Q: And Oscar, let’s throw it forward to tomorrow. The last couple of races have been one-stoppers at the front. Are you expecting this one to be a little bit more interesting strategically?
OP: Yes, probably. Everyone’s got very different tyres up and down the grid. George has only got one hard and one medium. Charles and I have got two mediums. Max has got two hards, so it’s a bit of a mix. We’ll see what everyone goes for tomorrow because I think it’s a bit of a lottery at the moment. I think it will definitely be more exciting from a strategic point of view, but for my sake, I hope not too exciting.
Q: Thank you, Oscar. George, let’s come to you. Another great qualifying from you. You got really close to Oscar. Was that a very clean lap at the end of Q3?
GR: Yeah, it was a really strong Q3. To be honest, I wasn’t really feeling it throughout qualifying and didn’t have the confidence in myself, which was quite a surprise. I don’t know why that was. Q1 and Q2 were a real challenge. But in Q3 I just got back into my normal rhythm and put in some strong laps. Really surprised to be a tenth and a half off pole and ahead of one of the McLarens and also Charles up there as well. We were talking before — I think we were both shocked to be this close. So yeah, definitely a strong one.
Q: What changed in Q3? You say you got back into your normal rhythm, but did you change something on the car?
GR: No, no, it was just all in myself, to be honest. Q1 and Q2, usually you’re building up to Q3, but I hadn’t been feeling comfortable with the car today. And like Oscar said, I was doing donuts this morning, which is not really the best prep ahead of a qualifying session. But in Q3, I just sort of sent it and had a bit more confidence in myself and the lap came together really nicely. So yeah, really strong, really clean lap and a great place to be.
Q: George, you qualified fifth last weekend in Japan. Did you approach this session differently from a tyre warm-up point of view?
GR: I mean, this weekend’s totally different, to be honest. I was very disappointed in Japan with P5. I felt that we had the potential to qualify much higher up the order. But this weekend I wasn’t expecting to be on the front row. I thought P3 was going to be by far the maximum we could have achieved today. Realistically, anywhere from P3 to P6, maybe even P7. So to be on the front row is a real surprise. I don’t expect it to be a straightforward race tomorrow. I think Oscar is going to be mighty fast. They seem to be a long way ahead of the field when it comes to tyre overheating and the track being too hot for the tyres, which is what we’re going to experience tomorrow. So let’s see how it pans out.
Q: Well, George, we’ve had you and Oscar on the front row already this season. What have you got to do to beat him tomorrow? Is it all about tyre wear, or do you see the run to Turn 1 as your main opportunity?
GR: I think unlike the first three races of the season, this isn’t going to be necessarily a qualifying race. I think this is going to be the race which is most biased to the lap times you do in the race. Obviously I hope to make a good start. I’ve been on the front row here before and got into the lead at Turn 1, so hopefully I can repeat that. But I think they’re so far ahead of everybody. They can pit early, pit late — they’ll probably potentially overtake us on track. But as I said, today we’re on the front row and nobody expected anyone but Lando and Oscar to be on the front row. So maybe another surprise tomorrow.
Q: Alright, George, thank you very much. Well done to you. And Charles, great job by you as well. You have a tremendous record here in Bahrain. Just how good was that qualifying lap?
CL: It was really good, but I don’t think today’s performance relies on my record on this track. I think it’s the result of a lot of work. At the beginning of the season, we obviously weren’t where we wanted to be and since two or three races I’ve gone in an interesting direction setup-wise, which seems to help me to extract a bit more out of the car. That’s what I’m trying to do every weekend. For now, it seems to be better and better, which is a good sign for the future. I’m happy with the lap. It was very tricky to put everything together, but I think I did so. There wasn’t much more inside the car. Again, I think as George mentioned, I did not expect to be so close to pole position — just like him. But tomorrow is going to be a bit more of a challenge.
Q: Tell us a little bit more about tomorrow. You’ve shown good pace over one lap. What are your prospects for the Grand Prix itself?
CL: Honestly, McLaren seems to be extremely good with tyre management and more specifically the overheating of the tyres. We’ve seen it in FP3 — I think everybody was struggling a lot — but Oscar put a lap in that was very impressive. I think tomorrow in the race there will be lots of that, so I don’t think we expect to challenge the McLarens, but we might be pretty close with the Mercedes, also with the Red Bulls. So it’s going to be an interesting race. We all have different tyres. A good start will obviously be essential, especially with high temperatures like this, to have clean air plays a big role.
Q: You’ve spoken about the setup changes you’ve been going through in the last two Grands Prix. What about changes to the car this weekend? Do you feel the car is generally more competitive with the new floor and the various other new bits?
CL: Yeah, the team has done a really, really good job. We’ve all pushed quite a lot in the last few weeks because we’ve been struggling with performance. I know that at the factory they’ve been pushing like crazy to try and bring this floor a bit earlier on, and that definitely made the difference. Because if I look at the gap with P4, it’s not that much and I’m pretty sure that without the floor I wouldn’t be P3. So that’s already one position won. I’m curious to see what it will do tomorrow. However, it’s probably not the best track to extract the maximum out of this new upgrade, but in the next few weekends we shall see more of it.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Oscar, with Lando down in P6 — I know, it’s very early days in the championship – but these little momentum swings like we saw with you in Australia. How important are they to be able to, I guess, seize this moment when it’s there for you to take?
OP: Let’s see where he finishes first. Obviously, it’s nice to be on pole, but like George said, I think this is probably the first race so far where qualifying doesn’t mean everything. I think it’s obviously still important, but I’m expecting him to fight back tomorrow. I’ll just try and make sure that I do the best job that I can, and wherever he ends up is where he ends up.
Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) Another one for you, Oscar. George said that McLaren can do pretty much anything tomorrow and they’re going to be ahead. Obviously everybody at McLaren has pushed back a bit when people have made claims about how far ahead you are. Do you feel that it’s kind of almost a different perspective now you’re in a car that can consistently be the quickest? It’s still actually incredibly hard work to extract that pace and work through the weekend. Is that kind of at the heart of that pushback?
OP: I mean, from my side, I’m certainly not shying away from the fact we have the best car at the moment. I think to say otherwise is not correct. But it is difficult and the margins are still pretty tight. It doesn’t take much of a mistake to lose one or two tenths, and that’s been the gap more or less. At times we have looked very, very strong — like this morning, for example — but I think when everyone turns up for qualifying, we know that we still have to put our best foot forward. Like we saw in Japan, we didn’t quite get the most out of the car, got pipped by Max. And today, Lando’s not on the front row, so it’s difficult, definitely. I certainly don’t think we’re fast enough to do whatever we want, but we do have a nice advantage at the moment that we’re trying our best to make sure we continue to use week in, week out.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Oscar, another one for you. This weekend, how at one have you felt with the car? You seem really, really confident. You talked about from FP2, FP3 and through quali, when everything just clicks, can you just feel that extra bit of pace coming out of it?
OP: Yeah, I think so. P1 was a bit of a write-off for everyone, I think. But FP2 already, I felt pretty confident. FP3 this morning was obviously very strong, but in conditions that weren’t particularly representative, so you always — I kind of wish that that was when qualifying was. But I think I’ve been comfortable with the car from FP2. We’ve not had to change too much from then. For myself, it’s been a car that’s been relatively straightforward to put consistent laps on the board and it’s been quick as well, which is obviously the most important thing. I’ve just felt very comfortable this weekend. I think I’ve felt comfortable the whole season so far with the car we’ve got, but this weekend has been another step forward on top of that, which I was able to show today.
, 2. George Russell (Mercedes), 3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)){kind=link}