Tag: F1

Sepang, 26 March 2015: As the F1 bandwagon arrives in the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur, INDIAinF1.com’s coverage start’s with the Thursday Press Conference…

DRIVERS – Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Felipe NASR (Sauber), Daniil KVYAT (Red Bull Racing), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren)

Fernando, if I can start with you. This has been a happy hunting ground throughout your career – you got your first pole here, you won with three different manufacturers – so a good place to come back from what was a difficult episode. What can you tell us about what you’ve been through in the past few weeks?

Fernando ALONSO: Happy to be here in another Formula One season. I start one race later than I should be but, yeah, unfortunately I had the accident in Barcelona and following the recommendations by the doctors I missed the first race. But, yeah, happy to be here, as I said. Malaysia has always been a very nice circuit for me in my Formula One career. My first pole position was here in 2003, my first podium and then as you said three wins with three different teams give me the possibility always to enjoy this circuit and I know it’s going to be very tough this year to repeat such a result but, yeah, happy to be back in the cockpit and ready to enjoy the weekend.

You’ve only done around 500km of testing with this car so far. How do you see the journey ahead and the challenge now to hit the targets the team has set?

FA: Well, I think we need to be with the feet on the ground knowing that we are not in a position that we wanted and not in a position that we will be hopefully very soon. It will be like a test session for me, the first races. As you said I did in this car more or less the same number of laps that another guy do in one day, so obviously I’m not probably confident with the car in this moment and I will need to learn many things, not only on the driving style but also on the approach McLaren has to the weekends. So, many things to learn for me; very challenging moment of my career and ready to take it.

Okay, thank you. Kimi, coming to you, obviously you had some problems in Australia towards the end of the race but the pace all weekend was good and you were close to your team-mate Vettel throughout, so it looks like it’s going to be a good in-house battle between the two of you. How do you see it?

Kimi RAIKKONEN: Obviously we are in a much better position than we were say even at the end of last year so in that way it’s a nice place to be but obviously we still have to improve quite a bit. We want to be in front and we still don’t have the speed exactly, at least in qualifying, to be there. In the race I think we are a bit stronger compared to Mercedes. But I think it will be a fun year, obviously not an ideal start of the year and we got some damage from the start and had those issues in the pit stops but you know it can happen sometimes but at least we had pretty good speed. I’m sure we’re going to have strong races and good battles but like I said we still have some work to do to be absolutely where we want to be but we have done a good job so far.

Can you tell us what it is about the chassis and the way it handles in particular that makes it a better race car for you personally?

KR: I think it’s the whole package. It’s not just the engine we improved. Yes, we improved that a lot but we improved the chassis itself a lot as well. It’s the whole package, you cannot just point to one area that has been improved from last year, it’s the whole thing. I think how everybody works and it’s one team and things are going in the right direction and people are pushing and doing a good job. Like I said, it’s still early days. We still have to work hard and improve things but where we started, so far we have done a good job.

Carlos, coming to you, a great debut obviously in Melbourne for you. It could have gone even better without the long pit stop. I guess you dream of your grand prix debut and then when it goes well, like it did, is it a feeling or elation or relief, or both?

Carlos SAINZ: A bit of everything to be honest. It was a good debut, which I’m very happy with. It obviously gives you a boost of confidence and also a big boost of motivation to keep up the good work and keep improving because I’m sure I still have a lot, a lot, a lot to improve.

Did all the attention that was on your team-mate Max Verstappen help to take the pressure off you a bit and allow you to perform better?

CS: This may be a bit what it looked like from the outside, but obviously from the inside I perfectly know the amount of pressure I put on myself and the amount of pressure STR and Red Bull are putting on us and for sure I can tell you we have exactly the same amount of pressure to perform. So not really, to be honest, I think we were pretty equal in that sense and it was just a good weekend.

Felipe, another rookie and another very good result in Australia with fifth place, which is the debut result ever for a Brazilian in Formula One. What does that result… it must be very emotional to even hear that… what does that performance mean to you and the team?

Felipe NASR: It was very unique I have to say, coming from a very troubled weekend. My very first ever weekend in Formula One was not ideal the way it started, with all this trouble, going to court and everything else; missing first free practice, a track that I didn’t know. So it was a very good outcome to come up fifth in my first ever race and I think for the team as well it was something they really needed. It’s important. It shows the team was ready, myself was ready to put the things on the side and being able to deliver in the race. It was something very special.

During the race you were able to keep Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull behind you and you were even able to drive away from him. So how do you feel about this car and how excited are you about what’s possible this year?

FN: I was a bit surprised to see that happening. I knew the car had the potential to do it but to hold back Red Bull was unexpected. It could only show that the car has… the engine has done a good improvement over the winter, over last year. I think we need to take the profit from these early races to maximise our potential and getting the opportunities right. I think there are still teams struggling out there to finish races and we need to use that as an advantage for us.

Coming to you Daniil, obviously a challenging first weekend to say the least for you and Red Bull, you qualified behind the Toro Rossos and didn’t even manage to take the start. What progress have you made with Renault since Melbourne in particular on the driveability of this power unit?

Daniil KVYAT: I think we will only find the answer tomorrow to be honest. I hope we did. The whole team now is working really hard to overcome the difficulties we are facing right now but myself and the whole team we are used to working realty hard and that’s what we are going to do and we are going to try our best to put ourselves in a strong position once again.

Last year, of course, you were in the points on your first visit to this Sepang circuit. What features of this track do you enjoy?

DK: Well, generally, it’s quite a challenging circuit I think for all of us. It’s famous for the heat, for the warm, hot conditions. Generally this track has been good to me, I have been here a few times. I enjoy driving it here. It has a few fast, high-speed sections that you usually enjoy quite a lot as a driver. I’m looking forward to this weekend and hopefully we will keep moving forward.

Nico, Melbourne looked like Mercedes had doubled the advantage in terms of relative fastest laps across the weekend over your nearest rivals compared to the start of 2014, but do you expect a smaller gap on this type of circuit?

Nico ROSBERG: I don’t think it’s right to say that. Of course qualifying pace was very strong, yes, but more important is the race pace, especially from Kimi we saw an extremely strong stint, so not really fair to say that I would say. I think Ferrari especially have definitely closed the gap and are closer than our nearest rival was last year.

Specifically this type of circuit, do you expect the gap to be smaller?

NR: It’s very difficult to say. It’s early days, we need to wait and see how it goes here.

You said after the race in Melbourne that you could follow Lewis but it was hard to mount an attack, so presumably qualifying is crucial to get the advantage this weekend to make sure you start the race on the front foot?

NR: Qualifying is definitely important in this internal battle especially since we have the same cars but it’s not everything, because we have seen in the past, even in races, playing around the tyre order or things like that it’s still possible to overtake and this weekend here, there might be a bit more leeway in the strategy to try to launch a better attack.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Fernando, how long after the accident did you start to get memories of the accident back, what did you learn about it when you went to the factory last week and do you now believe that there was no problem with the car?

FA: Everything was more or less as a normal concussion. So, I had this concussion, went to the hospital. I went to the hospital in good conditions. There is a time that I don’t remember from two o’clock to six o’clock or something like that, but everything again was normal due to the medication that they give you to go into the helicopter and to do some tests in the hospital.

Everything was normal. I didn’t wake up in ’95, I didn’t wake up speaking in Italian or all these things that probably they were out there. I remember the accident and I remember everything that following day.

Obviously with the team we have been very close working on that and with the FIA, they were very helpful all the times, and we were in close contact, all three parts constantly and yeah, there is not in the data anything clear that we can spot and we can say it was that, the reason. But definitely we had a steering problem in the middle of turn three. It locked into the right and I approached the wall I braked in the last moment, I downshift from fifth to third, and yeah, unfortunately on the data we are still missing some parts. Also the acquisition of date on that particular part of the car is not at the top so there are some new sensors here at this race and there are some changes we do on the steering rack and other parts and yeah that was the main thing. The last week at the factory was more a work on the simulator and trying to explain to me these new sensors and these new parts that will go on this race.

Q: (Jaime Rodríguez – El Mundo) Fernando, after this episode, have you got more respect or more fear to your job?

FA: No, not really. You know, at the end of the day we know motorsport is dangerous. We know that sometimes you have a big accident, spectacular and the car is completely destroyed and nothing happens, and sometimes you crash in a low speed corner or something, and it depends on the angle, depends on how you hit, or which part of the body you hit, you have more or less injuries. It is the same in the normal day life: sometimes you live an extreme life and nothing happens and sometimes you walk on the street and have a big issue. So, no more respect than before, it’s just, y’know, a very normal thing. I felt ready to go to Australia as well but I understand also the recommendation from the doctor that it was maybe too early and, yeah, we wait for one more race. That, obviously, creates even more feeling, no? But happy to be here, happy to help the team. Obviously we’re struggling a little bit at the moment and the winter has been quite difficult and the same at the first race. It was hard for me to watch on TV with the team not performing so well. So yeah, we are here to help and to give McLaren and Honda the experience that we can have, Jenson and me, and trying to recover from this form as soon as possible.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Fernando, you said “the steering just locked”. The steering is for a racing driver, let’s say, a very delicate thing in the car, like the brakes if it fails. If you still don’t know why there was a problem with the steering is that a thing that is worrying you despite the new sensors you have on the car?

FA: Not really. I think, as I said before, together with FIA and with the team, we were constantly doing some checks, investigations, some possibilities, and as I said, there are some areas in the car that, instrumentation-wise are probably not at the level to see this problem. It’s like a problem that may occur, in this phrase, 20 years ago, Formula One did not have the technology to spot that problem. I’m sure that we are missing something on the data acquisition that we will spot in ten years’ time or whatever when the technology is available. So, that’s one reason and, yeah, I have zero doubt or zero concern.

Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) Question for Fernando. Given that you remember the accident, as far as you are concerned, it wasn’t a driver error or, as the team put it, a gust of wind blew you off course in any way?

FA: No, no, definitely not. I don’t know if you see the video but even a hurricane will not move the car at that speed. Also, if you have any problem or any medical issue, normally you will lose the power and you will go straight to the outside, never to the inside. In a Formula One car you still need to apply some effort on the steering wheel. So, that’s one thing. Honestly, y’know, obviously with an accident, with the repercussion of the accident, the news, being in Spain, a lot of attention on that day and probably the first answers or the first press conference that the team have, my manager, whatever, all the stuff around in these early days, it was just some guess. The wind, maybe other possibilities. That creates a little bit of confusion obviously – but you cannot say nothing for three or four days until I remember everything because these three or four days then will become even worse. So I think they say the theory of the wind, etc., but obviously it was not a help.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) Apologies to the other five members of the panel but it’s another question for Fernando. With everything that’s happened over the winter and to yourself personally and to the team as well, one of the big things that’s been debated by the fans and I’m sure many journalists in this room is whether you’ve made the right decision, returning to McLaren. What would your reaction to that debate be?

FA: I’m one of the happiest persons in the world. Yes, I am. I have a challenge in front of me. A tough challenge clearly. I think it’s difficult but it’s going to taste better when we do it. I grew up watching TV with McLaren-Honda domination and Ayrton Senna in the cockpit. I understand that we are now too far back and we will be heavily criticized and it will be fair to receive that criticism because we are not at the level we will be – but it’s nothing we can do now, just work, it’s a long-term project and all my career I experience some beautiful moments – even the last five years – with Ferrari we didn’t win the championship but it was a fantastic experience. But five was enough – I didn’t want to be seven years second or third so I prefer to risk and challenge for victory. Even if you need to take some risk for the first year.

Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) A question to Fernando. Coming back to the accident, can you remember one thing, if you lost consciousness before the first impact or not, and when, why?

FA: No, I remember everything obviously. I don’t want to go through every detail because it’s going to be long but I remembered everything. It was Sunday morning, all the setup changes, the lap times, I think Vettel was in front of me before Turn Three but cut the chicane to let me go, exiting the pitlane. After the hit I was kissing the wall for a while and then I switch off the radio first, because it was on, and then I switch off the master switch for the batteries to switch off the ERS system just because I saw the marshals coming and, if not, they cannot touch the car. So, yeah, I was perfectly conscious at the time. I lost consciousness in the ambulance or in the clinic at the circuit but the doctors said this is normal because of the medication that they put you, just for the helicopter transportation and the checks that they do in the hospital: the MRI and the evaluation needs this protocol, needs this medication so this is normal that maybe you don’t remember.

Is is normal the marshals didn’t touch the car?

FA: This I don’t know.

Q: (Manuel Franco – Diario AS) Two questions, the first for Fernando, the second for Fernando and Carlos. Fernando, what had you learned from the accident? About people, about you, about life? Second question. In this race will be three Spanish drivers: you and Roberto Merhi. With England and Germany it’s the country with most drivers in the race. What do you think?

FA: What I learned is that I have so much support from so many people. It’s been amazing how many messages from people I’ve received. So many warm wishes from all the sport and government and everyone. Everyone was so interested. And in the Formula One paddock as well because even from the flight on Tuesday that I arrived here until today has been a very nice experience to see really, truly, wishes of health for me. That was something that I learned, probably, after the accident. You don’t realize until you have a problem, or you miss one or two races that, y’know, so many people are behind you and are supporting you. And then, about the race, yes, it’s nice to have three Spanish drivers. Hopefully we can see for many years. We had three previously with Marc Gené and Pedro [de la Rosa] and now hopefully we can have many more years because Carlos and Roberto, they are very young and they have good possibility and a good future and I wish they can stay very long.

Carlos, your view on that?

CS: For me it’s obviously great. I’ve always had a good relationship with Fernando and I now have a very good relationship with Roberto. I think the more Spanish the better and, yeah, that’s it.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Speed Sport) Accidents can happen to experienced drivers, so Nico, and Kimi, do you every worry about having accidents? Has there been a time in your F1 career where you maybe thought ‘I don’t want to go out?’

NR: Yeah, of course sometimes I think about it and there is a certain element of fear when I’m driving sometimes but that, I think is natural, and holds me back sometimes to go too far beyond the limit. But it doesn’t make me slower in any way.

Kimi?

KR: I’ve had quite a few accidents in the past and last year one not so nice one. But it’s part of the game. If you make a mistake, you pay a price. It’s up to you. If you’re not prepared to take the risk or if you’re scared, I’m sure there’s plenty of guys that are willing to jump in a car and race. So, no, I think you… obviously it’s part of the thing but I think you have better chances to get hurt in normal traffic than on the race circuits.

Q: (Byron Young – The Mirror) Fernando, the team was saying even up to a couple of days ago that there was nothing wrong with the car, and yet you’re saying the steering locked. How do those two statements work together?

FA: Yeah, as I said before, I think it’s clear that there was a problem in the car but it hasn’t been found on the data at the moment.  It’s one of the things that I did also in the factory last week, not only the simulator but going – with all the engineers and all the data available –  going through the moments and there are some spots here and there but there is not a clear answer. So I understand completely and support the team until they find a clear answer that it was this or that, it’s impossible to say or to lie that it was this or that. They need to go much further. If they will find something any time, I don’t know because if after one month we didn’t find anything on the data, it is maybe because whatever part was the problem, it was not available on the data, so maybe it will never be.

Q: (Byron Young – The Mirror) But they have gone further and say there is no problem.

FA: Well, I don’t think that they say this any more.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, can you expect this circuit to give your car the same chance to have a good position , as you had at Melbourne? 

KR: Well, I hope it’s better than Melbourne for me. Like I said, we had the speed and I think things are running smoothly, we just have to avoid mistakes. We had some bad luck at the start but the car’s been quick at every circuit we’ve been to so far so I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be here. I think it could be even better than it was at the last race. It’s a proper circuit and I think it will be good, fitting well at this circuit so we’ll just wait and see.

Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) Fernando, do we now have a precise idea of the violence of the impact that gave you such big concussion?

FA: No, I don’t exactly know the details.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) I’m a bit confused by this: there’s no problem, there’s nothing on the data, you’ve lost consciousness, someone said you didn’t lose consciousness, your team also said there was a gust of wind. It’s all just very confusing but one thing for me, if there’s no data and the team haven’t found anything, could the problem happen again?

FA: Well, as I said, I think some of the confusion comes from the very early quotes and very early explanations because the attention was very high at that moment. The stress was very high, I was in intensive care, there was some urgency to say something because there was a lot of attention so that was probably part of the confusion. On the data, as I said before, I think there was some lack of instrumentation maybe on the car, to miss the exact problem and there are some actions taken for this race which are probably not necessary but there is extra care with some parts on the car that were unique to me, that I requested because of  my driving style when I joined McLaren  and here we will go back to the normal steering rack and things that they’ve been using with Jenson and Kevin for the last couple of years. Of course, there are some actions for this race and as I said, there is zero problem, zero worries on my side. Everything is OK.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, could you tell us exactly what happened this morning during the test?

FA: Today, we’ve been through the normal processes as we have during the last month. As I said before, everything that I did or that happened in the last month were completely normal, the concussion, the rehabilitation, the checks, the extra checks, the recommendation to wait two or three weeks before any dangerous activity again, so everything went normal and this morning, again, it was a normal procedure after  a head injury to do an impact test with the FIA and some reaction tests and some examinations with the Malaysian Grand Prix doctors. Everything went as smoothly as possible and I have the green light, so that was a very positive moment.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) You’ve partially answered this before,  Fernando,  but seeing Ferrari is so strong, do you think that maybe you might have waited a little bit longer before leaving and  achieved some results?

FA: Obviously, as I said, with the performance that we have right now, it’s easy to criticise our team and my decision, whatever, but as I said, I’m first of all so so happy that this is the most important thing. When you’re happy with yourself or you’re a healthy man inside, that is the first victory and that is what I am now, because I’m following my dream now. And secondly, I could  wait and achieve some nice results as you’ve said probably yes, but after 14 years of Formula One and two championships, a podium or fourth place or fifth place is no longer a nice result.

Q: (Carlos Miguel –La Gaceta) Fernando, I would like to know your feelings after 14 years, watching a race on TV?

FA: I don’t think I pick the best race to watch, probably. One, it was very early in the morning, so that didn’t help the enthusiasm for the race, and secondly, the number of cars on the grid and after the first couple of laps was obviously not ideal. Yeah, it was a strange feeling, no doubt that I missed being there, I missed driving. It was strange but luckily I’m here.

Q: (Carlos Miguel –La Gaceta) Carlos, is it a big motivation for you to beat the new Ayrton Senna as you did in the first race?

CS: For me the first motivation is always to extract the maximum potential from myself, focus myself and with self-confidence and knowing that you can extract the full potential from yourself then you should believe that you are in front of your teammate. I believe Max is a great talent, I believe he’s going to perform really well this year and he will be a very tough competitor but my main focus, as I said, is not to beat him but first of all extract the maximum potential from myself and that will put me  in a good position for sure.

Q: (Byron Young – The Mirror) Fernando,  I’m a bit confused: how can you not be worried? From what you’re saying to us, the steering was locked, heading towards the inside wall. You’re fighting with the steering wheel so that’s a car problem, and you’re getting back in the car this weekend and you don’t know what caused that problem. How can you not be worried?

FA: I fully trust the team. They’ve been looking at every single component of the car for a month, they’ve been simulating the efforts, they’ve been doing so many tests, they’ve been changing every single part that they had some doubts about so I think we have the safest car right now, because of all the studies that they’ve done. And after one month, I’m probably the most medically checked driver in history so we should be fine, both of us.

Ends.

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Graeme LOWDON (Manor Marussia)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Maurizio, obviously there have been a lot of changes at Ferrari since the end of last season. How do you feel about the state of the team going into this new year?

Maurizio ARRIVABENE: I mean, I don’t want to talk about the past. We made changes. I would like to thank the people that were there before, the guys that left, and that’s it. Thinking about the future and the actual situation, I was working a lot with the guys, as I said many, many times, to put them together for a common goal and to work concentrated, with feet on the ground, with the same objective. As I said to them and as I said to your colleagues, I don’t want to hear any more talking about engine, chassis or any other people. If we lose, we lose together and if we are going to win we are going to win together. That’s my mantra. This is what I said to the team and I saw them calm, committed and motivated. That’s important for me.

You’ve been involved in Formula One for many years but obviously you’ve only been running the team since Abu Dhabi. What areas of running a team have provided you with the steepest learning curve and the greatest challenge?

MA: For sure the technical area. You have to know a lot about that, you have to be curious, you have to go around the factory asking questions, meeting people but especially listening to the engineers, learning from them, because you know the engineers they are talking a very special language, they are able to use 1,000 words to tell you what normally they are going to say in 10 words. So you have to extrapolate and to summarise and to make it simple sometimes. I think that was the big challenge.

Thank you for that. Eric, coming to you: can you tell us what’s the latest on your driver Fernando Alonso and his return to the cockpit? We’ve seen him on social media these last few days and he’s been working out quite hard, ready for his return?

Eric BOULLIER: The normal process recommended by the doctors was obviously to stay and rest at home for a few days and this is what he was doing and during the same time he was allowed to train again and start again his recovery and training programme. Now it’s up to the doctors of the FIA to decide if he will be ready to race in Malaysia or not.

Okay. Can you tell us a little bit about the Honda relationship, the steps along the way with Honda this year? When do you expect to have the full potential of this brand new power unit?

EB: Well, it’s a complicated question and we don’t have the answer yet. We are still in the process, as you can see today, of developing and understanding the car. Obviously we had tough winter sessions, not a lot of miles covered and we still have a lot of parameters to work on and discover. We do out best, we are one team but we are still not there yet. I don’t know how long it’s going to take. Hopefully not so long.

Thank you for that. Monisha, tell us, from your point of view, about the events of the past week and particularly the last 24 hours?

Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, that’s a topic I can’t say anything about. Just to make it clear, any questions about that I will not be able to answer.

So you won’t be able to say, for example, where you go from here for the rest of this weekend?

MK: As I said, I cannot say anything about it.

Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about the problems suffered by Marcus then today in practice?

MK: It was a very unexpected problem on the wishbone. We’re investigating what actually happened there. We just have not got the conclusive answer yet.

Thank you. Graeme, coming to you: what’s the state of play with your team this weekend, obviously you didn’t manage to do any running today. Is it a software issue?

Graeme LOWDON: It’s not simply a software issue, there are a lot of issues, none of which are a big surprise really when you consider what’s been required to get the team here in a very, very short space of time. So I would say that the problems that we are dealing with at present are not unusual for the task we are doing, which is effectively setting up trackside and on-car infrastructure for these cars to run. We’ll put our best effort in and deal with each problem sequentially and try to get through them as quickly as we can and try to get running as quickly as we can.

So what are the next steps going forward? Do you expect to run this weekend and what about the next few weeks and months?

GL: We literally have to deal with the problems one at a time and I think as we steadily get through them we’ll be able to put a little bit more accuracy on any kind of prediction. At the moment it’s quite difficult to predict as you have binary problems – things are either going to work or they’re not going to work. But what I’m confident about is that we are not seeing anything that’s unusual, just things that have to be dealt with in a very short space of time and also once these problems are solved we wouldn’t expect to see them again.

Thank you for that. Claire, coming to you now, obviously the expectations around your team are very different now from this time last year. Has the culture changed within Williams? Is it more now winning mentality?

Claire WILLIAMS: Yes, it’s great to come to the first race of the year a little bit excited about it rather than dreading it. So it’s great to be in Melbourne and even better to be at the top end of the paddock than the bottom end of the paddock. There is I suppose more expectation on us and there is that internal pressure that we have all put on ourselves at Williams to make sure that we improve this year. We clearly had a great year last year but we know that we are back to square one, back to zero, and we’ve got to do it all again and hopefully do a better job and take the fight to Toto and his Mercedes.

We’ve seen a lot of activity already this weekend around fans, drivers, interaction. Do you feel that your Promotional Working Group is starting to make some progress?

CW: We’ve had quite a busy winter with the PWG and the teams just coming together to see where we can support. Formula One is a fantastic show as it is but just the work that we can do behind the scenes to support promoters and to engage fans and we’ve been trying to do. To see Melbourne and what the promoters have done here, with their red carpet and having a bit more accessibility to drivers, the heroes of our sport. Bringing the drivers to the fans has been great to see. It’ll be interesting to see what the PWG can do to support those initiatives moving forward.

Finally, coming to you Toto. Obviously you’re the defending world champions. Do you feel that you’ve gone from being the challengers to having a giant target on your backs, albeit one that seems to still be at some distance from everybody else?

Toto WOLFF: Yes, obviously it’s a completely different situation than last year. It’s normal that you are being the one that is the target if you set the benchmark the year before and it’s quite a challenging situation. There wasn’t such a big technical revolution like there was from 2013 to 2014. You have to find little gains. I think we are in a good position; we are in a good state. We had a solid first day and it’s just about proving that we can do it again.

Now last year at certain points you were a little bit anxious about your drivers getting a bit too close to each other and you had to talk to them. Now that you’ve won the world titles is the pressure off a little bit? Are you going to be a bit more relaxed when things get edgy between them are you going to let things play their course a bit more or are you still going to be just as on top of it as you were last year?

TW: Of course the pressure was very high last year. We wanted to win it. I guess the situation is a little bit more relaxed this year. We have maintained our philosophy of letting them race, always respecting each other and respecting the framework and we have no doubt that they will do that. I think we have to start the season and see how it pans out and I have no doubt it will be OK.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Mathias Brunner – Speedweek) Monisha, we had no Sauber on track in the first session and two of your cars on the track in the second session. What made the difference?

MK: The sessions. It’s a topic I cannot talk about. That’s all I can say.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Monisha, I appreciate the legal circumstances that you are currently going through at the moment and you can’t talk per se about certain matters but can you talk about your position at the minute? Do you feel that you are still competent enough to run the team given what has happened? And also, could you just explain about the morale within the team and what this past week has done?

MK: Well, it’s definitely a very negative impact on the team because the situation was for a while unclear, we now have certain actions taken against the team and we are acting accordingly so there’s nothing much more I can say to that.

What about your position?

MK: I don’t see it having any effect.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Maurizio, clearly Ferrari over the last couple of years it’s lost its way in a sporting and technical manner, which is why you were brought in. However, there is also a perception that it had lost the political initiative that it once held very, very strongly. How do you intend rebuilding the political side of the team, it’s overall standing in the Formula One structure.

MA: I don’t think Ferrari lost a kind of central role first of all. I would like to see how many people would be at the race without the Ferrari team competing and this is part of the political role. Before me and even now I think that our president, Sergio Marchionne, he was working very hard and he plays himself in the first line and with a lot of effort, not to regain the position, but at least to keep the position in terms of political weight that Ferrari deserves. I am following him 100 per cent and I am learning also from him because his strategic view with his experience is very important for the team and for the company.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Monisha again, I remember in São Paulo last year when the issue about the drivers came out, you say “we knew exactly what we were doing.” Now, it looks like you do not really know what you are doing, since all of the troubles that has happened in the last few days. Do you really feel that you have the strength and the capacity of running a Formula One team, looking at the things that have been developing in the last few days?

MK: We have a very clear view of what we did. We had taken action, after a while we thought about it very well and for us that was very clear. The outcome here is different and that’s all I can say to it.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Question to Graeme Lowdon, Graeme, are you able to give us any information on whether you’re able to run tomorrow? Do you know that yet? Do you have any confidence that you can get the car on track? And secondly, looking at the weekend as a whole, do you feel that it might have been better with hindsight that you didn’t appear in Australia and had perhaps done something different this weekend back at home to ensure that perhaps by the time you got to Kuala Lumpur you would have been much better prepared that you have been here?

GL: To answer the second question first, I think it’s really important to be here. This is the championship that we’re part of, and we want to be part of it from the start, right the way through to the finish. I think for those who have seen the task that the team has addressed, it has been an incredible job by an awful lot of people. Not just people within the team – but we’ve had huge amount of cooperation from all the other teams here, from the FIA, from Jean Todt, from FOM, from Bernie. It’s not a small task to do what’s been done and an awful lot of people have helped to get it to where it is. The cars and the systems are incredibly complicated and what’s been achieved in an incredibly short space of time – the company only came out of administration two weeks ago – has really been tremendous. We’re racers and we want to race. That’s what we want to do. There’s nothing that we’re doing that would possibly slow the process down. We want to be on the track as quick as we possibly can. As far as taking time to do a test or something like that, that would have been great but it was just impossible in the time that was available. We’ll keep pushing as hard as we can, together with all of our partners and I’m pretty sure we’ll be there sooner or later and then we can just move forward.

Chances for tomorrow?

GL: I honestly don’t know. But what I can guarantee you is, in terms of commitment and rate of problem solving, we’ll be absolutely flat-out maximum.

Q: (Vincent Marre – All Race) Question goes to everyone except Monisha. What’s your personal feeling about the Sauber situation and it’s impact on Formula One?

TW: We haven’t really got an insight. What we hear or what we read, we don’t know what is true or what isn’t true. Certainly starting the season with this kind of news is not perfect but in Formula One there has always been controversy and… gonna see what the outcome is.

Maurizio?

MA: I agree with Toto. We saw many, many situations like this in the past. I don’t want to enter into detail because I don’t know, as Toto said, all the details and all the stories but it’s not the best way to start the season but in the past we saw many, many things like this. We have certain waves up and down, so I hope the situation is going to be clear as soon as possible and to go in the right way for the common need.

Eric?

EB: I think everything has been said, y’know? This is not the kind of news we would like but we don’t know nothing about it so no opinion on this. Just want to clear the situation for both Sauber and Formula One as soon as possible.

Claire?

CW: Same.

Graeme?

GL: Same.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question to the two gentlemen in red. First Graeme: do you have all the necessary hard and software from your engine or powertrain supplier that you need to run? And secondly, if not, to Maurizio, why doesn’t Manor have all the necessary hardware and software if they don’t have it?

GL: We’re perfectly happy with what we’ve got. We’ve got a number of issues that we have to solve and I know there’s been lots of – and I don’t know where it all comes from – there’s a lot of speculation about whether it’s Ferrari software or not. We’ve got a number of things that we need to sort out. We’re not knocking on Maurizio’s door saying “where’s this?” There’s no problem there at all. I think we’re working very, very well together. Of course, I’ve answered first!

MA: I can confirm what Graeme said. They were in the rush, they got the licence to take part on the championship quite late, so we are working together with the best effort to make sure these guys can run as soon as possible. As Graeme said, it’s not only a problem about the software. With the engine, even last year’s engine, they are quite complicated to set up. It’s not an easy task. We have a list of things to do but we are going through the list and we are really pushing very hard altogether to make sure that these guys, they will be able to run.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Maurizio, we see today Ferrari behind Mercedes. It’s only Friday, and only the first Friday of the season but do you think this is something that we could see even tomorrow and perhaps on Sunday, looking at your data and the way you have been progressing and working?

MA: If Claire and Toto, they give order to the team to stop somehow Sunday I think we will appreciate that! They don’t do it for sure. We closed the season last year in the fourth position. To think about the first you have to overhaul the guys that are nearby you, first, that is Claire, then there is the Red Bull, and afterwards, if you are able to go there, and I think these guys they are fighting to make sure we are not going there, then the other programme is Mercedes. We need to go step by step and try to be realistic and to do all our best to get nearby the guys of Toto as soon as possible. But it is not easy, of course.

Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Question to Monisha. How involved has Peter Sauber been in helping sort out the current situation and do you feel you still have his confidence to continue in your current capacity.

MK: This whole matter does not have any effect on the way we work, the way the team works and Peter Sauber is the chairman of our company and he’s continued to be in that position. His role has not changed.

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Question to Graeme and Maurizio. It emerged during Manor/Marussia’s administrative process, the list of creditors and it showed that Ferrari was the biggest creditor, owed $16million, I believe, of the grand total of $60million. Presumably via the CVA agreement, the two of you have managed to come to a satisfactory outcome which is why you’re able to work together again. Or is there still something ongoing in the future that needs to be resolved?

MA: We don’t have to mix up things. Last year, we deal with one company, and we are still working to get back our money as everybody knows. Now we are dealing with a new company so it’s a completely different story. We are doing our job now to support them, also because they showed to us they stick to what is agreed into the contract and they are serious on the project. Otherwise, I said to Graeme in a very simple way, and he remembers, I think: “guys, we are more than open to help you, but no money, no honey.”

Graeme?

GL: That’s very true, and I do remember it!

Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) For all of you: obviously costs remain high in this sport, they’re always on the agenda. We’ve heard Christian Horner raise the possibility of a wind tunnel ban. I was wondering what sort of avenues for cost control options each of you might be interested in pursuing over the course of the season ahead?

MK: Well, in the last few weeks and months, the FIA has been particularly active in this area and different options were looked at. I think since all teams have the opportunity to actually give their input into it – a very vast area I would say  was considered so there are a couple of options at the table. I think what we have to just make sure is that costs come down to a sensible level which allows teams to be sustainable and yet the show is not compromised, the competition is not compromised and it remains very challenging technically.

CW: I think Monisha has said it all. I think all teams have worked hard over the past few months to come up with the variation on the cost control measures that we can undertake moving forward to ensure the sustainability of this sport and everyone is working hard on that. The process isn’t finished yet but we’re looking forward to the result of it. As Williams have always been very vocal about it, we’re committed to cost control measures in Formula One and finding them.

EB: Well, there are some discussions, there is a cost reduction group actually which is very active, including all the teams, the FIA, the FOM and McKinsey. As far as I am concerned, McLaren… we are obviously happy to push for some cost reduction. Formula One needs to spend less money. We just need to define the objectives. If you want to save a couple of millions or you want to go over 20 millions for example, which is obviously a more drastic change, we definitely need to protect the show, the sport, the industry of the sport. Obviously respect the history and the teams which have been involved in the sport since many years and have been part of building the sport, so that means the question is very very complex and I think there is more and more understanding about the needs: do we need to make all the teams more competitive or let’s say the access to competitiveness cheaper, which is what I guess is what we want to achieve? We definitely don’t want to help the big teams and not fix the issue of the small teams, so that’s obviously very complex.

MA: I think my point of view is very simple. We are all working together to try to somehow solve the situation but it’s also important to remember that we are talking about Formula One that is considered the pinnacle of motor sport competition. So we need to keep up that concept, to work in a way that will enhance the show. I’ve said many many times to take Formula One closer to the people but I think the group is working very well in this direction and you know, as Eric said, it’s not an easy compromise because somehow you have to work on saving certain costs but on the other hand, you want to preserve the development, the technology, the novelty etc and in some words I want to say that if you want to play in the Premier League, you have to prepare to do so, otherwise you play in another championship. And this is what I think. I think we need to work on the show, as much as the show is growing and growing and growing and we have financial income for everybody. At a certain point, we also need to have a can of buttercups. If you look at football, they have a kind of financial fair play; this is acceptable but they are not transforming the Champions League into the Europa League. The Europa League is the Europa League and the Champions League is the Champions League. That’s my point.

GL: Yeah, it’s interesting looking at the sports who address this in lots of different ways. Sports differ and the financial mechanisms that can be used differ. It’s been said by everyone on the panel, there’s a lot of work, a lot of really interesting work being done, looking at cost control in particular. I think the overall thing is not just looking at cutting costs but looking at increasing value and that’s really the most important thing is that if everything that we do increases the value of our sport, then that can bring sustainability. Ultimately, that’s the objective of this, it’s to increase the sustainability within the industry.

TW: We have discussed this topic many times and a lot has been said. There is an intelligent initiative from the FIA involving McKinsey and it’s a good process of defining factors where we can reduce costs. That is going pretty well. Then we have to look at your own situation, from our team we have customers and we are trying to support them wherever we can within the commercial framework and this is what we do and take it from there.

Q: (Will Buxton – NBC SN) Monisha, given the situation your team finds itself in, have you considered resigning your position as team principal, and if not, at what point does your position become untenable?

MK: I’ve not considered that.

Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Maurizio, did I understand you right, that it’s not a problem for Ferrari to keep on working with Manor because it had nothing to do with the former Marussia team? It’s a brand new team.

MA: Yes.

Q: (Ralf Bach – F1-insider.com) Mr Boullier, why is McLaren not able to give us information about the reasons for Fernando’s accident in Barcelona?

EB: The reason is that he had an accident which happened in testing. We first, obviously, cared about Fernando being cared by the doctors and as far as I know that’s a personal thing, so nobody has access to the  medical files except the doctors. And the second thing, technically, on the car, we have conducted all the investigations, very transparently and openly with the FIA and everything we have conducted so far, we couldn’t find anything wrong or which has implied the accident. So we’re still looking for further investigations but we have given our report to the FIA and we are working with the FIA so nothing else can be said but this. We have nothing to hide.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Graeme, based on the answers that have just been given about different companies etc and no money, no honey etc, I believe that last year you entered under Manor GP Ltd. If it’s a new company, what company has entered you this year please?

GL: Just to be absolutely clear about the process, the team that competed last year, the entrant was Manor Grand Prix Racing Ltd. That company suffered financial issues and sought protection through administration. The process to settle the arrangement with its creditors, with unsecured creditors, was done using a company voluntary arrangement, very standard practice, the CVA and that mechanism is used to take care of the outstanding debts to those unsecured creditors. That allows the company then to return to trading with a fresh start if you like and I think what Maurizio is referring to is the fresh start. So we have a new contract with Ferrari, one that we’re very happy with. Hopefully it’s one that Maurizio is very happy with and it allows us to go racing which is what we want to do.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Eric, when you say that Fernando is not giving any updates to the team or things about his medical condition, is McLaren not worried about putting a driver in the car whose state of form you don’t really know? Is that not also a safety concern for you?

EB: No. I’m going to re-formulate what I said: any medical information stays within the medical field so we have a doctor in McLaren which has access to the information but this is not public, so as far as we are concerned, the doctors are happy with all the checks, all the scans, everything which has been conducted to Fernando so the only thing is the final decision for Fernando to be back after having respected this delay for recovery is for the doctors of the FIA.

eom/FIA release of the transcript