TEAM REPRESENTATIVES
Laurent MEKIES (Red Bull), Zak BROWN (McLaren), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes)
Q: Zak, I feel we should start with you. Constructors’ Champions again. How were the celebrations back at the MTC?
Zak BROWN: They were great. Very proud of our racing team. It was important. Of course, we did a little bit of celebrating at the race, but what was most important is that we did it with all the men and women at McLaren, back at the factory. Because, of course, the racing team does a wonderful job, but they couldn’t do it without everyone back at the MTC. So it was a great celebration. Had both drivers there and then quickly followed up with a family day, which was really cool to get the extended families out, who are part of the racing team as well. So, it was a very good week.
Q: Now you won the Constructors’ last year at the final race. It’s in the bag this year with six races still to go. How does that affect the intensity levels in the garage here this weekend?
ZB: It doesn’t. It’s business as usual. We’ve been racing everyone hard. Our two drivers have been racing each other hard since Australia, and that hasn’t changed. So great to get the Constructors’ done, but it doesn’t change how we go racing at all.
Q: Nice segue, Zak. Now that the Constructors’ Championship is in the bag, does it change anything in the way you go racing with the drivers?
ZB: No. Definitely not. We’re just business as usual.
Q: So when the drivers yesterday were talking about repercussions, consequences for something, for example, like what happened in Singapore, what do they mean by that? Can you give us some examples of what those consequences might be?
ZB: You know, we set out at the beginning of the year how we want to race and how we want to race each other. The ‘Papaya Rules’, which everyone likes to talk about, is pretty much one rule: don’t touch each other and don’t run each other off the track. So it’s quite simple, and it’s kind of taken on a bit of a life of its own. We just want to make sure that while they’re racing hard, they don’t come together. That puts them at risk, puts the team at risk. So we agreed with them in the off-season how we would handle certain situations. It was a pretty minor incident—the start of a Grand Prix, it’s pretty chaotic, it was a damp track, so it clearly wasn’t intentional. And so, we work through different consequences for different situations. It was a pretty minor situation, so it’s a pretty minor consequence.
Q: Can you share some consequences of what you mean by that?
ZB: No. We don’t want to get into that. I think, you know, that’s private business between us. I know everyone’s interested to know, but both drivers are in a great place. We just want to set them up to continue to be able to race each other hard. It’s not easy having two number one drivers. Toto’s done it before, and I think Laurent will—he’s fresh in his role. But, you know, we want to have both drivers competing for the championship, and with that comes challenges that are more difficult than if you had a one and two driver, which we’ve seen over the years. We’re racers. We like to see them race, but we don’t like to see them touch each other.
Q: Do you see this Drivers’ Championship as an intra-team battle, exclusively between your guys, or do you think Max is still in it?
ZB: No. Definitely not. Max is very much in the game. I think it would be a big mistake to think Max wasn’t part of this Drivers’ Championship right now.
Q: Laurent, can I bring you in on that point? Max’s chances of the Drivers’ Championship—do you think he’s still in it?
Laurent MEKIES: I’m going to disappoint you a bit. The simple truth inside the team is we simply take it race by race. I know it sounds like something you would just say in this room, but if you walk into our engineering room now, nobody talks about that—neither before the Grand Prix nor after the weekend. We only talk about this race. Actually, we only talk about the next session. That’s where the intensity goes to. Then, things will come as a result of that. So, as Zak said, you don’t change your approach to racing because of where you stand in the championships or because of where your chances stand. You go out there. It’s difficult enough to feel on Sunday night that you have nailed everything out of your car for that weekend, and that’s where everyone’s energy is focused on.
Q: Max said yesterday he rated his chances as 50/50. Can you put a number on it?
LM: No, I won’t put a number on it. But I don’t think it changes anything to the way we are going racing. We love pure racing. So we go to a race weekend like here in Austin, and there are probably four teams that can win the race on Sunday. And it’s going to be down to the last half a tenth, a tenth between making pole or being on the third row and only scoring very few points. We are focused on that. And the percentage really doesn’t change much for us.
Q: After the upgrade that you introduced in Singapore, do you think you have a car that can challenge for the win at every race going forward to Abu Dhabi?
LM: I think that’s fair to say. We think we have enough potential in the car now to be in the fight on most tracks going forward. Now, it doesn’t mean that we will be able to win, but it probably means that if we do nail everything, extract everything out of the car on a given track, then we think we will be able to fight for the win. It doesn’t mean that we are able to do that every race weekend. It doesn’t mean that we won’t get beaten by Toto, Zak, or Fred on any race weekend, but it means we should be in that group that fights for the win.
Q: Toto, let’s throw it forward. 2026—the driver lineup is confirmed. Was it an easy decision in the end?
Toto WOLFF: It was always the decision that we took from the get-go. It was the lineup that we chose last year. We knew that George can hold up the leadership role in there. It’s been really great, and Kimi is in a learning year. So going forward, it was pretty much a no-brainer.
Q: It has been a learning year for Kimi. It’s been up and down. Have you ever doubted that he was going to get there?
TW: Never. When you look at his junior record, his personality, there’s no doubt in me or within the team that it was the wrong decision to take and give him the opportunity.
Q: Quick question on performance. You won last time out. How do you see these last six races? Do you think you’ve overcome some of the shortcomings of this car and can challenge for wins at every race now?
TW: It’s a little bit like Laurent said. This season is a surprise box. Zak and McLaren have had a fantastic season and were absolutely dominant, and then most recently had a bit of a dip—having said that, constantly up in the front. But between Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, and to a certain degree Ferrari, it’s pretty unpredictable what to expect from any given week. Certainly, we didn’t expect to be relatively dominant on Sunday in Singapore.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Question for all three of you. A couple of hours ago, there was a press conference in this very room. Three people sat where you’re sitting—not as neatly lined up in height order as you are—and talked about the new Apple TV deal with Formula 1. The big claim that came from it is that they’re targeting exponential growth in the US audience. So I was wondering how realistic you think that would be?
ZB: I think it’s very realistic. I think it’ll take time. They had a fantastic movie, which I think kind of whet their appetite, if you’d like. If you think about the reach of the different platforms they have and the technology that they have—and we’re in a very technology-driven sport—there’s a lot of enthusiasm. Eddie Cue, who’s one of the big bosses there, has a lot of passion for Formula 1. That always helps. That passion drives an organisation forward. So I’m quite excited knowing all the different applications they have in which they can deploy Formula 1—not just at the race weekend, but as they said earlier, kind of 24/7 around all their different channels and technologies. So I think it’s going to be quite exciting. We’re going to work with them closely and excited to see what next year looks like.
TW: Definitely believe this is going to be a big boost for us—not only in the United States, but also all around the world. Apple News is the biggest news feed, and when you have the buy-in from senior leaders, like Eddie and his people, then we’re in a good place. It doesn’t go much better than Apple. Like Zak said, throughout the devices—watches, phones—that everybody has, and I believe this is a great success for Formula 1 to have that deal. And I believe also for Apple, it’s going to yield the results they expect.
LM: On the same line here, really—we think it’s realistic. If you speak with them, you will probably leave the room also thinking that it’s realistic. The reach is going to be incredible, and it’s exciting for the teams. We have been trying to engage with the US fan base for so many years, and we feel it has picked up so well in the last few years. And then suddenly you discover a completely new land and new potentials with this deal with Apple. Certainly, our team has many American partners now, and it’s very important that we continue to grow in this market as a sport, and it’s super exciting for the fans.
Q: (Ian Parkes – RacingNews365.com) Zak, during first practice you were asked by the Sky guys about repercussions for Lando, and you said basically that it’s likely to be something that wouldn’t be noticed. If it’s not negligible, why not be open and transparent—which are words you have often used in the past with regard to other F1 matters? Because all you’ve seemingly done with the use of that word ‘repercussions’ is open a Pandora’s box of speculation as to what the effect is going to be on Lando and his championship chances this season.
ZB: Yeah, I think it’s important. We’re racing against nine other teams. I don’t think you want to necessarily show your hand on how you go motor racing. So we try and be as transparent as possible, but there’s a reason why engineering debriefs are only with teams—otherwise you start inviting other teams in. So I think that’s the best we can do. We try and be as transparent as possible in saying that some action has been taken, so I think that’s been very transparent. But at the end of the day, we’re at a sporting event, and we can’t necessarily tell everyone everything—no different than our set-up sheets aren’t very public.
Q: (Sahil Kapur – NBC) Question for Zak. Oscar said yesterday he doesn’t want or expect preferential treatment in the Drivers’ Championship. If Max becomes a bigger threat in these final races, could you imagine a scenario where you do impose preferential treatment for one driver? Or will you require both drivers to agree to that ahead of time?
ZB: Well, I think we’re one race at a time. I’ve been asked a lot to predict the future. I think where we’re sitting right now is Max is too close for comfort. Lando is one win, Oscar one DNF away. We saw what happened in Holland—how quickly things can change. So we’re just focused on this weekend, which is trying to get our drivers to finish first and second in the race, and we’ll continue to evaluate on a race-by-race basis. If we get to a situation—and that’s what we did last year in Baku—to start helping Lando, then what ends up happening is Oscar goes and wins the race and Lando helps him. So this is a pretty unpredictable sport. But where we sit right now, we’re going to give both drivers equal opportunity to try and win the Drivers’ Championship.
(L/R) Red Bull Racing’s team principal Laurent Mekies, McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown, and Mercedes’ Austrian team principal and CEO Toto Wolff speak at a press conference after the practice session for the United States Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on October 17, 2025. (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP) (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Q: (Leonid Kliuev – Grande Premio Brazil) Question for Zak. The example of 2007 often comes up these days, when Lewis and Fernando famously lost. Is 2007 mentioned in your internal discussions, and what lesson can you take from McLaren’s own experience?
ZB: Hey, look. That’s the risk, right? If you have two drivers like in 2007, where they equalled in points and Kimi barely beat them. But that’s how McLaren want to go racing. We want to have two drivers that are capable of winning the championship. On the flip side, when you get into one and two, that compromises your Constructors’ Championship. So it’s a difficult sport. We’re racers. We want to go racing. We want both drivers to have a chance to win the championship, and that comes with some risk—like 2007. But we’re all aware of that and prepared that that could potentially be an outcome.
Q: (Nigel Chiu – Sky Sports) Question to Zak. You don’t want to disclose what the consequences are for Lando, but in terms of going forward, what are the consequences going forward, and what’s the kind of aim? Do you want to reverse us to six points? Is it something else? What’s the kind of aim of the consequences?
ZB: We just want the drivers to race hard and not touch each other. Kind of as simple as that.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Question to Laurent. Max said yesterday that 2026 will not be completely a clean sheet of paper for all teams and that some of the learnings can be taken into 2026. If you agree, then what are we talking about? Is that operationally or is it also some technical understandings of tyre wear and stuff like that? And given that, how confident are you going into 2026 with the progress of recent weeks and probably the tools showing you more of a correlation than it used to be before?
LM: I think, as you say, there are many things we can take to 2026. It is a clean sheet from the point of view of designing a car and obviously designing a PU, but it remains the fact that you will use the same people, you will use the same methodology, the same process, the same tools to go and design that car. I think we didn’t hide the fact that it was very important for us to try to unlock what we felt was in the car in that project under the current regulations—to sort of leave 2025 understanding that we are comfortable with where our tools’ limitations are, what we understand, what we don’t understand, and therefore design a better 2026 car as a result. You pay a little bit of time spent on 2026 cars, but you go into it with a bit more confidence in your own methodologies and tools. Yes, there are many areas where you will be able to transfer knowledge. Tyres is one—even if the tyres, I mentioned, are changing. But more generally, in how you develop the car, where your correlations happen, where they don’t, and all the various sensitivities.
Q: (Jack Smith – Motorsport Monday) A question for Toto. You said in Zandvoort that Kimi had been placed under a lot of pressure—understandably—for driving for such a top team in his first season. Now he’s locked in for next season, what are the realistic targets that you might set for him in terms of performance and results?
TW: I still stand by what I said. If you’re being parachuted into a leading team and your teammate is winning races and fighting in the top positions for the championship, there’s tremendous pressure. You add to the equation that he’s Italian, and Italy has been starved of competitive drivers for a while—that has played its role. So, in terms of my expectations, it’s still a learning season. You have five or six races to go—tracks that he doesn’t know. Austin is one of them. I’m sure we’re going to see some very good results. We’re going to see trickier sessions and trickier weekends. But all of that is being reset with the start of next season. He will have seen the tracks. The cars are new for every driver—that’s a big factor. These guys have been around these cars for a while, and he will have seen how to best manage pressure from the media and all of the stakeholders. That was the aim for this season—to do exactly that.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adam Cooper F1) A question for all three of you. Tim Mayer had a press conference earlier today and made some pretty strong claims about the FIA election process. Do you have any thoughts you could share on his situation and the fact that there won’t be a challenger to Mohammed in December at the election?
TW: I haven’t heard the press conference and what has been said. But it’s clear, like in any sport or politics, as an incumbent you have certain advantages—nothing new. And in that respect, it was pretty obvious and clear that we’re going into the next legislative period with Mohammed at the top of the FIA.
ZB: I didn’t see the press conference. I wasn’t aware there was a press conference, so difficult to comment. But I agree with Toto’s perspective.
LM: Same here—I didn’t see the press conference. But for sure, every governing body—or even every country—has a different election process. I believe the one in place at the FIA has been there for quite a long while now. As far as we are concerned, as teams, what is important is that the relationship with the FIA is very strong at the moment. We have been working hard with the FIA and F1 on these 2026 regs, and we look forward to the next steps.
Q: (Tim Hauraney – TSN) Question for Laurent. The team’s had a pretty big turnaround since you’ve come on to it. How challenging has it been to gain the team’s trust? Obviously, you need trust within the team itself—but for yourself, joining Red Bull Racing, was it challenging at all, or was it pretty straightforward for them to sign up to your ideas and way of doing things?
LM: First, it’s important to underline that the turnaround is due to the women and men in Milton Keynes that have been, as we’ve said several times, working on this car, not accepting the limitations of the project, trying to find solutions, not giving up, balancing 2025 and 2026. That’s a very large group that is led by Pierre, that has managed to turn it around after weeks and months of effort. Sometimes you make these efforts and you don’t get the reward on track. In this case, after so many attempts, it’s been positive to see that the car was reacting and that we could give something that our drivers could perform better with. With regards to your other question, everyone has been—I’m not going to lie—we have said it: certainly for the people working there, it’s been something nobody was expecting. The change that has been made—I did not expect it, they didn’t expect it. It was certainly, for them, probably very difficult to digest and to figure out. I can only be very thankful to how open and how welcoming everyone has been. It’s been a very good feeling that every day that passes, you know a few more people in the company, you understand a bit more of the dynamics, a bit more of the flows. I’m only thankful to everyone there for how helpful they have been in making the transition.
Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Question to Zak and Toto. You had a very strong racing career. How does it help you to be a successful team boss? And maybe Laurent can comment also—did you dream of being a racing driver?
TW: Thank you for the flowers! I think Zak and I would probably see our racing careers from a slightly more realistic perspective. But we gave it our best shot, right?
ZB: Right.
TW: I believe in ultra-narrow focus in your job. And the niche we are in is at the crossroads of technology and human performance in and outside of the car. Certainly, when you’ve driven a car and you’ve engineered it in a way where you had to find set-ups, improve your driving, look at data throughout the various cars we raced—from single-seaters to GT and sports cars—certainly it’s an advantage. Because when you listen to debriefs, you can also call bullshit on things you sometimes hear. But for whatever reason, the successful team principals in Formula 1 seem to be the ones that failed to reach Formula 1—Bernie, Christian, you and I. Laurent was more on the scientific engineering side. He went to a proper university. But there’s a few of us around. It certainly helps—coming back to your question.
ZB: As Toto said, you understand the mindset of a racing team. You understand the mindset of the racing drivers. I think that helps in working with the drivers. I think there are a lot of similarities—racing and being a CEO. You need to have the best people, the best equipment. You need to be good at communicating, listening, giving instructions, following, leading—risk versus reward. There are a lot of similarities. You race a lot with instinct. You crash, and you’ve got to go again. And we did a lot of crashing and went again. I think it definitely helps—but it’s clearly not the only way to get experience in running a Formula 1 team.
TW: But we were always fast before we crashed.
ZB: Very fast. That’s why we crashed. We were too fast.
LM: Look, everyone dreams of being a racing driver. These guys made it. I didn’t make it—so what to say? I think the great thing about your question is that what you find in every team—and probably what you find in everyone in this paddock, if you allow me—is that regardless of whether we are coming from the driver perspective, or the engineering perspective, or the management perspective, or any other function, we are all—you guys as well—so passionate about the sport that we feel we know it inside-out. And the parts we don’t know, we have that curiosity to go and look for it, just because we love the sport so much. That’s what ultimately helps you grow your understanding of the sport. As Toto said, it’s fundamentally a people business. There is a huge human factor into it. And it’s fascinating how that combines with the technological aspect. That’s what we all love. It doesn’t matter what our background is—what matters is the desire to learn and to know and to dip into the sport even a bit more every day.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Question to Toto. Now the 2026 contracts are done—how complicated have the last couple of months been for you personally in balancing what you call the duties of a Team Principal? So, on one hand, the loyalty you mentioned towards George and Kimi. On the other, you called it your responsibility to at least discover where the future of a four-time world champion like Max lies. Have there been any conflicting moments for you personally? And are you prepared for exactly the same again in like eight months from now?
TW: I knew you were going to ask that. So here we go already – October! I think, like Zak said before, being open and transparent is the best path forward. Sometimes it bites you a bit. And when you look back, maybe certain events could have been better—coincidences that happened. But I’ve always done it in the most straightforward and fair way. I stand by the driver choices—by George and Kimi. Like I said, this is the full focus, and that was always the aim, throughout the more tricky part over the summer.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adam Cooper F1) For all three of you, do you have any concerns about the quality of the show we’re going to get in 2026 in terms of the kind of racing we’re going to see—and also the possibility of a big field spread if there’s a disparity between the power units?
TW: If we’re quick—yep. We don’t know, Let’s wait and see. I’ve seen what it looks like in the simulator. It’s different, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worse. It could be a completely new angle being introduced—in terms of a bit of a chess game, how you play the energy management, where you attack, where you defend. I think it’s interesting. But let’s wait. Let’s wait and see if there’s a spread. Let’s wait and see if it’s exciting or not. Probably six months down the line, we’ll know.
ZB: We don’t know, as Toto said. But I’d be surprised if Formula 1 wasn’t very exciting—it always is. The engineers are very smart. Someone may or may not get an advantage or disadvantage at the start of the year. But the teams are very clever. We’ve got the best engineers in the world in Formula 1. So if it starts a bit spread out, it won’t take long for it to consolidate. I’m sure it’ll be exciting. I’m not worried about it.
LM: Same here. Not worried. I think the feeling we get from jumping into the unknown is a very positive one, and it’s probably more important now than having concerns about what could or could not happen. Even if there is an increased spread in the field—it’s difficult to do better than now. You have four teams that can win pretty much every race moving forward—that’s difficult to match. But even if there’s more spread in the field, it will create all the drama that I’m sure you guys will be happy to watch. And it will create all the huge reactions from the engineers—from these giants that are going into this regulation. So the dominant feeling is really excitement—jumping into the unknown on the chassis side, on the PU side—and it’s extremely exciting.