Lewis, it was very, very close here to the last second. Talk us through that final lap.
Lewis Hamilton: My final lap I was quite happy with to be honest. It went very smoothly. I think the first Q3 lap I had was looking to be a good lap but then they put the flags out in turn 12. I think Heikki ran a bit wide on the exit of turn 12, so I had to be careful as I didn't want to get any penalties, so I made a big lift. The time wasn't great but I knew I had it in me. I knew that we had the pace. My lap was really smooth. It was pretty easy going. I was quite comfortable we could have gone a little bit quicker if we needed to. I felt quite cool.
Everybody is talking about the swirling wind and the changing track conditions. Tell us what they have been like.
LH: Yeah, it has been very windy here. You notice that down the back straight. You are trying to hold the steering wheel straight as much as possible but the wind hits you from the left and from the right. You can feel it each time that it is moving the car. Then when you get to the stadium, obviously when you come in, it is a bit blocked up by the stadium. As you come in there you have reasonably decent downforce, then at the last corner all of a sudden you get a big gust of wind. You have to be ready for that every lap but it didn't cause me any problems, so I didn't run wide or anything. As I said it was a great job done by the team, especially with the car. We have made some great steps forward over the last few weeks and I am just so grateful to them for all the hard work they do over the weekend.
How do you quantify the performance of your car against Ferrari now?
LH: Well, it is very close as you can see. I was actually surprised to see how close it is between all the guys, all the teams. I think I saw Vettel up there quite far. Fernando is obviously very quick in the Renault and Webber as well, so it is very, very tight. I think between us, between Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari, I think there is a tenth here or there maybe but I feel we obviously have the pace. We are going to keep on pushing, keep on moving forward and hopefully we can win tomorrow.
Felipe, we don't know how much fuel everybody has in their cars at this point. How did you see qualifying from your point of view?
Felipe Massa: Tough, for sure very tight. For sure the big question was the first one you just made. We don't know how much fuel everybody has. But I think if you look even last week it was very tight in terms of lap times. This morning as well. I think it is pretty competitive between Ferrari and McLaren and the race tomorrow will be a very, very big competition between all four cars maybe. But for sure that is very exciting. But we need to do everything right, so hopefully we will do everything right tomorrow in the race.
It was a big recovery for you personally from a bad weekend at Silverstone. Talk us through that and what it means to be on the front row here at Hockenheim and quickest in the wet on Friday.
FM: Well I think that is not really a recovery. I know I am quick. I know in all my career I was quick in the wet. Even in go karts, always when it rained I won so to be honest I do not believe what people say that I am not good in the wet. I was always good in the wet. I don't forget how to drive in the wet now I am in F1. I just had a very bad weekend at Silverstone, not just the race the whole weekend was very bad for me. What we saw today here was not the recovery. It was just what we are able to do. That's our target, to be competitive and we are so it's just normal.
Heikki, talk us through the bit of a moment you had in your first qualifying lap in Q3.
Heikki Kovalainen: Yeah, first of all I think it is a good effort from everybody in the team. Like Lewis said, I think our car has been performing really very well the last four or five weeks. I think we have made some significant steps forward and we are going to carry on like this. For myself, in qualifying the car felt the best it's felt all weekend so far. Going into Q3 I was very confident that I could be challenging for pole position but then arriving in turn 12 in my first lap in Q3 I just lost the rear end and went wide. I don't know what happened there, it just suddenly turned in. But I think I maybe just tried to go too deep into the corner. I think I damaged the bottom of the car a little bit on the right hand side. I just looked after I jumped out of the car and saw there was a little damage but I didn't feel anything in the car. The second run there was a little bit of rally cross also on the exit of the last turn. But third place I am very happy with if you take into account all those rally cross moments today.
McLaren Mercedes now appears to have closed any gap that may have existed between you and Ferrari, particularly on slow corners.
HK: Yeah, perhaps. I think it is still very close. Like Felipe and Lewis said, maybe one day they are a little bit ahead and maybe the next day we are a bit ahead. It depends on how we all nail it at the very moment. Today Lewis nailed it perfect and everybody else was struggling with various moments. The important thing for us is to keep the focus 100 per cent, keep pushing forward and try to develop the car and the package and everything more than the others. That will be the key to becoming champions at the end of the year.
Lewis, this is nearly your home grand prix in terms of the team behind you. What's it like for you driving here in the mornings, the atmosphere and the feel of the German Grand Prix?
LH: It is quite cool coming here to Germany. I have had some great races in Germany, not just here but the Nürburgring as well. The atmosphere has always been great. The fans here, as you can tell, have always been fantastic. This weekend I have been surprised to see how many people are here on the Saturday. Coming into the track it is quite relaxed but when you do get in, especially when you drive into the stadium, it is like being in a football arena. It is incredible. I very much appreciate all the support we have for the team and for me. It has been a good day, as you can see I feel pretty chilled and very happy with what we have done. But today is not when you win points, tomorrow is when you win points, so me and Heikki are going to do the best job we can tomorrow to get a one-two.
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