© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Here is the transcript of the post 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying parc fermé interviews and press conference George Russell.
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jolyon Palmer)
Q: George, Russell, well done. Top three to start the year. You’ve got to be pleased with that for Mercedes after where you’ve been the start of the last couple of seasons. Looks like a big step forward.
George RUSSELL: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody at the factory have done an amazing job to give Lewis and I a car that we feel much happier with, a base that we can build upon. But ultimately, you know, Max is still out there in front. We’ve still got some catching up to do. But I think when we look at our qualifying performances of the last two years in Bahrain and our race pace, starting P3 for tomorrow is a great place.
Q: Yeah, it looks a big step forward. Even from last week, people were saying the race pace was strong for the Mercedes, but the qualifying pace may be a bit of a weakness. You look like you’ve turned that round in the space of a week. Has there been a lot of work gone in in between testing here and racing here?
GR: Yeah, huge amount of work. We’ve had some really great drivers back at base doing the work on the simulator. Lewis and I have been back on the simulator as well, you know, fine-tuning the set-up, making some improvements. Time will tell tomorrow if we’ve obviously made a big step forward in single lap in the qualifying pace. We hope we haven’t compromised the race pace at all. I think it’ll be a close fight between everybody other than Max.
Q: What’s the goal then? A podium or dreaming of the win?
GR: I think obviously Red Bull is so strong at the moment. Max is doing a really great job. He’s got the new tyres as well. I think if there’s an opportunity to take the lead, we’ll go for it. But ultimately, I think the race is, for all of us, is for second. But as I said, nobody knows. It’s the first race of the season. So excited to be back. And let’s hope for some craziness.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: We will see tomorrow. Very well done. Thank you, Charles. George, coming to you, very well done to you as well. How confident were you coming into the session? Is this third place a little bit unexpected?
GR: I think after testing last week, we wouldn’t have expected to be qualifying third. And then yesterday, driving, we made a lot of set-up changes over the course of the weekend. And as I mentioned before, Lewis and I were back at the factory and the team have been doing a really great job to find these small improvements and we were really fast just in FP2, Lewis and I, P1 and P2, which caught us by surprise. But as we saw, it was so close out there. You know, if you take Max out of the equation, I think it was two tenths between P2 and P8 or something. And I don’t think we’ve seen F1 like this for a long, long time. So, you know, we only dream and wish that was fighting for pole position and victory. And I think we’re going to have a great battle on our hands for the next spot.
Q: Are these unseasonably cold conditions helping Mercedes?
GR: No, I’d probably say the opposite, to be honest. We historically have always struggled when the temperatures have been a little bit cooler and that was always the case last year. But we know that with this W15 car, it’s a totally different beast, a car that we’re much happier with and probably the lessons we’ve learned over the last two years we need to put aside and go in with a totally open mind. Time will tell when we go to the future races, but I’m feeling really happy in the car. I think the race is going to be really close with Charles, the Ferraris, with Checo tomorrow, and we can see what we can do about Max, but right now he’s doing an incredible job.
Q: How is the long run pace? Do you feel you’re going to be really close with Charles, and do you think Max is out of reach?
GR: I think what we saw in testing was our qualifying pace being a little bit offset and our race pace probably being next best to Max. Now we’ve improved the qualifying pace, we hope it hasn’t hindered our race pace. It’s uncharacteristically cold here in Bahrain at the moment. I think tomorrow it’s going to be about 16 degrees by the time we go to the race and we’re normally talking 30s or mid-30s here in Bahrain. There’s a lot of unexpected things to come. The Soft tyre is performing well around this circuit, in the race maybe people will do two sets of the Softs, two sets of the Hards, a Medium. But it’s the first race of the season and I think we’re all just excited to get going.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-magazin.com) First part of the question for Max, and then for Charles and George, please. Max, it seems like a trend that you are not on P1 until Q3. You haven’t been P1 in all practice sessions last year here. You haven’t been for this weekend. And then in Q3, suddenly you make the jump. A few years ago, we probably would have said it’s ‘party mode’ or whatever in the engine. But why would you say is it always that you then come alive when it really matters? And then to the other two drivers, why do you think Max is becoming alive?
GR: Yeah, as Charles said, I think when you’ve got that competitive car, you can afford to be a little bit more cautious in Q1 and Q2 – make sure you don’t get any track limits. You’re preserving your tyres for the following day. Here in Bahrain, you’ll probably be seeing a lot of soft tyres being used in the race, so you don’t want to damage them too much and then just pull it together for Q3.
Q: (Lawrence Edmondson – ESPN) Question to George and Charles and Max if you’ve got an opinion on it. Given how testing went, where did you guys honestly think you were compared to the Red Bull? How many tenths of a second off them and how big a surprise is today?
GR: Yeah, I agree with Charles. I think it was better than expected. I think we all knew it was going to be very, very close between ourselves, Ferrari, Aston, McLaren and Checo. And I think, you know, the gap in qualifying today was probably slightly closer to Max than we all expected. I think race pace is the important one. We’re expecting probably a half second deficit. That’s what we thought after testing. We’ll see tomorrow, I think. You don’t agree?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Half a second!
GR: Is that too small?
MV: No, no, I think it’s way too big. But if you say that now, then if it’s better tomorrow, then you can say, ‘oh, it’s unbelievable, the car is unbelievable’.
GR: Exactly. Under-promise, over-deliver!
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) A question to all three again. As George pointed out, it was really close, especially behind Max. I think in Q1, maybe the entire field was almost within a second. At least over one lap, is this a sign of things to come in 2024? And the second part of the question, do you think it shows that leaving the regulations stable for quite a long time is actually the best way to close up the field?
GR: I think history has definitely shown that even the regulation stable for a number of years always closes the field. I think the aero regs, that the team who finishes last gets more time in the wind tunnel, the team who’s first gets the least amount, is naturally going to close the field. So from a driver’s perspective, we want to all compete on a level playing field. And I think that is going to bring us closer. Yeah.
Q: (Sonarita Chauhan Mehta – Life and Style Magazine) To all three of you, how big a part is the wind factor going to play in the race tomorrow and how excited are you for Bahrain to begin the new season?
GR: Yes, similar to what the guys said, and just on Bahrain, I think it’s a really great place to start the season. It’s always a good race here. Exciting, it’s a beautiful part of the world, and we will enjoy coming here to do the testing at the start of the season. So, excited for what’s to come tomorrow.
Source: FIA.com
