Las Vegas
RACE REACTIONS
What the drivers
had to say after race
day in Las Vegas
Alpine
Pierre
GASLY
“Our race was over after a few hundred metres and it is a pity we could not show our potential. Gabriel [Bortoleto] was overly optimistic going into Turn 1. He crashed into Lance [Stroll] who then made contact with me and spun me around, breaking the back of my car and we had a lot of damage there. Not a good evening for us and I am sad for all the team as I have been feeling good in the car all weekend and it would have been interesting to see what we could have achieved. We have been fast in both the wet and the dry and I was excited to be in the mix where I am confident we could have challenged for the points today. Now our focus switches to Qatar where the conditions will be completely different. Two more races to go and we'll keep giving it our best to the very end.”
Franco
COLAPINTO
“It wasn't the best outcome after contact from behind at the start meant we carried damage and lost downforce for the duration of the race. I had a relatively clean getaway and tried to avoid the chaos that happened in Turn 1 but I was hit from behind by Alex [Albon]. I felt small contact, but the floor and diffuser took a big hit. It's hard to say whether it was down to the damage we picked up, but the car felt much worse than in previous sessions. The balance was poor and we lacked rear grip with the rears sliding a lot. It's a pity as you always want to give it your best shot but sometimes these things happen in racing that is out of your control. We need to quickly move on and look forward to finishing the season on a positive note at the final two races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.”
Aston Martin
Lance
STROLL
"Unfortunately I got hit at the start of the race and that was it for me in the first corner. That's racing, these things happen and it's not fun for either Gabriel [Bortoleto] or me but he didn't do it on purpose; he's a good kid. On paper we didn't expect to be too competitive [in Las Vegas] and don't think much would've been possible for us. Hopefully we will show some more competitiveness next weekend. At some tracks the car comes alive and hopefully Qatar will be one of them."
Fernando
ALONSO
"It was a tough race for us as we didn't have the pace out there. With dry conditions we knew it would be difficult to score any points. We also lacked top speed on the straights, so it wasn’t easy to battle or defend. We all tried our best though and we'll go again next week in Qatar and hopefully be able to fight for the points."
Ferrari
Charles
LECLERC
"Mixed feelings on my side. I am not satisfied finishing P6, but if I look back at my race, I didn’t leave anything on the table, I had some good battles and took the right risks, so on a personal note, I am satisfied with my performance today.
"The first stint was entertaining with good overtakes, working my way forward, but after our stop, it became more difficult. Our straight-line speed was not the strongest, so it was difficult to fight with our competitors. I made up for it a bit with how I was braking, but with Oscar [Piastri] in Kimi’s [Antonelli] DRS, it was difficult to catch them to try and gain more places.
"We have two more races to go and we want to close the season on a high, bringing home a win for everyone in our team. I will give it everything."
Lewis
HAMILTON
"It was a tough evening, definitely not one I’ll look back on fondly. We got off to a strong start and I was able to make up a good number of places in the first stint. The contact with Albon in the second stint caused some damage, which affected the pace and made it harder to close in on Hulkenberg.
"On the upside, we still managed to get back into the points, and every point matters for the Constructors’ [Championship]. Big thanks to the fans who showed up in such huge numbers despite the really cold weather."
Haas
Esteban
OCON
“I think there were a lot of positives. We executed the race well but there wasn’t quite enough pace for us to get into the points. We were fighting with Lewis [Hamilton] the whole race really, and I thought what if I did keep him behind more in the first stint, but I was much quicker in the second. It just wasn’t enough to get close in the end, probably five more laps were needed. It was unfortunate as it feels like it’s been a weekend that hasn’t rewarded us, even though there were a lot of positives, but on to the next one.”
Oliver
BEARMAN
“The opening lap was very good and we were up to a really good spot. Unfortunately, after that, we were struggling a little bit with pace and I couldn’t really find a rhythm in the car. It was very difficult to drive in the low-speed corners, and although it did get better on the hard compound, I didn’t change the aero balance which I would’ve normally if I had gotten a good read. I was struggling to keep cars behind in the first stint and was making mistakes because the car was difficult. Ultimately, I think the pace was okay, but we also had some graining on the final stint.”
Kick Sauber
Nico
HULKENBERG
“Another couple of points on the board, and I think we can be pretty satisfied with that – it was likely the maximum available. Everyone who finished ahead started ahead and probably had a bit more pace, so we executed well to bring it home where we did. It was a clean, solid one-stop strategy in a low-deg race with not too much variation, and the team did a great job.
“The first stint on the hard tyre was strong – managing it while racing closely in the early laps took some effort, but we pulled it off nicely. We gained two important points for the team, and while the fight in the standings is still very close, there’s everything to play for.”
Gabriel
BORTOLETO
“First of all, I would like to apologise to Lance [Stroll]. It was my fault – I had a strong launch and went for a move on the inside of the Williams, but by the time I committed, I misjudged the braking point by a few meters and it was already too late to slow the car down properly. I went in a bit long, had no angle to make the corner, and ended up hitting him. It’s a shame, because the weekend seemed promising until Qualifying, and then the mistake on Lap 1 ruined both our races. I just need to put everything together now for the remaining two races of the season – clean laps, clean weekends – because not finishing these last two races meant losing track experience I should have been gaining. I’ll learn from this, reset, and make sure to come back to the performance levels I've shown before as we come to Doha.”
McLaren
Oscar
PIASTRI
"Disappointing to come away from this weekend with no points after an unfortunate disqualification due to skid wear. With how close the grid is, we’re always looking at where we can gain performance, and we didn’t get it right this time. We now need to reset, refocus and push to get the best points possible in the final two rounds, both tracks that we've been strong at previously."
Lando
NORRIS
"A frustrating end. We had to do some managing towards the end of the race and now we know it was due to some issues on our car, which have unfortunately resulted in us being disqualified. It’s frustrating to lose so many points. As a team, we’re always pushing to find as much performance as we can, and we clearly didn’t get that balance right today. Nothing I can do will change that now, instead full focus switches to Qatar, where we'll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session."
Mercedes
George
RUSSELL
"That was a difficult race, so I’m relieved to have finished P3 and added another podium to our tally. I had an opportunity to put Max [Verstappen] under pressure in both stints but doing that hurt the tyre. That was particularly the case on the hard tyre and made the rest of my race challenging. At one point I thought we were going to have to make another stop but thankfully we had a good gap behind us, and we could manage our pace to the end to take third.
"Kimi did an amazing job to finish P4 on the road and [P3] in the final classification. Collectively, it’s a great result for the team as we come away with another good bunch of points. Our aim is to hold second in the Constructors’ Championship come Abu Dhabi and we now head to Qatar with our advantage intact."
Kimi
ANTONELLI
"I am very happy with how our race went. It felt like redemption after [Qualifying] where we were knocked out in Q1. It was a shame that we started so far back as without that, we would have definitely been in the hunt right at the front. That said, we need to be pleased with how we performed today and that we were able to add good points for the team after a difficult Qualifying.
"Halfway through the race I started to see some graining on the front tyres. That made me a little worried that we would be forced into a second stop and lose the positions we had gained. I was focused on talking to the tyres and just asking them to hold on! Eventually the graining cleaned up and I was able to put some strong laps in and limit the damage of our penalty to take [P3]."
Racing Bulls
Liam
LAWSON
“I'm disappointed for the team as the car has been fast this weekend. It was extremely slippery into Turn 1 and once I committed to brake, the cars in front started checking up and I didn't have anywhere to go. We should have had two cars in the points today, so it's a shame given where we started. That being said, we'll of course take the positives from the speed of the car into Qatar."
Isack
HADJAR
"I’m happy about our race as I feel like we extracted everything we could. We were going into the unknown a little bit as we hadn’t had any long runs in practice. We were probably a bit too conservative on the tyre management as we were expecting more graining before the start, when in the end it was a full push race. I’m proud of the team for the job we’ve done here in Vegas, and I think it's been our best weekend of the year. We didn't make any mistakes from FP1 and ticked all the boxes we had to, so it’s nice to be rewarded with [eight] points. I’m now confident going into the last two races of the year in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which are tracks that I think will suit our car better.”
Red Bull Racing
Max
VERSTAPPEN
"Everything went really smooth and we did well to keep the tyres alive. It was great to get the win here and we had a very good day. The last few laps were very strong, we made no mistakes and had good communication with the pit wall throughout. Our start was really good and Lando [Norris] was a bit late on the brakes. It was important to get ahead as we were able to then do our own thing and stay really consistent. During the race, the mediums felt better than expected and we did a decent stint first which made things easier when we got on to the hard compound. It was a good race for us, we had good pace and everything worked really well. For the next few races we just need to do the best we can and keep trying to win as many races until the end of the year and maximise everything we can. I had fun out there."
Yuki
TSUNODA
"Things didn’t go the way we would have liked today and I think I would have been in a lot higher a place without the tyre pressure issue we had in Qualifying. What happened in Qualifying was a mistake, it’s something that was out of my control but it is very frustrating because until then I was having a good weekend. I lost the opportunity to have a good race with something that is relatively easy to avoid but we will learn from it as a team. If the timing of the VSC on lap two had worked out we could have employed a very successful strategy today, but in the end it was just unfortunate, because just before that I had pitted. Everything feels like it is going against me lately and weekends aren’t going as we planned. The changes we made to the car overnight didn’t impact the pace as much as we had wanted either. A lot of things are happening out of my control lately, but I can only control what I can control. The pace is getting there for me and I am feeling more comfortable and confident with the car. I will just keep doing what I am doing."
Williams
Alexander
ALBON
"It was a messy race, so it’s very disappointing to come away with no points from [the] weekend. We didn’t have radio communication at any point in the race, so we had to go old-school with using pit boards for all comms which compromised our race from the start. We sustained damage at the beginning of the race but due to the lack of radio, it was a big risk to not know if the car was safe to drive or have any information on flags, Safety Cars, or debris. It’s an opportunity missed when we’ve had strong pace on this track. Ultimately, it wasn’t our day, but that’s racing."
Carlos
SAINZ
"We need to be happy with P7, as I think we did a good job and executed the race well. We were maybe slightly conservative with our pit stops and could’ve made Leclerc and Piastri fight for the positions on track, but these are all good learnings. At the end of the day, we had good pace, similar to the top teams, and we were the fastest car out of the midfield, so we’ll take the points and continue to push in the remaining two races. We’ll do our best to keep this momentum and hold onto P5 in the Championship!"
