INDIA in F1

Category: India In F1

  • Too early to predict the direction F1 takes with the arrival of Liberty Media: Bob Fernley

    Too early to predict the direction F1 takes with the arrival of Liberty Media: Bob Fernley

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), David RYAN (Manor), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    A question to all of you, we asked the other team principals the same question in Singapore, your thoughts on the arrival of Liberty Media in Formula One, what it means for the sport, and in particular what it means for the smaller and medium-sized teams?

    Robert FERNLEY: I met Chase Carey for the first time, I found him extremely approachable and willing to listen, but I think it’s far too early to make any predictions of where things are going to go or even opinions on that. I think they need time to be able to look at where they are going and what plans they have for Formula One and then once they make their announcements on the direction they want to go I think then maybe we can make some comments but it’s too early to judge at this point.

    David?

    David RYAN: Well, I’ve never met the guy, so I can’t really comment from that point of view. I know what I’ve read, which is the same as the rest of you. Really, it’s a case of waiting. I’m sure that he didn’t buy into it not to make any changes and I wait to see what happens and see how it all pans out, but I’m sure it’s all good news.

    And Franz, your thoughts, particularly with reference to the medium-sized and smaller teams?

    Franz TOST: First of all, congratulations to Liberty Media for this fantastic deal, because Formula One in the meantime is a very well known trademark all over the world, thanks to Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley – they have done a fantastic job over the last 40 years. I assume that Liberty Media, as they belong to a very financially strong group, have a quite clear programme and plan of what they want to do with Formula One. Personally, I hope that Formula One will become much more interesting in America, that we will hopefully have three races over there – one on the east coast, one in Austin and one on the west coast – and I expect that especially on the media side they will work on our weak platform, the digital media and social media, and then for the smaller teams, from 2021 onwards, the money is being distributed in a much fairer way and equal to the teams and last but not least, together with the FIA, they will find a way to reduce costs in Formula One.

    OK. Eric, obviously McLaren is not a smaller team, but your thoughts on the above?

    Eric BOULLIER: Well, at McLaren we are very positive about the arrival of Liberty. They are used managing big business, connecting fans to media, so we believe it’s good for Formula One. At the same time, I think they will take their time to understand the business, where they want to bring the business, the show, the entertainment, to which level. We will see what they suggest and plan.

    OK. Moving on Eric, tell us about the strategy around the updated Honda power unit this weekend and looking forward to next weekend in Suzuka. It seems to perform quite well today in the back of Fernando Alonso’s car, what’s decision on Jenson Button and where is this power unit improved?

    EB: It’s mainly reliability-driven, so it’s a reinforced block and a few things on the engine. There is a possibility to exploit the PU a little bit better, but it’s not definitely right… not just pure power on top. So it’s mainly reliability-driven. I think we are happy with today, we did a lot of miles with no issue at all, so it’s just a green light for the future, for the end of the season. And as far as Jenson is concerned, when the mileage of his PUs reach the limit we will swap the engine.

    That won’t be this weekend.

    EB: No, not this weekend.

    Thank you. Robert coming to you, Williams’ Rob Smedley recently said that his team should not get too hung up on its battle with Force India for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, but what’s your team’s stance? Are you diverting resource to continue to develop this car to make sure you get that P4 finish?

    RF: No, not at all. Our focus in terms of the design side is on the ’17 car and has been for some while. But I think there is more to come out of the ’16 package from a track engineering point of view and we continue to get performance out of it every week and as long as that happens we can hopefully take the battle to Williams all the way.

    Thank you. Coming to you Dave, Esteban Ocon was here yesterday, saying in the Drivers’ Press Conference that it’s been quite tough to come into Formula One halfway through the season. So how do you, as the boss, assess his performance relative Wehrlein’s, given that Haryanto outqualified Wehrlein several times?  

    DR: I think Esteban is quite right. To arrive part way through the season into a team that has been developing along with Pascal is a big ask. We haven’t helped the situation because he hasn’t had the best of reliability up until now. But the kid’s fantastic. He’s got a fantastic attitude, he’s got huge potential and together with him and Pascal it’s a great driving line-up.

    Q: Franz, we heard again here yesterday in the drivers’ conference Dany Kvyat saying he’s rediscovered his love for Formula One after the performance, the drive in Singapore last time out. How good a performance do you feel it was and is there still time for him to retain his seat for next year?

    Franz TOST: He showed in Singapore a very good performance and it’s good to hear that he still loves Formula One, especially if he is driving for Toro Rosso. Daniil Kvyat is a high-skill driver, you know this because there’s a reason behind that he won the GP3 European Championship, and the way how he won it. He lost it a little bit in the last months but fortunately he is coming back. I hope that he will also do for the rest of the season good races that he shows his talent and his potential – and then we will see what happens in the future.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) I’ve got a question for all of you please. One of the things that we have heard about the change in ownership is the potential introduction of a franchise system. I was wondering both what your individual opinions were and, if they differ from your owner or boards opinion, what the official stance was on the potential of a franchise operation?

    Robert?

    RF: I think… I mean the devil is always in the detail Kate, and I think we have to wait again and see what they’re proposing in terms of how the franchise is going to work up or whether it’s either going to be a full franchise program. But I think something that is giving Formula One stability, more importantly I think something that is anchoring the teams into Formula One, because it takes four or five years to build a team and whilst owners do come and go, the teams tend to be the same teams being transferred. I think it would be very, very good for the teams to have that stability and that security going forward. If the owner comes in and they perform well, then hopefully he or she can make a profit. If they don’t, then they take a small loss. It’s part of the trading. But I think it is a different view for Formula One and one that we should look at very positively.

    David?

    DR: Actually I think Bob put it very well and I support that view. I’ve heard lots of different approaches they’re going to take but until we get something firmly on the table, I can’t really comment. Bob’s view is correct.

    Franz?

    FT: I think it’s quite early days to discuss this and to think about this. We will see then, it’s a decision of Red Bull whether they buy shares on it or not and for the rest we will see.

    And Eric.

    EB: It’s difficult to have a strong opinion at this stage, y’know? Just based on the word ‘franchise’. We need to see the details of what they want to achieve. We don’t have yet the full picture, so I can’t have a strong opinion on this obviously. I think yes, what Bob said is true. If everything is happier in a better world everybody will be happy. Today I don’t know what’s going on, what’s going to happen yet.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Bob, it’s a year virtually to the day since you and Sauber registered a complaint with the EU Commission in Brussels. First of all I’d like to know some progress to date in the past year but before we do that, I’m now advised from Brussels that you and Sauber are possibly looking at filing some complaint in the US as well, an anti-trust complaint. If you could comment on that as well please and give us some idea of the progress. And then the other three, have you received requests for information from the commissioner in connection with this particular case.

    RF: Yes, let’s… probably start from the beginning I think Dieter is the easiest one. Yes, we have put the complaint, that’s common knowledge, I think about a year ago, it has gone through due process and I can confirm it has gone to next level in terms of a request for further information from the EU. Who those have been sent to, I don’t know. From our point of view, because we’re in legal process with them, we can’t say anything about what we’re doing – but I can confirm it is at that stage from an EU point of view. With regard to your question on the US legal matters, I think, you know, it’s not appropriate for us to discuss something where we’re getting legal advice. It’s probably a bit speculative – but for sure everything is still on the table from our side. We are very, very committed to challenging what we believe is a very anti-competitive system with these bi-lateral agreements. Whatever it takes to deliver that, we will certainly look at.

    And the second part of the question, to the other three, have you been requested any information from the EU? Eric?

    EB: No.

    Franz?

    FT: No

    David?

    DR: Not that I’m aware of.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Gentlemen, the provisional calendar for next year is another 21 races. The new owners of Formula One are on record saying they want to add more races. At what point do you have to start rotating crew and would you have to add staff or is there enough back at home to do that?

    EB: I think we are at the limit already so if there would be more races, we would have to have a rotating system with staff people. And no, we don’t have reserve people back in the factory so that means we would have to hire some people.

    FT: That’s the same. I think that 20/21 races is quite a good number and if additional races come onto the calendar we also would have to think of a rotating system to bring in more people, because otherwise it’s difficult to handle everything but if we have more races, we also have more income and therefore it shouldn’t be a problem. In the end, there must be a profit for the teams otherwise it doesn’t make sense.

    DR: I go back to the days when we had 14 races and that was too many so… Twenty-one feels like it’s too many but if they’re talking 25 races…  Dan, I guess it depends what the package is. Maybe they are two-day events, maybe it’s a different format. Again, until we know what they really are asking for or what they’re thinking of, it may be that it works or not. We just have to wait and see.

    RF: Same as Eric. We would need to increase the personnel significantly to be able to bring in reserves.

    Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Bob, in Singapore Sergio said that he felt sure that his contract would be organised by the time we got to Malaysia. Now he’s saying if it doesn’t happen by Japan, he’s going to look elsewhere. Can you give us some insight into what the hold-up is? Is it the commercial aspect, sponsorship aspect of the contract or is there something else?

    RF: No, there’s nothing else. The driver contracts have been completed for quite some time, as you know. Vijay announced that some time ago and it’s literally dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on the commercial side and if it takes a week, that’s wonderful, if it takes a couple of weeks, so be it. It’ll happen, we’re very confident that Checo will be with us next year. I don’t think we ever deviated from that.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Eric, there’s a report in Autosport this week that Honda are expanding their facilities in the UK in preparation or possible preparation for a second team. The way that I understand it McLaren needs to approve this. Is it something that McLaren’s in favour of? Would McLaren like to see a second team and what sort of level of development are we at given that you’re partners?

    EB: Well, we had a position in the past, obviously, where we both agree with Honda that it would be better to focus on us, on one team. As you know, the regulations have changed as well. In the future there will be some obligation for an engine manufacturer, and I think that at some stage it’s going to be interesting for maybe Honda and the McLaren-Honda package as well to have another team but we don’t know when, so we see this as them just making themselves ready with the possibility in the future that it can happen but so far we are still one team and focused on McLaren.

    Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Just to follow up to that question to the other three: it’s clearly too late for 2017 but would you be interested in a Honda supply and how soon could that happen?

    FT: We have a Renault contract.

    DR: I think we’ve got the best engine on the grid in our car at the moment so we’re fairly OK with that.

    RF: We’re also committed through to 2020 with our engine supplier and have a very strong relationship with Mercedes.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

    Bob Fernley (top row left) of Force India at the Friday Press Conference in Sepang. An FIA image
    Bob Fernley (top row left) of Force India at the Friday Press Conference in Sepang. An FIA image
  • Definitely we aim for 4th place and we are working hard for it: Hulkenberg

    Definitely we aim for 4th place and we are working hard for it: Hulkenberg

    DRIVERS – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Esteban OCON (Manor), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Nico HULKENBERG (Force India), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Jenson let’s start with you. Your 300th grand prix, only the third driver to do it, it’s a big number. What does your place in Formula One history mean to you?

    Jenson BUTTON: That’s a good question that deserves a very long answer and I’m not going to give it to you here. It means I have been around for a hell of a long time. I remember when Rubens got to 300 – it was unbelievable that he’d reached 300 grands prix. I was like, “I’m never going to race for that long”. I remember when I started in 2000 – I’m not going to give you my life story – but when I started in 2000 I remember speaking to my dad and he said: “How long do you think you’re going to race for?” and I said: “No! I’ll be done by the time I’m 30 years old.” And here I am at 36 and this weekend I’m starting my 300th grand prix. It definitely sucks you in, Formula One. It doesn’t let go for a long time, as long as you are performing. So it’s been a great ride to 300. Lots of ups and downs, as every career will have, and the important thing is that you stay on top of those bad times and you enjoy the good times as much as you can, because you never know how long they are going to last. A very exciting career to this point, 300 races, and if any of these guys can achieve it around me, fair play to them, because it’s a long time doing the same thing.

    Now, Honda have said, going into this weekend, they’re going to review whether to use updated power units, presumably with tokens used, during the weekend at some point. What will be the decisive factors and what would you personally like to do from a strategic point of view looking at this race and at their home grand prix in Suzuka?

    JB: Obviously they don’t want to take any penalties in Suzuka, which is completely understandable. It’s basically our second home race. Here – I can’t speak for the other car – but I personally won’t be having a penalty. It will be a normal weekend for me.

    OK, that’s very clear, thank you very much for that. Nico Hulkenberg, coming to you, Force India are now fourth in the Constructors’ and have outscored Williams 39 to 19 in the last five races. Is there a belief in the team that you can beat them at the end of the season?   

    Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah, absolutely, of course. We’re doing well, especially since Barcelona the second half has been quite successful. The scores and the points back that up. But obviously there is still a long way to go. For us we definitely aim for and target that’s fourth place, but Sunday night in Abu Dhabi, that’s when we count everything and that’s when we have to be ahead. Now it’s a tight margin, they’re not going to give it to us for free. We have to work for it and yeah, make it work.

    Let’s throw that same question to Felipe. Is that scoring ratio causing concerns internally at Williams and how are you addressing it?

    Felipe MASSA: It’s definitely a big fight. So they are doing a very good championship. I think they improved the car a lot during the season. I believe we can fight them to the end and I believe maybe we can finish in front of them. But you don’t know. You will count race to race the amount of points we are doing compared to them, so I would say some of the tracks you have now are a bit better than some of the tracks we did, like maybe Singapore, the road tracks where they really have a very quick and competitive car. The circuits now are a little bit better for us, but the fight will be race by race and I hope we can do it.

    And back to Nico Hulkenberg: you’re both using the same engine, so what’s giving your side the added value?

    NH: The car hopefully. It is close and I think it will be a battle all the way to the end. I think good clean weekends, consistent from here is very important, maximise the opportunities we get, and yeah, that will determine at the end who will be fourth.

    We’ll move on to Dany Kvyat and come back to Felipe in a moment. You said after the Singapore Grand Prix performance that you had rediscovered your love for Formula One after a tough few months. Why? What was so special about that race for you?

    Daniil KVYAT: Well, it was an enjoyable race first of all, first time in a while, because we managed to have a good start. We were fighting all the race for quite high positions and it was a bit of a relief for the whole team to find ourselves fighting for the usual positions we used to fight for. Even though maybe the final result left us slightly disappointed, but the race itself was exciting. It was full of good fights. It was always promising pace. Our car was quite kind with the tyres and hopefully it’s a good confidence boost for the whole team, including myself.

    It’s no secret that Toro Rosso lost the way a little bit with an update introduced around the time of the German Grand Prix, which seems to have been rectified now, so how confidently do you approach the reaming races of the championship?

    DK: Well, like I said, Singapore gave us good indications. Obviously there were a lot of tests carried out by the people in the team and hopefully there was a few things discovered. Obviously we had a good Singapore but now we need a few more confirmations and hopefully they will arrive here in Sepang, even though the track layout is a bit different, maybe not as favourable as Singapore. Probably it won’t be an easy one for us but we will hope to have another confirmation that we are moving in the right direction from Singapore onwards.

    Q: You made the announcement in Monza about your retirement at the end of this season, it’ll be your 250thgrand prix in Abu Dhabi. Do you now arrive at these grands prix between now and the end of the season with a slightly different mindset? Are you determined to enjoy every experience, to take the most out of every grand prix?

    FM: Yes, definitely! I’ll just enjoy massively doing what I’m doing – since I always did in my life. In a way you can say I have less pressure now – but we do have a lot of pressure with this fight with Force India. I just want to give everything I can to finish well, to get the fourth place in the Championship and enjoy every race, enjoy every moment. I’m still really happy with my decisions so I’m sure there’s a lot to do in life for this second step so, as Jenson was saying before, it’s a really long career, so even if we are pretty young… y’know you stop pretty young, he’s 36, I’m 35 and you’re like, retired! That’s why there’s still a lot of things to do in life. I’m really ready for that and happy. I’ll have a little bit more time at home as well. So, yeah, just thinking… so many things for the future and enjoying every race, every moment in different countries, different places. Really it’s fantastic to see all the support from the fans. From everybody around the sport. Enjoying the moment.

    Q: Esteban, you’ve finished all of your grands prix so far. How do you assess your performance in qualifying and race compared with your team-mate?

    EO: Coming into the season with less experience, of course, it’s not an easy thing. We had some ups and downs I think. We are pretty happy with the first grand prix we did. I improved quite a lot during the weekend. Of course it was my first grand prix so the pace was not great but we were pretty happy with that. Then unfortunately in the second qualifying in Monza we had a problem so we couldn’t show our pace, but I think we could have done a great result there. And in Singapore it has been a bit more difficult. So, we have to put all the details together and come back stronger for this race.

    Q: If you look back through recent history, Alonso, Ricciardo, they all started out in a similar level team to the one you’re in at the moment, to learn the ropes in Formula One. Do you think another year at that level would be good for your development – especially, as you say, given that you came in, in a difficult situation quite late this year?

    EO: For sure. The more you drive, and more you take experience. Any year, any races would help me. For sure. Getting in, after three races, you start to discover everything and start to build up a strong relationship with the team and see how they work. It’s a lot of details that you have to put right and once they are right, you can start to see some performance.

    Q: Nico, Mercedes can wrap up its third consecutive Constructors’ Championship this weekend. How does this year compare from the team’s point of view to the two previous ones. What’s stood out for you about this year?

    NR: It’s been another incredible year really. Every time we think it can never repeat itself and be as good as that again, and yet we manage to do it again. And this year as well now, so early in the season we have the opportunity to clinch the Constructors’ Championship, which is phenomenal. Everybody’s done an unbelievable job. Very impressive.

    Q: It’s an open secret that the Mercedes team feel that your qualifying lap in Singapore is the best that you’ve driven since you’ve been with them – and Toto Wolff said it was the most complete, I think, performance he’d seen from you across the whole race weekend. What can you take out of that Singapore weekend that will make you a consistently strong competitor to the end of the season?

    NR: I don’t need to take anything from the Singapore weekend. It was a great result, great weekend and all, so I’m very happy about that, but now it’s in the past. Now I’m here in Sepang and ready to go. Of course I believe that I have a great chance to win here as well. Just going to try to go for that.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, you are all the time insisting that you are not thinking about the championship. How can you avoid it when you are leading the championship?

    NR: It’s not that I don’t think about it – I’m aware of the situation, I’m aware of the points and whatever else – that’s fine but I try and focus on the race weekend I have in front of me because that’s been working really well for me to do that and not think about anything else. That’s it. I want to win here in Sepang and I’m going to go for that.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Daily Telegraph) Another one for Nico. You guys leave no stone unturned in trying to beat each other – just out of interest, does that extend to things like the event you and Lewis were doing at the mall the other day? Are there silly little games that go on? Do you try and unsettle each other, nobble each other, anything like that?

    NR: It’s not quite that extreme, that we’d be doing stuff at the mall, no. It’s not. But yes, for sure, we’ll be pushing each other very hard on the race track and even off the race track in many different areas, yeah, definitely. It’s a great battle and everything counts.

    Q: (Chris Lyons- AP) Felipe, the calendar for next season came out with an asterisk next to Brazil saying it’s to be confirmed. Are you disappointed with the state of things in Brazil and how confident are you that it will stay on the calendar?

    FM: Well, to be honest, I think it’s very difficult to answer in a proper way. We are just racing and we don’t know what’s happened behind (the scenes) with the contracts. Sometimes you just see some pressures over a country because maybe something’s not working like Bernie –  or who decides – is thinking. We know that you always have pressures around. It’s not nice, definitely. Brazil is part of this sport, it’s part of Formula One since a very long time so it would be really disappointing to lose a race in Brazil even if I will not be there. But I will be supporting my country for new Brazilian drivers, so I know the situation in Brazil is not really easy for the moment economically, so this is maybe some fact around this. But you never know, maybe this is just some pressure but maybe this can happen as we saw it happened last year in Germany. I hope it will not happen to Sao Paulo, Interlagos. It’s also one of the most fun and great races to watch so I hope the best for them, for my country, for Brazil and I hope these guys will still enjoy their race in Brazil.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you, how will the new tarmac affect your way of driving during the Grand Prix?

    Q: Let’s start with Jenson; have you done your track walk yet?

    JB: Er, no, but I’ve seen lots of pictures. It’s dark so that’s a major difference. I think it’s going to…  with the temperatures that we see here anyway are very high, so if it’s clear then the temperatures are going to be very high on track, which obviously has quite a big effect on the way the tyres work. It’s very smooth, from what I see. Obviously we’re going to try and watch every practice session that runs today. You get a better understanding. What else? And the last corner is obviously very different with the off-camber but yeah, I don’t know if it’s similar to Sochi or not but it seems like it, the bitumen, the way that the asphalt is. So it might be a completely different circuit, but we won’t know until tomorrow, probably get a bit of an understanding from watching GP2 and GP3.

    NR: It will be a big challenge because it will be very different and we all need to adapt to the new asphalt, which we don’t know how it’s going to handle here.

    EO: I have been around on a track walk but it will be my first time on this track so I come here as I don’t know how it was before.

    NH: Neutral, same for everyone but generally the smooth tarmac…  we’ve seen recently we perform quite well on that so hopefully again here.

    DK: I think I just copy and paste Jenson’s answer. It was perfect. It’s enough.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) For the five drivers who raced here before: what is your best Sepang memory?

    JB: I’m the oldest. Yeah, I won here which was a pretty good memory, back in ’09. It was also quite a strange race. The rain was so severe that we had to red flag the race and it wasn’t restarted. I won the race but I got half points which was a bit of a pain. It’s always been a great circuit to race on, it’s also the place where I scored my first podium in 2004. I was running in third place in 2002 as well. On the last lap my suspension failed and handed the third place to Michael Schumacher. So that would have been my first podium. So this place… I’ve got lots of memories from here.

    FM: Well, actually I always love this place, the circuit, the layout. I never won but I twice started on pole position, 2007, 2008. I will keep those memories but I was never on the podium here. Amazing. But I really love the circuit. I’ve had some great races, even if I wasn’t on the podium. Hope this one will be a better one.

    NR: Just the track which is a really cool track to drive on. That’s it.

    NH: I think my best or favourite memory would be qualifying 2010, coming here in my rookie year. I think it was only my second event, qualifying went  pretty well, like full wets. In the conditions it was going pretty well, I think I qualified fifth or something so that was good fun and probably my best memory here.

    DK: Yeah, actually quite a special track because I did my first ever race here in Formula BMW and won my first ever race in Formula BMW in single seaters, so it’s quite cool memories.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Esteban, you started in the Formula Three European championship when you were very young, you won the championship, you beat future Formula One star Max Verstappen. Then you moved to GP3, in your first season you won the championship. Now you’re in Formula One, the reality is very different. Can you make a comment on the main difficulties you are facing, the challenge is maybe higher than you expected or less?

    EO: No, I don’t think it’s harder than I was expecting. I was expecting it to be hard, coming after eleven Grands Prix or twelve Grands Prix. It’s never easy if you come in any championship at halfway through the season, all the drivers have had time to work on everything, on all the points and you arrive, you have to catch up everything again, so of course it’s tough. But at the end, you are working for the same thing and the important thing are the tracks. For sure there is much more things to do in F1 and you work with many more people. But at the end, it’s the same thing and the track is the important bit.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Hulkenberg to start in eighth place: Singapore GP

    Hulkenberg to start in eighth place: Singapore GP

    Singapore, 17 Sept 2016: Sahara Force India performed well in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix with Nico Hulkenberg ending the day in eighth place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth. However, Perez is expected to start the race from P18 following a grid penalty for yellow flag violations during a qualyfying session. The Mexican was also handed three penalty points on his licence for the two double yellow infringements and for overtaking under yellow. This is the first penalty on licence for him this season.
    Sahara Force India is currently placed in the fifth place in the Constructors Championship with 108 points, three points behind Williams. With Force India expected to be stronger in the fly-away Asian races, the fight for the fourth place assumes significance. Sergio Perez with 62 points is ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the 8th place in the Driver’s Championship. Nico is once place behind with 46 points.
    The team had its best result in its nine years of Formula one, when it bagged 22 points with Nico and Sergio finishing fourth and fifth, just outside the podium in Belgium last month.
    The team is expecting to earn crucial points in the night race at Singapore.
    P8        Nico Hülkenberg       VJM09-03
    Q1: 1:46.081
    Q2: 1:44.737
    Q3: 1:44.479
    Nico: “I’m not entirely happy with eighth place. I believe there was more speed in the car – maybe two of three tenths – but it was quite a messy session and we couldn’t extract the maximum from it. We always felt that Q3 was a realistic target, but we faced some strong competition, especially from the Toro Rossos. It was quite hard to find my rhythm because I had a software issue in Q1 and then the yellow flags in Q2 meant I didn’t complete my second lap. Considering all the circumstances, eighth place is a reasonable result and I think we are in good shape for the race. The long run performance from yesterday looked solid and we’ve done the homework we need ahead of the race.”
    P10*     Sergio Perez              VJM09-02
    Q1: 1:45.204
    Q2: 1:44.703
    Q3: 1:44.582
    Sergio: “It was a very tricky session for me – pretty much like the rest of the weekend so far. We had a few technical issues yesterday and we had to make some compromises with the set-up to get a better feeling with the car, so to make Q3 was a good result. The final session was very tight and a couple of hundredths would have moved us up the grid. I’m disappointed to receive the grid penalty because I did significantly lift off for the yellow flags during Q2. Tomorrow’s race is going to be very long and the chance of a Safety Car is very high. It’s one of those races where just getting to the end gives you a chance of points: anything can happen and we need to make the most of every opportunity.”
    Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
    “Even though we saw both our cars through to Q3, there was definitely a sense that we didn’t maximise our full potential this evening. Both drivers found it difficult to find their rhythm and there were various issues that disrupted the flow of qualifying on both sides of the garage. A few tenths here and there would have certainly moved us up the grid. Looking ahead to the race, I’m wary of making any bold predictions. It’s always a long race, close to the two-hour mark, and there will be plenty of opportunities to show our competitive race pace and hopefully collect some valuable points.”
    File photo of Nico Hulkenberg from Sahara Force India.
    File photo of Nico Hulkenberg from Sahara Force India.

    eom/Force India press release

     

  • It is a real battle between us and Force India: Bottas

    DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Felipe NASR (Sauber), Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Congratulations on your marriage last week. While your private life is settled, clearly you will be looking for a new partner in a professional sense next year, as a team-mate at Williams. What kind of driver would suit, a rookie or someone more experienced?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Thank you very much. The one thing is it is a fact that I’m going to have a new team-mate next year and it’s still not obviously confirmed if I will be with Williams or not, but yeah, new team-mate and I’ve always said and that’s how I feel, the quicker team-mate you have, it doesn’t matter who it is, as long as he’s quick it always boosts the performance of both drivers and helps the team, so that’s always good. And a team player would be nice, but obviously I have nothing to do with choosing the team-mate, it’s completely up to the team who I will be racing with so I hope everything’s OK.

    The battle with Force India in the championship is very tight: they were ahead on points, you moved back ahead after Monza. Where do you think your relative strengths lie as teams?

    VB: I think it’s going to be a great battle between us and Force India, we been have really close the last six races, really depending on the track; some tracks they have their strong points and some places us. So I think overall we are very, very equal in terms of how quick the cars are so it will be just depending race by race and trying to maximise everything, getting the strategy right every time and having a good qualifying, trying to be ahead of them. I’m looking forward to the end of the year and it’s going to be a good fight.

    Marcus, coming to you: congratulations, 50th GP start this weekend, only 4th Swede to make that mark. Sauber is now hiring again, some solid signings the last few weeks, how is the team evolving??   

    Marcus ERICSSON: Thanks a lot. Yeah, 50 sounds like a lot of race, but it’s nice. With the team I think we are definitely moving in the right direction. Like you say, we got some new signings, new personnel in the team, and it’s good, with fresh ideas, it’s positive for everyone I think. Also on the car side we got some updates going in the last couple of races and it’s interesting, we’re trying them out, trying to optimise them, and coming here to Singapore will also be very interesting for us because it will be the first time we really run the full new package we have introduced after the summer break, so it will be a very interesting weekend for us to see how far it gets us really.

    What weaknesses were you working on with that update package and what are you expecting this weekend from the sort of test that Singapore provides?

    ME: I think for sure it’s just general downforce that we have been lacking and hopefully from the signs we have got so far is that we have gained quite a bit on that side. Like I said, it’s been both Monza and Spa, the last two races that we have had this package; it’s not been high downforce tracks. It’s a bit of an unknown, so hopefully here in Singapore it’s obviously a very high downforce track so we will see then how this update package is working.

    Felipe, coming to you: In points here last year. It’s always a complex race strategy wise as Valtteri was alluding to earlier on, but with three different tyre options this season, how do you see the variables playing out, Saturday and Sunday?

    Felipe NASR: Well, yes it is, it’s normally a very challenging track, very demanding for both the car and the drivers and I feel the tyres will play a big part on it this weekend, you know having such softer compounds. I will be curious to see how many stops will be going in the race and I think the key really is to understand the tyres, how much you can make them last, understand how the car is reacting on track, with the temperatures here being very high. So it’s always a challenging weekend and Singapore always brings some surprises in terms of the racing always being exciting. A lot of things can happen so hopefully we are in a position to take any profit.

    The driver market is in gear now, you’ve been linked with a possible move to Williams, there may be openings at Renault, obviously Sauber has had investment. What’s your personal objective regarding next season??

    FN: Well, it’s difficult to say. Right now I don’t have any news. Hopefully soon but right now I don’t have much to say realty. All I can say, at Sauber things are moving forward. I can see the team really stepping up a lot of new people coming in, so as I said, it’s still a very attractive place to be, but it’s still and unknown. Hopefully when I have some news I’ll bring it in.

    OK, thank you very much for that. Sergio, 23-race finishing streak, scored points in all five of your appearances here in Singapore. What do you like about Singapore and do you see this as a weekend where you’ll get the edge back over Williams?

    Sergio PEREZ: Yeah well, that’s the target coming here. We obviously want to close up the gap. We lost out in the battle last race. We knew they were going to he strong there, so hopefully here we can close up and hopefully beat them. Singapore is a great place, it’s a very unique race, starting from racing at night, the way you get your routine; it’s totally different to any other race, waking up so late, going to bed also. Yesterday I was running at the track at 1am in the morning. Things like that are just not common in any other race. Also, the track is a very big challenge – mentally, physically, it’s just very difficult to finish the race, not having a contact or a crash. So it’s always important to make it until the end of the race. So hopefully I can keep my good score in Singapore with the points on Sunday.

    You seem to hold the key to the driver market at present. Force India say you are definitely with them next year, when will we know for sure your plans for 2017?

    SP: Well, I tried. I was hoping to be able to be in a position to announce my plans for this weekend. Obviously we got some delays. But I really hope that bef0re the next race we can definitely announce where I’ll be racing.

    Any little hints?

    SP: Well, I always say I’ll be very happy if I can stay, if everything is fine for me to stay where I am.

    Jolyon, you won GP2 feature race here in 2013 and you’ve outqualified your team-mate Magnussen in 3 of the last 4 races, do you feel it’s an important moment to show what you can do with an eye on securing a seat for next season?

    Jolyon PALMER: I think so, yeah. Still obviously the seats are in doubt, or up for grabs, so every race from now on is a chance to show what I can do. It’s a track I really like here and I feel like I’m driving the best I’ve driven all season at the moment. The results haven’t really shown in the last couple of races but I feel good within myself. Yeah, it’s a track I really like, I’ve had some good success here before, so hopefully keep on the good form at the moment and I think this one will suit our car a little bit more as well. Hopefully we will be able to challenge a little bit higher and I can show what I can do a bit more.

    That leads on to my next question: Renault have been rather erratic in qualifying, between row seven and row 11 of the grid depending on which race track, so is this more of a row seven weekend than a row 11 weekend?

    JP: I think it’s more of a row seven. Row 11, Monza was pretty much everything that we don’t want from a track. It was high speeds; Renault has made good steps with the engine but we’re still behind Ferrari and Mercedes, and then slow-speed corners and kerb riding, so it was everything we don’t want. Here, the straight-line speed is not so much; the corners are more suited to us. Even though it’s a street circuit, it’s reasonably smooth, so I think this could be one of our best of the year.

    Coming to you Daniel: twice on the podium here, front-row starter last year and Monaco pole sitter this year, that adds up to making you many people’s favourite for this weekend, Do you share that view?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I think I’ve got a pretty good chance of the top 10, absolutely. That’s about it.

    Come on, you can do better than that!

    DR: I hope so, but top 10 is pretty safe you’d think.

    The narrative for this weekend seems to be a chance to put right what went wrong in Monaco, to take the win that was snatched from you in the Principality, do you have a sense of unfinished business and are you asking the team for perfect execution this weekend?

    DR: It’s obviously the next closest track to Monaco, so sure we look at it as a good chance to try to get the victory I’ve been after this season. With the team, since Monaco, a lot of things have been working better, in terms of I think we’ve executed a lot more on a Sunday and I’ve left Sundays feeling a lot happier the last handful of races, so that’s been good on both sides. I feel I have executed as well good things on Sunday. Let’s see. I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself or them for this weekend but I think deep down we obviously want to win. I believe we are a group of winners, so if there is a bit of pressure on us to get it done then I think we will thrive off that. Let’s see what happens. I’m definitely prepared and excited. I don’t know what I’m paying for a top 10, but it’s safe money.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Question for Valtteri, Monza was supposed to be a very good circuit for your car – and it was, you could compete with Red Bull. This, on the other hand, shouldn’t be as good, so what are the expectations for this weekend?

    VB: Yeah, definitely. Monza was a lot better than what we’ve seen in the few races before that with high speed circuits really suiting our car. Definitely had Red Bull had a bit of an upper hand but definitely we could keep them behind for quite a long time. And yeah, this is a completely different circuit. You need so much more downforce from the car, you need good mechanical grip, you need good tyre life. Last year it wasn’t too bad for us actually, coming to the weekend slightly carefully but then ending up fifth in the race with reasonable pace all weekend. So I think there are still good opportunities here, even though it’s maybe in theory the best – but I always see every weekend as a new opportunity, especially here where with a good qualifying, and if we can get a perfect strategy, very strong points are still possible.

    Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) Question to all of the drivers, a simple one. Do you think it’s the hardest race of the calendar?

    ME: Definitely. I think it’s for sure the hardest race of the year. It’s probably similar heat and humidity to Malaysia but just the fact it’s a street circuit and not many places to rest makes it the hardest one. But I like it, it’s a good challenge and you need to be really on top of your fitness. For me it’s the toughest – but it’s also one of the most enjoyable.

    Jolyon?

    JP: I’ve never raced it in Formula One but in GP2 it was hard. It was the hardest of the year in that so I believe these guys – I’m sure they’re all going to say it’s the hardest.

    Felipe?

    FN: I agree. I think it’s an amazing event. Night race, very demanding as I said, for both car and driver. Really it’s an endless track, you’re just doing corner by corner and to get everything precisely correct, it’s a challenge. The race itself, normally it brings a lot of surprises here so I’m looking forward to the weekend, as I said, we’ve been fighting to get, to sneak into those points, so why not this weekend? Let’s try it again.

    Valtteri, you find this the toughest?

    VB: It is, at least physically at least it is the toughest. Mentally, I think it feels a bit like Monaco. It’s very intense and needs to be zero mistakes during the race.

    Daniel, bit of tiredness, fatigue coming in, affecting concentration towards the end? Always a bit of an enemy there I guess?

    DR: Yeah, when you’re a high performance athlete… it is, it’s the toughest, sure. I think they touched on it, it’s similar heat and humidity to Malaysia but you’re surrounded by just the city and a lot of concrete, so it’s the one race I feel where you open your visor to get some air and you’re not getting any reward for that. It’s just heat and stale air. In Malaysia there’s a bit of circulation: even though it’s hot you get a bit of a breeze but here, no. It’s a track that you can’t… if you come here unprepared, then you can’t luck into a good result. You’ve got to come ready to go.

    Sergio?

    SP: I don’t feel the heat at all! I think it’s just a normal race. No, just kidding. I think it’s a really hard race out there. The last ten laps, twenty laps, you’re really praying for a safety car because it’s just really hard to finish the race, physically. And mentally as well. Mentally it’s a very big challenge because every corner, most of the corners, if you do a mistake you just touch the wall and it’s a puncture or something like that. I would say for me it’s definitely the most demanding race of the year.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, the last couple of times on the podium you’ve poured the sparkling wine into your shoe and drank it. What’s the background for all that?

    DR: I didn’t start it! Well, as far as I know I started it in Formula One but not worldwide. It was a few loose Aussies, from what I saw, the Mad Hueys, they’re surfies and fisherman and just loose guys, they travel the world fishing, surfing and whatever and they like to drink a bit of beer and whatnot, and that’s where the shoey began. On their travels they’d get people to do it as well and it’s just a bit of a laugh. I know Jack Miller knows a few of the guys from the Mad Hueys, so when he got his win in Assen, I suspected he was going to do it, and he did, so I thought I’d keep the Australian tradition going – and now Valentino’s got in on the mix, I saw he Instagrammed it yesterday and he said “everyone loves a shoey”, and “delicious”, and all that. A few words I used for it. I think it’s just a bit of fun now – everyone’s enjoying it.

    VB: How does it taste?

    DR: Honestly, if the sparkling wine is cold, then it tastes good. Normally it’s cold on the podium, if it’s warm then sure, you’d get the sweat and that through it – but the cold taste kills the bad stuff, so it’s delicious, as we said!

    So we can expect a shoe on Sunday if you win?

    DR: If I win, sure! If it’s just a second or third probably not now. For a victory, I’d expect to see a few people do it with me!

    Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for Dan, bit different tyre strategy between Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend in terms of allocation of super soft and ultra soft. Do you think the tyre strategy will be the key factor here or will there be something else?

    DR: I think it can maybe decide a few things, whether it’s on Sunday I’m not sure, obviously we’ve got freedom to use any of those tyres during practice. Maybe us or Ferrari  for example, will change our practice runs now and use a different compound to try and have something similar for the race – but yeah, it can, here because it’s so hot, the tyres do normally get a hard time and it’s low speed corners, a lot of traction and the rears can get a hard time for sure so I think if you’ve got too many softer compounds, you might run into a bit of trouble in the race but we’ll see. It’s been quite exciting this year, being able to use three compounds over a weekend and having been forced to choose them months in advance. Sure, if we could have picked the tyres this week, we all probably would have done something different. It’s a bit more of a lottery, makes it exciting and makes our practice runs perhaps a little bit more calculated.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Obviously since Monza, gentlemen, some quite seismic news in Formula One, new commercial rights holders, new owners in Liberty Media. As drivers, you keep saying that you’d quite like to have more of an input in the sport so if the new owners came to you and said what would you like to see in the future, to maybe make the sport better, to put a bigger smile on your faces, what would your advice be to them?

    SP: I think I would love to see Formula One a lot closer, the competition a lot closer, closer teams, giving the midfield teams the opportunity to be capable of winning a race, fighting for titles. I think that would be just something great for the fans to see one race Williams on top, another race another team, that would just be very good and for that you need to change the system, how you divide the money because there’s obviously a massive difference, so I think that would be a very good thing for the sport.

    DR: Nothing springs to mind; obviously we always talk about bits and pieces but nothing, I guess, that anyone’s heard before. Saturday races, like a Saturday race as opposed to Sunday, just so we can plan a bigger night on Saturday. That would be good fun!

    VB: Yeah, I think we need to see first of all how next year is going to be with all the changes already fixed for next year with the new cars, bigger tyres, more grip. I think we need to see how it goes then.

    FN: I would say a bit of what they have already said I agree with but I think the most important thing is to see closer competition between the cars, I think that’s what I hear from people or from fans – they always like to see more fighting on track between car, between teams. I think the closing line is what were looking for but also next year we have a big change in terms of the cars being different. I think everything will be a bit more aggressive in terms of the racing itself so let’s wait and see how it goes and we’ll take it from there.

    JP: Yeah, I would agree with these guys. I think the main thing is closer competition. At the moment, we turn up for a weekend and we pretty much know maybe it’s two, four, maximum six drivers can win the race but it would be nice to turn up here and think maybe, you know, Williams can win or maybe Force India or maybe someone can put in a big surprise. I think that’s the biggest thing which would change a lot of fan involvement and make it a lot more interesting to watch.

    ME: Not much to add, I agree with these guys: closer competition throughout the grid and more teams getting involved in race wins and podiums. I think that will make a big difference for the attraction to fans. That would be the biggest thing for me.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For the three drivers in the back row: not so long ago, you were fighting for championships and winning them and fighting for victories but you get to two thirds of this season and you have no points probably for the first time in your careers. Does that play a little bit on your mind when you go into a race weekend and how do you cope with it?

    FN: Well, I guess I’m experienced at this. Last year I had plenty of opportunities to score points and it’s very rewarding when you can come into a weekend knowing that you have something to fight for. As I said, most of it is the reward you get back but coming to this year, you’re facing a lot more difficulties but on the other hand, you try to explore areas that you’re not really giving a hundred percent attention to so I think that as a driver I feel a lot more complete this year. Any opportunity counts so when it comes to a race weekend like this in Singapore, we know that there are a number of facts that happen in the race, you must be ready because they can come any time so let’s see. Three of us here, we don’t have a point so let’s see who gets it first, if we can…

    JP: I’m not massively focused on it. Of course I want to score points but if we don’t have the car to score points then there’s nothing we can really do. I’m focused on my own job, basically doing the best job I can with the machinery I’ve got. The last two races have been quite difficult. Hungary was the better chance to score, I think this one will be a better chance to score but I think for me it’s all about improving as a driver, doing the best job I can with the machinery I’ve got and then I’m sure… I know in the future Renault will be fighting for points. If I can do a good job with what I’ve got at the moment, then the points will come further down the line.

    ME: Yeah, of course it’s different to when we were in junior categories like I said, fighting for wins every weekend or at least aiming for them. Now it’s different. When you’re in a smaller team and you know you’re going into a weekend when even scoring points is a big challenge – it’s a different mindset but it’s something you have to accept and that’s how it is in Formula One. I think it’s always been like that as well, that different teams have different strengths so you need to accept that and try and maximise the car that you’ve got and that’s all you can do, focusing a lot on your own performance and maybe not look so much at the results because it’s more important to try and maximise what you’ve got. But of course, it’s a lot nicer if you can fight for points.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have scored only 26 points from the last seven races since Canada; what number of points would have satisfied you from the last seven races?

    VB: Yeah, it’s not quite as many as I was hoping for after being on the podium in Canada but it is what it is at the moment. I can’t say the exact number of points but the absolute maximum we can… I hope as a team we can leave every single race weekend at the end of the year feeling that we maximised the weekend, that we got everything out of it and the same for me personally. As a driver, that’s the main thing and hopefully that way we will be ahead of these guys (Force India).

    Q: (S. Dipak Ragav – The Hindu) Sergio, for the last two years, Force India have had a slow start to the season. Do you think it’s a concern for you, going into the next year with the regulations? And the second part of my question is if Force India finishes fourth, do you think it has the ability, in terms of resources and infrastructure, to take the leap to beat the top three like Red Bull did in 2008, 2009?

    SP: Yes, I think the team, especially this season, now that the rules are more consistent, I think we started with a competitive car. We just needed to figure out some set-up options on the car to improve the tyre degradation but the car straight away in qualifying was capable of achieving Q3s in the early part of the year so that makes a good difference. And when you look at the past, when we had the massive regulation change for 2014, on my third race I was on the podium for the team, so it shows that Force India is capable of adapting well to new regulations so I think we have the potential to do so. I believe that we are going to be in front of them (Williams) at the end of the year so I really hope that we move up and hopefully next year we can do another step forward which is going to be very tough. Now you’re fighting Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, so it’s going to be very tough but I fully believe in the team and I think if we manage to finish fourth it will be a massive bonus for everyone in the team.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Jolyon, have you been given any indication by Renault when you’ll get a decision for next year?

    JP: No, nothing yet, so yeah, nothing changes for me really: just keep doing the job, I’ll know when I know but yeah, if I just keep doing what I’m doing. I know I’m in the mix but we’ll just see how things pan out.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Fourth place in our grasp: Vijay Mallya

    Q&A with Vijay Mallya
    Team Principal, Vijay Mallya, looks forward to the final three months of the season.
     
    Vijay, give us your verdict on the team’s performance in Monza…
    “Qualifying and racing inside the top ten represented a good effort when you consider we never really found the sweet spot with the set-up. The five points we scored could prove valuable come the end of the year. To finish the European season just three points away from fourth place is an excellent achievement. I’m optimistic some of the upcoming races will play to our strengths more than Monza and I look forward to the hard work required to earn fourth place in the championship.”
     
    The team has already picked up two podiums on street circuits this year – what is possible on the streets of Singapore?
    “We’ve usually performed well in Singapore. We’ve scored points in every race there since 2010 and had some very strong performances over the years. We had our best showing of the year in Baku on a circuit that shares many characteristics with Singapore so there’s every reason to feel optimistic. I think the warm conditions will work in our favour as well. Solid points must be the objective in Singapore and all the remaining races.”
     
     
    Nico on Singapore
    Nico Hulkenberg gets ready for one of his favourite races of the year in Singapore.
     
    Nico: “Singapore has really become one of the highlights of the season, next to Monaco and perhaps Baku. It’s a street circuit; it’s a night race and it’s in a city which is one of the hubs of the world. The track is spectacular and you drive next to an amazing backdrop – definitely one of the best races you could have on the calendar.
     
    “The strange sleeping pattern you get into also adds to the unusual weekend – you sleep until late in the day and stay up well into the night – it’s an interesting way to break from the usual routine of a race weekend. It’s nice to have a change. Coming from Europe, this schedule makes it much easier on you because you don’t have any jet lag; you don’t have any adjustment to make and can go straight into the racing matters. The only struggle is to find any restaurants that still serve food after midnight when you’re finished at the circuit!
     
    “I’ve never had a chance to explore Singapore, partly because of the schedule, but also because Marina Bay is quite far from the heart of the city. Once the race weekend kicks off, it’s difficult to move around the town because many roads are closed so we usually end up not seeing too much of the place. It seems a fun city, though – Asian but with a European vibe.
     
    “The track is very challenging. It’s a very long lap, with many corners and that in itself is an added difficulty when you try to strike a balance for the set-up with the engineers: it’s never-ending! From a driving point of view, it makes it really hard to get all the sectors together and deliver the perfect lap. It’s also very hot and humid – you’re in the car for pretty much two hours in steaming hot conditions… it definitely tests you.
     
    “There are some nice corners, such as the fast right-hand kink of turn six and the approach to turn seven. The first sector is my favourite part of the lap – there are bumps and big kerbs, so you need a car that can take them nicely, and you need good traction out of the low and medium-speed corners to get a quick lap.”
     
    Sergio on Singapore
    Sergio Perez sums up the challenge of the Singapore Grand Prix.
     
    Sergio: “Singapore is unique – starting from the very special schedule we have there. The European season may be over, but we keep to their times: it’s a weird routine – you wake up late, go to the track in the afternoon and stay up late into the night.
     
    “It’s a very demanding race from a physical and mental perspective: it’s hot, races usually last up to two hours and you have nearly 25 corners to get right every lap. There is no margin for error and generally the racing is very intense, which takes a lot out of you as a driver.
     
    “The key to being quick in Singapore is precision. You need to find every last millimetre of the track, almost kiss the walls and have a stable rear end of the car. It’s a circuit that can catch you out and I can’t remember a race there without a Safety Car, so races can be shaken up at any time. It’s also a track that rewards guts and where the driver can make a big difference.
     
    “As a street circuit, it’s not as unforgiving as Monaco because the track is much wider, but it also means the speeds are higher and there are more overtaking opportunities. I have a good relationship with the place, with some strong results in the past. Hopefully I can do the same this year!”
    eom/Sahara Force India press release
  • Spa has always been a special place for us, says Mallya and targets more points in Monza

    Spa has always been a special place for us, says Mallya and targets more points in Monza

    File photo of Hulkenberg by Sahara Force India
    File photo of Hulkenberg by Sahara Force India

    Vijay Mallya on Monza
    Team Principal, Vijay Mallya, celebrates the strong showing in Spa and targets more points in Monza.

     
    Vijay, one of the best results in the team’s history in Belgium – you must be pleased?
    VJM: “Spa has always been a special place for us – we scored our very first points and podium there in 2009, and this year’s race didn’t disappoint us either. We were strong from the first practice session through to Sunday afternoon thanks to an excellent all-round team performance. We could have been on the podium had some circumstances played out differently, but when you earn 22 points in one race weekend there is no reason to complain at all.”
     
    The team has scored 89 points since Monaco and is sitting in fourth in the constructors’ championship. What next for Sahara Force India this season?
    VJM: “We need to keep working hard because every race between now and the end of the year will be crucial. To be fourth in the championship is a fantastic feeling for the team, but it will mean nothing unless we are in this position after Abu Dhabi. The battle in the midfield is getting closer: the gaps are getting smaller and the margins of error disappearing. We know some tracks will work really well for us and we will keep pushing hard all the way.”
     
    We now get to the final European race of the season – in Monza’s Temple of Speed…
    VJM: “The Italian Grand Prix is one of the best races of the season. It has all the ingredients that make Formula One special. We saw a huge turnout of fans in Belgium last week and I’m sure the tifosi will help create a fantastic atmosphere this weekend too. Monza is a track that rewards top speed and pushes the engine to its limit. Given our competitive form in Spa, I’m confident we can keep up the momentum this weekend.”
     
    Nico on Monza
    Nico Hulkenberg gets ready for magical Monza following his season-best result in Spa.
     
    Nico: “Monza is a great place to go racing. There are so many different destinations on the calendar and there is something special about each one of them, but Monza is legendary. It’s a unique track, with very high speeds and low downforce. The setting in the park of Monza is beautiful: the moment you drive through the gates, you feel all the history of the place coming at you. The tifosi, the Italian fans, add to this combination and create a fantastic vibe.
     
    “Monza is just on the outskirts of Milan, which is a very interesting place, but during a race weekend you’re just too busy to go and explore. The parties on Sunday night are not too bad, though! We go to Italy at the end of the summer and the weather is usually still quite hot. Great weather, great fans, great food – it all adds up to make a very cool race.
    “Few tracks push the car to the limit as Monza does. There is no margin for error in the braking zones and every mistake costs you time. In terms of set-up, you need to strike a balance between high speed on the straights and downforce in the corners, but the focus is firmly on top speed. You also need good traction, to make the most of the long straights. We have been doing well on these sort of tracks, so I expect us to be competitive and fighting for points.”
     
    Sergio on Monza
    Sergio Perez looks forward to the high-speed challenge of Monza.
     
    Sergio: “After a month off on holiday, Spa was the best way to get back into action. We had a very positive weekend, an exciting race and we’re now fourth in the championship!
     
    “Italy is one of my favourite places: the people are very warm and welcoming, and they’re absolutely crazy for Formula One. The passion you see from the Italian fans reminds me of the atmosphere we saw in Mexico. There’s so much support; everyone is chanting and waving flags and there are so many people asking us for a photo when we arrive at or leave the track.
     
    “I have great memories from Monza and it’s where I’ve had some of my best races. When I was racing in F3, I had the best weekend of my career there: I started 14th in both races and went on to win both. I scored a podium there in Formula One and I’ve always had a special relationship with the track. It’s not just what happens at the venue – I have a lot of good friends living nearby and it’s just a very enjoyable experience.
     
    “As a fan of our sport, I know Monza has a special place in the history of Formula One. It’s one of the circuits where Formula One should always race. It’s so incredibly fast and the key to a quick lap is to be good under braking and have good traction out of the corners. You brake really hard at the end of the straights and the car moves a lot: you run with very little wing and having a good balance is very important.
     
    “You feel the lightness of the car in every corner because you’ve got so little aero load and it’s even hard to keep the steering wheel level on the straights. The two Lesmo corners are crucial: you need to be stable under braking and control your traction – get wheelspin out of the corner and you’ll destroy your tyres. Then you have the Parabolica: it lost a little of its challenge with the tarmac run-off but you still need to be very precise and use the very last inch of track in this interesting corner.”
     
    eom/Sahara Force India press release

  • Volkswagen’s Jost Capito to be new CEO of McLaren Racing: Boullier

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault), Robert FERNLEY (Force India)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Eric, if we could start with you please. Let’s start by talking about the updated power unit you’re running in both cars this weekend. Where is it better than the old one and do you have any further reliability worries after what happened to Alonso this morning?

    Eric BOULLIER: As whole it’s very easy to understand. The first is engine power from the ICE and obviously the power recovery you can get from the turbo and the MGU-H. So on that [Honda] did a brilliant job to improve both compounds, let’s say, on both systems. In terms of reliability, no, we don’t have any concerns. It was a small issue, which cost us a full power unit this morning and the session but you could see in practice two both cars ran faultlessly, so I think it’s far?

    Can you put a number on the lap time gain you’ve found with this power unit?

    EB: Yes I can, but I will not share it with you!

    We’ve seen former motorsport director of Volkswagen Jost Capito with McLaren this weekend. When does he start with the team and can you explain to us where he’ll fit into the current management structure?

    EB: Yeah, it’s very easy. He’s going to start very soon; it’s a question of days. He is here this weekend as an observer, that’s why he’s not wearing any team uniform. He’s going to be CEO of McLaren Racing, so chief executive officer.

    Thank you, Eric. Claire if we could move onto you. I’d like to start by talking about drivers. Your technical boss Pat Symonds was quoted recently as saying that Williams is ready to sign a top driver. Now, one of the interpretations of that is that you don’t currently have a top driver, do you agree with him?

    Claire WILLIAMS: I think actually Pat’s comments in that article that came out over shutdown were comments that were made in January, so it’s quite odd that they are now brought out. But Pat, when he was making those comments, was making a reference to one particular driver. It was not in reference to our current two. I think as we have said very clearly we are very happy with the job Felipe and Valtteri have done for us. I know everybody is waiting for our announcement now that lots of other teams have made theirs, but we are not ready to announce our line-up for ‘17 yet but we are working through all our options but I hope we will be able to make that announcement shortly.

    When do you think we will get an announcement from you?

    CW: By the end of the year.

    OK. Moving on to Spa: this is a track where you have traditionally been very strong, although you seemed to have a few issues this afternoon, just 16th and 17th fastest. How confident are you of a good result this weekend?

    CW: I think after our performance in the past few races where we expected the circuits to suit our car, it wasn’t the case for a number of reasons. We’ve obviously been working hard to try to analyse where we are going wrong and it is really frustrating fro the team and we do have a really tough battle with Force India at the moment – we don’t want them to take our fourth in the championship. It’s going to be another tough weekend, as much as this circuit does suit our care, but there are also elements of it that don’t. So I don’t know. After today’s performance, where we’re finishing 16th and 17th, we obviously had some issues, I’m not entirely sure where we are going to finish on Sunday but I certainly hope it’s in the points.

    OK thank you Claire. Bob, Force India is another team that has a very good record here and things clearly going very well for you so far – third and fifth quickest this afternoon. You’re quick here today, do you have Williams in your sights, do you think you can beat them this weekend and what about the Constructors’ Championship?

    Robert FERNLEY: Well, I think we’d like to beat them, but I think you have to look at it that probably Spa and Monza are going to be quite critical races, because as you rightly said earlier, they do tend to favour Williams. So, at the end of Monza we need to look at where the situation is and whether we’ve got ‘game on’ for a hard fight until the end of the season. I think these two races are quite critical because historically and on normal expectations you’d expect Williams to be stronger.

    Let’s talk about drivers as well. Vijay Mallya said at the British Grand Prix that both Nico and Checo are under contract for 2017 but Checo has said that he’d make a decision after the summer break. Has he done that?

    RF: Well first of all both Checo and Nico are both under contract and that’s the normal way you would work as obviously we need continuity in the drivers, we’d very much like to keep the two together, but with Checo come highly sophisticated and complex commercial negotiations and those obviously have got to play their part as well. But that can only come after we’ve secured the two drivers in the first place. That’s the process we’re under now and I would be very surprised if we’re not staying with the two drivers in 2017.

    Fred, coming to you, your driver situation is equally fluid, so when do you expect to make a decision for next year?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: Quite similar to Claire, before the end of the year. We are not under pressure to take a decision. We will take a decision in the next few weeks or months.

    Are drivers for 2017 a priority for you or is it more important to get the technical structure of the team sorted?

    FV: Drivers is the priority for everybody, you can’t race without being concerned by the drivers. [Remainder of answer inaudible]

    What is the likelihood of Esteban Ocon coming back to you for next year as a race driver, because he’s done some FP1 sessions for you this year, he’s now gone to Manor. Is he a possible for next season for you?

    FV: It is possible. Don’t worry we will take a decision soon.

    Q: Monisha, like Renault, Sauber are rebuilding. Now that you’ve had new investment, what is the plan for the rebuilding? Is there a timeline?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, you want to do things as quickly as you can because we still have to achieve a few things this year and there are not than many races left. At the same time, we have such a big change coming up for next year where you also really don’t want to lose time, and get on straight away to that year. We are already in that process but now, with the new ownership we have, the trust we’ve been given, we are of course on a very different basis. Simultaneously and very quickly we have to look at the technical structures, people, drivers, the financial status. All of that has to be done actually in parallel, and is already happening.

    Q: You said you still have things you want to achieve this year. Is one of those scoring points? You’re the only team on the grid that hasn’t done that this year, so we’ve got upgrades on the car this weekend, are we going to see more as you keep pushing to get that point?

    MK: We’ll see a few bits and pieces still coming but nothing really extremely big because we are already on to the new car – but staying where we are is certainly no option. Now, we’ve had a season before where we didn’t score points. It had many reasons but it’s not enough to say that we’ll just manage it somehow again. We have to score at least a point, if not more and make sure that we’re getting back into the usual routine, the way we’re used to working.

    Q: Christian, the team moved ahead of Ferrari at Hockenheim, last time out, on the evidence of today, you’ve stayed ahead. What are the prospects for the coming races. Do you see yourselves as staying ahead of Ferrari? Can you challenge Mercedes?

    CH: They’re two very different things. One, staying ahead of Ferrari, obviously that’s our target and goal. I think the next two races represent our biggest challenges of the nine races remaining. Very power-dominated circuits, here at Spa and Monza in a week’s time. I think Mercedes, we know there’s a significant gap to. We’ve been closer at some races than others. Hopefully there will be opportunities in some of the race venues coming up – circuits spring to mind like Singapore – that we can give them a harder time. And, of course, they’ve got some issues to deal with this weekend with one of their cars. So that represents other opportunities.

    Q: How important is second place in the Constructors’ Championship to you – or is it all about 2017. Is that the only thing that matters?

    CH: It’s worth a few million pounds, obviously, like all these positions do, so it has a significant value to us. So there is a big push to carry the momentum that we’ve built over the last few races, right to the last race in Abu Dhabi. And then, of course, behind the scenes, as with all the teams, there’s a big development programme under way on the 2017 car with a big regulation change coming. So it’s a busy time, certainly in the factory at the moment.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) A question for Fred Vasseur. Today, I think it was a premier that a car started on the track. Can you explain, first of all how it stopped and secondly how you got it restarted?

    FV: During the session we had a sensor failure and we stopped the car, we decided to stop the car. Then we restarted the car with the MGU-K and the battery. It’s not the first time we did it. I think all the other teams did it in the past.

    Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Question for Mr Fernley. Force India has a good chance this year to finish fourth. Is there a compromise to be made by focussing on the battle this year and developing the next year’s car?

    RF: No. They’re two completely separate programmes. The battle obviously is for us to take to Williams. Williams are in the lead, they’re an extremely competitive and competent team and we’ve just got to battle hard to try to overtake them. As far as the ’17 car is concerned, that’s a factory issue and we’re flat-out in the factory, as I’m sure all the other teams are as well. So they’re two separate programmes entirely.

    Q: (Thomas Lund Hansen – Morgenavissen Jyllands Posten) I have two questions for Mr Vasseur. You’ve said that Renault needs a leader. What characterises a leader and does Kevin Magnussen have these qualifications?

    FV: We have to build up the project on a driver because I think it’s also a catalyst for the project, for the team. He needs to motivate the team. If you have a look at the success stories of the past, Sebastian with Red Bull or Michael Schumacher with Ferrari, all the good story and long success stories was built up also on the drivers. We have to do the same for the next six or seven years. Kevin is doing the job. I won’t come back on the fact that I have to take a decision on the drivers. I will do it quite soon, be sure, he is doing the job. We know that we have to improve too on the structure and it’s not a question just on the drivers be sure. I’m happy with my guys.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The current engine regulations took over five years to agree and they currently have about four and a bit years left to run before they expire at the end of 2020. We have an interesting spread here in that we have four customer teams, an exclusive partner team and a manufacturer. When do you believe that we should start looking at the new regulations for 2021 onwards and also what would you like to see included and enshrined in those regulations?

    CH: Well, it’s very simple really: cheap, loud, fast engines. I think what we have now… obviously to abandon that fully would be irresponsible, an awful lot of development and R&D has gone into these engines but I think cost is a significant element, particularly for the teams that are paying for the engines. I think that  we’re addressing the chassis side of things already for next year, making the car more aggressive, faster and so on, I think one of the elements that is missing from Formula One at the moment is the sound and I think that’s a key aspect that needs to be addressed in engine regulations moving forward. But probably not moving too far away from the architecture that we currently have. I think to rip it up in its entirety this far into the game would probably be the wrong thing to do.

    EB: I think that if you want to address the cost and obviously the convergence of performance we believe that the regulations should be extended after 2020 with the current ones. As Christian said, part of the show is maybe we miss better sound or better quality sound for the engines so that’s something that needs to be addressed technically but clearly if you have stability in the regulations and some longer term projects, obviously the convergence of performance will happen quicker and the cost will go down.

    CW: I would echo what Christian and Eric have said. Obviously from an independent team’s perspective whereby we are a customer, having those regulations outlined beyond 2020 and stabilised inevitably will help us if we are to go out and look for our own engine partner past 2020 when our Mercedes relationship will come to an end will be really important. I obviously believe that the hybrid element of the current power unit is part of the architecture that we should maintain. I think it’s a very important message that Formula One can send out but yeah, I would echo everything that Christian and Eric have said.

    FV: It’s quite similar to everybody else in that  if you want to have more exciting racing then to close the gap between everybody, we need to get the convergence on the engine also and by the way, we would be able to reduce the cost for the future, but if you drastically change the regulations you will increase the costs because you will have to do research and development and at the other end you will increase the potential gap between everybody. But I think we have to stick to the current ones and for sure we have to adapt some points because it makes sense but not to change the regulations drastically.

    MK: As an independent team that pays for its engines, for us of course the costs are extremely important and one thing is with stability to bring the cost down but equally important is the changes.  Ancillary costs can get very high and this is something which independent teams equally suffer from because in addition to the costs with the engine itself brought in which were much higher than the previous engine, the costs you had around building that engine in the chassis side were extremely high for us so stability is very important. Of course as Christian said, you have to keep in mind that the show has to be a good one and we have seen this time a lot went wrong in introducing the engine. At the same time, you also have to make sure that the interests of the manufacturers are looke at because they have vital interests in introducing certain technologies. So I think looking at all these very different positions, it’s very important to start talks now, because we’ve seen in the past that engines were cancelled overnight, whilst different concepts were introduced, we really need a long time to be able to agree something sensible and not again be in a situation where in six months time you have to decide something.

    BF: I think I would endorse what Christian said. We need to have something that’s very competitively priced, addresses the issues in terms of noise but I think we’re fooling ourselves if we think that as independent teams we have any say in these things. At the end of the day the manufacturers will decide what they’re going to do and we will be given a take-it or leave-it  situation.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For M. Bouillier, yesterday Fernando Alonso said he is not enjoying this Formula One. I would love to know what are your feelings about that, what it means to have a driver who is not enjoying driving?

    EB: Well, I think we have been working on changing the regulations for next year and as McLaren was concerned we were pushing a little bit harder. It’s true that the regulations today… drivers enjoy qualifying today because we are now breaking records so I think it’s fast enough. Drivers enjoying driving a physical car to drive and clearly Fernando is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid so he remembers the cars in 2005 and 2006 where they were much more lateral Gs than cornering speed and this is what the drivers like. I think next year’s regulations will fix part of or most of the issues actually. They may have today by not enjoying the cars, the tyres get fatter, the cars… now you have to save fuel, save tyres to be competitive during the race and I think by changing the regulations they will enjoy it more. So we have discussed this matter many times, it’s understandable and  I think F1 anyway should have this wow aspect. When a young driver comes in and realises that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and even including driving the car is the most difficult car to drive.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Christian, it’s been a long time since Red Bull had a one-two in a race. Imagine there’s a possibility on Sunday in the closing stages, Ricciardo leading the race, Verstappen very quick, wants to win his home race. How do you prevent Mercedes-like problems in the closing stages?

    CH: Well, we talk about these things beforehand, you discuss tactics, you try and come up with set rules in certain situations and then the race starts and everything gets forgotten. The guys are racers at the end of the day and if we were in a fortunate enough position to be racing for a victory and you’ve got a driver racing in front of – well, I think half of Holland is coming here this weekend by the looks of things – I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t go for it. I think it would be wrong for us to interfere with a race like that. All we ask of the drivers is give each other enough space to work with. If you’re going to race each other, race fairly and remember you’re carrying the aspirations of the 750-odd people that you represent when you’re driving those cars. It’s not just about the drivers.

     

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

     

  • Spa represents a good opportunity to continue our run of points finishes: Mallya

    Vijay Mallya on Spa
    Vijay Mallya sets his sights on a strong showing in Spa as the Formula One season resumes.
     
    Vijay, the team’s strong season continued with more points last time out in Germany. What can we expect this weekend in Spa?
    VJM: “More of the same, I hope. We are performing well and delivering results, and Spa represents a good opportunity to continue our run of points finishes. The updates we introduced at Silverstone have made a difference and there is still more performance to be extracted from our chassis. I think all teams have now switched their focus to 2017 so the pecking order should not change dramatically. Some tracks will suit us more than others, but Spa is certainly a track where the VJM09 can be strong.”
    The team is now within 15 points of fourth place in the championship. How do you see the battle unfolding…
    VJM: “There’s still a long way to go, but at least we are in the fight. I regard our podium in Monaco as the turning point of our season – both in terms of the result and our public perception. Then, our strong showing in Baku just reinforced the great job we are doing as a team. It’s a fierce battle in the midfield, but we are performing well. Since Monaco we have scored 67 points compared to the 31 of our nearest rival. If we continue scoring at this rate, it will be interesting to see where we can end the season.”
     
    Nico on Spa
    Nico Hulkenberg wants to continue his run of strong results with more points in Spa.
     
    Nico: “It’s nice to get back to action after a month without racing. Holidays are fun – you spend time with your friends, take your mind off work and recharge your batteries – but nothing beats the thrill of a Formula One car. So it’s great to be back, and I can’t think of a better place to return to racing than Belgium.
     
    “When I was little, I would go and watch the race in Spa rather than in Germany as it was much closer to where I lived. My dad took me there twice and I remember looking at the drivers and wishing to be in one of those cars.
     
    “Spa is one of the best tracks out there. It may sound like a cliché, but it really is great fun to drive it – it’s up there with Suzuka. It’s got great flow, lots of challenging and ballsy corners, high speeds and changes of elevation. It’s just a great place. Everyone talks about Eau Rouge, but my favourite corner in Spa is Pouhon – the very quick downhill double-left hander. Eau Rouge and Raidillon are legendary, but they’re not the challenge they used to be.
     
    “For all the excitement on track, Belgium is one of the quietest weekends off it. There’s not much around the circuit and most of the evenings you just stay in the hotel and have a quiet dinner with your physio or a few friends. It’s the opposite of some of the “lifestyle” events like Barcelona, Budapest or Montreal – but it’s a nice change to have some more relaxed events. Hopefully we will be able to pick up where we left off in Germany and continue showing our points-scoring form.”
     
    Sergio on Spa
    Sergio Perez looks forward to getting back to action in Spa this weekend.
     
    Sergio: “The summer break was a great opportunity to relax, especially as this season is quite long and the races don’t leave us too much time to recover. It was nice to spend some time in Mexico, with my family, my dogs and my friends: it’s always great to go home and I can’t wait to be back there later in the year when we come racing in Mexico City.
     
    “Spa is one of the most historical tracks; one of those kids dream about, with legendary corners like Eau Rouge. You never get a boring race there. There are many fast corners and you pay a price for all mistakes because it’s an old-school track with not much run-off. It’s one of the circuits where the driver can make a difference and bravery is rewarded. I have got some great memories from Spa: I won there in GP2 and I had a battle for the lead against Hamilton on the first lap last year.
     
    “The key to being fast around Spa is having a good rhythm and enough downforce to be quick in the corners without losing too much on the straights. You want to be able to attack and defend in sector one, but not have too little wing to be struggling in the twisty parts of sector two. It’s a fine balance you need to strike and it can make or break your weekend.
     
    “Eau Rouge is not as difficult as it used to be: you still need to be very precise about where you put your car, but you can easily take the corner flat-out. A key corner to gain or lose time is turn one: you can easily lose two tenths on that one alone if you make a mistake, and getting the exit right is crucial to carry as much speed as possible down the hill, up Raidillon and onto the Kemmel straight.
     
    “We have been really strong in the last few races before the break and hopefully we can keep this form in the second part of the season. Being in the battle for fourth place in the championship gives us a lot of motivation and we approach every weekend knowing we can be strong. I am enjoying my driving and working with the team, and I think we have everything in place to be competitive this weekend.”
    eom/SFI press release
  • Double podium for Jehan Daruvala at Assen

    Double podium for Jehan Daruvala at Assen

    Assen (Netherlands), 8 Aug 2016: Indian Racing Star – Jehan Daruvala, of the Sahara Force India Academy bounced back in Round 5 of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Series with a double podium. Jehan had a disastrous round 4 in Belgium where he was hit by another racer and subsequently fell from the Championship lead. Two strong finishes here in Assen, saw him claim 3rd place in both races.

    Earlier in the weekend, Jehan was fastest in the first practice session of the weekend out of 25 racers in the field. In practice session 2, he was third fastest behind Belgian Max Defourny and Lando Norris of Great Britain.

    Qualifying for Race 1 was extremely close, with Lando Norris earning pole position with a lap time of 1:34.684. Jehan was a mere two hundredths of a second behind while Max Deformed was another miniscule nine thousandths of a second behind Jehan. Qualifying for Race 2 saw Lando and Jehan lock out the first row, in the same order as Qualifying 1, while Dorian Boccolacci claimed third on the grid.

    Jehan did not have the best of starts as the lights went out for Race 1. The Indian lost a position due to a bit of wheel spin and fell to third. Jehan then tried to reclaim his position back at turn 3, but he was not able to make the move stick, allowing Defourny to pass him. Soon, Portuguese racer – Henrique Chaves  lunged down Jehan’s inside and the two racers made contact. Jehan fortunately managed to continue without losing a place. The positions remained the same for another 7 laps as Jehan closed the gap in front. He then a made a good move on Defourny to claim back third, which he held till the chequered flag. Lando Norris won the race ahead of Boccolacci.

    Race 2 saw Jehan start second once again. This time he had a good start and maintained his position behind Lando and the two racers looked comfortable at the top. Jehan however, suddenly seemed to lose slightly over half a second a lap. Max Defourny immediately caught and passed Jehan and a few laps later even managed to pass Jehan’s team mate Lando, who also had a sudden drop in pace.

    Jehan’s drop in pace meant that very soon, Boccolacci and Fenestraz were all over his rear trying to get a way past. Jehan had no option but to be defensive and he managed well to keep the two French racers behind him for the rest of the race. Defourny won comfortably ahead of Lando while Jehan completed his second podium of the weekend in front of a 100,000 strong crowd at the Dutch circuit.

    “I am happy with my pace in qualifying. We need to work a bit on our race pace. Over the last few weekends, we have been struggling with the tyres going off during the race, but I am confident we will find a solution for this” said Jehan after bagging his second consecutive podium.

    Jehan will be racing in 3 weeks in the Formula Renault 2.0 Euro Cup series.

    eom/Rayo Racing release

  • Perez contract with Force India for 2017 doubtful…

    Perez contract with Force India for 2017 doubtful…

    DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India), Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Marcus, first of all, how are you? Any lasting effects from your crash at Silverstone?

    Marcus ERICSSON: I’m good thanks! It was a big hit, I was a bit sore the next couple of days but I went down to Italy, to Formula Medicine got some treatment there. After that I felt really good and this week has been perfect. I’m ready for a good race.

    Q: Can you give us any insight into the treatment you received down there?

    ME: Everything was fine with my body but obviously after a crash like that you are a bit sore in the neck and back and things like that. Got a bit of treatment on that but now it feels really good.

    Q: It’s been announced that Sauber is now under new ownership following a takeover by Longbow Finance. Can you tell us about the mood in the team since that announcement was made and how it will impact on your future?

    ME: I think it’s great news for the team. It’s no secret it’s been a difficult year for us in Sauber, financially mainly. We haven’t been able to update the car the way we wanted and been fighting in the back. I think for the team it’s been very, very important that this happened and it’s great news. What it means for the future, I don’t know, we have to wait and see. But for sure it’s very, very good news for everyone in Sauber.

    Q: Felipe, if we could come onto you, Silverstone was a disappointing race for Williams. Were the problems there track-specific – and were you expecting more?

    Felipe MASSA: For sure it was a very disappointing race, Silverstone and also Austria, so we are definitely trying to understand everything that didn’t work in a proper way in the car. We really hope we’re not suffering these problems any more. I really hope we get back to the points and be as competitive as believe so. This is not really the perfect track where we believe we can be very competitive, but anyway – we’re working so hard to make the car in the way we believe it needs to be – and we really hope it can be better from now on.

    Q: What conclusions have you reached – because Williams have been very strong at Silverstone and in Austria the last few years?

    FM: Yes, for sure we’re trying to develop the car. This year we’ve had many new parts in the last races and we just need to try and understand what is the right configuration to use. We will test a lot of different things tomorrow as well and hopefully we understand already the conclusion, how to use the right parts and make the car as competitive as we believe we can be.

    Q: The drivers’ silly season is now in full swing. How confident are you about your plans for 2017?

    FM: Well, I am confident, definitely. I think everyone knows what I am able to do, what I am able to achieve. Drive, experience inside the team, or other teams. So I’m really looking for things to go in the right direction – but not in a big worry. Just trying to do my job race by race and we’ll see what’s going to happen.

    Q: What is Plan A? Is it to stay at Williams?

    FM: Well the Plan A is to stay in a top team, in a good team, like Williams or maybe like another team. So we just need to… I think the time will give the right answer. As I said, I’m not really worried, trying to do my job in the best way every race and that’s the only thing I’m looking for.

    Q: And just a quick nod to the Rio Olympics. Do you have plans to attend that during the summer break – and if you are, what are you going to watch?

    FM: Well, I like so many different things: football, basketball, so many incredible things to watch. I didn’t plan anything for the moment but I will be there, I will be in Brazil and I really hope that I can have opportunities to watch something, which will be really nice.

    Q: Sergio, Felipe was just giving his thoughts on 2017, can we talk about your contract. Vijay Mallya says you’re signed to Force India for next year yet you’ve said in the press you’re going to decide what you’re going to do during the summer break. What’s the story?

    Sergio PÉREZ: Well, obviously as you know, I’m a very lucky driver to have many sponsors behind me. So I’m not alone. I don’t decide my future on my own. I need to obviously speak to my group of sponsors to see what’s the best for our future and then we will decide. I think we have some time during the summer break – that’s why I say that – and then we decide what’s the best for my career.

    Q: So, just to clarify, you’re not yet under contract with Force India for next year?

    SP: Well, what Vijay says is correct you know? But as I say, I depend a lot on my sponsors as well to decide together what to do.

    Q: It was a double points finish for the team at Silverstone last time out. Do you feel this car is good enough to challenge Williams going forward?

    SP: I think obviously Silverstone was a very different race to normal races. It will be very interesting to see how the next races go. This one is a very good test for us, to see how close we are to them. I generally think we’re getting closer and closer, certainly if you look at the points difference from five races ago, then we have closed the gap massively. I think it is going to be a very tough challenge but I’m sure we can give them a strong challenge to try and beat them. That will be a fantastic result for our team, to finish fourth in the Constructors’.

    Q: Carlos, moving on to you , first time you’ve been in this press conference since your contract was renewed at Toro Rosso, so congratulations for that. How do you feel you’re going to benefit from a third season at Toro Rosso?

    Carlos SAINZ: Well I think it’s a very good achievement for myself and for my group of people. I think to be renewed so early in the season by a team like Toro Rosso that we know is a difficult team with young people, I think it’s a good achievement so I must say I’m very pleased for that. I think we have now a second half of the season where we can fully focus on what we’re here for, that is pure racing, and go forward as a team. That, I think, we’ve been doing quite well lately. So, yeah, full focus on that now, and also I can be quite calm that 2017, I’m also in F1, I’m also in a team like Toro Rosso that is always improving, always creating a very good chassis and as soon as we sort out a bit the power unit side with maybe a bit more relationship with Red Bull, I think we can be in a good position next year. I’m looking forward – but first this second half of the season.

    Q: As you say, you’re going to be in Formula One in 2017 – but do you feel you’re now ready for a front-running seat.

    CS: Yes. Obviously like every racing driver I feel ready, fully ready for a top seat, especially this year where I have a good run without reliability issues where I could find a bit more myself. With not so many issues I think I have proved myself a lot more compared to last year. And now I’m fully really for a top seat – unfortunately there’s not many available.

    Q: Max Verstappen finished fourth for Toro Rosso at this race track last year. What do you think you can achieve this weekend?

    CS: I think last year was a very strange race in a way, there were many accidents going on, lots of stuff going on, so P4 is probably not a realistic position for our Toro Rosso. Obviously if some rain comes, if there are some battles at the front, something going on with a Mercedes, a Ferrari, with a Red Bull, then we can steal the spot – but it’s a tricky thing to achieve.

    Q: Max, coming on to you. Great drive at Silverstone. Tell us about that battle you had with Nico Rosberg.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, well I enjoyed it, both the battles on the Intermediates and the medium tyre. I think the car was performing really well in both conditions but yeah, we know the car is always very strong in the wet and I’m enjoying myself in the wet as well. Once I got past, of course, you could see the real pace of the car. It was really strong. Even when we were out on the medium tyres we could hold on pretty well. So I was very pleased with that. I think in the end, to finish third in the end, get second was a great result for the team.

    Q: Nico, could I just ask for your thoughts on that battle with Max? How did you enjoy it? And what sort of an adversary is he? I think it was your first wheel-to-wheel battle with him on track?

    Nico ROSBERG: No, second one actually! Max does a great job out there, for sure. So, it was exciting; good thrill, especially to get second place back there in the end. That was a good feeling, and to try and go for hunting down Lewis.

    Q: Max, coming back to you. You complimented your car after the race at Silverstone, saying how good it was. What can you achieve this weekend? Do you think it’s going to be Red Bull’s best chance of taking the fight to Mercedes this year?

    MV: Well I think the best chance was in Monaco for sure – but I think here as well the car can be very strong and I’m definitely looking forward to the weekend, because so far the car has been very strong, even on tracks where we didn’t expect it to be that strong. We just have to wait and see. It’s all about the setup now, how we can improve during the sessions. Hopefully we can be pretty close.

    Q: Nico, coming to you, you got that ten seconds penalty after the race at Silverstone. Can you just give us your view on the events that happened after the race?

    NR: Well, just the radio communication was reviewed and it was deemed to be beyond what’s allowed, and that’s it, so you get a 10 second penalty. I have to accept that. Now things have been clarified once more, that we really need to stick literally to what Charlie… the wording that he gives, that he’s allowed us. And that’s it. So it’s clear. It’s a thing of the past now and moving forwards we need to make sure we stick to that.

    Q: What is your view on the radio rules in Formula One at the minute?

    NR: It’s not something I think about, it’s not something I have an opinion on – because I just want to make the best of what we have and let the people decide what’s best. It’s come about because fans have said we’re like puppets out there, y’know, just doing what the engineers are saying. So now we’re trying this, and I think it’s OK. It makes it more challenging for us out on track, which is good. So it’s fine.

    Q: Did you feel you were a puppet when you were on track before the radio ban?

    NR: No! But I can understand a little bit the frustration of the fans because there was a lot going on and the engineers were giving us a lot of advice, so I can understand that, yeah.

    Q: And Nico, If we can just look at the championship now, how do you reflect on the last five races, since Monaco really?

    NR: I don’t. I have reflected on each individual one once it’s done and then I’ve moved on. Feeling good, feeling excited to be here. It’s been a good season so far and I’m going to try and win this weekend, of course.

    Q: Do you share the view that the World Championship is now a two-horse race between yourself and Lewis?

    NR: It’s too early to say that. Red Bull and Ferrari have been a bit up-and-down, y’know? But there’s still such a long way to go so it wouldn’t be right to say that. But of course I can understand why people might think that at the moment.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ahbishek Takle – Mid-day) A question to Marcus. There has been some speculation that Longbow is linked to you backers. I was wondering if I could get your comment on that and does this now give you clarity about your future with the team going forward for next year?

    ME: Yes. I’ve seen that as well. It’s not something I know about. I’m not involved in these kind of things anyway, so yeah I really don’t know to be honest. And my future, like anyone else without a contract for next year so looking at Sauber because I really like the way it’s working in Sauber. Hopefully now with a new owner we can improve as a team but also looking at other alternatives, so let’s see.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) A question for Nico. It’s fair to say that generally you’re not always someone who gives a great deal away about your innermost feelings as it were. But over the past five races the lead has gone from 43 points to one and this is a track where Lewis has won four times and I don’t think you’ve been on the podium here. Would it be fair to say that this is a weekend where you’re sort of feeling the pressure a bit?

    NR: No it’s not. Because for me, I mean we can all agree on the fact that so far up to now I’ve had the best season of all drivers. That’s the fact for me, which I’m focusing on. As I’ve said though, in general I don’t look at the big picture, because the best approach for me to win races is just to focus on the weekend at hand, which is now look at Hungary and try and get the best out of the weekend, go for the win and that’s it. It doesn’t feel any different to any other weekend.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Népe) The question is to Max. Are you still in the phase of learning how to drive the Red Bull or are you ready now?

    MV: I think you always learn. For sure I’m feeling very confident with the car but every weekend I jump in the car and straight away you are learning again and you find new bits to improve the set-up, so still learning.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – Belarus Segoduya) We see here today drivers with contract for next year and drivers without contract. My question, for all drivers: what influence does the existence of contracts [have] on a driver’s motivation to race. But my question… I want to know opinion personal and not opinion of team?

    NR: Of course you need to be careful, because it can influence and take some energy away but I think from my side with the experience that I have now I know how to handle it and in my part I have Gerhard Berger who is handling it for me, specifically to make sure that I don’t lose any focus on the racing and to get the best out of it.

    Carlos you have a contract now, so how does that impact on your race weekend?

    CS: I’m not the kind of guy who goes to sleep on a race weekend thinking about your contract situation. During a race weekend it doesn’t really affect you but maybe in the summer when you are on vacation, yeah you think about your future and where you are going to be but now that I am under contract I didn’t think about it any more, because there’s nothing to think about. You have easier holidays, let’s put it like that – even this year.

    Felipe, your thoughts?

    FM: Definitely when you are in the race weekend you’re trying to get the best you can, in terms of how to drive, what you think. I don’t think really having a contract or not for next year would change exactly your thinking of driving., Definitely if you are trying to do a big risk overtake maybe you think twice, because it’s better to finish the race, better to try to do the best you can, but to be honest I don’t think it really changes massively by having the contract for next year.

    Marcus, Sergio, Max have you anything to add?

    MV: Well, I’ve never been without a contract in F1 so far. To be honest, I never real the pressure anyway, it’s all about what you do one really, so pedal to the metal.

    Q (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) To all drivers. After 2013 the podium-placed drivers will again have these classical, traditional Hungarian porcelain trophy. What do you think of this and in general is it important for a driver for a driver to get aesthetically beautiful and OK trophies in Formula One?

    Nico, how much would you like to get your hands on one of those trophies this weekend?

    NR: I would love to get my hands on the biggest one and I think it’s great that there are such traditions and that the trophies are done in the country’s traditional manner. That’s great and they’re very nice here.

    Sergio, your thoughts?

    SP: Yeah, I would love to have a trophy to be honest.

    FM: I think the trophy is a very important image of the country, so it’s needs to look nice, it needs to look beautiful. Also for the image of the country, that you’re getting something. I had races where the trophy was pretty… not nice. You do an amazing job on the track and you get a little trophy like that. To be honest, we are in Formula One not… I think it needs to be nice.

    NR: Which one in for Formula One?

    FM: One in Barcelona, maybe three years ago.

    NR: So the Spanish did a terrible trophy?

    FM: For that race! Maybe I wasn’t lucky for that race!

    Carlos, give us your thoughts?

    CS: I will talk to the circuit in Barcelona and let’s see if they can do something for me next year!

    And Max?

    MV: I quite like the trophy of Barcelona, it looks great!

    Q (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Question to all of you: I know most of you have already walked the track. It’s been resurfaced completely, new kerbs have been installed. I guess you had a careful look at them, any impressions, concerns, especially after what happened in Austria, there are some similar ones? Also, what’s your opinion of the electronic track limits policing that will be used this weekend?

    ME: I did the track walk earlier today and it looks nice, definitely more smooth than before. The kerbs are quote different at some places. Hopefully this new system will work because I can see some places where there is potential lap time to gain by going off track and I think that discussion is not something we like, so hopefully this new system is going to be used and is reliable to be used also in qualifying and in the race. Apart from that I like the track and I think even though it’s resurfaced and new kerbs I think it will still have the same character.

    Max?

    MV: It looks great. I’ve seen some racing before with F3 one or two months ago and it looked nice. I’m looking forward to driving it.

    Q: (Tom Richter – AMC Sport TV CZ) Question for Max. How different mentally is it to race in the mental with a not so competitive car, some blue flags and running at the front, for example in Spain? How mentally is it different as you are the guy with the most recent experience with that, so you can compare.

    MV: Actually it’s not different because you approach your competitors as the number one… or the guy who is leading the race, because you know whether you can fight with him or not. So, for me, it doesn’t really change – only the blue flags. Before you were a bit angry that you had to move out of the way and now you are the one overtaking them and you are getting a bit angry with them because they are not moving out of the way, so that’s the only difference.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Question to Felipe and Nico: Imola has emerged as an alternative to Monza as host to the Italian Grand Prix. As drivers who have raced there in the past, what are your views regarding a return to the venue? Is it viable, would it be safe given the cars are going to get a lot quicker? And also what do you feel about the Italian Grand Prix potentially moving away from Monza?

    FM: Well, first of all I think we need to wait and see what’s going to happen and if they really announce something in the proper way. Before, it’s just talks. It’s really not the right time to answer about that. I think it would not be nice to lose the Italian Grand Prix. I really love to race in Monza. I used to enjoy racing a lot at Imola as well. It’s important to have the Italian Grand Prix. Italy’s such an important country for Formula One, for the history of Formula One. It would be really sad to lose a race in Italy. I used to enjoy Imola a lot but I love to race in Monza. If we keep Monza, for me it is maybe even better.

    NR: Yeah, just very important to keep the Italian Grand Prix, because it’s legendary and a huge following there, a huge crowd and the tifosi. So we need to make sure to race there.

    Q: Did you enjoy the challenge of Imola?

    NR: Yeah, yeah. Imola’s great, Monza’s great. Both tracks are good.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Marcus, you said earlier on that you’d heard these suggestions that your backers and Longbow were interlinked. You said you didn’t get involved in these things though. Are you saying that as an ambitious young driver you don’t really care about the future of your team or what the ownership is and what the potential is?

    ME: Of course I care about it and I think it’s important that the team has got a new owner, but who they are and what they are is not something that I’m involved with. I’m contracted as a racing driver and my job is to drive the car as fast as possible on the race track, to work with my engineers, to work with the guys on the aero, stuff like that. Who owns  the teams and who is putting money in the team and all these kinds of stuff – I think that is not my job so it’s as simple as that.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Max, Nico and Felipe, correct me if I’m wrong but you all live in Monaco. Were any of you affected or were you at home at the time of the awful events in Nice last week? I just wondered if you went to the parade afterwards or anything like that.

    NR: Yes, of course all tragedies like that are touching and this one was in a particular manner to me because I went to school in Nice and I have family living in Nice. So it’s very shocking. What can I say beyond that?

    FM: Well, I was in a plane, just arriving in Nice at that moment, so I think it happened at maybe 10.30pm and I just landed at midnight from London. I was working at Williams for two days and I just got a message when I landed that a very big event had happened in Nice so I tried to go as quick as… tried to leave the airport as quick as I could because it was a big thing going on and then when I landed also the people from the plane, everybody started to be a little bit shocked due to the things happening. It was such a shame to see that to be honest. People were enjoying their time and then just lose your life for maybe your friends, your family because of this. It’s really shocking. I really hope the best for them. I really hope that we don’t need to see that any more. Things are getting more and more all the time which is really not nice.

    MV: I was in Monaco at the time having dinner so once I heard the message, of course also the people around me saw it and you could clearly see the atmosphere was changing. Yeah, it was of course very shocking what happened there.

    Q: (Roland Mather – JHED Media) Max, first of all how do you reflect on your race here last year and second of all, your goal for this year ahead of the season was to score one hundred points. You’ve almost achieved that, what are you going to do next?

    MV: 200 points? I don’t know. Last year was very good. Of course we had some luck as well, to finish fourth even with a drive-through. It was a great weekend, I enjoyed that one a lot but hopefully this year we are aiming for more than fourth, so hopefully we can be on the podium.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Speedsport and Auto Action magazines) There have been stories on the internet that Max is getting a new road car but I’d like to ask all of you: what is the primary road car that you have in the garage back home?

    SP: I have a Ferrari, a 458.

    CS: I have a Golf.

    ME: I have a Porsche Panamera.

    FM: Yeah, I have a few Ferraris. One La Ferrari and one F40.

    NR: A 280SL, Mercedes, Pagoda.

    Q: And?

    Q: Max, any more details about your garage?

    MV: Yeah, everybody has seen it, I think.

    FM: And the pink, the colour?

    MV: Pink? Pink. Yeah, I wrapped it in a great colour! No. It’s a great car. It’s a Porsche GT3, great car.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Max, there are a lot of people in Argentina who stopped watching Formula One for years and now they are back because of you, I have to tell you. So I want to know, how does that affect you, to have so many fans already all over the world?

    MV: Yes, of course, very nice, I have to say. Also Argentinian steakhouses are also great. It’s quite close, so I really enjoy it, it’s very good. Yes, it’s of course great that there are more and more fans coming and hopefully we get more and more.

    Q: (James Gheerbrant – The Times) Nico, I think it was two years ago at this circuit that you had a bit of a run-in with Lewis. He was ordered to let you through but he didn’t and that probably cost you the chance to win the race. When you return to a circuit does that have any bearing, can you draw any extra motivation from that and get yourself fired up?

    NR: Umm, I didn’t know that, I mean now I do, of course, but I wasn’t thinking about it so no, it doesn’t. We review last year’s race for the weekend, just to go through what happened and just make sure that we refresh to make sure we remember everything but that’s it, then I don’t think about last year. Especially this year, it’s even more so the case because the asphalt is new and that will make it very different out there so we all need to start from scratch and also the kerbs are new so it’s going to change a lot of things.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Népe) Felipe, Valtteri will go to Rio games, visiting Emilia, what do you think or prefer for them to join or be a little bit Brazilian?? What should they do, what not? Can you give some advice to them?

    FM: Yeah, we’ve already spoken to him about Rio, giving him some suggestions and I think he found the right place and I think he’s found a place to stay. I’m sure he will enjoy it and I hope the best for his girlfriend as well, to be competitive. I think Rio is definitely a fantastic place for the Olympic Games so I’m sure the people will enjoy it a lot and I hope it will be very successful for the country. That is very important anyway.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Max, could you say P3 is a realistic target? Let’s imagine that Hamilton or Rosberg will be the World Champion but you’re not far behind number three now.

    MV: Yeah, we are pretty close but we will see where we end up at the end of the season. We’ll be third or sixth – in between that. Hopefully.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) So you think race-by-race.

    MV: Yeah. You try to do the best possible job every race and then we’ll see after Abu Dhabi where we are.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Max, do you remember the first winner here in Hungary? It was before your time.

    MV: Yeah, I wasn’t born.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Nelson Piquet. He made a very nice move. You can’t pass on this circuit but the one question I have is that he’d like you to see you win here. Have you ever spoken to him?

    MV: OK. Not him, to his son, yes.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

    Thursday Press Conference image by FIA
    Thursday Press Conference image by FIA