SUNDAY IN SILVERSTONE

by - 7/05/2012 11:07:00 a.m.



After kerb hopping and grass tracking his way through the first lap, Kimi took the Silverstone circuit in his stride to set the fastest lap of the race and claim a solid fifth place on a day where – given a bit more luck – the Finn’s pace could have yielded an even stronger result…

KIMI, A FRANTIC FIRST LAP THERE TODAY; TALK US THROUGH IT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE
The start was ok, but the first few corners were very tight. I had to run over the kerb at turn four to avoid the cars in front and then I got pushed a bit wide so we dropped one place to Sebastian [Vettel] which didn’t help. Lewis [Hamilton] got past as well at one point, so if we had just kept the same place in the first lap it could have been better. It wasn’t the best start but that’s racing; sometimes you take a risk to go for a move and if it doesn’t pay off so you lose more than you expect.

YOU RECOVERED WELL THOUGH TO MOVE BACK THROUGH THE FIELD…
We came back well and the car was very fast. Unfortunately we spent quite a lot of time stuck behind slower cars so we couldn’t show our full pace until we were in clear air. We were close to Felipe [Massa] at the end, but we just didn’t have enough laps left.

FASTEST LAP OF THE RACE TODAY; YOU LOOKED VERY COMFORTABLE IN THE CAR…
I was really pleased with the car. It’s been feeling good all weekend and we’re definitely getting closer to finding the full speed from it. We were really quick on the hard tyres, especially at the end. It’s just a shame we didn’t have the space on track to use it for the whole race.

GIVEN THE PACE OF THE E20, ARE YOU HAPPY WITH FIFTH?
Without the issues at the start and with a few more laps I think we could have got at least one more position. At the end of the day fifth and sixth is a good result for the team and it keeps us right up there in the Constructors’ standings which is a big positive.

DOES THIS PERFORMANCE GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THE NEXT RACE?
The car has the potential to get good results; we just need to piece together a whole weekend at our best. Qualifying can still improve, but our main strength against the other teams is in the race and that’s where it counts.

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