F1: Australian GP Post-Race Quotes

–Compiled by Mark Cipolloni–

Red Bull

Max Verstappen, 1st

“My start today wasn’t amazing, and then on lap 1 I was very careful as there was a lot on the line, I had a lot to lose, and a lot to win, but after that restart, we had good pace, and a decent gap for the majority of the race. Perhaps we didn’t need all of those red flags today, it was frustrating, but everyone was safe, and we won which is the most important thing. It’s my first win in Australia which feels really good, it’s also been a while for the Team so it means a lot to us all, especially as Checo also had a good recovery drive today. It’s been a chaotic day, but it’s great to see that the fans had a great time despite the long wait!”

Sergio Perez, 5th

“Generally, it was a good result today. Yesterday, I obviously lost a bit of confidence with the car, but we made a lot of changes overnight so that helped heading into the race. I had a really good restart the first time, I jumped 3 or 4 places, but then it was a bit of a mess with the DRS train. I was frustrated later in the race because I couldn’t advance any further, but it was so difficult to get through the field with tire deg low, and everyone going on to the hard tires quickly. Maybe if I’d been a bit more aggressive earlier on, I could’ve finished higher, but I’m happy we finished P5, and even managed to secure the fastest lap. Overall, this race gives us confidence heading to Baku in a few weeks, and we look forward to the challenge that it brings.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal

“It was a complicated race made up of three parts. The first start didn’t go our way, but in the restart Max was able to hold position, battle Lewis for the lead, and really control the race from there. While the marshals are always acting in the interest of safety, and driver safety is paramount, the restart at the end of the race was a little frustrating. Thankfully, it didn’t cost us anything, we had great pace with the car, and Max was on great form. For Max to claim the victory was testament to his driving, but equally, credit must go to the Team both here, and at home, all of whom worked together to deliver a great race. Checo also drove phenomenally well, bringing home the fastest lap, and securing P5 in the end. It was a great recovery, from the back of the grid, in the pits, on a track where it is very difficult to overtake. All in all we are very happy with our performance, and thrilled to bring home a win on our 350th race at a track we haven’t won at in 10 years.”

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, 2nd

“To get a podium today is amazing; I definitely didn’t expect to be second this weekend, so I am super grateful. Considering we’re down on performance, to be fighting with the Aston Martins is amazing for us at this point in the season. We’ve just got to keep fighting. A big thank you to all the people back at the factory. We can close that gap; it’s going to be tough, but not impossible.

“It was very unlucky for George today. Our reliability has generally been pretty good so that was unfortunate. Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone here in Melbourne, and Australia. I’ve had the best week here, and this town continues to put on a great show.”

George Russell, DNF

“We did everything right this weekend. We had a great Qualifying yesterday, and today, the start was perfect. We managed the first stint well, and I could have extended it quite a lot more. I’ve felt comfortable, and strong in the car on all three days. I see no reason why we couldn’t have fought for victory today, so it’s disappointing. As soon as I came through the high-speed turn 10, I felt something go. Three corners later, I was stopped. When it’s not your day, it’s not your day.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do to catch Red Bull, but we can take the positives from this weekend. Every time we’ve taken to the track, we couldn’t have done any more. We maximized everything, and I’m proud of the job that we have done.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“We had strong pace today, and it was really close with the Aston Martins, and the Ferraris. That is good news for us, and I think we have made a step forward this weekend, both on one-lap, and race pace. We maximized what we have, and we need to now comb through the data, and continue to learn about the car. This will help bring the upgrade packages, and that will be the key in challenging the leaders more often.

“It was unfortunate with George; he had a great stop from the lead, and changed onto the hard tire. It was absolutely the right call, and he would have been very much at the front. With the red flag his race was not so good anymore. He still could have made it to the front though, so he was unfortunate to have a Power Unit failure.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

“It’s great to get the first podium of the year with Lewis, but it was a day of mixed fortunes for the team. Lewis drove a difficult race well, and had to find a fine balance between tire management, and defending. George had put together a strong weekend, and was unfortunate that the Safety Car became a red flag. Things then got worse with the Power Unit issue. The pace of the car has been better than at the first two races; we’ve made some changes to the setup for the circuit, but hopefully we can take some of that learning into the upcoming races.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso, 3rd

“It was a rollercoaster of emotions today with the red flags, and incidents. It was probably my craziest race here in Melbourne, but it’s great to come away with another podium. There were many things going on all afternoon, and we had an interesting battle with Lewis [Hamilton] for second. The pace of the car was good, and we kept up the pressure on Lewis, but he did a good job, and didn’t really make any mistakes. On the contact with Carlos [Sainz] after the restart I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it so I think the penalty for him was quite harsh in the end. We have to be pleased with this start to the season, and three podiums in as many races.”

Lance Stroll, 4th

“I think we should be pleased with the result we’ve come away with today: third, and fourth is great for the team. It was a heavily disrupted race with red flags, and a few big accidents, and neither Fernando nor I managed to stay clear of the drama. I had a little bit of contact on the first lap, but we were running well until the first red flag was thrown. As we’ve seen across the weekend, it takes a while for the tires to get up to temperature here, and so on the second restart I locked up at turn three, and ended up in the gravel. Thankfully, the red flag had been waved before that point, and I was able to retake my position for the final restart. This sport is a rollercoaster of emotions sometimes! Overall, we’ve come away from a chaotic race with a solid haul of points for the team, and to be second in the Constructors’ Championship after three races is very positive”

Mike Krack, Team Principal

“What a race! There was just about everything you could imagine this afternoon so to come away with third, and fourth places –, and 27 points – is a brilliant reward for the team. It was not an easy race to navigate with the early red flag putting extra emphasis on managing the Hard tires. Almost everyone was trying to run until the end, and it was very close throughout the top ten. Fernando stayed close to Lewis, but with similar race pace we could not get close enough to challenge for second. Lance raced hard all afternoon, survived various battles, and did an excellent job looking after the tires. Then there was the chaotic restart, and I have to say it was a relief to see the starting order reinstated. I know some drivers, and teams really lost out in the mayhem, but we got a bit lucky with both cars being largely undamaged allowing us to finish the race under the Safety Car. Big congratulations, and thanks to the whole team at Silverstone, and here at the track for another strong, and faultless performance with both cars, and our third podium of the year. Today we celebrate, and enjoy this result, but tomorrow our attention turns to the next race in Baku.”

McLaren

Lando Norris, 6th

“A very good race. We had good pace throughout, stayed out of trouble with no mistakes. The team did a very good job. I think the pace today was stronger than our qualifying pace yesterday, so things came together nicely. Just a well-executed race.

“I’m happy with all of that, and it’s the first points for us this season. It’s nice to get on the board, and it’s a good end to the first few races before we have a bit of a break, and then head into Baku, and the next batch of races. I’m happy, so a big thanks to the whole team, and everyone back at the factory for all the hard work as usual, and we’ll keep pushing.”

Oscar Piastri, 8th

“P8, I didn’t expect that at the start of the day! I’ll definitely take it. Obviously, a crazy, crazy race, but we stayed in there when it mattered. I’m so happy to get my first points in Melbourne, and want to thank all of the home fans, and papaya fans for all their support this week. Double points for the team is a great result, and thank you to everyone who got us there.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“An eventful race today in Melbourne. We managed to stay out of trouble, and were able to score our first points of the season. Even without the three red flags, it was good to see that we were in condition to race well, and make good overtaking moves, so there’s plenty of positives. At the same time, we know we have to stay realistic, and have a lot of hard work ahead. Both trackside, and back at the factory, we’ll use the energy from this double points result to make us even more determined to deliver a quicker car. Thank you to everyone trackside, at the MTC, and our colleagues at HPP for their hard work.”

Haas

Nico Hulkenberg, 7th

“It was wild, and a bit messy at times. We’ll have to look through everything that happened as there were a lot of things happening. I had a super start the third time around on softs, and came through to P4, so it’s a shame there were a few incidents, and then the race was red flagged. There are a lot of positive learnings again, and I feel there are a lot of good things happening. I’m refreshed, in a very positive mindset, and really enjoy working with the team, and experimenting with the car. We have very good momentum, and that’s what we want to take into the next races.”

Kevin Magnussen, DNF

“I brushed the wall at the exit of Turn 2, and the rim broke, the tire came off, and I had to stop. I didn’t even feel it so it definitely wasn’t something that felt big in the car, but it was enough to crack the rim, and take the tire off. It’s unfortunate, we were in P12 I think at that time, and it didn’t look like I was going to be able to score points. We got unlucky with the first red flag as we had just pitted from P11, and we seemed to be quicker than the next couple of cars so I was quite confident at that stage of the race. Then we pitted under the safety car, and just afterwards, it turned to a red flag. Everyone put their tires on to go to the end of the race, and we were last. It wasn’t my day, but it seemed like the car had decent pace so I’m encouraged by that, and we’ll push next time.”

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas, 11th

“I’m happy for Zhou, and the team to come back with two points from what can only be described as a chaotic race. My afternoon had been quite lonely, and without much action – until it all kicked off towards the end. We decided to take a risk at the start, and I pitted for hard tires on lap one: the plan was to keep those tires for the whole race, but then the red flag meant I couldn’t get much advantage from that. Later, when the safety car came out, we went for softs, but yet again the red flag messed up with my strategy. It’s been a hard weekend, we have been off the pace since the start, but we’ll make sure to look into that in the gap before the next race. I am actually glad to have some time before Baku, to get back to the drawing board, and get back in a more competitive shape.”

Zhou Guanyu, 10th

“P9 at the checkered flag is a good result, especially considering where we started, and the challenging weekend we had. There are positives to take – we had a really good start, which is something we worked really hard on, and we didn’t do any mistakes in a race where there were plenty of spills. We kept it clean, kept out of trouble, and I was able to keep the pressure on Magnussen in the later stages, which in the end allowed us to get points. The conditions out there were difficult, the track temperatures were very low, but we didn’t do mistakes, and it is what matters. These are my first points of the year, always a nice reward in a tricky place like Melbourne. Now we will need to keep improving, and hopefully add more points to our name in Baku, and beyond.”

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative

“Today’s race shows the importance of fighting until the very end of the race. We kept pushing, we executed the race well, and we placed ourselves in the position to capitalize on the opportunities when they came our way: luck is only getting a chance, we had to seize it. We were actually quite unlucky with the timing of the first red flag: we had both cars on the right strategy to fight for the top ten, but the stoppage, and the free stop it gifted everyone else, effectively jeopardized our afternoon. Both Zhou, and Valtteri had a solid race, without making mistakes, and on a track like this it meant they were there or thereabout at the checkered flag. Two points are a good return in what has been a challenging weekend: we need to make the most of this little break before Baku to understand how to recapture the pace we had in Bahrain, analyze the data from the car, especially with the new upgrades our team at home was able to produce for this race, and get back stronger for the next rounds.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola – Motorsport Director

“This was a truly eventful Australian Grand Prix, with three red flag periods as well as a safety car, and a virtual safety car. All these occurrences effectively defined how the strategies shook out, while in terms of tire behavior, the compounds performed as we expected them to, with the hard C2 tire playing a leading role. When the first safety car came out after Albon went off on lap seven, some drivers who had started on the mediums switched to the hard – followed by others once the red flag came out to allow the track to be cleaned. Despite not having much information over long runs – very few drivers strung together stints of longer than 10 laps or so in free practice – the C2 showed itself to be a very consistent tire in terms of degradation, and not far from the pace of other nominated compounds, fulfilling all the demands placed on it. The fact that we saw all three compounds on the starting grid highlights how bringing the C4 tire to Melbourne this year was the correct choice, as it was judged to be a valid race tire as well as becoming the protagonist of the final run to the flag, thanks to two red flag periods that were almost consecutive. Both this compound, and the medium showed good performance today, albeit over relatively short stints, with higher temperatures, and a more rubbered-in surface.”

THE RACE FROM A Tire POINT OF VIEW

• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Australian Grand Prix for the first time in his career. In an action-packed race, the reigning world champion led two other world champions past the checkered flag: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. All the podium finishers ended the race on the P Zero Red soft, following a tire change one lap from the finish.
• The Australian Grand Prix was interrupted by three safety car periods, and three red flag periods, including a red flag just a lap from the finish, leading to two standing starts, and a final rolling start. The virtual safety car also made an appearance, due to a car stopped on the exit of the pitlane.
• The race strategies were largely influenced by the frequent safety car periods, and other race interruptions. The top three started on the P Zero Yellow medium, and then went onto the P Zero White hard at the first neutralization. The last three laps were instead run on two different sets of soft tires.
• A total of 10 drivers completed the longest stint on the hard tire, covering 47 laps on this compound, including all three podium finishers. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon kept the same set of hard tires that he had fitted on lap one without changing them during the first red flag period, completing 54 laps on the same tires. Alfa Romeo drivers Valtteri Bottas, and Guanyou Zhou, also used the same set of hard tires for more than 50 laps.
• AlphaTauri’s Nyck De Vries was instead the driver to complete the most consecutive laps on the two other available compounds: 37 on the medium, and nine on the soft.
• Red Bull’s Sergio Perez set the fastest lap of the race, using the hard tire (1m20.235s), and was also one of the drivers to complete the longest stint on this compound. Alonso, and De Vries were instead fastest on the medium, and soft tires, setting times of 1m22.603s, and 1m21.183s on these compounds respectively.
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