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PART ONE \u2013 Nico HULKENBERG (Audi), Valtteri BOTTAS (Cadillac), George RUSSELL (Mercedes)\u00a0\u00a0
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Q: George, why don\u2019t we start with you. A lot has changed in Formula 1 this year. Just how confident are you and Mercedes feeling ahead of this first race?
George RUSSELL:\u00a0Well, I think there\u2019s just an element of the unknown, excitement going into the first race. I think it\u2019s been a much better pre-season than we\u2019ve had over the last four years. There are no items on the car that have been of major worry to us. Everything\u2019s working as expected, correlation is good, simulator correlation is good, and they are things that we\u2019ve failed with over the last four years, so regardless of the stopwatch, things are working out as we hope.
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Q: You mentioned unknowns. Just how many unknowns are there as we go into race one?
GR:\u00a0There\u2019s a huge amount. I think there\u2019s a lot of discussions around race starts \u2013 a challenging topic. There are a lot of hurdles. I think you can get tripped up by any small error, so there\u2019s no time to relax during a race, during qualifying, pit stops. Things that once were quite straightforward parts of racing are now very complicated. However, to this point now, I think we\u2019ve done the most amount of preparation possible. We\u2019re feeling in a good place. However, I\u2019m sure, new track things might be different.
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Q: Many of your rivals have you down as the title favourite. What do you make of that?
GR:\u00a0Not a lot, really. It doesn\u2019t change anything. I think there\u2019s a lot of chat around us, Mercedes, and take it as a compliment, I guess. However, once the helmet\u2019s on and the visor\u2019s down, you\u2019re just flat out and you don\u2019t really think about any of this additional noise. Just take it race by race and see how we go.
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Q: Alright, thank you for that. Good luck to you. Valtteri, let\u2019s come to you now. You have a huge amount of Formula 1 experience. Just how different is your new challenge with Cadillac to anything you\u2019ve experienced before?
Valtteri BOTTAS:\u00a0For sure it\u2019s very different. I think it\u2019s quite unique to be in a situation that you\u2019re starting with a new team in the sport. It doesn\u2019t really happen every day, so yeah, very unique. It\u2019s been hard work, lots of problem solving, but we\u2019ve already made great progress and really hats off to the whole team being here ready for race one, which I think already is incredible. So, looking forward to this journey. It\u2019s only the start of it now.
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Q: You\u2019ve made great progress, as you say. What objectives have you set yourself and the team for 2026?
Valtteri BOTTAS:\u00a0Progress. That\u2019s the number one thing. We need to get better from the start of the year to the end of the year, which I hope we will. Like I said, we\u2019ve had hard work already, but the hard work continues going ahead. With the new power units, with the new cars, it\u2019s the same kind of for everyone, but we have been building everything from scratch, so we need to keep going, keep getting better in all the areas.
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Q: And on a personal note, you had to sit out 2025 as a reserve driver. Have you been feeling a little bit rusty behind the wheel?
VB:\u00a0I haven\u2019t actually. Felt alright. Got plenty of testing, much more testing than normally you get before the season, and I think those few test days I had last year helped keep a bit of a feeling. But I have to say, actually, a few things are different. Like, I never expected to be actually kind of happy to be in a press conference after one year off. It\u2019s like, it\u2019s not bad. So yeah, you have a different perspective now.
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Q: Long may that continue, Valtteri. Thank you very much. Nico, let\u2019s come to you. It\u2019s another new project for you with Audi. How are things progressing from your point of view?
Nico H\u00dcLKENBERG:\u00a0We\u2019ll see this weekend now. We get the first read and pointer. Pre-season\u2019s been okay. I think we made good progress. At the same time, still a lot of room for improvement in many areas. Still a young team, especially on the power unit side, obviously, and the only team out there with our package. Melbourne, it\u2019s a great track, very different from Bahrain, so I think that could mix things up a little bit. But we do it for the first time in anger with these new cars, quali, especially the race on Sunday. I think it could be interesting.
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Q: Can you describe the ambition inside the team? Just what does success look like for you guys this year?
Nico H\u00dcLKENBERG:\u00a0Well, I think it\u2019s about also to progress. Where we start is where we start, but then to grow over the time of the year, to improve, to work on the package. Of course, we want to be competitive, we want to score points. What that means in numbers obviously we don\u2019t know, having not done any race weekend running yet, but I think the progression and how we look throughout the year, that\u2019s very important.
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QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
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Q: (David Croft \u2013\u00a0Sky Sports F1) Welcome back, gents. Ninety-one days since we last went racing, it\u2019s good to get going again. And Valtteri, as you\u2019re happy to be in a press conference, we\u2019re loving you being here. And as George is far too modest to admit that he is the favourite, who are your top three, with all due respect to the Cadillac drivers, for the Drivers\u2019 Championship this year?
VB:\u00a0You know, that this is so hard to say when we haven\u2019t done a single race, we\u2019ve only done testing. Every team is bringing probably different parts to Race 1, so even teams, it seems like impossible to say. But if I have to get something now, I\u2019m going to say Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and George Russell, because I think they were sandbagging. So, they\u2019re going to beat Aston at the very end in Abu Dhabi.
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Q: (Nelson Valkenburg – Viaplay) As last year was a season full of rookies, it seems that this year might be a season where experience counts, a season for golden oldies: Nico, Valtteri, and maybe George if you feel experienced enough. How important is being experienced this season?
NH:\u00a0We\u2019re about to find out, I guess. But I wouldn\u2019t\u2014experience is nice to have, but it doesn\u2019t guarantee anything. You still need to always find the throttle pedal, feel comfortable and confident in the car. I think it\u2019s just about learning, adapting quickly in these early stages of the season where everything is still so new. I think the learning curve of every driver and team is going to be huge, so I wouldn\u2019t just bank and sit on the experience and expect that to sort everything out for yourself.
VB:\u00a0Yeah, like Nico said, I think it definitely helps, but it doesn\u2019t guarantee anything. But I think for us in our team we have two experienced drivers and I think it is a good thing for a new team. Me and Checo both have been in different teams, we\u2019ve seen what kind of works, what kind of doesn\u2019t, so I think that\u2019s going to probably help us.
GR:\u00a0Yeah, I mean, I still feel pretty young, so I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m in the category yet, but there\u2019s a lot of youngsters on the grid. But like the guys said, there\u2019s so much different now. There are arguments that say being experienced is good, there\u2019s other arguments saying not have the experience and going in with an open mind and no previous experience of how it used to be is also good. But at the end of the day the fundamentals are still the same: you\u2019ve still got to go flat out around the corners and the fastest driver will come out on top.
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Q: (Mariana Becker \u2013\u00a0TV Globo) From what you had to learn, you\u2019re still learning, as you just said, George. What\u2019s a new skill that you have to have to drive these cars, or which skill you have to develop much more than you used to, because this is completely different? You have to have other kinds of skills, or more kinds of skills?\u00a0
GR:\u00a0I think we all work very hard on the technical side. Even in years gone by you focused a lot on the tyres or on the simulator or set-up, how to get the most out of it. Now there\u2019s just some added complexity of learning more about the engine and how the battery works on different tracks, how the power unit, how the race starts, with the turbos, work. So, I wouldn\u2019t really say it\u2019s a skill set necessarily, it\u2019s just you\u2019re learning new procedures. And I reckon by a couple of races in these procedures will be quite ingrained within us all and we\u2019ll be talking about it much less.
VB:\u00a0I think biggest difference and learning will be probably while racing, managing the battery. Where you use the deployment, how you strategise your move, whether it\u2019s about overtaking or defending, and not running out of battery at the wrong time. I think that\u2019s going to be probably the biggest thing when we see this first race.
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Q: (Rachel Brookes \u2013 Sky Sports F1) It follows on from that actually: it\u2019s more to do with how much more work are you guys, do you think, you\u2019ll be having to do both in the car and outside of the car this season, working more with your race engineers, studying every track as though it\u2019s completely new again, and how much impact do you think as a driver you\u2019ll be able to have? Is it more this year on the performance because of all the extra work you\u2019re going to have to do? Nico, let\u2019s start with you.
NH:\u00a0I think the work in the car is probably similar. It\u2019s learning by doing, and then as we go there\u2019s still a lot of unknowns, a lot of question marks. But I think as a driver you always have quite a central and significant role with how you do things, how you operate, how you feedback to the team, which direction you steer into. So, no doubt it\u2019s going to be intense and it\u2019s going to be busy, and especially these early couple of races are probably a bit more intense.
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Q: (Luke Smith \u2013\u00a0The Athletic) Valtteri, you say you\u2019re not feeling rusty, but has getting back into the swing of an F1 pre-season and then the anticipation this weekend\u2014has it given you, I guess, a different perspective on what you were missing last year? Do you appreciate F1 that little bit more, having been away from racing and now returning?
VB:\u00a0Absolutely. Having one year of not racing, you definitely appreciate everything about this sport more, and being on the grid is a different feeling. So yeah, like I said, even the press conference doesn\u2019t feel that bad today, but ask me in Abu Dhabi. But yeah, I definitely have a better perspective of the sport and will appreciate it much more than I did two years ago, so hopefully that will help me.
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Q: (Christoffer Lind\u00e9n \u2013\u00a0Automotive and Sports Sweden) For Valtteri, you have a grid penalty to serve here this weekend\u2026 No, you don\u2019t?
VB:\u00a0You don\u2019t follow me on Instagram? No, I just did an announcement 20 minutes ago. Apparently, it\u2019s vanished. Okay, yeah, thanks to some new regulation, so no grid penalty.
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Q: (Christoffer Lind\u00e9n \u2013\u00a0Automotive and Sports Sweden) Okay, that\u2019s good.
VB:\u00a0It is good, yeah!
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Q: (Janne Palom\u00e4ki \u2013\u00a0Ilta-Sanomat) Valtteri, it\u2019s good that you ended the Finnish drought with our drivers in Formula 1, but there are two upcoming drivers, Tuukka Taponen and a certain Kalle Rovanper\u00e4, coming. How would you rate their chances to join you in Formula 1?
VB:\u00a0There\u2019s always a chance, and it would be nice to see the continuity of the Finns in the sport. For Tuukka, I know him pretty well and he\u2019s a very talented driver. It\u2019s going to be his second year in F3 this year, which will show, I think, the direction, and naturally in your second year you\u2019ve got to do well if you want to progress. So yeah, this year should be good to follow, and I\u2019m definitely rooting for him. There\u2019s always a chance. And with Kalle, it\u2019s going to be very interesting to follow somebody coming from World Rallying to single-seaters. That\u2019s a big jump. And again, I think the next two years will really show in which direction that is going to go. But no doubt we\u2019ll see big improvement in his journey in single-seaters. It\u2019s going to be hard work, but again I think he\u2019s one of those super talents when it comes to driving that anything is possible. So yeah, very keen to follow both of them, and I think that both of them, there\u2019s no reason why there wouldn\u2019t be a chance if they do well.
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Q: Valtteri, you\u2019ve done some rallying yourself. Just how challenging did you find the jump?
VB:\u00a0Yeah, it\u2019s hard to know how is it from rallying to single-seaters. I\u2019ve only tried it obviously from single-seaters to rallying, and that is hard. It\u2019s a different driving style, you\u2019re mostly just driving against the clock, not with other cars on track, it is different. But ultimately if you\u2019ve got the talent, if you\u2019ve got the car feel, if you\u2019re a good learner, I think you can adapt.
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Q: (Tim Kraaij \u2013\u00a0GPBlog.com) Question to George, but the others can add in if they want to. George, with the situation in the Middle East at the moment, what does the talk among drivers, and do you think F1 can go racing in a month\u2019s time already in Bahrain and Saudi?
GR:\u00a0Ultimately, I think all of us trust in F1 and the FIA to make the right decision, and it\u2019s going to be changing daily, I\u2019m sure, and we\u2019re still four or five weeks away, so I don\u2019t think anyone is really pressing those questions because there\u2019s still a long time between now and then. And of course it\u2019s kind of outside of our hands. So yeah, trusting the guys at the top to make the right decision. And if we don\u2019t, I\u2019m sure there are Plan Bs in place, but we\u2019re not asking and we trust they\u2019re on it.
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Q: (Rodrigo Fran\u00e7a \u2013 Car Magazine\u00a0Brazil) George, you had three years in Formula 1 with Williams and when you finally had the chance in Mercedes, the team that was dominating, the sport\u2019s rules changed, the cars, and you didn\u2019t have the chance to fight for the title. Now maybe the rules change again and now it\u2019s your chance to fight for the title.
GR:\u00a0Is that a question?
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Q: (Rodrigo Fran\u00e7a \u2013 Car Magazine\u00a0Brazil) It\u2019s a question, yeah.
GR:\u00a0Yeah, I mean, I think every rule change there is a new opportunity for the team who hasn\u2019t been winning. We feel we\u2019ve got a very good chance. However, the last rule change, Ferrari were the team who came out of the blocks winning, and after three or four races they looked like the ones who were going to win the championship, and by the end of \u201922 they weren\u2019t even close to the fight. So, the mentality for us, regardless if we have a successful weekend or a difficult weekend, is that Melbourne won\u2019t define the season, and if we want to win we need to keep on pushing, and yeah, we\u2019re ready to do that.
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Q: (Kieran Jackson \u2013\u00a0The Independent) George, one for you again please. You say that, but does the atmosphere feel different at Mercedes this year? Obviously you\u2019ve been there since your fifth season, compared to 2022 when you didn\u2019t know the scale of the challenge. Does it feel like a different sort of morale within the team that you can be right on top this year?
GR:\u00a0The morale is definitely different, but I think this is more to do with the fact that the car is performing as we expected. What was very important is seeing the correlation is good, there\u2019s no major scares on the car. I put it on the ground and both Kimi and I were happy with how it was handling. The engine looks strong. I think we\u2019ve been surprised by some of our competitors how strong their power units have been, but the package looks good. So that is probably the biggest reason why the morale is high, and you need that at the start of any new regulations to build upon. In turn, the lap times look pretty decent as well in the first two tests, but we obviously know that the rate of improvement at the moment is going to be its steepest slope over the course of these next six months. So, as I say, it\u2019s going to be a long fight and we hope we\u2019re in it.
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Q: (Samuel Coop \u2013\u00a0RacingNews365) My question is for you. In 2021 you and Checo both helped in the Constructors\u2019 fight and you pipped him slightly in the Drivers\u2019 Championship. Does that add a competitive ingredient to the kind of intra-Cadillac battle? Just your thoughts on that.
VB:\u00a0Not really. I mean, I\u2019ve been battling with Checo many, many years, sometimes actually in quite similar-ish machinery. He\u2019s a solid driver, he\u2019s experienced, he can be very quick. And again I think in the last years it showed whoever went to Red Bull, I don\u2019t know if they did that much better than Checo. So yeah, our focus is now on building a strong team, helping out the team, ideally putting the team first and going from there, because if me and Checo both want results, the best way to get there is work together, push the team forward, and go from there.
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Q: (Stewart Bell \u2013 AP) This is for George. Obviously we\u2019ve spoken about the car and competitiveness of it, but what about yourself? How has your personal development in terms of physical and mental prep gone into this year?
GR:\u00a0Yeah, I feel in a very good place, to be honest. I think last year was probably my strongest year, not just on track but just how I was feeling personally, and life at home. I think that\u2019s very important to have a good professional and successful professional life. So, I\u2019ve just sort of been building upon that, and I feel every single year I\u2019ve been performing better and better, and there\u2019s still areas I feel I need to and want to improve, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m working on this season. But generally, I feel good, feel happy, confident in myself, and just excited to go racing.
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Q: George, what areas are you going to be focusing on improving in 2026?
GR:\u00a0There are small technical areas I think that I wanted to improve on last year. It\u2019s probably boring, I don\u2019t want to go into those details because they\u2019re sort of my personal bits. But I think for all of us now, this is my eighth season in Formula 1, you get to a point where you just start evolving. You\u2019re making these small adjustments to try and get a little bit more out of yourself. But also, the great thing is I\u2019ve got a really good group of engineers around me who have been with me for three or four years now, and I\u2019ve got a very stable sort of platform around me, so I think that also helps a lot.
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Q: (Ben Waterworth \u2013\u00a0Speedcafe) Question for George. Following up on sort of what was said there, with all this extra attention \u2013\u00a0you\u2019ve obviously always got attention on you in Formula 1 \u2013\u00a0but do you relish, kind of, seemingly these questions, more eyes on you right now, that you are the title favourite potentially, and that you\u2019re really relishing showing what you are capable of if this is true and it ends up being you are the championship favourite?
GR:\u00a0It doesn\u2019t change anything at all for me, to be honest. We obviously sit here on a Thursday and we talk about it for an hour, but then when I walk away, I go back to business and I work with my team. And what\u2019s been discussed here or written in the media doesn\u2019t help me go faster or doesn\u2019t make me go slower. And I think that\u2019s the approach I\u2019ve always had with media, for good or for bad. You\u2019ve got to just not pay too much attention to it because it never positively impacts your own well-being or your own performance. So, I think I\u2019ve done a good job of that in the past and that\u2019s still the same approach I\u2019m taking. And as I said, I\u2019ll take it race by race, not thinking about the big picture whatsoever, and recognise no matter how this weekend goes it\u2019s a 24-race long season. It\u2019s very, very demanding on everybody, and a lot can change between now and Abu Dhabi.
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Q: (Ethan Cardinal \u2013\u00a0Drive.com.au) Valtteri, everyone knows that you are kind of a temporary Australian now, and since moving here I\u2019m curious to know, like, have you picked up any Australian habits beyond just a mullet and the awesome moustache? And also, what\u2019s your favourite part about living in Australia that you didn\u2019t know was a thing until you moved here?
VB:\u00a0Just to correct first, I don\u2019t live in Australia. Maybe one day, who knows. I still live in Monaco, so nothing has changed on that. But with my partner, we got a place, end of November, in South Australia in McLaren Vale, which is great to have a place where we can stay. She\u2019s Australian, so when we\u2019re around this part of the world, we\u2019ve got a place. So, it\u2019s been amazing. I really love the lifestyle in Australia: the weather, the food, you name it. I think I picked up some habits. I do love a meat pie, you know, it\u2019s pretty good. If I do a U-turn, I always do a \u201cU-ey\u201d instead of, you know, things like that. So simple things.<\/p>\n
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PART TWO \u2013\u00a0Arvid LINDBLAD (Racing Bulls), Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Ferrari)<\/p>\n
Q: Let\u2019s start with the hometown hero, if we can. Oscar, McLaren have won the last couple of Constructors\u2019 titles. Just how confident are you in the team making it three in a row?
Oscar PIASTRI:\u00a0We\u2019ll have to wait and see. It\u2019s a very different regulation set. It would be very optimistic to say we\u2019re going to have the same form as we did here 12 months ago. I think we\u2019re somewhere towards the front, but from testing it kind of feels like Mercedes and Ferrari have got a little bit on us and Red Bull, I would say. Things are chopping and changing so quickly as everyone learns and brings things to the car, so we\u2019ll have to wait and see. Last year we were coming here with very, very high hopes that we could achieve something special. This year I think we can still have a good result, but to achieve the same kind of performance we\u2019re going to have to find a bit more.
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Q: On a personal level, you\u2019ve made big steps each off-season of your Formula 1 career. Do you think you\u2019ve made another step going into 2026?
OP:\u00a0Difficult to know because we\u2019ve not started yet. What\u2019s different this year, obviously, is the regulation reset. Having some of the off-seasons I\u2019ve had previously and some of the things I\u2019ve learned from that is definitely transferable into this year, but some of the challenges and driving style changes and things we\u2019re looking at are pretty different to what we\u2019ve seen ever, probably. I\u2019m confident that I can take another step forward, hopefully using the same kind of process as what I have the last few years, and we\u2019ll see where we end up.
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Q: You were competitive here last year. What would it mean to finally win at home?
OP:\u00a0If I had a dollar for every time I got asked that, I\u2019d be\u2026 a few dollars richer! It would be really special. Every driver wants to win their home race and that\u2019s no different for me. Having it as a season opener, there\u2019s always a large element of the unknown there. I would love to win here. If we\u2019ve got the car to do it \u2013 even if we don\u2019t \u2013 then I\u2019ll be trying my absolute best to, but we\u2019ll have to wait and see what kind of performance we\u2019ve got.
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Q: Alright, thank you very much for that, Oscar. Now Arvid, if we could come to you, please. Welcome to the FIA press conference. You\u2019re the only rookie on the grid this year. Describe how you\u2019re feeling ahead of your first Grand Prix.
Arvid LINDBLAD:\u00a0I\u2019m feeling good. This is what I\u2019ve been working towards my whole life. This was my goal, my dream, when I started when I was five, so the fact that it\u2019s coming true is obviously something I\u2019m very excited for.
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Q: What aspect of the weekend are you looking forward to most?
AL:\u00a0I\u2019m looking forward to all of it, but probably qualifying and the race a bit more, because that\u2019s a bit more exciting.
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Q: How different does this feel coming into your first Grand Prix compared to anything else you\u2019ve done in your career?
AL:\u00a0It\u2019s a lot busier than in F2 and F3. There\u2019s a lot more people in this room than I\u2019m used to. There\u2019s more media, there\u2019s just a bit more everything. In F1 everything\u2019s a step up, so it\u2019s a different vibe. There\u2019s a bit more going on, but I\u2019m just trying to stay focused on the important bit, which is the driving.
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Q: Let\u2019s talk a little bit more about that bit, the driving. The car proved reliable in testing. What was the biggest thing you learned?
AL:\u00a0I think for all of us, we\u2019re trying to get up to speed with these new regulations. Obviously the car is different, tyres different, but I think the biggest thing is the engine, and just with the energy, different techniques, the different ways you have to drive, trying to find tricks with the team to get the most out of the package. That\u2019s the main thing that we\u2019re working through and trying to get on top of.
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Q: Thank you for that. Good luck this weekend. And Lewis, let\u2019s come to you now. Oscar said it himself, Ferrari looked to have a very solid pre-season. How confident are you and the team feeling coming into 2026?
Lewis HAMILTON:\u00a0Well, good afternoon. It\u2019s good to see everybody. It\u2019s great to be here. I\u2019ve been here 20 years\u2026 that\u2019s long? And this room is still the same! I would say it\u2019s not a confidence thing. We got great mileage done in winter testing. An amazing amount of work has been done from the team back at the factory, but also delivering on those tests, and we\u2019ve learned a lot from last year. We\u2019re leaving behind the bad and moving forwards with the good. We\u2019re sharp, prepared, and we know what we need to do. We also know there are massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations.
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Q: This is your second season with Ferrari. Just how different does it feel coming into year two? You know all the processes, you know the people in the team. How does that help you?
LH:\u00a0It\u2019s massively different to the first year and a much nicer feeling, having spent a year at the team, understanding the culture, understanding ways, finding ways of working together. I think we\u2019re in a good place now together as a team, and I feel very gelled with the team today. So yeah, much happier.
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Q: I know it\u2019s early days, we haven\u2019t even turned a wheel here in Melbourne, but can we talk about goals for the season for you? What\u2019s a realistic ambition?
LH:\u00a0The goal is to win. That\u2019s what we\u2019re working towards. Every team is, but that\u2019s our goal: to maximise on every opportunity, to be hopefully fighting in the top group, hopefully in the first races. We don\u2019t really know. Mercedes looked particularly quick, and I\u2019m not really sure whether we\u2019ve seen the full, unleashed Red Bull yet, so it\u2019s really, really exciting. But whatever the case, I feel like I\u2019ve got a great group of people behind me who are head down focused on bringing performance and really maximising every weekend.
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Q: Lewis, final one from me. You\u2019ve already said it\u2019s your 20th\u00a0season in Formula 1. You will have exceeded 400 starts by the end of this season. In all that experience, what\u2019s the greatest thing you\u2019ve learned that you can pass on to Arvid now?
LH:\u00a0Firstly, I don\u2019t feel like this is my 20th\u00a0year. I feel younger than ever somehow. I feel very fresh. Whilst he says he\u2019s 18, I feel like I\u2019m 18 as well. It\u2019s all in the mind, and physically I feel great. Sitting here in my first year, I\u2019d say just enjoy it, which he\u2019s probably already doing. It is being thrown into the deep end because all the commitments you have and the circus takes a while to get used to. But he\u2019s done a great job already through winter testing and obviously deserves to be here. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how he progresses. And also, there will be bad days, and just don\u2019t take it too heavily. Obviously you will because you\u2019re competitive, but there\u2019s nothing you can do about the past. It\u2019s just how you move forwards.
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QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
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Q: (Rachel Brookes \u2013 Sky Sports F1) Lewis, if I can start with you, you mentioned you will have bad days to Arvid. We all watched the challenges of last year, but we\u2019ve seen so much positivity from you on social media recently and over the winter break. Can you tell me what that\u2019s down to? Is it looking ahead to this car and what you knew? Was it getting away from the sport for a bit, friends, family? Can you tell us where that\u2019s come from?
LH:\u00a0A combination of things. The break was really positive. It was my surroundings, it was the people that I was with. It\u2019s not my first rodeo, so it\u2019s understanding how to flip things. It\u2019s not that easy to do each time, but I always talk about cultivating a positive mental attitude and that\u2019s what I focus on in my winter. A lot of it came from training. I was training hard from Christmas Day. Also, knowing that I believe in myself, that I\u2019ve put more work in than anyone around me, and I believe in myself. Rediscovering myself was a big part of it as well. As I said in one of my posts, I kind of lost sight for a second of who I was, and that person\u2019s gone, so you won\u2019t see that person again.
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Q: (Mariana Becker \u2013 TV Globo) For the three of you, when you drove this car during Bahrain and Barcelona and also at the simulator, what did you realise, or what kind of skills did you realize that you have to develop more to be able to drive this car as it should?
LH:\u00a0The deployment is the biggest part. The rest of it is all kind of similar and familiar, but the deployment is so challenging and it\u2019s different from track to track. We probably also won\u2019t know until we\u2019re thrown in the deep end in the race to understand, when we overtake someone, how it\u2019s going to affect us coming out of that corner and managing that is going to be difficult. Some tracks you don\u2019t have to do lift and coast for a single lap, and in some places you have to do a lot of lift and coast for a qualifying lap. There can be a big difference between deployment, of a second. If you don\u2019t lift in one corner, for example Turn 6, Turn 5 here. If you take it flat or if you lift, it has a massive compound effect through the rest of the lap. You can do a good lap but you could be a second down because the deployment is off. That\u2019s going to be the biggest challenge, not only the drivers optimising it, but the team being on top of it and delivering.
OP:\u00a0There\u2019s a lot of things that are different. As Lewis said, all the driving, car set-up, everything is kind of optimised around getting the most out of the power unit. There\u2019s always been an element of that, but it\u2019s now by far the biggest element. You\u2019ve still got to do all the other basics right. What is difficult about these new regulations is that a lot of the things we have to learn to do as drivers are not very intuitive, so it takes some getting used to and a lot of discipline.
AL:\u00a0Just echoing what Lewis and Oscar said: in the end a race car is a race car, it\u2019s got a throttle and a brake, but the energy is a bigger aspect. It\u2019s not always about just being flat out, it\u2019s about being more energy-aware, about if you can be more efficient. That\u2019s a bigger element than it has been in the past.
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Q: (Nelson Valkenburg \u2013 Viaplay Netherlands) Oscar, we left Bahrain with a lot of teams pointing at other teams as the favourites, and you just said we expect to be maybe third or fourth fastest behind Ferrari and Mercedes. What have you seen in those teams to make you think that McLaren is a little bit behind? What makes them quicker based on Bahrain?
OP:\u00a0There\u2019s never much you can read into with times in testing. The only thing you can sort of get a read on are the race simulations that everyone does. They\u2019re still not perfect, but to do a race simulation you need to fill the car up fully with fuel, so some of the Ferrari race sims looked very, very strong. For Mercedes, whilst they never really did many race sims in Bahrain, the kind of form and some of the laps they\u2019ve been able to put in\u2026 Barcelona was pretty impressive, and they set the bar pretty high. They came in, had the car run pretty flawlessly, doing so many laps. The preparation from them seems strong. But I don\u2019t think we\u2019re far behind, if we are. I don\u2019t know if we are behind at all. The feeling is we\u2019re in the mix but not right at the pointy end, so if we can find a little bit more then hopefully we can be right at the pointy end.
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Q: (Margot Laffitte \u2013\u00a0Canal+) Question for all three of you: can you talk us through the atmosphere of the Melbourne Walk when you arrived at the track this morning, please? Arvid, can we start with you? What did you make of it?
AL:\u00a0It was obviously quite different to what I\u2019m used to. We kind of did it in F2, but I don\u2019t think there was even a fraction of the people that were there this morning. So yeah, it was quite an experience for me \u2013\u00a0a lot of people, a little bit overwhelming, but it was cool. It\u2019s a part of this race, and I love this event. It\u2019s a great track, a great city, and the fans are a really big part of it as well. Getting a taste of that on Thursday morning is a good sign for the rest of the week.
OP:\u00a0For me it\u2019s pretty special because most of the things I\u2019m signing are for me, which is always fun. We don\u2019t have anything like that anywhere else. Maybe a few races have tried to copy it, but it\u2019s very unique to Melbourne. Having most of the support be for me is an added layer on top of that.
LH:\u00a0It\u2019s grown a lot since I started and it\u2019s amazing to see everyone here and the energy is always awesome in Melbourne. This is definitely by far the best opener of a season. We had it in a few different places in the past, but this one, being that it\u2019s so far to get to, the weather\u2019s always great, the city\u2019s fantastic, and the people are great.
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Q: (Nqobile Mahlambi \u2013\u00a0SuperSport Africa) You know that F1 has a big following in terms of motorsports in Africa. We want to know, you\u2019ve spoken publicly about a potential race. If you had to pick a specific city or a place in Africa, where would it be and why?
LH:\u00a0Well, welcome. Thank you. I\u2019ve had the privilege\u2026 I\u2019ve been to 10 countries now in Africa. There\u2019s still so much more for me to see. For the past six years, maybe seven, I\u2019ve been fighting in the background to get a Grand Prix, might be longer than that actually, sitting with stakeholders and asking the question, why are we not in Africa? There\u2019s one on every other continent, why not Africa? I know they\u2019re really trying. I think they\u2019ve been to quite a few different countries. The ones that I\u2019ve enjoyed the most: I loved Kenya. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to have a Grand Prix in Kenya, but Rwanda particularly was spectacular. Two places I felt like I could live. South Africa is stunning. I think those are the ones I think would be good places for us to potentially go to. I don\u2019t want to leave the sport without having a Grand Prix there, without getting to race there, so I\u2019m chasing them: when is it going to be? They\u2019re setting certain dates, I\u2019m like, damn, I could be running out of time, so I\u2019m going to be here for a while until that happens, because that would be amazing, given that I\u2019m half African. I\u2019ve got roots from a few different places there, like Togo and Benin. I went to visit Benin last year, Senegal and Nigeria. It\u2019s something I\u2019m really, really proud of. I\u2019m really proud of that part of the world. I think it is the most beautiful part of the world, and I don\u2019t like that the rest of the world owns so much of it and takes so much from it and no one speaks about it. I\u2019m really hoping that the people that are running those different countries all unite and come together and take Africa back. That\u2019s what I want to see. Take it back from the French, take it back from the Spanish, take it back from the Portuguese and the British. It\u2019s so important for the future of that continent. They have all the resources to be the greatest and most powerful place in the world, and that\u2019s probably why they are being controlled the way they are. But anyways, move on.
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Q: (Oliver van Bronswijk \u2013\u00a0The Roar) Question for both Oscar and Lewis: you seem to grow a lot more comfortable through testing with some prolonged running. How confident are you guys that you can get performance in new tracks with different characteristics?
OP:\u00a0What is going to be unique and a challenge for us to learn this year is, in the past you\u2019ve kind of gone from track to track and it\u2019s got different grip levels, different downforce levels, things like that, but the fundamental way you drive the car and the engine has never really been a big factor. Whereas now, from track to track, the engine\u2014or the power unit\u2014is probably going to be the biggest factor in how you set things up and how you get the most out of it, how you get the best lap time. So how you attack different tracks is going to look pretty different, and the things we need to do are going to look pretty different. Getting on top of those and understanding those is going to be the biggest challenge.
LH:\u00a0It\u2019s going to be the most challenging, and I think it will be the most challenging it\u2019s ever been in the sport, for sure. It\u2019s always challenging when you have rule changes, but this one particularly is far bigger than at least the five that I\u2019ve been through. It\u2019s going to be something that we\u2019re learning on the cuff. We\u2019ve learned a lot from the test, but we\u2019re going to be learning\u2014this is also a bit of a test each weekend. You\u2019re going to be learning more, you\u2019re going to be faced with different challenges with the different characteristics of the circuit. It\u2019s fine. I just hope that Formula 1 is able to project that to the fans so they can understand what\u2019s going on, because inside it\u2019s a lot to fully understand it. I hope commentators come and go speak to the teams, maybe understand it a little bit more, so you\u2019re not just throwing ideas out there about what we\u2019re trying to do or what the challenges we are facing, because it\u2019s no joke. It\u2019s really, really challenging.
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Q: (Luke Smith \u2013 The Athletic) Lewis, a question for you. Just picking up on what you were saying about losing sight of yourself and the kind of rediscovery that you went through. Was that just because of last year\u2019s struggles that really fed that soul searching? Was there a specific moment that made you think, okay, I need to make a change here? And has that contributed to feeling in a happier and more settled place going into this year?
LH:\u00a0I think it was just something that built up over a period of time. It\u2019s normal. Lots of people have that at some point through their lives, and it\u2019s important that you pick yourself back up and you evaluate where you\u2019ve been and, as I said, come back with that positive mental frame of mind. I feel great arriving here. Training has been fantastic. The work with the team has been amazing. Changes within my own personal space, and in how I interact with the team, how the team is working, is so much smoother than it was last year.
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Q: (David Schneider \u2013\u00a0Hollywood Reporter Japan) Question for Lewis. Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that there will be Part 2 of the F1 movie. Will you take a similar role like in Part 1, or maybe even have a stronger role in front of the camera? And a quick question about Charles: what wedding gift did you give him, maybe some advice?
LH:\u00a0I\u2019ve never been married, so I definitely haven\u2019t given him any advice. I haven\u2019t gotten a wedding gift yet. I usually delay myself when it comes to gifts like that, so maybe six months in I\u2019ll give it to him. And yes, we are already working on the first script. We had our first meeting maybe mid to late second part of the end of the year\u2014me, Jerry and Joe\u2014talking about different ideas, different directions that we could go with the script, and then with Erin, we\u2019ve had plenty of meetings on it. It\u2019s really exciting. I\u2019m super excited. Now I\u2019ve been through it and it was already very intense the first time, going now I\u2019m used to it, so I know what to expect, I know what we could do better. It\u2019s been amazing to see how big an impact it\u2019s had, how many people have loved the movie. I\u2019m still getting texts from people who are only just watching the movie and how it\u2019s opened their eyes up to what this sport is about, and it\u2019s sent them down a rabbit hole trying to understand it more. The second one for me\u2026 \u00a0sequels often aren\u2019t always great. We\u2019ve got a great team, got a great cast, great writer, so I\u2019m not concerned about that, but we\u2019re going to take our time and make sure we get it just the way it needs to be.
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Q: Front of camera?\u00a0
LH:\u00a0I don\u2019t really have a lot of desire to be on camera. I\u2019ve had loads of opportunities to be in movies. I really like the idea of being in the background. It was an amazing experience and it\u2019s so much more enjoyable than actually being on camera. I really admire actors. I mean, the craft. It\u2019s such a hard business to be in, and to take on these characters is such a challenge. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s something I\u2019d be particularly great at. I\u2019ve had a couple of really cool experiences like doing Cars 2 and getting to do voiceovers, which was fun. But I\u2019m planning on producing lots of different TV shows, documentaries and movies. I have a lot in the pipeline, so I\u2019ll probably be focused on that rather than actually being on camera.
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Q: (Eddie Summerfield \u2013\u00a0Radio 3AW) Oscar, your mum spoke this morning about how she doesn\u2019t get to see you all that much during this weekend while you\u2019re here and you\u2019re not staying with her. Can you tell us about how your mindset is different for the Australian Grand Prix compared to every other race weekend throughout the calendar year?
OP:\u00a0It\u2019s not really. There are no extra points for being in your home race or anything like that. The only way the mindset is a bit different is you just don\u2019t know exactly what to expect, so that\u2019s really the only way it changes. There\u2019s a lot of extra support, which is great, but in terms of trying to do my job and get the best out of myself, that\u2019s exactly the same no matter where we are in the world.
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Q: (Will Swanton \u2013\u00a0The Australian) Oscar, I feel like Zak became a bit of a villain last year in Australia for reasons that you know. Tell us about your working relationship with him, but also what he\u2019s like as a bloke, and put all that into a bit of context.
OP:\u00a0My relationship with Zak is very good, and it\u2019s gotten stronger the longer we\u2019ve known each other. He\u2019s certainly good fun and it\u2019s good to have around. Him and Andrea are two people with very different styles that works well together. The relationship between Zak and I is good. As a team, we obviously had some tough moments through last year, as any team has, but I think our relationship has only gotten stronger from that.
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Q: (Ethan Cardinal \u2013\u00a0Drive.com.au) Oscar, you led the standings for most of last year but ultimately lost the title by 13 points, which is a smaller margin than the points you sacrificed in team-ordered swaps. Is this weekend and the season more about winning for McLaren, or is it proving to everyone that you\u2019re no longer willing to be the number two behind the reigning champion, Lando Norris?
OP:\u00a0There\u2019s a lot to digest in that question. For me, we\u2019re always going to race for the best interest of the team. We\u2019ve always had freedom to race for our own individual results as well. Maybe on some occasions we\u2019ve not always made the perfect decision, but the important part is there\u2019s never been any bad intention with that. We\u2019ve had a lot of learning about things we can do differently, things we can do better. But I\u2019ve got nothing to prove. I\u2019m certainly not going to have a rebellious streak or anything like that. A pretty quick-fire way to make sure you\u2019re not going to win a championship is go against your own team, so I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a very wise move. We\u2019ve had discussions and worked on things we can do better this year.
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Q: (Stuart Bell \u2013 AP) Lewis, you mentioned just before that you\u2019re fully gelled with the team. Can you give me an idea of the process of getting to that point, and also some of the challenges that you\u2019ve experienced along the way?
LH:\u00a0It\u2019s the culture, the difference in culture, the difference in the way in which the team operates compared to what I\u2019ve experienced with British teams, for example. It\u2019s really just getting to know each other. Lots of meetings, lots of discussions, lots of communication \u2013 improving communication. It\u2019s time at the factory, which I gave a lot last year but continue to truly show up. Finding way of just asking for change is one thing but finding ways to create allyship and show why change is better for us as a whole\u2026 And going on the journey together to discovering that and making those improvements. I think we started to do that towards the end of last year and particularly going into this season. Again, because it was such a steep learning curve last year and we were learning on the go, but we\u2019re so much more prepared this year, which I\u2019m really, really excited for. It goes back to the confidence, the reason I joined the team, the belief that I have in joining the team and what I believe I can do with this team is even stronger than it ever was before.
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ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PART ONE \u2013 Nico HULKENBERG (Audi), Valtteri BOTTAS (Cadillac), George RUSSELL (Mercedes)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Q: George, why don\u2019t we start with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13335,13331,4403,13328,13317,13327,13339,13338,180,13326,13318,13332,13329,85,46,13337,843,13315,13316,13333,13330,13325,13334,105,13336,13321,13319,13320,13324,13323,13322],"class_list":{"0":"post-322789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-action-for-road-safety","9":"tag-circuit","10":"tag-connectivity","11":"tag-eprix","12":"tag-f1","13":"tag-fe","14":"tag-fia","15":"tag-fia-president","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-formula-e","18":"tag-formula-one","19":"tag-hill-climb","20":"tag-historic","21":"tag-il","22":"tag-israel","23":"tag-jean-todt","24":"tag-mobility","25":"tag-motor-sport","26":"tag-motorsport","27":"tag-off-road","28":"tag-rally","29":"tag-rallycross","30":"tag-road-safety","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-todt","33":"tag-touring-car","34":"tag-wec","35":"tag-world-endurance-championship","36":"tag-world-rallycross","37":"tag-world-rx","38":"tag-wtcc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}