Today's team representatives press conference with Adrian Newey, Allan McNish and Marcin Budkowski.

Welcome Adrian, perhaps we could start with you, please. Contrasting performances for the team at the last couple of races: a great race at Sepang was followed by a more frustrating weekend in Singapore. How do you reflect on those two weekends?
Adrian Newey: Yeah, Singapore was certainly not one of our finest. We never really got the PU and the chassis working properly, so it's just one of those weekends which will be a great experience to learn from. Lots of things to take away from that, but over the weekend itself, it never came together.

So, what about here? It looks like you've hit the ground running here in Austin. Do you see this as more of a weekend akin to what you achieved in Sepang?
AN: Tell you on Sunday afternoon.

Now, look, last time, Adrian, you were in the press conference in Hungary, you said you wanted to get everybody in the team working together and you wanted to change the team's culture. How much progress have you made with those since then?
AN: I think we're making huge amounts of progress. It really feels now like the team's coming together. The team spirit within the engineering offices, in particular, I think is very strong now. I see a lot of ideas being generated, lots of people chatting with each other, working late in the evening. So, very impressed with how the individuals are really kind of... You can just feek... I'm putting it poorly: you can feel the buzz in the factory now.

And where are Honda on that curve?
AN: Honda obviously are working hard. They're a great company, as we all know, capable of great things, as they've proved many times in the past. We are working closely with them and so hopeful of the future.

Talking of Honda, does what you're going through now with them remind you of the journey you had with them at Red Bull, starting in 2019?
AN: I would say, at the moment, in all truth, Honda are a little bit behind where Red Bull, as the works team, RBR, picked up Honda in '19. But that obviously was four seasons after they first came back in '15. So, this is the first year back in. Repeating myself, they are a great company. I have every confidence that they will accelerate quickly and understand the problems of these particular PU regulations.

Okay, Adrian, thank you very much for that. Alan, why don't we come to you now? A very strong weekend in Singapore for Nico at Marina Bay is a very particular venue. Just how hopeful are you of continuing that run of form here in Austin?
Allan McNISH: Yeah, you're right. It was a very good weekend for us, the first time we scored points in a Sprint race, also backing that up with points again in the feature race. So, it was a good haul. It was also a confidence boost, I think, after the two races in Baku and Sepang, where we had tenth place taken away on the last lap, which was frustrating, to say the least. However, it was a good bounce back, and what we've seen from Gabby this morning, admittedly only FP1, the momentum is definitely keeping going right now. So, yep, as we look into this weekend, then we're pretty hopeful to be able to have a good one.

You talk about momentum. You've got a few new parts on the car this weekend. How are they performing? How was it in FP1?
AMcN: Yeah, so we had the two cars separated. Gabriel was on the new package, which admittedly is a small package in comparison to what we brought to Baku, but he was on the new one. Then Nico was on the previous spec that we had in the last few races. I think it was quite clear on the data and also on the lap time that there was a benefit there. So, we're converting both cars to the new spec for FP2.

Is there more coming on this car or back at the factory? Is it all 2027?
AMcN: No, I think everybody now is focused - I would say all teams are focused more on what's happening for '27 than necessarily anything else. There'll be details, but nothing serious in reality.

Okay, I asked Adrian about the culture at Aston Martin, and you've been racing director of Audi now for six months. How would you describe the culture of the team?
AMcN:Definitely one that has evolved a lot. There's no question about it. I've known the team previously in a different guise, and there was an element that the people were very good; however, they didn't necessarily have the resource or, I would say, the clarity of direction. With that, in the last year, when it became Audi, one part of it, but also I think since scoring points, since being able to compete, since being able to consistently fight in and around the last part of qualifying, getting into the top ten, that's definitely lifted the spirits. And also, I just said, felt taking the weight of the workload and things over the race weekend, and that's at the circuit. Back at the factory, it's quite clear that they've got a clear focus, not just necessarily short term but also long term, '27, '28 and beyond. So, the culture, I would just say, is going to be one of the key points for us. But right now, you need a positive culture because there's no question, I think all three teams sitting here, you know, we have got our good parts and our strengths and our weaknesses as well. But to make sure, you need to have that clarity.

Now, Freddie Slater, you've announced that he's doing a couple of FP1 sessions. Huge moment for him. Why now, and what do you want him to achieve in those sessions?
AMcN:Well, first thing, I think Freddie deserves it. If I look at his career, and we've been involved with him now for nearly three years, it's pretty clear he's got talent. It's pretty clear that he's got the attitude and the work ethic to do it. He's integrated extremely well into everything that we're doing, and you talk about culture and things, he's really focused on that. So, without doubt, he's in a position where he can get the opportunity, and at the same time, he's part of our Audi Driver Development Programme, and that is giving opportunities. So, we're very pleased to be able to do it, coming to Mexico and then also following it up in Brazil. Obviously, he needs to get his feeling for the car, he needs to understand how these cars work, and at the same time, I expect him to be doing a very sensible job because, at the end of the day, he's just in the first part of what I would say, and hopefully is for him, a long-term Formula 1 career.

Allan, thank you very much for that. Marcin, let's come to you now. A home race for Cadillac. You're running a special livery, you have activations going on across Austin. Just how special is this race for the team?
Marcin Budkowski: I mean, special for the team is a home race, as you said. It's the second home race of the season for the team. It's the first home race with the team for me, especially. It's very busy as well. We have a lot of activations, a lot of media attention. We're also doing a few special things with the livery you mentioned. We have a big event this evening. So yes, it makes it even more busy. But, you know, from a race team point of view, we just treat it as another weekend and just trying to do our best.

Let's talk about performance. Just how much progress do you feel you've made with this car in recent weeks?
MB: It's a tough one because, as the others mentioned, we stopped developing this year's car. We brought some parts here that are actually more of an experiment for next year's car that we're running on Colton's car, and then doing some set-up work on Valtteri again, exploratory, not directly intended at this race, but just to scan the field of the set-up possibilities of the car, gain some valuable knowledge. And this is the kind of thing we're doing for us as a new team. Every lap, every session, every race is a learning opportunity, and we're trying to maximise that. Obviously, with races, we want to do the best possible result at every race, but we're also conscious that we're not competing for much as of today, and the biggest leverage, best usage of the time we have on the track, is to increase the team's collective knowledge and experience and bring that into next year.

Let's expand on that, if we could. You've been in the job a couple of months. You've got your feet under the table. Has that been enough time for you to identify the areas where you need to improve to take the next step?
MB: Yes, definitely. I mean, there are two aspects to it. There's we need to improve everywhere. We are a new team where there's a bunch of people that either came from different F1 teams but have never built a car together. They've never been able to iterate from a previous version of a car or take something that existed and make it better. We also have, I'm pretty sure, the highest proportion of people working in the team that do not have any prior F1 experience. And as we all know, it's a very specialised sport. You need to bring these people up to speed. So, all that team is kind of blending together still at this stage. But on top of that, yes, there are a few things and to be honest, it didn't take me two months; it took me two weeks to see clearly that there are a few areas that deserve more focus. And I'm not saying they've been neglected. We're talking about a team that put a car design and built a car on the track in a record amount of time while at the same time building a team, recruiting people. But for me, one of the first things is reprioritising what we're doing and putting the right amount of focus in the right areas. And not only focus, but when we talk about focus, we talk also about resources, human and financial, and making sure we spend our resources in the projects that matter and in the areas that matter. I think that was the biggest thing I did since I arrived.