Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes) and Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
Q: Lewis, as you were saying a moment ago, half the job done in your stated target of dominating this race weekend. I just wonder how you’ve been feeling. You were here on Thursday, you were very philosophical, you were reflective and very relaxed. You seem to have carried that all the way through the weekend.
LH: Yeah. I tried to solely focus on doing myself proud, doing my team proud, doing my family proud – and doing Aki proud. I’ve come here with good energy. A lot of positive people around me and I’ve felt great in the car – as I have done really this latter part of the season. I actually felt great earlier on in the season. It’s kind of crazy to think I have 12 poles considering I didn’t even compete in three of them, so could have been the ultimate year of pole positions – but still I’m very, very grateful for the ones I have and I will hopefully continue to be driving like this in the future.
Q: Nico, we were talking a moment ago with Daniel about this decision to start on the supersofts. I guess from your point of view, given that you want a nice, clean start tomorrow, the fact that you should have that little bit of extra bite off the line with the ultrasoft in comparison, does that give you a little bit of comfort as you go to bed tonight? NR: I hadn’t thought about that yet in that sense. I was still thinking about qualifying at the moment. But yeah, I guess, better to start the race and then we have to see how the ultrasofts hold up. But we’re very confident that we’ve chosen the right tyre for the best possible race tomorrow. So… optimistic.
Q: Daniel, one thing was clear yesterday from the long run pace, that you’re in the game when it comes to the race – perhaps more than you were in qualifying. So, is that the way it looks from your side of the garage?
DR: Yesterday it did. I think as sort-of predicted, Mercedes would pull a little bit more on us today in qualifying but we’ll see how the race comes back to us. I think that’s why we wanted to do something a little bit different as well and try the supersoft. Might just give us a bit more range at the start and then might put us more in the race towards the end. But yesterday, yeah we were strong on long runs, looks good. I think it’s going to be fun tomorrow. Obviously there’s the title on the line with these guys here, so it’s going to be interesting. Hopefully it’s fun throughout the pack and we can do something to make it even more exciting than it already is.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Viktor Bognar – Magyar Szo) Lewis, would you be satisfied with your own performance throughout the season if you win tomorrow but lose out to Nico in the Championship. And to Nico, would you be satisfied with your own performance throughout the season if you lose out to Lewis again tomorrow but win the Championship in the end.
LH: For me I guess I have no choice. Ultimately I came here to drive like I have been and I’ve always said, if I’ve performed at my best in these races and I can leave here knowing that I gave it everything and I performed at my best, then I can walk away being proud. Obviously had other things come in the way but managed to battle through all the different types of adversity that I’ve faced this year and I’m really proud of it.
NR: If it’s OK, let’s just do tomorrow’s race first. We’ll see how that goes and then we can talk as much as you want about all these kind of things – but for now I just want to stay focused on tomorrow.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Lewis, you mentioned that on the eve of the 2014 title decider, I think you said it was the only time you haven’t slept all night and it was the worst night’s sleep you’d had. You seem very zen, almost chilled and mellow. How are you approaching tomorrow? Are there any nerves or are you just taking it in your stride?
LH: I feel amazing. I’m sitting on pole right now so… I feel energetic, I feel confident, confident of what I’ve been doing in the car. It’s a much different scenario to 2014. Obviously the reasoning of not being able to sleep then was because I’d worked so hard during the year and again, faced lots of different challenges throughout the year and I had more wins and yet that double points system could have just thrown everything into the wind. It wasn’t really deserving, so that was really the only thing, and having lost the championship in 2007, knowing what that feels like, so it just played on my mind, but I have everything to gain tomorrow so it’s just the complete opposite in the spectrum and yeah, super-excited about it.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, in qualifying, 27 times in a row you have been in the top two without penalties. How would you explain that kind of consistency: 27 times in a row?
NR: I didn’t know that, yeah, of course, sounds good and for sure that’s one of the reasons why I am sitting here at the moment. I’m fighting for the championship at the last race. I’m sure it has been one of the key ingredients. In general, yeah, I’m proud of the season, proud of the season I’ve been able to do until now. It’s been a great year, my best so far but one race to go so let’s see.
Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Daniel, when we talked yesterday, I asked you are you going to bring it tomorrow? Now you’re right there, behind these guys. Are you going to bring it tomorrow? Are you going to bring some energy? You have surprises. Don’t think about the question, no calculated answer. Are you going to bring it tomorrow?
DR: No. I wasn’t feeling your energy so… I don’t know. We’ll see. The question is, if I bring it tomorrow on track, are you going to bring it tomorrow night?
Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Nico, if there is one moment where you have everything to lose it is at the start of the race. Do you reflect about that? Are you being more conservative? And if you are happy that third on the grid is Daniel instead of Max, in spite of Max’s fair but sometimes aggressive…
NR: Again, it’s something that’s a bit too much thinking. I like to stay on the positive side or on the optimistic side. The whole weekend counts. It’s never easy to try and win a race in F1. So yeah, I just want to keep it simple. Don’t think about what if or all these kind of things you were just mentioning now. That would be the wrong approach to do a good performance tomorrow.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speed Sport) On a different subject, it looks like there will be standing starts next year after the safety car. What do you guys think about that and there could be a lot of marbles on the line for the drivers?
LH: Marbles where? It shouldn’t be much different to now, I should imagine. Yeah, they should clean it up for the start so generally not marbles there, but I guess for the restart maybe. That would be interesting.
NR: Is it confirmed? Teams agreed to it? Come on, let’s talk about that on Monday, come on, seriously. Afternoon; in the morning I’m not available.
DR: It’s terrible if you’ve got a 40s lead but great if you’re in second place. So, we’ll see. I think it will be… obviously it creates more variability again so if the race is looking a little bit stationary then that could definitely spice it up. There’s pros and cons. I think for fans it’s going to be more exciting.
