PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: What does it mean to win three races in a row here at Spa?
KR: For sure it’s nice. For sure it’s my favourite circuit, it was even before I came into Formula One, so it’s nothing to do with if I win or lose here. I just like it here, but I think that’s the reason that I have won here. It’s just a good circuit.

Q: And now you’ve closed up on the McLarens as well, leading a Ferrari one-two.
KR: Yeah, but unfortunately there’s still a long way to go but as I said before, we’re still in the championship and we keep pushing hard, hopefully we can catch up more in the next races and see if we can do it anyway.

Q: It seemed to be a troublefree race; how was the car on the softer tyres? Felipe was saying his was really good.
KR: Yeah, actually I was a bit surprised. I thought that maybe the first two laps would be OK and then it would go away a little bit but it was very good. Both tyres were working very well. I think the soft could have been very fast if we had been pushing 100 percent, so no complaints on that side at all.

Q: Felipe, it was pretty tight at the start with Fernando coming round the outside of you. He said you locked up.
FM: Yeah, actually I didn’t even see Fernando in the mirrors, because I was trying to fight with Kimi but I was on the outside, I saw Kimi went a little bit wide as well, so I needed to try to close. I didn’t see Fernando, so if we were close, I didn’t see, but anyway it was a good start, unfortunately not enough but it was a good start.

Q: Then you dropped back a little in the opening stages?
FM: Yeah, I had a big problem in the first stint, there was too much oversteer, it was very difficult to drive. But then I managed to improve the car a lot at the first stop by taking out the front wing and then it was pretty good, so the lap time was pretty good and very consistent. Then when we changed again to soft tyres it was even better, so maybe we took the wrong decision with the tyres. But it is very difficult sometimes to decide which style is going to work better. Also I think the drive improved a lot from yesterday to today and I think today the soft was better than the hard.
Q: And your position in the championship? How do you feel about that now?
FM: Well, for sure as Kimi said there is not a long way to go but we are still fighting. I will not give up until I see that the calculation is not there anymore. While we still see that there is a possibility I am going to fight.

Q: Fernando, as Peter said, quite an aggressive first corner there. Is there a slight change of approach between you and your team-mate now that you are no longer scoring points for the team but just for yourselves?
FA: No, same approach. Today it was just coincidence that we started third and fourth, sometimes we are spread second and fourth or whatever, and we arrived at the first corner and here at Spa it is a little bit more tricky because it is a 180 degrees corner and a very wide straight, so you can have many possibilities for the racing line into turn one. So I think it was just that, nothing changed in the approach.

Q: The margin to the Ferraris… did you think it would be about that at the end of the race?
FA: Yes.

Q: Not surprised?
FA: No. When we came on Thursday maybe we were hoping for something more after the Monza result but after the Friday sessions and especially yesterday in qualifying… Normally in qualifying we can fight with them for pole position and then in the race we struggle a little bit more. If in qualifying they were first and second we knew that the race is going to be very difficult as it was in the end.

Q: I guess you drivers have been saying it is swings and roundabouts going this way and that, all the way through the season. But we have had a major illustration of it in the last eight days haven’t we?
FA: Yeah, the last three races I think. Turkey was completely a Ferrari track, Monza was McLaren, this one Ferrari, hopefully the next one McLaren again…

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Fernando. One point… Is it a good result or is it not enough?
FA: I am happy with the result for sure. We have been third and fourth position and in the championship these days it is only one point difference, so it doesn’t change anything for the last three races. I think the championship is very open as it was last Thursday before we came here, you know. Before I was three points behind, now I am two points, so nothing changes. What I need to do is finish the best position possible and if I win the last three races it will be enough. Even if I was four points behind, or two, or three, what I need is to win and hopefully next time I will have the chance.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, how big was the temptation to try for the fastest lap again?
KR: I didn’t want to risk anything. The car was very good but unfortunately you don’t get any points for that. Sometimes you might do it for fun but I didn’t have any temptations really on this one.

Q: (Claude Yvens – Radio Contact) Fernando, you were the fastest driver, if I am not mistaken, on the second part of the circuit, whereas Felipe Massa was the fastest in the first and third parts. So what explains the difference in lap times between you and Ferraris in terms of setup?
FA: I think this weekend we ran a little bit more downforce than them, more wind. So we were quicker in the middle sector, all the corners are there. They ran a little bit less downforce, so they were very quick on the straights in sector one and sector three. We tried different numbers in the test here back in July and for us the best compromise was what we had on the car. With less downforce we were quicker on sector one and sector three but we lost too much in the middle sector, so I think we matched our possibilities and we have to be happy.

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Kimi, we saw you do a bit of a donut spin there coming back into the pits. What happened?
KR: I lost it.
(laughter)
KR: No, I have always wanted to do one and here it is much easier so… And it was the second race engine, so it doesn’t really matter if you make life harder for it.

Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) Fernando, in the three races remaining what are the best circuits for the McLaren?
FA: Very, very difficult question as we surprise ourselves every race, so it is not anymore an easy prediction for what is going to happen. But maybe Japan can be good for us, but China and Brazil not so good.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Question for Massa. At the end of the race you attacked Kimi and reduced a lot the gap, in your mind was it possible to overtake him?
FM: No, no it was not possible.

Q: (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) Felipe, do you think that in the last three races you will be free to win or must you help Kimi to try to win the championship?
FM: I think I will be free to win.

Q: (Niki Takeda – Formula PA) Felipe, could you use a little bit less drag setup than Kimi today? Were there any options?
FM: Drag?
Q: As in less downforce.
FM: We were already quite low, so that was too risky. We saw that McLaren was very strong on sector two, so going with less than what we had was a little bit too risky.

Q: (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS) Fernando, do you think the fight between Kimi and Felipe could help you for the championship?
FA: Why?
Q: Because if Kimi wins every race then Kimi at the end could be a very hard driver.
FA: I don’t know. For sure if Kimi wins all three races for the championship I need, and also Lewis needs to be second or third, otherwise we will lose too many points. For sure the championship is very open. Felipe is in the same position and still has possibilities to win, so I think we need to be very careful to finish all three races because if you have a DNF in one of them you say bye, bye to the title. So I am happy to pass these last two races, Monza and Spa, because they are the hardest two races for the engine and those are gone, so I am happy to finish and I will be happy to finish the remaining three. The positions are up to us to win.

Q: (Juha P滗talo – Financial Times Germany) Kimi, you already talked about we are a long way into the title but does it give you any boost winning here?
KR: I think so, it doesn’t matter if you win here or any other race. It helps me in the points and it helps me in the championship, so for sure it is much nicer to win than to finish third or fourth, or fifth, or second. I would rather win and have a better chance for the championship. That is what matters really.