Part One: Max Verstappen, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon.

Max, if we could start with you, please. Back at Spa, one of your favourite tracks. From a performance point of view, what can we expect from you and Red Bull?
Max Verstappen: Yeah, I don't know. Let's see tomorrow, to be honest. I don't know how we are going to perform. It's as simple as that, to be honest.

How do you assess the last two races, then? Austria seemed strong and Silverstone a little bit disappointing.
MV: Exactly like that, and that's why I also don't really know what to expect here. So, it's better not to think about it too much and just go out.

You're reverting back to the old-spec rear wing. Can you explain the thinking behind that?
MV: I think it's quite obvious, no? So, yeah, we'll go back to the old one and then see whenever the latest, or new one, is ready again to be used for us.

Let's talk off track. There's been yet more speculation about your future in recent days and recent weeks. Is there any update you can give us?
MV: No.

And what do you make of the speculation?
MV: Nothing.

And do you have a date in mind?
MV: Nope. There's nothing to say from my side.

So, full commitment to Red Bull in 2026?
MV: I said there's nothing to say.

Final one from me. You've announced that you're going to work with McLaren young driver Dries Van Langendonck. What are you going to do for him, and how will you split roles with McLaren?
MV: He has been a big talent for a long time already in go-karting, and I think you can spot quite quickly when someone is a little bit more special than someone else. I think that has carried on with what he's doing right now in Formula 4, and that's why I think it's just very exciting to try and help him and guide him, of course hand in hand with McLaren's side as well, to make the right decisions for his future. He wants to get to Formula 1, and I'm just trying to make sure that will happen in the future. It's honestly a very exciting project to be part of.

Alex, let's come to you. It's been a bit of a tough run since scoring points in Monaco. What have been the biggest issues with the car?
Alex Albon: Just a bit of everything, really. I think there's not one specific trend that we've seen in the last two races. More than anything, other teams bring upgrades. We had a smaller one in Silverstone. It worked, but you also have to be honest: the gap to the other midfield cars is at such a point that the upgrades we've got on the car are bringing performance, but not enough to fight with them.

Were you expecting more from the upgrade at Silverstone?
AA: No, I think they behaved as we expected. Obviously, we always want more because you want to close the gap, but actually it pretty much did what it said.

When you think of the medium and longer term, do you have any concerns about the direction Williams is headed?
AA: No. We're just behind in terms of where we started the year. We started our updates late. We must have brought fewer upgrades than the other teams around us, so it's just going through that phase. We are in a rebuilding phase. We have a lot to do. There are a lot of changes happening at the factory as well, and in many ways it's frustrating, but it's patience. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, and all for the good, but at the same time, unfortunately, it does feel like some of the upgrades and the processes take a little bit longer. In the meantime, we do have an upgrade for Baku. Whether or not that puts us fighting with the midfield, we'll see, but it's coming. It just feels like this whole year so far has been a little bit on the back foot.

Alex, how much rests on the Baku upgrade in terms of future development?
AA: Not so much. I think the biggest thing for us is to be on weight. I think that's been a big talking point for us, and we know that's the goal of that upgrade for the most part. There are still some other areas. We know even on just pure downforce we're not matching other teams as well, so we still need to work on that. At the same time, we are already transitioning quite early into next year's car. We're starting to do more and more simulator work on next year's car. That's not to say that we'll leave this car behind, but we are thinking long-term as well, for the best of the team.

Esteban, let's come to you now. Can we start by looking back, because it's 10 years since you made your Formula 1 debut here at Spa with Manor. What are your memories of that first weekend?
Esteban Ocon: Yeah, crazy. Crazy to think it's been 10 years. Time flies, really. I don't feel like I've been in Formula 1 for 10 years. It feels like I've been here for a couple of years, not more. So, yeah, I'm excited about this weekend. Back then it was very different, of course. It was my debut. There was a lot to learn. I was racing with the faces I was always watching on TV: Fernando, Jenson, Räikkönen, all these guys. It was quite special. But, yeah, I did a good job because I'm here 10 years later, so it's okay.

What's the biggest lesson you've learned in that decade?
EO: A lot of things, of course. I'm a very different driver than I was back then, but the motivation is still the same. The motivation is still to take the car that you have in your hands as far as it can go, as high as it can go, and I'm still motivated for as much as I can behind the wheel.

It's been a tough couple of races. Just bringing it on to 2026, what goals have you set yourself for this weekend?
EO: It's been a tough couple of races as a team. Of course, we are chasing a bit of performance at the moment. We do have a little bit of new stuff coming this weekend as well. We need to find more performance. I think we extracted the maximum out of the car in Silverstone, which was quite positive, but of course it was not quite enough. After the start from even quite far back in the order, I went up to P11 and we could not hold the pace of the other midfield cars. This is what we need to work on. We know that, and we're all focused on doing that, hopefully here or later when more parts come on the car.

Questions From The Floor

(Craig Slater - Sky Sports) Max, you're clearly at the top of your game as a driver, at the pinnacle of the sport. The team is transitioning as an engine manufacturer and so on. How confident are you that they can give you the tools to operate where you belong, i.e. at the front, if not this year then next year? And are you concerned about the ongoing loss of engineering names, the latest being Michael Manning?
MV: We're just looking to the future, trying to fix the current issues that we have on the car, but that's a very open discussion. Sometimes you get a little bit disappointed or upset after a race, but, for example, after Silverstone you go home, you reset. On Wednesday, I was back at the factory and then you prepare again for the weekends ahead. That's how we've been operating all the years together. Of course, some years you're just a little bit more competitive than others, but in terms of my approach and how we work as a team, nothing really changes. People come and go. I think that's sometimes also part of the process. Sometimes you want people to stay, potentially, yes, but I think that's just how life is and how sport is as well. You just have to carry on and try to find new talent. That's what you also look at all the time, and that's what we do.

(Mariana Becker - TV Globo) Hi, Max. Do you want to stay at Red Bull next year? Are you driving for Red Bull next year?
MV: Okay, I don't want to go here and say yes and no, and this and that, about my future. I've said already many times that if there was something new, I would say it myself. Thank you.

(David Croft - Sky Sports F1) Esteban, congratulations on 10 years as an F1 driver. I think you started 17th and finished 16th in your debut race here for Manor. It's a team that probably didn't have the funding it would have liked at the time. Are you driving for a team that has similar issues, not quite getting the funding that you or other members of the team would like? And is that one of the reasons you started well this year at Haas and are now lagging behind a little bit in the midfield?
EO: I don't think so. I don't think it's fair to compare it to how it was at Manor back then. I think we were 4.5 or five seconds off the pace. If you look at last year, for example, the way we developed through the year and the way we brought the updates later in the year helped me to secure seventh place in Abu Dhabi, for example. So we managed to overcome these difficulties. This weekend, we have some new stuff on the car. We will have further updates later in the year, so the team is doing a good job providing new stuff on the car to keep tracking the performance and keep improving it. Of course, you always want more resources and more stuff, but that's Ayao's job, not ours. We need to tell him where we need more implication, more people, and where we are lacking stuff. That's what we are doing with Ollie and the whole team together. But I've got trust in the team that hopefully we will not stay in that position and we will improve. We are doing a good job inside the team at the moment. There are good talking points, no hiding, everything is up to what we need for the future. We just need to make it happen.