Vettel wouldn't change Kvyat exchange

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Sebastian Vettel would not change his comments to Daniil Kvyat after the Chinese Grand Prix and says he enjoys a good relationship with the Russian.

Kvyat overtook Vettel on the inside of Turn 1 at the start of the race in Shanghai, with the German taking avoiding action and hitting team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel then confronted Kvyat in the drivers' room before going on the podium to criticise the move, with the Red Bull driver standing his ground.

Kvyat reiterated his belief he had done nothing wrong on Wednesday and also called the exchange good for F1, and Vettel agrees the emotion is exactly what viewers want to see.

"Honestly I’m surprised that two weeks after, this is still a topic," Vettel said. "Everything that has been said needed to be said. I spoke with him straight afterwards, in the podium room, in the first occasion I got. I didn’t know there were some cameras there but that didn’t change anything – I would have said the same thing again.

"For sure after the race you’re a bit hot, you’re emotions are pumping but that’s what we want. Why should I sit here and say, 'maybe I should have been a little bit more quiet…'? We’re racing and I think you also say things, sometimes, that you wouldn’t say it later in the same way.

"In that situation I said it the way I said it, I didn’t say anything bad. I get along with him really well – I know there were questions if it was bad for our relationship but that’s complete bollocks.

"I think we are racing, in the end it was a racing incident but, obviously, it had the best outcome for him because he made up the positions and didn’t have problems in the car. For Kimi and myself it wasn’t that great. These things happen."

Ferrari has had problems at each of the first three races - all of which have been won by Nico Rosberg - and Vettel wants to learn how close the Scuderia is to Mercedes in Russia.

"It’s true that we didn’t have the first three races we were looking for, Nico had very different races compared to us and, obviously, it went the ideal way for him.

"I cannot imagine that he wants us to be very close, but I hope we can be very close this weekend, have a smooth weekend and see exactly where we are. We know as well that we’re probably not yet close enough, but the race is on Sunday and there’s always a chance. For now we have to focus on Friday and take it from there."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.