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Here is the transcript of the Post 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying track interviews and press conference featuring Lewis Hamilton.
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by David Coulthard)
Q: Lewis, great to see the respect there between Max and you as you walked up, you did the fist bump. The battle between you is going to continue into tomorrow evening. You looked like the man on form and the betting was all on your for pole position. Clearly it hasn’t quite worked out. Talk us through that session?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, first of all, Max did a great lap today, so… Yeah, we just couldn’t compete with that time there. It was looking very strong through practice. Firstly, we have got a great crowd here, regardless of the boos, I’m just grateful to see people here, healthy. We couldn’t answer to that lap, it was a fantastic lap from him. But we are in a good position, I would like to think, with our tyres tomorrow and I hope that we can have a good race.
Q: Put us in the cockpit, Lewis. I got the sense that wasn’t a really clean lap from you, I get the sense there was more pace from the car. Is that the case and how do we throw this forward to the all-important grand prix?
LH: Yeah, well, as you saw, the first lap I dropped a little bit of time in the last, in Turn 5, but the last lap was nice and clean, I just couldn’t go any quicker. I don’t know if it’s tyre prep or something in terms of the out lap but nonetheless I couldn’t beat that time that he did today, he fully deserved the pole.
Q: We just heard from Max that he was super relaxed before qualifying. He must be elated because you know the importance of pole. You’ve done this a lot of times before, you’re a seven-times world champion. So, a little bit of disappointment or all it’s going forward now to the opportunity?
LH: No, I’m still on the front row, we’ve got the difference, obviously, between the tyres but I am grateful that I can see where he is and we can try to navigate from there.
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PRESS CONFEERENCE
Q: Lewis, great job from you as well. How was the car, first of all? How was the lap?
LH: The car was good. Max did a great job on that final lap. Generally, through practice, P3 at least and into qualifying, the car was feeling solid. Through the qualifying session it felt like it got a bit harder to try to gain speed, and the last two laps weren’t easy to really pull out the time. I don’t know if it’s track temp or what – but the last lap was OK. Definitely can’t complain but, of course, we wish we would be a bit quicker today.
Q: We’ve just heard Max talking about the way he worked with his team-mate during Q3. Was that discussed at Mercedes? You and Valtteri working together.
LH: No. No it wasn’t discussed. We’ve never, ever really done that, so…
Q: Let’s talk about the start tyre. You’re going to be on the Medium, Max is on the Soft. Straightforward decision for you to start on that tyre?
LH: Yeah. It’s interesting. I’m always kind of sceptical with everything, so it’ll be interesting when we go back and look at the information and onboard laps. It’s very rare that people lock-up in Turn 1 but if he truly did lock-up in Turn 1 then maybe whether or not we’ll be in the better position in terms of that tyre or maybe they know something we don’t and that Soft tyre was their plan all the time. We struggled, I think, a little bit more on the Soft tyre for long runs, so I think we’ve got the right tyre but I guess we’ll see tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, you’re on the front row. Quick word about how you’re feeling. Are you excited as well?
LH: Yeah. I feel good. I’m happy that I’m on the front row. I can see my opponent. Obviously it’s going to be a little bit harder at the start off the Medium tyre as opposed to the Soft tyre but nonetheless, I’m giving it everything.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Questions to both Max and to Lewis. Max, the tow there, was that something that was worked out pre-qualifying or was it something that was worked out on the fly, given what had happened in Q2 with a lock-up on the Medium and you needing to go to the Soft tyre. And question to Lewis. You said that you’d never discussed that kind of situation, going for a tow, it’s not something that the team does – but given what’s at stake this weekend and how vital it is to be on pole, and given what Red Bull and Max have done today with the time that they have compared to yourself, why was it not discussed, do you feel? And should it have been?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was discussed before quali. So yeah, it was very nice, nicely executed as well but, I’m mean, it’s not… whatever the gap was. I might have gained a tenth towards Turn 9. It’s not a massively long straight but nevertheless, Checo’s a great team-mate and a real pleasure to work with, so of course, also a big thank you to him.
LH: For us, I’d like Valtteri to focus on getting his… we work as a team in terms of Valtteri needed to get the best job done for himself, so that we can have both of us up as high as possible. So, it’s never something that we discuss, or we work on. I don’t believe that we should have either.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Lewis, I wanted to ask you, how does this compare for you, on the eve of the final race, to five years ago when you were battling with Nico Rosberg? Are you more tense now than you were then or were you more tense then? How do you feel compared to that deciding race five years ago?
LH: A million times different. It was a much, much different scenario, completely different. A million times better I feel now than I did then. Yeah, I feel good.
Q: (Niharika Ghorpade – Sportskeeda) Lewis and Max, regardless of the outcome tomorrow, before you go head-to-head, could you list some positives about each other so far, through the last 20 races and what you’ve experienced, and the respect you have for each other?
LH: [Aside to Max] I don’t think we really need to, do we?
MV: [Laughs]. I think Lewis has already won so many championships but also this year I think we have been pushing each other, certainly in some races, to the limit. We have been really basically trying to get everything out of our cars, tyres, to the last lap, to the last corner and that’s very exciting, especially when it’s been between two teams as well, because when it’s team-mates always a bit different, but when two teams fighting you have different strategies you don’t know about, preparation, so it has been really enjoyable for most of the time. That’s normal in a championship and yeah, of course, in 10, 20 years’ time, people will look back at it and even myself and you will remember this year, for sure.
LH: Yeah, well said. I agree fully. It’s been an incredible year, an amazing battle and I’m grateful that I’ve had such a close battle with Max and his team. I think they’ve done an exceptional job and shown true strength and so it’s pushed us to the limit in ways that we needed and we, I think, have grown stronger as a team in ways we didn’t know that we could grow and yeah, it’s been amazing. I hope that we have many more seasons like this.
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Lewis, you just said a few minutes ago that you feel a million times better this time around compared to five years ago when you were battling with Nico. Could you just expand on that a little bit? Why is that? What is the difference for you this year?
LH: It’s not something that I particularly really want to go into but I’m just in a different place in life to in 2016, facing different resistance in life and yeah, this time we’re just in a much better and happier place.
Q: Lewis, are you a better driver now than you were in ’16?
LH: Yes. And team-mate.
Q: (Jenna Fryer – AP) Lewis, were you surprised by the boos?
LH: No, there’s a lot of orange here, so… Yeah, I think you’re always surprised by the boos, no matter how many times you experience it. But I don’t care, it doesn’t make no difference to me if it was a cheer or if it was a boo, makes no difference to how I go about my life, so it doesn’t affect me. If anything I use that as fuel so I’m grateful for it, one way or another.
Source: FIA.com
