F1 2023 Australian GP | Post Race Press Conference
congratulations to the top three finishes of the FIA Formula One Australian Grand Prix in third place Fernando Alonso in second place Lewis Hamilton and taking the 37th victory of his formula one career and his first here in Australia our winner Max verstappen Max many congratulations it was a long afternoon’s work just how do you reflect on everything that went on out there uh well I mean of course very happy to to win the race but I think the race itself towards the end was a bit of a bit of a mess with all the calls
um I don’t think we needed that second red flag um I think that could have been done with a virtual saved car or safety card worse but uh yeah okay short um you see what he wants to leave you need to go but yeah we’ll talk about I think it left a lot of drivers confused why we needed it needed a red flag Max just in all of your racing career have you ever experienced a race like that one yes I don’t know I today was quite messy yet well let’s talk about your starts uh
talk us through the first messy yeah can we go in chronological order that first start in particular yeah the first one was not good um just didn’t really get
a little bit more aggressive but on the other hand I didn’t want to have any damage on my car because I knew that we had a quick car right so even losing one or two spots was not the end of the the world okay look final one for me I’m sure there’ll be plenty from the floor but do you feel these guys were closer to you this weekend in terms of pace I think it was it’s also been the nature of the track with with the yeah very low deck so you know uh I think
that all made it a bit closer the warm-up was also quite tricky some teams probably nailed it a bit better than others so yeah difficult to say I think we need to go to a few more tracks to have a full understanding okay very well done thank you Lewis coming to you now you seemed elated after that one just how unexpected was this result I was very unexpected uh but obviously just coming into the weekend but obviously getting a second and the third and qualifying yesterday was what really blew us all away and um a
huge boost of energy for throughout the team um so then it meant today we had a shot at you know trying to at least overtake Max for a second and so we both got ahead which was amazing um to have a Mercedes one two for a second and obviously he came standing by at one stage but a really a really entertaining race and um had a really good battle with Fernando which was which was awesome first of all can we touch on that overtaking move with Max what was your take on just talk us through
the rundown to turn three um I thought it was pretty decent I mean he he breaked earlier and I break late and I was fully up the inside and I think we both left space for each other I I didn’t run him off the road and he didn’t turn in on me so we didn’t touch and that’s racing all right you touched on that battle with Fernando it was real cat and mouse all afternoon between the two of you who do you feel had the faster car this afternoon you or him out of who you
and Fernando I think Fernando’s a little bit quicker this afternoon I think I mean he was in my toe so um I think we were probably quick slightly quicker on the straight and he was quicker through all the corners so I think we definitely have some performance to find he it was definitely wasn’t easy keeping him keeping him at Bay and keeping him out the DRS Zone um but it was really quite interesting just to see where I was where we where we were lacking and where we were good and so there’s lots of positives
to take from today but we do naturally need to head on some performance I mean they’ve been ahead the past two races so but for us to somehow still finish ahead is is pretty awesome so um I’ll definitely take it all right many congratulations to you Fernando coming to you now third race of the season third Podium for you uh how satisfied are you yeah buddy I mean incredible also for the team third and fourth uh 27 points out of this Sunday I think he really made me feel happy for all the boys and and
girls in the team and uh yeah the race was not easy for sure I think at the beginning obviously we got lucky with the first red flag because George and Carlos pitted so we benefit from that um and then yeah intensive Pace we were very close to um to Luis all all through the race um but any every time that I try to get close yes he seemed to to pick up the the pace I try to put some pressure but you know he he had an incredible race no mistakes at all as you expect
probably from from him uh Champion but uh only one lookup I think in 10 13 in 58 laps so I was trying to put pressure but nothing uh happened so yeah we take P3 What state were your tires in because had this been a conventional end to the Grand Prix how do you think it would have played out uh they were good and he’s just said that he thought you had the faster car this afternoon would you agree probably I think when you when you do 50 laps you know within two seconds of the car
in front is normally you have a little bit more uh if you have a little bit of Clean Air probably you you can um get two or three tens out of that lap time but uh yeah in the other end I could not get any closer than that so I think we were very similar thanks and final one for me can you just talk us through the moment when you and Carlos touched at turn one place what’s yeah what’s your view on what happened I mean obviously I didn’t I didn’t know who touched me in
in that moment I just felt in lab one of the first start someone touchment entry and then in yeah in the last restart Carlos apparently Touched Me In 10-1 yeah I mean probably only Jedi had a normal start in Bahrain also in term 4 lands touched me in into 10-4 so yeah there is like uh yeah I’m very attractive you know it’s out there but uh our car is strong enough so you know it doesn’t matter if if they keep touching us thank you very much let’s open this to the floor first one please and
please remember to give your name and publication uh Alex Auto Sport question to Max please and obviously you had everything under control it seemed once you’ve got past Louis and pulled away but there was that one off at turn 13 could just explain what happened there and also you can just talk us through the the final restart before everything you know really kicked off behind you when it was alongside you had that going through you thanks uh yeah I just had a Tony lock up and they want to flat spot the tires so I run
a bit wide cut the cross a bit save Melbourne a bit of money to cut the grass there but uh I don’t think Lewis was alongside me but I think my star was a little bit better than what I had before you know so I was happy about that because the tires were really really cold and then of course after turn one I saw there were massive caps behind me so I thought already there was something going on and then I saw the replays and it was just a lot of chaos behind so yeah that’s
how it goes sometimes thank you next one to Fernando after you’ve seen the incident with Carlos at the end and what do you think of it what do you think of the penalty yeah I mean I’m probably the penalty is too too harsh I think um because on lab one is very difficult always to judge what the grip level and I think we don’t go intentionally into another car you know because we know that we risk also our car on on our final position so sometimes you ended up in places that you wish you were
not there in that moment and it’s just part of racing but uh I didn’t see the replay properly but for me it feels too hard thank you next one Alex Alex can Lucas Auto Sport a question to Lewis and to Fernando please and he changed tires after the very first red flag and it looked like you’re going to go to the end without stopping how difficult was it balancing keeping those tires alive whilst also you know chasing each other and it being looking like the pressure is on thanks Louis please stop me um yeah I
think I had a lot more tire than I thought that I did at the end um it there was a moment where I thought the tire was opening up and and you know Fernando was you know applying pressure then backing off and I had decent pace and then um and then closing the Gap again and and you know he kept he had two or three charges um which I had to then really up the ante and try to match him which was uh which was tough I was able to be around the 10th or so
um often or sometimes ahead um but I definitely with 18 laps to go I was thinking geez I don’t know these tires are going to go all the way um but then he he had a moment where he backed off and then I was able to save a bit and um and then got into a good Rhythm and I was able just to keep that Gap exactly the same for uh those last um 10 laps or whatever so I was just counting it down just hoping hoping that it would just stick with it and um
but yeah he was very very consistent uh from what I could tell didn’t make any mistakes I just Fernanda doesn’t make a lot of mistakes so um it was it needed to be a good job yeah similar comments I think at the beginning of of yeah that second race let’s say there were some doubts that you know the tire could make that distance because we missed fp2 long runs and and and everything but uh I agree that at the end of the race the tires were better than expected so they could keep going thanks yep
another one virtually keep question to Lewis and Fernando when you go on a restart on a race like that do you fear to losing position or are you happy to try to be the first at the first corner I mean I was always trying to get to First even when I was third um but uh and then obviously up alongside Max at the end I really was hoping for a better start the night than I got we both got pretty much similar getaways and then he had a better second phase um and uh and then
it’s just not to lose out to uh Fernando you know he’s having good starts as well so it’s all very very close and all within you know a meter or so by the time he gets to turn one so um initially was trying to get ahead and then otherwise we’re just not at the end not wanting to lose a position to to the Aston yeah same similar comments I mean for us it’s just an opportunity so yeah I was pretty sure that it could be second to be honest in the last start because we’ve been
very good very strong on the start and it was good again I was side by side into 10-1 but then yeah you you also sometimes you realize that there are a lot of risk as well every every time there is this kind of restart and maybe you you ended up with a dnf which was very close to me this time Max how are you feeling prior to that final start yeah I mean I had a terrible first one so I was actually not really looking forward to it but luckily we seem to improve it a
bit um afterwards but I think it all yeah was a bit more difficult because of how cold the tires were so you also didn’t really know what you were gonna get off the line thank you
