McLaren focus on achieving the very best result
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Team travels to Interlagos Circuit for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the venue of last year's dramatic season finale, the venue where Lewis Hamilton scored his first World Championship. This year, as the team is not fighting for the championships, Lewis and Heikki soley focus on achieving the very best result.
Lewis Hamilton: “I’m really looking forward to this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix – it will be the first time I’ve travelled to Sao Paulo without being in contention for the world championship, and I’m actually looking forward to taking in a bit more of the city and relaxing and enjoying the experience of driving on one of the world’s greatest racetracks.
“My highlights are Turn One, braking into the long left-hander which bends right and takes you out onto the back straight; Ferra Dura, which is a fast right-hander where you body is squeezed hard into the side of the car, and the main straight: you accelerate hard uphill and you can even hear the crowd and the Brazilian drums playing in the grandstands.
“One of the greatest things about racing at Interlagos is the crowd. There’s such a great atmosphere; the fans have so much energy and life. It’s a party while you’re working, and it’s great to see everyone happy.”
Heikki Kovalainen: “The Interlagos circuit is quite a challenging one for the drivers because it’s anti-clockwise, which, after a season of racing on clockwise circuits, puts quite a strain on your neck muscles. But you quickly forget that once you get out on the circuit – it’s an incredible racetrack, really demanding – but very satisfying when you get a lap right.
“Interlagos hasn’t traditionally been a circuit where we have excelled, but we feel that we’ve resolved quite a few of the issues that affected us at this race last year, and using KERS Hybrid – particularly up that long hill out of the final corner – should be a considerable benefit both in qualifying and the race.”
Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: “Nobody on our team will ever forget the dramatic final laps of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix – they are memories that will live with us forever. Of course, the defining moments of the last two world championships have both taken place in Brazil and, as a result, the race has become an unusually colourful and intense occasion for us.
“Travelling to Sao Paulo this year with our focus solely on achieving the very best result will allow us to attack the race weekend without any additional considerations, and we are very much looking forward to that challenge.”
Norbert Haug, Vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Lewis has been the most successful driver of the last two grands prix, which took place within the space of one week in Singapore and at the Japanese Suzuka circuit. During those eight days, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes scored more points than any other team, a trend that fortunately has continued for the last six grands prix since Lewis’s first 2009 victory in the Hungarian GP.
“We started the season and had to make do with a minimum of points, so it’s pleasing to see the upward trend we’ve had since our home grand prix at the Nurburgring in the middle of July. We try to continue this trend with Lewis’s two wins and two additional podium places in the last six races – a gain which hasn’t been achieved by any other driver in this period of time.
“In the last six races of the season’s second half, Lewis has beaten world champion candidate Jenson Button four times, Rubens Barrichello and our German friend Sebastian Vettel three times each, and each of the three title candidates has scored less points than Lewis, who managed 34 whereas Rubens scored 27, Sebastian 22 and, with 17 points, Jenson, who, at the top of the table, achieved only half of Lewis’s points.
“The world championship fight is open and electrifying – I know from my own experience what I am talking about when I say that with a 16-point deficit of Sebastian to Jenson, nothing has been decided yet. With regard to the constructors’ world championship, Brawn GP should have already done it with half a point still missing.”
