© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
George Russell attended the 2023 Miami Grand Prix Thursday Drivers’ Press Conference. Here is the full transcript!
Q: George coming to you, how’s Miami?
George RUSSELL: Yeah, it’s good. I think for all of us it’s fun to come here. Like in the atmosphere, standing on South Beach and a nice run down the coast. And it’s going to be a good weekend.
Q: How difficult is it to acclimatised to the heat and the humidity here?
GR: Definitely tricky, for sure. I think last year for all of us it was one of the toughest races of the season. But I think it’s exciting when it’s difficult. Nobody wants an easy ride and it gives you an opportunity to do something better than the rest but for sure when you’re sat in that car for almost two hours you’re sweating it out.
Q: Look, tell us about that car. Two races ago you qualified on the front row in Australia. Last weekend in Baku, you were out in Q2. Can you explain that to people who don’t understand?
GR: I’m not too sure. It’s fine margins I think. We missed out on Q3 by four milliseconds and that would have been a totally different story had we got into Q3, and probably we could have qualified inside the top six but clearly our car isn’t quick enough. We need to continue to do a better job and we’ll go again this weekend. Hopefully, there’ll be a slightly smoother weekend and we can battle out with Aston and Ferrari.
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QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) George, good afternoon to you. We saw in Baku, you and Max having a little altercation in the pit lane and you expressed your apologies and he expressed his views. After that, do you change the way you race against Max now? Or do you keep racing exactly the same way that you always would?
GR: No, I will continue racing the same way as I always would. A lot has been said about that coming together but from my side, it was pretty straightforward. I went for a move, got the move done and moved on. Obviously he was pretty upset about it but that’s racing and these things happen. And we’re all here to fight so that’s what everyone’s about.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Just following on from that, have you spoken to Max since last weekend’s race to try and clear the air?
GR: No, again, from my side there’s no air to be cleared. I’ll welcome and say hello to him if he passes by and I’m sure we’ll shake hands when we bump into each other. For me it’s history now and it’s behind us. Yeah, my view to him is still the same, I still respect him, I still think he’s a great driver and obviously things were always said in the heat of the moment but yeah, we move on.
Q: (Mandy Curi – Motorsport.com) I wanted to talk a little bit about the DRS that’s been shortened. Some of you have criticised, saying that it has been boring racing and now that there are two shortened DRS on track this time, do you see that this is going to be another boring race? Or what are your thoughts on that?
GR: I think all of us didn’t really understand why they’ve been shortened. None of us were consulted about it or asked our opinion on it and I think the race speaks for itself in Baku. I don’t know whether we’re going to keep it the same for this weekend. DRS is there to aid overtaking and it’s always exciting when you’ve got these big DRS advantages and it gives you the opportunity to fight and clearly in Baku it was way too short.
Q: (Jenna Fryer – Associated Press) George, are you confident of winning a race this year?
GR: I’m confident we’ll make progress but of course we want the competition. I think the competition we’ve got at the moment between Ferrari and Aston Martin… every race we go to is really close between us in qualifying. The pace is really close in the race and if that was the fight for victory, it would probably be one of the most exciting seasons we’ve seen in a long, long time. And it’s obviously just a shame that there’s two more cars well out in front? So yeah, forget about those two and just watch the race for P3. It may be a bit more exciting. But yeah, it’s challenging. I think in no sport, you never want to see somebody dominating. You want to have that competition and that’s what we all want. In an ideal world, you have 20 drivers and 10 teams all capable of winning every single weekend, if you do the right job.
Q: (Matt Kew – Autosport) Compared to last year’s cars, is it harder to follow this year, harder to overtake? And if so, is that to do with the floor rise? What are the aero factors?
GR: I think it is. I don’t know exactly why that is. I think obviously, you know, F1 created these regulations to help overtaking and following, and since they were introduced every single team has sort of developed naturally away from their initial intentions, as you sort of develop the car. So every car on the grid is very different compared to what, let’s say, they were intended to look like 18 months ago or two years ago now or whenever it was. And yeah, I think the overtaking is slowly getting more difficult but also because the slipstream isn’t as large as well with these new cars so it’s slowly going in the wrong direction for overtaking.
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times), George, wearing your GPD hat: speaking to Carlos in his media session immediately prior to this one, he also mentioned the issues going on in F1 at the minute, the fact that the cars are struggling to slipstream, there’s less overtaking. I asked him whether anything had been mentioned to F1 and the FIA as yet and he said, no. So, is it now time for you guys, as drivers, to stand up and voice these concerns? And if you do then voice them, what would you hope, in the short, medium, long term could eventually come out of it to address these overtaking concerns and slipstreaming effect that’s going on at the minute?
GR: I think at the end of day, we all want the best races, the most exciting races. And there’s probably a few easier ways to achieve this in the short term, like Esteban said about the tyre degradation, you know, it’s been easy one-stops in the last couple of races. And when everybody’s pushing flat out, there are less exciting races, obviously the DRS has gone in the wrong direction. So there’s a couple of small things, but you know, for sure, we’re going to speak with the FIA and F1 about this because, you know, we want to be able to race, we want to be able to fight, as we all did in in go-karts, where there was no aerodynamics. So that’s the ultimate dream. And, you know, I think the sport took a really good turn for the better when these new cars were introduced, but we need to take it to the next step now.
Q: But would you also agree that there needs to be no knee-jerk reactions and that it’s a sample of one slightly duller race?
GR: I think it’s well for a couple of races now it’s been challenging to overtake. For sure, Baku wasn’t the most exciting race in the world. But there are a number of factors for that, but yeah, there should never be a knee-jerk reaction but we were all talking about this issue prior to the race in Baku, and then the race obviously went on to be as dull as we all expected. And it’s challenging for everybody. Obviously, we’re pushing Pirelli to deliver a good tyre, a consistent tyre and when it is difficult, you know, the drivers, myself included, we don’t like it. But in an ideal world, you have a very strong tyre, which at a certain point falls off the cliff and means you have to do a few more pit stops and gives it some different opportunities in the races. But yeah, I’m not too sure really.
Source: FIA.com
