DRIVERS

1 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)

2 – Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren)

3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Ferrari)

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Romain Grosjean)

Q: Lewis, I knew you were an incredible driver, but you're also an amazing weatherman. I remember some years in Silverstone you'd changed the tyres at the right time, and today you do it again. So, and then they move on. Max, fantastic. How was it?

LEWIS HAMILTON: How you doing, Miami? The crowd's been so great today. Oh man, I'm so happy with that. You know, it's been a tough year so far, but to have… You know, I never thought it was going to rain in Miami. It was the first time they've all been on track in the wet here. And what a race it provided us. So, big thank you everybody.

Q: And that must be making you feel good for qualifying in a couple of hours. Now you’ve got the car underneath and you understand how to go fast.

LH: I really, really did struggle on the Inters. I think everyone was struggling on them and I just—I made that call at the end. I was like, I'm coming in because I was not—I wasn't going nowhere. So take the risk, take the gamble, and it paid off. Wish we had another couple of laps to give these guys a bit of a fight, but, you know—but congrats to McLaren as always.

Q: Oscar, I thought you had the job done at the start. You did a fantastic start, got it under control, track dried, you come in, first of the McLarens, and Pete and you were going to score some good points, get the win today. You still got very good points. But then I guess a bit unlucky was the time of the Safety Car.

OSCAR PIASTRI: Yeah, definitely. I feel like I did pretty much everything right there. So yeah, obviously a bit disappointed to come away with second, but that's how it goes sometimes. Unfortunately, racing's a pretty cruel business. So yeah, hopefully that means I got a bit of luck for this afternoon and tomorrow. But no, another great start and had to get my elbows out on that one, so happy with what I did.

Q: And you feel good for this afternoon, car feels good, the car is fast. So should be another shot at tomorrow to get another win?

OP: Yeah, definitely. I think we had a little bit of pace on the table in Sprint qualifying yesterday and hopefully we can use that for quali this afternoon. Would be nice if the weather could make up its mind, but, you know, been enjoying it. And yeah, I think we've got a quick car underneath, so we'll try and make it even quicker and have a bit of an easier race tomorrow.

Q: Lando, you have to tell me how you do it with Safety Car here. You seem to have… You know, it's not Vegas, but you have the good mood in Miami. It's a good city for you. Congrats. A good race. You were having fantastic pace towards the end of the Inters. And then I guess you thought you were not going to be the one that had the best strategy, but it turned out to be the one.

LANDO NORRIS: Yeah, I mean, my luck in Miami seems pretty good at the minute, so I'm happy. But you know, the pace was still very good. It's always just difficult, these races. You never know when to box. You box early—you know, it paid off for Lewis and he had a good strategy—or do you stay out later and maybe get the Safety Car, you know? So it’s worked two years in a row. I probably would prefer if this happened tomorrow rather than today, but I’ll take it. I’m happy. Good job by the team, so yeah, it was good fun.

Q: Yeah, fantastic job by you, by the team. I guess you feel super confident going into qualifying, having another shot at getting pole and hopefully tomorrow another win in Miami?

LN: That’s the plan. Yeah, that’s the plan. But it’s tricky. You know, there’s a lot of quick guys out there and I felt good yesterday, to be honest. A couple little mistakes, but I’m ready to go again. So excited.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lando, very well done to you. Great race. Again, like last year, the Safety Car worked for you. In fact, it all worked very nicely for you today.

LN: It was a good race. I mean, everything went to plan, you know. Both had a good start and got into first and second, which was a nice thing. And then, yeah, it was those conditions that we've had several times this year already, where it's Inters, drying out. But I had good pace throughout. I managed things well. I had mainly good pace at the end of the stint. And obviously, then it dried out enough to go onto the slicks. I had to box a lap later. I probably wanted to box the lap Oscar did, but I was unable to do that. So just getting forced to stay out helped me get the win.

Q: Did you think about double stacking and coming in the same lap as Oscar?

LN: No, I was too close. I would have lost out to the others.

Q: And you just mentioned that you were very quick at the end of the Intermediate stint. Just talk us through that a little bit. You took a chunk of time out of Oscar.

LN: I don't know what I'm going to say. It was just the tyres were degrading a lot the last few laps. It was pretty much dry for the most part, apart from the chicane section. But I think I just kept my tyres in a maybe slightly better condition and still had good pace. Obviously, then I had to do one more lap where I could push in the clean air and it was a strong lap again. So, no, just good management, good pace throughout. The car was feeling very good, so I was happy.

Q: And let's throw it forward now. How happy have you been with the car so far this weekend? Many changes ahead of qualifying later?

LN: Probably not. I mean, I think I've been pretty happy with the car all weekend. We put it down in a good place. No, excited. I was happy yesterday with the P3. It was close between a lot of people. So yeah, satisfied with that. Obviously happy with today and confident for later today.

Q: Oscar, let's come to you now. Great job as well. Unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car. Just talk us through your decision to pit when you did.

OP: I waited for it to dry up and then put dry tyres on. It was pretty much as simple as that. I was tempted to go the lap before, but we were going to come out in a bunch of traffic and with one dry line, that’s not a very nice position to be in. So we went a lap later because, I mean, we were miles ahead of the cars behind, so we didn't really have to risk it. And yeah, it was clearly the right time for slicks. You know, just the timing of the Safety Car was not in our favour, but there’s not much we could have done.

Q: Did you think about going to the end of the race on the Intermediate tyre?

OP: No. Even the lap I pitted, I was more than ready to. Again, without the traffic the lap before, I was very comfortable to pit one lap earlier than we did. So to try and do another five, six laps on an Inter – you would have had slicks by the end, but not because you pitted, because your Inters were completely destroyed.

Q: And talk us through, if you could, just the run to Turn 1 at the start, alongside Kimi Antonelli.

OP: Yeah, I had a really good start. Obviously got alongside. I think we probably both braked a little bit later than we should have. And yeah, I mean, there was a bit of contact, but I pulled it up still pretty comfortably. And yep, I think with that move, it would have won me the Sprint if there was no Safety Car, so I think it was a good first lap.

Q: OK. And happy with the performance of the car? Are you going to make any changes between now and quali?

OP: I've been happy with it, yes. I think there was a bit left on the table yesterday in Sprint quali, so I'll try and tidy that up. But yeah, the car's been performing well. I think even in the wet conditions today, it seemed fast. So I don't think we'll reinvent the wheel, but of course we’ll try and find a little bit more time if we can.

Q: Alright, thank you Oscar. And Lewis, back in the top three with Ferrari, very well done. You were the first of the front runners to pit in that Sprint race. Just talk us through the decision to do that when you did?

LH: Well, I don't think I was a front runner, was I? I was like sixth or something! No, so happy. Really, really happy with the result to get up here, because it wasn’t looking very good through… Qualifying, obviously, we were quite a chunk off these guys and then getting onto the Inters I was just sliding around. You know, I had the Williams behind me, I think, and there was another one behind him who was most likely I was going to be overtaken by. So I was like, I got to roll the dice. I was full lock through Turn 12 and full lock through Turn 16 and it still wasn’t turning. So I was like, let's just go for it. If I’m honest, I should have done it maybe a lap or two before that. I think it would have been probably the same result because these guys were a bit too far ahead. But really happy to get back up there and get the points. You know, when we all went out for the formation lap, I don't know how it was... obviously Charles had that moment. I had exactly the same moment – I was right behind him – and somehow it just stopped going towards the wall, right at the last moment. So that was nearly both of us out. So, as I said, to come from that to then get these points, I'm really grateful.

Q: So points in the bag today. Just give us a word on how happy you are with the car. I mean in SQ1 yesterday you said you were very happy. What does the future look like in terms of qualifying this afternoon and the main Grand Prix tomorrow?

LH: It's really difficult to say, honestly. I think the fact is, so far we're not extracting everything. I don’t think we're extracting everything from the car, and that's what we need to work on – to extract the full potential of the car. I think we have good downforce. I don't think we're on the same pace as the McLarens, but I think we should be fighting a little bit closer, perhaps to the Bulls and McLaren (sic, Mercedes). So I think there’s a lot of elements that we need to elevate, and hopefully we’ll try and see if we can do that into qualifying today. Definitely lots learned already so far. And yeah, now it's just switching our mind to the next session.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Jon Noble – The Race) Lewis, it's not been an easy phase for you since probably the China Sprint win, and we know today's result was down more to strategy than pure pace. But are results like this important? Do they bring value to you and the team that there is a glimmer of hope, and lift in morale and belief?

LH: Yeah, every moment counts. And I think it’s definitely been not so great, obviously, since China, but looking at it, you can definitely see perhaps why we've been in the position that we're in. I think coming into this weekend, we've made some changes, but we have more to do in order to be fighting more consistently at the front. So we just need to knuckle down. I do believe that we can get some better results. So I'm hoping I can get the car in a better place today or this afternoon.

Q: (Sahil Kapur – NBC). Question for Lando. Congrats on the Sprint win. When Oscar pitted and you had to stay out that lap, did you think there was any chance you could get ahead of him before the Safety Car came out? Could you talk us through what was going through your mind during that lap?

LN: Yeah, I mean, well obviously it was the first lap I had some clean air, so that made things feel quite a bit better. I think my pace was still very strong at that phase. You know, I feel like I could push on. And a little part of me wanted to keep going and kind of stay on the tyre. And it was only four laps to go, but the slick was a lot better. Like we saw, Lewis already gained a lot of time on the other guys – maybe their first laps were not amazing – but I think Oscar was still probably a second or two seconds quicker. So I'm sure he still would have come out ahead, and I would have come out on the colder tyres. So no, I probably wasn’t so looking ahead to where Oscar was at that point. It was more looking behind to the guys who might have been trying to undercut and get ahead on the slick tyre. I just put in a very good lap. We made a very late call to box – it was only literally the last corner. But yeah, worked out, so I was happy.

Q: (Ticiano Figueiredo  – Diário do Rio Claro) Lewis, I saw your post yesterday where you were talking about Kimi and Aytron. So, as a Brazilian, that really moves me, especially at this time of the year. But considering how the start played out – and this is also to Oscar – what advice would you give Kimi about tackling Turn 1 right after the start?

LH: Yeah. You know I posted because it made me… Last night, I saw the video of Bono and Kimi and Toto, and it genuinely just brought warmth to my heart, because, honestly, I’ve been in that team for a long, long time. Bono is just the best. And I know there was a lot of question around whether or not to take on a more experienced driver. And to then just continue on and continue to work hard and get a pole – it kind of silences all the critics. And I love to see that in an underdog. Such a great story. I think, as I've not seen the race start… It was the trickiest of conditions. We haven't had any running in the rain here. So that was definitely a very, very tough scenario. Also to have the two fastest right beside you is going to be very tough, always. So I don't really know. I think I heard you say it’s close to Turn 1. I would just say to continue doing what he’s doing. I think he knows what he's doing, and just continue to enjoy it.

Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Lando, a question for you. Just given the past couple of weekends and the setbacks you’ve had, regardless of the circumstances of this win, how much of a little boost is it in terms of turning the tide in terms of how recent results have been for you?

LN: I mean, they've been good. Like I said on Thursday, it's not like I’ve lacked confidence or anything. I'm still happy. I still know my pace is there and the speed is there. But of course it's a boost, you know. Every little thing, every point is a good thing. Even yesterday when I was third, I was so happy with the lap. I did a couple of little mistakes, but it was still a well-executed lap. Just kind of getting the lap in and putting it there and at least being in the fight. I think a couple of my other mistakes have just set me further back. But this weekend has been a good one. Yeah, I've been happy with everything – with the car, with myself, with the performances. So just keep chipping away.

Q: (Jon Noble –The Race). Oscar, after you came into the pits, were you mindful of or aware of the gap between you and Lando? And what was your reaction when you saw the Safety Car come out – especially with the memories of last year?

OP: I mean, the reaction when the Safety Car came out was “not again”. But yeah, there's not much you can do in that circumstance. I knew I had a pretty comfortable gap behind, so I wasn’t taking too many risks. I could see that I was a little bit faster than Lando. So I thought I had that one pretty much under control once we pitted. And then, yeah, obviously the timing of the Safety Car was unfortunate. But frustrating in the moment. I think I'm leaving that Sprint knowing that I did everything I could, and everything that was in my control was well executed. And that's all I can ask for.

ENDS