Barcelona, 11 May 2014:

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

 

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Eddie Jordan)

What a great race, what a great finish – Lewis Hamilton, ladies and gentlemen, four race wins in a row; let’s hear it from him.

Lewis HAMILTON: A big thank you to my team, they’ve just done an incredible job this year. I’m really happy with the support I’ve had here in Spain, it’s the best I’ve ever had, so thank you to everyone in the grandstands, it means the world to me. My first win here in Spain, it means everything to me.

We heard you grumbling, or not quite happy with your team about the graining and also about the time loss in the pits. Tell me, were you upset? 

LH: No, not for the pits. I wasn’t fast enough really today; Nico was quicker. I struggled a lot with the balance and really had to rely on my engineers a lot more to give me the gaps and to try to find where I could find time. And also with all my settings, I was moving them up and down, up and down really trying to find extra time. But Nico was just generally quicker this weekend but fortunately I was able to keep him behind.

Well, I needn’t tell everybody out there but you’ve now taken over the lead in the championship. Nico, what a fantastic fight, just like Bahrain, right up there at the end. How many more laps do you think you needed to pass him?

Nico ROSBERG: I think one more to be honest, one more I could have given it a good go. I wasn’t close enough to give it a go there but next lap I would have. But unfortunately that was it. So, a bit gutted but still, second place, still close to the championship and many more races to go anyway.

I needn’t remind you or anybody else, but you’ve been on this podium every race of this season so far. Going now to your home race, Monaco, where you won last year, surely you can make a massive effort for there?

Nico ROSBERG: Definitely. I’ll be going there to do it one better and try to come first there and repeat the win from last year. That’s the aim and we’ll see if it works out. And for those of you who don’t know Eddie is my number one favourite neighbor in Monaco.

I don’t they needed to know that! They want to know all about you. Ladies and gentlemen we’ll leave my neighbourly friend here and move to young Australian superstar, the man who has lit up the season so far from a rookie point of view, Daniel Ricciardo. I don’t want to be doom and gloom here, but you were 50 seconds behind, what are you going to do to catch these guys up?

Daniel RICCIARDO: Thanks

I just thought I’d bring you back down to reality a bit.

DR: No, you’re right. They were a long way ahead. I think coming into the race today we knew a boring race would be a pretty good one for us. We knew we didn’t really have the paced for Mercedes. We looked like a third-place car and in the end that’s what it was, we had a pretty comfortable third- place and we just had to focus on getting the tyres to last two stops ands that was it. Really nice to be on the podium and I’m sure I’ll be able to keep it this time.

Lewis, are you surprised with the dominance, because a lot of people called into question your idea of coming to Mercedes maybe 18 months ago. Had you got this in the back of your mind that this was all the potential that was being told to you?

LH: Yeah, sitting down with Ross at my mum’s house at the kitchen table, yeah this is the idea that I was given. I really, truly believed it was going to happen, but I could never have imagined us to have a 50-second gap to Red Bull in a race. So it’s just an exceptional job from the team and I feel truly blessed to firstly be a part of this team, to be contributing, getting the results. This is our fourth 1-2 together, it’s just unreal.

PRESS CONFERENCE

So, Lewis, where do we start? Four wins in a row, fourth Mercedes 1-2 in a row, which is fairly hard to achieve. First win for you in Spain and you’re leading the Driver’s World Championship for the first time since, I think, 2012. Which of those things means the most to you?

LH: Of course getting my first grand prix win here after trying for eight years. It’s very difficult to really put into words the feeling when you come to a race and have a result like this. Never have I had a car like this and obviously we’ve never had a gap like this to anyone before. Nico did a fantastic job today, it was a struggle to keep him behind, but I’m grateful that I was able to. I just feel that it is such a huge blessing, for not only me but for all the guys in the team, because of all the hard work they’ve done for many years now, but finally they are starting to see the fruits of their labour. So, for me, yeah, just enjoying every moment, every step of the way. And it’s really great today we have our board members, our bosses from Mercedes, so it was really good to… every time Dr Zetsche came last year, we generally had a bad race, so it was really important to get a good result for him to get rid of that negative bug, or bad luck that I guess he thought he was bringing, so I’m really grateful for the team being able to do that today.

Q: Nico, the start didn’t give you the platform or opportunity that maybe you’d hoped for. From there, like Bahrain, you tried something different on the strategy. Like Bahrain, Lewis said you were quicker today – but unlike Bahrain you didn’t really have a chance to attack, particularly at the end. Why was that? Why did it work out the way it did?

NR: The start unfortunately was poor. It’s a bit of a weakness that we have at the moment, just inconsistent and now I’ve had a couple of bad starts in a row – actually three bad starts in the races. And that’s costly, you know? Because, always losing out at the start, that’s not good, need to work on that. Other than that, the race, yeah, I felt comfortable, race pace was good. Best thing to do was to switch strategies. That was planned before the race. Worked out well, worked out perfectly – but this is a really, really difficult track to get close to the guy in front. I still got close, y’know Turn 10, the last lap. Could have got gone for a kamikaze move but it wouldn’t have worked. Lewis did a great job the whole weekend and just that little bit ahead. But there’s a lot of positives for me to take out of it. I’m fully motivated to just try to get that little bit extra and to edge him out next time – and it’s doable.

Q: Daniel, hopefully the first trophy you’ll be able to keep. Obviously the story of your race, a difficult start, losing the ground to Bottas but then getting him with the undercut first round of stops, then you were Billy-No-Mates, on your own driving around on your own – tell us how it worked out for you.

DR: Yeah. Not exactly the start I wanted. I think initially the launch felt OK but we lost a bit of traction after that. Bottas got past me. The first stint I tried to hang in there, had, let’s say, a pseudo-attempt into Turn One. I got underneath him but it wasn’t deep enough to pull the move off and then, yeah, it was just about doing an undercut and just trying to still make a two-stop work. So from then on a pretty lonely race. Unfortunately we’re not going to catch Mercedes. At least this weekend we weren’t going to, so a lonely third was not a bad result in the end.

Q: Final question to both Lewis and Nico, just looking ahead to the next couple of races that are coming up, Monaco is a track that’s been strong in the past for both of you and strong in the past for Mercedes, and then we go on to Montreal which has always been one of Lewis’s favourites. How do you go there, Nico? And your thoughts, both of you, on those two upcoming races.

NR: Monaco: fantastic. It’s my favourite race of the year. Great memories there from last year. Looking forward to it, with the car that we have also this year, it’s going to be great. For sure the opposition is going to be closer. Especially I expect Red Bull to be a lot closer, so it’s going to be tougher for us but still, we have a strong package, engine and car. So, should go fine around Monaco and going to try and make the most of it, repeat the win from last year.

Your thoughts Lewis…

LH: I think I have a bit of work to do in the next couple of weeks but of course I love those two races. Struggled last year in Monaco and struggled with this race, so need to figure out where I’m losing the time and apply it to the next race.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question for Nico and Lewis. What was the main difficulty during the race: managing the hard tyre or doing quick laps at the end to fight to get Lewis with the medium?

NR: No, the big challenge was tyre degradation. Very, very big tyre degradation. That was really difficult to manage that. But I found my way and was quite comfortable with it, and then graining on the hard tyre which is the opposite of what we expected. We expected to have graining on the soft tyre. So it was very strange. Graining on the hard tyre and no graining on the soft tyre, it was really weird and unexpected.

Q: (Adrian Rodriguez – Agencia EFE) Question for Lewis, congratulations for your first win here in Spain. Makes it 26, one more than Jim Clark and one more than Niki Lauda, one of the big guys on your team – are you planning any jokes on him tonight and how many victories can you make it this year?

LH: At the rate the team’s going, we’re looking strong for at least a few more races. It’s by no means easy for me because I’ve still got a massive challenge with Nico. But, I mean, I could never had imagined winning these four races but it’s still so close, long, long way to go and, just as I was saying earlier, I’ve got a bit more time to find in this car, so going to work on it.

Q: Michael Schmidt (Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, in the race, did you experience similar problems to those you had yesterday and how did you try to dial them out? There was a lot of conversation between you and the engineers.

LH: I did have the same problems as I had yesterday, yes. It was very strange because Friday P2 was excellent. The car was really good, degradation… I mean I was very very fast and I stopped my run with 18 laps or something like that, but if I just brought my pace down a little bit I probably could have eked it out even longer. Those changes just transformed the car and today, just not able to attack the corners due to snap oversteer, and that’s generally where Nico was catching me, through those entries of corners.

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) To the Mercedes drivers: you have won every race this year. What secret did you find and where?

LH: I haven’t found any secrets but I think Mercedes – there is no secret really, it’s just been hard work and really constructive work. Often when you’re working towards something, sometimes you stumble and fall and then you have to build it again and the team has just been building and building, building and not really having many times when they’re falling. It’s quite remarkable, the actual car itself, the downforce is very good, I’m sure very very close with the Red Bulls and then with the engine, it’s the best engine Mercedes have made.

NR: It’s been five years, it’s been since 2010 this process started and so much has changed, it’s been such a long long way, the personnel restructuring, everything. Big big changes and now we’ve come to a point where, thanks to all the work from the past, we’re really just able… we’re becoming the best team in F1. That’s the way it is. I would still say Red Bull is the benchmark at the moment but we’re definitely shaking their chair at the moment and I think there’s the possibility that soon we will be the absolute best team, in terms of team  organisation, capabilities, we’re getting there and hopefully it will be a long domination.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Daniel, Sebastian Vettel went from 15^th to fourth, is that encouraging that the car – while not as good as a Mercedes – can slice through the opposition, or a bit worrying because it looks like he might be back up to speed and coming to challenge you?

DR: Obviously it’s the first thing you said. Yeah, really good. I just sort of heard on the radio that he was making progress through the field and when he was in fourth – I think he made a move in the last few laps so really good. I definitely see it as a positive for the team, third and fourth, particularly after his starting position. Obviously Mercedes are the top dogs at the moment but we seem to be settling ourselves nicely in that next spot and I think we’ve just got to now try and somehow creep our way closer. All the talk about Seb, I’m sure that was going to pass very soon and he’ll get to his World Champion form.

Q: (Tony Dodgins – Motorsport News) Nico, just before the first stops, on the radio we heard the team say ‘primes planned for the next stint’ and you said ‘the options are fine.’ Did that mean you wanted another set of options for the second stint or were you happy with the way it went?

NR: There was a misunderstanding from my side because we were going to go prime second stint – there were two variables. There was one where we go prime second stint if we have graining in the first stint or I go prime second stint to try and beat Lewis, if I feel that pace-wise I can be quicker and have a shot at it. I thought they were going prime because they thought I had graining but I didn’t have graining so that’s why I was confused but then I understood: it was to offset my strategy so that I would have a chance to fight Lewis at the end so it was fine – and just what I wanted.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Lewis, at the end of the 2012 season when you announced that you would switch to Mercedes, there were some really harsh criticisms against you, stating that you are destroying your career without the guidance of your Dad. Now that you’re winning and leading the championship and have the very best car of the whole pack, is it important for you that you could really prove that you can make good decisions on your own?

LH: Yeah, for sure, it was obviously a great call and there was never a moment that I ever doubted it but of course never could have imagined that we would be having this kind of success. I’m not one to rub it in people’s faces. I knew that I was in a good place, I knew that I was making the right decision for me and now it should be becoming more evident to people… I’m sure the people that wrote those things had an opinion at the beginning and I’m sure it’s changed now.

Q: (Adrian Rodriguez – Agencia EFE) To Nico and Lewis: you guys seem to get along pretty well right now but the problem is that just one of you can win if it keeps going this way. Do you guys believe that your relationship is going to be the same by the end of the year?

LH: We’ve been racing together for a long time so I don’t see why not.

Q: Does that help, Nico, that you’ve been racing together for a long time?

NR: Definitely yes, because we’ve been through this before. It’s not a first time and even back then we had discussions, debate but always… life goes on, discuss it and life goes on so that helps, yeah.

Q: (Anthony Rowlinson – F1 Racing) Lewis, you’ve said quite a few times this year about how perfect this car is, how well suited it feels. Could you explain just a little bit about how you’ve guided the development of it so that it suits your style?

LH: It’s a lengthy process. Obviously last year… when you request something to be changed, it takes some time because obviously you don’t want to take away their focus from the most important things which is getting downforce. I think it’s just taken some time. I think Michael required a little bit of a… he had a different driving style to me. He required different things, different seating position, different set-up and as I’ve come along, I’ve really tried to… and I guess Nico probably and Michael both kind of gelled and went in one direction with the balance and then as I’ve come along, mine is slightly different  and I guess we’ve then created a hybrid: Nico’s come halfway, I’ve come halfway so we now require the same things from the car, but last year it was maybe a little bit different and so over the time just really, for the engineers to get to know what I require from a car and I think really working on being comfortable with the engineers as well, new engineers, it takes a while to build those relationships and that’s probably been a key strength to this year.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) Nico, you are second in the championship now. Will you change your approach for the weekend, make strategies with more risks; even during the race, do you think you will change what you have been doing until now?

NR: There’s not much to change. The race was really lost in qualifying and at the start. Those were the two opportunities I had. Qualifying was very very close, I even had a bit of a problem which we found in hindsight, where I was a little bit down on power on the straight, but the difference was not enough to get pole, but still it was actually even closer than it looked. And then just had a poor start, so those were the two shots that I had at it and it didn’t work out. And then in the race, I nearly got another opportunity at the very end but again, just not enough. One more lap and I could have given it a go, I think, but I would have done everything the same again at the start of the weekend. Of course, I also missed FP1 which doesn’t help either. Many small thing which add up and there are only very small gaps so next time.

eom/FIA Release of the transcript

Drivers

1– Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

TV UNILATERAL

Lewis, your fourth pole of the season and this time you had to save the best until last.

Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, it’s been a tough day and Nico has been driving really well, through P3 and also through qualifying and so I didn’t know if I’d be able to get it, but right at the end I had to eke out absolutely everything and more from the car. But coming here this weekend, we didn’t know where everyone was going to be, so to see the develop that has gone on and the hard work that has gone into getting our car ready for this week – it inspires me. So a really big thank you to the team. To have the kind of performance we have, I’ve never really known that before. Still, it’s very difficult out there,. the track conditions are pretty poor, but I’, overwhelmed I’m so happy to have had that.

Nico, obviously Lewis was looking strong yesterday but you were fastest in Q1 and Q2, so you obviously found something overnight? Given how it’s all; ended up are you a little disappointed?

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, definitely very disappointed. I don’t particularly enjoy coming second to Lewis. I am of course disappointed but in the end it was a good lap from me, so Lewis just did a better job and that’s just the way it is. Anyway, it’s still all to play for tomorrow. Second place is only a little bit away from optimum because all it takes is a good start tomorrow and then I’m in the lead again. That’s the good thing about it and that’s why it’s still all to play for.

Daniel, another top three, a good day for you personally, obviously problems for you team-mate, Sebastian, in Q3 there, and a fairly big margin between Lewis and yourself there on the grid.

Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I think we’re again sort of best of the rest but that’s not quite good enough, we’re still a second off and the lap, I thought my lap was not too bad, so I was expecting a smaller gap than that. I think we’ve made some improvement but they – they being Mercedes – have as well. So we would have liked to have closed that but we have some work ahead of us. On a positive note we’re a clear third today. I think we had a pretty to P4, so that’s not too bad, but for sure we want to get closer to the front two.

Well done. Coming back to you Lewis. You’ve never won here: why is that and how much would it mean to you to put that right tomorrow?

LH: There are lots of different circumstances, situations I’ve been in but generally, it’s not being fast enough. Even going into today I lost a bit of pace today, so I’m really even happier knowing that I dropped a bit of pace but was able to get back at the front. In the past I guess it’s just not been my time, so I’ll do everything I can to bring some really good points for the team and let’s hope that means something positive.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: So, Lewis, during Q1 we heard a radio message from you saying “I don’t know how but we’ve made this car worse.” What were you feeling at the time and how did that translate into what happened at the end when you managed to get pole?

LH: Well, yesterday I had such a great day and was really happy with the car and then, often when things are that good, you generally don’t want to change much but we changed a couple of things overnight in the hope of making it a little better. Small things, like a half a millimetre here and there. The smallest of tweaks. But today the track grip, I think went down and today my car’s been a real handful for me. Just lots of oversteer, very inconsistent corner to corner. So it was kind of back to square one, where I was in P1. And once you’re in qualifying there’s nothing you can do. We made some changes going into qualifying but I was generally struggling. So that’s why in Q1 you saw I was half a second off Nico, just struggling to put a lap together. But at the end I just did it by the skin of my teeth.

Q: So, you found it yourself, you say?

LH: Well a little. I couldn’t change anything so I really had to tweak a little bit the diff settings, otherwise just drive a little bit differently to just get the car around the lap. Obviously we were very quick but it doesn’t matter how fast your car is, we take it to the limit. That’s what all of us drivers do, we take our package to the limit. We’re on the edge of our limit.

Q: Nico, you’re still leading the Drivers’ World Championship, tomorrow’s an important day, some thoughts on that. But also, everyone’s come here with updates, and as Daniel said, you perhaps expected the gap to you guys to be smaller. Do you feel that, if anything, Mercedes have slightly pulled ahead of the opposition?

NR: No, I wouldn’t say that but it looks like we’ve managed to keep the gap consistent – and that’s an achievement already. That’s fantastic and I’m very happy about that – great job from the team and everybody because our ambition is to make the gap bigger, not try and be shaky and hope they don’t close the gap too much. No, we want to grow the gap. Nearly managed to grow the gap, I think we kept it consistent and that’s fantastic to see.

Q: And your own personal thoughts on the race…

NR: Personal thoughts are, of course, not ideal today but still all to play for tomorrow. It’s going to be a long race so it’s all possible. Tyre degradation is going to be a key point, need to get a handle on that.

Daniel, what about your personal thoughts? You mentioned the margin behind them you are in qualifying – a second – your own goals for this weekend and also, what are the team’s objectives now that you’ve seen where you stand at this stage relative to Mercedes?

DR: I think, y’know, for us it’s just to keep closing that gap to them. On a positive, we’re the best of the rest but we’ve still got to keep the others, keep the guys we have behind us behind us,  but to close to them. A second is too much. Even with a different strategy in the race it’s going to be very hard to make up a second per lap. We’ve got to just keep chipping away. Obviously they’re doing a great job and, yeah, I’m sure I can still learn a bit. As I am, I think, each race. We’ll put up a fight tomorrow and at least try to get on the podium. And if we can’t do anything about them, then keep the rest behind us.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Adrian Rodriguez  – Agencia EFE) Lewis, is the main guy to watch sitting on your right? What are your feelings about your other rivals for tomorrow?

LH: Well, we always keep our eyes open for everyone. Of course Nico’s the closest but Daniel’s been driving very well in the first part of the season so anything can happen tomorrow. We’ve just got to really try to work hard to stay out in front and as Nico said, it’s a long race so really try and look after the tyres, they’re still going to be a huge player tomorrow depending on what strategy people do and tyre degradation.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Daniel, at the end of the session, the team sent you a message on the radio saying something about ‘remember what Charlie said about the photo.’ What was that about?

DR: He didn’t want us running away, the top three guys, after qualifying, he didn’t want us running away out of the scene, to do the group photo. I think last time I was hiding for a little bit too long, so just a reminder from the team, nothing technical, just outside dramas.

Q: ( Pablo Grau – F1aldia) Daniel, your pace in long runs yesterday was very good; what do you expect for tomorrow, maybe an aggressive start?

DR: Yeah, I mean the plan is always to try and get a good start. Yeah, if we can do something about Lewis and Nico we will try our best and then yes, the pace yesterday was good, still not as good as a Mercedes but I think in relative terms we made the tyres last a long way. I think if there’s any issues with making a two stop possible, if the race ends up being more of a three stop, then we might be in that window to do a two but we will see how we go. We have to assess everything after lap one and then push from there, but it’s a tricky one  here. You push but you’re in conservative mode for the tyres as well. It’s one of those tracks where tyre wear is a big one.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, you said you had to cope in qualifying with some issues on the car. Is that a worry for tomorrow because you can’t change very much or do you think that with more fuel, all these issues will be gone?

LH: I’m not worried for tomorrow but of course it’s a concern for today with the balance being a little bit tricky. My long run yesterday was good but the track kind of went away from us a little bit, I think it went away from everyone a little bit today.  Perhaps tomorrow will be different, you just don’t know. This track can go up and down so we will just wait and see how tomorrow goes. You can adjust some things – your diff settings and your front wings – so hopefully I’ll get that just right for the race.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) A question for all three: normally you drive around Monaco with a millimetre or two to spare. This year the cars are a lot more tail happy. How are you going to deal with that?

NR: Yeah, it will be a little bit more of a challenge this year because we have less grip and traction than we had last year and harder tyres so it will be even more exciting but that’s all good.

LH: Yeah, we’ll just have to be a lot more cautious, I think, because today, massive oversteer moments. I don’t really know what to expect when we get there.

Q: Daniel your thoughts, and is it a circuit that gives Red Bull some optimism?

DR: I think, yeah – Lewis just asked me, actually, if we will be quick there and I said I hope so. We’ll see how we go. It’s a track that I think all of us drivers enjoy driving around. We’re always on the limit there. We get a few corners where we brush the barriers and I think this year it’s going to be even more of a challenge. We may not  have to get too carried away with getting close to the walls, because if the rear snaps, then as we saw with Bottas in Melbourne, a similar scenario, where he had that incident and yes, things like this are probably more likely to happen but that’s what we get paid the big bucks for, yeah? So I’m sure we will be right.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) Daniel, your team always puts a lot of responsibility for the lack of performance this year on Renault, and Renault have announced that they have a new version of engine here. Can you tell us if the engine is really better than the previous one?

DR: Looking at the speed traps this week, we seem to be closer than we were the last few races at least. Obviously the straight here is not as long as Shanghai but I think realistically we have closed the gap there, so I think they’ve done a good job Renault is helping us all the time. We know we’ve still got more ground to make up but to answer your question, I think yeah, we have made some progress.

eom/FIA release of the transcript