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Here is the transcript of the post 2021 Mexican Grand Prix Qualifying track interviews and press conference featuring Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jenson Button)
Q: Lewis, we all want to get pole position, but you must be pretty happy with that – in front of both Red Bulls, your team-mate in pole position, you’re in a great position for that Turn 1?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, Valtteri did an amazing job. I’m so proud of Valtteri. I think he has been driving so well in these last few races so it’s really great for the team, they have been working so hard. We didn’t think we had the pace this weekend, so to lock out the front row is pretty special, and obviously gives us a good fight with the others tomorrow.
Q: What’s changed? Because it looks like there was a four or five tenths gap to Red Bull and now you guys seem the guys to beat.
LH: I really have no idea. They were like six tenths ahead at some stage and then four tenths ahead, but whatever happened, once we got to qualifying all of a sudden we had better pace. I’m just as shocked as everyone but we’ll still take it.
Q: What a team effort. It must be great having your team-mate beside you. I’m sure there is great strategy going into tomorrow?
LH: Yeah, naturally I would love to be in his position, but again he did a fantastic Q1, sorry Q3 run 1. I gave him a pull but he did the better job today.
Q: Valtteri, I have to say that was a pretty, pretty impressive performance. You must feel pretty proud of yourself and happy with what you have just achieved?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah. It was awesome laps, especially my lap on the first run in Q3. I couldn’t quite match the same last sector in the second one but I think honestly that first run in Q3 was one of my best laps, and it’s a good feeling.
Q: Throughout practice it looked like you weren’t able to get on the first lap. It looked like it was six or seven laps into a run, You have obviously played around with the set-up and it has given you more confidence to give it all on lap one of a run.
VB: Yeah, this morning the car was feeling good. We were lacking a bit of pace on lap one but I think with the higher temperatures this afternoon than in the morning it came our way I think. Also I tried to optimise everything with tyre temps and set-up and it was a joy to drive.
Q: P1 for tomorrow, you can see Turn 1 from just about from where you’re starting. There must be a lot of strategy going into what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s such a long straight down to Turn 1 from that start line.
VB: It is a long straight and for sure the cars behind with the tow will have good opportunities, so we’ll need a good start. But at least, as a team, it’s great that we have two cars ahead and hopefully we can try to keep our positions somehow.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Valtteri, what a lap. Given the pace of the car in practice is this a little bit of a surprise to you?
VB: I definitely surprised myself and I think our performance as a team we seemed to be a little bit off, especially on a single lap, against Red Bull, so I would say yeah, the performance in Q3 was a bit of a surprise but it was a good lap. I think we managed to optimise the set-up since practice three this morning and also everything with the tyre temperatures, out laps, managed to get everything near perfection and that was the result, so obviously really rewarding.
Q: You say it was a good lap but what made the difference in terms of the car performance in qualifying?
VB: It’s quite a tricky track to put a good lap together, there are many technical sections and corner combinations, and running over the kerbs it’s so easy to lose five hundredths or even a tenth. So I think getting a nice clean lap together and I think getting the tyre temperatures in the optimal window was a big thing today and also the balance for us, definitely in qualifying, I had the best I’ve had this weekend.
Q: Was this the best of your 19 pole positions so far?
VB: I feel it’s like one of the good laps. It’s hard to remember exactly what’s the best but it’s up there definitely and I really enjoyed it.
Q: Let’s throw it forward to tomorrow now. You clearly have the pace over one lap, have you got it over a race distance?
VB: That’s what we find out tomorrow. I think at least what we saw from the long runs in practice we seem pretty similar to Red Bull. I think it’s going to be difficult at the start of the race no doubt because obviously it’s good that we have both cars on the front row but they are right behind us. They have a big tow into Turn 1 so it could be an interesting beginning of the race and we need to figure out how to stay in front.
Q: Lewis, great lap as well. Now we’ve got a Mercedes front row lock-out here in Mexico. What were your expectations coming into the session?
LH: First, huge congratulations to Valtteri, he did an amazing job today. That lap, I couldn’t really match it and we came into this weekend from P1 onwards, we’ve generally been behind by around half a second, so through the whole weekend just working away at trying to improve the car, extract as much as we can from it, but knowing that they have generally got higher downforce than us. They have a bit of a bigger wing that they use in places like Monaco. So we’ve struggled in certain parts of the track so it’s a real surprise and a shock to us to see that we are on the front row. I don’t really have an answer for it but I’ll take it for sure and really grateful to be up there with Valtteri, for the team, to get a one-two.
Q: Were there any radical set-up changes prior to the session?
LH: No, nothing. We very rarely do that. It was small tweaks. To be honest I really struggled. I didn’t really like the set-up of the car today. It was good in P3 but I struggled with it in qualifying.
Q: Let’s throw it forward to tomorrow. You were the winner the last time we raced in Mexico back in 2019. How confident are you of a repeat of that tomorrow?
LH: Well, once again, we have been behind. All our results over these past free practice sessions have shown we are behind not only in qualifying from around three tenths on a single lap but also in race trim, so who knows. I think track position is pretty important here so we will work as a team to try and battle and keep it.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Thanks Tom, it’s a question to Valtteri please. Valtteri, congrats on pole position. I just wondered what happened on the second run in Q3. It looked like you guys didn’t go any quicker there. Thank you.
VB: Thank you. Second run. It wasn’t too bad. I think I was more or less zero on my time before Sector Three but just had a bit more rear overheating so lost a bit of traction in the final sector. I think I obviously tried to shave-off any time I had compared to the first run and had to push a bit more maybe in places and it wasn’t rewarding then in the last sector.
Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Yes, one for Lewis and Valtteri. There’s been so much talk over the last couple of days about potential team orders within Red Bull, about what they would do in terms of who would get a chance to win this race. Did that motivate Mercedes at all to… to get in the game here?
Q: Valtteri, let’s start with you
VB: Sorry, I didn’t quite understand the last part.
Q: I think, did all the talk of team orders at Red Bull provide a source of motivation for you guys at Mercedes. Jim, is that it?
Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Yes.
VB: I would say that we have just been really focusing on our job this weekend. We had a difficult Friday, we saw that we were behind Red Bull and even this morning, we were not where we should, should have been, so at least my mind has been just trying to find lap time and trying to find the best set-up for the quali and race. That’s all.
LH: Yeah, pretty much the same. We’ve just been focusing on ourselves. We didn’t even know that was happening.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) Thank you. The run down to the first corner here, it’s not as notorious as Russia but is it effectively the same as Russia where it’s effectively an advantage to be starting third, for example, Max for you, and Valtteri and Lewis, if that’s the case, how difficult do you think it’s going to be to keep the Red Bulls behind you?
LH: It’s a little bit different. It’s obviously probably almost as long, if not, yeah, I don’t know exactly. It feels exactly the same sort of length but obviously in Russia there’s a lot more drag and a lot more tow-effect. Here there’s less but still there is a tow effect and so you know, Valtteri and I will no doubt work as a team to try and hold one-two for the team.
Q: Valtteri?
VB: Yeah, like Lewis said, it’s maybe a bit less drag here, so but I think to maintain the first two places, you still need a really good start. If the guys behind us have even a little bit better start then they will have an upper hand, so…
Source: FIA.com
