Sebastian Vettel says his season was a lot better than he expected after finishing in eighth position in the drivers' championship.

"[I'm] Very proud. It is always nice to first of all see the chequered flag in the last race, and second to finish with such a good position," Vettel, who will move to Red Bull next year, told autosport.com. "We scored a lot of points this year, so P8 was much better than expected. It was far better than expected. It was an incredible season for us."

Vettel also played down the importance of beating senior team Red Bull Racing. "We were trying to do our best and we beat them on the circuit, and that is it. End of story - not much more to say," he added. "There is a lot to do in Red Bull, a lot we can improve so there is a long way to go," Vettel said.
Source: Autosport

The Toro Rosso driver overtook Hamilton before the start of the final lap, relegating the Briton to sixth position, which was not enough for him to secure the title.

Hamilton went on to overtake Toyota's Timo Glock at the final corner to win the championship.

Vettel said did not know what position he or Hamilton were in.

"I was just trying to push as hard as I could and overtake as many cars as I could," Vettel told reporters. "I didn't have a clue where I was after the stop. Before I knew I was running solidly in P5 behind Lewis. I tried to get him, but did not quite succeed.

"After the stop there were a lot of lapped cars. It was quite confusing with the rain getting more and more heavy. It was quite tricky to manage but I managed to pass Lewis one lap before the end. And on that last lap Timo - so I finished P4.

When asked if he was aware that overtaking Hamilton could have cost him the title, Vettel said: "No, not at all. As I said, after the stop it was quite confusing. I knew that some cars stayed out on dry tyres. I think they had a serious chance and as you can see, it was a very dramatic end. I just saw it on television."

The German admitted he would have no qualms about racing Hamilton even if he had been aware of the championship situation.

"No. Not at all. In the end I was racing against Lewis. And at the beginning at some point I was racing against Felipe. So if I had a chance at the beginning to pass Felipe I would have done it. I did my own race, and was caring only for myself.

"I don't care at all (about Hamilton's championship). "I was doing my own race and looking after myself. To be honest, as I said already, I had no clue where I was or in what position and so on."


Source: Autosport.com

"It was a difficult and chaotic race and it's great to end the season on a high with this fourth place. I didn't make any mistakes and I feel we deserved this result, even if I was hoping for a podium. It was great to be racing against Massa, Alonso and Hamilton. Great fun! Towards the end, I was concentrating on staying on the track and I didn't know where I was in terms of position and I just tried to pass Lewis like any other guy and I succeeded.

"I passed Timo just at the last corner, as he was struggling on dry tyres. Lewis was behind me at that moment, but as I wasn't sure where I was after the final pit stop for rain tyres, I was definitely not aware that I might be influencing the world championship. It was hard to know who was a backmarker or not and as it got darker and darker it was even difficult to know who the cars in front of you were. The important thing is that I scored five points. It's been a fantastic season."

1 F. Massa Ferrari 1h34:11:435
2 F. Alonso Renault +13.2 secs
3 K. Räikkönen Ferrari +16.2 secs
4 S. Vettel STR-Ferrari +38.0 secs

Sebastian Vettel has warned Lewis Hamilton that he will have no qualms about taking risks in any on-track battles they have in the Brazilian Grand Prix despite the world title being at stake.

Vettel is starting the Interlagos event from seventh on the grid, three places behind Hamilton, having appeared to have opted for a heavy fuel strategy that could bring him into play with the McLaren driver in the later stages of the race.

And although well aware of what is at stake for Hamilton, Vettel says it will not change his determination to bring home as many points as possible for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

"I don't have to be careful, he has to be careful," Vettel told autosport.com when asked about how he would approach racing Hamilton. "In the end I am doing my race, we are here to race and unfortunately we are not fighting for the title for a couple of races now but we will do a normal race.

"I don't care if a car of whatever colour is in front or behind me. I will try to overtake, or stay in front."

Vettel has made it clear, however, that even though Toro Rosso are powered by Ferrari engines, that will not make a difference to his tactics on track.

"No," he said. "The media may suspect some kind of order, but we are here to race for ourselves."

Vettel feels his team have a good chance of scoring points this afternoon which would then secure them finishing ahead of sister team Red Bull Racing in the constructors' championship.

"We should be in reasonable shape," he said. "We are far off compared to Ferrari and McLaren, but we are somewhere in the midfield and we can have some nice battles.

"We try to do our best (against Red Bull Racing) and so far we have scored more points than them. That is why we are ahead.

"We will try to continue that. There is only one race to go and nobody wants to lose a fight for position, if it is in the drivers' or constructors' championship."

Source: Autosport.com

Sebastian Vettel - 7th: "Good to get both cars in Q3 for the final time this year. It was a fun session. I had a very strong lap in Q2. Then Q3 started very well and I got a good first run, but I'm not too sure where I lost the time on my second run, because I lost a bit of feeling for the tyres."