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Here is the transcript of the Post 2021 United States Grand Prix Qualifying track interviews and press conference featuring Lewis Hamilton.
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Danica Patrick)
Q: Lewis, good effort. It looked like the first run in Q3 was a little bit of struggle at the end but the next run was a little bit quicker but you just missed it. Where could you have found a little bit more speed?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly I want to acknowledge the crowd we’ve got here. We’ve got a great crowd this weekend. Every time we come to Austin we always have this amazing crowd and fortunately really good weather. We are grateful for it. I gave it everything today. It was a bit of a struggle through qualifying. I think from P1 onwards we kind of fell back a little bit and those guys were incredibly quick through qualifying. I was happy with my last lap. Of course there are always areas where you can improve but I think that was pretty much everything we had. So we will just work as hard as we can tomorrow. It’s good positioning for tomorrow so hopefully it will be a good race down to Turn 1.
Q: There is a lot going on in the garage with everything going on technically as well as everything on track with Max, what is your mindset for tomorrow?
LH: The mindset is to win the race and to give these guys the best race they’ve seen.
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, it was incredibly tight in the end. Sum up quali for us?
LH: Yeah, it was fun. It was definitely a difficult session. I would say for us since P1 it’s been a little bit tougher, we have been making lots of changes to try to improve the car. But it’s been a real challenge, and going into qualifying I think the first session wasn’t that great. Q1 wasn’t spectacular but it started to improve, particularly on the medium tyre, and the last two runs were pretty good. I think they have just been pretty quick all weekend and I think we were able to match them or be ahead in P1 but since then they have really pulled a lot. You can tell that the car is quick because obviously both of them are up there and pulling in some seriously good laps. But we are in a good position to fight them tomorrow and I hope we can.
Q: Do you think you will be more competitive with them in the race than you were in qualifying, just lap for lap.
LH: Time will tell. I have no idea.
Q: And what about tomorrow? You’re starting on the inside of the front row. How much grip is there from that grid position?
LH: The last time we started there was…. Two years ago I think I was in fifth or something. I don’t remember. It was a long time ago in the wet. I think that I started second there. As far as I am aware there is not a huge difference between the two but we will find out tomorrow.
Q: Last one from me. There is a huge atmosphere here, 140,000 fans. How infectious is that support?
LH: It’s hugely infectious. This is one of the best races of the year and it’s simply because of that city and the crowd we get here. The Americans and the Mexicans that have come over, there is a real crazy buzz as soon as you arrive at the gates of the circuit, and it carries through the whole weekend and I’m excited to see them turn out tomorrow and I hope we can give them a good race.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Given the course of the Q3, all three of you were on pole position at one stage. Just how tense was that final run – and how difficult was it with the cars looking so closely matched and there being hundredths of a second between you at any point?
LH: I didn’t feel it was intense at all. When you’re in the car, you’re just doing what you love doing. So, it’s pretty chill. For me, I was struggling with the car a little bit and I was just trying to maximise at all the corners, to try and put the best lap I could together but amongst it all is a really good lap but whether or not that would have been able to really compete with their speed this weekend… I mean they were just too quick today.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC, via email) Lewis, why do you think Mercedes have struggled compared to the last few races at this track?
LH: I don’t really know. It started off good, it felt good through P1 and then bit by bit they’ve got faster and I don’t know if we’ve got slower but yeah, it’s been a real struggle with the car, compared to normally when we’re here. Part of it is probably overheating with tyres, which is affecting, I’m sure, everyone but yeah, it’s been a challenge.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Max and Lewis, obviously the opening corner could prove pretty decisive as to who wins tomorrow’s race. How do you both plan to tackle the start and do either of the incidents you two have had together this year, will they be on your mind when the lights go out tomorrow?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Like we always try, as professionals. I don’t see why we always have to keep bringing this up. It’s not like we are the only ones who have touched, you know, in this sport and these things happen, unfortunately, but I think we are on the front row again and everyone is just expecting a great race and that’s what we also expect, I think, as drivers. We just want to have a really good race.
LH: Yeah, I hope we’ll make it through turn one and we get a good race. I don’t think it’s all decided on turn 1.
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Lewis, there was an incident between yourself and Max yesterday in the second practice session where you ran him wide into the final corner and you had a wheel-to-wheel battle going up the main straight up the hill into turn 1. What was your thinking behind that? Was that you laying down any kind of marker? Was no quarter given, no matter what the session and how does that bode for tomorrow’s race; similar things, can we expect?
LH: Well firstly, I didn’t run him wide. He decided to go round the outside and ended up going wide because… you can ask him, but we were battling into the last corner… and it’s a silly thing. It’s all fun and games. We’ll have fun tomorrow and give it everything as you would expect, no real difference to any other part of the season and yeah, that’s all.
Q: (Tucker C. Toole – National Geographic) In recent years F1’s popularity has continued to grow, similar to the crowd this weekend. How do you see the sport continuing to thrive and evolve like it is now?
LH: It’s the best sport in the world so people are only just catching onto it but that’s OK. There’s a lot of people in the world so I can only see it continuing to go upwards, if it gets more exciting, particularly with the rule changes we have coming in the next year, so it’s amazing to see the crowd growing and the excitement and the buzz for the sport to grow, because it is an amazing sport.
Source: FIA.com
