Q & A with Sebastian Vettel

After qualifying autosport.com heard Vettel thoughts about his race day prospects, and the reasons for Toro Rosso's strong form this weekend.

Q. You were quickest in first practice and also in Q2, and finally sixth place. It's been a fantastic weekend hasn't it?

Sebastian Vettel: Yes, it looks like it. It is a new circuit for everyone. I like it - it is big fun to drive around here. It is very difficult as well. I think we have done a very good job so far. Also, the team had both cars in Q3, which is the first time for us - so it is very promising for the future. We are starting P6, which is good, but we are trying to score some points, which will be very tough.

Q. Has there been a step forward for the team, or is there another explanation?

SV: First of all, there is no secret. Obviously the whole team, and myself, we were surprised how quickly we were able to go in qualifying. But I think if there is an explanation and you want a reason, I think the answer is that we did a perfect job. We were at 100 percent of our potential, we made no mistake, and that must be our objective for the future as well.

Apart from that, I had a very good feeling in the car through the whole qualifying session. I was very happy, very confident, and obviously to have confidence on a street circuit is very important because you can push harder and harder - and therefore I think we had a very good day.

Q. Why have things clicked so well this weekend? From the off you were quickest in P1...

SV: I think we had a good day on Friday, and we made quite big changes to the car before Saturday and they were quite positive. I think we are getting better and better as a team. We have found our way with the car, we know how to deal with the situation - and what to improve. If there is a problem or something that one or the driver does not like too much, or is limiting us on the circuit, then we know where to address the problem. That could be why we were quite strong here.

But nevertheless it was surprising for us as well. In Q2 usually everyone is running empty - there is no reason to play around or dig around, so that was very surprising and very positive. In the third qualifying session, we should have been one position higher up, but I made a mistake on the final run. Shit happens, but I think it is a good position to start for the race.

Q. From the lap times in P3, it looked like you were running less fuel than other teams like Ferrari and McLaren. Was that a factor in you being so quick in Q1 and Q2 do you think?

SV: No, I don't think so. It is very difficult and obviously I am getting more experience in how the track evolution is. It is quite difficult to go from Q2 to Q3 - you have quite a lot of fuel on board, nearly full, and it is difficult to push straight away and know where the limit is. If you get to do it every weekend then it helps you a lot, but if you don't manage every time then you need some time to understand. Now I am feeling much more comfortable in Q3 than I did in Australia - even though I didn't do much there. I think we just had a good day. We had a good Friday, maybe were running less fuel in the morning than the others, but I think we had a good pace from Saturday morning onwards.

Q. Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber have both said that the Toro Rosso-Ferrari package is now better than the Red Bull Racing-Renault one. Would you agree?

SV: I don't know - I don't know what they've done this weekend. I think at Red Bull they were trying some stuff on Friday and they maybe got confused a bit. And then it is difficult to come back straight away. If you are lost and then you think you are lost, then maybe you get even more lost. In the end, sometimes it is better not to touch too much. Here the circuit was very green and you just have to wait for the circuit to come. But I don't know what happened to Renault or Red Bull Racing. I believe that we are getting stronger, but I still think that Red Bull Racing is a step ahead.

Q. Even on the engine front?

SV: For me, nowadays there is not so much difference in the engine. It is not that you can blame three, four or five tenths on an engine only. I think with the regulations how they are now, all the teams I think and all the different engine manufacturers are quite close together. Maybe one has an advantage on this kind of circuit and maybe one has the advantage on another kind of circuit. It depends on the characteristics, but I think there are more things playing a key role - aerodynamic efficiency, what package you use, and how much downforce you use. Then there are other things, simple things, like straight-line speed, and car height. There are many things, so it would not be smart to blame one thing.

Q. But the speed trap figures clearly show Ferrari engined cars having the best top speed.

SV: I believe that the Ferrari engine is one of the strongest in the whole field, I think that is true, but as I said - it is difficult to point out if it is the strongest and if there is a time gain just because of the engine. You have two or three different teams running a Ferrari engine. Sometimes you see they are close together and other times you see they are spread all over the place. It depends on many different things.

Q. Do you particularly enjoy this kind of track? Bourdais raced a lot on circuits like this in the United States?

SV: I like street circuits. It is quite challenging to have walls, and I like the fascination to go as fast as possible, even if there are slow corners. Here it is very technical but also Monaco and other streets circuits are good. My favourite circuit of all time is Macau, and so far I have not raced any track that gets close to the feeling you get in Macau. I like street circuits, but generally I haven't been around too long. I am also looking forward to Monza, next week's test, and then Spa. They are two great racing circuits.

Q. Do you think the knowledge you and Sebastien have in adapting to street circuits, how to get the most out of them because they need different approaches to a Silverstone and Barcelona, has been a factor in your performance this weekend?

SV: This year there were four circuits for me that I didn't know. Valencia and Singapore, nobody knows. And the other two were Silverstone and Montreal. We have no simulator so there is no chance to simulate. All I did was look at the layout on paper, do the track walk and look at some onboard from the last couple of years. Nowadays it is very easy, you just go to youtube and type in whatever you are searching for - and most of the time you get something interesting to watch.

Q. What can the team achieve over the rest of the season?

SV: You have to see race-by-race. Sometimes, like in Magny-Cours, Ferrari were dominating like crazy. At the race after, McLaren were back up there. So you cannot say after one race, okay this is the tendency. In the end, I think if you look at the races we had in the past - starting from Montreal, Magny-Cours, Silverstone, Hockenheim, Hungary, I think they are all kinds of different tracks with different characteristics - fast tracks, slow speed tracks and now Valencia. But you can see that we are more competitive than we were in the first part of the season, so since we got the new car there has been a big step and it helps to get some experience with the car.

We know how to work with the car, how to work with wings and everything we have available. I hope we can maintain where we are now until the end of the season, and maybe even get a bit stronger. The target is to score points, and it looks like we have a good chance in the race. That is the target also for the rest of the season. First of all we have to use 100 percent of our potential and then we see where we are. Some races we might be P6 on the grid, and other races we might be P12 - but as long as we did everything we could we have done a good job. That is the objective.

Q. Will any points in the race make you happy?

SV: Yes! At least one, and if more they are welcome. It will be a long race, a very tough race. But we have a good car and I am confident. I have both feet on the ground; it is a long race that will require a lot of concentration. It is going to be hot and humid, and if we can take some points home from that it will be fantastic.

Q. And do you think it will be a safety car fest?

SV: I don't know. We saw in the GP2 race there was one, but there are quite good run off areas here as well, in some places they are tighter, but we will see. Obviously the risk is higher than tracks like Bahrain, but we will see. It is always very difficult to predict that.