Race - Mexico GP report: Toro Rosso Renault

Max Verstappen

“I had a good start and to be running in P6 during my first stint was great, but we had some heating issues, which definitely cost us a lot of lap time unfortunately. But we need to focus on the positives, I think P9 is the best we could do today and I’m happy to have scored some more points, closing the gap to Lotus a bit more. The atmosphere here has been amazing during all of the weekend - the fans here are really into racing and are so enthusiastic, it’s just amazing to see!”

Carlos Sainz

“We were quite fast today in the first two stints of the race. We committed to a two-stop strategy and it was going well, even though we were having to manage the brakes and engine quite a bit during the whole race. When the Safety Car came out, we pitted for another set of Soft tyres for my last stint but, all of a sudden and I don’t know why, we lost a lot of time per lap and started to go backwards. It’s a shame, because we were actually quite quick before that, overtaking our rivals like the two Force India’s, but the characteristics of this circuit made the race very tricky today. I have to say that I’m amazed with the Mexican fans and the big crowds here at the track throughout the whole weekend. They definitely give you an extra push, it’s really great and it’s just what Formula 1 needs!”

Franz Tost (Team Principal)

“First of all I’d like to congratulate the organisers of this Grand Prix here in Mexico, because it’s a fantastic and beautiful venue and all the grandstands were full all weekend. The atmosphere is also great and I think they would’ve deserved a bit more of an interesting race. From our side, we showed an average performance because we had to slow down the cars to keep the temperatures under control, which meant that we lost performance. The drivers did a good job. Max finished in ninth position and I think this was, under these conditions, the maximum we could do. Carlos had some vibrations at the end of the race, therefore he couldn’t push as normal or score any points. We were able to close the gap to Lotus by one point and they are now six points ahead of us with two races to go. Because of the long straight, the race in Brazil won’t be an easy one for us, while Abu Dhabi maybe suits us a bit better. Nevertheless, we will push very hard to prepare ourselves in the best possible way to fight for that P6 in the Championship.”

Cedrik Staudohar (Renault Sport F1 track support leader)

“That felt like a very long race! Due to the unique challenges of this circuit, we were on the edge with all the temperatures and it was very difficult to manage, but we coped with everything well and saw the chequered flag with both drivers, and Max in the points. At a new track, which is also very difficult, we can see that as a positive.”