Question: Not the best result in front of your home fans - was it a tough race?
Lewis Hamilton: Yes, it was a difficult afternoon for the whole team, but we knew that going into the weekend. I had some exciting moments out on the racetrack and really enjoyed my race. And while the result didn’t look so good for us, again, I think we can take some positives away from this weekend because we genuinely learnt a lot about our car. It’s still not going to be a night-and-day change that makes the difference, but I’m hoping that we can gain some advantage to help improve our results.
Question: You mentioned ‘exciting moments’?
Lewis Hamilton: I had a great time racing against Nick (Heidfeld) and Fernando (Alonso), both guys who are hard but fair. The move on Heidfeld was pretty much on the limit, but it was fun. It was great to have enough of a balance in the car to be able to push and attack, but it was clearly not enough, and I was again on the edge through the race. I’m looking forward to the Nurburgring - the home race for Mercedes-Benz; I’m hoping that we will have some huge improvements for the race as it would be great to give our second home crowd something to cheer and feel proud about, but we’ll see. Places like Hungary, Valencia and Singapore should hopefully be stronger for us and so there is ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ for the end of season push. We need a competitive car before the end of the season so we can learn as much as we possibly can for next season.
Question: This year’s race might have been the last at Silverstone - what memories will you take away of the place?
Lewis Hamilton: When you look back at the history of the sport, you see that there are four special circuits in Formula One - Monaco, Monza, Spa and Silverstone. I was at the BRDC (British Racing Drivers’ Club) clubhouse the other day and I was looking at some old pictures of past Silverstone race drivers - there were shots of Fangio, Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill plus many more. So to race at Silverstone, it has an extra meaning - Copse is still pretty much the same now as it was when the race was held here in the 1950s. All the corners have names rather than numbers, and names that have a meaning. To have won here, as at Monaco, has an extra significance and importance. I will always remember the crowd’s reaction when I took pole here in 2007, I could hear them cheering above the noise of the engine on my slow-down lap, and also winning here last year and jumping up onto the podium. But I just have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of this place. I hope so, anyway.
