1 – Sebastian VETTEL
(Ferrari)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by David Coulthard)
Sebastian, your 44th victory. Normally 44 is a lucky number for Lewis but
you’ve just added another win, your third time here in Bahrain, but most
importantly the second of the season out of three races, great day.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, really a great day. I don’t know what to day. The
last half of the in-lap when all the fireworks were there and track was lit
up, it was. I just love what I do. I didn’t find any words. It was a really
great team effort today. Right after the start I could feel that ‘yeah,
we’re quick, we can have a word’. So really tried to put Valtteri under
pressure. He didn’t do any mistakes. It was difficult down the straights to
get near him. But then we obviously went for the undercut, early pit stop,
worked fantastic, very good job. But when the safety came initially I
thought ‘not again!’
Yeah but this time it worked for you…
SV: I’m not sure.
You pitted and then when you cleared another lap we had the safety car.
SV: I think I was lucky because the others were just close to the pit lane
so they couldn’t really benefit let’s say. I don’t know. I was a bit
surprised when I came out ahead of all of them because I thought with the
safety car we might have lost the advantage. After that it was good. The car
was really amazing to drive. I had a good feeling yesterday, so for many
laps it really worked well. It was just a pleasure. I could control the pace
in the end. Lewis was obviously a bit of a threat again towards the end,
with the traffic you never know. But a very controlled race, the car, as I
said, was a dream today. Happy Easter and thank you very much.
Q: Lewis, pit lane, what do you think of that? Those five seconds were
pretty costly today?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah definitely, but firstly a big congratulations to
Sebastian, he did a fantastic job today, and also a big thank you to
Valtteri for being a gentleman out there. Obviously a very difficult race,
it didn’t start out the best, but the pit lane was my fault, so apologies to
the team for losing the time there. I tried my hardest to catch up but it
was a long old way to go, it was 19 seconds. But I gave it everything I
could but Ferrari did a great job today. So we’re going to push hard
together, re-gather as a team and come back fighting.
Q: You know, I’m noticing this year that even when you’re getting the wins,
you’re very composed; you’re not too disappointed. What is this then? Do you
really feel that this is going to be a long-game championship?
LH: Of course the disappointment is there. Losing points for a team,
particularly when you could have won the race is definitely painful, but it
is what it is and all I can say is I gave it everything I could. Yeah, I
mean, I’m getting old I’m catching you up.
Q: You’ll never catch me up! Lewis congratulations. Valtteri, after the high
of yesterday, a disappointing day. We heard you on the radio talking about
struggling to keep the rears alive. What happened with the race balance?
Talk us through that.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it was really a tricky race for me; struggling with
the pace all through the race. I think in the first stint we found a bit of
an issue with the tyre pressures and that explained the rear end struggle.
But ever since that I was just rear limited and I was out of the tools on
the steering wheel, so it was just oversteering all through the race, which
is why the pace was slow, which is a real shame because for sure the target
for today was a lot, lot higher.
Q: It’s difficult to win in Formula One. You had a lot of support after that
pole yesterday, especially within the team, so you’re feeling well settled
in Mercedes?
VB: Well, for sure I think this was overall the best weekend yet with the
team, but there is much more to come.
Well, we wish you luck with that journey. Back to Sebastian. You seem a
little bit surprised by the ultimate qualifying. After qualifying the pace
to Mercedes was a little bit down but you’re right in this championship,
you’re leaving this grand prix leading the world championship.
SV: Yeah, it’s a long year; I’m not really looking at that. As I said, I’m
really enjoying, the car has been a pleasure. It was very good yesterday and
I was a bit down because the gap was so big. I think we could have been a
bit closer. But something inside me told me we have a good car and we can do
well. Right from the first lap I felt the car was there and yeah, I think
the Easter hunt was on. They were hiding some eggs but it looks like we
found them today. No, really, really happy. Big thank you to the team, they
have been working incredibly hard. The guy that has been up here, Matteo,
works day and night at the track, in the factory. So really a lot of
commitment from every single one and it’s great to see everything coming
together.
Q: Well, we can hear the marshals who have been supporting the grand prix
celebrating by revving a motorbike here. You’ve got to say we have a
tremendous welcome here in Bahrain, so it’s one your better grands prix?
SV: Well, I guess. I’ve been reasonably successful the last couple of years.
I love the trophy, I think it’s one of the most beautiful trophies we have,
so when I crossed the line I was really happy because I knew we were going
to get it, so I think we can leave here very happy. Not yet, because we’ve
got the test next week, but yeah for now we just enjoy.
Q: Are you doing the test?
SV: Yes.
You’re relentless aren’t you?
SV: Well, I thought halfway through the race that I’m really looking forward
already next time to jump in the car, which is in two days, so I’m looking
forward to it.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Congratulations Sebastian, obviously you got ahead of Lewis at the start.
Tell us a bit about that and also the final stint, just judging the pace as
he was coming through like a rocket, having come into the pits after you,
how you measured that pace and measured your gap to him?
SV: The start, obviously it was crucial for us to get between, to not allow
them to get in their rhythm, pull away, do their thing. So, upset them a
bit. I think we all had more or less the same start. Mine initially was
maybe a tiny bit better than Lewis, which put me just about side-by-side –
but their car is really long so it’s a long way to get side-by-side – but
then I think I benefitted from the act I had a clear track ahead, Lewis was
a bit stuck with Valtteri and it’s a bit of a tricky one to judge, so I
could just take lots of risk under braking and get the move done. Then, the
final stint, obviously we had quite a decent gap plus the safety margin of
Lewis’ penalty – which I wasn’t sure why but it didn’t matter at that point
– and I just tried to control the gap to Valtteri, maybe pulling away a
little bit and at that point just controlling the gap. He was very fast when
he came out. I was expecting him to be quick on a new set of supersoft tyres
but probably not that quick and he was closing in. When I faced the traffic
I lost a lot of time but then obviously he had to face traffic as well. In
the end it was safe enough. At the beginning of the stint I really didn’t
push at all, just took it easy and responded to what those two guys were
doing, which obviously helped me at the end because I had a lot of tyres
left.
Lewis, coming to you, as Sebastian said, you had a tremendous amount of pace
today but perhaps there were one or two too many setbacks to give you the
chance to win: the start, obviously the penalty as well and the tyre choice
for the final stint which you questioned on the radio. Maybe you could just
drill down into those three for us.
LH: Yeah, a challenging weekend. The start was OK but Sebastian was in my
blind spot so I didn’t know whereabouts he was. I didn’t know where anyone
was behind me. Valtteri got a good start and it was really just about
covering him. I obviously lost position to Sebastian there. It was really
hard to follow but we’re generally all similar kind of pace, and then yeah,
completely my fault with the Safety Car. Supposed to have a five-second gap
and I think I had a four-second gap. Just a misjudgement from myself.
Valtteri was great to… obviously I had very good pace, particularly the
second and last stint and I honestly believed I would be able to catch
Sebastian up but obviously with a five-second penalty that made it twice as
hard as it was already going to be. As I said, apologies to the team but I
tried the best I could to recover it and we still got good points for the
team today with a second and third but we still have this great fight and
Sebastian did a great job and he had fantastic pace.
And just on the tyre choice. You have a four-lap fresher only set of softs
compared to Sebastian rather than a new set of supersofts. The team’s saying
it was based on, presumably, Valtteri’s middle stint.
LH: The tyre felt great so I believe it was the right choice. The team have
generally been making really great choices this year. I thought it was going
to be a supersoft but honestly I think the tyre was the best one,
particularly for 16 laps pushing at the pace I was going was a long way to
go. I don’t know if the supersoft would have lasted that long.
Part of what informed that decision was, I guess, your supersoft stint
Valtteri. Not the easiest but before that, Toto Wolff has said you had a
problem with the generator on the grid that meant your tyres were
over-inflated or had too high tyre pressure in the opening stint. Tell us
about that.
VB: Yeah, so I don’t know the exact issue but I was just told there was a
problem with the tyre pressures, which I could really feel in the first
stint since lap two. I was just sliding around with the rear end, struggling
to get on power out of the corners, so the pace wasn’t good and Sebastian
was really putting pressure and they could undercut us as well and trying to
extend the first stint, I just couldn’t keep up with the pace. The tyres
were just dropping. Then on the second stint it was a bit better initially.
I think the second stint was not that far off. Still struggling with
oversteer but much less than in the first one, and then the last stint,
again, used the tools I had to adjust the car balance but still couldn’t get
the rear end to work. Really strange race for me and the pace was
disappointingly poor for me. Yeah, not a good day for me.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Lewis and Valtteri.
If you compare this race with Melbourne, is the softest compound a weakness
for Mercedes? You seemed to have the same problem like in Melbourne that the
rear tyres were going away.
LH: I don’t really remember what the issue was in Melbourne. I think it was
more front tyres – but I’m sure it was the rears as well. Here was maybe
more rears, I would say – but yeah, I would say it’s similar.
VB: At least for me personally yes. The softer compound has been more of a
struggle with the tyres and also the hotter it is, more of a struggle. So
something definitely for us to understand.
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Valtteri and Sebastian, can you tell us how
difficult was the battle between the two of you?
SV: For about the first stint. I passed you in the pit stop, didn’t I?
VB: No, we were side-by-side at some point.
SV: Ah, the safety car, after the safety car. Yeah, that was hairy. I
thought I did reasonably well on the restart. It was a bit tricky because we
only got the message very late: ‘the safety car’s coming in’ and then, you
can’t just be stupid and break the field down, do a stop-and-go but I tried
to use a little bit of momentum. I thought I had a decent gap leaving the
last corner and then... I don’t know, it felt like I had more headwind than
in the whole race on that particular lap. I was fairly confident halfway
down the straight, just looked in the mirror to check and he was coming. I
saw sparks behind me everywhere and then I obviously had to defend. Yeah,
then I wasn’t quite sure where he was under braking but I guess we were
side-by-side so it was a lot closer than I expected, leaving the last
corner. But fortunately, I stayed ahead.
VB: Yeah, obviously it was getting close and I tried to make a move into
turn four.
SV: I was just thinking, then there was another one, exactly, because I had
a bad exit and it was quite close tight. I think you locked a little bit and
then I locked a little bit into turn four.
VB: I was obviously outside so then it’s always tricky. There was some good
racing but that was a short moment unfortunately.
SV: I forgot about that...
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Bottas and Lewis: when the safety
car came in, Sebastian had stopped on lap ten and the safety car came out on
lap 13 and you entered the pits on the 13th lap, with the safety car. It
looked like it would help a lot but for some reason it didn’t, maybe the
opposite. Without the safety car, maybe Bottas could get out from the pits
in front of Vettel. Do you have the same feeling? Did you have a slow stop?
VB: Yes. Under safety car on the first stop, there was a problem with the
pit stop. We lost a lot of time and maybe it would have been very very
close. Maybe I would have been just in front but the team is still
investigating what was the issue there. I think there was also some traffic
as well because the stop was slow. One of the Red Bulls came into the pit
lane and we couldn’t exit immediately so double the time.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Without the safety car?
VB: I don’t know, to be honest.
Q: And Lewis, I think you had... one of the front tyres was a bit slow
coming off or going back on again or slight delay?
LH: I couldn’t tell what the issue was but there was a bit of a delay. There
was a domino effect, you know. If I had had a five second gap Valtteri would
have pulled in, the Red Bull would have pulled in. I would have pulled in
before the Red Bull, I would have got out before the Red Bull. It cascaded
for me in the domino too early.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, Kimi last year was many times
in front of you. What have you done that nowadays he’s always behind you?
SV: Well, I guess for a start, compared to last year, I’ve started the race.
That helped. I had my - so far the only – and I hope it stays that way – DNS
last year here so not even starting was quite a disappointment. And then, I
don’t now, he was behind the Red Bull in the opening of the lap and so
obviously we’ve seen that it’s quite tricky to pass. I was a bit faster in
the opening stint than Valtteri but I couldn’t really get close enough and I
guess he probably lost a bit of time and then I just saw the final result. I
don’t know what happened to his race but I think he came back to fourth, not
finishing too far behind Valtteri so I think for both of us the car probably
worked really well today and yeah, I think it depends on... from my own
experience, how the opening lap goes and so on, but this has usually been a
very very good hunting ground for Kimi, so maybe the time loss on Friday for
him with the issue he had in the car didn’t help but yeah, you do your own
race and then I’m sure we will talk about it afterwards.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, in the race simulation on
Friday you didn’t look like you had a very good performance from the car and
also qualifying seemed to confirm it. We had this impression, looking at the
long runs. And suddenly, in the race, the performance was there. Did you
change the car dramatically or did the conditions on the day change and help
you?
SV: No, from yesterday to today, you can’t change anything. Friday to
Saturday we did a bit but yeah, it’s not that sudden. If we could go faster
in qualifying we would because qualifying higher up is always advantageous.
But yeah, I had a good feeling yesterday so I was a bit surprised by how big
the gap was because the car felt really good and for today, I had a good
feeling because Friday was a bit mixed, I wasn’t so happy with the car. We
improved it for Saturday and I thought OK, if it stays like that then today
can be a good race and after a couple of laps I felt everything was making
sense and yeah, obviously I was in Valtteri’s gearbox for all of the first
stint and not falling back too much so that was obviously good for us, a
good start with the opening lap, getting between them and then yeah, the
pace was certainly key today to win.
Q: (Sef Harding – Xero Xone News) For Sebastian, it looks like the Prancing
Horse has really come alive and it looks like you’re going to have a hero’s
welcome back in Maranello. What has this done for the team and the morale of
the team heading into Sochi?
SV: Yeah, I think at this stage Sochi is quite far away so I’m not willing
and I don’t think the team is really looking to Sochi right now. I think we
enjoy the moment. Yeah, obviously we did a massive stint over the winter. I
think last year was a very good year for us. It wasn’t good in terms of
results, don’t get me wrong, but I think for the team, getting together, a
lot of things that had changed now seem to start clicking. Obviously it
helps when straight from the box, in testing, we had a good feeling. We
looked reasonably competitive. Australia obviously was a massive boost for
all the team and yeah, you can see when they are singing down there, and the
whole factory has really come alive so that’s great and we need to just make
sure we keep it going and yeah, keep enjoying that way, but for now, I think
the team has obviously done a really really great job, a lot of hard work,
commitment and as I said, things start to click and hopefully that sort of
success now in the first couple of races helps us to build up some sort of
momentum that maybe these guys had in the past and the last couple of years,
so they will be the ones to beat. It’s a long season, but for now, as I
said, looking forward to tonight.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, Sochi has suited you very well
so far. Do you expect to have your best weekend because of that?
VB: Well, for sure that’s the goal. I still haven’t definitely got...
there’s no race results as I’ve been hoping for so it’s always the next one.
Anyway, it would be the target to have a strong weekend but Sochi has
normally been pretty good for me. I really like the track layout and I have
always been comfortable there so we will see. It’s a completely different
type of track again, completely different kind of temperatures, different
asphalt so many different things. We’ll see.
Q: (Ralph Woodall – L’Equipe) Valtteri, how did you feel when you were
ordered by the team to let Lewis pass you?
VB: Well, I think honestly as a racing driver it’s maybe the worst thing you
want to hear. That’s how it is. For sure I did it because there was
potential. Lewis could challenge Sebastian. In the end it didn’t happen but
the team tried which I completely understand but personally it is tough but
that’s life. I didn’t have enough pace today and we need to find the reasons
why that was. |