Team Talk - Sunday in Mexico

Toro Rosso

Brendon Hartley, Toro Rosso, Mexican Grand Prix

Pierre Gasly
"It was good to finally drive on this track after a very tough weekend where I completed very few laps before today! Unfortunately, the race wasn't as good as we wanted it to be – it took me a couple of laps to get used to the track and the car, but at least I continued to gain experience in the car, which was very useful, and go to the end of the race. We will now need to work hard and keep on improving for the next race weekend in Brazil."

Brendon Hartley
"It's always disappointing not to finish a race, so I'm not the happiest man today but I'm still smiling because I've made progress compared to last week in Austin. It's just a shame that the race was cut short and it's been quite a tough weekend: issues on Friday, I then couldn't make progress in yesterday's Q2 once the engine went and in today's race I lost power at the end of the straight line, then saw the white smoke and was asked to stop... It would've been good to get to the end of the race because I was enjoying all the battles! I now look forward to the next couple of races, hopefully things will go smoother than today, get to the end of the race and see where we end up!"

Franz Tost, team principal
"First of all, I'd like to congratulate Max and Red Bull for this fantastic victory here in Mexico. Regarding our weekend, it's been a difficult one for us, as we didn't have any trouble-free practice sessions. We had Power Unit failures every day and therefore we couldn't prepare the cars in a proper way. With all the penalties, we had to start from the back of the grid and from there it's very difficult to overtake and score points. Nevertheless, I must say that both Brendon and Pierre have done a good job – we have to take into consideration that they are new to the team and they were not able to complete as many laps as we had planned at the start of the weekend...They definitely made the best out of this situation! Regarding Brendon's retirement, we spotted a very high oil consumption and, actually, some oil went into the exhaust, causing its failure. Let's now think of the next round in Brazil, where we hope to have an easier weekend."