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Tag: FIA Press Conference
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Hamilton pushed to 6th in dramatic qualifying session; Rosberg takes pole
DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)
TV UNILATERAL
Nico, a very dramatic conclusion to that qualifying session. Right at the end you took pole position. Were you surprised by how much the track improved, particularly in the final sector, right at the end, after we’d had that rain?
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, I mean, a quite crazy qualifying, just changing all the time and that makes it very, very difficult. In the end last qualifying also. On t
Nico Rosberg takes pole and is flanked by Jenson Button on his right and Sebastian Vettel at Silverstone on Saturday. An FIA image he first lap with the soft tyres it started to rain quite a lot, just in the last three corners, so lost a lot of time there and then everywhere else it was quite wet also on the in-lap, so I was sure, I told the guys already “that’s it”. And then we were sitting in the box and we just came to a general conclusion: “might as well go out and have a look at the track”. At least… because if you don’t have a look, there’s no chance but if you have a look there’s a tiny chance, so at least go out and have a look. It seemed like we should give it a go but even then I still didn’t believe that the track would be better. But what made it was the last sector, because everywhere on the track was just a little bit slower, because it was just damp here and there and a little bit wet. But I knew that I had lost four seconds on the previous lap, so even if I was slower than that lap, I still had the chance of going a lot quicker in those last three corners if it was halfways dry and that’s the way it turned out: I made the time in those last corners because it a lot drier and it just worked out perfectly. Even across the line, in Lewis’ gearbox – because I had to be there because otherwise it went red. I had to be as fast as possible in order to be able to do that last lap. So as I crossed the line it went red, like instantly, it was a very, very close call. I think all in all it was a very good team-mate effort; everybody working together, my engineers, together with me just made all the right calls and it worked out. It’s fantastic to have such a qualifying, where everything goes well in the end and a comfortable pole in the end. It’s awesome.
Very well done. Well, if it was a bonus for Nico, you actually had to do a lap didn’t you Sebastian, because you didn’t have a time on the board when you went out at the end there, so you were down in 10th place. What was going through your mind as you were going round the circuit? Did you think your goose was cooked?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, to be honest at the start of Q3 we went out, I think one of the last cars. And on my out lap, just preparing the flying lap, it started to rain, so I got that wet last sector to start the lap and obviously then there was no point, we aborted the lap, because at that time it was impossible to set a decent time on slick tyres. Then we were back in the garage waiting and we said “OK, we might as well go out. If we go out on inters it will be difficult to beat the lap times that were set, so we go out on dry tyres.” We were one of the first to go out for one flying lap in the end. It was quite difficult to believe on the out lap that it would be dry enough but it’s a funny place. It was a very weird session. A lot of rain, no rain, drizzling, very fine rain, nearly like spray: I think England is the only country where you can get this sort of rain and conditions and changing so quickly. Incredibly difficult to know what was coming so on the flying lap you approach turn one and turn on is a pretty big balls corner, so it’s difficult to know how much risk you can take. Eventually you have to take some risk because, especially in my case, I wanted to set a lap. So obviously very happy that it turned out. Yeah, very positive and starting from the front row tomorrow.
Very well done. And you Jenson? Changeable conditions as Sebastian was saying and you were there or thereabouts throughout the qualifying session as the lap times went up and down. How happy are you with the result you’ve achieved today?
Jenson BUTTON: Like you cannot believe. I know it’s only a third in qualifying but for us at the moment, and for the last 18 months, this is… well, we had no chance of getting this result. Yeah, it’s nice in front of the home crowd to qualifying well and all the way through qualifying, as you said, the pace was there. No compared to the Mercedes, but with everyone else the pace was there. When I did my lap in Q1 on the option tyre in the dry I was about two seconds quicker than anyone when I did it. Made the mistake of losing the rear in the last corner, so it was disallowed. I thought I was going to be out, so to come through and be third in Q3 is a good result for today and I’m really happy that I could do it here in front of the home crowd.
Coming back to you Nico, obviously you’re on pole with your team-mate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton down in sixth place going into the British Grand Prix tomorrow. Your thoughts on the race?
NR: Yeah, of course, with regards to the championship, it’s good for me that Lewis is down in sixth. It will take him some time I think to fight through, though I expect him to come through quite quickly. And then I think very like we’ll be racing each other again. We seem to very quick here. This track really suits the car, more so than Austria, so I think it’s going to be a good battle again. Of course starting from pole is the best possible place and I’m very confident for the race.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Nico, clearly a day like today it’s very easy to get it wrong and there are plenty of examples of that up and down the field. The track was fluctuating by as much as eight seconds a lap with rain and drying out. What are the most important things to take care of on a day like today?
NR: The way to go about it is to try to minimize the rise, especially with the car that we have y’know? We have such a fast package so really we just need to try to make sure we don’t have any big risks, even if then it doesn’t turn out to be the perfect qualifying and the perfect day. And that, I think, we did very well. Definitely tried to eliminate all the big downfalls and it all worked out well. It wasn’t perfect but it worked out really, really well. Everything came together so it was great to be on pole.
Q: Sebastian, you’ve been on the wrong end of this once or twice in the past so you know how it works but how much does the driver contribute to the decision-making process and how much of it is the strategists, your engineers and even people back at the factory?
SV: You would love that the pitwall was in a better place today, trying to predict the rain. I think it was impossible because it was very local. It could have rained every minute and could have stopped raining as we’ve seen. Difficult to predict and therefore it’s you inside the car obviously trying to get the best out of the tyres and the conditions when you’re on track and obviously together with your team trying to be calm on the radio and going for the right decisions. In the end there’s also the element of looking what the others are doing and trying to make sense of whether or not it makes sense to do the same. But it’s very tricky because, as I said, if you take our Q3, the first run, we went out just probably a minute later than everyone else and we didn’t get a lap at all. That’s how close the lap can be sometimes. You try obviously to go for a clear track but then you get caught out by rain. It’s tricky in these conditions to get everything right – so you need also to be a bit lucky.
Q: Jenson, it’s also a question of risk versus reward isn’t it? You mentioned that you were one of the first to go onto the slick tyres earlier on in the qualifying. It was the right time for that. We saw Ferrari and Williams at the wrong time and they’re starting from the back of the grid but did today, the track limits ruling, make things a little bit more complicated given how slippery it was out there.
JB: It did, yeah, because you could make a massive mistake and lose a second by going off the circuit and still put in a really good lap time to get through Q1, Q2. So, it made it really difficult. And obviously my Q1 lap quick enough by quite a long way but it was disallowed because I drove off the circuit in the last corner – but the whole of the qualifying session I felt that I could read the conditions pretty well. And then it came to Q3 and the last timed lap, which obviously meant everything. I said to the guys on the radio, “I’ve got wheelspin in fifth gear in a straight line.” I said: “this isn’t gonna happen,” and they said: “Just push, we’ve got nothing to lose.” We’re in a very different position to Nico. We have to take the risks to gain the positions at the moment. So, I pushed. Very aggressive lap but it worked. Big thanks to the team for their call. And being third here in front of the home crowd, on this weekend, this year, really means a lot. I’ll go to bed very happy tonight and look forward to the race tomorrow.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Alex Goldschmidt – Richland F1) Jenson, coming back to the discussion between yourself and Lewis on Thursday, you seemed to be the best hope for the British fans but obviously Lewis is going to come charging through the field. Depending on weather conditions, how do you see the outlook for tomorrow?
JB: I’ve made the race easier than previously thought but still we have to be realistic. I want to be upbeat, I want to be positive about fighting for a podium. If it’s like today that’s obviously a possibility with mixed conditions. As long as we make the right calls and the right strategy it’s possible. But in a dry race. A standard dry race, it’s going to be very, very tricky but, believe this, we will give one hundred per cent and get the maximum out of what we have this weekend and hopefully have a great result in front of the British fans.
Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Nico, you talk about the psychological edge you’re looking to get over Lewis and he’s starting to make quite a few errors in qualifying sessions which has always been a strong point for him. Do you feel that that’s part of the psychological edge you’re getting now?
NR: I’ve never talked about trying to get a psychological edge over anything, not at all. What I’ve been saying is that at the moment the momentum seems to be on my side and I just need to make the most of it because it comes and goes and I have a period now when it’s going my way and I just need to make sure I get as many points as possible on Lewis and it’s working out at the moment. But anyway, today’s just qualifying, there’s no points for qualifying and with the car that we have, even from sixth place, everything’s still possible, but of course it’s a big advantage to start first.
Q: (Haoran Zhou – Formula One Express) Nico and Sebastian, obviously 26.5s in the last sector for both of you, there’s only four corners in the last sector. When did you realise that there’s a lot of grip there?
NR: Well, it was very wet on the previous run in Q3, where we lost like four seconds in the last sector so as long as it’s a little bit dry patches and a little bit drier already you can gain a lot of time and on the out lap there was a chance, and then once I got round to the fast timed lap, I could brake quite late into there and it was quite dry so it was quite quick through there and that made a massive difference.
SV: Yeah, on the out lap it was quite slippery but then when I started the timed lap I could feel that most of the track was nearly completely dry, so arriving in the last sector after the long straight I just said, yeah, all or nothing and treated it as if it was dry. It wasn’t entirely (dry) in turn 15, I went a little bit wider than I thought but for the rest… for the last three corners it was quite completely fine.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you said you had to start the lap directly behind Lewis. First, how much time did it cost you in the first two sectors, where did you pass him and what did you think when you saw Lewis pulling into the pits?
NR: Well of course I was disappointed, starting the lap behind Lewis because if I’m in his gearbox, that doesn’t allow me to do my pace so I was disappointed with that, but I didn’t have a choice with the situation, with the way it was and just managed to get over the line before the red light came. I actually saw the red light but it worked out. I wasn’t sure but then it worked out and then Lewis made a mistake in turn four and after that he then pulled over so as not to block me and I just kept on pushing.
Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Jenson, you were asked about Ron’s comments on Thursday, asking for a bit more from you. Does that make this perfect timing in response, this sort of result?
JB: He’s watching this, I’m sure! One result doesn’t mean anything. We’ve obviously talked since and yeah, I think there’s mutual respect there but when we all want things to improve quicker than what they are, we maybe say things in the press that maybe we shouldn’t. We have a really good working relationship and I hope that that continues into the future.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) You just said that this result doesn’t mean anything, but anyway, thinking about your father, so far it’s a nice position, and talking about fathers, Nico, your father got pole position in ’85 in similar conditions here in Silverstone, so what are your feelings about that?
JB: For me it was obviously quite an emotional slowing down lap. As I’ve said before – as we always say – qualifying’s qualifying and the race is tomorrow, but when you do a lap that you’re happy with and it’s in front of your home crowd and I knew the Old Boy would have been very happy, it would have meant a lot. I’ve had so much support from the fans, it’s been overwhelming, a lot of guys wearing pink out there in respect to my Old Boy. Yeah, a good day today and he’s definitely smiling down today.
NR: Yeah, of course I’ve also been watching how many supporters, how many people have been wearing pink. Even in my camper van, my driver, he came with a pink shirt and I was like ‘what are you doing?’ He never wears pink and then he explained to me that everybody’s supporting John… in memory of John so that’s how I came across it this weekend. With respect to my Dad, yes, there was one of his great days here in qualifying in Silverstone, something that I’m proud of also. I like to look back at the history and what was happening back then but there’s not really too much to compare to nowadays.
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It’s business as usual but we are gunning for 10th place: Caterham’s Gerry Hughes
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Gerry HUGHES (Caterham), Rob WHITE (Renault Sport F1), James KEY (Toro Rosso), Pat SYMONDS (Williams), Adrian NEWEY (Red Bull Racing), Jonathan NEALE (McLaren)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Gerry, head of track operations at Caterham, could you fill us in on the details of the changes at Caterham in so far as it affects your department?
Gerry HUGHES: Well, I think it’s fair to say that from a track operations perspective it’s business as usual. The new owners are here for the first time this weekend, to observe the trackside operation. We’ll show then what we do on a race weekend and as I said, it’s business as usual.
So what are the objectives for the team for the rest of 2014 and looking ahead to 2015 in terms of resources and allocating them and that kind of thing?
GH: Well, after a period of uncertainty with the new owners coming in, they’ve given us a direction and a remit and certainly our goal for the remainder of the season is to finish 10th in the championship. The design of the new car is going ahead and is on schedule, so we look forward to 2015, but certainly the remit from the new owners is to finish 10th in the championship.
James, coming to you, obviously some good pace recently from Toro Rosso, but also some reliability concerns – retirements etc. And also of course the issue with Jean-Eric today.
James KEY: If I could you tell you everything James I think we’d have our issues sorted. I think some of it to be honest is a little bit of bad luck we’ve had recently. I think the last three events for us have been problematic, before then it was OK towards the beginning of the season. We’ve had a couple of self-inflicted issues and we’ve had a couple of unexpected issues. Monaco, for example, was entirely unexpected, we traced the issues we had with the exhaust but they’d never happened before then or after. So that was a bit of a one-off and a great disappointment because we were strong there. Since then we’ve had a couple of niggles that have been self-inflicted – a bit of brake blanking which was maybe a bit too high and this sort of thing, little operational things occasionally. A bit of a surprise in Austria with the suspension issue, so it’s been a frustration for sure, because when you have a little bit of pace and can finish in the points you want to make the most of that. But we’re looking at everything very carefully. Clearly we want to make sure we can get through this rather rough patch of reliability and just get on with the rest of the season.
Your drivers seem to be performing well and they’re well matched as well. How are you seeing their development?
JK: I think it’s good actually. I think having both of them so close. Dan’s come in this year and has an old head on young shoulders. His learning curve is extremely steep. His feedback and so on has developed tremendously. He’s been really quite strong right from the outset, which we’ve been quote pleased with. And Jean-Eric is a great driver and he’s more focused this year than we’ve seen him this year. He recognises that there is a hot-shoe across the table, pushing him, so it’s a very healthy situation. They work well together and we’re enjoying the fact that we’ve got two guys who are pushing each other.
Jonathan, there’s no escaping the fact, when you look at the championship table, that you’re the fourth-placed Mercedes-powered team. What’s the plan for turning it around and do you take some encouragement from what’s happened today in free practice?
Jonathan NEALE: I don’t think we take much encouragement from free practice today. Just talking to colleagues here about how the track has been today, it’s been quite unpredictable out there, both this morning and this afternoon. We’ve got a lot of work to do internally to rebuild on the difficulties we have last year. It’s well known that we’re actively strengthening the team at the moment. Eric and I and Ron are working hard to make sure we return ourselves to the performance of where we should be as quickly as possible, but it’s a tough job. There’s no easy way through this. You have to remember that whichever end of the grid you’re at, each of us has 80 runs per week in the wind tunnel by regulation. That’s it; you’ve got to make the most of it. So you have to fight hard and that’s what we’re doing. But there’s a lot of culture change going on, there’s a bit of strengthening of the team, there are some tough things to do, but we’re coming back.
This week Ron Dennis, your boss, gave Jenson Button a little bit of a hurry-up, as we say here in England, ahead of the British Grand Prix. What are your thoughts on that?
JN: I think he did the same thing to Ayrton Senna. I’m pretty sure he did the same thing to Kevin. I think if you listen to my phone on a daily basis he’ll be doing the same thing to me. It’s chip paper.
Thank you. Coming to you Pat. Can you tell us about this morning? It was not a trouble-free morning for the Williams team and also this afternoon, with Valtteri’s engine cover.
Pat SYMONDS: Yeah, it’s been a difficult day. These are the sort of contrasts you get in motorsport. A great weekend in Austria and today we’ve been like a dog running after a rabbit, trying to chase down our problems. Engine problems this morning; power unit problems. We were running and engine right up past the end of its life and it was a risk we decided to take and it didn’t come off. Accident from Felipe, bodywork problems this afternoon. And then on top of that it’s not been an easy day anyway, as Jonathan said. The wind has been gusting, it’s been very difficult to get a read on the car, the tyres have been hard too. It brought us back down to earth today.
It’s been quite a turnaround for the Williams team from last year to this year. At this stage of last year’s championship you had zero and now you have 85 in the Constructors’ Championship. It shows it can be done but what is still missing do you think?
PS: It depends what your ultimate targets are and the ultimate target is to win the Constructors’ Championship, so there is still a long way to go there. The improvements that have been made in the team are quite dramatic and they continue to show improvements all the way through. I think we need a good, solid, ambitious, long-term plan and just keep improving from here.
Adrian, it’s the first time we’ve had the chance to talk to you in an official session since it was announced that you are staying at Red Bull but in a revised role. Can you tell us how hands on you will be in Formula One cars in the future.
Adrian NEWEY: Much less so than I am at the moment, obviously. I think I will really be stepping back to become an advisor and mentor for the team, the engineers that we have there. Some involvement, of course, in the design. But that’s really towards the end of the year. For the moment I’m still fully involved.
Obviously there have been some changes at Renault. Can you give us your thoughts on that, in terms of the management changes?
AN: I think it can only be a good thing. Cyril joining; he’s a very strong person. I think it will bolster Rob in terms of Rob then being able to concentrate on all the technical aspects without having to also be involved in other areas. It plays to his strengths without a doubt and hopefully we’ll see the fruits of that in the future.
Rob, let’s throw that to you: what does it mean for you and your team of engineers?
Rob WHITE: I think it’s good that Cyril comes back to us; has a change of colour of shirt. I’m looking forward to sharing with Cyril the way forwards. As we said previously, it’s important that we step up to deliver the improvements that we completely understand are required. I think we have some very clear messages from Red Bull that have been expressed all over the place. It’s not hard to see what’s required. We know, we understand, and my job and of the team at Viry is to deliver.
So how close to the maximum performance from this power unit, in the current specification, are you?
RW: I guess that’s a kind of moving target type question. At any point in time you’re always extremely close to the maximum performance of the specification on the day. But the maximum performance of the specification can move on. I think we’ve seen already during the course of this season that we’ve made significant headway without a substantial change to the thing that you probably want to call the specification of the hardware and there’s still scope to progress during the rest of this season and then during the winter period then the way the regulations are, the way the engineering programmes are structured, then there’s more scope.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) I have a question for James Key. When you watch the top speeds, your car is always right at the top compared to the other Red Bull team – Adrian always builds the slowest Red Bull car on the straight. Was it your intention to always make the car so fast on the straight? And if so what was the plan behind that?
JK: I think a lot of it is a car philosophy thing. For us, somehow, STR cars have always had a certain amount of efficiency about them: it was like it before these regulations as well. We tended to have cars that were relatively quick in a straight line. So, I think some of it is just natural from where we are. As a team, to be brutally honest, until recently we haven’t been able to extract more rear wing performance until now, so we probably just been a little bit low on rear wing capacity which has helped that. Equally I think that we did look at the competition in winter testing and recognise the only thing we could do to try to address some of the straight line speed capabilities of some of the cars, particularly the Mercedes cars, was to look at drag as well and, from a chassis perspective, try and tackle it that way. But I think it’s a track-by-track thing. Here we’re mid-table, so it’s not always the case.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question for Jonathan. Jonathan, James said that currently you’re fourth of the Mercedes teams, however next year you’ll be first of the Honda teams. Obviously you’ve only got sixth months to go before the change. At what stage are you with this Honda development programme, who is responsible for what and how are the current testing regulations working against such a project?
JN: There’s several questions in that Dieter. There’s a lot of work going on in Tochigi and Sakura at the moment with Honda on the power unit. They are responsible for the power unit including the ERS in its entirety. We are responsible for the chassis and the systems integration piece. Hardware is running, the clock is running and time is short and I think there is a lot of work to do before we’re ready for January of next year.
In terms of how the regulations help or hinder, then I don’t think the current lack of track testing is an impediment because I don’t think we’re at that stage. We not ready for that at the moment to be quite honest with you. So, even if we could get out and run a car that’s not something we would consider right now. We’ve got our hands full with our current issues right now because regardless of what power unit is in the car, we don’t have the best chassis that’s out there and obviously given the performance of last year and this year our immediate focus is what’s going on inside McLaren. So, to some extent, we are doing what we’re responsible for and sorting that out. Of course, with an eye on the horizon. But yeah, we’ve got a lot to do. It’s exciting that the regulations have allowed, or attracted, another engine manufacturer in. I don’t think any of us are under any illusion as to how challenging that is going to be, to go through another iteration of the repackaging, and go through a winter of all of the heat-rejection stuff that we’ve done, the packaging, the ERS etc. We’ve been through it once, we’ll do it again.
Q: (Keith Weir – Reuters) Question for Gerry. Can I just be clear, you say the new owners are here this weekend. Do you mean the new management or the people who put the money up – the investors about whom there is a little bit of uncertainly about who exactly they are? And have you been given any guarantees as to the level of funding, staffing, that kind of thing for next season, if you’re talking about 2015?
GH: If I answer the first part of your question first, I suppose you probably know as much about the overall management structure and the investor as I do. Obviously clearly Christijan [Albers] is now going to be the team principal for Caterham going forwards and Colin acting as an advisor for the team. I think in terms of the short, medium and long term investment, that’s not something I’m going to make comment on here.
Q: (Mike Doodson – GPweek) If there are to be any significant savings in F1 budgets the area in which it would seem logical to a dimwit like me to make them would be aerodynamics which contributes nothing to road car design and has no interest – or very little – to the spectator. What would your response be if someone were to suggest the introduction of spec-wings and aerodynamics generally?
AN: I’m not sure I agree with the some of the points you made in your question, to be perfectly honest, in terms of there being no interest from spectators. I think if you make the cars of an increasingly fixed aerodynamic specification then it becomes GP1 as far as the chassis is concerned. And we’re already, in my opinion, in grave danger of getting close to that; that the regulations define a lot of the car. So increasingly the cars will look more and more similar. I would actually – and of course you could say I would, wouldn’t I? – but I would be arguing for an opening of the aerodynamic regulations. As far as the cost is concerned then I think the RRA, in terms of restriction in wind tunnel testing and CFD goes a long way to reducing the aerodynamic cost because aerodynamic cost is two things: it’s the research – wind tunnel, CFD – which is hugely expensive, then the manufacture of the parts that comes out of that. This year I think we’ve seen a slowing of the number of parts that people are introducing because, as I say, the regulations are quite restrictive by one point, and by another point we are now heavily into a set of regulations that had their roots in the 2009 change. So everybody’s becoming quite evolved in where they are. But I think, certain from what I hear and people I’ve spoken to, journalists, then they insist that the public does have a lot of interest in the changes to the cars, what happens and that’s what differentiates it from other sports. That you have got this combination of different factors. You’ve got the driver, the chassis – which is obviously not just aerodynamics but it’s heavily aerodynamic-driven – and the powertrain. And it’s that blend of features that makes it exciting and interesting. If you look at IndyCar, for instance, which went to one-make chassis some years ago, ever since it’s been one-make it’s viewing has fallen and fallen. That would be my opinion.
Pat, do you have a view on this?
PS: Yeah. I think Mike I’d probably take you up on your statement that it’s not relevant. I think it’s extremely relevant. Within Formula One we don’t just develop the components on the Formula One car, we develop techniques. I have, in the past, been asked to use those techniques for a major OEM on road car aerodynamics for drag reduction, very successfully. In CFD, I think Formula One teams push CFD – computational fluid dynamics – much harder than would be happening were we not involved. And particularly in the areas of turbulent flow. That is extremely relevant to things like wind turbines. When you have a whole field of wind turbines, the turbulent flow off one turbine affects those in the wave behind and CFD studies which have been pushed hard in these area by Formula One are used to develop those sort of techniques – so I think what we do is extremely relevant.
Do you have a view on this Jonathan?
JN: I fully support what Pat and Adrian have said. I also think that to some extent the genie is out of the bottle of aerodynamics and I don’t think we can roll the clock back and go to the glorious days of sliding bicycle tyres around Monaco. I don’t think that’s going to be quite the spectacle that Formula One is now, in terms of its relevance. I do think that it’s relevant to efficiency and to car production – I would say that because we do that in McLaren with our sports car business – but I also think that a great deal is made of the cost-base of Formula One and the contribution of aerodynamics specifically to it. And I think there are a lot of proxy wars going on there that probably have more to do with income models and how businesses are being run. Nobody’s being forced to spend that. I think there are a whole load of issues being mixed into one – but for aerodynamics specifically, I support totally what Pat and Adrian have said.
Q: (Haoran Zhao – F1 Express) Adrian, are you going to change your office location because as we understand your office is quite close to Christian? What if Christian just came up and said ‘look, we totally messed up the twin exhaust, just sort this out for me?’ Would you do that, in the future, in the next season?
AN: I doubt if Christian would come up and say that to me. No, I will maintain my existing office within Red Bull Technology which I will use occasionally. I will have a second office in the new Advanced Technology department.
Q: That’s where you’re going to spend most of your time, is it?
AN: It will be the majority there, yes, that’s correct.
Q: (Bob Bull – BBC.co.uk/three counties) With the current regulations which don’t allow much change of the engines, once you’ve set them for the year, and the limits on what you can do with aerodynamics, do you think that the current situation is stifling innovation and possibly discouraging potential designers for the future?
JK: I’m not so sure… I think with the engine side the homologation was an agreed regulation and if you’ve got a bit of a disparity in reliability or whatever then that first year could potentially be quite tough for some compared to others. I think it goes down two ways. You’ve got, in some cases, restriction be it chassis or engine which maybe is a little bit off-putting, as Adrian has said, on the aero side, for example. Equally, it does also encourage innovation because you’ve got less areas to look at and some clever ideas often pop out of that. I think it’s just as interesting. It may be slightly more painful but I think it’s just as interesting and if we look at what happened in 2009, I think, when the new regs came along which is similar to what we have now for aero, that’s when things like F-ducts, exhaust-blown diffusers and so-on all popped up. Before that, we weren’t seeing such levels of innovation and that was with something that was more restricted. So I think within restrictions it’s still very interesting from an engineering point of view.
RW: I think there’s a number of elements in the reply. Firstly, as concerns the engine and the spec, I think it’s important not to get too hung-up about this aspect and certainly not without looking closely at the regulations and understanding them because the fact of the matter is that it’s a double-edged sword. The sporting regulations where the homologation restrictions are contained, are very explicit about what you may and may not do and it’s very simple: you may not do anything without the prior approval of the FIA. There’s a mechanism which is well-established, which works very well which deals with short-term matters. The fact is that it is potentially a restraint if you happen to have a silver bullet sat on the shelf that you want to deploy – well you probably can’t if its purpose is principally to make the power unit go quicker. On the other hand, it protects you if your competitor has a silver bullet on the shelf that he wants to deploy. Going forward, because this was a set of regulations built up over a period of time with some foresight and some knowledge of what happens when the power units are frozen or the engines – as they previously were – then the progressive freeze and the year-on-year permitted evolutions is a window of opportunity. It’s also a window of risk so I think that in the world of power units, to have in mind that there are mechanisms for the design and construction of the spec to change.
In terms of stifling innovation of designers, which I think was at the end of the question, I think for the time being, at least in the world of power units, we’re not yet there because we have a very complicated set of constraints. There’s a small number of things that are explicitly determined for us in the regulations; there’s many thousands of things that are not and therefore the freedom of expression is substantial.
And then an opinion that comes back to the previous question: I think we need to be extremely careful about unintended consequences because when stuff becomes really fixed and really standard, then you get into a fairly disreputable situation where in order to gain advantage, then you have to spend a massive amount of money and that becomes poor value for money and that’s an unintended consequence that we must be aware of as the future homologation requirements become more severe.
GH: I think the regulations are a framework by which we must all work, however they’ve been formed. As James said, obviously the aero regulations span a number of years now so I think there will always be areas for innovation, there will always be areas – as Rob said – where there’s going to be a greater level of restriction. I think that’s what makes Formula One Formula One, that there will always be innovation.
PS: I think it’s remarkable that we’re accused of lack of innovation when we’ve just introduced the most innovative power unit we’ve seen in years and I’m not just talking about in racing. And each aspect of that power unit is incredible: even gasoline direct injection, GDI, to run it at the sort of speeds that we’re running has been a bit of a breakthrough. The energy recovery, also a breakthrough. Even on the chassis side, there are a lot of clever things in there: passive pitch and warp-link suspensions, inertia dampers – there are all sorts of things that are still there. I’d agree, we don’t have the freedom of regulation that we might have had twenty or thirty years ago, but we don’t have the money to be able to do those sort of things but we still have inquisitive minds and a lot of the innovation is in the attention to detail these days and it’s all very relevant.
AN: I think it’s a very difficult one. Obviously, as engineers, I guess we would ideally like the sort of CanAm-type regulation of maximum length and width or whatever it was and do what you like within that, but realistically, that’s not practical nowadays, so I think it’s a very difficult one to strike that balance between something which allows the maximum amount of freedom whilst – as Pat hinted – not having the budgets going completely out of control, where it becomes a complete spending war and without having a huge difference in the performance of the vehicles, because if we had too much freedom, the chances are that one team would strike it right each year and everybody would complain that the racing’s a bit dull. Unfortunately, that has happened a bit this year but that’s another matter. I think as far as the power train is concerned, the only slight concern that I would voice is that I think it is absolutely correct that these power units are an incredible piece of technology and – as Pat said – something of which we should be very proud of as an industry. What’s not clear is that as the freeze becomes more and more solid – if you like – if one power unit then has an advantage over another or one is clearly behind, how that is addressed, because if you are in that position you have no way of upgrading your power unit because you’re frozen, then you’re doomed to forever be behind but I think that’s something which hopefully can be discussed and should be resolvable, particularly because the engines do all now carry – or all cars carry – torque sensors. Those torque sensors do seem to be a little bit noisy but basically very reliable and give a good signal and so it’s entirely possible for the FIA to look at the outputs from those torque sensors and see where everybody is, not only across engine-matched factories but also of course the variable of fuel, so if a particular engine and petroleum company has the benefit over another, then it’s able to do so and within that, it has the means, if it wishes to, to allow some equalisation for anybody that finds themselves behind in a frozen area.
JN: I think I need two points that I would add to that is that – Adrian mentioned it there – that there is still room and a lot of performance to be gained through the fuel and lube development which is open. Rob’s already mentioned – or Pat did – about what can be done around the energy recovery systems. But to the point about whether designers feel constrained, then I think it would be reasonable to assume that if the designers felt constraint and didn’t know where to go then we would see a much closer grid that we see at the moment. Mercedes have clearly put a package together that’s effective in a number of areas and the rest of us are working very hard to catch up. If that were easy, we would have done it by now, so I think there’s plenty to go at.
Q: (Haoran Zhao – F1 Express) Jonathan, the whole Formula One industry is crying out about the new power unit but yet at Le Mans this year we had 480bhp, six megajoul hybrid unit from Toyota and nobody from Le Mans is crying. Formula One being the peak of motor sport, what has happened and are you happy with the money that Honda is throwing in at the moment?
JN: Yeah, I’m very happy with Honda coming back, thank you. I’m delighted about that. It was a very ambitious programme. Formula One had the option to stay with the V8 technology but the regulation makers and the teams consulted and the decision was taken to put a very advanced and efficient series together. In our first year, I think that that’s thrown up some interesting challenges, many of which have been spoken about here already but we should never under-estimate the cost of development of these things and over a period of time, with stability, I’m sure that if we looked at the marginal cost of production of an engine in three, four, five years time under this level of homologation, even if there is some equalisation as Adrian discovered, unit cost of production will be very effective. What price the engine manufacturers will want to charge the teams at that point is a moot point but development cost of these vast technology things are not easy to do. We’ve got what we designed.
eom/FIA release of the transcript
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With all the fans, I am excited to race again at my home GP: Hamilton
DRIVERS –
Clockwise: Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Max CHILTON (Marussia), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Felipe MASSA (Williams), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren) at the Press Conference ahead of British GP at Silverstone on Thursday. Image credit: FIA PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, if I could start with you: obviously you were on pole here last year, a former winner of the event, I see you’ve got the Union flag on the underside of the peak on your cap. Your feelings on racing at home and coming home?
Lewis HAMILTON: It’s always a special weekend or week for us British drivers. Coming here, seeing the fans, already having been at Goodwood and seeing how many people were there and the support that’s coming into this weekend. It’s very exciting for us and the feeling of being at home is really a great feeling. And the support, as I said, for me and Jenson and the guys here, it’s unlike any other place we experience. I’m really excited to see everyone and I hope that we can put on a good show and that the weather stays good.
You spoke after the race in Austria about damage limitation, particularly after what happened in qualifying. Clearly, I guess this weekend you want to start on the front foot and stay there. So I wonder what lessons you’ve taken away from the setbacks lately?
LH: There’s not really many lessons. There’s been these two races where we had a technical problem in Montreal and then in the last race I faced some difficulties on the driver side. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn’t, but you’re always going from strength to strength, so we’ve learned some things but nothing we can particularly point out.
OK, thank you for that. Jenson coming to you. Similar question really to the first one to Lewis: the feelings on coming back to the British Grand Prix and racing in front of your home crowd. It’s a race you’ve not won, but you’ve always enjoyed being here.
Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, it’s always very special coming home for this grand prix. I think for every driver Silverstone is a special race. It’s a great layout; always a full house, whether it’s sunny, hot, raining, windy. But it’s especially special for a British driver racing at home. Whether you’re doing well or not you get the support. It’s been very overwhelming actually the last few days since Goodwood leading into this home grand prix, I think for all of us. So I’m very much looking forward to driving on the circuit tomorrow and seeing the fans.
It’s your fifth season with McLaren this year. How do you see things developing from here?
JB: We will see. For me, right now, it’s about doing the best job I can. The whole team, us as a team are working every day to do a better job. We’re not where we want to be, we’re not where McLaren is used to being, and we know that, so we’re working very hard. In terms of the future that’s something I can’t discuss right now.
OK, we’ll move on to Felipe: congratulations, I believe it’s your 200th grand prix this weekend you will be celebrating. So your thoughts on that and also on his rich run of form at the moment for you and the Williams team?
Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I think it’s a fantastic race to celebrate [at]. I think it’s an important achievement. It’s already a long time, when I started in 2002. It’s really a great feeling to have 200 races, in a great team, Williams-Martini home grand prix as well, at a great track, fantastic fans. So I hope we can have a very strong race, like we had in Austria, so I hope we carry on fighting [and we are] competitive. So I’m realty happy and I’m really happy with the team I’m celebrating 200 grands prix [with] as well, so I hope we have many races in front. It’s a great placed as well. Everybody knows everything about Formula One, everything about racing cars here. Sometimes you just see pictures and you have no idea how fans have amazing pictures like that to sign, that are very close to us. It is a great feeling.
You’re kind of unusual I guess to have got to 200 grands prix and it’s the first time you’ve come here racing for a British-base team – that doesn’t happen very often. Your thoughts on that, the Britishness of the team and what that represents to the country.
FM: Yeah it’s a great team. It’s a very important race for me; it’s a very important race for Williams as well. For us, me and Valtteri, as well, for the championship. We are working very hard to improve and be better and better race by race and I think that’s what we are managing to do and it’s really a great feeling and I hope we have a good one.
Valtteri, coming to you. As Felipe was saying obviously it’s a good run of form for the Williams team at the moment. You got your first podium a couple of weeks ago in Austria. Do you feel you can take on the Mercedes again this weekend.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, I think overall Mercedes has been performing really, really strongly. It’s been difficult to keep up with them in most of the races – I think Austria was maybe a one-off, we will see. We know that we have been improving but you expect everyone else to do as well. It’s difficult to say. I think this season, we are going to see, the rest of the season, it’s going to vary quite a bit the performance between us and them, so we will see. We will do our best.
After the race in Austria, you always have a debrief, all drivers do with the team, when you went through and looked at everything did you learn anything, were there any mistakes there or were you happy with the way it worked out.
VB: Well, we’re definitely happy with the result we got – third and fourth, a lot of points for the team, that’s the main thing. I think it’s like every race, always if you look into the fine details you can always something, maybe, you could have done better. But the main feeling is very positive. It’s really good to continue from here. There have been many opportunities we could have done a lot better in previous races and now we’ve done a solid job, so that’s good to see. We know we can do it, so it’s good to continue from here.
Max, coming to you, home race for you as well, of course. What experience did you have last year when it was your first time and what are you looking forward to this weekend?
Max CHILTON: I’m just obviously looking forward to another home grand prix. Last year was pretty special. Your first ever home grand prix is something you won’t ever forget. I’m probably a little bit biased, but I’d like to think that it is, if not the biggest grand prix of the year, then certainly one of them. It’s just awesome to have so many spectators, a lot of them are camping, and waving the Union Jacks. I remember last year, free practice one was typical English, with lot of rain, but they were still there doing the Mexican waves and having amazing spirit, so I just hope we can put on a good show for them this year.
You’ve out-qualified your team-mate for three of the last four grands prix. What’s been making the difference for you lately?
MC: Just experience. Qualifying’s always been one my strong points but when I came to F1 I struggled initially. But with experience I’m working that out and I’m developing as a driver. There are techniques you can use as well. I find visualisation really helps. It’s a weird sport we’re in. You very rarely get to practice what we preach. Golfers, tennis players are out six hours a day; with us, yeah we have simulators but apart from that we’re not doing the sport that often. So the more you can practice, in any way possible, helps.
Daniil, last three grands prix, you’ve qualified twice in the top 10, but you’ve had three straight retirements, so I guess the feeling at the moment is one of frustration, right.
Daniil KVYAT: Well, yes, it’s true. We had quite good speed, which we couldn’t consolidate into some good result unfortunately. But last three races we couldn’t come to the end, but I think it’s been a good sign that we do have speed, we do have something to fight for and we’ll just keep on fighting.
So overall then, half way through you first grand prix season, are you happy with the impression you’ve made in Formula One?
DK: Yeah, looking back on it, I think we’ve been achieving maximum from ourselves, we’ve been taking maximum out from our package. I was always learning some new things, it’s been always a good improvement through the season. It’s been good but it doesn’t feel like half a season anyway. We’ll see what the next half of the season will bring us.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Huansho Zhao – Formula One Express) A question to Jenson and Lewis. Murray Walker asked you two this question back in 2010 when you were still team-mates, that we had a colossal fortnight of sport, England’s out of the World Cup, Andy Murray’s out of Wimbledon, Britain is looking at you two, perhaps three of you, how do you feel about Sunday, are you afraid of history repeating itself. Would you like to give your 2014 answer to this question?
JB: I personally feel all the pressure is on Lewis!
LH: I think it’s the other way around!
JB: He’s in the best car, c’mon, make it happen! For us, for Max and I suppose a little bit for myself it’s going to be tricky to get on the top step of the podium and, yeah, it would be amazing to have a British victory. The crowd would go absolutely wild. So, I’d love to see that. For us, as I said, it will be difficult but Lewis has got a shot so hopefully that will be the case.
Lewis, you feel a sense of responsibility?
LH: I was going to say exactly the same thing about Jenson, I think we should hand the baton over. No, at the end of the day we’re both, all of us, are going to do our utmost to try to represent and perform for the country. You never know how the weekend’s going to go, you never know how people have developed, improved – but of course, us as a leading team, hopefully we’ll have a good shot this weekend and I’ll do everything I can to bring at least a little bit of joy and add to the great success that some of the top athletes have.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Questions to Felipe. Firstly, congratulations on 200 races but, if you look back to around 2012, you had I suppose a lowest point of your career in terms of competitiveness. Looking back at that time, with all the pressure and some people saying you shouldn’t be in Formula One, did you at that time think you would make it to 200 races?
FM: Well, for sure, yes. I was thinking that everything is possible. Things change very quick in Formula One. All of us, we have good times and difficult time. You always need to pass through a difficult moment. You always learn, and definitely I learned. And I still believe I have many races in front and I still believe I can be competitive and I think when you don’t believe anymore, it’s the time to stop. But you need to feel, not what other people say. I really feel competitive and there’s still a lot more that I can do.
Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Question for Jenson. Ron Dennis came out with some rather intriguing comments recently urging you to ‘try harder’. Just wonder what your thoughts are on that: whether you agree with him even, or whether you are in fact giving your all in what is a relatively uncompetitive car again this season.
JB: I think Ron’s practicing to be a motivational speaker maybe. I think when we’re in the position that we have been in for 18 months, it’s not easy. For anyone within the team. It’s very, very difficult. So, no, I think we all need to work harder as a team. I don’t think we should be pointing a finger at any individual within the team. I think we’ve got ourselves into this situation and we’ve got to fight our way out. I don’t do things in half-measures. I have the experience in Formula One to know that you need to give 100 per cent and I always do every time I’m in the paddock, at the factory, on the phone to my engineers. Everything is 100 per cent.
Q: (Luke Murphy – Formula Spy): Question for all drivers. There’s been some minor criticism of Pirelli lately that their tyre choices have been too conservative. I just wanted to know what your opinions were on that.
VB: I think the compound choices for the last two or three races haven’t been too bad. Obviously the compounds are a bit harder than last year. Those are the compounds and they choose the tyres we need to use in the race weekend and it’s our job to make the most out of them. So, that’s it.
Max, anything to add?
MC: No, not really, I’ll just copy what Valtteri said. The tyres are pretty conservative, they haven’t been too bad.
Felipe?
FM: Yeah, sometimes a little bit conservative. So, I like… I think in the last two races it was fine. When it’s one stop it’s a little bit boring, I prefer maybe two or three. Two is fine. I think, y’know, using the very hard tyres is not really great, I prefer it to be a little bit better than how it is.
Lewis, I guess in a tight battle like yours, the strategy is an important part of the game – you want more options rather than less?
LH: erm… no, I was just thinking this isn’t a bad thing. Pirelli have done quite a good job this year. We haven’t had any tyre blow-outs, which is a real positive for us, it’s what we wanted. You can’t always get it perfect, so whether or not they’ve gone a little bit too far in that direction, we can decide perhaps at the end of the year. I’m sure they’ll alter it again for next year. Of course we always want more grip, so every time they get softer, that’s a good thing for us.
Jenson, anything to add?
JB: Yeah, I think the last three races it’s been the right choice to have the supersoft and the soft. Barcelona felt a bit too hard but I mean it’s pretty difficult being limited to only four compounds throughout the season. Here it’s the hard and the medium but you need a bit of stability for the high-speed corners, so, if the temperature’s alright, it should be fine.
Final thought Daniil?
DK: I have no problem with Pirelli, it’s all good for me.
Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN) Tomorrow we’re due to see the first female on track for 22 years when Susie Wolff takes part in first practice for Williams. That’s got to be a good thing for the sport, especially in terms of being an inspiration for future females who want to take part in motor racing. I wonder if Valtteri could comment first as Susie’s teammate, and also if we could hear from Lewis and Jenson as well?
VB: I think it’s great from Williams that they give the opportunity and she’s already been with Williams quite a bit doing development work in the simulator and did a test after Barcelona. I think it’s really nice to see her getting the opportunity to drive in the race weekend in FP1.
Q: Lewis, I guess you raced against quite a lot of girls lower down in karts but they’re no longer competing when you get to this level. Your thoughts on whether this will be inspirational?
LH: I didn’t race against many girls. Susie was one of the very few if not the only one that I raced against. I saw her in karting but she was always in the class above me and then we raced Formula Renault together. She was great. We shared a podium together a couple of times. I think she’s done remarkably well in her career. She’s very very talented, so happy. It’s going to be really cool, I think, to see her in a Formula One car tomorrow.
JB: Yeah. First of all it’s good that it’s Silverstone as well. From what I’ve heard, she knows this circuit as well which is a positive thing. Jumping into a Formula One car, I’m sure she’ll feel a little bit of the pressure in front of the home crowd, but she’s been working with Williams for quite a while so I’m guessing she knows the ins and outs of the car and the team. She’s also driven already – hasn’t she? – in a test and went very well. So it will be good to see her on track tomorrow.
Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) This is for Max: I was very interested in you talking about visualisation. I think other drivers have done the same in the past. I wonder what is the procedure you take to sit down quietly and particularly have you ever timed your visualised lap and how close did it come to the real one?
MC: Yeah, it’s something I’ve heard about a lot in the past. It’s all trial and error. You have to try things to work out if you like them or not. It’s just worked with me recently. I tend to start it the week before a Grand Prix and yeah, you just do it in some quiet space. As you know, it’s not deadly serious, you just kind of practise a lap and obviously the first few laps you’re miles out and then you just gradually get into it and you build from previous memories and you slowly get down to a time where everything is just there and ready to kind of be extracted into the car, so when you’re actually doing your first flying laps on a Friday, it’s kind of there ready to be used. It’s a simple technique which helps and – as I said earlier – our sport is very weird, we’re very rarely actually doing what we preach so the more practice we can get the better.
Q: Is visualisation something you all do? Yes. No. No. No.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, how important is it for you to win here and turn the championship back to your momentum, because it seems – looking from the side – that until Monaco, your season was quite smooth and then it seems that you were a little bit surprised about how hard is the fight. Is this the wrong impression?
LH: I’m not surprised. I’ve known how close it’s been since the beginning of the year. Nico won the first race. As every race, it’s important to be out ahead. I had the advantage for a few races and Nico’s had that for at least the last couple. But now this is the British Grand Prix, I’m going to do everything that I can to be out in front and as I said, try and represent… when it’s your home Grand Prix, it’s one of the greatest experiences you can ever have as a sportsman and as a driver, so that’s what I’m working towards this weekend.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Three guys in the front, there were some comments this week from Bernie about Monza, suggesting that it might not be on the calendar much longer. I wonder if you could just comment, as the guys who had been there the most of the six here, as to whether we should take that seriously and how much of a loss for Formula One if it were to go?
FM: Yeah, I think we’re still carrying on racing in Monza. It’s a fantastic place, great fans, so for sure, if we are not racing in Monza any more it would not be good for Formula One. We need to go to places that people really love – Formula One racing, like Silverstone. If we lost Silverstone it would not be positive, it would be a negative for all of us so I hope we can keep going to Monza for many many years.
JB: It’s an iconic racetrack, one of the old school tracks. There’s so much history. The fans absolutely love this sport, they will do anything for this sport and they’re not going to be there to support us, they’re there to support a certain team, but that’s great to see. It’s nice to see their passion, they’re very patriotic and the circuit’s fun to drive. It’s a very unique circuit, very different to any other circuit, very low downforce circuit, always throws up a good race so it would be a shame not to see it on the calendar.
LH: Yeah, I agree with both what Felipe and Jenson said. I think it’s important not to forget that this sport would not exist if it wasn’t for the fans. Obviously there are certain business decisions people make but there’s tracks we’ve been to where there’s been no one in the grandstands and there’s a few, particularly, which are very very special like Monza where you have a full.. you know, the circuit’s just full of fans and it really does make the event. I think it’s important that we try and keep that in the sport.
ends/FIA release of the transcript
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Its great to get one more one-two result for Mercedes: Nico Rosberg
Mercedes team members pat Nico rosber after he won the Austrian GP on Sunday. A Mercedes
AMG Petronas team imageDRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Mark Webber)
Another dominant one-two victory for Mercedes, so Nico what a very, very special for you again. Three now in the season. You capitalised on a very, very good qualifying and now another victory. Run us through it. Lot of control on the brakes by the sound of it, managing issues at the end there?
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it wasn’t the easiest of races – trying to manage certain things that were a bit on the limit on the car. But in the end I had a very, very fast car again, so it was fantastic to win today. It’s great also to get a one-two here in Austria and it’s great to come back here to Austria. I mean Austria for sure deserves a race. The fans have been amazing, the atmosphere has been spectacular this weekend, so thank you very much for that and yeah it’s been awesome.
Lewis, over to you mate. Well done. A good recovery after a tough qualifying. In terms of… mega first lap, right on Nico at the start there after the first lap. In terms of pit stops, are you happy with your positioning because I’m a bit worried about how much time you’re losing in the pits. The guys… good stops for Nico but are you happy with the positioning on that? Also at the end of the race did you have to manage any issues and could you fight Nico?
Lewis HAMILTON: I don’t know. I have to have a look at the feedback and just see what the team say about the stops. Maybe my positioning is not right, you know obviously in those situations you’re just pushing. But the guys have done a fantastic job. As Nico said, to get another one-two here is just incredible. This track has been fantastic and the fans have been insane this weekend, so thank you all for the support.
Congratulations Valtteri – first podium. It’s an incredible feeling up here isn’t it? Run us through the race. Obviously starting on the front row. Obviously these guys have a lot of big experience on the big occasions to close a race out but you really drove a clean race. Run us through it, are you happy with it?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Thanks Mark. Really, really happy. Difficult to put into words really. Just really thankful to the team for giving me this car. It’s been a long way for us since last year, I mean, and many, many years at Williams and now it’s so much better. The race was exactly what we needed at this point – clean, nice, everything went like planned really. The car was good for the podium this time and I’m just so happy.
Well done, and big points for Williams, which is fantastic. Final one for you Nico. A 29-point lead, off to Silverstone, a track that you know well; a track that I tried to catch you on in the last few laps last year but you’ve had a couple of good wins there and you’re very strong at Silverstone, Lewis’ home track, so the battle continues. Looking forward to that race; home race obviously for Mercedes as well. So how’s the feeling for that one?
NR: Yeah, for sure, looking forward to the next one; home race, so it would be awesome to do another one-two there, that would be great to give something back to all of our colleagues back in the factory. So I’m looking forward to that.
Q: Nico, congratulations, Mercedes sixth one-two finish of this season, your third victory and you’ve now extended your championship lead, as we’ve heard, to 29 points. Clearly strategy was an important part of the story today – but did the race turn out as you had expected it to when you were sitting on the grid?
NR: To be honest yes it did. Pretty much exactly like we were trying to make it work. OK, I thought I would get Valtteri at the start and I did – but then they’re quick on the straights and he just went flying straight by me again, which was not good. But I knew pre-race that even if I am third after the start, the chances are still very good to make it and win the race because we have just a little bit more pace and less tyre degradation than the Williams – we expected to have less at least – so we could go aggressive on the stops and that’s what we did and it really worked out well and so I’m, yeah, extremely happy with that result. Also, great to extend the championship lead, which was really my goal coming into Austria.
Q: Lewis, obviously the platform for your result today was that stunning start, off the grid from ninth into fifth on that opening lap. Tell us about that and then also about how you made your way through the field. Clearly that second round of stops was important for getting in front of Valtteri.
LH: Yep, it was a good start. We’ve been working very hard on our starts throughout the year and the team have done a great job to help out with that, and yeah, so I got one of the best starts I’ve ever had really and positioned the car in the correct places. It would have been great if I’d started where perhaps I should have started this weekend – but damage limitation. To get from ninth to second and be pressuring Nico at the end of the race really shows the pace that I had this weekend.
Q: Valtteri, your best-ever grand prix finish to follow up your best-ever qualifying performance yesterday – you’re starting to really make your mark on the sport. I guess the decisive moment for you was the first round of stops with Felipe and getting ahead.
VB: Yeah, I think overall the best-ever weekend. So, really happy. Really happy for us as a team. We were really strong the whole weekend and that’s down to all the hard work. Of course it was a good track for us. You never know what’s going to happen in the next race but overall we are making progress. Step-by-step we are getting there, getting closer to the positions where we belong. I’m really happy. The race today: it was really nice to have a really nice, clean race. Good points for the team. We’ve had some issues lately, been a lot of talk, not maximising car we had but I think today we showed what we can do.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question for Nico and Lewis: can you tell us more about the final five laps, about the chance to overtake Nico for Lewis and the chance to finish first for Nico?
NR: Well, I generally felt comfortable in the last few laps. I thought that I could keep a nice gap and just on the last lap my tyres dropped away a little bit but as soon as they got past the first couple of hairpins, I knew that I was going to be fine so it wasn’t as close as maybe some other races have been recently.
LH: There wasn’t an opportunity to overtake.
Q: (Livio Oricchi – Universo On-line) For Nico and Lewis: 29 points difference between both of you. It means that in one race, it is not possible to change the lead. It means that Nico would be the leader of the championship. What’s your analysis of this Nico and you also Lewis?
NR: Well 29 points, yeah, for sure it’s a nice gap but it’s still so early in the season. I really like to concentrate on each weekend and keep on trying to make the most of them and enjoying the moment, also with the car that we have. It’s so great to come to the next race at Silverstone, our home race, with the best, knowing that if I do a good job I can do pole and win the race. So I’m more taking it step-by-step and every weekend my aim is to extend the championship lead which I managed to do this weekend.
LH: Well, Nico’s done a great job. He’s finished every race and fortunately hasn’t had any car problems so it’s inevitable.
Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) Lewis, after one your stops – and I can’t remember which one – we actually saw some flames coming out of your front right. To what extent was the braking problems that you suffered hampering your ability to really take the fight to Nico in the final laps? I know he had issues too.
LH: Yeah, I think it was probably the same for both of us, maybe, I don’t know. I need to check later but it was constantly an issue during the race. Obviously I was following people all the time so that’s not always the best but I was being told to back off quite a lot, unfortunately. The last couple of laps I tried to eke it up a little bit more but still I had to be cautious, but I’m just grateful I finished. I didn’t finish the last race, that’s really got to be goal for the next few races, trying to actually finish.
Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Question for you, too, Lewis, about the pit stops. You lost 1.9s across the two stops to Nico, very evenly split in each stop. Is that frustrating, because for a long time you were running about 1.9s behind Nico at the end and did the team tell you the reasons for it?
LH: They haven’t yet. I didn’t even know I lost that much time, they didn’t feel that fast. Could be my positioning. I don’t know. I’ll obviously investigate… obviously it is frustrating when you lose time because you’re constantly doing everything you can to gain a tenth here, a tenth there, so when you lose quite a chunk… two seconds over two pit stops it’s tough but the guys… at least we haven’t really made any mistakes. If we step back a little bit and look, we’ve had so many one-twos this is just incredible this year so I’m hoping in the future we won’t have those problems.
Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Valtteri, do you think with a slightly different strategy the win could have been possible today because your pace was quite strong and you were simply undercut by first Nico and then Lewis at both pit stops?
VB: Yeah, it’s a difficult one. We need to always – like we always do – we need to analyse if there’s anything we could have done better. It’s difficult to say. Today it was difficult to know the real difference between the option and prime because the prime tyre has been taking quite a long time to warm up so we really thought it would be really difficult to undercut because it takes many laps to warm up and get a good pace after the supersoft tyre. Yeah, we need to analyse, it’s difficult to say. Yeah, too early to say. For the moment, I’m really happy with what we’ve done as a team, third and fourth. Obviously we always aim for better.
Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe Kiadoi) Nico, if you will win the championship this year, will you let grow a moustache like your father?
NR: Maybe. Yup.
Q: (Istvan Janos Simon – Auto Magazine Hungary) Lewis, you seem to have a brake problem; this problem is coming back since Montreal or maybe even before. You’ve had this problem during this race. What can you do against these troubles, to get over it finally? What can you do together with the team?
LH: I don’t know. Going into the race I wasn’t aware that we had a brake problem, so it was news to me when we started to… when they started to speak to me about it. We had the problem in the last race but the last race was the rears and in this race it was the fronts, a little bit different perhaps. I’ll be guessing what’s gone wrong but it didn’t look like it was the same as Nico; maybe it was, I don’t know. I think they said maybe it was. We just need to make improvements.
Q: (Eli Shaouly – Automagazin Israel) Question to Valtteri and Nico: yesterday at Williams you looked in a way pretty sure you wouldn’t win the race and Nico, you were pretty sure that you would win the race in yesterday’s conference. What made you so confident in the result?
NR: Because generally I still believe that we have the fastest car and we had very good long run pace on Friday, that’s the race practice. We were quick there and I didn’t get the best out of it in qualifying, so I was pretty confident that the chance would be very good. Of course, you never know how to overtake and things like that, but it all worked out well.
VB: Yeah, I agree really. I think that from all the data that we had from practice we knew that in the race it’s going to be difficult and overall Mercedes have still got the quickest car but we really nailed it yesterday so we knew that maybe Sunday could be difficult but actually it was a bit better than I expected. We were really close to them on pace.
Q: Was that because it was 14 degrees warmer today than it was on Friday, do you think?
VB: Difficult to say that was the factor or not, I don’t know what Mercedes did just before qualifying with the car set-up. I don’t know. It’s difficult to say; we need to analyse.
eom
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Pole is the beginning of some great possibilities: Felipe Massa, Williams
21 June 2014:
DRIVERS
1 – Felipe MASSA (Williams)
2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)
3 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
TV UNILATERAL
Felipe, pole for the first time since, I think, Brazil 2008. Describe your emotions now.
Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I’m so happy with what’s happened today with us and our team. It was such a great moment. It was already long time when I had my last pole position, which was, yeah, in Brazil, 2008. So, such an incredible moment. For sure we need to concentrate on the race tomorrow, you know, it’s a difficult and important race for us. But I think it’s a great moment. The best place to be is here in the first place. It’s something that I got the chance to be many times in all my career and I am again now. After a long time I couldn’t be in this place and I hope this is just the beginning of maybe some great possibilities to be here again, not just in the qualifying but also in the race. The race is tomorrow but I’m so happy, very emotional – not just for me but I think it’s a similar feeling what I feel and what Williams feel as well. Williams Martini had an incredible career in the past and they are back to the top, they are back to the fight. There is still a lot to do but the work is going on the right line. I’m so pleased for me and for Williams Martini as well.
Very well done. Coming to you Valtteri. Your best ever Formula One qualifying in second place. You were in provisional pole though, but it looked like a mistake on your last and it ended up very close with Felipe, I believe only nine one hundredths of a second the gap between you.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah best position so far in my career, so one more place to go. Well done Felipe. I’m really happy for us as a team. This result is really good at this point. We’ve made some big, big steps from last year and now we get a result like this. Of course it’s only Saturday but still we can see that all the hard work really starts to pay off. I’m really happy for us. As Felipe says the race is tomorrow, so we need to focus on that. It’s going to be a different story tomorrow, it’s not going to be easy to keep the Mercedes cars behind for sure, and even some other cars like Ferrari and Red Bull are going to be strong. Yeah, not a bad day today but we just need to keep focused now.
Very well done. Nico, coming to you now. Championship leader but it’s not the first time that you’ve not been on the front row of the grid. Did you expect to have these two cars in front of you and what happened today for you?
Nico ROSBERG: No, of course, I definitely didn’t expect the Williams to be ahead of me today but they did a good job and it just didn’t come together perfectly for me. I also lost out on that last lap because of Lewis spinning in front in the corner, so I couldn’t do that lap. You have to lift off two tenths of a second you know and doing that, to do at least two tenths you have to do three tenths and it’s just… it wouldn’t have been possible to improve on my lap time so I backed out of it. So that definitely cost me today but that’s just the way it is. But still third place is OK, it’s OK to start from there tomorrow and I have a quick car in the race, so I’m still looking forward to it and I’ll make the most of it.
Well done. Coming back to you Felipe. Obviously the race tomorrow, but there’s a big football tournament going on at the moment in your home country. I guess though that all eyes will be on you in the early part of tomorrow, what do you expect?
FM: Yeah, I think there is a lot going on in Brazil in this moment so I really expect that we can have a great show, a great show for everybody which is looking, you know the World Cup in Brazil. So I hope the best definitely for the World Cup in Brazil but I hope the best for Brazil. Just before I go to the car my son gave me a little Neymar, a little one, so I bring the little one to the car and I put on the side of my helmet. It was a nice feeling. I’m a great fan of football, so I hope we can have a great World Cup. I know what it is to win at home so I can imagine winning the World Cup at home is like a dream come true, not just for the players but also for everybody which is watching, so I really hope the best for Brazil.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Felipe, it was noticeable this morning in Free Practice Three that you guys were working on qualifying from fairly early on. Was it a real plan here to really focus on qualifying and do the best possible job that you could do here this afternoon?
FM: Well, it was not different, what we was doing this morning compared to the other races. We were doing similar working compared to what we was doing before, so definitely… also the Saturday the qualifying is the main focus y’know, but it was no different to what we did in the other races so… but I mean it’s pretty clear that our car was good, our car was competitive and it shows really a very good performance today and also yesterday since we started, both tyres it shows good performance. And it shows again in the qualifying that definitely we are a little bit surprised – we expect maybe Mercedes to be a little bit heavier, y’know? Just preparing the qualifying to put the right level of fuel and be like they were in the last races. Maybe not a big gap because this is a small track but, yeah, it was a little bit of a surprise – but it was a great job from us. From both of us, from the team, from everybody.
Q: Valtteri, it’s obvious, as Felipe was saying, the car is working well. But it seems this year, your team, when you’ve bought updates to the car, they’ve worked straight away. Obviously the correlation is very good between the wind tunnel and the race track and everything seems to be pointing in the right direction.
VB: That is true. We haven’t been making any bad updates. We’ve always… if we have bought something it has always worked and that has been a big improvement from last year. We can really put all the energy into the right direction, developing parts and knowing that they will work, so, no energy wasted there so that’s good. Like Felipe said, I’m really happy for the result today. For us as a team it’s a great achievement. Of course it’s only Saturday but we are really looking forward for tomorrow, trying to get some really good points with both cars. So, we really just need to focus on that.
Q: Nico, some thoughts from you. Obviously still a good chance for you to win the race tomorrow, taking on these two gentleman here. And also some thoughts on your team-mate who’s going to be starting down in ninth.
NR: Yeah, chances for the race are obviously good from P3. It’s more difficult than starting on the front row, of course, but it’s still a good chance there because I think it’s possible to overtake on this track. First stint, also, the tyres are going to degrade massively on the Option, so already there maybe at the end of the stint there’s a little bit of a chance. And I’ll have a good race car for sure. The balance was not ideal today in qualifying but definitely more a race car. So, in the race I’m sure I’ll be more happy with it. So I look forward to trying to make the most of it. Points-wise also with Lewis starting in ninth, that’s of course for the team not good but for me it’s, yeah, good that way. I need to make the most of it and try to extend the gap tomorrow.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Nico, last race Mercedes didn’t win after six races in a row winning everything. Here, the first competition with qualifying ended with Mercedes not starting again in the first position. It’s just the circumstance of the competition or the opponents are really approaching your team?
NR: It’s a short track here and still we have the fastest car, even today, it’s just that I didn’t get that second lap to give it a go and my first lap, the balance was not good. In general also today my balance was not good because I’d worked more for the race – but I didn’t expect it to be that bad. I didn’t expect to be that uncomfortable. But anyways, not it’s third and for the race I’m sure I’ll have a good car, so, I think that’s a very small view that we’re taking now: two races, no wins, no pole… or no pole now. But I still think we’re dominant and definitely have the fastest car and I hope it’s going to stay like that for some time to come.
Q: (Michael Shields – Reuters) Felipe Massa, how does it feel to be starting from the pole position? I think this is the first time since 2008.
FM: Yeah, it’s the first time since 2008. I think it’s always the best feeling we can have. Being the quickest on the track against everybody, it’s always the best feeling a driver can have. A driver always works and fights to achieve this. It’s definitely a great moment, this qualifying. Only, work for tomorrow is very difficult. Long and tough race but, y’know, is a good start.
Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN) Felipe, you had a chance to win in Canada last time out and you’ve spoken passionately about the events that happened there since then. Do you think that tomorrow you’ve got a cool head and Williams has got the race pace that you need to make it a win this time and keep Valtteri and Nico etc at bay?
FM: Well, I think that depends on these guys here. We need to try to do the best we can. I think we have a good car, definitely we show a very competitive car since yesterday morning. I think what happened at the last race is past. I think you cannot live the past, we need to live in the present and the future. We lost some opportunity, we lost great points in Canada. Unfortunately we had some problems in the first pit stop when I lost four or five seconds and that put me in a difficult situation for the race but I had incredible pace as well and looking what happened with the Mercedes, it would definitely have been possible to win. I was in front of Ricciardo and he won the race. Normally my pace was also good to fight with… to be in front of him. The race is tomorrow, it’s a different situation, we’re starting in a better position which is always a help and we need to see how Mercedes will be tomorrow in the race but we will try everything we can, definitely.
Q: (Panagiotis Seitanidis – Alpha TV) Felipe, we saw a very touching emotional moment with your wife and son. After all the troubles you had with the accident and the difficult times that came after that, how important was the support of your family all this moment, and what did your son tell you, or what did you feel when you looked at him at that moment?
FM: Actually, I was also very close to my family. When I was a kid, with my father, my mother, my brother, my sister – we were always together at the races. I have always had great support from my family and then after, with my wife, my son now. It’s a great moment. When I saw him, it was just like… he never saw me in first place so it’s the first time. I think that makes the father feel nice, a good feeling, to see that your son is looking that you are in first place so it’s a great feeling, it’s a great moment and for sure, it’s part of my motivation. He’s part of everything I’m doing for my career, so it’s definitely a great feeling. I hope we can have a great race tomorrow as well with him watching and my wife and all my family as well from home.
Q: (Sven Haidinger – Sport Woche) Valtteri, what influence did the arrival of Pat Symonds have on your team and on the performance of the car?
VB: I think we can see it in the performance. I think the results have shown that he’s been one of the key persons for Williams to come back to closer to the positions where we belong to be in the races. As soon as he arrived, many things started to change and are still changing. Every week, as a team, we are still getting stronger and stronger, so we are definitely on the right way and that is thanks to Pat but also many other people in the team.
Q: (Anthony Rowlinson – F1 Racing) Felipe, has the change of team environment to Williams allowed you to find your best form again?
FM: For sure, I had a great time with Ferrari. I’m not a guy who is trying to speak bad about the past. I have had an incredible time in my past and I really enjoy everybody from Ferrari, but I feel that sometimes a change helps. Always when you are in the same place for many years… also I had a difficult moment as well, you know, it was good to have a change. I think it was good for the motivation and everything, so I think it was definitely positive, this change and I really really feel happy with Williams Martini with really great people. I think they work 110 percent, happy, and they really believe in my job, they really believe in what I say and I think that’s really positive. It makes me feel better, it makes me feel nice and it makes me feel very important inside the team.
Q: (Mikhail Rudoi – Autodigest Belarus) Valtteri, tomorrow, when you will see green lights, how do you think? You will concentrate not to lose second place or you will try to attack Felipe to the first turn?
VB: I think you always try to do the best you can. I think it really depends how good a start you get and it depends on the situation, what kind of start the other cars around will get and then you see how is the situation but I think both of us, me and Felipe, we really need to just try and do the best we can, try and go as forward as possible after the first corner and the first lap and keep the position as long as possible. We know that Mercedes’ race pace is going to be really really strong so it’s not going to be an easy day tomorrow but we will do our best.
Q: ( Eli Shaouly – Automagazine, Israel) Felipe, it’s the first time that somebody actually beat Mercedes fair and square this season. This actually looked closed, like finished, one or two races ago. Do you think it’s now a new opening, do you think you can handle a big challenge to them or do you think it’s just one track that is very unique and the future will be different? Maybe also Nico can answer this?
FM: Honestly, we cannot forget what Mercedes has been doing up to now. We cannot forget that they didn’t have a clean qualifying as well. For sure, for the moment they are in front. For the moment, they are stronger. I hope, during the championship we can close or maybe can even pass (them). This is what we’re always working for, you know. But I think it’s not enough to say that we are there with Mercedes. I think that for the moment we don’t know. For the moment is maybe this track helps us definitely, but we don’t know. As Valtteri just said, I think we will see a very strong Mercedes tomorrow, so we need to be ready for everything, we need to be ready also that finishing behind them is still an incredible job for us.
NR: I still think we are the quickest team and car at the moment, but we are always keeping a close eye on the opposition and today Williams was definitely close, so we need to keep on pushing. Today was Williams, two races ago it was Red Bull that were getting closer so we need to go for it, but I’m confident that we can keep up the development rate and stay ahead.
eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
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Monisha raises voice where other teams fail to talk about FIA’s eye wash of cost-cutting measures
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Marco MATTIACCI (Ferrari)
PRESS CONFERENCE
The World Motor Sport Council meets next week, it’s the deadline for regulations for 2015. In yesterday’s press conference with the drivers they all said that cost control was the first order of priority for the sport. Are you wher you hoped to be on that subject as the deadline approaches? A question for all of you. Eric maybe you’d like to start.
Eric BOULLIER: Well, I think it depends on where you want to put the shift. There were some discussions, they was some real will to do something for the sport from some teams and I think at the end we achieved some decisions. I don’t know yet obviously how much we are going to save. Is it enough, is it not enough? I think it’s a bit to early to say. But at least let’s say there was a commitment to do something and we tried to.
Monisha?
Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, in my view we are clearly not there, where we should be and where we wanted to be, at least from our team’s perspective. I also don’t think we have achieved so far any measurable cost cutting. For us the situation is a little unclear actually at the moment, at least in my understanding if you mention the World Motor Sport Council there was a decision taken last year by the Council in which they endorsed cost-cutting as a target and they also agreed in principle to the cost cap and the FIA was mandated to implement that. Since then other decisions have been taken by other groups going in a different direction. Following that amongst other teams, ours as well, the non-Strategy Group teams I’d say were asked to bring proposals in about how you can achieve a sustainable cost base while still promoting competition. We did that, we also didn’t get anywhere on that. In my understanding I really wonder what the FIA is now going to do and how Formula One is going to be governed in this respect.
Christian, do you have any comment on that?
Christian HORNER: We spent quite a while talking about things and so on and we’ve agreed a couple of things next year which will save money. Testing is reduced, testing will be in Europe rather than overseas, wind tunnel time and CFD ratios have been further reduced. But I think what’s important to say is that everything that was agreed in the Formula One Commission meeting earlier this week was agreed unanimously. That means every team was around the table and every team had the right to vote against it but everything that went through went through on a unanimous basis. We’ve got what we’ve got. I think the most important thing now going forward is stability.
Marco, are you where you hoped to be on cost control?
Marco MATTIACCI: First of all, I think it is remarkable that the drivers are underlining this point. At the same time, yes, I think we did some progress. Probably we could have achieved some more. But I keep stressing the point that according to me Formula One should focus at the same time on how to appeal to a broader audience, because I think there is a huge potential for this sport. So I guess even cost reduction has to be faced in a much more complex point of view, a large point of view: how to make this product more appealing, how to attract more sponsors. I guess yes we are working extremely hard to see where are the opportunities to reduce the cost. I would like to work even harder to see where we can increase the appeal to wider audience.
Toto?
Toto WOLFF: Yeah, we had lots of meeting about finding out where we could reduce costs. It’s an ongoing saga. You know it’s not the case that some teams are against cutting costs and other are for. We are all for sensible cost cutting because even the big teams need to make sure we keep it within a certain framework. We need to make sure that Christian is not running away with the costs. Christian needs to make sure that Ferrari is not running away with the costs. This is why we are all in favour, but it is a tricky thing and it’s difficult to get everybody under one umbrella. So I guess that what we have done for next year in reducing the in-season testing again, probably to even less the following year. We came back to Europe. All these are sensible steps and this must be on our constant agenda to further reduce the costs.
Thank you for that. And finally Franz: your thoughts?
Franz TOST: We have achieved some goals to reduce costs, like Christian mentioned before, with less testing and testing only in Europe and the reduced costs on the aerodynamic side. And we will also in future discuss possibilities to reduce costs. I think this is a longer process because this year we are coming up with a new regulation, and as we all know a regulation change is always in connection with costs increasing. I just hope that in the future we will always continue to discuss how to reduce costs and I am convinced that sooner or later we will come to a target where all the teams are satisfied.
OK and second one to all you. There have been extensive discussions on wider changes on things to things like format and regulations in recent weeks, things like altering the Friday programme at race weekend and tyre blankets – all that kind of thing. Which measure would you personally most like to see implemented? Maybe we’ll start with Marco.
MM: Again I want to have a wider view about how to improve Formula One and the appeal. According to me, if I could push the button tomorrow, I would like to see a much deeper, wider engagement toward the audience with the drivers. In the end, Formula One is innovation but at the same it’s entertainment and I think that it has huge opportunity for improvement, for revenues, in engaging the audience, the fan more to Formula One. All the other initiatives sound to me OK to reduce some costs but they sound to me tactical and they don’t see the bigger picture, the bigger potential in Formula One.
Christian?
CH: I think foremost and utmost Formula One is a show and it has to entertain. I think a race like we had in Montreal is Formula One at it’s best. That’s what we need to have and more of it – week in, week out. We need to give the public more access, more behind-the-scenes information and engage them more in what we do. I think we need more of Montreal. How we achieve that of course is the difficulty.
Franz?
FT: The most important thing about Formula One, which we should not forget, is the entertainment and when we came back to the Friday running which we have in this year and as we had it in the past, this is something which was quite important for the organisers. We have to think how we can bring the cars together, because as we can see today there are two cars far ahead and as long as the parity of the power units is not at a similar level it is difficult to achieve interesting races, apart from the fact if something happens, which was unforeseen. Once more it’s a new regulation, it’s the first year that we are in there. I think we also have to work for the public to understand it better, what we have produced; how this new power unit works and how the new regulation has to be interpreted. I think we will do this in future just to increase the interest of the people in Formula One.
Two silver cars out in front, that’s something I’m sure you wouldn’t want to change Toto, but what would you like to see implemented.
TW: You know I find it amazing that we are starting this press conference with two questions about cost reduction and cost savings and talking the sport down. We are in a fantastic new venue, we have just come back to Austria to an historic race, this is the most amazing place now. We have had some exciting races. I admit that lucky for us we are quite dominant, similar to how Red Bull has been in a couple of years and we must talking stop talking ourselves down. I cannot imagine any other sport that would start the press conference in the way like we do, just talking about what it not good. But coming back to your question: I think that what is important is the show and the entertainment and engaging with the audience, to what Marco said. Probably if I could pinpoint it to a single item, I would say let’s stop testing. This is not to maintain our advantage. This is our own little agenda but it’s not important in the broader view of Formula One. But it’s something which is not important for the spectators. I think they want to have a good show at the weekends. Can we do less testing at the beginning of the season? Probably we can but then there is a new engine manufacturer you need to take of him as well to get enough miles. Then, some of us wanted to get rid of testing completely during the season. Why not go back to zero. But it was not possible and you would be surprised who was actually in favour of in-season testing. If I could make a decision I would say let’s not test in season any more.
Monisha?
MK: I agree with Toto that we have an excellent product here. We have a great platform, it’s very attractive. I think it’s high time that we really focused on the people we are doing this for. For a team it’s mainly the fan and for companies its consumers, customers at the end. We need to really pick up these people, give them a great moment – that they want to come with their kids, the next generation, and see that they are having a great show here. They need to remember this kind of a moment, which is not really happening that much. Now race in the past have been exciting or not exciting. We’ve gone through years where one team dominated, so we’ve had all that before and we’re still here. So we realty need to get out to the fans, to these consumers and make sure that they keep their attention to Formula One and that’s something we have not been doing recently.
OK and finally, Eric?
EB: Well, I’m the same as everybody. It’s the start of a new regulation so obviously there was a lot of change over the last winter. We just want to see closer which makes the entertainment better which will allow us to engage more with the fans and keep the fans happy and I think by having closer racing first you have to bring some stability to the regulation.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Kate Walker – Crash.net): In relation to the answers you’ve all just given, we’ve just an awful lot about fan engagement and solidifying F1’s profile in various territories. Now Red Bull have got the showcar team. I would like to know from each of you, and Christian if you want to answer as well, what it is specifically to boost Formula One’s profile in your own country and in other territories that we visit away from a race weekend?
CH: Red Bull are extremely active in that area. We have a showcar team that visits countries all around the world, goes to towns or places that Formula One hasn’t been before, isn’t expected to be seen. This year it will run in 25 different venues. We engage with the fan base – we have more than 8 million fans worldwide that are following us through social media, our digital platforms and so on. We’re generating a huge amount of hits, whether it’s through a regulation change or to demonstrate the build of a car. So we are engaging with our fans and we see our fanbase growing. What else are Red Bull doing? They’ve brought Formula One here. It’s fantastic to be back in Austria. It’s fantastic to have a home grand prix and I think what Dietrich Mateschitz has done in achieving this race and the amount of fans and spectators that there are here this weekend is great to see and it’s great to see the enthusiasm that there is for Formula One in Austria.
Marco?
MM: It can be done more, definitely. But we have a tradition, we have a thousand of Ferrari fan clubs worldwide, we are dramatically increasing our digital experience, we have almost 12 million people on Facebook. But I think that has to be all the teams, a force, because working together in a synergic probably we can sell the product more. Definitely in the real life we have showcase car but I think today the younger audience spend a lot of time on the web, so I think probably to create an experience, even from a brand perspective, on the web is fundamental and we are working on this. So, that’s important.
Franz, what are you doing?
FT: I think there’s rarely a company involved in Formula One doing more than Red Bull. As Christian already mentioned Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull, bought the grand prix back to Europe, thanks and congratulations for this really fantastic event and for this extraordinary facility. And we from Toro Rosso are very closely linked to Red Bull and we have, for the next month, a couple of showcar runs in Russia – because we prepare Russia for the Grand Prix – Formula One is not very well known over there and we sent Daniil Kvyat there. In addition to this, next weekend he will be in Moscow for a press conference, there’s also the Renault World Series race where he will be, just to promote the race for Russia. And we have a lot of sponsor activities in Europe with CEPSA but also in America and Canada with Nova Chemicals and I think Toro Rosso is pushing quite hard to satisfy the fans and make Formula One popular.
Monisha?
MK: Well, with the size of team we have, we don’t have a demo team that we can go around and do these things – but we try to do whatever we can, particularly with our partners – like with the Telmex Group in Latin America, a lot of activities down there and that’s where we try to support, of course, Formula One also with the race also coming up hopefully in Mexico to do something there. I think where we could do more is particularly around a race weekend. The smaller teams could get together with the others and make the crowds then benefit here more if our drivers would maybe do more – or we could just interact more with people.
Eric?
EB: Well, it’s similar, y’know. We are engaging a lot through social media. We are doing some events, we have a demo team running. Jenson was doing a Russian tour as well last week to meet with the media and press conference – so we are almost activating the same.
Toto?
TW: Yeah, I’d like to add to that, social media is growing at an exponential rate with us. On good days we have more than 50,000 new likes on our Facebook site. We are almost having the size of the Mercedes audience and this shows that that audiences are probably transitioning towards other platforms. Whether you can monetise it in the same way, I doubt it…yet. In terms of activation, we do a lot. We have show car runs everywhere. Mercedes is just launching a big, global campaign around Formula One. You can see much more activation around Mercedes-Benz’s motorsport activities globally – and this of course is to promote the team but also to promote Formula One everywhere in the world.
Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) A lot of you mentioned social media in your responses. Now we saw in the Montreal weekend that the commercial rights holder had said that he viewed social media as a flash in the pan and something that didn’t have the longevity to require our support. If we have the commercial rights holder working against social media, what can the teams do in the face of that opposition?
MM: This impression that the commercial rights holder is working against media, I think as every evolution, you need to do this carefully, considering that there is a financial model behind, to be migrated to a different way. Not necessarily you need to embrace everything without a proper thinking. There is a certain audience that can be interested that is present on social media and another audience that cannot be interested. So, I believe that there is work in progress and probably that will come up with some kind of solution in the short term but I didn’t have the perception that he’s working against social media.
Monisha, anything to add?
MK: I’m also not aware that he’s so much against it. We know that it’s taken a while for Formula One to do more in social media and it’s a fact of life today. You can’t ignore it. And since we do have a product which is characterised also that much by exclusivity, I think we have to be careful and assess very carefully how we open it and how we can still monetise on it because these are revenue streams which, if they come in correctly and the distribution is also the right way, it has, of course, an impact on all the other issues we are combating right now. So, it’s all somehow connected – but you have to be careful when you open up to these kind of mechanisms.
Toto?
TW: What Monisha says is very true, because we have exclusive content and the commercial rights holder needs to have a long-term strategy about how to monetise the content and if you generate a billion out of traditional TV, you of course are struggling in the short term to give everything to the social media, or into the digital world where you can’t generate revenue yet. So, I think we are at the verge of probably entering into a new era, where it’s going to transition into the digital world – but you have to be very careful, you have to plan and you need to balance the interests of your current partners, and value your current partners, and at the same time make sure that you’re transitioning the business case and the business model into the future.
Q: (Luke Smith – NBC Sports) Marco, we saw that Gene Haas was spending a lot of time in the Ferrari garage over the Montreal weekend. How are talks going regarding an engine supply and could I get maybe some views on his entry for 2016 with Haas Formula?
MM: We are doing some progress and naturally to enter in Formula One, it’s a challenge. You need to be competitive and so I think there is, again, work in progress and probably a decision will be made in the coming weeks – but it is important, the positive thing I believe is to have Americans who start to look at investing in Formula One, it’s really an important topic to stress – because this is, at the moment, the largest and most important economy in the world. So, it’s a good sign that Americans start to look at investing in Formula One. Aside, if you look at Haas or someone else, I really welcome United States to look in Formula One.
Q: (Mikhail Rudoi – Autodigest Belarus) Question for Marco. When you have any difficulty or problems or working questions, do you call to Stefano Domenicali to get some maybe advice or do you do everything by your self?
MM: I think maybe the main characteristic of a good manager is to listen and to ask question. I think Stefano has been an asset of the company and is an important asset for me – so definitely I ask questions to Stefano. I listen to Stefano. At the same time I’m the one that makes the choice to bring a new direction within the team.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Gentleman and lady, after about a year’s worth of meetings across the world, Formula One Commissions, whatever, the best that that the best brains in the most cerebral sport in the world could come up with was a couple of savings on wind tunnel time, a reduction on race team headcount of two, curfews increased by one or two hours per race weekend… and yet we’re supposed to be talking about cost saving. Is this honestly the best that can be done and what sort of figure have you come up with. You’re all business people, you must know roughly what the savings will be.
CH: Dieter, you’re very ill-informed because we didn’t reduce the number of people by two, we kept it at the same, so… Look, it’s an interesting topic and you’ve followed this and written a lot of column-inches about it – but costs in Formula One are one element, the show is another and I think that you have to be careful not to make decisions that affect the show. And there were a lot of things that were tabled that, when put in front of promoters and other people that have a vested interest in the sport said, ‘well hang on a second,’ You shorten Fridays – and you guys were moaning about it as much as anyone – to say well that damages the show, that damages the promoters ability to sell tickets and put bums on seats. So, when you put a group in the room who all have vested interests, whether it’s the commercial rights holder, the teams and the governing body, and you talk things through, then you realise well actually, while there is cost associated with it, by reducing it, we’ll create more harm than good. So, therefore, some decisions were made on Wednesday which I believe were in the best interests of the sport. Now, some of them aren’t going to save any money – well, most of them aren’t going to save any money but hopefully what we will get out of it will ultimately be a better show.
Monisha?
MK: Well, I said in the beginning that in my view not any measurable cost-reduction has been achieved so far – but I think we have to look at a bigger picture here which is that it’s also been said before, we have to focus at the end of the day on the fans and on the consumers and we have to start right there: what image does Formula One have with them? And that’s not a good image right now and that’s where it all starts. So, if you find out what it is, you probably come at some point of time, then to points like the cost, that why do they think we may be burning money here. It’s very difficult for somebody new to come into the sport today because the financial levels are very, very high. It’s very difficult for established teams – private teams – to stay in the sport, even if you’ve done that for 20 years or more. So we have to try to tackle it from there and see, can we, can we do something on the costs? That’s just one aspect of it. What can we do on the show? Because the revenues at the end of the day matter. If they are right. They are generated by the fans and the consumers, not by us teams – we’re just spending the money out there. If that’s right, all these other areas again will come into place because probably you’re at a sensible level of costs, you can make it exciting again, keep a diversity in the sport, which the sport needs. So I think we have to just change a bit our view and having a bigger view on it than just focussing on costs.
Eric?
EB: Not much to say.
Anything to add Franz?
FT: No. As I mentioned already before, we had a regulation change, and a regulation change always will increase the costs. We have not to see how in the future it will come down, on parts or whatever with the costs. The most expensive part currently is the power unit. And once the manufacturers have stopped the research and development work because they have reached a certain level, I expect that these costs will come down, then we have some cost savings on the aerodynamic side and, as Monisha mentioned, that we get a balance with the interest of the people, that we don’t lose people, because that’s very, very important. Formula One has to stay on this very, very high level and then I don’t see any problems for the future.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) You spoke well at the start about the need to engage with fans and then you touched on what you’re currently doing with regard to that, but I’ve not really heard much so far by way of potential solutions as to what you could do for the future to draw the fans in. Obviously one of the successes in the past was the fans forum – for arguments’ sake – which was run by the now defunct FOTA. Is there a possibility of somebody picking up that baton and running it again across all eleven teams, not just previously the FOTA teams? As I say, I’m looking for potential solutions now as to what you could do rather than what you’re currently doing? To anybody who would like to start off.
TW: You’re right, we need to explore all avenues and all opportunities. We had some pretty good discussions in the last meeting, engaging with the promoters and I think we need to continue to discuss that with the major stakeholders and Mr Montezemolo has started an initiative to put the most important stakeholders on the table and evaluate all these opportunities. I guess besides a fan forum which for sure was a good idea, there are many other possibilities, be it in real life, be it on the internet or the media. We should look at everything.
MM: The digital world is changing every day. Every day there is a new opportunity. Definitely, it is important, as Toto will say, as our president Montezemolo has been saying, we need some kind of workshop, all the stakeholders, sponsors, teams to take time and to come up with a business model or strategy to engage more with the young generation, with a wider audience, which kind of channel to use. You can go to Twitter, to Google, every kind of new media. I don’t think it’s rocket science but you need to do things in a calibrated way because it’s a very competitive arena where you have impressive sports like champions league, NBA or NFL that do a remarkable job so I think that you need not just say OK, let’s embrace new media, you need to have a very clear marketing strategy that is going to make sure that all the stakeholders will have a return on it, so I think it requires time, it’s a serious exercise and I think we started a process. So I’m extremely confident that we started a journey to go in that direction.
EB: There is no magic wand, you know, there are no secrets. You’re obviously going to have to dig it out, you know, so you need to work and as long as we keep the discussion open and we know what we want to achieve we need to adjust to all the actions which is individual actions or around the track as well. As you said, there were some forums organised in the past, maybe it’s going to come up again. It’s just that we obviously need to adjust during this process where we are changing F1 for the future.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport Total.com) To the representatives of the bigger four teams: the Le Mans 24 hrs last week generated a huge following, probably bigger than in previous years. Is any one of you guys considering a Le Mans programme in the future, or can you imagine to consider it?
TW: Well, you know, for Mercedes it’s a tricky one. Past attempts weren’t really successful. It’s a serious exercise, if you consider the resources which are deployed to be competitive in Le Mans, it is at Formula One level, but nevertheless, as a racer, I must admit it’s an amazing race. I spent three hours in front of the live timing and I couldn’t move away because it was so exciting in the night, detrimental to my family life but very exciting indeed.
CH: How did your wife feel about you looking at live timing in the middle of the night?
TW: She was quite upset with me, actually.
CH: I bet she was.
CH: She was quite upset with me. And, erm… Now you’ve put me off. You’ve derailed me. So no plans to do Le Mans from our side.
CH: I was not looking at the live timing in the middle of the night. It was obviously a great race, exciting race. It shows that different technology can produce close racing. You’ve got a normally aspirated, a diesel engine very similar to what we have here and it was still close racing, so maybe there’s a few things that Formula One can learn from it but I think that Le Mans was an exciting race, it was great to see our old driver, Mark Webber, doing very well. Unfortunate for him, with a couple of hours to go that obviously they ran into difficulties but it’s a different thing. Le Mans is one race, it’s a spectacle, it’s a 24 hour race. Formula One is a totally different kettle of fish, it’s a sprint race that happens 18/19 times a year but of course there’s always things you can learn from other activities.
MM: First of all we were at Le Mans and we won the category with car 51, with a 458 so it was a remarkable achievement. Having said that, it’s good to look at other series, what can be migrated to Formula One but Formula One is 19 races and I believe that it is a worldwide platform so we need to consider that there is a very good base to start from. Having said that, myself, personally and my team, we are 100 percent focused on Formula One. I have to do my job here at the moment so I can’t have this distraction.
EB: So no to your question, but it’s true that Le Mans is a one event in itself. Obviously I’ve passed some years there so I know a little bit how it works and I did show up there on Friday just to have a look but there are a couple of things that we should look at how they run their hybrid energy storage and stuff like this. Maybe there is something we could learn and get into F1 but it’s different racing.
Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Talking about Le Mans, there are some rumours that maybe for the next year the races will start with the safety car in front. Would you like something like that, to improve the show or whatever?
MK: Well, not too long ago we’ve had quite a discussion on safety car starts and things like that so I think what we’ve now managed to agree there is the right thing I think. We should focus on what now we have changed for next year and see how that’s going to affect the viewers and the show and then let’s take it from there, so let’s not just start getting wildly into actions and trying to just change because we need to do some action.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Marco Mattiacci: we had an interview by Luca di Montezemolo in the Wall Street Journal, then he dismissed the intention of Ferrari to quit Formula One but in case you don’t see the changes you’d like to see in Formula One, can you consider the possibility to leave this world or not?
MM: I don’t want to work with that perspective. I know that Formula One is about Ferrari, and that Ferrari is about Formula One. I want to work, we will work, the president will work in order to improve and to make sure that we will have a Formula One that will appeal to a wider audience, so at the moment I will not consider the scenario.
Q: (Peter Vamosi – Vas Nepe Kiadoi KFT) To all of you: how do you like Mr Montemolo’s idea of introducing third cars in each team? Do you have a driver for that?
FT: First of all, we currently have eleven teams, 22 cars and as long as these eleven teams stay in Formula One, there’s no reason and no need to bring in a third car.
MK: I agree with Franz. Were there to be a need, it wouldn’t first of all be a good thing for Formula One because obviously then some teams would no longer be there. I think it’s an interesting idea. The idea has always been coming up since a long while and maybe we could even use that to improve the show. I think there could be smart ways to see how you could actually use that car but the least problem I think we’d all have would be with the drivers. I think we all have enough.
EB: First, there is a limitation on the number of cars per race, so obviously if you would go, as Franz said, if you would go three cars per team now, there will be too many cars and that means that some cars would not race. I think the idea to run a third car is… unfortunately, if we had less teams, that could be a means to obviously run enough cars on the grid, but your question about drivers, don’t worry, there are enough around.
TW: Yeah, I agree with what all three have said. At the moment we have eleven teams and hopefully they stay in Formula One but the past has shown, the last 50 years have shown that some teams come, some teams go. Nevertheless, if it falls below a critical level, which we estimate as a critical level, having a third car could be a way of filling up the grid and there could be interesting discussions about promoting that, putting young drivers into the cars and we’ve had many of those discussions and I think you need to have a fallback scenario in case we are really running into difficulties, but our agenda right now needs to be to keep the grid as it is.
CH: Nothing really to add, it’s not relevant at the moment.
MM: We have always been… we are in favour to have a third car, in particular if we understand the opportunity to give this car to a young driver, the other driver for different geography. I think looking to improve the show, I think it could be a great opportunity and we are in favour of this.
eom/FIA transcript of the Press Conference
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I was really struggling to get past Perez (before I won): Ricciardo
Montreal, 8 June 2014: (Wee hours of Monday IST):
Nico Rosberg takes the chequered flag in second following Daniel Ricciardo’s maiden win at the Canadian GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team image DRIVERS
1 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Jean Alesi)
Daniel, what a race.I’ve been really suffering in the last laps with you. Tell us about this first win.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I’m still a bit in shock. Thanks everyone. This is ridiculous! Lots of Aussie flags, that’s nice. The race really came to life in the last 15 to 20 laps. We saw Hamilton had a problem and then we saw Rosberg was slow on the straights. I was really struggling to get past Perez. They had a pretty good car on the straights and he was holding me off well in the corners. We finally got a run out of the last chicane and made a nice move into turn and then set my sights on Nico and then a couple of laps to go just found myself in the right spot to get the DRS. It’s just an amazing feeling right now, I’m really grateful for this. Thanks everyone.
Nico, at the start and the beginning of the race it looked like you really had the speed and then you were fighting a lot with your team-mate. Tell us about the beginning.
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah it was a big battle all the way. Already on the start I didn’t have the best getaway but I got better through turn one, so I managed to keep the lead through turn one and from then on it was a big battle all the way through. Managed to stay ahead until the second pit stop and we had a problem in the pit stop and I think that’s the main thing. I dropped behind as a result. From then on I didn’t really know what was going on because I lost a lot of power so very slow down the straights, so just trying to hang on, trying to put qualifying laps all the time but it didn’t quite work out against Ricciardo, against Daniel.
Sebastian, when Mark Webber left you had such a nice guy coming in your team. What did you think?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, he’s still a nice guy! Congratulations to him, first of all, it’s his day. Obviously, as he touched on, the race really came alive towards the end, it came to us. Obviously a big help from Mercedes this weekend, unlike all the other weekends, but we were there to capitalise. It was difficult for us all the time, being stuck behind the Force Indias. First I was stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel was stuck behind Perez. We were just not quick enough down the straights. We just lacked power. It obviously didn’t help our strategy. Still, it’s a very positive day, Daniel’s first win here, a first win for Renault in this new era of engines. They had a very good comeback but as we saw there is still plenty of work ahead of us as the Mercedes were quite a bit quicker than us down the straights but all in all a very good day and once again congrats to Daniel.
Daniel, now we go to a new track. It’s going to be let’s say your home track, so what do you expect on this new circuit and are you happy?
DR: Yeah, very excited for the next race, it’s going to be a home race for Red Bull and if Seb and I can stand on the podium again I think it will be awesome. It’ll be great, they’ve done a lot of work there at the track. I think the facilities are going to be awesome. Yeah, it’s just a couple of weeks away and I’m sure it’s going to be a great weekend.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Daniel you started and you’ve just joined a very exclusive club of men who’ve won a Formula One grand prix. How does that feel?
DR: Yeah, really nice. It’s still a bit surreal but yeah, just realty cool. It’s not that we were leading the whole race, so it’s not that I had time to understand that I was going to win, it all happened in the last few laps, so I think that’s why it’s still taking a while to comprehend in my head. But really nice, a really good feeling. The race came to life at the end. Mercedes had their issues and it enable us to close on them. We had a good fight with Perez and we were really struggling to pass them. They had, as we know, a really strong car down the straight and it was doing a good job through the corners as well to keep me behind. But then out of the last chicane I got a really good run on him and made the move stick in turns one and two. I was close to overshooting it, dropped a couple of wheels in the grass but it was fine and then Nico in the closing stages. Really, really nice. I wasn’t sure if the two drivers on the last lap were OK, so I just wanted to make sure they were cool before we got celebrating, but I believe they’re fine so really, really happy with the result.
Very, very well done. Nico, as Daniel was just saying, Mercedes had some issues today. Your team-mate retired, so you’ve extended your championship lead to, I believe, 22 points. But you had quite a bit to deal with judging by the way your pace dropped off very suddenly; brake issues we heard, also managing fuel. How hard was that for you?
NR: What happened was that I lost the ERS and when you lose ERS then it doesn’t harvest anymore and then all the braking on the rear is being done by the brakes and then the rear brakes overheated. So it was one problem and then the next problem happened. That just made it massively difficult. I needed to cool the brakes a lot, I lost a lot of power on the straights. At the same time, taking those things into consideration, I was just pushing flat out, qualifying laps, one after another and managing to stay ahead of that pack behind me until two laps from the end. From that point of view it was a very good result and lots of points. Congratulations of course also to Daniel. Fantastic to get the first win. That’s great for him. Not great for me but anyways! We need to keep pushing of course; some reliability problems and we need to make sure that we’re bulletproof.
Sebastian, you said on the radio that you wanted to try something on the strategy. You were getting a bit frustrated, not surprisingly, behind the Force Indias. Tell us about that and also your view of the accident at the end. We’ve just replayed it here and they missed you by 1.5 metres maybe.
SV: Yeah, as I said obviously from lap 20 onwards probably, I don’t know, after the first stop, a couple of laps to go until I caught Nico, the first Force India, basically my race was over. I couldn’t get past. As we saw, until the end there was no way to get past for us down the straights. The Mercedes-powered cars were just too quick. Equally we were in trouble defending to the Williams behind. Basically I was asking to do something with strategy, which I think was possible. On the pit wall they have a much better overview but in my case they didn’t really help me to create something different and to use the pace we clearly had. So in the end I pitted and also lost a position to Daniel. At the very end I was lucky to capitalise on Perez’s brake problems, which allowed me to be much closer down the straights and finally make a move stick. But I think you could see even with DRS open and hi, DRS closed, as soon as I pulled out of the tow he was actually gaining down the straights so… It’s what we’re fighting but I got past him and then into turn one I saw they were very close to each other and I saw something white coming in the mirror and at the last second I reacted and opened the car, basically turned right and Felipe was in the air flying past. Kind of surreal but quite lucky that he didn’t hit me in that instance and I saw him just in time.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Mike Doodson – Auto Action) You mentioned the mistake that Pérez made Daniel – but you were pretty close to him, you must have been planning something. Were there points on the circuit where you felt you could have got past him, in spite of his greater top speed? And were you planning something pretty quickly after what in fact happened?
DR: To be honest I was trying the whole time I was behind him. I was looking for opportunities and, as I said, he was driving well and wasn’t making any mistakes and realistically I needed a bit of a mistake from him because they were just getting off the corner so well. But then I think, yeah, he got quite close to Nico and perhaps just overshot the braking a little bit in the last chicane. I managed to just stay with him on the exit, get the tow and use the DRS. I knew we were strong braking into Turn One, we were really quick into there so, yeah, once I had the outside line free I just basically went in and made it work. Yeah, that was the place I wanted to do it – but as I said, I was trying all the time and it was just then that the opportunity came – but I wasn’t really holding back!
Q: (Christopher Joseph – Chicane) Daniel, I spoke with Alan Jones once and he said he had to acquire a meaner attitude when he left Australia to race in Europe and in Formula One. What is it you think you’ve acquired this season that’s enabled you to achieve this victory?
DR: I think it’s confidence and the more time I spend here, the more comfortable I feel – here being Formula One – and the environment. In any sport a lot of it comes down to belief. If you truly believe in something then you tend to make it work. So, yeah, just a couple of things this year. I knew I’d have a great team behind me and I believed with that I’d be able to get some great results. It’s really nice to have the first victory. Yeah.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Were you expecting it to arrive so early at this point in the season – and also, today has been a pretty much big day for Red Bull as it’s been revealed Adrian Newey’s going to sign for the next few years, even if his involvement is going to be less present in Formula One.
DR: I think it surprised us, yes, because the pace Mercedes has had all year. As we saw they… Obviously I’m still going to take the victory, don’t get wrong but they had their issues today which allowed us to really make an attack but it’s nice that we capitalised on that. I think it would have been disappointing if they had their issues and they were able to still get the best of us. At least we capitalised when we could. It’s nice, the news with Adrian. He’s a good guy, so let’s try and keep this momentum going. We know we’ve still got some work to do but really happy for the team today, it’s really big points for us in the Constructors’ as well. Let’s enjoy the moment.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) To Sebastian and to Daniel. Now that Adrian Newey will continue in Red Bull, the previous time it happened you extended your contract Sebastian. Will it interfere in your future in the team? And you, Daniel, as a rising star, if it also influence your decision?
DR: I think I’m still in the very early stage of my Red Bull Racing career. I’m more than happy where I am now, so I’m more than happy where I am now and obviously it’s very good news that he stays. I’ve only just started working with Adrian. We know that the car is strong. We’ve got a few other areas we can work on but it’s good news, so… yeah… I can’t see any change happening soon!
Sebastian?
SV: Well, I think my contract’s still long enough. I think the only focus is on trying to catch the Mercedes. As Daniel touched on, we know we have a very competitive car but not yet a very competitive package to match them and to beat them regularly. Today, I think we got lucky. Obviously it feels great and it’s a great reward for the whole team after such a painful winter and a very difficult start to the season with a lot of problems, to get both cars on the podium and to beat at least one of the Mercedes, I think that’s a very, very positive day for us. I’m looking short-term if you ask me about the future right now.
Q: (Chris Medland – Crash.net) Nico, is the emotion for you concern that Red Bull are closing in, is it disappointment at the lost win or is it a positive feeling with the points gained over Lewis today?
NR: Not positive in the end, the overwhelming feeling. It was a very, very difficult day out there today and then to come home second – and I didn’t even know that I was second, I only found out afterwards – so that was positive. And extended the Championship lead, which is important, of course, and yes, we are fully aware that Red Bull is still an amazingly strong team and pushing like crazy to catch us. We are well aware of that and we are always concerned and always making sure that our drive remains exactly the same as it was last year when we were half-a-second behind them. We’re really pushing to even extend the gap. We’re trying to, yeah.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Daniel, you’ve joined your three fellow countrymen as a Grand Prix winner. What does that mean to you as an Australian, to join those guys and to win for your country?
DR: Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s still sinking in a bit. I’m just really pleased that I was able to – as I said – to really capitalise today on the opportunity. I could see it in front, when Nico was there and Perez was in between us. I was – like – if we can just get Perez, I think we’ll be able to make a charge on Nico. Really pleased. Yeah. It’s going to take a little bit to sink in but OK, so very proud, great to hear the Aussie anthem. It’s been a few years since I won a race, I think 2011, Monaco in World Series or something, so like three years, it’s a long time, standing on a top step. It’s a feeling I missed a lot.
Q: (Massimo Lopez Pegna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, this is the first time this year that Mercedes has lost a Grand Prix; especially for you, how disappointed is it to lose on what was basically the last lap?
NR: Well, I didn’t know at the time, so at the time, I was actually more pleased… because I saw this huge train of cars behind me and I was pleased that I was managing to stay ahead and OK, one guy got by but I still managed to hold on but then in hindsight, of course, having lost the win, that’s very very disappointing, definitely, and also disappointing for us as a team. We have such speed and such a great car, to not win the race and even just finish with one car and come second is hugely disappointing for us, definitely. Our ambition is to finish one-two so we need to make sure that we get back there again next race in Austria.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, what problem was more difficult to handle: the one that you have lost power or the subsequent brake problems?
NR: Well, the power, once I re-sorted my braking points and everything – because I arrived with so much less speed – so once I sorted out those out, then the power one was actually OK but the brakes, that was more difficult because I also had to run the brake balance forwards, very very far forwards just to use the front much more, so it was just much more difficult with front locking, and to find my way with that. And at the same time I had to do qualifying laps and with the brake balance, I was using the front tyres much too much so that was very challenging.
Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Daniel, you said earlier in the season that your first goal was to tick off your first win. You’ve done that; if you could think ahead, what becomes your next goal now from this point?
DR: I think I’ll just enjoy this for now and not look too far ahead. I think this is definitely a moment I should embrace. I’m actually supposed to fly back tonight but I don’t know if I want to spend (the night of) my first victory on a plane so I will see what happens.
Q: (Sean Gregory – Globe and Mail) Daniel, I was wondering what it feels like to deliver a home town – home country I guess – Grand Prix for your race engineer, Gavin (Ward).
DR: Yeah, it’s really cool. I called him down after we did the podium celebration, I called him down underneath the podium to pour some champagne over him. Gav, my performance engineer is a fellow Canadian, so it’s really nice to give him this one here.
eom/FIA press release of the transcript
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Ogier-Ingrassia bag fourth win of the season; pocket Rally Italia
Sebastian Ogier in action at the Rally Italia, which he won on Sunday. A Volkswagen Motorsport image RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA
(05-08 JUNE 2014)RALLY NEWS
Reigning World Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia powered to victory in Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. It represents the duo’s fourth win of the season and their 20th world rally victory giving them a 33 point advantage in the Championship. Mads Østberg and Jonas Anderson equaled their best result of the season with second position and Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were lucky to claim the final podium position after dropping time changing a wheel yesterday.In the FIA World Rally Championship, Latvala continues to be Ogier’s main rival and the Volkswagen team-mates are beginning to pull ahead of third-placed Østberg. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, the German marque has once again extended its advantage and has a 118 point lead over the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team. The Polo R WRC has also now racked up 16 wins from 19 starts and the team has claimed 10 consecutive victories with the all-conquering car.Today’s route covered just four stages and it was Østberg who took the advantage in the first stage, extending his advantage over Latvala in the process. The Finn fought back in the following two stages but simply ran out of kilometres to fight for second. Behind the leading trio, Andreas Mikkelsen finished fourth for the third consecutive event and claimed his first-ever Power Stage victory ahead of both his team-mates. Elfyn Evans had another solid rally and finished fifth ahead of Martin Prokop, who has been suffering back problems throughout the rally. Henning Solberg and Robert Kubica rounded off the top eight and local hero Lorenzo Bertelli finished ninth and took the FIA WRC 2 Championship victory, his first-ever win.The seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to Poland (26-29 June) where competition will be fought out over stages in both Poland and Lithuania.Rally Italia Sardegna – Final Unofficial Results (subject to scrutineering)1. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia2. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila4. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene5. Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt6. Martin Prokop/Jan Tomanek7. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor8. Robert Kubica/Maciej Szczepaniak9. Lorenzo Bertelli/Mitia Dotta10. Khalid Al Qassimi/Chris PattersonVolkswagen Polo R WRCCitroën DS3 WRCVolkswagen Polo R WRCVolkswagen Polo R WRCFord Fiesta RS WRCFord Fiesta RS WRCFord Fiesta RS WRCFord Fiesta RS WRCFord Fiesta RRCCitroën DS3 WRC4hr 02min 37.8sec4hr 04min 00.9sec4hr 04min 10.6sec4hr 05min 17.1sec4hr 07min 19.6sec4hr 08min 43.1sec4hr 09min 53.6sec4hr 14min 56.8sec4hr 17min 59.9sec4hr 19min 27.1secFIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 6 of 13 rounds)
Sébastien Ogier (FRA)Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)Mads Østberg (NOR)Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)Elfyn Evans (GBR)Kris Meeke (GBR)Thierry Neuville (BEL)Martin Prokop (CZE)Henning Solberg (NOR)Bryan Bouffier (FRA)Robert Kubica (POL)Ott Tanak (EST)Benito Guerra (MEX)Chris Atkinson (AUS)Pontus Tidemand (SWE)Jaroslav Melicharek (SVK)Juho Hänninen (FIN)Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)Lorenzo BertelliMatteo Gamba (ITA)Craig Breen (IRL)Yuriy Protasov (UKR)Jari Ketomaa (FIN)Khalid Al Qassimi (ARE)138 points105 points66 points63 points40 points36 points32 points31 points30 points22 points18 points12 points10 points8 points6 points4 points4 points4 points3 points2 points2 points2 points2 points1 point1 pointFIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 6 of 13 rounds)
Volkswagen MotorsportCitroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally TeamM-Sport World Rally TeamVolkswagen Motorsport IIHyundai MotorsportJipocar Czech National TeamRK M-Sport World Rally TeamHyundai Motorsport N227 points109 points78 points64 points57 points32 points18 points4 points -
A fantastic performance by the team to get 1-2 on the starting grid: Hamilton
DRIVERS
1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
TV UNILATERAL
Nico, your first pole here in Montreal and given Lewis’ record here over the years you must be delighted.
Nico ROSBERG: I’m not really aware of Lewis’ record or something but of course I know it’s a track where he’s very strong at, so all the more I’m very, very happy that it worked out. It’s great. It’s been a fantastic day and also all through the weekend really progressing all he time, getting stronger and stronger. It’s really cool and best position for tomorrow of course.
It’s been very close all weekend of course, but Lewis did have the upper hand going into qualifying. Where did you find the difference today?
NR: It’s just working at it all the time: looking at data, working with my engineers, trying to just improve the set-up, trying to understand what are the areas where I can do better. It’s really just an onward process and it’s great that it worked out.
Lewis, you were behind on the first runs in Q3 and then on your final run it looked like you lost time in the middle sector. Can you tell us what happened?
Lewis HAMILTON: Not particularly. Nico did a fantastic job today, so congratulations to him. Just wasn’t the greatest qualifying session this; sometimes you have good ones, sometimes you have bad ones. But it’s great for the team that we have got the 1-2 in quali. A really fantastic performance by the team, so let’s hope we can make history tomorrow.
Well, it’s seven one hundredths of a second only the difference between you today. Can we expect a similarly close battle in the race tomorrow?
LH: I would assume so, yeah.
Thank you for that. Sebastian, a great final lap, you saved your best until last?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, indeed. The start of the last lap wasn’t great. I still didn’t manage to get that first sector right, the first two corners I didn’t get along very well with today. After that I tried to take more risk and it worked, so sector two was very good through the two kind of chicanes, especially the second one; I found a significantly better line and more time compared to previous runs and kept it together until the end. So, all in all, a very good result. I think it was the maximum we could do, very close with the people behind, obviously half a second to the Mercedes in front, but yeah, I think four cars were within five or six hundredths of a second, so obviously I’m happy to be the quickest one of those.
Obviously you won here last year, like you say the margin to Mercedes is big but you’ve got the Williams to contend with tomorrow. What are your thoughts on prospects for the race?
SV: We’ll see. It’s a long race here. Strategy I think could be a bit of a surprise, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens. But as you touched on Williams is very, very strong here. They have a very, very quick down the straights. Generally the Mercedes-powered cars are looking forward to the straight lines tomorrow. I’ll try to obviously stay as close as I can to those two, maybe get some tow and do the best I can. If we have a chance to attack them then we should go for it.
Coming back to you Nico, again same as in Monaco you had the advantage after the first run in Q3. Can you talk about the confidence that gives you going into your final run, knowing that you’re in that position; that you’ve got the pole and it’s up to the other guy to take it off you?
NR: Of course that helps a lot because I have a banker in and that’s a big advantage to have, definitely. That was also a benefit.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: So Nico, the word you used in Monaco was momentum: you stopped Lewis’ momentum there and you’ve carried that on here. Now you’ve got the momentum. Can you talk about that and how you take that forward into tomorrow’s grand prix?
NR: Well, it’s just that little bit extra when you have the result, when I have that result behind my back and I know I’ve come here knowing that I’ve won the last race. It just helps a bit. Lewis obviously had that winning streak and to bring that to an end was important.
Q: Lewis, you talked about the importance of pole position here in Montreal. How do you see it? On the one hand it looks like an easy track to overtake on but from where you are now, you thinking about that for tomorrow, how important to you in your mind is not being on pole?
LH: Yeah, it’s not that easy, especially with Nico being so fast, so overtaking is going to be very difficult, to overtake the same car as mine – especially when we’re so close in pace. So, we’ll do what I can but, of course, the thing tomorrow is to try to make sure we get as many points as we can.
Q: Sebastian, can you talk a little about the improvements that Red Bull have bought here this weekend – obviously we heard something about Renault giving you a bit more power – and how you feel all of that has contributed to you being here now.
SV: Well, honestly I don’t know where the Renault talk comes from but I think as far as we’re concerned, yeah, we always obviously try to improve but we didn’t have any major steps for here. Regarding the car, obviously you run a little less downforce around here, which I think is obvious and probably the same for everyone. And… yeah… we brought some bits, other than a different downforce package as well, which seemed to work – but obviously we’re fighting a very big gap and it’s difficult to close it in one go.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / National Speedsport News) Seb, following on from that last question, how about you, yourself? Do you think maybe you’ve made a step getting more used to driving these cars?
SV: Well, I think you always try to work on yourself. Obviously if you look at the record so far I didn’t have the smoothest races, so it’s good to have a more or less clean Friday and a clean Saturday today. So, hopefully, fingers crossed, we’ll have a clean race tomorrow. But I’m confident, always confident that when I step in the car that it is good enough to make it – so we’ll have to wait and see. In terms of fighting with the car, I’m still not where I want to be, still not yet behaving the way that I probably prefer but, then again, you still try to get the maximum out of the car and that’s normal. It’s not like last year always I was stepping into a dream car and everything was smooth and perfect – I had to work very hard as well. So, this year, obviously, yeah, we’re not yet tickling the right spots, probably.
Q: (Pierre Durocher – Montreal Journal) I would like to ask each driver about the fact that they announced earlier today a new deal to keep the race in Montreal for the next ten years.
NR: It’s great because Montreal is one of the best races in the year, for all of us, I think. It’s a great track, the fans are fantastic, so enthusiastic so I’m very happy and I’m sure everybody is, that we’re going to be coming here a lot more often in the future.
LH: Yeah, I second that. It’s one of the best races of the year but mostly the fans here are just, again, some of the best that we get to see. They really make the atmosphere and the city is incredible, great food, we enjoy coming here so I’m grateful that that’s been done so hopefully we get to race here many more times.
SV: Yeah, I think it’s great. I think it’s one of those places… one of the few places in the calendar where the whole city really parties all weekend long and embraces the Grand Prix so really appreciates the Grand Prix being here and obviously for us that’s a great feeling. You stand on the grid tomorrow and you have so many fans during the drivers’ parade but also when you race you see full grandstands and it just makes your job extra special.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, is this third position a surprise to you, were you expecting to make it, looking also at the problems you had yesterday?
SV: Well, I think it was very very tight, you have to say that. I think between third and sixth there wasn’t much so obviously I’m happy I got the last lap right and it was just good enough. Obviously it’s quite good to start third, right behind the Mercedes so we will see what we can do from there in the race but I think it was kind of expected that it would be a tough battle for third. It was probably not yet clear yesterday but the contenders were already on the list, with Red Bull, with us, with Williams and the Ferraris.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On-Line) Lewis, you lost a lot of time in the second part of the track with your last set of tyres. Do you think you lost your pole position there and what happened?
LH: In the middle sector? I went wide a couple of times in turn six and then turn eight but Nico just did a better job today so I need to work hard to make sure I do better tomorrow.
Q: (Jordan Irvine – Nextgen-Auto.com) Sebastian, in 2009 when Brawn seemed to be running away with the championship, Red Bull were able to catch up and challenge in the latter half of the season. This year, is Red Bull able to develop a car that can not only catch up Mercedes but actually in your opinion beat them on regular occasions to put you back in the fight for the championship?
SV: Well, you don’t have to be a genius to beat them. You need to be faster than them on the track and to beat them in the championship, you need to consistently score more points than them so right now we’re struggling to do that. You didn’t have to follow much… obviously they’ve been very dominant in the first couple of races, winning all of them so we are working very hard, completely motivated and we have a strong belief in ourselves. I think that’s the reason why we’ve been so successful the last couple of years, so rest assured we won’t give up.
Q: (Massimo Lopez Pegna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis and Nico; seeing the results today, do you predict for tomorrow that the race will be decided between the two of you or can you see somebody else maybe giving you trouble?
NR: I expect that it’s going to be between the two of us for now, yes, but of course there can be surprises so we need to still make sure we push but I think we have enough of a gap at the moment on race pace.
LH: I don’t think it’s just between the two of us. Obviously in qualifying Sebastian wasn’t as close as perhaps he would like to be but the race pace was great in the last race so I anticipate tomorrow they should be quite strong, so we definitely cannot disregard Sebastian or Red Bull. I think we need to be very cautious, still, and make sure that we keep pushing.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, this has always been called a track for Lewis and you’ve never done better than fifth in your career racing here. Has this pole taken pressure off you, is it a boost of confidence?
NR: That’s statistics, you know. I di
Rosberg, flanked by Hamilton on right and Vettel on left after Canada GP qualies. Mercedes AMG Petronas team photo. dn’t even know the statistics until I got here and you told me on Friday or whenever, so for me it’s a track like any other and a track that I really enjoy. It’s a really great track, it’s a challenging track so I didn’t think about it that way and I always believed that I have a chance to be right at the front, so I’m just very very happy that it worked out.
eom/FIA release of the transcript
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We are fighting for fourth place: Andrew Green
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Dave GREENWOOD (Marussia), Andrew GREEN (Force India), Giampaolo DALL’ARA (Sauber), Pat FRY (Ferrari), Paddy LOWE (Mercedes)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Dave can we start with you? Obviously points for the team in Monaco. That must be a huge boost, a huge encouragement to the team. Can you tell us about the reaction within the team and also how you got there, the work that was involved in that?
Dave GREENWOOD: Yeah, obviously for the whole team they were very pleased on Sunday evening with the result. From the point of view of how we got there, really we’d actually brought some updates to the Barcelona race and we almost struggled a bit to get them working as we’d expected during the race weekend but the real positive for us was the fact that we had the two-day test after the Barcelona race. So, plenty of new tyres you to do some good testing and we had quite a good result on the first day. We got the car much better balanced with the parts that we had brought to the race. Certainly Max, on day one, was very happy with the car. Competitiveness-wise on day one? OK, it’s only a test and yes we did put the supersoft tyres on, but that vaulted us right up to the front of the timesheets, which was not normal for us. We were quite happy with that and Max did a good job to get the parts working on the first day. Confirmed with Jules, the situation had improved on the second day and really went into Monaco [where] we kind of thought ‘well, that’s great, they worked well at Barcelona, but Monaco is a completely different track’. So we were quite, not nervous, but you know we needed to make sure that the homework we did to translate the set-up from Barcelona to Monaco was the right direction. Monaco free practice went really well, really happy with the balance of the car again and the times we were posting. What we’re saying is that we were at the back of the midfield pack. I’m not saying we were further forward than that. But that’s the place you need to be on a Sunday when you have a race of attrition, which is obviously what we had. It enabled us to be in the right place to take hold of the places when they became available.
Where do you go from here then? Can you repeat that result and how do you build from here and develop?
DG: Obviously on pure pace alone we’re not going to repeat that result this weekend. It’s clear we needed some luck. But the bottom line is if you’re fighting with the cars that are trying to take the eighth, ninth and tenth-place spots, they’re good cars, they’re good competitors, so you need to have a reasonable amount of pace to be able to stay with them. Obviously in Monaco, you’ve got the advantage of the fact that there is a huge lap time difference needed to overtake, there’s much less here, so that helped us. But we just need to keep progressing, keep bringing developments to the car, we’ve got some more developments this week, just keep chipping away at it and see how we get on.
Well done, thank you? Giampaolo, coming to you, can you tell us from an engineering point of view why have the first six races of the season gone the way they have for Sauber?
Giampaolo DALL’ARA: OK. It has been quite a tough beginning, especially entering the season. Even before racing we had quite a tough winter preparing the car and the team with the big changes this year and obviously the big hit we got was that the performance side of things was nowhere near where we were expecting. We have been identifying some of the reasons why. For some of them there was a kind of immediate follow-up but for others it took and is taking longer, that’s why we still lag quite a bit behind where we would like to be in terms of pure performance. In the early races we had some reliability issues, some accidents as well, but in all honesty, if you talk about scoring points we were never really in position on performance grounds. In the last of couple of events starting in Barcelona we could introduce a new aero package, we could finalise quite an extensive weight reduction campaign. The car came out for a number of reasons I’m not going to explain here, came out way heavier then we were expecting and targeting so we had to take on that problem as well. On top of this we worked together with our powertrain supplier Ferrari to get on top of some of the issues on that side of things and we believe we made quite a remarkable step and performance… unfortunately the kind of race we are able to perform is quite at the back and we would like to step up further, at least to fight in the midfield, regularly scoring points. We are not quite there yet.
But since Barcelona we feel that we are closer. In Barcelona we had to face some setup issues related to the difference we had in the new package which, let’s say, were heading to some instability the drivers couldn’t cope with and not all of them were solvable and the race was… although we had both cars on the finish line we were quite far from the points. In Monaco, quite a few of those issues were addressed to our satisfaction. Also we had this test in between the two races, which helped a lot and we were reasonably happy about the performance there. We didn’t qualify well, not only due to performance, we had a couple of unfortunate rounds so we had to start from the back – but we felt in the race that we could fight which some of the guys we are normally not used to fight with. Unfortunately we didn’t have the cars on the finish line due to accidents in this case which, yeah, had a high price for us because right now we are on the sporting side, not in an ideal situation. Definitely we are not happy about this but for sure we don’t take it too badly. We feel like we are on a growing pattern and we keep being optimistic about the future. We try to improve race-by-race and we are quite sure that at some point we will be back in the right fight.
Q: Pat, quite a bit of discussion this weekend about the new package on the Ferrari this weekend. Fernando said yesterday that there were updates that needed validating here today. Can you tell us what you tried on the car, whether it worked and how you feel about it?
Pat FRY: There were quite a few bits: aero; a lot of the control system tuning; obviously reliability updates in the engine and that in itself allows us to push the engine a little bit harder as well. It’s far too early to be able to say whether it’s all working or not. Some things are looking promising, some we need to look into in more detail as normal really. So, yeah, reasonable and a broad spread set of developments. But we need to keep developing the car as quickly as we can really.
Q: I guess the big question is: is Paddy’s Mercedes team catchable before the end of the season?
PF: I think that’s going to be a very tough challenge really – but we just need to keep on. There’s quite a gap to close, let’s face it, but we just need to do our best and keep developing.
Q: Andy, following on from that, for you, for Force India, are Ferrari catchable? You’re 11 points behind them with a third of the season gone.
Andrew GREEN: I don’t think we’re really in that sort of position to be targeting Ferrari. I think we’re in our own fight with McLaren and Williams for fourth. The sort of teams ahead of us are the big budget teams. We can’t really look to compete with those. We’ll try to give them a fight wherever we can. If they slip up, we will be right behind them. I don’t think, to be realistic, I don’t think we’re really in the same league.
Q: Tell us about today’s running. What did you learn about the performance of the tyres in particular on this track and obviously the temperatures today are projected to be lower than what we’re expecting for the rest of the weekend.
AG: It’s a tricky one for us. It’s quite a unique tarmac here in Montreal. It throws up a bit of a conundrum on car setup. We’ve always looked to target the best car we can on Sunday afternoon, maybe at the cost of a Saturday afternoon performance. So, we’ll be looking at all that data again this evening and making some decisions on which way we go. We’ve also had our eye on the weather, knowing that it’s going to warm-up a bit over the next couple of days. So, yeah, we’ve got some difficult decisions to make over the next few hours.
Q: Paddy, it’s a clean sweep so far for you in pole positions and race wins so far this season. Looked like very strong race pace for both cars this afternoon – do you see any areas where the opposition are catching up on you?
Paddy LOWE: We take each race at a time. They’re all different circuits with different challenges. This one in particular, very hard on the brakes and difficult to manage the fuel. I think we’ll all find that on Sunday. So, yeah, it’s not easy. I know we’ve had a fantastic record so far this year but we have to work very hard, we’ve got some great competitors out there who will grab everything we leave behind. We’ve just got to make sure we don’t.
Q: You mentioned the braking there. Obviously braking stability is a huge thing around this Montreal circuit and brake-by-wire obviously is a new thing in Formula One this year. Could you share any insights with us about setting it up for a place like this and what the key to it all is and how yours is working?
PL: In many ways it makes life easier because the brake-by-wire gives you some authority over brake balance, which we didn’t have in the past. So, in that sense, it’s taken some difficulties away. I don’t think there are any new challenges from that with these new cars.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) We’ve heard that there is talk about dropping the Friday morning practice session in light of cost-saving. What kind of impact is that going to have on a technical point of view, other than the time saved on the track?
DG: I think that with all things, initially, you meet these things with some alarm and you think ‘oh my God, how are we going to deal with that?’ But the reality is that you start to think about it, you come up with new ways that you’re going to structure your programme and I’m sure that ultimately a few races in we will have kind of forgotten about the old way we used to do it and we’ll all be used to it and it will just mean a slight re-structuring of the programme and changing the way we do things. But we’re all adaptable, that’s why we’re all in F1 so I’m sure we’ll cope.
AG: Well, first of all, from Force India’s perspective, we don’t see this as cost-saving at all. For us, we’ve always looked to use the FP1 session to blood in some new drivers and that was an income stream for us and if we lose that, that’s going to be a relatively severe blow, which, in turn, will have an impact on our technical ability so in that respect, I don’t think it’s cost-saving. I agree, I think we’ll get used to it. With just one session, I don’t think we’ll just move straight into the… we’ll move up, we’ll condense our programme which was an FP1/FP2 and do it all in one session, so not a big issue.
GD: Yeah, pretty much in line. Obviously from where I sit, I can’t judge on the cost-saving side which is out of my area but technically, for a team like ours, the time at the track is very precious. Obviously we are more limited than other teams in simulation as a broad concept so time on track is extremely important for us. Obviously, if this happens, we would have to adapt our plans, try to – as mentioned – try to squeeze what we’re doing now in two sessions into one and move off other points, for sure.
PL: I think the rationale is to reduce the workload on the cars significantly through the weekend and also to reduce the consumption of parts, particularly power units, which is one of the major costs for all the teams, but that’s a particular burden for the smaller teams. That was the concept. It’s still to be finalised, by the way, so there’s a whole month in order to determine the small print and to finally approve it but the concept was to save money. If teams are feeling it isn’t going to save money, then of course it could be reviewed.
PF: From a technical point of view, you just have to work out how to deal with it, so you need to do a little bit better home work, you’ve got one less session. Obviously we normally test car bits in one session and test tyres in the other. Now we’ve got to work out a way of combining the two. Years ago, when we got rid of warm-up and brought in parc ferme, initially hands were up in the air going ‘my God, we’ll never cope’ and now it’s great, you can actually sleep on a Saturday night rather than be working forever. So I think you just adapt to it really, so you need to do a little bit better preparation, maybe it leads more into trusting the results from the tunnel, from the simulation and things like that. You just have to adapt.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) I guess Paddy’s the target for this one but if anybody else would like to comment afterwards feel free. Paddy, if we have a look at why there are restrictive regulations limiting the number of power units, transmissions, tyres, running, tests, whatever, head counts are restricted at races, if one looks at it, one comes to the conclusion that ultimately the cost of going racing is roughly or broadly the same, whether you’re a Marussia or a Ferrari or a Force India or a Mercedes. Yet if I have a look at Companies House records, a budget for a team like yours and the expenditure over a year is about three times that of Andrew’s. That leads me to believe that you’re actually spending twice as much on developing your cars, because that’s where their shortcomings are, than you are to actually build two cars and go racing for an entire season. Is that really a sustainable business model for the 21st century?
PL: I don’t see why it’s any less sustainable than it ever has been. Formula One has always existed with some differentials between the teams, some teams being better funded than others, and it’s always been that way and teams will sustain themselves, they have to manage themselves as businesses to break even at least. They have to be going concerns. If you can generate income then you chose how to spend it and that’s the nature of a team. So I don’t see any particular difficulty with that, it’s always been that way.
AG: I think you’ve pointed a very valid fact. I think it’s something we’re aware of but we go racing on a minimal budget and what we have left over, we try and develop the car with. We can see that other teams have got an incredible amount more money to spend on car development, it’s not something we’re particularly concerned about. We do what we can with what we’ve got, that’s what we focus on; what everyone else has got is nothing really to do with us.
Q: (Matthew Walthert – Bleacher Report) Pat, yesterday Fernando said of Marco Mattiacci that he has good vision and a very clever approach so now that you’ve worked with him for almost two months, I’m wondering if you could maybe tell us a little bit about that approach and some changes he’s brought in – maybe from your perspective – that are working well?
PF: I think it’s good to come with a clean sheet and look at something and see where it works well, where it doesn’t work well and sometimes, with some of the engineering things, you do you end up getting so close to it that you miss the obvious things, so I think it’s good to come in with a clean set of eyes and see where we need to improve. There are a huge amount of opportunities for us to actually improve the place and we’re going through those and then working on how to fix them and improve them.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Paddy, when you are in a position like Mercedes with both drivers going head-to-head the way they are for the World title, from a technical point of view, what difficulties have you encountered so far in particular, perhaps reassuring both men that they are getting exactly the same equipment, that the procedures over the weekend are followed to plan, that nothing is unfair effectively?
PL: You’re absolutely right, it puts a great pressu
File photo of Andrew Green. Courtesy Sahara Force India re on us to more than ever make sure that both drivers are given an absolutely equal opportunity at every level to compete finally in the race, but we manage that. The cars are built identically, each driver has access to the same tools, the same time to develop the car and we just manage it that way. It is a challenge because you find very small, subtle things that you hadn’t thought of that can be seen as a difference but we work through those and I think we get a good result.
eom/FIA release of the transcript
