What the teams said – Race day in Azerbaijan

McLaren

Piastri held onto second from the start, but managed to force his way past long-time leader Leclerc after the pit stops in a late and aggressive move. From there he had to defend for lap after lap, the Ferrari in his mirrors constantly and the free air up front not helping him pull away. He didn’t put a foot wrong under extreme pressure and emerged from it all with a second hard-fought Grand Prix victory. As for Norris, he made his way forward on the hard tyre from P15 on the grid and was soon in the points. He managed to hold up Perez for one crucial lap that enabled Piastri to get out in front of the Mexican, and pitted very late for the mediums. On that compound, Norris chased down and got past Verstappen on merit, to finish fourth in a very good case of damage limitation from that lowly grid slot.

READ MORE: Piastri relieved after ‘hanging on for dear life’ to beat Leclerc and claim Baku victory

Oscar Piastri, 1st

“P1! I’m so happy to have won my second Grand Prix. This is the best win of my career. I’m proud of what we did today. I tried at the start of the race to get in front, but once I dropped out of DRS, I just didn't have the pace. After the stop, I saw we were pretty close again, and I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip. I had to go for it because I knew that if I didn't get past at the start of the stint, I was never going to get past. So, I went for a pretty big lunge, but managed to pull it up, and then hung on for dear life for the next 35 laps. It was hard work, but I think that definitely goes down as one of my better races.

“We’re now leading the World Championship. It’s a massive team effort and everyone at McLaren deserves full credit for the turnaround that’s happened in my 18 months here. The car has improved, but I think they’ve helped me improve as well: 12 months ago, I definitely wasn’t capable of achieving results like this. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”

Lando Norris, 4th

"A great result for the team, with a great race from both sides. First of all, congrats to Oscar for another win, he deserves it. I think I had a great race. I got fastest lap and a good number of points from where we were so I’m very happy. We’re the team that gained the most points today, so I think we should be very satisfied with that. It’s the maximum we could have done today, and we’ve taken the lead in the Constructors’ Championship. A job well done by everyone.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“Today we secured an important and impressive victory in Azerbaijan. Oscar’s performance throughout the race was exceptional, and to take the lead in the way that he did is proof of what a special driver he is. Lando also completed an impressive comeback after starting out of position through no fault of his own.

“At this event, there was no team with a clear pace advantage and this strong result is down to the excellent execution of the race by the team and our drivers. It is further proof that our package can be competitive and fight for victories at a variety of circuits.

“Today’s result also promotes us to first in the Constructors’ Championship, an important milestone in our journey. However, the team remain clearly focused on the task ahead, and we use this positive moment to redouble our efforts for the coming races. The progress we’ve made since the start of 2023, when we were at the back of the grid, is down to the hard work and dedication from our entire team, as well as the support from our shareholders and partners. We quickly turn our attention to Singapore, where the team will be focused on executing another successful race weekend.”

Ferrari

Leclerc led off the line and throughout the first stint. But at the beginning of the second stint, he found himself caught off guard by Piastri’s lunge and lost the lead. Running in the DRS of the McLaren for the next 30 laps or so, he tried repeatedly to get back past to no avail. But worse was to come as his tyres fell off the cliff in the last few laps, leaving him vulnerable to both Perez and his team mate, who had closed back up after running alone in fourth for much of the race. A three-way fight ensued, and only ended when Sainz and Perez made contact and hit the walls. That helped Leclerc hold onto second, but means Sainz’s day ended in disaster.

Charles Leclerc, 2nd

"We lost the victory based on two factors today. The first was tyre management on our out-lap from the pits. We expected it to take a long time for everyone to warm up their tyres, which was the case for our car, but not at all for McLaren, who got their tyres up to temperature immediately and gained a big amount of time there.

"The second was not fighting Oscar harder when he overtook. I knew we had a long race ahead and my target was to look after my tyres, stay within DRS range and overtake him later down the line. However, we underestimated the speed they had on the straights today, running a lower downforce package than us, which made them too fast to attempt to overtake them. Overall, it wasn’t the best day for our team, but we now head to Singapore and will come back stronger."

Carlos Sainz, DNF

"It's a real shame, the important thing is that both Checo (Perez) and I are ok after the crash but it’s obviously frustrating. I stayed on the normal racing line and didn’t do anything strange, the same as every other lap, so I didn’t expect the contact on my rear tyre. It’s part of racing but it hurts and we lost a lot of points today.

"I was having a very good race and was very quick. I think P3 or even P2 would’ve been possible, but it is what it is. Time to turn the page and focus on Singapore."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"The first part of the race went very well for Charles and his pace was mega. Then we need to analyse the laps immediately after his pit stop as the pace proved to be too slow and in the end he had no tyres left anyway. Probably we were a bit too conservative at the start of the second stint but having to drive in dirty air was difficult for Charles and the result was it damaged the tyres. We will review everything carefully.

"As for the incident with Carlos and Checo (Perez), they were side by side at the start of the straight leading to turn 3 and they both wanted to keep in Charles’ slipstream. It seems to me that Checo had plenty of space on his left hand side and did not move at all, while Carlos had no room on his right hand side.

"We leave Baku with a result below expectations but it was good to see that as in Monza we were fighting with McLaren and we were competitive. We need to keep the focus and continue to fight as there here are many more races to go."

Mercedes

Russell was overtaken at the start and looked to be in a lonely race behind Verstappen. But once on the hard tyres his car came alive, and he was able to chase the Red Bull down and pass the Dutchman. He looked on for fifth until that late crash between Sainz and Perez, perhaps slightly luckily inheriting an unlikely podium late on. As for Hamilton, he started from the pit lane after taking a raft of new PU components. He managed to overtake some midfield cars and crucially picked off Bearman late on, to also benefit from that crash to take home some extra points.

Lewis Hamilton, 9th

"Today was a difficult race. We had a good day on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was tough. We made some changes heading into Saturday that didn’t work out, but we had to live with them. We also knew it would be challenging to overtake today. Despite the long straight, it is hard to follow through the second sector. Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman, who I was racing for a lot of the afternoon, did such a great job. It is great to see the youngsters like them coming through and doing so well. For their first and second races, it was very impressive.

"Despite how tough my own race was, the positives are that George had a decent race and was able to score some good points for the team. We’ve also got lots of data to work through ahead of Singapore. We’ve got some upgrades coming before the end of the year so hopefully we can make a step closer to those at the front soon."

George Russell, 3rd

"It was a really strange race today. It was very difficult on the Medium tyre in my first stint. I was over one second off the ultimate pace and finding it hard to control the rear tyre surface temperatures. On the Hard tyre in my second stint, the car felt brilliant. In the final 20 laps, I was lapping one second quicker than those at the very front. It is hard to work out exactly why this was and is a little frustrating.

"We were fortunate to get onto the podium and I am glad that both Carlos (Sainz) and Checo (Perez) are OK. We were having a relatively quiet run to P5 after I got past Verstappen, but we will take it. It is a good reward for all the efforts of the team after a challenging weekend on the whole."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"We will take the positive from today that we were able to get one car on the podium. We saw that it was getting feisty at the front and that ultimately ended with Sainz and Perez in the wall. Inheriting a podium and finishing third is better than we expected but we are not fooling ourselves that, on pace today, we were P5.

"We will analyse the race and weekend as a whole. The second half of our Grand Prix on the Hard tyre was encouraging. George was able to keep the temperatures under control and, having driven within himself early in the stint, was able to deliver strong pace in the closing stages. It was more difficult for Lewis with the traffic he faced but at moments, he showed good speed. We now head to Singapore, and it is another difficult circuit to know how everyone will perform. We will dig through the data from this weekend, aim to improve the car balance and have a stronger weekend there."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"It was nice to get a car on the podium, but we aren’t fooling ourselves; this weekend hasn’t been good enough and we need to improve. The first stint for both drivers was weak. We couldn't stop the rear tyres from overheating, and, at one point, it was looking like we were in for a very difficult afternoon.

"The Hard tyre suited us much better. George had clean air to work out how to get the best out of the tyres and maintain them in a good window. That served him well later in the race. We'd lost too much time early on in the race to stick with the leaders, but it was good to get the pass on Verstappen done and that proved crucial for the podium.

"Lewis' race was difficult as he kept bumping into DRS trains and just couldn't make it through them. The closer he got to the cars ahead the more tyre overheating he suffered with. Regardless, we were not strong enough here to get a podium on merit and that's what we need to put our efforts into resolving. We've got a different challenge in Singapore next week but are looking forward to getting back on track."

Red Bull

Perez picked off Sainz at the start, and drove superbly well in third for much of the race. He was pushing and harrying Leclerc late on for second, but as he tried a move on the Ferrari, he wound up losing out to Sainz instead. Suddenly in fourth, he slipstreamed his way up to the Spaniard and alongside, but the duo collided and hit the walls hard on the penultimate lap. Verstappen wasn’t in the same league as his team mate today, losing out to Russell after originally passing the Mercedes at the start. He then lost out to Norris which must have been a psychological blow, coming home fifth. Perez had nothing to show for all his hard work, as Red Bull dropped to second in the constructors’.

READ MORE: ‘We paid the price’ – Verstappen reflects on detrimental car issues that impacted Baku race

Max Verstappen, 5th

“Today ended up being a worse case scenario, but the most important thing is that Checo is okay. In the race, we were stuck behind Lando and Alex and had some issues with the balance and the car was jumping around a lot and losing contact with the tarmac. We ultimately still had some issues with changes that we made before qualifying and we just paid the price today. Most of the time we make a change going into qualifying and it pays off, but sometimes it doesn’t and it is just a risk you have to make. There is a fix, but we found out too late to make any changes. The initial changes we made were positive; we were going well and we just made some changes in qualifying that tipped us over the edge. For the Championship, we are going to work together as a Team and the fight is not over. You win or lose as a Team and we won’t give up. It is as simple as that."

Sergio Perez, DNF

“Today was very unfortunate, the last person I wanted to have a contact with is Carlos and to both end our weekends like that is a disaster for both of us. I feel that we exited turn two with lots of room between the cars and as Charles was moving to the inside, Carlos looked to pick up the tow from him. As he picked up speed, he moved very quickly, touched my front tyre and it was game over for me. It is a shame for the Team and the Championship, after the race we had today and the work we have done all weekend it’s hard for everyone to take. I feel super sad for the Team, but the positive thing is the pace is back, the changes to the car seem to have put us back in contention. We were fighting for the win and looking like we were going to have a strong result – that’s what we need to take out of today. We need to keep it up with the progress we have made and hopefully in the coming races we can be very strong."

Christian Horner, Team Principal

"A disappointing end to the race and a very unlucky one for Checo; he was in a position to win that race today and it is unfortunate that we weren’t able to achieve that. It looked like Carlos drifted to the left hand side of the track and there was contact which caused a huge amount of damage. Importantly both drivers are ok but it has cost us crucial points for Checo and the Constructors’ Championship, so we are very disappointed. With Max, he wasn’t as happy with the set up of the car so we’ll have to look into what the difference was there. After the pit stop he ran into Lando and Alex, which was unlucky as it affected his race and his tyres started getting out of the window. For the Constructors, it was obviously a big swing in the last three laps and we have lost out on some significant points in the Championship, however, we will brush ourselves down and fight back hard."

Aston Martin

Stroll’s race was made difficult by a puncture on the opening lap after contact with Tsunoda, and he had to pit as a result. Pitting a second time dropped him down the order, and he eventually retired with a brake issue late on. That left Alonso to fly the flag for the team, which he did with aplomb. He managed to cover off Colapinto early on, and made his hard tyres last 41 laps to come home as the best midfield runner and score some good points.

Fernando Alonso, 6th

"I'm happy with the result today and we were able to captalise on some action on the final few laps to take sixth position.

"It was a little bit of a lonely race for me with nobody ahead to fight with. We were able to follow the trend around us on a one-stop strategy and we maintained the position to those chasing us behind. It was still a tough race with no time to relax.

"We executed everything well with a good strategy and pitstops, so I'm happy we've come away from this weekend in Baku with some well-earned points."

Lance Stroll, DNF

"My race was pretty much over on the first lap when [Yuki] Tsunoda and I made contact. I dived down the inside - I'm not sure if he saw me or not - but he closed the door and I had to pit with a puncture. We're all racing hard on the opening lap and these things happen, but it left us on the back foot for the rest of the race.

"With nine laps to go I started feeling an issue with the brake pedal and it was getting worse with each lap. This isn't a circuit to take any risks at, and we were well out of the points positions, so it made sense to retire the car. It's been a frustrating weekend, but I'm looking forward to Singapore."

Mike Krack, Team Principal

"Leaving Baku with eight important points is a great return for our efforts this weekend. It is more than we expected coming into the weekend, but it shows there are always opportunities on this challenging street track.

"Fernando drove a very strong race, making the most of his qualifying position to run in eighth for most of the afternoon, and then gained a couple of places with the accident ahead in the final laps. Going into the race we were worried about our tyre degradation, so full credit to Fernando and the team for delivering a one-stop race, which was critical for this result.

"Lance picked up a puncture [due to contact with Yuki Tsunoda] on lap one and had to pit. That dropped him to the back of the pack and ended his chance of competing for points. Our attention now turns to Singapore next week – a similar challenge to Baku – where we will look to score more points."

Williams

Albon started on the hard tyre, Colapinto the mediums. The Argentine pitted very early and then had to make his hard tyres last 41 laps. Meanwhile Albon was running as high as third on his long first stint, and he held the pack up – including the likes of Norris and Verstappen. When he finally pitted and put on fresh tyres, he was able to climb back up into the points. And the best news for Williams is that Colapinto followed him through, to score ten valuable points for the team.

Alex Albon, 7th

"We know how difficult it is to get P9’s and P10’s in races, so to get P7 and P8 is luxurious and we’ll take that! We’ve moved in front of Alpine now in the championship, which was our target by the end of the year. It shows we’ve made good progress with the upgrade. It’s another weekend when we’ve been similar to the Aston on pace and we’ve scored points for the second race in a row. We were much quicker than we expected to be compared to the top teams and it was nice to be in that fight. Let’s see next week but, for this weekend, it’s been strong."

Franco Colapinto, 8th

"To score my first points in Formula 1 is a fantastic feeling. I’m so proud of this team for what we’ve already been able to achieve together. I’m delighted to have points on the board to show for all the hard work and effort we’ve been putting in with it only being my second race. We had good pace today being very close to the Aston. To finish seventh and eighth alongside Alex means we’re now P8 in the Constructors’ Championship which is a good step forward and a motivator for the team. We still need to keep learning and improving together as it’s a long season with many races left. I’m looking forward to racing in Singapore for the first time next weekend."

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director

"We decided to split strategy between the cars today to keep our options open as Baku is many times an incident rich race. The race started well for us, and we pitted Franco who started on the Medium tyre. As Alonso had pitted this freed up Alex who started on the Hard and he showed some great pace in his stint. When he started to struggle with his tyres, we pitted him a bit earlier than planned onto the Medium. After overtaking Hulkenberg and Franco, he started to chase Alonso who was a few seconds ahead of him. He came close to Alonso but a few laps before the end the Medium started to struggle so we decided to make sure we could go to the end with the tyre. Franco did a great job keeping Hamilton and Bearman behind and, when a struggling Hulkenberg in front of him touched the wall, it brought Franco into the points. We were settling for P9 and P10 until a late accident between Perez and Sainz moved us up to P7 and P8. This was a great afternoon for the whole team; we’ve been competitive the whole weekend and have been rewarded with our first double points finish since last season’s U.S. Grand Prix. Now we are looking forward to going to Singapore where we hope to bring the next upgrade to the car."

Haas

Both Haas drivers were in the thick of the action all race long. Bearman ceded position to his team mate early on, with Hulkenberg seemingly having more race pace than the youngster. In fact, the German looked likely to score when he passed Colapinto – but he couldn’t hold a fresher-shod Albon at bay late on, before running over some debris and damaging his front wing. That dropped him back, allowing both Hamilton and Bearman to get back past. For Bearman, it means he has scored in his first two F1 races for two different teams, which is a new record for the rookie.

FACTS AND STATS: Red Bull lose constructors’ lead after 55 races and Bearman makes rookie history

Nico Hulkenberg, 11th

“It was actually going better than expected to be honest; we managed to find some rhythm and pace today which I’m very happy and pleased about. Unfortunately, in the last few laps I faced some issues, and with the accident at the end I got caught off guard. For me, it was a straight safety car or even red flag as there was some real carnage down the straight. It was instead then a green flag, and I lost positions there and lost the result unfortunately. The whole track was covered in debris, and I ran over a massive piece which I couldn’t see because of a car in front of me. It was a pretty crazy two last laps, but unfortunately not in our favor.”

Oliver Bearman, 10th

“I missed some pace in the first stint and lost a few positions there and that put me a bit behind in the race as I got some traffic and lost some time. In the second stint, I’m quite happy with the performance. It’s tough when you’re trying to overtake, you really have to push the tyres and they get hot, so I was pushing hard to overtake Franco (Colapinto), and eventually Lewis (Hamilton) overtook me, so he was using his experience there to do that. I wasn’t going to finish in the points but there was some misfortune in front of me which allowed me to do so.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“Purely from Ollie’s driving, I thought it was a really good job. Yes, he was overly managing the tyre earlier, but the team should’ve done better to inform Ollie during the first stint. The pace really hindered his race but once he realized he was over-managing, he picked it up and had awareness. I think it’s brilliant to bring home P10 and a much-needed point for the team. All in all with Ollie, he had a setback in FP3, and underperformed in Q2, but overall it’s impressive.

“On Nico’s side, his race was strong and it may not be a track he gets on well with but today, he was really strong. He had a good feel on the car and on the tyres, he was doing a much better job in the first stint. On his second stint on hards, it was amazing, he really managed them, but it’s a shame that with two laps to go he hit the wall on the right-hand side and lost position to Colapinto. When he was recovering from that, the accident happened with the yellow flag coming out. Nico hit something big, I’m not sure what, but when he saw the green light he didn’t react quick enough, so Hamilton and Ollie overtook him. The positives are that we had the race pace, and even at one of Nico’s worst tracks, he was very competitive. I’m sure we can fight for points for the rest of the season.”

Alpine

Ocon started from the pit lane, Gasly from the back of the pack after his qualifying DSQ. As such, points were always unlikely in Baku and so it proved. Gasly started on the hard tyre and ran nearly all the way to the end, chucking some soft tyres on for the final lap but unable to catch up to Hulkenberg ahead. Ocon did likewise, but came home even further back.

Esteban Ocon, 15th

“It has been a disappointing weekend and a tricky race for us today here in Baku. We now want to turn the page quickly and our focus must be towards the next race, which comes in a few days’ time in Singapore. As a team, we will regroup and concentrate on maximising all available running time to build the performance and be race ready and get a chance to fight in the points.”

Pierre Gasly, 12th

“On one side, I would say that was one of my best races of the season from a driving point of view. It was a good start from eighteenth on the grid and we were on the limit every corner, every lap and really extracted the maximum from the car. There was not much more we could have done, finishing twelfth at the chequered flag. On the other side, though, simply, we were just too slow this weekend. We took a gamble on strategy, running long in the hope that there might be some late action. It came too late in the end so we could not benefit from it. We made good steps forward from Friday but, clearly, it was a challenging weekend for the team. We will get on top of it and we need to come back with a better weekend performance in Singapore.”

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal

“As a team we leave Baku frustrated; a weekend we need to quickly put behind us. From where we started, with one car at the back and one car in the Pit Lane, it was always going to be tough to progress through the field. We ran both cars long on the Hard tyres anticipating a late Safety Car or Red Flag, which did not pay off in the end, even with the VSC towards the latter stage of the race. Ultimately, we did not have the reliability to compete this weekend and it’s something we need to analyse and quickly address, especially as we’ve dropped a place in the Championship standings. We’ll look to bounce back in Singapore, where we need to re-find some of the performance and form we had around the summer break.”

RB

Tsunoda collided with Stroll on the opening lap, feeling the Canadian had dived down the inside when the move wasn’t on. The contact ripped a hole in his bodywork which he tried to drive around, but he soon retired when it became apparent the damage was too great. As for Ricciardo, he started on the hard tyre and ran very long indeed, only stopping right at the end after hanging it out in the hopes of a Safety Car. He came home in 13th, with RB not on the pace of some of their midfield rivals this weekend.

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive the action from Baku as Piastri takes exhilarating victory in dramatic fight for the win

Daniel Ricciardo, 13th

“It was a tough race. The start felt okay; the medium runners in front of me looked like they were struggling, and we were able to catch them. I was on the hard tyre and tried to use it where I could by going long and finding the pace. After a few laps, we picked up a lot of graining, which got worse and worse over 10 laps, causing us to be a few seconds off the pace. The Team could see some other cars were clearing the graining, however it definitely took us a lot longer. When we did, we were able to come back and have a bit of pace again, but we had lost a lot of ground. I’ve never experienced graining like that, the swing of lap time was up to four seconds. We need to understand why we had more graining for longer. Looking ahead, I love the Marina Bay Street Circuit, so hopefully we can have a stronger weekend there.”

Yuki Tsunoda, DNF

“Very frustrated to have this happen two races in a row. A very short race, losing the opportunity to score points, which would still have been tricky, but you never know on these street races. Starting P12 is obviously not ideal and means there are a lot of risks of getting damage. We just need to step up a little bit and qualify in the top 10, so we can get a better start. In terms of what happened on track, it felt like an unnecessary move from him [Stroll]. Sending it in like that, with a nothing-to-lose approach. I’m not sure what he had to gain, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. It was a shame, not the way I wanted to end my race, but we’ll come back strong in Singapore.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“This wasn’t the weekend we were hoping for. Yuki was unlucky to be involved in a collision on the first lap, while Daniel’s pace was badly affected by a huge amount of tyre graining, which kept him outside of the battle for the points. It’s something that is extremely unusual and we will need to get to the bottom of it and understand why it affected us so much more than our competitors. In terms of overall performance during the weekend, no doubt that we still have a lot of work to do in front of us. The updates we brought here gave us an improvement in performance which is good news. However, it is not enough to match the progress our competitors have made and get back into the top 10 fight. Everyone in Faenza and Bicester are working hard to improve in every single area and to introduce more developments soon. Let’s see if we can do better starting on the streets of Singapore in a few days’ time.”

Jody Egginton, Technical Director

“A very difficult race today and we have a lot of work ahead of us to address the issues faced. Yuki’s race was over before it got going due to contact with Stroll, resulting in damage and a loss of aero performance, which was significant enough to force us to retire him. Daniel’s race started okay with the car appearing reasonably well balanced, but was totally dominated by severe tyre graining, leading to a significant drop off in pace and track position. He got back on the pace, but the damage was done, and it was impossible to recover without the intervention of a safety car, which did not come, so we boxed him late on. It appears we were significantly more effected by graining than other teams, so clearly there is something specific we need to fix ahead of Singapore, which the team back at base and trackside are already very focused on delivering.”

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauber split strategies in Baku, starting Bottas on the mediums and Zhou on the hards. But it was to no avail, with both drivers coming home in the midst of the pack and not looking likely to break their points scoring duck. Zhou headed Bottas home for the first time since Spain, with the team running out of time to get a score on the board this season.

Valtteri Bottas, 16th

"It was a tough day for us. We tried to split the car strategies, to try and maximise returns, but it didn't really work out in the end. The main issue was the rapid degradation of the medium tyres at the start, forcing us into an early pit stop. The car felt better on the hard compound, but even that tyre started to struggle towards the end. Despite some luck, with a few rivals dropping out of contention, we couldn't achieve a balanced stint and missed out on the points. Now we need to regroup and try again in Singapore."

Zhou Guanyu, 14th

"I think the race went smoothly and cleanly on my end. The team executed our strategy well, but our pace wasn’t strong enough to fight closer to the points. That said, it’s encouraging to see progress this weekend, especially in terms of racecraft. We were able to compete with a few other teams, which is a positive sign. There’s still a long road ahead, and while we know we’re not quite where we want to be yet, we’ll keep fighting and working together as a team to close the gap."

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative

"We finished this race in a similar position to the previous ones, and we were not able to change our trend, despite the hard work of everyone within the team. Valtteri struggled during his first stint on medium tyres following Tsunoda, and the lack of pace meant we lost ground compared to our starting position. Right from the very beginning, he suffered graining that prevented him from having reasonable pace, so we pitted him on lap 12, trying to improve his balance with fresh tyres and a different compound. This was not enough, though. On the positive side, Zhou delivered a solid race, managing his tyres well during the first part of the afternoon. We then decided to extend his first stint, stopping him on lap 35, and he had a strong final part of the race on medium tyres, overtaking Ocon in the closing stages and bringing him up to finish in P14. Zhou progressed well throughout the weekend and was able to be more in the mix today with our direct competitors. We know this is not enough to get in the points: therefore, there is nothing to do other than keep working to optimise the setup window for the next race in Singapore and, of course, work hard to bring updates that can allow us to find more pace."

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“A fortnight on from the Italian Grand Prix, we have been treated to another really thrilling race, with the outcome unclear from the first lap to the last. In Monza we saw two different strategies in play, but today, almost everyone went with the same choice, but in no way did that detract from the on-track action, with a long three way fight for the lead, as well as several others battles throughout the race.

“For this weekend and indeed the next one, we have gone with the same choice of dry compounds, which worked as expected, adapting very well to the track characteristics and conditions. Going into the event, the Soft was clearly going to be a qualifying tyre and the Hard the quickest for the race, with the Medium as a great compromise for the first part of the race: between yesterday and today we saw those predictions confirmed.

“Even today, the track continued to rubber-in. It meant the lap times continued to improve and degradation was pretty limited. A few drivers experienced graining, especially in the first stint, but it did not significantly affect their performance. Clearly, running in traffic made life complicated in terms of tyre management, but that is pretty much inevitable with the current aerodynamic configuration of these cars.”