FIA Thursday press conference – Hungary

PART ONE – Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren), Esteban OCON (Haas), Pierre GASLY (Alpine)

Q: Sensational performance by you at Spa, Oscar. There was the overtake, the tyre management, the pressure. What aspect of that performance were you most pleased with?

Oscar PIASTRI: I think a bit of a combination of a few. I think the first lap overtake was crucial to winning the race, and I feel like I had a really good race start, especially considering it was a rolling start. So that's what really put me in a good place. And then I think managing the Mediums was important. The pace the whole weekend was really strong as well. Even going back before Sunday, it felt like a really strong weekend.

Q: And how do you view the title fight now? You're 81 points ahead of Max Verstappen in P3. Is it a two-horse race between you and Lando Norris now?

OP: I suppose so. Every weekend now, or the last few weekends anyway, it has been Lando and I. I expect our competition to still be strong and put up a good fight, especially at certain tracks through the rest of the year. Whether that comes from Max or Ferrari or Mercedes or someone else, we never really know. I'm not too concerned about what happens in that. I'm just trying to win each race and extend the lead. Clearly, Lando and I are in the same car, which is the best, and he's naturally going to be the close competition.

Q: This weekend, here in Hungary, scene of the first win 12 months ago, is it between the two of you?

OP: I don't know. Hungary has been historically a good track for us as a team, certainly the two years I've been with the team. I expect us to be strong again this weekend. But there have been tracks this year where we thought we would be very strong compared to our competition and they were closer than we thought. And there have been other tracks where we thought our competition would be very close, and actually the gap was bigger than we thought. So, you never know, but I expect us to still be at the front.

Q: Esteban, can we throw it back to Spa first of all as well? A great Sprint race for you and the team. The Grand Prix was more disappointing. What have you learned since Sunday about some of the strategic decisions that were made and tyre choices?

Esteban OCON: I think it's been, first, a positive weekend because we really had a strong car that was able to be fighting for the point scoring zones. We've maximised that Friday evening and Saturday morning, definitely, with the P5 finish and the P7 for Ollie. That was a really good haul of points. Unfortunately, we didn't optimize Saturday's quali and the race was even worse on our side. We know we have a quick car, but we need to align everything. That's the most important thing and we will try and do that this weekend.

Q: How do you see it panning out this weekend? The car has been strong since the updates, particularly through faster corners. How do you think it will perform here?

EO: No reason why we shouldn't be able to perform. It's a track that I really enjoy, that I have great memories from. I'm looking forward to seeing what this car can do. Since the update, we really have been able to do a step forward in terms of where we position ourselves. Now, it’s easier said than done that we can get into the right zone. Qualifying is going to be super important, so we need to maximise that. And there could be some rain again. It's two races in a row where we didn't maximize our strategy and where we should have ended up higher. Hopefully the third one will be the good one.

Q: Final one from me, it's the summer shutdown after this race, this one being race 14. Can we just pause for a second and get you to reflect on everything that's happened at your new team for this year, Haas? If you were writing a report card, what would it say?

EO: Going in the good direction, I would say. It hasn't been smooth the whole time, but we were able to get some weekends where we thought, okay, that was a really strong one. There was nothing we could have done better and there was a lot of learning. We started, clearly, as the last car in Australia, and we fought back in a magnificent way. The team was able to react to certain situations in a way that I felt it was a lost cause, and that wasn't the case. It's been great to see how much pride the team takes when we do certain results, and I'm really proud of everyone in the way we've been able to deliver and improve. We set ourselves in a good position now where it's a tight midfield, and we need to deliver every time we are out there, and that will make the difference at the end of the year.

Q: Pierre, can we talk about the last couple of races generally, the P6 at Silverstone, the P10 last weekend? You're absolutely flying. How much has the car improved in recent weeks?

Pierre GASLY: It's been two good races for us. The conditions made it… kind of shuffled the order a bit. The rain came in Silverstone, we made the right calls, and as a team we're really doing a good job with the package we have. Might not have the best performance, but whatever we have at the moment, the last few weekends we've been able to really get everything out of it and make the best out of the conditions. In Silverstone and Spa, great strategy, all the right calls. I'm pleased in the way we're operating with the team. Obviously, I'd like a bit more performance, but that's what we have and we battle with this car.

Q: Don’t be modest, but the job that you have done behind the wheel at the last two races in particular, how pleased have you been with your own performance?

PG: I'm very pleased, but it's the team's been able to really provide me with the car I need to feel confident, be comfortable at the limit. It's quite good because it's a tough season. The performance is not quite there, but everyone is really motivated to put our best game and really try to nail every single weekend. Sometimes it might be good enough for 14th, 12th. We are not pleased about the end result, but we always try. With that mindset and mentality, it gave us a P6 and a P10 in Spa. We've got to keep trying and make the best out of this second part of the year.

Q: Bigger picture now. It is all change at the top of Renault, with François Provost being announced yesterday as the new CEO. Can we get your thoughts on that change and what you'd like to hear and see from Francois?

PG: It's really clear. He's been a very long time working in Renault. He knows the DNA of the group, of the team. He's been part of it for all these years when Renault has been part of Formula 1. He's fully committed to the sport, to the Formula 1 team. Obviously wants to see performance, and he's backing everybody in the team. Looking forward to the future with the team. We know where we're heading. We know '25 is a compromise we decided to take at the start of the year to focus on '26. Hopefully, it's going to pay dividends next year.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Pierre, you're tenth and last in the championship at the moment, and the Enstone team haven't finished that lowdown since you were Toleman in 1985. Steve Nielsen starts in just over a month's time as the new MD/team principal. What does he need to do to make sure that you don't finish last in the championship this year?

PG: The reality of it is the car has been the same since Barcelona and will remain the same until the end of the year. On one side, you've got to be objective and realistic on what's achievable. Steve will arrive in September, and I think his impact and his work will be mainly seen on 2026 and beyond. Honestly, Steve's got to focus on next year. We know all the work that we are putting for 2026. We are pleased with what we are doing and the evolution. I'm confident. I believe in the team and the fact that they'll be able to give me a competitive car next year. The reality of it is this season, this is what we have, and it's going to be extremely difficult to change the position that we are in. It doesn't mean we are doing a bad job at the track or back at the factory. We just haven't been able to produce a car, in a season where the midfield is extremely tight, with the decisions we've made for '26. We haven't been able to provide enough performance to fight for better than that, which is fine because at the end of the day, whether you finish ninth or eighth or tenth in the championship, you're still fighting for nothing pretty much. But if it gives you a car that can fight for race wins, podiums, top five next season, I'll take that every day of the week.

Q: (Marianna Becker – Banderaintes TV) Oscar, I remember your first win was a Sprint race and you were saying it's not actually an actual win. But now a sprint race can decide a title, since it's really tight between you and Lando. How's your approach now for the Sprint races?

OP: I still don't think they count as a real win, but yes, they are important. In the position that we're in as a team, there's often a lot more to lose in a sprint than there is to gain, because each position is one point. You don't really get rewarded for doing an amazing job in a Sprint event, but you get a pretty big penalty if it goes wrong. That's just what you have to deal with. Obviously, any points you can get, whether it's one point, two points, they will help. You just try and approach it like normal and try and do the best you can.

Q: (Rui Chagas – DAZN Portugal) In the last race at Spa, I asked you if after quali you still felt that you were the fastest and the best driver out there. Do you feel confident enough that you will win this title?

OP: I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it. Not every weekend has been perfect, but there's not many weekends in my whole life that have been perfect. Just trying to put together a solid, consistent year is ultimately going to be important. The pace in the last few weekends, especially Spa, I've been very confident in and very proud of. I'm more than capable of continuing that for the rest of the year. I'm confident that I can do it, but it's not going to be easy.

Q: (Panos Seitanidis – Ant1 TV) A question for all three. After Spa, we had a lot of comments from you saying, why aren’t they racing? What would the Sennas and the Schumachers do in their situation? From a driver's point of view, where is the fine balance between the common sense of not driving, with no visibility and doing the heroics maybe the crowd wants?

PG: It's always easier to explain why you've been too conservative than explaining why you've put the drivers in dangerous conditions. At Silverstone, we saw a driver hitting another car from not seeing where it was going, which to me has nothing to do with racing. We want to see overtaking. We want to see skills out there in the wet, not a race decided on whether you see what's going on two meters in front of your car. Spa, they said before the weekend, they'd probably be more conservative knowing what happened in Silverstone and knowing the history of the racetrack. Were they on the conservative side? Yes. Can we complain that they were conservative? I don't think so. Can we work with them to help them make a slightly more precise judgment and increase the show and the driving on track in these conditions? Sure thing. I'm sure we're going to talk about it in the Drivers' Briefing and next race they'll do even better and we'll find the right adjustment. I don't think it's fair to say they've done a bad job. It’s explainable. They were on the safer side this time. We'll work on that. Us drivers, we want to drive on the wet. We're fine with it. It's always exciting. You don't want to end up in a situation where you don't see and you end up crashing in the middle of the Kemmel straight and having another incident you need to explain to another family. It's a fine line and we will work on it with the FIA and I'm sure it's going to get better over time.

EO: I can give an example. The first year I went to Spa was 2012 and I was at the back of the grid. It was a wet race. I couldn't see a thing, basically similar to what happened to Isack when he crashed into Kimi, except we were in Spa. I was P25 or something like that. I tried to look to the right to see if there was some clear vision ahead and no spray, and I backed off. I was maybe in fourth or fifth gear, probably like 160, 170. The moment I pulled to the right, I basically crossed the car that was parallel to the track and I just saw him when I crossed his path. If I was on the left, things would have been similar. I would have probably had a massive injury from that. I've been in those situations. It's not any fun. I think what the FIA did was the correct thing for Spa. We don't want to race in conditions where we are not able to see two metres ahead. It's calling for disaster to happen again. We've lost enough drivers in those kinds of conditions and that's not something we want to see.

OP: I think Pierre summed it up very well. In the last few years, we've been giving our feedback to the FIA about what we think is acceptable and what's not. It is always much worse in the car than it looks on TV, and I think the FIA has done a very good job of listening to us and taking that feedback on board. We asked for them to be, if anything, on the conservative side. You could argue that we were, but we would much rather that than the opposite. The feeling in this room would be pretty different if we had a big crash last week. We'll work with the FIA and fine-tune that, but I think we're on the right side of cautious.

Q: (Mara Sangiorgio – Sky Sports Italy) Question to Oscar. You were talking about your confidence. What will count more for the title, being the fastest man or the one who makes the fewest mistakes?

OP: Both, ideally. You can make an argument for either one. You can be consistent, but if you're consistently coming second, that's not very useful. You need to have both. At the level of the field and the level of my teammate, you need to bring your best. Inevitably, when you're pushing that hard, there are going to be mistakes here and there because it doesn't come without risk. You can't afford to take things easy and try and be consistent. You need to push and you need to be quick. Of course, you try and execute as best as you can, but you need both to win the championship. You can't just rely on one.

Q: (Ian Parkes – RacingNews365.com) Oscar, the margins in performance between yourself and Lando have ebbed and flowed quite considerably, never more so highlighted than in Spa between qualifying and the race. What will be the defining difference between yourself and Lando as to who wins the title, particularly as we get towards the back end of the season when the pressure ramps up and the nerves potentially begin to take hold?

OP: Honestly, it's a very similar answer. The way you win races at the back end of the season is the same way as at the start. You need to be faster than everyone around you and you need to make the least mistakes possible. That aspect doesn't really change. Like I said, it's great to be consistent, but if you're consistently being beaten, that's not a recipe for a championship. It's a balancing act of both. Obviously, if you're a robot, you'd be able to be as fast as possible and make zero mistakes, but we're all humans, so that's not possible. There is going to be an element of minimizing mistakes, but you need to be fast at the same time, and you can't afford to sit back. If you try to take that approach, you'll end up being beaten.

Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport-Total.com) Question to Oscar. McLaren has this history of in the ’88–’89 season, a great iconic intra-team championship battle with Senna and Prost. In your papaya rules discussions in the team, was there ever any reference to that, to look at it from “this started off friendly, what happened, and what can we do to avoid this now”?

OP: Not necessarily. Everybody knows the history of Senna and Prost and that rivalry, and other rivalries outside of McLaren. You don't really need an example to set the culture that we have at the moment. We're both very conscious that we want this opportunity of having the car and the team in this position for many years to come. The best way we can help as drivers apart from driving fast is by giving the team good morale and good confidence and making it a good team environment. That's very important for us this year and going forward. We've all seen how it can go wrong, but we have a lot of reasons to push for it to not go wrong.

Q: (Giuseppe Marisi – MotorOnline.com) Oscar, so you and Lando will be totally free to fight only when McLaren win the championship?

OP: I mean, I don't fully get the question, but yes, we are free to fight this year at the moment.

Q: After you've won the Constructors’ Championship?

OP: If we win the Constructors’. No , we've been free to race from race one.

Q: (Diletta Colombo – Automoto.it) A question for all three of you. As far as visibility issues with rain are concerned, do you think they are too car-related to be mitigated in any other way?

PG: Just to make sure I understood the question, you're saying whether it's a car issue type of thing? We know the spray is definitely not great with these cars. There's been quite a lot of testing going on to reduce the spray from a tyre point of view, like a wheel cover, etc. I'm not too sure where we are at, but moving forward, we definitely need to find a way to reduce that spray, which then will allow us to race in wet conditions. At the moment, when the visibility is fine, there's no need for the wet tyre. It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg kind of thing and they need to work on that.

Q: (Barna Zsöldös – Nemzeti Sport) To all three of you, we have a brand new facility here. There’s a brand new grandstand and pit building, huge garages. What do you make of it?

OP: I've not seen much apart from where we're sat now, but it looks really nice from the outside. As long as it gives fans a better experience, then that's great. It's impressive that it's been done from one year to the next. It looks like it's been quite a big task, so well done.

EO: It's very impressive what the organization has been able to do. That grandstand is going to be fantastic to see full in the Grand Prix before we head to the track. There's always a lot of support around here. To see it being much bigger is going to be awesome. I think it will also facilitate the garage exit because it was always quite tight for us to get into the fast lane. I haven't seen yet the main straight, see how it's been resurfaced. I could not recognize the paddock, which is quite impressive from one year to another.

PG: Looks beautiful. Same.

Q: (Patrik Fehér – Vezess.hu) Question to Esteban. Conditions might be similar to the ones four years ago, and I think you remember that day. Is it possible to repeat that performance with your current car?

EO: Realistically, no. That’s the real answer. Obviously, that opens up opportunities in this kind of weather. We've been the last two races on the wrong side of things, not going in the right direction to move forward in the race. It's a good thing for the show and for us to suddenly take the opportunity to score points. We'll see how things go, but Budapest always brings interesting races.

Q: (Nigel Chiu – Sky Sports) Question for Oscar. Last year, we had the drama where Lando undercut you and there was a lot of chatter on the team radio. Ultimately, he did let you through and you went on to win the race. How important was that moment in terms of your development as his teammate?

OP: I think it underlined the good nature in the team. It was obviously a slightly awkward situation, but it highlighted that we will do the right thing in all circumstances when we're on track. It showed the trust that we have with the team and with each other as well, and that things will be put the right way.

Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Question to Oscar. Last year, you came here on Thursday with no Grand Prix wins and got your first one. Twelve months later, you're leading the championship with a lot of wins and good performances. What changed from Oscar last year to Oscar now?

OP: Developing a little bit in a lot of areas. Last year, I felt like I had some weekends that were very strong and felt like I had enough to win races on my good days. But there were a lot of average and sometimes bad days in between. This year has been full of a lot more good days. I have improved as a driver, but I think I've been able to get closer to what I think I'm capable of more often. That's been the biggest thing. It's not come from one specific area. It's come from looking at lots of different things. Being able to execute what I think is my best more and more often, that's been the difference.

PART TWO – Liam LAWSON (Racing Bulls), Charles LECLERC (Ferrari), Lance STROLL (Aston Martin)

Q: Charles, there was some big news that broke earlier today. Team principal Fred Vasseur has signed a new long-term contract with Ferrari. Can we get your thoughts on that, please?

Charles LECLERC: I'm really, really happy. It's not that it's coming as a surprise, but I'm really happy. Especially in the past month, there were quite a few rumours, like it's always the case around the team. To finally have the official news out is important and I'm really happy.

Q: You were at the team before Fred. What has he brought to the Scuderia over the last 30 months or so?

CL: Without going into comparing the different eras, Fred has an incredible vision. What's very difficult within Ferrari is the emotion is very much part of the daily job because Italian people in general, and that's what makes Ferrari so special, are extremely passionate about Ferrari. Fred really knows how to leave his emotions aside and have a clear vision of where we are at no matter how much noise there is around the team. This is very, very important. Apart from that, he's got many more qualities. One of them is also to extract the maximum out of every single person at the factory and this, when you put everything together, it makes a big difference.

Q: Spa was a great weekend for you, another podium. Do you feel you've got a car that you can consistently fight for podiums with now?

CL: The result will say so. We've had four podiums in the last six race weekends. I don't think yet that we are at the level where we can say that we are the second strongest team on the grid. But we are working towards that and making steps in the right direction. There have been quite a few upgrades in the last few weekends which helped us to close the gap to the guys in front. However, this weekend, I'm not sure. It's by far the worst track of the season for me. I'm looking forward to trying to prove that wrong and to have finally a good weekend here in Budapest.

Q: Why? What is it about the Hungaroring?

CL: I don't know. I wish I knew. It's just not been very successful for me in the past. It's probably something with my driving style. I've got to work a little bit harder compared to other tracks, but that's fine.

Q: Is that odd in some way? Because you've always been so good at Monaco, and a lot of drivers refer to this one as Monaco without the walls.

CL: Maybe it's the walls that are missing. I don't know where it's coming from, but I'm still confident we can have a great weekend and we'll see how it goes.

Q: Lance, can we start with a bit of a half-term report? Just get your reflections on how the opening 13 races have gone, the three points finishes. Just sum it all up for us.

Lance STROLL: We're not as competitive as we want to be, that’s for sure. As a team, we want to be fighting further up and scoring more points every weekend. Spa was a difficult weekend for us, just not fast enough. There's a lot of work going on back at Silverstone to keep pushing, keep making the car faster. Some fun races for sure this season, some fun wet races where we capitalised on opportunities and scored some points. Those ones tasted good, but we want to be faster.

Q: Is it races like Silverstone, the outliers, the wet races, that are your main opportunity to score points now?

LS: At the moment, it feels like it. On a normal dry weekend, maybe if the track suits the car perfectly and we get everything out of it, we can snag a point or two. But it feels like a lot of the time, it's those kinds of weekends that we're relying on to mix things up and get something out of it.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the performance of the car. You had the new front wing at Spa. There have been other updates in recent races as well. Do you think the package you have will suit the Hungaroring more than Spa-Francorchamps?

LS: I don't know. I hope so. We'll see.

Q: Liam, Alan Permane, your new boss at RB, described your race at Spa as near perfect. Is that how it felt in the cockpit?

Liam LAWSON: Probably not, to be honest. It's always tricky in those conditions when it's changing. In the car it felt like it was still quite wet when everyone was putting on slicks. We were actually one of the early cars to do it. If they'd asked me if I thought it was ready, I probably would have said no. Those races are very tricky to judge. For us, we were able to capitalise. In general, the car has been quick recently. On most tracks we've been to, practice has been quite strong and I feel like we've started in a good place and not had too much to work on. It's just very close right now. Even in Spa, I couldn't believe that over a nearly two-minute lap, for teams to be within one tenth in qualifying, it's very close.

Q: Do you feel last Sunday was your most complete performance of the year so far for this team?

LL: I think Austria was a more complete weekend in terms of qualifying was maximized, race was maximized. I don't think we could have achieved too much more. In Spa the car was quick, qualifying wasn't perfect, and going into the race we were able to capitalize. It's just been more consistent recently. There needs to be more because to have two good races like that in what's been 12 races is not enough. We need to be doing it nearly every weekend if that's the target.

Q: Can we use this summer break moment to reflect for a minute? You've had a lot thrown at you this season. How do you sum up 2025 so far?

LL: It's been busy. It's been a whirlwind, especially at the start of the year. Very unexpected, and what was probably a rocky start has now stabilised and we're in a better place. The speed's been there most of the year, and it's nice that we're finally able to get a couple of good results. As a whole, we need to be doing that more. To have two or three of those races over the first half of the season is not enough. Going forward into the second half of the year, we're trying to replicate this more. Right now, with how close it is, it's the little things that make a big difference. Trying to extract everything each weekend.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Moritz Steidl – Servus TV) Question to Charles and Liam. Laurent Mekies, you have both worked with him in different positions. Everyone describes him as a people guy who knows how to interact and empower people. How did you individually work with him, and how would you describe his working style?

CL: When I worked with Laurent, he wasn't a team principal just yet. He had a very important position within the team. Laurent has always been extremely good at understanding people. He's one of those where I didn’t have to speak much for him to understand the way I felt. That’s always very helpful. I've never had him as my team principal, but I've always seen him as a person definitely capable of becoming one. It’s great to see what’s happening to him. I’m super happy for him, when he first made the step to AlphaTauri back then and now at Red Bull Racing. He definitely deserves that.

LL: Charles said it very well. He's a people person. When he came to us, he straightaway led the team. He's very personal with you, very open to talking on a personal level, especially with me as a driver and to everybody in the team. He was somebody that was easy to follow. He’s probably one of my favourite guys in the paddock, honestly. He’s just a very good person, beautiful family. Always working very hard as well, one of the guys there on Thursday mornings before most people, pushing very hard. Very cool to see.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Liam, don't put the mic down. We're doing a feature on rookies this weekend. Rather than looking back, look forward. Which areas are you focusing on the most that you need to improve or be more consistent in during the second half of your first full rookie season?

LL: If I was to just pick an area, overall, it's qualifying. With how important it is at the moment because everybody's very close, even on tracks that are maybe easier to overtake, it's still difficult because you don't have a three, four, five tenth pace advantage. You have like a one or two tenth pace advantage, and that's very hard to overtake. Qualifying is very important, it sets up your weekend. Where our weekends have fallen away, at least on my side, has been normally in an average qualifying. Where our weekends have been strong, it's when we qualify well. That's the main target: just extracting everything, making sure we have the car in the best place going into qualifying, and then for me getting everything out of it and doing a better job.

Q: (Mara Sangiorgio – Sky Sports Italy) Question to Charles. Last winter you were in the shadows for a few months. Are you surprised that you are constantly ahead of Lewis, or did you expect it?

CL: I didn't have much expectation because I didn't know. As a driver, you watch the data of other drivers, but there’s always the question mark: when you're off in one corner, how much is it coming from the driver and how much from the car? I was very curious to see where I would be against Lewis. Again, it's still very early on and we're also not fighting for wins and pole positions, which changes things for a driver. For now, my only focus is to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. I'm happy with the way I'm performing and I just need to keep going that way. It's probably too early to judge, as it's a new team for Lewis, and I'm sure he's still understanding and learning about all the different systems, the new systems for him.

Q: (Rui Chagas – DAZN Portugal) Lance, tricky question: how much is your head thinking on next year taking into consideration Adrian Newey, the new wind tunnel, new engine, new regulations?

LS: As a team, probably all teams now are heavily focused on next year. With the new regulations, it's going to be a big opportunity for everyone. It's definitely a very exciting time for us as a team, with all the tools we have: the new wind tunnel, new simulator, a lot of people joining the team, Adrian coming on board. It's a very exciting time for us. No one knows where they will stand at the first race in Melbourne, but a lot of work and focus is going into '26.

Q: (Diletta Colombo – AutoMoto.it) Question for Charles. How important is it to have stability within the team as far as top management is concerned?

CL: I'm not the one making the decisions, but I think stability is always very important. Fred is the person we look up to and the person leading the team. To have him for many more years is definitely a good thing, also because in Formula 1 it takes time to build something, especially a successful team. I'm very happy about that. Knowing that I'll be able to have Fred alongside me for more years makes me optimistic for the future.

Q: (Patrik Fehér - Vezess.hu) Question to Charles. Lewis mentioned last weekend that he goes the extra mile to ensure Ferrari's improvements by sending and creating documents to the engineers in Maranello. Are you involved in this kind of development process? And if not, aren’t you afraid of being left out?

CL: No, don't worry, I'm of course involved. I'm not creating documents on my side, but I'm definitely having meetings whenever I'm back in Maranello with the team to know what is the next thing we want to tackle as a team. Every single driver has their way of feeding back the team. I have my way, which is different compared to Lewis, but that doesn't mean I'm left out. I'm definitely involved in the process.

Q: (Josh Suttill – The Race) Charles, you're in the prime of your career but without the car to match your talents. How important has Fred been to convincing you that you will get that car soon?

CL: Fred is definitely part of it, but the biggest part is to see how the team works. I'm sure we are working in the right direction. Next year will be a big turning point for us as it will be a new era of cars. Whenever you start a new era, if you are not starting it on the right foot, it's always more difficult to come back because other teams are also pushing for upgrades. To close the gap is very difficult. We'll have to start that on the right foot and then we'll see. For now, I'm fully dedicated to try and make Ferrari great again and to win races again.

Q: (Carlo Platella – FormulaPassion.it) Charles, do you think that during his first three years in Maranello Fred was able to start a cultural change inside the team?

CL: He definitely changed the way we are working on different things. Where Fred made the biggest difference is his vision, his overall vision. This, he embedded it into the team and that's very important. I feel that the beauty of Ferrari is the fact that emotionally it's always intense, but it can also harm us in some ways, especially when tougher times arrive. Fred has always had very cold blood in those moments and helped the team to be a little bit more, lucid – do you say that in English? Yes? OK. And that’s the biggest thing Fred has brought to the team.

Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Another question for Charles. You mentioned the speculation that's been around Fred's position as well. Do you think that's been heightened this year because expectations were high coming into this year, having had a championship fight last year and of course with Lewis at the team as well?

CL: Definitely. The fact that there was so much hype around the team at the beginning of the year made everything worse. When we then started the season, I think everybody thought we were going to win the championship and unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Then there were rumours and that took a bigger proportion than what we want. These are not things we can control. As I was saying earlier, it's part of Ferrari. It's always been the case and it will never change. We cannot focus on that. The best thing we can do is try and not think about those things as much as possible.

Q: (Giuseppe Marino – MotorOnline.com) Charles, considering the difficulty of the car and your five podiums this year, is this one of the best moments for you as a driver in your career?

CL: In terms of my own performance, as I was saying, I'm very happy with the way I perform. The best moment as a driver, no, because I want to win. So, as my own performance, I'm really happy. You always want to improve and obviously, like Silverstone for example, was a very poor weekend from my side. Those weekends you want to have the least possible in a season. Apart from that, I'm very satisfied. That is a good thing. I also think the upgrades go in the right direction of making the life of the drivers, Lewis and myself, a little bit easier because at the beginning of the season, it was extremely difficult. We had to set up the car in very extreme ways and that made us also do more mistakes. Now we are a bit more in a reasonable window, which helps us to extract the maximum out of the car. It’s good that we see the result.

Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Charles, Fred Vasseur looks like a person with a very good sense of humour. How did his personality help to create a good environment in Ferrari? Can you share some of those moments behind the scenes?

CL: He's definitely very funny. I'm sure it plays a part in the team. We've got some very funny guys within the team as well. However, we are obviously here to work. It helps. Whenever we have team dinners, we are having a good time, and it really feels like a family. For me, it definitely feels like a family. I've been growing up in Ferrari basically and I'm still there. Fred has integrated into the team extremely well. Now he's leading it with his sense of humour as well, which sometimes can lighten some difficult situations. Again, I'm really happy about Fred's reconfirmation within the team.

Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Charles, you are in a very tight fight with Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship. Do you think it's better to take second place at the end of the season than being third, even if that means less wind tunnel time next season?

CL: I'm pretty sure it's better to finish second than third. However, as you said, there's also the wind tunnel time. This is not something we think of too much. When we are on track, we just want to finish as high up as possible and then we'll deal with whatever amount of hours in the wind tunnel we have. We want to target the highest possible. Second place in the Constructors’ is one of our targets, but the biggest target is to come back to winning races as soon as possible. Wherever we finish, we'll work from there and see how many hours we have next year.

Q: Charles, knowing the car as you do now, knowing the upgrades as you do now, when you look at the second half of this season, what kind of racetrack are you going to thinking, “yes, this could be the one”?

CL: I'm not sure. I don't think there's one track at the moment where we think we are stronger than McLaren. Consistently, McLaren is going to be the strongest car this year. Red Bull is a little bit more up and down, a bit like us and Mercedes, but there's one constant and that is McLaren. For now, I don't think there's any tracks where I go to and think we will be the favourite, but I hope I'll be surprised.

Q: (Viktor Bognar – Eurosport.hu) Question to all three of you. Fernando Alonso recently said that the rest of the season will only be interesting for the two McLaren drivers because they are fighting for the championship, but for all the others it's just waiting for the season to end and hoping that something better will come for your team next season. What do you think about this? Is it your mindset also?

LS: For sure, it's going to be more exciting for the McLaren drivers than the rest of us. But every race you never know what's going to happen. We're all in our own different battles. Some of us are trying to pick up a point or two and that's a victory for us as a team. McLaren are fighting to win the race every weekend. We're all fighting our own battles. I'm enjoying every weekend as they come and you never know what's going to happen. The future, next year, like I said earlier, is a big opportunity for all the teams. That's exciting to see how it's going to fall into place.

CL: I agree. It's maybe a bit extreme to say that only the McLaren drivers will be having fun. We are all fighting for something. It would be very optimistic for me to say that I'm fighting for the World Championship. That’s not realistic anymore. However, we are fighting for coming back to winning races. For that, I'm very excited and I just hope it will be as soon as possible. I'm still fully motivated and excited whenever there's a race.

LL: These guys said it well. With how close the midfield is right now, it's definitely exciting from our perspective depending on how the weekends are going. We're all on our own path and in our own fights. We're all focused on those individual things at the moment.

Q: (Josh Suttill – The Race) Question for Lance. You've driven different generations of F1 cars in the wet. Why is this one so difficult? And do you think it's still possible to have classic wet races like Silverstone 2008 and others like that?

LS: You mean like the conditions and stuff? I think the cars have gotten big, the tyres have gotten bigger, the spray has gotten worse over the years. That's my feeling. Visibility is the biggest issue now with the size of the cars and the tyres. Races like Spa with the nature of the track, Eau Rouge, going 300 kilometres per hour without seeing anything at the top of the hill—racing conditions like that are hard to go through with and then go racing. I don't know if it's gotten worse. It's always been challenging. The spray is the biggest issue and the visibility. To go ahead with races like Spa, start earlier and race in proper wet conditions, we need to work on the visibility factor and how we can improve that.