F1 – 2024 Belgian Grand Prix – Post-Race Press Conference transcript
DRIVERS
1 – George RUSSELL (Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Guenther Steiner)
Q: Oscar, It’s a fantastic result, your third, you know. I mean, again, a podium, you keep on bringing them. Did you think you can get the Mercedes after the last stop?
Oscar PIASTRI: Honestly, yes, I thought I could, but I mean, clean air was such a big difference today. Once I got a little bit of clean air in the middle stint, I picked up a lot of pace and managed to get a nice tyre delta for the last stop, but clearly, you didn’t need tyre delta, you just needed to keep going, as George showed. So, no, happy with the result. I think we managed the race very well. I think that’s the second or third time this year we’ve tried to run over the front jack, so I’ll try not to do that next time. But, no, very happy with the results, and I don’t think we could have done too much more.
Q: What was missing in the end not to get to P1? What do you think? Was it strategy? Was it the speed? What was it?
OP: I think just not quite enough speed. I think it took me a couple of laps to get past Charles and I really overheated the tyres doing that. But, yeah, I mean, clearly the pace for George staying out there on one set of Hards was the right thing to do. So we just didn’t quite have enough pace to mow him down. Even Lewis, you know, didn’t quite have enough. I think we did a lot of things right, gave ourselves the best opportunities we could, but in the end, it wasn’t quite enough.
Q: It must be a good feeling to go into the summer break with a podium and getting ready for afterwards. How do you feel about the next races coming up?
OP: Positive. Yeah, I mean, it’s been a really good couple of weeks for myself and the whole team, of course. You know, a lot of points. You know, we still made inroads on Red Bull today, and that’s a really positive thing going into the break. I think everyone’s looking forward to a bit of a break. I know I am, so I can heal up a little bit. But, no, it’s been a fun couple of weeks and looking forward to some time relaxing and coming back even stronger in the second half.
Q: Lewis, congratulations on P2. You know, it’s a fantastic result for Mercedes, 1-2. I mean, did you expect this starting the race or starting the weekend?
Lewis HAMILTON: No, we definitely didn’t. And, I mean, first I have to say congratulations to George and to the team. No, we had such a disaster on Friday. The car was really nowhere, and we made some changes. Hard to see what it was going to feel like, obviously, because of the wet day yesterday, but the car was fantastic today, and we really owe it to everyone, both here, doing a solid job through the pit stops and strategy, and the guys back at the factory.
Q: Yeah, as I said, it was a fantastic race. How tough were the last laps behind George? How much were you tempted to attack and to try to do it?
LH: I mean, I was trying to get closer, obviously, but George did a great job on going long on the tyres. Every stint, I had tyres left, but the team pulled me in. So, you know, yeah, unfortunate, but it is one of those days.
Q: You must be pumped up now for what is coming after the summer break because your car, your team is performing very good in the moment, not only now but the last races. Do you think you can go for the championship?
LH: No. It would be high hopes. But, I mean, if we can continue this kind of performance as we’ve had the last few races, which has been fantastic, I think if we can start our weekends off a little bit better, hopefully we can continue. I think, obviously, the McLaren was very strong today, but we were just a bit further ahead early on. But, yeah, we’ve just got to keep pushing.
Q: Congratulations and enjoy the summer break. Congratulations, George. I’m almost speechless, you know, from your race. I mean, that takes a lot. But anyway, a race with three cars at the end within 1.1 seconds, fighting every little bit. So how tough was it in the end to hold off Lewis?
George RUSSELL: Yeah, amazing result. We definitely didn’t predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting, but the car was feeling really awesome, and we made a lot of changes from Friday night. And the tyres just felt great, and I just kept saying, you know, ‘I think we can do the one-stop, I think we can do the one-stop’. And the strategy did a really great job. And also, you know, well done to Lewis, because he really controlled that race and circumstances were slightly different. I’m sure he would have got the victory. But, you know, 1-2 for the team was such an awesome result and such a great way to go into the break.
Q: So who was the genius behind this one stop? Who was the genius behind that one?
GR: I mean, I was focusing a lot during the race, so I’ll have to listen to the radio comments back, but it was a team effort. You know, Joey, Leo, all the strategy guys did an amazing job. And, you know, always it’s that team effort. So we rolled the dice, but it was only possible because the car was feeling really great and the pace was there. So, yeah, 1-2, such a good result.
Q: Yeah, I’m sure now you cannot wait to get the summer break over and go to Zandvoort to the next race. I think you are pretty hyped up to go to the next race because I think Mercedes as a team now is in a good position to win more. I mean, it’s your third one this year.
GR: Absolutely. Yeah, it’s three wins in six, I think it is for us now. You know, I’d want another race next weekend, to be honest. You know, just… Just feeling so, so good. The team have been working so hard. And, yeah, so well deserved for everybody back at Brackley and Brixworth.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: George, that was an extraordinary victory. Was it your best in Formula 1 so far?
GR: Yeah, for sure. It was such a difficult race. We spoke so much this morning about the two-stop, the three-stop. But suddenly the tyres, the car felt really, really good. I got into this groove. And especially when I got into the lead, there were no back markers in front, no other cars in front. And it kind of felt like driving a simulator. It was quite weird. And I was looking at the gap to Lewis and the rate he was catching me. And I just thought there’s no reason why we can’t stay out here and do this one stop and try and make it work. So, yeah, super proud of the job we all did.
Q: Thirty-four laps on that final set of tyres. At what point did you think the win was actually on?
GR: I think it was about 15 laps ago, to be honest. I think when Oscar pitted and Charles and Lewis, I was just watching the TV screens every lap, down after Eau Rouge, and just looking at the gap every single lap. And they just weren’t catching me as quick as I expected. And my lap times were just improving every single lap. And that was far from what we all anticipated. But it just goes to show how difficult it is to predict. I think every lap we were driving, 20 drivers, full gas around this circuit and it was just getting faster and faster. The grip was improving. And the tyres just felt really in a great state. But I was still questioning why nobody else did it. I thought, I must be missing something here because everybody’s peeling into the pits, but yeah, such a great race.
Q: How nervous were you in those closing laps? Did you think Lewis was going to get past?
GR: I definitely thought he was going to be very close. But equally, I recognise how difficult it is to overtake here. You know, we’re all running these skinny rear wings. The drag isn’t substantial. But I just want to acknowledge what a great race Lewis drove. You know, he was really controlling it at the beginning. And, you know, the strategy was such a difficult call for everybody. And it was definitely… That one stop was a real surprise. But I’m so proud of the team. One-two is just a huge result.
Q: You say the strategy is a difficult call. Who made the call? Was it you in the cockpit or was it the pit wall?
GR: Team effort.
Q: Allright. Well, look, George, Mercedes have now won three of the last four races. What’s possible?
GR: Three and four. Is it three and four? Wow.
Q: What’s possible in the second half of this season?
GR: I think the competition was really high today. I don’t know what the gaps were at the end, but it felt like the pace between myself, Lewis, Oscar and the Red Bulls, Charles as well, it was so, so close, which was a real surprise for everyone. So it’s going to be a real battle.
Q: Alright, but very well done too much. Thank you, Lewis. Let’s come to, you know, as George says, you drove a great race today. Just how do you sum up your run to P2?
LH: I think it was great. George did a fantastic job today. Obviously, I’ll re-watch the race but yeah, fantastic effort to go the one-stop. And it was pretty smooth sailing, to be honest. I was fully in control. I had plenty of pace and tyres and just didn’t end up as planned.
Q: Plenty of tyres. Did you consider the one-stop?
LH: I mean, if you listen, you could have heard what I said to the team most of the time. But yeah, I think the tyres were pretty good. I still had plenty of tyres and I was going quicker. I didn’t want to stop.
Q: Tell us about the transformation in the car, because on Friday, both of you guys, I mean, to quote Toto Wolff, you were nowhere. How much better was the car today and where was it better?
LH: It was literally night and day different today. On Friday, it was pretty disastrous for both of us and really struggling with balance. And then today, the car came alive and I was really surprised to, firstly, get into the lead and then be pulling away from everyone and not… Yeah, as I said, it felt fully under control and I’ve not had that for years and so that’s why it was also a bit of a strange way to finish it. but it is it’s great to go into the into the summer break with the one two. the team did really deserve it and did such an amazing job.
Q: Lewis can you just tidy up one more thing? you came on the radio at one point and said something’s moving between my legs. What was that and was it an issue later on?
LH: I just had something as I was going through the corner. Something kept rolling underneath my left leg.
Speaker 5: Not a serious issue. OK. Lewis, very well done. Thank you. Oscar, let’s come to you next. An excellent race by you as well. How satisfied are you?
OP: Yeah, I mean, pretty happy on the whole. I think it was a really well executed race. I think, yeah, clearly the one-stop was a possibility and I think probably there’s a lot of people out there kicking themselves that they didn’t consider it more. But no, I think we executed a great race, had a quick car and, you know, ultimately just didn’t put it in the right position in qualifying yesterday. So, yeah, I think given where we started, very happy. But yeah, ultimately, I think there was a bit more potential this weekend.
Q: Your tyres were only one lap older than George’s. How seriously did you consider a one-stop?
OP: It did cross my mind, but not seriously enough. I was amazed at how much difference the dirty air made today. I think when Lewis and Charles pitted for the second stop, I think I went like one second faster just because I had clean air. So that was impressive, but then it felt like it kind of degged a little bit again after that point. And with 16 laps, I think it was, or 15 laps around Spa, it felt like a pretty big risk to try and go to the end. And I knew that even with the tyre advantage that we were building up, that we had a strong chance to try and win the race anyway that way. So yeah, maybe we should have considered the one-stop a little bit more. But I think with the two-stop, I think we did a good job of capitalising on it. Just unfortunately, on my side, didn’t give us the track position in qualifying.
Q: You say it was a very well-executed race. Do you think this is one of your best races in Formula 1 to date?
OP: I would say so. I’m not sure my front jack man agrees, but no, I think it was a really strong race. You know, I think to try and get past Charles was not easy. And I think if I didn’t manage to do it on that lap, I probably would have been stuck there for a long time. So that was a pretty pivotal moment of the race. I think just the pace was very strong. So I felt very, very good this weekend. Even on Friday, the pace looked really strong. You know, just kicking myself a little bit that I didn’t get qualifying right. But yeah, I think it was a very strong, strong weekend and probably one of my one of my better races.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Lawrence – Motorsport Monday) Question to Lewis. This season’s been ultra-competitive. We’re seeing three teams at the moment constantly fighting for wins. A fourth team that has won this season as well. It almost harks back to the years of 2012 and 2010, which obviously you experienced. So how does this season compare to back then in your mind? And from a psychological standpoint, when you put the helmet on, does it just give you that extra layer of motivation knowing you’ve got so many rivals that you’ve got to defend against and attack against?
LH: You must be new here. I don’t have a good memory, so I don’t remember back then. But what I can say is it’s great. It’s really fantastic, I think, for the sport to be having such close teams and drivers. And, you know, the pedigree of drivers at the top today are really elite and amazing. Yeah, we didn’t expect to be competing with the McLarens or the Red Bulls at this point in the season, you know, with how we started off. So for us to now have closed up and be, it’s going to be one hell of a second half of the season for sure.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) Question for both George and Lewis, please. First of all, congratulations. As you said, night and day turnaround from Friday. Just to go into, I guess, what changes you made from Friday. Your team boss suggested that it was perhaps something mechanical that you guys had got wrong with set-up. What did you actually end up changing? And what was the ultimate effect?
GR: Yeah, we’ve got, yeah, it was, yeah… Top secret! Yeah, it was a lot of things we changed in the car. We’ve got a lot of things we can play around with. I think we just had it in the wrong window on Friday. We obviously reversed on the floor because we just wanted to rule that out as well. But I’ve got no doubt. in Zandvoort we’ll be returning to the new aero package and getting the car in a slightly different window mechanically.
LH: Same.
Q: (Tom Guerde – Pole Position Magazine) Oscar, you just seem to get stronger as the season goes on. How would you explain that, and how do you feel going into the summer break with probably your best race in Formula 1?
OP: Um, yeah, I mean, I think definitely the last few weeks have been, been very strong from, from my side. I think honestly the whole season’s been, been pretty good. A couple of weekends in the middle of the year were, were a bit tricky. Japan and China mainly were pretty tough and obviously Barcelona, but I feel like all the other races have been, been quite strong. Just we’ve had a lot of things that that haven’t been going our way in some ways. Whether it’s interesting track limit penalties or crashes or mistakes, there’s always kind of been just things and I feel like the last few weekends I have been able to tidy it up. So, I feel like I’ve taken a step forward from last year, definitely. And, you know, I think in these tricky kind of races like this, you know, last year I was struggling in a race like this. So I feel like I’ve made good progress and obviously the car is very quick as well. So yeah, I feel like I’m gaining some nice momentum, which is good, but I know how quickly it can turn around and go the other way as well. So no, I just keep trying to build on it, but I feel like I’m in a strong place.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge –Autosport) George, a question to you again, please. Just want to talk about your strategy a little bit. We heard some of your radio traffic. You told the team to consider the one stop, and you sounded pretty low conviction when you said yes to the ultimate command. Was there any other kind of discussions about that, or was it pretty much, ‘I would like a one stop, please. Thank you very much’?
GR: It was quite back and forth over the course of three laps. And I think it’s difficult because when you feel something in your gut, you have to go with it. But when every single driver and team is pitting to go on to a different alternative strategy, and after all the data we had on Friday suggested a one-stop was not even close to being viable, you do kind of question that a couple of times, thinking, ‘are we missing something here?’ Like, why isn’t anybody else doing this? But, you know, I just sort of felt at one with the tyres and I managed it a little bit at the beginning and I knew that would give me a bit of money back at the end. I think it’s a show, you know… we’ve got so many sensors and data points on the car, but there’s only 20 of us driving these F1 cars and sometimes you feel it. You can feel how the tire is sliding over the track. And you’ve just got to trust your gut sometimes.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, you said you didn’t want to stop for the second time. Did you say to the team you only wanted to do one stop? And obviously, how much does it hurt not winning today because you looked odds on to win for much of the race? And just to George, Toto called you the tyre whisperer. So how much was this down to you actually driving those tyres, saving those tyres, or just the strategy?
LH: No, I just said that the tyres were fine. And I’m happy. Looking forward to going to the summer break.
GR: Yeah, I think it’s. You’ve clearly got to manage the tyres if you want to do something that’s so sort of off-piste. It goes hand in hand. It was great. The team sort of backed me up and put their faith in me to do the one-stop. And then obviously, you know, when you’re behind the wheel, you’ve got to deliver it and manage in certain corners, push in others. And also at the end, I knew Lewis was catching me, but I knew I needed to be quick in three corners, and that was the last two corners and the first one. I knew if I could save the tyres in the middle sector and nail it in those three corners, it would be very difficult for Lewis to pass into Turn 5. So, yeah, team effort.
Q: (Taylor Powling – Motorsport Monday) Question to George. You mentioned yesterday that Mercedes have struggled at Spa more often than not in the last few years. Does the turnaround that you made set it to today? Is that the biggest indicator of the progress you’ve made this season, even more than Silverstone, perhaps?
GR: I really need to look into it because this season’s really been quite strange when we’ve been slightly off the pace in Austria and Barcelona. We didn’t have the answers then. And when the pace was so exceptionally quick in Montreal and Silverstone, we had some ideas why it was quick but not to the magnitude that it was. So, for sure, we think there’s some correlation with the temperature. It’s obviously not the warmest here. There was a bit of cloud cover, so I think that is probably still the correlation we’re seeing.
Q: (Dan Lawrence – Motorsport Monday) Another question for George. Mercedes are in a really good run of form at the moment. Would you say that, as your position, potentially, is team leader next season, is the second half of this season really about putting the building blocks in place to go for a consistent title run in 2025?
GR: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think for all of us, It’s been a difficult couple of years getting the car into a place where we can consistently fight for victories. But, you know, I’m so motivated, so excited for the second half of the season, which is ultimately building up towards 2025. And when you look at the competition now, you know, there’s no reason why we can’t fight. And if the season started in Montreal, the championship standings would be looking very, very different. So, you know, it’s going to be great. There’s so much, I think there’s so much motivation from all the other teams to get back to the front, from McLaren, from Ferrari, from ourselves. So for sure, it’s not going to be easy. And, you know, hopefully we see a good fight on our hands into next year.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge –Autosport) Question for Oscar this time, please. Let’s just go back to your second pit stop. You mentioned it already, a little altercation, let’s say, with your front jack man. Can you just explain that? Was it just a case of classic overshooting, or was there a little bit of pressure to get out and get fighting Lewis, anything like that?
GR: No, I mean I just went in a bit hot really. I felt like on Friday there was a lot of grip in the pit lane and I was kind of always undershooting the box. Even my first pit stop I probably undershot it a little bit. I had to brake a little bit, with Lewis coming out, so maybe I was coming in a bit slow. but the second one clearly was a little bit overdone. It wasn’t my finest moment. I don’t think it really cost much in the scheme of things. I think it meant I probably would have just been stuck behind Lewis and George for another lap or two at the end. But yeah, obviously, something I want to tidy up for all the other races.
Q: (Niccolo Arnerich – F1AnalisiTecnica.com) Question for both of the Mercedes drivers. What are the main areas to improve right now on the car, on the W15. And which are the main areas you feel that you have done a big improvement in this last month?
LH: I mean, just overall, the car is… We’re more comfortable in the car. The balance through low to medium to high are all much more in line with what we had targeted.
Q: George, anything to add?
GR: No.
ENDS