1 – George RUSSELL (Mercedes)
2 – Kimi ANTONELLI (Mercedes)
3 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)

PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jamie Chadwick)

Q: George, a very close qualifying session in the end. Not the easiest session for you. Talk us through it.
George RUSSELL: Italifying format. We made some changes as a team. We need to review after that if that was the right direction. And then obviously that last lap just sort of came from nowhere and it was such a great feeling when it was such a challenging session, and then just to put it all together, that last lap, to sort of throw yourself up a leaderboard was epic.

Q: What were the challenges, because you ended up out of sync. You said you had an issue with the rear or something, came in, and then obviously did the lap on the very last lap, but it was looking tough until then.
GR: Yeah, I mean, we made some changes based on the forecast for tomorrow. May have hurt us a little bit for now. It just took the car out of sync a little bit and both of us, you know, Kimi was definitely more competitive than I in that session, but we weren’t as clear ahead of everybody else as we were yesterday. So, it was definitely a challenge, but as I said, just managed to redial my driving in for that last lap and got it together.

Q: Nice. Kimi, you looked in control for most of the qualifying session, just missing out at the very end. How was that last lap? Do you think there was a bit more on the table?
Kimi ANTONELLI: Yeah, I mean, it’s always a bit hard to commit for lap one. It’s been very difficult this weekend with the tyres, putting them in the right window. But yeah, I was pretty happy. Of course, there was still a bit left on the table, but George did a great lap and yeah, now eyes on to tomorrow.

Q: And tomorrow’s looking, I think, quite different conditions. Any thoughts on that?
KA: Yeah, I mean, we’ll see what the weather is going to be like, but of course we’ll try to be ready for anything.

Q: Lando, P3, similar to yesterday. Is that the best you could have hoped for, or do you think there was a bit more?
Lando NORRIS: It’s always impossible to know. I feel like we did a good job out there today, honestly. You can always say it, but I’m sure everyone can say around here it’s a difficult track to kind of put everything together perfectly. But I think we did another good job. It’s clear that these guys are just a little bit quicker. It’s nice to be closer than we were yesterday. I mean, I had fun this morning. Of course, the weather’s going to be different tomorrow, so we’ll wait and see. But we’re in a good place and we’re in the place we knew we needed to be.

Q: Good luck tomorrow. And just back to you, George. Obviously, we saw some great racing earlier today. Do you think this is going to be the same again tomorrow? Are the gloves going to be off, or have you been told something different?
GR: No, I mean, we’ve had a good chat since this morning and we’re both racing drivers. We both know what to do. We both respect one another, so we’ll go racing. I think, you know, we hope it’s just passing between the two of us, but we saw today how competitive everybody else is. Tomorrow looks to be wet. That’s going to be a whole new challenge as well. So, to be honest, it’s not really what we’re thinking about now. We just want to ensure that we can be standing on the top step.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: George, very well done. You saved your best until last there. What a final lap. Just how good was it?
GR: Yeah, it was incredibly strong. Obviously the best of the weekend and it was even sweeter because it was so challenging before then. It’s never the easiest, to be honest, coming from a Sprint race into qualifying and all the references are different. As a team we made some changes, and you saw when we got it in the window we were really quick and Kimi was really strong at points and then we were both off the pace at points. I never had it hooked up until that last lap in Q3. So, it’s just such a special feeling because there are times when you expect to be on pole and every lap you do is the quickest, but the times when you are fighting for it and you’re never up there and then it comes together on that final lap to be the one, it’s the best feeling in the world.

Q: What happened on run one in Q3? Why did you abandon?
GR: I just had no grip at the beginning of the lap. I think we were all struggling a bit for tyre temperature. Everybody was doing the preparation lap, which is quite unusual. It’s the first time of the whole season. We made some changes to try and improve that but the car was just out of sync, out of balance. I didn’t have the confidence and, as I said, it was quite a yo-yo session. You saw, you know, Isack was really quick in Q2. I think he was at the top and then I wasn’t sure where he ended up in Q3 but his lap time was incredible in Q2. So, it just goes to show how challenging it was for all of us and especially on a circuit like this where you’re dancing with the walls, it’s really difficult to get that flow. You need a huge amount of commitment to find that last couple of tenths.

Q: Yeah, it really came together. And you went out early for that final run. Just how confident were you starting the lap?
GR: Not massively, to be honest. Yeah, not massively. I knew I needed a big lap and on my preparation lap I saw Kimi on the TV screen going purple, so I was like, “Right, I need to bring something big here.” I never know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing when you see the person you’re fighting against on a really strong lap. But yeah, as I said, just brought it home and strong lap.

Q: Looks like it’s going to be the first wet race of the year tomorrow. Just how do you approach that? What does this evening look like? How do you prepare in the morning?
GR: To be honest, there’s not a lot we can do. We had this conversation last week in Miami as well. The truth is, the three of us haven’t driven in the rain. I do really enjoy the rain. It does offer some opportunities and the pace of the guys around us looked really strong in the dry this morning. So yeah, I’m definitely intrigued to see how it’s going to pan out in the rain. It’s not going to be easy. Wet races at the best of times aren’t easy, but the two of us are in the best place to start it. So yeah, looking forward to seeing what comes.

Q: Alright. Good luck with that. Thank you. Kimi, let’s continue. Very, very good job by you as well. So close. Just talk us through that final lap.
KA: Yeah, it was again 68 milliseconds. I’m going to remember that number for a very long time. Yeah, I mean, it was a difficult session. It started off very strong on used tyres and then it kind of faded away a little bit throughout the session. I had a really bad lap in Q3, really bad first lap, and then second lap I just tried to put things a bit more together. It was very difficult to get the tyres in the right window, especially for lap one. So of course, it was a pity to miss out by this close, but I think it was still a decent session and George did a great lap.

Q: You said the performance slipped away mid-session. Do you understand why?
KA: I think it was just really struggling to get the tyres in the right window, working them properly. I think that was the main issue for us. And then I had a little missed downshift on the last lap, into Turn 6, which threw me off a little bit. But the rest I think was pretty OK.

Q: Can we have a quick word on the updates that the team has brought here to Montréal. How are they performing? Did you make many changes to the car between the Sprint and qualifying?
KA: Not much, to be fair. I think the package has been working, but it has been changing the balance a little bit. I think also this weekend is a bit unique because tyres are so important to get them in the right window. So, I think we’re not seeing the full benefit of this new package. I think when we go back to Monaco and Barcelona, we will see much better the benefits of this package because here it’s just such a weird condition that I think just by having the tyres in the right window, it makes a big difference.

Q: So tyres in the right window in the dry is a challenge. What does it look like in the wet?
KA: Yeah, it’s going to be, let’s see how much rain, but it’s going to be even colder than these two days. So obviously when it rains and it’s cold, the grip is already very low and then, of course, this track is not an easy track to put temperature into the tyres. So yeah, it’s going to be all new for everyone tomorrow and whoever can get the most out of tyres in terms of temperature in the first few laps can make a difference. But it’s going to be very challenging.

Q: Very well done to you, Kimi. Thank you for that. And Lando, if we could come to you. It was looking good, Lando. It was looking good for you after that first run of Q3. Did you think you’d done enough?
LN: Well, it was looking good because the Mercedes didn’t do a lap yet! That’s the only reason I looked good. Until then, I was pretty happy, actually until that point. My lap, the 12.7, I was reasonably happy with. I thought there was a little bit more in it, which I tried to get out on my second lap, but didn’t really seem to be able to extract. So, I was happy. I think to be as close as we were to the Mercedes is a good thing. To be ahead, I think, would be an amazing surprise and would be over the moon. But to be this close I think still makes us pretty happy. So yeah, it was close. Obviously, like they said, the Red Bull and the Ferraris were up there at different points, so it was always going to be tight. But yeah, just, I guess, a shame to miss out by such small margins. But that’s how it is around here sometimes. Even last year, I think the pole was insanely close. So still a good qualifying, happy with it and better than it was yesterday, for sure.

Q: McLaren have brought upgrades to this race. Mercedes have as well. Coming into the weekend, did you think you’d be this close to them?
LN: Probably not, mainly because Mercedes always performed very well here, as a standalone event. Even last year when we were here, we probably quite easily had the best car and Mercedes were still on pole. So, they’ve always just done very well on this type of track. With them bringing upgrades, of course, we thought it would be tough to beat them. And the fact we’re not using some of our upgrades, I think we’re very surprised to be even this close. A lot of good signs. It’s nothing bad. It’s a lot of positives considering we’ve not been able to extract everything out of our upgrades just yet. It shows that there are still good things to come once we figure them out. So yeah, plenty of positives. But I think to beat the Mercedes around here, considering how strong they’ve been so far this season, is probably a little bit optimistic.

Q: So, does the wet weather give you more of an opportunity?
LN: I have no idea. Like you said, we’ve never driven in the rain. I don’t think anyone knows how difficult it’s going to be tomorrow to drive these cars around. Not bad, just how difficult it’s going to be. I mean, it is our job, so I think the expectation obviously should be there, but I think it could be an insanely tricky race. I mean, it’s difficult enough to get temperature into a Soft tyre, let alone when it’s 10 degrees colder tomorrow and we’re going to have Inters and Wets on the car. So yeah, excited. Very, very excited to see how it’s going to pan out tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) A question to Kimi and George. You both said earlier that you want to have another look at the incident from the sprint to kind of see what it looked like from the outside. I assume you’ve had a chance to do that. Did it change your opinion on it? And are there any lessons taken to the race about what is and isn’t allowed between you guys while racing wheel to wheel?
KA: Well, no. We had a discussion and we clarified and now it’s all good. So we’ve reviewed and we had a chat with Toto and it’s all good now.
GR: Yeah, as Kimi said, all good. Had a good discussion and we know what we need to do and how we’re going to race each other. And nothing’s going to change because we’ve always had that respect for one another. We’re not going to wave anybody by, doesn’t matter if he’s a competitor or a team-mate. Of course, we know the number one rule is never to crash with your team-mate. That isn’t what happened this morning and we finished first and third and that’s what we’ll continue to try and do.

Q: (Simon Cremer - Ici-radio-canada.ca) Question for George. Is there an added challenge to driving in the wet with the hybrid cars of this year’s regulation? I’m thinking about the torque distribution coming maybe quicker than a classic engine.
George RUSSELL: Well, because there have been no wet races as yet, with the FIA it was decided that they would reduce the power from 350 kilowatts to 250 kilowatts of battery. So, it’s still hundreds and hundreds of horsepower under our right foot. But I think what everybody is alluding to is just the tyres. That’s going to be the biggest challenge. These tyres only seem to work when they have temperature within them and with only 12, 13 degrees ambient tomorrow, it’s going to be really challenging to get that rubber softened to give us the grip. But the truth is, it’s the same for everyone. It’s going to be risky. It’s going to be challenging. Probably isn’t going to be very pleasant, but it’s part of the game and excited for that challenge.

Q: (Luca Scott – TSN 690) George and Kimi, what is it about Montreal that brings out the best in you guys? Obviously George, your third consecutive pole, Kimi your first podium here. What in particular about this track brings out the best in your ability?
GR: Well, I think the team has to take the credit because clearly our car historically takes a step at this circuit. As for the last two years, we struggled with the tyres getting too hot. So, when we came to Montreal and it was quite cold, we were in a much nicer window and probably our competitors’ tyres were too cold. As for this year, I think we’re doing a really good job with the tyres and I think the situation is potentially reversed. Hence why the gap was maybe so close today. Of course, McLaren had brought upgrades. They look really competitive. So yeah, it probably was more plain sailing to get the pole position last year than it has been for Kimi and I today.
KA: Yeah, I mean, not a lot to add. I think because our car this year is much better on tyres, on cooling as well, I think probably it hasn’t been as good this weekend because being cold and just getting the tyre in the right window, we’ve been struggling a bit more to get the tyres in the right window. So I think of course the team this year has been doing an incredible job on giving us such a strong car, such a strong package. So I think today was very close for many reasons. But yeah, I think this year we don’t feel as strong, at least that’s the feeling me and George have. Last year we felt a bit stronger. But as I said earlier in this interview, it’s just so difficult this weekend to get tyres in the right window.

Q: (Radek Mazal – TV Nova) George, was it maybe the most important pole position for you in your career? Because when we heard the reaction on the team radio, you were celebrating like it felt like if you won the race.
GR: I had a really good conversation with Toto, talking about success and the feeling of victories and pole positions, and the feeling in Melbourne when we were quickest in FP3, quickest in Q1, quickest in Q2, quickest in Q3 and going on to pole, and how that felt compared with, for example, Canada last year when we weren’t quite in the mix and I gained seven tenths in my last lap to get that pole. And straight away I knew I was there. And that adrenaline is like nothing else. I can imagine it’s like scoring a goal in football, where you’re building up to it and then you achieve it, and all that adrenaline comes out. Whereas in Melbourne, as an example, or when you do have the most competitive car, sometimes I wouldn’t say… The expectation is if you’re not on pole, it’s a failure, if that makes sense sometimes. So that was the case today. It didn’t feel like pole was on the cards and it’s not important for a championship or anything. It was just such a great feeling because I did a really great lap. It all was hooked up together. I crossed the line. I see my name’s gone to the top of the leaderboard and I knew that was pole. And that rush of adrenaline within the space of 10 seconds is what we all live for.

Q: (Francois-David Rouleau – Journal de Montréal) A question for George and Kimi. Earlier this afternoon, who initiated the discussion after the Sprint race?
GR: It was together. We’re both team-mates and we have a good bond. It was obvious that we needed to have a chat. But when the helmet’s on, that’s one thing. Out the car, we’re both professionals and it was no real big deal afterwards. Of course, there’s always emotions in the cockpit. Nothing is personal when it’s on track. And for us now, it’s history and we just look forward.

Q: (Francois-David Rouleau – Journal de Montréal) And if I may, as a follow-up, George, as the 28-year-old, were you able to understand Kimi’s frustration after reviewing the sequence?
GR: No, for sure. Even being 28 years old, if I was in his position and he was in my position, I probably would have reacted the same. Because if something doesn’t pay off in the moment and you feel like you’ve been hard done by, you think the other guy is in the wrong. And that’s just natural. We’re racers, we’re fighters and we wear our heart on our sleeve. It’s just part of racing. As we always say as F1 drivers, you put a microphone on the 22 footballers on the field and they get a bad tackle or whatever, they’re not going to say, “Thank you very much.” So, we’re just in this tough position that everything we think and feel is broadcast to the world. We don’t regret anything we say. Of course, maybe you wish you said something different, but we’re here to fight. And as Sebastian Vettel says, “We’re not in kindergarten.” Is that what he says? I don’t know. Is that what he said? Yeah.