George Russell:
It's been an incredible weekend and probably one of the strongest of my career so far. I really enjoyed that race and that final stint was some of the most fun I've had in a Formula One race. We had strong pace throughout and were able to build a good gap, so when the Safety Car came out it was a little frustrating, but around a circuit like Baku that's always a possibility.
The restart was probably the most stressful moment of the afternoon with Max right behind me, but I managed it well and from there it was all about staying focused and not making any mistakes. In the final stint we were both pushing hard, and whilst it was intense in the car, those are the moments you enjoy as a driver.
I've felt comfortable all weekend, and at the moment things seem to be coming naturally behind the wheel. We're in a good place, but Formula One changes very quickly so you have to keep pushing. The aim is to keep working hard, keep building this momentum and hopefully continue fighting at the front over the races ahead.
Kimi Antonelli:
Today was about damage limitation. I took no unnecessary risks at all and focused on maximising the points scored for the team. It was difficult to make progress at times because we were in an overtaking train, but I focused on staying out of trouble and taking the opportunities when they came.
It was one of those weekends where everything doesn't quite go your way. The pace wasn't quite there for me today, but given where we started, I have to be happy with P5. I just tried to race the race in front of me, stay patient and bring the car home. We were able to benefit from some of the opportunities that came our way and score as many points as possible.
Luckily, we have another race coming up very soon, so I'm fully focused on that and really looking forward to it.
Max Verstappen:
"We had a very strong race today. Yesterday, we found an issue with the engine and changed it, so luckily everything was fixed. For most of the race we were on the Medium tyre, which didn't perform as well as expected, but we still managed to work our way up the field nicely. Once we swapped to the Soft, it felt much better. We had a good first restart and during the last few laps with George, we were pushing flat out. We had good pace and were both pulling away from those behind. On the final lap it got close as we approached the line because George had turbo lag out of T15 due to the yellow flags. We really maximised the result today and we will, of course, keep trying for a win. All in all, it was a fantastic result for the Team to have two cars on the podium; that is exactly what you want to see. I had a lot of fun today."
Isack Hadjar:
"You can't really ask for a better comeback than that. The car has been competitive throughout the week and all over the track, so we had the pace to really challenge and be exactly where we wanted to be. Our approach was key to a strong week; taking it step-by-step allowed me to build confidence, and then the lap time comes with that. Ending it with P3 is a really pleasing result. It was a demanding track to make a return at, but once I got into a flow I felt like I never left. The race was great. I enjoyed myself out there; the car was very nice to drive, and battling with Max was fun too. He's been so strong all weekend, and I was happy to stay behind him as I knew the Soft was the superior tyre, and he showed that at the end. A double podium is an awesome result. It's the first in a while for the Team, so I'm very happy for everyone as they deserve it."
Charles Leclerc:
We maximised our result, today we simply lacked pace compared to our main competitors who have been very strong all weekend. There were some phases of the race in which the pace of those ahead fluctuated a bit more, and even though my lap times were consistent throughout, we couldn't get in a real fight for the podium today.
As we saw this weekend, things can swing pretty quickly, so we all have to stay on top of that. I look forward to being back in the car in Sepang.
Lewis Hamilton:
Overall, it wasn't the weekend we were aiming for and there are a few areas we need to look into. Throughout the race, we struggled to get the tyres consistently into the right operating window, which made it difficult to extract the performance we wanted. We'll go through the data, particularly around energy management, and see where we can improve. Sepang will be a different challenge, so our focus now is on regrouping and making sure we come back stronger next week.
Alex Albon:
"It was a weird crash if I'm honest. I braked a little bit later than the previous lap and there was a big wind gust which caught us out a little bit. When I had my moment, I thought I would lock up and run a bit wide; I never thought I was going to hit the wall. We'll look at the data. In terms of the update, I think it's exactly the step we expected. It's put us in a midfield fight. If you roll back to the start of the year the car was delayed and it was overweight. We had to start a project to make a new chassis and delivered it on time and on weight and that is a huge difference to eight months ago. Hopefully now this is a turning point, and we can explore this update more in Malaysia."
Carlos Sainz:
"I'm happy to get a point after yesterday's penalty and I think the team deserved it. It was a difficult race, but we had a good restart after the safety car, doing a good job with tyre management and managed to get into the points towards the end of the race. These upgrades are a good sign of progress, but we know it'll take a bit more to get in the points regularly. Hopefully we'll be able to have a bit more fun fighting in the midfield for the remaining races."
Arvid Lindblad:
"First of all, I want to apologise to Liam and the team for the incident at Turn 1 after the restart. It was chaotic as the field bunched up and we were all pushing the limits, so I think everyone ended up braking a little too late. I was ready to make a move on Esteban, but he moved at the last moment and I just didn't have anywhere else to go.
Aside from that, it was a good race for us. It's been a difficult weekend for us, so to come away with points is certainly a positive. A huge credit to the entire team for all the work they put in throughout; we executed the race well, and it was good fun battling with the two Haas towards the end. Now we're looking forward to getting back out there in the next couple of weeks, with Malaysia and Singapore coming up."
Liam Lawson:
"Not the greatest race for me today, but I'm pleased the team could come away with some valuable points and recover some ground in the Championship fight with Alpine. We've struggled with pace all weekend, so that's something we'll work on over the rest of the triple-header. We got caught up in a crash at Turn 1 during the restart, which caused some damage to the car and meant we couldn't push forward as much as we would have liked. We'll take what we can from today and be back next week, ready to fight again."
Lance Stroll:
"We had a water pressure issue, so I was told to stop the car. It's been another tough week, but we know the situation we are dealing with this year. There aren't many positives to take away. The focus is on improving these issues for the upcoming races and as we look further ahead to 2027."
Fernando Alonso:
"Unfortunately, we had to retire the car as we seemed to be losing a lot of time on the straights and so we need to analyse this further. We knew this weekend wasn't going to be a strong one for us and it proved to be the case. It's where we are right now and let's see if we can have a stronger weekend in Malaysia."
Esteban Ocon:
"It may only be P8, but it was a hard-fought one, and I'm very happy. We were struggling a little bit at the beginning, but we got more front-end at the pit stop, and that's what we needed. We were flying from there, and from the restart, we were only moving forward, which is so good. I lost a place to Arvid on the main straight, it was a little bit chaotic, particularly with the yellow flag and maybe judged it a little bit on the safe side, but he was too fast on the straight regardless. We deserve all of this, and it's very positive for the next two races in this triple-header. We deserve it, and I deserve it."
Oliver Bearman :
"To do this with both cars makes me really happy, and everyone in this team should be so proud. To be in the points with Esteban is a very rewarding feeling, especially after the challenges we've had over the last few events. I'm incredibly happy, although I'm disappointed at how I lost out in the first restart, it was absolute mayhem. I ended up losing a position, but honestly, it doesn't matter as we're both in the points. It was challenging towards the end as we were the only cars on mediums, and there were a lot of cars around us on softs, but we made it happen."
Nico Hulkenberg:
"Points looked in reach for a bit, so it's disappointing to miss out. I was running in P10 towards the end, but the cars ahead started battling, which cost us some time and allowed Carlos to get into my tow. The Williams was very quick down the straight, and there wasn't much I could do to hold him back. That's been a bit the story of our weekend. We were missing straight-line speed, and around here that makes it difficult to make progress or defend. We take it on the chin and move on. We have a few days now to go through the data, understand the package better and see what we can get out of it next weekend."
Gabriel Borteleto:
"It hasn't been the easiest weekend, but the race itself was quite promising in terms of pace. The new package has been delivering, particularly in the middle sector, where the car felt quite strong. We had good pace behind the other cars, so it was encouraging to see that after some struggles on Thursday and Friday.
"The feeling wasn't the same on the straights, where we lacked pace. Still, while it's obviously not ideal to be outside of the points again, I am happy to see the moderate progress we made today: some positives we can take into the next race."
Pierre Gasly:
"I am gutted for the entire team today. It is a disappointing outcome for everyone but we will manage it together and move forwards. Franco and I have spoken together after the incident and he has apologised, which I accept, and we will discuss everything as a team to improve going forwards. In terms of our race up until that point, the car felt good, we had strong pace, and I was close to Lewis [Hamilton] and Lando [Norris] throughout while managing the gap quite easily to the rest of the midfield. I've been happy in the car this weekend and we have to take this pace into Sepang next weekend."
Franco Colapinto:
"I'm very disappointed with today's race and I'm really sorry to the team, to everyone at the factory, Pierre and Lando [Norris] of course, and to everyone who has been supporting us. It was a big mistake on my side and it should not happen. I locked up with cold tyres, cold brakes, and was out of control. I know the team has done a good job all weekend with the performance of the car so I am really sorry for what happened as we were in a good position to score double points."
Sergio Perez:
"It's been one of my strongest weekends here in Baku, in terms of performance - I'm pleased with the way I've driven. We were fighting cars that were one or two seconds faster than us, due to the overtake mode, and we were able to stay with them in the first stint. The way I felt like I was running, if anything went wrong at any corner, I would have put it in the wall, so when you do a race like this you feel really proud. In that regard it was a positive weekend, a good step. We just lack in pace and straight-line speed, we are too draggy on the straights, so then we fall back. We need half a second or a second to stay with them - I'm a bit of a sitting duck on the straights.
"We stay optimistic for the coming weekends, hopefully we can continue to be stronger. We don't have any big upgrades coming in so I guess it's going to be a tough end of the season, but we will keep on it. Operationally, I'm pushing to get the maximum out of the weekends and I think we are heading in that direction, improving each time, but we just have to keep pushing a lot more as a team and things will come."
Valtteri Bottas:
"Today was a long and difficult day. We didn't have the pace and I was only able to fight with Fernando [Alonso] which cost us some time. At the end of the race, I had a lockup into Turn 1 and went wide, so I think the systems got somewhat confused because of the extra distance I'd driven. Then I suffered a huge super clip into Turn 15 and when I hit the brakes, only the front worked and it felt as if the rears weren't harvesting anymore. Otherwise, we were pretty far off so we have plenty to analyze ahead of next week as it was a bit of a strange one."
