FIA post-qualifying press conference – 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix

DRIVERS

1 – Carlos SAINZ (Ferrari), 2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), 3 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)

TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by James Hinchcliffe)

Q: We’re joined here by Lando Norris who is going to line up third on the grid tomorrow. Lando, first talk us through your run a little bit. You’ve had an incredible amount of pace so far through the weekend but did you leave a little bit on the table? Did you get everything you needed out of it in Q3?

Lando NORRIS: It’s always tough to say but I’m pretty happy with third, honestly. I feel like I got to the limit of the car quite quickly, which made us look good, but I struggled to get a little more out of it in the final two laps. So, Carlos and Max did good laps. They’ve been, specially Carlos, they’ve been very quick all weekend. Yeah, I’m happy with third.

Q: With the race pace that you guys have shown lately, and especially the fact that historically starting third here isn’t a terrible thing. Does that give you a lot of confidence for tomorrow?

LN: It’s tough to say. None of us have done proper long runs on the tyres that we’re going to be on tomorrow. So, there are question marks for all of us. But Ferrari have been very good in quali and long-run pace over the last couple of races. So it’s going to be tough. But we’re in a good position. So looking forward to it.

Q: Car’s been good over one lap and good on a race run, starting third tomorrow, Landon Norris.

LN: Thank you.

Q: Another front row start for Max Verstappen. He’s won the last three Grand Prix here in Mexico City. You’re going to do it from outside of the front row tomorrow. But let’s talk about Q3, that first run getting deleted. How much pressure does that put on you to get that second one absolutely perfect with no mistakes?

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, quite a lot. I mean, yesterday I barely did any laps, so… Yeah, we were playing a lot of catch-up. FP3 was not very good. So I was already, I think, under a lot of pressure to have a good qualifying, and then, of course, my lap time got taken away, so it added a little bit more pressure. But, yeah, very happy to be on the front row. I honestly didn’t expect that to be possible.

Q: Max, qualifying in Formula 1 right now is so tricky at any track. But when you come to a place where the downforce levels are so low, the track surface grip is so low, you’re seemingly being robbed of grip anywhere you can be. How difficult is it for drivers to just really extract the maximum in qualifying?

MV: It’s probably one of the hardest tracks to get right. I mean, street circuits are difficult, and this one as well, because as you said, low downforce, it’s very easy to have a lock-up or a slide, and the tyres overheat immediately, so it’s one of the tricky ones on the calendar.

Q: Alright, well, P2, try to go for four-in-a-row tomorrow. Congratulations. Carlos Sainz, sixth career pole position here in Mexico City for Ferrari. What a run you guys have been on. But first, just talk us through that lap?

Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, very happy and a great couple of laps. You know, a lot of times around Mexico, you always have the feeling like you cannot put a lap together and it’s extremely difficult with how much sliding there is. But today, honestly, my two laps of Q3 were pretty much identical, almost perfect. And yeah, I just put two really solid laps in Q3, enough for pole. And yeah, very happy because that’s not normally the case around Mexico with how tricky it is.

Q: it really seems like the last couple weeks you’ve just been so comfortable in your Ferrari from the very first lap of first practice. Is that how it feels from inside the car, because the performances have been incredible?

CS: Yes, definitely since Austin we’ve done, it seems like, especially on my side, a step up also in qualifying, trying to find something extra with the out lap and the tyre preparation. And yeah, it seems like we are going in the right direction. Obviously, looking forward to finish the job tomorrow, but at least the pole position of today, I’ll take it, because it shows progress and some really solid laps.

Q: Now, how important is tomorrow for you guys as a team? Ferrari, the only one in the Constructors’ battle with both cars starting inside the top ten. How important is collecting a massive haul of points tomorrow?

CS: For sure, it’s our number one priority. First of all, to bring both cars home, but especially if you win the race, those extra seven, eight points that you get when you win are important for the team in the Constructors. So, yeah, I’ll be just looking forward to keep that P1 into Turn 1, and from there, hopefully our race pace should be good enough to win it.

Q: Well, Carlos, every time you’ve come to Mexico, you’ve qualified better than the year before. Last year, you were second. You kept the script going by being pole for the race tomorrow. Congratulations.

CS: Thank you very much. Good stat!

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Carlos, brilliant job. You said in Austin that you expected Ferrari to be strong here and you’ve delivered. What a Q3 session. Just how sweet is this moment for you?

CS: Yeah, very sweet because, you know, it’s not normal to have such two strong laps around Mexico and there’s a lot of sliding in the lap, very difficult to put a lap together, and actually my two laps of Q3 were almost both perfect. Yeah, very happy to be on pole and to confirm the good form from Austin. Austin already that last lap of Q3 was coming good. So I had high hopes coming into Mexico and yeah, we’ve managed to keep it up.

Q: You spoke about tyre preparation a moment ago. Can I ask you about hugging the pit wall at the end of the lap? That seems to be an unusual line compared to your peers.

CS: No, it’s just a Lando thing that he normally likes to do. I think it’s from iRacing or something. He likes doing short distance to the line. And I said, well, I lose nothing by, maybe if it’s faster, maybe cutting a bit the distance. Maybe it gives me a thousand or two thousandths of a second that I’m going to make sure this time I don’t leave them out there. And yeah, I remember from our McLaren days he used to do it a lot and I was a bit puzzled. But yeah, tyre preparation has been a hot topic in Ferrari the last few races because we feel like in the race we’re always very strong, but we seem to lack something come qualifying. Yeah, this year’s car is very good on tyres, but I think that sometimes it means that in quali you cannot maybe extract the maximum out of the tyres in the first timed lap on the Soft tyres. And yeah, I put a bit of focus on that during the break, the three-week break. came into Austin and Mexico with a couple of things that seemed to pay off.

Q: Well, you’ve certainly nailed the one-lap pace. Just how confident are you ahead of the Grand Prix tomorrow?

CS: Yeah, relatively confident because I know my race pace should be good tomorrow. Probably the biggest difficult thing will be the run down into Turn 1 and starting on pole with a slipstream, no? But I think you can still defend, you can still make it stick into Turn 1 starting on pole and that will be my target tomorrow.

Q: It is the longest run of the season to Turn 1. How different is your approach at the start here compared to other races from pole?

CS: Not much, really. I just need to make sure I do a good 0-100, which is the most important thing when you start on pole, just make sure you do a good jump. And from there obviously do the best I can to defend. I have two guys behind fighting for quite important things tomorrow and the run down into Turn 1 should be interesting. I have obviously less to lose in that sense and I’ll make sure that I try and keep P1.

Q: Alright, very well done today. Good luck with that. Max, if we can come to you now. You had to deliver on the second lap of Q3, and you did. Just how pleased are you with what you’ve achieved today?

MV: Yeah, I mean, yesterday I did, like, four laps, two laps on lower fuel and two laps on high fuel. So it was basically just a complete write-off, no information. So, yeah, for me, FP3 was very crucial. Tried to do as many laps as I could and, yeah, we were behind. I mean, the car was not feeling great and everything was just very difficult. So I knew that it was going to be a tough qualifying, but we made some final adjustments. It all started to feel better, but to be on the front row, it’s an incredible result for us.

Q: As you say, you haven’t been happy with the car in practice. Have you made a breakthrough with it ahead of Qualifying?

MV: I barely did any laps, so I think it could only go better, really. So, yeah, we were massively on the back foot. So far, of course, it’s been quite a terrible weekend in that sense. But, yeah, to be on the front row with the difficulties that we had, I think, showed that we stayed calm and just tried to look into the data, you know, to try and understand the car a bit more and try to just be a little bit more competitive.