Abu Dhabi GP - Post-race press conference - Pt.1

Podium interviews (conducted by David Coulthard)

Q:
Kimi - your first victory since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. Tell us about your emotions at this time.

Kimi Raikkonen:
Not much really.

Q:
People want to know how amazing it is to win a grand prix. Tell us.

Kimi Raikkonen:
Last time you guys was giving me shit because I didn't really smile enough, so maybe this time again but I mean I'm very happy for the team - and myself - but mainly for the team. It's really a hard season for the team and not an easy time. Hopefully this gives them more belief, not just for the guys making all the work but also for the guys who run the team. I hope this can turn around the tables and give us many more good races and wins. If not this year then next year.

Q:
Fernando, you never gave up, you were chasing Kimi down in the closing stages of the Grand Prix. You must be surprised to see your world title... well all three of you were technically in the world championship battle until this moment. Tell us about your race and how you felt it was going.

Fernando Alonso:
I'm very happy, I think we were not super competitive this weekend. We started seventh, sixth at the end with Sebastian's penalty so we have to fight all through the race, the first laps to do some good overtakings and then a very good strategy that gave us the ability to fight at the end for the victory. In the last couple of laps Kimi was a little bit slower, so we attack. But second, I think, was the maximum today, starting sixth, so a perfect Sunday again for us and we kept fighting until the end.

Q:
Sebastian, did you honestly believe you could be standing here today, starting from the end of the pitlane?

Sebastian Vettel:
Yes, I did, to be honest with you. After the first couple of laps obviously that target was drifting a little bit away. I had a messy start to the race, which is quite difficult at the back, to get through the cars as quickly as I could, damaged my front wing. And then to the safety car, yeah I had a little bit of a big mistake with Daniel [Ricciardo] I think, who was stopping his car on the straights and I was very surprised. Turned to the right and... if it would have been 50m earlier, 50m later I wouldn't have done damage to my front wing further but after that, I said to myself 'yeah, either we go full attack or nothing'. So that's what we did and I had a fantastic race. I enjoyed it a lot. Obviously the safety cars here and there was helping, the second one, and after that, at the end it was a nice fight with Jenson. He was difficult to pass. I expected to have a little bit easier time because obviously I was passing the slower cars before and with him I was a bit struggling. Then I just squeezed my way past into Turn 11 which was nice, it was very fair but for sure, it was a thrilling grand prix, up and down all the time. Yeah. Obviously it's very nice to stand here now, pick up a trophy and drink some champagne. It's not actually champagne, I don't know what it is but it tastes good.

Q:
Your name is up there as a double world champion. Do you now feel that you've got your hands on one side of the cup for a third world title?

Sebastian Vettel:
I think it's still two races to go so obviously we see how quickly things can change. Yesterday was a surprise for us, I think would we have started from third it would have been a different race. But yeah, it was obviously a chance to fuck it up and we didn't do that. So I think we can be very proud today: we got the maximum. We lost only a very little bit, I think we have the momentum still, the car is bloody quick, so looking forward to the next two races. We are definitely believing in it and that's the target.

Q:
Kimi, you've won before, you've won the title before and standing here you sent a message to the team about how you hope this will motivate future success, but when it is moment going to sink in? That you've won a grand prix in your comeback year.

Kimi Raikkonen:
I mean like I said, I'm happy, but there's nothing to jump around about. Really we still have a few races to go, I'll try to do the same again, and for sure we're going to have a good party today and hopefully tomorrow, when we are feeling bad after a long night, we will remember how we feel so... I'm just happy for everybody in the team.

Press conference

Q:
Kimi, well done, congratulations. Fantastic win for you, you've really been waiting for this win, I think, all season and now it's happened. What are your feelings?

Kimi Raikkonen:
Like I said before, I'm very happy for the team. We have had hard times lately and hopefully it gives some belief for the people, even more that... I mean they've been working very hard the whole year but with the hard times there's a bit unknown in the whole situation and hopefully for the people who runs the team, who owns the team, the people who works for... for everybody, hopefully it gives a bit more support and hope that things will turn around and be even better than it's been this year. So, great thing for the team itself, for the guys and, I mean of course I'm happy myself, but if I win it's great, if I don't I will try again and it's not the end of the life. We've been close few times but now I said that even the last race I think we had the speed to even win the race but if you don't start in the front we see what can happen. We knew the start would be a really big key and I got a really good start so I think with the McLaren we didn't have the speed, at least in the beginning of the race - but then we have to finish the race to win so... I mean after that we were pretty good. Just the safety cars made us a little bit more tricky today.

Q:
The start really was... gave you the second place straight away, it was a really excellent start.

Kimi Raikkonen:
Like I said yesterday, this going to be key, to get behind the faster car and not start behind the cars that cannot go as fast as us. And I mean we have a fast car for lap time in the race but if we stuck behind there's no way we're going to get past so, that's what we could do this weekend: put yesterday in a good position and then made a good start and then just go from there.

Q:
And how much is the development that has been taking place on the car with the exhaust etc, how much has that been bringing pace to the car?

Kimi Raikkonen:
It brings some pace, helps our straight line speed. So in average we gain some advantage but it's exactly the same car we have in Korea. So we see how much even this year in all the races some circuits suits better for one team and the next one is not so good for you. We had good speed last race as I've already said. We made some mistakes in qualifying and paid the price in the race. So now we put all together like we should have done quite a few times this year but for one reason or another we haven't. But at least we've got one win so we'll keep try to push still and see what we can do in the next race.

Q:
Fernando, tremendous pace at the end there, where did that come from and was it just a little bit too late?

Fernando Alonso:
Well, I think we just saw on the board eight laps to go, there was no more concerns about the tyres because obviously doing one stop you never know how the tyres will finish the race, and also after the last safety car we saw Sebastian with the soft and the first three of us, we were with the prime, so we didn't know how much a threat was Sebastian for fight until the last lap. So after they lost a little bit of time, Jenson and Sebastian, and we didn't care any more about the tyres, I push 150 per cent for eight laps and I tried to catch Kimi but it was never enough to be within one second for the DRS to be even closer. So at the end we didn't have the pace to win but fantastic race anyway. We didn't have the pace this weekend in any practice, in qualifying seventh and ninth and then today we were fighting for a victory - surprising again. This is thanks to a perfect car for the race, a perfect start, perfect strategy, perfect pitstops so everything perfect Sunday for us, maximising what we have in hands.

Q:
Do you think the modifications brought to the Ferrari helped during the race today?

Fernando Alonso:
I think it helped for sure because when we tested it on Friday, they gave us some performance but we are talking very few hundredths of advantage that for sure when you have a gap to close that is a couple of tenths, when you bring hundredths and your opponents bring also some new parts, I think more or less you are in the same position. So, we need to keep working and in Maranello they work day and night very hard to bring new parts. Here in the track, mechanics work 24 hours and we are doing our maximum and we sure that hopefully it will be enough.

Q:
Are you a bit disappointed that you didn't have more of an advantage over Sebastian, you only pulled out three points?

Fernando Alonso:
To be honest we were concentrating on our race. Our simulations we had gave us the possibility to finish fifth or sixth, so we were not very optimistic with today's race and despite what Sebastian was doing in the race we were taking eight, ten points maximum in our simulations. So we concentrated on our race. He did a very good race and he was able to use the performance in some of the parts of the race when he was in clean air plus the safety cars that I think put the group all together. So at the end I think this is nothing we can do, we just need to concentrate on our race and if we finish in front of Sebastian in the next two races then maybe we have a chance. So that's our concentration now.

Q:
Sebastian a pretty lively race for you one way or another. It's quite lively back there isn't it - there's a lot going on?

Sebastian Vettel:
Yeah, usually it's hard enough to fight your way once through the field but we did it twice today so... Yeah, obviously not the first couple of laps we were hoping for. We damaged the front wing early, which didn't seem to be a big problem but it was probably the worst possible time with the safety car. I think we were already quite high up, close to the top 10, around 13, 14, 15 or something like that. And then I had a moment with the Toro Rosso. I don't know what he did. He was braking his car down and I was surprised, caught out. Maybe I should have paid more attention, but yeah, I went to the right and I wasn't very lucky, there was the DRS board, which I took head on and then I thought 'well, now the front is fucked at least, so we've got to change it,'... (sorry). We did it in the worst possible moment, during the safety car, when all the cars were already queued up and yeah we lost everything. We were dead last. At least we had a fresh wing and from then went through the field. It was a lot of fun. Quite difficult with some guys, a little bit easier with other guys, but the most important thing was that the pace was there and we were in a very strong position - already halfway through the race, 20 laps to the end and also on the soft tyres in the last stint. Obviously the safety car helped a little bit. Nevertheless, I think it was a fantastic race: a great fight with Jenson in the end, who was the most difficult to pass, obviously he was the quickest I passed in the whole race. We know that... I think it's quite difficult for us to get past a Mercedes-engined car. It was very, very close with him. I enjoyed the fight a lot, tried a couple of times and finally made it. He was very, very fair. You can't do that kind of move with all the drivers on the grid. And after that not enough laps left to catch up with Kimi and Fernando but the pace was there. Obviously we had an interesting race, up and down all the time and a great result in the end. It was a big chance to lose out a lot today, but we didn't lose anything, so I'm very happy. The guys are pushing 100 per cent. I feel very happy they're all behind me and I try to do my best for them. I think we have two more races ahead of us, we're in the best possible position so I think we're looking forward to the next race - a new grand prix, a new challenge. It's difficult to know who is going to be quick but I think it was another race today where we see that it's over as soon as we see the chequered flag and not before.