Question: Lewis, quickest in both sessions yesterday and quickest in all three qualifying sessions today and on pole by a margin of 0.3. It is looking very good.
Lewis Hamilton: Absolutely, I think coming from some positives from the previous race we came here very strong, very determined and with a good frame of mind and we have been very competitive all weekend. The practices have gone very well and the qualifying was one of our best. My first Q3 lap wasn’t so great but I managed to pull it together on the last lap and it was as close as I could get to a perfect lap.
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Question: Talk us through that first lap in Q3. On the radio we heard you were down on that second sector.
Lewis Hamilton: I had six tenths in fact and it was all good up until turn eight and just though there I had a big oversteer moment and ran wide and was on the marbles, so that messed me up for turn nine and 10, so I lost around seven tenths, something like that. I had to finish the lap, I couldn’t bail out, I still had to get a banker in and I came in and the team told me where the time was lost. I knew where it was lost, so I went out and made sure it worked the next time.
Question: Tell us your mindset going into that last lap given the pressure of the championship?
Lewis Hamilton: To be honest I didn’t have anything hanging over me or I didn’t have anything else on my mind except for just doing a good lap. I was relaxed. I was happy with the balance of the car. I knew that I could have done it, so it was a matter of going out and doing it. It was tough for sure because everyone was very competitive, even Heikki, but I am very happy that I got the lap done.
Question: Lots of people have been giving you advice and telling you how to handle this weekend. How are you handling this weekend?
Lewis Hamilton: I think you can see from our result that I am dealing with it quite well. It is great, you know. I have got a huge amount of support from back home and across the world. Especially from my team and my family as well. My family are here which is so important to me. I really have to thank the team, they have done a fantastic job coming off not such a great weekend in Fuji. Just thanks to those guys for staying so strong and doing a solid job this weekend. Hopefully we can continue with it tomorrow. We definitely will give it our best shot.
Question: Is there more pressure on you here? Drivers always say they put pressure on themselves. Are you putting more pressure on yourself?
Lewis Hamilton: No, no. As I said at the beginning of the week I just approach it the same as always. I don’t need to do anything spectacular. I just need to be myself and drive the way I drive and that’s all I need to do. I think today, generally, as drivers, when you don’t get the first lap, the second is always the hard one but for me that’s exciting. The first lap didn’t work. The second one was hard core!
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