As I have said, I was happy with second [but] first is even better, so we need to take all the opportunities we can to be at the front all the time if it's possible. It is always nice to lead the championship, though, so hopefully we can stay in that position.
Press conference.
Q:
Felipe, tell us about the start and about the opening laps when you were behind Kimi.
FM:
Well, it was a little bit tough to be honest to follow him, as he was very quick at that moment. I was like two or three tenths slower than him, but I had two more laps of fuel which is understandable. I think I would have liked to have been one tenth slower per lap, and then it would have been possible to fight for the position in the pits.
When I saw that the gap was already six seconds I said ‘okay, maybe it is better to concentrate on the driving and finish second' as that already was a great result for the championship. Then I saw that he was slowing down and I heard that he had a problem with the exhaust, but sometimes you need the luck. I am just happy for Kimi to finish the race because usually when you have this kind of problem you cannot finish the race, so I think he was not too unlucky to finish second.
Q:
Now you are leading the championship as well. How important is that?
FM:
It is always nice, for sure, to lead the championship. It is always a great pleasure but at the moment we have won nothing, just some races. The championship is still 100 per cent open and we still have many races to go. We need to do our job race-by-race, thinking about the points, thinking if the win is good, otherwise second place is also good or maybe third. We need to think like that about the championship until the last race and then we are sure if we did the right job or if we had the right luck or did everything right to win the championship or not…but it is always nice to be leading the championship.
Q:
You were suggesting that the track conditions were different with the rain showers…
FM:
You could see the drops, and sometimes they were very small drops and you don't feel the track changing, but sometimes it is coming a little bit stronger and the grip is a little bit lower than you expect. When I saw some big drops I said ‘okay, it is better to slow down more and lose time instead of risk [things] and maybe go off in the corner', so sometimes I was even slowing down more than I needed to. I think if was the right decision looking at the gap we had, though, and also looking at the conditions as we were suffering with these small drops.
Q:
Kimi, tell us about the start and those early stages as your car was phenomenal…
KR:
It was good. It has been good all weekend, so it is a bit disappointing not to win, but that's racing. Things go wrong sometimes and luckily enough we still got second place, so it is better than nothing.
