Team Representatives: Peter Bayer, Frederic Vasseur and Andy Cowell.

Fred, if we come to you first. Now Charles said yesterday that he's hoping the floor upgrade that you brought to Bahrain last weekend will deliver even more here in Jeddah. From what you've seen in FP1, is that going to be the case?
Frederic Vasseur: Yeah. But we are not speaking about seconds, and that means we have to always stat calm after FP1. It's a lot related to the engine mode, the fuel, and so on, and we know perfectly that the track conditions will be completely different tonight when it will be perhaps ten degrees cooler, and it will be another track and another story.

Fred, tell us a little bit more about this car because we've seen glimpses of pace. Think of Lewis Hamilton's victory in the China Sprint and then Charles qualifying in Bahrain last weekend. What is the key to unlocking the potential?
FV: Well, the key, I think, is the same for everybody - perhaps except McLaren because they are a step ahead - but it's quite difficult to put everything together. The tyres are very sensitive, and as soon as you make a mistake, you are doing a step back. We're in a pack where on the grid, you told me that qualifying was the best one for Charles, but if you look behind, with four hundredths more, you're P6 or P7. That means we have to stay calm, and we have to stay calm on the conclusions. I think it's true for us, but it's true for everybody. If you look at Max, for example, he was flying in Japan, and the weekend after, he was struggling. Today in F1, the pack is so tight that for small mistakes, you can lose five or six positions on the grid.

The pack is tight. We're now at race five. Do you think Ferrari has all the ingredients this year to be successful? The car we've just talked about is quick. Strategically, the team seems on point. You had the fastest pit stop last weekend in Bahrain. If you can pull it all together at the same time, can you win races? Can you even still challenge?
FV: Ingredients are all there, but now it's like cooking, and you have to put the ingredients together at the right stage. Honestly, I don't have the feeling that we've extracted the best from the car so far, or perhaps on some occasions, some sessions. But I'd say it's true for us and for the others. Even McLaren, with the step they have compared to the rest of the grid, sometimes you have one of their cars that is struggling a bit more. It is what it is. A couple of years ago, you could go to Q1 with a set of Mediums, do one lap, and you were in Q2. Today, even the top teams have to put sometimes two sets of Softs. Again, the field is very, very tight, and each time you make a mistake, you can lose five or six positions. Then the conclusion from outside is that it's a drama. We're more focused on pure performance, and five hundredths is not a drama. That means we need to stay calm in the analysis if we want to improve. I think it was one of the skills of the team last year to be able to capitalise hundredths of a second at a time. I hope we'll follow the same path this year.

Quick word on the drivers. You've had this pairing now for quite a few weeks. Are their approaches similar?
FV: Similar? You don't have two drivers with the same approach. They're competitors. They're both champions. They have their own DNA, their own approach, and they want to get the best. What is positive for us is that they're pushing each other, and we need to get the best from them. But their approach is the approach of competitors.

And has Lewis brought a new approach?
FV: He's coming with his own experience - 20 years in F1, different teams, almost ten years at McLaren, 12 years at Mercedes. It's always good to have someone joining the team with that kind of experience, this kind of vision to help us improve. We have four teams fighting for the win today - perhaps five or six tomorrow - but four teams with different structures, different people different, management. And yet, we're all able to put four cars in one tenth. That means it's not that someone is right or wrong. It's that we have to try to understand what others are doing and try to get the best from them also. We're in this mode today.

Andy, let's come to you now. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster season for Aston Martin so far. How do you summarise progress?
Andy Cowell: I guess we're not happy with the performance of the car. We'd like it to be quicker. We'd like to be picking up points at every single race. The team's very ambitious. But, you know, as Fred was talking about, it's a complex business - lots of interacting systems from tyres to aero and others. Getting on top of all of that is exceptionally challenging. When you look at the lap time difference across all the teams, it is incredibly close. So there are fine margins. Getting the tyres in exactly the right window and looking after them on both axles around a lap in qualifying is one thing, but then managing that in a race is exceptionally difficult. And in the world of aerodynamics - at our campus, you know, CFD, wind tunnel, but then you build a full-size car and put it on track, trying to understand exactly what the load is on both axles around a circuit like Bahrain, which is exceptionally rough, versus a high-speed smoother circuit like this, the aero response is different. You try and measure that, but you're measuring it in a less precise way than you are in a wind tunnel. Piecing all these bits together - as Fred says - it's remarkable how close all the cars are, given the different groups of aerodynamicists, engineers, management styles, tools, and a different group of people and drivers. We're in the last year of these regulations, and it's exceptionally close. We're a relatively young team trying to dial in new tools and trying to understand it and not just trying to survive but to really succeed. There are many areas where, if we could go back to the start of the year with the same car, we could do better at every event. That gives us hope. There are relatively easy things we can do to move forward, but some exceptionally complicated things we've got master as well.

You mentioned new tools. The new wind tunnel has been on stream for nigh on a month. When are we going to start to see the first fruits of its labour?
AC: Since the Melbourne weekend, the wind tunnel's been in use. It's being used for both 2026 aero development and 2025 aero development. We've transitioned to this tunnel, and there's hardware coming through that we'll see at the circuit in the coming races. People often talk about how to tell the time when you've got two watches - how do you tell the aero load when development work has been done in one wind tunnel and then you swap across to the next? They'll never tell you exactly the same. But we are enjoying the new wind tunnel. It's opened our eyes to a few characteristics. But then you've got to do the work. If you've got a new test facility that gives you a clearer view, a more representative view, you've got to then do aero development work - you've go to change shapes, make parts, understand, and then make full-size components to bring to the circuit and measure in this complex environment. We're in that process, enjoying the new tool, and look forward to making a faster race car with it.

Final one from me. There's been a lot of speculation about your driver lineup going forward. Fernando Alonso said here yesterday that it was a compliment to the team that Max Verstappen is being linked to it. Do you share that view with Fernando or do you find all this speculation destabilizing for the team?
AC: We're incredibly fortunate to have two experienced drivers signed for the next two years. That means I can just focus on improving the business and the art of making a fast race car.

So are you saying there is no room for Max Verstappen in 2026?
AC: I'm saying that my head's full of improving the company so that we can make a fast race car for Lance and Fernando.

Peter, thank you for waiting. How do you sum up the opening four races of the season so far for Racing Bulls?
Peter Bayer: So my season started a bit earlier, Tom, at the F1 75 event, where we won the prize for the best livery, which we are extremely grateful to our fans for. And then honestly, Laurent and the team, they also managed to unlock some pace in the car, which we've seen in Melbourne and continuing from there. We had our ups and downs. We had points at hand and perhaps took a bit too much risk on the strategy side. But at the same time, we're also happy with how Isack is developing as a young driver who didn't have a lot of time in an F1 car coming from F2. He has unlocked a lot of potential on and off track. We're very happy with how he's developing. And also, welcoming Liam back to the team has been a pleasant experience, ultimately. We knew him well. I had breakfast with him this morning - he's in a good space, he's happy, he's motivated, he's looking forward to racing. He also showed some pace last week in Bahrain - in Q1, I think he had sector times close to Isack in Sector 1 and Sector 3. So yeah, we're confident we'll have a good racing campaign from here.

On the subject of Liam, has the same driver returned to the team that left you at the end of last season, or is he lacking a bit of confidence still?
PB: Confidence? No. Honestly, I think it took a moment for him to digest. First time I saw him when he came to Italy, he looked a bit sad. Honestly, that's how I perceived him. He was a bit puzzled with everything that happened very quickly. But also, at the same time, he knew the people, the tools, the set-up. And I really felt that very quickly he was returning to being the old Liam. He's a great racer, somebody that has great humour, and that's what we see now again.

Questions From The Floor

(Diletta Colombo - Automoto.it) Question for Fred. Both Charles and Lewis said that during the second stint with the Mediums in Bahrain, they felt the car in a very good way. Do you think you can replicate that and get in that operating window more easily now that you got there?
FV: Yeah. I think it's true that this stint went well for us. Unfortunately, the Safety Car came also a bit too early. But now the issue - or the project - is to be much more consistent, to have a good stint in the race or a good stint in Q3 or Q2. If we want to come back and fight for the win, we need to have much more consistent weekends. This one is starting in a good way. But I think it was a good example - even China - the Sprint Race and the Sprint Quali went well. And as you can imagine, we didn't turn the car upside down after winning the first one for the day after. We are really on the edge. I don't want to speak about the others, but as soon as you push a bit too much, you pay the price with the tyres the corner after. It's really on the edge, very difficult to find the right balance. But we are improving in this direction.

Check out our Friday gallery from Jeddah here.