Q:
It was the best result of your career and also your major sponsor’s home race, so what does this result mean to you?
RK:
After a disappointing race in Australia, where I qualified second with a small mistake which cost me pole position, the race pace in Australia was not really fantastic, especially in the first stint. Here we worked mainly on the race pace. I knew with some solutions which we chose in qualifying, we would suffer a bit, but then in the race it paid off, so I’m very happy for myself, for the team and for Petronas.
Q:
How do you see your pace in comparison to Ferrari?
RK:
I think
Ferrari was something special because they were not where we were expecting them to be, and here they are exactly where we think that they are. We are lacking a few tenths per lap and this brings the final twenty seconds in the race of sixty laps.
Q:
You had a bit of a battle with Jarno, Heikki. Were you basically looking to overtake during the pit stops?
Heikki Kovalainen:
Yeah, that was always going to be the case. In my race today I suffered a little bit at the beginning of the first and second stints, with a little bit of graining with my front tyres, so the only time for me really to attack was at the end of the stint. The car was getting better towards the end of the stint and I was able to push more. So I wasn’t too worried when Jarno was behind me, because I knew that I was going very long in the second stint, and I was fairly sure that he wouldn’t be going that long, so I just kept it nice and easy with my tyres, trying to make sure they were in good shape whenever he pitted and I was able to do a few good laps at that point and for the last stint it was relatively easy.
Q:
Was there much difference between the tyre performance?
HK:
The first stint didn’t feel quite as good with the softer tyre. The second stint felt better with the harder one but then the last stint on the softer tyre felt good again. I think there was a bit of track evolution. So it wasn’t too bad.
Questions from the floor:
Q: (Heikki Kulta –
Turun Sanomat)
Kimi and Heikki, this was the greatest ever Grand Prix result for Finnish drivers. How does it feel to be a Finn and when will we see a one-two result?
KR:
It hasn’t changed anything, even the results, for me at least. For sure it was a good day for Finns but it’s still early season. Hopefully at some point we will be one and two, but I will be looking for first place all the time and a best possible overall result. It was a good day for us.
