Part 1: Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly

Q: Checo, I feel we have to start with you. Just describe the build-up to this Grand Prix for you? It seems to get bigger and bigger every year.
Sergio Perez: It's pretty impressive. You always forget when you are on the other side of the world with so many races, you really forget the amount of support you have in your own country. And yeah, it's amazing. It's a great opportunity. It's a great experience every single Grand Prix. You know, it's crazy to think that this is the ninth Grand Prix that we've had. I was just joking with some of my sponsors yesterday, every year we used to do a football game for the for the lead up to the grand prix and now nobody can play because everyone has issues with the knees, with the back, you know, so everyone is aging so much! It's just great you know to look back at it and obviously this year again I think this Mexican Grand Prix, to me, I think it's the best in the world by quite a chunk.

Q: Well, you've been on the podium here before. Let's talk about performance. Just how confident are you in the car and of getting back up there this weekend?
SP: Austin wasn't a good weekend for us. We did lack some of the upgrades. We basically thought that the new floor wasn't as big as It turned out to be in the end with Max. We had a bit of that, and we just didn't get a good weekend. It wasn't a good weekend where I built a lot of confidence. But Mexico is different. It's a different game. It's a different track. So, yeah, let's see. We got some changes here. So let's see. Hopefully we can be in the mix for the win.

Q: And historically, Red Bull Racing has done very well here. Does that give you some confidence?
SP: Yeah, definitely. I think we've had good races in the past. We've always been competitive. Every year I've been here with Red Bull, we've always fought for the win, for the podium. So, yeah, I really hope that we can be at that level this weekend.

Q: Alright, well, best of luck this weekend. Get further than Turn 1 this year.
SP: Thank you.

Q: Alright, Checo, thank you. Nico, let's come to you now. What a weekend for you and for Haas in Austin. Just give us your reflections on that, first of all.
Nico Hulkenberg: Yeah, it's been very positive. Scored points twice, and with both cars in the Sprint. So, yeah, I think, you know, we feel very happy coming out of there. Also, you know, taking P6, obviously, at the moment in the championship. So we want to obviously hang on to that, repeat it as often as we can and take that momentum into this week and to next week and just keep building on that.

Q: You were running upgrades last weekend. Of course, you'll have them here as well. Just how much of a step forward have you taken with the car?
NH: Yeah, we've taken... I think all throughout the year, we've, you know, continuously progressed. Very different to last year, where upgrades didn't really come and often didn't work. This year they do something to the car and they do enhance the performance. We've started early in the year around China with some upgrades, Miami. Silverstone was obviously a big one. That was a big step forward and last weekend again it felt quite positive. But then I think there's more things to learn and hopefully to explore. It's been very positive, especially when you consider and remember how we finished at the end of last year and races on Sundays, so a hell of a turnaround for us. Like I said, it's great fun, everyone in the team obviously enjoying it, and we want to keep that rolling.

Q: The team has now finished in the points four consecutive races. How much confidence does that stat alone give you coming into this weekend?
NH: Yeah, I think it's a good, positive atmosphere. Obviously, everyone is very upbeat and a lot of positive things happened in the past few months. And I think that's very good. But then weekend in, weekend out, you have to do a good job. You have to earn it. You have to make no mistakes because it doesn't take much to come out on the wrong side in midfield. If you have a little mistake here or there, you could be easily P15, 16 instead of P10. We have to convert it again. I think the performance of the package is decent, but it's down to us now on the operations side to keep performing.

Q: And from a cooling point of view, we saw a few issues last year, particularly on Kevin's car. Are you confident there won't be a repeat of that this year?
NH: Very confident.

Q: Alright. Thanks, Nico. Good luck this weekend. And Pierre, let's come to you now. Let's get a review from you about Austin. You were running upgrades on your car. Qualifying looked great. A few issues in the race. Just talk us through it?
Pierre Gasly: Yeah, I mean, best qualifying of the year. So I would say definitely some good positives to take away from the weekend. You know, looking back at a couple of months ago, we started in Bahrain on the last row. Still, we kept focusing on developing the package we have and, you know, eventually got to P7 last week in quali. So very pleased to see some good evolution with the car. The other side on Sunday, it wasn't a good race, not well executed. Unfortunately, we lost quite a bit of time with the pit stop, struggled a lot with the Hard tyre and lost the good start we had. So quite gutted not to convert this good quali into points, but at least there is definitely some hopes. you know encouraging signs that we we're going to be able to fight slightly further up the top for the remaining races.

Q: You talk about car evolution. Just where was it better in Austin?
PG: Well, to be fair, all around the track, like just in terms of overall potential, just can carry a bit more speed, a tiny bit better on braking. It's just to have a bit more grip available. So still I'd say the balance, got a few things to improve there and there that we got to work on. But like all the cars, you know, down the pit lane, no one's going to get that perfect balance, but in terms of overall potential, you know, I was pleased to see, Q1, Q2, Q3, we were able to put laps good enough always for the top 10 and that was definitely encouraging.

Q: Remember the European season when you got those consecutive points finishes? Do you feel you've now got the car underneath you to get back somewhere close to that?
PG: It's not going to be easy. I think at the minute, looking at the Haas, the top four is out of reach, but after that, actually a very tight battle between the Haas, AlphaTauris (sic), we saw the Williams performing very well at the moment, and I still believe we're probably lacking a tiny bit to be consistently there, but we're going to have our chances. It's five more races. I'm sure there are going to be one or two tracks where we'll be able to be in that mix. For the guys, personally, it's important for me to get a few more points before the end of the year.

Q: Final one from me. News broke this morning regarding something that's not Formula 1. You have a football team. You now have a padel team. Tell us more?
PG: Yeah, very exciting news. Just became a padel team owner this morning, entering the eighth team in the Hexagon Cup. So it's a new competition that started last year in Madrid. There are big names in there, Leo Messi, you know, Andy Murray, Rafa Nadal, they've all got their own team and many others. And it's going to be exciting to have my own team competing against these guys. So it's going to be end of January next year. So for whoever is available on that weekend, they're more than welcome to come and watch the event.

Q: Are you going to play?
PG: I'm not going to play myself. These guys are professional and it's quite a fun format where you've got professional players with also like amateurs and youngsters. So you get eight players in total and it's quite a fun tournament. But yeah, I'll try to be there to support my team.

Q: Nico's good with a racket. Are you going to ask him to play?
PG: I haven't seen him yet, but why not? Try to get his focus away from F1 a bit.

Questions From The Floor

Q: (Roldan Rodriguez - DAZN, Spain) A question to Checo. Checo, it's been 10 years since gthe Hermanos Rodríguez came back to the calendar of Formula 1. I would like to know how you felt the evolution of this Grand Prix, home Grand Prix for you.
SP: Yeah, it's been incredible. I think already since first year was very big, the event, the people were really enthusiastic. And I think it won the award for the best Grand Prix for like four or five years in a row. And I think now it's just a lot better. So yeah, I think it's still the best Grand Prix in the calendar.

Q: (David Croft - Sky Sports F1) Checo, I think you were hinting that your car was quite a bit different to Max's in Austin. Can you put a figure on how much time you were losing per lap because of the difference in the cars? And also, because the Ferraris won, too, you're now in a three-way fight for the Constructors' Championship. How much extra pressure does that put on you this weekend on what is already a massively pressurized weekend, and how do you cope with that?
SP: Well, I think the numbers and the facts will remain internal with the team, with the engineers. We know what was the delta. And having Ferrari there, I think doesn't change anything. You know, I think we want to win the Constructors' finishing second or third. The end is no difference, you know, so we really want to win it. for that. We need to have both cars with the With the best possible performance and best possible package as well.

Q: (Diego Mejia - Fox Sports Mexico) Pierre, there's been a lot of talk about the guidelines for racing following all the penalties in Austin. Are you happy with those? Are they delivering what is intended? Maybe the other drivers can comment on it.
PG: New guidelines You say? After Austin? No. Ah, you mean the one previously to Austin. I think Austin highlighted that there is definitely something that's got to be changed. I think there is the rule as it's written and there is more the common sense on how you want to approach racing. I think there is this gray area at the moment which allow us drivers to benefit from the regulation in a kind of unfair way of approaching racing. And I think this is something which I guess we all agree and which will be worked on with the FIA on how to improve things because there have been a couple of incidents which got us on a split or with mixed feelings on the decision that came out of it. I think we all need some clarity and a bit better written rules to improve the racing for the future.