Part One: Nico Hulkenberg, Max Verstappen and Oliver Bearman.
Max, if I can start with you. Very happy birthday for yesterday.
Max Verstappen: Thank you.
I hope you managed to enjoy it. We're back at the site of your second win in Formula 1. What are your memories of racing here?
MV: Yeah, good question. I mean, to be honest, I walked into the paddock and I had no idea where I had to go, so it's been a long time. I always enjoyed racing here because I think I really liked the track layout. It was not very straightforward because there was always high degradation, hot in general, so quite uncomfortable in a way, of course, to drive, physically. They are great, great memories but, yeah, had to get into the paddock, I had to get used again. It's been a bit too long.
In the last three Grands Prix, you alone have outscored Ferrari and McLaren as teams. Is it a sign of improvements in the car? Is it a sign of you getting a handle on this car better? Is it a sign of you getting the most of it? Is it a mix of everything? What do you put it down to?
MV: Unfortunately, we're not outscoring Mercedes. They are actually the fastest ones, or at least they were for most of the season. But, yeah, I mean, I'm trying everything I can. We are scoring, of course, quite a few podiums now, but I want to win. That's what I'm here for and I'm getting close, but I want to at least win one race this year. So, I hope we can do it, of course, at some point. But, yeah, we have some solid results. I think also the parts that we got on the car in Baku, they worked well. But we also know that Baku always has been quite a good track to us. It's quite unique with the 90-degree corners. You don't really have a lot of high-speed corners, so we have to wait a little bit now in the coming races [to see] how our car is going to perform, which is also quite good for us probably, to see all these different kinds of tracks because, for next year, we'll probably learn a lot now over these coming races of what we need, what we want to do with the car. We're anyway not fighting for the championship, so for us it's a big learning curve. But, of course, the last few weekends have been a lot better than the start of the season.
Is that the team's motivation then? You're looking really hard and fast now at 2027 because, with Mercedes bringing an upgrade this weekend, it could be even harder to close that gap.
MV: Yeah, probably. I mean, normally if you bring an upgrade, it should go faster. So, with them already being at the pace that they are, it will probably be very tricky. But, yeah, doesn't matter. Every single weekend we'll try and do our best and we'll see where that leads us, of course, this weekend.
Thank you, Max. Nico, if I can move to you. You're one of the drivers that has raced here in the past. Firstly, what do you make of the job that the Bahraini organisers have done here to make you feel like you're at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia?
Nico Hulkenberg: Yeah, great job from them. There's the Bahraini feel here, in the paddock as well, the furniture, the staff, everything. So great job on their side and, yeah, happy to be back here. Scored my first ever F1 points here back in 2010 and, yeah, look forward to it.
What are the characteristics of this track and what are going to be the challenges of driving it in this generation of Formula 1 car, do you think?
NH: Yeah, it's a technical, flowing track. Medium-, high-speed, but a couple of low-speed as well. Obviously, it's hot. Degradation is going to play a factor. I think the tarmac is also quite rough and demanding. So, yeah, come Sunday, definitely I think that will play a role, have a factor. And obviously, you know, weather, there can always be the odd monsoon shower that appears here quite quickly. So, yeah, we'll see.
You had the big update at the last race. What's the feedback been like from the team and what can you expect this weekend? You were knocking on the door of points in Baku. Can you get in the points here, do you feel?
NH: I think we can. We obviously need to do a good job, no mistakes. I think, you know, there's further to extract from the update. It did feel a clear step forward in Baku in the corners. I think in Baku we had, you know, our problems were more on the straights and regarding straight-line speed, which is obviously quite crucial, critical there. Here and the next few, it's a bit different. So, I'm optimistic that we can be competitive and, you know, squeeze ourselves into the points again.
Great, thank you. Ollie, if I can come to you. How was your boys' trip to Langkawi?
Oliver Bearman: It was a good training camp, to be honest. Working hard and preparing for this race. You know, we've been close by to Sepang and, you know, it's a very unique climate that we have here and, of course, next week in Singapore as well. But no, in all seriousness, it was very fun, you know, to spend a bit of time with some of the guys outside of the circuit. And, you know, that's also quite rare, to be honest, to be able to do that and unlock a kind of new side of all of the people that I was spending time with. And I very much enjoyed myself. And it's also nice to have a bit of reset, you know, a few days off in a way. But also, I've been training quite hard. I'm sure you're not going to believe me, but I was.
It looked a lot of fun. What about this circuit? Did you pick the brains of anyone who's driven here before about what to expect? Have you walked the track yet? Do you know what it's like?
OB: No, I haven't been around yet but, you know, we have the out-lap in FP1. I don't know if I'm going to walk it. It's a bit warm. Maybe I'll take a scooter or something. But no, I mean, I've been speaking, of course... Esteban's raced here in his first two years in Formula 1 and also our reserve driver, Ryo, he's got a lot of experience here. So, I haven't spoken to him yet, or to be honest Esteban, since we just arrived. But I'm going to be doing my best to pick the brains of them and also the engineers who have been here since that time of Haas. It's all useful info. But I think also that the track has changed quite a lot since then, you know, in terms of roughness and things like that. So it could be quite a different beast to what they knew from almost 10 years ago. I mean, I was in cadet karting, so I, of course, haven't driven it.
You mentioned Esteban there. He's, of course, been confirmed as leaving Haas at the end of this season. What is he like as a team-mate and what would you like from your team-mate? What do you look for in a team-mate?
OB: Yeah, I mean, Esteban has been a great teammate and it's a shame to see him going. But I think I've learned a lot from him, you know, over the year and a half, or just over a year and a half, that we've been together. Of course, he's a very quick driver, but also the way that he works with the team has been quite interesting for me to see because coming in as an F2 driver, where you're almost a client of the team and you get told what to do, you step up to F1 and now the team looks to you for inspiration, for motivation, for a direction in terms of development and things like that, which is the first time I've been in that situation. So in that sense I learned a lot from Esteban, so that's been really useful for me. And, you know, there's no doubt about his speed. He's shown that on many occasions. So, yeah, it's a shame to see, but I'm looking forward to coming into a new role maybe within the team as the leader, you know, being the most experienced driver within the team potentially. So in that sense I think it's a good opportunity for me to continue to learn.
Is that how you feel, ready to lead?
OB: Yeah, I think that I've come a long way in those two years. If I compare myself to... I mean, my first few races were very unique circumstances, but even if I compare to the level that I was performing at last year, I've definitely come a long way, especially with how I interact with the team off-track and what I understand about how to get the most out of the guys and developing the car as well. So, in that sense I'm looking forward to this kind of new role.
Questions From The Floor
(David Croft - Sky Sports F1) On behalf of all of us, including Ollie, who's never raced here before, Max, Nico, as previous winners, how physical is this weekend going to be and how much have you had to up your training, given this is the first of three races in seven days in extreme conditions here in this part of the world?
NH: Training? We've just been travelling and racing.
Have you done any training at all?
NH: Well, we drive. That's training.
Okay.
NH: Driving fitness. But, yeah, to be honest, the schedule is pretty intense, busy. I mean, everyone is different, everyone does their thing. But I'd say it is going to be physical but manageable.
We're just going to hear from Max and Ollie.
MV: Oh, sorry. Yeah, I think I had four or five months of very intense preparation. Yeah, deep mental preparation of not giving an F. So, yeah, just rock up. It's hot, but it's also hot in Monaco. It gets very humid there as well. If you really want it hot, you go in the sauna or a steam room. I do that sometimes. You just need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. So that's the case for everyone. It's hot, sweaty, need a few more underwears, I guess. Just go with the flow.
Thank you, Max. Ollie?
OB: I don't know, I haven't driven here yet.
No special preparation?
OB: No, just, yes, I packed a few extra underwears, like Max said.
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