Today's team representatives press conference with Mike Krack, Mario Isola, Christian Horner and Peter Bayer.

Q: Mike, can we start with you, please? Let's talk about the big news from yesterday. You've confirmed Lance Stroll into the new era with the team, which keeps the same driver line up at Aston Martin for the third consecutive season. Explain your thinking behind that?
Mike Krack: Well, I think for many weeks I said we want continuity, stability and continuity. I think it's very important for a team, especially heading into a new regulation set. And we're quite happy that we have quite a mature line-up on the track. We know who our main opponents are and they are certainly not the other green car. So that is something that we have seen over the past years. They work very well together, pushing in the same direction. So we always wanted to do it like that. And obviously at this stage and throughout the season, I think the drivers was not our main problem. So we are quite happy that we have done this now and get some more calm into this situation.

Q: Mike, those are all valid points, but the driver market has been very fluid this year. There are a lot of race-winning drivers available. Just how seriously did you consider making a change?
MK: Well, I think, you know, you should not get pressurised yourself by the driver market. I think you need to formulate what you want, which we were quite clear about and we pursued these targets. So, of course, you always look at what is there and what is available. I think plans B and plan C, obviously, everybody's having, but if you can manage to make your plan A happen, then you should do that.

Q: Now, you said a moment ago that your biggest issue isn't the drivers. So let's talk about the car and the issues you had in Spain. It was very tricky in Spain, wasn't it? What were the issues? Were they greater than you were expecting?
MK: Well, I think they were not greater than we were expecting. We knew that Barcelona, Spielberg, Silverstone will be hard for us because we struggle in tracks where you have a large spread of corners and also where you have a lot of high-speed corners. So it was not a surprise. We raced the same car two weeks before in Montréal, where we came away with the highest points score that we had this year. So it shows you how the situations can change quickly. And also, I think in Montréal, you then run in free air, which helps everything. And in Barcelona, you're not. We had a lot of degradation in Barcelona and then things get just worse and worse and worse over the course and there's not much you can do other than bring it home. and that is what we did. At the end of the day, it's always interesting how close are the margins in qualifying. We made it by fractions of hundredths in Canada. We made it in. We made it by fractions in Barcelona, not. This dictates then how you are in terms of position, how you are going into the race, if you're running in free air or not. And that makes a big difference at the end of the day. But then all of that is just easier if you have a quicker car, and that's what we have to work on now.

Q: Can we talk about the development of the car? Because while some of your rivals have made strides this year, it appears that your development has stalled, as it did last year. Do you understand why that is?
MK: I think you're right. I would not say stalled, but I think clearly others do a better job than we do, and that is something that we have to seriously put under scrutiny. There is never one thing in Formula 1, obviously. You always have several factors contributing, but I think we have to have a close look at aerodynamics, because this is performance differentiator number one in F1 and also how we do how we do these things. So that's something that is clearly being analysed thoroughly not only now over the last month and I think we have understood some of our issues and trying to solve them as quick as possible. and But we still have a long way ahead.

Q: So the new wind tunnel is coming on stream later in the year. Are you confident that you have everything you need back at Silverstone or are you still searching for things?
MK: The wind tunnel will not be that quick. So next year's car will not be in the new wind tunnel. I think we will eventually have everything we need, but we don't have it yet. On the other hand, I think this does not count as an excuse. You have to do the best with the tools you have, and we feel that we have not done that.

Q: Alright, we'll leave it there. Thank you, Mike. I'm sure there'll be some more questions for you in a minute. Mario, let's bring it to you now. Can we start by throwing it back to last weekend in Barcelona? We saw some impressive stint lengths, particularly on the soft tyre. Did that surprise you?
Mario Isola: Yes and no, because we have the same tyres that we had last year. so obviously teams know what they have and they know how to use them and probably also the cars are treating the tyre better than last year. so we didn't see any particular issue and obviously with the pace management they can extend the stint length quite a lot. They know how to do that. It was good for me to see different strategies, two stops using the three compounds, so I'm happy with the final result.

Q: Given the stint lengths in Spain, would you consider going one step softer at that race next year?
MI: Not sure for the next race and we have to check how the range of compounds will be for next year because we are already planning to go softer for next year, to introduce a C6. So a softer compound especially for street circuits. So not sure for Barcelona, that is in any case a high-severity circuit. If we achieve the target to have a C2 compound that is closer to the C3, that was the Medium in Barcelona, and a C1 that is slightly softer, we can probably have the same selection with a better output.

Q: Tell us a little bit more about the C6 you've just mentioned for 2025. How much testing have you done with it? Do you foresee it as something of a qualifying tyre?
MI: We did only one test in Paul Ricard because we need to test on low-severity circuit and the last couple of tests were one in Paul Ricard and one in Mugello. We have now Silverstone. that obviously is not the track for the C6 and we are planning to test it again in Monza or later in the year. Definitely we have this idea to introduce a softer compound and to move slightly also the range of the other compounds, as I told you before, and the development is going well. The 2025 construction has been defined 90%, so we know that we can now focus more on compounds development with the targets, to reduce overheating, and move a little bit of the compounds in order to have them better spaced.

Q: Mario, can we just throw it forward a little bit further, 2026, what can you tell us about the development plans for then?
MI: The sizes have been defined and we are happy with the decision to stay on the 18-inch tyres. Sixteen was not the right way to go, because the loads that are predicted are still quite high and cars will be fast. So we need a tyre with a proper size to sustain these loads. We started to work on a virtual model of the tyre. We will have the first physical prototypes in end of August, probably, and we are planning to test on track in September. The first test will be in Barcelona. I would say that everything is going as expected. It's a bit early at the moment to draw any conclusion, but the direction is the right one.

Q: Mario, thank you for that. Christian, coming to you now, can we just start by dealing with FP1? What was Max's brief issue?
Christian Horner: It was a sensor issue. We were fortunate that the car actually came to a stop on the pit straight close to a junction in the pit wall to be able to recover the car. And then it was a question of resetting the sensor and getting going again. So, yeah, I was fortunate because it would have been disastrous to lose that track time, particularly on a Sprint weekend.

Q: Let's stay with Max. He confirmed yesterday that he's going to remain with the team in 2025. There has been a lot of speculation about that this year. I know you'll say he's got a contract until 2028, but is it reassuring for you that he's actually come out and said that now?
CH: It only reaffirms everything that we already know. Max is an important part of our team. He's had all of his victories and podiums in Red Bull Racing cars, his three world championships so far and he's a crucial member of the team. He enjoys being part of the team. He's got a tremendous group around him. And we know what the future looks like. And, you know, obviously a lot of noise has been made about him going elsewhere and sometimes one just thinks that that's a distraction tactic that's just thrown in because you have to question what are the motives obviously behind that and the driver that's created all the movement in the market had all the information about the engines and 2026 regulations and so on and chose to leave and left a vacancy at Mercedes, which is why there has now been obviously a little bit of speculation as to who will fill that seat, but it won't be Max Verstappen.

Q: Are we seeing the best version of Max that we've yet seen in Formula 1? I mean, some of his races recently have been outstanding.
CH: He's been absolutely outstanding. I think what you're seeing is a driver that just continues to evolve and continues to develop. And I think that you're seeing drives of the calibre that the greats in the sport were capable of delivering, the Ayrton Sennas, the Jim Clarks. You've only got to look through the generation and I think that's what we're seeing with Max. Those key moments, the big moments, are what defines any outstanding sportsman or woman. And that's what he's delivering. And we've seen it under pressure delivering in recent races. And that's also in combination with the team, because obviously the team is under pressure as well. We've managed to win, what, three of the last four races, and they've all been hard-won victories. And Max just continues to surprise us with the levels that he's able to achieve and hit.

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