F1: Vettel Compares His Drive To Senna's Run In 1991

Formula 1

F1: Vettel Compares His Drive To Senna’s Run In 1991

Sebastian Vettel finished the Formula One season with 11 wins...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 27, 2011 Sao Paulo (BRA)

Sebastian Vettel said he had nothing to complain about after a gearbox problem forced him to cede victory in Brazil to teammate Mark Webber.

Vettel suffered an oil leak which could have led to retirement, had he not successfully nursed the car home.

The 2011 World Champion had a lead of nearly four seconds over Webber in the opening laps. However, even before his first stop he was told to short shift in second and third, and the team continued to tell him to take care of the gearbox as the race progressed, with ever increasing urgency.

Vettel did his best to adjust his driving and compensate. He was still 2.8s ahead before he pitted on lap 17, with Webber coming in a lap later. After the stops, he further moderated his pace, and fell back into the clutches of Webber. He offered no resistance when the Aussie got onto his tail, and the lead swapped at the first corner at the start of lap 30.

“I got through the first pit stop and obviously gained a little bit on Mark,” said Vettel, “because I came in a lap earlier. But then at some stage I realized that it was still pretty early in the race, our main priority is to finish the race and Mark would be catching up and the most important thing would be to help the team to win the race.

“I tried to be very clear on the radio that I cannot keep first position with the pace that we were going or whatever they asked me to do, what was required to manage the gearbox. And then I told them, ‘OK, but obviously advise Mark,’ or ‘Tell Mark that I would let him through,’ to give him the chance to keep pushing, don’t lose any time getting past me, because at that stage I didn’t know whether I would see the checkered flag or not.”

The team praised Vettel for bringing the car home, but he admitted that it was a frustrating way to end the season.

“I’m really happy to be here, but obviously it was a little bit of a shame. I then just kept losing more and more time towards the end, so I had to be more and more conservative. At some stage I said that ‘I feel like (Ayrton) Senna in 1991 when he had to manage the gearbox problem around here.'

“Obviously it was totally different for him, he was Brazilian and he still managed to win the race. I was forced to push in areas where I was allowed to, in the corners, but as soon as I went on the straight, I obviously had to shift earlier.

“I tried to stay with Mark as well as I could, in case the problem solved itself and we could go again, but in the end I was just trying to keep the gap.

“It would be wrong to complain today. It’s an amazing result for the team to finish first and second. Mark drove a very good race and had very strong pace, so I’m not sitting here and saying if … if… if this and that, then I would have won. The fact is that he won the race; he deserved to. As I said, we’ve had an incredible year, the team, myself, so I’m not really wanting to complain.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.