Rubens, so many difficult emotions in Budapest. But this win has been long, long overdue. You clearly have not forgotten how to win.
Rubens Barrichello: It has been fantastic. It has been a weekend that I will never forget especially because after five years you don't forget how to do it, but it is tough. In the middle of the race they were telling me push, push, push and although you are pushing like hell there are some things that go through your mind. You know that you cannot commit any mistakes and you want to do it for yourself, you want to do it for your country and you want to do it for your family. There was a lot going through my mind but the car has been perfect and I want to thank the team for that because it wasn't just me. The car was really brilliant.
Lewis, the team has worked miracles this season to give you a winning car but there is no getting away from the fact that they cost you the victory today.
Lewis Hamilton: We win and we lose together. We have had a tremendous effort to get us here, so we cannot at all take second place for granted. We're disappointed that we didn't get the win as we have had extraordinary pace for us in the last three races and I still feel and believe it was a tremendous effort from everyone. These things happen you know. I have had so many races with this team and this has very rarely happened. This could be only the second time perhaps, so in the amount of races I have done I think they deserve a pat on the back, so regardless we will keep pushing. We need to catch these guys up and they generally are a little bit quicker than us but I believe we can do that, so 'good job lads.'
Kimi, great drive from you starting sixth and finishing third. How hard did you have to work for that today?
Kimi Raikkonen: We needed to go 100 per cent all the time. I knew from Friday already I had a good feeling with the car. It was working very well on the longer stints, so I was hoping that it would be okay in the race and it turned out to be good. We know that we are not where we want to be. We are not really bringing new parts anymore for the car, so we are a little bit behind the leaders. But once we get the car running well and it feels good, then usually we can fight for third place. If something weird happens in the race, then maybe we can even fight for the win, but overall it was a good weekend for me and I am really happy to score the podium.
Rubens, you were behind Heikki Kovalainen in the first stint but got ahead at the first stop. But that middle stint of the race with punch and counter-punch with Lewis was fantastic viewing.
RB: It was fantastic. I had to push all the way through. Basically we had different tyres all through the race. There are some questions to see which ones were faster but for sure mine were very consistent and I was able to reduce my lap times every lap. Towards the end of the second stint I was able to catch him a little bit and that gave me some margin for those three or four laps that I pushed after he stopped. A brilliant job from the team. Great pit stops. Delightful. I wish this moment could be forever. I want to be here for the whole Monday as well, so please stay there.
What is your point of view, Lewis, about that middle part of the race? You were pushing each other really hard.
LH: Absolutely. The first part of the race was very well controlled from my point of view. It was very consistent and nice flowing pace. But in the second stint I was struggling with my tyres and to keep up the pace of Rubens, especially in the high speed corners where he seemed to be catching me, I just did not have the car beneath me to push in those areas to pick up the pace. But nevertheless I kept pushing and the last stint on the primes was a little bit better for me. I just pushed and pushed beyond the limit. It was like a qualifying lap every lap and very close to the wall every time and really I can happily go home knowing that I gave it my all.
Kimi, the key target for you I guess was getting Kovalainen at the second stop. Tell us how you did it.
KR: I mean the first target was to try and keep (Nico) Rosberg behind. But then after the pit stop I noticed that I was able to catch Kovalainen. The car was very good. We would go the exact same lap time and sometimes we would go a little bit faster, so I saw that I was catching him a bit and I had a little bit of traffic, one car, two cars and yellow flags which cost some time, but we knew that we had a few laps on him. I put in a few good laps when he came in and it was enough. I could quite easily get in front of him and the last stint was just to stay in third place. The car was really nice to drive.
Rubens, second in the Drivers' Championship now. When you drove down the pit lane to parc fermé all the teams were out there to applaud you. Rarely could there have been a more popular win. Sum up your feelings at this moment.
RB: Well, I mean it has been 17 years. When I come into the track I come 15 minutes earlier and when I go out it takes me 15 minutes more because I know everyone. I have worked with almost 80 per cent of the paddock. All my wins seem to be so emotional. They are part of it as well, all the teams that I worked with as well. It has been a fantastic day. A hard win today to push all the way through but it is so delightful and I want to thank everyone who supported me, so 'thanks.'
Press Conference
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