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1 – Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
2 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
3 – George RUSSELL (Mercedes)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Ho Pin Tung)
Q: Oscar, very
dominant win, 1-2 for McLaren. Is this the start of your title campaign?
Oscar PIASTRI: I hope so. No, it's been an incredible weekend from start to
finish. The car’s been pretty mega the whole time. I think today was a bit
of a surprise with how different the tyres behaved, but no, super... yeah,
just proud of the whole weekend. This is what I feel like I deserved from
last week. No, extremely happy. The team did an amazing job, 1-2 obviously.
So yeah, very, very happy.
Q: Very happy with the track rubbering in.
Were the tyre wear less than expected?
OP: Yes, I think on the Medium it
was still a bit tricky, but much better than yesterday. And the Hard was a
much better tyre than everyone expected, I think, or certainly than we
expected. So yeah, to go all the way to the end like that was a bit of a
surprise. But a happy surprise. So, very, very proud of the race we managed
to pull off. It wasn't an easy one going in and yeah, just proud of the
whole team and the weekend I've been able to pull off.
Q: Yesterday,
you joked about being 1/16th Chinese. Anything to say to your home crowd?
OP: Thank you. It's not a joke, by the way! I do have Chinese heritage
somewhere. But no, thanks for the support. The crowd's been exceptional this
week. There's a few too many Lewis Hamilton fans, but that's OK. We'll
convert some of you next year, so thanks for coming out. The support’s been
incredible this year, so I have really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Q:
Lando, lots of support behind us. Can I say, two crucial moments in the race
for you: the start overtaking George in T1, and then off the pit stops again
into T1 on George?
Lando NORRIS: Yeah, a few fun moments. The start, I
was kind of hoping for exactly that, so Turn 1 went to plan. But then George
got me on the pit stops and I was a little bit nervous, but our pace was a
lot better in the second stint. So, tough race, just with the management,
and I don't think many people expected a one-stop today. So it was good.
Oscar drove well. He was quick the whole race. I tried to get close, but in
the end just couldn’t.
Q: Did you feel at any stage of the race you
were able to challenge Oscar for the win?
LN: It doesn't matter now,
really, does it? It doesn't matter. He deserved the win and he drove very
well all weekend. So I'm happy with second. It's good points. It's great
points for us as a team with a 1-2. So a big thanks to everyone in papaya
and yeah, just how we wanted the race to go, so very happy, yeah.
Q:
And then at the end, probably the worst feeling a driver can have — a brake
pedal going long. How difficult was it to nurse that?
LN: It's scary.
It's like my worst nightmare. You know, whenever I have a nightmare, it's
when the brakes are failing, and I was losing 2, 3, 4 seconds the last
couple of laps. So I was a bit scared, but we survived and we made it to the
end. I would have loved to have given it a little try and put Oscar under a
little bit of pressure, but not today. So we're satisfied. Great result and
we'll go again next time.
Q: George, P3, congratulations. You looked
quite racy in the beginning. Did you feel at any moment there was more
possible than P3, perhaps?
George RUSSELL: Yeah, it's a great result
finishing P3, especially in front of all these fans here. It's just been
amazing support for everybody this weekend, so thank you so much for that.
But yeah, really great race, really pleased with the P3. We knew the
McLarens were a smidge quicker than us at a few crucial points, but well
done to them.
Q: Yeah, it looked like you kind of set the path for
all the others as well. You were one of the first to call that a one-stop
strategy was possible.
GR: Yeah, I felt it from quite early on that a
one-stop could be possible and it turned out to be slightly easier than we
probably all anticipated. But nevertheless, the car’s been great this
weekend. Probably one of my best weekends in Formula 1 in terms of the
overall performance, so I’m really pleased with that, and just really
maximising every single time out on track. So pleased again to be on the
podium.
Q: Yeah, I guess a little bit of a lonely race perhaps for
you. Did you expect more pressure from behind?
GR: I mean, Charles was
putting me under quite a lot of pressure for a few laps after the pit stop,
and obviously it was a bit dicey with Lando for a few laps, but from there
on it was quite a straightforward race.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q:
Many congratulations, Oscar. It was a faultless drive from pole and you
described the car as very lovely. Just how special does this one feel?
OP: Yeah, very satisfying. Obviously, I think, you know, it's always a
pretty good day when you cross the line first, that's obvious. But I think
for me this has been the most satisfying, not just race, but weekend for
myself.
You know, I think the two wins I had previously were very
different, and I think this one's been the most complete. So I'm very, very
happy with the whole effort of the whole team this weekend. I think we
started with a car that was quick, but pretty tricky at times, and I think
we did a good job of trying to tackle that. And to come away with this
result is a perfect end to the weekend.
Q: There was a lot of talk
about tyre wear going into the race, yet you managed 42 laps on the hard
tyre. At what point did a one-stop become apparent?
OP: I mean probably
about 10–15 laps on the Hard. You know, I think already on the Medium it was
easier than in the Sprint, but I think the Hard behaved much better than we
all expected. I think George might have a different answer on that, but
certainly for me, I went into it thinking it would be a two-stop and then
even early in the race I still thought that, and was pleasantly surprised
that the Hard was as strong as it was.
Q: McLaren delivered a very
strong performance here to take its 50th 1–2 finish. How much confidence
does it give you going into Suzuka next time?
OP: A lot. I think we've
obviously had a quick car this weekend, but like I said, it's not been as
straightforward as it was in Melbourne. And I think, you know, to still have
this result here is a really encouraging sign for us.
I think there's
still going to be bumps along the road and things we can try and work on,
but ultimately I think we're in a pretty happy place at the moment and,
yeah, excited for the rest of the year.
Q: Oscar, many
congratulations. Thank you. Lando, let's come to you. Many congratulations
to you. A very strong performance in what was not a straightforward Grand
Prix for you. How do you reflect on the race, first of all?
LN: Tough
race. Yeah. I mean, I'm just satisfied for the result, for the team. You
know, 50th 1–2 for McLaren is quite an achievement, so happy to be part of
that, first of all, and a great race by Oscar. I'm happy considering how bad
my last few days have been and how much I struggled just to get comfortable
and understand how to drive the car. To go to the pace I had today, which I
think was very strong, it was a much better race than I was thinking I was
going to have. I was not confident one bit and yeah, I was nervous that I
was going to struggle just as badly, honestly. But very satisfied to know
how much I've improved from a car point of view, from a driving point of
view. Today was a much stronger day, so I'm more satisfied to know I've got
answers for my struggles and yeah, that makes me happy. But I'm of course
more happy for the 1–2 for the team.
Q: Can we elaborate on this,
Lando? What changes did you make to the car?
LN: That’s stuff the team
will know, and probably no one else, but we made a good amount of changes.
Obvious ones, to try and improve the front end. I just can't drive a car
with no front. I can, but I struggle, and it's just been too understeery,
simply, the car, the last few days—I cannot maximise the package that way.
I think we both struggled a lot yesterday with that, and it shows that our
pace today was from both of us a lot stronger than it was yesterday. So I
think we're both still, as a team we’re still understanding this car and
knowing its limitations, how to get the most out of it. But I feel like,
especially for me, in the longer run stuff and even the short run stuff,
I've not been anywhere near as confident as I would like to be, and I've not
got the feeling from the car that I need in order to maximise the
performance. But today was a much better showing of that and a much better
understanding of it. So yeah, made some tweaks with the car, mechanically
and aerodynamically, and it was a much better day today. So I'm happy with
it.
Q: Much better day today until the brake issues started to reveal
themselves. At what point in the race did that happen?
LN: I think they
started to go quite early. But, you know, you always get a bit of a tendency
for the brakes to get a tiny bit longer. I think the team were hiding it
from me because they saw the problem starting a lot earlier and they knew it
was going to be a problem. But like the last 10 laps, I was pretty nervous
about just being able to finish the race because it was noticeable how much
worse it was getting every single lap and every braking zone. It's really
not a nice feeling when you're in the car and you expect a nice solid pedal
and there's just nothing and it goes to the floor. Doesn't fill you with
confidence, especially on a fast track like this.
So we were lucky simply
to finish the race and still to finish ahead of George. We were very lucky.
I think the last couple laps were 3 or 4 seconds or more off. So we had a
difficult ending and I would have loved to have pushed a little bit more and
tried to give Oscar a bit of a run, but not today. So something we need to
understand and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Q: Alright. Thank
you for that. Good job. Let's come to you now, George. Well done to you as
well. You said this is one of your best weekends in Formula 1. What’s been
especially satisfying about it?
GR: I think just being fully maximised
every time on track. Really happy with qualifying yesterday, getting in
between the McLarens. And then the race today was really strong. Called it
pretty early about the one-stop and it was a bit frustrating it was so clear
in the end because I was hoping those guys ahead would have gone onto the
two-stop. And we know at the moment we're trying our best to catch
McLaren—these guys are doing an amazing job. And for us to end up quite a
bit ahead of Max and the Ferraris right now, that's a great result.
Q: You started on the front row. How important was that to ensure you
finished on the podium?
GR: Yeah, I think it was pretty vital. Obviously
I lost out to Lando at the first corner. Oscar did a really good job at
defending, and it's always a bit difficult when it's such a high-speed first
corner. I thought I could sneak underneath him and he covered me pretty
well. But for sure, if we qualified behind Max and the Ferraris yesterday, I
don’t think we would have been standing on the podium today. So I think that
was pretty crucial.
Q: And how do you see Mercedes’ pace relative to
the McLarens now after a sample of two races?
GR: I think their strength
is probably in tyre management. And today we saw the one-stop was pretty
comfortable. So let's see when we go to a circuit where it's much more
overheating, like we saw in Melbourne on the Intermediate tyres or like we
saw in Bahrain testing. They were even stronger. So they did an amazing job.
These two have done a great job, and we need to keep pushing to close that
gap.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Michael Butterworth – Xinhua
News Agency) Lando, the problem that you ran into—was that something that
you and the team had anticipated maybe running into before the race? And is
it something that concerns you going into Suzuka, where we’ve got some
pretty heavy braking zones?
LN: I really hope not! No, no expectation of
it. I think it was an issue that happened that shouldn’t have happened,
basically. I think it was rapidly getting worse, probably quicker than the
team were anticipating when they saw it. I think they saw it quite a bit
earlier—just after the halfway point of the race—but then it was
accelerating in deterioration. So whatever it was, I’m not sure, but it got
critical in the last five laps.
So I think it’s a problem that shouldn’t
happen, basically. And I’m sure they’ll try and understand it and make sure
it doesn’t happen again.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) A question
to the McLaren drivers, please. Andrea was just telling us how, especially
with you Lando, the big turnaround from struggling early in the weekend was
about how you learn from each other in terms of what you guys were doing on
the tyres in the Sprint race. Could you talk us through that process and how
useful it was?
OP: Yeah. I mean, I think we’ve got different strengths
and weaknesses as drivers. And I think this weekend there were certain
points where it just worked a bit to my favour, naturally. And I think
there’s been other weekends where it definitely hasn’t, and I’ve had to try
and look at things from how Lando’s driven and apply them myself. I think
that is definitely the advantage—or an advantage—we have. Having strong
team-mates, you always learn from each other. It’s impossible to measure how
much lap time you gain from pushing one another, but you do gain something,
that’s for sure. So I think we always push each other, always learn things.
I’ve certainly learned a lot in the last couple of years. Maybe there were
some things to learn the other way yesterday, but I think every single
weekend we are learning one thing or another from each other.
LN: Sure. I
mean, Oscar said it well, honestly. Probably apart from Ferrari, I don’t
think there’s another team that has two drivers that push each other
anywhere near as much. And for us, that’s a huge advantage. Even if you have
the same car for everyone, if you have a team with two drivers who can push
each other, they’re always going to beat everyone else that’s just on their
own. So we have a great car, we have a great team, but we also have two
drivers that are pushing each other more than any other team has. And that
will always triumph—even [over] the best driver on the grid. That’s one of
our biggest strengths at the minute—how we’re able to learn from each other.
Because of what Oscar said: we have different ways we drive. He wants some
things on the car, I want different things. But normally our ways align and
we always want the same thing in the end. Oscar’s ability to adapt to a
track like this was impressive, and something I clearly struggled a lot more
to do. I hate understeer. The one thing I almost hate as much as brakes not
working is probably understeer, and that’s what we had this weekend. As soon
as we put the Hards on, for instance, my pace was a lot stronger because I
had some front finally. But yeah, I’ve learned a lot this weekend from Oscar
and his ability to adapt to these different situations. It’s definitely
something we’ll maximise because it’s helping us beat every other team at
the minute. It’s a great car and two incredible drivers! And Zak.
Q:
(Yiyi Duan – Titan Sports) Question to Oscar. You scored big points this
weekend and now sit fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, and the top four
are very close. Is it too early to think about the title fight, or is it
crucial to capitalise on your car’s performance as early as possible?
OP:
I mean, I think it's very, very early, clearly. But I think no matter how
short or long the championship is, you need to maximise the car that you
have every race. I think we saw last year that Verstappen was able to win
the championship by capitalising on the car he had in the first part of the
year. And he obviously did a good job through the rest of the year as well,
but he built the gap when he had the ability to build the gap. And I think
that’s an important thing at the moment as well, because you never know when
someone’s going to find some speed with an upgrade or find something in how
they operate the car. There are pretty fine margins out there. So yeah, I
think you obviously want to capitalise whenever you can, but I’m certainly
not thinking about the championship yet. As much of a cliché as it is, it’s
a cliché for a reason, and I’m focusing on one weekend at a time because
ultimately that is how you win a championship: by getting the most out of
every weekend.
Q: (Stewart Bell – AP) That was for Oscar. Obviously
this is a very different victory to your first two in Hungary and
Azerbaijan. How much do you enjoy being out in front and the position you
were in, and what were your thoughts as you came through Turn 1 in the lead?
OP: I mean, I was very happy to come through Turn 1 in the lead. I would
have been pretty annoyed if I wasn’t.
So that was pretty crucial for the
first part of the race, especially given that we didn’t really know if it
was going to be a one- or a two-stop at that point. And how critical being
able to dictate the pace looked yesterday in the Sprint—I was obviously
happy to keep the lead. I think this weekend’s been maybe less emotional
than the first two wins I’ve had, but definitely more satisfying. I think
it’s been a weekend where I’ve been quite comfortable, been confident in
what I needed to do and how I’ve been driving. And I think the race today
was… I still had to push and keep my foot on the gas, because the gap, apart
from the last few laps, was never that big behind. So I always had to keep
on my toes, but I feel like I just managed the race well when I needed to,
and pushed when I needed to. So yeah, just very happy with how the whole
weekend’s turned out.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Another
question to Oscar, please. Again, to put something Andrea was just telling
us to you guys—he said that this weekend in particular sums up your progress
year-on-year. That Chinese Grand Prix last year was before the car was
massively improved, but you struggled a little bit. Could you compare the
two, where you think you’ve been better? Obviously the track’s different—was
that a big factor as well?
OP: I mean, I think saying I struggled a
little bit last year is being pretty nice. It was a big turnaround this
weekend compared to China last year. It was a track that I had a lot of
homework to do from 12 months ago. Yes, it’s changed a lot with the
resurfacing, but there’s still a lot of challenges around just the layout,
regardless of the surface. So yeah, I think for me it’s been very satisfying
to have probably my most complete weekend in F1 this weekend be at a track I
struggled the most at last year. So very pleased with the hard work that not
just I’ve done, but the whole team around me. The engineers on my side of
the garage, but everyone at McLaren—for firstly giving us a car that’s much
stronger than it was 12 months ago here, but also being able to chip in
where they can and try to help me improve. So I think it’s been a really
nice show of progress in 12 months, but there’s still going to be challenges
along the way. It’s just a nice confidence boost at the moment.
Q:
Phil Duncan (PA). Lando, you said there that obviously you’ve got a great
driver line-up and that will help you push McLaren forward in terms of
getting good results. But on the flip side, there’s a chance you two could
be going for the world championship—you won the first race and Oscar's won
the second. Are you guys ready for that, and perhaps any trouble that that
could bring along the way? How do you see that playing out?
LN:
Absolutely. (Inaudible) I didn’t watch Formula One back then—it would have
been 2007. Oh yes, Lewis and Fernando! You wait until he has a pit stop
behind me and I’m not going to drive out. Or we’ll have like a little
multi-22 or something! No, I think we are [ready]. I mean, yeah, we were
free to race today. I didn’t have the pace to really get up to Oscar, and he
drove very well. So he deserved it. Same really last weekend. You know,
yeah, there were those two laps that I know everyone loves to talk about
where we just held position, but the rest of it, we were free to race. So
I'm sure we’re going to have some closer racing at some point. I think we’re
both excited—probably nervous and excited at the same time—as I’m sure the
team will be. But we’re ready.
We know that as much as we work together
and we have a good time and enjoy ourselves, we both know we want to try and
beat each other and show who’s best. And that’s inevitable. So there’s no
point trying to hide away from that fact or make something of it. We’re two
competitors who both want to win. But we help each other out. I think we
both achieved something better this weekend because of that fact. And we’ll
continue to do that. So I’m sure at the minute it’s going to be like that,
but like Oscar said, at any point other teams can find something. Other
teams have talked about upgrades and stuff already and they can catch up
quicker than you think, just like we did last year. So as much as we’re
doing that, we also have to think as a team and keep pushing the team
forward from that side.
Q: (Zixuan Xiong – China Grand Motorsport). I
have a question for George. You achieved a decent result today and your
teammate is the Driver of the Day. Do you think it’s a boost for Mercedes?
GR: Congratulations to him. Yeah, I mean, we want to get the results
obviously as a team and we’re working to try and catch up to McLaren.
They’re the team to beat right now and we’re confident we can bring some
performance, but they’re really doing an amazing job. We need to keep on
scoring. The last two races, or the three races with the Sprint as well—the
result we achieved was the maximum in all three. So that gives me a lot of
satisfaction. And if we do deliver a car that is capable of fighting
McLaren, I’ve no doubt we can finish ahead, because we’re doing such a solid
job as a team. So yeah, we need to keep on pushing. |
