Q & A with Nicolas Minassian

Autosport.com caught up with him after qualifying at Silverstone.

Q: You nearly came a cropper in qualifying didn't you?

Nicolas Minassian: I had a very good first sector, then just before Club, there was a Lola that was driving very slowly. I went for it and he didn't see me, and he turned in on me. He was going very slowly, he was driving so slow that even on the monitor we couldn't even see it. When you drive that slow then I expected him to be somewhere else on the track than where he was.

Q: Then when you came out you were really on it and clearly pushing very hard.

NM: We had to change the whole back of the car, very quickly, which was good you know. Then I did another lap and unfortunately there was traffic everywhere. I got traffic, but probably somebody else did too, and around here everyone faces it.

Q: Are you worried about that for the race, because tomorrow you need to stay out of trouble don't you.

NM: Well it is the same for everybody. I think it is good thing because it adds an extra special element. If you are good in the traffic, you can make a big difference and there is no point complaining because it is the same for everybody.

Q: Is your plan to just go out and win, or is it to take care and drive for the championship?

NM: Since the beginning of the year we have done a very good job doing what we have been doing, so I don't see any point in changing. Just because we are playing for a championship it doesn't mean we should change all of our strategy and be conservative.

All we need to do is do what we do normally. Push as hard as we can for the whole race and just go for the win. We don't push stupidly so that we are close to crashing, we always keep something back. And it works.

Q: But for you personally it must be a big thing to be looking at winning a championship?

NM: It is no massive big deal. Because it is not like it was a championship with 15 races, anything can happen. Last year we were also very good, but we had lots of problems, so we couldn't win last year. At Le Mans also last year we were second and we broke down and that is all just part of it. I love win championships but I'm not going to turn it in to an obsession.

Q: But have the last two years allowed you to fulfill all the potential that has been wasted beforehand?

NM: That's what you want. There is no month when we are not driving, there is no month when the car is not in the wind tunnel, the engine in the dyno. So it is a massive, massive difference to what I used to have before and what I have now.

Even so, what I had before was fantastic. I did the best that I could with Creation. They are fantastic people, but this is just a different league you know.

Meet the Aston Martin drivers at the Autosport stand at Silverstone this weekend.