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Tag: grand prix
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Vettel takes 41st career pole as the Singapore night race beckons
Singapore, 21 Sept 2013: Sebastian Vettel will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the front of the grid after claiming his 41st career pole position at the Marina Bay street circuit. The Red Bull driver was forced to endure a nervous last minute as he watched the final unfold from his team’s garage.
Vettel’s first run in Q3 had netted him a time of 1:42.841, six tenths clear of second-placed Mercedes man Nico Rosberg. As cars streamed out of pit lane for a second tilt at pole, the Red Bull Racing pit wall decided to gamble on the gap being sufficient and Vettel’s session was halted, thus saving a new set of supersoft tyres for the race, an FIA release said.
But as team-mate Mark Webber lit up the timing screens with a session-best first sector and Rosberg and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean did the same in sector two, Vettel admitted that his nerves began to jangle.
“It’s a weird feeling,” he said. “You stand in the garage when there’s roughly two minutes to go in the session and you know it’s too late. But then it’s much worse when you see the others at the final attempt and you know there’s nothing you can do. I was watching the sector times very closely.”
And the result was close. Rosberg delivered an excellent final run to take five tenths out of his time from the first outing and he crossed the line just under a tenth of a second adrift of the Red Bull driver.
“It was very close in the end with Nico,” said Vettel. “That’s a great feeling, because it could go wrong but I’m very happy with the result. The car’s been phenomenal all weekend. Yesterday I think the gap was a bit of a surprise. Today’s been more what we expected – especially with Mercedes being very close behind.”
Rosberg, meanwhile, said he felt he could have found the tenth to steal pole.
“Sebastian has been really quick the whole weekend but it was very, very close in the end,” he said. “A pity, because one tenth more, with the way they gambled in the last qualifying, one tenth more would have been possible somehow. That would have been great but second place is still a good result, a great result. And it gives me a good position to start the race tomorrow. I’m also very confident about our race pace. It’s looking OK, so I think a great result is possible.”
The hour-long session began with a straightforward Q1 segment in which Paul Di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Charles Pic, Giedo van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton were eliminated.
With the midfield closely packed the battle to make it through to Q3 was tight and in the end just under three tenths of a second separated Jenson Button in 10th and through to the final segment and team-mate Sergio Perez 14th and out. Also eliminated was Nico Hulkenberg, who qualified in 11th place. If that was a surprise, due to the German being highly competitive in the earlier final practice session, it was even more of a shock to see team-mate Esteban Gutierrez sail through to Q3 in P7, the result of a superb final lap in the second segment.
Elsewhere, Jean-Eric Vergne in 12th, Kimi Raikkonen, 13th, Adrian Sutil in 15th and Valtteri Bottas in 16th were all knocked out.
And so to Q3. At the front the battle was all about the Red Bulls, Mercedes and the sole remaining Lotus of Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton put the second Mercedes into fifth place and behind him Felipe Massa delivered a strong lap to qualify ahead of Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso for the fifth time this year. Alonso qualified seventh. Button is set to line up eighth for McLaren and the fifth row of the grid will be occupied by Daniel Ricciardo in ninth and Gutierrez in tenth place.
2013 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying result
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:42.841
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:42.932
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:43.058
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:43.152
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:43.254
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:43.890
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:43.938
8. Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.282
9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:44.439
10. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:44.24511. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:44.555
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:44.588
13. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:44.658
14. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:44.752
15. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:45.185
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.38817. Paul di Resta Force India 1:46.121
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:46.619
19. Charles Pic Caterham 1:48.111
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:48.320
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:48.830
22. Max Chilton Marussia 1:48.930 -
I think a great result on Sunday is possible: Nico Rosberg
DRIVERS
1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
3 – Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus)Q: Sebastian, biting your nails at the end there. You took the decision not to go out and do a final run. Does it sit comfortably with you, being a gambler?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah. It’s a weird feeling. You stand in the garage when there’s roughly two minutes to go in the session and you know that it’s too late. But then it’s much worse when you see the others at the final attempt and you know there’s nothing you can do. Because you stand in the garage. I was watching the sector times very closely with obviously Romain, Nico and Mark in particular. Mark started with a purple sector one, very close in sector two, then Nico had a purple sector two, then Romain had a purple sector two. Then fortunately my last sector was strong enough to – yeah – just stay ahead. It was very close in the end with Nico. That’s a great feeling then, obviously, because it could go wrong but very happy obviously with the result. The car’s been phenomenal all weekend. Yesterday I think the gap was a bit of a surprise. Today’s been more what we expected – especially with Mercedes being very close behind.
Q: The gap is a tenth of a second Nico. You’ve had the upper hand over your team-mate here but not quite over the Red Bulls.
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, unfortunately Sebastian especially has been really quick the whole weekend but it was very, very close in the end. A pity, because one tenth more, with the way they gambled in the last qualifying… One tenth more would have been possible somehow, y’know? That would have been great but anyway, second place is still a good result. A great result. And it gives me a good position to start the race tomorrow and I’m also very confident about our race pace. It’s looking OK so I think a great result is possible.
Q: Romain, a confident decision from you in the first part of qualifying not to use the faster tyre. Were you feeling confident today?
Romain GROSJEAN: Well, I think the car’s been OK today. If we look at how many laps we did in the whole weekend so far, P3 in the quali is not too bad. We knew we were strong this morning. I think we got a little bit caught by the night coming on and it was a little bit less quick than the fast time we expected in Q1 but nevertheless I think the team did a good decision about the strategy and the cut-off and everything, so then we had two attempts in Q3. It’s good to be at the front in this grand prix.
Q: Sebastian. You’ve won from pole the last two grands prix. Is it more of a challenge to do it around this Marina Bay circuit tomorrow?
SV: Yeah, definitely. It’s one of the toughest races we face all year. I would say the toughest – physically and mentally – because it’s so long. One lap is so long, there’s so many corners, there’s hardly any room for mistakes, it’s very bumpy and, as you can see, we’re all sweating pretty much even though we only did a couple of laps in qualifying. So the heat obviously and the humidity plays a factor. It will be very tough. Surely pole is the best position to start from – very happy with that as it is tricky to pass on this track. But because it is such a long race I think there is plenty of opportunities for all of us. Usually we get a safety car at some stage in the race. Yeah, as I said, happy to start from pole, try to have a good start and then settle into a nice rhythm and see what we can do.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: So Sebastian, your 41st career pole, sixth of this season, three in a row now after Spa and Monza. You’ve had a great record around here, won the last two times at Singapore. What is it about this Singapore circuit that really gets to you?
SV: I don’t know. We race at night. I think even though it hasn’t been in the calendar for many decades but still it seems like a classic and it’s a very nice place to come to. The circuit is a big challenge for all of us. It’s so long, so many corners, very difficult to keep the focus for the entire lap. Tomorrow’s race will be very long, it’s usually the longest race we have with two hours duration. So, yeah, it’s just… you hate it and love it at the same time. Obviously in qualifying if you get the lap right it feels fantastic. I think it’s the challenge that I love – that we love – when we come here.
Q: A quick word on your main title rival – Fernando Alonso seventh today.
SV: Yeah, obviously, I don’t know. We don’t really look at what the others do. At least I don’t. So, I think the race is long, as I touched on, especially around here. I think the Ferrari was struggling the last couple of events in qualifying but they have a very, very good race pace. I think the last couple of races Fernando always finished on the podium, so I’m sure they will come back. So, yeah, obviously it’s no harm for us today but first of all we have to look after ourselves and look at what we can do in the race. And then we see where we are. But I’m confident Fernando will do everything he can tomorrow in the race to fight back.
Q: Nico, it was reminiscent today of Monaco back in May. Another street track and very competitive again for you.
NR: Yeah, I really like street tracks generally. Always been quick on them and again today I felt comfortable with the car. Really the whole weekend, the progress has been nice. Starting on Friday, I wasn’t very happy with the car and everything, wasn’t feeling very good. We just worked through it, and really optimised it and it was just perfect in qualifying then. It’s just everybody together: me with my engineers, the mechanics, everybody working together well. I’m pleased with second. I think Sebastian was out of reach this weekend, all weekend, so second is OK. And with a good race pace, should be good tomorrow.
Q: A quick word on how it went from a second [off P1] after FP2 yesterday to less than a tenth this evening.
NR: Well obviously they gambled a bit. I’m sure they were still quite a step quicker than that lap time if Sebastian would have done another set of tyres. But for sure we’ve closed the gap again as we always do on weekends. And that’s good to see that we’re able to do that.
Q: Romain, you touched on the fact that you had a lot of problems yesterday but it’s another big improvement from the Lotus team from Friday through to today and from your own point of view overcoming those difficulties. How did you do that?
RG: Well to be honest, yesterday didn’t look that bad on the few laps we did – I think we had ten timed laps, something like that in total in the whole day but we were something like P5 yesterday evening and the lap wasn’t great. So I knew we had a good baseline to start today and this morning went pretty well. And Quali, yeah, we had a good strategy again. In Q1 it was tight because I guess the Prime tyres were less quick than what we expected but then we had a very good set of tyres for the Q2 and Q3 and we did manage to have good runs. We could compare between the two cars, what they were doing and what we were doing and try to get the best of both. It’s good. I think we could have tried to have a go at Nico but yeah, it was just not quite good for the first few corners.
Q: Is it fair to say you’re driving like a man who knows that his team-mate is moving on next year and you want to be the lead driver of the team next year?
RG: I don’t really care. Relation with Kimi has been always… not very ‘speaky’, and I just do my best on my own. I like the team, I’m sure they’re quite happy with the way we work so far and yeah, just focussed on what I have to do and then we’ll see for the future.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Sebastian, I think you had a gap of around 0.6s after the initial runs in Q3. You chose to sit the last run out; were you surprised by the amount of time these guys gained? In the end the gap was less than a tenth.
SV: Well, it’s difficult to expect. I knew that obviously we had a cushion which is why we decided not to run again but the thing you don’t know is how much the track improves so I’m sure that there was a little bit of track ramping up plus the fact that if you run again you get a better feel for the tyres, for the track and you get a little bit more out of yourself, so we thought it was good enough and in the end it was good enough. But yeah, it was probably a bit closer. Both of them, Nico and Romain, had a very strong middle sector but fortunately my last sector was strong enough to keep them just behind.
Q: Just for clarity, on the radio you said you thought you could find another tenth when you were asked, and you didn’t look 100 percent convinced when you got out of the car, so was it a team decision rather than your decision?
SV: No, it’s a decision we, we… obviously Rocky (race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin) asked me whether I was happy not to run again and stay in the garage and I said ‘yes, I’m happy.’ He asked before that how much I thought I could improve if I went again. I told him that probably there was a tenth, maybe two. You take a little bit of track into account, a little bit of yourself, how much the track ramps up is difficult to know so I thought there was a tenth in me – it is the most famous tenth in the world, that all the drivers seem to have in their pocket but they couldn’t get it out in qualifying so it’s still there somewhere. It was very close and it’s not the best feeling when you stand there and watch.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Nico, we have some similarities between this race and the Hungarian Grand Prix until now, that Lewis starts better than Sebastian, got the lead in the first corner and then finished the race, he won the race. Do you think you always have the pace in race conditions to keep in front of Sebastian or here the overtaking possibilities mean that he can’t overtake you?
NR: Lewis was on pole in Hungary, I’m second here so it’s a bit different. Not sure. I’ll give it a go. For sure, he’s quicker on race pace, we saw that on Friday so if I can get by, then it’s possible that I can stay in front but it’s all down to the start. I think the left hand side has a little bit less grip than the right hand side on this track at the start but we will see. It’s possible.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, where did the big jump from the first outing to the second come from? Was it just the circuit being better, was it because maybe you have been a bit conservative in your first outing or did you change something on the wing setting or whatever for the last outing?
NR: Very difficult to explain. I don’t know. I didn’t expect such an improvement either but I think it was the same for everybody so maybe it’s down to the track ramping up or cooling down a bit more, track temperature dropping or something of the sort. I’m not sure.
Q: Were you surprised by how much quicker the used supersofts were when you went out on them the second time at the beginning of Q2? Sebastian maybe take it first.
SV: I didn’t go out on them.
NR: Was I surprised at the time I could do? Not really, no, because I knew the track was getting better and I saw what my teammate did in Q1, pushing, so no, I wasn’t surprised.
Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawke’s Bay Today) Sebastian, you’ve won the last two races here, you’re on pole and you’re probably anything from half a second to a second faster than everybody else. Do you think now we can expect you to be more confident about not only winning this race tomorrow but also the championship?
SV: I think it was quite close. Whether… I think the track ramped up, whether we could have gone with that we don’t know because we didn’t do the run but I’m sure we had a little bit of time in hand. But yeah, for tomorrow I think the car feels fine, the race pace looked very strong on Friday, yesterday, so yeah, if all goes well we should have a very good chance to get a strong result but to be honest with you, I try… I’m not just trying… I do keep it very simple. I’ve got to do my homework. Just because of the fact that the last couple of races were pretty good doesn’t mean that there’s a guarantee that this one will be good again and the next one and so on and so forth. I think it’s the wrong strategy to lean back and see what the others can do. You might get surprised, so we keep going flat out, I keep pushing myself 100 percent. The target tomorrow is to win, not only for the championship but more so, to be honest with you, because it’s such a nice race. That means a lot to me. As I touched on, the challenge around here is one of the biggest we face all year so that’s why it means a lot to finish this race on the podium and even better if you can win it. You don’t have to be a genius (to work out) if you win, you score more points than the others and it feeds on itself.
Ends
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Vettel tops final free practice in Singapore
Red Bull Racing continued to dominate preparations for the Singapore GP as Sebastian Vettel finished the weekend’s final practice session at the top of the timesheet.
The championship leader didn’t have it all his own way, however, as the commanding one-second gap on single lap pace he enjoyed yesterday was narrowed to just two tenths as Romain Grosjean mounted a challenge for Lotus. Mercedes too closed in, with Nico Rosberg finishing third, half a second down on Vettel’s time. Mark Webber was fourth in the second Red Bull, an FIA release said.
German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing in Singapore on Saturday. An FIA photo The session developed in predictable fashion with the backmarkers first out on the medium tyre while the front runners held station in the garages.
Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo set the early benchmark at 1:48.001 but as the 20-minute mark passed Lewis Hamilton brushed that time aside with a lap of 1:46.514.
The Red Bull drivers were winding up, however, and at the halfway point Webber soon took over with a lap of 1:46.220, almost three tenths clear of the Mercedes. Vettel then moved into P2, seven hundredths behind his team-mate as the medium tyre exploration edged to a finish.
The field retired to the garages to make final changes for their qualifying simulations on the supersoft tyre and the first man out on that compound was Grosjean.
On the medium, the Frenchman had been sitting in P4, with a time of 1:46.616, but with the supersoft onboard he went over two seconds quicker to claim top spot.
It didn’t last long, as Vettel powered through. The gap though was marginal, with just 0.191 seconds separating the two. Rosberg then took P3. Webber should have got closer but his run on the red-banded tyre was hampered by traffic.
With Webber fourth, Hamilton took fifth place ahead of Fernando Alonso, whose post-Monza suggestion that Ferrari might struggle on the high-downforce, low-speed street circuit played out as predicted. Sergio Perez was seventh for McLaren, with Nico Hulkenberg an eye-catching eighth for Sauber. The top 10 order was rounded out by McLaren’s Jenson Button and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
2013 Singapore Grand Prix Free Practice Three result
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:44.173
2 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:44.364 +0.191
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:44.741 +0.568
4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:44.906 +0.733
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:44.921 +0.748
6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:45.257 +1.084
7 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:45.500 +1.327
8 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:45.876 +1.703
9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:45.890 +1.717
10 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:45.935 +1.762
11 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:46.084 +1.911
12 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:46.147 +1.974
13 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:46.338 +2.165
14 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:46.358 +2.185
15 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:46.660 +2.487
16 Paul di Resta Force India 1:46.879 +2.706
17 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:46.893 +2.720
18 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:47.249 +3.076
19 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:48.931 +4.758
20 Charles Pic Caterham 1:49.037 +4.864
21 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:49.182 +5.009
22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:49.982 +5.809 -
Tyre changes caused Force India’s dip in fortunes: Bob Fearnley
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Bob FEARNLEY (Sahara
Bob Fearnley. Photo by Sahara Force India Force India), Tony FERNANDES (Caterham), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Eric BOULLIER (Lotus)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Let’s start with today’s two practice sessions. Bob, if I could turn to you first. Progress made or was it a bit of a struggle for the team?
Bob FEARNLEY: It was a little bit of a struggle but I think we saw a little bit of progress in FP2, so optimistic.
Same optimism for you Franz?
Franz TOST: Yes, if we find seven to eight tenths then I’m optimistic for tomorrow.
Any chance?
FT: I hope so. The engineers have some time now. It’s a wonderful night and I’m convinced that they can study all the data and they will find a solution for tomorrow’s set-up.
For yourself, Eric, one of your drivers spent more time on the track than the other. Romain Grosjean had problems.
Eric BOULLIER: Yeah, it’s a concern in these early days but it should be fixed for tomorrow. Some issues yes on Romain Grosjean’s steering, power steering and hydraulics but still fast, and obviously happy with the second session when we could see on the high fuel pace Kimi was matching the so fast Red Bull cars, so we’ll see tomorrow,
At Williams, Valtteri Bottas, driving here for the first time, was slightly faster than his team-mate Pastor Maldonado.
Claire WILLIAMS: He was but I think we’re still where we are and I don’t think that was a surprise. We had a few changes to the car this weekend that we have evaluated so we have a lot of data to go through and we’ll see where we are tomorrow.
And Tony and Caterham?
Tony FERNANDES: As Claire said: we are where we are. Young drivers who get used to the track every practice session and we improve every session, so we’re expecting a bit more out of FP3 but we are where we are.
Eric, if I could turn to you next. Not for the first time in Formula One history we’ve seen drivers and engineers leave Enstone recently to head off to Ferrari. How concerned are you about the impact the departures of Kimi Raikkonen, James Allison and Dirk de Beer will have on Lotus regarding your future competitiveness.
EB: Not so high as you could maybe surprisingly imagine. It’s true that it’s a new chapter for Enstone, we lose valuable people and obviously a very charismatic driver. But as you said it happened twice already in the Enstone and every time the team has been world champion right after. So actually I’m quite motivated saying let’s start a new chapter and do as well or as good as happened before.
Claire, you’ve strengthened your staff at Williams. Pat Symonds, just over a month ago, started as Chief Technical Officer. Have you started to notice differences yet? What areas has Pat identified that you need to make improvements in. And also, will you be looking to bring others in in the future?
CW: I think Pat started just before Spa, so he hasn’t been with the team for a huge amount of time, but already we’re seeing the impact he’s having. He’s a guy that’s worked in Formula One for a huge amount of time and he has a huge amount of experience. He’s won numerous world championships and of course that’s going to bring with it a level of experience we really need at Williams. So he’s definitely looking… or spending a lot of time at Grove. He’s not here with us this weekend, he’s got critical meetings to attend to back at the factory, making sure we are where we want to be next season. But we all know that he’s not the magic bullet but he’s doing a great job for us so far and we will take his advice and see what we need to do once he’s had time to evaluate the business as a whole.
Franz, at the end of the season you and Toro Rosso say goodbye to Daniel Ricciardo, his replacement expected to be another Red Bull young development driver. As team principal, what are you looking for from whoever gets that seat. What qualities do you think a young driver to bring to be an asset to Toro Rosso.
FT: The best one is always when he finds the right-hand pedal and pushes it – that’s quite good. Generally speaking he has to be skilled; he has to have talent. For example, currently the Red Bull drivers, all the drivers from the Red Bull driver pool, have won a championship when they were racing in a lower class. Vettel, for example, in BMW junior. Daniel Ricciardo as well as [Daniil] Kvyat and [Carlos] Sainz won in the Renault 2.0 litre championship. Jean-Eric Vergne won the English championship as far as I know, with the highest number of victories. That means this is a good basis where they showed their talent. This is the first point. The second point: they must be patient. That means if a driver is coming to Toro Rosso he has to live Formula One 365 days a year. There should be nothing around that disturbs him and he has to be 100% concentrated on this job. The next important point is discipline. Discipline does not only mean he arrives in time for the meetings, discipline means also that he, for example, in qualifying does not overdrive the car; that he respects the schedule for his physical training; that he respects all the important facts of nutrition and that he respects what the engineers tell him. The next important point is innovation. He should think first how he can beat, at first his team-mate and for second all the other competitors. That he must think in advance; that he must be well prepared. All these factors together decide together whether a driver becomes successful and wins races and championships or not, and we are looking for this.
On a similar note to Franz, if I could turn to you Tony, is that the same at Caterham? Are they the qualities you’re looking at or do you have to look more at the budget that a driver can bring as well given the situation that the Caterham team is in?
TF: I think this year was the first year that we took the budget into consideration. We were trying to save as much for 2014. This is the state of Formula One right now where unfortunately sometimes the budget plays a large part in your decision making. We’ve got two fairy inexperienced drivers driving for us in the hope that we can put more resource into the 2014 car.
Q: Bob, we were talking to Adrian Sutil here yesterday. It was his opinion the recent dip in Force India’s form was related to the change in the construction of the tyres that we saw halfway through the season. Is that a view you share? And if so, what as a team can you do to combat the downturn in results before the end of the season?
BF: I think Adrian’s absolutely right: it’s not coincidental that the dip in form obviously ties in with the change in tyres. It’s very difficult because we’re past the time in the season where we’ve already committed through to the 2014 car. We ideally would need to put the 2013 car back into the system. I think what we’ve got to do – and it might not be very exciting – but I think we’ve got to just eke the best of the performance we can out of it, we’ve got a great team of engineers and I feel sure that they will overcome the problem but we’ve got to do it on the track and we’ve only got Fridays to do that. So it’s challenging and it’s going to be a little bit tough and it’s disappointing after what was an incredible start to the season – but we are where we are and we can’t change things.
Q: Question to you all next regarding costs in Formula One. We heard from Christian Horner in the FIA press conference in Monza, his thoughts that although teams have been working to reduce costs, 2014 looks like being a very, very expensive year with the regulation changes. In his words, “collectively,” he said, “the mistake the teams made was not saying ‘no’ to the new engines.” I just wonder, do you share his view? Have costs escalated beyond what’s ideally realistic for your teams to deal with the larger outfits on the grid? Start with you Tony.
TF: I’ve been consistent since day one I’ve been in Formula One that costs are too high and every… when I came into Formula One, people talked to me about costs coming down but I don’t think there’s been a single year it’s come down. I think next year will be probably the highest year – so I think there’s something fundamentally wrong. I don’t think it’s just the engine, by the way, I think the teams lost out an opportunity to get costs under control. I think self-interest overrode the sport and we are as much to blame for this problem as an engine.
Franz, is that a fair assessment?
FT: Yes, as I said, next year’s power unit package costs are double the price of this years and we are always talking of reducing the costs. Regarding now that power unit, on the one hand we must say Formula One is the peak of motorsport and we should come with new innovations. I think the new package from another point of view is quite economical and is quite interesting – but it costs us a huge amount of money. But the teams are stupid enough to decide to do tests during the season. This is totally a waste of money because we have eight test days and as soon as the car goes out on the track it costs money. But the teams want to do it. On the one hand they’re complaining they don’t have money, on the other hand, they throw it through the window. It’s a little bit difficult to understand for me but we were voted down because we were against the tests. And who wants the tests? The rich teams. As usual.
I’d be interested in your thoughts now Eric.
EB: It’s true that Formula One is costing too much money and regarding the next year engine, I do agree with Franz, F1 needs technology, this is the pinnacle of motorsport. I think just rather than blaming engine or not, it’s more about the process, about how this technology has been developed and sold to the team, which should have been controlled more. F1 needs technology, we need car manufacturers, we need obviously sponsors but we cannot afford to spend more and more every year. I was not there personally but last decade car manufacturers were in this place and the lowest budget in F1 was around $250m and the highest about $400m. Today it’s not the case any more and the smallest budget is around $60m and the highest is around $250m. But still, it’s… you multiply by four. If you want to be competitive you need to spend unfortunately some money, because you cannot afford if not, and you cannot be competitive then… This is a circle: you are not attractive, you do not bring in any new sponsors… so where is the balance? I think it’s a complicated debate. Obviously all the teams should stick together first, which is obviously something very difficult to do, and also sit down with Bernie and the FIA and make sure the regulations are stable at least for the next few years. I think in the new strategy committee we have a chance to voice what we would like to do. That’s going to be the first step, to make sure we go to a sustainable Formula One.
Claire, to you next.
CW: I don’t think I really have much more to add. Everyone’s covered the arguments. Williams, you know, we’re an independent team and we rely on sponsorships to go racing so the escalation in costs for next year across various different elements of what is involved in going racing, aren’t great for us and we have to just push and push to try to get the budget in for next year. But we have high ambitions as to where we want to position the team and to get the team back up the grid – but to do that is going to take more money. So to have more costs piled on top of each other, it’s going to be a challenge for us.
Bob, where do Force India stand on the current debate?
BF: I think the teams have demonstrated that they are not capable of being able to agree a cost control, so I think the answer is to take it outside of the team’s control. I think it’s up to the FIA to decide a formula, bring that in and implement it.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Chris Lyons – AP) Eric, Kimi said yesterday that one of the reasons he left was that he wasn’t being paid his salary. Can you clarify the details of that and does the fact that this has come out damage the brand of the team?
EB: I don’t think it’s damaging the brand of the team to be honest. The truth is that yes, we owe him money so that’s true. He’s going to be paid, that’s true too and if you want to have a little bit more of the story, last year in the same period it was the same story: we were owing him some money but at the end of the year he was fully paid. It’s just the way we manage our cash flow. Unfortunately we are not as rich as some other teams on the grid. You can also understand that a team capable of winning this year and fighting for some podiums may not be as sustainable as it should be. We have obviously favoured our people working in Enstone which is understandable I think, obviously the car development because this is the essence of Formula One if you want to keep competing. So there is nothing else behind this story.
Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Just to lighten it up a bit, in two or words or in the case of Franz, three, can you say who’s going to be driving for you next year or who do you think will be driving for you next year? Tony?
TF: No idea.
CW: I have two: no comment.
EB: No.
FT: We will see. The season’s not finished yet. There are some races to go and then Red Bull will sit together and then we will decide.
BF: It’s Vijay’s decision.
Q: If I could re-phrase the question, do you all have in your own mind an idea of who you would like to be driving for you, or is your mind still wide open as to what your final pairing would be?
TF: I would have one pretty clear and one open.
CW: Yes, in one word.
EB: Yes.
FT: Of course the Red Bull drivers – da Costa, Sainz and Kvyat – and then we will see where we end up.
BF: No, ours is a process, we can’t make those decisions at this point. It’s something we do after the Indian Grand Prix.
Q: (Mat Coch – pitpass.com) Eric, with Kimi leaving and the state of the team at the moment, are you after a driver to come in on a salary or are you looking for someone to bring funding?
EB: We keep the same strategy that we’ve had for many months. Geni helped us to bring the team to where it is today. We now want to have more finance, more sponsors because we need to step up and guarantee some stability over a few years. That’s part of the strategy, this is what we are still working on and we need to deliver on that point. We see the timing was not the right one for Kimi but we still have to deliver this. That would then allow us to chose drivers on merit which is obviously the first choice.
Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Claire, you mentioned earlier about the difficulties of ensuring that you have enough budget, the way that it’s an annual process. We’ve been reading in the papers recently about troubles with the Venezuelan economy. I was wondering if that was going to have an impact on your operating budget next year.
CW: We have a long term relationship with our friends in Venezuela so no, I don’t really have a concern about that at the moment.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Lady and gentlemen, you’re constantly going on about cost-cutting in Formula One, how costs must be reduced but as any housewife knows, there are two ways of keeping the household going: one is to reduce costs and the other one is to maximise income. Claire, you said earlier on that your source of income is sponsorship but I would have thought that the commercial rights holder also pays you something, and the commercial rights holder is obviously recording record profits. Is it not easier for the teams to club together to go and get more money out of the commercial rights holder than it is to constantly bang on about reducing costs and not reach agreement?
TF: I think the team didn’t get together. The teams had a wonderful opportunity to try and create a fair, equitable split so that the sport is sustainable. I’m obviously in another sport where I think the difference between the top and the bottom is not as great as between the top and the bottom in Formula One. If you look at the Premier League, the winner of the Premier League share of prize versus the team at the bottom is not as spread out. I think teams had an opportunity but I go back to my very first point: that teams looked at things on an individual basis as opposed to working together in FOTA and trying to find a win-win situation for everyone and create a very healthy environment in a sustainable sport. We screwed it up, it’s as simple as that.
BF: I tend to agree with Tony. I think we’ve had wonderful opportunities and we’ve collectively failed to be able to bring the deals together. There’s a certain amount of greed comes in from the top teams as well and I think they have to take some of the responsibility for that but it is Formula One, it’s not something that’s new, there’s never been any equality in Formula One so you have to go out there and make sure it happens for yourself.
FT: Each team has got the Concorde Agreement, at least from a financial side and if teams do not accept it, they don’t need to sign it. It’s as easy as that. And if they sign it, they have to accept it. There’s nothing to complain of from this side. I think first of all the teams should try to come down with the costs. It’s easy to say yes, we should get more money but give the engineers one million and they ask for two. Give them four million and they ask for eight million. It’s something about the discipline within the teams and as I mentioned before, we decide by ourselves to spend the money for nothing as I explain with the testing. If the teams get more money, they go testing even more and in my opinion that’s wrong.
CW: I think everyone’s said it all really. In my experience, this is the way Formula One has always been so unless you have a seismic change in the future, then I imagine it will remain this way but as people have said, the teams may have had an opportunity but unfortunately they didn’t take it.
EB: Well, I think it’s been debated and it’s true that I share the view of the other team principals that we may have missed an opportunity to just sit down with the commercial rights holder and re-negotiate something which could have been more in favour of the teams but we failed. I think on top of this it’s not one more or less costs, I think it should be both of them to be honest, because, as Franz said, the more money you get, the more money we will spend if you don’t have any safeguards around you. Your engineers will always try to find out the best way to be competitive and this is why we are paying them to be like this, but at the same time, the more open the regulations are, the more we will spend money and waste money. So it’s true that we need both.
Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) On the question of testing, can anyone of you think of a good argument this time next year when Bernie says ‘look, you’ve gone to four tests, you haven’t earned any money, why don’t we have four more races in 2015?’
EB: Four is not enough. Ten more is better.
Q: Could you race more, is that possible?
FT: This is what I always request. I prefer to have more races where we gain money instead of spending money for nothing, therefore I would prefer to maybe have two races more or three or four races more – I don’t care – instead of going testing for eight days where we go out to do some laps for nothing in the end, because reliability – as we can see – is no longer an issue. Ten, 15, 20 years ago we could say OK, we need to do some tests so that the cars become more reliable. That’s no longer the case. What we are doing now is to create a new test team, because the theory that the race team will do the tests on Tuesday and Wednesday is absolutely wrong because they have to go home to prepare the cars for the next race. That means that on Sunday, the test team will fly in, then we do the test on Tuesday, Wednesday, then they go back. It’s not only testing, it means bringing new parts, because the development will be increase and these are the costs.
CW: I think there are so many considerations. Like Franz said, the major one for bringing testing in is that you’ve got to create a new support team. A few years ago, Williams disbanded – whatever the word would be – our designated test team so now we’re looking at additional costs to create a new test team because you can’t have your race mechanics and engineers working that amount of time but then there are other considerations. Could you use those days for a young driver development programme, for example, that could bring in revenue for the teams? So it’s definitely conversations that we’re having internally at the moment to see which would be better whereas I don’t know whether… you bring in four more races a year or… Eric wanting ten more races. You’re going to have to bring in more personnel to support that as well, so I think again, it’s all about costs isn’t it?
EB: Just to comment on this, when I said ten more races, I know we face the same problem that today we have a team sized for twenty races, so if we go one or two more races, I think we would struggle if we could do it, but if you had ten more we would have to have a second team. This is why I said ten actually, because four races would be difficult but it’s better to race than test.
BF: I think Eric’s got a very good point there in terms of the amount of races, but the advantage you have of testing as opposed to having two or three races imposed on you is if you could make the choice of whether you wanted to go testing. You don’t have to do that, you do have to do races.
Q: (Luke Smith – NBC Sports) Eric, since Ferrari’s announcement, the two names that have been linked to the seat (at Lotus) have been Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa. Where does this leave Romain Grosjean in this situation; is his future with the team secure or could you completely change your line-up for next season?
EB: His future is secure so far because he has a contract with us. Last year was a bit difficult for him; this year he’s doing a great job. In the last four races, we have nothing to complain about. He was one hundred per cent up to speed, especially compared to his famous teammate. We just see now and monitor what he is doing and if everything is going as planned, he will have a great future with us.
Q: (Fredrik Af Petersens – Honorary) One question: I might have missed something but you are all talking about a missed opportunity regarding next year. Why did you miss it?
EB: We couldn’t sit down together and clearly we missed the opportunity by not taking the chance to conclude the process.
Q: (Fredrik Af Petersens – Honorary) Aren’t you grown-up enough to do that?
CW: We’re all too competitive.
FT: We do not only compete on the race track, also behind the scenes, around the green table.
Q: (Fredrik Af Petersens – Honorary) Just a comment, and I agree with Franz when it comes to testing, but your father, Claire, once said, a few years ago when there was a lot of testing, that ‘the first race of the year, my car is about half a second slower than the quickest one. Then we go testing. At the end of the year, my car is quicker but still half a second slower than the quickest one.’ So why go testing and, as Franz says, spend a lot of money?
CW: That’s true. Yeah. I do think that there is an argument that over the course of a year, if you start the season… to use an example, where we were at the start of this year, if we had had the opportunity to do some test days after the first few races, after Bahrain or Barcelona, it may have helped us, we don’t know, so I think there’s an argument for both sides.
Q: To pick up on Freddie’s original question, Tony is there a feeling among the teams that are represented today that you haven’t got the voice that is heard, that missed opportunity that you’re talking about. I assume that your opinion was given at various meetings. Was your voice not heard? Was that the problem?
TF: No, I don’t think so. I think there were numerous meetings, loads and loads of meetings, loads and loads of proposals but at the end of the day, some teams decided to split and when that happens, it’s a divide and rule situation and the whole thing falls apart. I don’t think it was anything else but that. There was lots of unity at the beginning but one by one, people decided to do their own thing.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) I would like to continue this particular debate about cost-cutting and maximising income. The general consensus of opinion seems to be that the teams screwed up in not maximising the income they could get from the commercial rights holder. The general consensus of opinion also appears to be that the FIA should control cost cuts. Am I correct in assuming then, that you people are asking the FIA to control something because you people screwed up?
BF: I think that was my comment, actually Dieter. I don’t think anybody else made that. My view is that the teams can’t agree what day it is, never mind be able to agree cost-cutting measures…
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Tony used the words ‘screwed up…’
TF: Yeah, I do. I don’t honestly think that if someone mentioned grown-ups etc around here, if we all sat together and agreed something, we wouldn’t need anyone to police it. The reality is we can’t. In my short period in Formula One it’s very clear, so I think someone here suggested the FIA controls that but the reality is that if 12 people in a room can’t agree something, then that sounds fairly ridiculous, but going back to Claire’s point, the competitive element of it leads us to this position and historically that’s always been the case I suppose.
CW: I don’t necessarily actually have anything more to add to it.
FT: For me, the FIA should not be involved in financial topics, but the FIA can come up with a regulation which helps the teams to cut the costs but then it’s obviously up to the teams to spend the money.
EB: Nothing else to add, to be honest.
Ends
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I expect better performance in Singapore: Adrian Sutil
DRIVERS – Adrian SUTIL (Force India), Nico HULKENBERG (Sauber), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Sergio PEREZ (McLaren), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Lotus), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
PRESS CONFERENCE
I’ll start with Kimi if I may. Congratulations on the move for next season. First time we’ve seen you since the announcement. If we’d have said to you at the start of the season that you’d be a confirmed Ferrari driver by September, what would have said then: no chance, no way or is it something you always thought might be possible?
Kimi RAIKKONEN: I just have to say things change in Formula One a lot. I never had a bad feeling with them really. But I mean I still have a lot friends and good memories from there. I knew that my contract will end at the end of this year so obviously I had to make some kind of decision what to do for next year and now it’s been done.
Was there anything that Lotus could have done to keep you with the team or was the attraction of a return to Ferrari just to strong for you?
KR: Yeah, there was a lot of things and for sure they know what it is. It’s hard to say which way it would have gone if that would have had happened but the deal’s done now and I’m very happy with the new deal.
What would you say is the biggest challenge for you then next season at Ferrari?
KR: I know the team and I know the people. Obviously there are some new people and some more have left since I was there but most are the same. I don’t think this will be too difficult to go there and do well. The car’s will be obviously different so I think that will be the most difficult thing, to get the cars right and get them running reliable and whoever makes the best car will probably make the best out of it.
Thank you Kimi. Let’s turn to Nico Hulkenberg, sitting behind you. There’s at least one seat going at Lotus and if you look at some of the headlines on the Internet you’re the man for the man for that team for next season. With due respect to your current team, is signing for Lotus a priority for you?
Nico HULKENBERG: It’s not a priority. The priority is to find a good deal and a good car, a competitive car, and a good package. Nothing is finalised. Nothing has been decided at this point. Trying to sort out all the options and then to come up with a good decision for the future.
Your name was of course linked to Ferrari. Did you think you got very close to a move there?
NH: I don’t know. I guess so. There was a chance there. There’s no point now to think about that too much. That’s history now. I have to look forward and move on.
You come here fresh with your performance at Monza in your mind. How much of a relief was that result for you given some of the difficulties on track this year?
NH: It was a fantastic weekend for us, a great effort by the team. I’m really happy for everybody there, for the hard work and that finally we could reward them a little bit, and for sure that’s given us a boost and some momentum for the final seven races. Monza, after a very challenging and disappointing year, has been very happy and good for us.
Sergio, I’m sure you’re really excited to be here in Singapore this weekend but I’m sure your thoughts aren’t very far away from your fellow countryman affected the tropical storm in Mexico?
Sergio PEREZ: Definitely. We’re not having a great time right now. A lot of people have lost their houses; other people have died. Things are getting a bit more complicated. That’s a bit sad for my country. I will dedicate my race weekend for all my country, all the people that is suffering, losing their houses, their families, so hopefully things can get better.
From a personal perspective, this time last year we were discussing your future and linking you to a move to McLaren, which eventually came off. Twelve months on people are talking about your future again. Have you signed a contract with McLaren yet?
SP: Yeah, it’s pretty much everything done, I think, But the right thing to do is to ask Martin about that but everything is done.
Have there been stumbling blocks along the way or have you been in unanimous agreement with McLaren?
SP: Yeah, we’ve been having some discussions about the contract. The contract is done but we are just finalising the final dots. Obviously I cannot give much details about them but everything is pretty much done.
Q: Valtteri, driving the Marina Bay circuit for the first time – what challenges lie ahead for you do you think this weekend?
Valtteri BOTTAS: I think it’s going to be a difficult race weekend, like Monaco was first time for me. And then this track, it’s a night race obviously but the lighting is very good and bright so that shouldn’t make a big difference but y’know, it’s a difficult circuit, a lot of corners, so there’s lots to learn on Friday.
Q: Realistically, what are your goals for this weekend?
VB: Still our goal is points. This track is a lot different from Monza. We were not really strong there but this is different and it means we can be stronger here. The team was very strong here last year actually, so really hope this track suits our car. We have some little updates and if they work I really think it is possible to fight for the points in the race.
Q: We’re talking about drivers’ futures. For yourself for next season is it safe to assume you’ll be staying with Williams?
VB: I think we still have to see. It’s always best to ask the team, they know the best what they are going to do but at the moment I’m very confident with Williams and comfortable and really would like to continue.
Q: We’ll stay on that theme. Adrian, your chances of staying with Force India for next season?
Adrian SUTIL: Yeah, I would be happy to do another year. I’m just back into Formula One, more than half a year only. It would be OK but I haven’t really lost too many thoughts about it yet. It’s quiet at the moment.
Q: You and the team haven’t sat down and started to look ahead just yet then?
AS: No, not yet.
Q: And this season, the form of the team, it was an upward curve and then the tyres changed. We had the construction from last year and the compounds from this year and the team’s form seemed to take a bit of a dip. Is it all tyre related?
AS: Yes, I think so. Since the new tyres came in it was clearly a step down for us. We used to be able to do one less stop in the race which was a big advantage compared to others and also the general balance of the car was much better and we lost it a little bit now, last few races. Spa was still OK but Monza was a big disappointment. Coming here of course we try to improve our performance again. I don’t think we get everything out of our package and we don’t develop the car any more – that’s clear – but it’s not different to other teams. So, we have to get back again where we used to be and I think even with this car what we have, we can show more in Singapore – here I expect a better performance.
Q: Is that very similar to yourself Nico Rosberg, that after the disappointment for the team in Spa and in Monza, Singapore, totally different track, Mercedes should improve? Or are you fearful of another disappointing weekend?
Nico ROSBERG: Spa wasn’t really a big disappointment. Of course it wasn’t a win – and we’re aiming quite high recently – but still it was a great points haul for the team with third and fourth. Monza, yes, didn’t go to plan. I think we had a very, very quick car so a lot more would have been possible. Unfortunately my weekend didn’t go perfectly. But that’s why I’m really looking forward to this race here. It’s back to high downforce package where Lewis won last with this package in Hungary, so I’m confident we can be very quick again this weekend.
Q: A track you quite enjoy as well, I’d have thought.
NR: Yeah, for sure. I’ve had great results here in the past and really enjoyed the track and that’s why I’m looking forward to it.
Q: Have you enjoyed this season? There have been two tremendous highs but some frustrating moments as well.
NR: In general I’ve really enjoyed it, yes, because it’s the first time in my career that I’ve really had a car that on numerous occasions I can win races with. That’s a great feeling. To come to a race track knowing I can put it on pole, I can win the race, it’s really nice.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, you said last year that when you left Ferrari you felt liberated. So what made you decide to go back and lose your – in brackets – freedom?
KR: I always had freedom there also. There are a lot of stories from my past, from different teams but it’s all from you guys and I don’t think that you guys work in the team so you don’t really know what’s happening and you write a lot of stuff which can sometimes be true and sometimes not. I had a good time, like I said, and I’m sure we will have a good time together again.
Q: (Jacob Polychronis – F1Plus.com) Kimi, some other drivers have been quite quick to already suggest that your partnership with Fernando Alonso may not work out, namely Jenson and Sebastian. Do you care to weigh in on the issue?
KR: I don’t see the reason why it wouldn’t work. We are all old enough to know what we are doing and for sure the team is working for the right things to make sure. If there is something, I’m sure we can talk it through. It’s not like we are 20-year old guys any more. I might be wrong, but time will tell, but I’m pretty sure everything will be good. For sure there will be hard fights on the race circuits but sometimes things go wrong… like I said, I’m pretty sure it will all be OK.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, Mr Montezemolo said in an interview in our newspaper that he expected victories and poles from you, but also that you can help Alonso to develop the car. Are you ready to spend more time in Maranello, like Fernando, to stay there even more than in the past?
KR: It’s a pretty similar answer to before. There are a lot of stories but I think we’ve done pretty well in this team when we started and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to produce a very good car for next year and keep improving it. Obviously there are new rules so it will be more challenging for all the teams but I have no worries about those things.
Q: (Luc Domenjoz – Le Matin) Kimi, it seems that Lotus owes you a lot of money, so the question is simple: why, if the team doesn’t fulfil its part of the contract, why do you respect yours and why don’t you simply stay at home?
KR: I like to race and then obviously that’s the only reason why I’m here; it doesn’t matter which team it is and obviously the reasons why they ask from the team but the reasons why I left from the team is purely on the money side, that they haven’t got my salary so it’s an unfortunate thing but like I said, I want to try and help the team as much as I can and I like to race.
Q: (Fulvio Solms – Corriere dello Sport) Kimi, referring to your next teammate, what do you think will be possible to learn from him next year and can he learn from you?
KR: For sure, you always learn from different teammates; everyone does different things. Maybe they do something better than you but often there are a lot of things that only suit one guy and it doesn’t work if you try to do the same thing for yourself, it’s not going to work. I know the team, I know the people. Like I said, I have no worries to go there and have something that wouldn’t work. I don’t really worry about it, I’ve never worked with Alonso. I obviously know him from racing but I’m sure it will be fine.
Q: (Chetan Narula – Planet F1) Adrian, how important is it for Force India to beat McLaren, considering there is just a five point gap and quite a few races to go, also considering that extra points means extra money in the Constructors’ standing, especially for a middle team going into 2014, which is a highly… the rule changes and everything for a middle team to go forward and to develop, so how important is it to beat McLaren?
AS: It would be a great success, of course. We are a few points behind now and it’s a very high target to complete but we showed, with a good car, it’s possible also to fight against McLaren and well, what can we do, we are professionals so we want to finally actually win races which is why we’re all here. That’s why we never give up so at the end of the season, who knows what’s going to happen? We only know that it’s a big challenge to beat McLaren but it’s not impossible and that’s why we’re pushing on. It would mean fifth position for us at the end of the year, that’s two better than last year and that means much better financial backing, of course, for the next year. So you can think about it by yourself, that definitely means a better chance for us next year to compete even better.
Q: On the flip side to that, Sergio, how important is it for you and everyone at McLaren to finish ahead of Force India this year? Is it a fight and a battle that you’re taking a lot of notice of?
SP: Yes, of course. It’s not a secret that we haven’t had the year that we were hoping for so we definitely have to try and finish as high as possible in the next seven races that we have ahead of us and maximise the full potential. Last weekend in Monza, we should have got more points than we did so I think we definitely have to make sure that we bring home all the points that we can. If at the end we beat Force India, it’s good for us.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Nico Rosberg, at the start of the season the momentum was on your side; then it switched to Lewis. For the latter part of the season, how do you get it back onto your side? Is it just a matter of letting things unfold?
NR: I’ve just had a few races now when it’s just not gone perfectly, a string of races and that gives a little bit of a dip but I’m really confident I can turn it around and get some good races again from now on.
Q: (Abhishek Tackle – Mid-Day) Nico Hulkenberg, last year you were linked to a Ferrari drive; this year there was actually a contract on the table before the deal with Kimi was agreed. Is there any sort of resentment that you feel towards Ferrari, especially the way that you found out that you hadn’t got the drive, I think it was an SMS or something?
NH: No, not at all to be honest. I think the relationship is as good and as positive as before. I think there has maybe been some understanding and that story has been blown up by the media. I read that too but no, I don’t feel that.
Q: Were you not contacted by text message then?
NH: No.
Q: (Luke Smith – NBC Sports) Valtteri, at Singapore, traditionally, there is a high rate of attrition, lots of retirements, there’s been a safety car in every race here; is this your best chance to score points this season do you think?
VB: I think so, this should be the place to get the points. Like you said, a lot of things can happen in the race and safety cars etc. Like I said before, if some of the little updates work and we can get a little more speed and be a bit closer to the top ten in pure pace, then it’s always possible to get points and we need to keep pushing for that.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, in your choice of Ferrari, is there also a technical reason? I’m thinking about the turbo era; do you think that Ferrari building both engine and chassis could be a better chance of being a competitive car than Red Bull or Lotus next year?
KR: Obviously I hope so. They built very good cars and engines in the past, they’ve won a lot of championships as a team and then you have to look on the other side at teams like Red Bull or Lotus with Renault who have done very well. It’s very hard to say which way it’s going to go with the new rules and who’s going to have the best package. There are a lot of stories about certain engines that will be much stronger than others but there are so many different things that you have to look at and go through and make sure that it works that I have no idea which team will be strongest and which team will come out on top. We have to wait and see, really, for the first few tests.
Q: (Chetan Narula – PlanetF1) Nico Rosberg, it’s a continuation of the last question for you: for 2014, teams are looking to get the two strongest drivers to get them more points, considering it’s going to be an unpredictable season. Lewis and your partnership was considered to be a very strong one, especially when Red Bull went for Daniel Ricciardo instead of Kimi. But with Kimi pairing with Alonso now, what are your thoughts on that?
NR: I can just say that for us it’s working well. We push each other and also through a weekend, pushing each other, stepping up our game, learning from each other so it’s working really well and we get on well together. But that’s just for us. For other people, I don’t know, we need to wait and see.
Q: Is it vital to get on with your teammate? Do you have to or can you still compete well on the track if you don’t get on with your teammate?
NR: Well, get on, no, you don’t need to get on but you need to show a certain respect, I think, otherwise it can go a bit wrong.
Ends
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A fantastic race and we beat the red guys: Sebastian Vettel
DRIVERS
1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)
3 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)
PODIUM INTERVIEW (Conducted by John Surtees and Jean Alesi)
Q: Sebastian, you won your first grand prix, here at Monza, in an Italian team. So, it’s very special coming back for you, isn’t it?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, definitely. A fantastic race – but you can hear the difference, obviously, when you don’t win here in a red suit, you get a lot of that but in the end it’s very nice because it means you’ve done very good and beat the red guys. So we are very proud of that. Great job by the whole team today, very good job by Renault. Usually this is one of the toughest tracks we go to but this year the car’s been absolutely fantastic, the race has been incredible. I think for both of us towards the end we were struggling a little bit with the gearbox so we had to pace ourselves but obviously for me it was not that bad because I had a little bit of a cushion but very great to win here, to see all the fans coming, it’s the best podium of the season so very proud to be up here.
Q: It’s important that they come and the emotion is all about Italy, isn’t it?
SV: Yeah, for sure.
…Fernando did a very good drive and kept you honourable, so that was fantastic.
SV: Yeah, definitely. Most people, you can see are dressed in red – but there’s a lot of blue caps as well and I’m sure those guys are very happy. Thank you.
Q: Fernando, you must explain how was the overtaking in the beginning of the race for you.
Fernando ALONSO: It was difficult obviously. The car was OK and we overtook Nico [Hülkenberg] but then we had to overtake Mark and Felipe later on. And then with Sebastian we were not able to close to the gap so we were fighting with Mark until the end. Second place is good, to have this podium ceremony that is the most spectacular podium of the year for sure and hopefully next one, next year, we come back here but in the top place.
Q: And Fernando, when you make the pass, the whole public jump on the grandstand, it was amazing. Inside the car, how it was? It was very close.
FA: It was close. Obviously we have to risk. There is nothing now to lose for us. We are second in the championship and we have to take some risk. We did it and that’s OK.
Q: You understand Ferrari love you? You have to love Ferrari, we are all behind you…
FA: Ah, of course. I always said the same thing, big thanks to the team for everything they do for me and huge support from all the fans from all Italy. Some people still try to create some tension between team and driver but here is the better symbol: zero tension and we fight for the championship always.
Q: Mark, you had to fight very hard to be on the podium. From the middle of the race you had… it looked like from outside you had better speed, compared to the beginning. Can you explain how it was at the beginning of the grand prix?
Mark WEBBER: Yeah, I felt a little bit better on the tyre at the end of the race. The hard tyre was not quite as comfortable for me but I felt very, very good at the end. So it was a good battle with Fernando. Great team result. Thank you to Monza, last time here in Formula One, so thank you very much. See you next time.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Well done Sebastian, your third win here but tell us the problems you had with the gearbox – you said between fifteen and ten laps from the end. Was it getting worse or was it just one problem?
SV: In the end we finished the race so it was not a disaster. I think yeah, the heartbeat was a bit higher in the car and also at the pitwall because we didn’t know what’s going on. Fortunately, as I said, we didn’t have any big issues. Just the last ten, fifteen laps, tried to pace myself a little bit more and control the gaps. Obviously it was good to have these ten seconds on hand, so I didn’t have to push that much and also I didn’t have to squeeze it all out of the tyres even though I stopped a couple of laps earlier than Fernando. So that was positive. But yeah, we didn’t know how bad the problem is. We’ll probably know better once we strip the car next week and have a look inside the gearbox. We’ll probably know for both cars, I think, how close it was.
Q: Fernando, were you happy with that second place? Was that as much as you could have achieved today?
FA: Yes, very happy. I think the weekend we took the maximum from the car. Practice were OK and we learnt some good information Friday. Saturday it was very good, both cars in the top five. I think the last time was Malaysia this year, so very, very long time, so we were very, very happy. Today, being in the podium again, it’s a fantastic feeling here in Monza. The fourth year that I drove for Ferrari, the four times that I was in the podium and every year is something amazing, something unique again, to be there in that moment. And we did the maximum and nearly a perfect weekend. We didn’t close the gap in the championship, which is obviously the goal every weekend but y’know, when Sebastian and Red Bull dominate Friday, Saturday and Sunday and they win the race we have to congratulate them. They were the best all through the weekend and we need to do hopefully a better job next time but from what we had this weekend I think we did the maximum. So we are extremely happy.
Q: Mark, you’ve had your best finishing position here and finally experienced a Monza podium – but at the same time, tell us about the start, tell us why you pulled off at the end.
MW: Yeah, very happy to be on the podium here at Monza. It’s one of the most famous ones in the world, up there with Monte Carlo and a few other signature events but yeah, brilliant to experience that, even though the atmosphere I was not completely a fan of, to be honest. Sebastian won the race and the atmosphere is not completely correct but anyway… that’s their choice. It was good to have a clean weekend from start to finish and then fight for top positions, which was certainly the case today. The start was pretty good but both Sebastian and I, I think, compared to the Ferraris were not as strong off the line. Felipe had a good one so he had to go to the other side. Seb gave me enough room up the inside. I thought he was going to go straight. He was very deep on the brakes but just managed to pull it up, so then we settled into the first part of the race. I was not super-happy on the hard tyre but anyway that’s the way it was. Fernando was into the rhythm a little bit quicker, we had a good little battle in the second chicane and then after that really just trying to managed the pace on the rear tyres to when we were going to stop to try to pass Felipe – which I was very, very happy with, the in-lap. And also the whole thing went well in terms of for the line, pitstop, exit, out-lap. We executed that as a team effort: driver, pitcrew, and got the job done against Felipe. And then actually it was a good battle with Fernando on the other tyre. Tried everything but yeah, as Seb touched on, we had to nurse the gearbox a little bit but in the end second was the maximum, we got third but we pushed Fernando all the way. It’s always a good battle racing Fernando, you have to be very accurate. We pushed as hard as we could and I’m satisfied with today’s result.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Adrian Huber Rodriguez – Agencia EFE) Fernando, is the only way for you to win this championship is for Sebastian to lose it?
FA: Well, I think we need to be realistic about the championship now there’s a very big gap. We don’t have enough races and probably we don’t have the speed right now to win some consecutive races and hope to reduce the gap just by pace. We need to be lucky and we need to have some DNFs from Sebastian or something to win the championship. With the races left and the points disadvantage, it’s hard but in a way, it was exactly the same last year. We could only lose the championship, with 41 points advantage in front of Sebastian after the Monza race. It was difficult for him to catch up and so it was maybe up to us. We didn’t complete the job and we had a DNF in Suzuka and some other problems. There’s still a long way to go; we will try until the last race to be as good as we can and score as many points as possible and then in Brazil we will see how many points we have compared to him.
Q: (Adrian Huber Rodriguez – Agencia EFE) And yesterday, there was so much talk and so much written as to whether you had said this or said that. Did you feel today that the fans spoke out for you? They cheered you; do you feel much better today than yesterday?
FA: Concerning yesterday, it’s the third or fourth consecutive race that some people have tried to create some tension between the team and the drivers. Then we come to the press conference, we explain everything but obviously this doesn’t sell so many newspapers – normality. Every time I leave an airport, the hotel, home, everywhere – here in Italy there’s huge support, huge love from them and me to them as well and to the team and we keep repeating this and we saw today on the podium maybe not many of them read the newspapers in the morning, luckily.
Q: (Jaime Rodriguez – El Mundo) Fernando, can you explain the overtaking manoeuvre on Mark, maybe the most spectacular in the whole race?
FA: I tried a lap before but I was not close enough in turn four, in the second chicane, and then we were very close in the first chicane on that lap. Mark had a little slower exit in the first chicane so I used all the KERS on that straight hoping that with the KERS plus the slipstream it will be enough to pass, but it was not enough so that we arrived side by side. At one point, I thought ‘well, I will miss the second chicane and I will give the place back’ but at the last moment I get the grip, we were very close to touching each other but again we come back to the point that it’s not the same fighting with an experienced and respectful driver compared to some others with whom you would never try that move, with whom we’ve had some incidents already.
Q: (Cesare Manucci – Autosprint) Sebastian, in parc ferme you changed gears five, six and seven I think, because you already had a warning of the same problems with the transmission that you had during the race, or was it a completely different problem, or just to be more safe for the race?
SV: We already saw something on Friday, obviously something similar but Friday to Saturday we changed the gearbox and then I think in the race it was a surprise. We were obviously aware of the Friday problem but we didn’t see anything before that. There’s not much you can do; obviously once you start the car there’s nothing you can change so in the end, I think we were lucky or in a comfortable position to have a little bit of a gap especially towards the end. I don’t know what they saw on the pit wall in terms of data, if the problem got worse and worse and worse or stabilised, but obviously I tried to save the car, save the engine and gearbox as much as I can. In the end, I still have to go full power on the straights; basically try to short shift and save the car a little bit.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, does it hurt to see the people against you on the podium?
SV: About the general atmosphere, fortunately I had an experience in 2008 which blew me away completely when we won here in an Italian team with a Ferrari engine so the atmosphere was fantastic. When we won here in 2011 and this year… 2011 was a surprise, this year I think it was kind of expected. I said on the radio on the in lap that the more booing we get, the better we have done today. It’s normal. I don’t blame the people to be honest, I think their love of Ferrari is in their genes. It’s something very special. Obviously Fernando is in a great position on the podium, whereas if you’re dressed in any other colour it’s not the same, but still, it’s a fantastic race, a fantastic podium here.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, I think the only hard moment was at the start when you locked up the front tyres a bit. How was it after that, please?
SV: Our start was difficult, as I mentioned. I didn’t get off the line that well, couldn’t see Mark so tried to give him enough room and then tried to brake late, probably a little bit too late, locked the front right and then had lots of vibrations after that because I had a flat spot on the front right tyre. Fortunately we weren’t front limited on this circuit, so the front tyre was not a big issue, so I tried to look after the rears after that and we still got far enough to make the one stop work.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Mark, can you describe your side of when Alonso passed you and how badly did that damaged wing affect your race?
MW: I think that I braked pretty deep into there, so did Fernando. It was early in the race, we were still to get a feel for where everything is. Obviously as Fernando touched on, it’s very easy to go straight there and not make the entry to the chicane. I was also mindful of the fact that I wanted to make the entry to the chicane as well but when Fernando then got pretty much level on the outside of three, the chess match is over, basically, so you then obviously have to concede and look to take the fight to another part of the race. The wing, I think, wasn’t too bad. I think we’ve had quite a few little snags on the front wings this season but that seemed to be OK. It wouldn’t have helped; I don’t think we had the best balance in the first ten, 15 laps because of that. As the race went on towards the end, it might not have been too bad to help the stint but I couldn’t go anywhere against that with Felipe and at the end of the stop the guys might have tweaked it up a little bit, but in general, not a big difference. I was concerned that the wing might have been more damaged when I saw it go and also on the back straight on the way to the Parabolica I thought I saw Fernando’s left rear – just an illusion maybe – but I saw the tyre about to go down but it didn’t, it stayed up and in the end we both survived.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Sebastian, Adrian Newey in Spa said that Monza wouldn’t be a positive track for Red Bull, but looking at the dominance here, maybe he was wrong. What happened, how were you able to change the situation?
SV: I think he was as surprised as we were. Just on the way up to the podium, he said ‘I thought that it was going to be damage limitation this weekend.’ I said to him ‘well, if damage limitation is like that, I want to have a lot of damage for the rest of the season.’ It was very unexpected. Already the pace on Friday surprised us. From a balance point of view, I was very happy with the car, similar to two years ago. So obviously we’ve been very competitive in Canada, very competitive in Spa on medium downforce tracks. This one was a little bit unknown. We haven’t been the fastest down the straights again, but fast enough, somewhere in the mid-field which is enough to use the strengths that we have through the corners, despite running as little wing as we can afford.
Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, what do you expect for Singapore, because in theory it is very good for your car. Do you believe Red Bull is now at the level of 2011?
FA: Yeah, we will see. Obviously we were expecting a lot from Monza and it was a very good Monza. It’s true that we didn’t win the race because Red Bull and Sebastian did an even better job and they were very very good but in our level of competitiveness that we had this year, Monza is one of the best weekends, as we expected before. We came from Silverstone, from Nurburgring, from Hungary where we had Red Bull in front of us, Lotus in front of us, Mercedes in front of us and some other cars sometimes, so here in Monza we were able to beat all those cars and fight for the wins, so if we can repeat this good performance in Singapore, we hope so but this will be the real test for us. We made some changes in the car, they seemed to be positive in Spa, seem to be good and positive in Monza, but when we reach the maximum level of downforce in Singapore, like we had in Hungary, we need to check. If we still have Mercedes in front, Lotus in front and some other teams, we will be more or less the same as in Hungary and we don’t want to be. I think we prepare the car and we prepare everything to make a step forward and in Singapore hopefully we can see it.
The level of domination? Well, I think as Sebastian touched on before as well, already in Canada, Spa, Monza are very unique tracks in terms of level of downforce. They were quick in Spa so more or less… we saw it in Canada so Spa was not a surprise and here in Monza also they performed really well. I think it’s more tight this year than 2011 and also there are more teams in the battle. There is not only Red Bull who can be on pole position etc; there is Mercedes who have done many pole positions this year etc, so many races are coming with many interesting combinations of performance so what we have to do is try to be close to the top in all track characteristics.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, you said some minutes ago that the car reminded you of the 2011 car here. It means a very dominant car as we already saw in Spa – Francorchamps, you have 53 points advantage over Alonso. What do you predict for the rest of the season? You are very close to being World Champion for the fourth consecutive time?
SV: I’m trying not to think about it too much. I think that when I spoke about the fact that it was similar to 2011 I was speaking about the experience here in Monza because usually… you know, 2009, 2010, 2012 it was very tricky for us here. Obviously this year was similar to 2011 when the car just seemed to be very well balanced in the corners, I felt very good through all the medium speed and the chicanes. It’s not as simple as you think. People say ‘at Monza, you just need horsepower, little wing on the car’ but in fact if the car doesn’t feel right and doesn’t allow you to play, you lose a lot of lap time, just because you are not comfortable. The cars are sliding more than the rest of the year because you run less downforce so you need to be happy with that and accept that. We have a car this year that was similar in 2011 in that regard and allowed myself to play and still to feel comfortable, even though the car was loose. Other than that, I think I tend to agree with Fernando. Obviously the last two races have been very good for us but overall this year, I think it’s been very close. Yesterday was the first pole position we got in real dry dry conditions, if you don’t consider Melbourne because it was a little bit damp and drying up in Q3. So on that front, we seem to have made progress and in the race it has stood out this year that we have had a very very strong race car. Together with Ferrari, I think on average we have been the fastest in the race.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, during the race we heard a little message radioed by you that you were complaining about the rear light on the Vettel car. I would like to know how disturbing, how annoying it was for you during the race?
SV: Me?
FA: Was the question for me? Well, it was…
SV: Will you listen now? You complained about the red light?
FA: Yeah, yeah. It was disturbing a little bit. Obviously it’s a very strong light with no rain.
SV: It’s worse in here.
FA: Sebastian is not used to having a car in front so he doesn’t know how it feels to have a red light on but when you are behind, a little bit close, it’s always flashing and sometimes you just have to touch one button because that’s the red light or something that you press by mistake, if he could switch, but he didn’t. So the whole race I had it flashing in my eyes.
SV: I was trying to get away so it wasn’t disturbing you so much.
FA: You didn’t…
Ends
From left: Alonso (2nd), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Vettel and Webber (3rd) on the the Podum at Monza on Sunday. An FIA photo -
Brembo awards Niki Lauda during Formula One Italy Grand Prix
Monza, 8 Sept 2013: Niki Lauda, the legendary Austrian racing driver, three-time Formula One World Champion, received ‘Bernie Ecclestone Award 2013’ for contributing with his sporting and entrepreneurial capabilities to the history of Formula One.
On the occasion of Formula One Italy Grand Prix at Monza circuit, Alberto Bombassei, Brembo Chairman and Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One Management (FOM) Chairman, gave the prize ‘Bernie Ecclestone Award 2013’ to Niki Lauda.
The special award, a Formula One braking system, was achieved with the following motivation: “To have contributed to the history of Formula One as a racing driver, with three-time World Champion victories in 1975, 1977 and 1984, 177 races competed, 25 wins, 54 podiums, 24 pole positions. After the retirement from competition, in the role of teams consultant, television commentator, motorsport writer and journalist and now as non-executive Chairman of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team.
Moreover, in September 2013 the movie RUSH will be released about F1 battle between Austrian driver and James Hunt in Seventies and contribute to further spread the culture of Formula One worldwide. Thanks to the award assigned to Niki Lauda, Brembo brings the award outside Italy at more international level”.
The award ceremony took place at FOM (Formula One Management) motorhome. The ‘Bernie Ecclestone Award by Brembo’ was born in 2011 to celebrate 50th anniversary of the Italian Company. The first edition of the award, a braking system personalized with the colour of the Italian flag, was given to Bernie Ecclestone. In 2012 the award was assigned to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Ferrari Chairman.
The Italian Company continues to invest maximum commitment in research and development of highly innovative and technological products, offering high performances and guaranteeing the best reliability and safety. Since 1975 to date, Brembo has achieved 18 Drivers World Championships and 23 Constructors World Championships, divided in this way: 14 with Scuderia Ferrari, 3 with McLaren Honda, 3 with Red Bull Racing, 2 with Benetton Renault and 1 with Brawn GP.
ends
Bernie Ecclestone award presented to Niki Lauda on Sunday. Photo by Brembo Brakes -
Bulls seal front row; Pleasant surprise for Hulkenberg, Sauber
Title leader in control ahead of team-mate Webber as Hülkenberg grabs surprise third for Sauber on Italian GP grid.
Photo by Sauber team Monza, 7 Sept 2013: Sebastian Vettel claimed his fourth pole position of the season with a convincing march to the front of the Monza grid ahead of Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber and surprise third-fastest man Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber.
“Generally this weekend, the car [has been] fantastic,” said Vettel. “I think better than what we could expect. We had very strong pace yesterday and we were able to take that into the qualifying today. I had two good runs. In the end I think it’s a bit of a surprise to have both cars on the front row at a place where historically we’ve had bad years. This year it seems to work well and hopefully we’ll have a good race from where we start tomorrow.”
After finishing Friday’s opening practice fourth quickest, Vettel then rose to the top and has been the undisputed fastest man at Monza in each of the subsequent session. He completed Friday afternoon’s practice at the top of the timesheet by a margin of six tenths of a second and then on Saturday morning finished final practice ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by almost three tenths of a second. It was no surprise to see the defending champion carry that dominance through to qualifying.
Vettel powered through Q1 in P1, a segment in which only he, Webber, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Alonso had the luxury of using just the hard tyre. At the back of the field, the Marussia and Caterhams departed in order, with Jules Bianchi beating team-mate Max Chilton to 21st and Giedo van der Garde taking 19th ahead of Charles Pic. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Sauber’s Esteban Gutiérrez also left the stage at this point.
It was better news for the remaining Sauber driver. Hülkenberg was enjoying his afternoon at the high-speed circuit and breeze through to Q2 in tenth place. It was a sign of further strong pace to come.
Q2 saw Vettel on top again, the German slotting into P1 with his first timed lap of the segment and then bettering it by three tenths to ease through to the final top-10 shoot-out with a time of 1:23.977.
The session was far less comfortable for others. The Lotus cars of Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean were eliminated in P11 and P13 respectively, split by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. The Briton’s final run was investigated by the stewards, Force India’s Adrian Sutil suspected of blocking the Briton. Sutil was duly penalized, given a three-place grid drop for tomorrow’s race, though Hamilton later stated he was off the pace regardless.
“I just didn’t get a lap together in Q2 today and it’s hugely disappointing, not just for me, but also for the team and I can only apologise to them as we had a quick car today,” he said. “I came off at Parabolica on my first run which damaged the car and it was a downward spiral from there really.”
The final segment then seemed to be all about the margin by which Vettel would claim pole. In the end, untroubled as he was in his march to the front of the grid, the gap wasn’t as great as expected as Webber put up a solid challenge to finish just two tenths adrift of the champion.
“I’m pretty happy with my laps,” said Webber of sealing Red Bull Racing’s first front-row lockout since the opening race of the season. “Jean-Eric [Vergne] went off in the Parabolica, in the last corner, so I didn’t know if he’d dropped a wheel or if he was continuing on the circuit, so I couldn’t really see with the dust. Then when I got further round I could see he was in the gravel. So a little bit of a tricky finish to the lap but overall it wouldn’t have been enough to get Seb, he did a very good lap.”
Hülkenberg, meanwhile, took his best grid position since he claimed pole position for Williams in a rain-hit 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying.
“I didn’t expect it, especially after a very difficult Friday,” he said, referring to gearbox issues that ended his FP1 session early. “The guys have done a fantastic job to turn the car around and give me such a competitive car today. The car just got better and better, I think with the track improvement and with the right decision to fuel for one timed lap. A burning lap which made this nice surprise happen.”
Behind the Sauber driver, Felipe Massa will line up fourth for Ferrari, ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso. Nico Rosberg will line up behind Alonso at the back of row three, while row four will see Daniel Ricciardo start from seventh position, ahead of McLaren’s Sergio Pérez. Jenson Button will line up in ninth place in the second McLaren, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Vergne, whose Parabolica error on his final lap cost him valuable time.
Italian Grand Prix Qualifying times
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:23.755
2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:23.968
3 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:24.065
4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:24.132
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:24.142
6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.192
7 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:24.209
8 Sergio Pérez McLaren 1:24.502
9 Jenson Button McLaren 1:24.515
10 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:28.05011 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:24.610
12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.803
13 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:24.848
14 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:24.932
15 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:25.011
16 Paul di Resta Force India 1:25.07717 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber 1:25.226
18 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:25.291
19 Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:26.406
20 Charles Pic Caterham 1:26.563
21 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:27.085
22 Max Chilton Marussia 1:27.480ends
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I wish Nico stays third, for him and for Sauber… and it would do me no harm; But I have to be ahead of him: Vettel
DRIVERS
1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)
2 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)
3 – Nico HULKENBERG (Sauber)
TV UNILATERAL
Sebastian, you’ve got a long history here, how much do you love this place?
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it’s a special track for sure. It’s always nice to come back here. Obviously the memories of 2008 are great. I had another victory in 2011 but I think the first victory is always special. Today I think, or generally this weekend, the car was fantastic so far. I think better than what we could expect. We had a very strong pace yesterday and we were able to take that into the qualifying today. I had two good runs in the end. In the end I think it’s a bit of a surprise to have both cars on the front row at a place where historically we’ve had bad years. Yeah, this year it seems to work well and hopefully we’ll have a good race from where we start tomorrow.
You mentioned historically. How much has the team targeted the performance here?
SV: Well we do target to have the optimum every year. Obviously, some years we were closer and other years we were quite far away. It seems that this year we’re obviously in a very strong position. We’re able to match other cars down the straight and we know that in corners we have a strong car. It’s a nice place, a nice track, very challenging to get the lap right, because you have low downforce on the car, so the car is very light, sliding a little bit here and there. It doesn’t cost us as much probably as in other places but yeah obviously if you try too often to go over the limit there is a big penalty, so, yeah, I think it was a tough session but we managed to get through and get a great result.
Mark, your best qualifying position here and presumably you’re looking to follow it up with a good result as well, your best result here?
Mark WEBBER: Yeah, exactly. I said to the boys before the session I was looking for a quali PB. It hasn’t been the best track for me, so as your say it’s a nice step towards a very, very good result tomorrow. I’m happy with qualifying, to be up there. It took the old boy a little bit of while to be ready for Q1 but I got there in end, in the sessions where it counted. Actually pretty happy with my laps. Jean-Eric [Vergne] went off in the Parabolica, in the last corner, so I didn’t know if he’d dropped a wheel or if he was continuing on the circuit, so I couldn’t really see with the dust. Obviously then when I got further round I could see he was in the gravel. So a little bit of a tricky finish to the lap but overall it wouldn’t have been enough to get Seb, he did a very good lap. We have a few different people up here as well with us, which is good. It was a bit of a mixed-up session and that can happen at Monza, it’s not an easy track to get right. Looking forward to the race tomorrow.
This is you last European Grand Prix. Is that an emotional moment for you?
MW: Not really. I think Brazil will probably be a little bit more emotional of course, but if I’ve got the tissues out then I’ve made the wrong decision. It’s good that I still enjoy my driving. I’m not too uncompetitive. Just look for a clean weekend and get some very good results in the future in the coming races and that’s got to be my goal. I’m not retiring. I’m stopping from Formula One but of course there’s a lot of people that can come and watch me in the Porsche next year at Le Mans and some other races.
Thanks very much. Nico, where did that come from?
Nico HULKENBERG: I don’t know either. Really a nice surprise to ourselves. I didn’t expect it, especially after a very difficult Friday. Yesterday we struggled a lot with the car, we were trying some different bits and bobs, but the guys have done a fantastic job to turn the car around and give me such a competitive car today. It was just that Q1, Q2, Q3 the car just got better and better, I think with the track improvement and with the right decision just to go for one timed lap, fuelled for one timed lap, was the right call. Yeah a burning lap which made this nice surprise happen.
Of course it’s a good circuit for Sauber. They finished second here last year, so what are your hopes for tomorrow?
NH: Yeah, last year is a very different year. Obviously Sauber was very competitive very often last year in races. This year we have been struggling more, we’ve had a more difficult year, let’s put it this way. So I hope that the long run pace is good. From what I could see yesterday it should be all right. I don’t think we can challenge these guys but definitely points are now the target.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Sebastian, your third pole position here and 40th in your career. Tell us about the importance of pole position here. Is it an important pole?
SV: I think pole is always important. It’s the best place to start the race from on Sunday. Especially here, I think it’s important to manage to qualify in the top group, we know the first two chicanes are quite tricky. So, I’m looking forward to start the race from pole tomorrow, focus on the start and then we’ll see where we get. But it’s a long race, we’ve seen in the past that there’s a lot of things that can happen. A good example of how quickly things can change last year, I think Sergio [Pérez] had a fantastic race and coming through with an opposite strategy so yeah, race pace is very important but surely today we did our homework with qualifying, P1 and P2.
Q: Mark, yesterday we saw a margin of six-tenths of a second. We saw a margin of six-tenths again this morning. Do you feel that you’ve got some of that back?
MW: To Seb? Yeah, the lap time looks like it. It’s down to two. It’s not quite there but it was still a session which I was pretty happy with because to qualify in second position is good. Seb’s strong here, quick in Monza. He’s not slow here so it’s not… it’s a bit of an opposite circuit for me so certainly happy to have a PB in quali and I’ll do my best tomorrow. The car’s
[INAUDIBLE – MIXED IN RADIO CHATTER]but in general looking forward towards the race tomorrow. The big clutch behaving itself in a good fashion, hopefully it should be OK, then we’re going to get a good start to the race in terms of the first few laps and settle in for the afternoon.
Q: Nico, possibility of showers tomorrow. What would you like?
NH: I think I’d like it to stay dry to be honest. I think that would be the easier option but we’ll take it as it comes. We haven’t run in wet or inter conditions so it will be new to everyone. Obviously more challenging but I’m open-minded.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Complimenti Sebastian; are you happy to have the first Ferrari engine in Nico Hulkenberg’s car than one of the works cars? How important is it not to have the Ferrari there?
SV: I think today it was obviously all about preparing for the race, getting the best position. As I said, in this regard we got our job done but the main job comes up tomorrow so we will see. The races are long, a lot of things can happen so I don’t know. I think Felipe is P4 so I think Ferrari was strong in every race this year in terms of race pace so they will be strong tomorrow as well. I think their long run looked quite competitive; I don’t know what they have done exactly in terms of fuel loads but I’m sure they have the pace and the ability to come through. Equally, I wish that Nico stays there, first of all for him and for his team, to have a strong result and secondly, obviously, it would do me no harm in terms of the championship. But first of all, I have to finish in front of him.
Q: (Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung) To both Red Bull drivers: what is your strategy tomorrow for the start, as Nico is quite close to you?
SV: I think the usual: accelerate as quick as we can, try to get a good start. Partly it’s in our hands, literally, with the clutch and then our feet, but also it depends on how well we set up the start, how accurate we are. I think we’ve worked a lot in the past, we’ve had some very good starts, we’ve had some not so good starts. You never know what you get, but we’re both, I think, hoping for the best launch.
Q: Mark, have you solved the problem with the clutch, do you feel you’re on top of it?
MW: (I’m) The wrong guy to ask. But anyway, there’s always a guy third on the grid, it’s Nico or whoever. We can’t start one and two and then have a fifty meter gap. He’s third because he did a good job. Nico or someone else, it doesn’t matter. We focus on ourselves really. That’s it.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Serra) Sebastian, there was a strange phrase by Fernando on the radio and it seemed to be against the team. Do you believe he’s getting nervous and nervous in the fight against you?
SV: Today? I don’t know, I don’t know. I don’t what they… Maybe they had a problem. Obviously they were quite competitive this morning in the beginning of qualifying, I think it was very close at the end of qualifying to be fair. Obviously I fortunately had a bit of a gap but I think everyone behind Nico was quite close to each other. I don’t know, maybe they had some problem.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Nico, the drivers’ market is very sensitive at this moment, especially concerning the teammate of Alonso. You have put in a greater performance then Ferrari; do you think it can influence Ferrari’s decision to take you?
NH: I can only influence it by performing very well and obviously today’s result is not the worst. For me it’s just important to focus on my competitiveness and my performance and that will make the rest easier but probably the timing is not the worst at this moment.
Sebastian Vettel on his way to pole position at Monza. Photo by Pirelli Ends
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A race in Mexico is a Great Step Forward: Monica Kaltenborn, Sauber
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Graeme LOWDON (Marussia), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren), Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Stefano, as it’s your home race, I’ll start with you if I might. First of all, we’ve had two practice sessions today. Have we seen the same sort of upturn here as you had in Spa in terms of your performance and can you maintain that through the rest of the weekend?
Stefano DOMENICALI: From what we have seen today, for sure above all in the second session, Red Bull seems to be very strong. I have to say, we have seen them doing a lap time immediately, so normally this is a good sign. Therefore, I am expecting, for sure, them to be very strong, and I’m sure the other team surrounding me they were a little bit doing some other stuff. I think it will be a tough weekend, for everyone, because with this kind of temperature also the car will be under pressure. At the end of the day we need to understand all the data we have collected and make sure that we have selected the right configuration for the car for tomorrow and this is really the work that the engineers will do tonight. I really hope that we can do a good weekend because in front of our people it will be very important and of course, as we know, if you want to put the pressure on the guys who are in front of us we need to try to be faster and faster and it is not enough to try to be very close to them in case they have an issue and then be ready, otherwise we will; lose our opportunities.
Thanks very much, Stefano. Graeme, yesterday Max Chilton told us of his hopes of staying with the team. What chances are there of that? Where are you in terms of drivers for next year and how important is your position in the Constructors’ Championship – that 10th place?
Graeme LOWDON: Well, we’re all competitive people so every position is important and we want to maintain that 10th place and given half a chance move forward as well. So that’s really important. As far as drivers, it’s kind of this period onwards when we really start to make some key decisions. Typically it’s a lot later in the year that we make any announcements but both drivers have done an extremely good job and at times under quite difficult circumstances. There’s a very good harmony in the team and a good team spirit and it would be nice to maintain that but let’s wait and see.
Monisha, Sauber have had a very close relationship with Mexico for a few years now, so how important is the Mexican Grand Prix, which is on the draft calendar we have seen this weekend?
Monisha KALTENBORN: It’s very important, not only for us a team but for Formula One itself, because we know that Latin America, generally America, is a very important market, so it attracts new partners as well. As far as our partner is concerned, it just shows that the strategy they have with motorsport is being implemented step by step. It was about the drivers coming into Formula One and the next logical step is hosting a race there. So I think it’s a great step.
It’s important for the team?
MK: It’s important for the team because we could see already in Austin last year, we felt like it was a home grand prix there if you could just hear people chant Checo’s name. So I’m sure it’s going to be a great atmosphere.
Ross, the team has emerged very much as title contenders, but still a big gap to Red Bull Racing. How long can you maintain your challenge before it starts impacting on next year?
Ross BRAWN: I think it depends on what work you’re talking about. Obviously work that is unique to the current car would be taking away from next year’s programme. If it’s work that is still relevant for next year of course we’re still keen to develop ideas and continue with developments that would be relevant for next year. Those sort of micro-decisions are going on all the time with what we should or shouldn’t do. I think I said we’ll have a clearer picture after Singapore about our emphasis going from Singapore until the end of the season. I think Spa, a medium-low downforce circuit, Monza, a very low drag circuit, and Singapore, a high downforce circuit, after that mix we’ll see where we are. There’s very little variability left now in terms of what we can move from ’13 to ’14 and vice versa, so our programme is pretty set and we think we’ve got a programme that is not compromising the ’14 car at all.
Christian, historically Monza has been quite difficult for you in the past, for Red Bull Racing. What are you expecting this weekend? How good has it been in FP1 and FP2, certainly FP2 looked amazing today, especially the long runs. How do you feel the team is making an impact here?
Christian HORNER: We’ve had a strong start to the weekend, particularly in free practice two. We’ve worked through a programme and obviously the drivers are tuning themselves into the circuit and fine-tuning set-ups as well for the rest of the weekend. Monza traditionally, bar 2011, has been a difficult hunting ground for us and has exposed some of our weaknesses in previous years, but we just have to do the best that we can. For sure we know that Ferrari will be quick here. We know that Mercedes will be certainly quick and McLaren aren’t too fare away either this weekend. I think it’s set to be a very competitive grand prix and we’ve seen so many times that Friday means very little, so hopefully we can be on the podium here. That would be a strong result for us here.
Martin, great celebrations for the 50th anniversary of McLaren. Where do see the current team standing in that heritage?
Martin WHITMARSH: I haven’t thought about it that way. I think this isn’t the way we want to celebrate the 50thyear of McLaren but I think we’re immensely proud of what’s been achieved over that time and it’s been quite incredible how we’ve been able to grow that business. We’d like to be being more competitive – it’s a very hero to zero business. So to come out this year, as tough as it’s been, we’ve been able to pull ourselves a little bit back but we’re not with the quicker cars, yet. I think over the last couple of months we’ve had an unusual situation. Certainly for many years, this time of year we’ve been fighting for wins or championships and we’ve been devoting probablytoo much resource to the here and now and not enough to the next year. We’re very clear [now] that we’re very concentrated on next year. That’s made it quite tough on the race team and the drivers. As we’re racers we can’t come to a race event without parts to try so Fridays have been experimental days, probably been difficult for the drivers then to do the set-up work they’d like to. But we gather data and we’ve been able to use the experimental day of Friday to make a little bit of progress and we’re probably going to keep doing that because we can’t afford to detract from next year’s programme in the principal development facilities – wind tunnel, CFD and the like. So I think the team has responded to a kick up the pants we’ve had for ourselves. The team has pulled together, although we don’t like going motor racing without the real prospect of winning. I think we are very close as a team. I think we are working well together under difficult circumstances and we’re determined to do a better job in the coming races. But really focused on making sure we come out next year very, very strong.
And would you like a brief word on Mexico as well?
MW: I think Monisha put it very well. It was amazing Texas last year that you felt you were actually in Mexico, not in Texas, although maybe other parts of Texas feel that occasionally as well. It’s clear that there’s a huge passion there. Some of us, I think Ross at least, remember going to Mexico quite a few years ago. We know it’s entertaining, different and certainly passionate, so it’s good for the sport. It’s a huge and exciting market for Formula One and for some of the teams.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) We now have one official candidate for the FIA Presidency elections happening in December. I know that you guys don’t have any input on the vote but I would like your opinions on both the elections and the candidate himself.
Stefano?
SD: I heard today that there was a programme announced by the candidate for the presidency. Of course I haven’t had the chance to read it but I will do it in the next days. I think that in Formula One it’s important to proceed with stability and continuity – it’s one of the things that we are always missing. So, I believe that what is important to keep as a relation with the FIA is this kind of thing and so therefore I would like to see this happening – but of course it is not us that will decide that. That’s it really.
Martin?
MW: Well, I don’t know David Ward well enough and I haven’t had time to look at his manifesto so I really can’t comment on him. I think Jean – and clearly I don’t know Jean as well as some of the people here – but I have to say taking him as the President, I think he has not used this sport for his own ego, which I think is very tempting. I won’t go back into the past but I’ve seen and survived so far three presidents – only just, one of them – but I think Jean has acted in the interests of motorsport. I think for some people there hasn’t been enough commotion, action, controversy around him. Those are good in some people’s minds but I think for those of us that participate in the sport, having some consistency, someone who takes decisions that are in the interests of the sport quietly and efficiently is very beneficial. As you say, we don’t influence the outcome but I think Jean has done a good job so far and we’ll see if he’s successful at continuing to be the President.
Graeme?
GL: A general point is that democracy is a good thing, isn’t it? So you’ve got to welcome the process. I had a very quick look at the manifesto that came out from one of the candidates and there’s lots of topics that it’s good to have healthy debate on those topics and I’m sure that’s what the FIA members will do. In terms of the process, anything that’s democratic has got to be welcomed and if it provides transparency, provides the opportunity for debate, I think it’ll be an interesting process to watch from that point of view. I agree with a lot of the comments Martin said about what Jean has done. I haven’t been in the sport as long as Martin so I haven’t had the same number of presidents to live through but I think we’re looking forward to a healthy debate.
Monisha?
MK: Well, like Stefano said, most important is the stability and the continuity in the sport. I think we all know there are many challenging issues we are facing and in any case I hope that whoever comes up with the presidency will take up these issues and continue what has started and take it to the next level. Because we’re clearly reaching a point where certain decisions have to be taken ahead. And that’s what I hope will be done.
Ross?
RB: Obviously I know Jean very well, having worked together for ten years. I think stability and consistency are very important. I think Jean has taken a quiet line, particularly in terms of Formula One and that – as Martin said, those of us who have experienced the other end of the scale – is welcome. And I think the opportunity to do another period as a president of the FIA is important, that we have that continuity. I think Jean has stabilised the situation and now wants to move on to progress things and I know the huge commitment he makes to the sport overall. We are part of motorsport but there’s a huge amount of other things going on that he’s active in. And I think the continuity is very important.
Christian?
CH: I guess to have an election you’ve got to have more than one candidate. It now relies on Jean to become a candidate and declare that he’s prepared to continue as well. I think as the others have summarised, he’s done a very good job in his presidency so far. It really has very little to do with us, it really is an FIA issue and between the different ASNs – and who knows, there may even be another candidate. Maybe Martin’s going to throw his hat into the ring as well… No. As I say, I think Jean’s done a very good job and everything’s already been said.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Monisha, with the arrival of the Mexican Grand Prix next year, does that put any pressure on you to retain Esteban Gutierrez for next season, and if so, what does the future hold for Nico Hulkenberg, bearing in mind you’re seemingly committed to employing Sergey Sirotkin?
MK: Actually one thing really does not have anything to do with the idea to look at… We started our relationship with Esteban much before we actually got into contact with Telmex, because he came into the Formula BMW programme and from there he progressed with the team. So there are two different issues. As far as generally our driver line-up is concerned, we know that we would like to have Sergey next year as our driver but he still needs a super-licence and that’s something which you should take seriously. People shouldn’t think that we just feel that he’s just going to get it like that. We are convinced he can do it, we will do our best to prepare him and there still is a big step. If that all works out we will see what options we have and announce that in due course.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) To all team principals and Graeme – I believe you’re sporting director, is that your official title?
GL: President and sporting director
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) To all six, the resource restriction agreement (RRA) would have expired at the end of 2012. It was then extended by the so-called Singapore agreement which I believe extended it by another five years to the end of 2017. What are your individual views on this document? Is it legally enforceable, are you going to be providing all the documentation required at the end of the season to the correct authorities?
GL: Well, yes to all of the above. My understanding is that the Singapore agreement extended the RRA and modified some of the terms and extended it to 2017. I think that’s well documented and we’re certainly operating our business in accordance with that agreement. It was an agreement that everybody signed and we’ll report accordingly. Whether there is a different mechanism that all the teams agree prior to 2017, which has mutual agreement, then I guess that’s a different question but as far as we’re concerned we’re adhering to it and will continue to do so.
MK: Well, we are working to that as well and as far as I know, everybody is. More important is to see that in all this time we could identify the flaws it had which was natural, because you just realise with the experience you have with this kind of agreement and we all know we should take steps into cost-cutting directions so more important for me is: what can we make of this experience and how can we improve that to maybe have something which is then really again supported by everyone and we end all these discussions about it?
RB: We’re operating to the RRA. I think we’re part of the group – as I think most of the teams are, if not all the teams – part of the group to see how we can go forward with an improved RRA, how we can operate more effectively in the future. This is a very competitive business, so interpretations are very important. We see it in all the sporting regs, we see it in all the technical regs and we need to have an improved system to make sure the interpretations of the RRA are also debated and discussed and we have a proper forum for resolving those issues, because that appears to be where some of the disagreements come between the teams. But we do need to have a system, we need to have a system in the future, that controls the costs, that controls the amount the teams can spend. We as Mercedes, are supportive of any correct initiatives to achieve that.
CH: What was the question again?
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) The Singapore agreement, in your opinion, is it a legally enforceable document, will you be submitting all your documents at the end of the season?
CH: Is it legally enforceable? Probably not in reality. There are things in that agreement that committed things like KERS for one and a half million and so on that didn’t actually happen. Will we work to it, in accordance with it? Yes. Will we submit our figures? I would have thought so. Is it effective? Not really. Have there been other things introduced into sporting and technical regulations that will have a genuine effect on costs next year? Yes they have. I think the reduction in wind tunnel usage, in getting rid of aerodynamic testing and so on will again have a significant impact on costs for next year. Of course, it depends where your cost drivers are but I think we still have a responsibility as a group to not ignore costs and certainly 2014 looks to be a very very expensive year.
SD: As everyone has said, I would say we are sticking to these figures but I think that the most important thing is to look ahead because for sure this is an element of a lot of discussion, debate that we all had together in different ways, in a very competitive world. Everyone is trying to maximise his situation because it’s part of the game. It is true that we need to find a solution that has to be clear to avoid any strange interpretation but so far, that is in terms of numbers, in terms of presenting the data, nothing has changed.
MW: Yes to all the questions but I think that as someone has said, I think it’s very clear we will probably do more than we’ve already done. I think some of the things that have now gone into the technical regulations, sporting regulations have effectively migrated there from the original RRA and that’s positive, I think. As Christian’s observed, I think the control of aerodynamic resources – this is track testing, this is CFD, wind tunnel time – has been effective, I think and I think as Christian also mentioned, despite our best efforts, the costs next year are very stiff, I think, particularly for the smaller teams. I think those teams who have a strong association with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) have a good degree of financial stability but I think it’s very clear that we need to work hard to ensure… we should be fighting for all eleven teams that we’ve got on the grid now, we should be fighting for their survival and making sure that they’ve got sustainable business models because if we don’t, at some point there will be a crisis, there will be the domino effect and we’ve got to… we act sometimes better under crisis, but generally it’s better to avert the crisis and work together beforehand.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) We’ve seen the draft calendar for next year: 21 races. We all know you’ve got views on expanding the calendar. I just wondered if you could say how likely it will be that you think there will actually be 21 races next year and if you think there’s any chance of New Jersey making it even though it’s not on the draft calendar at the present?
MW: I think 21 is tough. I’ve got no personal knowledge of New Jersey so I can’t comment on that. Will those 21 all happen? There’s lots of rumours and speculation in the paddock about whether they’ll all make it. Ultimately I think Bernie’s job is to go out there and put the calendar together. I think he sometimes has to speculate as to the viability or how realistic some of them are. It’s easy for us to jump and complain about the calendar. I think he’s got to put it together and I think we should be grateful that in the last few years, from pretty difficult and challenging times, not only has he maintained a calendar but he’s been able to bring some new venues into the sport. New Jersey, of course, would be fantastic in my opinion, it would be great for the sport. If you then say who would you lose? We’ve all got our personal favourites and our personal least favourites, but I think it would be very disrespectful to use this platform to voice those personal opinions. I think Bernie’s just got to work hard to make sure we’ve got a good calendar. He generally succeeds one way or another and I suspect he will next year.
SD: I would wait. I would say that as you know there will be a discussion, the World Motor Sport Council at the end of the September, so I would wait for that date to see exactly what will be the situation because you are old enough in this world to know that things may change quickly, so let’s wait and see.
Q: Graeme, just a comment from you; do you welcome 21 races from a smaller team’s point of view?
GL: We’ve always made it very very clear that we’re here, in Formula One, to compete and that means a level playing field, then that means that if there’s 21 races, then we race at 21 races. If it’s 20 then of course the cost goes down but that’s not really how we have to look at it. We can’t pick and chose what we would like about this sport. We can’t ask for a level playing field and then try and look at something like that. As Martin has quite rightly pointed out, Bernie puts the races on, the negotiations with the promoters from the outside seem to be tortuous, to say the least. In some cases, they are difficult to predict, some of the twists and turns, there are announcements that that race is happening and sometimes they don’t. Certain venues are more attractive. Sochi is a venue that is of particular interest to us because we obviously have a large following in the Russian market place, but I think in general it’s important for us to be consistent in what we ask for as a level playing field. If that’s 21 races, that’s 21 races.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Towards the end of Max Mosley’s reign (as FIA president), he was committed towards cutting costs at a time when the sport was imploding, manufacturers were leaving. Under Jean Todt, he has implemented a regulation change for next season which is costing every single team multi-millions of pounds and seemingly put a number in jeopardy. Do you genuinely believe Jean Todt has done a good job for Formula One?
CH: I think you’re referring to the engines, Ian, when you’re talking about the increase in costs and in fairness to Jean, the engine discussion was in place before his presidency. Where collectively we all made mistake was not to say no. Some of us did but at the end of the day there’s a process that these regulations have to go through and the teams, through the old Concorde Agreement, had the opportunity, through the Formula One Commission etc etc to stop it and we didn’t so we can only, in many respects, blame ourselves.
Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) We’ve been told earlier this weekend by Pirelli that the deadline for them to supply you guys with the tyre information that they need has been put back by a month, so I would like to ask all of you how that has affected your 2014 car development?
CH: Not at all, because we don’t know what to expect from Pirelli. So it seems to vary from weekend to weekend. I think they’re finalising their plans etc. It’s the same for everybody.
SD: One thing that I would say in all fairness I think that it will important also to give to them the possibility to test, when the new cars are there. For example, in wet conditions, we need to make sure that we will be able to do it before arriving to some weekend where we will find wet and suddenly we may discover something that was not expected, so I think we need to also consider that.
Q: (Silvia Renee Arias – Revista Parabrisas) Domenicali, talking about his future Felipe Massa said yesterday ‘ask Domenicali.’ I would like to ask you…
SD: I think that he did a good answer.
MW: He’s a very nice man.
SD: No, but I think that in that respect nothing has changed in our position. I know that everyone is waiting for information, waiting for news, as they have for all the summer, I have to say, because if you look back, all the summers were like that. Nothing to add on what we said a couple of weeks ago. We will take our time, there’s no rush to make a decision. We want to make sure that we make the right decision. We will support Felipe because this is absolutely clear: he’s a great guy, he’s very much a team player and this is something that we will discuss at the appropriate time and of course, I will tell you, not only to you but to everyone.
Q: (Craig Scarborough – ScarbsF1.com) Having looked at all your aero packages this weekend, you have obviously spent quite a lot of money developing packages just for Monza. Would you like to see a return of other high speed tracks – seeing as it’s the only track now that demands these packages – like Hockenheim or Paul Ricard?
RB: Yes. I would personally, yes, I think that when we had Hockenheim and Monza as the two low drag circuits it was always interesting to have some variety. I think the type of racing you get at these circuits is a little bit different and I would welcome more circuits of the type we have in Monza. Not sure how we achieve that, unfortunately. Monza is now an outsider in terms of the wings we have to make, it’s a special aero package for here, made for only one race but that’s the case for Spa as well. Spa’s in the middle; all the other circuits I can think of we race maximum downforce. May be different next year with the engines we have; may be different with some of the rule changes next year because the lower wing disappears and the rear wing is a little bit smaller, so there are some changes coming which may narrow the gaps between high downforce and low drag circuits. But I do enjoy racing in Monza; apart from the atmosphere which is always great, it’s a very interesting technical challenge for both the team and the drivers, so it’s a great race.
CH: I think that Spa and Monza now… Spa… the cars have improved and the circuit’s been changed slightly there. In many respects the Spa package is very very similar to here. We’re able to use an awful lot of elements here in Monza that we’ve used two weeks ago at Spa. It’s unique, it’s different, it’s got heritage, it’s obviously a very quick race. Strategically it’s a different race, the degradation tends to be pretty low here. The fuel effect is obviously one of the lowest of the year as well and I think it adds that variance to the calendar. That’s the great thing about Formula One. You go from Monaco to Monza, they’re two poles apart and it’s part of the technical challenge that is Formula One.
MW: I think it’s been said. Variety is good. I think this is a great circuit, the place is full of history, the fans are fantastic. I wouldn’t necessarily want to come to Monza twice but I think circuits like this are great but probably, as Ross reflected, we’re not likely to see new ones built like this.
GL: I think it’s probably fair to say we spent a little bit less on our Monza package than the other teams that are here, but as I mentioned before, from our point of view that’s not really the point, the challenge is the same for everybody. From a personal point of view, I think Monza has a special magic from the minute you come through the walls of the park, it’s just got an atmosphere that is really something special and provides the teams with an environment for racing that’s really quite unique so from that point of view it’s a great place, and as I say, in terms of the financial return and Craig, you’re quite right, this is a very very different circuit to others so it’s difficult to make a business case, if you like, around it when you’re keeping a very strong eye on the finances. But I think that’s really not the point when it comes to Monza.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Graeme, you’ve spoken about the level playing field and it’s the same for everyone and you spoke about the finances. Is the level playing for your team in particular really that level? Is it the same for you as for the others, given that you don’t have a commercial agreement with the commercial rights holder and you’re unique in that respect?
GL: You’re right, it’s not level at the moment, but it’s my job and the management team that I’m working with, it’s our job to get it level and I think we are making some progress there. We’ve been very consistent. I think we’ve got a very very good racing team. It’s not for me to judge, but I do believe we deserve our place in Formula One, this is not an easy sport and it’s not meant to be easy. I think the fact that it’s difficult is one of the good things about Formula One, but we are the only one of the new teams that gained an entry in June 2009 to still be here and I think that’s all credit to the people working in the team. I would love to take all the credit myself but I can’t. I think we’ll just continue and hopefully discussions with the commercial rights holder with a view to reaching a position where we are on a level playing field.
Ends
