Track Interviews – Conducted by Jenson Button
Oscar, You came to Monaco obviously for the win. You go away with the podium. You must be pretty happy with that.Oscar Piastri: Yeah. Obviously, the win would have been better, but it’s been a bit of a tricky weekend. Practice was messy all the way through, and I felt like I got into qualifying with not a lot of confidence with how the weekend was going. I got close, but not quite close enough. And, you know, around here, where you qualify is pretty much where you’re going to finish. So, pretty happy with that overall. Obviously, some things to look out for when we come back next year, but some more points on the board, another trip to the podium in Monaco, so not all bad.
In practice, you obviously put it into the wall at Sainte Devote, front end in. So, to come back with a podium, such a good team effort. And for this to be a bad weekend for you and still be on the podium, I think you’ve got a lot to be happy with.OP: Yeah, exactly. The margins are so fine and, like you said, if this is a bad weekend, then it’s not going too badly at all. So, yeah, some things to work on. We’ll go again next week and try and come back stronger. But well done to Lando. He’s had a great weekend. Well done to Charles as well. He’s been quick as usual. So, yeah, happy, and see you on the podium.
Congrats, and still our championship leader.OP: Thank you. Cheers.
Charles, your home Grand Prix. We stood here one year ago celebrating your win. Today, not quite the win, but considering how you felt the car was leading up to this race, reasonably happy?Charles Leclerc: Not really. But at the end of the day, we lost the race yesterday and we should have done a better job. Lando did a better job this weekend and he deserves the win. On my side, yeah, I realised a childhood dream last year. Not this year, but considering everything, I think it’s a lot above our expectations coming here. I thought that being in the top 10 would be a challenge. At the end, we are second, very close to P1. So, it’s been a good weekend overall. But, yeah, I wish I won.
With all the traffic out there today with the two-stop strategies, it must have put you on edge a little bit more than normal. And then the last few laps, you were able to really put Lando under that big pressure. It was great for us watching. How was it from inside the car?CL: Oh, it was good as well from inside the car because before that, it was a little bit boring. I had to leave a gap to Lando because otherwise I would overheat everything, so I couldn’t be so close. Then when I saw Max was playing the long game, I guess he was waiting for a red flag. That helped me a little bit to put a bit more pressure on Lando, but it wasn’t enough.
Lastly, have you got a message for your supporters, the Monegasque crowd?CL: Yeah. As I always say, as a Ferrari driver, we are very lucky. We get support everywhere. But being born here and seeing all the Monegasques behind me is something very special. We are not many Monegasques, but it warms my heart very much to be at home and to have so much support. So, yeah, I wish I had given them the first place, but hopefully next year.
Lando Norris, you just won the Monaco Grand Prix! How good does that feel?Lando Norris: It feels amazing. It’s a long race. It’s a long, rolling race. But good fun. You know, we could push for quite a lot of the race. The last quarter was a little bit nervous, with Charles close behind and Max ahead, but we won in Monaco. So, it doesn’t matter how you win, I guess. But an amazing weekend with pole, with today – this is what I dream of. This is what I did dream of when I was a kid. So, I achieved one of my dreams. I think it was you – I saw you in front of my car before the start, and I was like, “if JB is here now, then I’ll always take that. It’s my good luck charm”.
And you also said, “Monaco baby,” which I thought I owned, but obviously not!LN: Oh is it yours? I apologise!
But, you know, most people say that you win Monaco on the Saturday in qualifying. Such an exceptional job, but you’ve still got to get it done on the Sunday. Lovely start. And then the pressure you’re put under and all of those cars you had to overtake during the race, it must have been quite tense. LN: It is. I mean, the worst bit, really, was just the end. I felt quite under control the whole race. But Max was ahead, and Max was kind of backing it up a little bit. And I knew then that’s when Charles had the opportunity. So, I had to manage it quite a lot. I tried to back off of Max, so I could push when I needed to and chill when I needed to. I still had to manage. It was still a well-fought race. But I’m very happy. My team are very happy. And therefore, we’re going to have a wonderful night.
Press Conference
Lando, very well done. You’ve won the Monaco Grand Prix. Just how sweet was the view from the top of this very unique podium?LN: Well, all I saw was camera lenses. So, I can dream of better, but it was… I mean, it’s the feelings. Of course, the view of the team and seeing everyone, my mum and dad down below… Yeah, it’s the feelings inside, which are really the special ones. Seeing the chequered flag and, yeah, winning in Monaco is something I dreamed of when I was a kid. There are many things that I think everyone dreams of – it’s getting to Formula 1, winning a race in Formula 1, and winning a race in Monaco. And we achieved it today. So yeah, proud of the whole team, of myself, and big accomplishment for all of us. The team haven’t won since, what, 2008 or something. So not just a good one for me, but a good one for McLaren too.
From the outside, it looks like it’s been the dream weekend for you, winning the race from pole position. Were there any dramas in the race for you?LN: No dramas. I think there were definitely some more tense moments in the race when I needed to push, and Charles was never that far behind. Especially at the end with Max ahead, there were some tense moments trying not to get too close to Max, otherwise that’s when Charles had opportunities. But I think we managed it well with the strategy. It’s always hard to know what we could have done better. I’m sure we can review things and look back on it. But in the end, the result was the perfect one. Tricky at times, with the amount of cars, there were big bunches of cars, so getting through them without making mistakes, without any silly things happening was always the most nerve-wracking bit. Otherwise, I felt good. I felt good with the tyres, with the management of tyres and stints and all of those things. So, yeah, I was happy.
And Lando, how much confidence does a weekend like this give you going forward?LN: I think yesterday gave me confidence. Today… Yeah, nothing new in the sense of I’ve had confidence in every Sunday we’ve had this year. I’ve not needed the confidence on Sundays, but yesterday was a bigger day for me. I was more proud of yesterday than I almost was of today. Not just because a pole in Monaco sets up a win, but the accomplishment of doing it, no matter what the track would have been, was something I’m more proud about. So yeah, a good weekend for me, not just in terms of result but personally, to kind of give myself that momentum, that boost, definitely makes me feel better going into Barcelona next week.
And Lando, can we get your thoughts on the mandatory two stops?LN: Hated it.
Why?LN: Because it made it a lot more scary for me. I wish it was a one-stop, it would have been a lot more chilled. It’s not for me. The rules are not made for me. They’re not made for us to enjoy it more or whatever. They’re made for the fans. They’re made to provide more entertainment for the viewers. I don’t know if that was the case. So maybe it’s a question I should ask you. Was the two-stop better than the one-stop?
Well, can I throw it back to you? LN: Oh, we’re playing Uno!
Would you like to see it again next year or do you think they need to change it?LN: Depends where I start.
Charles, great race, great weekend by you and Ferrari. Given the season you’ve had so far, just how much pleasure does this P2 give you?CL: I don’t know. I’m never really happy with second place. Then if you do a step back and you look at our season, I think this is a very positive result for the whole team. Especially coming here, we had very low expectations, just because our low-speed performance has been very bad all season. However, I think here, it’s a very specific track because there are a lot of bumps, a lot of kerb riding, and I think our car is pretty good on that. That helped us to close the gap. So, yeah, I think we did a really good job, and 18 points plus the 10 of Lewis are very valuable points for the situation we are in. On that, I think we should be proud. Am I over the moon for a second place? Not really, but it’s been a very positive weekend anyway.
