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1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Owen WILSON and Jenson BUTTON)
Owen WILSON: Congratulations, what an exciting race. You made it look easy
out there.
Lewis HAMILTON: It was not so easy. It’s never easy.
OW: How are you guys doing? Great British win.
LH: That was the feeling I can’t really describe. It feels amazing to be up
here, so proud to see all these great flags everywhere. The support this
weekend has been immense and I’m really proud that I could do this for you
all. Thank you so much for all your support, pushing us, the team faultless
this weekend. Valtteri did an exceptional job as well so it’s a perfect
weekend for us.
OW: What’s next? Are you going to win the championship?
LH: That’s the plan. That’s the plan. And then I want to be in Cars 4.
OW: Done!
LH: No, it’s been... I really... there’s a long long way to go.
Jenson BUTTON: I’m actually going to move past you for a second, Lewis.
Valtteri, well, starting back of the top ten is always going to be tricky
but an awesome strategy and obviously a few issues from these boys over
here: P2. 1-2 for Mercedes. How awesome.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, thank you. You know I’m really happy for today. It
was definitely not easy, the whole race, to start from P9 and there were
many cars not easy to get through but the team did an absolutely perfect
strategy and just get my head down, get going and in the end, also with the
puncture with Kimi, we got a bit lucky but a perfect weekend for us and well
done to Lewis and thank you guys for all the support, thank you.
JB: Awesome, good lad. But again, you got to make the best of a tough
situation and you did that, you brought home some massive points for the
team, so congrats, buddy.
VB: Thank you.
JB: Kimi, that was a tough race. It looked like you and Lewis were
disappearing off into the distance, it looked easy although obviously it’s
never easy but it looked it. And then you had the problem, but pretty
awesome still to fight back to third position. How do you feel about it?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, I think we got more or less most of the part of the
race, the car in the race. They were just a bit faster today. Tried at some
point to go a little bit to go faster but then unfortunately there seemed to
be an unlucky situation which keeps following us and for whatever reason the
front left not really exploded but the canvas came off from the tyre.
Luckily I could get back quite fast and the car stayed in one piece.
Unfortunately, Seb had the same thing a lap later more or less the same
place. Not happy but better than nothing.
JB: A strong weekend, which is nice to see. Lastly, Lewis, this is the first
time I’ve actually stood on this podium so it’s great to stand here with
this guy who did an absolutely amazing job. Look at what you’ve done. Look
how happy all these people are with that awesome performance.
LH: It’s incredible, man. Thank you. You deserved to be up here so many
times when you were racing here. But it’s great that there are now two Brits
up here still. Thanks so much and again, just a big thanks to everyone. You
guys, I’m coming over to crowd surf, just so you know. Be ready for me! And
everyone who’s watching, thank you so much for the support, all the kids,
Billy, you guys down here. I really want to say thank you so much for
coming. You guys have inspired me this weekend, and this race is for you.
Thank you.
JB: Awesome, well congratulations to you guys up here, especially you. And
thank you so much for this. This is spectacular. The British fans are the
best in world and Silverstone was a very special Grand Prix this weekend
because of these guys. That’s it from here; see you in two weeks at the
Hungaroring.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Congratulations; the win in numbers: your 57th career win, fourth
successive here at Silverstone and fifth overall, tying the record with Jim
Clark. And of course in the Drivers’ championship you’re now just one point
behind Sebastian Vettel. A very dramatic Grand Prix; you seemed to be
completely in control but it was all going on around you. How aware were
you of what was going on around you and how in control did you feel?
LH: Yeah, I was very very fortunate, firstly the team did an exceptional job
this weekend. The car felt great and really was generally faultless. So
proud of everyone at the factory. Valtteri did an exceptional job to come
back from way back in eighth, I believe. Perfect weekend for us as a team. I
was up front, got a very good start and after that I was really able to
manage the gap between myself and Kimi and just bit by bit, extend... We
were planning on stopping on lap 19 or something like that so I was able to
extend it by quite a bit and then at the end, I was... I had a decent gap
and it was just about managing that 12-14s gap I had to Kimi. I could see
on the TV screens at a few places around the track Valtteri’s race. I got to
see a bit of the race. And then I heard at the end that there were some tyre
blow-outs and I had some graining and some vibration on mine so the last
couple of laps I took it easy because I knew that others were having
trouble. But yeah, coming across the line, I could have kept going, I felt
like I could have kept going. I think we really had the legs this weekend.
You just saw the crowd... I’m sweating not necessarily because of the race
but because I was just running outside and got to crowd-surf with everyone.
The support has been immense this weekend. The crowd... I’m glad that the
rain held off. The amount of flags, the amount of support, the energy was
tremendous. I had some really great support from some Great Ormond Street
children, Starlight Foundation children and Billy Monger has come down and
given us... he really blessed the team and also a new friend of mine,
Michael, who’s fighting cancer has come down from South Africa and he was
down by the car as I was on the podium so really this is a dedication to him
and to all those children who are fighting.
Q: And just very quickly, you really extended either side of the pit stops;
the gap went right out to Kimi either side... just very quickly, how did you
do that?
LH: At which point?
Q: Either side of the pit stops, the gap went right out to Kimi.
LH: Yeah, I’m not really following. Either side of it, yeah, sorry? Yeah, I
think at that point once I got my tyres to balance and temperature, then I
started to pick up the pace. I knew that I had three or four laps to go so I
gave it everything and in that period of time, I happened to be just over a
second up on Kimi per lap so that was really where I was able to make the
difference. The pit stop was flawless and so I think overall the whole pit
stop period of time was bang on. And then my out lap was great and those
next few laps... because Valtteri was behind, it was important that I didn’t
hold him up so I was trying to get away and get away enough that I didn’t
also disturb his air.
Q: Valtteri, from ninth to second, 36 laps on the soft. Tell us about that,
did you encounter any issues such as the Ferraris did later in the race,
towards the end of that stint and also you were looking for that gap to try
and attack Vettel. Tell us about that?
VB: Yes, so for us, as a team, really perfect weekend for circumstances, how
we started today, me in ninth place. It’s just amazing what we’ve done
today. The car was so good to drive today. It was really quick and the team
did a perfect strategy for both of us, I think, me and Lewis. I did start
the race on the soft tyre and had to run really long and we actually had to
extend the first stint quite a bit because everything was still looking
good. Yeah, towards the end, when I went to the supersoft the pace was quick
with the fresh tyre. Sebastian was closing on Kimi. I think realistically he
would have been a bit too far away, definitely, for me to get P2 but then I
got lucky, on the other hand, he got unlucky to lose his second place in the
end but 1-2 is perfect.
Q: Kimi, finally, Max Verstappen held up Vettel in the early stages creating
a nice opportunity to build a good lead. Did you think at that point you
were pretty comfortable in second place and then tell us about the dramas at
the end? Was there any kind of warning before that left front went? Did you
hit any debris?
KR: We were quite comfortable in second place, but it wasn’t the easiest
feeling. We had a weekend in which it was quite difficult in some places. In
the race it was similar to how it was on Friday so I tried to hang on to
Lewis and tried to keep the gap but I just didn’t have enough speed today.
Everything was going more or less smoothly and the gap was fine for us but
then two laps from the end, I don’t know what happened, just before turn
six, the left tyre didn’t explode but the rubber part came off suddenly in
the middle of the straight and I don’t think I hit anything. Everything felt
normal before that moment and luckily I came back quite fast. I think I
destroyed the front wing after that because the tyre was flapping around but
we managed to get a decent position. I was very unlucky but in a way lucky.
I didn’t want to... the same happened to Seb a lap later. I think the same
happened to him. I don’t know, I don’t know what happened. We could have
been second today but we didn’t really have the speed against Lewis today.
Obviously we have some work to be done. We had a decent start but once we
fell behind, we had no real chance to beat them.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Mike Doodson – GP Plus) Lewis, warmest congratulations. You have now
equalled Jim Clark and Alain Prost with five wins in this great race and we
know how much you treasure that perpetual gold trophy. I was just wondering
if you were planning to commission of your own, because you don’t get to
keep it, if you haven’t done so already?
LH: I’ve been wanting to get a copy of it for a long time. I don’t know if I
have one yet, to be honest I haven’t seen any of my trophies for a long
time; I put them in storage! But one day I will see, but I definitely want
to get a copy of that one, it’s a beautiful looking trophy, it has so many
legends stamped on it. I’m proud to see that the Hamilton name is there,
fully ingrained in it and will be there way beyond my time.
Q: (Andrew Dillon – The Sun) Lewis, where for the next race will the
preparations be – Disneyland maybe, something like that? What does it say
about you as a driver and this season that you can go on your controversial
trip, as you did, and come back here and win so convincingly. What does it
tell us about you that you are able to do that, please?
LH: I think it… there is no reason to question my preparations. I have more
poles than most. I am obviously building up the wins that I have. My
performance is second to none. If you don’t know now that my preparation is
mostly on point, then I guess you never will. I will be training hard next
week in different locations, as I always do. I have work, so I will be
working and focusing all week and then I will be in the UK for at least two
days when I will be at the factory and then I will go to the race.
Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Lewis, congratulations on your fifth
win. Obviously the speed of the Mercedes indicates that a fourth world
championship for you now is more than a real possibility. If you were to
achieve that would you consider retirement, which has been mentioned in the
media a few times or would you carry on for a fifth title?
LH: I think that’s so far ahead, to be honest. We've got so long to go in
the season. At the moment I’m loving driving. I feel like I’m at my prime. I
feel like I’m driving better than ever and I’m loving driving with the team.
So I can’t imagine… there is no current reason to want to have to stop. I’m
still enjoying it and I still have a contract with the team for at least a
year so I plan to see that out at the moment.
Q: (Andrew Dillon – The Sun) Lewis again, two parts please: can you a) can
you talk about the feelings of crowd-surfing out there and b) what it means
to have cut the lead at the top to just one point at the half way point, and
to do it today at Silverstone?
LH: Growing up watching the TV and seeing Nigel and seeing the greats, to
see the reception they got from the fans, I had never seen it on TV at any
other circuit with any driver, that kind of experience. It was always “how
amazing that would be, I wonder what that feels like?” And every year for
the last four years I have got to feel that and each year it feels like it
has grown and got bigger, more accepted and like I just now went and did the
crowd-surfing and they pulled me out into the crowd. The reception has just
been amazing and so energising and really fuelling up the inspiration to go
out there and put a weekend’s performance in like that. I saw that… I was
constantly looking up where Vettel was and I could see that he was in third
and hoping that Valtteri was going to catch him and then I saw the battle
and I was like “yes!” I was super happy when he got past him. I was
thinking: “we’ll take that”, firstly for the team and secondly it’s great
for the result. But then I couldn’t have imagined or dreamed that he would
have the problem at the end. So to have that close up this close at the
British Grand Prix, that’s fantastic, so happy. Yeah, we just got to keep
pushing, keep fighting. Clearly this weekend we have shown we are a team
that is pushing. For the first time in history to come into a second era of
car and still be in the fight I think it’s great. I think the fans are
enjoying it. Kimi drove a great race and he was very quick today and I think
it’s great to have this constant battle with the red cars.
Q: (Sef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, first of all congratulations and
thanks for taking everyone on this wonderful Sunday drive through this
beautiful English countryside. I want you to describe this weekend, how it
felt to take this win, to equal Jim Clark, to do this in front of people who
love. Your brother is here, you have people who supporting you. What’s that
feeling been like to do that as a British driver and to keep that lineage of
success for British drivers in representing your country?
LH: It just doesn’t feel… it does feel real I have to say. Not that it
doesn’t feel real, it just feels… it’s hard to find the words. When I was
racing here I just couldn't imagine I’d be. I could imagine one day driving
a Formula One car and maybe winning the championship but I couldn’t imagine
having the poles I have, matching the likes of Jim Clark and Aytron Senna
and having the Hamilton name amongst those stars. I’m really proud and I
have to really take it back again to the incredible dedication from my
family, my dad. The upbringing that I have had is obviously the reason that
I’m able to do what I do. The opportunity that was provided by my dad. And
then the love that I get here is pretty… It’s one of the most special, if
not the most special thing that happens in the season for me. You don’t get
it anywhere else and I don’t even think any other driver gets it in any
national country like it is at the British Grand Prix. So there is no way we
can lose this grand prix. There is just no way it is going to happen as far
as I’m concerned.
Q: (Chiara Rainis – tuttomotoriweb.com) Question to Kimi, at one point you
said there was something in your cockpit that was moving around. What was
it?
KR: I don’t remember which part, halfway through the race there was
something going around underneath my heels, around the pedals and it moved…
I don’t know, there was something. I haven’t looked and it didn’t bother me
too much, apart from going under my heels a few times but then, y’know,
we’ll find out later what it was. Maybe there’s some rubber than flew into
the cockpit or stuff like that. It happens sometimes. It bothered me a few
times and then flew somewhere into a corner and didn’t really disturb me
anymore.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Two questions, one for Valtteri, one
for Kimi. Valtteri, obviously the first part of the plan went really well
when you got past the two Force Indias, Vandoorne and Hülkenberg very
quickly – but then you started to close on Max and Seb as they were
fighting. Was there a temptation to get into that fight – or you needed to
give some space to keep your tyres alive. Second part of the question, are
you happy with the way Sebastian defended on the second part of the race.
And for Kimi, again, closer in racing then in qualifying – but not close
enough as you said. Is this circuit-related or do you think Mercedes has
taken an extra step here?
KR: I don’t know whether we’re closer or not. I think the first part, yes
but around the pitstops, probably not, so I have to say, obviously we have
to look and try to learn. For sure last few circuits hasn’t been ideal for
us. I’m sure Hungary should be a better circuit for us, and our strengths –
but we wait and see. Need to keep working hard and try to improve. Try to
keep fighting as much as we can.
VB: For me, in the first stint, that’s when the start of the race was very
good. Got through a couple of cars pretty quickly with the strong car that
we had, that made it definitely easier with the good pace since lap one
really. And when I was getting closer to Seb and Max, they were battling and
it is always – even though you have pace – it is always difficult to get
through if there’s two cars because one car between has the DRS. So, for me
at that point, I knew I had to run long in that stint to make my strategy
work. So it was kind of just managing the gap. Kind of hoping they would get
themselves into some kind of trouble, by fighting that hard, and just
waiting for my opportunity. The opportunity came later: they both pitted, I
still had good tyres left and it was up to me to try to maximise whatever
was left in the tyre. The fight with Sebastian for first time I tried to get
past. I was going on the outside, he was defending on the inside, I think we
were pretty much side-by-side. Yeah, for me there was no more space than to
go off the track. Yeah, that is racing. For sure he was defending hard and I
was trying hard from the outside, so no drama on that. Next lap, tried
again, got a bit closer and managed to do the same move. That was OK.
Q: (Sunni Upal – The Sun) Hi Lewis, five wins here now, going to Hungary
soon, another track you’ve won many times at. These are longevity records
but you’re still at the peak of your career. How many more years do you
think you have in you? How many more wins around here?
LH: I still feel young, so y’know… I still feel young, still feel fit. I’m
sure I can go for a long time if I really wanted but yeah, I really have no
idea what the future holds. All I can do is make sure that I maximise every
single day and every opportunity that I get that comes ahead of me, I
continue to enjoy my life the way I want to enjoy my life, regardless of
what people say. Yeah, hopefully continue to make my family proud and my
team proud and my fans proud. Yeah.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, you were very down after Austria,
understandably and you were good with us and explained why, saying you were
disappointed because you care so much, you’d had bad luck. This race, you’ve
had a great race, good fortune as well with seeing Sebastian go off – just
wondered what it does for you mentally, psychologically – a boost in the
title race, really. What this actually means, if you can just describe it.
LH: I personally don’t take much from the incident with Sebastian. More so
just on our performance this weekend: through practice, through… even more
so arriving with all the smoke and mirrors that was happening around, so
much negativity trying to pull the weekend down but obviously it had no
affect, and it didn’t affect… the fans were out-and-out loving and
supporting all weekend, regardless. Yeah, and just to be able to go out
there and perform. Just really proud of all the hard work that all the team
have done, the engineers, our work ethic. As I said, in the last few races I
think we’ve had the pace, it’s just unfortunate our hard work has really not
shown in the results. So to come here and have that weekend, still not
perfectly faultless but there’s more faultless races to come in the future.
So, yeah, we’ve got Budapest… we didn’t even bring an upgrade here. We’ve
got more coming hopefully in the future. It’s going to be a close race, I
think. It’s going to go right down to the wire, clearly. But I’m hoping for
a cleaner stint of races for Valtteri and I.
Q: (Stephen Camp – Paddock Magazine) Question to Lewis for the first part
and probably to you and Valtteri for the second part. Do you feel that now,
at the halfway point of the season, the gap is now one point, do you feel
it’s a turning point for yourself in the season – and second part to both of
you, do you feel that Mercedes have perhaps maybe stepped ahead of Ferrari
in terms of the competitiveness of both cars?
LH: I think it’s difficult to ever say it’s a turning point. I think
ultimately there’s constantly turns and you guys about the pendulum, back
and forth. Obviously the pendulum swung a little bit this weekend and I
think that’s only good for Formula One, it’s only good for the fans,
probably super-exciting for them to see the close battle that we’re
continuing to have. Without a doubt we hope it stays the way that it’s swung
this time but, as you know, a pendulum swings. We’re just hoping that we can
be on our toes to react to whatever is thrown at us in the next races.
Valtteri?
VB: Well, like Lewis said, we didn’t bring anything new really for this
race. For sure it is always going to be track-specific. This seemed to be a
strong one for us but as Lewis said as well, as a team we’ve been working
really well together and the team has been flat-out since our struggles
earlier in the year. That kind of is now paying off, all the hard work, and
the car is feeling better and better, every weekend. So, can’t really still
be too satisfied and say that we are ahead. We need to keep trying, try and
get the car better, keep working on it, like we are doing now. |
