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Turkish GP: Post Race press conference

NEWS STORY
30/05/2010

Lewis, first win of the season for you. Great scrap. First with Mark, then Sebastian (Vettel) and then Jenson and finally you emerge as the winner. What a race.
Lewis Hamilton: It was quite an exciting race. We knew that we had good race pace. We knew that we would be able to stay with the Red Bulls. Unfortunately they were so fast through turn eight that it was very difficult to be able to slipstream Mark, otherwise everywhere else I was pretty much on his tail. Then after the pit stop I think I had a problem with the right rear and lost a bit of time in the pit stop. Came out behind Vettel, so it was double trouble trying to get past both of them. Then at the end I am not really sure what happened with these guys. But me and Jenson had a good little battle. He got me on the outside into turn 13 and then fortunately I was able to get him back into turn one and so that was definitely unexpected. But really fair battle with him and a great result for the team. Our second one-two. I think we truly deserved it and I want to dedicate this win to my dad. It's his 50th birthday tomorrow. Perfect way for him to celebrate.

I am sure he will welcome the present. You had that great duel with Jenson but towards the end you were told by the team to save fuel. How critical was it? How close did you come to not making it to the chequered flag?
LH: I have no idea. We were pushing very hard behind the Red Bulls. Definitely at the end it is a combination of looking after your brakes and looking after your tyres as turn eight is a killer. And of course looking after fuel. We tried to do the best job in that as it was always difficult to understand what they wanted from you and just how much fuel you had to save. But I think we did a good job and it was great that we were able to come across the line to finish.

Jenson, briefly the lead was yours. You got past Lewis for a few turns. Talk us through that. It was a wonderful battle.
Jenson Button: Yeah, I got the run down to turn 12 down on the outside and I had to have a go really. It was down the outside. We were wheel to wheel for about five corners, so it was good fun and then when Lewis got back past at turn one as before I was into fuel save mode as well as we were a little bit worried as maybe the race was a lot quicker than we thought it would be racing with the Red Bulls, so we had to save a little bit of fuel in the end but that got us to the end which is good.

Is second for you a pleasing result given your starting position?
JB: Yeah, I mean the pace was very good in the race. Us four were up front and very close for pretty much the whole race. I don't know what happened. I am sure we will hear in a minute what happened between Mark and Sebastian. But it opened the door for us and we were one two. The pace of the car was good. As soon as the Red Bulls were out of the way we picked up a bit of pace and we were a couple of tenths in front. It was a good fun race. Also with Michael (Schumacher) on the first lap he got me at the start but I was able to get him into turn 12 and make the pass there. A fun race and nice to be battling up the front where the car should be. I have to say great job to all the team. They have done a fantastic job improving this car. We are so much closer to the Red Bulls now and three weeks ago you wouldn't have imagined we'd be battling with them, so all credit goes to the McLaren Mercedes team.

Mark, lap 41. What happened?
Mark Webber: Seb had big top speed advantage and went down the inside and we went side-by-side and then it looked like he turned pretty quick right and we made contact. It happened very fast. It is definitely a shame for the team. Not an ideal day, but the McLarens were solid today. It was a good race between all four of us up until then and obviously neither of us wanted to make contact with each other but it can happen sometimes. Unfortunately when we are both at the front it is never ideal but it happened.

Is it hard to take for you given it was your team-mate who you think was responsible and cost you the win today?
MW: There was a long way to go in the race, so it wasn't a guaranteed victory. I have still got a few points. But it was an interesting few metres on the track between the both of us and in the end it was not the result either of us would have wanted.

Confident that the victory would have been yours given that you had kept the McLarens at bay for 40 of the laps and Sebastian behind you as well?
MW: Yeah. Yeah, I was, yes.

Lewis, you will be looking forward to many more wins this season. What does this do for your momentum now in the championship? Are you back?
LH: I don't think I was ever gone. I have just been a little unfortunate up until now and I think bit by bit myself and the team have just worked very hard to chip away. Yesterday we qualified second. We knew that was just one step we needed to make. They made it very tough for us, but we put up a good fight. You can see how close it is between the four of us. We are all doing a great job and it is really, really down to the momentum, trying to keep it with the team, myself and Jenson are going to do the best we can to push the team forward to win both those championships.

Press Conference

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