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1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
Cowboy Lewis, and you rode that car beautifully around there and you even
left a couple of ‘11s’ on the lap coming down out of Turn 1. The first
sector wasn’t perfect but the lap was good enough to beat everybody today?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, the team have done a great job. The track was very
difficult today, guys. With the wind picking up, you’ve got a headwind into
Turn 1, a tailwind out of Turn1. Through the fast section, sector one,
there’s tailwind and then you’ve got a headwind into Turn 9 and so it’s
shifting the whole way through the lap, so you’re kind of gauging how hard
you can push and how hard you have to let off. But that’s why I love this
track, man. It’s such a fantastic circuit to drive, I love it, especially
when you have a car you can really drive, it’s great.
And the heat as well, on those open parts of the circuit, it is so intense.
LH: I mean, it’s always hot in the car. I think it’s just the right
temperature today. It’s not too hot, the sun’s out, we can at least enjoy
it, I mean the guys out here are not getting a sun tan but still… It’s going
to be a great race tomorrow, it’s going to be a tough one, because looking
after the tyres in these conditions is still tough but I’m the best prepared
I can be.
Sebastian, you needed this front row, man, didn't you, to take this
championship fight, to keep the pressure on him, to keep the heat on him.
How much did you have to draw out of yourself for that lap, because it was a
brilliant lap?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I was very happy in the end, but I was lacking a bit
the rhythm, especially the transition of the first to second sector, it was
quite tricky with the wind, so I struggled a bit there. But finally I got it
right, in the last run, when it mattered. As you said, important obviously
to get front row, because I believe our race pace is really good. I quali
all year we’ve been just a little bit behind, so well done to Lewis,
obviously, he did two great laps and yeah, looking forward to tomorrow now.
All the talk this week has been about what Lewis needs to do to win the
title this weekend. What you need to do is win this race, do you think you
can?
SV: Not just here, it would be good to win also the others. But we go day by
day. We were lacking a bit of running yesterday. Today was a lot better. I
was getting up to speed and it was there when it mattered, but the race is
tomorrow. It’s a great track, a great place, a lot of people, so it should
be a good day tomorrow.
And a big run up to Turn 1 as well. Well done, many congratulations.
Valtteri, not quite the front row today. I guess a little bit disappointed
but the pace is there, the car looks great, how confident are you feeling
for the race?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Definitely disappointing, you know. It was looking good for
us and quite close with Lewis as well at some points, so disappointing, but
there is always tomorrow.
Well done. Lewis, back to you. Nick is here this weekend, adoring fans in
the grandstand, which is pretty much your second home here in the States. I
know how much you love it, you wrapped up your third title here, is it going
to be four tomorrow?
LH: I think It’s highly unlikely that will be the case. Sebastian did a
great job today to bring the Ferrari back up there. Ultimately all I can do
is the best I can of my abilities and we have to work as hard as we can to
get maximum points. Sebastian is right there, so unless he makes a silly
mistake, which is unlikely, he’s a four-time world champion, then we’re
going to be seeing it continue on to other races.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, how good was that opening lap [of Q3], the one that followed and
generally how are you feeling?
LH: I feel fantastic. I feel very fresh and happy and naturally always wish
that qualifying would go longer because it’s the most fun session of the
weekend. In general, very happy with all of qualifying. The last was not
spectacular but up until then generally very, very strong. The team have
done an exceptional job all weekend in filtering all of the data that we’ve
got to really put the car in the right place and enable me, again, have the
opportunity to exploit that. This is such a fantastic circuit, because just
the layout and the way the wind comes and intertwines with the corners, it
really makes it challenging, you know, so when you are going through the
‘Esses’ it’s not all the same through them, then you come out and you’ve got
a headwind and then a crosswind and then you’ve got a headwind and a
tailwind. So you’re constantly dancing with the wind. That I do love. On the
last lap, I got caught out by a bit of a gust but that’s how it goes but
yeah really happy to be up here, especially in front of such a great crowd.
And you had a low 1m33s on that first run, when you went out for that final
run did you think that with a perfect lap it might be possible to get a high
1m32s or was that too much to hope for?
LH: It never even crossed my mind! I don't even know what time I did if I’m
really honest! What was it?
I think it was a 33.2 or something like that.
LH: I think I was up on that last one. I think on a perfect lap I could get
down into the 32s but it’s very hard out there in those conditions.
Very well done, great job. Sebastian from your point of view it’s a story of
recovery really. We saw your old chassis being wheeled out yesterday, a new
chassis being built up overnight. Tell us about that process, how you got
back into it, and how you feel to be able to split the Mercedes?
SV: I think we are very happy with the result. It was obviously crucial to
get that final run. Bit of a slow start. We had a couple of problems, I
didn’t feel comfortable yesterday with the car, and we did hardly any laps.
Obviously I lost the car very early in FP2, which didn’t help and I thought
that there’s something not right. Obviously a big job overnight. The team
was fantastic, the mechanics now had a couple of weekends in a row with a
lot of work, with last-minute engine changes, now a chassis change overnight
and they didn’t break the curfew. You know you’re allowed to use a certain
time before everybody has to leave the garages and if you do that big job
there is always a threat but I think they did another re3cord time to
change. Obviously it’s not what we want, but obviously today was a lot
better, I was much happier with the car. I’m glad it worked out. And not
finding the rhythm straight away in quali, I struggled a bit in a couple of
corners but I knew if I get them right I should be able to make a big step
in the final run, so I was very happy. I think in the end we were closer
than probably we even expected so for today, but for tomorrow I think if the
car behaves like today it should be good.
Valtteri, conditions this weekend for this session the hottest of the
weekend so far, how did the car feel and what are you expecting from the
race?
VB: Well, as Lewis said it was quite a tricky session with the wind and
every lap was always a little bit different. We have been making quite big
set-up changes in the weekend and definitely made the car quicker but quite
tricky car for me to drive at least. I just struggled really with the pace
and the laps they felt good, I just couldn’t go quicker. Lewis did a good
job again.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, you are the fastest guy all
weekend. Do you think in race conditions you can keep also. In Malaysia you
said you had doubts in the race, is it the same case here. And to Valtteri,
you did an incredible first sector, in the strongest points of Lewis in this
circuit, but then the lap was not so fast as the first part, why?
LH: We know we’re often good through practice and qualifying but then the
races are always a tricky one for us in terms of balance. We’re not terrible
but you would think that we’re generally stronger in qualifying than we are
in race, that’s been the case all year. But I think we’re good. I think I’ve
got a good set of tyres, I think I’ve got a good balance for tomorrow. I’m
looking forward to a good race with Sebastian and Valtteri. This is a track
where you can follow a lot closer and even overtake as that race me and
Sebastian had back in 2012 here, which was great, but I don’t plan on him
getting that close but we shall see. But I think we will be OK tomorrow.
VB: I didn’t understand the question.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) I said you did a fantastic first part
of the lap, you were the fastest guy at that moment, but then the rest of
the lap was not so good.
VB: In Q3. Yeah, I couldn’t improve in the second run. The first run felt
OK, but Lewis managed to gain somehow more from Q2 to Q3 and I couldn’t
really. I couldn’t find any track improvement. Like I said it was not easy
sessions, every lap was a bit different but there were no big mistakes, just
small things here and there as I feel for all the drivers but there was just
this big gap.
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Question for Sebastian. Would
you compare the situation you had today in Q3 in the last lap with the one
you had in Japan where you saw the gap was quite to the front runners? Or
was it completely the opposite – because you knew he had to be a bit more on
the safe side to get these two corners right. And which two corners was it?
SV: Well, I struggled a bit into Turn Eight, so Eight-Nine then it’s a
succession up the hill. Obviously, the wind was quite tricky all day really.
In the morning, I thought it was fine. In the afternoon, I just started on
the wrong foot. It wasn’t really a question of stepping down, or calming
down. It was more a question of getting it right. The shots that I had
before, I obviously tried. Maybe I did take a little bit more risk but it
never really worked – and then yeah, I knew what I had to get right, so I
got it right. That was the most important but obviously in Japan I was
fairly comfortable, let’s say, front row, no matter what Valtteri was going
to do, so I decided to take a bit more risk but it was very different here,
obviously. My lap was very poor in Q3 and I knew that I had to deliver
otherwise I would have been, I don’t know, not even top six maybe. Therefor
the timing was just right.
Q: (Jeff Gluck – Jeffgluck.com) Lewis, how has your relationship with the
American fans evolved over the years? It seems like you’ve soaked up the
relationship with the American fans and the adoration that they have for
you. How has that evolved for you over the years here?
LH: Yeah, I think it’s been an interesting journey for me. I think it’s… my
love of America started many, many years before I even came to the States,
watching movies and seeing these great cities, like New York and all over.
My Mum actually saved up to bring me to New York for my 17th birthday and we
had an amazing few days. It kind of grew from then. And obviously coming
here, racing here, my first… my second grand prix win but first race in the
US was Indy and that was an amazing feeling. A great battle that I had with
Fernando, and then obviously moving here. I don't know why it’s always gone
so well for me here but there definitely is a… I do feel a lot of positivity
here. It is such a great country, it’s got so much to offer. Obviously,
you’ve got great mountains, great countryside, great seaside, great food.
There’s not really anything it doesn’t have. Plus you’ve got NASA here,
which is pretty awesome. Rocket! I like that. So yeah, and I generally feel
like, obviously… naturally I think people, Americans really do relate to…
they’re crazy into their sports, they relate to winners, and obviously the
fact I’ve had the success that I’ve had here I think comes hand-in-hand with
that relationship but I really do appreciate the support that I have here
and it does feel like a second home for me. It’s a place that I try to spend
as much time as I can in my off-time ‘cos it’s where I’m generally happiest.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) A question to Sebastian. You
obviously didn’t do many laps yesterday. How much could you recover in P3,
in terms of race preparation?
SV: Not much. Obviously, we had a touch of a small long run, I think two
timed laps, so we’re missing a bit. As the season progresses everybody gets
better in terms of reading the sessions, understanding the tyres so I don’t
think we’re in any weaker position. Would have been nice to do more laps but
the little laps that I had this morning were fine. I think we know what we
need to do. Now we see what the conditions are like. It’s supposed to be a
bit cooler, we’ll see what the wind does. We have to react to those. That’s
far more important that maybe what we’ve missed, because that has an impact
on how your balance is in the first stint and then how you are able to feel
the car push or not and then put pressure on whoever’s in front or disappear
if you’re ahead, or whatever.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Questions to Valtteri and Sebastian.
For Valtteri, three-quarters of the time you’re losing to Lewis is all in
the last sector, he was three-tenths quicker than you. Is there something
not to your liking in the car in that kind of corner. And for Sebastian,
even though it’s not as bad as in the first two years, there’s still a
difference in grip on the two sides of the grid. Does that worry you for the
start tomorrow?
VB: Yes, definitely the last sector in the qualifying I did struggle more.
It felt more tricky for some reason than, for example, in some of the
practice sessions. There’s been things I’ve been struggling with, with this
car, with the brake modulation and front-locking and transferring the weight
between the four wheels. It’s fine details but just struggled to get it
together. Many times 13 and 15, lost a bit of time. Sometimes I got it right
but still I couldn’t match Lewis in terms of cornering speeds, etcetera –
but yeah, those are the longest corners, slow speed corners and normally the
bigger differences are there.
And Sebastian, the grip differential.
SV: I don’t know. We see tomorrow. I saw Formula 4 race but they start on
the other side, so the polesitter starts left. Anyway, the guy who started
left turned in first into the first corner, so I don’t know. I don’t think
there’s a big difference. We just need to make sure the cheerleaders
tomorrow stay away from that side and they can get all excited on Lewis’
side.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Lewis, you mentioned the
rockets. F1 has a lot of high technology. A lot of it is kept hidden. What
did you like about the high technology that you got to see at NASA?
LH: Well, to be honest, a lot of the technology I saw quite pre-dated. The
most impressive thing was the big rocket that was one of the first rockets
to go up in the ‘70s, and the engine technology of the most power has not
progressed since then, from what they told me. That was like the best they
could do with it. I think the most impressive thing for it is that it had
like 1.5million pounds of torque in those five engines, and the distance of
the blast of the jet was like two or three hundred metres, which was
awesome. I think it was just mind-blowing to see what they were able to do.
How amazing the technology, and how great the scientists were back in the
‘60s, ‘70s when they were building those space rockets, and then obviously
now they’re planning more missions to the Moon, and Mars, and the new space
station, I guess they’re going to have to start designing and building the
new space station sometime because the life of that thing’s about to run
out. I think it was just great. There’s no other country that I’ve ever
been… everyone around the world knows about the journey to space. You see
the movies and it’s so fascinating, so to be there and actually speak to an
astronaut who was the last one to go up to the space station and is going to
be the one to pilot the next mission, I was like: “Can I join you? Or we can
swap jobs, I don’t mind doing your job.” It’s just mind-blowing when you
think of how many intelligent people there are there working. I think
there’s something like 10,000 people working at NASA but I think there was a
lot more in the earlier days and there are similarities to Formula One.
Obviously on a much, much smaller scale but in terms of the science.
Honestly, I’m a space geek. I was there and I was asking a million questions
and I’d happily go and work at NASA if I had the brains to do so. I could
definitely pilot one of those ships. No problem!
Q: (Les Kaiser – Speed City) Lewis you half way joked when you responded
“can I do with you?” How serious would you be if they approached you in
another year or two to join them?
LH: I would go immediately. I would go tomorrow. Generally, the trips are,
like, two weeks, so I’d be back in time for the next trip. After the race,
jump on the Shuttle, no problem. No, I really, really would love to go. I
know someone that has gone up. It was quite expensive so I don’t know how
that’s going to happen. If I win the lottery then definitely, I’m going to
go.
Q: (Peter Habicht – The Auto Channel) Question to each of the drivers:
Formula One has often been described as a space race in motorsports in
comparison to other forms of motorsport. Who or what about the hundreds of
people that support your cars, your efforts, impresses you the most or
strikes you the strongest?
SV: Well, if you open the bonnet and you’re allowed to have a good look,
which normally people unfortunately are not, they don’t get too close to the
cars, then you’ll be impressed by how much stuff there is going on,
especially with the new engines that we have, how complex they are. But
still, we manage to get (them to be) more and more robust, run for longer
with more power so obviously in the last couple of years that has been very
crucial and there has been a big step in all areas on the power unit side.
But I think really the most impressive bit is how everything comes together.
You know you talk about the car in the end but it’s so much more. I know
we’ve got the basic stuff: four tyres and yeah, for some people the cars
look similar to how they looked ten, twenty, thirty years ago but how much
has changed. And seeing all that coming together, the planning of the
project and how much work is going into the project and every year build a
new car which is crazy but a completely new car. You try to improve, you try
to come up with new ideas, solutions, better packaging, design, materials.
You want to save weight. And then to see winter time, in that regard, is
very very exciting to see it coming together and then firing up for the
first time, driving out on the track for the first time. It’s really the
work and brains of more than a thousand people. In the end, two drivers per
team who have the chance to describe the feeling to drive the car so I think
that’s really one of the most exciting bits. In my opinion, that also makes
it a team sport because I can’t do it on my own, I’m not even close. You
need every single one and you need to… I don’t know if you can compare it to
an orchestra, you need to play in sync, perfect timing and then only then
are you able to come up with a competitive package because the other teams
that you’re up against are so good as well.
VB: I have to say it’s how much every single person’s work actually makes a
difference. Every single woman and man in a race team, whatever areas they
work on, at the factory, in the race team, on the engine side, everyone’s
work matters so much. All the credit goes to every single one in the team,
there’s no one person who can make the big difference. It is, as a team,
it’s really interesting to see, when a team works well, together, how big a
difference you can make with the team spirit, and if everyone gives 100
percent instead of 99 percent and when there’s nearly a thousand people, it
makes a massive difference and that’s nice to see.
LH: I will try and keep it short but for me it’s the technology, it’s the
design. I think the most impressive part is when you go back to the factory
and you see what’s going on back then, a huge group of people with great
creative minds coming together and really stretching the boundaries of the
rules, legality-wise and advancing technology at a crazy rate. When you look
at how they’re building these engines and the amount of test components you
see they’ve failed and then they are able to dissect it and improve it for
the next time, that for me is just mind-blowing when I go there, and I’ve
been in the sport for a long time, obviously, but to see that every year,
growing and improving and the process in which they do that, particularly
quality control, has come so far forward which is probably why we are able
to have the reliability, and that for me is the most mind-blowing thing.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Sebastian and Lewis: at this race
we can have the world title decided and we haven’t mentioned it in this
press conference. Does it come to your mind at any moment? When will you
take it into consideration?
LH: Well, I mean it’s a bit like a game of chess. Obviously right now it’s
check but there’s still a long long way to go. There’s still a hundred
points available. Sebastian and his team are going to be working as hard as
they can as are we. Who knows? It’s going to go to the wire I still think.
In the next four races, I think they are going to give it a great shot and
I’m going to do my utmost to try and defend and not only defend but really
maximise and win these races. I want to win these races, that’s what I’m
working towards and naturally, in winning races, points come and
championships are won so that’s what I’m here to do.
SV: Well, it’s pretty straightforward. I think we have to win and then we
see what happens. Obviously we are not in the position that we would like to
be but still we have a chance so we go for that and it’s pretty
straightforward. We have the car, we had the car to win the last three
races, didn’t happen, so I don’t see why the next four races we shouldn’t
have the package to win so we start tomorrow.
LH: Buddy, do you have a question for us? Do you have a question for us? You
sure?
Q: (“Buddy”) Are you excited to race in Austin?
LH: Am I excited to race in Austin? Well I’m excited to meet you and yeah, I
love racing this track, it’s so much fun, I think you’d love it. If I had a
two-seater would like to go with me?
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport Magazin.com) Question for all three of
you: it was pretty hot today, how much did you have to look at tyre
temperatures, especially with ultrasoft in the fast flowing sector one or is
the straight afterwards long enough to cool it down? How much was tyre
temperature a concern for one lap today?
LH: I think tyres are definitely… I mean there are a lot of high speed
corners here, what’s really unfortunate is that TV’s not really able to show
you the forces that are going through not only our bodies but the tyres, the
car, how it’s flexing through these corners. I think here more than many of
the other circuits through that first section you really can see the car
shifting and turning. I don’t think people realise how tight those corners
are and how ridiculously fast we’re going through them but it’s fantastic.
With these tyres, they’re kind of like living tissue, you know? The
temperature’s moving all the time so how you manage them on the out lap,
whether you get a small slide or a bit of wheelspin affects the next corner
and the corner after that. It’s kind of difficult to explain but it is
really important to make sure you manage them in the best way possible to
get the optimum performance for a lap and there is a knack to it for sure
which obviously we are able to do.
VB: Nothing to add really. We could actually push relatively hard. Obviously
we needed to take care on the out lap but like the first sector, we could
really go for it and the long straights, they definitely make it easier to
cool them down a bit but like Lewis said, you still need to not go crazy
with them.
SV: Well first of all I don’t like the imagination of living tissue; that
just sounds a bit… Yeah, I think we would like to push more but you
obviously have to look after the tyres and manage them which to some degree
is fine because it’s part of our skill set but still I prefer to be able to
push more. |
