|
1 – Valtteri BOTTAS
(Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
TV UNILATERAL
Q: It must be a brilliant feeling for you Valtteri, describe the emotion?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, obviously really, really happy. It’s the first pole
in my career. It’s my fifth season now in Formula One. It took a few races
but got it and hopefully it’s the first of many. But just want to say big
thanks to the team for giving me this car, to drive it on pole. We’re both
starting on the front row. I think we made a really good job this weekend,
to really focus on the evening conditions and we really managed to get a lot
of lap time out of the car in the slightly cooler conditions and hopefully
that’s going to help is tomorrow as well, so grateful for the team.
Q: This is what you came to Mercedes for, of course. How did you do it? What
was the key this evening for you personally?
VB: You know, it’s not an easy track to get everything right. It is quite
technical; there are quite a few difficult braking points, turning ins to
the corner, it’s easy to have a lock-up or just miss the apex slightly. So
it is just getting the lap together and to get the car well balanced. It was
a good enough lap for the pole today, so that’s good.
Q: Well done to you. Lewis, fastest in the first runs in Q3. It looked like
a little correction towards the end of the lap. Is that where it got away or
was it elsewhere in the lap that you felt it slipped?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly a big congratulations to Valtteri, he’s been
working so hard, he’s gelled so well with the team and today he was just
quicker. He did the better job, so hats off to him. Yeah, the first lap felt
great and I looked up and the time was so close and I thought ‘wow, he’s
doing some… that was a good lap, he did a great job’. But I was losing quite
a bit of time through the first sector, that was generally my weaker point,
which is actually unusual; usually it’s a stronger point for me. I’ll work
on it for tomorrow, but Valtteri found some great pace, particularly through
the first sector, the second and third ended up being quite good but just
overall a little bit down. But a great battle and that’s how close I think
qualifying should always be. It forces us all to be more on the limit. I’m
generally happy with the job I did and it’s great for the team to be
one-two.
Q: Very well done. Speaking of close, Sebastian, it was very close in Q2, I
think it was six one hundredths of a second, the top three. Was it a little
bit dispiriting for you when you saw they suddenly found another four tenths
of a second when we went into Q3?
SV: Yeah, it was. I think overall I was very happy with how qualifying went,
with how the car felt, because we had some issues yesterday. Nothing wrong
but we just tweaked the balance for today I think in the right direction, so
I was happy how it turned out to be. Felt good; Q2 I thought ‘OK, this will
be tight’. I was very happy to go into Q3. Then I was very happy with my
first lap. I crossed the line, looked up and saw both of them were ahead and
then when I got the time, yeah, I was a bit down to be honest because four
tenths was a lot more than I expected, also given how good the lap felt.
Then, on the next run I just tried a little bit too hard everywhere but
equally I had nothing to lose. I was quite safe also to cars behind. So I
was quite confident, also the lap felt good as I said, so I tried a bit
harder. It didn’t work; I went slightly slower. Obviously if I go a tenth
quicker it’s not enough, so I tried to do a bit more but yeah, hopefully we
can do a bit more tomorrow.
Q: Well done. Back to Valtteri, obviously a lot of satisfaction at your
first pole but no champagne at this point. I guess you go to be tonight
dreaming of your first grand prix victory tomorrow?
VB: I think the main thing is that I need to personally, and as a team, we
need to enjoy for a very short period of time… you need to enjoy what you
have done so far in the weekend. But the main thing is tomorrow so there is
not point to start dreaming about anything. We need to look at everything,
whatever we can do tomorrow, work together as a team and plan a good
strategy, a plan for the race tomorrow. For me it’s all about just focusing
for the race and getting the maximum out of it but definitely a good place
to start and I think as a team we can be really strong tomorrow and we can
get that one-two, the first one for the year.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Valtteri, I think if you were to plot your qualifying in the last three
races it would just be about three-tenths off Lewis in Australia, less than
two in China and now you’ve gone and got the pole. Describe to us how you’ve
chipped away at that, how you’ve worked at that.
VB: Well, for sure, every single qualifying is always different
circumstances and different track, different scenarios but I definitely feel
I’ve been getting more and more comfortable with the car, how it is behaving
and also working with the team and fine-tuning the setup of the car. I’m
getting better with that as well with the engineers. So overall just, yeah,
feeling more confident in the car and today it felt good, especially towards
the end of the qualifying in Q3. Got some good laps, felt that I could
extract pretty much the maximum out of the car. That’s always a good feeling
and for sure it always takes a bit of time to get there.
Q: Lewis, obviously you managed to find that little bit of a margin today
that Sebastian was talking about in qualifying – but generally, it is pretty
close in terms of race pace, what we’ve seen so far, particularly on a track
like this: higher temperatures; looking after the rear tyres is important.
What kind of a battle are you expecting tomorrow in the grand prix?
LH: Well obviously today we had a bit of a margin to the Ferraris but
generally in race trim they seem to be a bit quicker but I guess we’ll see
tomorrow. Perhaps it will level-out a little bit more. It’s definitely going
to be a close battle. Valtteri’s long runs were very good and I think… I
don’t necessarily know how good their long-runs were but I heard that they
were quite quick, the Ferraris so it’s definitely going to be close, all of
us, and looking after the tyres is definitely very difficult. Whether it’s a
one or two stop will be interesting to see. Temperatures, all those
different things. Hopefully we’ll have a great battle tomorrow.
Q: Sebastian, maybe you could articulate for us, it seems to have been quite
tough for everybody – and Valtteri referenced it earlier on – to put a
perfect lap together, to join all of the dots, and particularly this weekend
going into qualifying. Can you just articulate why you think that is today?
SV: Well I think generally we struggle less, everyone struggles less in the
evening because the temperatures are dropping. Something we’ve seen now for
two days is that generally we struggle a bit more, everyone with the hot
conditions. The tyres don’t hold up as well as they used to in the first two
races, so in a way, it’s probably a bit more similar to how it probably was
last year, that you can’t attack all the way through the first flying lap.
So I think that’s a difference. At Valtteri touched on, this track
historically has been fairly technical. Corners like 9-10, they are probably
built to lead drivers into mistakes so it is very easy to get it a little
bit wrong and overshoot a bit, so those two things combined I think make it
quite tricky. Yeah, at the end of the day it’s probably risk-assessment.
When you are steering towards the corner and then you have to make a
judgement how much you trust the car, how much risk you take, and in the end
if you take a lot and you get the reward, it feels great. If you take you a
lot and it goes wrong, you lose time.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, congratulations, I counted that
is has been 168 races without a Finn in the pole. How important is it for
you to put Finland back in the polesitters group?
VB: Thank you Heikki, and congratulations to you as well! Sure, it feels
good. I didn’t even realise it’s that long – nearly ten years.
SV: Who? Where? [Heikki Kovalainen, Silverstone] Oh.
VB: It’s good to break that, it’s a lot of races without a Finn on pole so
that is good and obviously very proud always to drive for Finland, for my
country and very glad for all the support I’ve got from there. So yeah,
happy.
SV: Where were you in 2008. F3?
VB: Formula Renault!
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) This question is for Valtteri. Valtteri,
first off, congratulations on your first pole with the team. It really looks
like you are starting to find your groove out there, really find your mojo.
Do you feel that that’s starting to come alive for you in the car? That
you’re finding that groove, you’re bonding with the car out there on the
track now?
VB: I definitely feel now much more comfortable in the car, with the car
than, for example, qualifying in Melbourne. So yeah, the more laps, the more
time you spend with a car and driving it, you get to be more at one with the
car. So, definitely feel better and better, like I said earlier. Yeah. Felt
better here than, for example, last week in China in qualifying. It’s good.
I need to keep doing that progress and keep trying to get better all of the
time.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Sebastian, any explanation why
the gap was bigger here than in the two races before?
SV: No, not really. I haven’t seen obviously where we lost most of the time
but I think a little bit spread everywhere. I think Sector One, Sector Three
stood out so Sector Two wasn’t too bad. Yeah, there’s more straights in
Sector One and Three, so I don’t know if they had an update for here that
allowed them to push harder but it seems that we lost a little bit of time
everywhere and maybe a little bit more than usual down the straights. Yeah.
I think for tomorrow the most important thing is that the car felt good
today and I think we should be closer. Hopefully it’s going to be a tight
race and then we’ll see.
Q: (Khodr Rawi – motorsport.com) Question to all three drivers. Are you
surprised by the lap times set today in qualifying? Because the pole
position is faster by around seven-tenths compared to last year pole
position. Where you expecting faster lap times? Thank you.
LH: It’s seven-tenths? We’re seven-tenths quicker than last year? I can’t
remember. I wasn’t even thinking of that. The car feels better here than it
did last year but I don’t have an answer for why it’s not a bigger gap than
it was in the past. At least they’re faster.
SV: I think it was expected that we go quicker this year, depending on the
layout: sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. Probably this layout is
one of the least favourite ones this year in terms of how much faster we can
go, compared to the year before.
Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Valtteri, you said in the week that you bounced
back very quickly from the error you made in China and put it behind you on
Tuesday, I think. You allowed yourself to be annoyed on Monday but does this
really help to properly put it to bed and look forward to have a result like
this straight away afterwards?
VB: Well, I think it’s always nice to have a good result whether you’ve had
a good or bad weekend before but for sure if you’ve had a bit of a struggle
in the last race it’s always nice to start the weekend in a good way but
anyway tomorrow is the day that then matters but it’s good. I’d rather be on
pole today than anything less, so let’s see tomorrow.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) To all three of you: does Valtteri’s pole now mean
that this is a three-way fight? We’ve all been saying it’s just going to be
between Lewis and Seb; is it going to be a three-way battle now for the
championship?
LH: It always was, at least three, maybe four. Yeah, Valtteri’s been right
there with us from the beginning so nothing changes.
VB: I think it’s obviously very early days to speak about the title fight,
how it’s going to be. It’s going to be a massively long season. As I said at
the first races, it’s going to be a massive year in terms of development for
the cars and which team is going to develop the most and that’s going to be
the fight for the title. Too early to say about the title fight but for sure
we are now the two best teams and I feel I’m now in the game.
SV: Well, today is the day for Finland and Formula One. Keeping it Finnish,
I would say yes.
Q: (Heikki Kulta –Turun Sanomat) Lewis, like I said that the last time you
lost the pole to a Finnish driver was 2008; do you still remember how that
felt? Does it feel the same as now?
LH: Cold! Yeah, I remember 2008, Silverstone, I remember it very very
clearly. Heikki did a fantastic job. He was quicker throughout the weekend
and we had a different set-up from testing which he chose and he was just
quicker and it ended up being one of those... Back then you divided the cars
by two laps of fuel and often I would have... sometimes I would have the
lighter fuel load; on that weekend, he was just quicker and we needed as a
team to be at the front so he ended up having the lighter fuel load and did
a great job but obviously I got a great start in the race. You know, when
you asked the first question I had a really crazy thought: I’m sure at home
he (Heikki Kulta) has like a wall and every day he goes home and he ticks
off – ‘damn, it’s another race that...’ He’s got a whole wall, 130 or 180 or
whatever it is, 168 crosses so I’m sure on Monday you’re going to be
repainting the wall, a nice clean one!
SV: Does the word excited exist in Finnish?
VB: Kind of.
LH: It’s probably something really simple. What is “exciting” in Finnish?
VB: (Inaudible)
SV: See! It doesn’t exist!
LH: It’s not one that’s really used much in the vocabulary.
VB: I don’t know really.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Lewis and Bottas: in 2014 we had a
wonderful battle between Lewis and Nico here at this Grand Prix. Are you
free to fight tomorrow or after what happened in Barcelona and Austria last
year there are some internal rules: you can put the car here, you cannot
there? It depends what position your teammate is in?
LH: Are we allowed to fight? Nothing’s changed in the sense that we are
allowed to fight. It’s the same as it was last year - as always as it
remains respectable but yeah, we can fight hard out there. None of us wants
to not finish the race. It’s just about being sensible and making sure we
bring both cars home but generally yes, we are allowed to fight.
VB: Yeah, I agree. I’m really happy that we are allowed to fight and I’m
sure we can do it hard, hard but fair and try to avoid what we did last year
with Lewis in turn one. We actually collided.
LH: I’m behind this time...
VB: I’m sure we can be alright.
SV: I wouldn’t mind!
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) Lewis, this looks like this is starting
to get interesting now that Valtteri’s got a pole and he may have a good
result and you’ve gotten very happily because of the battle with Sebastian
Vettel. You looked about as happy as a warrior getting ready to go into
battle. Do you look forward to it possibly being a three-way battle at the
end of this weekend?
LH: I do, I do. I think it’s great how close it is between the teams because
then it brings out the best in each driver and I just feel... when you feel
like you’re at your best and you do a good job and you’re fighting against
someone else who is doing just as good a job it’s that much more exciting
and the more drivers we have in the mix then the more tense it gets.
Fortunately... don’t think for a long time it’s been more than three or four
drivers but anyway I’m really happy it’s more than just the two of us.
There’s going to be lots of ups and downs throughout the year but Valtteri’s
definitely keeping me on my toes and I’m thoroughly happy for him today. As
I said before, he really deserved that lap and his first pole... I know how
special it is to have your first pole position. It is just amazing. You
dream of it as a kid and I know that he will be enjoying it and tomorrow
could be his first Grand Prix win but obviously I will try my hardest to win
the race but whichever the case, he’s going to have one at some stage this
year. If it’s not tomorrow it will be...because he’s getting stronger and
stronger.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, according to the
power unit report, a turbocharger and one of the E-motors have been changed
in your car. Is that a concern this early in the season?
SV: Not really. Obviously it was not planned but yeah, it doesn’t set us
back. I think we’re doing fine. I think we pushed very hard over the winter.
I think we did a very very good job, especially on the engine side, power
unit side. I think there’s been a very big step so it feels great, feels
like a lot more power than last year and yeah, obviously the year isn’t over
yet but as I said, it shouldn’t be a problem. |
