Vettel: We had the balls to do it today Sunday 14th September 2008 - PlanetF1.com An elated Sebastian Vettel has hailed his Toro Rosso team after securing his and their maiden grand prix victory during Sunday's Italian Grand Prix. The 21-year-old led from start to finish at Monza and became the youngest F1 winner when he crossed the chequered flag. Vettel says he was "pushing like hell" during the race to give the team with limited resources their first victory. "I think it says it all. All the people might be used to hearing the Italian national anthem but for Scuderia Ferrari," he said. "It is a special day and for all the team they won't forget this day as long as I won't. "I have seen every angle of the grid now. It is difficult when you start from the back. Now we can be proud of ourselves. Celebrating our victory is great, putting these words together sounds unbelievable. "The mentality has changed, the atmosphere is fantastic. When I jumped into the car before the race they said: 'Now destroy them'. "I was pushing like hell, they were looking forward, in that sense you could say we had the balls to do it today." "Compared to BMW or McLaren or Ferrari, we have not that amount of manpower at the factory, we have about 160 people working at Faenza and they can feel very special. I am one of them we are one team and I feel extremely happy." The German was left "speechless" and described it as the "best day of his life". "The whole race we had no problems, the car was working really fine. I had a fantastic race, a really good strategy but all that was gone when I crossed the chequered flag, and the lap back to the pits all the podium ceremony was unbelievable. "For sure this is the best day of my life, these emotions I will never forget, it is so much better than you might think it is. "I can just say a big, big thank you to the guys in the team, they did a fantastic job, who would have thought it at the start of the season, in these conditions we can do a bit more. It is fantastic, I am speechless."
They had the best car and set up today, thats what it took to win. Vettel said he had a DRY set up and that gave him extra speed down the straights. Great call I guess!!
That comment on his setup really surprised me. It either shows his pure driving genius or that the team knows nothing about their own car, trying to setup the car for dry conditions, resulting in a perfect wet setup.
he was on dry setup? that some great stuff, considering Ron Dennis said he was on wet setup, hence the pole. Bravo Sebastian...
I have said it before, Vettel is defiantly a worthy successor of Michael Schumacher. Even Niki Laudau stated that Sebastian Vettel has a huge talent, he is intelligent and a fast driver. I hope Ferrari keeps an eye on Vettel. wolfman
+1 just finished watching the recording and Vettel certainly had an amazing performance today in a Torro Rosso.
Vettel is my new hero lol. he drove excellent today, like he does most weekends given his machinery. Herr schumacher speaks well of him too
Just like Lewis Hamilton, this kid has the potential to be really great. I am not ready to annoint him anything as many did for Hamilton, and Rosberg, and Kubica, and a few others. Let´s see how he does the rest of the year, and the year after. My question, does he, or will he soon regret changing to the Renault power next year?
A well deserved first win. My only reservation is that it was done with a safety car start which, given the rain, gave a big advantage.
pretty rude, don't you think? considering there is a sticky thread in this forum noting the rules (guidelines) about spoiler titles.
agreed although i've found it nearly impossible not to see spoilers for F1. Hence on raceday I stay away from Fchat and any other car message board until after I've seen the race.
How so ? If one has an advantage with a safety car start, don't they ALL, to some degree ? Dare I ask if you would have said this if your favorite driver won under the same conditions ?
The difference though is he'd have had a Mclaren right up his ass from the get go vs his being able to brake check Heikki around that last corner before the safety car dropped off. I don't think anyone can take anything away from Vettel's win he drove a fantastic race, but a lot of things have to come together for a 2nd tier team to win an F1 race.
Come on guys - no excuses. This was a great drive from an inexperienced driver in a 2nd rate car. We all know rain is a great leveler of car performance which means the wet usually shows up those who are truely talented from those who are mearly very fast. Witness Senna and Schumacher for 2 obvious examples. Well done Vettel. I have never paid much attention to him, but I shall monitor his progress more closely from now on. Oh - and isn't it nice to see a driver who is genuinely happy to be successful, and who is actually quite eloquent for his years? Good stuff.
