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1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Paul Di Resta)
Q: Lewis, another solid job, another pole position, you’ve got to be
delighted with that? Valtteri’s pushed you all the way this weekend.
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah. Firstly, a big hello to everyone, bonjour. It’s not an
easy track. Obviously there are a lot of run-off areas but it’s quite
technical and Valtteri has been quick all weekend. So just chipping away,
chipping away, and my last two laps were the ones. The last one I was up
nearly half a second but I lost it in the second-to-last corner, so I’m
happy that I got the potential our of the car; the team did a fantastic job.
Q: Was that the wind? Everyone was complaining on the last run that it was
getting more edgy, losing lap time at the end. Was that where you lost it?
LH: I think so. The wind has been picking up and it’s quite gusty around the
track, so you have to be quite dynamic with how you attack the lap. There
are certain points at which you can attack and there are others where you
kind of have to give way a little bit to the wind. I took a little bit too
much into that last corner and the gust just took the back end. But
nonetheless I still was up, which was a good thing. Yeah, just really happy.
I think we’ve just been working really hard on the engineering side and
making sure… Bonno and those guys did a great job. This one’s for Carl in
our team, who had a big clean-up earlier on and looked after us. Just
overall, great teamwork.
Q: A master class again. Valtteri, it’s looked a very solid weekend, you’ve
looked in a class of your own, but just at the end Lewis stepped it up that
level and you couldn’t quite get him?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I think Lewis had a really good lap in the end. It’s
been super close between us all weekend, all about fine details and
hundredths of a second. The qualifying, the win changed completely to the
opposite direction and there were a couple of corner where my line didn’t
quite work then, so I had to work them out. But I think initially Lewis got
it right today, but yeah, as a team it’s good.
Q: I guess still very confident for the race tomorrow? The car has been
under you all weekend and similar conditions expected.
VB: Yeah, it’s been a really, really strong package we have had here this
weekend so obviously enjoyable and hopefully it will be the same tomorrow.
It’s a nice long run into Turn One, so hopefully I can do something there.
Q: So visually tonight you’ve got to focus on the lights and get your
reaction time improved?
VB: Yeah, I think the race start is going to be one of the key things
tomorrow for me so focus on that.
Q: Charles, you got the biggest cheer when you pulled up here and I know
this holds a very special place in your heart, it’s close to home, but these
guys have been untouchable this weeke3nd haven’t they?
Charles LECLERC: Yeah, definitely. At the end pretty happy with my lap.
Unfortunately today it was not enough but we need to keep working and I’m
pretty we’ll close the gap at some point, but yeah, today I think this is
the best we could have done.
Q: And expecting similar conditions tomorrow, we know the straights are
pretty long here. Can you challenge them on the first lap, can you get
involved and make it a fight for them?
CL: Well, that’s definitely the target, so a good start will be very
important. We are quite strong on the straights and they are quite strong in
the corners…
LH: I’m looking forward to a race with this one!
CL: Yeah, because in Bahrain we couldn’t race so much! Yeah, hopefully
tomorrow will be a good race.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Well Lewis, both of your laps in Q3 were good enough for pole position.
Can you just describe the challenges of that session for us?
LH: Yeah, we’re all working our butts off out there. It was very hot here.
The track is up at 50, nearly 55, nearly 60 degrees, but it’s still
challenging with these tyres, making sure you optimise and get everything
out of the tyres. We’ve just been chipping away at improving the set-up of
the car. Bit by bit…. Qualifying was when it was at its best, so a really
great performance there. I think just generally the guys are really great at
the timing and everything, getting us out in the right window. I don’t k now
if people watching realise how important getting out at the right time is.
You know, positioning on track is everything. I think through Q1 and Q2
Valtteri just had the edge and I was still dialling in the car, but once I
got to Q3 I knew where I had to find the time, and it’s just about going out
and doing it. The first lap was fantastic, really, really happy with it.
However, I knew it was still relatively close and I needed to find some more
areas in which I could improve. I went out for that second run. The second
run, I was on for one of the best laps I have done for a long time. And it’s
crazy: it never gets old, it never gets easier, and it’s always such a
challenge, regardless of what position you are battling for. I was up
four-and-a -half tenths coming into the second-to-last corner, but it’s
really gusty out there, and I think I just lost the back end, partly through
that or maybe going too quick. Nonetheless, really, really happy. If
anything it gets harder and harder to get these poles. Valtteri has been
doing some epic laps in practice and qualifying through these first races
and the Ferraris have been on our tail – obviously a bit of a bigger gap
today – but I’m still thinking the race is going to be a close battle, so
I’m really grateful to be where I am.
Q: Your pole time is 1.7 seconds faster than last year. How much of that is
car and how much is that track surface?
LH: The track surface for sure definitely helps. The cars have evolved. They
are an evolution of last year’s car so it is continuously getting better.
Last year when we were here we had a solid package but the changes we made
from last year’s faults have just made it better this weekend and yeah,
ultimately I think I drove here last year… It wasn’t the first time I’d been
here but it was the first time I had raced here. So coming here I had that
knowledge, so you naturally improve your understanding of where you can push
and where not. I don’t know what percentage is but it is an improvement all
round. Again, in the team’s performance, in how we’ve dialled in the car and
how we’ve delivered through the session has also improved this year. That’s
why we’re such a strong team because on all elements we’re firing on all
cylinders.
Q: Valtteri, coming on to you. As Lewis says, you’ve been on fire throughout
practice and Q1 and Q2. Where do you feel the car performance slipped away
in Q3?
VB: I think the car was behaving well – but all weekend I felt pretty good
in the car and in a happy place but obviously I always knew it’s going to be
close when it comes to qualifying as it’s been all weekend. I think
ultimately in the end Lewis in Q3 managed to get some better laps and he
deserved to be on pole. From my side, in Quali 3, the first lap felt OK but
the wind direction changed throughout the qualifying, Turns Eight and Nine,
I think, struggling all weekend a little bit. At some point I found some
good lines there but they didn’t any more work with that wind direction. So
small details here and there. There’s no massive things. In the second run I
was a bit unlucky with no cars ahead, so I had no tow at all, so losing on
all the straights. Tried to make the most of the losses in the last couple
of corners and lost it. It’s unfortunate: obviously was hoping to be on pole
but second is a good place here, it’s a long run into Turn One.
Q: All three of you in this press conference are going to be starting the
grand prix on the Medium tyre tomorrow. In these temperatures, how much of a
challenge is tyre wear going to be tomorrow?
VB: If we would be on the Soft tyre, it would be a big challenge. So I think
with the Medium, even if it’s warmer, based on what we felt yesterday, it’s
pretty robust. I know all cars at the front are on the same tyre, so no big
drama there.
Q: Charles, coming on to you. Great performance by you all weekend. How
confident were you coming into qualifying today?
CL: Well, I was completely aware that my weak point in the last few grand
prix was putting the car in the right window in Q3, so I really worked hard
for that and I was very happy to see that there were improvements this
weekend on that. My Q3 lap felt good. As Valtteri said, the wind was quite
different during the whole Q3, so it was quite tricky and lost quite a lot
of time in Turn Eight – Turn Nine but overall, apart from that, it was a
good lap, and the car felt good for the right moment, which is in Q3. So, on
that, I’m very happy. Then the gap is still quite big so we need to work and
hopefully tomorrow it will be an exciting race.
Q: Talk to us a little more about the race tomorrow. How confident are you
of taking the fight to these other guys here?
CL: It’s going to be difficult because their race pace on Friday was very,
very, very strong. I think a good start will be very important and then
we’ll see what happens, and then we’ll see what happens. Obviously if we’re
in front at the start it will be easier – but it’s not going to be easy.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, as mentioned just now, you were able
to recover from being behind Valtteri from FP2 onwards. Did you feel that
you had a bit in hand from practice or did really need to turn it around and
pull something out of the bag in qualifying?
LH: No, I think it was very close. It was very close throughout practice
and, as you saw at the beginning of qualifying, we are within half a tenth,
or point-zero-six between us. I definitely didn’t feel like I had something
extra just sitting there. There were just areas to improve and I knew where
they were, I just hadn’t done them yet. So, what was most important was that
I did them on my first lap in Q3, which is obviously the most important one.
And then the second lap was also even more in that direction. Unfortunately
lost a large proportion of the time – but still improved nevertheless. I
think Valtteri’s been… our cars are very, very similar in set-up and so we
kind-of also push towards the same direction, which is really good for the
team, and staying ahead of him is not so easy, do definitely had to pull
something special out in Q3.
Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Charles, we heard you a couple of times in
qualifying asking Ferrari to get Sebastian to create more of a gap to you.
Did you feel he compromised your qualifying at all?
CL: No, not at all. The only thing is that I think, twice – can’t remember
when exactly – we were very tight on time to go through the finish line, so
that is why I was just asking the team to say to Seb to just push because I
would be very tight on time, so that was the only reason. But no. He, of
course, did not compromise my quali.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, do you feel untouchable at the moment? You’re
kind of crushing it out there. I just wondered how you feel every time you
get in the car. Is it a close fight? You keep saying it is but when we’re
looking at the time sheets you just keep delivering.
LH: I definitely don’t feel untouchable. I never have felt that way. I do
feel strong but each weekend I come in and I feel that I’m starting on right
foot, Valtteri goes and puts in bloody good laps every time! So, I’m
constantly being pushed by Valtteri and obviously the last race obviously a
lot closer. There’s some races where we as a team are not being pushed
necessarily as hard as we’d like to be by the others. Nonetheless , still
there’s the battle within us. If you look at a lot of the races, it’s been
half-a-tenth to a tenth-and-a-half between Valtteri and I – so still have my
work cut out, still have to perform, still have to deliver. So the work
ethic is exactly the same and the stress is just exactly the same as if we
were fighting the Ferraris or… yeah… usually I get better when I get into
the season. I’m definitely getting a lot more comfortable with the car as we
get into the season and I don’t expect that to stop.
Q: (Joe van Burik – Racingnews 365.nl) Charles, would you say there’s a
specific area in which you are lacking compared to Mercedes, or is it just
general pace?
CL: I think it’s general grip around the corners, to be honest. We are quite
quick around the straight or in the straight but in the corners struggling a
bit more. This weekend there’s something interesting that we didn’t
understand completely yet but sector one and two we don’t seem to be so far
off, or at least, during the whole weekend FP1, FP2, FP3 but in the sector
three we were losing quite a lot most of the time. I don’t know how it looks
in qualifying but it was like this in FP1, FP2, FP3 so we need to work on
that and try to understand where is the issue.
Q: (Thierry Vautrat – Sud Ouest) Lewis, I would like to know… you didn’t
sleep well on Thursday night, how worried were you to lose your Canadian
victory?
LH: No, that wasn’t what kept me up. I just… I don’t know. I don’t sleep a
lot in general but this particularly night I was excited to sleep like I am
every night and I was just tossing and turning. I was awake and then
actually when you’re awake and you’re frustrated with not being able to
sleep, your mind rattles and obviously I had lots on my mind but it wasn’t
necessarily about that, it was some other things that were going on. But
nonetheless, I got really great messages from friends who naturally worry
when I post something like that. I think more the reason that sometimes I
express that is just because I realise firstly that I have a platform that a
lot of people are going through a lot of stuff in their lives and it’s never
too late or soon to try and encourage, so that’s what kind of… it was the
kind of words of empowerment more, just how I sometimes get low and then I’m
like I’m going to get through it, I’m going to fight through it. I got a lot
of real positive responses from a lot of my fans who… they’ll write and it
will be like ‘I’m going through a really difficult time right now but you’ve
just lifted me up’ and so that’s a great feeling when that happens. And my
friends did the same for me, lifted me up. Came in, had a good day
yesterday, slept like a baby – not exactly like a baby but like a baby last
night – and came here today on a real positive.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, just to pick up on the same sort of
topic; when you posted on Instagram the first message referred specifically
to what you were concerned about, coming to the circuit, the reaction you
might get on Friday. Was that in any way related to the fact that you were
at the memorial (service) on Thursday? It’s not the first time that I guess
you’ve faced criticism or anything for what you’ve decided to do so is it
anything to do with that?
LH: No, I think the weekend started off a little bit different, you know. We
arrive usually on a Thursday morning or the Wednesday night and then I
obviously got here on Thursday evening. We got through our programme, no
problem, but if you’re used to a normal four day programme and you change it
it’s not always the easiest. For sure, it was definitely odd coming here
when I heard that there was… Ferrari was spending time focusing on something
else. Naturally, for me, with my team, I would be having them focus mostly
on trying to improve the car but then we came here and obviously we had that
but then I think when I arrived in the morning I heard that Karun Chandhok
had… it was Karun Chandhok’s video that was the new evidence, and I was
pretty relaxed after that. Yeah, I just put it behind me. But the last race
was obviously… it’s not always easy when you hear boos, for example, but
that’s a part of the game and if anything it generally spurs me on. But I
know I’ve got a lot of great support when I come to these races, and
particularly as I said, on social following I’ve got a lot of great people
following me there so even if you feel crap, it’s not a bad time to say
something motivational and that’s really where I was.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Charles, how much of Ferrari’s pre-race preparation
has been disrupted by this futile appeal and also the other thing I wanted
to pick you up on was Lewis says that he’s only going to get stronger. Have
you at Ferrari and you individually got anything that can stop that,
anything that you can fight back with?
CL: Well, on the penalty thing, I was not concerned personally, so no I
didn’t feel any difference in terms of preparation for the weekend. I felt
that the team was completely focused on that.
What was the second question? Well, I think, of course, there’s definitely
more to come also from us. Whether it will be enough or not, only time will
tell, but we are working to get better, race after race. We have brought
some updates this weekend, some have been good, some others not and we need
to understand why the ones that haven’t been positive, why they haven’t
been, and try to understand this to get better in the future. |
