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1 – Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull
Racing)
2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Damon Hill)
Q: Charles, long, hard race. You got pole position, but you knew you
couldn't keep up with the pace of the Red Bulls. But a valiant effort. How
do you feel about it?
Charles LECLERC: Yeah, I mean, they are in another league once it comes to
the race. So, the really good lap managed to put us in front, but then over
51 laps it was just not possible. They have so much more pace than we do in
race pace. So yeah, as I said yesterday, I think they found something that
we didn't yet. And that's where our focus is at the moment. Everybody's
working flat out to try and understand what we can do in the races,
especially to just get more performance.
Q: Do you feel like you've closed the gap, that Ferrari are getting at least
a little closer to the Red Bulls?
CL: Honestly, the feeling is a little bit better, but when I see the gap –
and I'm pretty sure that when you have this type of gap you're probably not
pushing 100% – so yeah, we don't really know how much we have closed the
gap. The feeling is a little bit better, but again also the Aston Martin was
really quick today. So we still have a lot of work.
Q: Otherwise, a lonely race. You got a little bit of pressure there from
Fernando at the end. The old fox, he doesn't leave you alone does he?
CL: Yeah, no, he was pushing. I knew what his intentions were at the
beginning, because he always does that – trying to keep the tyres at the
beginning of the stint and pushing at the end. So I tried to do the same.
And at the end, it was close, but not enough for Fernando today.
Q: Max, well, you got the long race you wanted, but perhaps not the result
that you wanted. You got very unlucky with the Safety Car. But other than
that, the pace of Sergio, were you not able to catch him? How did it go?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think of course, the Safety Car was a bit unlucky,
then I had to push again. I tried to stay very close, to try and get into
the DRS. But I think the tyres were overheating a bit because of that, of
course, trying to follow. But also the balance. I was struggling to be
really consistent. So I was playing around with the tools a little bit. And
I think once I got that sorted, I would say the last 10 laps were actually
quite good again, but just a little bit too late but I think a lot of things
learned again throughout the race and, of course, at the end of the day a
good team result.
Q: And it's also good for the championship, isn't it? I mean, you know, the
gap has closed a little bit between you and Sergio, so it's going to be
tense for the rest of the season?
MV: I don't know. I mean, we know it's a very long season. And like I said,
a lot of things are learned again. I mean, Baku is again, quite different to
Miami, and Miami is going to be, again, very different to the other tracks
we go to. But yeah, you keep learning, you know. It can never be perfect all
the time. I think they're always days that you can learn.
Q: A tiring race? We saw you actually touch the tyres a couple of times, I
think?
MV: Yeah, a few times we hit the wall, around the lap. So we were of course
pushing, but that's also part of a street circuit.
Q: Well done and good luck for the next one. Sergio, now, I think you're now
officially the only person who has won two Baku Grands Prix.
Sergio PÉREZ: Two and a half!
Q: Congratulations, what a fantastic drive. We just mentioned to Max that
you got a little bit of a break there with the Safety Car. You stayed out,
Max was just coming in at the wrong time.
SP: Yeah, it really worked out today for us. We managed to stay in the DRS
train and we managed to keep the pressure on Max. Yeah, I think we had
better deg on that first stint. I think it was looking good from that side.
Then the Safety Car came and bunched everyone up. So it was, again, another
race on the Hard tyres.
Q: There is clearly not much between you, the pace between you and Max on
this circuit. I mean, it could have been different if you'd come out behind.
Do you think if you come out from behind Max, you could have raced him to
the end? Or was it always going to be a stalemate?
SP: I think it was very close between us. I mean, we pushed to the maximum
today. I mean, we both clipped the wall a few times. We were both pushing
out there. The way Max pushed me through all the race was really hard, but
we managed to keep him under control.
Q: Yeah, it was great, because your team came on to you and said ‘what was
going on at Turn 15’ and you were keeping it quiet. But you hit the wall on
the right.
SP: Really hard! I had a little bit of luck, especially with that front
right, that it didn't blow up.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Checo, very well done to you. Sprint victory yesterday, winner of the
Grand Prix today. What a weekend for you.
SP: Yeah, it was a great weekend overall, you know. We delivered when we had
to. It was a lot of pressure. I felt that with this format it puts a lot of
stress on the drivers, on the engineers, the mechanics. So the way we
delivered over the weekend was great. Yesterday, we executed a good race.
But I think today, the way we pushed each other, Max and myself, pretty much
from lap one onwards, once we got Charles, it was basically a race between
us from the start to the end. I think that first stint was a big key to my
race today.
Q: It was a very intense battle, similar to Saudi in many ways. How did it
feel in the cockpit?
SP: Very intense, you know. The first stint was super intense, just making
sure I stayed in that DRS. And then once I was in the DRS, just pushing Max
to make sure that he used his tyres and I think that was one of the keys.
But then once we were on the Hard compound, it was really hard, you know, to
keep Max behind, because I knew that as soon as he would get DRS then that's
it, really. So just to keep him behind the DRS was a massive challenge. And
we were pushing each other massively. We really gave it all, lap after lap.
And I'm really happy to come away with this victory.
Q: Can we talk through a couple of the key moments? First of all, your
overtake on Charles early in the race?
SP: Yeah, that was key, you know, because once Max got by I knew that it was
really important not to lose too much time with Charles, because if I were
to lose too much time with Max then it will be really difficult to catch
him. Luckily, I managed to spend just a lap behind Charles. And once I was
able to clear him then lap by lap I got into the DRS from Max and that
really made my race. Once I was in his DRS, it was about time to overtake
him, but he obviously pitted. And then we got the Safety Car, so I got a bit
lucky there.
Q: Also, in terms of luck, you clipped the wall in Turn 15 late in the race?
How did that affect the handling of the car, if at all?
SP: It actually helped me! I was struggling with the front end, so somehow I
picked up a bit of front end. So something to see, but no, in all honesty, I
was quite concerned, because the paranoia starts and you start to look at
the tyre and I was looking at the tyre and my engineer asked me what
happened on 15 and I’m like, ‘wait, I'm just looking that everything is OK
with the tyre’, so yeah, it was one of those moments where you drop a bit of
concentration and in this place you cannot really, it doesn't matter where
you are in the race, you cannot lose your concentration at all.
Q: Checo, this has been your best ever start to a Grand Prix season – two
wins from four and you're now just six points behind your team-mate. How do
you view the bigger picture of the season now?
SP: Well, I think it's a long year ahead, you know. I really believe that we
are in the fight. I think without the problems we had in the qualifying in
Melbourne, we should be a lot closer. So, it's important not to have those
problems ever again and to minimise the problems, because I think at the end
of the day, it's just very important to make sure that whenever we cannot
win, finish second and it's still a good day still.
Q: Max, this was the 81st podium of your Formula 1 career, surpassing Ayrton
Senna’s total of 80. How do you reflect on the race and the weekend as a
whole?
MV: Well, I think the weekend in general, a bit messy, but I think that can
be expected with this format. But the race today, I think the first stint,
probably I could have been a little bit more aggressive with the way I was
using my tyres. I think I was just too careful. And that's why, you know,
Checo was still quite close to me. And then of course, we made the call to
pit. I mean, I saw that there was a car stopped, I thought he maybe just
locked-up. In hindsight, I mean, I can't see that but yeah, it's something
to review. I mean, clearly you could see there was one wheel damaged and it
looked like he was not going to drive that anyway back to the pits, even if
he would have reversed, so something to look at, because of course that then
did hurt my race after that. Then after the Safety Car, I tried to put the
pressure on Checo, to try and get into that DRS. I think one time, I was
pretty close to getting it. But it was just hanging in there, really close,
trying to really catch-up probably damage my tyres a bit too much early on
for such a long stint. So, then at one point, I just settled-in, tried to do
a little bit my own thing, to not damage the tyres completely to the end.
But it was just very difficult to have a good balance, entry to mid-corner.
And a lot of the lap time here is about entry-to-mid corner, to get that
right. And I was just struggling with oversteer then understeer. So, the
whole race, I was just trying a lot of things on my steering wheel to try
and get a bit of a better feeling, balance in the car. And I actually think
that I found a good compromise towards the end of the race because I think
my last 10 laps were a lot stronger. And I felt a lot happier with the car,
how everything was behaving. So, I think all in all, I can be quite pleased
with second. I mean, of course you always want to win, right? But I think
sometimes you need these kinds of weekends to learn and have a better
understanding of the car. Of what the car needs to go faster. And sometimes
on the street circuit like this, it really comes out. Like, sometimes these
kinds of things might get a bit masked on a normal track because of
downforce and just the general behaviour of a car. So, maybe this was a good
day, you know, to go forward.
Q: Sounds like there were quite a few set-up issues for you. Do you think if
you'd had a second free practice session, when you could have done some long
runs, that would have made a difference?
MV: I don’t know. I mean, these kinds of things, normally you don't really
changed a lot from FP1 to FP2, but as maybe just a general operation, or
what needs to change to go a little bit faster. I mean, we have these
different tyres this year compared to last year, so maybe that influences a
bit the behaviour. But, like I said, good learning day.
Q: Max, final one for me. What's your analysis of the relative pace of the
cars at the front end? Do you think Ferrari have got closer to you guys
here?
MV: I think our car is pretty quick. I mean, I don't know, I think we
finished 20 seconds ahead? I don’t know what it was, something like that. So
I think definitely we have the quickest race car. For sure we were pushing
but the cars behind us were also pushing. It’s not like they're just
relaxing, so yeah, we will of course keep on trying to improve the car
because it's still a long season, a lot of different tracks coming up. But I
think it was still a positive weekend for us.
Q: Charles coming to you, two poles this weekend, do you feel that you've
got closer to Red Bull?
CL: Got closer, maybe a little bit, but still very far behind in race pace
at least, and I also think that we also behind Aston Martin in terms of race
pace. So, we really need to work on that because for now, over one lap,
taking a bit more risk, of course I did also two great laps I think, in
Qualifying, which helped us to be in front, but then, over 51 laps race,
there is not much we can do more. So today, we've optimised absolutely
everything. The thing we should be happy about after a weekend like this is
that we've maximised every session. I don't think we could have done
anything better in any of those sessions. So that is a positive – but still
a lot of work to do in terms of race pace.
Q: And if you compare the opening 17 laps today, to the sprint yesterday,
how was the car?
CL: At the end, it's the same car. I managed it differently but actually the
outcome doesn't change, whether I lose time at the beginning because I need
to be careful of my tyres, and then I push, I basically lost the time I had
lost at the end of the stint yesterday, at the beginning now. So, yeah, I
think we've done absolutely everything. We've tried everything, but the
bottom line is that we are just not quick enough.
Q: With six laps to go you set the fastest lap. How much were you managing
the tyres up to that point in the race?
CL: Well, we have to with our car otherwise we kill them, and then we cannot
get them back and then this has a big influence on our performance. So, I
think we did the perfect management today. But again, as I said, we are just
not quick enough. Whether we lack at the beginning of the stint, or at the
end of the stint, this we can change but yeah, we just don't have enough
performance for now.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Sönke Sievers – FAZ) Max, question to you, please. You said before the
Safety Car came out you already saw De Vries’ car was standing there. And
you were not sure if he could keep going. But as I got you, you would have
expected the team to overview the situation, and to expect the Safety Car to
come out. And this is why you say you need to review it together with the
team?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I could see the car stopping but, I mean, you see it on
the screen, you cannot look into detail if every wheel is connected to the
car properly. I mean, of course, the team has bit more overview to that. But
like I said, we'll look into that if there was anything we could have done
different. But I also don't know when the exact call came to pit, right? So
yeah, it's difficult to say at the moment.
Q: (Niharika Ghorpade – Sportskeeda) There was a complaint… Many of the
drivers said that maybe the shortening DRS straight is the reason why a lot
of the performance was compromised. Do you think there was a need to shorten
that DRS straight on this track, and that would have made the racing more
entertaining if they had stuck to the initial layout?
SP: I feel this year certainly has become a little bit harder, because they
say that they're collecting the data from last year. But somehow, I feel
these cars are generating a bit more downforce and by generating that little
more downforce, the car behind struggles a little bit more to follow. So in
my opinion, it wasn’t the right thing to shorten up the DRS, because it's
getting harder to overtake than last year already in itself so it's
something we should review.
MV: Yeah, like Checo said, I think the more downforce we generate - and
that, of course, will always be every year - if you keep the rules the same
it will be harder to pass. And I think also, because of the weight of the
cars we have nowadays, because they're quite heavy, in the low speed it’s a
bit harder to follow because as soon as you have a tiny moment with that
weight, it becomes a bigger slide, it's harder on the tyres so you overheat
the tyres more. And also with these new type of cars, you have to run them
super stiff whereas I remember like 2015 or ‘16, you could do it sometimes a
few different lines, you could run a kerb because the cars were quite -
well, not soft - but it's still a lot softer than what we run now. And you
could do a few different kinds of techniques and lines but that is really,
really hard nowadays because the cars just don't allow it.
CL: Nothing to add.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) Max, we heard you talking about some
differential/engine braking issues during the race. Would you be able to
just quickly explain what that felt like behind the wheel and what you're
able to do to alleviate that?
MV: They were not issues. There was not a problem with it. I'm probably
operating them a bit differently to Checo. And like I said, maybe I'm not
using the correct settings with these new tyres and probably it was a little
bit more highlighted on a street circuit where there's a lot of confidence
needed on entry to mid-corner and that balance really needs to be as close
to perfection basically. So yeah, I was just struggling a lot with that
today at the beginning and then I was trying a few things. Sometimes, of
course I didn't get it right but then towards the end I think I found -
let's say - the right settings from entry- to mid- to exit and also the team
was helping me a bit and I had a few questions. So a few things to review
for the upcoming races, what we can do better operationally, but again,
sometimes you have weekends where you don't need to touch the car,
everything is perfect and it's a rocket ship and we still have a rocket ship
but still to fine tune basically so far this year, I think.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Max, Sergio’s only six points behind you now, so how
big a threat is he to you to winning this, your third World Championship
this year? And I guess to both Sergio and Max, do you think it's going to be
difficult to maintain your relationship given that you're going to be the
only two drivers fighting for the championship this year?
MV: We clearly have the fastest car at the moment but I've been in this
position before and it's about consistency. We all know that. It's a very
long season, a lot of different tracks are coming up I think. So far this
year we have been at tracks which are a bit stop-starty, not the full-on
racetracks. There are few really fast corners and fast straights out there,
which I probably also seem to enjoy a little bit more. But clearly, you
know, Checo this year has really been on it, he's been really performing
well and that's great to see. He's feeling more and more confident in the
car and for the team as well, we are really enjoying it. And I think Checo
and I, we’re having a good time, and we jumped out of the car… And that's
also what is very important: you need to acknowledge and also appreciate
when somebody has done a great job. And that's exactly what happened today.
And we will continue fighting for the rest of the season but that's normal,
we have done that our whole life.
SP: Yeah, I think there is a very high level of respect between Max and
myself, and the whole team. The level we are operating at, we’re pushing
each other really hard, we obviously want to beat each other, I want to win
the championship as much as Max wants but there is a lot of respect between
us. And I feel in a way, we're very similar in the way we approach or think
about the sport so I do not believe he will change. We will be fighting each
other like we did today, as much and as hard as we possibly can. But I think
with a very high level of respect to us and to our team.
Q: (Aynur Mehdiyeva – Azerbaijan television) Sergio, after an intense race
in Baku, how do you feel yourself? Do you feel yourself more motivated to
fight for the championship this season?
SP: Well, it doesn't really change anything to be honest. As I say, I only
regret the problems we had in Melbourne, that really made us lose a lot of
points. But other than that, we have to win the races that we can, and when
not, we have to score as many points as possible, because if we don't do
that, then there is no way that we will be able to fight for the
championship. So it's a very long way ahead. There are a lot of races coming
up, a lot of different moments, but we have to make sure that when we are
able to win a race, we have to make sure we grab it with both hands.
Q: (Niharika Ghorpade – Sportskeeda) To both Red Bull drivers: four races
into this season, at some point…. You've mentioned it many times before that
it's important to take points and get as many as you can. But are you
worried about the wind tunnel penalty and other teams out-developing you at
any time when your development slows down or is that not a concern at all?
MV: I think that's why we have to make sure that we keep developing really
well at the moment. And, you know, when that time comes that you know we are
going to feel that penalty, hopefully we still have a big enough gap to
compensate. But that's why also now it's very important to score all these
kinds of results.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) I've got a question for each of you. Max,
first of all to you: just on the timing of the pitstop we heard you
complaining about some problems, I think maybe it was with tyres, just
before that on a radio message. What was that what led you into the pit
stop? Were you struggling with your tyres and decided that or was there
another reason? Checo, people talked about Saudi being your best ever drive.
This one looked pretty perfect from the outside. Would you say this one has
surpassed it? And Charles, how does it feel to finally get your season going
after two such strong pole positions and following a difficult start to the
season?
MV: Yeah, I was not entirely happy with the balance but also in hindsight, I
was probably not pushing it enough initially in some corners. But that
should never be the indication that if there is a car stopped to just pit
because you know that if there is a safety car, then you lose even more time
by then staying out. So like I said, there are a few things to look at but
again, I always know that the team tries to do the best thing and maybe just
today we got unlucky.
SP: Well, I think Jeddah, here, they've been two strong weekends for me when
I've been pushed by Max pretty much from beginning to end. Also, I've done
very good races like… I remember Singapore was also when I was pushed by
Charles extremely hard. I don't know. I wouldn't say this is my best ever
race. I think it was just a very, very good race where I pushed from the
start to the end without mistakes and I think always when you do that, you
believe that you can beat anyone. So it's just about keeping it up
throughout the season.
CL: Yeah, happy is probably not the word. It's good to finally score some
points as I've said many times this weekend, I don't think that the six
points we had coming here was really representative of our true performance.
But of course, we are lacking a lot of performance compared to the Red Bull
guys and also to the Astons in the race, but we deserve more points. So it's
good to finally have those points. But now we just need to work extremely
hard in order to be fighting with those guys again in the race. |
