Part 1: Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.
Q: A question to you all first of all. Can we start by getting your reaction to the tweaks to the technical regulations ahead of this Grand Prix? Nico, why don't we start with you?
Nico Hulkenberg: Yeah, I think there was some good work done between FIA, everyone involved and actually some of the drivers as well. Obviously in the spirit of safety, closing speeds, being able to push more in quali laps, opening quali laps, everything a little bit less complicated, more user-friendly, more pushy in quali. So yes, a little bit of a reset for here, I suppose, for everyone to learn again about it on track, how it is in real life. Obviously, everyone has done their simulations and simulator stuff in preparation, but real life may be still slightly different in a way sometimes, so curious to see how it feels and how it goes.
Sergio Perez: Yeah, I think similar. I think it's definitely something really good to see, seeing the teams, FIA, Formula 1, the drivers, all trying to improve what we currently have. And I think it will be a really good step. I don't know how much of a difference that will be because we obviously need to race it, but it's good to see that we are trying to make good changes to improve in all areas and to improve the show and the feeling with the cars, with the qualifying, so it's a really nice step to see.
Oscar Piastri: Yeah, I think the collaboration's been good and trying to make changes, I think they're a step in the right direction. How far they go to helping the problems, you're never going to fix the problems without changing the hardware of the power units, but I think it's a step in the right direction. How much it helps, we'll have to wait and see. But certainly, some of the tweaks are a good step forward, which is good to see.
Q: Oscar, why don't we stay with you. Can we throw it back to yesterday and first of all how much did you enjoy getting behind the wheel of Lewis Hamilton's 2008 championship-winning McLaren at the Fan Fest?
OP: It was cool. It's always fun to drive an old car. The noise was pretty special, a bit simpler and just the feeling you get from it is pretty cool. It's obviously a cool day for us as a team, but driving a naturally aspirated V8 was cool.
Q: And what about this weekend? Andrea Stella has talked about the large number of upgrades McLaren is bringing here. Just what expectations do you have?
OP: I think hopefully we'll be faster. Obviously, that's the plan. We'll have to wait and see where exactly we come out. I think it's, again, a step in the right direction for us. It's not going to be enough to challenge Mercedes this weekend, I don't think, but it's definitely in the right direction. Obviously, we're expecting a lot of other teams to bring upgrades as well, so hopefully ours are better than theirs. That's the plan. But I think the motivation and the confidence in the team at the moment is high. I think we're on a good trajectory again. And I think Japan was nice to go into the break with a bit of confidence in showing our potential and hopefully we've just added to that now. So hopefully it's a good step forward.
Q: Checo, let's come back to you. Golf with the world number one yesterday, Scottie Scheffler. How do you stack up?
SP: That was really enjoyable, really good fun. It's impressive to see the difference from an amateur to the top of the world, basically. And it was really enjoyable, a very enjoyable run - especially walking the whole course. That was quite demanding because normally you are on the buggy and having to walk the whole course, luckily, we started very early in the day, otherwise it would have been quite hectic.
Q: Pre-race training for you. Look, what about the race car? Three races in, just tell us how you feel progress with Cadillac is going?
SP: I think we're going in the right direction. We are definitely progressing every single race weekend, which is the main thing for us. I think so far this will be our biggest test because we are bringing a big package and obviously everyone is. So, it just depends if it's bigger than the others and if it all works, then it will give us a lot of confidence on our development tools going forward. So, it's a very important weekend for us and obviously racing at home for the team, it's a very important weekend overall.
Q: What does success look like for you this weekend?
SP: Making progress from Suzuka. If we are able to make progress, especially in this race where everyone's bringing their big upgrades, that will be a very good weekend.
Q: Nico, back to you now. Management changes at Audi. Can we start by talking about the appointment of Allan McNish as the team's racing director. Give us your reaction to that?
NH: Yeah, I mean, Allan's been with the brand, with Audi, for I don't know how long, but a very long time. He's been with us inside the F1 project and team from the beginning, the get-go. Obviously ex-driver, even F1 experience, a lot of F1 and motor sport experience, so a very fitting role and I look forward to working with him closely together.
Q: And in terms of this weekend, Audi, like everyone else, bringing parts to the car. What are your expectations, what are your hopes?
NH: Yeah, I mean, we're coming obviously off that break into a Sprint weekend. Sprints are always demanding, hectic, but the hopes are to be competitive, to squeeze out a couple of points here and there wherever possible and just to maximise the whole weekend.
Questions From The Floor
Q: (Rachel Brookes - Sky Sports F1) This is to all three of you, really. I just wondered what the WhatsApp chat was like after the rule tweaks were announced and are you guys happy with them and happy you're being listened to?
OP: There were a lot of ideas after Suzuka, and I think clearly after Ollie's crash it's pretty obvious that something needed to change. I think it's been good that they've listened and made changes. As I said before, really there's only so much you can do, and I think what we've tried to change within our control has been good and has been sensible and I think well thought out. So yeah, that's been a positive. But we'll have to wait and see how it pans out. In the simulator running I did, some things are a bit better, some things are really not very different, so we'll have to wait and see just how it turns out on track. But from a safety point of view, I think the changes with the boost button are sensible and in the right direction. Hopefully you can't eliminate the instances of people having 350 kilowatts more than another car at all times, but hopefully it reduces the amount of times that happens.
SP: Yeah, obviously what happened in Suzuka was very scary and from a safety point of view there was urgency to change things. And for me it's very good to see that we are open for changes in all areas: drivers, teams, FIA, Formula 1. So that's good. And like Oscar says, we really need to see how are those changes once we are in race conditions, qualifying conditions, because it's very difficult with these rules to predict anything. So, the best thing of it is that we are open to it and if there are more changes needed after this weekend, I would expect to... There is also a big gap before Canada, so probably we can do even more changes if needed.
OP: I mean, I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a second start of the season. I think clearly a lot of people are going to have upgrades and better cars, but from a rule changes point of view, it's really not going to change the order of things very much. In the grand scheme of things, they're very small changes. But it's going to be interesting to see what the development is like for everybody. Clearly Mercedes are very strong at the moment, so hopefully we can close the gap. I think the championship is far from over at this point, but we.... Well, everyone, but us, McLaren, need to find performance pretty quickly to get ourselves in that fight. So yeah, we know we've got things here this weekend and more things to come in the near future and hopefully it'll be enough to at least put us in the fight.
Q: (Panagiotis Seitanidis - ANT1 TV) A question for all three. Following up what Oscar said, we have a long season ahead. How much do you feel that the dynamics can change between teams until we reach the end of the season in December? How different can things be?
NH: Dynamics? What do you mean?
Q: (Panagiotis Seitanidis - ANT1 TV) I mean the level of performance of every team and the position it is.
NH: Yeah, I mean, we're still early doors in the season and I think the development potential is still very large at this point in time. So, there's definitely big possibility that we see some bigger swings later in the season. Like always, like every year, it'll come down to who works more efficiently and better and makes the updates work and stick.
SP: Yep, I think we will have a very good idea this weekend. Everyone is bringing a big package, so we will see which teams are the most efficient developing their cars. So, we will have a very good idea here.
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