Press conference
Q: A fairytale return. Canada seems to have adopted you after last year and now winning today.
RK: Yeah, of course it is very nice to score my first win in Canada for BMW and for myself. Everybody knows what happened last year here for me. In 2006 I was extremely quick here and last year I had some major problems and couldn't extract 100 per cent from the car.
I was quite back in the field with a competitive car. This year it turned out to be a very strong race and a very strong weekend. We cannot say this was the strongest weekend but I think all the weekends we have done this season we have been strong and here we are.
Q: What were your feelings in those early laps when Lewis was seemingly pulling away by about half-a-second a lap?
RK: Well, everybody knows that here in Canada the right hand side of the grid is dirty. It was very difficult to keep second place. In that first moment I thought Kimi would get me but finally I managed to defend my position. I was keeping good pace for the first five or six laps but unfortunately we faced the same problem as in Australia.
With the pressures the car starts sliding and there was a lot of graining. The rear temperature went up very much, so I just called into the pits for the next set to drop down the pressures and the car felt much better in the second stint. Lewis was pulling away. His pace was better but not as big a difference as we have seen in the first stint.
Q: Those final laps must have seemed very long when you were out in the lead.
RK: It has been a very long race, especially the last stint. The crucial point of the race was when Glock went into the pits. I could see a free track and I had just seven or eight laps to make up a 20 second gap which is not easy. I managed to build up 24 seconds and got out in front of Nick. This was a key point.
We were a bit unlucky with the safety car because the pit lane lights showed the pit lane was closed and then switched on just when I was approaching, so we were a bit unlucky there. At that point a one stopper was the optimum strategy, but I managed to do in the seven laps a very big gap and managed to come back in front.
Q: Nick, that is your fifth second place. Your team mate wins today, so is there a little frustration there or are you just happy for the team?
NH: A bit of both. I wouldn't call it frustration because as I am also looking to the situation I was in in the last couple of races, struggling a bit. Therefore second place is not the worst you can achieve starting from eighth, especially looking at the pace I had in the first stint.
After passing Barrichello I think I was the quickest in the field together with Lewis being on quite a lot more fuel. But then on the option tyre it was very difficult with the car that was full of fuel. We decided to do so because we had the chance to go to the end from this moment. But a great result for the team.
Q: But as you say getting past Barrichello was vital, as David will probably agree.
NH: Yes, it was very important to get past Rubens but unfortunately I made a poor start. As Robert said the right hand side was not that good. He even passed Kovalainen I think who overtook him on the straight but then it wasn't too easy for me. (Inaudible) was a lot quicker but after I got by him I managed to close the gap to Kovalainen pretty quickly.
But with the speeds of the McLaren on the straights even if I was side-by-side with him out of turn 10, I had no chance to pass. But then the safety car came out anyway. I saw all the cars in front of me pitting and I was pretty long and saved some fuel and due to that was able to convert to a one stop.
I think at this point it was probably the right decision. Actually I suggested it and asked if it was possible but in hindsight I don't think it would have changed too much if we had gone to a two stop because I came out in front of Robert anyway.
Q: And big pressure from Fernando too.
NH: Yeah, I had a lot of pressure from him. I asked the team if I could let him by or not, because I thought that he had to stop anyway. First they told me to defend my position which surprised me a little, but anyway I did so while keeping an eye on him.
And later on in the stint, they told me that if he's a lot quicker than you and he's attacking, then let him by but I think I would have lost more time letting him by than not. I just kept an eye on him and then once he dived to the inside of turn ten, I kept the door open and he went straight on and afterwards he crashed, I think.
Q: David, great to see you here but the front left tyre looked as though there wasn't much left by the end?
DC: Yeah, there was a lot of graining. I was actually surprised that we had quite a bit of graining on the prime which we hadn't seen in practice, so in the first stint I was tearing that tyre quite a bit. I was hoping that as the track rubbered in, it might make it a bit easier on the option. I knew I was on a one stop, so I knew I was committed to going long.
Obviously the safety car helped because we saved some fuel, went a fuel laps longer, and that meant less laps and less fuel on the option tyre, but nonetheless it is tricky to drive with a tearing tyre on a track that's breaking up. I think, as Robert mentioned in the other press conference, the track conditions weren't as bad as we saw in qualifying, or it certainly didn't break up as quickly, but certainly by the end of the race there was a lot of debris off-line.
I was actually taking the hairpin with one wheel on the grass, which is definitely not the quickest way in normal conditions but with the gravel the way it was, if you went wider, it just sucked you in.
Q: As I mentioned, Rubens seemed to be holding up a lot of people today?
DC: It was fantastic. I'm delighted he was holding up people. It made my race a lot easier, I didn't have that much pressure at the end which was great because to have to push on a track like that, it would have been very easy to make a mistake as you saw.
I was a little bit surprised to see that the crashes happened in the pit lane because normally here it's out on the track but obviously that helped remove a few cars from the race. From where I qualified and on a one stop strategy, you're always relying on the safety car scenario round here, so our strategy guys made the right choice.
As I said before, I'm just delighted to have a good points' scoring finish after the first few races of the year. It was beginning to look like I was a crasher. In Monaco I managed to do that pretty much myself but all the other ones, I seem to have been assisted by other cars, so it's nice to bring the car home in a difficult race.
Questions from the floor
Q: (Daniel Bastien - Radio FM 103.3) Question for Robert and Nick, considering the standings in both championships, is BMW Sauber now a top team today?
RK: I think when you are leading the World Championship after seven races as a driver, you have a car that can win races and can fight for top positions, so if a team can build a top car, it's a top team. That's very clear, I think.
NH: Not much to add. We've been leading the Constructors' championship earlier this season, now Robert is leading the World Drivers' championship, so we must be a top team by now. I think McLaren and Ferrari have made a couple of mistakes this year, they messed up their race here, but nevertheless it also takes a top team and good drivers not to make those mistakes, so I would say yes.
Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto Moto und Sport) Robert, did you realise what happened on your left side when you were waiting for the lights at the pit lane exit?
RK: Yeah. First of all I heard a big shunt and then I saw Lewis over the rear wing of Kimi. It was a similar situation to last year when we pitted under the safety car and there was still a red light (at the pit lane exit). Last year Fisichella and Massa went by, I stopped as the first car. This time I stopped side by side with Kimi and after a few seconds Lewis came flat out and crashed into him. I have to thank him that he chose Kimi and not me.
Q: (Iker Migoya - Grand Prix Magazine, Mexico) Robert, you wrote yourself out of a possible win yesterday and here you are today. Can you tell us about your feelings, about hearing the Polish anthem for the first time and how crazy the fans are for your first victory?
RK: Yesterday I said victory is possible because in racing everything is possible but if there would be no more race, with no mistakes, with poor pace, we are still not ready. We did manage a very good race. I was helped by Hamilton because in the end we were the top three cars: Lewis, me and Kimi, so the two strongest drivers were off the track at that stage.
Of course the safety car didn't help my strategy because the one stoppers were in front of me. So when I rejoined the track I was held up by slower cars and at that point I was just waiting for everybody to pit, and I had seven laps to pull out a big margin to Nick, so I had to come out in front of him after my second stop and I did it.
It's a great atmosphere here in Canada and there are many Polish fans, there are many fans who are cheering for our team, for me. It's always fantastic to win here, especially after what happened here last year.
Q: (Panos Seitanidis - Drive Magazine) David, talking to Mika H?kkinen, your long time teammate a few months ago, he said that he was pleasantly surprised that you keep finding more motivation, but the biological clock ticks for everyone. Is that the case for you, or does today prove that it doesn't apply to you?
DC: Definitely the clock is ticking and I'm delighted about that because I've had a great journey in my career and through life and the alternative doesn't excite me very much. I appreciate that Mika brought his career to an end relatively quickly and I think on reflection probably too quickly. I don't feel that I've done that and I guess most of you would agree. I've enjoyed it to the maximum. We're all different, we all make our choices and I'm delighted with the choices that I've made.
Q: (Marco Degl'Innocenti - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for both the BMW Sauber drivers, and then an additional one for Nick. The first, for you both is do you think from now, the BMW Sauber team is able to win a race in normal conditions as well?
RK: We are working on it. The target this season was to win a race. We did it earlier than expected, I think. We did it in a difficult race with not the best pace in the field, I would say. Clearly Hamilton was the quickest driver here this weekend, but he made a mistake. You pay for your mistakes and we did a good race, I think.
Everybody has worked very well, the guys in the pit stop, on the pit wall, to switch Nick's strategy as well, to have two cars completely different during the race and it paid off with a first and second. But what it will be in the future we don't know and we have to work, we have to fight, to push.
I don't think we'll be lacking motivation now after such a great result and everybody's already pushing very hard in Munich and Hinwil, so we just have to find a few tenths and maybe we can fight with proper pace in a normal race for the victory as well.
NH: I think we should find a happy medium now and I think the team will be able to do that. First of all, we can all be very proud of this one-two for the team. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that from now on we have to win each race. As Robert said, there were other cars that were quicker on the circuit today, especially Hamilton, but in the end Robert won with the BMW and that's what counts today.
Q: (Marco Degl'Innocenti - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nick, you mentioned your personal psychological situation over the past weeks. Do you think this second place is a positive solution or because your team-mate won it is not so nice?
NH: As I said before, it's a bit of both. Obviously I'm happy for Robert as he did a great job today. He deserves the win but what racing driver would I be, driving in the same team, being so close to my first victory not to be a bit disappointed?
Q: (Mark Danby - Auto Magazine) Robert, talk us through some of the struggles from last year and the hard work that followed to get you to where you are today?
RK: It was a few things that were not working properly which I was already pushing last year to get fixed. Unfortunately we couldn't fix them during the season. We fixed them for this season and I think this year's results, up to now, have shown how much I was struggling last year, more than I think people were expecting, and more than everybody thought. I knew what I needed. The team supplied me with this for this year and I think the result has been very positive for both sides, for myself and for the team.
Q: (Peter Hesseler - Abend Zeitung) Question to Nick and to Robert: Nick, did you let Robert past voluntarily or were you advised by the pit? And Robert, do you think you are being promoted to number one in the team to go for the title?
NH: Well, as there are no team orders allowed, no, but as I was on a one-stop, a lot heavier than Robert, knowing that, it's clear within the team that I wouldn't make it too difficult for Robert.
RK: I think you have to ask this question to someone else. I don't think so. In the end, both drivers have to score points for the team, but I would say if you are leading the World Championship as a driver after seven races, with, apart from Australia, our worst place finish was fourth place, after this race I think I'm the best qualifier in the field this season, so I think we have to push.
Maybe in the future we won't get another chance, so I think we have to use this opportunity which might mean in five races that we don't have any more chance but while we have chances, I think we have to give our maximum and I hope the team will give their maximum. I will give maximum support to fight for it.
Q: (Marco Evangelisti - Corriere dello Sport) Robert, can you explain your situation regarding your contract with BMW?
RK: I'm not saying anything about contracts. We are not talking about it.
Q: (Tony Dodgins - Tony Dodgins Associates) Nick, you were talking about the decision to let Fernando by or not. At the time I think Fernando started heavier than Robert and he was with Robert, so you are presumably aware that by keeping him behind you were sort of helping him win the race. Were you aware of that?
NH: I was thinking about that but I'm happy to help Robert as long as it doesn't spoil my race which wasn't the case. I had Fernando behind me and it wasn't a big problem for me. But at one point I thought Robert was far enough ahead anyway even if Alonso would have passed me, to be any threat to Robert.