MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix

Driver Quotes - Sunday 25 October

Oscar Piastri "P7 today. A tricky day out there. We just didn't have the pace in the car, and we continued to struggle, as we have all weekend. The Hard compound was good, so we were able to extend to a one-stop strategy, having initially planned for a two-stopper, which helped us manage the track position in the second stint and keep George behind, which was positive. The strategy was strong, we had a solid start and pit stop, we just didn't have the pace to be able to make up any places. When you find the window on these cars, there is some pace but finding that window is very tricky.

"Looking ahead to Mexico, we will review what we can from here to take into the weekend, where the combination of low grip and high altitude may prove tricky for us. But we'll do what we can and keep pushing to add more performance to the car, so that we can maximise the lap time and pace."

Lando Norris "I feel I drove a strong race today and gave myself the best possible shot at a top result. Our pace on the Hard tyres was particularly strong, but to stay in contention and capitalise on potential Safety Car periods, I had to push the car well beyond its comfort zone. Ultimately, paying the price for that in the second stint meant fifth place was the absolute maximum we could achieve, and I am satisfied that we maximised our package under the circumstances.

"The reality remains that we are still lacking the outright pace needed to challenge higher up the grid. It was clear this weekend. Qualifying performance and car predictability remain our main priorities to address, but the team continues to do a fantastic job, and I am confident that if we resolve these key areas, we will secure strong results across the remaining races."

George Russell: It was another difficult day for me today. I just didn't have the pace and I'm unsure why that is. My first stint wasn't great, and I was struggling initially on the Medium tyre but after the pitstop my pace felt stronger and I felt I could make some progress. However, once I caught up with the McLaren of Piastri, I just couldn't overtake and ended up stuck behind him for the remaining laps of the race.

The time penalty from the opening lap cost me a couple of places but overall, the pace just wasn't good enough today for me to be fighting at the front. The lack of performance is something me and the team will look at and work on over the next couple of days. Hopefully we can make some improvements ahead of next weekend in Mexico and come back stronger for the rest of the season.

Kimi Antonelli: What an incredible feeling. After Friday, I don't think any of us expected to be standing here with the win, so to turn the weekend around like this is really special. The car felt great today, and I was able to control the race, but it definitely wasn't easy. There was pressure throughout and I knew I couldn't afford to make a mistake. I just tried to stay calm, focus on each lap and execute the race.

A huge thank you to everyone here at the track and back at Brackley and Brixworth. We kept working after a difficult Friday and never gave up. To repay all that work with a victory feels amazing. I'm very proud of what we achieved today.

Max Verstappen: "It wasn't the strongest race for me, as there were a lot of things that didn't work out and we seemed to experience different problems. The biggest question mark is why the tyres didn't really work, while the harder compounds actually did really well, so that's something to analyse. We struggled with engine consistency throughout the race, which we'll need to work on, but it's still a podium, so if you look at the beginning of the year and where we are now, we'll take that. We've had quite a few podiums in a row, but at the same time, our target is always to be first, and we want to win more. It's nice to see that we are now third in the Constructors' Championship. The target for the rest of the year will be to keep that position. It'll be tough, but we'll keep working."

Isack Hadjar: "It's been a frustrating end to the weekend. We didn't have a great start and lost two positions to both of the Ferraris, but from then on we settled into a rhythm and found really strong pace in the first stint. I felt good on the Soft tyre and I was lapping similar to the leaders, so the performance was there. I've been working so hard on the race pace, so it was good to see it in action. As the race went on, the tyre degradation was more manageable, so we moved onto a one-stop strategy. Unfortunately, we faced a system issue in the pit lane which really compromised us for the rest of the race. We did a good job to keep P6 and bring a few points to the Team from what was an up-and-down weekend."

Charles Leclerc: It was a fun race and I really enjoyed it, particularly the start and the battle with Max (Verstappen) on lap 1, and later on with Lando (Norris) and Max again. Our pace was quite strong, and our strategy was good, but it was not enough for the win today.

We brought good upgrades to the car and have been going in a direction that I quite like. It makes me feel confident with the car so I'm optimistic. It's all about optimising what we have for the upcoming races, with the target of converting our progress to a win.

Lewis Hamilton: Today was a strong team effort, with a solid strategy and great execution. I want to thank everyone here and back at the factory for their continued hard work which is helping us get closer. The balance in the race still wasn't quite where I wanted it, but the pace was there and we were closing in the final stint. Without the VSC late on, I believe we'd have had a real shot at a double podium. That's racing though, and there's plenty to take from this weekend. The focus now is on starting strongly in Mexico and putting ourselves in the fight from the very first session.

Alex Albon: "There were small positives to take from today. I got a good start and gained a few places on the first lap. Austin is a track where you can race and overtake, which I enjoyed, and there were a few battles with Fernando which we'll also review. We picked up some damage early on, and our long stint on the hards left us caught up in the blue flags. We're still lacking pace, and there's a lot of work to do. We'll need to find more for Mexico."

Carlos Sainz: "We had another great start off the line but I got squeezed into the wall, had contact and picked up damage to my front wing. That compromised my first stint and I eventually had to pit for a new front wing, losing valuable time. From there it was a good recovery drive, with decent pace given the limitations of our car this week. Looking ahead to Mexico, it's one track that we might be slightly stronger at, potentially with the ability to mix in with the midfield, but it's going to take a lot to be back in the points."

Arvid Lindblad: "It was a decent race. Unfortunately, I didn't get the start I was hoping for and wasn't able to make as much progress as I'd have liked on Lap 1. I struggled a little on the Softs during the first stint, but things improved on the Mediums, and we had a stronger second stint. I lost some time battling with Franco, which meant I had to push hard to try to catch Pierre, but ultimately, I wasn't able to close the gap. We committed to a two-stop strategy today, and there are definitely some positives to take away from the race, but we'll review everything with the team to understand whether there was anything we could have done better. Overall, though, I felt really good in the car, and it was an enjoyable race working my way through the field. It was one of those races where I was pretty much flat out from start to finish. I'm looking forward to getting back out there and racing in Mexico next week."

Liam Lawson: "It's been a really positive weekend. The team have done a brilliant job with the upgrades they've brought to the car, so it feels great to be coming away with points. We executed the race very well and I've personally felt good in the car all weekend as it's in a strong place at the moment. We're still quite far behind the front runners, but to be at the top of the midfield and looking ahead should be seen as a positive. I'm looking forward to continuing this momentum and racing at some of the unique tracks we've got coming up. Big thanks to the team for all the hard work."

Lance Stroll: "We had to make some changes to the car after Qualifying because of damage, so we started from the pit lane. Our pace was a bit more competitive today and I was racing [Alex] Albon for a lot of the race. There was a bit of overtaking too which was nice. We saw a big loss of load in the final laps though, so we need to go away and understand that."

Fernando Alonso: "We were quite competitive today and were having a strong race, but the damage to our car compromised everything for us. It felt like we were chasing down a potential points-scoring position as we were running in P12 with a damaged car. The damage was sustained from contact on lap one when Alex [Albon] hit us going into Turn 11. We carried on, but eventually had to pit for a new front wing and that dropped us down the order. We have some positives to take from this weekend despite the result today."

Esteban Ocon: "We had a mega start, we always do, we're leading the stats on that. Since the beginning of the year, we've always gained two or three places at the start, and we did that once again in COTA. I'm proud that we've worked so well on that, and the pit stop went well as well, but on the second stint, we struggled to keep the other cars behind. The problems that we faced throughout the weekend came back, as I still had front-locking, and I still had quite a lot of understeer in high-speed. These inconsistencies are something that we really need to work on and understand, and we need to make sure we get rid of them in Mexico. The positive is that we did reduce it a little bit with setup, but that's the maximum we can do with the current parts."

Oliver Bearman : "After the VSC, I managed to get a good launch and good battery level, because I caught the two cars in front of me very quickly. It made Pierre go defensive into Turn 12, and at Turn 13, I sent one up the inside, and to be honest, he saw me as he left space but to me, it didn't feel enough. He gave space, but only half a car's worth, and I was committed, so we made a bit of contact - I picked up a huge amount of damage on my car, and I probably damaged his car as well. It was a shame as I felt like I was massively penalised anyway, as the damage ruined my race, and on top of that I picked up the penalty. In my view, it was a racing incident. I sent a move and felt entitled to more space than I got, I didn't lose control, and I had to climb up the kerb to try and avoid contact. I don't regret going for the move because at this stage in the season, if we don't do anything special and get a bit lucky and be aggressive and go for it, we're just not going to score points as we're not always fast enough to score them on merit."

Nico Hulkenberg: "Unfortunately, we lost some ground at the start when the car briefly went into anti-stall, which was a strange one because it happened a few metres after getting off the line rather than straight away. It felt and sounded a bit unusual, so we'll need to look into what happened and understand why. Obviously, losing those positions right at the start made the rest of the afternoon quite difficult.

"From there, I think we did what we could. Our pace was pretty similar to the cars around us, particularly the Racing Bulls, but once you're behind, it's difficult to recover. It's hard to say what might have been possible with a normal start, but the midfield remains incredibly close. We'll take what we can from this weekend and head to Mexico for another go."

Gabriel Borteleto: "It was a good race overall; the car felt good and the pace was there. I overtook quite a few cars while keeping it clean, and I had a bit of fun being in the mix, trying my best and putting in some good laps. Obviously, it is always difficult to recover a lot of positions when starting from the back, but it's good to leave Austin on a decent note. Hopefully, we can carry these positives into Mexico and have a better weekend next week."

Pierre Gasly: "In the end, we started P10 and finished P10 and managed to score one point from today's race. Given the circumstances, I think that's good and that's all we could have achieved today. It was a pity about the incident with Ollie [Bearman] as it was quite a small contact but it brought quite significant damage to my car. Having seen my car after the race I was surprised to see the damage on the right-hand side floor with quite a lot of carbon fibre missing. Considering that, and our loss in performance, it was good to hang on to P10. We also had a slow pit-stop with a hardware issue, which the team is looking into to understand. I might have been able to compete with Liam [Lawson] and put some pressure on him for P9 but it was not the case today. All in all, I am pleased with a point and we go to Mexico City next ready to see what that weekend brings."

Franco Colapinto: "It's not nice to be watching the end of the race from the sidelines again for a second race in a row, only this time due to picking up some damage. I was sandwiched between two cars going up the hill into Turn 1 and saw Pierre exiting the pits on my inside. Arvid [Lindblad] came around the outside and I was left with nowhere to go and unfortunately, we made contact. The whole floor and sidepod was broken which was enough not to continue to the end. We had opted to start on the Hards and try something different to the others, but it was always going to be tough to make much progress. The balance of the car felt good in clean air, but starting from the back we were impacted by running in traffic and dirty air. I'm now looking forward to going to Mexico City and hopefully turn our fortunes around."

Sergio Perez: "Unfortunately, the weekend has been a bit challenging. Overall, I think there are positives we can take from it. We just need to keep working and learning from the experience. I think it's really track-dependent, and during the race, I was surprised that we were a little closer than expected, so we just have to keep building on that.

"Now I'm really looking forward to Mexico. It's always incredibly special to race in front of my home crowd, and this year will be even more meaningful as I celebrate my 300th Grand Prix. I'm excited to share that moment with the fans and hopefully give them something to cheer about. We'll keep pushing and aim to have a stronger weekend."

Valtteri Bottas: "The [suspected power unit] issue was really sudden and happened during braking into Turn 1. It started to sound bad and then I had the engine cutting in and out when trying to get on power. We don't know what the issue is yet. Up until then though, everything was going to plan. We decided to split the strategy across the cars - I started with the hard, Checo with the soft - and I think it was good to try. At certain times during the race it felt like we were actually a bit closer to the others on pace than what I thought we would be, so that was a positive we can take heading into the coming races."