Q and A with Sakon Yamamoto

China was obviously a frustrating race for the team. What are your thoughts?
At the end of the day we can say the tire decision was wrong, but at that time nobody knew what was going to happen. We expected that heavy rain would be coming straight after the race started, so we used the extreme tires. Unfortunately the rain didn't come!

How difficult was it at the start?
For the first couple of laps I drove to take care of the tires, because the track conditions were only good for standard wets, and the amount of water wasn't enough for extreme tires. I just felt that I had to keep the tire condition good, because if you use them too hard, then after that you lose the value of choosing the extreme tires in the first place. The situation was difficult, the rain didn't come, and we changed to the standard wets. At that time the race was basically finished for us in terms of competitiveness, so I just decided just to finish the race as well as possible. The car balance was quite understeery, and it was very difficult to drive, but at the end of the race I did some good lap times, and getting another finish was a plus.

Last year you set seventh fastest lap in Brazil after a late stop for new tires. Are you excited about going back?
Brazil is one of my favorite circuits, and I want to do a really good race there. Last year my car wasn't really great, so in that kind of situation it was an amazing result that we could be seventh quickest in the race, and also I was second quickest in the second sector. So I'm really looking forward to driving there.

What do you like about the circuit?
I like the layout, especially Sector 2 of course! It's very complicated, just right, left, right. As an F1 circuit it is a bit tight, but if you've got the rhythm, it's really good fun.

The car works well in low downforce trim. Will that be an advantage?
Yes, it's good if you have a low downforce car there, and for sure your straight-line speed is going to be quicker. Then the problem is how you manage Sector 2, the twisty section. But as I said I like it, and I think I can do a good job there.