Question: Lewis, back to back wins. You are leading the championship and I guess the love affair with Canada continues?
Lewis Hamilton: It has been a tremendous weekend. It has been fantastic. I got here Wednesday and things have just gone so well throughout the weekend. I have had incredible support from the fans. There are so many Brits out here which is great to see and the team did an exceptional job. The race was one of the toughest races so far but that’s what you want to have the hardest fight. These guys did an incredible job. Jenson did a great job and another one-two for us, so I am very happy and proud of the team
Question: Lewis, it was a very intense race. Tell us about that fight with Fernando. There were two parts to it coming out of the pit lane and also later.
Lewis Hamilton: Well, I think I came in quite bit ahead of him but clearly we did not have the best pit stop and he was able to… I saw him being released and as I pulled away he was in my blind spot. I didn’t even know he was there but I tried to make sure I had enough space. All of a sudden he was right there with me and we raced all the way down to the first corner and he had the inside and got ahead. But after that he had great pace and put up a really good fight and the traffic was very difficult today. That was really the opportunity for all of us today through traffic to get past the guy in front and I capitalized on that, so fair play to them.
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Formula 1: Pole Sitter Lewis Hamilton Wins Canadian Grand Prix
Formula 1: Canadian Grand Prix - Race Results
Question: Lewis, finally to you. A tactical victory also over the Red Bulls. Just sum up where you and the team are right now.
Lewis Hamilton: I think we are clearly doing everything we can to close the gap to them. I think perhaps at other circuits where the downforce is a little higher, maybe the gap will be…. maybe they will still be a little bit ahead but we are continuously improving. The guys back at the factory are doing a phenomenal job, so I have no doubts that we can close that gap and again pull ahead. But clearly on the race weekends we are doing a better job, both of us and the team, so hopefully we can continue with that. This is a special day for me as I won my first grand prix and to come back and repeat that after three years is a real pleasure.
Question: Lewis, as you were saying an intense race. Something seemed to be happening to you all the way through. Either you were pushing somebody or somebody was pushing you.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, it was an interesting race actually. Like Jenson was saying it was difficult to know how much to save your tyres and how much to push, how much longer you had to go and how fast the guy behind you was and whether they were pushing or saving fuel or whatever. It was very, very challenging. It was the ultimate challenge for me at least of the whole year so far and I was really just trying to maintain the correct balance with the different switches that we have. Also again through traffic without losing too much time. Clearly Fernando could see when I was catching traffic and he would close the gap all of a sudden, so it showed he had great pace and it was then trying to get through the traffic without allowing him to pass. It was very, very difficult today. I would say the traffic was almost as bad as Monaco. It was very tricky but we managed to deal with it and it was a tremendous job from myself and Jenson and another one-two. The third one this year I think and the team truly deserved it as I think they have done a great job.
Question: Was the strategy fairly clear right from the start, especially given there wasn’t a safety car?
Lewis Hamilton: That was a bit of a surprise, no safety car. The first time for a long time with no safety car at this track. But clearly everyone was safe which is a good thing. I think strategy-wise I have no idea whether the team had planned that. I just knuckled down, kept my head down and tried to pull the gap and do the best job I can. Unfortunately I did lose some time in the pit stop. That is another time where we have lost time in the pit stop and lost another position, so it is important that we try to go away and fix that. But the second pit stop was very good. They did a great job there, which enabled us to get ahead of Fernando.
Question: In the closing stages there how much fuel were you having to save? Others were, but the lap times looked good?
Lewis Hamilton: No, I had saved a lot of fuel in the mid part of the race and whilst I was behind Fernando, so I was able to push right to the end without any problems.
Question: Lewis, I think you are the fifth or sixth different leader of the championship this year. Is that the way you feel it’s going to go, ebb and flow all the way along to the end of the season?
Lewis Hamilton: You can see how tight this championship is; I don’t know whether it’s dependent on the new points scoring system but the field is so close and as I said, all the best drivers are in the top teams and they’re all very, very competitive, so it’s the ultimate challenge, I think, that I’ve experienced in Formula One, perhaps in Formula One history, maybe. There are so many of us up here, pushing right to the wire and I think inevitably that means that the championship will remain close. I’m sure there will be lots of ups and downs – hopefully not for us – during the rest of the season but let’s hope that we’re able to keep on the front line.
Question: Lewis, do you think this one-two here will have helped appease the English fans out there who were disappointed with your (World Cup) draw with the US yesterday?
Lewis Hamilton: I think so. I think it’s early stages of the World Cup, so I don’t think there will be any disappointment. Our country is always in full support. Of course they are optimistic for the next games. We’re just trying to do our job over here and they’re doing their job as well.
Question: Yesterday, after qualifying, most people thought that McLaren had taken a gamble on starting on the option tyre, that you were expecting a safety car; it never came and yet your strategy worked out perfectly. Was that a bit of a surprise or do you really think that that was the right way to go yesterday?
Lewis Hamilton: Clearly it was the right way to go. It was a choice for us to use the softer tyre and we felt comfortable with the fact that we might have to stop within the first ten laps. We knew it might even be lap five. I’m not sure what lap I stopped on but we anticipated that and we knew that we would be fast again once we got on the prime. We didn’t know how long the prime would last but fortunately for us, whilst we did the prime runs, others like the Red Bulls had to do an option stop at some stage. Neither of us really had an advantage at all. It just promoted some good racing, I think.
Question: Lewis, you’ve won two out of three times here in Montreal. Is there something about the race or this track that suits you particularly, and also do you feel that momentum has shifted in the championship with you winning two in a row now?
Lewis Hamilton: I think inevitably we have gained momentum for both of us, myself and Jenson, and in our performance and also obviously the results and we just need to continue with that. I don’t know why I go well here but it’s a great track, it’s a fantastic city, great food, great people, amazing support. It’s just overall – and the weather was great today as well. It was such a great turn-out. I think for me this is one of the best races of the whole season. I don’t know why, again. I’m able to dial my car in, feel the car a little bit better here than in other places but we’ve got a long season ahead of us. There will be good races and bad races and I just hope there are more good ones than there are bad.
Question: Lewis, the Valencia circuit is also a street circuit and there are some similarities with this one here. Do you predict that you can maybe do a similar race there or will it be different?
Lewis Hamilton: Valencia is a good track at least for me and the car seems to have gone very well there over the last couple of years, so I think our car should naturally be quite good there. It’s about understanding the tyres there, we don’t know what to expect but we will be going there with good momentum, hopefully good pace, good headset and hopefully we will be working on another one-two.
Question: Lewis, considering what you said earlier, are you on the verge of buying an ‘I love Montreal’ T-shirt?
Lewis Hamilton: I think I should get one, maybe I will get one at the airport or something. I’m sure one of the fans will give me one but I should get one, definitely.
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