F1 Qualifying Press Conference - Belgian GP — Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris

[0:00] a fine press conference ahead of the fia formula one belgian grand prix in third place lando [0:06] norris in second place max verstappen and taking his sixth poll of 2026 our poll sitter kimmy [0:14] antonelli brilliant lap kimmy you looked very confident out there just tell us about that poll [0:21] lap yeah it was uh was a weird qualifying because q1 i felt um a bit lost because wind picked up a [0:30] little bit and balance was a bit more on the edge um but then obviously the session uh came came to us [0:41] and the q3 was was good because uh we did a decent first lap and then the second lap found a lot of [0:48] time um but yeah just i feel like also the track was cooling down and it was helping us a little bit [0:54] but uh yeah was a good lap and now we'll focus on to tomorrow tell us about the jump between q1 and q2 [1:03] did you change anything on the car because you found more than a second uh front wing just uh [1:08] changed a little bit of flap and that's it um and also the the lab was much tidier q1 was a bit [1:15] uh all over the place and in q3 tell us about the sectors where where was the car strongest [1:22] well uh we brought um a little bit a little package um that helped us a little bit even more on the [1:30] straights uh but uh sector two the car fell still felt good and uh especially in q3 uh we did minus [1:40] minor changes on settings and uh it helped me to gain confidence uh to to push even more so [1:48] um yeah it was good that we were strong in all the settings and let's throw it forward to tomorrow [1:54] what kind of race are you expecting lots of overtaking well i don't know uh hopefully not [2:01] hopefully not hopefully it's uh just uh off in the distance but i mean we'll see tomorrow we'll see [2:09] what the weather is gonna be like uh for sure it's long run into turn five um and then of course we'll [2:17] try to get a good start but also that is gonna be uh fairly fairly big so uh just gonna try to also [2:26] manage those tires uh the best way as possible okay very well done to you thank you kimmy max let's [2:31] come to you great performance by by you your your third front row start of the season how pleased [2:37] are you with the session i mean i think overall the whole weekend the balance of the car has been quite [2:43] decent i think we're just um yeah a bit bit slow in the straight um but yeah it's been uh the car's [2:52] been yeah in the window just trying to fine-tune a little bit and yeah it was the same in qualifying [2:57] it's just uh one point you're a bit stuck in terms of how much more lap time you can [3:02] extract out of it to be honest because every lap that i did was a little bit faster but [3:07] yeah at one point i mean flat is flat so there's no more no more time to gain in corners [3:13] um so that's something maybe we have to review uh maybe we're too easy flat i don't know but uh yeah [3:22] the car was good and then of course is again in q3 helped me a lot with the with the toe in the final [3:27] sector that's why of course i'm sitting i think here otherwise it could have easily been p6 [3:32] because the gaps behind was so close um so yeah thank you to to him for that um so yeah i think as [3:38] a as a team we i think we did we did everything we could can you tell us more about the toe from [3:44] is that because it looked for all the world that you had to back off on that last slide [3:49] i was flat out i would have i would have just pushed him how close was it yeah but he did he [3:56] did amazing i i initially thought oh my god it's too close but then actually it worked out well uh to [4:02] the to the last corner but yeah it was close but i trusted him now we've just heard kimmy say that the [4:08] straight line speed of the mercedes is very good what does this all mean for your race tomorrow the [4:14] difficult in the start i guess as well plus honestly i just want to do my own race i mean [4:19] the gap even in qualifying with a massive toe is still over three tenths so i don't really expect to [4:25] race them tomorrow i think it's more for me looking in the mirrors and fighting them or trying to even [4:30] fight them but mainly just trying to do yeah my own race and and see where we end up very well done [4:36] thank you max and lando if we if we could come to you now very well done now you were fastest after [4:42] the first run of q3 how much did that moment at the fanya chicane cost you do you think on that second [4:49] lap which chicane is that oh how much did it cost me well i went off so but without that do you think [5:00] you could be sat in the middle uh no no i don't know i don't have a delta on my on my dash so i don't [5:05] know if i was up or not um honestly i didn't think i was going any better than my first lap my first [5:10] lap was pretty um yeah pretty amazing i was quite shocked to be uh at the top so um i was very [5:19] pleased um i just don't know i don't know if i was up or not i don't know if i was green or yellow or [5:24] white or purple or what so um that was a shame i just uh the thing is i knew if kimmy was going [5:31] quicker he wasn't going quicker by half a tenth um that's never been the case all season so uh again i [5:37] guess just hurts when you see a car go four turns quicker but um he's done a good job and uh yeah [5:43] i'm so happy with the p3 honestly i'm so pretty pleased to be here it's just a shame i have a 10 [5:48] place grid penalty so i won't be anywhere close to here tomorrow morning focusing on you for a minute [5:54] how pleased are you with this performance and kind of where has it come from because [5:58] the team at least tells us that there's nothing new on the car this weekend no there's not really i mean [6:04] we have a different rear wing which is um probably not even a 10th um on a car for 10th which i mean [6:11] still makes a difference when you see how close it is um but really over the last three four weeks [6:16] we've not really had anything that's helped in that much in performance or really going to move us [6:22] forward i think um there's always been little bits and we always try and bring little bits every weekend [6:26] but there's not been anything so it's just simply this is the car performing better on a different track [6:31] um we performed well in miami we've had a couple of other races not not so good um but it's just uh [6:38] we're up and down simply because of how the track suits or how the car suits the track each time um but [6:43] also i feel like honestly i've been doing a very good job i feel like all weekend actually i've been very [6:48] very confident with the car and getting everything out of it since uh fp1 um and my lap in q3 honestly was [6:53] probably one of the best laps i've ever done in qualifying um so uh i'm i've been very pleased with my [7:00] performance all season um but yeah like i said on front on thursday look it doesn't matter if you [7:06] do the best lap of your life you know it doesn't mean you're on pole all of a sudden so we just need [7:09] to add more performance to the car it's quite simple and um everyone in the factory is working on that [7:14] with the 10 place penalty you're going to start p12 tomorrow what's possible uh just just tough to say [7:23] i mean i'll just do my best to come back through and get well into the points um i think we're clearly [7:28] much quicker than quite a few of the cars i mean um gabby's done a good job as as always uh the [7:35] alpha tarry or the upgraded one of avid looks pretty pretty racy at times you know so um i'm confident [7:41] we can at least get past all of these guys it's more how far into the top um six eight from a red [7:47] bull mercedes ferrari point of view we can kind of get back in the race with these guys so that's the [7:53] that's just the target for tomorrow okay very well done to you okay uh let's open this to the floor [7:58] name and publication please carlo platella formula passion kimmy could you explain where did you [8:05] push more in sector two in your last lap in q3 because you improved by half a second every corner [8:12] was just uh yeah just uh carrying a bit more speed it was a bit hard to to judge at times because um [8:22] super clipping was uh coming more and more so it was changing a little bit the reference and [8:28] yeah so that was a bit the tricky bit in qualifying but uh yeah in the last lap i just tried to carry a [8:35] bit more speed everywhere um and uh yeah the car stick so happy with that thank you coming next one [8:45] question for max um on the towing you had in q3 um was there a lot of talk going on before qualifying [8:59] with isaac and the team and why did you choose sector three and not sector one and did you readjust [9:05] after the first running q3 because there were you were a bit further away yeah i mean we talked about [9:11] it and i think it was quite easily agreed so we knew what to do um and yeah you always of course i guess [9:17] tried to make it better from run one to run two and i think is i did that yeah really well and why [9:23] to do it on that straight i think you have a little bit less of a sm mode so it's a bit more draggy [9:30] uh that's why i guess it helps maybe a little bit more i think it's very even i mean in fp3 i had for [9:36] whatever reason two times the toe uh sector one and three and they were quite equal thank you next [9:46] andrew benson bc sport for all three of you can you tell us how the uh energy recovery affected [9:51] poo on particularly please so for example kimmy from the onboard camera it seemed although it's hard [9:57] to tell that you were maybe turning in flat and then it was starting to recover midway through the [10:01] corner but for all three of you how did that work in terms of the challenge yes uh from the points [10:08] uh from the apex afterwards with no deployment so um yeah it was easy sorry yeah i don't know it was [10:19] flat all the way the yeah it was not like last year max please i mean it's not 24 it's the whole track [10:31] um it's a different spa but uh yeah i mentally readjusted to it yeah so it's uh it's not a corner [10:46] anymore it's it was easy flat so all right thanks all three luke please uh luke smith from the effect [10:55] max just on the toe with izak as well um how have you found your experience working with him this [10:59] here obviously it's only his second year in the sport but um to be able to sort of put your trust [11:03] in him something like that does that sort of show the good dynamic between you guys yeah well i mean [11:09] he he's been very easy to to work with um and i mean we're formula one drivers you know i think you [11:16] you should be able to do stuff like that and i think he's a smart kid so he knows what to do in [11:21] that circumstance thanks max my question to you uh today where did you expect to be if isaq hadjar [11:38] didn't help you uh i guess whatever 310 puts me back i guess p6 something seven i have no idea i have [11:50] not seen the gaps but it was very close behind me from from p2 all the way to p6 i think so three [11:57] three tenths thanks max next one uh question to max about the energy management uh can you describe [12:08] a little bit more about the worst parts of the track what is it like uh doing a qualifying lab [12:13] with these cars on your favorite track well i mean for most of sector two you run just on on the engine [12:21] so what is that 450 500 horsepower something like that which is i guess less or more or less what [12:31] a formula 3 car has but with f1 downforce so you can imagine of course that that is not very exciting [12:39] to drive but honestly i don't want to sit here and complain again because probably someone will shoot [12:44] me outside the door but uh you know um like i said before i'm mentally just adjusting to it and i'm [12:52] trying to make the best out of it even though of course it's not what i like you know what i love [12:56] to do in formula one but yeah i can also sit at home and drive nothing but that also doesn't do [13:01] anything so i'm just trying my best thank you max next uh james phillips motorsport monday question [13:10] for lando uh you've spoken about fighting back through the field tomorrow can you just give us a [13:14] bit of an insight into the mindset that you and the team bring into that scenario and how it's different [13:19] from another race thank you um honestly it's not too different um i mean you try and do your best in [13:28] every race you you put together as many good plans as you can um i think clearly the the pace is pretty [13:35] good it's close so it's not like we're easily going to be able to get back in the fight with [13:39] with the the top group um but of course a good good start and good first lap can easily get me back [13:45] where i want to be quickly um from then on out it's uh just depending on how easy overtaking is [13:51] and or how difficult it is um i don't think it's going to be crazy easy but uh there's a lot of [13:58] possibilities you know so um honestly it's not it's not that different because you you do your best you [14:03] can in every race you're always attacking um for me that's always what works best and um yeah i guess [14:09] we'll probably come up with a few more scenarios of um if we don't have or if overtaking is easy or hard [14:15] and we can't get back into the top uh you know six seven eight uh that quickly what can what else [14:20] can we do to to bring us back into the fight but apart from that um i'm confident we'll be able [14:25] to get up there pretty quickly thank you lando any more please yep luke smith from that's again [14:36] give me one for you um your adventure over george so far this weekend through the high speed corners [14:40] in particular look quite telling and poo on there's quite a big difference and through some of your [14:44] practice laps so just how constant have you been with the car through those kind of sections this [14:48] weekend no i mean i've been feeling good with the car overall uh during the uh the whole year so [14:59] yeah i've been yeah um but um you know i've had good confidence with the car uh overall [15:12] in low speed medium speed mainly uh the high speed in qualifying was not that challenging was more about [15:20] uh after puan uh the chicane uh or also uh turn five six uh as well so yeah no i've been feeling good [15:30] with the car and it's good to you know to be more and more confidence uh whenever whenever i jump in it [15:37] so um yeah now uh we'll focus on to tomorrow thank you kimmy any more no more we'll leave it there [15:46] very well done gentlemen good luck in the race tomorrow thank you