Post-qualifying press conference - Japan

After a Japanese qualifying session in difficult weather conditions, Lewis Hamilton, who snatched pole, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen answered the questions from the gathered press during the post-qualifying press conference.

Lewis Hamilton: "Yeah, that was a good session for us. The whole weekend has started off a little bit better than others, and we had a good car today. It was quite tricky conditions out there – we don’t know the track in the wet, and we didn’t get any practice this morning, and we’re very fortunate that the team did a fantastic job getting the set-up right. When you’re out there, you don’t really know where you are – you really only have your pit board, you don’t know how much time is left. They timed it to perfection, and I made best use of it."

LH: "It was alright, it was alright. It was quite a good lap, I was happy with it. Obviously, when I crossed the line I realised that this was the last chance I was probably going to have, and I just improved on a couple of corners where I’d made mistakes previously. I lost a little bit of time on the exit of the last corner, and I didn’t know what the Ferrari – it was Kimi or Felipe, I’m not sure – I think they decided to do another lap, but they didn’t really get in my way – I managed to come across the line ahead. I could see it on the TV when I came across the line, so before my team even told me I knew. So, as you can imagine, I was punching the air."

LH: "I hope it’s wet but I’m not really bothered either way. Obviously, we’ve seen in the second practice that we were very comfortable with the balance of the car, and the team has been working as hard as always to improve. We’ve come here with another step forward and we’re here to challenge the Ferraris. Obviously starting where we are – it could be changeable conditions tomorrow – I think it could be exciting."

Fernando Alonso: "It was OK for me in the wet conditions. I enjoyed today driving here in Fuji for the first time in these conditions. Everything was going well, and at the end – OK, we are not on pole but we are on the first row, which is very important for the race. I’m very happy with the performance today of the car."

FA: "We saw very tight timed laps yesterday, very close between the two teams, and today in qualifying we are only two-tenths (apart), all four drivers, so in the end nothing between dry and wet conditions changed too much in the battle between the two teams. As we saw today, I think it’s extremely close and we had the advantage in the qualifying – maybe in the race we will struggle a little bit more, so we will see tomorrow."

Kimi Raikkonen: "It was OK actually, not too bad. We touched the kerbs a few times but it didn’t really affect the lap times. I had traffic on the last lap and needed to back off. Anyhow, we had a small problem with the gearbox, so for sure we can fix it for tomorrow. I think we can be in good shape – we don’t know what kind of weather we’re going to have tomorrow, but it’s the same for everybody, so we should have a good car for any kind of weather conditions."

KR: "I think we are pretty close to Friday morning, so it should be OK. The circuit is going to be different after the rain for the race tomorrow, so we’ll wait and see. I’m confident that we’ll have a good car in the race and it’s going to be a tight race with all four cars."

LH: "I’m quite relaxed to be honest. With the way this weekend has gone, hopefully I’ll be more relaxed. I’m in the perfect position – obviously I have these two breathing down my neck – but I’m not really too bothered. Again I just feel that the car’s underneath me this weekend. Tomorrow’s going to be a tough battle – we’re all so close in time. The key is going to be to get down to the first corner, and leaving them."

Press conference

LH: "As important as every pole position, but obviously to come to Japan, to Fuji, for the first Grand Prix here in a long time, and with everyone in the same boat – none of us know the track in the wet or the dry, and with limited testing as well – so to get pole position is critical. It helps. I’m really happy with the job I did."

LH: "Even more – it’s an awesome track in the wet, it really is. There’s something about the surface, obviously the Bridgestone wet tyres are very good, and the grip we have here is incredible. Considering how wet it was, we weren’t that far off our lap times yesterday in the dry. It’s good fun – you’ve got some grip, you can play around with it, you can go off-line and go on-line. So it should entertain people in the race."

LH: "I wouldn’t say anything we do in Formula One is guesswork. We have extremely intelligent engineers and people back at the factory analysing all of the data and trying to understand where we should be, and we’ve got a super team – they do a fantastic job – so there’s no guessing going on. Maybe for the other teams, but not us."

FA: "We’re checking the web sites, so I think it’s the same as everybody. There are some possibilities of rain, it will rain during the day, but we don’t know if it will hit the two o’clock time for the race. Maybe it’s before, maybe after, maybe during the race."

FA: "Yeah, I think it was for everybody. It was quite an exciting qualifying due to the problems with the fog this morning and actually it was the same for most of the drivers, for everybody. The first lap in wet conditions was in Q1, so it was quite exciting."

FA: "I don’t know. I think all the sectors are important. The last sector is obviously the slowest one. You need a good car there, you need downforce there. Maybe sector one is more about speed and maybe less downforce, so it’s difficult to compare with other teams because you never know what they are running."

KR: "Yes, we were a bit too slow out of the box… or not too slow but they closed the circuit so quickly that we didn’t even manage to get into the pit lane. But I think one out lap wouldn’t have made much difference. It was OK. The car felt good. Of course the first few laps are always a bit about finding the lines and it gets better when you do more laps but it was good."

KR: "Yeah, we had a sensor problem, so we lost the fast shift, so it cost time. There was nothing that we could do during qualifying but we can probably fix it for tomorrow."

KR: "I don’t know. For sure it helps when you have that working but the car felt pretty OK in the last session. I was pretty happy. I only got one lap really and that was good enough for third place. I think the times are very close, so maybe it would have made a difference, maybe not, but anyhow we are in a good position for tomorrow."

Questions from the floor

LH: "As I said, I’ve really enjoyed my trip. I was over here and then coming to Fuji – it’s quite an awesome place with the scenery here. And the track – I was very very impressed when I walked the circuit on Thursday, the way that they have the place built up and the facilities. I think it’s fantastic. I would definitely put it at the top of the Formula One circuits that we have. But when I commented that I was disappointed, it was because it was a childhood dream to race at Suzuka but still, I’m more than happy to be here and obviously to be on pole."

LH: "At the beginning, obviously I exited the last corner and as I was accelerating I thought the Ferrari (driver) had seen me in the mirror and was beginning to move over but then he stopped and I understand he was just trying to avoid the white line and do an extra lap. It wasn’t an issue. I didn’t know what speed he was doing and I tried to get some slipstream but it wasn’t going to work, so I probably lost a bit of time trying to get back out of the way."

KR: "It’s the same for all the teams, all the drivers, so it doesn’t really make any difference. It would be nice to have it dry or wet, not really in between. There’s a bit more luck involved then. I don’t know. Anything really."

KR: "There were some little dry places but not really completely."

LH: "As I was saying earlier, we have a big group of engineers who get as much data as they can and we sort of all came here blindfold and not really knowing what to expect but they made very good calculations and we went out and we were very close with the balance that we had decided to go with, both for the wet and the dry. Obviously we’ve done a great job and so I’m happy."
FA: "Same."
KR: "OK, it’s a new place and a new challenge but I think it’s been going quite smoothly. We knew the circuit a little bit from having a look before and it’s been good."

LH: "(To Fernando) Do you want to answer that? We’re going to race. As Fernando said, we’re not idiots. We’re going to go into the first corner, we want to finish the race and score points, so we will obviously attack each other but in a fair manner."
FA: "Yeah, we will both finish the race, no worries."

KR: "I don’t think so. It’s not any different to normal. It’s going to be quite tight but the last race it was a very tight corner, so I don’t think it’s going to decide any more than any other circuit."

FA: "We planned Q3 like that because we thought that there was no time to do two stops and to fit two new sets of tyres, so we just went for one long run and then just one stop and only one chance. It was already planned like that, so no changes."

KR: "I don’t think it changes much. It’s a different time at every circuit. For sure there are optimum laps which is the best to (stop) but I don’t think here it is very crucial compared to other places."
LH: "Same."

FA: "No, I don’t think so. We have long straights in Spa, in Monza, in Indianapolis and we see the same overtaking more or less as on any other track, so I don’t think that tomorrow will be different."

FA: "Who knows? Normally the clean side is better but it’s true that today, with this rain, it will probably clean up both sides, so maybe tomorrow both sides will be more similar than normal."

KR: "I think we will find out tomorrow. Hopefully there are more. I think turn ten but other places are probably very difficult."
LH: "I think, as Kimi said, we will find out tomorrow but turn ten looks like it’s a possibility but it depends whether you get a good exit from turn six."
FA: "Same."

LH: "As you can see I’m dry as a bone. It was a bit of a breeze in the wet. Obviously it’s not as physical and I wasn’t thinking about the championship when I was doing that lap. I was thinking about getting pole position and so when you have that in the back of your mind, and then also knowing you just need to be relaxed, you can do it, 100 percent confidence in the team and the car, then it’s… I’m not saying it’s easy but it makes it much easier to do your job."