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Lewis Hamilton Q&A: That's what racing's all about!

06 Apr 2014

Mercedes may have crushed all opposition in Bahrain on Sunday, but team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg provided a hugely entertaining race as they pushed each other to the limit in the closing laps in Sakhir. In the end it was Hamilton who prevailed, despite Rosberg in theory having the quicker, soft-tyred car…

Q: Lewis, with this win today you’ve matched Juan Manuel Fangio’s 24 victories. How does that go down with you?

Lewis Hamilton: Wow, I haven’t even thought about that. It’s hard to believe because Fangio is such an icon of our sport. It has been such an incredible day - and a tough day as well. I will definitely give myself a treat. (laughs)

Q: There was much going on at the front of the race. How was it fighting with your team mate towards the end of the race, being on the slower tyres?

LH: It was an amazing feeling. There is a tenth of a second on the tyres. I did not really have a great pace, and generally I struggled a bit this weekend. And I had an issue with the braking system, which was changed just before the race. I thought that this would give me a little bit more time, but I continued to struggle. And just before the safety car came out I had about a nine-second lead. I hoped that this would be enough, but Nico was so quick in the end, and trying to stay ahead of him in the DRS zones was so hard. Eventually when I came across the finish line my head was so relieved.

Q: We have heard a lot of people say that this was the best race they have ever seen. Is this what you felt, too?

LH: I still have to watch it, but in the car this is what it felt like. When you have to allow someone to go past and overtake you, you have to calculate how to get back, and every time it happened I did it perfectly, and I was really happy to enable that. Nico had the option tyre, and towards the end of the race I thought that he was coming by, and in the last couple of laps I was able to hold onto my position. For this I have to thank the team, that they had given me all the right information, and of course for all the hard work back in the factory. Again the team made it possible to make another one-two, and let’s hope that there are many more successes in the future.

Q: So where would you rank this race win amongst all your victories?

LH: I still cannot believe that I’ve had 24 race wins in my Formula One career, which is a real blessing. Every single one is special and every single one is different. It feels different every day I wake up, every day I start a race - but there is still a long, long way to go so you can’t get too excited. Nico seemed to be a little quicker this weekend, so I need to figure out why this is - to be quicker at the next race.

Q: How great is it knowing that you can race hard against each other?

LH: It was very close between us - at least it looked very, very close - and in the end the team will decide how close that was. Nico drove very well and I hope I drove safe enough.

Q: How was your heart beat during the last ten laps?

LH: On the edge! (laughs)

Q: It was a race the fans must cheer about - but how was it in the car?

LH: Yeah, it was a race that showed what racing is all about. And inside the car? Well, I have to say that the team did an incredible job: giving us the power and giving us the car to fight in races like these. When the safety car came out I knew that it was not good for me as I knew that he was on a set of new option tyres and it became very hard from then on to win the race. But I did everything - and more - that I could, using the gap when I knew that he was in the DRS zone and positioning myself in the right place once he caught me as he had so much speed. So I am really happy with the result.

Q: Will we see something similar in the coming races?

LH: I hope not! (laughs)