Vettel says win not as easy as it looked

Vettel completed a 'hat-trick' at Silverstone, starting from pole position, setting the fastest lap of the race, and taking his second win of the season.

The Red Bull driver finished 15 seconds ahead of team-mate Mark Webber and over 40 in front of third-placed Rubens Barrichello.

Despite his dominance, Vettel said the race had been difficult, especially during the first part.

"It is never easy," said Vettel. "It is a long, long race and particularly at this fantastic circuit everyone is enjoying it a lot. It is a dream, really, you have to stay focused and keep your eyes open.

"The start was important, the first stint I pushed hard straight away to try and build a gap, I knew it was crucial as I would benefit all race from it. I had a fantastic car. I was able to push more an more and more.

"The second stint wasn't easy at all, they said 'be careful'. I had a lot of traffic and a lot of battling cars, it is tricky when you get close. It was anything else but easy.

"It was great and in the last pitstop I was in clean air. I was counting down the laps and controlling the race from that point onwards. The last 10 laps were quite easy but before that I was pushing hard and in second stint was like a slalom, having to pass a lot of lapped cars."

The German, who had previously won in China this year, was thankful to the British crowd and admitted it was hard to believe he had won the race.

"It is fantastic. It shows we are on the right way. I want to thank Silverstone: it's only my second time here, I enjoyed it so much here, the cheering was fantastic, the emotions especially when I crossed the chequered flag, it was fantastic.

"The atmosphere was great. This is what I was dreaming of when I saw the first grand prix here in era of Mansell and so on. It is unreal now to think I am here, I have made it and I have won this grand prix."

Vettel also played down his team's dominance, as he reckons all the circumstances were right for him this weekend.

"I wouldn't mind if we could continue like that, but I think it is a bit of everything," he said. "This circuit is fantastic and suits our car. The first sector was great every single lap and I have seen our car is behaving fantastically well in all sorts of corners.

"On other hand we have made a nice step forward. I think we have improved the car a bit everywhere and it all came together. We did a good job the whole team working fine and if you want to say it in that way we were quite dominant today."