Q & A with Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton: "The track is, I think, quite impressive. The most impressive thing for me is what an amazing job they done have done here in Singapore to prepare the circuit.

"I cannot particularly fault it. It is bumpy, it has got a lot of character, it is anti-clockwise and it not like other bog-standard circuits. It feels like we are going through the streets of a city - and it has kerbs and corners. It is a really challenging circuit.

"It feels like a street circuit and I just feel for the first day of handling an F1 event I think they did a tremendous event. I feel everyone deserves a real pat on the back because it is really impressive."

Q: You say you always feel strong at street tracks like Monaco. Do you feel similarly strong here?

Hamilton: "Yep. It feels just like every street circuit we go to, in terms of how comfortable I feel on the track. I felt it from the beginning of yesterday.

"The great thing was that we both did a mega job keeping the car on the track and making significant steps forward and just showing that we are competitive. I think it was a very productive day for us yesterday and I hope we can continue with that today."

Q: Has your attempt to live on European time worked here?

Hamilton: "I guess I will have to tell you tomorrow! So far I think it has worked quite well, and I think it is tough for everyone. We are out on the track at 8pm and it does feel kind of weird. We are doing our debrief at midnight and I didn't eat this morning until 3am. So, it is all kind of weird.

"We have to have two watches - one set to European time and one to the time we are in now, so we are on time to our events. But it definitely messes with the mind. I don't think it is as easy as the normal day when you wake up at 7am or 8am and go to your practice sessions at 11am and 2pm.

"It is quite a bit different. You body is going up and down the whole day, you feel energetic then you feel tired and then energetic. But the more and more days we go through it, the better we get."

Q: Are you getting to sleep when you want?

Hamilton: "I always sleep. I have never had a problem with sleep, I could sleep forever. It is my favourite thing in the world, sleeping."

Q: David Coulthard has said the bumps are like cobbled streets, although maybe his car does not ride them as well. Are the bumps any problem at all?

Hamilton: "For me at the beginning of the session it was pretty hardcore. There were some serious bumps out there and I am pretty sure it is the same for everyone. I don't believe we ride them better than anyone else. You can see on the footage that some people bottom more than others, but we do a great job in trying to avoid that. However, we still have it - although it is not a problem now for me."

Q: What do you think about the revisions to the pit lane entry?

Hamilton: "I haven't seen the changes they have made but they were not a problem for me yesterday."

Q: Is it going to be possible to overtake on this circuit?

Hamilton: "I don't know. Being a street circuit and being maximum downforce I think it will be tough. But I haven't yet tried to follow anyone to see if I can overtake. I guess we will find out in the race.

"I am sure there will be some overtaking in the race. There is at least one straight, after Turn 5, which I am sure if people make a mistake into there you can get close enough to overtake. So we have to wait and see."

Q: What are your feelings on the Turn 10 chicane and the bumps?

Hamilton: "It is what it is. It is a kind of Mickey Mouse corner. I don't know if you have seen it, but if you go and stand next to it you can almost draw a straight line for apex to apex to apex. We come up to that corner at such serious speeds that if you have brake failure and go straight on then you will be in trouble.

"If you hit one of those kerbs, as you saw with (Nick) Heidfeld yesterday, he nearly hit the wall. But generally there were no crashes there yesterday. They were complaining about the kerbs yesterday, but in actual fact you touch the kerbs and you make sure you never touch them again. No one touched it yesterday and no one crashed. So they are obviously doing their job, aren't they?"

Q: How is the visibility considering you are driving at night?

Hamilton: "I don't particularly think that the lighting has an effect physically. Maybe we have to focus more, but consciously I have not really noticed it.

"I would say the track is quite physical, but mainly because of the temperatures. And it is such a busy lap. It is like a lap and a half or two laps of Monaco. It is very, very busy for one lap and even a ten to 20 lap run is going to be pretty tough.

"That is also because it is bumpy and also because of the temperatures. It is so hot out there. You get no breeze coming in anywhere. It is very like Malaysia. So picture Malaysia with a more demanding circuit, so it will be very tough in the race."

Q: Did you simulate these sort of conditions before you came here?

Hamilton: "Well, Heikki was pretty much born in the sauna - so I don't think it will be a problem for him. We go in a sauna occasionally, we do that after training or so, but we did not do any specific. We just got out here in plenty of time - and it is not even that hot to be honest. Obviously when you get in the car you are sweating but we just make sure we are drinking enough."

Q: Which will be the key corners in qualifying?

Hamilton: "I think the first three corners, there is a lot of time to win or lose there. If you lock up into Turn 3 you can lose a lot of time there at the beginning of your lap. And Turn 10, 11, 12 and 13, there is serious time to be lost there. Those two areas are the key points for me."