Formula 1 News: 2024 Austrian GP Post-Race Quotes
All ten F1 teams plus tire supplier Pirelli provided these quotes after the 2024 Austrian GP held at the Red Bull Ring and won by a very lucky George Russell
Oracle Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen (5th): “There are definitely a few things we need to improve looking to next week and hopefully we can work on the performance, tires and balance. We were battling today and Lando tried to move around the outside, and then we touched with the rear tires. It was very hot so immediately we had a puncture. From my side it seemed like a weird move but we obviously need to review this and of course we will talk about it. The shape of the corner also provides these kinds of issues sometimes and it is never nice to come together. This, however, isn’t currently my main focus as we need to take a look at the overall performance today and the difficulties we had with the car. It was very hard to manage the tires, the first stint was not too bad and I had a fairly comfortable lead, the second stint was difficult; I think we stayed out a bit too long and then there was the issue with the pit stop. The overall Team performance wasn’t what we expected it to be and the strategy didn’t work that well in this case. It was a shame because of the lead that we had. There are definitely a few things we need to improve looking to next week and hopefully we can work on the performance, tires and balance.”
Sergio Perez (7th): “There are definitely a few things we need to improve looking to next week and hopefully we can work on the performance, tires and balance. We were battling today and Lando tried to move around the outside, and then we touched with the rear tires. It was very hot so immediately we had a puncture. From my side it seemed like a weird move but we obviously need to review this and of course we will talk about it. The shape of the corner also provides these kinds of issues sometimes and it is never nice to come together. This, however, isn’t currently my main focus as we need to take a look at the overall performance today and the difficulties we had with the car. It was very hard to manage the tires, the first stint was not too bad and I had a fairly comfortable lead, the second stint was difficult; I think we stayed out a bit too long and then there was the issue with the pit stop. The overall Team performance wasn’t what we expected it to be and the strategy didn’t work that well in this case. It was a shame because of the lead that we had. There are definitely a few things we need to improve looking to next week and hopefully we can work on the performance, tires and balance.”
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: “We still managed to get some points and extend both Championships, 10 points in the Drivers and 16 in the Constructors. For so much of the race we had it under control, we had an 8 second lead and it looked like it was all ok. We lost some time in the pit stop as we had a wheel nut that stuck on the left rear, that cut Max’s lead down more than we would have liked and from there it was hard racing. Lando exceeded track limits and was going to get a penalty but then there was the contact and that was really frustrating, it was tough racing between those two. We’ve still managed to get some points though and extend both Championships,10 points in the Drivers’ and 16 in the Constructors’, the pace of the car has been very strong this weekend, we have had two poles, Max lead the race for all but 9 laps and then the Sprint victory yesterday so it hasn’t been totally disastrous, but, yes, still frustrating, we really would have liked the win, but that is racing.”
Mercedes
George Russell (1st): “Incredible! That’s the only way I can describe it. We had a tough fight in the early stages to make sure we held on to P3. That would prove crucial at the end. I could see that Max (Verstappen) and Lando (Norris) were having a big battle. We were only just over 10 seconds behind the pair of them, which is really encouraging pace-wise. I knew there was a possibility that they could come together, even if it was only a slim chance. You have to be there at the end to pick up the pieces and that’s exactly where we were. I am so proud to be back on the top step of the podium. The team have done an amazing job to get us closer to the fight at the front. We have made so many strides since the start of the season. The last few races have been great and hopefully there is more to come. It’s no secret that Max and Lando are a little bit ahead of us at present but we’re now consistently putting ourselves in that third position. It’s an exciting time for us; we’re riding a bit of a wave, and I can’t wait to go to my home race at Silverstone next week and see what we can do there.”
Lewis Hamilton (4th): “Congratulations to George and the team. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth really deserves this result. They have worked so hard to bring performance to the car and we are starting to get us closer and closer to the very front. We put in so much effort so to get a result like this is a well-deserved reward for everyone’s efforts. From my side, it wasn’t the cleanest weekend. I picked up some damage early on and that compromised my race, unfortunately. We now look ahead to Silverstone. It is always such a special weekend, and I can’t wait to see all the fans there. It is a track that should hopefully suit us a little better than here in Austria so let’s see what we can do.”
Toto Wolff, Team Principal: “It is a great feeling to get back on to the top step of the podium. It is a fantastic reward for the hard work and efforts of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth. We have taken good steps forward in recent races, and we are excited about what is still to come. We knew our outright pace today wouldn’t quite be enough to challenge for victory. We therefore made sure we maximized our race and were able to pick up the pieces, should anything happen. We enjoyed some good fortune but that is motor racing. George did a fantastic job throughout the race to keep himself within touching distance of the front two. It was a third place on pace, and we would have been pleased with that as it highlights the progress we continue to make. We did think there could be a chance for more though with the battle ahead and we were able to take advantage of that. Lewis, meanwhile, was unfortunate today. Firstly, that he had to give the position back to the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and secondly, as he picked up floor damage which caused him a loss of performance. Nevertheless, he fought hard and drove a strong race to take a valuable P4. We now look forward to Silverstone next week. We are encouraged by our overall performance this weekend at a track that has not normally been a favorite for our cars. Our aim over the next few races is to continue to show progress and aim to get closer to the front.”
Andrew Shovlin: “We’ll allow ourselves to enjoy the win today; it’s been a while! A big well done to George and the whole team across Brackley and Brixworth. We know fine well we have more work to do before we can take victory on merit, but it’s taken a lot of effort and determination from the team to get us to a point where we are regularly fighting for podiums. That is what put us in a position today to benefit from Max and Lando’s misfortune. Lewis had a tougher time. He picked up floor damage early in the race and, that together with the time penalty for crossing the white line at pit entry, took him out of contention. That said, we’ve managed to score good points with both cars today and the picture in the Constructors’ Championship has improved dramatically over the last three races. We will enjoy tonight and first thing tomorrow, we will shift our focus to Silverstone. It’s a great event with a fantastic crowd, and the team and drivers will be doing everything we can to build on our recent momentum.”
Ferrari
Carlos Sainz (3rd): “This P3 is a positive result and it’s a good reward for us after what was a difficult start to the weekend. Yesterday we worked hard to try to improve the car after the Sprint and we had a better qualifying. Today it was an eventful race and our pace wasn’t bad, fighting with the Mercedes for a place on the podium. Unfortunately, after the crash at the front I couldn’t do much to keep the other McLaren behind as they’ve been very fast here in Austria. All in all, a podium is a good result and now we need to focus on ourselves to be able to fight at the front, which is where we want to be. All eyes on Silverstone.”
Charles Leclerc (11th): “Unfortunately, this was a weekend to forget as nothing went as it should. The collision on the opening lap obviously completely ruined my race. We were hoping for a Safety Car but it didn’t come and I lost time behind Lando (Norris) when I had fresh tires and could have pushed more. The end result was that we couldn’t even score a point. Apart from Carlos’ podium which brings us a good points haul in the Constructors’, the only other positive aspect of the weekend is that we were able to try various set-up configurations, producing plenty of data for the team, which will be very important for the upcoming races. Tomorrow, we will immediately start working hard with the aim of putting this race behind us, right from next weekend at Silverstone.”
Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: “Today’s race gives us mixed feelings as it’s positive to be back on the podium with Carlos, who drove a solid race and brought home good points for the championship, but we didn’t score with Charles, who was involved in a racing incident at the start. So, all in all not a bad weekend even if there’s a bit of frustration as we probably could have done a better job especially at the beginning of it. We made a good step forward from Friday morning onwards but it’s not enough and we must continue to push as we need to have two cars fighting for maximum points at every race. Once again we need to work to improve our qualifying pace as starting nearer the front in such a tight field means having a better chance of finishing at the front, picking up opportunities and stay away from troubles. One final word on this weekend, to see such a close fight for the lead, with drivers really pushing one another, eventually ending with an unexpected winner, while there were other equally exciting battles lower down the field, is definitely very good for the popularity of this sport.”
McLaren Mercedes
Oscar Piastri (2nd): “I know that’s only my fourth podium in F1 but being so close to a win hurts a little bit! It’s really good points, of course, and we were very strong in the second half of the race, so overall I’m happy with a podium in that regard – but when it’s so close at the end, you can’t help but feel disappointed. We get another go next week at Silverstone, it has always been a track I enjoy, and I have good memories of the Grand Prix from last year. It’s the team’s home race, and hopefully, we can be up at the front once again.”
Lando Norris (20th, Retired): “Tough race! The first half was challenging because I didn’t really have the pace, but it improved in the final stint and felt very strong. I made a number of attempts to go for the win, trying to avoid collisions, and frustratingly I got crashed into by Max, which ended my day early. There was nothing more I could do. The team did a great job this weekend and we gave a very strong race until the contact. It’s unfortunate and hurts but it’s time to move on to the next one. I’m looking forward to racing in front of my home fans at Silverstone. We’ll be fighting for another strong result to finish the triple header on a high.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: “We come away from this event in Austria with a double podium finish in the Sprint and a podium finish for Oscar in the main race, which confirms once again the trajectory of the team. We are now in a condition to contend for the top positions at every kind of circuit. There’s quite a lot of confirmation of the strengths, in terms of the car performance, in terms of the operations, in terms of the whole team working together, united in order to try and bring McLaren to the front of the grid. At the same time, there’s also quite a bit of frustration, because of what happened yesterday with the lap-deletion for Oscar, and today, with the collision between Lando and Max, which meant we could not see this battle going to the Checkered Flag, which would have been quite exciting. We will make sure we use this frustration to be even more determined and motivated to make our strengths even stronger and be ready for a second part of the season, which has all the conditions to be quite exciting for the papaya colors.”
Aston Martin Aramco
Lance Stroll (13th): “I got caught up in some contact on the opening lap of the race but managed to avoid damage. From that point on, my afternoon was mainly about managing tires to make a two-stop strategy work. I made a few overtakes, but we were lacking the pace to make much impact to our finishing positions. It’s been a difficult weekend; we’re in a run of races that don’t suit our car, so there’s a lot of work to do.”
Fernando Alonso (18th): “It was a tough day for us as we expected. We didn’t have the pace, so we were trying different strategies to mix it up. Then we had contact with Zhou [Guanyu] when I locked up going into Turn 3. The penalty didn’t really change our result because we were already out of the points. We have our home race next week in Silverstone and the team is doing everything possible to improve the situation.”
Mike Krack, Chief Operating Officer: “Today’s result is a reflection of our car pace this weekend. We did not give our drivers a car to compete for points. We knew this run of races would be challenging but we need to focus on the future and get through this phase. Lance and Fernando battled for every place. Next weekend is our home race at Silverstone in front of our fans and colleagues. We need to get our heads down and improve, quickly.”
BWT Alpine F1 Team
Pierre Gasly (10th): “That’s now four points-scoring finishes in a row and my 400th career point in Formula 1. In that sense, it’s been a satisfying day but a race I am sure we will review in detail in order to improve on a few things. We were always in the fight for points. I did not have a great start and after that, we did our best to recover. I think the two Haas cars were slightly quicker than us and, at the end, I was in a close one with Daniel [Ricciardo] but it was tough as it was just a DRS train. We will settle for a point, four in a row now, which does show we are building consistency across different circuits. We continue to be more confident in our package and it’s good for motivation to keep pushing and keep adding performance to the car. We will take it race by race, focus on ourselves and I’m very happy with the current trajectory. Next one, Silverstone!”
Esteban Ocon (12th): “Today was a tough race and we ended outside of the points. We had a very strong start, just what we needed, as we managed to pass Nico [Hülkenberg] on the opening lap. He did get by a few laps later but we stayed right with him during the first stint and from there it was going to be a race of strategy. We were not quick enough to fight for position and we fell back into traffic after our pit-stops. We had better pace earlier in the weekend so, of course, we will review everything in detail to improve next time. We finish off the triple header in Silverstone next weekend so hopefully it will be a strong Sunday showing for us at a legendary circuit.”
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: “We managed to score one point today after a hard fought Austrian Grand Prix. While it means we continue our points-scoring run, we certainly leave Spielberg with plenty of things to review in order to improve for next time. We probably did not maximize our performance level and that meant our direct rivals capitalized and scored valuable points. We immediately have Silverstone to focus on next weekend and we look forward to finishing this triple header at Enstone’s home race.”
Williams Racing
Alexander Albon (15th): “I believe P12 or P13 was possible today. I know it’s not points but I don’t like finishing behind where I think we could’ve finished. With the pit stops, I lost a lot of time, either fighting with cars then boxing straight afterwards or coming out into dirty air. I don’t think it was easy out there with it being a short track and pit stops being a bit trickier, and I know it was my fault for crossing the line, but it’s just frustrating. We do have some learnings from this weekend that we can take to Silverstone, however there are still some questions as I didn’t expect us to be lacking in performance this much. Hopefully, we won’t suffer the same problems next week and can come back stronger.”
Logan Sargeant (19th): “It’s been a tough afternoon. I damaged my front wing on the first lap and from there I was praying for a Safety Car that never came. I feel like the pace was okay relative and it was a good step forward from yesterday but still a painful day. Generally, things are moving in the right direction, but we need to find some more pace in the car.”
Sven Smeets, Racing Director: “It was a tough day for both drivers, firstly with Logan making contact on the first lap, requiring him to pit for a new front wing, and Alex struggling to get good track position and clean air, impacting his ability to fight through the field. We also knew today, with the high temperatures, was going to be a tire management challenge. It’s been a tough two weekends for the team, last time out in Barcelona and here in Austria, however, we will look to take the learnings from this weekend and come back stronger next weekend for our home Grand Prix at Silverstone.”
Visa Cash App RB
Daniel Ricciardo (9th): “It was a tough race and I think we were a bit more on the defense, so it took a lot of concentration and effort. I had a good start on the outside and was looking good, but then I lost a couple of positions as there was no more room and I had to go wide. Once we settled after the start of the race, I think we did well; the team did a good job with the strategy to secure the position over the Alpines, and then I feel like I drove a good defense against Fernando (Alonso) and then Pierre (Gasly) in the last stint. We made a nice step from Barcelona, and it’s been a better weekend, so I’m happy to bring home some points. Now we’ll try to make another good step forward for Silverstone and then maybe that puts us in another fight for points.”
Yuki Tsunoda (14th): “The race started well, I was behind Alpine and Daniel after the start, but by the third stint, I was way behind. The pace was off, and we’ll have to find out why. For sure Daniel did a good job during today’s race, so in the end, we had a good conclusion, and we seem to understand more about what direction we as a team have to take for the coming races, so that’s a positive.”
Claudio Balestri, Chief Engineer, Vehicle Performance: “We decided to start today’s race on mediums, similarly to the majority of the other cars, and at end of Lap 2 Daniel was in P12 and Yuki in P13. At this stage, we decided to split the two strategies, pitting Daniel and leaving Yuki out for the first stint. The undercut worked very well with Daniel as we were able to gain positions against the two Alpines, but the Haas cars were able to stay in front of him for the rest of the race. In the last laps, he tried to put additional pressure on Magnussen, but we were not able to overtake him, so Daniel finished P9, scoring two very important points. As for Yuki, his race was different and a bit more difficult. We went long for the first stint on the medium and the pace was similar to the car in front on a similar strategy, but running a shorter last stint, we were not able to maximize the advantage, finishing P15. Mixed feelings, but we are still positive, and we now switch our thoughts to next week’s race in Silverstone, where we will try to improve further and get more important points.”
Laurent Mekies, Team Principal: “In the few days since Barcelona, everyone at the factory and at the track has been working hard on extending our understanding of the updates we introduced in Spain as part of our aggressive development programme. That work continued here during the only Free Practice session, while the Sprint also provided us with valuable data. It is never ideal to do specifications comparison during a Sprint weekend, but we felt that it was a necessary investment for our midterm future. The team and drivers did a very good job putting together the best configuration possible for Saturday and Sunday. We are bringing home two good points, with Daniel finishing in P9 after an intense battle today, and following yesterday’s strong qualifying, which saw us finishing up at less than two-hundredths from Q3. Yuki was only a fraction behind in both qualifying and the race, but with the midfield battle being as tight as ever, it was enough for him to fall outside of the points today. Once again, we only have a couple of days before we are back on track, this time at Silverstone, not far from our UK-based headquarter. The smallest pace difference can make you go from a points finish to the back of the grid, so everyone at the factory will be flat out to further pursue our car development program.”
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
Valtteri Bottas (16th): “Despite everything, I think this race has been our best session this weekend; there wasn’t much action where I was but, pace-wise, it felt a bit better than in the Sprint, and this allowed us to be slightly closer to our main competitors. We also managed to keep the tires in a much better window, which surely helped, although they are still quite sensitive to overheating in these temperatures. We still need to find that extra boost for Silverstone: of course, we’re not just after a short-term fix, but it’s good to see that gaps remain small. I do think the direction to follow is clear; we need to move forward with introducing new parts, of course, as we have seen the difference they have been making for the other teams. Looking at Silverstone, on a different track layout, I reckon there should be opportunities for us: what will be important, is to be at the top of our game to make the most of them.”
Guanyu Zhou (17th): “It’s been a tricky weekend for us with a rather uneventful race for me today. Due to some set-up changes that took us into a different direction, I had to start today’s race from the pit lane. Unfortunately, we lacked pace to make up more positions, and it seems our tires are overheating quicker than our competitors’ – even if we managed that better today. We know our weaknesses and need to work hard as a team – trackside as well as back in Hinwil – to improve both our one lap pace and race pace. It’s the last stop of the triple header next and there is no time to rest as we look ahead to next weekend. It’s not uncommon to experience varying performance on different tracks, so I hope we’ll be closer to the fight for points again in Silverstone.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: “We knew our starting positions would likely compromise our eventual classification, unless any special circumstance outside of our control would intervene: indeed, we weren’t able to make up much ground. Still, we can take some positives from today’s race, in particular in comparison to yesterday’s Sprint: we did a much better job at managing our tires, and we controlled the overheating on both axles better, which was a massive issue in the Sprint. We were consistent with both the medium and hard compounds and, when it came to pace, we were not far from rivals like Aston Martin, Williams and Tsunoda. Of course, there’s still a lot of work to do to recover the gap and fight for points, but today was a small step in the right direction. The changes we made to Zhou’s car, which meant he started from the pit lane, made him more comfortable, while Valtteri was closer to Stroll, Tsunoda and Albon from lap one. In terms of strategy, we split the cars to make use of all new sets of tires available, and, considering our starting positions, that was the best decision. We started on hards with Zhou and were able to extend his second stint on mediums to give him a more consistent pace. With Valtteri, we wanted to extend the first stint on mediums as much as possible in order not to compromise the remaining two on hards. We eventually reached our targets this afternoon: we know these are just marginal ones, but the team must continue thinking that, if we push all together, if we are aggressive and able to do more in every area, we can get to the points. It’s not time to give up, but to react like we did between yesterday and today. We saw our competitors score points, especially Haas, and that’s not ideal for our championship fight, but that goes to show that, if we can find more performance starting from the next race in Silverstone, there will be opportunities to be seized in the remaining races.”
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Nico Hulkenberg (6th): “It was one hell of a race, especially at the end when it got so intense. It was touch and go to keep Perez behind in the last two laps, he came by but into Turn 3 I let him edge in front, so I got DRS, which obviously put me back in front. I’m very happy, that’s double points for the team which helps in a big way. I didn’t expect that, an amazing team performance, and I think it’s confirmed now that in the midfield on all different types of tracks we’re competitive, we can fight, and that’s really great news.”
Kevin Magnussen (8th): “It’s been a smooth weekend – two qualifying sessions with no traffic, two good pit stop in the race, and the strategy has been spot on – I couldn’t have asked for more. We can’t count on this result as Silverstone is a hard track, but this puts us back to P7 in the Constructors’ Championship and that makes me very happy for the entire team.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: “I’m just so happy for everyone in the team. Sometimes we get unlucky but today our execution was amazing, Nico and Kevin drove well, and pit stops were good, everything was great. I’m speechless, I’m just so happy for everyone to get this result and for Nico to beat Perez on merit, that’s a huge statement.”
Pirelli
Mario Isola “When you least expect it, the sparks fly! The first two thirds of the race were generally linear, it only took a small problem at Verstappen’s second pit stop to bring together on track the two outstanding drivers of this weekend, thus triggering a thrilling on-the-limit duel. It produced a very exciting finale which, in the end, worked out to the benefit of George Russell, who was thus able to secure his second ever Grand Prix win: congratulations to him and to Mercedes! Overall, there was actually a lot of overtaking in this race, some of it very spectacular.
From our side there were no surprises. The tires behaved exactly as expected, both when compared to the simulations carried out before arriving in Austria and based on the analysis of the data gathered on Friday and yesterday. The strategy predictions were also pretty much respected. Medium and Hard were the main choices for the race. The Medium probably performed a touch better, especially on the more competitive cars. Although they had two sets of Hards available, the Red Bull pair chose the C4 for the third stint, for this precise reason and also to be in the same situation as the competitors they were fighting with in this phase of the race. On the other hand, the C3, which suffered slightly less from degradation, worked well for those who opted to run a very short first stint on the Medium before then exploiting the greater consistency of the white-banded tires, thus managing to get into the points, as did the Haas pair of Hulkenberg and Magnussen, as well as Ricciardo (Racing Bulls).”
