FIA post-race press conference – China

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 2. Lando Norris (McLaren), 3. George Russell (Mercedes)

TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Ho Pin Tung)

Q: Oscar, very dominant win, 1-2 for McLaren. Is this the start of your title campaign?

Oscar PIASTRI: I hope so. No, it’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish. The car’s been pretty mega the whole time. I think today was a bit of a surprise with how different the tyres behaved, but no, super… yeah, just proud of the whole weekend. This is what I feel like I deserved from last week. No, extremely happy. The team did an amazing job, 1-2 obviously. So yeah, very, very happy.

Q: Very happy with the track rubbering in. Were the tyre wear less than expected?

OP: Yes, I think on the Medium it was still a bit tricky, but much better than yesterday. And the Hard was a much better tyre than everyone expected, I think, or certainly than we expected. So yeah, to go all the way to the end like that was a bit of a surprise. But a happy surprise. So, very, very proud of the race we managed to pull off. It wasn’t an easy one going in and yeah, just proud of the whole team and the weekend I’ve been able to pull off.

Q: Yesterday, you joked about being 1/16th Chinese. Anything to say to your home crowd?

OP: Thank you. It’s not a joke, by the way! I do have Chinese heritage somewhere. But no, thanks for the support. The crowd’s been exceptional this week. There’s a few too many Lewis Hamilton fans, but that’s OK. We’ll convert some of you next year, so thanks for coming out. The support’s been incredible this year, so I have really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Q: Lando, lots of support behind us. Can I say, two crucial moments in the race for you: the start overtaking George in T1, and then off the pit stops again into T1 on George?

Lando NORRIS: Yeah, a few fun moments. The start, I was kind of hoping for exactly that, so Turn 1 went to plan. But then George got me on the pit stops and I was a little bit nervous, but our pace was a lot better in the second stint. So, tough race, just with the management, and I don’t think many people expected a one-stop today. So it was good. Oscar drove well. He was quick the whole race. I tried to get close, but in the end just couldn’t.

Q: Did you feel at any stage of the race you were able to challenge Oscar for the win?

LN: It doesn’t matter now, really, does it? It doesn’t matter. He deserved the win and he drove very well all weekend. So I’m happy with second. It’s good points. It’s great points for us as a team with a 1-2. So a big thanks to everyone in papaya and yeah, just how we wanted the race to go, so very happy, yeah.

Q: And then at the end, probably the worst feeling a driver can have — a brake pedal going long. How difficult was it to nurse that?

LN: It’s scary. It’s like my worst nightmare. You know, whenever I have a nightmare, it’s when the brakes are failing, and I was losing 2, 3, 4 seconds the last couple of laps. So I was a bit scared, but we survived and we made it to the end. I would have loved to have given it a little try and put Oscar under a little bit of pressure, but not today. So we’re satisfied. Great result and we’ll go again next time.

Q: George, P3, congratulations. You looked quite racy in the beginning. Did you feel at any moment there was more possible than P3, perhaps?

George RUSSELL: Yeah, it’s a great result finishing P3, especially in front of all these fans here. It’s just been amazing support for everybody this weekend, so thank you so much for that. But yeah, really great race, really pleased with the P3. We knew the McLarens were a smidge quicker than us at a few crucial points, but well done to them.

Q: Yeah, it looked like you kind of set the path for all the others as well. You were one of the first to call that a one-stop strategy was possible.

GR: Yeah, I felt it from quite early on that a one-stop could be possible and it turned out to be slightly easier than we probably all anticipated. But nevertheless, the car’s been great this weekend. Probably one of my best weekends in Formula 1 in terms of the overall performance, so I’m really pleased with that, and just really maximising every single time out on track. So pleased again to be on the podium.

Q: Yeah, I guess a little bit of a lonely race perhaps for you. Did you expect more pressure from behind?

GR: I mean, Charles was putting me under quite a lot of pressure for a few laps after the pit stop, and obviously it was a bit dicey with Lando for a few laps, but from there on it was quite a straightforward race.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Many congratulations, Oscar. It was a faultless drive from pole and you described the car as very lovely. Just how special does this one feel?

OP: Yeah, very satisfying. Obviously, I think, you know, it’s always a pretty good day when you cross the line first, that’s obvious. But I think for me this has been the most satisfying, not just race, but weekend for myself.
You know, I think the two wins I had previously were very different, and I think this one’s been the most complete. So I’m very, very happy with the whole effort of the whole team this weekend. I think we started with a car that was quick, but pretty tricky at times, and I think we did a good job of trying to tackle that. And to come away with this result is a perfect end to the weekend.

Q: There was a lot of talk about tyre wear going into the race, yet you managed 42 laps on the hard tyre. At what point did a one-stop become apparent?

OP: I mean probably about 10–15 laps on the Hard. You know, I think already on the Medium it was easier than in the Sprint, but I think the Hard behaved much better than we all expected. I think George might have a different answer on that, but certainly for me, I went into it thinking it would be a two-stop and then even early in the race I still thought that, and was pleasantly surprised that the Hard was as strong as it was.

Q: McLaren delivered a very strong performance here to take its 50th 1–2 finish. How much confidence does it give you going into Suzuka next time?

OP: A lot. I think we’ve obviously had a quick car this weekend, but like I said, it’s not been as straightforward as it was in Melbourne. And I think, you know, to still have this result here is a really encouraging sign for us.
I think there’s still going to be bumps along the road and things we can try and work on, but ultimately I think we’re in a pretty happy place at the moment and, yeah, excited for the rest of the year.

Q: Oscar, many congratulations. Thank you. Lando, let’s come to you. Many congratulations to you. A very strong performance in what was not a straightforward Grand Prix for you. How do you reflect on the race, first of all?

LN: Tough race. Yeah. I mean, I’m just satisfied for the result, for the team. You know, 50th 1–2 for McLaren is quite an achievement, so happy to be part of that, first of all, and a great race by Oscar. I’m happy considering how bad my last few days have been and how much I struggled just to get comfortable and understand how to drive the car. To go to the pace I had today, which I think was very strong, it was a much better race than I was thinking I was going to have. I was not confident one bit and yeah, I was nervous that I was going to struggle just as badly, honestly. But very satisfied to know how much I’ve improved from a car point of view, from a driving point of view. Today was a much stronger day, so I’m more satisfied to know I’ve got answers for my struggles and yeah, that makes me happy. But I’m of course more happy for the 1–2 for the team.

Q: Can we elaborate on this, Lando? What changes did you make to the car?

LN: That’s stuff the team will know, and probably no one else, but we made a good amount of changes. Obvious ones, to try and improve the front end. I just can’t drive a car with no front. I can, but I struggle, and it’s just been too understeery, simply, the car, the last few days—I cannot maximise the package that way.
I think we both struggled a lot yesterday with that, and it shows that our pace today was from both of us a lot stronger than it was yesterday. So I think we’re both still, as a team we’re still understanding this car and knowing its limitations, how to get the most out of it. But I feel like, especially for me, in the longer run stuff and even the short run stuff, I’ve not been anywhere near as confident as I would like to be, and I’ve not got the feeling from the car that I need in order to maximise the performance. But today was a much better showing of that and a much better understanding of it. So yeah, made some tweaks with the car, mechanically and aerodynamically, and it was a much better day today. So I’m happy with it.

Q: Much better day today until the brake issues started to reveal themselves. At what point in the race did that happen?

LN: I think they started to go quite early. But, you know, you always get a bit of a tendency for the brakes to get a tiny bit longer. I think the team were hiding it from me because they saw the problem starting a lot earlier and they knew it was going to be a problem. But like the last 10 laps, I was pretty nervous about just being able to finish the race because it was noticeable how much worse it was getting every single lap and every braking zone. It’s really not a nice feeling when you’re in the car and you expect a nice solid pedal and there’s just nothing and it goes to the floor. Doesn’t fill you with confidence, especially on a fast track like this.
So we were lucky simply to finish the race and still to finish ahead of George. We were very lucky. I think the last couple laps were 3 or 4 seconds or more off. So we had a difficult ending and I would have loved to have pushed a little bit more and tried to give Oscar a bit of a run, but not today. So something we need to understand and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Q: Alright. Thank you for that. Good job. Let’s come to you now, George. Well done to you as well. You said this is one of your best weekends in Formula 1. What’s been especially satisfying about it?

GR: I think just being fully maximised every time on track. Really happy with qualifying yesterday, getting in between the McLarens. And then the race today was really strong. Called it pretty early about the one-stop and it was a bit frustrating it was so clear in the end because I was hoping those guys ahead would have gone onto the two-stop. And we know at the moment we’re trying our best to catch McLaren—these guys are doing an amazing job. And for us to end up quite a bit ahead of Max and the Ferraris right now, that’s a great result.

Q: You started on the front row. How important was that to ensure you finished on the podium?

GR: Yeah, I think it was pretty vital. Obviously I lost out to Lando at the first corner. Oscar did a really good job at defending, and it’s always a bit difficult when it’s such a high-speed first corner. I thought I could sneak underneath him and he covered me pretty well. But for sure, if we qualified behind Max and the Ferraris yesterday, I don’t think we would have been standing on the podium today. So I think that was pretty crucial.

Q: And how do you see Mercedes’ pace relative to the McLarens now after a sample of two races?

GR: I think their strength is probably in tyre management. And today we saw the one-stop was pretty comfortable. So let’s see when we go to a circuit where it’s much more overheating, like we saw in Melbourne on the Intermediate tyres or like we saw in Bahrain testing. They were even stronger. So they did an amazing job. These two have done a great job, and we need to keep pushing to close that gap.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Michael Butterworth – Xinhua News Agency) Lando, the problem that you ran into—was that something that you and the team had anticipated maybe running into before the race? And is it something that concerns you going into Suzuka, where we’ve got some pretty heavy braking zones?

LN: I really hope not! No, no expectation of it. I think it was an issue that happened that shouldn’t have happened, basically. I think it was rapidly getting worse, probably quicker than the team were anticipating when they saw it. I think they saw it quite a bit earlier—just after the halfway point of the race—but then it was accelerating in deterioration. So whatever it was, I’m not sure, but it got critical in the last five laps.
So I think it’s a problem that shouldn’t happen, basically. And I’m sure they’ll try and understand it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) A question to the McLaren drivers, please. Andrea was just telling us how, especially with you Lando, the big turnaround from struggling early in the weekend was about how you learn from each other in terms of what you guys were doing on the tyres in the Sprint race. Could you talk us through that process and how useful it was?

OP: Yeah. I mean, I think we’ve got different strengths and weaknesses as drivers. And I think this weekend there were certain points where it just worked a bit to my favour, naturally. And I think there’s been other weekends where it definitely hasn’t, and I’ve had to try and look at things from how Lando’s driven and apply them myself. I think that is definitely the advantage—or an advantage—we have. Having strong team-mates, you always learn from each other. It’s impossible to measure how much lap time you gain from pushing one another, but you do gain something, that’s for sure. So I think we always push each other, always learn things. I’ve certainly learned a lot in the last couple of years. Maybe there were some things to learn the other way yesterday, but I think every single weekend we are learning one thing or another from each other.

LN: Sure. I mean, Oscar said it well, honestly. Probably apart from Ferrari, I don’t think there’s another team that has two drivers that push each other anywhere near as much. And for us, that’s a huge advantage. Even if you have the same car for everyone, if you have a team with two drivers who can push each other, they’re always going to beat everyone else that’s just on their own. So we have a great car, we have a great team, but we also have two drivers that are pushing each other more than any other team has. And that will always triumph—even [over] the best driver on the grid. That’s one of our biggest strengths at the minute—how we’re able to learn from each other. Because of what Oscar said: we have different ways we drive. He wants some things on the car, I want different things. But normally our ways align and we always want the same thing in the end. Oscar’s ability to adapt to a track like this was impressive, and something I clearly struggled a lot more to do. I hate understeer. The one thing I almost hate as much as brakes not working is probably understeer, and that’s what we had this weekend. As soon as we put the Hards on, for instance, my pace was a lot stronger because I had some front finally. But yeah, I’ve learned a lot this weekend from Oscar and his ability to adapt to these different situations. It’s definitely something we’ll maximise because it’s helping us beat every other team at the minute. It’s a great car and two incredible drivers! And Zak.

Q: (Yiyi Duan – Titan Sports) Question to Oscar. You scored big points this weekend and now sit fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, and the top four are very close. Is it too early to think about the title fight, or is it crucial to capitalise on your car’s performance as early as possible?

OP: I mean, I think it’s very, very early, clearly. But I think no matter how short or long the championship is, you need to maximise the car that you have every race. I think we saw last year that Verstappen was able to win the championship by capitalising on the car he had in the first part of the year. And he obviously did a good job through the rest of the year as well, but he built the gap when he had the ability to build the gap. And I think that’s an important thing at the moment as well, because you never know when someone’s going to find some speed with an upgrade or find something in how they operate the car. There are pretty fine margins out there. So yeah, I think you obviously want to capitalise whenever you can, but I’m certainly not thinking about the championship yet. As much of a cliché as it is, it’s a cliché for a reason, and I’m focusing on one weekend at a time because ultimately that is how you win a championship: by getting the most out of every weekend.

Q: (Stewart Bell – AP) That was for Oscar. Obviously this is a very different victory to your first two in Hungary and Azerbaijan. How much do you enjoy being out in front and the position you were in, and what were your thoughts as you came through Turn 1 in the lead?

OP: I mean, I was very happy to come through Turn 1 in the lead. I would have been pretty annoyed if I wasn’t.
So that was pretty crucial for the first part of the race, especially given that we didn’t really know if it was going to be a one- or a two-stop at that point. And how critical being able to dictate the pace looked yesterday in the Sprint—I was obviously happy to keep the lead. I think this weekend’s been maybe less emotional than the first two wins I’ve had, but definitely more satisfying. I think it’s been a weekend where I’ve been quite comfortable, been confident in what I needed to do and how I’ve been driving. And I think the race today was… I still had to push and keep my foot on the gas, because the gap, apart from the last few laps, was never that big behind. So I always had to keep on my toes, but I feel like I just managed the race well when I needed to, and pushed when I needed to. So yeah, just very happy with how the whole weekend’s turned out.

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Another question to Oscar, please. Again, to put something Andrea was just telling us to you guys—he said that this weekend in particular sums up your progress year-on-year. That Chinese Grand Prix last year was before the car was massively improved, but you struggled a little bit. Could you compare the two, where you think you’ve been better? Obviously the track’s different—was that a big factor as well?

OP: I mean, I think saying I struggled a little bit last year is being pretty nice. It was a big turnaround this weekend compared to China last year. It was a track that I had a lot of homework to do from 12 months ago. Yes, it’s changed a lot with the resurfacing, but there’s still a lot of challenges around just the layout, regardless of the surface. So yeah, I think for me it’s been very satisfying to have probably my most complete weekend in F1 this weekend be at a track I struggled the most at last year. So very pleased with the hard work that not just I’ve done, but the whole team around me. The engineers on my side of the garage, but everyone at McLaren—for firstly giving us a car that’s much stronger than it was 12 months ago here, but also being able to chip in where they can and try to help me improve. So I think it’s been a really nice show of progress in 12 months, but there’s still going to be challenges along the way. It’s just a nice confidence boost at the moment.

Q: Phil Duncan (PA). Lando, you said there that obviously you’ve got a great driver line-up and that will help you push McLaren forward in terms of getting good results. But on the flip side, there’s a chance you two could be going for the world championship—you won the first race and Oscar’s won the second. Are you guys ready for that, and perhaps any trouble that that could bring along the way? How do you see that playing out?

LN: Absolutely. (Inaudible) I didn’t watch Formula One back then—it would have been 2007. Oh yes, Lewis and Fernando! You wait until he has a pit stop behind me and I’m not going to drive out. Or we’ll have like a little multi-22 or something! No, I think we are [ready]. I mean, yeah, we were free to race today. I didn’t have the pace to really get up to Oscar, and he drove very well. So he deserved it. Same really last weekend. You know, yeah, there were those two laps that I know everyone loves to talk about where we just held position, but the rest of it, we were free to race. So I’m sure we’re going to have some closer racing at some point. I think we’re both excited—probably nervous and excited at the same time—as I’m sure the team will be. But we’re ready.
We know that as much as we work together and we have a good time and enjoy ourselves, we both know we want to try and beat each other and show who’s best. And that’s inevitable. So there’s no point trying to hide away from that fact or make something of it. We’re two competitors who both want to win. But we help each other out. I think we both achieved something better this weekend because of that fact. And we’ll continue to do that. So I’m sure at the minute it’s going to be like that, but like Oscar said, at any point other teams can find something. Other teams have talked about upgrades and stuff already and they can catch up quicker than you think, just like we did last year. So as much as we’re doing that, we also have to think as a team and keep pushing the team forward from that side.

Q: (Zixuan Xiong – China Grand Motorsport). I have a question for George. You achieved a decent result today and your teammate is the Driver of the Day. Do you think it’s a boost for Mercedes?

GR: Congratulations to him. Yeah, I mean, we want to get the results obviously as a team and we’re working to try and catch up to McLaren. They’re the team to beat right now and we’re confident we can bring some performance, but they’re really doing an amazing job. We need to keep on scoring. The last two races, or the three races with the Sprint as well—the result we achieved was the maximum in all three. So that gives me a lot of satisfaction. And if we do deliver a car that is capable of fighting McLaren, I’ve no doubt we can finish ahead, because we’re doing such a solid job as a team. So yeah, we need to keep on pushing.