Planet-F1

Sunday's FIA press conference

Sunday 7th September 2008

Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld attended the post-race press conference in Spa. Took place prior to Hamilton being penalised.

Q: Lewis, a sensational victory for you. Talk us through those closing laps as the rain began to fall.

Lewis HAMILTON: It was an experience and a half. I could see Kimi ahead and after the second stop he was so far ahead and I was thinking how did he make such a gap but I did get stuck in traffic. I was just pushing and pushing and pushing trying to close that gap. I might have been catching him one tenth per lap but then he would pull out a little bit of time and then I was relying on traffic. I was hoping that he would catch the traffic at the right time. Sometimes he caught it on the straight and he got a tow and then I caught them in mid sector and lost time. It was just mix and match. I was just praying, I was saying please just rain, rain, rain. I wanted the rain to come because I knew how to deal with it. The heavens opened a little bit and I saw Kimi begin to back off a little bit, a lot earlier than he did normally into turn eight and that was really where I knew it was on, the fight was on. When I went into turn 12 I was going reasonably wide but then it looked like, I think it was Rosberg, had done a spin and he was coming back onto the track and he was coming back on exactly where I was going off, so I nearly crashed into the side of him. Kimi nearly did the same. I went over the grass, Kimi spun on the exit of that corner, so I got it back and from then on it was pretty straightforward from there. But it was incredibly tough as I had lost all the temperature in the tyres but it was great.

Q: Talk us through that passing incident at the last chicane when you let Kimi past but then passed him again?

LH: Yeah, I mean to be honest he pushed me wide. I was a little bit ahead and I was on the outside of turn one. He could have been fair as I had no room. He pushed me to the point where I would either have been on the kerb and crashed into him or have to go on the escape route, so I went on the escape route. I understood I had to let him past, so I did. I got in his tow and he was ducking and diving left and right and I did the same and managed to get back to the inside of him. But then he hit me at the apex of the corner but I think I was pretty much gone from there which was good.

Q: You led the race from the start but you half spun at the start of the second lap.

LH: I got a good start. I got away and I was feeling comfortable. The difficulty was that bits of the track were still wet, at the last corner and turn one, so I was having to make sure I got the braking right. It was still a bit unknown and I went into turn one and I think on the last downshift it just locked the rears. It was a pretty pathetic spin but there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily they weren't so close to each other, so I just pulled the clutch, boom, and went as quick as possible. I did get ahead but Kimi slipstreamed me on the straight.

Q: Kimi opened up a gap of around five seconds but on the prime tyre you pulled the gap back at the beginning of the third stint.

LH: Yeah, that spin really did put us on the back foot. It was a relatively big mistake from me. If it had stayed dry, we probably could have won if I had stayed ahead. It could have been quite critical. I think he pulled quite a big gap and I got held in traffic, I think it was behind Kubica and my team-mate, and there was nothing I could do about it. When I came out for the last stint, I just pushed and pushed and pushed. It wasn't over until it's over. I could see the clouds coming, so I just had to make sure. I think three or four laps to the end I said I can't catch this guy, so do I save the engine or do I keep pushing. But then I thought what happens if he makes a mistake or goes off or something like that, so it is never over until the fat lady sings and you see the chequered flag.

Q: Felipe, you must be pleased to finish second. What was it like in those last few laps for you?

Felipe MASSA: Well, to be honest, I was slower than I was supposed to be. I saw many people going off, especially Kimi, and then Lewis was a little bit in front, so I said I don't want to risk the right points. I was quite comfortable going very slow through the corners especially. It was really, really damp. Sometimes you think you would go off just like that. I made a mistake on the start as I thought Eau Rouge was wetter than it was, so I slowed down too much and then Kimi passed me. It was just a mistake. I was just comfortable in the third place during the whole race. It was difficult to catch those guys. We were all three doing very similar lap times. Sometimes I was losing a bit and then sometimes I was catching the pace. Then suddenly the second place came to me, so I am very pleased. The championship is still open and we are going to fight race by race to close the gap and maybe pass those guys.

Q: When Kimi passed you it did look very close from what we could see.

FM: Yeah, Kimi was so quick he was going to pass me easily for sure but then he started to close the line and we almost touched wheel to wheel. I found that a little bit strange as he was going to pass me as he was already much quicker. But anyway he passed me but then I got the second place which was pretty lucky given the circumstances. But these things you cannot say are lucky. I was just looking to finish the race and that was it, we finished second.

Q: Nick, a fantastic decision to switch to the wet Bridgestone tyres. You were very competitive in qualifying but that fell apart when you got hit by Kovalainen.

Nick HEIDFELD: Yeah, exactly. I had a pretty good get away, at least better than the row in front of me. Alonso was even a bit better. I decided to go to the outside rather than to the inside as I had a feeling I could crash there. Unfortunately Kovalainen drove into me. I thought I would spin or the race would be over with the car damaged. I was just very happy afterwards to feel that the car was okay and the steering wheel felt straight. Of course I lost a lot of positions and had to overtake a lot of cars but I still made up some positions on the first stint.

Q: It must have been real fun on that last stint passing everybody?

NK: It was but it was pretty much a hero or zero decision. First of all I was stuck behind cars most of the race. I had to stop earlier than some of them, including Vettel and Robert for the second stop. But I had a pretty good out lap and managed to overtake Robert and then I was stuck behind Vettel and it is not easy to overtake here. But then when it started to drizzle, the first lap it was just a little bit but the second lap it became more and then I just thought I will take a gamble. I knew there were not many laps to go and took the decision to