Hamilton: “We are back”

Lewis, this astonishing victory is an incredible turnaround for McLaren. What does this victory mean to you?
This is an important turning point. At the start of the season, I said that if any team could do that, it was McLaren-Mercedes. And you saw it, Ferrari and we ourselves have progressed a lot. If we had had this car at the start of the year, we would have won more races. But we always said we would be six months behind the leaders and, six months later, we are back at the front!

When did you start thinking about winning again?
Honestly, it was only during the last race, in Germany, that I felt I had a good car. In Hungary, our goal was the podium. But the car was incredible. When the team told me I was on the last lap, I asked them to check because it had been ages since I had been in the lead! I hope my fans, my family and my team felt the same excitement and satisfaction that I did.

It?s quite surprising to think that you haven?t won since the Chinese Grand Prix in 2008…
It's been almost a year! It?s so far away that it seemed surreal to imagine winning a race again. I waited a long time for this day and I can't believe it went so well. I felt really comfortable. Then I was pushed by Kimi (Räikkönen), so I couldn't relax.

Does the SREC play a major role in your victory?
I love my car the way it is at the moment, overall it's excellent. I have to say that Mercedes has continued to improve our engine. I think it is, by far, the best engine in Formula 1. And our SREC is fantastic, it played a big role in allowing me to get close to the lead and overtake Mark Webber.