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1 – Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
2 – George RUSSELL (Mercedes)
3 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jolyon Palmer)
Q: Well, Lando,
you're back in the top three, but I sense you're a little bit disappointed
with that one. Not able to hook up the final lap. How was it for you out
there?
Lando NORRIS: Yeah. I mean, always disappointed if I'm not on
pole, but Oscar deserves it today. He's done a very good job all weekend, so
happy for him. His first pole in Formula 1, so it's always cool. Just a
couple of mistakes again, kind of been my case this weekend, but the car was
feeling a bit better today. I've got a lot more comfortable with the car, so
a step in the right direction, especially from yesterday where I was
struggling a lot and even this morning I was struggling a lot. A much better
direction that we're going in. So yeah, not too disappointed.
Q: And
we're seeing so much pace from you so far this season, but we are seeing a
few laps not completed quite as you would want them. Couple of errors here
or there you allude to. Is the car really tricky to drive at the moment? Is
it difficult to get it on the knife edge just absolutely spot on?
LN: I
mean, yeah, I've said that plenty of times. It's still quick enough. We’ve
never doubted it's the quickest car. It can just be a little bit feisty at
times, but no, today it's not so much that. Today was just mistakes from my
side and that's all.
Q: And in terms of the race, yet the Sprint
earlier didn't go your way at all, but can you learn from that? Did you
change the car much? How are you feeling for tomorrow?
LN: Yeah, we
changed quite a lot on the car because we were nowhere and yeah, we worked
quite hard to make some improvements into quali and then hopefully for the
race tomorrow. So we'll see.
Q: Good luck with tomorrow, Lando.
George, what a performance, on the front row in 2025. How was that for you?
George RUSSELL: It feels incredible, to be honest. It was one of the hardest
quali sessions I've done in a long, long time and I was trying all sorts
with my preparation, with the tyres, and nothing seemed to be clicking. Did
something totally different on that last lap and it just all came alive and
the lap was awesome. Just yeah, so, so happy to be P2.
Q: P2. What
was the difference? What did you do different?
GR: Oh, I mean I was going
fast on the out lap, slow on the out lap, prepping the out lap… it was
just—and the last one was a bit of a roll of the dice. Had a big moment at
Turn 1, but it just all came together and I was really surprised when I
crossed the line. I knew it was a good lap, but to see that I was between
the McLarens—yeah, just buzzing and looking forward to tomorrow.
Q:
And in terms of race pace, we saw earlier on you were honing in on the top
three. Didn't quite get there, but degradation looks really tough out there.
How are you feeling over the full distance?
GR: Yeah, it's going to be
tough. I think the Medium tyre in the Sprint was really difficult.
Obviously, I think most drivers will start on that at the front of the field
tomorrow, and then the Hard—no one's ran all weekend. So nobody knows right
now if it's going to be a one or a two stop. We know that McLaren are going
to be quick, but we'll be doing everything to try and stay where we are or
try and jump ahead of them. Should be a lot of fun.
Q: Good luck, George.
Oscar Piastri: Grand Prix pole position for the first time and what a way to
do it. Two laps that would have had it there for you. You just seemed hooked
up today.
Oscar PIASTRI: I'm glad it looked like that because it didn't
feel like that. I think, yeah, Q3—just found a lot of pace. You know, Q1 and
Q2 I was genuinely struggling and yeah, the car just came alive in Q3 and I
think I came alive in Q3. So no, happy with what I did at the end. Even
still, the laps were a little bit scruffy, but no—very, very—I mean, I'm
just pumped to be on pole. So very happy.
Q: You've just done the
fastest ever lap of this circuit. New asphalt, loads of grip, obviously a
car that's working well. How much of a buzz is it to drive at these speeds?
OP: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I think with the new surface it's extremely
grippy, which for us, you know, it's the best feeling in the world. The only
thing that comes with that is when you lose grip, it bites at you. I think
you've probably seen a lot of snaps, a lot of moments this weekend, and with
the surface we've got it's pretty tricky. But when you hook it up, it feels
pretty mega. So I'll take the fastest lap of Shanghai.
Q: Big smiles
from you, but there is still a race to do tomorrow. Still a Grand Prix win
to add to this pole position. And yet the dress rehearsal earlier on—car
looked good, but Ferrari looked exceptionally strong as well. How are you
feeling? Obviously a bit of clear air for you hopefully at the start of the
race.
OP: Yeah, I mean, I think that is hopefully going to be a help.
Just got to make sure I keep that clean air. But I was pretty happy after
the Sprint. I think we did the most that we could have. I was pretty happy.
You know, I would have been happier with one spot higher, but how the race
turned out I couldn’t have asked for much more. So like, we learned a lot
this morning and looking forward to trying to put that into use tomorrow.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Oscar, huge day for you. Just first up, what
does this one mean?
OP: Yeah, I mean it means a lot. Been close a few
times now and yeah, nice to finally have my first pole. I've had a couple of
Sprint poles, but to have the first Grand Prix pole means a bit more. So
yeah, pretty pumped, to be honest. I've worked hard for it and I feel like
the start of the season has been strong. Obviously the result in Melbourne
was a shame, but I feel like I've been doing a good job otherwise and yeah,
just happy to have ended up on pole.
Q: Talk us through those laps in
Q3. You said over the radio that you'd done the hairpin of your life. Just
talk us through that.
OP: Yeah, my first lap was honestly better than my
second lap, but just at the hairpin at the end of the straight I lost a bit
of time and didn’t do the best hairpin. And then the second lap I was about
two-tenths down on myself, so I kind of just went, why not send it into the
hairpin, and I gained those two-tenths back and then found a little bit more
in the last corner. So yeah, honestly, without that, I was tempted to box
before that. So I’m pretty happy now that I didn’t, but it was—I just did a
good corner, that’s all.
Q: Oscar, it's been a better qualifying
today than it was Sprint qualifying yesterday for McLaren. What lessons did
you learn overnight that you were able to apply this afternoon?
OP: I
think our car was fast yesterday, it was just the run plan we went for in
Sprint qualifying I don’t think was the best one in the end. I think today
we knew that the session’s obviously a little bit longer so you can do two
proper runs. So I think there were just a few things that in hindsight we
could have done differently. And yeah, today I think the pace in the car has
been more or less the same. We just executed it the way we should have. So
yeah, I think it's been a good day overall. I think we learned a lot this
morning. I think we learned a lot from Sprint quali yesterday to translate
into qualifying this afternoon and yeah, happy that it’s worked out.
Q: Let's throw it forward then to the Grand Prix. What do you think is going
to be key to securing P1?
OP: I think just making sure your tyres survive
is the biggest thing. I think we saw this morning that those that could—or I
would say look after their tyres, but that wasn’t even really true—the
people that could manage the best one way or another were the quickest. And
I think for my own Sprint I felt like I did a reasonable job, it was just
difficult trying to get past Max. But I think we saw with Lewis being out in
front all morning, it probably helped him in the long run. So yeah, I think
it’s going to be a pretty interesting race. It’s the most deg we’ve probably
seen and the most graining we’ve seen in a long time. So it’ll be
interesting to see if it stays the same tomorrow.
Q: Well done today.
Best of luck tomorrow. George, let's come to you now. You ran Oscar very
close. You also said it was one of the hardest sessions of your Formula 1
career. So talk us through it. How good was the car?
GR: It was really,
really challenging because the weekend has been difficult for everybody to
get on top of these tyres and knowing what the best sort of strategy in the
session is—if you go hard on your formation lap or do you take it easy? And
I was just sort of going all over the place. And on the last lap, I tried
something very different, it worked, really strong lap, and the P2 was a
real surprise. So really pleased with that one.
Q: What did you try
differently on the last lap?
GR: I just came out the pits and went dead
slow round that warm-up lap ahead of my fast lap. So the first lap in Q3 I
was full gas on that lap and it seemed OK—I think I was in P5, but
two-and-a-half, three-tenths behind Oscar. And then found four-tenths on my
last lap. Just really came together and it feels really rewarding when you
do your best lap of the weekend when it matters. And to be in the front row
is a really great place to start for tomorrow.
Q: Great place to
start. Just how much confidence did you have coming into the session that a
result like this might have been possible?
GR: I think we've known
realistically anywhere from P3 to P7 is where we are on a given day. And you
saw, I think it was only two-tenths to P6 between ourselves, Ferrari, Kimi
and Max. And just to be between the McLarens, I’m really proud of the job
we've all done to secure that. We know how quick they are. So anything more
than a P3 is a big result for any team at the moment.
Q: And from
everything we've learned so far this weekend, do you think you've got the
race pace to match these guys?
GR: I think that would be a bit of a
stretch. Like Oscar said, it was a really difficult race this morning. I do
think they're still a step ahead of everybody. Ferrari were a real surprise
in the Sprint, but tomorrow’s a different game. And we've got the Hard
tyre—nobody's run that yet. So I expect a slightly different outcome.
Q: OK. Very well done to you. And Lando, if we could come to you now.
Welcome back. Good to see you back in the top three. It looked like a tricky
session for you. How tricky?
LN: I mean, it was tricky for everyone, I
think. It's just tight and close, but it was a much better job than we did
yesterday—and I did yesterday. So the car was feeling much better and yeah,
I was feeling definitely more comfortable. Still too many mistakes from my
side. I'm not as comfortable as I was in Australia. Just tricky, but it is
for everyone, and I just haven't done the best job—and Oscar has done a very
good job. So still a good result. I’m happy with P3, yeah.
Q: And
Lando, can you talk us through the lessons you learned in Sprint qualifying
that you were able to apply to get a better result today?
LN: Just don’t
qualify as far back.
Q: But in terms of lessons learned, run plans,
was it the same as Oscar?
LN: Yeah, I don't think it was so much run
plan. I just think we didn't get as much out of the car yesterday. I
obviously locked up and went straight. The car’s easily quick enough for
pole, so I just did a terrible job yesterday.
Q: OK. And let's throw
it forward to the race then. How much confidence do you have ahead of
tomorrow?
LN: I think Oscar's shown great pace. I definitely
haven't—especially from the race pace. And whenever we struggle with front
graining, it's something I just struggle with a lot personally. So yeah,
difficult for me. It’s been therefore a difficult weekend, just trying to
deal with those things. It's something I'm not strong enough in. But yeah,
I’ve got a long, long night ahead of me to sit down and go through the data
and see what I can improve for tomorrow.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Stewart Bell – AP) This is for Oscar. First pole position for an
Australian since Daniel Ricciardo at the Mexican Grand Prix in 2018. How
does it feel for you as an Australian and with the nation watching on?
OP: I mean, yeah, it’s always nice to go out there and represent my country.
I can't say I think about it that much when I'm out on track, but it's
always an honour to race for Australia. You know, the reception I had last
weekend was incredible. Very lucky to have a race in my home country and my
home city. But yeah, nice to be able to do it… I'm a racing driver, so I'm
selfish, so it's nice to do it for myself, but it is also nice to do it for
Australia as well.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question to
Lando, please. You said earlier that you're not feeling as comfy as in
Australia with the feeling with the car. Could you expand on that a little
bit? Is it sort of a track-specific thing, corner types—whereabouts on the
course do you think you're struggling particularly?
LN: I mean, the
layout is very different here to Australia—much more medium-speed,
high-speed corners. There's some slow speed too. That and just the car—the
car is, I mean, we’ve said it many times, it's definitely the quickest car,
but it's still tricky to drive. We can easily do good sectors every now and
then, but putting a lap together—even like Oscar said, he was two-tenths
down and then he's kind of going for it and it stuck. But it seems just
tricky to understand how to do it consistently enough. When you do that kind
of good job, then it can easily be the quickest car. So a couple of things,
and just more my driving—just that rhythm of knowing exactly what to do
where, how much. Also, when you have the tyres and if you push a bit too
much, the tyres can bite quite quickly too. So many different things, but
also just Oscar's done a good job and I’ve not done a perfect job. It's
tight, so I just paid the price for not doing well enough.
Q: (Alex
Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question to Oscar, please. I think Lando said he
changed quite a bit on the car after the Sprint race. But you said the pace
is pretty similar. What was your work from early running in the day through
to this afternoon?
OP: Yeah, I mean we changed a few things. I wasn't
perfectly happy with the car I had in Sprint quali and the Sprint this
morning, so I was trying to make it a bit better for today—and honestly
probably more for tomorrow. But yeah, I’m not sure yet whether it was
necessarily better or worse. I think it was maybe a small step better. I
think the pace both days has been similar. It’s just been, as Lando said,
quite tricky to get lap times out of it. Through Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely
struggling and somehow found a lot of time in Q3 that I still don’t fully
understand myself yet. So yeah, I mean I think even when you change things,
you can’t turn the car upside down. It's kind of got its characteristics
that you have to live with, especially on a Sprint weekend. The car was
quick yesterday, it was quick this morning, you're not going to risk
everything by trying to be half a second faster than everyone. So I think
just some small things that were in the direction I wanted before the
session and I’m not sure I want that now. But it did what I expected, at
least.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question for all three of
you, please. The track surface is completely different to how it was here in
2024. It's very sunny where it was rainy and cloudy last year. Just how
different has it been for all three of you to drive this course this time
around?
OP: It's pretty much a completely different track in my eyes.
We're a lot faster than we were last year. I think when you have this much
grip… Some of the corners here last year, I kind of left thinking, “If the
track had a bit more grip, some of those corners would be pretty incredible
to drive.” And this year, with this much grip, they are. They've done a
really good job resurfacing it. I said in my interview—the only thing with
these kinds of tracks is they're incredibly high grip whilst the tyres are
pointing in the direction you want. As soon as you start to slide, it’s
pretty difficult out there. I think that's not just been for us, it's been a
similar story for everybody. We see it with a lot of the tracks that get
resurfaced these days. So yeah, it’s been more fun to drive this year,
definitely, but some very different challenges.
GR: Yeah, like Oscar
said, new surface—it’s super quick. Like here and like Jeddah, that’s like
the gold standard of resurfacing that the drivers want because it's so
enjoyable to drive and it's so quick. It's great for people watching. We
clearly made a pretty good race this morning with the tyres and I think
it’ll be a good race tomorrow. So all in all, yeah, good news.
Q:
Lando, please.
LN: They said it.
Q: George, is it smoother than
last year, the bumps gone?
GR: Yeah, I mean the track’s like a bowling
alley at the moment—super smooth. Whereas last year it was all quite open
and the tyres were degrading quite a lot. So that's always quite nice when
you come here for the first year. Obviously, like in Turkey a few years ago,
it didn’t go quite as well—I remember that was really nice and smooth. But
yeah, much better than last year.
Q: (Yiyi Duan – Titan Sports)
Question to Oscar. You once joked that you have 1/16th heritage from
China—so it's sort of your home court. You got a good performance today and
good results. Do you see that this good momentum will quickly build up,
perhaps boost confidence, especially after Melbourne?
OP: The 1/16th
heritage wasn’t a joke—that’s real.
GR: What? Wow.
OP: They’re all
here for me. They’re not here for Lewis—they’re for me. Yeah, I mean it’s
many generations ago and I definitely can’t speak Chinese and I’m not going
to embarrass myself. But yeah, I think I’ve definitely enjoyed coming here a
lot more this year. I’ve been able to see a little bit more of Shanghai. The
weather’s been much nicer than it was last year. Everything is just going a
bit better this weekend than it was 12 months ago. And yeah, the pole
position is a really good confidence boost—it’s obviously my first one. So
it's always nice to tick that box in a sense. But I think it's been a good
start to the whole year for both the team and myself, even if the points
tally doesn’t look like that at the moment. So no, happy with how things are
going, and this is a nice step along the way. |
