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Lewis Hamilton: “I owe these 92 victories to the team here at the racetrack and in the factories for all their hard work. They are constantly innovating, pushing the limits, and raising the bar every year. It is an absolute privilege to work with this team and I am very grateful for all these moments. Reliability was fantastic, many thanks to the Mercedes team, Petronas and all of our partners who keep pushing us forward. Nobody is built on success, everyone keeps giving everything. This is the best environment one could wish for: you are inspired by this collaboration, which is absolutely unique. Today was tough. It was all about tire temperature and I managed it with the setup, I got ahead of myself. Before the race it was said that it would only rain after the end of the race, but there were some descents at the start and at the beginning of turn 7 I had a lot of oversteer and didn’t know how I was going to go. That is why I have cut a lot. I should have defended myself against Valtteri, but I told myself that he would come later and luckily I made it. Formula 1 is an incredibly physically demanding sport and I had a cramp in my right calf. That’s why I had to lift the fastball relatively frequently. It was painful, but I had to go through it because it couldn’t be changed and I couldn’t lift the entire loop. In my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have imagined being where I am today. I didn’t have a crystal ball when I decided to join this team and join these fantastic people. But I can assure you that I try to make the most of it every day. We pull in the same direction in everything we do and that is why we have these successes. It’s great that my dad, my stepmom Linda, and Roscoe are here today. I feel happy and blessed. It will take some time to process everything. I gave it my all to the finish line and I am still mentally in career mode. I just have no words. “
Toto Wolff: «92 wins: Who would have thought it when we started this project in 2013? That’s an almost surreal number of wins. Lewis puts his passion, his energy and everything in this sport. Their talent and skills stand out. This year I noticed for the first time that Lewis deliberately improved himself over the weekends. He is very autonomous, learns a lot, understands the tires for the race and was in a comfortable position for the first laps at the start of the race. Then he took a step forward and suddenly had an incredible pace. He has already done it a few times. It put pressure and put Valtteri in a worse position on the tires. He’s very good at strategy. The first few laps were a lot of fun. It was great to see McLaren warm up their tires really well when they started on the soft tires. You could hear the clamor of the crowd as Sainz took the lead. Sport needs something like that. I was happy to catch up, but I like this situation. Today was a very good day. I don’t know where I will celebrate today because we currently live as hermits, but I am flying home to see my wife and son. I’m sure we could have a drink or two for dinner. “
Valtteri Bottas: «The starting lap was really good. It was drizzling a bit and conditions were tough as a result. Therefore, cars with soft tires had an advantage. But he was happy to take the initiative. I must admit, however, that after that I didn’t have the rhythm. Unfortunately, I still don’t know why that was, it just had no rhythm. I tried to defend myself against Lewis as he got closer, of course, but there was nothing I could do about it. Like I said, I don’t know where my rhythm has gone today. I gave it my all, but it couldn’t be faster. Later in the race, I was hoping to extend my first period and switch to soft tires at the end. But I don’t think that would have changed the end result today. It was a difficult race for me and I will work hard with the team to find out why this was the case and come back stronger next year at Imola. “
