Sebastian Vettel not focused on Fernando Alonso but on doing his best – Formula 1 news
Red Bull’s defending champion, Sebastian Vettel, has admitted that he is not concerned about his rival Fernando Alonso starting the race from far back on the grid but is more focused on doing his best in the United States Grand Prix.
Vettel secured the pole in the qualifying round on Saturday while Alonso qualified eighth. The Red Bull driver is not taking the situation for granted.
“Not much to feel, we have to look after ourselves,” Vettel said. “I'm very happy, we had a smooth session, no issues; yesterday afternoon was not ideal, we lost a little bit of time. These things can happen and they might happen again. You never know, and
therefore I think the best strategy is to keep your head down and just try to get the best, which I think was the target in qualifying.”
The driver admitted that while the team is extremely satisfied with their accomplishments in the practice sessions and the qualifiers, they are still not becoming over confident as things can go unexpected anytime.
Reminiscing on his own experience from the previous Abu Dhabi GP, he said that starting from the back does not confirm defeat as you can always have opportunities for winning. He confessed that the main focus for the upcoming race on Sunday is to lock the
constructors’ title for the team. His teammate Mark Webber and he will be working together to achieve that target.
Vettel had to fight a hard competition with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to secure the pole. He admits that he lost some time in his laps during the first and the last sector at the end of the qualifying round. He says that Hamilton got close to him more than
he would have allowed but still he is pleased with his achievement.
He added, “In the last section I would have loved to go a little bit quicker.”
He was also very excited about exploring the new Circuit of the Americas. He told that it is extremely slippery as the track has never been driven on before but it will get better with time. He enjoyed the slight sliding of the car around the corners and
pointed out that the lap times had gradually become quicker.
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