Track Interviews - Conducted by David Coulthard.
Lando Norris, you are a world champion! The world champion!
Lando Norris: The world champion. Oh, God. I've not cried in a while. I didn't think I would cry, but I did. It's a long journey. First of all, I want to say a big thanks to my guys, everyone in McLaren, my parents. I'm not crying. My mom, my dad, you know, they're the ones who supported me since the beginning. Oh, I look like a loser!
You look like a winner to me. You're only the 35th man to win a Formula 1 world championship. This is the biggest prize in motor sport.
LN: I mean it feels amazing, you know. Yeah. I now know what Max feels like a little bit and I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors the whole season. It's been a pleasure to race against both of them. It's been an honour. I've learned a lot from both of them as well, so I've enjoyed it. It's been a long year. But we did it. We did it. And I'm so proud of everyone.
Look, it's been an incredible season. It was so tight between you all. You were feisty in that race as well. We were curious to know, would you sit back and not take any risks, but you pulled off some good passes, did what you had to do. How much of that world championship was in your mind when you were running in third and how much is it just in the moment?
LN: It's a bit of both. I mean, you can't not think of it. But anyway, it's a long race to the very end. You know, we've seen many times anything in Formula 1 can happen, and I just kept pushing until the last two or three laps, [then] I could ease it off a bit, but I was still wanting to fight to the end and that's what we did. That's what we had to do this season, you know, with Max chasing us the whole way, with Oscar catching up again at the end. They certainly didn't make my life easy this year. But yeah, I don't know. I'm happy.
Understandably so. And, you know, this is a beautiful moment of winning your first world championship. I don't know if you were aware of a moment - we were - you were under investigation with the overtake on Tsunoda where you went beyond the white lines, and of course nothing came of that. But were you aware of it? Did your team tell you? Because we were all on the edge of our seats.
LN: I had no idea. I had no idea. I didn't care. I mean, I knew what I did was fine so I had nothing to worry about. Yeah. I was just trying to enjoy the moment. You know, there's not many people in the world, not many people in Formula 1 ever get to experience what I've experienced this season and this year. So, I'm happy for everyone. I'm happy for everyone more than me, but yeah, I'm just crazy happy.
That's wonderful to see. We're looking across, we see Zak Brown, we see your parents, your brother, your family, everyone here who's been on this journey with you. So just once again, are you able to compartmentalise - you are the world champion?
LN: I mean, look, it's been a long journey with me and McLaren. I've been with them for like nine years and we've been through plenty of crazy difficult times and plenty of good times, you know. So, for me to feel like I can bring something back to them - it's their first Drivers' in many, many years - so I feel like I did my part for the team this year and I'm very proud of myself for that, but I'm even more proud for everyone that I've hopefully made cry.
Press Conference
Max, look, very well done. What a race. What a season. How do you reflect on the race and the weekend as a whole? Let's start with that.
Max Verstappen: Well, honestly, we maximised everything that we could. We put it on pole, and we won the race. And I think also in the race, we had very strong pace. So, there's really not much that I could have done different. I think what complicated it a bit was that Oscar was on a different strategy. So, you never know, of course, when he then pits, how much pace he has in hand to catch up again. That also complicates a bit trying to keep the pack together or whatever. But, yeah, overall, just very proud again of the weekend that we had. We put it all out there, and, yeah, the car was actually enjoyable to drive.
And what about the season as a whole? I mean, think back to Hungary where you finished more than a minute behind the winner, and here you are within two points of the world champion.
MV: Yeah. Massive rollercoaster for us. Of course, the first half had some nice moments, but mainly tough moments - some really tough races and feelings. But I'm also very proud of how we never gave up. And, again, that's also a lesson for the future, for everyone, that even when it looks like you're out of it, you never give up. You keep working hard to try and understand your issues, and then you never know what can happen.
Final one. A few words from you on our new world champion, Lando Norris.
MV: Winning your first title is something that I think we all dreamt of when you get into the sport. You work for that since you're a little kid. It's what you dream of. So, when you win your first title, this is very emotional. And, yeah, I hope for Lando as well. You know, I saw a lot of his family is here, so it's important to enjoy this a lot as well tonight. Also, with his team. I think, again, that's another story where it showed that even when you have tough years, when you keep working hard, you keep adding good people to the team, you can overcome all of those things, and you can become very successful again. And, yeah, they had an incredible season together, so it's important that they enjoy it.
Oscar, many congratulations on your 16th podium of 2025. You raced hard and fast this evening. How do you reflect on the race and the weekend?
Oscar Piastri: I think, honestly, pretty good. There wasn't anything left out there. Obviously, we tried a bit of a gamble on the strategy to give ourselves some different options and hope that the stars aligned to give ourselves the best chance. But ultimately, in the end, that didn't happen. So, yeah, I think given as well I missed a practice session, it took a little bit to find my feet. I think that was the maximum we could have achieved today. We didn't have an answer for Max's pace. So pretty happy with the weekend. Not much more we could have done.
And the season as a whole, how do you reflect on that? You led the title longer than any other driver this year.
OP: Yeah. I mean, I think, obviously, I would have wished for a slightly different ending, but I think this year I've learned a hell of a lot about myself as a race car driver, myself as a person. I think if you had presented this season at the start of the year with the pole positions and the wins and the podiums, I definitely would have been pretty happy with that. And I think even in the tough moments, I've learned a lot about myself and how I can be stronger in the future. So, I think, ultimately, there's a little bit of disappointment, obviously, but I think I can be very proud of the season I've had and plenty of lessons to take to the future.
And can we get your thoughts on Lando and the job he's done this year to be world champion?
OP: I think a very deserving winner. I know that every weekend I go on track, it's going to be tough. And I think we've pushed each other through the last three years. I think especially this season has been tighter than ever. So, yeah, I think he's had a great season. Probably all three of us, but obviously, myself and Lando in the same team, in the same car, have had our ups and downs at different moments. Ultimately, I think he's had a good season and a deserving champion.
Questions From The Floor
(Scott Mitchell-Malm - The Race). Max, you hinted a little bit at the complication with Oscar's strategy and how you ran your race. Did you give much thought pre-race or during the race about backing up or trying to impact the flow of the race that way? Or was it more just focus on getting the job done out front?
MV: I had a lot of scenarios in my head, but then, of course, I knew once the tyres Oscar had on the car, that would be quite difficult. I think we were probably a bit too quick up front. The others couldn't really follow that well. I think Charles drove his heart out today to try and get onto that podium, so that was also impressive to see. But, of course, they went for a two-stop. I think even that made it more complicated because if you stay on a one-stop, backing the whole thing up is tough. And I think this new layout around here makes it even harder to do that compared to 2016 or whatever.
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