Track Interviews - Conducted by David Coulthard

Welcome to our Super Saturday, the Sprint podium, and first of all our third-place finisher, Lando Norris. I suspect you're reasonably happy with that because you were a bit out of position in quali, made a great start, and then, well, you get to take the third place.
Lando Norris: That was a very good race. I'm very happy. Good start, good first lap. Not the pace to go with these guys but I had a good battle with George and all behind me, so pleasantly surprised with today. So good, but it's just a Sprint, so we have to do it all over again tomorrow.

Yeah, and of course you've got qualifying later on as well, so generally the car was feeling more together because you have had some difficulty through free practice and quali. We didn't see any mistakes there.
LN: Thank you, well done. Yeah, no, there were a couple of little things we can certainly do better for later and better into tomorrow. So, no, a good race, good points. I gave it everything I could, as George was catching me pretty quickly at the end. So, no, it was a good race and congrats to these two as well.

Did you say "gorgeous George"?
LN: No, I didn't.

Oh, sorry, it's my hearing, not so good. OK, Lando, congratulations. I'm going to bring in our second-place finisher, Lewis. Congratulations. Now, you gave the crowd what they wanted yesterday with that amazing pole position. The start went very well, you had to be decisive into Turn 1, and it looked like you had control of the race, but Kimi just had too much pace towards the end.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, a big thank you for everyone that's here. The crowd is amazing here. Also, this is the most energy I've seen in the pit lane before, so yeah, you have your super fans right here. Tough race to keep the Mercedes behind. I did say that was potentially the case yesterday, and obviously with it being so windy today, big headwind down the back straight, I mean, he came flying past. I was pushing as hard as I could, I gave it absolutely everything, but well done to Kimi, and yeah, we've got work to do to try and close that gap so we can keep up.

Yeah, well, you've got some more knowledge now to take into qualifying later and the Grand Prix, of course. Just put us in the cockpit in terms of how you were using your energy to try and defend, first of all. It looked like you used a lot of it early, and then in the end you just couldn't defend on Hangar Straight.
LH: Yeah, they are particularly quick up to Turn 6, and so I had to sometimes use a boost there. But one of the biggest places is when you come around Stowe, Turn 15, you get on the power and there's no power, and that's where he was catching me massively, then getting into the overtake mode. Once he got the overtake mode, then I couldn't hold him back after that because he has extra deployment through the lap, and I couldn't break that one-second barrier then. So as soon as that was lost, I knew he was coming.

Congratulations nonetheless, a very strong Sprint for you. And our Sprint winner, Kimi, congratulations. They're quite a contrast, 21 years difference in age. This is Lewis' 20th British Grand Prix, only your second, but we got to see you go toe to toe, and you feinted as if you were going to overtake down into Brooklands, and then you obviously got the overtake a couple of laps later. So, you enjoyed that battle?
Kimi Antonelli: Yeah, it was a very fun first few laps with Lewis. We were both pushing very hard, and yeah, when I braked... When I got into overtake, I knew my chance was coming. And then out of 4 that lap, it was very close. I went alongside in Brooklands, he used the boost and I decided to wait. Then obviously going into Stowe I used everything I had, and then I was able to overtake. From that point on, I just tried to get into my rhythm and, you know, just try to break the overtake that he had, and then just try to bring it home.

Now, you've been racing since you were a small kid, but can you really believe the run of form that you're having right now? Just win after win.
KA: Yeah, I mean, obviously the momentum is there and we're doing a great job together with the team, but of course, you know, we can't let our guard lower because Lewis and Ferrari are doing an incredible job, and Red Bull, McLaren, they're coming, and obviously also George is super quick. So, we just need to keep raising that bar and, you know, keep delivering performances.

Press Conference

Great race, Kimi, very well done. You showed great pace throughout. So, let's start with just those 17 laps. How pleased are you?
KA: Yeah, it was a fun race. It was pretty flat out and, yeah, I had a good start but then I couldn't quite get the momentum into Turn 1. I wasn't alongside enough, but then I was able to keep up with Lewis and, once I got into that overtake, I started to close the gap more and more and then made the move and then, obviously, a bit more free air and tried to pull away. But, yeah, it was a fun race and very flat out and I enjoyed it.

Put us in the cockpit for the overtake on Lewis on lap eight.
KA: Yeah, obviously I got a good run out of 4. He went a bit wide and I think he used boost to defend, and I just waited and then I used it out of 13. I used everything I had and, yeah, made the move.

So, the car was really strong. Just let's throw it forward now to Qualifying this afternoon and then, of course, the Grand Prix tomorrow. Is there much you need to change on the car?
KA: No, to be fair, the car felt good over the race, also in terms of degradation, so I wouldn't want to change much. In Qualifying it's more about trying to extract more from myself. But, yeah, I think we're in a pretty good place.

Alright, very well done to you. Lewis, let's come to you. Great job as well. Obviously you wanted the win in front of the home fans, but how was the performance of the car, first of all?
LH: Yeah, the car was good today. It has felt good all weekend. Relatively decent start, nice and close battle with Kimi, and a pretty good first lap where I was able to create a bit of a buffer between us. And then I was pushing as hard as I could to try and keep that gap above one second but in my tow he was just closing, and then he got into the one second. And as soon as he got into the overtake mode, once he had the overtake mode, I couldn't get rid of him and then he was just tailing me from then on. So, he came flying past halfway down the straight.

Now, given what you were saying on Thursday about your expectations for the weekend, how much of a surprise has the pace of the car been?
LH: Yeah, it has been nice. I said yesterday, it's a big, big surprise, honestly. The guys were talking about it being a seven-tenths, six, seven-tenths deficit on the straight. In the last race we were losing four-tenths on the straight in the race every lap, and that's obviously a hard gap to try and close through corners. And I imagine it's something similar maybe here. It was less so yesterday. We seemed like we were doing pretty decent on the single lap, but in the race that margin increases with deployment. But the guys have done a fantastic job just continuing to bring parts. They're pushing so hard and that's what I like to see.

Qualifying later, confident that you can start P1 again?
LH: I mean, everyone's progressing. I'm sure they're going to be progressing in Qualifying. It was so close between us. I have some more time to pull out of the car. I didn't get absolutely everything out of the car in [Sprint] Quali, so I'm trying to see if I can. I was very close, but I'm going to try and see if I can pull that extra bit of time out so we can stay in the fight.

Alright, very well done to you. And Lando, P6 to P3, great job for you. Given where you were yesterday, where did the car pleasantly surprise you?
LN: Nowhere. I just had a good start and good lap one. So, it wasn't like I fought my way through after that, it was just I hung on well from that point onwards. My start was very good off the line and I got two or three cars pretty much immediately, so that made my life much easier from that point onwards. I was fighting the car everywhere, to be honest. So, it wasn't like it was a straightforward race, and I knew George would be catching like he did, especially at the end of the race. So, it was good fun. Pleasantly surprised to be here today, but a good race and good fighting, especially the first three laps with the Red Bull and with Mercedes. You always have to judge and learn where their deployment works and where they're fast and slow and how to counter them in these areas. But once I did that, then I managed to pull a gap and pull away.

We heard some messages about fuel saving. Without that, do you think you would have been closer to these two?
LN: No. No chance. We're not even on a similar level to these guys in terms of our car performance. So, that's why I'm surprised to be here, because I think we still beat a good amount of cars today that were a lot quicker. But I just wouldn't have been under as much pressure from George. So, yeah, it would have given me a couple of tenths over a few laps where we went quite extreme, and then after that I think the pace was not that bad.