Today's post-race press conference with Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
Parc Ferme Interviews - Conducted by Danica Patrick
Q: Max, it's been a very emotional day for the whole team at Red Bull to lose Dietrich. Tell me how you're feeling right now.
Max Verstappen: Yeah, I mean it's been hard news I think for everyone. I think what he has meant for Red Bull but also for the sport and especially also for me, what he has done for me in general, my career so far and generally my life, you know. It's really tough. It's a very tough day and yeah, we tried of course and we gave it everything today in qualifying. Unfortunately, we missed out by a little bit. But there's still a race ahead of course, and yeah, we're going to try to make him proud tomorrow.
Q: What's it going to take to win from the second row? Everybody that's won here has won from the first row, with obviously how big this would be to get your 13th win in the season and also with the news today. To win tomorrow, what are you going to have to do?
MV: Well, I think our car normally in the race is a bit stronger than qualifying and I think already today in qualifying it was very fine margins. If you could switch your tyres on a bit better, I think that would have made a difference. But nonetheless, you know, we are there and I'm expecting a good race tomorrow.
Q: Charles, tell me about that lap. This is a tricky track. There's fast, there's slow stuff. How hard is it to put one whole lap together and is there something out there that could have been different that would have set you on the pole?
Charles Leclerc: It is obviously really difficult, especially with the wind, the car changes a lot from lap to lap. But yeah, overall, I did my best. The last lap wasn't the best. Carlos did a better job today and deserves to be on pole. I'll be starting a bit further back because of the penalty. But the goal is to try and come back to the front as quickly as possible.
Q: This is a sad day for everyone with the loss of Dietrich today. Tell me about what it means to have someone like that in the sport, that believes in racing, and everything that we love so much, to lose someone like that?
CL: It is incredibly sad. But apart from everything that he has done in his career, which is incredible, he's a human being and it is a really sad loss for motor sport. So yeah, all my thoughts go to the family and friends.
Q: How much are you thinking about winning the race tomorrow versus the championship? Is there anything that you plan to do differently? Are you going to be careful in any way, because the championship is so close for second place?
CL: Yeah, well, I'll give my best as always. Again, we are starting I think 12th or 11th with the engine penalty that we have. So yeah, I'll give my best. No crazy risks but if there's an opportunity I will I'll be here to take it.
Q: Good luck. Carlos, what an incredible lap. Walk me through the lap. How was that for you? Were you in flow?
Carlos Sainz: It was fun, a lot of fun. Very tricky out there with these winds that we have today. So gusty that every corner is a bit of an adventure with these cars. You don't know how much grip you're going to get or how much grip to expect but I managed to put together a good lap without mistakes and yeah, pole position that was a long time coming after a few qualies in the dry, getting very close to it but not quite getting there.
Q: What does it take to have a good day on Sunday, with how easy it is to make mistakes? Like, what is it that you're going to have to put together to stay where you're at?
CS: Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I think for tomorrow Red Bull are still favourites. I think they normally have the better race pace. They normally get us in the race because they have a very, yeah, Max does a great job and Red Bull has a very good car in race trim. But we're going to do everything we can to try and stay ahead tomorrow and win the race, which would be an amazing way to start these last four races.
Press Conference
Q: Carlos, what a tremendous qualifying session for you, just talk us through that final lap of Q3?
CS: Yeah, it was, it was good. Right from Q1 I had a good feeling with a car. So yeah, it was all about building it up until Q3 and putting the lap together in Q3. Yeah, it was quite tricky out there, a lot of wind, which means in some corners you never know what to expect. You have to have faith that the car is going to stay stuck to the ground and carry a lot of speed without knowing what the wind is going to do. But yeah, a bit of an adventure out there, but it was cool. It was a lot of fun. Like always, Austin is a great track to drive and I always enjoy it.
Q: You told us on Thursday that your one lap pace is there now. Can you tell us a little bit more about what has clicked between you and your car?
CS: It's been a long year, obviously, from the beginning of the year struggling with the car and little by little making steps forward. I feel like the last five to seven races have been very close to the limit already in quali, but the pole position in the dry was never quite coming. It has been extremely tight with these two guys since before the summer break. But for some reason or another, I was falling half a tenth short, and I really wanted to make one stick and today was great to get it and get that out of the way.
Q: Now this race at COTA has always been one from the front row of the grid. How do you see the challenges ahead tomorrow, when you will have Max lining up alongside you after the grid penalties have been applied?
CS: I think, you know, tomorrow we are going to try everything we can to stay ahead and win the race. But at the same time, we are realistic. And we know what Red Bull is capable of doing on Sundays. They are favourites in that way for tomorrow because they always manage to put a very good Sunday together with tyre management, with race execution. So it will be a good test to try and try and do it. I would love to win tomorrow. This is my target and that's what I'm going to try. But I'm also realistic that it's going to be tough out there.
Q: Charles, coming to you now. Second fastest today. Quickest after the first runs of Q3 and you ended up just 0.1s behind your teammate. Can you see where that time went?
CL: When you speak about such a small margin, you can always do better. But every driver can do better in Q3 when you see the lap afterwards. So, Carlos did a better job today and he deserves to be on pole. It was close. It was very, very tricky with the wind. And yeah, I won't be starting P2 tomorrow because of the penalty, so the race will be a bit uphill for me but we'll give it all and try to come back at the front as quickly as possible.
Q: Charles, just tell us a little bit more about that second lap of Q3. Did the car look a little bit looser?
CL: Yeah. But to be honest, that's how I like it. Maybe too loose in the last corner and I lost quite a bit there but yeah, it's okay.
Q: You have this 10-place penalty tomorrow. What's going to be possible for you?
CL: I don't know but I will try to make some places as quickly as possible in the first few laps so I can be in the fight and join these two guys at the front as quickly as possible.
Q: Max, many congratulations to you. Another great effort, although I'm sure the shine has been taken off it following the news of Dietrich's passing.
MV: Yeah, of course. I mean, for us it was, I think, a tough entry to qualifying. And then you don't really care about the result as well, you know? it doesn't matter because we're more about what happened today and also what he has meant to everyone within the whole team, what he has built up in Formula One, the company itself Red Bull, and personally to me, because without him, I wouldn't be sitting here today and I wouldn't have had the success I've had. So yeah, it's incredibly tough for everyone in the team, and luckily I got to see him a couple of weeks back. So we could spend a little bit of time together. But it's still a tough day.
Q: Just to bring it back to today and the performance of the car. Just a few words from you about how the car felt out there.
MV: It was alright. It was very tricky today with the wind out there, especially in the first sector in the high-speed corners, when you have the tailwind on this track it makes it really tricky. But besides that, also getting the tyres in the right window wasn't the easiest. So, we tried a few different things. I think at the end of the day, we were competitive on both strategies that we tried. Just in my first lap in Q3, I lost like three-tenths in the first corner, just hitting a few bumps and losing the rear. It was just really tricky out there. And then the second run was good in Sector One, Sector Two, we look very strong. And then I ran out of tyres a little bit in the last sector with big oversteer in the second-to-last corner. But all in all, we're still very close to pole. Last race, it was the other way around where I was on pole, but it was all fine margins. And now, you know, when you don't get it entirely together, you are P3 but at the same distance between the three cars. So yeah, I think still it's a great result. I mean, we know that we have a quick race car, so I think anyway tomorrow we should be strong.
Q: And do you agree with Carlos that you start favourite tomorrow?
MV: Ah, it doesn't matter if you're a favourite or not. I'm just going to have fun out there.
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