Rubens Barrichello:
It’s obviously been a long time without that but up to now I’ve had a great career. I know the feeling on the lap just before you conquer something. It’s just a great feeling. You could hear on the radio my engineer Jock Clear saying ‘you don’t need to take those risks in keeping the lap (time) down.’ I wasn’t taking any risks at all, so if you’re certain of that, because it’s so funny that people outside are so scared. Oh man, he’s going to put a wheel wrong or something, so it’s very nice to be in that situation. When I crossed the line, I wanted to shake every hand of the
Honda personnel, and I almost stopped the car to put my hand up to them because they deserve it. They work flat out and the lack of results is not just bad for myself but it’s bad for the whole team. So for them to get that - the factory is literally two minutes away - and in such a good way, it means a lot to me and to them.
Q: (Jon McEvoy –
The Daily Mail)
Lewis, we wondered if you were a bit busy over the last few weeks. You were going to see Nelson Mandela almost every other night last week. Were you ever worried with the sailing that you did, the schedule that you had? Were you worried that maybe you would lose a bit of energy and should we have been worried?
LH:
No, I don’t think you should have been worried, and that wasn’t what it was about. Meeting Nelson Mandela was the most overwhelming experience. It took a lot out of me to really understand what was going on. Then I had a job to do, which I always want to perform at my best, not only in the car but away from the car. But to be honest, I think the biggest emotional build-up was just not wanting to let down the fans. I know how much support I have, I know how much my team believes in me and I’ve got a fantastic team-mate who’s pushing me all the time. That whole build-up… you try to contain it but there’s so much excitement and that emotion is just overflowing all the time. Just trying to balance that out… Then I had this big cut on my face, nearly knocked myself out earlier on in the week. Then you’re worried that you’ve got this fat lip and everyone’s taking pictures of you all the time. It was just dealing with everything. I think I’ve done a good job, I’m very, very happy in the end.
Q: (Mike Doodson)
Lewis, before you were born, 24 years ago,
Nigel Mansell was racing at Monaco in very wet horrible conditions. I know you’ve studied a bit of history. I wondered if you knew about that. He was going too fast and he spun off. At one time in this race you were going six, seven, ten seconds faster than everybody else. Did you slow down because of your own decision or were you getting advice from the pit?
LH:
I had to slow down because the team were telling me that it was forty seconds, 48 seconds, you’re five or eight seconds or whatever it was faster than the guy behind and I’m thinking, hold on a second, what’s going on? I’m not even pushing. I’m driving to a comfortable pace. I didn’t want to slow down because the moment you slow down, you perhaps lose concentration, so I just said ‘I’m comfortable at the pace I’m going’ and even then I was a silly amount quicker than everyone. So I really had to be very, very sensible. Imagine I was a minute, sixty seconds ahead and I came off, and I didn’t win. There would be no way you could come from that. That would be the most embarrassing thing. You would have to retire. I was comfortable with the pace I was doing but I asked the team ‘how much slower can I go?’ They gave me a margin which I was comfortable with, yet I still did a 1m 36s and that was quicker than I’d been in my last stint. But I was comfortable there. The car felt good, I felt comfortable where I was. I think I lapped quite a few people. It was easy enough for me to back off but by the time I got past Heikki it was too late to take the risk of backing off and coming together with him, so I just had to keep on going forward and so it was just about managing it.
Q: (Will Buxton –
Australasian Motorsport News)
Rubens, 1993, your third race ever, I believe,
Donington Park in conditions not too dissimilar to this. Just your memories of that and the fact that the British Grand Prix is going to return there in 2010 and whether you hope to be there?
RB:
Well, conditions were actually very similar. The visibility in both was very difficult and so on. Obviously, we were in different cars in different eras. But when it comes to this question, it’s like I have a wall and I’m on top of the wall. One side is Silverstone, the other side is Donington because I have great memories from my Formula 3 times and from Formula One at Donington and so on. But I love
Silverstone. I think that Becketts is one of my top three corners in the world. Obviously, when it comes, I think I will just open my arms and just take it. I think Donington is a great circuit if they make it safe for
Formula One. It’s going to be a lovely event. But I cannot just say that I will forget Silverstone. Silverstone has been quite important for me.
Q: (Ian Parkes –
The Press Association)
Lewis, it’s said that many people learn more about themselves in times of adversity. You’ve touched on the fact that you’ve had a really tough few weeks. Just how much will these past few weeks help you in going forward, and just exactly what have you perhaps learned about yourself?
LH:
Yeah, I think that’s true. There’s a quote that Martin Luther King made and I can’t remember it word by word, but he was saying something like: it is not the times where we triumph and are successful that make us who we are but it is the times where we are at our lows and we are going through our troubles that really build us and create you and make you who you are. That’s a long way off the actual quote he gave but I remember reading it and that is a very important thing. Today, and this whole week has been tough but when you take all that in, you learn more and I think even when you’re racing, when you lose, you learn a lot more because you learn how to improve.
Q: (Alan Baldwin –
Reuters)
Lewis, you’ve led the championship twice this season now and each time you’ve lost the lead. Is this now third time lucky? Can you hold it to the end of the year?
LH:
It’s difficult to say. I don’t believe it’s going to be third time lucky. I think it’s a work in progress. We’re doing a good job and I’ve just got to keep on building on it. As I said, I would have been happy with a point from this race, which would have just put us in good stead for the next race, but we’re in a good spot now but you can tell that there’s a lot of competition and we’ve just got to keep on scoring points.
