Italian GP Saturday Press Conference
Drivers:1st: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
2nd: Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
3rd: Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
Press Conference
Q: Sebastian, your third pole position here and 40th in your career. Tell us about the importance of pole position here. Is it an important pole?
SV: I think pole is always important. It's the best place to start the race from on Sunday. Especially here, I think it's important to manage to qualify in the top group, we know the first two chicanes are quite tricky. So, I'm looking forward to start the race from pole tomorrow, focus on the start and then we'll see where we get. But it's a long race, we've seen in the past that there's a lot of things that can happen. A good example of how quickly things can change last year, I think Sergio [Pérez] had a fantastic race and coming through with an opposite strategy so yeah, race pace is very important but surely today we did our homework with qualifying, P1 and P2.
Q: Mark, yesterday we saw a margin of six-tenths of a second. We saw a margin of six-tenths again this morning. Do you feel that you've got some of that back?
MW: To Seb? Yeah, the lap time looks like it. It's down to two. It's not quite there but it was still a session which I was pretty happy with because to qualify in second position is good. Seb's strong here, quick in Monza. He's not slow here so it's not… it's a bit of an opposite circuit for me so certainly happy to have a PB in quali and I'll do my best tomorrow. The car's
[INAUDIBLE – MIXED IN RADIO CHATTER]
but in general looking forward towards the race tomorrow. The big clutch behaving itself in a good fashion, hopefully it should be OK, then we're going to get a good start to the race in terms of the first few laps and settle in for the afternoon.
Q: Nico, possibility of showers tomorrow. What would you like?
NH: I think I'd like it to stay dry to be honest. I think that would be the easier option but we'll take it as it comes. We haven't run in wet or inter conditions so it will be new to everyone. Obviously more challenging but I'm open-minded.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Complimenti Sebastian; are you happy to have the first Ferrari engine in Nico Hulkenberg's car than one of the works cars? How important is it not to have the Ferrari there?
SV: I think today it was obviously all about preparing for the race, getting the best position. As I said, in this regard we got our job done but the main job comes up tomorrow so we will see. The races are long, a lot of things can happen so I don't know. I think Felipe is P4 so I think Ferrari was strong in every race this year in terms of race pace so they will be strong tomorrow as well. I think their long run looked quite competitive; I don't know what they have done exactly in terms of fuel loads but I'm sure they have the pace and the ability to come through. Equally, I wish that Nico stays there, first of all for him and for his team, to have a strong result and secondly, obviously, it would do me no harm in terms of the championship. But first of all, I have to finish in front of him.
Q: (Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung) To both Red Bull drivers: what is your strategy tomorrow for the start, as Nico is quite close to you?
SV: I think the usual: accelerate as quick as we can, try to get a good start. Partly it's in our hands, literally, with the clutch and then our feet, but also it depends on how well we set up the start, how accurate we are. I think we've worked a lot in the past, we've had some very good starts, we've had some not so good starts. You never know what you get, but we're both, I think, hoping for the best launch.
Q: Mark, have you solved the problem with the clutch, do you feel you're on top of it?
MW: (I'm) The wrong guy to ask. But anyway, there's always a guy third on the grid, it's Nico or whoever. We can't start one and two and then have a fifty meter gap. He's third because he did a good job. Nico or someone else, it doesn't matter. We focus on ourselves really. That's it.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Serra) Sebastian, there was a strange phrase by Fernando on the radio and it seemed to be against the team. Do you believe he's getting nervous and nervous in the fight against you?
SV: Today? I don't know, I don't know. I don't what they… Maybe they had a problem. Obviously they were quite competitive this morning in the beginning of qualifying, I think it was very close at the end of qualifying to be fair. Obviously I fortunately had a bit of a gap but I think everyone behind Nico was quite close to each other. I don't know, maybe they had some problem.
Q:(Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Nico, the drivers' market is very sensitive at this moment, especially concerning the teammate of Alonso. You have put in a greater performance then Ferrari; do you think it can influence Ferrari's decision to take you?
NH: I can only influence it by performing very well and obviously today's result is not the worst. For me it's just important to focus on my competitiveness and my performance and that will make the rest easier but probably the timing is not the worst at this moment.