PART ONE – Lance STROLL (Aston Martin), Lewis HAMILTON (Ferrari), Valtteri BOTTAS (Cadillac)

Q: Let’s start with the hometown hero. Lance, welcome. Lots of fans coming to see you race at home this weekend. Just what does it mean to be back in Montréal in a race car?

Lance STROLL: It’s great. I look forward to this weekend all season. It’s my favourite race of the year. I love the track, you know, the fans, the energy, the whole city gets really into the race weekend and it’s just electric. Even when you drive around for the first out lap in FP1, you just feel the energy around the circuit, it’s amazing. Great memories over the years coming here, some good results, some good races. So yeah, it’s exciting.

Q: Talking of memories, before we come on to on-track performance, you had a pretty special time, I believe, yesterday driving some old cars, a Senna-inspired Honda NSX. Am I right?

LS: Yeah, it was a fun day with Honda, some old cars, and it’s always fun to drive some different machines. So, it was fun.

Q: Alright, what about the race car then, on track? Both Astons finished both the Sprint and the Grand Prix in Miami. While the pace isn’t where you want it to be at the moment, are you beginning to make some progress?

LS: Yeah, we fixed the vibrations in Miami, so that was good. We finished the race, both cars got to the chequered flag for the first time this season, which I think is a step forward. And now we just need to find a lot more downforce and power. So, when we do that, we’ll be in better shape. So that’s what we’re focused on.

Q: Have you been given a time scale by the team as to when you can expect more downforce, more power?

LS: We have an upgrade for Spa or the one after Spa. I don’t know which one… Zandvoort, yeah. Is it going to be enough to fight for the front? No. But yeah, these things don’t happen overnight, so everyone’s pushing as hard as possible and we’re doing everything we can to bring as much lap time to the car as quickly as we can.

Q: Final one from me, Lance. You raced a GT3 car recently. Max Verstappen did the same, at the  Nürburgring 24 Hours last weekend. What did you make of what he got up to at the Nürburgring?

LS: Yeah, I didn’t watch the whole 24 hours. In fact, I saw some highlights and, you know, for sure, hats off. He’s so talented and so fast and so brave. I saw he was making some crazy moves in the middle of the night and was super quick behind the wheel whenever he was behind the wheel. So yeah, it’s fun. I think when we have breaks, you know, I have a GT3 car for track days and stuff, just for fun. And when we had that six weeks off, I got some friends together, put the car in the race and we got out there and had some fun. So, it’s always cool driving different things. He was good. It was fun to watch.

Q: Lance, thank you for that. Best of luck this weekend. Lewis, coming to you. When you hear stories of Lance racing a GT3, Max doing his GT3 stuff, does it whet your appetite? Does it make you want to go and have a go as well?

Lewis HAMILTON: Not particularly, no. There’s definitely a part of me… I mean, I love the Nordschleife, so I would love to drive a car around there at some stage. And I mean, the racing looks fantastic. But I don’t know. Could do, don’t need to.

Q: Well, let’s bring it on to this weekend. Wins here in Montréal, including the very first of your 105 victories. Just how special is it to be back at a track where you’ve had so much success?

LH: It’s one of my favourite places to come in the season. It’s good to see everybody here. The weather’s fantastic today. I landed this morning and my mum’s coming this weekend, because the atmosphere in the city is electric. And then just to come to this little tidy island and have such an iconic weekend, where the fans are probably the closest that they get through the year, and the track is one of the best tracks in the world. So yeah, obviously had some great races here in the past. Excited for this weekend.

Q: What can we expect from you and Ferrari then this weekend?

LH: I think hopefully a better weekend. I think there’s a lot of learnings taken from the first races and particularly from the last race. I think there’s been a huge amount of work, which I’m really grateful for, all the team back at the factory working incredibly hard to try and analyse where we’ve been good, where we’ve not been so good, and the adjusted processes and approach. So, I’m hoping that we’re able to extract more from the car, because I still think we’re still trying to extract the most from the package that we have, and then also just being realistic about where we stand currently compared to Mercedes, for example. But lots can happen, so it’s just about trying to extract the most from the car this weekend.

Q: Where do you think you do stand in the pecking order with the upgrades that you brought to Miami last time out?

LH: I mean, it probably adjusts each weekend. Obviously, Mercedes are at the top. McLaren looked incredibly strong last race as well, they took a good step, and obviously Red Bull have made a huge step. So, I think we’re kind of in and around McLaren and Red Bull, I would say. Which order that it is, we’ll see. But I don’t know. Obviously, Mercedes have a big upgrade this weekend. Even without an upgrade they were very quick in the last race or still won the last race. So, our focus is just going to be on ourselves and just trying to optimise. For me, I’m really excited to hopefully have a better weekend.

Q: Thank you for that, Lewis. Best of luck. And Valtteri, let’s come to you, the lap record holder in Montréal, no less. How much do you relish the challenge of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?

Valtteri BOTTAS: It’s fun, like both drivers here covered. It’s one of the most fun tracks on the calendar, really technical, makes good racing. So, it’s definitely a challenge, especially now with just one practice. Track is always really green, so the evolution is pretty big, but I like it.

Q: Now the team introduced a big upgrade last time out in Miami. Can you tell us a little bit more about it and what areas you felt the car had improved?

VB: Yes, it’s definitely a more aero-focused upgrade that we had. We’ve been lacking quite a bit of stability of the rear end of the car in high speed, so that definitely improved. But in Miami there was only like one or two high-speed corners, here none. But yes, we’re making progress behind the scenes. And again, this weekend we’ve got some new aero bits, some mechanical upgrades as well. So yes, there’s a lot of stuff happening in the background.

Q: So where do you see your battles this weekend with all of the upgrades that you just mentioned?

VB: I think everyone is improving, everyone is making steps, and we need to try and make sure that we make bigger steps. For sure, we’re still battling Aston. Hopefully we can see that we’re a bit closer to the midfield and then we see as we go.

 

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Thanks ever so much, Tom. Question for Lewis to start off with. Hope you’ve had a good couple of weeks. Congratulations to Arsenal for winning the Premier League title. Don’t know what you’ve been doing in the last couple of weeks. But when you went back to Maranello, did you go in the sim? Did you do any sim work? And if not, why the change in approach? What is it about the sim work that you think, “Don’t need that, I could actually be better off without it, without doing that before I prepare for a race”?

LH: No, I didn’t use a sim. Firstly, the sim is amazing. It’s an amazing space to work in. It’s the best sim I’ve ever seen and best group of people that I’ve known, a large team of people that I get to work with there. So, a day at the sim is actually pretty incredible. It is a very powerful tool and something that as a team we continue to evolve. I think since I’ve been there, I’ve had a lot of input in some of this evolution and they’ve been really respondent and made loads and loads of changes, and we’ve just been improving it. With simulation, I feel that the goalpost is always moving. So, I started driving the simulator in 1997, the first simulator, I would say, at McLaren. The cockpit didn’t move but we had force feedback in the steering, and I remember it was at Woking, at McLaren’s old factory. And then when it moved to the first real gen, they let me sometimes use it when I was in GP2. And then McLaren, we used it relatively often. Didn’t particularly enjoy it, because they were kind of long days and a lot of laps. There’s a point at which you stop learning when you’re doing so many laps, for me personally. And then when I joined Mercedes, they were quite far off with the sim at the time. I didn’t use it in all the championships that we won, barely used the simulator, very rarely. And then in 2020, maybe 2021, I started to use it a little bit more. I think there’s only ever been really one time through all the years that I’ve used the sim in these 20 years that the set-up that I had on the sim was the exact set-up I used in qualifying and qualified pole, and that was Singapore 2012, maybe, I think, something like that. So, then all the other times it’s not quite perfect. But as I said, it is a powerful tool. I just think since the last year I used it every week and more often than not I felt you do all the work on the sim, and you get to the track, you find a set-up that you’re comfortable with, you get to the track and everything is opposite. So, then you’re undoing the things you’ve learned, some of the ways you’ve approached the corners you have to shift and adjust, set-up that you felt that was good on the simulator is not the same at the track. Sometimes it is, and so it’s kind of hit and miss. So, I just decided for this one, I’m just going to sit it out and focus more on the data. So, there was just a lot of deep diving on through-corner balance, mechanical balance, corner approaches, brake balance, optimising the brakes, which have been a problem for me for some time. That’s led to really good integration with my engineers. It’s not a tool that… I’m not saying I’m never going to use again. I think it’s something that, for sure, we’ll continue to utilise, particularly on power deployment. But yeah, so most often what I’ve done for the last six months, you’d go in after the weekend and you’d work on correlation, and so that when we run it again, but then you go to the next track and it’s slightly off sometimes. So, we’ll see how the weekend goes. But China, for example, I didn’t do the sim for China and it was my best weekend.

Q: (Craig Slater – Sky Sports) It’s another one for Lewis. I wonder if you could, Crofty mentioned Arsenal, whether you could share some of the emotions of Arsenal winning the league. It’s been a long time and you’ve been a long fan. And if I could relate it to F1, Mikel Arteta has been given some time and they’ve had that continuity, Arsenal. Are you hopeful that you can have the same at Ferrari, given time, and that it seems like a settled outfit that you have too?

LH: I think like for everyone, very emotional. I shed a tear, to be honest, because I remember I was five years old and I used to play in the local Stevenage, Peartree Way, used to play around the corner football with friends. And I was the only black kid in the area, and out of the people that I was playing with, I remember trying to fit in and all of them supported different, West Ham and Tottenham and Manchester. So, I was bouncing between all these when I was like four or five years old, depending on who I was with. And my sister, I remember exactly, I messaged her the other day, she was walking me home and she asked me what team I supported, and she gave me a dead arm. But then, you know, she gave me a little dig in my arm and said, “You have to support Arsenal.” So, we had a laugh yesterday about it. But we’ve had so many near close moments, and to finally get it, it was wow. A lot of emotion came up for me, as I’m sure for so many people. I’m just so happy and proud of the team. And obviously Arsenal was great. I think the direction they’ve gone in the past couple of years has been just fantastic. So very inspired by what they’ve done, really proud of the team, and I think they can go from strength to strength from here and only get stronger. And in terms of my time with my team, yeah, I’m always looking for other leaders that are doing great things and how they work with teams. I’m always trying to learn how I can be a better colleague, a better team-mate to the people around me, how I can extract more from myself but also from the people, from the groups that I get to work with. Because teamwork really does make the dream work. It’s a real thing. And when you have a huge group of people, there are so many different energies and you have to be quite dynamic to be able to integrate into those different sections. But I feel like we’re in a really good place. I’m in a good place with my team. There’s always going to be teething issues and stuff that you always have to work on. But yeah, I’m really happy.

Q: (Mara Sangiorgio – Sky Sports Italy) Another one for Lewis. Lewis, we are getting closer to the Monaco Grand Prix and the rumours are starting to spread. What about you? Is everything clear? Is everything okay for you for next year?

LH: Yep. I’m still in contract, so everything is 100% clear to me. And yeah, I’m still focused, I’m still motivated, I still love what I do with all my heart, and I’m going to be here for quite some time, so get used to it. There’s a lot of people that are trying to retire me and that’s not even on my thoughts. I’m already thinking of what will be next, planning for the next five years. But yeah, still plan to be here for some time.

Q: (Mariana Becker – TV Globo) Hi, Lewis. Hi, Valtteri. Lewis, I was going to ask you something else but I’m curious, why did you choose Canada to bring your mother? Was it her choice? And how does it change for you in a weekend, having your mother around?

LH: Yeah, so I’ve been trying to get my mum to come on the road for a while and she hasn’t wanted to travel the last couple of years. She’s only come to Silverstone for the last God knows how many years. And I tried to get her out of her comfort zone last year and bring her to Canada. I wanted to take her to Lake Louise and so many beautiful places in Canada to visit, and excuses kept coming up.

And so, she promised me end of the year. She said, “Next year is the year I’m going to travel with you.” So, we did China together, which was honestly the best time we’d ever had together. Then she asked me if she could come to Montréal and I was like, “Absolutely.” But I think also because it is a really great city to come to. It’s got really good restaurants here. There’s such a buzz in town. And I was like, “Do you want to bring a friend?” And she’s like, “No, I just want to come spend time with you.” So we have just a great time. She’s really my best friend, so I’m really grateful that she’s taken the time to come and be here. I think probably the energy, it definitely makes a difference to your weekend when you have support from your family, and the fact that we’re on the road all the time and you don’t always get to see your family, it’s really nice then to have that. Also, when she came to China, I got to show her the team. She loved being around the team, she felt really integrated with the team and they made her feel so welcome. And she loved being around Italians and the food was great. So yeah, I’m really excited for her to be here and fingers crossed she’ll come to more.

Q: (Sam Johnston – Sky Sports) Question for Valtteri. You obviously worked quite closely with Kimi Antonelli last year. I was just interested to hear kind of what specifically you worked on with him in your role as a mentor, and have you seen much of what you worked on in his success early this season?

VB: Yeah, first of all, I take all the credit, of course, for his success, you know! I think it’s just a fact. No, I mean, it’s been great to see. I always had a feeling that he can make a good step after his first year over the winter, and that’s what he’s done. He’s grown a lot in a short period of time. He seems much more confident, much more comfortable with the team, with the car. But yes, just the latest advice I gave him end of last year is just keep doing what you’re doing, because he was making great progress. He was getting more confidence in driving but also his technical feedback. So, I think it seems like he’s been just chipping away, just ticking boxes. He’s still so young, so early on in his career and doing extremely well. So yes, I’m really proud of him.

Q: (Fred Feret – l’Equipe) Question to Lance and Lewis. What kind of legacy do you think Gilles Villeneuve left in Formula 1, and do each of you have a special memory of his driving?

LS: Well, I don’t have a memory because I wasn’t alive when he was racing. But I think everyone says he was super brave and back then when you were on the limits of the car, there was always a chance of not coming out of the car. And he was not afraid to really push the car to the limit, and he was so talented. I think his journey is quite amazing. He was racing snowmobiles and then he came into cars, and then he was so talented in Formula 1. And yeah, for sure everyone says he’s one of the most talented drivers that ever lived. So yeah, pretty amazing to see back then. I think what really impresses me is the guys back then, how the cars were so dangerous and how brave they were to just be on the limit and push those cars and accept that every time they were getting in the car there’s probably a 20, 30% chance you can die. It’s pretty insane.

LH: Yeah, I mean, yes, as much as I can say about it, I personally didn’t really know a lot about him, to be honest. Obviously knew about Niki, more so because I got to spend a lot of time with him, and obviously I had to learn and watch him when I was growing up. So, whilst reading up on some of the great drivers that have been here, all I really knew is that he was a great driver. He seemed to be, from some of the videos, a driver that really was at the edge of his seat, really being able to balance the car as it’s moving, which was pretty cool to see. And obviously far better than his son.

Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Question to Lewis. Lewis, Montréal is a special place for you, of course, but can you give us some details why that first win almost 20 years ago was so important for your career?

LH: I think it was, I mean, jeez, it was only my sixth race in Formula 1. And I think there was a couple of bits about it. One, first time coming to Montréal, a track that I’d watched on TV and enjoyed watching over the years. I got to Formula 1 and being a rookie to a world champion was tough, you know. Fernando being so talented and so fast. But I’m so competitive, so rather than thinking, “I’m a rookie, just be happy finishing second,” I could never accept it. And I’d always want to be pushing myself, I want to be competing. I wanted to win, and that was an overpowering feeling. And I remember the first five races, naturally, in the fuel area, they would always give Fernando the lighter fuel load, separating the cars by two laps. And so, it always felt to me that I had to do the work twice as hard, if not more, because Fernando was so quick. I always had to be at least a tenth quicker than him or more, tenth and a bit, to be able to be ahead of him. And I had pushed so hard to get equal fuel. I was like, “Just give me the chance and I’ll show you what I can do.” And they gave us equal fuel in this race, and I qualified pole and then I won. And they did it for this one and Indianapolis afterwards. So, I think it was a real special moment for me because I fought for something I truly believed in and when they gave us the opportunity, I affirmed that belief. And then the rest was history.

Q: (Nicholas Richard - La Presse Montréal) Question for Lewis. Is it a matter of wins, longevity, legacy?

LH: I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about how you would define success. I think success can be perceived in lots of different ways. I think waking up every day and trying again, and giving it a try, always trying to be better than your previous self, evolving into the person that you feel comfortable in, who you want to be, overcoming adversity, proving people wrong that try to hold you back or bring you down, the way you show up. I think of course from the outside world results are what people call success, but I think internally for me it’s just progress. If you’re progressing, you’re succeeding. I don’t really put a lot of pressure on… That’s why I’ve always said I’m really grateful for the records and those sorts of things, but they’re not things I ever think of. The things I think of is every day how I tune my brain, because ultimately I’m really focused on… You can tune yourself to believe what you want. And I’m always trying to work on my inner self to programme myself to be moving forward, not looking at what’s behind me. It’s a part of the journey but not necessarily the most important thing. The important thing is how you’re getting up, it’s how you’re pushing forward, it’s how you’re trying to evolve, and just looking forward, always looking forward, never looking back.

Q: (Daniel Valente – The Score) It’s a question for all three of you. I was wondering if you could just recall your first “welcome to F1” moment and just what was going through your mind at that time.

VB: “Welcome to F1” moment for me, probably when Frank Williams told me that I’m going to be racing for Williams. That hit me pretty hard, like, that’s “welcome to F1”. It feels still like yesterday, but it’s actually quite a few years ago now. So that’s probably my moment.

LH: My moment was Monza 2006. Just won the GP2 championship. It’s on the grid, Kimi was on pole and I had the privilege of going onto the grid, and I was standing in front of Kimi’s car, and Ron put his arm around me and he told me, looking up to Turn 1, he says, “I’m going to give you a chance.” That was the moment. In the moment, I couldn’t quite believe it and I didn’t know if he was like, “I’m going to give you a chance”… I didn’t know what it was going to be a chance at, if it was really… That’s what I was thinking when I left. But obviously that was the moment that he had decided that he was going to give me a chance for 2007.

LS: My first test in Williams. Waking up the following morning and trying to get out of my bed and my neck was stuck. That was my first F1 memory. It was just like, so I won the European F3 and then it was Nürburgring, and then the next Monday I got a seat fit in the Williams, and then I tested on the Tuesday. And I remember Wednesday, I just couldn’t get out of bed. My neck was just destroyed.

Q: (François from Le Journal Montréal) Question for Lewis and Valtteri, because I know the answer from Lance. Have you ever seen the city so alive with the sports being played this weekend, with hockey, Formula 1 in competition here in Montréal?

LH: The hockey’s on Monday, no?

Q: Tonight and Saturday.

LH: Oh, tonight? They’re coming on Monday.

Q: Have you ever seen this city so alive? You’ve been there for a long time.

LH: I literally just got here. But I mean, every year I come here it’s mad. The traffic’s crazy. They made some changes to getting into this track, it’s harder than ever. It’s such a small space, it takes quite some time to get through the city to the hotels because it’s so buzzing. You see people out in the streets walking and having a good time. So it’s definitely one of the best Grands Prix of the entire season and one of the best cities that we get to go to.

VB: Yeah, the city is definitely alive. And I would say especially now with the hockey, with Montréal proceeding in the playoffs, there’s a game tonight away though, but still the whole city gets tuned in. So yeah, it should be an awesome weekend.

PART TWO – Pierre GASLY (Alpine), George RUSSELL (Mercedes), Arvid LINDBLAD (Racing Bulls)

Q: Pierre, why don’t we start with you today? Now, you’ve done more driving than most since Miami, both at Paul Ricard and Magny-Cours. How was it to be back behind the wheel at two iconic French racetracks?
Pierre GASLY: Yeah, I kind of forgot about it already, to be fair. Yeah, I went to Castellet, flew from Castellet to Magny-Cours, and yeah, two days’ testing in Magny-Cours. So, it was pretty cool. Obviously, mainly in Castellet, being around the French fans, motor sport fans, very special weekend, seeing a lot of old F1 cars, getting a few laps in a 1979 Renault turbocharged car, which felt pretty amazing and just made me realise how much our sport has evolved over time. It’s almost like a completely different sport these days. And then yeah, it was good to get in Magny-Cours, interesting track. It was actually my first ever time. And yeah, we were just talking about the fact that we’re not doing any driving so far. You know, we’re end of May and we’ve done only four races and just eager to get some more action on track.
 
Q: The Pirelli wet tyre test at Magny-Cours could prove useful this weekend, given the weather forecast. How was the car in the wet?
PG: You guys are going to be shocked. I’m glad I’ve done these two days. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting for you guys. I mean, I’ve had Silverstone, 20th of January, which was memorable and I think will stay with me forever. But Magny-Cours was also something.
 
Q: What is it? Is it the torque? What makes it so challenging?
PG: You don’t want me to answer that question.
 
Q: OK, well let’s talk about on-track performance here in Montréal, assuming it is dry, because you said in Miami that you weren’t totally happy with your car. Do you feel you’ve made any progress? I know you’ve been on the sim back in Enstone.
PG: Yeah, so we’ve had good learnings from Miami and I think we’re coming here with more answers. Still a few things to try in FP1 to fully understand the stuff we’ve put on the car at the last race, but I’m confident we’ve made the step forward we needed. And then generally I think the pace was good in Miami. We’ve seen both cars in Q3, managed to be P8 in the Sprint. Franco managed to finish P7 in a race. I think there is a great momentum happening and yeah, we just got to keep pushing and still try to get even more out of ourselves.
 
Q: Do you think the track layout here in Montréal will suit your car?
PG: I don’t know, but I’m confident we have a good baseline to fight for the points. Miami, we were a little surprised with the gaps, which seemed to have spread a tiny bit more. We seemed to be quite clear of the midfield there. Hopefully it’s going to be the case this weekend, but we’ll find out tomorrow.
 
Q: Final one from me. Did you follow Max’s attempt at the Nürburgring 24 Hours? If you did, what did you make of it?
PG: It was hard not to follow it, to be fair. I found it pretty cool. I respect the performance, the commitment. I’d love to do the race as well and actually compete in the same way. I thought he was very unlucky. Obviously just showed the level at which he is at the moment, and I had no surprise to see him very competitive in that category and in that field. So yeah, there have been a couple of great highlights all over social media and stuff like that. I thought it was really cool.
 
Q: Alright, thank you for that. Best of luck this weekend. George, on to you. Pierre would like to do Nürburgring 24. How about you?
George RUSSELL: Yeah, definitely one day. To be honest, like Pierre said, watching Max at the weekend was pretty cool to see. I’ve followed the race in the past and those 24-hour races – there, Bathurst as well – they’re just brutal races. And all of us are in a slightly different position to Max. Obviously, we’re also pursuing to win a World Championship, but obviously he’s in a luxurious position to do what he enjoys. And yeah, that’s great for him. And he did a great job.
 
Q: Alright, well let’s bring it on to here now. You’re last year’s winner here in Montréal. You’ve always gone well at this track. How much are you looking forward to getting out on track?
GR: Like Pierre said, we’re end of May, we’ve done four races and it’s felt very disjointed so far this year. So just looking forward to getting into just going racing and more races back-to-back, getting into a bit of a groove. Miami was obviously a very tough weekend for me, but a huge amount learned from that and I feel great coming into this weekend.
 
Q: What was the biggest learning from Miami?
GR: I think for a lot of us, we’re also focused on the energy management, that all of the issues from the past in dealing with the tyres, dealing with the set-up, just fundamentals racing has kind of been put on the back burner because we’re also focused on energy management. So we missed some key things because we were focused elsewhere, and that was a good little reminder. So as painful as it was, it was a very much-needed weekend, because I think it’s going to prove very beneficial for the rest of the year.
 
Q: Now everyone’s interested to see Mercedes’ first big upgrade of this season. What are you expecting from it?
GR: Well, I’m hoping it’s going to be as competitive as what we saw the upgrades of McLaren and Ferrari brought in Miami. They obviously took a decent step forward. Our numbers look pretty promising, but we know it may not correlate that way in reality. So there’s no science telling us it won’t be competitive, but as I said, until we drive it on track, there’s always going to be a few unknowns.
 
Q: Final one from me. You spoke about everyone’s focus on the power unit. Just can I bring you on to that and your thoughts on the 6MJ recharge limit in qualifying, the lowest of the season so far? How will it affect you in the cockpit?
GR: I don’t think it will affect a lot, to be honest. I think it’s the right decision. Seeing the simulations, it doesn’t look like we’re losing speed at the end of the straights. There shouldn’t be any quirks in terms of lifting, coasting during the lap. So definitely the right direction and I think it should be more straightforward here.
 
Q: Alright, best of luck to you. Thank you for that. And Arvid, thank you for waiting. Your first Canadian Grand Prix. What are your impressions of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?
Arvid LINDBLAD: Yeah, I think it’s an amazing track. I’m really looking forward to getting on track this week. You know, I remember the famous 2011 race was one of the first races I watched as a kid. It was one of the ones I sort of fell in love with the sport over. Still remember that very well. So to get the opportunity to drive this special track, I’m really looking forward to it.
 
Q: Can you tell us a little more about your preparations? Because, of course, it’s a Sprint weekend. It’s a tough track at which to come for the first time when it is a Sprint. What have you done to prepare?
AL: Yeah, I mean, it will be a challenge. The reality of how this season’s been, there’s been quite a lot of Sprints. I think three out of the first five are going to be Sprint races, so I’m getting a little bit used to it. But I think just a lot of work on the sim. That’s the main tool we have for preparation, so being at the factory, going over some things from the previous years, but then doing my own bit with the engineers on the sim, trying to get as ready as possible, watching onboards, all the sort of normal stuff.
 
Q: And we’ve got some more upgrades on the car this weekend. How did they feel on the sim?
AL: Yeah, they felt good. We’ve got new floors. It should be a bit of a step but, like George alluded to, it’s always hard to know if that correlates 100% to the track. So I’m optimistic, but just going to focus on myself and we’ll see what happens.
 
Q: Final one for me, Arvid. Race five, with all these gaps in the calendar, you’ve had time to reflect on how it’s gone so far for you this year. What is your summary of your first season?
AL: I think it’s been OK. I think there’s been some good moments. There’s been some difficult moments, which are to be expected. Obviously, it’s my rookie year. I think overall I’m quite positive. I think I’ve shown what I can do at times, but there’s still areas to work on and stuff. So yeah, I’ve got confidence in myself, but trying to work on the things I can do better.
 
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
 
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Unsurprisingly, question to you, George. Twenty points off the championship lead. I know we’re only on round five. How big a weekend is this for you? If you don’t get the results you want, does that leave an impression going forward or is there still a long way to go?
GR: It’s just another race for me. It’s just another race and it’s not even in my mind, the championship. I know what I’m capable of, I know the speed I’ve got. Obviously, Miami was a bad weekend. It was a tough weekend for me there last year and I went to Montréal and had a great weekend. Doesn’t mean this year is going to be the same, but I just need to focus on myself, go through my processes as I did in Melbourne, as I did in China, and control what I can control. So, there’s really no need to panic at all. And as we said, we’re four races down, 18 at least to go. And I actually look back on my F2 season, which is obviously the last time I fought for a championship, and I was P6 after four races in F2 and about 35 points down. So, at this point it means nothing.
 
Q: (Mara Sangiorgio – Sky Sports Italy) Another question to George. George, you were speaking about your updates that you have here, but how do you consider important the upgrades you have also in the software that can help you during your starting procedure?
GR: Well, obviously the starts are a big focus for us because that’s clearly our biggest weak point. We know short term is going to be difficult to make major gains, and we’re obviously trying as hard as we can to solve it short term. But there’s also some medium-term items that we need to make changes to and continue to improve. And, of course, race starts, we don’t get to practice very often. You can’t practice it on the simulator really. Some races you cannot even practice in free practice the race starts. So, we’ll keep trying our best to improve.
 
Q: (Craig Slater – Sky Sports) Another one for George. You talked a bit about the stop-start nature of this year and you’ve had a bit of bad luck as well. In terms of your feel, though, for the car, there’s no sense that it in any way doesn’t marry with your driving style or anything along those lines?
GR: No, I think it’s very circuit dependent, the same way as it was last year. I think everybody has stronger circuits, weaker circuits. And as I said, if I look at it objectively, Miami was the only blip, as it kind of was for me last year as well. So hopefully it’s one race out of 22 where it’s like that. It has been a bit of a tricky start with a bit of bad luck in China and Japan, and the season could be in a totally different predicament if that was slightly different. So as I said, there’s no cause for concern. It’s business as usual and see what this weekend brings. And also going into the European season, when we’re all in a bit more of a groove, some double-headers, triple-headers at the end of the year, things shift very quickly.
 
Q: (Guilherme Pereira – TV Globo Brazil) Hi George. Can you break down, please, why this track is so good for you, as we saw last year?
GR: Well, I think the last two years this track has suited our car more, because we clearly performed better in the cooler conditions. We won in Vegas, we won in Canada. I’ve been pole here the last two years and I think that was the biggest part of it. Kimi was on the podium here last year as well, we both performed very well. So, the first three races of the year, we’ve obviously won as a team. Four races of the year last year we didn’t. Then we get to Canada, we won. So, it doesn’t guarantee that we’ll win again this year. It’s just a track I like. I like the flow, I like the sort of medium-speed nature of the corners. Yeah, I enjoy it here.
 
Q: (Angelica Medina Guzman – Reuters) This is for Pierre. Lewis was talking about Arsenal and how they won the championship, well, how they won the league. But PSG also won their league, and they’re about to face each other in the Champions League. What are your opinions on that?
PG: I’m glad we start talking about real stuff. What’s my opinion on that? Well, I’m a big PSG fan and we won the Champions League last year, so I think it’s going to be a great game. I’ve followed a lot of Premier League, actually. For the last few years Arsenal came very close to winning and I was happy for them, for the whole team, for the manager, to actually do it this season. And yeah, I’ve got my weekend sorted for next week after Canada, and I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic game of football. And yeah, I’ll be obviously rooting for PSG and hopefully they can bring a second Champions League.
 
Q: (Nicole Mulder – GPblog.com) A question to George. George, you just talked about the Nordschleife and watching Max race there in a Mercedes. You also said that you would like to do the race yourself one day. Could you see yourself doing that together with Max as team-mates?
GR: Yeah, never say never. Who knows? As I said, never say never. Max is obviously one of the best. I was asked a lot last year about being team-mates with him, but more in Formula 1 rather than sharing a seat. I’m up for it and would relish the opportunity to always go against the best, and that’s how I felt when I was team-mates with Lewis, and still how I feel about Max. As any driver, you want to go head-to-head with the best.
PG: As a team manager?
GR: Yeah, I’m not sure about that.
 
Q: (Vincent Dessureault – 94.3 FM) Question for George. Except experience, which one of your qualities as a driver do you think could give you the edge in the championship?
GR: I’ve got to be honest, I’m just looking at myself as my main competitor. And that’s what I’ve done over the last seven years in my whole Formula 1 career. I know that if I tick all of my boxes, I know I can beat anybody. And that was the case last year when I was team-mates with Lewis, and that was the case when I was team-mates with Kimi, and the year before when I was team-mates with Lewis. So, I’m not looking at my edge over anybody else. I’m looking at how do I get the most out of myself, with my engineers, out of the car set-up, out of the tyres. I know if I tick all of those boxes, I can win. That is my goal.
 
Q: George, I know you’re focusing on yourself, obviously, but do you think Kimi has stepped up this year?
GR: I think Kimi was exceptionally fast all of last year. A big difference was we were in the mix with a number of other teams and every single session was a challenge. Even just getting through Q1 last year, there was a lot of pressure, a lot of stress getting into Q3. Similar race starts, if we made a bad start last year, we couldn’t just recover the four or five positions that we lost because we didn’t have that pace advantage. So, without doubt, he’s performing on a really great level, but I knew that was within him always and I saw it last year. So yeah, he’s a fantastic driver.
 
Q: (Nicholas Richar  – La Presse Montréal) Question for George. Year after year, how do you measure your progression? Is it only a matter of wins, podiums, results?
GR: Well, I think the beauty in Formula 1 is every year is different. If you look at a tennis player, you’re dealing with the same kind of environment, the same racket, the same balls, clay, hard court, year after year, so you can really measure that progression. As a driver, this year we’ve got different tyres, different PU, different cars. You go to every race weekend and the conditions are different. Conditions this weekend are going to be different to the conditions here in Canada 12 months ago. So, it’s very difficult to measure that progression because the limitation, or let’s say the weakness you’re trying to improve upon, can change year after year, and one year may be your strength, one year may be your weakness. So, as a driver, I think you just always have to be adaptable to whatever is thrown at you.
 
Q: (Daniel Valente – The Score) Question for Arvid. So, you’ve been an F1 driver now for about five months. Can you just recall your craziest moment so far and what was going through your mind at that moment?
Arvid LINDBLAD: For sure my craziest moment has to be Melbourne. It was my first race in F1 and then probably lap one in Melbourne was pretty nuts. I wasn’t expecting to be running P3 at one point, racing side by side with Lewis, someone I’ve sort of looked up to for a long time. So yeah, honestly my emotions in that moment, it’s hard to describe. There was a big sort of lag. I think it was only sort of start of lap two or middle of lap two I’d figured out what had actually just happened. Yeah, that was pretty nuts.
 
Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine, Brazil). Question to the three of you. How interested are you in football and the World Cup? What do you think France, the UK, England, have a chance to win the World Cup?
AL: It’s coming home.
GR: He said it.
PG: Yeah, we’ll see about that. And I’ll remind you that... What race will it be? Spa?
GR: It’s Spa, yeah, Saturday of Spa.
PG: Let’s see which home it comes to.