1 – Kimi ANTONELLI (Mercedes)
2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)

TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by James Hinchcliffe)

Q: We’re here with the winner of the first Spanish Grand Prix race here at the Madring, Kimi Antonelli. Kimi, it was not a straightforward race for you. Battling for the lead early, had to give the position up, pitted under the VSC. You’re managing the gap to Charles in front, to Max behind. Just tell us about how difficult that race was from start to finish.
Kimi ANTONELLI: Yeah, it was a very difficult race, not straightforward at all, especially trying to manage tyres. But yeah, I think today, you know, it’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win. But overall, you know, we’ll take it. Other than that, it was a very strong race. I think especially on the Hard at the end, with really good pace. And yeah, now we’ve got to keep pushing.

Q: First race here at the Madring, first winner. That’s always a cool thing to be able to say. Just talk to me a little bit about the track they’ve built here at this event and all the fans that showed up to watch you win today.
KA: Yeah, I mean, it’s been an incredible weekend, and thank you so much for coming and for giving us such great energy. And yeah, really looking forward to being back next year here.

Q: Alright, well, congratulations. Max, P2. It seemed like yesterday in qualifying P3 was maybe even more than you expected. A step better today. Is this better than you guys thought you were going to be able to achieve today?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Well, I think looking at the race pace, I think it’s, for us, a great result. Of course, we know that Lando got unlucky with that VSC, so for us I think today P2 is an incredible result because you could see how much Lando was catching me. Around here you can’t pass, so I could keep him behind. And for us, of course, to be P2 is incredible.

Q: It’s a challenging track. It’s challenging when you’re driving by yourself looking forward, but at the end, when you’ve got Lando catching you, how much fun was it? How hard was it trying to keep him behind?
MV: I just kept the car in the middle. I think that works quite well around here. And of course, yeah, just trying to keep the grip in the tyres, which I think was probably the hardest part of that final stint.

Q: Alright, well, congratulations on P2. Lando, yesterday you said “lap of your life” to get pole position. You were leading the race, it was all going well. VSC timing really couldn’t have been worse. Just tell me about the moment that you realised that the VSC was ending just before you got to the pit lane.
Lando NORRIS: No, the VSC was after, so I had nothing… There was nothing I could do. Congrats to Kimi and Max. They drove a good race today, so just luck not on our side. And I gave it a good fight, you know, to try and catch up with Max, but difficult to pass. He didn’t really make any mistakes. And yeah, a tough race, one that just got away from us. I felt like we deserved it today, but that’s racing sometimes. So we’ll take it on the chin and try again next time.

Q: Well, the pace was there. That’s the important thing. You guys have been super quick in a bunch of the last Grands Prix. How confident are you that you and this McLaren team can continue to keep pushing for wins over the next stretch of races?
LN: It’s tough. Tough to know. These things don’t come easy, you know. I do feel like I’m working hard and I’m getting a lot out of the car. Yesterday was a pretty phenomenal lap to get pole. I feel like I drove a perfect race today. Just luck wasn’t with me. So, you know, we’ll keep it up. The team are doing an amazing job. We’re working hard. We have to continue to work hard because these guys are doing a good job and it’s tough at the top. So yeah, we’ll keep pushing, keep trying, and more wins are possible. So we’ll keep our head up and keep pushing.

Q: Alright, well, congratulations on P3 today. Kimi, just back to you. Extending the lead in the championship, at what point do you give yourself thought to maybe this thing is coming your way? Are you ever able to take your foot off the gas and start thinking about that championship?
KA: Well, that’s exactly what I don’t want to do. I want to keep pushing race by race, you know, keep delivering and keep enjoying all the way, and then, you know, trying to do my best every race. And then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Very well done, Kimi. A very well-executed win by you. What was the most satisfying aspect of today’s performance?
Kimi ANTONELLI: I don’t really know. I mean, you know, it’s good to win and I think the pace at the end was good. But if I have to be realistic and honest, you know, today we didn’t deserve to win. Lando deserved to win today, and so I think our result was probably P2 or even P3. So, you know, I just didn’t do a good enough job at the start, being a bit too aggressive and then putting myself in a bad position. So yeah, definitely things to work on. But all in all, you know, today went well and I’m happy with that. But yeah, we’re just going to try to be better in Baku.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit more about the start and what happened at Turn 1 and again at Turn 5?
KA: Yeah, I did try, but obviously, you know, Lando is not going to let me pass by. You know, he did what he had to do. I found myself, you know, cutting the chicane twice. In the second chicane I thought I could maybe make it, but, you know, I felt like it was too risky also for contact. So yeah, I decided to bail out. And yeah, then I was a bit in an awkward position because then Max could overtake me on the outside in seven. So yeah, definitely things to review, but it was still a great team effort.

Q: What were you thinking when Max let you through, I think on lap four?
KA: Well, I was a bit confused because I didn’t think he overtook me off track. He overtook me normally. So, I was a bit confused in the first place, but then he told me that he had to give the position back to Lewis. So, you know, of course it was a bit awkward, especially for him because also Lewis was experiencing brake issues. So yeah, that’s why I think, you know, today the win is, as I said, great, but not the way I wanted to win.

Q: Quick word on the tyres, if we could. Everyone was expecting a race of high tyre degradation. What was the reality out there?
KA: The degradation was much lower. There was still some degradation, but much lower than expected, of course, with the track rubbering in. And so, you know, it meant that one stop was possible. Tyres were pretty dead at the end, for sure, but, you know, it’s also a difficult track to overtake, so you can hold on to the tyres and just go until the end. But we saw also with Charles doing basically 50 laps almost on the Hards and holding decent pace. So yeah, it was unexpected, but I think the main difference was that the Hard tyre was just more resistant, especially to graining.

Q: Final one from me, Kimi. Can you just tell us about the run you’re on at the moment? You’ve led 13 consecutive races. You’re now 81 points ahead of P2 in the Drivers’ Championship. How sweet is it to be riding the crest of this particular wave?
KA: Yeah, it’s great, but, you know, we’ve just got to keep pushing, keep delivering the results and, you know, just trying to do the best job I can whenever I go on track. Because, you know, of course, yes, I have a big lead, but, you know, you never know what can happen. So just need to be ready for anything and keep maximising every opportunity I get, and then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.

Q: Okay, Kimi, very well done to you. Thank you for that. Max, if we could come to you now. Very well done. Another relentless performance from you. What are your take-homes after a race like that?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, maximised the result. Probably a bit lucky with, of course, the unlucky situation for Lando because I didn’t have the pace of Kimi and I definitely did not have the pace of Lando. So yeah, we’re here on the podium and I think that’s, of course, great, but yeah, we just still lack a little bit, you know, to really fight for the win. Because it might have looked a little bit like we were in a fight for the win, but that was more because Kimi was getting held up by Charles. Because as soon as he had clean air, he just drove away from me again and I was busy with Lando behind me. But around here, if you just drive a little bit in the middle, then yeah, you can’t pass.

Q: Max, it did look pretty convincing, your performance, and I was going to ask, if you hadn’t had to let Kimi through, what might have been? Might you have been able to hold on to the win, given the nature of the racetrack?
MV: I would have had damage at the start if I would have stayed on track, so then the win was also not on. It’s as simple as that. I just did my own thing in Turn 1, but Lewis went for a move on the first two and bottomed out on the kerb, so he just jumped back onto the track, and that’s why I had to go off the road. If I would have stayed there, I would have definitely had contact. So, then my race could have potentially been over in Turn 2, and that’s why I think, where we are now, I’m happy to be.

Q: You say where we are now. This is your fifth podium in seven races. Just how competitive is the RB22 if we look at the coming races, if we look at Baku and Sepang, for example?
MV: I mean, we profit sometimes a little bit from some misfortune of others, but we are also trying to really maximise and sometimes, maybe, yes, slightly overperform. And that’s good. That’s the only thing that we can do at the moment. Now we rely on making our package, like our overall package, a little bit stronger to really be in a potential fight for the win.

Q: Okay, Max, thank you very much for that. Well done to you. And Lando, frustrating afternoon for you. Lando, look, does this feel like the one that got away?
Lando NORRIS: It depends how you define “got away”. It’s not like we did anything that made us lose it. We were just insanely unlucky today. I was the only one on the whole grid, that didn’t get the chance to do the pit stop. That’s just unfortunate. You know, it’s happened in races and there’s been plenty of times where I’ve gained from it in the past and times where I’ve lost from it, and it’s racing, but never when fighting for a win. So, I think it’s probably one of the first times a win has been lost simply because of it. But yeah, it’s frustrating, especially after the performance yesterday and the performance I was putting in at the beginning of the race, and I had all race, in fact. Of course I feel like I deserved more today, but the others also did a good race and I have to give credit to that too.

Q: You missed the pit entry by five seconds. Given that, you know, Stroll’s car was where it was positioned, does it go through your head that you might try and pre-empt a VSC and come in anyway? Does that go through your mind?
LN: How was I meant to know? Come on, you have to have an answer.

Q: Well, the pit wall may have been able to inform you, maybe?
LN: Well, then I need to speak to the pit wall. So I’m just driving the car, you know. I don’t know these things. I don’t know. So, I need to go speak to the team and see what else. But it’s not the team’s fault, it’s not my fault. Simple as that. We were just unlucky.

Q: Given your pace at that stage of the race, were you tempted to stay out or were you definitely always going to come in at the end of that lap?
LN: I had to come in at the end of the lap because it was the only chance. It was, like, still effectively some pit loss, the fact that everyone’s kind of on colder tyres and you’re still minimising the pit loss. The Medium tyre was destroyed and the Hard tyre was amazing. So yeah, just, I don’t know, unfortunate. But the pace was very, very strong and on the Hard tyre was, you know, I think we, I know they were stuck, we caught up 13, 14 seconds or more, almost. So, plenty of positives. A day full of positives, just one thing let it all down.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) It’s a question to all three. Some drivers before you in the media pen just said they almost fell asleep during the race, and they also gave some suggestions to, for example, remove the chicane that forms Turns 5 and 6. So what are, in your opinion, the main areas of this track that need fixing for next year?
KA: It definitely doesn’t create overtaking opportunities and it doesn’t push you to try and make a move because, just, you know, 80% of the time you might have a contact. So, I think especially in the second chicane, if I would have turned in, me and Lando would have touched and probably gone in the wall and blocked the road or, you know, definitely wouldn’t have been nice. So, I think there are some corners that need to be changed to create more overtaking opportunities because right now, yes, it’s nice over one lap, but for sure in the race, you know, you’re just stuck behind.
MV: Exactly that.
LN: I said it all yesterday. Were you here yesterday? You didn’t listen? Yeah, I think there are some obvious changes they should make. They should get rid of 18, 19. Useless. Just have more of a straight into a hairpin. Like, I don’t know how someone looks at this design and goes, “Mint.” Yeah, I think there’s a lot of opportunity. Like I said yesterday, I think they can make it into a track that’s good for racing, and I’m excited to come back here next year if they can make these changes because I think it’s a track that is good fun to drive and it can be a great racetrack. To me, it’s not a great racetrack. It’s great in qualifying, but, you know, straight line from 17 straight to 20, have a much wider entry like Austin Turn 1 or Turn 10 in Austin, big hairpin. You know, you’ll create much better opportunities for everyone and you’ll be able to enjoy the race. So yeah, there are some simple changes and maybe some trickier ones, like Turn 5, 6, 7. It’s hard to know exactly what’s the best thing. The fact you have to turn and brake basically defeats the whole object of racing. So, they can do some simple changes, I think, easy changes and maybe some more tricky, but I hope they do it because then it should be more exciting for everyone.

Q: (Lawrence Edmondson – ESPN) A question for Lando. You mentioned how unfair the VSC kind of was today. Do you think anything can be changed about that with the regulations? I think you said previously it had been spoken about in driver briefings. Is it something that you’ll bring up going forward? And Kimi and Max, if you have any opinions on the same subject.
LN: Yeah, I mean, it’s been brought up many times over the years by different drivers. I think there’s always probably some cons to doing it, but it’s tough. Like I said, I’ve won from it in the past, I’ve lost from it in the past. Over the course of a season, it’s hard to know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. It probably equals out over time. Of course, it just hurts more, the fact that I lose a win. You know, there’s literally nothing I could do as a driver today to do a better job. Pole, led the race, and to lose it for nothing in my control is, I don’t think, how a race should be won. But I think people, I hope people agree, I think people would agree. But it is racing and it’s happened, so I can’t really complain about it. I can be upset about it, but I can’t really complain about it. And I think there are things, because we have spoken about it in the past several times, about how it can be at least covered for one lap or everyone has the opportunity to do the pit stops, or you just block the pit entry and no one can box apart from if you have a puncture or something, you know. So, I think there’s a few things you could do to make it more simple and more fair for everyone, but that’s a bigger discussion. You know, this is not something I can just ask for. I think it’s something, as a group of drivers, I think we would all want, but there’s a lot more to it. You know, depending on if it’s raining and there’s a VSC and you’re on slicks, does it mean you can box or not? You know, so it’s a complicated subject. But I think as a collection of drivers, if we all talk about it, I think everyone wants the same thing, and that’s just fairness for everyone. So yeah, of course I’m complaining about it today. I could benefit from it next week, next time out, and I could win because of it. So yeah, I have to take it on the chin, but I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone again because it’s just not how you should lose a race.
MV: Well, I mean, what Lando said. Like, I’ve also won races because of it, I’ve lost races because of it. And yes, it is extremely painful today for Lando, in that case, to lose a win. Like, sometimes it can be, “Oh, you might lose points,” but this time it’s a win. Yeah, that’s really not nice. But unfortunately, I think a lot of drivers have had it that, yeah, you win some, you lose some. But can it be better? Probably yes, in the future. But we’ll probably talk about it in the next briefing and see if there is anything that can be done. But unfortunately, yeah, in the past and history, it’s happened more often.

Q: (Isabelle Barker – The Sun) Kimi, congratulations on the win. Today, obviously Jude Bellingham was in the Mercedes garage and was obviously supporting you. You’ve both been teenagers at the absolute top of your sports. I just wondered what it was like having him support you, and also I’m sure you can draw a lot of inspiration from each other.
KA: Yeah, it was really cool to have him as our guest, as well as there were Rodrygo, Vinícius. I saw also Valverde. So it was very nice to see them and to exchange a few words. Of course, it’s always a bit difficult with timings and everything going on, but it was great to see them and as well to exchange words. We even exchanged T-shirts and, you know, for sure, if I get the chance to go and see them, I will. But yeah, it was really nice to have them and, you know, they’re going to come back soon.

Q: (David Crespo – 20 minutos) For Lando and Max, you’re both Formula One World Champions and this year Kimi is already 80-plus points ahead of the second one. Do you have any advice for him in how to manage his emotions, being also so young, or do you prefer to keep it and hope for a comeback?
KA: I think they will hope for a comeback.
MV: I’m definitely not having a comeback. But no, I mean, Kimi just needs to do what he’s doing. I mean, it’s fantastic. So it’s working really well. He should not stress about it too much, which I don’t think he is. He’s just delivering, he’s confident, he’s getting more and more experience. He’s still young, he’s still very early in his career, but he’s flying and it’s just working. So he shouldn’t overcomplicate things. He’s not doing that. He has a lot of good people around him that know what he needs. So, it’s all working well.
LN: Max said it well. Like, he’s leading by 80 points because he’s doing an incredible job. You know, he’s beating a much more experienced team-mate, and a decent team-mate, so I don’t want to give him any advice because he’s doing a scarily good job at, you know, just turned 20. So yeah, pretty phenomenal. I think it’s cool to see someone so young doing such an incredible job and more than likely go on and win the championship, you know. He’s been impressive since the first race this year. Very few mistakes. He’s, you know, he’s just not driving like it’s his second year in F1, that’s for sure. So yeah, it’s cool to see and, yeah, I don’t want to... There’s going to be many, many more years of us battling and, yeah, I’m excited for more, hopefully this year, and I’m excited for all of us to race more in the future too. Looking forward to it.

Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Kimi, congrats on your win. Just a follow-up. Mentally, how difficult is it to keep your feet on the ground with these kind of results? And have you got any advice from Toto on how to manage your championship situation and battling these guys?
KA: Well, I mean, you know, I’m lucky to have really good people around me. I have an incredible team that supports me, great family. Especially my dad is the one that keeps me on the ground. You know, especially when he sees that, you know, I might lose a little bit the way, he doesn’t bother (sic) to tell me off or, you know, to just tell me to go back to, you know, to ground. So, definitely having good people helps a lot. And yeah, that’s it. On my side, as I said many times, I just try to do my best every race, trying to really drive as fast as I can whenever I go in the car. And then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year. But definitely I don’t want to overcomplicate things or, you know, just drive worrying about championship or result. Just driving, doing my best.