Vettel dedicates win to Wheldon, Simoncelli

Winner of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel dedicated his win to racers Marco Simoncelli and Dan Wheldon who were killed in motor sport related accidents over the week. “This is a fantastic win, but it comes with mixed emotions”, said Vettel. He further went on to say that the deaths were ‘reminders’ that motorsport came with very real risks and danger. [caption id=“attachment_119223” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”] [/caption] Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso who came in second and third respectively echoed Vettel’s sentiments and said it was fitting that India’s inaugural Formula One grand prix be dedicated to the memories of Simoncelli and Wheldon. All three drivers were full of praise for the Noida circuit and said that their experiences of India had been memorable. Vettel’s win was his eleventh for the season. Today he broke the record for leading the most number of laps. The Red Bull driver said his team is still hungry to win and he is looking forward to races at Abu Dhabi and Brazil. “The car is fantastic. The team is enjoying the performance. When I walk in the garage, I see that the guys are working very hard. We are still hungry. It is a fantastic achievement. I am looking at the two next races,” said Vettel, who will next bid to equal Michael Schumacher’s 13 F1 win record in a season. The 24-year-old said the circuit was challenging and a good start was very important. “It is very challenging. It is very easy to go over the limit and to end up in the dust. Then you have to fight your way back. It is not so easy with traffic,” he said. “The start was important. I was focusing a lot on turn 3. It was crucial to have a clean exit. I was able to pull away in the first laps. Jenson pitted. We had to react. The second sting was more tricky to manage. “The tires were a bit of an issue. But I found the rhythm again. After Jenson pitted, we reacted the lap after. Then I was able to push. We wanted to have Jenson in the mirrors and that is where we kept him,” he added. Vettel said a new track poses many questions but now that they have the experience of racing here, they would have more data for next year. “It is always clear than when there is a new track there are many questions to answer. Like tire choice. We knew about the soft tires. We were not sure if we had to pit twice or three times. These days we get an idea about the track. It is different when it is new,” he said. “We have more data for next year and we can understand more for the car and for the setup. It is more difficult for strategy, set-up when the track is new. As of now, our life will be a lot easier.”