FIA post-race press conference – Italy

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Nico Rosberg)

Q: Wow, this is Formula 1 at its very, very best. it's completely unpredictable at the moment – Ferrari catching that surprise win here today! Lando, I'm sure we have to start with that Turn 4 overtake that Oscar did on you right after the start. Did he catch you by surprise?

Lando NORRIS: Of course, because he got passed. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I should have done differently there. If I brake one metre later, I probably would have crashed. So, something we'll look at. But, I mean, Ferrari just drove a better race today, especially Charles. He did a very good job, so just hats off to him.

Q: Was the one-stop ever a possibility for you when you were chatting with your engineers or was it something that was never considered?

LN: I mean we considered it the whole race, but it was not possible with the amount of graining that I had. It's a tough one. We knew it'd be tight, but with our car and some of the limitations we have it wasn't possible today, so we knew it. We knew that could be a possibility. So, we’re disappointed of course, but yeah, Ferrari did a better job. They had a better car today, and that's hats off to them.

Q: In order to fight Verstappen for the championship, you really need all the points all the time, and now there's Oscar who's kind of in between there and taking points away from you as well. What're your thoughts on that?

LN: Well done to him. He did a good job. He got past me, and he deserves it.

Q: Alright, thank you very much, Lando. Congrats, anyways, on third place. Oscar, that was a great race from you. I think you did all you could, but I'm sure you're still very disappointed with that end result?

Oscar PIASTRI: Yeah, it hurts. I'm not going to lie, it hurts a lot. We did a lot of things right today, you know, there were a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race. Yeah, from the position we were in with the tyres looking like they did, doing a one-stop seemed like a very risky call, and in the end it was right. So, yeah, very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve. Just when you finish second, it hurts.

Q: The team asked you, ‘hey, do you want to try that one-stop or not?’ Do you think in hindsight you should have gone for it or actually really that tyre was just gone?

OP: In hindsight, yes. But, you know, everyone's a legend on Monday after the race or, you know, at the chequered flag. And today, unfortunately, we got it a bit wrong. And, you know, myself being a big part of that, we had everything to lose from being in the lead of the race. Charles could try something a bit different. He was going to finish third either way. And, yeah, he picked the right gamble today. You know, the Mediums were getting destroyed. And even the Hards and the Red Bull at the start looked pretty dead. And my front left was pretty heavily grained. Just we didn't expect it to clear back up again, which it did. So, yeah, painful.

Q: Thank you very much, Oscar. Great drive today. And there's always next race out to try and get that win again. And now we will welcome the winner. Charles, you are the king of Italy right now! I mean, wow, wow, wow! That is just so awesome.

Charles LECLERC: It's an incredible feeling. Actually, I thought that the first time would just feel like this, and then the second time, if there was a second time, wouldn't feel as special. But, my God, the emotions in the last few laps, exactly the same, like in 2019, just watching the grandstand inside of the track. which is tricky but yeah, incredible! I mean Monaco and Monza are the two races that I want to win every year. Obviously I want to win as many races as possible and the world championship as soon as possible but these are the two most important races of the season and I managed to win them this year. So, it's so, so special.

Q: I mean I wish everybody at home could feel the atmosphere here at the moment. you know it's just off the charts. And could you feel the tifosi carrying you there in the last couple of laps?

CL: Yes, the fans are incredible. [Spoken in Italian] I said in English before, the first time was really special, the first year in Ferrari in 2019 was a dream for me. I thought that if there was a second time it wouldn't be so special because the first one is always more unique, but that wasn't true. It's always so special and this is thanks to you for the support, the push you give us every day when we come here. Thank you, thank you very much for everything.

Q: So I'll just translate quickly that, of course, you say the tifosi are just unbelievable and the power they give you is just so, so special. You brought a lot of upgrades here to the car. It seems to be working really so much better. Do you think you can keep challenging for wins now, even if we go to a different track like Baku next?

CL: I don't know. I don't know because I think our package was working pretty well on a track like Monza. Whether it will be the same for the rest of these of the season I doubt, so I still think McLaren are the favourites but we have done a step forward that's for sure and Baku is a pretty nice track for me. I quite like this track and I've been quite competitive in the past, so who knows maybe we can achieve something special again there.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Oscar, if we could come to you first. Very well done. You showed a lot of pace in that Grand Prix. How seriously did you consider a one-stop strategy like the winner Charles Leclerc?

OP: Clearly not as seriously as I needed to. I think, for me, it was a big risk to do that. You know, the graining of the tyres has been a big topic all weekend. You know, in practice, once you got graining, it was basically game over. Even in the first stint on the Mediums, it was pretty difficult. And, yeah, when we made the second stop, for myself, my front left tyre was pretty heavily grained and, you know, I was going slower and slower. So it seemed like a sensible decision to pit again. Yeah, you know, I guess nobody really expected the graining to clear up on Charles, from what I heard. So yeah, in hindsight, clearly stopping once was the right thing to do. But from that point in the race with all the information that we'd gathered through the weekend, it seemed incredibly risky and. You know, that's kind of the blessing and the curse of leading the race or, you know, being at the front, full stop. You know, the guys behind you can react to what you do. And, you know, for Charles, if he did a two-stop, he would have locked in third. And if he did a one-stop and fell off the cliff, he still would have finished third. But, of course, he pulled the one-stop off and Ferrari look like the hero today. Yeah, obviously it hurts at the moment, but I think in the moment it was the right thing to do.

Q: Is there anything you could have done differently from within the cockpit today? I mean, you were lighting up the timing screens in that first stint, going incredibly quickly. Did that force you into two-stopping?

OP: Not massively I don't think. I need to go back and look at what the graining level on Charles was when I pitted for the second time. Up until that point it was you know a pretty controlled race. We felt pretty early on that it was a two-stop race and maybe in hindsight, there are things we could have done a bit differently from obviously a strategy point of view, but also a driving point of view to keep the options open a little bit more. But if the information I got is right, on the radio, then it wasn't really a matter of driving slower. It was just kind of sticking with the graining and getting through it, which given in practice when that happened you basically couldn't hit the brake pedal because you turned your front left into a 50 cent coin, it seemed like a very risky thing to do so. Obviously, it was the right thing in hindsight but everyone's a lot smarter when the chequered flag falls.

Q: Hindsight is always 20-20. Look, one of the decisive moments in the race came on the opening lap with the pass on Lando into the second chicane. Just talk us through that?

OP: I mean, I braked later and got around the outside. There wasn't really much more to it than that. Yeah, you know, we both got through unscathed. I knew once I hit the brakes, you know, I kind of got ahead a bit and yeah, I knew I was kind of entitled to stay on the outside. And yeah, ultimately, for 38 laps of that race, it put me in a race-winning position. So yeah, for me, it was just a good first lap.

Q: And Oscar, how do you view the Constructors' Championship now? The team is just eight points behind Red Bull. Just how confident are you, you and the team?

OP: I think very. We’ve closed over 100 points. So, yeah, pretty happy with how we're going.

Q: Alright, Oscar, thank you for that. Lando, if we can come to you now. Very well done to you as well. How do you look back on today's Italian Grand Prix?

LN: Pretty disappointing. Yeah, which is obvious from the outside even. I mean, Charles drove a great race, honestly. Hard to know if we could have done what he did today, but they deserved it. Yeah, both Oscar and Charles drove a good race. So, yeah, disappointing, starting from pole and ending third, especially when I think the pace was very strong. So, a shame, but that's what it is.

Q: Now, you spoke about killing your front left tyre over the radio. Was a one-stop ever on for you?

LN: I mean, we tried, we knew it was a quicker thing to do, but I think, yeah, we just killed the tyres a little bit too easily. And like Oscar said, when you're in third, it's a much easier position to just try and risk and do such a thing. So I don't think we can be too disappointed. I think it was a lot riskier for us to try and do it than it was for Charles, and he made it work. So, yeah, hats off to them and Ferrari and himself because the driving part makes a big difference out there. We thought of it and we wanted to do it. We just we couldn't today. I think it was clear yesterday. We had a good qualifying car. But today our race car was probably not quite good enough.

Q: You say you tried at what point in the race. Did you commit to a two-stop?

LN: When I boxed for the second time.

Q: Now, one of the things that's come out of this Grand Prix is that you're allowed to race. Oscar papaya rules. Those are the words of your race engineer, Will Joseph. What are those rules of engagement?

LN: Just don't crash, that's all.

Q: And was Oscar's pass on you into the second chicane on lap one, was that all within the rules?

LN: Yeah, there was no contact, so he did a good job.

Q: OK, look, final one from me. You've eaten into Max Verstappen's lead. You're now just 62 points behind, eight races to go. How do you view that?

LN: It's the same answer every single weekend. I'm doing the best I can, and the more points I gain, the better, but still eight races to go.

Q: You're doing the best you can. Are you going to need some help?

LN: I have help.

Q: From your team-mate?

LN: Yeah, he helps me. But I'm not here just to beg for someone to let me pass. That's not why I'm here. I'm here to race. He drove a better race than me, so I finished third, and that's where I deserved to finish.

Q: OK, Lando, thank you very much. Welcome to our race winner, his second win here at Monza, the seventh of his Formula 1 career. Charles, what a day for you. Just how sweet was this victory?

CL: Just as sweet as the 2019 one. I thought the first one was always going to be more special if there was a second one ever happening, but actually it's not the case. The second one just feels as special. Today I did not expect it going to the race. I thought that we would struggle a bit more compared to the McLaren, but also compared to the Mercedes. that seemed to have a really good pace on Friday. However, after a few laps, I saw and I felt the car was in a good place. Oscar maybe was a little bit quicker. It was difficult to see Lando's pace as he was behind. Then once we got undercut, I was like, OK, maybe we are losing the win there. But then once both pitted, I actually picked up quite a lot of front grip, having the free air in front. And I was, as they said, being the last car, I didn't have much to lose by trying the one-stop. But we did a really, really good job with that front left, which has been very, very tricky for everybody. We had a lot of front graining, but managed to take that front grip again. And that helped us to win today. To stand up on that podium in front of all the tifosi after such a week, because it's a very tiring one… It's an incredible feeling to be racing for Ferrari in Monza, but it's also very tiring. And to be able to win here is extremely special.

Q: It was a strategic masterstroke. I just want to ask you, how confident were you of this one-stop? And had you been leading, would you have still one-stopped?

CL: Before the race, if you would have asked me, the one-stop was definitely the thing I wanted to do. After 10 laps, I think we saw that Red Bull started to struggle with the front left on the Hard. And there we started to doubt the one-stop. We thought that it would be a lot more difficult because we thought that the Hard would be a more difficult tyre to bring to the end. However, as soon as I put it, I still thought that this was a possibility. And especially, I think, when Oscar pitted two or three laps after that. I felt like I had more grip not having a car in front, especially on the front tyres, and that's where I really thought that the one-stop, we could make it work.

Q: Now, you said after the race to Nico Rosberg that you've clearly made progress with these upgrades. You've already won at Monaco, you've now won here at Monza. Just how much more can you achieve with this car in 2024?

CL: We've got to be cautious. After Monaco, I think we've had the four worst races of the season, because Monaco was so specific to our car at that time. Monza is also a very specific and particular track. Lots of straights, not many corners. We had a rear wing for this track as well, which helped us to win today. We had also another upgrade, which I think definitely brought us closer to McLaren, but I don't think it's enough to be the car to beat for the rest of the season on other tracks. I think we still have a lot of work to do, but I'm really happy anyway to have one here in Italy.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Oscar, towards the end, you were making quite big gains on Charles at the front. How were you approaching that phase of the race? Was there a point when you did think that you were going to be able to catch him, and what was the moment when you realised it wasn't going to be quite enough?

OP: I mean, I asked basically straight away what pace I needed to do to go and get Charles. And the pace I needed was basically what I did for the first few laps. And at that point, I was pretty optimistic. You know, I lost a decent amount of time behind Carlos. You had Stroll driving like it was his first go-kart race and I don't know what went through his brain when he saw his blue flag. That cost another second. And, yeah, you know, I needed that stint to be perfect to win that race. And, you know, those little things are ultimately what cost us a bit of a chance. It would have been a long shot anyway, but, yeah. It was certainly not far off from being able to achieve it. But yeah, I was pushing flat out to try and do it. I couldn't have gone any faster than that. So yep, just came up a bit short.

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Charles, congratulations on the victory. You mentioned the rear wing that you had on this weekend, the Monza special, as it's referred to. I just wonder, can you explain how do you think... You said it helps you win, so can you explain how it did that?

CL: Well, I mean, we had really good top speed and that definitely helps on a track like this. So I guess that's how it helped us. I honestly haven't checked on everybody's rear wing, whether everybody has brought something special for here. But yeah, it definitely helped us to win today as the characteristics were good and the balance of the car was also pretty good with that wing. All in all, from FP1, we didn't change much the car. The car felt good. In qualifying, we struggled a little bit with the tires, but in the race, we were in a really good place. So, yeah, the whole package was strong this weekend.

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lando, as you said, you're not begging to get past another driver, but you're now 62 points behind Max, and Red Bull are obviously struggling. Oscar's more than 100 points back. Given that you're much closer, and the senior driver as well, in terms of years with the team, do you think it's right that McLaren now give you their full backing so you can go on and win this World Championship? And obviously, if Oscar wants to answer that too.

LN: I mean, I would love it, but it's not what… It's not up to me. It's tough, because obviously I think as any driver, you don't want it. You know you don't want things to just be played that way. It's a tough one. Obviously, I wouldn't say we're running out of time, but time is going away slowly, and I still believe I still believe we can do it. The pace is obviously great. I still believe we're probably close to, if not the best car again today. I don't know. It's not for me to decide. It's for the team, but I think we're still working together well. We're still helping one another and I think that showed plenty of times this year that we're working together very well as a team and we're performing as the best team out on the grid and we're very happy with that. But yeah, I don't know. When you're fighting for a championship, you want every little thing and I'm doing everything I can. The best way simply is just to win the race. And I didn't do that today because of some silly things. So, yeah, this is for the team, not for me.

Q: (Lawrence Edmondson – ESPN) Another question to Lando. You mentioned in the TV pen that if you could rewind to that first lap and the Oscar’s pass on you, you'd do things slightly different. There didn't seem to be a huge amount of space to do anything any differently. So where do you think you kind of lost that position? What would you do differently?

LN: Just brake a bit later. Simple as that. But sometimes it's easier said than done. You know, Oscar obviously braked on the limit and gave me space. It was just about enough. I did my best to avoid anything else happening at the time. But at the same time, if I brake two metres later, you don't know and you can't predict. But two metres later and it could easily have been a crash. So it's a tough one. Easiest thing is just to brake way later and force him off and I kind of treat it like no one else. I don't know. I obviously took it easy. I saw we had a massive gap behind, so maybe I was just a bit too much on the cautious side and paid the price.

Q: (Rodrigo França – Car Magazine Brazil) Question to Charles. Charles, congratulations on your win. You win in Monaco and Monza, two special places, but two very different circuits. So what's your secret to winning there? And with your luck in the temple of speed, maybe you're trying Indianapolis and Le Mans in the future?

CL: Yeah, two very different tracks. But it feels good to be winning on those two tracks. That for sure means more, Monaco as a Monegasque and here as a Ferrari driver. So yeah, both are a very, very special feeling and I wouldn't want to choose in between them, as the two are very, very special. I completely forgot the second part of your question. Yeah, Indianapolis is... I mean, I'm really interested in doing Le Mans one day. Indianapolis is not something that I've been particularly looking at. However, maybe one day. But Le Mans is definitely one of those races that I would like to compete in one day. So, yeah. I don't know when, but hopefully soon.

Q: (Filippo Castano – Radio Azzurra) Charles. Congratulations. And a question for you. Here in Monza, in front of the tifosi, great win. So I wanted to ask you, if Oscar didn't pit, so if maybe the race would have been different with managing with the graining with both the cars, would you have stayed out to maybe look who is the best at dealing with graining? Or maybe a two-stop strategy would have been maybe the best solution to keep some pressure and try something different?

CL: Good question. To be honest, I think we'll have waited maybe one or two laps more just to see. I felt like maybe in the last two, three laps before Oscar pitted we were coming back a tiny bit, but I've got to check that again. But it was difficult for me to get closer than where I was, mostly because of the front left and the understeer that being behind Oscar… I had quite a bit too much understeer. So maybe we'll have gone for a second stop and be a bit more aggressive to try and come back towards the end. But yeah, I don't know. We didn't do that anyway.

Q: (Ed Spencer – Auto Evolution) Question to Charles. Charles, congratulations on a tremendous win. How do you reset going into Baku now? What are you planning to do during a week off? And which tracks do you see Ferrari potentially challenging McLaren and Red Bull for victories?

CL: Again, before this race, I don't think I was seeing myself challenging for wins anywhere else. Maybe Singapore. Singapore maybe could be a strong track for us. On the other tracks, I still feel like we are a step behind McLaren and Red Bull. But today we've seen that we can be very on a par with McLaren if we do everything perfect. Again, I think that the upgrade has helped us in some ways today to have the same pace as them. However, for the other tracks, I don't know whether it will be enough to completely close the gap, especially the gap we've seen in the previous races, not here. So, yeah, we've got to wait and see, but we've done some step forward. I think we need some others.

Q: (Velimir Velko Jukic – Auto Fokus) Charles, do you have some special superstition that maybe worked for you today? And will you ask for the future team to keep this dark colour for the future victories?

CL: No, I'm not superstitious and I will never be. I think as an athlete that's the last thing you want to be, because I have always felt like it's conditioning me mentally, if then you forget something and I obviously don't choose the colour of the overalls. So if I start asking for a black overall for the rest of the season I'm not sure the tifosi will be very happy with that. So, yeah, no, I don't have any superstitions. We won in Monaco, we were in red. We won here, we were in black. I don't think we plan on using anything other than red for the rest of the season, and hopefully it will be a successful red, just like in Monaco.

Q: (Lawrence Edmondson – ESPN) A question for Charles. Every time you came down the pit straight in the last 10 laps, there was a huge cheer from the crowd. I'm guessing you probably couldn't hear it inside the cockpit, but where were your emotions in those last 10 laps? And also considering it was a situation where you're balancing so much the wear of the tyres as well.

CL: Just like in 2019, the last 3, 4, 5 laps it was quite difficult to keep the eyes on the track and I was obviously looking a little bit in the grandstand, I could see everybody was standing up and that was really nice to see. In 2019 I remember there was my mum also in the grandstand because I didn't manage to have a paddock pass for her. This year, she actually had a paddock pass, so it's good. She could watch and experience both things, once in the grandstand and once in the paddock. But yeah, it's a very special feeling. I could also see some red smoke at one point. So I knew everybody was super excited, but I also knew that I had to finish the job and that I had to stay on it because Oscar had a really good pace. But yeah, in the last five, six laps, I felt like we had it. The tyres felt good and I could see that Oscar was not that fast to catch me before the end of the race if I was not doing any mistakes.

Q: (Theodore Baker – Air Mail) Charles, you mentioned earlier that you faced some additional pressure racing here at Monza with the tifosi. I wonder if you could elaborate a little bit more on what that looked like for you personally, how you handled the burden of being a Ferrari driver in Italy?

CL: I think more than me personally, yes, there's a little bit more expectations, which translates in a bit more pressure coming into the weekend. However, I think as drivers, we are quite used to it, so it's fine to deal with it. But I think more for the whole team there are lots of expectations for most of the team members. They all have at least one family member or very close friend in the grandstand and that adds a lot to it. Everybody wants to do super well in Italy, lots of Italians traveling from all over Italy just to see Ferrari and to cheer for us. So you also want to do well for the big support we have here, and that adds a little bit to the pressure. And then, other than that, we have so many events and things we've got to do from the Monday in Milan to the Sunday. That is quite tiring. So to manage all these things is not easy but once again in 2019 we did a great job managing that and this year we did a really good job managing that as well. But that's also what makes winning in Monza so special. It's also because all of this and especially because of the crazy support we have here.

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Another question to Charles, again about that final stint. You were just so consistent, in the 1-minute 23s, even as Oscar was tearing chunks at you coming through the last few laps. How did you do that? What was your thinking? What were you focusing on? What critical areas?

CL: The only thing I was focusing on really was my front left. I could see there was a little bit of graining, and I really didn't want it to get worse. Otherwise, I knew that this was what will make me lose this race. So that was my only focus for the last… Actually, from when I put the Hard on the car. Yeah, that was my only focus. I knew that it was critical to not open this graining too much. And we did a really good job. Again, as soon as I had free air, I could change a little bit the balance of the car and put more stress on the rear tyres, which was exactly what I wanted to do. And as soon as that balance changed, I felt like the pace was coming back.

Q: (Ed Spencer – Auto Evolution) Lando, were you surprised about how easy it was to get past Max during the race, considering that Red Bull just didn't have any pace?

LN: No. I mean, they didn't have any pace. So therefore, it wasn't a surprise, no. I was on much fresher tyres, you know, like 10, 15 laps or something. No, I mean, it was expected, I think, at that point. Maybe even more, 20 laps of difference. So, yeah, they seem to struggle with some things this weekend, but they'll be fine next weekend.

Q: (Taylor Powling – Motorsport Monday) Question to Charles. Congratulations on the win. Can you just tell us about how the morale in the team was between Monaco and Monza? Because, obviously, it was a difficult period results-wise, and how much momentum can you carry into the remaining rounds now?

CL: Well, again, I think we shouldn't, and I've said that after Monaco, and I think we did that, we shouldn't rely on the race we have just done. And as a team, it's really important for us that once we come back at the factory tomorrow, we reset from everything that has happened during the weekend. We learn from it and we try to analyse everything, but we should leave emotions aside. and reset as a team and go again in Baku, not having crazy high expectations because that's not where the team is at the moment. I repeat myself, but Monza is a very specific track. We have been very strong this weekend, but Baku will be maybe very different and Singapore again very different. So we've got to reset. We did that reset from Monaco to Montreal, but as we've seen from Monaco to Montreal, it was a really big change from one weekend to another. And then we went through three or four of the worst races of the season, just because we were trying to understand what was going on in our car. So hopefully we don't go through three or four very difficult races from now on, and I don't think it will be the case. But again, it's very important that not only the team, but I think also the expectations from outside don't become crazy high from one race to another because this is not realistic. Have we done a step forward? Yes. Is it enough to go and win races until the end of the season? I don't think so yet, but we did a good step in the right direction.