Track Interviews - Conducted by David Coulthard

So, Oscar Piastri, third place finisher in what was a very eventful race. Safety Cars galore, penalties, and you had quite a few moments as you were in your own battle. We saw you working the wheel hard to keep the car on track.
Oscar Piastri: Yeah, it was a tricky race, I think. The cars at the front seemed to have very similar pace to each other. And it was really, really tough to make the inroads to get into DRS and then far enough into DRS to overtake. So a couple of good moments with Charles out there. And yeah, nice to end up on the podium, but not quite the result we're looking for.

Yeah, this does mean that this championship battle well and truly goes down to the final Grand Prix.
OP: Yeah, I'm not sure what Lando's penalty was for, but obviously quite a big one. So, yeah, going to be an exciting end to the year. Hopefully we can be strong, but it's going to take everything we've got to seal the deal.

A year ago, we saw you all exhausted at the end of this race. The Safety Cars have broken this one up, so physically a lot more controlled this year?
OP: Definitely. I think just the temperature as well, you know. The track's a lot faster this year, so it should be tougher, but I think the fact that it's not a sauna in the car this year is making life a bit easier. So, fun race, a mega track. It's probably the most fun of the whole year around here, so yeah, enjoyed the race just not quite the result.

Great to hear you love the track, we'll leave you to go and enjoy the podium. So Charles Leclerc, second place in the end. Given the events of that Grand Prix, I guess you'll not be too disappointed with that result?
Charles Leclerc: I'm really happy. I mean, honestly, I would have signed straight away if I had a paper that told me that we will finish second after a weekend like this, especially on a track like this, because our car characteristics are not fitting very well with this track. And we knew it was going to be a very difficult weekend compared to the McLaren, but at the end, we managed to take some points away from them. So, yeah, the fight will be all the way to the last race in Abu Dhabi next week.

We had that controversial moment with a couple of punctures. Your team-mate picked up that puncture. Were you well aware of the debris on track? Were you in contact with your engineer?
CL: Honestly, I don't know whether it was the debris or the way the kerb are and the way we need to ride the kerbs. On the kerbs, I just ignored it, because I knew that there was too much performance in it and I was just hoping to not have a puncture myself as well. For the debris, I was staying on the left in the straights hoping that it wouldn't bite me and it didn't, hopefully. It's a shame for Carlos because obviously as a team, it would have been great to be further up with Carlos, but yeah, it's the way it goes and it's still a positive weekend overall for the team.

So given that you weren't expecting this circuit to be strong for you, as we go down to the wire for the constructors, a week's time in Abu Dhabi, where do you see yourself in performance terms there?
CL: Ah, it's difficult to know. I think we are all very close, so I think it's going to be very tight, but it's exciting. Yeah, 21 points is still a lot, but everything is possible and we'll give it all.

OK, well, congratulations. Enjoy the podium. And our race winner, Max Verstappen. It's been a while in completely dry conditions, but what a difference a day makes. On the ropes in the Sprint, to leading this from the start and what was not a dominant victory in terms of your battle with Lando, but In the end, it was comfortable.
Max Verstappen: Yeah, it was a very good race. Of course, already yesterday in qualifying, the car was a lot better. And, yeah, today, that first stint was very, very fast. Lando and I were just within 1.8 seconds of each other the whole time, pushing each other. And honestly, it was a lot of fun out there. This track has a lot of grip. And this year, the tyres were really holding on. So that was honestly a lot of fun to be really pushing the tyre. And yeah, we went really long in that first stint. After that, of course, there were a few Safety Car moments that you had to take care. But very happy. It's been a while in the dry to be this competitive and very proud of everyone within the team to turn it around within a day. So they definitely also deserve this victory.

You mentioned the Safety Cars. It looked the first one. you absolutely aced the restart. The second one, you put yourself under a lot of pressure and it was some brilliant wheel-to-wheel action into Turn 1 and then you got the final one spot on. So was it like it looked? You just didn't quite get the traction in the second?
MV: On the Hard tyres, there's very little grip. You know, you just come out of the box, so they're already cold. And then immediately, of course, we had the Safety Car. And behind the Safety Car, you can't warm them up. And then I tried something different out of the last corner where I had no rear grip, basically. So I just struggled for traction out of the corner. And then it got a bit spicy into Turn 1, but I think that's great to see. And then, yeah, after that, we drove it to the end with good pace. So, yeah, very happy to win here.

We've got these three amazing races. You had your World Championship in Vegas. Here we are a week later, you're winning. And in one week's time, we're going to be in Abu Dhabi. Have you any idea where your performance will be? Because it seems so close between all of the main teams.
MV: Yeah, it's difficult to say. Of course, the last few years, we've always been quite competitive there. So I hope we can be competitive again. But we'll pay attention to detail, you know, to try and optimise the car. And hopefully, yeah, we can fight for a win there again.

Press Conference

Max, what a race by you. There was so much going on, yet you seemed untouchable out front. Was it as straightforward as it looked?
MV: I mean, it's never straightforward. I think in the first stint as well, you know, with Lando being there, honestly, I think the gap has been between 1.6 and 1.9 seconds, the whole stint, which you can't afford to make a mistake. And he didn't, I didn't, and we were just pushing flat out at one point. And it was honestly really enjoyable to drive because, of course, most of the races that we do, the tyres deg and you have to manage a lot. It felt like here you could push a bit harder and the track as well, the layout, I enjoy a lot. The grip is very good on the track. So yeah, that was a great stint. Then, of course, the second stint was a bit more stop-start with the Safety Cars involved and then of course the temperature as well in the tyres was very tricky because my middle restart wasn't particularly great. I tried something else but the grip was... The tyres basically were too cold, so I just kept on sliding and having no traction. So that was not ideal. Besides that, the pace was good. A dry race like this for us has been a long time, so I'm very happy with the improvements that we made compared to the start of the weekend.

You said yesterday that you weren't sure how the car would perform over a race distance. How much of a surprise was it over those 57 laps?
MV: Yeah, I mean, the last few races in the dry, we haven't been particularly strong on managing the tyres. And that's why I was a little bit careful after qualifying. But yeah, it's been nice. I mean, it's still not where I would like it to be in terms of the behaviour of the car compared to, let's say, last year. But at least now, you know, we are back in a fight to win races. So if we can just learn from this year's car, take the positives, of course, from also last year and try to build a better car, I'm sure that we can be again very competitive next year.

Max, we've seen a huge swing in performance by you and Red Bull this weekend. In your experience in Formula 1, is this the biggest swing you've witnessed in a single weekend?
MV: It's probably been one of the biggest, yeah, where you're fighting Haas in the sprint to fighting for the win in the main race. So, yeah, it's been quite a big swing in performance.

And how much confidence... You touched on it a minute ago, but how much confidence does this weekend give you? Not only going into Abu Dhabi next weekend, but into 2025?
MV: It's not about confidence. It's just trying to understand this year's car a little bit more, what it needs. Because we know what the limitations are on the car. And it's about what we can do to make it better for next year. But of course, this was again a bit, maybe not an eye opener, but it did show us like, 'oh, OK, well, that works on this car' and it made it a lot more competitive.

Alright, Max, very well done today. Thank you for that. Charles, let's come to you. Very well done as well. P5 on the grid to P2 at the flag. Did you exceed your pre-race expectations?
CL: Yes, we did. Yes, we did, because to be honest, we knew that it would be very difficult pace-wise. We expected McLaren to be very strong in terms of race pace. We maybe did not expect Max to be that strong, but he was super strong today. However, finishing second after such a weekend, where the track characteristics are very far off from the optimal of the track characteristics we need for our car, is a surprise. We got a little bit lucky, obviously on my side. A bit unlucky with Carlos and his puncture. But as a team, it's been a positive weekend. So yes, we exceeded our expectations because coming into the weekend, I kind of expected to lose a bit of points compared to McLaren here. However, we recovered some, so that's good.

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