GP2 Series: Sébastien, you've just won an amazing race in absolutely chaotic conditions: you must be over the moon...
Sébastien Buemi: Yeah, I'm really happy with this win! It is really good for me and the team, and we are back in third in the championship, we started in P21: it's just unbelievable! I didn't think it was possible: I was hoping for the rain maybe to make things a little bit harder, maybe to have possibility to come back, but I didn't think we had the possibility to do so much
. It's just really good that we didn't know what to take but we made the right decision, and from there I did a really good race and the team did well, and it just went, you know, like in a dream...
GP2 Series: Was it just a case of thinking you were so far back that you might as well take the gamble and see what happens?
Sébastien: Yeah, we were so far back that we thought we need to try something, even if it doesn't work at least we've tried, and my engineer wanted to go on slicks, I wanted to go on wet tyres, and he said we're going on slicks!
I'm really thankful he did because it was just the right decision to do, and then we had a really good start and could keep up with those guys on wets, I didn't lose so much, and when it started to go quicker then it was good because the gap becomes really big when the slicks begin to be faster: it can be 5 or 10 seconds. We had a good strategy, and everything went well.
GP2 Series: You had a nice battle with your teammate: talk me through that.
Sébastien: I couldn't follow him in the middle part of the race: Parente was quite fast and I couldn't really push for it. And then I don't know, he pulled away a bit and then I got quicker and quicker and came back on him and he started to do some mistakes, like going wide in turn two and turn five, and then I just sad now I have to overtake him because I am quite a bit faster. Then we were side by side, and yeah.
GP2 Series: Is this the best win of your career?
Sébastien: I think so, yes, because from so far back it's just ... really good.
GP2 Series: I guess you'll owe your engineer a few beers tonight!
Sébastien: Yeah, we'll drink a couple of beers after this!
GP2 Series: Yelmer, your first podium in the main series: how does it feel?
Yelmer Buurman: Yeah, I had a few in Asia, but this is my first one in the main series. It's really good: I didn't really expect it after qualifying, but it's a good feeling and hopefully we can do it a bit more often.
GP2 Series: Who made the decision to start on slicks?
Yelmer: It was sort of mine, because for the team it's kind of hard to see the track, and as the driver you are the only one who can see all the tracks places and can sort of decide with the team. I decided with the team to change the set up a bit for the wet, and that was it.
GP2 Series: How hard was it in the opening stages of the race?
Yelmer: It was very difficult, very tricky with the slicks and a big powerful car: it's very, very tricky. But I think we did pretty well: we went a little bit on set up towards a wet set up, and in the wet we were a bit quicker than anyone else, but in the dry I think we struggled a bit.
GP2 Series: How hard did you fight when Sébastien caught you?
Yelmer: I went a little bit wide and he came up the inside, and then we accelerated out together, and then he was on the inside for the hairpin so he could get his nose in front of me and cold drive away. He was on more of a dry set up than me, so he could get away a bit after that.
GP2 Series: But it's a good way to get your name around, doing so well in a chaotic race like this...
Yelmer: Yeah, normally I always like the wet, and in British F3 I won twice in the wet, so I've always been quite good in the wet: when I saw that this morning I was really happy that I was going to drive in it!
GP2 Series: Luca, your first podium, your first points of the season today: how does it feel?
Luca Filippi: Yeah, I really wanted this. I came here with a lot of confidence to make a great result after the test in Paul Ricard, but I was a bit upset yesterday after the race because the pace we had wasn't fast and we weren't strong enough. But today when I woke up and was putting bag in the car I saw it was raining and I was super happy, because I knew that these conditions were giving me a chance to prove my potential is something better than what we've done before.
During the warm up I wanted to do 2 laps to warm up the slicks because I wanted to start with them, even if they were going to be very slow in the beginning: I was thinking about last year when we had similar conditions in race two, and the circuit got drier and drier so I knew at the end it was completely dry, so I pushed for slick tyres.
I knew also that for sure it was difficult at the beginning, and I was last or so and struggling with no pace because I had a full dry set up, and it was very difficult to feel the car and find the limit, but I knew it was a super strategy even when everyone was overtaking me, so I was just waiting and taking no risks.
GP2 Series: How hard was it in those opening few laps to keep the car on the road?
Luca: Yeah, it wasn't difficult because I knew it was the right decision because I took the decision, I was happy with that, and I knew it was right. So I was just calm, maybe even too cautious because I didn't have a good feeling with a stiff car, but it was good to do it like this and not make any mistakes because that would have been easy.
And when I saw some Piquet car and di Grassi behind me I said okay, now is the time to push, and I just went away and was fastest until we had the yellow flag: I wanted to push again on the last lap but the team came on the radio and same calm down, so I didn't try, but I think I was fastest.
I think the potential was good to do it, the car was good, but as we know Arden always has a set up that works with the mechanical grip, and so they were faster at the beginning and had a big gap. But I am happy with what I have done: I had a good race with no mistakes and kept my concentration, and really pushed when it was the right time to push.
GP2 Series: After such a difficult start to your season, how important is this podium to you?
Luca: It's important for me and for the team for the motivation, and to keep believing in what we do: this is important, but still we need to make some pure performance for qualifying and race one, because we are still a bit too slow on pure performance.
But going home with a trophy is good, and the feeling I had on the podium I had almost forgotten about: it is good so I want to feel it again as soon as possible, and many times.
- GP2 - photos will be on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - GP2
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