Formula 1 News: 2026 Australian GP Thursday Press Conference
On Thursday six Formula 1 drivers in two groups of three met with the media in Melbourne at the Albert Park Circuit ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 Australian GP season opener
Australian GP Thursday Press Conference Part 1 Highlights
The press conference featured drivers George Russell (Mercedes), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac), and Nico Hülkenberg (Audi), discussing preparations for the new 2026 F1 regulations, team progress, and personal insights ahead of the season opener in Melbourne.
George Russell (Mercedes)
– Expressed optimism about Mercedes’ pre-season testing, highlighting improved correlation between simulations and on-track performance compared to previous years, with no major car concerns.
– Noted significant unknowns with the new cars, particularly around race starts, qualifying, and pit stops, which now involve more complexity and potential for errors.
– Dismissed talk of being the title favorite as “noise,” emphasizing a race-by-race focus and treating the hype as a compliment.
Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
– Described joining the new Cadillac team as a unique challenge, praising the team’s rapid progress from scratch and crediting hard work for being race-ready.
– Set “progress” as the primary 2026 goal, aiming for consistent improvement across the season with the new power units and cars.
– Felt no rustiness after sitting out 2025 as a reserve, thanks to extensive testing; shared a renewed appreciation for F1, including enjoying press conferences after his break.
– Announced no grid penalty for the weekend due to a new regulation (humorously noting it via Instagram).
– Discussed Finnish prospects: High hopes for Tuukka Taponen in his second F3 year and Kalle Rovanperä’s rally-to-single-seater transition, calling both talented with potential if they perform well.
– Reflected on his own rallying experience, noting the jump between disciplines is tough but achievable with talent and adaptability.
Nico Hülkenberg (Audi)
– Viewed Audi’s pre-season as solid with good progress but plenty of room to improve, especially as a young team with a unique power unit package.
– Defined success as ongoing development and point-scoring, acknowledging Melbourne’s track could shake up the order.
– Stressed the importance of progression throughout the year, similar to Bottas’ outlook.
Key Themes from Floor Questions
– Championship Predictions: Bottas jokingly tipped Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and George Russell, suspecting sandbagging in testing.
– Role of Experience: All agreed it helps (especially for new teams like Cadillac and Audi) but doesn’t guarantee success; adaptation and learning curves will be crucial in the early races.
– New Skills and Challenges: Drivers highlighted managing battery deployment during races as a major new element for strategy, overtaking, and defense. Additional procedures for power units and starts add complexity, but they expect quick adaptation.
– Increased Workload: Early season intensity expected, with drivers playing a central role in feedback and direction, though in-car work remains similar to before.
PART ONE – Nico HULKENBERG (Audi), Valtteri BOTTAS (Cadillac), George RUSSELL (Mercedes)
Q: George, why don’t we start with you. A lot has changed in Formula 1 this year. Just how confident are you and Mercedes feeling ahead of this first race?
George RUSSELL: Well, I think there’s just an element of the unknown, excitement going into the first race. I think it’s been a much better pre-season than we’ve had over the last four years. There are no items on the car that have been of major worry to us. Everything’s working as expected, correlation is good, simulator correlation is good, and they are things that we’ve failed with over the last four years, so regardless of the stopwatch, things are working out as we hope.
Q: You mentioned unknowns. Just how many unknowns are there as we go into race one?
GR: There’s a huge amount. I think there’s a lot of discussions around race starts – a challenging topic. There are a lot of hurdles. I think you can get tripped up by any small error, so there’s no time to relax during a race, during qualifying, pit stops. Things that once were quite straightforward parts of racing are now very complicated. However, to this point now, I think we’ve done the most amount of preparation possible. We’re feeling in a good place. However, I’m sure, new track things might be different.
Q: Many of your rivals have you down as the title favourite. What do you make of that?
GR: Not a lot, really. It doesn’t change anything. I think there’s a lot of chat around us, Mercedes, and take it as a compliment, I guess. However, once the helmet’s on and the visor’s down, you’re just flat out and you don’t really think about any of this additional noise. Just take it race by race and see how we go.
Q: Alright, thank you for that. Good luck to you. Valtteri, let’s come to you now. You have a huge amount of Formula 1 experience. Just how different is your new challenge with Cadillac to anything you’ve experienced before?
Valtteri BOTTAS: For sure it’s very different. I think it’s quite unique to be in a situation that you’re starting with a new team in the sport. It doesn’t really happen every day, so yeah, very unique. It’s been hard work, lots of problem solving, but we’ve already made great progress and really hats off to the whole team being here ready for race one, which I think already is incredible. So, looking forward to this journey. It’s only the start of it now.
Q: You’ve made great progress, as you say. What objectives have you set yourself and the team for 2026?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Progress. That’s the number one thing. We need to get better from the start of the year to the end of the year, which I hope we will. Like I said, we’ve had hard work already, but the hard work continues going ahead. With the new power units, with the new cars, it’s the same kind of for everyone, but we have been building everything from scratch, so we need to keep going, keep getting better in all the areas.
Q: And on a personal note, you had to sit out 2025 as a reserve driver. Have you been feeling a little bit rusty behind the wheel?
VB: I haven’t actually. Felt alright. Got plenty of testing, much more testing than normally you get before the season, and I think those few test days I had last year helped keep a bit of a feeling. But I have to say, actually, a few things are different. Like, I never expected to be actually kind of happy to be in a press conference after one year off. It’s like, it’s not bad. So yeah, you have a different perspective now.
Q: Long may that continue, Valtteri. Thank you very much. Nico, let’s come to you. It’s another new project for you with Audi. How are things progressing from your point of view?
Nico HÜLKENBERG: We’ll see this weekend now. We get the first read and pointer. Pre-season’s been okay. I think we made good progress. At the same time, still a lot of room for improvement in many areas. Still a young team, especially on the power unit side, obviously, and the only team out there with our package. Melbourne, it’s a great track, very different from Bahrain, so I think that could mix things up a little bit. But we do it for the first time in anger with these new cars, quali, especially the race on Sunday. I think it could be interesting.
Q: Can you describe the ambition inside the team? Just what does success look like for you guys this year?
Nico HÜLKENBERG: Well, I think it’s about also to progress. Where we start is where we start, but then to grow over the time of the year, to improve, to work on the package. Of course, we want to be competitive, we want to score points. What that means in numbers obviously we don’t know, having not done any race weekend running yet, but I think the progression and how we look throughout the year, that’s very important.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Welcome back, gents. Ninety-one days since we last went racing, it’s good to get going again. And Valtteri, as you’re happy to be in a press conference, we’re loving you being here. And as George is far too modest to admit that he is the favourite, who are your top three, with all due respect to the Cadillac drivers, for the Drivers’ Championship this year?
VB: You know, that this is so hard to say when we haven’t done a single race, we’ve only done testing. Every team is bringing probably different parts to Race 1, so even teams, it seems like impossible to say. But if I have to get something now, I’m going to say Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and George Russell, because I think they were sandbagging. So, they’re going to beat Aston at the very end in Abu Dhabi.
Q: (Nelson Valkenburg – Viaplay) As last year was a season full of rookies, it seems that this year might be a season where experience counts, a season for golden oldies: Nico, Valtteri, and maybe George if you feel experienced enough. How important is being experienced this season?
NH: We’re about to find out, I guess. But I wouldn’t—experience is nice to have, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. You still need to always find the throttle pedal, feel comfortable and confident in the car. I think it’s just about learning, adapting quickly in these early stages of the season where everything is still so new. I think the learning curve of every driver and team is going to be huge, so I wouldn’t just bank and sit on the experience and expect that to sort everything out for yourself.
VB: Yeah, like Nico said, I think it definitely helps, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. But I think for us in our team we have two experienced drivers and I think it is a good thing for a new team. Me and Checo both have been in different teams, we’ve seen what kind of works, what kind of doesn’t, so I think that’s going to probably help us.
GR: Yeah, I mean, I still feel pretty young, so I don’t know if I’m in the category yet, but there’s a lot of youngsters on the grid. But like the guys said, there’s so much different now. There are arguments that say being experienced is good, there’s other arguments saying not have the experience and going in with an open mind and no previous experience of how it used to be is also good. But at the end of the day the fundamentals are still the same: you’ve still got to go flat out around the corners and the fastest driver will come out on top.
Q: (Mariana Becker – TV Globo) From what you had to learn, you’re still learning, as you just said, George. What’s a new skill that you have to have to drive these cars, or which skill you have to develop much more than you used to, because this is completely different? You have to have other kinds of skills, or more kinds of skills?
GR: I think we all work very hard on the technical side. Even in years gone by you focused a lot on the tyres or on the simulator or set-up, how to get the most out of it. Now there’s just some added complexity of learning more about the engine and how the battery works on different tracks, how the power unit, how the race starts, with the turbos, work. So, I wouldn’t really say it’s a skill set necessarily, it’s just you’re learning new procedures. And I reckon by a couple of races in these procedures will be quite ingrained within us all and we’ll be talking about it much less.
VB: I think biggest difference and learning will be probably while racing, managing the battery. Where you use the deployment, how you strategise your move, whether it’s about overtaking or defending, and not running out of battery at the wrong time. I think that’s going to be probably the biggest thing when we see this first race.
Q: (Rachel Brookes – Sky Sports F1) It follows on from that actually: it’s more to do with how much more work are you guys, do you think, you’ll be having to do both in the car and outside of the car this season, working more with your race engineers, studying every track as though it’s completely new again, and how much impact do you think as a driver you’ll be able to have? Is it more this year on the performance because of all the extra work you’re going to have to do? Nico, let’s start with you.
NH: I think the work in the car is probably similar. It’s learning by doing, and then as we go there’s still a lot of unknowns, a lot of question marks. But I think as a driver you always have quite a central and significant role with how you do things, how you operate, how you feedback to the team, which direction you steer into. So, no doubt it’s going to be intense and it’s going to be busy, and especially these early couple of races are probably a bit more intense.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Valtteri, you say you’re not feeling rusty, but has getting back into the swing of an F1 pre-season and then the anticipation this weekend—has it given you, I guess, a different perspective on what you were missing last year? Do you appreciate F1 that little bit more, having been away from racing and now returning?
VB: Absolutely. Having one year of not racing, you definitely appreciate everything about this sport more, and being on the grid is a different feeling. So yeah, like I said, even the press conference doesn’t feel that bad today, but ask me in Abu Dhabi. But yeah, I definitely have a better perspective of the sport and will appreciate it much more than I did two years ago, so hopefully that will help me.
Q: (Christoffer Lindén – Automotive and Sports Sweden) For Valtteri, you have a grid penalty to serve here this weekend… No, you don’t?
VB: You don’t follow me on Instagram? No, I just did an announcement 20 minutes ago. Apparently, it’s vanished. Okay, yeah, thanks to some new regulation, so no grid penalty.
Q: (Christoffer Lindén – Automotive and Sports Sweden) Okay, that’s good.
VB: It is good, yeah!
Q: (Janne Palomäki – Ilta-Sanomat) Valtteri, it’s good that you ended the Finnish drought with our drivers in Formula 1, but there are two upcoming drivers, Tuukka Taponen and a certain Kalle Rovanperä, coming. How would you rate their chances to join you in Formula 1?
VB: There’s always a chance, and it would be nice to see the continuity of the Finns in the sport. For Tuukka, I know him pretty well and he’s a very talented driver. It’s going to be his second year in F3 this year, which will show, I think, the direction, and naturally in your second year you’ve got to do well if you want to progress. So yeah, this year should be good to follow, and I’m definitely rooting for him. There’s always a chance. And with Kalle, it’s going to be very interesting to follow somebody coming from World Rallying to single-seaters. That’s a big jump. And again, I think the next two years will really show in which direction that is going to go. But no doubt we’ll see big improvement in his journey in single-seaters. It’s going to be hard work, but again I think he’s one of those super talents when it comes to driving that anything is possible. So yeah, very keen to follow both of them, and I think that both of them, there’s no reason why there wouldn’t be a chance if they do well.
Q: Valtteri, you’ve done some rallying yourself. Just how challenging did you find the jump?
VB: Yeah, it’s hard to know how is it from rallying to single-seaters. I’ve only tried it obviously from single-seaters to rallying, and that is hard. It’s a different driving style, you’re mostly just driving against the clock, not with other cars on track, it is different. But ultimately if you’ve got the talent, if you’ve got the car feel, if you’re a good learner, I think you can adapt.
Q: (Tim Kraaij – GPBlog.com) Question to George, but the others can add in if they want to. George, with the situation in the Middle East at the moment, what does the talk among drivers, and do you think F1 can go racing in a month’s time already in Bahrain and Saudi?
GR: Ultimately, I think all of us trust in F1 and the FIA to make the right decision, and it’s going to be changing daily, I’m sure, and we’re still four or five weeks away, so I don’t think anyone is really pressing those questions because there’s still a long time between now and then. And of course it’s kind of outside of our hands. So yeah, trusting the guys at the top to make the right decision. And if we don’t, I’m sure there are Plan Bs in place, but we’re not asking and we trust they’re on it.
Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) George, you had three years in Formula 1 with Williams and when you finally had the chance in Mercedes, the team that was dominating, the sport’s rules changed, the cars, and you didn’t have the chance to fight for the title. Now maybe the rules change again and now it’s your chance to fight for the title.
GR: Is that a question?
Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) It’s a question, yeah.
GR: Yeah, I mean, I think every rule change there is a new opportunity for the team who hasn’t been winning. We feel we’ve got a very good chance. However, the last rule change, Ferrari were the team who came out of the blocks winning, and after three or four races they looked like the ones who were going to win the championship, and by the end of ’22 they weren’t even close to the fight. So, the mentality for us, regardless if we have a successful weekend or a difficult weekend, is that Melbourne won’t define the season, and if we want to win we need to keep on pushing, and yeah, we’re ready to do that.
Q: (Kieran Jackson – The Independent) George, one for you again please. You say that, but does the atmosphere feel different at Mercedes this year? Obviously you’ve been there since your fifth season, compared to 2022 when you didn’t know the scale of the challenge. Does it feel like a different sort of morale within the team that you can be right on top this year?
GR: The morale is definitely different, but I think this is more to do with the fact that the car is performing as we expected. What was very important is seeing the correlation is good, there’s no major scares on the car. I put it on the ground and both Kimi and I were happy with how it was handling. The engine looks strong. I think we’ve been surprised by some of our competitors how strong their power units have been, but the package looks good. So that is probably the biggest reason why the morale is high, and you need that at the start of any new regulations to build upon. In turn, the lap times look pretty decent as well in the first two tests, but we obviously know that the rate of improvement at the moment is going to be its steepest slope over the course of these next six months. So, as I say, it’s going to be a long fight and we hope we’re in it.
Q: (Samuel Coop – RacingNews365) My question is for you. In 2021 you and Checo both helped in the Constructors’ fight and you pipped him slightly in the Drivers’ Championship. Does that add a competitive ingredient to the kind of intra-Cadillac battle? Just your thoughts on that.
VB: Not really. I mean, I’ve been battling with Checo many, many years, sometimes actually in quite similar-ish machinery. He’s a solid driver, he’s experienced, he can be very quick. And again I think in the last years it showed whoever went to Red Bull, I don’t know if they did that much better than Checo. So yeah, our focus is now on building a strong team, helping out the team, ideally putting the team first and going from there, because if me and Checo both want results, the best way to get there is work together, push the team forward, and go from there.
Q: (Stewart Bell – AP) This is for George. Obviously we’ve spoken about the car and competitiveness of it, but what about yourself? How has your personal development in terms of physical and mental prep gone into this year?
GR: Yeah, I feel in a very good place, to be honest. I think last year was probably my strongest year, not just on track but just how I was feeling personally, and life at home. I think that’s very important to have a good professional and successful professional life. So, I’ve just sort of been building upon that, and I feel every single year I’ve been performing better and better, and there’s still areas I feel I need to and want to improve, and that’s what I’m working on this season. But generally, I feel good, feel happy, confident in myself, and just excited to go racing.
Q: George, what areas are you going to be focusing on improving in 2026?
GR: There are small technical areas I think that I wanted to improve on last year. It’s probably boring, I don’t want to go into those details because they’re sort of my personal bits. But I think for all of us now, this is my eighth season in Formula 1, you get to a point where you just start evolving. You’re making these small adjustments to try and get a little bit more out of yourself. But also, the great thing is I’ve got a really good group of engineers around me who have been with me for three or four years now, and I’ve got a very stable sort of platform around me, so I think that also helps a lot.
Q: (Ben Waterworth – Speedcafe) Question for George. Following up on sort of what was said there, with all this extra attention – you’ve obviously always got attention on you in Formula 1 – but do you relish, kind of, seemingly these questions, more eyes on you right now, that you are the title favourite potentially, and that you’re really relishing showing what you are capable of if this is true and it ends up being you are the championship favourite?
GR: It doesn’t change anything at all for me, to be honest. We obviously sit here on a Thursday and we talk about it for an hour, but then when I walk away, I go back to business and I work with my team. And what’s been discussed here or written in the media doesn’t help me go faster or doesn’t make me go slower. And I think that’s the approach I’ve always had with media, for good or for bad. You’ve got to just not pay too much attention to it because it never positively impacts your own well-being or your own performance. So, I think I’ve done a good job of that in the past and that’s still the same approach I’m taking. And as I said, I’ll take it race by race, not thinking about the big picture whatsoever, and recognise no matter how this weekend goes it’s a 24-race long season. It’s very, very demanding on everybody, and a lot can change between now and Abu Dhabi.
Q: (Ethan Cardinal – Drive.com.au) Valtteri, everyone knows that you are kind of a temporary Australian now, and since moving here I’m curious to know, like, have you picked up any Australian habits beyond just a mullet and the awesome moustache? And also, what’s your favourite part about living in Australia that you didn’t know was a thing until you moved here?
VB: Just to correct first, I don’t live in Australia. Maybe one day, who knows. I still live in Monaco, so nothing has changed on that. But with my partner, we got a place, end of November, in South Australia in McLaren Vale, which is great to have a place where we can stay. She’s Australian, so when we’re around this part of the world, we’ve got a place. So, it’s been amazing. I really love the lifestyle in Australia: the weather, the food, you name it. I think I picked up some habits. I do love a meat pie, you know, it’s pretty good. If I do a U-turn, I always do a “U-ey” instead of, you know, things like that. So simple things.
PART TWO – Arvid LINDBLAD (Racing Bulls), Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Ferrari)
Australian GP Thursday Press Conference Part 2 Highlights
The second part of the press conference featured drivers Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), focusing on their preparations for the 2026 season under new regulations, personal growth, team dynamics, and the unique challenges of the Australian Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
– Expressed tempered expectations for McLaren defending their Constructors’ title for a third year, noting competitiveness but potential gaps to Mercedes and Ferrari based on pre-season testing; stressed the need for ongoing improvements to match prior performance levels.
– Highlighted personal confidence in further progression, though adapting to new driving styles due to regulation changes is key.
– Described winning at his home race as a dream, but emphasized it hinges on car performance; maintains a professional mindset without added personal pressures.
Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
– As the sole rookie, shared excitement for his debut Grand Prix, a goal pursued since age five; noted the intensified environment with more media and team interactions compared to junior formulas like F2/F3.
– Reported solid reliability from testing, with primary learning centered on new regulations, energy management from the engine, and optimizing the car’s package through non-intuitive techniques.
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
– Praised Ferrari’s strong pre-season with high mileage and effective preparation, feeling personally sharp despite the complexities of new rules; focused on building from last year’s positives while leaving issues behind.
– In his second Ferrari season, feels more integrated with team culture and processes, contributing to a happier overall experience.
– Aimed to win and compete at the front immediately, excited about rivals like Mercedes; offered advice to rookie Lindblad to enjoy the journey, handle setbacks lightly, and stay focused.
Key Themes from Floor Questions
– New Regulations and Skills: Drivers discussed adapting to power unit deployment, energy management, and techniques like lift-and-coast, which can significantly affect lap times and vary by circuit; emphasized a shift from flat-out driving to strategic awareness.
– Team Form and Confidence: Ferrari highlighted strong race sims, while McLaren positioned itself in contention but needing more pace; testing benchmarks like Mercedes set high expectations.
– Fan and Event Atmosphere: The Melbourne Walk was described as overwhelming for newcomers, amplified by home crowd support for Piastri, and evolved into a major highlight for veterans like Hamilton, making Australia the premier season opener.
– Personal Insights: Hamilton credited his positive mindset to mental training, self-belief, and personal rediscovery post-struggles; hoped for better fan education on new regs via teams and media.
– Other Topics: Speculation on future African GPs (e.g., Rwanda, South Africa) based on Hamilton’s experiences; enthusiasm for a potential F1 movie sequel with Hamilton’s script input; strong team bonds, like Piastri’s with McLaren CEO Zak Brown.
Transcript
Q: Let’s start with the hometown hero, if we can. Oscar, McLaren have won the last couple of Constructors’ titles. Just how confident are you in the team making it three in a row?
Oscar PIASTRI: We’ll have to wait and see. It’s a very different regulation set. It would be very optimistic to say we’re going to have the same form as we did here 12 months ago. I think we’re somewhere towards the front, but from testing it kind of feels like Mercedes and Ferrari have got a little bit on us and Red Bull, I would say. Things are chopping and changing so quickly as everyone learns and brings things to the car, so we’ll have to wait and see. Last year we were coming here with very, very high hopes that we could achieve something special. This year I think we can still have a good result, but to achieve the same kind of performance we’re going to have to find a bit more.
Q: On a personal level, you’ve made big steps each off-season of your Formula 1 career. Do you think you’ve made another step going into 2026?
OP: Difficult to know because we’ve not started yet. What’s different this year, obviously, is the regulation reset. Having some of the off-seasons I’ve had previously and some of the things I’ve learned from that is definitely transferable into this year, but some of the challenges and driving style changes and things we’re looking at are pretty different to what we’ve seen ever, probably. I’m confident that I can take another step forward, hopefully using the same kind of process as what I have the last few years, and we’ll see where we end up.
Q: You were competitive here last year. What would it mean to finally win at home?
OP: If I had a dollar for every time I got asked that, I’d be… a few dollars richer! It would be really special. Every driver wants to win their home race and that’s no different for me. Having it as a season opener, there’s always a large element of the unknown there. I would love to win here. If we’ve got the car to do it – even if we don’t – then I’ll be trying my absolute best to, but we’ll have to wait and see what kind of performance we’ve got.
Q: Alright, thank you very much for that, Oscar. Now Arvid, if we could come to you, please. Welcome to the FIA press conference. You’re the only rookie on the grid this year. Describe how you’re feeling ahead of your first Grand Prix.
Arvid LINDBLAD: I’m feeling good. This is what I’ve been working towards my whole life. This was my goal, my dream, when I started when I was five, so the fact that it’s coming true is obviously something I’m very excited for.
Q: What aspect of the weekend are you looking forward to most?
AL: I’m looking forward to all of it, but probably qualifying and the race a bit more, because that’s a bit more exciting.
Q: How different does this feel coming into your first Grand Prix compared to anything else you’ve done in your career?
AL: It’s a lot busier than in F2 and F3. There’s a lot more people in this room than I’m used to. There’s more media, there’s just a bit more everything. In F1 everything’s a step up, so it’s a different vibe. There’s a bit more going on, but I’m just trying to stay focused on the important bit, which is the driving.
Q: Let’s talk a little bit more about that bit, the driving. The car proved reliable in testing. What was the biggest thing you learned?
AL: I think for all of us, we’re trying to get up to speed with these new regulations. Obviously the car is different, tyres different, but I think the biggest thing is the engine, and just with the energy, different techniques, the different ways you have to drive, trying to find tricks with the team to get the most out of the package. That’s the main thing that we’re working through and trying to get on top of.
Q: Thank you for that. Good luck this weekend. And Lewis, let’s come to you now. Oscar said it himself, Ferrari looked to have a very solid pre-season. How confident are you and the team feeling coming into 2026?
Lewis HAMILTON: Well, good afternoon. It’s good to see everybody. It’s great to be here. I’ve been here 20 years… that’s long? And this room is still the same! I would say it’s not a confidence thing. We got great mileage done in winter testing. An amazing amount of work has been done from the team back at the factory, but also delivering on those tests, and we’ve learned a lot from last year. We’re leaving behind the bad and moving forwards with the good. We’re sharp, prepared, and we know what we need to do. We also know there are massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations.
Q: This is your second season with Ferrari. Just how different does it feel coming into year two? You know all the processes, you know the people in the team. How does that help you?
LH: It’s massively different to the first year and a much nicer feeling, having spent a year at the team, understanding the culture, understanding ways, finding ways of working together. I think we’re in a good place now together as a team, and I feel very gelled with the team today. So yeah, much happier.
Q: I know it’s early days, we haven’t even turned a wheel here in Melbourne, but can we talk about goals for the season for you? What’s a realistic ambition?
LH: The goal is to win. That’s what we’re working towards. Every team is, but that’s our goal: to maximise on every opportunity, to be hopefully fighting in the top group, hopefully in the first races. We don’t really know. Mercedes looked particularly quick, and I’m not really sure whether we’ve seen the full, unleashed Red Bull yet, so it’s really, really exciting. But whatever the case, I feel like I’ve got a great group of people behind me who are head down focused on bringing performance and really maximising every weekend.
Q: Lewis, final one from me. You’ve already said it’s your 20th season in Formula 1. You will have exceeded 400 starts by the end of this season. In all that experience, what’s the greatest thing you’ve learned that you can pass on to Arvid now?
LH: Firstly, I don’t feel like this is my 20th year. I feel younger than ever somehow. I feel very fresh. Whilst he says he’s 18, I feel like I’m 18 as well. It’s all in the mind, and physically I feel great. Sitting here in my first year, I’d say just enjoy it, which he’s probably already doing. It is being thrown into the deep end because all the commitments you have and the circus takes a while to get used to. But he’s done a great job already through winter testing and obviously deserves to be here. I’m looking forward to seeing how he progresses. And also, there will be bad days, and just don’t take it too heavily. Obviously you will because you’re competitive, but there’s nothing you can do about the past. It’s just how you move forwards.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Rachel Brookes – Sky Sports F1) Lewis, if I can start with you, you mentioned you will have bad days to Arvid. We all watched the challenges of last year, but we’ve seen so much positivity from you on social media recently and over the winter break. Can you tell me what that’s down to? Is it looking ahead to this car and what you knew? Was it getting away from the sport for a bit, friends, family? Can you tell us where that’s come from?
LH: A combination of things. The break was really positive. It was my surroundings, it was the people that I was with. It’s not my first rodeo, so it’s understanding how to flip things. It’s not that easy to do each time, but I always talk about cultivating a positive mental attitude and that’s what I focus on in my winter. A lot of it came from training. I was training hard from Christmas Day. Also, knowing that I believe in myself, that I’ve put more work in than anyone around me, and I believe in myself. Rediscovering myself was a big part of it as well. As I said in one of my posts, I kind of lost sight for a second of who I was, and that person’s gone, so you won’t see that person again.
Q: (Mariana Becker – TV Globo) For the three of you, when you drove this car during Bahrain and Barcelona and also at the simulator, what did you realise, or what kind of skills did you realize that you have to develop more to be able to drive this car as it should?
LH: The deployment is the biggest part. The rest of it is all kind of similar and familiar, but the deployment is so challenging and it’s different from track to track. We probably also won’t know until we’re thrown in the deep end in the race to understand, when we overtake someone, how it’s going to affect us coming out of that corner and managing that is going to be difficult. Some tracks you don’t have to do lift and coast for a single lap, and in some places you have to do a lot of lift and coast for a qualifying lap. There can be a big difference between deployment, of a second. If you don’t lift in one corner, for example Turn 6, Turn 5 here. If you take it flat or if you lift, it has a massive compound effect through the rest of the lap. You can do a good lap but you could be a second down because the deployment is off. That’s going to be the biggest challenge, not only the drivers optimising it, but the team being on top of it and delivering.
OP: There’s a lot of things that are different. As Lewis said, all the driving, car set-up, everything is kind of optimised around getting the most out of the power unit. There’s always been an element of that, but it’s now by far the biggest element. You’ve still got to do all the other basics right. What is difficult about these new regulations is that a lot of the things we have to learn to do as drivers are not very intuitive, so it takes some getting used to and a lot of discipline.
AL: Just echoing what Lewis and Oscar said: in the end a race car is a race car, it’s got a throttle and a brake, but the energy is a bigger aspect. It’s not always about just being flat out, it’s about being more energy-aware, about if you can be more efficient. That’s a bigger element than it has been in the past.
Q: (Nelson Valkenburg – Viaplay Netherlands) Oscar, we left Bahrain with a lot of teams pointing at other teams as the favourites, and you just said we expect to be maybe third or fourth fastest behind Ferrari and Mercedes. What have you seen in those teams to make you think that McLaren is a little bit behind? What makes them quicker based on Bahrain?
OP: There’s never much you can read into with times in testing. The only thing you can sort of get a read on are the race simulations that everyone does. They’re still not perfect, but to do a race simulation you need to fill the car up fully with fuel, so some of the Ferrari race sims looked very, very strong. For Mercedes, whilst they never really did many race sims in Bahrain, the kind of form and some of the laps they’ve been able to put in… Barcelona was pretty impressive, and they set the bar pretty high. They came in, had the car run pretty flawlessly, doing so many laps. The preparation from them seems strong. But I don’t think we’re far behind, if we are. I don’t know if we are behind at all. The feeling is we’re in the mix but not right at the pointy end, so if we can find a little bit more then hopefully we can be right at the pointy end.
Q: (Margot Laffitte – Canal+) Question for all three of you: can you talk us through the atmosphere of the Melbourne Walk when you arrived at the track this morning, please? Arvid, can we start with you? What did you make of it?
AL: It was obviously quite different to what I’m used to. We kind of did it in F2, but I don’t think there was even a fraction of the people that were there this morning. So yeah, it was quite an experience for me – a lot of people, a little bit overwhelming, but it was cool. It’s a part of this race, and I love this event. It’s a great track, a great city, and the fans are a really big part of it as well. Getting a taste of that on Thursday morning is a good sign for the rest of the week.
OP: For me it’s pretty special because most of the things I’m signing are for me, which is always fun. We don’t have anything like that anywhere else. Maybe a few races have tried to copy it, but it’s very unique to Melbourne. Having most of the support be for me is an added layer on top of that.
LH: It’s grown a lot since I started and it’s amazing to see everyone here and the energy is always awesome in Melbourne. This is definitely by far the best opener of a season. We had it in a few different places in the past, but this one, being that it’s so far to get to, the weather’s always great, the city’s fantastic, and the people are great.
Q: (Nqobile Mahlambi – SuperSport Africa) You know that F1 has a big following in terms of motorsports in Africa. We want to know, you’ve spoken publicly about a potential race. If you had to pick a specific city or a place in Africa, where would it be and why?
LH: Well, welcome. Thank you. I’ve had the privilege… I’ve been to 10 countries now in Africa. There’s still so much more for me to see. For the past six years, maybe seven, I’ve been fighting in the background to get a Grand Prix, might be longer than that actually, sitting with stakeholders and asking the question, why are we not in Africa? There’s one on every other continent, why not Africa? I know they’re really trying. I think they’ve been to quite a few different countries. The ones that I’ve enjoyed the most: I loved Kenya. I don’t think we’re going to have a Grand Prix in Kenya, but Rwanda particularly was spectacular. Two places I felt like I could live. South Africa is stunning. I think those are the ones I think would be good places for us to potentially go to. I don’t want to leave the sport without having a Grand Prix there, without getting to race there, so I’m chasing them: when is it going to be? They’re setting certain dates, I’m like, damn, I could be running out of time, so I’m going to be here for a while until that happens, because that would be amazing, given that I’m half African. I’ve got roots from a few different places there, like Togo and Benin. I went to visit Benin last year, Senegal and Nigeria. It’s something I’m really, really proud of. I’m really proud of that part of the world. I think it is the most beautiful part of the world, and I don’t like that the rest of the world owns so much of it and takes so much from it and no one speaks about it. I’m really hoping that the people that are running those different countries all unite and come together and take Africa back. That’s what I want to see. Take it back from the French, take it back from the Spanish, take it back from the Portuguese and the British. It’s so important for the future of that continent. They have all the resources to be the greatest and most powerful place in the world, and that’s probably why they are being controlled the way they are. But anyways, move on.
Q: (Oliver van Bronswijk – The Roar) Question for both Oscar and Lewis: you seem to grow a lot more comfortable through testing with some prolonged running. How confident are you guys that you can get performance in new tracks with different characteristics?
OP: What is going to be unique and a challenge for us to learn this year is, in the past you’ve kind of gone from track to track and it’s got different grip levels, different downforce levels, things like that, but the fundamental way you drive the car and the engine has never really been a big factor. Whereas now, from track to track, the engine—or the power unit—is probably going to be the biggest factor in how you set things up and how you get the most out of it, how you get the best lap time. So how you attack different tracks is going to look pretty different, and the things we need to do are going to look pretty different. Getting on top of those and understanding those is going to be the biggest challenge.
LH: It’s going to be the most challenging, and I think it will be the most challenging it’s ever been in the sport, for sure. It’s always challenging when you have rule changes, but this one particularly is far bigger than at least the five that I’ve been through. It’s going to be something that we’re learning on the cuff. We’ve learned a lot from the test, but we’re going to be learning—this is also a bit of a test each weekend. You’re going to be learning more, you’re going to be faced with different challenges with the different characteristics of the circuit. It’s fine. I just hope that Formula 1 is able to project that to the fans so they can understand what’s going on, because inside it’s a lot to fully understand it. I hope commentators come and go speak to the teams, maybe understand it a little bit more, so you’re not just throwing ideas out there about what we’re trying to do or what the challenges we are facing, because it’s no joke. It’s really, really challenging.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Lewis, a question for you. Just picking up on what you were saying about losing sight of yourself and the kind of rediscovery that you went through. Was that just because of last year’s struggles that really fed that soul searching? Was there a specific moment that made you think, okay, I need to make a change here? And has that contributed to feeling in a happier and more settled place going into this year?
LH: I think it was just something that built up over a period of time. It’s normal. Lots of people have that at some point through their lives, and it’s important that you pick yourself back up and you evaluate where you’ve been and, as I said, come back with that positive mental frame of mind. I feel great arriving here. Training has been fantastic. The work with the team has been amazing. Changes within my own personal space, and in how I interact with the team, how the team is working, is so much smoother than it was last year.
Q: (David Schneider – Hollywood Reporter Japan) Question for Lewis. Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that there will be Part 2 of the F1 movie. Will you take a similar role like in Part 1, or maybe even have a stronger role in front of the camera? And a quick question about Charles: what wedding gift did you give him, maybe some advice?
LH: I’ve never been married, so I definitely haven’t given him any advice. I haven’t gotten a wedding gift yet. I usually delay myself when it comes to gifts like that, so maybe six months in I’ll give it to him. And yes, we are already working on the first script. We had our first meeting maybe mid to late second part of the end of the year—me, Jerry and Joe—talking about different ideas, different directions that we could go with the script, and then with Erin, we’ve had plenty of meetings on it. It’s really exciting. I’m super excited. Now I’ve been through it and it was already very intense the first time, going now I’m used to it, so I know what to expect, I know what we could do better. It’s been amazing to see how big an impact it’s had, how many people have loved the movie. I’m still getting texts from people who are only just watching the movie and how it’s opened their eyes up to what this sport is about, and it’s sent them down a rabbit hole trying to understand it more. The second one for me… sequels often aren’t always great. We’ve got a great team, got a great cast, great writer, so I’m not concerned about that, but we’re going to take our time and make sure we get it just the way it needs to be.
Q: Front of camera?
LH: I don’t really have a lot of desire to be on camera. I’ve had loads of opportunities to be in movies. I really like the idea of being in the background. It was an amazing experience and it’s so much more enjoyable than actually being on camera. I really admire actors. I mean, the craft. It’s such a hard business to be in, and to take on these characters is such a challenge. I don’t know if that’s something I’d be particularly great at. I’ve had a couple of really cool experiences like doing Cars 2 and getting to do voiceovers, which was fun. But I’m planning on producing lots of different TV shows, documentaries and movies. I have a lot in the pipeline, so I’ll probably be focused on that rather than actually being on camera.
Q: (Eddie Summerfield – Radio 3AW) Oscar, your mum spoke this morning about how she doesn’t get to see you all that much during this weekend while you’re here and you’re not staying with her. Can you tell us about how your mindset is different for the Australian Grand Prix compared to every other race weekend throughout the calendar year?
OP: It’s not really. There are no extra points for being in your home race or anything like that. The only way the mindset is a bit different is you just don’t know exactly what to expect, so that’s really the only way it changes. There’s a lot of extra support, which is great, but in terms of trying to do my job and get the best out of myself, that’s exactly the same no matter where we are in the world.
Q: (Will Swanton – The Australian) Oscar, I feel like Zak became a bit of a villain last year in Australia for reasons that you know. Tell us about your working relationship with him, but also what he’s like as a bloke, and put all that into a bit of context.
OP: My relationship with Zak is very good, and it’s gotten stronger the longer we’ve known each other. He’s certainly good fun and it’s good to have around. Him and Andrea are two people with very different styles that works well together. The relationship between Zak and I is good. As a team, we obviously had some tough moments through last year, as any team has, but I think our relationship has only gotten stronger from that.
Q: (Ethan Cardinal – Drive.com.au) Oscar, you led the standings for most of last year but ultimately lost the title by 13 points, which is a smaller margin than the points you sacrificed in team-ordered swaps. Is this weekend and the season more about winning for McLaren, or is it proving to everyone that you’re no longer willing to be the number two behind the reigning champion, Lando Norris?
OP: There’s a lot to digest in that question. For me, we’re always going to race for the best interest of the team. We’ve always had freedom to race for our own individual results as well. Maybe on some occasions we’ve not always made the perfect decision, but the important part is there’s never been any bad intention with that. We’ve had a lot of learning about things we can do differently, things we can do better. But I’ve got nothing to prove. I’m certainly not going to have a rebellious streak or anything like that. A pretty quick-fire way to make sure you’re not going to win a championship is go against your own team, so I don’t think that’s a very wise move. We’ve had discussions and worked on things we can do better this year.
Q: (Stuart Bell – AP) Lewis, you mentioned just before that you’re fully gelled with the team. Can you give me an idea of the process of getting to that point, and also some of the challenges that you’ve experienced along the way?
LH: It’s the culture, the difference in culture, the difference in the way in which the team operates compared to what I’ve experienced with British teams, for example. It’s really just getting to know each other. Lots of meetings, lots of discussions, lots of communication – improving communication. It’s time at the factory, which I gave a lot last year but continue to truly show up. Finding way of just asking for change is one thing but finding ways to create allyship and show why change is better for us as a whole… And going on the journey together to discovering that and making those improvements. I think we started to do that towards the end of last year and particularly going into this season. Again, because it was such a steep learning curve last year and we were learning on the go, but we’re so much more prepared this year, which I’m really, really excited for. It goes back to the confidence, the reason I joined the team, the belief that I have in joining the team and what I believe I can do with this team is even stronger than it ever was before.