Drivers React After Sprint | 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

You got the win, it sounded a little bit tense on the radio at times, can we just get your reflections on how the race unfolded and how that was managed from McLaren's perspective? Yeah I mean it's always tense when you have two cars just behind you and you know Oscar was just ahead but we managed it well. It's not an easy position to be in whether or not people say it is, it's not and I think between Oscar and myself we handled it well. I could have attacked him a lot more in the beginning but I was confident that things were going to change and we were going to do as we planned. So yeah always a little risk in doing what we did but we did it well and we did what we needed to do. Leading that one for so long, you played the team game in the end, can you talk us through the approach to that race and your reflections on it please? Yeah it was a bit of a tricky race to be honest, just trying to learn what we could for tomorrow and yeah I think you know the team result was obviously what we wanted and what we spoke about before the race so I think it all went to plan and I learned a lot for tomorrow. It looked like the car came alive for you in that race and then until the VSC at the end, can we get your reflections on how that unfolded? Yeah I think the pace was quite strong, we just have to be patient because in the beginning we were just stuck in the DRS train so you can't really do much, you just have to wait for people to either drop off or make a mistake and yeah we just hung in there and yeah eventually I could pass Charles and close the gap to the McLarens but then of course unfortunately yeah the VSC came out so that was then race over. P4 at the end of that looked like a mighty battle with Max, can you talk us through that from your perspective please? I had no rears at all, I mean I pushed a lot at the beginning, I think Max was a lot more on the reserve at the beginning and then started pushing at the end and he had more pace, I mean he did a better job with time management, on my side I wanted to take risk at the beginning to try and put pressure on the McLaren but it didn't work out. Looked like a bit of a lonely race out there for you, P5 at the end of it, how are you feeling about that? Yeah we simply made too many mistakes at the beginning, we're trying to figure out the balance and the car, we were quite far off and yeah we're simply not as strong as McLaren and Red Bull this weekend, we need to make sure we improve the car in qualifying so we have better chances tomorrow because so far it hasn't been an easy one. It sounded like the car was pretty difficult to drive yesterday, how was it feeling out there in the sprint and you've got a few points on the board at least? Yeah a few points, I think we finished exactly where we expected beforehand, exactly halfway between the front five and the midfield team so you know we're going to try and make some improvements into this afternoon and tomorrow but we're not suddenly going to be able to make a race winning car overnight so we just have to accept that's where we are right now. Great sprint qualifying, great sprint race, getting some points on the board, how do you feel about that one? Yeah extremely happy, that's our best result of the year, you know all combined sprint and Grand Prix so no very pleased, started P7, finished P7, managed to hang on until the end in front of Checo and yeah top of the midfield so it was a hard race, more degradation than we expected but managed to do it and it's two very valuable points for the team. Sergio, it looked like quite a battle with Liam out there for the final point, how are you feeling about how that race unfolded? It was the maximum we could do, unfortunately with the BSC there in the end we didn't get the Gatling but overall I think it's a strong pace, I think we've been strong the whole weekend so we just have to put it together in qualifying and we will be strong. You said yesterday that you were hoping to be in the mix of the points, you were quite a battle out there with Sergio as well, can you talk us through that? I mean yeah, I think obviously when you're defending from a Red Bull it's quite difficult so I think we had the speed today, just not enough to overtake Pierre so I'm just basically stuck behind for most of the race and when a Red Bull comes it's obviously quite tricky so yeah it's frustrating. You said yesterday that you were expecting a challenging sprint, how was it for you out there, P10 at the end of it? Yeah okay, I think our direct rivals had new tyres so I hope they'll help us for tomorrow, other than that though it was all right, I struggled a little bit at the start of the race and then had good pace at the end but not to be. It sounded like the car was a bit of a handful yesterday, how is it feeling out there for you today and can you talk us through your race please? Horrendous, honestly it felt really terrible today, even worse than it did in qualifying so definitely a very difficult race, that's one of the worst races I've felt, the car just sliding around and zero grip behind, even the Williams could barely keep up with them for a period of time so lots of work to do to try and change the car, flip it on its head for qualy. How was it for you out there? It was okay, it was a decent race starting from P14, it was a little dirty air and yeah it was tricky to follow close, I've been in many laps very close and my tyres started to open very quickly so yeah it was a tough race but I think we managed well, did what we could of course, we were struggling a little bit starting from that position but I think we can now focus on qualifying and have a good result there. Made up a couple of spots from Corley, how is the car feeling out there today and how do you reflect on that race? Yeah I think we struggled with the same things as yesterday really, yeah lacking quite a lot of entry stability is what we are fighting for since yesterday so rear grip initially, yeah we are lacking pace unfortunately at the moment so yeah we need to try and make things better for this afternoon, it will be tricky but we'll do our best. Latest super sub weekend, it looked like quite a busy sprint race for you out there, a couple of moments and Nico can you talk us through that one? Yeah I mean I had quite a bad start but I managed to make up a few spots on lap one, after that settling into the race, things were feeling quite good but then gradually started to struggle with the tyres more and more and at the end just really lacking pace so we've got some work to do for tomorrow. P15 at the end of that, can you talk us through the race, how it went from your perspective? Yeah same as qualifying, just didn't have pace, struggling in the balance and just don't have much confidence. What is it that's lacking from the car this weekend so far? What is it that's lacking from the car so far this weekend, the feel? Just really keep sliding every corner and especially towards high speed, yeah not providing me any confidence into the corner, that way especially I'm losing out so yeah it's kind of similar what I felt in the race as well. You made SQ2 yesterday, slipped slightly in the race, how was it for you out there today? Unfortunately a little bit like expected, we knew that it's going to be extremely difficult to make up positions so of course we tried but we just didn't really have the pace. For me the tyre deck, the tyre overheating is a big issue for us and that's why we're lacking a bit of pace but at least we could leave Aston Martin behind which is a bit of surprise but we'll take it. Fernando obviously you had the pit lane start but how is the car feeling out there in that race for you? Yeah difficult, difficult, still not finding our sweet spot so far this weekend, you know we tried some setup changes for this sprint race but didn't succeed in terms of finding more pace so we have another opportunity now before qualifying so yeah let's see, also tomorrow may rain so opportunities will come. You mentioned the rain but if it stays dry do you think you can find something in the setup between now and then? Let's see, I think it's very close in the midfield so you need a perfect qualifying if you want to score points. Lance it was always going to be difficult with the pit lane start but how was that race for you out there? Yeah difficult but some setup for sure. You can make changes now to the setup before qualifying, hopefully you can find something between now and then? We'll see what we can do for qualifying and the race tomorrow. Sorry to see you retire at the end there, can you tell us any more about what happened and also a couple of battles with Ollie as well? I don't really know yet, there was a lot of smoke so I suspect it's something related to the engine, to the power unit. The team asked me to stop the car on the track so it must have been pretty serious. Yeah up until then it was going actually okay, better than expected after yesterday but I think we were struggling as a team with the tyres, you know just a high deck and it's very hot out there and we faced some very high temperatures which was making life hard.