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1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull
Racing)
2 – Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Fernando ALONSO (Aston Martin)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jenson Button)
Q: Max, two-time Miami GP champion or winner? How does that feel from P9 on
the grid?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was a good race. I mean, I stayed out of trouble at
the beginning. And then yeah, just had a clean race, you know, picked the
cars off one by one. And then I could stay out really long on the Hard tyres
and that's where I think we made the difference today. And yeah, then a good
little battle with Checo at the end. So we all kept it clean. And that's the
most important and yeah, a great win today.
Q: Does it feel extra special when you've come through from so far back,
especially to beat your team-mate right at the end of the race?
MV: Yeah, I mean, yesterday was, of course a bit of a setback. But today, we
just kept it calm, kept clean. And yeah, for sure, winning a race from P9 is
always very satisfying.
Q: And whose idea was it to do it a different strategy, starting on the Hard
tyre?
MV: Well, you know, we started talking about it yesterday. We didn't know
what the weather would do, but we were quite confident that this would pay
off and luckily it did today.
Q: Thank you Max for putting on a great show for us. Congrats. Checo, I'm
sure it hurts a little bit, finishing P2 after such a great lap in
qualifying yesterday. As you can hear, the crowd are going wild for you out
here. What are your words for them?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, I mean, I tried. I gave it all, you know. I think the
first stint was really poor, with the graining that we had on that initial
pace. And that compromised, quite a lot, our race, because we didn't have
too much of a difference on tyre. And Max was particularly strong today. So
a well-deserved win for him.
Q: You were saying about the places where you think you lost: do you think
maybe that there was too much looking after the tyres in the race or not
enough? What do you think you could have done a bit better?
SP: I think the Medium initially was really poor, worse than unexpected. And
yeah, I think that really compromised our pace. And then, you know,
honestly, I think also Max had tremendous pace on the Hard tyre and I think
I’ve got to analyse what went wrong with today because we simply didn't have
the pace.
Q: Yeah, if you look at today as a bad race, you finished P2. We want to see
you coming out fighting in the next one. Cheers, Checo. Fernando, what can
we say? Four podiums out of five races. Now the smile is there, it’s great.
Fernando ALONSO: Not bad.
Q: Well, you're not bad. You've always been there. The car’s back…
FA: The car is amazing. And yeah, a little bit of a lonely race today. And
nothing really to do in front of us, with the Red Bulls, and behind us.
Maybe we did expect a little bit stronger opposition, but the Ferraris, they
were little bit worse than expected today. So yeah, not easy, it's never
easy, but it was a lonely race.
Q: You still had a couple of good fights out there on track, obviously with
Max and keeping Carlos behind you in the race. Must have still been fun.
FA: Yeah, it is. It is always. On the start, obviously, on the wrong side of
the grid we were a bit worried but yeah, everything was fine, we take the
podium and going into the triple – Imola, Monaco and Barcelona – so
hopefully we can keep on going.
Q: Well, we know what you're like Fernando, third place is nice, but we all
know what you really want. So when are we going to see you challenging these
guys?
FA: I think at the beginning of the year a podium was amazing. Now after
four podiums we want obviously more and at least a second place. But, you
know, the two Red Bulls they are always unbreakable and they are always
super-fast. But as I said, maybe Monaco, maybe Barcelona we have a
possibility.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Max that looked like a near perfect race for you, P9 to P1. Of all your
victories in Formula 1, where does this one rank?
MV: Yeah, it's been a good one. I mean, just really staying out of trouble
at the beginning. And because, of course, the people around me, you know,
they tried to gain positions as quickly as possible on lap one. But knowing
that, of course, you have a quick car, then once it all settles down, you
just try to pick them up one by one. And that worked out quite well. I had
even a three-wide on the straight, which was quite entertaining. And then
yeah, we had good pace, I could look after my tyres. And then once I was in
clean air, it was just about getting to that lap number we targeted. That's
why maybe in the middle of that stint, I was not entirely sure if I was
going to make it. But then I was getting close to the number and I said ‘OK,
this is good’. So then I started pushing, I could extend the gap again,
which really made my race today, I think, because once we pitted, of course,
then I had the fresher tyres to the end. But also the tyres, which also were
a bit more fragile today, so, yeah, then I had a good battle with Checo. I
mean, we were free to race, which was said before, and yeah, we had a good
go at it. But of course, most importantly, is that we don't touch but that
that all worked out really well.
Q: How much patience did you have to show during those early laps when so
much was going on around you?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I was in that situation as well in Jeddah, and maybe one
or two times last year. So you just have to be careful not to have any
damage on your car, but it worked out well.
Q: And what was the key to the victory today?
MV: Well, I think the key was just the general pace, plus looking after the
tyres, which again, you know, on a one-stop, it might always look easy, but
it's not that straightforward. But today, I think was a very good day for
that.
Q: And there are going to be a lot of updates coming to many cars on the
grid in two weeks’ time at Imola. Do you expect things to close up a little
bit there? Or do you think Red Bull have got such an advantage at the minute
that it won't really change?
MV: I mean, I think we have a decent advantage, especially in the race. I
think over one lap in some tracks, definitely some cars will be close or in
front, like you could see in Baku. But yeah, that race pace advantage, I
think is quite big at the moment. But yeah, it's not like, the others are
bringing new bits and we're just standing still right. So hopefully we can
just keep it going like we're doing now.
Q: Checo, coming to you now. The 30th podium of your Formula 1 career.
That's a great tally but having started on pole, how would you sum up your
race today?
SP: Yeah, it started well, but very early on, I saw that the Medium was very
fragile, initially, so I had to protect the tyre quite a lot just to make
lap 15 or so. And it was really hard to lean on that tyre. Basically, the
whole right hand side was really difficult. And yeah, I could see that Max
was closing up on the Hard. And from that point on, I knew that the race was
looking difficult. And then when I went onto the Hard, Max had very strong
pace, so we didn't manage to open a gap. So yeah, he simply came too close
to us. And we had a bit of a fight on track, which was quite clean – to the
limit, but clean and obviously putting the team the team in front of us.
Again, a great team result, but obviously, today Max deserved the victory
because he was the strongest car out there.
Q: Why do you think the Medium was so fragile today? What conclusions have
you drawn?
SP: I don't know if the rain overnight did affect more the Medium than it
did to the Hard. But yeah, it just felt quite fragile, quite easy to make
some damage on it and that's my thoughts at the moment. I don't know more.
Q: You said yesterday that you weren't happy with your car during practice.
Were you actually quite happy with the set-up and today was all about the
tyres?
SP: Yeah, I think, as I say, I wasn't able to look after them properly. I
don't know how different it would looked, the race, for Max, if he was on
the on the same strategy as myself, but he was clearly the fastest car out
there. I have to understand what went wrong today. And it's pretty simple:
when you don't have the race pace then it's really hard to win the race. So
well done to Max today.
Q: Did you even discuss starting the race on the Hard tyre?
SP: No. When you are starting on pole, starting on the Hard is much more
like a gamble that can go right or wrong with Safety Cars and, I think at
the time, none of us were expecting the Medium to be… because pretty much
the whole grid went for the Medium start, I think none of us realised how
weak of a tyre it was. I think once we did a few laps on it, we realised
that it was quite a poor tyre.
Q: And physically, how tough was the race today? You all look a little bit
fresher than you did this time last year.
SP: It was a lot easier, compared to last year. I think yeah, the race was a
little cooler, and it was much more intense, my race, this year than last
year, so overall it was quite a lot easier.
Q: Fernando, coming to you now. Great race by you as well. It looked like
you enjoyed the podium as well.
FA: Ha! Why?
Q: I saw you dancing. Was there a dance or a jig or…?
FA: We have something with the guys, with the mechanics. But yeah, I did
enjoy. I think the race for us, it was a little bit of a lonely race.
Nothing really to do in front of us with the Red Bulls but behind us, not
much pressure, so yeah, at the end P3, and we take this good result for us,
fourth podium in five races, we only miss Baku by eight-tenths of a second,
so yeah, I think it’s a good moment so far.
Q: Fantastic result – but is there a little bit of frustration starting to
creep in that it’s another P3, rather than a P2 or a win?
FA: It is! It is. Obviously, we want to step on step higher on the podium
for P2 and eventually one day we have an opportunity to win a race – but at
the moment it didn’t happen because Red Bull is better than us. It’s
stronger, it’s faster and the reliability has been always outstanding for
them as well, finishing both cars in every race. So, yeah, if one day there
is a crack there, if there is an opportunity, we need to make sure we are in
that position and we’re still not making mistakes at any point in the
weekend.
Q: And Fernando, can we just get your thoughts on why you think the Medium
tyre was as fragile as it was today?
FA: Maybe we can have some explanation – but we will keep it for us.
Q: Can we just throw it forward to Imola. What do you think is going to
happen there? Do you think the layout of that track will allow you to fight
the Red Bulls harder?
FA: Let’s see. I think in Imola it’s going to be an interesting fight again.
As you said, a lot of teams will bring upgrades to the car. Mercedes,
probably Ferrari as well and we will try to keep finishing in front of them
on Sunday.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ronald Vording – motorsport.com) It’s one question to Max and one to
Checo. For Max, the strategy worked out perfectly well but yesterday evening
when you discussed it, did you feel that starting on the Hard could be a
risk or a gamble, given that you are on a harder compound in the midfield.
And to Checo, you said you didn’t discuss starting on the Hard – but if you
did, do you feel that you would have had a better chance? Or whatever
strategy, Max was better in terms of tyre management and race pace today?
MV: Yeah, this is something I wondered about already yesterday, together
with my engineer. We were quite strongly opinionated on that already – then,
of course, you have to discuss it with the team, with the strategists, and
yeah, they were like: ‘OK. In terms of race time, it was very close between
doing a Medium/Hard or Hard/Medium. It didn’t really matter. But, of course,
when you start on the Hard, the risk is a bit higher because we only had
one, so if you had a lap one puncture or whatever, then of course your race
is a bit tougher. But I was happy to take that gamble and do it the other
way around. I think even if it was the other way around, of course you
always have to look after your tyres, also on the Medium – but I just felt
like maybe it gave me a better opportunity to get through the field
initially. Because I mean, by lap 14 I think, I was already on a podium
position, so from there onwards it’s mostly about driving in clean air and
you have to look after your tyres anyway.
Checo?
SP: I think it’s hard to answer this one because you don’t know what the
tyres would have done. Certainly my mileage would have looked a little bit
better simply be spending less time on the Medium compound. That was very
weak today.
Q: (Pedro Fermín Flores – TheGodFlores) Question for all of you. First Max:
can you explain us what it means, your signal with the finger to the number
one, when you go out of the car, you point at number one. Second question
for Checo, what do you want to tell to the stewards in ten minutes when you
arrive to the meeting? They are waiting for you. And third for Fernando,
please by honest, what it means, your radio message today: you said: ‘Plan
A, minus 12.’ And don’t explain Spanish, we keep that for your trente trés.
MV: Plan A-12. 12 laps short of pit? Number one, that’s my car number,
number one, that’s why.
SP: Yeah, basically, my marketing team left it too late, so I need to tell
them.
MV: We need to do less marketing.
FA: What happened?
SP: I was late for the Drivers’ Parade, so I have to go to the…
MV: It’s too busy. We need more free time.
FA: 30 seconds penalty! And me, I did a mistake! I was just telling them
which lap I think the tyre will be in good shape before the stop. And then
yeah, I make a mistake, because Plan A-12 it was already gone a few laps
before that. A few seconds later I said sorry, they were already laughing on
the radio. So they realised I was telling something stupid.
Q: Fernando, talking of radio messages, just talk us through the comment you
made about Lance’s overtake. How were you able to see that?
FA: I think this circuit we have big TV screens out of some of the
slow-speed corners so it was very easy to follow the race on TV.
MV: You’re like a life coach! The last race you’re like ‘try my brake
balance!’
FA: I saw one overtake to the Alpines, or to the Alfa Romeo and I was just
curious which position it was. It was a little bit of an unexpected lonely
race for us. We were thinking to have a more difficult race.
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Question to all drivers, though I think two
of you had quite lonely races. There were some concerns earlier in the week
about a lack of grip off line and whether you’d be able to overtake but it
seemed pretty good out there. How bad was it – or was it completely fine.
Also, where does this circuit rank, compared to other ones on the calendar?
FA: I think it was very good. Also the DRS…
MV: Did you even drive off-line?
FA: I did! Overtaking the Alpine and the Ferrari. I think Max was P2 by lap
14, so plenty of DRS distance, and a lot of overtakings. But eventually you
are in the position you deserve with your car pace and there are no more
overtakings from that point. But it’s not a problem of the rules or the
circuit. It’s just the nature of Formula 1.
Q: Max, how did you find it offline today?
MV: Yeah, I think it improved quite a bit over the weekend. I was a little
bit afraid, of course, with the rain that it would be a bit worse, but most
places were quite OK. Yeah, it's a street circuit, you can't expect it to be
amazing offline, that's how it goes. But overall, I think it was a lot more
fun to drive compared to last year. I think the tarmac has been a lot
better. So yeah, it was absolutely fine. I think it's not a bad track. I
think the first sector is quite alright. I am not a big fan of [Turns] 7, 8,
because you just can't really see the apex coming like you're almost trying
to look over your tyre, which is already a massive thing in the way. But the
rest, like 4, 5, s6 is fun. I think a good improvement was made to the
chicane this year. It was a bit more fun, how you were riding it. So it's
decent?
SP: Yeah, I think the main problem is only Turn 7, 8, going offline a little
bit offline and then there is no grip. It's like ice there. So maybe if
there can be some improvement there, but the rest of the circuit has been a
very good improvement.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Max, you were booed by some of the crowd before the
race and also on the podium after, I think, when you got your trophy. Why do
you think that was and does it have any effect on you?
MV: I think if I will be driving in the back nobody will be even doing
anything in terms of reaction. Right? I think it's normal when you're
winning and they don't like who is winning. So this is something for me
which is absolutely fine as long as I stand on the top, that's for me the
most important. I take the trophy home and they go back to their houses and
they can have a nice evening.
Q: (Gustavo Mendez – WACC830AM) Checo, this is Miami, a highly
Spanish-speaking people. I was walking around the stand and I saw a
gazillion Mexican fans happy because you were on the pole position. But you
finished second, and they felt a little disappointed. So what message do you
have for them who are rooting for you until the end of the season?
SP: Well, I just want to thank them for all their support. I think today the
support they gave me, I really wanted the win, it would have meant a lot to
me. But yeah, it's about not giving up. It's a long season ahead and we’ve
got to keep pushing, and hopefully many, many more good moments for all of
us coming ahead.
Q: (Jesus Balseiro – Diario AS) Fernando, is there any place, any track that
you think that the Aston Martin can get any closer to the Red Bull? Or do
you think this may be a trend for the rest of this part of the season?
FA: I think the year is going to be difficult. The gap is quite big even
though I think today has been our best race pace yet in the season. We
finish, I think, closest to the leaders, no safety cars, nothing in the race
and we’re still quite fast. So let's see. I think the season is going to be
long. Hopefully some of the tracks we will be a little bit closer to them.
And some of the upgrades that we will bring later in the season maybe put us
in a different or more competitive position. But I think our main focus, to
be honest, is just looking behind and trying to keep Mercedes and Ferrari in
the Constructors’ Championship under control. But I think Red Bull, we have
to accept they are doing a better job than everyone else and we need to do a
better job.
Q: (Aaron Deckers – Racing News 365) Max, you're not the only winner in the
family today. How happy are you for your father? And was it an extra
motivation to win today?
MV: Yeah, rally? Yeah, for his first win in the rally car: completely
different discipline. But yeah, I'm happy for him. He definitely spends a
lot of time on it. It's nice when things pay off, when you put all that
effort in and yet for him, of course, it's kind of a hobby, but he takes it
very seriously. I got pictures and videos and to see that smile on his face.
You never lose that kind of competitiveness and happiness if you do well,
right, if you get rewarded for your efforts, so yeah, very happy to see him
there, get the trophy.
Q: (Jake Boxall-Legge – Autosport) We had some incredibly lively pre-race
celebrations and we heard from George Russell outside, and he perhaps wasn't
a fan of the way that he was asked to spend the full 30 minutes in full kit
before the race. Can I just have your honest views on the pre-race
festivities and whether you'd like to see it at more races?
MV: To be honest, I did have enough preparation before, to speak to my
engineers and stuff for the race. But yeah, personally, I think this is just
a bit of a personality thing, right? Some people like to be more in the
spotlight, some people don't. I personally don't. So for me, I think that
naturally, of course, what they did today is not necessary. I prefer to just
talk to my engineers, walk to my car, put the helmet on and drive. But of
course, I understand the entertainment value. So I just hope, of course, we
don't have that every single time, because we have a very long season, so we
don't need an entry like that every time. But it also depends a bit on the
crowd, I think, in terms of what you want in terms of entertainment. So
yeah, I think it's just a personal preference as well from the drivers. For
me personally not.
SP: I think as long as we don't do it on too many occasions, I think it's
nice to do it once for the crowd, but we also have to be very respectful of
the drivers, that we need our own time to get ready. It's just minutes
before the race start and I think as long as this doesn't happen very often,
it's OK.
FA: I understand the point of view of everybody but I'm not a big fan of
those kinds of things just before the race. If we have to do it, I think we
need to remove some of the other stuff we are doing like the parade lap or
something like that, because it's really in the middle of the preparation
with the engineers and the strategy meeting. And I disagree a little bit if
we do it, we have to do it everywhere because I don't think that the Miami
fans are better than the Italian fans in Imola or in Spain or in Mexico or
in Japan. I think we need to make everyone with the same rules and the same
show before the race.
Q: (Holly Cain – Palm Beach Post) Max, it had been decades since somebody
won from the specific starting position that you did. Did you have any doubt
that you were going to be here at the end of the day? Are you just that
confident in the car and obviously yourself?
MV: Yesterday I said to myself minimum P2 because I think that is where we
should finish anyway with the car we have. But it's always difficult to
know, of course, what's going to happen. If you have a terrible lap one, you
make it even harder for yourself, right? But luckily it didn't work out too
bad, just making sure you didn't have any damage on the car but then again,
it's all about how the performance is of the car and how well you feel in
the car, how much you can extract out of it. And lucky that all worked out
very well today so then of course you can move forward and win the race.
Q: (Alex Davies - The Athletic) Checo, do you think you could have defended
harder against Max today and does the fact that he's your teammate play into
your strategy at all?
SP: Yeah, obviously at the end of the day we have to put the team ahead of
us. We are just two drivers but there's so many people working back home and
working really hard we have to show respectful. In the end we had a really
good fight between us and I think a bit more will have mean contact and I
don't think that will have been fair for any of us. Only for Fernando! |
