FIA post-Qualifying press conference – Great Britain

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jolyon Palmer)

Q: Lando Norris, home race, third on the grid but it’s such fine margins out there today?

Lando NORRIS: Yes, good qualifying and you know I’m not going to be unhappy with third. Of course I’d love to be on top here in Silverstone, but Max did a good job, not quick enough for us today. But still, a fun qualifying. Qualifying here at Silverstone is pretty fast and it’s enjoytable and good fun. Yeah, not the top but still a good day.

Q: I can only imagine it must have been hard to put laps together with the speed of these corners, the windy conditions, trying to find tiny margins all the time. What are you focusing on to nail the perfect lap?

Lando NORRIS: Little things today. Little things today, put you ahead of behind. Like, you saw how close Q1 was, which was pretty shocking, and I guess good at the same time. But yeah, little margins, little mistakes, little things. You’re talking a couple of hundredths here and there can win or lose you the game today. So tough, especially with the wind and the conditions. A little bit of rain every now and then. But still, all good fun and still happy with the third.

Q: You were third last year, you had a chance to win the Grand Prix on the Sunday. Surely there's a chance coming tomorrow. Fifteen thousandths behind Oscar, you have Max in the fight as well. You've had some great battles with those two in the past, what are we thinking?

LN: I think it’s going to be fun tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a good battle between the three of us. Probably more, you know, with Lewis, with Charles behind, with George as well. It’s going to be an interesting Sunday, so I’m looking forward to it.

Q: Oscar, second, you were provisional pole after the first runs there of Q3 but couldn’t quite keep it there on the second run. Are you happy with your lap there?

Oscar PIASTRI: I was happy with the first lap. The first time was mega, to be honest. I was trying to think of how I was going to go faster and I didn’t. So yeah, the last lap was a little bit messy, but it’s been tight all weekend. I think the first time was very good. I don’t know how much the track would have improved, but a little bit on the table, whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. The team’s done a great job. We’ve tried a lot of things this weekend, trying to get a bit more pace. The car’s felt mega all weekend, but there’s been a few points where we were scratching our heads as to why we’re not quicker. So yeah, the team doing a great job getting us back onto the form that we know. It’ll be an exciting race tomorrow.

Q: Alright, take us under the helmet then. You’ve got provisional pole, you wheel back into the garage, you’ve got more than a tenth margin at this point as well. You said you didn’t know how you were going to find more time. You’re hoping that others aren’t, obviously. But the track’s evolving and somehow you’ve got to go back out there and wind it up. How tricky is that?

OP: Yeah, it’s tough. Especially when you think it’s a good lap, you don’t want to overdo it and try and go over the limit. I think it was a couple of corners where maybe I was a bit safe on the way in and tried to make up for it on the way out and it didn’t quite work. So yeah, always little bits, it’s fine margins as we know, but ultimately pretty happy with second on the grid. So, I’m looking forward to a fun race.

Q: And as well, you’ve had some great fights with Lando in the last race. It was a pleasure to watch. You’ve had some good scraps with Max. You’re going to start with them tomorrow. Can you get elbows out?

OP: Yeah, I think so. It’s going to be a fun race. You know, it’s been very evenly matched between Max, the Ferraris, I saw even George being up there at the end. So I think it’s going to be a pretty evenly paced race tomorrow, and all of have us got slightly different strengths. Red Bull is very quick in a straight line, we’re going to be quick in the high speed. So yeah, it’s going to be a fun one. That’s all. We’re going to enjoy it.

Q: Max Verstappen, what a lap there at the end. You just pinged them all in, all the sectors. How did you do it?

Max VERSTAPPEN: It was tricky out there with the wind, through the whole qualifying Q1, Q2, Q3. It was all shifting around a bit. Yeah, a bit different. And around here with these cars, it’s extremely sensitive to it. So yeah, just trying to tidy it up throughout the whole qualifying and that final lap was good enough. But you know, I mean, this is a proper track, in qualifying when you have to go flat out in all these corners. It’s really, really committed and that’s really enjoyable.

Q: You say the last lap was good enough. It looked pretty unbelievable from when I was watching it. You’ve also got a trimmed out car on downforce, a choice that you made overnight. I was thinking this is a set-up choice with the race in mind, but you’ve nailed it on pole for qualifying already.

MV: Yeah, exactly. We’re quite quick on the straight, which of course is not that easy in the high speed corners to manage. But we did today, luckily. Of course, we have to wait and see what tomorrow will do, if there’s a bit of rain around and all. But I’m happy, of course, with our qualifying. It’s a big boost for the team as well. Just excited to go racing now tomorrow.

Q: And you’ve had some great battles with those McLaren drivers already this season. You’re starting ahead of them. You’ve had some fantastic wins already this year. You have the race pace tomorrow. Do you need to keep them behind?

MV: Difficult to say, but we’ll try. Now we’re going to go racing, we’re going to have fun, and we’re going to try to do the best we can.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Many congratulations, Max. What a final lap from you. Just how good was it?

MV: Pretty good. I mean, it was not easy out there to produce a consistent lap time just because of the wind, the gusts as well that you got out there. The car was moving around a lot even just on straights, so sometimes a bit unpredictable in places because of it. But luckily, that last lap came together quite nicely. Just had to commit a lot in the high speed with this low downforce that we have on the car, which we just tried to build up on. Luckily in Q3, that worked out.

Q: You were fourth after those first runs of Q3. Just where did you find the time on that last lap?

MV: Everywhere except the last sector. So, every single corner, a little bit. My first lap, I don't know, it just felt really different to Q2. Just more oversteer, more understeer in places, and that then made the lap not amazing. But I never thought that I could find whatever it was, almost four tenths, I think. So yeah, it worked, so I'm happy with that.

Q: Max, it's been a bit of a recurring theme at Red Bull this year. Unhappy on Friday, big changes overnight, and you guys get it together for Saturday. Just how different does the car feel today compared to yesterday?

MV: In some places, quite different. Yesterday, I was just understeering a lot but at the same time also having oversteer in places. It was very difficult to balance. I think today, we definitely improved the understeer and that just allowed me to push a bit more because understeer is slow, especially in F1. So, we just needed to try and minimise that.

Q: So, let's look ahead to tomorrow. You have good straight-line speed, we saw that today. Just how confident are you in the long run pace of the car?

MV: Yeah. I mean, let's see. We’ll just go in there and try to do the best we can. Normally in the race runs, we struggle a bit more on tyre life. I don't know how that will be tomorrow. We have to wait and see a little bit also how the weather will be in general, if there is some rain or not. The straight-line speed is nice to have but you still need to manage the tyres around here. It's very tough with all these high-speed corners. But I'm just looking forward to it. I'm not really in a battle, so I’ll just try to have fun and try to get the best possible result.

Q: Oscar, let's come to you now. You were fastest after those first runs of Q3. At the time, did you think it was going to be good enough for pole?

OP: It was a good lap. I was very happy with it, but I kind of felt like every run, the track was improving a bit. So, I felt like I probably needed a bit more, which was correct. The second lap was a bit scruffy, couple of moments that caught me a bit by surprise. I mean, I always hate blaming wind, but I need to see if it was the wind. But also, maybe trying a bit too hard in a couple of places as well to make up for it. Overall, pretty happy. It's been tight all weekend, especially through qualifying, so P2 is not a bad result.

Q: Oscar, as you say, it is very tight. Just two tenths of a second separating the top five in qualifying. Have you been surprised by just how close it is?

OP: Not necessarily. For me, what's the biggest surprise is how each car is generating their lap time. You look at the speed traces and they all look completely different, but they end up basically at the same point at the end of the lap. So that's been quite interesting to get our heads around. I'm not that surprised that Max is quick here. It's quite similar to Suzuka, similar conditions to Suzuka. Clearly, they found some pace from yesterday. I think the big surprise was Ferrari yesterday, and even this morning. So not a huge surprise that it was so tight. Maybe how many teams were involved was a surprise, but it's been tight in nine out of ten qualifyings this year.

Q: Interesting that you reference Suzuka. Do you think we'll see more overtaking tomorrow here at Silverstone than we did in the Japanese Grand Prix?

OP: I hope so, because there wasn't a whole lot in Japan. Let's see. I think the tyres will be a bit more interesting than they were in Japan potentially, and also with the different strengths of different cars that we'll see which seems to be the better compromise tomorrow. I hope so. If it's good for one overtake, then I'd be pretty happy. But let's wait and see.

Q: Lando, let's come to you now. Great job as well. It's incredibly close at the front. Just how smooth was the session for you, first of all?

Lando NORRIS: Reasonably smooth. As smooth as I could probably ask for. Most of my laps were all pretty decent. Q1 was the only little nervous one just with how close it was from the front to last really. Otherwise, all good. Most laps always improved and found good lap time. Probably just my final one, would have hoped to find just that little bit more. Just didn't quite get the grip out of it in some corners, and the right balance, but I'm still happy with the third.

Q: Pirelli have gone one step softer with the tyres this year. Just how much of a factor do you think that's going to be in the race?

LN: Certainly it can be a factor. It was very warm yesterday comparing to today and then comparing to what it's going to be tomorrow. There's also some rain expected for tomorrow, so let's wait and see. I think it could still be a difference in strategies. Like Oscar said, every car gets lap time quite differently. We probably seem a little bit more in the middle of both a Red Bull and a Ferrari, but I think it can easily make a lot of opportunity come everyone's way tomorrow. So probably expecting a tough, but an exciting race.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Tim Hauraney – TSN) Question for Max. Max, congratulations. This looked like a heck of a lap. You did touch on this a little bit, but I was wondering if you could just provide a little more context to it. Starting a weekend off difficult, the evolution of the race car itself, how much work actually goes into that over the weekend to get the car to sort of come to you?

MV: Sometimes more than other weekends. I think it just caught us out yesterday. We had that much understeer in the car, which we didn't expect to happen. So, then you need to work around with the tools that you have. Luckily, we went into the right direction with it.

Q: (Erwin Jaeggi – Motorsport.com) Question for Max. How much did the updated floor contribute to today's performance and does today's performance make you more optimistic for the rest of the season?

MV: I'm not sure how much it did, but for sure it brought something. I'm happy with any kind of upgrade that we get on the car. We just keep learning, keep trying to be better, and take it race by race what we can do.

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Max, could you explain the thinking behind the choice of the low downforce setup given the various compromises to do with straight line speed, raceability, tyre wear, wet weather, etc?

MV: We looked a bit slow yesterday on the other wing. Plus, I was just understeering to the moon. So, I had to try and reduce a bit that understeer, and it seemed to work. It is light on downforce for sure. You can see that, I guess. But it seemed to hold on and that's why we decided to stick with it. We'll see what we get from it tomorrow in the race.

Q: (Simon Abberley – Nevis Radio) Question yet again for Max. Obviously, the grid's looking quite tight. You've got Oscar beside you, Charles Leclerc a few spaces back, three very hungry Brits. Are you going to be doing a race tomorrow looking forward, or will you be doing a race defending more?

MV: Well, I guess naturally, I have everyone behind so I have to look behind me and see what will happen. But for sure, I can see a proper battle. Even in the long runs, there were a lot of cars that were quick. Even in qualifying, it was all quite tight. Like Oscar said, quite different lap time gains – some quick on the straight, some quick in the corners – and I think it's just going to depend on who can keep their tyres alive in the stint.

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – The Athletic) Question to Max, please. Couple of your pole positions this year have come at real drivers’ tracks, in terms of Suzuka early on in the season and then here today at Silverstone. I just wondered, do the two compare in your mind in terms of the challenge of getting things wrong when at such high-speed corners and such fine margins?

MV: Well, I think it's natural. Tracks that I just enjoy more. I don't like street circuits in general. I just like the high speeds, where you have to be committed. It's more flowing. That's really where an F1 car comes alive. Naturally, of course, the car has to work with you, right? We know that on this kind of track the car just comes alive a bit more. But as you could see yesterday, we were also struggling a lot with our balance. So, we had to fix that as well to be able to do what we did today.

Q: (Fred Ferret – l’Equipe) Question for Oscar and Lando. Do you think that the rear wing of the Red Bull will help you or make the work tougher to overtake Max?

OP: It's hard to know at the moment. I think, for us, what's been impressive is some of the high-speed performance that they can continue with, even with the light downforce. So, let's wait and see tomorrow. Of course, I hope that the higher downforce works a bit better in a few areas, but honestly, we really won't know until tomorrow. It's also been interesting with other teams, it's not always just been the higher the downforce you have the quicker you are in all the corners. Some of the corners we’re still slower than the Red Bull and Max. So, it's not that straightforward, but I think it's going to be an interesting thing to see tomorrow.

LN: It's hard, honestly, to know until you get behind and you have the dirty air and DRS and things like that. To be honest, at the minute, our DRS speed probably just about matches Max's speed. So, I think it'll be tough because we’ll probably catch him in the high speed, but we just won't really close much when we open the DRS. I think it can be tough, but there's also probably more opportunities than a normal race. Like they both said, between everyone, we're fast and slow in different places. You look at Red Bull Ring and you say Red Bull Ring is high-speed, but comparing to Silverstone, it's quite medium-speed. Here is definitely high-speed, and it's probably highlighted a few more of our weaknesses. We've performed very well in the slower and medium-speed tracks, some of the higher speed, we’re not bad, but we always seem to lose out to Max and the Red Bull, like Oscar said, in Japan, here, things like that. So, yeah, clearly things to work on. But I think we go into the race tomorrow, there's still plenty of opportunity for us.

Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) One for Max. Although you've got a good result today, obviously some of the same problems there, car limitations, getting caught out by the car not doing what's expected on Friday. How frustrated are you by the overall rate of progress that even though you can get results like this, it's not possible as regularly as you'd like?

MV: Naturally, I think if you look at our season so far, we haven't performed the way we wanted to. But that's how it is. I cannot change that. We are pushing all flat out, myself, the whole team, to try and be more competitive. Some tracks naturally are a bit better for us, unfortunately. The calendar is not all like this, so we need to try and also improve in other areas. It's not that straightforward. Otherwise, of course, we would have done so already. But at least I'm happy with today. It's a good boost for everyone, also after last weekend, which I think we were lacking a bit of pace, but also we were a bit unlucky in general.

Q: Jack Smith (Motorsportweek.com) Question for Lando. If it does rain tomorrow, do you think it will be a fight between yourself and the two men next to you, or do you think that it will be much more open with the Ferraris and maybe even the Mercedes in there as well?

LN: I expect everyone, probably more so the Ferraris because they're the highest downforce of the lot. Their high-speed performance is pretty impressive and a good step better than ours even. So, I would probably more likely say Ferrari, but I just wouldn't rule out the Mercedes as well. I think they're quick. George is always there in those kind of races where there are a lot of opportunities and unpredictable weather, things like that. So, opportunity for everyone, but I think the Ferraris are the ones who have been very quick since FP1. Very quick in high speed, and that normally always helps in the rain.

Q: (Erwin Jaeggi – Motorsport.com) Question for Lando. In 2021, a 14-year-old Arvid Lindblad told you “remember me, I’ll see you in five years.” You shared the track on Friday. What's your impression of him? Have you spoken with him? And for Max, Arvid has been labelled the new Max Verstappen. What's your impression of him, and how helpful was his feedback?

LN: I spoke to him once, I think. Once or twice. Twice including five years ago. But I remember that day, the day I launched my go-kart, and I literally remember the moment he said that to me. It makes me feel old, probably for one of the first times in my life, which is not a good thing. But yeah, cool to see. Always nice to see the new guys coming through and doing well. He has done well in the previous categories, and Formula 2 is always a tough one. So I'm sure he'll keep fighting and probably be in Formula 1 in a few years.

MV: From my side, he raced for my best friend's go-kart team, so I already had a bit of information on him, and he's great. He's very fast and he just needs to do it step by step. I think the way that Red Bull also is preparing him is good. He just needs to do his thing. Being labelled as the next Max, he should just be himself. That's what you need to focus on. I think that's also what he knows how to do. He has good people around him that are like a mentor to him. So, yep, step by step. I'm happy for him. He's doing well. Let's see what happens when he eventually can get into F1.