Italian GP - Post-race press conference - Pt.1

Drivers: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)

Podium Interview
(Conducted by John Surtees and Jean Alesi)

Q:
Sebastian, you won your first grand prix, here at Monza, in an Italian team. So, it's very special coming back for you, isn't it?

Sebastian Vettel:
Yeah, definitely. A fantastic race - but you can hear the difference, obviously, when you don't win here in a red suit, you get a lot of that but in the end it's very nice because it means you've done very good and beat the red guys. So we are very proud of that. Great job by the whole team today, very good job by Renault. Usually this is one of the toughest tracks we go to but this year the car's been absolutely fantastic, the race has been incredible. I think for both of us towards the end we were struggling a little bit with the gearbox so we had to pace ourselves but obviously for me it was not that bad because I had a little bit of a cushion but very great to win here, to see all the fans coming, it's the best podium of the season so very proud to be up here.

Q:
It's important that they come and the emotion is all about Italy, isn't it?

Sebastian Vettel:
Yeah, for sure.

...Fernando did a very good drive and kept you honourable, so that was fantastic.

Sebastian Vettel:
Yeah, definitely. Most people, you can see are dressed in red -- but there's a lot of blue caps as well and I'm sure those guys are very happy. Thank you.

Q:
Fernando, you must explain how was the overtaking in the beginning of the race for you.

Fernando Alonso:
It was difficult obviously. The car was OK and we overtook Nico [H?lkenberg] but then we had to overtake Mark and Felipe later on. And then with Sebastian we were not able to close to the gap so we were fighting with Mark until the end. Second place is good, to have this podium ceremony that is the most spectacular podium of the year for sure and hopefully next one, next year, we come back here but in the top place.

Q:
And Fernando, when you make the pass, the whole public jump on the grandstand, it was amazing. Inside the car, how it was? It was very close.

Fernando Alonso:
It was close. Obviously we have to risk. There is nothing now to lose for us. We are second in the championship and we have to take some risk. We did it and that's OK.

Q:
You understand Ferrari love you? You have to love Ferrari, we are all behind you...

Fernando Alonso:
Ah, of course. I always said the same thing, big thanks to the team for everything they do for me and huge support from all the fans from all Italy. Some people still try to create some tension between team and driver but here is the better symbol: zero tension and we fight for the championship always.

Q:
Mark, you had to fight very hard to be on the podium. From the middle of the race you had... it looked like from outside you had better speed, compared to the beginning. Can you explain how it was at the beginning of the grand prix?

Mark Webber:
Yeah, I felt a little bit better on the tyre at the end of the race. The hard tyre was not quite as comfortable for me but I felt very, very good at the end. So it was a good battle with Fernando. Great team result. Thank you to Monza, last time here in Formula One, so thank you very much. See you next time.

Press Conference

Q:
Well done Sebastian, your third win here but tell us the problems you had with the gearbox - you said between fifteen and ten laps from the end. Was it getting worse or was it just one problem?

Sebastian Vettel:
In the end we finished the race so it was not a disaster. I think yeah, the heartbeat was a bit higher in the car and also at the pitwall because we didn't know what's going on. Fortunately, as I said, we didn't have any big issues. Just the last ten, fifteen laps, tried to pace myself a little bit more and control the gaps. Obviously it was good to have these ten seconds on hand, so I didn't have to push that much and also I didn't have to squeeze it all out of the tyres even though I stopped a couple of laps earlier than Fernando. So that was positive. But yeah, we didn't know how bad the problem is. We'll probably know better once we strip the car next week and have a look inside the gearbox. We'll probably know for both cars, I think, how close it was.

Q:
Fernando, were you happy with that second place? Was that as much as you could have achieved today?

Fernando Alonso:
Yes, very happy. I think the weekend we took the maximum from the car. Practice were OK and we learnt some good information Friday. Saturday it was very good, both cars in the top five. I think the last time was Malaysia this year, so very, very long time, so we were very, very happy. Today, being in the podium again, it's a fantastic feeling here in Monza. The fourth year that I drove for Ferrari, the four times that I was in the podium and every year is something amazing, something unique again, to be there in that moment. And we did the maximum and nearly a perfect weekend. We didn't close the gap in the championship, which is obviously the goal every weekend but y'know, when Sebastian and Red Bull dominate Friday, Saturday and Sunday and they win the race we have to congratulate them. They were the best all through the weekend and we need to do hopefully a better job next time but from what we had this weekend I think we did the maximum. So we are extremely happy.

Q:
Mark, you've had your best finishing position here and finally experienced a Monza podium - but at the same time, tell us about the start, tell us why you pulled off at the end.

Mark Webber:
Yeah, very happy to be on the podium here at Monza. It's one of the most famous ones in the world, up there with Monte Carlo and a few other signature events but yeah, brilliant to experience that, even though the atmosphere I was not completely a fan of, to be honest. Sebastian won the race and the atmosphere is not completely correct but anyway... that's their choice. It was good to have a clean weekend from start to finish and then fight for top positions, which was certainly the case today. The start was pretty good but both Sebastian and I, I think, compared to the Ferraris were not as strong off the line. Felipe had a good one so he had to go to the other side. Seb gave me enough room up the inside. I thought he was going to go straight. He was very deep on the brakes but just managed to pull it up, so then we settled into the first part of the race. I was not super-happy on the hard tyre but anyway that's the way it was. Fernando was into the rhythm a little bit quicker, we had a good little battle in the second chicane and then after that really just trying to managed the pace on the rear tyres to when we were going to stop to try to pass Felipe - which I was very, very happy with, the in-lap. And also the whole thing went well in terms of for the line, pitstop, exit, out-lap. We executed that as a team effort: driver, pitcrew, and got the job done against Felipe. And then actually it was a good battle with Fernando on the other tyre. Tried everything but yeah, as Seb touched on, we had to nurse the gearbox a little bit but in the end second was the maximum, we got third but we pushed Fernando all the way. It's always a good battle racing Fernando, you have to be very accurate. We pushed as hard as we could and I'm satisfied with today's result.

Transcript courtesy FIA.