Daniel Ricciardo signed this Sunday on the Monza circuit, on the occasion of the Italian Grand Prix, his eighth success in Formula 1. Find the reactions of the Australian driver of the McLaren team and other major players in the race.
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS / McLaren) – Winner
“It’s been a long time since I won. It worked out well for me yesterday (Saturday) and I got off to a good start. However, there are never any guarantees behind it. You really had to hold on to the first stint. We didn’t have great speed but it was enough to keep Max Verstappen behind. Then there was the safety car and stuff here and there. Clearly, I wasn’t expecting this from start to finish. But, deep inside, I knew on Friday that something good was going to happen this weekend. I was a little behind since the start of the year. I had places a little further away. Of course, the summer break in August did me good. I felt better than on the last weekends. This double is incredible. For McLaren, everyone in the team, it’s just great. For once, I no longer have the words. I would like to thank the Italian public. Thank you so much. “
Lando Norris (GBR / McLaren) – 2eme
“First of all, a big thank you to everyone, the fans, all the teams. We had an incredible weekend. Four years ago, when I joined the team, everyone was working for it. And that’s it, we have our double. This is a great step forward for all of us. I’m happy for the whole team even if Daniel Ricciardo finishes ahead of me. It could have ended the other way but I’m just happy to finish second. I’m really happy for Daniel. I will have my chance in the future. Fortunately, I saw the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in my rearview mirror. I was sure something was going to happen when Max was behind me and Lewis arrived. It made my life a little easier. “
Valtteri Bottas (FIN / Mercedes) – 3rd
“By starting last, it was sure that it was not easy. I told the team that I will be on the podium today (Sunday) and I did. I am happy that we are bringing in more points than Red Bull Racing and I think we have maximized our possibilities. We lost points because of Max Verstappen’s collision with Lewis Hamilton, but I did my job. I saw nothing of this accident. I do not know who is at fault but it is unfortunate. It’s good to have a short week’s break before coming back to competition. “
Charles Leclerc (MCO/Ferrari) – 4eme
“On the one hand, I’m happy because quite honestly, if I look at my performance, I put it in the Top 5 of my best races in Formula 1. It was a great race. All the tricks I did I was on the limit. Whenever there was an opportunity, I tried to take it, especially when Valtteri Bottas passed me, I tried to take my place right away. It was hot but we are too vulnerable on the straights. Our race was a bit complicated after the second pass of the safety car. When you see the McLarens doing the double, it’s frustrating, especially as I’m close to the podium. It’s like that. Today (Sunday), we maximized the team’s result so that’s good. I’m really happy for Daniel Ricciardo. When we see his start to the season and how he struggled compared to Lando Norris, it’s nice to see. “
Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine) – 10eme
“Congratulations to Daniel Ricciardo, all the credit goes to him. After a difficult start to the season, it’s nice to see him at the top. For us, it was a pretty frustrating race because the result does not represent the work we did during the race and which was very good all weekend. After the start, I had to give my place back to Nicholas Latifi so I got stuck behind him, then I managed to overtake him at the restart. And then I take five seconds of penalty for this collision with Sebastian Vettel. I really do not agree with the commissioners. The same thing happened to Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in 2019. As you can see, the track is tightening, we touch each other a little but there is no damage to the two cars. This penalty costs us seventh or even sixth place. It’s disappointing, but we managed to save the weekend furniture. We were able to squeeze all the performance out of the car. “
Pierre Gasly (FRA / AlphaTauri) – Abandon
“We had a brilliant start to the weekend, with another strong qualifying performance, but after yesterday’s sprint qualifying (Saturday) everything was very disappointing. We knew there was a problem in the first few laps, but we couldn’t fix it before the race. We don’t know the exact problem yet, but unfortunately we had to give up. It’s our home race so it’s hard to lose both cars here today (Sunday). We know the performance of the car is there so we just have to work hard and get ready for the next race. “
Sources: Canal +, official F1 interviews, Scuderia AlphaTauri official website
