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1 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
2 – Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
3 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by James Hinchcliffe)
Q: Charles, the Ferrari's been quick
this weekend, easily the second-best team, but did you guys think you had
that kind of pace in qualifying?
Charles LECLERC: I mean, today, I don't
understand anything in Formula 1! Honestly, the whole qualifying has been
extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it's not exaggerating.
It was super, super difficult. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was
difficult for us to get to Q3. In Q3 the conditions changed a little bit,
everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to
target third. At the end of the day, it’s pole position. I definitely did
not expect that.
Q: Little speechless, almost. You mentioned the
conditions changing. How much could you feel that on the racetrack? Q1 it
was sunny, it was warm. By Q3 we've got this cloud cover, it's really cooled
down. Could you feel that grip change on the track?
CL: Yeah, I could
definitely feel it a lot. I was also a bit on the lower side of the
downforce, so when the rain started in Q2 I was just hoping that it wouldn't
stay there. It didn't. The conditions changed, which made everything very
tricky. And at the end, we are on pole position. Honestly, I have no words.
Yeah, it's probably one of the best pole positions I've ever had because
it's the most unexpected for sure.
Q: Last week, Oscar said
qualifying on pole at Spa maybe not the best place to start pole. Here, a
great place to start pole position, track position so important. How
confident are you going into the race you can lead out of Turn 1 and bring
this win home?
CL: Yeah, I mean the start and Turn 1 will be key. I have
no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I'll do absolutely
everything in order to keep that first place. If we manage to do that, then
that should make our life easier for the rest of the race.
Q: Oscar,
you're going line up P2, front row on the grid tomorrow. Let's start with
just how your run went and talk us through how much the track and the
conditions changed from Q1 to Q3. Because in Q1 you guys were the class of
the field, and by Q3 it looked like a real struggle.
Oscar PIASTRI: Yeah,
I think the wind changed a lot. It always sounds so pathetic blaming things
on the wind, but the wind basically did a 180 from Q2 to Q3. And yeah, it
just meant a lot of the corners felt completely different. My first lap in
Q3 felt pretty terrible because I wasn't used to it. And then I thought the
second lap was a lot better, but it was even slower. So yeah, just difficult
to judge in those conditions and maybe not the best execution, but I was a
bit surprised that we couldn't go quicker than that. Second is still a
decent spot to start, so we'll see what we can do tomorrow.
Q: Your
car changing and your grip changing is one thing, but were you expecting
another team in Ferrari and Charles to be able to find that amount of pace
and actually get pole position?
OP: Yeah, I mean, Charles has been quick
all weekend. Even this morning he was closer than we expected. Things just
changed a little bit and I guess he did a very good job. So yeah, well done
to him. I wasn’t expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend, but he's
done a good job. It's going to be a fun race tomorrow with a bit more
involved.
Q: Can’t wait to see the first corner action, thanks.
Lando, you're going to be lining up third place for the Grand Prix tomorrow.
I hate to say it, maybe a little bit of a disappointment to not have a
McLaren one-two lockout?
Lando NORRIS: I mean, yeah. From how our form
is, of course. But I think Charles did a good job on the last lap, probably
risked a little bit more in these conditions. The wind changed a lot and
really seemed to punish us in a bigger way. So, I mean, not too many
complaints. We thought we both did some good laps at the end, and we were
just slow. Nothing to complain of, but Charles did a good job.
Q: How
tough was it to make these tyres last? I mean, throughout practice it looked
like it was a one-lap tyre, but sometimes in qualifying it looked like it
wasn't even a one-lap tyre.
LN: Yeah, it's just, I mean, it's a long lap
with many corners, so it's tricky. But by Q2 I think we showed how quick we
can go and our advantage. But as soon as the wind changed everything went
away and the last sector became even trickier again. Not an easy lap to put
things together. When you do it, it feels nice. When you don't, like in Q3,
not so happy.
Q: Obviously, going into tomorrow, kind of two
objectives. You want to win the race, but you also want to try to close the
gap to Oscar in the Drivers' Championship. What's the bigger focus for you
going into Turn 1 tomorrow?
LN: Both. I want to go forward and I want to
win. And if I can do that then I'll get points. I think it's going to be an
exciting race. I would expect us to have a bit more pace than Charles, so
I'm looking forward to it.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: What a lap,
Charles. You said on Thursday that this is a track at which you've never
gone well. Not this time, you're P1. Tell us about the lap.
CL: Well,
today is a day where I don't understand anything anymore in motorsport! I
mean, honestly, qualifying felt horrible. From the first lap to maybe the
penultimate lap, everything felt out of place. It really felt like we had
done a step backwards from FP3. And in terms of competitiveness, Q1 I was on
the limit, barely made it to Q2. Q2 I was on the limit, I mean, I did quite
a big mistake in Turn 4, but still, it wasn't easy to get to Q3. And then
Q3, the conditions I think changed for everybody. I basically just did a
clean lap, which I think was a really good lap because those conditions were
very difficult to get everything right. And I did, but I was really happy
about the lap, and it's probably the biggest, the most surprising pole
position I've ever done. I think after FP3 it wouldn't have been so
surprising. But after Q1 and Q2, I really thought we would struggle to get
into the top five even. So, I'm very happy.
Q: Just tell us a little
bit more about those last laps in Q3 and how much harder the conditions made
it. Did the conditions actually come towards your car a little bit more than
the McLaren drivers?
CL: I mean, I don't drive the McLaren car, so it's
difficult to comment but for sure the car was a lot more difficult in Q3
than it was in Q2, but then I don't know if it's more difficult compared to
the McLaren or easier. But for sure, we gained competitiveness not only
towards the McLaren, but towards everybody in Q3. Because when I finished
the lap, I really thought that this was probably good enough for P3 just,
but definitely not P1. So, it was a good surprise. However, it also felt
worse for me from Q2 to Q3. It was just very tricky.
Q: Charles, it's
been a tough season for Ferrari. Now granted you say this is a surprise, but
just how much of a boost is it for the team?
CL: It's a big boost. I
mean, the team has been pushing like crazy to bring upgrades. Last weekend
the team brought an upgrade as well, and it helped us to go in the right
direction. We didn't know how much. And as I said in Spa, I think we need to
judge over a few races and not only one. But yes, to be able to be on pole
position today is amazing, and it means that we are doing something right.
So, again, I think for many things I did not expect to be on pole also
because I was saying on Thursday, this is probably the worst track for me
statistically over the season. I've always trailed. But this weekend, for
some reason, I found some pace. So yeah, it's good.
Q: Charles, it's
difficult to overtake here. How much confidence do you have that you can win
this Grand Prix on Sunday?
CL: I mean, I don't know. I think there's some
rain around tomorrow, so if that is the case, then it's obviously easier to
overtake. But it's always better to be starting first, especially on this
track. So, I'm very happy with my starting position and now full focus on
trying to keep it tomorrow.
Q: Oscar, let's come to you now. How do
you sum up what we've just witnessed in Q3 in particular?
OP: Depends
where you're sat. If you're sat where Charles is, fantastic. If you're sat
where I'm sat, bizarre and somewhat frustrating. But yeah, I mean, I think
the conditions completely changed, and it was just weird. My first lap felt
terrible because I was pushing too much and kind of with the wind direction
from the first two sessions in mind. So, then I felt like I did a better job
on the second lap of managing expectations, and it was even worse. So yeah,
a bizarre session, but I need to look back and see what differences it made.
Things definitely felt more tricky for myself as well in Q3, but I think for
everybody it would have been difficult. So that's not our excuse.
Q:
Oscar, the story of the season so far has been hundredths of a second
separating positions on the grid. Yet you lost half a second between Q2 and
Q3, a massive amount in 2025. Can you just tell us a little bit more about
the size of that difference?
OP: Yeah. I mean, it's kind of what I just
explained. My first lap in Q3, I wasn't that surprised that it was half a
second off because of some, I mean, mistakes is probably harsh on myself,
but just not predicting what the wind was going to do in certain corners
maybe as well as I could have. But the second lap, I thought I did a better
job of adjusting my expectations, and like I said, I didn't go any faster.
So yeah, a bit strange, one for us to look through, but it wasn't very fun
losing that half a second.
Q: Let's throw it forward to the Grand
Prix. Just how confident are you that you can win from P2 on the grid?
OP: Pretty confident. It was good last year, so hopefully it can be good
again this year. But yeah, like Charles said, there's some rain around.
We'll see if that impacts the race. But I think our pace has been good, but
Charles has been quick all weekend, in certain sessions. It is a very
difficult track to overtake on, and it's not going to be the easiest place
to try and regain the lead.
Q: How much grip is the new asphalt on
the start-finish line giving you? Because traditionally the inside there has
been dusty and slippery. Do you think you're going to get more grip from the
new asphalt?
OP: It's hard to know. It's still off the racing line, so I
expect it to still have the same problems. But we'll have to wait and see.
Q: Lando, if we can just come to you, I mean, a story of your qualifying
similar to Oscar's?
LN: I'll just copy and paste, yeah. Exactly the same.
Q2 felt very good, felt confident to improve. So, into Q3, aiming for a
similar lap time, similar limits, and just felt pretty dreadful. Same
things. I wasn't surprised that I was a 15.4 in the first run. But in the
second lap, it's just hard to know how much more to push or not push. And I
was like, oh, it's a much better lap, and I was 15.4 again. So just similar
thing. The wind has such big effects on the car when you're driving. It's
quite easy for it to be half a second swing. So yeah, frustrating because we
definitely seem to have a good gap, but in Q3 it seemed to drift away from
us as a team more than it did for others.
Q: Was it just the wind in
Q3 or did the track temperature drop, I think, 15 degrees just during the
course of the session?
LN: Just the wind.
Q: Can we throw it
forward to tomorrow? Given the unpredictable nature of the qualifying
session we've just witnessed, how much does that tell us about the
unpredictable nature of the race tomorrow?
LN: It depends what the
weather is. Like the others said, could be some rain, which normally makes
things more interesting. But I think we always have, at least in the race, a
bit more of an advantage. But our main competitor over the last four, five
races has been Charles and it's been the Ferrari. So, if there was anyone
else that's going to be on pole today, it was going to be Charles. And if
there's anyone that's going to make our life tough tomorrow, it's going to
be the same guy. So yeah, we'll see. It's a long race, things can happen,
and hopefully the rain can be on our side maybe.
QUESTIONS FROM THE
FLOOR
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsprt-magazin.com) I've got a
question for you, Charles. You said earlier, for some reason, you found the
pace this weekend. Can you explain this a little bit? Is it just the pace
that you found or also the feeling that you didn't have in previous years
here? And did you look into specific details? Can you explain it a little
bit?
CL: Not really, to be honest. I didn't do anything special for this
weekend that I normally don't do. I knew it was a weekend where normally on
paper I struggle more, but that doesn't change my approach. I always try and
prepare the weekend in the best way I can. But for some reason, I also think
that the upgrade in Spa definitely helped me to extract a little bit more.
And as I've been saying, often before Spa, I had to set up the car in a
very, very extreme way early on in the season to try and extract something
out of this car in qualifying. However, it was making everything very
inconsistent, and I was struggling to be on top of the car all the time.
However, in Spa with the upgrade, it helped me to be a bit more in a
reasonable window car-wise, and it feels like it's fitting a little bit more
the way I drive in qualifying when I start pushing. And that's really
important because since the beginning of the season I've been struggling
particularly in quali, which is normally one of my strengths. But since Spa,
it's coming back towards me a little bit.
Q: (Luke Smith – The
Athletic) Charles, can you explain a bit just how you do adjust to the
change in wind direction and the changing conditions in that final lap? Is
there more a way of trying to hustle the car a little bit around that
natural feel will kick in and pay off?
CL: You just have to kind of reset
whatever you've learned in Q1 and Q2 because everything feels different. The
way you need to take the corners is different. Somehow, I feel like it kind
of helped me to go with the scrubbed [tyre] in the beginning of Q3, because
I think when Oscar and Lando went on the new there, the track felt very
different. So, they adjusted for the second run in Q3. I arrived in the
second run in Q3 just thinking that the bad feeling was down to the scrubbed
[tyre]. So, I just went all in for the second run in Q3, and it kind of went
all well, even though it felt bad in relative terms, it was a very good lap.
So yeah, I'm very happy.
Q: (Fred Ferret – L'Equipe) Question to the
two McLaren drivers. Apart from the first corner, are there other places
where you can overtake?
OP: Pit lane? That's probably it.
Q:
(Peter Farkas – Auto Moto) To all three of you. Did you have to manage the
Softs to keep them alive even for one lap today? And how much of a deciding
factor will managing your tyres tomorrow be? And to the McLaren drivers, are
you optimistic that the traditional strengths of your car to keep your tyres
alive will be an advantage tomorrow?
CL: It wasn't really in my thought
process for quali. I just went flat out from sector one to sector three and
tried to survive Sector 3 because Sector 3 just feels very weak with the
overheating. But it's not like I was saving anything in Sector 1 to be
better in Sector 3.
OP: Yeah, similar things, really push as much as you
can because if you leave time on the table expecting to get it back at the
end of the lap and you don't, then you feel pretty dumb. Similar things. I
think the wind played quite a big factor in the last sector especially. But
there wasn't really much consideration about saving through the lap. I think
for tomorrow, yeah. Normally it is a strength of our car, but Charles and
Lewis as well weren't slow in the long runs we did yesterday. So, we'll wait
and see.
Q: (Giuseppe Marino – MotorOnline.it) Charles,
congratulations. Amazing lap. During qualifying, maybe at the end of Q1, you
talked about a positive change in FP3 that was not confirmed in qualifying.
Can you explain?
CL: No. I'm sorry, but I won't go into the detail of
that, but yeah, then we went back towards where we thought it was best.
Q: (Oliver Kovats – Vezess.hu) Question to Charles. On Thursday you have
been complaining about not being so successful at the Hungaroring. Now with
that pole position, do you think that can be a start of a beautiful
friendship with this track, like it happened with Monaco some years ago?
CL: Monaco is a little bit different because I felt like the speed was
always there, but then we were really struggling to transfer that to Sunday
and to finally win. Here has been very different because the pace was never
there, so then it was difficult to transfer anything on the Sunday. But
finally, the pace is there on Saturday, and now our full focus will be to
try and keep that pace for tomorrow. And I hope that it will be the start of
getting that feeling on this track, which for now didn't really get on with
my driving style. But obviously for now I'll just focus on maximising
tomorrow, but after the weekend, I'm anyway doing the test on Wednesday, so
I've got two days free where I can analyse a little bit why I had a better
feeling this weekend compared to other years.
Q: (Edd Straw – The
Race) One for you, Charles. You talked about the car previously in
qualifying trim being a bit more inconsistent and you not being so on top of
it. In terms of how that's changed with the upgrade, is that more about
being able to judge how much you can attack and how much speed you can carry
as the track gets grippier? Or is it in terms of the feedback the car's
giving you in terms of knowing how to respond to the cues the car's giving
you even when it's not quite as planted as you want it to be?
CL: No. It
was making the car very unpredictable, and very difficult whenever you go
for the last tenth or tenth and a half in Q3. It was extremely difficult to
get it right. And if you would just overstep a little bit the limit of that
previous car, then you would pay the price a lot. Whereas with this car, you
can play a little bit more with the limit. And if you go over the limit a
little bit, you just don't lose as much. So yeah, the car is more
predictable, which is a good thing.
Q: (Carlo Platella –
FormulaPassion.it) Charles, do you think that with this new rear suspension,
the car will be better also in the wet?
CL: I don't know. I don't think
that's where we expect the biggest gains, but for sure, it probably makes a
difference. However, I won't go too much into the details. But the first
part of the race in Spa was better than Silverstone for sure, but we'll see.
Now hopefully tomorrow we have another example of feeling better in those
conditions.
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