DRIVERS – Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Kevin MAGNUSSEN (Haas), Brendon HARTLEY (Toro Rosso) PRESS CONFERENCE Q: Kimi, if we could start with you please. You’ve been generating a few column inches this past week. Can you just talk us through what happened and why you’re on the move next year? Kimi RAIKKONEN: I guess you know what happened. I don’t know what else you want to know. This is what happened. As we’ve said many times before, it’s not up to me, it’s not […]

DRIVERS – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Carlos SAINZ (Renault), Pierre GASLY (Toro Rosso), Lance STROLL (Williams), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren) Q: Fernando, I’m going to start with you. I’ve just introduced all four of you with your current teams, but all four of you will be racing elsewhere next year. You’ve said you won’t race in Formula 1 in 2019. Can you just tell us how you came to that decision?  Fernando ALONSO: Well, it was a […]

DRIVERS – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), Carlos SAINZ (Renault), Esteban OCON (Force India) PRESS CONFERENCE Q: Valtteri, if we could start with you please. New Mercedes contract announced at Hockenheim last weekend. Can we just get your thoughts on that? How much confidence does it give you and what do you feel it says about your performances so far this year? Valtteri BOTTAS: Thank You. Yes, of course, at this point of the year it’s a very, very good point to know what you’re doing next year. […]

DRIVERS – Brendon HARTLEY (Toro Rosso), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault), Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari) PRESS CONFERENCE Q: Brendon, go back to two weeks ago at Silverstone. That was a horrible-looking crash. How are you now? No lasting effects, I hope. Brendon HARTLEY: Actually, waking up on the Sunday, I was ready to go. Almost no knock-on effects, which was a surprise after watching the replay myself and seeing how spectacular that looked. In fact, the impact was smaller than what I had in both […]

DRIVERS – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), Lance STROLL (Williams), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing) PRESS CONFERENCE Lance, it’s your home race and a very busy week for you, but you must be very excited to be back racing in Montreal? Lance STROLL: Absolutely. It’s great to be home. I really enjoyed my week, catching up with friends, family. It was a bit of a busy week, a lot going to, but great to be home and can’t wait to jump in the car tomorrow. […]

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Zak BROWN (McLaren), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Frederic VASSEUR (Sauber) PRESS CONFERENCE Zak, if we could start with you, please. there’s been a lot of McLaren news in recent days, most of it financial, so can you tell us what’s going on?  Zak BROWN: Yeah, we’ve had some great. We’ve had Mr Latifi, who had invested in McLaren Group, which is fantastic. We’re a very fast-growing company, both our automotive business, of course our Formula 1 and racing efforts, […]

DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing) PRESS CONFERENCE Let’s start with our world champion and six-time pole sitter here at Albert Park, Lewis Hamilton. Lewis, I think you said over the winter that you felt that last year was the best you’ve driven in your Formula 1 career. Do you anticipate having to go to another level this year in competition these gentlemen? Lewis HAMILTON: I plan to. That’s what I’ve been working towards.   Why did you feel that […]

PART ONE: DRIVERS – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber) PRESS CONFERENCE Q: Gentlemen, if we could by getting your thoughts on the Halo cockpit protection that is going to be introduced from the start of 2018. Sebastian, if we could begin with you, what are your thoughts about the Halo and how do you feel it compares to the Shield you tested at Silverstone two weeks ago? Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I wasn’t a big fan of the Shield, mostly for […]

PART ONE: DRIVERS – Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari) PRESS CONFERENCE Q: Fernando, what are you hoping to take out of this weekend in Barcelona? Fernando ALONSO: Let’s see what we can do here. Definitely our moment right now is not the best. We gave been underperforming in the first four races and we didn’t finish any of the Grands Prix yet, in my case, so definitely, you know, the first step is to improve, which is what we’ve been […]

PART ONE: Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Jolyon PALMER (Renault) Q: Fernando, if we can start with you. It seemed like a great experience at Indianapolis. How was it to learn a completely new way of driving, of racing after all these years? And has it relit your competitive flame after a tough few years here in Formula One? Fernando ALONSO: It was a great experience, obviously very new for me many things there, so yeah very intense because as you said I had to […]

PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren) PRESS CONFERENCE Q: Lewis, great win last time out in China, current joint leader of the FIA Formula One World Championship – so far so good?  Lewis HAMILTON: So far, so good, yeah. Happy to be back in Bahrain; always amazing weather. Yeah, it's been an awesome season so far. We're working very hard collectively as a team to try and continue at that level.  Q: Just following up on some […]

Transcript of the Thursday Press Conference organised by the FIA for the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix DRIVERS – Esteban OCON (Manor), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes) PRESS CONFERENCE Esteban, if we could start with you: many congratulations on your grand prix debut. Just describe your emotions now: how excited are you and indeed how surprised are you to be racing this weekend? Esteban OCON: Yeah, thank you, first of all. No, it’s […]