Oracle Red Bull Racing and Visa Cash App RB quotes after the race at the Miami Grand Prix.
May 5, 2024
Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen missed out on a fifth race victory from six Grands Prix so far in 2024 at the Miami Grand Prix, but left the Florida event with an extended lead in the Formula One Drivers’ Standings after finishing second behind debut winner Lando Norris of McLaren.
Starting from pole position after topping both the sprint race and qualifying on Saturday at the hot and sticky Miami International Autodrome, Verstappen lead the early stages of the 57-lap Grand Prix. After Norris assumed the lead during a Safety Car period however, Verstappen battled balance issues and couldn’t match Norris’s late-race pace, settling for second place behind the British driver, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the final podium position.
Oracle Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Pérez also struggled with the balance of the RB20 and finished in fifth place, allowing Verstappen to extend his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Standings over the Mexican to 35 points.
Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda delivered one of of the drives of the day to steer his VARCB 01 into the points with a season’s-best seventh place finish, following Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth place finish in the sprint to complete a strong weekend for the team. Tsunoda’s finish also helped to move him up into the top 10 in the Drivers’ Standings.
QUOTES
Oracle Red Bull Racing
MAX VERSTAPPEN – 2nd
“Ultimately today we were not quick enough. The safety car did not help us, but we still had plenty of opportunities to win the race and unfortunately we lacked pace. When we took the car back to the garage, we also found that the floor was damaged and had a hole in, which could have been picked up from hitting the cone. We also struggled with the tyres and balance of the car all weekend and I never felt too comfortable in the car. In the high speed I was understeering and we also struggled a lot with the grip with the tyres. It wasn’t our best weekend and it really shows that everything needs to work well to win races and it is not as easy as people might think. However, I’m happy for Lando. Your first win is always emotional and he drove a great race: it was a long time coming and he deserved it today.”
SERGIO PÉREZ – 5th
“Overall it was quite a tricky race, especially at the start, when I went down the inside and ended up narrowly avoiding Max. There was no grip at all, which we hadn’t expected and I ended up losing a place to Piastri and damaged my tyres for the first stint. Basically, everything was running a little too hot and I was struggling to get through the people ahead, as we lacked pace today. We were struggling on both mediums throughout the race. We came back a little bit towards the end, but I couldn’t get into the rhythm until late in the race. We knew Mclaren were very, very strong this weekend and we just didn’t have their pace oday at the front. We made some changes overnight, that, in hindsight, were not in the right direction, so we’ll need to debrief from this weekend to come back for Imola.”
Visa Cash App RB
YUKI TSUNODA – 7th
“Very happy, what a great job by the team. It’s been an incredible week in which we scored in both races. We kind of expected we would have a good performance here, but the most important thing is that we achieved it. As a team, we stuck to our plan and didn’t make any mistakes today. As for me, overall, I’m happy with my driving even though I made a mistake at the start. I reset myself and kept going, and especially in the last stint ,where I was just driving by myself, I was pushing and able to achieve similar lap times to the cars in front. The team developed a great car and I appreciate them a lot. The amount of push from the factory is incredible and, in the end, we were able to score well-deserved points.
“We were able to progress quickly from the start of the season, so I’m looking forward to the future. The next race in Imola is kind of another home race for me, so I hope we’ll be able to continue our rhythm and achieve a good result in front of our home crowd, especially people from the factory. Everyone is doing a fantastic job and we’ll definitely keep pushing!”
DANIEL RICCIARDO – 15th
“Entering the race you always have some optimism, but yesterday’s quali hurt and, unfortunately, I think was the shape of today’s race. We were stuck in traffic in the race and were simply not quick enough to come through the field. When we were surrounded by the other cars and fighting with them, we struggled a lot to use our pace compared to what we did yesterday in the Sprint with the clean air. Compared to other cars, I think that with our setup we were quite down on straight-line speed. I couldn’t do anything and was stuck behind them. We’ll definitely be looking into it in our debrief, but generally, we know that we have to qualify better, like I did on Friday, which has also been the mirror of yesterday’s Sprint. Taking the positives, the team leaves Miami very happy; I had a good Sprint-qualifying and Sprint in the previous days, and Yuki also got some points today. I’m also genuinely happy for Lando, big congratulations to him. He is a rival but also a friend. I know how talented he is and I knew it was just a matter of time for him to take his first win.”
GUILLAUME DEZOTEUX – Head Of Vehicle Perfomance
“Yuki drove a brilliant race and added six points to the bag for a total of 12 here in Miami! This is an amazing result, which rewards the huge amount of work the entire team put together since the start of the season. We arrived here with a good update for the car and we have been able to make the most of the opportunities which appeared in the course of the weekend, in the Sprint with Daniel and the race with Yuki.
“We went long with Yuki in the first stint and decided to not react to Hulkenberg, who pitted on Lap 12. When the Safety Car came out, we were in the ideal position to take it and attack the second part of the race with a new set of hard tyres. A couple of laps after the Safety Car restart Yuki lost position to Hamilton, but he was able to keep Russel behind and create a comfortable gap to finish seventh. For the entire race, he was able to match Mercedes’ pace, which is encouraging and shows the progress the car is making. Daniel’s race was difficult as he spent most of it in traffic. Starting from the back would never be easy and despite being able to pit during the Safety Car period, he remained in a DRS train for the entire second stint. This is frustrating after the fantastic Sprint race he did yesterday and again, it shows how difficult things become when you end up in traffic and fights with many cars around. We will enjoy this fantastic result with our colleagues back at base and push hard to confirm our progress in our home race in two weeks’ time in Imola. Forza VCARB!”
LAURENT MEKIES – Team Principal
“In its third year, the Miami Grand Prix has established itself as a great event and the popularity of our sport continues to grow at an amazing rate in the USA. Here, alongside exciting track action, the fans are treated to a whole range of shows, concerts and events. We enjoyed contributing to the scene with our one-off livery, which was well-received by the fans.
“We came here with a few updates and they lived up to our expectations; our drivers played a huge part in extracting the car’s performance with a P4 for Daniel and P8 with Yuki at the end of the Sprint race yesterday. It was a great result for the team. I want to thank everyone once again in Faenza and Bicester for their continuous effort, striving for performance. It was particularly gratifying to see Daniel back in great form, demonstrating the skills and determination we know have always been there. Unfortunately, he started on the back foot today from P20. In the second stint, he got stuck in traffic and could not move up the order and had to settle for P15. As for Yuki, his fourth Q3 appearance out of six races this season underlines how consistently he is performing and today he underlined his maturity with an intelligent, yet aggressive and super quick drive from 10th on the grid to seventh at the flag. Excellent work!”