Today was press day at the “Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya” ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The teams and drivers are already in the track and the drivers have given their opinions about various news that they were asked during today's press conference. We are one day away for the drivers to get back into their cars and start the action on the track, so here we leave you the most important moments of the press conference.

The most important news of the day was that Sergio Perez tested negative in his Covid-19 test and the Racing Point driver will be able to compete without any problem in the Spanish Grand Prix. The Mexican driver commented that they were very tough days for him although he did not suffer from serious symptoms other than headache and general exhaustion for a few days. Sergio commented that he is extremely happy to be back in the paddock and he finds nice to think that he will be behind the wheel of his RP20 again. There have been some rumours about who will get the Racing Point (next year will be Aston Martin) seat, Sergio has an active contract with the team but rumours suggest that Sebastian Vettel could be Lance Stroll’s teammate next year. This is what Sergio commented: “With the rumours of Sebastian, I think there’s nothing I can do. What I’ve heard from the team is that we all want to keep going. So, I believe it’s just a matter of time before those rumours can go away.”

Sebastian Vettel has been one of the most active drivers in terms of news in the last couple of weeks. We have seen an angry Seb with Ferrari and Ferrari insists that they have not done anything in Seb’s car in order to avoid him to be in a better position. The German driver shared his opinion about the tension that has been seen between himself and the Italian team. When he was asked if tensions had grown any, the German driver denied it. “I think we are trying to do everything we can, and it is never relaxed if things don’t go your way or they go wrong. If you judge the emotions right after the race or during the race, I don’t think that is a fair reflection of what is going on, hence why I tend to disagree.” Said the four-time world champion.

As we heard it a few days ago, the FIA is planning to ban those qualifying engine modes in order to close the gap between the top teams (which are Mercedes and Red Bull) and the midfield teams (like McLaren, Renault, Racing Point, Ferrari, etc). Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, has commented that the impending move to ban powerful Formula 1 qualifying engine modes will not “get the result they want” in terms of its impact on Mercedes’ performance. This ban will begin from the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix onwards and the six-time world champions affirms that this movement is due to reduce Mercedes’ performance because it is a big dominancy which they are having right now. These were the exact words of the British driver: “It’s obviously to slow us down but I don’t think it’s going to get the result that they want, so that’s totally fine if they do it. It’s not a surprise to us, they’re always trying to slow us down. But it doesn’t really change a huge amount for us so it’s not a problem.”

One team that has surprised us all is McLaren, the British team has achieved two podiums this year, one per each driver but the last two weeks have been very tough for them, especially for Carlos Sainz, who was in P4 during the British GP but a front left puncture made him lose all he point he was supposed to have that weekend. Another problem they’ve suffered is the overheating, this issue made the team to open up the car and generate more cooling, which in turn compromised the aero performance of the MCL35. “We are putting everything in place this weekend to try and solve the issue. The team will probably talk about it today, all the things that we’re trying to change to try and address this issue, but from my side, I just can tell you that I was obviously not happy about last weekend.” Affirmed the local hero of this weekend’s Grand Prix.

We need to remember that Sergio Perez was the first Formula 1 driver that tested positive for Covid-19. A lot of people blame him because he travelled back to his local city in Mexico for a meeting with a sponsor and fans. The Mexican driver commented that all those rumours are false, and he did nothing wrong when going to visit his family. “When I was in quarantine, I saw everything. I saw people saying I was taking selfies with a lot of people, and I made up the story about my mom. So much bull****, and so disrespectful. We are all very vulnerable to this, we have to take care of it.” Affirmed the Mexican driver.

These were the most important moments from today’s press conference ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at the “Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya”. Who do you think will win this Grand Prix?