Track Interviews - Conducted by Khalil Beschir
Q: Checo, P3 tomorrow, starting from the third on the grid. How was the lap? Were you satisfied from the first lap? The second lap was a bit of a surprise for everyone.
Sergio Perez: Yeah i didn't get much of an improvement on the on the final lap, which I think is why we missed the front row. But overall, I think Max has done a tremendous lap. I think that was not possible for me today but I think being on the front row was achievable, but anyway, I think we are still in the fight for tomorrow. Tomorrow, it's a long race, and anything can really happen.
Q: Well, you know how to win here. Long run yesterday, your car looked really good, very stable. The tyres lasted long. How is your team tomorrow with the fight with Charles and Max?
SP: Yeah, it will be quite interesting. I think it's going to be a long, fun race. I think there will be plenty of action. The cars around us are all very close, so it will be a very interesting battle tomorrow.
Q: Well, good luck for tomorrow. Charles. Great last lap. The first lap, you had an extra lap going out, doing two outlaps. How was it? The second lap was much better, but you had two preparing laps. in the first try on Q3?
Charles Leclerc: Yeah, the first lap in Q3, we tried something different, doing a preparation lap, but that didn't work out well for us. Then in the second lap, I put everything together and that was what was in the car today. So I'm really happy with the lap. A shame that we are a bit further away than what we hoped in qualifying, but tomorrow is the race and I hope we'll have a good surprise and that we'll be able to challenge the Red Bulls in front.
Q: Yesterday on the long runs, on the Soft, you had very good pace matching the Red Bulls on the Medium, obviously. But are you more confident with the car? Hopefully you solved the problems from Bahrain. How's the confidence of the team going into the race?
CL: For sure, we did a step forward compared to last year. I felt more comfortable in the car. I think the car is in a better place in race runs. So we just have to focus on ourselves. And obviously, we cannot change the car now for tomorrow. So we'll try and optimise everything else for the race. And then let's see what's possible tomorrow.
Q: You woke up today with the news of Carlos. You have a new team-mate. How much did you go in and help him to get on? Because he did a great job, I think, today. How was it today in the team with Oliver?
CL: I mean, first of all, I hope Carlos will recover quickly. And then on Ollie's side, I mean, he's done an incredible job, obviously, with only one session in FP3. He was straight up to speed and comfortable with the car. So it's good. I'm happy for him, obviously. It's a very special day and the first race in Ferrari having done only one session I guess is even more so special, so I hope that tomorrow we can have a great race both of us and score good points for the team.
Q: Max , finally. It has been coming for a few years. Your first pole position in Jeddah. Amazing lap. I think your first lap was perfect. The second lap was a bit slower. Talk us through this great pole.
Max Verstappen: Yeah, it was a very good day, I think, so far. We improved the car a little bit overnight, and that gave me a bit more confidence to attack the high-speed corners. And around here, of course, it depends a lot on your confidence level, how much you can go to the limit. And I really think today I felt very comfortable with the car. And throughout qualifying, it's pretty crazy how fast you go around here. I think, in my first step in Q3, I was very happy with... how I did the lap. It felt almost a bit like, you know, the failed '21 lap. But then, of course, making the last corner. I had a lot of fun and the car was behaving really well.
Q: Well, I mean, you go into the race... I think yesterday the car was very stable, very good balance. I'm pretty sure you are confident going into the race tomorrow. But it's a long race here. Anything can happen with safety cars. How is the preparation going into tomorrow?
MV: Yeah, as we have seen in the past also, you know, there have been a lot of crazy races around here. A lot can happen. Normally people always say it's a one-stop, easy to the line, but it's not like that around here. A lot of straights as well. But I'm confident with the race pace that we have that tomorrow the car will work really well too.
Press Conference
Q: Many congratulations to the top three qualifiers for the FIA Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In third place, Sergio Perez. In second place, Charles Leclerc, and taking his first pole position here in Jeddah, and the 56th of his Formula 1 career, the pole sitter, Max Verstappen. Many congratulations...
MV: 34. It's 55 wins.
Q: Thank you for the correction. Sorry. Maybe I'm pre-empting tomorrow. Look, Max, many congratulations. That looked like a very tidy session for you. How good were those fastest laps in Q3 in particular?
MV: Yeah, I think in general, just the whole day, I felt a bit more comfortable with the car. The balance was a bit more together. Yeah, I could just push a little bit more. And then qualifying was quite nice. I mean, no real big problems, and I could just follow the track evolution a bit, so very happy with that. Yeah, my first lap in Q3, I think, was very nice. Maybe Turn 1, 2, and the last corner, I could have maybe improved a tiny amount, but overall, the car was just performing really nicely. I felt comfortable. I could push to the limit. And on a track like this, when you have that feeling, I think it helps to get a good lap time out of it.
Q: You said a moment ago that it felt like that '21 quali lap that wasn't quite. Does that make this one of your best ever pole positions?
MV: It felt really nice, yeah. I mean around here there are some corners that are really like really tricky at high speed, to hit the apexes like you want to, and I did feel that that was the case on that lap with not hitting the wall in the last corner you know! So yeah, I was very pleased with that.
Q: You were quickest in every sector. Does the car have a weakness around here?
MV: I mean, there are always particular corners where I think, you know, we can find a little bit more, but it's about finding the overall compromise, you know, to be quick. That's most of the time on every track the same.
Q: Well, let's throw it forward to tomorrow's race now. How is the long run?
MV: Yesterday it felt good, even though I think the set-up we had yesterday was not as good as today. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Normally, we should have good race pace. And actually, of course, the degradation won't be as high as in Bahrain. So, yeah, we'll have to see how close everyone else is. But from our side, I think the car is set up well.
Q: You and Charles on the front row for the fifth consecutive race now. How do you see the dash to Turn 1?
MV: Yeah, well, we'll see what happens, right? I mean, it's not where you win the race anyway nowadays. So, of course, you always try to have a good start, but it's important to just get through lap one and settle in.
Q: All right. Many congratulations to you. Well done, Max. Charles, if we come to you. Your seventh consecutive front-row start. How pleased are you with the performance of the Ferrari?
CL: Well, it's good to be starting on the front row. However, today I didn't really find the right feeling with the car. For some reason, with the new tyres, we didn't have the car in the right place, which I hope that for tomorrow it will improve a little bit. For some reason, we had quite a lot of oversteer and just the rear is not quite ready. So in Q3, we tried something different. We went for a prep lap, which didn't help at all. And then in the second lap, I put everything together and I don't think there was much more. But today, the feeling wasn't as good as what I had, what I was expecting, considering yesterday.
Q: Well, what were your expectations coming into the session? Because some observers thought you'd challenge Max for pole very closely.
CL: I mean, more than expectations of positions, I had expectations of feeling and balance. And that's not what I found today, which for sure we left a little bit of performance on the table. However, Max did a great lap. And today they were just stronger. So we've got to work on that and try and understand for the future what happened for qualifying on that first time lap.
Q: Well, what about the race? What are the main challenges of 50 laps here in Jeddah?
CL: We were just speaking earlier, I think physically it's definitely the most or one of the most difficult races of the season. So that's going to be one challenge. Then apart from that, as always, you need to get the strategy right and we'll do our homework tonight to take the right decisions.
Q: Do you think the Red Bulls are beatable?
CL: Yes. I mean, I'm always optimistic, so we'll try our best. However, we know that normally they have the upper hand and they have a bit more pace in the race than in qualifying. And looking at the gaps today it's going to be a difficult one to get the top spot tomorrow. But I'll do everything as always.
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