Track Interviews - Conducted by Ho-Pin Tung
Q: George, winner of the Sprint race here in Shanghai. Those looked like a very dicey first few laps again.
George Russell: Yeah, I just spoke with Charles and we were like 'well, actually, this was pretty fun in the end'. So, a lot of strategy at play, and how you do the overtakes. It's not easy. I hope it was a fun race to watch. Usually, the Sprint races are pretty boring, and then I got everything under control, Safety Car, but yeah, really happy to get the win.
Q: Yeah, you say it's not easy. From the outside it obviously looks very easy, but can you describe how difficult it is from in the car for you? I feel a lot of wind here as well, for example.
GR: Yeah, I mean, it's really windy at the moment. It's not easy because this first corner is so long, and it only takes one lap of pushing too much and you can destroy your front-left tyre. So, it was just sort of managing, especially when we were battling, you know, Lewis did an amazing job in the early laps. He caught me off guard. Twenty years' experience, so yeah, I've still got a little bit to learn there.
Q: Can we expect more from you in qualifying and tomorrow?
GR: I mean, I hope we can bring more but yesterday was a really great day. Ferrari again seemed to be offset in qualifying but really close to us in race pace. So ultimately, we probably need to find a bit of improvement for the race.
Q: Thank you. Good luck. Charles, from P6 to P2, what a race. Obviously much has been said about energy management, but I think you already recognised the left-front was critical here because you saw your managing in the beginning.
Charles Leclerc: Yeah, I was managing quite a bit, but I'm pretty happy with the race. I think the pace was quite strong. We had a bit of fighting which made me lose time maybe to George, and then it was difficult to catch up. But it's good to see that our race pace is more similar to the Mercedes than our qualifying pace. Yeah, pretty happy with the car today.
Q: Yeah, I've got to ask, on the restart, exit of Turn 14, the hairpin, huge snap there, oversteer. What happened?
CL: I think the tyres were a little bit colder than what I expected. I saw George actually having a snap. I was like, 'Okay, this is probably my opportunity to take the lead,' so I tried to go a bit more aggressive on throttle, but I had the same rear grip as George, so I nearly lost it. But luckily, yeah, didn't completely lose it, and then also the last corner was very poor grip.
Q: Lewis, P3, what entertainment from you in the first few laps. Great start again, and then the battle Turn 1, 2, 3, amazing.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, mega job. NI hao. A big thank you to the team for us to be able to be in this position fighting with the Mercedes at the front. It was a close battle at the beginning. Their speed on the straights is just a little bit too much at the moment, but I think I put up a good fight. But I killed my left tyre, so I wasn't able to hold on to position.
Q: Yeah, I see you standing here with a smile. How much nicer are these cars to drive? How much better do they suit your driving style this year?
Lewis Hamilton: I don't know. It feels, it's just a much better car that we've designed and we've been a part of developing it, so definitely a lot happier in it. And of course I was in the lead at one point, so to finish third is not the greatest, but I will try harder again tomorrow.
Press Conference
Q: George, very well done to you. It was incredibly exciting to watch. Just how tough was it to keep these Ferraris behind you?
GR: I mean, Lewis did an amazing job in the early stages. I saw his move on Lando in my mirrors at Turn 1, 2, and then... Yeah, there was a lot of headwind through 7 and 8, and he just sort of took advantage of that and caught me napping really, so that wasn't good enough on my side. However, the early laps were good fun, and Charles and I were just saying, it's pretty exciting racing. I think we had different deployment strategies. I was faster down the back straight, they were then faster into Turn 1, and it just was really challenging just to pull away, and all at the same time trying to manage the front-left tyre because it's really cold out there. Turn 1 is so long, you just push it too hard for one lap and you can kill that tyre. So you're sort of managing all of these different aspects, but I really enjoyed the race.
Q: Alright, very well done to you. Charles, I'll come to you. It was a very eventful one for you. What pleased you most about the performance of the car?
CL: Well, I think just the overall feeling with the car. The results are not really what I'm looking at, and it's not what satisfies me, because P2 remains a P2 and I want to be on the top step of the podium. But the feeling was very positive yesterday in Sprint Qualifying. Unfortunately, with the issue on the back, or not the issue, the not optimised power unit on the back straight, it cost us a lot. So yeah, to just find the feeling again today and to be back where we should be is a good step forward.
Q: Very well done to you. Lewis, we'll come to you. Great job as well. Just how much confidence does today's Sprint give you for the rest of the weekend?
LH: Yeah, I mean, the team have done a great job this weekend. The car has been feeling great, and as they both said, it was so much fun in the race. This is the first time I'd really done a long run this weekend as well, so unfortunately struggled with my left-front tyre, which ultimately demoted me to third. But nonetheless, to have two Ferraris up here I think is really a testament to all the great work everyone's doing back at the factory and everyone here at the track. So, I hope we can make some steps closer maybe to Mercedes in quali and then yeah, looking forward to tomorrow.
Questions From The Floor
Q: (Diletta Colombo - AutoMoto.it) A question for George. Based on what we've seen today, do you think that Ferrari could be a threat in the race tomorrow?
GR: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we're a little bit surprised by our qualifying strength and potentially their lack of pace compared to what we expect. But the race pace, it looks really close between, between us. We saw this last week and said it in Melbourne. I think if they were on the same strategy as me, I'm not convinced I would have won the race. And again today, you know, it was a real tussle between us, and I was pushing at the end of those last three laps and Charles finished the race 0.7s behind me. With one more lap, again, you know, it would have been a fight. So yeah, we just need to keep pushing. It's not a walk in the park for sure.
Q: (Stuart Codling - Autosport) Charles, could you just talk us through the moments immediately before the restart? It looked like you got a bit of wheelspin. You'd made the query to the pit wall a little bit before then, so what actually happened there?
CL: You mean the snap I got out of 14? Yeah, I mean, that was a very scary moment. I thought that that was it. I saw George having a snap and I was like, 'Okay, that's an opportunity for me to be super close for the restart and hopefully take the lead.' So, I was quite confident I would have rear grip. However, when I went on throttle, I completely lost the car, ten times more than the snap George had in front, and I nearly lost it. Yeah, it's one of those snaps that you don't want any more degree of snap because otherwise you cannot catch it. I was full lock and luckily, I caught it back. And then the same thing happened in the last corner where George lost a bit of grip and I was like, 'Okay, another opportunity to try and get closer,' and I just had the same moment. So, there was just very poor grip in these first two corners with the tyres after the Safety Car.
Q: (Jon Noble - The Race) George, it's the second weekend running where you've decided to be dominant in qualifying and you've been trapped in a kind of yo-yo race over the opening stint. What do you think is the limiting factor that changes the dynamics in those first few laps, and what was the element that kind of, you pulled the trigger on and were able to kind of break through and break that one-second gap here? Was it tyres against the Ferrari, or was it you need to charge up the battery more to get clear?
GR: I've got to be honest, I think both times it's been me. I've been pretty cautious. I was very cautious in Melbourne because, you know, first race of the season with a brand new car, brand new tyres, brand new engine, and I don't think anybody knew what to expect. You do all of these simulations. And then again today, I thought I was pretty safe and comfortable. I think the Ferraris were deploying more into Turn 7, and I looked into my mirror out of Turn 6 and I had a bit of a gap to Lewis, so I just thought, 'Right, I'll just manage the tyre a little bit and not kill it on the opening lap of the race,' and he just caught me off guard. So, I don't know what would have happened if I'd have been able to lead lap one on both of those occasions. And then yeah, I'm not too sure how I just managed to break away as soon as I got into the lead. I saw I had a really strong last corner. Lewis was catching me down the straights, but it just wasn't quite enough that lap, and I pushed really hard, just broke away by a little bit. And then Charles was obviously, so I think Charles was maybe managing a little bit at the beginning, so that also helps. And that was something we were thinking about at the start of this year. Lewis last week, it felt like he was managing a bit and letting Charles and I tussle it out, and then he was ready to pounce. And then today it was Charles. It was, you know, Lewis and I were tussling and Charles was ready to pounce. So yeah, there's a lot going on, but it makes it quite fun and definitely feels more like a go-kart racing in the past, like the top three, top four drivers are all in contention. And I don't ever remember Formula 1 being like that, where you can have three or four cars all fighting for the same position truly on track.
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