with yesterday’s result especially as we knew going into qualifying it will be tight and we expected similar in the race so the start was very important. Again thanks to the boys, thanks to the team. I think it shows how – I mean we had some bad experience two years ago so we don’t  need to do that again –important KERS is and it saved our life today at the start. I was focussed on Lewis behind me and all of a sudden Nick was there so it was quite funny in a way. I had to defend a little bit into Turn Two, focus on a good exit which was crucial as then I was ahead and could use the first stint to build up a little gap. I think we were a little bit quicker than the Renault, which was behind, or the Lotus.  Then I tried to take that gap into each stint. It was a bit of a luxury situation as we could wait for other people to do the stop. Of course, they were closing then as it is quite powerful. If you change tyres you come out and you are much quicker than the guys out on the circuit with the used tyres, But with a couple of seconds in hand we had this luxury so there was no need to panic. Coming in first, especially the first stint, it started to drizzle quite heavily and I was surprised. It didn’t have a really big affect on the handling and the grip level but still there were drops on the visor and you could even smell it. It was quite big. Then it started to get less and it was not a problem anymore. When you come in for your first stop and you know it is drizzling around turn five-six-seven-eight then you just pray for the rain to stop as other people might stay out, one or two laps, and they get a free stop as it starts raining. It was tight. All in all I think it was a difficult race today. As Jenson said you never knew how hard to push, how hard to save your tyres. Everyone was trying to do the same. I think there was a lot to learn today and a lot to take into the next race but for today very, very happy obviously.

  Q: The only time you did seem to lose a little bit of time was to Lewis in the second stint. Did you have a problem with the tyres?
SV: Not really. As I said we had a decent gap. He pitted earlier than Nick and earlier than us and I think he went to another set of options after his first stop. As I have just tried to explain it is very powerful and I think we were stopping at the right time in the first stint but tried to push probably a bit longer for the rain whereas he came in and that one lap can make three to four seconds difference. Naturally he caught up and then I was just trying to look after the tyres and look after the gap. He was closing in three-tenths a lap at this stage but we again tried to push that stint as far as we could so I wasn’t worried when he was catching up these couple of laps.

  Q: Jenson tell us about the start first of all?
JB: Well as we all do I have watched the footage from the last five year here and the inside line has always the best into Turn One so it was my aim to get to the inside as quick as possible. I even had a little go at Lewis down the inside and then I heard an almighty racket down the outside and (turns to Heidfeld) what shall we call you now?
NH: Lotus Renault GP.
JB: ...it was the two Lotus Renault GPs. They had an amazing start, but also the guys did a great job into Turn One. I was in a safe place on the inside but I obviously lost a position to Nick. Then we got underway and I realised I had been very conservative with my front wing angle. I think we are all trying to look after the tyres and I backed out too much front wing and I was really struggling at the front end. Sometimes that can also cause degradation of the rear as you have to put in so much steering lock and then when you get on the power with steering lock it causes oversteer. That was why my first stint was not very good, then every stint from then on I improved. A good day. Good points, an exciting race I am sure to watch. I don’t think anyone really knew who was going to finish behind Seb and nice to get 18 points on the board.

  Q: And you had the Ferraris behind you at the end of that first stint. How close were they and did that precipitate your pit-stop?
JB: With these tyres as soon as they go, they go. It is what they are supposed to do and it is exactly what they do do. As I said I had the wrong balance on the first stint and I thought that the rears would be okay but they went off a lot earlier than I expected. I didn’t expect the Ferraris and the Lotus Renault GP to be as consistent as they were and our degradation was bigger so made a few set-up changes in the stops and improved from there. But a big thanks to the guys. They made some really good calls in the pit-stop. The first race of the season we had a good race and this is again a step forward in terms of performance in qualifying and the race. We’ve just got to hope it keeps happening as we can’t let the Red Bulls have it their own way for much longer. Our aim is to challenge these guys, but it is not easy. They are very, very fast.

Q: How hard did you push to try and jump Lewis, or did that just happen?
JB: He had a long stop, but obviously I also wanted to jump him, because on my third stint of the race, I was behind him, and I felt I could have gone quicker, and I think on the last stint I really felt good on the prime tyre and I could pull out a really big gap on the rest of the field, and try to chase down Seb, but he was just too quick, but I had to have a go.

Q: Nick, quite a lively race. Jenson said it was quite confusing; was it for you?
NH: No, not at all. I think it’s easier if you have a good start from the back to see what the guys in front of you are doing. I was kind of lucky that there was enough space on the outside opening up for me just to concentrate on a good braking point. I not only had a good start, but also a good braking into turn one and managed to secure second position.

Q: And how hard was Mark pushing at the end there?
NH: He came close, there were big, big steps. I guess he was on quite fresh tyres but then he must also have started to get some degradation and luckily that was enough to keep him behind me. On top of that, you know that we have KERS and I tried to use it, not for lap time but more for defending, and I don’t think he had KERS, did he? Did he have problems towards the end? That’s what I was told. That was a big help for us in defending.