Lewis, winning your second successive Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton: What a dream! To come to two circuits that I didn't know, my first time, to really come out with such pace, to see the team moving forward always and being competitive and just to see how much work the team back home, back in Brixworth, in Woking, in Stuttgart, how hard they all work to produce the car and to develop it – they've done a fantastic job and I'm really just so thankful to them because it wouldn't be possible without them. And the guys here, they are a great bunch of guys. They've done a fantastic job on strategy, setting up the car. So really, it's a perfect team and I'm really happy I could put the icing on the cake.
And a very very close race with your teammate Fernando throughout the race distance. You took the lead at the start, but on lap 38 Fernando was right there, and there was pressure all the way.
LH: It was, especially the middle stint. I think the first stint, the first couple of laps it was extremely close and then obviously I managed to pull out a slight gap and maintain that and then going into the middle stint, the out lap… the first two laps were very good and then my tyres just decided to grain so maybe I pushed too hard on them immediately so Fernando was right up my tail, and it was extremely difficult. Obviously he's in my slipstream the whole time so he would always catch me down the straight and so whatever I gained midfield I lose on the straight, so it was very very tough. But he fought very well, very professional and at the end I managed to pull a gap and I was able to maintain that gap and control the rest of the race.
As we say, your second successive win but a win in the United States here at Indianapolis; talk us through the closing laps of the race. Did it seem like a long hot day for you?
LH: It did. Obviously it was great to see that there was a big crowd here and they're all very very supportive, a lot of British flags out there, which is fantastic for me. I get a lot of energy from that, but the last few laps were… it just seemed to be very long. They came across on the radio and said 15 laps and I said 'OK' and then 15 laps just seemed a lifetime, specially when you're out in the lead, trying to maintain it, not to push too hard, not to damage the car. But I was able to do it and as I said, just very very emotional.
Fernando, you ran one lap longer into the first stint. It looked as if you might have a fuel advantage: very very close on lap 38 as Lewis just said.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, very close. I think at the start it was also very close but I didn't manage to overtake Lewis and from then on, when you follow someone, you lose a little bit of downforce and it's difficult to get the tyres in the condition to push all through the stint because you damage the tyres maybe a little bit more when you run behind someone. I think I tried in the middle stint, and I was side-by-side once, here on the main straight but again, it was not enough to overtake him and the last stint was just a conservative one. It was very difficult to overtake, very difficult to follow anyone so I just started thinking of the French Grand Prix.
We saw you run a little bit wide on lap 46 as well. Was that perhaps a function of the tyres getting a little bit dirty?
FA: Yeah, it's so difficult to run behind anyone here. I think on the main straight it helps you. You can gain one or two tenths on the main straight because you take the slipstream but in the rest of the corners, you lose so much downforce, you lose so much time. I think the start was the key point of the race because after that, I think whoever was second will finish second in the race.
How would you describe your start?
FA: I think it was good but I think we both braked at more or less the same point. The start is always risky. I remember Canada going off on the grass and losing one position, so obviously it was with my team-mate, so you try to overtake but what you don't want is to finish the race in the first corner. Eight points are better than nothing so… we increased the gap to Ferrari which is one of the main things in this first part of the championship.
Felipe, third again, you probably don't want to hear that but it looked like a lot of pressure from Kimi at the end there, you were on slightly different tyre compounds at the end of the race.
Felipe Massa: Yeah, there was big pressure. Kimi was on different tyres than me and for sure he had better grip, better track grip as well at the end of the race. So he was very much able to close the gap. But for sure you know, I did a good start, he didn't. I could manage to make a good gap there. And then he got close, but it was after the last pit stop. So then it was good, I managed to keep the car on the track, not making mistakes and just keep him behind.
How do you feel about the race against McLaren Mercedes, talk us through the first few laps. Do you feel you were any closer to McLaren than perhaps in Canada or Monaco?
FM: In the first stint I was maybe a bit closer but they were pulling away the gap slowly, lap by lap, making three-tenths quicker and everything, and then he was difficult for me to follow. So they just created the gap, especially Lewis was going away quite quickly. And my car, I couldn't push so much because I started sliding around. Then I just saw them going away. So it was for sure quite difficult for us to beat them today. But it's good to finish third and fourth.
