• Bahrain Grand Prix

'Pace was phenomenal' - Vettel

ESPN Staff
April 21, 2013 « Brawn keen for gearbox penalty rethink | Red Bull too strong for Lotus - Raikkonen »
Sebastian Vettel won by 9.1s from Kimi Raikkonen © Getty Images
Enlarge

Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull delivered "a flawless, seamless race" and that the pace of his car was "phenomenal" as he won the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Having dropped to third place at the start and with the heat degradation on the Pirelli tyres set to be pivotal to strategy it looked like Vettel was in for a tough race. However, he soon took the lead and disappeared in to the distance to take a comfortable victory and said the race had gone better than he could have envisaged.

"A big, big thank you to the team today," Vettel said. "A flawless, seamless race from start to finish and it was crucial straight away after the start to get in to the lead if I could and then go from there and look after the tyres. The pace was phenomenal; the car was very quick and just seemed to get better and better towards the end. It was really a beautiful race where you could really push every single lap and we took good care of the tyres, so overall very happy."

Vettel acknowledged that his race hinged on a crucial opening few laps in which he needed to overhaul Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg.

"It was very tight already in the first corner with Fernando on the outside and unfortunately I had to give way. I wanted to line it up to get Nico probably on the next straight but then Fernando squeezed in. Then I got him back which was crucial; I saved some KERS and could out-accelerate him in to turn six. Then Nico was a tough one, so I really had to think for a while because he was quite quick down the straights. The headwind today helped all the cars behind but still it wasn't as straightforward as I was hoping for. Once the track was clear we could unfold the true pace of the car."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close