Track Interviews - Conducted by Jenson Button
Nico Hülkenberg, you're going to be standing on that podium. How does that feel?
Nico Hulkenberg: Yeah, good! It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? But, yeah, I always knew we have it in us, I had it in me somewhere. So what a race, coming from virtually last, doing it all over again from last weekend. It's pretty surreal, to be honest. Not sure how it all happened, but obviously crazy conditions, mixed conditions. It was a survival fight for a lot of the race. I think we just were really on it. The right calls, the right tyres, at the right moment. Made no mistakes and, yeah, quite incredible.
It's been over 200 Grands Prix - quite a few over 200 Grands Prix, but we won't dwell on that. But it must be mentally so difficult going through all those times when it's almost there and then it's taken away from you. Just give us a little bit of emotion of how this feels right now?
NH: I mean, today, I think I was in denial until probably the last pit stop, you know, and then when I heard we gapped Lewis quite a bit with the one extra lap, I was like, 'okay, this is good, this is some breathing space', but then he was catching quite quickly. So yeah, the pressure was there. It was an intense race, but like I said, we didn't crack. No mistakes. And obviously really, really happy with that.
Fantastic. And obviously you had the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton chasing you down at the end. So, it was like the biggest pressure situation you could possibly have had at the British Grand Prix.
NH: Yeah, I was thinking that, you know, obviously he's going to give it all here in front of his home crowd. And I was like, sorry guys, but it's also my day, I've got to stick my neck out and, yeah, super happy. Thank you very much for the great energy and support here every year.
Congratulations.
NH: Thank you.
Oscar, I can imagine the emotions very high, and we always say that you're very level-headed, but I've never seen you quite so upset about the situation you find yourself in.
Oscar Piastri: Yeah, I'm not going say much. I'll get myself in trouble. So well done to Nico. I think that's the highlight of the day. So yeah, I'll leave it there.
You obviously had a reasonably good start against Max, made a lovely move, and it looked like you had good pace throughout the race. And it was the one incident that you're not going to want to talk about, but we need to mention it here on the back straight. Obviously, getting the gap to the Safety Car.
OP: Yeah, I mean, apparently you can't brake behind the safety car anymore. I mean, I did it for five laps before that. Again, I'm not going say too much till I get myself in trouble. But thanks to the crowd for a great event. Thanks for sticking through the weather. I still like Silverstone even if I don't like it today. So, thanks for coming out, everyone.
Lando, wow! You just won your home Grand Prix.
Lando Norris: Oh, wow. It's beautiful. Everything I dreamed of, I guess. Everything I've ever wanted to achieve. Apart from a championship, I think this is as good as it gets in terms of feelings, in terms of achievement, being proud - all of it. You know, this is where it all started for me, was watching actually, was watching you on TV many years ago. And now, thankfully, I've been able to have my go. So yeah, incredible race. Stressful as always, but the support from the fans made the difference today. So I've got to thank them for it all.
What's going through your mind in those last couple of laps of the race? What is the feeling? What is the emotion? And are you thinking what am I going to do when I cross that finish line? Or who am I going to wave at? What is it like?
LN: Yeah, I mean, your mind just goes pretty blank. So everything you might think before the race, you forget. I mean, the main thing is always just don't **** it up. That's rule number one. But the last few laps, I was just looking into the crowd. I was just trying to take it all in, enjoy the moment because it might never happen again. Hope it does, but these are memories that I'll bring with me forever. So incredible achievement.
Great. I'll apologise for you.
LN: Thank you. Sorry. I'm also sorry. But yeah, amazing.
And not the easiest way to win your home Grand Prix, with the weather conditions throwing everything at you possible, safety cars. It was a tough one.
LN: Yeah, I think in terms of being a stressful race, this is as stressful as you can get. But I mean, it was a good race for Oscar as well. I've got to give my credits to Oscar. He was fast the whole way. So yeah, a round of applause for Oscar because he put up a good fight, and I enjoy those moments together when we're on track. Not as much as when he's ahead of me as when he's behind, but that's life. And yeah, so credit to him and of course McLaren. To win at home in front of all the friends and family we have here is pretty amazing. So, a big thanks to them.
Yeah, the championship's obviously heating up. It's exciting. You're getting so close to Oscar. I want to leave the last word with you for the fans that come out here to watch you race, and you've won the British Grand Prix for all these fantastic fans out there.
LN: Yeah, I mean, it's always hard, right? Because before the race, I'm like, I want to give them something to cheer about. But it's a long 52 laps and you never know what's going to happen, especially when it was raining earlier. So, it's always hard to imagine what it's going to be like. But now I'm feeling it, and it's unbelievable. So yeah, thanks to all the fans, all the British fans, all the McLaren fans. And shout out to my grandstand in the corner because I gave all my credits to them. They were amazing. They cheered me on every lap and it was really a beautiful thing.
Press Conference
Lando, very well done. You've won your home race. Just describe what this moment means to you.
LN: Where do I start? I mean, eventful race. Yeah. Eventful race. I mean, it means a huge amount. You know, at the end of the day, being on top in your home race is very, very special. And I said in some of the other interviews, you know, this is where it all started for me. I was watching on TV. I was watching, all those many years ago, Lewis, Jenson, Fernando. I think it was, you know, that extremely wet race here, in 2007 or 2008. That's when I really started watching Formula 1. And I think Lewis won, and I got that picture of him going around and seeing all the fans standing up, and that picture of what an atmosphere in Silverstone is like, and dreamed of that for many, many years. And today I got to live that feeling myself and see it through my own eyes. So pretty amazing, pretty special. A lot of people, from my friends and family, my brother, my sisters, my mom, my dad, my dad's parents. Every person that I could have here is here. So, yeah, more special than ever, 100%. And, yeah, tough race to do it in as well.
You've been ticking off the big races this year, Monaco, now Silverstone. Do you feel you're enjoying a bit of a purple patch at the moment?
LN: I mean, it's tough to say it. Look, you can always class it as momentum or whatever, but I don't think that... yeah. I don't know. It's whatever you want to believe in the end of the day. I think it's still just one race at a time. Obviously, I had a good race last weekend and we had a good battle, and we got close, and I was looking forward to another good battle. So, you know, I give my credit to Oscar at the same time because he drove an extremely good race. But, you know, it's two wins, but they've not come easy by any means. We've had good fights, but they're pretty strenuous, exhausting weekends because you're fighting for hundredths and thousandths, and you're fighting for perfection every session and I'm against some pretty good drivers. So, it takes a lot out of you, especially when you have a race like today. So, I've had two good weekends and, of course, I would love to continue that momentum, but it still requires more consistency. Two weekends doesn't mean anything otherwise. And I just need to keep it up and keep working hard.
It was a very unpredictable race this one. How difficult was it to make the right calls at the right time?
LN: I think as a team, we did a very good job. I was pretty happy with everything. I think we made the right calls at the right time. Probably could have boxed for slicks a couple of laps before we did. But, you know, the first part of the race, Oscar and Max were fighting quite a lot, and I was pretty patient. I didn't push too much. I tried to look after my tyres a little bit more for some of the later stages when it started to rain again, but it was probably the wrong thing to do. I probably should've just pushed because we went onto another set of Inters. It's just tough to not crash in these conditions. It sounds so obvious and easy, but the amount of moments you have, at Turn 1, the aquaplaning in 2 , the aquaplaning into 9, where Hadjar crashed - you don't realise how close sometimes we are to crashing and it all being in the bin in a matter of tenths. They are scary moments inside, but then they excite you in a way, and then you open your eyes, you concentrate again. It's scary and thrilling at the same time. But they're also fun races, but they take a lot out of you in one single race. So, a lot of decisions, but I think as a team, we talked through things perfectly well and we kept calm through the whole thing, and that paid dividends at the end.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone here.
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