Lewis, difficult to know where to start. What about the emotions you have faced and the ups and downs just to get to this point?
Lewis Hamilton: This weekend? It's been a bit of a rollercoaster and quite an emotional period for me. I was turning up after the great weekend in Fuji and getting here nice and early and finding that they were going to investigate the way I behaved under the Safety Car in Japan. I thought immediately, I am going to get a penalty, but thankfully I didn't and with the team support we pulled through it. Yesterday was a tough day with the testing and that in the back of your mind. It is not easy to forget about, not knowing if you were going to have your points or your win taken away. But I think it was a good decision by the FIA. Then we came here this morning, still not really having the pace of these two here and Fernando. But I was just chipping away and I'm thrilled to get pole position because going into qualifying I didn't think I had the pace of Fernando. I knew that if I just worked at it and didn't overdo it, I might just be able to do it and I did, so I'm really happy.

As you say, most predictions seemed to suggest that Ferrari would have the edge but you are on the pole. What about that and the strategy to use the harder of the two Bridgestone tyres on the first of your two runs?
LH: I was quite confident we would have the pace of the Ferrari, over one lap anyway even if generally they have been consistent and, I think, looking after the tyres a bit better than us. I really needed to see which tyre was the best, the option or the harder tyre, so I did the first run on the harder one and then I took the risk and went for it on the soft for the last run.

You were the first to come in, therefore giving yourself a bit of cushion in terms of being able to warm up the soft tyre?
LH: Yeah, it gave me a bit of breathing space to relax and use the tyre a little bit better.

Kimi, a strong performance. You had hydraulic problems at the end of P3. Did that have any impact and how was your qualifying session?
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, it was okay, no problem. We had good speed yesterday and also in practice this morning. And also in qualifying. I'm very happy with the car and I think we will have a good car in the race and I think there could be different fuel loads in the cars. It has been a good weekend so far.

Kimi, a great drive from you, like Lewis, in the Japanese GP. The weather forecast for tomorrow is for rain. Your thoughts on a wet Chinese GP?
KR: Last time when I was here it was wet. It won't be as bad as Fuji, I think the visibility should be better and so I don't think it will be too bad and I am not too concerned about the weather.

Felipe, Kimi implied that there could be some strategy going on in terms of fuel load, so your perspective on qualifying?
Felipe Massa: It was okay. I did a very good lap on the first attempt and then just lost the car on the second one. I wasn't able to fight at the front because of that. The car was pretty good but I just came into Turn Eleven too quick, too aggressive, and just lost the rear end. So it was not a very good lap on the last set of tyres but it's okay. I'm starting in the top three and let's see what is going to happen. The forecast is for rain and so it could be a bit of a lottery.

The detail of that incident you had – was it a different feel on that set of tyres or was it just you pushing a bit hard?
FM: No, it wasn't the tyres, it's just that in qualifying there are four cars and nobody knows who is going to be first. You need to push and take some risks sometimes and sometimes it doesn't work. It was like that. There was nothing wrong with the set-up of the car.

Lewis, you don't need to be told it could be a special day tomorrow. How are you going to prepare for it? Indeed, it could be a wet race as well?
LH: I am not particularly bothered if it is wet or dry. With the experience in Fuji, that has given me confidence in the wet. I haven't been here before, so obviously it will be tricky either way but I'm in the best position to start the race and I feel very optimistic. I've got a good car, I know the team will do a good job and for me the way I approach tomorrow will be the same as every race. I want to win, do a good job for the team and if I do that it might be a good day for us, so fingers crossed.

Press Conference

Lewis, you looked like you enjoyed that one?
LH: I always enjoy getting pole position. Even just qualifying generally, if you don't get pole it's still quite intense and quite a rush. It's not an easy thing knowing that you only have one opportunity on the tyres and it's the difference between pole position and fifth or something. But the team did a very good job. We changed our strategy a bit getting me out earlier, which gave us a bit more leverage time-wise and I'm very pleased.

What was the strategy behind using just the one set of soft tyres?
LH: I wasn't sure which was best. Normally the soft is best but I was struggling to manage the tyre and make it last for a single lap. So in Q1 I used the hard tyre and in Q2 the soft, and I was still unsure which one was better. So in Q3 we went into the first run with the hard tyre and then I said, let's just go for it, and I went for the soft tyre and risked it. Also the Ferraris have been on the softer tyre which seemed to work, so I just had to do it.