Vettel, Webber Take First and Second at Formula One Turkish Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has earned his 13th Grand Prix win, and Red Bull got another one-two finish as Mark Webber followed Vettel home ahead of the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso in the Formula One Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday.

Vettel led flag-to-flag, completely dominating the race; through 58 laps, no one ever got close enough to challenge him.

“We had a smooth race. Obviously a very good start—that’s crucial," Vettel told the post-race press conference on SPEED. "I was able to pull a gap right in the first stint, which was important, because then we could afford to stay out a lap longer, wait to see what the others were doing in terms of strategy, and then react."

“Since China we have definitely made a step forward. We have learned our lesson. We have to make sure we keep this momentum into the next couple races.”

So far Vettel has led 183 of the 220 laps run in the 2011 season. He has opened a huge points lead, and with Mark Webber has given Red Bull a huge lead in constructors points.

Ferrari Fun Again

Fernando Alonso proved that Ferrari’s new front wing and brake ducts were exactly what the car needed. After three miserable races, the new F150 is a top-rank contender.

“The car performed a bit better than we did in the first three races, so finally, we enjoy racing again,” Alonso explained. “We enjoy fighting for the podium positions, changing second and third position through the race—we enjoy racing again.”

There was plenty of action behind Vettel, as differing tire strategies and differing driving styles created plenty of passing opportunities.

With DRS (the movable rear wing that gives an overtaking car a 10-mph speed advantage), KERS (Kinetic Energy recovery, a system where the energy of braking is stored to give cats a short burst of added speed), and their rapidly decaying tires, drivers are seldom really head-to-head; one or another always has a mechanical advantage, as Alonso described about his early- and late-race battles with Webber for second.

“I had a little bit of [an] advantage in terms of tire degradation, at that part of the race and we used the DRS, and I was able to overtake him."

“Then in the last part of the race it was more or less the opposite; we were maybe a little bit disadvantaged with tire wear so we lost the position again."

“It’s okay, I think. Fighting with Red Bull these days is quite difficult and we were close. Hopefully next time we try again.”

Whether it was due to tires, different strategies, or whatever else, the race was filled with wheel-to-wheel battles for position. Button and Hamilton, Massa, Schumacher, di Resta, and Alguersuari, Alonso and Webber, Massa and Rosberg, all offered up exciting duels.

Unfortunately, some of the duels were resolved by DRS, which can’t be defended, but many more were won by pure driver skill.

Point Leader

Vettel’s win in China gives him a 24-point lead in the Drivers Championship, and Red Bull has a 43-point edge in the Constructors Championship. Still, Vettel understands clearly that this early success doesn’t guarantee anything.

“We see how quickly things have changed. We saw how quickly things changed last year with this guy [gesturing toward Alonso] coming and going and coming again—in the end it was very, very close."

“We have to go step-by-step, see every race as its own and try to maximize points. Surely a good start to the season always helps but it’s a long, long way to go.

“Four out of 19 [races]—I think you can work out how many points there are still to get, so we have to keep focused.”

The next race of the Formula One season will be the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya on May 22.