Podium Interview - Conducted by Martin Brundle

Nico, congratulations, the first time in your career you've won two races on the bounce but more importantly three consecutive races here in Monaco. The last man to do that was the great Ayrton Senna. That was quite a race.
Nico Rosberg: Yeah, for sure, very, very happy of course. But I know also that it was just a lot of luck today. Lewis drove brilliantly and he would have also deserved the win for sure. But that's the way it is in racing and definitely I'm extremely happy and going to make the most of it.

Yeah, you spent most of your time looking in your rear view mirrors because Sebastian was coming at you and Lewis was down the road. Can you explain to us why your car wasn't brought in for a pit stop and Lewis' was under the safety car?
NR: I have no idea, sorry. As always, we're in the car and it's very difficult to judge what decisions are being made and things like that. Of course it was extremely difficult to do the restart with those hard tyres and them being very cold but it worked out and I'm ecstatic.

Sebastian, well, suddenly you were looking for and fighting for a victory when you had been struggling with Nico for the whole race. You must be pretty satisfied; it was a strong race for you.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, obviously a bit of a turnaround in the end, which was a bit of a surprise, but we were there in the moment when it mattered obviously we were able just to pip Lewis when we he came out of the pits. I think it was pretty close but I was pretty confident I was ahead. Yeah, I think we tried all race to put pressure on Nico but I think, first of all, he had the speed to respond and second, when we decided to pit we were probably a little bit too far back and the undercut didn't really work. Nevertheless, P2 is a great result for the team, thanks for the hard work. It's good to be always there and I think we were a lot closer in the race than in qualifying so hopefully we can keep up this trend.

And you were saying on the radio 'look, this is like swimming with weights on my legs and feet'. You were expecting a lot of trouble on the restart with cold tyres?
SV: It was, it was. The thing is these tyres are not made for cooling down and then going again. I think Nico and myself we both kind of saved the tyre; we knew that it was difficult to catch Lewis and difficult to really attack each other. So I think we didn't get it all out of the tyre before, which helped at the restart but it was incredibly difficult to warm the tyres up and obviously Lewis behind with a fresh set of supersoft was in much better shape. But I think for all of us it was, you know, like being handicapped for two or three laps. After it was starting to be OK, but Nico drove very well after the restart. No chance for me to stay close, so I had to make sure that I keep the guys behind.

And the man you had to keep behind was Lewis Hamilton. I'm sure I speak for millions of people when I say I'm sorry for you Lewis, that didn't work out today.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, it was not the easiest of races. But, you know, the team has done amazing all year long and we win and we lose together, so I'm just grateful for the job that I did and congratulations to Nico and Sebastian.

Can you tell us why your car was brought in? You had quite a big gap didn't you and then the safety car picked you up. Your car was pitted and your team-mate's wasn't.
LH: I'm sure we'll sit down afterwards and try and think of ways we can improve.

How bad is it? How bad do you feel now? You've lost the Monaco Grand Prix, it has been taken away from you. What's going through your mind?
LH: Come back to win the next one.

Some positive thoughts there from Lewis Hamilton. Finally, back to the man who won the race. You must love safety cars now and that's helped you in the world championship and very much game on.
NR: Yeah, but at the same time, you know, I know that I got lucky today. I'll just enjoy the moment now but I need to work hard because Lewis was a little bit stronger this weekend, so I need to work hard for the next race for sure.

Press Conference

Nico, many congratulations, your third consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victory, a feat equalled before by Prost, Senna and Graham Hill, so you join a very elite group in having done that. I guess you take them how they come - but did you discuss a late pitstop behind the Virtual Safety Car that became then, obviously, a Safety Car? And how do you feel for Lewis now?
NR: For sure that's the best words to describe it: take it as it comes, y'know? So, just very, very happy to have won the race. On the other side though, of course, Lewis was stronger this weekend. He deserved it for sure and I got lucky in the end there. I don't even know what happened. But, yeah, ecstatic about that anyways. No, we didn't discuss pitting in the end. It was quite treacherous out there with those hard tyres because they were really stone cold. They were telling me the temperatures, we've never ever had those temperatures before I think in those tyres - but did the best I could and managed to bring them back up and push, so that worked out well in the end.

Sebastian, a couple of talking points for you really. Obviously you tried the undercut on Nico, it didn't quite work out. Maybe you could tell us a bit about that. And also, behind the Safety Car you were on the radio saying that, exactly what Nico's just said, that you were really concerned about how low the tyre temperatures were getting.
SV: First of all, for the undercut, it was a shame. I had to lap a Manor, I think, and I lost about one second, otherwise I think we would have been closer to Nico. Whether it would have been enough, I don't know. Probably not. Obviously we were trying everything to jump him but they reacted straight away. My approach to the pitbox, as well, was not spot on, so I lost a bit of time there as well. So, not perfect in terms of lining everything up. And then at the end there, it was quite clear on the radio it was… I mean the rules are the rules but it was ridiculous how slow we were going. Trying to let the lapped cars go. In the end they are, I don't know, racing nowhere when we restart because they're just 30 seconds down the road but nowhere near the back of the field. So, I don't know what's the point. And then obviously we go so slow the tyres cool down a lot. And for Nico, myself, we were on the harder compound. Extremely difficult to get them up to temperature and it's just… yeah, you need to understand the tyres are not made for that. That's why its extremely slippery and obviously I was under huge pressure at the restart. I think Nico was a bit more comfortable with the warm-up but for us it took two, three laps just to bring them up again. It was very much on the limit I would say.

Lewis, coming to you, obviously we all understand how difficult this must be for you. The crowd clearly sympathised with you, you got a huge cheer when you collected your trophy. Can you just tell us what part, if any, you played in the decision to make that late pitstop and how that unfolded.
LH: To be honest it happened so fast I don't really remember but it was a good race up until then and, still, we got good points there.

Did you think you had it won, obviously, at that point? Did you come into the pits full of confidence that you were doing the right thing at that time?
LH: As I said, we will probably analyse and try to figure out what we did wrong - but we'll collectively - together as a team - try to rectify it in the future.