Singapore GP: Post Qualifying press conference

22/09/2012

Lewis, a phenomenal margin, very, very quick indeed, well done.
Lewis Hamilton: Thank you. The guys have done a fantastic job all week and to come here with some small things that have improved from the last race. Obviously we have high downforce here so we weren't sure where we would turn out against the others but obviously Sebastian was incredibly fast through most of the sessions, I'm not really sure what happened in the end. Nonetheless I'm very happy that I was able to pull that time out. A great lap, I'm very happy with it.

It must be a very, very difficult circuit indeed. We saw you make a couple of mistakes in Q1, very tricky around here?
LH: Oh, it is. It is absolutely. Just trying to find the gaps is quite difficult, particularly in Q1. And making sure your tyres are up to temperature, making sure your brakes are up to temperature without using them before you start your lap. And yeah, the first few laps I did on the prime was quite poor and I feel very fortunate that I was able to get at least one lap on them, so I didn't have to go again.

Pastor, where did that lap come from? Well done.
Pastor Maldonado: We were working very hard because at the beginning of the weekend and during the practice we were a little bit lost with the setup and yeah, we were improving, especially during the quali, y'know, during the qualifying just trying to adapt the car to my style. We find naturally very well balanced, especially in Q2 and then Q3. I'm really looking forward to the race because yesterday we showed very good pace, very consistent so I think it's going to be a good one for us this time.

Sebastian, fastest in all three practice sessions. A little bit disappointed with third on the grid?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, a little disappointed. Especially Q3. I don't know why we couldn't do the step. Nevertheless, third is a good position to start from. There is a long race tomorrow, a lot of things that can happen. I think the pace is there, we've proven throughout the weekend - but surely if you don't do the last step in qualifying it's a shame, because I think the speed was there. So, yeah, it didn't come together in the end.

Lewis, a final thought on tomorrow's race. What are the main factors?
LH: It's an incredibly tough circuit for tyre degradation, as we have at pretty much every track but especially as it's hot and humid here. So I think everyone is going to struggle with that, and I think we just have to try and get away cleanly at the start and stick to the strategy that we have planned and be prepared if it doesn't work.

Press Conference

So Lewis, well done, obviously as you say, tyre degradation the big thing but the walls… so many different factors, so many difficult things, and the heat as well, and at an anti-clockwise circuit. It must be a really tough circuit, this?
LH: It is, and I think everyone here will see that tomorrow. I think we all felt that with our long runs. Hopefully we've done the work we need to do to hopefully put together a good package tomorrow. We've put ourselves in the best position so I hope that we will be able to capitalise on that tomorrow.

Pastor, again it's fantastic that you're once again so close. Is this because it's a similar circuit, do you feel, to Barcelona?
PM: It's completely different than Barcelona. Especially because the lack of grip. We were struggling a little bit to put the car together but, including the qualifying, we managed to find a very good balance and we are really looking forward to tomorrow. Yesterday we did a couple of long runs and it's looking pretty good for us. The tyre degradation I mean. So I'm really looking forward.

Sebastian, any further worries about alternators or is that firmly behind you?
SV: There's no guarantee. It's hard to get a guarantee on anything in life, so we'll see. So far we didn't have any problems, no signs. Monza was a different story. Obviously we had a failure on Saturday and Sunday. Today no failures and hopefully tomorrow we'll be fine as well. So no concerns.

Questions From The Floor

(Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, what happened in Q3, you seemed to have lost the speed a little bit?
SV: Yeah, I don't know to be honest. I think the speed was there but we weren't able to really improve, whereas in Q2 I got the lap in reasonably safely and I was a little bit off Lewis, I think, one and a half tenths. I was confident that we can go quicker somewhere, lower in the 46s region. I think Lewis's time in Q3 was very quick so... if, could, would, should... we don't know but I think the pace was there to do better than what we did in Q2 but in Q3 we just couldn't pick and in the end I was even struggling to repeat the lap I did in the beginning, so yeah, obviously a bit disappointing but I think the speed is there. We have been competitive throughout the weekend. The race is very long here, a lot of things can happen - safety cars - so it's important to be in the right place at the right time and then we go from there.

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