Sunday: Button thrilled with his podium, Hamilton will continue to fight

Jenson Button – 2nd:

« It’s nice to be back on the podium – and if I can finish every race in the top 1 or 2, that would be perfect. During my first stint, I even thought I had a chance to win because I was able to go further than the other cars around me. But then they didn’t seem to struggle with the hard tires, so I couldn’t take advantage of it. I had a good second stint, but the Soft tires didn’t seem as good for me (as the Super Softs). Then, I didn’t really have a good balance in the last 10 laps.

I still have a slim chance to win the drivers’ title, but I’m enjoying the races at the moment. I think our car will be competitive at Suzuka, and we’re doing a good job as a team as well. Obviously, it’s disappointing to have had a reliability issue on Lewis’s car, so that’s something we need to solve, especially since we’re doing very well in all other areas. If we can resolve these reliability problems, we’ll have a chance to fight for victory in the remaining six races.

Lewis Hamilton – Retirement:

« It’s heartbreaking not to have been able to finish the race today. We clearly had the pace to win this weekend. In fact, before I retired, I was in control, maintaining the gap with Seb (Vettel). Then I started having trouble with the gear changes, I lost third gear, and then the gearbox went into neutral.

I am obviously disappointed, but the positive aspect we can take away from this weekend is that we have a good pace. I think we can attack in the upcoming races. It will be tough to narrow the gap with guys like Fernando (Alonso) and Sebastian (Vettel), especially when they keep finishing race after race, but I’m not going to give up. There are still six races left, and I need to go all out and win all six. I’m going to fight until the end.