Vettel leads First Red Bull 1-2 of season in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey- A poor Friday showing did not deter Sebastian Vettel from improving on his race weekend, as the defending world champion never had any trouble by taking the Grand Prix of Turkey Sunday afternoon with an 8.8. Second win over Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso gave his Ferrari its best finish of the season so far with third place.

"It was a great result today - especially after I gave the team so much work on Friday.” Said Vettel. “ I hope giving a victory back goes some way to help them forget it. Saturday morning was crucial. When I walked into the garage everyone gave me the impression that nothing is wrong and there was nothing to worry about.”

The race itself was a quiet one, with only Force India’s Paul Di Resta with the only retirement late in the race.

"It was a tough start to the race, although I managed to hold my position on the first lap.” Recalled the Scot. “However, as the race unfolded the pace didn't seem quite there and that's why we decided to change our strategy and make a fourth stop. When I was leaving the pits after my final stop, the team came on the radio and instructed me to stop. There was obviously a problem so I pulled up as soon as I could. It was unfortunate because the final part of the race would have been interesting on the fresh tires."

Otherwise, Vettel took the lead early in the race and held the gap between two and seven seconds during the whole grand prix. The only time that the German lost the lead was a pit stop on lap 12, when Jenson Button took over the top spot, only to lose it to Vettel two laps later.

Although there was not much action up front, many passes between other drivers behind the top three were very evident.  Only with 17 laps to go did any action occur in the top three when Webber was passed by Alonso, only to reverse the favor six laps from the end, otherwise Vettel held the cards all afternoon, for his 13th win of the season.

"It was good to get second place - and a relief to finish there and not third.” Replied the Austrailian. “In the end it was a good fight with Fernando, you lose a bit of time when you're into each other like that, but it turned out okay and I got him back in the end. For the first stop, the team pitted me earlier than expected as they were worried about the undercuts coming into play. Ferrari saw the same thing and it was really a race between us two from then onwards. At that point, you make your bet that you will be having a few stops during the day. It was a good victory for Sebastian and Fernando drove well too - it was a great result for the team with a one two. The grip wasn't great at the start, but I will leave Istanbul happy - it was my best result of the year so far."

Lewis Hamilton had a chance to put a step on the podium, but a botched pit stop near the end dropped him to fourth, while Nico Rosberg, who started off well, could only finish fifth. Button took sixth, while the Renault duo of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Sebastian Buemi took an impressive ninth, in his Toro Rosso,while Kamui Kobyaschi, who started 18th, managed to finish an impressive 10th, receiving one point for his Sauber team.

Vettel has dominated the season so far, and even considering that he leads the championship by 34 points, the German feels that anything could happen with the next race two weeks away in Spain.

“The whole team was working so hard to get the car back together and times like these are important.” Said Vettel. “The team are close to me and if they are not happy or unmotivated it reflects on me and the other way round, so after being a bit down on Friday, it picked me back up. In the race we had a very good first stint and got a gap and you can always benefit from that cushion. At the end I did two short stints, which was the right thing to do - it was seamless today. We don't know what happens next, so we have to take it race by race. There will be days when we are beaten for definite, but we need to minimize the loss - but for today, it was a great result for the team."