F1 – 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix Post-Race Press Conference Transcript
DRIVERS
1 – Carlos SAINZ (Ferrari)
2 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Marc Gene)
Q: Charles Leclerc, a podium. I know it was a difficult race. You had to manage temperatures at the beginning. You had a big moment with Norris. How was the race? How difficult was it?
Charles LECLERC: It was a difficult one. On the first stint it was all about trying to manage the temperatures, which was quite difficult. But, yeah, at the end, we did the best race we could do today. I was… I mean, the whole weekend I’ve been a little bit on the back foot. So third place was the best we could achieve on my side today. Amazing race by Carlos today. and yeah, it’s a good weekend overall for the team, which is positive.
Q: You managed to do the fastest lap at the end. Every point counts for the Constructors’ Championship. Ferrari’s back. Ferrari has been doing very well lately. What do you think is it the teamwork? How come it has improved so much lately?
CL: I know we are working super well as a team. I think it’s been quite a few races now that we are coming back to the level we should be at and it’s amazing to see. Obviously, the Constructors’ is still our target and with weekends like this we are getting closer to it. So, I hope we can continue in that direction and get that Constructors’ title, which is very important.
Q: Thank you and good luck for the podium. Lando, that was an eventful race, fighting at the beginning with Max, then with Charles. How happy are you with P2? Everybody’s delighted with the race you did.
Lando NORRIS: It was a very tough race. You know, the first few laps, a lot of it was just trying to stay in the race and avoid any crashes. But Carlos drove a very good race, so congratulations to Carlos and Ferrari. They were very quick today. So, I tried. I tried my best. And a big thanks to all the fans. The fans make it very enjoyable here. So, yeah, a big thank you to everyone.
Q: Talk us through the overtaking with Max. Okay, that was, of course, very polemic. He got two penalties. But let us know from your car, how did you prepare for that overtaking?
LN: Yeah, I mean, I knew what to expect. I didn’t want to expect such a thing, because I respect Max a lot as a driver, but I was ready to expect something like this, and this is, yeah, not very clean driving, in my opinion, but I avoided it, and it was a good race.
Q: And the championship hopes, I guess they are more open than ever. You got many points to Max. How is it looking for the next races?
LN: I just keep my head down, you know. I’m doing my best. We’re doing a very good job as a team. I think today we were probably the quickest in the end. But we’ll keep our head down. That’s all I can do for now. Focus on ourselves and we keep pushing.
Q: Well done. Carlos, you are the king of Mexico! Let us know how… I’m going to talk about the overtaking later on, but first, what is the feeling to be inside here with all those fans? You can also answer in Spanish if you want.
Carlos SAINZ: Gracias, Mexico. Yes. It’s incredible to see this crowd. I’ve been feeling their support all week. I feel like I have a lot of fan base here in Mexico and they gave me a lot of strength to do the weekend that I’ve done. Honestly, I really wanted this one. I really needed it also for myself. I wanted to get it done. I’ve been saying for a while I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible. Now four races left, I want to enjoy as much as possible, and if another one comes, I will go for it.
Q: You did such an amazing overtake on Max. Tell us, how did you prepare that overtaking? How confident were you that you could succeed on it?
CS: I didn’t prepare it, to be honest. I was just a bit annoyed at the start and having lost position to him. And I said, I need to surprise him one way or another because Max is super difficult to pass. He’s proven it many, many times. And yeah, I was a bit far back, but I said, I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to send one down the inside. And I’ve been very confident and breaking into turn one this weekend. And I knew I could make it.
Q: Last question in Spanish. There are a lot of Ferrari fans here in Mexico, apart from Checo fans, also for Ferrari. The last victory for Ferrari was in 1990, it’s Ferrari’s fifth here. How is it that you have improved so much? You were very confident, you had a lot of confidence that you were going to win.How did you feel that you were going to win? How did you know?
CS: Yes, I have noticed all weekend that it could be my weekend. I also have all my family here watching me this weekend and I wanted to do it in front of all of them. What a weekend. What a day from pole.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Congratulations Carlos. You wanted one more win with Ferrari and you delivered it in emphatic style today. Just how special is this victory for you?
CS: Yeah, really special. I felt like this weekend was going to be a very good opportunity to win that race. And yeah, I had a very good feeling coming into the weekend. Also, obviously very determined to win it. I knew coming into it that we might have a chance to win. And I’ve been focused, been on it all weekend. On top of that, I knew my family was coming and my best friends, my girlfriend, a lot of people were here to support me. And I said maybe destiny has something ready for me this weekend, that my maybe last win with Ferrari can come in front of them with all the support that I had from them all this year and in a great podium, a great place like Mexico City. I’ve been driving well and I made it stick and you cannot imagine how happy and proud I am right now.
Q: Well, how emotional was it up there on the podium with your race engineer, with your car next to you?
CS: It was extremely emotional. I did shed a tear, you know, in the Spanish anthem. Yeah, for sure it’s one of the best moments in my career. My mum had never been present on a race win with me, and the fact that she was coming here this weekend, I wanted really to win a race in front of her. And yeah, on top of that, the way the whole weekend planned out, it was just perfect. And, you know, with that move… Losing at the start and then having to fight back with Max just made everything a bit more tricky. Probably makes it taste even better because I had to work hard for it. And to do this weekend in front of all of them was incredible.
Q: As you say, the only point in the race where you were headed was just after the start. Can you talk us through the opening 750 metres of the race?
CS: Yeah, I didn’t get a good start, but at the same time, I think Max, you know, tends to start very well. Max and Red Bull on low-grip tracks and here is very low grip. And whenever there’s low grip, the Red Bull tends to start really well. So I was kind of prepared also for a scenario where Max was going to go alongside me into Turn 1, I braked as late as I can break, and he brakes as late as me, and I had no space to go into Turn 2. And from then on, I didn’t lose my head, and I knew that every half opportunity that I got to the lead back, I would try and do it. And yeah, you know, with Max, you need to be determined, you need to be decisive. If you’re not, you’re never going to pass him. And in that case, I think I caught him a bit by surprise and I could make it stick. Yeah, high tension at that point also because then that initiated a fight behind me that nearly got me involved also from what I heard. So, yeah, it was an exciting moment of the race.
Q: It was a great move on Max, as you say. Once you were past him and back in the lead of the race, were there any dramas? We did hear a report of a misfire at one point. Was that an isolated incident?
CS: Isolated, completely, yeah. The only misfire I had all race was at the exit of Turn 3. Landing after the curb, I did a little short shift and it gave me a misfire, which was a bit scary, but we’ve had them during the weekend and we know it’s due to the altitude and the mapping. But once I was in the lead, I was trusting my pace, my management, and I knew this weekend I’ve been very quick and I knew I just had to do whatever I had planned and the win was possible. Towards the end, McLaren and Lando proved that they are still fast and they’re still very quick and very difficult to beat, but I’m glad that we got fastest lap with Charles and a lot of points for the championship.
Q: You and Charles set a ferocious pace in those early laps when it was Ferrari 1-2. Were you concerned that you were pushing too hard at one point?
CS: I felt like it. And that’s why at the time in the heat of the battle and the moment, I obviously opened the radio to give my opinion about the situation. And I felt like potentially, especially after being 1-2, which was a dream scenario, and exactly where we wanted to be after Turn 1. It happened a bit later, but in the end it happened. I felt like, yeah, the ideal was to obviously make it to the target lap and obviously keep our tyres alive. So I gave that opinion in the heat of the battle, but honestly, I also understand why Charles obviously was there behind and trying to speed me up, because that’s what you do when you’re P2 and when you also want to win, so yeah. Racing situations, heat of the battles, heat of the moment, but nothing that has never happened before, also from my side, so I completely get it.
Q: Now, you told us in Austin last weekend that you’d be quick here in Mexico, so what’s going to happen in Brazil?
CS: It’s a good question, and please let me enjoy Mexico before I think about Brazil, because I’m going to enjoy tonight. And as I said, I want to enjoy this one. I want to let it sink in and enjoy. I think from now on we can dream and dream about the championship, dream obviously about the constructors and yeah, we can think about Brazil tomorrow. Today’s time to enjoy.
Q: Alright, very well done Carlos. Thank you for that. Lando, let’s come to you now. Great job by you as well. It was an important P2 for you today. Just how pleased are you with today’s result?
LN: Very, very pleased. I’m happy with P2. Normally I wouldn’t be, but I think on a day like today, I was happy. Things looked like they could go a lot worse, especially the first part of the race. So to keep the car in one piece and to kind of keep the race alive was important. And the pace was extremely strong you know. A shame that we lost so much in the first stint with some of the battles that we had. If I was a bit more in there and in the mix then I think our opportunities could have been even better. But Carlos drove the first stint very well and the gap was already 15 seconds, so I had a lot to try and catch up. But it was a good race. The car was strong. Our pace, especially in the second stint, not really the first, but the second stint was very, very good and kind of gave me a bit of hope again that we were competitive comparing to the Ferraris. Until then… They’ve been pretty dominant this weekend, you know, so a good race. Would have loved to be on the top step and it looks like a cool podium here. It was a cool podium, but I’m very satisfied with the P2.
Q: Now, Lando, you said you lost a lot of time in the first stint. Of course, that came down to your battle with Max Verstappen on lap 10. Can you just talk us through the off-track moments at Turn 8 and Turn 4?
LN: I don’t think I need to say much. Yeah, I think it’s pretty self-explanatory on what happened. You know, I did everything I’ve been told in terms of what the rules are and the guidelines and all of this stuff, yet it just wasn’t to be. And, of course, he got some penalties for that. But, you know, I think… I always, like I said before in some of the interviews, I go into every race expecting a tough battle with Max. It’s clear that it doesn’t matter if he wins or second, his only job is to beat me in the race. And he’ll sacrifice himself to do that, like he did today. But I want to have good battles with him. I want to have those tough battles, like I’ve seen him have plenty of times. But fair ones. It’s always going to be on the line. It’s always going to be tough with Max. He’s never going to make anyone’s life easy, especially mine at this point of the year. But I think today was just… It was not fair, clean racing. And therefore, I think he got what he had coming to him.
Q: Do you think he was harsher with you today than he was in Austin last week?
LN: Probably, yes.
Q: do you think you need to talk to max about this? do you talk to Max about it?
LN: I mean, we talk about different things. It’s not my job. it’s got nothing to do with me in a way. Today I felt like I just had to avoid collisions and that’s not what you feel like you want to do in a race. He’s in a very powerful position in the championship. He’s a long way ahead. He has nothing to lose. People can say it’s the other way around, like he’s got everything to lose and it’s all for me. But it’s not the case, you know. So it’s not for me. I’m focused on myself. I’m doing my own job, which was a good job today. And I’m happy with all of this and I’m happy with my whole weekend. But it’s not my job to control him. He knows how to drive. And I’m sure he knows that today was probably a bit over the limit.
Q: You say he’s in a very powerful position in the championship, but you have taken 10 points out of him. How encouraged are you by that?
LN: I mean, I’m 47 behind still, so it doesn’t feel like I’m much closer than what I was, but every point helps. Charles got fastest lap at the end, so that’s one point they took away from me, but… Yeah, I don’t know. I’m just doing my own thing and focusing. And as a team, we’re doing our own thing and focusing on ourselves. A lot of people against us, but we’ll keep pushing forward.
Q: All right. Very well done today. Thank you, Lando. Charles, can we come to you now? P3 completes a great day for Ferrari. Can we just get your take on your race, first of all?
CL: Yeah, I mean, all in all, it’s been a really positive weekend for Ferrari, a little bit less for me personally. I haven’t been on my top game this weekend, but having said that, I think Carlos has been doing just the perfect weekend from the first lap in FP1 to the last one of the race. On my side, I was a little bit on the back foot, missing FP1, and I never really recovered. During the race, I felt like I was relatively quick on the first stint. Unfortunately, I had to do… I was requested to do quite a lot of management for temperatures, but yeah, at the end it was the way it is. I think I’m very happy for the team, very happy for Carlos. He deserves it more than anybody this weekend because he’s been driving better than anyone. And yeah, a good result for the team.
Q: You say you’ve been on the back foot all weekend. What have been your issues with the car?
CL: Nothing really, sometimes you get into the car and the feeling is perfect and sometimes you just have to work a lot harder for it and that’s what happened this weekend. And obviously they was quite a limited amount of running for me because the whole FP2 was on prototypes and Pirelli testing and then FP3 was all about trying to get back into the rhythm but I never really managed to do so. So yeah, I was just not fast enough.
Q: You say you were managing temperatures during the race, but when you first got through to P2, did you think the win was on?
CL: Of course, I could see Carlos was right in front, so there you start to think about the win straight away. I was feeling really good at that moment of the race, so you do, but then quickly I understood that it would be a lot trickier than that with all the management I had to do, but again, I don’t think anyway I had the pace to beat Carlos today.
CL: Do you think you had the pace to beat Lando? Or what happened on lap 63 was inevitable given the pace of the car?
CL: Oh, by then I had no chance to stay in front of Lando. Lando was flying, and I think as a team, we’ve been pretty lucky that whatever happened with Max and Lando at the beginning of the race, that slowed him down massively, and his second stint was very, very impressive. So that was a good thing for us, and that probably helped us. On my side, there was no way that I could stay in front. I knew that it would be very difficult. I knew that I had to have an incredible exit out of the last corner, so I tried to put everything… to have a really good exit, went over the limit, lost the car and lost the position, but I felt it was a question of laps or corners before I lost that position.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Jesus Balseiro – Diario AS) A question for Carlos. It hasn’t been easy to overtake Max recently, so can you explain how did you manage to do that?
CS: Probably catching him a bit by surprise because I was quite far back but before Turn 1 I got a really good tow on DRS, but I saw that I was probably going to be a bit too far back. But then right in the last 100 metres, I felt like I had a good momentum and I’ve been feeling very confident braking into Turn 1 this weekend. The car has been giving me good confidence to brake late there and I just went for it and it happened. Yeah, also this mentality of knowing I had a bit less to lose in that battle and that I could be aggressive and send one. And yeah, I’m glad it happened because I needed to get back to P1 to then set my pace from there.
Q: (Scott Mitchell-Malm – The Race) A question for Lando. The battles with Max in Austria and then Austin, he didn’t get a penalty, but I think you and McLaren felt he was in the wrong there. I just wondered, psychologically for you, how important is it that this one has gone in your favour? Because you can keep driving fairly, keep avoiding collisions, but if they always ended up in Max’s favour, there was no action, surely that would have an impact on how you feel you can go racing with him and whether you think you can actually pass him on track.
LN: I mean, I’m not happy today because of that. I’m happy because I’m P2, but… Austria, no one should have got a penalty, I don’t think, I would say. Yeah, maybe some of my views are a little bit different now than what they were back then. Austria, I don’t think anyone should have got a penalty. Austin, I don’t think anyone should have got a penalty. Yeah, let’s say we both kind of did things wrong. I feel like I was made to do something wrong, and I wouldn’t say I… The majority of people, the majority of drivers feel like that was the same thing. That’s why you’ve heard of some of the rule changes that might be coming and those types of things. It’s because there’s a common consensus that it wasn’t correct what happened in the result that I had last weekend. Today, I think, was another level on both of those cases. Yeah, it was another level on both. I was ahead of Max in the braking zone, past the apex. I am avoiding crashing today. This is the difference. I can’t speak for him, and maybe he’ll say something different. But I think today was a step too far from both of those, and it was clear that the Stewards agreed with that. So I don’t see it as a win or anything like this, but it’s more that I hope Max acknowledges that he took it a step too far.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Lando, a question for you. I know you really want these good, clean battles with Max. You’ve talked about how much you enjoyed them in the past. But as you said, he is willing to sacrifice himself to beat you. Is it going to be possible to fight him fairly over the final four races of this season?
LN: I’ve always fought fairly. That’s who I am. That’s who I am as a racer. That’s my way of driving every day. Maybe sometimes I’ve lost out because I’ve been too fair and not aggressive enough. And that’s where I have to find a better balance. And those are the things, the changes I’ve said I’ve had to change since last weekend and the course of this year, that when you’re racing these top guys, you learn things and you have to understand better these balances of attacking, defending, risk management, aggression, all of those types of things. But, yeah, for me, I don’t need to worry about them. It’s got nothing to do with me, in a way. I mean, I’ll do what I can. I’ll race fairly. If he doesn’t, then things will go like they did today. But I think he wants to race fairly. I hope he does. I think he enjoys those moments, too, when it’s a fair battle, but… Yeah, all I can do is keep doing what I’m doing. I feel like I’m doing a good job and we’ll see what happens.
Q: (Nigel Chiu – Sky Sports) Can you just clarify, Lando, the move into Turn 7, were you not trying to let Max through? He was just trying to overtake down the inside.
LN: I mean, you can see how far he went off the track. Yeah, I didn’t need to let Max through. I was ahead at the apex of 4. I had to avoid him crashing into me, and then 7 was the same thing again. The thing is, what I didn’t understand, like what didn’t come earlier, was he overtook off the track. It wasn’t that it was… I mean, it was also overly aggressive and those types of things, but he overtook off the track. I don’t know what the wording of the penalties are and those types of things, but, yeah, I mean, he says he drives to the rules. That was his main thing he said after last weekend, and today he took by going forwards off the track. We’ll see. Max will be back next weekend and I expect just more tough battles.
Q: (Patricia Gallardo – El Informador) How did you feel at the podium and with the energy of the people?
CS: It was an amazing podium. I had never been on the podium in Mexico, and I must say it’s one of the best of the season for sure with the atmosphere there is and how passionate the Mexican fans are. From here, I just wanted to thank them all because this weekend I felt a lot of support from all the Mexican fans in the hotel, arriving to a track, leaving the track. I don’t know if it’s the language, the fact that I’m Latin like them, but I do feel a lot of their support, and yeah, they make me feel like home, you know? Thanks to all of them, and, yeah, viva Mexico.
Q: (Scott Mitchell-Malm – The Race) A question to the two Ferrari drivers. Congratulations on today. You’re both in very good form, and Ferrari’s continued the form from the second half of the season, really. How much are you in this Constructors’ Championship fight? Does that have to be the target for the rest of the season? And are you in any way surprised by that, given how Red Bull started the year and what McLaren were like in the middle of the season?
CL: Yeah, of course it has to be our target, because we don’t have to think about it every day. And I think the best way to achieve it is by just focusing on our own self and trying to maximise the package of our car, which is what we have done since two weekends. But yeah, the Constructors’ now is realistically possible. And it relies on us doing well more than others doing something wrong, which I’ve often said is probably the case for the Drivers’ Championship. For the Drivers’ Championship I need to do everything right and I need a lot of bad luck to happen elsewhere. So the Constructors’ is definitely our main target and if we continue in that form it’s a realistic one.
CS: Yeah, I think we both believe it is possible and we are actually talking about it more and more often now. We pump each other up a bit, knowing that there’s a chance and we are like, ‘yeah, come on’. You know, we have a good relationship and I think we both know there is a chance and we both know we are in a good moment in our driving, the way we’re driving. And yeah, I think one of the keys is going to be consistency and having the two drivers always up there. I think this weekend, We did a really good job on that on a tricky track where you could see Q1 and Q2 was a bit of chaos and anything could go right or wrong. So we just need to keep ourselves in that fight. And as Charles said, don’t get obsessed with it because it’s not like it depends only on us. We also, given how fast McLaren is, depend a bit on them. But yeah, we’re going to keep doing the best we can and keep pumping each other up to win it.
Q: (Tim Hauraney – TSN) Question for Charles. Charles, you had a really big save towards the end of the race. First off, what happened? And second of all, what did you say to yourself when you brought the car back?
CL: Oh, I mean, I don’t know which face I did, but it had to be a pretty stressful one because when I lost it… I knew that I had to do everything perfect. I mean, Lando was so quick at that time. So again, I felt like it was a matter of laps, but I was still trying to do everything possible for him to overheat behind me and keep him as long as possible behind me. So, I tried to have the best exit possible. I could see that he was very close out of that corner. I lost the rear and then you forget about Lando and you just hope that you are going to take it back. I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side and then I was like, ‘f**k’. Oh, sorry! Oh, no, oh no! I don’t want to join Max!
CS: You have your wallet here?
CL: Then I was just hoping to bring the car to the finish line and get that third place.
Q: (Javier Jalife – Fast Mag) Charles, that’s twice now that you’ve taken advantage of Norris and Max fighting to overtake them for a better result. And it’s clear that this championship battle is hopefully going to the end. Do you think it will be a three-way by the end of the season, or do you expect to be the clear winner?
CL: Again, I welcome Max being as aggressive to Lando as possible because it helps me, at least it gives me chances to be closer to Lando in the Drivers’ Championship because it’s still a fight. If anything, it’s more a fight, Lando and myself, than with Max that has quite a lot of advantages in points. On my side, I don’t think about the Drivers’ Championship, realistically. As I was saying earlier, I think first the approach is not to start thinking about the Drivers’ Championship. That doesn’t help me achieve anything more. It’s by focusing race by race. And more than that, I just feel like it’s not in my control whether I win the drivers’ championship or… Let me explain better. Of course, there’s part of it that is in my control. And if I win all races, that puts most of the chances on my side. But even if I do that, I’ve got to have Max that has very poor weekends and I don’t rely on that, so I’ll just try and do the best possible end of the season, and then we’ll do the math at the end of the season.
Q: (Nate Saunders – ESPN) Carlos, question for you. Congratulations. You mentioned about how much you needed the win today. I just wonder, what have the last few months been like with everything going on with deciding where you’re going to be next season, seeing this kind of endpoint in sight with Ferrari coming up and maybe waiting for this opportunity to win a race? What’s that been like for you personally? And just what kind of relief was it to actually cross the line today, have that win, and have the moment that you mentioned earlier, kind of signing off, as you said it, with hopefully not signing off with the last win, but getting that chance to do that again with Ferrari?
CS: Yeah, it’s been a strange year in that sense, and yeah, also quite a challenging one. The year started really well, then we went through a tough period of development, and then suddenly we managed to make the car competitive again, and I saw that winning chances were still again [available], but obviously Charles took those wins in Monza and Austin, and I felt like, yeah, I also won before I leave, and I want to make that happen. I think it could have been quite easy for me to lose a bit of motivation and to lose a bit of the drive to make it happen, but those three weeks of break served me well. I managed to regain a bit of the determination and the drive that I needed for these last five, six races of the season. And I managed to put myself in a position with improving my driving, my confidence with the car, to put myself in a position to, first, win in Austin that I didn’t make it happen – Charles did a great job there – and put myself in a position to win here and this one I was just going to make sure it doesn’t slip from my hands. but yeah not an easy one not an easy year but proud of the way that I’ve managed to keep myself in it and obviously trying to help the team now as much as I can to to win these constructors because it would be the perfect goodbye for me.
ENDS