F1 2024 Miami Grand Prix Post-Race Press Conference Transcript

DRIVERS

1 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren) 

2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Jenson Button) 

Q: Lando Norris, how does it feel to be an F1 Grand Prix winner? Lando NORRIS: Oh wow. About time, huh? F***, sorry. What a race, huh? Yeah, it's been a long time coming, but finally I've managed to do it, so I'm so happy for my whole team. I finally delivered for them. And, yeah, long day, tough race, but finally on top, so I'm over the moon.

Q: It wasn't the most straightforward race for you, starting fifth, going back to sixth, and then having to fight your way through. Obviously, a little bit of luck with the Safety Car, but the pace was dominant at the end. It was really dominant. You must be proud.

LN: I am. I mean, the whole weekend's been good. I've just had some little setbacks along the way, but I knew on Friday we had the pace, and just a couple of mistakes here and there, but today we managed to put it together. We put the perfect strategy, it all paid off, so thanks to McLaren, everyone, and I have to give a shout-out to my mum and dad, of course.

Q: Amazing. Do you have a message for this team that obviously you've stuck by for a couple of years now, you've built together, you've grown into a race winner with McLaren?

LN: What do I say to them? I'm just proud, really. I mean, a lot of people, I guess, doubted me along the way. I've made a lot of mistakes over my last five years, my short career, but today we put it all together, so this is all for the team. I stuck with McLaren because I could believe in them, and I did believe in them, and today proved exactly that.

Q: We'll go and save it every moment. This is a memory you will have forever.

LN: It is indeed. Thank you so much, mate.

Q: Max, P2. This is the first time you've been beaten on track for over 20 races now. How does it feel? 

Max VERSTAPPEN: I mean, you win, you lose. I think we're all used to that in racing, right? But, yeah, today was just a bit tricky. I think already on the Mediums it didn't feel fantastic. We were pulling away, but not like it should be. And then once we made the pit stop, and I heard what lap times the McLarens were doing, I was like, ‘wow, that's pretty quick’. So yeah, once they then also switched on to the Hard tyre, they just had more pace. And especially Lando, he was flying. Yeah, it was incredibly difficult for us on that stint. But if a bad day is P2, I take it, right? And I'm very happy for Lando. It's been a long time coming. And it's not going to be his last one. He definitely deserves it today.

Q: So what was wrong with the balance? It sounded like you were struggling with understeer, getting the car to pivot, to turn.

MV: Yeah, I mean, understeer, oversteer, just very low grip on four wheels, and that's something that we have to understand.

Q: Does this feel like it's a true pace from these guys, that these guys are going to be able to challenge you from here on, or do you think it's a circuit-dependent?

MV: Yeah, I mean, they came with an upgrade. Yeah, for sure it looks like it works, right? So we have a bit of work to do from our side. I think definitely it wasn't our strongest weekend in terms of race pace, but we'll analyse it all and we'll try to come back stronger from it.

Q: Bad result, P2, not too bad. Well done, Max. Charles, so that was a very up and down race. The incident at the start with Checo flying past, how did you see that?

Charles LECLERC: Well, it was very tricky. Obviously, Checo was on my inside. I didn't have a great start. As soon as I left the clutch, I had wheel spin. I saw Checo on the right, but there was very little grip, so he locked up. And I thought we would crash, but fortunately for everybody, we all got out that first corner without any damage. Then it was all about trying to focus on ourselves, but today we're again missing a little bit of pace. But we did our best. Obviously, we have been unlucky with the Safety Car. The timing of the Safety Car wasn't great for us. Then we ended up having the oldest tyres of all the guys at the front. But we managed everything quite well. So P3 was the best we could do, and we should be satisfied with that.

Q: Yeah, normally when you're a couple of seconds off of Max, it's not a bad result, right? But when you've got a McLaren that far, with Lando in front, it's a little bit of a surprise.

CL: Yeah, well, first of all, I'm really happy for Lando. He deserves it. Very often, he arrived very close to it, but for one reason or another, he didn't make it. But today, he did an incredible job, and the whole weekend, he has been on it. And already in Q2, I think there was a lap where I was like, ‘OK, they are very, very strong’. And we were expecting them to be strong, maybe not as strong as what they've shown today, but he fully deserves it. And now it's up to us to hopefully bring the upgrades very quickly and catch up.

Q: Well, from a very difficult start on Friday, FP1 to a podium, it's not too bad.

CL: Yeah, it's not too bad.

PRESS CONFERENCE 

Q: Lando, but many congratulations. This victory has been a long time coming. Just how sweet did it feel up there on the top step of the podium?

LN: It felt incredible. I mean, it's a good crowd as well. The whole team are there. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I’m meant to say, honestly, but just a lot of smiling, a lot of cheers. A lot of hard work goes into a day like today. But just happiness, me smiling, which is not always the case. But yeah, I mean, I dream of these days sometimes and you never know when they're going to come towards you. But today was that day. So as much as my mind was going crazy and I was thinking a lot of things, I was also just quiet, you know. It was just a bit lonely out there at times and it's just nice to kind of reflect on everything you've done to get to that point.

Q: Does this feel like a weight off your shoulders?

LN: As much as I want to say no, it's a yes. To get that first victory is always incredible. And I've, of course, had my moments where we've been close, and I've never been able to convert it into the win. But I wasn't worried. As much as a lot of people doubted that I was going to be able to put it together and win a race, I wasn't worried. I've kind of been more confident than ever this year that I've got what it takes and the team have got what it takes and I was patient with it. I've just been doing my job and executing my races, executing my qualis, and doing what I can do best. And I knew my time was coming. I said it this morning. It's not often that I'm optimistic about things. But actually, all weekend, there's been something, you know? Like, already practice, qualis. We've been close. And we were very good on Friday. And there was kind of that spark. And we maybe lost it a little bit into Saturday. But today, it definitely came back and turned into a little fire. So yeah, it was an incredible race.

Q: You were sixth at the end of lap one. Did you still have that fire, that belief that you could win at that point?

LN: No. It was put out very quickly! I kind of had a little flashback to yesterday's Sprint race when I saw Sergio on the inside. I just thought, ‘OK, let's try to make it around Turn 1 for once’. So I took it easy. I knew we had good pace, and I knew was in it for the long game. I was behind Checo the whole of the first stint, but my pace at the end of the first stint was the best on track. And I could still see Max. And when you can see Max, there's hope. And it's not often that you can see Max on track. So I knew the whole time, even when I was back in sixth, that there could be opportunities, whether there was one Safety Car or something went my way. I was very quick at the end of the first stint. I kept my head down. We kept pushing. Everyone boxed from ahead of me, and I could just use all the pace that I had, which was a lot of it. And being able to go so long on the tyres, being able to have the pace I had, turned into that bit of luck, which I'll happily admit. Sometimes you've got to have a bit of luck on your side, and things have got to go your way, and I had that today. I'll take it happily. and yeah after the Safety Car I could kind of just get my head down and push on and I was confident I could take it from there.

Q: As you say the car was genuinely quick today. You had a raft of upgrades on it this weekend. Do you believe that you can challenge for wins on a regular basis now?

LN: I mean, I said at the beginning of the year we could win races. A lot of people doubted what I could say and the fact that I said that. I think they doubted that McLaren could win races. They doubted that I could win races. But I was confident. Deep down I knew that we had our time coming. So the team have done an amazing job. We weren't even into Q2 here last year. So now the fact we're on top, we've won a race, the team have done an insane job to kind of go from where we were to where we are now. And we've chipped away, especially the last couple of months. There's been a lot of hard work. And whenever you bring an upgrade, it's not easy to kind of just go out and execute and just show that it's better. But little things come together and when you have all these little bits coming together, it turns into a perfect day like it did today. So, of course, I have to say a big thanks to all of McLaren, everyone back in the factory, everyone that's here, because I doubt… It would have been a lot less likely that I won today without these upgrades and without the hard work that they've been putting into everything. So, I would like to say it's the start. And now I'm already hungry for more. But, yeah, we'll keep our heads down. We'll keep pushing and I'm sure we can be here a lot more often.

Q: Plans for this evening?

LN: I mean, I was meant to fly, but Zak just told me we fly tomorrow. I'm not going to sleep. I'm going all the way. I might have more than just a scratch on my nose tomorrow, so I don't care. But I'll enjoy my time. This only happens once when you're taking your first win. It's nice to do it here in Miami. I was kind of hoping it was going to be at Silverstone, but I'll try to do it there as well.

MV: It's definitely better here, mate, to go out!

LN: True. So tonight's going to be a good night.

Q: Have a great time. Very richly deserved. Max, coming to you now. Great job by you, but can we just start by getting a few words from you on Lando? Just how much does he deserve this win?

LN: Well, I think it was a long time coming, you know, and I'm very happy to be beaten by Lando today. He definitely deserved it. He was just miles faster at the end there. So, yeah, it's great. You know, winning your first race is always, I think, quite emotional. And, yeah, it brings you back to all the days that you worked towards Formula 1, and then you dream of being on the podium, but then being on the top step. So, yeah, of course, I'm not very happy with my day, but you can appreciate and respect what Lando has done today, and I'm very happy for him.

Q: Were you surprised by his pace today?

MV: Well, I mean, I didn't really see him in the beginning because I was more focused on Oscar behind and the Ferraris. But then I boxed and I heard the pace that he was doing on the used Mediums. I was like, ‘I mean, that's quite insane’. I mean, I would have never been able to do so. So I knew even if there wouldn't have been a Safety Car that when he would come out on fresh tyres that I would have had to push on quite a lot to be able to keep him behind. Then actually, I mean, the Safety Car came. Yeah, I mean... It's racing. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it works against you. And even with that Safety Car, we still had all the opportunities to win today, but we're clearly not quick enough after that Safety Car. And once I realised that, I just settled in and tried to come home in second.

Q: Tell us about the performance of your car. How did it compare today to the Sprint yesterday?

MV: I was just quite poor, I would say, in the race. But also, I never really felt comfortable the whole weekend with it. I think on the Medium it was still OK-ish, but on the Hard it was quite a disaster. I mean, just low grip, just very tricky balance in the low-speed. I couldn't really lean on the rear while in the high-speed I was understeering a lot. So when you have these two issues, you cannot also balance it out because you're chasing two different things. So yeah, just driving to the grip that I had and it was not a lot.

Q: Max, just two moments I wanted to ask you about. First of all, were you aware just how close Checo got to you at Turn 1?

MV: Yeah, I was very aware. I mean, I turned in and I saw him lock up. And I looked after the race. There was like a scratch on my diffuser. So something must have hit. But yeah, it was very close. Could have ended in a disaster, of course, for the team as well. So yeah, lucky.

Q: And just the second one was the cone at Turn 15. What happened there?

MV: I didn't like it, so I decided to take it out and test the durability of the front wing as well. So that's a crash test done. Yeah, there was no damage. The cone was out of the way for everyone, so it was basically a free-for-all after that.

Q: Thanks, Max. Well done today. Charles, come to you now. Can we just get a few words from you on the first win of Lando Norris?

CL: I'm just really happy for Lando. You know, as much as we all want to beat each other and to come out on top, it's always emotional to see so many emotions in one of your competitors. We have all grown up together. I mean, Max and myself were on the category above, but you always keep an eye on the younger categories. And I remember looking at Lando when he was in KF3, and we all had this same dream of being a Formula 1 driver one day. and then once you achieve that you want obviously the first win and I remember my first win and it is a very, very special moment. So I told him already that he needs to enjoy as much as possible but I don't have to tell him that, I'm sure that tonight will be a good night and he definitely deserves it.

Q: And on to your performance and that of Ferrari this weekend. You've qualified on the front row. You were just two seconds behind Max at the flag in the race. How much encouragement does that give you?

CL: Well, if we compare ourselves to Max this weekend, it's been a positive weekend. However, we cannot completely ignore Lando. And Lando in SQ2, I remember he did a lap where I was like, ‘OK, they are extremely quick’. Then for some reason, and as Lando said, I think they weren't as special on Saturday for some reason. But today they were really, really strong. As I've said many times, I think the season will be up to upgrades. We have ours coming very soon and that will define a little bit the rest of the season for us. So we've got to work hard and hopefully those upgrades will be as good as theirs and will help us to do a significant step forward.

Q: Can you just give us a date? When are those upgrades coming? Is it for Imola?

CL: It's soon.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR 

Q: (Alex Kalinauckas –Autosport) Lando, congratulations. I just wondered, can you talk us through the Safety Car restart against Max here to get a little bit defensive? And then how hard were you pushing for the rest of the race? It looked like, particularly in the first sector, you were able to take a chunk out of him but it was a bit closer later on. So is that where the car was particularly good? 

LN: Yeah, I mean, I've not done many Safety Car restarts from the front for a good amount of years. Yeah, just a bit rusty. That was all. I'll make sure I work on it a little bit more for next time. But yeah, as long as I defended well into Turn 1 and kept the lead in Turn 1, I was quite confident I could go from there. So the pace was good enough in the first stint. Maybe didn't look it at the very beginning, just because I was stuck behind a lot of cars. But having clean air, having fresher tyres as well, I could push and I was a little bit wary that Max normally is a bit slow off the mark and then all of a sudden clicks it into gear two and he's gone. But not today. So in a good way, I could just stay focused, keep the car on track, not make any mistakes and the car felt great. But I said already on Friday, it felt good. I was confident on Friday and today that kind of feeling came back to me a lot. It was good. A lot of Sundays recently have been strong. Just today we managed to step it up and turn it into something even more. But I was pushing. I wanted to go for a fastest lap on the last lap. But I was imagining Andrea on the pit wall, like, ‘no, Lando, please’. So, yeah, he was talking to me, but I just thought then just to take it home and take it easy. But until then, you know, I wanted to pull away, and I didn't want Max in the picture when I was over the line, and I don't think he was. So that was job done. So happy with that.

Q: (Marijn Abbenhuis – AD Sportwereld) Question to Lando. Have you been thinking about Russia ‘21 in the last part of the race? Were you already celebrating or did you try to celebrate? Did you think about something going wrong, like it went then? 

LN: Russia ‘21 was a very, very different situation to today. A lot of people talk crap about Sochi and the things which went on. And yes, I potentially lost out on a victory. I did lose out on a victory. I and we. I never want to drag the team down but I didn't do the best of jobs and as a team we didn't. So that happened. And as much as people, yeah, like to continue to use that and say, even after China last weekend when I made a mistake in Turn 1 on Lewis… Yeah, I mean a lot of people doubted that I could go out and win races and perform under the pressure of leading the race, especially with Max behind you and those types of things, but really this year I felt more confident than ever. I wasn't thinking of these things. Like, probably last year would have thought of it. But this year I've been much better with just kind of keeping my mind focused and focusing on my job. I'm doing a good job. I'm fast and I'm executing things exactly how I want to do. I've improved on a lot of my weaknesses and all that hard work has paid off. So no, I wasn't thinking of that thing. So I was smiling. And I was thinking like, how am I going to celebrate? What am I going to say? I'm not very good at kind of just coming up with these things and improvising when that situation comes. So I was rehearsing my lines. But when I went over the line, I just turned into something else. I don't know what it is. It's just you're just happy. So my voice hurts a little bit. My throat hurts. Yeah, you just forget about it. You don't really care what you're thinking of. You're just looking at the track. You're focusing on that. And once you cross the line, then you just let go. Thank you. 

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lando, congratulations. Have you spoken to your mum and dad yet and their reaction, please? And you also mentioned your nan, I think, or your grandma. Can you tell us a little bit about that, please? 

LN: Yeah, I spoke to my mum and my dad already, which is always nice because they're the ones… Normally my dad comes to the races, but not today, so I'm sure he's regretting that just a little bit. But, yeah, I mean, my parents have been so supportive. You know, they're the ones who are with you from the start. They allowed everything to happen. They're the ones that got me into racing, supported me, and allowed me to get to Formula 1, reach my dream, and do what I've loved to do since I was a kid. And I'm very fortunate for everything that they've done and the position they've allowed me to be in. So you just have these flashbacks of every moment, you know, like... I just remember now being at a racetrack for the very first time in my life when I was five, six years old. My brother, my dad, and me just standing there and watching and just seeing the cars go by, to today, like being on top of the podium. So you think of those moments, and therefore, of course, I want to speak to my mum and dad, first of all, because you shared all those moments with them. And I just say a big thanks. And for my grandma, because she's not been so well lately. I saw her last week, and I told her that I was going to win a race. I didn't say when. I just said I was going to win a race. And I didn't think it would be coming this soon. So I'm just very happy that I was able to do it as quickly as I did. 

Q: (Scot Mitchell-Malm – The Race) Lando, you kind of did a pretty emphatic take down of that narrative that exists a little bit about the fact that you hadn't won a race until now. From Sochi until now, do you think there have been any opportunities where you didn't get the maximum out of it to convert it into a win? Because you had so many races where you did get the most out of the car, but it was only good enough for second because Max was still winning. 

LN: Yep. There was one, one opportunity, and this was Qatar last year. To win the main race was maybe a bit more of an ask. I think Max, I don't know what Max’s gap to Oscar and I was like five seconds, six seconds, I think. So you can't go against that and put that ever away. But as a Sprint race, the Sprint race was the loss. I don't know if there was a main race that I've missed out on, to be honest. And that's obviously the more valuable one, the one that means a lot more to you. So I kind of want to say no. I kind of want to say I don't think there was a Sunday where I've thrown stuff away. I've thrown away maybe a podium or a P2, but I think every opportunity where I've been there to try and take a win, I've been there. There's a couple of times when I've been blocked to those opportunities. One was Singapore last year, and Carlos took it. And another one was Australia this year, where the two Ferraris were ahead. Apart from that, there wasn't a Sunday. And as much as people want to say there was this and that and, yeah, Russia and whatever it was, Qatar, there wasn't a Sunday. I've missed out on a win because of something I've done wrong. There were pole positions. There was a Sprint race win. But nothing more than that. And I think that's why I never lost faith. I never didn't believe in what I could go out and do. So happy to put that to bed and prove a lot of these people wrong because, yeah. As much as I love to see it and I go on Instagram and I like all the comments of people abusing me, I freaking love it. It makes me smile more than anything, especially Lando No-wins. That's become the thing. And yeah, for me to finally prove those people wrong and prove to people that didn't think I could go out and do it, it's put an even bigger smile on my face today. So I thank all of them.

Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) It's one question to Max and then one to Max and Lando. Max, Christian Horner just said that in the turn 15 moment, you picked up what he called significant damage to the floor. Yet, if I heard you correctly in the beginning, you didn't feel any damage. Does it mean that you didn't feel any change to the card? And the second question to both Max and Lando is, if you guys feel, given the good pace on Hard, that McLaren also could have had a shot at victory without a free pit stop. Thank you.

MV: It didn't feel different, so I don't know. Maybe it was already damaged. I don't know. I mean I hit that thing and then my pace was the same so I didn't really know if there was damage. 

LN: Point two? 

MV: I didn't even listen to point two, to be honest. What was that?

Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) Do you feel Lando also could have won the race without a free pit stop, given how quick he was on the Hard tyre?

MV: I don't know what the gap was, to be honest, before the Safety Car. How far were you behind me?

LN: It would have been tough. I would have had to overtake two Ferraris, a Red Bull, Oscar. Oscar was doing a very good job, so hats off to him…

MV: I mean, it's always if, if, if, right?  If my mum had balls, she would be my dad. So, yeah. I mean, it's how it goes to racing. Sometimes it works out for you, sometimes it doesn't.

Q: (Sahil Kapur – NBC News) Lando, congrats on the win. Can I ask you, right after that initial Safety Car period, how hard were you pushing to keep Max off your gearbox? At what point did it hit you that you were going to win? And given everything you just told us, how difficult was it those last 10 laps to keep those thoughts, maybe something goes wrong, out of your head? 

LN: Yeah. I had to push fairly hard just for a lap. And then I could kind of relax a little bit. I had fresher tyres, my pace was very good in clean air and Max was for the first time all race not in clean air, so I had the advantage and I could control things fairly well. I pushed for the first bit, my engineer was giving me updates on the gap and I felt like I was cruising and extending the gap and I didn't feel like I had to do anything more. I don't know, I'm shivering like hell, because I wanted to keep all my champagne on me and now I'm freaking cold. So yeah, I didn't have to push too much for the first lap or two and then I could kind of cruise and be fairly comfortable. I was still pushing, because I wanted to open the gap, like I said. And, of course, your mind wanders a bit. My mind does. Maybe not everyone's does. But, yeah, you know, walls get close sometimes, and you have those little moments where you think, ‘OK, don't screw it up’. But I also was improving my laps and kind of getting quicker and quicker every lap, so I had a lap time to focus on. And, like, I wanted to go to kind of getting those fastest laps in. I don't know if I did or not, but I had something to focus on and that took my mind away from thinking of the wrong things and therefore was all okay.

Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Lando, congratulations. You said you were thinking about rehearsing your lines on the radio. You did mention, Lando No-wins on your cool-down lap. So was that meme culture, that thing that had emerged, on your mind in those closing stages? And secondly, what do the comments from Max, from Charles, the other drivers coming to you in part for me mean to you as well? Because there was clearly a lot of respect for you. 

LN: Yeah. I'll start with that. I think there's always one thing I try to keep. And as much as I... Sometimes I think everyone maybe doesn't talk the best of other people because of certain situations. You're under pressure. You're racing people. People crash into you. You get frustrated. And of course, you're going to say things, things that people don't like, things that others do. One thing I've always had and I will always have is respect for the people I race against, as much as, yeah, sometimes things make you not want to have it. I've always had respect for everyone I race against, from the top to the bottom of every category that I've gone through since karting, I've always had respect for my competitors and the people I raced against. And I've always said that. So as much as when you put the helmet on, you hate them, and you want to beat them, and you don't care who's who, I've always had respect for the people I've raced against. So when anyone comes up [to me], especially people who have achieved a lot, because it always means a little bit more. So when Lewis, Fernando, Max, Charles, Carlos, whenever they come up to you or people have good words for you, I appreciate those things a lot. Because from these people, it means something. Maybe from others, it doesn't. And yeah, from these people, they're the people who know what it takes to achieve these types of things for the work, the time, the effort that goes into doing something like this. So, yeah, I guess thanks to them and thanks to everyone who supports me and has that kind of similar respect that I do for them back. I appreciate those types of things. The other point was my lines. Yeah, so... I mean, you're always going to have people that don't support you and people that do. When you're out there on the podium and I do my in lap, there's a lot of people out there cheering you on and waving and congratulating. So I thank all of them. Of course, the people I keep closest to me, my team, my engineers, my manager, my trainer, my family, those are the people whose words you always take. as something more meaningful. And anyone can say what they want. I'm always for that. People don't need to like me. They don't need to support me. I'm not always asking for those types of things. But yeah, when people doubt me in certain situations, yeah you want to prove them wrong. You want to go out and prove them wrong. They think they know what they're talking about and when you prove that they don't, then that's a nice thing to go out and do. So, yeah not like a dig at anyone. I wanted to say like the Valtteri line ‘to whom it may concern’, but I was like ‘ that's copyrighted’, so I didn't want to repeat it but it's just nice to just go out there and do my job and show people what I'm capable of.

Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Congratulations, Lando. You've said in the past you are a glass half full type of person and various other references to that sort of mindset. So I'm wondering, is this finally a full glass moment for you, is it? And would you consider this… Can you enjoy this as the greatest moment of your career? 

LN: Absolutely. I don't know what it's full of… Probably like some hard liquor. It will be tonight. I've always enjoyed my moments of, you know, I have my times when I'm happy with what I'm able to go out and do. I'm just one of those guys that I'm not happy when I know I've not done the job I'm capable of doing. And today shows what I'm capable of doing. I think all year I've done a very good job. And I've worked hard and I've eliminated and got rid of a lot of my weaknesses. Yeah, like I'm still going to be that guy. I don't think that's going to change. I'm still going to be glass half full because for me, that's what works for me. That's my mindset. Everyone has their own way of doing things, their own approach, their own way that they talk to themselves and think of how can I approach today? How can I go out and do the best job? For me, it's... talking down at myself and kind of putting myself down because for me that's what works and I'm fine with that like I don't need other people to be happy with it and for other people to agree with it. It's what's best for me and it's what works best is what's made me who I am and I think that's uh my best way of going forward. So I'm going to have my days when the glass is full and I can be happy and I'm proud of myself. Everyone's going to have those days and everyone should have those days. But in order to make myself the best man, the best driver, I have my way of doing things and I stick to that.

Q: (Emily Selleck – Daily Mail) Another one for Lando, please. I'm wondering if you can get your reaction to having Donald Trump in the garage before the race. 

LN: Yeah. I didn't see him in the garage, to be honest. I was busy prepping for the race. But he saw me after, and he came up to congratulate me. So I guess an honour, because whenever you have someone like this, it has to be an honour for them to come up to you, to take time out of their life, to pay their respect for what you've done. He said he was my lucky charm because it's my win. So I don't know if he's going to come to more races now. But yeah, there's a lot of special people or cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you got to have a lot of respect for in many ways. And yeah, for anyone like that who acknowledges what you can go out and do and acknowledges the work ethic that goes into things, you got to be thankful for that. And I was. So yeah, a cool moment. And that's all.

ENDS