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1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull
Racing)
2 – George RUSSELL (Mercedes)
3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by David Coulthard)
Q: Max, what a way to win your home Grand Prix. What a difference a week
makes. You had to fight, fight, fight all the way.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was not a straightforward race. We had to push the
whole race. Of course, with the Safety Car, Virtual Safety Car, making the
right calls, it was always bit of a question mark, but it worked out really
well. Once we got back to the Soft tyres we had great pace again.
Q: At any point during the race did you ever doubt? Because it looked like
Lewis Hamilton, with track position, had Mercedes covered him off, then, you
know, it could have been a different story.
MV: Yeah, I mean, before that Safety Car I thought it was OK to the end with
the Hard tyres, even though we were a bit slower. But then of course, the
Safety Car came out and I said ‘I don't think we're going to keep it up if
we just if we don't pit’. So we went for the Soft tyres. But then of course
I dropped back to third. Then George pitted as well. I had a good run on the
restart. We have a bit more top speed, so that helps to attack into Turn 1.
And from there onwards we had a really good balance in the car again.
Q: That restart with the Safety Car was crucial. I didn't expect you to get
the pass done at the restart, but that's what your full focus was.
MV: Yeah, we timed it really well out of that last corner into the banking
and then you could see the draft was quite strong and we got ahead, so
incredible to win again.
Q: Max on the slowing down lap, there are fireworks, there's a sea of orange
smoke. Can you put into words just what this victory means in comparison to
all others?
MV: It's always special to win your home Grand Prix. It was already last
year. This year, I have to say I had to work for it even more. So yeah, an
incredible weekend and I'm really happy we got the Dutch Grand Prix.
Q: Quick word for your fans.
MV: Unbelievable support. And I'm really happy that all of you guys came
here to support me. So proud to be Dutch.
Q: Congratulations, Max Verstappen, the winner of the Dutch Grand Prix.
George Russell, wow! You were a little bit out of place in qualifying but
you never lost faith. You said you have a quick race car. Second place.
Congratulations.
George RUSSELL: Yeah, firstly a huge thank you to all the crowd here. It's
been an incredible reception. It’s a really special feeling for all of us
drivers to come racing in Zandvoort and in Holland. So thank you very much.
Q: Now George, you're going to be happy with that second place but your
team-mate will feel that he was maybe a little bit out of position. When you
passed him, there was there was a little… What was going on there? It almost
looks like you are going to hit the back of him?
GR: Yeah, we like to keep it close, you know, always. But you know, I think
as a team today we showed incredible pace. I know the team result wasn't
quite what we hoped for. But this gives us a lot of confidence and a lot of
faith moving forward. So, I think it's incredible see three different teams
on the podium and you know we, as Mercedes, are slowly getting closer to
that top step so let's keep on pushing.
Q: Yeah, it shows just how competitive Formula 1 is. George, congratulations
on your second place. Charles, congratulations. Third place, not, of course,
the result you would have looked for today but the race just slipped away.
Can you can you talk us through the key moments that saw you find yourself
dropped from second to third.
Charles LECLERC: To be to be honest I mean much better was difficult to do.
We were a little bit unlucky with the VSC. I don't know if this will have
changed anything, Max was too quick today. And then there was the Mercedes
that were flying on the Hard tyres. We struggled to find the feeling on
those tyres. So we'll analyse that, but yeah, it's P3 for us today.
Q: The battle with Lewis? Fairly straightforward towards the ends?
CL: Yeah, I mean, Lewis was struggling a little bit. He was on a used set. I
had a bit more grip. We managed to overtake him, but they were still
managing to keep those tyres very well on the last lap. So it wasn't easy,
but at the end, we made it stick.
Q: The gap increases in the championship. I know you take one race at a time
and you never give up but what is your feeling now in the championship
challenge?
CL: Well, as I said in Spa, now the gap is really big. So we'll take it race
by race, try to maximise our potential. And let's see what's possible.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: A very warm welcome to the top three finishers of the FIA Formula 1 Dutch
Grand Prix. In third place, Charles Leclerc. In second place, George
Russell. And taking his 10th win of this 2022 campaign and his 30th career
win in Formula 1, our winner, Max Verstappen. What a weekend for you Max,
another win from pole in front of your Dutch fans, just please sum up what
this means to you?
MV: Yeah, it was not a straightforward race, you know. So then I think it's
extra rewarding to win the race. We couldn't really do our preferred
strategy to the end and that I think made it a little bit more difficult for
us, up until the last Safety Car, because I think we were just a bit more
competitive on the softer compounds. But then, of course, with that late
Safety Car, we could switch back to the preferred tyre, the Soft one, and we
could get back into lead.
Q: You've explained it all beautifully now, but how difficult was it to stay
on top of everything during the race itself?
MV: Yeah, it was just difficult. I think I gave my opinions about what I
wanted with tyres. Like, I said, don't use the Hard tyre. But we had to,
because of the VSC. It came out a bit unfortunate. And then we went out and
we were clearly lacking a little bit of pace on that Hard compared to the
Mercedes cars on the Medium. I think the gap was still big enough to manage
it to the end. But they would have definitely gotten a lot closer than I
think the 11-and-a-half seconds it was at the time. But yeah, then Safety
Car came out and then there's no way that you can stay out on a Hard tyre.
So we had to box, but I didn't request it. You have to trust your team as
well to make the right calls and they did. So they boxed me. We put a Soft
tyre on. And of course, then we dropped back. But then also, of course,
George also pitted for Softs and then we were back into P2. And yeah,
surprisingly, we had a really good restart and then with the extra top speed
we have over Mercedes, I could get a run into Turn 1.
Q: When you look at the race as a whole, were you surprised that it was
Mercedes, ultimately challenging you today and not Ferrari?
MV: I was just surprised that they were that quick on the harder compounds.
I have to say these tyres are very stiff, you know, the C1, C2. And they
just didn't seem to really switch on for us as good as they did for them.
That's I think what made it a little bit more complicated for us today. But
then, once we were able to switch back to the Soft, we could counter it. But
yeah, I expected probably them to be a little bit slower. And I expected
Ferrari to be a little bit faster.
Q: Now, Max, this magical season continues for you. And in your seven years
at Red Bull. Is this the most at one that you felt with the car and with the
team?
MV: Yes, but I think that's normal because of just spending more time with
everyone and of course, being part of the team for an even longer period of
time. So, I think that's what you hope for, right? Like every year you
continue, that you feel even more at one with the team. With the car it’s a
tricky one. Because, of course, when the regulations change then maybe
sometimes you have to start over. And I have to say that in the beginning of
the year it was a bit of adaptation, which is not fully to my liking. But
also, like I've explained before, the car was quite heavy. And I think
naturally with reducing the weight it all felt a bit more agile.
Q: George coming to you, great job as well. Your best result of the season
so far from P6 on the grid. Do you feel you extracted the absolute maximum
from it?
GR: Yeah, I think so. I think if you told me before the race, I'd be
finishing P2, I'd have definitely been very happy with that. But I think we,
as a team, thought we had a shot at victory today. And we roll the dice
going with that one-stop strategy from the off. And, you know, the pace of
the Mercedes today was just absolute flying. So really proud of the job
we've done as a team to keep on improving and show how fast our race car is.
But obviously, starting a little bit further down the grid, it's always
going to be challenging, but no, for us, as a team, incredible race. Sorry
for Lewis that he obviously wasn't on the podium with us because he did an
excellent job and deserve to be sat here too.
Q: As Max just said, your pace on the hard tyre was phenomenal. Did that
surprise you?
GR: Yes and no. I think the car was really feeling good this weekend from
lap one. On Friday, I knew it was going to be a much better weekend than we
had in Spa. I think Spa played against us. Zandvoort probably towards us.
So, I'm not sure how our Monza performance is going to be I think it'll
probably be somewhere between the two. Hopefully closer to what we saw this
weekend, but I think it’s really promising we have so much race pace.
Q: Do you feel got the car was back where it was at Hungary?
GR: I think there's no surprises there because these are two very similar
circuits: high downforce; a lot of medium speed corners. And that's where
the car really comes into its own. So, you know, we go into some very
different circuits in the upcoming races. But globally, we're bringing a lot
of performance to the car. And, as I said, I think we have a car that's
capable of fighting victory, we just need to be able to start a little bit
higher up the order.
Q: Charles, coming to you. Well done to you as well, another podium. Is
there anything more you could have done today to challenge Max?
CL: Not really, we just didn't have the pace. We didn't… we weren't quick
enough. So this is the main focus at the moment, to try and bring back the
speed that we had at the beginning of the season. We seem to have lost it, a
little bit of pace in the in the long runs especially.
Q: Have you lost it or have the cars around you gained some pace, long run
pace?
CL: No-no, I think everybody is obviously improving but in the last races,
we've been struggling more a bit more in race pace. Now Mercedes is also in
the fight and they are very quick. They were extremely quick today,
especially on the Harder compounds. I think our pace on the Soft was really
good at the beginning. We had used tyres, Max was on new, so I think the
difference was more or less what we expected. But then, on the new Medium,
we were slower than expected, for sure.
Q: And were you surprised by the pace of Mercedes today?
CL: Yes, definitely. On the Harder compounds? Yes.
Q: Charles, can you just throw it forward for people who want a preview for
Monza next weekend? What can we expect from you and Ferrari there?
CL: On paper, it's not our best track, unfortunately. But anyway, I'm really
looking forward to go there. We always have a massive amount of support. And
for that, I'm really looking forward to it. But I think the performance on
paper will be a bit more difficult than this weekend, unfortunately.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Max, at what point did you realise that
Mercedes was going to be a real threat for the win? Was it when Lewis and
George were flying on the Hards? At the same time, George, when you had that
Hard tyre on, before the Virtual Safety Car, how hard were you guys pushing
to make it to the finish? Thanks.
MV: I have to say, when I swapped to the Medium, of course, I was catching
them, which is normal because I had a newer tyre, they were still doing good
lap times, I have to say. And then yes, as soon as they swapped to the Hard,
I was quite interested to see their pace, because I never really wanted to
go to a Hard tyre. But yeah, when I heard the lap times, I was like… ‘that's
quite quick’. And I was trying to push up a bit. But they were still a few
tenths faster. So yeah, very surprising that they made it work, that tyre
around here. But then I knew, of course, it might get close to the end of
the race, with the way our strategies were playing out. But then, of course,
the gap after the VSC was still getting big enough to manage. But yeah,
clearly, they were quick in the race.
GR: Yeah, I think we had nothing to lose; we were pushing absolutely flat
out and we knew that was our only opportunity to fight for victory. And, you
know, pre-race, in our strategy meetings, we said, we need to be bold in our
decisions to be able to fight for victory. And I think, starting on that
Medium, it was clear that the others were going to be doing a two-stop. And,
as I said, we just absolutely went for it. And when we saw Max in our
sights, that was really exciting. It was probably, for me personally, the
most enjoyable race I've ever had in Formula 1, just being able to push so
hard for so long on such an exceptional circuit as well. I think it was
really quite fun.
Q: George after the performance of the car today, do you remain even more
convinced that this car can win this season?
GR: There's no doubt we've got the race pace to be able to win. Absolutely
sure of that. And had we been starting P2/3/4 we probably could have won the
race today. And, ultimately it’s going to come down to our qualifying
performance on a Saturday. If we continue to qualify P6 and P8 as we have
done in the last two race weekends, we're going to really struggle to win a
race. But we need to find a bit more magic in qualifying as we showed in
Budapest.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Max, when you pitted during the Safety
Car it seemed that you had to overtake two Mercedes car on track for the
win. Personally, were you surprised by their decision to pit one car and to
take the buffer away and did it make things a bit more straightforward at
the end of the race for you?
MV: It’s always easy to speak afterwards, but I think the call George made
was the right one at the end because I think with the pace we had on the
Soft, I would have overtaken both of them because the grip difference was
quite big at the end – it turned out to be.
Q: (Niharika Ghorpade - Sportskeeda) Max, Lewis suggested that your
dominance this year is credited to Adrian Newey and to Red Bull. Do you
think that’s valid, and also do you think anybody else in your car, any
other driver, could have been as dominant as you are?
MV: There’s a lot of that is down to the team, of course, as also how Lewis
won his championships. That’s how it goes in Formula 1. Your car is
super-important, but I think when you’re an exceptional driver like of
course Lewis is as well, you make a difference over your team-mate at the
time, because in very crucial races as well. For example, for me, I think
one that stood out as well for him, was Turkey, when it was very slippery –
just staying calm, not making mistakes. You end up winning a race like that
and that’s what, at the end of the day, what good drivers do. They do make
the difference compared to other fast drivers but not as good. So, yeah, the
car is very dominant in Formula 1 but of course between team-mates, only one
can win, and that’s where you have to make the difference.
Q: (Jaap de Groot – Masters Magazine) Continuing from the last question,
Max, when you won your first world title, you wondered if you ever could
produce the same intensity and your will to win. But it seems now instead
that you're bringing winning to a next level.
MV: It's a whole team effort, you know, and the intensity is different. It's
also a completely different season. But I think I don't need to tell anyone
in the team, the motivation we have, to always try to improve and to win
races, even when we win races, we still want to do better. And also, today
we will look at a lot of things that we can do better but I think that's
what you always need to have, that kind of approach, always wanting to do
more, wanting to do better, because that's how you stay on top because if
you stand still, of course, people at the end will overtake you.
Q: (Marijn Abbenhuijs – AD Sportwereld) Max, Helmut Marko just told us how
impressed he is with you, with your ability to stay calm and extremely
focused, even in circumstances like this, these chaotic circumstances. Do
you have moments of realisation that you think: ‘well, how special is this?
What is going on in my world at the moment?’
MV : When you're on the grid, you're not thinking about how special
everything is. I'm focused on what I have to do in the car. You go through
all the procedures so it's nice, of course, to see all the crowd and the
craziness and I appreciate it a lot but I think also, as a sportsman, you
focus on your job, right? And that's what you do throughout the race. And
then of course, after the race, you take it all in and of course, this was a
very special weekend for me, to see, all of these fans come out and support
me. It's been incredible but of course for those one and a half hours, you
are fully focused on the job.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) George, with what happened to Lewis after
the safety car restart, what you feared would happen to you as well, if
you've been left out on those mediums? And also when you came by him, how
close were you to making contact? It like you had to check up a little bit.
GR: I think as a team it was an incredibly difficult decision because had we
both pitted, we would have conceded the position to Max. Had we both stayed
out, we probably both would have lost out to Max as well so the best chance
we as a team had of victory was splitting the cars, one to stay ahead of
Max, one to stay behind and see what happened. If you could have just got
those tyres restarted, it could have been different but it was always going
to be very, very challenging for him, but I'm sure Lewis… he wanted to go
for it. As a racing driver and where we are at the moment as a team, we want
to win. And we're obviously really happy with the points, just being
consistent, getting them on the board but ultimately no one remembers who
finishes second in a championship. So we want to we want to win a race. And
yeah, I think obviously with that overtake with Lewis, just a bit of
confusion and I came out just as he defended, and yeah, it could a bit
nasty, but it's nothing but respect between the two of us. So yeah, all
good.
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Max, last week you said that
Spa-Francorchamps tracks suits your car perfectly well, and that it would be
more tricky on a high downforce circuit. Today was more tricky but still you
won at the Hungaroring, you’ve won here, so is it fair to say that the Red
Bull car does not have any real weakness anymore at this stage of the
season?
MV: Not real weaknesses but we know at some places where we are stronger
than others, we know on a high downforce track that it's a bit of a more
difficult situation to get the best out of our package. But I think if you
look at the whole season, of course, you have more tracks with kind of
medium downforce levels and I think our car is very efficient. So that's why
I think we're all looking forward to Monza. |
