Sunday Team Quotes

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (6th): "This is just how racing goes sometimes, we need to put our heads down and work as hard as we can to get back to where we want to be. Overall it was a tricky weekend in Monza both in qualifying and the race. In terms of position, we got the most out of today, there was a bad pit stop and we were also running down on power for most of the race but we just tried to do our own race. We could've executed a better strategy but in hindsight the two-stop was not optimal so it ended up being damage limitation until the end. There is a lot to analyse from this weekend. This is just how racing goes sometimes, we need to put our heads down and work as hard as we can to get back to where we want to be. I've given a lot of feedback on the car, so in the next two weeks before Baku we need to focus on turning things around and fixing some of the issues we've identified over the past few weekends."

Sergio Perez (8th): "I am very confident the Team here at track and back at home have the solution, we have produced great cars in the past and there is no reason why we cannot get back on track. Since lap one of FP1 this weekend has been tricky and unfortunately, we just never got there. In the beginning today the balance was looking better on the hard and we were able to look after the tyre, but very early on we started to struggle with degradation, and it became hard to manage. On the final stint on the mediums, we did a long stint, and given the pace on that tyre, it was quite difficult to maximise things. My fight with George was just on the limit and we had a nice battle but the tyre wouldn't work for us. We struggled with pace but more than that it was the balance, so we must work to pull it all together a bit more, between low speed and high speed. I am very confident the Team here at track and back at home have the solution, we have produced great cars in the past and there is no reason why we cannot get back on track. We have no questions now, we know the problem. Given it is all related to balance, if we can find a fix then we can switch it around but for now, it's head down until we find the answer."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "We couldn't have made that one stop work for us today due to our tyre degradation, so for us we got the most of it that we could, and we leave here with a lot of work to do. Firstly, it's a great result for Charles at home, so congratulations to him and to Ferrari. We couldn't have made that one stop work for us today due to our tyre degradation, so for us we got the most of it that we could, and we leave here with a lot of work to do. Our strategy worked to a degree but then we started to get into graining ourselves, so the issues we had yesterday were there in the race again. I thought Max did a good job and did everything he could to get the most out of it and get sixth. Checo, likewise, drove a good race today and I think where we finished was the maximum we were going to get. Obviously, our performance is a concern right now and the whole Team is working very hard on it. It looks like a balance problem and there needs to be a fix for it, so the Team are working incredibly hard back at the factory to get on top of it. If nothing else, this weekend has really shown where some of our weaknesses are."

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

Lewis Hamilton (5th): "We didn't have the pace today to fight for more. The McLarens and the Ferrari in particularly were strong. I managed to keep up with Sainz but couldn't do the longer stint and the one-stop that he was able to. If we had started ahead of him, we might have been able to hold him off. Ultimately though, we needed a better balance with the car today to achieve much more. It's a shame to come away from a weekend where we were looking so strong without more to show for it. We looked good throughout practice and qualifying but couldn't quite match that today. The field is so tight now and it will be fascinating to see what happens over the coming races. We will keep working hard and hopefully have a stronger race in Baku in two weeks' time."

George Russell (7th): "It was a frustrating day today. Ultimately, we didn't have the pace to fight for the podium, but my race came undone at the first corner. It is disappointing when that happens after all the efforts the team put in over the weekend. I made a good start but got caught in the dirty air behind Piastri. I locked up to avoid him and picked up some front-wing damage. That compromised my opening stint, and we lost time in the pit stop having to change the wing itself. Our pace hasn't been as strong as it was prior to the summer break, either here or in Zandvoort. As a team, we will go away, put the effort in, and find out why that is. Other teams seem to have taken a step forward so we will need to work diligently to get back onto terms with them."

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: "Congratulations to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc on a well-deserved victory today. It is always a special moment when the scarlet red car wins here at Monza. Our own race was better than Zandvoort but still not good. We completed the two-stop strategy as we suffered from graining on the front left tyre, which made the one-stop unlikely. It was a difficult challenge to manage and hard to know whether to commit to the one-stop or push harder and go to the two-stop. Our pace today made it difficult to score much more than we did on either path though. We have not performed at the level we did before the summer shutdown in the last two races. When you don't have the pace, it makes strategy decisions difficult as we saw today. We have some time to analyse why that is now before Baku and aim to come back stronger."

Andrew Shovlin: "We didn't have a strong race today. Heading into the Grand Prix, we knew that the tyres were going to be fragile and likely require a bit of management in order to make long stints work. Unfortunately, we didn't have the pace to be able to both manage the tyres and keep up with our competitors ahead. Lewis ended up P5 after lap one and came home in that same position. We tried the two-stop strategy against Sainz as it seemed unlikely we would be able to pass him on track. Unfortunately, we couldn't recatch the Ferrari in the final stint. George meanwhile had a difficult first lap; he had to bail out at turn one when and then broke his front at the second chicane. That led to an early and long stop. We could have potentially gained a place on Verstappen if we had committed to the one stop but ultimately the opening lap damage was the bigger cost. It looks like we've lost some pace relative to our rivals since the summer break. We will go away and investigate why that is and what we need to do to put in a more competitive showing in Baku."

Scuderia Ferrari

Charles Leclerc (1st): "What an incredible feeling. The first time I won in Monza in 2019 was so emotional to both me and to our whole team, I didn't think that winning here could ever feel like that again, but today, it did. Seeing our tifosi celebrating with us is just amazing and I am so glad that we could share this victory for a second time. Monaco and Monza were the two races I have always wanted to win, because they are so special to me. A huge thank you to every single person in our team who made this happen today. You have done an incredible job to make this dream a reality and we can all be proud to have achieved this together. We had a perfectly executed strategy today and beat our competitors to it, and we will give everything to keep this momentum for the rest of the season, taking any opportunity we have."

Carlos Sainz (4th): "First of all, congratulations to Charles and the entire team, including the people working in Maranello! I'm really happy for all of them and the tifosi, it's definitely a well deserved win! It was a shame I couldn't keep a podium position today. I think staying out and extending the first stint made me lose some race time and the train of tows at the front. From there it was difficult to make up time but the call to commit to a one-stop strategy was the right one and overall we should be happy that the car seems to work better. Let's see in the upcoming races if we can keep up the good results."

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: "What a mega result for the team! This is a real confidence booster for all of us and our tifosi who really made the difference this weekend. It was a very good race in which Charles drove incredibly well and I think we fully deserved this win. After qualifying, we were a bit disappointed, because we knew we had the potential to do very well. From the beginning of the season, I think we are probably in better shape on race pace than in qualifying and it was the case also today. Once again the execution was very good and we were able to turn things around. Last year tyre management was our biggest weakness whereas now, I think it's one of the advantages we have with this car. It was already the case last week in Zandvoort and now we are quite consistent in terms of race pace to the point that we did think it might be a two stop but then we saw very low degradation in the second stint and we changed our strategy accordingly and Charles had the race under control all the time. It was a risk but sometimes you have to take risks and today it worked. We worked well as a team and we knew that Carlos could help if we did a one-stop with the two cars. He was also helping us with feedback on the tyres because it's important to have two opinions, two different sources of information and we were quite relaxed on this front."

McLaren Formula 1 Team

Oscar Piastri (2nd): "I'm not going to lie, this result hurts. We did a lot of things right today, but Charles' strategy looked to be the right choice. From the position we were in, with the tyres looking like they did, attempting a one-stop seemed too risky. I'm very happy with the pace, and happy with the race I managed to deliver – but when you finish second it's painful."

Lando Norris (3rd): "A frustrating day on track. Ferrari drove a better race today, so hats-off to them, they had a better car. Well done to Oscar, he did a good job getting past me, and deserved to finish ahead. We considered the one-stop race, but it wasn't possible with the amount of graining I had. We knew it would be tight, and we're disappointed with the end result, but we'll go again in Baku."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "A very close race with Ferrari. Leclerc was very quick today, and he was able to win the race by executing a one-stop, while we felt that we needed to go on two stops to make sure we had enough tyres to make it to the end of the race. This meant that we couldn't capitalise on our very strong position on the grid. Apart from this, it's been a very positive weekend in Monza, it confirmed that the car is strong and performs well on all kinds of circuits after the upgrades in Zandvoort, and we gained many points in the Constructors' Championship and some points in the quest for Lando in the Drivers' Championship. So, with this championship situation and the performance of the car, we look forward to an exciting final part of the season."

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Fernando Alonso (11th): "It was a difficult race today. We maximised the pace the best we could. I was able to push the car to its limits so I'm happy in that regard, but we did struggle with the relative pace of the car on track. We were in the points at the start of the race and were able to undercut [Alex] Albon thinking all teams would execute a two-stop race. It wasn't enough at the end to recover from that extra pit stop. We were only 0.2 seconds behind [Kevin] Magnussen and a second behind Albon so it is disappointing not to score any points today. We will keep pushing."

Lance Stroll (19th): "Today's result was more or less what we expected. We haven't had the pace to challenge all weekend, and we knew there wasn't going to be much we could do from P17. We went into the race open to a one or two-stop strategy, but elected to stop twice when we saw the levels of tyre degradation. We then stopped for a third time at the end to try and take the fastest lap. Ultimately, we know we're missing the performance we need, and the focus remains on trying to bring that to the car."

Mike Krack, Chief Operating Officer: "Looking at the cars finishing around us, it is tempting to say we could have tried a one-stop strategy, but we know our car is hard on tyres and it was not an easy call today. We saw other teams facing the same difficult decision too. Fernando was in the fight for points all afternoon and until the very last lap – chasing down Albon and Magnussen – but we just ran out of laps in the end. We always knew it would be tough race and we need to find more performance to compete in this very tight midfield. We will keep our heads down to come back stronger in Baku."

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Esteban Ocon (14th): "We tried everything this weekend to cover all possible scenarios. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to score any points. This wasn't an easy race for anyone, and we need to review and understand which strategy could have been best. We split strategy and I went for a one stopper initially, so stayed out quite long during the first stint and many other teams did the same. I was struggling with the tyres towards the end of the first stint, so maybe Medium-Hard would have worked better in hindsight. On the positive side, there were some solid performance improvements from Friday to Saturday, which we will now need to understand better to be able to stay on top of the issues we were experiencing in Zandvoort. We go again in Baku in two weeks' time, where we need to make sure we can come back to the points."

Pierre Gasly (15th): "It was a long afternoon, and I am very disappointed as I thought that somehow, we would have more potential in the race compared to Qualifying yesterday. We had a brake issue yesterday which we found out after Qualifying and which carried into this afternoon. The car was bouncing a lot, and we had a lack of grip. We will now regroup and analyse the reasons why we weren't able to be competitive this weekend compared to Zandvoort. We will understand and review the weekend with the objective to come back stronger in Baku."

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal: "We knew coming into the weekend it would be tough for us to repeat the performance of previous races, fighting in the points, particularly on this specific configuration of circuit. We split strategies with different starting tyres to give us some flexibility in terms of strategy. Esteban did well to make a one-stop work and extend his first stint and we tried a two-stop with Pierre. With both cars finishing within six seconds of each other, there was not much more we could have done today. Ultimately, we lacked the pace today to fight for points. Looking forward to Baku!"

Williams Racing

Alexander Albon (9th): "It was a good race and I'm happy. I felt like we did a decent job, whilst also struggling quite a lot with the tyres. The front left was always a problem throughout so I had to manage this, and I couldn't really stop the graining, which was always a problem for us. In the end, we did a good job of surviving while relying on Kevin's penalty to get P9. Haas had us beat this weekend on race pace, so we still have some work to do, but with another upgrade to come, hopefully, we can get back into this point-scoring rhythm for the remaining races of the season. Also, well done to Franco on a great race, he did an impressive job on his first weekend in F1."

Franco Colapinto (12th): "I'm really happy to have completed my first Formula 1 race, it's a moment I will never forget. The race was physically tough as I'm a bit tired and sore now but there are plenty of positives to take. Before today I had never driven more than eight laps in a row in the FW46 and today there were 53 to do with very high track temps. I think I did a good job of managing the tyres to make the one-stop work and the race pace was strong. I'm very happy for the team. It was great to give them a positive result from my first race after all the hard work they've put in to get me up to speed this weekend. Of course, there are still things to work on but I'm very excited to jump back in the car in two weeks to go racing again."

Sven Smeets, Racing Director: "It was a nerve-racking afternoon but with a great finish! After our disappointing weekend last week, the team has bounced back with a solid performance. Alex was outstanding today, making the one-stop strategy work, holding off Alonso, who was on a two-stop, and sticking close to Magnussen in front of us, who had a 10-second penalty. His P9 is well-deserved, and he will be very happy to be back in the points. Franco had a great first race, starting from P18 and making his way past a few cars at the beginning. He also made the one-stop strategy work with a well-managed long stint on the Hard tyres. He can look back on an impressive first weekend and a well-deserved P12 in the race. We leave Europe behind us now and will begin the last leg of eight overseas races in two weeks in Baku. We're looking forward to the next races as we bring more performance to the cars, and there is still a lot to play for."

Visa Cash App RB Formula One

Daniel Ricciardo (13th): "Ultimately, we weren't quick enough today, even without the penalties. We tried, and I was enjoying the wheel-to-wheel racing at the start, but I made contact with Nico in turn eight. I spoke to him after the race, I thought we had space, but felt the contact so didn't give him enough room, and I apologised. It's tough as you race hard but the smallest margins make a difference. The car felt ok after, and we pushed as hard as we could with what we had. I was trying to get the maximum out of the car from Friday afternoon to today. Personally, I feel a lot better this weekend, and we were close to scoring points."

Yuki Tsunoda (DNF, Damage): "I'm pretty frustrated today, it's a shame as my race finished a few laps after the start due to a contact with Nico (Hulkenberg). I tried to leave as much space as possible, but it seemed he locked up, causing him to lose control and crash into me. Unfortunately, we had to retire the car as we got some damage on the floor. I felt it straight away and tried to continue, but the car was sliding around and I simply wasn't able to drive it. We have Baku and Singapore next, our car should perform well there, so hopefully we'll have good weekends ahead."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal: "First of all, what a brilliant advert this weekend has been for Formula 1, with a packed crowd at an updated Monza circuit treated to what most of them wanted, a home team win. Our congratulations go to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc for a great drive. As for today's race, one could say it was dictated by Hulkenberg, with Daniel given a 5 second penalty, having forced him of the track, before Nico then drove into Yuki, leading to us retiring the car. The most frustrating aspect of Yuki's retirement is that we lost 40 laps that would have increased our understanding of the updates we introduced here. Daniel then received a further 10 second penalty because we didn't execute the first one correctly. We will need to review our procedures in this scenario and learn from today's mistake. These things happen, but our pit crew work has generally been exceptional this season. We now stay in Monza for a Pirelli tyre test on Wednesday and then will have a few days to see what lessons we can learn from this weekend, especially in terms of the update package. In fact, it was meant to come at the next round in Azerbaijan, but a big push at the factory allowed us to bring one set of parts here in Monza, which we chose to run with Yuki. We cannot hide the fact that, even without his penalties, it would have been difficult for Daniel to finish in the points. We crucially need a performance step to return to the front of the midfield, and our focus is on the analysis of the data collected here before going to Baku."

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Valtteri Bottas (16th): "It has been a pretty clean, uneventful race for us; we went for a one-stop strategy, starting with the hard compound, as we tried something different and hoped to get lucky with the timing of a potential Safety Car. Unfortunately, that didn't really work out for us, but I think it was good to give it a try. Looking back at how the race unfolded, I wouldn't have done anything different: we gained a few positions on track, getting to P16 on merit, but that was really the most we could do. We haven't made a huge progress in terms of pace, our weekend had started well, but we couldn't really keep up with the momentum nor improve much: still, it has surely been a better weekend compared to Zandvoort. We have a lot of work ahead of us to make a further step, which is what we'll be working in the run-up to the next back-to-back in Baku and Singapore."

Guanyu Zhou (18th): "Our pace today wasn't strong enough to be fighting closer to the points – especially in a smooth race, without any interruptions or big shocks. While our pace was clearly an improvement over last weekend in Zandvoort, we are on the backfoot in terms of performance compared to our direct competitors. This weekend, we've seen some improvement in single-lap pace, but it's clear that we need to find the car's sweet spot and execute a flawless weekend to get the best possible result. Rather than relying on luck, our focus as a team is on putting our heads down and continuing to work hard to find those crucial few tenths of a second that will bring us closer to the top ten."

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "We could see some positive signs in today's performance by the team, even though the finishing positions, on paper, don't look much different from the previous races. Both drivers were able to manage their tyres well, hard and medium alike, and this allowed us to follow the race strategy we planned before the race, with degradation under control. Of course, this is still not enough to fight for points, as we lack overall pace: but the low-drag package we brought to Monza and the setup changes we made for qualifying improved the car balance and gave Valtteri and Zhou a chance to fight. We still have a long journey ahead of us to be in the battle for points, but it is important to acknowledge that, today, the gap with our direct competitors has been reduced – it's a positive sign we need to outline."

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Kevin Magnussen (10th): "I'm happy with our race, but I'm disappointed with the penalty. I made slight contact with Pierre Gasly at Turn 4 and we both missed the corner but there was no damage on either car, it had no consequence, plus we were racing. I'm happy with today's point, the balance and performance in the car, our strategy – we can take that away."

Nico Hulkenberg (17th): "It was a very poor first lap; going into Turn 8 I got a good tow from Daniel Ricciardo so I took the outside line, but he swept across and didn't really leave me space, so we made contact and that took me off a bit. The engine went into anti-stall so that took a while to sort out and I lost a few more positions – more or less that was when the race was looking very difficult. Then the racing incident with Yuki Tsunoda meant I had to come in for a front wing change, plus the penalty I had to serve, you lose so much time – so it was game over. It was very good that Kevin was there and had a strong drive, there is that to take away."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "It was great to get one point out of this race, particularly Monza – this low downforce circuit – in previous years we haven't been competitive, so it's proved we're working really well as a team to bring a competitive low downforce package. Also with Kevin fighting so hard after he was told he had a penalty, and then creating a 10-second gap to Fernando Alonso, that was amazing, he was close to Albon as well so it was a good fight. On the flip side, we shouldn't have put Kevin in that position behind Gasly, so again our execution wasn't perfect and that's something we need to improve. Nico's race – that was ruined pretty early on – there was nothing we could do. On the positive side, both drivers said the car was decent, especially the stability so they could push. Post-race Kevin received two penalty points which means a one-race ban and won't be racing in Baku."