Q & A with Sebastian Vettel

However, Vettel's performance in the wet, which allowed him to lead the race with his Toro Rosso, did not go unnoticed.

Autosport.com heard from the young German after the race.

Q. Can you tell us what happened with Mark Webber?

Sebastian Vettel: I was behind Lewis (Hamilton) and Mark (Webber) in the safety car phase and I was exiting Turn 13 and saw Lewis going really, really slow all of a sudden. I reacted and I was not on full power at the time, and at the same moment I was looking back to the front I was in Mark's rear.

I think he reacted to Lewis, to not pass him but of course it is a shame. We were very, very strong in the race, we were very, very fast and we would have managed to finish on the podium easily.

Q. Did you speak to Mark?

SV: Yes, I apologised for what happened, that is clear. I think it is quite clear that I didn't want to take him out, and me.

Q. How strong was the car before then?

SV: We were quite strong, I think, in the end. In the first stint McLaren seemed to be quite far away and in the end it showed that they were lighter on fuel. We could go on quite a long time, so I was leading a couple of laps, which was also nice - seeing the P1 on the board.

And by the time we did the stop everything was fine, and after that it was difficult, as the track had changed, the car was heavier with more fuel and felt more lazy. I had a lot of aquaplaning because the car was set for dry and was very low, so it wasn't easy. And then there was the safety car phase, with 20 laps to go, and I think we could have managed to finish on the podium because the pace was there.

Q. What about the incident with Fernando Alonso?

SV: It is always difficult to answer this kind of question, seeing what happened in the end. At that moment I was racing for myself, I race for the team. And I was faster at that stage of the race, closing the gap. And going through Turn One, using the slipstream and pulling to the right quite early so that he could see me.

I was later on the brakes and side-by-side, and he seemed to open the brakes and turn. And by accident, we touched. Unfortunately he spun, so I was lucky to get away with no damage to the car.

There wasn't a lot I could do different; I was just trying to pass him. It doesn't matter if you are P18, P15 or P3 and P4, you try to race and you try to squeeze everything out of the car and if there is somebody in front of you, and you are able to pass, then you have to pass him.

Q. You qualified in the top ten here, you led a race, you fought for a podium but it didn't end great. What do you take away from the weekend?

SV: There are always positives, for sure. But right now I am disappointed, that is clear. In the end it would have been very nice for the team. At least Tonio scored a point because all the team had been waiting for just this point. It would have been six points, but in the end the chequered flag came out and I wasn't there.

Q. Will it help you that there are only a few days before the next race, so there isn't too long to dwell on what happened?

SV: Maybe, not much too much time to dig around and start thinking about crazy things. I will stay here for a bit and then go to China.