TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Federico GASTALDI (Lotus), Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli), Graeme LOWDON (Marussia), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Caterham), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Cyril, can I begin with you? You did a lot of mileage in the pre-season testing but it’s not been so good when it’s come to the actual action, in Australia and again today. Can you give us an idea of what the problem is?
Cyril ABITEBOUL: Yes. To be honest we are the first one to be a bit surprised buy the situation. It’s true that were quite happy with the situation after the test but I think it demonstrates that it’s still a little bit random. It’s a bit random for everyone, for all parts of the car, whether it be chassis, gearbox, engine. I think we are just demonstrating that given the number of new things that there are on this car, given the regulations, they do not really send a warning before they hit you and unfortunately they are hitting us more during the season than they were hitting us before. So I mean let’s see. We are trying to stay calm, to take things as they come. Obviously we are not in the best position to prepare the weekend. But despite that we managed to have a good recovery last race in Melbourne so hopefully that happens again, even though I don’t want to try my luck too much.
Specifically there were some problems with Kamui with the power unit in Australia, Was that the problem again today for him? No running at all for him.
CA: Yeah, it was a mix. It started with some issue related to the power unit and it actually continued with some issues that are more related to the clutch and gearbox. I don’t want to comment too much. It’s all the systems, all the complex systems that are on the car, in addition to the difficult serviceability of the modern cars that makes our life extremely difficult – not just us, pretty much everyone on the grid.
Thank you for that. Coming to Federico Gastaldi from Lotus, the new Deputy Team Principal – congratulations. It’s not been an easy couple of races for you either, particularly today once again troubled running. What’s the situation?
Federico GASTALDI: Well we’ve been having problems with the mapping in P1 and then Pastor’s turbo blow out and we had to change the engine. We are working very, very hard with Renault trying to find out solutions for the weekend and to move forward for the next race as well.
You’re the Deputy Team Principal. Can you tell us what your role actually means in terms of what you do back at Enstone and how you relate with all the rest of these people here and the FIA and FOM? What’s your role?
FG: Actually we have a new CEO and we have… the Team Principal is Gerard Lopez the chairman of the company. For the time being I will be looking to the relationship between the team and FIA, FOM and again all the partners and sponsors, during the races that Gerard is not here.
Paul, coming to you? There was some talk on the radio in the second free practice session about some tyre degradation for one or two teams. What is the objective of what Pirelli is looking to achieve this year with the tyres and how they affect the racing?
Paul HEMBERY: It hasn’t really changed, the input that we’ve had from the teams and the promoter in that we’re aiming to have races of two stops, maybe three in some cases and to create that you’re going to create a thermal degradation otherwise you won’t have the stops we’re searching for. But it was important this year that we did some work on trying to move towards less marbles on the circuit although we did a bit track cleaning today so it was quite messy, the first session. And also that the tyres life has increased. From the data we have seen so far, we appear to be in that right directions. Of course it’s all very new for the teams. It’s new for us as well, understanding what the real impact on the tyres and the car combination will be and it’s only now that we’re starting to see the teams working more on what to do with the tyres and what will eventually be part of their race strategy.
Of course you’ve got the first of the new two-day, in-season tests coming up in a couple of weeks’ time. Can you tell us what’s planned and what the focus will be?
PH: We’re looking to nest season essentially and trying to evolve the product going forward in the future. We have a moving target – the cars this year it’s suggested will develop at twice the rate of a normal season, maybe that’s up to four seconds. So we have to take that into account when we’re looking at what we’re doing going forward. So we’re trying to always develop things to have available if and when they are required. We’ll see how we get on but clearly there are still some issues with the teams’ running, so I think to do testing after a race will be a big challenge for all involved but we have to be also realistic in our aims.
Coming to Monisha. In what sort of mood does Sauber enter the 2014 season?
Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, in an optimistic mood because when you look at last season, were we ended, we could see that we did bring a certain change into our performance and it wasn’t looking that bad. Of course we know that this year is very new, particularly with the rule changes, and we are confident that in many areas, particularly reliability, we are pretty much where we want to be. We are not happy with the overall performance, but we have identified the areas and step by step we are moving ahead and implementing the measures.
And how did today go for you?
MK: It was pretty alright. I think the engineers got through their programme. Again, we’re not quite happy with the long run and we need to do a bit of work on that. We know that we can’t do miracles and take a huge step compared to where we want to be and where we are but step by step I think we’ll get there.
Graeme, coming to you, obviously a shake-up of the pecking order with the new technology, the new Formula One. Does this bring you closer that first points-scoring finish?
Graeme LOWDON: I certainly hope so. From a general point of view, we wanted one of two things: either for the rules to stay generally the same so that we could play catch-up, or for there to be a radical and obviously there has been a radical change for all the right reasons within the sport and that’s given us a chance. I think considering the resources we have at hand we did a good job over the winter. We didn’t get the mileage that we wanted to get in pre-season testing so we’re still playing catch-up quite a bit and still learning a lot about the car. Pretty much every time we run it now we’re learning a lot in terms of reliability and performance.
Obviously you come from a business background. From a business perspective does this new face of Formula One make it easier to sell? Are you finding that?
GL: Well, it should do. That was kind of one of the points for all of the teams for all of the teams and the sport committing to it. There are an awful lot of positives about the new formula, although some of the innovations need to be sold, they need to be communicated well to the fans and when I say that I mean all the fans – the TV fans, the ones who turn up at a race, the ones who follow it through social media or new media or whatever. We can all improve how we communicate those things because there are a lot of plus points. There is some incredible engineering and some incredible technology going into these cars now and you see the cars move around a lot more. The drivers have got to work and think a lot harder. So hopefully that comes across to the fans. Ultimately, it’s kind of irrelevant what I think about what the fans think, it’s what they think that’s the most important thing. It’s important that we listen to them and see whether they understand and like the new formula.
Franz, two cars in the top 10 in Australia, both in qualifying and in the race, something you didn’t manage to achieve during the 2013 season, so a great start to the season. What’s the story of your start to 2014, what’s the secret?
Franz TOST: I think the team did a very good job in Melbourne as well as the drivers and we struggled a little bit in the preparation. But it was good that we were the first time of Renault being out on the track for a filming day and from then onwards we learned all the troubles and fortunately could solve them. Generally, the basis of the car is quiet good – from the reliability side as well as from the performance side; the mechanic is good, the aerodynamic is OK. I must say the last weeks before the Melbourne race, the teams – that means Toro Rosso as well as Renault – worked a lot. Hardly [ever] the lights went off in Faenza and at the end the result was shown in Melbourne with us finishing in the points.
I wonder from a human perspective, from a personal perspective your feelings on seeing Daniel Ricciardo being competitive from straight away in the Red Bull, having moved up from your team as a graduate to be alongside another one of your graduates Sebastian Vettel?
FT: I expected this good performance from Daniel because he was very fast also with us. I expect that he will also have quite a successful future together with Red Bull Racing at the side of Sebastian.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Yassmin Abdel-Magied – RichardsF1.com) My question, I have two questions for the panel, as a trained mechanical engineer I found it extremely frustrating that, even though at Melbourne a lot of people thought we wouldn’t even have cars reach the end, we had 15 cars finish. How and why did the sport fail to celebrate the success – and Graeme you alluded to this – of the technical success of the teams, given the huge regulation changes. And, secondly, as a young 22-year old I’ve got to ask what must the sport do to be able to appeal to a younger and broader audience?
Cyril, a complex series of questions, can you answer the first part.
CA: I think it is difficult because with Formula One, I can’t celebrate my success. So I think that’s one of the difficulties actually of Formula One – that it’s a community of people who are fighting against each other. I’m pretty sure that the people on the podium will be celebrating for their own success. Obviously I can’t celebrate anything because after 28 laps I had nothing to look at and I could go back to the UK. I think it’s a difficulty and actually it’s possibly something that is missing in Formula One, some form of body – without referring to FOTA because it was not necessarily that type of body that I was thinking of – that is basically, as you say, when there is a collective success, that is capable of celebrating and when there is a collective failure is capable to look at it and maybe to do something with it. I think it is something missing but it is due to the incredible competitiveness that there is in our sport and in our business.
Monisha, do you have a view on this?
MK: Well I agree with that but we cannot – have not – managed so far to actually appear as a united body and bring across these kind of messages and that’s particularly sad at this point of time because we’ve entered into an absolutely new era, particularly with regard to the powertrain unit. That’s such a strong message. We have such a sophisticated hybrid system. These are the kind of things, if you look at the consumer market, everyone’s going to there. It’s about less consumption, it’s about such high efficiency and exactly that’s what we are showcasing here – and what we should do at Formula One, that you show the highest level of these technologies in our sport. So from that perspective, it’s been the absolute right move but, as you see, there’s so much negativism coming from within Formula One itself which is the alarming sign. It’s really for us – all – that we go out there and if we can’t manage to d
File photo of Monisha Kaltenborn by Sauber F1 team
o it together, we simply have to do it on our own – but to put across that we’ve got these right messages. And that’s what we need to convince the public and the fans about. Because that’s something they can understand and they can make the sport far more attractive again.
Paul, you work across a number of different disciplines – what do you think? What’s your answer? How did Formula One fail to celebrate its success.
PH: Having seen how hard the teams are working, I think when you know how hard they’re working, they really just finish a race and on to the next one. There isn’t a case of celebrating, they’re on to the next challenge. But, I think what Monisha said about relevant technologies is important. If we take it from a road car business, we work with a number of people in F1 on their road car business. Ferrari LaFerrari and the McLaren P1 are both cars that have hybrid technologies – so we also see that now appearing in our day to day business. So it is becoming relevant – which was one of the big objectives of making the change. Over time I’m quite sure that the teams and particularly the powertrain suppliers, will explain more and more – and I’ve stared seeing, myself, explanations of the technology because it is going to affect people in every form of life. Small capacity turbo engines will be norm everywhere going forward and more and more as well the hybrid. In terms of appealing to the younger audience, that’s always difficult because the younger audience today is one that have a lot of things thrown at them and have a lot of entertainment options. On that level, personally I think we don’t make enough of the drivers. It’s one of the few motorsport areas I think where we could be doing a lot more in promoting the personalities of the drivers and the great talents of the drivers. If you take another extreme, whereas NASCAR where the drivers are very big individual personal starts, I think it’s a shame sometimes that we have some great, amazing – the best – drivers in the world but maybe they’re not promoted as individuals as much as they should be. The youth today also quite look forward to seeing icons. They like having an icon to look forward to and unfortunately motor racing drivers have a helmet on, you don’t see the face but maybe we need to see them more in a lifestyle environment, a more approachable environment where people attach to them as individuals.
Federico, you have a promoter’s background, coming from Argentina but also a music background too – what do you think Formula One can do to appeal more to a young audience?
FG: Well, I think that there’s a lot of opportunities to engage Formula One with a young audience. We just need to understand the tools to engage with the young people. Tools that were not available in the past, when I was running the Grand Prix in Argentina for example. We have access to so much information now that we should pay more attention how to engage with them.
Final word on this Graeme, on the second part of the question, about reaching a younger audience.
GL: I think its an interesting question but it’s also a vital question because what we don’t want is an audience for Formula One that is big but aging. We want to capture young people. As Federico said, we operate in a sport that’s incredibly rich with data and youngsters today, they interact. They enjoy interacting in lots of different ways. And so we have so many assets at our disposal as a sport. Not just in terms of video pictures but in terms of data and information and comments and commentary that I think if we get the recipe right, there’s an enormous opportunity to grow the fan base exponentially. And that can only be good for the sport in the long run. So, see it as… it’s a huge opportunity, and hopefully an opportunity that the sport will take.
Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) You were talking there about making the drivers more promotable – surely it’s the team principals who are the problem here because they block the drivers from saying things and make them characters? Would you say that you’re culpable in this respect because you’re protecting your sponsors from some lunatic driver?
FT: First of all, at Toro Rosso the drivers can say what they want. We don’t tell them what they have to tell to the press. And we have a quite good and positive relationship with all our sponsors where the drivers do always a good job because they get the feedback from them. From this perspective I think all of the people at Toro Rosso are happier. Just coming back to the other question before, regarding the celebration of Formula One and so on, Formula One has faced now the biggest regulation change in the history, and what we saw in Melbourne was, at the end, I must say, a good race because many cars, much more cars finished the race than expected before. It was also quite an interesting race. From the technical side, Formula One has reached a very , very high level because we have now everything together what in future road cars will have: it’s the engine which is turbocharged, then we have energy recovery systems, we have two systems and we have sorted out nearly all the problems within a short period of time – and therefore I think from this point of view, the teams, together with the engine manufacturers have done a good job. Regarding the young people, you can attract the young people if you have a local hero. I remember when I came to Germany in the ‘80s, no-one was interested in Formula One. Absolutely no-one. And then Michael came and then everybody was interested in Formula One. You could see it on the kart tracks. Many, many kart tracks were built up. The same with Poland when Kubica came into Formula One. I think this is decisive. You need a local hero and then the young people are always interested in Formula One.
Monisha, going back to Joe’s question about muzzling the drivers or not given them a chance to be their own personalities.
MK: Well of course we’re not culpable of anything here. What else can we say? I think what’s important here is that we somehow have to come up with more ideas how you can make partners interested in how to use a driver and a personality – because I think we are beyond that time where you can just invite him, let’s say, for a dinner or an event or something like that. And people want to engage more with them. So I think we as teams have to be more creative about these things. Of course sometimes you have to tell them to be careful – maybe when they talk to Joe – but that’s it, nothing more.
Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) Carrying on with the theme of young people engagement and what can and can’t be done, to what extent do you think that broadcasting rights issues coming from the commercial rights holder, the inability of people to discover Formula One on Youtube, to use the sources that they use in their everyday lives, is preventing Formula One from growing a youth audience?
FG: That’s an interesting question. I think, again, we have to be careful what we say to the youngsters. But I think if we put together the right tools – you mentioned Youtube – this is a sport, we just need to have the right package to show to the young people, to be an example for them, so that’s my point of view.
CA: It’s a tricky question. I think we need to find the right balance between the accessibility, exclusivity and value. I think that there is a belief right now that more exclusivity creates value. Maybe this was true, maybe it’s less true with new media where it’s more the distribution and our people need to react with content that is creating value. If you look at Facebook, there is nothing exclusive in Facebook and I think that the value of the IPO of Facebook is quite historic, just like the value of different transactions that have just happened so you may argue that there is a bubble of internet but I think Formula One would be happy to have such a bubble. I think those are the sort of things that we maybe have to look at, that maybe a lack of exclusivity maybe does not mean a lack of value.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Jean Todt has stated his intention of imposing cost control regulations by 2015. That means they will have to go through the entire regulatory process by the 30th of June to be ratified by the World Motor Sport Council, so you have three months to do that. Has sufficient progress been made, and from your team’s perspectives, what sort of level of cost cap, cost control, budget cap or whatever would you like to see?
GL: I think progress is being made, I think it’s difficult to say whether it’s on target, behind or ahead because there’s no real blueprint for this at all. What there has to be is just a will amongst the teams for it to happen for the good of the sport and I think it would be for the good of the sport. I remain optimistic that something will happen within the timeframe and it will improve Formula One.
MK: I can confirm that from our perspective that progress is being made, we are working on papers and I think it’s more than just an intention of the FIA to do this. The teams got together with the other stakeholders and there was an agreement amongst everyone that we have to do something here. We looked at different ways to do it so I think that’s already a big step in itself and we are making progress so I’m confident that sticking to that agreement amongst everyone, we will have some cost control next year.
FT: You know there are a lot of discussions going on and I’m convinced that sooner or later we will come to a cost cut to whichever solution to come down with the costs.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) What about the second part? What value should it be set at?
CA: I think some figures have already circulated. It depends what we want to achieve. I think a first step at 200 million would already do something. That’s not necessarily the official Caterham position in that respect, that’s a figure that has been mentioned and that would already have an effect. Then to scope the currency also, I don’t think we have mentioned currency, it’s maybe a debate for a future date.
FG: Again, lots of discussions going on. I think we would have to put an agreement all together to see how to move forward.
PH: I think it’s one of those areas where there’s never a perfect solution. If you look at other sports that have tried to impose financial controls from football with financial fair play which limits spending to income levels – it’s not just about the spending level, it’s also about income levels and the ability for teams to acquire incoming funds, as much as what they’re spending. So I think it’s a complex subject for all of them and I look forward to the F1 Commission meeting to hear the proposals.
GL: Not trying to avoid the question, Dieter, but it’s difficult to put a number on it, it’s more to do with the – as Cyril has alluded – to the mechanism – and Paul’s alluded to as well – a combination of cost control and how revenues come into the sport. I think that one of the key things that we can learn from other sports is that it is entirely possible to do this, I think that’s something that’s really important. You still hear people saying that it might be difficult or it might even be impossible to do it and I personally think that’s nonsense. Formula One has introduced the biggest technical change that we’ve seen certainly in my generation and it’s been done successfully. Most other global sports have introduced – for the better of the sport – financial mechanisms which do work to greater or lesser extents but they do work and therefore I think one of the things that I would be really keen to see emphasised is that these mechanisms do work, they can be done and it’s certainly not impossible.
Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Formula One needs to be a corporation all pointing in the same direction. Is that possible and can I have an answer from everybody please?
FT: Theoretically, everything is possible. In practice, it’s a different story, because there’s the competition between the different teams but nevertheless, there’s the teams, the commercial rights holder and the FIA and at the end, up to now, we always have found a proper solution for Formula One and this will also be the case in the future. Therefore I’m quite optimistic that all the parties will work together.
MK: I think it is possible but we really have to change the entire set-up that we have right now and then the question comes up, is that really necessary or could you still find a solution with the set-ups we have now, but with the green on maybe the right objectives and targets for the sport? So I think it would be a radical step if we do that, if we could do it, I guess, if we agree, but I think we should start with smaller steps and make sure that we know where the future is going to for Formula One.
CA: I think that’s exactly it. I think there is nothing right now in the set-up that aligns the interests of the different teams and therefore it’s only the competitive spirit that remains. Maybe if we had a different business model like a franchise, for instance, that would be a better way to align the interests of everyone and therefore the shareholders of the different teams would have the same sort of interest but we have to wonder again if it is worth going in that direction. It may not be the case.
FG: I think it would be good if all the teams… it would be good for the sport if we are all in the same boat. I think so.
PH: Obviously we get to see all of the teams, the FIA, the promoter and everyone together and I think the one common theme is that everybody wants to see a very strong and successful Formula One, so the basic desire is there to do it and let’s see if we’re able to do that over the next period of time.
GL: I certainly hope so. I think to some extent it depends what everybody wants or all the different players want and if what everybody wants is to maximise the potential of Formula One over the next ten, twenty years then the answer has to be yes, that’s the only way it’s going to be maximised, is if everyone works together.
Sakhir, 2 March 2014: Formula One’s pre-season testing programme finished today with the fourth day of the second test at the Bahrain International Circuit. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the session though it was a far from faultless day for 2014’s presumptive favourites. Mercedes, however, were not alone in having a troubled end to winter testing, and eight red flags during the day led to the test finishing under floodlights as an extra 25 minutes was tacked on to the end of running time. Although Sebastian Vettel did 77 laps, the Renault-powered team is yet sort out issues as the world champion feels that the issues not just about pace. Will the Sun set on Red Bull this year? Only time will tell….
Red Bull continues to face issues at the Bahrain Testing which ended Sunday. An FIA photo
The news before the scheduled start was that Sauber had elected to split their day with Adrian Sutil driving in the morning and Esteban Gutiérrez in the afternoon. Sutil did not get a time on the board yesterday as the C33 suffered a failure on its installation lap and was therefore given more time in the car. Also continuing from day three were Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull Racing (scheduled, though he too failed to record a time on Saturday), Nico Hülkenberg for Force India and Romain Grosjean for Lotus.
Elsewhere, the final day of testing saw Fernando Alonso return for Ferrari, Valtteri Bottas for Williams, Jenson Button for McLaren, Max Chilton for Marussia, Kamui Kobayashi for Caterham and Jean-Eric Vergne for Toro Rosso.
After a flurry of early installation laps is was Hülkenberg who completed the first timed lap of the day, setting the standard with 1:38.560. Button and then Bottas went through quicker, with Bottas dropping the benchmark several times to end the first hour of the session with a time of 1:36.281 and thirteen laps on the board. Ten of the 11 teams had appeared at that point, the notable absentee being Mercedes. The team reported it was having gearbox problems and would be delayed in starting its programme.
90 minutes into the session Alonso rose to the top with a lap of 1:35.509. The Ferrari stayed there for 40 minutes before Bottas retook the position with 1:35.153. He subsequently improved on that at noon his best time was 1:34.797.
“We’ve learnt a lot over the course of these last few weeks and overall it’s been a good winter of testing for us.”
Lewis Hamilton
The two standout features of the morning were the non-appearance of Mercedes and the unusual situation of the session having run interrupted for three hours from its commencement. Sadly the latter situation was the first to change with Vettel causing the first red flag of the day at 1202. It was difficult to tell what Vettel’s problem had been because while the car appeared to be smoking it also came to a halt pointing in the wrong direction. The team later identified a front-end mechanical issue.
The session was green flagged with a little over 40 minutes remaining before the scheduled lunch break. That was enough time to see Hamilton begin his day in the W05 and also for a second red flag, this time caused by Grosjean halting the E22, causing teams to begin their lunch break five minutes early.
After two red flags in the final hour before lunch, a further six post-lunch made for a disjointed final afternoon, interrupting many teams’ attempts to complete a race simulation. McLaren were responsible for the first with Button parking the MP4-29 after it suffered an engine failure – albeit one attributed to the unit being high-mileage rather than problematic. McLaren mechanics would spend the rest of the afternoon replacing the engine, but Button only had time to add one further lap to his tally, finishing the day with 22 on the board, the lowest of any runner.
The next stoppage was caused by Grosjean, flames visible at the rear of his car. This was proved to be terminal for the E22 and ended the participation of Lotus three hours before the scheduled close. Hülkenberg caused the next red flag with 90 minutes remaining and while fast work by the marshals and Force India crew got the session restarted in quick time, the track went from green to red almost immediately as Alonso stopped the Ferrari.
By this point, however, Kobayashi had passed the 100-lap mark, reinforcing the perception that Caterham, while never troubling the top of the timesheets, was the most reliable of the Renault-powered cars. Vettel was making up ground after his morning spin, albeit running at reduced speed well off the long-run pace of Red Bull’s rivals.
“We did a lot of laps today so that was useful,” said the World Champion when the session concluded. “We tried to do a race distance today; for one reason or another that didn’t work out, but in two week’s time things should look a little bit different. Obviously it’s difficult to know where the car is. It’s not just the number of laps you do, but also the type. There are so many different running options, not just with tyres and high or low fuel, there are engine options as well – full power, low power etc, so it’s impossible to say where we are. We know we have to catch up in a lot of areas, but that said, I’m happy today, we did a lot of laps, we learned a lot and it was a positive end to a tough week here.”
With 25 minutes officially added to the day’s running, Mercedes upped the ante for the final hour and a half by pointing out only 34km separated themselves and Williams at the top of the pre-season mileage chart – but Williams participation in that particular race was hampered when Bottas caused the seventh red flag of the day, stopping on the main straight – this did, however, allow Williams to wheel the car back to the garage without the tow truck, giving them bragging rights of not having troubled the marshals across all 12 days of testing.
“We know we have to catch up in a lot of areas, but that said, I’m happy today, we did a lot of laps, we learned a lot and it was a positive end to a tough week here.”
Sebastian Vettel
Running resumed after a very short hiatus but it did so without Caterham, the team calling a halt to their day early with a clutch problem. Force India also stopped early with another component failure put down to high mileage rather than an underlying problem.
With the floodlights coming on Hamilton was making up for his lost morning and set the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1:33.278. This was comfortably quicker than Bottas’ best effort but two-tenths slower than the fastest time of the test set by Felipe Massa on Saturday. There was time before the end for one more red flag – this one intentional as Sauber ran their car out of fuel. The session restarted with 11 minutes remaining and with Red Bull currently bottom of the timesheet. Perhaps considering morale more than engineering necessity, Vettel increased speed in the RB10 for the final minutes and moved up to 9th.
Mercedes ended the 12 days of testing with the most laps completed and the lion share of fastest lap accolades, and so go on to Melbourne perceived to be favorites for victory. Hamilton, however, was downplaying those expectations in his post-session comments:
“This has definitely been the most challenging winter I’ve experienced and the car is still very much a work in progress,” he said. “We’ve learnt a lot over the course of these last few weeks and overall it’s been a good winter of testing for us. There’s been an incredible amount of work put in by the team back at the two factories and on track.
“There’s so much to learn with these new cars; it’s just mind-blowing and I don’t think anybody can be fully ready for the challenge of this season. But I feel as ready as I can be and I’m looking forward to seeing where we are in Melbourne.”
There are 12 days before Friday practice for the Australian Grand Prix.
2014 second Bahrain test day four – unofficial times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.278 69
2 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:33.987 +0.709 108laps
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:34.280 +1.002 74laps
4 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:35.577 +2.299 74laps
5 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:35.701 +2.423 74laps
6 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:36.467 +3.189 91laps
7 Max Chilton Marussia 1:36.835 +3.557 61laps
8 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:37.303 +4.025 86laps
9 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:37.468 +4.190 77laps
10 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.111 +4.833 22laps
11 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:38.391 +5.113 106laps
12 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:39.302 +6.024 32laps
Simona file photo simonadesilvestro.comHinwil, 14 Feb 2014: The Sauber F1 Team is pleased to announce that Simona De Silvestro will become an affiliated driver.
The 25-year-old Swiss left for the US when she was just 18 to drive in the Formula BMW USA series in 2006 and the Atlantic Championship from 2007 to 2009. Over the past four years De Silvestro has been driving in the IndyCar Series. She won the prestigious Indy 500 “Rookie of the Year” Award in 2010 and became the first woman to earn a podium finish on a street circuit in IndyCar, a press release from Sauber F1 team said.
This year she is taking the next step in her career by joining a preparation programme with the Sauber F1 Team, with the goal to gain her super licence and prepare for a race seat in Formula One for 2015. The programme will include on track testing, simulator training, as well as mental and physical preparation.
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal:
“After four years in IndyCar, Simona’s ambition is to enter Formula one in 2015. We regard her as a very talented race driver, and we, therefore, decided to take her on board as an “affiliated driver” and support her on her way to the pinnacle of motorsport.”
Simona De Silvestro:
“This is a major step towards me achieving a life-long dream and I’m so happy to have the opportunity to take this step with such a great team. The Sauber F1 Team is a team with a legacy and the only Swiss team in Formula One, which I think makes this even more exciting. I can’t thank Monisha Kaltenborn and Peter Sauber enough for their support and belief in my abilities and for giving me this chance. I’m thrilled to have this extremely unique platform on which to prepare myself to take on the challenge.”
ends
Hinwil, 21 Dec 2013: The Sauber F1 Team is pleased to announce that Esteban Gutiérrez will stay on for the 2014 season, completing the driver line-up together with Adrian Sutil.
The Mexican first tested with the team at Jerez in late 2009. The following year the talented youngster was signed as ‘affiliated driver’, and 2013 saw him in his debut season as a Formula One driver finishing 16th as the best rookie in the drivers’ championship.
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “We are pleased Esteban will drive for us in 2014, because we believe he is a talented young racing driver. Last season he experienced first hand how hard it can be for a rookie to step into Formula One. Nevertheless, throughout the season he improved significantly in qualifying as well as in the races and finished the year as the best rookie in the drivers’ championship. Often the results didn’t fully reflect his performances. I am confident Esteban will be able to use his experiences to gain results, and this will be helped by the fact he is very well acquainted with every member of the race team.”
Esteban Gutiérrez: “I am happy to be able to continue as a driver for the Sauber F1 Team. It was a steep learning curve last season, but by working closely with the team I was able to improve continuously. It will be my fourth year with the team, the second as a racing driver, and I feel comfortable in taking the next step. The technical challenges in 2014 will be massive. Therefore it will be even more important to know well the people you are working with. I will do my very best to improve even more and support the team the best way I can.”
Sergey Sirotkin becomes test driver for the Sauber F1 Team
The Sauber F1 Team is pleased to announce Sergey Sirotkin as its test driver for the 2014 season.
Sergey joined the team in August 2013 and has been gaining more and more insight into Formula One since then. He has spent several days at the factory in Hinwil and has been working with the engineers. In late September he drove a demo-run at the new track in Sochi, which will host the Russian Grand Prix in 2014. In October he tested a 2009 Ferrari at Fiorano. The Sauber F1 Team’s aim is to prepare Sergey for his debut in Formula One.
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “We have been working with Sergey since August, and he has been able to gain more and more insight into Formula One. Now he is taking the next step towards the top level of motorsport in his new role as a test driver. Our experience of him is as a very focused, calm and talented driver. Now we will continue to support him, including obtaining his super license. Our goal remains to prepare him for a debut in Formula One.”
Sergey Sirotkin: “It’s a big chance for me to become the test driver for the Sauber F1 Team. I will work hard to improve myself and to extract the maximum out of this opportunity. Formula One is very complex, so it is important to get an opportunity like this. My main focus next year, however, will be the World Series by Renault, which is very competitive. This will give me the chance to prepare even better in order to be ready for the next big step.”
Hinwil, 16 Oct 2013: The first half of the 2013 season was anything but satisfying for the Sauber F1 Team. Seven World Championship points after ten races was a modest harvest. Nevertheless, since the Italian Grand Prix the team has shown a significant improvement: the Swiss outfit scored no less than 38 points in the last four races. This puts the Sauber F1 Team into a solid seventh place in the constructors’ championship. Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn explains how the team was able to turn the tide. The Indian-born Austrian, became the first woman Team Principal in F1 in Jan, 2010.
File photo of Monisha Kaltenborn at the first Indian GP in 2011. Photo by Sauber F1 team.
The Sauber F1 Team had a fantastic season in 2012. However, at the beginning of 2013 it was quite a different story. What happened? Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “After the concept of the side exhaust system was very successful last year, our engineers decided to go with a different concept for the C32, that in theory had even more potential. In practice, however, it looked different. We realised that in Melbourne where we brought an update to the car that didn’t work as we expected it to. It then took some time for our engineers to understand the problem.”
What was the problem? MK: “The aero balance of the car was not stable, especially during braking and turning in. Apart from the measurable implications, the side effect was that the drivers had less confidence in the C32. In addition, we didn’t have the resources to quickly modify the car. Instead, this process happened step by step. The largest update we brought was in Hungary, where we implemented a modified exhaust concept. We already saw a significant improvement back then, but, of course, it took some time until we were able to get the most out of that. In addition, our understanding of the car improved, which translated to a better set-up. Furthermore, we were able to maintain the high level of quality producing the parts back at the factory. The whole team, in the factory and at the track, did an outstanding job.”
Did the ‘new’ tyres, that came into effect in Hungary, also suit your car? MK: “It’s not easy to pinpoint that as we brought our largest update at the exact same time. However, I believe in general the tyres helped, which was the opposite last year.”
Early in the season some people said the team should stop the development of the current car and fully concentrate on the 2014 car. MK: “Giving up was never an option, because we wanted to make progress with the current car, in order to improve in the constructors’ championship. In addition the insight we are getting now will help with the development of the new car.”
Let’s be honest: Did you think it was possible to improve like that in the current season? MK: “It would have been presumptuous to expect such a big improvement. Nevertheless we said very early on that we would be able to improve during the second half of the season. We were certain of this, based on the knowledge we gained. In addition everything came together during the last few races, including some competitors not being able to use their opportunities in the best possible way. But we didn’t expect to be able to score double digit points in three out of four races.”
The Sauber F1 Team now has 45 points, Toro Rosso 31 and Force India 62. Are you looking ahead or behind? MK: “In general we are always looking ahead. If we continue to be as focused without making any mistakes, then there is still a lot to gain. We know however, that it won’t be easy to claim sixth place. And, of course, we will check the rear mirror in order to avoid a nasty surprise.”
How satisfied are you with the drivers? MK: “Both drivers have shown a very good performance. Nico delivers what we expected from him. He is fast, consistent and very efficient. He has gained a lot of points through his fighting spirit, but he also knows how to seize and use chances if they present themselves to him during a race. Esteban had a tough start. In addition, the car was not as good at the beginning of the season as it is today, which didn’t help. Nevertheless he worked hard and improved continuously. It was only a question of time for everything to slot into place, as we could see last weekend. Looking at his times, he was often very close to Nico, but, because the competition in the middle field is so tight, sometimes it was a couple of positions away, which, at a first glance, doesn’t look good. However, he also did an outstanding job when, for example, giving feedback regarding the set-up of the car, which took the team forward.”
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Dave GREENWOOD (Marussia), Tom McCULLOUGH (Sauber), James KEY (Toro Rosso), Jonathan NEALE (McLaren), Pat FRY (Ferrari), Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull Racing)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Dave if I may start with you. You’ve got a new partnership starting… I guess it’s started already. In fact, that’s the question: how’s it going?
Dave GREENWOOD: Yes, it’s going extremely well at the minute. The partnership has been running since just around the time of the August break. Obviously a lot of data going back and forth, mainly on the design side at the minute – the big challenge of integrating the engine within the chassis is what we’ve been looking at, the cooling side, those kinds of issues. So, it’s going well. It’s progressing well. Everything’s on target at the minute so we’re very happy with what’s happening.
There have been quite a few changes to the team’s technical operation. How’s that coming along?
DG: Yeah, we were disappointed to see Pat leave, he was a big part of rebuilding our team. But really, it’s Pat’s legacy that’s left behind, which is carrying on. So it’s all the same designers, the same aerodynamicists, the same people leading those team so really we’re just getting on with the job in hand and just fully focused on the 2014 car.
When you say his legacy, was that an organisational legacy – putting up structures?
DG: Absolutely. Putting up structures, discipline, good engineering practices, all the good stuff engineers should do every day and just making sure everyone’s doing it and they’re all on the same sheet.
Tom, obviously a fantastic result last weekend with fourth and in fact you’ve also scored points in the last three races. What’s changed, what’s different?
Tom McCULLOUGH: To be honest we started the year uncompetitively, in position. The pace from the midfield wasn’t too far but we just weren’t scoring the points. We kept coming home from every race weekend, analysing the data, both in low-fuel qualifying and long-run race pace and thinking to ourselves ‘we’re not that far away, but we’re just the wrong side’. We decided to push on the development of the car. We introduced our biggest update package by far for Budapest – totally changed the concept of the rear of the car aerodynamically. Did a lot of work really from the front wing right the way through to the rear wing on the car – it’s a very different car to what was actually launched. And we’ve just addressed the main problems that were limiting us from a car balance and a lap time point of view. The change of tyres happened around the same time too, so lowering the front ride height on a Formula One car tend to help you as well. But, fundamentally, for us the biggest difference really started in Budapest. We didn’t score points but we saw how the car was working aerodynamically and we’ve just built on that from there really.
And now you’re locked in a battle in the Constructors’ Championship with your former colleague and now neighbour up there from Toro Rosso. So how’s the development? Is that still continuing?
TMcC: We brought forward our final update package from India to the previous race in Korea, so there are now no more new parts on our car between now and the end of the year. We’ve had to push the development of this year’s car a little bit more than we wanted to, just because we were on the back foot at the start of the year and we had a few problems to address. So, we’ve been developing both cars in parallel, this year’s and next year’s car. At the moment, level on points. We were a bit lucky with some circumstances last weekend but I think as Jean-Eric said yesterday, it’s sort of game on from here really. We’re starting with the same points, pretty similar car performance from track to track, there’s not a lot in it. So, there’s going to a good little fight between now and the end of the year.
Yes. James, as JEV said yesterday, it’s now a five-race championship for you. What are your thoughts on it?
James KEY: I think what Tom says reflects it well. It is going to be close, to the point where certain tracks and certain conditions suit the different cars slightly differently. It’s going to be tight. It’s exciting to be in a battle like that. But not where you want to be with five races to go with a massive regulation change next year. It’s another balancing act. I think it’s going to be interesting and it is a five-race championship. Starting from this point the rest is all information we can use in these next five races.
What’s Toro Rosso’s reaction going to be? Have you stopped you development or have you got more coming?
JK: On the aero side we have. We brought our last bits in Singapore. We’ve got a few small items to come. Mechanically, there’s sort of an ongoing development process a little bit with trying to adapt to the tyre change still because that had a negative effect on us we think. We kind of know why but there are still a few things to do. There’s a little bit of that going on but fundamentally the car is what it is now, there’s nothing major coming along at all at this stage. And clearly with next year’s car very much the focus of the team there’s not much resource to do that.
So, it’s really almost going to be track specific from now on?
JK: I think yeah it’s potentially going to be down to small detail.
Jonathan, obviously Honda is looming but quite a long way away still. What is the situation? Did you go and seen them, have you been to see them here. How closely are you now working with them?
Jonathan NEALE: We are seeing them here during the course of this weekend. It’s an exciting proposition for us to be back with them. We’ve been working very closely for 10 months or so since we dropped the flag, which is not long in Formula One terms but they’re a powerful organisation and moving heaven and earth at the moment and that’s an exciting prospect. But although that’s on the horizon we’re very much focused on the work we’re doing with Mercedes at the moment because, as the others have alluded to, the step change in regulations for next year means we’ve got to do the job twice in two years, so we’ve got our work cut out.
And in terms of drivers that still seems to be fairly fluid as well?
JN: Yeah, as Martin and Jenson said during the Korean Grand Prix weekend we’ve confirmed what we’re doing on that side but the other side if still open for discussion. But we’re under no immediate pressure. I know there’s a lot of media expectation, I understand that but there’s nothing in the regulations, no structural reason why we’d want to make that decision without careful consideration. So that’s what we’re doing.
Still very much watch this space then?
JN: Yeah, very much so.
Q: Pat, first of all, a big challenge from Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship. How much is that actually hurting 2014?
Pat FRY: In terms of development, we’ve got some parts coming through for the next couple of races but that’s already in the pipeline, that’s not really affecting the 2014. Obviously it’s quite a close-fought battle with them. They’ve got outstanding qualifying pace and their race pace is sometimes good, sometimes bad. Again, I expect that’ll be another one of those five-race championships you were just talking about.
Q: Was Korea a bit of a blip? You’d actually finished second in the previous three races.
PF: Yeah. I think where we qualified in Korea is similar to what we’ve been able to do before really and there’s no point hiding behind our poor qualifying pace. The race, in reality, we were caught in traffic and couldn’t get past so credit to the people who were there holding us up a little.
Q: So is it looking better for this weekend?
PF: I hope so, yes. So far.
Q: Paul, obviously huge progress since the summer break. Things have completely changed, you’ve dominated every race since then. What changed?
Paul MONAGHAN: A few small items. It’s been remarkably subtle, the pieces that have gone onto the car but the collective effect has been enormously positive and it’s spread to many areas and that’s opened up a few little other paths of development which we’ve managed to exploit and yes, we’ve been very lucky – and enjoyed it.
Q: Obviously you had a huge amount of damage on Mark’s car last weekend. Can you give us some indication of what’s been required since then?
PM: It’s very easy to summarise. Pretty much everything behind the oil radiator was ruined. So it’s a whole new car from the cockpit backwards for him. New chassis, or a replacement chassis, and everything is new there behind it.
Q: Was that all built up here, did you have all the spares with you?
PM: The majority of them actually were with us, yes. A few parts have made their way out here but we’ve survived remarkably well.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) Paul, as Mark’s time in F1 winds down, give us an idea of how it has been to work with him over the years?
PM: I’ve known him since 2002, I think, when he was Renault test driver. He was committed then, he’s still very committed now, always professional, always gives good feedback. He complements Sebastian extremely well. They both contribute to car development and he’s continuing to do so. It’s been at outstanding career, hasn’t it? Very impressive.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – RacingLines) Gentlemen, there has been a lot of talk about Formula One possibly adopting customer cars. Now this concept could put some of you out of a job for obvious reasons and turn others into super salesmen. Where do you stand on this particular issue from an engineering or technical perspective?
JN: It’s a contentious subject which of course is why you asked the question. I think that on the one hand Formula One still has to be the pinnacle of motor sport and there is a certain sense of technical endeavour in that, providing that we moderate that from a financial point of view. Customer cars is a game-changer, certainly for the independent teams; it fundamentally changes that business model and I think before Formula One goes about that, I think it needs to look at the economic sustainability of the various business models that exist. Whether you’re premium brand, whether you’re independent or whether you’re an entrant into it, then in any market sense, you make sure that you’ve got something that works holistically. Technically, for us, it’s not as big a deal. I think commercially it’s a much bigger issue but I don’t think the technical guys will say it’s too much of a challenge. But it would fundamentally change for me what Formula One is and I think Formula One is about the pinnacle of motor sport and that technical element is very important to it, and I believe that the independent teams would say the same thing.
PF: Well, I suppose in reality it’s more a question for the team principals than engineers really. From an engineering point of view, I’m sure it would be relatively easy to put something in place but it’s more, as Jonathan was saying, about which way do we want to see the sport going.
PM: From a purely technical point of view, Formula One is the Constructors’ championship – there’s a Drivers’ championship and a Constructors’ championship and therefore, solely from that point of view, then we ought to compete against one another. However, we currently sell parts to other teams as we’re permitted to do so, so an amount of part-sharing, to ease the burden on other teams that wish to buy certain components from us, then I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do. If that expands a little bit and all the teams agree, then it’s probably a helpful thing for the sport.
DG: Personally, I think we’ve got the balance about right at the minute. What you can and can’t buy from someone else is probably about the right place and still gives us the ability to be engineers and go off and design things and not just take wholesale someone else’s parts. I think in effect it allows us to buy the really complicated bits – gearboxes, hydraulics etc – and then lets us go off and concentrate on the other parts.
TMcC: Yeah, I really can’t add too much more. For us, as performance-base engineers running a spec car or a customer car wouldn’t be as much fun. Like Dave was just saying, some of the more complicated expensive parts with a lot of tooling research and development, I think the balance is pretty good at the moment. Then we, as trackside engineers, can push hard on the performance side of the car and that’s a fantastic opportunity for people like myself working with great wind tunnels, great bunch of people, just developing performance.
Q: James, Toro Rosso have just invested quite a lot in their technical assets recently.
JK: Absolutely. It’s often maybe misunderstood but Toro Rosso’s very much a team in its own right. We work well with Red Bull where we can, for example the same engine for next year and so on but yes, we have invested. I think, certainly, there’s a commercial side which is not within the remit of technical directors to comment on but technically it’s not difficult but there’s a big emotional thing there because we are all competitive people who want to go and beat the other guy and a big part of that is making your own car so it’s quite a big topic on a number of levels, I think.
Q: Anything further to add, Jonathan, having heard from the technical directors?
JN: Only that I would echo that the balance of being able to trade parts to a team that maybe has a smaller budget or is a new entrant I think is a really important part of attracting investors in, because as in any business you want to invest what resource you have in what makes a difference and it takes time to put the capital footprint down and to put the competence in place. If you’re trying to do all that from day one, your chance of survival and then running properly into the series… I think the risk is induced and you make it less attractive as an investment proposition.
Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) Question for the guys in the back row: one of the things you guys are indulging in is a battle for Constructors’ positions but at the same time you’re trying to develop quite a complicated car for next year within the resource restriction agreement. How are you managing the cost of developing the car against the cost of trying to get those points to get the Constructors’ positions and the money it pays out, particularly in the case of Marussia as well?
DG: To a certain extent we have thrown most of our weight behind 2014 and quite a long time ago but that’s not to say we’ve not had small developments which have come recently and they’ve been extremely cost-effective developments which has helped as well and the financial burden of 2014 is big as well. Basically, by judging small mechanical upgrades that can maybe help optimise the aerodynamics of the car – by that, obviously, I mean suspension to allow you to run in the place and the track to get the best downforce from the map you’ve got – so we’ve worked a lot on those small parts which can give you gains for not very much money and also not very much lead time which is good. So we’re still doing a certain amount of filtering back ideas from the track back to design: is it easy to design, is it easy to make, can we do it for the next race? Yes, OK, let’s go for it, but the emphasis is very much on 2014.
TMcC: Yeah, for us it’s a little bit different due to the position we’ve found ourselves in at the start of the year, as I sort of mentioned earlier. Nowadays, as well as cfd, the wind tunnel, aerodynamics on the track, these are all things which we are monitoring all the time and trying to improve. The regulations next year are obviously quite different from our power train point of view, the influence of the exhaust on the downforce is obviously quite different but for us, fundamentally there are some flow mechanisms and understanding of this year’s car which we really had to get on top of and understand before we just abandoned it an early stage and got straight into the 2014 car, so we’ve had a bit of a different approach. Now, from a resource point of view we’ve had to be careful not to throw too much at this year’s car but it’s always that balance as an engineer: fundamentally understanding this year’s car was pivotal for us to design a good car next year so we’ve played that balance.
JK: I think similar thoughts really. There are certain things you can learn this year which will help you next year but a lot of the major bits are not carry-over at all so it really is a balancing act of trying to efficiently do what you can, let’s say in the latter half of this season primarily, for this year and make sure you’re not losing focus on next year. It’s always tricky because when these regulations come along so does an opportunity to take a step forward but there will be a risk of damaging your previous year if you do that, so it’s very much a balancing act. I think with the lack of the carry-over of a lot of the stuff that you do, you have to try and – as Tom says – tune a little bit of what you need to understand to make it relevant for next year as well.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and National Speedsport News) James, now that you’ve had a chance to look at the cars, what caused your drivers to retire in Korea?
JK: It was actually a brake duct issue which I’ve never seen before. It was very frustrating, we had the same problem on the same lap for both drivers and it obviously meant, unfortunately, that we had to retire them which was a real shame. I think points for Daniel were relatively clear and secure and in fact we were just about to tell him to push to try and catch the guy ahead at the end so it was very frustrating for all of us. It was actually a structural failure on brake ducts which shouldn’t cause any damage but they led to us having to retire the cars because of temperature problems.
Q: Did it have any overheating impact on the engines, is there any reduction in life in the engines?
JK: No, we think the engines are OK. It was a general effect around the car when you have something which moves and causes a flowfield issue. We think we’re OK there. It didn’t actually cause any more damage than the parts themselves that broke in the end but unfortunately it was enough to have to retire.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – RacingLines) Jonathan, you said earlier on that you’ve got to do the job twice, i.e. in 2014 and then again in 2015. A lot of teams have two separate design operations, one working on the next year and the other on the one thereafter. Is that the approach that you’ve adopted and does that fit into McLaren’s matrix system?
JN: No. There’s just so much to be done in the near term that it’s all hand on deck. We’re 12 weeks away from the end of the year, 16 weeks away from putting the car out for a test or something like that; I think a Formula One car is 13,500 parts with the engine as one part number. There’s a lot of work to do with almost no carry-over. Everybody will be focused on trying to get the learning out of this and I think there’s so much still to be discovered through those early two or three months of running these cars, both from a reliability and energy optimisation, aerodynamics, the new flow structures around the car. I’m not quite sure what you would start your next one on so we’ve got to learn and digest all that first.
Q: (Sam Collins – RaceCar Engineering) How do the five engineers here feel about going into the 2014 competition season with no running on the wet tyres with the new powertrain?
PF: I’m honestly not quite sure how to answer the question really. The wet tyre performance at the moment is a little bit of a challenge and how would you ever test a tyre and prove it I don’t know. It’s one of those impossible questions to answer but I’m sure we’re all going to be uneasy over that step into the unknown. I’m sure you can say that at the first test, when we run out on slick tyres, for instance, exactly how are the tyres going to behave with the new powertrain. The torque delivery of the power units are quite dramatically different and I suppose the stress that’s put on the tyres in qualifying compared to the race will also be dramatically different from this year. I think there’s a learning curve on both the slick and the wet tyres to be honest.
PM: It’s going to be interesting, isn’t it? We’ll see what happens. Like all of these things, once you’re faced with a wet track and the car’s got to go, then you will deal with the circumstances as they arise to you. It’s a challenge, we’ll all face it and we’ll all treat it in different ways and I’m sure we’ll all come out the other side thinking it wasn’t too bad.
DG: Yeah, I echo the two guys’ comments, honestly. You’ll deal with it as it happens and those who’ve made the best job of it will get something out of it. I guess that’s one way to look at it.
TMcC: Not really much more to add really. With the wet tyre you’ve got torque delivery to deal with and you will work with those parameters to get the most out of your package.
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 1:28.050
11 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 1:25.077
17 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 1:27.480
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
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.
London, 28 June 2013: The Goodwood Motor Circuit, part of the 12,000 acre Goodwood Estate, originally opened its gates to the public in September 1948 to host Britain’s first post-war motor race meeting at a permanent venue, said an FIA press release.
The second World Motor Sport Council meeting of 2013 concluded the inaugural FIA Sport Conference Week, a new event on the Federation’s calendar developed to provide a global platform of networking and business exchange for the motor sport community.
Jean Todt thanked Lord March and the staff at Goodwood for their hospitality in the magnificent surroundings of the Goodwood Estate, which provided an excellent venue for the first Sport Conference Week. With Delegates from more than 70 countries in attendance, the event was universally hailed by the motor sport community as a huge success.
The following decisions were taken by the World Motor Sport Council:
FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The FIA President and the Commercial Rights Holder advised that negotiations regarding the Concorde Agreement were close to conclusion with the intention the contract between the FIA and FOM will be signed in the near future.
The following summarises the changes made to the 2014 Sporting Regulations:
Further to a request from Mercedes, it will be permitted to supply engines to a maximum of four Formula One teams in 2014.
A penalty point system for drivers will be introduced. If a driver accumulates more than 12 points he will be banned from the next race. Points will stay on the driver’s licence for 12 months. The amount of points a driver may be given for infringements will vary from one to three depending upon the severity of the offence.
The procedure for a driver to be given the chance to give back any advantage he may have gained by leaving the track has been adopted.
A significant reduction in the amount of wind tunnel testing and CFD work has been imposed to help reduce costs and potentially allow two teams to share one wind tunnel.
Four two-day track tests will be allowed in season in place of the current eight one-day promotional days and the three-day young driver test. These will take place at tracks in Europe on the Tuesday and Wednesday after a race in order to ensure minimal additional resources are necessary.
Track testing will now also be permitted in January 2014 in order to allow earlier testing of the new power units.
For safety reasons all team personnel working on a car in a race pit stop will be required to wear head protection.
Each driver will be provided with one extra set of tyres for use only during the first 30 minutes of the first practice session on Friday, to encourage teams to take to the track at that time without having to worry about using valuable tyre wear.
A number of new regulations have been confirmed to govern the new, far more complex power units. It is agreed that only five power units may be used by each driver for the whole season. Any use of an additional complete power unit will result in that driver having to start the race from the pit lane. Any changes of individual elements above the permitted five, such as turbocharger, MGU or Energy Store, will result in a 10 grid place penalty.
No manufacturer will be allowed to homologate more than one power unit during the homologation period from 2014-2020. Changes to the homologated unit will continue to be permitted for installation, reliability or cost saving reasons.
Drivers must now use a gearbox for six consecutive events, an increase from the current five.
No car may use more than 100kg of fuel for the race, from the time the lights go out at the start of the race to the chequered flag. This will be monitored by the use of an FIA approved fuel flow meter.
The pit lane speed limit, which is currently set at 60km/h for the free practice sessions and 100km/h for the qualifying practice and race (60km/h for the whole event in Melbourne, Monaco and Singapore), has been amended so it is set at 80km/h for the whole event (except the three races mentioned which would stay at 60km/h for the whole event). This is for safety reasons, as most accidents happen during the race when the speed limit is higher; drivers also have very little chance to practice stopping from 100km/h until the race.
The following summarises the changes made to the 2014 Technical Regulations:
Measures have been put in place to ensure that the cars do not incorporate a step in the chassis behind the nose. These changes will also ensure that a genuine low nose, introduced for safety reasons, is always used.
The minimum weight limit has been raised by 5kg, as the power unit is now likely to weigh more than originally expected. The weight distribution has also been changed accordingly.
Electronic control of the rear brake circuit is permitted in order to ensure consistent braking whilst energy is being recovered.
In order to ensure that side impact structures are more useful in an oblique impact and more consistent, they will become standard items made to a strictly laid out manufacturing process and fitted to the cars identically. The impact tests currently carried out will be replaced by static load push-off tests and squeeze tests. This will also help reduce costs as no team will need to develop their own structures.
In order to ensure that the cockpit rims either side of the driver’s head are stronger, the amount of deflection during the static load tests has been reduced from 20mm to 5mm.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP AND RALLYING
With immediate effect and for budget reasons, WRC Team and WRC 2 entrants are not obliged to use the latest ‘joker’ parts when competing in WRC events.
In order to promote the entry of R-GT cars in FIA rallies, with immediate effect tuners will be permitted to develop cars, in accordance with the criteria defining eligible cars. The FIA will issue a technical passport, allowing the car to be eligible for events accepting R-GT cars.
With effect from 1 January 2014:
As a general rule, organisers of WRC events must ensure a minimum of 25% competitive special stage distance in relation to the overall distance of the event.
Manufacturer and WRC Team cars from the same entrant will be permitted to enter Flexi-Service at the same time, having their service times counted independently.
In order to give more flexibility, WRC Teams will no longer be obliged to nominate a tyre manufacturer for the season.
In order to extend the life of World Rally Cars, manufacturers will be permitted to re-homologate 2011, 2012 and 2013 cars without any modification, except one single chassis and engine joker for 2014. In order to facilitate the replacement of S2000 Rally cars with Group R5, S2000 regulations will not be continued after 2013 and will be replaced by new R5 homologation regulations. Existing S2000 homologations will be frozen and may no longer receive an extension for the rest of their homologation period, except for one single engine and chassis joker.
The minimum weight of R5 cars has been increased from 1200 to 1230 kg to avoid the use of expensive options and keep the cost of the complete car within the stated limit.
From 2015, classes R1, R2 and R3 will be permitted to use super-charged engines, in line with the evolution of series engines.
With immediate effect, the number of permitted tyres for events in the FIA European Rally Championship has been set at 20, plus an additional four if shakedown is included in the itinerary, for cars in Classes 2 and 3. In addition, hand cutting will not be permitted, unless authorised in very special circumstances by the Stewards for safety reasons.
From 2014, the number of coefficients allocated to the events in the European Rally Cup has been reduced to three, namely 20, 15 and 10.
FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
In order to preserve the historic date of the Le Mans 24 Hours, which this year celebrated its 90th edition, the date of 14/15 June 2014 has been retained to ensure that a Formula One Grand Prix is not hosted the same weekend.
FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
Following the cancellation of a race on 28 July, it is confirmed another race will take place on 4 August at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina (subject to the confirmation of the circuit homologation).
The technical regulations for the Super 2000 cars for 2014 were confirmed. The new cars will look more spectacular with bigger aerodynamic devices and will have greater performance through the power to weight ratio. In order to ease the introduction of the new cars, the homologation procedure will be similar to the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship, but with an additional two jokers. 2013 cars will also be accepted in 2014.
FIA FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
The event scheduled for 25-27 October at Paul Ricard has been cancelled and replaced by an event on 11-13 October at Vallelunga, Italy.
The Technical Regulations for the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship have been updated and amended, specifically in relation to engines and chassis, in order to further reduce costs for the teams and drivers.
The Sporting Regulations relating to the 2013 FIA Formula 3 Intercontinental Cup in Macau (13-17 November) allow for the use of engines according to the 2012 specification only.
A FORMULA 4
A registration process has been established for engine and chassis manufacturers in order to supply the ASNs with a potential list of suppliers in the championships. Approved manufacturers will be permitted to have cars participating in a championship from 1 January of the following year.
The FIA has committed strong support to ASNs launching national championships, in order to provide for a standard technical and sporting framework for single-seater championships in each territory. Subject to compliance with a policy based on four main pillars – securing organisational consistency, technical fairness, sporting relevance and the stability of the championship – an “FIA Certified” label will be granted to the ASN for its national Formula 4 Championship.
FIA FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP
Technical and Sporting Regulations for the FIA Formula E Championship were agreed in principle, and it was confirmed that the Championship season will run from September 2014 to June 2015. The regulations, along with the calendar comprising a maximum of 12 races, will be presented to the WMSC at its September meeting.
A new registration period for car manufacturers applying for the 2015-2016 Championship season will be open from 1 July 2014 to 1 February 2015.
HISTORIC MOTOR SPORT
A number of Sporting Regulations for the FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship and the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship have been clarified for application with immediate effect.
FIA WORLD AND EUROPEAN RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The WMSC has taken note of the intention of the promoter of the FIA European Rallycross Championship to develop the competition to World Championship level from 2014. Subject to the promoter’s proposals, the final decision on the project submitted will be decided at the September meeting of the WMSC.
With immediate effect, the starting grid composition for the first two races of the series of Qualifying Heats has been amended in order to aid spectators’ understanding of the progression of the event. In addition, a strict limit on tyre quantities per driver per event has been clarified for cost-saving reasons.
An invitation to tender for a three-year single tyre and fuel supplier to the Championship has been launched by the FIA.
FIA HILL-CLIMB MASTERS
As part of the strategy to develop the hill-climb discipline, a new FIA Hill-Climb Masters event has been ratified by the WMSC. This annual one-off event, commencing in 2014, is intended to close and celebrate the hill-climb season. The Masters event will be a high-profile tournament for the national and FIA hill-climb Champions, many of whom do not normally compete against each other. There will be a Nations Cup awarded, as well as medals for individual drivers.
KARTING
In order to enhance the electric kart class and to provide a perfect entry point for young drivers wishing to progress to the FIA Formula E Championship, the technical regulations for this class have been updated to take into account the latest standards set by the CIK.
FIA DRIVERS’ COMMISSION
The first meeting of the FIA Drivers’ Commission took place in June under the Presidency of Emerson Fittipaldi and Vice Presidency of Sébastien Loeb. On this historic occasion, which represents the first time drivers have had their own forum within the FIA, a number of recommendations in the areas of communication, safety, anti-doping, standard driving procedures and stewarding were discussed and proposals will be submitted to the WMSC in September.
FIA EUROPEAN DRAG RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
A selection process will be considered to source a promoter for the FIA European Drag Racing Championship.
FIA ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY
Following the initial work undertaken by a dedicated Working Group mandated to develop a Sustainability Programme, the WMSC approved in principle the implementation of the FIA’s ‘Action for Environment’ programme. The FIA’s goal, within a decade, is that motor sport will be recognised as an exemplar of best practice in environmental sustainability and a world leader for environmental innovation creating a positive impact on both the track and road. Its strategy will focus on measuring and improving innovation and promotion.
MOTOR SPORT DEVELOPMENT TASK FORCE
The first action concluding the Sport Conference Week has been the creation of the Motor Sport Development Task Force under the Chairmanship of Mohamed Ben Sulayem. The Task Force will be presented at the next WMSC in Dubrovnik on 27 September.
SPORTACCORD
Following its provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee, the FIA is pleased to announce it has now been elected as a Member of SportAccord in St Petersburg, Russia, in May.
