Questions from the floor:
Q: (Juha Päätalo –
Financial Times Germany)
Kimi, first of all, when you saw Heikki’s car in the tyre wall, what did you think?
Kimi Raikkonen:
First of all, we didn’t know which
McLaren it was. I asked the team and they said it was Heikki. It probably looked worse than it was in the end. Luckily he seems to be OK, so that’s the main thing.
Q: (Juha Päätalo –
Financial Times Germany)
You now have a nine point lead in the championship. How much easier does it make your life?
KR:
It doesn’t change anything, so far. It’s a good advantage but there are 14 races to go. You have one bad race and it’s all gone. There’s a little safety in it, in that if you don’t finish one race it’s not totally disastrous afterwards, but so far it’s been good. We just need to keep on going and try to improve the car.
Q: (Ian Parkes –
The Press Association)
Lewis, after what happened to you in Bahrain, did you perhaps come into this race with a point to prove, to yourself perhaps?
Lewis Hamilton:
Not really. Mistakes happen, it was just one of those character-building... it was a learning curve I guess. But I didn’t feel that I had to come here and do anything extra or do anything different. You know what I can do. I don’t feel I need to improve it. I just wanted to come here and do a solid job for the team and get points for both of us. I’m really happy with where we’ve come, especially after not the best qualifying but to see the reliability of the car, how much we could push at the end and to see the pace of the car improving throughout the race. It was quite encouraging.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri –
La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Was there any point, Lewis, after the accident to Heikki, that the team was discussing that you might retire, just for safety or was that never taken into consideration?
LH:
For me, at least, it never crossed my mind, and the team never came onto the radio and said you might need to. I think the reliability of our car is very very good and so obviously we will go back and try and look at and understand what happened to Heikki’s car. But mine was perfect, I was quite happy with it.
Q: (Lorenzo Garmendia –
Berria)
Lewis, Heikki’s having some hard times, not just because of today’s accident but in the championship. Do you feel you have to take over the responsibility to push the team, even if you are only in your second year?
