Tag Heuer Gran Premio de Espana

Driver Quotes - Sunday 13 September

Oscar Piastri "It was a tough one for us today, and a pretty painful race from start to finish. I got squeezed by Russell which then broke my front wing on the first lap, and from there we just got stuck in traffic, which is tricky with the lack of overtaking here. Unfortunately, the VSC timing wasn't ideal for the Hard tyre starters like myself. When we did pit, the Mediums didn't perform how we wanted them to, and I was back in traffic.

"The positive we can take is that there are some good learnings, especially on how to get the most out of the car. We also had some decent pace on the Hard tyre in clean air, which is always encouraging. We will review, see what more we can learn and then and take it into the next part of the season."

Lando Norris "I feel like I drove a perfect race today, my tyre management was very strong, and I felt a step ahead of everyone. Qualifying was perfect, the race in terms of performance was perfect, and we were quickest by a big margin. It's just incredibly frustrating to lose in a way that has nothing to do with performance. I was the only driver on the whole grid who didn't get a pit stop under the VSC, and I lost around twenty seconds of race time because of it.

"There are still positives to take from this weekend in terms of what we can do. The pace on Sunday is clearly there, we were better than everyone today, and that's reassuring. Saturday is still an area we need to improve, but if we can close that gap and avoid situations like today, we win. We'll take today on the chin, keep pushing, and go again."

George Russell: No matter what we had done with strategy today we would have finished P5. The Virtual Safety Car came at the worst point for everyone who had started on the Hard tyre like me, and the best point for those who had started on the Medium. Unfortunately, that is how racing goes sometimes but it is a little bit the story of my season so far! It was very difficult to overtake today but I've enjoyed driving the Madring overall this weekend.

It is going to be an intense run to the end of the season. I'm looking forward to getting back to the factory, working with the team, and getting ready for the first of three triple-headers. My pace today, particularly on the Hard tyre, felt good so we can be encouraged by that as we head to Baku.

Kimi Antonelli: It was great to get the victory today, but we know we were a little bit fortunate with the timing of the Virtual Safety Car. Lando (Norris) was in control at the front, but we were able to dive into the pits just as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, make the cheap stop onto the Hard, get the net lead and run to the end. We probably didn't deserve to win therefore but we will of course take it.

We can also be happy with our pace today. We know we are still out of step with other teams in terms of upgrades, but we have been able to win the last two races at very different circuits. That is encouraging as we continue the season; we have a good position in the championships but we know there is still a very long way to go.

Max Verstappen: "It was a great result, and we really maximised our performance, with finishing P2 on this track a solid way to wrap up a good weekend. At the start, Lewis clipped the kerb and jumped back onto the racing line, I had to go off track, otherwise both of us would have taken damage. I don't think we had the pace to challenge for the lead anyway, Kimi and Lando were faster than me throughout, so I'm happy with second. It's a circuit that's very difficult to pass on; if you position yourself in the middle, there isn't really a way through, so I was able to hold off Lando until the end. This double header has been a positive one. The car has been in a decent window both weekends, and we've been able to score consistently good points over the last few races. A podium is a nice way to end the European swing."

Liam Lawson: "I think it was a decent race. We had good speed through parts of it, but I just think we weren't on the ideal strategy today. We went for the alternate strategy, starting on the Hards. At the start I lost the position to Franco and lost a lot of time as it was, but by the time I cleared him the VSC came out and they'd boxed, so it was just tricky from there. The start was exciting and I had to take a lot of risks to get the move done on Franco because it's quite difficult to overtake here. It would've been nice to start a bit higher, but considering where we did start, the result today was good and I'm happy we managed to gain two places in the Race. I'm much more confident in the car this week, we've made a couple of great steps, so there are some good things to take away from the weekend."

Charles Leclerc: The race was good and we brought home what was realistically the best result possible, given that this track is so difficult to overtake on. We did a good job with the strategy, playing our cards to suit our situation. We decided to take our chance and wait for a Safety Car to come up before the end of the race to gain an advantage, but it didn't play out that way in the end. If we had been on the opposite strategy, I would have finished fourth as well, so either way, we extracted the most we could out of our race.

Now we take a break and reset ahead of the next round in Baku, a track I've always enjoyed racing on in the past.

Lewis Hamilton: Firstly, a big thank you to the team for the job they did throughout the weekend. We were in a position to fight for a strong result and the car had been performing well.

Unfortunately, we encountered an issue with the braking system very quickly into the race which brought our afternoon to an early end. It's disappointing, especially considering all the effort that went into the weekend both here at the track and back at the factory.

We will turn our attention to the next race and do our best to come back strong there.

Alex Albon: "It was a tricky race and a difficult weekend for us, but I think that was probably the best we could've hoped for today. Beating both Astons and one of the Haas' is what we could realistically maximise, so that was our accomplishment for the day - we're still too far behind to be properly competing with the midfield, and it was pretty tough out there.

"We've got the upgrade coming in Baku, so hopefully that moves us up relative to the midfield and at least gets us into that fight. Realistically it's probably not big enough to shift us forward completely, but our priority unfortunately has shifted to next year. The midfield teams have brought more upgrades than usual this season and the development race is moving so fast, which is something we are focused on improving."

Carlos Sainz: "It's been a tougher weekend in Madrid than what I would have liked. I had a very strong start, picking up positions off the line, but I went deep into turn 1 and had contact with Yuki. From there on, the damage to the floor meant I was lacking a lot of downforce and couldn't keep it on track for the remainder of the race, forcing us to retire. Regarding the penalty, two cars don't fit into that corner so being ahead, there was little I could do. It's a disappointing way to end the first race here, but ultimately, scoring points was always going to be near impossible for us.

"The fans have been absolutely amazing from start to finish and I've felt their support all weekend. The track is great and for the first year I think it's been a great event overall. There needs to be some work done to create better overtaking opportunities.

"Looking ahead to Baku, I'm hopeful that the upgrades will put us more in the mix with the cars ahead and that we can come back stronger."

Arvid Lindblad: "I'm pleased to come away from a challenging weekend with a couple more points. Approaching the race, we knew strategy was going to be really important, but once the VSC came out, almost everyone pitted, so there wasn't much more to play with. From there, I just pushed pretty much flat out for the rest of the race on the Hard tyre. We had good pace throughout and for most of the race we were right behind Franco. I tried everything I could, being smart with my energy management and using it differently to see if I could find a way through. Unfortunately, there just wasn't a real opportunity to overtake. It wasn't the most exciting race, but I think we can be satisfied with how we handled the weekend following the setback on Friday."

Yuki Tsunoda: "Today wasn't easy at all. The race was almost over for me at Turn 1, where I picked up a lot of damage from the collision with Sainz, and the impact that had on our pace was significant. Considering the damage, I don't think the pace was too bad, but I lost a few positions at the start. With overtaking being so difficult around here, there wasn't much opportunity to recover them. I gave it everything I had and really enjoyed being back in the car again. A big thank you to the team for another opportunity this weekend."

Lance Stroll: "I picked up quite a bit of damage in the opening laps. We tried to keep going, but then I started having some brake issues and the pedal was getting very long, so I locked up. I tried to spin the car around in the run-off, but I didn't have enough power, so unfortunately that was the end of the race. It's been a difficult weekend in Madrid."

Fernando Alonso: "We needed a chaotic race today to try and change our situation and in the end we didn't have much to fight for. But we tried different things and keep learning about the updated package. Unfortunately, Carlos [Sainz] hit me and it meant we had to pit to replace the front wing. There was a penalty given out so that's the decision taken by the FIA and I think it was correct. It was incredible to see the support of the fans today and I really enjoyed the atmosphere."

Esteban Ocon: "We're disappointed as we deserve much more, we deserved to be in the points today. The plan was to get both Audis at the start, and we managed to do so, and we knew it would be hard to hold them, but we did so until the stop. At the stop, we lost the position, so we need to see what I could've done better, if I could've stopped in a better position or what, as I thought it was a decent stop but they must've had a better one. We gave it our all out there and I'm proud of everyone, as we came from being out in Q1 and now we're fighting for points, so it's positive and encouraging for the rest of the races."

Oliver Bearman : "Unfortunately, the VSC came at a bad time and I didn't benefit from it at all - but it's been a tough weekend, and I only have myself to blame for that. On a positive, this weekend has taught me a lot, maybe more so than a clean, easy, straightforward weekend, as I took a lot from yesterday and won't repeat that mistake. The car was strong, so whenever I was in clear air, I was right on the pace with our competition, it was just unfortunate that it was rare that I had free air as I was stuck in traffic. That gives me a good outlook heading to Baku, so now we can turn the page, reset and come back stronger."

Nico Hulkenberg: "We got the maximum out of what we had today. Starting on the soft tyre meant the early Virtual Safety Car was the right window for us to pit, and the pit crew did a fantastic job to get me ahead of Esteban [Ocon]. That was probably the key moment of our race because it gave us the track position we needed. From there, it was all about managing the tyres. Overtaking was very difficult with everyone running at a similar pace, so there wasn't much room to make further progress. We've been towards the top of this midfield fight for a while now, hopefully we will soon make the extra step we need to keep moving forward."

Gabriel Borteleto: "We got unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car today, which pretty much messed up with our plans, and after that nothing else happened until the end of the race - not much more we could have done from there, especially as chances to overtake were slim.

"Overall, it's been a weekend of learnings. It wasn't the best, but it was not all that bad either, and I have quite enjoyed racing around here. In qualifying, we were close to making it into Q3 again, and that was more or less where our pace has been all weekend. Now, a week to recharge and get back to work before we head to Baku in two weeks."

Pierre Gasly: "We gave it absolutely everything we could today but, unfortunately, circumstances did not play into our hands. Yesterday we did not maximise Qualifying and that really left us out of position on the grid and gave us an uphill battle to score points. We had to try something and took some risks. We were fast throughout the race, I left nothing out there, but we just needed a VSC or a SC to benefit at the end. Like for others, that didn't happen, so I'm left a bit frustrated but still pleased the team managed to score important points. We'll debrief on many things from the weekend and continue putting our efforts into making the car faster and more complete at every event."

Franco Colapinto: "I'm very happy with the end result today with P7 and scoring six points for the team, especially as this track layout probably does not best suit the strengths of our package too well. I had a very good race start again today and I managed the tyres well and then kept the position. The VSC came and we did our pit-stop to save time, like some others around us. The second stint lasted until the end of the race, so it was very long and took some defending throughout. I caught up to Gabriel [Bortoleto] but I lost a lot of time even if it probably did not mean we'd have finished in a position higher. I'm pleased to score points today and be in front of our direct competitors as we continue to close the gap in the Championship. It's probably my best race weekend in terms of execution this year, I maximised everything in Qualifying and did what I had to do today. We will all debrief as a team and continue to develop the car and maximise our performances each weekend."

Sergio Perez: "Our race was going really strong up until the moment we suffered with a suspected water system issue. I think it's been one of the strongest weekends we've had as a team so far, pushing everything to the limit. We raced all the cars around us, keeping Yuki [Tsunoda] behind before we stopped and fought with the Williams all the way through, staying within a second of [Alexander] Albon, so we can be happy with how our race was going."

Valtteri Bottas: "Sadly not much action for me today. I was hoping for a few more things to happen but we knew that the pace here would be difficult and it was a tough race. The brake temperatures were an issue we had to manage quite a lot throughout, and the nature of this track highlights a lot of the issues that we have, but we know where we need to improve and we will keep working on it."