DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Martin Brundle)
Well done Nico, fantastic. Your 200th grand prix, your third victory in four weeks, you now lead
the championship again, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.
Nico ROSBERG: No, but it’s been an awesome weekend here in Singapore for me, already yesterday
with the pole lap and then today, a great start, had a good car in the race. Of course Daniel tried to
pull one up on me with the pit stop in the end there. We knew it was going to be tight at the end,
but it worked out, so I’m really, really happy.
They were going to call you in to cover him off and then they made a late call, and it was the right
call, but then you were under pressure all the way to the flag?
NR: Yeah, we couldn’t come in because I had traffic, so I was very slow on that lap and he would
have beaten me. It was a cool ending.
We heard you were managing your brakes for more or less the whole race, tell us about that.
NR: Yeah, the whole car was on the edge, it always is in Singapore, so it’s all the more satisfying
with a race like that.
Daniel Ricciardo, it’s your third consecutive time on this podium, but you needed just a few more
centimetres for the top step.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, we’ve come very close this year on numerous occasions but you know,
I’m not going to stand up here and be disappointed. I think we gave it a good shot. We tried
something at the end with the strategy and we got within half a second. It was close but hey, we’re
up here again; it feels great. There are a lot of Australian flags, every year I see more and more, so
thank you very much.
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You were on schedule to be on his gearbox with one or two laps to go and then he got a bit of
traffic but it just fell away. One more lap and you would have been there.
DR: Yeah, it was close. As soon as we did the pit stop we thought Nico was going to come in, so I
pushed really hard on those tyres and by the end they were a little bit dead, but at least we close
and made it exciting.
The champagne pouring off you is boiling hot – a tough race.
DR: It’s a physical race, absolutely.
Lewis, it’s your 99th podium but it’s not the sweetest one I suspect.
Lewis HAMILTON: No, definitely not, but first of all, big congratulations to Nico, he drove
fantastically well all weekend and fully deserved the win. Very tough day today, as always it is here
in Singapore. This weekend has just been a bot of a tricky one for me, but I’m still glad I could get
back up on the podium and get some points for the team.
The first half of the race you were a bit frustrated with the tyres and your own pace and
wondering what was going on and then suddenly you came alive.
LH: It was my brakes. I was struggling with my brakes, they were way overheating, so I just had to
slow down, so I just had to watch the other guys pull away and I was just looking at different ways
to try and get them back under control. Eventually once I did my second or third stop, all of a
sudden my brakes were under control. But of course, towards the end I still got a bit of heat in
them. I have a lot of support here this weekend and I just want to say a big thanks to everyone for
coming out and we’ll keep pushing.
Eight points behind in the world championship now, is that a big concern for you?
LH: Well, it’s a lot different to when I was here last year, but in all in all, with everything that’s gone
on this year, I’m still in the fight, there’s still a long way to go and I’m going to give it everything I’ve
got.
Final word then Nico – six races to go in this championship, you are leading it yet again now, so
you must be thinking ‘I can win this, I can take this’.
NR: No, I’m not focused on points. As I always say, I’m just happy with the win today. Thank you
very much for coming today, you’ve been awesome this weekend, I hope you had fun and see you
all again in Malaysia, soon.
Q: Nico, many congratulations, you’ve won your 200th Grand Prix, it’s your 22nd Grand Prix victory
and you’ve now got an eight-point lead in the World Championship. It was a brilliantly judged
race – but were there a few nervous moments as the man on your right was closing in?
NR: Like with ten laps to go, or 15 laps to go, just after the pitstop, the team said he would be with
me at the end of the race, which was the case, so for sure I had to be on it in that last stint and get
everything right and nail all those laps. It really worked out, with the management, all the way to
the end. The tyre lasted just right, so very, very happy, of course. By the time I started the last lap I
knew it was going to be enough because Daniel also, his tyres weren’t as fresh any more, so by that
time it was OK.
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Q: Daniel, coming onto you. It was a brave roll of the dice at the end in terms of strategy. What
are you feeling now? Just one more lap – or do you think you could have done anything
differently?
DR: No, I don’t. I’m sitting here pretty happy because I felt I did all I could. The perfect race. If there
was anything that could have been more perfect it was the start but Nico got off the line well. So,
even with an amazing start we wouldn’t have got the jump. It looked like his was near-perfect.
From that point we just tried to do what we could. Team put me on a three-stop at the end. It was
fun. It was good to push the whole race and I knew I would get close to Nico at the end. So even if
the track’s difficult to overtake, it was nice to be able to push to the last lap and know that I was at
least putting some pressure on him and giving the crowd still a little bit of hope.
Q: Lewis, coming on to you. It was nip-and-tuck between you and Kimi throughout the race. How
surprised were you that they called him in after you made your final stop?
LH: The team suggested they would do the same. To be honest we were both struggling with… we
were both pushing quite hard in that stint and we both would have not made it to the end at the
pace we were going, and so I kinda knew I was just pushing on my out-lap to see if I could undercut
him, which fortunately we did.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Lennart Wermke – Bild) Nico, first of all congratulations, brilliant drive. There was a little
incident with an over-ambitious marshal on the track at the very beginning of the race. I think
you were driving towards him. Can you describe to us what happened and what did you see in
this moment?
NR: Yeah, that was pretty hairy, for sure. I think just as we didn’t expect the restart, he didn’t
either, I think, because the restart was somehow pretty abrupt. But he got out of the way just
about in time so it was OK. Of course we all had to drive a bit carefully through there.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Nico, a couple of days ago you told us, 200th race,
not that big a deal. Is it now – or will it be one of your big deals?
NR: Yeah, winning the Singapore Grand Prix today is awesome. I’m really, really happy about that.
The whole weekend went perfectly, so yes, today it’s a big deal. Tomorrow, not so much.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) To the Mercedes drivers, we heard over the radio
your team was giving you warnings because of the brakes. Can you tell what happened and did
these brake problems accompany you the whole race?
NR: Yes, the brakes were just on the limit. But we know that, it’s expected and it worked out fine.
Yes, it’s right on the edge so it was not easy to manage throughout the whole race.
Lewis, do you have anything to add?
LH: Same as Nico. I guess the things that pops to mind is how much worse it’s going to be next year
when we’ve got a heavier car. It’s a shame the cars are as heavy as they are because we can’t push,
you can’t race very well when you’re behind people here – but that’s maybe just the circumstances
of this race.
Daniel, can I follow up on that. Did you have any brake problems?
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DR: Nothing in particularly. You do get… towards the end of the race you feel sometimes the pedal
get a bit longer, so you know the brakes are wearing but we never got into a critical phase or I
never really had to manage it. We came in expecting a few issues but it was actually pretty good.
Q: (Lim Say Heng – The New Paper) Nico, seven times in the last eight year the overall leader
from after the Singapore race has gone on to win the drivers’ championship. How do you feel
about that and how confident are you going into the last few races of the season.
NR: A statistic like that, it’s not something that I focus on, at all. It doesn’t have any importance to
me. Today I’m just happy to win the race because that is what I came here to do. And now I’m going
to celebrate after this. I can’t wait to get home. Next up is Malaysia, where I want to repeat that
because feeling good at the moment. On a good roll so I’m going to try to win Malaysia next.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, could you explain to us what happened
when Kimi overtook you? Was it just a bumpy situation or were there no tyres left
LH: Yeah, it was just a mistake. Locked up on one of the bumps and ended up going almost straight
on. Costly, but fortunately I was able to not lose anything after the next stint.
Q: (Ian De Cotta – The New Paper) Lewis, question as a follow-up of the statistic about the
Singapore race, drivers going on to win the championship; how do you feel going forward to
Malaysia? Do you think Mercedes could solve the problems that you had?
LH: We have a good car. We’ve got to have a good weekend. We’ve come from 43 points down so
theoretically eight points isn’t anywhere near as steep as that but still, Nico’s been performing
fantastically well. This weekend he’s done an amazing job. I expect him to continue like that so I’ve
got make sure that I do the same..
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, at the end of the race, you seemed quicker than at the
beginning. Was it because you had fresh tyres or because you were allowed to push to maximum
attack?
LH: It was partly because of the fresh tyres but mostly because the car was getting lighter, the
brakes became a lot easier to control. Once my signal of brake overheating reduced, I was able to
start to pick up the pace. I was still getting the warnings towards the end but like the last ten laps, I
just kind of just let it continue flashing as a warning and hoped for the best. Fortunately the pace
was better.
Q: (Berk Serioglu – Motorsport.com) Nico, it seems like you have changed your strategy in the
race. Did it happen as the race went on or was it planned before the race?
NR: No, everything went according to plan, just it was they (Red Bull) who didn’t go to plan that
caused a bit of a challenge at the end. But for us, everything was to plan.
Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Nico, you’ve won Spa, Monza and now Singapore, races
you hadn’t won before and you’ve taken the championship lead again. Surely that must excite
you or do we start giving you the nickname Mr Cool?
NR: No, I’m just excited about winning the race today. I’m not excited about any of those other
points. Sorry. Just awesome to win here in Singapore, first time out there. I don’t have the best of
memories here, this track hasn’t treated me well here in the past so today is a good one.
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Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Daniel, just before you pitted for the third time,
you had reduced the gap to Nico to three seconds, I think. With hindsight, do you think you
would have had a better chance even to beat Nico if you had stayed out?
DR: I don’t know. I felt pretty good on the soft tyre, so I think our pace was more or less there but
to overtake around here and a Mercedes isn’t easy, so to do it on the same tyre, even if I was half a
second quicker, maybe if I caught him, you still need a pretty big advantage to pull something off
here unless a mistake is made by the guy in front. Yeah, I think we did the right thing in the end.
Obviously it still didn’t give us victory but I think staying on the same tyre probably wouldn’t have
given us any better chance.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action, Speedsport) Daniel, this was, as you said before, one of the best
chances to win. Where will the next one come?
DR: With some rain, yeah. I think in dry circumstances this was our best shot. We got within half a
second but after the race I said on the radio to the team that we will win this year. We’ll get a
downpour somewhere and that’ll hopefully throw a few curved balls and we can middle it and get
the victory we’re after.
Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) To Nico and Lewis, yesterday Toto said that it was one
of the highlights of his life to see you being competitive during the Singapore Grand Prix after last
year’s race. Do you also see this year’s result as a milestone?
NR: It really shows that not only do we have the best car but also we have the best, most
competent group of engineers, to extract the potential from the best car, from every weekend,
changing the car, adapting to the new circuits, to the different circuits and understanding, because
last year we were absolutely nowhere here. We got destroyed by Red Bull and Ferrari and we
understood what we did wrong and came back this year and beat them on their strongest track.
That’s really awesome to see that.
LH: I think Nico just answered it perfectly well.