Just Like Being at Home:

Best of Interlagos Media Day With Lewis and George

“I love coming here,” said Lewis, who will again run a special edition Interlagos helmet this year.

“I have been really excited about the trip and just getting back. Every opportunity I have to spend time here, you learn more about the culture. You are able to engage more.

“And it's just the colours, it's Ayrton, it's the culture, the people. So you really vibe off that through the whole weekend.”

George can also draw on happy memories of the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, having claimed his maiden F1 win at the track in 2022.

“It definitely gives you the confidence that if you have achieved it once before, you can achieve it again,” George said.

“Every year the circumstances are totally different. Different cars, different tyres, and this year a resurfaced track.”

The final leg of the Americas triple-header comes after a couple of tricky weekends on the road for the team.

A promising start on Friday at COTA yielded a P6 finish in the race with George, and despite an improved P4/P5 result a week later, there were still bumps in the road to negotiate in Mexico.

The focus now is firmly beyond the current campaign.

“We are not in prime form at the moment, and we have to be realistic – we are the fourth fastest team at the moment,” said George.

“Our main aim is getting the car into a consistent place, looking ahead into 2025.

“Next year’s car will be new, so it is not like we are pre-season testing, but we are not fighting for championships.

“We can use these last four races to learn as much as we can to make sure we're as best prepared for the winter development.”

Lewis added: “Last week I started badly but got better towards the end, so there is definitely potential in the car that we are looking to fine tune and extract.

“Every weekend there are glimpses of hope, and then things tend to swing back and forth, whether it’s the tyres, whether it’s the aero.

“It has been a turbulent year, but we always arrive to a racetrack with confidence and a positive mental attitude, and this weekend in no different.

“Hopefully with the new track surface here we can have a better result.”

As far as upgrades for W15 are concerned, this weekend will see both Lewis and George use the updated floor that was first run in Austin two weeks ago.

Having crashed on Saturday at COTA, George had run the previous update for the past two Grands Prix.

“We have managed to repair the floor damaged in Austin,” said George.

“We will both be on the updated floor. We have got a small difference in specification, as a bit of a trial, just in the realms of normal aerodynamic testing.”

F1’s presence in Brazil is always a chance to commemorate the late, great São Paulo native Ayrton Senna, and this year will be no different.

On Saturday, Lewis will get behind the wheel of his hero’s McLaren MP4/5B from the 1990 championship-winning season for some laps of Interlagos.

“I never in a million years thought I'd ever get to drive Senna's car here,” said Lewis.

“I remember when he [Senna] finally won here and held the flag aloft out the car. It will definitely be quite an emotional experience and I hope people are here to see it.”