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Here is the transcript of the post 2024 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying parc fermé interviews and press conference George Russell.
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jolyon Palmer)
Q: George Russell, pole position. That was a qualifying session for the ages, and you got it in a dead heat. But it wasn’t a fluke. You were so quick today.
George RUSSELL: Oh, amazing. It feels so good, feels so good! So much hard work back at the factory has gone into this. We said it in Monaco that we hope this is the start of something for our season, and I think it is. I’ve missed this feeling.
Q: Yeah, it’s amazing. You had such a big cheer from the crowd here. They love to see a Mercedes back on top. Where’s this pace come from, George?
GR: It’s awesome here. Every time we come to Montréal, it’s such good energy from all the fans. And I’m excited for tomorrow. So, obviously, first step done. But obviously, now we’ve got our eyes on that win.
Q: Can you keep Max behind you?
GR: Why not? Of course. Let’s go for it. I think the car has been feeling amazing. Since we bought some upgrades to Monaco, we’ve sort of really been in that fight now. So, we’re going for it tomorrow.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: George, many congratulations. What a session, literally nothing to separate you and Max in the end. Start by giving us your reaction to what’s just happened?
GR: Yeah, such a buzz. It’s been a while since we’ve experienced this feeling. And, you know, so much hard work going on behind the scenes at Brackley, at Brixworth. And, you know, it’s been a little while to be able to sort of get back in the fight. And we’ve almost felt like all of that hard work hasn’t been paying off. But I think these last two race weekends has really shown that. And as I said, we’ve been so fast all weekend. Q3 was probably our worst session of the three. And, you know, it bodes well for tomorrow.
Q: As you say, it has been a while. It’s been nearly two years since you took that pole in Hungary. Were you getting impatient for it to happen again?
GR: To be honest, this weekend’s been really challenging to know because of the conditions yesterday. You know you’ve had rain around all weekend and then this morning Lewis was absolutely flying and you know he was well ahead of me and I had to look a lot into his data to try and understand what he was doing differently. And to be honest, that helped me a huge amount. So ahead of this qualifying I’m just so glad that we could pull it off because it, you know, I feel like we really deserve it for all of this hard work we’ve been putting in and the cars been feeling awesome this weekend.
Q: Well, where is the car better this weekend? Tell us about it.
GR: Well, it always feels better when your name’s towards the top of the timesheets, to be honest. But it’s just turning really nicely through the corners. I think we struggled a lot with understeer before. Last year, we had a lot of oversteer and we’ve sort of been just trying to find the halfway house between what we had last year and what we had this year. And it feels like we’re sort of dialing in that sweet spot right now. So it feels like something we’ve been saying for a long time, in all honesty. But you know, just really a sense of relief to actually see it translate into a pole position.
Q: And tell us about the conditions. We saw you have a big moment, I think it was at Turn 4 in Q2.
GR: Yeah, huge.
Q: How difficult was it out there?
GR: Yeah, it was really challenging, to be honest. All weekend, every single session and every lap it’s been changing. The sun comes out, the track temperature warms up, then the clouds come in, it’s spitting. And it’s just really, really difficult to find that sweet spot. And my lap on the used tyre was really, really strong in Q3. And I was expecting to find about three or four tenths for the second lap on the new tyre. And it just didn’t click. But it was fortunate enough that the first lap was good enough for pole.
Q: So the race tomorrow, we’ve had very little dry running. What are your predictions?
GR: I think it’s going to be a tough race for everybody, to be honest. Graining seems to be an issue. And this new track surface, nobody really knows how it’s going to pan out. But we’ve got to go for victory. The car is genuinely really, really fast at the moment. But it’s going to be a long race, I think. As soon as you fall off that cliff of the tyres tomorrow, it’s going to be really difficult to recover. So, yeah, it could be a bit of a strategic game. Maybe not as extreme as we saw in Monaco last week, but maybe something similar.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) A question for George, please. You mentioned that you didn’t quite get it hooked up on the second lap, and Lewis didn’t improve either. Was it just the nature of the conditions changing, or did you just get the most out of it on the first one?
GR: Yeah, the conditions were changing. I think we were one of the last to do our laps, I don’t know when Max did his lap, but my lap in Q2 was really, really strong. My first lap in Q3 was really good, only, I think, two tenths off what I did in Q2, on the old tyre. So I was expecting to do, you know, probably three or four tenths ahead, like it’s been all weekend. And the tyres just didn’t quite feel right. So, you know, it shows how sensitive everything was. And that was probably the first time that it didn’t quite go our way. But as I said, it goes to show how strong our pace has been this weekend. You know, Q1, we didn’t need to use two sets of tyres. That was a first. Didn’t really need to use two sets in Q2 either. You know, it’s sort of come from nowhere, but maybe not a surprise with the upgrades we’ve been bringing.
Q: (Joost Smedema – NOS.NL) A question to George. The last couple of years has been difficult for Mercedes to fight for pole or for podiums. Did you sense any difference during this weekend that this pole position you would be able to fight for?
GR: 100%. I think every lap we’ve done this weekend, the car’s been feeling good. We’ve always been at the upper end of the timesheets. And, you know, we were talking yesterday, you know, why do we think we were so competitive on FP1, FP2, and, you know, obviously on FP3, really fast as well, so… We need to see in the next races if that continues. But, you know, obviously last week in Monaco, we were a tenth from the front row here, you know, on pole. And this is the first two races we’ve had with the upgrades. So, yeah, time would tell. We’d only get carried away with ourselves. But, yeah, it’s looking good so far.
Q: (Scott Mitchell-Malm –The Race) Talking about the upgrades, previous supposed breakthroughs haven’t been sustainable for Mercedes, but does this feel rooted in something more real?
GR: Yeah, 100%. I think going back to what Lando was talking about, when you have a number of years with the same regulations, you sort of hone in on that sweet spot. And we’ve sort of been zigzagging over these past couple of years and as we’ve probably entered the last six months, those zigzags have narrowed and we’ve sort of really been able to fine-tune what it is we want from the car. And I think It just goes to show that small changes can actually bring big improvements in performance. We saw it with McLaren, I think, you know, ourselves have made a big jump as well, especially in terms of the pecking order. So as I said, let’s see if this performance is sustainable. But right now I don’t see any reason why not. And, you know, we think we’ve got more to come.
Source: FIA.com
