1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 2. Lando Norris (McLaren), 3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Martin Brundle)
Q: Congratulations Max. Pole position, perfect start, controlled the race. That was a champion’s drive.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah. It was an unbelievable weekend for us. I knew that the race was, of course, not going to be super straightforward. I think if you look at the whole race, the pace between myself and Lando was really close. I think just in that first stint, that’s where we made the difference. I could eke out a little bit of a gap and that’s basically what we kept till the end. It wasn’t easy to manage also the tyres on both of these stints, but we kept it in the lead and just incredibly proud of everyone to deliver a weekend like this.
Q: Lando, P2, you two had a brilliant fight. I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say to each other about it, but you finally made it through to get second and to keep hold of it.
Lando NORRIS: Finally. Finally. It took long enough. No, it was a good battle with Charles. He fought hard. It was tough. We did everything we could. I thought we kind of had it in an easy way after we got ahead, and then we did the overcut — or we went much longer. I expected a slightly easier second attempt to get through, but it wasn’t the case. So, no, Charles drove a very good race. It was good fun, good battles. So we have to take second. Not a lot more we could’ve done today.
Q: We heard Will Joseph, your engineer, saying “cool your tyres a bit and then have another go.” And it paid off — what you did.
LN: Yeah. I mean, like, you know, out the box, when the tyres are the freshest, then you want to push because you have the best chance. But it’s also when the tyres get the hottest. So when I had my first try, I just really started to struggle with the tyres, and Charles was probably already in that kind of consistent point. So I backed off quite a bit for a few laps, went again, and it worked. So, yeah, good strategy, some good driving, and, yeah, a fun race.
Q: Charles, you were the outlier in the first 15 cars on the Soft tyres, and wow, you made the best of those in the first quarter.
Charles LECLERC: Yeah. I was a little bit worried when I saw that I was the only car on Softs at the beginning, but I kind of knew that it was a bit of a risky move. I mean, what I had in mind was to use the soft to try and get free air. It was quite optimistic because we had two cars in front, but that’s what we tried to do. We at least gained a position, and that helped us a lot for the rest of the race. So I’m very happy overall because it’s been a tough second part of the year, and to be back on the podium here after what was a difficult FP1 with the gearbox problem, we recovered well, so I’m happy.
Q: You made your Ferrari as wide as you could. I mean, it was brilliant and very fair but hard racing between you two.
CL: Yeah. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Unfortunately today, I lost out at the end, but I had fun in the car.
Q: Max, you’ve taken 23 points out of Oscar’s World Championship lead this weekend. You must be thinking, “I can do this. There’s a chance to do this.”
MV: Yeah. For sure, the chance is there. We just need to try and deliver these kinds of weekends now till the end. So just try whatever we can, you know. I think it is exciting, and I’m really just very excited for the end.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Max, many congratulations. A dominant win. Just talk us through your race?
MV: Yeah. A perfect weekend for us. Today, I think what was crucial was the first stint where I could build a bit of a gap, because I think after that, it basically stabilised pretty much after the pit stop until the end. I think tyre management was very important today, and it wasn’t very straightforward because there were some laps where you had a very different feeling or balance, grip — bit weirdly, better or worse. So, yeah, it’s one of those days where you just need to try and make no mistakes, try to drive it as consistent as you can, drive around the bumps as much as possible. But, yeah, for us to win again today is incredible.
Q: You mentioned the tyres. You weren’t so confident after the Sprint yesterday about tyre wear. Just how did it pan out over 56 laps?
MV: I think it was a bit better today, even though I think it’s still not where I wanted it to be, let’s say it like that. But nevertheless, yeah, we won the race, which of course is the most important.
Q: How much tougher do you think your race would have been had Lando not been overtaken by Charles at the start?
MV: I think then it would be a very close race. Yeah. Every time I think that Lando was in clean air, we were very evenly matched. Maybe at times, he was a bit faster as well. So, yeah, it wouldn’t have been the gap that it was at the end.
Q: Big picture. Given where the car is now, and that you’re just 40 points behind Oscar Piastri, how do you view these closing stages of the World Championship?
MV: Yeah. I think we need to be perfect until the end, you know, to have a chance. Yeah. We caught up a lot. But at the same time, you know, the gaps are very small. I think every weekend you need to try and be perfect, and that’s what we’ll try to do until the end.
Q: Alright. Very well done today. Thank you for that. Lando, let’s come to you now. A great race. Can we put that Charles question to you — had you not been overtaken by Charles, how different do you think your race might have been?
LN: Who knows? What was it that you [Berstappen] said once — “if your mum had balls… she’d be your dad”? Yeah. Who knows. But, you know, starting on the Soft, starting on the right side of the grid… He had the advantage in Turn 1, on the outside. After yesterday, obviously a little bit wary — didn’t want to go too wide in Turn 1 because I didn’t want to end up in the gravel again. So yeah, I kind of had to just stay on the inside and stick to the safer route. But Charles did a good job and I got passed. Who knows after that? You know, I think I found it difficult enough just to get close to Charles, and their pace wasn’t bad at all. Until, what, 10 laps to go he was like six seconds off Max. So it wasn’t like we were that far away, or their pace was that bad. So, you know, I think it was a good race. The pace was pretty close. I think that’s why it was so difficult — because we were quicker, for sure, but not by a lot. And therefore, there were some challenging lap-after-lap battles, trying to put him under pressure, trying to make him make some mistakes here and there. He didn’t make many, for sure. But I think especially the final stint, I managed to get the tyres into a good window, drop back a few seconds, re-attack, and I managed to kind of catch him a bit more off guard, let’s say, with a couple of laps. So, a good result in the end. For a minute, I was not expecting to finish second. I thought he was just a bit too quick for us. But to get back into second and get past was perfect.