INDIA in F1

Tag: FIA Press Conference

  • It was a great team effort, says Vettel

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Sebastian, your 44th victory. Normally 44 is a lucky number for Lewis but you’ve just added another win, your third time here in Bahrain, but most importantly the second of the season out of three races, great day.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, really a great day. I don’t know what to day. The last half of the in-lap when all the fireworks were there and track was lit up, it was. I just love what I do. I didn’t find any words. It was a really great team effort today. Right after the start I could feel that ‘yeah, we’re quick, we can have a word’. So really tried to put Valtteri under pressure. He didn’t do any mistakes. It was difficult down the straights to get near him. But then we obviously went for the undercut, early pit stop, worked fantastic, very good job. But when the safety came initially I thought ‘not again!’

    Yeah but this time it worked for you…

    SV: I’m not sure.

    You pitted and then when you cleared another lap we had the safety car.

    SV: I think I was lucky because the others were just close to the pit lane so they couldn’t really benefit let’s say. I don’t know. I was a bit surprised when I came out ahead of all of them because I thought with the safety car we might have lost the advantage. After that it was good. The car was really amazing to drive. I had a good feeling yesterday, so for many laps it really worked well. It was just a pleasure. I could control the pace in the end. Lewis was obviously a bit of a threat again towards the end, with the traffic you never know. But a very controlled race, the car, as I said, was a dream today. Happy Easter and thank you very much.

    Q: Lewis, pit lane, what do you think of that? Those five seconds were pretty costly today?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah definitely, but firstly a big congratulations to Sebastian, he did a fantastic job today, and also a big thank you to Valtteri for being a gentleman out there. Obviously a very difficult race, it didn’t start out the best, but the pit lane was my fault, so apologies to the team for losing the time there. I tried my hardest to catch up but it was a long old way to go, it was 19 seconds. But I gave it everything I could but Ferrari did a great job today. So we’re going to push hard together, re-gather as a team and come back fighting.

    Q: You know, I’m noticing this year that even when you’re getting the wins, you’re very composed; you’re not too disappointed. What is this then? Do you really feel that this is going to be a long-game championship?

    LH: Of course the disappointment is there. Losing points for a team, particularly when you could have won the race is definitely painful, but it is what it is and all I can say is I gave it everything I could. Yeah, I mean, I’m getting old I’m catching you up.

    Q: You’ll never catch me up! Lewis congratulations. Valtteri, after the high of yesterday, a disappointing day. We heard you on the radio talking about struggling to keep the rears alive. What happened with the race balance? Talk us through that.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it was really a tricky race for me; struggling with the pace all through the race. I think in the first stint we found a bit of an issue with the tyre pressures and that explained the rear end struggle. But ever since that I was just rear limited and I was out of the tools on the steering wheel, so it was just oversteering all through the race, which is why the pace was slow, which is a real shame because for sure the target for today was a lot, lot higher.

    Q: It’s difficult to win in Formula One. You had a lot of support after that pole yesterday, especially within the team, so you’re feeling well settled in Mercedes?

    VB: Well, for sure I think this was overall the best weekend yet with the team, but there is much more to come.

    Well, we wish you luck with that journey. Back to Sebastian. You seem a little bit surprised by the ultimate qualifying. After qualifying the pace to Mercedes was a little bit down but you’re right in this championship, you’re leaving this grand prix leading the world championship.

    SV: Yeah, it’s a long year; I’m not really looking at that. As I said, I’m really enjoying, the car has been a pleasure. It was very good yesterday and I was a bit down because the gap was so big. I think we could have been a bit closer. But something inside me told me we have a good car and we can do well. Right from the first lap I felt the car was there and yeah, I think the Easter hunt was on. They were hiding some eggs but it looks like we found them today. No, really, really happy. Big thank you to the team, they have been working incredibly hard. The guy that has been up here, Matteo, works day and night at the track, in the factory. So really a lot of commitment from every single one and it’s great to see everything coming together.

    Q: Well, we can hear the marshals who have been supporting the grand prix celebrating by revving a motorbike here. You’ve got to say we have a tremendous welcome here in Bahrain, so it’s one your better grands prix?

    SV: Well, I guess. I’ve been reasonably successful the last couple of years. I love the trophy, I think it’s one of the most beautiful trophies we have, so when I crossed the line I was really happy because I knew we were going to get it, so I think we can leave here very happy. Not yet, because we’ve got the test next week, but yeah for now we just enjoy.

    Q: Are you doing the test?

    SV: Yes.

    You’re relentless aren’t you?

    SV: Well, I thought halfway through the race that I’m really looking forward already next time to jump in the car, which is in two days, so I’m looking forward to it.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Congratulations Sebastian, obviously you got ahead of Lewis at the start. Tell us a bit about that and also the final stint, just judging the pace as he was coming through like a rocket, having come into the pits after you, how you measured that pace and measured your gap to him?

    SV: The start, obviously it was crucial for us to get between, to not allow them to get in their rhythm, pull away, do their thing. So, upset them a bit. I think we all had more or less the same start. Mine initially was maybe a tiny bit better than Lewis, which put me just about side-by-side – but their car is really long so it’s a long way to get side-by-side – but then I think I benefitted from the act I had a clear track ahead, Lewis was a bit stuck with Valtteri and it’s a bit of a tricky one to judge, so I could just take lots of risk under braking and get the move done. Then, the final stint, obviously we had quite a decent gap plus the safety margin of Lewis’ penalty – which I wasn’t sure why but it didn’t matter at that point – and I just tried to control the gap to Valtteri, maybe pulling away a little bit and at that point just controlling the gap. He was very fast when he came out. I was expecting him to be quick on a new set of supersoft tyres but probably not that quick and he was closing in. When I faced the traffic I lost a lot of time but then obviously he had to face traffic as well. In the end it was safe enough. At the beginning of the stint I really didn’t push at all, just took it easy and responded to what those two guys were doing, which obviously helped me at the end because I had a lot of tyres left.

    Lewis, coming to you, as Sebastian said, you had a tremendous amount of pace today but perhaps there were one or two too many setbacks to give you the chance to win: the start, obviously the penalty as well and the tyre choice for the final stint which you questioned on the radio. Maybe you could just drill down into those three for us.

    LH: Yeah, a challenging weekend. The start was OK but Sebastian was in my blind spot so I didn’t know whereabouts he was. I didn’t know where anyone was behind me. Valtteri got a good start and it was really just about covering him. I obviously lost position to Sebastian there. It was really hard to follow but we’re generally all similar kind of pace, and then yeah, completely my fault with the Safety Car. Supposed to have a five-second gap and I think I had a four-second gap. Just a misjudgement from myself. Valtteri was great to… obviously I had very good pace, particularly the second and last stint and I honestly believed I would be able to catch Sebastian up but obviously with a five-second penalty that made it twice as hard as it was already going to be. As I said, apologies to the team but I tried the best I could to recover it and we still got good points for the team today with a second and third but we still have this great fight and Sebastian did a great job and he had fantastic pace.

    And just on the tyre choice. You have a four-lap fresher only set of softs compared to Sebastian rather than a new set of supersofts. The team’s saying it was based on, presumably, Valtteri’s middle stint.

    LH: The tyre felt great so I believe it was the right choice. The team have generally been making really great choices this year. I thought it was going to be a supersoft but honestly I think the tyre was the best one, particularly for 16 laps pushing at the pace I was going was a long way to go. I don’t know if the supersoft would have lasted that long.

    Part of what informed that decision was, I guess, your supersoft stint Valtteri. Not the easiest but before that, Toto Wolff has said you had a problem with the generator on the grid that meant your tyres were over-inflated or had too high tyre pressure in the opening stint. Tell us about that.

    VB: Yeah, so I don’t know the exact issue but I was just told there was a problem with the tyre pressures, which I could really feel in the first stint since lap two. I was just sliding around with the rear end, struggling to get on power out of the corners, so the pace wasn’t good and Sebastian was really putting pressure and they could undercut us as well and trying to extend the first stint, I just couldn’t keep up with the pace. The tyres were just dropping. Then on the second stint it was a bit better initially. I think the second stint was not that far off. Still struggling with oversteer but much less than in the first one, and then the last stint, again, used the tools I had to adjust the car balance but still couldn’t get the rear end to work. Really strange race for me and the pace was disappointingly poor for me. Yeah, not a good day for me.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Lewis and Valtteri. If you compare this race with Melbourne, is the softest compound a weakness for Mercedes? You seemed to have the same problem like in Melbourne that the rear tyres were going away.

    LH: I don’t really remember what the issue was in Melbourne. I think it was more front tyres – but I’m sure it was the rears as well. Here was maybe more rears, I would say – but yeah, I would say it’s similar.

    VB: At least for me personally yes. The softer compound has been more of a struggle with the tyres and also the hotter it is, more of a struggle. So something definitely for us to understand.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Valtteri and Sebastian, can you tell us how difficult was the battle between the two of you?

    SV: For about the first stint. I passed you in the pit stop, didn’t I?

    VB: No, we were side-by-side at some point.

    SV: Ah,  the safety car, after the safety car. Yeah, that was hairy. I thought I did reasonably well on the restart. It was a bit tricky because we only got the message very late: ‘the safety car’s coming in’ and then, you can’t just be stupid and break the field down, do a stop-and-go but I tried to use a little bit of momentum. I thought I had a decent gap leaving the last corner and then… I don’t know, it felt like I had more headwind than in the whole race on that particular lap. I was fairly confident halfway down the straight, just looked in the mirror to check and he was coming. I saw sparks behind me everywhere and then I obviously had to defend. Yeah, then I wasn’t quite sure where he was under braking but I guess we were side-by-side so it was a lot closer than I expected, leaving the last corner. But fortunately, I stayed ahead.

    VB: Yeah, obviously it was getting close and I tried to make a move into turn four.

    SV: I was just thinking, then there was another one, exactly, because I had a bad exit and it was quite close tight. I think you locked a little bit and then I locked a little bit into turn four.

    VB: I was obviously outside so then it’s always tricky. There was some good racing but that was a short moment unfortunately.

    SV: I forgot about that…

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Bottas and Lewis: when the safety car came in, Sebastian had stopped on lap ten and the safety car came out on lap 13 and you entered the pits on the 13th lap, with the safety car. It looked like it would help a lot but for some reason it didn’t, maybe the opposite. Without the safety car, maybe Bottas could get out from the pits in front of Vettel. Do you have the same feeling? Did you have a slow stop?

    VB: Yes. Under safety car on the first stop, there was a problem with the pit stop. We lost a lot of time and maybe it would have been very very close. Maybe I would have been just in front but the team is still investigating what was the issue there. I think there was also some traffic as well because the stop was slow. One of the Red Bulls came into the pit lane and we couldn’t exit immediately so double the time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Without the safety car?

    VB: I don’t know, to be honest.

    Q: And Lewis, I think you had… one of the front tyres was a bit slow coming off or going back on again or slight delay?

    LH: I couldn’t tell what the issue was but there was a bit of a delay. There was a domino effect, you know. If I had had a five second gap Valtteri would have pulled in, the Red Bull would have pulled in. I would have pulled in before the Red Bull, I would have got out before the Red Bull. It cascaded for me in the domino too early.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, Kimi last year was many times in front of you. What have you done that nowadays he’s always behind you?

    SV: Well, I guess for a start, compared to last year, I’ve started the race. That helped. I had my – so far the only – and I hope it stays that way – DNS last year here so not even starting was quite a disappointment. And then, I don’t now, he was behind the Red Bull in the opening of the lap and so obviously we’ve seen that it’s quite tricky to pass. I was a bit faster in the opening stint than Valtteri but I couldn’t really get close enough and I guess he probably lost a bit of time and then I just saw the final result. I don’t know what happened to his race but I think he came back to fourth, not finishing too far behind Valtteri so I think for both of us the car probably worked really well today and yeah, I think it depends on… from my own experience, how the opening lap goes and so on, but this has usually been a very very good hunting ground for Kimi, so maybe the time loss on Friday for him with the issue he had in the car didn’t help but yeah, you do your own race and then I’m sure we will talk about it afterwards.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Sebastian, in the race simulation on Friday you didn’t look like you had a very good performance from the car and also qualifying seemed to confirm it. We had this impression, looking at the long runs. And suddenly, in the race, the performance was there. Did you change the car dramatically or did the conditions on the day change and help you?

    SV: No, from yesterday to today, you can’t change anything. Friday to Saturday we did a bit but yeah, it’s not that sudden. If we could go faster in qualifying we would because qualifying higher up is always advantageous. But yeah, I had a good feeling yesterday so I was a bit surprised by how big the gap was because the car felt really good and for today, I had a good feeling because Friday was a bit mixed, I wasn’t so happy with the car. We improved it for Saturday and I thought OK, if it stays like that then today can be a good race and after a couple of laps I felt everything was making sense and yeah, obviously I was in Valtteri’s gearbox for all of the first stint and not falling back too much so that was obviously good for us, a good start with the opening lap, getting between them and then yeah, the pace was certainly key today to win.

    Q: (Sef Harding – Xero Xone News) For Sebastian, it looks like the Prancing Horse has really come alive and it looks like you’re going to have a hero’s welcome back in Maranello. What has this done for the team and the morale of the team heading into Sochi?

    SV: Yeah, I think at this stage Sochi is quite far away so I’m not willing and I don’t think the team is really looking to Sochi right now. I think we enjoy the moment. Yeah, obviously we did a massive stint over the winter. I think last year was a very good year for us. It wasn’t good in terms of results, don’t get me wrong, but I think for the team, getting together, a lot of things that had changed now seem to start clicking. Obviously it helps when straight from the box, in testing, we had a good feeling. We looked reasonably competitive. Australia obviously was a massive boost for all the team and yeah, you can see when they are singing down there, and the whole factory has really come alive so that’s great and we need to just make sure we keep it going and yeah, keep enjoying that way, but for now, I think the team has obviously done a really really great job, a lot of hard work, commitment and as I said, things start to click and hopefully that sort of success now in the first couple of races helps us to build up some sort of momentum that maybe these guys had in the past and the last couple of years, so they will be the ones to beat. It’s a long season, but for now, as I said, looking forward to tonight.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, Sochi has suited you very well so far. Do you expect to have your best weekend because of that?

    VB: Well, for sure that’s the goal. I still haven’t definitely got… there’s no race results as I’ve been hoping for so it’s always the next one. Anyway, it would be the target to have a strong weekend but Sochi has normally been pretty good for me. I really like the track layout and I have always been comfortable there so we will see. It’s a completely different type of track again, completely different kind of temperatures, different asphalt so many different things. We’ll see.

    Q: (Ralph Woodall – L’Equipe) Valtteri, how did you feel when you were ordered by the team to let Lewis pass you?

    VB: Well, I think honestly as a racing driver it’s maybe the worst thing you want to hear. That’s how it is. For sure I did it because there was potential. Lewis could challenge Sebastian. In the end it didn’t happen but the team tried which I completely understand but personally it is tough but that’s life. I didn’t have enough pace today and we need to find the reasons why that was.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • It would be great to have Jenson back: Hamilton

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, great win last time out in China, current joint leader of the FIA Formula One World Championship – so far so good?

    Lewis HAMILTON: So far, so good, yeah. Happy to be back in Bahrain; always amazing weather. Yeah, it’s been an awesome season so far. We’re working very hard collectively as a team to try and continue at that level.

    Q: Just following up on some comments after the last race, obviously you are a two-time winner here in Bahrain but given the circuit layout here, and particularly the higher temperatures, which could possible play to Ferrari’s strengths are your expecting an even tougher battle to keep them behind you this weekend?

    LH: I definitely do. I think Ferrari have shown tremendous pace and I think obviously in the first race, particularly in race trim, they’re very, very quick, particularly on the hotter circuit. So, being that it is a hotter race here I think the gap is going to be even closer, if not different that to perhaps it was before, but we shall see.

    Q: Obviously, yesterday Fernando Alonso announced he’s going to race at Indy next month, in the Indianapolis 500. As a motor sport fan yourself, as well as an old rival of Fernando’s, what do you think of him skipping Monaco for Indy?

    LH: I think, firstly, it’s great that a driver is able to do that. I think us drivers should be able to do more than one series. Obviously there was a period of time in the past when there were drivers doing multiples series, so I think it’s pretty cool that he’s doing it. And I hope that Jenson comes back, I think it would be great for the sport to have Jenson back in.

    Q: Thanks for that. Stoffel, coming to you, you obviously made your Formula One race debut here 12 months ago with a points-scoring finish. It’s been a pretty tough first couple of races for you, but what have you taken from them to make you stronger going forward?

    Stoffel VANDOORNE: Yeah, it’s great to be back in Bahrain. I obviously had a good race here last year, which was nice to get that opportunity. A year on, I think it’s a lot different; I’ve now got two races under my belt and a bit more experience. It’s not been an easy situation for us at the moment but I feel in a good position and hopefully this weekend we can prove again that we made a step forward.

    Q: Clearly very tough for you to have that lack of performance from the McLaren-Honda package at the moment. When do you expect a step change and how have you revised your expectations for the season?

    SV: It’s difficult really to put any timeframe on it, when it will get better. Obviously we are all hoping it’s gets better sooner rather than later, I don’t know exactly when we will see a step in performance.

    Q: Thanks for that. Sergio, you finished on the podium here in 2014 and you have a 100 per cent finishing record at this track, so is it one of your favourites?

    Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, I think it’s one of my favourites. I’ve had good races here in the past, certainly the podium the year before. This track suits my style quite well, so hopefully we can have a good finish, close the gap to the cars ahead, especially now that the midfield is so packed and we are probably a little bit behind in that group but hopefully we can keep scoring good points on Sundays.

    Q: Let’s drill down into that a little bit, about the midfield. The team has bagged two double points finishes in a row, but give us an insight into just how tight that midfield battle is and what kind of things make a difference to getting a good result in that battle?

    SP: Basically the whole difference is getting a perfect qualifying because if you don’t get a perfect qualifying it’s the difference between getting P8 and P14 or P15. So having a great qualifying makes a huge difference to your weekend. The first lap counts a lot as well and yeah, just have good strategy calls, executing a perfect weekend. Otherwise, that’s the difference between scoring points and not scoring any points.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) A question for Lewis. You said you love the weather. How have you been working to deal with the heat for Sunday’s race?

    LH: Just running in this heat. I was in Dubai from Tuesday onwards. I was in Dubai for a couple of days and got here this morning. A couple of good runs in this heat always help. It’s hard work, but that’s really all you can do.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday/Motorsportweek.com) A question for all three drivers: with Fernando announcing that he is doing the Indy 500, would any of you like to do the Indy 500 or possibly another iconic race like Le Mans if you were offered?

    SV: Yeah, I think I’ve decided to do the Spa 24 Hours instead of Hungary this year!

    LH: I wouldn’t miss out any of the races in Formula One. I’d definitely continue to do all the races, but I’d like to do MotoGP. I’d like to ride a MotoGP. Is there another race? Probably a NASCAR race, like the Daytona 500 maybe.

    SP: I certainly wouldn’t miss Monaco because for me Monaco is my favourite weekend in the whole calendar, so I wouldn’t miss Monaco and normally you have that clash. But I’d like to do some other racing. I certainly have some interest in IndyCar. The Indy 500 is certainly one of the best races in the world, so I’d definitely to do some.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) A question for Lewis. I know it’s early days but how does it compare, fighting a four-time world champion at another team as opposed to fighting your own team-mate in the same car? Does it excite you more this year if you were to take it a relative stage as last year say?

    LH: I’ve commented on that same question a couple of times in the last two races but yeah, it is more exciting racing another team, very much like I experience in 2007 and 2008. Also, growing up seeing races with McLaren and Ferrari, the great teams that were at the top competing with each other was always exciting. So to be in amongst the fight with the Silver Arrows and Ferrari, which is also a very historic, great team, I think it’s more exciting than just silver at the front.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.nl) A question for all three drivers. This is a back-to-back race. Can you explain a little bit not how heavy it is for you as drivers but for the team, logistically, physically, mentally?

    SP: Yeah, it’s very hard for our guys. They have such a hard time, the mechanics, they come here very early in the morning and they leave very late at night, pretty much every day, they are coming here since Tuesday, so it’s very hard for the mechanics. I think for us as drivers, it’s not that hard. It’s another race and we have plenty of time to rest. But especially everyone who is involved in the team they have a very hard time. Having two races back-to-back is pretty much the limit, if week have a third one it would be very hard for all the boys in the team.

    Lewis?

    LH: Yeah, I think for the drivers it’s easier doing back-to-backs. Could be back, weekend on, weekend off. Just keeping weekend in, weekend in, I think would be easier for us because staying in the zone between races, it’s just easier that way. When you have the gap you have to switch back into it, so it’s a little bit trickier. But for the team it definitely is very, very tough. It’s time away from the family; they’re on their feet for long, long hours during the day. But in all honesty, a lot of the guys, particularly my guys, they love it. There’s nowhere in the world they’d rather be. So whilst it is very tough for them, for sure, and they definitely feel it, it’s great to see that enthusiasm, and that sheer drive to just keep doing something you love. So, I never, ever see them complain, ever.

    Stoffel?

    SV: I think they pretty much covered everything.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Lewis, when you are racing your team-mate, regardless of who it is, you both have very similar characteristics, similar strengths, weaknesses, you have data. When you are racing someone in a different car, the Ferrari for example, that car has different characteristics, you don’t have data. Which is more difficult to do?

    LH: Ah, I think it’s more difficult for sure racing up against… I wouldn’t say there’s one more difficult than the other, they’re just different. When you’re racing up against another team there are strengths and weaknesses. You know last week when we were qualifying against the Ferrari they looked like they were going to get pole but we were finding a bit more time on the track, in the blind really, because at the time I was the quickest of the two guys in our garage, so I was having to base myself on myself, I couldn’t base myself on Sebastian. Definitely having to push the boundaries on your own is more of a challenge, which I love. When you are comparing data and you are constantly pushing each other, it’s OK, but it’s not as much fun as competing against an unknown.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) I’m sorry to come back to the same subject. If you were going to race in the Indy 500, what would be the biggest challenge, considering the average speed you have, the cars are most of the time very close, you have a wall at your side? What would be the main lesson should be important to race there?

    LH: It’s a completely different category; it’s a lot, lot different. I’ve never driven one of those tracks, but it would so much different for us to go and do that – how a car’s set up, because it’s asymmetric I think, I believe the set-ups are asymmetric. The banking, how much you lift, how you use the tyres. It takes us guys forever through these test days to learn how to operate these tyres in the right window, so I would imaging it’s not an easy thing to do in one go, so it’s definitely a tall order in a short space of time, but Jeez, you’ve got one of the best drivers in the world going there, For sure, he will be the best driver in the paddock, but he won’t have the experience any of them have. So I think it will be a very exciting challenge for him, to see how strong he can fare against those who have all that experience.

    Q: What do you think Stoffel? You’ve obviously watched a few of these races. What’s the biggest thing you would be wanting to understand straight away?

    SV: I think it’s a very strategic race. We’ve seen last year Alex Rossi winning the race and doing huge amounts of fuel saving. I think anything is possible. Fernando is a clever guy. He knows what he is doing. Hopefully he comes back with a trophy. I’ll give him a bottle of milk as well.

    Q: Have you spoken to him about it?

    SV: Only a little bit at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll catch up with him over the weekend.

    Q: And what about you Sergio? What would you be thinking about on your first runs around the Speedway?

    SP: Yes, as these guys say, there’s so much to learn from a completely new series. I mean we have been doing this for many years and through the lower series as well, which is something more similar to what we do now, so going to a completely new tyre, new characteristics, new ways of setting up the car, circuits, driving in the traffic. But I think with Fernando that’s probably one of his strengths, how he can manage the race situations, so he’ll be really good on that. Indy really depends on the last 10 laps, so I think he wqill be really good at it.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, you said you’d like to see JB back in the car for Monaco. Can you just elaborate on why you’d want to see him there? And Stoffel, is JB the man you’d like to see back at McLaren replacing Fernando in Monte Carlo?

    SV: It’s not in my hands in the end. I’m sure the team has got everything under control. I don’t know yet who it will be. I’m sure the team will pick the right driver.

    LH: Because I like Jenson and I think he’s still one of the best drivers and his calibre is still higher than any other driver that’s going to be able to take that spot for sure.

    Q: And experience is important in Monaco?

    LH: Yeah, his calibre and his experience for sure.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Verstappen, a real breath of fresh air: Hamilton

    Verstappen, a real breath of fresh air: Hamilton

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)

    Max Verstappen (Red Bull) celebrates his 3rd place at Shanghai on Sunday. An FIA image

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

    Congratulations, Lewis, you led from start to finish, but it was pretty tricky at the beginning, the conditions looked part slick, part intermediate…

    Lewis HAMILTON: It was incredible. Firstly, a big thank you to all the people here in Shanghai for coming out. Thank you. We’ve got such a great crowd here. Today was very, very tough for us all. It was difficult to know. I went out in inters initially, on the laps to the grid, and then I tried the slick and it was impossible, and then we all started on inters and it was very, very hard, because there was a lot of dry patches everywhere, mostly dry except for a couple of corners that were wet. So trying to keep the car on the track and look after the tyres at the same time was very tough. A great job done by Sebastian and this young dude here [Max Verstappen], who’s always like…

    [Max] has actually been voted driver of the day today, so he’s beat you on that vote today.

    LH: Oh, great, great! It’s OK, I don’t mind being on the top step! Lastly, I just want to say a big thank you to this team. I’m just so tremendously proud of everyone on my own personal team, in terms of my own like staff and that, but also my team who work so hard back at the factory to make this possible. And this race is so real; it’s so exciting for me personally. I don’t know how it is for everyone else but I hope they’re enjoying it.

    But he suddenly appeared just eight seconds behind you and closing you down at the end. You had to get back on the gas.

    LH: Yeah, exactly. We were matching times. I think if there wasn’t safety cars and stuff it would have been a lot closer.

    Talking of that, congratulations Sebastian, a bit unlucky really, you pitted under the virtual safety car and there was a safety car straight after.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, my start was OK but then I realized that the intermediates had quite a lot of degradation. It was very dry in some parts of the track so I knew they would not last. I was happy to take the risk. Obviously virtual safety car you save a bit of time in the pit stop. And then the safety car came just when I was about to start to feel that the dry tyre was a lot quicker, so I couldn’t use the momentum, the advantage and I lost a lot of positions. But then I had a very exciting race; I really enjoyed it. I was stuck a little bit in the train for a whole but then I finally made the move and then, yeah, I tried to chase Lewis down as much as possible but I had the feeling that every time I put a lap in he was able to respond, so I think we were a good match, it could have been a different race but a good recovery and as I said, wheel-to-wheel racing… I touched wheels with Daniel as well….

    You took the paint off the side of his tyre!

    SV: It was good fun at least.

    Take us through those moves, because I think any racing driver in the history or Formula One would like those moves on his CV, because they were committed weren’t they? Down into Turn 6 you were really going for it there.

    SV: Yeah, obviously my target was to catch Lewis and I was stuck in the train and I was getting a bit angry or annoyed and I wanted to get by and I had the feeling that I could go a lot faster in these conditions, so when I was behind Daniel I saw him blocking down the inside because I had a good run out of Turn 4. I said ‘OK, you have to try it around the outside, brake really late and hard’. Fortunately he didn’t lock up. I had him in the mirror, checking, otherwise I have to open immediately before he would make contact. Then on the exit I was a bit compromised, a bit in the dirt, getting a bit of wheel spin, but then I got a bit my elbows out. Yeah, he really squeezed me, but it was good fun and I had the inside for the next corner.

    Some cracking overtaking today. Moving on to Max. Wow, driver of the day as I said, the fans have voted for you. You had some pretty spectacular first few laps coming through the pack, tell us about it.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was very challenging. I think on lap one I passed nine cars. So, not to bad…

    It was like a video game for you!

    MV: More or less! It felt a bit like that. Of course very happy with that and then afterwards I think a very good race. I didn’t have a lot of track time with the car balance from yesterday because I didn’t do qualifying, so I was just basically nursing the car to the finish. And then, of course, very happy to be on the podium, I didn’t expect that at all, especially starting 16th.

    We sensed a bit of tension at the end. Daniel was catching you. You couldn’t lap the Haas in front of you and you were getting a little bit anxious on the radio.

    MV: I just wanted clear air, because I was already struggling a lot with the fronts and that doesn’t help, but in the end I still finished on the podium, so very happy.

    Great drive, congratulations, you gave us a lot of thrills there. Back to you, Lewis, you are equal on points now [with Vettel] after two races. This is going to be a real championship isn’t it?

    LH: I think it’s going to be one of the closest ones, if not the closest I’ve personally ever experienced and I’m looking forward to this fight, not only with Sebastian but the other guys as well who are still going be in amongst it. I think it’s great that we have… we were just saying that we were both pushing. Those last 20 laps or so really exchanging times. I kept having to be fed what times he was doing so I could try to match and he was closing the gap a little bit, but I managed to stay ahead.

    You know what makes me really happy is you’re all up here really smiling. You’re enjoying these cars aren’t you, you’re enjoying the championship this year.

    LH: We are because it’s that close a battle, and the cars look better and they are nicer to drive. It’s not the easiest to get past but this guy seems to find it possible, particularly when it’s wet, so we’ll have to watch the video and see what he’s been doing.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, that was the third grand slam of your career: pole, win, fastest lap, led every lap. You’ve had a few minutes to reflect on it now: how good was that?

    LH: It’s been a fantastic weekend and very, very grateful for all the efforts that the team have put in to enable us to be where we are and where I am today. It’s very overwhelming when you have a weekend like this, because I’m just a link in the chain and, when you really think about it, there’s thousands of people involved, hundreds and hundreds of people involved in me being up here and us being where we are. So, congratulations to all of them. I hope they’re all celebrating back home. I hope they’re feeling the spirit, I hope they’re feeling the fight… because it’s on. With the race… qualifying was great, to be able to pull that good lap out, it put me in a great position. Start was fantastic: I’m so happy with the way starts are going to I need to keep that up! And then in the race, really just keeping my composure. Some really tricky conditions out there, particularly on the Intermediate. Then, after that, once we’d done the pitstop with the Safety Car, the speed was very low and being very cold, our temperatures in our tyres, they’re like… they’re just not working, they’re so cold. So it was very, very easy to make mistakes and I’m just grateful I didn’t. And then at the end, the last 20-odd laps we were just pounding around as fasts as we can, exchanging lap times and I think that’s what racing is all about. Perhaps in the future there will be times when we won’t have a Safety Car and their won’t be that six seconds gap, it’ll be right on the tail either way. Excited for that.

    Q: Who had the faster car today? Mercedes or Ferrari?

    SV: Well, you won, so…

    LH: Yeah, the only summary we can come up with is that. It is, as I said, very, very close and there were times when Sebastian put laps in and it was hard to even match the time. The last ten or 12 laps he was doing a 35.6 and I was doing a 35.8 and it was very hard to get to where he was. Then there was other times in the race when I was quicker.

    Q: Sebastian, perhaps I can put that question to you as well. Who do you think had the faster car today?

    SV: I’m maybe not clever enough but I try to not confuse myself. So I just go with the fact that who wins the race deserves to win. Every race we do I think the race winner deserves to win. So, yeah, Lewis did the best job. Obviously we were a bit unfortunate maybe with the Safety Car maybe early on – but even if it wasn’t there you never know how it could have impacted on the race. Was it enough? We thought… I thought yes – but then it’s a long race from there and it could have been a different outcome. But yeah, it was really good fun. Like Lewis said, I had a bit more to do in the race than he had. I saw he was controlling the pace, probably, in the beginning. Once I got past Kimi and Daniel I obviously tried to hunt him down but knowing that it would be difficult with that gap. And in the last couple of laps I asked the team to give me an average of what we needed to catch up etcetera, just to know what I have to do. When they came up with the conclusion that it’s a bit more than half a second a lap… yeah… I kept pushing because you never know, maybe Lewis is doing a mistake, or has an issue with the car so I wanted to keep the pressure on – but yeah, I enjoyed the fact we were racing, even though not side-by-side or right behind each other but five, six, eight seconds apart. To hear that he was pushing as well I think is good news. So in terms of pace it was probably a match. Sometimes he was a bit faster, sometimes I was a bit faster. Overall it was good fun.

    Q: Could you have challenged Lewis had you not lost so much time behind your team-mate?

    SV: Ah, would, could, should. I think Lewis was quick. Full stop. I think they did a good race, he did a good race, so to get into these kind of conversations, or discussions, usually there is no point.  Today we finished second, very happy with that, we take it, good points. More than that, and much more valuable than that, it was an entertaining and fun race for me. I had some overtaking. It was difficult to get close to the car, like last race you felt the effect but here I think it’s a better track to overtake and yeah, it’s the way it should be in my opinion: you need to make it stick so it shouldn’t come for free. You shouldn’t just open the flap and sail past. It was good fun. I can’t complain.

    Q: Max, you’ve scored Red Bull Racing’s 100th podium today – but when you ripped open your curtains this morning, did you really think third place was on from 16th on the grid?

    MV: No, of course not. I was targeting… if we could score some nice points that would be positive but then the first lap was very challenging. I think I passed nine cars. So that’s not too bad. From there on I think we made the right call with the change of tyres to slicks. It’s a bit of a gamble but it worked out. I was a bit cautious to not go too early and it paid off. Then I was in a good position afterwards. I managed to get past Daniel in Turn Six and then I was building a gap.  But then straight away I felt the balance of the car was a bit limited to the front so I was destroying the left front and I couldn’t get the car to turn and that’s what basically happened when Sebastian was behind me, just under braking, very difficult, locked up and went wide. Then had quite a bit flat-spot. Tried to continue for one lap but then I decided to box. I knew the last stint would be very hard with which lap I stopped, but I managed to stay in third and that’s, of course, very positive, especially after starting 16th. It was a great and entertaining race, I think.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Fu Yu – China Radio International) Question to Max. Congratulations on a podium finish. You conquered much of the field ahead of you and surged up early on in the race. When did you realise a podium finish was in sight and what did you do after that? I mean, did you keep on pushing and hope for a better place or were you more conservative and trying to hold on to your third place?

    MV: To be honest, with ten laps to go I looked on the board and saw I was third. Before that I didn’t know where I was. I had to keep pushing because I had my team-mate behind who was trying to get past. And then I had a Haas in front of me. He didn’t move out of the way and he was always one and a half seconds in front so it was very tricky for me to get the front tyres to work, y’know, with the understeer? So yeah, I had to push quite hard at the end – but that’s how it should be.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Max, do tell us more about the first lap when you said you passed around nine cars on the first lap. How did you find the grip so quickly on the first lap?

    MV: To be honest, I had a good start, but I got a bit blocked because the two cars in front of me went into the middle so I had to back off, but still I gained one or two positions and then, yeah, basically just trying to find a gap so trying to go round the outside in turn one, I got another car, then inside turn two, another car, outside turn three, because there was space, trying to find grip because when you’re behind a car you lose a lot of downforce so just trying to find some free space and basically everything happened… also turn six, turn seven, eight, always trying to go around the outside or inside and it worked. Yeah, nine cars is quite a lot on one lap but of course very happy that it worked.

    Q: (Ma Yue – Shanghai Daily) Just wanted to ask you all, do you think the weather was an advantage or disadvantage for you?

    LH: I think the weather often makes it more exciting. These are some of the most exciting circumstances when you have a track that starts wet and it goes through a drying phase. It just adds so much more fun and more of a lottery into the equation, so then your smart decisions, driving and how you utilise the tyres. Driving in the dry is a great thing or just in the wet is also very tough but this one is quite spicy with both in it.

    SV: Nothing to add.

    MV: Well, for me, definitely for me today it worked out because I started 16th, so in the wet it’s easier to overtake. I think it was a perfect race for me because then afterwards you go on the slick tyres, you have passed most of the field already and you are basically back in the position where you should be.

    Q: What do you think you could have achieved, Max, had it been dry?

    MV: Well, not third, for sure. Maybe sixth? Good conditions for me.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, what do you expect from the Bahrain race, another great battle against Lewis as in Melbourne and maybe better than today?

    SV: I don’t know what to expect. Obviously in a week we will know. I think if we can challenge Mercedes again, that’s very good news. They are very very strong. They have had a very very strong run the last couple of years. This year as well, so a good package. If we can be close it’s good. I think we need to look after ourselves. I think there’s stuff that we can do better, must do better, can improve so I’m happy to get a surprise, but expectation I don’t really have.

    Q: Before we move on to Max, Lewis, what are you expecting from Bahrain?

    LH: Being that it’s often a warmer race, Ferrari is very good in hotter conditions. These were quite good conditions for me today with our car. When it steps up in temperature… so far in the first race it’s been shown as not the greatest for us just yet, so we’re just learning on the tyres. Hopefully it will be better… it will definitely be better than it was in the Melbourne. I think they will be very very quick in the next race but there’s a lot of straights there as well and we’ve obviously got, I think, still the strongest power unit on the grid, so I think that will come into play, for sure.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Max, was that the best race of your career?

    MV: I always find it difficult to compare but it was definitely one of the best, yeah, of course very happy with it. Looking back to last year, I think a victory is always very special so it’s one of my best for the moment and Brazil was also very nice but this is definitely in my top five, I think.

    Q: (Oscar Garshagen – NRC) There were in the last weeks some issues with your car, Max. Does this third place mean that those issues are behind you right now?

    MV: Difficult to say. On true pace, both Ferrari and Mercedes should be ahead with both of their drivers so we still need to work very hard to catch up. I think at the moment we’re a bit in a lonely competition because in front of us they are too quick and behind us they are too slow but like I’ve already said before, we are working really hard and trying to close the gap but it’s not that easy. But we’ll keep pushing hard.

    Q: (Arjan Schouter – AD) Lewis, I was just wondering how you see this young Dutch guy next to you? He’s delivering all those overtaking shows; what do you think of it?

    LH: I quite like him up here next to us; makes me look younger when I’m up here. It’s good to have a younger person around and yeah, Max has obviously done a fantastic job since he’s been in the sport and I think he’s been a real breath of fresh air for everyone so obviously he’s got a great following and he’s definitely been in some great situations in some races and really maximised above and beyond in those, which is why he gets driver of the day. It’s a lot harder to do that when you’re in the lead of a race, obviously, because you can’t really do much overtaking.

    MV: If you want to swap it’s alright.

    LH: No… Honestly, I hope that Red Bull can improve through the season because I think a third element in the fight I think would be even more exciting.

    eom/FIA press release

  • Ferraris looked so fast and we knew it would be close: Hamilton

    Ferraris looked so fast and we knew it would be close: Hamilton

    Hamilton celebrates after taking Chinese GP pole on Saturday. An FIA image

    Shanghai, 8 April 2017:

    DRIVERS – 1. Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), 2. Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), 3. Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Lewis, many congratulations on what looked like a great lap at the end of Q3 there. Talk us through the lap and your session.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. Yeah, it’s been an interesting weekend so far, obviously without testing yesterday. Today was a real challenge for all of us in the sense that we had to compile a lot of yesterday’s testing into this morning and hope we’d hit the nail on the head with the balance of the car. But the Ferraris have looked so fast, through practice this morning and then through each qualifying session. We knew it was going to be close, and it was going to mean we would have to pull out all the stops and really have a very, very perfect lap, you know, a solid lap. I managed to just chip away at it from session to session. No major issues. But the last lap was my best lap, which is always the plan – sometimes it’s in another session. The lap started off not as good as perhaps the Q1 first lap but then the rest of the lap got better and better – I think it may have been tyre temperatures or something, who knows. It felt strong and then obviously coming into the last corner knowing I was up a couple of tenths… it’s always nervous going into Turn 14 because you want to break late and gain some but you don’t want to throw away everything you’ve gained. And through the last corner and coming across the line, and then just waiting after that to see what everyone else had done. These guys behind were still finishing off their laps. So, very, very happy, super grateful for the huge efforts that the team have put in to keep us in the fight. It’s more exciting than ever for me, because we’re really fighting these guys, you know. It’s amazing, and I think that’s what racing’s all about. It really pushes you to raise the bar every time you go out, which I love. Lastly, just a big thank you to all the fans. We’ve got a lot of British flags here in China, which is amazing.

    And Lewis what does it mean to you to take the 75th pole in the history of Mercedes?

    LH: Well, I’ve been with Mercedes for a long, long time, since I started when I was 13 actually. Since I’ve been in Formula One, all my wins, all my poles have been with Mercedes, so very grateful and thankful to be in the family, and to be a part of this amazing journey that the whole team is on, that this whole brand is on. I’d like to go along and keep stamping something in the history books so someday I can look back on it.

    Q: Sebastian, a great session from you and Ferrari as well. How important was it for you to get on the front row today?

    Sebastian VETTEL: We’ll see tomorrow how important it was. It was a nice session; I enjoyed it a lot. I think if we could have been a bit quicker at the end I would have enjoyed it a bit more. I think I was very happy with the lap I had. Last corner maybe I lost a little bit – maybe I ‘chickened’ onto the brakes a bit too soon. Obviously it was very close with Valtteri, good job we got just enough margin to make it to the front row.

    Q: Do you think you have a better race car than qualifying car at the moment?

    SV: I think our car is strong no matter what. It obviously depends what these guys are doing. Certainly we’ve seen also in the previous years that in quali they seem to be able to really get on top of what they have. I think we can still improve. Let’s see what the race looks like tomorrow. The conditions will be quite different. Maybe we should put fuel in the car and race now. I don’t know what happens tomorrow.

    Q: Valtteri, have you worked out where you lost that one thousandth of a second to Sebastian?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: I think on one lap around here there are quite a few places. One thousandth, like you mentioned, it like this maybe? It’s not so much. It is a real shame he managed to get between us. I think last time it was two thousandths and now it’s one thousandth, so…

    SV: I think it was two hundredths, I don’t know.

    VB: It’s getting closer! So yeah it’s a shame but the race is tomorrow. We are starting as a team first and third. It’s a good place to start. The weather can be anything really tomorrow. Lewis was strong today, Ferrari was strong and we were always expecting a close fight today on track. I think it will be the same case tomorrow. Thanks to the team again. We did a good job in the short amount of time in the practice today to get the car set up well and it was enjoyable to drive, but let’s see what tomorrow brings.

    Q: Thank you Valtteri. Coming back to you Lewis, well, it looks like you’ve got a real fight on your hands tomorrow. How much are you relishing this battle with Ferrari?

    LH: Particularly for tomorrow, it’s going to be an unusual day. I heard it’s going to be wet potentially, to start off the race. I’ve not driven the wet tyre this season, so that’s going to be fun, to experience the bigger car, wider tyres for the first time. I mean I did an out lap yesterday on the extreme, but it was a very slow lap, so I’ve not actually experienced it. So tomorrow will be a new lesson for me to learn if it is wet and it will be interesting to see… I think the Ferraris have a very, very strong car, particularly a step-up more so in the race pace and how they treat their tyres, particularly when it’s warm, so it will be interesting to see what the weather brings us tomorrow. But I think we have worked hard to understand our car a little bit better and I think whatever the case it’s going to be close between us and that bodes well for one of the most exciting days to come for a long time.

    Q: Lewis, how much do you feel that you are on the back foot after the lack of running yesterday? How much has it set everybody’s programmes back?

    LH: I don’t know. I think the thing is we’ve all been here for so long and the more you drive the more you learn to minimise the loss of a day like yesterday. So, y’know, as a team we’ve learnt so much over the years, and as a driver as well. You learn, even while you’re not driving, you’re thinking about the steps that you need to take. So we try go into a day like today as if there hasn’t been a loss. But as I said, this morning we had to do long run, short run, and a qualifying run in one short session, as opposed to doing it in three sessions – but I think we got as much as we could done and if we had had yesterday, I don’t think we’d have been much further up the road, if any at all, to be honest. Don’t know how these guys feel but we’ve got great engineers who analyse and analyse and analyse and did a fantastic job and, I’m assuming, for Sebastian.

    Q: The weather forecast looks indifferent for tomorrow at best… it could rain. You’ve touched on it already that you haven’t used the new full wet tyre from Pirelli. Does that make you nervous?

    LH: No, I’m excited about it, to be honest, because it’s a new experience. I’m sure it’s not a huge, huge difference to what we’ve had in the past. Perhaps a little bit. I’m kind of excited about. It makes it more… it’s great to have some excitement. To be faced with a new challenge. You just have to be the most proactive, most reactive tomorrow. If it is wet. If it is raining I just hope that the clouds stay high so that the helicopter can stay take off so that we can actually do a race. We’ve got an amazing turnout here so we want to make sure we can put on a good race for them.

    Q: Sebastian, it’s 380m from the grid to Turn One tomorrow. How significant is that going to be – or do you think you are going to be able to overtake tomorrow?

    SV: For me it’s 388m, I guess. Hopefully I can make up those eight metres. Which side are we starting on. Where’s pole? [on the outside] OK, so if I make up 8m then it looks pretty good. I don’t know. There’s a lot of things that can turn out in many ways tomorrow. That’s one option that I mentioned but we don’t know what the conditions are going to be like. We’ll see. I think it should be an exciting race nevertheless. Obviously very limited running yesterday, hardly any for me. I think I did two laps but nobody really did a lot of laps, so we’ll see. The car is good, the car is fine, so I’m confident, no matter the conditions that the car is working, and then we try to do the fastest race.

    Q: Lewis has already said that racing against someone like yourself is what racing is all about. Just how much are you relishing the battle with him?

    SV: Well, it’s been a while so yeah, I think we’re on a good way. Obviously it’s a lot of fun when you fight for poles and wins. Certainly enjoyed Australia a lot, despite the outcome on Sunday which obviously was fantastic – but in general, to be able to fight at the front for the podium, and really fight for it is a great feeling. Same here. You go into the weekend and… we didn’t really have much expectation because it’s a completely different track but on the hand we did know that our car is working well. So, just need to keep it up. Need to try to improve it whenever we can. So overall, I can only give it back, and hopefully there’s a lot more for the rest of the season. But this is only race two. A lot of things can happen but we need to obviously give everything we have to stay there.

    Q: Valtteri, as Sebastian says, this is only race two, it’s your second race with Mercedes. How comfortable are you feeling in the team? Are you settling in? Are there still a few things you need to learn?

    VB: Definitely. Approaching this weekend, compared to Melbourne, the first one of the year, it was a different feeling. Being true, that one full race weekend with the team, doing the qualifying session and the race, with a podium finish, it was a nice start, so definitely feeling more and more comfortable. I think still, as I’ve been mentioning, there is a big learning curve for me with everything and I feel more better and better still, every single day with the team and every single lap with the car. So, yeah…

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Maybe a question to all of you. Different circuit, same result as in Melbourne. The advantage a little bit smaller than in Melbourne. Where does Ferrari stand against Mercedes? What do you think Lewis, Sebastian and Valtteri?

    LH: I’m not really sure how to explain that. Close. The times show it as close as it’s been. It’s within a tenth, I think, the distance between us.

    SV: Being pragmatic, I think if you take the average of what we’ve had so far, then you can say that in qualifying we’re still lacking a bit and in the race I think we are a good match. I think Lewis was struggling a bit in Australia with his tyres. We weren’t as much. I don’t know what happens tomorrow. It will be a lot cooler. Certainly after tomorrow you can draw another average – but what matters most is that after 20 races you draw the average and we come out on top. That would be great! But it’s a long way, as I said. So, for now we’re very happy being able to challenge Mercedes and hopefully we can do that more and more.

    Q: And Valtteri? What did you expect the gap between yourselves and Mercedes to do here in China?

    SV: A thousandth!

    VB: Yeah! I was hoping for one thousandth at least. We were always expecting it would be really, really close. Everything between the two teams is between one or two tenths, depending on conditions for the sessions, race or qualifying. That’s why it’s going to be interesting tomorrow.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, the distance between you and Lewis, Ferrari and Mercedes in general, seems to be even closer than last year and the past years in general. This difference in qualifying, compared to last year and previous seasons; do you think it can be a trend throughout the season?

    SV: Well, I think we’ve made a big step as a team so I think it’s really thanks to the team that simply supplied me with a better car. I think in general I like this formula  a lot where you can push on the limit. Probably the last couple of years it was creeping away from all of us, step by step, and with this year’s cars it’s back to how it was a long time ago and back to how it should be. I don’t know if it’s a combination of things; as a driver you jump into the car and you always try to do your best but as I said, big thank you to the team to supply me with a great car this year, right from the first outing and I have  high hopes that we can still improve it from where we are. I know the team is still growing together, there is still a lot of progress that we can make but the way I feel and the way the team feels and the way the team shows it to me directly and indirectly, there’s no rush. We are here to do our job and we know that we can be strong. I think we’ve laid a good foundation and now it’s up to us to build onto it. Now it’s April, we still have a lot of time. The most important thing, I think, is that we enjoy it.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Lewis, we’ve seen a bit of happy tail from your car today on your flying laps. Could you tell us a little bit about your car set-up; is it compromised for a wet race tomorrow or is it somewhere between wet or dry, either condition?

    LH: What was the first part? Happy tail, ah oversteer. It’s actually a little bit understeery I would say.

    SV: Where was the happy tail? One corner to another?

    LH: It was pretty good. It’s like a see-saw, you know? You can decide to have it more understeery or oversteery. This is a track where you need to have a very good front end. I think generally in Formula One it’s not too often where we have to set the car up for a wet race, particularly when you don’t know if it’s definitely going to be wet so you set it up for what you’re faced with that day and tomorrow you can make changes to the wing; tomorrow, for example, if it is wet, that’s the only real difference you need to make. It’s not like go-karting where you loosen everything off, you slacken the car off. You don’t really need to do that necessarily for… If we know it’s a completely wet weekend and maybe we can do some small things but it’s quite similar. We’ve got to make sure we’ve put ourselves at the front.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) To all three of you: what do you think will be the key tomorrow: the start, the strategy or perhaps even some overtaking which would be exciting?

    LH: I think probably in that order: start, strategy and then, depending on what the conditions are on the track… if it’s wet of course there are opportunities to overtake, if it’s dry it’s very hard to follow as has been the rule now, particularly when there’s thousandths between us. You lose a lot of thousandths behind each other with the loss of downforce. Yeah, I think it would be great if we get some… a wet race would be exciting.

    SV: I think… mostly conditions. If it’s dry we know what to do, everybody knows what to do. It’s fairly easy knowing what to expect. If there’s an element of wet then it can mix things up so we will see. I think we wake up tomorrow, look outside and see what to do. We have enough wet tyres so it should be fine if it’s wet.

    VB: Seeing the forecast, I think really making the most of the conditions throughout the race, being on it with the strategy. I think that’s going to be one of the key points.

    Q: (Fu Yu – China International Radio) Valtteri, you’re only a thousandth of a second slower than Sebastian on the front row. Do you think you could have done a little bit better and how confident do you feel about making up that gap tomorrow?

    VB: Always if you could do the lap again, especially when it’s one thousandth, you can find it somewhere, especially with the short amount of running throughout practice. We only really had practice three. Yes, definitely, I could have done better but I think every driver on this grid, having got a second qualifying, would improve and then it becomes more and more tricky to improve.

    Q: (Fu Yu – China International Radio) How confident do you feel about making up that thousandth of a second tomorrow?

    VB: When we’re on the grid tomorrow then it doesn’t matter. I always tend to get all the points from the qualifying that I need to improve and what we need to improve as a team. We move on for tomorrow and tomorrow I’m not going to think about the one thousandth; it’s a new day and a completely new opportunity and we are going to do everything we can to be one and two and for me still chasing my career-best result.

    Q: (Marius Salvini – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, pole position number 65 is even closer. What do you think about it, is it something of a magic number for you?

    LH: It really is, I think. Every pole has been – it might be hard for you to believe – but every pole position has been so unique in its own way. There’s always been a different journey to gain that pole, there are different things that have happened on that lap. It’s still today – and I’m sure it will never change – it’s still so real that I have that amount of poles and to think you can have a pole in Formula One…. because the dream was to get to Formula One. And now, it’s perhaps even more exciting, I’m nearing Ayrton, he had a lot of pole positions with less races. We know what he did back then was just phenomenal, the same with Michael but just grateful to be up there up amongst them. I definitely feel that what I love even more now is that I feel like more than at any other time, I feel like I’m really having to earn those pole positions being that it’s so close, so again, on top of that the feeling is even better.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • Mercedes is still the favourite, feels Vettel

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, if we could start with you. Many congratulations on that win in Melbourne. You’re now leading the championship for the first time since 2013. Just describe what that win meant to you and the reception you got when you went back to Maranello?

    Sebastian VETTEL: I think of the entire team, I think it was a great weekend, including myself obviously. With the new generation of cars, generally first race of the season with a new car, always a lot of work that goes into the whole project and it’s the best way to kick off the season. The day was very special; the fans in Melbourne, the reception there was incredible. Also for everyone back in Italy, in Maranello, obviously it was great to get a little bit of reward after such a long winter, a lot of hard work, as I said, that went into the new car. When I came back to the factory people were generally very happy and motivated to push even harder, which obviously is what we need. It’s just the first race, so it doesn’t mean much, but for sure, as I said, it’s the best way to start off.

    Q: For you personally, after what was a very difficult 2016, how much of a relief is it to have a competitive car underneath you?

    SV: It wasn’t that bad last year! It wasn’t the best year we’ve had but still I think we had a decent amount of podiums. We had a lot of races where things were not going our way, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Maybe my memory is wrong, but I remember it maybe better than what people make out of it now. For sure it wasn’t the season we wanted to have and after one race it’s easy to say that this year is better than last year, but it’s only one race. As I said, it’s only the start of the season. For sure a lot of things have changed since last year. The team has evolved. I think we generally are in a much better position; people are more comfortable throughout the whole team. The work that is going in is a lot more targeted and overall we’re more confident with the way we work now and hopefully we keep up that trend to show it also on the track.

    Q: Well, can you keep up that trend this weekend? It’s a very different race track here in Shanghai than in Melbourne?

    SV: It’s a completely different it’s true. Then, the weather is completely different, just looking outside now. It’s always a grand prix full of surprises, the Chinese Grand Prix, since the day I can remember; in 2007 I think I had my first race here. I started 17th or 18th in the Toro Rosso and I finished fourth. We had the rain helping us at that time. You never know what happens around here. It’s a demanding track with the cars, the tyres in particular, but also the drivers with the conditions, so impossible to predict anything.

    Q: Of course you had the rain helping you, too, with that win in 2009 for Red Bull Racing. Thank you Sebastian. Let’s move on to Max. Let’s cast our minds back to Melbourne as well. You finished fifth, what is the mood in the camp after that result?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Pretty similar to be honest. For sure we have to improve, but that’s how it is at the moment. We are definitely working hard to get new parts to the car as soon and try to just get the pace up a bit and be closer to the top two teams, because behind us is at the moment quite a big gap, as you could see. I think I could have done two pit stops in Melbourne and still have had the same position. We’ll see, on a normal race track here in Shanghai.

    Q: Do you expect to be closer this weekend to Ferrari and Mercedes?

    MV: I don’t know. We’ll find out.

    Q: Well, what about the gap to those two teams – how long do you think it will take to close it?

    MV: It’s a bit difficult to say really. It’s quite a big gap, but I’m quite confident that we can definitely close it in the upcoming races to within a second and then we’ll see when we get the bigger upgrades also from the engine side.

    Q: Just talk us through the positives and the negatives of this car. What are you pleased with and where do you think there needs to be more work?

    MV: Do you have an hour? No, I think we can… yeah, we can just improve the general balance. I mean, I think in qualifying everything felt pretty good but it’s just we need more load. A bit more grip, we need more power. And it’s a bit of both – you try to make an efficient car on the straights to make up for the loss of power there. Now we just have to focus on, first, getting the car in the right window and then hopefully we get the right upgrades from the engine side as well.

    Q: Nico, can you give us your thoughts on your Melbourne weekend? You finished just outside the points, were you pleased with how things went?

    Nico HULKENBERG: Not massively happy, but I think as a first weekend it was quite OK I would say. We’re not too far from the midfield. My race was quite compromised by being stuck behind the McLaren. I think otherwise it could have been quite a bit better and further up the road. So that’s the good news – that we’re not too far, the midfield pack is quite close together there. It definitely comes down to the developments each team will bring now each weekend. I think we have a solid base that we can work pretty well with and hopefully score a couple of points in the next few grands prix.

    Q: You’re racing for a works team for the first time in Formula One. What are the biggest differences you’ve noticed between Renault and you’re previous team, Force India?

    NH: It’s just a much bigger operation, more people back at base, more people involved, it feels like more power. But yeah, with a manufacturer team you have a lot more expectations as well and at some point you have to deliver. But fair enough. I think everybody in the team feels very keen and up for that challenge and just looking forward to the next couple of months and making that work.

    Q: You’re the senior driver in the team. What is your role outside of the car? Are you expected to have an influence over the general direction of staff movements, things like that?

    NH: I don’t think staff movements so much. But if they ask my opinion I’m happy to give my opinion! I think the two drivers are the guys that drive the cars and need to explain and identify the problems and the issues with the cars and give directions to the engineers and the people back at the factory to develop as fast and efficiently as possible. I think that’s where the role comes down to and, yeah, obviously perform on the track.

    Q: Before we open it up to the floor, a question to all three of your, but let’s start with Sebastian. A lot was made about he physicality of this new generation of cars, how did you find the opening race of the season in Melbourne, physically?

    SV: Tougher than last year.

    Can you elaborate any more on that?

    SV: Well, we’re going faster but if you look compared to 10 years ago, you mustn’t forget that we have a lot more fuel in the car. We are on the tyres for longer, providing they last, and in general the cars are heavier. If you talk about load and high-speed corners they are the fastest cars we’ve ever had. I think for more or less all of us the step from last year has been quite big. Melbourne historically hasn’t been the most physical track, so I’m sure there will be tracks that will be more physical, but it’s been tougher than last year.

    Thank you. Max, do you have anything to add on the physicality of the cars?

    MV: Sebastian is travelling a second a lap faster every lap, so for sure it’s a bit more physical. But it was actually alright. I trained quite a bit more in the off-season period. For me it felt pretty similar to last year but I’m still getting older and stronger just by myself. It was alright. I didn’t have a drinks bottle as well, so it was all good.

    Nico?

    NH: I think the first couple of grands prix aren’t the most physical, but ask us again after Singapore. I’m sure you’ll see a few drivers pretty knackered after that?

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) A question to all three drivers. Do you remember the first point you scored in Formula One and was it important for your career?

    SV: Yeah, I remember, I was physically pretty knackered! I was completely destroyed after the race. So I remember, the first race I did in the United States, which obviously came by surprise, with Robert Kubica’s accident the week before and then the fact that he couldn’t drive. For me it was obviously the step into Formula One, because with that one race I was able to show whatever, what was necessary to get another chance, with Toro Rosso for the remainder of the year so it was very crucial.

    Max?

    MV: Yeah it’s not that long ago is it? It was alright. I think it was quite a good race…

    Just remind everyone where that was?

    MV: Malaysia it was, 2015. There were quite a lot of issues at the end of the race, I remember, with the parts, but we managed to bring it home. So yeah, happy to finish in the points and it was just a good race and probably good for the future as well.

    And Nico?

    NH: Yeah, I think it was also Malaysia for me, second or third grand prix, in 2010. It’s just nice. It’s something you want to tick, to quickly get off your chest, you’ve done it and points are always good for your team.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Max, you did a stunning wet race last year in Brazil, and considering the weather, it’s supposed to be raining on Sunday, so do you think you will be able to do that again?

    MV: To be honest, I don’t know. I think last year our package also in the dry was a bit better, a bit more competitive. Also, you need the grip from the car in the wet to do a good job. We’ll find out. It’s always nice to drive in the wet.

    Q: (Luiny Kong – Motorsport.com) A question to Nico. It’s highly possible for it to rain on Sunday, so do you think it’s a chance for you to gain a better position?

    NH: Yeah, it can be, but it can also go against yourself. You obviously have to stay on the track first. It can be quite tricky with some rivers here in the wet. You have to be cautious, but generally I’m a fan of wet running. It offers more opportunity, you can make a bigger difference as a driver, and it’s more fun, it’s more challenging, so I wouldn’t mind it.

    Q: (Kate Walker – New York Times): Earlier this year Jacques Villeneuve that said F1 had ‘lost its way’ when it first started talking to fans and asking what they wanted, but we’ve seen with Liberty the new owners are very keen on fan engagement and we’re seeing an increase in the number of fan surveys. To what extent do you think F1 needs to listen to the fans?

    SV: It’s a difficult one. I’m maybe very old-school on many things, and I think that some things we shouldn’t change. The way people look at it now after one race, after a couple of races, they would like to see a change, but I think it’s wrong to change too much. I think it’s important to keep a certain framework consistent throughout time, so I think every now and then it’s important to listen to people, but I think with surveys it’s always difficult to get a very clear picture. I think too much change, equally, is wrong. Just to give an example, when there was talk about the race format, I think it would be quite bad to get rid of one race, one grand prix – I think it would take away the highlight of the weekend by putting two races, for example, or to make the race shorter because they say it’s too boring and lasts too long. I think that’s the grand prix: that’s how it’s always been. It’s been even longer in the past, if you look a long way back, and it should remain a challenge. Making it shorter, more exciting, whatever, I think it’s not a grand prix any more. So to give you an answer, I’m a bit sceptical to have change for the sake of change.

    Nico, how about you and Formula One’s relationship with the fans.

    NH: I think it’s definitely good and important to listen to what they have to say, and how they see the sport from the outside – I think it’s definitely good to have that. I think not everything that fans may wish for is realistic and possible, but I think it’s important to find the right balance there. We all want to race hard, it must be a good show and be entertaining, so I think the balance must be right.

    Max, anything to add?

    MV: To be honest, I think it’s always good to get different opinions. It’s a good thing to also listen to fans, of course. I think one thing I miss a bit is of course the engine noise – I think when you were a little kid and you were standing next to the track it was something… even when they were not going 350km/h but going 310 or 320 it was still something magical when they passed, a Formula One car. And now we’re going really quick, but on the straights sometimes it doesn’t look as quick as a few years ago, when we still had the engine noise. That makes a big impression to the fans as well, and I think that there also needs to be a bit more action in terms of overtaking. As soon as you get that back into it, it doesn’t matter how fast the cars are around the lap. The engine noise takes over a lot more than having a car which is three seconds faster compared to last year.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Question to Sebastian. Can you tell us something about the special relationship between a Formula One driver and his car? Is there a special relationship – or is it just a human and a machine?

    SV: I name my car but it’s not like I stroke her in the morning when I come in and do the same again in the evenings. I think it’s a bit of fun to give it a bit more of a relationship than just calling it ‘the car’. For sure you need to trust the car the moment you step in – for many reasons, not just to go fast. But… yeah… it’s not like I call the factory and ask how the car is doing. I’m also happy to share it with other men, so I’m not taking it that seriously.

    What is the name of this year’s car? And why is it called that?

    SV: The name is Gina. We sit down, we have a nice dinner, it’s more about the dinner than the name. But then we just decide a name. It’s a lot of fun. Gina was the outcome this year.

    Q: (Inaudible) We know you have tested the most laps last year in the Pirelli tyre test and last race your tyre management is brilliant. So, is that experience giving you better understanding for the tyres or give you more advantages compared to other drivers?

    SV: I’m not sure. I think maybe the right answer is ‘no’. But the reason why I’m generally happy to do it is because I love driving. So, when there’s an opportunity to test, even though testing can sometimes be a bit dull and boring but still, you’re driving the car and that’s much better than sitting on the bike for a couple of hours or whatever training to be fit enough to drive the car. I think that generally track time is limited so every opportunity you get. That’s personal – but I can’t understand why you would reject it and as I said, I’m happy to drive the car and I think there’s always something you learn, so for sure the days I did last year with Pirelli to help them get feedback for the tyres etc., for sure they also helped me.

    Q: Nico, your team and you didn’t do any 2017 tyre testing last year with Pirelli. Do you feel at a disadvantage compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull who did?

    NH: I’m not sure, to be honest. Because obviously it was these mule cars which were not fully representative  and the tyres were also not, I believe, the exact spec that we have now. But, you know, there’s always something that you can learn, and pickup, that you can use for your advantage. But that’s in the past. It’s history.

    Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriere della Sera) Question to Sebastian. You score your fourth victory with Ferrari. Was it something different to the first three in 2015? And here, in China, do you expect a strong reaction from Mercedes?

    SV: I think Mercedes still has to be the favourite, obviously. We had a very, very strong first race. At least the way we look at it inside the team is to look at it race-by-race. I know, we know that we have a good package which puts us in a strong place but there’s a lot of things that…

    MV: And don’t stop too early, otherwise I’ll be driving there…

    SV: Yeah, exactly! We know there’s a lot of things that we need to do to keep up with them and keep the position that we are in now, to fight for good races. Melbourne, it was the first race of the year, with the year last year that was difficult – wasn’t a disaster from my point of view – but was difficult for all the team, I think it was nice, and that’s what everyone felt. A lot of hours going in and I think a lot of people inside the team, they invested so much time so, for sure here and there in Australia the people were maybe not as fresh as they could be because they invested so much time and spent so many nights working on the car, preparing the car, as well as in the factory. So I think it was a nice feeling to get something back. For sure the victory is always the medicine for everyone. It was good, we’ve done that, and now we move on.

    Q: (Arjan Schoutten – AD Sportwereld) Question for Max about Melbourne. You mentioned the lack of overtaking. Was that a good indicator or will this be a whole, new story here in Shanghai?

    MV: I think in general in Melbourne it’s always a bit hard to overtake. It’s just the track, the nature of it. I think last year actually in China there was a lot of action so I expect that it’s a bit better to overtake here. I think it won’t be the same like last year because the cars are going faster through the corners and we have less tyre degradation. It will be a bit more difficult but I wouldn’t say it would be like Melbourne.

    Q: (Felix Görner – RTL) Max, did you get the beer from Sebastian?

    MV: No, but it’s alright.

    SV: You’re not old enough to drink!

    MV: I’m not satisfied with water.

    eom/FIA transcript of the press conference

  • It’s a dream come true: Giovinazzi on his F1 debut

    It’s a dream come true: Giovinazzi on his F1 debut

    From left – Antonio Giovinazzi (Sauber), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) at the FIA press conference on Thursday. An FIA image

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Antonio GIOVINAZZI (SAUBER), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (FERRARI), Carlos SAINZ (TORO ROSSO)

    Q: Kimi, let’s start with you… you finished fourth in Melbourne despite a few handling problems during the race. How confident are you of challenging at the front this weekend?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Well, I think we learned a lot, we understand quite a bit and kind of everything came a bit late. And obviously then you don’t get a very good result. I mean comparing to the last few years it was far from a disaster. Yes, we had some difficulties and we know afterwards that we could have been much faster but still, as a team, we did a pretty solid job and yeah, we got some points – but new place, new circuit, so we’ll see.

    Q: Sebastian said a moment ago that he thinks Mercedes are still favourites coming into this weekend. Is that how you see it – or will the rain mix things up?

    KR: I don’t know who it will be. We haven’t driven a single lap with the new cars here, so who knows. I think we have had a pretty good package, and feeling with the car whichever place we’ve been but it’s pointless to start guessing who’s going to be in front, who’s not. We will see over the weekend and Sunday we’ll hopefully be a little bit smarter.

    Q: You haven’t driven the new cars here but you have driven yours in the wet when the track was artificially watered in the Barcelona test. How was it then?

    KR: It wasn’t like proper wet. It’s always hard to make the same conditions if it’s raining outside like it is now or just dumping water on the circuit, so it’s a bit tricky to get the best idea. Plus we have different tyres here for the wet. It’s a bit unknown but the same for everybody. Usually if the car is good on try it’s not too bad in the wet either. We have to wait and see but I think in any condition we should be OK.

    Q: Antonio, congratulations on a tremendous first grand prix in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago. How do you reflect on it now?

    Antonio GIOVINAZZI: Thank you. It was a special weekend. It was my first F1 grand prix. Dream came true. Since I was a kid the dream was to arrive in F1 and to drive there was a fantastic experience, fantastic weekend. It was a quite late call on Saturday morning but I really enjoyed everything I did from FP3 to quali to race. So, I will never forget – and to be here already, to start from FP1 will be more easy. And also to have the experience from Melbourne will make everything a lot more easy. It will be a different race weekend though. The weather also looks difficult. So, it will be maybe wet and also to have some experience in the wet conditions will be good. What I can do is to do my best and hope the result can be good like Melbourne.

    Q: What’s your deal with the Sauber team, how many races are you going to do for them?

    AG: I’m the third driver of Ferrari. Now we just think race-by-race. I had the call here on Tuesday and I’m here to race for Sauber but already from next week I will be back in red with the Scuderia Ferrari – but then we will see in the future.

    Q: So no news on Bahrain yet?

    AG: Not yet.

    Q: Physically, how tough was the Australian Grand Prix for you?

    AG: Of course I keep training in the winter so I arrive there quite prepared. To be honest at the end of the race was not easy but I expected it to be more difficult. Here I think it will be a little bit tough because the track has a lot longer corners so for the neck it will be not easy – but I was training last week and hope to also be OK here.

    Q: Carlos, a good result for Toro Rosso in Melbourne; both cars in the points, yourself eighth. How confident are you of maintaining that form going forward?

    Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, I think it was a really good weekend for the team after a very tough winter. I think we were the team to only just do more laps than McLaren so it was also an extremely tough winter in Barcelona for us and to turn up to the first race and put both cars in the points, and in Q3, was a success, definitely, so it just shows that the car has a lot of potential and that we can only get better from here. Shanghai will be a bit tougher because it has a bit of a longer straight than Melbourne but I think we can be happy with the first race and we can start from there.

    Q: Can you give us your thoughts on the current Renault engine and how it compares to the two-year old Ferrari that the team used last year?

    CS: Well, for me it feels great because last year was very painful and all the second half of the season we were something like 15-16-17kph down on the straight compared to our direct competitors. Suddenly, to start the first race and to see yourself 7-8kph back, even six or five in some cases was really good news and something grateful to experience but definitely, as you can see, we are still one step behind the leaders in that regard, or the best engines in that regard, so I have the trust that Renault are working hard on that upgrade package coming to Canada and that can give us the extra 3,4,5 kph that can put us back in a normal, standard top speed deficit.

    Q: Kimi, coming back to you, a lot has been made of the physicality of this new breed of Formula One car; how does it compare to the cars that you drove in the mid-noughties, 2005, 2004? Are they more physical than back then?

    KR: It’s very hard to compare. It’s a long time ago, I suppose. It depends a lot on the different circuits, conditions and everything and how the tyres will last and obviously these last better and you can push more. I think the key point is that as we do more running, more racing, we get used to it and it’s not a big deal but at the start of the year, when you do the first test, it’s a bit of a surprise but that’s how it usually is after the winter. At least in Melbourne it didn’t feel any different but it’s amazing how quickly you get used to all the things and it feels absolutely normal. I’m sure somewhere it will be more harder than last year but that’s how it is.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To Antonio Giovinazzi: do you think if you score a point this weekend it would change your career?

    AG: It’s a good question. Of course it would change but it will be important for me, for my mind. Of course the result we also had in Melbourne, P12, was a good result and yeah, to improve the result from Melbourne is to take… to score a point will be difficult but I will try my best and score a point.

    Q: (Keren Wang – Top Driver) Antonio, how would you describe your driving style?

    AG: My driving style? I don’t know. I’m quite calm, I think, normal driving style. My strong part, I think, in GP2 was – in the race – to save the tyres. In Melbourne, I didn’t have much experience so maybe I was too slow in the beginning of the race but of course here I will improve, to already have FP1 and FP2 will be good to see how is the degradation, to have a feeling with the car so I hope I can do a better job in the race here.

    Q: (Michael Lamonato – Class Act Media) To all three of you: there’s a lot being made about the difficulty of overtaking this season. There was maybe only a handful of passing manoeuvres in Australia. Do you think the new regulations will make attempting an overtake maybe a bit more of a braver thing; will you have to put more on the line now to pass a car and will that contribute to the spectacle of racing?

    KR: Every circuit is different, obviously. Melbourne has always been difficult to overtake and of course when you maybe have the fastest car and the slowest car you get round it very easily but I think in China here, usually overtaking is easier so I think we have to wait and see how it is here and then see if it’s harder or less easy than we expected but I think when you have two fast cars against each other, it doesn’t matter if it’s last year or this year, it’s always going to be hard to get past. The other factor is that there is less tyre drop-off so obviously after the pit stops there is a much smaller difference between the speed of the cars because of that so there are all those things which in the end make a difference.

    CS: I think it’s definitely a bit more difficult compared to last year but I think it’s a price that is worth paying for, having these cars which are a lot faster and these tyres that are allowing you to push a lot more. At least, myself I have been doing a lot more on the race but also if you would put one-stop races last year, I don’t think you would have seen many overtakings so I think it’s more dependent on pit stops than on the cars of this year.

    Q: Antonio, how much harder is it to overtake in Formula One compared to GP2?

    AG: To be honest it’s quite different, you know. In GP2 we all have similar cars, only one strategy, only one pit stop so I think GP2 was a good category for overtaking but to be honest I think here in Shanghai with the longer straight it will be easier than in Melbourne but to be honest, I didn’t have much experience compared to last year so what I say is not much to take into account so GP2 was good, F1 I don’t have much experience of so after this race I can tell you better.

    Q: (Veljko Jukic – Auto Focus) Kimi, when we look at a race today, how of your concentration is spent on taking care of tyres, on fuel consumption and on pure racing?

    KR: Obviously it depends a lot on the conditions and the circuit that we’re on. Some circuits you have to do some fuel saving, some not at all. Obviously it is a big part of those races and it’s the same with the tyres, some circuits are much better for tyres that they don’t degrade so much. You can’t really say that every place is the same. Each place is a special place and it’s different to the previous race and the next race so some days you can go full out for the whole race, some you have to take care of things or maybe if you have an issue then obviously that creates another story. So to really go full out is not an awful lot during the year, it is not often for the whole race. It’s a nice feeling for all of us, I think, when we can really go full speed all the time and not really worry about tyres or fuel, just try and race against it.

    Q: (Veljko Jukic – Auto Focus) Do you have to take care of fuel consumption?

    KR: Sometimes, it depends on the circuit, obviously. I think it’s the same for all the cars. Between the engines and the cars there’s small differences but I’m sure the places that we have to fuel save the others will also, it’s the same for them.

    Q: (Andreas Haupt – Auto Motor und Sport) Antonio, did you set yourself any specific goals, targets for this weekend? For example, beating Marcus or is it just about relaxing for you?

    AG: Just as you say, maybe relaxing and enjoying of course and getting more experience. After one race is not enough to set a target so I need to just drive and take experience and do my best and then we will see the results on Sunday.

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) Kimi, in Barcelona you seemed to do easily the fastest time. It didn’t work out in Melbourne in the race. Are this year’s cars more difficult to set up?

    KR: In the race I did fastest lap. It was only one lap and I was a bit light but… No, I don’t think it’s any more difficult to set up this year than any other year but I don’t also think it’s ever going to be easy to find the best set-up. Sometimes you might end up when you go on a new circuit that just happens to be right and you just fine-tune it a little bit but for many different small reasons we never really got it right and it just makes a big difference, at least on circuits like Melbourne, the corners that there are. If it’s not right you’re going to give an awful lot of lap time. That was really the end story. Obviously with big enough understeer you have a little bit more unknown stories from testing still, you never have time to do everything plus you do testing in one place so you kind of end up being in a similar area with the car all testing long, so going to a new place you have to be much more and obviously they are much more experienced now and I think it should be fine now.

    Q: (Michael Lamonato – Class Act Media) Antonio, it’s rare for a reserve driver to get a racing opportunity. How are you approaching this race compared to the last race in the sense that… are you treating it like a CV for a race drive next year or is it really just about you filling in the race seat and getting the job done for Sauber?

    AG: Yeah, I’m the third driver of Ferrari. Now I’m back here in China. Of course I have more time to prepare for the race so already from FP1 compared to Melbourne and yeah, I just need to take experience, do a lot of laps and of course about next year, this year is still too early to speak. I’m really glad to drive here so I need to say thanks to Scuderia Ferrari and Sauber for this opportunity and I need to just drive and gain experience.

    eom/FIA press release of the transcript

  • Charlie Whiting, Sporting Director, talks to the media

    Q: Charlie, there have obviously been major changes at FOM, with Ross Brawn moving in. You had a very close relationship with Ross when he was at Ferrari etc. Ross is charged with improving the show from a FOM point of view, which could include technical or sporting changes. How do you see yourselves working with Ross going forward and what changes do you foresee?

    CW: I don’t know what changes to foresee at the moment but I think we’re going to have a very good working relationship from what I’ve seen so far. I know Ross very well and I’m quite friendly with him so I think we’re going to have a very productive relationship.

    Q: There’s been a rule tweak about incidents on track between drivers. Can you explains about it, because it doesn’t seem too different to last year, and are there any incidents from last year that wouldn’t be handed over to the stewards this year for investigation with the new tweak in regulations?

    CW: Yes I think there will be a small change to some incidents which we saw last year that would maybe be handled slightly differently simply because the so-called Verstappen rule has gone, to the effect that before, we said any move under braking will be investigated. Now we have a simple rule that says effectively that if a driver moves erratically or goes unnecessarily slowly or behaves in manner that could endanger another driver then he will be investigated. We have a broad rule now. What we did in Austin last year, if you remember, in response to comments from drivers is that we used the existing rules to put into the event notes we issue as how we were going to interpret the existing rules. And the interpretation simply was that drivers shouldn’t move under braking and that’s what gave rise to the penalty given to Seb in Mexico. That will be dealt with slightly differently in that the stewards will be invited to simply focus on every incident and judge it on its own merits. So each dealt with only on the basis of whether or not it was a dangerous manoeuvre, not necessarily because he moved under braking.

    Q: Charlie there was a lot of talk over the winter about suspension systems. I think the FIA were planning to evaluate all the teams over the Barcelona testing. Did the tests take place and is the FIA happy with all the designs on the cars?

    CW: So far, so good, yes. Marcin [Budkowski, FIA Head of the Formula One Technical Department] and Jo [Bauer, FIA Formula One Technical Delegate] did a lot of work in Barcelona going through all the systems and the ones we’ve inspected so far have all been as we expected to be here, so we don’t anticipate any problems

    Q: Have you inspected all of them?

    CW:  Not all yet, but they’re working their way through it.

    Q: Have Pirelli met the requirements of the target letter, not just in terms of the exact clauses but also in the general intent of the drivers being able to push flat out or as much as possible?

    CW: We think so at the moment, yes. It’s a little early to say. I think we need to judge it after a few races and if we feel they’ve fallen short somewhere then we will discuss it with them.

    Q: Charlie, without me trying to read through all of the regulations and getting confused – standing starts after a safety car in the wet. Does that just apply at the start of the race or will there be a standing start if the safety car comes out again?

    CW: Only if we start the race with a safety car. There was talk and it was discussed about having standing starts after every safety car interventions but we haven’t gone that far yet.

    Q: There was a lot of talk about radio regulation last year and I wanted to know would there be any further tweaks to radio regulations because there is still that talk of too much instruction from the pit wall to the driver. But when it’s a mechanical issue or a safety issue would that be allowed?

    CW: We freed it all up after lots of discussion last year, as you know. We put quite strict restrictions on the formation lap and that’s all. That’s really the only part where they have to comply with a certain set of messages they can send during that time, the rest of it is free. It’s exactly as it was towards the end of last year.

    Q: Charlie, can you clarify the things on the suspension, because in the regulations from last year to this year there didn’t change anything but the FIA changed how they judged whether a system is legal or not. We understand that some teams had to makes changes to make them legal. Can you explain that for us?

    CW: Well, we’ve been aware of hydraulically operated suspension systems on cars for some time but it became clear they were being used for purposes other than suspension. So under the regulations where you are not allowed to have a suspension system that affects the aerodynamic performance of the car in anything other than an incidental way, we don’t allow it. So that’s the approach we have taken. We wanted to see whether suspension is genuinely suspension or whether it’s there predominantly to affect the aerodynamic performance of the car. That’s the change effectively. We have been focusing far more on that this year.

    Q: Now you have seen the new cars in testing and what they can do in terms of performance. I think the FIA was going to look at some of the circuit layouts and see if maybe any tweaks were needed for safety reasons. Have any been specifically targeted?

    CW: Yes, most circuits will need a little tweak. This circuit here has had tyre barriers improved in four places; we’re finding similar things probably more on the older circuits, whereas Shanghai, Bahrain and those sort of places haven’t needed anything doing to them. But obviously the quite old circuits will need a bit of work and we’re going through that circuit by circuit, running simulations and seeing exactly what’s needed and where. We’re working our way through that.

    Q: Does FIA plan to investigate so-called oil burning in engines as raised by Red Bull and Renault? Is it an area you’re concerned about?

    CW: I wouldn’t say it’s an area of concern; it’s an area of interest. We’re monitoring it. We did quite a lot of work on that in Barcelona. We’re going to inspect all the oil systems here and we’re going to randomly check oil consumption to make sure it’s not being used as fuel.

    Q: You seem pretty certain that the teams are not using suspension for aerodynamic gain. How can you be so sure?

    CW: Two basic things, really. We think that if a suspension system behaves asymmetrically there is not a very justifiable reason for behaving like that. So if a suspension system goes down at one speed and comes back at a different speed, there really shouldn’t be any reason for that. Also, if there is any attempt to store any of the energy for later deployment, then we feel that’s not really part of a proper suspension system and it is being done for other reasons. The onus is being put on the teams to demonstrate that their system has an incidental effect only. If they are not able to convince us of that then they can’t use it.

    Q: Also, if these cars turn out to be perhaps the fastest Formula One cars ever, or close to, doesn’t that mean that sooner or later they will have to be reined in, because we have seen several times over the last couple of decades that the speeds have had to be contained, as the circuits can’t contain them?

    CW: We’ll see is the answer to that one. It was one of the briefs the Strategy Group gave us, that they should be the fastest cars ever. As I said just now in answer to the other question about circuits we’ve done a lot of work with all of the tracks but we’re also future-proofing them so we don’t have to keep coming back year after year, because we know the cars will get incrementally faster; it’s always happened that way. But we’re trying to make sure we don’t need to go back every year, so we are adding an element of future-proofing so we don’t need to do that.

    Q: The new owners say they want to have more of a show. Would you say there is a risk that someone might come up to you and ask ‘oh, the easiest way to do that is have more safety cars’? How would you feel about that?

    CW: If such a request was made our answer would have to be that we will only use a safety car for the right reasons. I don’t think we would deviate from that approach.

    Q: The way that I understand it the deadline for any rule changes for 2018 has come and gone and although the Halo or any cockpit protection could be introduced on safety grounds, is everyone still on track for 2018 introduction and what sort of concept would it be?

    CW: Yes, it is still on track. It was agreed by the Strategy Group and the Formula One Commission that there would be additional frontal protection for 2018. So far, the Halo is the only candidate solution that fits the bill. We are working on other solutions, for review, and after the 30th of April, which is the cut-off point for regulation changes, we’ll just have to see. If something better comes up after that we’ll have to look as how we approach it.

    Q: Could you please talk us through the procedure for a standing start after a safety car, when it comes to a rain situation on Sunday. I would imagine that full wets are still mandatory but will you have a pre-warning? How long will you have to decide?

    CW: It will be done exactly the same way as we’ve always done SC start, so at the 10-minute point, 10 minutes before the start of the formation lap the decision is taken to start with safety car. Everything will remain exactly the same at that point, until the start. Previously, at the start of what would have been the formation lap, that became the first lap of the race, so the race started at the start of the formation lap. What’s going to happen now, however, is we are going to do more than one formation lap, and then when we decide to bring the safety car in, say you’ve done five formation laps behind the safety car, the safety car will come in and instead of released, the cars will come back to the grid, all the grid boards will come out and the marshals will be there ready to do exactly as they do for a standing start and the race will start when the lights go out. The race shortened by the number of laps behind the safety car minus one – because that would be the number of laps we do, one formation lap plus the four or five or whatever it turns out to be. Then we will just do a standing start. It sounds very easy, and it is very simple in that respect, but there are a couple of little issues – if you have a car starting from the pit lane or required to start from the pit lane for example, they can take part in the formation laps, but they have to come back in. They can’t change tyres. In case the track’s drying out, if anyone comes in when the safety car comes in then they get penalised, they have to do at least one lap before they think about changing tyres. Lot of little bits and pieces that have emerged during all the conversations with the teams. That’s it in a nutshell.

    Q: About five minutes ago you talked about simulations on the circuits – can you explain a little bit more about how it works?

    CW: How the simulation works? It’s a fairly straightforward thing. We generate a speed profile based on – in this particular case – information from teams, then we try and match it up… We create our own speed profile within the simulation, and that calculates the speed of the car every 3m, then you draw a tangent to the racing line, see how long that is, how quickly a car will decelerate over that distance and at what speed it will hit the barrier. At that point you then decide what sort of barrier you need. It’s as simple as that, really. We’ve tested many arrays of Tecpro and tyre barriers, and we can say that if a car’s going to hit at 65kph then we need three rows of tyres and a bit of Tecpro, or something like that. It’s very, very simple; it’s not complex at all.

    Q: Where do we stand regarding engines beyond 2020? What is the procedure for that?

    CW: We are discussing this and we have a meeting next week in fact with a number manufacturers to discuss what they see as the need for F1 beyond 2020. We have no specific plans at the moment but we would like to see what the manufacturers think first.

    Q: I think part of the engine rule is that you do an evaluation on performance of the engines after four or five races; you expect them to be within a certain range. If one of the four manufacturers stays as bad as shown in winter testing does it mean that you have to rewrite the engine rules for next year?

    CW: That’s a bit of a tricky one, that one! I think we’ll just have to wait and see how we assess the engines first, before we tackle something as serious as that. But you’re absolutely right – we did undertake to assess the relative performance of the engines after three races; we will do that.

    Q: With regards to the standing start after the formation lap, or safety car, if you do more than one lap of formation lap, when does the fuel restriction come in? I mean, the amount of fuel you can use.

    CW: As now, at the end of the formation lap under a normal start, the fuel quantity is calculated from the point that the race start is given. So the fuel meters are reset at the start. The same will happen; they will have a bit more fuel because the formation laps will presumably be slower, so it will still get reset at the time the race is started.

    Q: I’m sure that in Barcelona you checked the efficiency of DRS under the new regulations, but here you have the same distance – the same length of the DRS areas. Does this mean you are expecting the same effect, or are you going to inspect what’s going on here and change at future races?

    CW: It’s a little difficult in testing to fully assess the DRS, so we have some information of course.  We don’t see a significant difference at the moment; that’s why we should assess it over the first two races. As it happens, here in Melbourne you can’t go any longer. It’s actually not long enough for our needs, which is why a couple of years ago we introduced a second activation zone based on one detection point. In other words, you try and get the cars closer to the car in front on the first bit, then do something better in the second bit. It seems to have worked reasonably well; can’t actually make it any longer here anyway. We’ve undertaken to assess it after the second race.

    Q: Teams must explain to you why their [suspension] system is legal. Is it possible that two teams who have exactly the same suspension, but one of them is capable of explaining to you why their system is legal and the other one can’t?

    CW: Potentially, yes. Unless we’re satisfied that a suspension system isn’t capable of doing… We don’t want to hear that it’s not being operated like it should be; if we think that it can be used to do something we don’t want it to then they can’t use it.

    Q: Can you tell me about the Technical Directive you issued between the two Barcelona tests with regard to the clutch? Can you still use clutch bite point? Clutch map and bite point finger or something?

    CW: This is the one about driver aids, isn’t it? We put some restrictions on how much travel the clutch lever can have and how far away from any adjacent levers it can be. The simple point is that now with the torque being mapped against paddle distances instead of position, it’s got to be linear and the drivers have got to find it themselves, without help from any additional reference point. In fact, we’ve got a meeting this afternoon to inspect everybody’s steering wheel to make sure no one is doing what he shouldn’t. They’ve got to go to a position where they think the optimum torque for the start is by themselves.

    Q: Back to the circuits. You said added barriers, especially at the old circuits. I’m thinking about Suzuka specifically, because there’s no room for more run-off areas. Are you going to ask them to put some tarmac there, or some other material is used in the run-off area?

    CW: Not specifically in Suzuka, no. I was actually there on Monday, and I went through it all with them, in order to try and come up with a good solution for them; we’re still discussing it. You’re right, it is one of the more challenging circuits.

    Q: What can you tell us about the situation with the Halo? Will we see more in Free Practices, and when will you make a decision about 2018?

    CW: There won’t be any more use in Free Practice. The purpose of doing it last year was to allow every team and every driver to assess it, which we did all bar one driver. There are no plans to run it any more this year. An announcement is expected at the end of April, we hope.

    Q: Just to go back to the so-called Verstappen rule, for clarity why did you remove the specific language? Was that to give more room for manoeuvre? Will that sort of manoeuvre – moving under braking – will that automatically trigger an investigation even though I realise you’ve got more space with the wider definition that remains in the rules?

    CW: It probably would automatically trigger an investigation or a request to stewards to have a look at it, as with any incident. The way we interpreted the regulations last year was to simply use the rules that we had to say moving under braking was potentially dangerous and hence would be reported to the stewards every time. But what we were requested to do, and which we think is a more general way of approaching things is to give the stewards one rule to work with. It’s an all-encompassing rule; you can do more or less anything with that. That was the request from teams, they wanted less investigation and only in cases when something was clearly dangerous would they take action. We had a meeting yesterday with all the stewards, and we reviewed the controversial incidents from last year to see how they would be dealt with this year under the so-called new rules, and it was quite interesting. I won’t go into it now, but it was quite interesting.

    Q: So were there changes to 2016 decisions?

    CW: Things would have been interpreted slightly differently, yes, in some cases. We will probably talk to the drivers about it tomorrow.

    Q: Saying that every incident will be judged on its own merits – does that mean that they can now move more than once if they want to?

    CW: No, that’s a different rule. That’s defending, and what we’re talking about is moving in the braking zone. Obviously some drivers were more annoyed about it than others last year; it does give some drivers a bit of a problem. Defending is different – if you move more than once to defend a position, that’s a separate rule. There is a rule against that; it’s still illegal.

    Q: Is there any limit of time now for you to give us a solution of this investigation, a result of this investigation? Especially for TV, we have to wait and postpone our satellite service.

    CW: No, no specific limit. We have told all the stewards that we want to try and speed things up a little bit. We’ve taken some measures to get post-race checks done more quickly to get results out quicker than has been done in the past. It’s a little difficult, but what we’ve done to try and help the stewards by introducing what we call a video archive. It’s an archiving system, which allows them to instantly refer to similar incidents. Without having to trawl through and remember what happened to so-and-so, they’ll be able to pull up any similar incident. They’ll be sorted by type of incident, for example, causing a collision – click, click, click, for the last six, see what the decisions were because they’re tagged to the incident; that should give the stewards more chance to be consistent but also to do things faster. I’m optimistic we can do things quickly, and I do understand how this works for you guys. It must be very tedious hanging around for hours waiting for the stewards to decide things.

    Q: There were some photos from the Barcelona test of T-wings flexing in corners. Has that come onto the FIA’s radar and is there any flexibility test for them?

    CW: Jo will be checking those during the course of the weekend.

    Q: To go back to the question earlier: does this mean that the penalties will now be a little more severe when they do get decided on by the stewards?

    CW: Not necessarily. That’s not something the stewards normally do, try and be consistent in application of the penalty whatever the outcome, whatever the effect of that penalty. What they are being encouraged to do is to look at the consequences of accident. I don’t know if any of you remember a little incident in T2 in Malaysia last year, where Nico was penalised for banging into the side of Kimi. Both drivers continued, and it could be argued there was no harm done, just let them get on with it, but if Kimi had had to retire or pit for a new wing, you may have thought about it slightly differently. The actual penalty and the effect of the penalty would not be taken into account, for reasons of consistency.

    Q: Shark-fins and even the T-wings for that matter. Would you say they are unintended consequences of the new rules? Are you hoping to close off that loophole going forward next year and beyond?

    CW: Next year, I think there’s quite a strong chance that would be done; there appears to be quite a few people think they’re a bit of an unsightly thing. I personally don’t have anything against them. It was something that was always going to be possible, yes. I think the reaction of everybody against them was unexpected, to be honest with you.

    Q: I understand the tyre supplier was expected to come up with certain parameters for the tyres this year, and in testing it appears that they weren’t exactly to that, but obviously that’s just testing. Is that something you’re monitoring? And if they doneom’t meet that requirement, will you be taking further action?

    CW: I did answer this question earlier, if I remember. It’s the so-called ‘target letter’ that we sent Pirelli. I think it’s a little too early to judge whether they’ve achieved the targets; we’ll discuss it once we’ve been able to fully assess it.

    eom/FIA press release

     

  • Sweden win pushes Latvala to table top: WRC

    For the first time since Rally China in 1999, Toyota has won a round of the FIA World Rally Championship: on only the second event for the all-new Yaris WRC. Jari-Matti Latvala inherited the lead after yesterday’s super special stage, when the former leader broke his steering. Latvala then won all three stages today to extend his advantage and claim the first rally win for Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team. Juho Hänninen had a trouble-free day and scored more manufacturer points, meaning that Toyota Gazoo Racing is now second in the manufacturers’ championship, while Latvala heads the drivers’ standings, having sealed his 17th career win, his fourth in Sweden, and his first since Mexico 2016. In total, Jari-Matti won six stages: SS1, SS4, SS13, SS16, SS17 and SS18.

    Double podium for M-Sport: Meanwhile, as the Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC secured a second successive double podium, M-Sport have strengthened their lead at the head of the manufacturers’ standings – holding a 20 point advantage over their closest rivals, adds an M-Sport release.

    Having won four stages and delivered an impressive performance over the course of the weekend, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were just 3.8 seconds adrift of the lead going into the final-day showdown.

    Ultimately however, the pairing struggled to find the confidence-boosting rhythm they had previously enjoyed and had to settle for second place – reserving an elusive first victory for another day.

    In the sister M-Sport Fiesta WRC, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia secured a fine third place overall after being hampered by a less than perfect road position throughout much of the event.

    Biding their time, the Frenchmen did what they do best and secured a strong haul of points for their championship defence.

    Toyota release adds: Latvala started the day with just a 3.8-second advantage over the second-placed man but won all three stages (including the power stage) to seal an emotional victory, having experienced no problems at all. Hänninen finished just outside the top 20, continuing to test settings for future rallies.

    Quotes:
    Akio Toyoda (Team chairman)
    “It’s a great feeling to win a round of the World Rally Championship after a break of 17 years. I have always been looking forward to this moment, but I never imagined that it would come so soon. A special thanks not just to each and every member of the team, but also to all the fans who have been waiting for our return and shared the joy with us. So I’d like to share with everyone a discussion I had with Tommi and Jari-Matti before the start of Rally Sweden about communication with cars. Jari-Matti said he tries to communicate with them with love, and drive them with care. Tommi said he can have a good understanding of how to drive them faster because he loves cars. Their words, full of love for cars, touched me because I feel the same. So my wish is for us all to keep on enjoying this feeling and facing the challenges together to make the Yaris an ever-better car.”

    Tommi Mäkinen (Team principal)
    “It’s very hard to find the words to describe what I am feeling right now: what we are all feeling. Monte-Carlo was an unexpected result, but this is beyond unexpected. Of course we were lucky to have this win, but it’s also a huge tribute to the talent of Jari-Matti and the united team work that has taken place in Finland, Germany and Japan. It’s an incredible feeling and I just want to thank everybody who has made it possible: especially our chairman Mr Toyoda for his faith in us, Jari-Matti, Miika, Juho, and Kaj. This is a special day that we are all going to remember for a very long time, but at the same time we will keep our feet on the ground now and continue to work as hard as always.”

    Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10)
    “I am so, so happy. For a new team and new car to win its second rally: I really have no words. I think I drove my best power stage ever today. Huge thanks to all the team. Now we are super-motivated to continue like this: I just can’t wait to get to Mexico. It’s fantastic to win but I also feel very sorry for Thierry Neuville, who lost the lead yesterday at the super special stage. I have been in a similar situation myself in the past, so I completely understand how he must be feeling now. We know we were lucky, so we need to carry on improving and working for our goal.”

    Juho Hänninen (Driver car 11)
    “I am so proud to be part of this team of dedicated and hard-working people and so happy. This is an amazing result for all of us. From our point of view we spent the rally recovering from our mistake on Friday, but we completed plenty of useful testing and I increased my time and confidence in the car.”

    Provisional final result, Rally Sweden:
    1 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2h36m03.6s
    2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Ford Fiesta WRC) +29.2s
    3 Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +59.5s
    4 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +2m11.5s
    5 Craig Breen/Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC) +2m51.2s
    6 Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +5m26.6s
    7 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +5m31.2s
    8 Stephane Lefebvre/Gabin Moreau (Citroen DS3 WRC) +7m14.7s
    9 Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia R5) +9m11.1s
    10 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Ford Fiesta R5) +10m02.9s
    23 Juho Hänninen/Kaj Lindström (Toyota Yaris WRC) +23m05.6s

    2017 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round two:
    1 Jari-Matti Latvala 48
    2 Sebastien Ogier 44
    3 Ott Tanak 33
    4 Dani Sordo 25
    5 Craig Breen 20
    6 Elfyn Evans 18
    7 Stephane Lefebvre 10
    8 Thierry Neuville 8
    9 Hayden Paddon 7
    10 Andreas Mikkelsen 6
    12 Juho Hänninen 3

    2017 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round two:
    1 M-Sport World Rally Team 73
    2 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 53
    3 Hyundai Motorsport 40
    4 Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 26
    (Results as of 16:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com )

    What’s next?
    The next stop on the World Rally Championship, round three, is Rally Mexico from March 9-12. This will be the first gravel round of the year and the first run in high temperatures, with the stages at high altitude as well, which deprives the engine of oxygen. As a result it represents another brand new challenge for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.

    eom/Toyota Gazoo Racing press release with inputs from M-Sport for 2nd and 3rd places

  • Rosberg, Hamilton talk loud in a special press conference

    Changeover to Part 2: Championship Press Conference]

    Q: We’ll start with you Nico. How are the nerves? Compared to the 2014 Championship showdown are you feeling more confident this time?

    Nico ROSBERG: It definitely helps to have been there, done that, y’know? This is the third time that we’re fighting for the Championship and the second time that it’s gone to the wire so for sure that helps to feel more relaxed.

    Q: It’s been quite a year for both of you obviously. Which race of Lewis’ most impressed you so far?

    NR: Wow, that’s a bit of a question. I’ll need a bit more time to get into that because I don’t know really, I’m not thinking back. Of course, he’s done a great season, there’s been a lot of great races that Lewis has done, for sure. He’s been a great competitor, tough opponent as always, as was to be expected also. Yeah, but for me it’s just a focus on this weekend.

    Q: Same question to you Lewis. Which race of Nico’s this season has most impressed you?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I haven’t seen any of his races, so…

    Well, the performance, in other words, on any particular weekend.

    LH: I can’t really remember. Same as him. He was quick in lots of different places. I don’t think there’s one that particular stands out.

    Q: OK. We were just talking with Kimi Räikkönen, his 2007 Championship very unlikely given you and Alonso were leading going into that race. Another unlikely one was here in 2010, where Vettel was the least fancied going into that weekend and he came out as the World Champion. Do you take confidence from those two turnaround events, so say that anything is possible in this scenario?

    LH: Not really ‘cos, I mean… it doesn’t really make any difference to this weekend.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Seff Harding – Xero Xone News) Good afternoon, this question is for Lewis. Lewis, if you win this weekend this in win number 53, you inch closer to Schumacher’s record. If things don’t go the way you hope you will this weekend, would that be a bittersweet ending to the season for you?

    LH: Well, firstly Michael’s a long, long way away, so it will be a millimetre step closer to Michael. And if I… that’s my sole goal this weekend, is obviously to win the race. Nico’s been really quick here the last couple of years so it’s something that… it will be a challenge for sure but one I’m certain that I can face head on and do well. In terms of the Championship, if it doesn’t go the way I’d hope, well, the Championship generally hasn’t gone the way I’d hoped up until now. So 2016 has generally not been a spectacular year but there’s been lots of positives to take out from it and either way I will take all the positives into next season.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC) To both of you, Lewis has obviously had worse reliability this year out of the two of you and would be leading on points even if Malaysia hadn’t happened. Nico, how would you feel about the perception that that’s facilitated your championship win if that’s the way it happens. And Lewis, how do you feel about that too.

    NR: Of course I’m aware of how the season has gone for both of us but those thoughts… first of all the season isn’t even finished. We still have one race to go so it would be premature to get into any such discussions but anyways, such thoughts, I don’t have them at the moment, in any way because for me it’s about concentrating on myself this weekend. I’m excited because it’s the last race, fighting for the Championship again with Lewis and yeah, so I’m just really focussed, trying to get the job done. I really would like to win this race and finish the season with a win. That would be awesome.

    LH: Well, I mean… I don’t know. For me it’s… as I said, it’s been a challenging season in terms of having the ups and downs that I’ve had but I think that I’ve really managed to strengthen. In terms of turning negatives into positives, this year has been a real challenge in terms of strengthening that tool and being able to do so. So I’m really proud of what I have achieved. There have been moments where in the year where… 43 points behind, thought it was impossible to come back but somehow turned it around. I’ve been 33 points behind and almost turned it around. So, I think this year has generally shown that, for me… continued to show me that anything’s possible if you put your mind to it. I’ll keep the facing the races that are coming with that mentality.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, is this the most important ever for your whole family?

    NR: Ha! That’s a pretty easy one to answer. First of all I’m surprised you didn’t pull out a statistic. That’s very surprising. Secondly, no, for sure it’s not the weekend for my whole family, that’s very, very easy to answer, and that has become more clear also with the birth of our daughter.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Nico, given that you’ve finished runner-up twice and are in a dominant position coming into this race, if you do finish second, would this be the most bitter of the three runner-up positions that you’ve had.

    NR: Again, why…? That’s not going to make me go faster to have such thoughts y’know? About something that might or might not happen in the future. For me what’s important is now. And that’s worked for me until now, and that’s why I’m in this position, fighting for the Championship right here, because of that approach. So I’ll stick with that, continue and focus on a race win this weekend. That’s it.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Nico. Can you say that you won’t get involved in any dodgy driving or with it all on the line is it no-holds barred in this last race?

    NR: Again, it’s none of what you just said. It’s going to be a weekend like any other where I’m going to go for the race win and do what it takes to get that. And that’s it.

    So whatever’s needed to do it, is it?

    NR: Within the limits of what’s acceptable of course.

    Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) I’ve got a question for both of you. It’s been a close-fought season with the advantage swinging in both of your favours. What would each of you say was your best and worst drive of the year please.

    NR: If it’s OK I’m just going to dig into the best, I prefer that one. One of the highlights for me was Singapore definitely this year because it was just a weekend I really… in an important part of the season also which really went my way. In qualifying then in the race the pressure from the Red Bull and still getting the win. In the end that was one that I really like to look back on.

    LH: Can you remind me of the bad races I’ve had? I’m sure there’s been some bad ones but I can’t… someone. Seriously. I don’t want to just discard the negative ones but I need a bit of help with the memory. Singapore. Baku as well – that wasn’t really might fault, I had a dodgy engine setting. I think it’s important for me definitely to try to remember the negative ones because those experiences are generally what help you realise, or appreciate more, the wins. I’m sure there’s been… if I look at Japan for example. Getting off the line terribly, there’s been several races like that but regardless of those really bad starts I’ve always come back through with a fighting spirit and that for me is something to be proud of when I finish the race. That I’ve given it everything, regardless of the stumble or the mistake at the beginning. One of my favourite races was Monaco, I think. In tough, tricky conditions in the rain in Monaco and then wet to dry, staying out ahead of Daniel was a serious challenge and one I really loved.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Lewis, you mentioned your starts there. If you aren’t to go on to win this championship, will you look back and how much responsibility personally will you take for it, along with perhaps the reliability issues that have cost you?

    LH: I won’t really look back. When I get to the end of the season I’ll be looking forwards. I generally don’t dwell to much on the past. I can barely remember the races so there’s not really much to look back on and dwell about. But you know I’ve learned a lot this year, grown a lot, my relationship with my engineers, my new mechanics that I have, that relationship has also grown a huge amount, so there has been lots and lots of positives. I’ll look into another year. The furtherwe go on in our age, the less championship fights we’ll have, or opportunities we have, so naturally you want to utilise every single one but if I was to look back on the season, I would mostly look… if there was anything to be negative about it would obviously be cars failing in certain places for… a car that just wouldn’t stop through testing with the same engine to then have the issues we’ve had. But again, Mercedes recognised those faults and tried everything they could to try and rectify them and improve. We take that, collectively as a team, onto next year and hopefully we will be stronger and won’t have problems like that. We are a team, we win and we lose together. As I said, I’ll just be looking forwards into another season. I know my ability, I think I’ve shown in time and time again and I’ll continue to do so in the future.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Lewis, one of the Twitter users by the name would like to know, would you consider backing Rosberg into the pack on Sunday, assuming you lead by Turn One, Lap One.

    LH: Well, firstly I do really appreciate that you’re using social media really quite a lot now. It doesn’t mean every single question you give me is going to be from social media but I appreciate it either way. I was only just made aware of what Christian had said and a joke came into my mind, thinking I should say he gave me a call to discuss it… as we heard Toto had given him a call, or something, about the drivers in the last race – but I won’t say that because it’s not true. No, my sole goal, as I said, obviously Nico’s been pole for the last two year here. He’s been very, very quick. This has generally been a relatively strong circuit for me but I have not delivered in the last two years, so my sole goal is to do so, make sure I’m at my best this weekend as I have been the last couple of races. In terms of tactics in the race, that has to come on Sunday. I have to really think about that. But that’s not really every been my thought process. I’ve always just really just tried to… if I’m out ahead I want to be generally as far ahead as possible. Generally when you have a 18s… 30s lead that’s as painful a blow as you can give to the guy you’re fighting. So, when you look at the last race, if we didn’t have red flags I would have been 30 seconds ahead and those scenarios for me, it’s more valuable, it’s more of an achievement that backing up your team mate. Plus here, while in theory it sounds like it makes a lot of sense, practically it’s not very practical to do. You have two long DRS zones here. Wouldn’t be very easy and very wise to do so. So, no.

    Q: (Walter Koster – Saarbrucken Zeitung) Nico, on Sunday evening, the season will be over but let’s come to the beginning of the season, but don’t worry, I’m not going through the whole season. But at the beginning five mechanics from Lewis’s team and five from your team left the team for Lewis. What was your impression of this change? Was it, at the end, a good idea during the season? What were your thoughts concerning this change? Were you surprised? Obviously you were not a fan of this change and who had this idea?

    LH: That’s a very good question. And I would also just like to add to it, what was the explanation given to you?

    NR: So the easiest way to answer that is if we look at the recent team spirit within the team because you know we’ve been fighting now for three years and within the team they’ve been fighting for the race wins and for the championship so it’s quite natural that a little separation can happen between the two sides of the garage and for the overall team performance that’s not a good thing because for the overall team performance you’d want to have great team spirit, everybody fighting for one direction, everybody holding together and that’s why the decision was taken to rotate a little bit and I think it’s shown this year that it’s been a very very good thing to do because our team spirit has been as good as ever, we’ve seen that recently and we’ve had some great parties together and whatever. Everybody’s just sticking together and it’s an awesome feeling within the team so it looks like that it was the right thing to do, even though initially it’s not something that’s super comfortable because my mechanics are close to me and it feels good and everything; to then change takes a little bit of time to gel as Lewis touched on before but I understand that from a team’s perspective that was the right thing to do and it’s worked well.

    LH: You’ll have to buy my book down the line in ten years time when I tell you exactly what happened. It will be an interested read.

    Q: (Rene Hofmann – SudDeutsche Zeitung) Lewis, Nico, could each you just briefly talk about your relationship developing during these three years of fighting for the championship against each other, please?

    LH: Yeah, it’s been an interesting one. We obviously had a very good relationship generally when we started out, when we were kids. Back then a race weekend was generally… for kids karting it’s… you’re out having fun. You go out and drive and you come in and you fool around, you give a bit of information to your mechanic and you go and play Playstation or you go unicycling. We had a lot in common. We both love pizza, we loved eating boxes of Kellogs Frosties and doing all the crazy things and we go out on big motorbike tours. We did all those things. I still do everyone of those but Nico has shifted in the sense that he’s very very solely focused in terms of looking after himself. And obviously we went quite different ways when we were young: he went BMW, I went Renault. But then we got to Formula One and this was something that we had spoken about as kids and yeah, we obviously had ups and downs but ultimately I think we’ve managed to – particularly in the last year and at the age we are – which is pretty old, considering when we first met – I think we’ve been able to manage it pretty well and I’m really happy for him and his family and proud of stepping away from being our competitive selves, proud of him of how he’s driven, particularly this year obviously and generally it’s been a pleasure having him as a teammate.

    NR: The thing is that we still have from back in those days is the base respect and that will never go and that has definitely helped us through these years. For sure, I have a lot of respect for Lewis outside of the car and also inside the car. As I’ve said, we’ve had some difficult moments but also some good ones over the past years and this year, generally, I think we’ve made progress and so yeah, it’s generally neutral but of course it is a difficult environment.

    Q: (Reem Abulliel – Sport 360) Lewis, I know you’re friends with Serena Williams, she’s an inspirational  figure, someone who’s had a long career. I was wondering if you’ve spoken to each other about your respect for sports, what kind of things can you learn from Serena or maybe be inspired by her?

    LH: I was actually with Serena last week in LA. For me… she came out to Mexico which for me was a real honour to have someone of her power, someone who has achieved so much. She’s been through… kind of come from similar backgrounds, similar relationships with their parents, being their father figure, being the lead. Growing up watching her career, absolutely being inspired by her and still today by her drive and her sheer… just, she’s if not the greatest athlete we have of our generation today so very proud to have had her there and be friends with her. We generally don’t talk… we generally have a lot of fun when we are around each other. We’re always laughing and joking and enjoying life away from sport, so it’s generally not something we generally talk about, although because she’s been to a Grand Prix she’s generally really interested in cars now and she has asked me a lot of questions about how it feels and all the technical things about Formula One, because she was there, she perhaps didn’t understand everything that was going on, it was her first Grand Prix. But yeah, I’m absolutely mesmerised by what she has achieved and definitely inspired by her as an athlete and as a human being and so trying to learn from her. Every now and then she’ll give me a bit of that magic in her words. Venus talks a lot about wisdom and about her growth and about the process of being a sportsman or sportswoman so generally from both of them, I take a lot of inspiration and admire them both hugely.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta –Turun Sanomat) Lewis, the very sad news  from last week (of the death of Dr Aki Hintsa); did that affect your preparations?

    LH: The last week, particularly, was definitely a difficult week. Last week definitely wasn’t the best week of sleeping, for sure. I’d known Aki since 2004 I think it was, so I’d known Aki quite a long long time, very close with him and his family and I was very very fortunate to have been able to be there with him and his family in the last days and actually get to see him on the last day of his… On the Monday after Brazil, I got to see him and spend time with him and we played music, get to see him smile, get to see the amazing man he was. You know, proud to have known someone like that and have someone like that in your life, who had been hugely and incredibly helpful in my time. He was very instrumental in me getting that seat at McLaren in Formula One as he’d built a really strong relationship with Ron and Ron was kind of of a mind to say that if Aki says you’re ready then I believe you’re ready, so Aki would take me through all these tests and he would look at me deeply in my eyes and like ‘yeah, you’re ready, I can tell.’ So I have all these great memories with him and for sure it’s… we don’t know why these things are sent to … such wonderful people as well. You hear about prisoners who have done the worse things who die happily in their sleep and then you hear about someone who is almost  a saint like Aki, who would help… who would go to Ethiopia and help children and has helped so many people and affected everyone that he had met in a positive light. To have finished his life so early was definitely tough to see but coming here this weekend, whilst I have that fighting spirit in my heart from the last races I’ve done, I come here with almost double the power in the sense that I feel that I want to win this race more so for him. We were texting every single race through his battle and particularly the last race on Sunday. Yeah, so coming here this weekend, whilst it’s an emotional time, I’m here to try and do him proud, do well for him as he had helped prepare and the belief he had in me.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, did you study the history of this race. In 2010, for instance, Alonso lost the World Championship because he could not overtake Petrov and so it’s very important to be in front of Nico. Maybe you need that. Do you think you do any special preparation for that? And the second question for you is that in 2014 you had a kind of magnetic field around you, we could not approach you because it was dangerous for us. You were so nervous, we could see that. In the weekend here, 2014.

    LH: Yeah, it was horrible.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) We could see that. And now it looks like everything… except that you are fighting for the championship.

    LH: In terms of studying the race… the engineers obviously know the history of this race and where have been the good and negative points, the things that I can work on for this weekend so I’m fully up to date with that. Generally there’s one line through the first sector, for example, it’s very hard to follow, you pretty much need a one second, a 1.1s advantage over the car behind so that you can be in a position to overtake the car ahead so there’s quite a big delta compared to other races and it makes it very tough, hence why I am coming here to make sure I’m on first place on the front row which is… as I said, very much aware of how difficult it’s been in the past but with the belief that I’ve been able to do in the last races I believe I can do it here and I know that I can do that here so that’s the goal.

    And the second one was the… ah, 2014. Yeah, it was  a turbulent year again. I remember… was that the year that we had the issue at Monaco? Right.  So we had the issue at Monaco and then there was the issue at Spa, so we went through quite a lot of ups and downs again that season and then to get to the last race where it was double points… I didn’t sleep the night before the race which is one of the first times if not the only time. Yeah, I’d worked so hard… we’d worked so hard, me and my mechanics and engineers, so hard that season to be at the last race and through mechanical failure or something, to have the championship taken away from us… we fully deserved it. I’m pretty sure it was definitely difficult then. Coming here this year is a lot different. I fully believe me and my side of the garage have worked the hardest and yeah, we are not in the position which we’ve worked for but we are still in a position of power, we are still pushing hard, we still aspire to motivate, we’re still very very focused on winning. I’m very very proud of my engineers. I think, as I said, we’ve grown a lot closer this season than ever before. I think our work ethic is greater than it’s ever been, and my new mechanics that have come on board, I feel I’ve really… it started out really tough with us at the beginning of the year, particularly, I would say, on their side because they just didn’t understand what’s going on  and then we had all those problems following, so then they felt on their social media, they felt a lot of heat, fans thinking… people were blaming them which was nothing to do with them. And then we had a lot of success so I built a really great relationship with them, so really really proud of the unit that I have now and of course I feel that we have worked to the point of deserving to have been champions this year as our group but we have this one last race which, all we can do is focus on being great this weekend as we have the last races before. We’ve really grown into a solid unit and continue that way.

    I like these press conferences when it’s just us two.

    Q: (Seff Harding – Xiro Xone News) Nico, you’ve played it pretty conservative back in Brazil, last few races, but that might not be the case this weekend if the Red Bulls get up tight…

    NR: I don’t think you would be saying that if you had been out in the race car with us. You wouldn’t call that conservative.

    Q: (Seff Harding – Xiro Xone News) Are you prepared to deal with that, given the Red Bulls may have a chance to split you two and make things interesting for this title fight?

    NR: I’m here to win, not think about who might or not come between or be right behind me or whatever. No, I’m just here to win and I know that with the car that I have and the form that I’m in, I can make it happen and I’m just focusing on that. That’s it.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – AutoBild Motorsport) Nico, be honest, what is more important for you here: winning the championship or a victory?

    NR: For me, here, the most important thing is to do an awesome performance, because that’s going to give both, isn’t it, so I’m doing whatever it takes to give the best possible performance and that’s the same thing that I’ve done for all the other races. Taking this as one more race, keep it simple, focus on going for that race win and putting everything towards that and not thinking about what if, because that wouldn’t be the right approach for me and that’s what feels good to me and that’s what I’m sticking with. Understandable?

    eom/FIA press conference Part II

     

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

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

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

    PRESS CONFERENCE

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

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

    David?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    That won’t be this weekend.

    EB: No, not this weekend.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

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

    Robert?

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

    David?

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

    Franz?

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

    And Eric.

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

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

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

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

    EB: No.

    Franz?

    FT: No

    David?

    DR: Not that I’m aware of.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    FT: We have a Renault contract.

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

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

    eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference

    Bob Fernley (top row left) of Force India at the Friday Press Conference in Sepang. An FIA image
    Bob Fernley (top row left) of Force India at the Friday Press Conference in Sepang. An FIA image