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1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jenson Button and David Coulthard)
JB: Lewis this is your first time qualifying on pole in Suzuka. Absolutely
immense, great job buddy, but it’s not just that, you have just shattered
the qualifying lap record of Felipe Massa, set back in 2006 by 1.7 seconds.
How does it feel?
Lewis HAMILTON: Incredible. Firstly, look at this crowd – we have such a
great crowd. It’s been a really good day and every lap was fantastic. You
were rapid here, Nico was rapid here, I never really got a great balance in
the past and I never did great in qualifying, so to finally get the balance
behind me, with the great work of my engineers, and the great timing from
all the mechanics, I finally got on track and did the time. And the car is
crazy here, I wish you could feel it, man!
JB: Yeah, watching you through the Esses, it looks unbelievable, the changes
of direction. But from the word go in qualifying it was there.
LH: Yeah, it’s my first time. I’m running out of opportunities to get this
pole, so I was like “I’ve got to make sure I make it stick today”. Valtteri
did a great job. Obviously he is going to have the penalty at the start but
still he has a great opportunity in the race to get up there with us.
JB: Let’s go and speak to Valtteri. Good job buddy. We had breakfast, sort
of, together this morning and obviously it’s not been the easiest weekend
for you, but pretty awesome to come away with P2.
KR: Yeah, it’s been a really difficult weekend and obviously went off this
morning. The guys did a great job getting the car back together. My driving
was really getting better through the qualifying. I think there was still
something to be found. But P1 and P2 at this point, but obviously with the
gearbox penalty I’m starting seventh.
JB: Yeah, it’s not easy as we know starting further back, but the car looks
immense around here and you, as you said, have done a fantastic job today.
But watching from the outside, watching the cars through here it’s the only
time I really, really miss driving these beasts.
VB: I tell you, you are missing a lot!
JB: I know, good job buddy. Sebastian, how are you doing?
Sebastian VETTEL: Fine.
JB: These two were just unbelievably quick today, especially Lewis. He’s
definitely sorted out his qualifying around Suzuka. P3 but obviously you’re
starting the race from second. We all know that’s not a bad position to
start here. How are you feeling, buddy?
SV: Ah well, I mean qualifying has been quite good to be honest. I’m
reasonably happy. I tried everything on the last run. I know I had to take a
bit more risk, but it didn’t work, I ran out of track at the exit of the
Esses. But I knew that if Valtteri got past, we would still be on the front
row. I would have loved to have been a bit quicker, but quite amazing with
the new cars around here. I love the track and it’s been a very special day.
Thanks for the support, there are a lot of Ferrari fans, so arigato.
JB: And as we know, Turn 1, you never know. Starting on the front row there
is always the possibility of making it stick at Turn 1, so have a good one
buddy, good job. Lewis, do you want to jump in here DC?
DC: Lewis, that was spectacular to watch. Standing in the commentary box
there were moments when I couldn’t believe how fast that car was going
through the corners. Big congratulations, it sets you up perfectly for
tomorrow, looking forward to the race?
LH: Yeah, it’s going to be a different view here. I’ve never really had this
view here, you know what it’s like. We’ve worked hard for the car to
hopefully work well in the race. Those Esses really kill the tyres, so I’m
hoping we’re in a good position for that. Naturally the Ferraris will be
rapid, as they always are, but I plan to keep them behind.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Well Lewis, you obliterated the lap record. Every lap you did during that
session was faster than the one before. It looked very smooth from where we
were sitting. Talk us through the session and how good was that last lap?
LH: It definitely was a fantastic session. I don’t know if people watching
realise, but how your team time everything in terms of what time you go out,
positioning, the preparation with the mechanics – all that stuff has to work
perfectly. The team were just so on form, as they always are, but that
worked perfectly and enabled me to get out in the right time and in the
right space and deliver the laps, so hugely grateful to everyone for all
their hard work. And the laps: yeah, very much on it. Didn’t make one
mistake each lap, just got better and better. It’s really about building a
foundation, which you do in Q1, and then building upon it lap after lap and
hopefully you don’t have any mistakes. It was just every single lap apart
from the last lap, which was up, but I think it was Q3 run one, which was
the lap. Just incredible to come here with this car. This track has always
been one of the greatest, if not the greatest circuits, and with this car
it’s just mind blowing. I wish you could feel what we feel. It’s always been
one of the craziest rollercoaster rides but with the downforce we have now –
I think it’s three seconds faster than we’ve been before – it’s insane the
speeds, this car is throwing us around inside. But the way you are able to
throw the car around is like the craziest rollercoaster ride, which I love.
So I hope the cars continue to get better, as they have this year. It’s
incredible for me…. Ten years or whatever it is, my first pole position
here. So tenth time lucky, so I’m grateful for that.
Well, it was a great qualifying performance. I think a lot of people will be
wondering what’s the race pace going to be like, particularly after what
happened in Malaysia last weekend. Are you confident you’ve got that as
well?
LH: Well, we got some running in P1 and P3. P1 felt better than P3. The car
is a lot different this weekend and a lot more enjoyable to drive. Last
weekend was a bit of a disaster but we still got pole, which was unusual.
Generally, I believe, we take step a bit slower when we get to the races,
whereas the Ferraris do the opposite. I think that’s really the philosophy
of how our cars are designed, difference-wise. I think in the race we’re
going to be OK. But for sure the Ferraris were very, very quick in the last
race so it will be interesting to see the pace they have. Kimi did a decent
run, as well as Sebastian, today. We’ll see. We’ve put ourselves in the best
fighting position and obviously it’s me and Sebastian on the front row – I
wouldn’t want it any other way.
Q: Valtteri, coming to you, it’s been a topsy-turvy kind of day for you,
that accident in final practice and then pulling it all together and getting
that lap together at the end. Talk us through how difficult it was to claw
it back from the low of final practice.
VB: Well, first of all I want to say well done to Lewis again for the pole.
And I really want to thank the team. Like Lewis said, they’ve done a great
job through the qualifying. We’re always the right time on the track and in
perfect gaps. Just everything went very smoothly so that allowed also me to
just really focus on the driving itself. With the incident, I had in
practice three, there was some extra work for the guys. They did really well
to get the car together. It worked perfectly, so thanks for that. It’s been
a tricky weekend, not quite so clean so far, and going slightly over a kerb
in practice three can make a massive difference. Had to reset, go for it. I
used the soft tyre in quali two, so that mixed my rhythm slightly, I think
but could get some improvements step by step. The lap in the end, it was not
perfect but not that far off.
Q: Sebastian, talk us through your session. Third fastest. You’re going to
be, as we’ve heard, on the front row of the grid tomorrow, due to that
penalty for Valtteri but first of all, qualifying, how was it for you?
SV: Pretty good, I’m pretty happy, to be honest, the car balance was getting
better and better. Obviously, we were lacking a bit of performance but all
in all I think it was a positive day. I think the car should be a bit better
in the race. The last run in Q3, I tried a little bit more than there maybe
was but I obviously knew the gap behind was quite big and Valtteri wasn't
really a threat because he gets the penalty tomorrow. So, took a bit more
risk, didn’t work but still happy with third and then a front row for
tomorrow. We’ll see. I think our starts lately have been quite good. We’ll
see what we can do.
Q: And are you confident you’ll have the legs of the Mercedes in race
conditions?
SV: I don’t know which sort of pace they will have. Obviously, you always
know what you are doing but they have been a bit up and down: last week they
weren’t very quick; this weekend they seem to be back to normal, so I think
so far this year has been very close. I expect it to be very close tomorrow.
For us, I think normally we are a bit stronger in the race compared to quali,
so that’s where I guess we get together and see what we can do, at the start
and then during the race.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, last week you struggled
and nobody in the team really seemed to have an explanation for it. This
weekend, only seven days later, you are flying. Do you know why?
LH: I think we have an idea. I think there’s a lot of analysis that’s gone
in to understanding it so I think we do understand, yes. It’s not something
we can particularly rapidly change, but we’re in a cooler climate here, so
that’s definitely one thing that adds to it.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Question for Lewis. Your first pole
at Suzuka, you’ve never really hooked it up here, you’ve had competitive
cars in the past – what’s so different this year? You seem to be absolutely
blinding through every corner.
LH: It’s interesting because every single time I’ve struggled here.
Struggled with finding the right balance, generally not always… often not
starting on the right foot and then just struggling where to find the
placement. Sometimes I’ve started on the right foot and led the car in
completely the wrong direction. Yeah, so it’s always been up and down. This
is the first time – and I would say definitely the first car that I’ve
really felt that it’s been underneath me all weekend. Small tweaks here and
there but in the right direction. So, I think fundamentally a better job
done globally. Particularly with my engineers. My engineer understanding
what I need from the car and vice versa: what I need from my engineers and
the car. It’s worked out better this time. My knowledge of the car is better
than it’s been before – which has enabled me then to go out and do the job,
so I’m really… it’s really, really a confidence builder for us as a group,
me and my engineers and mechanics. I don’t mind that it’s taken that long. I
hope that I can capitalise on today’s great work.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how important was it for you to
beat Kimi as you seemed to be on the same tactic as him?
VB: Yeah, of course it is good to start ahead. I think he also got on the
softs in Q2 so we are mostly likely going to be on a similar strategy for
the race, so I’ve definitely got the upper hand in the race in that way but
we’ll need to see how their race pace is and again it’s going to be a long
race but it’s just a real shame… it would have been better to start one and
two as a team, that would have been nice but that is what it is.
Q: (Mark Mann-Bryans – Press Association) Lewis, your car in the last few
months has been labelled capricious, a diva – I believe you even said on
Thursday it’s a bit stubborn. But is it days like today when she makes it up
to you?
LH: Definitely, definitely. It’s been a great car in qualifying this year
particularly, and qualifying for me is probably the most enjoyable part of
the weekend, so being able to put together laps like today is the one you
wait for, all weekend: Q3, round one and two are really what motorsport is
all about. It’s about ultimate performance from myself but also from the
car. So it is definitely great when she comes together on days like this
which is important. We were perhaps on the back foot here, perhaps won’t be
as great a position to be in but let’s hope that she’s not stubborn
tomorrow.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, how important would it be for
your championship campaign to have a normal qualifying for both of the
Ferraris?
SV: Well, I don’t know. Obviously there was a small issue this morning that
lead into the problem with Kimi’s car, certainly not ideal but it is what it
is. I think the car is quick so even if… I think last weekend showed that
even if you – well, not necessarily qualify out of position – but if you
start out of position then you can still get back. I’m sure that he can have
a strong race from where he starts.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) To all three of you: with missing FP2
basically yesterday and this morning’s practice session having two reds, did
this affect any of your programmes, leading up to qualifying and do you feel
you have enough laps in and also the changing characteristics of the
circuit? FP1 was essentially dry and the rest were wet or damp. How did this
affect your qualifying going into qualifying?
VB: Yeah, definitely you would always prefer to do more laps, there’s always
more track time, possibilities to learn more and make the car better and
fine-tune your driving, get the confidence, so definitely for me, missing
practice two and then half of the practice three wasn’t ideal. Then you need
to make the most out of the limited time you have and try and improve during
the qualifying.
LH: Fortunately, it didn’t get in the way of it really. I got a bit of a run
in in P3 in the rain. If anything, that might have been a benefit to me ,
because if I’d had P2 in the dry maybe I wouldn’t be on pole, because we
would push the car to make changes and whatever and wouldn’t have ended up
where we were so pretty grateful for the rain that came. Often when you miss
a session, it does definitely put you a little bit further down the ladder
from where you potentially could be but I think I managed to still reach
there so I do think it was potentially a benefit for me, missing P2.
SV: Don’t think much impact. I think we got enough laps for performance
runs. Obviously the long run preparation wasn’t as usual but by the end of
the season you know the car, you know the tyres so it’s not a big deal. I
think the biggest change for tomorrow will be the conditions. I think there
should be sunshine which makes everything a bit hotter, so let’s see how
that goes. |
