Hamilton on Vettel’s future: “If he has to stop before his times comes, it would be a shame”
There was talk of the race pace and how there were moments of luck during the race. During the press conference, the drivers' desire to race a second time on the Austrian Red Bull Ring circuit emerged.
This afternoon there was the press conference in which all 20 Formula 1 drivers attended.
Williams opened the conference. The Mercedes engine will be replaced on George Russell's Williams after a gear drive failure accused last Sunday. Russell will not suffer any penalty and also in tomorrow's FP1 there will be the debut of Jack Aitken in place of Russell.
Russell on his future in Williams: "Mercedes are my managers and we've been in talks on a weekly basis, almost daily basis, for the past two years and those talks have increased as obviously I'm pushing for my future. I know what I need to do which is just perform to my maximum on track you know I do have a contract for next year with Williams so you know ultimately it's potentially in Claire's hands of where my future lies."
Grosjean was rather discouraged about the problem with the car's brakes: "It's very different from what we encountered in the past with brake temperature issues,
"Yes, it was temperature-related, and obviously our cooling hasn't been efficient enough - especially into traffic.
"So, yes we are looking at different options to get the brakes under control - it's never great starting a race knowing that you need to lift and coast to save the brakes by lap two."
Magnussen complained about the failure to notify the problem: "In the race obviously I was getting told to do a lot more lift-and-coast than we had planned for and so I kind of knew there was some kind of problem,
"So yeah, I had a little bit of a warning in the race, but not before that."
The Alfa Romeo drivers talked about the car performance: "I think we need to improve and try to find the best area for the car to be as quick as we can." Raikkonen said.
"Like also we say in the race pace we were much faster compared to the qualifying." Giovinazzi reiterate the concept.
Sergio Perez talked about the the failed attempt to get on the podium: "I think was great to see the team fighting up there being in the mix with the Ferraris and the McLarens. I think we were definitely enjoying a good pace. We were competitive in qualifying, we were competitive in the race. I think we were very unlucky in the race."
The two AlphaTauri drivers talked about the brake failure that made the race very difficult.
Ocon expressed his opinion about the differences between the 2018 cars: "I think there was a lot of differences since I last drove a Grand Prix in 2018. I think the cars have evolved and especially on the race conditions [...] but the racing is still the same, it is even closer which is a good news."
Lando Norris' excitement is not lacking after obtaining his first career podium in F1.
"I so believe Ferrari have a better car than what we do. I don't think we're probably going to be consistently fighting for podium" he said.
Albon started talking about the contact he had with Hamilton during Sunday's race: "We didn't speak afterwards and to be honest there wasn't too much to say as it is what it is,
"I'm sure Lewis didn't intend to make contact but not too much to say really, just focused straightaway on to race two.
"At the very beginning it is frustrating as you are the one to lose out in the situation but, I think just to make it fair the way it is ruled out, they want all the penalties to apply in the same way no matter what the crash or consequences are,
"I am kind of happy that is the situation, it just means that we lost out a bit more than we would have liked." he concluded.
"I think we made good steps but clearly Mercedes made [I think] bigger steps than us, so we have to keep pushing." Max Verstappen added.
Comforting news arrives at Ferrari: the new base has already been mounted on Vettel's car, while tomorrow it will be mounted on the Leclerc's car. The team brings a new set of front wings for the Styrian Grand Prix, with updates chosen for the Hungarian GP.
Vettel when asked if he would say yes to Red Bull if they offered him a seat: "I know why they were strong back then, and they are still a contender. It's a car that you can win races in, so for sure that would be interesting.
"As I said, it's a winning car, and as I said earlier, I'm here to compete and here to win.
"So probably the answer would be yes."
Leclerc expressed his opinion regarding the updates Ferrari brought: "We are bringing some updates on the car, we don't know how much we'll gain. I think it will be important that these updates are working the proper way and that we make a step from that.
"This will show that we've been working in the right direction, if not, then it will be a bad sign.
"But I am confident that these updates will bring some performance into the car. But how much is still to be told on track, but let's see."
The last shift is up to Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton expressed his opinion on Sebastian Vettel's future: "If Seb has to stop before his times comes, that would be a shame. I think he still has a lot more to give to the sport and a lot more to achieve."
You might also be interested in:
