Q; There was quite a variety of strategies, probably because qualifying and the race was on the same day. Was that a concern before the race, what everyone else was up to?
MS: Certainly, yes. It wasn’t clear who would be how heavy because we had no indication from practice so we had to be flat-out in the beginning part of the race until the pit stops had been done and then we could judge who was on what strategy.

Q: And a trouble-free, incident-free race, except I think there was a Jordan stationary in the middle of the track on one of the laps you came past.
MS: Yeah, but there was enough space, there was a yellow flag indication and I slowed sufficiently to make sure I could handle the situation and then it was straightforward.

Q: Michael, a unique day today, qualifying and racing on the same day. What is your verdict of how it went?
MS: Yeah, I think that this day goes down to history in Formula One. I am pretty sure some people will think whether we should continue to do it that way. I have to say it was exciting but I prefer the old style!

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Michael, well done. It’s been a race or two since you were on the top step. What is it like to be back to your winning ways?
MS: Yeah. It is obviously nice, for other reasons, particularly that it is Bridgestone’s home Grand Prix and we wished to do well for them and we did. We did very superb in being basically fastest all weekend and finally get the win and it is the way to pay back something to our partners.

Q: It really was a dominant performance, you were up to 24 seconds ahead of Ralf at one time.
MS: Yeah, it didn’t look like it in the beginning stages but then he pitted so much earlier and it was pretty clear which way it would go.

Q: At the end you eased up quite a lot. I know you do tend to ease up in the closing stages but even to the extent of letting Felipe Massa un-lap himself. Was there any problem there, or was that just normal?
MS: No, I mean, I was doing a certain pace when Felipe was in front of me until he hit Jacques he was sort of going the same pace, or slightly quicker. But then he got stuck behind Jacques and I was closing then and they let me through. Then I was just keeping to the same pace and, as Felipe was slightly quicker, I let him through so he could continue his race.

Q: But otherwise it was an incident-free and trouble-free race.
MS: Yeah, pretty much.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Mathias Brunner – Motorsport Aktuell) Michael, you said you preferred the old qualifying system than what happened today, why?
MS: Yes. It’s strange if you think all the time you go straight out on Sunday morning and have to do a qualifying lap without any preparation, anything, if you had different weather conditions. We have a whole weekend in time so there is no reason to rush through and just have everything on one day, as some people wish to. That’s my point of view. It puts more stress on the mechanics and the preparation.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Michael, after two months you have come back to winning; what’s your feeling? Was there extra pressure, extra excitement to win after such a long time, three Grands Prix?
MS: We have nothing, in a way, to win other than the single Grand Prix and that’s actually a good thing and coming here to Suzuka which is a circuit I like very much. It is just nice, and great. I didn’t think too much about what happened at the last Grand Prix, I don’t really take that into account, questioning anything. In this way, there wasn’t really the extra pressure except the one we had to do well for Bridgestone here.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi) Michael, the next Grand Prix is your teammate’s home Grand Prix. If there is a chance, do you want to help him to win this Grand Prix? He said winning it is like a dream for him, he always said that for him it would be like winning a World Championship.
MS: Yeah, I guess so, everybody likes to win his home Grand Prix but I am sorry but I feel like I want to win another Grand Prix as well this year. (Laughter) I’m pretty sure he will be very strong. He likes the competition and he likes it if he earns it without any support, I am pretty sure of that. But first we have to do the job.