Today's press conference with Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas.

It's been a busy news cycle since we were last gathered in Hungary. And Valtteri, can we start with you, please? And the news that Andreas Seidel has been replaced by Mattia Binotto in the team. What's your reaction, first of all?
Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, quite sudden news. I believe everything happened pretty quickly, but obviously those high-level decisions, we as drivers and many of the team members don't know really what's going on behind the scenes. But yeah, quite unexpected, but obviously welcoming Mattia to the team. And at the same time, I want to thank Mr Seidl and Mr Hoffman for their contribution to the team.

How do you expect this change to affect the day-to-day running of the team?
VB: It's a bit of a reset again. It's not a secret that when there's a new leadership, it will always take a bit of time, first of all. Mattia needs to know what are the weaknesses, what are the strengths, what are the priorities for short- and long-term improvements, and that's going to take a bit of time. Again, it's the third time now in three years, within three years, that we've had change at the top, so not a new situation, and the team shouldn't be too affected at this point. I think it's more the stuff for the future, and obviously time will show what will happen.

In case Mattia is watching this, put a little bit more flesh on the bone. What do you think are the priorities, both short-term and long-term, for the team?
VB: I don't want to go too much into details. Obviously, some things are internal, but we know that compared to, let's say, at the moment, to the big teams, we're still lacking a bit of human power. We could do with more people, but at the same time, the team has been hiring and growing recently quite a bit. There are certain areas that we definitely need to focus on, at the factory but also with the car performance. We're at the moment not where we need to be and that's basically we needed some new upgrades and into the right direction.

Just a quick word on the upgrades that you've been running recently and how you think the car will perform here at Spa?
VB: It's going to be, even though it's a long lap, I think it's going to be still close where we are. We did make a step in Budapest. Again, it's a very different type of track. So I wouldn't say too detailed predictions, but hopefully we're going to be in the mix and fighting close to top 10 like we did on Saturday in Budapest.

Alright. Valtteri, thank you. I'm sure there'll be some more questions for you in a minute. Daniel, let's come to you next. So management changes at Sauber. Are you expecting any driver changes at Red Bull?
Daniel Ricciardo: So predictable, Thomas, so predictable. I don't know. Yeah, honestly, I don't know. But like always, just focus on myself and what I can do. Every race or few races, the narrative changes and that's the sport we're in. Things are happening quickly and you've just got to try and, I think in these situations, focus on yourself and get the most out of that and then see where the wind takes me. No changes from the approach. Coming into Budapest, I knew it was going to be two important weekends coming up before the break and obviously hit the break with a bit of momentum. So yeah, that's where my head's at. So try and do well.

Daniel, you want to focus on yourself. So let's focus on you.
DR: Sounds selfish, doesn't it?

Well, it's just a lot of people talk about your results. I'm not sure too many people ask you about how you're feeling about the situation and how you feel you are driving at the moment. Is this the best we've seen from Daniel Ricciardo for a wee while?
DR: I mean, I'm definitely happier where I am now than the first few races this season. You know, I think I was... I felt good all season, but it wasn't quite clicking, for lack of a better word, you know, the first few races. And I think then I've been able to get more out of myself, certainly the last few races. And I think it's trending in the right direction. And I think that's obviously important. Of course you want to be awesome every race, but I knew obviously after the first few that I still had to find a little bit, but I'm definitely happier. I'm more comfortable with where I'm at and yeah, just showing those signs of speed that I know I have. And that's obviously... All of us are trying to extract that out of ourselves every weekend and some weekends come easier than others. But I think, yeah, I'm certainly sitting here now, much happier than probably, I don't know, two or three months ago.

And in Hungary, it looked like the team had got its Barcelona upgrades working. Was that circuit specific or do you feel you'd actually made a step forward with setup and genuine car performance?
DR: I mean, the circuit helped us, because I think we were pretty strong already from Friday. And we hit the ground running, and we didn't really have to chase it. It just came, and that was that. So some circuits certainly help. But it's still so unpredictable. Did we know we would be really strong in Budapest? Not necessarily, but yeah, I think we've a bit more time now, we've understood everything and we, yeah, you just, I guess it helps getting to the weekend with a better understanding of the package and then knowing, okay, we pretty much know the window of what this car likes, the set-up. Okay, it's a big downforce circuit, so let's see what that does, but... We had a bit more confidence, I guess. I feel like I just repeated myself a lot. But yeah, we'll see. I don't know. It's the midfield, the midfield mystery. It's always pretty unpredictable where we are.

Alright. Well, best of luck this weekend. Thanks for that. Carlos, let's come to you now. The last time you and Kevin were in a press conference together, Kevin said you were the cork in the bottle. of the driver market. And I did want to start by asking for your thoughts on the news that Mattia Binotto is going to Sauber Audi. You've worked with him before at Ferrari. Does that complicate your decision further?
Carlos Sainz: So predictable, Thomas. I think, first of all, I'm not up to date with everything that is going on at every team but of course I think the arrival of Mattia to any team is positive, mainly because he has the experience of what it takes to build a team that is a top team nowadays, like it is at Ferrari. And he has that experience from Ferrari that he can bring into Audi. And I'm sure it's a great asset for them. And that's why they hired him. And yeah, of course, I wish him all the best there.

The offer from Audi has been on the table for a while. You haven't signed it. Does this open them up as a real opportunity for you again?
CS: Not really. I think my future is still being discussed and obviously analysed very carefully. And there's changes to a lot of teams that I'm looking at for next year pretty much every week. So there's changes, evolution on the team market as much as there is on the driver market. And I'm just going to keep giving myself time to take the decision to analyse all these things that keep changing. without giving you too many clues here.

Okay, just a quick one on car performance here at Spa. It seemed that the car was performing better in Hungary. Do you think that will translate to this circuit as well?
CS: Completely different circuit to Hungary. I think Hungary is somewhere closer to, for example, Barcelona in terms of the downforce and the corner speeds. But yeah, I think now Spa is going back a bit more towards Silverstone kind of track. And last time we were in Silverstone, we struggled as a team. So yeah, encouraged to see the progress in Hungary, or we were a little bit quicker in Hungary, especially in the race. But let's see how we are in Spa and if we can keep trying to get closer to the, I would call them now top two teams, because it's clear that McLaren and Red Bull, when they switch it on, they have three or four tenths advantage over us.

OK, best of luck this weekend. Thank you for that. Kevin, let's move to you. You have a pretty efficient car. So are you confident coming to Spa?
Kevin Magnussen: I don't know about confident, but I'm looking forward to this track, given the nature of the car and the strengths that we've had this year. I think this track looks, on paper, pretty good for us. But as Daniel said, the midfield is so tight these days that it's super unpredictable where you're going to be. We've had races where we didn't think we were going to be good, and then we ended up being pretty good. Yeah, I think you can't take anything for granted right now. So just going in with an open mind again and try to do a good weekend.

Kevin, when you look back on the opening half of this season, how do you sum it up? Because the car does seem to be good one weekend, not so good the next. Why do you feel it's been so unpredictable from race to race?
KM: Well, I think we're still not consistent enough, but from last year, we improved consistency. Last year, especially in qualifying, we were able to be good, but every time on Sunday, we'd just fall to pieces. And I think we've changed that situation so that it's actually almost the opposite now. we look better in the race than we do in qualifying often. And certainly on Sunday, we're a lot more consistent. But again, with the field so tight together, it only takes a small little mishap and you're qualifying far off your optimal position. And that's been a big driver to the inconsistency this year, I think.

Kevin, final one from me. 2025: you've made it very clear that you want to stay in Formula 1. There are, of course, still lots of opportunities in Formula 1 next year. But if that doesn't happen for you, where else are you looking? Are we looking at the FIA World Endurance Championship? Are you looking at IndyCar or all of the above?
KM: Yeah, all of the above. I think everything is on the table in that case. So, yeah, it's hard to... I'll see what's available out there and make my mind when I get there. Right now, I'm in Formula 1 and there's still a couple of seats open for next year that I'd like to see where all that ends up and then look at things afterwards.

Okay, best of luck with that. Thank you. Lance, coming to you now. We were talking about consistency with the Haas and you've scored points in the last two races. So does that point to you finding some consistency with the Aston now?
Lance Stroll: Yeah, I mean, I think we improved the car a little bit the last few races for sure. Hungary wasn't our most competitive event. I think we were a bit better in Silverstone. I think we're better on the longer straights. So I'm hoping we can be good this weekend.