Q & A with Sebastien Bourdais

Sebastien Bourdais: There are no lows. Obviously we didn't finish. Fourth would have been better than seventh, but Sebastian (Vettel) proved what the team could do in qualifying and I should have been in the picture as well. I made a mistake and the second run was ruined by a yellow flag.

In the race, we should have been in there as well. It was just keeping it on the island and not making the mistakes that most of the other guys did. Also, and foremost, we need to credit the team for the strategy during the safety car period.

The team was just monitoring the light and as soon as it opened he was just screaming: "In, in, in. Pit, pit, pit." I was just about to pass the pit entry and that made all the difference. If you wait one lap, you are P10, not P4.

Q. Do you feel you have laid down an early marker in your first race that you can withstand the pressure from the top guys?

SB: There is no pressure. We are outsiders. We know we don't have the best stuff in the field and we are just trying to make it work. And today we did the job, and we will try and keep it up like this. It wasn't about the pace. It was about not making any mistakes and that is it. I felt very strongly that it was going to be like this, and it really is.

This year you have to be very careful with what you do. Every time you try to pass someone, you are a lot more likely to make a mistake and spin the car. You need to catch the car, and it is very easy to lock up the rear wheels.

So, everybody is suffering the same problem. Some guys took the chance, and others thought it was not reasonable - they take their position home and call it good.

It is not the most spectacular show in the world. Obviously it is going to change for 2009 but for now that is what we have got and that is what we have to play with. I hope they keep fighting like crazy like this because it is good for us.

Q. Any inkling of a problem with the car before it failed?

SB: No. Obviously I had Kubica for some 15 laps behind me, and Fernando for a good 10 laps, and they could not do anything. The thing was just damn difficult, plus we were not so slow.

So despite being extremely heavy on fuel for a long run, the car was competitive and I have to say it was a good race. Even just before we had the problem we started to pull away. I re-collected myself a little bit and started to concentrate again, because I was just getting into a rhythm, so I started to push again to make sure I wasn't going to make any mistakes.

Q. Is what we've seen from Toro Rosso in Australia a glimpse of what you season will be like?

SB: I don't know if we can extract some big threats, but what Sebastian did in qualifying was a bit over our expectations. And if you can repeat that, for sure it is awesome. But in the race I think that is what we want to be able to do, to be consistent, not make any mistakes and get some points.

Q. Have you enjoyed the weekend?

SB: Yes, very much. I'd been waiting for it for a long time.