DRIVERS
 
1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
3 –  Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
 
 PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Nico Rosberg)
 
Q: Oscar, that's P3 in the end. I'm sure not exactly what you were hoping for. What went wrong there?
Oscar PIASTRI: No, nothing major. Turn 1 was a little bit average, but the rest of the lap felt pretty tidy. So, you know, I feel like I executed a pretty good session, built up to it a little bit at the start and found my feet. But I think it's just been incredibly tight this weekend. You know, Max and Red Bull looked quick this weekend. I mean, to be honest, a lot of teams looked quick. It's not been quite as comfortable for us. So, yeah, the result's not a big surprise, but obviously would have loved to be a little bit further up.
 
Q: Is there a change now for you that you have such a huge points lead in the championship? It is quite big. Like, do you start to think about that in such qualifying where you're like, ‘Okay, you know what, third place, damage limitation, Lando's only second’. Do those thoughts start to come to you now?
OP: No. I mean, when you're on the lap, you're going for it, and you're going for pole. You don't know what anyone else is going to be able to pull off. So, in the moment, yes, you're going flat out. I think, obviously afterwards, it creeps in a little bit, but, you know, there's still a long way to go. And I'll try and make up some spots tomorrow because I'd like a few more wins if I can.
 
Q: Well, it's nice to see that there's a little bit of championship thoughts starting to creep in from time to time. Tomorrow's race: your car is fast, but Lando seemed to be quite a lot quicker in race practice on Friday. Are you going to be able to find that speed as well tomorrow?
OP: I mean, I don't think it looked too bad from where I was. I think it's been just a little bit trickier for us in general. Obviously, I missed FP1 as well, so that was kind of my first long run and, you know, the race is always very different. So I'm pretty confident with tomorrow.
 
Q: Lando, I think that looked like a pretty great lap at the end there. Are you shocked that Max could beat you to it?
Lando NORRIS: No, no. Max has been quick all weekend, and it's never a surprise with Max. So, no. I mean, it was quite a session for me – just up and down and too many mistakes here and there. But to put it all together on the last lap, I was pretty happy. So I'm happy with P2.
 
Q: And is it still, like, a good feeling that you're in front of your championship rival? He's P3. Is that then still kind of, like, damage limitation and still feels okay?
LN: I mean, I always kind of give my result depending on how I drove today. So I feel like I didn't do the best of jobs, but to end up P2 I was happy with. So, let's say, good things and bad things. P2 is still not a bad position to be off the line. And, I mean, I want to be ahead of everyone. That includes my championship contenders and Oscar. So, yeah. Good position for tomorrow and excited for the race.
 
Q: So on Friday, you had super awesome race pace. Does that give you hope for tomorrow? You think you're going to be able to carry that over?
LN: I mean, Sunday is normally our strength. But, yeah, to get past Max, I'm sure it's going to be a big challenge. But we'll wait and see. Their pace was also very strong. If you see the end of the stint, they're doing the same lap times as us. So I don't expect any magical things. And we have some Ferraris behind who I'm sure are going to want to come through as quickly as possible. It's a long race. Many things can happen, and we'll see what we can do.
 
Q: Max, what an incredible Q3 in the end there. Was that the usual Max Verstappen magic?
Max VERSTAPPEN: I try. But I think around here, with the low downforce, it's always very difficult to nail the lap. On the braking it's easy to make mistakes also. But Q3 felt good. Happy with the laps. And of course, to be on pole here for us is fantastic. The car has been working a lot better the whole weekend. And, yeah, to be able to fight for pole, I'm very happy with that.
 
Q: Did you actually think it was possible going into qualifying?
MV: It was tight. I mean, we were still lacking a tiny amount. We made some final changes, which I think allowed me to push a bit more. And that's exactly what you need in qualifying. So, yeah, for us, it's a great moment.
 
Q: And then take us into the race tomorrow. You think you got enough there to also keep the McLarens behind?
MV: Yeah. Let's see. I mean, historically this season, the race has always been a little bit more complicated for us, but we're going to give it everything we have. I think that's the only thing that we can do. And then we'll see what happens tomorrow.
 
PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: You said it yourself, Max. That's unbelievable. Just how special was that pole lap at the end of Q3?
MV: It was good. It's always tough around here. Low downforce, easy to make mistakes on the braking or on entries because you have to commit, but with low downforce, that's not always easy. Also, you know, the closing speeds in certain corners to hit the apex perfectly. But I think that final lap was pretty decent. To get pole here for us is big. It's not always been a good track for us, especially last year was quite a bit of a disaster. So, yeah, this year much better and very happy to be first.
 
Q: You say pretty decent, Max, but was that your best quali lap around Monza ever?
MV: I don't know. I mean, it was good. I don't even remember all my quali laps here. Is that a bad thing?

Q: You said yesterday that the car is a massive step forward over where it was here last year. Were you expecting it to be this good today?
MV: I think we had a good start to the weekend, so that was nice. That has been different at times. It still felt like we were lacking something, and then in FP3 it was a little bit better. Still not where I wanted it to be, so then some final tweaks, and that then brought it a bit closer to what I liked. I don’t think the car is ever going to be perfect around here just because of the low downforce feeling anyway. But at least it allowed me to attack corners, have the rotation that I needed at times, and that’s what you want.

Q: Even after Q2, did you think an 18.7 would be possible?
MV: It’s difficult to say because I didn’t really feel like the improvements were massive between Q1 and Q2. Then you commit a bit more in Q3, but it has a lot of factors that come into play as well with if you have a bit of tow or not. Sometimes you just get lucky as well. This is difficult to say, but at least it was good enough.

Q: You nailed the one lap. What about the race? Do you think you’ve got the pace to keep these orange cars at bay?
MV: Difficult to say. I think this season so far, the race pace has not always been great. So I hope that I can do something tomorrow, but I think anyway it’s been a great day for us. We’ve been competitive today. We’ll try to do the best we can tomorrow, but of course to stay here will be tough, but we’ll see what we can do.

Q: Very well done. Thank you for that, Max. Lando, let’s come to you now. You had pole for a moment right at the end of Q3. How good was that lap? Did you think you’d done enough?
LN: I’ll say no just because it was a pretty bad qualifying from my behalf. I think it was the best lap I did in quali by like six tenths or something. So impressive that I managed to improve so much – or probably impressive that I did such a bad job prior to that. But I think Max has been pretty good all weekend. I think also us as a team since FP1 already, we found that we were not quite in as good of a rhythm and had the pace advantage that we’ve had the past few weekends. So of course we wanted P1, but I don’t think we’d be disappointed to take a P2 either.

Q: You say it was a bad quali. What were the issues today?
LN: Just I was hitting every kerb possible that I don’t want to hit and just locking up when I shouldn’t lock up. So just not quite in the rhythm. It’s not that I’ve not been in the rhythm this weekend. I’ve felt like I’ve done some reasonable laps so far this weekend and I felt like I had some good strengths here and there, but just couldn’t click back into it come quali, until the final lap. But that’s also the only lap that I need to do it, so I’m happy that I did it in the end.

Q: What about the long run pace? Even if Max beats you into turn one, do you think you’ve got the pace to at least keep him on his toes?
LN: I definitely want to expect that. Everyone knows that our race pace is probably a bigger strength than our quali pace. We’ve proven that many times. But, like Max said, they’ve improved a lot from last year. I think coming into the weekend, we probably didn’t expect the Red Bull to be quite as good. But as soon as we did the first few runs, it was clear that they made some good steps compared to last season. So we’ll see. His race pace was good on Friday. It wasn’t too dissimilar to ours. So time will tell.

Q: Alright. Lando, thank you for that. Well done today. Oscar, let’s come to you now. Lando says it was a tricky one for him. How was it on your side of the garage?
OP: It was okay. I feel like Q1 was a little bit of a struggle, but then Q2 and Q3 I was pretty comfortable. It was a solid lap without being amazing, but I think it’s been clear for us anyway that the competition’s been much tighter this weekend, and also with some unexpected teams and cars. So it’s not a huge shock for us, but I felt like I managed it pretty well, just ultimately lacking a little bit at the end.

Q: You say the competition’s tighter this weekend. When the margins are this small, how much of a setback is it for you missing an FP1 as you did on Friday?
OP: It’s always hard to know how much it costs, but it’s definitely not what you would choose to do. Obviously, it’s in the rules, but I think there are worse tracks to miss for an FP1, so I don’t really want to put too much of it down to that.

Q: Lando also talked about rhythm. Were you able to find your rhythm in the car?
OP: I would say yes. I think Q1 was a little bit tricky to get into the rhythm, but Q2 and Q3 I was pretty happy. I feel like I put in good laps that were clean and improved every lap I did. There are a couple of corners that I would probably like to do again, but I think it’s rare that you leave a qualifying session not having that feeling. So I’m pretty happy.

Q: Just a few words on the long run pace of the car. How confident are you going into the race tomorrow?
OP: I think reasonably confident. It is generally a strength of ours, but it didn’t look night and day above everyone else yesterday. So let’s wait and see. It’s a track where slipstreams make a big difference. The start can be pretty chaotic. So I think there’s going to be a few factors at play apart from just pure pace.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Max, that pole lap here was actually the fastest lap in Formula 1 history. This generation of cars… [the cars] are going to get a bit slower from next year. Do we need to cherish these kinds of lap while they last, and is the sensation of speed around Monza unlike anything else on the F1 calendar?
MV: They are pretty decent in the high speed. They’re quite quick in a straight line. Of course, the low speed, that’s where we lose out compared to the previous generation. And yeah, on some tracks you can do these lap records now. Honestly, I didn’t even think about that when I crossed the line, but it’s nice. It didn’t feel too bad. The cars have been fun. Also, the new tarmac helps around here, kerbing – like the kerbs opened up a little bit. I think the 2020 Mercedes is still quicker if you would put it on the track now, but it’s been good. At some tracks it’s more fun than others.

Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin) Question for you, Lando. Q3, your first try, I think you were the first car out there, so you didn’t have a tow. What was the thinking behind that, and how much is the tow worth around here?
LN: The opinion? Terrible, but I had no choice. Everyone’s waiting for us to go out first, really. I knew already last week that I was going to have a bad Q1 because I knew I was going to have to go out the pit lane first, and that was always going to be the expectation. It’s tough because you know it’s never going to be a pole lap, especially without straight line speed, which is quite a long way down on pretty much everyone. It’s impossible to even set a competitive lap. So it’s not the most reassuring thing doing Q1 and doing, like, a 19.5, pretty much, being about five and a half tenths off pole at that point. Not the best feeling inside the car. Especially, in Q3, run two, I knew I had a slipstream, but it’s hard to know how much just the slipstream is going to help me a little bit. I don’t know what it’s like over a whole lap – maybe three tenths or something. It’s a mixture of having someone pushing some air in front of you. It was still a good lap, easily my best lap that I did. Like I said, I knew last weekend that I was going to be first out on Q3, run one. So it went exactly how I thought it would go.

Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Lando, can you take us back to Q2 and especially the last bits of Q2? Just how much pressure was on that lap and how stressful was it from the cockpit? And also, how much did it hurt you going into Q3 maybe being out of that rhythm a little bit?
LN: It definitely wasn’t the most comfortable I’ve ever been, just because I wasn’t in that rhythm. To try and put in those laps, especially when you lock up in Turn 1, that’s the one place it’s hard. It kind of knocks the confidence the most. My Q2 run… my run two, first lap one was pretty bad. It was just so close. I think I improved almost a tenth, but it gained me six positions or something. Shows how such a small amount of lap time can help. I was definitely feeling it in both Q3, run two and Q2, run two, lap two. Not the best feeling inside the car at that point. That’s why I’m relatively happy I got into Q3 because I was out for a little while, and then to put it all together for Q3, run two as well.

Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) Max, you mentioned it’s big to get pole here given the struggles last year. When you come here and you’ve got a car that is giving you a bit more rotation where you need it, is it a good chance to gauge how much progress Red Bull has made overall? Car’s still not exactly where you want it, but does it prove that the underlying tools are all going in the right direction and bode well for the longer term?
MV: I think we’re making improvements on the car, but also, setup-wise we found a nicer direction. We still need to understand more why in the race sometimes it doesn’t really translate. I had quite a decent feeling in Zandvoort, but then it was really not good in the race. So I don’t sit here and think that tomorrow is going to be fantastic in terms of how competitive we’re going to be against McLaren. The whole season has shown that yes, sometimes you can be in front in qualifying, but in the race it’s very tough to stay ahead, sometimes on tracks maybe where it’s difficult to pass. Here you can race. I expect it to be a tough battle, but we are making steps forward, and that’s exactly what we want to do. We want to learn a bit more that hopefully also helps us next year.

Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) Max, you spoke about the changes that you’ve made from FP2 and FP3 and getting to qualifying. Would you be able to elaborate on that a little bit? And then secondly, on your two Q3 laps, I think you found half a tenth in the opening sector. Is it just a little bit more extra bravery on the brakes? Is that something you were working on?
MV: I’m not going to say what I did on the car, but it gave me a better feeling, a bit better balance. Let’s say it like that. Most people do that – throughout the whole weekend you always fine-tune bits. It’s not like we threw the car around, it’s like tickling things. Honestly, in Q3, my first lap was already pretty decent. There was no big mistake. My improvements were like three or four hundredths here and there. That’s also Monza for you. If you don’t make any big mistakes, there’s not that much lap time left. It’s like maybe hitting an apex a bit better or a kerb. Sometimes you gain two, three hundredths on the straight – you got lucky. That happens as well. That’s basically what happened in my quali lap.

Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Question to both McLaren drivers. What’s surprising you more, the fact that Red Bull is up there after Max called the car a monster at the same track last year, or the fact that since FP1 it’s been mega close and you don’t have the margin we got used to in recent times?
LN: When you look at previous races, even when we’ve been incredible in weekends, there have been plenty where Max has beaten us in a fair few races this season. He qualified ahead in many races this season. Even last weekend’s Q3 onboard, it wasn’t like the gaps were huge. Everyone was pretty close. We come to a track, we lose a tenth, he gains a tenth, and that’s all the difference. I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise. The real surprise is compared to last year. But at the same time, when you have a strong team that have won for many years, the drivers and just a strong team in general, you expect them to improve like they’ve done from last year and also from their difficulties at the beginning of the season to where they are now. So, not a surprise, but to improve so much from where they were here last year is credit to them.
OP: I don’t think it’s a big surprise that it’s much closer here. Was Max at the top of my list of our competitors going into this weekend? I thought maybe Ferrari would be closer, but that’s based off last year. Generally, when the competition’s got close, Max has normally been the one that’s been the closest. So I don’t think it’s a massive surprise, but compared to last year it is a little bit.

ENDS