Red Bull Racing’s first Formula One front row lock-out of the season was followed by its first one-two finish, a detail which saw team principal Christian Horner leaving Turkey a very satisfied man.
Red Bull Racing have enjoyed some very good weekends recently, but they haven’t come away from a grand prix with a perfect score since the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2010. Given the evident advantage the RB7 seems to have over its rivals, that run was always going to end, and in Turkey it duly did. Sebastian Vettel crossed the finish line to comfortably take his third win in four, while Mark Webber crossed a few seconds later to record his best finish of a season that finally seems to be getting going. Webber’s position was hard fought out on track. Off the start line, he slipped behind Nico Rosberg and had to fight his way back past. He then lost second position in a battle with Fernando Alonso, before retaking the position towards the end of the race. It required calm heads and strong nerves in the cockpit and on the pitwall, as team principal Christian Horner explained afterwards.
Christian, was that a perfect race for RBR?
It was a good race, a really interesting race because we really went into it open-minded about strategy. During the race, we were considering permutations from three stops to four stops and at one stage even considering five stops with Mark. With Sebastian, we elected to cover the cars behind and he took a really mature and commanding win at the end. With Mark, because we worked the tyres harder while he was racing with Rosberg, it had an impact on the strategy choice for him. He did a great job to get past Nico, we then had the benefit of an extra set of primes for the end of the race that we didn’t use in qualifying yesterday in the fight with Alonso. Alonso was quick on the option tyre, managed to get past us on the option, but then Mark and the team stayed calm and knew they had that advantage on the last set of tyres to come back at him with, and Mark made it stick. So, that was a really impressive performance.
Vettel looked untroubled throughout. Is he a better driver now than he was last year?
I think with Sebastian it’s the benefit of experience showing through now. He is the reigning world champion and he doesn’t see that as a pressure, he’s enjoying it and he is in phenomenal form. He has a good understanding of how the tyres work, what he needs from them and what they need from him. Today, he was really very impressive.
Is the KERS problem solved? Sebastian reported he had a trouble-free race with KERS, whereas Mark had only a small niggle towards the end.
We made a good step forward this weekend. Seb was trouble-free and the small issue we had with Mark came about because we were pushing the system pretty hard when he was racing Fernando. We’ve made modifications as we’ve learned more about the technology.
© Getty Images for Red Bull Racing
Do you have the outright speed to keep winning, or do RBR need to rely on good strategy too?
I think the bottom line is that things can change so quickly. Fernando gave us a hard time today when nobody else seemed to be in the same ballpark. Three weeks ago, it was McLaren, earlier this weekend it looked like being Mercedes who had made a step. We can’t afford to be complacent. We have to keep our heads down, keep pushing hard and try to learn - and from that get more performance out of the car. This was our 18th win in two-and-a-bit years. We’ve come a long way, and we’re building on that experience.
Are you forcing the other teams to try risky tactics, and rush development and maybe make mistakes?
I think that’s all part of sport. Not only do you put yourself under pressure, but you look to put the opposition under pressure as well. What was fascinating about today compared to 12 months ago is part of that. Losing a place to the Ferrari last year would have been game-over for Mark. We would have consolidated for third. With the way the strategy now works, with DRS and the KERS and the strategic element you apply to races these day, it gave him a crack at getting that position back, which he made work for him. It’s really changed the dimensions of the races. Obviously a lot of emphasis is put on qualifying and pole position, but the value of pole position is much less now than it perhaps was in previous seasons.
"The strategic battle adds another dimension this year. It’s like a chess match: that first move can dictate what happens later on."
With four races gone, is strategy becoming less chaotic as you learn more?
It’s very, very busy and you have an awful lot going on! There’s dialogue with the drivers and the feedback from the car, which is crucial - but with 11-lap stints, we seem to have one or the other car coming into the pits all the time. The guys doing the stops today did a brilliant job. It was fantastic team-work with not a single mistake, in fact we had two sub-three second stops. The strategic battle adds another dimension this year. It’s like a chess match: that first move can dictate what happens later on.
It seems like RBR don’t have one clear opponent?
They’re all great teams. It’d be a foolish person to write-off Ferrari, and Fernando in particular. McLaren made a big step on the eve of the championship and they’re quite capable of making another big step. Mercedes are showing real flashes of pace, so you can’t underestimate any of our rivals. As I’ve said many times before, we try to focus on our own performance, we keep learning and try to keep on delivering the kind of performance we saw today.
Want more?
- Check out Sebatian Vettel's profile page
- Visit Red Bull Racing's website
- One-Two In Turkey Exorcises 2010 Demons
- Turkish GP: The Team Reaction
- Head to redbull.com's F1 event page
- Tech Talk on tyres
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