MONACO PostRace Podium Interview (Not on TV)*SPOILER*

(Interview that continues after SpeedTV leaves press conference)

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Two things, Lewis. First of all, you were very hoarse, your voice sounded as if it had gone, so I wondered what had happened on the slow-down lap, were you doing a lot of shouting on the way round, and what were you thinking when you hit the wall? Did you think your chance of victory had gone then?

LH: Yeah, my in-lap... or rather from the last corner onwards, I was screaming my head off basically, making sure the radio was off, but just so happy that I was able to pull it off. When I hit the wall, I guess it's just basic instinct, you still remain optimistic and I still thought, OK, I can still win. It was just unknown, you know?

I just had to come in, didn't lose too much time on the lap, and then I came into the pits and I came out still in fifth or fourth, so I was thinking ‘OK, well, we can still do it, just don't do it again.' I don't believe that it was down to luck in the incident that I didn't do any more damage.

I wasn't pushing that much and I only just tapped the barrier with the rear tyre and so it was only the rear tyre or the rear rim that had gone but for sure, at this sort of track you need to have a bit of luck, you need to be in the right place at the right time and obviously, exactly that happened. I had to come in, went back out and I was in the right place at the right time, where I was able to utilise that, use my tyres, use the fuel that I had to get out in front.

Q. (Frederic Ferrett – L'Equipe) Lewis, on Wednesday when you arrived, you said that you would do everything to win today. What were the other things you did during this weekend to clinch the win?

LH: Well, I do everything to win all the time but as I came into this weekend, I said to you all that this is my favourite circuit, this is the one that I would want to win more than any other race in the world.

That's just because I have been watching it for years and watching the old races and as I said earlier, Ayrton won here so many times and I've always wanted to… if he could win here, that means the best drivers have been able to win here, so I wanted to be able to do the same. The team did an even better job than they always do and I think that even though I touched the barrier, I think I did a better job than I have done in the past.

Q. (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Lewis, you talked about Ayrton and the memories you have. Would this be the one single dream, from the time you were a boy, that you saw yourself living out, when you were a six-year old, seeing yourself going round these streets and winning?

LH: Definitely, definitely. Even when I was younger, this was the favourite track, just because you had the tunnel, you had coming through the swimming pool, I think it just looks spectacular and so automatically it became my favourite race, not knowing that street circuits were the best, and then I got here and then experienced it for the first time in 2005 and I was like ‘wow, this is by far the best track.'

Obviously I won in 2005 and I knew I could do it then, 2006 and very very close to it last year, but we qualified third and I remained optimistic and I believed that it was possible but with the rain, we didn't know what was going to happen. As we saw last year in China, your tyres go bald and you can go off easily or you can hit the wall as I did today. I guess just everything went right.

Q. (Jason Barlow – Top Gear) Lewis, I asked you 24 hours ago if, if it was a wet race, were you going to modify your driving style. Did you do that, and exactly how difficult was it out there?

LH: Yeah, we automatically modify our driving styles for the wet. You can't brake anywhere near as late, you have to adjust the brake balance, you can't downshift at the same point, you have to look for the driest line, you're constantly aquaplaning and you've got spray in your face, so you can't even see where the rivers are.

You're just trying to be as sensitive as possible and pick up every little movement of the car. Usually when it's dry, you can rely on the car being stable in most places, but it was very tough. Everyone was in the same boat. Until my shunt, my touch of the barrier, Felipe had probably done a better job up until then, but once I came out of the pits, I think I got my act together and pulled my socks up.

Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Lewis, you mentioned Ayrton. He effectively owned this track during his time in racing. Do you believe that, with this win now, you can start a similar era here perhaps?

LH: It would be great but I think that this weekend has shown that anything can happen. I'm not going to say that next year I'm going to win it. Next year I'm going to aim to come back and win it, but again, anything can happen. I hope this is the start of something very special, yeah.

Q. (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Felipe, last year we saw that McLaren was unbeatable here in Monaco and today you said you had a good chance to win the race. Do you think in Canada Ferrari will be stronger than last year?

FM: Yeah, yeah, because today they were not unbeatable. We had a great pace in the rain, in the dry as well, but with all the circumstances, we were not able to fight with him, also because we made a kind of mistake on the strategy and we were waiting for the rain which didn't come. It was a little bit of a gamble.

Sometimes a gamble on this track works perfectly, sometimes it doesn't work and the weather forecast had been perfect most of the time, and it didn't work when we really expected that it would rain again. I don't think they were unbeatable here and we have the same feelings for Montreal, so the championship is very open. We have a good car, a good team and it's not this race which will change our possibilities to fight.

Q. (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) Lewis, will you be DJ-ing tonight, will you be on the decks?

LH: It depends what the conditions are like. I think we're going to have some fun. As I said, I've got my family here, so hopefully we will go to dinner and hopefully with all the team. A funny thing: Ron came on the radio…

My engineer said ‘drinks are on you tonight' and I was just about to reply and say ‘no problem' and then Ron said ‘don't worry, I'll pay for the drinks.' Even better! So tonight we're going to have a good time, but bearing in mind we need to remain focused for the next race, as we want to continue, it's always good to continue with the momentum you have.

Q. (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) Robert, you have a mathematical chance to be leader of the championship in Canada, but do you see yourself in the title championship and do you think you can keep this gap small until the end of the championship?

RK: Well, I'm trying to do my best. We also have to see that if in Australia I had finished, we would have at least six points more and the worst race result would be fourth place, so I don't think that's bad. But to be honest, we are there with such a lot of points because we are the most consistent team and driver in the championship. I have been taking the maximum from the car in every race, I think and maybe some qualifying laps like the second run here was not the best one, but I still managed to stay very close to McLaren and Ferrari, which was not easy.

I think our car here was not what we were expecting, at least what I was expecting, looking at last year's performance, last year's experience. I would even risk saying that we had a better car here last year than this year. But still, the circumstances were good for us. I did a very good race, I think with a lot of miracles to bring the car home and second place is a great result for myself and for the team.

Q. (Frederic Ferrett – L'Equipe) Lewis, winning here in the rain and in the circumstances, does it give you more feeling and more happiness than a straightforward win in the sun?

LH: Yeah, I think winning a race here from pole position and just walking away from it, is definitely not as good as starting on P3, with wet conditions with all the dramas that went on throughout the race: probably one of the most exciting races that I've experienced and especially with the incident that I had, it definitely makes it even more satisfying to win.

Q. (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) You said it was the race of your life, Lewis. I wonder if you have any commiserations for your friend Adrian Sutil who also had the race of his life this afternoon but ended up without any points at all.

LH: (Details are explained) Really? Shoot. Really? So they were both out. Jeez. I didn't know that. What I can say? Adrian's a really good friend of mine. He's very well known for having a very strong head on his shoulders, so I'm sure he will bounce back from that. He needs good showings like that, and I very much support him and hope that he continues the momentum he has now, and tries to improve.

Q. (Richard Williams – The Guardian) Lewis, you got a very good start, but the first five laps, until you brushed the wall, Felipe seemed to be easing away from you. How did you feel at that time? Did you think you had the speed or the strategy to win the race?

LH: I felt that we had the speed. I was right behind him and almost all over him. I thought it was better to ease off and take my time, because I didn't really know what the track was like, so for the first few laps I was quite happy.

And then he started putting the hammer down and I realised ‘yeah, we need to pick up the pace,' and as I began to do that I started to close the gap and then I touched the wall and that was your dreams all down the drain for a split second but I remained optimistic and came into the pits and I was just shocked that I came out in such a good place. I wasn't disheartened by it. I knew I was able to still compete, at least. I wasn't down in tenth and driving in eighth place for one point. I was up there with the top guys.

 

Today, McLaren out strategized Ferrari. At least Massa podiumed. Felipe continues to save Ferrari's face when their high paid driver goes to sleep.