DRIVERS
 
1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Carlos SAINZ (Williams)
3 –  Liam LAWSON (Racing Bulls)
 
PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jamie Chadwick)
 
Q: Liam, you said it was going to be chaos before the start of that session. It was absolute chaos. It was a record red flag number. How was it from your point of view?
Liam LAWSON: Honestly, I can't even remember what happened. It was so busy. Obviously, it's still raining now. It was very busy. I said it would be, but I didn't expect it to be like that, honestly. But the car has been good all weekend. And when it needed to be in quali, it was good. So massive thanks to the guys and girls. The team's been amazing this weekend so far, but obviously, tomorrow's the important day.
 
Q: The conditions looked incredibly tough. We obviously spoke about the wind, but the rain at the end. Was it difficult to improve on that last lap?
LL: It's always sketchy because you see the rain coming on your visor and you can feel it. And you can kind of see the gloss on the track, but because the tyres are still warm, you have grip. So you're trying to fight your brain and not back off and keep pushing. But it's definitely tricky.
 
Q: And the race tomorrow, who do you think your fight's going to be with? Do you reckon you can keep it in the top three?
LL: It's going to be a very hard race for sure. We have a great starting position, but obviously, we're aware of who we're fighting around us, and that's what we'll be focused on.
 
Q: Carlos, I don't want to say I'm surprised to see you. We thought maybe there was going to be a pole position there, but how happy can you be with P2?
Carlos SAINZ: Well, thank you everyone for the cheers. Yeah. Very happy. Honestly, we nailed the qualifying today. Every time being on the right tyre at the right time and putting together some very strong laps. Obviously, the moment that a top car was going to put that lap together, we were always going to be those four or five tenths behind like we always are, but it was only one of them, which was Max — not surprised. And for the rest, we managed to beat them. And, yeah, we were in P2, which is great news.
 
Q: And how satisfying is that for you personally? It's been a tough few races through a lot of issues — not your own fault. So finally, to put a lap together in P2, you must be so happy.
CS: Yeah. Well, I've been putting good laps together this year in qualifying. It hasn't been my weakness or my issues at all. Again, today, we proved that the speed in this car and this team is there. I'm delivering in qualifying when it counts, and unfortunately, the year in terms of races and points is not going the way we want. But as long as the speed is there — which, again, today proves that the points and the good races will come, and I'm not worried.
 
Q: What's the aim for tomorrow?
CS: Plan for tomorrow? Try to stick it on the podium. I think I'm going to give it my best to give Williams a first podium. If it's possible, great. And if it's not, we will see.
 
Q: Max, your first pole in Baku. An unbelievable lap in tricky conditions. How was it out there?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Long qualifying, to be honest, with so many red flags. So it was very difficult to basically get your lap together, because most of the time your tyres are not really ready or again, a red flag happens. So especially Q3, with also a bit of rain around, it was a very difficult session. And then in the final lap, you just have to send it. I wasn't even on the best tyres that I wanted, but because of all the red flags, you basically run out of tyres. And yeah, I'm very happy with how the weekend went so far. Because I think, you know, from FP1, we were not too bad, and we just kept on improving a tiny amount. And then we were there in qualifying, and that's, of course, where it matters.
 
Q: You seem to unlock something after Monza. Do you think even despite the interruptions and the red flags and what have you, you still had a chance for pole today? Or do you think that these conditions seem to suit you best?
MV: No. I think we definitely were in there for pole. Of course, Q3 is always a bit messy for everyone. But I'm just happy. Yeah. It seems like since Monza, we're doing a better job, and I hope that we can continue in that way.
 
Q: And starting on pole position, it's a really short run down into Turn 1, but surely your goal is just to take it home tomorrow.
MV: Yeah. Still, again, long race. Of course, you want to have a good start. But even then, we just need to do our own race, look after our tyres, because it's still quite tough on the tyres around here because of the softer compounds. And then, we'll see what happens.
 
PRESS CONFERENCE
 
Q: Max, that was your sixth pole of the season, giving you more than anyone else in 2025. Just how hard was it to achieve?
Max VERSTAPPEN: I think it was just a very long qualifying in general with all the red flags, so you never got into a rhythm. Trying to complete laps was already difficult enough with what was going on. Getting the tyres in the window on your warm-up lap is very tough around here. Honestly, I was quite happy with how Q1 and Q2 went, but Q3 was a very long wait, and then choosing what tyres to use for the final run — there was a bit of rain around in places — so not easy at all. But in the end, very happy to sit here.
 
Q: Rain, wind, just unpredictable track conditions. Can you elaborate a little bit more on how tricky it was?
MV: Yeah, I mean, this track is already hard enough without anything. With the strong winds that we had today, the car was moving around a lot — understeer, oversteer in different places, even on the straight, going left to right. So, to basically nail everything, but also then the big interruptions that we had, it was just very tricky today. But luckily, I think we did quite well.
 
Q: Very well. And now 51 laps tomorrow. The conditions look unpredictable again. How do you view the race?
MV: Yeah, difficult to say at the moment. Of course, it’s a good starting position. We just have to try and do our own race, to be honest. Hopefully the car is kind on its tyres, that we can look after them, and just go from there.
 
Q: Alright. Very well done, Max. Thank you for that. Carlos, let's come to you now. Many congratulations. Your best start for Williams. The transition from Ferrari hasn’t always been easy for you. So can we start with this: what does this front-row start mean?
Carlos SAINZ: Actually, the transition has been super smooth, and I’m very happy with everything that has been going on behind the scenes with Williams. First of all, the way I adapted to the car — I was quick straight away from the beginning of the year. Everything that we’re doing behind the scenes to work on next year’s car, which is our biggest project and our biggest motivation as a team. Unfortunately, this year has just been one of those years where nothing comes together when it comes to Sundays and results. But today just proves that my speed is there — that whenever I put good laps together and nothing happens to us, I’m quick. I have the speed. And, yeah, as long as that is there, I don’t worry. Just having a bit of bad luck or too many racing incidents recently and not being able to get all the points that we deserve as a team is tough. But if the speed is there and we’re working well on next year’s car, it doesn’t worry me.
 
Q: As you say, the speed is there. And with three minutes and 41 seconds of Q3 to go, you were on pole. Are you a little bit disappointed not to be starting P1?
CS: No, not really, because I knew my lap was good, but probably not good enough for pole. I mean, we know that if a McLaren or a Red Bull puts a lap together, that’s three to five tenths on average. And also if the track conditions were good enough — which was the big unknown — I knew my lap was not going to be good enough. I think our simulation said at the time maybe only Max and Lando could beat us. So I was thinking about a P3. In the end, it was only Max… It had to be Max! But, in general, I thought as soon as I started my lap at the end, I was actually coming very quick. I was like three or four tenths up on my lap. And in one way, I was thinking, great, because this might even confirm or achieve pole, but then I was thinking the leaders are going to be even quicker, no? And that’s exactly what happened.
 
Q: You were confident after yesterday’s practice sessions. What’s possible in the race?
CS: It hasn’t been the smoothest weekend for me. I’ve been struggling with the feeling on the brakes. With this car, we are having some brake issues in some demanding tracks like Canada and here. But today in quali, I felt good. And most importantly, we kept the car consistent through the weekend, and I think that allowed me to… Whenever there was a chance to put a lap together — which there were not many, I think I did in total three or four laps today in quali given the red flags — the lap was good. So, tomorrow from P2, we’ll try and keep it consistent, see the pace of the car versus every one of the leaders that will try and come through. But if you look at our long runs yesterday, we were actually pretty quick. So I’m hopeful that we can go for it tomorrow.
 
Q: Very good luck. Thank you for that. Liam, very well done to you. Your best starting position in Formula 1. It’s a special moment. What does this mean to you?
Liam LAWSON: Yeah, it’s pretty cool. It was a good session. It’s been a good weekend so far. It’s been very tricky, though. I think that quali was one of the toughest ones we’ve probably experienced — trying to keep putting out laps, especially when the rain’s coming down. And the amount of red flags that there were as well — it was definitely a challenge. But the car’s been good, honestly, all weekend. We’ve just been fine-tuning, and I think it was in the right place. But when a session’s like that, honestly, it’s more down to just putting a lap together and making sure that you have good track position and don’t get caught out by these red flags.
 
Q: Let’s throw it forward to tomorrow then. What’s possible for you?
LL: It’s really hard to know. Obviously, we’d love to stay where we are, but we’re aware of the guys that we’re racing as well, and we know that there’s some quicker guys behind us. So we’ll try and obviously have a good start — that’s the first thing. I think our long-run pace was okay, but honestly, when the conditions are as windy as they were today, it changes everything. So, yeah, let’s see tomorrow.
 
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
 
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Max, can you take us back to the final stages of Q3? McLaren went relatively early with Lando. You went quite late. How confident were you that was the right call given everything that happened before and the risk that’s involved in that?
MV: Well, it wouldn’t really matter too much because I think if anyone would have crashed, then there would have been no laps for the people that didn’t have a lap. So I just didn’t want to be first because you lose a bit to the line. So that meant that we were almost at the back, but that was OK. That was a call that we made.
 
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – Car Magazine Brazil) Question to Max. Congratulations on your pole. You might not have a chance to win the championship, but will you remember 2025 as one of your best years in Formula 1 in terms of your own performance?
MV: I think when I’m older, I won’t really care (laughs). I’ll just think about other stuff, enjoy with my friends, family, and then maybe get some highlights — like, “well, yeah, that was good.” But it’s been a good year for sure. I’m happy with my performances. It seems like now we understand the car a bit better, which I think is the most important out of it. And then when I feel a bit happier in the car, you can extract naturally a bit more out of it. And that’s what we’re doing right now. So hopefully we can just keep that going.
 
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Question to Liam. Helmut Marko has said that that the end of October — so, around Mexico — will be a good reference point to make the driver choice going into ’26. Keeping that in mind, do you feel that this performance comes at the best possible time for you?
LL: I mean, for sure, it’s good to have these results. For me personally, it’s been something that has been tough, especially this year — especially early in the season… I think it’s been very, very close this year, but personally we just had a lot of stuff going on earlier in the year that was making qualifying more difficult, and it definitely wasn’t a strong point. So it’s important for me more than anything. Obviously, it helps, these performances, but we need more than one. We need to keep the consistency, and also points are more important as well tomorrow in the race.
 
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) One for all three, maybe starting with Carlos this time. How difficult is this session mentally in terms of making the risk versus reward considerations in your head? You know some guys are out, so there’s potentially a big result on the table. But it’s even more proof that around Baku, every mistake can be incredibly costly. So does it make it even more complicated?
CS: Yeah, for sure. I mean, the tricky thing about today was, first of all, it’s very difficult to get into a rhythm because you’re not doing laps, not finishing laps, not spending time on track. Every time you have a 10-minute break in the garage, it’s always difficult to know where the track is when you go back out again, where the tyres are going to be, where the wind is going to be. So every time we’re going out again, it’s a bit of an adventure. And I think that’s why there were so many crashes. If you also think that F1 cars nowadays are a lot trickier to drive in the wind than in the wet, for example — it’s completely unpredictable. You need to think that a car in mid-corner depends purely on its downforce, and 30 or 40 kilometres per hour of wind changes the downforce dramatically. And that’s what we’re getting — every lap, a different level of downforce in the corner, and it always catches people out. It caught a lot of people out today — probably the wind — and it just shows. I don’t think people at home understand how tough the conditions were today and how easy it was to crash. I mean, to have the 20 best drivers in the world and seven or eight of them crashing tells you how tricky the session was today.
MV: Yeah, I think Carlos answered that quite well. It’s also a long wait. Of course, you want it to finish a bit sooner, but at the same time there are a lot of calls that you have to make in the background with tyres, how many laps you want to do, warm-up procedure. But you also kind of know that that is a possibility around here with red flags.
LL: Honestly, I think for us in this position, when it’s this chaotic — I mean, personally, I’m going to try and… one a street circuit you have to push the limits anyway. You have to push the limits, and sometimes if you push a little bit harder, you can get rewarded. But obviously it’s very easy to crash here as well. So through quali, you’re managing it, trying to drive good laps, keep everything together and learn as much as you can with the wind and everything. But at the same time, with how much it’s changing, you start a new lap and it’s completely new, the feeling of the car, different corners — and it can be really confusing. Especially over such a long lap, it’s very challenging for us.
 
Q: Liam, your team principal Alan Permane said yesterday that the car was quick in Monza but you didn’t maximize qualifying there. Was there a change in approach today here in Azerbaijan?
LL: Yeah. I think we fuelled for the session, did the whole session, and just kept driving around! We made a mistake in Monza and took a bit of a risk, but we knew the car was fast. But just with how close it is this year you can still be fast and have something happen and get knocked out. So today, with everything that was going on and the conditions, we played it a bit safer and we maximised laps on track. We probably completed three or four laps but spent the entire qualifying — when it was green — pretty much on the track. So obviously for today, it worked for us.
 
Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Question to Carlos. Carlos, you and Max were teammates in your rookie year. So how special is it to share the front row with him 10 years after that year in Toro Rosso?
CS: Great. I think we’ve shared it a few times now, the front row. No? Or no?
MV: I honestly have no idea. We need to check.
CS: I think in my Ferrari days we shared some front rows. I’ve always enjoyed racing Max since my years in Toro Rosso. We had a very competitive year, full of learnings for both. I think it built us as the characters and the drivers that we are today. He’s going to be a mega F1 driver and probably will end up being one of the most successful ever. I’m just proud to be sharing the front row with guys that I’ve been racing my whole life now. I think it’s great competition, but that’s what Formula 1 is all about.
 
ENDS