Track Interviews - Conducted by Jenson Button

Q: Max, what a fight you had there with Lando, your championship rival here in 2024. Can you give us a bit more information of how it was for you?
Max Verstappen: Yeah, for me, of course, it was quite a difficult race. I never really had the pace to attack. So a bit different compared to yesterday. Yeah, just understeering a lot, struggling under braking. So that made the defending quite difficult because every time if someone wanted to go for a move, I couldn't really brake that late. But yeah, it was a tough battle. I tried everything I could, of course, to keep him behind. And of course, at the end, to be on the podium is still, I think, for us, a great result.

Q: I think everyone's going to ask you how it was with Lando into Turn 12 at the end of the back straight. Obviously, he ran wide, made the move, but it looked like you also ran off the circuit a little bit.
MV: Yeah, you know, I have my opinion, but I don't need to say it here. I let the Stewards do their thing, and for us, it was, again, a race that we learned a lot, and we'll just analyse that.

Q: Well done. Carlos, wow. I mean, you've had one pretty awesome weekend in terms of we saw you fighting yesterday in the Sprint race. You had the bit between your teeth. It's your first podium in eight races, but there must be a little bit of disappointment there knowing that you could have had that win.
Carlos Sainz: Yeah, for sure. I mean, obviously, first of all, congratulations to the whole team, to Charles, for an amazing result, a result that puts us exactly where we want to be in the fight for the Constructors' now. So extremely happy for everyone in Ferrari right now. At the same time, obviously, I knew a lot of the race was going to be decided at the start. I knew Lando and Max were going to go hard at it into Turn 1, and unfortunately, I got the worst of it, and I couldn't get that lead. and even though the pace from there on was really good and I was all weekend really fast, track position is key and I had to settle for P2, which anyway was a good race.

Q: There's obviously a shift in the performance of the Ferrari this year. How is it to drive? And it seems that you guys are really good on tyres now.
CS: Tyre management? Yeah, it's definitely the strength of the car this year. How long we can go on stints and how little deg we have is something that I really enjoy and something that has made me enjoy racing a lot more this year than what I did last year. Last year, we spent all of the races defending, losing position. This year, it looks like we just can go on attack mode, don't think too much about tyres, and just push and overtake, which is fun, and I'm enjoying it a lot, and I hope it stays like that until the end of the year.

Q: Congrats, Carlos, thank you. Charles, You put on a clinic today. That was an amazing victory. You must feel very proud.
Charles Leclerc: Yeah, thank you. Very happy. I mean, it hasn't been an easy weekend until now. I've been struggling a little bit with the feeling with the car, but I had the confidence that in the race the feeling was better, and it was the case. So we've seen it yesterday in the Sprint race. We were a bit not scared, but we thought that the others would improve a lot more today, but we still had the upper hand. So really happy with today. 1-2 for the team. We couldn't have dreamed for better.

Q: Talk to us about Turn 1, start of the race?
CL: Well, it was a pretty good Turn 1. That's exactly what I wanted to do and we've had a really good launch. I knew that it was going to be very tight into Turn 1. Yesterday I was a little bit the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and today I gained from it and that obviously helped quite a lot our first stint because we had mega pace, and then in the second stint, it was all about managing behind. But we did a great job. I mean, the pace of the car today and this weekend overall was really, really good in the race. And that's mostly thanks to the engineers. They've been working like crazy in the last few months to bring the upgrades that we've had in Singapore and in the last few races, and it seems to be paying off. So, yeah, the whole team is working super well. Pit stops were really good. Everything worked out well, so we're really, really happy.

Yeah, it's been 18 years, would you believe, since Ferrari have had a 1-2 here in the US. So you must be very proud of the whole team?
CS: Yeah, very, very happy. And now we are still targeting the title. It's a long way to go, but it's a good start to this triple header.

Press Conference

Q: Charles, it was some race by you and Ferrari. Can you start by just summing up how good this victory feels?
CL: It feels really good as every victory feels special for its own reason and obviously from the start I felt really good with the car. I was quite confident from yesterday because even though there were quite a lot of fights yesterday the car felt great and we knew that we had a good race pace. We were a little bit more sceptical about qualifying but P4 was. It was good. I mean, we were in that fall of P1. And then after that start, when I got out of Turn 1 into first, I knew that it was all about trying to use the pace of the car that we had yesterday and trying to take care of those tyres. And the car felt great. So from that moment onwards, it was a bit of a lonely race, but it's a good kind of lonely. And I hope we can reproduce that in the future.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit more about Turn 1, lap one, from your point of view?
CL: I mean, I knew that Max and Lando would be very aggressive towards each other. I mean, they are fighting for the championship. I got a good start. I saw that Max was going towards the inside as well as Lando and I was like, 'I'm just going to prepare the exit of the corner', which was obviously a winning bet. And from that moment onwards, then I could focus on my own race.

Q: Let's talk a little bit about the pace of the Ferrari now. You were quick all weekend. Just how much can you achieve between now and the end of the season?
CL: I wish I could tell you exactly, but it's always difficult because we rely on very small gaps that could make a big difference. So it's very difficult to predict where we will be in the next few races. However, we've said since two or three races in Monza, in Baku, in Singapore, we brought a few upgrades and we were always waiting for Austin because it was going to be the real test for those upgrades. And he seems to be working all good. So that is positive for the future. It doesn't mean that we'll be having every Sunday the way it's been today, but it means that we are working in the right direction and that can only be positive. So I hope we can reproduce these kind of results more often.

Q: You're working in the right direction, but is there one particular area that the car is better here?
CL: Quite a few. I think like five, six races ago, we were struggling a little bit with bouncing and that doesn't seem to be the issue anymore. So for sure that went in the right direction again.

Q: What about the Constructors' Championship? Ferrari are just eight points behind Red Bull, 48 now behind McLaren. Is anything possible?
CL: I mean, we've got to target winning the Constructors' title. It's an optimistic goal, but that's what we are here for. So, yeah, we'll do the math at the end of the season. Until then, I think the best thing we can do is to focus on ourselves, on our own performance, just like we did this weekend. It's been a really good weekend for the team and for the Constructors' title. And we'll try and reproduce that as often as possible. And hopefully at the end of the year, when we do the math, we will have won the Constructors' title.

Q: Alright. Very well done today. Thank you, Charles. Carlos, let's come to you. A brilliant weekend as well. Tell us what this Ferrari 1-2 means for you, first of all?
CS: Well, first of all, congrats to the whole team. Congrats to Charles for a great win. And yeah, I think everyone needs to be very happy and very proud of this weekend and yeah, of how we've recovered from a tricky middle part of the season to suddenly put ourselves in a position to dominate the race like we did today and to be clearly the fastest car on track come race day. I'm very happy to see this and I hope it repeats itself from here until the end of the year because it would be really nice to get another win before the end of the season.

Q: Your race didn't seem quite as straightforward as Charles. At one point you reported no power early in the race. What was the issue? Did it hold you back?
CS: Yeah, it wasn't the easiest of starts. First, well, getting a bit blocked with the Max and Lando going at it for the championship into Turn 1. Then I was attacking Max, in his DRS, trying to put as much pressure as possible. And then for a lap, I had some sort of issue that meant that I had very little power at the exit of the corners. That made me lose a couple of seconds, and most importantly, the DRS with Max. And then you are in that 1.5, two-second, three-second gap, that is the worst for tyres and car balance, which meant I just had to settle until the pit stop windows. And then, yeah, we managed to get the undercut. Yeah, we boxed really early for that Hard tyre, but from then on, I felt really comfortable, very confident, and we were very quick again. So, yeah, a bit gutted that we were so quick all weekend and we obviously didn't end up getting the win, but at the same time, Charles did a great job and a great start to put himself in the position to win it.

Q: Was there any point in the race when you thought the win was on?
CS: Not really. If I'm honest with you, as soon as I saw Charles in P1, then I saw that Max couldn't keep up with Charles. So probably by the time... I knew that if I couldn't pass Max in the first three laps, it was going to be game over because then Charles and I were always very close in pace. Maybe there's one race or two where he's one or two tenths quicker in race day, another race where I'm maybe a bit quicker. But yeah, it just means that track position around any Formula 1 track is key. And after that start, and especially having a car in between us and not being able to pass Max within the first five laps, I knew it was going to be very, very tough. Then, honestly, with a Hard tyre, yes, I caught back some time, but I was just more pushing to see my pace and to see how good I was feeling this weekend because I was enjoying a lot driving the car this weekend and I knew I was quick.

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