Site logo

Belgian GP: Post Race press conference

NEWS STORY
29/08/2010

Lewis, brilliant win but not without its nervy moments.
Lewis Hamilton: No. It was a great weekend. Very, very tough race for me. I think same for everyone but praying just for a race that went smoothly. But with the tricky conditions when it started to rain, losing temperature in the tyres and not really knowing how much you can push in each corner. I braked quite late and locked my wheel and went wide at turn eight and jeez, the Lord definitely had his hand over me there as I was able to get away with it. Then staid ahead of the guys here. The team did a remarkable job this weekend. We are constantly pushing and some places we are not as fast as these guys but it is great that when we are close we maximize, so very proud of the job they did this weekend and I am so happy to be up here.

Talk us through the struggles. As the rain came down it really looked like you wanted to come in for a change of tyres a lap earlier than you were allowed to.
LH: Yeah, it is a difficult call. The team are telling you there is rain coming and in the previous times it was just a light shower and it dries up very quickly. You didn't know what to expect. Although there were very dark clouds above but it begun to rain and quite heavily and you are praying that you wish you could come in but it is too late once you get past the pit lane. Fortunately I got round and changed the tyres and had a fantastic pit stop. The best one I have had this year and I guess that's what helped get us out there.

Then just the one safety car to try and survive until the end of the race.
LH: Yeah, I was hoping the safety car would stay out longer. But fortunately it did not rain anymore and the track got a little bit better. At the end it was just about nursing the car home and bringing it back in one piece. Just trying to keep a small gap between myself and Mark and try to bag those points. It is not many times you are in this position.

Mark, it has been quite a few times this season that Red Bull have been in pole position and sadly for the team it has not always turned into victory. That was the case for you today, but what happened off the line? It was a very slow getaway.
Mark Webber: I had a big bog (down) on my formation lap and then we made a small adjustment to the clutch which I thought was hopefully going to get rid of that situation but then I had it even worse on the main start itself. Did my normal procedure but in the end you need to go through it to see what happened. Obviously I was pretty surprised and once you have a micro moment on the start in a Formula One race it is massively exaggerated with the performance of the other guys getting normal starts. I was on the back foot through Eau Rouge. I had a pretty good fight with Adrian (Sutil) to start with. Got that back and passed Felipe (Massa) as well. Pretty close to having a look at Seb (Vettel) before the safety car came out. It was a pretty mixed up race after that. I think we had a good pit stop, the first one. I think the guys did a very good job there. It wasn't quite enough to jump Robert, but very close, but once you get to the limiter on the straight it is very, very difficult to do any moves at the top and someone with Robert's experience is going to be pretty difficult as well. Happy with second in the end. To have the top three qualifiers here after a race like today, I think you would never ever get any money on that. The order is slightly the wrong way round for me. But in the end happy with second. A good day for the team. Lewis deserved the win and did a good job.

It was the kind of race that when you are running for the championship if you cannot get the victory you have got to get as much out of it as you possibly could.
MW: Absolutely. These days it is very, very easy to come away with nothing with a small mistake from anybody, from the cockpit, pit wall or pit stops or whatever. Everyone did their bit today, so we got some good points and we go to Monza.

Robert, good points for yourself with a third podium of the season but it could have been second. What happened in the second pit stop?
Robert Kubica: It was a good race for us. It was very, very tricky and very difficult. On the first pit stop we did a very good job. A very good in-lap. The first pit stop was very good. It was close with Mark. Then I started pulling away. When it was quite wet, Lewis went off, I was catching him quite nicely. But then in the pit lane I had to change a few things on my steering wheel for the wet tyres and wing settings, stuff like this. Got distracted a bit and when I was done with all the switches it was too late. I jumped on the brakes and locked the front wheels and unfortunately it took some guys on my front wing. I hope they are fine. I lost second place there, but that's racing. Unfortunately one mistake in the race which cost one position. But still I think it was a great weekend for us. The F-duct seems to be working very well. Performance is much better than it was in the last races, so I hope to continue this way.

How confident are you that you can continue this good form into the next few races?
RK: Monza will be quite a tricky race. Quite difficult to predict because it is a completely different downforce level track and I most probably will not have the F-duct there. But then we go again to the overseas races. Singapore should be a good one for us. It is good track for us but most probably we won't have the F-duct there unfortunately. We will see. Things can change very quickly as we have seen this season. But what is important to us is to keep working, keep developing and keep seeing good things for next year's car.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images

POST A COMMENT

or Register for a Pitpass ID to have your say

Please note that all posts are reactively moderated and must adhere to the site's posting rules and etiquette.

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

 

No comments posted as yet, would you like to be the first to have your say?

Share this page

X

Copyright © Pitpass 2002 - 2024. All rights reserved.

about us  |  advertise  |  contact  |  privacy & security  |  rss  |  terms