1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Paul Di Resta)
Q: Max, congratulations – pole position. It looked like the perfect
driver/car combination today; nothing was going to stop you?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, our car was really good. I think throughout qualifying
the track temperature was changing a bit so we had to adjust for that, but
yeah, straight away from Q1 the car was flying and it was really enjoyable
to drive, so very happy with this pole position.
Q: How nerve-racking was it? We saw you make a small mistake in the middle
sector on your first run. It still put you quickest but you had to put the
final touches on that to try to improve.
MV: Yeah, I tried a different line, but also the track was a bit warmer and
that gave me a bit more oversteer and then of course I went a bit wide. The
second lap, luckily, was a bit better, so yeah, all; good.
Q: And this track owes you something from last year.
MV: I will of course try to finish to the plan.
Q: Sebastian, second again, narrowly missing out on pole, but I guess you’ve
got to be satisfied that you’re on the front row?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I had a bit of a wobble in the exit of the last
corner on the first run but I think Max improved his time, so fair play and
I think it’s his pole position. Yeah, happy with the front row. Now we will
see what we can do tomorrow. The car has been good. I think it got better
throughout qualifying, which was the target. I think we improved it and I
hope that we can keep that momentum for the race.
Q: How do you see the race panning out? Do you think you are in the mix to
race Red Bull, or do you think they’re too quick?
SV: It will be difficult. Both Red Bull and Mercedes look a bit stronger
managing tyres, but we are there for a reason: we’ve got the speed and we’ve
got the power, so let’s see what the race brings. I am carefully optimistic.
I think it should be a good race.
Q: Great, have fun. Lewis, it was a great battle at the top between three of
the big teams. You must be happy where you are, at the same time that you’re
in the mix for tomorrow?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, definitely. Congrats to Max, a great lap by him. We
seemed quite competitive in P3 and then we seemed to lose going into
qualifying, or they gained. But no, nonetheless, I’m very happy that I was
able to divide the Ferraris, that’s always a tough challenge. We’ve been
down on power, I guess, compared to the others particularly, that’s where we
lose most of our time. But nonetheless, I guess it absolutely everything
that I had and I’m glad at the end, my best lap of the session was my last
run – awesome.
Q: On the back of your sixth world title, Lewis, I know this is a pretty
special place for you to come. You embrace Ayrton Senna and see the
Brazilian fans. What’s it going to mean tomorrow?
LH: Yeah, I mean, this is such a tough race to win. The track is very, very
challenging and there’s so much history here, so every time we come, of
course for me… I’m often putting Senna’s helmet design on my helmet, just
reminiscent… I remember watching him winning here and how crazy the crowd
went. But I seem to have a lot of support here, so obrigado to everyone
here.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Taking the second pole position of his Formula 1 career, Max Verstappen.
Max you couldn’t…
MV: You said two; I have three. I consider myself this is my third.
SV: Mexico?
MV: Yeah.
SV: Ah, yeah.
MV: And then Hungary. So this is my third. He said second. This is my third.
Q: We can discuss this afterwards, Max! You couldn’t have been more dominant
throughout qualifying. Just how good was that final lap of Q3 and how
surprised have you been at the dominance of the Red Bull car around this
Interlagos track?
MV: I think the last few races have already been quite strong. I think from
today we changed the car a but from yesterday and it seemed to work really
well and especially in qualifying it really came alive. It had really good
balance. Already in Q2 it felt really good.
LH: You turned more power up?
MV: You don’t do that through qualifying? And then Q3 I think also the track
got a bit warmer, so it was a bit more tricky to get the lap time out of it…
SV: Go ahead…
MV: Why are you laughing?
SV: I’m in a world of my own. You go ahead.
Q: How good was that last lap though?
MV: The last lap was pretty decent. It was alright. There are always things
you can do better, but it was good enough.
Q: And you’ve already touched on the track temperature. Is that how you
explain how you were a tiny bit quicker in Q2 than in Q3?
MV: Like I just explained to them, I didn’t tuck in on my last run, but I
did that in Q2, which gave me two tenths or a one tenth advantage. That’s
why we had such good top speed.
Q: And Max, are you confident for tomorrow? Do you feel that you have a good
race car under you?
MV: Yeah, I guess so. The car already yesterday was not bad. I think today
it improved, so normally it should also be better in the race but I guess we
have to find out.
Q: Sebastian, just a tiny bit off pole today. Were you pleased with the
balance of your car?
SV: Yeah, I was actually. It was getting better. I think we were a bit shy
yesterday, more aggressive this morning, which was a step forward, and in
quali it seemed to go up and get better – but I think also the track
ramped-up, so yeah, obviously it’s good to, y’know, get in the front row. I
was having a very good first attempt in Q3, went a little bit wide in the
final turn – I don’t think I was the only one – but yeah, I think Max’s
second time was a bit far away so I think we have to admit that we got
beaten fair and square today. It was a bit of a surprise… not to see them
that quick but to see them that quick on the straights. So, a little bit
suspicious…
MV: For once it’s you then!
Q: And Sebastian, looking ahead to tomorrow, do you think you’ve got a
competitive race car under you?
SV: Yeah, I think so. Obviously we know the race for us is maybe not as
strong as quali but I was quite pleased with the balance and we therefore
did another long run this morning in practice and it felt much better than
yesterday. So that gives me hope for tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, coming on to you, didn’t look like an easy session for you – only
time in the top three was right at the end of Q3. Could you just give us
your thoughts on your car and how the session went?
LH: It’s not too often it always goes particularly easy but it was
definitely a challenging session. I think P3 was really strong for us and
obviously once we got to qualifying, these guys had great pace and we were
losing out to Max on the straights by quite a chunk, which is where the
majority of the time was coming from but just kept chipping away at it. The
last lap was as really as good as it could get really for us. The car
actually felt really good, we were just lacking a little bit of pace on the
straights but hopefully tomorrow that’ll put us in a good position in terms
of longevity on the stints. Maybe. Who knows? But otherwise I’m happy to be
able to split the Ferraris. It always puts a smile on my face.
Q: Lewis, looking ahead to the race, now that the Championship’s in the bag,
can we expect any different approach from you or anything different from
you?
LH: My approach is pretty much the same all year long but maybe we can try
to be a bit more aggressive tomorrow, we can have some fun with these guys –
but yeah, I don’t particularly see that there’s any reason to make any
changes. That’s ultimately what’s got me to where I am today, so I’ll just
continue with that.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchioF1.com) The question is to Max and I ask
also Sebastian and Lewis to comment. Max, you were really fast in the last
sector, which is 1,200m full throttle. Can you make a comment about the
development of the Honda engine? Also, Lewis, Mercedes power unit and
Sebastian, Ferrari, comment about development of Honda please.
MV: Well, I was not the fastest in the last sector but we were the fastest
in the second sector, which is where the most corners are. I think
throughout the whole year, both from the chassis side and the engine side,
we’ve made good gains and yeah, we just continue to work like that. And also
experiment for next year. So yeah, very happy of course with the progress
throughout the season.
SV: Well, obviously there’s no progress from one race to another because
it’s the same engine I support. I don’t know, I haven’t checked but I don’t
think they have introduced a new spec. I think it was a bit of a surprise,
usually we’ve seen a lot of qualifying sessions and we were always a bit
faster than everyone on the straights, losing a bit in the corners but today
we were as quick, or Max and Alex were as fast on the straights as us, so…
that’s about it. I don’t know why. I don’t think, I mean I know we didn’t do
anything different, so…
Q: Lewis, Honda’s progress this year?
LH: It’s obviously great for the sport that we have another manufacturer
that’s starting to produce good engines and helping the third team get up
there. I don’t fully understand it because we’ve only had the few engines
that we’ve had. I don’t know if you can bring upgrades to the engine, I
don’t know. Anyway, they’re very, very quick and we’ve got work to do,
that’s for sure but my boys back home are working as hard as they can for
next year.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, there seems to be a growing support for you
to be knighted back at home, given your achievements. Just your thoughts
please? Obviously a massive privilege. Motorsport is often overlooked in the
Queen’s Honours List but obviously you’ve done something which only two
people have done, winning the title six times, so your thoughts on that?
LH: Honestly, I don’t really like to think too much about it. Just the fact
that people have mentioned it, it’s already an honour, but it’s not been
something that I’ve been chasing in my life. If, at any point, that was to
happen, I don’t particularly know how I would handle it. I have stood in
front of Her Majesty The Queen before and it was pretty incredible and I
think she’s just awesome. Again, I don’t think it’s going to happen, and
again, it doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean I’m not British.
It doesn’t mean I’m not continuing to try and raise the flag as well as I
can but I do appreciate all the support I’ve had from my fans and also from
the British media.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Why don’t you think you’ll get it?
LH: I don’t know, I just don’t think about it. I don’t know.
SV: Do you get a sword? That would be cool if you get to keep the sword.
LH: It’s just not something that you grow up thinking of. I’m really
grateful just to be… I’ve got the MBE next Monday. It’s cool.
MV: Is it going to be MBE, OBE, what else?
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) He will be Sir Lewis. You’ll have to call him Sir
Lewis.
MV: You don’t have to, do you?
SV: We are so much older than Max, he has to call us mister, at least, and
then you’ve got to call Lewis Sir.
Q: (Gianfranco Papini – Momento GP) Sebastian, what do you think is going to
be the key to defeat Max in the race tomorrow?
SV: Well, we know that they are very quick in the race as well so I think…
yeah, we did improve our car. The key will be to have a good start, I think,
ideally get ahead and then I think we manage the tyres, we make the right
call on strategy so we will see what happens tomorrow. I think in the end,
we are racing here in Interlagos and for some reason there is always
something crazy happening, so it might rain tomorrow, even though they say
it’s sunshine but here you never know.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max, including the pole in Mexico, this is
the first time that Red Bull have had three poles in the V6 turbo hybrid era
so how significant is it for the team and for Honda to have a milestone like
that in the first year? And to Lewis, Seb mentioned that he’s a bit
surprised to see their performance here, especially in a straight line. Are
you surprised as well?
MV: Yeah, of course it’s good. Like I said before, we’ve been continuously
improving throughout the season. Of course some tracks have been a bit
better for us than others. Already last year I think here we were quite good
but yeah, I think again we made a step forward this year, we learned from
our mistakes in some recent races and we came back stronger and everything
is working well so yeah, of course very happy with three poles but at the
end of the day there are more races than that and we want more pole
positions.
LH: I don’t really know what to say. Yeah, of course, didn’t expect to come
here and see… because I don’t think in the last race they had a speed
deficit to us so... On top of that, they were quickest in the middle sector
so they’ve obviously still got the same amount of downforce but obviously
more power this weekend and considering we are at higher altitude, I have no
idea where that stuff comes from.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchiof1.com) Lewis, yesterday with the asphalt
at 23 degrees, you and Valtteri were a little faster in the simulation of
the race with the medium tyres and also hard. Do you think now, with the new
conditions and the asphalt more hot you can keep this small advantage you
have from both these guys in race conditions?
LH: I really have no idea. I think in general our race trim has often been
quite good. I think the cars… these guys seem to continue to step it up a
little bit more in terms of their performances have been improving,
improving through the year. I think it’s definitely going to be a close race
tomorrow, it’s not an easy track to overtake on but tyre durability has been
a strength of ours or at least, I’ve found for me, so if that’s the same
tomorrow then hopefully yeah, I can utilise that. |