Race - 2018 Italian GP team quotes

Williams

— Lance Stroll finished P10 and Sergey Sirotkin P11 in the Italian Grand Prix
— Both cars started the race on the supersoft Pirelli tyre, with Lance starting P10 and Sergey P12
— Lance and Sergey both enjoyed clean starts to the race, and made up several positions on the opening lap before the Safety Car was deployed
— Lance ran as high as eighth, before pitting on lap 35 for the soft tyre
— Sergey ran as high as ninth, and pitted two laps later on lap 37 for the soft tyre
— Lance’s tenth place rewards the team with one point, taking its total tally to five

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer

It was a good job by the team and by the drivers, not least to get two cars home in a race that can be very tough, but also, we were really racing today. Unfortunately, we only got points with one car. It would’ve been great to get Sergey off the line on the points table. He drove a superb and faultless weekend, so it was a little bit undeserved. Having said that, well done to Lance. He got the better grid position and therefore the better position in the race. He drove an extremely controlled race, overtook when necessary, and got one point. Well done to the drivers, and to the team at the circuit and back at base. We’ve been making a lot of developments behind the scenes and I think some of these positive steps are starting to come into play.

Lance Stroll

Feeling good is an understatement. I hoped we would score points, but I didn’t really expect it. We didn’t expect coming into today we would have the pace to stay there, but we did. We were following Sainz all race and were catching him a little bit towards the end, so I am really happy with the job we did today and all weekend. We really nailed it this weekend in qualifying, the race and with the strategy. It was one of those weekends where it all just came together. The key was just solid work all weekend and everyone in the team played their part. I think this track suited us, but I am still going to be positive going into Singapore, as there last year we had pretty poor pace in qualifying, so qualified 18th, but finished eighth. There are always opportunities.

Sergey Sirotkin

It was a good race but not good enough. We had the pace to be in the points but unfortunately, as we saw, I wasn’t the luckiest car with blue flags and where I got them on track. There was a lot of race time lost there which is a shame. I enjoyed the fight and how the car felt pleased me. It allowed me to participate in a good fight and I really enjoyed it.

Haas F1

Romain Grosjean delivered a strong sixth-place finish in the Italian Grand Prix Sunday at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, allowing Haas F1 Team to eliminate the gap to fourth-place Renault in the constructors’ standings. The American squad, in only its third year competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship, is now tied with the factory Renault team atop the midfield.

Grosjean started sixth in the 53-lap race around the 5.793-kilometer (3.6-mile), 11-turn circuit and after a savvy start that saw him pick up fifth place when frontrunners Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton made contact, sending Vettel’s Ferrari spinning as Hamilton powered away in his Mercedes, Grosjean fought off Carlos Sainz Jr. in his Renault to hold on to fifth.

Grosjean relinquished the spot on lap 23 when he pitted, swapping his Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft tires for Yellow softs. This dropped Grosjean to 11th, but as pit stops cycled through, he climbed back to sixth by lap 40. Fifth place was unobtainable as a resurgent Vettel came all the way from the back of the field after his opening-lap spin to take fourth. This was Grosjean’s fourth straight points-paying result, a streak that began with the July 22 German Grand Prix where he also finished sixth.

Grosjean’s teammate, Kevin Magnussen, endured a difficult Italian Grand Prix. After starting 11th, he was forced to take evasive action in turn one as the field stacked up in front of him. This dropped Magnussen to 12th. Three laps later, contact with the Force India of Sergio Perez in the Lesmos turns sent Magnussen to the pits for new tires and an attempt to repair some damaged bodywork. Magnussen exited the pits in 19th and wound up 17th after the retirements of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull.

Hamilton went on to win the Italian Grand Prix by 8.705 seconds over polesitter Kimi Räikkönen, denying Scuderia Ferrari a win in its home race. The victory was the 68th of Hamilton’s Formula One career, his series-leading sixth this season and his fifth at Monza, equaling the record of Italian Grand Prix wins held by the legendary Michael Schumacher.

While not able to climb the top step of the podium, Räikkönen’s drive marked his milestone 100th podium finish in Formula One. He is one of just five drivers who have scored 100 or more podium finishes. Schumacher leads the way with 155, Hamilton has 128, Vettel has 107 and Alain Prost has 106. Räikkönen’s first podium finish was scored 16 years ago in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s win, combined with Vettel’s fourth-place finish, allowed Hamilton to extend his lead in the championship standings to 30 points over Vettel, his closest pursuer.

Fourteen rounds into the 21-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team is tied for fourth in the constructors’ standings with Renault. Each team has 84 points and holds a 32-point advantage over McLaren, the next closest team. Magnussen is eighth in the driver’s championship with 49 points and Grosjean is 12th with 35 points.

Seven races remain, with the next event coming Sept. 16 with the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Romain Grosjean

“It’s great to be in the points again and enjoying a good series of races. It was a good race, but tough. The Force Indias were definitely faster today. I had to push the car very hard to keep them behind. I was very happy with that, and very happy with the team’s progress. We’ve now moved up to fourth in the constructors’ standings, so that’s pretty amazing. I’ve never really had a good race at Monza, but today that wasn’t the case. I’m happy and looking forward to going to Singapore.”

Kevin Magnussen

“It was a pretty long race for us today. We had some damage on the rear tire after the first lap. I had to box for mediums and just went nowhere from there. Our race ended on lap one. We were then doing the whole race on one set of medium tires – the slowest – so it was never really going to be a case of us getting back in the race.”

Günther Steiner

“Sixth place and eight points is a good result. Kevin, at the beginning, had problems. He didn’t have a good start, then there were problems. Nevertheless, it was a great race for Romain and good points for Haas F1 Team. We are now tied for fourth with Renault. It’s getting interesting now. We’re really looking forward to going to Singapore and seeing what we can do there.”

Racing Point FI

Racing Point Force India scored ten points in Monza with Esteban Ocon finishing in seventh place ahead of Sergio Perez in eighth.

ESTEBAN OCON

“I’m feeling happy with the result today. We were targeting sixth place, but we just didn’t quite have enough pace advantage to make the move on Grosjean. However, seventh and eighth for the team is a great effort. My start was really good but I was squeezed onto the grass on the approach to turn one and had to back out of it, which cost me a couple of positions. From then on we had good pace and we managed to get ahead of Sainz. I was able to look after my tyres and make them last. I had one realistic opportunity to try and get Grosjean towards the end of the race, but it didn’t work out. I’m pleased we could end the European season with a strong result. We head to the flyaways in good shape and we have good momentum.”

SERGIO PEREZ

“I am happy to come away from here with points, especially considering we were starting pretty far back on the grid. Unfortunately, I had to carry really big damage for the whole of the race: I was in a battle with Kevin [Magnussen] and he cut the chicane twice when I had already passed him. He was not told to give the position back but I managed to get alongside him again at Lesmo. He just didn’t give me enough room and put me all the way to the inside. In such a fast corner, there was always going to be contact and it ended up damaging my car badly. I had lots of understeer so it was a very difficult race. Despite these problems, we had strong pace and I was right behind Esteban in the final part of the race as we both tried to get ahead of Grosjean. We didn’t quite manage to be ‘best of the rest’, but all things considered we did a good job today. The results from the last two weeks show how strong this team is. We would be theoretically fourth in the championship and we are scoring good points. In Singapore we will get some upgrades, which hopefully means we can keep performing well in the final few races of the championship.”

OTMAR SZAFNAUER

“Ten points from Monza represents a good reward for another massive effort by the team. The car has been strong from the start of practice and despite not maximising qualifying yesterday we recovered well to bring both cars home well inside the points. Esteban was very close to overtaking Grosjean in the final few laps and, despite having a quicker car, we just ran out of laps to make the move. Sergio was right behind Esteban, too, having battled back from P14 to eighth, which was a tremendous effort. The strategy calls from the pit wall saw us pit late in the race with both cars, which worked out well for us and ensured we had good race pace throughout the afternoon, and a relative tyre advantage at the end.”

McLaren

An Italian Grand Prix of mixed emotions for the team, as Fernando retired from the race after just nine laps. He’d made a strong start and was on course for a potential points-scoring result when he had to stop the car due to a suspected electrical issue.
Stoffel had a more positive Sunday afternoon, with stronger-than-expected pace on a track that was always expected to be a challenge. Given that his starting position was unlikely to result in a points-paying finish on this circuit, he put in a fighting performance to progress from 17th at the start up to 13th at the chequer. He made a solid start, successfully avoided any first-lap chaos, and a strong strategy executed by the team enabled him to push hard throughout the race and keep arguably faster cars behind him.

Fernando Alonso

“This weekend we performed much better than we expected and I think we had the possibility to take some points today, so it’s a shame that we had to retire so early in the race.

“Also, we were planning to change the engine at Spa or here and get a penalty at a track we knew was going to be difficult for us in terms of performance, but surprisingly we were good, so we chose not to take it here. In the end, we didn’t score any points here so it’s double pain, as we’ll have to take the penalty later in the season.

“The car was misfiring from the start of the race in Turns Seven and Eight, and unfortunately in the end it switched off and I arrived rolling into the pit-lane.

“It’s a true shame. Let’s see if we can make the car more robust for the coming races.”

Stoffel Vandoorne

“It was a pretty decent race for us today, considering the performance we had on Friday. We made a good step on Saturday, went into the race and beat a few cars that we maybe didn’t expect to beat. That was positive.

“Our race pace was pretty good. We were stuck behind a Sauber, the Toro Rosso of Pierre [Gasly] and the Renault of Nico [Hulkenberg] but with our strategy we managed to undercut them and make it work.

“Anyway, we knew that Spa and Monza would be two difficult races for us, even though the latter turned out to be maybe slightly better than expected.

“Next stop Singapore – hopefully we’ll have more performance there.”

Gil de Ferran

“We leave this amazing place with mixed feelings. On one hand, we are bitterly disappointed with Fernando’s retirement, which was an electrical issue, when he was in a solid position to score some points.

“On the other hand, Stoffel put in a strong performance, pushing hard all the way. We executed a clean pit-stop and made good decisions on strategy.

“Now we say goodbye to Europe and look ahead to the last chapter of the championship, where we’ll continue to keep fighting and trying to improve our position in the standings.”

Sauber

A historic weekend has come to an end, with the 2018 FIA Formula One Italian Grand Prix having given the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team the experience of a home race.

Both Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team drivers fought their way through the tightly-packed field to finish 12th and 16th after a challenging weekend. Charles raced through from P15 on the grid and was progressing well through the midfield, until his race was compromised by contact with another car. His car suffered some damage and he had to start working on recovering from the set-back. The team adapted Charles’ strategy at this point, which worked well. The Monegasque driver gained some positions, ultimately finishing the race in P12.

Marcus Ericsson started the race from P18, after having had very little running this weekend and a new ICE in place following his accident on Friday. He fought hard to make up ground, after a good start. He was hit by another car on the first lap resulting in a left rear puncture, and had to pit prematurely. From that moment, he had to recover positions and fight back. The Swede ultimately finished the race in P16.

This weekend marked a return to Formula One for the iconic Alfa Romeo brand at Monza where the sport’s first world champion, Nino Farina, won the final race of the inaugural World Championship season in 1950 in the GP Tipo 158 “Alfetta”.

The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team currently holds 9th place in the Constructors’ Championship. Charles Leclerc is in 15th, and Marcus Ericsson in 17th place in the Drivers’ Championship.

Marcus Ericsson

“It was not the best weekend for me. To be honest, it was quite a tough race. I had a good start, however, shortly after I was touched by another car which caused a puncture on my left rear tyre. I had to pit and from that point on it was a difficult race. I look forward to Singapore now, and am confident that we can fight back there.

Charles Leclerc

“It was a challenging race. We lost quite a bit of time because of the contact. After we undercut our competitors with our strategy, we did manage to get ahead but it was too late for us to advance to a top-ten position. Our pace was quite good, so it is a shame not to finish in the points. Nevertheless, it was a good race, and I look forward to getting back in the car in Singapore.”

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

“It was a challenging weekend but considered the eventful weekend, all in all we had a good race. The pace was better and we were in front of some of our main competitors. Marcus and Charles recovered some of the positions they lost in qualifying, and did a good job to fight their way into the midfield. Our aim is nevertheless still to score points going forward. We have to keep on working hard and stay positive and focused for the next Grand Prix in Singapore.”

Toro Rosso

Pierre Gasly

“Today was clearly not the day we wanted. At the beginning of the race, I was blocked in Turn 1 and 2 and lost a couple of places. Very soon I had an incident with Fernando and my floor got damaged on the right side, after that I had another collision with Daniel which compromised the rear. In these conditions, the car was sliding everywhere and the race was pretty much over for me, it was very difficult to go to the end. We knew it would have been a difficult race for us but the damage to the car made it even trickier, I did the maximum I could but we lost the pace shown during the weekend. I just need to forget about it and start focusing on Singapore, which is a track where we normally can do very well.”

Brendon Hartley

“I was really looking forward to my first Monza GP. I felt very strong all weekend and was very close to Pierre in Qualifying - even if that meant starting a few positions lower on the grid - I was confident of having a strong race. Unfortunately, right after the start, Ericsson moved a little bit to the left trying to pass me. It wasn’t that aggressive what he did, but it was enough to put an end to my day before Turn 1. It’s been a great race to watch from the outside, but of course I would have preferred to be on track and finish the race.”

Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director)

“A disappointing outcome to the team’s home race, partly caused by both cars being involved in collisions. In Brendon’s case, this happened shortly after the start when he was hit by a Sauber and had to retire. As for Pierre, there was a collision with a McLaren after the safety car period and that upset the balance of his car which meant he could not repeat the pace we had seen earlier in the weekend. This was not the best end to the European part of the season, but now we will just focus on the remaining races, starting with Singapore, a track which should be better suited to the characteristics of our package.”

Red Bull

MAX VERSTAPPEN

*demoted to 5th following a five second time penalty – causing a collision

“I think if you look at the car performance, we’ve done a really good job in being that competitive on this track today. I don’t think it could have been better for us and finishing third on the road was a good result. Unfortunately we had a penalty and I was put back to fifth. I think I gave Valtteri enough space on the left so he didn’t need to go off the track. The rule says that as long as you give the other driver a car width space, it should be enough. That’s what I did, but he clipped my wheel at Turn 1 and he had to go straight on. I don’t agree with the penalty, but the decision is taken and we can’t do anything about it. Of course after I heard about the penalty I was even more determined to keep my track position. I’ve tried to do the best race I could and I had to fight hard for it as we are so much slower on the straights. Before the race I thought fifth would have been the best possible result for us, but after a good start and keeping the Mercedes behind, we were in third position, so I gave it everything. Looking at the positives, the car was performing very well today and in terms of pace we were competitive. In general keeping a Mercedes behind you on this track is a very positive sign and hopefully we can keep this momentum going to Singapore where our car is usually strong.”

DANIEL RICCIARDO

“It’s been another frustrating race for me. I passed Stroll and looked in the mirror to see if I was clear of him but I couldn’t see that well. I then realised that was because there was a lot of smoke coming out the back of the car and when I reported it to my engineers they asked me to stop. I feared it could have been something to do with the power unit but after we got the car back to the garage and the guys investigated, they suspect it’s a clutch issue. It’s been a frustrating period of races but hopefully we can change some things on the car, improve the reliability and aim for the podium in Singapore.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal

“After a strong start Max was able to pass Valtteri Bottas into the chicane, then avoid the incident at Turn 2 and complete the first lap in P3. He was then able to consolidate that position and keep Valtteri behind throughout the first stint. We pitted once we found a window and changed to the soft tyre and Max’s pace was strong enough to maintain track position to Valtteri who was always going to have the advantage at the end of the race with the fresher tyre. Whilst defending from the Mercedes into Turn 1 the stewards unfortunately judged that he didn’t quite leave enough space resulting in a five-second penalty dropping him from a finish position of P3 to P5. Nonetheless, Max has driven the wheels off the car all afternoon and done a good job. Daniel made up places early in the race and was making good ground but unfortunately we had an issue causing us to retire the car with a lot of smoke coming out of the air intake. We are still not entirely sure on the cause but it is a suspected clutch issue according to Renault.”

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen’s second place was not enough to make up for the disappointment in a race that could have delivered so much more for Scuderia Ferrari. The team was put on the back foot after a first lap collision left Vettel with a damaged car. That left Raikkonen to fight on alone, but excessive blistering on the Monza pole man’s rear tyres meant in the end he had to give best to the winner, while his team-mate fought back well from the back of the pack. The wonderful Monza crowd deserved more.

FILM OF THE RACE.

The two SF71Hs maintained position off the line, but at the Roggia, Hamilton tried to go round the outside of Seb, whose car was spun round with damage to the front wing. The Safety Car was called out and the Number 5 Ferrari pitted to switch onto the Soft tyres and fit a new nose. The stewards decided that neither driver was significantly to blame for the incident.

The race resumed on lap 4. Hamilton got a tow off Kimi and got past at the first braking zone, but the Ferrari man fought back immediately, retaking the lead at the second Variante. He then began to pull away and he and Seb, at the other end of the field, were lapping in the same times. Use of DRS was now authorised and Sebastian was up to 15th despite his set-up no longer being quite right and, having passed Hulkenberg, he had Ricciardo in his sights. He got alongside the Australian at the Parabolica and passed him down the straight.

At one third distance, the gap between the two two was stable around one second, while Seb slipstreamed past Stroll, at 360 km/h! He then fought his way past Perez to go eighth.

Kimi pitted at the end of lap 20, while Seb passed Sainz. The Finn was now running fourth on the Softs. Sebastian had a bit of blistering but still managed to overtake Ocon, while a few drops of rain fell on the track.

Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 28, with Kimi leading. The other Ferrari man was pushing to the max, getting ready for a second tyre change. Another set of Supersofts went on and he set off in pursuit of tenth place. Out in front, was slowing things down to allow his team-mate to close on Kimi. But he too had to pit again with 16 laps remaining. Seb passed Perez and was now fifth. With 10 laps to go, Bottas went wide at the first chicane when he was nudged by Verstappen.

Kimi was struggling with his tyres and on lap 45, he had to give best at the first turn and concentrated on getting to the finish. Seb tried to close the gap to Verstappen, who would be given a 5 second penalty for his clash with Bottas. He managed it despite having a damaged car, while Kimi finally crossed the line in second place.

Maurizio Arrivabene

"Definitely not the result we were looking for to give to our fans, who supported us in fine style all weekend, for which I thank them on behalf of the entire team. After the collision at the second chicane, Kimi had to fight two opponents on his own, while Seb, in a badly damaged car, fought his way up the order. We know we have a very strong car, which was clearly demonstrated by the fact we monopolised the front row of the grid. Now, the important thing is to react as a team, in an orderly and determined fashion, without ever giving up. There is still a long way to go in the championship and we are already preparing for the next challenge in Singapore."

Kimi Raikkonen

"Our car was really good today. The first set of tires was ok, while the second one didn’t last as long as we had expected. There wasn’t much we could do, we had to push all the time and there was no single moment in which we could take it easy and look after the tires. For sure we wanted a better result, but this is what we’ve got; we did our best but it was not enough. It’s easy to say what we should have done in an ideal world, but we did what we thought was right and I think there was nothing wrong. Second position is not ideal, but we take it; I think that we were lucky to finish the race, on the rear left tyre there was no rubber left. In the next races it’s going to be close pretty much everywhere. We keep doing our best and hopefully it will be enough for when we come to the last race."

Sebastian Vettel

"At the beginning I tried to overtake Kimi in Turn 1 and 4, but I couldn’t. He opened the brakes, which he had the right to do, so I moved aside and opened a gap to Lewis. Then I had room left and no chance anymore. So, when I touched Lewis, I span around and that was unfortunate, as my car got quite some damages. It could have gone differently, but obviously it wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, our race was compromised and it was a shame, but then I tried to do my best and had a decent recovery from the back. All in all, it could have been even worse. It’s disappointing of course, because we had the pace and we definitely could have won. There are many points to win back now in the championship, but we still have time to improve and we have the margin to recover. I am sorry for our tifosi because they just deserved a different result today."

Mercedes

Double podium for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in Monza

— Lewis scored his 68th career victory today – his sixth of the 2018 Formula One season and fifth at the Italian Grand Prix
— Valtteri finished the race in P3 – his sixth podium of the 2018 season and 77th points finish in Formula One
— Lewis claimed the fastest lap in Monza – his 40th fastest lap in Formula One
— The 2018 Italian Grand Prix marked the 400th race for a Mercedes-AMG Safety Car in Formula One
— Lewis (256 points) leads the Drivers’ Championship by 33 points from Sebastian Vettel (226 points) with Valtteri (159 points) in P4
— Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (415 points) leads Ferrari (390 points) by 25 points in the Constructors’ Championship
— Owen Jones, Head of Performance at Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, accepted the Constructors’ trophy on behalf of the team

Lewis Hamilton

That was one tough race, but a really enjoyable one - I’m very, very happy. This afternoon has shaken off to be one of the best. It’ s so close between Ferrari and us, this race was really down to who makes the least mistakes and who looks after their tyres the best. Valtteri did a great job extending his stint which enabled me to close up to Kimi. It was really great team work today, a great pit stop, great communication with the team. It was an intense first lap, we all got off to similar starts. When we went into Turn 4, I was a bit surprised that Sebastian chose the inside and did not go for the outside. That was my opportunity and I had to make sure that I was far enough alongside him. We touched for a brief moment and my car was slightly damaged afterwards, but fortunately I was able to continue and keep up with Kimi. Once I had closed the gap to Kimi on my second stint, I could see that his tyres were blistering, so I started to take care of my tyres and made sure that I didn’t blister mine. When Valtteri then came in for his pit stop it was a bit harder to keep up with Kimi, but I knew that my tyres were in better shape. I had to push as hard as I could to close the gap, particularly through the Lesmos and Ascari. But this track is really just incredible, it’s such a phenomenal circuit to drive with all it’s high-speed corners and the fact that you can follow through the corners and the chicanes make it one of the best tracks in the world. It’s always a real privilege to win in Italy. But we need to keep our heads down, work hard and make sure that we put up a good fight in Singapore.

Valtteri Bottas

It was a very successful day – both for me and for Lewis – and it feels good to be back on the podium. We knew the Ferraris were going to be quick today, so we wanted to give 100 per cent and put them under pressure. We knew we had to work together as a team today and that worked out very well for us. After what happened in the first lap with Sebastian, I knew that there was a good chance for me to get to the podium today. But it was still not an easy race; I did a very long first stint, trying to keep Kimi behind me on old tyres. I managed to still extract decent lap times out of the tyres so that Kimi never really got close enough to be able to overtake. Ultimately, this strategy helped both Lewis’ and my race. After the long first stint I had the chance to take the fight to Max on fresh rubber and ended up on the podium. It was a really good team effort today and we managed to get more points than Ferrari even though we started behind them. But we know we have to keep pushing in order to be able to put them under pressure.

Toto Wolff

This is what makes racing so special: the points are given out on Sunday, not Saturday, and today we were all privileged to enjoy a fantastic race-long between two champions. Lewis didn’t put a foot wrong today – he put his car in the right place each time, was patient when he needed to be and took a fantastic win, his fifth here in Monza. But we must not forget Valtteri today: he drove a great race and deserved his podium finish this afternoon. For us, P1 and P3 is a fantastic result and a great reward for all the hard work the teams in Brixworth and Brackley have put in over the past weeks; last week, we struggled with the tyre management; today, it was the Ferrari that blistered the soft tyres. This afternoon, I think we had the fastest car on race pace – although we must be a little cautious because we didn’t see Sebastian’s pace without damage - but we were able to put pressure on Kimi all through the race. We got the strategy just right: with Kimi and Lewis at the first stop, we were ready to do the opposite of Ferrari - then extended the stint to have the biggest offset of tyre life when Kimi pitted. And with Valtteri, it was exactly the same: it was the right strategy to leave him on track, building the offset to Verstappen so he could attack in the final laps with fresher tyres. And that’s exactly what he did to get his podium. Overall, it was a very good day for the team at every level. We have Singapore coming next, which has not been our strongest track in past years. But we will be turning over every stone in the next weeks to find even more performance and pushing flat out to build our lead in both championships.

Andrew Shovlin

We certainly didn’t expect today to go the way it did but we knew if we could put them under some pressure, opportunities for the win would start to appear. The first lap was quite dramatic, we had good starts with both cars and Lewis was able to put himself into really good position into Turn 4 nosing ahead of Vettel. We were lucky that he did more harm to his own race than ours and we didn’t have much damage to the car. The race with Lewis and Kimi was interesting and one that we had covered in the morning strategy meeting. They couldn’t leave the pit window open, but it meant we were able to create an offset on tyres that in the end won us the race. The tyres were on the limit and the work to understand the blistering we suffered in Spa helped today, the strong end of stint pace with both cars was a testament to the hard work that has gone on at the factory over the last week. Both drivers did a brilliant job today and looked after the tyres very well. Valtteri had a tough battle with Verstappen but once we knew that Max had a penalty, there was no point in continuing to attack him so we backed off knowing we had secured a podium. We’re in Singapore next and that is a track that hasn’t been kind to us over the years so we are under no illusions that it will be a difficult challenge. However, we have a good car, a fantastic team and two great drivers so we will be doing everything we can to keep our championship leads intact.

Renault F1

Renault Sport Formula One Team made a welcome return to the points as Carlos Sainz finished a fast-paced Italian Grand Prix in ninth place*. Nico Hülkenberg fell short of the top ten after a battling effort from last place on the grid.

Carlos made a clean getaway from seventh on the grid and moved up to sixth place by the end of lap one. Running long on the Supersoft tyre, he pitted on lap 39, before easing to the flag for his first top ten finish since Hungary.

— Carlos started from P7 on used Pirelli Supersoft (red) tyres, pitting on lap 39 for a new set of Soft (yellow) tyres.
— Nico started from P20 on new Supersoft tyres, pitting at the end of lap one for a new set of Soft tyres and again on lap 41 for a new set of Supersofts.

*classified in eighth following Grosjean’s exclusion from the results.

Nico Hülkenberg

“It’s always difficult when you start at the back of the grid, but I’m pleased with today. We gave it a real go to get into the points by going long on the Soft tyre after an early stop, but we fell short and had to bail out of it in the end. The tyre wear was too high after doing 40 laps, so that didn’t quite pay off in the end. I’m happy to have had a clean race and see the chequered flag. It’s difficult to make progress here, but we can draw the positives from the weekend and head into Singapore feeling a little more encouraged.”

Carlos Sainz

"We can be happy with the weekend in general. We gave it all we had today. We’ve managed to take four points from a weekend where we expected difficulties, so we can be happy with that. The pace was as good as it could be, but we missed a little on the straights and lost a few positions in that area. On the positive side, we’ve made good progress since Spa and I felt much better in the car. Now we look forward to Singapore where we hope to be more competitive.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal

“It was a challenging weekend, as we expected in Monza, with a mix of good moments and frustrations. We had a strong qualifying, with a great team performance and in particular from Carlos. We did not, however, have a race that rewarded that qualifying position. It was reflective of our pace at this power-dominated track where we could not contain the Force Indias. Nico tried to do something that could have allowed him to come back into the points but it did not work. We did all the right things today and would have loved to have come back stronger but let’s look forward to Singapore, which we hope should suit us better.”