Q: Was it a hard race? We talked about the heat but obviously it wasn’t quite as hot today, but there was pressure all the way?
MS: It was pressure all the way, and Malaysia is a tough circuit. It is still hot enough to make it a hard race. It would have been even harder if the sun had shone but I didn’t mind not having the sun and I guess my colleagues (didn’t) too.

Q: Michael, I couldn’t help but notice that you were able to get the exact right beat at the end of the Italian national anthem there on the podium - a lot of practice now. How do you see the season progressing? It must be quite difficult leading the championship as you are now? Where do you go from here, how do you stay on top?
MS: I think it’s easier to lead the championship, from the position we are in than to come from where we had to come last year. But no doubt it’s only two out of 18 races, 16 to go and we all know how quick development can be for various teams. I think it’s going to be a hard year, honestly. We have another tough race to come in Bahrain. Nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen there, what sort of characteristics it has, who it favours and what’s going to happen in the meantime with development for the various teams. But the sort of difficulties that we’ve had here in the past, specifically with our tyres, I have to say Bridgestone have done a fantastic job. We have had to overcome that and to compete in such conditions, which are extreme conditions and I’m really happy for them, that they have fought their way back and we are where we are.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Michael, you were talking about the conditions on the opening laps. How much rain was there, how wet was it?
MS: The very first lap there was just a little bit in turn four, for whatever reason, very slippery in turn eleven and then OK, but then rain came again in turn four and in turn eleven. In certain corners, during the first five or six laps spots of rain came here and there but it was corner dependent and you didn’t know how much rain there was, and how wet it was on the next lap. It was very unpredictable, very tricky.

Q: What about your start and that opening lap? You’d opened up a two second lead by the end of that first lap.
MS: Yeah, I guess I maybe handled it better than Rubens was able to handle it and the rest were stuck behind Rubens, who seemed to lose significant time in that phase of the race, so Ross (Brawn) said. I don’t know. I gave it all the speed I thought I could, but it was very tricky, very close.

Q: What was the thinking behind that really short opening stint, just nine laps?
MS: The thinking of the strategy? Good qualifying and to be in a good position. When did you stop (to Montoya)?

Q: It was almost as though there might have been a different strategy there?
MS: Well, it’s four laps, not that much difference.

Q: Strategy was pretty clear-cut, wasn’t it? No problems with that?
MS: No, it was very straightforward, the strategy we had from where we started the race.

Q: And you were on different tyres to Rubens - any problems with them at all?
MS: They worked perfectly well, but there was not much in it, honestly, within the tyres.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazetta dello Sport): Michael, in the last two years you have struggled a lot in these hot conditions so how important is this victory from a psychological point of view? Does it make the rest of the championship more relaxed?
MS: Relaxed would be certainly the wrong word. This is one of the races we sort of struggled in the past but whenever we looked strong here it helped us a lot in the difficult races through the season where it is going to be maybe very hot and difficult. I don’t know whether you can translate it and compare it to last year or not. I would wish to see it that way but I may have my doubts about that, we have to find out. It is two out of 18 races, we have the 20 points in our pocket which is certainly a lot more than we had last year but there is still a long way to go.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi): Michael, do you know anything about the problem with Rubens because he lost two positions on lap four?
MS: I think it was the wet conditions and maybe he went wide. Maybe you ask Juan – he was behind him and he might know something.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi): In the last Grand Prix, Michael, you challenged a bit with Renault, here you have two other guys. Will it help if you have a different challenger in every race?
MS: Well, this would be the ideal situation if I can be in front and have a different challenger all the time but it will not always be that way and we don’t live in dreams.

Q: (Saravana Kuppusami – Radio 104.9): Michael, without the launch control and the automatic gearbox, as a driver is it more or less exciting as before?
MS: It is obviously more exciting than before. You have a lot more responsibility and it increases the excitement. Before it was down to just watching the light and pushing the button and now there is a little bit more to do.

Q: (Saravana Kuppusami): So, you really enjoy racing these things?
MS: Yeah, it leaves a little bit more margin and possibilities for us drivers.

Q: (Saravana Kuppusami): So are you in favour of the current qualifying system or would you prefer last year’s?
MS: It doesn’t really matter very much what we prefer because it doesn’t really change anything.