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1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

PARC FERMÉ INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jolyon Palmer)

Q: Lando Norris, home race, third on the grid but it’s such fine margins out there today?

Lando NORRIS: Yes, good qualifying and you know I’m not going to be unhappy with third. Of course I’d love to be on top here in Silverstone, but Max did a good job, not quick enough for us today. But still, a fun qualifying. Qualifying here at Silverstone is pretty fast and it’s enjoytable and good fun. Yeah, not the top but still a good day.

Q: I can only imagine it must have been hard to put laps together with the speed of these corners, the windy conditions, trying to find tiny margins all the time. What are you focusing on to nail the perfect lap?

Lando NORRIS: Little things today. Little things today, put you ahead of behind. Like, you saw how close Q1 was, which was pretty shocking, and I guess good at the same time. But yeah, little margins, little mistakes, little things. You’re talking a couple of hundredths here and there can win or lose you the game today. So tough, especially with the wind and the conditions. A little bit of rain every now and then. But still, all good fun and still happy with the third.

Q: You were third last year, you had a chance to win the Grand Prix on the Sunday. Surely there’s a chance coming tomorrow. Fifteen thousandths behind Oscar, you have Max in the fight as well. You’ve had some great battles with those two in the past, what are we thinking?

LN: I think it’s going to be fun tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a good battle between the three of us. Probably more, you know, with Lewis, with Charles behind, with George as well. It’s going to be an interesting Sunday, so I’m looking forward to it.

Q: Oscar, second, you were provisional pole after the first runs there of Q3 but couldn’t quite keep it there on the second run. Are you happy with your lap there?

Oscar PIASTRI: I was happy with the first lap. The first time was mega, to be honest. I was trying to think of how I was going to go faster and I didn’t. So yeah, the last lap was a little bit messy, but it’s been tight all weekend. I think the first time was very good. I don’t know how much the track would have improved, but a little bit on the table, whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. The team’s done a great job. We’ve tried a lot of things this weekend, trying to get a bit more pace. The car’s felt mega all weekend, but there’s been a few points where we were scratching our heads as to why we’re not quicker. So yeah, the team doing a great job getting us back onto the form that we know. It’ll be an exciting race tomorrow.

Q: Alright, take us under the helmet then. You’ve got provisional pole, you wheel back into the garage, you’ve got more than a tenth margin at this point as well. You said you didn’t know how you were going to find more time. You’re hoping that others aren’t, obviously. But the track’s evolving and somehow you’ve got to go back out there and wind it up. How tricky is that?

OP: Yeah, it’s tough. Especially when you think it’s a good lap, you don’t want to overdo it and try and go over the limit. I think it was a couple of corners where maybe I was a bit safe on the way in and tried to make up for it on the way out and it didn’t quite work. So yeah, always little bits, it’s fine margins as we know, but ultimately pretty happy with second on the grid. So, I’m looking forward to a fun race.

Q: And as well, you’ve had some great fights with Lando in the last race. It was a pleasure to watch. You’ve had some good scraps with Max. You’re going to start with them tomorrow. Can you get elbows out?

OP: Yeah, I think so. It’s going to be a fun race. You know, it’s been very evenly matched between Max, the Ferraris, I saw even George being up there at the end. So I think it’s going to be a pretty evenly paced race tomorrow, and all of have us got slightly different strengths. Red Bull is very quick in a straight line, we’re going to be quick in the high speed. So yeah, it’s going to be a fun one. That’s all. We’re going to enjoy it.

Q: Max Verstappen, what a lap there at the end. You just pinged them all in, all the sectors. How did you do it?

Max VERSTAPPEN: It was tricky out there with the wind, through the whole qualifying Q1, Q2, Q3. It was all shifting around a bit. Yeah, a bit different. And around here with these cars, it’s extremely sensitive to it. So yeah, just trying to tidy it up throughout the whole qualifying and that final lap was good enough. But you know, I mean, this is a proper track, in qualifying when you have to go flat out in all these corners. It’s really, really committed and that’s really enjoyable.

Q: You say the last lap was good enough. It looked pretty unbelievable from when I was watching it. You’ve also got a trimmed out car on downforce, a choice that you made overnight. I was thinking this is a set-up choice with the race in mind, but you’ve nailed it on pole for qualifying already.

MV: Yeah, exactly. We’re quite quick on the straight, which of course is not that easy in the high speed corners to manage. But we did today, luckily. Of course, we have to wait and see what tomorrow will do, if there’s a bit of rain around and all. But I’m happy, of course, with our qualifying. It’s a big boost for the team as well. Just excited to go racing now tomorrow.

Q: And you’ve had some great battles with those McLaren drivers already this season. You’re starting ahead of them. You’ve had some fantastic wins already this year. You have the race pace tomorrow. Do you need to keep them behind?

MV: Difficult to say, but we’ll try. Now we’re going to go racing, we’re going to have fun, and we’re going to try to do the best we can.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Many congratulations, Max. What a final lap from you. Just how good was it?

MV: Pretty good. I mean, it was not easy out there to produce a consistent lap time just because of the wind, the gusts as well that you got out there. The car was moving around a lot even just on straights, so sometimes a bit unpredictable in places because of it. But luckily, that last lap came together quite nicely. Just had to commit a lot in the high speed with this low downforce that we have on the car, which we just tried to build up on. Luckily in Q3, that worked out.

Q: You were fourth after those first runs of Q3. Just where did you find the time on that last lap?

MV: Everywhere except the last sector. So, every single corner, a little bit. My first lap, I don’t know, it just felt really different to Q2. Just more oversteer, more understeer in places, and that then made the lap not amazing. But I never thought that I could find whatever it was, almost four tenths, I think. So yeah, it worked, so I’m happy with that.

Q: Max, it’s been a bit of a recurring theme at Red Bull this year. Unhappy on Friday, big changes overnight, and you guys get it together for Saturday. Just how different does the car feel today compared to yesterday?

MV: In some places, quite different. Yesterday, I was just understeering a lot but at the same time also having oversteer in places. It was very difficult to balance. I think today, we definitely improved the understeer and that just allowed me to push a bit more because understeer is slow, especially in F1. So, we just needed to try and minimise that.

Q: So, let’s look ahead to tomorrow. You have good straight-line speed, we saw that today. Just how confident are you in the long run pace of the car?

MV: Yeah. I mean, let’s see. We’ll just go in there and try to do the best we can. Normally in the race runs, we struggle a bit more on tyre life. I don’t know how that will be tomorrow. We have to wait and see a little bit also how the weather will be in general, if there is some rain or not. The straight-line speed is nice to have but you still need to manage the tyres around here. It’s very tough with all these high-speed corners. But I’m just looking forward to it. I’m not really in a battle, so I’ll just try to have fun and try to get the best possible result.

Q: Oscar, let’s come to you now. You were fastest after those first runs of Q3. At the time, did you think it was going to be good enough for pole?

OP: It was a good lap. I was very happy with it, but I kind of felt like every run, the track was improving a bit. So, I felt like I probably needed a bit more, which was correct. The second lap was a bit scruffy, couple of moments that caught me a bit by surprise. I mean, I always hate blaming wind, but I need to see if it was the wind. But also, maybe trying a bit too hard in a couple of places as well to make up for it. Overall, pretty happy. It’s been tight all weekend, especially through qualifying, so P2 is not a bad result.

Q: Oscar, as you say, it is very tight. Just two tenths of a second separating the top five in qualifying. Have you been surprised by just how close it is?

OP: Not necessarily. For me, what’s the biggest surprise is how each car is generating their lap time. You look at the speed traces and they all look completely different, but they end up basically at the same point at the end of the lap. So that’s been quite interesting to get our heads around. I’m not that surprised that Max is quick here. It’s quite similar to Suzuka, similar conditions to Suzuka. Clearly, they found some pace from yesterday. I think the big surprise was Ferrari yesterday, and even this morning. So not a huge surprise that it was so tight. Maybe how many teams were involved was a surprise, but it’s been tight in nine out of ten qualifyings this year.

Message sent. The top overall seeds for this weekend’s Tiszaujvaros World Cup made no mistake as they sewed up their spots in tomorrow’s final. The women’s event saw two semi-finals whittle down the field, with the top-14 in each, plus the two fastest athletes thereafter, qualifying. From three men’s heats, the top-9 in each would qualify with three “lucky losers” being added on the basis of their times. Ahead of the finals – which will be live tomorrow on TriathlonLive from 15:45 (CEST) – find out how the semi-finals played out below. 

Women 

Semi-final 1

Ilaria Zane (ITA) was a last minute withdrawal due to illness, clearing the path for others to potentially make the final, and when the starter’s horn sounded, it seemed like Anja Weber (SUI) had been fired out of a cannon. Lisa Tertsch (GER) and Jessica Fullagar (GBR) tailed her round the first lap as they tried to get back onto her feet. Under Weber’s pressure, the field broke up, particularly on the final third lap, however it was Tertsch who led out of the water. Weber, Fullagar and Tilda Månsson (SWE) followed, ensuring most of the first heat’s heavy-hitters were at the front.

Månsson was the last of the trio to exit T1 within 10 seconds of Tertsch. Meanwhile, those outside the top-10 stared down the barrel of a 45 second deficit. During the bike, Månsson ran into difficulty to leave three at the front. Everyone else was over a minute back. The leaders would ultimately arrive in T2 with a lead of 1:23 over a chase pack that contained Lea Coninx (FRA), Costanza Arpinelli (ITA), Manami Hayashi (JPN), Carina Reicht (AUT) and more. Månsson was at the tail end of the chase group.

Her task all but complete, Tertsch could afford to power down over the 5km run. Fullagar was still with her and the two had such a yawning lead they could share a laugh as they figured out how many laps remained. The German, however, is nothing if not ferociously competitive and sure enough she burned away from Tertsch on the final straight to take the win, which may not be her last of the weekend.

Fullagar was next home while Månsson led the chase pack that had passed an also safe Weber. As all of the chase pack qualified, Mercedes Romero Orozco (MEX) took 14th place with the women directly behind hoping for one of the two lucky loser slots based on the overall times across the two semi-finals.

Semi-final 2

Tilly Anema (GBR) led from Erin McConnell (IRL) and Zuzana Michalickova (SVK) out of the water. The Brit promptly turned a 6 second lead into a 10 second advantage with a smart T1. Breakaways have been her weapon of choice this year and today she had a perfect trial run ahead of potentially setting one up in tomorrow’s final. Selina Klamt (GER), Sophie Alden (GBR) and Jolien Vermeylen (BEL) then grouped around Michalickova as the leaders remained closer together than in semi-final 1. Sara Guerrero Manso (ESP) and Beatrice Mallozzi (ITA) were among those perilously balanced around the 14th place cut-off. 

A pack of seven at the end of the first bike with Barbara De Koning (NED) completing the group. A cohort of eleven were over 50 seconds back, adding real jeopardy to making the top-14. Alden led out of T2 as the lead group remained intact before Klamt took over at the front. With all seven safe leaders there was no need to over-exert themselves. Things were rather more fraught in the chase pack as Dominika Peszleg (HUN) led a group including Guerrero and Mallozzi, but eighteen had to squeeze into fourteen.

In the end, Klamt won comfortably to give Germany a double semi-final success. Interestingly, she clocked a faster overall time than Tertsch too, although there is only so much one can read into that. McConnell was next home ahead of De Koning. Alden and Michalickova subsequently followed while having a chat during what resembled a leisurely afternoon stroll.

Kelly Wetteland (USA) was the best of chasers with Guerrero and Peszleg in pursuit. Mallozzi arrived later but was also safe. Taking 14^th was Ana Maria Valentina Torres Gomez (MEX) while Alessia Orla (ROU) and Zuzanna Sudak (POL) followed with fast enough times to claim the final two slots for the final.

Men 

Semi-final 1

Márk Dévay (HUN) did Márk Dévay things as he led out of the water from Igor Dupuis (FRA) and overwhelming favourite Csongor Lehmann (HUN). Dévay and Dupuis exited T1 with the better part of 10 seconds over Lehmann and the rest having already stretched the field on their quest for position in the top-9. Lehmann hit the front on the bike as part of a breakaway of five (alongside Gregor Rasva (EST) and Gergő Dobi (HUN)) and by the midpoint they led by 69 seconds. The chase of twelve therefore faced a real scrap for the final slots.

Come the end of the bike, the gap had grown to 1:55 and Lehmann and Dévay showed their WTCS class with textbook transitions. Such was their lead, they could have afforded to stop for an ice cream as would have been apt in the Tiszy heat. Like Tertsch, though, Lehmann was intent on asserting his status as favourite and pulled clear to win. It was all just too easy for him.

Jayden Schofield (AUS) led into the run from the chase group but a fight was brewing. Aurelien Jem (FRA), Izan Edo Aguilar (ESP) and Takumi Hojo (JPN) took over, with Baptiste Passemard (FRA) holding 9^th place, albeit tenuously. Jem floated along, Edo looked ice cool and Hojo was untroubled. However Passemard was struck by what looked like a stitch and fell behind Schofield, who in turn was under pressure.

The top-5 were therefore safe, as were Jem, Edo and Hojo. At the last, Schofield fended off a surge from Britain’s Dominic Coy to hold onto 9^th place.

Semi-final 2

Another Hungarian, Gyula Kovács, led the swim and was the first onto the bike in heat 2. Behind, eighteen men were within 20 seconds so all was up for grabs. One individual not in that cluster was the top seed of the semi-final (and second seed overall) Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger (FRA). The winner of the Samarkand World Cup was 24 seconds back. By the end of the first of the two bike laps, the front group of eighteen remained with no sign of Hueber-Moosbrugger. Indeed, he was a worrying 55 seconds back.

Bence Bicsák (HUN) was an experienced face in a sea of youngsters at the front. Whizzing around him were Kovács, João Nuno Batista (POR), Andree Buc (CHI) and David Lang (LUX). With a neat attack, Fabian Schönke (GER) earned a slight 8 second gap into T2. Batista cut that to 5 seconds as he led the chasers onto the run.

While Schönke faded, you could have thrown a net over the leading nine men at the end of the opening run lap. Buc, Batista and Lang were all there, as were Aoba Yasumatsu (JPN), Genis Grau (ESP) and Kovács. Bicsák hovered a few metres behind. The Hungarian athlete then made it ten at the front, but one of the leaders, Eduardo Nunez Gomez (MEX), faced a 10 second penalty for swim behaviour. Worse for him, with a lap to go the pace was not high enough compared to the first semi-final to secure a fastest loser slot.

At the finish, Bicsák nabbed a second Hungarian semi-final win. Samuele Angelini (ITA) and Nathan Grayel (FRA) also crossed in the top-9 however Nunez’s final time was ultimately not enough to qualify.

Semi-final 3

Márton Kropkó (HUN) got one over Zalán Hóbor (HUN) in the three-lap swim but Hóbor overtook his countryman in transition. Japan’s Kyotaro Yoshikawa was the only man that could live with them at the start and the trio had over 15 seconds on the field to play with going into the bike. Top seed Jack Willis (GBR) was in the chase of nine men, as were Gergely Kiss (HUN) and Sylvain Fridelance (SUI), and halfway into the bike the gap was down to 8 seconds.

By the time T2 was in sight, the leaders were back together as a dozen. This set up the most dramatic finale of any of the semi-finals.

Kropkó hit the run first on a personal mission to complete the home sweep of men’s semi-final wins. Along with Willis, Fridelance, Seth Rider (USA) and Jonas Osterholt (GER), he led a top-5 that separated themselves from the rest. Kiss followed in a secure position with Hóbor and Zsombor Deváy (HUN) next. Yoshikawa, though, was in a struggle with teammate Koki Yamamoto for 9^th place.

With a lap to go, Thomas Windischbauer (AUT) passed both the duelling Japanese duo. Then came a flying Bradley Course (AUS) as he made his way past them too. Four men thus contested one slot, although Course – who had started the run behind – was moving fast enough to threaten the fastest losers from the first semi-final.

Up ahead, Kropkó took the win after some cat-and-mouse antics with Osterholt. Behind, however, Hóbor faded and Course found himself up to 8^th. And then from nowhere, there was Schofield. It had been a long day and it could have been a hallucination replaying semi-final 2, but in fact Luke Schofield (AUS) had produced a storming final lap to somehow appear in 9^th and qualify for the final alongside his brother. The thwarted Windischbauer and Yamamoto had nonetheless done enough to get 10^th and 11^th and slots as lucky losers slot alongside Coy by mere seconds.

The power of Owen Farrell is something to behold. When the cameras panned to him at the Allianz on Saturday, the entire crowd reacted, some with pantomime booing, others with cheering. The one thing they weren’t was indifferent.

Farrell, who arrived in Sydney on Friday, took it well, smiling and laughing. The guy is pure box office. We’re all still talking about why he’s been parachuted into this squad. The coach’s son, yes, fine, we get it. But what else is going on here?

Some observers say that this was always going to happen and that Farrell will definitely be in the Test 23 for Brisbane. They’re convinced of it. The intrigue is fantastic.

His father’s official explanation in midweek is that he felt his squad was a little short at inside centre with Sione Tuipulotu and Bundee Aki the only options. Terrific ones, in fairness.

Is there more to it? Does he have doubts about Fin Smith’s readiness to back up Finn Russell on the bench? Does he have issues around the leadership of the squad – is everyone too nice and/or too quiet?

If those are views he shares, then Saturday might have only reinforced them. Smith struggled in running the backline and the direction of the team was all over the place for most of the evening.

So, enter Faz Jnr, but when? Not on Wednesday against the Brumbies, says his father. He might still be getting over the jet-lag.

Next Saturday in Adelaide against the invitational Australia-New Zealand team? All things being equal, definitely.

What about after that? If you believe that Owen can step into a Lions Test match squad (covering 10 and maybe 12) after not playing in nine weeks, having not played particularly well before that and having not featured in an international game for 20 months, then you’re convinced that he can return to his best stuff at the mere sight of the red jersey, as if the last year doesn’t matter.

Maybe he can. And maybe he will be given the chance for a fairytale tour, but the stakes are monstrously high. Smith’s struggles made Owen’s elevation a bit more likely. But will he be any good?

+++ England’s Daniel Brown (-16) takes the lead +++ Jordan Smith
(ENG, -15) in second place +++ Matti Schmid (-10, T12) and amateur Tim
Wiedemeyer (-9, T17) best Germans +++ Marcel Siem and Martin Kaymer
out of title contention +++ €56,000 already raised for “Eagles
for Education” +++

Munich. “Moving Day” under the best conditions: Round
3 of the BMW International Open shook up the leaderboard
significantly. Rising all the way to the top was England’s Daniel
Brown, who carded a 65 on Saturday to take the lead at 16 under par.
His round of 65 was the best score of the day, matched by Dutchman
Joost Luiten (-13, 3rd) and Spain’s Ivan Cantero (-11, T9). Just one
stroke behind Brown is fellow Englishman, Jordan Smith (-15), who shot
a 66.

From a German perspective, the biggest movers were Matti
Schmid 
(-10, T12) and amateur Tim Wiedemeyer (-9, T17). Marcel
Schneider (today -2, total -8, T20), Martin Kaymer (-2, -6, T34),
Yannik Paul (-1, -5, T41), Marcel Siem (+2, -5, T41), and Hurly Long
(-1, -4, T53) were unable to improve their positions.

Brown made just one bogey on Saturday and claimed the top spot on the
leaderboard thanks to a fantastic back nine featuring four birdies and
one eagle. The 30-year-old, who celebrated his only win on the DP
World Tour in 2023, credited his performance to a sense of ease: “I
actually didn’t play or control the ball as well as I did yesterday,
but the final holes went really well. I was just in a flow, felt no
pressure all day, was very relaxed, and had fun with my caddie.”

The largest deficit ever overcome by a BMW International Open winner
on Sunday is five shots – a feat achieved by five players since the
tournament began in 1989: Mark McNulty (IRL, 1994), Frank Nobilo (NZL,
1995), David Horsey (ENG, 2010), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR, 2014), and,
most recently, Pablo Larrazábal (ESP, 2015).

Although Matti Schmid posted the best round among the German players
with a 68, the Regensburg native remains six shots behind Brown – just
outside the comeback “window.” Two late bogeys on holes 16 and 17 kept
him from scoring even lower in an otherwise flawless round. Still, the
27-year-old was thrilled with the atmosphere on course and hasn’t
given up hope: “There are so many golf fans out here creating an
incredible level of support. You can only draw energy from an
atmosphere like this. Every good shot is cheered. It definitely gives
you a positive feeling. On the front nine I hit almost nothing and had
a lot of bad drives. But I had a great short game and putted well. The
back nine was really solid. Overall, I’m happy with that. You really
have to hit good shots here to score well. But with the par-5s and
hole 16, which is attackable, there are birdie chances out there.
Martin Kaymer shot 8 under in the final round back in 2021 – something
like that is what we’ll need.”

Amateur Tim Wiedemeyer continued to impress. In his hometown, the
20-year-old shot a 69 and now sits at 9 under par, maintaining his
spot inside the top 20. “The atmosphere out there was great,”
Wiedemeyer said. “There were a lot of people I know in the crowd. It’s
just a cool vibe, and the support really helps you play well. After
making the cut, everything was pretty relaxed anyway. I mean, I’ve got
nothing to lose here. I know where I stand –  I’m still an amateur.
I’m just having fun, learning a few things, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Martin Kaymer – still the only German winner of the BMW International
Open since 2008 and the youngest in tournament history – likely won’t
add a second title this year, but was still satisfied with his
performance in Munich: “Two under par is okay, but it doesn’t get you
anywhere,” said the two-time major champion. “You really need one low
round in this tournament to climb the leaderboard. I didn’t hit enough
fairways today. If I do tomorrow, I can create a lot of chances. I
might play a bit more aggressively. I feel good around the greens and
have had lots of up-and-downs this week. So I think I can allow myself
to take a few more risks.”

Marcel Siem, who had put himself in a strong weekend position after
the first two rounds, experienced what he described as “a day to
forget.” Two bogeys at the start and a triple-bogey on the par-5 6th
derailed his round early. A spectacular eagle on the par-4 16th and a
birdie on the final hole couldn’t salvage the day. “Of course it’s
frustrating and sad to know you have no chance to win anymore,” Siem
said. “Then I tried to make the impossible possible and just focused
on eagles and aces to somehow get back into it for Sunday. But it is
what it is – I’ve only got myself to blame.”

Siem’s eagle was one of 56 made so far in the tournament. That means
the “Eagles for Education” donation total from last year (€55,000) has
already been surpassed in Round 3. For every eagle made during the
tournament rounds, the BMW Group donates €1,000 to the Philipp Lahm
Foundation for Sport and Education. The shared goal is to equip
children and young people with key skills in movement, nutrition, and
personal development.

The final round at Golfclub München Eichenried begins on Sunday at
7:10 AM. The final pairing, featuring Brown and Smith, tees off at
1:10 PM. Please refer to the attachment for the full list of tee times.