Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix

Driver Quotes - Sunday 6 April

Oscar Piastri "A good haul of points and a nice result for the team. I think the pace today was really good and I was very happy with that. We got close for the overtake a few times, but track position around here is just so important. I think yesterday was the day where you effectively won the race, and we just didn't put it all together, so I'll absolutely take the podium. We go to Bahrain with a lot of positives, and ready to challenge again."

Lando Norris "A tough race today, it was flat-out from start to finish but the pace was too similar to do anything. Max drove a good race with no mistakes, and it ultimately came down to Qualifying positions today. It's still been a very good weekend for the team securing more points together, but we will continue to work hard as we head to the next one in Bahrain."

Max Verstappen: "We couldn't have wished for a better result today in our final race with Honda here together. It's been amazing and I'm really proud of what we have done this weekend. We made all of the right calls during the race, were constantly pushing and our tyres weren't overheating so much due to the colder tyre temperature which helped us. Yesterday was a beautiful day for us and the key to the win was to start from pole. We maximised everything we could and to follow this up with the win is fantastic. We know our limitations and still have work to do. We are just finding where we can push the car to the limit and need to maximise everything that we can to get the best out of the car and make it more balanced. Finally, this is a perfect send off for Honda and our relationship is something I will never forget. I've enjoyed my time with them and how they work: they are so professional and dedicated and they have given me so much. Together to win four Drivers' Championships and two Constructors' Championships is unbelievable. It did cross my mind whilst driving that it would be insane to win here today and at a home track for Honda, so that gave me a bit of motivation as well. It's a proper send off and we couldn't have wished for a better weekend."

Yuki Tsunoda: "It's tough today because I wanted to at least finish in the points. I am happy with the race in terms of what I have learnt but not in terms of result, so it's mixed feelings. I was feeling a lot of support from the crowd, every lap it felt more and I wanted to give something more back to them. At least I know I did the maximum I could in the race and these 53 laps gave me so much to learn about the car. I now know what kind of things I need to work on. I was stuck behind cars all day in traffic so it's hard to know the full race pace of this car but, every lap of the 53, I was building up my confidence in the car. That confidence level is now completely different from the beginning of the weekend to now, I feel positive about that, but I am still disappointed because it is a home Grand Prix and it's only once a year. I need to reset before Bahrain and I am sure compared to what I was feeling, in terms of car and in terms of confidence it will naturally be better there. I will understand more about the car, and I am excited for the next one, I just need to do better in qualifying. A big congrats to Max, it is good to see one of the Honda engines win at our home Grand Prix, in their final year of collaborating with Red Bull. And finally, a special thanks to the Japanese fans, I feel like there were more than ever at the track and I feel very honoured to represent them. I am very happy to be able to drive in front of them as an Oracle Red Bull Racing driver, with a Honda engine."

Charles Leclerc: It was a bit of a lonely race for me today. P4 is not a result we are ever satisfied with, but looking at the positives of this weekend, the work we did on Friday in terms of set-up adjustment and the learnings we take into the next races have paid off. We made good progress, but we have to keep our heads down and keep working before we come to any conclusions. The front runners still have quite an advantage in terms of pace. For now, we have to focus on maximizing the points we bring home, which we did today, and hopefully later in the season we can fight for the top positions.

Lewis Hamilton: That was a tough race for us today. We didn't have the pace to challenge the top three, and that's something we'll be working hard to address ahead of the next rounds. I went with a setup that felt good overall, but it just didn't give me everything I needed out there. The team's been doing an incredible job, and we'll keep pushing together to find those gains.

The fans have been amazing all weekend - their energy and support means a lot.

George Russell: Today's race was a frustrating one. With the top six cars all finishing where they started, it was a Grand Prix dictated by yesterday's qualifying performance. It was a relatively easy one-stop strategy and, on a circuit that is very difficult to overtake at, there were few opportunities to make forward progress. We tried our best to make the undercut work on Leclerc at the end of our first stint. Unfortunately, we didn't quite have the pace to pull it off with the traffic that we had to clear in those two laps. Whatever strategy we had attempted though, I think we would have ultimately finished P5.

Our frustration mainly comes from the fact that we didn't optimise qualifying yesterday. With the pace we showed over practice, we had a car that could have been competing for the front two rows of the grid. It is the first qualifying session of the year where we haven't maximised our full potential. That was a shame, but we can bounce back straight away in Bahrain. It is a very different track to Suzuka, much hotter and a more abrasive circuit. It will be fascinating to see where everyone's relative performance is and is going to be another test for everyone.

Kimi Antonelli: Today was a good race from my side. I am happy with how it went and the speed we were able to show. Once I got in free air, the pace really improved, and I was able to extend my stint on the Medium tyre. That was a good feeling. Once we switched to the Hard tyre, the car still felt positive. I was able to put in some consistent lap times. I was catching the cars ahead but ran out of time in the end to get on the back of them. It was also a nice feeling to lead the race for a few laps and become the youngest driver in F1 history to have done so. The next goal is to do that on the only lap that matters: the final one!

It has been a good weekend overall. It's a great track and one that I felt that I was getting on top of by the end of the weekend. Every time I get in the car, I am building my learning and feeling more comfortable with the W16. I am looking forward to heading to Bahrain. Hopefully we can keep improving and begin to fight for some of the positions further forward than we managed today.

Lance Stroll: "Ultimately there wasn't much we could do today - we tried to make up some positions at the start, but it wasn't possible. It was still an opportunity to learn what we could, with set-ups for Bahrain, and we'll take that forward. It was just one of those days and we will see what we can do next weekend."

Fernando Alonso: "It was a difficult race today at Suzuka and despite our best efforts we missed out on the points. The first half of the race I had Pierre [Gasly] within one-second and then Yuki [Tsunoda] close for the second half of the race, so I couldn't make a mistake. Suzuka is a great circuit, and I really enjoy racing here, but it's very hard to overtake on this track. We need to improve our car performance going forward and I'm looking forward to that development."

Pierre Gasly: "It was not our race today and there are definitely a few things for us to analyse. It felt like we did everything we could in terms of performance. The car felt good, well balanced and we know where we are lacking a bit of pace. It was an intense first lap, quite dicey with Fernando [Alonso] and we missed out on a place there even if it was a fun battle. We lost a bit of time at the pit-stop so we'll review what happened there and we know how important track position is around here in terms of traffic and pace management. We gave it our best and it was not enough to be near the points. We have a good chance next week in Bahrain where the car seemed to perform well in pre-season testing. Conditions will be different to then, though, but it's a chance to reset and hopefully we can come away with a much better outcome."

Jack Doohan: "It was good to get another full race distance under my belt and continue to gain experience and understanding of the package. Given our starting position, we went more aggressive with tyre strategy with the Softs at the start, which allowed us to attack and gave us the best chance to move forward with the undercut. That also meant we ran a longer second stint on the Hard tyres [38 laps] and had to defend towards the end. I think we did well to keep Nico [Hülkenberg] at bay, but it was a pity we could not keep Carlos [Sainz] behind on the newer Softs. It was positive to move forward at a track that's difficult to overtake and the race pace also felt strong despite no high fuel running. We will take a couple of days between races to rest and recover. I'm looking forward to going again in Bahrain where the conditions will be completely different again."

Esteban Ocon: "The aim was to pick up a safety car as we started on the hard compound - we didn't have much to lose trying this strategy - and still managed to get a good start. Sadly, without a safety car it wasn't the best strategy and we knew that, we tried our best - but it is more data, and more information to compare for next race. The important thing is that we transfer the good performance we saw on Ollie's car, so a big well done to him, and to the team for bringing updates after Australia."

Oliver Bearman : "I think we achieved the maximum today, not quite enough pace to fight the Williams or the VCARB so P10 it is, but I enjoyed my lonely race. Australia was a big shock, and China was an even bigger shock for all of us as to come back with such great pace without changing anything on the car. This weekend we brought a slightly different floor to help the bouncing we've been struggling with and it seems like so far, so good. We have a lot of positives from this weekend so we'll take a point and look forward to Bahrain."

Alex Albon: We've been experimenting with shift settings all weekend and we thought we'd finally landed on something we were happy with. Turns out, it actually felt much better in Qualifying than it did in the race. The car wasn't easy to drive in the conditions either. In Practice on Friday, the wind suited us more, but it was completely different today. We still scored points though! It just shows that even on days when we're not that optimal, we're able to score points. In that sense, I'm very happy.

Carlos Sainz: Unfortunately, as expected, it was a difficult race stuck in traffic after a costly Saturday, with some details to polish in Qualifying and then the penalty. On a positive note, I think the pace was there today. I was comfortable with the car, managed to do some good overtakes and overall learnt a lot out there on track. Now the focus is to carry the positive feeling of this weekend on to the next GPs and build from here. Once I start putting everything together, I know better results will come. On to Bahrain!