PART TWO – Liam LAWSON (Racing Bulls), Charles LECLERC (Ferrari), Lance STROLL (Aston Martin)
Q: Charles, there was some big news that broke earlier today. Team principal Fred Vasseur has signed a new long-term contract with Ferrari. Can we get your thoughts on that, please?
Charles LECLERC: I’m really, really happy. It’s not that it’s coming as a surprise, but I’m really happy. Especially in the past month, there were quite a few rumours, like it’s always the case around the team. To finally have the official news out is important and I’m really happy.
Q: You were at the team before Fred. What has he brought to the Scuderia over the last 30 months or so?
CL: Without going into comparing the different eras, Fred has an incredible vision. What’s very difficult within Ferrari is the emotion is very much part of the daily job because Italian people in general, and that’s what makes Ferrari so special, are extremely passionate about Ferrari. Fred really knows how to leave his emotions aside and have a clear vision of where we are at no matter how much noise there is around the team. This is very, very important. Apart from that, he’s got many more qualities. One of them is also to extract the maximum out of every single person at the factory and this, when you put everything together, it makes a big difference.
Q: Spa was a great weekend for you, another podium. Do you feel you’ve got a car that you can consistently fight for podiums with now?
CL: The result will say so. We’ve had four podiums in the last six race weekends. I don’t think yet that we are at the level where we can say that we are the second strongest team on the grid. But we are working towards that and making steps in the right direction. There have been quite a few upgrades in the last few weekends which helped us to close the gap to the guys in front. However, this weekend, I’m not sure. It’s by far the worst track of the season for me. I’m looking forward to trying to prove that wrong and to have finally a good weekend here in Budapest.
Q: Why? What is it about the Hungaroring?
CL: I don’t know. I wish I knew. It’s just not been very successful for me in the past. It’s probably something with my driving style. I’ve got to work a little bit harder compared to other tracks, but that’s fine.
Q: Is that odd in some way? Because you’ve always been so good at Monaco, and a lot of drivers refer to this one as Monaco without the walls.
CL: Maybe it’s the walls that are missing. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but I’m still confident we can have a great weekend and we’ll see how it goes.
Q: Lance, can we start with a bit of a half-term report? Just get your reflections on how the opening 13 races have gone, the three points finishes. Just sum it all up for us.
Lance STROLL: We’re not as competitive as we want to be, that’s for sure. As a team, we want to be fighting further up and scoring more points every weekend. Spa was a difficult weekend for us, just not fast enough. There’s a lot of work going on back at Silverstone to keep pushing, keep making the car faster. Some fun races for sure this season, some fun wet races where we capitalised on opportunities and scored some points. Those ones tasted good, but we want to be faster.
Q: Is it races like Silverstone, the outliers, the wet races, that are your main opportunity to score points now?
LS: At the moment, it feels like it. On a normal dry weekend, maybe if the track suits the car perfectly and we get everything out of it, we can snag a point or two. But it feels like a lot of the time, it’s those kinds of weekends that we’re relying on to mix things up and get something out of it.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the performance of the car. You had the new front wing at Spa. There have been other updates in recent races as well. Do you think the package you have will suit the Hungaroring more than Spa-Francorchamps?
LS: I don’t know. I hope so. We’ll see.
Q: Liam, Alan Permane, your new boss at RB, described your race at Spa as near perfect. Is that how it felt in the cockpit?
Liam LAWSON: Probably not, to be honest. It’s always tricky in those conditions when it’s changing. In the car it felt like it was still quite wet when everyone was putting on slicks. We were actually one of the early cars to do it. If they’d asked me if I thought it was ready, I probably would have said no. Those races are very tricky to judge. For us, we were able to capitalise. In general, the car has been quick recently. On most tracks we’ve been to, practice has been quite strong and I feel like we’ve started in a good place and not had too much to work on. It’s just very close right now. Even in Spa, I couldn’t believe that over a nearly two-minute lap, for teams to be within one tenth in qualifying, it’s very close.
Q: Do you feel last Sunday was your most complete performance of the year so far for this team?
LL: I think Austria was a more complete weekend in terms of qualifying was maximized, race was maximized. I don’t think we could have achieved too much more. In Spa the car was quick, qualifying wasn’t perfect, and going into the race we were able to capitalize. It’s just been more consistent recently. There needs to be more because to have two good races like that in what’s been 12 races is not enough. We need to be doing it nearly every weekend if that’s the target.
Q: Can we use this summer break moment to reflect for a minute? You’ve had a lot thrown at you this season. How do you sum up 2025 so far?
LL: It’s been busy. It’s been a whirlwind, especially at the start of the year. Very unexpected, and what was probably a rocky start has now stabilised and we’re in a better place. The speed’s been there most of the year, and it’s nice that we’re finally able to get a couple of good results. As a whole, we need to be doing that more. To have two or three of those races over the first half of the season is not enough. Going forward into the second half of the year, we’re trying to replicate this more. Right now, with how close it is, it’s the little things that make a big difference. Trying to extract everything each weekend.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Moritz Steidl – Servus TV) Question to Charles and Liam. Laurent Mekies, you have both worked with him in different positions. Everyone describes him as a people guy who knows how to interact and empower people. How did you individually work with him, and how would you describe his working style?
CL: When I worked with Laurent, he wasn’t a team principal just yet. He had a very important position within the team. Laurent has always been extremely good at understanding people. He’s one of those where I didn’t have to speak much for him to understand the way I felt. That’s always very helpful. I’ve never had him as my team principal, but I’ve always seen him as a person definitely capable of becoming one. It’s great to see what’s happening to him. I’m super happy for him, when he first made the step to AlphaTauri back then and now at Red Bull Racing. He definitely deserves that.
LL: Charles said it very well. He’s a people person. When he came to us, he straightaway led the team. He’s very personal with you, very open to talking on a personal level, especially with me as a driver and to everybody in the team. He was somebody that was easy to follow. He’s probably one of my favourite guys in the paddock, honestly. He’s just a very good person, beautiful family. Always working very hard as well, one of the guys there on Thursday mornings before most people, pushing very hard. Very cool to see.
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Liam, don’t put the mic down. We’re doing a feature on rookies this weekend. Rather than looking back, look forward. Which areas are you focusing on the most that you need to improve or be more consistent in during the second half of your first full rookie season?
LL: If I was to just pick an area, overall, it’s qualifying. With how important it is at the moment because everybody’s very close, even on tracks that are maybe easier to overtake, it’s still difficult because you don’t have a three, four, five tenth pace advantage. You have like a one or two tenth pace advantage, and that’s very hard to overtake. Qualifying is very important, it sets up your weekend. Where our weekends have fallen away, at least on my side, has been normally in an average qualifying. Where our weekends have been strong, it’s when we qualify well. That’s the main target: just extracting everything, making sure we have the car in the best place going into qualifying, and then for me getting everything out of it and doing a better job.
Q: (Mara Sangiorgio – Sky Sports Italy) Question to Charles. Last winter you were in the shadows for a few months. Are you surprised that you are constantly ahead of Lewis, or did you expect it?
CL: I didn’t have much expectation because I didn’t know. As a driver, you watch the data of other drivers, but there’s always the question mark: when you’re off in one corner, how much is it coming from the driver and how much from the car? I was very curious to see where I would be against Lewis. Again, it’s still very early on and we’re also not fighting for wins and pole positions, which changes things for a driver. For now, my only focus is to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. I’m happy with the way I’m performing and I just need to keep going that way. It’s probably too early to judge, as it’s a new team for Lewis, and I’m sure he’s still understanding and learning about all the different systems, the new systems for him.
Q: (Rui Chagas – DAZN Portugal) Lance, tricky question: how much is your head thinking on next year taking into consideration Adrian Newey, the new wind tunnel, new engine, new regulations?
LS: As a team, probably all teams now are heavily focused on next year. With the new regulations, it’s going to be a big opportunity for everyone. It’s definitely a very exciting time for us as a team, with all the tools we have: the new wind tunnel, new simulator, a lot of people joining the team, Adrian coming on board. It’s a very exciting time for us. No one knows where they will stand at the first race in Melbourne, but a lot of work and focus is going into ’26.
Q: (Diletta Colombo – AutoMoto.it) Question for Charles. How important is it to have stability within the team as far as top management is concerned?
CL: I’m not the one making the decisions, but I think stability is always very important. Fred is the person we look up to and the person leading the team. To have him for many more years is definitely a good thing, also because in Formula 1 it takes time to build something, especially a successful team. I’m very happy about that. Knowing that I’ll be able to have Fred alongside me for more years makes me optimistic for the future.
Q: (Patrik Fehér – Vezess.hu) Question to Charles. Lewis mentioned last weekend that he goes the extra mile to ensure Ferrari’s improvements by sending and creating documents to the engineers in Maranello. Are you involved in this kind of development process? And if not, aren’t you afraid of being left out?
CL: No, don’t worry, I’m of course involved. I’m not creating documents on my side, but I’m definitely having meetings whenever I’m back in Maranello with the team to know what is the next thing we want to tackle as a team. Every single driver has their way of feeding back the team. I have my way, which is different compared to Lewis, but that doesn’t mean I’m left out. I’m definitely involved in the process.
Q: (Josh Suttill – The Race) Charles, you’re in the prime of your career but without the car to match your talents. How important has Fred been to convincing you that you will get that car soon?
CL: Fred is definitely part of it, but the biggest part is to see how the team works. I’m sure we are working in the right direction. Next year will be a big turning point for us as it will be a new era of cars. Whenever you start a new era, if you are not starting it on the right foot, it’s always more difficult to come back because other teams are also pushing for upgrades. To close the gap is very difficult. We’ll have to start that on the right foot and then we’ll see. For now, I’m fully dedicated to try and make Ferrari great again and to win races again.
Q: (Carlo Platella – FormulaPassion.it) Charles, do you think that during his first three years in Maranello Fred was able to start a cultural change inside the team?
CL: He definitely changed the way we are working on different things. Where Fred made the biggest difference is his vision, his overall vision. This, he embedded it into the team and that’s very important. I feel that the beauty of Ferrari is the fact that emotionally it’s always intense, but it can also harm us in some ways, especially when tougher times arrive. Fred has always had very cold blood in those moments and helped the team to be a little bit more, lucid – do you say that in English? Yes? OK. And that’s the biggest thing Fred has brought to the team.
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Another question for Charles. You mentioned the speculation that’s been around Fred’s position as well. Do you think that’s been heightened this year because expectations were high coming into this year, having had a championship fight last year and of course with Lewis at the team as well?
CL: Definitely. The fact that there was so much hype around the team at the beginning of the year made everything worse. When we then started the season, I think everybody thought we were going to win the championship and unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Then there were rumours and that took a bigger proportion than what we want. These are not things we can control. As I was saying earlier, it’s part of Ferrari. It’s always been the case and it will never change. We cannot focus on that. The best thing we can do is try and not think about those things as much as possible.
Q: (Giuseppe Marino – MotorOnline.com) Charles, considering the difficulty of the car and your five podiums this year, is this one of the best moments for you as a driver in your career?
CL: In terms of my own performance, as I was saying, I’m very happy with the way I perform. The best moment as a driver, no, because I want to win. So, as my own performance, I’m really happy. You always want to improve and obviously, like Silverstone for example, was a very poor weekend from my side. Those weekends you want to have the least possible in a season. Apart from that, I’m very satisfied. That is a good thing. I also think the upgrades go in the right direction of making the life of the drivers, Lewis and myself, a little bit easier because at the beginning of the season, it was extremely difficult. We had to set up the car in very extreme ways and that made us also do more mistakes. Now we are a bit more in a reasonable window, which helps us to extract the maximum out of the car. It’s good that we see the result.
Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Charles, Fred Vasseur looks like a person with a very good sense of humour. How did his personality help to create a good environment in Ferrari? Can you share some of those moments behind the scenes?
CL: He’s definitely very funny. I’m sure it plays a part in the team. We’ve got some very funny guys within the team as well. However, we are obviously here to work. It helps. Whenever we have team dinners, we are having a good time, and it really feels like a family. For me, it definitely feels like a family. I’ve been growing up in Ferrari basically and I’m still there. Fred has integrated into the team extremely well. Now he’s leading it with his sense of humour as well, which sometimes can lighten some difficult situations. Again, I’m really happy about Fred’s reconfirmation within the team.
Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Charles, you are in a very tight fight with Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship. Do you think it’s better to take second place at the end of the season than being third, even if that means less wind tunnel time next season?
CL: I’m pretty sure it’s better to finish second than third. However, as you said, there’s also the wind tunnel time. This is not something we think of too much. When we are on track, we just want to finish as high up as possible and then we’ll deal with whatever amount of hours in the wind tunnel we have. We want to target the highest possible. Second place in the Constructors’ is one of our targets, but the biggest target is to come back to winning races as soon as possible. Wherever we finish, we’ll work from there and see how many hours we have next year.
Q: Charles, knowing the car as you do now, knowing the upgrades as you do now, when you look at the second half of this season, what kind of racetrack are you going to thinking, “yes, this could be the one”?
CL: I’m not sure. I don’t think there’s one track at the moment where we think we are stronger than McLaren. Consistently, McLaren is going to be the strongest car this year. Red Bull is a little bit more up and down, a bit like us and Mercedes, but there’s one constant and that is McLaren. For now, I don’t think there’s any tracks where I go to and think we will be the favourite, but I hope I’ll be surprised.
Q: (Viktor Bognar – Eurosport.hu) Question to all three of you. Fernando Alonso recently said that the rest of the season will only be interesting for the two McLaren drivers because they are fighting for the championship, but for all the others it’s just waiting for the season to end and hoping that something better will come for your team next season. What do you think about this? Is it your mindset also?
LS: For sure, it’s going to be more exciting for the McLaren drivers than the rest of us. But every race you never know what’s going to happen. We’re all in our own different battles. Some of us are trying to pick up a point or two and that’s a victory for us as a team. McLaren are fighting to win the race every weekend. We’re all fighting our own battles. I’m enjoying every weekend as they come and you never know what’s going to happen. The future, next year, like I said earlier, is a big opportunity for all the teams. That’s exciting to see how it’s going to fall into place.
CL: I agree. It’s maybe a bit extreme to say that only the McLaren drivers will be having fun. We are all fighting for something. It would be very optimistic for me to say that I’m fighting for the World Championship. That’s not realistic anymore. However, we are fighting for coming back to winning races. For that, I’m very excited and I just hope it will be as soon as possible. I’m still fully motivated and excited whenever there’s a race.
LL: These guys said it well. With how close the midfield is right now, it’s definitely exciting from our perspective depending on how the weekends are going. We’re all on our own path and in our own fights. We’re all focused on those individual things at the moment.
Q: (Josh Suttill – The Race) Question for Lance. You’ve driven different generations of F1 cars in the wet. Why is this one so difficult? And do you think it’s still possible to have classic wet races like Silverstone 2008 and others like that?
LS: You mean like the conditions and stuff? I think the cars have gotten big, the tyres have gotten bigger, the spray has gotten worse over the years. That’s my feeling. Visibility is the biggest issue now with the size of the cars and the tyres. Races like Spa with the nature of the track, Eau Rouge, going 300 kilometres per hour without seeing anything at the top of the hill—racing conditions like that are hard to go through with and then go racing. I don’t know if it’s gotten worse. It’s always been challenging. The spray is the biggest issue and the visibility. To go ahead with races like Spa, start earlier and race in proper wet conditions, we need to work on the visibility factor and how we can improve that.