Today's press conference with Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell, Max Verstappen, Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc.

Q: Charles, let's start with you. Home turf, how confident are you feeling coming into the weekend?
Charles Leclerc: I'm feeling good. Obviously, it's always a very special feeling, the Monaco week. I think it is for all the drivers, but for me specifically, having grown up here, it's extra special, so I'm really looking forward to it. We've always been competitive here, so I hope it will be just the same this weekend. However, the finality of the weekend hasn't ever been the one I wanted, which we have worked on a lot. We've done our preparation in the best possible way. I hope that this weekend will be the good one.

Q: Two poles, but a best race result of fourth. What would a podium at home mean to you?
CL: Not much. I mean, second or third is not really something that excites me. So the win is what we need to target. We've seen in the last few races that Red Bull, McLaren and ourselves are pretty close in qualifying. And we know how important qualifying is here. So we'll have to put everything together. And if we're on pole, then that will give us good chances to get what we want, which is the win.

Q: How realistic is pole for you this weekend?
CL: I feel like in Monaco, you always start a little bit from scratch. As much as what we've seen in the last few races, I think it won't be too different. There still can be some surprises. We've seen it in 2021, I think, with us, where we were nowhere but then we got to Monaco and our car was working very well. So we'll have to see after Friday where we are compared to the others. But I will be surprised if we are not in the mix for pole, at least.

Q: Alright. Best of luck. Thank you, Charles. Alex, coming to you now. Welcome. Hello. Monaco hasn't been the best track for Williams in recent years. Do you think the outcome will be any different this year?
Alex Albon: I would say, generally, the philosophy of the car should improve the car around this kind of track. So, marginally optimistic. Let's see. I think generally we've made a step forward in low-speed corners this year. And obviously, Monaco, that is it.

Q: Talk to us about the challenge of Monaco. Which is your favourite section of track?
AA: For me, I would say it's all of Sector 3. I think it's quite flowing around there. This feeling of just glancing around the walls and that's a lot of fun. You start to touch them a few times and then it's just about how much margin is it before a wheel starts coming off. But that part is, at least for me, the most fun. It's more just about Saturday though. I think that's what makes it special. When you think about qualifying laps and the feeling of, you know, it's not so much of a Sunday race for the drivers, I would say, it's more focusing on Saturday and when you deliver those laps in qualifying, with the adrenaline in your body, that's pretty cool.

Q: Alright. Look forward to that. Thank you. Best of luck to you. Max, coming to you now. It was a brilliant win on Sunday for you at Imola, but it wasn't a smooth weekend for you and the team. Any concerns that you're going to have similar issues this weekend?
Max Verstappen: It's a completely different track. I think, looking at the track layout, it's probably not going to be our best track, just because our car normally struggles a bit over bumps and kerbs. We did work on it a bit compared to last year. I think so far, on most of the tracks that we've been to, our low-speed performance has improved a little bit. But I don't think this is going to be a very easy weekend. But I think Monaco never is very straightforward, even when you are supposed to have the best car. Monaco is a very tricky track to get everything to work, get the tyres to work, in a quali lap, for example, red flags, there's always a lot of disruption and a lot of things can go right, but also a lot of things can go wrong. So yeah, we just need to be on it. Of course, Imola started off really bad and we managed to turn it around. I wouldn't want to have a weekend like that again. It's quite stressful and not nice, but we know that this is a more difficult track for us, even though we have won here in the past. It's quite complicated so we'll see where we're at tomorrow.

Q: Charles thinks he can be in the mix for pole position on Saturday. Do you think Ferrari and McLaren are going to be challenging you closely?
MV: Yeah, I mean, naturally from outside, I think it is one of the more difficult tracks for us. Plus, in the last few years, I think Ferrari has always been very, very strong here. Plus, McLaren lately, the last two races, have really ramped up in performance. So they for sure are the ones to watch as well. And in Monaco, you might have some surprises. I mean, last year, Esteban did an amazing lap as well in qualifying. So these kind of things in Monaco, they can happen when someone feels really good. and confident, so we'll see what happens.

Q: Alright, best of luck to you. Thank you, Max. George, coming to you now. A lot of positive comments coming out of Mercedes after the race on Sunday at Imola. Where is the car better after this latest raft of upgrades?
George Russell: Yeah, the car is definitely more balanced through the lap now. We were struggling a lot at the start of the year, balancing the high- to low-speed corners. And I think we have made progress. when you look at the gap to Red Bull, when you look at the gap to the rest of the midfield, we have moved forward. But I do think it's fair to say Ferrari and McLaren have moved forward at the same rate. So we need to keep on working, bringing those upgrades to the car. And the whole team are working flat out right now to bring those upgrades as quick as possible.

Q: You finished fifth here for the last two years. Do you have the performance to finish higher than that on merit?
GR: I think as the guys have been saying, Monaco is so challenging. There are so many disruptions throughout the whole weekend and you just need to find that sweet spot. The track's evolving so much, it's getting faster and faster, often up to three seconds quicker in qualifying than it is in a practice one. So even if you have a good Friday, you need to be ready to adapt moving into Saturday. And, you know, we saw today. I was sort of in the engineering meeting and it was bright blue sunshine and I came out and it was pouring down with rain. So that could add some spice to things.

Q: But do you think the low-speed performance of the car will help you?
GR: I think we've known all season that we struggle to balance high- to low-speed. We can either get it quite competitive in low-speed and we struggle at high speed or vice versa. So we are hoping that with relatively consistent corner speeds at this circuit, that we should be slightly more competitive.

Q: Alright. Best of luck to you. Thank you. Yuki, coming to you, things are going well for you. You've scored points in four of the last five races. How do you assess your performance so far this year?
Yuki Tsunoda: Yeah, feeling good for sure. The team also helped me for sure. The car performance this year, is very consistent, easy to adapt as well. So generally, initially already from FP1, we have good pace. So yeah, very happy, as a team, as well to keep being able to extract performance [like in] previous races and so far enjoying as well.

Q: Q3 here last year. How confident are you of a repeat this time around?
YT: Yeah, I think I'm feeling more optimistic compared to probably, yeah, before Imola or whatever. But actually, Imola, we had a bit of a surprise with the amount of performance we had in the race week. It can be opposite as well, so we never know. But, yeah, I had a good memory last year, so I'm feeling more confident for sure compared to the first year in Monaco. And, yeah, if the team can perform well, as much as Imola, that would be great.

Q: Good luck to you, Esteban, coming to you. Talking of good memories of last year, you had a fabulous Monaco Grand Prix, didn't you? Finishing on the podium, just what chance to repeat? How confident are you coming into this weekend?
Esteban Ocon: For sure, last year was a great memory. But I think we'll keep fit to the ground for this year. I think we've had a difficult start of the season where we've struggled to get into the top 10 very much. We only got one point as a team. So for us, it's going to be important to try and maximise everything this year, try and build on the confidence, try and see if we can improve the weaknesses out of the car and yeah, see where that leads up until qualifying. But no, we don't expect to be on the podium this weekend.

Q: You said in Imola that the one-lap pace has improved. So do you see Monaco as your best chance of the season so far to score points?
EO: I think it has improved, but we started very far. We started on the last row this season and we end up being now regularly into Q2 and close to the top ten. So there are improvements, but they are small improvements that we are doing every time. Yes, I feel at this track you can usually extract a little bit more, you know, in terms of driving, getting close to the wall, taking risks. That usually pays in your favour if you do a good lap. But at the moment, you know, we struggle with the car and we need to see where we'll end up in terms of result.

Questions From The Floor

Q: (David Croft - Sky Sports F1) Max, to you. Now, there was a time, remember the old days, when we felt that you could turn up with three wheels and go and win a race. But things seem to have changed around a little bit. The competition seems to have got stronger and this weekend could be the most competitive we've seen this season. Do you feel that? And do you feel that's a trend that might continue into future races after Monaco?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I think after Miami, it was quite clear when we went into Imola, it had all closed up quite a bit, even though Imola was probably also not our easiest weekend. But for sure, Monaco is always like that anyway. And it will depend now who will put more performance on the car, find the best possible set-up on the car. But, for sure, things have closed up which makes, I think from our side, makes it of course very important to try and be at our very best, 100%. I know that is not always a very realistic possibility, but you always try to get to a certain point and maybe the last few races we haven't been operating at that but, yeah, every single weekend we try again and try to find the best possible set-up in the car. But for sure, you can see it's definitely closing up.