FIA post-race press conference – Italy

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 2. Lando Norris (McLaren), 3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

TRACK INTERVIEWS(Conducted by Davide Valsecchi)

Q: Oscar Piastri, third position. Congratulations. How was your race? Hard battle at the beginning with Leclerc, who was very fast on the straight. And then how do you judge your race?

Oscar PIASTRI: Yeah, difficult beginning, definitely. I think maybe not my best first couple of laps, and then… We seemed to have pretty good pace for the first couple of laps compared to Charles, and then I could get past. And then it was a pretty lonely race from there. Just struggled a little bit through the first part of the race. The car wasn’t exactly how I liked, and once the tyres went away, it actually felt a bit better, which is never a great sign. So yeah, happy with the points, and I’ll take it.

Q: At the end, about the strategy, you tried something different using the Soft at the end, and the little problem you had with your team-mate. How was that?

OP: Yeah, I mean, we went so long that the Soft seemed like a good tyre to put on. We were just staying out for Safety Cars, if we got any, but eventually Max got back into our pit window, so there wasn’t any point staying out much longer… Yeah, a little incident at the end, but that’s okay.

Q: Good points anyway for the championship. No risk at all during this weekend?

OP: I think it’s fine. Not a bad weekend. Obviously, would love the performance to have been a little bit better, but all in all, I think there’s a lot of things to learn from this weekend. So happy going forwards, and we’ll try and be stronger next week.

Q: Thank you so much. Championship leader, Oscar Piastri. Congratulations. Lando Norris, what a great start, to be honest. Did you leave the throttle down there when you touched the grass? Did you close the door a bit too much on Max, or not?

Lando NORRIS: A little bit! I had to! I tried to keep it, even on the braking to Turn 1. I tried to stay, but I always know it’s going to be a good fight with Max, and it was, so enjoyable, but just not the speed today, not the pace of Max and the Red Bull. A tricky one. One of the first few weekends where we were just a bit slow, but still fun. Still, a good race, so I enjoyed it.

Q: We really enjoyed the first part of it, that’s for sure. Can you talk us through what happened at the pit stop?

LN: No, I don’t know. I felt like I was there for quite a long time, but I guess every now and then we make mistakes as a team. So, today was one of them.

Q: And about the championship, what do you think? You were not lucky at all in the last weekend. Seems that this weekend everything was running in your direction, but then Red Bull and Verstappen were quicker than you. Second position, what do you think about the championship?

LN: Yeah, I mean, I did everything I could today. I couldn’t do a lot more. I tried to fight against Max, but we had a good race and he came out on top, and they deserved it. So nothing more. Second was our best result, and I just need to keep doing what I’m doing.

Q: Congratulations. Second position. Always a pleasure, Lando Norris. Max Verstappen, race winner. What an unbelievable performance. After yesterday, that already was astonishing – your lap. Talk us through your race, because that performance was legendary, I think.

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was a great day for us. Of course, lap one was a bit unlucky, but then after that we were flying. The car was for me really enjoyable. I could manage the pace quite well throughout that first stint and I think we pitted at the right time. Then with the Hard tyres at the end, you can push a bit more, they’re a bit more resilient. And just a fantastic execution by everyone, by the whole team. I think the whole weekend we were on it. And yeah, it’s super enjoyable to win here.

Q: And tell me about the start. You were super hard like always, like Max Verstappen. When you lost the lead, did you think it was possible for you to win this race anyway, or did you have a bit of doubt? What was in your mind at that time?

MV: I could see that immediately the pace was quite good. I just needed to settle in. There was a lot of fighting going on, and then I could see the pace was there and quite quickly we were back in the lead.

Q: And about your car, seems that it was perfect today. Do you think you’re going to have some more chances this year to let us enjoy your driving?

MV: Well, we’ll try for sure. We’ll go step by step, race by race, but for us this was an unbelievable weekend.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Max, very well done. You were relentless out there today. The margins were small, yet you somehow managed to win the race by twenty seconds. How sweet was that victory for you?

LN: It was 19, no? I just don’t want any misinformation! 19, yeah.

MV: I would say probably a bit better than expected, but once I got back in the lead, I just tried to focus on my own pace and it kept on going, going well. I would say only the last maybe six to eight laps of that stint I started to struggle a little bit on the Medium. But up until that point, yeah, it was nice for once. The car was doing a little bit more what I liked. It just seems like this weekend has been another step forward with the behaviour of the car and that also then shows in the race, I think. So that was a big positive for us. Then, of course, we did a bit more of a normal strategy, you know, Medium–Hard. Of course, McLaren stayed out to try and gamble for the Safety Car, and I think that’s why the gap is a little bit bigger than it should have been. But still for us, an incredible weekend.

Q: You say the car was doing what you liked. What stood out about its performance today?

MV: That it’s just not… Well, before it felt like you were a passenger in the car. We had some races where it was just not balanced. And now, finally, there was more balance in the car and then the tyres also behave a little bit more normal.

Q: The race settled down after the early laps, but can we talk about those early laps and your battle with Lando? It looked good fun.

MV: Yeah, it was. There was a lot going on after the first lap, even into Turn 1. I think Oscar and Charles were fighting as well. I could see in my mirror. So it took two, three laps to settle in a bit, and then from there onwards it was fine.

Q: When you made the decisive pass for the lead, how confident were you of pulling away from Lando?

MV: You don’t know. I mean, of course, you are pushing a bit to try and get ahead and then time will tell, right, in that stint if it was going to hang on or not. But after a few laps, it looked like it was going really well.

Q: You’ve said several times this weekend that this has been a great turnaround compared to this race last year. How much hope does that give you for the remainder of the season?

MV: I think it’s still a bit track dependent. Here you drive low downforce. It always seems like our car is a little bit more competitive when it’s low- to medium-downforce. So it’s not like suddenly now we are back. It’s not like we can fight, I think, every single weekend. But the positive is that we seem to understand a little bit more what we need to do with the car to be more competitive. So I hope that that carries on into the coming rounds as well, and some tracks will be a bit better than others.

Q: Lando, how much did you enjoy those early laps with Max? Talk us through that battle.

LN: It was a little bumpy at one point, but it was what I expected. It was close and it was fun racing. Tough, again, as expected. Enjoyable – it’s what I probably enjoy more than anything, these kinds of battles. It was nice to go out on top for a couple of laps, but it didn’t last very long. Max’s pace was just far too good for us today, especially in that first stint, especially in the first three quarters of the first stint. Close, even when he got me into Turn 1, I think we were both pretty late on the brakes and we just about made the corner. It was close. I felt like there was probably a little bit of rubbing at some point. So, like, nerve-rackingly close and exciting for that reason. But I wish it could last a bit longer than it did. Just a tough race for us, not the pace we wanted. I think we were hoping to at least fight for a win. But Max’s race was a bit too easy today. So, yeah, work to do, clearly, on our side.

Q: You say “nerve-rackingly close” referring to the battle with Max. Do you think it was fair, good racing?

LN: It’s not my decision in the end. Got nothing to say. It was good. The main part I said was nerve-rackingly close was when he overtook me into Turn 1 on the outside, on lap two or three, whatever it was. That’s the one where it’s like, who wants to brake the latest? But I knew being on the inside that Max is in a much stronger position than I am. He can afford to be a lot more on the edge and aggressive than I can. I can’t afford to lose a front wing or have a little bit of damage, whatever it might be. I felt like I took the risks that needed to be taken and did my part, but just not quick enough.

Q: You say Max’s race was a little too easy today. Do you think McLaren’s advantage will be back at the next race in Baku?

LN: If you look back at last year, it was pretty close between many people. The Ferraris, as well, were very strong there. We expect them to be good there. But it’s pointless to guess. We go into every weekend with an open mind. We’ve been dominant, and I think that’s always a positive thing at the end of weekends – it’s when we come out when we’ve had a one-two and sometimes it’s a smaller gap, sometimes much bigger. But we still go into weekends with the expectation that anyone could be there, whether it is the Ferraris or the Red Bulls, most likely. We still think they could qualify ahead and they could beat us in the races. Therefore, we’re not too shocked to have lost today and to not have been on pole yesterday. We knew already on Friday, FP1, it was not going to be a great weekend in terms of dominance like we’ve had. You have to look at things on the other side. We’ve had, you know, 95% have been amazing and we’ve won by huge gaps. So it just hurts that’s it’s a little bit the other way for once. But when you look at the flip side, there’s still a lot more good races than bad. So we have to take it on the chin, learn from this weekend, and see what we can improve for the other lower-downforce tracks like Vegas.