Vettel not fazed by home pressure
Friday 22nd July 2011
Sebastian Vettel does not believe he will be weighed down by the pressure of a home crowd ahead at the German Grand Prix this weekend.
The reigning world champion has a massive 80-point lead over Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in this year's standings heading into the race at the Nurburgring.
But he was beaten at Silverstone by Fernando Alonso last time out and was only just managed to finish ahead of Webber after the team told the Australian to back off.
Vettel remains confident heading into the 10th round of the year, however, and even thinks driving on home soil may give him an extra advantage.
"Many times people talk about pressure and things that can slow you down, but it is more positive than anything else," he said.
"People everywhere support you and try to push you forward maybe to find this extra tenth or two.
"For me, it's great to have this opportunity to race in front of my home country and we have six drivers now - I am looking forward to it."
Vettel also played down the team orders controversy surrounding the last grand prix, where Webber was asked not to challenge the German's second place in the closing stages.
He would not speculate on whether the same orders could be used this weekend and preferred to stay focus on Friday's practice sessions rather than what could happen in the race.
"It depends always on the situation in the race," Vettel said.
"Last race, there was nothing for us to gain as a team. Mark said he wanted to race, wanted to improve the position, but I didn't want to let him by and tried to defend.
"On one hand, you want to race for yourself and on the other hand you try your best as a team. But that stage is quite far away though - I would rather start tomorrow with FP1."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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