“It’s 99% show and 1% sport”: the strong phrases of the Formula 1 year

“Come on, just one more qualifying session (in Abu Dhabi) and this car will be finished.” Lewis Hamilton after qualifying in Brazil, the penultimate grand prix of the season, to sarcastically sum up all the love he has given to his car this season

“Some people like glitter, I’m not like that at all. I enjoy being in Vegas, but not for a competition. Afterwards, whether I like it or not, they still make money, so my opinion has little importance. But I'm not going to pretend. It’s 99% show and 1% sport.” Faithful to his traditional outspokenness, Max Verstappen was not kind to the American event, even if his great victory on Sunday then (a little) made him change his mind.

“Any time there is an Alpine behind you, you have to be very careful.” Fernando Alonso, at the end of the sprint race in Brazil, did not miss the opportunity to tackle his former team, and his ex-teammate Esteban Ocon.

“We saw it with Russell, he had an accident on the last lap trying to get second and the media didn't talk about it too much. All it takes is for this to happen to you at Red Bull for you to have three hundred media outlets saying your wheel should be taken away. But it's something common in F1, and I think being Mexican has a huge influence on that." Sergio Pérez, who returned to the error in George Russell's last lap in Singapore, and the possible racism of which he would be the victim because of his Mexican origins.

“During years at Renault, how many times have I heard in the corridors of the headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt, that F1 was a simple sport that could be managed from home by existing men. [...] Laurent Rossi is the best example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, that of an incapable leader who thinks he can overcome his incompetence through his arrogance and his lack of humanity towards his troops." In the columns of L'Equipe, Alain Prost was not kind to Laurent Rossi, the former general manager of Alpine who arrived in July 2023.

“You have to realize that no one is more upset, angry or unhappy about the situation than everyone who works at Maranello. We are the first to not like the situation, and we are the ones who do everything to rectify it. And sometimes the comments are more of a distraction and drag us down even more instead of helping us. Because it’s also our ego, our performance.” At the start of the season, Carlos Sainz Jr. did not hide his lack of attraction to criticism in the media concerning Scuderia Ferrari.