Q & A with Niki Lauda

Niki Lauda: The race was won today by Lewis and not by the team, because the team made it unnecessarily complicated. Whatever excuse they will have, the other way was easier. But nevertheless if he continues to drive like this, and not start fading like last year in the last couple of races, then he is going in the right direction, no question.

Q. It was a great race by Lewis, wasn't it?

NL: Absolutely. It was outstanding. Senna-type driving. Honestly.

Q. Has he gone up in your estimation since last year?

NL: Yes, he has gone up. Last year he was my favourite. He screwed up in the last couple of races and therefore did not understand why he started as bad as he finished last year. But I think he's got the message now. From Silverstone in that difficult race, and here in this difficult race for him, he did an outstanding performance. So he is on the right track, and if he continues like this he is unbeatable.

Q. In confidence terms, to have two races like that, what does that do for you as a driver?

NL: It calms you down, and the most important thing for him is to calm himself down, and not try to win everything with power and stress. I think it will calm him down, and he will use his ability of driving quick in a way that he will drive races like this and continue. So if he and the team works together in this direction, Ferrari will not beat them.

Q. You said a few races back that you couldn't understand why Kimi was so strangely absent, but he has been absent again today.

NL: Yes, completely. Even Massa. I expected Massa to be much quicker, but he couldn't do anything against Lewis. He just drove away by one second per lap in the beginning. And Kimi screwed up in practice, he couldn't get the car going properly during the race, and lost important points.

Q. Do you think Kimi has lost concentration this year?

NL: Well, whatever went wrong, it had already started in practice, and it never worked out for him during the race.

Q. The son of your former Brabham teammate Nelson Piquet did well today.

NL: Perfect. Perfect. And good for him, because the poor guy had a lot of pressure, did not perform at all so far, and today the second place is the best that could have happened to him. Give him confidence, and let him build on that.

Q. Was it a good race by him?

NL: A very good race. He did a good race. For sure the safety car helped, but he did a good strategy, where Mr Massa, Mr Kovalainen, Mr Raikkonen were behind him. He couldn't have done a better race.

Q. Regarding Kimi's performance, there are some rumours that he could be thinking about retirement. Is that something that could be affecting him?

NL: I have no idea what he is thinking, what he is doing, but he will get his act together. But now you have to get it together at every race if you want to be world champion. That is the key thing, You have to drive clever now, take points and points and points and points, because in the end you need them all.

Q. And maybe he needs to really drive the team in testing to try to catch up in development?

NL: Ferrari did not perform at its best here, because Massa was blown off by Piquet, and Kimi was not there.