Sunday Team Quotes

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (1st): "I am very proud to win here in Qatar, and proud of the Team for our performances this weekend. I enjoyed the race quite a lot overall, especially at the beginning with Lando and I pushing each other quite hard. We were leading by turn 1 after starting P2, and were able to maximise and get the tyres in the right window. The car felt much better and I enjoyed it a lot out there today. It was nice to win in the dry as well, it has been quite a few races since we've achieved that. It was definitely not a boring race and there was a lot to manage with the restarts and safety cars throughout, but we learned from that and were able to stay in front. I am very proud to win here in Qatar, and proud of the Team for our performances this weekend, it is a great track and one of my favourites on the calendar. We have to make sure we nail our setup in Abu Dhabi and to hopefully finish the season with another great race."

Sergio Perez (DNF): "We are all in this together as a Team and we are trying to get our season back on track. Things were looking good at the time for me, I was sitting in P5 and we were in the mix for the podium. Then as I was warming up the tyre, getting ready for the restart, I had a massive over delivery as I was picking up the throttle out of turn 12. With cold tyres I couldn't control it, it basically meant I lost the car and then lost drive from that point onwards. It is quite disappointing to end up like this. There were some positive signs for me this weekend with performance and I think we have learnt a lot from the car this weekend and found good direction. I think the season hasn't been great for me, there has been a lot of up and downs and we have a few things to review there. We are all in this together as a Team and we are trying to get our season back on track, hopefully Abu Dhabi can do that and we can have a strong weekend."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "I think the Team did a wonderful job in turning around and delivering a car that Max could really put his stamp on. That was another masterclass from Max. He was focused and in control throughout the race, his management of the tyres in that first stint was exceptional. I think the Team did a wonderful job in turning around and delivering a car that Max could really put his stamp on. It was a shame to lose out on Pole but if anything it gave Max more determination and motivation to lead into turn 1, it was an unbelievable performance by Max and the Team. Full credit to the engineering staff for making some big decisions and unlocking the potential of the car here, it meant Max had Lando covered throughout the race. It was a little bit crazy here with the punctures but the Team reacted and dealt with everything that came their way, the crew and everybody did a super job."

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

George Russell (4th): "It was a very strange race because our pace has been so strong all weekend, but it just didn't seem to be there today. Overall, my race wasn't great, I had a bad start then poor pace and finally a penalty at the end of the race. We ultimately didn't have the pace on the hard tyre that we thought we would and were not quick enough compared to those around us. Max and Lando managed to pass by at the start and I didn't have the speed to catch them again. Even after the pit stop I struggled to try and make it back through to regain my position. The car was great all day Friday and yesterday so we need to understand where that pace went for us today. Both Lewis and I made bad starts and we have some idea why, but we need to fully understand how we lost the performance that we showed in the Sprint. I think ultimately you can see how you only need to gain two tenths or lose two tenths and you go from being a front runner to being down in P6 or P7 so I hope we can have the car from yesterday and Vegas next week in Abu Dhabi. It would be great if we can hopefully have a better weekend together as a Team."

Lewis Hamilton (12th): "It was a pretty bad race for me overall, but these things happen. It started off badly with my false start which was my fault and resulted in a penalty which I served during my stop. Then I had the puncture which was just unfortunate, followed by the pitlane speeding which was on me, too. The car had a lot of understeer today because we didn't have enough front wing in the setup. I gave it my best shot, but it all seemed to go downhill from the start. This race weekend hasn't been great but we have another week next week where we can try and finish a bit better and I hope we do have a better result. These last races don't have an impact on all of the great things we have done together as a Team. Races are a rollercoaster ride of emotions, I've had great races in my life and bad races too. Ultimately, it's not how you fall it's how you get back up and we will try again next week."

Toto Wolff, Team Principal: "Today we ultimately didn't have the pace. Our car is a handful to drive on its worst days and today was one of those days and both drivers had a similar experience. I think if the race had been yesterday then we would have had a shot at winning but today we just didn't have the speed behind Lando and Max. The car was supper difficult for both Lewis and George to drive, we had a lot of understeer and both of them suffered from that. We started to lose ground from those ahead of us and that's when we decided to box George and hopefully put us in a better situation. Unfortunately, we suffered a slow stop, then ended up in traffic and struggled to make it back through. Then with Lewis we had the false start and pit lane speeding which impacted further on his race along with the lack of pace. We have one more to go and we will continue to give it our utmost. We will celebrate the relationship and partnership we have had with Lewis and these difficult races will be forgotten quickly. We have had an amazing partnership with Lewis that's spanned over twelve years with six driver titles and eight constructors' titles won together, and these are the things which we will hold dearly."

Andrew Shovlin: "That was a difficult evening for the team. The underlying picture was that the car balance was very different to yesterday's Sprint - and both drivers were limited with severe understeer in the opening stint, and lacking pace relative to the cars around us. However, we made too many other errors to earn strong finishing positions, and we were ultimately fortunate to salvage P4 with George thanks to retirements or problems for cars ahead of him. It's a valuable lesson in how quickly things can turn from a week ago in Las Vegas, and we have seen these kinds of performance oscillations for all teams at various points this season. There's plenty for us to learn in order to improve, and we will be focused on doing so as we prepare for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi - and what we hope will be a fitting farewell for Lewis."

Scuderia Ferrari

Charles Leclerc (2nd): "We expected this to be a difficult weekend for us so I'm happy with how the race went today, having made up some points on McLaren. We had some luck on my side and a bit less on Carlos' with the puncture. We may have been able to finish second and third had it not been for that, which is a shame teamwise, but overall, it was positive to be this competitive here. Driving for such an iconic team as Ferrari, it would be amazing for us to finish the season by bringing the constructors' title back to Maranello. It won't be easy to score the points we need to win the title in a single weekend, but everything is still possible and we will do absolutely everything to achieve it."

Carlos Sainz (6th): "I'm obviously not happy with the outcome of today's race. We were in a strong position but unfortunately, I got a puncture and had to complete an entire lap with a flat tyre. After the pit stop, the Safety Car came out so the whole situation cost us even more time and ultimately some crucial positions. Dragging the car for an entire lap led to some damage and the car felt a bit off, making things difficult for the last stint. That said, I'm pleased I managed to bring the car home and together with Charles' podium we managed to score important points. We will fight until the last lap of the Abu Dhabi race for the championship, and hopefully finish the season in the best way possible."

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: "The most important thing today is that we scored more points than McLaren. We are now 21 points behind, with one race to go which means everything is possible. We have also increased our lead over Red Bull, which means in Abu Dhabi we can focus more on the team in front of us. The race today was a bit chaotic, but overall, it was a good one for us: we executed it well, the pace was there and I'm very pleased with the job we did today. It was in our plan that the drivers would not push too hard for the first laps in order to push more later on and we were confident we had the pace on the Hard to push until the end. We have some regrets, such as Carlos' puncture which came at the very worst place, as he had to drive a full lap before pitting and it cost us one or two positions. Now we go to Abu Dhabi, which on paper, should be a better circuit for us and with Max and Mercedes on the pace, you never know what could happen in the championship battle. We will push flat out to the final chequered flag."

McLaren Formula 1 Team

Oscar Piastri (3rd): "I am happy with that. I enjoyed the race and it's a mega track, so it's nice to come away with another podium. There were some good battles on track, but it was challenging as the cars at the front seemed to have very similar pace to each other. It was tough to get into DRS, and then far enough into DRS to overtake but it was still fun, nonetheless. We were just unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but that's racing. It's going to take everything we've got to seal the deal next week. It's going to be an exciting one."

Lando Norris (10th): "The team gave me a great car today, it was the quickest out there, so I'm disappointed we haven't been able to secure maximum points in Qatar. I know the rules around Yellow Flags, but I missed it. I have to take that on the chin. I can only apologise to the team. We have one more weekend to go now and we'll head to Abu Dhabi with the same mindset as any other weekend, and that's wanting to win."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "The positives from today's race are that we had a very strong car, and we were in contention for the victory. Oscar drove a solid race but was unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car, which dropped him behind Leclerc, but that's the way it goes sometimes in racing. Lando was very fast, and the way he clawed his way back into the points after the penalty was impressive. It isn't the result we wanted overall, but it is what we have. Regarding the main incident of the race, the sector appeared to go yellow just as Lando entered it – but the requirements are clear, you need to lift and it's the responsibility of the drivers to recognise they are in a yellow sector and back off. However, for the future, we would recommend that the FIA considers that proportionality and specificity should be guaranteed in any penalties that are applied. Moving on from that, we now go to Abu Dhabi. We remain focused and determined to finish the job as a team."

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Fernando Alonso (7th): "A very good Sunday for us finishing in seventh and with six points scored. The car felt a little stronger than yesterday and we capitalised on some of the action ahead of us with some retirements and penalties, but we were in the right place at the right time tonight. It's a good time to get some points on the board for the team and hopefully we can carry this form into Abu Dhabi and finish the season on a high there."

Lance Stroll (DNF): "The car wasn't feeling right from the start of the race. I locked the front left at Turn 2 which was strange because it's not really a corner you brake that much for. Then at Turn 5 I made contact with Alex [Albon] which was completely unintentional. I wasn't trying to race him; I was just trying to hold my line on the inside of the corner, but I picked up huge levels of understeer. I think maybe my tyres weren't working properly because I couldn't do anything about it. It's a shame to retire from the race but we'll go again in Abu Dhabi next weekend."

Mike Krack, Chief Operating Officer: "An action-packed Qatar Grand Prix where we scored six important points with a strong seventh place for Fernando. It was a race where our patience paid off with good strategy. It is such a shame that Lance was forced to retire early because he surely would have scored points as well. Lance's car got caught up in the busy first lap battles and there was contact with Alex Albon, which looked to be a racing incident from our perspective. Lance reported feeling something strange with the car, which was impacting performance, and we retired the car soon after that. It's onwards now to Abu Dhabi, the final race of the season, where we will look to score more points and end the year on a high note."

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Pierre Gasly (5th): "It was an incredible race today to finish in fifth place and I'm very happy for all the team. I felt like we managed the race well right from the beginning. It was a tough start but we had the pace to stay with Kevin [Magnussen] and once he pitted it was flat out for us lap after lap. In the end, with the Safety Car, we pitted for Hards and then had to keep Carlos [Sainz] behind all the way until the chequered flag. It was certainly an enjoyable race, the car felt good, we were competitive and I was quite confident to hang on to that fifth place. We go into the final round in the fight for the Constructors' Championship and we have to be ready for it."

Esteban Ocon (DNF): "Unfortunately it was a disappointing weekend and a short race for me today in Qatar. I had a good start to the race and had passed Franco [Colapinto]; I was on the left side of Nico [Hülkenberg] but I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. It got very narrow and unfortunately, I was already on the outside when the collision occurred and our race was then over. It was a race incident and not something that we wanted today."

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal: "It was a well-managed and well executed race by the entire team today to score ten points in fifth place with Pierre. For Esteban he was caught in a Turn 1 incident, which was not his fault. The race was incredibly fast paced with a lot of action up and down the field. Pierre did well to stay in the pack in the hunt for points early on and then benefitted with the timing of the Safety Car, like many others, for his mandatory stop. He did an even better job to keep Carlos [Sainz] at bay for fifth place all while managing the tyres and doing some fuel saving. Importantly, we go to the season ending race in sixth place in the Constructors' Championship with a small advantage and the target has to be to remain in that position."

Williams Racing

Alexander Albon (15th): "It was a tricky day. We were a little bit in no man's land most of the race being towards the back and we were struggling with pace. The Safety Car made it interesting, and we took that opportunity to put on Softs. It was an optimistic gamble, but one worth taking because of the pace we had. We knew that on every Safety Car restart the first lap was the only one I could overtake and so we made up some positions and we were in the points for a bit, but we were relying on another Safety Car which didn't come so then the tyres started degrading quite badly. For ten laps we had some good pace but ultimately we were not quick enough. "

Franco Colapinto (DNF): "I'm disappointed to be taken out in Turn 1 after trying to leave a big enough gap on my inside. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and there was nothing I could do to avoid it. It's quite frustrating as the race had plenty of opportunities to make things happen that could've put us in the fight. At the end of the day, it's part of racing unfortunately. We'll need to assess the damage from today. It's important to have a clean weekend in Abu Dhabi and aim to finish the season on a high."

Sven Smeets, Racing Director: "A difficult evening for the team today. At the race start we immediately lost Franco as he was hit by Ocon who in turn was hit by Hulkenberg. There was nothing Franco could do other than to retire in lap 1. After a few laps it was clear that with Alex we had to change our strategy and decided to run as long as possible. When the Safety Car came out because some cars were having punctures, we decided to put Alex on the Soft tyre and not onto the Hard. We knew it was a gamble but at one point we were running up in 9th place. Unfortunately, our decision didn't pay off today and Alex had to make another stop just before the end. A tough day for the team again but we are going to Abu Dhabi to fight for points in the last race of the season."

Visa Cash App RB Formula One

Yuki Tsunoda (13th): "Today we had a tough race. We had a good start and I knew it was the best opportunity for us to gain some positions, but after that, we simply started to have a lack of pace and we lost positions. We will work together as a team to review the data and get some learning for the future to understand what didn't work this weekend. Abu Dhabi is next week. Now we all need to reset and we'll be going there giving our best for the last race weekend of the season."

Liam Lawson (14th): "We weren't quick enough to be fighting with the teams we need to be today. I had a spin on the first safety car restart when I tried to overtake Bottas. I didn't have enough temperature in the tyres and lost the car and tried hard not to make contact. After this, we caught the pack up and our pace wasn't bad, but we were out of position. We also experienced balance issues towards the end of the race. It was a tough race, we also struggled here last year. We've made big steps this season but there's more to be taken. Ultimately, we lost a lot of points to our competitors, which we will fight hard for in Abu Dhabi."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal: "It's been a very difficult weekend in terms of our performance level, right from practice on Friday. It is clear that we never had the pace we needed around this track. With the whole field being so close, if you are just a few tenths off your optimal level, you drop down the order significantly. However, no time on track is wasted and we will learn from this event, lessons that will be useful, not only for Abu Dhabi in a few days time, but at this point of the season, even in terms of next year. As for our championship aspirations, it's clear that while we made a step forward in recent races, it coincided with our two rivals for sixth place doing the same, with our former driver Pierre Gasly showing us no mercy today! Now our thoughts switch to Abu Dhabi, where everyone in the team at the track and the factory will be working hard to end this first year as Visa Cash App RB in the best way possible."

Tim Goss, Chief Technical Officier: "A disappointing day for us today. Both drivers performed well at the start and to put us in a strong position to deliver a points finish. But just as in the Sprint, it soon became apparent that we were well short of our usual race pace at this circuit and struggled to defend our place in the points. Our engineers and strategy team did their best to recover the situation, even trying the Option tyre compound for the final part of the race. We have plenty of data to work through and the technical team won't rest until we understand why we struggled today. We will put every effort into delivering a much better race car for the drivers to compete with in Abu Dhabi."

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Guanyu Zhou (8th): "What a race! I'm incredibly happy for the entire team. Today was all about delivering a strong performance, and we did just that. We had great pace, stayed clean, and executed our strategy perfectly, making overtakes when it mattered most. It's a massive boost for everyone involved. Finally scoring some points feels like a huge reward for all the hard work and resilience we've shown this season. Given where we started and the challenges we've faced, this result means so much more. Shout out to the team for delivering a great race."

Valtteri Bottas (11th): "Today was frustrating, as everything seemed to go against me after a good start. The incident with Lawson cost me track position and gave me floor damage and, from there, I was on the back foot. Zhou was ahead of me and, therefore, had the first pick on strategy. The team pitted me early to learn about the performance of the hard tyre, and the timing of the Safety Car couldn't have been worse: I finished 11th in the end — so close to the points, which makes it all the more disappointing. That said, I'm happy for Zhou and the team. It's been a challenging year and his P8 is a well-deserved result for everyone who has worked so hard this season. Now it's off to Abu Dhabi, where I hope we can finish on a high note. The team has shown we can be competitive, so let's see what we can achieve in the final race."

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "Today has been a significant day in Doha for our team. Zhou's P8 is a result that means a lot to us and reflects the immense effort of our people in Hinwil, those here trackside, and our shareholders. It was a challenging race where every detail mattered. Zhou drove superbly, managing his tyres well and staying in control, while our strategy change to extend his stint and pit under the Safety Car on lap 35 proved decisive. His strong pace on hard tyres secured this important result for him and the team. Valtteri also contributed strongly to our result, finishing just outside the points in P11. His early stop allowed us to gather crucial data on the hard tyres, benefiting Zhou's strategy. Unfortunately, he was pushed off by Lawson at the restart, which caused damage to his floor and cost us, effectively, the chance of a double points finish. We're grateful to all our partners and Ferrari for their support. There's still a lot of work ahead for us, but if we continue with this intensity, we can look forward to a bright future."

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Kevin Magnussen (9th): "I'm super gutted with the safety car coming out, it completely ruined the day for me. It was going well and we had a good beginning to the race, but I just wish that safety car hadn't come out because it really screwed us. There's still one race to go and we'll go into it giving everything."

Nico Hulkenberg (DNF): "Turn one was messy; it was all happening very quickly and it didn't go well, but I didn't have any damage so was able to continue. I had a long stint in traffic and then was unlucky with the safety car as others got a free stop. At the restart I lost it in a big way, in a high-speed corner, so it wasn't our day. The first half of the weekend went well while the second half didn't. I think the performance in the car isn't bad, but it's close, and others around us have good performance; so now we need to reset and go again."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "Today, with Nico coming from P18 it was always going to be difficult, and unfortunately, we didn't get anything. Kevin, from his side, drove well again but we just didn't get the philosophy right. He was unlucky with the safety car, but we could've covered ourselves a bit better than we did today. The good thing is the deficit is only five points and in Abu Dhabi we really need to focus on getting both of our drivers into points-scoring positions. P8, and P9 – that's six points – so it's still all to play for, we need to learn from our mistakes, regroup and focus on doing our best in Abu Dhabi to try and get P6 back."