PRESS CONFERENCEQ. Jenson, this could become a habit.
JB: Finishing behind the safety car you mean. Wow, what a race. We had everything in that race. It was very enjoyable. It was not the easiest start for me and I had a big snap of oversteer, pretty much at every corner on the first lap from the grid. I really struggled with the rear end. But then I closed up to Jarno and Nico and knew I was going longer and when they pitted I could put in a couple of quick laps. It got me in front and it was looking like it was going to be fine until I looked up and saw the clouds come over and it started raining. Unusual for Sepang it just started spitting and we went for the full wets thinking it is going to chuck it down.
But it didn't to start with. A few other people made the correct choice but we had a 16-18 second lead at that point. So I carried on and it started chewing itself up, so I pitted for inters as this guy (Timo) was flying. I came out just behind him but my inter was obviously new and his was very old and I was able to get past him on the wetter part of the circuit just before he pitted.
I got one good lap on the inter but then it started chucking it down, so I came in for the full went but then it was the safety car. It was a tough race and it was tough keeping it on the circuit. We were driving around it as if it was walking pace and you are still scared that you are going to chuck it off because you could not see the circuit to start with. It was not like it was rivers, it was a lake.
Q. You were worried about going off the grid anyway because you were on the dirty side of the grid?
JB: Yeah, it was true. Timo also suffered from the grid. I didn't get a bad start. The start was reasonable but the right hand side just shot past and the KERS cars came up, so I lost time there and turn one was messy really. I got a massive snap of oversteer at the exit and I couldn't get back from there.
Q. And you have never driven on the wets before?
JB: No, and the balance was definitely not right on the full wet. The circuit was reasonably dry, so it was difficult to get a balance. But I had massive oversteer on the first couple of laps and then the front started graining. There is a lot of work we need to do to sort our pace and balance out on the wet tyres but as I said it is just nice to get to the end of the race and we ended up on the top because, I think, of a good strategy and also looking at what other people were doing on the different types of tyres and we ended up on top. Congratulations to all the guys who work on the car but also the engineers and the strategy guys who got us here really.
Q. As I was saying just now Nick, you're eighth second place, but I'm sure you're happy with it today.
NH: Yes, exactly, I'm more than happy with that position. I started tenth and I couldn't have wished for more, basically.
Q. Amazing that you had one pit stop whereas these guys had three or four.
NH: It started to rain and as Jenson said, it was clear that it would rain heavily, so we went on the extra wets and as it was pretty dry still, I tried to preserve my tyres, especially the rear tyres and therefore at the beginning there were a couple of cars quicker than me. I was even overtaken by one guy, some people were driving away from me, but I knew that they would kill their tyres and if it would start drizzling or raining a bit more, I would then have the tyre and I would be able to stay out.
After that, the team told me all the time ‘OK, heavy rain expected in the next two minutes' but it just didn't happen, didn't happen, didn't happen. Just when they called me in, it started to rain heavily and just 300 metres before the pit entry I said ‘no, no, I will stay out, now it starts raining.' That was the right call, a bit lucky, obviously, but stopping once they told me to.
Q. And you got away with a spin right at the end as well, a very slow spin...
NH: Yes, it was. The safety car was out already, I had contact with the pits, they told me that I should observe the safety car's speed which we have on the dash and not go quicker than that. And I was laughing, telling them that I would be happy if I could go that quick. There was already a car which had spun there, so I thought ‘OK, I will go as slow as possible' but it was aquaplaning not only on the tyres but also on the plank. I spun and I was happy that I didn't go into the gravel. I don't think it would have mattered in the end anyway, because the result was taken from a lap earlier but that shows that it was the right thing to stop the race because it was just undriveable.
Q. Timo, that was an extraordinary race. You were basically part of the group bottled up behind Alonso before your first stop.
TG: Yeah, it was a bit disappointing at the start, I have to say. I went from third to eighth after the start, I think. I couldn't believe that Kimi passed me on the outside in turn one and Fernando on the inside, so I thought again that the KERS cars were in front of me. I struggled behind Mark Webber especially to get close enough to really go for it.
One time I tried it and damaged the front wing a bit and that was it really, so I had to stay behind. In the middle of the race I saw the rain was coming, the rain was coming but it took so long that I thought OK, when it takes so long then I go for intermediates because everybody else was already on heavy wets and I saw they struggled really and destroyed them, so I said ‘we go for inters and take the risk'.
I was driving around, driving around, overtaking cars, overtaking cars, and found that my tyres were going off as well, but my engineer told me ‘you're still the quickest on the track, you're still the quickest.' I think it was worse in turns seven and eight and that was the direction that the rain was coming from. It came to the point where I had to pit because my tyres were going off completely and I said ‘OK, I have to come in.'
It was just at that moment that Jenson overtook me again. Then we stayed on heavy wets and tried to follow the safety car and that was difficult, I was swimming around. I couldn't believe it because Jenson was sometimes going quite quickly and I was just swimming around. This morning we were joking around that hopefully everybody knows how to swim in those weather conditions, and I have to say that in the end it was like this, it was just unbelievable and impossible for me to drive at the end. I think it was the right call to stop the race.
Q. Sorry about the second place…
TG: Yeah, it was a bit tricky. My engineer told me ‘you're P2, P2'. Then I came up here and now I'm P3.
JB: You're behind me.
NH: I'm fine with second.
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