F1: Vettel Not Disappointed By Third Place

Formula 1

F1: Vettel Not Disappointed By Third Place

Podium finish at the season opener in Australia for 2012 Champ...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 17, 2013 Melbourne (AUS)

Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Infiniti Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium after finishing third during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit on March 17, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo: Getty Images)

Sebastian Vettel insists that he wasn’t disappointed to finish only third in the season opener in Australia.

The German was buoyed by the overall performance of the car, having taken a dominant pole.

“I think the pace was there, the naked pace,” said Vettel. “Qualifying was pretty good for us. I think we had quite a good run, and then also the first two laps of the race were pretty good, and also the first two laps on each set of tires felt pretty good – but yeah, obviously after that we couldn’t keep it up.

“And surely the times set in the front, from Fernando but Kimi especially, were quite impressive considering the amount of laps on the tires. So, we couldn’t do that and that’s why, I think we lost out a little bit today. But, as I said, it’s a very tough, very long Grand Prix and very nice to be on the podium at the end. We have quite a good record here so I’m happy that we had another podium finish today.

“I’m not worried. I have to admit sometimes that other people are faster. I think we can be very happy today. We had a great qualifying session this morning and this afternoon unfortunately didn’t quite work the way we would have liked but it’s a long season, a long way ahead of us, so good points to start. Surely we wanted a little bit more, but there’s no reason to be disappointed.”

Looking ahead to Malaysia, he said: “I think it's a completely different place. I think last year we cannot take as a reference because we had different issues with the car. I think starting with the season this year the car seems much more balance and I’m much happier, in a much happier place. So, looking forward to next week.

“It will a lot hotter, naturally there is a risk of rain, thunderstorms. We’ve got rain tires and intermediates, so we should be fine but in terms of approach there’s not too much difference. I don’t think you can take this race as a reference because the circuit is too different and as I said, the conditions will be different plus the tires we use are different again.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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