Site logo

Hungary GP: Post Race press conference

NEWS STORY
26/07/2009

Lewis, from the desperation of the first races of this season, tell us what it means to be a winner again.
Lewis Hamilton: It's an incredible feeling to be back here after what feels such a long time away and with such a struggle with me and my team. But as I said on the in lap I am just so proud of the guys, as I go into the factory and I see how hard everyone is pushing. Everyone wants to win just as much as I do and they never gave up. They have never given up which is something very rare to see in such a large group of people. I am very, very proud of them. We didn't expect to win this weekend. Undoubtedly we have caught up quite a bit but we never felt we had the pace to win. But the car felt fantastic and it is incredibly special to get back up here, not only on the podium, but to get a win. It is amazing.

Kimi, it's been a long time since we had a McLaren versus Ferrari at the front. Tell us about your race.
Kimi Raikkonen: We got a very good start. That definitely helped. We knew before the race we needed to gain some places at the start to be able to fight for the podium. I was only fourth after the first few corners behind Lewis and then he overtook Mark and I could follow Mark and we went at the same time for the first pit stop. Then I don't know if he had some issues or not and I got past him at the pit stop. After that really I was just driving my own race, trying to catch Lewis. I thought I had the speed for that at one point but then suddenly he started to go the same speed and then a little bit faster. The gap more or less stayed the same the whole time. Then I had some issues on the last pit stop and that didn't help either but we had a good race. We knew that it would be difficult to challenge for the win right now. We were probably closer than we expected, so even with not such an easy weekend for the team, but we have got some good results, so hopefully that is something we can keep going like this and it is something positive at least this weekend for the team.

Mark, how big a surprise is this result for you today?
Mark Webber: A little bit of a surprise. I think we expected to be a little bit quicker after our running on Friday but to be honest we knew these guys would be around us. It was a pretty difficult venue for us and we knew that we didn't have the advantage maybe that we had in the last few events. All in all for me I am still pretty happy to get the result we did. I think we had a better chance to fight Kimi if maybe we did a slightly different pit stop and maybe chose a different tyre but that was my call. I was worried about how long the length of the stint was and it was quite difficult to know which tyre to put on but overall we still have a lot of positives. We are still up here. We haven't been blown away by any means. We are in the hunt and we can take our car to a lot of venues and be competitive, so our guys and Renault have a lot to be proud of. We are still very much a force, so it is still a positive day for us.

Lewis, it is the first win for a KERS car. You obviously had a terrific start but really the key to your day was the way your car handled its tyres once you hit the front.
LH: Yeah, I was able to manage them quite well but something I want to say is that yesterday was, I think, and maybe I can speak for all of us drivers, quite a sad day to see Felipe not with us here today. Hopefully I speak on behalf of all of us when I say we miss him and wish him well and wish him a speedy recovery. But back to the car, it was just fantastic. The team asked me to look after the tyres in which through all the great experiences I have had - good or bad - I was able to apply that today, so really a big thank you to all the guys and all the fans that have always given me support and never gave me up and to all my family.

Kimi, tell us about the moves you made at the start which came up on the board that will be investigated after the race. How did you see it?
KR: I don't know about the whole thing, so if you can tell me what it's about that would be nice.

Off the start line into the first corner and the incident with Vettel?
KR: I haven't even noticed if I touched somebody. I was in-between, I think, Mark and somebody else but I don't know what is going on. That is the first time when you told me but I didn't feel any touching or anything, so I cannot comment on that.

Mark, you are now second in the championship. You have taken some points off Jenson Button. Will you be asking the team now to back you for the championship?
MW: No, I think it is still a bit early. I think we can still fight the Brawns with Sebastian (Vettel) and I. We know there was a bit of a blip for them in the last three races and we hope that continues and we can continue to take points out of them together. We have got these guys up here as well. It is mixing things up a bit more. Sebastian had a bit of a tough weekend this weekend. Qualifying went well but obviously the race I don't know what happened. But obviously he has lost some points which is the first time in a long time but he will be back and after the break we can recharge and take the fight again.

Lewis, you have made all this progress. What next for you and McLaren for the rest of the season?
LH: We need to definitely take as much as we can from this weekend and continue to push. This means by no means we can start slowing down but that is not the way my team work anyway. We just have got to keep pushing. We have got some improvements to make for sure and some work to do to be able to beat these guys on a more regular basis. But this is one huge leap for us and hopefully we are now on the right track, so let's keep going.

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