Post-Qualifying Press Conference - Malaysian GP

You can listen to the press conference at http://www.f1press.com

Q. Congratulations, Michael, on your ninth pole position of the season, the fourth consecutive pole and the 32nd of your career. You only did eight laps today: does that suggest it was easy?

Michael Schumacher:

No, not at all. Initially this circuit is a little bit more dirty and slow that it makes sense to use three sets [of tyres] instead of wasting a fourth set. That at least was our feeling. So we stayed in and waited, which is one reason why I only did eight laps. The other is that I had to abort [my second run] because it was not fast enough to [make it worthwhile to] keep going [for a third lap]. The car was handling very well. We have gradually improved the car through the weekend to give it the optimum balance not only for qualifying but also for the long [race simulation] runs. We have done a good job with it.

Q. Did you make any adjustments from run to run?

MS:

You make final adjustments, just the last detail. We experimented with a couple of things, but we ended up going the way we thought would be best.

Q. Until the final seconds of the session, when first David and then Mika went quicker than your team mate, it looked as though the race would start with an all-Ferrari front row. Are you disappointed that Rubens has dropped to fourth fastest?

MS:

I feel sorry for him. He has quite a [serious] 'flu right now, and he is not too well on that side. He has struggled through the weekend, and it would have been a boost for him to have held that second place. To drop down to 3rd then 4th, is a disappointment. But the race is long and we know we have a good car. Let's see what happens.

Q. Mika, you seemed to be struggling through most of today's session. But then, right at the end, you put in a very fast lap indeed. Was that the absolute limit of the car today?

Mika Hakkinen:

Indeed it was. I wouldn't say it was a very fast lap, but it was good enough to give me second position.

Q. Does that mean there is a reason why you're struggling? Is there some area of the car that you're not happy with?

MH:

This circuit obviously has a a characteristic where you need a car to have a a very stable exit, a very stable entry and to have good traction. We weren't able to get the maximum from the elements today, and that's why we weren't the quickest.

Q. David, judging from the times you did earlier in the weekend, we had expected you to be closest challenger to Michael today. Did it all melt away in the heat of the moment?

David Coulthard:

It's incredibly close, and it only takes one exit from one corner [to be slower], and suddenly that makes the difference. Obviously I am disappointed to be so far away from Michael's time. I don't think we have really got the car working 100 per cent around this track, so it is easy to imagine where we might have been quicker if we had had a better balance. The only thing that confused me was that on my second and third runs I struggled to match what I had done on the first. We changed the car back on the last run to the way it had been on the first, and we were able to pull back a little bit [of time], but not enough to maintain a front row position.

Q. Are you happy with the balance you have worked out for the race?

DC:

I won't know until we get into the race. It depends so much on track temperature, conditions, how the tyres perform: so many different factors. We all know that qualifying is just one part of the weekend, an important part, but it's the last lap and the chequered flag that count.

Q. Throughout the season it has become clear that the cockpit of the McLaren is the hottest of them all for a driver to endure. What precautions can you take to survive a hot Grand Prix like tomorrow's could be?

DC:

Well, unless you drive all the cars, it's difficult to know exactly which team has the hottest. We certainly get pretty hot in ours ... but a Grand Prix is a Grand Prix and we've been doing this for a few years now. There's nothing in particular you can do about it. You just get on with and deal with it.

Q. Michael, your cap reads, 'World Champion 2000.' How much more enjoyable is to be driving just for fun?

MS:

You know, we are racers because we love it. And obviously in this situation is ideal: there is no pressure. We all know what is the situation, and we race because we love it. You just drive freely, to the limit, as well as you can, without any thinking behind it. That gives the extra pleasure you are sometimes looking for.

Q. Congratulations, Michael. You're almost half a second faster than the nearest opposition round this Sepang circuit, and nearly two and a half seconds quicker than you were last year. Where does all that time come from?

MS:

The car and the tyres, I would say. We know that the cars have improved a lot [since] last year, then the tyres gave this extra bit.

Q. But it's been the same for McLaren ...

MS:

Yes, but I believe they improved by the same margin ... or more, actually.

Q. You seemed to gain the time in the final two sectors. Is that the part of the track for which you aimed to tune the car's performance?

MS:

I made a little mistake, honestly, in sector 1. That's why it wasn't ideal. I think it was close to where it could have been, but I was losing one and half tenths in the first and second corners. But everything else was then just right. If you imagine, the first run was as spot on, or as much on the limit, as the last one. Then on the second run we made a little adjustment which wasn't as good as we would have liked it. So we went back, made the final adjustment [to put it back] the way I wanted, and that was it.

Q. Did that involve changing the rear wing? Was that part of it?

MS:

Yes, we were experimenting a little bit on that side. It was obvious to everyone that we changed [the wing] and that wasn't the right way for us [to go].

Q. What about the race itself. What, apart from these two other guys, will be the major factor tomorrow?

MS:

The usual factors: to be first, you have first to finish. Then you have to have a good strategy, you have to make the balance correct for the way the tyres go - and you will have seen that everyone is on old tyres, basically, with new rears - so that means some special preparation for this race. All this has to be done in the right way.

Q. Are you still feeling fairly relaxed about the race?

MS:

Yes. Why not? I am here, four and a half tenths faster than the others. You know, we all race freely. We all love racing and sure, we are racing for the constructors' championship, which is very important to us. But from our point of view a miracle would have to happen to stop us scoring these three points. So we will just race free. I would like to win the race, if possible. Then let's see what happens in the end.

Q. Mika, are you surprised by the size of the margin separating your lap time from Michael's?

MH:

Well, considering the problems I have had with the car on the track, I can understand the difference.

Q. So what are the problems?

MH:

You want me to go into details, but I can't, not at the moment. You can see that I was struggling through the first and second sectors, and losing time there. I was losing two tenths in the first sector and a couple of tenths in the last sector. We are also losing a little bit in the middle sector. The problem, yes, is the balance.

Q. On your third run, which you aborted, we saw you having a fairly dramatic moment in the penultimate corner. What happened there?

MH:

Well, that was my flying lap, and I got some cars entering that corner. It is a corner where you are braking at the same time as you are cornering, and at the same moment I lost the downforce with the cars being close in front of me. I lost the balance immediately and went a bit wide. It was dramatic, but I took a bit of a risk in pushing, knowing those cars were in front of me, and I was prepared that if I lost the downforce I would still be able to handle the car and avoid going off the track.

Q. It was 35 degrees in qualifying today. How important a factor will the heat be in the race?

MH:

Oh, it's really fabulous. David and I, we really enjoy it. It's nice and warm in the car.

Q. That sounds a little ironic. A countryman of yours has suggested that it is too hot for Finns here in Malaysia ...

MH:

(laughs) It's different, obviously. If you compare this race with the one at Silverstone, it's quite a dramatic difference. There we had to wear long johns, and here we don't. I can remember last year, I was really struggling after the race. That year we didn't have power steering on the car and the steering was really heavy. The way we had the balance, it was oversteering more or less, which is not the ideal in a car for racing here. This year it has made our life easier to have the power steering, but even so, the way the car is designed aerodynamically, the air doesn't go in the cockpit at all. So the air doesn't flow around the foot area, and the temperatures there are very high. Yes, it's tough. But it's exciting. I enjoy it.