FIA post-Sprint press conference – Brazil

1. Lando Norris (McLaren), 2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 3. George Russell (Mercedes)

TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by James Hinchcliffe)

Q: Lando, you said yesterday after qualifying, “If I could cruise to a victory, that would be beautiful.” It didn't really look like a cruise but just talk to us about how difficult it was to judge the grip in those first few laps.

Lando NORRIS: It was tough. Yeah, it was tough. I mean, it makes the win a little bit more rewarding when you have a race like this. Especially with Kimi here, he was certainly not making my life easy.

But it's one of those ones where you have to push because you know the guy behind is going to try and push a little bit more. But it was sketchy. I had a couple little lifts. Even with the wind, it was tricky. With the degradation on the tyres, it was difficult. So, yeah, definitely not an easy race, but probably the race you expect here in Brazil – always a difficult one.

Q: With the red flag and the tyre change, you were saying that the Softs maybe weren't actually the tyre to be on at the end. Whose decision was that to make the switch during the red?

LN: Who said that? I didn’t say that.

Q: You didn’t? Oh no. Sorry. Nobody said that. How were the tyres at the end?

LN: Yeah, I mean, it was a struggle. Of course, the Softs at the beginning, I expected them to be better. But the Mercedes were quick and Kimi kept me under pressure the whole race. So I just expected us to be a little bit better and we weren’t. I don’t know how much is down to the tyres or just that they did a good job and they were quick today. So, we’ve got some homework to do before quali.

Q: Fair enough. But Mercedes was very quick today. Second, Kimi Antonelli, congratulations. Just how much fun was that out there battling first with George on that restart and then pushing Lando for the win late?

Kimi ANTONELLI: Yeah, it was a very fun race. You know, it was very tricky conditions, especially at the beginning. But we tried to keep the pressure on Lando and, yeah, just came up short. But, you know, tyre deg was quite big and the wind was picking up during the race, so it was a struggle, but it was a fun race.

Q: It was a great result yesterday in qualifying. You said afterwards that if it wasn’t for a little mistake, maybe in Turn 10, you could have fought for pole. After this result, knowing what you learned yesterday, how confident are you going into that GP qualifying?

KA: Oh definitely, you know, the confidence is high. But, you know, the field is so tight. At the end, yesterday was really hard to put the lap together and I believe everyone did a few little mistakes.

So we’ll see today what we can do, but hopefully we can achieve the same result or even better.

Q: Alright. George, P3. I know it's only Sprint points, but you guys are locked in such a tight battle with Ferrari. With them struggling, both of you guys up here, how critical is it to capitalise on these opportunities for the Constructors'?

George RUSSELL: Yeah, I mean, it was a good race for us both. Kimi did a great job and obviously put Lando under a bit of pressure. And, yeah, P2, P3 was a really good result, but we need to try and do the same again this afternoon. Qualifying is so tight, and it’s very difficult to overtake at the moment. So that’s going to be key.

Q: Was there a bit of relief that it ended up being dry and not wet so you guys could learn a little bit more for the Grand Prix tomorrow?

GR: No, I mean, it’s so different when you're doing the qualifying laps versus the consecutives. There’s a lot of tyre degradation there. So at the end it was a bit difficult, and I think Lando was struggling. But no, we feel good. The temperatures are cool and we know that’s how we like it. So let’s see what we can do later.

Q: Alright. Lando, you said a little bit of homework to do before qualifying this afternoon. But are you confident that you and Oscar can both be fighting for pole?

LN: I’m confident we can do that. I think our quali pace was good, but the wind changed a lot today. The conditions are quite different. So today’s different to yesterday. Tomorrow’s going to be another day. But they’re going to put us under pressure I’m sure. So, yeah, like they said, small gaps and you’ve got to do some perfect laps.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lando, perfect start to the weekend for you, and you've extended your lead in the World Championship. Talk us through it. How hard was it to navigate those tricky conditions?

LN: Certainly a lot trickier than I would have liked. I mean, for both reasons. One, because the conditions were tough. The first lap going up the hill, knowing how much to lift, a couple of little moments, and then obviously Turn 1 braking always being pretty difficult and just not wanting to ever take too much of a risk. But, at the second point, just not being quite quick enough. In the second part of the race on the Softs, Kimi was quick. It was always like 1.2s down to 1. I made a bit of a mistake into Turn 4 on one of the laps. So, yeah, just didn’t plan for it being quite as difficult as it was today, but we held on. Difficult for many reasons, but that’s part of it.

Q: Lando, you held on. Yes, you did. Just talk us through the decision to swap to the soft.

LN: Will said, "Do you want a soft?" and I said, "Yeah." That was the decision.

Q: But were you concerned at all about the longevity of the tyre?

LN: Difficult because, obviously, we were already eight laps in by that point. So a third of the race was done. The others obviously started on the Soft in slightly wetter conditions, so their expectation was to get to the end of the race. Others, only what, four or five people on the Soft, they were expecting to get to the end of the race. So we thought it would be OK. But even in the first part when Kimi was on the Soft and we were on the Medium, I wasn’t pulling away that much. The gap was pretty similar to what it was in the second part. So I think we just weren’t quite quick enough, or as quick as what we would have liked. But, yeah, many things change – a bit cooler, the wind changed 180 degrees. So just understanding if the car was maybe not quite in the perfect position.

Q: Alright. Well, Lando, very well done to you. Thank you for that. Kimi, can we just talk through the decision to swap to the Medium tyre, first of all?

KA: Well, it was a bit like Lando. Bono said if I wanted to keep the tyre or not, and I said no, I'm going to switch to the Medium. The decision to go to the Soft at the start of the race was mainly because it was still quite wet. And, you know, despite the surface temp going up during the lap, with the wet part, they will cool down. So we were expecting the Soft to hold on until the end. We were also trying to have a little advantage in the first few laps. But then obviously with the red flag, we decided to go on the Medium because yesterday, to be honest, the Medium felt really good. So we decided to go on the Medium also because the track was basically fully dry and also to be able to give it a big push.

Q: How much did you fancy your chances of getting past Lando in those closing laps?

KA: Well, I tried. Obviously, when he did the mistake in four, I was very close. But it's always a bit hard to follow and especially with the wind changing, traction out of T10 and going down to T11 was very tricky. I couldn’t really stay as close as I wanted there, but still, it was a fun race, and now we’re focused on qualifying.

Q: The car looks very good here. Are you looking at a pole position car? Do you think you can win this race tomorrow?

KA: I mean, that’s a bold statement. Of course, I want to win. That’s the goal. The field is just very tight, and we saw yesterday in qualifying that we had a real shot to pole. So I think anything is possible. If we can improve the car even further, I think in quali we can have a good chance to be in top three, and then we can put on a fight in the race.

Q: Alright. Well done. Good luck with that. George, just coming to you, a very solid start to the weekend for Mercedes. How pleased are you with the pace of the car, first of all?

GR: Yeah, it was definitely a strong race. I think we obviously had a good qualifying yesterday, and we seemed to be sort of second best after the McLarens. I think the Medium tyre was the better of the two today. Kimi and I probably struggled a little bit at the beginning, but then it was good after the red flag. So, pretty pleased with that.

Q: If the Medium tyre was the better tyre, why did you start on the soft originally?

GR: Well, originally because it was a little bit damper. Obviously, it could potentially be a race tyre tomorrow as well, with the Medium, and we’ve only got one new Medium. So you’re potentially thinking ahead to tomorrow as well, like, what’s your back-up Medium tyre. But we had to swap at the red flag because we only had one Soft tyre, whereas the guys who were on the Medium had a new Soft tyre because they didn’t start on the Soft. So it was easier for us to decide to go onto the Medium than it probably was for those starting on the Medium.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Jon Noble – The Race). To Lando and Kimi, and maybe George if he's got anything extra to say. On lap six, Lando, it appears you may have kind of started a sequence of events when you ran wide across the kerb at Turn 3 and pulled some water. How did that corner pan out for you during the race? Was it the first time you'd gone there, and was it a mistake to run across Turn 3? And Kimi, how did you view things from there? I think you said on the team radio that you felt Lando pulled the water back onto the kerb and track.

LN: Yeah, I mean, it’s a kerb you always use in quali. We use it a lot. Obviously, when it’s wet conditions like this, you kinda want to stay off all the kerbs. So I ran a little bit wide, and I saw the water come onto the track. But, yeah, that was it. GR: A little bit like Mario Kart when you throw the banana out. Smartest guy on the grid, this guy!

KA: I think I saw Lando going wide and water came up and actually had a lot of water going into my visor. But I was just trying to stay away from kerbs during the whole race because it was very tricky, especially at the beginning. So especially when I saw him lifting water, I tried to take a bit more care just to avoid any spin or moments, because obviously, especially in the beginning the last sector and Sector 1, it was the wettest. And, yeah, it was really crucial to make it tidy in order to make it through as well.

Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) A question for all three, if possible. Obviously it rained overnight, then dried a little bit. Can you tell us a bit about the grip you experienced on the formation lap? And Lando, on that formation lap, you seemed to go quite quickly — you were in a bit of a hurry. Could you just explain that approach as well?

LN: I mean, I did a bit of both. I went quickly in parts because you want to try and get the temperature in. Also you don’t want the people behind to get the temperature in. So I tried going pretty slow at the end of the lap, but Kimi went even slower. And he still gave himself some opportunities. In a race like this, it’s all about trying to get as much tyre temp as you can, especially because I knew they were on the Softs. My only opportunity to probably stay ahead was to try and do the best job I could to get tyre temperature in. So I didn’t think I went that quickly. I just went the speed I thought was correct.

KA: Yeah, I don’t think he went that quick to be fair. I even had to pull the clutch at some point because he was stopped, and I wanted him to go away. It’s a short track, and especially with the conditions today — it was still damp, especially in the beginning — you try to get as much temperature as possible. So when you stop on the grid, you’re more or less in the right window for the start. It’s always tricky because the guy in P1 in most cases in these conditions has a bit of a disadvantage, because the others can just take a gap and push a bit more. So, yeah, it’s not easy, but you always try to get as much temperature as possible.

Q: (Maria Clara Castro – Car Magazine Brazil). Question to Kimi. Not bad at all for a first time racing here. Which parts of the track did you struggle with, and which parts do you feel good already?

KA: Well, today in the Sprint I was struggling a bit at the end of sector two, out of 10, 11, especially when I was close to Lando, just struggling to stay close. Overall, I felt good in Sector 1. In the Senna ‘S’ I was able to be strong on braking. Also first part of Sector 2 I felt in a good place. Obviously today with the wind changing, all the corners are different, so it was all about trying to adapt the best way possible.