Valencia post-race interviews: “never happy until you win”

Source: lotusf1team.com

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P2 for Kimi at the Valencia Street Circuit this afternoon gives the Finn his third podium of the season, and the fifth for the team in 2012 so far. A superb drive by the 2007 World Champion throughout a hectic European Grand Prix, but the Iceman was hoping for more…

Q: Kimi, your third podium of the season so far; was victory a possibility for you today or were the tyres just not there at the end?

KR: I think everybody had quite old tyres by the end; I just didn’t have enough left in them to push any harder. We managed to get past Lewis [Hamilton] on I think it was the second-last or third-last lap, but we didn’t really have the speed to challenge for the win. The rear tyres were pretty bad, especially in the middle of the circuit where there were three or four corners that were quite tricky. The rest was ok, and I think everybody had similar issues. After all the things we went through in the race second place is not bad, but of course you’re never happy until you win. It was bad luck for the team as well; it would have been much nicer to have both cars on the podium.

Q: Things looked pretty close out there at the start; tell us about it from your view…

KR: I got a good start but got blocked by Pastor [Maldonado] in the first right-hander – the little kink – so I had to back off and lost quite a few places because of that. That meant I was a bit behind already, so from that point onwards it was a case of catching up and trying to get past people but we made a good recovery from that position.

Q: It was quite a busy race for you too, especially the battles with Pastor [Maldonado] and Lewis [Hamilton]…

KR: It was quite a busy race actually and I had quite a hard fight with a few people. I managed to pass some cars, but it was difficult to overtake today. I got sight of Maldonado a few times but he pushed me wide. After the safety car we gained a few places, but on the restart I lost a position to Lewis [Hamilton] which was frustrating. I just got too much wheelspin out of the corner. Then when I was in third a few cars retired so I thought I’d try to save the tyres a bit and aim to get past Lewis [Hamilton] at some point. I saw him start sliding a bit in the last few laps and we got past in the end.

Q: Do you think that if you had overtaken Lewis [Hamilton] a bit earlier you could have pressured Fernando [Alonso] for the win?

KR: I would have overtaken if I could. I wasn’t waiting for the last or second-last lap; I just didn’t have the speed and had to wait until he ran out of tyres and I got the chance. I tried to get closer and closer but I wasn’t fast enough earlier on, otherwise I would definitely have tried to overtake. I basically let him past at the restart. I made a mistake after the bridge and he got past me. It’s a shame, but it was my own mistake.

Drivers’ post race press conference interview:

Q. Kimi, it’s a third podium position of the season for you. Was a victory possible for you today or were the tyres just not there at the end?

KR: I think everybody had quite old tyres at that point. I just didn’t have enough tyres. I had enough tyres to get past Hamilton on I think it was the second-last or third-last lap. We didn’t really have the speed to challenge for the win. I think on the start already I got a good start but got blocked by Maldonado in the first right-hander and lost quite a few places because of that. I was a bit behind already at that point. We made a good recovery from that position. I had quite a hard fight with people and overtaking and then second place. It’s OK of course, but not what we wanted.

Q. Kimi, quite a busy race for you too, what with battles with Maldonado and Hamilton.

KR: Yeah, I got a pretty good start but then in the first right-hander, the little kink, I got blocked by Maldonado so I had to back off. I lost quite a few places there, so at that point onwards it was a case of trying to catch up and try to get past people. I managed to pass some, but it was difficult to pass today. I got sight of Maldonado a few times but he pushed me wide. I tried and tried and then in the end I managed to get past some people and after the safety car I managed to get past people also. On the restart, I lost a place to Hamilton. I just got too much wheelspin out of the corner. It was quite a busy race actually. Then, when I was in the third place, a few cars retired and I thought I would try to save the tyres a bit and try to get Hamilton at some point. I saw him sliding a bit. So I think it was the second-last lap or something but I got him in the end. OK the result second after all things we went through in the race but of course you’re never happy until you win. And for the team, bad luck. It would have been much nicer to have both cars on the podium.

Q. And your tyres. Were they shot at the end?

KR: Yeah, the rear tyres were pretty bad. Especially in the middle of the circuit. There were three or four corners that were really bad. The rest was not so bad. I think everybody had similar issues.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Kimi, is it realistic to believe that if you had overtaken Hamilton before that you could attack Alonso?

KR: I would have overtaken if I could. I was not waiting for the last or second last lap. I just didn’t have the speed. I just had to wait until he ran out of his tyres. Then I got the chance. I tried to get closer and closer but I was not fast enough earlier on, otherwise I would definitely have tried to overtake. But basically I let him past at the restart. After the bridge, I made a mistake and he got past me. It was my own mistake.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi and Michael, about the championship, if you had to bet some money, would you put that money on Fernando or is there still some room for Vettel and Hamilton?

KR: I don’t even know what the points are so it’s a bit difficult to say. We’ve seen how quickly things can change this year. You only need one bad race and the guy wins so I wouldn’t put money, probably use it for something else.

MS: Things change so quickly – maybe I put money on myself.