INDIA in F1

Tag: FIA Press Conference

  • All teams should be represented in F1 Commission: Bob

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – James Key  (Toro Rosso), Toto WOLFF (Williams), Bob Fearnley (Force India), Jean-Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren) Tony FERNANDES (Caterham).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    James, welcome back, new shirt, you’ve had your feet under the desk for a week or two now, what have found at Scuderia Toro Rosso? What are the strengths and weaknesses?

    James KEY: Thanks for the welcome Bob, I think – it’s early days obviously – but I think one of the big strengths I noticed very quickly in the team is the enthusiasm everyone has and the ambition to make it succeed. Everyone is desperate for it to work, there’s a real passion there, as you can imagine, being Italian in the team’s origin. Primarily it’s a very good atmosphere to work in, something a little bit familiar to me in a way, there’s a bit of family atmosphere because it’s a small team that’s grown very rapidly. As a result of that with the rapid growth it means that it needs a little bit more gluing together in a way. There’s still separate departments doing a very good job but it needs to come together – and everyone recognises that. It’s just a case of going through that process. So, the strength, I think, is the will and the ambition of everyone. On the weakness side, I think it’s just still a team that’s growing. There’s no lack of effort from everyone, it just needs to be given direction. There’s certainly some work to do on the aero side, which is very clear and mechanical, for that matter, from a technical point of view. There’s some pretty clear steps. Some of it takes time, some of it’s fairly obvious for next year.

    And what can you do for this year’s car? What can you do for next year’s car? Can you still put your stamp on next year’s car?

    JK: I think for this year, obviously time is short, and this is a time of year when you’ve really got to prioritise and so we’re doing what we can with this year’s car. What we can do now is obviously carried over to next year too. I think for next year, the architecture and a lot of the suspension geometry was already defined before I arrived, so it’s a case of picking up what I can, together with the guys in Faenza and at our wind tunnel in Bicester from this point forward. I’d say there’s probably 40 per cent of the car still to go, so certainly we can work on that. But I have to say a lot of very sensible decisions have already been made for next year’s car, exactly what I would have done. Which is good. So, we’re all aligned in our direction and we’ll do everything we can in between now and Melbourne.

    Toto, obviously a very competitive car this year: we’ve seen it in the top ten in qualifying quite a lot and of course it’s won a race as well. How easy is that to preserve and to keep on, and improve on for next year?

    Toto WOLFF: I think that most of the teams are going to have a carry-on car for next year. It’s not going to be a massive development because everybody is looking forward to 2014, which is a big change. So, I hope we can carry the momentum and keep the good base of the car and then carry it over for next year.

    And looking at your drivers but particularly one you have an interest in, what is Valtteri Bottas’ future?

    TW: I think Valtteri Bottas’ future is Formula One. We have not decided yet where we are going to head to because we go on to give maximum support to the two current drivers. He has been with us for a couple of years now, so he is definitely part of our thoughts – but no decision has been made until now.

    Bob, first of all, I think you’ve moved on already to next year’s but already you car looks very competitive here. Last year here we saw Paul Di Resta do a phenomenal run of 31 laps on the soft tyre. Is this looking like a good result for you here? What are your thoughts? It’s very early days I guess.

    Bob FEARNLEY: It is early days. You don’t know what fuel levels everybody else has been running on today. But it is reasonably encouraging for the first two sessions.

    Looking at Jules Bianchi, his performance in the Magny Cours test. What’s his future with the team?

    BF: We’re looking for stability for 2013 with all drivers, that’s our first goal. But I think from the young driver test, it just goes to show how beneficial running the FP1 programme was, because Jules was very quick all three days, particularly in the Force India car. So I think it’s a testament to the team’s effort to having a reserve driver who is really up and running and competitive all the time.

    Jean-Francois, I’m sure you’re expecting a question about alternators. What is it about Sebastian Vettel that it seems to happen to him and nobody else?

    Jean-Francois CAUBET: First of all we started to have a problem in Valencia with two drivers Sebastian Vettel and Romain (Grosjean). It was not easy to detect or find because both alternators were completely melted and destroyed. So we were thinking it was an electric problem and probably the levels of power in the car, so we decided to change a bit the levels of power in each car. Spa was OK but again in Monza we have a problem with Sebastian two times and another driver also. We had a bit of fortune because we stopped the Lotus car just maybe some problem with the alternator and at the end it was not an electrical problem, it was a mechanical problem, a bearing probably. So, we are trying to change something. It is not easy because we detect that a few days but I think we are quite optimistic. The problem we have is that we are running the new solution in the dyno but only the race will give us an answer.

    Do you think the heat is going to be a factor here?

    J-FC: I don’t know. P1 was OK, P2 was OK. We cross our fingers for P3, qualifying and the race.

    Recently, you lost Monsieur Arbiteboul to Tony over here. How important a loss is that and what can he expect from his new CEO?

    J-FC: I think it is good news for Tony. I was working with Cyril for eight years. He was working with Flavio in the team. We sold the team. We built a new strategy on the engine side. I think after eight years at Renault I think this is a fantastic opportunity for him to do something probably more concrete, more challenging but why not he will be back one day in Renault no?

    Q: Martin, there’s been a lot of speculation about the team, how much of a distraction has it been?

    Martin WHITMARSH: No, I don’t think it has been. I think over the last three races we’ve got stronger and more focused. I assume that the distraction you refer to is Lewis but I think anyone who knows Lewis and witnessed Lewis last weekend (in Italy) and actually also this weekend would say he’s very very focused on doing the job. I think he realises that this year we have a strong opportunity to win a World Championship and I think we all realise that the right thing to do is focus and improve the car, don’t make mistakes and maximise the points you can get from each race. I think that’s what we’re very much focused on. I know that there are stories and speculation that swirl around and I guess that’s Formula One and I think we’re content to get on with the job quietly.

    Q: Excellent performances in the last three races; you must be favourites to win a World Championship even though there is that huge gap, and there are seven races to go.

    MW: I think you’ve got to be cautious. I think we were firm favourites going into the season, we were firm favourites coming out of Australia and it can change. I think we’re very pleased that the last three events have been on very different circuits and we’ve been competitive at all of them. I think we’re cautious here. Hopefully we can be competitive. What we haven’t done is just pile in the points that we should have done, given the competitiveness of our car. I think after 12 or 13 races, I think we’ve been on the front row eleven times. We’ve clearly got a strong package and therefore we should be disappointed in the number of points that we don’t have rather than the points that we do have. But you don’t look back, you look forward. I think we’ve got quite a good development momentum so we’re making the car quicker. I think we’ve got two great racing drivers who are very much focused on trying to win races and other things, so we’re hopeful that we can get a result here and keep the pressure on. You’ve got to say that Fernando’s done a great job to be where he is and that’s going to take some effort to overhaul but it’s certainly do-able and we’re going to keep pushing as hard as we can.

    Q: Tony, you’ve got a new CEO in Cyril Abiteboul, what was the thinking behind hiring a CEO when you seem to have a lot of chiefs already?

    Tony FERNANDES: Well, I think we’re evolving into a little bit of an auto group with the cars division and technology division that we’ve put together which Riad (Asmet) is looking at, and I am not as involved so the team needs leadershi. Cyril has been someone that I’ve courted for a while and we’ve finally persuaded him – with Renault’s blessing – to come over to Caterham. It provides us with a (inaudible) for the F1 team going forward.

    Q: So will he be the team principal?

    TF: Not at the moment, no. I will still remain in that job for a while. Eventually, maybe.

    Q: And your thoughts on your drivers for next year; is Heikki staying? What’s the situation with Vitaly?

    TF: Well, it’s… I don’t know. We will have to have a discussion at some point and we also have options on that front. I would like Heikki to stay, very much. He’s been great for us over the last three and a half years. We’ll have to sit down and decide where we go from here.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Paul Weaver – The Guardian) Martin, you described as fantasy reports that Lewis might be joining Mercedes. Do you still describe that as fantasy or did you seriously under-estimate the situation?

    MW: I don’t remember that but…

    Q: (Paul Weaver – The Guardian) I do.

    MW: …good! I think if you told me that he had signed the deal as you said that was fantasy so in answer to the same question I would give the same response to that.

    Q: (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Martin, do you accept that Lewis has had an offer from Mercedes?

    MW: I suspect that Tony here has made him an offer as well, he’s a very good racing driver.

    TF: I haven’t!

    MW: He’s not ambitious enough, you see.

    Q: (Benjamin Hunt – The Sun) Martin, you risk losing a driver, potentially; have you started even thinking  about a replacement yet?

    MW: No, as I said earlier, I think we’re very focused on trying to do a good job here.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) To Bob and to Tony: there’s a possibility that the regulations from next year onwards will be decided by the six top teams as opposed to the Formula One Commission. How do you people, as team principals of teams that don’t fall within those six, feel about that possibility?

    BF: I think that we would like the stability to stay where it is, with all teams being represented at the F1 Commission, Dieter, so I don’t think there’s any doubt about where we would like to be. Tony will have to speak for himself, but I think it’s a much better balance when the teams are fully represented.

    TF: I share the same v

    Fie photo of Bob Fernley, A Sahara Force India photo.

    iew obviously. The one thing is though… the key is that all of us have to find a way of standardising regulations and having less changes and less irregularities but I think there is a danger that the six teams are hyper-competitive and sometimes things go on and on and on, so I do think that there could be an imbalance here but the key to me is not whether there are six teams or twelve teams or two teams, the key is to have simple regulations that won’t have a tremendous amount of debate and we just will go racing.

    Q: (Byron Young – Daily Mirror) Martin, why has it taken so long to solve Lewis’s situation? Even by Formula One standards it seems to have taken an age.

    MW: I think it seems a long time because of the speculation that people have made, but when you sit down and seriously put your mind to entering into a new contract it doesn’t take too long. I think it’s a question of priorities and other things we’ve been doing.

    Q: (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Martin, are you actually trying to pay him less money for his new contract?

    MW: I’m sure he will want more money and I’m sure we will want to pay less – that’s how business normally works.

    Q: (Matt Coch – pitpass.com) Tony, you’ve moved into the new Leafield facility, an immense complex. It’s much bigger than what Caterham as a Formula One team is. What’s the long term plan with the spare capacity there?

    TF: I think over the next few months details will evolve as to what we’re planning. It’s not a hidden secret that I got into Formula One to manufacture cars and Lotus was my initial objective which went spectacularly wrong in many ways, shape or forms but the ambition and the vision is still the same and Leafield will play a part in that vision. The brand may have changed but the vision and the idea of what we’re trying to put together still exists. I think we are putting all the infrastructure in place to have a reasonable Formula One team. We have a reasonable car now, we just have to optimise it as much as possible. I think we’ve got some good people together, we’re in a facility in a location which attracts other people into it, plus with our other two divisions it will all come together. I think in the next few months you will see some clarity as to what we’re trying to achieve.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Jean-Francois, certain people continue talking about retaining the current V8s for an additional year or two after 2014. In addition to that, you’d said that you people wanted to possibly supply six teams with your 2014 technology. Where do you stand on these two points please?

    J-FC: I think the V6 will be on the track for all the teams in two years. I think Mercedes, Ferrari and us are all changing our dynos from V8s to V6s so now it’s impossible to make a change. For the teams, the strategy is to keep four teams and I don’t know if it’s possible to do more. I think that if you want to have good reliability, good performance you need to keep four teams, but if there will be a need for more, we don’t want to close the door.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Martin, I can understand why you would want to laugh through some of the questions facing Lewis and put on a bit of a brave face but is part of you seriously appreciating the fact that there could be life without Lewis from 2013 onwards?

    MW: As I said earlier, it’s not a question of putting on a brave face, it’s a question of focusing on doing our job, and we’re concentrating on this year’s championship. I think speculation on next year is something that we don’t need to entertain or respond to so we’re focusing on the here and now.

    Q: (Bryon Young – Daily Mirror) So does that mean there won’t be an announcement until after the end of the season, because you’ve got to focus on all the races haven’t you?

    MW: We might wait until then, you never know.

    Ends

     

  • Australian GP: FIA Thursday press conference

    DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing), Daniel RICCIARDO (Toro Rosso), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Lotus), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Gentlemen, welcome. Let’s start with you Mark. There have been a couple of retirements from the sport, so you’re the oldest man on the grid this year – don’t worry, you don’t look it just yet.
    Home race to start the season. Pretty much everyone here apart from Kimi has a home race. Is it good to get one out of the way first of all, all the pressure and extra attention that goes with it?

    Mark WEBBER: I think it’s just great to come to Australia at any stage let alone for a race, so we’re all looking forward to finally getting racing. There’s a lot of testing that goes on in Spain and we can all get down to what we all enjoy doing and that’s racing the cars. So, yeah, all the teams, drivers come here with a little bit more anxiety let’s say just because it’s the first grand prix of the year, whether it’s pit stops or whatever department you’re in, it’s a fresh challenge for the new year. For sure around round six, round seven everyone is more comfortable with their jobs but it’s the same for everyone. It’s a great event and looking forward to getting into the car.

    Daniel, I’m sure you’re looking forward to getting into the car as well for what is your home grand prix. It’s your second full season at Toro Rosso – extra pressure that goes with that? You against Jean-Eric Vergne. Is it a shootout between the pair of you? How do you see your season coming?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Just hanging out for it to start, actually. Obviously I’ll try and take the experience I learned from last year and bring it into this season; a bit of extra confidence and whatnot and then just try to get some better results and start to creep up the order a bit. That’s really the plan. You always want to try to beat the team-mate. That’s always there, but I’m definitely focused on myself and just do than usual, not doing any dramatic changes.

    I’m not sure there’s anything that’s pretty much usual for you Lewis. New team. Melbourne might be familiar but Mercedes still not quite the familiar team that McLaren would be. How much different is your life at the moment with your new outfit?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s not that much different. It’s put me in a better place. Just settling into the team pretty well. It’s still a Formula One team and they still exist to win. The guys are doing a fantastic job and I’m really excited about the season and excited to get back in the car.

    More excited after Barcelona? It went well that final weekend for you and for Nico.

    LH: Not particularly any more excited I think. You can’t really take too much from the tests.

    With that in mind Kimi, let’s reflect on yours and Lotus’ chances for this season. A slight touch of unreliability in the tests but a lot of people are saying you, the team are genuine contenders for the title this year. Is that accurate?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: It’s difficult to say but we will see after maybe two or three races where we are. We had a few small issues and unfortunately the issues just took a long time to fix. That happens. I think we should be OK. There are always things that can go wrong but I think we are more or less, speedwise, similar to where we were last year when we started and like I said it’s difficult to say exactly where we will be. We’ll see a bit tomorrow.

    Do you believe, going into you second full season since your comeback, that you’re a better driver this year – that the rustiness you had maybe at the start of last year is gone?

    KR: I don’t think it’s going to really change. I know the team so it should be a bit easier to start the year but there is no promise that this will give you better results. It’s another year and we’ll try to do as well as we can.

    For you Fernando, another year but a much better car than this time last year – 200 times better I think you said, the Ferrari in 2013. Is this your best chance to become a world champion at Ferrari?

    Fernando ALONSO: We’ll see. I think it was not difficult to start better than last year because it was difficult to start any worse. We were a little bit too far behind and the winter has been much better than the last year, understanding the car and working with the car and getting the results we more or less expect. That will give us much more confidence and optimism to start the season, but who knows. I think it will be a very interesting championship, very challenging first part of the championship with Australia, Malaysia. Difficult circuits, difficult weather as well – changeable. So we need to start on the right foot and hopefully scoring some good points for the championship.

    And Sebastian, three consecutive titles. How much difficult is a fourth title in a row now that you’ve got those three in the bag or does it make no difference whatsoever?

    Sebastian VETTEL: I don’t think it makes a difference. I think every year we start again from zero. I think everyone has the same chance. As we said, testing obviously this year was probably not as conclusive as previous years, so we arrive here not knowing what is going to happen. But I think it is very exciting so as every year, excited to start.

    Not knowing what’s going to happen, does that make it even better for you – that the challenge could be tougher ahead?

    SV: I think it’s going to be a long year. Obviously we’re looking forward to this weekend and this is the first of many. But I think we’ve seen in the last couple of years, last year in particular, that it’s a long season and every race is very important. So this is the place we start but then there are many other places coming.

    Nineteen races ahead and lots of questions to answer. Bob, I’m sure we’ve got a few hands raised among our media delegates here with some questions for the drivers.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To all drivers: during the winter tests tyre temperatures didn’t go over 60 maximum Celsius and the temperatures here approach the temperatures indicated by Pirelli. Are you afraid that the handling of the car can be completely different to what you got in the winter tests?

    SV: I think in winter testing we all suffered the same problem: the tyres didn’t last. It was extremely difficult for us to do a lot of laps on the same set of tyres, to test certain things. We hope it gets better here. Otherwise it could be quite funny.

    FA: Nothing to add. Let’s hope it’s different than the tests, with the temperature.

    The guys at the front, Daniel, probably have a touch more downforce on their car than the Toro Rosso. Do you feel the effect of the tyres that much extra in the midfield?

    DR: I don’t know. We’re probably not afraid of what the weekend is going to be. We’re probably more excited. It was a little bit frustrating at times, so I think we’re excited about what it’s going to bring here, so I’m sure it’s going to better. Looking forward to it more than anything else. There are still some answers that need to be found. We’re all in the same boat, so I think that’s going to make it exciting.

    (Gabriel Polychronis– F1plus.com) This one is for you Mark. Do you feel that the recent criticism from Helmut Marko on your performances acts as a motivator for you to prove yourself throughout the season.

    MW: I’ve answered this question a few times in the last six weeks and as I said, he has his agenda and I’m not part of it, so that’s fine. Everyone can have their opinions. I’m always pretty good for motivations.

    It doesn’t make your motivation any less though?

    MW: Of course not.

    (Ian Parkes – PA) Sebastian, after winning three titles in a row now, coming into this season, how do you approach it? Is your motivation any different to the past three seasons when you’ve gone on to win the title? And if it isn’t, how do you build yourself up, keep yourself going, keep yourself focussed.

    SV: Well if there is a secret I think it’s not to think about what happened the last three years. I think the first title was very, very special. After that I don’t think you have that pressure any more. You’ve proved to yourself more than to anyone else that you can do so. After that obviously we had two fantastic years again. Very different to each other. But as I said, you probably don’t think about what happened last year or the last three years. We are here, we have zero points on our side at the moment, the same as everyone else. So everyone has the same opportunities. The cars didn’t really change. Last year we saw it was very close so I don’t expect it to be any different that last year. If anything maybe a little bit tighter. So it will be crucial to make the most out of every single race – but in terms of motivation… it was a long flight but I’m happy to be here now and very pleased to start again.

    (Trent Price – Richland F1) Question for Lewis. Obviously we can’t take a lot from testing but obviously Mercedes did quite well towards the end of the times. Are you pushing quite hard to get time out of the car or are you feeling comfortable with it? Are you feeling quite snug?

    LH: I feel comfortable in the car. I feel we’ve definitely made some really good steps forward. We’ve still got a lot of work to do. Obviously, normally when you go to a new team it takes a while to get settled in but I’m still working as hard as I can to make sure that feels as comfortable as possible. I think it just takes time and as time goes on I think I’ll get even more and more comfortable in the team.

    What’s been the one thing that you’ve appreciated more than anything since you’ve moved to Mercedes? What have the team done or allowed you to do that’s made you feel more comfortable?

    LH: Just a little bit more time at home. Training and to spend with family and friends. It’s been good.

    (Manuel Franco –  Diario AS) Question for Fernando. Ferrari can win this race?

    FA: I think difficult to know. No-one knows who can win this race at this moment. We have to wait and see for answers to some questions that winter testing doesn’t answer. I think there are top teams with a little bit of advantage. Maybe it’s not the same as last year where we saw seven different winners in the seven first races. It was a little bit mixed on the grid. I think this year with the consistency in the rules I expect the five top teams to have a little advantage and not to have many, many surprises in the first races. But from these five top teams I think it’s very difficult to see really after winter testing who has this extra two- or three-tenths that can make you win. At the moment I think it’s very close and very difficult to choose one favourite.

    So, would you say ten drivers go into this race with a realistic chance of winning on Sunday?

    FA: I think so. I think Mercedes, McLaren, Lotus, Ferrari and Red Bull show up some potential in different days in testing and different parts of races last year. I think difficult to choose.

    (Carlos Miguel Gomez – La Gaceta) Question for Fernando. After Barcelona, we see in Barcelona you have the best time in the last sector. With these conditions could this track be very good for the Ferrari?

    FA: I don’t know. I think winter test, as we’ve said many times, very difficult and dangerous to make any conclusions. I think in terms of sector times and things like that, a lot of different tyres for every team, a lot of different fuel loads etcetera and different moments of the race. We are happy with the job we have done in the winter. We more or less did the programme that we planned – even though we had some weather changeable on some days – and we arrived here with our hundred per cent of the potential at the moment in the car. We don’t really miss anything, that was a problem before. So, hopefully it’s enough to be competitive and this circuit in particular I like a lot. I have been always very comfortable here and with good performance, the same in Malaysia, these first two races can be a good opportunity for us to score some good points. But I don’t know how quick we can be.

    (Richard Fowler – motorsportretro.com) Mark, it’s the 60th anniversary of the race here at Albert Park. What would it mean for you to win at home and join the likes of Jack Brabham and Alan Jones as a winner of the Australian Grand Prix?

    MW: Any grand prix victory is special. I’m lucky to have had that feeling a few times now, which is great: Monaco, the British Grand Prix, those are very prestigious races. This is for sure up there in the top three of events a driver wants to win: your home grand prix is for sure very special. It would be a sensation feeling to be able to do it. But as you say, all that, anniversaries and the nice, fuzzy stuff, is not really going to make it easier for me. I realise I’ve got to put together a clean weekend and pull it all together and make all of the right decisions. We’re capable of it but we’re also mindful that it’s a very tricky weekend to execute – especially with it being the first event and things like that. But looking forward to it.

    (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Question to any of you who want to answer it. We’ve heard a lot about the new tyre compounds that Pirelli have provided but the new tyres also have different weights, which has affected the front-rear balance of the car. To what extent has that affected your handling on track, downforce, things like that please?

    KR: I think everybody has similar issues with the tyres. All winter, conditions, they wore out very quickly but I thought they had better grip on one lap than last year but then they go off more quickly. But it’s difficult to say with the conditions we’ve been running over the winter testing, so it might be a completely different story here. Balance-wise they are quite similar to last year.

    Lewis?

    LH: I don’t really have much more to say about it. The tyres are a little bit different, it’s not a big drama, everyone’s in the same boat so it’ll be interesting to see how long the supersoft tyre lasts, if there’s a little more graining than there was last year. But again, everyone’s got the same tyre. I haven’t seen any discrepancies between each tyre.

    On the subject of supersofts, do you enjoy the challenge Seb, of having to go with a tyre that has never been used here before?

    SV: We didn’t use it in winter testing either; we haven’t used that tyre. I think generally, as Kimi said, it will be interesting to see whether the temperatures make a difference or not at all. We are keen to find out and then we’ll know a little bit more.

    (Ian Parkes – PA) Fernando, you’ve agonisingly missed out on the title twice in the last three years. Do you carry the pain of those near-misses into this season? Does it serve as motivation for you to drive you on this season?

    FA: Well, I think I feel privileged to fight for the world championship two times in the last three years. Not many people have the opportunity to be on the podium and to enjoy the podium ceremony in Formula One and even less people have the opportunity to win races and very few people have the opportunity to fight for a world championship. So I feel lucky and privileged to have those opportunities. Sure, we lost two times in the last three years, in the last race and we want to have again the possibility once again to fight for the world championship, hopefully this year and hopefully this year change the final result. But this is just a normal thing for the sport and this is maybe some extra motivation for me and from the team, to really have one happy result at the end.

    Q: (Michael Wittershagen– Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) Question to Sebastian and Fernando: could you please tell us what you think of each other as a person and as a driver? 

    FA: Well, I think as a driver, really not much to say: three times World Champion beating all the records in terms of wins and fastest laps and pole positions etc. 2011 was nearly a record championship and this is not only about the car or about the package. You need to perform, even when you have the car that is available. Seb has won everything perfectly in the past years and for that he is World Champion and he’s a tough rival and contender for the next couple of years. As a person, we obviously don’t spend much time together. We are of a different generation. We didn’t race together in go-karts or anything like that. He’s a normal – or looks like a normal guy – and nothing more so all good.

    SV: Thank you very much. I think, as a driver, I don’t have to introduce Fernando. I think he’s one of the most respected and most accepted drivers in the world. I think in all circumstances he has the ability to be on the limit. I think he’s a very intelligent driver and I think that’s the reason why he was always fighting for the championship until the end, in many years of his career. Fortunately we had the upper hand in the last couple of years but surely he’s trying his best to give everyone a  hard time again this year, and as a person, as he said, we don’t spend that much time together, hardly with any of the drivers. It’s probably what people think or expect from the outside but there’s obviously not a lot of time during the weekend but in private – I don’t drink coffee so I’m  not inviting you for a coffee but I can invite you for a Red Bull if you want to talk.

    Q: At least you’re on one each other’s Christmas card list now for the future.

    Q: (Alex Popov – Russian TV) There is strong opinion about the new qualifying, in Q2 especially, because there are fewer cars and the tyres are very soft, so maybe it’s better to preserve the tyres than get into Q3? Do you agree?

    MW: In Barcelona we were still qualifying all together. Just start the race. The tyres at the back of the grid… don’t worry about Q3, we don’t worry about Q1 or Q2 either. You need the tyres to finish the race.

    Q: Can any of you see an advantage there in missing out on Q3, potentially in the first few races?

    SV: I don’t think so. I think you always want to start from the front. There’s the odd example here or there where people maybe had a bit of a benefit putting on that extra set at the end of the race but on average I think if you can chose, you go for the front (of the grid).

    Q: Same for you Daniel?

    DR: Yeah, I’d like to! I’d like to. Obviously if I was in the position to do that as well I would definitely go for starting at the front. Starting in the mid-pack and taking that risk to save tyres is obviously putting yourself in a bit more of a tight situation potentially on the first lap with more cars around. The thing is, if you’re able to fight for the front row you go for it, that’s the logical one for me.

    Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Is there such a thing as an ideal size of field; we’ve lost a team, obviously, over the break? Are we now the ideal size, should it be higher, less?

    MW:I think that’s a nice number; twenty is probably getting a bit low so between 26 and 20 is a nice little number. More than 26 is probably too much on some tracks – Monte Carlo, whatever – in qualifying. I think that’s a good number, certainly in a nice window but that level of numbers – I think what’s important is the level of the teams, that’s the thing we’ve got to keep an eye on, keep the level of the teams at a high level in Formula One, not to have cars on the grid that are properly not at the level, so we just need to keep an eye on that in the future.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Start with me, finish with me: Sebastian and Mark, the new test for the front wing and forbidden to use DRS on many parts of the circuit; how do these changes affect your team particularly?

    MW: Look, we’ve had a lot of different front wing regulations in the last few years. It’s normal in Formula One that we have to adjust technically around new rule changes, sometimes within the season itself, not just at the start of the season: January, February. We obviously make the car fit within those regulations and we will have to adjust the car around the findings of how that front wing will form in those new regulations, so that’s fine. In terms of the DRS, it’s not a big thing for us. I think that we have been OK in qualifying in the past, also quite strong in races so the effect of the DRS, the delta of the DRS, all those type of things which is not something that we’re having a huge eye on, we’re not disappointed that the DRS is less in qualifying. For example, Sebastian and I are very happy; we pushed quite hard to have DRS dropped down in terms of volume on Saturday afternoon so we’re quite relaxed with that one.

    SV: I think most of the changes to the front wing came in trying to stop us so something that we maybe did better or that the others couldn’t do and then there’s just one more thing, so it’s not a new situation.

    An Aussie GP file picture from Pirelli.

    Ends

  • To end on a high is fantastic, thanks to the team: Button

    DRIVERS

    1 – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

    2 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

    3 – Felipe MASSA (Ferrari)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Nelson Piquet)

    First of all, a question for the winner. For sure, you’ve done a fantastic job all year round? But the best race was the most exciting race I ever saw in Formula One. The question for you is, I’m sure you’re very happy in this race, but are you happy also that you get Hamilton out of the way?

    Jenson BUTTON: First of all, I want to congratulate the whole team. This is the perfect way for us to end the season. We started on a high and we’ve had ups and downs, and to end on a high is fantastic. It bodes very well for 2013. Congratulations guys. We fought for second in the Constructors’ today but these boys were a little bit too strong. Thank you very much.

    Alonso, I’m sorry. You did a fantastic job all year round. Massa can say, you have some accidents that were not your fault. I’m sorry about you because I have also… I lost two championships at the last race, I know how it feels. Actually, I’m asking about your feelings now.

    Fernando ALONSO: Well, first of all I feel very proud of my team, very proud of the season we did. Obviously we lost the championship now, but I don’t think, as you said, that we lost here in Brazil, we lost in some races where we were a little bit unlucky. But this is a sport, but when you do something with your heart, when you do something with 100 per cent, you have to be proud of your team, happy for them, and we will try next year.

    And my friend Massa: you started the year not very good but you have been improving all the time. What about next year? Are you going to start in the right way?

    Felipe MASSA: Yeah, for sure. I think the second part of the year was the preparation for next year. It’s such an emotion to race here. I think the race was really fantastic. For sure, it could have been a better position than what I finished but anyway I didn’t know what to say. Just crying and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to feel, it was so amazing.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Jenson, congratulations, what an amazing race for you. First of all, that tyre strategy, staying out, it really worked well for you.

    JB: Yeah it did. It was one of the toughest races I’ve had. It was very tricky. It was on that point many times when you think Inters is the right tyre. I kept asking the team “what’s going to happen with the weather: it’s supposed to be light showers?” Well OK, we’ll see how we go but it was so, so difficult. You’re locking up tyres here and there but you’ve just got to push to the limit. You have to wait for the team to give you the information about all the other people on Inters so it’s not just about driving the car at that point. Y’know, you need every single piece of information that’s out there to know that you’re doing the right thing. But it was a really good race. Obviously things were made more difficult with the first safety car. Lost 40 seconds, the race was between me and Nico then. It was made a lot more difficult. And then when the safety car came in I grained the front-right tyre. I really struggled but when that went away it was good. The two guys in front obviously had a coming together, which helped things but in that sort of race you never really know what the outcome is going to be. We still had a lot more rain coming. We still had to make the right call on the pitstop again, which I think we did, and then we just tried to hold the gap really to the Ferraris, which was about 20 seconds, which was difficult in itself, because there was so much water out there for Inters. But really happy with the end result. We started the year so strong and we’ve ended it so strong. Just a few areas that we need to improve in the middle of the season. It’s sad that Lewis isn’t here to enjoy his last race with the team but it’s racing and these things happen. I’d like to bid him farewell. We’ve had a good time together over the last three years and I think we’ve proved that on the first ten laps of the race with how close our fighting was. I hope he has a good career in his next team. Lastly, I’d like to congratulation Sebastian on his third title in a row. He’s very, very impressive so congratulations to him and also Red Bull for clinching the Constructors’ at the previous race.

    Fernando, you wanted unusual circumstances but it seems they weren’t either the right ones or not enough. But it was just an incredible race for all of you.

    FA: Yes, it was good I think. It was more or less what we wanted. Mixed conditions and very, very difficult race. It was one of the most difficult races we ever drove, I think with the conditions out there and you feel that you are with the wrong tyre every lap but you ask the team and everyone is in the same position so you need to keep fighting. There was a lot of risk every lap to crash and have an accident and finish the race there.  So we could not afford this for sure because we needed a podium finish to have any chance, so it was a very delicate situation but we managed very well and again we starting in eighth or seven or something like that and we finished in the podium one more time. As usual in the last couple of races. So this can only be achieved with perfection from the team, with good strategies, with good start, with good pace in the car. And today we mixed all again and it was very fine. Obviously you are not in control of what your rivals do. And I think we need a second place and Sebastian eighth or something like that, which we know that is a very strange combination of results because to be out of the first eight positions for Red Bull in this race is not so easy, so we were hoping a little miracle, as we were hoping for all through the year, I think from the start to the end it was a dream and we had this little present to fight for the championship until the last race. So we enjoyed the race, we did our job and the dream continued until today. And this was… thank you for the team to have a perfect season.

    Felipe, on the podium at home, you were also the perfect team-mate, and also an emotional podium for you.

    FM: Yeah, I think it was so emotional. Not just the podium, I mean what’s happened all through the year, y’know? I think everything came together in the same moment. And I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to think, I mean I just couldn’t even breathe. It was very emotional. The race was good, we made some mistakes on the strategy but you never know. It was raining, stopping, raining, stopping and you never know what to expect. And I choose also together, to try that strategy but then after we saw, I saw myself again in 11th and just was quite aggressive overtaking cars and I think from there on the race was incredible. It was very good. And for sure with… together with this problem on the strategy, I mean the race I suppose should be different. Suppose even to fight for the victory maybe, y’know? Under normal circumstance. I think all together the first part of the season, which was a disaster and then after that was completely different; doing what I like, doing what I know, the performance I know and I think when we put everything together it just collapsed.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    (Adam Hay-Nicholls – Metro) Fernando, when Seb had his first lap spin, did the team get on the radio and tell you what had happened, or did they just let you get on with it?

    FA: Yes, yes, they told me that they had a spin and he was last. But nothing because the conditions were so difficult that being last, 11th or 12th was not a big drama at that time but obviously it was one more time to be cool and to calm down. The race was on and it was very strange situations and very strange conditions on the track and obviously when Sebastian was quite far down after the spin it was obviously a message to calm down and stay cool because we need to keep it in the track. That was sometimes the most difficult thing. It was not about lap time, it was not about one-tenth it was just to survive every lap. So it was the most difficult thing in the race.

    (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) Question for Fernando, where and when do you think you lost this championship?

    FA: Many, many places. Obviously I have two retirements in the year, over 20 races and the two retirements was not engine problem, not gear problem, not driver error. It was nothing. It was one car puncturing your rear tyre and one car passing over you. Nothing really you could do in these two starts. So for sure there you lose a couple of points. There were also some races that we have some strange decisions let’s say, and some penalties, so maybe we lost also there.

    (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Fernando, before you did your last pitstop, Sebastian went in for another set of dry tyres and then took Inters. You stayed out, how difficult was it for you to find the balance? I mean you stayed out on probably very used old tyres. And who did the decision to stay out?

    FA: It was a shared decision, obviously. It was getting quite wet and the pace was starting to be six seconds slower, then eight, and then the last two laps were 14 seconds slower than the normal dry pace. They call me to put the new tyres, dry tyres, two laps before and I said “guys, it’s raining quite a lot, so let’s wait one more lap. Give me one more lap because I don’t think it is ready for new dry tyres or for intermediate.” And then we wait one more lap and it was very clear that it was intermediate conditions, so we were lucky in that lap.

    (Leonid Novozhilov – F1Life) Question to all drivers: this season was usual or unusual for you – and why?

    JB: I think it’s pretty obvious it was quite an unusual season, especially at the start of the year, having seven different winners from so many different teams. We don’t see that in Formula One so often. Well, ever. I think a lot of it was down to the way we were getting the tyres working or not getting the tyres working. But also I think a lot of the teams, the teams that aren’t normally at the front, I think they’ve done a very good job over the winter. But through the year when the bigger teams work out how to use the tyres and also, you know, the development race, suddenly you see a difference towards the end of the season. Not as big as some might have thought. I don’t think we would have expected a Force India to be leading the race today. So, I think it shows Formula One is a lot closer than it used to be; in terms of regulations it’s a lot tighter and also with not many regulation changes, it brings the field very close – and I think we’ll see that also next year.

    FM: I think he said everything.

    (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Fernando, did the team inform you every single lap what was going on, behind and in front of you, considering the championship fight? And if you can make some comments about Felipe because he has been helping you a lot in the last few races.

    FA: Of course, I was constantly updated with the positions of our rivals. At the beginning of the race for the Constructors’ Championship and also for the Drivers’ Championship. After Hamilton retired the Constructors’ Championship was a little easier for us so we were concentrating the Drivers’ Championship. Nothing really to say, it’s good to have some information because sometimes you don’t know if you’re fast enough or you are too slow and when you see that the pace is OK and your rivals are fighting at the back, there is some extra motivation. And about Felipe for sure it was a very, very good second part of the year with some podiums and some very good performance. If I found myself fighting for the World Championship at the last race it’s also thanks to the teamwork, and when we say teamwork it’s engineers, we say people in Maranello, we say sponsors and we say the drivers. There are a lot of tests that have been done in the simulator with our test drivers. There is a lot of test that Felipe was doing in the simulator also in the summer and there is the Friday practice that without a team-mate… you can share the programme and you can trust the results… it’s impossible sometimes to work. Maximum trust, maximum confidence in Felipe’s work every time in the races, in the practice, in the simulator, we are a team. We are united. And in the last two races, three races, there was also some help in the race itself in terms of positions gained etcetera. So this is also due to the position in the championship that Felipe had no more options and the team decide this. As I said, fantastic team and thanks to everybody, we were in this situation.

    (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, two questions, do you know something about Vettel overtaking Kobayashi with yellow flag and the second question is about the future: in what aspects must improve Ferrari to win the championship.

    FA: The yellow flag, not any news, only Jenson was in front of me when we arrive in the podium. There was some kind of hope when he told me there is some yellow flag problem but then I think it was not true. I don’t know, I came from the podium here, so maybe you have more information. For future, I think we need to improve the car. I think we have the best team in terms of approaching the races, preparing the races. Zero mechanical problems, zero problems for the year. Good pitstops, good starts, good strategy. But we were too slow. We were behind the Red Bulls, behind the McLarens, and now in the last couple of grands prix, behind Williams, Force India. We were clearly slower than them in pace. So this is something we must improve next year because we cannot fight for a World Championship if we are too slow. We can be a little bit slower but not that much. And this year it was something strange, combinations that allowed us to fight until the end but I’m not sure we’ll be this lucky in the future.

    (Claudio Nogueira – O Globo) Alonso, please, do you feel more frustrated for not being champion or satisfied having been to the end of the championship?

    FA: I’m very satisfied. I think it’s very good feeling what I have now. It was very frustrating maybe in Abu Dhabi, feeling, two years ago because we have in our hands and we lost it. It was some kind of frustration there. Here is completely the opposite. I’m so proud and I’m so happy to fight until the last lap with the package we have in hands. That is the best thing for me, to feel proud of myself, it was by far the best season of my career and I will remember this 2012 like some dream season. Obviously we didn’t achieve the points to win the title but I won so many things this year: so much respect from everybody.

    (Alberto Antonini – Autosprint) Fernando, last year in Brazil you called 2012 as your best season ever. Do you think this one was even better?

    FA: Yes, yes definitely. I think last year was very good, I was very proud of the season, how we approach races, how we improve mistakes we done in 2010 and this 2012, as I said, apart from the competitiveness of the car, if I repeat the 20 races, it would be difficult to do anything different of what we did because everything was so good for me.

    (Rodrigo Gini – O Estado de Minas) Question for Felipe. The last time you entered through that door four years ago was maybe the most bitter moment on your career. You did whatever you could to try to fight to the championship and lost it to Lewis. Four years later you come through the same door and it’s even emotional, can you tell us what changed and what happened through that time and how to you feel about returning to the podium in Brazil?

    FM: Well, I think it happen so many things in this time, from the last time I came from that door after the race and now. It was actually not a great timing on my career, and before was just great times. I had a difficult time but I think I learnt a lot. It was a life experience, y’know? Which is always important for you to learn, to understand so many things. I think the most important thing is to understand, and to turn around and go back to the good direction. To do all you know. Which I always believe I am able to do – and I think I’m showing now. So, coming back through that door is always a great feeling. And not just through that door, but in this place and being competitive. I think I was competitive the whole weekend. Even in the race, with the problems I had in the race but anyway I was always competitive. And I think that’s really what makes me proud. To be here, to enjoy, to do the best you can and to do all you know, without any bullshit. Just to know and enjoy.

    Ends

  • Brazilian GP: FIA Saturday press conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

    2 – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

    3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Q: Lewis, a fantastic pole position, it must give you great satisfaction, particularly in your final Grand Prix with McLaren.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, absolutely. It’s been a good weekend so far. Grateful to be able to put the car on the front row and to have the last one-two in qualifying with Jenson in the same team. Just a fantastic job by the team – so grateful for all the opportunities they’ve given me. I hope that we can turn it into something really positive tomorrow.

    Q: Jenson, you’ve obviously been very quick all weekend and starting on the front row of the grid, now. Well done.

    Jenson BUTTON: Thank you, yeah, it was a pretty good lap. I’m not going to point at areas where you lose or gain time. It was a good time but Lewis’s was half a tenth quicker. Very happy to be on the front row as the last couple of races have been a bit tricky in qualifying. So yeah, good, as Lewis said, it’s great to both be on the front row for his last Grand Prix for the team. The team’s in great shape at the moment and it’s a pity things have got to change, but things do change.

    Q: Mark, third on the grid, obviously you have your teammate and championship contender Sebastian Vettel alongside you; question is how can you/will you help for the championship tomorrow?

    Mark WEBBER: Well, I think we focus on ourselves tomorrow, do the cleanest race I can. We know there may be some tricky weather tomorrow. It’s  a long Grand Prix and I’ll be focused 100 percent on my efforts in my cockpit and get to the finish line as quick as possible.

    Q: Back to Lewis; obviously you won the last Grand Prix last weekend, fantastic pace last weekend, what are the chances tomorrow?

    LH: Well, I think the weather is going to be tricky tomorrow so it’s definitely going to make it more of a lottery but I think, as Jenson said, we’ve put ourselves in a really good position and we are just going to do the best job we can from there and work together as a team, the best we have been for quite some time, so we will make sure we will do absolutely everything to get the top result.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, first time on pole here. You mentioned the weather just now. Have you made any allowances for that? Is there anything in the set-up for that? Or is it too much of a gamble to go for a wet set-up with high downforce?

    LH: Generally nowadays you don’t even really have much of a wet set-up. It’s not like in karting when you soften everything off.  The set-up in the dry and the wet is very, very similar – apart from ride heights maybe. We’ve just set the car to attack the qualifying and we don’t know what the hell… what’s going to happen tomorrow. We just have to wait and see, make sure we get our tyre pressures right, make sure we get the tyre temperatures right and the brake temperatures and try to steer clear of any big puddles.

    Starting in front is obviously the best thing if it is wet. Do you want it to be wet?

    LH: I don’t mind. I love driving in the rain. Here in Brazil it’s quite a special race for the rain… [it’s special] even in the dry. But I’m massively happy to be… every year I’ve generally qualified fourth since 2007, I think one year I was 18th, so I’m really happy not to be on that fourth spot. Who’s there? I don’t know, I guess Sebastian will be there, so he’ll experience what I’ve experienced in the past.

    Jenson, your best grid position here as well in 12 grands prix so that must be good for you. What sort of race is it tomorrow for you? Is it try and beat Lewis, is it a team race, what do you think?

    JB: We’re there to win the grand prix as I think every driver it, unless it’s team-mates fighting for the world championship. So, we both want to win the race tomorrow, that’s the aim for both of us. So we’ll see what we can do. The car seems to be working very well in the dry, our long-run pace is pretty good, but as you said, there’s a massive chance of rain tomorrow and that just throws it up in the air for us, it’s quite exciting for two people, their stress levels are gong to be through the roof. But for us starting near the front it’s hopefully going to be a very exciting race. We just have to hope that the rain level is OK for us to actually race. That’s always the worry here in Interlagos.

    Mark, what are you looking forward to in terms of conditions?

    MW: Well, we know Interlagos can be very hit and miss, the little showers can just generate from anywhere and surprise you pretty quickly, the guys on the pit wall. We could have a little bit of both tomorrow, we could even run all three sets of tyres, in terms of wets, inters and slicks at some stage. So, obviously I think it will be pretty humid tomorrow as well. I think the ambient is going to be quite cool but the humidity will help dry the circuit out in some cases. We need to keep our eyes open tomorrow and be ready for everything because that’s what can happen around here. So looking forward to whatever it is. It’s going to be a good final grand prix of the year, looking forward to getting a really good result.

    Ends

    File picture of Lewis Hamilton courtesy McLaren F1 Team.

  • Brazilian GP: Friday FIA press conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES –Eric BOULLIER (Lotus), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes), Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren)

    Eric, first of all great news from you yesterday on the Burn sponsorship. Can you tell us a little more about it? Is it a title sponsorship? How big is it?

    Eric BOULLIER: I’m not going to release any more information; we have a marketing and communication plan about the endorsement and so you will know later a little bit more detail about this deal.

    Is it big enough to make a big difference to your budget for next year? Does that mean you can spend more on development? You know what it takes now.

    EB: Whatever it is, it’s always welcome. It’s obviously more budget for next year and the next years, and it’s going to be good to have this brand on the car, obviously, and all the activations that go on around; also promotion for the team and Formula One.

    Can you be a top contender for next year then?

    EB: Ah, I don’t know yet to be honest. There is some stability in the regulations so it’s going to be up to every team to deliver a good car for next year. I cannot see any reason why we would lose some ground, I just hope that yes, we will be better. I know Kimi will be on top form from race one, so that will be a big change for us as well.

    Monisha, today you announced Esteban Gutiérrez as your… number two driver I guess. How important was it to maintain the Mexican connection?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, it’s always good if you have stability but I think you have to also see clearly that these are two different issues. Just because Esteban is from Mexico it’s not the same situation as we had with Sergio because unlike Sergio, Esteban is not a member of the Escudería Telmex. Of course there’s a natural connection there because Telmex has this bigger vision of establishing motor sport in Mexico and Latin America, but it’s a different situation. But it’s important for the team’s stability to continue with the partners.

    Both your drivers are very popular but sadly it seemed that worked against Kamui, is that the case?

    MK: I won’t say it worked against him. To take up a new driver is always a strategic decision where many factors play a role. Kamui has been with us for the last three years. He’s a very good driver, he is an excellent team player and actually a very fine human being so it’s tough to take such a decision. I think if a driver deserves to be in Formula One he’s definitely one of them and I hope he can get support from Japanese companies – because Japan is an important market for Formula One – and stay in the sport.

    Ross, obviously we’re losing double DRS next year. Is that going to be a big change for you for next year’s car?

    Ross BRAWN: Not a huge change. Obviously as a facility it’s only of benefit when the DRS is being used and next year there’s also a move to DRS only being used in small areas during practice and qualifying, so there’s a general move away from it anyway. It’s always helpful, it would be foolish to say it’s not been an advantage, but we’ve got other solutions in place for next year.

    Change in the financial structure in that Mercedes have brought back a shareholding from Aabar. How much is that changing for you? How much does that mean things change for you?

    RB: No change for the team, quite frankly. I think it’s part of a bigger disinvestment Aabar are making in the Daimler group and it wasn’t logical for the Formula One team to stand out separately. So part of an overall strategy from Aabar. I think it demonstrates the commitment of Daimler to Formula One. So for our team it makes very little difference, but it gives us reassurance and confirmation of Daimler’s commitment to Formula One.

    For Stefano and Christian, basically similar questions. Stefano, first of all, preparations so far: has everything gone according to plan? I’m sure you had a strategy worked out, a plan worked out for this weekend

    Stefano DOMENICALI: First of all, last weekend was the birthday of Christian and this weekend is the birthday of Ross, so happy birthday Ross. We have to keep the tradition of that. We have done the job we were supposed to do today. We know that this weekend for us is a challenging weekend. We have to do the maximum on our side and that will not be enough if we want to win the Drivers’ Championship. We need to go in the race, as I said, trying to be perfect on our side and then seeing what’s going to happen. But that’s the only thing we can do and we will do.

    What’s the mood like within the team?

    SD: The mood is that we have nothing to lose, because we are already behind. We need to go there with a rational approach, as I said, to try to be there, if some situation will arise, we need to be prepared to take them. This is really the spirit that is around the team at the moment.

    And the weather forecast doesn’t look very good. Does that work for you or against you?

    SD: I’ll tell you later. Before, it’s always difficult. It can be good in terms of mixing the cars but it depends on how intense the rain is, when it will come. It is another thing on the table that has to be used in the best way we can.

    Christian, similar for you: preparations so far, how have they gone.

    Christian HORNER: It’s been a pretty normal Friday really. Track temperature has been very high today, so I’m sure that’s been a challenge to some degree to each of the teams, but it’s been a sensible Friday. We’ve worked through our programme with both cars and plenty of information to look at tonight. How relevant that will be, as Stefano has alluded to, with the rest of the weekend, we’ll only see when we get up in the morning and particularly on Sunday morning. It’s been very much a normal Friday for us.

    And the mood within the team?

    CH: Fantastic. I mean, obviously, just having sealed a third consecutive Constructors’ World Championship the mood in the team has never been as high. It’s extremely focused; we’re approaching this race just as we have the other 19 and you know for us it’s a question of trying to extract the most out of ourselves, out of the cars, out of the drivers this weekend and we’ll see where we are at the end of it. But certainly our approach to this race isn’t any different to any of the previous 19.

    And is the rain, is it a variable you could do without?

    CH: At the end of the day it’s the same for everybody so whoever wins this championship is going to have to have mastered different conditions, different circuits, different challenges and we could well get another factor on Sunday. We take absolutely nothing for granted despite the fact we’re coming here with a 13-point advantage. We know from our own experience how quickly that can change. We saw that in 2010 in Abu Dhabi when I think we were actually more than 13 points behind going into the race. So our focus is very much, as I say, going into this race to try and get the most out of it we can and when the chequered flag falls we’ll know where we are.

    Martin, a great race last weekend for Lewis Hamilton. A great win for Jenson Button at the start of the season. You had the fastest car at the start and the end, but is it a source of frustration that you’re not involved in the title battle.

    Martin WHITMARSH: Of course. I think we’ve had six great wins this year and we haven’t done a good enough job for the rest of the season one way and another and that’s a little bit frustrating, but at the moment we’re in a position where with one race to go we’re going to focus. These guys have got some pressures on their shoulders and we’re going to try and win the race. In one sense it makes it simple for us this weekend.

    How much does that affect your preparations for next year, knowing what you’ve had from this?

    MW: I think there’s no secrets: to be consistently winning you’ve got to have a quick car, you’ve got to have reliability. We’ve often had a quickish car this season, we’ve had a number of errors, a number of issues, which are disappointing, but we know we’ve got to work on that and we’ll aim to come out next year with a quick car and hopefully be reliable and be there at the last race.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dan Knuston – Honorary) For Stefano and Christian: the championship has come down to your two drivers. Please evaluate the strengths and qualities of your driver over the season and how do you evaluate your opponent?

    CH: I’ll start with my driver. I think that Sebastian has driven incredibly well this year. It’s all too easy to say he’s had the fastest car because on numerous occasions this year he hasn’t. McLaren have had a very strong car throughout this year but Sebastian has never given up, he’s kept fighting. He came back from the summer break almost 40 points behind the championship lead. He focused hard, he worked hard at it and he maximised his chances. I think he’s driven superbly well this year. He is up against a formidable opponent, who is very much at the top of his game and I think you’re witnessing two great talents and hopefully it will be an exciting race on Sunday, but I can’t speak highly enough of certainly the job Sebastian has done this year against some formidable opponents.

    SD: For my side, Fernando, in my view, up to now, did one of the best seasons of his career. We knew that at the beginning of the season our car was not really the quickest. Well, I would say it was on the second half of the grid rather than the other side. He was able to extract from that the maximum out of it. He was able to get great victories in a moment where the car has improved, he drove really well in wet conditions when he was in that situation. He was always at the maximum. Always he was working with the team knowing that it was a very delicate situation for all of us in that moment. So on top of his ability on the track he was able to keep the team together in a difficult moment. So I agree, who will win will deserve it. And of course, on his side the only remark we have to say is that he was not able to do all the races because he was unfortunately kicked out two times. Not his fault, but of course in this situation where the championship is so tight they’re very heavy points. But as I said, don’t look back, look ahead. I’m sure Fernando will do the maximum of his capability to make sure… to do the best with the car that he has with a team that is working hard under a lot of pressure. I’m happy for that, because the team was able to do sometimes incredible work. As I said the spirit together I think was the most important thing… was the most significant thing, sorry, that I would like to remark on that respect.

    What about Sebastian?

    SD: I’m exactly of the same opinion as Christian, I speak about my driver.

    Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Stefano, we’re coming to the last race of the year again, and again, Ferrari are capable of winning the last race of the championship. Can you just compare how you are feeling, compared to how you felt in 2008 and 2010?

    SD: Well, also 2007 we were near. Different feelings, of course. In 2007, I think that if you remember well, Martin, we were in a situation where honestly we had the same approach as at this race: try to do the best job that we can, we could, but knowing that the opponent was very strong and the race evolved in a situation where we were able, as a team, to work extremely well. Then in 2008 we were able to win the Constructors’ title, to have Felipe as World Champion of Drivers for 20 seconds, but after Hamilton won the race, in a  championship where I would say we lost, if I remember well, mainly because the car was not reliable enough, because we had some races where unfortunately we had severe DNF that caused us to lose that championship. And I believe that season, Felipe did an incredible job and we were very disappointed for him, because I think we deserved it, but at the end of the day Lewis did (win).

    Then 2010 was the most frustrating because we knew that we had a couple of situations to handle and it was our fault that we were not able to do it, for a mistake that we made; we didn’t help Fernando. I think that season we didn’t have the best car. I believe that we were able to always be there winning a lot of races but because of unfortunate situations that Red Bull had and we lost that championship. This is, I would say, the heaviest of my thoughts on the past. On Sunday, I think that, as I said, we are in a different spirit. We cannot look back;  we need to see whatever will be the outcome we need to accept it. So therefore I would say our mindset is closer to what we had in 2007 at the moment.

    Q: (Lucas Santochi Da Silva – ESPN Magazine) Christian, when do you think was the turning point of the main factors for Red Bull to develop from a medium team to a team that may now win its third title in a row?

    CH: It’s a good question. Red Bull came into Formula One at the beginning of 2005. Dietrich Mateschitz had a vision. He’d been a sponsor, he’d been a shareholder and for the first time, after acquiring the Jaguar team became a team owner and his vision was very much to compete at the front in Formula One. Certainly the perception, perhaps, in the early days was that Red Bull turned up, played their music loud and were perceived as a party team, perhaps just happy to be in Formula One but underlying that was a determination to work our way to the front and slowly and steadily we gathered the right people into the team during the course of 2006 and at the beginning of 2007. We started to build, we started to work as a unit, to work as a team and then by the time the new regulations came along, a clean sheet of paper in 2009, it allowed all of the departments to demonstrate their abilities to work together as one group. In 2009, we started winning. We challenged for the championship; we fell short that year, but then we have kept that momentum. We went on to win both titles in 2010, both titles again 2011 and again a third Constructors’ championship this year. And that is purely down to the hard work, the dedication, the application of every single member of the team. We’ve got some great leadership in the team: Adrian Newey does a stunning job of leading the technical team but it requires all of the departments to do their bit. I’m extremely proud to say that they’ve absolutely done that and the testimony to that is the 34 races that we’ve won, the 80 podiums that we’ve had in only eight seasons. It’s all down to the people and of course to talented drivers: Sebastian and Mark Webber have been a very successful pairing and what Sebastian has achieved in only 100 races again is quite remarkable.

    Q: (Michael Neudecker – Sud Deutsche Zeitung) Question for Mr Whitmarsh and Mr Domenicali: 2013 might be a very special year because you have to be prepared for the rule changes coming up for 2014, but at the same time you want to be successful. Maybe you can give us a general view on what you expect for 2013?

    SD: I think that 2013, as you quite rightly said, in terms of regulations, will be a stability, so I’m expecting to see the situation that we are facing now in terms of performance of the team. What I believe will happen during the season, depending on how the season will go, is that some teams will start to dedicate more and more resources to the 2014 project because it’s a project that will be totally, totally different and at least on our side, we already have, at the moment, a small group of people that is working on this project, and of course, on our side, we also have the duty – being a constructor – to work on the new powertrain. For us it’s a massive job next year. This is maybe the most difficult in that respect because there are so many new things that we have to do at the same moment where we need to make sure that we are fighting for another season and championship. So for me, the 2014 season could be a year where we can see once again a split between the group of the cars in terms of pure performance. If you remember, at the beginning of this year, we had so many cars that were very very close. I’m expecting a different scenario for 2014 because all these changes which will come into place very very soon.

    MW: Well, not much to add to that. I think, as Stefano alluded, I think it will be quite interesting. It will probably be two or three of the teams sat before you today who are underperforming at the halfway stage of next year’s championship and the decision that they might take to then give up on the ’13 championship and apply all of their resources to ’14 makes it quite an intriguing process. It’s a difficult one. If you’re competitive as we all aim to be next year, you’ll want to win the races, you’ll want to win the championship next year but knowing that in doing so and in applying the resources to do so, you’re actually robbing 2014. I think it’s an interesting second half of the year and as Stefano said, undoubtedly a very interesting start of 2014.

    Q: (Alberto Antonini – Autosprint) As you may be aware, Honda has shown some interest in the new engine technology coming up in 2014. I would like to know whether a possible comeback by them fits the frame of the new regulations. If so, how much will you welcome Honda back in Formula One?

    MW: As we just said, 2014 we’ve got, as far as I know, only three manufacturers committed to the sport. I imagine there will be a greater level of technical diversity than we currently have in powertrains just as there will be in the aerodynamic solutions that run with it. Normally, when you have a new regulation that encourages a certain amount of creativity, and then over a period of years you get a convergence onto very similar technology and very similar approach.

    RB: I think this is the sort of challenge they relish, they quite like. I know from my time with them they like to have fresh technical challenges. They very much look upon Formula One as a research and development exercise and I think the new regulations appeal to them. But there’s no concrete signs they’re doing anything at the moment. I gather, as a company, they’re improving after some difficult years and I think there are lots of engineers there who would love to get involved. Whether there will be a strategic decision high up to do it, there’s no signs of that yet. But we would welcome Honda in as well. I think the more manufacturers, the more engines we have in Formula One the better.

    Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Christian, how do you see the possibility of maybe having another drink company joining Formula One as a title sponsor? Would it be bad for Red Bull? Is it a difficult or easy business model to follow? What are your thoughts?

    CH: I don’t think it will be bad. I don’t think it would be bad for Formula One. I think that Red Bull welcomes competition and that’s the way it is in the market place. Red Bull’s positioning is quite unique, not only what it’s achieved as an energy drink but in terms of what it’s done and the way it carries itself in Formula One. There would certainly be no concerns from our side. I think it would be welcomed within Formula One. I have no idea what their business model is. The Red Bull one works OK.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Ross, happy birthday; for next year, obviously you have Lewis Hamilton signed up to drive with you. Now Lewis is something of a free spirit and the Daimler brand is not associated with free spiritedness. I was wondering if you have any plans to try and curtail Lewis’s free spirit, or if you’re just going to let him be Lewis?

    RB: I think that’s going to be taken on a race-by-race, day-by-day, week-by-week basis. I think it’s impossible to predict those sort of things. I know Lewis. Obviously I’ve had a lot of conversations with him. He’s an intelligent guy, he understands Formula One, he understand the exposure Formula One gets. He understands the positioning of Daimler and an understanding of all those things, I think, will avoid any issues in the future. But I think Formula One needs characters. I think Formula One needs individuals, so we’re not going to suppress is too much. I don’t anticipate any major issues.

    Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky TV) A quick one to all of you: you’re all from quite different backgrounds: a lawyer, engineers, an ex-racing driver. Just a quick word on what makes a good team boss and whether you only look like a good team boss when you’re winning?

    MW: A thick skin!

    EB: When you start to win races. The proof is not only one profile, it’s just the capacity of managing the right people, to bring the right people at home, to build up the right business for your team, and obviously to seek the best drivers and make all the group of people work well together in a very competitive environment and having also a little bit of some politics around this which makes the whole package a success. I think this is a simple definition but this is the way I think it should work.

    MK: I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules about that. I think we are all measured at the end of the day by performance and if you are good, if you are performing well then you must be a good team boss.

    RB: I agree. I think you’re measured on your results. One of the things that is very demonstrable in Formula One is the results in the team and there’s no hiding place. But I think all of us in Formula One probably demonstrate our strengths mostly when we are failing rather than succeeding. I think the reaction to failure and how you deal with it, how you continue to motivate the team, how you continue to put all of the pieces in place is the most critical quality that all of us round here, this group needs. All of us have faced failure many times, that’s the nature of Formula One, there is only one team that can win and the rest of us are failing. How we react to that, what we do and how we try and improve our situation is, I think, the measure of being the boss of a team and trying to make it work.

    SD: I agree with what they said, so really nothing to add to that

    CH: I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rules. I guess the role of team principal in different teams represents different things even, and I think that fundamentally it’s a people business and it’s a question, a matter of what your background is, what your education is. It’s a matter of getting the best out of people, encouraging people and removing obstacles where necessary and sharing one vision, one goal, one objective and that needs to flow through an organisation from the top to the bottom, throughout an entire team, because Formula One is the biggest team sport in the world, and it is still a sport. You can argue that from Monday to Friday it’s a business, but at the end of the day it’s a sport where you are competing, department for department against your rivals and if you work collectively as a group, you can go on to achieve great things. There are no guarantees, nobody is owed success, but it’s a type of sport that what you put in you get out.

    MW: Not much to add, really. I think a lot has been said about the team, and I think all of the Formula One teams are really great teams of people that work incredibly hard, whichever end of the grid you’re at, everyone’s working very hard. I think to be a good team member, to recognise it, just one part of the team’s important but everything else has been said already.

    File photo of Monisha Kaltenborn courtesy Sauber F1 team.

    Ends

  • Brazilian GP: FIA Thursday press conference

    DRIVERS – Felipe MASSA (Ferrari), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), Bruno SENNA (Williams), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    A very important weekend for everybody, the final weekend of the championship and lots of pressure all round, apart, perhaps, from Michael Schumacher. You’ve been here before Michael, you have an extraordinary record at this race and you’re finally ending your championship bid after many, many years, after many seasons. What are your feelings coming into this weekend?

    Michael SCHUMACHER: I guess I have some experience and that’s why, probably, I’m rather relaxed about the happenings. On top [of that] we are not in any championship fight compared to last time that happened to me, obviously. Well, I’ll just take the best out of it and enjoy it as much as I can.

    Is there a certain sadness?

    MS: Probably not, no.

    Quite happy to leave it.

    MS: Yeah, I have tried that mission to end successful. It didn’t work this time but I’m quite happy to finish from here and go for a different life again.

    Felipe, if we can come to you. You’ve won here twice before, what can you do to help Fernando win the championship.

    Felipe MASSA: Well, first of all I’ll try to win a third time. That’s always the right direction to think about racing – always thinking about victory. Here is a very special place for me and I’m going to try to win and hopefully Fernando can finish second without any problems to win the championship.

    Just give us a bit of a summary of your season so far. What are your thoughts on the season?

    FM: I think it was a very difficult season until August. So, struggling… in some of the races I was not struggling but I could not put together the result. Always happened something in the race that I couldn’t finish in the right position. I would say after August everything was better and we were able to put together the right… almost the right result at every race. It was a very good second part of the season and very good preparation for next year.

    Lewis, we saw what you can do in this championship last weekend, a fantastic race, and of course you won the championship here; you know what it’s all about this final race of the series. For you, you’ve been with McLaren for many years, it’s your final race for McLaren. How do you approach this weekend?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Good morning everyone. It’s quite a unique experience for me. I’ve obviously never been in the situation I’m in this weekend, where it’s my last race for the team I grew up in. It’s going to be a tough one. Nonetheless, we’re going to push as hard as we can, as we did in the last race, and try to win. I’ve never won here before. So I’m going to have to try and beat Felipe, as he wants to win it. It’s such a beautiful race here so hopefully the weather will hold up for us.

    After so many years with McLaren what are your feelings leaving the team?

    LH: I only have good memories. I leave with just the greatest memories, the best experiences and hopefully a lot of good friends I will continue to be friends with throughout the future. I was just saying to them that even though I’ll be with Mercedes, I’ll probably keep coming back to have lunch and dinner back at the hospitality because the food’s great there. So, I hope Mercedes’ hospitality lives up to the one we have.

    Bruno, a summary of your season so far.

    Bruno SENNA: It’s been a very challenging season, lots of learning. We got some very good results and some tough races as well. Considering it was my first full year in Formula One, and with the small handicap of not doing free practice on Fridays, I think it’s been a pretty good year. In the end most of my races have been very strong. Just starting from a different position from where I should be starting has made me score less points than I could have had. In the end of the day it’s learning and you normally do much better on the second attempt at the same thing, so for sure there will be a lot of improvement to be done for next year.

    Are you confident there will be a next year? The future seems to be undecided at the moment.

    BS: Yeah it’s undecided and I think we will have to wait until after the season to see what’s going to happen. Let’s hope it comes in a good way and we can be in a competitive car for next season.

    Sebastian to some extent we look at an unpredictable weekend, in that the weather seems to be unpredictable and there’s a little bit of a question mark over the reliability. To what extent are you nervous about this weekend?

    Sebastian VETTEL: In terms of general preparation we do what we can. Weather-wise, it’s Sao Paulo. It’s the same as if you go to Spa, you know, things can happen quickly and the weather can change a lot here, so… yeah, I spoke to some locals and I think there was a big rain two days ago which wasn’t expected. Probably for Saturday, Sunday there’s some rain on the way, but then again you don’t know how much and when so I think I asked Pirelli yesterday if they have all the containers here with the rain tyres, and that’s the case, so I don’t think we have to be concerned.

    At the same time you can be confident: 13-point lead in the championship, you’ve had excellent results here, Red Bull have had excellent results here.

    SV: Yeah, I think the circuit seemed to suit our car in previous years. I think we need to confirm it. So all eyes on Friday, to start the weekend, to get into the groove, but I think we can be as confident as we could in this stage. Obviously we know there is a lot ahead but we are in a great position.

    Michael, we’ll come back to you again. It’s been 20 years of grand prix racing. How can you sum it up?

    MS: Well, I don’t think we have long enough here to sum it up, but let’s put it that way: It was mostly 20 good years and lots of fun and lots of excitement.

    You’d recommend it to Sebastian would you?

    MS: Well, I just remember when I was in the early days, I said if you’re going to do this four or five years that’s going to be probably most of it, and then I will be tired and I can’t see myself longer than this. Obviously it became almost 21 years. I’m pretty sure it’s difficult for those guys to imagine that longer time ahead, but let’s see.

    Fernando, it’s quite difficult for you from where you are, 13 points behind in the championship. What are the chances this weekend?

    FA: Well, I think we need to try to do a normal weekend, try to score as many points as we can, obvious it will be good to be in the podium and score a minimum 15 points and then when we cross the line we see where Sebastian is and we try to do some numbers after that. The first priority for us is to be in the podium, let’s say, which give us the possible to score more than 13 points and then we need to wait obviously for the results from Red Bull because we have not… it is not in our hands, we have not much to lose, we have only the possibility to win something and we will try to do our best.

    Regardless of what happens this weekend, what do Ferrari need to do to be in a better position for next year?

    FA: Well, we are working hard, it was a tough season for us, the first couple of months were not as we expected. When we put the car on the circuit the first time in Jerez we were two seconds off the pace and we didn’t understand how was the car working so we changed many things. There was a lot of work going on in the wind tunnel in Maranello, in the car itself and after some understanding of the car we were a little bit more in the pace and we were able to fight for podiums more or less constantly all the season and that gave the possibility to be right now fighting for the World Championship. But we are not totally happy with the performance of the car all through the season and many changes will be for next year and hopefully we can recover a little bit of the gap we have now. In winter we will have to do an extra job compared to the other teams to recover this gap.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Seb, despite your enviable record in this sport, quite often people say… or they may not give you the credit that you might feel you deserve because you’ve always had such a strong car. How does it feel for you hearing people say ‘oh, I’d like to see him in a different car, I’d like to see him in a worse car’? Does that demotivate you or motivate you to just prove everybody wrong?

    SV: Well I think if you look back, I don’t know how far, but as far as I can look back, I think there was never people, y’know, really, really successful in a really bad car. I think you always… I think it’s a natural thing to happen that one day you have strong drivers in a strong team so you end up with a strong combination and then obviously that is difficult to beat. I think it’s natural to start in a weaker car, I think we have all been in that situation. Michael started in a Jordan which wasn’t competitive but he set some highlights, Fernando I think started in a Minardi, set some highlights. Obviously in my case I started with the BMW, replacing Robert for one race, which was a great chance and then afterwards I got the seat in Toro Rosso, which at the time was not a very competitive car but I think we did a very good job and even won a race. Obviously with the circumstances allowing us to close the gap back then but… yeah, nevertheless I think we had a great season, finishing in the points a couple of times and obviously after that to step up to Red Bull Racing and 2009 was a great and fantastic season for myself, for the team, for the first time to be competitive, finishing on the podiums, win races, so I think it was a fairly normal way that I went.

    (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Another one for Seb, would you like to have a team-mate like Felipe Massa? And you were very cool about the situation last weekend: will you be just as cool about the situation last weekend if you’re not World Champion on Sunday?

    SV: Well what they do is not in our hands. I didn’t follow up if Felipe had a real trouble with the gearbox or not but as I said it’s not our job to focus on these things. After seeing Felipe on Sunday night in Austin I’m not sure whether he would be a good team-mate! No, I’m joking. I think obviously it is a different approach compared to my team but that’s how life is. I think everyone handles certain situations in a different way.

    (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Michael, you know both of the contenders for a long time, what kind of memory will you give us for Seb and for Fernando? And question for Seb and Fernando, what kind of memory will you keep from Michael?

    MS: Well, I mean obviously with Fernando I have had quite a few more years together competing and fighting championships. Obviously that is slightly different in this respect, it was tough moments. I mean, he was unfortunately in quite a few moments looking very strong and doing too good a job honestly – should have taken it easy and looked after the old man! But on Seb’s side, we’ve been friends for a long time and I sort of follow his career into Formula One and seeing him doing so well, obviously makes me proud. We’ve both grown up on my home track in Kerpen and to see from where he started to end up and kind of being dominant for quite a while recently, that’s quite an achievement.

    And you two on Michael.

    FA: I think we will always remember the privilege to race and compete with someone like Michael that will be record in history of Formula One, maybe for a very long time and we’ve been there, we’ve been in the grid close to him. As Michael said, some good fights and great respect on the circuit and always constantly learning with someone that changed a little bit this sport.

    SV: I think it’s a little bit different for Fernando than it is for me because obviously I had the privilege to meet Michael when I was a small kid. He was my childhood hero. Maybe he can close his ears or shut his ears now, but he was a true inspiration back then, for me and for many other kids, as he mentioned, in Kerpen. He was our hero. Obviously we had the honour to meet him. He was taking care of the championship held in Kerpen and came to the last race, gave all the trophies to everyone, every child, more than 100 at the time, so he was very patient and now, obviously, we understand that the busy schedule that he had, taking that extra time for the fans but especially for us, for the kids who were racing, was something very special, a very special memory. When I met him the first time, obviously I didn’t know what to say because I didn’t want to ask something stupid but for sure, I remember these moments and then later on. Today I think it’s a little bit different because you are more grown up, you have a normal relationship so when I talk to him now, it doesn’t feel like talking to my childhood hero, it feels like talking to Michael so I see the person rather than what he has achie

    Hamilton in Sao Paulo. A McLaren photo.

    ved but obviously, if you remind yourself of that and the fact that I was racing against him for the last couple of years, unfortunately not as close as he probably shared with Fernando, but still that thought or that image was very very far away when I was a small kid, because obviously he was already in Formula One but for me it was a dream so very far away but very special for the last couple of years, very special the relationship we share and I think he will always be an inspiration for myself.

    Q :(Marco dell’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, Bernie Ecclestone said to the German Bild Zeitung that despite you already having won two titles and maybe now a third, you miss out on charisma, compared to former drivers such as Hunt, Senna, Lauda. And he also said that not only you but all the drivers of your generation are more or less in the same situation, because, he said, teams pampered you too much and the FIA put muscle to you, so you are not free to explain yourselves. What do you think about that? Maybe this is also a general question; if somebody else would like to answer, I would appreciate it.

    SV: Well, I think it’s a difficult question. I don’t know exactly what he said but maybe he was just taking the piss out of… sorry, maybe he was just taking the mickey out of the newspaper which is very possible with Bernie, but given what he said what you just said, I think generally it’s difficult. Hopefully I have a little bit left in the sport so I can make up a little bit but also I think these days are very different to the previous days in terms of the freedom that we have. To give you an example, imagine that you find all of us, sitting here on Saturday night having a beer, even if it’s just one beer, it would be a massive scene on Sunday. Yeah, unfortunately it’s not that easy as maybe it used to be in the past. Last race we were in Austin, in Texas. The last winner in Texas was Keke Rosberg in 1984, I think, and he was having a smoke on the podium. I’m not sure whether people would be too happy with that when they already get excited when sometimes the language is not appropriate after just getting out of the car.

    Q: (Paul Weaver – The Guardian) Fernando, if win the championship, people will recalls some great driving from you, but do you think your achievement will be damaged by the memory of what Ferrari did to your teammate’s gearbox in the last race in Texas?

    FA: Funny. I think we’ve seen so many scenes coming from the teams, not only this year but in the past in Formula One; we don’t need to go too far this year with some of the races that we had some doubts – even Saturday night – of which teams and from which position they will start, depending on some decisions or some limits that they were finding in the regulations which we saw this year from many teams. I’m proud of my team, it was a strategic decision, to start on the clean side with both cars, also fighting for the Constructors championship that is one of the targets that we have, beating McLaren and it worked quite well. Because it worked quite well, maybe the people were not very happy but I’m proud of my team, more than anything it’s because they said the truth when we changed the gearbox. Not many teams are able to say the truth when they make a strategic decision.

    Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) Fernando, Lewis is moving teams next year. You’ve been his teammate, what can Nico expect? What’s it like having Lewis as a teammate?

    FA: I think it will be fine for him, it will be a good challenge at Mercedes, and as a teammate, I think he will be very strong, so Nico will have some extra work to do. After three years with Michael, I think Nico keeps learning many things and another tough challenge with Lewis will arrive. I think they will be very strong. I think Nico and Lewis together, with the Mercedes, they can be serious contenders for next year. In the future, who knows, but I have a lot of respect for Lewis. I always said that he’s probably the best or one of the best here. I shared a year with him, it didn’t work too well because maybe we were not sharing the same philosophy but without McLaren, why not?

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Fernando and Sebastian; two years ago in Abu Dhabi, Fernando you had a 15 point lead over Sebastian going into the very last race. Sebastian went and won the title. Does what happened then – although the track and circumstances are a bit different – does that give you belief as to what can be achieved? And Sebastian, does that make you fearful as to what could happen?

    FA: I think these are different circumstances from Abu Dhabi. Now we have DRS, KERS so it (was) a little bit more difficult to pass (then) and maybe the rule was also introduced because of that race. I think even if you find yourself at the back of the grid, you’re still able to recover positions as we saw in Abu Dhabi this year. Even if Seb started last, he finished on the podium, so we will see what we have in mind, that this is Formula One. This is a sport and anything can happen until the chequered flag so we will try to do the best race we can and, as I said, cross the line on the podium which gives us more than 13 points and see where Sebastian crosses the line. If we win, we will be very happy but we know that we need some strange combination of results; if we don’t win, we will congratulate him and we will try next year. Nothing really surprising.

    SV: I think we’re very happy in the position that we are in. I think two years back we would have loved to have been in Fernando’s position. If you could chose, I think it’s clear but as Fernando said, in sport anything can happen so we need look after ourselves. The weekend starts tomorrow morning and not on Sunday, so really we have to go step by step, trying to do everything to ensure that we get the maximum result. Historically we’ve been very quick here, historically we know also it’s quite a place where a lot of things can happen so we need to be sharp in the moment and see what we can get.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Lewis, what memories will you be taking away from McLaren? I presume here, four years ago, will be your greatest one.

    LH: I think I’ll take away only the positive memories of our journey together. Obviously winning the World Championship, winning my first Grand Prix, starting out together and I guess this weekend.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Sebastian, is there extra pressure that a lot of people think that you must win this championship?

    SV: Yeah, I think it’s obviously normal if you’re in that position. I think we fight all year, some ups, some downs. I think everyone had the same to be in that position so now there’s no reason to complain or not to be happy. Obviously there’s one thing that the people expect, but another thing what we expect. All year we’ve been trying to push very hard and trying to put ourselves in a very strong position, to fight for the championship, ideally until the last race and be in the best possible place. Now we arrive in the last race, we are in a strong position so I think we can be happy with that but nevertheless, there’s one more race to go, and as I said, we have to make sure that we focus on every single step to get the job done here.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, is there less pressure in that you have nothing to lose?

    FA: Well, I think in Formula One there’s always pressure but definitely we have less than on some other occasions and maybe less than probably if we were leading the championship, because as you said, we have nothing really to lose. We are arriving in second position, we are arriving after two qualifyings dominated by Red Bull – well not two qualifyings, five or six – and then we were around positions seventh, eighth in the last couple of Grands Prix so recovered 13 points, it looks like a very difficult achievement and I think, as I said, if everything goes normally, we should finish second. If something happens, maybe we will win the championship so, because it’s probably not in our hands, the pressure is much less.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, do you think you will have another possibility in future, if not this year?

    FA: I hope so. I think I’m 31 and I still feel that I will have some more possibilities. I’m at Ferrari for the next four or five years, minimum, so I think that will always give you the possibility to fight for World Championships. In three years at Ferrari, I arrive two times already fighting for the championship at the last race: 2010 in Abu Dhabi and now in Brazil, even with so many difficulties and chaotic years, let’s say, for us, in terms of performance, in terms of problems and we were not dominant in any part of those championships, so even with those problems we are fighting for two or three years at Ferrari, so I have no doubts that in the next four or five years there will be more fights and more championships, but let’s concentrate on this one.

    Q: (Rodrigo Gini – Estados de Minas) Fernando, you said about the qualifying position, as you said in Austin, you said you would start in sixth, seventh. Do you think it will be the same, the gap will remain in Brazil?

    SV: Yeah, I think so. I think there’s no magic part that you can put on the car in five days. We were seventh in Abu Dhabi, we were ninth in Austin so I think around those positions should be the normal for here but hopefully we can do a better job.

    Q: (Rodrigo Gini – Estado de Minas) Sebastian, in 2010 you needed to attack to win the championship and last year it was so easy, perhaps one can say. This year, you have an advantage to defend. Does it change your mental approach to the race, or will you take it as any other?

    SV: I think the secret is to take it as any other. If you look in the calendar, Brazil is a race like every other one. You get the same amount of points and I think we are here to attack. Obviously we know that we are in a good position. Obviously, as I said, it’s something we know but still we have to be – as I said before – sharp and ready to attack.

    Q: (Manuel Franco Pernal – Diario AS) Fernando and Seb, if you finally win this title, will it be the most simple for you?

    FA: Not really. I think winning the championship is always winning the championship. They all feel different, they all can feel special but I don’t think there is one that becomes more important for you, or more special so I think it will be nice but nothing bigger than the other two.

    SV: I think the man to ask sits in the middle. He has won more than two times. For us, for Fernando and me, it’s the same with two championships and maybe a third, so we will see after this weekend but I don’t think it makes sense to talk about it now and therefore, as I said, maybe Michael is the one to ask. He can chose from a variation of titles.

    MS: I think the question was slightly different: whether this is the important one? Whichever one  you win the latest one is the most sweet one.

    Q: (Toni Lopez Jorda – La Vanguardia) One question for Sebastian and Fernando: at this point of the championship, looking at the whole season, do you feel that you had good luck or bad luck to arrive in this situation, with a gap of ten points?

    SV: Well I think we have so many races this year, 20 races, some of them you might have a bit of luck; others you might have bad luck but I think it’s the same probably for all of us, if you look over the course of 20 races. Sometimes it might feel this way or that way, but I think it evens out until the end.

    FA: Yeah, it’s up and downs for everyone. We have more or less two or three retirements for each of us, fighting for the championship until the end and those retirements were sometimes for mechanical problems, sometimes for accidents, sometimes they were bad luck but at the end of the day this is normal and we see what happens here.

    Ends

  • USGP: Hamilton thanks fans at FIA press conference

    The top three Drivers who attended the final FIA Press Conference after the race at the United States Grand Prix are: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren); 2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing) and 3 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

     PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mario Andretti)

     Lewis, I know you really tormented Sebastian for most of the race but you have the resolve and did a fabulous race. What I’m interested in, give me some reaction, your reaction to the circuit. Obviously everything’s new, first winner, first time winner and all of that.

    Lewis HAMILTON: First time winner, yeah, I’m so happy. The fans have been amazing this weekend, so thank you so much. The warm welcome we’ve had has been fantastic and I think this is probably one of the best, if not the best grand prix we’ve had all year. Especially for me and my team, this is so special. It’s been a long, long time since I had a win and I’m just so proud, so proud of the work the guys did, so grateful for the support we’ve had.

    Sebastian, obviously you did everything you needed to do to protect your lead in the championship and as usual you were fantastic with your qualifying and so forth. The obvious question again is your reaction to the circuit.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean first of all thank you very much. As Lewis said, it was incredible. Actually I did my first race five years ago, the last time we were racing in the United States, so it’s a very nice comeback today, it was my 100th grand prix, and amazing y’know, the amount of people we had all weekend. It’s great for us to have so much support, very happy today for the team in particular. We won the Constructors’ Championship so, yeah, thanks to all of you, it’s been a great year, now we’ve got another station coming up in Brazil and as you said, in terms of the Championship it’s looking a bit better after the race today. Obviously it was a close fight with Lewis, he had one chance and he took it. After that I tried to stay with him and maybe pass him again but he was probably as quick as I was and there wasn’t much in between us. All in all, a great race and a great result for us.

    Fernando, as usual, you’ve been brilliant the entire season, fantastic start, as usual again, you’ve always done your very maximum and here again you’ve kept this championship fight alive, fighting to the end obviously. The same question to you, how about this circuit? You like it? You enjoy the ride? What’s your reaction?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yes, as Sebastian said, the circuit was fantastic but the fans were fantastic all weekend. We really enjoyed and we really have to say big thanks to all the fans coming here, all the Americans, the Mexicans and all the South Americans that came also to support us. So the circuit… basically the layout is challenging for us, challenging for the engine as well. As I said we enjoyed racing here thanks to the fans, thanks to the fantastic facilities and I hope we put on a good show for everybody and people will enjoy even more next year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, an absolutely fantastic drive and victory in a straight fight with Red Bull Racing and with Sebastian. How much satisfaction does that give you?

    LH: A huge amount. It’s been a great weekend, to be able to beat Red Bull and Sebastian is definitely a tough challenge but we managed to do it today. I don’t know, we weren’t so bad in the first stint but it was very difficult to follow and to get past. In trying to do so I locked… my tyres went off. We pitted maybe two laps before Sebastian, so then he came out quite far ahead but traffic really worked out quite well for once. Traffic usually catches me out, so I was glad that it worked slightly in my favour at some points. But yeah, what a great feeling to win the first grand prix here, back in the States, I won the last one here as well, so I’m massively proud.

    Where was the Red Bull so strong? Because it did take quite a few DRS efforts before you managed to make it.

    LH: It was everywhere, they’re pretty strong everywhere. I think it was more so… the first sector is very difficult to follow through Four, Five, Six, Seven, such high speed it’s quite difficult to follow through there. The place where he really extended his gap was the exit of Nine. That was really where, in the most important part, where he made over a second gap, so I was struggling to really get… to remain close. As I said with traffic it all worked out really well. He kind of… I knew that lap would be the lap that I would have a chance, so I turned the engine up and got close.

    Sebastian you did all you could and you’ve extended your championship lead. What are your feelings after second place?

    SV: I think, as Lewis said, obviously it was close between us, there wasn’t much between. I think very quickly we noticed that Lewis is the one we are racing. Obviously, for the rest, I don’t know what happened to Mark – he was quite a while in third place. After that, obviously, there was a big gap down to the Ferraris, so yeah, it was clear that we were racing Lewis. Everything seemed to be in control. As Lewis touched on, with traffic it’s quite difficult depending where you get it on the track. Surely it didn’t work in my favour. Lewis was then close enough, after he tried many times before, to open his rear wing and then down the back straight, it was a bit of an invitation really. It didn’t matter which side I would have picked, they were quick enough on the straight and he took the lead fair enough. After that I tried to be as close as I could but, as he said, it was difficult to follow, difficult to get in range. So, bit of a shame to lose first place but as you said I think we did everything we could. Fantastic job for the team today to seal the Constructors’ Championship against Ferrari who are now in second. I’m very happy with that and the guys can be, for sure, very proud of themselves. I think we will have a drink tonight, enjoy the time here. All weekend has been incredible, I think, for all of us, for the whole Formula One paddock here. The last race [in the US] obviously, as Lewis said, he won it. It was my first race in Formula One here in the United States and to come back and get so much support, so may fans… The signing session yesterday was absolutely crazy and full grandstands, so full house. It was really, really nice to race today in front of the crowd.

    Fernando, really a fantastic start and then it was just a matter of holding station.

    FA: Yes, we know our championship keeps alive maybe thanks to the first laps. We always qualify around seventh or eighth and we finish the first lap in the first three or four positions normally and then after that the race becomes a little easier when that happens, when you are in the leading group, and today we knew that was a good chance, try to overtake people at the first corner, and then the pace on Sunday normally improves so we knew that if we are in the leading group we can more or less keep the pace. Today not possible to keep the pace with these two guys, that they were too far ahead but enough to keep for the guys behind. And then I think this podium, after all the difficulties we went through this weekend is like a victory for us. Losing three points maybe was in no-one’s thoughts I think yesterday night or Friday night after seeing the practice, so we are really happy again to have a very good Sunday and score again good points.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, your teammate stopped with another alternator problem, you probably heard that over the radio. To what extent is that a concern? It seems to be an unsolved problem.

    SV: I don’t know what happened to him, so I need to check, obviously. The first info I only get now, so it’s hard to comment but in case it was the alternator, it’s not good news but I think we’ve managed the last couple of races pretty well so I’m sure it should be easy to explain, to find the problem. After Monza, I think we learned the lesson and we should be prepared enough for next week.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) To all three of you: with what feelings will you go to the last race in Brazil?

    LH: For me, it’s excitement that we have a good car and hopefully we can try to compete again with these guys. I’m obviously not fighting for the championship. It’s maybe more exciting for these guys but for me, I’m just having fun.

    SV: I think pretty much the same as Lewis: excited because the car seems to work very well, good enough to fight for a win. We’ve been very quick in Brazil the last couple of years so plenty to look forward to. On top of that, we increased our lead in the championship today so I think we are in the best possible position.

    FA: We will try to go to Brazil with the possibility to fight for the World Championship which is something that we fight for all through the year and we arrived in that fantastic position. Only Sebastian is in a better position than us but we should be proud of ourselves so try to enjoy the Brazil race and do our best, fight all the race and see what is the outcome at the end.

    Q: (Adam Hay–Nicholls – Metro) Seb, what were you complaining about when Lewis overtook you?

    SV: I think you misunderstood. I wasn’t complaining about Lewis, obviously. I wasn’t too happy send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I obviously had to go through Karthikeyan and he was basically right behind at the DRS zone; to do a big difference within one corner is hardly possible and then he took that opportunity – fair enough – down the straight and passed me. I tried to defend, I moved to the inside but I knew that he would have so much more speed that he can pick either side, so it didn’t really matter what I was doing and after that, I was obviously not too happy, because on all the laps before I tried to manage the gap to him, tried to manage the tyres until the end of the race, to be able to attack towards the last couple of laps. We had, I think, something like 20 laps, 15 laps to go at the time. It was not targeted at Lewis, it was more targeted at the backmarker which, as I said, gave a nice big envelope with an invitation to Lewis.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com world sport) It was a similar question, actually, but we don’t often see you, Sebastian, being very emotional but we heard you being emotional on the radio there. A question about the pressures you’re feeling. You’ve been in this position twice before, is it harder third time around?

    SV: I don’t think it had anything to do with that in that moment. I was really thinking about the points that could make a difference today or next week or the championship. I wanted to win today. I had a fantastic race, I was very happy, enjoyed the fight with Lewis a lot and obviously through that lost the lead. Equally knew that we can get it back but as it turned out it was extremely difficult. We had the same pace so I think I was probably in the same boat as Lewis, the first half of the race where I was just trying to get close enough to try and get the move done but that didn’t happen until the end. I think many times it’s difficult for you to judge what’s going on because not all the messages get broadcast so we do communicate quite a bit during the race –  sometimes calmer, sometimes not so calm so at that moment, obviously, I wasn’t too happy to lose the lead.

    Q: (David Estrada – Port Arthur News) Lewis, welcome to the United States; you had celebration champagne. Are you going to have a celebration barbecue tonight?

    LH: I had a few burgers last night so I was nice and heavy today! I tell you what, I’m so happy to be here. We’ve had such a great weekend. I actually don’t really drink. I had a little bit of champagne, it doesn’t really taste that good. Fernando said it was 7-Up or Sprite at the last race, it wasn’t the same this time. Tonight, hopefully I can get together with the team tonight. We already did last night but I’m sure we will celebrate tonight.

    SV: He said earlier he…  and I saw him exchanging phone numbers with the girls on the podium. He said earlier we’ll have a good time tonight!

    LH: I think it was the other way around actually! He stayed behind. That’s why we were late here.

    SV: He was first, you know, not just in the race but also picking up the girls.

    File photo of Lewis Hamilton at the US GP on Thursday. A Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team photo.

    Ends

  • Vettel at FIA press meet after pole

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

    3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Congratulations Sebastian, brand new circuit, you lost 55 minutes yesterday, and yet you absolutely nailed it today.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I’m very, very pleased with the result obviously. We started off on the right foot I think yesterday. The first practice was very good for us. It was extremely slippery to be honest to start with. Obviously the circuit is brand new, the asphalt is brand new and it takes a while for the track to come in but it’s also quite a lot fun to slide around a couple of corners and it just got better throughout. I think you can see the lap times just got quicker. Through qualifying I think we were very happy. In the last section I would have loved to go a little bit quicker. I think I lost a little bit in the first and the last sector. It was a little bit closer than I wanted with Lewis. But overall, fantastic. Obviously, it’s very important here to start from the front. We start on the clean side, both of us, so yeah, should be a good race tomorrow.

    And your championship rival, down in the ninth place, will probably start eighth. What are your feelings about that?

    SV: Yeah, I mean, not much to feel. Obviously we have to look after ourselves and as I said I’m very happy. We had a smooth session, no issues. As you touched on, yesterday afternoon was not ideal, we lost a little bit of time. These things can happen and they might happen again. So you never know and therefore it’s the best strategy to keep your down and try to get the best, which I think was the target in qualifying. As I said I’m very happy with the result but so far nobody has scored any points. I think we have seen at the last race how quickly things can change and even starting at the back does give you opportunities, so we need to wait and see. But for us we focus on our race and tomorrow we have the chance to seal the Constructors’ Championship for the team so that’s what Mark and I will probably be looking out for.

    Lewis, a tremendous lap – so, so close. But what about this first corner tomorrow? You’re going to be starting alongside Sebastian, going up the hill into that first corner.

    Lewis HAMILTON: I’m not really concerned about the first corner, I’m more concerned about the dirty side of the grid. I did a launch from it earlier on in P3 and it was quite slippery. No, hopefully tomorrow is just about getting a good start. It’s so wide in Turn One, I don’t think really much can go wrong there generally… I might be wrong. But obviously I don’t want to get in the way of Sebastian’s race. However, I do want to win, so I’ll try my best to get through cleanly.

    Third on the grid for you Mark Webber. At least you’ll start on the clean side behind your team-mate. What are your hopes for tomorrow?

    Mark WEBBER: I’m pretty happy with qualifying actually. It’s a very tricky venue in terms of tyres, circuit conditions, all those type of things together Seb touched on. It’s easy to be out of the window here and not be super competitive if you don’t get everything together. I was pretty happy with the last part of Q3. We had to manage a little problem in the car, which in the end I don’t think would have costs us a position because the guys obviously were pretty quick and both did very strong lap times. But I’d have liked to have had a little bit more pace but overall I’m happy to the third on the grid. As you say it’s certainly up there towards the front and we can have a very, very strong grand prix from there. So, it’s a great job from the team. I think Constructors’-wise we’ve got our eye firmly on that tomorrow, to try and put that to bed and that’ll be a huge result for everyone at Milton Keynes and at Renault.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sebastian, we haven’t really seen you going off at Turn 19. Have you been off there?

    SV: Yesterday!

    How have you been treating it? What is it about Turn 19 that’s so difficult and how have you been treating it?

    SV: Obviously I tried to stay on the track – it’s faster – but it’s extremely difficult because obviously you want to carry as much speed as possible into the corner and ideally be as early and aggressive on power as you can. The difficultly, first of all, is that the apex is quite difficult to see, so it’s rather easy to overshoot, and then if you are not on the perfect line, there’s less grip, you lose the car or if you’re a little bit too keen, a little bit too quick on the way in, you tend to lose the rear quite aggressively, and then you have to catch the car in order not to spin. But staying on the track then is quite difficult. I think there are a couple of corners like that on the track. Obviously I think for all of us it was quite a surprise yesterday to start on this track, and it was very, very slippery. It was like driving on ice – and I think the first run would have been quicker on Intermediate tyres, so obviously the asphalt was pretty fresh for all of us. It took a while to come in but I think you see the lap times now just getting quicker and quicker, so the circuit is ramping-up massively.

    You lost that 55 minutes yesterday, has that affected more your race preparations than your qualifying preparations?

    SV: No, not really, because we were still able to get a decent run on lower fuel and one on high fuelling yesterday afternoon. The boys did a good job to get the car ready in time, just to have enough for two runs, as I said, a short run and a long run, so that was very important, otherwise you are a little bit… not in the dark because Mark had a solid P2, free practice two, but obviously you don’t, you can’t tick all the boxes you would like for Sunday. But that wasn’t the case: if anything I think we missed a little bit out on the short runs where we would have loved to try a couple of things in order to make the car go quicker in qualifying – but I think we can say we were quite competitive and very happy with the result today.

    Lewis, tell us about the lap, because it was so close, it was getting very close to Sebastian’s.

    LH: It was. I was very, very happy with my lap. I saw in Q2 that they were obviously massively quick, I think it was a second or something like that, nine-tenths. I didn’t know where I was going to find that, so I thought that the Red Bulls would be in the lead – but I just went into Q3 and pushed as hard as I could, went in really hard and just gave absolutely everything. I seemed to find a little bit more time at the last sector, on the actual lap that I did, it was two laps consecutive. Surprisingly, the second lap was even quicker, even though I’d already just done a fast lap. And on that lap, just I think way on the limit everywhere. A couple of oversteer moments; I think I lost about a tenth at the last corner. The thing is I gained it on the way in and lost it on the exit. That’s how racing is – but still really happy to be where…

    What about the race tomorrow? You were very competitive obviously in qualifying but what about in the race itself?

    LH: That side I don’t really know. We did a couple of laps on the longer run. Looking after tyres is going to be quite difficult tomorrow. Obviously it’s quite a demanding circuit for tyres with the overheating of the surface of the tyres so I don’t know. I hope I can get away well. I hope… going to ask Charlie to clean that side of the grid so the people on that side get an equal start and hope that I can fight Sebastian down to Turn One. After that it’s a difficult circuit to follow, I think, because it’s so fast. Position will be everything.

    Mark, obviously, as you say, your thoughts are on Red Bull Racing’s Constructors’ Championship but would you be happy with third?

    MW: In the race tomorrow? No. I think we for sure want to move forward. You never know how tomorrow will unfold. Clearly we’ve put ourselves in a good position to capitalise on a very, strong clean grand prix from myself. If there’s any issues in front at any stage, you’re there to grab that. I had a pretty good feeling with the car on the long run on Friday actually, so that’s good for us. We’ll just have a good sleep tonight and have our head down for tomorrow.

    And is the strategy, the tyre strategy fairly straightforward?

    MW: Reasonably, yes, I would say. But there’s a few things that we need to understand during the race tomorrow to see if it is as straightforward as we think.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Thomas Richtr – Nova TV) One is the easiest for overtaking, ten is the most difficult: how do you rate your chances on this track for tomorrow?

    SV: I think we will find out tomorrow! It’s always difficult because we haven’t been here before. If you remember, we went to Abu Dhabi and we thought it was going to be quite easy the first time and it proved wrong. Obviously the last couple of years it has got more exciting, more overtaking. I think it’s possible here. Probably the best place is where the DRS zone is, down to turn 12 but there’s a couple of other places as well.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, the team of your main competitor started the whole qualifying on scrubbed tyres. Did you ever think about it? It seems to be a mistake if you look at the result.

    SV: I don’t know. I haven’t obviously seen… yeah I have seen the rough result. I know that we are here, so I know the top three but obviously I don’t know what was going on for the people behind and what they were doing in terms of tyre strategy. I think the fact that here warm-up is not as straightforward as it usually is made it a bit more difficult for us in terms of first of all getting the lap, finding the lap, the peak performance of the tyre and also it’s the same for everyone and then it’s usually a bit busy around the track, so I think in terms of traffic it was a bit worse in Q3 than it usually is but I think for us it was pretty straightforward what we wanted to do and what we did, I think you can see.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Question for Seb and Mark: I understand that this is the first weekend or the first race where you are using the new alternators in the race. Do either of you have any reliability concerns?

    MW: Good journalism. It’s good that you know more than me. I trust the guys, they do whatever they can to make sure that we have the best possibility to have the smoothest Sunday afternoon, irrespective of what parts are on the car, in what area of the car. So I have one hundred per cent trust in them that they’re going to do what they can to get us home and they’ve obviously selected those alternators for a reason and put their best foot forward.

    Ends

    Hamilton after taking P2 at the US GP on Saturday in Austin. McLaren photo

  • It’s great to be back in the US: Cyril at FIA Press Meet

    Austin, 16 Nov 2012: FIA Friday press conference at the

    File photo of Cyril Abiteboul, team Principal Caterham. Photo Caterham F1 team

     US Grand Prix.

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Cyril ABITEBOUL (Caterham), Norbert HAUG (Mercedes), Eric BOULLIER (Lotus), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari)

    A question, first of all, to all of you: your overall impressions of the circuit and the challenge. What have you found? What do you think of it?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: First of all, it’s great to back in the US. It’s a great market, a great market for the sport, for motorsport. A great market also for the automotive business. Looking at the track, well, it looks challenging. It looks great in terms of the layout. It looks like, also, it’s quite icy, both in the air but also on the track – quite slippery. So it will be interesting. Obviously, it was not easy to do a lot of work today, as we need for the track to stabilise, so that we are able to see the impact of our settings and our change to the set-up and distinguish that from the evolution of the track. Not so tricky but really interesting, truly, from inside and hopefully from outside also.

    Norbert, I’ll ask you about the market in general, the importance of F1 here later, but just the circuit for the moment and how Mercedes have found it?

    Norbert HAUG: Well, I think the circuit is fantastic and congratulations to the organisers, to Bernie. To get this event on the calendar is fantastic. The US is so important for Formula One. A race here belongs to a world championship, a true world championship. We have been here before and after a five-year break we are back again. The circuit is very, very demanding, very challenging. The track is developing currently, getting better and better, more rubber on the asphalt. But I think it has huge, huge potential. I think it will be televised worldwide of course, like usual, and make a big impact. So, this is a race with enormous potential and kind of a milestone in Formula One’s history I would say.

    Eric?

    Eric BOULLIER: Well, I’ll just follow my colleagues. Congratulations to the organiser, the promoter, who put this amazing track in place and constructed it. Thanks for Bernie for bringing us here. Obviously, as everybody says, America is important for everybody. I think it’s quite an impressive track with a different, you know, layout. I think we could see today, obviously, the track evolution was huge. The drivers found it challenging, so that’s promising for the race.

    Martin, the challenges of the circuit in particular? And what is it about Turn 19. Has anyone explained to maybe the front row here what it is about Turn 19 that everyone seems to be going off there?

    Martikn WHITMARSH: It’s an enormously challenging circuit. I think we can all be a little bit repetitive in these responses but again, I think we have to congratulate everyone, Bernie and the organisers, for putting together not only a great circuit with great facilities and also it’s great to see how many people were here on a Friday. So we’ve got to make sure that as Formula One as a whole, we put on a show this weekend; that we reach out over the coming year and we build this into a fantastic event. Clearly, the foundations are here to be able to provide that. I think it’s for us now to work as hard as we can to create the interest here. As far as the track is concerned, there are a lot of different corners on this circuit. I think [Hermann] Tilke has brought an assembly of corners from the other circuits he has built and tried everything here. The topography is great and there’s something about hills and dips and blind corners that make it very challenging for drivers but also make it look great and spectacular to drive on. But I think today, as has been said, the circuit seemed very shiny. I think it’s exacerbated by a reasonably conservative tyre choice here. So, I think we’re going to have to work hard, certainly we know we’ve got to work hard on low fuel; we found it a little bit easier on high fuel, which suggests we weren’t working the tyres well enough on low fuel. Some of the corners have got some unusual camber, which just makes it an interesting challenge. I think it’s slippery, some interesting cambers on the circuit and some interesting compromises you’ve got to try and find between the vast variety of corners we have.

    Christian, do you think it suits the Red Bulls?

    Christian HORNER: Yeah, it’s been a good day mainly for us today. Again, it’s incredible to see what’s been done in the last 18 months. We came here 18 months ago when it really was just a construction site and we ran a car with David Coulthard on just dirt and rubble that existed here. And to see what’s happened and how the track’s been built and the undulations and the corners, the way it’s been incorporated – just hats off to the Circuit of the Americas and to Bernie for convincing them to take up this race and so on. It’s a great challenge and a great spectacle and hopefully we can put on a good show for the American fans and public and it will be a race to remember.

    Stefano, good for Ferrari?

    Stefano DOMENICALI: First of all, just to start in a different way: happy birthday to Christian, he’s getting older but with good results. No, I would say that everything has been said. For us, I don’t know. We are there. Today, it’s difficult to judge the performance because you never know the first day as we said with such a new track. But for me, the most important thing with regard to your question Bob, is that I’m sure it will be a great show for the Americans, because we need that in order to make sure that this is the first day of a long term days when we speak every day about Formula One. For me the most important thing from let’s say now, from this weekend onward, is really to make sure that our American friends speak about Formula One every day. In order to build up what is Formula One is all about. I think that being here in this condition, helped by what Martin was saying about the tyres, makes very spectacular situation for everyone to… and I’m sure that will be the case on Sunday.

    Thank you very much. Again, to all of you: the importance of a race in America for your sponsors. Perhaps you can talk about that. Different priorities for different people obviously. What does it mean for Caterham and for your sponsors, GE for example?

    CA: For Caterham as an automotive company this is crucial. Obviously our current product range is not particularly adapted for the US but it’s still important for the future. The US is important because, for instance, car sales, car registrations in the US has picked up at the same level almost from what they were before the crisis. In comparison to what’s still happening in Europe, to the slowdown in some other markets like South America, North America and the US in particular is now back to a level where it was before. It is important for automotive companies, which are supporting mainly our show and Formula One in general. For Caterham more specifically, yeah, obviously we’ve got those links with GE, with Dell, with Intel. We’ve got a lot of people here. That’s important because those companies are used to other sports properties, like Olympics, like basketball, like a lot of things. There are different approaches to sports between the US and Europe but I don’t think it’s for here to discuss and debate about the merits of the difference, but I think it will be interesting to see how we make a good impression and also make sure that we are sustainable like Stefano was saying just before.

    Norbert?

    NH: Well for us this is obviously very, very important. It is the biggest market of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars worldwide. We are very successful here and still growing year-by-year. We have a production plant in Tuscaloosa obviously, building 130,00 cars here: M-Classes, ML, GL, the R-Class, and C-Class will be built here later on in Tuscaloosa and Arizona, so it’s a very, very important… you can say the most important market of course. And we will use that in the future, this event, and we will integrate it, our American colleagues will integrate it into their marketing strategies. That’s absolutely perfect and again, thanks for the guys here for having invested in these great facilities and thanks to Bernie to bring America back, thanks to the teams, that we all wanted to go in that direction and I think this is really a very, very important step for Formula One.

    Eric?

    EB: First from a team point of view, on my shirt you can see I have American companies like Unilever and Microsoft and Avanade and obviously a lot of technical partners as well are coming from America so it’s obviously very important for us to be here. I could see yesterday on my way coming here, I met a lot of fans in the airport and I was quite surprised to see all these American fans; they are very hungry to see Formula One, to be close to Formula One and I think all of the figures here are just talking for themselves because it’s sold out since a long time. I think a lot of teams here have hospitality, corporate hospitality, full of people – so there is a great interest in Formula One and in this race particularly. I think it’s good for Formula One to be back here, yes definitely. Any team here will justify that we need America in Formula One and Formula One needs to be here.

    Martin?

    MW: I think in summary, the USA is just a huge consumer market and I think you’ve only got to walk up and down the paddock here, see the names and all the brands that fortunately invest in Formula One and allow us to go Formula One racing. Nearly all of those brands if you look at them, the USA must be in the top three of their markets around the world. So it’s fundamentally important to the brands that invest and fund Formula One. This is really the country of the automobile and we’ve never come here and done a good enough job to create the interest. We’ve got a very different product from NASCAR. Obviously NASCAR reaches an exciting finale this weekend, which is an unfortunate coincidence, but I think we’ve got to work very hard to be as commercially smart as NASCAR and compete. I think we’ve got a different product, an exciting product and again, we’ve got to work very, very hard to make sure we sell it in America in a way that we haven’t done in the past.

    Christian?

    CH: It’s crucial for Formula One. To be a true world championship you’ve got to have a race in America. And for the first time ever we’ve got a circuit that’s specifically made to bring out the best and showcase Formula One cars. And I think the circuit that’s been built here will do exactly that. Hopefully we can put a great show on for the fans. In some ways it’s surprising for us to see how much interest there is in the US, how much knowledge about Formula One, how the town has come alive with Formula One coming into Texas. I think it’s a crucial race for Red Bull. America is Red Bull’s biggest market and certainly for our partners as well. Infiniti sell more cars here than anywhere else in the world and partners like AT&T… it’s an important market for us, it’s our biggest-ever race from a hospitality and guest point of view in our short history, so it’s a great place to be coming back into the US and hopefully we can have a great race on Sunday.

    SD: For us it’s the same. It’s the biggest market for Ferrari. It’s a very important market for our group with the brand of Chrysler and Fiat Cinquecento so it’s something that for sure… and as you can see we have a Ferrari Challenge series running during this weekend because we have a lot of clients, a lot of customers and as we all said, it really is imperative to stay here for a long time and to consider it as a starting point for something. We have the duty to, let’s say, teach to the American approach on the sport something different, and we need to make sure that with everything, we are able to convince this market, also from the sporting point of view, that Formula One is the future. And that has to added to the American sport that are very important, for sure.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR.

    (Tom Richter – TV Nova) I have a question for Stefano and Christian. Obviously this is a great event but we have the championship situation: two races to go, if you can please describe the moods in your respective teams and what prospects you see for the remaining two races.

    CH: You want to go first?

    SD: I have no problem, on that I should be quicker! For sure we know it is a difficult situation because we are behind but as I said to my people there is nothing to lose apart from doing the best job that we can and at the end of the day we will see where we will land. But we know we have a Sebastian that is very strong with a fantastic car and we need to make sure that we provide to Fernando the best car that we can and doing the best job that we can on the track. We have seen in the past that everything can happen so we need to believe on this up to the end. As we always said, the numbers will be done at the end.

    CH: Our approach is to treat this race very much like any other. We’ve come here to try to get the best out of the weekend. To try to get the best out of ourselves as a team and the championships will then hopefully look after themselves. We’ve worked hard to get ourselves into a strong position in the Constructors’ Championship and obviously Sebastian has done a tremendous job to haul himself back into the Drivers’ Championship after the summer break – we were close to 40 points behind Fernando. With 50 points still available in the Drivers’ Championship, you can take nothing for granted. We’ve seen how quickly things can change. We know that Fernando is a formidable competitor and Ferrari as a team. We’ve just got to focus on ourselves and look to get the best out of our package here this weekend.

    (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Charlie spoke to us yesterday about the prospect of adding points to super licenses instead of or in addition to the existing reprimand system. Could I please have your thoughts on whether you think offences both driving and non-driving should be treated on a points scale.

    SD: I don’t know what Charlie said yesterday, to be honest.

    CH: Charlie said there’s going to be points on your license now – is that it? Right, 12 points…

    SD: Team principle included…

    CH: I’ve got nine so… Martin, I’m surprised you’ve still got a license…

    MW: I haven’t always. I think at the moment you’re meant to receive three reprimands and then you get something so I think it’s just presumably a further elaboration on that point.  Like all things, any penalty system, providing it’s administered in a correct, consistent manner then why should we have any problem with it? It’s the same for all drivers and the same for all teams.

    Q: (Julien Febreau – L’Equipe) To all of you: regarding this season, in what way has Sebastian Vettel impressed you the most and do you think that now Sebastian is a better driver than in previous seasons?

    CH: Sebastian is a remarkable young man. He’s continued to evolve as a driver and as a person. He’s never given up this year. He’s driven with great determination. It’s been a tough year for him and the team, but he’s fought hard to get himself back into this championship and he’s driven extremely well. It’s a halcyon period for Formula One at the moment; there are some formidable drivers on the grid at the moment. Any driver, either Fernando or Sebastian, if they prevail in this year’s championship they will be fully deserving of that title. I think he’s continued as an individual to evolve. It’s only his hundredth Grand Prix this weekend and to have won 26 of those races, to have had more than 30 pole positions, to be a double World Champion at the age of 25 is something quite remarkable. But he carries that extremely well. I think he’s a good ambassador for the sport He applies himself in an extremely focused way to the job in hand. That’s my summary.

    MW: Well again, I think none of us were as qualified as Christian to answer this one really, but I think what you can say is that if you contrast this with last year… then Sebastian had an incredible start to the season and had great momentum and I guess you’ve got to say that it’s impressive how he’s come back this year and fought back into the position that he’s in. Obviously the team’s done a good job as well, but I think it’s been a more difficult year for him to get into a championship-winning position than he’s experienced before and you’ve got to give a lot of credit to him and to the team for being able to do that, so he’s done a good job. He’s learned some more languages as well, hasn’t he?

    CH: Yes! From the mechanics!

    CA: Maybe I can just say a word, because I’ve lived a part of the season at Renault and as Renault obviously Sebastian is one of our customers. Obviously there’s been a couple of failures that he’s had to live with and I think that he’s shown – even at the difficult moments – he’s shown a great respect for everyone and all the parties involved, and I think that as such he has demonstrated his stature that he’s clearly a grown-up.

    EB: Just a quick one but that basically as a pure driver he’s keeping developing his speed and getting more mature, definitely, more consistent and can bounce back from any difficult situation and take any opportunity so definitely you can see him growing even higher as a World Champion and future World Champion..

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com world sport) I just wondered, Stefano, if you’d like to state the case for Fernando, who’s also had a brilliant season, because he’s not had the fastest car, so I just thought that in contrast to the Seb stuff it might be nice…?

    SD: Well, I think that Fernando this year has, up to now, done an incredible season, maybe the best, up to now, considering above all the starting point that we had at the beginning of the season with the car. Without maybe something not connected to any kind of his fault, maybe the position in the championship would have been different at this stage. But that’s the way it is, so we need to start from that, but for sure, Fernando’s season, in terms of maturity, in terms of driving, is really – I would say – incredible and I rate this season so far, honestly, as one of the best of his career, considering the situation that he was in together with the team, at the beginning, above all.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com world sport) Regardless of what happens in the championship this year, it’s really difficult to judge whether Seb or Fernando is the better driver of the two unless they’re in the same machinery, I suppose.

    SD: We can do a Ferrari challenge because we have all the cars here, but that is part of Formula One. For sure drivers can make the difference but alone cannot really win. It’s a matter of teamwork, it’s a matter of a good performing car, a reliable car, good teamwork during the race in terms of strategy, good pit stops. It’s all about this. This is really the best thing about Formula One I would say.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – R&B) Martin, why do you think Lewis will regret his move to Mercedes next year?

    MW: Well again, as in a lot of journalistic quotes, they’re not always wholly accurate and not always completely in context but I think the question I was asked was ‘would I or would he regret…’ and I said ‘well both of us might do,’ but again, I don’t think any of us can look forward and predict with absolute certainty what’s going to happen. At the moment, we’re focused on racing the last two races and we’ll focus on that, try and do a good job. I’m sure Lewis will do a great job next year driving a Mercedes.

    Q: (Eddy Javier Tobias Carrillo – Wise Racng) I want to ask any of you about the tyre challenge this weekend. Mr Martin (Whitmarsh) mentioned that the tyre (selection) was probably a conservative choice for this weekend from Pirelli. I wanted to ask how do you compare that with the braking zones, because the braking zones are very hard? I saw many drivers locking up in the braking zones. Is that helpful or not? How are you going to cope with that? And how many stops do you think you will be doing?

    EB: On paper, we could say maybe a conservative choice but it’s normal for Pirelli as well. It’s a new track, new tarmac so no racing before so everything has to be built up. We could see a lot of track evolution over these two days, during the two sessions, so that obviously has to be taken into consideration for the rest of the weekend, especially for qualifying and the race. Actually our engineers are still analysing with Pirelli the wear and the degradation and these kind of parameters, so at the end, I think it’s just a choice which was done and we have to deal with it and we cannot complain or do anything.

    NH: We have to have an understanding for Pirelli in this case. Of course it’s easy to say if you would have brought softer tyres but I think they just didn’t have enough data about the circuit so they didn’t exactly know how challenging this track would be so they went on the safe side and I think that’s understandable.

    MW: We probably felt happier about the tyres here than we did when we were in Indianapolis a few years ago, so conservative is not such a bad thing.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Martin, you said earlier that it’s a shame that the race this weekend coincides with the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale. On the provisional calendar for next year, it also conflicts with the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale and I was wondering if any of you had plans to object or get the calendar modified so that we actually could break America properly?

    MW: Again, I don’t know about the others, but we’re not involved in setting the calendar. I think it appears to be a bit unfortunate but we’re probably (involved in) a different market and I guess it’s difficult when you’re arranging calendars to always get them… there’s always another sporting event in most nations that you try to dodge around. I don’t know how significant it is. As I say, this is a new market for us but it’s obviously something that occurs. NASCAR draws a huge huge audience, both in attendance and in television so we’ve given ourselves a bit of a challenge there, I think. I wasn’t aware of the clash next year.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Speed are giving the NASCAR finale 30 hours of TV coverage this weekend. I think F1 is getting something like two and a half, so it is a bit of a problem for the dedicated motor sport fan.

    CH: I think the major problem is that whatever weekend you stick a Formula One race on there’s going to be a NACAR race. Looking at their calendar, they seem to race every single weekend. Some of us think that 20 races is a lot. I think that those guys are doing a fair bit more.

    SD: To be honest I have to say that I didn’t know about that. I think that, for sure, in terms of quantity, there’s not even a fight because it is impossible to fight in that respect. As I said at the beginning, we take this momentum to speak about Formula One because I don’t think it’s only a matter of having on one hand the main final and on the other hand one race in America but also it’s a matter of growing the attention of Formula One and then maybe in the future, the hope is that if you have on the same day the two different events, we have it the other way around, meaning that we have done a great job in terms of promotion. That should really be our target at the moment.

    Q: (Maurice Hamilton – Honorary) Formula One has arguably never been more competitive from the front of the grid to the back so driver talent is therefore the most important thing that you’re looking for. We know that drivers with financial backing still play a part, certainly in the second half of the grid, the back half of the grid. I wonder if the front three can just give me their view on that and say if that’s still an inevitable part of Formula One, despite the need to cut costs and perhaps Cyril could explain how important a driver with financial backing is to one of the smaller teams?

    CH: Well, I think that since Formula One started in 1950, there has always been a mixture of drivers that have paid for seats and drivers that have been paid as professionals. The demands and costs of Grand Prix racing have always required that and it’s no different today where there’s drivers that have perhaps were associated with sponsors but have still had to demonstrate their talent, demonstrate their ability to warrant a place. In a perfect scenario, you’d have the top 24 drivers on the grid that were the most talented 24 drivers in the world in a Formula One event. The reality is that isn’t the case and I think that while Formula One is a commercial business and there are commercial pressures, I think you will always have that balance, but I think that what’s good to see is that there have been schemes that have been set up to support young drivers who have found their way onto the grid that perhaps were associated with sponsorship but have also had to earn that position.

    SD: I agree what Christian said but one point to add: the less chances that we give to drivers to test on the track, the more it’s likely that we have drivers than can present themselves to a team with whatever you call it, with money to bring with them, and this is why we are so keen to have some more testing, also for them to make sure that they are able to show to everyone how good they are on the track, on top of how good they are in bringing money to the team.

    MW: I think there are some good pay drivers out there at the moment but to my mind, there are probably too many teams that have to rely upon pay drivers and I think that’s a little bit sad for the sport and I think it’s an indication that we’ve got too much financial pressure in the sport at the moment. I think you’ll always have a few but I think too great a proportion of the grid, in my opinion, has to rely upon that and that just tells us that we’ve got to work harder to bring costs down in the sport, because it does distort… unfortunately the three teams at the front here certainly have to pay their drivers but I think we need to really improve the financial health of the sport, such that there’s a smaller proportion of pay drivers, in my personal opinion.

    CA: The point that Martin was making is very true about the world economics and I think that it’s a little bit more complex than that, actually. I don’t like the notion of pay driver because I see them more as a commercial element which obviously is crucial when you are at the back of the grid, you don’t attract the sort of TV coverage that the other teams attract and that’s a reality. We are not complaining. We have to make our way through the grid, up to the (front of) the grid to get more coverage but before that happens, obviously the drivers are as ambassadors, a good commercial vehicle who have a value for any form of sponsors. Just talking in terms of contracts, usually we don’t have any drivers who are paying for a seat, actually. It’s just that he’s introducing some sponsors to us who are helping the team to finance the season and financing their salaries, so actually in reality, there are no paying drivers as such. I don’t want to start a polemic but even the best drivers in the world which are in the first row teams, there are some sponsors who are there also because they are there and I don’t think you will qualify any of those drivers as pay drivers.

    Q: (Carlos Jalife – Fast Mag) I was talking to Mr Ecclestone yesterday asking about the Mexican Grand Prix and he said that it’s hard because Texas has set a new standard. He said that no other country can run a Grand Prix if it has a facility that is less than this one that we see here in Texas. According to the world economic climate I would disagree but I would like to have your opinion on that.

    NH: It would be nice if all the Grand Prix race tracks in the future would have a comparable standard to these facilities here, especially the race track is fantastic, the layout is great. It would be nice. I have some doubts whether this standard will be guaranteed for all the race tracks in the future. It does not necessarily need to be the case in my view.

    EB: It’s not easy to comment on Bernie’s ideas, Bernie’s comments, but as Norbert just said, it’s great for all of us, also for you journalists, to have these kind of facilities, to do all our work in nice conditions, for the mechanics, the engineers and everybody so yes, the standard is good and obviously we would be happy to have the same standard and again, I would be happy to race in Mexico. I’ve been racing in Mexico in the past and it’s a different standard but still we can manage.

    MW: Well, I think you’ve just got to ask the same question this time next week!

    CH: I’m lost for words after Martin’s totally politically incorrect comments about the Brazilian Grand Prix! I think that there’s 20 races and there’s a lot of competition for those positions on the calendar. There’s new circuits that are coming in in the future; there’s Sochi in Russia that’s coming in. There’s an awful lot of interest and where Bernie does an incredible job, he keeps bringing new venues to the calendar, whether it’s Singapore, whether it’s Abu Dhabi, whether it’s  here in Texas. Formula One is now out of balance between Europe and the rest of the world, but it just shows how the world and the markets are emerging. It’s very healthy for Formula One to have that competition, to host a venue, because what Formula One does bring to that country, to that state is quite significant.

    SD: Well, I think that for sure that Bernie is pushing towards a high standard in all the places that we have to go to. I think it’s the correct policy that he has to apply. Then it’s a matter of negotiation, a matter to see what is at the end of the day the complete package in terms of the globality of the product that you’re going to bring with a new venue, with a new Grand Prix. As I said, it’s correct that we always try to be at the top and then it’s a matter to see what we can really do but it’s important to go in a place where there is a passion for Formula One, there’s the money for Formula One, there’s the interest, because in that respect, I have to say Bernie always has a good vision to anticipate certain things and we need to make sure that hopefully also in Mexico this will happen very soon.

    CA: I think everything has been said. If there is passion, I’m pretty sure there will be passion in Mexico, so why not? I’m not worried about some sort of standard because I think that passion is much more important. Personally, I remember my first race was in Magny Cours. I know it’s a race that has been very much criticised by everyone but that’s a race where I lived a fantastic moment and people were very enthusiastic there. Same thing with Canada and Montreal. I don’t think this is seen as best in class of standard, but again I think this is one of the favourite races of the paddock and I think the public is again playing a big part because of the passion. I think this is what matters and the mix between the standard that Formula One wants to demonstrate, the statement that Formula One wants to make to its sponsors and to the internal feeling and nostalgia and passion that there is must be the right balance.

    Ends

  • US Grand Prix: FIA Thursday Press Conference

    Austin, 15 Nov 2012:

    Kimi Raikkonen file photo by Lotus F1 team.

    DRIVERS – Pedro DE LA ROSA (HRT), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), Sergio PEREZ (Sauber), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Lotus)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Gentlemen, a question to you all to start with: what are your impressions of the circuit so far; your feelings about being back in America. What it’s like to be back here?

    Pedro DE LA ROSA: Good morning to everyone. I’ve just been doing a lap, just walking around. I don’t know much apart from this lap, and apart from what I’ve been able to see from the internet – from the lap Jérôme [D’Ambrosio] did in the Lotus -– and it looks fantastic… a very difficult track, with very big gradient changes and very challenging because most of the corners, the apexes are blind. So let’s see tomorrow, but it’s one of those tracks that you can say it’s going to be difficult and challenging.

    Lewis, have you done anything on simulation?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Good morning everyone. Yeah, I think everyone’s done simulations probably. It’s quite an interesting track. It’s quite difficult to learn initially but it looks fantastic to drive. I really started to enjoy it once I got used to it, which took perhaps a little bit longer than some of the other circuits to learn but it’s going to be very interesting this weekend.

    Sergio?

    Sergio PEREZ: I haven’t done any simulator, we don’t have one with Sauber. I’ve seen some video of the track and I walked the track and it’s amazing. I think it will be very enjoyable for all the drivers.

    Fernando, have you been around the circuit, done any simulation?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, we did some simulator programmes, after Singapore it was that we started. A bit more intense this last week and yesterday I also did two laps on the bicycle. The programme is to do some more this afternoon. So, we are more or less ready. The track seems spectacular, very, very nice. It will be challenging for us drivers and for the engineers as well. I think it will be a good show for everybody and hopefully some good overtakings as well, opportunities around the track. It can be a very good weekend.

    Sebastian?

    Sebastian VETTEL: We also prepared in the simulator but apart from that I haven’t seen much. I will walk the track this afternoon but I think if we have to wait until we get out until we have a judgement on how the circuit feels. So by the looks of it, it looks quite interesting, but you know it’s always the feeling you get inside the car that is most important, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

    Kimi?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: I’ve only seen the video from when they did the demo run here, but I haven’t seen the circuit itself. I will see tomorrow how it goes.

    You won’t even walk the circuit this afternoon?

    KR: I don’t know yet. I’ll have to see.

    After the comment from the last grand prix, it’s good to see…

    KR: Well, I mean, if I found a golf cart or something.

    Some individual questions now. Pedro, there have obviously been some stories around about HRT etc. What can you tell us? What are your own personal plans? What do you know? Maybe you can’t tell us anything.

    PDLR: Well, unfortunately there’s not much I can say really. It’s a corporate decision, which I’m not involved in. All I can say is, we are here, that there are two grands prix to go and no matter what’s going on in the background, we will give it 100 per cent like we’ve always done. No matter in which position we fight and who we fight against we will do a professional job. We are here to do that and there are two very interesting grands prix left. Hopefully there’s some more retirements than in the last few races, even more and we can achieve a good result. But first we have to finish the races and make sure that we do as much as we can on both Friday sessions that are left.

    Lewis, obviously winner of the last US Grand Prix which took place on this soil in 2007 from pole position, an interesting comment from your team boss saying that you regret your decision, or you may have regretted your decision to change teams. What’s your reply to that?

    LH: Yeah, I was a little bit surprised to hear that. It’s clearly absolutely not the case.  But I’ve got a great team and I’ve been with them such a long time. So, I’m sure everyone has emotions within the team but I’m still here giving 100 per cent to them for the last two races. Of course it’s quite emotional for me but I’m very, very happy with the decision I’ve made.

    Sergio, do you call this your home grand prix? To what extent is it?

    SP: Well, it’s the closest one I have ever raced in the last eight, nine years in my life, so I expect to have a lot of support here, many Mexicans coming because it’s quite close to Mexico. I think it will be a great weekend.

    Fernando and Sebastian. It’s interesting to come to this race with the championship the way it is with this very much a level playing field: a circuit that no-one’s ever raced on before. What sort of preparations can you make? What are your feelings? What sort of plans do you have? Has anything changed for you just for this one race?

    FA: Nothing really changed in terms of preparation and approach for the weekend. Maximum concentration, maximum effort from everybody in the team. Preparing some new parts that we are bringing every grand prix and hopefully that we can test them tomorrow and have some feedback about that. Try to do our very good, smooth Friday, good test and here, maybe more important than some other circuits, to do a lot of laps, to learn the racing lines, the possibilities and some… maybe tricks… that the circuit can have. And a good Saturday, try to be in the best position possible for the race and 58 or 60 or whatever laps, qualifying laps, Sunday try to score as many points as possible. Exactly the same as every other weekend.

    Sebastian, is there any more you can do? I mean you do a huge amount anyway…

    SV: Usually you try to prepare as much as you can. It’s not the first time we’ve raced on a completely new circuit. Obviously we had this kind of challenge previous years as well. I think we do what we can. The most important is to get into the rhythm tomorrow and have a good start and go from there.

    Kimi, winner of the last grand prix, what has changed in terms of your feeling coming to a grand prix. Has anything changed?

    KR: Not really. Of course the team is happy, I’m happy that we finally win but it’s a new place, new race again and we try to do the best. I don’t expect we suddenly going to start winning or being in front. Probably it’s going to be very similar to where we’ve been in the last races in top five and then go from there and see what happens.

    Have they all brought their T-shirts with them?

    KR: I don’t know, I just arrived here. I don’t know yet.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, do you remember your first grand prix in America, and what sort of memories do you have?

    SV: I remember my first race obviously. I think you can’t forget. There are some positives, some negatives. I didn’t have the best start, and not the best first corner but then it was quite an interesting race. And obviously a big challenge at the end of the race. I was physically destroyed, I remember that as well. And I knew that I had a lot to do – but I knew as well that’s what I want to do in the future. Sitting here 100 races later is quite crazy in a way. I think if the number gives you anything, it’s just that you don’t realise how quickly time goes by. I think it’s always like that when you do something you enjoy a lot. You don’t count the days and the months and the years going by. Looking back now it doesn’t seem a long time ago but looking on the calendar it’s five years ago. So… yeah.

    (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Fernando, what is your memory for your hundredth grand prix?

    FA: I don’t remember anything. I don’t even know where it was.

    (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Question for Pedro, the Spanish media were yesterday reporting that there are concerns within the team that, due to a lack of spare parts, your cars aren’t actually going to be safe to run this weekend. Is that media scandal or have those voices, have those concerns been voiced inside the team?

    PDLR: It’s something that I’m not aware of and it’s the first news comes from you. All I can say is that we might be modest, we are small and we are what we are – but we are a professional Formula One team and for sure when we start running it’s because the car is safe. I’m experienced enough to… y’know, I would never jump into an unsafe car because of parts being too old. So no, the answer is, the car is slow but it’s safe.

    (Jim McEvoy – The Daily Mail )  Sebastian, I was wondering what it would mean to you if, at the end of the week, you have won your third world drivers’ [title].

    SV: I think it would be incredible. Obviously it has been a very tough season, up and down I think for everyone. Extremely challenging, different to previous years in many ways. I think we learned a lot and did way less mistakes this year. We have a very competitive car, we’ve had one since the start of the season. Maybe sometimes not good enough to win but still good enough to collect a lot of points. I think that put us in a very strong position and we are able to fight for the championship. Only two races to go, so whatever happens this weekend, before anything happens we have to make sure we get the maximum on Friday, on Saturday, because the points are there to grab on Sunday and not before. But for sure it would mean a lot, and probably difficult now to find the right words.

    (Jim McEvoy – The Daily Mail)  Fernando, what would it mean to you to do it?

    FA: I think we need to wait and see. I think as Sebastian said, now is very difficult to imagine what it can mean or what emotions that you could feel. We’ll just concentrate in our job and try to do a good weekend and then fighting in Brazil for the championship, because in my case I cannot do anything here. I can only save this much points and wait for Brazil.

    (Jim McEvoy – The Daily Mail)  Just one more to Lewis. You’d like to be where those guys are, gunning for your third… how hard is it for you to watch on knowing that you are not involved in that? Maybe you could speak about how much respect you have for these guys and how brilliantly they’re each doing as well?

    LH: I think it goes without saying that these two are obviously two of the best here. What they’ve achieved it absolutely incredible and all of us other drivers are trying our hardest to aspire to do the same. They’re both incredible professional. Amazing to see how professional they are considering how much pressure there is on the both of them. But they’re both World Champions, they handle it no problem. And as for me, it is what it is. Happy just to be here fighting. I’ve got two last races in my team and just want to do the best job and try and see if we can still fight with them, even though we’re not fighting for the championship.

    (Azul Ananda – Jawa Pos Indonesia) Question for Fernando. Sebastian will have his 100thrace this week and you are almost 200 and yet both of you are going for the third championship. Can’t believe that 2005, 2006 you already won two and now there is another guy, half the races that you did and will go for the third. How do you feel about that?

    FA: Yeah. I think it’s normal, it’s motorsport. When I won the second championship I was also around this number of races. I start in 2003 in Renault and then in 2006 won the second title. And 2007 fight for the third title until the last race, so similar of what Sebastian is now. It’s good, it’s sport and everyone has his own career. We saw many examples in Formula One. We saw with all the drivers, with Michael, now after winning seven titles, three years with not very good results. We saw Barrichello for example, was a man who raced more times here in Formula One, he was fighting for Q1 with Williams and fighting for world championship with Brawn GP the following [preceding] year. It’s up and down for everybody. I’m proud of my nearly 200 grand prix, always fighting with all the cars, always winning some grand prix every year and yeah, fighting for the world championship already four or five years. So, it’s good and I’m happy.

    Q: (Richard Oliver – San Antonio Express News) Sergio, could you quantify emotionally how you’re feeling? You started in Guadalajara and now you’re not that far away; this track has been erected over the last year. How do you feel emotionally about the evolution of your career and how you’re here, so close to home?

    SP: I feel very happy to be so close to home. I left Mexico at a very young age. All these guys, they always do a race or two during the year in their own countries and they have done all their careers in their countries. I had to move to their countries to do my own career which means that I left Mexico at a very young age. I think it’s the closest that I will race. I will have all my family – even my grandmother is coming here, my friends, all the people who never saw me racing live, they will be here, plus lot of Mexican fans, so it’s great. I feel very emotional about this weekend.

    Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Fernando, after the aero tests Ferrari had recently, are you now more or less optimistic?

    FA: Same.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) To Fernando: as you said, it’s not the first time you have fought for the World Championship at the last races. What’s different, compared to the past? How have you changed compared to the past?

    FA: I’m much more relaxed, much more focused. In 2006, I arrived at the last race fighting with Michael in Brazil. It was quite stressful, quite an intense weekend and not easy to get focused or sleep or things like that because it was a very emotional weekend. The year after, 2007, it was also a very stressful last race, three of us fighting for the World Champion:  Lewis, Kimi and me and it was also a stressful weekend and not easy to do things. In 2010, we arrived in Abu Dhabi, again fighting for the World Championship at the last race. I was much more calm there, I was more confident and things in the race, in the weekend were quite good for us and we did more or less – in terms of preparation and approach – it was much more calm and more mature, I felt, in 2010. The race was what it was and we didn’t win in the end but feeling-wise we were much more prepared. In these last two races, I feel, as I said before, completely normal. It’s good experience. It’s the fourth time we have been fighting for the World Championship up to the last race – hopefully – and you really feel the difference, being much more focused, concentrated, trying to do the job and understanding that if you do everything perfectly you have a chance; if you make a mistake you will lose the chance, so let’s focus on us.

    Q: (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Fernando, is it an advantage for you that you’ve never raced here before this weekend, in terms of the fact that you need to take it to the next round, and also, just how confident are you that you are going to make it, and if you are, what gives you that confidence?

    FA: I don’t think it’s an advantage for it to be a new circuit. I think we all will adapt very quickly in first practice and we all have simulators and everything that we use to prepare for the race, so I think that’s more or less the same as every other race.  Confident? I’m very confident, I trust my team, I trust myself. We are honest with ourselves, we know that we don’t have the quickest package out there and we’ve qualified an average of sixth or seventh this season, so if we see that on Saturday we are sixth or seventh, people will say ‘maybe you say bye bye to the title’. No. I think it’s our normal position but even with this normal position, we were leading the championship until three races ago and we are ten points behind the leader, so this is not our strong point. Our strong point is to score more points than the others on Sunday and I’m sure we will do this in the next two races.

    Q: (Pierre van Vliet – F1i Magazine) Lewis and Kimi: if you have a winning package this weekend – if after qualifying you realise you have a chance, what can you do not to disturb the World Championship battle between these two?

    LH: Go for it Kimi, I would love to hear what you have to say.

    KR: We try to do the best that we can as a team in the race, and wherever we end up, if we take some points out of either of them, that’s racing, that’s life. We don’t try to disturb anything, we’re just doing our normal race and see what happens. I’m not looking who is there or if I’m taking points from them or somebody else. We just try to win, if not, score as much as we can.

    LH: It was a good answer. Yeah. We have no means to try and get in the way of anyone, but we want to beat them, we’re still fighting for position in the championship, even though we’re not fighting for the top position so we just have to focus on our job. Kimi did a great job in the last race. I think we were very strong as well, hopefully we will have less reliability issues this weekend and hopefully we can compete right at the front with all these guys.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Question for Kimi, Pedro, Lewis and Segio; between Sebastian and Fernando, who would be your bet for the championship?

    KR: I think whoever scores most points will get it and deserves it. Right now Sebastian is in a bit of a stronger position but we’ve seen before many times that you have one bad race and things are completely different.

    PdelaR: I think that until Brazil, I’m not prepared to answer this question. I don’t know. We’ll see.

    LH: I don’t know really. I think you just put money on both of them. Either way, you have a good chance of winning.

    SP: Well, I think after this weekend we will have a better idea, but let’s wait until Brazil. Everything can happen.

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – Associated Press) Sebastian and any other driver, what do you make of the request for drivers to clean up their language a little bit post-race and do you see that as an attempt to appease an American audience that might be a little sensitive to that sort of thing?

    SV: I think if you’re sensitive you should watch – I don’t know – some kids’ programme. You have the remote control in your hand, so you can chose. Surely it wasn’t intentional at the last race. I think it’s a bit unnecessary to create such a big fuss but anyway, if I said some things that weren’t appropriate then I apologise but I think there’s not a lot I have to do differently to succeed in that regard.

    Q: (Adriana Terrazas – Comunidad Fan Mexico) Checco, there have been lots of rumours recently over the past weeks that Esteban Gutierrez will finally be at Sauber; everything indicates that it will be so, but what would it mean to you to have two Mexicans in 2013, especially with someone so close to you, and someone that will be here presently?

    SP: It will be good for the country, for us. I think he’s a good driver. As you said, there have been a lot of rumours that he will be the driver taking my place at Sauber but at the moment I know as much as you do, so I have no idea as to who is going to come. If he comes, it will be good to have two Mexican drivers after so much time without a driver; now we are finally going to have two on the grid. If it happens I think it’s great.

    Q: (Carlos Jalife – Fast Mag, Mexico) To all but Sebastian: do you feel that a driver getting the championship three times in a row is good for the sport, because fans are basically fearing a repeat of the Schumacher era when it got boring? You just turned the TV on and Schumacher won whatever happened and so they are a bit confused about this. What are your thoughts on this?

    PdelaR: I will start, I will break the ice, iceman. I think that the important thing is really not how many championships one driver (wins) or if he dominates or there’s an era related to a team or driver. I think the important thing really is that the championship is decided in the last race and by a small amount of points. This is the deciding factor, and I think that this year is a great example of a great championship that hopefully is decided in the last race between great drivers, great teams. That’s my view. Those championships, like last year, were pretty boring for all except Sebastian. When there is such domination, it’s not as good. That’s my view.

    LH: Yeah, I agree with Pedro. I think to keep the championship title battle right to the last races is for me the most exciting. When I’ve watched it in the past, when the championship’s finished before, there’s not really a lot of point watching the last few races. The suspense is not there, so I think we’ve just got to try – and this year is a good year – to show that hopefully these guys will go to the last race and people will enjoy it.

    SP: I think that last year was maybe a bit boring, with Sebastian winning a lot, but this year it has been a great championship and I think the one that wins, it will be a great champion because it will be well deserved and it will be a great championship. It has been a great championship all year, with so many different winners in the beginning, and so many cars fighting for wins. I think it has been a great year, this year.

    FA: Yeah, I think it’s OK, to arrive to the last race; more interesting.

    Ends