Formula One news
Vettel looking forward to 'special' debut
17 June 2007Whilst everyone is excited about Lewis Hamilton starting from pole position for the second time in a row, another dream story is unravelling a few rows back. 19-year-old Sebastian Vettel will be starting his first race from seventh on the grid in today's American Grand Prix having only stepped in at short notice for the BMW Sauber team. The German says that he is taking it all in his stride and even claims he could have been higher up the grid.
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Vettel told f1.com: "I did not go into qualifying with any expectations. From the morning session we knew that everything was running smoothly and that it should suffice for Q3, which it did in the end, but I was rather unconcerned about it. I just wanted to do a good lap - wherever it would take me. In general I am quite satisfied, but with hindsight it is a natural thing that you always think it could have gone better, especially in Q3. But yeah, I am pretty happy."
Although Vettel only discovered on Thursday that he would be replacing Robert Kubica for this weekend's grand prix he claims that, despite being nervous, he was ready for the challenge.
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He said: "To prepare for the first Grand prix is anything but an everyday situation so you can understand that a lot was going on emotionally. But it would be wrong to think that I was 'on holiday' at the last races where I did not do the Friday practice. I was in permanent contact with the engineers, listened carefully to what they told me and extracted the most info I possibly could out of the conversations. And it might surprise you, but I sleep very well. True, Thursday and Friday nights were a little agitated, as I have not been in the car for quite a while, but with the qualifying result I know that I shouldn't have felt worried."
If the young German can maintain a place in the top eight in today's race then he will be the youngest driver ever to score a point in Formula One. However, Vettel is just proud to be among the 22 drivers racing at the pinnacle of motorsport and the priority for his maiden grand prix is to finish the race.
He added: "To be one of them does not trigger a specific feeling, but to race against them makes me quite proud. It is a big challenge and I am looking forward to it. It is something very special.
"Sure I have the sound ambition to score points, but more important for me is to finish the race."
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