09/02/2010
NEWS STORY
2009 was a transitional year for the team, and you scored your best result in F1 to date. How would you sum up this year?
2009 was a really important year. I was very close to scoring points in a lot of races and, frustratingly, something always happened. So when we got to Monza, it was a pretty perfect weekend. I scored my first front row, my first points since 2007 and it gave me a lot of extra confidence. I was very happy when the success came and it was for sure a big moment in my career, the turning point. It's really different to start from the front row and race at the front and I feel it has helped me to grow. I know I need to follow it up this year now.
How do you feel going into this year?
I hope we will have a good season and I am pretty confident we will. We have had a good winter and a very good development programme so expectations are high. The car looks great, we did a positive step with the wind tunnel simulations but let's test and see where we are. I know we need to perform well and from my side I have tried to be perfectly prepared.
What will your aims be this year, how do you intend to build on last year?
2010 is a really important season and we are very optimistic about going well. When you start a season you always want it to be better than the previous one and I think this year it's important to be consistent from the first race. It's the first time we have been completely on schedule so I feel this will be the first season when I can show from the beginning to the end what is possible on the car and what I can do. I'd like to be in the midfield and be competitive from Bahrain.
This is now your fourth season with the Silverstone-based team. What does this stability mean for you?
I feel really good in the team, it's like family for me as they know me very well, they know how I work and my strengths and weaknesses. With that kind of relationship they can really get the things that suit me and I have confidence in them to do it. At the end of last season I felt very good and it was hard to find a better option for 2010. Over the past four years we have of course seen many different changes but when Vijay took over in 2007 it was a step in the right direction. He's committed to go for it and he has his goals. Right now we're looking really good, we've sorted out all the issues and this winter has been a consistent working situation so it's a big advantage. It's nice to be one of the few teams who have stability now and can just focus on the racing.
The competition is very tough this year, with new teams and more world champions in the field than in previous years. What are your thoughts on this?
The competition of course will be really tough with four world champions in the field now - of course Lewis and Jenson in McLaren, Fernando in the Ferrari and now Michael back in Mercedes. I have a lot of respect for all of them and I'm actually really excited about being on the same grid, but at the end of the day they are your competitors. You can't hold them up as heroes or goals - when we're racing they are people you need to beat. If you do go well against them it will really lift you so I'm looking forward to seeing how I do.