1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
3 – Kimi ANTONELLI (Mercedes)

PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Martin Brundle)

Q: Many congratulations, Max. First of all, on the birth of Lily this week, what a wonderful week you've had already. First time I've had a chance to see you – spectacular – and then today pole position. Where do you find this time? It's extraordinary. You magic time up out of somewhere.

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it's been a great qualifying, I think we improved the car a tiny amount as well, which helped me to basically rotate it a bit better and honestly, you know Q1, Q2, Q3 just improving every run, really, trying to find a bit more the limit. I had a tiny moment on my final lap into Turn 1, so I lost a bit of time there. But around here it's just very complicated with the tyres over a lap, but at the end it worked out well so I'm very happy to be on pole.

Q: Yeah, because the back end stepped out on you in Turn 1. But you obviously had the confidence just to keep pinning it.

MV:. I mean, you can back out of it, but it's qualifying, so you try to correct it and just floor it out of the corner.

Q: So you're in the right place. It could well be wet tomorrow. The track was pretty difficult earlier on today in the Sprint.

MV: Yeah. Let's see. I mean, race pace, I don't know. We have to wait and see for the weather, but it's the best starting position – that's always positive. And then in the race, of course, a whole different story, but of course we'll try to maximise everything we can.

Q: Lando P2, top McLaren but Max found the ounce of extra speed somehow,

Lando NORRIS: Yeah. No, hat’s off to Max, especially being a dad now. I was hoping he was going to slow down a little bit, but it clearly didn't. So no, I'm happy with today. I'm happy with the progress I've been making with the car, with myself. So no, Max did a Max lap once again and I can't fault him. So happy and yeah, excited for tomorrow.

Q: You were right there, but you had a little lock-up into T17.

LN: I did. Yeah. Yeah. I think even that lap, well, it’s all ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda’ stuff, you know. But I didn't deliver. But yeah, no, I mean the pace was there. The car has been feeling good. I've been feeling better than I have done over the last few weekends. I've still not put it together, but it is what it is. Max on pole and P2, so yeah, ready to see what we can do into Turn 1.

Q: Yeah, especially if it should it rain tomorrow. You were mighty on the intermediates earlier on in the Sprint.

LN: I was. So let's pray for that. You know, I don't really mind if it's going to be dry or wet, but Miami seems to be surprising quite a bit with the weather at the minute. So I'm ready for both.

Q: Kimi, another outstanding performance in your rookie season, top three. You were on pole for the Sprint. I mean you must be so satisfied. So pleased with what you're achieving this weekend.

Kimi ANTONELLI: Yeah, I mean, this weekend is going well so far. Was a bit disappointing this morning, but it was good to bounce back this way and yeah, I struggled a little bit during the quali. I didn't have such a clean run like I had yesterday. But yeah, that last lap was quite good. I was a bit too greedy in Turn 1 starting the lap, but the rest of the lap was quite good, so I'm happy with it.

Q: I think it was more than quite good. You split the mighty McLarens to put yourself right in contention.

KA: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely... the gaps are super tight and definitely, you know, if you can gain just few hundredths, you can make up so many places. So it's really about putting everything together. And so far this weekend, I'm doing that and yeah, hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Max, very well done. We've seen some brilliant poles by you this year, and this looked like another one. Did you extract the absolute maximum from the car in that second run of Q3?
Max VERSTAPPEN: I think apart from entry to Turn 1, yes. But yeah, it's just been really tricky to get the tyres in the right window over a whole lap. So I think in hindsight… Of course, you never want to have a little oversteer moment on entry, but over the whole lap I did feel a bit more comfortable. So yeah, of course, very happy to be in pole. I think every qualifying, like Q1, Q2, Q3, just kept on chipping away at it and just kept on improving a little bit. So that's exactly what you want.

Q: You found a couple of tenths between run one and run two in Q3. Where do you think that time came from?
MV: Just a little bit in 7–8 and then a little bit in the second sector. And then I think a tiny bit in the last corner maybe. So yeah, little bits everywhere.

Q: We've seen some developments on the car this weekend, particularly on the floor. Just give us a few words on how the car is performing, how the upgrades are performing.
MV: I mean, we are still struggling a little bit with our limitations in the car, but I do think that we've been quite decent over a lap, if you look at the cornering, we're a bit slow on the straight this week. Then I think especially McLaren and Mercedes, and they took a new engine and of course that always gives a little bit more power than a used engine. But yeah, it seems like it's a little bit better. Of course, the long run is a different story. The tyres get really hot around here. But of course tomorrow I don't know what will happen in terms of rain or not, how warm it will be. To be honest, the colder it is I think the better.

Q: Just if it's dry tomorrow, how do you see it playing out in terms of particularly tyre wear?
MV: I don't know, to be honest. No one has really done any proper long running because of also the Sprint race being wet mainly. So yeah, I just try to do the best I can to manage my tyres to what the car can do, and then we'll see what that will bring us.

Q: Final one for me. This is a very different racetrack to where we've seen you on pole earlier this year. How encouraging is that for you?
MV: It's good. I mean, coming into the weekend I knew that this was not our strongest track with all the low speed, but actually I think when you look at the data it's probably not even most of our problem around the lap. So I guess that is already a positive.

Q: Best of luck. Very well done. Thank you, Max. Lando, let's come to you now. So close to that pole position. Can you visualise where the time went?
Lando NORRIS: Yes, I can.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit more? Did it look like 17? Is that the biggest problem?
LN: Yep. You got it right. Yeah. I just didn't quite put it together, but that's it.

Q: Look, you say you didn't quite put it together, but Lando, this has been a really strong qualifying for you. Better than we've seen at the last couple of races. Just how encouraging is that for you?
LN: Very. I mean, I'm very happy with the end result. Just a shame when you miss out on pole, so that's the only frustrating bit. But I think I've been trying different things, I've been doing different things with the team to try and work a bit more in this area and things have been taking a step forward. So I'm happy. Maybe not quite there yet, but happy with the progress.

Q: Throw it forward to tomorrow. Do you feel this racetrack presents more opportunity for you than, let's say, a track like Suzuka?
LN: Yeah, I would say so. I mean, the DRS helps a lot around here with the overtaking. It's what you need. You also have some much bigger braking zones than you have in Suzuka, so I hope so anyway. I hope that's the case and we can have a good race tomorrow. But I don't just expect competition from Max. Kimi's been quick all weekend and Oscar has been as well. So yeah, I just expect a tough race from all accounts.

Q: Very well done. Thank you for that. Kimi, great to see you in the top three qualifying press conference. You've been flying all weekend. Let's just start by talking about that last run in Q3. How good was it?
Kimi ANTONELLI: It was quite OK. I struggled a little bit during the qualifying. I felt like I didn't have such a clean run as yesterday’s Sprint Quali. I struggled more today to put the tyre in the right window and to extract the best out of it during the whole lap. I think the last lap was a bit better on that side, still not amazing, but really happy with the result.

Q: Kimi, you've been the faster of the two Mercedes drivers all weekend. That must be very encouraging for you. But just from a performance point of view, have you unleashed something in the car that means you're happier in it now?
KA: Definitely. I mean, every weekend is learning and experience and more confidence with the car as well. So really, really happy with how every weekend I'm more able to play a lot more with the car and trying to explore the limit as well. So far this weekend I felt really good in the car. So that's definitely a positive. And hopefully tomorrow we can do a good race.

Q: Tell us a little bit more about your goals for tomorrow. The Sprint obviously this morning was disappointing in the end. What is your target for the Miami Grand Prix?
KA: I don't really want to say because it always goes terribly wrong! So I'm just going try to have a good start and then try to set a good pace and stay with Max and Lando. It's not going to be easy of course, but we'll see , first of all, how's the weather, because there are some thunderstorms probably, so that might not be really nice. But yeah, let's just see how the weather is going to be and then we'll try to do our best with what we have. Definitely also in FP1 we did quite a long run, so we were able to collect good data on the dry and hopefully we can have a good pace in the race.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Scott Mitchell-Malm – The Race) Question for Max. Max, you've been up there every time the car's been capable of it this season. In order for that to translate into a season-long Championship bid, how much more do you need from the team side? Is it car improvements? Is it also execution as well? We had the pit stop problem in Bahrain and then obviously the unsafe release earlier in the Sprint.
MV: Yeah, all of it. Yeah, we need to make less mistakes and we need to find more performance. I think it's quite straightforward. It's just not easy to extract or find. You know, that's how it is. But we keep pushing, keep trying to bring bits to the car to make it faster.

Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Max, just on that car update as well. You said I think in the Parc Fermé interview that it makes it a bit easier to rotate through the corners, but in terms of widening the set-up window as well, is it a bit easier to find that sweet spot or is it still just as narrow as it was before with this update?

MV: Just changed the setup a bit from before to now—that's why it rotated a bit better. What we are trying to achieve of course is a better balance in the car. Now this track is not always the easiest to say that you have improved or nailed something because it's just a really weird layout I would say. So it takes a bit more time. But for sure it was not negative. And yeah, from here we can work and try to improve it further because from my feeling, of course, we're not there yet. We need quite a bit more to be really in a fight.

Q: (Nate Saunders – ESPN) Max, obviously a really big week for you with everything at home. How have the last few days been for you, flying so far away from Europe straight after the birth of Lily? Have you been constantly checking your phone? A lot of phone calls back home and stuff like that?
MV: It's been good to be able to spend a few days at home before coming here. When she's just born, you want to make sure everything is OK. Clearly it didn't make me slower as well, being a dad. So that's the positive. We can throw that out of the window as well for people mentioning it. And yeah, when I was here, honestly, yeah, just quite fluent. Anyway, I'm in contact a lot with my girlfriend throughout the day. So, you know, getting pictures and FaceTime a bit. It's always there. But now one more member in the family.

Q: (Mark Mann-Bryans – Autosport) Lando, obviously Oscar and yourself are 1–2 in the Drivers’ Championship. McLaren lead the Constructors’ Championship. But is the guy next to you the man who's actually getting the most out of his car on a more consistent basis so far this season, do you think?
LN: Impossible to know, you know, what car he's got compared to us. The advantage we have is two quick drivers and they don’t, or we have a car that's capable of allowing drivers to drive it quicker. But yeah, impossible to know, impossible to actually know the difference between the two cars.

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday / Motorsport Week) Lando, we're seeing a totally different human being here to what we saw on Thursday afternoon. What's the secret? What's changed?
LN: Thursday afternoon? Why Thursday?

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday / Motorsport Week) Yes, Thursday afternoon, when you were talking in the press conference—just being you, not negative, but you weren't exactly the human being you are right now. You're positive, bubbly...
LN: What’s the problem then! I don't know. I'm working on things I keep to myself.

Q: (Sahil Kapur – NBC) Kimi, your pace was very strong in both quali sessions. How much of it do you see as track specific? Is this track just clicking for you really well or have you unlocked something in that Mercedes that we should expect to see more of in the tracks that you know better coming up?
KA: Well, I don't know. I did FP1 and I felt good and I was able to push the car more to the limit. I think that is down a lot to also experience and confidence. I think also having a week break after a triple-header was really helpful as well for myself to gather all the information. So definitely a lot of experience, also understanding how to extract more out of the tyre during the whole lap—something I haven’t been doing well during the season. There's still room for improvement, but yeah, I feel better and better in the car every weekend. So hopefully after this weekend, we're going to European tracks, tracks that I know well, and hopefully I can maintain the same pace or even go faster.

Q: (Nate Saunders – ESPN) Next question for Lando and Max. You've got Kimi with you today. He was on pole yesterday, third place again today. What do you both make of what he's been doing, not just across the season, but this weekend and at such a young age?
MV: I'm not surprised. But again, when you just start in Formula 1, there's so much to learn and to already be at this pace is very impressive. But I'm not surprised at the same time. He’ll only get better, to be honest. It's as simple as that.
LN: I think I've fed his ego enough! I mean, similar thing. He's in Formula 1 for a reason. Everything else he did in his car racing career has been very strong. He's got a very good team-mate that beat Lewis over the last couple of years. So if he's now able to beat that team-mate, being George, then he's clearly doing a very good job.
KA: Too kind!

Q: (Scott Mitchell-Malm – The Race) Kimi, you've learned so much over these first few weekends. How much did you learn from the start of the Sprint race earlier? Do you still feel on review that you were unfairly pushed wide, or when you've looked at it, do you think there were things that you could have done differently into Turn 1?
KA: Well, I mean it was very on the limit, to be honest. My second phase on the start was not good. I broke traction, so that allowed Oscar to come alongside. Then obviously I started turning because the corner was there, and probably we were both on the limit on braking and eventually we touched and then I went wide and lost many places. But yeah, definitely tomorrow it's going to be a bit of a different story because I'm starting second row. Definitely a lot learned from that start.

Q: (Mark Mann-Bryans – Autosport) Max, you mentioned about these suggestions that you might slow down now you're a father. I just wondered what you thought when you first saw them. Was there ever a doubt in your mind that you might come and be a different kind of driver after Lilly came along?
MV: Yeah, I don’t really listen to these kind of silly things. Just do my thing. I think there are enough racing drivers in the past that have been World Champion even after having kids, you know? So I don't even know where that comes from.