INDIA in F1

Tag: FIA Press Conference

  • We have to make sure that the costs come down to a sensible level which allows teams to be sustainable: Monisha Kaltenborn

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

    PRESS CONFERENCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

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

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

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

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

    What about your position?

    MK: I don’t see it having any effect.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Chances for tomorrow?

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

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

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

    Maurizio?

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

    Eric?

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

    Claire?

    CW: Same.

    Graeme?

    GL: Same.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Graeme?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    MK: I’ve not considered that.

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

    MA: Yes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

    eom/FIA release of the transcript

  • Ayrton Senna was my favourite and I always wanted to emulate him, says Hamilton with an eye on third title

    Melbourne, 12 March 3025: The following drivers took part in the first Press Conference of the year as the Formula One World Championship begins at the Albert Park, near here on Sunday:

    Max VERSTAPPEN (Toro Rosso), Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Sebastian VETTEL (Fe

    Defending champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG Petronas at Melbourne Albert Park ahead the season opener on Thursday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Defending champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG Petronas at Melbourne Albert Park ahead the season opener on Thursday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    rrari), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Let’s start with the defending champion. Lewis, if you’re able to successfully defend your title this year you’ll be a three-time world champion. Has that always been your career goal? Is that fair to say?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I would say that I always wanted to do what Ayrton did. Ayrton was my favourite driver and I guess as a kid I always wanted to emulate him.

    You won here in Australia back in 2008, the year you won your first title, but you haven’t won the race since then, despite being on pole a couple of times. Can you talk about how important it is for you this year to start on the front foot, as opposed to last year where you were chasing for a while in the first part of the season?

    LH: It’s the same. I don’t see a particular exaggerated importance [compared] to any other time. Of course you come here and you’d like to start on the right foot, but as I did want to last year, but there is a long, long way to go so it’s not the most important start of the year.

    Daniel, some bittersweet memories of this race from last year, but you must feel that you’ve grown a lot as a driver since then. What’s your mindset going into this year’s Australian Grand Prix?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Excited, definitely, just to get the season going. For sure, for all of us, it’s great to have time off over Christmas but then testing starts and you get the taste for it again and you just want to go racing again. Obviously really happy to be back home here in Australia and, yeah, get another season going. A lot of confidence coming off last year, so ready to have a good one and get on track.

    Based on what we saw in the winter testing, it looks like it’s going to be a battle, at least to start with, between yourselves, Ferrari and Williams. How do you see it from inside the team and how confident do you feel?

    DR: Yeah, it looks pretty close within that group. We’ll see what happens on track, but it does look like the Mercs have a bit of pace again this year but for that last spot on the podium it looks pretty close between, as you said, us, Ferrari and Williams and I’m sure there’ll be a few other players coming into the mix. We’ll see everyone on track, like for like, this weekend and I think that’s what’s going to be exciting. I’ve been asked so many question [about] ‘where do you think you stand’, but testing doesn’t really show everything. I think what it did show is, yeah, Mercs are quick but other than that it’s all pretty close behind them.

    Thank you for that. Sebastian, obviously you had a pretty productive test session for Ferrari. Is there a cautious optimism within the team going into this season or is that putting it too strongly?

    Sebastian VETTEL: No, I think generally the atmosphere is very positive. Obviously there has been a lot of change over the winter but people have been working very hard and I think we have definitely improved as a team, so now we’ll see when we get the chance to put the car on the track, we can see where the others are, see what the others run, especially on Saturday. Finally you know a little bit more. Winter always is a bit tricky to understand everything.

    It looks as though you’re enjoying the experience of being a Ferrari driver. I wonder how much have you looked into the history of the team in the period you’ve had to think about it and what has that added to the experience?

    SV: Well, I think there’s a lot of history in the team and it’s obviously, for me it’s an honour to race for Ferrari. I’m very happy at this stage and I can’t wait to get in the car and finally start racing with the team but equally we know that we have to work hard because our ambition is very high and we want to make sure that Ferrari gets back to the top.

    Valtteri, coming to you, obviously your podiums last year helped Williams to their best championship position since 2003. Where do you and the team go from there?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it was a good season, really a huge improvement from the year before and we just really want to continue in the same way, so keep getting better. I really think that’s what we can do. We’ve been doing the right things obviously as we’ve made good progress so we will try to start the season more or less where we finished last year. That’s the way we’re operating and performing and I think that will be a good starting point for a new season and trying to improve along the way.

    You couldn’t quite get the win at the end of last season but have you felt enough from the car during the winter testing to tell you that you might be able to race the Mercedes at some point this year?

    VB: It’s still really early days and testing is not always easy to see exactly where you are but what we know and what everyone knows is that Mercedes is still ahead of everyone at this point but it is a long season, there are different types of track, you never know if there is an opportunity. So we will keep pushing and we’ll see if it happens. I really hope so.

    Kevin, coming you. Obviously you were on the podium here last year but you’ve not had very much time this year to prepare for your role as stand-in for Fernando Alonso. What have you been able to do?

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: I didn’t get as many laps as I thought I’d get but I would maximum get maximum 150 laps in a day if everything runs perfectly. I got nearly 40 laps and I think all of those were low fuel, so at least I’m pretty prepared for that. I haven’t felt the car on high fuel yet so that will be interesting to see how that feels. But you know I’ve driven race cars before, it’s not a completely different thing. It’s a different car but I think it should be OK.

    It’s no secret that McLaren and Honda have not done that much mileage in testing. What are the expectations going into this early part of the season within the team?

    KM: I would say quite low. We’re struggling obviously with reliability, making the car run for a long time. But this is a new start for McLaren, a new start in many ways and I think it’s going to take time. But I think it’s the right direction that the team has chosen to go and I think it has a bright future ahead. But I think it’s going to take time but I’m sure they’ll get there.

    Thank you. And finally, Max Verstappen, welcome. The youngest ever Formula One driver at 17 years of age. Do you feel ready for this?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: I hope so! We’ll see.

    You put in big mileage in testing and looking at the analysis it seemed like the Toro Rosso had pretty good race pace. What are your thoughts about the car you’ve got under you going into your Formula One debut?

    MV: Yeah, compared to last year, I did three Friday practices, the car is a really good step forward, especially on the long runs we did. It was very promising. I felt really good in the car, I could do a lot of laps. Yeah, I was really happy about that and it gives me a lot of confidence to go into this race.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Sebastian, given the results of the winter tests, how realistic is the aim of your team principle to catch at least a couple of victories during the season?

    SV: Well, it depends on the form of the other teams as well but I think we’ve made a step. We’re yet to find out how big the step is and then it depends. I think we’ve seen last year that there’s chances to win races – not just for Mercedes. So if you put yourself in a very strong position, probably at the beginning of the season right behind, then, yeah, if something happens, you’re there. I’m sure it’s not what they want but these things can happen to all of the drivers, all of the teams.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question to Lewis, where do we stand regarding the renewal of your contract? We have been hearing for a few months now, Toto [Wolff] saying he would be ready to sign you, that your discussion, that you’re getting closer. Can you tell us something more about it?

    LH: I don’t really know what… Toto gave you guys some answers this morning. I don’t really know what to say. It’s going good. It’s not signed yet.

    You think you will sign in a short time?

    LH: I like to think so. I hope so.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) We have seen the mystery regarding Alonso’s crash in Barcelona. There have been many rumours, if it was a problem of his, of the car, if it was a technical failure. One of the points that has been discussed is regarding the electrical shocks he might have received as a cause. Do you feel 100 per cent safe that something like that might not happen, have you been talking with your engineers? And you feel completely confident about avoiding a risk of this kind.

    SV: I think nobody wants to send us on the track when they believe that something is not right. I think we have far too much of a team spirit – in all of the teams I would say – to let that happen. So, when the team decides that it’s safe to run, it’s safe to run.

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) A question to Sebastian, you’re known to be a good friend of Kimi Räikkönen for many years. Are there any worries that this friendship might suffer from the natural strain of a competition inside the same team?

    SV: No. To be honest, no. I’ve known Kimi now for a while. I think we respect each other. He’s very straightforward, honest, which I appreciate a lot. For sure we try to beat each other on the track, I think that’s normal but if there will be some issues I think we’re old enough to talk about it and sort it out.

    Q: (Michael Lamonato – ABC Grandstand) Question to Daniel. Red Bull, at least externally, looks like it’s going through a lot of changes. Sebastian’s obviously sitting on the other end of the table, Adrian Newey’s taken a step back and now Christian Horner wants to scale back aero regulations – which sounds unheard of. How is the vibe within the team going into this season, given that on top of that, for the second year in a row it doesn’t look like you’re going to be favourites?

    DR: To be honest the vibe is still good, it’s still strong. Adrian’s here this weekend, I’ve been asked a little bit about him and how much he’s stepped back. I don’t what to put him in a spotlight but I think he was at all the tests and he’s here this weekend and it looks like he’s already done more than he originally thought he would. So, I think he’s still very much interested in the RB11. From what I can see, the team definitely wants to get back on top. Obviously it was an off-year from their standards last year and I don’t think we’re too keen to let Mercedes get any further away.

    Q: (Azrul Ananda – Jawa Pos) To Valtteri. Williams last year were very strong, this year also I’m sure. Which track of all the season do you think you have the biggest chance to steal a win this year?

    DR: Monza!

    VR: The trend where we were quick last year was quite clear – so the tracks with long straights, low downforce, were normally the best for us. I would still think the same kind of trend is going to continue, so similar kinds of tracks where we are most likely, if we are going to win a race, it’s where it’s going to be. You never know. There’s 20 opportunities, and we are here to work, to be as close to the front as possible and, if there’s an opportunity, anywhere will do.

    Q: (Pablo Grau – F1Aldia.com) Question for all of you. After testing what do you expect of the new Pirelli tyres?

    SV: Well it’s always a bit tricky to judge the tyres, judge the car as well, in testing because it is quite a lot cooler than it will be for the whole season but I think the tyres are a step forward. I think the rear tyre has improved, which I think should help.

    Lewis, any thoughts? How are they working on your car?

    LH: I think he answered it quite well.

    Max?

    MV: It’s all new for me, so I think there is still a lot to learn. But so far, what I could feel from last year and now, for sure it’s a step forward and I’m quite happy for the moment.

    Get them to last alright?

    MV: I hope so! I’ll do my best

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Kevin, have you been in contact with Fernando and can you tell us anything about his current condition and do you expect him to be driving in Malaysia?

    KM: I haven’t been in contact with him, only on Twitter he wished me good luck and I said thank-you and that’s it. I haven’t asked him how he’s feeling but I hear he’s doing well so yeah, obviously at this race I wish him all the best. Can’t really say much more because I don’t know much more. What about Malaysia? You’ll have to wait, I don’t know. I’m not the right person to ask.

    Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) Has anyone of the big brothers here any sort of important advice for the little brother at the back, Max?

    SV: Will you declare who are the big brothers? We are all older than him.

    Q: Daniel, you’re the one who most recently trod in the footsteps he’s now treading in so your thoughts?

    DR: Yeah. I think just… I’ll look to the cameras but I guess I’m talking to Max but this is probably more cameras than he’s ever been in front of in his life. They’re pretty friendly, they’re OK, so just go and enjoy it, I guess. Get behind the wheel and remember that’s the main reason why you’re here, is to be on track: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so enjoy those few hours and I think then the rest will come.

    Q: Lewis, any pearls of wisdom? You were five years older than Max, I think, when you made your debut. Is that right? Twenty-two?

    LH: Possibly. I’ve only just realised, I’m the oldest driver here, the first time. I’ve kind of only just realised it. Jeez. (To Max) You were born in ’97?

    MV: Yup.

    LH: Jeez. I signed my first contract with McLaren in ’97. Bloody ‘ell. I don’t really have any words of wisdom for you.

    SV: I think that despite the fact that he’s still young, I think he has a lot of experience, he’s quick, otherwise he wouldn’t be here, so I don’t think he needs much advice. Take it easy, maybe.

    Q: (Shane McInnes – 3AW) Max, just on that, being just 17 years of age, flying around the world, being amongst guys that you’ve looked up to, how is it for you and taking it all in at the tender age of 17?

    MV: Well, to be honest, since I was younger, I’ve never seen anything else because my Dad was doing it, I basically grew up into it. For me, it doesn’t feel like anything new, I just deal with it.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Serra) Sebastian, you have a good feeling with the new team. Is there any special fear in this stage of your new experience?

    SV: No.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Daniel, how do you see Sebastian in red and last year, you came through a very difficult winter test period. But then you immediately started well and for a big part of the season, you were the only opponent to Mercedes for the championship. Do you think that this year things might be better, easier for you, also knowing that you have already won last year with Red Bull and looking at the improvements that Renault should have done?

    DR: I think I’ll answer that one first. If you look back at last year, for sure we’re in a better position. I think the times that we put down in testing, I don’t think I have shoed that yet but obviously we’re coming here this weekend with a lot more confidence and reliability and we’ve actually got a plan for Sunday whereas last year it was just ‘OK, let’s put the car on the track and hope to see the chequered flag.’ Within the team there’s obviously a lot more that’s progressed since then. With myself, obviously I’ve moved along, I feel a long way and I’m a more evolved driver and have a bigger impact in the team, obviously spending the twelve months in the team that I have now. It’s all there on the table, I think, ready for us to use and pursue, to put up another strong fight, so I’m looking forward to that this year definitely. I think for Seb, the only concern he may have is if he doesn’t know how to cook a good plate of pasta! Other than that, I think he should be OK. Yeah?

    SV: Just did it this morning!

    DR: Oh really? OK. Then he’s fine with the Italians.

  • Hamilton remains cool and refuses to get into a battle of words: FIA pre-race press conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, three poles in a row now at the end of the season and I guess you have the vital advantage going into tomorrow’s grand prix. How do you feel about that?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it was a great day again today I’m sure. I’m thankful to the engineers and everything, because [they] did a good job, sorted out the car, you know, I was really happy with the set-up. It all worked out well. I got a good lap together in the end; I’m pleased with that. But, of course, it’s only one step, a very small step, because this weekend it’s about the championship, not about pole position or anything. Of course, I was hoping, you know, who knows… Valtteri said he got his perfect lap together, so there wasn’t anything else in that. Of course it would have been great if somehow there could have been a Williams between the two of us, but that can always happen tomorrow. For sure, starting first is a great place to be and it should be a good start.

    I guess the crucial question is how are you going to play the first corner tomorrow? 

    NR: Yes, that’s going to be interesting, as always. But I’m on the clean side I think, I’m not sure. Maybe none of them are realty clean, not sure, but anyways I have the advantage from pole, so that should be OK.

    Lewis, is it the case that the driver who made the fewest mistakes eventually came out on top at the end? 

    Lewis HAMILTON: I don’t know. I don’t know how many mistakes Nico made but I generally didn’t have the best of laps but it was still a really good qualifying session, I really enjoyed it. The car was fantastic. So, as Nico was saying, tomorrow is the special day.

    Does it matter? At the end of the day you only need to finish second to win the title but how are you going to approach it tomorrow and again the same questions as to Nico, how will you approach that first corner? 

    LH: Same as every time.

    OK, let’s move on to Valtteri. Valtteri, well done, another top three. Do you think you’re fast enough to mix it with the two Mercedes drivers in tomorrow’s grand prix?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Thanks, yeah, it was a nice quali and especially the lap in the end, the car felt pretty good and I got a really good lap in the end. That felt nice because Felipe was really quick today as well, so it was not easy to beat him. Yeah, it’s good to be third and fourth again. I think in the race, as we’ve seen before, Mercedes is normally having a bit more advantage on Sundays than Saturdays, so it could be difficult, but for us the main target is to finish as high as possible and if something is going to happen and if we have the pace there is no doubt we are going to try to move forward.

    And what are you going to do into the first corner tomorrow? 

    VB: Same as usual really, just trying to gain any positions if there are possibilities but in the end the race is never won in the first corner, so that’s good to remember. So this race is no different to any other for me.

    Back to you Nico, a unique situation tomorrow, double points on offer for the first time. Your thoughts going into the race, and your mindset? 

    NR: Well, the mindset is that I need to get the job done and continue on the sort of form that I had in Brazil in the race. I’m sure it’s going to be a great battle between the two of us. Of course I hope for more than that – not just the win but some sort of help from Lewis, or anything, I don’t know… I mean I offered Valtteri… I’m paying [for] a wellness night [for him] tonight, a spa session, all-inclusive, hoping that he can be in extra special form and do the impossible tomorrow.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, you came here wanting pole position, you’ve done it. Just tell us what kind of statement you think your qualifying has made this year.

    NR: Of course yes, qualifying was one of the strengths this year but that’s only… it’s not even half of it on a weekend, just the first step into every race weekend. It’s Sunday that counts and that’s where I’ve looked to improve a little bit recently, like in Interlagos for example where I managed to do the step – and that’s what I need to do again tomorrow.

    Q: Lewis, in a similar situation in Austin, you tried to pass and pulled it off spectacularly; in Brazil you didn’t get a chance to try the pass. Which of those is it going to be tomorrow?

    LH: I don’t know. We’ll see.

    Q: What are your feelings though in terms of the way you’re going to conduct the race? Are you going to…

    LH: Same as always.

    Q: Valtteri, the 12th top three qualifying this season for Williams. It was a difficult start to this weekend for the Williams team, particularly in free practice one. Tell us about how you built up the speed this weekend.

    VB: Well yeah, we only really had one real issue this weekend, it was the thing with the bodywork. We tried something different, it failed but it’s good we tried it in Practice One. It was no drama, everything was all set for Practice Two and everything went into the plan. And yeah, Practice Three the car felt OK but we still knew that adjusting some things we could get more out of it for qualifying and still not compromising the set-up for the race, so pretty normal weekend. Normally Friday we’d not be looking so good so pretty normal weekend so far for us. We’ve done a solid job but, like always, it’s tomorrow that really matters.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Question to Lewis. How many risks will you take tomorrow at the start to keep Valtteri behind you?

    LH: I don’t know. I’m looking forwards, so just drive the same as I always drive.

    Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Question for Lewis. If you can pick a fight tomorrow, who is safer? Fight with Nico or fight with Valtteri? To you.

    LH: Neither is safer, they’re both just as safe.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, do you feel any kind of extra pressure now that you are some kind of factor in this championship fight?

    VB: No, not at all. I think it’s kind of cool if I can be part of something. It’s nice. Obviously for me the maximum I can get at the moment is fourth place in the championship and the main thing for us as a team is definitely securing the third place – and that’s our target tomorrow and to achieve that our goal tomorrow is finish as high as possible where we can. So no different race to any other for me.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) Valtteri, qualifying started at 5pm like the race tomorrow. During that hour, do the track conditions change much?

    VB: Quite a bit, yeah. The temperature is definitely still dropping. The air temperature and also the track temperature so that affects how the tyres are behaving so, you know, for the tyre life of the tyre it should only get easier to us end of the race. So maybe at the end of the race everyone can see bit longer stints than in the beginning. That’s the main thing really. And if some people are struggling with the cooling of the car, that should be a bit easier in the end of the race.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo.com) Lewis, this is not your style when you don’t fight. You have to go to the fight. Do you consider, maybe, in this specific race, to race for second place, that would be enough for you? 

    LH: I don’t know. We’ll see. You’re right, it’s not my style, so we’ll decide tomorrow.

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Nico, Lewis was saying that he didn’t really get a lap together today, he made a few mistakes in qualifying. Do you feel that that is a sign of the pressure, that you’re handling it better so far this weekend? 

    NR: I don’t know. Of course pressure is one of the hopes that I have. If Lewis feels the pressure and here makes a mistake as a result, a bit like today – I haven’t seen it – but if you’re saying that and a bit like Brazil and that’s the sort of opportunities that I’m looking for and I’m trying to push for. I push flat out, all the time to try and keep the level extremely high and that’s all I can do really and try and go for the win and keep the pressure on.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globo.com) Valtteri, if you overtake one of the Mercedes cars, do you think it’s realistic to keep one of them behind you during the race? 

    VB: Well, yeah, it’s difficult to say now. We will see tomorrow. Sometimes this season it’s been difficult to predict in detail about the race pace and how we’re going to be, how the tyres are going to behave, how long stints we can do, there’s a lot of factors. We’ve seen that we have quick straightline speeds normally, so that normally helps us defending, so that’s on our side I think. But it’s really difficult to say, we’ll see tomorrow.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, how intensely is your father living this weekend? Is he supporting you all the time, or how does he do it? 

    NR: Yeah, of course my family is intensely watching and I’m sure it’s as nerve-wracking for them and intense as it is for all of us here and that’s great to know that they’re supporting me and also my Dad wrote me… or we had a discussion about it. He gave me his advice for this weekend and I try and apply that or take whatever I think would help me and that’s it really.

    Q: (Phillip Merrell – AMEInfo.com) Lewis, how does this finale compare to 2008, given your position and the double points system? 

    LH: I don’t really remember much from 2008 but obviously it was a great season and this is a lot different, just much older and hopefully wiser and I’ve learned a lot along the way. Yeah, it’s a great battle. Obviously it’s different when you’re racing your teammate to racing someone from another team but just as exciting.

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Lewis, what’s the over-riding emotion for you after qualifying with the gap you’ve got to Nico? Are you just happy to be in P2 and where you need to be or are you disappointed with your performance? 

    LH: I’m not particularly disappointed with it. Of course you always want to be on pole, that’s what we work for. I’ve had very good pace throughout practice and particularly the long runs which is comforting and then in Q1, Q2 was good, Q3 just wasn’t… didn’t really put a comfortable lap together but it wasn’t really lots of mistakes or anything, it just wasn’t a great lap. Nico did a great job but we’re still there for the fight tomorrow.

    Nico Rosberg, right, takes pole ahead of Hamilton on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Nico Rosberg, right, takes pole ahead of Hamilton on Saturday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

  • After 4 World titles, 38 GP wins we can look back with pride in the way we have grown together: Horner on Vettel

    Vettel Abu Dhabi 2014 with team personnelAbu Dhabi, 21 Nov 2014: Following team personnel attended the FIA Friday Press Conference ahead of the last and 19th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday:

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Federico GASTALDI (Lotus), Finbarr O’CONNELL (Caterham), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Otmar SZAFNAUER (Force India), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Marco MATTIACCI (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Toto, we have to start with you. Obviously the showdown this weekend between your two drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg; how tense is the atmosphere in the garage this weekend and how do you feel about today’s performance?

    Toto WOLFF: Hi everybody. The tension is on I would say, and it is pretty normal. It has come to the last race now, it’s between the two of them, it’s the all-defining, decision-making race and it’s pretty normal. I wouldn’t say that there is more tension than expected in the garage. There is a good spirit. Today was a good day. It might sound a bit boring but we did our programme, lots of running. We did the long runs we expe3cted so all OK for Friday.

    Now I don’t know if you know this but the last time that one engine maker managed to take every pole position during a season was back in 1969. How does it feel to be on the verge of that particular record?

    TW: I wasn’t so much into statistics before this season but breaking these kind of records is a great achievement for the team and makes me really proud. I remember when I was a child the McLaren records, these orange and white cars would dominate everything and now us being in such a position and having equalled those records and beaten some of the records is very satisfying indeed.

    Thank you for that, Finbarr, coming to you. At the other end of the grid, obviously your team is also in the spotlight this weekend. Can you give us an idea of the logistics of getting the team here this weekend?

    Finbarr O’CONNELL: Yes, it’s been absolutely crazy. I think about two-and-a-half weeks ago I met all the employees of the Caterham company. They weren’t my employees at the time, I wasn’t even appointed to 1MRT at that stage. And we just spoke about the position they were in and how they hadn’t heard anything from 1MRT. We moved from that to a couple of days later thinking if we could get here and actually showcase the team, show the world it was still there and needed new ownership that I would have a much better chance of getting someone in to buy it, to thinking up the idea of going for the crowd funding – we got 6,500 fans and supporters who have put money in there and huge support from the all of the people we work with, and that’s basically Red Bull and Renault, Pirelli, Dell and Total as well. With their support we’ve raised the money, raised the support, amazing. We’ve signed a new English driver, which is extremely exciting as well. We’re there today. Our purpose here to show people we are here. We’re not a blank canvas, but we are an operational team that somebody can effectively buy an F1 team off the shelf and become part of the most amazing club in the world I would say.

    The other half of that question is, how optimistic are you that you will find a buyer? Have you got any interested buyers that you think might come through?

    FO’C: Yeah, I’ve got a number of people who could acquire. It’s just persuading people to make that decision. It’s a huge acquisition decision because of everything… everybody knows what you have to do, those budgets you have to meet etc etc. But we have people who could do it and with the achievements we’ve had up until now I really hope and believe we’re going to get there.

    Thank you very much. Claire, coming to you. A slightly tricky start to free practice one for the Williams team. Do you think you have the pace though to get involved at the front?

    Claire WILLIAMS: We have to; we don’t have a choice. We’re here to secure P3 in the championship and with the double points that’s going to be even harder for us. We do always tend to have, not a difficult Friday, certainly not as strange as the one we had today but we’ve resolved the problem. So we’re looking forward to going into qualifying tomorrow. We’ve just got to do the job on Sunday and that’s all that we’re focused on.

    You’ve had the second-fastest car very often this season. Do you think it should have been quick enough to have finished second in the championship rather than third and what have you got in the pipeline to try to move things forward for next year?

    CW: I think Red Bull have done a great job, as you would expect them to do. We didn’t start really scoring the points or the podiums that we needed to in order to take that challenge to them until much later on in the season. To make that transition, to make that jump that we’ve done this year, from where we were last year in P9 and then to take that up to P3, I think the team can be really proud of the job we’ve done. And, you know, moving forward it’s just about making sure that we can sustain that position and to be closing the gap to Mercedes next year and to Red Bull and to hopefully taking the challenge to them.

    OK, thank you. Marco, obviously this weekend you have announced the departure of Fernando Alonso and the arrival of Sebastian Vettel. Can you say a few words about both situations and why you feel that Vettel is the right man for you going forward?

    Marco MATTIACCI: First, we need to thank Fernando for all he has done for us, what we have done together over the last five years. But at the same time it is clear to everybody that we want both to open new cycles but it was important to do it with the utmost motivation and commitment. With Sebastian we get one of the youngest world champions ever, four championships. I met him personally in the last few months. He is an extremely hard-working guy, humble, disciplined. I’m sure he will bring the phenomenal experience that he went through Red Bull and the enthusiasm needed to go through certain difficult moments that are waiting for us, but again sharing the overall project that I think is to go back to the top.

    It’s been quite a year for you. Twelve months ago you were in America thinking a 2014…

    MM: Seven months ago I was in America!

    Exactly! You were then thinking about selling road cars and now you find yourself here at the end of your first part season as a team principal. What have you learned from this whirlwind year?

    TW: He hopes to wake up from this nightmare!

    MM: (Laughs) No, the intensity, the complexity but also the incredible amount of talented people that are in Formula One. How amazing is this sport, that is a global platform, the visibility that specifically in my case I don’t like for myself, but which is a consequence of the job. But it’s definitely the pinnacle of motor sport. The level of competition, aggression is really high, so a lot to learn, but at the same time I think I brought understanding of people, choosing the right people and from here how to create an organisation for the future.

    Thank you very much. Christian, I guess the other half of the question I just put to Marco a moment ago. Obviously this is Sebastian’s final race for Red Bull Racing. Your feelings on losing him to Ferrari and what you’ve achjeved together and any lingering sadness or regret about this?

    Christian HORNER: Obviously we’ve had a wonderful relationship with Sebastian. He’s been with the Red Bull family since he was 12 years of age. He’s grown through the junior programme, through the junior categories, into his opportunity in Formula One with Toro Rosso, winning a grand prix in Toro Rosso and then coming to Red Bull Racing. Four world championships and 38 grand prix victories later I think we can look back with a huge amount of pride. We’ve grown together. He came to the team, which was still a young team at the time, and together we’ve grown into a race-winning and championship-winning combination. But as in life all things move on and evolve. Obviously this opportunity has come up for Seb, he’s felt it’s the right time for him and I think probably in reality it’s the right time for the team too. Whilst we’ll be very sorry to him go and close his career with Red Bull on Sunday evening, we’ll wish him the very best of luck and he’ll be a good friend of the team for life and as of the first of January he’s a competitor. Obviously more than that, I think it’s not just the experiences you share on track, we’ve got some wonderful memories from this circuit, it’s outside the cockpit and as not much more than a boy when he arrived, he now leaves us a young man, as a father and he can be incredibly proud of what he’s achieved and I think he’s been a tremendous ambassador for the sport and we’ll certainly miss him.

    Well Daniel Ricciardo is going to be third in the championship, with three wins this season. He now becomes the team leader, how do you feel about that: him as your man going forward?

    CH: I think Daniel has had the most amazing year this season. I think that anybody that could have predicted the performance from Daniel… we couldn’t have predicted it, I don’t think even he could. The way he has raced, the way he has driven this year has been outstanding. I think that what he has done on track, he deserves that third place. He’s the only driver to have beaten a Mercedes driver this year and he’s done it three times so far. So obviously we’re hoping for some kind of misdemeanor between the two Mercedes drivers and a huge points deduction and Daniel to be crowned world champion but obviously that’s rather unlikely in the circumstances we’ve got.

    Thank you. Otmar coming to you. You’re running Jolyon Palmer next week, the GP2 champion, in the test here at Abu Dhabi. Is he under consideration for something in 2015?

    Otmar SZAFNAUER: That’s not the purpose for running him. Shortly, maybe even later on this weekend, we’ll announce our full driver line-up. It’s for the future. As you know we’ve run young drivers in the past. We’ve often run them in FP1 even during the season to help out. Jolyon having won the GP2 championship, we thought he’d be a good driver for us to run in the test post this weekend. He’s driven our simulator and has performed very well. We also want to see how that correlates to track performance but we anticipate he will do a good job for us. It’s also a test for us, so we need good feedback from him as well.

    Going into this weekend, yourselves, Lotus and Sauber called for a meeting on revenue sharing. Where are you at with those discussions?

    OS: Fortunately I haven’t been in any of those meetings, so it’s hard for me to answer that question. I focus on other things at the team – mainly performance and seeing how we can compete with some of these people behind me and that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend.

    Thank you. Federico, same question to you really. What are your feelings on the financial discussions going on at the moment?

    Federico GASTALDI: Well, to be honest, Gerard [Lopez] has been involved in dealing and wheeling and leading with the rest of the guys all the conversations, all the meetings with Mr Ecclestone. So it’s up to them, they are putting together a programme that they are working with, so not much to say, obviously.

    On the young driver front, Esteban Ocon ran for you this morning in FP1. How did he do and what plans do you have for him?

    FG: Well, we’re very happy because he comes from Gravity’s young driver programme and he won the FIA F3 championship and we are now looking to put him on the next step, so we are trying to work out on the GP2 team programme for next year, we are talking to different teams at the moment. So very pleased with the experience this morning so we will see how it goes next week in the test.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) I’d like to know from all of you what you consider the demographic of your target audience in Formula One, both in terms of sex and age, and geographic location? Marco?

    MM: I know where you are going but to be honest, you know, as Toto was saying my previous background is on the car side, selling cars, and I met a lot of customers that told me they decided to dream of Ferrari when they were between eight or 10 years old, when they had the first poster hanging in their room or watching Gilles Villeneuve racing. I think it depends on the purpose, it depends on the objective. But for an aspirational brand like Ferrari definitely our demographic is from the moment they can switch on TV or they can enter in a Ferrari store until when they can afford a car. Our brand is more a culture, a passion, so we really don’t have that kind of segmentation less than we discuss about when we sell cars, but Formula One is a great platform to attract, to engage with a wide range of audience. The sooner we start that engagement, the sooner we start that connection, because you can foster and nurture that kid to become someone in the Ferrari family. Geographically, today, as Ferrari we are in almost 65 countries, so we target the world, that’s why I think Formula One is a great platform. Female, male, I don’t think it’s a debate for us, we sell cars to everybody, that’s not under discussion.

    Toto?

    TW: There’s not a lot to add actually to what Marco said. I think it needs early education that this is the highest form or competition with cars and obviously for Mercedes this is important as well. Educate the children and you grow them into being customers and understanding that Mercedes is successful on the racing track in Formula One and, yeah, what Marco said.

    Christian, obviously Red Bull is a fairly youth-oriented brand?

    CH: Yeah, Red Bull is very much about youth and absolutely the team has a huge following from the youth segment, that’s male or female it’s irrelevant of sex, or age or race, it’s a sport as well that is accessible to everybody. I know where Joe’s question is getting at and the comments it’s referring to but what you have to remember is that when you’re 84, a 70-year-old is still pretty young.

    Otmar?

    OS: Well, our brands on the car are varied and, like Christian says, Red Bull focuses on the young and ours might be a little bit older than that. We have Smirnoff and Kingfisher so there’s some age restrictions on drinking some of those products, so we’re focussed on a bit older – but maybe not 70. We also have Claro and Telcel and teenagers these days are on the phone all the time so, we’ve got a varied audience that follows the team.

    Finbarr, anything to add?

    FO’C: I think all I would say is that we’ve got the Renault engine and the Red Bull gears and that’s what people associate with our car and the name, a number of people I’m talking to have said that they would probably change the name if they acquired the team, so I think it is just at the moment the Renault engine and the Red Bull.

    Federico?

    FG: Well, we’re not a car manufacturer as everyone knows but we are linked to very big sponsors that actually are linked with the youth market so yes, we need to try to educate as soon as possible the next generations in order to make sure that we are all in the same boat.

    And final word on this subject from Claire.

    CW: Not a lot – except that we’re not discriminatory. We want everyone to love Williams and we want everyone to love Formula One.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Toto. Yesterday there appeared to be some tension here between Lewis and Nico – is there any message that you’re going to give to them before the race tomorrow? What will you say to them?

    TW: No. I think at that stage the team doesn’t need to interfere anymore in the relationship between the two. It’s down to them, we need to give them the best car so that they can fight it out on track. It makes no sense to try to pretend a… schmoosing – it that how you say it? – environment. They are out there to win the World Championship. It’s man against man and the tension is there, all in a respectful manner.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) Finbarr, what will a buyer get besides the entry? Will they get the factory, equipment? And will they have to assume some or all of the debt outstanding?

    FO’C: They will get the factory, equipment, the entry. Any purchaser will then have to enter into negotiations with all the race partners. This car, as I said earlier, is linked into Renault and to Red Bull. Pirelli is clearly an important race partner for us, and also Dell, so it will have to enter into discussions with all those people.

    And the debt?

    FO’C: Well, that will be a matter of discussion with all of those as regards, this will be a new relationship and how do both parties see that relationship going. And I think depending on the answer to that question will be the answer to the first question.

    Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) I have a question for the members of the strategy group. We’re now coming to the end of the first season where you’ve had significant input and we had a number of misses in terms of things of overthrowing cost control, the radio communications flip-flop. I was wondering first what the long-term strategy you guys had for the sport: what it was, how you see it, and secondly, what role the strategy group has a regulatory body?

    CH: Lovely to get all the easy questions. I think that, look the strategy group is a forum to sit down and discuss the bigger issues. Y’know, we’ve done that, we haven’t always agreed – obviously – this year and of course we have another meeting coming up next week followed by a Formula One Commission meeting. As far as the regulatory value of the strategy group, anything that the strategy group discusses has to still go through the Formula One Commission that every team is represented on, as are the promoters and the FIA, before it’s passed into being a regulation. So it’s very much a discussion forum. Of course there are some big issues at the moment and y’know, a team like Caterham is in this situation because of the costs. The costs are too high and I think one of the crucial aspects in those costs is the power unit and that’s something the strategy group, as well as the other players within Formula One have a duty of care to look at very carefully and I think, whilst probably not a lot can be done for 2015, I think an awful lot can be done for 2016 and maybe we need to even go as far as looking at a different engine, y’know, a new engine. Maybe still a V6 but maybe a more simplified V6 that controls the cost. Cost of development, cost of supply to a team and to the privateer teams. I think that’s something we need to have a serious discussion about during the next strategy group.

    Toto, what do you think about that?

    TW: On governance, everything has been said. I think that the big teams have a responsibility towards Formula One. We need to be open-minded, we need to discuss, we need to keep the small teams alive, keep the grid together and all that is being addressed. As Mercedes we take that responsibility pretty seriously. We have addressed the issues and will continue to address the issues.

    Marco, do you agree with Christian about maybe looking at a different kind of power unit for 2016?

    MM: Definitely we need to look at something different 2016. In terms of power unit and in terms of regulation. 2015 is clear we will have to – at the moment – accept the status quo but definitely we are not going to accept the status quo for 2016. The cost of the power unit is a problem. The fact that we cannot enhance our power unit during the season is a cost for us, for not performing. So, the difficulties that that the small teams are facing is an issue on the table – so I think all these problems are very well connected. I think that the strategy group and the F1 Commission are the proper arena where to touch these points trying to find a common direction but, indeed, 2016 is sort-of different.

    Claire, what’s your perspective on that?

    CW: The strategy group, I think it provides a forum for debate which I think is always sensible in a sport when we haven’t had that necessarily before. This year it’s obviously been exploratory. It’s been it’s first year and everybody’s got their agendas and their own issues that they want to talk about. For Williams, that group, the purpose of it, has always been to ensure the sustainability of our sport. I think we’d like to see more conversations around that. I think with the kind of comments around engines and looking at potentially changing the engines, I think potentially it’s too soon but Williams has always been very vocal about our position around cost control. I think that’s one of the disappointments for us this year – that the strategy group wasn’t able to come to achieve any cost control within Formula One. I think we have to consider very carefully any changes around the power units. We’ve already ploughed a huge amount of money into them, into developing them. The manufacturers have done that, all the teams have had a… a fifth of our budget is spent on our engine. There are important messages around those engines as well, with their hybrid technologies which are relevant to us and relevant to the sponsors that we’re trying to pitch to at the moment. I think making a U-Turn so quickly, I’m not sure is a way we want to go. I’m not sure it puts us in a very credible position. But again, the strategy group is a forum for that debate and one that we’ll probably end up having.

    And finally a word from Federico.

    FG: All has been said. I think, again, cost control, a cost cap has been a major failure this year. I mean, after all the meetings we have had. On the other hand, I think that we pretty much should, all the teams here, on each of their capacities to put the best possible…  to push for a better situation for all of us and be more secure and more stable in the future.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Based on what’s just been said about the strategy group. Claire, you used the word ‘forum’, Christian, you used the word ‘forum’. You also said that everything that’s been discussed needs to go to the Formula One Commission. Claire, you said that consensus wasn’t reached on cost controls. If we take these two statements, does this not imply that the strategy group is, in fact, not a forum? Because if it needs to reach consensus, that’s not a forum for discussion. But apart from that, looking at it from a legality perspective, if everything needs to go to the Formula One Commission, why did cost control not go to the Formula One Commission if it was, in fact, blocked by the strategy group in the first place.

    CW: It’s a forum for debate, that’s exactly what it is – but there’s a process around voting within that group in order to send proposals up to the Commission. FOM have a number of votes, FIA do and the teams as a collective do as well. So if that doesn’t reach majority in there, it doesn’t go up to the Commission.

    Christian?

    CH: I think what you have to remember about the stragegy group is that the members of that group are the teams that have given a guarantee that they will be in the sport until 2020 – and so they’ve got a vested interest and long term interest in the sport being attractive, sustainable and addressing all of those issues. Now, of course, there has to be a process that things are agreed on or disagreed on, otherwise what’s the point of that group at all? We have a simple majority basis of it being moved on to the Commission or not. Therefore should a team – even Finbarr will be able to sit on the Commission next week and, if there’s something he doesn’t like he has the opportunity, certainly for 2015, to either block it or voice his position for 2016.

    Toto?

    TW: Nothing to add.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazetta dello Sport) A question for Mattiacci. What kind of arguments did you use during your meetings with Sebastian Vettel to let him join this new challenge with Ferrari. And what kind of guy is he, in your opinion?

    MM: [no sound] …very straightforward. I think I was really impressed with how clever he is, and being an extremely clever person and with great passion for Ferrari. I think the arguments have to be solid arguments. That was a discussion about the project, the investment, typical when you want to bring in a four time world champion, you don’t just over-sell, you talk about a few things.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Christian, sorry to belabor the point but you said that Finbarr can actually vote for/against something at the Formula One Commission next week. It if doesn’t reach it because it’s been blocked by the strategy group, how could he for example, vote for or against cost control because it didn’t reach the Formula One Commission, having been blocked before then?

    CH: Well, each team obviously participates in different forums as well for items to arrive in the strategy group. So, there are discussion forums where issues can be discussed, whether that’s technical or sporting, before it gets to the strategy group but the strategy group are the teams that have given a parent-company guarantee to be in the sport for the long term, up to a minimum of 2020. I think they’re the teams that do have the right to say, potentially, what the future does hold, that have a responsibility strategically, to discuss where or not the sport should go. Obviously there are some big issues on the table at the moment.

    Q: (Walter Koster – Saabrucker Zeitung) Mr Wolff, how do you appreciate the share of Mercedes success in person under the management of Ross Brawn, and your time, your start and the team. Secondly, how does the team celebrate the title Sunday evening, and why without winner T-shirts?

    TW: Welcome back to the press conference! Ross had a big influence in the team. When he joined the team in 2010, or when he took it over into the Mercedes era, it went through a couple of difficult years but then he initiated the first crucial steps of what we see today, the success we see today. So, he has played a very important role in this year’s success. In terms of the winners T-shirt, we will have a driver who is going to win the world championship and a driver who is going to come second. I think through the year as a team we have tried to balance it out between the two of them and keep it neutral. They are valuable members of the team, we are going to continue with them next year, and although we are going to honour and celebrate the world championship-winning driver, you need to respect that, for the other guy, it’s going to be a very difficult day in his life. This is why we would like to maintain our role as being fairly neutral in that situation.

    Q: (Hoaran Zhou – F1 Express) Two questions, both for Toto, Christian and Marco. The first one is, do you have a deadline on the engine freeze because now it’s effectively the end of November and you can’t release a press release on December 31 at 11.59pm, can you? The second question is now the first year of the V6 turbo hybrid has passed, you’ve gathered enough data. Can you give us a figure as to how much fuel-saving has been done through the combustion engine and how much fuel-saving is done through the hybrid part, because Toyota, this year, in the World Endurance Championship has shown that a nice-sounding, naturally aspirated engine, partnered with a huge hybrid can give topline performance and good fuel efficiency?

    TW: I have a difficult one. There is a governance in place, a governance states a certain timing, the timing is clear for 2015. For 2016, power unit regulation changes, that needs to happen until March 1, so that’s 2015, March 1 2016. The answer to your second question is, I can’t really tell you the exact percentage. What we can see is that the development on the internal combustion engine and on the hybrid system has been tremendous this year, with the fuel reduction of a third. We’ve had almost equal performance today, comparing free practice one to free practice one last year in Abu Dhabi with a car that has been sized down in aerodynamic performance so that is a pretty impressive performance.

    Q: Marco, any thoughts on deadlines with regards to the engines?

    MM: Let’s say at the moment we are targeting what the regulations are telling us so we are working on what governance, as Toto was saying, has suggested, so there is no difference to what we did this year.

    Q: And do you have a view on the amount of fuel saved with these V6 hybrid turbos?

    MM: No, at the moment no. I would have to talk with the engineers. There’s a great focus on making the combustion engine as efficient as possible to weekly improve the energy recovery but I can’t give you figures.

    Q: And Christian?

    CH: I think the engine question is an interesting question. If you roll back the clock for when this engine was thought about, you go back to Max (Mosley’s) rule, we’re talking about a four cylinder engine and it was quite different. Those regulations were given to engineers, engineers then discussed them and there was a compromise sought because a four cylinder was felt to be wrong for Formula One. The four cylinder at the time was supposed to bring in more manufacturers into Formula One and the compromise was to go to a V6. And then, unfortunately when a bunch of engine engineers are left on their own to come up with a set of regulations, they’ve come up with something tremendously complicated and tremendously expensive. The engines that we have today are incredible bits of machinery, incredible bits of engineering but the cost to the collective manufacturers has probably been close to a billion euros in developing these engines, and then the burden of costs has been passed on, unfortunately, to the customer teams so unfortunately, I think we have to recognise what’s been done from an engineering point of view and now look to simplify things, potentially retaining the V6 philosophy, perhaps going to a twin turbo that would address the sound issues that we’ve had this year and maybe even a standard energy recovery system would dramatically reduce the costs, dramatically reduce development and therefore the supply price to the customer teams also. So I think that’s something that the strategy group need to discuss and look at.

    Q: When you say a standard energy recovery system, do you mean standard across all teams like a standard ECU?

    CH: Absolutely, we’ve had a standard ECU, why not potentially take it a step further and it would negate obviously an enormous amount of development cost.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Just a quick first question: anyone here who’s not committed until 2020, can you please raise your hand?

    CH: You ought to ask who’s guaranteed they’ll be here, it is a different question, Joe, I think.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Alright, who has to guarantee they’ll be here until 2020 and what do you have to pay if you don’t turn up?

    (Visual reaction)

    Q: Right, I think you’ve got your answer there.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) OK, the last one is on a question of philosophy: is it logical that the competitors in the sport make the rules, philosophically speaking?

    CW: I knew you were going to do that to me. It is what it is, isn’t it? We don’t have an alternative and until we do, that’s the option available to us. From Christian’s comments, you can tell we all care about Formula One, we all care about its future and the group that sits around that strategy group table… our overarching agenda is to ensure that we protect the future of our sport and we’re looking at ways to do that. There’s an argument perhaps to say well, who better to make the rules than the competitors? Failing an alternative, there isn’t an alternative at the moment and if there’s one in the future, then that could bring its disadvantages as well.

    OS: If we all get a chance to make the rules then I’m all for it but it shouldn’t be a small group.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Christian, two weeks ago in Russia you suggested the possibility but the highly unlikely possibility of reverting back to the V8 engine. Now you’re talking about a V6 engine with lots of different standardised parts. Why would three manufacturers that have spent a billion euros developing this current power unit for the sake of the motor sport industry itself and the car industry per se, want to revert back to something that’s similar? Are you not sounding like someone who’s desperately clutching at some of straws because your team is no longer winning the championship? Just give us your thoughts please.

    CH: Well, first of all, two weeks ago I wasn’t in Russia. Look, I think that… you know, I can understand your question but I think the scenario is such that it’s unsustainable, it’s unsustainable for manufacturers, any of the manufacturers, to keep spending at the level that they are, and therefore, rather than perhaps going backwards with the V8, maybe we should potentially keep the basis of what’s been achieved but look at simplifying it because if the development costs stay at where they are, we will not attract new manufacturers into the sport and we may well drive current manufacturers out of the sport. So we have to think, not just about today but about the future. 2015, there’s very little that can be done with the regulations but for 2016, an awful lot can be done and I think that the teams, together with the FIA and the promoter, have to have that responsibility to ensure that those issues are addressed and the sport is sustainable and attractive to new manufacturers to come in.

    Q: Toto, you haven’t spoken on this. Do you have a rebuttal?

    TW: Yes. First of all, I fully agree that we have a big responsibility for all teams and we need to look at the costs but you can’t turn the time back. Formula One is the pinnacle and the pinnacle of technology as well and it is important to attract engine manufacturers in the sport, and actually have brought Honda back into the sport. The current format of power units was actually being proposed by Renault back then and for us, as Mercedes, it’s a hugely important showcase of technology, road-relevant technology, hybrid technology, the future. It helps us to attract sponsorship and for us, as a car manufacturer – and I guess the same was the case for Renault when they came up with the idea –  that is very important. It’s less important for Red Bull, for sure, but for us it’s crucial.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Toto, for next year, the other two manufacturers cannot do very much if you don’t agree on what they want, but are you not afraid that in 2016 they could force you either into complete open development of the current engine or as Christian just said, into a completely different format or let’s say a similar engine format which costs less and you can’t do very much about it because the others have the majority?

    TW: We are all talking about costs and if you would open up the regulations in the way it has been described in that press conference, that clearly means you don’t care about costs because that would be like digging a grave for Formula One. We have spent considerable amounts in the development of the power unit, far away from the billion, I would say it’s ten percent of that in our case. But anyhow, I think we need to be sensible and we need to come up with solutions which enable the small teams to survive and which still enable the big teams to showcase the technology. Reversing everything, changing the format, changing the engines would just increase costs, it would be the opposite for what we need for Formula One at the current stage. And to come back to your question: yes, in terms of the governance, if we become insensible and if these decisions are being made for 2016, in my opinion that would be disastrous for the sport. We will be very vocal in addressing that issue.

    Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) Finbarr, the vast majority of crowd-funding sites actually return money to donors if the target is not met. Does Crowdcube work like that and if so, how are you going to go about returning funds to your six and a half thousand fans?

    FO’C: Kate, the principle of what we did was to set it up on the basis… the objective was to get here and to race and to showcase the team and that’s clear on the website. So the fact that we are here shows that we have reached that objective and the funds we’ve raised have actually been spent in actually getting here. If we hadn’t made the decision to come which we made on November 14, then the funds raised at that stage would have been returned.

    Q: (Leigh O’Gorman – Walker Watson Ltd) Finbarr, how long do you have to make a final decision on a buyer and in addition to that, how far down the line were the design team with the ’15 car? And bearing in mind how much it’s going to cost to actually buy a new team, can you actually make it worthwhile for any buyer, considering the new season only starts in four months time?

    FO’C: Sure. I’m talking to a number of people who have got different interests. I’m talking to some people who are interested in making a decision in the next few weeks and if that happens, they can take over the team as it currently stands. The employees have all kept together, they’ve all been made redundant. Even though they’ve been made redundant, it meant they are absolutely fantastic people. They’ve come here to showcase the team and between themselves, 120 of them have all agreed that they will come back and work for any purchaser. So one option is, in the next few weeks, that something like that happens. I’m also talking to people who are interested in the facilities, in the building, in the facilities we have and in looking at a longer strategy, whereby they would use that as the basis for beginning a new team, and that team, clearly would look for a new racing licence in the future. As regards the car, my engineering team tell me that it’s not hugely advanced but that if a purchaser comes along now, it will race in the championships next year.

    Q: (Thomas Maher – formulaspy.com) Finbarr, first of all, are you enjoying your time in Formula One and is your current position one that you consider may be long term? And secondly, we’ve been reading that Mike Gascoyne has said that he has greater faith in your administration in terms of safety. Can you shed any light on why he might have had any doubts about the previous management’s running of the cars?

    FO’C: I cannot. I know there were issues in the press in a previous race which did shine a torch on safety issues in the car. The business I’m in, I’m not somebody who just decides I’m going to have a punt and race this car. Safety is absolutely huge and we wouldn’t be here racing these cars unless I was absolutely certain they were completely safe and I think people have seen the cars out there today. Going back to your other question, this is a sport that people love, they are hugely enthused by it and that’s fantastic but all I can feel really is a responsibility, responsibility for this team, the absolutely wonderful people who have come here and I would happily hand over my team principal badge straight away to anybody who would take it out of my hands and then I could go and sit in the stands and enjoy the Grand Prix. I will enjoy it if I can achieve my objectives, but it is a professional assignment and a responsibility and the team are probably watching this and that’s the sort of person that I think they would want to be him.

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Finbarr, how difficult is it for you to try and convince a buyer to buy your team when, as the contents of this press conference has shown, there’s squabbles over how much it costs for engines, no one can agree on what to do with them? You’ve got groups where the members can’t always get voted in what they want to do and when the sport’s in this situation.

    FO’C: Yes, I think that any potential purchaser would prefer there to be more certainty on the way forward. I don’t think the uncertainty is unusual or strange. Every sport, every business goes through times like this. It probably doesn’t help any potential purchaser, I would say.

    Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) I would like an instant survey: we have a team who is considering using 2014 engines next year to save costs. Is anybody on this panel – that’s six other teams – against this perspective, that is, to save costs and maybe save Caterham?

    CH: We’d have absolutely no problem in Caterham or any other team using 2014 power unit if that assisted cost-saving, but that would mean a change in the regulations.

    OS: No issues for us. For sure we would support that.

    FG: No issues for us either.

    TW: We would need to look at the regulations how we can make that happen and whether it saves costs and if it does, we need to find a way.

    CW: Yeah, agreed.

    MM: No problem, that’s why no issues for us.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Claire, you said that there was no choice but to use the strategy group. Surely the FIA is an alternative rule-making body which it has been for many many years. Surely that would be the most logical thing to do?

    CW: It would but that’s not my decision to make. At the moment, the structure that we have is that we have a strategy group that the FIA is a part of, that was the group that was set up at the start of this year. We agreed to it and that’s how the sport is run currently.

    eom/FIA transcript of the Friday Press Conference

  • If you don’t put the upgrades on the car you get overtaken: Nico Hulkenberg

    DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Nico HULKENBERG (Force India), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, you’re guaranteed the title on Sunday if you finish in the top two, something that you have done for the last six races. It’s your fourth final day title showdown, how are you feeling before this duel in the desert?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, I think it generally feels quite cool to be here, obviously the weather is great, the track’s fantastic, it’s a beautiful place, so, yeah, excited for the weekend.

    Nico, it’s your first final day title showdown, how much confidence are you carrying into this weekend from the way you performed last time out in Brazil?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, of course it’s great coming into this weekend, the way Brazil went for sure, that I was able to progress after Austin, that gives me a lot of confidence going into this weekend, definitely.

    Lewis, back to you, you’ve had two poles and a win here. You also retired twice while leading. Does the fact that the showdown is happening at a track where you have a strong record make any difference?

    LH: I’m sure there are positives with it. It’s a great circuit, it’s generally suited the car that I had when I was back in McLaren years ago and it’s definitely a track that has suited my driving style in the past, but every year is different. I hope to take that positivity into this weekend.

    Back to you Nico. You qualified ahead of Lewis here last year and you have done so overall in this 2014 season, how much satisfaction do you derive from that?

    NR: At the moment I’m not really thinking about that. At the moment I’m focused on trying to win this race. But of course, yes, knowing that helps and gives me a good opportunity this weekend knowing that my qualifying form has been really good, so that should be another plus going into this race here.

    Fernando, coming to you, it’s been announced today that you’re leaving Ferrari after five seasons. Tell us why and your thoughts on those five years with the team?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, obviously, you know, it’s a new chapter in my career. I felt it was the time to find new projects, new motivation. It was not an easy decision to make. I was in talks, even last year to be honest, and we wait for this year, for the new car, the new turbo era etc. This year I felt around summertime, September, it was time to move and I take the decision. Only time will tell if it’s a good one or a bad one. But what is for sure is that it has been an amazing experience. So, so happy, so proud to have had those five years with an amazing team, amazing brand like Ferrari. I grew up as a driver, as a person, only good feelings and good words. Obviously we missed the championship, came three times second, but I am extremely proud of those second places and the work we did in those years. Now it is time to close one door, to open a new one and we’ll see how it goes.

    In terms of opening that new door, McLaren says it will announce its drivers on December 1st. How much bearing does the test next week with Honda and McLaren have on what you do next?

    FA: Zero.

    OK. Moving on to Sebastian then. In many ways the destinies of you, Fernando and Jenson have all been interlinked over the last few weeks and months. You’ve signed to replace him [Alonso] on the three-year deal. How are you feeling about that and why is this the right move for you now?

    Sebastian VETTEL: I think it felt like the right time. I think it’s not an easy decision to make. Obviously I’ve been with Red Bull for more or less my entire life, since I was 12 years old I’ve been supported by them and obviously I have a very, very strong link to all the people in Austria. Later on obviously I had the opportunity to race for both of their Formula One teams, which we couldn’t see coming once we were starting and part of the Red Bull Junior Team but in terms of timing obviously it worked out brilliantly and the success we’ve had in Formula One, especially with Red Bull Racing over the last four years I think has been an incredible journey. But I think at some stage you feel that you want to take on a new challenge and do something different. I think I don’t have to mention the history of Ferrari in the sport and it’s probably the greatest team to driver for. I’m very excited and very motivated to try to do my best, to put my heart in it and yeah, obviously be successful, that’s target.

    You’re a three-time winner of this race here in Abu Dhabi and the outgoing world champion – next year you’ll hand your number one plate to either Lewis or Nico. What’s your commentary on the title battle that those two have fought throughout this year?

    SV: Well, I think Mercedes made it very boring this year, so I think it’s good to see that they were battling very closely, they had great races, battling for the lead, which is obviously the most interesting position in the race for the people to watch. Remembering races like Bahrain, I think they put on a great show for the fans and took it to the last race, so I think both of them deserve to win after such a great season but I’m sure if you ask either one of them, they will give you plenty of reasons why each one is deserving more than the other.

    Thank you. Coming to you Jenson. Your destiny has been linked to the two gentlemen to your right and their moves. What’s your feeling now on the way things are panning out?

    Jenson BUTTON: Nothing has changed for me, for the last two months. So I’ve got nothing else to add, apart from that I go into this weekend looking forward to it. I’ve learned to live in the moment a lot more this year and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ve got my family here this weekend, so looking forward to the

    File photo of Nico Hulkenberg of Sahara Force India on a Friday in Brazil this year. A Sahara Force India image
    File photo of Nico Hulkenberg of Sahara Force India on a Friday in Brazil this year. A Sahara Force India image

    weekend and hopefully we can have a good result.

    It’s worth noting that you’ve had the third longest career in Formula One history, how do you look back on it at this point?

    JB: At this point? It’s everything I set out to achieve. I think when you’re a kid your dream is to get to Formula One, your next dream is to win a race and then win the world championship. I’ve achieved all three of those. Is that enough for a driver? Every driver is different. But I love racing and that’s why, as I said, living in the moment is key right now, not thinking about the future too much and hopefully we can have some good fights this weekend.

    OK, thank you for that. Coming to you Nico. You scored points in the first 10 grands prix this year but only four times in the last eight races. What’s been going on there?

    Nico HULKENBERG: The second half wasn’t as flawless and as smooth as the first half I’m afraid and on top of that also we seemed to be a lot more competitive initially in the year. We’ve slipped back a bit in terms of development and, you know, Formula One is a fast-living business and if you don’t put the upgrades on the car you get overtaken and I think that’s what happened to us.

    There’s a lot of focus on the midfield teams at the moment. From a driver’s point of view, what’s your take on the situation with Force India, Sauber and Lotus?

    NH: In terms of what?

    Sustainability, the future, the outlook?

    NH: Well, obviously we’re here, we’re fighting for points and obviously the target is to beat McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, which is very ambitious, they are quite far ahead now. We’ll give our best, as every weekend, and give our all and see if we can do it. Otherwise, everything is OK.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – l’Equipe) A question to Fernando and Sebastian. You are used to having last grand prix pressure to deal with the title. Can you explain how do you feel at that point and how you dealt with it during the race?

    FA: I think every situation is different. I’ve been a couple of times, five times in that situation. All five were different. It depends on whether you are in front, behind, with who you are battling, with which mood you arrive to the race. It depends on the circuit; it depends on anything. I remember Brazil, for example 2012, it was raining on Sunday morning, there are different factors around the race itself that it can change your approach or can change your feelings. I think it’s a very unique thing on those moments and it will be an interesting weekend for Nico, Lewis, wishing them the best of luck because they deserve it after a super championship and, you know, only one can win but let’s see a good race on Sunday.

    SV: Well, it’s what you’re working for all year, to arrive at the last race and still have the opportunity to become world champion. I think that’s ultimately what drives all of us. So, yeah, I think the most important thing is to enjoy.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) The first question is: did you make any practice to handle the pressure you have. Everybody expects you will win the title, so you’re the guy who has to lose anything. Second, is it your turn to take it easy and just be second on Sunday or will you demonstrate to the whole world that you will win the title with a victory here?

    LH: To the second question, I come into the race weekend to try to win, as I do every race weekend, so nothing changes there. And in terms of the pressure, I don’t particularly feel any. I think I’ve had plenty of experience through my racing career – 15 od years I would say, actually it might be 20 years of racing – to be prepared for today. There’s no special recipe for it.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere dello Sport) To Fernando: having the possibility to change something in your relationship, in your history with Ferrari, what would you do?

    FA: I don’t know really. I enjoyed the experience, as I said before, and I feel very privileged of what we achieved and lived in those years. The group of people I worked with, it was amazing. I learned so many things in those five years. I’m not the same driver as in 2009, when I arrived. I think I’m more prepared now. I’m better in all the aspects of the driving skills. I think it was a very, very important step in my career. You need to feel the moment when it’s time to move. As I said, I felt it was time for me to find new things. I expressed my wish to the team in September. They understand; they were very helpful on that because obviously I had two more years contract. But they understand my position, they listen and I think it’s the best for both parts and now hopefully we can battle for better positions and wins in the future.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Nico Rosberg. Nico, Lewis says he’s not feeling under any particular pressure coming into the race. What is your mindset? Are you feeling under any pressure?

    NR: Well, it’s an intense weekend, for sure, yes. I wouldn’t use the word pressure but it’s going to be intense. It’s going to be a great battle. I look forward to it, that’s what I’ve been working towards for a while now, for this sort of chance, this last race here. And, yeah, Lewis is a great competitor and opponent and it would be hopefully a great end to the season. And, of course, I’m here to try and win the race and then I need a bit of help from Lewis that he doesn’t finish second. That’s it. So I’m hoping Lewis can come up with something.

    Q: (Thomas Maher – FormulaSpy.com) Question for Sebastian. Sebastian, assuming the decision to leave Red Bull was a difficult one to make, could the team have made any guarantees or promises to you that would have changed your mind and convinced you to stay for 2015?

    SV: Look, I have a very, very good relationship, not just with the team but with the whole Red Bull family. Despite the contractual situation here and there, positions in the championship etc, I think the relationship is far too good and once… I don’t know, we have a saying in German that I cannot really translate into English but… obviously my wish was to leave and I think it’s not a good thing, good advice, to stop people when they want to leave and force them to stay, or make them stay or try to convince them – because ultimately they wanted to leave. So, yeah, as I said, obviously it has been a very difficult decision for me to make because it was not a decision against a team, against Red Bull but a decision for my new future. So, for sure, those things, big decisions are not easy but ultimately you need to listen to yourself, listen to your heart and go with that.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Fernando, what was the catalyst for your decision to leave Ferrari? What was that moment that you realized? What was the reason behind it that lead up to quite a momentous decision?

    FA: It was not a special moment of the year that I opened the eyes. As I said, last year I had some doubts about 2014. I knew that it was a big change of regulations, so I thought it was the best thing to check how the 2014 new turbo era was going for Ferrari and then, yeah, I had a very close relationship with president Montezemolo, we talk every week and we, more or less, agree that, if this year we were not competitive again, maybe I could think on other options. And yes, when I arrived summer break, I said maybe it’s time to sit with the president and see if for them it’s OK, I would like to go. I need to thank so much Ferrari because they could say no but they understand it was the best for the two parts. This is, again, a true sign of respect and love for this team – and they show me also respect on that. As I said, I stop as a Ferrari driver but from Monday I am a Ferrari supporter.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Jenson, are you prepared to wait for McLaren to make their decision? Do you want to stay in Formula One before anything else or will there come a point where you want to take the decision out of their hands?

    JB: It’s been an interesting few months. When you’re in Formula One for so many years – 15 years – you have blinkers on in terms of anything else apart from Formula One. This is the best sport in the world, this is your life, this is everything. But when you are put in an uncomfortable situation obviously your eyes are opened to other possibilities. And there are a lot of challenges out there, whether it’s in motorsport or other sport or something else altogether. I’m open to many things in life and, for me, I love what I do for a living. I love racing in Formula One and the time I’ve spent with McLaren has been great. The last two years have been a bit tricky in terms of results but in terms of the personnel, they’re mega. We had a barbecue last night and there’s such a good atmosphere in this team. It is like a big family. So, I’ve loved working with them. Will I wait for the decision? That’s something I can’t comment on right now.

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) A question to Nico Rosberg. If you win, you need somebody to be second ahead of Lewis to be World Champion. In six races no car could get close to the Mercedes. Are you confident that in Abu Dhabi it might be different? There might be a team that can challenge Mercedes – or you know you need an abnormal race in order to have this result?

    NR: Of course a lot of things can happen but it can happen as easy as a Williams, for example, having a great start and slotting in between us two. This track is one of the most difficult to overtake. We were looking at that this morning. The speed difference you need to overtake the guy in front is really very big at this track and so that will be one opportunity for example. But there’s many scenarios, so, as I say, I’m optimistic.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) Nico, you mentioned that, really, unless a Williams gets involved perhaps, you need Lewis to make a mistake. Is there anything you can do to try and help that happen?

    NR: Yeah, of course. I need to do what I can to try and put the pressure on. In Brazil Lewis made a mistake so there is a chance. I need to do what I can to keep going like that.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboSport.com) Fernando, when you talk to the Ferrari bosses in September, that it would be better for the team for you to leave the company, did you have already another option in your hand? And, if you had, did you believe that you should trust in it because you are leaving the team, Ferrari, probably because the perspective of results won’t be in a short time. And this new option you had in your hand. Did you believe in it?

    FA: Well, the thing is a little longer than I explained. We tried to see what was the best possibility. In fact it was… renewing the contract possibility also in the first couple of months of the year, to extend the contract until 2019, so it was a little bit of things going on during the year. Then, when you are inside, when you see things, when you see how the teams are moving, which direction are moving things for the future, maybe you agree, maybe you don’t agree. Probably I didn’t agree so much and in September I said maybe it was the best thing to say bye-bye if it was possible. If I had something in September? No. I had that decision, I have to be happy, I have to be motivated, I need to love what I’m doing and in September I felt it was not the case. And in September I felt that it was not the case – and then after that, I started to look at some possibilities. I trust what I will have. Yes.

    Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Jenson, would a good race result for you change anything in terms of the future, because you’ve had a good string of results recently?

    JB: Personally, I would hope not. I would hope that a result this weekend would not change my fate for the future. I feel that I bring a lot more to a team than just one race but hope that my career would speak a lot louder than one individual race.

     

    Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Fernando, you spent the whole of the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix behind Vitaly Petrov. If one of the championship contenders needs to overtake, do you have any suggestions for them?

    FA: Not really. I didn’t succeed, so try not to repeat what we did in that race, that will be the best solution for them. These days, there are many tools that we can play with, with electric motor, DRS, things that probably could help in a situation like that. But the best thing is not to stop behind anyone.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, how do you see the co-operation with Kimi? Will it be easier for you than with anybody else?

    SV: Yes. I think he would probably reply the same if you asked him. That’s what he told me, just before! I think, yes. Why? Because Kimi is probably the least complicated driver on the grid so in terms of performance on the track, when we talk about the skills Kimi has, I don’t think there is a single person in the paddock who doubts his skills, including myself, but from a personal point of view, on a personal level, very straightforward. I don’t expect any complications because I think we have a good relationship but more so, I think we have great respect for each other which I think is always very healthy to deal with in these sorts of situations coming up.

    Q: (Walter Koster – Saabrucker Zeitung) Quite another question: gentlemen, a short view back to the past. Thirty years ago, Niki Lauda told us ‘take a monkey, place him into the cockpit and he is able to drive the car.’ Thirty years later, Sebastian told us ‘I had to start my car like a computer, it’s very complicated.’ And Nico Rosberg said that during the race – I don’t remember what race –  he pressed the wrong button on the wheel. Question for you both: is Formula One driving today too complicated with twenty and more buttons on the wheel, are you too much under effort, under pressure? What are your wishes for the future concerning the technical programme during the race? Less buttons, more? Or less and more communication with your engineers?

    SV: Can you repeat the question?! Yeah, I remember the question. I think it depends all on how the monkey grows up these days. I think it’s a different generation of monkeys that Niki was talking about probably compared to monkeys we have today. Obviously there’s a lot of buttons on the steering wheel, probably too many but I think for us, we grow up like that, it’s a different generation. I think if you put a modern phone in Niki’s hands, I’m not sure he would know what to do – sorry Niki. I think it’s what you get used to. For sure, when I started, for example, in Formula One, there were a lot of procedures I had to learn, a lot of buttons I needed to know how to control etc. But it’s part of cars nowadays. If you jump into a normal road car, there’s also plenty of buttons but in the end the most important bit is the steering wheel, turning the car left and right and the accelerator at the bottom. I think the basics haven’t changed and that’s the important thing, that the sport remains as it has been many many years ago despite how many buttons you have on the steering wheel.

    NR: I’ll make this a bit shorter. I think we need to just make sure that the sport stays simple for the fans, that’s the most important thing. The direction, it’s all great, technology fantastic, hybrid power, buttons, everything, that’s all great but we need to make sure that for the fans it stays simple enough. That’s something for the medium term future, that we need to keep an eye on. That’s it.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Lewis, there’s been points this year, I think it’s fair to say, when you haven’t felt that the fight between you and Nico has been a totally clean fight. Are you totally confident that it will be this weekend?

    LH: Yeah. I don’t really know what else to say. That how it’s been. You have to go into the race weekends believing that’s going to be the case, yeah.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Is there anything that you can do to make sure it will be?

    LH: Don’t think so.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Lewis, will you speak together before the race to ensure that there’s no argy-bargy out there?

    LH: No.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) You don’t need to or you have an understanding already….

    LH: We don’t need to. It’s already been discussed at the beginning of the season and several times through the season and particularly after Spa, so there’s no reason to revisit it. We’re not children, we should know what is wrong and what is right.

    Q: Nico, do you have anything to add?

    NR: No, just that yes, Lewis can do something to keep it clean which is drive cleanly himself. So it’s not like he can’t do anything.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Question to both Lewis and Nico: it was 14 years ago that you fought for the championship in go-karting. How does the dynamic change when you’re fighting for a Formula One World Championship? How has it changed for the two of you, because obviously the stakes are a lot higher?

    NR: Yeah, it’s quite amazing to think now that 15 years later we’re actually in that position which we used to dream about, to be in the best F1 team, fighting for the championship, fighting for race wins. It’s really amazing. Of course now it’s more intense, there’s more surrounding it, that’s the best way to put it.

    LH: I generally feel it’s quite similar to back in the karting days. At that age, it was as intense as I had experienced, I wanted to win back then and nothing’s changed.

    Q: (Haoran Zhou – F1 Express) Lewis, do have any family with you this weekend, because generally you perform better, you smile a lot more when you have family around? That’s just a personal observation but I just want to know does the whole family come to Abu Dhabi for this important weekend?

    LH: I have a couple of friends and I think one or two cousins in the grandstands and I’ve got a close friend that’s with me in the paddock but otherwise no other family here.

    Q: (Christobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver) Fernando, I’ve seen that you are wearing a new helmet at this Grand Prix; could you tell us its meaning?

    FA: Yeah, I wear a helmet with a picture of a pit stop this year on one side, the Italian flag in the middle and the signatures of everybody in the team on the other side. I just told them this morning that it’s the last time that I will jump in a Ferrari, so I want to bring all of them with me because they were a part of this fantastic experience and I want to do my last race with them on the track. To be honest, it’s a been a little bit of tricks because at Sochi, I took all the signatures from everybody but when I arrived here, we were missing 20 or 25 so now the helmet is not as perfect as it should be, because now we have all the 25 signatures everywhere but I’m happy and proud of them and happy to wear them on my helmet.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Sebastian, how emotional do you think your first race for Ferrari will be, considering how much of an idol Michael was for you?

    SV: Yeah, I think it will be special for sure. Obviously, it’s a childhood dream. When I was growing up myself but also for a lot of kids at the go-kart track in Germany, Michael was our hero. And at that time he was obviously still with Benetton but when we grew up, obviously he was still part of us. He moved to Ferrari, took on a massive challenge back then in ’96 and got very close the years before but made it happen in 2000. Since then, I think every link that you have or when you think back it’s always Michael in the red cars so I think it will be a very special journey and I’m very much looking forward to it. Not only the first race, to be honest with you, but even the first time in winter testing that I will step into the car, I think will be very special and will be something that remains with you probably for the rest of your life so I’m very much looking forward to it, I don’t know yet how it feels but I’m very keen to find out.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Fernando, if you have the possibility to chose your teammate for next year, would you chose Jenson?

    FA: Hmm.

    JB: Take your time!

    FA: I don’t know where I will be so… We will see.

  • Ayrton Senna was a genius and a perfectionist at what he did and that’s what I aspire to be like: Hamilton

    DRIVERS: 1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes); 2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 3 – Felipe MASSA (William)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Nelson Piquet)

    Nico, what a fantastic race you did. I was really impressed with all your performance. Your father must be very proud of you. But I want to ask you one thing. Of course you are driving there, with Hamilton behind you and with DRS. Do you think this is fair?  

    Nico ROSBERG: First of all, thank you very, great to see you. No, I’m very happy with the whole weekend. The whole weekend I’ve been feeling comfortable in the car, I was able to attack and control the gap also to Lewis in the race. So that worked out great and I’m very, very happy. Especially in Brazil. The atmosphere is fantastic and also great to see the support that you’re giving Felipe here, that’s awesome, and also for me. So obrigado.

    Hamilton, I have been for a long time very jealous of you – not only of your driving but also of your old girlfriend. Where is Nicole?

    Lewis Hamilton: …She’s at home.

    OK, say hello to her and you did fantastic. I think everything will stay in the last race. It’s very good.

    Felipe, fantastic. I have to say in English first. He did a very good race. I want to ask him. What is he going to do to prepare himself to always keep Button behind him?

    Felipe MASSA: First of all, I’m so happy for my race. So many mistakes also in my race. I had the drive through, the five seconds for the penalty for the sped limiter. Also I stop in the McLaren [pit box] because it was a similar and it just was prepared before my garage. But the car was fantastic, I’m so grateful for the pace.

    Back to Lewis. Tell me about the race? I think it was a very, very difficult race, and I think everything will finish in one race at the end of the year.

    LH: It was an amazing race; I had a great time. Obviously I had a big mistake in the mid part of the race but otherwise the car was fantastic, the team did an amazing job and it was a great race with Nico. And great to see Felipe up here. We had the best crowd today. I enjoyed it.

    And what do you think about Abu Dhabi?

    LH: I’m going to drive pretty much the same. Hopefully I’ll improve. Today, obviously, I lost a little bit of time but otherwise it’s everything to play for in the last race.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: So Nico, many congratulations, you’ve taken it down to the wire then. Pole position trophy won yesterday and then an important win today. Is this one of your best? How good does it feel to have delivered today under pressure?

    NR: Yeah, it was a great weekend all in all. Austin was a tough day for me on Sunday, so yeah, it was important for me to just improve, because just didn’t do a good enough job in the race in Austin. Today I managed to do that, so that I’m happy about. I learned from Austin and did better so that’s a big step in the right direction. One race too late but, y’know, there’s still all to play for. Now I’m just hoping for [Abu Dhabi] and need to try and keep this going now. Really feeling good in the car and everything. And it was a great race with Lewis. He had a great race too, just behind me all the time. I always needed to make sure that the gap was always such that there was no chance for him to go for the overtake – unlike Austin. And managed to do that, so that was good.

    Q: Lewis, with a 17-point lead the numbers still favour you going into that title showdown – but at the end there we heard your team say to you on the radio “sorry for the stop”. You tried to do two hot laps coming into your second stop, you were fastest lap of the race on the first one but then you spun on the second one, dropped seven seconds to Nico. You managed to close it up – but do you think that spin cost you chance of a victory today?

    LH: I think ultimately it cost me the win, yeah. I mean, I was much quicker up until that point and on that lap I’d gone a second quicker whilst Nico pitted and I thought I was going to pit at the end of that lap so I used everything of the tyres. The next lap, I had nothing left. Either way, at the end of the day, I made a mistake, I locked the rears into Turn Four and with the under-rotation, just spun me around. Second time it’s happened this weekend. So, no-one’s fault but mine. Still, great result for the team. Nico drove really well, great, defensive, no mistakes and ultimately we got a one-two. I really was pushing right to the chequered flag, which is what motor racing’s all about. So I really enjoyed it.

    Q: It is a record, 11 one-two finishes, beaten the record of Senna and Prost from 1988 – just a quick word from the two of you on another one-two.

    NR: It’s fantastic. The team is doing such an awesome job, all-in-all. Just keeping on pushing, development rate through the year also. It’s so great to be a part of that movement. And you can feel it in the team. Everybody is really, really pumped and just fully head-down focussed all the way. Because it’s also… it’s a change now. We used to be always hunting and now we’re the hunted, and that’s a big change. It’s great to see how the team has adapted and not slackened off because that is always difficult, when you get to the front to then stay there. It seems at the moment that we’re really going strong and that’s fantastic.

    Lewis, nice bit of history?

    LH: Absolutely incredible. This year as a team we’ve broken a couple of records and it’s just an unbelievable job by the team, obviously for us to be able to finish one-two, great reliability and ultimately the car has been the best car I’ve ever driven so big thank you to all the guys at the factory.

    Q: Felipe, great response from the crowd here to you today. It’s like a win. Obviously you managed to survive quite a lot of things in that race: a penalty you had to serve for speeding in the pitlane; you went and paid a visit to another pitbox on your way to your own – but you managed to recover from that and get the podium you so badly wanted here this weekend. What made the difference for you today?

    FM: I think the race was amazing. Everything that happened in my race today. So, I think the most important thing was that the pace was there, the car was quick. I’ve been so happy with the car during the whole all weekend. The car was so competitive – unfortunately not enough to beat these guys here, which is winning all the races. I’m so happy with the race, not happy with my mistakes today. Just got a problem when I braked for the pitstop, I pressed the pit-limiter but for whatever reason the pit-limiter was not inside, and then just past the speed I brake, I press again and it was a problem I had today. And then I managed to catch the guys trying to put the gap again. The car was fantastic. I managed to overtake many cars, catch Button as well, that he was in front. Then I stop. I was opening the gap compared to Jenson for about five, six seconds, maybe even more. Then I stop in the wrong garage. I stop in the McLaren because they change our garage this race and we are a lot more in the middle and McLaren with the similar colour – not white but y’know – I thought it was our garage. They were ready. Then I just stopped there and lost a lot of time because of that. But anyway, it was not enough to… pushing again, doing quick laps all the time and managing the tyres and just opening again compared to Jenson. It was really a fantastic race, and these people… they’re still here, singing and screaming. It’s amazing. The whole energy that I had this weekend, it’s difficult to explain. Difficult to explain the emotion – so thank you very much for all of our Torcida [fan club] that was pushing the whole weekend, every day. It was amazing.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Question to Nico and Lewis: of course, there are double points for Abu Dhabi, the chase for the title. Would you guys, if you had the chance to change it for a single race, not double points, would you do that and why? 

    NR: Well, I find it artificial and I don’t like it in general. Of course, now, with the way it is, it’s great for me now, at the moment, but you know that’s just because of the situation but in general… There are other sports which have tried the same sort of thing, like NASCAR and they’ve done this very successfully. The fans love it and everything, so we need to keep on reviewing it. It’s good to try something and we’ll see how it goes this year. The important thing is that the fans are happy, that’s the most important thing, and we need to see if we keep on doing it or change or whatever.

    LH: The same as Nico.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, you must win in Abu Dhabi but Lewis has to finish third for you to win the championship. Who could help you? Do you think somebody…

    NR: He’s the man (indicating Felipe). I need some Felipe Massa help.

    FM: I hope I win!

    NR: No, that’s not so much help. Not so fast, in between.

    Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – SB – Belarus Segodnya) Felipe, here you were really quick today. You were first after the champions, Mercedes. You are now 36 years old, for example, Max Verstappen will be 17 for his first Grand Prix. How long will you be staying a Formula One driver? 

    FM: Me? I don’t know. I will stay while I have this type of results, while I am competitive and while I enjoy it, what I’m doing so I’m really enjoying my moment, even if I want to have better results like we’re having today. So I want to keep this moment until I am enjoying myself. I don’t see the point to stop. I’m driving for a fantastic team, they really like me, they really support me, respect me, so I’m here and I think Verstappen is doing a good job. He’s young but he’s quick, he’s won everything he could until now so he has a talent. We cannot forget that we got our opportunity to get into Formula One, we show our talent and we need to understand… It’s true that he’s a little bit too young. If I need to chose, I would prefer to wait a little more, but you have maybe one opportunity in Formula One so you need to be ready. I would say that maybe now it’s a little bit easier with the car, with driving now, how it is with all this technology. Maybe it’s a little bit easier compared to when I started for example. The car was a little bit more difficult to drive, so it was a little more physical as well compared to now. Now it’s so easy to race. I think that in this aspect, it’s a little bit easier for a young driver to start but it’s important to have the talent and to have everything inside his brain so he can do a good job.

    Q: (Felipe Siquera – globoesporte.com) Massa, when you came into the McLaren pits, when you pushed the wrong button, did you think you could lose the podium at that moment? 

    FM: Yeah. I think I could lose the podium because of the first mistake with the five second penalty, speeding in the pit lane. I think I could have lost the podium there. So disappointed that that thing happened and then I was pushing even harder. The problem is that you cannot push so hard because otherwise you use the tyres too much. I managed to take care of the tyres and I managed to put a good pace straightaway, but I was worried by the first mistake. Not the second because Jenson was behind me and it was not enough to lose the position, but the first one, yes.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, when you locked the rears in turn four, was it because of the graining on the rears? We also saw you had a blistered right front; did that have anything to do with it? 

    LH: No, literally because I took too much… when they told me to push, I was under the impression that I had only one lap to do, so I used all the tyres that I had left, that I had saved and when they told me to go by, I kept pushing but I think the rears were grained, the rears were dead and I just lost a little bit of the grip, but up until then it was looking great. Overall, I’m really happy. I came back, I clearly had a lot more pace than Nico today. I know that he would have seen that, obviously, by closing down the seven seconds (gap) but he did a good job to not make any mistakes while I was there, so I’m looking forward to the next race.

    Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky Sports) Nico, it’s been an immaculate weekend for you. Were you confident that you would have been able to keep Lewis behind you even if he had not had that spin? And you didn’t look particularly happy coming off the podium, what was that about? 

    NR: No, I am happy, very happy. I don’t know; that was a wrong impression. No, I was confident, yes, definitely, because already in the first stint I could see that I could control the gap and could just make sure that Lewis didn’t come into the region where he could launch an attack, so from that point of view, once I saw that, I was very confident that I could keep on controlling the gap for the whole race. Also, when Lewis had the spin and was further behind, I saved more tyres than I normally would have done and so that I could just make sure that at the end of the stint I had enough, because it was so critical on tyres today and that worked out really well too.

    Q: (Leandro Alvares – Auto Esporte) Lewis, Senna was the last champion with a turbo engine; now you have the chance in this new era. As an Ayrton fan, does it mean anything to you? 

    LH: That he won? I mean winning this championship at the moment has no relation to Senna. No, this is something me and my family have worked very hard to do but of course, for me, Ayrton was my favourite driver of all time. Whenever my name is mentioned in the same sentence, I feel very honoured, very proud and naturally, he was a genius and a perfectionist at what he did and that’s what I aspire to be like.

    Q: (Claudio Nogueira – O Globo) For both Lewis and Nico, is it more difficult to fight against your teammate or against a driver from another team, driving for the title? 

    NR: That’s a difficult one. I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s… I think it’s the same you know. Lewis is a really strong competitor, and OK, he has the same car as me, that has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the car is the same, so that, for example, today I know that he didn’t have more top speed than me so I know exactly what he has. I don’t know, it’s difficult to answer, but of course it is a great challenge, it’s a great battle, fantastic also that the team is always letting us race, letting us battle, and also treating us 100 percent equally at all times. That’s really important. We’re both very lucky to be in that situation and that’s awesome.

    LH: They’re both completely different. I would imagine it’s probably harder with the same car because only you can make the difference whereas when you’re racing another team, they will be races where one is quicker, the other is quicker as you saw in the championship with me and Felipe. There were tracks where he was quicker and there were tracks that I was quicker at. It’s a different championship, for sure.

    Q: (Renan Couto – Warm-Up) Felipe, are you confident that you keep this pace at the next race in Abu Dhabi? 

    FM: Yeah, I am. I’ve been confident that we will have the car to fight for the podium in most of the races, as we saw in the last race where we were fighting for the podium. Unfortunately I lost the podium in the last race but we’ve had many podiums in the last races as a team and I really believe we can fight and we can have the possibility to be on the podium again in the next race. The car is good, competitive and I don’t think anybody will have different pieces so whatever things that will make the car quicker than this track, so I really hope we can be very strong on that track as well.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo OnLine) Lewis, the last two times you arrived at the last race of the season with the chance of being World Champion, here at this circuit in 2007 and 2008, you were starting Formula One and you made small mistakes. How do you feel yourself for the next race in the same condition? You are very close to being World Champion; do you feel more prepared, the chance of making small mistakes are maybe reduced? If you remember, you also made a mistake today. 

    LH: Not really. I think today…. I think it was a lot different back then and obviously today I recovered from it, much better than perhaps I did in the past. Today wasn’t racing to win the World Championship as I was obviously trying to get points. The next one is a different one and as I’m approaching it, I guess I would decide how I approach it.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you were very fast in the first and last sector but you were always losing quite a lot to Nico in the middle one. Was it because there was a little bit of a difference in the set-up? And do you think you had a chance at some point to attack or in the last few laps you were happy with it? 

    LH: When I was close to him or in general? In the middle sector it’s all downforce. Due to being right behind him, I couldn’t get the exit of turn nine so I would lose out through that middle sector and I couldn’t stay close in the last sector. Obviously if I was in clean air it would be different.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) And to both of you, after Abu Dhabi, when the championship is over, do you think that you’re going to sit together somewhere, go over the season, discuss what happened, about the hard times you had and get over it? 

    FM: I think they will move to the same apartment.

    LH: Well, we live in the same building so…

    FM: You’d spend a lot less money living together so it’s easy.

    LH: I don’t think so.

    NR: Well, we’ll see. At the moment it’s very neutral, the relationship, and that’s where it always comes back to. Of course we’ve had difficult times and then better times. I think it’s always going to be like that. It’s just very competitive, you know? It’s a great competition, exactly the same as it was 15 years ago all over again. Now I just hope that we have a fantastic last race. It’s going to be exciting, that’s for sure and we’ll see who wins.

    eom/FIA transcript of the interviews

  • Very emotional to be here in Brazil: Massa on P3

    DRIVERS

    1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Felipe MASSA (Williams)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Nico, fastest in all practice sessions, fastest in all qualifying sessions, I guess you would call that a perfect job? How are you feeling?

    Nico ROSBERG: Perfect job only if it works out tomorrow, you know, unfortunately. Up to now, of course, it’s been going well and it’s the best place to be in tomorrow but of course I need to make it happen in the race, unlike Austin for example.

    Well, very well done. Lewis, a very small margin in the end, a matter of a few hundredths of a second. It looks like you’ve been chasing Nico a little bit all weekend but it seemed to come together; a little mistake possibly in Turn 10 on that final run, but how important for you is it to win tomorrow’s race, how important to just collect points?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Just to comment on qualifying: it was great fun, Nico did a great lap and I lost a little bit of time in Turn 10 and perhaps a tiny bit in Turn One. But it was great – just having to keep on going out and fighting. That’s what qualifying is all about and it should always be that kind of gap, that close. So, really exciting and I hope people enjoyed that. And then, of course pole position is the best place to start here but it’s a long race tomorrow. It should be quite exciting with all the pit stops and the weather we don’t really know, so I’m here, I want to win, just as much as anyone else here, so I’m going to work as hard as I can tomorrow and hope we get have a race at least.

    Very well done and coming to you Felipe: third place for you and tremendously well received by the Brazilian crowd here. Emotional for you?

    Felipe MASSA: Yeah, very emotional. Very emotional to be here in Brazil and to have a competitive car, to start in the top three. I didn’t use everything I could from the car because I just got a lot of traffic, a lot of problems on my last set, that my car wasn’t… we couldn’t leave the engine on, so it was a lot of problems to leave the garage, so I left in the last moment with a lot of traffic around, with Magnussen. So I couldn’t improve my lap time and everybody was improving a little bit on the second set and I was not going to improve maybe enough to beat them but maybe to get very close. So it was very tight between the team-mates. It was very tight between them and very tight between me and Valtteri. But I think that’s a good thing. I’m so happy and I hope that it’s just the beginning and the start for tomorrow, a good result for us as well.

    Very well done. Back to you Nico: the points situation obviously means you need to win both the last two races…

    NR: Not true.

    Well, possibly, shall we say! You’ve been very calm all weekend. I wonder if the pressure is different now you’re in the position you’re in, compared with earlier in the season?

    NR: Pressure: it’s pretty much similar. The adrenaline is there, the tension, the excitement, it’s not been changing that much. I’m just here; I’m going for it. I’m pushing myself to stay optimistic all the time. Naturally I am optimistic also. Learn from Austin; I know what I need to do better. So, from that point of view, good to go for tomorrow.

    Q: Nico, as we said before, perfect run up to now. Tomorrow is what counts and, of course, this is a particularly tricky first corner, isn’t it? I guess it’s not ideal to have your team-mate alongside you because an awful lot can go wrong in that first Senna S, can’t it? Talk us through your thoughts.

    NR: I’m sure the start is going to be great to watch but being on the clean side of the grid, and it’s not such a long run down to Turn One, so that should definitely be helpful.

    Q: Lewis, your perspective on Turn One as an opportunity for you to get back on terms, and also whether what happened here six years ago, winning your title here, whether you’re going to be able to channel that into your performance tomorrow.

    LH: I’ve not really thought too much about the past here but, as I said, I’m here to win. Going to try to get off the line as quick as possible tomorrow and if I have a shot into Turn One tomorrow, I’ll take it. Otherwise, it’s a long race, 71 laps here so there’s lots of… should be several, two or three stops, so lots can go on during the race. So I’m generally excited and it’s not the only opportunity off the start. Yeah, we just, as I’ve said at all races, I just hope that we can race at least.

    Q: Felipe, obviously that’s your best qualifying since Germany – but particularly exciting for you, I guess, is the margin. How close you were to these Mercedes around this track. Your thought on that and also on what you can do in the race. Can you challenge them?

    FM: Yeah. Definitely good qualifying today, very tight between us in our team, me and Valtteri. Nico and Lewis as well. They were very, very close to each other so it was not an easy qualifying. I managed to do a good lap straight away but I just had a problem on the second set. Traffic, problem with the engine that it was not firing up. The car is good. I would say the car is competitive and we need to understand how the tyres will behave tomorrow in the race. The weather as well  – but I think… I will try everything I can for my best race. I really hope that it can be possible to have some opportunity, even with these two guys. I will try.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Nico, this weekend looks a lot like the Austin weekend. But after your pit stop (in Austin) you suddenly lost performance and Lewis overtook you. What happened exactly and do you think the story will be different here?

    NR: You say this looks similar to Austin. I don’t know why. Just pole position. I understand what I needed to improve in Austin: I didn’t find my rhythm in the race and I understand that, we looked at it and so I’m confident that I can improve that for tomorrow. Anyways, it’s a different situation: different track, here we’ve done more long runs, we even did a long run this morning which will help, in exactly the same conditions as we expect tomorrow. So all those things should be very helpful.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Lewis, would second place already be a good result for you here, even with Nico winning the race? Will you be more conservative or will you go for it, trying to get your sixth victory in a row?

    LH: I’m just repeating again: I’ve come here to win so the priority target as always to try and win the race. Of course, on top of that, I want the team to have another one-two which is going to be our target. We know the Williams are very close. Hopefully we’ll have a good battle tomorrow.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, we have seen a Williams which is very very fast in the last sector. Do you think that tomorrow you could have the chance to beat Mercedes if you can manage to stay close to them at the beginning of the race?

    FM: I think we were very fast last sector but even also in the first sector. We were just losing in the second sector which is where you need more downforce, and it’s pretty cle

    Nico Rosberg takes Brazilian pole. Massa (left) takes P3 and Hamilton raring to go from P2. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Nico Rosberg takes Brazilian pole. Massa (left) takes P3 and Hamilton raring to go from P2. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    ar what we’re missing a little bit during the championship but it’s also true that we have a good car. We have a competitive car and I don’t know if we will have the chance to be more competitive than Mercedes tomorrow but I hope we will have the chance to be in front of at least  one of these guys and I will do everything I can. We know that this race is very important for us and for me, as a Brazilian, and therefore these people as well who are watching and supporting me, so I will try everything I can.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you mentioned the wrong settings; did that happen by accident or didn’t you know or did you find out during driving that other settings would have been better?

    NR: No, it was not by accident. It’s a progression, from one run to the next and you learn, with every run. But then the decision is, OK, I know my settings are wrong but if I change them now, the car will be different and that can be quite risky because in qualifying I’m really going flat out on the absolute edge and when I’m on the edge and the car is different, it’s not necessarily going to be quicker and it’s more risky so I just took the decision to stay as it was and that was the right decision, so that worked out well.

    eom/FIA release of the transcript

  • Minimal changes in Pirelli tyres for 2015: Pual Hembery

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull Racing), Pat FRY (Ferrari), Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli) Rob SMEDLEY (Williams), Sam MICHAEL (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Paul Hembery, if we could start with you? Interesting day today to say the least. Obviously a new track surface here at Interlagos [along with] your choice of soft and medium tyres for this weekend. What did you learn today, particularly in the extremely high track temperatures, up around 57-58 degrees [Celsius]?

    Paul HEMBERY: Well, the track is very different from last year. We’ve lost a lot of the macro roughness, 50% less than last year, so it’s a very smooth track and in the first sessions we saw a lot of oils coming out from the new tarmac that we’ve got out there, which you get from new surfaces. So a lot of graining going on in the first run on the tyres in P1. It improved a little bit through the day. Having said that it’s a strong pull for something like the softer compound here when you get up to nearly 60 degrees on the track. A little bit of blistering we started to see on the front tyres. But who knows what the rest of the weekend is going to hold. Nobody foresaw having this high temperature today, so there are still a few question marks, I guess, for the rest of the weekend.

    What about 2015 tyres? Give us an insight, if you could, about your thinking, what you want to achieve on strategy, performance, that kind of thing?

    PH: Well, we’re not planning any great changes. We’re trying to improve a little bit the footprint area of the tyre, which is what you do as a tyre maker. Compounds? Well, again minimal changes. Maybe working on some of the temperature ranges of some of the compounds, but not planning anything dramatic. Primarily because we still want to understand what these technical guys are going to come up with in terms of developments for next season. They’ve had a year to understand the new regulations and we are expecting some quite strong improvements during next season.

    Thank you very much. Rob, coming to you, same first question for you as it was for Paul, but from a team’s point of view. What did you find today running with these tyres on this new track surface? Anything you’d like to share with us about it?

    Rob SMEDLEY: I think that the track improved quite dramatically through the first session as Paul just said. There were a lot of oils coming out. As you put Formula One cars over the surface you impart a lot of load into the surface and the oil comes out. I think that’s quite normal. And as it did the track gripped up a bit, between the first and the second set there was quite a big track evolution. We started the second session about 17 or 18 degrees hotter than what we finished the first. We were 56 degrees, I think, track temperature, about 34 or 35 ambient and that went up to 57-58 at the end we were measuring at the end. So they were quite extreme temperatures. On the old surface round here with that tyre of temperature you’ll get quite a lot of degradation. And that’s why I think everybody put the option on and the people who looked best on it were simply the people who’d run least in their short runs. Anybody who’d run four or five laps, as our cars had done, we grained the rears and blistered the front. But I think that’s quite normal for these track temperatures. We’re predicting, for what it’s worth, that it will be quite different conditions for tomorrow and Sunday. I think the main thing to take out of it, as always, is that Friday, yes it’s important and it’s good to go and do your homework, but the track can change quite dramatically for the rest of the weekend.

    Q: Felipe, yesterday in the press conference was very optimistic about the next steps for Williams. They’ve obviously been a midfield team for a while now but the car and the technology are clearly on the point of being race-winning again. What needs to be done about developing the mentality of the team to that point as well?

    RS: It’s a long-term project. You have to change cultures and methodology within the team and, like I’ve always said since I arrived at Williams, it’s very easy to change process, you can change process in a week – but it’s much more difficult to change culture, y’know? The team’s got to get back to being able to win. Being ready to win. Being pretty much ready to beat everybody. If you look at the most recent success – bar Mercedes – in F1 then it’s Red Bull. They started off some years back with not the quickest car and certainly not the best operation and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me saying that. And right now, in terms of their chassis, they still have a fantastic chassis, in terms of how they operate, they operate very well – but it’s because the same core group was there for a long time. And that’s what we have to do at Williams. I think we’ve got reasonably sensible people there now, there’s a good level of competence, a good level of young talent as well – which is always important – it’s not just the people at the top end who make all the decisions but the people who actually do the work as well. And yeah, for the moment it’s working. There’s more to do. We have to go further but as long we stay on the road that we’re on, hopefully it will work out.

    Q: Pat, tell us about the contrasting day for your two drivers: obviously Kimi at the top of the timesheets in FP2 and the fire for Fernando. Is that going to mean a penalty?

    Pat FRY: The fire, it’s a high-mileage Friday engine to be honest. I’m sure every team’s in a similar boat so it doesn’t really affect the strategy that we run on a Saturday and a Sunday, so that side of things, it looks more spectacular and it’s hard work for us to clean it all up but it’s not that big a deal. I think this morning we, like most people, we struggled with graining of, particularly the right front, and it takes a little bit of a while for us to work out how to deal with that. As the track improved the graining reduced significantly in the second part of FP1. We’ve been trying different setup options with Kimi and he seems happier. We’ve been reviewing… it’s been a constant battle for us to try and work out and give him the front end he wants in the car. We’re a little bit closer and it shows that, if we can give him the car that gives him the right feedback, he’s right there and right on the pace. So, I think that side of things went reasonably well. Long run pace, it’s hard to say really. I think everyone’s long run was disrupted by, firstly, the red flag we caused and then the following red flag. On Fernando’s side, again, similar comments with graining and car balance. I think everyone’s struggling a bit with the tyres and the way they’re behaving here. But yeah, we didn’t get a clean lap on the very first lap but other than that I think they’re relatively close together.

    Q: Tell us how the Mattiacci long-term plan is manifesting itself in the technical department.

    PF: I think, like all these things I’ve said to you before, to stop and look at what you’re doing and realise where… or start thinking long term, is definitely what we needed to do. It’s good that we’ve done that. Some of the changes that have been emplaced are already paying huge dividends in the way we’re developing next year’s car. Only time will tell really. There’s a huge amount of catching-up we need to do but at least there’s the drive to improve the technical process, invest where we need to. It’s a long-term process but the right path is there to get us back to the top.

    Q: Sam, you’ve obviously announced that you’re leaving Formula One after a long career at the end of this season. Why have you decided to leave the sport and what are your plans?

    Sam MICHAEL: Thanks James. First thing I wanted to say was that it’s been really been an honour and a privilege to work alongside all the engineers and technicians and drivers, media and all the people that make up Grand Prix racing. It’s an incredibly privileged position to be in and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. There are some fantastic people in this business, it’s one of those businesses where there’s lots of different characters and a great deal of diversity but the one thing that bonds us all together is that we’re all racers. We always have conflicts and fights about whether it’s technical regs or sporting regs or who said what or did at different times. We’re all  here to do the best thing for Formula One and if it didn’t exist like that then we wouldn’t be here. It’s been a fantastic run, 21 years with four different teams and I looked at it and thought it’s time to go back to Australia. Looking forward to that, probably spending a bit more time with my family. As you know, yourself, motor racing itself is an incredibly selfish business when it comes to families and I think it got to the point where I thought if I don’t see my kids grow up at this point then I probably never will. So that was basically the driving factor behind it. It’s been a great trip and that’s it.

    Q: What’s your favourite period?

    SM: I’ve enjoyed all of it really. As I said, I’ve been very lucky to work with some pretty inspirational people right from the beginning with the two Peters, Peter Collins and Peter Wright, the infamous Eddie Jordan, obviously Gary Anderson who was a good teacher at the time, then Frank and Patrick and then obviously Martin and Ron. You could look at each period and say that when you’re winning Grands Prix, they’re the most fantastic results and the highlights, but there’s actually lots of other little areas and little wins that you get, whether it’s coming up with a new technology before someone else in a team, results where you’ve driven from the back… I think of things like when Alex Wurz drove from the back in 2007 and got to the podium. I think of Nico Rosberg’s first Grand Prix in Bahrain where he started a lap down effectively and got back to seventh and had fastest lap of the race. There’s all the wins as well that I had in those teams. I think all those moments are the ones that bonded a race team together and they’re the ones that you remember the most.

    Q: Paul Monaghan, great year, obviously for Daniel Ricciardo: three wins, third in the drivers’ championship. Less so for Sebastian Vettel who admitted yesterday that ‘Ricciardo has simply done a better job than me.’ What’s the technical explanation for these two very different seasons?

    Paul MONAGHAN: We present two equal cars to the drivers and I think you have to ask Sebastian for a little bit more explanation of his side of what he meant. We service both drivers with the best equipment we can, treat them equally, allow them their requests where we can and field them onto the track in the best state we possibly can. I would have said Sebastian’s coming off five very intense years, isn’t he, and he’s been phenomenally successful and I suppose it concludes with we wish him well.

    Q: Well, you’re turning a page, obviously. You’ve got Daniel Kvyat coming in; when do you get to run him for the first time, and more importantly, do you think he’s ready?

    PM: He’ll be ready. He’s had a season, hasn’t he? He’s had some glamorous moments. In terms of running him, I think it’s going to be in February and yeah, looking forward to it. It’s a new challenge for us, isn’t it? So off we go, we’ll see what happens.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Rob, Pat Symonds said Alonso could be a disturbing factor for a Williams that is still growing and trying to become a top team to win again. Do you agree with that?

    RS: Well, I don’t exactly know what Pat said so I can’t really comment on that. I’m sure that’s not verbatim what you’ve just said to me, it rarely is. I think that Williams is, yes, growing, yes, in a state of transition. But I don’t think that anybody would be a distraction. I think that it’s up to us to be able to integrate people into the team, whoever they are. If they’re good and they offer something, then it’s up to the management and the rest of the team to be able to integrate them. Don’t take this away as a quote that I think that Fernando Alonso’s coming to Williams because he isn’t. You’d have to ask Pat to explain further on what he said, but as far as I’m concerned, I think that Williams is open to everybody.

    Q: (Ben Edwards – BBC TV Sport) A question for Paul: I know there were very interrupted race runs that everybody was doing this afternoon but Red Bull did look pretty good. Do you think you can give Mercedes a bit of a run, particularly if the weather conditions change this weekend?

    PM: Yes, in summary to your question, we’ll set out to try and win the race. If it’s dry and the race is as we might expect, then we’ll probably watch the Mercedes. If you throw in a bit of inclement weather, a few unexpected pit stops, we’ll do our utmost to finish at the front, yes.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Paul, I would like to follow up on what Rob had said about the core group of people who of course will no longer be around: for example, Adrian’s moving on, Sebastian’s moving on, I believe Rocky is moving on as well, so there will be a total restructure. How do you people see that restructure working internally? Will there be an announcement of people starting to  move into positions?

    PM: Well, I have to correct you on two out of three points you’ve made. Sebastian is departing the team, he’s one part of the team. We wish him well. Adrian’s not leaving, he’s taking a step back, but he’s still around. Rocky’s staying with the team so the core team to which you refer is still there and I think, as Rob said, we’ve been together for a long time, we work well together, we’re a close knit team so people are changing positions, structures have been in place for a little while now so I don’t envisage a great change in a short period of time. I think, from the outside, you will struggle to see very much in the way of differences and as the core team is staying together, then we expect to be strong if not stronger next year.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pat, we’re hearing in the past few weeks different stories about the new Ferrari, first that it was delayed and that the data was not as good – even worse than this one, then that there have been some improvements. What can you say about the work that you are doing in Maranello? Where are you standing? What are you foreseeing?

    PF: Well, I don’t know where you get your information from, to be honest. Yeah, we’ve set ourselves some strong challenging development targets on both the power unit side and on the chassis side. There’s obviously a huge gap we need to catch up. I think things are progressing reasonably well. Have we reached our target? No, far from it but I guess there’s four and a half months to go still – at least – but things are coming along and improving on both fronts really, so  I think there’s been good progress there. All the teams are working well together, so only time will tell how much performance everyone else is going to put on.  So we’re doing the best we can with the resource we’re applying, so it’s going OK.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speedsport News) Sam, do you plan to be involved in racing when you get back to Australia? And would you consider being involved in the V8 series down there?

    SM: Thanks Dan. I think at this point in time, the first thing I want to do is get back to Australia. I’m still on this side of the world (Europe), get back there and get everyone – my family – established and then decide what I’m going to do next. Since it’s become public, it’s been a really interesting time with some quite fascinating and interesting projects but at the moment I’m not going to make any decision until I’m back there. Spend a few days on the beach first. Thanks.

    eom/FIA release of the transcript 

  • There’s not enough for me to win, I need to rely on something happening: Nico Rosberg with two races left

    File photo of Hamilton left, and Nico Rosberg at Hockenheim on Friday. An Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    File photo of Hamilton left, and Nico Rosberg at Hockenheim on Friday. An Mercedes AMG Petronas image

    DRIVERS – Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren), Adrian SUTIL (Sauber), Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus), Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Nico, if we could start with you? It’s the first time this year, in this championship, that the championship itself is out of your hands, in the sense that two wins, here and in Abu Dhabi, won’t be enough. Do you feel you need to rely on a little bit of luck then and this venue might provide it? 

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it’s clear that I need to rely on something happening. Yeah, for sure there’s not enough for me to win, unfortunately, but that’s the way it is. Anyways, in sport so much can happen, so I’m still very optimistic.

    You had a rich run of form from Monaco through to Hockenheim. How would characterise the period since then?

    NR: A less rich run of form! What is it? Lewis has done a little bit of a better job since then. That’s it, pretty simple, but as I say, still two races.

    OK, thank you. Felipe, coming to you: obviously, you’re a two-time winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Do you feel that with this car this year is your best shot of getting back on the podium, since that great win in ’08.

    Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I think so. Anyway, I was on the podium in 2012. It’s a fantastic track for me. A track that I had great results. As you said, two victories, almost three I would say. Three pole positions. I always love this track. I won many races [here] even before Formula One. So I started my career here, on the other side of the wall, which is a go-kart track, at the top. I love this place. I love the energy that I feel here and I’m really looking forward to having a fantastic weekend. I hope our car can be as competitive as shown in the other tracks here as well. We’ll see how far we can be, or maybe even in the middle of these guys here on the left [Mercedes]. Trying to get all the opportunities to have a great race here.

    You’ve obviously been a key part of Williams’ renaissance this year. With all the experience you have, tell us how you feel this team can become more competitive in 2015?

    FM: Well, first of all you cannot forget how much we grow from the first race until now. I think maybe… I would say it was the team that grows more during the championship. It was a team that gets better, that improved the car in the top level, from the first race to the last race, looking at where we started and where we are now. So, I think definitely the team… when we started at the first test and where we are now, the team changed completely the organisation, the mentality. We are still changing, there are still some improvements we are working to be there before the first race of next year. But I really believe in this team. I think this team has everything to be even more competitive, it has everything to be fighting for victories and I really, really hope for championships as well.

    Kevin, coming to you, obviously clear progress for McLaren on the car side in the last few grands prix, that’s clear to see. But the car still seem to have a narrow sweet spot in terms of getting the most out of it during a race weekend. What’s going on there?

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: A lot of it is down to the tyres, making the tyres work. It’s seems that sometimes we get it better than others. Sochi was an example of where we got the tyres working very well and I think Austin was an example of where we didn’t. It’s a little bit hard to understand but we’re trying out best.

    Since the summer break you’ve had pretty strong form yourself personally, especially in qualifying. Do you think you’ve done enough to book your seat for 2015?

    KM: I can only say I hope so. I think I’ve learned a lot. I’ve improved a lot in many areas and yeah, I’m sure I have a lot more potential even from where I am now. So, I hope so.

    Thank you very much. Pastor, coming to you, first points in Austin, a very strong performance. Tell us about your and Lotus’ fight back?

    Pastor MALDONADO: It was a very tough season, especially at the beginning, even not able to run the car as we wanted. It was not maybe the best way to start to work with a team. But we did a great job to try to put everything together, to get better and better and at some point we decided to be focused on next year’s car. But the team seems to be quite good, very competitive in terms of spirit. They are used to being in the front. They know how to do a good car, so let’s hope the best for next year.

    How do you feel about opportunities for this weekend? This track is always very unpredictable and the weather forecast looks like it’s going to be pretty wet throughout the weekend. A lot of variables there. Opportunities?

     

    PM: Yeah, the main objective is to maintain the performance we had last week in Austin, so we think, as a team, we can continue to fight for the points. That is the main focus at the moment.

    Q: Adrian, coming to you, obviously Sauber have announced both their 2015 drivers, so in what direction does your future lie, do you feel?

    Adrian SUTIL: I don’t know, so I will see what is possible, what I want and also… yeah, it’s quite a few things to think about and I can’t really say more at the moment.

    Q: Are you optimistic that you’ll be in Formula One next year?

    AS: At the moment, I don’t know. Maybe. F1 is unpredictable – but as I said, there are a few things to think about first and then the team has to comment the rest.

    Q: Obviously great performance in qualifying in Austin, you must have been so disappointed the way that first lap turned out. Have you spoken to Sergio [Pérez] afterwards? Have you been back through it?

    AS: No, we didn’t speak. He didn’t apologise, to be honest. But anyway, that’s how it is. Shame, it was for sure a good chance for points. It was a very nice qualifying, it was good to be in Q3 finally with this car. It has been quite a challenge this year, to be honest, so we didn’t expect it – but for some reason it got better and better through the qualifying session and especially on Saturday, the car was better than ever before, so, many things to analyse. We try it of course again here. I look forward to the race weekend. Big chances with weather looking very wet and I think everyone knows how the weather can turn out here in Brazil. We have seen many exciting races.

    Q: Jean-Eric, coming to you, some encouraging noises that you may get a chance to retain your Toro Rosso seat for next year. Can you tell us about progress on that and progress on any other options you might have in Formula One?

    Jean-Eric VERGNE: Well yeah, there were some good words from many people, especially from Franz [Tost]. Well, you know, it would be a good thing to stay with this team, I really believe in it and I think this year we did get a lot stronger and next year we’ll be again on this up-trend, so I believe we can be again in a better position next year so hopefully we can continue. But you never know. And I don’t know much more about the situation than this.

    Q: It’s clear from watching you race in the last period of time, just more recently, that there’s a lot of passion in your driving. Is that coming from the adversity that you’ve been through, the setbacks, or is it anger? What’s driving it?

    JEV: Definitely not anger. I believe that I’ve done many races in the past like this but unfortunately the beginning of the year I had a lot of DNF and obviously, when you don’t finish the race, people don’t remember what you’ve been up to in the race. That was a little bit of a shame. I haven’t changed anything. I drive with a lot of passion, I love racing, that’s what I do best and it doesn’t matter what I do next year, I continue,  I don’t continue, I’ll always give my best to a hundred percent and try to have the most fun possible. This is when you perform well.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Elmar Dreher – German Press Agency) Adrian, I can imagine that you are very frustrated. Can you describe a little bit your feelings about this bad situation for you?

    AS: Well, I’m not frustrated but that’s just how it is in F1 since many years. It’s a little bit a different business. That’s all I can say right now. I look forward to the race and that’s it.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Nico, we know the championship will not finish here in Brazil. Is it an add-point from a psychological point of view that you can have a last chance in Abu Dhabi?

    NR: It’s… for sure it’s great. Great news that for sure this year I have a chance to win the championship the way it is now. That’s a good thing. I’m also happy because it’s good for the fans that it’s going to be exciting until the very end. And, yeah, for sure it keeps me very, very optimistic.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, Lewis said that what happened in Spa was kind of a war for him and since then he changes his attitude and everything. What has it changed for you since then and what do you think you have to do now to change the results of the last five races?

    NR: Did he say we’re at war? I don’t think anything has changed. It was an intense battle before and it still is an intense battle now. So, I don’t know his exact opinion on things but for me nothing has changed since then.

    Q: (Claudio Nogueira – O Gobo) Felipe, can you make an overall evaluation of your first season with the Williams team?

    FM: Starting with the team, the team did a fantastic season, looking at how they were last year and looking at how they are now. I think the team did a fantastic season in terms of what I was saying before: improving the car and working in the good areas. We lost some opportunities, I lost many opportunities during the season, so many races that I couldn’t finish for different reasons. Some unlucky races as well, I would say. But I think now, I would say maybe from the middle of the season, things were a lot more consistent for myself, for the races, and I really believe that we can still do a great two races for the end of the championship. I’m really working and looking forward to having a very consistent and good season in 2015.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Kevin, two part question: first of all, I take it you still don’t know exactly what your future is for next year, and secondly, then, if you don’t know what your future is, do you feel a bit let down by the team, that in your rookie year, after you’ve done your best to try and perform on the track, you’ve got two races to go and they still haven’t told you whether you’ve got a drive next year or not?

    KM: They’re not doing that to annoy me. They have a reason for it.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Do you feel let down? 

    KM: No, because I understand why I’ve not been told yet. Some things are still not sorted out from their side and if they could let me know, they would. Yeah, I can only just wait and see what happens. I’m not planning anything else, I’m not looking for anything else. I’m planning as if I’m here next year, so that’s what I’m working for and doing my best to get to.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Adrian, I understood you had a two year contract and it seems that it’s only one year. Is this something you have to talk to Sauber about resolving? You alluded to some issues to sort out still.

    AS: Yes, there are certain things to talk about, definitely, yes. They’ve confirmed two drivers but that doesn’t mean the drivers can drive and it doesn’t mean that the team’s going to drive. So there’s no real change from last weekend to this weekend. It’s just an announcement and now, of course, my situation, I think I have to do some talking, to sort out the things.

    Q: (Luiz Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) I don’t know which drivers have done a track walk or saw the new pit entry and pit exit but if somebody can comment on what they saw? Maybe Felipe?

    FM: Yeah, I saw it. The pit exit is more or less similar, a little bit more inside and I would say corner two is more safe, because the wall is a bit further away, so we won’t see some crashes which we saw many times. I think that corner will be a lot safer now. And the pit entry, I would say, was a good job. You still have the wall there, in a similar place – this is the only thing that we need to be careful of, but the pit entrance is better so I would say it’s more safe, it’s better and I really hope we will see no accidents or less accidents than we saw in the past there. Anyway, we need to drive to see exactly but it looks OK by looking but we just need to drive to be sure about it.

    Q: (Andy Benson – BBC) At the beginning of the year, Nico, you were quite outspoken against double points, you didn’t like it.

    NR: I do now! It’s really a fantastic idea.

    Q: (Andy Benson – BBC) I’m coming to that, yeah, and last weekend you were also saying you didn’t like it but you could see the positives. If you end up winning the championship because of double points now, the way the season’s gone, some people will say that it was a hollow victory or it shouldn’t have happened or whatever. How would you respond to that? 

    NR: I wouldn’t respond. Everybody can have their opinion and in sport it’s the points that count in the end and of course, then you can debate who deserved it more or less. That’s always going to be the case.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, we heard that Felipe Nasr is going to race for Sauber next year. You know him pretty well, he’s been the third driver for your team. What do you think he can bring to Sauber and what do you say about him as a driver?

    FM: Well, I’m happy for him. I think for Brazil it’s great to have another Brazilian driver racing. I’m quite close to him, we’ve worked together the whole season inside the team. He’s in GP2, maybe his third season in GP2 so it’s his time, his opportunity to go to Formula One, otherwise it starts to be a little bit more difficult after that so I’m happy that he had his opportunity, his chance and I hope the best for him. I hope the best for him and I hope that we can bring our Brazilian flag on the top  now with two drivers, not just one, and I hope the best for him. Definitely, it’s not a great moment for Sauber. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to be next year, his team, I don’t know which car and how competitive they can be, seeing that they are suffering a little bit of crisis and crisis is not good for everything you’re doing but anyway, I hope the best for him and I hope he can have a good start and a good experience and being in Formula One for a long time, not just for a few years.

    eom/FIA press release of the transcript

  • It has been an incredible place, a big thank you to the American fans, says Hamilton

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mario Andretti)

    Hello Austin, another exciting and beautiful race in the record books. Amazing, guys. All my deputies here. Lewis, if my math is correct it’s your tenth win this season, a 24-point lead in the championship. Oh my gosh. Three races, two wins and a second, is there anything you can tell me about your secret here?

    Lewis HAMILTON: You know, this is an incredible place. I’ve got such great support here, so a big, huge thank you to the fans here. Again, I’ve been so fortunate – I’ve got an incredible team, an incredible and I had a great competitor today and I’m really grateful to be up front. I’m really excited. It’s such a privilege to be representing my country and to be at the top of the driver wins is really quite special.

    A beautiful job, obviously. You had work to do. You’ve done that in the past. You made a beautiful pass on your friend here Nico and I think you might have caught him by surprise a little bit but after that in clear air it looked like clear sailing, because it looked like the car just worked perfectly for you? 

    LH: The car was great today, but you know what, where’s the Stetson? Can I use your hat?

    MA: In a minute… I’m still on official duty.

    LH: Oh yeah, you’re the sheriff.

    Nico, great start, brilliant pole. It looks to me like you were caught a little bit by surprise on that overtake early on in the race and once Lewis got into clear air it seemed like you had a tough time. Nevertheless a one-two, many times this year, a brilliant performance by both of you and kudos to Mercedes.

    Nico ROSBERG: yeah, it definitely kind of sucks to me today, but that’s the way it is (inaudible). It took too long for me to find my rhythm. Once Lewis got by I found my rhythm, but it was too late, so that kind of sucked. But anyways, thank you to all of you; you’ve been fantastic today. As I see, you’ve had a great time, that’s important and it’s great that F1 is in Texas.

    Seventy-five points still available before the end of the season, so the fight is still open right. Daniel, wow! Eight podiums this season, you’re just right there aren’t there aren’t you? Keeping these two pretty honest aren’t you? That’s fabulous to see.

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah we’re doing what we can. We all had a great weekend. So, firstly, thanks to all the fans. It’s honestly a pleasure to come out here. Austin’s great – the circuit, the facilities, the town, everything’s good. So thanks to Red Bull for giving me the package to fight for the podium today and I’m really happy with third place.

    That was brilliant obviously as I said. Some of your overtakes are textbook. As a young man it’s amazing. It’s fun to watch, honestly.

    DR: Thanks. This place is great. You can overtake here, there are a lot of opportunities. I got Magnussen on lap one and then Fernando on the restart, so it wasn’t too boring out there.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, well done, what an amazing run of races you’ve had, these five victories, absolutely fantastic. How have you felt about those?

    LH: It’s been an incredible run. This whole season has been incredible really. Just an unbelievable job done by the team. Nico was very quick in qualifying yesterday. Obviously I said I had a couple of problems and I corrected them today and, never know how the race is going to go but I pushed as hard as I could, particularly in the first stint. And the second stint I seemed to be even quicker on that stint. Once I got past Nico it was really just about controlling it. Coming here today, just having that same determination and hunger to get that win. And, as I said, there’s not a better crowd really to do that in front of.

    Q: Tell us about that overtake. How did that happen? How did you feel about that? Was it all DRS? How did it actually happen?

    LH: It’s obviously a very good circuit to be able to follow but it’s not easy and it was very hard through the middle sector to try to stay as close to him as possible and get as close as I could to the DRS zone. And I was quite a bit back, I would say, but I felt very confident, there was a big headwind into 12, and I just felt like I was waiting for the moment really, to just be just close enough to throw it up the inside. And that’s what I did. There’s a kind of… you have to decide how much of a risk you’re willing to take. Nico wasn’t defending there really so almost caught him unaware. And after that, really I was just trying to maintain it. But what an incredible achievement. I’m so grateful. Big thank you to all my team and to my family because the results that I’ve had and the amount of wins that I’ve had wouldn’t have been possible without those people.

    Q: You talked yesterday about brakes and also a little bit about a flat-spot. There was no sign of that during the opening laps?

    LH: No, there was no problem. Fortunately it was a small one. But when the Safety Car came out I did have that big difference of around 100°C between the left front brake and the right front, so was trying very hard to keep it as high as possible but fortunately once we got going again it started to rebalance itself and I didn’t have too many problems. Locking was still there but it didn’t seem to hinder me.

    Q: Nico, great start again the overtake saw you back in second place. What happened there?

    NR: Yeah, the start was good so thanks to the team for that, that worked out really well. It’s pretty simple that I didn’t find my rhythm early on. It took a long time, like all the way until after Lewis passed me. In the overtake, I knew there was a chance. Maybe he would try or not, so I went kinda, halfway defensive but Lewis just did a good job and that’s it. Five or ten laps later I started to find a better rhythm and then I felt OK – but it was unfortunately just way too late.

    Q: At one point, for something like five laps in succession, you were lapping so close, the two of you, within thousandths of a second of one another, I guess that when you’d found the rhythm.

    NR: Yes. That’s the period went I started to feel more comfortable. I never gave up in this race, of course, I was just fully determined all the way to try and put the pressure onto Lewis, try and get a bit closer, but it just wasn’t possible today.

    Q: And you radioed in that you hit a kerb at some point. Was there any lasting effect from that?

    NR: No, it’s just that with these kerbs around the back there, if you take a little bit too much, they’re quite high and it was a little bit of a thump but everything was OK. Again, they’ve built a good car. Robust.

    Q: Daniel, fantastic pace to get past both of the Williams. It looked like the car really came into its own in the middle of the race.

    DR: Yeah. I think we had good pace. Williams were strong. I think we used good strategy to get ahead of them basically, and that paid off. But yeah, the first few laps were fun. We dropped a few places on the start but then got Magnussen into 12 and then Alonso on the restart so, couldn’t really hang with the Williams at first but it seemed like the longer the stint went, the more pace we had. Really happy with third. As we know, Mercedes are a bit out of reach, so third I think was the best we could do today.

    Q: And when you had the Williams behind you, within the DRS capability as it were, a slippery Williams with a Mercedes engine, you must have thought it was all over.

    DR: Yeah, Felipe was coming on strong at the end. I could see him. At the beginning of the stint I pulled but then he came back stronger than he expected. I don’t know if he had DRS or not but I was trying to do a little bit down the straights so he couldn’t get too much in my tow. But anyways, I think we held on pretty comfortably in the end but they had good pace and kept me honest until the last lap.

    Q: So really happy to be on the podium.

    DR: You betcha!

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Sef Harding – Zero Zone News) Lewis, you’ve been focused out there like a Jedi knight this season. Big numbers for you: this makes five in a row and ten wins through the season. Did everything just come together for you today, once you had the car hooked up?

    LH: I like the Jedi knight reference! That’s cool. Yeah, today, just really doing my homework. Before the race there’s a lot you can do to really understand what opportunities could come up and in different scenarios, how you approach it and I felt very much on top of that as I have done for quite some time. Just went into the race with the belief that I could win it. Incredible support from my fans, even from when I was in New York this week. The support from my fans and the tons of flags out there and team tops and team caps, I really am so grateful for that support that I have here in the US. It’s amazing. I hope it continues to grow over the years. Great weather, the circuit’s just fantastic. I went into the race thinking I need another race just like 2012 and it was just like that. I was catching him through exactly the same points at which I was catching Sebastian. There wasn’t a moment in the race when I didn’t think that I would get him. Once I was past, as I said, I was able to relax for a second and really try to manage the tyres, because I knew that perhaps he would push at some other point. And so I was always having to respond. It’s such a great feeling when you have a race like that, it just feels great that you’ve really done it as best as you can.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speed Sport News) Daniel, as you said, a slow start. What happened at the start and also, looking forward to next weekend, the Red Bull is second best here, how will it be in Interlagos?

    DR: I don’t really want to talk about the start! We’ll see. I feel that it was my fault today. It just didn’t feel like I got the procedure right but I will have to look back and see the ins and outs. But I think it was… for getting off the line poorly, I think we had good damage limitation. Yes. Think I picked a better line in turn one and then, as I said, got Kevin back in turn 12 so in the end we only lost one spot. I think it could have been a lot worse. Yeah, we’ll work on that and then Brazil, hopefully we’re strong. In the past, it has definitely been a good track for Red Bull but I think, again, it’s going to be that last step on the podium that we’re going to fight for. I don’t know. I would like to say that I could catch these two but I think I will be happy with third but let’s see how we go.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo OnLine) Nico, now there are 24 points difference to Lewis; do you go to the two last races with the same approach until now, or emotionally inevitable that it affects you? And Daniel, can you describe the manoeuvre to overtake Alonso and then Massa in the operation of pit stops?

    NR: Same approach from me: fully committed, full attack, try and be on pole in qualifying and then win Interlagos and that’s it. There are still many points to be had and a lot can still happen. Same as all the time.

    DR: Fernando on the restart; I don’t think that, from memory, the two Williamses didn’t get a great restart so it sort of bunched us all up. We were close and I saw Fernando cover a bit but it’s so wide at turn one, I knew there was a bit more room on the inside. I guess I committed to that, already out of the last corner when I knew I was close enough and that worked, so that was good but then Massa or Valtteri cut in late. I was very shallow on the apex and I nearly actually collected the Williams but I’m sure Fernando was watching me and saying ‘it’s all over here. He braked too late. Silly boy.’ It was close but that worked well and then I think just the undercut worked to our advantage. I don’t know if Felipe had a slow pit stop or not but yeah, that probably helped us out and I think our pit stop was pretty quick so that was the story there.

    Q: (David Estrada – The Port Arthur News) Lewis and Nico, you guys had a very similar tyre- changing strategy today. Do you think it was done intentionally, to level the playing field between you two? And do you guys see that continuing in the future races?

    LH: It wasn’t because of that. It was because if you look at some of the races, you have been able to offset. Usually the first driver will have the optimum strategy, but then the second driver usually has… say it’s option, prime, prime, the second driver would have a chance of doing option, prime, option but the option’s quite weak here so you had to run option, prime, prime. It was much much slower to run an option, so then we were both on that strategy and that’s why I had to push so hard to make sure I got by as soon as possible because I wouldn’t have that opportunity later on.

    Q: (Matthew Walter – Bleacher Report) Lewis, now if you were to finish second in the next two races, no matter what Nico did, you would still be World Champion, so does this change your approach at all, in terms of maybe being a little bit more conservative, taking fewer chances or is it the same for you?

    LH: It doesn’t really change, same as for Nico really, because we’re hunting for those points. I think during the year you have to be balanced in the risks you take and I think that so far I’ve not been taking too many risks. I’ve done what I’ve needed to do to get by in the safest way, in the cleanest way, which has worked all year, so I should just continue to do the same. Even in this race, I was looking after the car, trying to nurse it home and make sure that it had no problems, and I think really you’ve just got to keep going until the last chequered flag.

    Q: (Steve Aibel – Drafting the circuits) Daniel, the atmosphere here in Austin and Texas, you seem to really have embraced. You’ve talked about Sixth Street, wore a cowboy hat but the thing that I think really embraces you to the State is that number on your hat. Is there any way you can talk about the three and the influence of Dale Earnhardt in picking that number?

    DR: Yes, you’re absolutely right. I love this place. I’m definitely not alone but yeah, it is special, it’s cool. And then yeah, the three. I was a big fan of Dale Earnhardt. I’m a fan of motorsports but I’ve followed NASCAR since I was very young. It was follow Dale and it was my first go-kart number as well. When Formula One said you can pick your numbers this year, it was a no-brainer for me to chose the three and then once they agreed I could run it, I thought what better way to have the style of Dale on my helmet. Yeah, it’s been pretty cool. Dale Junior has seen that we’ve spoken via social media a little bit and it’s really nice that he’s supportive of that. So really quite honoured, obviously, to represent that in Formula One.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Lewis and Nico, no matter what the result is at the next race, the Abu Dhabi race will be the determining who wins. There’s fifty points on offer, various scenarios and mathematical computations can be played out. Any views on this, how you approach it?

    LH: I think I just said I would do exactly the same. There isn’t much more to add to it, just going to be exactly the same as I approached this weekend and previous races: I want to win.

    NR: For me, that’s great to hear of course, because then there’s a definite shot at the championship this year, even with the points that I’m now behind and anyways, there’s still Brazil to come so in Brazil it’s even possible to completely turn it around. You never know what will happen there so I’m sure it will be an exciting end to the season. I hope it’s going to be exciting for the fans, that’s the most important thing also, that we put on a good show which I think we managed to do today. I look forward to the last two races. With the car that we have, it’s awesome, it really is.

    Hamilton celebrates and thanks fans after winning the US GP in Austin on Sunday (Monday morning IST). A Mercedes AMG Petronas image
    Hamilton celebrates and thanks fans after winning the US GP in Austin on Sunday (Monday morning IST). A Mercedes AMG Petronas image