Exclusive interview with Sebastian Vettel: Tightest pole yet
Sebastian Vettel had to work hard at Suzuka to secure pole position. Autoblog UK talked to him after qualifying.
Was that your toughest pole of the season?
Sebastian Vettel: I suppose it was the tightest yet. I think in some ways it was similar to the one in Malaysia, where it was very close between us and McLaren. Ultimately, we managed to turn the tables on our last run. It's obviously quite a special one today. Our preparation wasn't ideal: we didn't have all that good a Friday, and Saturday morning wasn't the best. But we managed to raise our performance for qualifying and also as the session developed, which was important if we were to be in with a chance of taking pole position.
You had to adjust to a completely new setup in qualifying because of the new wing. How do you manage to do that?
Sebastian Vettel: Obviously you don't have all that much time. It helps a bit to find your rhythm as you progress through Q1 and Q2, especially if your car has changed so much – or even been rebuilt – between the morning and the afternoon. But then you have to concentrate really hard on what you're doing, because when I'm out on the track, I rely 100 percent on the team. We try to do our best to trim the car optimally. When you're out on the track, then it's all between the driver, the track, the tyres and the car. And this afternoon, everything came together. We were also aiming to get the absolute maximum out of the car.
I see you've brought in some reinforcements. Your father arrived yesterday. Is everything set for the championship winning party?
Sebastian Vettel: Well, celebrating isn't really our main target for tomorrow. First we have to put in a good race. We'll see what happens after that. I think it can be rather unlucky to talk too much about things that might happen.
Talking about luck, where is your mascot this time – in your left or right shoe?
Sebastian Vettel: I always have two of them, one left and one right.