Q & A with Sebastian Vettel

He sat down with the press in the Istanbul paddock prior to free practice and AUTOSPORT was there to hear what he had to say.

Q. You are 28 points behind Jenson Button. Is it time to react now?

Sebastian Vettel: I think so, yes. I know we have quite a big gap to the cars in front, and especially Jenson, if you look at the championship board. But we have to focus on ourselves. We have done a couple of mistakes in the last races and maybe put our money on the wrong strategy. But we try our best to do everything right here. I think we have a very competitive car and we have some new bits which might not have helped us so much in Monaco but should help us here - and a car that generally likes fast corners as you have in Istanbul.

Q. You have mentioned mistakes, so can we say that you are still in a learning curve?

SV: I think the day you stop learning is the day that you stop moving forward. I think you always have to be open to learn, and you have to want to improve. Everyone has to learn and, as I have said, we have done some mistakes including myself. In the last race I put the car in the wall, which was not fantastic. But life goes on, and we are here to fight.

Q. Will there be more of a benefit from the double diffuser here in Turkey than there was in Monaco?

SV: I think so. In Monaco it was very difficult to read if it was an improvement or not. Everything we could read from the data was positive, and it should help us here as we have a few more fast corners and not so much stop-go like there was in Monaco. So we will see. I think our car will be feeling well on this circuit. But we have the whole weekend in front of us so we have to prove that.

Q. Do you feel like you are one of the favourites here this weekend?

SV: I feel as usual. We try to make our best here. As I said, I think we have a very competitive car so we have a chance to score big points. So we have to use it, and let's see how we get on.

Q. Would you say that you and Mark Webber are quite similar in your approach - meaning you learn a lot off each other?

SV: I think there is always competition. Obviously my target is to beat him, and his target is to beat me. That is completely normal. But in the end we have a very good relationship and our driving styles are similar - we both don't like a car that is too 'understeery' and we don't mind the rear moving a little bit. So it is good to have two drivers more or less with similar feedback, and pushing the team in the same direction - hopefully the right one. So far it has been quite good.

Q. How do you feel you will compare with the Ferraris and the Brawns here?

SV: We will see. It is a new game. I think we have a good car and it should suit this kind of track, with a lot of fast corners. So let's see. It is always difficult to say before you have done even one single lap, and this year the cars are completely different. Let's see how we get on.

Q. Ferrari made a big step forward in Monaco. How do you think about them?

SV: We will see. In Monaco they were very competitive, but I do believe we have a very strong package as well. We are not afraid of anyone. Looking at the championship and looking at the results, Brawn is the team said to be favourite - for here as well. But we are here to do our best and our target is to win, so we try to beat them.