Podium Interviews - Conducted by Frankie Dettori
Well done, Lewis, what a race. How important is it to win in front of your home crowd?
Lewis Hamilton: Firstly, just thank you to everyone for coming out today and making my weekend. I was gunning the whole way and I really just wanted to do it for you guys... we did it. I'm so thankful for all the support. I couldn't have done without you guys. Every lap I could see you out of the corner of my and I just felt you spurring me along, so thank you so much.
I need to ask you: what happened at the start, a bit of a hairy moment there?
LH: To be honest my clutch was good; it's just that we had really quite poor grip I think at the start. I think it was particularly the same for Nico. It made the race even more exciting to be honest. We just kept pushing and if I'm honest that probably made it more exciting for the fans.
Do you think the pit stop was the winning move?
LH: I think for the first time probably in my career I made the perfect choice tyre wise and so I'm really, really happy with that. I just managed to keep the car going. I think I lost a lot of temperature in my slicks, so no.... you guys are the best. I love you guys.
Well done Lewis, let me grab a word with Nico. Nico, a good second, how hard was it driving the last few laps in the rain?
Nico Rosberg: Yeah it was a good race. I was pushing hard to try and catch Lewis under the difficult conditions but then he just made the better call with the pit stop, so that's where I lost it. Fair play to him, he did a great job all weekend. You've been amazing, really absolutely unbelievable, a great atmosphere here, really a pleasure to drive in front of all of you and that's it.
Well done. I'll go over to Sebastian. I'm a bit of a Ferrari fanatic, so I have to give you a hug. Do you think the rain made a big difference in the end of grab third place?
Sebastian Vettel: Yes, without the rain we would not be on the podium. I think we kept our head down and were patient enough to wait until the rain properly started to pour down. In the end, that's England for you - a couple of minutes later you have sunshine, so obviously it helped us today, we did the right choice, we came in on the perfect lap and the team did a great job on the radio as well. So thank you very much and thanks to everyone, it's a great atmosphere today.
Well done Sebastian and one last word with Lewis: any message to the fans, they're all here to see you
LH: My mum's down here! As I said, I'm so elated; you can't imagine how happy I am. I started to tear up on that last lap, just really hoping I could hold onto it for you guys and man, I felt you all way. I hope we can come back next year... I'm going to keep pushing for this championship. Thank you so much for all the support. Now, let's party.
Press Conference
Lewis, maybe one of the key talking points was the pace on slick tyres on a damp track: over a second a lap faster than your competitors.
LH: Firstly, just a very, very special weekend for me. To see so many fans out this weekend, I thought that I'd seen it all here last year but I'm really just... I love those guys - thank you so much for coming. An amazing job done by the team back at the factory, such a large group of people, to make the car that me and Nico have to race as we have. The race was very, very tough. Very slippery off the start, I think for both of us - but it made it more exciting. I was chasing down the Williams. Very, very hard to get close and overtake but yes, very good. I got close enough on the first pitstop. Came out ahead after a really good out-lap. And then the rain came and I think I just lost temperature in my front tyres. It's always trickier for the guy who's out in the lead because you're the first one to get to it and it's questionable how much risk you take. But yeah, for the first time actually, I think the first time in my whole Formula One career, I made the perfectly right choice in coming in now. I could see the rain coming more and I've never had that before, so I feel extremely happy about that. And after that was just... I kept seeing as I was going around, Turn Seven, the last corner I could see in the crowd just cheering me on every time I came by and just spurring me along. I just didn't want to drop it for them. And really I'm also very honoured just to be here representing the Brits, to have the British flag up there.
Nico, not perhaps the start that anybody expected. It was a Williams 1-2 for the first 20 laps of this grand prix. You, obviously, weren't able to get ahead of them - because you had second choice of strategy I guess at the first stop - so you found yourself behind them and you were then told, "right, we go Plan B, be aggressive". Tell us a little bit about that phase of your grand prix.
NR: Yeah, that was not such a great phase because I had these two Williams in front and was completely blocked and couldn't get close. So that was a bit annoying. And then I was very thankful when the rain came. I felt great when it started raining. I really was able to attack and pass both Williams and close in on Lewis a lot. I was hoping it would stay more or less like that, and I thought I could attack Lewis at some point - and then Lewis boxed. I was pretty sure it was the wrong call because it was still touch-and-go at that time. So I was actually quite happy that he boxed. But then it was the right call in the end. It started raining more on that lap. So, that was it. Anyways, I had to take that chance because just following Lewis into the box is definite lose for me, so I might as well take the chance, stay out and do one lap more at least. It didn't work out. So that's it. Gave it everything and didn't work out.
Sebastian, it's fair to say it wasn't looking too rosy up until the point at which it rained. You did the same timing as Lewis. Did you feel the same way as Lewis? Was it something that you motivated yourself? Were you slightly surprised by what was going on around you with the other cars? Did you think it was your birthday when you realised where you were?
SV: I don't know. I had a bad start but then we obviously, more or less, came back to fifth and sixth - so where we started - but obviously the gap was too big to the cars in front. Then there was some rain around six-seven - so around Luffield. And, yeah, it was only there so it was quicker to stay out on dries. But then I noted... it's a tough call to make. If it rains, yes, some cars are already pitting, you obviously think about it but if the majority of the circuit is dry, there's no point. Then I came out of Chapel and down the Hangar straight, noticed a lot more rain. I was trying to look at the clouds, all the laps before and though, 'well, that's the lap to go'. Because it was significantly more intense, the rain. It wasn't just drizzle, it was proper rain and I decided to box. Once I was in the box I was told that Lewis decided to - the leader - decided to pit as well so I thought, yeah, should have been a good call. And then it was a surprise because I had Kvyat behind me when I boxed, and I came out behind him - like I saw him when I came out of the box. I don't know what happened to him in between. But I guess at that point already the track was quite poor.
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