Question: Lewis, you are still leading the championship. Do you feel after all the problems you have had this weekend with the car that this is a kind of a miracle result for you?
Lewis Hamilton: I don’t think it is a miracle result. I think it is a reflection off all the hard work the team had put in. The car was nice to drive. It wasn’t as fast as these guys ahead of us, but we did the best job we could with the package that we had. That has been the case all weekend. Even Jenson (Button) did a fantastic job today, so that’s great points for the team. I guess we are still leading the Constructors’ Championship as well, so a great result for the guys.
Question: You tried very hard to stay with Mark. You stayed with him to six seconds towards the end. How hard was it to live with the Red Bulls today?
Lewis Hamilton: Mark did a phenomenal job, so congratulations to him. Those guys are just so fast. I knew that on pure pace I wouldn’t be able to outpace them. The first couple of laps it looked like he was struggling and it was a great chance for me to maybe get past but still it was so hard, as we were both struggling. But after that I was flat, flat-chat. I was trying to do my qualifying lap every lap as always but he kept on creeping away.
Question: Lewis, for you it was a chase all the way. Were you surprised how good the car was today?
Lewis Hamilton: No, not really. The car felt very similar to how it did in qualifying. Our race pace has always been generally quite good. We thought it was inevitable that we would be a little bit closer to the Red Bulls as qualifying is where they really pull out a huge chunk. I did say it would be around four-five tenths a lap and it generally was a good four-tenths a lap difference between us. It wasn’t easy, as when you are behind someone you get in the dirty air and even if you are split between two seconds you still notice a little bit. The team did a great job. The car felt nice to drive. We are still lacking downforce but nevertheless we still managed to do a solid job and a better job than the rest to put ourselves that high up. Mark did a great job today, it was great for him. It is a great place. The fans have been phenomenal all weekend, so I am glad for myself and Jenson (Button), as Jenson did a great job today, a really great job, to get way back up there and score points for the team, so hopefully it is not a real disappointment for the Brits. I think we still put on a good show and like I said the championship is not decided this weekend.
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Question: So really pleased with second place?
Lewis Hamilton: I am, I am. As I said yesterday on pure pace I cannot challenge the Ferraris and Red Bulls but it was down to the start. I managed to creep my way forwards which was a real blessing.
Question: Was there any contact between you and Vettel on the first lap?
Lewis Hamilton: Not that I know of but when I got out of my car just now I think it looks like there is a little bit of damage at the front left corner of the end plate but I didn’t notice it and it must have been very, very fine if it was.
Question: Lewis, once again McLaren seem to have benefitted from the brotherly love within the Red Bull team. Was there a big smile on your face as you went round the first corner in second position, or shortly afterwards? Red Bull gives you wings, it also takes them away again.
Lewis Hamilton: Like I said, I just focused on my job. I think I was very quick at the beginning of the race. Regardless, I think I would have a shot at fighting both of them down into Stowe, if Sebastian hadn’t gone off. Funnily enough, we seemed to be quite quick at the beginning of the run, we seemed to be as fast as them, but then obviously (Mark) decided to knuckle down and pull away, but I don’t feel I’ve been fortunate in this situation, I think we’ve just worked hard all weekend and we’ve just worked down to the bone and got absolutely everything we could from ourselves as a team.
Question: Lewis, 18 points on a weekend when the team seemed to struggle is surely a great result for the championship. How confident are you heading into the second half of the season?
Lewis Hamilton: Definitely we cannot complain with two second places in the last two races where we really have been on the back foot. The other teams have made a step forward in development and we’re trying to but the component didn’t work this weekend, which should have put us back into a real fighting position with the Red Bulls but no, we couldn’t have asked for more, really, to come into these weekends, knowing that we don’t have the true pure pace of maybe the Ferraris and Red Bulls and sometimes even a Mercedes, to be this far up is… I mean we’re really fortunate.
Question: Lewis, did you honestly believe that you would be sitting here today in this position after everything that had gone on on Friday and then overnight with all the troubles that the team had had in trying to get the car set up for the weekend?
Lewis Hamilton: I think this weekend I’ve had an incredible amount of optimism, regardless of when they took the floor away – which I actually thought was… I didn’t actually want to change the floor, I wanted to stay with it but there were a few… the results on the data and all these kind of things. They had to make a team decision to take it off just in case. We didn’t know if it was delivering a little bit less or just about the same. It should have been giving a lot more downforce. It felt good in certain areas for me. I was a bit cautious and a bit nervous about taking it off and then going into Saturday, not knowing just how quick we would be and then on Saturday morning we really were nowhere, we didn’t have the pace of these guys. Like I said, we looked like we would be seventh or eighth but pulled out a stonking qualifying lap and that really changed the whole race situation. And then into the race, my race pace this year has always been strong, so that’s never been a real struggle for me.
Question: Lewis, you’ve been on pole this year, you’ve won here, you’ve had a great second place here today, almost as good as a win. Personally, what does Silverstone mean to you, all the history and everything that this weekend we’re celebrating as well?
Lewis Hamilton: Silverstone is a unique and classic race for me. I think growing up, I never got to come here when I was younger, so it wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I started coming here, and seeing all the great races here, British history. In terms of motor sport, when we say it’s the home of motor sport, it really is. We’ve got so many teams here, so many enthusiasts, so many engineers, people developing the cars in the teams, so many of these pioneers come from the UK and so for me to come from here, being born only an hour and a half away, to come here and see my fellow Brits, have my family here – we have support like nowhere else. What a weekend. I don’t believe any other grand prix puts on as great a show. What were they thinking about when they thought about taking this grand prix away? It’s been amazing, this weekend, probably the best weekend I think I’ve seen them put together in terms of the crowd and how they’ve set up everything, grandstands, and the events around for all the fans. I think the organisers have done a pretty remarkable job, so for me, it’s a real pleasure and honour to represent my country here and again, when you have a race like this you step forward. OK, we didn’t win but I did everything I could and I feel proud of the result we got.
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