Today's post-qualifying press conference with Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and George Russell.
Track Interviews - Conducted by Davide Valsecchi
Say ciao to everyone, to Oscar Piastri. Second today, front row for tomorrow. How was your lap, man? You were there, eh?
Oscar Piastri: Yeah, the first lap in Q3 was quite good. Just the second one, not quite enough, which I feel like I've said a few too many times this year. So, no, still a good performance and a really good team effort. You know, I think the field's been incredibly tight this weekend. So, I think I said on the radio, you know, there was no guarantee of a front-row lockout for us. So, yeah, an amazing effort to be able to pull that off.
Yeah, fantastic morning for you and for your team. What do you expect about tomorrow's race? Because it seems that you are in a perfect moment with your car.
OP: Yeah, I mean starting a bit further up the front than last week is definitely a positive for myself. It's obviously a long run down to Turn 1. So, starting second here is not always the worst thing but yeah, let's see what the tyres do tomorrow. It's been a little bit different to what we're used to in Monza. So, yeah, it could be a pretty exciting race, and with such a tight field at the front I think it will be very exciting.
Well done, congratulations for tomorrow Oscar Piastri. And now we have George Russell. Good to see you. George, third position, just at the end. How was your lap and how was your car to drive?
George Russell: Yeah, it was great ending up P3. A little bit better than I expected because it was a really tough session, Q1 and Q2, and fortunately we saved it until the end, not too far behind the McLarens. They're so fast at the moment and we're working so hard to catch them up, but I'm super happy with third.
And tell me about tomorrow, because you had some amazing races this season. What do you expect and what do you think about Monza?
GR: I think it's going to be a tight battle. Everybody's so close out there. So exciting for F1. We've all been waiting for this competition and knowing that if you do a great job, you've got a chance of victory. So I'm pretty pumped for tomorrow. Get some nice pizza tonight to fuel me up and a bit of extra a bit of extra weight, so not too light tomorrow and hopefully we can fight for a good result looking forward for it.
Well done and congratulations, third position for George Russell with Mercedes. Lando, very well done! Pole, man, fifth of his career, pole in Monza. Talk me through your lap my friend.
Lando Norris: Yeah, thank you. I mean another pole, which is amazing. Like Oscar said, to have two cars first and second when the field has been as tight as it has all weekend it's a little bit of a surprise but a nice one. So, big well done to the team. They did an amazing job. Honestly, my lap was... It hurts me to say, but it was not a great lap. My Q3 run one was, but run two was a little bit more, and we're still getting a pole. So a little bit surprised again, but very, very happy.
Congratulations on it. Seems that you are building up fantastic momentum for yourself. You're racing so well. You are always competitive. Your car is helping you. What do you expect for tomorrow's race?
LN: Yeah, the same. Really, the same would be lovely, but like we've seen all weekend, it's so close. There's a lot of very quick drivers behind, in quick cars, so I'm not expecting a very easy race tomorrow. And like George said, a lot of unknown things going into the race with the degradation, the tyres, the tarmac, you know, so plenty of question marks and plenty of excitement, I'm sure.
And then, Prima Variante, first chicane here in Monza scared me so much, but I'm not a London horse, but what do you think about that?
LN: I mean, it's always a little daunting, you know, on a quality lap especially. You don't know how much to push. But it's a fun one. The whole circuit's amazing, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Press Conference
Many congratulations, Lando. It was another brilliant qualifying session for you. How satisfying was this fourth pole of the season?
LN: Very, because I think it's probably been, like everyone's seen, the closest build-up, FP1, FP2, FP3... I think we just looked as good as the others, nothing more, nothing less, honestly. So yeah, just expected a tough qualifying, and it was, for sure. But I think for us to come away with a 1-2, to come away with another pole, was probably not quite what we were expecting, but in a good way, of course. Yeah, a good qualifying, I wouldn't say the cleanest. Just difficult to put laps together around here, and when the margins are so small, you try and go for everything, but you can also pay a price, you know? So risk-reward in a lot of corners. But I think the risk that we had through it and the set-up changes and things we made into qualifying seemed to have made a good amount of progress, and we seem very quick.
Tell us a little bit more about those set up changes, because as you say, there was nothing to separate you and the pack in practice. So what made the difference?
LN: It's tough to say. I think we just continued to progress. Not a lot. My first lap in quali was already a 19.8, which was a great first lap out of the box. It wasn't like I went out and found big chunks. It wasn't like Zandvoort, where I went three, four tenths quicker and that kind of evolution. But there are a lot less corners around here, and it's trickier to put it together, I think. Just small things with the car, like you don't get to FP3 and then quali and change the whole thing or turn it upside down. You're nudging it in different directions and just trying to make a car in which you're comfortable to execute good laps on. I feel like we made a bit of progress with that. But also maybe with fuel and things like that, when you bring it down, the car just seemed to come a little bit more alive come qualifying. Definitely seemed to progress ahead of some of the others.
You got quicker and quicker in Q3, yet you said a minute ago that your second lap wasn't the best. What was the issue with that?
LN: It just didn't feel like a nailed lap. I think all of us, as drivers, when we go out in quali, you just want to put together a perfect lap. You want everything to flow. I tried pushing the braking a bit more for one, and I actually got one so much better. I then smashed the inside kerb of Turn 2, because I turned in too early. So I was about tenth and a half down just after Turn 1. So I was kind of like, 'eek, it's over already before it even starts'. And I didn't really expect to gain it. But then I nailed the second chicane and gained one and a half tenths back straight away. And then just made a couple of hundredths of a gain in every corner from that point on. So it just didn't feel like a nailed lap. It didn't feel as good as my lap last weekend, but clearly still good enough for pole, which is a nice feeling.
Let's throw it forward to the race itself. Do you think you and McLaren will hold an advantage over the field?
LN: Honestly, I think when you look back to Zandvoort, you could say yes. There's enough evidence that led us to believe we could have a very, very strong race. Here, less so, just because it's been so close, but we're still first and second, which means we have a good car, and that normally translates well into a good race car. But I think tomorrow there are more question marks with, you know, graining and degradation and things like that. You know, everyone's 4-1-2 with tyres and probably a little bit more nervous of what can happen and what might happen. But we're in the best position for it. So excited to see what we can do.
Lando, final one from me. What about the start? It's a long run to Turn 1 here. What have you learned since Zandvoort that might help you away from the grid tomorrow?
LN: What we learned? I mean, a couple of things. For sure, we of course reviewed things like we always do. And I feel like we've made progress so far with our practice launches and stuff like that. So, yeah, just crack on and do our best.
Alright. Very well done. Thank you, Lando. Oscar, let's come to you now. Another great qualifying session for you and for the team. Talk us through Q3. How good were your laps? How good was the car?
OP: I think the car was very strong. The first lap I did in Q3 was solid. A couple of little things to work on, but, yeah, the second lap just wasn't as good as it needed to be, really. A similar story in Turn 1, really, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of my lap. Had a big wheel spin out of Turn 1, and it was a bit of a mess from there. Yeah, I just need to tidy it up a little bit at the end. But the car was performing well. I don't think, after practice, it certainly wasn't guaranteed to have this result. I think we very easily felt like we could have ended up, you know, seventh or eighth if we didn't get it quite right. So to come away on the front row is a very good result for the team.
Oscar, tell us a little bit about the conditions. Track temperature of almost 50 degrees. Was it difficult to keep the tyres alive?
OP: Not so much to keep them alive. Just the tarmac has been quite difficult to judge. It's had a lot of rain or dirt on it. You know, when you watch the TV shots in some of the corners, it's basically two black lines from where we've been driving and the rest is kind of brown. So it's made life a little bit difficult and it's quite a... just a difficult tarmac for whatever reason to drive on and also for the tyres. We've seen a lot of graining throughout practice so it's been difficult. I don't think it's necessarily been the temperature but it's yeah been very, very tough I think for everybody to nail a lap this weekend, even with all these attempts in qualifying I don't think anyone or I certainly don't feel like I have.
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