Charles Leclerc:
It was a tricky race on my side. When I arrived at the last corner on lap 1, I saw how much rain was coming down and decided to call for a pit stop. I knew it was a late one, but at the same time, I also knew that it would be worth it in the end, because we had more to gain than to lose there.
Unfortunately, after Oscar (Piastri) and I touched, I had damage on my floor and the issue got worse over the course of the race, ultimately leading to us retiring. It's not been the weekend we wished for overall, but I'm already looking forward to our home race in Monza next week.
Carlos Sainz:
We had a good race execution overall with no mistakes in these difficult conditions. For the last stint we had to fit a very used set of Intermediates from yesterday and it was all about defending. I gave absolutely everything from the first lap to the last but unfortunately P5 was the maximum we could achieve this weekend.
It's good points and we have gained ground over Mercedes and McLaren, on a difficult weekend for the team. We obviously want more and we will keep pushing. Now I'm looking forward to our home race at Monza next weekend.
Lewis Hamilton:
I didn't really know how today was going to go - last night, I was wracking my brain about where we went wrong in qualifying and how we ended up P13, and how to climb back up. I wanted to start the race on an offset tyre compound, but then it turned out I was the only one in the field on a different tyre - and then the rain came. As a team, we made the wrong decision and paid the price, coming out last. After that, I just got my head down and I was chasing; it was a great example that when you fall or stumble, just get back up and keep trying. Each time I pitted, I came out behind, and kept chasing and chasing. I was really happy - I passed the McLaren, for example, which isn't easy at this track. And then at the end, I just needed DRS to pass Sainz, because I was quicker but didn't have the speed on the straight to do it. But overall, it's a feeling of what could have been: if we'd made different calls, we had the pace to challenge the top two. We weren't far off in the dry - and it would have been good to be in that fight.
George Russell:
That was a tough one today - I went into the race expecting to fight for a podium and I ended up P17. We were expecting the rain to say for just a few minutes, and it ended up being close to ten. It was ready for inters but I thought I could brave it out for another lap or two if it was only going to be short - but that's not what happened. We'd rather have a fast car and a bad day than the opposite, but it was a missed opportunity today. At the end, I was side by side with Lando into the chicane at the end of the lap, then we had contact. It cost a few points and it was a shame because we had such a fast car today, then our decisions on the weather went against us. But there are still positives to take away from the base pace we showed. We knew this circuit could be strong for us - and looking to Monza, it's a totally different beast. We will clear our heads, go in with some new ideas and the learnings from this weekend, and see what we can do.
Esteban Ocon:
"First of all, congratulations to Pierre and the whole team for today's great result. Overall, we can be happy with our race as a team, leaving Zandvoort with double points and the podium. On my side, it was a solid recovery drive from where we started, fighting my way to well within the points. We will definitely need to review a few things as there were some opportunities missed which cost us some positions and some points. Generally, there will be many learnings from the last few days which I hope we can take to Monza next week to keep improving as a team."
Pierre Gasly:
"What a race! It feels really good to be on the podium here in Zandvoort and the entire team deserves this. After the season we have had so far, so many ups and downs, I do feel we deserve this result. It was an insane race, so much action, so many tough calls to make but everything went well, from the decision making to the strategy to the pit-stops, it was all very well executed. We had the unfortunate five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, but in the end that did not matter as we still had enough pace to put ourselves in contention for a good result. It was a tough final few laps with the conditions, but we managed it very well. Thanks to the entire team for his podium, and let's keep up the hard work looking ahead to next weekend's race in Monza; where I have fond memories!"
Lando Norris
"If I start by looking at the final positions, we got some points, which is a good thing but not as many as we should have got today. We made some incorrect decisions and on a day like today, that can win or lose you a lot of time. We were just on the losing end. We'll review it, we'll make sure we do a better job next time. I think it's impossible to be perfect with this, it's just about limiting your mistakes. We've got some work to do but we're getting there."
Oscar Piastri
"P9, not the most straightforward of afternoons. I think we maybe could have taken a few more opportunities that were there but all-in-all not a terrible afternoon and definitely some things to learn from. At one point it was looking a lot worse so it was a nice comeback in the second half of the race and we'll definitely learn what we could have done a bit differently before heading to Monza with the goal of scoring more points."
Valtteri Bottas:
"First and foremost, I am really glad to see Zhou is ok after his crash. Every chaotic race is an opportunity, and I feel we weren't able to really make the most of it today. We had a really good start, making up a lot of positions, and, when the rain came, we kept it on track, which was not easy in such challenging conditions. The grip out there was very poor and visibility limited, which on such a technical track is making driving even harder. In the end, we just did not have the pace to be in the points, especially in regular circumstances. We need to understand what went on and improve on it, I know everyone is working hard for it. Next up is Monza: it's an important race for us, on a completely different track, and we can surely do better than this. There will be a lot of people from our factory on the stands, and we're looking forward to all the support."
Guanyu Zhou:
"Finishing the race in the barrier is never nice: I am not injured, which is the most important thing, but I'm disappointed as we were doing a decent race until then. The downpour was very sudden and it was a tricky moment for me: I was one of the first on the scene at turn one, I wasn't pushing given the conditions, but as soon as I touched the brakes the car aquaplaned. There was nothing I could really do, I couldn't scrub any speed and I just went straight into the barriers. Before that, it had been a busy race in which we spent a lot of time in good positions. We were quite strong in the wet, but as soon as it got dry, we didn't really have the pace to stay in the top ten. The Safety Car didn't help us either: we were on medium tyres, hoping to go long, but as soon as the race was neutralised, we ended up among those on soft tyres, and it was not possible to keep them behind. We move on to Monza now, an important race for us: hopefully we can have a better outcome."
Lance Stroll:
"It wasn't the race we were hoping for today. The changing weather conditions made it very challenging to make the right strategy call and we just didn't make the right tyre decisions in the opening few laps. We'd hoped to survive the first downpour on the slick tyres, but the rain was heavier than expected and we switched to the Intermediate compound a little too late. Once the running order had stabilised, I found myself stuck in traffic and struggled to make any progress. It's disappointing as the car was performing well and I think more was possible, but that's racing sometimes. We'll learn from today's mistakes and push hard again in Monza."
Fernando Alonso:
"It's a nice feeling to be back on the podium after a very intense race and some intense emotions. I think P2 and fastest lap was the maximum we could have achieved today with the heavy rain and the red flag. It was a very well executed race by our team and it means a lot in front of the passionate fans here in Zandvoort. The AMR23 responded well to everything today and I was in sync with it, it was a good feeling. I'm probably happier now than I was scoring podiums at the beginning of the year because after we struggled for podiums in July, coming back strong feels incredible. I cannot lie, I thought about passing Max [Verstappen] and if I was side by side with him I wouldn't have lifted off, but I did not have the full chance. You need some intuition sometimes in the race and there was a bit of rain so I attacked very aggressively. Now I'm looking forward to Monza."
Kevin Magnussen:
"I think we did a good job at the beginning of the race with the conditions and managing that well. We got up to P7 I think and then it dried up, and there was a Safety Car which didn't help us because we lost all that advantage that we had given ourselves with the right calls. We fell from P7 to outside of the points and it's a shame. It feels extra frustrating when you manage to hustle your way into the top 10 and then you don't have the pace to be there. We'll keep working and today we showed we're trying our best and going for it when there's an opportunity, but we need more pace."
Nico Hulkenberg:
"It was a very dynamic race and the last five laps were just survival mode. I think there were only two of us - Valtteri (Bottas) and myself - who decided to stay out on slicks when the rain began, which wasn't the right decision in hindsight. I lost quite a bit of race time in those couple of laps, so we missed an opportunity there. After that, you run your race, but it was difficult to gage were you were, so I did my own race. Pace, from what I could see, was alright in the midfield, but obviously not enough to do anything at the front. We collected a lot of data with the new front wing which we now need to study and understand more and hopefully we can optimize it."
Yuki Tsunoda:
"I showed good speed and had some exciting moments throughout the first part of the race, defending from quite a few cars, so I'm happy about that. Before the race, the team and I agreed on our strategy of staying out on the used soft tyre, and I thought we could make it until the end. The grip wasn't too bad, but the new tyre had more of an advantage than we thought, so it didn't pay off in the end. When it started raining, I thought it was better to come in, and I appreciated the team listening and respecting my call. In the end, I didn't have enough grip during the last laps on the intermediate tyre and struggled to warm them up and keep the temperature in them. We have to look into it as it's a little unusual. It's a shame we didn't show our pace during qualifying yesterday, but I'm happy we tried really hard today and were able to show a little more performance in the race."
Liam Lawson:
"The aim was to do all 72 laps today. When I first got on the grid and it started raining, it wasn't the best feeling. After that, we had no choice but to make the pitstop but unfortunately, we got a penalty and lost a huge amount of time during it. I think once we got clean air during the second half of the race and then driving on the intermediate tyres at the end, my pace wasn't so bad. There's some work to do, but I'm just happy to have gotten through the race, experiencing different conditions and scenarios, to be able to take them forward."
Alex Albon:
You could argue we should've pitted earlier at the start of the race, but we stuck to our guns and it worked for us with tyre management, managing for 40 odd laps on the Softs, and you can only do that with a car that's good and it felt strong all weekend. It was very easy to control the front and rear degradation, just with tools and driving, always able to shift the balance where I needed it to be. Then we pitted for Mediums and begun making our way up the order towards P5 and P4 and I thought it was perfect, until I found out about the rain.
We need to review that second pitstop call; it's so tricky because I didn't pit and for the first half of the lap I thought I'd overcut the two cars in front of me but in 30 seconds it went from a soft to a full wet tyre and we lost out on the undercut. It happens; it feels like we finish today slightly disappointed we didn't finish in 6th, but 8th is still an amazing result for us, especially considering we're here on merit this weekend. It's been our strongest weekend yet and the best I've felt in the car in my time at Williams, so there's so many positives to take from here.
Logan Sargeant:
It was a tricky start to the race with the rain coming down. It looks like the Inters were maybe the better option, but we tried to survive out there on the slicks and, after yesterday, I was just trying to be extremely cautious and build up nicely, but I lost a bit too much tyre temperature in those wet conditions. Then, unfortunately, it didn't end the way we wanted it to. I touched the kerb and it seems that from the impact of that we had an issue with hydraulics and power steering. Once I lost that assistance there was really nothing I could do. I still need to watch it back, but we need to look into what went wrong. I want to say a huge thank you to the team for getting the car turned around for today.
