Q & A with Lucas di Grassi

Lucas di Grassi: "I saw it as it came up. My team came on the radio and said: "Lucas, you are P1. Loic has a penalty." He had a big movement at the start and moved quite a lot. Everybody moves a little bit when you go to the limit of the engine, but not as much as Loic did. As soon as I knew, I knew I was fighting for first and not for second."

Q. Did you think it was over when Robert Kubica got past you a few laps before the end?

LG: "I had a problem with some very slow backmarkers. I had a problem in the Melco hairpin and at Fisherman's Bend, and I lost lots of time. Robert was really close. I tried to block him but there was another slow car under braking for Lisboa, so Robert took his chance and took his opportunity to overtake me and he did. I took Robert after some laps. I think our cars were different. My car was performing better at the beginning and his car was performing better after some laps, so probably if there was no Safety Car then it was going to be very hard to catch him. But when the Safety Car came and the tyres cooled down I knew I had a better car and I could go for it and overtake."

Q. Macau is usually about a fight for survival - with the winner often being the guy who can make it to the finish. This year though there was a real battle for the win. Does it feel better for you that you won it after a big fight?

LG: "I think when you win, you win. It doesn't matter how really. If somebody makes a mistake, like if I made one and Robert wins - it is not because I made a mistake it is because I tried too hard. So I think that the people who win here, even if the people in front crash, then it is still down to his merit. Here it is very easy to crash, if you try and push really hard and go on the limit for 15-laps then it is hard not to touch the wall - especially with lots of oil and different circumstances. The car changes a lot, the track changes a lot so it a very special place. It is the race I like the most and the most important victory of my career so far."

Q. Was it disappointing not to have been able to beat Lewis Hamilton this weekend?

LG: "Yes, quite a bit disappointing. I have been fighting with ASM all year. I finished third to ASM. I finished third in the Marlboro Masters to ASM. And I think this weekend I think ASM had the better car again - Loic proved that again in qualifying when he did a really good lap. I could have done a 2m11s lap but I would not have been as quick as him, so in normal conditions if you put 15 laps with each driver alone on the circuit then he would have been much quicker than anyone else."

Q. The fact that ASM had the best car here this weekend, does that make the win even better?

LG: "Yes, here you win by not always being quickest - it is about having the better strategy with the set-up and with the driver. And each win needs a bit of luck - I had all three."