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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
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Title contenders keep calm
Austin (Texas, US), 15 Nov 2012: Drivers’ World Championship contenders Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso agree the big prize will not detract from their focus on this weekend’s US Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso go into the race in Austin, both knowing the Championship is in their own hands. Both argued that their best approach this weekend is to treat it like they would any other race.
“Nothing changes in terms of preparation and approach for the weekend: maximum concentration, maximum effort from everybody in the team,” said Alonso in the FIA press conference on Thursday. “[on] Sunday try to score as many points as possible. Exactly the same as every other weekend.”
“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,” added Vettel. “I think we do what we can. The most important is to get into the rhythm tomorrow and have a good start [to the weekend] and go from there.”
Alongside his two victorious years, Fernando Alonso was also in contention at this stage of the season in 2007 and 2010. Today the Spaniard claimed to be much more calm in 2012 than he was as a younger driver. “I’m more relaxed, much more focused,” said the 2005 and 2006 World Champion. “In these last two races, I feel 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.”
ends
Fernando Alonso at the US GP on Thursday. Photo by Ferrari F1 team -
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
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Tech talk from Lotus
Tech Talk: USA GP at the Circuit of Americas on 18 Nov 2012
Tech Talk. Logo courtesy Lotus F1 team 1. REAR WING This will be at a similar level to that used in Abu Dhabi. Maximum speed reached is around 315kph, so it has a long straight, but it’s intermingled with a diverse mix of corners, both high speed and low speed. 2. BRAKES We need a suitable brake cooling level to maintain enough heat at the end of the long straight, yet not offer so little cooling that they overheat in the technical section. Balancing temperatures will be the name of the game. No problems are expected in terms of wear. 3. SUSPENSION Kerbs are an area which will not be known until the team arrives at the circuit, when a track walk will highlight any areas needing further contemplation. As a starting point, the Abu Dhabi set-up will be used as it’s a recent circuit with reasonable kerbs. As a counter point, India has very flat kerbs. 4. TYRES The most conservative allocation of the hard and medium compounds will be in use. The new layout and track surface will make trying to unlock maximum tyre performance quite challenging, and the hardest two tyres mean that degradation is unlikely to be too much of a factor in the race. 5. FRONT WING A relatively high level of front wing is required to counter understeer in turns 16-18 where the car would otherwise push through the turn, killing speed and wearing the front tyres. 6. ENGINE Renault Sport F1 has conducted computer simulations and engine dyno running in preparation for this new circuit. More than double the time is spent testing engine maps on the dyno than would otherwise be the case for a ‘normal race’; so approximately four days of dyno running and simulations.
Track Guide: Circuit of the Americas TURN 1 There is a sizeable elevation change here where the circuit rises steeply and drops away. TURNS 2 – 3 Two very high speed corners which look to be flat out. TURN 11 A potential overtaking opportunity following what looks like being a third gear corner at Turn 9, followed immediately by Turn 10 which will be taken flat before heavy braking into this hairpin. TURN 12 Brakes need to be set-up so they are not too cool at the end of the long straight in preparation for heavy braking into this corner TURNS 13 – 15 This is a combination of fairly low speed second gear corners. The way it is driven will depend on the kerbs. TURNS 16 – 18 Front wing levels are tailored to counter understeer in this continuous double apex sequence.
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F1 returns to US after 5 years
Austin (Texas, US), 15 Nov 2012: It’s been five years since Formula One last raced in the USA but for the 19th and penultimate round of the 2012 season the series is returning to America this weekend for the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
The new Circuit of the Americas is a purpose-built 5.516km (3.4 mile), 20-turn, F1 standard facility located 15 miles outside downtown Austin and promises to provide teams with some interesting challenges, and spectators with some thrilling racing.
Chief among the challenges is, of course, the fact that no team has yet turned a wheel in anger here. Former F1 driver David Coulthard drove a Red Bull Racing showcar here when circuit construction had just begun and more recently Lotus test driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio piloted a 2010 Renault R30 on opening day at the track, but beyond those very different laps teams will only have simulator data upon which to base their weekend preparations.
That should make Friday’s free practice sessions labour-intensive workouts for the teams, though again it will present a challenge as the new track will undoubtedly be largely free of grip in the early stages of the weekend.
It means that the unknown of Austin represents the perfect wildcard for a championship that has become increasingly hard to call in recent weeks. After a dramatic race in Abu Dhabi, defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing leads Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by just 10 points, with a maximum of 50 on the table over the final two rounds. Kimi Raikkonen’s win in the UAE was a spectacular feat in his comeback year but even with that victory the Finn is now out of the title fight.
So it comes down to a head-to-head battle between the famous red of Ferrari and the blue of Red Bull Racing. And after recent events in the US, locals will know just how intense red versus blue showdowns can be!
Release from Pirelli, the F1 tyre suppliers: US Grand Prix from a tyre point of view
US GP grid photo courtesy Lotus F1 team What’s the story?
Milan, November 12, 2012 – The Formula One teams and Pirelli take a step into the unknown this weekend with the inaugural United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas: a newly-built track that has never been raced on before.
The Italian firm is bringing the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero White medium tyres: a reasonably conservative compound choice for a circuit where there are still a number of unknown factors when it comes to tyre performance. The teams will be given an extra set of the hard tyre for Friday’s two free practice sessions in order to help them learn the all-new track.
One sure thing is that the Texas circuit will be fast and challenging, with warm ambient temperatures adding to the mechanical demands placed on the tyres. The 5.515-kilometre track features varying elevations that alternate slower and more technical sections with other areas that are very quick. Initial information suggests that the track surface will be quite smooth.
The opening sector of the lap is particularly demanding, with a uniquely profiled hairpin turn one and then a rapid sequence of direction changes from turns four through to six: reminiscent of Silverstone or Spa. This puts a lot of energy through the tyre structure, particularly the outside tyre that has to withstand the majority of the cornering forces. Traction is also a vital aspect of tyre performance in America in order to find optimal grip coming out of the slower corners.
With no data from previous years to fall back on, Pirelli has used advanced simulation technology to predict how the tyres might behave on the Austin circuit. The teams will also use similar data when it comes to formulating some initial ideas about race strategy; however the information gained from free practice will be even more vital than usual. Teams will be aiming to collect as much tyre data as possible on both full and empty fuel tanks and the extra set of hard tyres should enable them to maximise their running.
Pirelli’s motorsport director says:
Paul Hembery: “Austin is one of just three new tracks for us in Formula One competition this year, alongside Bahrain – which we’ve tested at previously – and Hockenheim, where we previously raced in GP3. So in many ways America will be the biggest challenge for us of the year, but stepping into the unknown is a situation that we are used to: last season the majority of tracks were completely new to us. We’ve chosen the hard and the medium compounds as we think it will be quite a demanding track, based on the asphalt samples and simulation data we have gathered. Naturally we’ve leaned towards a slightly more conservative choice in order to cover every possibility at a brand new circuit, but the tyre choice in Abu Dhabi was also conservative and yet we saw one of the most exciting races of the year. We’re all absolutely delighted to be returning to America with Formula One: it’s a crucial market for us as well as being the home of many of the most enthusiastic fans out there. We’ve felt a huge buzz about this race, and with the championship so finely poised it couldn’t come at a better time.”
The men behind the steering wheel say:
Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing): “I was in Austin after the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2006, catching up with some friends over there and I remember it as a really cool city. I remember there were lots of great options for food, everyone was pretty laid back and didn’t take themselves too seriously: it was nice to just have that sort of relaxed atmosphere in the city. I’ve heard from my guys out there that everyone is pumped and excited about the race being on. Formula One traditionally has been very dominant in Europe so it’s good that we are going back to the States. We know there’s a huge number of motorsport fans in America, as you have big categories like NASCAR and Indycar; even some of the dirt track stuff is huge. The track looks pretty quick: it’s got some very fast changes of directions, left-rights and fifth/sixth gear stuff, which is not hanging around for us. It looks like they’ve done a really good job and there are lots of undulations, which is important. With a new track there are always things we don’t really know until we get there, such as the subtleties of the cambers of the corners, which we will find out about on Friday.”
Pirelli’s test driver says:
Jaime Alguersuari: “I don’t know anything at all about the Circuit of the Americas – I’ve only ever seen some photographs and videos – but it looks like a great track and a lot of fun to drive. It’s clear that all the teams have good knowledge of all the Pirelli tyres now, so I would say that understandably the hard and the medium tyres are quite a conservative choice, but of course this depends on many other factors such as the macro-abrasion of the surface in Austin. We could be looking at a one-stop race although there are other outside circumstances that can always affect this, such as safety cars and the weather. A new track often shakes things up a bit, so I’m sure it will be interesting.”
Technical tyre notes:
- As Austin is a brand new circuit, the surface is likely to be ‘green’ and slippery, with a high degree of track evolution over the weekend. A totally new track often has a thin film of greasy oil on the surface, which is released by the asphalt as it settles into place. The race length will be 56 laps.
- Turn 11 is also particularly demanding in Texas as the driver starts braking heavily with the car already turning, creating an uneven distribution of forces across the tyres. Good grip from the compound is essential for an effective turn-in.
- The cars are likely to run with low gearing and medium downforce, with the set-up not expected to be dissimilar to that of Istanbul Park in Turkey.
- The weather can be uncertain in Texas at this time of year, with a 31% chance of rain on any given day on average. The month of November is characterised by rapidly falling daily high temperatures, with daily highs decreasing from 25°C to 19°C over the course of the month, exceeding 29°C or dropping below 13°C only one day in 10.
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Cyril takes over as Caterham F1 Team Principal
Leafield (UK), 8 Nov 2012: Caterham F1 Team on Thursday confirmed that Cyril Abiteboul has been promoted to the role of Team Principal with immediate effect. He will combine that role with his current responsibilities as CEO, a post he took up in September 2012, a Press Release said.
Tony Fernandes, Caterham Group Chairman: “Having launched our partnership with Renault in Paris on Monday the plan Kamarudin and I formed over three years ago for our automotive interests has come to fruition. The strategy for the establishment and growth of Caterham Group has now reached the stage where we can step back from the day to day running of the F1 team in favour of Cyril who will be able to dedicate himself full time to the role and work closely with Riad to help take our automotive interests into the next stage of their growth.
“Cyril is going to be an excellent Team Principal. He has extensive experience in F1, he is extremely well respected and he shares our vision for what we want our team to achieve. He takes over during a season when we have not yet fulfilled our potential, but at a time when we have everything in place to help us do so. One day we will earn our seat at the top table of Formula 1 and he is the right person to take us there.
“This decision allows Kamarudin and I to focus on AirAsia and gives Riad the structure he needs to allow the various Caterham Group businesses to flourish under his leadership. Kamarudin and I will continue as Co-Chairman of Caterham Group and we now have the best possible team in place to take our dream into its next phase. Kamarudin and I will still have an active interest in our various Caterham companies, but we have now reached the point in the growth of the business where it makes most sense to step back.
“We have taken Caterham Group from nothing just three years ago to today, where Caterham Cars has the platform with Renault to take it from a niche brand into an innovative participant in the global automotive market. Caterham Technology is also integrally involved in the Renault partnership, working with Renault on the design and development of our road cars, as well as currently working with a number of other blue-chip companies including Airbus, and they are fast being recognised as a leading player in the technology and innovation fields. Caterham Composites is also in rude health, working with CTI on the Airbus project in addition to a variety of other cutting-edge programs that will soon see the light of day. In summary, Riad is now leading a group of businesses that put the Caterham name at the forefront of the technological and innovation fields across a wide range of industries.”
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal Caterham F1 Team: “I am honoured to take over as Team Principal, now combining that role with the CEO post I took up in September 2012, and I would like to thank Tony and Kamarudin for the chance to lead this team into the next phase of its growth. We have big challenges ahead of us but the shareholders are committed and behind us to help us take significant steps forward over the coming years, and one day challenge for the highest honours in F1. We have an incredible spirit within the team and that has been created by Tony and Kamarudin. This spirit, allied to a strategic vision that gives us a clear path to success, is what will keep driving us forwards and we all look forward to the day we can make the dreams our shareholders had several years ago come true.”
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To know who is Cyril, read Joe Saward’s piece here:
Cyril Abiteboul, who is promoted as Caterham F1 team principal. Caterham photo -
Its a great moment for the fans: Kimi
On taking his 19th Formula 1 Grand Prix victory – and 48th win for an Enstone team – Kimi Räikkönen answers the questions following today’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
How does it feel to take your 19th win ?
I’m very happy for the team – and myself – but mainly for the all the crew here and everyone at Enstone. It’s been a hard season and I feel this win is well deserved for everyone and just what we need. It’s also something great for all the fans who have continued to support me and the team. We’ve not had the easiest time in the last few races. Hopefully this gives everyone more belief, not just for everyone working at the track and at the factory, but for everyone behind the scenes running the team. I hope this can turn around the tables and give us many more good races and wins ; if not this year, then next year.How does this win stack up against the other eighteen ?
To be honest it’s just another win on the list for me. It’s great of course, because it’s been a few years, but the wins prior to this one were very similar ; we didn’t have the best car, but we fought and still won. It’s great to win now, so people will stop asking me if I can win or not, and at least it makes it a bit clearer !Is it good that you’ve answered that ‘when’s the win coming’ question ?
I never cared really what people think – if I don’t finish the next race, then they’ll think that I’m as bad as that race. I’ll just do my thing, and if I’m happy with what I’m doing and it’s the best it can be for the team, then that’s that. So I really don’t care if people are thinking differently of me now, than what they did three hours before the race.Tell us about your emotions as you took the chequered flag ?
I’m happy, but there’s nothing to jump around about. We still have a few races to go, I’ll try to do the same again. For sure, we’re going to have a good party tonight and hopefully tomorrow, when we are feeling bad after a long night, we will remember how we feel. I’m just happy for everybody in the team.Tell us about your start ?
It was key to get behind the faster car and not get stuck behind cars that aren’t as fast as us. We had a good position on the grid and we made it better at the start. I think we’ve had some very good starts before and compared to the others, today was a pretty normal start on our scale. I managed to pass Mark [Webber] and Pastor [Maldonado] before I changed into second gear. I’d had a very good practice start on the warm-up lap so I knew this was going to be good.How long will your celebrations of this win last ?
I have almost two weeks. As long as I manage to get myself to the next race I think the team is happy. Maybe I will try to get home at some point.ends
Kimi Raikkonen at Abu Dhabi on Sunday 4 Nov 2012. A Lotus F1 team photo. -
Ice man wins; Vettel stuns from pits to third
Abu Dhabi, 4 Nov 2012: Kimi Räikkönen took his first Formula One victory of the season with a controlled drive for Lotus in a thrilling Abu Dhabi Grand Prix here on Sunday.
Behind him Fernando Alonso pushed all the way in his Ferrari to finish second but perhaps the happier – or most relieved – driver on the podium was Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel who emerged from a torrid 24 hours with his title aspirations not seriously diminished.
Vettel’s race had been badly compromised before it began: demoted to the rear of the grid on Saturday evening for a breach of the technical regulations during qualifying. The championship leader opted to start the race from pitlane, thus allowing Red Bull mechanics to set up his car specifically for a hard-charging attack from the rear of the field and start him on the medium compound tyre.
He wasted no time: up to 18th by the end of lap two, and to 12th by the close of lap nine. His advancement did not come without a price: He clashed with Bruno Senna at the start, resulting in damage to his front wing. The damage would get worse when the safety car made it’s first appearance, following an incident involved Nico Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan. Karthikeyan slowed dramatically after a mechanical failure and Rosberg ran into the back of him at high speed. Both drivers walked away unscathed from the crash.
Following Daniel Ricciardo in the safety car train, Vettel had to swerve to the right to avoid the Toro Rosso as Ricciardo aggressively maintained the temperature in his brakes. Vettel collided with a polystyrene barrier, damaging his nose further. Red Bull opted to pit the German for a new nose and a set of soft Pirellis.
Dropped down the field again, Vettel faced another battle through the order but by lap 38 he had risen to fourth, despite another stop for a second set of soft tyres. The gap to the top three of Jenson Button, Alonso and Räikkönen was great, however, and it looked as if Vettel would have to settle for fourth.
Then came a second safety car period, which again closed up the field. Trying to take advantage of a tussle between Romain Grosjean and Paul Di Resta for fifth place, Sergio Pérez attempted to around both. He went off track but carried on a hyperbolic path, rejoining at racing speed, straight into the path of Grosjean. The Lotus driver had few options and strayed inadvertently into the path of Mark Webber’s Red Bull. The clash dumped out both Grosjean and Webber. Pérez received a stop-go penalty.
When racing resumed, Vettel began to pressure Button for third. Initially, the tactic failed as Button defended stoutly, but on lap 52 Vettel shouldered his way past around the outside of Turn 11 and claimed the final podium spot.
“Usually it’s hard enough to fight your way once through the field but we did it twice today,” said Vettel speaking later in the FIA post-race press conference. “I think it was a fantastic race. I had a great fight with Jenson at the end. It was very close with him but I enjoyed the fight a lot, tried a couple of times and finally made it. He was very fair. You can’t do that kind of move with all the drivers on the grid.
“After that there were not enough laps left to catch up with Kimi and Fernando but it was still a great result in the end. It was a big chance to lose out a lot today, but we didn’t lose anything, so I’m very happy.”
It was the last real action of the race. With only a few laps remaining, Vettel was unable to set about Alonso or Räikkönen who were having their own duel several seconds ahead. Alonso refused to concede defeat but the Finn had enough pace in his Lotus to maintain a gap of over a second, crucially keeping outside the DRS envelope.
Räikkönen’s race had been made at the start, when a superb getaway saw him jump from fourth to second, passing Pastor Maldonado and Webber. He slotted in behind pole position man Lewis Hamilton, briefly challenged for the lead on lap two and then consolidated his position in second when Hamilton proved too strong.
Hamilton was the fastest man on track throughout the first stint. He set his latest in a string of fastest laps on lap 20 – but then coasted to a halt on lap 21 as his McLaren lost all power. Räikkönen swept through to take the lead and thereafter began to forge his own gap to the chasing pack. His advantage was erased by the safety car period in the aftermath of the Pérez-Grosjean clash but Räikkönen held on for his 19th F1 victory and his first since the Belgian Grand Prix of 2009.
“I’m very happy for the team,” said Räikkönen. “At least we’ve got one win now, so we’ll keep trying to push still and see what we can do in the next race.”
Alonso was also a climber at the start, moving up from sixth to fifth off the line, passing Webber for fourth with straight line pace and then making a brave move on Maldonado to take third. He advanced into second following Hamilton’s retirement. “I’m very happy, I think we were not super competitive this weekend,” said the Ferrari driver. “We started seventh, sixth with Sebastian’s penalty, so we had to fight all the way through the race.
“A very good strategy gave us the ability to fight at the end for the victory,” he added. “In the last couple of laps Kimi was a little bit slower, so we attacked. But second, I think, was the maximum today, so a perfect Sunday again for us and we kept fighting until the end.”
The result means that Vettel keeps control in the championship battle but now with a slimmer advantage over Alonso. He leads 255-245 going to the penultimate round.
Button finished fourth and fifth went to Maldonado. Kamui Kobayashi took sixth, ahead of Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna. The final points positions went to Paul Di Resta and Daniel Ricciardo. Massa’s six points were crucial to deny Red Bull the Constructors’ Championship: they now lead Ferrari 422-340, and need a maximum of four points in Austin to secure a third consecutive constructors’ title.
ends
Kimi Raikkonen on podium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday 4 Nov 2012. A Lotus F1 team photo. -
Abu Dhabi GP: Final FIA Press Conference
Abu Dhabi, 4 Nov 2012: The following top three drivers attended the final FIA press conference here on Sunday: 1. Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Lotus); 2. Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari) and 3. Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing).
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by David Coulthard)
Kimi – your first victory since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. Tell us about your emotions at this time.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Not much really.
People want to know how amazing it is to win a grand prix. Tell us.
KR: Last time you guys was giving me shit because I didn’t really smile enough, so maybe this time again but I mean I’m very happy for the team – and myself – but mainly for the team. It’s really a hard season for the team and not an easy time. Hopefully this gives them more belief, not just for the guys making all the work but also for the guys who run the team. I hope this can turn around the tables and give us many more good races and wins. If not this year then next year.
Fernando, you never gave up, you were chasing Kimi down in the closing stages of the Grand Prix. You must be surprised to see your world title… well all three of you were technically in the world championship battle until this moment. Tell us about your race and how you felt it was going.
Fernando ALONSO: I’m very happy, I think we were not super competitive this weekend. We started seventh, sixth at the end with Sebastian’s penalty so we have to fight all through the race, the first laps to do some good overtakings and then a very good strategy that gave us the ability to fight at the end for the victory. In the last couple of laps Kimi was a little bit slower, so we attack. But second, I think, was the maximum today, starting sixth, so a perfect Sunday again for us and we kept fighting until the end.
Sebastian, did you honestly believe you could be standing here today, starting from the end of the pitlane?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yes, I did, to be honest with you. After the first couple of laps obviously that target was drifting a little bit away. I had a messy start to the race, which is quite difficult at the back, to get through the cars as quickly as I could, damaged my front wing. And then to the safety car, yeah I had a little bit of a big mistake with Daniel [Ricciardo] I think, who was stopping his car on the straights and I was very surprised. Turned to the right and… if it would have been 50m earlier, 50m later I wouldn’t have done damage to my front wing further but after that, I said to myself ‘yeah, either we go full attack or nothing’. So that’s what we did and I had a fantastic race. I enjoyed it a lot. Obviously the safety cars here and there was helping, the second one, and after that, at the end it was a nice fight with Jenson. He was difficult to pass. I expected to have a little bit easier time because obviously I was passing the slower cars before and with him I was a bit struggling. Then I just squeezed my way past into Turn 11 which was nice, it was very fair but for sure, it was a thrilling grand prix, up and down all the time. Yeah. Obviously it’s very nice to stand here now, pick up a trophy and drink some champagne. It’s not actually champagne, I don’t know what it is but it tastes good.
Your name is up there as a double world champion. Do you now feel that you’ve got your hands on one side of the cup for a third world title?
SV: I think it’s still two races to go so obviously we see how quickly things can change. Yesterday was a surprise for us, I think would we have started from third it would have been a different race. But yeah, it was obviously a chance to fuck it up and we didn’t do that. So I think we can be very proud today: we got the maximum. We lost only a very little bit, I think we have the momentum still, the car is bloody quick, so looking forward to the next two races. We are definitely believing in it and that’s the target.
Kimi, you’ve won before, you’ve won the title before and standing here you sent a message to the team about how you hope this will motivate future success, but when it is moment going to sink in? That you’ve won a grand prix in your comeback year.
KR: I mean like I said, I’m happy, but there’s nothing to jump around about. Really we still have a few races to go, I’ll try to do the same again, and for sure we’re going to have a good party today and hopefully tomorrow, when we are feeling bad after a long night, we will remember how we feel so… I’m just happy for everybody in the team.
PRESS CONFERENCE.
Kimi, well done, congratulations. Fantastic win for you, you’ve really been waiting for this win, I think, all season and now it’s happened. What are your feelings?
KR: Like I said before, I’m very happy for the team. We have had hard times lately and hopefully it gives some belief for the people, even more that… I mean they’ve been working very hard the whole year but with the hard times there’s a bit unknown in the whole situation and hopefully for the people who runs the team, who owns the team, the people who works for… for everybody, hopefully it gives a bit more support and hope that things will turn around and be even better than it’s been this year. So, great thing for the team itself, for the guys and, I mean of course I’m happy myself, but if I win it’s great, if I don’t I will try again and it’s not the end of the life. We’ve been close few times but now I said that even the last race I think we had the speed to even win the race but if you don’t start in the front we see what can happen. We knew the start would be a really big key and I got a really good start so I think with the McLaren we didn’t have the speed, at least in the beginning of the race – but then we have to finish the race to win so… I mean after that we were pretty good. Just the safety cars made us a little bit more tricky today.
The start really was… gave you the second place straight away, it was a really excellent start.
KR: Like I said yesterday, this going to be key, to get behind the faster car and not start behind the cars that cannot go as fast as us. And I mean we have a fast car for lap time in the race but if we stuck behind there’s no way we’re going to get past so, that’s what we could do this weekend: put yesterday in a good position and then made a good start and then just go from there.
And how much is the development that has been taking place on the car with the exhaust etc, how much has that been bringing pace to the car?
KR: It brings some pace, helps our straight line speed. So in average we gain some advantage but it’s exactly the same car we have in Korea. So we see how much even this year in all the races some circuits suits better for one team and the next one is not so good for you. We had good speed last race as I’ve already said. We made some mistakes in qualifying and paid the price in the race. So now we put all together like we should have done quite a few times this year but for one reason or another we haven’t. But at least we’ve got one win so we’ll keep try to push still and see what we can do in the next race.
Fernando, tremendous pace at the end there, where did that come from and was it just a little bit too late?
FA: Well, I think we just saw on the board eight laps to go, there was no more concerns about the tyres because obviously doing one stop you never know how the tyres will finish the race, and also after the last safety car we saw Sebastian with the soft and the first three of us, we were with the prime, so we didn’t know how much a threat was Sebastian for fight until the last lap. So after they lost a little bit of time, Jenson and Sebastian, and we didn’t care any more about the tyres, I push 150 per cent for eight laps and I tried to catch Kimi but it was never enough to be within one second for the DRS to be even closer. So at the end we didn’t have the pace to win but fantastic race anyway. We didn’t have the pace this weekend in any practice, in qualifying seventh and ninth and then today we were fighting for a victory – surprising again. This is thanks to a perfect car for the race, a perfect start, perfect strategy, perfect pitstops so everything perfect Sunday for us, maximising what we have in hands.
Do you think the modifications brought to the Ferrari helped during the race today?
FA: I think it helped for sure because when we tested it on Friday, they gave us some performance but we are talking very few hundredths of advantage that for sure when you have a gap to close that is a couple of tenths, when you bring hundredths and your opponents bring also some new parts, I think more or less you are in the same position. So, we need to keep working and in Maranello they work day and night very hard to bring new parts. Here in the track, mechanics work 24 hours and we are doing our maximum and we sure that hopefully it will be enough.
Are you a bit disappointed that you didn’t have more of an advantage over Sebastian, you only pulled out three points?
FA: To be honest we were concentrating on our race. Our simulations we had gave us the possibility to finish fifth or sixth, so we were not very optimistic with today’s race and despite what Sebastian was doing in the race we were taking eight, ten points maximum in our simulations. So we concentrated on our race. He did a very good race and he was able to use the performance in some of the parts of the race when he was in clean air plus the safety cars that I think put the group all together. So at the end I think this is nothing we can do, we just need to concentrate on our race and if we finish in front of Sebastian in the next two races then maybe we have a chance. So that’s our concentration now.
Sebastian a pretty lively race for you one way or another. It’s quite lively back there isn’t it – there’s a lot going on?
SV: Yeah, usually it’s hard enough to fight your way once through the field but we did it twice today so… Yeah, obviously not the first couple of laps we were hoping for. We damaged the front wing early, which didn’t seem to be a big problem but it was probably the worst possible time with the safety car. I think we were already quite high up, close to the top 10, around 13, 14, 15 or something like that. And then I had a moment with the Toro Rosso. I don’t know what he did. He was braking his car down and I was surprised, caught out. Maybe I should have paid more attention, but yeah, I went to the right and I wasn’t very lucky, there was the DRS board, which I took head on and then I thought ‘well, now the front is fucked at least, so we’ve got to change it,’… (sorry). We did it in the worst possible moment, during the safety car, when all the cars were already queued up and yeah we lost everything. We were dead last. At least we had a fresh wing and from then went through the field. It was a lot of fun. Quite difficult with some guys, a little bit easier with other guys, but the most important thing was that the pace was there and we were in a very strong position – already halfway through the race, 20 laps to the end and also on the soft tyres in the last stint. Obviously the safety car helped a little bit. Nevertheless, I think it was a fantastic race: a great fight with Jenson in the end, who was the most difficult to pass, obviously he was the quickest I passed in the whole race. We know that… I think it’s quite difficult for us to get past a Mercedes-engined car. It was very, very close with him. I enjoyed the fight a lot, tried a couple of times and finally made it. He was very, very fair. You can’t do that kind of move with all the drivers on the grid. And after that not enough laps left to catch up with Kimi and Fernando but the pace was there. Obviously we had an interesting race, up and down all the time and a great result in the end. It was a big chance to lose out a lot today, but we didn’t lose anything, so I’m very happy. The guys are pushing 100 per cent. I feel very happy they’re all behind me and I try to do my best for them. I think we have two more races ahead of us, we’re in the best possible position so I think we’re looking forward to the next race – a new grand prix, a new challenge. It’s difficult to know who is going to be quick but I think it was another race today where we see that it’s over as soon as we see the chequered flag and not before.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, was that your best start in a Lotus and after that, which one was the hardest competitor, the second safety car or Fernando?
KR: I think we’ve had some very good starts before, but compared to the others, today was a pretty normal start on our scale. I managed to pass Mark and Maldonado before I changed into second gear. I’d had a very good start on the warm-up lap so I knew this was going to be good. That was our aim, to try to make a good start and we managed to do it, so it was key for our win today.
For sure, the safety car hurt us much more than the others. We had a good lead and then nothing, and then twice. The first time was when Hamilton was in front of us but it definitely didn’t help us today.
Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) Kimi Raikkonen, how and with whom and how many days will you celebrate this win?
KR: I have almost two weeks. As long as I manage to get myself to the next race I think the team is happy. I try to get home at some point.
Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Kimi, one of the highlights of the race was your radio messages, the ones that you were giving to the team. How distracting is it when you’re fighting behind the safety car or whatever, to have them reminding you to warm-up your wheels?
KR: It’s a normal thing. It’s the same with all the teams. For sure, they are just trying to help but if you keep saying the same things two times a minute, I’m not so stupid that I cannot remember what I’m doing. It’s a normal thing, they are just trying to help. I know what I’m doing. I will ask for help if I need it. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time. It’s been many times with other teams also but they are all there to help you and try to put you in the best position. Different people like different things.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, was it a bit of racing into the unknown at the beginning; you changed the gearbox, the ratios? Were you pretty sure you could do this kind of race or were there some obscure points that you had to sort out during the first laps, to find out what you could do?
SV: No, I don’t think it was racing into the unknown. Obviously what we didn’t know was how quickly we would get through the field. We knew that we were quite a lot quicker than the first couple of cars that we were approaching; obviously we have a different pace to Marussia, HRT, Caterham, so it was important to get through those. We took the chance to take ratios which helped down the straights, made life a little bit easier but obviously when you’re not in the pack, you pay the price as well, so I think it did help us for overtaking but when we were in clean air, it was surely not optimum but it’s always a trade. I think from Friday to Saturday we changed the car, not necessarily made a step forwards. We were changing quite a few things and getting closer to what we had on Friday which I think was a faster car so it was as simple as that.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Fernando and Sebastian, Michael has had 56 races without a win after his comeback; are you surprised that Kimi won his 18th after his comeback?
SV: No, I think it doesn’t matter how many races it takes you. The most important thing is that you get the results you can achieve. I think Kimi drove a fantastic race today. For the first time the car was probably able to win and he did it. I don’t know how their race was at the front, I was busy myself but I think we’ve seen this year that generally if you compare this year, the Mercedes was not as competitive as the Lotus, so it’s as simple as that, not in every race but in the majority of races. I think Michael showed his talent more than once in the last three years, even though he probably wasn’t as successful as he was before, I don’t think it makes him any worse.
FA: I agree.
Q: (Khodr Rawi – F1 Arab) Kimi, how special is it to be the first driver to win for Lotus since Ayrton Senna in 1987
KR: It’s a long time for them, I guess. I don’t think there are any (of the same) people in the team any more. It’s a name. It’s the same team and it has been since Fernando was there, just a different name. It’s a great name for us, good past but you know I race for the team whatever the name is, I don’t really care so it’s just for the guys who do all the work. Maybe it looks good in somebody’s eyes but for me it really makes no difference.
Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) To each of you: who is going to win the World Championship?
KR: I wouldn’t put money on me! They are quite close; I don’t know what the points difference is. Ten? One bad race could decide the championship if they keep doing what they’ve been doing. It’s hard for Fernando but we saw yesterday and in races before that anything can happen. If it’s a normal situation I don’t think much can happen but one small mistake can decide everything.
FA: Yes, I’m confident. We will fight until the end. We are not fast enough, this is true and we are honest with ourselves, we know this. We need to accept this. It’s a weak point, the performance that we have at the moment in our package, and we have some strong points which we will try to use.
SV: I think we were not always fast enough this year but for the last couple of races we were, so looking forward to the next two races.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, this has been a pretty troubled weekend for the team. On Friday Mark had the issue with the KERS, you yesterday in the morning, then the problem with the fuel. How much of a relief is it for you to come out of such a weekend and be on the podium losing only three points to Fernando?
SV: Honestly, I would have loved to have got past Jenson quicker and past Fernando as well. I think the speed was there but it turned out to be quite tricky to pass Jenson, and took a lot of time. But yeah, I think we can be very happy with today. I think it’s one of those races where it’s difficult to predict the outcome. We have simulation tools etc telling you one thing but I was convinced that you have plenty of chances and I said yesterday, obviously it was a big hit for us because if you can chose between starting third and last you don’t need to be a genius to make that one out. It was a big hit but I said yesterday that every chance is an opportunity and there were lots of chances today for us. I think we had a very good race, I enjoyed it a lot and I’m very happy with today’s result.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, you said before that yesterday was a mistake. How angry are you that this mistake happened? You don’t have to be Einstein to calculate how much fuel has to go in for three laps, especially after it had already happened to Hamilton in Barcelona. Do you think the team should have been more careful?
SV: There are so many things that could have worked differently. I made a mistake on the last run, I aborted the lap, nobody ever finds out, nobody realises there was a problem. As I said earlier, it was a mistake, there was no intention to go stupidly close to the limit for a gain of nearly nothing. I think it’s different to what happened to Lewis in Barcelona at the beginning of the season, obviously they deliberately put less fuel in the car and stopped on the in lap, but for us, we had enough fuel but somehow we had enough fuel on paper but not in the car. Obviously we stopped the car for emergency reasons, not to damage anything and then obviously it was quite a long procedure yesterday and unfortunately we couldn’t drain the fuel that we wanted and it was not enough to provide the sample so it was as simple as that. Rules are clear. I think the penalty was very harsh but we had to take it. Rules are clear. If it happens to you in race three and you are in a similar position at the end of the year, nobody is asking and it’s not a big fuss but if it happens to you three races from the end, obviously there’s more attention etc. We had to live with that.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, your last win was at Hockenheim in July, more than three months ago. Do you think you absolutely need to win one or both of the last two races to gain the title and do you think it’s possible to do it?
FA: That will help, for sure, but I don’t think so.
Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Sebastian, so in the end, after all the difficulties, do you guys consider your result a surprise or not?
SV: I don’t think you can talk of a surprise. I think we knew we were quick. I think if you look at the race, there were a lot of things that happened that you couldn’t foresee. I don’t know what happened to the HRT which caused the first safety car and I don’t know what happened to Romain who caused the second safety car, but obviously these things are difficult to predict. I think we knew that we had a chance to get into the top five, even with a normal race. Given the pace was there, as I said earlier, what we did from Friday to Saturday, obviously we tried to improve the car, not necessarily achieved that but we are hungry, we want to try things to make the car faster. I don’t blame anyone for that. I was one of the biggest drivers to make the changes, behind that on Friday, and they didn’t work, but yeah, obviously we’re not talking seconds per lap but small things and today we lost a position on the grid but we got the chance to change the car which we did and we knew that it will be a very competitive car. The speed was there, as I said, and obviously here and there we were a little bit lucky, but I think we created our own luck in that regard.
Q: (Shubha Chandran – Chequered Flag, India) Sebastian, what kind of focus, commitment and mental strength does it really take to start from where you did, and eventually end up where you have, from a purely individual perspective?
SV: The race is long. I said to the guys before the race that I trust them 100 percent and they can trust me. I will try everything. There’s no reason to give up. Of course, if you look where we started, it was the worst possible spot but we gave everything we had and I think when you do that, you cannot fail so it was a perfect example of that today. Everyone was focused on the moment and enjoying it as well. Don’t forget that, I think we are here, obviously, to fight for wins and stuff like that but we are also here to have a good time, enjoy and have fun and I think all the guys in the team at the moment, they don’t want to be anywhere else. Obviously it’s tough on Sundays. The tension is there, obviously you’re nervous, excited, any race such as this one, especially with the difficulty of starting last but it’s also the challenge that you like, to race every single lap. Obviously it’s nice to sit here and look back. Some days it will be difficult again, when we sit – not here – and look back and look at the mistakes that we’ve made, but hopefully we will learn from those as we did in the past to maximise the times that we sit here.
Q: (Heikki Kulta -Turun Sanomat) Kimi, does it take anything from your joy that when you win you kill your last hope of the championship?
KR: No, I think we knew already, a few races ago, that we didn’t have the speed to challenge at the front. We always said that we would keep fighting and trying to do the best that we can. We got the win, we might have lost the championship on the same day but I don’t really care. We didn’t really expect to be fighting with them anyhow. We’ve always been a bit behind and not really had the speed to challenge them in normal races and now in the last few races we’ve had very good speed and finally we put all the things together and won. We will try again next year.
Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) Sebastian, sorry to come back to yesterday’s incident but we didn’t really understand why you stopped the car, because a loss of fuel doesn’t really damage the engine, normally?
SV: Obviously it was a precaution. We saw some numbers going down and in order to save the engine at last, save the pumps in between etc, we decided to stop the car, convinced that we had enough fuel in the car to provide a sample but, as I said, for some reason we didn’t have enough fuel so I don’t know what happened. There must have been a mistake somewhere which was a big hit, like I said, but I’m sure we will learn from that and it won’t happen again. I think we have done the exercise a lot of times, we know the rules. As I said, we are talking two hundred millilitres that were missing. If you go to the loo before qualifying or something like that it can make the same kind of difference. I think it’s very difficult to measure. It was a mistake for which we had to pay a very hard price but c’est la vie.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, in two weeks we’re going to Austin, you have the first chance to win the third title and it’s going to be your 100th Grand Prix.
SV: Yeah, it sounds a lot. Obviously time goes by quickly. I’m sure when you ask Fernando and Kimi they remember their first couple of races and probably don’t feel that it’s so long ago. I think that more than anything, if you do something that you love, that you enjoy the time goes by quickly. Now, when I’m talking about 2006, 2007, when I started to drive a Formula One car for the first time, I still know most of the guys and can recall the places I’ve been. If you then tell me it’s six years ago, it sounds like a big number. I’m sure, when someone tells you the first time that you came into a Formula One paddock, it’s however many years ago, it might be shocking as well. Time goes by and obviously with age, you get a little bit smarter – hopefully. You learn certain things and you get a little more relaxed probably but also it’s important to stay childish, stay hungry and do mistakes, otherwise how can you go forward. All in all, looking forward to going home, get some rest, charge some energy to be full charged in America to attack and obviously try to win.
Abu Dhabi podium on Sunday 4 Nov 2012. Lotus F1 team Photo Ends
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Stewards force Vettel to start at the back of the grid
Abu Dhabi, 3 Nov 2012: Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing who is cruising towards his probable third World title with four straight wins till India, suffered a severe blow here after qualifying in P2 as he was sent back to the grid with a Stewards’ penalty.
Sebastian Vettel has been sent to the back of the grid after stewards excluded him from the results of qualifying. Vettel had stopped on track at the end of the session, having qualified in a provisional third place. However, the Red Bull team has confirmed that Vettel would start from the pit lane which gives the team a chance to work on the car set-up.
The stewards agreed that his actions were acceptable under the rules of force majeure, however the post-session scrutineering report stated that an insufficient amount of fuel remained in the car for sampling.
After an afternoon practice session disrupted by brake problems, Vettel had rallied strongly during qualifying and was consistently near the top of the order during the session. However, as the chequered flag came out, under instruction from his team the World Champion pulled over to the side of the track and got out of his Red Bull RB8.
After several hours of deliberation during which telemetry was studied and Red Bull Racing stated their case, the official decision was handed down. Vettel was deemed to have infringed article 6.6.2 of the 2012 technical regulations which states: Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the event. Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.
Vettel will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from 24th and last on the grid.
The decision echoes the punishment handed to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona. Hamilton had taken provisional pole, though a fuelling mistake saw the Briton not complete his in-lap, instead pulling to the side of the Circuit de Catalunya. Starting last, Hamilton battled back to finish the race in eighth position.
ends
Vettel at Abu Dhabi on Saturday. A Red Bull Racing photo
