McLaren CEO Zak Brown says his immediate concern about the idea of a 12th Formula 1 team, amid rumours of interest from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, is whether some circuits have enough pit-lane capacity. Brown said: "I haven't thought about it. I guess if I want to give it two seconds of thought, you've got operational issues with some of the circuits, whether they could have the capacity. Ultimately, it's up to the FIA and Formula 1."



Max Verstappen says the hardest step for Red Bull is making the final jump from closing the gap to being able to fight for wins with its RB22 car. Verstappen said: "There are, of course, easier steps to make. When you are far behind, the hardest [step] is always the last one to really fight for the win, so let's see how we can do that to be in the fight again. I am not sure, but for sure, the team is always giving it 100% and pushing it flat out to make the car faster, but we also know that other teams are constantly bringing upgrades."

Charles Leclerc says it is “too early to say” whether Ferrari can build on its surprise British Grand Prix performance at Spa, and that the team needs to analyse why it was much quicker than expected at Silverstone. Leclerc said: "I think it's too early to say. I think this weekend was a particularly big surprise for the whole team. Not the win, just the overall performance. I mean, we were a lot faster than what we thought, and I think as much as we need to analyse when things are going a lot worse than expected, we also need to analyse when things go a lot better than expected."
Lewis Hamilton says upgrades to Ferrari’s power unit to close the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull will take “months”. Hamilton said: "Sometimes it feels like there is a lack of battery power at the end of the straight because you're seeing it on the overlays to Mercedes and Red Bull, and you sit down and talk about it. But you have to understand that it takes months to design and make changes to get the reliability, and the most amazing thing is that the team have built a reliable car and a reliable engine, and now we can build on that foundation, thanks to the rule change."

Williams team principal James Vowles says he and Carlos Sainz are “aligned” on the Williams project, despite both being frustrated by the team’s current situation. Vowles said: "So he and I are aligned on it. Is he frustrated by where we are today? Yes. Being candid, I'm frustrated as well, at the same time. What he's looking for, 'Do you have the ability to put this in the right perspective, turn it around, add performance at the right rate.' That's what we have to demonstrate to him. I'm confident we'll be able to do this."


Fernando Alonso says teams face a major energy management dilemma at Spa-Francorchamps because the Belgian Grand Prix track is “very thirsty” and using battery deployment on one straight can leave a lap “finito”. Fernando Alonso said: "You cannot deploy in all the straights. Next week, it is going to be the same thing. If you deploy in Spa from Turn 1 (La Source) to 5 (Les Combes), it is finito for the rest of the lap. So, you need to save a little bit there to have deployment from Turn 14 (Stavelot) to the Bus Stop chicane. But if you deploy in those two straights, which is the optimal deployment, then there is one minute, sector two, with no deployment at all."

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