F1 Dutch GP Post Qualifying Press Conference | FORMULA 1 2024 Dutch Grand Prix

very warm welcome to the top three qualifiers for the FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix in third place Oscar piastri in second place Max verstappen and taking his fourth career poll position and his first here at xanor our poll sitter Lando Norris a dramatic qualifying session Lando and a brilliant final lap of Q3 just how good were you how good was the car out there um both uh I think both were good um I mean especially my last lap in qual Q3 run two um was by far my best lab uh but I felt good all all the way through qualifying honestly um the car has been been strong all weekend we felt comfortable we felt we felt strong um and especially come come today in qualifying since the first lap we did I felt like was in a good Rhythm and it's just not easy around here cuz it's not an easy track uh first of all but it's also um if even more difficult with the wind and the conditions and stuff so just doing laps which are not a mistake free and and not kind of locking up not doing anything which would um make me lose a little bit of confidence and I just kept chipping away and and improving every lap so um both were good the car and I think myself too you mentioned earlier that you're very happy with the upgraded parts that have come to this race but are you surprised by the Gap to Max um maybe maybe a little bit but but it it all depends on on wind and conditions you know I feel like I did a very good lap by by far my best um but I think it's a track where when you just hook everything up and it just flows a little bit better um you catch a little bit of a A headwind or a little bit less Tailwind in certain places you can easily go one two times quicker but I don't know if that's why or not um but the car was good and and I felt good too so um I mean whenever you're going to bring upgrades to a car and I think especially for us we've been quite patient we not really brought many upgrades or we haven't brought any real performance enhancing upgrades since Miami um we bought always little bits and there's always little things that we've added but this is our first uh let's say upgrade and um we took our time cuz we wanted to make sure it worked well and worked as soon as we put it on the car and it does what it wants and um so far it's looked exactly that way so credits to the team for um playing a big part in this too Lando it's been a stop start weekend with very little dry practice what does it all mean for tomorrow are there lots of unknowns going into this 72 lap race I mean there's always there's always some unknowns I think I think we're in a pretty reasonable place our long run uh Pace was pretty strong the other day but Max um Oscar both of Merks are um I mean especially George in the position he is um are quick and are going to be challenging so I'm not expecting anything easy for sure uh to tomorrow going to look the most calm from a weather and a wind point of view which is always a nicer thing to look forward to but um I think we're in a good way so hopefully we can continue what we had today into tomorrow all right very well done thank you Lando Max let's come to you now a mighty effort by you to split the McLaren um how good was that final lap of Q3 from you um I don't know I mean I had a bit of a moment in 11 12 but that was also a bit my my qualifying in general like I never really felt um comfortable um every run there was always one or two corners where I felt like I was losing a lot of time with the just a gust of win and it seemed like it was very sensitive for us the car was really responding aggressively to it and that's why I think every single run that I did yeah was was different I I just had a different balance balance every time and um yeah just made it very very difficult um Q3 I think the first La wasn't wasn't too bad then I tried to push a little bit more but everything just seems very um Snappy very on on the edge I would say um but nevertheless I mean I'm happy to be on the front row I think after q1 and Q2 I mean I've never really been in that top five region of course I was trying to save tires a bit because I only had four sets but I never really felt that I was in the fight for pole and then when you you come out of qualifying on the front row I think that's okay so what about the race I mean you've talked about the one laap pace of the car do you think you'll be more competitive relative to Lando in the race I mean I would hope so but um I think when I when you see the Gap I it's going to be uh it's going to be very tricky also just um seems like L's a bit happier in general with with just the driving and how he feels I'm a bit more yeah all over the place with the balance so I don't know maybe it stabilizes a bit tomorrow but uh yeah I guess we'll find out do you think this is going to be a strategic race or do you think the start is your best opportunity tomorrow to take the lead I don't know I mean anything can happen right in the race so we'll we'll find out all right very well done to you thank you uh OS let's come to you now a little bit off in Q3 start by telling us about the positives that you take from the session today um uh I didn't crash like last year so that was good um no I think I think until the last lap it was was pretty good um you know obviously uh I think with the pace we had with the car today I think uh you know P3 is you know not exactly a a result to be jumping up and down about I think um but no I think the rest of qualifying was pretty good you know it all ran smoothly and um yeah I think a lot of those things were positive just didn't quite uh nail it when I when I needed to at the end so um a bit disappointing there but we still got a lot of opportunities starting from from where we are how much of this comes down to the upgrades are you less comfy in the car at the minute than Lando no I mean to be honest the car feels very very similar um I think you know we've improved the car like a second and a half since last year or something crazy and uh it doesn't feel that different so um I don't think it's anything to do with that I think simply I did a a good job in in the last run of Q3 and I didn't do as good a job as I should have so um yeah think it's just simply down to that all right and what's your mentality going into the race tomorrow um I think try and of course get a good start that would be the first plan and um yeah strategy could be an interesting thing tomorrow um so we'll we'll see I think Max has got slightly different tire options to us so um yeah let's see what we've got but I think we've got a very quick car underneath us and hopefully we can use that on my side to go a bit further forward all right thank you OS right let's open this to the floor as ever name and publication please first one magazine.com question is for Lando and for Max um do you think McLaren is in a situation like Red Bull has been at the beginning of the Season where it looked tight the whole weekend and until Q3 and then Max p P the trigger because Max probably had this little bit in his hands and he knew that and now lend you have it in your hands is that the case nope no I had nothing in my hands um uh I just put a good lap in when I when it needed when I needed to but I tried to do the best lap I could at every single point of qualifying I didn't have anything spare uh come qual um but uh like they said this difficult day and they didn't do their best laps I felt like I did a very strong lap so today I just felt like I I did the job I needed to go out and do come qualifying um and uh for whatever reason they struggled a bit more with their car but it's not because I just had um something in my hand I know what you mean but I um I didn't know um yeah I must have been watching a different weekend I don't know I never felt close yes say so um I just try to do the best I can maybe I'm trying to stay with something that is not achievable for us but I'm yeah pushing to the Limit like everyone else okay thanks both next one FR keep question to lond do you have a special plan to fight Max on the first corner and Oscar are you ready to help lond to uh be first at the end of the first lap uh yes um yeah I mean it's obvious I know my my starts have not been um uh my forte over the last probably they not been bad honestly I'm still up there with with being one of the one of the best average starters um I've just missed out on a couple races and mean maybe slightly worse than what it's been over the course of a season but there's couple times when they've not been quite where they need to be I've been a couple times I've been on on the front so like I said they've not been for any certain reason they've been different time different things each time but um I feel confident I've been in a good amount of work to kind of try and make my starts a bit better and uh tomorrow's a new day um I mean if I can get myself into the lead then that works well for me but um yeah I mean I think the start is always a good opportunity to make up make up ground if you can um yeah obviously want to finish as as high as I can and um yeah if if I can get into second then uh then obviously that that makes life a little bit more straightforward um for for the team but um I mean I'm not going to do anything specific to try and make that happen I I want to try and win the race myself and let's let's see what I can try and do thanks both all right another one uh Ronald foring motorsport.com it's a question to Max you said red just lack some Pace at the moment do you feel that's the reality uh until new updates new parts come to the car to maybe correct something or did you already hope for a bit more than the three and a half T this weekend maybe based on the ideas from the summer break um I don't know I mean might it's three1 here or whatever it was I don't know what of course the the upcoming races will be but um I think yeah if you look at the last um what seven races it's just been a bit more difficult for us and we are trying to understand try to just improve the the situation but um it's not a magic button or switch you know that you turn so um yeah we keep trying thank you yeah uh Ben hun Auto Sport um Oscar I noticed a little r smile when um Fred asked you about helping Lando out at the first lap um to the McLaren drivers are you clear on the rules engagement what you allowed to do what aren't you and are you confident you'll be allowed to race each other for the win if you're in contention uh yeah the the rules are very very clear and and haven't changed um and yeah uh we're we're free to race each other to try and win of course um you know we're we're in a a constructive championship fight and um you know we know that there's a lot at stake for for the team um but we've we've shown time and time again that we can race Each Other Well R race each other cleanly um um and yeah we're we're free to try and both win the race um and that's that's not changed Lando just your thoughts hello um no question was for Oscar so I'm for both no it's it's Oscar said it well um with 3D race there's never been any rules apart from don't crash into each other uh that's literally the Only Rule um otherwise we've always been free to race we raced well in the past uh so that's all go for us thanks boys next one Rodrigo F car magazine Brazil question to Londo lond used to joke about the uh support of the orange Army and being now the uh biggest rival to Max ver Sten do you feel a different approach from the Dutch fans now um uh no not at the minute like um I think we've always joked about but um I've honestly I've always had a lot of support from from Dutch fans um uh since I've since I've started since I've really I've been in Formula 1 um my mom's from Belgium so it's kind of kind of puts me half into the that bubble um so they've always supported me well and uh and I appreciate that so it's always I always enjoy coming to a race like this and um own Red Bull Ring as well they're kind of two home races for Max and with the amount of fans that he has there so it's fun it's um it's nice that they have a lot of support from many different countries wherever I go um some are more crazy than others and I think Dutch are one of the biggest players in this but um the more the merrier and I appreciate that thank you next one Hamza khik Luna the times uh a question for you Max uh Lando boss said yesterday that he's performing at world champion level do you think he is and what's what qualities do you think make him a potential world champion if he is the land's very very fast I think that's what you need need to be and that's why he's also in formul one and that's why you know he's performing at the level that he's at um and it will only get better with experience as well right I mean of course I've been fighting for championships probably a bit longer so you probably a bit more experience with that but at the end of the day you know when the team is working well the car is working well you driving well then it uh it just comes to you as well so um yeah I never doubted that anyway thanks mik anyo yes uh y made question to Max yesterday Toto talked about the meeting this summer between Mercedes between him and your management and you over signing maybe for 2025 with what intention did you go into that meeting and how do you how do you reflect on it which meeting did you uh engage that meeting or was it only with with your management I don't remember all right anym Rene deor track commentary a question to Max and lenda you both mentioned the influence of the wind the sensitivity of the car to the wind are there any corners or which section of the track do you notice that in most particular um kind of Any Corner which is 180° um especially cuz the corners turn one's prob the best example you have a big Tailwind in and a big headwind out so the car feels shocking on the way in um and pretty pretty lovely on the way out um so you kind of get both worlds and then obviously have the middle phase where the wind's blowing the side of the car so you you experience it there and um probably like nine and 10 turn and 10 being the one where it's what's felt the worst on the track the whole weekend um again simply going from like 20kph Tailwind in to 20kph Tailwind out the vice versa of or similar to turn one that you go in car doesn't respond doesn't do anything you want um and it might not like seem like you know 20 kph a win but when you see the numbers of the car in terms of like kilograms of force of downforce gained and lost it's is pretty extreme and probably more than what people realize on the outside so um everyone's dealing with the same thing you know not just us three here but uh everyone on the grid and that's the the challenge of what we have yeah he explain it very well so all right yep another one Phil dcan pa uh Lando this obviously feels like a another very good opportunity to to win and and to close the gap to to Max how how desperate are you to get this win tomorrow and how important could that be in terms of the championship you said the same words the other time yeah I'm not desperate I want to win but I'm not desperate um I know you want that little headline right there but I'm not going to give it to you um I want to win I'm working hard to win we all do as a team um all of us here want to win but uh not desperate because desperation doesn't um succeed to anything so it makes no difference um I'm trying very hard and if you want to kind of put that into the the headline then that's fine but um I places to work on over the winter I worked hard on over the summer I've worked hard on them um little bits are paying off already but uh tomorrow is obviously the biggest place of at all to to show so um working hard for a win but uh not desperate thanks L any more yes yeah another oneport m.com another one for youx I think you you questioned whether I'm watching the same race weekend uh as you do hopefully I'm I'm not listening to a different team radio uh but compared to previous races you sound pretty calm on the radio nowadays is it because you accepted the the new situation you're in or is there diff different approach from your side I do a lot of yoga and meditation lately um yeah I don't know I mean I think Hungary was just a very frustrating weekend in general but it doesn't always need to be like that and I I know that also so I'm just trying as hard as I can you know to be competitive I know the team does that as well every single person within the team so we yeah we stick together and and try to improve the the situation thank you yep another one thanks Ben Hunt Autosport Max just sorry just to bring you back to the what meeting with Toto is it time that he stops talking about you do you think he just needs to move on no I mean everyone can say what they want and um I get on very well with Toto I think he's he's very U open about what's happening within his team right um also I think with the driver lineup and stuff so there's there's nothing wrong with that and at the same time also I just focus on my job there's a lot to do anyway so uh yeah we just focus on that thank you yes Mo y thank you next from is B Lando one for you you mentioned about the St sorry it's coming I'm do dance as well um sorry I forgot I've lost my train of thought sorry um when you've looked back at that this year has there been any kind of pattern you've noticed has it been procedural has it been anything like that and how important is tomorrow to just kind of get stats like that out of the way so you're not kind of carrying that you know into the rest of the season thanks hello there we go um uh um honestly stats I uh stats to to me don't mean a lot um yeah I mean you kind of get respect with with stats and you lose respect maybe with certain stats but uh just just numbers on the screen honestly don't don't mean a lot from from that perspective to me um of course I care but they don't mean a lot they don't impact me um so what people write and come up with and those kind of things are different um you know it's like uh the overtaking awards and stuff you're always going to get more overtakes when you qualify terribly and you're going to have more chances to go forward I've started on you know towards the front a lot of times I know my stats not the best for that that and uh more often than not I've kind of gone backwards rather than holding positions but um that's just what I've done so far and I've worked hard and working hard to to try and change that um but it's not something that affects me I'm not going to go out tomorrow to try and suddenly prove people wrong or something I'm just going to crack on and do what I got to do so um yeah people can write what they want they can have their own opinions and a lot of these things are true and are facts to to people but um yeah it's more just use them to to my advantage and improve on my weaknesses simple as that thanks yeah another one uh Ronald foring motorsport.com it's a bit of a different one to Max this time um I know that you know Nick theze quite well and he's taking on a new challenge from this weekend onwards in in super formula I just wondering did you talk about it with him and what's your thought about the new challenge that he's going at in Japan yeah yeah it was actually quite funny because he asked me if he could jump on my simulator quickly to do a few laps uh around M but unfortunately I wasn't at at home at the time otherwise I would have set it up for him um but uh yeah it's exciting I mean I've I've never driven the car myself but they look amazing to drive um it's of course very very different um and I think of course a big learning curve for him as well but I'm looking forward to you know see how he does in in the championship um you know he's a good friend of mine he deserves it um and um yeah wish him all the best Thanks Max any more no we'll leave it there