What a perfect lap
“One of my, I’d say, my best pole positions. I’ve not had many but out of the ones I’ve had, my best. We’ve been close all weekend, but really this was just about a perfect lap and that’s what I did. So it was cool, the fans and my supporters in Barcelona are amazing, so a big thanks to everyone cheering me on.

This is only your second pole position, but it looks like you are one of the favourites.

“It’s a great feeling, it’s not just this weekend. We’ve been quick the last two months. Since Miami, we’ve been very strong. And we probably missed out on a pole by just not doing a perfect lap. Regarding the qualifying at Montmeno, we made some changes for the final run. I had some little places to improve and I did exactly that. So, I am super happy to be back on pole”.

 Is possible to convert that pole into a race win?
“That’s our target, but I know it’s going to be tough against Max (Verstappen), against Lewis (Hamilton) and everyone behind, but we’re here to win so that’s my plan.

 What are the main challenges going into this Grand Prix?

“I don’t have any concerns. I’m really excited. It’s a long run down to Turn 1. It’s probably one of the places you don’t want to start on pole, but it’s an opportunity for us to go out and try and win a race. We’ve not done loads of long running.

Looking at the race, I think between Mercedes, ourselves, Red Bull, Ferrari, there’s eight cars that could have probably been on pole on Saturday and that have a chance of probably winning the race. So it’s about making the least mistakes,  and just trying to execute another good race that we normally do.

 Finally, you were not able to return to the motorhome due to the scary fire incident at McLaren hospitality. How did this affect you?

“It has all been a little bit messy but I think I have one or two sets of everything and they managed to get some stuff out even if they smell pretty bad from the fire.

I like to listen to my music and stuff before and Oscar complains a lot because my music’s so loud, pre-sessions. But I just didn’t have that this time and I’m up in the engineering office and Oscar’s down in the truck below. And that’s Zak’s office that I’ve taken over (he smiles).

Honestly, nothing’s been an issue. And I’ve never been that guy to kind of complain about these things. I could just be doing nothing and just jump in the car when I need to but when you have an ability to kind of have a few minutes to yourself and a couple of those things, you take them, because you want to relax and think to yourself for a few minutes before you go out and do it. It was not possible of Saturday but it’s not the end of the world, so I’m not going to complain about it”.

Photos: Credit McLaren