Now the brand-new season is starting. Number 1 shines on Sebastian's car. Red Bull's new challenge as a World Champion gets under way in the southern hemisphere, Melbourne.
"Of course it is a very good feeling," Sebastian says. "And it's something nobody can take away from me. But naturally we're built to look forward. Looking backwards is not natural in a way, and in most sports you have to look forward to the next game, the next race."
"I'm very glad to be back, to reconnect with everyone I know in the paddock. It's been a long winter and I'm really looking forward to the new season."
Obviously Australia is a home race for Mark. He'd never had good luck here so far, so he hopes he can turn around this year.
"As an Australian I'm looking forward to Melbourne being the first race. I hope I can improve my luck there, as it hasn't been incredible since my first GP in 2002."
Not like last years, it is cloudy and cold at the beginning of autumn in Melbourne. Track temperature is much lower than expected. But it couldn't be any factor to stop Red Bull Racing.
Speed of Red Bull was true as it has been obvious during the long winter testing. Sebastian claimed pole position by 0.8 gap to the McLaren, and yet he did not be off his guard.
"We have made the first step and starting the season this way with a pole position is a good sign for the team. We've been working very hard to get the RB7 to where it is now. If you look at the points we still have zero like everyone else, so we need to see what happens tomorrow."
On the other hand, Mark couldn't fight with Sebastian because of lack of speed of unknown origin. Only thing what he could was saying "I was disappointed with my performance today. I'm a little bit mystified by the gap to be honest, I tried my best."
Sebastian showed perfect race on Sunday afternoon. After making a reasonable gap at early stage, he controlled the pace and nursed his car in order to bring it to the end. With this first race victory, it is a perfect start of the season for his battle for the Championship.
"I'm very pleased," he said. "It was a very good weekend and I had a very nice car to sit in this afternoon. It was a good race - towards the end things calmed down a bit. Lewis didn't push as hard, so we tried to control the last part of the race. I don't think it was easy today. We learned a lot of things today. It's good coming here after a long winter and setting the pace."
Mark couldn't shut the bad momentum up and finished 5th. "I wasn't quick today," he said. "And it was the same in qualifying yesterday, so we need to understand the reason why. There wasn't much else I could do today." He swore to avenge in Malaysia.
It's still a long way to the 19-races battle for the championship.
