Parc Ferme Interviews - Conducted by Jolyon Palmer

It's Kimi Antonelli on pole position. Kimi, you said at the end, "Why were we going out first?" Well, hey, it didn't matter. That was a great lap.
Kimi Antonelli: Yeah, I mean, I was a bit stressed because I never really like going first for the last run. But yeah, the last lap was very tidy, I have to be honest. It came all together. It was very tricky with the wind, because it was very gusty, unpredictable. But yeah, we built our way through qualifying and to bring the pole home is very satisfying.

Talk me through the changes that you made between the Sprint and qualifying, and the way that you built into that session as well, because it is difficult conditions. You obviously won the Sprint. Did you change the car? Were you fine-tuning things?
KA: No, we didn't change the car at all. It was just about, you know, with differential, brake migration, driving, we worked around it and we managed to find a good setting that helped me to progress through qualifying.

Perfect finesse. Well done, Kimi.
KA: Thank you.

Charles Leclerc, congratulations. That was a much more Charles Leclerc performance in qualifying from the very first lap. You've got to be pleased to be back.
Charles Leclerc: Yes, I'm pleased. I mean, it's been a few tough races where the feeling was not quite right, where I was struggling to put everything together. On the Sundays, we've had things that sometimes we couldn't score points. So to be back with a good feeling, there's been so much work behind the scenes to get back that feeling inside the car. But today is probably the first time where I had it back, so that is a good thing. But at the same time, I know how much I've struggled to be consistent recently. So it's only the beginning, but it's a good step in the right direction.

We just heard from Kimi saying minor details and tweaks for the Mercedes. For you, I'm guessing there were bigger changes to get you more comfortable. Do you feel it straight away there?
CL: Yeah, I mean, at the moment I'm obviously trying to look a bit at everything, because I was losing quite a bit of time. I just didn't have much pace recently, so you've got to look at every single thing you do, whether it's driving style, whether it's everything really. So, we've worked, I think, really, really well. And yeah, I'm happy with that P2. Obviously, I wish I was on pole, but Kimi did an incredible lap and he deserves it.

Well, congratulations. It's still a front row for tomorrow.
CL: Thank you.

And Lewis, huge cheers all the way around for you today. Third place. You obviously had the high of Sprint qualifying yesterday, but are you satisfied still to be starting in the top three at Silverstone?
Lewis Hamilton: Am I satisfied? Of course not, I'm P3, but I'm happy to be up here. However, these guys did a great job today. Charles has obviously been making good improvements and we just didn't have the pace, unfortunately, of the Mercedes. It's been kind of a thing for a while, but we're slowly closing the gap. And to have both of us up here is great for the team.

And let's talk about the race then, because obviously you led earlier on, Kimi got past. Have you got a chance, maybe with your team-mate there, to work together and put more pressure on Mercedes?
LH: I mean, it's definitely great to have both of us here, because that means hopefully, whether or not we can fully keep up with Kimi, we'll see tomorrow, but hopefully we can maybe play with the strategy and work as a team to try to topple them. We'll do our best, for sure.

Alright. Well done today, Lewis, anyway. There's a huge amount of people here, record crowd, hoping that you get number 10 at Silverstone. Kimi, whilst the Ferrari duo go away, let's talk to you about the race tomorrow then. Are you worried about these two? You obviously dealt with Lewis in the Sprint, but they're going to be trying to make your life a little bit harder tomorrow, I guess.
KA: Yeah, for sure. It's not going to be easy. I've got two Ferrari behind me and for sure they're going to work together. But their pace is good, but ours was strong in the Sprint race. So yeah, hopefully we can keep that tomorrow and hopefully we can do a good race.

Press Conference

Kimi, great job. What a Saturday you're having here at Silverstone. That final lap of Q3 looked exceptional. Was it close to perfection?
KA: It was a very tidy lap. It was a lap where I put everything together. Maybe Sector 1, I struggled a little bit throughout the session. I was a bit inconsistent there, but Sector 2 and 3 I felt very good. So yeah, it was a very good lap.

You were the first car on track for that pole lap. How unusual was it to adopt that run plan?
KA: Yeah, I'm not a fan of going first for the last run, but I was a little bit stressed in the out lap. But then just tried to focus on what I had to do and yeah, luckily it worked out.

Right, Kimi, it seems you're just getting happier and happier with the car here at Silverstone. I mean, how much better is it today than it was in Sprint Qualifying yesterday?
KA: I think it was a very... I mean, we didn't change the car, so the car felt good. Also yesterday it felt good. But yesterday it was also more a matter of trying to maximise the grip and everything. Today it was a bit trickier, but I think on that regard I put a lot more together compared to yesterday.

Just tell us about the front end of your car, because in Q1 we saw George Russell have his off at Luffield. We saw your first run as well at Turn 3 have a little issue there. Is there something awry at the front end that you and George are having to work around?
KA: Well, with our car, we struggle a little bit with front locking, so especially in a condition like today that you have the tailwind into Turn 3, front locking was very easy to achieve. So, in my Q2 run one, I locked the front but also had a little issue with the brake pedal, which it didn't respond initially to when I applied the brake. So that also delayed the whole braking phase, so I also had too much speed in. But to be fair, we did some setting adjustments and then it helped me to regain the confidence on braking.

OK. Let's just throw it forward to the race tomorrow. What are going to be the biggest challenges, do you think?
KA: I mean, get a good start, like we did today, and then yeah... I mean, I have these two behind me, and they've been quick today, especially at the start of the race. So just going to try to get a good start and get into a good rhythm and then hopefully we will be able to achieve a great result. But other than that, just going to try to focus on the race that I have to do and just try to maximise.

And having raced and gone wheel-to-wheel with Lewis in the Sprint this morning, do you think you're going to have the faster car?
KA: Well, in the Sprint we definitely had a faster car, mainly on deg. We seemed a little bit better with the tyres. So yeah, hopefully we can keep that for tomorrow as well.

Alright, Kimi, thank you very much. Great quali by you. Charles, let's come to you now. Great job as well. You found a huge chunk of time between run one and run two in Q3. Where exactly did you find the time?
CL: Oh, just by pushing a bit more everywhere. But honestly, I mean, result aside, I'm actually quite happy with exactly what you said, because that normally means that I know where the limit of the car is. And then for the second run in Q3, it's always been my strength in the past, where I get to Q3 and I find something extra for the second run in Q3. And I had a bit lost that feeling recently. I've been working very hard to try and get back that feeling. It feels like today this feeling was back, but where I'm focused now is to keep that feeling, because I know how much it relies on fine-tuning and small details. But I feel like today we've done a step forward.

Tell us more about that feeling and what you need from the car to get it.
CL: I mean, my driving style is quite aggressive, which seemed to work quite well at the beginning of the year. But recently, for one reason or another, it was just incredibly difficult to put things together. It's true also that we've had two, three races where I was struggling with also some particulars on the car, but even since then it was just very difficult. It wasn't coming as easy is not the word, because it's never easy, but as natural as it should in qualifying. But today we did quite a few changes from yesterday's Sprint Qualifying and Sprint race, and I felt more at ease. But yeah, it's only a small part of the job. Tomorrow we've got a very long race ahead and I'm looking forward to show the progress as well in the race.

Fifty-two laps tomorrow. Can you beat the man on your left?
CL: I don't know, but I'll do my best. This is definitely the target. So then whether we'll manage to do so, I don't know. But surely, I mean, Kimi had incredible pace this morning. So yeah, we'll try and make his life as hard as possible. And if there's the opportunity to win, I hope I can take it.

Very well done to you. And Lewis, let's come to you now. We've just been discussing how Charles found a big chunk of time between run one and run two. You didn't. Do you feel there was more time in the car today?
LH: No, not particularly. I think in run two, actually my run two was pretty decent, but I lost my deployment. There was a problem with the deployment, basically, and I lost like three tenths down the back straight. But that got fixed towards the end. I just struggled more in this qualifying session with the car, a lot more understeer. But yeah, I'm still happy to be up here.

I mean, a lot of people will think, gosh, you weren't as quick as you were in Sprint pole yesterday. But that's down to the understeer, down to the deployment that you've just talked about?
LH: Yes, those two. Then braking, for example for Turn 3, Kimi was talking about it, but that was quite inconsistent for me today with the settings that we ended up choosing. But yes, happy to see both Charles and I up here.

And after everything you learned in the Sprint this morning, how confident are you for the race tomorrow? Can you beat the man on your right?
LH: I mean, we couldn't this morning, so I don't think that really changes. And he's just gone quicker than, way quicker than I went yesterday. So, nothing's changed between this morning and nothing will change between today and tomorrow. We'll do our best to hold on to them, but ultimately, if he gets a clean run, he'll be gone.

Check out our Saturday gallery from Silverstone here.