DRIVERS
 
1 – Kimi ANTONELLI (Mercedes)
2 – Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari) 
 
TRACK INTERVIEWS 
(Conducted by Damon Hill) 
 
Q: Kimi Antonelli, congratulations. You are officially the youngest ever person to lead a Formula 1 World Championship. Do you have anything to say?
Kimi ANTONELLI: It feels pretty good. Of course, it’s too early to think about the championship, but we’re on the good way. I mean, in the race, I had a terrible start. Just need to check what happened. But then I was lucky with the Safety Car to be in the lead. But then the pace was just incredible and, you know, it was a really nice second stint. I felt very good with the car and very pleased with that.
 
Q: Yeah, because the man next to you, Oscar, there, he swamped you at the start. You made a bad start, you said to Toto, apparently, you’re going to practice your clutches. 
KA: Yeah, I mean, luckily, I’ve got three weeks, so now I can practice some clutch drops just to get a better feel with it, because definitely it’s been a weak point so far this year and you need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that.
 
Q: But you were working way back up through the field anyway, weren’t you? And then the Safety Car came out, which really handed you the lead, but after that you looked absolutely masterful, totally in control.
KA: Yeah, I think obviously we were very lucky with Safety Car, but on the Medium, we were really strong once I got some free air, and then on the Hard the pace was just incredible. I don’t know what would have happened, how the outcome would have been, without the Safety Car, but yeah, it definitely made my life a lot easier.
 
Q: We’ll come back to you in a second. Oscar, you finally got a race in. 
Oscar PIASTRI: Yeah, we do alright when we get to start!
 
Q: And at one time you were saying that you thought you were comfortable, and you could possibly hang on to the position, but then the Safety Car arrived. 
OP: Yeah, it would have been really interesting to see what would have happened without that. I think, yeah, you know, I could keep George behind and just before the stops we’re actually pulling away a little bit again. So yeah, a shame that we never got to see what would have happened. But I think for us at this point to be disappointed about finishing second is a pretty good place to be. So yeah, massive thanks to the team. I think we did a really good job of executing with what we had. I think, you know, we clearly still need to find a bit of performance, but yeah, we took every opportunity we had today.
 
Q: Well, it was closer anyway, wasn’t it, than not even getting a race, but well done for that. And Charles, a fighting third place. You know, you had to do everything you could to hang on to it. You got a bit of pressure there from George at the end.
Charles LECLERC: Yeah, it was a bit of a sweaty one, this one. Obviously, the Safety Car, we got a little bit unlucky. So, from that moment onwards I knew I was a little bit on the back foot, especially compared to Kimi and Lewis. But then I was like, okay, let’s keep pushing, let’s try to keep those tyres and bring them to the end. And actually, it wasn’t as much of a disadvantage as I thought. The tyres were pretty good. The few laps that I had done wasn’t so bad. It’s just that we lost few positions. And then yeah, it was quite a fun race, just not quite enough to get Oscar. But yeah, it was a cool race.
 
Q: Well done. Kimi, we’ve a little bit of a gap and you’re going to practise your clutches, but this is it, you won in Suzuka, one of the great tracks on the—have you got a few words to say for the Japanese fans?
KA: Yeah, I mean, really happy to have won such a special track in front of these amazing fans. I think, you know, driving and racing here is a unique experience and yeah, really, really looking forward to come back next year. Arigato.
 
PRESS CONFERENCE
 
Q: Kimi, race win number two for you, and at one of the great racetracks in the world as well. Just how sweet was this one for you?
KA: Yeah, it was nice to be back on the top step. Obviously, a very special win and a very special track. But, you know, on one side I’m very happy, but on the other side I’m a bit disappointed with how the start went. It’s an area where I need to work a lot, because it’s definitely not good enough and I’m just making my life a lot harder. So, definitely a lot of work to do still. But I was very lucky, of course, with the timing of the Safety Car, but yeah, then pace was very, very strong and really happy with that.
 
Q: What were your issues getting away from the line?
KA: Just, I think I dropped the clutch a bit too deep, deeper than what I should have, and obviously the tyres were also a bit colder, so obviously I went beyond the grip that was available and just lost a lot of places.
 
Q: You knew you had a quick car, so what were you thinking at the end of lap one when you were P6?
KA: I cannot say, but I was very mad.
 
Q: Did you think the win was still on at that point?
KA: Probably. I think it was a bit difficult to get by when I was behind Charles because we obviously had two completely different deployments and it was just hard to find the right place to overtake. Then he went back in the pit and then we improved a lot with the pace. And then obviously I was lucky with the Safety Car. But without the Safety Car, I don’t know how the outcome would have been. Definitely would have been a lot more difficult, but you never know.
 
Q: Now you’re the youngest ever leader of the Formula 1 World Championship and the first Italian to win back-to-back races since Alberto Ascari. How do you imagine this news will go down back home in Italy?
KA: I don’t know. I think we’ll find out pretty soon. But yeah, I’m not thinking too much about the championship. Of course it’s great, but it’s still a long way to go and need to keep raising the bar because, you know, George is very quick and for sure he’s going to be back at his usual level, and also competitors eventually they will get closer. I think we need to keep our head down and keep raising the bar.
 
Q: Final one from me. We’ve got five weeks until the next race. Mercedes has won every race so far this year. Is there one area of car performance that you’d like to see the team work on between now and Miami?
KA: Difficult. I think our car is very good. For sure, maybe with the start, but I think… I mean, today was completely my fault. But together, me and George, we’ve been struggling a bit more than what we would have anticipated since the start of the season, and today the McLaren got a really good start, so they’re clearly doing something better, for sure also on driver input. In this case Oscar did much better than me because… I cannot say, but I ‘effed’ it up pretty badly. But yeah, I just need to keep working on that area.
 
Q: Very well done to you. Thank you, Kimi. Oscar, let’s come to you. Why don’t we start with the starts that Kimi’s just been referring to? Not a bad first Grand Prix start for you of 2026, was it exceptional?
OP: I thought it was good, but I didn’t think it was super special. I think, you know, I saw Kimi go into wheelspin straight away and I didn’t really see what George was doing, and then  obviously having to go around Kimi meant that the rest of my start was a little bit compromised. But yeah, it was good enough to get into the lead, which was great. So yes, clearly that was a good strength of ours today.
 
Q: That was a strength. This is your third podium in three years here at Suzuka. Just what aspect of the car’s performance pleased you the most?
OP: I’m not sure there was one that I was massively pleased with, but I think, clearly, we did a good job at the start today. I think this weekend we just did a really good job of optimising what we had, and I think from practice we were in a good window with the car in FP2 and we managed to get it back in that window for qualifying. We had a really good understanding of what we wanted from the power unit and how we had to kind of dial it in for the qualifying grip level. And then even today, I know that we did a lot of work on the starts. I think our starts through the practice sessions were really strong, and then yeah, I think the pace was probably a positive surprise. I think having clean air probably helped quite a lot at the start, but we did a good job, and I could pull away from George a little bit right before the stops. And yes, I think the strategy was good as well. So, I think we just nailed everything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough for the win, but I think at the moment a result like today is as good as a win for us at the moment.
 
Q: Do you think the timing of the Safety Car cost you the win?
OP: I would have loved to have seen how it would have panned out. I think I need to look back and see whether Kimi was quicker than George or similar pace. I think if he was the same pace as George then it would have been a pretty stressful afternoon because I probably would have had both of them right on my gearbox. But yeah, I mean, I think once Kimi had clean air, clearly, he was a lot faster than me. So, I’m not sure we would have won the race, but I certainly would have loved to have found out.
 
Q: That would have been intriguing. But have you come away from today thinking Mercedes are beatable?
OP: Yes. I think we knew from last year, or we know from last year, that even when you have the best car you still need to operate it at an incredibly high level. And I think today on our side we did a really good job of that. But I think it’s interesting to see when someone else has the fastest car that it’s not that straightforward. And yeah, I think the fact that I could keep George behind for so long was really encouraging. But we’re under no illusion. We did everything right this weekend and we still got beaten by 15 seconds, so we’ve got a pretty big gap to fill. I’m confident that we can get there, but yes, we’ve still got some work to do.
 
Q: Oscar, thank you for that. Well done to you. And well done, Charles, on the P3. A lot of pressure from George at the end. What was the key to keeping him behind?
CL: I don’t know. I mean, it was quite tight at some points, and they were also being quite cheeky because I think his engineer was telling him things on the radio. My engineer was telling me what his engineer was telling on the radio, but he was doing then the opposite and that put me under quite a bit of pressure. At one point I think they told me, “Oh, he’s being told to use everything in the back straight,” or vice versa, or maybe in the main straight, and then for four laps in a row he was doing exactly the opposite of that. So, I understood it pretty quickly and I could defend. But at one point I got surprised in the last corner and yes, but it was quite a fun race. Unfortunately, a little bit unlucky for us because of the Safety Car at the wrong moment. I don’t think it would have changed significantly our race, but it made it a little bit more difficult for our second stint for sure.
 
Q: Okay, that’s the Safety Car, but what were you thinking at the end of the opening lap when you were P2?
CL: I mean, I was happy. Then I was obviously focusing on Oscar, but Oscar was very strong actually, especially in the first lap. In the first lap I was very surprised at how much he pulled away, and yes, after that I was just trying to be as close as possible to him, but he had a bit more pace and I thought also that free air was making a big difference. But I was just trying to wait for later on in the race, but it didn’t happen.
 
Q: Final one from me. Something I asked Kimi earlier was, in the break before Miami, is there one aspect of Ferrari’s performance you’d like the team to focus on?
CL: Well, I think doing a step back on those first three races, there’s a clear thing that we need to improve and this is surely the power unit. But we obviously cannot bring anything to Miami. But there’s not only that, and in a year like this one everything is very new. I think the rate of improvements of every team is massive, so there’s a lot more than just the power unit. There’s putting the tyres in the right window, there’s the aero, there’s the chassis, and on that we’ll work flat out in order to try and close the gap as much as possible to the Mercedes and to hopefully keep behind the McLaren, and then we’ll see. But yes, I think the power unit is maybe our main weakness at the moment, but there are many other things that can definitely influence and help us to close the gap in the meantime.
 
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
 
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Question to all three drivers. We saw a very nasty accident today, Ollie Bearman, and I don’t know if you’ve seen it on replays, but it was basically due to the closing speed between the two cars. We know the drivers have raised this concern already. How important is it that something does change ahead of Miami? Does it matter if it’s at the cost of this racing that we’re seeing?
KA: I didn’t properly see what happened. I don’t know also if the guy in front… Did he move quite aggressively as well? I mean, yeah, this is a big thing for sure, but the FIA is already looking into how to improve for Miami, both in qualifying and race. So, let’s see what’s going to happen. But yeah, it’s very tricky, to be fair.
CL: Yeah, I mean, I think that with these cars, surely we need to race differently and there’s no doubt about that. And one of the points actually was moving or changing direction whenever you are super clipping, and that’s what creates some quite dangerous scenarios. Whether we need to change absolutely everything for the race, I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m the only one… I don’t think I’m the only one speaking with other drivers, but it might be half-half, but I actually enjoy these cars for the racing bit. I think for qualifying there are definitely tweaks that we need to make in order for us to push those cars to the limit and not having to think too much about the energy. For the race, I think it also comes from just adjustments on our side in racing, in defending, and taking into account that the speed differences can be more important, and on that, I mean, probably more the defending cars than the attacking car. I mean, on my side as well in Australia there were some pretty tricky moments with George. So yes, I think it will also get better with time, but surely it’s tricky.
OP: I mean, we’ve spoken about that being a possibility since these cars were conceptualised. Yeah, it’s what we’re stuck with, with the power units. There’s no easy way of getting around it. From what I saw there was no flashing light from Colapinto, so I don’t even think he was super clipping either, which is obviously a bit of a concern. I had a pretty close call in free practice with Nico because he caught me about three times as quick as I expected on the straight, and we were both at full throttle. So, I think there’s clearly an element of learning for us as drivers, and where the accident happened it’s not a place where you expect someone to come from so far behind and have such a big speed difference. And whilst we’re learning that, unfortunately things like this are probably going to happen, which is a shame. But, you know, I think we understand as a sport there’s a lot of things we need to tweak, a lot of things we need to change, and especially on safety grounds, yes, there’s some things that need to be looked into pretty quickly.
 
Q: (Ben Waterworth – Speedcafe) Question for Oscar. Charles mentioned a bit about how he was surprised at McLaren and how you were able to pull away at that point. Were you surprised that you were able to stay ahead of him towards the end there and that you were able to stay ahead of Ferrari in the race?
OP: I think we felt like we could maybe stay ahead of Ferrari. I think looking back at qualifying, clearly something wrong happened with the deployment for both Charles and Lewis, so I think the gap I had in qualifying flattered us a bit. And yeah, we thought that would be a challenge. And to be honest, I think Charles and I had very similar pace through most of the race. That was about what we expected. I think being able to keep George behind was a big surprise. Once he got back into second, I thought that he was going to come past in about half a lap and I was going to settle in for second and wait for Kimi to do the same. But the fact that we could be so close to Mercedes and beat one of them, I think that was a much more pleasant surprise.
 
Q: (Michael Lamonato – Fox Sports Australia) Question for Oscar. We’ve talked a lot this season about how laps are really important to get under your belt with these new rules. This was your first Grand Prix distance. Andrea talked about how this was the best of you, or certainly that he’s seen all year. How do you feel like you performed today, and in terms of getting the most from your car package, how far away, if at all, do you feel like you were from getting the absolute maximum from the McLaren today?
OP: I think this weekend was probably one of my best weekends in F1. I think I felt like I hit the ground running in practice, qualifying. I think we did a really good job of getting the car into the window I was happy with on Friday. I felt like I drove well in qualifying. In the race, yeah, there wasn’t anything more we could have done. We got a good start, the pace was good. I felt like I was strategic or smart with how I used the boost and how I managed that side of racing. Our strategy was good, you know, we didn’t blink too early. Obviously, the Safety Car was a shame, but I think as race weekends go we couldn’t have done any better than that. So yeah, for me I’m very happy with the performance that I put in, very happy with the performance from the whole team. Clearly, we’ve still got some, firstly, performance to find, but also on Lando’s side of the garage was a pretty interrupted weekend with all the issues, and clearly the start of the season has not been easy for us with reliability, so we’ve got a long way to go. But yeah, I think we showed that if we get everything as good as we can get it, then we can cause a few headaches.
 
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Kimi, I know earlier on you were saying that the championship is early days, but obviously Mercedes have won the first three races and you’ve got two, George has got one, so there’s a chance obviously that the winner of the championship could come from Mercedes. Are you ready for that rivalry with George, and are you worried at all that it could become a bit tense between the two of you?
KA: No, I’m not worrying about that, to be fair. I’m just going to focus on myself, on what I need to do, trying to get everything right in terms of procedure, starts, driving. I know how strong George is and for sure it’s going to be very hard. Plus, I think Ferrari and McLaren, they will get closer, so it’s going to be important to stay on top of the game, as I said before, keep raising the bar. But I’m not focusing on or worrying about this at the moment. Just obviously happy with how things went today, and yeah, just going to try to make the best out of the break and trying to see how I can improve those areas in order to be back stronger.
 
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Kimi, picking up on wanting to raise the bar there, through your rookie season you went through some ups and downs and bounced back stronger for it. Just how much do you feel you’ve levelled up in terms of your performances this season? Obviously, the car does help, but how much have you taken that step in year two?
KA: Big step. Experience does a lot. Obviously last year I’ve gone through a lot and it taught me massively more than what I anticipated, and for sure it’s helping so far this year. Of course there’s still a lot of work to do, but I definitely feel much more in control of the situation. Of course, as you said, the car helps, and I’m going to try to be ready and everything because it’s one of those opportunities that don’t happen every day. So obviously, yeah, really, really grateful with the car that the team has provided us so far, and yeah, I just need to keep my head down.
 
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) To follow up on that, Kimi, how do you feel like you’ve closed the gap to George? Is that what you feel? Because you said you thought he’s going to get back to his usual level soon, but do you feel like you have closed in? And how much of that is you both starting from scratch with this new regulation set rather than getting into a car that you’ve been essentially driving, that type of car, for three or four years?
KA: Yeah, for sure it helps that everyone started from zero. For sure it still helps, you know. But definitely I’ve been closing the gap with him. I think still in qualifying he has the upper hand, especially when it comes to Q3. He’s always able to find that little bit of extra, which I’m working on. But in terms of race pace, I think we have a really strong base. So yeah, I feel he’s obviously a super, super strong, very complete driver. I think he showed many times last year, and that’s why it’s not going to be easy, and that’s why I need to do everything as perfect as possible.
 
ENDS