Barcelona marks your 100th with Red Bull Racing. How does it feel being part of this Team?
Getting to 100 races with Red Bull has gone so quickly to be honest, I didn’t know it had been that many! I must be getting old (laughs). I enjoy being part of the Team for as long as I have. The atmosphere in the whole Team is great and there is a lot of motivation and energy here from everyone. We have a really good working relationship but also besides that, off track we also get on very well and have a lot of fun so it’s very nice for me to be part of the Team and hopefully of course for a lot more years.
Barcelona holds some special memories from your first F1 win, what do you remember from that day?
Barcelona will always hold special memories for me. Your first F1 win is pretty emotional, especially when it is a bit of a shock to everyone as it was my debut for the Team. I don’t really get emotional that often but I was pretty close to tears that day and so was my Dad. Everything flashes through your head of how you got to Formula One. It wasn’t all easy and people think that when you are winning it looks pretty easy but you have to do the hard work to get there. Like all young drivers we spent a lot of time away from home, driving around Europe and working as hard as possible. Of course, I had a big help from my Dad who prepared me very well but there is no guarantee you will make it to Formula One but as a family that was always the goal. Suddenly, after the win, it all flashes through your head and it was an incredible day. I’ve said it many times, my first win was a shock, nobody expected it, so it will be a day I will never forget. I’m very grateful to everyone who worked with me and got to that point at such a young age.
We now have a bit of a picture of tracks that may suit us and other teams, what do you think Barcelona will have in store after a challenging Portuguese GP?
I think it can be a good track for us, but I do expect Mercedes to be very quick too so it’s going to be very close again and it’s just going to depend on who finds the best set-up. We know Barcelona is a normal track in terms of grip levels, unlike Portugal, so there we can see the real pace of the cars again.
Barcelona is a really good track and we all know it very well. I’ve been there in the beginning of the year in a GT car driving with my Dad and enjoying the track so it will be good to go back. We are in a development race with Mercedes and we have to make sure we can keep this level for the rest of the season and keep improving every weekend. Even if you win there are still so many things you can learn from a race weekend as nothing is ever perfect and we are looking at every aspect to stay in the fight.
– Red Bull Racing Honda
