All language subtitles for Austin

Welcome, everybody, to the driver's press
conference ahead of the FIA Formula one

United States Grand Prix.

We have two groups coming your way.

Group number one with us now closest to me,
Lando Norris.

Then we have Logan Sargeant, Lance stroll,
Carlos Sainz and a Stetson clad Valtteri

Bottas. Welcome to you all.

Let's start with well, we can't really call
you local boy because it's not Miami, but it

is your second home race of the season.

Logan, just how much are you looking forward
to this one?

Yeah, a lot for sure.

I was you know, it's it's a very good track
for me with Williams obviously joining the

Driver Academy here in 2021.

Did my first FP1 here last year.

And yeah it's the first car track in America
that I've I've ever driven.

So it's nice to be back and nice to be back
in an F1 car.

Well you mentioned that FP1 last year you did
23 laps.

How crucial is that given that we're going
into a sprint weekend?

Yeah, I think it's definitely going to help
considering the sprint.

It's quite a tricky track to get to grips
with for sure.

Sector one in particular, but I think having
that knowledge from last year is going to

help. And I think once we just did in Qatar,
I didn't know that track and it was okay.

So all should be good.

What about the car here?

I mean, the Williams hasn't been updated
much recently.

What are your expectations?

Yeah, it's definitely been difficult.

Obviously other teams are bringing more and
more upgrades.

We're you know, sticking with with what we
have and focusing on next year.

But. As Alex showed in Qatar, there's always
opportunity.

Just being in the right place, right place,
keep it clean.

And that's what we need to try and do.

So it's going to be.

You never know to put the car on the ground.

But I'm sure it's going to be a difficult
weekend as always.

Always fighting to try and, you know, push
ourselves up the grid.

But it's not easy with where we're at at the
moment.

Well, what would it mean to get your first
points in Formula One on home ground?

Yeah, it would be awesome.

I mean that's the goal we're going to we're
going to do everything to put ourselves in

that position. Obviously two qualifying and
two races to to to do well.

And I believe we can do so.

And the weather is beautiful here in Austin.

It's going to be 30 degrees plus every day.

Do you expect this to be as hard physically
as the last race in Qatar?

I don't think that's possible.

No, I think it will be okay.

I mean, I've, you know, from America, I've
never felt heat like I felt in Qatar.

So. Yeah, I think it should be fine.

Logan, how long did it take you to recover
from Qatar?

Because I remember you telling us in the
press conference earlier in the year that you

don't use a drinks bottle.

Has there been a change of plan?

I have been using the drinks bottle from
Singapore onwards.

To be honest, in that heat, it wasn't really
helping much.

I mean, it was burning hot water.

The seat was boiling or blistering hot.

It was just a tricky one.

But. Yeah, it wasn't ideal.

All right.

Well, best of luck this weekend.

Hope you get those first points, Lance.

Perhaps we could come to you next.

Just while we're reflecting on the heat of
Qatar.

How did you find it?

How long did it take you to get over it?

After the race?

Yeah, it was hot for sure.

I think we all felt it took me a good few
days after the race to feel 100% again.

Do you suffer from the same heat issues that
Fernando does in the car underneath the seat?

Yeah, my ass was on fire too.

I think all of all of ours were.

Now, it was a frustrating race as well as the
heat.

It was a frustrating race for you because
you actually finished in a points paying

position, but then because of track limits
violations, you dropped out of the points.

Do you expect track limits to be an issue
here in Austin?

For sure. I mean, there's a few corners here.

Um, you got to watch out for.

So I think it's something to think about.

But a lot of tracks now with, you know, the
the track limits being being a challenge.

All right. And what about car performance
this weekend.

What can we expect.

Yeah. Well we have a few bits coming to the
car this weekend.

So you know I hope we can be competitive.

And McLaren are just 11 points behind Aston
Martin now.

Are you feeling to continue the heat theme?

Are you feeling the heat from McLaren?

Yeah I mean they're quick so not ideal.

All right. Well, you know, see what we can
do from now until the end of the year.

All right. Keep pushing.

Good luck this weekend. Thank you.

Carlos. Let's come to you now during the
look, by the way.

Yeah.

I just wear whatever they tell me to wear.

But if you guys like it, I like it.

Tell us a little bit about what you've been
up to this week.

I think you came via New York.

There was a Ferrari gala.

How was that?

Yeah. I've been also trying to recover from
Qatar, but not so much physically because I

didn't race, but mentally from not being
able to to take part in that race, which on

hand side actually if there was a race to
miss, probably Qatar looking back and looked

like a good one to to maybe skip.

But yeah, it's been a couple of days in New
York with, with an event and getting to see

the city for the first time.

I had never been. Believe it or not, it's
been nine years on the road traveling the

world in F1. But I had never stopped in New
York before, so I got a couple of days there.

Beak quite a bit of traffic.

I love the restaurant's vibe.

Love Central Park, but now in Austin, ready
to to focus on on what matters that is trying

to get back, hopefully back in the podium
this weekend.

You talked about not racing in Qatar.

Just tell us what you did during the race.

Did you get involved in strategy or were you
just an interested observer?

I was an interested observer, but obviously
looking at strategy and looking at I was

constantly looking, where would I have been?

Like, the brain is always like going to this
race trace and seeing I would have been here

with my strategy, I would have tried to do
this, this, and then you just realize that

it's not worth it because you get even more
frustrated and you start thinking, what if,

what if, what if? But yeah, it was
frustrating from a driver's perspective to to

watch the race from the barriers.

But it's how it goes.

And yeah, hopefully it looks like we will
get a bit of a heat experience also here in

Austin. And and yeah, I love this track.

I love how this place becomes on Saturday,
Sunday with the fans and how cool it is to

drive it. So yeah, I'll hopefully forget
Qatar soon.

Well, after the DNS the did not start in
Qatar.

Do you have any reliability concerns coming
into this weekend?

No. We've changed a lot of parts in the car
to try and obviously correct the issue that

affected us in Qatar.

We are trying also to find solutions in the
long term, not only in the short term,

because it's definitely something that we
are not happy and we also had issues in the

past. So yeah, a bit of a yeah headache that
is giving us this, this fuel tank now, now

and then. But yeah, we will try and put it
back together this this weekend and hopefully

it shouldn't be any issues anytime soon.

And Carlos Lance has already spoken about the
pace of McLaren.

At the moment they're only 79 points behind
Ferrari in the Constructors Championship.

Lando actually said last time out that he
thinks that gap can be closed.

What are your thoughts?

I think if we don't have any other DNS or
DNFs, I think we should be able to keep them

behind. It doesn't mean that they are not
going to beat us.

I think they're going to beat us in most of
our races from here to the end of the season.

If they if if all things align because they
do have a very quick car nowadays, and they

look to be the only ones that can sometimes
bother Red bull.

And as we are in a track like Singapore,
where maybe it's more us.

But yeah, I don't know.

I was playing golf yesterday with London.

We were discussing whether they will be
ahead this weekend.

We will be ahead, maybe quali, maybe race,
but basically we don't know.

But so let's see tomorrow.

Who is ahead in the Gulf.

We didn't compete in the end.

But it was fun.

We played we played 12 holes in In Sunset.

So it was it was good fun.

All right, Carlos, good luck this weekend.

Hope you start the race.

Let's start with that. Thank you I hope so.

Thank you very much. Valtteri coming to you
now.

Love the Stetson. Although I think some
people watching might have expected to see

you wearing budgie smugglers.

Smugglers? Is that right?

Yeah, I could wear both.

Are you wearing.

Both?

Who knows? Now look, leave your imagination
to decide.

Now, Valterri. You've actually already been
racing in the US.

You were in Kansas, weren't you?

I think over the weekend in the.

Was it the Belgian waffle ride?

How did you get on? Correct.

Yeah. It's another gravel race I did with
with my girlfriend Tiffany.

And it was good. It's always seems to be the
weekend before Austin.

So. So with the with the time difference, it
makes sense to come early and enjoy the

event. And yeah, went well.

And something else that went well was Qatar
of course last time out both you and Joe

finishing in the points.

It had been a while.

How much was that result needed by the team?

Much needed. It really felt refreshing for
everyone in the team because, you know, once

you're doing so many races and without any
points, it for sure it starts to eat

everybody's confidence a little bit.

Like you start to wonder, you know, can you
do it?

And now again, we proved for everyone in the
team that yes, we can do it.

If we get everything right, we can score.

So definitely, yeah, a bit better vibe
overall now and I hope that can carry for a

bit better end of the end of the season.

Well, can it carry this weekend?

Do you think the Cota circuit will suit you?

It is so hard to predict because of the gaps
are so small, but at least now we've learned,

I think, a lot more about the upgrades we
introduced.

And we even have some new bits for for this
race.

So we'll, we'll, we'll find out very soon.

All right. Best of luck. Thank you very much
Valtteri and Lando coming to you.

Thank you for waiting.

Let's start with 100 races.

That is more than Sir Jackie Stewart did in
his entire career.

Just how proud are you of that milestone?

Yeah, I mean pretty proud.

I don't think many people in, well, just
many people in the world get to achieve such

a thing. So that and also people who do
enter Formula one, you know, not many people

get to stay for a full 100.

So I do want to stay for many more.

And I think that's still my next target.

But 100 races, a lot of ups and downs, a lot
of great memories, good success.

So a pleasant journey so far.

Good memories, good success.

Give us your best race so far.

I don't know I don't know what would be my my
best race.

But I mean there's the obvious ones are
always the podium ones.

First pole position, first podium in formula
one.

Like those are ones you always remember.

Maybe not the best. I think if I looked at
results, you know, sitting on the races, you

know, the one two with Daniel in 21.

Some of the races this year have been just
very enjoyable, very strong.

So I know many good ones, different places.

Silverstone probably being one of the
biggest highlights of it all, being my home

race. So yeah, a lot of good ones, but ones
I'd I'm still trying to override by getting

that first win.

Well, what about this weekend?

You're on a run. You've had three
consecutive podiums coming into this weekend.

How confident are you here in Austin?

Not so confident.

Just a lot more slow speed corners, which is
not our our strength I think mean it's tough

when you look at it like if we look at
Singapore, obviously we're not bad in

Singapore, clearly not as strong as Ferrari,
but still not a bad race.

But we know on these types of of of circuits
Mercedes is going to be very strong.

Ferrari you're going to be very strong.

Aston here in the past have been very
strong.

So um, yeah, it's just not a track like we
knew when we went to to Qatar it was going to

be a track which really suited us a lot of
medium high speed, which is where we're very

strong and almost on par with, with Red
bull.

Less of that here and a lot more slower
speed.

So I'm definitely not as confident.

But nevertheless, I'm not saying it's going
to be a bad weekend.

I think we can still fight.

It's just going to be a much bigger fight, I
think.

Look, you're having such a good run.

I'm sorry to remind you of just a bad
moment, but in Qatar, qualifying didn't go so

well for you with the track limits issues in
Q3.

Sorry to remind you of that.

But as we go into qualifying here in Austin,
does it require a change of.

Doing something different in the cockpit.

Are you going to do anything about it?

I mean, are you going to I don't know, tell
us.

Tell us about your approach for qualifying.

Uh, honestly, I'm not going to change that
much.

The margins are so small.

And yeah, the thing which made it all worse
is I was not easily.

But, you know, I should have been on pole in
both.

I say both occasions definitely for for
Saturday maybe not so much for Sunday, but at

worst I should have been first and second or
second and first.

So when I realized what could have been and
what should have been then coming into the

race, how strong our race pace was on Sunday
and at parts quicker than the Red bull, I

feel like just there was a lot of missed
opportunities from from my side.

But at the same time, there's been plenty of
other races this weekend where, yeah, I've

not made mistakes and I feel like I've
performed very well, but obviously the ones

which are always picked up are the bad, bad
cases, you know?

So yeah, I made the mistakes.

I was frustrated that time.

I've moved on and I guess, yeah, it happens
to everyone, but I'll try and make sure it

doesn't happen again.

All right. Good luck with that. Thanks all.

Let's open this to the floor.

Now please remember to give your name and
publication first one.

Yeah.

Thank you very much. David Croft, Sky sports
F1.

Question to all the drivers except Carlos,
for obvious reasons, because it's about Qatar

and one of the byproducts.

And sorry Carlos, you're not involved with
this.

One of the byproducts of what transpired in
Qatar was that you were able to to push for a

lot more laps than you normally would in a
Grand Prix race.

So as drivers, do you prefer to go out and
race hard and push like that and have more

pit stops? Or would you prefer a formula one
where tyre management is very much the order

of the day and less pit stops?

Thank you very much.

Go on, Lando. You start.

Um.

I mean, I like the mixture, to be honest, I
like both.

Um, I mean, you normally prefer the ones
which are like this.

I did enjoy Kazaa just with, you know, the
racing with the the pit stops.

More to do with strategy, things like that.

I enjoy that side, but I also enjoy the
races where you have to look after the tyres

and manage things.

Um, having both is good.

I don't think you just would want one of
them.

I don't think that's, you know, I feel like
that's more prescribed racing rather than

just natural racing.

So it depends on circuits and
characteristics, tyre wear, all of those

things. But I enjoyed Qatar.

Just the conditions were obviously very
tough.

That's what made it so tricky.

Um, but it was more the temperature which
made it tougher.

Of course. You know, three pit stops that
can happen in any race you ever do.

But the conditions in in that just made it
even tougher.

Logan, please.

Yeah, I think really similar to what Lando
said, it's very circuit dependent.

And yeah, a mixture is always good.

But I think on that day in particular, I
definitely would have taken a managed race.

Lance. Yeah, I think variety is cool.

Um. I mean, I just from my point of view, I
just think it's cool when we have, you know,

where management races versus kind of
thermal management races.

I find when the tyres very thermally
sensitive at some tracks and we're just

managing that aspect of, um, you know, the
tire, it can be kind of, um, dull and make

racing a little bit boring. But when it's
more of a where management race and we can

push and have to kind of manage how much we
push because the tire is wearing out rather

than thermally overheating.

I think those races are better.

I think naturally you always want to push.

But on the other hand, yeah, the time
management is another, another skill that you

can make a difference as a driver.

So again for me same thing a nice mixture is
probably the the ideal one.

Carlos, I know you weren't in the race, but
as an observer did you like what you saw?

I liked the from the outset.

I liked the three stop race.

I didn't like that it was restricted to a
number of laps because you could predict when

everyone was stopping. So I think there's
some aspects of that race that looked

interesting, like how much the drivers had
to push and how many times you had to go

through the pits to then come back through
the field a bit and find yourself in traffic

and having to overtake. But having the
restricted laps on each tyre was, I think if

you knew which tyre was everyone on, you
knew which lap they were going to stop.

So almost there was not as much flexibility
on the on the strategy as it looked from the

outside. So yeah, hopefully the future is
more on the side of pushing a bit more, but

in 2 or 3 stop races, I think when it's
normally the best races in F1 are when it's

just on the gas between one and a two stop
like we saw maybe in Suzuka, or tracks where

the two strategies are as quick as each
other and it's whoever optimizes their own

choice. What makes it better, or between
two, one and three.

When it's in between, that's when the racing
is good.

Welcome back everybody to Austin.

Now it's time for Group two.

And as you can see closest to me we have
triple world champion Max Verstappen, then

Charlotte Clair, Kevin Magnussen, the
returning Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis

Hamilton. Well Daniel it's good to see you
Daniel.

It's been five races. Welcome back.

How are you. How's the hand I'm.

Well I'm very happy to be back.

Thanks for asking. The hand's good and yeah
just want to go get back to it now so it's

nice people ask me about it.

It's nice. But I've also answered a lot of
questions about it, so it's good.

Look, one more then.

How tough has the recuperation been?

Well, I would say tougher than I thought, but
I'm probably a bit of a wuss as well.

So maybe not tougher than I thought, but I
think it was really just when when the

accident happened and we were aware what
bone broke, they seemed fairly okay with that

bone in terms of I, it's a relatively easy
one to kind of, let's say fix.

But then, yeah, when we got the surgery done
in Spain, we got further checks done.

And it was just the break was a lot worse
than it first seemed.

So I think that's what took a lot longer for
the recovery and probably made it a little

more painful for myself.

And what about the car?

It's changed quite a lot while you've been
out of it.

What are you expecting?

Yeah, I've done well, I saw, so I went out to
Singapore and where they had some pretty big

updates, and that was actually a pretty,
pretty positive weekend for the team.

So that looked good. And drivers were saying
that they could feel some good differences.

So yeah, I'm expecting a car a little
stronger than than where I left it.

But I mean, it's it's going to be the third
race I've done this year.

So I'm still very, very green for this
season.

But in saying that, I'm not using that as an
excuse.

It's just yeah, everything was kind of still
feels new to me.

Do you think Liam Lawson has done a good job?

Yes one does.

He did a very good job.

Excellent. We'll leave it there.

Thank you. Lewis, could we come to you next?

Look, sorry to kick things off by throwing
it back to what was your most frustrating

weekend of the season in Qatar?

Your first DNF, your first non point scoring
race.

How do you reflect on it?

First of all that weekend move forwards.

Yeah just excited to get you know the great
thing about our sport is that there's always

another day to get back on the horse.

And and and so that's I've just been pushing
moving forwards and nothing I can do about

the past. There's definitely things we can
learn from, I can learn from which I have and

just now focused on getting back, back in
and excited for these next races that are

coming up, especially the back to backs.

Look, one more you talk about learning things
after the collision with George, you received

a penalty for crossing the track and the FIA
is now reviewing this type of infringement.

Would you welcome any potential changes?

Well I mean I've they've spoken to me and
their actual point is I think it's important.

It was just really when I sat in the, in the
meeting with them or in the stewards office,

I obviously put my hands up in the heat of
the moment.

It was the wrong decision.

And what's important is to send the right
message, particularly for the younger drivers

through, throughout the ages, that that's
not the thing to do.

And I apologised at the time and I think
they were just looking to how to make sure

that doesn't happen moving forwards.

Okay. Let's move forwards ourself.

Let's look at this weekend.

You've got a new floor on the car.

Carlos Sainz was telling us earlier that he
thinks you're going to be very strong this

weekend. Just what are your what are you
hoping for.

Well, it's been a huge amount of work.

Back at the factory, this is our last big
update or biggest, the last of the large

updates through the season.

And really excited to to see how it feels.

All the amazing people back at the factory
have worked incredibly hard during the whole

season, and hopefully this really kind of
tips the needle a little bit and helps us in

the right direction of where we want to
pursue next year.

And but yeah, I'm just I'm hoping I, I don't
know exactly all the different parts of the

circuit that I'll feel it, but hopefully
it's a global improvement and hopefully it

puts us a little bit closer to the guys
ahead.

All right.

Best of luck. Thank you very much.

Now talking of upgrades, Kevin, you have the
upgrade package finally this weekend.

What are you expecting?

Yeah it's it's good.

You know, it's nice to see the upgrade on
the car.

Finally. We haven't had many upgrades to the
car this year.

It's been a tough year in terms of just
finding performance.

The guys have been really struggling this
year to to to make gains on the car we've

had. And you know I think this upgrade is an
exciting one because it's very different on

paper. It's not actually meant to be more
downforce as such, but it's it's a new

concept and it's hopefully the concept that
we'll be using for next year's car.

And you know, if not a big gain in
performance, then at least it's it's some

good learning and research into to next
year.

Where do you need the car to be better.

Um, I think a big problem with our car this
year has been that it doesn't treat the tires

very well in the race. So, you know, we
often, um, yeah, we'll just struggle with

tyre life in the races and the pace that
other people are able to maintain.

We seem to fall off much more.

And that problem, you know, might be
although you're not putting extra downforce

on like peak downforce if you can better the
characteristics of the car, um, the through

corner balance and you know, hopefully the,
the structure and the strength of the flow on

the car that could that could solve that
issue or help that issue.

So that's of course, what we're hoping.

Um, uh, yeah.

Nonetheless, it's it's exciting, exciting
times.

Best of luck. Hope it works for you, Charl.

Coming to you now, in terms of performance,
the Ferrari wasn't massively quick last time

out in Qatar. Do you think you'll be closer
this weekend?

Well, I hope so. I think on the on the paper,
Qatar was probably one of the worst tracks

for us, for the conditions, but also for the
track characteristics in itself.

Um, having said that, I think on sprint
weekends, the thing that has the most

influence is how your FP1 goes, because then
from FP1 you cannot change a car anymore.

So the priority is to start FP1 strongly and
then to take the right decision with the

setup. And we know that this is crucial for
for the rest of the weekend, much more than

our characteristics fitting the track.

Look, there's three very different sectors
here.

You've got the fast sweeps of turn of sector
one and then you've got the long straight and

sector two, and then the twists at the end
of the lap.

Where is your focus in terms of car setup?

Um, well, the high speed you need, you need
confidence.

That's clear. But where we've been lacking a
bit more in the last few races was the medium

slow speed corners.

So this is where we'll be focusing more.

All right.

Best of luck. Thank you.

And Max coming to you.

Have you had time to have a title
celebration since Qatar?

Was there a big party?

I mean, nothing.

Major, just a little bit with with friends.

And I mean, it was also just nice to to be
home a little bit before, you know, heading

into this triple header.

So yeah, not nothing, nothing too crazy.

Well what about this weekend.

Do you have a great record here at Cota.

You won the last two races.

Do you feel you come into the weekend as the
man to beat.

Well I mean looking at the season yes.

But yeah it's a sprint weekend.

We have to nail FP1 to make sure that, you
know the car is working well for, for

qualifying. Um, so yeah a bit, a bit early
to, to say anything at the moment.

Well if you win on Sunday it will be win
number 50 of your career.

That's, that's a milestone.

Yeah. It's a nice number that I never thought
I would hit.

But now that we are getting close to it, I
mean, we want to of course try and expand a

little bit more, but yeah, we'll we'll see.

I mean, it's more important that we just
focus on the weekend, not on the number.

All right. Well best of luck to you as well.

We're going to open this to the floor.

Uh, name and publication, please.

Yep.

Uh, David Croft, Sky sports F1.

Afternoon, everyone. Lewis, question for
you.

Let's go back to Qatar.

And whilst I understand why the FIA would
look into their processes and would want to

examine whether they could have done better
with that incident, why I didn't get was why

they needed to speak to you again, given
that you'd apologised and held your hands up

at the time, do you understand why the FIA
would want to speak to you again?

Or do you think because of your your status
of the most high profile driver in the sport

at the moment, you're singled out a little
bit and by the governing body for wanting to

speak to you on this matter.

No, I don't think I was singled out, I think.

Ultimately, it's just I think it was just
poor communication.

I don't think what they had said is exactly
what they meant.

I think what they mean is that they're just
going to look into how they can.

They can tackle it, those sorts of things
moving forward to make sure that doesn't

happen. And I mean, if you look at I think
there was a cartoon incident recently where a

kid was hit. So we really need to make sure
that we're continuously focusing on safety.

And I think that's really at the at the root
of it.

But I just think they probably need to speak
to their PR agent to do a better job.