1. Lando Norris (McLaren), 2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), 3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Nico Rosberg)
Q: One of the most thrilling F1 seasons of all time has just come to an end, Charles. And what a race from you. I mean, lap one, you were already eighth!
Charles LECLERC: Yeah, I knew I had to be very aggressive. So I knew that in lap one, I had to take all the risks possible in order to gain as many places as possible, to then be in a good position for the rest of the race, this achieved. But then, unfortunately, we were just starting too far back to do anything better than what we’ve done today. I think we’ve done the maximum. It hurts, obviously, because the season was so close until the end. It was a hard hit on Friday when we knew we had the penalty. We still gave it all and we just came short of our goal, which is a shame. But at the end, we’ve tried everything.
Q: I think you’re going to rebuild in the winter now and definitely give it another shot for the Constructors’ and maybe even for the Drivers’ title next year.
CL: Yeah, I really hope so. I mean, if we look at our first part of the year, we were nowhere near being in the fight for the Constructors’. Then the second part of the season was really good and the team has done an incredible job. I think Carlos and I have done a really good job as well together. So, yeah, we ended strong, and I’m sure that next year we’ll hopefully start as strong as what we have ended this year.
Q: Next year, your teammate is Lewis Hamilton, the greatest of all time. Are you excited about that?
CL: Yeah, of course. I mean, Lewis has achieved so much in the sport and it will be a big motivation. But obviously for now, it’s more thinking about the past year and the past years I’ve done with Carlos. We’ve had an amazing relationship. We’ve pushed each other. I really hoped that we could finish these four years together with a Constructors’ title. We both gave it all. It wasn’t enough. So obviously now the disappointment is here. And yeah, now I will have four or five days to reset and start thinking about next year then.
Q: Thank you very much, Charles. Congrats nevertheless also for P3 in the Drivers’ Championship.
CL: Thank you very much.
Q: Carlos, are you pleased with the P2 here in the end or were you hoping for the win today?
Carlos SAINZ: Obviously, a bit of a bittersweet feeling in the end. V2, I think, was the maximum we could do today, given the pace of Lando in the McLaren. Yeah, I gave it everything, especially the first thing. It looked like we could hang on to them. Then as soon as we put the Hard tyres, they just seemed to be that one or two tenths quicker per lap, like we’ve seen all weekend. And they just got a bit out of reach. But yeah, congratulations, first of all, to McLaren. They deserve this championship. They’ve been rock solid in the last two-thirds of the championship, and they’ve been incredible. From our side. I think we can be proud of the effort and the championship we put together. It’s been a tough year, but definitely a year where we need to be proud of and, yeah, hopefully be back here soon.
Q: Your time at Ferrari is coming to an end now. Are the emotions starting to come through? I’m sure it was an incredible time for you.
CS: Yeah, obviously emotional on the in lap with my engineer talking to me on the radio, Yeah, at the same time, very grateful, you know, to be part of this amazing team for four years. I think I’ve had the opportunity to win my first races, do my first pole positions, my first podiums. I’ve proven to myself and to everyone that I can be fighting for race wins and for podiums. If I have the right car and my target is from next year onwards, focus together with Williams to get back to where we belong together.
Q: Thank you very much, Carlos. All the best with your next chapter.
CS: Thank you very much.
Q: Lando. P1 for you today. Constructors’ champions with McLaren after 26 years. How does that feel?
Lando NORRIS: Thank you. It feels incredible. It feels incredible. Not for myself, but before the whole team. The team have done an amazing job this year to come from where we were at the beginning. I’m so proud of everyone. It’s been a lovely journey, and to end the season like this is perfect. So just a congrats and a big thank you to everyone in McLaren, everyone in papaya, everyone who supported us this year, because it’s been a tough one, but for us to win a Constructors’ after 26 years is pretty special.
Q: Take us into this a little bit. How are you going to celebrate this? Like, is it going to be big?
LN: Yeah, me and Zak already said we’re going to get absolutely hammered tonight, so I’m excited. You know, we’re going to celebrate. This is a historic moment for the team. They’re going to want to celebrate, and I want to celebrate with them, so it’s going to be a good night.
Q: Lando, on the in-lap, you said, next year is my year. Are you going to be world champion next year?
LN: This is my goal. This is our goal as a team. We want to win the Constructors’. We want to win the Drivers’ next year. I made my mistakes this year, but I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve learned a lot from Max and my competitors around me. As much as I’m happy now, I’m excited to get next year going.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lando Norris, many congratulations on your fourth win of this 2024 season. A brilliant race, and most importantly, your win gets McLaren across the line in the Constructors’ Championship. Just how happy are you feeling this evening?
LN: Yeah, I mean, I’m very, very happy. Just as I’m sure everyone in the team is. Today was a very special day for all of us. It was ours to lose today and I’m sure at certain moments people thought that it was not far away from being lost. You know, two Ferraris up there and Charles doing a great job to get back to the podium. Oscar was super unlucky. He got taken out in Turn 1. So for a minute, my heart was like, ‘oh God, it’s not looking as likely’. But if I just kept my head down and kept focused, I knew I could deliver and do what I got to do. That’s that, but the bigger picture of us winning a championship for the first time in 26 years, you wouldn’t have thought that when you say the name McLaren. It feels wrong to say that they’ve not won a championship in 25 years (sic). But for me to be part of that, for Oscar to be part of it, is something we’re incredibly proud of. And delivering that for the team has put the biggest smile as possible on everyone’s face. This is the biggest reward you can give back to everyone who designs the car, builds the car, gets the partners. Everyone has played such a big part, so just proud. Proud is my biggest thing. Of course, I’m happy I finished the season this way, but I’m way more happy for the team than I am for myself.
Q: And you’re P2 in the Drivers’ Championship as well. Do you believe in momentum? Because if you do, you’ve got it.
LN: I don’t, so… I don’t believe in a lot of things, but I think the one thing I’ve learned this year is probably to believe in myself a bit more. I’ve certainly not come out on top as often as I would have liked in certain moments as a driver, you know, especially in my fights against Max. As much as it hurts sometimes, I’m probably happy about it now that I’m going to go into next season knowing that I can fight. And I know myself, and I know more and better than anyone what I need to improve on, where I’m not strong enough, where I’m strong enough. You know, I’m always open for criticism, things like that. But I’m the one who knows better than the others, right? So not in an arrogant way or a selfish way, but I know that I have to improve in a lot of areas and certain things. And I feel like I’ve already done that quite a lot in the last three, four, five races. I feel like I’ve delivered some very strong results. But on the whole, next year is hopefully a year where I can go in and decide before the first race we’re going to fight for a championship. We’ve not ever thought of that. We’ve not even had the feeling of it from a team perspective and also for me as a driver. So hopefully the next year is that year. And we obviously have a lot of work to do. And Ferrari are going to be pushing a lot. But that’s another year. For now, I’m just going to celebrate with my team tonight and celebrate what they deserve.
Q: Lando, just one quick question on the race. How exposed did you feel when Oscar was taken out of the picture on the opening lap?
LN: Yeah, I was watching the TV screens and I saw Charles was P8 after lap one, so I was a little bit nervous! But I knew I just had to focus on myself, put my head down, and Carlos was never far away. I think the biggest I got the gap was to like 4.2 seconds in the first stint, and that’s not a very nice gap in my opinion. It’s a bit too close to my comfort. So it was still a tricky race, and I’m sure there was probably a lot more nervous people on the pit wall and in the garage, knowing what was at stake and things, and I’ve got the adrenaline of the car and focused on that. For them, they’re just sitting and watching the screens, and they have a lot more time to think about what can go wrong and all of that. But, yeah, a shame for Oscar. We really wanted to have a one-two today and let McLaren be on top today as a team in a race, but also for a championship, you know, and I felt quite bad for him in the beginning. It wasn’t his fault. But he’s had a great year, so we’ll all celebrate together. I certainly am. And we’ll have some fun.
Q: Lando, thanks for that. Very well done today. Carlos, let’s come to you now. Many congratulations on a brilliant final race of 2024 for you. What does it mean to finish your time at Ferrari on the podium?
CS: Yeah, obviously a bit of mixed feelings, I’m not going to lie. I think we all came into this race trying to win the Constructors’ Championship and ultimately we did manage to do it. McLaren have put together a very strong weekend. Lando hasn’t put a foot wrong all race and all weekend. And in the end, congratulations to them because they deserve it. On my side, I tried to do everything I could to keep within reach of McLaren. Before the race we knew that McLaren might have one or two tenths of pace on us and that was enough, you know, to pull a bit of a gap before the pit stops or during the race to have a bit of a buffer and not to feel too much pressure. I think I had a very strong first stint, managed to keep them within reach and within pressure margins, especially when I was told Charles was coming in a good comeback. Oscar had obviously that incident in lap one, I thought, we might have a bit of a chance, but then little by little it started to fade. When we put on the Hard tyres, like we’ve seen in many cases this year, the McLaren upped the pace a bit, turn up the pace a bit, and they started pulling away two, three tenths per lap, and that was enough for them to have that safety margin and bring it home. And from our side, I think we did everything we could. Both Charles and I have given absolutely everything this weekend. It hasn’t been an easy weekend for me, obviously, knowing it was the last one. But I did the best I could to stay focused and to do the maximum that the car could do today, I think.
Q: You say it hasn’t been an easy weekend. How did it feel to step out of the SF24 for the final time?
CS: Strange. A bit emotional, I’m not going to lie. Probably, I would say it was more emotional the last time that I jumped in the car, in the grid. I knew that was obviously going to be my last race with a group of people that I’ve enjoyed these last four years. The last time that I would jump in a Ferrari car, probably, and I was just feeling emotional. I tried to remind myself to try and enjoy the race as much as possible and to give the absolute maximum for this team. Jumping out of the car, I already had the bittersweet feeling of… Lando just did the snake. A worm? a snake? I don’t know what you were there. Where were we? That distracted me. I honestly lost, where were we?
Q: You summed it up very well. Can we just turn the page to tomorrow? You’re gonna be driving the Williams. Is it hard to move on so quickly to the next chapter?
CS: Being very honest with you, I don’t think so. I think, I’m not going to lie, my last laps, as much as I was pushing like hell for this team and trying to, I was already starting to feel things in the car and trying to say, remember how this feels. because tomorrow and Tuesday I need to remember why is this car quick in this corner and why does it feel good? Because I know probably what I’m going to find tomorrow and Tuesday needs some margin of improvement in the corners that I was feeling the car. So this just sums up that I’m already looking also ahead. I’m extremely motivated for the challenge that I have ahead of me. Today is a day to try and enjoy as much as possible with the team as my last day in red. We still have some days in Maranello coming up, but obviously my competitive mind is already looking forward to Monday and Tuesday and to see how I can make that Williams car faster.
Q: Carlos, thank you for that. Charles, let’s come to you now. P19 to P3, phenomenal evening’s work by you. Just how satisfied are you?
CL: No, not really. I mean, again, I’m, of course, really happy about the race. But the disappointment is a lot bigger. You don’t win or lose a chairmanship in the last race. But obviously, it’s over the course of the season and after every single race. And McLaren has just done a better job than us. And congratulations to them. But it obviously hurts when you get to the last race. You know there’s an opportunity. It was a very difficult weekend, obviously, already with the penalty on Friday. It was never going to be easy. But after such a good first lap, the hopes were high. And yeah, we just came short of our dream, which was to win the Constructors’. So it hurts.
