LH:
Yeah, I was told that I needed a 23s lead, so I kind of knew that it was impossible in the short period of time that I had unless I was three seconds a lap faster or something. I just did the best job I could. I nailed it. I really got on. I was pushing even more than I was in the first stint. I was just trying to make that gap. I had a nice clean space, no one to cause me any troubles and we weren't able to do it, we just missed it. We got a few seconds out of it but we just missed it, but nevertheless the great thing was that the team was still very positive. They came across on the radio and said ‘don't worry, we can still do it.' And you know that's great, to see the team so positive and so enthusiastic and I think that enabled me to go and go for the win.
Q:
And now a four point lead in the championship which must seem like a luxury after the last few weeks.
LH:
Yeah, sure. It's a good feeling to have come off a strong win at
Silverstone and come here and we've pretty much been dominant all weekend, so it's great to see that we have the pace that we have but again, we've just got to take one step at a time. We've got a long way to go and we've got to make sure that we can continue with this performance.
Q:
Nelson, it's great to see you here on a Sunday afternoon. What were you feelings in the car as the last laps unfolded?
NP:
To be honest, I didn't really know it was the last lap. I knew it was finishing but I was so concentrated, so looking forward that I didn't even want to look left or right, look at the boards, I just wanted to look forward. I looked a few times but I didn't want to spend too much time looking for how many laps, I just wanted to focus and when I saw Lewis backing off on the last lap, then I think I realised that this was the last lap and it was, and I saw the chequered flag. It was an incredible feeling. After the safety car left, I knew I was in a very strong position. I just had to push until the end, not making any mistakes. Then I knew Lewis was going to pit but probably he was going to catch up because he was really quick and that's what happened. He came, and I saw him fighting with Felipe and he overtook Felipe, caught me very quickly and I just decided not to make it too hard because I could have a chance to lose time and fight with Felipe. Lewis was much quicker, he deserved to win and I was just worried not to make any mistakes and just keep it quick and finish second. It was a good race. In the beginning I struggled a little bit. The start was good but then I had a lock-up and the beginning of the safety mode in the car. It was a bit difficult on the first lap, sliding everywhere and getting mixed up with all the guys at the back. It wasn't very good. Luckily, after the safety car I got rid of it and I was in front and on the soft tyres the car was really, really good and I was able to push from the beginning to the end and no mistakes, so it was good.
Q:
You've had a fairly tough time in the first half of the season; what do you think this result will do?
NP:
I don't think it's going to change much. Obviously it's always good to get a result like this. I don't think that if you had the normal finish of a race I probably wouldn't arrive here starting from 17th. It was a bit lucky. It's still difficult for me. I'm not saying that in Hungary, the next race, you should expect me on the podium. I don't think it would be like that. Obviously we're going to be fighting for it but for me it's getting a bit tough. We're getting there slowly, slowly, having some difficulties sometimes: qualifying, with the tyres, I'm not getting used to them very easily. I think it's part of learning. I think getting a podium is great, it helps the confidence, good for the team, to push them up a bit but we still need to improve a lot. I certainly need to improve, the car still needs to improve, the team is doing a great job. I think the strategy today was great. We started the race with a flexible strategy between a two- and a one-stop and it was perfect because if we chose a very risky but quick one at the beginning with a short stint - I suggested one at the beginning to try to attack - I wouldn't be here right now, so I think the strategy guys in the team all deserve this podium.
Q:
Felipe, you mentioned that the car didn't feel particularly comfortable; is that a worry for future races?
FM:
I hope not. For sure today was a not great day for us. We had a difficult car to drive, I don't know why. Yesterday was a little bit better than today in terms of competition with
McLaren. Today was difficult. Lewis pulled away very easily in the first stint and during the whole race, and then in the last stint, I started to have little problems with the brakes. I had so much smoke coming from the car under braking and just lost a lot of performance. I had a bit of (brake) fading as well. It was difficult to fight for position at the end of the stint because of that and also the behaviour of the car was difficult as well. I'm sure we have a great car but for some reason today, something was not working and it was very difficult to drive but that doesn't mean we will not be competitive in the next race. I'm sure we will be because we were so competitive in many races this year and I'm sure we are going to regain our normal pace.
Q:
Tell us about Lewis's overtaking manoeuvre from your point of view?
FM: Well, first of all I saw him in the slipstream and then I tried to brake as late as I could but I didn't have very good braking performance and then I just saw him braking slightly forward, and then he just came beside me. Then I took the slipstream again in the next corner and he went inside. I tried everything I could on the outside but there was nothing I could do. He was so much quicker that if I passed him again he would pass me very easily afterwards because he had such pace and I couldn't do anything. So at the end of the day, it was a positive race for sure. We cannot say it was a negative race and the championship is open, and I'm sure we're going to get back the normal pace in our car and we're going to fight again.
