Verstappen: ‘A good team result’

Max Verstappen (PBS/Red Bull Racing) – Winner

“I had a tailwind and lost control of the car in turn 4 (on lap 9). It was a mistake. After that, my DRS wouldn’t work all the time when I was fighting with George Russell and that complicated things. I was very upset the following laps. Fortunately, we managed to come back to the strategy. The start of the race was difficult and the end was beautiful. I tried to stay focused even though it’s not pleasant when this (DRS related issues) happens. I am very happy for the victory, but also for “Checo” (Sergio Pérez, 2nd). It’s a good team result. I was frustrated behind George Russell but in the end we managed to do it. »

Sergio Pérez (MEX/Red Bull Racing) – 2nd

“I got a lot of support here in Spain even though the public had their drivers to support. I was close to winning but I’m happy with this team result. We were on a different tire strategy. I let Max Verstappen through at the start and thought I could have made my strategy work. But again, it’s a team result. You have to be satisfied with this double even if I wanted to win the race. »

George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) – 3rd

“I wouldn’t say Mercedes is back but today (Sunday) I really gave it my all. Congratulations to Max Verstappen who did a very good job. I had Red Bull Racing in my mirrors and I did my best to keep them behind me. It was good rounds, I enjoyed this battle. To bring this third place and all these points home is really good. It was very difficult in the last laps, it was a survival race. Thank you to all the fans for supporting us. It’s great to be here. »

Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari) – 4th

“It was a very difficult race. First, I spun (on lap 7). I think I took a big gust of wind that took me off the track in a very tricky corner. Then I had a lot of damage on the car and I didn’t have the necessary grip anymore. I suffered until the finish line. This race was difficult for our team today because Charles Leclerc was leading the race when he retired. But as a team, we will try to come back. »

Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) – 5th

“Obviously I was hoping for a smoother race without the incident at the start. At one point, I was 30 seconds behind everyone. Seeing where I was, I thought back to Jeddah where I had started 15th and where it had been very complicated to go up to 10th place, so I thought it would be impossible to go up in the points today. today (Sunday). I was 30 seconds behind, so I said to myself that there was no point in slamming the engine to get a Top 15 and taking a penalty later in the season. I don’t know if reliability is an issue for us, although we had a problem at the end. But I figured it was better to save the engine and fight another day. But I’m glad we didn’t and it just goes to show that you should never stop and give up. »

Esteban Ocon (FRA / Alpine) – 7th

“It was a great race. I’m really happy with the result because we couldn’t have hoped for better today (Sunday). Valtteri Bottas was too fast and there was a group forming in front. We were aggressive at the start of the race and we were able to overtake two or three cars. It was great, it worked very well. It feels good, especially after our qualifying session which was complicated yesterday (Saturday). It was unexpected to see both cars in the points today (Sunday), starting for the first in last position and the other outside the Top 10. This race has a flavor of victory or podium. It was very hard, it was hot all the way. I will sleep well tonight. This bodes well for Monaco. »

Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri) – 14th

 » I am very disappointed. The weekends follow one another and it still doesn’t pay off. We had contact from the first lap and we lost a lot of aerodynamic load. And then we were nowhere. From the first lap, the race was more or less over but I tried to do the maximum. It’s starting to get a little frustrating. There are always positives but we will have to work. I’m doing my best on my side, we’re going to do even more. There will be no changes for the next races. It’s like that, I trust the team at this level. We will have to do the best we can with the car we have. »

Charles Leclerc (MCO / Ferrari) – Abandonment

“I lost engine power on lap 27 and from there I had to stop because there was a problem. I don’t know what the problem is yet but hey, it hurts. At the same time, there are also plenty of positives. We have finally, I think, solved the problem of tire degradation. It was really the answer we were looking for. We showed that we were really very fast. We will have to take a closer look at this engine problem so that it doesn’t come back. Since the start of the season, we haven’t had a problem. So that can also happen. Monaco will be important. I hope I can finally finish this Grand Prix at home. »

Sources: official Formula 1 interviews, Canal+