INDIA in F1

Tag: FIA Press Conference

  • It is extremely important to have top brands in Formula 1, says Toto Wolff

    Spielberg, 29 June 2018: The Friday FIA press conference of team representatives, ahead of the 9th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship was attended by Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing), Toto Wolff (Mercedes), Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda) and Franz Tost (Toro Rosso).

    Transcript:

    Tanabe-san, we’ll start with you. Your sitting between your current team partner and your future partner. Just tell us, why Red Bull from next season?

    Toyoharu Tanabe: I’m not involved very much in contractual discussions, so I’m not sure how many options we had for our future PU supply. But in reality, we will be in a good position, because Toro Rosso and Red Bull are already linked, centralised in Red Bull Technology. That works very well for us, I believe because we don’t need to discuss Team A or Team B individually. So we centralize our discussion into the Red Bull group. I hope it will help our task for next year.

    You say it’s a good position for Honda, but Red Bull has been winning races this year, so isn’t it a lot of pressure on Honda next year. ?

    TT: Yes, it is. But we already have a lot of pressure and stress supplying PUs in the Formula 1 series. We are working very closely with Toro Rosso and of course, we have pressure. Then, Red Bull and I respect their success in the Formula 1 series so we have another pressure but we supply the same spec, of course, that is the regulation, and I would like to work very efficiently with these teams.

    Thank you. Christian, it’s a lot of pressure on Honda but is it also pressure on Red Bull, returning to a works partnership deal?

    Christian Horner: It’s a positive. We had the option to change or the option to stay where we were and having looked at the progress that Honda have been making over recent months, having had the benefit of looking at the progress of Toro Rosso and how Toro Rosso have worked with Honda. It’s been really very, very encouraging and for us we see it as extremely low risk and of course the upside is what we’re interested in, in terms of what is the potential and I think the commitment, the resource, the facilities that Honda have available to them is really exciting for us. And to be the focal point of attention with the two teams is a fantastic position for Red Bull to be in. We’re certainly very excited about what the future holds and very much looking forward to working with our colleagues from Honda.

    We saw you last week in the press conference, just after the news had been announced, but what’s next? What’s part of the immediate process of working with Honda?

    CH: Well, as has been explained we’ve got this construction where we have Red Bull Technology, which is the engineering centre effectively and which will have a large amount of interface with Honda. Red Bull Technology already supplies transmission components to Toro Rosso. It’s at an embryonic stage. Obviously discussions are already starting to focus on 2019, but we have been extremely encouraged and impressed by the collaborative nature that we’re finding. That’s certainly refreshing and we’re looking forward to a new era for Red Bull Racing. We’ve had 12 years with our current partner and we’ve enjoyed an awful lot of success. We’ve had highs and lows but the time was right to make this move. I think it’s an exciting time for the team and for Red Bull.

    Thank you very much. Franz, you’ve had works status this year with Toro Rosso and Honda. Is the news of the Red Bull partnership for next year good news or bad news for your team?

    Franz Tost: Fantastic news. We are very much looking forward about this. I think a company like Honda, which is so well known overall, has to win races and with Toro Rosso, that’s difficult as we don’t have the infrastructure for winning races in Formula 1 and therefore Red Bull Racing is absolutely the correct partner. Toro Rosso will profit out of this because the synergies between Red Bull Technology will increase. We will have next year the complete rear end from Red Bull Technology. Therefore, I am convinced about this, we will also improve our performance. Currently, we are very much involved in all the bench tests and everything. Although we are very low, limited with resources and so on, it’s really a lot of work on our side and in future, this is being done by Red Bull Technology, which means we have resources for other performance differentiators, which is quite important for Toro Rosso. In the end, I think all three partners will get the most out of it and will profit from this co-operation.

    Toro Rosso have enjoyed really some strong races this season – namely in Bahrain and Monaco – but you’ve also has some tricky races at times too, so what are your expectations for this weekend’s race here in Austria?

    FT: After some races, which were not so good, especially the last ones where we were involved in crashes and so on, I hope that here in Austria we are coming back to the successful part and I am positive about here in Austria and the next few race. We brought some new upgrades on the aerodynamic side. As it looks it works quite well and as we know Honda brought the new upgrade already in Canada and therefore I think that we have quite a competitive package. And looking to FP1 I think that we are able to be at least with one car in Qualifying 3.

    Thank you. Toto, a similar question to you. Mercedes has really dominated at this circuit in the V6 era. A strong start in FP1 as well, with first and second. Is that form you are expecting to see continue for the rest of the weekend?

    Toto WOLFF: The Friday has been giving little indication as to how the weekend goes in the last few races. It is more a learning process. Team have introduced either new upgrades on the power unit or upgrades on the chassis side and therefore it’s about mileage and understanding and working on various set-ups. I’m happy how it went. Austria was a kind track on us in the past. Lots of power up the hill. But you can see that the new reality is there are three teams capable of putting the car on the front and winning races and just a few hundredths or tenths between us and I have no doubt that tomorrow in qualifying that story will continue.

    Both of your drivers were praising your power unit that you introduced a week ago in the battle among those top three teams and Lewis said yesterday there was an upgrade on the chassis side as well. Can you just explain, aerodynamically, what work you have been doing on the car?

    TW: Yes, we were supposed to introduce the new power unit in Montréal and we weren’t quite sure whether it matched our reliability standards and you could see that once everybody introduced their upgrade we fell behind. A track that suited us, suddenly we weren’t good enough anymore. Then we brought the next step to Le Castellet and directly the drivers felt the difference between an engine that was in there for seven races and a brand new one. The same applies now to the chassis side. We have tried to compress what we had in terms of aero development and bring it at once, so the whole concept… there is this little change in concept in our aero development and so far the drivers seem to be happy with it. It is a necessary step. Red Bull and Ferrari are not going to rest on their laurels. We keep pushing each other from race to race, from upgrade to upgrade and even if you can put on another 50 milliseconds for the race you will do it, because that might be the difference between pole position and P3.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Toto, based on what you have seen from Honda’s recovery from their time with McLaren and the prospect of what they could bring to Formula 1 as a race-winning engine manufacturer, what are your thought on that, and how important is it for Formula 1?

    TW: First of all, as a Formula 1 fan, we all remember the glorious years of Honda in the sport and I have no doubt that they can come back to that situation. For us, as Mercedes, it is extremely important that we have top brands in Formula 1, be it OEMs that have joined the sport as engine suppliers or be it multinational and global brands such as Red Bull, and the more we can attract the better for all of us and the better for the sport. I have also no doubt that they will be competitive. Franz mentioned it before, the collaboration will make another step between Toro Rosso, Honda and Red Bull for next year. And with Red Bull’s technical capabilities and resource they will certainly be of great assistance to make the power unit progress. This is certainly the right step forward, looking from the outside, for all parties. It was important for Red Bull to have a works status. Long term probably the best chance to win a championship. Maybe short term, more work to do. But long terms, from where I sit, absolutely the right decision. Looking forward to tougher fights and tougher battles with Red Bull Honda.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Christian, I believe internally the conundrum at the moment is SOS – Spielberg or Silverstone. When do you Danny’s contract extension? What are the chances here and what are the chances in Silverstone?

    CH: Well, things are progressing well with Daniel. I expect things to be concluded prior to the summer break. But our priority had been firstly to get the engine situation sorted and now things are progressing with Daniel. Our intention is to retain both drivers and I’m sure during the next couple of weeks we’ll be entering into the finishing straight to get things concluded prior to the summer break.

    Q: (Ralf Woodall – l’Equipe) Question for all of you. We’re in the middle of a triple-header. I’d like to know how challenging it is for you to have these three grands prix back-to-back and how are you organising yourselves?

    FT: That’s a real big challenge, because going from the South of France to Austria and then to England is a big challenge, especially from the logistics side, because as we know, we are now in holiday time. That means there is a lot of traffic out there and we have a lot of problems on the borders because of the checks which they make over there. I hope they will not lose too much time, the trucks over there, and I am worried about coming in time to England. I was not worried from France to Austria because here we have everything under control – but once it’s going to Belgium, to England, then it’s a little bit difficult. If, for example a truck strike or something like this. I think this is at the absolute limit and I hope this will not be the case any more in the future because people are really working day and night in this three weeks.

    Christian, your thoughts on the triple-header.

    CH: It’s certainly expensive, for moving cars, parts, people in such short succession. You’ll see here we have a different hospitality facility. The usual Energy Station just simply wouldn’t have been possible for it to complete the triple headers, so, of course, there’s cost associated with that. There’s a drain on resource because obviously an awful lot of components going backwards and forwards to the UK. We’re fortunate that the final race of the triple header for us is where the team is obviously based. Obviously harder for teams not based in the UK – but it’s certainly tough. On the upside, it’s three home races in three weeks. Our engine had its home race last weekend, it’s obviously the team’s home race this weekend and obviously next weekend it’s our local race up the road in Silverstone. So, yeah, it’s pretty insane how busy it is.

    Toto, something you agree with as well? Very difficult for Mercedes?

    TW: Yeah, similar for us. Obviously, it’s our home race here as Austrians, then a home race in Silverstone, then a home race in Hockenheim thereafter. If you a hundred years back, then another one! But you have to understand where Liberty comes from. We have the football world championships that happens at the moment, then obviously when that goes towards the semi-finals and the finals it’s becoming more and more difficult so this year needs to be compressed. It’s not something I guess they particularly enjoy to do and for us, like my colleagues said, it puts stress on the organisation. Many of us won’t be seeing the families a lot in these three weeks. It’s not perfect – but it is what it is.

    And Tanabe-san, what’s it’s like from a power unit manufacturer point of view?

    TT: Yes, so we have a lot of those things between the race and the race. We need to maintain the PU ready. So we removed the PU from the chassis and maintain some of the parts and then ready to go for the next race. So logistics, and then also the workload, is tight. Then, the distance between the races in one week is similar but some difficulty with three races in a row.

    Q: (Peter Vamosi – Racingline.hu) Toto, last week Susie was promoted to team principal of Venturi team in Formula E. Can you give some advice for her how to make a successful team. And if you both will have a race weekend together somewhere in the world, who will take care of the kid?

    TW: You’re laughing – but it’s a serious problem to figure out the logistics since she has been involved in Venturi we cross each other at home. Obviously, I try to be as modern a dad as I can be in supporting her – but it’s a great challenge for her. She’s found a very good partner to join up with Gildo [Pallanca Pastor] and she always had the aspiration of doing something entrepreneurial after her racing career, and here she goes. Now, when I’m at home talking about Formula E I have to close the door, so she is not able to listen. But it’s good fun, we enjoy the banter between us and… we’ll see how it works, family-wise.

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) Question to Christian. There have been some reliability issues with the latest spec of the Honda engine. Is this a source of Red Bull moving forward – or are you using Toro Rosso as a sort of a test bed and pushing for performance?

    CH: I think reliability has improved enormously over the last… certainly this season with Honda. We’re not exactly sitting comfortably in our own situation with our current supplier. So, of course, performance and reliability are both things that have to go hand-in-hand with the regulations that we have. I’m sure it’s an area where that Honda are working together very hard on, together with their performance. We’re confident that things are very much moving in the right direction.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) To the three team principals. In political terms, they normally give an incoming president one hundred days before they start commenting. Liberty has now had 500 days since they completed the purchase of Formula One’s commercial rights. How would you summarise their first 500 days as owners of the commercial rights?

    Toto, why don’t you take that one first?

    TW: That’s very kind of you. Obviously with every new change of regime, the style changes, and we have all been used to Bernie’s way of doing things and lots of credit to him for having built-up the sport. We all wouldn’t be sitting here if he wouldn’t have been as visionary and powerful in the past in building Formula One. Now, with the new ownership, it’s not one person any more than makes the decision but a broader group of people and the transparency that has kicked-in is refreshing and makes things easier to deal with. And then obviously we, as a sport, face tremendously challenging times. Like any other sport, the way sports are being broadcast has changed, and will continue to change and we are all having the challenges of seeking additional income, and that has been equally difficult for Liberty. But they have been trying things: some good, some bad… or some less good but I think overall we’re all in the same boat. We want to see the sport grow, we want to see revenue grow and, bottom line, we can all understand that there is a financial reality that needs to be respected. The top teams are spending too much and we need to get that under control. In so far, summarising, I would say it was positive.

    Christian, your 500-day summary.

    CH: Yeah, I think there have been some very good things. I think Liberty are very much fan-focussed, so things like access to content for opening up digital media, social media. I think the engagement with fans, creating a better experience trackside. I think the promoters, certainly the teams, have found that there’s a different approach, a different attitude regarding that side of the business. I think what’s by far Liberty’s biggest challenge is how to address the future, how to address 2021. I think the problem, and the risks that I see, is if the FIA and the promoter aren’t fully aligned, we end up with compromises and vanilla-type regulations. I think there needs to be a real clarity going forward as to what the sport is going to be, what are the regulations going to be, that both parties ultimately have to buy into? Liberty have paid $8billion for this sport. They’ve got to turn it into something that’s even more attractive. That’s fantastic racing, obviously there are cost issues, there’s revenue issues that need dealing with. The FIA, obviously as the governing body, they’ve got to be fully-aligned with that, and what concerns us is discussions of where things are going with engines, where things are going with chassis regulations. Everything seems to be getting watered down somewhat from what the initial concept is. So, I think the next 500 days are going to be very telling for life, post-2020.

    Franz, your thoughts on Liberty so far?

    FT: I can only see positive aspects from them, and I’m also convinced that they are going in the right direction for the future of the sport, because it’s important that Formula One will be changed, from the cost side and what they want to do is absolutely the right thing, to come down with the costs. Whether it’s a cost cap or whether it’s regulated by the sporting and technical regulations is another question. Then, to distribute the money in a fair way, not that some teams get everything and others nearly nothing. They will come up with a new technical regulation for the chassis as well of from the engine side – I think from the engine side should be finished soon, and they will also change the sporting regulation and, so far, all the topics which are being discussed are going in the right direction. They brought in a new attitude for the media, they’re concentrating on the social medias are being preferred more and I think all of these aspects together are important, that Formula One will go in the right direction. Because what we need is not a two-class society like we have now: three teams and the rest of the world. No, it needs ten teams that are close together. Or at least four or five teams are fighting for the championship, fighting for race wins, and this must be the goal, otherwise Formula One is not interesting in the future. I think Liberty Media understood this and they are going in the right direction. I can only support them.

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Christian, with your engine plans sorted and your driver line-up for next year nearing completion, will the next goal to be resolved be Carlos Sainz Jnr’s future? And can you see him staying in the Red Bull fold if there isn’t a seat available at the top team?

    CH: Well, all of these things are obviously interlinked in some way, shape or form. I think the whole driver market is waiting for Toto’s driver to kick that off. I’m hoping… at Silverstone are you finally going to get your finger out, sign a contract? He’s worth it. Come on, he’s worth every penny. So as soon as Toto signs his contract, yeah, two contracts, that then will cascade throughout and Carlos Sainz will just be a mechanism within that so it’s all down to Toto really.

    Q: Part of the question there was can you see Carlos staying within the Red Bull family if Daniel stays with you?

    CH: I thought I’d successfully managed to swerve that question! Look, Renault have a desire to keep Carlos. It really depends whether we have a requirement for him or not. Our intention is to retain both drivers so once that’s clear then we will sit down with Carlos.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Toto, your car seems to be more subject to the vagaries of any given circuit this season than perhaps potentially in the past. Do you fear that continuing this season and potentially undermining your title challenges or do you feel that at this stage of the season you have a better understanding of it and you will be able to limit the losses at certain tracks where you are generally weaker, shall we say?

    TW: You’re right. We’ve seen in the past oscillations with all of the teams but ours were pretty obvious and visible. The fast tracks were the ones that suited us more and then once we came to Budapest or Singapore or Monaco these were our weak ones and I think we’ve made some progress, we’ve addressed the problem and we’ve identified the issues but obviously every car has a certain DNA and has evolved over the years and you don’t want to undo the positives of the car, just to optimise the car in the slow speed. And insofar as we are looking at things, Monaco was a good step in the right direction. We didn’t fall off the cliff like we last year and now we have… the next proof is going to be Budapest, pretty soon, to see how we go but definitely it has become more of a challenge, because Red Bull traditionally was on the other side of the curve but they have progressed tremendously on the fast tracks and are now a competitor pretty much everywhere and the same for Ferrari.

    Q: (Daniel Horvath – Motorspormania.hu ) Christian, did you have any sleepless nights before making the decision to switch to Honda or was it an easy decision to make, considering their recent gains?

    CH: I think, in the end, obviously we were waiting to see the outcome of the second round of engines which were introduced in Montreal and in the end it was a very straightforward and logical decision for us and one that was very much driven by engineering and certainly there was unanimity within our senior technical group, that this is absolutely the right way to go.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Toto, can you allow Porsche to hold the outright record at the Nordschleife or could you imagine yourselves building a Formula One car to challenge that?

    TW: Funny that you say that, I thought about that this morning when I saw the time. It’s obviously incredible, what they have achieved, 5m 19s is almost a minute faster than Bellof did in a sport car, one and a half minutes faster than what I thought of doing and it ended up in tears. I’ve spoken with the guys this morning and they’ve said it’s just unbelievable, it’s like flying a spaceship around the track. It would be interesting to put a Formula One car on the Nordschleife and see what it does but it’s pretty more my spin than a realistic idea that somebody’s going to finance.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Can’t afford it?

    TW: No.

    Q: (Maria Reyer – Motorsport-Total.com) To Christian and Toto, there won’t be a German race next year, and Austria still has a contract to 2020 I think. What are your views on the future of these particular two races and do you think Austria is maybe the more important than Germany?

    CH: I think Austria is naturally far more important than Germany and very good that we have a Grand Prix here for years to come. It’s always been surprising, the last few years, that there hasn’t been more support at the German Grand Prix, especially with German world champions, German teams and hopefully at Hockenheim this year there will be a good turnout. I remember going there in the Schumacher time when the places were packed. Hopefully the fans get behind the racing, we have a great crowd. If the stadium is full in Hockenheim it’s one of the biggest atmospheres that Formula One can produce. Yeah, it’s a shame that it’s not on the calendar but what’s encouraging is there’s so much competition for races on the calendar these days that races like Germany are struggling to have a continued presence.

    TW: Well obviously from an Austrian standpoint I’m very proud that Red Bull or Mr Mateschitz have created such a fantastic infrastructure around Spielberg. It’s not only on the track, you look can look at everything: the hotels are first class, the options for entertainment are really great and the variability is what makes Formula One and I think if you look at this race and these three races now, the back-to-backs: we’ve been in the south of France in Le Castellet, now we are in the mountainous area in Austria and we go to traditional classic Silverstone and that is great for Formula One. To your question on Hockenheim, obviously for us it’s not an easy situation because we would like to have a German race for our fans in Germany and all the Mercedes staff but you need to draw a line between operating a team and getting involved in race promotion, as far as it comes back to Mercedes as a team and this is what we’ve done. And the reason why we have a little bit of a hangover in Germany is maybe because the Germans have been so successful. We had seven years of Schumacher dominance and pretty soon thereafter four years of Sebastian winning it all and maybe you have to go through a bit of a dip to recover.

    CH: Like the football!

    TW: Like the football.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Toto, just going back to what Christian was saying about the 2021 rules. Do you share his concerns that if the FIA and F1 don’t completely agree on things it could be watered down or vanilla and if there is anything missing, what more would you like to see from them?

    TW: Traditionally, if you look at the objectives, Christian and mine are maybe a little bit different. We would like to have a little bit more emphasis on the power unit and Christian on the chassis but that maybe changes, but I think transparency and a clear path is important.  We need to know what’s happening in 2021, what the regs look like on the power unit side and on the chassis side in order to get things moving and avoid a cost escalation, a cost rush last minute. That is important. I hope that with next week’s meeting, we have a little bit more understanding and input and then we see where it ends up.

  • Ricciardo hopeful about a deal before summer break: FIA Thursday press conference

    Ricciardo hopeful about a deal before summer break: FIA Thursday press conference

    FIA Thursday Press Conference in progress. An FIA image

    Spielberg, 28 June 2018: Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull talk about any deals that are in the offing or plans of contracts for the future at the FIA Thursday Press Conference.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Daniel, it’s Red Bull’s home race and off the back of a number of competitive showings in recent weeks from the team are you expecting another strong performance here?

    Daniel Ricciardo: Yep, yeah, I am. I think we’ve had good pace… I think this year in general we’ve had good pace on pretty much all layouts we’ve been too. I think the races we have finished I think fifth has been the worst on track finish, so we’ve been there, if not on the podium, then close to it. A few bits of damage last week I think, which cost us the chance of a podium, or cost us a podium I believe, but generally we’ve been strong. In ’16 Max got a podium here, ’17 I did, so hopefully for the fans both of us can manage to get on there on Sunday.

    Q: Now that’s this weekend but obviously a big story so far this year has been talk about your future and last week in the Friday press conference, Eric Boullier admitted that there had been some preliminary talks between you and McLaren. Just how serious has the interest been from other teams in you, and does that delay you making a decision about your future or are you close to making one?

    DR: Of course there has been a bit interest. Personally, I want to get something done, ideally before the summer break. More from a personal point of view. I want to go on break with as clear mind, so it feels like a break. I think it was a few years ago when I was making the transition from Toro Rosso to Red Bull, that all happened during the break and it wasn’t a fun August break for me, so just from that I would like to get something done. Obviously with Red Bull they’ve committed to Honda, so they’ve kind of got all the cards on the table, so I know what I’m getting there, and things are starting to get to a point where I know what’s what and hopefully I’ll have something soon for everyone.

    Q: Thank you. It would be unfair just to ask Daniel that question, so Kevin, moving on to you, how does your future look with Haas at the moment?

    Kevin Magnussen: Yeah, no news. They have an option on me and so I don’t think there is much chance of me going anywhere else but we’ll just take it as it comes, there’s no stress at the moment.

    Q: Kimi, a question you get every year, how does your future look right now?

    Kimi Raikkonen: Same as always, every year. We’ll see.

    Q: No news about your future then, but this year you’ve looked comfortable on Sundays and it was your fourth podium of the season last weekend, but you’ve admitted that Saturday didn’t quite go to plan. What have you and the team got to do to make sure Saturdays run a bit more smoothly?

    KR: Just do better. Better results obviously and be more further up. Obviously that makes the Sundays a lot easier, especially most of the races it has been very difficult to overtake. The last race was a lot different on that side, so it was also more fun. I think we have been pretty decent all the way through in qualifying, part from the last part, or the last runs, so just need to tidy up a bit.

    Q: Kevin, we’ll come back to you after the future talks. You have more points now than you had in the last two years combined in Formula 1. Haas has shown some really impressive pace but not always taken all the opportunities, so how high are you aiming this year?

    KM: That’s difficult to say. On a good weekend our car is good enough for fourth best team and I think what we have to do is eliminate those bad weekends. When it’s good, it’s good enough for fourth and yeah, Renault are pretty far ahead in the points, but it’s still a pretty long season, but they seem to be very consistent and perhaps too consistent for us this year. But we will do our best. As we see at the moment, from fifth down to eighth it’s not that spread out, it’s very close, so hopefully we can fight for fifth.

    Q: Thank you. Sergey, thank you for waiting and welcome to the press conference. It’s your rookie season and it probably hasn’t gone quite the way you envisaged at the start of the year. Have you been able to enjoy the way this season has gone so far?

    Sergey Sirotkin: For sure, it didn’t really go in a way we all really hoped in the winter. So, for sure in some terms I could enjoy it a bit more, a bit more fighting for the points, fighting for good results, fighting at least other cars on track, which unfortunately sometimes we are not able to do now. But, you know, it’s a different challenge. The challenge, how I look at that, is the work back at the factory, where I feel like I can play my role. I can play my role in trying to the united with the team, be one of them, work with them, to get over the difficult moments and to get success after it. I still do enjoy this side of the story, but for sure it’s not really how we came into the winter tests and how we tried to approach it. But we are where we are now and I still try to enjoy just the fact of being here. I try to enjoy racing. I think as soon as you start to think too much about where you are, how far you are in the field, that’s the point where it becomes difficult. So far now I just try to focus on something that I really like to do and something where I can play my role in the team and help them to get over. It’s a different enjoyment but it’s still enjoyment.

    Q:  You mention the work back at the factory but right now we’re in the middle of three consecutive races. Is that something that makes it hard to see progress for Williams when it is that relentless?

    SS: Yes and no. Obviously this race is going to be a tough one for us. You saw that on the results that the Williams wasn’t that strong already [here] last year and I would expect that it is not going to much easier for us than Paul Ricard last week. That’s probably like the more negative bit but the good bit is that in the next few weeks we have some good things coming on the car, which we have been working on for quite a while now. I don’t want to be too optimistic but we all have high hopes for those bits.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: Kimi, I know you get plenty of questions about your future, but there was a link earlier in the week suggesting that McLaren might be interested in your services. I know that a while ago you suggested that you would be happy to see out your career with Ferrari or would you entertain the prospect of continuing in F1 with another team?

    KR: I don’t know really. I said, I think it was 2007 already, that I would finish Ferrari and obviously at some point it didn’t look like that and now it looks like that again. You never know what comes after and this and that, but we will see. As always a lot of talk and I’m not really happy to comment on those. We’ll see at some point what happens, including me. Let’s wait and see.

    Q: Kimi, in France, with Vettel on the back foot, you were free to run your own race. Was that more fun, to be able to race for yourself and not have to play a team strategy?

    KR: I don’t… how you tried to ask it is probably a bit wrong. I think really it comes to how the circuit was and how we could race against each other and actually overtake. If you take a couple of recent races, you haven’t been able to overtake really; everybody has been pretty much following each other. I think in that part, for whatever reason, we were able to race than say a couple of races before. Obviously what happened in the race, we were racing two different between ourselves so it was all normal. I don’t think that really made it certainly different, him being in front of me or behind. I think it was the case of actually being able to overtake and race wheel to wheel with people, that was the most fun for a while.

    Q: Daniel, have you ever thought on a shoey with Prince Albert in Monaco, because Christian Horner told you do this on the team radio?

    DR: Taking it back! It’s good memories. I might start celebrating again actually, it feels good. He was pushing for me to do one with Prince Albert, but the problem is that I live there, in Monaco, and I just thought if he doesn’t like it then maybe I’d have some residential problems, so better that I play the game and be respectful.

    Q: My question is for Kimi. It seems that your wife means to starts to collect your podium caps. She already has a third place and second place caps. Do you want to also give here a first place cap also, in the near future?

    KR: Obviously, I’m happy to give it, if we get it, but the cap is not the reason to try to win or not to win. We keep trying and hopefully we’ll get there.

    Q: Question for Kevin. Kevin, we are almost halfway through the season and it seems like it is your strongest year so far in Formula One. How could you evaluate your season so far?

    KM: Yeah, I think it’s been a pretty good season so far. The car is better this year than last year. I don’t think… well, in Formula One I haven’t had this good and competitive a car since my first year with McLaren. It’s really good. It’s a lot more fun going racing when you know you have a car you know can fight for points and top fives on a good day. So yeah, I’m enjoying it a lot. I think part of the reason… obviously, the car is better but this is my second year with Haas as well, and it’s the first time in my career, my whole career, even before Formula One that I’ve spent a second year in the same team. It’s a big advantage knowing everyone, and more so just having that experience together. So, y’know, every race when you go into the race preparing, you can look back at a race that you did with the same people, and almost the same car. There’s a lot of experience there in the second year that is a big advantage as well.

    Q: Question for Kimi, really simple one Kimi, have you or any of your representatives had a chat with anyone at McLaren regarding the possibility of driving for them next season, whether you’re interested or not.

    KR: I spoke to them, for sure, but in the past a lot obviously when I used to be there. Like I said, I have zero interest to get involved in all the nonsense, in my view.

    Has anyone had a chat regarding next season?

    KR: You would like to know, would you? You can take it as you want. I don’t think you anyhow ask our opinions about a lot of stuff you guys write, so, it goes either way, you can put yes or no. You usually write what you decide yourself, whether it’s true or not!

    Q: Question for Kimi and Daniel. Given where we are at in the season at the moment, it’s already beginning to look like a two-horse race in the drivers’ title. Do you guys feel that’s the case or do you feel you’ve still got a genuine shot at winning this championship with the right car, the right circumstances.

    DR: I feel… I still feel we’re in it, to be honest. For sure, we’re still a little bit a long way from it, if you know what I mean, from a points perspective. But I feel we’re more in it than we have been the last four years I’ve had with the team. Four? Five? Whatever! As I touched on earlier, we’re going to circuits that we didn’t think we’d be on the podium, and we’re getting a podium, or having the pace for it, so I know we’re still going to have to take a penalty in the next few races, and we’re still on the back foot in some areas – but I feel on performance alone, we’re closer than we ever have been. That’s still giving me a bit of hope and confidence. There’s still a long way to go. And obviously, the team’s pretty aggressive with updates. So all we need is a couple more to give us an extra bit here and there and we could probably start to creep back inside it. Like always, you get one win and all of a sudden it’s ‘you’re back in the fight, you’re back in the hunt’. If we got a win and the top guys had a bad weekend all of a sudden, we’re the talk of the town again.  I think it’s still too early to count us out.

    Kimi, do you still feel like you’re in the title race this year?

    KR: If you purely take the points, for sure. If you count how many points there are left, for sure, yes – but obviously we’ve got, not the ideal things happening in a couple of races where we didn’t finish, so that put us in a little bit trickier position – but apart from that, we’ve been pretty OK. So, we keep doing, and try to stay out of any issues and to put things solid, as well as we can. It’s going to be a long way still – but of course with the two small issues have not been ideal but it’s not a disaster.

    Q: Daniel, what do you think about Red Bull’s partnership with Honda, and how does it affect your decision regarding the future?

    DR: I think in short it probably won’t have an effect on what I choose to do. I think just now, as I touched on now, it gives me a bit more clarity of the direction the team’s going. As I said, they’ve pretty much got everything now laid out in front of me and it’s really up to me to understand, I guess, what I think of it. I see the pros with the decision, obviously, the chance to start something new with Honda and yeah, so, I guess it’s now for me to think about. In a way, it’s a good thing that they have made a decision. We’ll see. Hopefully in a few weeks.

    Q: Daniel, if you could pick your own team-mate who would be ideal for you?

    DR: I know the answer you want, right? Kimi! Or Valtteri! Just pay me the €200 later. Shall I answer it seriously? I don’t know. No idea. But you can write that if you like. Sell more papers in Finland!

    Q: To all four drivers. Third DRS has been added here – do you think it will improve overtaking, and will it affect your setups in some way?

    SS: I mean, of course it will give an extra bit of possibility, at least to maintain the gap to the car ahead a bit easier, if we are talking for one, two three laps, or whatever. In other occasions, like in places where you probably wouldn’t be close enough to do the move, like down into Turn Three, Four, whatever it is now. It will probably, with the extra DRS, you get a possibility to get within a reasonable distance to the car ahead and then try a move. Again, I didn’t race with F1 here last year so I don’t know exactly how it was. I take whatever it will be?

    Kevin, the midfield battle is very tight. Do you think an extra DRS zone is going to affect that?

    KM: Yeah, I think it was already… it wasn’t the worst circuit for overtaking already, so I think that whole… the longest straight on the track, which is already a pretty long straight, with DRS is probably going to be fairly easy to overtake here. We’ll see.

    Kimi, your thoughts on an extra DRS zone. As you said in France, we had more overtaking last week.

    KR: Yeah, I mean half of the track is DRS, so it should make it pretty easy. I don’t know if it’s too easy or not. Obviously we want overtaking but there must be a point where it’s kind-of artificial overtaking. But let’s see.

    Daniel, your thoughts.

    DR: Nothing much more to comment. I don’t see a negative with it at the moment. It should be OK , unless, as Kimi touched on, unless it’s really easy. Then it might take a bit out of it. I think, for now, I see it as a positive. I don’t think it will affect the setup. I don’t think so. Not much will change – probably just more overtakes during the race.

    Q: Sergey, you’re stepping out of the car for FP1 and last year you were the one who was stepping in for Friday, for Renault, so could you give me both perspectives: on the one hand, what is the approach of the driver who’s in the car only on Fridays every few months; and the second one, the one you have right now, how do you feel giving the car to Robert tomorrow?

    SS: Yeah. Considering how it is getting in, for sure it’s not easy when you don’t drive the car consistently; every time you jump in, on the one side you know that the team expects a good job from you straightaway. Straightway there are some tests to do, some developments going on and you need to perform as the team wants you to perform, but at the same time, as you’re not in the car that often it still needs a bit of time to get in and find a rhythm. Looking back from the other perspective, obviously Robert will take over tomorrow. I would say… talking to him, I think that’s exactly what he thinks about it and how he looks at that. Again, it’s exactly the position I was in last year so I perfectly know how he feels there but again, it’s still disadvantages and advantages so it depends on how you look at it.

    Q: Part of that was how much does it impact on the rest of your weekend?

    SS: For sure it’s never ideal to lose track time, especially for me in my first year. Even like last year, when I jumped in, even though it’s a short track with not too many corners I think we all found it quite difficult, quite difficult to get the rhythm and to properly understand it so for sure it’s not ideal but I’m in this position so I have to do the best from where I am.

    Q: Kevin, you have been running a great season until now, especially against your teammate, Romain. How can you explain to us this kind of difference during this year and especially if you think you can continue in this way?

    KM: Yeah, as I said before, this year we’ve got a good car and especially in terms of consistency from race to race it’s not only been good at one or two races this year. Last year our car was good here at this race and it was good in Australia and it was OK in a few other races but then it was a very up and down and difficult to understand. This year we’ve got a car that is a little bit easier to work with, little bit easier to get to that top level and yeah, I think that’s the kind of consistency that we needed and we’ve got that this year. In terms of Romain, I think he’s had a pretty tough year so far but he’s a very quick, intelligent driver so I’m sure he’s going to get back.

    Q: Daniel, we have been hearing concerning Max’s contract with your team; especially the financial side, we have never read it, probably it must be true. If you decide to go to Red Bull, to stay there, will you request the same exceptional conditions the team offers to Max in the last contract, considering that you are more efficient in terms of results last year and even this year?

    DR: Obrigado. Obrigado. Means thank you. I guess, to be honest, what I… I appreciate what you’re saying. I guess what I chose to negotiate is confidential, I guess. One thing I will say is that this year, obviously since I’ve been with the team, but this year the results have showed and having a couple of wins and again Monaco makes me smile when I just say that but it was a big achievement for me, especially after what happened a couple of years ago. There’s been some important boxes which I feel I’ve ticked this year which obviously can help me out in discussions and moving forward with my career so yeah, but I guess financial stuff, I’ll keep behind the closed doors. But yeah, I’m happy with where I’m at and with what I feel I can bring to the table.

    Q: Daniel, I know your team likes Budapest, Singapore but could you say the Red Bull Ring fits your car or is it just a circuit like the others, difficult, too many straights?

    DR: I think, from my little bit of understanding about aerodynamics, I think the extra DRS zone will take a little bit of that – I guess, obviously – the drag away but I think that kind of minimises the deficit in some ways so I think I’m right in saying that that probably doesn’t hurt us too much. And then obviously the second, third sector is more corners than power-related. I think the last couple of years we’ve had a pretty good car here and I think this year should be no different, potentially even better, let’s see. Yeah, on paper it’s probably still not as good as a Budapest or a Singapore for us but a win? Who knows but at least aiming for a podium should be somewhat realistic.

    Q: Kevin, you’ve mentioned the improved car that you’ve got for this year. You’ve seen, first hand, the resources that the likes of McLaren and Renault have got available so when you compare that to your team, how proud does that make you of the job that your guys have done, and does it make you a bit surprised to see that McLaren, if anything, is slipping back this season?

    KM: It makes me proud, for sure. It’s an impressive thing for such a small team to be competing against the likes of Renault and McLaren, beating Williams and even Force India is quite a bit bigger than us. So yeah, it’s something to be proud of and it’s a good job from the little team that we’re in. I would say I’m quite surprised, as well, especially with McLaren. I think when I was there it was very clear that it’s a great team, a very big team and yeah, beautiful team when I was there. I’ve lost touch with them, I don’t talk to them any more, I don’t know the problems they’re facing at the moment but it’s a shame, for sure. I’m happy for us that we can compete with them and beat them at times but for sure, it’s not where they belong.

    Q: Do you think this year this lap can be done in 59.9s?

    Q: Daniel, you’re smiling, have you gone under 60s in the simulator?

    DR: No, that seems optimistic. What was pole last year, 1m 02s was it? Maybe if we had a hyper (soft tyre), maybe but no, the DRS will obviously give us a bit but I think to get more than 2s on such a short lap already, that seems cool but a bit optimistic. Yeah.

    KR: I don’t know. I guess everybody looks but is it going to happen? I don’t know. For sure Daniel said the DRS will give you free lap time. I don’t know yet. We’ll see.

    Q: Sergey, have you had time to do this track in the simulator and get a lap time?

    SS: I don’t think we’ll be able to do it under six anyway but it’s good to aim for, for sure.

    KM: I don’t think so.

    Q: Kimi, Daniel said he would like his future sewn up by the summer break. Do you have a deadline in your mind, when you know what you’ll be doing in 2019?

    KR: No, I think I’ve been there so many times so… For sure, before next year I will know. It’s a pretty normal situation on my side

  • Hamilton sets blistering pace in FP2: French GP

    Hamilton sets blistering pace in FP2: French GP

    Hamilton tops FP2 at French Grand Prix on Friday. An FIA image

    Le Castellet, 22 June 2018: Lewis Hamilton used an upgraded Mercedes power unit to power away from his rivals in second practice for the French Grand Prix, topping the timesheet, seventh tenths of a second clear of nearest rival Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing.

    Earlier in FP1, Hamilton topped the practice timesheet as France returned to the Formula 1 calendar following an absence of a decade, the defending world champion edging Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by a tenth of a second at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The session ended in spectacular fashion, with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson crashing out and his car catching fire.

    The Swedish driver lost control of his Sauber C37 midway through Turn 11 and slid sideways across the run-off area into the barriers. As the car came to rest the rear end burst into flames. As marshals race to extinguish the fire, Ericsson quickly exited the car, just before the session ended.

    There were a number of similar offs during the session as teams experimented with set-up options, with Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley, Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne all had off-track excursions early in the session at Turn 6, while Sauber’s Charles Leclerc had a moment at Turn 11.

    Mercedes had been set to introduce an upgrade in Canada but held back the power unit for further tests, but today the Constructors’ champions confirmed that all six Mercedes’ powered cars will run this weekend with the new unit.

    When the session’s qualifying simulations got into gear midway through the session, Ricciardo led the way on ultrasoft tyres. Hamilton, one of the last to bolt on the purple-banded Pirelli tyres, was about to attack that time when his out lap was interrupted by red flags.

    The stoppage was caused by Sergio Perez whose Force India had shed its rear left wheel at Turn 7. The Mexican driver’s car was recovered and he later rejoined the action.

    When the red flag period ended Hamilton went out again on ultrasofts and posted a lap of 1:32.539. That put him firmly ahead of Ricciardo, who held on to second place in the session.

    That might not have been the case had Valtteri Bottas been able to fully exploit the ultrasofts. The Finn did run on the softest compound on offer this weekend prior to the red flag but after the stoppage he was unable to return to the track as Mercedes discovered a water leak on his car. He ended the session in P7.

    Behind Ricciardo, Max Verstappen recovered from a long spell in the garage in the opening session to post the afternoon’s third quickest lap. The Dutchman recorded a lap of 1:33.271  to end the session just under three hundredths of a second behind his team-mate.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen was fourth quickest, setting a time of 1:33.426. He was the last man within a second of Hamilton’s benchmark, with the Finn’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel taking fifth 1.150s off the pace, though the German only did a single lap on ultrasofts before the red flag.

    As with the morning session, outlier excepted, Haas’ Romain Grosjean was the best of the rest beyond the top three teams. The Frenchman finished just 0.010s behind Vettel as he enjoyed a good start to his home grand prix.

    Fernando Alonso was eighth for McLaren 1.8s behind Hamilton, with Kevin Magnussen ninth ahead of home hope Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso.

    Elsewhere, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson did not take part in the session due to damage to his car sustained in a heavy crash in the morning session.

    2018 Formula 1 French Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 27 1:32.539
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 31 1:33.243 0.704
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 24 1:33.271 0.732
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 29 1:33.426 0.887
    5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 35 1:33.689 1.150
    6 Romain Grosjean Haas 30 1:33.699 1.160
    7 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 7 1:34.156 1.617
    8 Fernando Alonso McLaren 24 1:34.400 1.861
    9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 33 1:34.457 1.918
    10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 35 1:34.535 1.996
    11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 30 1:35.067 2.528
    12 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 33 1:35.086 2.547
    13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 28 1:35.172 2.633
    14 Charles Leclerc Sauber 33 1:35.583 3.044
    15 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 31 1:35.697 3.158
    16 Esteban Ocon Force India 25 1:35.705
    17 Lance Stroll Williams 34 1:35.936
    18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 35 1:35.970

  • It is great to have a stage to see in action a number of French players in F1: Abiteboul

    It is great to have a stage to see in action a number of French players in F1: Abiteboul

    Friday Press Conference at the French Grand Prix in progress. Image by FIA

    La Castellet, 22 June 2018: The team representatives who attended the Friday FIA press conference are Eric Boullier (McLaren), Cyril Abiteboul (Renault), Frédéric Vasseyr (Sauber) and  Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Eric, you played a big role in the return of this race here to Paul Ricard. Just tell us the story of how it came to pass?

    Eric BOULLIER: Well, I have not played that big role, as it is described, just bringing a little help and you know, being on the other side of the channel, so just making the connection between Christian Estrosi and Bernie Ecclestone, at the time, to make sure that the project that has been started a few years before, concrete.

    Thank you, we’ll come back to you in a bit. Fréd, you’ve obviously been here before in junior categories but what do you think of Paul Ricard as a grand prix venue?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: For me it’s a lot of memories for sure. I think it will be a good event. The layout of the track, for me, is fine and everyone will enjoy the weekend.

    We just saw in FP1 there some encouraging pace in the car but then an accident for Marcus. What are your hopes for Sauber this weekend and is there an update on the car?

    FV: We have a small update on the car, it was difficult to see this morning, but step by step we are improving. The first target was to catch up the field and I think we did it. Now we have to improve step by step. For sure for Marcus it was a tough session this morning and he won’t do FP2 this afternoon, but let’s see tomorrow.

    Thank you for that update. Cyril, Renault’s home race, as well as one for yourself. How much pressure is there on the team and how big an event is it for Renault?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Well, we are trying to be a bit insensitive from pressure, because we know that the pressure is not going to improve the result on Sunday, so we are just trying to take a similar approach to the approach we have been taking so far, which is trying to be in the top 10 on Saturday and Sunday, which we think the car is capable of, including this weekend. And great to have a home race, it’s an extra boost for everyone. There are a number of French players in Formula 1. What I mean by players is drivers, engineers, managers, teams, so it’s great now to have a stage to see all those players in action.

    Christian, another topic that has been in the news this week is that you are going to have a new power unit partner from next year onwards. Can you just explain the thinking behind that decision?

    Christian HORNER: Yeah, it’s exciting news for us. We’ve been in a relationship for what will be 12 seasons, so it’s a hugely long time. But basically, we’ve reached a juncture where we have decided to take a different path for next year. We have been following the progress of Honda’s development very closely, having obviously been in the back of our sister team so far this season. Driven by an engineering-led decision, we’ve elected to take a different route for the future. We’ll look back on our time with Renault, obviously there have been many highs, some lows, but overall it has been a very successful partnership – 150 podiums, 57 grand prix victories, eight world championships during those 12 seasons. We’re hoping to add to that between now and the end of the year, but obviously from 2019 it’s a new journey for us and one that we’re looking forward to.

    And as for Renault’s home race, you just touched on it there, what are your hopes for the rest of this season with this partnership, what can it still achieve this year?

    CH: Renault, ever since we have been supplied a power unit by them… they’ve had a works team, they left the sport, they came back in, but what they have been very good at with us is giving us parity and equality in terms of the state-of-the-art equipment they have and we have no reason to believe that won’t continue until the end of the year. We’re outsiders in both championships, in both the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ championships and we believe that we’ve still got opportunities to close the gap to the cars ahead and we are going to need Renault’s support to achieve and do that between now and the end of the year, which I’m confident that we’ll have.

    Cyril, can we get Renault’s feelings on the news from this week?

    CA: Well, as said by Christian, it’s an important news, an important development both for Red Bull and for Renault, and obviously for Honda. We put a little bit of pressure because it was important to get that clarified sooner rather than later for a number of reasons, starting from a logistics perspective with procurement and supply of part and also IP and confidentiality, because even the way we are working with Red Bull, which is completely integrated, without any sort of Chinese wall or barriers. It was important to get that clarified sooner rather than later so that we can make plans and also can focus our efforts on 2019, knowing exactly where things are at in terms of customer base. So that’s done, thanks to Red Bull for making that clear. And that’s a clarification of really the plan of last year when we agreed to terminate Toro Rosso at the end of ’17 and Red Bull at the end of ’18. Frankly, as said by Christian it has been a wonderful journey. I’m extremely thankful of Red Bull, which has been a good partner team – very challenging, demanding, but also by being challenging and demanding in that sport which is a competitive sport and a competitive environment that we progressed. And we have progressed as a team, as a group. It’s certainly something then when we will look back we will see that we have achieved and learned a lot together. So for the future, again as said by Christian, we have a package all together that is capable of winning races, maybe championships, why not, so we will continue to do what we have always done, nothing less, nothing more, to try to help in that respect. That will show that what we are providing is of quality, both in reliability and performance and for the rest, I full appreciate that there was a strategic decision that was involving a number of parameters to be done by Red Bull.

    Finally, Eric, what does this news mean for McLaren, as it becomes the only Renault customer from next season?

    EB: We are starting a new journey with Renault and getting used to working together there are a lot of things to discover and to build on and having obviously a little bit more focus, less distraction for Renault, having one team less to supply and to care about it’s obviously good news for us and we wish Christian the best.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Daniel Ricciardo is on the market for next season, he’s named your respective teams as possible options for next year. I just wanted to get your thoughts on how interesting an option he is for you and what you can offer him, given that the competitiveness currently lags behind Red Bull?

    EB: It’s obviously this time of year that you start to think about your driver line-up for the following year or following years. Obviously we love Daniel, I personally have known him for many, many years. He is doing a good job with Red Bull. As long as a driver of that calibre is on the market you look if there is any discussion possible but at this time of year it’s still too early to talk about our driver line-up for the future, so just a normal, gentle discussion.

    CA: We have in Nico and Carlos a very strong line-up. I am extremely pleased with the way that they are developing together. They are performing and they are also driving the team and building the team. For the time being it’s a bit early to talk about the future. Obviously we have a particular situation with Carlos, in the sense that he on a loan to us from Christian and Red Bull. So we have to see. We can say that it is unconnected to engine decisions but it’s not. Frankly Carlos was loaned to us because of all the musical chairs that happened last year, so it was part of that agreement. So I expect that there will be some collateral consequences and that’s something that frankly we are here to discuss with Red Bull and I’m pretty sure that we will discuss that in the next few weeks. We need to watch out for any driver development from Red Bull’s side first and the collateral consequences that it may have on us. For the time being our focus is on developing the best car possible. If we show that we can progress, if we show that we can build a good car, drivers will get interested in joining us. We have to focus on that first and foremost.

    Christian, anything to add, these are your drivers we are talking about?

    CH: Yes, they’re both our drivers actually. Look, the situation with Daniel, I think that there is an intent from both sides to move forward. The first thing was to close the situation with the engine. That has now been done. Daniel understands the rationale, the engineering rationale, behind that. Let’s not forget that he has been in a car that in the last couple of grands prix has been lapping the cars to our left. So it would be a fairly bold decision to step out of a car that he has won two grands prix in this year as a championship contender. I would be surprised if he was to leave, because it’s a good fit between himself and Red Bull, but it is Formula 1.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Christian, although you have alluded to the performance-led decision about the engine swap to Honda, there are obviously certain commercial benefits in terms of engine supply, possible branding on the car etc. Given that Red Bull contributes about 25% of your budget per annum, will these commercial benefits be used to offset that or will you be ramping up your engineering spend in the face of budget caps and costs?

    CH: Well, of course I’m not going to get into the depths of the financial arrangements of contracts but it’s safe to say that we are going to see benefit in that we won’t be paying the amounts we have been paying to Renault, but there are costs involved where you are feeding dynos and gearboxes and other hardware. The net result is obviously a positive one but it is one we are investing within the team to ensure the continued performance is absolutely there. I think that it’s important for us strategically… the rationale behind this partnership was very much with an eye towards what’s past 2020 as well, of having the right partner for the future. Aston Martin have also been very involved in our decision-making, they are fully supportive and let’s not forget, they don’t make engines, so it was a natural fit.

    Q: (Laurie Vermeersch – F1only.fr) Question for Eric Boullier. We know that Fernando Alonso might leave this season. Do you have any alternative for next season?

    EB: Like I said before, drivers are under consideration and it’s just a matter of when you start to thing and build and maybe discuss. As far as we are concerned for Fernando, we would like obviously for him to stay in the McLaren family and I’m not sure yet he has taken his decision, so we will see at the right time.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Eric, will McLaren seek to identify and potentially discipline the individual member of staff who spoke out against the team today?

    EB: This is obviously an internal matter, so we need to discuss what we need to see internally, what’s going… why that individual is unhappy. When you have, obviously 800 people… we have a lot of support from the workforce and from the engineering. I think it’s just a matter of a couple of people who are grumpy. Actually, in some way it’s maybe good for us because we have a lot of feedback and good feedback.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) Eric, do you accept any responsibility for the failings of this car. And will you resign?

    EB: That’s a good question. Obviously, we are all responsible for the car performance. No, I will not resign, to answer your question. I know you have written some articles. I’ve got my twentieth year now in racing, I’ve won races and championships with every team I’ve managed before, including Formula One, so this is some record that you cannot take away from me. So I think we’re on a journey. We are not where we want to be, we are not happy with where we are – but with the journey, with the new Renault engine partner, and obviously we have a good team of people, we just need to make sure we are finding the issues with the car and correct them. We know where the issues with the car are, and make sure… when you build a car, when you believe in a concept, you have to develop the concept and make sure you correct if for the next one.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Eric, all though you currently run about halfway up the grid in terms of your championship performance, a year ago you were right at the back, so there has been an improvement – however it’s still halfway to where you really need to be as McLaren, as a championship-winning team. Is it realistic to project some form of progress this year, or do you think fifth is roughly where you are? And what are the actual stated objectives and how realistic are they?

    EB: Well, it’s true that this time last year we had no points at all, so obviously we are now in the fight for fourth with Renault and once again, we would prefer to be comfortably fourth, which was one of the targets we had assigned to ourselves. The car this year is obviously not working exactly like how we expect to be but we are still using this as an experimental experience, especially like this morning, for example, a lot of new parts on the car. We want to learn from this car and learn as well working with Renault – because it’s a different partner from last year who we worked with for some years. We have something new to learn; some of the technical options we have not explored yet.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Another question for Eric, going back to the media reports today. Is there a toxic atmosphere at McLaren? Are you untouchable and are you fighting to save your job?

    EB: No, I think at this level of responsibility we are all obviously working for the company, we are all making sure we take our responsibilities. There have been a couple of stories about some chocolate-gate, I think in the media today which was a bit funny to read – and again, it was good because actually we have tonnes of email from people saying ‘this is a joke’ – so maybe it’s a couple of people grumpy, which in any organisation you have some people who agree or disagree when there has been maybe miscommunication. I don’t know what is the problem of these people and I think we have invited them to come and see us to understand what their problems are, other than obviously talking through the back doors, y’know?

    Q: (Benjamin Vinel – Motorsport.com) Question to Christian Horner. Red Bull currently doesn’t have any junior drivers holding a superlicence and none of them seem to be in a position to get one next year – so are you looking at more experienced junior drivers, and secondly, what would happen if one of the four Red Bull drivers got injured and Sébastien Buemi was held back by commitments in WEC or Formula E?

    CH: Well, obviously, as you pointed out, we do have Sébastien Buemi. Within the junior programme we have Dan Ticktum in Formula 3 that is winning races and will have, for sure, a licence later this season. So it’s not something we’re particularly concerned about. We also have Jake Dennis that complies with a licence criteria, that we’ve been using on our simulator programme. So, it’s not something that we at Red Bull have a concern about.

    Q: (Joe van Burik – Autocar.nl) Question to Christian. Which targets have you set with Honda for the next two seasons for you to consider working with them beyond 2020?

    CH: Well, we obviously don’t want to go backwards, we want to go forwards, and that’s the whole purpose of the change that we’ve made. We believe it’s the best route for us to make the steps required to consistently challenge Mercedes and Ferrari – so y’know, this is a very different situation than McLaren found themselves in. I think Honda have matured. They’ve got a good structure in place, they’re on a good development path. We’re confident on the decision we’ve made, which wasn’t taken lightly, that this is absolutely the right route for the team, for 2019 and 2020 seasons, and then we’ll see what happens beyond that.

    Q: (Gaëtan Vigneron – RTBF) Question for Eric. Starting from point that you could be interested by Daniel Ricciardo if Fernando leaves, does that mean Stoffel would be too light to be your number one, and what does he need to recover his full potential as we saw before?

    EB: Well, I think firstly he has a full potential and he has a good learning curve. His team-mate is obviously one of the maybe the most difficult one to have, with Fernando. You can draft any story, y’know? Today we have Fernando and Stoffel, we are happy with them. We have not yet a discussion about the future. So, at the right time, again, at the due time we will discuss about it.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Eric, just another one of Freddo-gate, is it right that you’ve ordered loads of Freddos in for your team this week as a show of support and you hope that perhaps you could get some strength from this situation?

    EB: No, it’s not true! We are not working with some Freddos

    Perhaps you should…

    EB: Well yes, it’s a lot of energy anyway, so thanks for considering this.

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) A question to Fred. Fred, is Ferrari trying to recruit Charles Leclerc for 2019? And how keen are you to keep him at Sauber next year?

    FV: I think that we have to take it a bit easy and that two months ago, some of your colleagues came to me after China and asked me if he will be fired in the next few days. It’s not because you are getting results two or three weekends in a row that you will be World Champion in six months. He has to be focussed first on FP2 and then on the race this weekend, to do the job, step-by-step. I think it’s by far the most important thing for him today, and I’m pushing like hell to keep him motivated on the next events – and he will be.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Eric. Just to go back to the Freddo thing, will you be reviewing how you hand out Freddos at the factory? Will you stick with the Freddo rewards – or do they stop?

    EB: I think if you did a course in management we can organise this for you. And if you’re really desperate to test the Freddo chocolate, we can send a box to you, don’t worry.

    Thank you. Thank you for that offer. Could I just say…

    EB: That’s enough of it. You’re looking after something, we will give you any answers later but I think it’s enough.

    No, no, it’s not enough. Do you expect to still be in your job at Silverstone?

    EB: Yes. Of course. It’s a journey. It’s not a plug and play story. It’s a journey when you have to work too. You’re after me, apparently…

    But you’re being briefed against, by your own staff, by your management…

    EB: I think you are lying now.

    Matteo BONCIANI: Sorry (Eric) Jonathan, we do not want to have a one to one. I’m trying to give a word to everybody. Eric, if you need so say something else?

    EB: No, I am fine.

    Jonathan MCEVOY: I’m not lying.

    MB: Jon, please. (Next question).

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Cyril, what do you think the commercial and performance implications of the Red Bull decision are on your team and Fred, we can assure you that Freddo-gate doesn’t refer to you at all? But do you look at this Honda deal, which Christian obviously sees potential in, and sort of wonder what they see that you didn’t see a year ago when you decided to cancel the pending Honda deal?

    CA: OK, implications of the termination of the deal on our budget is really marginal. Yes, there was a substantial revenue associated to that supply but there were also substantial costs associated so frankly, from an economic perspective, if you look at the bottom line, it’s fairly neutral and clearly marginal in comparison to the overall budget of our organisation as we speak. What we are losing, frankly – you were not asking – but what we are losing is a benchmark because clearly I have to say that it was great to have Red Bull as a benchmark for the last two years, to evidence the progress of both the engine and the chassis, but I feel that we are at a point in our construction and our progression where we can afford to lose that benchmark and everyone must focus on where there is performance to be found, which frankly, as we speak, is really on the chassis so that we can match – to hopefully compete one day – against those guys.

    FV: Yeah, on our side, we need at this stage to have a benchmark and it was quite tough for us to start with Honda alone. And the second point in my decision was also that we were not able to do our own gearbox last year and I had the feeling that at one stage McLaren will leave Honda and I didn’t want to be in the position that I have to go to Eric to ask for the gearbox and if he’s focused on the Renault project, it was more than uncomfortable.

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Eric, you’ve spoken about the journey quite a few times throughout this press conference, that you were taking McLaren on. Is it harder for your vision to be felt by the team with the management structure that’s got multiple chiefs, and are you still confident that you’re the right man to lead the team and make your vision felt?

    EB: Well, obviously when I joined McLaren they were obviously the people in place and obviously you have to build an organisation that you believe in and I think that during the Honda era it was not obviously planned to be where we were. Again, no points, a lot of reliability issues and we had to deal with this, so you have to manage the company a little bit differently when have brought few people in, coming from a World Champion team. You obviously don’t want to lose them. I think now with Renault as well, we can score points now, at least we try to be fighting for Q3, this is not where we want to be, but again it’s a journey. We still discover… for example in the last race one of the pipes broke during the race and this is something we have investigated and this was a new problem we had to face and this is part of the journey. Again, we are learning to work with Renault and our new partners.

    Q: (Bart Von Doijewert – Nu.nl) Christian, how far are you prepared to go to keep Daniel in your team and if he leaves, would you rather have a young talent next to Max Verstappen or a more experienced driver?

    CH: Well, obviously our priority is to see if we can find a way to keep Daniel. I think things are going in the right direction. We have talent already on the books on loan to Cyril, we have not a shortage of requests from outside of our own contracted drivers. Obviously the cars are performing extremely well, so there’s no shortage of demand from drivers that want to be in the car for next year but our priority is to retain the same driver line-up for the next couple of years.

    Q: And the second part of that was if it was to change, would you want an experienced or a younger driver alongside Max?

    CH: I think we definitely want fast and cheap! The two don’t always go together but the Red Bull philosophy has always promoted young talent and given talent, opportunities and hence the guys who have graduated through Toro Rosso, it’s been a proven path.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Christian, given that you and Toro Rosso will again be sharing the same sort of power unit, will you be moving more and more towards a Haas-Ferrari-type deal between yourselves and Toro Rosso?

    CH: Well, not quite the Haas-Ferrari because obviously Toro Rosso have their own infrastructure but there’s obvious synergies that a common power unit supplier provides within what’s permitted within the regulations – transmission, drivetrain etc – that creates those obvious synergies that will apply there, so I think it just makes life a bit easier all round.

    Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) To all of you: in today’s Formula One, can you win titles as a customer team and if not, how can you change that beyond 2020?

    EB: Good question. Well, I think Christian is the showing that you can win races as a customer. I think winning a championship is another level, you need to have a works team status.

    CA: Yes, there are very different types of customers, obviously, but I think it’s important that in future we retain the capacity for any team to win races and a championship and I think that this is the direction that things are taking under the new ownership of Liberty.

    CH: We’ve demonstrated, with 150 podiums and 57 Grand Prix victories, we’ve paid for every single engine along the way, varying amounts.

    CA: Varying performance.

    CH: We’ve gone through four different groups of management during our time with Renault. It started with the well-known Flavio Briatore, when we first took the engine. We ended with, as part of the deal, having a box at Queens Park Rangers and sponsoring the Billionaire Club for a season, so it’s been an unconventional route but a successful one. Conflicts of interest didn’t exist in those days. It’s demonstrated that you can win with a customer power unit, I think. Our view on the future is that the situation is slightly different now with Cyril having his own team. Obviously the engines are a bit more complex these days so integration is very much focused around his team whereas we are all selfish in this business, we all want it to be focused on what’s right for your own team and so therefore this relationship with Honda allows us to have that marriage that is focused and unique to Red Bull, rather than having to share.

    FV: Yeah, but honestly so far I don’t think that the fact to be customer team is the biggest issue if the target is to be World Champion for me. We will have some other topics before.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Fred, Christian and Cyril, possibly, maybe, last word about Freddo. Do you give your staff chocolate bars as rewards for hard work?

    FV: Cyril first!

    CH: We obviously have a totally freeflowing supply of Red Bull that people indulge in every day. We even send it to Cyril and his guys after a good result, so we’re not really into Freddos, we’re more into Red Bulls.

    CA: We do receive them and we’ve drunk every single one of them. No chocolate, no. But if I may just jump in, I was hesitating. One thing I think about McLaren’s situation: I was talking about benchmarks and the fact that we have Red Bull as a benchmark is also working for engine manufacturers and I think something that has been badly missing for both Honda and McLaren in the past has been the lack of benchmarks. I think that they have a clear understanding of the issues, I think we need also to appreciate that the time needs to focus on those issues. I have absolutely no f**king clue about the chocolate bar that you’re talking about. I don’t want to comment on that, but I just wanted to make that point regarding benchmarks which is very important in a competitive environment.

    Q: Thank you very much and apologies for any colourful language in that answer.

    FV: Sorry, for me I have to stop the chocolate bar also.

    Q: (Stuart Codling – F1 Racing) Christian, can I ask you a non-confectionary-based question: you said just a few moments ago that your golden days with Renault were before there were conflicts of interest. Is it the case that Renault’s return as a works force has made your relationship untenable and that’s set you on the journey to where you are now?

    CH: I wouldn’t say it’s made it untenable; it’s changed the dynamic, particularly with this era of power unit. Renault’s priorities are obviously their own team and they should be that and I think that our feeling was that the time is right in this… you know, after 12 years, and it’s one of the longest standing engine supply relationships in Formula One. The decision’s not been taken lightly. A huge amount of analysis, a great deal of research has gone into this and we’ve decided that this is the right route at this juncture for the team and the business to go in this direction.

     

  • It is not about what we can do; It’s about what F1 can do to us, the midfield, says Force India’s Bob Fernley

    Montreal, 8 June 2018: The FIA Friday Press Conference saw team representatives Claire Williams (Williams), Robert `Bob’ Fernley  (Force India), Guenther Steiner (Haas) in attendance at the seventh round of the Formula One World Championship here on Friday.

    Press Conference

    Claire, there have been a number of changes in senior personnel at Williams in recent weeks and months, with the departure of Ed Wood and Dirk de Beer especially. Can you tell us what the impact has been on the tem internally?

    Claire WILLIAMS: Yes, so obviously we’ve lost Dirk and Ed for personal reasons, so we wouldn’t go into that in any greater detail. The impact on the team? We’re obviously having quite a difficult start to our year but we have a really strong technical team in place back at Grove who are working really hard and really cohesively, and that’s the most important thing, and everyone just has their heads down and is trying to get us out of the trouble we’re in at the moment.

    This race marks the first third of the season coming to an end. There’s still a long way to go. Do you feel you can turn it round within this year or do you have to look more long-term for changes?

    CW: That’s whole purpose of our recovery plan. We’ve never said we’re going to write this season off. In no way would we ever say that at Williams. As you said, we’re only a third of the way through this year. There are a lot of races left to go. We haven’t done what we wanted to do in the first third – scoring four points is not where we want to be. But the guys are doing a good job, as I said. But it does require a little bit of patience. It’s not easy turning things around that fast. We’ve got a lot of work to do, particularly on the aerodynamics side of things, and that takes time. So we’ll be bringing updates to forthcoming races, we’ll have to see how they pan out. It’s just a case of working hard and keeping everything crossed so that we deliver the performance that we need to do, so that by the end of the year we’re back up to the front of the field, but that’s going to be hard work for us.

    Thank you. Guenther, it’s been a season of ups and downs for Haas in its third year of Formula 1 so far. It’s probably fair to say that Monaco was one of the downs at this point. Can you just tell us what the issues were with the car in Monaco and have they been rectified for this weekend?

    Guenther STEINER: I think, yeah, one big down is Monaco, where our performance wasn’t there. The other times the performance was there but we didn’t get enough points out of the races. In Monaco, we knew going into it, we knew that on low speed out car is not very good and then we had a few issues in free practice – losing parts – and we decided not to use them. So we knew going into qualifying that we would be pretty slow, and we were obviously. Not surprising, it doesn’t make us happy. I think we will be OK again here. We have got some upgrades here for this race and we are still evaluating how much they bring and it’s too early to say anything yet.

    Romain has appeared to struggle a little bit more than Kevin this year, in terms of the points return anyway, but when you’ve had issues like Monaco and other races where you have missed opportunities, how do you review how your drivers are performing?

    GS: I think they’re doing OK. With Romain I would say that actually he had two bad races and he knows about it, I don’t need to tell him. I think he gets some credit from us because he was there from the beginning. He took a big chance in the beginning to join us, when we were unknown and we had no credit by anybody. I think they are doing OK, he will come back and be the Romain like he was before.

    Bob, recently Vijay Mallya stepped down as a director of the team but remains as team principal. Can you tell us what the impact is on the team?

    Robert FERNLEY: Well, it doesn’t really have any impact on the team. The day-to-day operations continue on under the management, as they’ve always done over the years. Vijay’s decision is purely a personal one, but from a Force India point of view it really is business as usual.

    Pre-season and at the start of the year we were seeing reports that there would be a name change or even a potential change of ownership change at Force India, but the team seems to be growing in competitiveness in the midfield. What does the team need to do to then take the next step to the front of the midfield and maybe even further?

    RF: I don’t think it’s about what we can do to take the next step. It’s about what Formula 1 can do. Formula 1 has to come to us. We can’t go from a 100 million budget to a 300 million budget. So somewhere down the line it has to come back to the midfield and then you have a more level playing field. So I think the onus is very much on Formula 1 delivering a more competitive package.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action & Speed Sport) To follow up on Bob’s comments, in Bahrain you had a meeting with Liberty and I remember Claire, at this press conference in Bahrain, telling us how happy you were. You had another meeting in Monaco, maybe all three of you can update us on how you’re feeling on the latest proposals?

    Claire, maybe start with you, you were very excited after the Bahrain meeting.

    CW: Yeah, well I’m not on the champagne any more, that’s for sure. More water. They’re working hard, clearly, there’s obviously a lot of work to do, we all know that, and we have to work together, which we are doing, in order to make sure that the proposals that we’re going to have for 2021 work for all the teams as best they can – and that’s not an easy piece of work. It’s not exactly what we want, as a team, as Williams, but I think we’re probably getting closer and hopefully if we can get the budget cap in place that brings us… I know they’re reporting [$]150[million] but if it was a bit higher then fine, we all have to compromise. I think they are very close to the power unit regulations, to get those locked down, which would be great because hopefully that would attract new OEMs into our sport. It’s just a process, a continual process that everybody’s working hard to make sure that we can get set in stone sooner rather than later.

    Guenther, your thoughts on the progress there.

    GS: I think the engine regulations need to be signed-off for ’21 to start with and then a hard date when the next proposal comes from the general commercial contract – but I think FOM – Liberty – is working diligently to achieve this. We haven’t got hard dates, not a complete proposal yet but I don’t think it’s an easy job to make all ten teams happy but I think they know what needs to be done and it’s down to them to negotiate, or to take the sport where they want to take it.

    Bob, what are your thoughts on the movements on the movements since Bahrain to Monaco?

    RF: Well, I think I like the process that Formula One Group are bringing in where it’s very much done by consensus, as opposed to individual teams pushing their own agendas, which is what it used to be. So, I think they’re going through a very constructive process in that manner. I agree with Guenther, and Claire, that we need to get the engine regs nailed, hopefully this month so that those can move forward. I’m less concerned about the chassis regs. I think we could wait a while for those because again, the sooner they come out, the bigger teams have got opportunities to put resources behind it – so it’s not urgent that this happens as long as we keep moving on the path. We’ve made a change for 2019, which is a step towards the 2021 programme, which will give some very clear direction. They won’t get it right for sure, but it will give good direction in terms of where we want to be for ’21. We could be looking if there are elements for standardisation, or proscriptive elements. Those could start coming in quite early as they don’t affect development. So, I think it needs to just have that cohesive process – and hopefully over the next few months we’ll see that.

    Q: (François-David Rouleau – Le Journal de Montréal) Question for Claire. Could you please evaluate the work of your two drivers, especially Lance Stroll so far in the season?

    CW: Obviously, they haven’t exactly got the best equipment this year in order to demonstrate their potential, of which I think both have a considerable amount. It’s our responsibility to give them a car in which they can demonstrate that. Both have had quite considerable weight upon their shoulders. It’s not easy when you’re quite a young driver in Formula One, having to drive a car that that they’re having to drive, to go out in qualifying, to go out in the race, knowing that they’re probably going to be at the back. Can’t be easy for them psychologically, and I think they’re doing a very good job in order to go out there and do what they’re having to do. I think they’re demonstrating quite a considerable sense of maturity coping with that. But they’re also working really well as part of the team as a whole. They’re spending a lot of time at the factory with our engineers, helping drive development forwards, and clearly that’s going to be crucial to take us forward over the course of this season. I know that both want to just score points and be qualifying in Q3, in the top ten on Saturday and then getting into the points on Sunday – but it’s really up to us to give them the machinery to do that. I have no complaints about either of our drivers on the races that we’ve had this year.

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Question for all three of you, regarding the future calendars: the commercial rights holder has been quite open about its plans for the future, wants to get new events on the calendar but there was a report out earlier this week suggesting next year’s calendar could start a week earlier and finish up in December. How close are we to saturation point, both in the length of the schedule and the number of events on there?

    RF: I think you have to look at the human logistics in a lot of this. Twenty races, we’re very much on the edge of being able to maintain it with one crew, one travelling crew in particular. So once you start moving in beyond that, occasionally we can go to 21 and then we go back to 19 and we can cope with all of that, but once you get a sustained amount of races that are going well up into the twenties, we’re going to have to bring in revolving crews and there’s a huge cost to that and these are the things we’ve got to look at so there needs to be just a look at how are we going to do it logistically. It’s quite capable from a show point of view but it will change how we, as teams, operate in my opinion.

    GS: I would agree with Bob. I think it makes financial sense to do more races and if we can then do it, as suggested by Bob, with more people and rotating crews, it could be done but I think there is a second factor in there, which is the saturation of the public. How much do they want to see F1? If F1 is on every weekend, every year, every weekend, are we not on a downward spiral? I think Liberty Media is aware of this, I don’t think there is a big plan in place to go to 25 or 24 races. I think it will always be between 20 and 22 and starting earlier and ending later maybe gives us a little bit more freedom not to have the back-to-back-to-back like we will have in a few weeks. I think they are well aware that there is a saturation factor for the human element and for what the customer actually wants so I don’t think they will exaggerate.

    CW: I would echo what Bob and Guenther have said, that from a human perspective it’s a tough on our guys who are having to spend such a huge amount of time at (away from) home.  Yes, maybe drawing the calendar out, starting earlier and finishing later gives more of a break but it actually then takes away time that we have to build our cars over the winter but also for the guys to spend good quality time at home with their families over the winter. I think, from a purely sporting fan perspective, if it’s from a saturated market, then great if we have more races if we can go to more markets, particularly within America, I think that would crucial for our sport, but if we are to do that then it has to make financial sense and those races that come on the calendar have to come on because they are paying to do so. I don’t see why teams should be expected to go to new races for nothing and then the price fund pot dilutes down even further and it’s just costing the teams more and more and that shouldn’t be the case.

    Q: (Maxime Sarrasin – 98.5FM) Claire, one of our colleagues asked Lance yesterday about his contract situation, talking about a possible new contract and you didn’t have information for us. You talked earlier that you were happy with how your pilots were performing without the fact that the machine is not going as well as you wanted, but what can you tell us about a possible new contract for Lance Stroll?

    CW: What did Lance say to you? Did he say no comment?

    Q: (Maxime Sarrasin – 98.5FM) He said he was not aware… but we wanted to ask you what your thoughts were, what you thought about giving him a new contract for next year?

    CW: I love Lance, I think he’s a great guy, I think he’s had a huge amount of pressure put on him. I think he’s had –  and I say this repeatedly so I apologise if I’m repeating myself –  but he’s had a huge amount of negativity thrown at him, a huge amount of criticism for a variety of reasons and I think he’s handled it with an incredible sense of maturity and I think he should be given credit for that. As a team player, he’s great and I think he’s got a lot more to show if we could only give him the car to do that. I don’t want to talk about 2019; as you would expect, we have many issues to deal with this year and I need everybody focused on 2018 to resolve the problems that we have and when we’re in a position to talk about 2019 then we will do so.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) Bob, you talked about cohesive rules for the future – not even terribly sure I know what that means – but I’m always concerned that drivers have to suffer penalties for factors which are nothing to do with their side of the bargain as it were. We had this race in Monaco where Daniel Ricciardo drove what I thought was a heroic race and in the process he fried his electrical bits. I wonder if you are perhaps going to ask in future that the drivers are not punished so badly or so seriously? In Ricciardo’s case, he’s got to take at least one penalty in coming races which is going to ruin his chances, light as they are, of being World Champion this year.

    RF: I agree with you. I think Ross Brawn has got that right on the top of his agenda, as one of the things to get sorted out. Just remember that when those penalties were brought in, it was also partly to control the costs of power units and everything else and it probably hasn’t quite ticked the boxes as it should have done, certainly from a sporting point of view, so I do agree. But we also have to keep the engine manufacturers in check as well, so there has to be balance with that, to make sure that we keep costs under control while also not damaging the sporting element from the drivers and I think Ross is really looking …. I think it’s one of his top priorities to bring that in for the next regulations.

    Q: Is there an obvious solution in your mind to changing that rule?

    RF: Probably, but it’s going to be more related to the constructors probably, than it is to the drivers. That’s the way I would look at it, in terms of the fact that it hurts the constructors’ side of it rather than the drivers’ side of it but I think Ross has got some clear ideas on it and it will be interesting to see what he comes up with. You’ve got a wonderfully experienced person there; if anybody can do it, he can.

    Ends

  • I am tired of comments, I will never change my approach, says Max Verstappen

    The following drivers attended the Thursday’s FIA Press Conference of the Canadian Grand Prix here: Valtteri Bottas, (Mercedes), Lance Stroll (Williams), Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing).

    Transcript:

    Lance, it’s your home race and a very busy week for you, but you must be very excited to be back racing in Montreal? 

    Lance Stroll: Absolutely. It’s great to be home. I really enjoyed my week, catching up with friends, family. It was a bit of a busy week, a lot going to, but great to be home and can’t wait to jump in the car tomorrow.

    Obviously you had a bit of a tough time in the last race in Monaco. How does Williams go about bouncing back from that weekend, both here and moving forward this season? 

    LS: It’s a very different kind of circuit here in Montreal. We learned from what wrong in Monaco and it’s a long year. Moving forward, we’ve analysed a lot of our weaknesses and we’re working on how to solve them.

    Max, it was a tough Saturday for you in Monaco, but a better Sunday. So did you leave the last race with a few positives to take from the weekend? 

    Max Verstappen: Yeah, I enjoyed the race. I had a good battle with Stoffel as well. He was not giving me a lot of room, which was good to see. Yeah, I got back into the points, you know, starting last, so I definitely enjoyed myself on Sunday.

    After the race on Sunday there were some comments from the team that maybe a change of approach might benefit you. What does that really mean and will we see a change of approach from you? 

    MV: Well, you know, I get really tired of all the comments of me, that I should change my approach. I will never do that, because it’s brought me to where I am right now. After a race, it’s not the right time to talk. So everybody who has those comments, I don’t listen to it anyway. I just do my own thing. Of course, the beginning of the year so far it hasn’t been going so well, not in the way I liked it. A few mistakes, I think especially Monaco and China, but it doesn’t make sense to keep talking about it, because I get really tired of it. Yeah, it just feels like there are no better questions out there than to keep asking me about what happened in the previous weekend. So yeah, I’m just focusing on what’s ahead. I’m confident that I can turn things around. You know the speed is there. I’ve always been quick, every single weekend. It would be much of a problem if I was really slow, because that’s a critical problem.

    Thank you very much. Valtteri, Monaco was described as damage limitation for Mercedes by Toto Wolff, but it was probably slightly more competitive than maybe the team expected. Does that mean that maybe you’ve ironed out some of the weaknesses in the car? And you’ve traditionally been strong here, so do the strengths remain in place?

    Valtteri Bottas: Definitely Monaco was tough. We always knew that it could be, and that it could be a really strong circuit for Red Bull and Ferrari. So yeah, I think it was damage limitation and we were more or less matching the performance we estimated, or even slightly below. It definitely highlights all the weaknesses we have in the car. The car is definitely not designed for Monaco. The car is designed for most of circuits to be quick, including this one. So at least last year, if the trend stays similar, that we were weak in Monaco and good here, I hope so, because it was a really good for us and hopefully we can have a good weekend here.

    Just on a personal note for you, if you had have won the race in Baku you would have been leading the Drivers’ Championship. Now, two races later, you’re 42 points off the championship lead. Do you feel you have had the returns you deserve this season so far? 

    VB: Well, I don’t want to think about too far behind. Those are the points we have now and I need to deal with it, we need to deal with it, as a team. So, I’m also just really looking ahead. It’s still very early in the season, anything can happen, and I hope I have had my run of bad luck for the year and that things can turn around. There’s no point really in stressing about it. I just want to keep going. I want to win races and I’m sure it will come.

    Thank you. Stoffel, similar to Valtteri really. The statistics say that Fernando has got the better of you in qualifying and the races so far this year, but do you feel that tells the whole story of your performance?

    Stoffel Vandoorne: No, I don’t think it tells the whole story. Obviously, the statistics tell maybe that, but I think in reality we are very, very closely matched. In terms of where I was last year, I feel I’m in a much better position this year. I think things have not always gone my way. We lacked a little bit of luck on some occasions. And some occasions Fernando was just the quicker one as well, which is normal. I think we are going in the right direction. The team is moving forward. We’ve obviously had a tough start to the season. There were a lot of expectations on our team and we’ve not managed to perform as expected. So we keep improving race after race and hopefully this weekend we can show we made another step forward.

    The team was managing to pick up points with both cars at the start of the season, but the last couple of race that seems to have tailed off a bit. Can you tell us why that is? 

    SV: Yeah, it’s been a little bit of a difficult period. I had a retirement in Spain and then Fernando had a retirement in Monaco. Obviously that was not ideal, but I think we are still very close in this midfield and one weekend we are a bit stronger than another one. The last couple of races have been difficult tracks for us as well in terms of overtaking. I think this weekend is a different story again. It’s a new weekend, this track is completely different to the other ones and hopefully should provide us some opportunities.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Bottas and one for Verstappen, about the engine. We know the Mercedes engine is not here, the update is not here, so I would like to know how do you feel, if you have a big handicap or not. And for Max, I think that you will use the new engine, I would like to know what you expect from the upgrade?

    VB: We were initially expecting to bring the new power units to this race, which would have been a small gain compared to the old one. We found some issues so, just to be safe we need to make it perfect and hopefully run it in two weeks. For sure the new one would have been a little bit better – but it’s not like our old engine, the phase one, is a bad engine. It’s a good one and it’s still healthy. It’s been reliable, so no concerns on that. We’re also planning to use it again later this year in Budapest – but now, instead of that, we’re going to use the new one in Budapest, so I think it’s going to be a small penalty. Obviously would have been nice but that’s how it is.

    Max?

    MV: Yeah, I expect a little bit more horsepower – but yeah, we’ll see on track how it’s going to perform but, of course, it’s always good to get an update.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have always liked Canada. How much more would you like it if you would be the third ever Finnish winner here?

    VB: Yeah! Definitely always liked it here. I love the track; I love the place and I’ve normally had pretty decent races here so we want to do that again as a team and me personally. Of course, winning here would mean a lot – like winning every race for me.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Max, why have you had so many accidents?

    MV: I don’t know. And, like I said in the beginning of this press conference, I get really tired of all the questions, so… yeah… I think if I get a few more I’ll head-butt someone.

    Q: (François-David Rouleau – Le Journal de Montréal) You were talking about your car in Monaco, can you please elaborate what went wrong over there and how could you improve the car this week in Montreal?

    LS: It was just a frustrating weekend start to end really. Never really… yeah… I wasn’t really able to dial in and I never felt like I had the car under me to be able to piece everything together. Sometimes those weekends happen. It’s a very unique track kind of track also. I think Monaco is a one-off event and it’s really important to really have the confidence to push the car and I never felt like I got to that point in Monaco – but it was one race. I felt much better in all the other races, so I’m turning the page here this weekend and looking forward to Montreal.

    Q: (Bill Beacon – Canadian Press) For Lance. There are reports you will be signing a new contract with Williams at some point soon. How do you feel your progress has been in your second year – and are you looking forward to getting a new deal with them?

    LS: I’m not aware of the contract. To be honest, I’ve just been focussed on driving the car and getting the most out of myself every weekend. But yeah, it’s been a frustrating start for all of us. As a team, we’re not where we want to be – but in many ways it’s also been very positive in my view. Even though it might not show in terms of results, due to where our package is today but I feel like in many ways I’ve made a big step over the winter. Looking back at where I was last year. And, it’s a very long year. Formula One’s a marathon so I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. Hopefully we can turn things around and pick up some more points and go on to have a great rest of the season.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) A contract question for you, Valtteri: how do you deal with this contract in limbo? Do you just ignore it and get on with the job or do you talk to people or what do you do? 

    VB: Yes, during the race weekend especially, just ignore it, focus on the job, that’s always the best thing to do and when the time is right, then between the races ideally you start to speak with the team but the time is not quite yet but I have no worries or no pressure on that. I feel I’m in a good place and everything between me and the team has been very positive, we’re making good progress together all the time, so just need to continue and we will see a little bit later on.

    Q: (Maxime Sarrasin – 98.5FM) Lance, first of all: do you know, 40 years ago Gilles Villeneuve made history with his win around here in Montreal, so how do you see your race… all the festivities surrounding the anniversary of that win? 

    LS: Yeah, I mean it’s a bit before my time but no, it’s great to be here in Montreal.  Reflecting on last year, I had a great race here, first points in Formula One and I’m looking forward to this year. The whole weekend last year was very emotional and I’m really just looking forward to this year and it’s always great to be home. It’s definitely the most special weekend of the year for me.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Following the question for Max, do you think that with the upgrade, looking maybe at the simulation you have at Milton Keynes, it’s possible in the end to match Mercedes and Ferrari in Q3? 

    MV: I don’t think so but we will be a little bit closer, hopefully.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – Sportwereld) Max, you were talking a lot about only focusing on the next week, on the next race. How does that process work after Monaco? Is that only a case of clearing your head and looking forward or speaking a lot with people like your father and team principals?

    MV: It’s not really a process. You’ve done that Grand Prix, yeah, you go back to the team, you analyse everything and you speak to family, friends, whatever but I know very well what can be done better and what was good and you try to put that in place for the next Grand Prix.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – Press Association) At the risk of being head-butted, Max, I was just wondering do you think you can explain why you have had more crashes this year? Because you’ve had more than you’ve ever had in your Formula One career so far. It seems a legitimate question to ask. 

    MV: I don’t think so, just two which were my fault but I had, for example, three in one weekend in 2016 in Monaco. It’s not that dramatic as people say it is. Of course, I haven’t scored the points which I should have scored but that was not only my fault. Could have been better, but everybody makes it so dramatic.

    Q: (Francois-David Rouleau – Journal de Montreal) Lance, what’s your degree of confidence about your engine this weekend, because it’s a really rough track for the engine here in Montreal? 

    LS: Yeah, every track has their challenges. Montreal has its challenges. Yeah, do everything we can to walk away with a good result.

    Q: Yeah Lance, Mercedes delaying the upgraded power unit affects Williams as well; could you just give us your reaction to that? 

    LS: That’s the situation we’re in, all the Mercedes-powered teams are in the same boat. It’s not ideal but that’s the nature of the sport so we’ll do what we can with what we have but there’s still definitely a lot of opportunity and there’s no reason why we can’t do a good job here in Montreal.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Max, how much would you like to win here, to draw a line under the ups and downs of the season? 

    MV: I like to win every single Grand Prix. It’s not that before it was different, so I approach this as I always do.

     

  • The boys have done a good job! And there are some girls in the team too, says Ricciardo

    The boys have done a good job! And there are some girls in the team too, says Ricciardo

    Daniel Ricciardo, flanked by Sebastian Vettel (left) and Hamilton, after taking the pole on Saturday. An FIA image

    Monaco, 26 May 2018: Daniel Ricciardo, who is known to have vocally supported the grid girls, took the pole today and thanked the team and also said that there are some girls too in the team. Despite the F1 Management’s decision to stop grid girls, Monaco proved that it is different.

    The race will be on Sunday. The drivers who attended the Saturday press conference are polesitter Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari – P2), and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes – P3)

    Press Conference (Questions from the floor): 

    Q: Daniel, the Red Bull has been very strong here this week, but just how good was the car here today and how were you able to harness the strengths of the package here?

    Daniel Ricciardo : It’s been good all weekend. Every session we’ve been quicken. It’s a bit like 2016; we came into this race knowing we had a legitimate chance to fight for pole. Just knowing how the car has performed in the first few races and knowing if it got hooked up around here then for sure we knew we could be here. We didn’t really change much on the car all weekend, it was kind of one of those pretty smooth ones and we could just build up to it and obviously find my rhythm and have some fun. I love this place and it’s obviously a pleasure to drive in a 1m10s, it’s a lot of fun. It’s been awesome, the boys have done a good job. The team. There are some girls in the team as well!

    Q: Daniel, what happened to Max shows how quickly this place can bite. Was that at the back of your mind or were you able to clear your mind and just go for it?

    DR: It’s always in the back of your mind here, I guess, because the risk and reward is very real and that was proven this morning. It’s one of those things… it’s there but it is at the back of your mind, because to be fast you can’t think about those things. Knowing we had obviously a great package all weekend… we need to push it but I don’t think we need to overdrive it. The car has been performing well. It’s just hitting your marks and just trying to keep it clean I guess. We’re all pushing each other, particularly Max and myself in the same time. It’s no surprise that these things can happen and, as I said, when we’re lapping 1m10s 1m11s there’s no room for error.

    Q: Daniel, who were talking to on the phone directly after qualifying? I was wondering who you were talking to there? 

    DR: Do you know or not? No. OK. It was the boss, Dietrich. It was nice.

    Q: What kind of guarantees do you have for your tyres tomorrow?

    DR: Come on. Next question. They’re cool, yeah. We’ll be fine, there’s no rain tomorrow, we’re OK.

    Q: Question for Seb and for Lewis. Do you think it was the general DNA of your cars why you didn’t have a chance against Red Bull here or do you think if you had got everything right, the set-up, the perfect lap, you would have had a chance?

    Sebastian Vettel: I was pretty happy. I think there is always the feeling that there is a little bit but I don’t think we were a threat to Daniel’s time today. So, I think you always look back and think ‘here and there’, especially around this place, but well done to Daniel, he owned the qualifying session. For us, I think, we were playing around with the set-up quite a bit trying to squeeze out everything because we knew we had to if we wanted to have a word for front row and for pole. I think we put ourselves in a good position. I think they looked strong yesterday, they looked strong this morning, I think we got as close as we could and now we see what we can do tomorrow?

     

    Lewis, How was the session for you?

    LH: It was a good session. We knew we wouldn’t be quickest here. We did the best we could and the car was in a good place, just a little bit off them really.

    Were you pleased with your lap?

    LH: My first Q3 lap… I was happy with my last one. I was 0.27s but I lost it in the middle and the last sector so naturally not happy with that. That wouldn’t have been enough anyways for pole but it would have made a difference, obviously I would have been second. Am I happy about that? No, but it’s a long race tomorrow. I gave it everything I could and you can’t always get it perfect. The good thing is the car is in one piece and I can live to fight another day.

    Q: A question for Seb and Lewis. Obviously, the unique characteristics of this circuit means that it doesn’t necessarily translate from here to other places. With that in mind, does it make missing out on pole here today easier to take, knowing that it’s a special circuit and won’t necessarily be repeated elsewhere?

    SV: I think it was expected that Red Bull will be quick here. I think they have a strong car, they have more downforce than everybody else. I think in terms of drag or efficiency, maybe they’re not the best, so at this track, y’know, we knew that they will be strong. Other tracks, I think we have to look at ourselves, y’know? I think Barcelona we know we weren’t where we want to be. Going forward, Canada, will be different again. The think is, for us, that have potential in the car. We need to make sure we unleash it and we improve. Then, I think, I don’t need to answer your question, or these questions. For today, no doubt, Daniel was the best man out there. He deserves the pole and no matter whether his package was maybe a little bit better or a little bit worse, he did the job. That’s what it’s about here.

    Lewis, the pace of the Mercedes elsewhere, does that make today an easier pill to swallow?

    LH: Like I said, we knew what was going to happen this weekend. So… it still doesn’t feel great but it’s just one race, so…

    Q: Question to Daniel and Lewis. On Thursday, there was some questions about the legality of the Ferrari ERS system. I just wondered if there’s any feelings amongst you two, whether you think it’s legal. Are you happy with the investigation, the answers that you’re being given by the team?

    DR: Don’t know about it. Yeah. I don’t. Probably because I haven’t been reading anything. Particularly since Thursday, just been focussed on trying to put myself here, in this position. So, I’m sure the team know about it – but they haven’t bogged me down with that information at the moment.

    Lewis, anything to add?

    DR: Do you know about it?

    LH: I keep my ear very close to the ground, for sure. I know what’s going on.

    Q:  To all drivers. Come back to the subject of tyres, changing the approach. What expectations do you have for the hyper tyre from Pirelli? And also, Daniel, having around 40hp less than your competitors, were you afraid at the end in the Q3 that you could lose your pole position?

    DR: No, I knew the first lap in Q3 was pretty good. I felt it was enough but obviously you never know – but it was a relatively clean lap. So yeah, for sure the chassis works well around here and we don’t have maybe as much power in qualifying but we’ve still got enough around here to get it done. So that feels good. The tyres. Thursday seemed mixed for everyone. Some people suffered a lot of graining with the front. We didn’t do a very long run but what we did, it was OK. So, I’m OK for tomorrow. I feel confident. I think we’ll still be able to one stop. I think everyone will make it happen. Yeah. It’s good.

    Sebastian. Anything to add on the tyres?

    SV: Well, I mean this is a track where we put the least energy on the tyres. So, I think it’s normal the softer the tyres, the better it is for us. We have more grip. Yeah, we saw, as Daniel said, in practice that maybe the tyre’s not meant to last super-long. So, I’m sure if you put it on a normal race track it’s fun for probably half, or one lap – but after that it will be difficult. But I don’t know. The tyre choices now, going forward, when will be have the hypersoft next time, I’m not sure. Is it in Canada? Canada is quite smooth on the tyres so it makes sense. Yeah.

    Lewis, your thoughts on the hypersoft tyre.

    LH: It’s OK.

    You guys experimented with the ultra in Q2.

    LH: That wasn’t the greatest either.

    Do you think a one stop is possible tomorrow, as Daniel suggested?

    LH: I think that’s the target, which I think is not very good here. They should make us use multiple ultrasofts, or hypersofts. One stop is always a boring race. Especially on a track where you can’t even overtake. So, it adds more excitement to it. I’m sure we’ll do one stop tomorrow. The other tyres could probably go a long way.

    Q: Your thoughts on the hypersoft?

    LH: It’s OK.

    Q: You guys experimented with the ultra in Q2.

    LH: Yeah, that wasn’t very good.

    Q: Do you think a one stop is possible tomorrow, as Daniel suggested?

    LH: I think that’s the target which I think is not very good here. They should make us use multiple ultrasofts… hypersofts. One stop is always a boring race, especially on a track where you can’t even overtake, so it adds more excitement to it. I’m sure we’ll do a one stop tomorrow. Yeah, I think the tyres could probably go a long way.

    Q: To Seb and Lewis, you’ve won Monaco outside the pole, what would your mind set tomorrow? Would it be a waiting game during the race?

    SV: Well, jump Daniel at the start.

    DR: Preferably don’t jump, like over me. That would hurt.

    SV: No, no. I mean it’s a long race. If you look at the race, then it’s nearly impossible to overtake, we know that, but it’s still one of the most fascinating races because things can happen. It doesn’t mean that they do happen but they can. Rain is not forecast, I guess, for tomorrow but who knows? It’s going to be a long race, a lot of laps, easy to do a small mistake which goes without noticing or can be very costly. I think the plan is to – as I said – make a good start and then settle into the race. Keep the pressure up until the end.

    Q: Lewis, tomorrow, do an even better start? What’s your plan?

    LH: To catch this one, to catch this guy, that’s my goal. Switch places with him.

    Q: Seb, the first lap in Q3, did you have any specific mistake there or was it just a bit easygoing, well, just to set a time on the board?

    SV: I don’t know what the others did but I did two times one lap and in Q2 I tried a little bit but it didn’t work so for Q3 I think I knew what I had to do and yeah, I was happy with the first lap, not so happy with the beginning or with the feel for the tyres throughout the lap. I think today I was – I would say sensitive but it was important for me to feel the car, the tyres switching on. In the last run I definitely felt it was a bit better so I had a cleaner lap and more trust and that’s where the extra time is usually coming from. The lap before wasn’t bad but I could do better, I knew it and I was pretty happy with the last one I had.

    Q: Daniel, do you look forward to a race when you don’t have to think about passing with your teammate?

    DR: I only heard passing your teammate, is that what you said? What was your question?

    Q: do you look forward to the race more when you haven’t got to worry about passing your teammate?

    DR: I don’t know. It’s not a bad question. We’ll move on. At least you laughed, you got your kick out of it. No comment.

    Q: Daniel, because Red Bull’s been so strong this week, how much of it has been a mental, psychological battle between you and Max, just trying to get the upper hand before qualifying? Obviously he ended up paying the price for it on his side but how important was it just to be the number one guy basically?

    DR: Obviously you’re aware of your teammate’s speed and everyone’s speed but for me, from the start of the weekend, I guess a battle with myself, wanting to be the quickest from the start and trying to reach my personal goals for the weekend. Obviously, yeah, we were close throughout all the sessions but yeah, I don’t know if it’s… it could be a psychological battle if an opponent sees it that way but for me personally I just wanted to see my name on top and just try to keep that momentum going from the start.

    Ends

  • FIA Press Conference: Team Reps welcome grid girls back

    Monaco, 24 May 2018: The FIA Press Conference for the team representatives usually takes place on Friday at all the Grands Prix except Monaco, where the F1 World Championship round begins with a Wednesday press conference for the select drivers. The team representatives invited for the Press Conference are: Zak Brown (McLaren), Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing), Toto Wolff (Mercedes), and Frédéric Vasseur (Sauber).

    Press Conference: 

    Zak, if we could start with you, please. there’s been a lot of McLaren news in recent days, most of it financial, so can you tell us what’s going on?

    Zak Brown: Yeah, we’ve had some great. We’ve had Mr Latifi, who had invested in McLaren Group, which is fantastic. We’re a very fast-growing company, both our automotive business, of course our Formula 1 and racing efforts, as well as our applied technologies business, so great to have Mr Latifi as part of our shareholder group. And then, announced this morning, is a new partnership with FxPro, which is going to be sponsoring our team and there are a couple more yet to come out this weekend, so it has been a good week.

    What impact will Mr Latifi’s shareholding have on the racing team specifically?

    ZB: Ultimately his investment goes into McLaren Group, so the board and the shareholder will ultimately decide where they want to invest that money. I presume it will ultimately be sprinkled into all three business in some way, shape or form and Formula 1 obviously has a big thirst for expenditure to try to keep up with the teams here to the left of me that have a larger budget, so I’m sure some will go towards investing in our racing team but also developing our road car and our technology business.

    And what will it mean for the drivers in the F1 team. Will there be pressure to put Nicholas Latifi, son of new shareholder Michael, in the car in the future?

    ZB: No, it’s never been a discussion. He’s doing quite well in Formula 2. At McLaren we’re always looking for the best drivers we can get. He’s doing a good job but it’s never been part of the conversation.

    Thank you. Christian, there was a lot of pre-race hype surrounding Red Bull, and it seems justified after the first free practice session, with your cars first and second. How do you view this weekend, do you view it as your biggest chance so far?

    Christian Horner: Firstly, it’s only Thursday morning, so it doesn’t mean too much, but what we can say is that the circuit is very quick this year. The re-surfacing has definitely improved lap time and the cars are circulation close to 1.5s faster than this time last year, so that’s encouraging. Both drivers seem reasonably comfortable in the car. But as we’ve seen, Saturday has been our weakness throughout the season. We’ve always had a strong race car, but Saturday is where we’ve tended to struggle, at the business end of qualifying. But hopefully with the shorter straights here and with this circuit layout, it offers us our best qualifying chance of the season.

    You’ve got a lot on your plate, looking ahead, with both an engine and a driver still to decide upon for 2019. Are they interlinked? Does the identity of next year’s engine impact on your ability to keep Daniel Ricciardo?

    CH: No, not really. Daniel is fully aware that we are wanting to make the best choices for the future regarding the power unit, to put us in the most competitive position we can possibly be in, and of course that is absolutely in his interest. So, during the next month or so engine things will probably pretty much come to a head and then drivers will inevitably follow on from that.

    Drivers do tend to think shorter term than race team though, don’t they?

    CH: Yes and no. I think Daniel has been with Red Bull for a long time now. He’s aware of the capability of the group and the team and he is very comfortable in the team. So once the engine scenario is sorted I think things will move reasonably quickly.

    In percentage terms, how confident are you of keeping him?

    CH: It’s always difficult to put a number on these things. But we’re very, very happy with Daniel. He does a great job in the team, he’s a popular member of the team and there is a desire for us to retain him for next year.

    Sixty per cent?

    CH: That’s your number.

    OK, thank you Christian. While we’re talking about drivers, perhaps let’s move on to Fred. You’ve worked with a lot of young drivers in your career, so tell us a little bit about Charles Leclerc. How impressed have you been by him this year?

    Frédéric Vasseur: For sure, he is doing a very good start of the season, but it is very difficult also to compare from 2018 to 2006 or ’07 and you don’t have to do this kind of exercise. He is on the learning curve for sure. If you have a look at the start of the season he struggled a little bit on the first two events and then he made a good step from Shanghai or Baku, but still a lot to do. I think he is very focused on the next events and he avoids to be focused on the future and that is a good thing.

    You mention China there, did he change something on the car or did he change his driving style, because that seems to be the breakthrough race for him?

    FV: From an external point of view you have a big change after China, but it was not really the case. A small mistake at one stage of the race could change completely the situation. He did a very good first stint in China before the spin and I think the pace was already there. In Melbourne he did also a good race. The method is just to put everything together at the same stage. There is a huge step between Formula 2 and Formula 1 and step by step he is managing the situation.

    We haven’t spoken to you in this forum previously this year. Can you tell us a bit about the car, the C37? How good is it and the improvements from last year to this year, is it solely the engine? How pleased are you with the chassis?

    FV: I hope it’s not only the engine, thanks! No, the fact is we’re pushing like hell, but for sure the process is a long one. We have a huge inertia on the system, on the chassis side, it’s very difficult to recruit and when we identify someone they don’t want to give the green light – thanks to you – but step by step we are improving. I think on the chassis side we made a good step also, not only on the engine, but it will take time. But we know exactly what we want to achieve.

    Toto, Monaco was your bogey track last year. Have you seen enough evidence this morning that you’ve overcome the problems from last year? How’s it going?

    Toto WOLFF: Thursday morning was very good for us last year too. In terms of pure lap time we were the fastest car out there. But we started the weekend in a tricky place – the set-up didn’t make a lot of sense, but the lap time was quick – so we got a little bit lost through the weekend. We know what happened. But the fundamental issue, that you can see certain cars perform circuits, remains and this hasn’t been one of our top circuits in the past.

    The drivers said yesterday that you are better prepared for this race this year. What have you done differently?

    TW: We have understood what happened last year in terms of set-up. We have improved our simulation tools and I think we know our weaknesses. We will be trying to put the car in a place where we can extract the maximum performance it is able to deliver around Monaco.

    Lewis said yesterday that he is not in a hurry to sign his new contract. Is that feeling mutual?

    TW: It’s a funny situation because we have been discussing for a long time. We get together and sort things out and then get busy in our daily operation jobs – us on the team side and Lewis on his preparation. It shows that we have great confidence in each other; nobody is pressuring each other. We haven’t set a fixed date where we want to announce but I can tell you that I don’t see a reason why this shouldn’t be happening.

    When will it become a priority for you?

    TW: It is in the process of just closing. There is a bit of an email ping-pong on details. I don’t want to set a date because then you will be asking me why, why hasn’t it been done, but maybe we choose one of the nice grands prix in the future, in the next couple of months.

    Questions from the floor: 

    Q: Toto and Christian, Ferrari is an immediate competitor for your respective teams. There have been some rumblings in the background leading up to this race about the processes they may or may not be engaging in on the energy recovery side. I just wanted to know your respective understandings are of the situation, and how happy you are with the actions that appears to have been met by the FIA this weekend?

    CH: We’re not an engine supplier, so maybe Toto can answer more on the engine specifics but there have obviously been some rumours that no doubt you guys are cottoning onto as well. I’m sure that the FIA have all the competence to be able to measure, administer and look at the car that’s presented for scrutineering and during a grand prix weekend, and of course it’s the team’s obligation to ensure that that happens. I think the FIA are probably the best people to point that question at.

    TW: Yes, Christian is absolutely right. We have legality topics come up regularly. Some are more controversial but it’s the daily business of the FIA to check what the teams do. It is the obligation of the teams to comply with the regulations and this is an ongoing process. I have great confidence with whatever issues are coming up, be it on the engine or the chassis, the FIA has been on top of it a lot. And as far as I understand this is a process that’s taking place as we speak and we will see what the outcome is.

    Q: Fred, on that topic, it’s no secret that you obviously get your power unit and energy storage etcetera from Ferrari. I believe that from FP1 this morning, Ferrari have had an additional piece of hardware built into their car at the FIA’s insistence to check whether they are running anything. Have you had to add anything to your car at all?

    FV: No. I’m not aware this kind of thing, that we have just to deal with the engine we have into the car, and I trust Ferrari on this point. I don’t care about the situation.

    Q: Question for Toto. Lewis was saying yesterday that he’s in no hurry to sign. Today you’re saying there’s no date set. Seems to be a bit of confusion about when this is going to happen. Is it a case that Lewis can decide when he wants?

    TW: No. This is, as I said, a pretty normal procedure, that you talk to each other and you negotiate in a completely normal procedure, similar to what happens in some of the other teams. I mean, Daniel’s and Christian’s situation is maybe similar. This is work in progress and we see no hurry to pressurise each other into signing a document that will eventually anyway happen. I don’t know what he said yesterday but we’ve had very good conversations and there is no desire for him to leave the team and we have no desire for us to lose him.

    Zak, this might be a question that we could put in your direction as well regarding Fernando Alonso.

    ZB: Well, I think our situation is the same as everyone’s. It’s a little early in the season. Of course, we’re all talking to our drivers, probably talking to each other’s drivers to a certain extent up and down the pitlane. I think that we’re now back in Europe, it’s usually around the summer time that things start really taking shape as far as our conversations with Fernando. Just like last year, we decided to wait ‘til about the summertime and I think Fernando will let us know what he wants to do here pretty soon.

    Q: Zak, a two-part question. In the short term, where do things stand with a title sponsor and in the longer term, where does the group stand with having maybe more shareholders?

    ZB: More shareholders would be decided by the shareholders. I’m not aware of any conversations going on in that sense, I think everything’s quite settled and everyone’s quite happy with the shareholder makeup that we have. Then, as far as title sponsor goes, y’know, we’ve got a great commercial team that is trying to find partners, as does every Formula One team, every day. I wish I had a crystal ball to predict exactly when that will come on board – but we’re making good progress, we’ve brought on four or five partners, which I believe is more than any other team at this point, in the off-season. So I think, happy with the progression that we’ve made, and we announced yet another one this morning. We’ll just keep going: you can never have enough partners in Formula One.

    Q: To all but Mercedes. In your minds, is Lewis still available – or is it such a done deal that he’s going to stay at Merc, that that’s that?

    CH: Well, I can only imagine that a delay can only involve money. And I should think it’s such a grotesque amount of money that Toto’s talking about, it probably is what’s making his and Niki’s eyes water at the moment. So, yeah, he’s got an expensive lifestyle. He’s a four-time world champion and I doubt he’s cheap. I can only envisage that that’s probably got something to do with the delay.

    Zak?

    ZB: I’d be very surprised if Lewis wasn’t in a Mercedes next year. So I’m of the view that it’s just a matter of time before until the arm-wrestling… someone wins. But I think Lewis will be in a Mercedes next year.

    Fred?

    FV: I trust Lewis and Toto and I think they will continue together.

    Where do you think Charles Leclerc will be next year?

    FV: I hope with us. They look very happy with their respective drivers. I will do the same.

    Q: Question to Zak. We’ve been delighted to see Gil de Ferran in the paddock the last couple of races. Can you clarify his role with the team?

    ZB: Gil’s a good friend of McLaren, we have brought him on as an advisor to McLaren. We want him to help with our young drivers. We are looking at some other forms of motorsport, most notably Indycar is under review – he obviously has great history there, having owned a team, won the Indy500 – and generally is a great racer that knows his way around a garage, and so any expertise he has that he can volunteer to help us improve, we’re very open-minded to that. So you’ll see him around: in Detroit at the Indycar race in a couple of weeks’ time and around our Formula One garage often.

    Q: Zak, with reference to Michael Latifi, you called it exceedingly good news, or very good news – yet your group kept his identity hidden behind a BVI – British Virgin Islands – entity until we revealed it. Is that sort of opacity any good for a company like McLaren? And second, after his investment, what is the shareholder breakdown now of the Group please?

    ZB: Shareholder breakdown is, I believe, published, so anyone that’s interested in that can look that up accordingly. And any time you have, whether it’s a sponsor announcement, a driver announcement, an investor announcement, you have a time in place in which you hope to announce that and you did a good job in getting ahead of that story. So that news was going to come out in due course. We chose to accelerate that news after the word got out.

    Q: A question to the whole panel: how disappointing is it for you to have grid girls this weekend on the track and do you feel that if they wanted to, they should be at other races too?

    FV: I’m not very disappointed to have the grid girls back. I think that at the end of the day it’s up to the track also to decide if they want to put grid girls on the grid. I think it’s a good move.

    TW: I think if you ask five people you will have eight opinions on grid girls. I think it was not discriminatory at all, it was part of the history of Formula One. It has become sponsorship property, thinking about Emirates or Heineken and not to have Hawaiian Tropic girls we remember 30 years ago. So I’m happy to see them back on the grid in Monaco.

    CH: Well, the girls here I think are provided by TAG Heuer, our partner, for this weekend and I think it’s a subject that has obviously raised huge debate across different spectrums. To be honest with you, I think the girls make a welcome return this weekend. I think that it’s something that should be open to all categories, so some races will choose to have grid kids, others will have mixed grids and I think that so long as it’s done in an appropriate manner, then it’s ultimately down to the promoter.

    ZB: I don’t really have anything to add beyond what my three other team bosses have added on the topic.

    Q: Can you tell me your first impression of the hypersoft; will it change the outcome of the race? Or will it just be another tyre?

    ZB: I landed about 30 minutes ago so I’ve not had my debriefing yet so I don’t have a view yet.

    CH: It’s certainly the softest of the Pirelli suite of tyres and there’s quite a jump between that and the next compound. I think probably what you’ll see is as the circuit rubbers in with all the cars running around and the Formula One mileage that goes in over the next few days that by the time Race Day comes, that tyre will probably be absolutely fine. It’s a very low degradation circuit around here, there’s no big inertia corners so that’s why, compared to other circuits, we’re running at the softest level of the Pirelli compounds.

    TW: In the morning the jump was quite big. We have been running the hypersoft and the ultrasoft and it was more than a second between the tyres. We have seen quite some deg which was expected on the hyper; you could see that on the other team, Ferrari, running it. We observed that Red Bull had a different run plan but as Christian said, the circuit is going to rubber in and the picture could change over the next three days. I find the tyre exciting. With the new asphalt and these cars and the hypersoft, the lap times are going to be absolutely mind-blowing.

    FV: Yeah, the gap with hyper was probably the biggest one in Barcelona last winter and I think it’s the same today but we will have also to have a look at this during the weekend because the track will have a huge grip evolution, it will completely change the system. We will see on Saturday.

    Q: Given the uncertainty of Formula One post-2020, how difficult is it to sign major deals such as drivers, engines, major sponsors etc?

    CH: Well, we have a meeting tomorrow where hopefully a lot of detail will be put on the table as to what Liberty’s next steps are. They need to be responsible steps, because some of the things like budget caps involve literally thousands of jobs through teams and suppliers and sub-contractors. It’s certainly heavy in the UK. But we’re waiting with interest. It will be interesting to see what the next stage of that roll-out is.

    TW: Highly complex matter because the cost cap or potential cost cap… it’s about technical regulations, revenue distribution so there’s multiple balls in the air which you need to catch and insofar I hope also that the meeting tomorrow is productive, so we understand more and can act accordingly.

    FV: No. I think that we had our first meeting in Bahrain and the meeting tomorrow morning is an important one. We need to have clarification on the different points and it will be the start of a new era but we need to move forwards quickly, also for F1, I think.

    ZB: Well, I think the question was around the difficulty of signing drivers, sponsors and making engine decisions, so everything the guys to the left of me mentioned as far as addressing how you’re going to run a team is all accurate and we need to know pretty soon and definitely to be able to respond accordingly but as far as signing up sponsor partners, they all know Formula One’s going to be here in 2021 and under the direction of the sport, should be more competitive, should be higher fan engagement so I think sponsors are excited about the future direction of the sport. I think drivers either want to drive in Formula One or not so I don’t hear any drivers contemplating whether they want to drive in the new era of Formula One and then maybe engines because that isn’t yet defined. That may be the one area that’s a bit difficult, sitting here today, to make decisions on because I’m not sure every engine manufacturer is definitively committed for 2021 so that would be the one area that would be difficult to maybe make a decision on today, but I think we have to have faith that everything is going to go in the right direction and the sport’s only going to get more exciting so I don’t see anyone leaving.

    Q: Fred, I believe Marcus and Charles have a new combustion, turbo and MGU-H for this weekend. Is that just for reliability reasons to freshen up after the first five races or is it related to a performance step, a spec two from Ferrari?

    FV: No, we are sticking to the plan that… it was planned from the beginning we will change the engine for Monaco. It’s a performance update like as planned.

    Q: For many drivers this is a special track, Monte Carlo. How special is it for you and what is special in Monaco for you team bosses?

    TW: Monaco is the signature track, I would say, for Formula One. It’s a street, city circuit, very difficult to drive these cars around here and the environment is very special. It’s glamorous, it represents – for me summer represents Formula One like it was in the old days and it’s good that we are keeping to the tradition in racing in Monte Carlo.

    CH: Yeah, look, I mean all the races have the same points, but this one just means that little bit more, the history. I think this is the 76th Grand Prix this year and to win this race is something very very special. You know working conditions have changed dramatically over the last ten years here. We’ve seen another step up this year with the pit complex which is hugely impressive. So it’s got its uniqueness, it’s got its challenges. Obviously it’s a track that is probably the hardest on the calendar to overtake at. It’s probably the most expensive hotel room you’ll have all year but it epitomises Formula One and as Toto says, there’s a huge amount of history surrounding this event.

    ZB: Yeah, I don’t have a lot to add, other than that it is certainly the most prestigious race on the Formula One calendar. Other racing series, whether it’s the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports cars, the Indianapolis 500 or in NASCAR the Daytona 500, each racing series has its most famous event that I think any driver… if you kind of said pick one race to win other than maybe their home race it would be Monte Carlos so it’s always great to race here.

    FV: It’s probably one of the most exciting races throughout the world, not only in Formula One and the test for the winner is also a particular one. Even if you only score 25 points like everywhere else, the test is particular. Also because I think it’s more driver related than everywhere else so for them it’s an exciting challenge.

    TW: Bernie’s place in Paul Ricard is more expensive than the hotels here.

  • Sharing the record with Pedro is a massive reward to my career: Sergio Perez

    Sharing the record with Pedro is a massive reward to my career: Sergio Perez

    Barcelone, 10 May 2018: After four rounds, the Formula 1 teams start the European leg and are no strangers to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (formerly known as the Circuit de Catalunya); not only have they raced there every year since 1991, they also conduct extensive testing at the venue.

    Familiarity does not, however, lessen the challenge for car or driver. Barcelona’s mix of high- and low-speed corners, plus its abrasive and rather bumpy track surface, makes for a physically and mechanically taxing race.

    Tyre wear is particularly high and the varying winds that cut across the circuit mean an optimum set-up can be hard to find.

    The drivers present for the Thursday Press Conference are: Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso), Carlos Sainz (Renault), Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Sergio Perez (Force India).

    Q: Brendon, you scored your first World Championship point in Baku, last time out, how good did that feel?

    Brendon Hartley: Yeah, it was maybe a bit of a relief, in a way because I’d had a couple of opportunities already and didn’t capitalise. Bahrain was the most obvious one where we had a very competitive car. So, it’s nice to finally get that first point. Had a bit of pressure on the last lap from Marcus, closing in the Sauber. Happy I kept it clean, kept it on the road and got my first point.

    Q: And what can we expect from both you and Toro Rosso in the coming races, because, end of last season you did four races in Formula One but you were dovetailing a WEC programme at the same time. Now you’re focussing on Formula One, how do you feel it’s all coming together?

    BH: I felt strong, especially starting the season after all that preparation. Like I say, I felt quite disappointed after Bahrain, having such a competitive car that Toro Rosso brought to the table, almost getting through to Q3 then having the penalty and not scoring a point there. The last couple of races have actually been quite challenging for us as a team, with nowhere near the pace we had in Bahrain. But yeah, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable than I did last year – but still waiting to piece together the perfect weekend.

    Q: Sergio, coming to you, your podium in Azerbaijan was the eighth of your career, surpassing the Mexican record of Pedro Rodríguez. What did that mean to you?

    Sergio Perez: Yeah, it was an amazing result, especially for us this year, it’s been so difficult at the start of the season. So, having… actually, they were my first points of the year so it was a massive boost for the team, we’re certainly improving. That podium meant a lot to me. As you say, it’s my eighth podium in my career, but now I’m the most Mexican driver with podiums, so it means a lot. Obviously Pedro… Pedro Rodríguez is a big name in our country, so to share that with him, it’s a massive reward to my career.

    Big news back home?

    SP: Definitely.

    Q: Did that result in Baku flatter the car? How confident are you of repeating, for example, your fourth place here last year?

    SP: Well, that fourth place came in… very much, we had a couple of retirements in the race but the most important thing, and where our challenge is, certainly in Baku we were the fourth fastest team and that’s the target for us here. Everyone is bringing upgrades. We’re bringing also our bit so we’re certainly closing up the gap. The midfield pack, the group is so close anything can happen. For us it will be very important to be on top of that group.

    Q: Carlos, coming to you now, fifth last time out in Baku, you’re now racing in your home grand prix for a works team for the first time. What does that mean to you can what can we expect this weekend?

    Carlos Sainz: It means a big boost. It has been a good start of the season but that result in Baku definitely has made it a lot better. From now on is keep pushing, keep learning, keep improving the car in the right direction to keep scoring that kind of result again. Like Checo said, the fifth place is helped a bit by the accident for the Red Bulls and all that – but we need to make sure we keep being the fourth fastest team. The Force India looks like it’s catching up a bit.

    Q: And are you comfortable with the car now?

    CS: No. No, definitely not. It’s not one hundred per cent confident yet. There’s still things to test, things to adapt to, things to make the car be well-suited to me and it’s something that I’m taking a lot of care of, a lot of effort and a lot of timing and it’s coming little by little and sooner or later it will be one hundred per cent.

    Q: Carlos, tell us a little about qualifying, if you would because you’ve been out-qualified by your team-mate Nico Hülkenberg so far this year, that’s a new experience for you, because you’ve always been a very good qualifier. Do you feel under pressure from your team-mate – particularly here in Spain this weekend?

    CS: No, not at all – because in the end, if I don’t have full confidence in the car, and don’t have the car well-suited for the qualifying lap time, there’s always going to be tenths around. That’s what I was talking about before. As soon as I will get the balance I like, the car better suited to me, it will just come automatically and I’m definitely not worried.

    Q: Fernando, let’s start by talking about last weekend. Congratulations on your victory at Spa in the FIA World Endurance Championship. How did it feel to be back on the top step of the podium?

    Fernando Alonso: Well, definitely felt good. It felt a long time not being on the podium and it has been a good preparation, a fast preparation into the WEC programme as well and a lot of testing, a lot of simulator, a lot of preparation, even going to Baku and from Baku, I had to keep studying, and watching onboard videos from previous years and things like that. It was nice for the team to get this result, one-two in qualifying, one-two in the race, and yeah, definitely quite a very good moment for the whole team and for me as well after a long time not being in the podium.

    Q: Was there a sense of relief to kick off your sportscar career with a victory?

    FA:  Well, obviously, those races are quite long, quite difficult to predict. Even if you are quite confident in the first two hours then suddenly everything changes. We had a little bit of drama with an extra pitstop and things like that. Yeah, it was nice, definitely to start with a nice result, even if it was second or third, just finishing the race, get the experience and warming up for the big one, Le Mans in a couple of weeks’ time.

    Q: And turning to Formula One now, can you give us a progress report on McLaren. How far behind the curve do you feel the team is, and how crucial is this weekend in terms of upgrades?

    FA: Well, I think we are behind. Definitely we are not in the position we wanted or expected at the beginning of the winter. At the same time, I think it has been a very positive start to the season. We are the only team completing the full four races with both cars. We did score points in every single race and we are fourth in the Constructors’ Championship. Three months ago we were here testing and we did the least laps of every single team and we had a lot of issues. Reliability seems a concern into Australia for the first race and now we are quite happy with the results and the standards – but competitive-wise, we are not in the Q3, we are not in the top ten yet and that’s something we want to change, if we can, this weekend. Obviously, it’s a different circuit layout compared to the last couple of races and with upgrades everyone brings here, the same as us, hopefully we can pick up the pace a little bit. But let’s see. The most important thing is to keep scoring points on Sundays and keep helping the team to secure this fourth place in the Championship.

    Drivers attending the FIA Press Conference on Thursday. An FIA image

    Q: Question for Fernando and Carlos. After a good fight and good points between you in Baku, you are here in a special Derby – Oviedo-Madrid – in front of your fans. What do you expect, the both of you have a stand here in the circuit? What does it mean for you?

    FA: Well, obviously, we expect a close fight again. I think the mid-part of the field, as Checo said, is quite tight. In two or three-tenths there are seven or eight cars and I think in those cars are the Renault and McLaren normally, so I guess it’s going to be a close fight again. Hopefully, we put on a good show for our fans. As you said, a lot of people will come here to support us and a grandstand for Carlos, another grandstand will be for me as well, and, as I said, if everyone enjoys the race on Sunday and we both can finish and score points and put on a good show, that’s the thing I wish for Sunday.

    Carlos, your thoughts.

    CS: Yeah, I think it’s an exciting battle, what we have now in the midfield actually. There are many times in the Drivers’ Parade, us three together chatting about what’s going to happen today: who’s going to be fastest: is it going to be Renault? Is it going to be McLaren? Is it going to be Force India? So, we are obviously… it’s obviously quite exciting back there in the field and there are a lot of battles together with Fernando, with Checo, even the Toro Rossos sometimes are there. It just makes for very good, exciting racing and it’s something that I’m enjoying a lot this year. Hopefully, we can keep them behind, because I think up until now Renault has had a bit the upper hand and it looks like these two guys here are coming with big upgrades here in this part of the season and we need to keep pushing.

    Q: Fernando, question for you. You mentioned the limitations McLaren has at the moment, performance-wise, how far off do you think McLaren is of it’s stated position of challenging for podiums and wins again? And are you prepared to wait as long as you think it’s going to take?

    FA: I think it’s difficult to say, and to be precise on how far behind we are – but if you take the first qualifyings over the year so far in Q2 times, that we are eliminated in all four races. We were 1.8-2.0 seconds behind. That’s my estimation. I don’t know how much they push in Q2, so maybe it is a little bit more or a little bit less, depends on the circuit. We have been in power-sensitive circuits so far in the first four races to I think here, Monaco, we see a different picture of different teams. They’re moving around, so hopefully McLaren is one of those that picks up a little bit of pace. And, as I said, Spain brings a lot of updates for all of the teams. Some of them they work better, some of them, they need a little bit more time. So, hopefully on that we can benefit somehow as well.

    Still a long way to go for us – but at the same time we were here last year with zero points. We are sixth in the World Championship and fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, so it has been a very good start, in a way. Let’s keep the momentum.

    Q: Fernando, this weekend it will be five last since your last victory in Formula 1. What have you done to keep the motivation all this time? Secondly, after your last victory, in Spa, can it help to achieve a victory again?

    FA: I kept the motivation because I’m a competitive man. I love to win. In 2013, we won here… I think the tyres were degrading a lot that year and we make an extra stop and we managed to win the race. Not with the quickest car, Nico was on pole by six tenths or something like that. That was a good call by the team at that time. In 2014 we had quite a difficult season, and then the last three years you know that we struggled a lot and that the project was always getting a bit difficult and we tried to give hope for the following year. It’s the same this year. As I said, I think the start has been not too bad, in terms of results especially and the number of points. The win last weekend in Spa will not change anything. I think it’s two different series and two different worlds. It will not change anything for me. Every time that I will have a car that is close to victory, I will go for it. I did some better races in the last five years, even if the last victory was five years ago. Here, in the last five year, I did much better races than previously, even if I was not able to win the race. The Baku race is one of… I will never probably do a race as I did in Baku, and I finished seventh. It’s difficult to see from the outside but extremely proud and motivated every time you do a one-off performance.

    Q: A question for Fernando and Carlos. If you had to choose, which victory would mean more to you: the Spanish Grand Prix or the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

    CA: Ah to win in this time sounds very good to me. I think it’s something that I look forward to and I would never forget, to win in your home grand prix. It’s what I’m working for at the moment. Every time I go training, every time I go to bed, I have one dream in mind and that is to win a race in Formula 1 and to win a world championship. Maybe in 10 or 15 years’ time that dream will change and it will go towards Le Mans, because I don’t want to be anymore in Formula 1. I doubt that will happen but in life everything can change. But at the moment, Formula 1 and winning is in my mind all the time.

    FA: Difficult to comment, you know. A couple of years ago I would say the Spanish Grand Prix. Winning a race in Formula 1 is obviously something that we dream for a long time, when you are a go-kart driver and you dream for Formula 1. Now that I have won a couple of times here in Spain, obviously for me it would be winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, because it’s the biggest race in the world. But I think everyone will have different answers in different parts of his career.

    Q: Given how well you did on your WEC debut and given the troubles McLaren are going through it seems impossible that you will be able to challenge for victories with McLaren, do you think your future lies away from Formula 1 next year?

    FA: It doesn’t matter, I think, the results that we are achieving in one or other championships, you know I am attempting two world championships at the same time. I am happy with the progress we did here at McLaren and with the direction that everything is going for the future. I am happy on the endurance attempt as well. It’s quite demanding, especially the F1 calendar. The biggest thing here is how predictable everything is. We can put on a paper now what will be the qualifying here on Saturday, what will be in Monaco, in Canada and in Silverstone, so that’s something you need to take into account for future decisions. This is sad, in a way, for Formula 1, the direction in which everything went.

    Q:  Fernando, in the WEC car are you closer or further away from your personal limits than in Formula 1? Did driving the WEC car give you any apprehension about the possibility that you would have to re-adjust and waster time getting back to driving the Formula 1 car?

    FA: I struggle a little bit more when I go from Formula 1 to the WEC car, just because the driving styles are so different. I think when I come back here I don’t need any adaptation. I’m straight away comfortable with everything. It’s what I learned and my driving style developed for Formula 1 driving, so I expect no problem on the comeback. I think I am closer to the limit here in an F1 car. You need to maximise, you need to make perfection every lap and repeat that perfection over and over the laps. That’s Formula 1’s style. In WEC, you have to be super-flexible, and super-open-minded on everything. You will not repeat the same lap in six hours. You will find traffic in different places, you will have different conditions, you will have different tyres age, you will have everything. So, that flexibility in terms of driving, I think it’s quite good for me. That adaptation you need to make, you have to do it really quickly. Brendon has even more experience than me, but it’s part of what’s special about WEC: how you need to adapt, every single, every single laps, about different driving styles and how unpredictable will be the race until the chequered flag. That’s lovely, in terms of sport, driving and the spectators.

    Q: Brendon, at the end of last year, you were doing what Fernando is doing: dovetailing WEC and Formula One. How do you compare the two?

    BH: I think Fernando summed it up pretty well. Yeah, there’s a lot more variability in endurance racing, like Fernando mentioned, with the traffic. It was a bit the opposite for me last year; I felt so comfortable in the WEC car with the Michelin tyres, four wheel drive, everything else that goes along with LMP1 hybrid, so I was feeling a lot more confused coming back into the Formula One, which is exactly why, when I had this opportunity to be in Formula One this year, that there was no question mark that I would try and compete Le Mans and WEC at the same time. Obviously I’m at a different stage in my career than Fernando but it takes a lot of focus and hard work to put a perfect Formula One Grand Prix weekend together. I think both are equally complicated but in quite different ways. Definitely the driving style is a little bit different. I guess my only argument with Fernando is the fact that I feel that in WEC you are all so equally on the limit every lap, but like he said, there are these variables that you don’t have the same in Formula One. Different, but a lot of similarities too.

    Q: Carlos, you say you’re not comfortable in the car. Do you feel it’s because you weren’t involved in the design last year when it was set up or do you think there’s something else needed? Is it more suited to Nico’s style of driving or was it something totally different?

    CS: I think it’s a bit of a combination of both but that at the same time I’m very confident that as soon as I correct a couple of things that I need… we’re talking about very small margins. In Formula One, those very small margins in one qualifying lap they can easily fall for you, so that’s why I’m not worried because it’s very very small, what I need to adapt and what I need from the car. As soon as this comes, every piece will fall in, you know. Responding to your question, I think it’s a bit of both but mainly the car to me.

    Q: Fernando, last week we were with you in Spa. Thank you very much for a good race and thank you for your first place. First, do you like this system without control, open door in the paddock in WEC. And the second question, what do you think for the future in Formula One: it will be possible or not, open door in the paddock for all people with tickets?

    FA: I think I prefer this system in F1, it’s a little bit more under control, the paddock passes. In WEC, especially until Sunday (Saturday) or even Sunday (Saturday), being free access to the paddock, it was a little bit too much, a little bit of stress a couple of times. I think here is quite under control and I think if you open free entrance to the paddock here we will not even be able to walk and we will hide even more, we will close ourselves even more in our motorhomes and things like that because you cannot do normal things. Then it will probably not be in the direction we want. We want to open the paddock and like these fans, they see the drivers and they can communicate a little bit more, maybe it has the opposite reaction so I think it’s good as it is and I think every championship has its own philosophy and I think it’s working quite OK for each category, so I think it’s good as it is.

    Q: Carlos, it may be true that you’re maybe having problems with the car but at the same time, it looks like your bosses are hinting about the possibility of extending your relationship with Renault in the future. How do you feel about those nice words?

    CS: It’s not bad. It means that it must not be as bad as it looks like maybe! Importantly, though, I’m working very hard. I think Formula One bosses appreciate the hard effort, the travelling to Enstone, everything involved and they see that I am very very close and at any moment it can fall for me and because of that, I am very very calm, very confident and they are giving me that confidence that I enjoy and that I’m willing to give back with results like I did in Baku. As soon as the opportunity was presented to me I went for it and scored the best results for the team since I came back, so as you said, it’s going pretty well.

    Q: Brendon, we’ve had some power sensitive tracks now, what do you feel about the Honda engine so far and do you think they can supply a top team in the near future?

    BH: Yeah, I don’t think it’s my place to comment on supplying different teams in the future but yeah, I was asked a lot of questions after China and Baku, because we were lacking pace and a lot of the questions were directed towards Honda but actually Bahrain was similar on power sensitivity and we were very competitive there. So yeah, Honda have been working very hard and I know that there’s updates to come during the season. I would say everyone in Toro Rosso is only positive about being solely supplied by an engine manufacturer. I think that there’s more or less only positivity coming out of this partnership and I think there’s more performance to come during the year.

    Q: For all of you: does this circuit still have any secrets for you, or can you drive it with your eyes closed? Is it a challenge or not?

    SP: Well, it’s probably the circuit that we all know the most. We do all our winter testing here and I feel that this circuit is so much related to your car performance. It’s not like Monaco, Baku or other circuits where the driver can make something special. I think here’s it so much more down to what the car can do. If there is a circuit where the driver can influence the least I feel that it’s Barcelona.

    FA: Yeah, not many secrets any more but still always challenging. This year, for example, the track, they put new asphalt last winter so it’s still a challenge for all of us to understand the best set-up and how you get around this new track. The same with the wind direction, the temperature. You know we come here over the winter with very cold temperatures and then in May you need to re-adapt a little bit so it’s always challenging. Yes, it’s a shame for Carlos or me or young Spanish drivers that we grew up in this circuit, we race in many smaller categories and then you arrive to F1 and you are the driver with the least laps at your home Grand Prix; you know, everyone has done more laps than you in Barcelona. You lose all the home advantage.

    CS: Yeah, well at least we have the crowd which for sure helps a bit. I think there’s two points: I think there’s the tarmac that is going to make things a bit different this year, at least me I found personally in winter that the track has nothing to do with last year, the balance is very different. It is faster than it was last year, it has more grip, but it is a bit more difficult to find the right balance round here; at least, that was my impression. And then the second point: I think if you put this track in China, in Bahrain and you don’t visit it as much as we do because of being in Europe, close to all the team bases, I think drivers would love this track because to go new into Barcelona, it’s always the first two, three, four laps they are always fun, it’s a fun track, I enjoy driving it. It’s just that we do a lot of laps and because of that it takes away a bit the excitement, no? But I really enjoy it and this track somewhere else would be good.

    Q: Well Brendon, you’ve probably done the fewest laps of the four guys in the room, how do you….?

    BH: I’ve done a few actually, yeah. Yes, similar comments. A lot of winter testing here. During my time as a simulator driver nine times out of ten we were driving Barcelona so I think the whole grid knows this track so well which in a way also makes it very difficult to get any time or edge over your teammate or fellow competitors. In the end, we know the midfield can be extremely tight. It’s not only the drivers who know it very well, the teams know it well too. But it is a fun track and the surface has changed, which is nothing new for me, so in some ways it’s not really a disadvantage for me, maybe an advantage. The rain? If it rains, it will be extremely challenging. What we saw in winter testing was the new surface  was very low grip and very few areas for the water to run off so that could be challenging. I think tyre management is interesting here because it’s not just about degradation through the whole race, at least from what I’ve studied over the last years but also managing temperatures in the last sector, so even in qualifying how you approach the first sector can heavily influence the last sector. Even though it’s all familiar for all of us there’s still a few things to manage and definitely still some areas to maybe get an advantage. The only tricky thing here is overtaking, doesn’t offer so many opportunities.

    Q: Fernando, I guess you already tested the new updates in the simulator. What do you expect according to those this weekend?

    FA: Faster car.

    Q: Can you elaborate any more?

    FA: You wish.

    Q: What do you think about the probability of rain in qualifying?

    CS: Personally my rain radar says Saturday afternoon/night, let’s put it like that, so I’m not too worried about it.

    SP: I wish we can have some rain to mix up the grid a bit on Saturday. As Carlos said, we are expecting it later than qualifying. Hopefully it will get to us earlier.

    Q: And Checo, do you agree with Brendon about the slippery conditions on the new asphalt if it does rain?

    SP: Yeah. Do you remember in winter testing actually Fernando did a lap in the snow which is even more difficult. It will be very tricky, on this new asphalt with the rain. Looking forward to it if that happens.

    Q: Fernando and Carlos: we know that you are both introducing new parts this weekend. If the results are great, do you think we could see a double Spanish podium someday?

    FA: Ooof.

    CS: It’s coming, it’s coming.

    FA: Easy.

    CS: One day, one day. This year maybe a bit difficult, no? But who knows? All of a sudden, Checo did a podium in Baku and I think no one expected it so it’s a good sign that strange things can still happen in Formula One sometimes but I think at the moment it’s extremely difficult. Both teams would need more than half a second – nearly one second of performance boost to start to fight with the top teams but that’s what we’re here for, to improve and make it happen, so we will push for it.

    Q: Carlos, what would it mean to you to stand on a podium with Fernando Alonso?

    CS: It would be great. I think I’ve said it many times already but it would be a dream come true. If it’s at the home Grand Prix even better but anywhere in world also. It’s one of my dreams, what I’m working for and as long as I’m in front, always better but… no seriously speaking, it would be great.

    Q: Fernando and Carlos: what’s your bet for the final of the championship? Who will win the Spanish cup for Formula One, Fernando or Carlos? Who will win in the championship between you and Fernando? Who will finish ahead?

    FA: I think it’s difficult to predict. It depends a little bit on our teams. If I have to bet my money, I will put it on McLaren and myself.

    CS: I feel like…

    FA: How many points do you have?

    CS: I don’t know.

    FA: How many points do we have now?

    Off: 28 for Fernando.

    FA: And you?

    CS: I think I have 13, something like that. Ooof, I have some work to do.

    FA: Bet even more now.

    CS: But Renault is the team that has developed the most last year, so be careful. I just give it that it could happen the same this year and I’m going to develop also.

     

    Ends

  • Ferrari got a phenomenal car this year: Lewis Hamilton in Saturday Press Meet

    Ferrari got a phenomenal car this year: Lewis Hamilton in Saturday Press Meet

    Vettel takes pole on Saturday. An Fia image

    Baku, 28 April 2018: The Press Conference after qualification on Saturday at Baku, was attended by the three fastest qualifiers: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    Q: Sebastian Vettel is in pit lane and will be out here to speak to us soon, but let’s go and talk to the Mercedes guys who had such a quick car today but maybe not quite enough. Lewis, that first sector was phenomenal, just seemed to lose something in the second, but are you happy with your job today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, well firstly you’ve got a great crowd here – hi, everyone. That was close! We did the best job we could. Jeez, I think I was up three tenths until Turn 15 and then I came across the line two tenths up, so I lost a little bit in the last sector. But regardless, Sebastian did a good job. They were quickest all weekend. They’ve obviously got a phenomenal car this year. But really happy with the job the team did to get us from where we were yesterday to where we are today. Valtteri did also a great job. We’re in the mix. This is the fifth-best track to overtake, I think. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible but I’ll try to give Sebastian a hard time tomorrow.

    Q: As we saw from even the place markers being pushed away by the wind when you got here, how windy is it out there? How hard is it?

    LH: Down the straight particularly it’s hard to keep the car straight. You’re getting crosswinds in between buildings, so you’re constantly correcting the car, but the track has been great today, so I appreciate everyone in Azerbaijan for having us.

    Q: Great job, Lewis, and what about this guy? Seb, unbelievable job, three poles in a row, looked phenomenal out there. I know on your second run you were going for faster but a bit of a lock-up stopped you from doing that but you were phenomenal today.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Thank you. I felt the car was good in Q2 and Q2 and then in the last segment of qualifying I knew I have it, I have the car that does what I want. Not have it as in pole position, but that I could get a good lap together. The first lap I was really happy, there were maybe two tiny bits where it wasn’t exactly perfect, but I knew on the second run that the track would ramp up and that I would have to go out and get it again. I was a little bit down on the time, a little bit faster and then I locked up. It caught me by surprise for Turn 3 and then I wasn’t sure, do I go straight or do I try to hang on to it. I tried to hang on to it but, yeah, fortunately it was enough. I really had a good lap on the first attempt, so really happy.

    Q: Beautiful job. Don’t go anywhere. Hey Valterri, great car, quick car, can you take the fight to Ferrari tomorrow?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, for sure we can. We are there with both cars now. It’s been really happening this season so we are starting very close. The race here can be really crazy, so we are up for the fight.

    Q: Right until the last lap, to the last inches it can be crazy, you know that better than anyone from last year?

    VB: Yeah, sure. Last year I was one lap down after lap one and I ended up second, so anything can happen but at least now we have a good starting point.

    Q: Seb, we come back to you. It’s been a great day, but this is only the start. Mercedes are in the mix, Red Bull are in the mix. How hard is it going to be tomorrow? Even just that run down to Turn 1, how tough is it going to be tomorrow?

    SV: It’s not that long. That way is a lot longer! I think it will be an intense race. Here, anything can happen, safety cars are very likely. The good point is that our car was really good this afternoon, so we should be in a good place tomorrow. Yesterday I struggled a bit with confidence, with trust in the car, and just rhythm, which is important around here, but today, when it clicks it just keeps coming and it was really enjoyable. I’m a bit upset with my final run because I thought I had a little bit more but we got pole so we can’t be much happier with how the day went.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sebastian, how happy are you after this one, particularly after yesterday when you said you were lacking confidence in the car?

    SV: Well, lack of confidence in the car, leading into lack of confidence around the track. I think around this place you need to have the trust, otherwise you don’t dare go as quick as you might be able to. At the end of the session I was quite confident and today I was able to carry that into the day and the car was amazing. It just kept getting better. The track picked up quite a bit through qualifying. Q3 run one I was really happy. There was maybe a tiny bit in the middle sector – in Turn 6, Turn 11 – where I was a bit greedy and went a bit wider than I should, but the rest of the lap was really good. Also, I ha da good exit from the last corner, which was incredibly difficult today, with the wind playing tricks on all of is I guess, and even a little bit of a two with the car five, six, seven seconds ahead, so I was really happy how that lap came together. And then for the second run I knew there was a little bit more in those places that I mentioned and the car was on fire straight away but then I think I got a bit too excited for Turn 3 and tried to brake later, quite a bit later, than the laps before. I must have hit the bump as well and locked the front. From then onwards the front left was flat-spotted. I was quite upset at the time in the car, because I burnt my shot at an improvement and I didn’t know what was going around me. So when I then aborted the lap and I was told pole position then obviously I was really happy. I think the team has done well. We’ve changed the car again overnight and found even more performance.

    Lewis, we haven’t had you in the qualifying press conference for the last couple of races, so what news from Mercedes? Is the car much more to your liking?

    LH: It’s good to be back. I hope you haven’t missed me too much. Sebastian did a great job today, congratulations to him. Ferrari have been so dominant in the last couple of races and pace-wise we knew that they would be very quick here. Which they have been all weekend. I think Red Bull also looked really promising, not sure what happened to them. And we were struggling yesterday, but we came into today and the engineers did some really great work last night to understand where we were and how we could progress forwards, so a big thank you to them for all their hard work. Today was much more reasonable car. There were still areas where we were lacking but it’s a work in progress I would say and to be that close to the Ferraris is definitely a positive and to have me and Valtteri up there is a good booster for the team, to be right there in up in the mix. Excited for the race. It’s very hard to overtake here as it is anywhere around the world, but we’ll give it everything we’ve got.

    Q: Valtteri, how was the session from your point of view, and can we also have a word from you about the conditions. The wind seemed to be changing direction the whole time.

    VB: I think, like Lewis said, we made some good progress since yesterday. The end result today was a lot better than what we saw and thought it could be today. We believed we can fix the issues, just like we did here last year here actually, from Friday to Saturday and, yeah, we were still finding out way with the setup in Practice Three and made it even better for qualifying. Definitely the best car I had this weekend, so far. I think the session was pretty straightforward. At the beginning lots of yellow flags and difficult to put the lap together but after that Q2, Q3, really straightforward. I felt that I could never quite get the perfect lap. It is extremely difficult here – and, especially the second run I was still missing something. I feel maybe still Ferrari was too quick for us but yeah, as a team reasonable result now. We have both cars in pretty good position to fight for the win.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: A question for the two Mercedes drivers. What exactly did you have to change after yesterday’s session and how much of a difference did it actually make in the car? What was different about the cars’ handling today?

    LH: Just setup. Yesterday we were sliding around a lot, so setup wing level, ride heights. Pretty much everything on the car. Did a lot of changes.

    Valtteri, anything to add from your point of view?

    VB: No, no I think we had similar direction where we were heading since yesterday with both cars and definitely it was better.

    Q: Also for the two Mercedes drivers. You seemed to be able to match the Ferrari’s pace in Sector One, almost in Sector Three but Sector Two as the most difficult for you guys. What’s not happening in your car in the Old City section?

    VB: Yeah, I think we have seen that all weekend really. Especially the sessions earlier to qualifying. Sector Two is the twisty section and I think we’ve been struggling a little bit more than other cars, riding over the kerbs in some places, which might cause a bit of lap time loss for us. I think the main issue has been getting the tyres to work, and that can be made through the setup of the car. I think we’ve made it better. Obviously, they are still doing something better in Sector Two and getting the tyres to work, and being able to ride over the kerbs.

    Lewis, anything to add?

    LH: The middle sector, I can’t really explain it. I think they have a little bit more downforce than us.

    Q: Lewis, Bernie Ecclestone had some complimentary things to say about you yesterday. Said you’re super quick, super talented and a super nice guy – but he also said that he didn’t think you’re the racer you once were and that you appear fed up with things. Do you have any response or comment about that?

    LH: Not really, no.

    Q: Are you as good as you’ve ever been, do you think?

    LH: We’ll see at the end of the year.

    Q: Question for Sebastian. Sebastian, were you being made aware by your team how close Kimi had come to nicking pole from you. He was two-tenths up on you after the first couple of sectors. A second point to that, how much are you feeling from Kimi’s side of the garage this year. Are you noticing a renewed level of performance from him?

    SV: I think one thing is always to look at the result and the other one, if you look a little bit deeper… I think it’s been incredibly close this year so far. He’s obviously… to be honest, most of the Fridays I think he had the upper hand so far. Yeah, here and there was struggling to understand the car and feel the car so I think knowing him, knowing his strength, he’s incredibly talented and able to drive around problems. So, as I said, it’s been quite close this year. The last lap, I wasn’t aware, obviously I was out because I took myself out but if you look also the previous years the image is a bit distorting. It wasn’t as one-sided as you might think if you look at the results. I think we’re… I don’t know where you’re going or why you’re asking but I think we’re a good pair, a good match. We just said recently there’s so little problem… there’s no problem at all between us ever and there were races where I messed up, crashed into him, took him out and yeah, life goes on. I think that’s a really big bonus for the team and for us to just enjoy our job.

    Q:  Lewis and Valtteri, you said that the Ferrari probably has more downforce and here also the power unit is also very very important. Can you make a comment about it? It looks, from the outside that they have a little step in front of Mercedes, which is a great surprise in Formula One.

    LH: Well, I don’t know if that’s a surprise because they’ve had the same power units for all the races this season, so they’ve shown they’ve been very quick on the straights. They’ve got a very strong DRS in particular, quite efficient DRS as far as I’m aware. Yeah, but honestly I’ve not looked at the data so I don’t know where they are faster than us and where we’re faster than them but obviously they’ve made a big step forward this year and they are the number one team to beat at the moment.

    VB: I think that was everything, really.

    Q:  To Seb: you’ve been involved in Formula One now for a great number of years. How hard is it to sustain it at that level? I say that slightly… bearing in mind Bernie’s remarks about Lewis. How demanding and draining is it for a high level driver?

    SV: It’s certainly different… going into the season certainly feels different than it did ten years ago. I think that’s what ten years do to you. Don’t get me wrong, not in a bad way but I think as you grow up you change your views on some things, you hopefully get a bit wiser so you change… your horizon changes and also your motivation is different. Maybe you are looking at things a bit differently. It always depends on how you are as a person, which targets you have and what you’re ultimately trying to achieve. For me, I’m enjoying what I do, I love what I do, I love racing. Obviously there’s a lot of people that have an opinion on every single day that I’m in the car and sometimes they are right, sometimes they are not. I think the most important thing is that you know who you are and you’re true to yourself. Then, I think you can afford to listen less to what’s going on around, not be distracted and simply enjoy your racing. Whether you are at your prime or not, I think then – once you retire – you have enough time to analyse and look back and say… Of course, the level is high, if you want to fight at the front, you cannot afford to do many mistakes and for whoever is at the top and was at the top in the past for many years, usually has a high level and there’s a lot of effort going into it, not just putting everything together at the track but also away from the track. Yeah, without making it longer than it already is, it is a lot of work and sometimes it gets appreciated, other times less but ultimately it’s about yourself.

    Q:  The first two editions of this Grand Prix were very different. One was very tame, almost dull, and last year we had a crashfest, so what can we expect from tomorrow’s race, especially with the weather conditions getting even worse with more wind?

    SV: I don’t have a crystal ball so I don’t know. The thing nowadays, that I don’t like, is that people tend to judge our sport straightaway based on one race. After Australia we had ‘catastrophe, these cars blah blah blah.’ I mean yes, it might have been a boring race but also it’s down to many things: the track, the race, whatever. Then we had, I think, an entertaining race in Bahrain and in China. Maybe tomorrow’s boring, maybe it’s exciting. I don’t know. Maybe it rains. Who knows? In the end, that’s why we go racing so that we will find out, I guess.

    LH: Yeah, hopefully it will be fun and hopefully challenging. If you look at the GP2 (F2) race, there were lots of safety cars as there were last year. I really have no idea what’s in store for us but I know it’s going to be exciting and I just hope that we’re there in the mix, fighting with them.

    VB: Yeah, I think it’s going to be a good race, because we have such a tight field this year and on a track like this, where we have a massive long straight and there’s the possibility for overtaking so at least we try to make it exciting with Lewis and battling for the win.

    Q:  Seb, it’s obvious that the guys next to you want to make the next undercut tomorrow. Will you be prepared for it?

    SV: Well, I think certainly what happened in China, we didn’t like it but I think we have a good team looking after this sort of stuff. I think we will see how the start goes, how the first stint goes but certainly we are aware that this is a long lap here and the undercut power is probably there. Equally it’s tough, I guess, to make the tyres work straight away for everyone. I think what there was to learn from China we learned and we should be fine tomorrow.

    Ends