DRIVERS
1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
3 – Kimi ANTONELLI (Mercedes)
 
TRACK INTERVIEWS 
(Conducted by Jenson Button) 
 
Q: Kimi, can we have a word with you first, please? Kimi, it seemed like quite a quiet race for you until it wasn't, and then there was action everywhere. How was the race for you, getting a podium? I think we're all quite surprised, but you pulled it out of the bag, as you always do.
Kimi ANTONELLI: Yeah, I mean, it was a very tough race out there, but really happy with the podium at the end. I managed to take advantage of the fight of Lando and Lewis and to make the move on both, and to bring home P3 is a great result for the team. And yeah, very happy with that.
 
Q: I'm sure it's nice to stand on the podium, and I have to let you know this bit of information, but the next race in Austin, you could clinch the World Championship. How does that feel?
KA: Can I really? Well, let's not worry about that. Let's try to do the best weekend as possible and finish the job.
 
Q: Charles, it looked like you were going to give Max a run for his money at the start of the race there. Great start, the pace in the first stint looked pretty awesome as well, and then it sort of fell away a little bit.
Charles LECLERC: Yeah, we were quite strong at the beginning of the race, then we started degrading a little bit more in the first stint. But then we did a slightly different strategy to Max with the Safety Car. I believed in it until the very end, but I pushed a lot at the beginning of that last stint and then degraded a bit more than the others. But yeah, I gave it all and I don't regret anything. I don't think there was much more to do today, apart from maybe being a bit more aggressive at the start. That's the way it is.
 
Q: You've spoken over the last couple of races that you guys have lost a little bit of pace to the front. Do you still feel like that after this race? Obviously, Max won the race, but you seem a lot closer and you're in front of Mercedes and McLaren.
CL: Yeah, I still feel that way. However, it's true that we brought some small new parts to the car, which maybe helped us to do another step forward, but it's not enough. We'll push until the end and we've still got to bring some new things to the car to be at the level. But I think today we had a good pace overall.
 
Q: Nice work. Max, a masterclass. Your first ever… I can't believe I'm saying this, your first ever Singapore Grand Prix victory.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it's taken a while, but I think this race was very good. I mean, yeah, we had pace when we needed to have it on the Soft tyre and on the Medium, even though I think the Medium tyre for everyone was a bit more of a struggle. But it worked out, so of course very happy to win here.
 
Q: Were you a little nervous before the start? It's not been the easiest for you, the starts over the last couple of...
MV: Yeah, well, you always try to do your best and luckily it was just good enough.
 
Q: Yeah, so the last couple of races we've seen you win on a fast-flowing track like Sepang and then a stop-start sort of track here in Singapore. You guys are on the up. It seems to be working for you guys wherever you go.
MV: I think the last few races have been really positive for us. It's just great to see and yeah, we have a lot of motivation in the team to try and deliver even more results. So yeah, it's a really good group of people. I really enjoy working with them and yeah, hopefully we can have a bit more fun till the end of the year.
 
PRESS CONFERENCE 
 
Q: Max, you've done it. Very well done. You've won in Singapore. It looked completely dominant. Just how smooth was it for you in the cockpit?
MV: Well, the start was critical, so that was just good enough. And again, something was not particularly right at the start, so I need to understand what went wrong there. Before releasing the clutch, it didn't feel good. But yeah, it was just good enough. Then we had a few laps with some deployment issues, so that's where Charles almost got me actually into Turn 7. And once we had cleared the deployment problems, yeah, it was fine. The car was really good on the tyres. I could really manage them well. But to be honest, I think it was one of the first times that I've driven in clean air here in Singapore in the race, so I guess that's also nice. And yeah, it's been just a fantastic weekend for us. I mean, we were flying on the Soft, we were okay on the Medium, and then of course with the VSC, I think it was right what Charles did with pitting and going back on a Soft tyre. But yeah, we just had it under control and of course, yeah, really happy to win here.
 
Q: Just a few more words on the start. You were a bit nervous about it yesterday. Was this a big step forward compared to recent starts?
MV: Well, like I said, there was something again not right, so I need to understand what went on with the engine before even dropping the clutch, because I think that did hurt my start. So, I just need to understand what went wrong there because it was again not fantastic, you can say that.
 
Q: What about the radio? I mean, that perhaps was your biggest issue of the whole race. Did you and GP have to speak in code? How did it work?
MV: Yeah, maybe he was happy that it was not working! I couldn't really say anything. Yeah, he did try at one point to ask me a few things in code, and I think he understood well what I meant or did not do, right. But it's never nice. I've been having difficulty with my radio already the whole season, and this weekend has been particularly bad.
 
Q: Yeah, so it's been the perfect weekend here in Singapore. It's actually been a very good triple-header for you in Asia, hasn't it? Just how much more can you achieve in the remaining races this year?
MV: Yeah, I mean, very different tracks that we have gone well at now. That's of course always nice to see. I really think, of course, that our car has taken a really nice step forward. But at the end of the day, yeah, it's just been more driveable and more predictable. That's what I wanted and needed from the car to find that last step to fight up front. And I hope that we can carry that momentum forward. We don't really have anything to win in the championship, right? I think Kimi is miles ahead. For me personally, I don't care if I'm second, third or fourth. Like, yeah, it doesn't do anything. But I just want to have fun till the end, you know, try to go for a day’s success.
 
Q: Yeah, Max, very well done. Thank you for that. Charles, let's come to you now. Great to see you back on the podium. Just how satisfying was this race for you?
CL: Well, I mean, happy but not super happy. I mean, second place is a good result, I think, considering the tendency that we've had lately where we were lacking just a little bit of pace. I feel like, at least particularly in qualifying yesterday, we had strong pace. Today in the race, Max had a bit more pace than we did, which was expected, but we were maybe a little bit closer than what we expected as well. So, it was a cool race. I believed in it until the very end, but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough.
 
Q: Your best chance to pass Max came at the start. Just talk us through those opening 200 metres. Did you think you had him at one point or not?
CL: I mean, you don't have much time to think in those moments. I just saw that Max had a bit of a difficult start. I had quite a good start, so I went alongside him. Then there wasn't much space anymore, but I would have done exactly the same. And yeah, then it's quite tricky. I mean, I was on the left, a little bit behind him, couldn't see the panels on the right, so you lose a little bit all your references because that's normally on the right that you have your references to brake. I tried to judge it in the best possible way, but Max managed to keep that first place. And then there were a few opportunities in the first three laps when Max had the deployment issue, but I always thought that it was a one-off, so I wasn't really using my battery, which maybe was a mistake. And when I was realising that he had no power at the end of the straight, I couldn't do anything. It was too late for me to use my power. But I don't know if it would have changed much. Maybe, of course, for the first stint it would have helped, but I think eventually they just had too much pace for us.
 
Q: Do you think anything would have been different if you'd been on a different tyre to Max at the start?
CL: No, I don't think it would have helped. If anything, it probably would have been worse because the Medium just didn't feel like a great tyre. So, I probably would have lost any flexibility to put Max under a bit more pressure around the pit stop time, even though he was still far. I think with the Medium he would have been further away.
 
Q: Charles, let's throw it forward. This is your first podium since before the summer break. Is the car now back in a window where you think you can challenge for the podium at every race?
CL: It's too early to say, but it's true that we've brought some small parts here and there on the car, which maybe helped us to do a step forward. But yes, we cannot forget as well the tendency of the last three races before this one. And the tendency I'm speaking about is that we are losing a little bit of pace compared to Red Bull, compared to Mercedes and also compared to McLaren. But McLaren have been struggling a little bit more maybe in Sepang and here. But yeah, at the end of the day, it's all about who brings the upgrades as early as possible. And hopefully we'll be the ones to do a bigger step than the others at the next upgrades we bring.
 
Q: Charles, thank you for that. Well done to you. And Kimi, great race by you as well. You took your chances today. Just how much did you enjoy it out there?
KA: Yeah, I mean, the heat was not very enjoyable. Running behind other cars was quite hot. But I think it was a good way to end the weekend, a very good way to end the weekend. I feel like it was a very progressive weekend, where we started off the pace and I've definitely been struggling with the new package. But the team did incredibly well on putting the car in a better window. And now we understand a lot more the aero package, how it works, which is very different compared to the old one. And it's about trying to find the right window for the car. But all in all, I feel like we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and we're going to keep pushing on this package because also on my side, I want to help the team as much as possible in trying to understand it, also to understand which way to take for the future car as well.
 
Q: Well, on the topic of the new package, are you now convinced it's faster than the old one?
KA: I think on this track, not yet. On this track, where you have a lot of slow speed, still not quite there in terms of performance. It's just because with the old package, you know exactly where to put the car, which window, and the car works very nicely. With this new package, we see the potential, the performance that it can bring, and I do feel it in certain corners. But the window is just too small of where the car operates at this moment. So also in driving, it's very sensitive to any differences that you do in the way you approach a corner or how you attack braking. So, I feel like, yes, the package is going to be faster and it's going to be, yeah, I think it can be a good step forward once we understand how to use the full potential.
 
Q: Okay, were there any dramas for you in this race? I mean, at one point you came on the radio and said, "I have no brakes." That sounded serious. What happened? How did you resolve that?
KA: Well, just trying to lift and coast before every braking and to arrive a bit slower and put less pressure on the pedal. Because especially on the restart of the VSC, when I went to brake, nothing happened. I had really poor stopping, brake power and I almost went into the wall. So, it was just very tricky out there, and also the pedal was very long. But it was also kind of expected. You know, I've run three-quarters of the race behind a car in dirty air and obviously being so hot. Plus, we also had the sensor issue on the brakes, so we didn't even have the data about the brakes. We didn't know exactly what temperature they were running, so it was all about feeling. But they were hot because I could even smell it, so it was not very pleasant.
 
Q: Kimi, final one from me. The world title is now within touching distance. You can clinch it next time out in Austin. How much are you going to think about that? Will you dare to dream about it on the long flight home?
KA: For sure, but at the same time, I know it's very close, I know it's there, but I just need to make sure that I keep doing the best I can. You know, the mindset is always the same, to go out there and win and perform the best way I can. I think this weekend I haven't particularly driven that well. I felt like I could have done a better job, but I feel confident that, you know, a week to reset and I'm really looking forward to being back in Austin. But at the end of the day, if I don't do my job well, then the result won't come. So in order to achieve what I want, I need to perform, as simple as that.
 
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
 
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) It's a question to Max. It's now two years in a row that Red Bull turned around quite a difficult start of the season. But how different have those two turnarounds been? Because last year it looked a lot about set-up and finding the potential, and this looks more related to just, physically, parts on the car.
MV: Yes, exactly. And you answered it already yourself. Yeah, two completely different cars as well, right, with the regulations. Also, two completely different problems that we had to find lap time. Plus, of course, also this year with the engine side of things, I think for everyone it's been sometimes a bit complicated to get the most out of it. But from race one to now, I think we've gained a lot of experience. Of course, still not where we want to be, but I guess everyone will say the same thing. But we have learned so much and definitely also on the car side have fixed a lot of our weaknesses. And yeah, we just need to keep improving, keep learning this year that we can apply also into next year.
 
Q: (Michael Butterworth – Xinhua News Agency) Max, you said you wanted to have some fun between now and the end of the season. Do you think your car is now in the place where you can fight for victory on every track that we have coming up from now to the end of the year?
MV: I mean, it's very difficult to say and I don't want to say now that I will be in the fight in Austin. But yeah, the last few weekends have been great. But I just take it race by race and once we are in Austin, then we'll see how it will go there. But it's again a very different track. From what I saw in WEC, the track is incredibly bumpy. Oh my God, yeah, I’ll probably need to order a new spine, I think, after the weekend. Yeah, I'll become like RoboCop. Yeah, crazy. That's again a new challenge for everyone, to deal with those bumps. And then we just go from there. We have to go to Mexico, again high altitude, everything will run super hot, and we need to see how the engine is going to perform in that altitude, how the car is behaving, because it's very different. So there are so many different things that you can get right or wrong in those races, but we'll see.
 
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Max, you talked through Turn 1 and saying that you managed to just about hold on. Could you actually precisely break down what you did at that corner to just keep it around the outside? And was there ever a moment you thought, "Ah, this position's gone," and just leave it be?
MV: No, I was only here to win, so I had to do everything I could to try and make sure that it was very difficult for Charles to go deep into the corner. So I guess that was the only way to try and stop him from getting the lead. Luckily, I mean, he's a very experienced driver and we kept it clean. It was actually really nice, I think. But yeah, it's always very hard to judge what is the right braking point, but I think it just worked out.
 
Q: (Minh Son Khuat – Viettel) Hello, Max. First of all, congratulations on winning both the Sprint and the Grand Prix this weekend. So when you crossed the finish line today, what was the very first thought that went through your mind? Because this is the track that you haven't conquered for a long time.
MV: Yeah, it was a bit of a relief, of course, to win here. I think when you win for the first time on a track, it's always very special and nice. So yeah, I was very happy just with the whole weekend. And at the same time, I was probably also very happy that it was over. The race was long enough and I was sweating a lot.
 
Q: (Laurine Slingerland – Nu.nl) A question for Max. Congrats on the win, first. How was it for you to have GP on the podium, especially after a day that he maybe had to talk more than ever because of the issues?
MV: Yeah, didn't expect that. Yeah, I remember he said to me last year in Vegas, "This might be the last time I'm on the podium." I said, "Don't be silly, we're going to win much more." But I almost jinxed myself there, I guess. And yeah, it was just super nice that they sent him up. Of course, we all know that he is leaving, but I think it was very special to share the podium here on a track that we had not won together. So very nice to see him up there.
 
Q: (Luu Trung Kien Tran – Viettel) I have a question for Charles. At the time you were chasing your team-mate Lewis Hamilton, were you confident that you could overtake Lewis, knowing the team may not issue team orders?
CL: Well, I mean, we were on very different strategies and I arrived with a much fresher tyre. So I mean, yeah, I think at that point it made very much sense to not lose time between us because I was still in the chase of Max and trying to win the race. Even though it was a long shot, we had to put all our chances on our side. So I wasn't particularly overthinking it. I had a very strong tyre advantage and Lewis didn't make my life difficult because it was very clear that as a team, we couldn't lose too much time.
 
Q: (Karen Vera – Tatler Asia) Hello, Max. You mentioned earlier about just having fun throughout the rest of the season. When did this realisation come to you? Was it very recent or did you have this always in mind?
MV: I mean, I think the car definitely felt a lot nicer from Baku onwards. It's just been a lot more balanced. And then naturally, of course, when you can compete a bit further up front without having too many issues with the car compared to the beginning of the year, where it was actually sometimes a bit scary to drive, yeah, that makes it a lot nicer. And yeah, the way that we turned that around and actually the big progress that we have made this year, yeah, that makes it of course a lot nicer. And when you can add a few wins as well, it's just nice. And we're not in a championship fight, and that's why I think till the end, yeah, we just try to have a good time and try to add more podiums and hopefully a few wins.
 
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) It's a question to Kimi for a change. George said in the media pen that he thinks after the Baku upgrade, Red Bull is now the team to beat in Formula One. Do you agree with that or do you think that it's also partly related to your upgrade package and still not unlocking the full potential of it?
KA: I think, yes, probably mostly us not extracting the maximum out of the new package. I mean, of course Red Bull has done an incredible step forward, but as well, Max has probably been more comfortable with the car and just extracting more out of it. So, it's a combination of things. But for sure they've done a good step forward. And on our side, it's just, as I said, we're just trying to understand how to extract more potential out of it because we do see the gains, we do see what it could bring. It's just that the window is very small at the moment where the car operates and is very sensitive to the way you drive it, the way you take a corner, the way you brake. So it reacts very differently. So hopefully now in Austin, we have three free practices, so we can be very open-minded with set-up and hopefully we can find a way and we can use the full potential of the package and finally see the gains. But I think the team did an incredible job this weekend on just putting the car in a better place and allowing me to get the confidence. And now it's a starting point to keep working and keep extracting the potential.
 
ENDS