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Here is the transcript of the post 2024 Belgian Grand Prix track interviews and press conference featuring Lewis Hamilton and George Russell!
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Guenther Steiner)
Q: Lewis, congratulations on P2. You know, it’s a fantastic result for Mercedes, 1-2. I mean, did you expect this starting the race or starting the weekend?
Lewis HAMILTON: No, we definitely didn’t. And, I mean, first I have to say congratulations to George and to the team. No, we had such a disaster on Friday. The car was really nowhere, and we made some changes. Hard to see what it was going to feel like, obviously, because of the wet day yesterday, but the car was fantastic today, and we really owe it to everyone, both here, doing a solid job through the pit stops and strategy, and the guys back at the factory.
Q: Yeah, as I said, it was a fantastic race. How tough were the last laps behind George? How much were you tempted to attack and to try to do it?
LH: I mean, I was trying to get closer, obviously, but George did a great job on going long on the tyres. Every stint, I had tyres left, but the team pulled me in. So, you know, yeah, unfortunate, but it is one of those days.
Q: You must be pumped up now for what is coming after the summer break because your car, your team is performing very good in the moment, not only now but the last races. Do you think you can go for the championship?
LH: No. It would be high hopes. But, I mean, if we can continue this kind of performance as we’ve had the last few races, which has been fantastic, I think if we can start our weekends off a little bit better, hopefully we can continue. I think, obviously, the McLaren was very strong today, but we were just a bit further ahead early on. But, yeah, we’ve just got to keep pushing.
Q: Congratulations and enjoy the summer break. Congratulations, George. I’m almost speechless, you know, from your race. I mean, that takes a lot. But anyway, a race with three cars at the end within 1.1 seconds, fighting every little bit. So how tough was it in the end to hold off Lewis?
George RUSSELL: Yeah, amazing result. We definitely didn’t predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting, but the car was feeling really awesome, and we made a lot of changes from Friday night. And the tyres just felt great, and I just kept saying, you know, ‘I think we can do the one-stop, I think we can do the one-stop’. And the strategy did a really great job. And also, you know, well done to Lewis, because he really controlled that race and circumstances were slightly different. I’m sure he would have got the victory. But, you know, 1-2 for the team was such an awesome result and such a great way to go into the break.
Q: So who was the genius behind this one stop? Who was the genius behind that one?
GR: I mean, I was focusing a lot during the race, so I’ll have to listen to the radio comments back, but it was a team effort. You know, Joey, Leo, all the strategy guys did an amazing job. And, you know, always it’s that team effort. So we rolled the dice, but it was only possible because the car was feeling really great and the pace was there. So, yeah, 1-2, such a good result.
Q: Yeah, I’m sure now you cannot wait to get the summer break over and go to Zandvoort to the next race. I think you are pretty hyped up to go to the next race because I think Mercedes as a team now is in a good position to win more. I mean, it’s your third one this year.
GR: Absolutely. Yeah, it’s three wins in six, I think it is for us now. You know, I’d want another race next weekend, to be honest. You know, just… Just feeling so, so good. The team have been working so hard. And, yeah, so well deserved for everybody back at Brackley and Brixworth.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: George, that was an extraordinary victory. Was it your best in Formula 1 so far?
GR: Yeah, for sure. It was such a difficult race. We spoke so much this morning about the two-stop, the three-stop. But suddenly the tyres, the car felt really, really good. I got into this groove. And especially when I got into the lead, there were no back markers in front, no other cars in front. And it kind of felt like driving a simulator. It was quite weird. And I was looking at the gap to Lewis and the rate he was catching me. And I just thought there’s no reason why we can’t stay out here and do this one stop and try and make it work. So, yeah, super proud of the job we all did.
Q: Thirty-four laps on that final set of tyres. At what point did you think the win was actually on?
GR: I think it was about 15 laps ago, to be honest. I think when Oscar pitted and Charles and Lewis, I was just watching the TV screens every lap, down after Eau Rouge, and just looking at the gap every single lap. And they just weren’t catching me as quick as I expected. And my lap times were just improving every single lap. And that was far from what we all anticipated. But it just goes to show how difficult it is to predict. I think every lap we were driving, 20 drivers, full gas around this circuit and it was just getting faster and faster. The grip was improving. And the tyres just felt really in a great state. But I was still questioning why nobody else did it. I thought, I must be missing something here because everybody’s peeling into the pits, but yeah, such a great race.
Q: How nervous were you in those closing laps? Did you think Lewis was going to get past?
GR: I definitely thought he was going to be very close. But equally, I recognise how difficult it is to overtake here. You know, we’re all running these skinny rear wings. The drag isn’t substantial. But I just want to acknowledge what a great race Lewis drove. You know, he was really controlling it at the beginning. And, you know, the strategy was such a difficult call for everybody. And it was definitely… That one stop was a real surprise. But I’m so proud of the team. One-two is just a huge result.
Q: You say the strategy is a difficult call. Who made the call? Was it you in the cockpit or was it the pit wall?
GR: Team effort.
Q: Allright. Well, look, George, Mercedes have now won three of the last four races. What’s possible?
GR: Three and four. Is it three and four? Wow.
Q: What’s possible in the second half of this season?
GR: I think the competition was really high today. I don’t know what the gaps were at the end, but it felt like the pace between myself, Lewis, Oscar and the Red Bulls, Charles as well, it was so, so close, which was a real surprise for everyone. So it’s going to be a real battle.
Q: Alright, but very well done too much. Thank you, Lewis. Let’s come to, you know, as George says, you drove a great race today. Just how do you sum up your run to P2?
LH: I think it was great. George did a fantastic job today. Obviously, I’ll re-watch the race but yeah, fantastic effort to go the one-stop. And it was pretty smooth sailing, to be honest. I was fully in control. I had plenty of pace and tyres and just didn’t end up as planned.
Q: Plenty of tyres. Did you consider the one-stop?
LH: I mean, if you listen, you could have heard what I said to the team most of the time. But yeah, I think the tyres were pretty good. I still had plenty of tyres and I was going quicker. I didn’t want to stop.
Q: Tell us about the transformation in the car, because on Friday, both of you guys, I mean, to quote Toto Wolff, you were nowhere. How much better was the car today and where was it better?
LH: It was literally night and day different today. On Friday, it was pretty disastrous for both of us and really struggling with balance. And then today, the car came alive and I was really surprised to, firstly, get into the lead and then be pulling away from everyone and not… Yeah, as I said, it felt fully under control and I’ve not had that for years and so that’s why it was also a bit of a strange way to finish it. but it is it’s great to go into the into the summer break with the one two. the team did really deserve it and did such an amazing job.
Q: Lewis can you just tidy up one more thing? you came on the radio at one point and said something’s moving between my legs. What was that and was it an issue later on?
LH: I just had something as I was going through the corner. Something kept rolling underneath my left leg.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Lawrence – Motorsport Monday) Question to Lewis. This season’s been ultra-competitive. We’re seeing three teams at the moment constantly fighting for wins. A fourth team that has won this season as well. It almost harks back to the years of 2012 and 2010, which obviously you experienced. So how does this season compare to back then in your mind? And from a psychological standpoint, when you put the helmet on, does it just give you that extra layer of motivation knowing you’ve got so many rivals that you’ve got to defend against and attack against?
LH: You must be new here. I don’t have a good memory, so I don’t remember back then. But what I can say is it’s great. It’s really fantastic, I think, for the sport to be having such close teams and drivers. And, you know, the pedigree of drivers at the top today are really elite and amazing. Yeah, we didn’t expect to be competing with the McLarens or the Red Bulls at this point in the season, you know, with how we started off. So for us to now have closed up and be, it’s going to be one hell of a second half of the season for sure.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) Question for both George and Lewis, please. First of all, congratulations. As you said, night and day turnaround from Friday. Just to go into, I guess, what changes you made from Friday. Your team boss suggested that it was perhaps something mechanical that you guys had got wrong with set-up. What did you actually end up changing? And what was the ultimate effect?
GR: Yeah, we’ve got, yeah, it was, yeah… Top secret! Yeah, it was a lot of things we changed in the car. We’ve got a lot of things we can play around with. I think we just had it in the wrong window on Friday. We obviously reversed on the floor because we just wanted to rule that out as well. But I’ve got no doubt. in Zandvoort we’ll be returning to the new aero package and getting the car in a slightly different window mechanically.
LH: Same.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge –Autosport) George, a question to you again, please. Just want to talk about your strategy a little bit. We heard some of your radio traffic. You told the team to consider the one stop, and you sounded pretty low conviction when you said yes to the ultimate command. Was there any other kind of discussions about that, or was it pretty much, ‘I would like a one stop, please. Thank you very much’?
GR: It was quite back and forth over the course of three laps. And I think it’s difficult because when you feel something in your gut, you have to go with it. But when every single driver and team is pitting to go on to a different alternative strategy, and after all the data we had on Friday suggested a one-stop was not even close to being viable, you do kind of question that a couple of times, thinking, ‘are we missing something here?’ Like, why isn’t anybody else doing this? But, you know, I just sort of felt at one with the tyres and I managed it a little bit at the beginning and I knew that would give me a bit of money back at the end. I think it’s a show, you know… we’ve got so many sensors and data points on the car, but there’s only 20 of us driving these F1 cars and sometimes you feel it. You can feel how the tire is sliding over the track. And you’ve just got to trust your gut sometimes.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, you said you didn’t want to stop for the second time. Did you say to the team you only wanted to do one stop? And obviously, how much does it hurt not winning today because you looked odds on to win for much of the race? And just to George, Toto called you the tyre whisperer. So how much was this down to you actually driving those tyres, saving those tyres, or just the strategy?
LH: No, I just said that the tyres were fine. And I’m happy. Looking forward to going to the summer break.
GR: Yeah, I think it’s. You’ve clearly got to manage the tyres if you want to do something that’s so sort of off-piste. It goes hand in hand. It was great. The team sort of backed me up and put their faith in me to do the one-stop. And then obviously, you know, when you’re behind the wheel, you’ve got to deliver it and manage in certain corners, push in others. And also at the end, I knew Lewis was catching me, but I knew I needed to be quick in three corners, and that was the last two corners and the first one. I knew if I could save the tyres in the middle sector and nail it in those three corners, it would be very difficult for Lewis to pass into Turn 5. So, yeah, team effort.
Q: (Taylor Powling – Motorsport Monday) Question to George. You mentioned yesterday that Mercedes have struggled at Spa more often than not in the last few years. Does the turnaround that you made set it to today? Is that the biggest indicator of the progress you’ve made this season, even more than Silverstone, perhaps?
GR: I really need to look into it because this season’s really been quite strange when we’ve been slightly off the pace in Austria and Barcelona. We didn’t have the answers then. And when the pace was so exceptionally quick in Montreal and Silverstone, we had some ideas why it was quick but not to the magnitude that it was. So, for sure, we think there’s some correlation with the temperature. It’s obviously not the warmest here. There was a bit of cloud cover, so I think that is probably still the correlation we’re seeing.
Q: (Dan Lawrence – Motorsport Monday) Another question for George. Mercedes are in a really good run of form at the moment. Would you say that, as your position, potentially, is team leader next season, is the second half of this season really about putting the building blocks in place to go for a consistent title run in 2025?
GR: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think for all of us, It’s been a difficult couple of years getting the car into a place where we can consistently fight for victories. But, you know, I’m so motivated, so excited for the second half of the season, which is ultimately building up towards 2025. And when you look at the competition now, you know, there’s no reason why we can’t fight. And if the season started in Montreal, the championship standings would be looking very, very different. So, you know, it’s going to be great. There’s so much, I think there’s so much motivation from all the other teams to get back to the front, from McLaren, from Ferrari, from ourselves. So for sure, it’s not going to be easy. And, you know, hopefully we see a good fight on our hands into next year.
Q: (Niccolo Arnerich – F1AnalisiTecnica.com) Question for both of the Mercedes drivers. What are the main areas to improve right now on the car, on the W15. And which are the main areas you feel that you have done a big improvement in this last month?
LH: I mean, just overall, the car is… We’re more comfortable in the car. The balance through low to medium to high are all much more in line with what we had targeted.
Q: George, anything to add?
GR: No.
Source: FIA.com
