Track Interviews - Conducted by Jenson Button.

Charles, you just won the British Grand Prix. How's that feel?
Charles Leclerc: Yeah, it feels incredible. I mean, unfortunately the end was maybe not the one I would have dreamt of, but to win after the last few weekends that have been particularly difficult, all the work that we put into trying to get the feeling back in the car, I felt like I had found something yesterday between the Sprint race and qualifying, but I had to confirm that today and today the feeling was back where it needs to be. So, I'm so incredibly happy.

It's been quite an emotional year for you, a few incidents, obviously Monaco, Barcelona in qualifying, so it's kind of getting a monkey off your back. It looks like you've had a reset and you've come out fighting this weekend.
CL: Yeah, exactly. As you said, after Monaco, the feeling wasn't there. I crashed in Q3, then in the race we had an issue and that ended our race. Then Saturday in Barcelona the feeling was good, but then I crashed again, so that was very difficult mentally. And then on Sunday we had an issue with the car, and Austria wasn't so great. But here we managed to put everything together and I really hope I can keep that momentum going forward. But a huge thank you to the team for having worked so hard.

George, not the most straightforward race for you out there, but must be pretty happy to come away with second on the podium.
George Russell: Yeah, I mean, firstly, congrats to Charles. He drove a great race. Great to be here, always, in Silverstone. My first podium, so really pleased to be standing here, even though, obviously, very lucky race. Got the puncture, then got very lucky at the end with the Safety Car. I mean, it would have been great for the fans for it to have restarted. From my side, my tyres were cold, so I was kind of glad to just bring it home in second.

Tough weekend, but overall good to be standing here. Why do you think that was for you this weekend, your pace not being quite where you wanted it to?
GR: I don't know, to be honest. I mean, qualifying, we had some straight-line speed issues. I don't know if it was there still in the race. But anyway, I'm going to keep pushing, my team are going to keep pushing. These Ferrari guys look really quick. So, yeah, game on.

I'm with you as well. I wouldn't have wanted the restart with this guy behind you. Lewis, I'm sure it's a bit bittersweet. Home Grand Prix, you stood on the podium, obviously wanted the top step and it didn't go your way at the end with putting the new tyres on. But listen to that crowd.
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, well firstly I have to big congratulations to Charles. Winning at this Grand Prix is such a special experience and this is a great result for our team, so congratulations to our team. Yeah, I just didn't have it today. I jumped the start, already got a five-second penalty, but Charles had the pace on me today. I struggled with the balance of the car, but I gave it everything and I'm grateful to be up here.

Yeah, watching the race, you were fighting hard with George and Max, but it must be promising for you to see Charles' pace and your pace in the race. Can you take the fight to these guys, Mercedes?
LH: I mean, it looks like it. I'm not really sure what happened to Kimi, but yeah, it looks like it. I mean, the team's doing a phenomenal job, so we have some work still to do to really close the gap on pure performance. But look at these results, you know, two wins for the team this year. This is just fantastic.

Congratulations. Charles, we'll finish with you. That wasn't the most straightforward race either, was it? Kimi was there pushing you all the way, obviously had his issue, which helped you a little bit, and then the Safety Car at the end. You must be thinking, what do I need to do?
CL: Yeah, I mean, with Kimi, it would have been close. He was very fast when he was coming towards me, so it would have been very difficult to keep that first place. Then I heard he had a problem, so I was like, "OK, now I have quite a big gap and it should be straightforward." But then the Safety Car at the end and for whatever reason, I think some backmarkers had to pass us, so I did all the Safety Car time at like 100, 120 kph. My tyres were completely cold, so I was very sceptical about the restart. But yeah, it's not great for the fans that are here around the track. In the helmet, I was kind of happy that there was not a restart to keep that win. It feels really good.

Press Conference

Very well done, Charles. Brilliant race, and it had been a while, 624 days. What does this one mean to you?
CL: It means a lot. It means a lot because when things get tough, and that's literally the situation I've been in the last few races, obviously there's a lot of negativity around me in general, with narratives being created, and it's never a nice environment to work in. But to keep our head down and to keep working very hard and get the result that we got today, I'm super proud of the whole team that have been pushing me and helping me to find that feeling again with the car. As I said, it's only a first step and I've got to prove that on multiple track layouts. But on such a track where confidence is key, I wouldn't have been able to do that without the feeling, and so that's really good.

And of course, this makes up for what happened here in 2021 as well, when you led for most of the race.
CL: Yeah, I didn't really think about that when I was in the car, but yeah, I don't know if it made up for it, but yeah, it feels very good.

Now, you took the lead at the start of the race and never looked back. Just talk us through those early stages, if you could.
CL: Yeah, I mean, we had a very strong start, which wasn't a given because yesterday the start was very poor. So that was a point of focus. After that, I just tried to manage my tyres, focus on the feeling I had with the car from qualifying. I knew what to do inside the car, I knew what to change in terms of tools that I have on my steering wheel. Yeah, I just felt very comfortable in the car, especially in the first stint. So yeah, then I understood that the win was a possibility. It was going to be tricky with Kimi at the end, so we've been a little bit lucky on that, but we also need that sometimes.

Well, you do. And Ferrari have now won two of the last three races. Do you feel you have a car now where you can take the fight to the Mercedes at every race?
CL: Well, I think it's too early to say. I think this weekend was a particularly big surprise for the whole team. Not the win today, just the overall performance. I mean, we were a lot faster than what we thought, and I think as much as we need to analyse when things are going a lot worse than expected, we also need to analyse when things go a lot better than expected. Coming into the weekend, I remember the meetings that we've done on Thursday and we kind of thought we would be six tenths, five tenths off, minimum. Yeah, and we were much better than that, and we actually won today. So yeah, it's a very special feeling.

Alright. Very well done to you. Thank you. Charles. George, let's come to you. That looked like an emotional rollercoaster for you out there. Your first podium here at Silverstone. Just how sweet was the end result?
GR: I don't really know how to sum it up, to be honest, because it's been a very challenging weekend. Things within my control not good enough, things outside of my control haven't been good enough, which has all resulted in poor pace. And then in the race, I was having a great battle with Max and Lewis, going against two of the greatest of all time, and I felt I could have passed Max. And with the straight-line speed over the Ferraris, I felt I could have held off Lewis as well. So P3 was probably a fair and would have been a good result behind Charles and Kimi. Then the puncture, I just couldn't believe my luck. I've gone beyond sort of anger and frustration now. And then if you told me I'm going to end up P2, I wouldn't have even comprehended how that was possible. So, I'm very grateful to have stood up on the podium.

And in terms of the feeling that you've got from the car this weekend, better or worse than Austria last week?
GR: Well, the feeling was good, but the lap times were slow. And as I said, there were things outside of my control that contributed a lot towards that, and things in my control. I'm still struggling to understand this car. I probably still leave this weekend, albeit extremely grateful to stand on the podium, I leave less satisfied than probably Canada, when I broke down from the lead. And if I want to fight for the championship, the performances need to be better. I need to be better. I need to be working better with my team. We need to be maximising everything. We've got a close fight now with Ferrari, so it's not just Kimi and I, Lewis is still very close. It needs to be improved.

You say it's a close fight in the championship. Just how seriously do you take the threat from Ferrari now?
GR: I'm not even thinking about it, to be honest, because I've got my own things I need to deal with and improve upon on my own side. I left Monaco three races ago 68 points behind and I leave here 25 points behind. So yeah, I would take it, but it won't continue like that forever unless the results, the performance, gets better.

OK, George, thank you for that. And Lewis, let's come to you now. Your 16th podium here at Silverstone, it's an extraordinary record. How do you reflect on the race, though?
LH: Yeah, not that great. Charles did a mega job today, fully deserves the win. From my side, pretty bad from the get-go. I jumped the start, which I have done very few times in the 380-odd races that I've done. And then just balance-wise, I noticed Charles went up on his balance, I think compared to qualifying, added more wing, and I felt the car was really oversteer with the diff settings that we had had. And so, I took out wing and then I had the biggest understeer at the beginning of the race. So, he just pulled away from me. I just couldn't even turn the car until halfway kind of through that first stint, I managed to start turning the car a little bit better with some diff changes, but by then the gap was already huge. And then the five-second at the stop, and then there's just one thing after the other.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone here.