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1 – Valtteri BOTTAS
(Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Paul Di Resta )
Q: Valtteri, I have to say, an incredible lap. Your team-mate looked in
supreme form, but you go the job done and you got pole position on a track
where you took your first win last year.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Thanks, yeah, it was a nice lap. In the end I managed to
also improve a little bit. I don’t know what happened, I think he aborted
his lap. It feels good. I’ve still got a bit of the shakes. It takes some
concentration, but it was fun.
Q: Did it take that much to get pole position? I can see you’re still
shaking, the emotion are trying to get on top. Lewis on supreme form at the
moment coming up behind you to congratulate you.
VB: Yeah, maybe I don’t look like it, but I’m really happy, for sure. But
it’s only the first step in this weekend. It’s a massively long run from the
start line to Turn 1, so it’s going to be important to try to keep that
position.
Q: You can be happiest today, you got the job done. Lewis, another front row
lock-out by Mercedes. You looked like you did a very good sector, but just
lost it out of Turn 7?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, first of all a big congratulations to Valtteri, he has
been driving all weekend and just did the better job. It’s a great track and
the weather is fantastic and we have a great crowd. It was intense naturally
as it always is. Just my last two laps were not special at all! But you
can’t always get it right and at least we are still in the fight for the
race tomorrow. But the team are doing an amazing job, so really happy with
the 1-2.
Q: You did the good job in Singapore. You got the best qualifying lap of
everybody and you managed to control the race. You’ve come here with an
upgrade and the car is working very well. How much do you owe to the team to
keep that momentum and to keep that carrying on for you to take the fight to
Sebastian?
LH: We rely fully on the team. The guys back at the factory, the guys here
do an impeccable job and it’s really motivating to see new upgrades come,
just to see the evolution of the car throughout the year, because I’m the
one that gets to go out and test it. And as I said, a big thank you to
everyone here in Russia for having us, because it’s a beautiful place so
far.
Q: Sebastian, P3 today. I think we can say it’s not over, this weekend, but
it’s very difficult from Ferrari’s point of view. Mercedes have come here
with some upgrades and you just haven’t had the pace, have you?
Sebastian VETTEL: Not yet. We’ll see, maybe it happens tomorrow. Obviously
it was important to get as close as possible to them, and then we’ll see.
But it’s true that they have been very quick so we’ll see. Tomorrow is a
long race, we’ve seen that the tyres are very important. For today, I think
it should have been a bit closer, the gap, but not enough to be a threat. I
had a tiny mistake in the last sector. But I knew that I had to improve by
half a second, so I had to try. It didn’t work but I’m quite happy. The car
felt alright, so that makes me quite positive for Sunday.
Q: It’s a long run down to Turn 2, which is the first braking zone. Do you
think you can use the extra power you’ve normally got and equally is it your
best chance of getting on top of these two?
SV: I hope so. I just spoke to Valtteri and reminded him of what happened
here last year. Maybe we can turn it around; that would be nice. I think it
depends on the start, the initial jump, that’s important. Then I think you
know where you are and then we see what we can do for the first corner but
after that, as I said, it’s a long race. Tricky one, but for sure if there’s
a gap we’ll go for it.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Valtteri, after a fairly tough run of form, you said you wanted a big
result, so how sweet does this pole position feel today?
VB: For sure it feels good. I’ve only once on pole, earlier this year in
Austria, so it’s been a bit long since last time, so it is a good feeling.
Coming into this weekend I knew that normally this has been a pretty good
track for me and again managed to get some good laps in qualifying and the
car just felt really, really strong. As the times show, I think the team has
done an exceptional job again, bringing new bits again at this race. We’re
just step-by-step improving this car, which is going to be really important
for the rest of the year with the championship fight
Q: Congratulations. Lewis, fastest in Q1 and fastest in Q2. It’s still a
Mercedes one-two, but just talk us through your session, finishing second
today?
LH: Well, big congratulations to Valtteri, he did a great job in Q3. It’s
been a really good weekend so far, honestly. I really can’t complain. I
don’t know where it really got away from me in Q3 but I struggled a little
bit and Valtteri obviously picked up quite a bit of pace. The middle sector
was where I was slacking, as I’d call it. Anyway, it’s great to have a
one-two and it’s a long way down to Turn 1 so we’ll still have a fight at
least tomorrow. It’s going to be a long race, for sure.
Q: Seb, third place today and with the pace that Mercedes’ showed in FP2,
FP3 and then earlier in qualifying as well, do you think Ferrari maximised
its potential today?
SV: Yes.
Q: …and in that case, what’s the potential for tomorrow?
SV: Well, we go racing. You never know what’s going to happen. I think… I
was joking with Valtteri earlier that he should remember what happened last
year where he was third, I was on pole. But you never know. It depends on
the start. It depends on so many things. So, we will see. As I said, we will
go racing and try to do, obviously, our best. It’s been a bit of a tricky
one for us. We didn’t have the pace by quite a big gap, which is a surprise
but it is like this and we will fight as much as we can tomorrow.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, question for you. You mentioned the
time loss in the middle sector so far. Can you talk us through where you
think you’ve been losing that time – and did that have any bearing on the
mistake on the second run, just knowing you had a little bit of time to
find?
LH: The middle sector hadn’t been too bad throughout qualifying. Q1 was
really good and then Q2 wasn’t so great and just generally throughout the
weekend it’s been a bit up and down through that sector but been quick in
the first and third. And then, yeah, the first lap in Q3, was down
three-tenths in the middle sector but I was quickest in the first and last.
So I knew I had to push quite a lot because I knew also he would gain time,
so it wasn’t three tenths it has half a second I needed to improve. And so
just over-egged it a little bit. I think I picked up a little bit of dirt on
my outside tyres and then there was less grip there for the next corner.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) To Sebastian. What’s the main problem
in your car? Your tyres don’t reach the temperature? They go over
temperature? Or they are normal and you have understeer? Oversteer?
SV: To be honest, I was pretty happy. I think the car was pretty good. The
balance was pretty good. I think it peaked in Q3 just the way it should so I
think we got everything we could. I had a tiny bit of a mistake because I
knew I had half a second to find, not just a couple of hundredths, so should
have been two-tenths up on the last lap – but yeah, I was pretty happy with
the car. It’s not like there’s a big issue with car balance. I think we
reached out full potential today.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Question for all three drivers. We’ve seen
that the track’s been resurfaced slightly on the approach to Turn One and
that means the first row of the grid will definitely start on the new
tarmac. Not sure if the second row of the grid gets it. How much has that
come up with your discussions with the teams this weekend? Have you talked
about it – and do you think it could make any difference off the start
tomorrow?
VB: I think it’s a little bit unknown, to say exactly how much there is
going to be a grip difference, if there is going to be – but usually new
tarmac tends to have a bit more grip – but also it depends on the type of
tarmac. We’ve been only driving around that part of the track in non
grip-limited conditions, so flat-out. We’ll find out tomorrow how it’s going
to affect.
Lewis, do you see it affecting the starts?
LH: I really don’t know. Pretty much the same as what Valtteri said. So,
tarmac’s always different but we’ve not done a start out there, so I
anticipate it’ll probably be different to the older stuff – but whether it’s
better or worse, we’ll find out. Hopefully better.
And Seb, your thoughts on the grid?
SV: I don’t know. I thought P3 is also just in the range. If not, that’s not
good. I think the grip should be a bit higher. I think it’s wrong to
resurface just a bit, whether that’s positions one-two-three, or
four-five-six, eight-nine-ten, it doesn’t matter. If you resurface something
of the grid you should resurface everything. But it is what it is.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for the two
(Mercedes) drivers: of course there is a championship on the table. I would
like to know about that, from both of you. How is the strategy for tomorrow?
Valtteri, are you free to race completely or to look a little bit for your
teammate at the start, particularly? And for Sebastian, I would like to know
if you can explain what happened after Singapore, just because some new
parts didn’t work or there was something else wrong?
VB: My approach to the race tomorrow is definitely just trying to win the
race. You can’t have any other goal, starting from the pole so that’s going
to be the aim, for sure, but of course we’re here as a team, we’re fighting
for both championships. Obviously Lewis is leading the championship with a
bit of a gap to Sebastian and a very big gap to me, so always need to keep
those things in mind but yeah, my approach, starting the race, is trying to
win and we’ll then see how it goes.
LH: I think all of our goals is to try and win this race. It’s a difficult
track on which to try and overtake so the start will be an interesting one
and after that it’s partly about strategy which we’re all pretty much on the
same (strategy). We just give it everything we’ve got.
Q: And Seb, your thoughts on Ferrari’s form at Singapore compared to here?
SV: Well, I don’t think it’s too different. Obviously in Singapore I think
we were looking a bit more competitive until qualifying. Then, for various
reasons, we didn’t get a very good session but I think also on Sunday it was
true that we didn’t have enough pace. I don’t think anything has happened,
to be honest. I think the races that we’ve seen so far have been quite
close. I don’t think there was a race where we had really that superior pace
in the race. I think it was always a match on Sunday, at best for us. On
Saturday I think it’s been one way or the other but yeah, for sure,
yesterday we didn’t get a very good feeling but I think today the car was
really good and I was quite happy in qualifying. I didn’t have much to
complain about but we’re still not quick enough so I think it’s just what we
saw today but tomorrow is the race and that’s what we focus on now.
Q: (Valery Kartashev - Racing News Agency) My question is not about
qualifying. You know the current situation where we have only two seats
available in Formula One and much more young drivers who would like to be a
Formula One driver but have no opportunity to do this. And yesterday, Lando
Norris actually said that the Formula Two car is quite fun to drive, so
maybe they would like to continue to do GP3 or Formula Two but there is one
problem. There are no more spectators in the grandstands, so what about if
you, instead of giving all the interviews on Thursday, have one race in a
Formula Two car so we could see you in the same cars and spectators go to
the autodrome and the young drivers could use your result as a benchmark.
SV: Yeah, anything’s better than interviews! I think it would be fun. In the
past racing drivers were a lot more all-rounders, they raced in different
cars, different categories. Nowadays motor sport has changed, the sport has
changed and everything has got more professional, more serious so there’s
also not that much time maybe on hand but I think it would be nice to drive
more often and talk less.
Q: Lewis, you won the GP2 title but would you go back to race a Formula Two
car against some of the current guys?
LH: I don’t really feel the need to. We’re already racing too much in my
opinion, and I don’t want to drive a slower car. GP2, it’s the best thing
you’ve ever driven up until you’ve driven a Formula One car. I’m pretty sure
there’s not a single driver who’s driven a Formula One car who says I want
to go back to a GP2 car. I don’t really see the benefit of it, to be honest.
GP2 is not there for spectators, it’s a proving ground for young guys to get
to Formula One, so I don’t really have an answer there.
Q: And Valtteri, would you rather race a Formula Two car on a Thursday than
do interviews?
VB: If I could chose, I definitely would drive but I’m not that keen to race
there. Like Seb said, it is pretty professional nowadays and there’s not
much time and you want to invest more of your time or your thoughts or your
commitment to this sport if you want to be at the top really. |
