PART TWO: Lance STROLL (Aston Martin), Esteban OCON (Alpine), Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)
Q: Oscar, when you and McLaren looked through the data from Suzuka to see where you could steal the win from Max, what conclusions have been reached?
Oscar PIASTRI: Qualifying ahead of Max was probably the key to that. Yeah, I mean, we looked through it. I think it was pretty clear to see that you needed a very big pace advantage to overtake on Sunday. The best way to overcome that was, like I said, qualifying a bit better. But I think even in the race, we were pretty limited with what we could do. We’ve spoken through a lot of the potential different scenarios we could have found ourselves in and what we actually could have done differently. And I think the conclusion from all of those was there was either a big element of risk with not much chance of reward. So I think there’s still some things we could have done a little bit differently to try. And I think as a team we acknowledge that. But also, just putting into perspective how early we are in the season and not giving away points unnecessarily to people behind us was important as well. So yeah, we’ve gone through a lot of things, but ultimately I think our conclusion was: make sure you qualify where you should be.
Q: And is the team now having to take the threat of Red Bull more seriously than it was a week ago? Or was Japan just a particular set of circumstances and a brilliant qualifying lap from Max Verstappen?
OP: I don’t think it changes much. I think we have the quickest car at the moment. But our advantage is not enough to be careless and kind of lay back and not execute as best as you can. We saw Melbourne was a very strong weekend for us, but we also got the most out of the car and both of us felt we drove very well. I think China in the Sprint—Sprint quali, Lando went on pole—and I think China and Japan have both shown that it doesn’t take much to go wrong for us to not be at the front. We have an advantage in the race for sure, but in qualifying you have to still be on it because the gap is not much still. As we saw in Japan, Max put in a good performance and it was enough to be better than us. So I think that’s just another demonstration that it’s going to be tight the whole year and we’ve got to be on our best form.
Q: This race is going to be tougher on tyres. Do you see that as playing to your advantage? Do you think you’ll be stronger here relative to Japan?
OP: Hard to know. I think Melbourne, especially on the Inters, was a very good race and a good show of pace. But like you said, managing the tyres—I think Japan, if we had track position, potentially the race could have looked quite different. We’ll have to wait and see. Obviously it’s very hot today. I think Sunday is supposed to be a little bit cooler, but it being a little bit more difficult on tyres and a bit warmer probably will be more friendly for us than others, I hope.
Q: Final one for me. Looking further ahead, McLaren have just announced that they’re going back to sports car racing in 2027. Do you fancy a crack at Le Mans?
OP: One day, but not for a while. I’m pretty happy in F1 at the moment.
Q: Could you do it in combination with F1?
OP: I don’t think so. I don’t think you do either championship justice by trying to juggle both. I think maybe for the F1, it’s probably actually not that detrimental to the F1 championship, but when you’ve got a lot at stake, as we do right now—and also just not giving Le Mans the respect it deserves from a preparation standpoint—I think that’s not something you want to go into being underprepared. So I’ll wait until I’m done with what I want to do in F1 and then I’ll think about letting Zak give me a burn in a Le Mans one.
Q: Thank you and good luck this weekend. On that theme, Esteban, you fancy a crack at Le Mans one day? You’ve now got Ferrari power. Fancy a Ferrari?
Esteban OCON: Not quite yet. No. One day, definitely. I think it’s the dream of every driver to race at Le Mans one day. But yeah, as Oscar said, I’m very focused on my Formula 1 career at the moment. Looking at how many races we have, it’s going to be quite complicated to mix it all. You can’t do a half-half, you know? You need full implication on both and that’s where my head is at.
Q: Well, let’s talk Formula 1. There’s been a bit of a roller coaster start for Haas this year. When you think of what happened in Melbourne, then the high of China, and then it wasn’t so easy last time out in Japan. Can you just give us your summary of where the car is at at the moment?
EO: Yeah, I think we have good potential. We just need to be able to unlock it every single time and be able to optimise the car on every track. Melbourne was extremely difficult and quite a shock for all of us in the team. But we managed to get some good performance out of China and the car suddenly came alive. It’s been more difficult again in Suzuka. This is what we are working on at the moment to try and figure it out. But yeah, here it’s more the home of Formula One. We’ve done three days of testing. There’s a lot of learning that has been done. There are things that we are going to continue testing on our side as well. But it’s going to be an interesting weekend and we’ll see.
Q: But how much confidence do you have coming into this weekend given how the tests went in February?
EO: Yeah, we will see after Friday. It’s a very difficult circuit for many reasons. It’s the roughest of the whole calendar. There are a lot of traction zones. It’s going to be interesting to see if what we’ve done in testing is going to actually work when everyone goes flat out. So on Friday, we’ll have a bigger picture. But it doesn’t tell the whole story, I think, because it’s so far out compared to every other track that what we’ve done earlier in the year is more common than this one.
Q: Carlos Sainz was in Group 1, and he spent some time telling us about the difficulties of changing team. Can we just get your experiences of moving from Alpine to Haas? What have been the most difficult learnings for you?
EO: Yeah, there’s a lot going on for sure. It’s not an easy task, but I feel the team welcomed me in the best way possible. We’ve put a lot of hours in the winter and in testing to be able to adapt to everything before we got to race. I think now I’m pretty well integrated in the team. There’s still a lot of learning and where to optimise the car exactly on my side. But I think it’s been pretty straightforward in what we needed. I really wanted to arrive into the first couple of races and not feel like I forgot or went through something that we just missed in terms of preparation. And I think on that side, the team has done a great job in preparing me to be ready.
Q: Thank you for that. And Lance, let’s come to you now. Very, very strong opening couple of rounds for you—P6 and P9 in those opening two races. From the outside, it looks like you’re driving that car with a lot of confidence. How does it feel on the inside?
Lance STROLL: Yeah, some good results to start the season for sure. I think it depends on the weekends. Some weekends you get into a good groove with the balance and what the car’s doing from the first lap of the weekend. Other weekends, conditions, this and that, it’s sometimes a different story. But yeah, it was good to pick up some good results those first few races. Japan was a little bit more difficult, but we’ll see what we can do this weekend in terms of performance.
Q: Do you feel this is a more stable platform on which to build?
LS: I think we’ve improved the car for sure. But no one stands still in this business. Everyone is always bringing upgrades and making the car faster. So it’s a relative game. We still need to find more performance. We’re not where we want to be, so that’s what we’re focused on.
Q: And on the subject of dealing with new things—Esteban’s just talked about it, Carlos Sainz was talking about it earlier—you’ve got a new race engineer this year, Gary Gannon, from Haas actually last year. How are you two rubbing along? How was it compared to what you had before?
LS: Yeah, it’s been good. Gary has a lot of experience. He’s been really great on the comms and it’s about new ideas to my mind and having some different thoughts around setup and areas to focus on. I think it’s been good and yeah, I definitely enjoy working with him.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) A question to Oscar. We’re only at round 4. There’s a long way to go this season—or is there? Because if you believe Red Bull, this season’s going to change quite dramatically for McLaren come the Spanish Grand Prix. So is that just scaremongering from your nearest rival, or do you, as a driver, feel that things might change a little bit when those deflection tests get stiffened up?
OP: I’m pretty confident we’ll be strong all year. I don’t think it’ll change too much. I’ve not spoken to the team about it massively, in all honesty, which probably tells you enough about that. So yeah, let’s see when we get to Spain, but we’ve still got a lot of races until then and I think we’ll be a strong team all year round.
Q: (Nelson Valkenburg – Viaplay) Question for all three of you. Given the high temperatures this weekend—we expect to reach over 30°C when you drive—are you completely ready and comfortable with the new driver cooling vest system that has been developed?
OP: No, is the answer. I think it still has a bit of fine tuning to go. I think it’s been a good process with the FIA and the manufacturers with the cooling system, and I think it will be a big positive for us. But for me personally, it’s not quite ready to be used. There’s been a lot of good work going on, but I think Sunday, given it’s a night race and it looks a bit cooler, I’m not sure we’ll actually trigger the heat hazard with the FIA anyway. So if you want to use it, it will come with a weight penalty on Sunday. I think there’s still some work to go, but it’s going in the right direction.
EO: Similar answer to Oscar. No. I think it’s a very good initiative the FIA has done for us to be able to fix some of the issues we had in Qatar a couple of years ago. It’s a good initiative, but unfortunately, I can’t quite use it at the moment. The way the seats are designed and some of the vests—it’s very different to what we are currently using. It’s much more bulky and a lot bigger. We would need to basically redo a complete seat and I’m not even sure that doing that would still be suitable in corners. So yeah, good initiative, but I think they need a bit more thought behind it, or from our side as well, on how we could accommodate it better. I think this week we’ll be OK. Next week—we were looking with Lance earlier on the weather forecast—might be another story. So we might have to use it next week. Let’s see.
LS: Yeah, I think the same. It still needs some work, that’s the reality. Depends how desperate you are to be cool in the car. I think it’s going to come down to that in the really hot races if the product doesn’t improve. It’s not very comfortable, but yeah, get a few degrees out of it, so we’ll see.
Q: (Mara Sangiorgio – Sky Italia) A question to Oscar. Some days ago, Max said that driving your car in Suzuka he would escape away. How did you read his statement—just a cheeky joke?
OP: I mean, yes. But I think if Max had qualified third and we were first and second, it probably would have looked quite different as well. So I don’t think it was… yeah, I think it was light-hearted. But I think qualifying made a very big difference. I don’t think it’s normal to have two cars sitting two seconds behind the leader for 50 laps. It was kind of clear to see that our car was quicker. But yeah, I think the gaps would have been quite different if it had been the other way around from the start as well.
Q: (Mata Ujvari – MTVA) A question to Oscar. A few days ago, Lando Norris said that he thinks a ‘rude boy’ could win a championship. He also said that he doesn’t believe he should act like a rude boy—he used another word, but I think I’m not allowed to say it here. So my question is: in general, Oscar, what do you think? If you’re acting like a normal person—or a good boy, or just a half bad boy—could you win this championship title?
OP: I should clarify—do you get fined as well if you swear, or is it just us? OK. I think everyone has their own personality, everyone has their own style. I think the most detrimental thing you can do is try and do it in a way that’s not your own style. For some people, that looks very different. There are certain characteristics that I think you do need. Obviously being fast is the most important one. But there are certain traits that you need. But I think, as Lando said, that doesn’t mean you need to be a bad person. You need to be tough on track. But there’s a lot of different ways you can go about it. I don’t think there’s one style or one perfect mould of what a Formula One world champion looks like. I think they’ve all looked slightly different. You could argue that some of them look similar in a lot of ways, but again, I think the most important thing is to try and do it the way you want to do it, and that will give you the most.
Q: (Albert Fabrega – ESPN) Following up on Mara’s question to Oscar. How do you think you would perform in a Red Bull? Can you be at the same level as Max driving a Red Bull?
OP: I don’t know. I don’t plan on finding out. I think clearly the car looks pretty difficult. We’ve seen that with Liam. We saw it with Checo last year, even with Yuki in Japan. So again, I think going into an environment that has been so focused on the way Max drives for nearly ten years now—it would be a very tough environment to go into and have immediate success. But yeah, I’m quite happy that I’m driving a McLaren and not a Red Bull at the moment.
Q: (Velimir Veljko – AvtoFocus) I have a question for Lance. We remember you from your best days – good car, top position, podium. There comes bad day, bad car or maybe some difficult car. How you overcome all these troubles? How you get back to the track, how you back, go back to racing when you have some bad experience behind yourself and still memories of this fantastic days in your best days of career.
LS: It’s just the nature of Formula 1. Some years you have good cars and. Same as you have less good cars so.
Q: (Diletta Colombo – AutoMoto) Oscar, your car is obviously very quick, but maybe a bit tricky to handle. Did you have to change your driving style a bit to adapt to it?
OP: I mean, yes, a little bit. I think every year you adapt to different things on the car. You know, I think for me the car’s not completely different to what it has been last year especially, and even the year before. It’s just faster, which is a good thing. But yeah, I mean, even from day to day, you know, Suzuka, we had a 20-kilometre headwind through Sector 1 on Friday and a 20-kilometre tailwind on Saturday, and you know, it makes the car behave quite differently. So I think adapting is the name of the game in F1. And you know, there’s some things inherently in the car that we want to try and make a bit better and make it a bit easier for us. But yeah, I think every car you drive, you have to adapt to at least one thing because, yeah, as much as we want it, I think the laws of physics stop us from having the perfect car. So you’re always going to adapt to something.
Q: Oscar, Lando said a couple of races ago that it’s a very difficult car to drive. Do you echo that?
OP: It has its moments, yes. I think it’s not a completely different car to what we had last season. I think there’s a lot of ideas and philosophies that are the same. But yes, it’s been tricky to get all of the lap time out of it in every session, and I think we’ve seen that. But you know, if I had to pick out of all 10 cars on the grid right now, I’d still pretty happily be choosing ours.
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – Car Magazine Brazil) Oscar, if you had to choose one of two scenarios to be World Champion, would you prefer to have McLaren very strong and only have to fight your team-mate Lando Norris? Or would you prefer a scenario where Ferrari and Red Bull are also strong, and McLaren lets the drivers decide on track who will be the champion?
OP: Am I World Champion in both scenarios? Yes? Then I don’t care. I mean, I think obviously as a team, we want to have the fight between just Lando and myself. That’s kind of the, I would say, dream scenario. Maybe for Andrea and Zak it’s slightly stressful, but ultimately that’s what you want. You want your two cars first and second and not have to worry about the others. That’s the dream, right? And I think for myself that would be a good position to be in as well. I think, you know, for me, if there’s other teams involved, it’s not a bad thing. And I think for the sport, we obviously want to see it competitive across multiple teams, and I think we’ve been getting closer and closer to that, especially last year and probably through this year too. So like I said, if I’m World Champion in either scenario, that’s fine with me. But I think just needing to worry about your teammate is probably a slightly easier scenario than having to worry about, you know, three or four other teams.
Q: (John Noble – The Race) Oscar, this track’s been a bit of a bogey track for McLaren in the past, but based on the long runs from the test and the better tyre degradation you had in Australia, for example, people are kind of expecting you to dominate. How much is this weekend a litmus test of just where the McLaren is, where its advantage lies, and how big the gap is between you and Red Bull?
OP: Yeah, I think you’re right. This has not been a great track for us in the past couple of years. Well, I think even longer than that, to be honest. So I think it will be a good test for us. I think there were certainly strong points from the test that we were happy with. There were certainly not-so-strong points that we’ve done a lot of work to try and improve from the test as well. So it will be a good test for us. I think, you know, on paper the layout is still—this car is not a completely different beast to what we’ve had the last couple of years. So there are still parts of this layout that, if you were to draw a perfect layout for the car, it probably still wouldn’t look like this. But I think we’re as confident as we have been in my time at the team. We are in a position to win this weekend, and I think we have some evidence from testing that we’re in a good place. But yeah, it’s also about 20 degrees hotter than testing, which is going to change things as well.
Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Question for Esteban—if I can break into your chat about the weather there… Fascinating, we should get you to swap places with Carol Kirkwood on the BBC. I wanted to ask you a little bit more detail about the floor tweak on your car last weekend. You had a little bit more difficulty extracting performance from the car with it than Oliver. Where are you at with that now after a full race distance and a chance to look at the data maybe?
EO: Yeah, it was obviously great that the team managed to bring some updates reacting from Australia. That was an incredible turnaround to come back with some modifications for already round 3. So really good on that side. Ollie always ran that on the Friday and then I got the upgrades on the Saturday, from FP3 onwards. We’re still investigating exactly why we were not performing as well. Unfortunately, the race pace was similar to the qualifying pace—we were not as fast as we needed. We had a bit more bouncing on my car, we were lacking some straight-line speed as well. So yeah, these things made it difficult to extract the potential of the car. We’re keeping investigating. There’s going to be some more testing on Friday across both cars to be able to know exactly where that’s come from. But the good thing is that it worked on Ollie’s side, so we should be able to transfer that into my car very soon, no doubt about this. And from there, it should be an easier time.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Question to all three, starting with Oscar please. This week we heard about the meeting about V10 engines here in Bahrain. In part 1, Carlos said “If it’s up to me, I would like them sooner rather than later,” because he’s not too impressed by the 2026 regulations. Have you tested the 2026 rules yet? And in general, what’s your impression—especially regarding the active aerodynamics, X-mode, Z-mode—and how complicated might it get?
OP: I’ve not been in the sim for a long time [Inaudible] I think we as drivers have an important role to play in trying to make next year’s regulations as successful as possible. I think it’s pretty well publicised that there’s been some challenges to overcome. But this is what we have for next year and for the years to come, and I think we need to try and do the best job we can to make the sport exciting, make the cars as fun as possible to drive, make the racing good. Yes, there’s obviously a lot of romance and romanticism about V10 engines. I wasn’t old enough yet to hear them when they were racing, so I don’t have quite the same nostalgia, maybe. But it would still be a cool thing to have, of course. I think going into a new set of regulations already speaking about another potential eventuality—we just need to be a bit careful and not downplay what we are going to have for the next few years to come. I’ll drive whatever I get given. I’m a Formula 1 driver and I’ll always be happy to drive in the pinnacle of the sport. But let’s wait and see.
EO: Yeah, I mean on the V10 subject, I don’t think the issue is with the sound at the moment. These engines are incredibly powerful and great to drive. There’s a lot of talk with the hybrid system—the zero turbo lag, everything is great on that side. But yeah, it lacks sound. It’s not the sound that we loved when we were young. That is very true. But you know, nobody thought about having a naturally aspirated engine with a hybrid system like they do in some road cars—for example the Valkyrie or the LaFerrari back then. It was more of a KERS system that they had in. But we could be running a naturally aspirated engine—V6, V8, whatever—even a five-cylinder would sound great. Even a three-cylinder would sound great. But the issue is the turbo. That’s what takes the sound away out of the car. So yeah, I mean, it’s not for now anyway, because the next regulation is obviously fixed on that side. And yeah, I haven’t been too much following the latest—I haven’t really driven yet the 2026 regulations. There were a lot of issues with the straight-line speed and where the engines were clipping etc. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot closer than that from where it is now. But the important thing is that the field doesn’t spread out too much. Make the racing close—close between teams. Otherwise, if we end up with somebody at the front just dominating every race, it’s not going to be great for everyone watching at home.
LS: Yeah, not much more to add. It’s all been said. V10s sound good. I think keeping the cars light is important. Light cars are more fun to drive. They’ve gotten heavy, they’ve gotten big over the years. So something to keep in mind going forward.
