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Here is the transcript of the post 2026 Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying parc fermé interviews and press conference with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.
PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jean Alesi)
Q: Kimi, what a pole position. Tell us from the inside.
Kimi ANTONELLI: Yeah, I’m super happy with the session. It was a good one. It was a clean one and I felt very good in the car. Every run I was just improving and improving. It was a shame for the last lap because I locked up in Turn 11, but it was a good one as well. I’m really happy with the session and now we’ll focus on tomorrow.
Q: We enjoy it a lot from outside. George, you have a hard time now in the team!
George RUSSELL: Yeah, he did a great job again. Really strange session for us. I mean, we were both very fast all weekend. We made some adjustments after FP3 and then the beginning of qualifying we were nowhere, so we need to kind of understand that. Very lucky again to be in P2. Over the last two weekends it’s both gone wrong come qualifying, but race is tomorrow and still a lot to play for.
Q: Kimi, you will wake up everyone in Italy tomorrow morning. Everybody will watch you. But we are in Japan, and you see the fans. Say something to them.
KA: Yeah, I mean, the fans here in Japan are pretty incredible. There’s so much passion and racing at such a historic track is an incredible feeling. The track is unbelievable to drive with these kinds of car, plus the fans give us a little bit more of a boost when we’re on track, so thank you so much for coming and yeah, arigato.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Kimi, many congratulations. A tremendous lap in Q3 and you secured pole by nearly three tenths of a second. Just how good was that lap?
KA: I had a really clean session, it felt good. I had a strong Run 1 and then from there on I just built the momentum. Obviously, it was a bit trickier than FP3, especially at the start of qualifying. I think the wind increased a little bit and it felt a little bit more difficult, the car, overall. But then we just tried to adapt and we made some tweaks with aero balance and found a good compromise. Then the lap in Q3 was good. It was a shame for the last one, but I think it was, overall, a very strong session.
Q: Are you surprised by the gap to George?
KA: Yeah, I am, but with this regulation it’s very easy to gain or lose three tenths, whatever the gap was. It’s really easy to gain and lose time, so it was the same for me in Melbourne. But, you know, he’s super quick, he’s been super quick around here and we’ll see tomorrow in the race how we’re going to do.
Q: There’s been a lot of talk during the build-up to qualifying about how a lap would feel around Suzuka with these 2026 regulations. Tell us, how did you feel inside the car?
KA: I mean, I think obviously there are parts of the track where you’re a little bit limited, a bit handcuffed on driving because of energy, but I think still the Esses are pretty good fun because at the end of the day the car on the chassis side is very good fun. The Esses in qualifying were getting pretty quick, so it was good fun. Of course, there’s still work to do and work around, on these big tracks with the energy, trying to find a solution that allows us to push even more and drive without thinking too much, especially in certain places. But overall, I think it was good fun, the qualifying, because at the end also you look at the lap times and they’re not so far off from last year, so I think qualifying today has been good fun.
Q: Let’s throw it forward to tomorrow now. First of all, traditionally it’s been difficult to overtake at Suzuka. Do you think that’ll be different tomorrow with these cars?
KA: Probably. I mean, we’ve seen obviously how much easier it is to follow and obviously when you get the overtake mode, how much more battery you can harvest and then deploy on the straights, so you never know, it can give good racing. But still, I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as China and Melbourne because obviously the track, first of all, is quite a bit tighter and you don’t have as many straights where you can overtake, or straights and then big braking, where you can make the move. You have a lot of fast entries, so it’s not going to be easy, but that’s why it’s crucial to have a good start and then we’ll see from there how the pace is going to be.
Q: And the long-run pace of the car looks good, right?
KA: Yeah, I mean, the long run has been good. Of course, let’s see tomorrow how the weather is going to be, how the wind is going to be, because you never know, it can shift. Let’s see also with temperatures, how hot it’s going to be, and then I’ll try to be ready, try to cover as many scenarios in order to be ready for tomorrow.
Q: Alright, good luck with that. George, let’s come to you now. It looked like you were chasing the car throughout qualifying. Was that the case?
GR: It was really odd, to be honest. We made a set-up adjustment just going into qualifying and the car just did not feel the same as it has been the whole weekend. You saw my first laps in Q1, I was down in P7, P8, and we had to make a massive adjustment during qualifying with the front wing to adapt. The team have already had a look. We don’t know whether something incorrect was done or what happened, but I’m kind of glad again to be in this position because after Q1, I was like, ‘I’m not sure where we’ll end up’.
Q: George, what were the main issues with the car and at what bit of the racetrack as well?
GR: We made a mechanical issue to the car on the rear end and it was just mainly through the Esses. I couldn’t attack any of the corners. The rear was trying to step out on me throughout. I’m sure we’ll try and see what happened. There’s not really anything we can do now, but as I said, it’s a good place to start for tomorrow and it’s going to be a long race
Q: Good place to start, but what does this mean for the race tomorrow?
GR: Yeah, it’s not ideal. I think, as I said, I’ve felt really comfortable with the car this whole weekend and in qualifying something didn’t quite feel right. So, let’s see tonight, maybe we’ll get some answers, maybe I can adjust my driving style to compensate, but definitely not the session we would have wanted. Two weeks in a row qualifying has been a bit tricky.
Q: And George, what do you make of the gap to your pursuers? The whole grid has closed up a bit here at Suzuka, but are you surprised that, for example, Oscar is as close as he is?
GR: Yeah, to be honest, qualifying was very close between the Ferraris and McLaren throughout, so that was probably a bit of a surprise to us. We both had a very strong FP3 session, we thought we had a bit of a margin to the competitors. Obviously, we’re still P1 and P2, so that’s great, but clearly the others are closing in.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) Question for all three, if I could ask. Over the final runs of Q3, we didn’t see that much in the way of improvements. I don’t think any of the top six improved. Kimi, you’ve already said the reasons why, but was it kind of track-specific? Was there perhaps changing conditions or was it just sort of coincidence that nobody was able to put the lap together on their second runs?
KA: Well, I think for sure the track was not evolving as much. It probably stopped evolving from Q2 onwards. It was getting cooler, so getting the tyres in the right window was not as easy. And I think also sometimes, at some point, you start to be limited by what the power unit can do. Obviously corner speed can start to get higher, but then the PU can start to be a limiting factor. So I think, yeah, that could be a reason. But overall, with the wind as well, it was not easy to put the lap together. It was a bit gusty, so sometimes from corner to corner it was changing.
GR: Yeah, I think the track temp dropping and the tyres are quite hard, there’s new track surface here, it probably just got a bit too cold and that was probably a factor.
Q: How much grip did the new track surface on the second half of the lap have?
GR: I think a lot. When we resurfaced the first half of the track last year, it was like driving on two completely different circuits. This year obviously the first sector has degraded a little bit, but the second half of the lap has the grip that the first half had last year. So, I think that also explains a little bit of why we’re close to last year’s times, because I think we’ve gained a lot of grip in the second half of the lap. But yeah, it’s good fun when you’ve got more grip.
Q: (Kenichi Tanaka – Motorsport.com Japan) A question for George. This weekend is the home Grand Prix for your engineer, Mr Katsuhide Kuwahara, so could you share your thoughts on him for Japanese fans who are hoping to see Japanese people standing on the podium in the Japanese Grand Prix, since 2012, because you seem to have a great chance to get on the podium with him?
GR: Yeah, I mean, Katsu is one of the most talented engineers we have in the whole team and definitely one of the most hard-working individuals also in the team. I feel very fortunate to have him as one of my engineers. He stood on the podium with me in Canada last year, which was a very proud moment for everybody. So obviously, great for him to have his own race in Japan and great for him to be part of the team.
Source: FIA.com
