Q: Michael, a great drive to second place, taking second place in the second pit stops there, but very close racing with Kimi right at the start, almost touched wheels going into Abbey?
Michael SCHUMACHER: Touched sidepods, I would say. I was already at the limit of the circuit. He didn’t want to give me the inside so I had to try the outside. The rest worked out fine. We obviously got stuck in the early stages of the race but nevertheless, I have to say that we weren’t quick enough this weekend but we will keep on working on that. Q: That was a great period of the race when you did take second place from Kimi. Talk us through that: very quick on that lap after your tyre change, fastest in sectors two and three.
MS: We knew we had two sets of new tyres left. We knew that all the other guys chose to use their new set at the start, so they had no new sets left, so that was the only strategy we could pull out, to come in a lap early and then have a lap free of traffic and then build a gap to second and then get into second.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Michael, second place, was the car good, good enough for first, do you think?
MS: Don’t know! It was going well, I didn’t have any particular issues or problems but it’s a bit difficult for me to analyse where we could have been and what could have happened. You guys sit there, have all the information. I just have my personal information but at the end of the day, we weren’t good enough for the weekend. That is pretty obvious.
Q: The tactics of the second pit stop were obviously vital to your second place.
MS: Yeah, we would have loved to do that at the first pit stop already, but it didn’t work out. I think there was even a bit of traffic involved. I’m not sure what happened at the very first pit stop, but if I remember correctly, the other two guys were on new tyres, I was on older tyres, which also made it a little bit more difficult for me to be right on Kimi’s tail, whereas at the second pit stop I was very close to him and then had a quick lap on new tyres and got him. But after spending forty laps or more behind him, there’s no opportunity left.
Q: How worrying is the Renault pace given that we’re going to two flyaway races in succession?
MS: There’s nothing new or a surprise. We have seen that they are strong all year long. We have been strong all year long with a couple of hiccups in some of the races and that’s the difference. So we’ll have to work on that to get even more out of our car and to have two cars up front and that is our target and our aim. We will work on this. I’ve heard some people saying that this is a crucial race but for me it’s not crucial at all. There are ten races to go, plenty of opportunities. We believe in ourselves and we will do a lot of hard work to get going and to take as many points as we can to be up front at the end of the year, as much as they will keep working for the opposite. It’s very natural, but there’s no way we are resigning at all.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q (Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Deutschland) Michael, you spent the early part of the race behind Kimi. Was it just that you wanted to keep a certain distance and how much were you advantaged when you got ahead of him?
MS: I guess you could see once I was in front of him what was the difference between him and me after that. To answer your question correctly, the reason to stay a second behind him is that when you get closer you just start sliding around because this is a very high-speed circuit, aerodynamics are very important and there is unfortunately no way to try and stick close because of the track.
Q (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport): Michael, on the fourth lap you had a battle with Kimi going into the chicane. How close was that. It looked like it was wheel to wheel?
MS: Yes, it was. We didn’t touch but I guess there wasn’t a piece of paper’s space left. It was close but it was okay.
Q (Luc Domenjoz – Le Matin) All three of you look very sad – like you lost your parents this morning. Was it a very difficult race?
MS: It was probably a lonely race for Fernando, there was a bit of action between me and Kimi, but it wasn’t that exciting. There’s no reason to jump around and be happy. In this season there’s still a long way to go and everybody’s got to try and focus on what happens next rather than feeling joy too much.
Q (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) As you said, it was not an exciting race, so, to all of you, how exciting is it to race to win when you cannot even overtake – the overtaking is just in the pit-stops. Is it fun to race like that?
MS: It’s part of the game. I think the ideal world doesn’t exist. You always can improve things absolutely, but that’s the way it is and that’s the way it has been for so many years.
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