Today's press conference with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Logan Sargeant, Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda.

Charles, good to see you. Let's talk about performance first of all. Spain was better than Canada but how much more performance do you need from your car to challenge for the win this weekend?
Charles Leclerc: Well, I guess the gap that there was from us to pole position, which was two or three tenths in Barcelona. However, I feel like the potential is in the car. We just need to optimise our package and then we'll be back to where we want. We didn't do that in Montreal, especially with tyres and the conditions were a bit outside of our operating window. And then in Barcelona, we were just not fast enough. Again, the preparation on the simulator for this track went well. So I feel confident we'll be back in the fight.

This is a fast track, but it's got short radius corners on the whole. Do you think that will help you?
CL: Yeah, we've been struggling mostly with long, slow-speed corners, which here there are a little bit less. So that's a good sign for us. But we're also working on that in order to have a better car in those corners, which I think we've seen some good steps forward in the last few races. However we were struggling then in other corners, so we've just got to put everything together, but we are working on it and I'm confident it will be fine this weekend.

Charles, final one from me for now. There have been changes to the track limits here. Specifically, gravel is now being used to sort of define the edge of the track. What are your thoughts on that? I think you haven't done a track walk yet but I would love you to just tell us what you think in principle of what you've heard about the changes?
CL: I mean, it's interesting. I've seen pictures. These two corners were quite tricky already before the gravel trap that we have now in those corners, in Turns 9 and 10. But I guess that now it's pretty clear where the track limit is. And we won't have this type of problem anymore, which is a good thing. But again, I've still got to drive the track to tell you exactly what I think of it, but on paper, it looks positive.

Alright. Thank you. Logan, let's come to you next. Throw it back to Spain, first of all. It was a frustrating race for you and for Williams. But I think there was no surprises there. Is that the case?
Logan Sargeant: Yeah. I mean, Spain's always been a tricky race for us. But I'd be lying if I said it probably wasn't one of the most painful ones we've had in the past 18 months. So, I guess some understanding to do there of what exactly went wrong on the car, what was causing the lack of performance. But even more painful for me, the bits that were brought to the car were underperforming and not delivering the expected load of downforce, so yeah, we'll try and get that fixed but that didn't help things either.

What does all that mean for this weekend in Austria?
LS: Well, unfortunately it's a Sprint race, so not much time to figure things out, not much time to experiment, you know, try to figure out what's going on my side in terms of bringing the package back to where it should be. So we've changed some bits. We're going to do our best to figure it out. But yeah, I don't expect everything's going to turn around. But I think this track as a whole should suit us much better than Barcelona.

Logan, can we talk about your own performance now? Because I feel Barcelona aside, you're enjoying a good run of form at the moment. In Monaco, you qualified ahead of a Red Bull. In Canada, what were you, just one thousandth behind Alonso or something like that. Do you feel that you're driving the best you have in Formula 1 so far?
LS: Yeah, definitely. I think it's been a good string of races. It's just been, you know, difficult as a whole. The team's been doing their best to bring the updates to both cars, but it's definitely taken some time. And I feel like I've generally been doing a pretty good job with, you know, what I've been given so far. Just try to keep that up and hopefully we can level it out soon.

Final one for me, there's been a bit of movement in the driver market today. How are things shaping up for you for 2025?
LS: At the moment, I'm just focusing on my job, doing the best I can to make the most of what I have underneath me. Options are open.

Alright. Best of luck this weekend. Thank you. Zhou, let's come to you now. We saw a much better qualifying performance from you in Spain. Both cars were running new parts, but you were also running an old chassis. What made the difference for you?
Zhou Guanyu: I mean, I feel like it's the chassis. You know, we had a new one put in the car from Imola. And for me, of course, we have to understand the circumstance with the different layout on the tracks, you know, Imola, Monaco, Montreal, super bumpy. I don't think it's a strength with this year's car. But mainly on my side, I was very lost before Spain just because I wasn't able to push the car around, you know, in the weekend I had in Canada. Everything I do, every movement, I just really felt has a much bigger impact on the balance and also on the driving side. So we decided to change everything back to the old one. And it seems to be picking up the performance we should be or having the grip, the confidence that I have with this car. So, yeah, really happy to see the progress went into the right direction. And then, looking forward, of course, to these tracks, I think they could be suitable a little bit better for this year's car.

Zhou, it's interesting because we saw Daniel Ricciardo earlier in the year revert back to a different chassis. What kind of a feeling were you getting from the old chassis that you were trying to recreate in Barcelona?
ZG: I mean, these days, you know, with this new generation of cars, it's very sensitive on everything you have. For me the main issues or the places I was really struggling was mainly that I feel the bumps very aggressively and very harsh when I take them. So when you go to a track with a super bumpy surface it's very difficult for me to have the confidence to push on the braking and also to have the car that you can throw into the corners and that's where I was mainly lacking, you know, just that early part of the braking into the corner that you're missing a lot of grip and potential. Yeah seems to be like we need to understanding to further investigate on the ones that's been put on for the recent races. But it's clear that we're back to, let's say, the form or the performance where the car should be, which is a very promising or positive step to be taking from.

Alright. Well, good luck this weekend. Just throwing it forward to 2025. Are you clear in your mind what you want to do next year?
ZG: Yeah, I mean, I want to stay here. It's very clear. But of course, we're talking to different options and as well as with Sauber. And yeah, nothing has been decided. Like, it's very easy to say: we're all waiting for what Carlos wants to decide at the end of the day. But hopefully he can make his decision sooner. And then I think that will just turn around a lot the driver market. But before that, I think, you know, the guys who still haven't signed can't really give any clear answer or direction where they want to. But we're talking and there's options, but we need to wait and see.

Alright. Good luck with that. Thank you. Yuki, let's come to you now. Now, explain Barcelona to us, if you could, because the team brought a lot of upgrades there and I think it's fair to say they didn't work as you were hoping. What were the issues?
Yuki Tsunoda: Well, I hope I have a clear explanation into this week, but obviously the team is digging into that problem very hard. We still see what we wanted to see on the data after the race, but just, yeah, somehow it's not performing well. Yeah, we saw a couple of things, the might cause it, but there's no still clear answer, so... Yeah, that's a bit of a mystery for us and obviously a couple of things that we could have done better on the set-up side or whatever. But yeah, it still doesn't explain why we lost as much as that compared to previous races.

It's a Sprint weekend. Everything is condensed here. Are you going to run the new parts again here or are you reverting back to the old spec car?
YT: So, we're going to test for sure, as a team across the cars, and even though we knew that it's going to be a Sprint qualifying race. We wanted to know these answers soon as possible, with comparing the cars. It's not like old or new and everything. We're still bringing some new parts into this week. It's kind of mixed between all of them but should be end of this week. We know the answer, what was causing it and what's the direction we should take in the future.

And final one from me, Yuki. There's a lot of speculation as to who your teammate is going to be in 2025. What would you rather, youth or experience?
YT: Both.

Questions From The Floor

(Nelson Valkenburg - Viaplay) For everybody but Charles, because you already answered the question. With the new track limit situation in Turns 9 and 10, are you guys happy with it? And what problems do you guys foresee for the three of you?
LS: Well, I think it's always tricky here. I don't think it'll completely solve it, to be honest. I managed to do track limits in Imola in Turn 9, which is almost impossible. So if I can do it there, I think it's still possible to do it here. And I would like to see a way in the future where it's completely eliminated with the design of the track. I think there's always an opportunity to do it, and there's no reason for that.

ZG: Yeah, I mean, I think there will be still track limits, for sure, but it's a nicer way to be understanding you're out if you touch the gravel. But I think, you know, there's certain tracks where every driver is quite happy. For example, the last corner in Shanghai, the kerb is kind of extended, a little bit higher, so all the people are not forced to use more than the track limit. I think these are happening applying more in other tracks now but here is definitely difficult because obviously you have like bikes or other people running here. so it's always a bit tricky. But let's see I think it still will be a difficult one to judge.

YT: Yeah, it's a good modification, but hopefully it won't be like Monza, second chicane, that all the gravel come into the racetrack and increase the chance of a puncture. That's it. But hopefully it's good.