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Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix Driver Quotes - Sunday 7 May

SEASON INFORMATION
08/05/2023

Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix

Driver Quotes - Sunday 7 May

Red Bull

Max Verstappen: "Today was a good day, I stayed out of trouble at the beginning and I had a smooth race, I picked the cars off one by one. I had a good stint on the hard tyres which I think was integral to the win today. I had a good battle with Checo towards the end there too. I of course had the advantage with the new tyres but I think that's what we like to see, we are free to race. Yesterday was a bit of a setback, today we kept it calm and clean, and winning the race from P9 was very satisfying."

Sergio Perez: "Well done to Max, he had a tremendous race and deserved to win, I am really happy for him. It is not always nice when you lead the race and end up second, certainly I didn't have the pace of Max and it is something we are going to analyse to see how we can do better. When I saw how strong Max was coming through the field and I was struggling a bit, I thought 'this isn't looking too good'. It would have been a gamble on strategy to start on the hard tyre from pole position. Of course, I wanted to win but I knew early on the race was looking tricky for us. This is one to learn from because clearly Max had the fastest pace. I think the performance Max showed today was not reachable for me, so I have to understand why. I think some was tyre related but equally, overall, he was the stronger driver today. There was maybe a bit more we could have done; it is a bit of a shame really but in general, on a tough weekend P2 is not a bad result. We will review the weekend. I want to get back strong for Imola and get back to our normal level."

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc: I struggled with the car bottoming at high speed, which I hadn't experienced so far this weekend. I had to just focus on bringing the car home, so overall it was not a great race. We have to work on understanding why we are so competitive in qualifying and off the pace in the race. We will keep pushing and hopefully, with the upgrades we have coming, we can make a step forward.

Carlos Sainz: It was a tough race for us. My first stint on the Medium was good, but we tried to undercut Fernando early and I had to push the Hards too much immediately after coming out of the pits in order to get through the traffic. I think we paid the price for that a bit, but in general we clearly struggle with race pace. It's frustrating, but we'll keep working on a solution and I'm confident that we can progress as a team for the next races.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: Today was a good race and I am happy we moved forwards. Saturday was difficult, but I always try to turn negatives into positives. Going from P13 to P6 is decent and I had a lot of fun making my way through; it was great to have several battles, so I enjoyed it. It wasn't spectacular at the start as we were stuck in a DRS train and struggling to overtake. I had to bide my time and then eventually, I was able to start attacking. The car was much better on the medium tyre and came alive midway through the race.

It's good points for the Team and I want to say a big thank you to all of them. They are keeping their heads down and working hard to improve. We're not where we want to be, but the morale is still great.

George Russell: That was a really satisfying race for us today. After the challenges in Qualifying, it felt like a more normal day for us. To finish P4 on merit and finish ahead of the Ferraris was the maximum we could have achieved. The battle with Carlos (Sainz) was really enjoyable. I made a good move that needed a lot of commitment as the track is so dirty off-line. Thanks to Lewis for letting me by too and enabling me to get on with my race as we were in different battles today. We've got a really good relationship and we only want what is best for the Team. That's what we are working towards.

We know where we are at the moment, and the car is still challenging to drive. We hope to have some updates on the car in Imola; they are not going to change the world for us but hopefully it will be a step in the right direction. Despite today's positives, we know we've still got a lot of work to do and need to make significant improvements to close the gap to Red Bull.

Alpine

Esteban Ocon: "It's good to be back in the points with both cars after a decent race for the team today. We opted for the more aggressive strategy by going long on Hard tyres in the first stint and it did not quite pay off in the end. We had some good battles with Ferrari and Mercedes with a couple of good overtakes throughout. Our pace was strong so that is encouraging going forward. We are satisfied with our job today as I don't think we could have done much more. Of course, there are things for us to review and improve but it's a long season and I'm looking forward to the upcoming triple header in Europe where we need to string together three positive races."

Pierre Gasly: "I'm very pleased with the outcome of today's race, even if we dropped back from our grid position. It was always going to be a tough task to keep behind some of the faster cars like Max [Verstappen] and Charles [Leclerc] but to be fighting with the Ferrari and Mercedes right to the end of the race is definitely encouraging. We had to fuel save quite a bit in the second half of the race so the fact we were so close to that top six is a step in the right direction. After two challenging races for the team, it was important for us to score double points so credit to everyone for this result here in Miami. We'll analyse everything, see where we can improve and arrive in Imola ready to keep battling and closing the gap to our rivals ahead."

McLaren

Lando Norris "Tough day. We just struggled with pace. I had a good start, but we got hit from behind into turn one, which then put us at the back. We had tried a different strategy, which required something exciting to happen during the race, but it didn't work. We'll go back to MTC, reset and keep pushing hard for a better result in the next one."

Oscar Piastri "I had a lot of issues on the car in the race. We had a failure six or seven laps in on the brake-by-wire system. I was managing a lot of issues after that. I had a really good lap one, where I managed to pass five cars and that was the highlight of the weekend. Otherwise, a frustrating afternoon, trying to drive around all of the issues. We'll now get our heads down and focus on having a better weekend in Imola."

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas: "There are some positives to take from this weekend, although there is still a lot of work to do to be fighting in the top ten. The start of my race was quite good: we made up a few places and were well into the points. I tried my best to keep up the fight and defend my position; unfortunately, we didn't quite have the pace we showed yesterday, when we had managed to be competitive on the single lap. I think our finishing position reflects where we stand at the moment, and we must keep working to improve. Our main focus now needs to be on making that extra step forward to be competitive again. We will bring new parts in Imola, and hopefully they will allow us to progress and get back in the fight for points. I am confident in the work we are doing as a team, and I am looking forward to the next rounds."

Guanyu Zhou: "We made a step forward this weekend, especially in qualifying, but we still need to work hard to get back into the top ten on Sunday. Today, it was very difficult to break the DRS train and it was only as the race progressed that I found a bit more speed and space. We take the positive from Saturday and we look ahead: I know everyone is working hard back at base to make progress. I am looking forward to the upgrades we will have in Imola, and also to racing on a permanent racetrack - it feels those suit our package a bit better at the moment. We keep our head up and we keep working hard."

Aston Martin

Lance Stroll: "It was a tough race today and we found it difficult to make a huge amount of progress from 18th on the grid. The car felt good, but I was stuck in a DRS train with a lot of traffic around me. We opted for a long stint on the Hard tyres and managed those well; it was then just a case of deciding when to pit to make sure there were enough laps left to maximise the pace of the Medium compound. I had some fun overtaking Alex [Albon] into Turn One but, in hindsight, we could have boxed a few laps earlier to try and catch 10th position. It's been a weekend to learn from - which we'll do - and I'm looking forward to getting back out in Imola."

Fernando Alonso: "I had a bit of a lonely afternoon out there, but I enjoyed my race. There was nothing I could really do against Max [Verstappen] and Sergio [Perez] but, happily, there was no pressure today from behind, so we'll take this result. We've taken four podium finishes from the first five races - and only missed out on a podium in Baku by eight tenths of a second - so it's been a fantastic start to our season. One day, when there's an opportunity to win, we need to make sure we're in the best position to capitalise. And that's exactly what we're doing right now."

Haas

Kevin Magnussen: "I was dreaming of a little more than one point but still, it's what we came here to do - to get points and finish in the top 10. I don't think it was an easy race to get points in because all the big teams finished up there and P10 is more or less the best we could've hoped for in terms of the pace we had. I think the pace was good, but we had a little bit more degradation than the rest of the field. It was a strong weekend, bringing something good to the car and getting a point at home."

Nico Hulkenberg: "It was a tricky, difficult race and it didn't quite pan out the way we wanted. The start was alright, but I think we were having difficulties in traffic. When we're surrounded by other cars we were struggling for consistency and for grip, which made it quite difficult for me today. That also translates to higher degradation so maybe not a good one but I still feel some valuable lessons were learned and good data collected."

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda: "It was a good race, effort and recovery from the team and myself. I felt like I was able to extract the most out of the car. It's a shame I couldn't score any points, I gave it my all, but I am happy with my performance. It was a tough race mentally; there weren't many breaks because there was always someone either in front of or behind me. I didn't expect our race pace to be that strong, but it's encouraging to see for the races to come. I felt confident with the brakes, which is why I was able to overtake quite a lot by sending it into the corner. We've got upgrades coming to Imola, so we hope they go well to allow us to score points consistently."

Nyck de Vries: "After lap one, I was on the back foot. It was my mistake, I locked up and Norris and I touched. This compromised our first stint a little because there were a lot of vibrations on the right front which affected our pace. When you're so behind and out of DRS range, you lose so much time on the straights that it's tough to catch up. I was at the back, alone, so it naturally becomes easier when you're not fighting as hard as in the middle of the pack when every moment counts. The weekend went a little up and down and started difficult; yesterday we had a better day and today was a shame that we lost so many positions on the first lap. We are bringing updates to Imola, so hopefully we can improve and go again."

WilliamsF1

Alex Albon: It was quite a tricky race; we just didn't have the pace today. I think we went into it thinking we were the ninth quickest car and today we probably were. We were managing the front and rear tyres but I didn't really have grip, so was sliding around. The tracks coming up don't tend to suit our car and there's a few upgrades coming from other teams, so we just need to get on top of it so they don't pull away from us. There's some positives to take from the weekend but races like today expose us a little bit and show where we really are.

Logan Sargeant: I put the car in a place I shouldn't have in Lap 1 and took my front wing off. From there it was a difficult afternoon. Sorry to the team for my mistake. Once we went back out for the long stint on the Hard tyre, I felt like I managed it quite well. The tyres were struggling by the end but that was to be expected. On a normal strategy our pace would've been pretty solid all things consider. Despite today, I still loved the weekend.

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