F1 Madness

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  • 2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2017 Chinese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Congratulations, Lewis, you led from start to finish, but it was pretty tricky at the beginning, the conditions looked part slick, part intermediate…

    Lewis HAMILTON: It was incredible. Firstly, a big thank you to all the people here in Shanghai for coming out. Thank you. We’ve got such a great crowd here. Today was very, very tough for us all. It was difficult to know. I went out in inters initially, on the laps to the grid, and then I tried the slick and it was impossible, and then we all started on inters and it was very, very hard, because there was a lot of dry patches everywhere, mostly dry except for a couple of corners that were wet. So trying to keep the car on the track and look after the tyres at the same time was very tough. A great job done by Sebastian and this young dude here [Max Verstappen], who’s always like…

    [Max] has actually been voted driver of the day today, so he’s beat you on that vote today.

    LH: Oh, great, great! It’s OK, I don’t mind being on the top step! Lastly, I just want to say a big thank you to this team. I’m just so tremendously proud of everyone on my own personal team, in terms of my own like staff and that, but also my team who work so hard back at the factory to make this possible. And this race is so real; it’s so exciting for me personally. I don’t know how it is for everyone else but I hope they’re enjoying it.

    But he suddenly appeared just eight seconds behind you and closing you down at the end. You had to get back on the gas.

    LH: Yeah, exactly. We were matching times. I think if there wasn’t safety cars and stuff it would have been a lot closer.

    Talking of that, congratulations Sebastian, a bit unlucky really, you pitted under the virtual safety car and there was a safety car straight after.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, my start was OK but then I realized that the intermediates had quite a lot of degradation. It was very dry in some parts of the track so I knew they would not last. I was happy to take the risk. Obviously virtual safety car you save a bit of time in the pit stop. And then the safety car came just when I was about to start to feel that the dry tyre was a lot quicker, so I couldn’t use the momentum, the advantage and I lost a lot of positions. But then I had a very exciting race; I really enjoyed it. I was stuck a little bit in the train for a whole but then I finally made the move and then, yeah, I tried to chase Lewis down as much as possible but I had the feeling that every time I put a lap in he was able to respond, so I think we were a good match, it could have been a different race but a good recovery and as I said, wheel-to-wheel racing… I touched wheels with Daniel as well….

    You took the paint off the side of his tyre!

    SV: It was good fun at least.

    Take us through those moves, because I think any racing driver in the history or Formula One would like those moves on his CV, because they were committed weren’t they? Down into Turn 6 you were really going for it there.

    SV: Yeah, obviously my target was to catch Lewis and I was stuck in the train and I was getting a bit angry or annoyed and I wanted to get by and I had the feeling that I could go a lot faster in these conditions, so when I was behind Daniel I saw him blocking down the inside because I had a good run out of Turn 4. I said ‘OK, you have to try it around the outside, brake really late and hard’. Fortunately he didn’t lock up. I had him in the mirror, checking, otherwise I have to open immediately before he would make contact. Then on the exit I was a bit compromised, a bit in the dirt, getting a bit of wheel spin, but then I got a bit my elbows out. Yeah, he really squeezed me, but it was good fun and I had the inside for the next corner.

    Some cracking overtaking today. Moving on to Max. Wow, driver of the day as I said, the fans have voted for you. You had some pretty spectacular first few laps coming through the pack, tell us about it.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was very challenging. I think on lap one I passed nine cars. So, not to bad…

    It was like a video game for you!

    MV: More or less! It felt a bit like that. Of course very happy with that and then afterwards I think a very good race. I didn’t have a lot of track time with the car balance from yesterday because I didn’t do qualifying, so I was just basically nursing the car to the finish. And then, of course, very happy to be on the podium, I didn’t expect that at all, especially starting 16th.

    We sensed a bit of tension at the end. Daniel was catching you. You couldn’t lap the Haas in front of you and you were getting a little bit anxious on the radio.

    MV: I just wanted clear air, because I was already struggling a lot with the fronts and that doesn’t help, but in the end I still finished on the podium, so very happy.

    Great drive, congratulations, you gave us a lot of thrills there. Back to you, Lewis, you are equal on points now [with Vettel] after two races. This is going to be a real championship isn’t it?

    LH: I think it’s going to be one of the closest ones, if not the closest I’ve personally ever experienced and I’m looking forward to this fight, not only with Sebastian but the other guys as well who are still going be in amongst it. I think it’s great that we have… we were just saying that we were both pushing. Those last 20 laps or so really exchanging times. I kept having to be fed what times he was doing so I could try to match and he was closing the gap a little bit, but I managed to stay ahead.

    You know what makes me really happy is you’re all up here really smiling. You’re enjoying these cars aren’t you, you’re enjoying the championship this year.

    LH: We are because it’s that close a battle, and the cars look better and they are nicer to drive. It’s not the easiest to get past but this guy seems to find it possible, particularly when it’s wet, so we’ll have to watch the video and see what he’s been doing.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, that was the third grand slam of your career: pole, win, fastest lap, led every lap. You’ve had a few minutes to reflect on it now: how good was that?

    LH: It’s been a fantastic weekend and very, very grateful for all the efforts that the team have put in to enable us to be where we are and where I am today. It’s very overwhelming when you have a weekend like this, because I’m just a link in the chain and, when you really think about it, there’s thousands of people involved, hundreds and hundreds of people involved in me being up here and us being where we are. So, congratulations to all of them. I hope they’re all celebrating back home. I hope they’re feeling the spirit, I hope they’re feeling the fight… because it’s on. With the race… qualifying was great, to be able to pull that good lap out, it put me in a great position. Start was fantastic: I’m so happy with the way starts are going to I need to keep that up! And then in the race, really just keeping my composure. Some really tricky conditions out there, particularly on the Intermediate. Then, after that, once we’d done the pitstop with the Safety Car, the speed was very low and being very cold, our temperatures in our tyres, they’re like… they’re just not working, they’re so cold. So it was very, very easy to make mistakes and I’m just grateful I didn’t. And then at the end, the last 20-odd laps we were just pounding around as fasts as we can, exchanging lap times and I think that’s what racing is all about. Perhaps in the future there will be times when we won’t have a Safety Car and their won’t be that six seconds gap, it’ll be right on the tail either way. Excited for that.

    Q: Who had the faster car today? Mercedes or Ferrari?

    SV: Well, you won, so…

    LH: Yeah, the only summary we can come up with is that. It is, as I said, very, very close and there were times when Sebastian put laps in and it was hard to even match the time. The last ten or 12 laps he was doing a 35.6 and I was doing a 35.8 and it was very hard to get to where he was. Then there was other times in the race when I was quicker.

    Q: Sebastian, perhaps I can put that question to you as well. Who do you think had the faster car today?

    SV: I’m maybe not clever enough but I try to not confuse myself. So I just go with the fact that who wins the race deserves to win. Every race we do I think the race winner deserves to win. So, yeah, Lewis did the best job. Obviously we were a bit unfortunate maybe with the Safety Car maybe early on – but even if it wasn’t there you never know how it could have impacted on the race. Was it enough? We thought… I thought yes – but then it’s a long race from there and it could have been a different outcome. But yeah, it was really good fun. Like Lewis said, I had a bit more to do in the race than he had. I saw he was controlling the pace, probably, in the beginning. Once I got past Kimi and Daniel I obviously tried to hunt him down but knowing that it would be difficult with that gap. And in the last couple of laps I asked the team to give me an average of what we needed to catch up etcetera, just to know what I have to do. When they came up with the conclusion that it’s a bit more than half a second a lap… yeah… I kept pushing because you never know, maybe Lewis is doing a mistake, or has an issue with the car so I wanted to keep the pressure on – but yeah, I enjoyed the fact we were racing, even though not side-by-side or right behind each other but five, six, eight seconds apart. To hear that he was pushing as well I think is good news. So in terms of pace it was probably a match. Sometimes he was a bit faster, sometimes I was a bit faster. Overall it was good fun.

    Q: Could you have challenged Lewis had you not lost so much time behind your team-mate?

    SV: Ah, would, could, should. I think Lewis was quick. Full stop. I think they did a good race, he did a good race, so to get into these kind of conversations, or discussions, usually there is no point.  Today we finished second, very happy with that, we take it, good points. More than that, and much more valuable than that, it was an entertaining and fun race for me. I had some overtaking. It was difficult to get close to the car, like last race you felt the effect but here I think it’s a better track to overtake and yeah, it’s the way it should be in my opinion: you need to make it stick so it shouldn’t come for free. You shouldn’t just open the flap and sail past. It was good fun. I can’t complain.

    Q: Max, you’ve scored Red Bull Racing’s 100th podium today – but when you ripped open your curtains this morning, did you really think third place was on from 16th on the grid?

    MV: No, of course not. I was targeting… if we could score some nice points that would be positive but then the first lap was very challenging. I think I passed nine cars. So that’s not too bad. From there on I think we made the right call with the change of tyres to slicks. It’s a bit of a gamble but it worked out. I was a bit cautious to not go too early and it paid off. Then I was in a good position afterwards. I managed to get past Daniel in Turn Six and then I was building a gap.  But then straight away I felt the balance of the car was a bit limited to the front so I was destroying the left front and I couldn’t get the car to turn and that’s what basically happened when Sebastian was behind me, just under braking, very difficult, locked up and went wide. Then had quite a bit flat-spot. Tried to continue for one lap but then I decided to box. I knew the last stint would be very hard with which lap I stopped, but I managed to stay in third and that’s, of course, very positive, especially after starting 16th. It was a great and entertaining race, I think.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Fu Yu – China Radio International) Question to Max. Congratulations on a podium finish. You conquered much of the field ahead of you and surged up early on in the race. When did you realise a podium finish was in sight and what did you do after that? I mean, did you keep on pushing and hope for a better place or were you more conservative and trying to hold on to your third place?

    MV: To be honest, with ten laps to go I looked on the board and saw I was third. Before that I didn’t know where I was. I had to keep pushing because I had my team-mate behind who was trying to get past. And then I had a Haas in front of me. He didn’t move out of the way and he was always one and a half seconds in front so it was very tricky for me to get the front tyres to work, y’know, with the understeer? So yeah, I had to push quite hard at the end – but that’s how it should be.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Max, do tell us more about the first lap when you said you passed around nine cars on the first lap. How did you find the grip so quickly on the first lap?

    MV: To be honest, I had a good start, but I got a bit blocked because the two cars in front of me went into the middle so I had to back off, but still I gained one or two positions and then, yeah, basically just trying to find a gap so trying to go round the outside in turn one, I got another car, then inside turn two, another car, outside turn three, because there was space, trying to find grip because when you’re behind a car you lose a lot of downforce so just trying to find some free space and basically everything happened… also turn six, turn seven, eight, always trying to go around the outside or inside and it worked. Yeah, nine cars is quite a lot on one lap but of course very happy that it worked.

    Q: (Ma Yue – Shanghai Daily) Just wanted to ask you all, do you think the weather was an advantage or disadvantage for you?

    LH: I think the weather often makes it more exciting. These are some of the most exciting circumstances when you have a track that starts wet and it goes through a drying phase. It just adds so much more fun and more of a lottery into the equation, so then your smart decisions, driving and how you utilise the tyres. Driving in the dry is a great thing or just in the wet is also very tough but this one is quite spicy with both in it.

    SV: Nothing to add.

    MV: Well, for me, definitely for me today it worked out because I started 16th, so in the wet it’s easier to overtake. I think it was a perfect race for me because then afterwards you go on the slick tyres, you have passed most of the field already and you are basically back in the position where you should be.

    Q: What do you think you could have achieved, Max, had it been dry?

    MV: Well, not third, for sure. Maybe sixth? Good conditions for me.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, what do you expect from the Bahrain race, another great battle against Lewis as in Melbourne and maybe better than today?

    SV: I don’t know what to expect. Obviously in a week we will know. I think if we can challenge Mercedes again, that’s very good news. They are very very strong. They have had a very very strong run the last couple of years. This year as well, so a good package. If we can be close it’s good. I think we need to look after ourselves. I think there’s stuff that we can do better, must do better, can improve so I’m happy to get a surprise, but expectation I don’t really have.

    Q: Before we move on to Max, Lewis, what are you expecting from Bahrain?

    LH: Being that it’s often a warmer race, Ferrari is very good in hotter conditions. These were quite good conditions for me today with our car. When it steps up in temperature… so far in the first race it’s been shown as not the greatest for us just yet, so we’re just learning on the tyres. Hopefully it will be better… it will definitely be better than it was in the Melbourne. I think they will be very very quick in the next race but there’s a lot of straights there as well and we’ve obviously got, I think, still the strongest power unit on the grid, so I think that will come into play, for sure.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Max, was that the best race of your career?

    MV: I always find it difficult to compare but it was definitely one of the best, yeah, of course very happy with it. Looking back to last year, I think a victory is always very special so it’s one of my best for the moment and Brazil was also very nice but this is definitely in my top five, I think.

    Q: (Oscar Garshagen – NRC) There were in the last weeks some issues with your car, Max. Does this third place mean that those issues are behind you right now?

    MV: Difficult to say. On true pace, both Ferrari and Mercedes should be ahead with both of their drivers so we still need to work very hard to catch up. I think at the moment we’re a bit in a lonely competition because in front of us they are too quick and behind us they are too slow but like I’ve already said before, we are working really hard and trying to close the gap but it’s not that easy. But we’ll keep pushing hard.

    Q: (Arjan Schouter – AD) Lewis, I was just wondering how you see this young Dutch guy next to you? He’s delivering all those overtaking shows; what do you think of it?

    LH: I quite like him up here next to us; makes me look younger when I’m up here. It’s good to have a younger person around and yeah, Max has obviously done a fantastic job since he’s been in the sport and I think he’s been a real breath of fresh air for everyone so obviously he’s got a great following and he’s definitely been in some great situations in some races and really maximised above and beyond in those, which is why he gets driver of the day. It’s a lot harder to do that when you’re in the lead of a race, obviously, because you can’t really do much overtaking.

    MV: If you want to swap it’s alright.

    LH: No… Honestly, I hope that Red Bull can improve through the season because I think a third element in the fight I think would be even more exciting.

  • 2017 Australian Grand Prix: Post-Race Press Conference

    2017 Australian Grand Prix: Post-Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS
    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Q: Sebastian, all those thousands and thousands of hours of work from the whole team over winter testing, you guys have shown the form early in the season, massive victory, how do you feel?
    Sebastian VETTEL: Unbelievable. Thank you everyone, it was a fantastic grand prix. It was quite, in a positive way, when I was coming back to the pits and there were people running on track going wild with Ferrari flags. It was unbelievable. Thanks for the support. Like you said, it was what we needed. The whole team has been working really, really hard. The guys didn’t get much sleep here and back in the factory. The car is really behaving well, incredible to drive, a beautiful day. Thank you.

    Q: We’ll move across to second place. Lewis Hamilton, who did everything right, he did everything right. Come on, Australia. Absolutely world class is Lewis. On pole position, phenomenal start, mate. And for me, I think the strategy didn’t quite work out for you today. Did you have to pit? Why was it so early? And obviously for you then to get the race victory back off Sebastian was going to be very difficult from then onwards.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, definitely. Firstly, a big congratulations to Ferrari and to Sebastian, they did an amazing job this weekend. It’s been a great weekend for us and the team, but just in the race, I struggled with the tyres at the end. I had to pit a lot earlier than these guys because I just ran out of grip. Pitted and I got stuck behind one of the Red Bulls and sometimes that’s just the way it goes. But overall, a great race and good points for the team and I mean look at this crowd. Thank you for coming out today and it’s always such a great place for us to be.

    Q: Well done Lewis and great sportsmanship there and I wouldn’t expect anything different from a world champion. Valtteri, first time up here with Mercedes, how does it feel? Big weekend for you, no errors, talk us through it.
    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, obviously first race with the team and really want to thank everyone. The team has been so welcoming. We worked really hard for this first race to be ready. Everything went nice and smoothly but it’s just that the red guys are a bit too quick, so that means we need to work harder. We are definitely ready for that. I am ready for that. This is just the start, starting with a podium, we can improve it from here, so I’ll look forward to the next few races.

    Q:Well done mate, we’ll finish with Sebastian Vettel. Your 43rd victory. The last time I saw this kind of atmosphere was with both our hero, Michael Schumacher. So emotionally for you it must be massive for you to have all these Italian fans down here in Melbourne, in Italy and around the world, winning the first race of the season and taking the championship fight to this man.
    SV: Yeah, it’s a long, long way ahead. For now I think we’re just over the moon. I think it’s been a hard winter and an incredible race today. At the start I wasn’t entirely happy. I think I was a little bit too nervous.

    I was surprised. I thought you were going to do it.
    SV: I had a bit of wheel slip off the line. Lewis was a tiny bit better and then I had to take care of Valtteri in Turn One, but then I had a decent exit. But after that I was really trying to keep the pressure on to make sure that they get that message that we are here and we’re here to fight. Obviously got a bit lucky when Lewis came out in traffic but still we were hanging in there, the tyres were still good, the car was working, so excellent job. And as I said, the support around the track: I had a look with 20 laps to go left and right and especially last sector they were always on fire with the flags, so it was really great. Yeah, thank you.

    Q: And a quick word on the beast: what are the cars like now compared to last year?

    SV: Ah, you could push much harder. Usually the first couple of laps you were pushing last year and then the tyres were dropping off. Now the tyres are still dropping off a bit but you can keep pushing. You can keep braking at the same point. The car is screaming “more, more, more!” Also, at the end with the harder tyres there is hardly any degradation so it’s really good fun, especially in the fast corners. You could keep going forever, it was a great race, and I enjoyed it a lot.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Congratulations Sebastian, your second win here in Australia and the 43rd of your Formula One career. Great start to your year. Talk us through the conversation on the radio after Lewis made that early pit stop. What were deliberations in terms of the strategy? And when you came in and went out on the soft tyres, to try to warm that thing up, you had quite a bit of action behind you, tell us about how tense that got?

    SV: I think we realised early on that we had decent pace. I was able to follow Lewis and then I think after 10 or 12 laps he was really pushing, trying to open a gap, and he succeeded a bit. I was struggling to keep up, but still hanging in there. And I knew if there was anything to happen around the first stop then I need to be right behind him to either put them under pressure or have a chance to jump into the pits earlier to pass him through the stop. Once it was clear that he went in, there was no point to follow. We stayed out, the tyres were still holding on and the pace looked alright. I wasn’t aware of the traffic situation at that point and I just tried to calm down a bit because I was quite hot on the previous laps, but still keep the pace up and hope for an ‘overcut’ so to say. Then I was told he was facing some traffic, which I didn’t know who and how fast the traffic was and whether he would clear but I just tried to hang in there. And then obviously we saw the gap, went into the pits and it worked. It was very tight. I lost a lot of time on the in-lap because I had a lapped car, I think it was a Williams. I lost about a second so I was a bit angry but that’s how it goes sometimes and still it was just enough and I had Max right behind me and Lewis as well, so that was quite tight. Turn One was a bit slippery, but I managed to get a decent exit and a decent run down to Turn Three. I just held the inside. I knew that Max would probably try something but I just kept in front. That was obviously crucial for our race. I tried to push for as hard as I could for the one or two [laps] Max was still out because he was slower on the older tyres, to open a bit of a gap and control the race. The car was really good, working well and I could control the gap and the pace, going through traffic and just bringing it home. It was very pleasant. A different race to last year, where you had to manage a lot. Now I think it was a bit more raw, especially the beginning. Even if it wasn’t a wheel-to-wheel fight I could see Lewis was pushing really hard. There were some corners where he was on top of me and other corners where I was catching up. It was nice that we could just push and race to let’s say the first stop. Then obviously we got a bit lucky with him facing some traffic. But equally we pushed him to the pits and did well. Otherwise, if he had a big lead after 15 laps then he could stay out, control the race and pit into free air. We did a very good race. I’m very happy with the calls today. It worked brilliantly and as I said, big thanks to the team. We say this all the time but I think if you’re not part of the team I think it’s difficult to realise but what this team has done in the last six months has been really tough, rough as well, not easy to manage the whole team but I think the new car, in general… obviously today is fantastic, a big reward a big relief for everyone. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. The foundation has been laid a
    long time ago and really proud to see it coming together. This is just one race. I’m sure we’ll have a great night, we’ll create… we did already, but we will create some great memories tonight and we’ll take it from there. I think we enjoy what we do, the spirit is great in the team and that’s for us to keep it up.

    Q: Congratulations. Lewis, a lot of pressure on you at the start but the getaway looked pretty flawless so talk us through that. Then Sebastian said he felt he pushed you into the pits and you came in relatively early, lap 18, did you have to come in?
    LH: We had a really good start, which is fantastic; it’s good to have a good getaway. After that, I was struggling with the grip from the get-go. Sebastian was able to always answer in terms of lap time and the majority of the time do faster lap times and then towards the end I got a bit in traffic and the car started to overheat the tyres and I was struggling with grip and it was to the point that I needed to come in. Plus, the gap was closing up and I was sliding around. So it was my call because otherwise he probably would have come by anyway. So then I came in and then I got obviously stuck in traffic, which is a little bit unfortunate but that’s motor racing. But a big congratulations to Sebastian and Ferrari. I know it’s been a long time coming for them to get a result like this. It shows we are going to have a race on our hands, which we are very happy to have, which is great for the fans. Unfortunately it’s harder than ever to get close to cars, which is a shame. We can’t even have a close battle but who knows, maybe in the future we will.

    Q: Valtteri, so we learned that Ferrari’s pace from testing is real. What did you learn this weekend about your new car, your new team and where you yourself can improve going forward?
    VB: Well, first of all I think it is a start. There are always things that could have gone better but it is a good starting point for the journey for me driving for Mercedes. I think the main things were obviously yesterday, the qualifying, I didn’t get everything perfect but it was the first qualifying with the team and this track really hasn’t been fantastic for me ever in qualifying. But there’s a long season ahead. Today, I think the race was good. As a team I think we did a good job with the car we have. I think Ferrari was quicker today, there’s no doubt about that. They have obviously done a great job and a better job for this race. From my side the main thing today was the first stint. I struggled quite a lot with the ultrasoft tyres. It felt like I was just sliding around, always missing front grip, rear grip, especially after like 10 laps of the first stint. That wasn’t easy. But once we put the soft tyres on it was quite a good feeling with the car and the car was behaving really nicely. It was really nice to drive. But it was a bit too late and still missing a bit of pace. Overall, I think not a disastrous first race weekend with the team but I do have my points I will take and I can do better next time and I look forward to that.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Sebastian. Can you tell us please which was the road map that the team had to follow to achieve this victory and how much is it a surprise to be on the top now?
    SV: I think for all of us it is a positive surprise. I think the road we followed is pretty simple: we didn’t look left; we didn’t look right; we didn’t look forward; we didn’t look back. I think we focussed on what we had to do at the time. Obviously there has been a lot of up and down, left and right the last 12 months but I think, especially the last couple of months, things calmed down and we just tried to do our job. Obviously there has been a big reshuffle but, as I said, people are happy, happy to work, working with each other. That’s the key. At the end there’s no shortcut, you need to get the job done and invest a lot of hours thinking. Passion, I think, is a great driver back in the factory, also here. I think up and down the pitlane the amount of hours the guys are covering is mad. You need to love what you’re doing but especially… I said it years ago joining Ferrari, there seems to be an extra passion just working for the Prancing Horse and, I think, just focussing on ourselves really has been the big difference. I think a key to deliver a great car, which we obviously have. The speeds look alright, both on the straights and in the corners we are competitive. As I said, I was able to stay with Lewis. They had a little bit the upper hand yesterday but I knew, y’know, we had much better balance yesterday than on Friday so I knew in the race anything can happen. It’s the first race of the season, I’m surprised we didn’t have a Safety Car but anything can happen. I wanted to stay in there and make it clear we had the pace. It was nice to see that we have and, as I say, to get the job done.

    Q: (Leon Alepidis – F1fan) Question to all of you, now that you have completed a decent sum of laps with 2017 cars around the Circuit de Catalunya and Albert Park, for which track and individual turn a re you most looking forward to?
    SV: I don’t know if I can get all the races together! Probably Silverstone. I think with that amount of grip and downforce. Probably Suzuka as well later on in the year. Also I guess the cars will be even faster from what they are now. So, yeah, I think that would be quite nice. I’m looking forward to that.

    Lewis?
    LH: Yes, Silverstone, I agree.

    Valtteri?
    VB: Yeah, I think all the quick ones: Spa; Suzuka; Silverstone will be nice. But I think even street circuits will be a bit more challenging I think – not that it wasn’t challenging before, but with these cars it will be nice.

    Q: (Lennart Bernke – Bild) Seb, you are always talking about a different spirit inside the team and how you have changed from the last year. Can you tell us how exactly you have managed that or what happened inside the team that made the spirit different this year?
    SV: I didn’t manage anything, I’m not the team manager so you need to ask other people. In the end it was clear that when we started off two years ago, three years ago that there’s a lot to do, a lot to reshuffle. I think the team was at a low. The spirit was very good in the first year, in 2015. I think last year was a very good year. Obviously not for the results but in terms of growing the team. It’s good also to hit some lows and go through difficult periods – even though it pretty much sucks – but if you look race-by-race it’s not great but seeing what happens in the background is important. I think people always kept the belief and, as I said, the last six months have been very calm. We have done our work and it starts to slowly pay off. Now it peaks and we are at the top of this grand prix but that’s a small achievement. If you look at who we are up against, I think Mercedes has been phenomenal the last couple of years: incredible team effort, incredibly by both drivers. I think Valtteri just fitted in and kept doing a fantastic job for the team. No weak link from the outside, not that we can see. They will be the ones to beat but for sure today I’m just happy and we take it as a team. You saw the guys: they were smiling, singing, so I’m sure we’ll see more of that tonight.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) For all three. The first time with the new clutch rules at the start. None of you lost a position but how did your start go?

    Lewis you’ve already dealt with that. Sebastian?
    SV: I had a bit of wheel slip. It’s tough, obviously, it’s a very fine line. You try to guess where to go. If you get it right it feels fantastic; if not it’s… yeah, you’re not getting the maximum out of it. Hopefully a better start in China.

    Valtteri?
    VB: I think mine was quite average. Not the best possible for these conditions but not too bad. So yeah, pretty happy with that all obviously. Would have been nice to jump at least one car but yeah, it was good. Definitely been working hard on the starts and it seems to pay off but for sure we can improve on that.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, in the Championship, is this the most important podium for you so far and was that the most physical also?
    VB: Most important podium… I don’t know. For sure it is good to start with a podium this season with a new team. I think every position is important for the Championship itself. So it is too early to say if it is the most important. Most physical? I think one of the most physical. This is not one of the most physical tracks – but the new cars definitely make it harder. But yeah, based on what I felt today, some of the circuits will be quite a challenge but I was OK today. It’s nice to feel a bit more physical effect and a little bit more fatigue. I like it.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Lewis, just saw you stretching out your left shoulder there a bit. Any discomfort after that race? And also, was it as physical as you guys expected? More? Less? With these new cars over a race distance.
    LH: No, I’m just stretching. It was more physical but it was no problem for me and doesn’t look like it was for these guys either.

    SV: It’s not the most physical circuit in the year. I think later on it will be very interesting. Here is very technical. So, first couple of laps, at least for me, were very intense. Obviously it’s easy to have an error, get
    something wrong under braking, go a bit wide etcetera. Later on I had a bit of a gap and I could control it, and therefore it was a bit easier.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, Ferrari won the first race of the season last time seven years ago. Is this the biggest chance for the team and are you going to refresh your song compilation for victory?
    SV: Was that in Bahrain? Yeah. What was the second part of your question? I was thinking about which race it was.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Are you going to refresh your victory song compilation?
    SV: Ah, no, no, no, no. I’m not a good singer otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I’m pretty sure I will think of something if we’re lucky enough to repeat what we did today but no plans. I think it came very spontaneously now two years ago. We’ll see. I think that’s a very nice problem to have, to worry about which song to sing but for now I think we’re very happy with how the race went today.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, in the second part of the race you seem to have struggled to close the gap to Sebastian even when you had a free track in front of you. At one point you were asking the team ‘is there damage to the floor?’ Has there been anything with your car or were you just struggling with the tyres?

    LH: Not that I know of. In the second part of the race… I had stopped about eight laps before these guys so I just didn’t know how long the tyres were going to go so I just took it easy and at the end, obviously, I got more pace but even if I did close the gap, you can’t overtake so… and I may not have made it to the end of the race having stopped so early.

    Q: (Paul Gover – News Ltd) Sebastian, the last time Ferrari won here in Australia was Kimi and he went on to be World Champion. Do you have any feeling at all yet about how the championship might go for you this year?
    SV: No, not interested at this point to be honest. Obviously I was very fortunate so far in my racing career. I’ve had some good races and good years but definitely the first race is not the time to look at the table. As I’ve said before, you really have to go step by step. It’s good to know that we have a great car but it’s just the beginning: new regulations, new generations of cars so there will be a lot of progress. These guys have proved to be the ones to beat for the last couple of years, more and more so. We know that they have a great engine but also they had a great car the last couple of years and they made good steps forward so we are the ones who need to catch up but as I said, for today I am just very happy and for sure whatever happens this year, the race today doesn’t hurt.

    Q: (Phil Branagan – Auto Action) Lewis, we heard some of the radio communication after your tyre stop; there was a conversation about a switch to plan B and then a switch back to plan A. Did something happen in the car to prompt that change of strategy during the second half of the race?
    LH: Strategy A is a one-stop, strategy B was a two-stop and I was in second so they were looking at alternatives of other ways to get me back to first.

    Q: (Andre Leslie – DPA) Lewis has now suggested a couple of times that it’s very tough to overtake. Can I ask Sebastian and Valtteri if that is what you guys are feeling and can you explain to us why?
    VB: I think it is definitely… you know even in the years before it’s been difficult to follow once you get within one and a half, one second just because of the turbulent air which messes up the aerodynamics of the car and that way we don’t have that much grip. Now, as more of the grip from the car is relying on the aero it’s a bigger effect and the cars are wider so I think there’s more turbulent air so now I think it’s more like two seconds or even two and a half because you actually feel quite a big effect from the car in front and that way in the corners it’s more difficult to follow. Obviously you have a bigger slipstream on the straight but if you can’t follow in the corners it’s tricky to get a slipstream. That’s the problem.

    SV: Nothing to add.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Lewis and Seb, the two of you have been the dominant drivers of the past decade in terms of World Championships but you’ve rarely had a year when you have been able to fight
    each other in fairly equal machinery. Sat here now, knowing that you’ve both got cars that are closely matched, is there a bit of anticipation between the two of you to go head to head?
    SV: Great respect for Lewis. I think he had an amazing debut here ten years ago. I still remember his move around the outside, when he made other people look a bit silly. I think since then, since day one, he’s proved that he’s very very quick, very talented but also working hard. I think it was a matter of time before he won the World Championship which I tried to stop him doing in Brazil, as hard as I could, in my Toro Rosso. Great memories – but I don’t remember the last ten years. Roughly we’ve been racing each other but if I have the same outcome as you had on that day…

    LH: I’m going to get you back.

    SV: Yeah, to cut it short, I have great respect. He’s proven to be one of the quickest drivers on the grid and for sure I would love to have a close battle. Obviously right now it looks like we have equal machinery. I hope it stays that way and then we will see how it turns out but it’s obviously a lot of fun to race for victories and a lot of fun to race against the best.

    LH: Yeah, I second that. Incredible amount of respect for Sebastian and what he’s achieved in his career. It’s been a privilege to be racing in an era with him and now finally at a period of time when we can actually have a real race. I wish we could race a lot closer in the cars that we have today but still I think the fact that we are similar pacewise, it’s going to be a very very hard slog this season I think. It’s going to be physically and mentally demanding but as Sebastian said, racing the best is what Formula One is all about and ultimately makes you work that much harder, having to raise the bar and I’m looking forward to that.

  • 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

     

    Q: Lewis, what a race!

    Lewis HAMILTON: Not too bad, huh!

    Q: You were out front but calling for the red flags and aquaplaning coming up the hill… talk us through it a little bit?

    LH: Firstly, as you said, I want to say a big thank you to all the fans that came out today because that was a long, long race and they stood out in the rain and still at the end there were even more people at the end than there were at the start, so I appreciate all the support here in Brazil. They are always so welcoming to us and their hospitality is second to none. For me, I was generally just chillin’ up front. When it rains it’s usually a good day for me. Today it was tricky for everyone, there were definite opportunities for aquaplaning, which everyone did, but I want to say a big thank you to my team. We’re creating history in this team. This year the stuff that we’ve done, the results we have got are just incredible and I’m so proud to a part of it.

    Q: You talked about water coming in your crash helmet following the safety car early doors, was that your only drama today?

    LH: Yeah, that was the only drama: no mistakes, no issues, no spins. It was kind of interesting to hear along the race how many people were spinning and that, but I didn’t have that problem so I’m really happy about that.

    Q: Fifty-second victory, you move ahead of Alain Prost, second in the all-time list only behind the great Michael Schumacher. Nico, second place, not what your were looking for but it will do today in the championship. You head to Abu Dhabi in two weeks’ time with a 12-point lead, what are you thinking standing here?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, of course, it didn’t go my way today with the win; Lewis just did a great job. But for sure, yeah, it was very difficult conditions out there and I can live with second today for sure.

    Q: Max was pretty handy out there. He was pushing like crazy and taking some rather unusual lines and you must have been thinking: “just leave me alone, I’ve got a championship to win.”

    NR: Yeah, and then I arrived on the straight and I saw him pointing 90 degrees towards the wall! I was like “what the hell?”

    Q: We saw you also once having a bit of a scary moment up the hill?

    NR: That is true, yes. But it worked out fine to stay on track.

    Q: A tough call for the race direction today, safety car, red flag. Do you think they got it right?

    NR: It was on the limit, but in the end, yes, they got it right. They did a good job of judging it but it was quite a fine line out there.

    Q: Max, may I shake your hand, because that was some kind of incredible performance, and he’s already been voted driver of the day by the fans. What an adventure you had this afternoon.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was an incredible race, of course, with the red flags, difficult conditions, especially the last straight, really slippery. And then in the final re-start I managed to overtake Nico and I was in quite a comfortable position over there and then I had a massive moment…

    Q: Talk us through that.

    MV: I just… I don’t know, maybe I clipped a bit the kerb, had a massive moment, locked all four wheels, managed to keep it out of the guard rail, continued still in second. Then we decided to pit for intermediates but unfortunately it started to rain afterwards and it didn’t work out. But then after that, I think I was 15, 14, I don’t know what I was, and some great overtakes afterwards to come back on the podium so yes, of course, amazing.

    Q: You were just using a different race track to all the other all afternoon – wherever they went, you went somewhere different.

    MV: Well, I couldn’t see when I was straight behind them, so I had to take another line.

    Q: That big incident you had up here, how much luck and how much skill to keep it out of the barriers?

    MV: 50-50 I guess.

    Q: I thought you might say that. Well, you gave us a thrill. The bravery when you guys just could not see. Did you guys see his incident?

    NR: I just saw him pointing 90 degrees towards the wall.

    LH: I saw both of theirs on the TV.

    MV: He was watching the TV!

    Q: Well, you were cruising out front, Lewis. The showdown, then, in Abu Dhabi, 12 points, what’s it going to be Lewis, how do you go to Abu Dhabi?

    LH: Well, I’m hunting. I’m hunting and all I can do is do what I’m doing right now. The team have been giving me a great car and finding the reliability has been really good, so the results are really showing that. I’m going to go and give it everything I’ve got. Abu Dhabi is generally a really good track for me. But right now I’m just going to live in the moment. This has been my dream since the first time I watched Ayrton race, when I was five or six years old, so to win here…

    Q: Your first victory in Brazil of course.

    LH: Exactly, exactly. And it’s the 44th grand prix here, so it’s kind of a lucky weekend.

    Q: Where would you put this in your 52 wins, one of the tougher ones? One of the very toughest, top five?

    LH: For me, one the easier ones. It was a very easy race generally. Usually in the rain here it’s the hardest but honestly I didn’t have any spins, I didn’t really have any moments and it was pretty straightforward. Silverstone 2008 was way harder than this.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis Hamilton, clearly a very special satisfaction for you today, your first Brazilian Grand Prix win as we were hearing on the podium there with Martin. But I don’t know if you’re aware it’s also a new record: it’s the 24th different race track you’ve won on and that’s never been done before in Formula One history. Obviously today was about what Formula One is all about – but just sum up your feelings and the emotion, I guess.

    LH: I just feel very grateful right now and just incredibly happy. Of course this is a race I’ve been dreaming of winning since I was very, very young. Unfortunately these experienced feel very surreal and probably won’t really kick in until later but after so many years of trying to win this grand prix, all the ups and downs, the emotion, y’know, it’s a hard grand prix to win and today was one of the most difficult in terms of being wet and aquaplaning and everything. Probably the most smooth-sailing race I’ve had here in ten years. I’m just very, very grateful for all the hard work my engineers and mechanics have done because I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.

    Q: Just one detail. When the race was stopped straight after the resumption, you were a bit surprised on the radio. You were saying: “the track is fine.” Tell us a little about the condition at that point and how you felt about the decision to stop it.

    LH: Yeah, I mean, it’s understandable after the first red flag obviously because people were going off, and then the second one… once we went back out after that the track was intermediate tyres – but the Safety Car stayed out for ages. And then that went back in. And then I don’t really understand why the last one came out but the track was the same pretty much throughout, apart from after the first Safety Car so it was kind-of a pointless need to have a Safety Car come out, we should have just kept going. But, y’know, obviously safety comes first and they obviously felt that was the case. Fortunately everyone’s safe so it was obviously the right decision.

    Q: Coming to you Nico, you obviously did what you needed to do today. I guess the key was not being tempted to respond to the provocation of Red Bull twice when they went onto the Intermediate. You basically just, both of you, stayed with that Wet tyre.

    NR: Yeah, it was touch and go but for sure it was risky to go on the Inter because it was just very, very tricky through those couple of sections. It just, as you saw, it caught out Felipe and a few others and you know, of course, in the position that we’re in, can’t really take such big risks. So it was the right decision, of course, and the strategy came in our favour, which is good.

    Q: And what’s the emotion now. Are you feeling relieved at the end of today? If you’re here again on Sunday afternoon in Abu Dhabi, you’re the World Champion.

    NR: Yeah, I mean of course in light of that I have to… I can live with a second place today for sure even though I was hoping for the win – but of course second is OK, yeah.

    Q: Max, an astonishing drive, where do we pick the bones out of that one? Maybe we could start with those passes at the start on Raikkonen and the restart on Nico. Talk us through those.

    MV: Yeah, in the first run I was trying some different lines and I found a good one so I knew that if Kimi was not going to take that line then I had a good chance of overtaking him. That worked out, he couldn’t really see what was happening in front of him and I pulled out of the spray and then I could brake on the inside and pass him, so that was all clean. From there on, I was a bit relieved because they were a bit slower behind me so I could follow the guys in front. But then of course, with the red flag and stuff, coming in twice actually, the same like Lewis, the second one I didn’t really understand because I think I was ready to go. It was similar to before. Then from there on, once we restarted again, I think the track was worse than before. We had good pace again, I had a good fight with Nico in turn three so of course enjoyed overtaking him there and then trying to follow Lewis a bit and then I had a massive moment in the second last corner onto the straight, so lucky not to hit the guardrail. And then I continued and then at one point I got the call to box because I heard Daniel was already gaining a second on the intermediate tyre so we did a pit stop. The first set was actually pretty good but then it started to rain a bit harder than before so then the last sector was undriveable, it was very difficult before but then undriveable on the intermediates, so we had to pit again and I don’t where I was, fifteenth? I hadn’t a clue, fifteenth, sixteenth? Yeah, then I started to pass people again and then it was very difficult, very tricky. I couldn’t see where I was going on the straight, at such high speeds it’s not nice but we managed to pass a lot of them and then of course you come back on the podium and it’s a great result at the end of the day.

    Q: Obviously the feeling was that if you could get the race onto the intermediate condition across the three of you, maybe the Red Bull would be the quicker car. You tried it twice, two gambles as you just referred to, but if you hadn’t taken those gambles, looking back on it, do you think this was possibly a winnable race for you or were they just too strong today?

    MV: Win? Maybe not but I think a second was definitely possible. I think we were in quite a safe position in second but sometimes you have to gamble a bit to try and win the race. That’s what we tried today, it didn’t work out but we’re still on the podium with some great overtakes so I’m quite a happy person.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, can you describe to us a little of the sensation you had overtaking so many drivers and chosing a very original line on the track?

    MV: About the line, I think it’s just because you can’t see where you’re going when you just stay behind them, so you try something else and it seemed to work. The car was working really well also so that helps. Of course it’s great because you have to go forward. We didn’t have the best strategy at the time so you try to make up for it.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Maybe to all three, starting with Lewis: the race was twice interrupted, you had to hang around for half an hour each time. How distracting is that?

    LH: Well, honestly it wasn’t distracting at all. Just very focused at the beginning and managed to maintain that. Got to stop and have something to eat the second time. Fortunately, I just never had to step out of the zone, I was in the zone the whole time which was a positive. In those conditions, obviously it’s much easier to lose focus, particularly in those stops but fortunately I didn’t have that.

    NR: Yeah, it was not a problem. It was fine, it was a good time to relax, eat some spaghetti and good to go again.

    MV: Yeah, pretty OK I think. I was ready to go again so I was just sitting there waiting to hear the message that we could race again.

    Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) A question to all three and then one for Lewis. The Brazilian fans don’t have a Brazilian driver winning and fighting for the title and they stayed from 7am until now in the rain, so I would like you to comment on that because you guys gave them a very good race despite the conditions. And to Lewis especially, I would like to know if you feel the energy of the Brazilian fans because of your admiration of Ayrton Senna?

    LH: Without a doubt this is one of the best crowds we have in the whole season but the Brazilian fans have always been incredibly passionate about Formula One. I came here with a helmet which was a mix of mine and Ayrton’s as everywhere I go around the world  and bump into Brazilian people they think about Ayrton and it’s just incredible how much he meant to the people here. I feel incredibly proud to have now won in the place that he has done but yeah, the fans are remarkable, to be able to get here that early and even though it was raining… most people would go home but they stayed and cheered the whole way. That’s just fantastic. Brazil generally spits out pretty good drivers so over time I’m sure there will be another winner at some stage.

    NR: For me, even yesterday going to the auto show it was amazing. So many people were wearing my hat and so it’s really good to see a big big support and even now, just before the press conference, I went down to see everybody and they were going crazy so it’s nice to have so much support here in Brazil so I’m very thankful for that.

    MV: Yeah, it was very nice to see them staying, first of all, after two red flags, then you can clearly see the dedication they have to F1 and also when my engineer opened the radio when I was pulling passes on the cars they were cheering, so they were really living up to it and I think that’s great.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) In the past we’ve had much worse conditions than these, much more rain – for example Fuji 2007 – but it seems more and more that driving with these cars is almost impossible, too dangerous in these conditions today. Can you explain why it gets more and more difficult to drive these cars in the rain and can you understand that some people can’t understand that a racing car is not driveable in the rain by the best drivers in the world – how is that possible?

    NR: It’s down to the tyres, you know, not coping well with the aquaplaning. We know that and we’ve been working on that now for next year and so we’re hopeful to make progress on that. Of course it would be good, you know, if it wasn’t so on the edge as soon as there’s a bit of standing water.

    LH: This is Formula One and the rain conditions are the trickiest conditions. If everyone just went round and didn’t make mistakes it would be too easy and then everyone could do it. We are going at some serious speeds and there is a lot of water to disperse by the tyres and the tyre just struggles; the faster we go, the harder it is for the tyres. This wasn’t a particularly difficult race in terms of being wet, there’s been much much worse races in terms of aquaplaning.

    MV: Well of course I haven’t driven in 2007 but yeah, I think it’s a combination of having more horsepower now, so more torque, so the cars are speeding up more and less downforce at the moment. Yeah, I think next year it should be solved already, it will be much easier to drive the cars in the wet because of having quite a lot more downforce on the race. Of course, I think we can do improvements on the tyres, we’re working on that for next year but I think that with more downforce that should help already.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Nico and Lewis, Nico, you won last year in Abu Dhabi, Lewis won in 2014. A comment from you about the last round of the championship, the decision of the world title. Do you think you have more chance than Lewis who has more affinity with track? A comment in general about the last round of the championship.

    NR: Well, it’s going to be a great, exciting race weekend, a great battle for sure. I would like to win the race and that’s what I’m going there… I’m going to try and do that for sure. I’ve had good experience there in the past but of course that’s not going to help this year. You know we all start from zero this year, every time we go to a different track. Yeah, feeling good so let’s see.

    LH: Obviously I have to continue what I’m doing. Nico’s finished every single race this year apart, obviously,  from  Barcelona which we both didn’t finish so he’s had fantastic reliability, so I think right now, as the way it’s going it’s going to be very hard to beat him. That doesn’t mean I can’t win the race, so I’m going to take the energy I have now and the speed that I have which has been great this past few races and really try to push as hard as I can in that race to get as far ahead. That’s all I can do

  • 2016 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Juan Pablo Montoya)

    Q: Hello México! Lewis, hell of a day, win number 51, how was it today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It was amazing because of all these people – Viva México! This is honestly the best crowd we get anywhere. In our home country it’s always a great thing, but I don’t know, these guys… I guess this stadium helps, but they turn up and they have such passion for the sport, it’s great to see.

    Q: Great, how is Mexico?

    LH: I love it here. I’ve had tacos every night and I’m super light, so maybe I need to have tacos every day for the rest of my life.

    Q: Congratulations again. Nico, long weekend for you but you still came out second. What do you feel about the championship?

    Nico ROSBERG: Que tal México? Los mejores del mundo! Muchas gracias, muchas gracias. It’s been a good day. Lewis has been too fast this weekend, so I just have to accept second place. We’ve had some massive battles out there. At the start I got shunted and then with Max later on and everything, so it’s OK to be second.

    Q: Perfect. Sebastian, a lot of people got really excited there at then end there; talk us through it?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well I was using a lot of sign language and using a lot of your language I think. Probably looking back I felt like you when you got angry in the car. No, you have to understand the adrenalin was pumping, I put him under pressure, which was difficult enough, our tyres both were pretty old and then obviously, yeah, he left the track and didn’t move, so you can understand why I really was annoyed. But what a turnaround. I was really disappointed when I crossed the line and then all of a sudden I was told to come up here and being here in front of the crowd is fantastic.

    Q: There you go, great day. So Lewis, the championship, what are you thinking?

    LH: Well, Nico is doing a great job to pull in the position that he has to finish. I’m really grateful to the team, they did a fantastic job. It’s great for us to have another 1-2 this weekend, and it’s my first time here to win in Mexico. I don’t know where my sombrero is but I do love it here and can’t wait to come back next year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, for several reasons that was a bit of a landmark victory for you. It’s your 51st victory, meaning you now tie with Alain Prost for second on the all-time list. It’s also Mercedes 17th victory of the season, meaning they become the first constructor to achieve that record. Your thoughts on those two please.

    LH: Well, the most important one is the team one. That’s just incredible. Fantastic. Over half of the victories I’ve had have been with this team. It’s a true showing of just how incredible the group of people we have and how well we work together and for the third year in a row proved that we are the best team. So, very proud and, as I always say, really proud to be a part of it. That was the plan, coming here to this team, being hopefully a part of that growth and success. I couldn’t have dreamt it to be any better than it is.

    Q: From your races’ point of view it looked to be quite uneventful – perhaps apart from Turn One of the first lap. Could you talk us through that?

    LH: Yeah, basically on the formation lap I had a glazed front right brake. I couldn’t wake it up. So, I had 500°C in the left front and 150-200°C in the right front. So I’m on the grid…

    SV: How do you know?

    LH: They told me. So, I went into Turn One and the right front eventually woke up and just locked. I was carrying such speed. I was lucky I didn’t go in the wall or something. And after that I had just the biggest vibration. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it in the first stint. Honestly I thought I had to stop, the vibration was so big I would barely see, to be honest. It was really nice when I got some new, fresh tyres, and it was much smoother.

    Q: Coming on to you Nico, it seems that you and Max Verstappen rubbed wheels quite regularly today, can you talk us through the two incidents with him, on lap one and again towards the end of the race on lap 49.

    NR: Yeah, it’s a bit on the limit but it’s good racing I guess, so good, I’m sure it was enjoyable to watch on TV. From in the car it was pretty exciting stuff and I’m very happy that I managed to come out on top every time and finish second.

    Q: Do you feel that Max was a little bit too aggressive with you?

    NR: As I say, it’s on the limit and it’s not for me to judge after that. I haven’t even seen it really. But I think it’s good racing.

    Q: And any other dramas for you during the race or just a controlled race to second place?

    NR: No, apart from that everything was OK, yeah. Just Lewis was a little bit too quick today and the whole weekend. So he did a great job and I have to live with second place this weekend.

    Q: Coming on to you Sebastian. Talk us through those last few laps with both Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

    SV: I don’t think there’s much to add. I think it’s pretty clear I was quicker. I was closing the gap, got into DRS and put him under a lot of pressure and he made a mistake, which I think was clear he should have moved. He didn’t move. Obviously that battle, that fight, being stuck behind him, losing time, fighting with him allowed Daniel to close in. He was on a superior tyre. I think there was one incident into Turn Four which I need to look at again to be honest. I obviously knew that Daniel is quite jumpy and sometimes a bit optimistic with these kind of situations, which partly fair enough, we’re racing and for him it’s a podium to grasp. Obviously he came back and is now having the advantage on a better tyre. So I need to have a look at that again. It was very close, we made contact. I was pretty lucky. I thought initially I have a puncture. But obviously lost out to Max again and had to close again and couldn’t put him under serious pressure again before the race ended but I think it was pretty clear that he had to give the position back. As far as I learned on the radio he was told, he ignored that. You can understand that adrenaline was pumping and I was very angry. I think when Maurizio came on the radio I calmed down and tried to finish my race.

    Q: You drove a very long first stint. Is there a sense of what might have been had you qualified better yesterday?

    SV: Well, it doesn’t matter now. Yesterday was a disappointing day. Today we turned it around. And we used the benefit of being on the harder – as in soft – tyre, not on the supersoft for the first stint. I was disappointed that I lost a position to Felipe. I made contact in Turn Two, right after the start. I wasn’t sure if I have a puncture. I don’t know what it is about Mexico, I always think I have a puncture because last year I got one. But yeah, turned out not to be a problem. I don’t think there was any damage to the car so very lucky. Then I really struggled behind the Williams to get past. They were very, very quick down the straights. Really difficult. He pitted and then I just said “OK, let’s try and go,” and it worked really well. We were opening the gap to the leaders, with Lewis right behind. Had free air and could just unleash the pace the car had. For sure, if we start higher up then I think we sail to third without any problem at least. Probably even in a position to put them under pressure but, I don’t know. I think the pace was very good. We sensed it right from Friday onwards. So of course it’s a bit of a shame. But then again, we did a very good job today so, finally, I’m quite happy.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo Esporte.com) Nico, I know you don’t much like these questions but one win in Interlagos next race you will be world champion. Could you make a comment please.

    NR: I hadn’t thought of it that way now, but yeah, if you say that, I can see that. Sounds good. At the moment I’m more thinking about the missed chance to win the race here today. But of course, from tomorrow on I’ll look forward. But I’ll stick to my plan of just going there and trying to win – which satisfies both things!

    Q: (Carlos Alberto – Reforma) For the three of you. Is there something to improve at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez? It’s the second time you raced here. Is there something to improve?

    Lewis, let’s start with you

    LH: I would say that we should bring a much, much softer tyre here. One stop, I don’t know if that’s exciting for the fans but more stops, maybe a tyre that, for once, doesn’t go as far. The medium tyre we could do the whole race with. So, I don’t know, maybe that would enable us to have more battles, more struggles out there as today was generally very easy on those tyres. So it makes the race a lot easier.

    Nico, any thoughts?

    NR: Well, for one we as Formula One can be really, really thankful because the Mexicans have embraced our sport in an incredible way. A huge, huge crowd coming here and the atmosphere amazing out there. Really so cool to see. And yeah, just a big thank you. And for what can be improved, don’t know, I can’t think of much. I think the race was… seemed to be pretty exciting. With lots of stuff going on, so… nothing.

    And Sebastian, from your point of view?

    SV: Well, I think we owe a big thank you to the fans. It’s a very special feeling to stand on that podium. You feel very, very special to see… it’s unreal that amount of people that come… already Friday there’s a lot of people but on Sunday it peaks. Drivers parade, yeah, it’s so loud because the people are just celebrating this event and the Formula One to be here. It’s one of the days that, on the day, obviously the race turned out for me to be quite eventful but I think, yeah probably at the age of 60-65 when you sort-of get a bit fat and lazy, sit in your chair at home, it’s these days I think you look back to…

    LH: What the hell are you talking about?

    SV: Well, it’s just how I feel! Is those days you look back to, the incredible atmosphere, the people celebrating our sport, what we love, I think you feel very, very special.

    And anything to improve?

    SV: Yeah, the traffic! But I think the mayor is probably very busy trying to sort that out so I have no suggestions on that front. It’s find, it’s part of Mexico.

    Q: (Jorge Mendoza – La Prensa de San Antonio) Nico, I know you were expecting a win from this weekend. Is there anything you did differently from your last race in 2015, regarding mental preparation, nutrition preparation, everything it takes to prepare for the race?

    NR: Well, first of all, expecting to win? No. I was going for the win, yeah. Expecting is a big word but it didn’t work out. Lewis just did a better job this weekend and apart from that, compared to last year, I’m generally feeling very good this year. I’ve had a great season which I’m happy about. The only thing that I can think of is that in my private life I’m very very happy, because I have a lovely family with a daughter who is a year and two months old and that’s very very special and I think that carries over into the sport, because when you arrive with a smile on your face it makes a difference.

    Q: (Seff Harding – Xero Xone News) Nico, to go back to your comments earlier this week when you said that you are just here to win races and not please everyone. You may possibly win this championship two weeks from now. Who are you winning this championship for, because fans – especially American fans – want to find a champion that they can connect to?

    NR: I’m really sorry, that’s going a bit too far down the road. At the moment, that’s not something that I have got into.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, your former team was arguing that you moved under braking when you defended your position against Daniel. Did you?

    SV: As I said, I want to look into it again. I knew that when I saw my exit out of turn three which wasn’t great because I was fighting Max into the first two corners and yeah, he obviously tried to trick me a bit. Maybe I could have done better to have a better exit, braking testing me a bit into turn one and then turn two, but nevertheless I didn’t get the best exit so I knew it would be tight with Daniel and I know Daniel in these situations: he’s jumping into the gap even if he doesn’t make the rest of the corner. I think I knew exactly the situation – or in my head – the situation in Barcelona came up where he dived down the inside last minute. I gave him enough room but in fact he didn’t make the first corner. But obviously today’s not Barcelona. He was obviously upset about it and he told me to look at it again. I will do that but yeah, I think I gave him just enough room, it was very late. I think both of us just about made the corner. Obviously it’s never ideal if you make contact because our cars are not built to make contact. I initially thought I had a puncture, I don’t know if he had any damage, he certainly lost a bit of time after that so, as I said, I want to look into it again.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Sebastian, we heard you saying on team radio ‘he is a beep, that’s what he is.’ Would you be so kind and fill in the missing word? And the second question is do you intend to talk to Max about giving up the position?

    SV: No to the first question, I will not answer. Second question, I don’t think there’s anything to say.

    Q: (Ben Hunt –  The Sun) Sebastian, just one for you I’m afraid, your message to Charlie (Whiting – race director). Do you wish to apologise for that message? I know it was in the heat of the moment but you obviously used a bit of a crude word.

    SV: Well, I think it was very clear. Obviously I was very emotional so in fact I’ve already asked to go and see him so I think, yeah… when you’re in the car, emotions are… I was full of adrenalin, you can imagine because I don’t think it was right what Max did. I was told that they were looking into it for three laps and I was sort of getting upset as you can imagine.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, Max Verstappen got a five second penalty because he was short-cutting the first corner, gaining an advantage, that was what race control said. Did you gain an advantage on the first lap when you short-cut the corner?

    LH: Well, I had a completely flat-spotted tyre so that definitely wasn’t an advantage but I think I was still in the lead going in so I was in the lead coming out, so that’s not… I don’t believe so.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Any event or punishment is up to the FIA concerning Max Verstappen, but you were there, fighting with him. What comment do you make concerning Max, is he too aggressive, because he’s too young, he will learn? Your  comment please.

    LH: I didn’t see it. It doesn’t affect me so not really.

    NR: Nothing to add. I made some comments already before. I’m going to leave it at that.

    SV: Nothing to add.

  • 2016 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Gerard Butler)

    Q: Hello Austin! Congratulations Lewis.

    Lewis HAMILTON: How are you guys doing! What an incredible crowd we have here. It’s you guys that make this race so special. Thank you for so much for coming out.

    Q: So, Lewis, you needed the win, you got it, how do you feel?

    LH: I feel OK. This has always been a good hunting ground for me. I love being here in the States. It very much feels like home and, as I said, we have had some incredible support this weekend, which I’m so thankful for. So a big, big thank you to everyone and the team did a great job this weekend to put us both up there and I’m very proud to be a part of it.

    Q: So you’ve won, what is that, four times here now, five times in America, you love this track, and it’s your 50th grand prix win! One off Alain Prost – amazing.

    LH: Oh, finally! Finally. I completely forgot. Thank you very much.

    Q: [Nico] How do you doing? How are you feeling, talk us through it, an unusual opening?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, I mean I lost out a bit at the start unfortunately, then gave it everything to come back. Second place is OK, it’s damage limitation here today of course. I wanted to win here in America, that would have been awesome, but it wasn’t to be. Next time, maybe.

    Q: Were you playing the percentages? Were you playing safe a little bit?

    NR: No, no, definitely not. Flat out all the way to the end.

    Q: Daniel! I hope you’re going to speak to me not in your Aussie accent. I’m a Red Bull man so, like you, I’m very happy. What a great start.

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Thank you very much. I hear Mr Butler does not drink alcohol, I respect that completely – but I believe he’s going to drink some Red Bull out of my shoe right now. The race wasn’t that exciting but hopefully now…

    Q: I did not… Listen, I love Red Bull but you’ve got to be kidding me! I hate you… actually quite tasty…

    DR: Thank you very much for that sir. That was an absolute… display.

    Q: I though you did absolutely fantastic. Tell us a little bit about the start for you

    DR: This is quite overwhelming. So yeah, the start went nearly to plan. The start was OK. The plan was to try and get both Mercedes. We at least got Nico, which was a positive. Then we were looking like we were holding second quite well and then the Virtual Safety Car. It is what it is, it’s a bit of a frustrating one sometimes. Nico was able to jump me through that procedure. Bit of a shame obviously. I think we would have had a good fight at the end, so sorry about that but a bit out of my control.

    Q: OK Lewis, gloves are off.

    LH: How did that taste? Bit of toe-jam and Red Bull?

    Q: Well Red Bull’s quite a powerful drink – so fortunately I could taste mostly the Red Bull.

    LH: Good, good, good.

    Q: So, gloves are off, what are you feeling now. You’ve tightened it up a bit…

    LH: All I can do is do my best and continue to drive as I have this weekend. Nico’s been driving fantastically well all year. So the battle will continue – but I know we’ll have all this support that will continue as well. So please keep your fingers crossed guys

    Q: Are you going to take him?

    LH: I’ll be going for it.

    Thank you guys, thank you very much.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: We’ve got to talk about this milestone: fifty Grand Prix victories. Only two men have ever done it before: Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher. You must be so proud.

    LH: I had completely forgotten that it was going to be the fiftieth. It’s been a long time coming. Once again, and I know I’ve mentioned it before but I’ve been here for ten years, I’ve had lots of ups and downs and lots of great opportunities to work with some incredibly gifted people who have helped me get here today. Then my family as well without whom I wouldn’t be here today. It’s kind of very surreal, for sure. I can’t believe that there are only three of us but hopefully onto bigger and better things.

    Q: It was important today that it went this way for you because if it had gone the other way it would have been forty points with three races to go, which would have looked a bit of a tall order. It was interesting to see you on the grid though, you looked extremely relaxed. Why was that, why were you so calm going into this race?

    LH: I’ve generally been relaxed all weekend. I feel like… I knew that the start was going to go well so that’s the first time in the whole year that I’ve known that that’s going to go well. Great work done by the guys and great work done in the factory last week and it worked perfectly today.

    Q: Nico, we’ve got to talk about the start You got away well, you went across to the outside and Daniel came up the inside. Talk us through it.

    NR: Yeah, got away really well. Not quite enough to give it a go down the inside so Lewis would just have closed so no point in trying that so just went round the outside. All was looking good, actually, I just struggled for a bit of grip then out of the corner and Daniel had that extra grip and that’s it. We knew that that was going to be a risk with that supersoft. Then flat out after that and it worked out of course with the VSC.

    Q: You knew the recovery strategy was obviously based on the medium tyre, you were playing a long game but you were very quick on the medium tyre as well. Once you got onto it, you presumably knew that you were going to finish second today.

    NR: Yeah, I felt really good out there in the car, we found a great balance and I was feeling really comfortable  and so I was just able to push really well and so that was a good feeling, yeah.

    Q: Daniel, we’ve got to talk about the start. From your perspective, were you a bit surprised Nico went to the right? How did you read it and talk us through how you got ahead?

    DR: Yeah, I think the actual launch itself didn’t seem that much stronger than the Mercedes on the soft tyres so I was hoping it would go a bit better but then, yeah, Nico opted to go to the outside so I had some room on the inside there. Yeah, I got one at least. I was obviously hoping to get two but that was better than nothing and then yeah, I think the first part of the race we sort of just seemed to… everyone just seemed to have similar pace. I guess Lewis was probably controlling it at the front but we seemed at that stage to be able to hold on to second and then the virtual safety car, I think we lost ten seconds it worked out to be, with Nico. I believe after the pit stops we would have had about five seconds on him. And then after the virtual safety car he had close to five seconds on me so that was frustrating, I guess. It just would have been interesting, even if he caught me at the end, just to at least have a fight. I think the race, after the virtual safety car, became a bit… not that exciting. I guess without it it would have made it a bit more spicy at the end. That was that. Unfortunately third was the outcome but it was still nice to be on the podium. It’s a cool place, I’ve always loved it here for everything: the anthem before the race kind of gives you goosebumps and then the crowd… obviously on the podium is pretty cool. It’s been a good weekend.

    Q: Does it make it worse that the virtual safety car was actually triggered by your own teammate?

    DR: Absolutely sir. When I saw Max out there I thought ‘ah, hell. My boy’s done it again!’ So anyways, that was a devastational moment but we’ll keep soldiering on. We still got some points over Ferrari today so I’m pretty pleased with that.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Daniel, what are your thoughts regarding the upcoming three races if you can get close to these guys again?

    DR: We’ll try. I think looking at it, on paper I would say Abu Dhabi is probably where I fancy my best chances. It’s been a strong circuit for me and I think us as a team have normally been pretty good there so that’s probably one. Mexico is still new. I think the surface is going to be a lot different when we go there next week, it will be more rubbered in. I think it’s going to be a completely different track to last year and we will see. Brazil, it’s been a while since we had the sort of magical Brazil downforce so maybe we can get one of those this year and have a chance. We’ll keep trying, keep doing what we can. Obviously they’re hard to beat but maybe next time the virtual safety car will help us out. We’ll see.

    Q: (Seff Harding – Zero Zone News) Nico, you put in another one-two for Mercedes; do you feel like you’ve lost any momentum after this race this weekend, heading into Mexico?

    NR: I just feel that it’s a pity that it didn’t work out with a win this weekend. I was going for that. It would have been awesome here in America but it didn’t work out. Lewis did a great job this weekend, all the way through, qualifying and race so it just wasn’t to be. I’ll live with second place now and next race is another great opportunity.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo Esporte.com) Lewis, there’s no way not to question the mathematics of the championship. To Nico, two second places and one third would be enough to be champion. Do you think about it and what can you do to maybe change it or are you just going for the races and trying to win?

    LH:  Honestly, I just focus on doing the best job I can. Honestly today, beyond doing the job… I felt comfortable doing the job, I was just the whole race concerned the car was not going to make it so right, I’ve been told the line, I was just in fear of the same thing, the same feeling, the sound that I heard in Malaysia, so I was grateful that the car made it across the line and I have a lot more confidence in his reliability. It’s going well for him. I’ve just got to continue to do my job and hope for the best.

    Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Lewis, having Daniel put a bit of pressure on Nico through that race, does that give you some extra hope that maybe the Red Bull will be able to finish between you and Nico and give you a better chance of taking this championship?

    LH: I don’t really think about that. I just kept focusing on doing my job to the best of my ability. I can’t control what’s behind and there’s no point in even hoping for anything, just hoping to do the better job on the weekend and have more weekends like that. That would be great.

  • 2016 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Kai Ebel)

    Q: Congratulations Nico, a fantastic win.

    Nico ROSBERG: It’s been an awesome weekend for sure, the whole weekend had gone great from the word go, so it’s been very, very special, especially on this legendary track, beautiful to win here. And of course congrats to everybody, to all my colleagues in the team, for clinching a third Constructors’ World title. So absolutely deserved, definitely it’s been an unbelievable effort all these years, so let’s celebrate hard. And thank you very much to all of you, a very, very special weekend this weekend, you put on such a great show out in the grandstands, it’s amazing. Arigato.

    Q: Turning over, Nico, to the important things. How important is it today not to have Daniel Ricciardo up here to have a shoey again, to drink out of his show?

    NR: I’m going to make sure that he never wins again this year because I don’t want to drink any more out if his shoe.

    Q: That’s a good one. So, going from Germany over the Dutch border to Max Verstappen. Congratulations, man of the race, fantastic. You had the hot breeze of Lewis on your neck, maybe you two had more traffic on track than on the Dutch motorway? 

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, there was a lot of traffic but we saved the tyres a bit in the last stint. I think in general we had a great strategy. Just to race against the Mercedes cars, I think that’s always positive. To come home in second, a big thanks to the team for that.

    Q: How hot was the breath of Lewis on your neck at the end?

    MV: It was not as hot as in Malaysia. The temperature here helped, but of course Lewis was pushing hard and we had a little moment in the chicane, but of course very happy to stay in second.

    Q: Coming to you Lewis, not an easy day for you. The start: what happened there, was it just due to the slippery surface?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly, a big thank you to everyone that came out today. A big congratulations to this team. I’m very, very proud to be a part of it. I’m glad I got some points for the team today. Congratulations to everyone back at the factory at Brixworth and the whole of Mercedes. We couldn’t have done it without all the support we’ve had. I did the best I could from where I was in the race but I’m happy with getting the points.

    Q: Now Lewis, the next races, the world championship, Nico leading now – now will we see the best Lewis Hamilton to fight for the championship?

    LH: Of course. I’ll give it everything I’ve got, as I did in the race and we’ll see what happens.

    Q: Thank you so much, Lewis. Coming back to you Nico, I know tonight you’re flying home but will you rock the plane again or do some karaoke in between in the land of karaoke?

    NR: Maybe a little bit, but not too much. The season is still long, many races to go around the world, so I need to keep my energies.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, let’s pick it up with you first. At the start obviously you lost ground. What part did the dampness on that side of the race track play, do you think, in your getaway? Perhaps a little detail about your fight back and then the championship position as it stands, trailing Nico by 33 points with four races to go.

    LH: Firstly, big congratulations to the team, incredible success for the last three years, very proud to be a part of it and to help contribute to it – so a big thank you to everyone for all of their hard work. This is a great result. Yeah, I don’t think the damp patch had really anything to do with it. I just had… I made a mistake and then just working my way up from there was tricky but, y’know, I did the best I could.

    And the 33 points, four races to go, feelings on that.

    LH: That’s a healthy margin for Nico, he did a great job, so congrats to him.

    Q: Let’s return to our race winner, Nico Rosberg, ninth win of this 2016 season, 23rd of your career and your first, as we were hearing on the podium, here in Japan after three pole positions. Clearly the start was decisive today. Your thoughts on that and how your race rolled out. And then, also your thoughts on having that margin. 33 points with four races to go. Niki Lauda has just said on TV it’s a “comfortable” position. Your thoughts.

    NR: Yeah, for sure. Just the whole weekend went really well from the word go. Just felt good in the car, found the right balance and all the way through to qualifying. Got that lap done and then the start went well… just everything went well. Just controlling the pace and the gap to Max in the race. Perfect weekend really. Really happy with that. To win on this legendary track as well. Points, yeah, I’m well aware of the 33 points of course but it’s not something I’m focussed on, as you know. Just want to take it race by race. That’s what I did this weekend. So focussed on trying to win the race and very happy it worked out. Still many races to go, so just keeping my head down.

    Q: Coming to you Max, your sixth podium in Formula One. One of the best I’m sure, great measured drive – but tell us more about the move to block Lewis at the end. Before his actual move was there a little bit of memories of holding off Räikkönen in Spain earlier this season, and then when he actually made the move, was it going through your mind that he had more to lose than you did?

    MV: To be honest, I never really thought about it, both of those things. I was just doing my race. I think the car was feeling quite good. I was trying to follow Nico a bit and I think in general we did a great strategy, so the car was working well and, of course, Lewis was closing up a lot. At the end of the race he was pushing really hard and I knew he’s fighting for the World Championship, so you’re not going to do crazy things, of course. But I think in the end it was all good. I managed to keep my tyres alive and to come home in second. That’s of course a great result for myself and I think also one of my best races so far but also for the team I think. For the Constructors’ it’s a very good result.

    Q: Lewis, your 100th podium in Formula One today. If you could just tell us a little bit about, particularly when you went onto the hard tyre you were extremely fast straight away, I think you passed four cars in one lap at that phase of the grand prix, so maybe a word about that. And then about the move at the end. You came over the radio and said Max moved under braking, as if to suggest you weren’t particularly happy about that. Maybe you could clarify what you were saying.

    LH: Yeah, the middle stint, the car felt good. Generally the car felt great throughout the race, so it wasn’t really a problem and I’m not really quite sure if I was overtaking backmarkers or not but I was just overtaking whoever I could. Had a good run there. Fought hard at the end but just didn’t make it.

    But you were happy with his move to defend?

    LH: Well… it doesn’t really matter now. It’s done and we move forwards.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Nico, of course there are four races to go, you said you are thinking race by race but you have two match points as we might say in tennis because you have more than one victory advantage. Do you have a different approach to the next races or are you just doing race to race?

    NR: There’s still a long way to go, hunh? There’s no point in changing my approach now so I’m sticking with what I’m doing because it’s working well.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport)  Lewis, after the first lap where did you think you were going to end up, being in P8, I think?

    LH: Honestly I don’t really remember. I can’t remember, I was just far back and I was just looking to go forwards.

    Q: (Lennart Wermke – Bild) Lewis, you said you made a mistake at the start. Can you give us a little more detail, what exactly happened there?

    LH: Not really, I just got wheelspin.

    Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Max, when you were fighting with Lewis, did you imagine that he would attack in the chicane? Is that why you made a move to defend, you were expecting him to go there?

    MV: Yeah, it was just for fun! No, of course you see him coming in the mirrors so… Already the laps before he was closing quite a bit but I saw already out of T14 that he had a good exit so yeah, I was using a bit of energy and I defended into the last chicane. All good.

  • 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Malaysian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Daniel, that national anthem was getting to you – great win mate.

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Thank you. I was a little but… firstly I’m exhausted. It’s such a hot race here. It was a race of challenges. Obviously Lewis got the lead and had his problems, so I feel… I’m not really one for believing in a whole lot, but obviously it went the other way in Monaco, so I’ll take this today. No hard feelings to Lewis, but I’ll definitely take the win. It’s been a pretty emotional two years since the last win and we’ve come so close this year. Two weeks ago after the race I said… well, we won this year, and here you go, we got there. Big thanks to Red Bull Racing and everybody who supported me through this journey – my mum, dad, my sister, I’ve got some family here, there are numerous people here. So, I’m extremely grateful for this. Thank you for all the support. It’s overwhelming to say the least.

    Congratulations, sensational drive, another big win. Max, Driver of the Day voted by the fans, charging drive, strategy was key obviously out there for everybody today? A long fight at the front in those hot conditions, in those trying conditions, how do you feel?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: I have to say after the champagne a lot better, it wakes me up a bit. But of course we were pushing the whole race. Definitely Daniel and I were pushing each other so we were going flat out so definitely after the race we had to take a break.

    Well done, buddy. A sensational 1-2 for Red Bull. Nico, a very, very important third place for you today. Little bit of misfortune for your team but you fought back after an unfortunate first corner with Sebastian tagging the back of you in Turn One. Twenty-three point lead now. What are your thoughts and emotions right now? 

    Nico ROSBERG: First of all, yeah, Turn One, I though it was all over, so I’m really happy to be able to fight back in such a way all the way to the podium. That’s been great. Thank you very much to all of you here in Malaysia, you’ve been amazing all week and the support has been incredible. It’s been amazing to see that. In general, I wished for as better day today, but that’s the way it is sometimes.

    Five to go, how do you feel?

    NR: At the moment a bit tired after that race! Apart from that it’s a good moment in general and looking forward now to the next one of course, of course full attack.

    Congratulations Nico, a big points haul. Daniel, just finally with you: overdue in my opinion, off to Suzuka now which is a cracking circuit as well, so celebrations tonight or is it a short turnaround for the race next weekend?

    DR: Ah, a few of us are flying tonight, so maybe a few little whiskies on the flight and sleep well and we’ll be in Tokyo tomorrow. There’s some fine Japanese whisky over there so we might have to have a day off.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Congratulations Daniel, I know how much that means to you. First of all, your view of the start incident involving Nico, Sebastian and Max. Then into the race obviously you held off Max in that crucial battle, that brief battle between the two of you, which I guess turned out to be critical from the point of view of winning the race after Hamilton dropped out.

    DR: Yeah, what a day. I’m still… I realise what’s happened but a lot went down in the last two hours so it’s a lot to take in. It’s been an interesting two years since my last victory so it feels awesome for sure, I’m very grateful for it. The start was interesting. I didn’t get a great launch off the line. I saw Seb, I think it was on the inside of me, got a better run. I think Max also had a decent start from memory and it seemed like everyone went to the inside and it didn’t look like there was a whole lot of room and Seb went even deeper. So it looked like he went a little bit deep and it looked like the inside sort of washed out. Everyone sort of tried to out-brake each other, at least from what I say. My average start and more cautious approach into Turn One actually worked out but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Yeah, got into P2 and then was just trying to do my thing in the race. The long run on Friday wasn’t very good, we made a lot of changes, so after Friday if I would have said I’d win the race today in dry conditions… nothing is ever impossible but it was looking like it was close to be. Just tried to do our thing. Max pitted under the Virtual Safety Car at the beginning, put the soft on and at that point it looked like his strategy was working out very well for him. So then I had to hold him off towards that mid-part of the race, just as Lewis had his problems. It was a good battle. Max was on a little bit fresher tyres and I knew he would come at some point, but obviously I was trying to do everything I could to hold him off. It was fun. It was hard racing and for sure we’re both determined to win and we want to beat each other, but I think we did it today very fair and with a lot of respect. So I thank him for that and I think it goes both ways. It was good fun. At the end I tried to hold him off again. It was tough. It was very hot today. Normally Singapore is the most physical race but I thought today was just as physical as last week. I’m not sure still what happened to Lewis. Obviously we got that one today. Obviously we have him that one in Monaco, so I like to think it’s evened out today, so I’ll definitely take the win today.

    Q: Moving on to Max, obviously your view of the start line incident, you were a bit more involved in it. Tell us a bit more about that. And, as Daniel just said, you had a better-balanced strategy than he did, so tell us how that was evolving, how you thought the race was going to pan out. And then, obviously once Hamilton dropped out, you were both pitted together, you stacked behind Daniel. Did you think you would have a chance to win the race from there?

    MV: Well, finally I had a good start, so I was happy with that but then into Turn One, yeah, I braked late but I was still behind Nico and then Sebastian just dived up the inside, just went really deep and there was definitely no space for that and he T-boned Nico, so I had to avoid all the debris and the two cars. I lost three or four positions because of that which, of course, was a shame because we were in a good position after the start. But then, yeah, after the Virtual Safety Car, I saw the green flag so I immediately passed, I think it was Kimi, so I was of course happy with that. From there on the pace was good. I passed the other cars and I was closing up to the guys in front and then we tried a different strategy and, when I was driving on the hard tyres it seems to be the right one, so I was closing up to Daniel and we had a good fight, a fair fight, and I think it shows a respect between us. And even after that little fight it will looked like it was going to happen – but then unfortunately the virtual safety car came out again. So we pitted again. I had to go on Used Soft, I think Daniel had new ones but still it was a great battle, we were pushing each other in the heat. Normally you can cruise a bit at the end of the race, or at least it’s a bit less physical but until the last lap we were pushing really hard. Yeah, today that’s second but it’s a great result for the team, scored a lot of points. The car was working all weekend, I think it showed already on Friday in the long run that it was working really well. I think we can be really pleased with this.

    Q: Nico, a third different perspective on the start line incident from you please. You were 21st at the end of that first lap. To go from there to finishing on the podium and leaving Malaysia with a 23-point championship lead, does that feel almost like a win for you today?

    NR: Well, it doesn’t feel like a win because it’s only third place and today was a tough day – because after Turn One I thought it was finished. Of course I’m happy with the comeback; to get all the way back on the podium, I definitely didn’t think that was going to be possible. For Lewis, I’ve been in his position, I know how terrible it is in that moment, so I’m sure he’s totally gutted.

    And your view of the start?

    NR: Oh, I just got T-boned by a four-time World Champion out of control!

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) For Max and Daniel, tell us about that battle a bit earlier in the race where Max got by Daniel and you fought back and got ahead of him again. Run that by us please.

    DR: There was just the one was there? Where we went side-by-side?

    MV: Turn Five and Six?

    DR: Yeah, I was defending. I could see Max coming, I think it was into Turn Four, I went to the inside but I knew he’d probably switch back and get a good exit into Turn Five, so yeah, out of the corner I had a bit of wheelspin and thought he’d probably get me quite easily into five – but I just had enough drive to stay on the inside and, yeah, he gave me room, we both stayed in it. So he had the inside at Six but I held around the outside and fortunately there weren’t too many marbles, so you could run two cars side-by-side through there, which was fun, which was nice. So held that, then into Seven we tried to basically out-brake each other. I was a little bit on the cleaner line so could just go a little bit deeper into Seven and held off that time. It was cool. To race Formula One like that, high-speed corners, to be inches from each other. It’s fun. You’re in the heat of battle, you’re seeing red but at the same time you’ve got to smile. You know the guy that’s two metres to the right of you is having the same amount of fun and you’re both trying to take what was eventually the lead of the race. So it’s a good shot of adrenaline.

    Max, your view

    MV: I think it’s always fun when you give each other enough space. We were not trying to squeeze each other or anything . That’s great racing at high speed. And then, like Daniel said, into Turn Seven, we tried to brake as late as we could – but at one point I decided to give up because I was a bit in the tighter line so, in case you clip the kerb, you bounce to the left, we both have nothing. It’s better to be one and two.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Max, lap number 52 you have 1.1s behind Ricciardo, probably next lap you could get DRS, then suddenly 1.2s, 1.4s and two seconds. It was naturally consequence of the race or did you receive any orientation to stay in second position?

    MV: No, I was pushing. Also, when you get very close it overheats the tyres and I was already on older tyres, so it was just very difficult to get into the DRS. And like I said, if you are on old tyres, before with the hard tyres I had a few laps advantage so you can do a few laps within a second but if you are on older tyres, to try to get within a second is very hard.

    You were free to compete to the end?

    MV: Yeah, for sure. The team said we were free to race – but of course in a clean way. I think that’s what we did.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, can you tell me something about that situation with Kimi when you overtook him and got a penalty?

    NR: Well, I went for it and we touched and that’s it. I can’t remember the details. For sure it was an aggressive move and they judged it to be a bit too aggressive and that’s it. I didn’t think I was going to get a penalty at the time but….

    Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Daniel, before, whilst Lewis was still out there, what was the thinking on the pit stop strategy in terms of how it would play out going on to that final set of new softs?

    DR: I’m still not too sure at the moment how it would have worked out. I guess, at the time, because Max was the tail car, I think they thought they would just try something with him, I guess. I was still in a good… obviously I had good track position and my tyres were still fresh so I guess it didn’t really make sense to pit me. My engineer was asking me how my tyres were and I said they were holding on OK. At the time, I didn’t see any reason to pit either but then as the race unfolded it looked like probably what Max had done… it was looking like it was probably the stronger, the strongest strategy but I don’t think it was that obvious at the time. I think, as I said, him being the tail car there was a bit more freedom to probably experiment with him and then split the strategy. I’m glad I was able to hold on but I think that was the reason for that.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Daniel, what was the moment you realised ‘I’m going to win this one’ and Max, what was the moment you realised ‘this will be P2’?

    DR: For me, the first sign was holding off the first real attack from Max. I thought, when he came and got within DRS, obviously I was going to fight for everything I had, within reason, but I was thinking it was going to be quite hard to hold on for the next 20 laps  or so, but sure I was going to try and do everything I could, and when I held on the first time, I thought OK, I’ve just got to do this probably twenty more times so if I can do it once, maybe I can do it repeatedly. So that was the first sign and then obviously with Lewis going out and then us putting the soft tyres on, I knew if I sort of drove a clean last stint, mistake-free, I should be able to hold on but you know Max has been quick all weekend, so there was no guarantees ever, but I think the last four or five laps looked like I was able to sort of stabilise my pace and keep out of the DRS so that was the moment of realisation, I think.

    MV: Yeah, I think four or five laps from the end. It’s just very hard – like I said before – to get within one second. It’s a bit like you’re playing a cat and mouse game so if the car behind you… It’s a bit like how I did in Barcelona, you know? If the car’s coming close to you, you just play with it, you keep them under control, you let them slide a bit more and then as soon as you see the car behind you is struggling a bit more, you can push a bit more yourself. I think that’s what Daniel was doing.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Nico, are you surprised that Mercedes didn’t get the Constructors’ championship here and to all the drivers, Suzuka is a very chassis-orientated circuit. What are your predictions for that race?

    NR: For sure, yeah, we were hoping to get it here. It would have been great ‘cos it’s our home away from home here in Sepang, in front of all the Petronas people and all the Malaysians who are supporting us. It would have been awesome. But you know, we’re really looking good on that side so if it’s not here, we hope to be able to do it soon on another track. And then I must say also congratulations really to the people who have done the track here, the new surface and everything, because really we see such exciting racing here, it’s possible to overtake. The last corner, what they’ve done also has been very good because you can do a couple of different lines when you’re following someone close in front. That really helps with the battling and it really has produced a great race today so really, compliments.

    Japan? I think I will go very well.

    Q: Daniel, how do you think Red Bull will go in Suzuka?

    DR: It’s a good circuit for us. It’s a circuit I personally enjoy a lot. I’ve always loved going there, especially with the car we’ve got. As you say, it’s a circuit where a chassis can really make a bit of a difference. It’s a lot of fun. I think the package we have we can definitely fight for a podium there. The way I see it, if we both finish here on the podium today I think we obviously have a good chance next week, so looking forward to going there. The team’s in very good spirits at the moment. We’ve had a really strong season particularly of late, a bunch of podiums, so it’s a good time to go to a circuit where we’re strong.

    MV: I prefer not to say anything. Like Singapore, you say we’re going for the win… I think we hope for a bit more in qualifying, here we were like it will be difficult to get a win or at least be on the podium and here we are first and second, so I’ll just wait and see how it goes, but normally it should be alright.

    Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) There must have been a lot of sweat in that shoe. Can I just get an opinion how it tasted?

    DR: I love the taste, personally. Yeah, I thought today it was quite fruity. There was… sure you’ve got your salts but I was hydrating quite well today with a lot of sugars and stuff like that. It had a… I don’t know, it was sort of like a dessert, rather than a main course. It was more like a dessert. I don’t know what these boys think. Nico told me he didn’t like it very much.

    Q: You certainly pulled a face on the podium, Nico, when you drank it. Is that the first time that you’ve drunk champagne out of another man’s shoe?

    NR: I hope he does not win any more races this year!

    DR: I haven’t made many friends actually from this.

    MV: Nah, it’s alright. It was good sweat.

  • 2016 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Well done Nico, fantastic. Your 200th grand prix, your third victory in four weeks, you now lead the championship again, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

    Nico ROSBERG: No, but it’s been an awesome weekend here in Singapore for me, already yesterday with the pole lap and then today, a great start, had a good car in the race. Of course Daniel tried to pull one up on me with the pit stop in the end there. We knew it was going to be tight at the end, but it worked out, so I’m really, really happy.

    They were going to call you in to cover him off and then they made a late call, and it was the right call, but then you were under pressure all the way to the flag?

    NR: Yeah, we couldn’t come in because I had traffic, so I was very slow on that lap and he would have beaten me. It was a cool ending.

    We heard you were managing your brakes for more or less the whole race, tell us about that.

    NR: Yeah, the whole car was on the edge, it always is in Singapore, so it’s all the more satisfying with a race like that.

    Daniel Ricciardo, it’s your third consecutive time on this podium, but you needed just a few more centimetres for the top step.

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, we’ve come very close this year on numerous occasions but you know, I’m not going to stand up here and be disappointed. I think we gave it a good shot. We tried something at the end with the strategy and we got within half a second. It was close but hey, we’re up here again; it feels great. There are a lot of Australian flags, every year I see more and more, so thank you very much.

    You were on schedule to be on his gearbox with one or two laps to go and then he got a bit of traffic but it just fell away. One more lap and you would have been there.

    DR: Yeah, it was close. As soon as we did the pit stop we thought Nico was going to come in, so I pushed really hard on those tyres and by the end they were a little bit dead, but at least we close and made it exciting.

    The champagne pouring off you is boiling hot – a tough race.

    DR: It’s a physical race, absolutely.

    Lewis, it’s your 99th podium but it’s not the sweetest one I suspect.

    Lewis HAMILTON: No, definitely not, but first of all, big congratulations to Nico, he drove fantastically well all weekend and fully deserved the win. Very tough day today, as always it is here in Singapore. This weekend has just been a bot of a tricky one for me, but I’m still glad I could get back up on the podium and get some points for the team.

    The first half of the race you were a bit frustrated with the tyres and your own pace and wondering what was going on and then suddenly you came alive.

    LH: It was my brakes. I was struggling with my brakes, they were way overheating, so I just had to slow down, so I just had to watch the other guys pull away and I was just looking at different ways to try and get them back under control. Eventually once I did my second or third stop, all of a sudden my brakes were under control. But of course, towards the end I still got a bit of heat in them. I have a lot of support here this weekend and I just want to say a big thanks to everyone for coming out and we’ll keep pushing.

    Eight points behind in the world championship now, is that a big concern for you?

    LH: Well, it’s a lot different to when I was here last year, but in all in all, with everything that’s gone on this year, I’m still in the fight, there’s still a long way to go and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.

    Final word then Nico – six races to go in this championship, you are leading it yet again now, so you must be thinking ‘I can win this, I can take this’.

    NR: No, I’m not focused on points. As I always say, I’m just happy with the win today. Thank you very much for coming today, you’ve been awesome this weekend, I hope you had fun and see you all again in Malaysia, soon.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, many congratulations, you’ve won your 200th Grand Prix, it’s your 22nd Grand Prix victory and you’ve now got an eight-point lead in the World Championship. It was a brilliantly judged race – but were there a few nervous moments as the man on your right was closing in?

    NR: Like with ten laps to go, or 15 laps to go, just after the pitstop, the team said he would be with me at the end of the race, which was the case, so for sure I had to be on it in that last stint and get everything right and nail all those laps. It really worked out, with the management, all the way to the end. The tyre lasted just right, so very, very happy, of course. By the time I started the last lap I knew it was going to be enough because Daniel also, his tyres weren’t as fresh any more, so by that time it was OK.

    Q: Daniel, coming onto you. It was a brave roll of the dice at the end in terms of strategy. What are you feeling now? Just one more lap – or do you think you could have done anything differently?

    DR: No, I don’t. I’m sitting here pretty happy because I felt I did all I could. The perfect race. If there was anything that could have been more perfect it was the start but Nico got off the line well. So, even with an amazing start we wouldn’t have got the jump. It looked like his was near-perfect. From that point we just tried to do what we could. Team put me on a three-stop at the end. It was fun. It was good to push the whole race and I knew I would get close to Nico at the end. So even if the track’s difficult to overtake, it was nice to be able to push to the last lap and know that I was at least putting some pressure on him and giving the crowd still a little bit of hope.

    Q: Lewis, coming on to you. It was nip-and-tuck between you and Kimi throughout the race. How surprised were you that they called him in after you made your final stop?

    LH: The team suggested they would do the same. To be honest we were both struggling with… we were both pushing quite hard in that stint and we both would have not made it to the end at the pace we were going, and so I kinda knew I was just pushing on my out-lap to see if I could undercut him, which fortunately we did.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Lennart Wermke – Bild) Nico, first of all congratulations, brilliant drive. There was a little incident with an over-ambitious marshal on the track at the very beginning of the race. I think you were driving towards him. Can you describe to us what happened and what did you see in this moment?

    NR: Yeah, that was pretty hairy, for sure. I think just as we didn’t expect the restart, he didn’t either, I think, because the restart was somehow pretty abrupt. But he got out of the way just about in time so it was OK. Of course we all had to drive a bit carefully through there.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Nico, a couple of days ago you told us, 200th race, not that big a deal. Is it now – or will it be one of your big deals?

    NR: Yeah, winning the Singapore Grand Prix today is awesome. I’m really, really happy about that. The whole weekend went perfectly, so yes, today it’s a big deal. Tomorrow, not so much.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) To the Mercedes drivers, we heard over the radio your team was giving you warnings because of the brakes. Can you tell what happened and did these brake problems accompany you the whole race?

    NR: Yes, the brakes were just on the limit. But we know that, it’s expected and it worked out fine. Yes, it’s right on the edge so it was not easy to manage throughout the whole race.

    Lewis, do you have anything to add?

    LH: Same as Nico. I guess the things that pops to mind is how much worse it’s going to be next year when we’ve got a heavier car. It’s a shame the cars are as heavy as they are because we can’t push, you can’t race very well when you’re behind people here – but that’s maybe just the circumstances of this race.

    Daniel, can I follow up on that. Did you have any brake problems?

    DR: Nothing in particularly. You do get… towards the end of the race you feel sometimes the pedal get a bit longer, so you know the brakes are wearing but we never got into a critical phase or I never really had to manage it. We came in expecting a few issues but it was actually pretty good.

    Q: (Lim Say Heng  – The New Paper) Nico, seven times in the last eight year the overall leader from after the Singapore race has gone on to win the drivers’ championship. How do you feel about that and how confident are you going into the last few races of the season.

    NR: A statistic like that, it’s not something that I focus on, at all. It doesn’t have any importance to me. Today I’m just happy to win the race because that is what I came here to do. And now I’m going to celebrate after this. I can’t wait to get home. Next up is Malaysia, where I want to repeat that because feeling good at the moment. On a good roll so I’m going to try to win Malaysia next.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, could you explain to us what happened when Kimi overtook you? Was it just a bumpy situation or were there no tyres left

    LH: Yeah, it was just a mistake. Locked up on one of the bumps and ended up going almost straight on. Costly, but fortunately I was able to not lose anything after the next stint.

    Q: (Ian De Cotta – The New Paper) Lewis, question as a follow-up of the statistic about the Singapore race, drivers going on to win the championship; how do you feel going forward to Malaysia? Do you think Mercedes could solve the problems that you had?

    LH: We have a good car. We’ve got to have a good weekend. We’ve come from 43 points down so theoretically eight points isn’t anywhere near as steep as that but still, Nico’s been performing fantastically well. This weekend  he’s done an amazing job. I expect him to continue like that so I’ve got make sure that I do the same..

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, at the end of the race, you seemed quicker than at the beginning. Was it because you had fresh tyres or because you were allowed to push to maximum attack?

    LH: It was partly because of the fresh tyres but mostly because the car was getting lighter, the brakes became a lot easier to control. Once my signal of brake overheating reduced, I was able to start to pick up the pace. I was still getting the warnings towards the end but like the last ten laps, I just kind of just let it continue flashing as a warning and hoped for the best. Fortunately the pace was better.

    Q: (Berk Serioglu – Motorsport.com) Nico, it seems like you have changed your strategy in the race. Did it happen as the race went on or was it planned before the race?

    NR: No, everything went according to plan, just it was they (Red Bull) who didn’t go to plan that caused a bit of a challenge at the end. But for us, everything was to plan.

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Nico, you’ve won Spa, Monza and now Singapore, races you hadn’t won before and you’ve taken the championship lead again. Surely that must excite you or do we start giving you the nickname Mr Cool?

    NR: No, I’m just excited about winning the race today. I’m not excited about any of those other points. Sorry. Just awesome to win here in Singapore, first time out there. I don’t have the best of memories here, this track hasn’t treated me well here in the past so today is a good one.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Daniel, just before you pitted for the third time, you had reduced the gap to Nico to three seconds, I think. With hindsight, do you think you would have had a better chance even to beat Nico if you had stayed out?

    DR: I don’t know. I felt pretty good on the soft tyre, so I think our pace was more or less there but to overtake around here and a Mercedes isn’t easy, so to do it on the same tyre, even if I was half a second quicker, maybe if I caught him, you still need a pretty big advantage to pull something off here unless a mistake is made by the guy in front. Yeah, I think we did the right thing in the end. Obviously it still didn’t give us victory but I think staying on the same tyre probably wouldn’t have given us any better chance.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action, Speedsport) Daniel, this was, as you said before, one of the best chances to win. Where will the next one come?

    DR: With some rain, yeah. I think in dry circumstances this was our best shot. We got within half a second but after the race I said on the radio to the team that we will win this year. We’ll get a downpour somewhere and that’ll hopefully throw a few curved balls and we can middle it and get the victory we’re after.

    Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) To Nico and Lewis, yesterday Toto said that it was one of the highlights of his life to see you being competitive during the Singapore Grand Prix after last year’s race. Do you also see this year’s result as a milestone?

    NR: It really shows that not only do we have the best car but also we have the best, most competent group of engineers, to extract the potential from the best car, from every weekend, changing the car, adapting to the new circuits, to the different circuits and understanding, because last year we were absolutely nowhere here. We got destroyed by Red Bull and Ferrari and we understood what we did wrong and came back this year and beat them on their strongest track. That’s really awesome to see that.

    LH: I think Nico just answered it perfectly well.

  • 2016 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

     

    Nico, I don’t need to tell you, your 50th podium, your 21st race win and more importantly, his first win in Monza!

    Nico ROSBERG: Thank you very much everyone, it’s absolutely amazing. It’s a very special day for me. I’m very happy to finally win here in Italy. You guys are unbelievable and it just makes it phenomenal to be up here so thank you very, very much and I’m going to enjoy this day.

    Come on, tell us a little bit about the race. It was pretty much trouble-free, could your sort of control it from the front all the time apart from the pit stop?

    NR: It was all down to the start. I had an awesome start and that made the win, so it was all there.

    We’ll be back to you in a second. Ladies and gentleman, we know this man. Come on, how good is it to be here in front of all your adoring fans. Lewis, was it all down to the start?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, look at this crowd. A big thank you to everyone for coming out. This is the best crowd we get all year; this is incredible. Obviously the start, but it’s still a great day for Mercedes Benz and I’m proud to be a part of it.

    I’ve got to say, 14 race gone, two points between you two guys, I mean it’s all to play for isn’t it? it’s fantastic for us, the fans.

    LH: Yeah, it’s good for you guys. I don’t know it it’s fantastic for the fans in the sense that there should have been more of us racing, there should have been a bigger race between Ferrari and us this weekend but hopefully in the future there will be.

    Lewis, fantastic, well done and well done yesterday, great qualifying. Sebastian, first of all… it’s hard to believe this, isn’t it? It’s unbelievable.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Unbelievable. This is the best podium in the world. Noi, Ferrari abbiamo i migliori tifosi del mondo. Grazie a tutti, grazie per essere venuti, grazie!!

    This is dreamtime but nevertheless I’ve got to ask you the question: when do you think, how soon can you take these boys from Mercedes on? How soon can you be on the top of the podium?

    SV: Well, we’ll try. We’re working very hard. They are doing a very good job, so you have to say “well done” and show them the respect for what the achieved in the last couple of years, but we’re fighting. I’m sure Ferrari will come back. I can’t make any promises about when, but I know we will, so keep believing, keep it up, I know that we believe in it and I’m sure we will succeed.

    Why don’t you just say a few words to them in their Italian tongues?

    SV: Un’altra volta – grazie, grazie mille. Noi siamo Ferrari.

    Nico, a wonderful day for you, can you describe it?

    NR: Oh yeah, it’s unbelievable. This makes it unbelievable. A part of me is Italian in a way, because I have a lot of friends and grew up with the culture, so all the more special. Siete i migliori del mondo, veramente. Incredibile. Grazie mille. Troppo bello. Proviamolo!! (then he sings).

    We knew you were a driver but we didn’t know you were a member of The White Stripes! Anyway, please tell us, you’ve come back from the summer break and you’ve won those two races, you’re like a new man aren’t you, what’s happened to you?

    NR: I’m feeling great. The race is on with Lewis of course, it’s always going to be a great battle and I look forward to what’s to come.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico, congratulations, your first Monza victory, second win in a week. Obviously you won it at the start. We talked about the start as an opportunity here yesterday, so tell us about that? Two points in it now in the championship and it looks like you’ve got a future in singalong as well?

    NR: As we discussed, the start was the big opportunity and that worked out fantastically. I got a great start, because of course we had the soft and Ferrari had the supersoft and that worked out great and that gave me the race win in the end, because from then on I was able to control the pace and we had good speed. The singalong was awesome. The Italian crowd is just the best in the world and it’s really good fun.

    Is that become a new signature when you win now?

    NR: It just works here with them.

    OK. Lewis, conversely, you lost it at the start. I understand you told the team by radio that it was your mistake and you obviously did everything you did to recover but were the 10 laps behind the Williams of Bottas… did that leave you too much to do in the end?

    LH: Well, obviously yeah it was lost at the start. To be honest, I knew my engineers would be worried and nervous of how the start went, so that’s why I tried to put their minds at ease. I don’t really know what happened at the start, though obviously I will try to understand it later. I did everything normal. But, yeah, it’s hard to overtake here. Live to fight another day and you know a great audience here, as every year just an incredible crowd. A lot of Ferrari fans but also a lot of British flags were here today so I appreciate them coming out.

    Q: Sebastian, obviously a slightly different strategy, supersoft, supersoft, soft. Was there nothing more you could do to protect the track position that you got after Lewis’ poor start in the first stint, with the tyre choices you had. And what positives do you take from this weekend in general?

    SV: Well, he did one stop less, so obviously it was clear after our second stop he would be ahead of us – and I think the problem was that he was too far ahead of us. Simple as that. I think we were slightly quicker, we were on a fresher set of tyres but not quick enough to really catch up. I think in the end the gap was still fairly big. Nevertheless I think it’s been a great day. We’ve had a really good start, got a bit stuck. Maybe I should have gone to the left, I wasn’t sure what Lewis was going to do. Then I decided to go in the middle of them and was side-by-side with Nico but he did a good job braking for Turn One. I was hoping that he’ll go on the brakes a bit sooner but he didn’t. And then I had another crack, another look into Turn Four but I wasn’t close enough to be honest. After that I think we had good pace but it was sort of expected that they are obviously a bit quicker than us, in race pace as well. And I think you could see at the end the result was fairly clear. Still, I think it’s been a mega day for Ferrari. To get so much support. I think it felt even more than last year, which is great and hopefully it all peaks next year. Still, I can’t complain: two podiums in Monza two times at the start with Ferrari. I think it’s a great achievement, really happy and proud of that. But for sure, you’re always aiming for the top step, also to give the maximum support back. It’s been incredible. Coming into the track, leaving the track, even leaving late at night, they’re just happy to wave, with all the Ferrari kit, with all the flags equipped, it’s great to see the passion in this country for Ferrari and to be part of that is great. Obviously our mission doesn’t stop here. It’s only the beginning. We want to win. That’s what we really want. That’s what the people deserve as well.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, I would like to congratulate you to become the first ever Finnish national who has won a grand prix on Italian soil. Winning at Spa and then Monza first time, legendary places, how does that feel in your career.

    NR: It feels great.

    SV: Being a Finn, you should answer in Finnish…

    NR: Just talking about today it’s special because I really feel close to the Italian culture in many ways. All my best friends are Italian, I speak Italian and have a lot of connections with Italy and a lot of support here also, so it’s amazing to see. On this historic track it’s been a special place to win.

    I didn’t… Imola, Monza, no Finn has ever won? Wow. Cool.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Lewis, you said you don’t know exactly what happened in the car at the start but can you tell us what was going on in there and how you felt to see all those cars go screaming by.

    LH: To be honest I don’t really remember. I do remember a bunch of cars coming by but, as I said, I did the sequence, everything exactly the same and yeah, I think I just got lots of wheelspin. A bit like Nico’s start perhaps in Hockenheim. Yeah.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, yesterday in qualifying, bigger difference to Mercedes than last year, today in the race, maybe a smaller difference, you were even closing on the Mercedes with the soft tyres at the end. What was the reason for that? That you were so much quicker today. And how encouraging is it for the next two races especially?

    SV: Well, we had a different strategy so obviously we had fresher tyres, different compound at the end, it was clear and expected that we were quicker and catching up – but probably not enough really to put them seriously under any pressure. I think we extracted our best race which obviously, y’know… it’s been a while since it’s been the case. It speaks for the team. I think we’ve done a very good job this weekend, everyone has been really focused and, y’know many times I hear that coming to Monza, yeah, it’s a sort of extra burden and pressure and all this. I think it’s much the opposite for everyone in the team. You come here, people are able on Thursday, Friday to bring some of their family to the track, Ferrari is very helpful and open to give the chance to some of the mechanics and engineers, a lot of their families come here to see them and support them. And equally we has so much support from all the fans around the track, so of course you want to do well, it’s family in the end. We have probably the largest family we bring to a race track in that regard but I think everyone knows when I’m saying you want to do well in front of your family. So, of course, there is a bit of tension but if anything I think it lifted us up this weekend. It was great to see also the majority of the board of Ferrari coming, turning up, our president, giving the support and it’s been exactly the opposite of what people thought – or wrote probably – about. Really no pressure. We knew it would be tough against Mercedes, it has been tough and we didn’t beat them. Nevertheless, I think we did a great job, we pulled out our best, we had a great race. We finished third and fourth is the optimum we could get. That’s a lot to be proud about. Obviously the fans deserve nothing else but the top step and hopefully we can give it to them the next couple of years.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – AutoBild Motorsport) Two questions for Nico: firstly, are you the new Pirelli ambassador or why do you wear this cap here? And secondly, for what reasons didn’t you and Lewis use the supersoft tyres here

    NR: I apologise for that mistake to Mercedes, sorry for that. I didn’t realise. I’m sure I’ll hear about that later on.

    And what was the second part? Why didn’t we use them? Because the best race for us was soft-medium, that was the fastest way to get to the end of the race, as you could see. It was good speed.

    Q: (Livio Orrichio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, curiosity, when you face a situation like today and you see your opponents overtaking you at the start, knowing that you have a very fast car, do you have time at that moment to think ‘oh my God, maybe I lost the race’ or do you only concentrate yourself to try to get some positions back?

    LH: I think at that moment you only think about getting back to where you started. So I’d fallen back and my goal was to try and get back up to where I was. But of course, I could see Nico pulling away, and I know from my experience of being here in Formula One that whilst anything can happen, the chances of the win decrease lap by lap, second by second so of course I knew that at quite an early stage that winning the race was not going to be possible but I would try but I got up to second and that’s the best I could do with such a loss at the start.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Sebastian, it was quite unusual to see you leaving the pit lane after your second stop with the DRS open on the run down to the first corner. I presume that’s because you were in the activation zone behind Kvyat coming into the pits. Can you talk about that? It’s quite interesting. And b) you had a big lock-up coming in and I wondered if that was due to the DRS being half-closed or not?

    SV: No, I had lock-up because to be honest the mindset when you come in is that you don’t really care about those tyres any more and you just to try to hit the brakes as hard as you can and stop for the line, so I had a bit of a lock-up but at that point you’re not really bothered, you just stamp on the brakes so that’s what triggered it. And then on the way out, I did have the advantage of the DRS so even if it’s 0.0 or something, you still go for it.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) To the Mercedes drivers; it was the seventh time this year that either of you lost the leading position, just after starting from pole. Usually you very quickly adapt to every technical rule change so can you explain why it’s so difficult to get it right with this simple clutch?

    Q: I think he means single clutch.

    NR: It’s the rule change, it makes it more challenging. Because now it’s down to the driver to do it. It’s more difficult.

    LH: Don’t agree that it’s more down to the driver. I think the driver thing is the same as it was before, it’s just that we have a relatively inconsistent clutch and it’s hard to… In the past we were able to be told our clutch temperature and it was easier to hit our target as well but now it’s a lot less easy to know what your clutch is going to be delivering and what it’s not.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Nico, just following up from what you were saying earlier about starting on the harder tyre than Ferrari, are you able to simulate that, practise that, given the allocation situation with tyres? Are you able to be that precise in practice starts?

    NR: Well, that’s the thing. No, because we’re not even practising on the grid, we’re practising at the end of the pit lane which is a whole different world. Everybody’s practising, their rubber’s going down so it’s a little bit trying to make the best guess and that’s what makes it so variable

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, after Spa with Kimi, were you more cautious at the first corner than usual?

    SV: Er, well, I was side-by-side with Nico so yeah, but as I said, they did a good job on the brakes and obviously I didn’t see the car behind. To be honest, at no point did Spa cross my mind. I think after plenty of starts, I think Monza at turn one, we all know it’s tight so I did what I felt was right and it seemed to be right. I think I left enough room for Nico, obviously I wasn’t really a challenge for him into turn one and for the cars behind, obviously I saw down to turn one that Nico and myself were putting up a shield and giving a lot of tow for the cars behind so it was natural  that they closed up. Equally I think they behaved well, doing their job right under braking, not overshooting so it all seemed fine coming out of turn two at least.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Nico, it’s often said that it tends to go, for some reason, in waves, between Lewis and yourself. Both of you have waves when you are winning more races one after another and then it tends to change. So after now, winning two races in a row in one week, do you feel that the tide is in, it’s with you now?

    NR: No, not at all. I don’t see waves, I just see it race by race and today I’m very very happy to have won here and next is Singapore and I will try to win there and that’s it.

  • 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Ladies and gentlemen, what a weekend here in Belgium! A sell-out crowd. Maybe a driver up here that you might not have wanted but what a weekend! Nico, well done. Crazy start to the race, red flag, big shunt with Kevin Magnussen, run us through it?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, thank you very much. No, it’s been a great weekend, very, very happy with that result of course. I understand that some of you are disappointed. I understand that you wanted Verstappen to up here. Another year, he’s very young. He has many years to go. You’ve been amazing this weekend. So many of you have come, it’s been very impressive to see, great atmosphere. Thank you to my team of course, great car they have given me. A very special day. And of course congrats to Lewis, from last place to third must have been pretty impressive.

    Thanks Nico. Daniel, up here again, Spa, great podium, you couldn’t have expected much more? How was it, saving tyres, going long and splitting the two Mercedes?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Firstly, thank you for doing that [Webber drank sparkling wine from Ricciardo’s race boot]. I think we just made our country even more proud. It was cool, you know. Obviously it was pretty messed up at the start, a lot of virtual safety cars and then the red flag. We knew we had a bit of damage actually from the first corner but we fixed the front wing and got back out. I mean, it was a bit of a race by myself but obviously I enjoyed the pace and to keep Lewis behind was a good achievement today.

    Well done, buddy. Lewis, wow! So, Lewis that was a record comeback to a podium here in Spa. Twenty-first on the grid to third place, I imagine you couldn’t really believe you could hit the steps today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly I’ve got to say a big thank you… this crowd is incredible. I know a lot of these people came out for Max, which is amazing and that’s great for the sport, but I just want to say a big thank you to everyone for supporting me today. The team did an amazing job this weekend. I changed three engines. I’m actually ahead of these guys on engines, which is a good thing. Thanks to the team. Just a remarkable day: beautiful weather, great crowd and a great race.

    It was that, sensational, well done, Lewis. Nico, your 20th victory, first time winning here in Spa, you have the momentum now for Monza. How do you feel the car will perform there and you know, nibbling away, a couple point off Lewis this weekend: back end of the season, mate, how are you looking forward to that?

    NR: It’s been great of course to get the win today on this special track, you know, it’s a legendary track, but Lewis starting from the back made it a lot easier this weekend and I’m sure he’s going to be back in Monza and it’s going to be a big battle as always.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, many congratulations on that 20th victory. You haven’t put a foot wrong all weekend: pole position, the win, did you ever feel under any pressure in that race.

    NR: In the race, the start, of course, is always pressure, and then after that Daniel was quite quick in the beginning of the second stint. But in general, yes, I had everything under control because I just had an awesome car out there, and Lewis wasn’t there to battle it out, which made it a less-difficult weekend. But really pleased to get the win, of course.

    Q: Any nervous moments this afternoon?

    NR: Nervous at the start. Yeah, why not? After that, after that, it was OK. Safety Car restarts are always a bit more challenging but it all worked out fine.

    Q: Daniel, it’s your third consecutive podium. Do you think you can catch the guys on your left any time soon?

    DR: Hopefully! As you said, three podiums in a row where… we’re definitely making inroads, it’s the second race that we’ve at least finished in front of one of them – obviously Lewis started towards the back today but I think our pace wasn’t too bad. I think the real start of the race eventually was after the red flag. I was second and Lewis was fifth. I think we held our own quite well. Nico had a little bit more pace but I think generally we’re making inroads, which is really positive. Monza I think will be our most challenging circuit in the second half of the season – but then we’ve got Singapore to look forward to – and Suzuka. So, really pleased, again thanks to the team. Obviously three good weekends, it’s been fun. Yesterday, obviously I was qualified fifth but I knew we would have a good race car today and it proved right – so I’m really pleased.

    Q: Lewis, what a race by you. Last row of the grid to the podium. It’s a new record here at Spa. Talk us through it.

    LH: What an incredible weekend it’s been. It’s obviously been a much different weekend to anything we have ever really experienced. First of all I’m incredibly proud of my guys in the garage and back at the factory for building these engines and changing these engines this week. I think before, even on Thursday there was an engine swap, warming one up, then warming another one up. A change after practice one, a change after practice two, so I had three new engines this weekend. So to come away with the points that we have today, I’m extremely proud of everyone. I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen in the race. I was trying to keep my head down all weekend and focus on the long-run paces. It seemed to work and pay off. Congratulations to the guys next to me, this is great for Mercedes and still great for the championship. I’d have had an even better summer if I went into the summer knowing I’d come out nine points ahead still after three new engines. So I’m very grateful.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – AutoDigest) Lewis, it seems that press conference has missed you. How do you feel to finish in P3 after coming from the back – and more showing to the ones who have doubts about the fact that you’re back and fighting with Nico for the Championship?

    LH: Yeah. I really can’t believe that we came up so far to be honest. I really had no… I woke up this morning knowing how difficult it would be on these tyres, y’know, lots of blistering. But you can never predict what’s going to happen in the race. The great thing about motor racing is that, since I was eight years old, every Sunday has been different. Your car’s positioned in a different way, your starts a bit different, something happens up front, previous races there were no incidents, today there was. Today was really about trying to approach it with… make sure you had the right approach: not too aggressive; not too easy. I think today, collectively as a team we had just the right balance. This is the best result I could have hoped for.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Daniel, you were following the pace of Nico but at certain moments and especially in the last stint, the gap started becoming bigger. What happened exactly? Was there any difficulty in the car?

    DR: No, to be honest the car was pretty good. You know the only time I wasn’t happy with the car was the first few laps before the red flag. The incident at turn one… some debris hit the front wing and I had some damage so up until the red flag I wasn’t too happy but we changed the wing during the red flag and then the car was good. I think obviously Nico just had a bit more pace than us but in terms of balance I think we were doing all we could. So I think Nico was just controlling it but everything was fine from that point of view. I don’t think we could have done too much more.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speed Sport/Auto Action) Lewis, yesterday you told us you might not even crack the top ten. How much did the safety car and the red flag help you get up to third?

    LH: Well, that was obviously a part of it but I think I was already up to fifth before the red flag or maybe not, maybe I was sixth or something like that before the incident. Of course, those things I needed in the race to help progress through. As I said, I didn’t know how long these tyres would last. I think our performance today was stronger than I expected and so I think still, at the pace we were going, I think a top ten finish was still possible. But third is something that was definitely helped by the safety cars, VSC.

    Q: Lewis you were fifth at the red flag. At that point, did you think you could even challenge for the victory?

    LH: I didn’t, simply because… naturally I was pushing to try and get there but I was obviously… I’ve been racing a long long time and with these tyres, knowing how difficult it is just to get past one car, so I spent a bit of time behind Hulkenberg, I think, and then there was already such a decent cushion between myself and Daniel. If the tyres were better, for example, I could have pushed and closed the gap and actually had a fight with Daniel but that’s not the case and so I just had to manage them for as long as I could, but I had to stop more than these two guys in order to make that passing manoeuvre.

    Q: (Oana Popoiu – F1Zone.net) Nico, how difficult was it to win this race?

    NR: Well, it wasn’t the toughest race ever, of course, because Lewis wasn’t there. That’s for sure. And the car was great in the race so of course everything still needs to come together and the start is critical and then with the red flag and everything it becomes a bit more complicated and messy. But I got ahead, I got a little bit of pressure from Daniel at the beginning of the second stint because he was on soft tyres but after that I really had good control of everything.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) Lewis, this business of changing engines, three engines in a weekend, is confusing for the press and even more so for the public. It happened to work out for you today  and congratulations but what do you really think as opposed to what your team thinks about the principle of punishing a driver for the shortcomings in your own equipment?

    LH: Well, firstly, I don’t say anything my team wants me to say so everything you hear from me is from me. These are the rules, the shortcomings we’ve experienced, there was just an opportunity for us to grow and we have. This is a team sport and we win and lose together so collectively; if I make a mistake the team’s punished and if the team make a mistake we are all punished together. Bu I think today and this weekend has shown that a great group of good people in the garage worked incredibly hard to change these engines. It’s not an easy process and of course, if the regulations weren’t so technical, we wouldn’t have to make so many changes but that’s how they obviously like it. I’m pretty sure it’s not cheap but I’m only looking at the positives this weekend and to get third, only lose ten points to Nico but a freebie for him today but he also did a great job and as he said, it wasn’t such a difficult race for him but for me it was a good race and I’m just grateful, as I said, to be up here.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Nico, considering your starting positions, how disappointing is it that you could only make up ten points in the championship fight against Lewis?

    NR: It’s not disappointing, I’m happy with today. I’m happy to have won the race, it’s been a great weekend for me and that’s it. Fair play to Lewis, he did a good job