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1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull Racing)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Danica Patrick)
Q: Max, congratulations. Where did you find so much speed throughout the
weekend? You’ve been getting faster and faster and faster.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was quite exciting out there, also of course in Q2
trying to make a lap time with the hard compound and then in Q3 my first lap
wasn’t amazing but then in the final lap it also started spitting, like a
bit drizzle, in the last sector especially. I was not sure if I was going to
hang onto my lap time but it was enough and of course to put the lap time in
and be in pole position but also to be P1 and P3 as a team was a very strong
performance.
Q: It’s very impressive. So, you’ve got a huge championship battle coming,
front row, you and Lewis. How do you feel about tomorrow?
MV: I guess that’s what people like and from here onwards we of course just
hope to have a good start and work together as a team to get the best
possible result.
Q: Sergio, how does it feel? The fans are so excited here in Austin. How did
the run feel for you? How did the fans feel? ?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, well, we were really close you know. On that final lap I
think we did a great job as a team. Unfortunately my final lap wasn’t as
good throughout the lap. I improved through the first sector quite a bit but
I wasn’t able to just keep it progressively. I think the rain hit me a bit
too hard in the final sector. There were spots of rain and I lost some grip
in two corners and I could just see my delta way off.
Q: It still looks impressive from our point of view. How do you think the
race is going to go tomorrow? What do you think your biggest challenge will
be?
SP: Yeah, I think tomorrow it’s a very long race. I think the qualifying
position is not too relevant. I think tomorrow we are going to have a pretty
long race. There will be a lot of degradation on these tyres and yeah, I’m
looking forward to it.
Q: Lewis, good effort. It looked like the first run in Q3 was a little bit
of struggle at the end but the next run was a little bit quicker but you
just missed it. Where could you have found a little bit more speed?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly I want to acknowledge the crowd we’ve got
here. We’ve got a great crowd this weekend. Every time we come to Austin we
always have this amazing crowd and fortunately really good weather. We are
grateful for it. I gave it everything today. It was a bit of a struggle
through qualifying. I think from P1 onwards we kind of fell back a little
bit and those guys were incredibly quick through qualifying. I was happy
with my last lap. Of course there are always areas where you can improve but
I think that was pretty much everything we had. So we will just work as hard
as we can tomorrow. It’s good positioning for tomorrow so hopefully it will
be a good race down to Turn 1.
Q: There is a lot going on in the garage with everything going on
technically as well as everything on track with Max, what is your mindset
for tomorrow?
LH: The mindset is to win the race and to give these guys the best race
they’ve seen.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Max, how good was the session and also that final lap in particular?
MV: It was a little bit up and down I would say. Just getting to the limit
of the car felt a little bit difficult for me this whole weekend so far, to
try and get that last bit out of it. Even in qualifying I had to work up to
it. Then, on the mediums I actually felt really good. I think in Q2 that was
a good lap. It seemed like they suited me a bit more in terms of driving.
The first run in Q3 again wasn’t perfect. I just couldn’t really get the
same out of it in terms of feeling compared to Q2. So then I had to dig deep
in Q3, run two and then it even started like spitting a bit on your visor in
the last sector so it wasn’t ideal but yeah, to be on pole is great
especially on a weekend so far, like I said, where it was a bit more
difficult to find that last bit.
Q: Did that rain at the end cost you anything?
MV: Difficult to say, but it’s not nice when it starts spitting on the visor
but then of course you are on your quali lap so you’re just going to go for
it.
Q: And what about the race pace of your car? It’s been quite difficult to
read from the outside this weekend.
MV: Yeah, I had a bit of traffic as well on my long runs but everything felt
quite normal. I do think we also improved the car a little bit today so
hopefully that will be better for tomorrow. But I guess we will find out
tomorrow, but there were no big problems.
Q: It’s much hotter than it was two years ago here in Austin. Does that make
the race that much more complicated for you guys?
MV: Well, not for us. It’s mainly just tyre wear and tyre deg, which I think
we have to look at a bit more closely. Also again, we have a little bit of
information but also we’ll find out throughout the race how they are holding
up.
Q: Max, it looks like we have a hell of a race on our hands tomorrow, your
championship rival alongside you on the front row. How much are you looking
forward to it?
MV: Like any other race we’ve had so far this season. I think we have had a
lot of good races and good battles already this season. I think we are all
just looking forward to another one.
Q: Lewis, it was incredibly tight in the end. Sum up quali for us?
LH: Yeah, it was fun. It was definitely a difficult session. I would say for
us since P1 it’s been a little bit tougher, we have been making lots of
changes to try to improve the car. But it’s been a real challenge, and going
into qualifying I think the first session wasn’t that great. Q1 wasn’t
spectacular but it started to improve, particularly on the medium tyre, and
the last two runs were pretty good. I think they have just been pretty quick
all weekend and I think we were able to match them or be ahead in P1 but
since then they have really pulled a lot. You can tell that the car is quick
because obviously both of them are up there and pulling in some seriously
good laps. But we are in a good position to fight them tomorrow and I hope
we can.
Q: Do you think you will be more competitive with them in the race than you
were in qualifying, just lap for lap.
LH: Time will tell. I have no idea.
Q: And what about tomorrow? You’re starting on the inside of the front row.
How much grip is there from that grid position?
LH: The last time we started there was…. Two years ago I think I was in
fifth or something. I don’t remember. It was a long time ago in the wet. I
think that I started second there. As far as I am aware there is not a huge
difference between the two but we will find out tomorrow.
Q: Last one from me. There is a huge atmosphere here, 140,000 fans. How
infectious is that support?
LH: It’s hugely infectious. This is one of the best races of the year and
it’s simply because of that city and the crowd we get here. The Americans
and the Mexicans that have come over, there is a real crazy buzz as soon as
you arrive at the gates of the circuit, and it carries through the whole
weekend and I’m excited to see them turn out tomorrow and I hope we can give
them a good race.
Q: Checo, coming to you, when you were fastest after the first runs of Q3,
we could hear the roar of the crowd, could you hear it from inside the car?
SP: Not really, I was just into my own thing. I knew that there was some
time to find so I thought that this could be my day, you know? Unfortunately
I didn’t put it all together then in the end when it counted. But still, I
think we are in a good position. I think it’s going to be a pretty long race
tomorrow, so not too concerned about the qualifying. I think there are
plenty of opportunities for tomorrow.
Q: Checo, you seem a little bit frustrated but do you take confidence from
this performance today?
SP: Yeah, definitely. Not just from today, starting the weekend, it shows
just how hard we are working behind the scenes, you know, to try to get on
top of the car, together with my engineers. We haven’t had the year we were
hoping. The adaptation has been longer than expected but we’ve been working
flat-out and yeah, we can see the progress and yeah, I can just expect to
keep getting better.
Q: And what’s the goal in the race tomorrow for you?
SP: To maximise every opportunity. I think there is a long race ahead of us
tomorrow and hopefully we can bring a one-two for the team tomorrow.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Question to all three please. Given the
course of the Q3, all three of you were on pole position at one stage. Just
how tense was that final run – and how difficult was it with the cars
looking so closely matched and there being hundredths of a second between
you at any point?
MV: Well, I mean I knew I had to find a bit more in the last run, so then
naturally it’s a bit more exciting and this track as well. It’s an amazing
track but it’s very hard, especially in the high speed, to nail every single
lap, because of how quick you are going through these corners, and then also
the first sector, completely different to the second sector, and then again
the second sector again is different to the last sector, where some other
tracks you have quite similar corners – so there’s a lot going on, and a lot
of changes as well, you’re doing throughout the lap. Once you then, of
course, put it together as good as possible, it’s of course a nice relief.
LH: I didn’t feel it was intense at all. When you’re in the car, you’re just
doing what you love doing. So, it’s pretty chill. For me, I was struggling
with the car a little bit and I was just trying to maximise at all the
corners, to try and put the best lap I could together but amongst it all is
a really good lap but whether or not that would have been able to really
compete with their speed this weekend… I mean they were just too quick
today.
SP: It was pretty tense but I knew it was all down to the final chance. How
much I was able to find. I was on a pretty good lap I think, in Turn 1
itself I was able to find a couple of tenths, I just couldn’t keep it up
completely throughout the lap and yeah, didn’t get a hundred per cent out of
the car today. I think Max did a fantastic job, same as Lewis, so we finish
where we deserve today, I think.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question to Sergio please. Just following
on from what you were saying there. With the differences between the first
and second run in Q3, did the track conditions… did you feel that cost you
at all where the temperature dropped a little bit, and the drizzle that Max
mentioned.
SP: I was the last car on track and I felt like it did cost me a bit,
especially in 13 and 15, especially in 15, I just couldn’t find any grip.
Whether that’s from the increase of rain or I just didn’t find any grip.
There was quite a lot of rain coming in and yeah, it’s probably a bit of
confidence going through there and knowing that it’s a bit wet. I felt like
I lost quite a bit of time. I think it was quite a bit faster and just lost
my lap-time through there.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC, via email) Question to Lewis and Max. Lewis, why do
you think Mercedes have struggled compared to the last few races at this
track?
LH: I don’t really know. It started off good, it felt good through P1 and
then bit by bit they’ve got faster and I don’t know if we've got slower but
yeah, it’s been a real struggle with the car, compared to normally when
we’re here. Part of it is probably overheating with tyres, which is
affecting, I’m sure, everyone but yeah, it’s been a challenge.
And to you Max, why do you guys think you’ve moved forward, relative to
Mercedes?
MV: Well, I mean, I wasn’t verry happy yesterday and, of course, I wasn’t
still entirely happy today but we definitely went into the right direction,
so that helped. But yeah, after FP1 I was like ‘oh, OK, it’s quite a big
gap.’ But I think slowly, we just improved a bit and then today we seemed to
jump ahead. Of course, that’s a great effort from the whole team. I mean,
after Turkey, I think we were not entirely happy with the performance there
but of course that’s quite a different track, also still with the tarmac, in
terms of feeling as well, and again tyres, they are the only things that are
touching the ground and they have a lot of different behaviours all year, so
if you can maybe find a bit there it can make a difference as well, also at
this track.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Max and Lewis, obviously the opening corner could
prove pretty decisive as to who wins tomorrow’s race. How do you both plan
to tackle the start and do either of the incidents you two have had together
this year, will they be on your mind when the lights go out tomorrow?
MV: Like we always try, as professionals. I don’t see why we always have to
keep bringing this up. It’s not like we are the only ones who have touched,
you know, in this sport and these things happen, unfortunately, but I think
we are on the front row again and everyone is just expecting a great race
and that’s what we also expect, I think, as drivers. We just want to have a
really good race.
LH: Yeah, I hope we’ll make it through turn one and we get a good race. I
don’t think it’s all decided on turn 1.
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Lewis, there was an incident between
yourself and Max yesterday in the second practice session where you ran him
wide into the final corner and you had a wheel-to-wheel battle going up the
main straight up the hill into turn 1. What was your thinking behind that?
Was that you laying down any kind of marker? Was no quarter given, no matter
what the session and how does that bode for tomorrow’s race; similar things,
can we expect?
LH: Well firstly, I didn’t run him wide. He decided to go round the outside
and ended up going wide because… you can ask him, but we were battling into
the last corner… and it’s a silly thing. It’s all fun and games. We’ll have
fun tomorrow and give it everything as you would expect, no real difference
to any other part of the season and yeah, that’s all.
Q: (Tucker C. Toole – National Geographic) This is for Max and Lewis. In
recent years F1’s popularity has continued to grow, similar to the crowd
this weekend. How do you see the sport continuing to thrive and evolve like
it is now?
LH: It’s the best sport in the world so people are only just catching onto
it but that’s OK. There’s a lot of people in the world so I can only see it
continuing to go upwards, if it gets more exciting, particularly with the
rule changes we have coming in the next year, so it’s amazing to see the
crowd growing and the excitement and the buzz for the sport to grow, because
it is an amazing sport.
MV: Yeah, you can clearly see also here the popularity in America, I mean
it’s become a lot bigger so it’s great to see and of course I hope that that
can continue all over the world but of course already very happy to see that
here in Austin and just to create an amazing atmosphere because at the end
of the day it’s very important to have so many fans next to the track. If
you compare to last year, the whole season without fans was really empty and
yeah, it’s amazing to see the full crowd here this weekend.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Max, just going back to what you were saying
about where Red Bull started the weekend and the progress you’ve been able
to make. You obviously had quite a messy run through practice, just either
with lack of pace in FP1, not getting a representative lap time on the
board. When it came to qualifying, was it easy to put that behind you and
focus on the task in hand or did you go into qualifying a little bit
apprehensive as to where exactly your performance level would be?
MV: I mean, my lap time got cancelled in FP3 but I had a good feeling in the
car but then yeah, again in qualifying, I wasn’t entirely happy and like I
explained before, we were just chasing maybe a bit of balance, just for
myself. Like normally I always feel very comfortable in the car and I easily
get up to speed but just seems on this track, this weekend has been a bit
more difficult but it can’t be smooth all the time, right? That also makes
it challenging and fun because otherwise it gets boring if it’s always too
easy. I think as a team, yeah, we worked very well together. They also, of
course, tried to help me out to try and improve and at the end, to then just
put it together in Q3 is of course what you want. It’s not always what you
get but it worked out this weekend.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Max, how encouraged are you by this result
in terms of the title fight? Would you say it’s something of a surprise,
given how well Mercedes have gone here historically and also that the run of
form of that team has been in recent races?
MV: Yeah, maybe a tiny bit of a surprise but you can clearly see it has been
swinging a bit throughout the whole season. Luckily it’s still doing that
and yeah, we’ll see. I’m of course happy with the performance we’ve had
today, let’s find out tomorrow in the race – again, it’s a different story
and then of course we’ll move on again to the next race and that again can
be a different story because you can maybe look like favourites going into
the weekend but you still need to pay attention to every single detail, to
try and make it work. It’s so closely matched that if you maybe miss one
tiny detail or you just can’t bring it together for whatever reason you miss
out and that’s what happened for us, for example, in Turkey. |
