Q&A with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel 10 Jun 2011
After Monaco there was a sense of deja vu for Sebastian Vettel’s engineers on Friday as they again had to repair a car that had kissed the wall early in the morning session. As the impact was milder than two weeks ago, the champion and standings leader was able to hit the Montreal track again in the afternoon - and clock the second-fastest time…
Q: Sebastian, another practice crash. Is this going to be your usual weekend warm-up?
Sebastian Vettel: I did ask myself if this really was necessary. Unfortunately it happened and in that moment there was nothing I could have done to avoid it. I lost the rear and there you go. We have again seen today that mistakes seem to be an integral part of this track and the walls are pretty close - and if the mistake happens at the wrong part of the track a crash is pre-programmed.
Q: How was the impact?
SV: Well, it was rather mild. I was able to reduce the speed substantially before the impact and I’ve been very lucky that the damage was rather minimal, so my guys were able to fix it between the sessions.
Q: How is the situation with the tyres? Better, the same or worse than Monaco?
SV: It was a bit difficult in the afternoon with all those red flags towards the end of the session. My guess is that in Monaco the tyres were lasting a bit longer than here because the corners are not so fast there and the overall speed is not that high, which helps save the tyres. I think this weekend will be a bit more critical.
Q: What about the speed of your car?
SV: I was quite satisfied in the afternoon. The speed is there. Considering all the interruptions caused by red flags it was a good afternoon. Regarding the times, we all know that they don’t really say anything so I have not taken too close a look at them.
Q: Who have you identified as the biggest competition from what you’ve seen today?
SV: Ferrari and McLaren again seem to be the biggest threats, but than as I just said, it’s Friday and you never know what programme they are running. Unfortunately they don’t post that. I am sure we have not seen everything yet. As for me I am pretty satisfied with the balance of my car.
Q: How do you like this Montreal track?
SV: It’s a pretty rough track with all the chicanes and the kerbs, but I like it. Of course our target is again to win, but we have also seen that this race always holds many surprises - we have had a bit of a taster on Friday with my crash in the morning and some others in the afternoon. Much will depend on the tyres and the number of pit stops necessary. Another big question mark will be the weather. The forecast gives quite mixed signals, so let’s wait until after qualifying to see what is really going on this weekend.
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