Sebastian Vettel: “I had some quiet days at home, which was good to sober up…”

Following an informal victory party in the hotel in India on Sunday night Sebastian Vettel headed home to Switzerland for a couple of days before returning to duty in Abu Dhabi today.

The four-time World Champion says that he enjoyed the chance to relax and recharge his batteries after the release of winning in Delhi.

“Well, the reaction has been very positive,” said Vettel. “Obviously great relief when I crossed the line on Sunday, a great feeling. Sunday night, obviously the whole team still had to do the pack-up, but we had a little bit of fun in the hotel bar – quite spontaneous. Obviously, there’s not a lot of time between the race in India and the race here, so the team is very busy.

“So we couldn’t go completely mad, but I had a time on Sunday night and then I had two days at home before coming here, again fairly quiet, not very spectacular. I just enjoyed the peace at home. I had some time for myself, back with my girlfriend as well. So, fairly quiet.”

Vettel made it clear that the team won’t be backing off in the remaining races, despite the title being in the bag.

“Well, I don’t think we approach the weekend as if there’s nothing to gain. I think we – as a fact – we love what we’re doing. We enjoy the challenge and that’s why there’s no question as to why we are here and what we have to do. We want to race, race the others as hard as possible. If we have a chance, we want to win. As I said, I had some quiet days at home which was good, to sober up after India and get ready for here.”

However, he says he’s taking nothing for granted: “To be honest, I’m not getting in the car and thinking that there’s a guarantee that we will do well. Maybe that’s a little bit the impression that you get from the outside; obviously since the summer break we’ve won all the races but we come here and there’s absolutely no guarantee that we will do well, so we have to give it everything we have.

“Yes, we have a strong package so I think we have reason to be confident. I need the team, I think the team needs Mark and myself to push the car to the limit and to get some good results. There’s no guarantee for what we’ve been doing the last couple of races to make it last.”