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1 – Kimi RAIKKONEN
(Lotus)
2 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing )
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Martin Brundle)
(Question inaudible)
Kimi RAIKKONEN: It’s the first race, so you don’t really know how it’s going
to go, how the tyres are going to be. I didn’t really do any long runs in
the winter. I knew that I had a good car, so I had a feeling that it was
going to be a good race but you have to get through the first laps and then
go from there.
And you did a 1:29.2, the fastest lap of the grand prix just before the end.
Just having a bit of fun?
KR: No, I mean Fernando was catching me at some point, when I was taking it
a bit more easy and there was some traffic, so I just wanted to make sure
that if the rain comes or something happens we have a bit more gap. I was
still taking it pretty easy. Like I said, the car has been very good all
weekend and it was a pretty nice race, not so difficult.
Fernando, second place. How are you feeling about that?
Fernando ALONSO: Fantastic. Obviously it was fantastic race, with fighting
all through the race. Big thanks to the fans all weekend. We felt sad
yesterday when we postponed the qualifying until today, because they were in
the grandstands with the rain, the windy conditions and at the end we didn’t
run. So today we had to put on a good show for everybody and I think we did
it, because the race was action every lap. I personally enjoyed it.
Obviously at the end it was a little bit sad not to be able to win the race,
but Kimi was fantastic today, the Lotus car as well. We need to congratulate
them for a fantastic race.
You made some pretty bold moves when you came out of the pits after your
stops. You really had to push, with Adrian Sutil and generally you had to
push hard for that.
FA: Yeah, it was not an easy race. At the beginning traffic with Sebastian
and Felipe and then traffic with Sutil, some tricky moments. But at the end,
as I said, extremely happy. We had a very difficult start to the season two
years ago and last year as well and this year is very different. We feel
much more optimistic. The car is responding well, we are competitive so we
have a very interesting season ahead of us.
But isn’t it very worrying that they could do two stops? I’m assuming you
couldn’t do a two-stop race.
FA: It is a worry, yes. Obviously Lotus did a very good job. Kimi was
driving fantastically all through the race and he managed two stops, so we
need to analyse what we can do for the next race. We have only four days to
work on the car to prepare for the next race and I think he will again be a
tough opponent.
Sebastian, only third today but the crowd are obviously very appreciative of
what you did. But what happened to the Red Bull pace we were expecting?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I think first of all we can be happy with today.
Obviously we wanted more. Clearly when you start from pole you want to win.
I think we could see after a very good start, and a good first two or three
laps, that the tyres were falling apart and we couldn’t go as long as other
people. So congratulations to Lotus and especially to Kimi, I think they did
the best job today. An little bit of a surprise when I saw on the pitwall
that I was lacking one position to count because I knew Fernando passed us
at the stop but I didn’t know where the other car was coming from but I
think they had incredible pace. Same goes for Ferrari. I think we were
third-quickest today and very happy to get third place.
Do you think it was just the conditions, the track temperatures or are you
seriously worried about the pace of Lotus and Ferrari?
SV: No, I’m not worried. I have to admit sometimes that other people are
faster. I think we can be very happy today. We had a great qualifying
session this morning and this afternoon unfortunately didn’t quite work the
way we would have liked but it’s a long season, a long way ahead of us, so
good points to start. Surely we wanted a little bit more but there’s no
reason to be disappointed.
You didn’t win the first race of 2010 or 2012 but you went on to win those
championships, so I guess it’s not the end of the world?
SV: Yeah, I think there are always statistics that can work for you or work
against you but at this stage… it was very good fun today, tricky to manage
the tyres, but I’m very happy to be on the podium here, it’s always a nice
grand prix so looking forward to next week.
One quick word with our winner Kimi Raikkonen: Kimi, you lead the world
championship. You had two years away rallying, you came back and won a race
last year did a great job but here you are leading the championship again.
How does that feel?
KR: It feels good but it’s only after one race. It doesn’t really change our
aim and our work for this year. Definitely we are happy with the win but
there is an awful lot to still do to try to win the championship. We seemed
to have a good car here and hopefully it works well in the next races also.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Kimi, did you believe from that seventh position the win was there for
you today?
KR: I was pretty disappointed this morning after the qualifying. Obviously
there was only one lap really on the dries and I took it a bit too easy and
got a bit of a small mistake in one corner. It was more timing and getting
it right than really the maximum speed from all the cars, so not the ideal
starting place but it was still ten places better than last year, so not a
disaster in that way. I knew that my car is quite good. It’s been feeling
good all weekend and when we did the longer run it felt good. We only
destroy the front tyres so we knew if we get the front tyres lasting it
should be fine. In a way I was pretty confident – but of course you have to
get through the start and the first lap and it’s the first race so you never
know what’s going to happen with the conditions and the circuit after the
rain and with tyres, so there’s a lot of question marks. I felt I had a good
car and it turned out to be pretty good.
Q: Alan Permane said to you, on the subject of tyres in parc ferme, “we got
it absolutely right today.” Was that just one of the ingredients where
everything seemed to fall into place for you?
KR: Yeah, I mean our plan was to do two-stop and it’s always difficult,
especially the first races, to really know when to stop, and not doing it
too early and not too late. We got it, like he said, exactly right. The team
worked very well and we had a good plan, and we follow the plan and it work
out perfectly for us. I could save the tyres and I could go fast if I needed
and I could really drive very easily. One of the easiest races I’ve done to
win the race. Hopefully we can have many more of this kind of races.
Q: Fernando, turning to you, you had to stop one more time, was there ever a
chance that the Ferrari could run longer? Was it the way that the car wore
out the tyres that cost you victory today?
FA: I think it’s difficult to know if we could do two stops today. You need
to commit, more or less, to one strategy before the start of the race
because you race differently. Obviously we were attacking, we tried to pass
Sebastian in the first part of the race, Felipe and me. We could not do it
in the stint. In the second stint we were again also behind Sutil at that
stage of the race. I think we felt all these things against… maybe you can
go a little bit longer in the stints but we have to stop, try to overtake
these people that we felt they were slower than us in the race and if you
commit to that, obviously there is not a way to find a two-stop so, I don’t
know, the race without traffic… could be.
Q: Your team-mate Felipe Massa got the better start, how surprised were you
to see him get off the line so quickly and how much of an effect did that
have on the early part of your race?
FA: No, well, I had a much better start than Felipe and a much better start
than Hamilton especially but they close each other in the middle and I have
to lift off. If not, with a longer straight I think I could arrive second
easily in the first corner but it was a little bit problem there and then
Nico also was very aggressive on the first corner, so it was not easy start
and obviously in the first race no-one wants to take an extra risk. But
yeah, that was not a help in the first part of the race and then some
traffic all through the race. First with Sebastian and Felipe and then with
Sutil, Hamilton, Rosberg, Sutil again and two people, I think one Caterham
and one Williams that, obviously it is a first race for them but it seems
they were not very concentrated today.
Q: Sebastian, Adrian Sutil’s name has been mentioned a couple of times. How
big a thorn in your side was the sight of that Force India out in front?
SV: Well I think in the end you have enough laps in the race to even things
out. Surely it didn’t help at that stage but, y’know, it’s pretty simple: if
we had the pace we should have passed him. We didn’t. I was quite a bit
quicker when I arrived at the back of him but then couldn’t pass him. I
think running in traffic it has quite a negative effect on tyres. The same
for the people behind me so I wasn’t that afraid there was a lot of pressure
from behind because I knew that they will be in the same problem that I was
with the car in front and, yeah, at some stage even he pulled a little bit
away. So, as I said, I don’t think, considering all the laps in the race, it
made a massively difference. We jumped him after the stop. Yeah, it was
quite a good overtaking into turn three, I think. And it was important, I
think, to get past. Obviously Fernando, I think, stopped a lap earlier and
was on the fresh tyres so he could use the momentum to get past the group,
which worked well for him. After that though, we could see that he was a
little bit too quick for us today and in the last two stints he was pulling
away. I have to admit I was quite surprised when I was still missing one
position in my calculations because all the cars that I saw made sense but I
never saw Kimi in the race but he ended up way ahead of us and then I saw
him on TV, and then saw that Fernando was then second and Kimi was leading.
Overall, as I said before, very happy with third place. I think surely when
you start from pole, you want to win but I think we can be happy with the
pace all weekend. The car left a very good impression. The whole team seemed
to operate very calmly and considering it was the first race of the season
we seemed to just continue where we stopped last year. So yeah, I think it
was a good day for us. Obviously there’s a bit of homework to do, regarding
the tyres. I think two-stop was out of our range today, so we’ll see where
we are next week.
Q: But did it surprise you that starting from pole the pace wasn’t there to
go on and win the race?
SV: Well I think the pace was there. The naked pace. Qualifying was pretty
good for us. I think we had quite a good run, and then also the first two
laps of the race were pretty good and also the first two laps on each set of
tyres felt pretty good – but yeah, obviously after that we couldn’t keep it
up and surely the times set in the front, from Fernando but Kimi especially,
were quite impressive considering the amount of laps on the tyres. So, we
couldn’t do that and that’s why, I think we lost out a little bit today.
But, as I said, it’s a very tough, very long grand prix and very nice to be
on the podium at the end. We have quite a good record here so I’m happy that
we had another podium finish today.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Leonid Novozhilov - F1Life) Kimi, do you give a chance to your opponents
in Malaysia?
KR: It’s a difference place, it’s going to be much hotter there so it’s very
difficult to say how the cars will feel, who will be fastest after having
just one race. I think we have to do two or three races before we really
know who is where and what’s going to happen. It’s probably going to rain
again in Malaysia at some point but it will be a different circuit,
different conditions. Our car worked well here at least and usually – at
least last year – in hot conditions it’s been good for us so hopefully it
will turn out to be a good weekend next week.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, I know how much you love winning.
When it comes easily like this, in the first race, does it mean even more to
you?
KR: A win’s a win, it doesn’t really matter how you get it. Of course I’m
happy that we didn’t really have to go full speed all the time so it’s kind
of a good sign, a good race for us, but as I said, it might be a completely
different story in the next race, so there’s nothing to jump up and be so
extra happy about, because it’s a long season and in the end we want to be
on the top for all the races and it’s going to be a hard season for that. As
I said, everything worked well, we had no issues with the car all weekend,
the car’s been good, the team has been working well. After the winter test,
when I probably did the least laps of everybody in the winter, we didn’t
have a very special winter. As I said before, we didn’t have a very special
winter the previous year and not this winter, but the car has always been
good in the race so so far so good and hopefully it goes like this.
Q: (Manuel Franco – Diairo AS) Fernando, what’s been the biggest surprise
for you today, Red Bull, Ferrari or Lotus?
FA: I think none of them, to be honest. At Ferrari, we had a good winter and
the car is more or less as we expected. Arriving here and fighting for the
podium was the aim of the team and the goal of this winter, to reduce the
gap and to arrive at the start of the season with a competitive package. I
think the goal was achieved. In the winter the car felt good and the
understanding of the car was good so being on the podium here is some kind
of job done, let’s say. Lotus, we saw in winter they were very quick and we
saw this weekend they were very quick and very consistent, so they had a
fantastic weekend, they deserved victory, and then Red Bull is the quickest
car at the moment, first and second in qualifying, first and second in
practice, nearly, and then in the race they saw a little bit of degradation
but that doesn’t mean that they are not the fastest.
Q: (Christopher Joseph - The Vancouver Sun) Fernando, what did you learn
about the car today in the race that you didn’t know after testing?
FA: You always learn some things for sure but I will talk with the engineers
now in the debrief about the competition. When you run close to other cars
in the first race, you always discover some weak points of the car and some
strong points and today was a lot of fights, a lot of traffic, a lot of
action, let’s say, in the race and it was pretty clear for us some of the
strong points of the car and some of the weak points that obviously we will
keep between us.
Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Kimi, that seemed to be a very popular
win judging by the crowd reaction out there. Can we perhaps expect a
re-release of the ‘I know what I’m doing’ t-shirts? They’re pretty popular,
I gather. They only had a hundred released and they sold out. Can we have a
few more?
KR: No. That was last year and nothing to do with this year or this win. It
was just people asked for them and we made them but now it’s not going to
happen, not from me at least, maybe somebody else. There’s nothing planned.
It’s happened before many times, as I said, but this time it came on TV so
I’m sure some odd things will come through even this year. Maybe it gets on
TV, maybe not.
Q: (Trent Price - Richland F1) Sebastian, on the first lap you were able to
establish quite a margin at the start; do you think that strategies like
Adrian’s will actually affect your own strategies mid-race or do you really
have to concentrate on your own, what you’ve already planned out before the
race?
SV: Well, you mentioned two things. On the first stint I was very happy
initially to get a good start, defend the lead, then I think I was able to
pull away but after two laps, I felt that I could be in trouble. The tyres
started to go away from me and as we could see, Ferrari, Felipe and Fernando
were catching up and then in the stint after that, we were running into the
back of Adrian, but as I said before, surely it didn’t help, especially
losing the position to Fernando, but then I think you should look at the
whole race. They left a strong impression but I think it should have been
very difficult to keep him behind all the race. For sure, in that moment, it
was that one particular lap where he decided to pit a lap earlier and jumped
the group. So you can argue that for sure, at that time, the traffic didn’t
help, especially because as I mentioned earlier, in traffic, you start to
slide around even more and then lose more of the tyres, so we struggled with
that today but again, I’m not blaming anything or anyone because there’s
plenty of laps in the race where you can make it up again. P3 I think was
the best we could get today.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, did you have any
indication during the winter tests, or even Friday here, that you could face
this kind of problem with your tyres during the race?
SV: Well, I think in winter testing everybody had trouble to make the tyres
last. It seemed to be very inconsistent in Barcelona, very dependent on the
day you were running, depending on the conditions. I think we ended up today
with similar conditions but it’s a completely different track. I think the
amount of laps covered today were not even out of sight, they were out of
thought I think in Barcelona for everyone. I think there has been a certain
trend; if you look at Lotus last year, looking after the tyres, if you
remember, a couple of key races such as Montreal, where they seemed to be
the only team to make a one stop possible, whereas I think Fernando and
myself struggled and had to pit again. It was quite a messy race at the end
but I think you always learn along the way. We had a plan today before the
race which I think was different to Kimi’s and probably very similar to
Fernando’s or Ferrari’s. Adding up with our tyre wear, I think that’s where
we finished today.
Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Another tyre question for you, Sebastian: over
the last few years your car has been known for its downforce, it’s been a
really good advantage for you. Do you think that might actually be an
Achilles heel this year, that you’re wearing out your tyres more quickly
than the competition?
SV: Well, it depends, I think. At the end of the day, surely there were
times when we had plenty of downforce compared to other people, but I think
these times are over, not just this year but way before that. I think we
sometimes have the ability to compare a little bit to other people and the
magic days when we were covering a lot more speed in high speed corners, I
don’t think they are happening any more. I think we are still very
competitive but I think there’s a lot more to it than just the raw downforce
level. You could argue that with more downforce you go faster, you’re asking
more of the tyres, all of those things, but I think overall there’s a
certain trend where some cars seem to work pretty well in some conditions.
As Kimi touched on today, he was struggling with front tyres; I think for us
it was more evened out. We had both axles running away from us. I’m not sure
about the Ferraris but looking at their tyres during running, it looked
pretty similar to us, so especially at the end of the stints. Then again,
every day can be a bit different. I think you need to be very careful to
find a real trend but I think there have been a lot of races where we have
been looking after the tyres pretty well and they will come again. For sure,
today we were a little bit behind but next week is another race and
completely different conditions, as Kimi said, so we will see what happens
there.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti - Corriere della Sera) Kimi, can you compare the feeling
that you have now with the one you had in 2007 when you won with Ferrari?
KR: For sure a win is always a win so in that way we have a good feeling,
the best start that you can have in the first race of the season, but of
course many things have happened since then. Still, I won here and it’s nice
to be winning the first race again. But we started in seventh place and had
to fight through the positions to win in the first place and I led more or
less all the race. Different years but a similar feeling because obviously
we won the first race and leading the points.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Fernando, the question was
already asked to Sebastian but I think it was a little bit inconclusive. We
saw this weekend two completely disciplines: in practice Red Bull was
dominating with a big pace difference, then all of a sudden, in the race, we
have to say that the Lotus and the Ferrari were faster, whether in traffic
or on an open track. How do you explain that?
FA: I don’t have an explanation to be honest. It’s not new. We saw in the
last three years that Red Bull are untouchable in qualifying and in the race
everything is much closer. And we saw McLaren sometimes winning the race and
sometimes us. Lotus, I remember last year, in Hungary I think, in Bahrain,
they finished on the podium and in qualifying they were not as quick as the
Red Bulls so we need to find some extra pace in qualifying because if not,
they will always start on the front row.
Q: (Erkki Mustakari – Finnish News Agency) Kimi, through the years we have
seen that whoever can develop the car best through the season has the best
fun towards the end of the year. Do you think Lotus has enough resources to
keep up the work because there are not many ways you can go from here
because you started by winning?
KR: Yeah there was a big question mark last year in our team whether we can
keep up with the bigger teams. Of course it’s not going to be easy for us.
I’m sure we have the people, all the tools to make it. The money is a big
part of the thing. For sure we don’t have the same budget as Ferrari or Red
Bull or Mercedes but we could show last year that… we did pretty well on the
money and the things we have. I have no doubt we have the people and the
tools but of course if we get more money it will help and it will give us a
better chance and more fair play against the bigger teams. Like I said, we
have good plans, and if we can follow it up it might be good, it might not.
It’s a long season. If you do things right it will go nicely but one thing
can change the whole year. You do a few things a little bit wrong it can
turn around and go downhill after that. So we just have to do our normal
things, like we did last year and put the good effort into new parts and if
we’re happy we keep them and if not we have to look more closely. But like I
said, so far it has been good, so there is no reason why we can’t keep it
up.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Fernando, the same three guys were on the
podium in Abu Dhabi in the same order. From your point of view were there
any similarities in your fight against Kimi in this race compared to Abu
Dhabi.
FA: I don’t remember too well but I don’t think so. It was a very different
race. I think we were closer to victory in Abu Dhabi or closer than what we
were here today. We didn’t have the pace to fight with Kimi today. He was
too fast for us and he did a fantastic job. I think in Abu Dhabi it was
different with the safety car. I think with 15 or 20 laps to the end of the
race we really had the opportunity there to fight for victory and today they
were too fast.
Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) A question for Fernando. Could you
please describe the decision process about the second stop because it was
the main point of your race and Felipe is not so happy with that. It was two
or three laps later.
FA: There is always the flexibility to anticipate the stop, delay the stop.
There are some kind of laps that you programme before the race to do the
stops as you predict more or less with the simulations etc. But there is
always a margin of three or four laps shorter or longer depending on how the
race goes. How the race goes is the tyre degradation that you are facing
through that particular race or the traffic you are facing through that
race. In my case we felt we were a lot faster than the cars in front. We
stopped in lap 20 or 21. We felt we had more pace for 18 or 19 laps so it
was the right time to start. It was too early then maybe that compromised
the full potential of the three stops. For that we could not maybe fight
with Kimi because it was too early also for three stops, I think lap 21. It
was enough to jump three place though, Sebastian, Felipe and Sutil. So it
was a very good decision at the time but what we didn’t know at the time was
the pace of the Lotus. So they did a better job than us and maybe we did a
better job than the others in the front.
Q: (Phil Branagan – Motorsport News Australia) A question for Sebastian, a
question about tyres. I don’t know if you’ve seen the weather forecast for
Malaysia next weekend but it’s rain Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Given the tyre
wear of your car in the dry this weekend. Are you thinking of a conservative
game plan for this weekend or is it business as usual?
SV: Let me answer with a question back. Have you ever been to Malaysia? It
rains every day! It doesn’t really make sense to look at the forecast. It’s
one of those places where there’s always rain at some point in the day.
Yeah, I think it's a completely different place. I think last year we cannot
take as a reference because we had different issues with the car. I think
starting with the season this year the car seems much more balance and I’m
much happier, in a much happier place. So, looking forward to next week. It
will a lot hotter, naturally there is a risk of rain, thunderstorms. We’ve
got rain tyres and intermediates, so we should be fine but in terms of
approach there’s not too much difference. I don’t think you can take this
race as a reference because the circuit is too different and as I said, the
conditions will be different plus the tyres we use are different again. |
