In a new twist for the Formula One Thursday press conference, each team’s drivers were mixed up and paired with a rival from another outfit to face the media in Imola ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Lance was joined by Williams’s George Russell, while Sebastian was paired with Lewis Hamilton later in the conference.
Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team’s duo tackled the talking points ahead of this weekend’s race and here are the highlights of the Thursday press conference.
Q: How much potential do you believe the AMR21 has?
Lance: I think it has a lot of potential, but it’s still early days. It’s a long season and there’s plenty of races to go, and that journey is already underway.
Q: Sebastian, how do you feel the team has responded to the Bahrain weekend?
Sebastian: We're all positive and the spirit in the team is great. I'll give everything I can to help the team understand and aim for a better race this weekend. I think we're well prepared and we've learned a little bit more about the car. We're tackling the challenge one step at a time.
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Get ready for this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with our in-depth guide to the Grand Prix, presented by Cognizant.
Q: Are track limits a challenge at Imola considering the lack of run-off?
Lance: It’s tricky, it can be tough when you’re riding the kerbs and especially as you exit corners. I believe a few drivers got pinged for it last year. Bahrain is much more straight forward; it’s about keeping your wheels inside on the red and white curve and anything beyond that is outside track limits. That’s a consistent thing at most tracks, but here – it’s the nature of the track and it’s more challenging. We’re all in the same boat and it’s just something us to be mindful of.
Q: What is your favourite rivalry in Formula One history?
Sebastian: As a child, I was a big fan of Michael (Schumacher) and I remember his fights with Mika (Häkkinen) - so that's the obvious one. I think nowadays the world has matured and even if you have different interests and different opinions, we've grown up as people and are able to talk to each other despite those differences. Back then, there was a certain intensity, a bit of bitterness, so we've come a long way since then. We maybe don't have those intense fights anymore off track, but it's still very intense on track. I just don't think we see rivalries quite as we used to in that sense.
Inside Formula One's techn race
Formula One's development race is already well underway for the 2021 season. In this feature, we explain the role of high and low rake in the design of Formula One machinery, and how it can affect car philosophy.
Q: There’s been a lot of talk about the differences between the low and high-rake cars. Is that something you can drive around in the car?
Lance: Not really, it’s a fundamental philosophy when driving the car. It’s clear there’s a difference between the two. Now it’s about making improvements and moving forward.
Q: How did you spend the time between races?
Sebastian: There’s still a lot to understand about the car so it's always good to have extra time, where we can spend it in the simulator and also work to find a couple of things to help improve and understand the way the car wants to be driven. It's about getting into better shape for the races, starting with this one, so time away from racing is always beneficial.
Q: Would you prefer wet conditions? It’s possible according to the forecast.
Lance: I wouldn’t mind rain; it always spices things up!
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