I got a pretty good start and got into the first place but then braking into the first corner I was trying to turn in and there was first one McLaren and then a second and I think they both hit me and I had nowhere to go. I needed to go straight and I lost many places and got some damage in the front but luckily enough I was able to get back on the circuit but then I was all the time behind people. I was catching up and getting past some people but then just before the pit stop I was behind Robert and then I was fighting against him and in the last stint I got a few tries to get past him but I always caught him just in the last part of the circuit, the main straight, and he always went on the inside, so I didn't have anywhere to go, so I tried the outside and then the inside and once we were side by side but I knew that if nobody was going to lift in corner three, I had no options than to run off the circuit. I tried but then my tyres started to grain a bit and his started to clean up, so I lost a bit of an opportunity there. It is a bit disappointing what happened in the first corner as we could have had a better result but at least I got to the finish this time and got some good points for the team and we will try to do better next race.

Q:
There was some damage to the left front wheel. What did the car feel like in those few laps?

KR:
The front didn't feel the same anymore. I think it was Heikki who hit me harder. The front felt quite light, it didn't feel the same as before but I didn't know. I asked if we had damaged something but I couldn't see what happened really. The car was okay but for sure we were missing something as we were not able to be fast enough to catch up with the guys in the front. Just before the second pit stop I was stuck behind, I think, Barrichello for one lap and I lost like a second or something and it was just enough to get me behind Robert after the stop. But in the end it was quite a difficult race but we got third place, so hopefully we can start scoring better from here.

Q:
Fernando, your thoughts on how the team feels. Is this the same motivation as in 2006?

FA:
Yeah, more or less similar but obviously in 2006 we had the championship battle, so everybody was maybe more concentrated on getting the points and pushing to the limit. This year we keep learning about the new regulations, the new electronics. Again we did improve the management of the tyres quite a lot in the race pace, in the long runs. We understood the problems at the beginning of the season and we concentrated on working on those areas of the car and now the results are coming with improvements in the season, so I am very happy and very proud of my team to have the key to improve all the problems we had. A great job from everybody in the factory and this is the result, these wins are for everybody.

Press conference

Q:
Fernando, how much of a surprise have these two wins been?

FA:
A lot, obviously. The first one was a surprise because I started 15th and obviously you never expect to win a race starting in that position. This one is still a surprise as even if I start fourth in a good position we think that we don't have the pace to win the race, so when I found myself second after turn one I tried to be close enough for Robert and then maybe I fight with him for second, third or fourth place, maybe a get the podium after a nice start or whatever. But I realised after the second stint that I had the possibility to win and if I had no mistakes this win will be for me.

Q:
Was there a lot of conversation with the pit?

FA:
Yes, normally we talk a lot and obviously when we are P1 there is a bit more stress for me and for them as you need to calculate what gaps you need in the pit stop and what pace is good enough and we keep talking but everything was okay. Especially the last 20 laps, after the second stop, we saw that the gap was big enough and we managed to save a little bit of the engine for China and everything was under control.

Q:
Give us some idea what the tyres were like during the race?

FA:
I had three different problems. The first stint I had huge graining in the tyres, especially the front.

Q:
Those were the harder tyres?

FA:
Yeah, with the hard tyres. I think the problem was to run too close to Robert in the first three or four laps and I damaged the tyres a little bit too much. In the second stint I was lucky enough to exit the pits in front of him, so I had fresh air and the tyres worked perfectly okay in the second stint. And again in the third stint when we put on the soft tyres we had graining but we knew that. On Friday we had problems with graining with the option tyre and today when we fitted the option tyre there was graining but I think it was the same for Robert, so I think the gap stayed more or less the same, around 10 seconds.

Q:
Given the performances in the last two races can you be a contender in the final two races?

FA:
I don't know what to say now because I am still thinking not, but my heart says yes. The feeling I have now is that we can do anything because of a circuit like this and we were not too light of fuel. Regarding the laps people stopped today in the first stint, yesterday's qualifying is a real fourth place, so I am still confident for the next two races. Maybe no wins but who knows, maybe podiums are possible now.

Q:
Robert can you give an idea of the tyre wear during the race? Was it a similar pattern – hard, hard, soft?

RK:
We overall had quite a lot of graining problems, already on Friday. Unfortunately yesterday the weather was a bit colder temperature-wise, so we had even more graining problems. Yesterday in qualifying I was struggling to do one single lap without the graining starting already, so I was hoping for real nice sunshine which didn't come. That was quite a big problem. Before the race I was expecting quite a lot of problems with graining but in fact part of the first stint where you accommodate the tyre with the formation lap and with the initial pace which is not really very quick you stress the tyres less and I survived pretty well but I was not able to pull away the gap, so the car was a bit lighter. As soon as we put a lot of fuel on board I had to really push on the out laps as I was fighting with Fernando, so after half a lap I already have graining and he managed to stay in front of me and then I was really struggling I was not able to keep up with the pace with first the front tyres, then the rear tyres. I was playing with the diff to help the problem but it was not enough and on the last stint when Kimi was very close to me I had massive front graining which cleaned up fortunately, otherwise we would have had a very tough last 10 laps. But I managed to clean the tyres and managed to pull away and finish second.

Q:
What are your feelings about the final two races and the championship?

RK:
My feeling doesn't change. Being leader of the championship after seven races, once you are able to be leader after seven races, you should be able to fight for the championship. Initially, I think I missed a bit of come and go. I was hoping we could be able to fight for the championship. We didn't improve a lot lately with the car, so this didn't help me but still, I think I'm twelve points behind the leader. In the last two races everything is possible. Over the last three races - mostly apparent here – it shows that everything can be possible. In Monza we had changeable conditions. I started eleventh, I finished third. In Singapore I would easily have finished on the podium, I think. My race was ruined by safety cars, so it's changeable. We have to be there and I hope this is a good boost for the last two races and I hope we can find a few tenths which will help me in the battle.

Q:
Kimi, the performance seemed to be very much up and down during the race?

KR:
Yeah, a bit but then when you're behind people it's very tricky, the tyres don't last as well and the car doesn't work as well as if you're on your own. Overall it wasn't too bad, we got six points but we definitely wanted to challenge for the win. It already went away in the first corner when the McLaren came and I had nowhere to go and I had to go straight on and they hit me. After that I was always trying to recover and you know that the people who started behind you often have a bit more fuel, so in this kind of place it's hard to improve but we did the best that we could, not as quick in the race as we were hoping but that was the end result today.

Q:
What about your battle with Robert and you also had Nelson behind you?

KR: