FIA post-race press conference – Netherlands

1. Lando Norris (McLaren), 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Giedo van der Garde)

Q: Max Verstappen, P2, I think it’s not really the result you hoped for?

Max VERSTAPPEN: Well, you always try to do better. I mean, we had a good start, so we tried everything we could today, but throughout the race, I think it was quite clear that we were not quick enough, so I tried to be second today.

Q: Well, the start looked really, really nice. I mean, everybody was cheering you on. All the circuit went completely crazy on the grandstands. Did you dream a lot last night about the start, how you would manage into Turn 1?

MV: To be honest, not at all. I know that we have good starts, so I was quite confident that we would have another one, and luckily it was like that. And then, yeah, I just tried to do my own race, and that was my race, and I was second today.

Q: Anyway, good result, I think. Not that you hoped for. Maybe some words in Dutch as well.

MV: Yes, of course. I'd rather win today, but I can't win all of them. I'm always very happy with P2. I hope everyone enjoyed it. See you next year.

Q: Charles, wow, what a race, starting P6, finishing third on the podium. Unbelievable result for you and the whole team.

Charles LECLERC: Yeah, very, very surprised. I'm not very often happy with a P3, but I think with today's race, we can be extremely happy with the job we've done on a difficult weekend for the team. We've been struggling from Friday until the race. In the race, we found some more pace, executed a perfect strategy, we undercut two of our competitors there, and then we managed to keep them behind. So a really strong race for the team, and yeah, really happy to start the second half like this.

Q: Yeah, as you said, strategically I think it was a really good call from the team, but also with the start, you passed Pérez. It was also a good move.

CL: Yeah, also at the start, I knew it was a big opportunity. I didn't know that later on we would also have the pace to keep him behind. But I knew that the first lap was an opportunity for us to gain one or two positions. I went for the pass. It all worked well. But never would I have thought that I would stand on the podium after such a difficult race again for the team.

Q: Congratulations. Well done for you and the whole team. And good luck next week at the Ferrari's home track.

CL: Thank you. Thank you very much.

Q: Lando Norris, you are a Heineken Dutch Grand Prix winner. How does that feel?

Lando NORRIS: Thanks. It feels amazing, yeah, once again. I wouldn't say a perfect race, because of lap one again, but afterwards it was beautiful. You know, the pace was very strong. The car was unbelievable today, so I could get comfortable, I could push and get past Max, which was the main thing, and just go from there. So, honestly, quite a straightforward race, still tough, but very enjoyable.

Q: Did the orange army help you a little bit?

LN: Yeah, I mean, we have so many fans here, so it's beautiful. I mean, I have a lot of Dutch fans and Dutch supporters, so I thank you very much. I mean, I'm sure some are a little upset, but I hope it was a good race, and yeah, a lot of them supporting me, so I appreciate it a lot.

Q: By lap 18, when you passed Max, did you know that already that you would win that race?

LN: Yeah, I mean, I think from quite early on, actually, from probably lap five, six, seven, I expected Max to start pushing and get a bit of a gap, and he never did. So from that point, I knew we were in with a good fight. But he seemed to just keep dropping off, and my pace was getting better. So it's a nice feeling inside the car, and especially when I got past, you know, I could just get comfortable, I could push, I had clean air, and that's always a big help.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Many congratulations, Lando. What a drive. How satisfying was that performance today?

LN: A win is always satisfying, so very good. Obviously, didn't start in the most optimistic way, but the pace was unbelievable from the beginning and I could go with Max quite happily at the start. I just didn't expect our pace to be probably as good as what it was today, which is a good thing. It's nice to be kind of a little bit surprised by this. And as soon as I got ahead, it was quite straightforward. I could push. I had good confidence to push the whole race, save the tyres a little bit, but just get in a good rhythm and go from there. So the car felt amazing. The car felt great and made my life easier for sure. So a big thanks to the team.

Q: Zandvoort hasn't been the happiest of hunting grounds for McLaren in recent seasons. Just how much have these upgrades lifted the performance?

LN: I mean, this weekend a little bit. I still feel like we probably would have won without the upgrades this weekend. The upgrades didn't make us certainly a lot quicker here, you know, but the upgrades we've been putting on the car, they've helped us every time. It's not like we put it on and questioned it. We put it on and it was just… It did everything it wanted to do and needed to do and it wasn't meant to do. We've taken our time, and this was our first upgrade since Miami. Yes, we've had little bits along the way, but just like tweaks, it's nothing that's like his performance. And a lot of other people have. So we kind of fell down a little bit the order in terms of delivering parts and delivering upgrades, compared to all of our competition. And this was our first time we really put something on the car to drive us a step forward. And it definitely did that. But it's not like we've not been competitive over the last two months since Miami. You know, we've been quickest in Budapest. very quick at certain other races like Barcelona and Silverstone and stuff like that. But small things make a big difference. And today, with how the car felt, I'm sure it was a step ahead. You know, a new rear wing probably helped me get past Max today. So little things like that definitely help you go forwards.

Q: After the start, when Max got the jump on you, were you still very confident that you could win this race?

LN: No, I mean, after yesterday, of course, we were confident the pace was going to be good, for sure. My long-run pace on Friday was very good, but you don't do anything more than, like, 10, 11 laps, and you never know in the 72-lap race what's going to happen. But I would say also Max's pace didn't look bad on Friday. You could already pick apart a bit of it and kind of give yourself some confidence, It wasn't like we came into here thinking, ‘yeah, we can easily just pass him on track’ and pull the gap that we did today. It's just not often that I've been in the lead and being able to control things and do what I want to do and look after the tyres and have clean air and stuff like that. And all of this makes a big difference in the end of the day. So I didn't expect things to go as well as it did. After getting done into Turn 1 and off the line, I was actually just surprisingly calm, maybe because I'm a bit used to going backwards at the start. I'm very prepared for those kind of scenarios. And I was very calm and just, ‘OK, well, what can I do now?’ And that was just to look ahead, start saving tyres, see what I had pace wise. But really even like lap 10, 11, 12, 13, I kind of managed to catch Max a little bit again and started to gain quite a bit of optimism that actually I could almost pass him on track. So I had two opportunities. The first one, I wasn't quite close enough. The next lap I did it and I could get my head down from there.

Q: Oscar had a similar problem at the start to you. What can you and the team do to improve the situation going forward?

LN: Not get wheelspin.

Q: You make it sound quite an easy solution, but how do you do that?

LN: Obviously not, because otherwise I would have done better then. But I mean, we know what to do. We know what's required to do a perfect start. But we're talking about fine margins here. Because we both didn't get it right, it seems like maybe there was more underlying issue or something wasn't how it was supposed to be, or we've clearly misjudged something more than what others did. But Oscar's one of the best starters on the grid. I'm not as good as him, but there or thereabouts. I'm not a bad starter, but not as good as obviously what we need to be. Again, it was a race which almost slipped away off the line, but today was, again, different to every other thing that's happened. So, kind of like I said before the weekend, we need to find a bit more consistency, but we've worked on it and I feel like I've done better procedurally, but obviously didn't turn into the correct thing.

Q: So, Lando, phenomenal pace here. What does this mean going forward? Let's talk about Monza next weekend. Do you think you'll be as competitive there?

LN: I have no idea. You ask us questions like we're meant to know. I've got no idea. Yeah, anyone could be on top. Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, us. Ferrari were quite quick today. We probably didn't expect them to be as good as they were. Maybe Red Bull struggled a bit more. I think that was probably more the factor that the Red Bull struggled a bit more today than we were expecting. We just keep our heads down. There's no point thinking how we're going to do next weekend. We'll just get there and work hard and wait till we get there. There's no point thinking ahead.

Q: Very well done today. Good luck next weekend. Max, let's come to you now. So you struggled more than Lando was expecting today. Did you struggle more than you were expecting today?

MV: The whole weekend has been the same. I mean, I had pretty much the same balance from FP1 all the way to the race. I mean, the limitations are the same. So yeah, it's just very hard to solve at the moment. Yeah, it just seems like we are too slow, but also quite bad on deg at the moment. That's a bit weird because I think the last few years normally we've been quite good on that. So something has been going wrong lately with the car that we need to understand and we need to, of course, quickly try to improve.

Q: Is there one overriding problem? You said at one point on the radio that the car wasn't responding to your inputs. So is understeer the issue?

MV: It's just not a connected balance, front or rear.

Q: Let's talk about the start. Lando's talked us through it from his point of view. Do you think there was more grip on the inside of the track? Because Charles made progress at the start. So did George Russell. So did you.

MV: I don't think so. I think the start was all right. I had a bit of wheelspin as well. But I think Checo had a good start as well also on the left-hand side. So I think, yeah, we just got it right as a team probably also. And we have been doing quite well with that in most races this year. But it's also, I think, a bit more difficult to predict because the weather this weekend has been raining, drying, so you don't really get a consistent grip rate. So sometimes, yeah, it's a bit hit and miss.

Q: Talk us through the early laps. Once you were in the lead, how confident were you of staying there?

MV: I was just doing my own race, looking after the tyres, I tried to do the best I could. But yeah, at one point, nothing was turning or responding anymore. So then Lando got quite close the first time, like he said, he was close, but not close enough. And then the next lap, there was nothing that I could do. So once he passed, I just focused on doing my race, tried to bring it to the end in second.

Q: Knowing the car's strengths and weaknesses as you do, do you think you'll be more competitive at Monza?

MV: I don't know. I mean, we just need to figure out our balance issues. I think that will already help a lot also with deg. Of course, in Monza, a lot is new. You know, tarmac, kerbs, even the layout in Turn 1, 2. So also that we need to understand a bit more. But, yeah, we know that we have quite a bit of work to do.

Q: Alright. Max, thank you. Charles, let's come to you now. A brilliant race by you and Ferrari. Very well done. You weren't happy with the car at the start of the weekend. So talk us through how you've managed to turn it around.

CL: Ah, that is a very good question. And I think the best question is also to understand why we were nine tenths off yesterday and suddenly pretty strong today. The car is exactly the same. Yesterday, we've been struggling like crazy. Today, we were strong. And these are the kind of things that we've got to work on. I think as much as we analyse every bad surprise we have during a season, we also need to understand when we do something good. For now, I don't think as a team we have the explanation. So it's a great result. I'm really happy to be standing on the podium. And I think it's a really good surprise. However, we've got to understand in order to perform more often at our best.

Q: Talk us through that last segment of the race when you had Oscar Piastri just behind you on fresher tyres. How easy was it to maintain your rhythm at that stage?

CL: It wasn't, because my engineer was telling me about Oscar's lap time, which when he was in free air was quite a bit quicker than me, I think nearly a second. Then when he got closer, I started to push a bit more and gain five tenths. And I think with the dirty air, he probably lost three or four tenths. He managed to stay behind and to put me quite under pressure for two, three laps, but then couldn't stay there because of the overheating. It was a really good strategy. I did not expect to keep that third place until the end, but we did a really good job as a team. I don't think there was anything more we could have done today.

Q: Your second consecutive podium, how do you view the coming races?

CL: Again, it's very, very difficult to predict. If you will have asked me that question yesterday, I will have told you it will be very difficult. Today is much better. If we manage to understand what's going on with our car, then I'm quite optimistic about the future. But for now, we don't quite have the understanding yet.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) A question for Max. You mentioned this lack of balance in the car. Is it something that has been introduced with development or was it something that was always there but is now more exposed because you're being pushed that bit harder by McLaren?

MV: I wasn't there in the first few races. But yeah, something in the car has made it more difficult to drive. And it's very hard to pinpoint where that is coming from at the moment. And yeah, that is then hurting, of course, our one lap performance, but also our long run.

Q: (Dan Lawrence – Motorsport Monday) A question for Charles. Sort of theoretically, the next few races, Monza, Baku, Singapore should be stronger for Ferrari. So just how important was it to get a good result here to then obviously not only in the home race for the team, but just to have a good, solid run of results over the next few races?

CL: It's super important. I think we've had three or four races four races ago where we were experimenting quite a lot to try and understand what were the fundamental issues of our car for the development, medium-term. We've got an upgrade coming very soon. Now I can say actually because Fred said it, so it will be in Monza. And that, I hope, will help us and help us close the gap. But until the upgrades, I always said that the priority for us was just to do a damage limitation. And today, we were targeting P6. Realistically, I think on paper, that's what we were fighting for. However, after three, four laps, the pace was there. And we called do P3, which is a good surprise again. So good points. However, now I just hope that the upgrades helps us to do a step forward.

Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Question to Max. Helmut Marco just told me that he finds today's result quite alarming for Red Bull, and he says something needs to happen quickly, otherwise both championships are under threat. How alarming do you find today, and how do you look at the Drivers' Championship, where you've still got quite a margin? And to Lando, how confident are you of really having a shot at the Drivers' Championship this year?

MV: I think this weekend was just a bad weekend in general. So we need to understand that. But the last few races already, they haven't really been fantastic. So that, I think in a sense, was already a bit alarming. But we know that we don't need to panic. We are just trying to improve the situation. And that's what we are working on. But F1 is very complicated.

LN: I mean, I've been fighting for the championship since the first race of the year. There's no sudden decision of now. I need to do better. I've been working hard the whole year and I'm still 70 points behind Max. So it's pretty stupid to think of anything at the minute. I just take one race at a time and just keep doing what I'm doing now because there's no point to think ahead and think of the rest. I don't care about it at the minute. I'm just... Yeah, focused on one race at a time. So it's not a question that I need to get asked every single weekend.

Q: (Taylor Powling – Motorsport Monday) Lando, congratulations on your win. You and the team have been reluctant to say you have the fastest car at points this season, but after today with how dominant the drive was and with the upgrades, do you feel more confident to say that you do now have the fastest package?

LN: Oh, 100%, yeah. Today, this whole weekend, I think we've had the best car. I think we've, on average, had the best car, for sure. We've not had a dominant car at any point this season, I would say. Even if you go back to Hungary, as much as people hate me to say it, Max was still very quick in Hungary. He just didn't have a great race, but his pace was still very, very strong. And obviously we see, we know more information than people do on the outside, so we can comment in much more factual ways than people can who are just watching on TV and taking their picks and guesses. We've had, on average, the best car. You know, we probably should have won two, three more races as a team, but we didn't. And we're not saying anything more than that. You know, we should have won and we didn't, and it's because we've not done a good enough job. I didn't do a good enough job. And we worked hard over the summer break to just try and take a step back and reset and go again. So yes, we've had a great car. This was, like I said earlier, our first time we bought some good upgrades to the car since Miami. They worked very well then. They've worked once again now. Yeah, it's still a long way to go. So we still have to keep working hard because this is just Zandvoort. Monza is a completely different circuit. So we'll keep our heads down and keep chipping away.

Q: (Marijn Abbenhuis – AD Sportwereld) Since the end of 2020 there hasn't been a period as long as this one in which you didn't get a win. How do you feel about that and do you see enough perspective to turn it around quickly?

MV: Yeah, I mean, that happens, right? I mean, I've had a lot of good years. I mean, some people have never won a race in their career, you know, so you can also look at it like that. From my side, yeah, we at the moment don't have the fastest car. We have some issues that we have to solve and we are working on that. That's the only thing I can say about that. You know, we're very focused on it. There's still a lot of races left, a lot of different kind of tracks. This weekend was just not our best weekend.