1 – Sebastian VETTEL
(Ferrari)
2 – Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)
3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
GRID INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Will Buxton)
First question inaudible.
Sebastian VETTEL: … to have the car in the right window, to have the sun
shining, to have people around, that’s what it is about, so it was really
big fun. Obviously a front row for us, which is incredible and now we are
looking forward to tomorrow.
Q: Yeah, no, front row in front of all the Ferrari fans, the flags waving in
the grandstands. What changed overnight, between yesterday and today?
SV: Nothing. We are working hard. Obviously the last race wasn’t great for
us, but it doesn’t matter now. We are here and try to do the best and that’s
what matters. Really step by step and I am very happy with where we are as a
team. Again, we need to remember where we were 12 months ago and where we
are now. Also thanks to the support, people believing in us. It’s great to
get the result also on Saturday, but as I said, the main task comes tomorrow
so nothing won today but sure we are very happy and take it to move forward.
Q: Kimi, that was a superb lap, absolutely sensational. Listen to all you
fans, massive fan base in from Finland. How good did that lap feel?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Actually not too good. The start was good and the end was
not too bad but in the chicane I braked on the outside kerb and got loose
and really threw it away there but you know, it was decent enough for second
place but it is disappointing. I felt I had it quite comfortably but you
know I couldn’t really finish.
Q: Is it too easy to say that this is a track naturally should have suited
Ferrari?
KR: If you purely looked at lap times, yes, but then if you look from
yesterday it wasn’t the easiest day and today we have definitely been pretty
happy with things. I managed to improve my car for the qualifying and I must
say we are happy with how they are handling now. So far, so good but
tomorrow is going to be a long race and a hard battle, so we have to keep it
going.
Q: Valtteri, lots of Finnish flags. A great lap, phenomenal job. How hard
has it been for you guys to take the fight to Ferrari today?
Valtteri BOTTAS: They’ve been quick all weekend and coming into qualifying
we knew it should be close and they will be tough to beat and they really
had the upper hand today. They had a quicker car, so they have clearly got
everything right for this track and we still have work to do on circuits
like this, but you know, let’s see tomorrow.
Q: Are you guys on the back foot a little bit this weekend?
VB: This weekend, yes, clearly. We can see that we are not performing as we
should, as we want, so that just highlights that we still have work to do
with the car. But now we are focusing for the race tomorrow, because it’s
going to a long one and still anything is possible.
Q: Seb, you lead the championship by one point, summer break starts
tomorrow. Is it going to be, well, 25 points tomorrow? How big is that gap
going to be?
SV: Not by my count: summer break starts on Monday. Not even that, we have
the test next week. Numbers… I was decent I would say in maths in school but
yeah it’s way too early. We go racing; we go flat out. That’s what we have
been doing for the first races and that’s what we keep doing. I think that’s
the only way to succeed. Certainly we have a lot of boost from people here,
at home and in Italy, you know, it can’t be better than that and the main
thing is to enjoy.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Sebastian, your 48th pole. It looked a pretty seamless session from where
we were sitting, how was it for you?
SV: Seamless? Well, it was seamless in terms of we didn’t have any problems.
I felt quite good straight away from Q1 onwards, we did the laps that we had
to do and then come Q3 I was fairly confident… you always debate about small
things you can do with the car. I was very happy with the first run. I knew
there was still a little bit, so I went flat out on the second attempt and I
was a little bit faster, it felt like I was faster, but then I arrived in
the last sector and I think I asked a bit too much of the tyres beforehand
and lost it, sort of, all in three corners and did the same time. So then I
didn’t know. I looked up and I didn't know who was coming behind me because
there was a bit of time. I was very happy with the first lap. I think the
second could have been a little bit better. The car was phenomenal. And then
when I saw it was two red in the first two positions then obviously… the
same time, simultaneously the radio opened and there was a big scream. So,
really nice. Obviously it is only Saturday, so nothing to get from today
other than the best position but we did that and it’s great I think,
especially after… there’s always a lot of talk but the talk after the last
race was a bit too much so it’s good to give the answer on the track. I’m
just happy, as I said. I really like the track. The car was fantastic today
and it was really a pleasure to just go round.
Q: Kimi, it is a Ferrari front-row lock-out. You came on the radio at one
point and said you were unhappy with your braking, so was there more to come
from you? Had you been happier with the car?
KR: No, in the end it was OK. Obviously when you lock the front, it’s not
ideal but there is nothing wrong with anything, it’s just you try to always
find a better way of driving and doing things, so it’s a very normal thing
to discuss stuff like that. I was pretty happy with the last apart from
going into the chicane, I dropped the wheels on the left kerb and got
sideways. I lost an awful lot of lap time. I really felt I had a good chance
to put it in first place but anyhow it was decent enough for second place,
so obviously great for the team. But it is only Saturday. We have a long way
to go tomorrow, both cars, and we try to keep the positions and see what
happens.
Q: Valtteri, Mercedes were seeking their third consecutive front row
lock-out here in Hungary. It hasn’t happened. How surprised have you and the
team been by the pace of the guys sat alongside you?
VB: I definitely think today, all-day, Ferrari has been just too quick for
us. We saw in the practice the times they were doing: after that we were
expecting a tricky qualifying but I think, y’know, it felt like we got most
out of it, more or less but just they were quicker today and yesterday it
was looking a bit better for us, so, yeah, today was a little bit surprising
but it just shows that we definitely have work to do. Tracks like that that
requires the maximum downforce of the car, we seem to be struggling a bit
more, for one reason or another. So, just need to keep working.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, of course from here the aim must
be victory – but you haven’t had a clean race since the Monaco Grand Prix.
So which is more important: having victory tomorrow or having a clean race
at last before the summer break?
SV: Well, if you say the last clean race was Monaco, it ended in a victory
so… I don’t know. Chances are good, we start at the front, they couldn’t be
any better but tomorrow is a long day. It’s hot, it’s always hot here. It’s
tough for tyres. We saved a set compared to the others. We’ll see. I think
the race is long and a lot of things to look out for so… yeah. A clean race
is a good race and then we’ll see which result we get.
Q: (Péter Vámosi – Vas Népe) Question to all drivers. Since 2005 there is a
tendency here, if you win the Hungarian Grand Prix, you will be not the
champion at the end of the year. What do you think about this?
SV: I don’t know what happened in 2004?
Michael Schumacher won here…
SV: 2003? I don’t know. Statistics! I think if you ask us, we all want to
win tomorrow. That’s it.
Kimi, Valtteri, anything to add?
VB: No. Nothing to add, we all want to win tomorrow.
KR: I’ll happily take it. See what happens.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Valtteri, the car was lacking a
little bit here in the supersoft tyres but how was it on the soft tyres in
the long runs?
VB: I think long runs seemed OK but it seemed OK also for Ferrari and
actually Red Bull, so at least what we could see from the practice long
runs, all three teams were really consistent actually. So, yeah, that’s why
today in Budapest is always important but yeah, I’m sure we can still fight
for… trying to gain position, trying to win the race. That’s still the goal
although it’s not going to be easy because it’s consistent pace between the
teams.
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) This question’s for Valtteri and Kimi.
Both of you have had some interesting interactions with some young fans.
What does it feel like having that kind of support from the smallest of F1
fans?
VB: yeah, so y’know, I saw the picture of this guy. I’ve never had that kind
of fan: face painted, hair painted blue. Just wanted to cheer him up. The
boy was in the wheelchair as well. The team managed to find his parents and
that was really cool. I’ve never seen the reaction of a fan like that, so it
made my day really, also meeting him.
Kimi, you remember back to the Spanish Grand Prix?
KR: Yeah, obviously it was a sad moment at first, so not very happy memories
of the first part but then the second part cheered me up and cheered up the
little guy and his family up a lot, so obviously it was great. Can’t expect
to happen every time, just by luck it all went like that, I guess. It's
great if we can please somebody. Had quite a hard time with me going out so,
yeah, it turned out to be OK and that’s the main thing.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte) Question to all drivers. The qualifying,
we were in 56°C in the asphalt. It seems to be it will be a challenge to
keep the tyres for tomorrow. Ferrari at the beginning of the season had an
advantage on that. Comment of all drivers, Mercedes and Ferrari.
SV: Yeah, I think your question is also a good summary. I have not that much
to add. It’s been really close. Tomorrow will be largely unknown because we
didn’t get much yesterday. We got a glimpse but there was a lot of red flags
so nobody could really do what they wanted to do. So we’ll see. We’ll see
how it works. Obviously first we focus on the start and then we see how the
race goes – but really happy with the car today. The balance was better than
yesterday. I don’t see why it should change for tomorrow. It was hotter
today than yesterday and yeah, I think we were coping quite well with that.
Should be OK – but yeah, for sure it will be the main challenge tomorrow to
survive longer than the others in better shape.
Kimi, anything to add about the balance of your car and the track
temperature?
KR: No, that’s perfect.
OK, Valtteri, how about the Mercedes?
VB: Well, can’t say it was absolutely perfect but for sure it’s going to be
more tricky tomorrow than the long runs we did yesterday – but that’s going
to be the same for everyone. I think us, as a team, we have improved since
some of the struggles we’ve had in hotter temperatures, it’s gone in a bit
better direction. Tomorrow will be a good test for that.
Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1vilag) Kimi and Sebastian: F1 teams will have two days
of testing at the Hungaroring next week. So how important will those days be
for Ferrari in terms of upgrades and in terms of fighting with Mercedes
during the second half or the season?
KR: Obviously it’s important. We don’t get an awful lot of track time so you
can do simulations and stuff like that but when you get track time, it’s
definitely the best option and obviously we have two days so we will see
what we come up with and what we try and find out but it’s definitely
helpful and we can obviously have a bit more freedom and time to try things
and learn about certain things.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos - Formula Press) To all three: given how difficult it
is to overtake here and recent history at starts, how much risks are you all
prepared to take in the first few moments of the race?
VB: Yeah, it is one of the most difficult circuits to overtake, that’s for
sure. So yeah, the start will be important. It’s quite a slow speed corner,
turn one, high braking so normally you can see places being exchanged so for
sure, trying to gain if there’s any possibility.
KR: Obviously, if you could chose, you would take the left hand side but I
don’t think it’s really going to destroy your day, it’s more about making a
good start rather than which side you are and try to do that and see what
happens in the first few corners.
SV: Well, it’s not the first start for us. I think we’ve been there… I think
we all focus on the start and then you have to react from there, it’s
impossible to predict. I think we’ve had good starts, especially this
weekend so let’s see tomorrow.
Q: (Peter Farkas - Auto Motor) To all three of you: all of you have been
doing spectacular lap times today, in fact Sebastian broke the lap record
from 2004 by more than two seconds, so could you please describe how much
more spectacular it feels from the car to drive on a twisty circuit like
this so much quicker than before? And in which corners is the most
spectacular compared to last year?
SV: Well, it feels great, I think we always want to go faster so… we always
want more so it’s good to know and to feel that the cars are fast, certainly
faster than they’ve ever been so that’s great, also in terms of power, I
think we’re getting there so it’s quite nice. Biggest differences I would
say is that you tend to gain everywhere but braking, I think, is a big
difference and then talking specifically about corners, obviously you’ve got
the high speed (turns) four and eleven and I think also the fact that they
resurfaced for last year helps, especially in turn five. Eight and nine are
less bumpy so you can extract the grip a little bit more. Yeah, it’s always
nice to go fast.
Kimi, you were in Formula One back in those… the halcyon era of 2004; how
does this compare?
KR: Obviously very difficult to compare. I think the biggest improvement
comes from resurfacing the circuit and it improved the grip like in Austria.
It’s very smooth and a lot of grip. Obviously the cars are faster this year
than last year but no way to compare. It feels very normal for us because we
get used to it. Done it for a lot of races that are actually a lot faster
circuits so it’s not suddenly like… even if the lap time is a lot faster, it
doesn’t feel like… it just feels normal.
VB: Yeah, definitely it is quick like all the circuits; all the corners this
year are pretty much quicker so you always enjoy it more, especially turn
four and eleven here is impressively quick and I like it. |