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Singapore GP: Post Race press conference

NEWS STORY
23/09/2012

Sebastian you're a back-to-back winner here. What's the secret?
Sebastian Vettel: I think it's one of the toughest races of the year to be honest. It's very long; the full two hours. The circuit is a killer. There's so many bumps, there's no space for mistakes and the race just seems to go on forever. Obviously we benefited from Lewis' failure. A couple of laps before that he lost some oil and then after that I think we generally we had very, very strong pace all weekend. I had a good start, which got us into second and in the hunt. The pace was there so... I'm just incredibly happy and proud because this is a such a tough race. I would like to dedicate it to one very, very special man, Professor Sid Watkins who passed away and we remember him for sure. I think he is one of the biggest reasons we can go out on a circuit like this and enjoy ourselves and be reasonably safe. He pushed the boundaries in terms of safety for all of us, so a big thank you to him.

Can you see something reminiscent of 2010; how you came from this position and just sneaked that win of the championship in 2010?
SV: I don't think Fernando would be too happy if it happened again in the last race. But it's an incredible season for all of us (inaudible) we have a lot of races left, the car seems to be competitive and we just have to use the momentum and keep pushing for these last races and see what happens.

Jenson, what happened at the re-start?
Jenson Button: First of all, good evening everyone. Was that fun? Good. It was a pretty tough two hours for us. The re-start? Sebastian accelerated and braked for the right-hander and I just didn't expect that, such a speed difference. So I hit the brakes, locked up and just missed the rear of his car, because that would have been quite embarrassing. But we got through it and yeah it's a good second place. I'm reasonably happy with that. We all want to win, but you can't win them all.

Does that second place make up in some small way for Monza?
JB: Yeah it does, but for us as a team to have another failure this weekend is disappointing. The important thing for us is we have a very good car. I think the team are doing a fantastic job and it seems that every race we go to we really do have a chance of winning so that's important to us.

Fernando, you also have won twice here and now on the podium again. It must be one of your favourite tracks?
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, good evening everybody. Of course, is one of the best tracks to drive, to enjoy. The weekend in general is out of our normal routine, let's say, of times etcetera. We enjoy driving here, the atmosphere is fantastic, the layout is quite interesting and it was a fun race again.

You still have a 29 point lead in the Championship but yet you haven't won since Germany. Are all of your opponents, are they all falling away or tripping over themselves?
FA: Well, in Monza is was Lewis winning the race and Sebastian retired. Here it's Sebastian winning, Lewis retiring, so for me it's OK is they keep doing it like this.

Press Conference

Sebastian, really should we have expected that result after practice - but perhaps not after qualifying?
SV: Yeah, it just underlines that we obviously struggled a bit yesterday, especially in the last section of qualifying. Up to then I think it was fine and the pace was there. The confirmation was straight away there in the grand prix when we found ourselves behind Lewis and were able to push him quite hard. I think he was obviously trying to save his tyres, we were trying to save the tyres. It's a bit of a different race, it's very tactical but I think the pace was there in the race throughout. Also, towards the end versus Jenson I think we could have an answer every time he was going quick and it was a good finish of the Grand Prix. Obviously it's a long race, a lot of laps - we did the full two hours again - but it's fun in a way, you are excited, a bit nervous before the race starts, knowing there is a little bit of a marathon coming, but I think that's what makes this race so special: not just racing at night, it's also the circuit with a lot of corners, a lot of bumps, making it extremely difficult. It's a great challenge for us. Very happy with the result, obviously. I think the team deserves a big thank you. In fact working in these conditions is very, very hot and in the garage it is another 10, 15 degrees hotter than outside. So not the nicest office to work it but obviously it's nice to give a little bit of champagne back and bring a trophy home - so I'm very happy.

And good for the Championship chances as well...
SV: Yeah, it looks better than before. Fernando finished third. I am not a genius but I think it's looking ten points better than it was before. There's a lot of races left and it's a bit difficult to predict what's going to happen. We have to make sure that we finish the races first of all. I think the pace is there, even if we are not quick enough to win then it is good enough to collect a lot of points. And we have to make sure we do that. It's a tough championship so far but we're still in it. We're still looking forward to the next couple of races, and obviously the target at the moment is to beat Fernando.

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