F1 – 2024 British Grand Prix – Thursday Press Conference Transcript
DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull Racing), Esteban OCON (Alpine), George RUSSELL (Mercedes), Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
Q: Why don’t we come to Formula 1’s most recent winner, George Russell. Second victory in the bag. What was the most satisfying aspect of your win in Austria last weekend?
George RUSSELL: Yeah it was. It’s always great to be back on the top step and obviously there’s been so much hard work from the whole team to improve the car and get us in a in a position to do that. I said afterwards I felt like we should have won the race in Montréal and ended up P3 and at the weekend probably should have. Well we should have finished P3 and we won the race and that’s how racing goes sometimes but It’s so great. We now have an opportunity to be fighting the front, fighting for podiums, and ready to capitalise when things happen.
Q: What chance are there of things happening this weekend at Silverstone?
GR: You’ve got to ask this guy [Lando] if there’s much going to happen. But I think it’s going to be a good fight again this weekend. I think Lando and Max are probably going to be the two guys out in front. They look really fast in the high-speed corners the last couple of races. And, of course, here in Silverstone, there’s a lot of high-speed sections. So I expect those guys to be the favourites. But I don’t think we’ll be far behind.
Q: Alright, George, thank you. Lando, let’s come to you. We’re going to throw it back before we come on to the British Grand Prix. When you look back at what happened with Max in Austria, what did you learn?
Lando NORRIS: I mean, we’ve gone over things a few times. I learned many things. I think a lot of stuff I was anticipating, I knew about, but it’s still a different. You’re fighting against different people, you’re fighting in different ways at the top, compared to when you’re a bit further back, like we have done the last year or so, but at the same time, Max has a very different way of racing compared to a lot of others. And that’s some of the reasons of why he’s a champion. But all in all, yeah, I reviewed it and I’m excited to go again this weekend and try to do a better job.
Q: You say Max races differently. What does he do differently?
LN: Getting into the details. I think it’s clear. It’s not stuff I need to talk about. It’s clear how he races. It’s tough. It’s on the limit. And yeah, I think it’s what we love. You know, it’s what I love. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole fight I had with him. Of course, it was a shame things ended the way they did. But apart from that, things are clear from what you see on TV. And I think I’m excited to go race him again this weekend.
Q: Have you and Max spoken since Sunday?
LN: Yeah, we did.
Q: Did he apologise?
LN: Honestly, I don’t think he needed to apologise. I think some of the things I said in the pen after the race were just more just because I was frustrated at the time. A lot of adrenaline, a lot of just emotions. And I probably said some things I didn’t necessarily believe in, especially later on in the week. It was tough. It was a pretty pathetic incident in terms of what ended both our races. It wasn’t like a hit, it wasn’t like an obvious bit of contact. It was probably one of the smallest bits of contact you could have, but with a pretty terrible consequence for both of us, especially for myself. He didn’t doesn’t need to… I don’t expect an apology from him. I don’t think he should apologise. I thought it was as a review, good racing. At times, maybe very close to the edge but like we said we’ve spoken about it we’ve talked about it and we’re both happy to go racing again.
Q: Alright. just final one for me quickly how confident are you coming into the British Grand Prix?
LN: I mean, we’re in good form. We’ve been, again, very close the last few races, but Mercedes have been getting closer and closer. If you look back to last weekend, Mercedes were extremely quick, if not one of the quickest cars in the race. They’ve taken probably a few steps forward since where they were. We’re in a good position, but so are Red Bull. So, yeah, expecting a close battle between many of us.
Q: Alright. Good luck this weekend. Thank you. Lewis, can I come to you now? You’ve had many close battles with Max Verstappen. What did you make of what happened between Lando and him last weekend in Austria?
Lewis HAMILTON: Nothing, really. I didn’t think anything of it. I was more concerned about my race and enjoying the team’s win.
Q: Well, you’ve told us in the past that you treat Max differently on track. So what advice could you give to Lando about going wheel to wheel with Max?
LH: Again, I don’t think I need to. They’ve raced each other for many years.
Q: You’re not going to be drawn on this, are you?
LH: That’s nothing to do with me.
Q: Alright, well, let’s bring it on to this weekend, then, Lewis. You’re going for a record ninth win here at Silverstone. Have you got the car to do that?
LH: I think out of pure performance, I don’t think we are currently in the same place. Naturally, as you’ve seen in the last couple of races, on these high-speed circuits, particularly McLaren, I think probably might be the quickest, or at least Max maybe. And I think we’re not that far behind. And I think we’ve definitely seen some really huge strides forward. And it’s really great to see that we are slowly eking closer to the front runners.
Q: Alright. Well, best of luck to you. I’m sure there’ll be more questions from the floor in a moment. Checo, let’s come to you quickly. Look, Austria was a tough one for you. Do you understand the issues that you were having with your car?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, it was quite a tough weekend overall, especially the race, with the damage we had in the car since lap one, really. Basically, we were just out of contention. There was nothing with these small margins that we’ve seen. It was just a bit too much the damage and we were just going backwards.
Q: Now, on paper, the fast sweeps of Silverstone should suit the RB20. How much confidence do you and the team have?
SP: Yeah, I think it should be a strong, strong weekend for us. We’re looking forward to this sort of high-speed content and Silverstone always throws a massive challenge, you know, with the wind. It can be particularly very challenging. So, yeah, I think it’s going to be all very close as it’s been the last few weekends already in different circuits. So I don’t expect anything different. I think it’s going to be everything super tight and close.
Q: Alright, look, best of luck to you. And Esteban, let’s come to you. Now, talking of performance, Alpine went very well at Barcelona a few races back. That’s a fast track. This is a fast track. So are you feeling confident coming to Silverstone that you can get back in the points?
Esteban OCON: Yeah, I think we’re improving at the moment, which is a good sign. In Barcelona we managed to get into the top 10, qualify in the top 10 as well in Austria. Unfortunately, the race didn’t go as planned. I just lost a component of the car on the kerbs, which made us lose quite a lot of performance. But other than that, the weekend was well optimised until then, until the race was an outlier. But, yeah, it’s much more interesting now that we are able to be fighting for points and interesting results compared to how it was in the beginning of the season. So, yeah, looking forward to see what we can do here. It’s going to be an exciting one. It’s always great to drive these cars around Silverstone and, yeah, I can’t wait to be started.
Q: Look, you mentioned the start of the season. Just how different is the car to drive now compared to back in Bahrain?
EO: It’s going to be disappointing to say, but not very different. We are still investigating why it’s much better at the moment than it was at the beginning of the year. I think a lot of it is also track characteristics that helped us to be performing better, but it’s not quite clear exactly on why we are performing better than at the beginning of the year.
Q: Final one from me. The jigsaw for 2025, the driver jigsaw, is edging closer to being finalised. What’s your situation? When do you expect news as to what you’ll be doing next year?
EO: Yeah, it’s going well at the moment on that side for me. So I hope in the next couple of races I’ll be able to speak more about it.
Q: Before the summer break?
EO: Hopefully.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Craig Slater – Sky Sports) Can I take it from how you’re talking that in future with Max, you’re going to have to find a different way to race Max because he’s not going to race any differently. And just to expand on that, before the contact happened, you talked about movement under braking from him.Having reviewed those laps, do you still think that’s what was happening and are you surprised that the stewards didn’t intervene on that?
LN: I mean, I think it was still very clear that it was happening, but yeah, it’s a tricky one. You know, Max isn’t going to want to crash. He’s not going to want to ruin his own race and his own chances. So I think, yes, there are definitely things I need to do slightly differently. But in the end of it, I don’t think he’s going to change too much. I don’t think I need to change too much. So, yeah, could we have avoided the crash? Definitely, because it’s something I could have done. I easily could have used more kerb. But, yeah, there’s things on both sides that I’m sure we wanted to do better or in a slightly different way, but on the whole, I think avoiding an incident from moving under braking is probably the biggest part of it. There could very easily be an incident that comes from such a thing, and I think that’s the only thing we have to be very careful of is something that could happen. Yeah, so that’s just something for the future and something that the stewards FIA need to be aware of. that something could easily go wrong. So I think to a certain point, you’re defending, you’re being aggressive, and that’s okay. But there will be a point when there is a limit, and I think that just needs to be defined in a slightly better way.
Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) I suppose opening that question to the floor: Lewis, you’ve kind of touched on it there, but it’s the same question to all of you. Do you have to race differently when you’re going wheel to wheel with Max Verstappen?
GR: No, I don’t think so, to be honest. You know Max is one of the best, and he’s a hard racer, and he’ll push the rules to the limit, as all of the top drivers do, to be honest. So, yeah, I think we all know what the rules are, what the rules are around moving under braking. You probably push that slightly beyond the limit. As for the incident, as Lando said, it was just kind of a very small thing with big consequences and part of racing. So, yeah, short answer is no.
Q: Esteban, please.
EO: I mean, I’m not racing Max at the moment. We are not in the same category. So, yeah, not for me to comment.
Q: Alright, Checo, please?
SP: I agree with what George said. I think Max pushes every single bit to the limit, as many top drivers do, as many drivers in the grid do. And, you know, when you’re racing him, it’s going to be a hard, fair battle.
Q: Lewis, please.
LH: Yeah, not a lot to add. I mean, I’ve spoken about it before.
Q: (Ernst Hausleitner, ORF) You’ve had so many great memories at Silverstone. Is there one that stands out?
LH: Yeah, I think 2008 will always be probably the most special. My first Grand Prix win here in the rain. And that’s my first real, I would say, engagement or the beginning of the journey with the fans here.
Q: (Roldan Rodriguez – DAZN, Spain) To George, to Lando. You must have dreamt many times of winning your home race. What would it mean to you if it happened?
GR: Yeah, I mean, obviously, for us, winning any Grand Prix is an incredible feeling. We both don’t have many to our name, but you’re home Grand Prix is always the one that you dream of. And I think we’re so fortunate to have Silverstone as our home race because I truly think this weekend is really special for the fans, the amount of support we all have here. They’re proper F1 enthusiasts. We came here as kids to watch other F1 races, so for sure it will always be special to get that opportunity.
LN: Ask me after. I don’t know. It’s always hard. You imagine your first win in general. It’s hard to know what to think, what you’re going to think, what you’re going to feel until that time arrives. It’ll mean everything because this has been my dream since I was a kid. I was watching Lewis and Fernando back in 2007, 2008. So seeing that and dreaming of being in that position, and now being here and having those opportunities and that’s special enough. But yeah, standing on the top step, even standing up there last year and in second place was already very, pretty amazing. So, like George said, a lot of the same. But yeah, I think it’s better. you ask us after it’s happened.
Q: (Mara Sangiorgio – Sky Sports Italia) Lewis, are you interested in buying the Grassini motorbike team?
LH: I’ve always loved MotoGP. I’m interested in the potential growth of the sport, but I haven’t looked that far into it just yet. But anything’s possible. I’m definitely interested in, as I said before, about equity and already with the Broncos, it was already a first step in team ownership. And so, yeah, I think over the next five to 10 years, there’ll be hopefully more. We’ll see where.
Q: (Diego Mejia – Fox Sports, Mexico) For Lando. A year ago, you led this race at the beginning. Actually, you had a little fight with Max. How much have you changed your mentality, and how would you describe that change? Because obviously, you celebrated second place like a win last year, but it’s a different thing.
LN: Slightly. I mean, we’re fighting for a win this year. I don’t think we were fighting for a win last year. Little bits in the end of the day, probably not that much. Yeah, a bit more confident, but apart from that, it’s the same thing. You know, I go out, I drive as quick as I can and I try and win. But now we have a much better chance. So I think that’s the main thing, but really not too many differences.
Q: (Albert Fabrega – ESPN) After the incident, Max could rejoin the race and score a point. You couldn’t. Do you think that incidents like that should be reviewed, taking in account the consequences of the incident on the Stewards’ side.
LN: It’s tough. I think sometimes we say it should be, sometimes we say it shouldn’t be, as drivers. Yeah, at times you don’t want the consequence to be taken into account. But also at times, I think it definitely should be taken into account. But it’s a very tough one, because our incident was so tiny. So for what it was, I don’t think it really should have been a big penalty at all, or even if a penalty, at the end of the day. But considering he put me out of the race and took me out of a chance of winning a race and that kind of thing, then it definitely adds a lot more to the facts. And if he had a big enough lead and he could still go on to win the race or something, Yeah, I do think it needs to be taken into account in some ways, but understanding how and how much and where that line is, again, I think is a complicated and difficult thing. So, yeah, something I’m sure we’ll have to speak about at FIA and drivers, but not an easy thing to have a role for.
Q: Lando, can I just follow up on something you’ve just said, which is, do you think Max didn’t deserve a penalty last weekend?
LN: No comment.
Q: (Roldan Rodriguez – DAZN, Spain) Again, a question to Lewis. You said before that one of your best moments was winning here in 2008. What was the big difference with the winning in 2021? It was a win as well. Your different feelings?
LH: 2021 was still, I think, a great feeling. I think I’d been on such a long journey with the British fans and we have such great, really the best fans here. I think, I don’t know, I think it was just because it was a wet race and it was the trickiest conditions that a racing driver will experience. and just the level that I was able to operate that day, I think it was like 68 seconds I won the race by. So it was like far out did any other race that I think I probably have ever done, particularly in the rain.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Lando, you said after the race in Austria that your car was considerably damaged and basically “destroyed”. I was just wondering if there was any update on the amount of damage to your car and is everything going to be okay for this weekend?
LN: Yes, everything’s okay. It’s more just like longer term stuff it’s impacted more than just this weekend. We have some spare floors that were already damaged before, which we’ve been able to repair and kind of get things ready for. The team have done an amazing job to get things ready. We knew with three races in a row, easily things can go wrong and you can easily have a lot of damage. It’s not hard to damage a floor in the first place. You can run over an exit kerb and it can be damaged quite easily. The team have done a good job to make sure we’ve had enough and we’ve got some more for this weekend and some repaired ones. Maybe not in a perfect place, but, like a sidepod and break ducts, all these kinds of things, they all add up. And when you’re in a tight fight for a championship and you’re pushing hard, you’re always trying to push the boundaries of everything, just like the racing is. With the budget cap and upgrades and CFD, all those types of things, you just want every bit of money possible. So, yeah, a bit of a shame, but the team have done a good job to make sure everything’s ready for this weekend.
Q: (Janne Oivio – Ilta-Sanomat) Esteban, How frustrating… You spoke about your contract situation earlier, but it seems that everything, even through Silverstone, is going to be on hold because of Carlos’s situation. So how frustrated are you that you and there’s a few other drivers who still have to kind of wait for the Sainz drama to unfold? EO: It has nothing to do with me, what Carlos is doing, basically. You know, we are managing our own things, and as I said, you know, things are going well, and I should be, you know, able to speak more in a couple of races.
Q: (Jon Noble – Motorsport.com) Lando, a lot of the focus after Austria was the incident with Max but there was also that track limits penalty you picked up. Some of your rivals thought it was ridiculous that you could pick up a track limits penalty for a lock-up while battling. Do you think that’s something that needs changing and addressing by the FIA?
LN: I mean, I got the five-second for trying to overtake and it not going correctly. I didn’t even know I had the five-second penalty. I didn’t even know why we served the five-second penalty before we retired the car. I didn’t even know that’s what we did until after the race. So yeah, that’s just common sense. That’s pretty silly, to be honest. I’ve tried to do an overtake, I’ve locked up, I’ve gone off the track, just, I’ve had to then avoid the sausage kerb. But immediately I gave the position back to Max, so I’ve probably lost a second and a half in doing that. That’s a clear enough penalty. I’ve lost out in doing such a thing. Yeah, that’s just, it’s just silly, you know, and those types of things will avoid people racing. Like if you don’t want us to race and don’t want me to try ever overtake and you want a boring race, then you can have these rules. But yeah, I’m sure it’s something that’s already been brought up because it’s just… There’s a difference between going off track and racing. gaining an advantage, and it’s the gaining advantage bit which is the most important. And then there’s the going off because you’ve made a silly mistake. You’ve not judged something perfectly, but the fact I get punished for that, especially in a racing situation, especially when I’ve given up even more time, it just doesn’t make sense. So something I hope they fix quickly, because I think it’s pretty stupid.
Q: (Keith Collantine – Racefans.net) Lando, on the lap before, lap 63, you went to the inside of Max to pass him. He went off the track and stayed ahead of you that way. Should that have been investigated for gaining an advantage?
LN: Mm-hmm. I think Max could have made the corner, honestly. He didn’t try, which is probably the main fact of it. In this part of it, I didn’t squeeze him. It wasn’t like I was side by side and almost pushing him off, that kind of thing. He took a very easy route out of it. And again, it’s complicated. It’s not as simple as just saying this happened, that happened, and there should be a different outcome, but… I’d say almost out of the whole thing that was probably the little bit that I almost didn’t understand the most. And the gap he had out of the corner was bigger than what we had going in. So in the sense of him going off track and gaining advantage, he was actually the one that did it in that case, especially with the fact that I didn’t even push him off. Yeah, I think there just needs to be some clarification on things, and I think there needs to be consistency from this point onwards, because if that’s clear what we can do, then I think everyone’s happy, but it just can’t keep changing from one weekend to another.
Q: (Keith Collantine – Racefans.net) Should McLaren have asked for a review?
LN: It’s tough. At the same time, like… The more I’ve thought about things, the more I’ve just thought a lot of it was just racing. Yes, I complained and said certain things on the radio and stuff like that, like every driver would. If they say they didn’t, they’re probably lying. But every driver would do it. Max was doing it. I did it. But yeah, at the same time, I just, I did come away from it just thinking it was, it was good racing. Like it was tough. And at times I thought maybe a bit too far, but at the same time, it was good. It’s what people want to see. And we wanted to do that all the way until the end. We want to do it until the last lap, you know, that’s what we love to do. So we don’t want to take away the fact of just racing and going wheel-to-wheel and have too many rules in this case. So I definitely think I probably overreacted in some way. But it’s like a new thing to me in many aspects too. So just clarity over certain things is what’s needed. Apart from that, I’m happy to go out and race hard and do what we did last weekend.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) George, there’s been a lot of talk this season about Lewis’ seat and Max and Kimi Antonelli. Do you think your results have gone under the radar and how do you assess your season based on last year and do you think you’ve been underappreciated?
GR: No, no, to be honest, I think the results speak for themselves, and I don’t need to talk about it. As many drivers say, you do the talking on the track, and I think the season’s probably one of the best I’ve ever had in terms of my own performance and grabbing the results when they’re coming. Of course, there’s a lot of talk about the second seat, but that’s normal. It’s exciting. Mercedes, one of the most successful teams in the sport, and it’s a seat that many drivers want. It’s like the race last week. When there’s a bit of drama or a bit of action, that’s where the talking should be, and that’s how it always will be. Yeah, nothing really more to say.
Q: George, Toto said this week that Carlos Sainz is still an option for the second seat at Mercedes next year. Would you welcome him as a team-mate?
GR: Yeah, I’d welcome anyone, anybody to be honest. You know, I’ve been lucky having Lewis for the last three years and we’ve had some great battles in the last couple of years. But you know, as a driver, I think it’s important you have a good relationship between the two of you just to help that team momentum and pushing in the same direction. But ultimately, and when you walk into your garage, you put your helmet on, you jump in your car. It doesn’t really matter who’s sat in the seat alongside you.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lando, just to clarify, which day did you speak to Max? Who called who? And is it business as normal between the two of you?
LN: Yeah, we spoke Monday and we spoke yesterday. As to what we spoke about, it’s between us. But yeah, business as usual between us.
Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Andrea said last week that the reason Max drives as he does now is because he hasn’t punished sufficiently in the past. Lewis, you were on the receiving end of that several times. Do you agree with what Andrea said? And again, Lando, do you agree with what Andrea said?
LH: I don’t agree with that, no.
Q: You don’t agree with that?
LH: No. That’s my answer.
Q: Can you elaborate any more?
LH: I just don’t agree with it.
Q: OK. Lando, what did you think of what your team principal said?
LN: I’m sure Lewis would agree with it two years ago or three years ago! 100%. I mean, there were definitely certain things. There were definitely a few moments, especially, but on the whole, yeah. I’m always going to stand up for what Andrea said. I think Andrea’s got a very good amount of sensibility with how he talks and things he talks about. So definitely, I think certain parts are true. And I do agree with Andrea, as a note. But yeah, certain things are always different, I think, when you’re a little bit in the moment itself. And I think just clarification of how he says things, because there’s always certain things with how you pronounce things and stuff that might change too. But on the whole, I agree with what Andrea says.
Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Lewis and Esteban, you’re both leaving your teams at the end of the season and a lot of stuff gets reported in the press that you’re excluded from meetings and stuff. How does it actually work in practice that they still maintain a good relationship with you but keep you out of briefings for next year’s car and development stories?
EO: I can tell you that this is complete nonsense. I haven’t been excluded from any meetings at the moment. I think the team would lose out from one more comment about the car and the drive moving forward if there was only 50% of the comment going on. So that hasn’t been the case. I just hope it won’t be the case. Of course, I’m not going to spend time working on next year’s car. That is very clear, but it’s also something that I can spend more time on, focusing on the 2024 machine. Otherwise, there’s nothing else to say, but it’s not as clear-cut as you think it is, or as you might say.
LH: Similar for me. I mean, I haven’t been excluded from any meetings and we’re still working on this car and trying to get the car to the front. So it’s still very collaborative. And I mean, I’ve been here a long time. So if there’s a point where they’re like, we’re preferring not to be in this meeting, that’s totally fine with me. I mean, it’s inevitable perhaps at one stage, but at the end of the day, Nothing I have, no information that I would get this year will impact next year because I’m not in communication. Nothing passes hands until I start the season next year. And it takes time to develop things.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Lewis how much are you talking to Ferrari in general about next year and John Elkann about some of your off-track initiatives?
LH: Yeah, I speak to John most weeks. So, yeah, we talked today, actually. So just talking about fashion and things that we want to do. And, yeah, but nothing racing-wise. He knows that racing and winning is the main priority, but we can’t talk about that yet.
Q: (Simon Abberley – Nevis Radio) Question for Lando, George, and Lewis. To the three British drivers, can we get your thoughts on ticket prices for the British Grand Prix?
GR: I think the sport’s in a very healthy place. Silverstone isn’t supported by any governments, as many other races are. So I don’t know about the profitability of Silverstone itself. I do feel that Silverstone, as an event, exceeds every other race on the calendar. You’ve got A-list acts singing on Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights. They’ve got to be paid. They’ve got to be funded for. The whole atmosphere of this weekend is more like a festival as opposed to one race. And if you compare the price of a ticket for a 90-minute football game versus a four-day event it’d be interesting to see how it how it tallies up. But of course you never want it to be too expensive for fans to become a watch and support us. It’s a very difficult one but as I said I do think Silverstone does an incredibly good job and they haven’t always been profitable in the past.
LN: Nothing much more to add. George said it very well. I think trying to include the teams into what Silverstone do as a track, I think it’s impossible. But it’s a shame because like George said, it’s one of the best, or probably I would say it’s the best race of the whole season from a fan perspective and also from a driver perspective. So it’s a shame. But yeah, this is the question for Formula 1 more so and Silverstone as a track, not so much the teams themselves.
LH: Yeah, I mean, I think what George and Lando said, I think, is accurate. I mean, ultimately, it is an amazing sporting event. I think Silverstone and with the BRDC, I think they’ve done an amazing job over the years to make the weekend packed and entertaining. Naturally, with where we are in the world, the prices continue to go up, and that’s obviously not something the fans want to see. But Silverstone doesn’t have the government funding, and perhaps there’s a need to investigate a new business plan, maybe to have outside investors maybe. I don’t know. That’s not my job, obviously. But yeah, not really much more to add to that.
GR: Maybe you could invest if you’re looking at more business opportunities.
LH: It’s only just become profitable, so not the best investment for me!
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) To the three British drivers, I’m sure you’re aware, there’s going to be a fourth British driver on the grid next year in Ollie Bearman. Just get your thoughts on that, what that means for British motorsport going forward, and also just get your general thoughts on Ollie as well, from what you’ve made of him so far?
LH: Yeah, we did a phenomenal job earlier on this year. Yeah, bright young talent, and I think it’s great that the UK is pumping out a lot of great young talented drivers. I would say Silverstone and the BRDC have been a part of that, I would say, because they do invest in young and up-and-coming, a lot of the sport’s young and up-and-coming drivers. I think, yeah, I think it’s amazing for the sport. Takes the pressure off of all of us. At least hopefully one of the Brits would be up there.
GR: Yeah, clearly Ollie’s a great driver and it’s great to see four Brits on the grid and I think it just goes to show the strength of British motorsport. I think when we raced in Karting, the competition was so high and I think that translates into next year, 20% of the grid being Brits. Obviously, Alex, half British as well, so it’s great to see him there and I’m sure he’ll do a great job.
LN: Same thing. Yeah, I think he deserves it. I think he showed in Saudi how good of a job he can do, even under the pressure that he was in to perform and get so much out of the car in his first weekend. So I’m excited to see him on the grid next year and look forward to racing.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) A question to Checo for a change.
SP: I was falling asleep.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) I can help you. This week we had a tour of the Red Bull Powertrains facility, and I just would like to know how involved, how interested are you as a driver? And what’s your impression of the programme so far? Are you confident that they can come up with a competitive engine straight away in 2026, even though they are taking on manufacturers with decades of experience?
SP: Well, it’s very impressive to see and how, timing-wise, how early they’ve been going into those regulations with the engine. And when you’re there and you go through the tour, it’s fairly impressive the amount of people we currently have there. And how advanced they are already with the engine, looking for performance. So I think in terms of timings, I think everything stacks up really well. How competitive things are going to be, I think no one of the drivers or even engine manufacturers has any idea in that regard. But I’ll say that they’ve done a tremendous job so far.
Q: (Nigel Chiu – Sky Sports) Just to go back to Ollie Bearman, Lewis, Obviously, Ferrari are very invested in his future. Do you plan to maybe take him under your wing a little bit? Is that something the team has asked you to do?
LH: No, no, I’ve not been asked to and it’s not even been a thought. I don’t think he needs to. I think he’s a sharp enough lad. And I think, I mean, naturally, as one of the older drivers here, my door’s always open if anyone ever has a question or any advice that’s needed.
ENDS