Sunday: Vettel makes history by winning in India

Sebastian Vettel – Winner

« It was a very good race for us, and I really enjoyed it. I had a little fight with Jenson at a distance, but he was always 4 seconds ahead, oddly enough he was always getting closer around pit stop times. I was attacking a lot coming into the pits, but we seemed to lose time, we need to understand why. On the track, it was crucial to manage the tires well to ensure we had enough at the end, but it was quite a calm race. The car was very well balanced and it was a fantastic race today. A big thanks to the whole team and Renault, who have done an excellent job since the start of the season.

But I have mixed feelings today. I’m proud to be the first winner of the Indian Grand Prix, but on the other hand, we’ve recently lost two of our colleagues. I didn’t know Dan Wheldon, but he was obviously a big name in motorsport. I got to know Marco Simoncelli this year and our thoughts are with their families at this time. We are ready to take certain risks, but we obviously pray that nothing happens; sometimes you get a reminder and that’s the last thing we want to see.

It’s an incredible country here, very different from what we know in Europe, but it’s very inspiring. If you stay alert and listen, you can learn a lot from how people manage things. It’s a big country with a lot of people, but they are happy and they enjoy life, which is what matters in the end. Your life, in fact, is about the friendships, emotions, and feelings you have, rather than what’s in your bank account. So even if many people have very little here, they are rich in other areas, and we can learn from them. It has been a beautiful race, a magnificent weekend, the circuit is fantastic, so a big thank you to all the Indian people.

Mark Webber – 4th

We lost the podium midway through the race, actually. It’s quite common this year; I don’t have sufficient pace at the end of stints, so my tires degrade very quickly and I lose the strategy, so I have to pit earlier, which complicates things for me. In the end, I wasn’t fast enough. I had a good pace at the beginning of stints, but then we get stuck behind the gearboxes of our competitors.

We had some difficulties with the balance at the end of the relay. It was a great battle with Fernando, but the McLarens and Ferraris were very strong in the first sector. Jenson got me on the first lap on the long straight. I was fast against him in the initial laps, but then, as soon as you are fighting like that, you destroy your tires. So that’s how it is, it’s disappointing, but now I will focus on Abu Dhabi.

Christian Horner – Team Principal of Red Bull Racing

A brilliant result for the whole team with this victory at the very first Indian Grand Prix in Formula 1. Sebastian had a perfect race today, with a good strategy, good pit stops, and everything went well for him. Despite our constant requests not to do so, he managed to secure a new fastest lap in the last lap of the race.

For Mark, it was a frustrating afternoon. He had a good start, even though Jenson managed to pass him in the first lap, then he found himself battling with Fernando. Before the second pit stop, we were struggling more with our tires than Fernando, so we had to pit, and unfortunately, the performance on the out lap was not enough to stay ahead. Despite his efforts, he couldn’t get past Fernando.

Nevertheless, finishing 1st and 4th allows us to maintain our 100% reliability record. After securing the record for the most pole positions in a season, Sebastian achieved a second record this weekend by leading the most laps in a season.