Q&A: Sebastian Vettel.

Wednesday, 9th May 2007

Despite the disappointment of losing his 'third driver' ride with BMW Sauber at this season's grands prix, Sebastian Vettel still has plenty to occupy his mind, having taken over at the head of the World Series standings after a dominant lights-to-flag victory at the Nürburgring.

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I’m very happy with my season still. I chose not to focus just on Formula 1 this season, which is a good thing. I still have the opportunity to test with the BMW Sauber F1 Team, but I also have a great race season in World Series with Carlin. My priority at the moment is here in World Series - to win races, score points and, at the end of the season, win the championship.

Q:
How has the season gone so far? Were you happy with your performance at the last event in Italy?

SV:
I missed some tests because of my Formula 1 commitments but, generally, testing went well, so we were confident ahead of the season. The first race at Monza didn’t go quite
as we expected. We had a few problems. But we had a good test at Magny-Cours last week and sorted a few things and set the fastest time in the process. So I’m very
confident for upcoming races.

Q:
What do you think about the revised World Series regulations this year, in particular the move to reverse the top ten finishers of race one for race two?

SV:
I’m familiar with that regulation already from Formula 3, but they only reverse the top eight. In World Series, it’s the top ten that gets reversed. In my opinion, you unfairly penalise the quick drivers. If someone wins the first race or does well, he has less chance of scoring big points in the second race through no fault of his own. For me, it’s much better to have two qualifying sessions.

At the moment, if you crash or have a mechanical problem and can’t finish the race, you automatically start from the back of the grid, even though your true pace might have put you at the front. For this reason, the Saturday races are so much more important than they were last year. It’s essential to finish the first race now, if you stand any chance of a good weekend. One bad race can ruin your weekend. On the other hand, of course, it’s the same for everyone. Sometimes you will benefit from the reversed grid, as I did in Monza. I suppose, overall, those are the rules and we have to accept them.

Q:
Was the Nurburgring a special race for you, being your home race?

SV:
Not really. It’s closer for me to come here, and it’s special in that a lot of friends and family are coming, which is quite nice - but that’s it. Generally, I had a lot of races in Germany last year, and the year before, and the year before that…. There was no particular feeling that it was a ‘home’ race and it doesn’t feel any different now. Maybe in five years time, if I’m lucky enough to be racing in many different countries and only race in Germany once a year – then it will feel special.

Q:
You have a good record at Nürburgring; you won there twice last year in F3 Euroseries. Do you like the track?

SV:
The layout of the track is great, it’s very interesting and quite a technical track. I really like it. It’s nice to be able to race on the grand prix circuit - in the F3 Euroseries, we used the shortened track.

Q:
You had a bit of clash with your team-mate in Monza, what happened?