Track interviews conducted by James Hinchcliffe

And third place today in the Sprint race, George Russell for Mercedes. Look, you had a very exciting race there with Oscar Piastri. Lost the position off the start, but just walk us through some of those battles and those runs down to turn one.
George Russell: I mean, it was very close to Turn 1 on a couple of occasions. It was obviously so frustrating every lap, Lando backing up, giving Oscar the DRS. Obviously, I understand why they did that. But when you're out here, you're fighting, you want to give it everything, and you want to put a race on, for the fans, it was just pretty infuriating. But nevertheless, it was P3 this afternoon is going to be the important one.

Tyres are a big talking point here at Qatar. How did the tyres hold up? You had those Mediums for the entire 19 laps. Did they hold up the whole time, or did you learn a lot for this afternoon as well?
GR: They were definitely dropping a little bit, to be honest. I struggled towards the end, but I think Lando had some good pace. Oscar was struggling a little bit. So it would have been good to be able to go head-to-head with Lando and see what the true pace would have been, as I think he had quite a lot in the pocket, just giving Oscar for DRS.

Yeah, well, less than a tenth off pole yesterday, let's see what you got tonight. Second place, Lando Norris. That was an exciting final lap. But look, let's start at the beginning. Good getaway. You seemed to lead the race comfortably. Did you have a lot of pace in hand as you held back to just try to keep DRS range for Oscar?
Lando Norris: A little bit. It's always difficult to know. But we scored a 1-2. That's what we were aiming for today. We scored maximum points. So we're happy. We're happy as a team. We've executed things perfectly. And I think the pace was good. I probably could have pushed a little bit more than what I was doing. But we wanted to keep the others behind, so we tried to help out and not let George get too close, you know. So we did our job, and that's the main thing.

Yeah, it was close at the end there, though. A little bit of payback maybe for Brazil. How tight was it? Were you concerned that you were not going to be able to orchestrate that? I mean, it was a tenth and a second between you and Oscar and only three more back to George. That was tight.
LN: I know. It was probably a bit closer than what I was wanting. Yeah, but I planned to do it since Brazil, you know. But, yeah, just what I thought was best is probably a little bit sketchy. The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it, and we did. So, honestly, I don't mind. I'm not here to win Sprint races. I'm here to win races and a championship, but that's not going to plan, you know? So I did the best to be good, and I look forward to tomorrow.

OK. Real quick, let's talk about the physicality of this place. It's so fast. It's so tough on the drivers. You've done 19 laps. How was it?
LN: It was tough, yeah. My neck's not too happy, you know, so yes, it's going to be a difficult race tomorrow. I mean, these conditions, these cold conditions, the wind, it's a lot quicker than last year. And it's even more physical, which I didn't think was possible, you know. So it's tricky, but that's a challenge we got to deal with. I need to hit the gym maybe a bit more, but all good otherwise.

Congratulations and best of luck this afternoon.
LN: Thank you, man.

And you are the winner for the second time in a Sprint format, second time in a row here in Qatar, Oscar Piastri. Look, it started right off the green. You got that great move around George. And then really for you, it was all about defence for the first part of the race.
Oscar Piastri: It was about defence for the whole race, to be honest. Yeah, I had a good start and a good Turn 1, obviously. And then, yeah, just didn't quite have the pace. I think I killed the front a little bit early on. And then, yeah, I was struggling a bit for the rest of the Sprint. But some great teamwork. You know, I think without that help, it would have been a much more difficult Sprint. So, yeah, nice to have a McLaren 1-2.

Now when you drive around in race format, you're three, three and a half seconds slower than what you guys are going to be doing and qualifying here in a few hours. So mentally, how do you change? How do you prepare for the next time that you strap in the car just in a few hours here to be driving that much faster?
OP: To be honest, here it's probably the smallest change from qualifying to the race. I think in a lot of places it's six or seven seconds and the grip feels much different here. We're still pushing pretty much flat out in the race. So it'll be a change for sure. But yeah, I think we've got a few tweaks we want to try and make and hopefully make the car a bit quicker and make the driver a bit quicker as well.

And now that you got a sense of it from qualifying yesterday, do you think there's enough in it? I know you said a couple of little mistakes on your lap. Have you got a legitimate shot at pole?
OP: I think so. Yeah, it's very, very tight. You know, I think from first to fifth or sixth was only two or three tenths. So there's not much margin for error. But I think we've got a few things we can improve a bit. And yeah, I think we're in for a shout. But everyone's keeping us on our toes.

Press Conference

Well done, Oscar. That was a very intense race for you, ending in 15 important points for McLaren. So, so far, so good with regards to your battle in the Constructors' Championship.
OP: Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, that was the result we wanted today. It was a bit harder work than I would have liked, but yeah, I think that was the target. Had a good start, good first corner. And then, yeah, I hung on for the rest. So I think a lot of good teamwork that kept us in the game and some things we probably want to work on for later tonight. But yeah, as far as points go, that was as good as it could have gone.

Can we just break it down a little bit more? You talk about Turn 1. Just talk us through the move on George Russell right there at the beginning?
OP: Yeah, I had a good start. And then, yeah, I basically got a bit of clean air on the outside and was able to just get on the throttle and drive around. To be honest, there was more grip out there than I expected. You know, a lot of the moves on the outside last year ended in tears, so I was pretty happy that I just stayed on the track, let alone made up a spot. So, yeah, that got me into second, but the rest of the race was pretty hard work from there.

A little bit more on that, if we could. Could you have kept George behind you without the DRS from Lando?
OP: I guess we'll never know, is the line. It would have been tough. Very, very quick in a straight line, very quick in the high speed. So, yeah, the teamwork definitely helped a lot today, because George was very fast.

And are you happy with the car? Are you going to make changes before qualifying a little bit later?
OP: Probably a couple of changes, yes. I think compared to last year, it's a very different track for everybody in terms of grip. So I think we're probably still chasing a few things here and there. Probably a bit of work on the driver as well. But yeah, nothing crazy to try and fix.

Oscar, very well done to you. Thank you very much. Lando, if we can come to you now. A brilliant team performance, but first up, does it hurt to give away a win like that?
LN: No.

Because you've made up your mind before the start that you were going to pay back after Brazil?
LN: I made my mind up in Brazil when it happened. It's a Sprint. I only care so much more about the Grand Prix, as does everyone. After it happened in Brazil, I made my mind up that I needed to do something to give it back.

OK, well, let's talk about your performance in that race. Great start, you seemed to have a lot of pace. Is that a decent summary?
LN: I think so. I mean, having clean air is a beautiful thing, so I could control things quite a lot. And I did as much as I could to help Oscar. I knew George was going to be quick this race. I tried in Turn 1 already to stay quite tight. I knew George was on the inside. So instead of running wide and giving Oscar the dirty air, I tried to stay tight and give George the dirty air. So that seemed to work. And we got a 1-2 from there, which was lovely. And the rest, I think I could build a gap. Probably not a big gap, but I could slowly make some progress, but George was still very fast through the middle part of the race and towards the end, so backed off a few times to try and get Oscar the DRS again, because our target was to finish 1-2 today, and that's exactly what we did.

Just a final one from me. Any changes you're going to make to your car ahead of qualifying?
LN: I have no idea. I've not had time to think. We'll look into where our weaknesses are and see what we can fine-tune.

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