Interview With Lewis Hamilton
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Jul 21, 2008
McLaren
Question: Lewis, on behalf of all race fans we have to thank you for making that such an exciting race by not coming in with the safety car. You gave yourself so much work to do in the latter stages of the race.
Lewis Hamilton: Well, thank you. I didn’t plan on doing that. I would have much preferred an easy comfortable afternoon out in front. But it didn’t work that way. We had got off to a really good start. We had two very comfortable, two very decent stints and the team opted for me to stay out. I guess they thought I could pull out a gap but it was a 23 second gap I needed and I only had seven laps or something, so I don’t know how that worked out. I kind of understood and I just kept pushing. I was over the limit, pushing and pushing trying to get the gap but I came out behind Heikki. I have to say a big thank you to Heikki, he was a great team-mate. He didn’t put up a huge fight and saw that I was quicker and enabled me to get past quicker. And so a big thank you to him. I was able to pull it off. I had good tyres. I guess it was exciting for him and it was exciting for me.
Question: I take it there was not much discussion between you and the team about the decision?
Lewis Hamilton: Not really no. I said ‘you sure about this’ and they said ‘fine’. But we all have decisions and opinions on certain things and for sure we will learn from this one and move onto the next race. But still we had the best car. The quickest car this weekend and we came out on top. That’s due to a lot of hard work from all the guys here. The team is fantastic, here and back home and also in Germany. They have all done a phenomenal job.
Question: Lewis, tell us about the start and the early stages. You just seemed to be pulling away so easily.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, I felt very confident at the beginning that we had a good strategy and a good car. I got a great start, not really much hassle from Felipe or anyone behind, and I was just able to focus on my job then. I just felt at home. I was just driving nice and smoothly and consistently and surprisingly, I was pulling away, by half a second a lap, I think. By then, I was just comfortable just trying to pull the gap and surprise, surprise, the safety car comes out and… it was no surprise, I had a feeling something like that would happen, that’s motor racing. That was just before the second stop. We decided to stop a bit early at the first stop just to avoid any safety car issues which was a good call and then we got caught, which made it a lot harder.
Question: And talk about those two great passes on Nelson and Felipe.
Lewis Hamilton: With Felipe I saw that I was a lot quicker than him. I was told I was a second quicker than him at the time, so I just tried to keep up the pace. Obviously I was on the early few laps with my tyres and I knew I only had a small window to get past him before they began to grain and before they would slide around. I had to push to get as close to him as possible but the great thing about this track is that you can follow other people. Or so I found. So I was able to get quite close through the last two corners, follow him all the way down to turn two and slipstream him. But again towards the end of the straight he sort of matched my speed and I found it difficult to get past, so I just had to do it on the brakes. He gave me plenty of room. I think it was quite a good battle. It was fun. I think for Nelson, I thought my work was done but they said ‘you still have to get past Nelson.’ I was thinking ‘okay, I’ve just worked my backside off but that’s fine’. Again he put on a good battle but again it was very fair.
Question: Your fourth win in a season and second in a row. You are leading the championship by four points, which is not much, but a nice momentum.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, overall it’s been a very good weekend. I think it has been our best weekend up until now. I think we have just been very strong throughout the weekend as well as last week’s test. But like I said it’s just been a great job by the team. We are really on top of our game right now. But I think we have not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We have got a lot of work to do for the rest of the season but if we can continue with this momentum we have got we are looking very good. So on to the next race and Hungary is a very good one for us, so fingers crossed.
Question: It’s ten years ago since McLaren Mercedes last won here in Hockenheim. Do you remember what you were doing in 1999/8 or even on this day?
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, I remember in 1998 I was go-karting, I was racing in Juniors in European races and I think that year I was probably vice-European champion in Juniors somewhere. I think around that time – that year or the year before – I had actually come to this race with Keke and with Nico Rosberg and this is when we decided to run our team in go-karts, the team in which me and Nico ran together. I have very fond memories.
Question: Do you feel, given the performance of the car at the moment, the way it’s just flying and given your own personal performance as well, it seems to be a good run at the moment, that you are the man to beat, that the guys behind you, the championship rivals, are really going to have to pull out all the stops if they are going to stop you winning the title this season?
Lewis Hamilton: I think it’s too early to say, to be honest. We’re looking strong, we’re looking good, we’re in a good position, but as you know, in a Formula One season things change, the teams always make steps here and there and as you saw last year, we were chopping and changing who was quickest and you will see in the next few races I don’t know what to expect. All I know is that we will have a competitive car and if we can challenge for wins, then great. I’m not going to say that we are the ones who need to pull their finger out. We need to keep on pushing, simple as that, and I’m sure everyone else will be.
