Baku
RACE REACTIONS
What the drivers
had to say after
race day in Azerbaijan
Alpine
Pierre
GASLY
“That was a very difficult day and not a good one for us as a team. We just lacked pace all weekend. [Baku] has proved difficult for us, more so than at recent races, and we have to take the lessons where we can as, even with the car we have, we really should not be finishing so far off. We have some ideas on the areas we lack and where we need to improve but something has really not clicked here and it has been a bit of a trend at the last few weekends. I am not feeling great in the car right now like I did earlier in the season so that is something we need to turnaround. This is the package we have and I know we will sit down together, work hard and aim to come back stronger from the next race.”
Franco
COLAPINTO
“First of all, thank you to the entire team who worked hard to have the car prepared and ready to start from the grid. It was a big effort by everyone and shows the togetherness of the team even in difficult moments. It was a pity we could not reward them with a good result. We knew coming into the race it was going to be tough as a team and that proved to be the case. With the current package we have, we need everything to go perfectly and have a bit of luck on our side, and it didn't go our way today. I tried my best and made a good start. After the first stop I was fighting with Alex and I got spun around which cost me a lot of time. The car felt different afterwards, maybe picking up a bit of damage, which we carried for the rest of the race. We need to keep working hard in the upcoming races and take what we can from them.”
Aston Martin
Lance
STROLL
"We stayed out for a longer stint on the mediums hoping to take advantage of a Safety Car that never came, which limited our opportunities and what we could do. We will look ahead to Singapore now where we hope to be more competitive and have a stronger race weekend."
Fernando
ALONSO
"It was a difficult race without much happening and we simply didn't have the pace. At the start, I reacted to Oscar's movement and unfortunately got the penalty. I don't think this impacted our race in the end, because we just didn't have the performance. Hopefully our car will suit Singapore better and we can fight for the points again."
Ferrari
Charles
LECLERC
"What mattered was being on the right strategy, in the sense that some cars started on hards and others on mediums, and the most important thing was to find yourself in the faster group of cars who were on the same tyres as you, in order to be able to fight your way forward. I was stuck behind Liam for most of the second stint. He was on a different strategy with the mediums and I was on hards at that point, so I couldn't overtake him. I also had a small issue on my PU, which affected my pace for a few laps.
"At the end of the day, what had the biggest impact on our race was our Qualifying result. I made a mistake in Q3 and ended up starting from P10. Going for a P8 or P9 in a race is not my target, and these are not positions I am interested in fighting for. We have to reset and come back stronger in the upcoming races. The temperatures were colder than ever before in Baku, which has impacted our performance in the way we were able to work our tyres. Things should look better in warmer temperatures, so I’m looking forward to Singapore and hope we will be in better shape there.
"Congratulations to Carlos for his first podium with Williams, he had a strong weekend and I’m happy for him."
Lewis
HAMILTON
"It’s not the result we were aiming for and of course it’s disappointing. I felt more comfortable in the car and the balance was much better, but it was difficult to close on the cars ahead as they had strong pace.
"Qualifying is always key and we didn’t maximise it this weekend. Our setup choice and execution in Quali weren’t ideal, and that left us further back than we should have been. Fighting for eighth and ninth doesn’t reflect the potential we had if everything had come together.
"We’re going to be focused on how we can improve our qualifying performance over the coming weeks. The team and the pit crew did a great job and I’m thankful for their hard work. We’ll regroup and come back stronger in Singapore."
Haas
Esteban
OCON
“It was a good start, and we tried a really aggressive strategy. It’s a bit of a shame on that side, but we’ll review. It’s been a difficult weekend for us, and there are a lot of things to improve on for the next race, and this is what we’ll look out for in Singapore. We need to have a clean sweep with no issues – a healthy weekend – which is what we’re all asking for.”
Oliver
BEARMAN
“It was a good race as overall we made a good comeback, and we had good pace. I started P15 but lost a few spots early on during the Safety Car restart, and after that, I was really stuck in the first stint behind cars, and it was damage limitation from there on. The car was quick, but we couldn’t do anything with it.”
Kick Sauber
Nico
HULKENBERG
“It was one of those races where things just didn’t fall into place. I always seemed to be on the wrong side of the timing, losing out here and there. The highlight was definitely the restart - I managed a nice double overtake into Turn 3, which was rewarding. But after that, I was stuck behind Franco and Lance for most of the first stint. We lost a lot of time there, and that was really the make-or-break moment.
"The pace at the end was good, but by then the race had already slipped away from us - Qualifying and the early laps left us with too much to recover. There weren’t many variables or opportunities to shake up the order. It wasn’t our strongest weekend, but we’ll take the lessons on board and focus on executing better next time out.”
Gabriel
BORTOLETO
“It's been an intense race, always near some other cars and very close to the walls at all times. I think we delivered everything that we had on the table, with P11 being the maximum we could achieve: it's been a bit of a tricky weekend overall of us, and I don't think we would have had enough pace to fight higher up.
"Still, we kept pushing, managed to maximise what we had and took home some important learnings. Some weekends you can put up a fight, some you can’t as much, but that's racing. Now, we turn our focus to Singapore.”
McLaren
Oscar
PIASTRI
"Obviously not the weekend we were looking for in Baku. I made a mistake at the start and then locked up. I want to apologise to the team, especially the mechanics after they did such a great job to get my car back together after Qualifying. We just need to keep our heads down, review, and put this one behind us before coming back stronger next race weekend."
Lando
NORRIS
"A tricky race and a tricky weekend overall. [Sunday] the pace was okay, but not enough to overtake. After not doing a good enough job [on Saturday], and a lack of real strategy options, there wasn't much more we could have done. Frustrating and not how I wanted the weekend to go, but we'll get our heads down now and look ahead to Singapore."
Mercedes
George
RUSSELL
"I am really happy to be back on the podium. It’s been a tough run of races recently and I also have not felt well this weekend. That made [it] even more challenging than it could have been, so I am very pleased to finish P2. I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag! Congratulations to Carlos and Williams too. That was a very well-deserved result for them.
"On our side, the car felt great throughout and Kimi did a superb job to bring home P4 too. That is important points for the team as we look to battle Ferrari and Red Bull for second in the Constructors’ Championship. Hopefully we can build on this result over what is sure to be a tight battle across the final seven races of the season."
Kimi
ANTONELLI
"[Azerbaijan] was a much better Grand Prix than I’ve had in recent races. That said, I am still slightly disappointed that I wasn’t able to get myself on the podium. We were closing in on Carlos in the final few laps, but I just couldn’t quite find the pace to get within DRS range and then attempt an overtake. He did a great job so congratulations to both him and Williams.
"Whilst I was hoping for more, [it] was still a decent result and with George in second, a good day for us as a team. We gained a lot of points on Ferrari which is a positive and moved back into second in the Constructors’ Championship. The pace across the field is tight but hopefully we can carry the momentum from Baku into Singapore."
Racing Bulls
Liam
LAWSON
"The race felt rewarding, particularly after the last ten to fifteen laps, which was pretty intense. Obviously it's a little disappointing from where we were starting, but realistically we didn't have the speed to fight with the guys in front today, despite always being hopeful. To have a P5 is big for us, especially in the championship right now. We've had a good car all weekend thanks to the team, so I'm pleased to be coming home with points. We gave it everything!"
Isack
HADJAR
“We had some hydraulic issues before the race start, but the boys did an amazing job to get everything fixed in time. I got off to a really good start, but unfortunately, I made the same costly mistake as [Saturday] and lost two places. We had great pace on the hard tyre, but not so much on the medium, so we’ll need to do some research to understand why. There are still plenty of positives and learnings to take away from this weekend though; Liam drove a perfect race, and I’m really happy for the team with a double points finish. I’m looking forward to Singapore and feel confident that we can do well there.”
Red Bull Racing
Max
VERSTAPPEN
“It was an incredible weekend and we had really good pace and it ended up being quite a straightforward race. Starting out in front was key for us and we managed our tyres well. We were going well on the first stint and executed everything how we wanted to. Our strategy was to go from hard tyres and then on to mediums and luckily there were no Safety Cars in the middle of the race which might have messed this up. [Baku] is a tough track to be consistent at, with the challenging layout and also very hard winds so you have to keep reminding yourself to keep out of the walls! I was happy with the car and we really managed our pace and had quite a big gap to the Mercedes. It has been a great weekend overall and the last two weekends for sure have been amazing. Both are tracks where we have low downforce so we will see how we go on other circuits. Hopefully we can continue forward with this form, but we are just enjoying the moment right now. We are really happy with what we are doing: the relationship that I have with the team is really good and when the car goes well, everything comes together."
Yuki
TSUNODA
“We've put together a strong weekend in Azerbaijan, where we showed the performance that we've wanted to for a long time. So, scoring my best result with the team feels deserved. We put ourselves in a great position in Qualifying and we wanted to capitalise on that with the good promise that we showed in the long runs in practice. There wasn't a lot of tyre degradation on either the medium or hard tyre, so no one was particularly falling away, which made it tricky to pass but still, I am happy with P6. I've received massive support from the team, so it's nice to repay that with some solid points. The changes that we've made to the car have really worked this weekend and it allowed us to be more competitive than we have been on race days previously. I came into Baku having put in a lot of hard work off track to extract as much performance as possible and [Sunday] was a step in the right direction. I feel like I have unlocked something that I can take into future races. Also, a huge congratulations to Max as it was a classic drive from him. The team has been operating at a very sharp level, and we want to continue this momentum. We are not giving up anything until the end of the season."
Williams
Alexander
ALBON
"First of all, [Sunday] was a great result for the team and for Carlos, it has been a long time coming. Carlos executed a really clean weekend, and the car was quick and so it was great to see that result.
"Unfortunately for me, I think Qualifying put us on the back foot for the race. I expected us to be fast [in the race], and we were quick on track when we were able to be in clean air, but the degradation was quite low today so that limited our progress when we were in the DRS train and it got a bit scrappy at times. It’s a very different track in Singapore so we will analyse everything and hope to score good points the next time out."
Carlos
SAINZ
"Finishing P3 in Baku and being on the podium is an amazing feeling! I think it’s one of my best races ever! We’ve been working so hard and gone through some really big ups and downs, but this makes it all worth it and we need to feel proud as a team. I’m sure this is just a taste of what’s to come for us at Williams and we need to keep working in this direction.
"We had the pace, and we delivered when it mattered, not making any mistakes and scoring a magnificent podium on pure merit. Thank you to the entire team, here and back at home, for your relentless effort and support! And also, to all our Williams fans out there! I can’t wait for more to come! Vamos!"
