Part 1: Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg and Oscar Piastri.

Oscar, perhaps we could start with you, please. Now this could be a monumental weekend for McLaren. They can clinch the Constructors' Championship this weekend, which would be with seven races still to go. It's been a phenomenal season. Just how different has it felt on the inside to last year's title success?
Oscar Piastri: I think very different, because this year has just looked very different to last year. I think, you know, last season went down to the final race, and a pretty eventful final race as well. So I think this year, clearly the car has been a step better, the team has been performing very well. So there's much more of a sense of inevitability about this year, which is an amazing position to be in. It's a testament to all the hard work from everyone at the team. And, you know, I'm the lucky guy that gets to drive the car at the end of the day. So, yes. A testament to everyone's hard work and very, very proud of everyone.

Now once the team's championship is in the bag, the focus internally will go onto the Drivers' Championship. You've had almost a couple of weeks to reflect on what happened at Monza and giving that place back to Lando. Have you had any further thoughts on that when there's so much at stake?
OP: I mean, naturally, there's been thoughts, yes. We've had good discussions with the team. You know, obviously a highly talked about moment, but yeah, we've had a lot of discussions, clarified a lot of things, and we know how we're going to go racing going forward, which is the most important thing. So, yeah, what's happened is done, and I'm excited to get racing here.

Any changes going forward? Are you expecting less interference from the pit wall once the Constructors' is in the bag?
OP: Not necessarily because of the Constructors' Championship, but I think we've again had a lot of discussions about how we want to go racing. A lot of that is to stay for us because, ultimately, if we give out that information, then we become very easy targets to pick off, because everyone knows what we're going to do. So that's all very aligned with all of us but it stays in-house.

One further question from me on this. If it had been for the win at Monza, would you still have given the place back?
OP: But it wasn't, Tom, so, I don't know. I wasn't in that scenario. Would it have made it a bit more difficult? Probably, yes. But I don't know if the outcome would have been different. I'm not planning on finding myself in that position.

Alright. Oscar, best of luck this weekend. Thank you for that. Nico, if we could come to you now, and we'll throw it back to Monza as well, which was a very, very frustrating Sunday for you. Does the team fully understand why you couldn't make the start there?
Nico Hulkenberg: Yeah, of course we did. Obviously, pretty frustrating and bad at the time. But it is what it is. We found the root cause and obviously put some measures and things in place so that this should not happen again in the future.

Let's bring it onto this weekend then. Do you think the low-downforce nature of Baku will suit the car, suit the package?
NH: I think in Monza, we were competitive. Obviously here it's a little bit similar but also different at the same time. But if you look across the last five, six weekends and different tracks, I feel we have a competitive package and car beneath us. Nothing that suggests here should be different. I think we will be competitive within the midfield. It remains very close with tight margins from P10 all the way to the back. You've just got to be good and clean in the execution. I feel there are opportunities.

You say the car was competitive in Monza. Do you think you're competitive across all race tracks now, just looking at the tail end of the season and how you think you're going to go?
NH: I mean, since Barcelona, I think apart from Zandvoort - Zandvoort was a bit our weaker weekend and track - but everywhere else we have been competitive and I think we have been scoring points everywhere else. So that pretty much confirms or says that, yeah, the package is working on many different tracks.

Nico, thank you for that. Pierre, coming to you now. The last couple of races really have been quite difficult for the team. What are you expecting from this weekend?
Pierre Gasly: Yeah, I mean, I think we are aware that it hasn't been as good as we would have liked, and the remaining part of the year is probably going to be also pretty difficult for us. So it doesn't really change our approach into the weekend. Still trying to do the best we can. But for sure, in terms of performance, we seem to be more consistently struggling to make our way into Q2 and getting close to the top 10. So, yeah, we know it's not going to be an easy task, but still we're going to give it our best.

And is this racetrack here in Baku the sort of place where that 'Gasly magic' can make a difference? Because you have a great record here. You had the podium back in '21. I think you even said that your run to P12 here last year was actually one of your best races.
PG: Yeah. I think last year was my best, I mean, driving-wise. You know, we always look at finishing position, but in terms of my drive, on the Sunday, it was probably my best race of the year. Nonetheless, I was still out of the points and probably a lap down. So, yeah, still not great. But we know it, on paper, with that long straight, looking at the performance of the package, even chassis-wise, there are things which need to be improved. It's all areas. We know at the moment we are not in a position to be fighting for that top 10. We need some other factors to come into play for us to get some chances, but we need to put ourselves in a position to benefit from anything that happens. Hopefully, it can be one of those weekends. Don't mind some rain if it does happen. But, yeah, we'll see.

Pierre, you've just said it's going to be a difficult second half of the season for the team, yet you have committed long-term to Alpine. What convinced you to do that?
PG: I mean, we know it, and I've backed the team from the first day - start of the year - to fully commit on to 2026. We made some tactical decisions not to develop that car, to stop the development very early on. Probably got affected also by the couple of changes of regulation through the year, which meant we started in an okay place and probably lost performance through the year when others managed to develop a tiny bit more. And looking at the gaps - you're not talking much - but two, three tenths one way or the other just gets you to the top 10 or completely to the back of the field. Unfortunately, we're more towards the back. But in terms of decisions, we know why we are in this situation. I think all the efforts we are doing for next year are going to be rewarded in a couple of months. I know the team is working extremely well for the new regulation. So, yeah, I can't wait to start '26.

Questions From The Floor

(Harry Benjamin - Sky Sports F1) Sorry Oscar, I'm going to follow up as you well know. You say things off the back of Monza are clearer for you, and we have this kind of idea of a list of race scenarios. Are you able to clarify that for us - about what is on that list of race scenarios where we might see what happened in Monza happen again or not?
OP: No. I can't get into every scenario, no. I think, from Monza, there was another factor outside of the slow pit stop, being the order we pitted in - that was a contributing factor to why we swapped. So, that one I'm quite happy to talk about because it's happened. But any other scenarios, again, you can't plan for every single scenario that's going to happen. But I think we're very aligned and ultimately, I respect the team's decisions and trust that they'll do their best to make the right ones.

(Rachel Brookes - Sky Sports F1) Thanks for that. Oscar, can I ask what Mark Webber said when you got back to hospitality?
OP: Not a lot, really. Yeah, not much. Ultimately, the biggest thing for me from Monza was, it was a weekend where I deserved to finish third. I didn't deserve to finish second because of the pace I had. I was quick at certain points but not quick enough the whole weekend. And, ultimately, that's my main takeaway from that - what I'm trying to focus on going forwards. And, you know, Mark is very much on the same page with that. And again, I've discussed with the team and with Mark about what happened, and we're all aligned going forward.

(Margot Laffite - Canal+) A question for Nico and Oscar. Sorry Pierre, but we have already had you in French. We're talking about the specifics of this Baku track and of course this huge, long straight. Can you talk us through your approach and describe how you defend or attack or even restart after a Safety Car?
OP: It's a very unique track. Very slow corners, long straights, little runoff - well, there's runoff, but you've got to do a U-turn to come back on. The normal street circuit things, but with much heavier braking zones than normal. The grip level increases a lot through the weekend. It's a street circuit, but unlike others, you've really got to focus a lot on braking because you can win or lose a lot of time there, or break - or not break - a lot of parts on your car. The straight out of Turn 15 is a long time on full throttle with those two high-speed kinks; it takes quite a while, feels like maybe the longest straight of the season.

NH: Tow effects or slipstreams are very powerful and can often be a topic here. If you defend or attack, it really depends on the racing scenario. If you have a train of cars, that brings one dynamic, but if you're the first car then you're giving tow to people behind and there's not much you can defend, to be honest, because you're going to be vulnerable. It really depends on the situation.

Nico, people talk about this racetrack being unique, but does it have any similarities with other street tracks? Does it feel like Jeddah, or is it more like Monaco in terms of how you approach it?
NH: No. I think it's a standalone. Feels completely different.