Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

’Realistic’ Vettel enjoys Ferrari rituals

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Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari needs to be “realistic” about its targets for the Chinese Grand Prix after enjoying the team’s rituals after victory in Malaysia.

Success at Sepang was Vettel’s first for Ferrari and the team’s first win since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. Following the race, Vettel returned to the factory where he was able to address the team, but he has warned against getting carried away ahead of this weekend’s race in China.

"We are realistic about where we are, what we want to achieve, and the targets haven't changed,” Vettel said. "It was a great victory we had in Malaysia, great for us as a team, and for myself a very emotional day - my first win with Ferrari.

"When I returned to the factory on Wednesday to see all the people there was quite special. There are a lot of people working there and as you can imagine they were very, very happy. The team hadn't won for quite a while, so they enjoyed the fact they had something to celebrate. There were a couple of rituals involved, so it was nice for them to get that feeling again.”

Asked specifically about the rituals which took place at Maranello, Vettel replied: "I was supposed to be there for simulator work, but it was quite nice to receive the welcome after the win.

"All the factory got together for a quick lunch. It was quite nice to have all the people together in one room - it was a big room! - so we were able to celebrate altogether for a bit.

"I also learned that when you win with Ferrari at the entry gate they raise a Ferrari flag. Obviously it's been a long time since there was last a flag. Some 10 years ago there were a lot of flags, especially at the end of a season, so this flag will stay there for the rest of the year. We will, of course, try and put another one sometime soon."

Click here for Chris Medland's Chinese Grand Prix preview.

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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.