1 – Kimi ANTONELLI (Mercedes)
2 – George RUSSELL (Mercedes)
3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)

TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by David Coulthard)


Q: Kimi, I’m not known for my Italian, but grandissimo! That was unbelievable. Did you ever imagine you could go from 19th to being the first Italian since even before I was born to win this Grand Prix?
Kimi ANTONELLI: I did not expect it and, yeah, grazie a tutti. Unbelievable, unbelievable. I’m so happy and I could have never imagined to be here today. But, you know, we managed to pull it off and I’m really, really happy.

Q: There’s so much to unpack in this race. I have to thank you all for what was a brilliant race. It was happening right up until the last few laps. It looked like you got out onto the gravel at that first chicane, breaking up a little bit, and then you had to come back again and get the pass done one more time.
KA: Yeah, I mean, it was quite scary during the moment because the tarmac was breaking up, but I still thought I could do the corner. But, you know, once I went over a bit of gravel as well, I went straight and I was like, “Maybe I lost my chance.” But then luckily we still had the pace and managed to bring it home.

Q: We can see with the colour of your face, we can see with the sweat, just how hard you were working there behind the cockpit. At any point were you thinking, “Points are points, that’s good on this weekend,” or was it just always, “I want to win my home Grand Prix”?
KA: Yeah, I mean, after the second restart I was up there and I knew I could have a shot for the win. So, yeah, definitely I believed in it, especially when I was behind George. But it was really difficult because it was really difficult to break away, with the two being so strong. But, yeah, at the end, you know, we pitted and he stayed out and he struggled a bit with his tyres at the end, while, you know, with fresher tyres I was able to increase the pace and, yeah, managed to win it.

Q: Okay, Kimi, thank you for now. Stay there with us. George, I don’t really know what to say on a day where you aced the starts, you kept it clean, it seemed that you were doing everything necessary to bring home the victory and, in the end, you look in your mirrors and you see this man right there and you have to battle him. In second place, not the result you wanted.
George RUSSELL: Yeah, I mean, huge congrats to Kimi, of course. Incredible result from him. When I looked on the leaderboard at the beginning, I saw he was already in sort of P5, P4. I knew straight away he was going to be in the mix. So, yeah, huge congrats to him. It was looking like a pretty strong race from us and then I was just struggling with the tyres towards the end. Obviously, we did the whole race on that one hard tyre. So, yeah, I’ll take it. It’s been more positive than it was pre-summer break and that’s what I needed to try and achieve. But, of course, I would have loved to have been P1 today.

Q: You mentioned the tyres. Of course, you didn’t take that Virtual Safety Car stop that both Kimi and Max did. Was that a discussion, or it all happened so late that it was just a case of you had no choice?
GR: To be honest, I thought we were both going to stay out. I was surprised to see him pitting. I think, in the end, it was a roll of the dice both ways. You know, in the moment, the team wouldn’t have known which strategy was better. Made sense to split the cars. But, in the end, you know, Kimi had great pace and, yeah, there we are.

Q: Well done with the second place. And Max, well, some great racing. You seemed to favour that outside line into the second chicane, which worked well for you. We heard you on the radio saying that the recurrence of some rear issues on the car, but you’ve got to be happy with that third place, all things considered?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was. You know, there were some good battles out there. I had to send it many times on the outside because we were just struggling a lot with deployment from Turn 2 to 4 compared to our competitors and, in general, I think top speed wasn’t our friend today. So, yeah, I just tried to hang in there, but they were a bit too fast. That’s why I was just trying to be in that overtake mode. But, yeah, at one point I lost that and tried to just do my own race. But I had one tricky moment in Turn 2 because the tarmac was opening up, so I almost just went off because I picked up, like, the gravel from the tarmac. And then I had the McLarens in my overtake mode and, yeah, it makes quite a big difference right here. And, yeah, once I cleared them, happy with P3 and to be on the podium here.

Q: Okay, congratulations on the podium. And Kimi, finally back to you. Have you heard of a rapper called LL Cool J?
KA: No.

Q: No? Well, he’s got a song called ‘Something Like a Phenomenon’. You are having a phenomenal season. Your seventh victory in Formula 1. Once again, your emotions here, winning the Italian Grand Prix?
KA: Yeah, it’s a dream coming true and what an incredible day. Couldn’t do it without my team, my family and everyone who supports me. And, yeah, still a few races to go, so we’re going to keep our head down. But, yeah, now we’re going to enjoy today.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Welcome everybody to our post-race press conference after a stunning FIA Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix. We’re going to be joined by the winner, Kimi Antonelli, shortly, but joining us, as you can see, we have George Russell, second place, and Max Verstappen, third. George, if we could start with you. Look, great job by you today. How do you begin to sum up a race like that?
GR: Yeah, I mean, it was obviously a great race all around from the neutral perspective. I think as soon as I saw Kimi up to, you know, P5 after just a handful of laps, I knew he was going to be in the fight with us. So, yeah, clearly that was a very impressive opening few laps and it was just very challenging to break the slipstream. You know, I think whoever was leading would then be vulnerable to being overtaken again, so I think that’s what helped sort of drag a lot of cars along in those early laps. But, as I said, I’m going to take the positives from the weekend because, for me personally, pre-summer break it was a real tough run of form. Come back since the break, with the Sprint and the two races, we’ve been in the top three in all of them. So, of course, I would have loved to have won today, but the performance is far better than I’ve had pre-shutdown.

Q: There were a lot of lead swaps between you and Kimi in the middle of the race. Did it feel reminiscent of Canada at that point?
GR: Yeah, I guess, now you say it, probably a little bit. You know, I would have loved to have continued on the same strategy because I felt in a good position in that battle. I sort of knew exactly what I needed to do with the energy management to defend, but also when to attack and make those moves, and I put a lot of preparation into this race in that regard. Then, of course, when the VSC came out, it kind of came out at that perfect point for the drivers to pull the trigger and take the pit stop. And, yeah, here we are.

Q: How seriously did you consider pitting as well under the VSC?
GR: I didn’t. I actually thought the guys behind me were going to stay out as well. But I’m sure the team were quite nervous on the pit wall watching our battle and were probably quite happy to send us on different strategies. And, of course, when we have Max in the mix as well, from a team perspective you’re covering off both scenarios. So, today Kimi did a great job and, yeah.

Q: And when you swapped to the Hard tyre under the red flag close to the start of the race, how confident were you of getting that to the end?
GR: Well, that was definitely the best tyre to take to the end. I did think it was viable. When I saw Max and Kimi on the Medium, I was feeling pretty good because I knew they were going to drop off more than me. So, in that middle stage of the race, I was really happy with my position. And, of course, before the VSC, I had a couple of laps, probably two or three laps, where I was leading. The team obviously didn’t want Kimi and I battling, so it would have been very interesting to see how the race would have panned out if there was no VSC.

Q: Okay, look, final one for me. How do you view the championship battle now? The gap is 66 points.
GR: Yeah, I mean, you know, definitely Kimi’s in control of it and, you know, he’s deserving to be in control of it. For me personally, I’m not even thinking about a fight or a comeback or anything. I’m just focused on taking it race by race and trying to maximise every single weekend. You know, he’s performing incredibly well. It’s going to be exceptionally challenging to overcome that gap, so I’m just sort of accepting that it is what it is and I’m just going to enjoy it from here on in and try and win as many races as possible.

Q: Okay, George, thank you very much for that. We’re joined now by our race winner, Kimi Antonelli. Kimi, very well done. Can we start by talking about that podium? Just how was it? How was the view from that unique podium above the start-finish straight?
KA: Yeah, I think this is the most special podium of the season. To see all the fans on the straight, it’s just incredible. And then, of course, you know, being at home, it adds that little bit of extra. And, yeah, super, super happy with that.

Q: You’ve had a phenomenal race. Just tell us, what did you think was possible before the start?
KA: I thought a podium was possible, but then obviously with the red flag I was already P12, and then I knew that I could have had a shot to it. But, of course, you know, then I found myself at the front and battling, but it was very difficult to break away, basically impossible. So I knew it would have been difficult. Then with the VSC we pitted and then we had to close the gap and, yeah, then in the end to bring it home, very happy with that.

Q: Kimi, you’ve had such a good race. Is this the best race of your career, not just in Formula 1?
KA: I mean, the best one has yet to come, but I feel like, yeah, it was one of the best races I’ve done so far and, yeah, one that I will remember forever.

Q: And can we talk about the championship now? This feels like a big statement victory for you. You’re 66 points ahead of George now. Can you give us your thoughts on that gap?
KA: Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to really look at it because we’ve seen in this season how things can change very quickly. And on my side I just need to take one race at a time, just try to maximise every result, every opportunity I get, and then we’ll see what happens at the end of the year. But there’s no point in thinking about the championship and we’ve just, you know, got to stay in the moment, present, and then take it race by race. And then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the season.

Q: Okay, Kimi, very well done to you. And Max, if we could just get a few words from you as well. Brilliant race by you. You were relentless out there. Just how tough was it to extract this result from that car?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, well, I mean, I had my issues yesterday that, of course, were still there today. But also, I think it was quite clear during the race that we just can’t keep up with the deployment of the Mercedes-powered cars, and that is, of course, on a track like Monza, very tough. Of course, with the overtake mode it looked quite promising, but as soon as I got in the lead, yeah, it was very hard to defend. And that has been a bit my problem throughout the whole race. Even when we had the VSC, we boxed, had better tyres, I’m overtaking cars, but as soon as they, you know, can hang in that overtake mode, it’s just too powerful for us to actually really defend that, even on better tyres. So, it took me a while even to clear the McLarens. But for us to be on the podium, I think after a very difficult weekend in Zandvoort, where the car was not really to my liking, yeah, we managed to have a strong turnaround from Friday to Saturday and the car was definitely in a better window. But we still have a few bits and areas that we know need to be better, plus, yeah, the obvious deployment on the straights.

Q: You said a moment ago that you pitted, like Kimi, under the VSC. Did you consider staying out?
MV: I don’t think I would have made it to the end on the Medium, so I was quite happy to box. I think it was quite clear for us to do that.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Velimir Jukic – AvtoFocus) I have a question for Max. We enjoy very much your style of racing and today it was really tough. You had quite a lost situation, but you managed to do the best that you can in this situation. How is it when you’re in the car? How do you enjoy it? How do you manage it?
MV: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, not a lot when people just drive by you like you’re a turtle. But, yeah, just send it back around the outside. The car is good on the brakes, so that helps, so good confidence to attack the braking zones. And two times in the start I managed to do that in Turn 2 and 4. So, yeah, I mean, it is enjoyable, but at the same time frustrating, you know. But I just try to maximise everything that I can.

Q: (Maria Guidotti – Graining F1) Question for Kimi. Congratulations, first of all. Unbelievable. You were battling so hard till the end, especially in the last laps, taking many risks. How fine is the line, you know, to continue to push and win and thinking about the championship and be safe?
KA: Yeah, I mean, today I didn’t really think about anything else other than trying to win, especially when I saw the opportunity. And, yeah, I was pushing hard and I had a little excursion off track with the marbles, which was not ideal. But, yeah, today, you know, we were trying to push, trying to make smart overtakes, using the battery wisely, and then, yeah, it worked out. But, of course, also the fact that this weekend we were clearly, you know, the best team, also that helped to recover.

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) George, earlier you spoke about the strategies and you said you were surprised that those behind you stopped. Obviously, it was a very good drive from Kimi today, but do you think that he was given perhaps a more favourable strategy than you today? I think there were a few boos on the podium for you as well. Just your response to that, please.
GR: I think, you know, I was on the Hard tyre and Kimi was on the Medium tyre, so if either of us were to pit, it was going to be Kimi. And that’s, I guess, why I was just a little bit annoyed with the timing of that VSC because, like Max said, I think it would have been tough for those guys on the Medium to have competed with anybody on the Hard tyre. But, you know, it takes nothing away from Kimi’s drive altogether. And, yeah, I mean, obviously when you’re racing in somebody else’s home country, that’s to be expected. So, yeah, smirked it off.

Q: (Christoffer Linden – F1Maximaal.nl) Max, you said yesterday you had issues with the rear axle and everything. How much did it impact the race? Did you try to change it for today? And, yeah, how much did it impact? Would it have been different without this issue?
MV: Yeah, it’s still there. I mean, nothing changed. It’s just not good. Yeah, you struggle on the bumps, the kerbs, in the low-speed especially. It’s still like the rear axle is just not very compliant. So, for sure, it was not ideal again today and costing performance, but it’s what it is.

Q: (Alessandro Miglio – La Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for Kimi. Could you hear the support from the fans from your car?
Kimi ANTONELLI: No, definitely not. But I could see it out of the first chicane with the side of my eye. But no, definitely I couldn’t hear it. Luckily our cars still make decent noise. I mean, if you hear the fans while driving, then it’s a big problem.

Q: (Daniela Matar – AP) Kimi, it’s the second furthest anyone’s come back from to win a Grand Prix. Can you just talk us through how it felt as you picked them off one by one?
KA: I felt, you know, I think definitely the fans gave that little bit extra to push more. For sure, the support has been great this weekend. And, yeah, so definitely, you know, seeing the grandstand cheering every lap, for sure it gave that little bit of extra to push more and to try and do even better to win it.

Q: (Frederik Hackbarth – F1-Insider.com) Kimi, first of all, huge congratulations on a massive win at home. You’ve won Monaco this year and you’ve won your home race now, so does it start to feel like this might be your year? Because now I think it’s only the big prize left, in a way.
KA: I mean, definitely it’s been a very strong year so far, but still many races left and so, you know, still anything can happen. And we’ve seen how things can swing very quickly. So, on my side, as I said many times, just take it race by race, focus on things that I can control and just maximise every opportunity I get. Because, you know, this weekend we were fastest, but we never know. We might go to another track and all of a sudden, you know, McLaren is the fastest, or Ferrari is up there, or even Red Bull, you know, with Max. So that’s why it’s really important to just take every opportunity, focus race by race, and then obviously also George is in great form now, so just need to level up.