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In
the FIA press conference after the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul,
Kimi talked about a partly boring race and why his second place
was the best result he could achieve.
Question:
Kimi, it looked like a frustrating day for you. As Felipe said,
you got into second place from the start but that’s where you
stayed. You pushed Felipe pretty hard going into the second pit
stop.
Kimi:
Yeah, we had a pretty good car but unfortunately these days in
Formula One it’s pretty difficult to get past, so the race was
really decided yesterday already. If nothing else I pushed hard
and got as close as I could and tried to do something at the pit
stops, but when two team-mates are fighting it is usually that
whoever is first is going to stay there. The car was really good
but there was nothing I could have done.
Question:
Again you chose the softer of the two Bridgestone tyres. Was that
a big decision going into the race, how it was going to perform?
Kimi:
I think as Felipe said we were pretty confident that both tyres
would work pretty well. It was not a big difference and we decided
to take the soft one for the start for many reasons and it worked
well. It was still difficult to say which one would have been
better. They were very equal.
Question:
Kimi, tell us about the start.
Kimi:
I got a good start as we were hoping for but that’s about it –
I was following Felipe all race long and there was nothing I could
have done.
Question:
How did you see the end of that first stint?
Kimi:
It was good. I had a little bit too much understeer at the start
and I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted. The car got better and
better and in the end was very good and very easy to drive. But I
had big difficulties with the handling at the start of the second
stint. At the end I could go very fast but when you have two guys
behind each other in the same team, usually the second guy has to
pit first and there is nothing more I could have done.
Question:
But a little bit of a statement two laps from the end?
Kimi:
Yeah, but it’s so boring behind other cars. Unfortunately in
Formula One these days the races are pretty much decided after
qualifying, so it’s a shame.
Queston:
Fastest lap, two laps from the end, similar to Hungary…
Kimi:
Yeah, it’s something to do.
Question:
Kimi, you already said that this is your second race in a row
where you are following the leading car and you said it’s a
little bit boring being there, but having said that, you did the
fastest lap in both races. Is that just to keep you awake or is it
more to try and see how much you can get out of the car?
Kimi:
I think we can get more out of the car if we really push but
there’s no point in really wasting your second position to push
like crazy and maybe go off so… It was just that I wanted to try
and see how good the car was and maybe we can learn something. As
I said, it’s a bit boring because you quite often know,
especially after the pit stop, where the other cars will stop and
that’s it. You know that you cannot really do anything if you
don’t get past the guys and it’s very difficult to get past.
Question:
How much has Lewis’s puncture helped your title chances?
Kimi:
Yeah, it was definitely better for us. We know that anything can
happen in a race, we gained more than if we had finished third, so
it’s helping but there are still many races to go, so we just
need to keep pushing and try to win and see what happens.
Question:
Kimi, is starting from pole the only way to win at Monza also?
Kimi:
Not really. It depends how much fuel you have against the others
but racing with teammates, you know exactly much fuel the other
guy has, so when you are in that situation, you pretty much know
what will happen in the race. If it’s someone else it’s a
different story but for sure, pole position makes your life easier,
you have better chances but it doesn’t really decide the race
completely.
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