Question: Lewis, your second win of the season and I get the feeling that meant a little bit more than your first win of the season.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, I think so. I think every win is special but I think the emotion and all the energy the team put into the car and the effort they have put in… when we don’t see results like this it slowly builds up, so when you finally hit the sweet-spot and get it, I think it is just ever better. It just couldn’t feel any better. I think we never expected to come here this weekend and be so fast. We were hindered in the last race a little bit, but the guys did a fantastic job, really pushing very hard. Even the guys back at Brixworth HPE are pushing very hard and the engine was great. I just feel great. I think one of the best races I think I have ever done.
Question: Lewis, where did your extra margins come from? How much was down to the car and how much was down to you?
Lewis Hamilton: Well, I think none of us can win without the car. I think bit by bit just learning more about the how the car is behaving and with the driving style I was able to learn to look after the tyres a little bit more. There were certain areas where I was losing out to these guys. I was quickest in the first sector, quickest in the last sector, but struggling in the middle sector, so it was really improving my line in a lot of different places, particularly turn three. At the apex of turn three I was sliding my tyres quite a lot but later on I was able to recover from that and avoid the sliding. At turn eight, which is the fast chicane, I wasn’t able to take (it) flat out at the beginning of the race, while Mark was and he was catching me massively. With a couple of alterations and with all the switches that we have, all the toys we have, it was really fantastic for me to be able to make steps forward. I was really surprised again that my tyres lasted so long later on in the race, so I guess there are still areas we need to improve on, particularly on heavier fuel for the beginning of the race, but this is a massive step forward and I really hope that we, as a team, can really use this to propel us forward and to keep the momentum going.
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Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Nudges Fernando Alonso to Win German Grand Prix
Formula 1: German Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: Lewis, let’s start with the start. What happened there, as it was pretty good?
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, it was one of our best starts, which is a huge difference to what we had perhaps in some places like Valencia. We have been working really hard on our starts and I think I got good temperature in my tyres, good temperature in my brakes, and as we pulled away it felt just fantastic. It was probably one of the best starts we have had all season and it was just at the right time really. It was important to get into the lead at the beginning, otherwise we may have seen Mark pull away. After that it was just trying to bridge the gap. At the beginning of the stint I was able to do that, but I think we are better at generating heat in our tyres. Then, inevitably, our tyres degraded a little bit quicker and the others began to catch up. But it was an eventful race I think.
Question: Then Mark came past you, but you got him a lap later?
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, I don’t know how the other drivers feel but there was a particular point on the track for me going into the chicane, and from lap to lap it was a little bit different braking into the chicane. Maybe it was just my car but I would have a bit of rear wheel locking or something like that and I would just slide into the corner. I had a bit of a wide moment there so just had to be very cautious at that corner more than any others throughout the race. He got past me but fortunately I was in a position to get past him again into turn one. We had a good battle all the way I think down to turn three. Mark was very fair. That is the kind of racing I love. I love having those kind of races with people but fortunately we were able to come out ahead.
Question: The important thing about this stage of the season - is it is important to be on top going into a double header and then the summer break as well?
Lewis Hamilton: I think it is always a plus, no matter what point of the season is, to be at the front. We really, really and I particularly didn’t expect to be anywhere near where we are today this weekend. I thought we would be struggling behind both Red Bulls and Ferraris and perhaps I may have been able to split one of the Ferraris but it was quite the contrary. Really surprised at the speed that we had. We are always quite quick in the races. I think it is a little bit unfortunate that the rules have been a little bit consistent over the last two races. But we are back in the fight. I think the next race is going to be very hot probably, which will be another big challenge for us but we are working very hard in anticipation of that so hopefully we will still be competitive.
Question: Lewis, how do you rate your percentage chance of winning the Championship, if you had to rate it ?
Lewis Hamilton: The chance? We’re not really looking at that. Coming into this weekend, I said we would just try and take it one race at a time. Again, we never really anticipated being so competitive this weekend, but of course, we’ve just had a win and with the way people have finished the race, it’s a massive bonus or positive for us, but there’s still a long, long way to go and it’s about trying to keep doing this, trying to get some consistency. If I say something now, and then the next race could be a disaster because it’s a very, very hot track, we could be in a similar position as we were in Valencia. I would prefer to keep my mouth closed and let the pace of our car do the talking.
Question: Lewis, we all know that music is very important for you, it’s very important in your life. I would like to know if you knew or were a friend of Amy Winehouse, and if you have any special thoughts for her after winning today?
Lewis Hamilton: I think it’s a very, very tragic time. Music, in general, is a huge, huge part of my life. I don’t know what I would do without music and she was a very, very uniquely talented singer and writer, and she was really one of the very few nowadays that even writes their own songs, so she was very special and I can’t imagine how tough it is for all of the family, but mine and my family’s thoughts and wishes go to them. We all said a prayer for her last night and for the family as well.
Question: Lewis, you never stop believing in your driving style, despite various criticisms that you’ve had this season and in the past. How important was that today, because you were producing very stylish moves, progressive?
Lewis Hamilton: I think days like this definitely pay off more than you could imagine, and being able to have close races - this was a great race in the sense that there was Mark, me and Fernando all within a tenth of each other, lap after lap after lap and it was about real perfection and it was about really not making mistakes. It was awesome and I think both of these guys drove exceptionally well. And then for me, with my aggressive style, people comment about being able to use it. I think today I was in a really very good head space and perhaps I feel even better because I felt the moves I did were some of the most precise moves I have pulled in a while. Being able to drive with your head all the time and get it right, just right, is massively satisfying. As I said, I will continue to do it the way I do it and continue to improve.
Question: Fernando during the last races have been saying that what he have to do is get as many points as possible, and wait for Sebastian Vettel to make mistakes. Today he made a couple of them; do you think it’s due to the pressure that he put on him.?
Lewis Hamilton: You can’t expect him to be perfect all the time. He’s won a huge amount of races from the end of last year into this year. It’s easy for everyone to criticise him, just from one race, but he’s been exceptionally consistent for a long time. For whatever reasons, I’m sure he will bounce back, he will be very quick at the next race and I think it’s maybe a one-off.
Question: Lewis, do you think it’s McLaren and Ferrari in front of the Red Bulls now, apart from Budapest? Do you think the gap is closed to the two Red Bulls and you can fight for the championship with them?
Lewis Hamilton: It appears so but like I say, we didn’t really think we would be so fast and not quite sure what we’ve done, because we’ve not really brought much here. I don’t know if it’s the conditions. I think we were competitive in Montreal and in Monaco and in Valencia, in hot temperatures, we are less competitive. We obviously went to Silverstone with the rule changes which was a big problem for us, and then we come back here to where we were, really, in cool conditions. I think we’re there or thereabouts but I do still feel that the overall performance of the two guys here, particularly the Red Bulls’, is slightly better than ours. You can see this weekend, I was quickest in the first sector and the last sector, but we lose a lot in the middle sector, and that’s because we don’t have a DRS system as efficient as theirs, so I think that we will lose at least half of those four tenths in the middle sector. If we can improve in that area, then I think we could definitely eke ahead of them, so that’s what we need to work on.
Question: Lewis, the Hungaroring is supposed to be a Red Bull track; can you tell us anything about the updates that your teams might be bringing to try and negate that advantage next weekend?
Lewis Hamilton: I’m not quite sure what we have coming. I think the car stays the same although, again, I will inevitably go back and speak to my engineers now and we will do an assessment as to how things were during the race and I will tell them exactly where we can be better and I will push them in every direction possible to hopefully see what we can get. Anything that we may have coming in the future again, I’m certain my team is pushing very hard to try and bring forward. There are things that we really, really need so we need to put every little bit of resource and effort into that.
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