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Canadian GP: Post Race press conference

NEWS STORY
13/06/2010

Lewis, back to back wins. You are leading the championship and I guess the love affair with Canada continues?
Lewis Hamilton: It has been a tremendous weekend. It has been fantastic. I got here Wednesday and things have just gone so well throughout the weekend. I have had incredible support from the fans. There are so many Brits out here which is great to see and the team did an exceptional job. The race was one of the toughest races so far but that's what you want to have the hardest fight. These guys did an incredible job. Jenson did a great job and another one-two for us, so I am very happy and proud of the team.

Jenson, your race was really about being patient and taking your opportunities when they came including the pass on Fernando.
Jenson Button: It is a very difficult race, this type of race, as the tyres are so important. You are never sure if you are looking after the tyres enough or if you are pushing enough. I had (Sebastian) Vettel pushing me for about 20 laps, so close to me when I was trying to look after the tyres. I hit some traffic and I was able to pull a gap on him and then reel in these two. But a great race, a really enjoyable race. It was not just a race about being flat every lap. You had to really think about every situation. If you watch the race certain people were very quick at certain parts of the race. That made it very exciting and it is great to be back up here again. Another one-two for the team. Another one to this guy. I'd rather it was the other way around but I must say the team did a great job this weekend. Lewis put in a phenomenal lap yesterday which I couldn't touch. But it is great to be here.

Fernando, some great battles with both these guys but your face suggests that you think you should have won today.
Fernando Alonso: I think it was a good day for us. The gap was very competitive here in Canada. We really had a good opportunity to win today. First I fight with Lewis. We overtook thanks to a fantastic pit stop from our guys in the pit lane and then we lost the position with some traffic and then we lost the position with traffic again with a Hispania in front in the last laps of the race with Jenson. In both of those cases we lost 10 points from 25 to 15 but we are still there in the championship. It was a great recovery from the team. We were, I think, 50 seconds behind McLaren in Turkey in P8 and we fight for the win here in Canada, so we are moving in the right direction and I think we are back in the fight.

Lewis, it was a very intense race. Tell us about that fight with Fernando. There were two parts to it coming out of the pit lane and also later.
LH: Well, I think I came in quite bit ahead of him but clearly we did not have the best pit stop and he was able to... I saw him being released and as I pulled away he was in my blind spot. I didn't even know he was there but I tried to make sure I had enough space. All of a sudden he was right there with me and we raced all the way down to the first corner and he had the inside and got ahead. But after that he had great pace and put up a really good fight and the traffic was very difficult today. That was really the opportunity for all of us today through traffic to get past the guy in front and I capitalized on that, so fair play to them.

Jenson, can you analyse for us what was going on with the tyres today as you had to stop very early on and it seemed everybody was all over the place?
JB: The first couple of laps I was trying to nurse my tyres. I damaged the rears very quickly. I had a mark on the prime tyres as I was pushing very hard. You do everything. You try and knock the div, you take out front wing but it was still not enough, so on the softer tyre I had to pit very early before these guys. But it actually helped me. It moved me closer to the battle in the front. Then I put on the harder tyre and everything was working really well but still you had to look after that tyre as it was easy to grain. You could see the cars around you when the tyre was working for them and when it wasn't. It was a fun race and the traffic played a big part as Lewis and Fernando have already said. The problem was we were coming up on cars that were fighting for points. One guy makes a mistake in front and the guy behind wants to challenge him even though there was a blue flag for us, so it was a tough race and fighting through the traffic was important.

Fernando, you and Lewis have got quite a history. Tell us about what was going on in your mind when you were coming out side-by-side in the pit lane.
FA: Well, I think it was a very early part of the race, lap nine or something like that so there was still a long way to go. I think it was a better fight on lap 30 or something like that when we were approaching the second stop. We were really close and we had some good fight and l think it is a very good feeling for me to come back now in a position to win the race or be here on the podium after some disappointing races like Turkey.

Lewis, finally to you. A tactical victory also over the Red Bulls. Just sum up where you and the team are right now.
LH: I think we are clearly doing everything we can to close the gap to them. I think perhaps at other circuits where the downforce is a little higher, maybe the gap will be.... maybe they will still be a little bit ahead but we are continuously improving. The guys back at the factory are doing a phenomenal job, so I have no doubts that we can close that gap and again pull ahead. But clearly on the race weekends we are doing a better job, both of us and the team, so hopefully we can continue with that. This is a special day for me as I won my first grand prix and to come back and repeat that after three years is a real pleasure.

Press Conference

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