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DRIVERS: Fernando ALONSO
(MCLAREN MERCEDES), Lewis HAMILTON (MCLAREN MERCEDES), Felipe MASSA
(FERRARI), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (FERRARI)
Q:
Felipe, winner from pole position here last year, how do you come to this
race this year?
Felipe MASSA: With the same mentality as last year, trying to have a good
weekend. I think if we can repeat what happened one year ago it will be
fantastic.
 Q: And your contract has been extended as well; what does that mean to a
driver?
FM: I think it’s good for stability. I’ve been with Ferrari for two years
and then I was already stable because my contract was actually already until
the end of next year. But then we’ve extended that, so I think it shows the
work we’ve been doing together with the team. I think (it shows) the
confidence the team has in me as well, so I’m very pleased about that and I
think it’s very nice to carry on doing the job with the team and especially
as it’s a team that has trusted me since the beginning of my career, so it’s
very nice to carry on with Ferrari.
Q: How do you see your role this weekend, given the championship battle
going on around you?
FM: Well, for sure I would be happy to see my team winning the championship
but it’s not a very easy race and I think it also depends on what happens in
the race. It also depends on Kimi’s chances of winning the championship, it
also depends how these two guys in front are going to do in the race as
well, so it depends on many things but for sure, I’m going to start the
weekend and my aim is to try to win the race.
Q: Kimi, I believe it was a bit of a big day yesterday, your birthday.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, but when you get older, it’s not the same any more.
When you’re young you’re more excited but it was a normal day really.
FM: Yes, he is, he’s very old.
Q: Was there a bit of a celebration?
KR: No.
Q: Sunday evening, perhaps?
KR: I think we will celebrate something else. I never really remember when
it happened last time, usually we’re too busy.
Q: In a situation like this, does Kimi Räikkönen get nervous?
KR: I think you are always a little bit nervous every race, but I try to do
the same as in any other race, I try to do the best I can, I try to win the
race, be one and two and then it’s not really up to us anymore, so that’s
really all we can do and hopefully we can achieve that.
Q: You’ve finished second three times here, obviously you’d like to improve
on that, but how do you feel about this circuit as a whole?
KR: It’s a nice circuit, it’s quite challenging. I have quite a difficult
race history here over the years. I enjoy it now, but it’s going to be a
little different with the new surface and nobody knows how good it will be,
so we will see tomorrow, but it’s always nice to come back to this circuit.
Q: Lewis, a brand new circuit for you. Have you walked around it and
principally have you tried it on the simulator?
Lewis HAMILTON: It’s my first… I literally got here to the track an hour ago
and I’ve not yet had the time to walk it, but I will do after this and no,
I’ve not been on the simulator.
Q: Would the simulator help?
LH: If it did I would have done it.
Q: So you don’t really feel it’s that much of a help.
LH: I think the first computer game that I played, the first race was
Brazil, so I have an idea where it goes and it’s always one of my
favourites, most of the time the end of season race and so I have a really
good idea of where the corners are and I’m looking forward to getting out
there.
Q: What was the recovery process after China and how have you built yourself
up for this race?
LH: Pretty much the same as always: I went home and just had a little bit of
time at home. My family had planned a little trip, so they went away, so I
didn’t really have much time with them but I had time to just relax at my
real home, my parents’ house, did some good training, made sure I was
physically fit for this weekend as this is an anti-clockwise circuit, so
it’s a little bit harder on the other side of your neck and just feeling
fresh. If anything, I just feel a bit more relaxed this weekend, quite a bit
more relaxed than I did at the last race.
Q: What do you do extra for an anti-clockwise circuit?
LH: It’s only for your neck, so you can only just do a little bit more work
than for the other side. Usually it’s the right side you’re working on. You
don’t start lifting the heaviest weights ever for your neck or anything, you
just need to do a little more work to keep it fresh, so you don’t go out on
Friday and the next day feel it.
Q: Finally, whose job is harder: Lewis Hamilton’s or the English rugby
team’s?
LH: I think it must be equal, very similar. They’ve done a fantastic job.
It’s good.
Q: Fernando, you’ve been in this position for the last two years here in
Brazil. How different is it this year?
Fernando ALONSO: Well, for the last two years I was in front, now I’m
behind. That’s the main difference. Sometimes you just need to be
conservative, just to do your job and finish in a certain place and this
year I need much more than that. I need to win the race, to be at the front
and another combination of results from the other contenders. So it’s more
difficult.
Q: Pole position last year, and finishes in the top four for the last four
years; what’s your feelings about this circuit? Is it a lucky circuit, a
good circuit for you?
FA: Well, it’s definitely a lucky circuit for me because the two
championships that I won were won here, so it’s impossible to say that this
is not a circuit that I like. For sure I love the place, I love the circuit,
I have great memories when I come here, when I arrive in the paddock, the
hotel – everything is a nice memory for me, so hopefully this year it can
get even better.
Q: Any changes in preparations for this race?
FA: No, just prepare as usual.
Q: You talked about a certain approach about four or five races ago. Have
you managed to maintain that approach, the way you’ve approached each
weekend?
FA: Well, now it’s more a championship thought when you approach the
weekend. For sure, five or six races ago you just concentrated on doing your
job, take the weekend like the final race of the championship. Now it’s more
a championship thought, so when you are in the car you don’t care too much
about the race result, you just concentrate on how many points you will get.
I think especially in this last race it’s about all the combinations we know
that we need to be champion. You try to do your maximum, you try to do your
best. Sure it’s not only up to you.
Q: All those combinations are all in your head?
FA: Yes.
Q: Lewis? Same?
LH: Yes.
Q: Kimi?
KR: I don’t think about it so much. As I said, we try to win and see what
happens.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Lewis, I was wondering if you could tell us
your memories four years ago and where you were when England won the rugby
World Cup?
LH: I don’t know. Four years ago. I think I was in Formula Renault. Yeah, I
think I was competing in the British Formula Renault championship and I
think we were racing at Silverstone, if I remember correctly. I may be
wrong.
Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) For Lewis and Fernando; you
guys have had your ups and downs this year. Coming to the season finale, how
would you describe your relationship?
LH: I think it’s as good as ever. I think we have got on quite well all
year, despite what the media says. They always try to make a big gap between
us and they haven’t really succeeded. We just get on quite well and got on
with our jobs and we continue to do that.
FA: As Lewis said, the media has been saying many many things about us that
weren’t true. We never had problems with each other. We are obviously
fighting on the track but off the track we have had a very good relationship
from day one and it’s still the same.
Q: (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Fernando, the FIA has appointed an
observer in the McLaren team this weekend to ensure equality. Is this
something that pleases you? Do you feel comforted by this?
FA: Not really, not really. I probably don’t agree with that decision but
you know it’s not up to us. I think if they decide to do that, it’s OK, but
we don’t need anything like that in the garage.
Q: (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) So you trust the team?
FA: Yes. As I said in China, I think I was disappointed with the qualifying
performance and I felt it was a very strange result after Q1 and Q2, being a
little bit closer to fight for pole position, not in Q3 anymore, but we
realised that the tyre pressures were a little bit too high and this can
happen in any of the qualifying sessions, so I just want to think that it
was coincidence and a little bad luck, so this race should be OK.
Q: (Heather Alexander – BBC Radio 1) Lewis, did what happened in China make
you more nervous and what will it mean to you if you can finally come
through and win on this, the last race in your first season?
LH: It definitely didn’t make me more nervous. If anything, it took the
pressure off my shoulders and I think I came out of it even stronger. I
thought it would knock my confidence and put me back on my back foot but I
went away and I thought about the weekend and I feel I’m even stronger than
I was, for whatever reason. It was a good learning experience. Coming here,
I feel a lot different compared to the last race. The last race was always…
all the pressure was building up and everything was going on, on the
Thursday and Friday, and it wasn’t a great weekend, but I feel totally
relaxed now and fully confident in the team and our ability to challenge for
the title.
Q: (Heather Alexander – BBC Radio 1) Are you already imagining yourself
standing on the podium, winning, with the champagne going and everything?
LH: No. I think if you do that you get too ahead of yourself and that’s when
you can make mistakes.
Q: (James Allen – ITV) It’s for Lewis and Fernando. Both of you have spoken
in the past about Ayrton Senna being a great inspiration for you, probably
in both of your cases, part of the reason why you’re driving in McLaren
today. Could both of you just talk about when you come to this track and
we’re in Senna’s heartland, do you have any spiritual connection to him at
all?
LH: I won’t say I have a spiritual connection with him but for me, it’s just
an unusual experience because all the years I’ve been watching Formula One
and literally from the beginning of my karting career I’ve had books on
Senna, I’ve had videos and Racing’s in My Blood and all the other videos,
and to watch them and seeing him in his home country and seeing how people
see him over here, and how he is over here, and finally to come into this
country, the first time in Brazil to realise that I’m on his home turf and
where his final resting place is - it’s quite touching. Knowing that my
hotel is only a couple of miles from where he is; that’s the closest I’ve
ever been to him. It’s quite an unusual experience for me.
FA: Yeah, as Lewis says, when I was in go-karts I had pictures of him in my
room and I’ve always been following Senna’s races on TV when I could and he
was my favourite driver of that time and for sure, when I started in Formula
One, I had him as a prototype. It’s good to come here, because there’s a lot
of Formula One passion here in Brazil, in the people, in the hotels, on the
street, everyone loves Formula One, so I think when you come here you
realise it’s a very important race, a very important place.
Q: (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Lewis, you said that after this event you
may go to Senna’s grave maybe on Monday. Is that still your plan or have you
already been there?
LH: I haven’t been there and it hasn’t crossed my mind to be honest. I doubt
it very much I will go because I will be followed…. So I’ll have to leave
that for another trip.
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) How do you prepare for a race like
this psychologically? It must be a very big moment to approach in your
career. Have you used a psychologist?
LH: No. I’ve never used a psychologist. I don’t really know the answer to
that because I have never been in this position before, trying to win the
world championship… I think you just have to treat it as you usually do. I
want to win, but as Fernando says, sometimes you have to be conservative and
the only thing I can do is look at what he has done for the last few years
and what Michael did in previous years and try to learn something from their
strengths or weaknesses and I am going to do the same job as always and try
to stay on the track this time!
Q: (Flavio Gomes – Warm Up) You are two young guys, very talented and you
could be the best friends in the world, in an ideal world, but you are
almost enemies and from a human point of view do you think Formula One,
because of this, is a waste of time?
FA: I didn’t understand the question. (laughter)
Q: (Flavio Gomes – Warm Up) You are two young guys, drivers, talented,
everything else, but you are almost enemies…
FM: No, you can see they are best friends…
Q: (Flavio Gomes – Warm Up) From this human point of view, would you say
that this is a waste of time?
FA: I still don’t understand…(aside to Lewis, aloud) I hear your answer and
then I... (laughter)
LH: I don’t think it is a waste of time otherwise I wouldn’t be here.
FM: Brazilian people are very difficult to understand. (laughter)
LH: Maybe Felipe should answer it…
FM: No, I’m fine.
Q: (MC) I think one part of the question was, is it taking away your youth
in a way that at this early age of your lives that you are having this
battle, this conflict?
FA: I don’t think so. Maybe I understand now. We are in a competition, so we
love competition and if we were not Formula One drivers then maybe we would
be in a different sport or somewhere else competing against someone. It is
our life and it is our… We love competition and we love cars and so we are
now in Formula One and we enjoy it, you know, this conflict, you know…
Outside the track, I think everyone has a different character and a
different way to live, but here in the paddock in the weekend we do so much
and sometimes we win and enjoy it more and sometimes we lose and we have
days of disappointments, but after that it is clear competition and we like
that.
LH: We are competitive people, you know, and that is where we get our
energy. It doesn’t make us immediately become… look at these guys, they are
a little bit older than me and Fernando has started to grow his hair a
little bit – because he is worried about losing it! You know, we enjoy it
and we want to continue to do it for as long as we can.
Q: (Marc Surer – Premiere Television) I have noticed that McLaren has more
problems with graining with the softer compounds. What do you think?
FA: I think with the softest compounds that we have here it is difficult to
say what is going to happen in the race or this weekend especially because
the circuit has a new surface all around. Nobody knows what is going to
happen with these tyres. We will see what happens. If we have a graining
problem I think it will be the same for everybody to be honest. And races
where we used these super-soft tyres, like Monaco, Canada, somewhere else,
Hungary, I think, we won all those races, the team, so I think we should not
be too worried by that.
Q: (MC) Are Ferrari worried either way? What are your feelings?
FM: It is difficult to say anything before we start running. We don’t know
if we have to worry or not. We don’t know what the situation is, to be
worried or not.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To Fernando. What was your
reaction after hearing what Ron Dennis said in China? He said our competitor
is not Kimi but Alonso…
FA: I was surprised. It is difficult to say what is true or what are just
normal words that you say after the race and that you can take in a
different way. You can put some problems asking me these questions and not
him. So I don’t see anything strange, just surprise, but not really worried.
Q: (Jaime Rodriguez – El Mundo) Fernando, when you win the championship
would you say it has been the hardest victory of your life?
FA: I don’t know. I really don’t know because it is too difficult to say or
get back in time and remember what my feelings were here last year when I
had a very tough final part of the championship with Michael taking points
every race and losing the advantage that I had, so that was a very difficult
fight and when I won here last year I had a very special feeling. As you
say, if this weekend everything goes well and again I have the possibility
to feel that who knows if it is bigger or smaller than last year’s feelings.
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Fernando and Lewis, just looking at
you here you look more at ease than we have seen you for some time, is that
true?
FA: I think it is the same as always. I think when you see us together it is
only on the Saturday afternoon and at the Meet the Team press conference and
then it is just after qualifying and we are very focussed on the race, the
strategy, the result of the qualifying, so it is maybe not a very relaxed
moment. And here on this Thursday I don’t see any change from the last 10
months.
LH: I agree with that. I think like any relationship just through time spent
together, and I have known Fernando since Turkey of last year, I think it is
and just since then the relationship has grown and we have more respect for
each other automatically. We are not here now in competition, trying to
answer more questions than each other, but on Saturday, it is a little
different because we are in competition.
Q: (Charlie Wyett – The Sun) Lewis, will it make extra special for you if
you can win the title and England win the Rugby World Cup on Saturday? What
impact will it have on the country? And what will it mean to you if England
can do it?
LH: It is one of the best times for our country and I am proud and pleased
to be in that sort of position where I can do something. I really want them
to win. I watched the last game and I had a great time with a few friends
and one said France are going to win and I said ‘no way!’ and it was just
amazing to see the spirits of the guys and how they came back. And I was
also interested to see they are going to watch Cool Runnings for inspiration
before their last game. I watched it recently as well. We are all going to
try the best we can and it is going to be something special to have the
honour to do it on a similar day.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) In China I asked you if you wanted a storm
to come and for the race to be cancelled. Looking back would you have hoped
for it to have come and how much more difficult is it now?
LH: This is the second question you have asked me this year! (laughter)...
As I said before, I really enjoy racing and whether you finish or you don’t
finish as long as you do all your preparation, you just want to complete the
race. Whether you finish first or last. And this weekend I hope the weather
is good. I know the weather has not always been brilliant for previous races
here in Brazil, but I heard it hadn’t rained here for about two months or
something and then as soon as I arrived it rained. I obviously brought it
with me from the UK. We want to have a good race this weekend.
Q: (Niki Takeda – Formula PA) To you all, has it seemed a longer season than
normal?
LH: It is my first season in Formula One, so it has seemed a very long
season to me and different to anything I have experienced before, but I am
enjoying it. I am looking forward to more races in the future.
FA: Quite long for me…
KR: ... (inaudible) the races go quickly and it has been the same for me
this season.
FM: Very quick.
Q: (James Allen – ITV) Lewis, looking back to the Belgian Grand Prix, this
is a pretty difficult first corner here and obviously Kimi would love it if
you took each other off and is that a scenario you have thought of or is it
something you have to discuss to make sure it doesn’t?
LH: We are professional racing drivers and I think obviously we don’t want
to crash with any of the drivers not just us. Neither of us wants to crash
on Sunday. For me, going into that first corner you go in there ideally
wanting to take the lead or to gain a place but without taking too many
risks. In our own experience we know what too much of a risk is and what too
little is… I don’t feel we are going to have any problems.
FA: I have to finish the race and I have to risk for sure to take places if
I have an opportunity but as I said my principle aim is to finish the race.
Q: (Marco Degl’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Does it happen that you
think that you cannot win the title?
LH: No. |
