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RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com/speedtv
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07/06/2008 - 03:38 PM
Northamptonshire, UK
Hamilton silenced his critics with a textbook performance at Silverstone. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos
Lewis Hamilton drove a sensational race at Silverstone, barely putting a foot wrong as he silenced the critics with a crushing display. He finished over a minute ahead of his nearest rival, and even lapped both Ferrari drivers, one of them twice. He’s now back in the lead of the World Championship, but only in a tie-break of best positions as he has the same points as Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. This is what Lewis had to say to the media after his day of days.
Q: Lewis, you started the season with a win, you won the Monaco Grand Prix, but now the moment’s yours. Let’s savour the moment, describe your emotions on that slow down lap, having won the British Grand Prix.
“It is by far the best victory I’ve ever had. It was one of the toughest races I’ve ever done and as I was driving I was thinking if I win this, this will definitely go down as the best race I’ve ever won, not only because of its history but it’s on my home ground, but also I think I drove one of the best races I ever did. But I was coming to the last lap and I could see the crowd beginning to stand up and I was just praying, praying and praying: keep it on the track, just finish and you could not imagine that we’re going inside. I wanted to push, I just wanted to get it round and we did. The team did a fantastic job really. I want to dedicate this one to my family because, as you could see, I’ve had some troubles over the last couple of weeks and it’s been really tough, but as always family is always there for you, always give me support. They’re all here. I remember before the race my brother said ‘don’t worry about it, you will be fine in the wet,’ so a big thank you to them.”
Q: A stunning win by over a minute, great moments, but lots of difficult moments too. Let’s talk about some of those, the pressure from Kimi Räikkönen early in the race, the decision about whether to switch to maybe extreme Bridgestone wets when the rain really started to fall, and generally the conditions out there on the track, lapping slower cars and actually being passed by Rubens Barrichello when it got really wet.
“Yeah, it was so extreme out there. It was probably as extreme in some cases as Fuji last year. Obviously there wasn’t as much rain but such tricky conditions: the first sector maybe dry or not so bad, and then in the second sector you could see big drops of rain on your visor. I was having big problems with my visor, I couldn’t see a thing, especially the right side was fogging up, so always between turn one and two I would have to put the visor up and clean it on the inside and then put it down, and then I would have to do it again before Stowe. I had to do that nearly every lap, just to be able to see, especially when it started to rain. When Rubens was catching me, I didn’t even know. I couldn’t see in my wing mirrors, I could barely see out of my visor. All I could hear was the tone of two engines: my engine and someone else’s, and for a second, I thought ‘oh God, just let him past.’ So I stayed on inside and braked early and he came flying down
Q: And when it did start to rain, what was the thought process on staying on the Bridgestone wets rather than perhaps changing to the extreme wets?
“Obviously we started on new wets, new intermediates or new standard wets and then we had a scrubbed set available which we were looking to use, and obviously it got pretty tricky out there, but fortunately the team took the decision… I just focused on making sure I didn’t make any mess-ups and mistakes and they were doing such a great job in analyzing the weather forecast and making sure that we were on the right path. As I said, a big thank you to them.”
Q: Lewis, big smile on your face still. Now technically leading the World Championship, it’s a great thing to say, but beyond that, just tell us your emotions when you drew the curtains this morning and you saw what the weather was like.
“To be honest, I wasn’t feeling great this morning but it wasn’t until I got to the track and I spoke to my family and then I was feeling great. I saw some kids, I got time to see some of the fans at the gate and all this was giving me energy, and all of a sudden I had so much energy. I went to the Paddock Club, I went to the Mercedes Benz Club and I got to get so much energy, so much support, so I really have to say a huge thank you to all the fans here, because they have been incredible all weekend throughout, and really without their support we wouldn’t have done this. I can hear them outside and I’m looking forward to seeing them. It’s the best weekend ever.”
Q: Lewis, fantastic drive today. What did it take of you personally - physically, mentally today?
“Today it took an incredible amount of energy to stay focused. I needed to be one hundred percent, no more and no less. I had a lot of pressure on me, obviously. I had done a terrible job, really, in qualifying, at least by my standards, but today I just kept saying ‘I’m not going out there to… the plan is not to big myself up and say ‘I’m going to go out and win and try and do everything on the first lap.’ I just wanted to get a point. I would have been happy with eighth today, I would have been happy just getting a point and so with that approach, I just remained relaxed, I remained calm. It was really important that I had three Cs: cool, calm and collected. That’s really what helped me keep everything together. It was such a mental challenge out there. You could see the fans, they were getting all excited. The track conditions were changing non-stop and I couldn’t see a thing through my damn visor unfortunately, so I had to keep on putting it up and cleaning it, and then shutting it, same and same again every lap. That made it really tricky because at one part of the track, the first sector would be dry, the second sector would be beginning to rain, before Abbey or going into Abbey there was so much water and you could see everyone was going off there, so it really took a lot. I’m just pleased it’s over.”
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