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  • 2018 Formula 1: Mexican Grand Prix

    2018 Formula 1: Mexican Grand Prix

    DRIVERS – Sergio PÉREZ (Racing Point Force India), Carlos SAINZ (Renault), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), Pierre GASLY (Toro Rosso), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sergio, it’s your home race this weekend?

    Sergio PÉREZ: It’s amazing. Since the first year we’ve had the Mexican Grand Prix it’s been big. We’ve seen in other countries that sometimes it backs away, but it doesn’t happen. Here the people, the media, everyone is so excited about this weekend. It’s been great, you know. The amount of support that I’ve received during the weekend is amazing and I think, once again, we’re going to have an amazing grand prix.

    Q: You’ve finished in the points every year since the race returned. How confident are you of a repeat this weekend?

    SP: That’s the minimum target, you know, to score the points here, but I hope that this weekend I do my best result through them. I think we should be string. We should be fighting to be best of the rest. Renault was very strong last weekend but I think we should be there and hopefully we score a lot of points for the team.

    Q: Pierre, if we could come to you please. Looking back at Austin last weekend, you ran some aerodynamic upgrades on the car, then took them off just before qualifying. Are you going to be using them here, what can you tell us about that?

    Pierre GASLY: Yeah, in Austin it wasn’t ideal with the weather conditions, so we a new package that we could not run until P3 and yeah, basically, we need more mileage, more running with this one to really understand how to use the package and extract the full potential, so we took it off before the qualifying. This weekend we are going to run it again. We’ve got only one part, so this time Brendan is going to get it on the car and hopefully we can learn a bit more about how to use it.

    Q: Looking ahead to 2019, it’s very clear what Red Bull Racing are going to get as far as you’re concerned but what about Honda, especially in light of recent upgrades they have introduced?

    PG: I think things look really promising. They are working really hard. We saw in Suzuka, we went to all the factories and you can see the dedication and commitment from the people. There is a big opportunity ahead of Honda. They’re going to be in a relationship with Red Bull. They have been struggling in the last few years but next year we are going to be in a position to fight for the top positions. They really want to make the best out of this situation. I think the progress they’ve made over the last few weeks with that new spec is really encouraging and they are still working on next year’s engine, trying to extract even more performance. For sure we need to give them time, for sure it’s super difficult to catch up with Mercedes and Ferrari but slowly they are catching up and I’m really confident they will keep improving and I’m really excited to see what they can do ahead of next year.

    Q: Thank you. Carlos, let’s start by looking back at Austin last weekend. It was Renault’s biggest single-race score of the season. Was that track specific or are you confident that you can repeat that this weekend here in Mexico?

    Carlos SAINZ: Let’s say that after some three or four races the team decided to do a bit of a rethink on how we approach weekends and how we can maybe score some better results and Austin was a great example of a good team effort but at the same time a track that was suiting us better – a lot more low-speed corner that our car works well on; a bit less power sensitive, that obviously in qualifying we feel it, so a combination of hard work but also a track that was suiting us better made us score a very strong result, which we needed for that fourth place in the championship. I think Mexico is another great opportunity to score a double points finish. It’s still less power sensitive; it’s quite a lot of low-speed corners, so it could present some good opportunities, but we need to stay as focused and as determined as we were in Austin for sure.

    Q: Let’s throw it forward to 2019. How are you preparations with McLaren coming along? Have you had any contact, or does that not happen until January 1st? 

    CS: Of course there has been some contact. There has been some organisation of how to plan the winter, but nothing to do with performance or… engineering talking, let’s put it like that. I think I’m fully committed to this project, to the Renault, until the end of the year – until, really, Sunday afternoon after Abu Dhabi – and I think my results in the second half of the season are proving it. We are scoring a lot of points, I think it’s 17 points since Hungary, and finally my season is starting to come together. I’m very pleased, very happy with how things are going here and I really want to finish my season with Renault, my time with Renault, on a high, like we are doing now.

    Q: Thank you Carlos. Max, I’d also like to look at Austin with you. Tremendous race by you; 18th to second. We saw you overtake more cars than any other race you’ve done. How do you reflect on last weekend? Was it one of the best races of your career?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: It was definitely a good one but it’s difficult to choose if it’s going to be the best. I also don’t want to really look at it like that. It’s always important to try to score the most points as possible, especially when you start at the back. I think we didn’t expect to really fight for the podium but looking at the year before as well, we were really competitive in the race and again it showed this time out as well. Doing the opposite strategy I think seemed to be working well and to be at the end of the race fighting for victory was very nice. And of course to hang on to second in the last few laps was challenging with the tyres I had, but also a lot of fun.

    Q: Well you won this grand prix last year and the RB14 is clearly performing well. Of the three remaining races this season, do you think this is your best chance of another victory?

    MV: This is definitely the best chance for us. We’ll try to set up the car in the best way possible and we’ll find out how we’re going to perform. I don’t think in qualifying we have a chance but in the race we anyway seem to be working a lot better, so I expect this to be better than Austin.

    Q: Thank you Max. Kimi, thank you for waiting. Great to see you back on the top step of the podium last weekend in Austin. Can you just tell us with the benefit of hindsight how much you enjoyed that race and everything that came after – and did you send a cap home for Robin?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: No, it’s for the wife but I’ll bring it with me after this race. It was a great result obviously and a good race and we had to fight for it quite a bit, so I think it didn’t come easy. But I think it’s good for us and good for everybody. I think it was an exciting race. What else to say? We were happy. Hopefully this weekend we will be strong. The end result we’ll see on Sunday, but we’ll do our best.

    Q: This has been your best season since rejoining Ferrari in 2014. It’s also your last season with Ferrari, so how will you reflect on 2018?

    KR: I don’t know. Obviously we’ve gone through it and I don’t see much point to look afterwards at what we did. It’s not going to change anything and we’ll see where we finish. It’s not what we want in the end result, but we did our best and we’ll finish maybe third, maybe fourth, maybe somewhere behind that. It’s not ideal. But it could be worse.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Fernando Alonso – Motorlat) It’s a question to everyone. How do you think about the relationship between the experience and the young? Because here we have this mix of drivers, with Kimi like the most experienced, and Pierre like the rookie. But all of you have an opinion and how is the age working for your growing in the results you have with your team. What are your thoughts about that?

    Q: Well, Kimi, you recently turned 39 and you’ve just won a grand prix, so how is age helping you?

    KR: I don’t know if it’s helping or harming but it seems to be working still OK. I guess a certain amount of experience helps, that’s for sure. But I think in this sport it’s not probably that necessary to have a massive amount, because you can do a lot of things on simulators. We are doing basically the same tracks. If it’s 5 kilometres, or four, or whatever it is, we are all going to learn it. It’s not like 10 million miles will help more than the shorter distances. In rally it helps a lot more, the experience, but I think for me it’s helpful. I feel better, for sure, than when I started, in the first year. But I guess there is a certain points when it doesn’t make such a big difference anymore.

    Q: Max, you’ve achieved a lot at a very young age. How difficult was it for you when you first came into Formula 1?

    MV: Well, for me, I think it’s still the more experience I get, the faster I’ll become, so I haven’t stopped learning.

    Pierre?

    PG: I think, for sure, age is probably not that important – maturity is the main thing. For sure, the experience is useful. I’m only in my first complete season and I don’t know how I’m going to be after five years, but I can feel already the difference now, compared to a year ago when I came in Malaysia for my first race, so you just get more confidence, you know how things work. Probably after four or five years things become a bit more automatic. I’ll see that in the future.

    Q: Checo?

    SP: I think experience helps in how you can direct a team, how you can build it around you, how much progress you can make with your car, with the set-up. I think experience really helps and makes a difference. I think it’s definitely a good bonus. As Kimi said as well, you get to a point where nothing really changes. Your speed and a bit of experience always helps as well.

    And Carlos?

    CS: Yeah, I agree with Checo there, that experience helps you a lot to get to know yourself, how to extract the maximum potential of yourself, within a team and within a car, within a set-up. With more experience, the faster you get, as Max said. But at the same time it gives me a lot of tranquility to see that a guy that is 39 years old can win in Formula 1. There’s a lot of time ahead for many of us and seeing Kimi winning last weekend also showed that Formula 1 is one of those sports where you can be successful at a later age.

    Q: (Lawrence Barretto – F1.com) Kimi, can you just talk us through the 24 hours after your victory? How did you celebrate? What did you say to your family and to your little boy when you had a chance to talk to him?

    KR: They were very happy when we talked. We had a small party. It takes a long time to recover these days, so that part is definitely not the nice part – but the first part is always fun. Not really much, just a few friends and that’s about it.

    Q: (Janne Palomaki – Iltalehti) Kimi, your victory last Sunday was received in Finland with overwhelming joy and collective euphoria. Even some political leaders joined in congratulating you. How did it make you feel – and were there any especially surprising congratulations for you?

    KR: I haven’t really looked that much on the news so obviously I don’t know who has. I’m happy if people are happy. The main thing is that I feel good, what I’m doing. The rest, some nice, some not, and that’s absolutely fine. Yeah, I think obviously it’s great. I don’t think we always have the biggest support from Finland. So, I don’t know, when we get it, we’ll take it – but, like I said, I don’t know exactly if somebody congratulated. Not many people have my number so it’s not going to be that direct. Like I said, I don’t read too much stuff on the ‘net, so… I’m more than happy and will take all the good wishes on board. We go forward and see what we can do.

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Checo, Formula One is back in Latin America. You’ve been the only Latin American driver now on the grid for a couple of seasons and it’s been a long time since there’s been a champion. What do you see as the future for Latin American drivers in F1? Is there one – and what sort of obstacles do you think they face right now?

    SP: Well, I think being in Formula One for whatever nationality or any driver is very hard, y’know? To reach Formula One and to maintain in Formula One is very hard. As you say, it’s only me at the moment and it’s just hard. I see some others coming through, through the series but the journey to reach Formula One is very hard – especially for the Latin Americans. Because we are the ones that have to go to Europe at a very young age, sacrifice a lot more than the European drivers, in a way. It’s very hard – but there are some coming through. We’ll see whether they reach it or not – but it’s just how Formula One is. It’s very hard to reach it.

    Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – AD Sportswereld) Question for Max Verstappen. You return here as the last winner. You were in that situation only once in Spain last year. Does it change something in your approach, in self-confidence, in your love for a circuit – or is it just business as usual.

    MV: It’s the same.

    Q: (Alfredo Lopez Ledesma – MomentoGP) My question is for Max. Christian Horner told yesterday that the Honda engines was 0.6 faster than the Renault unit at Austin. Do you really think that Red Bull-Honda will be a real challenge for the championship next year?

    MV: It is, of course, difficult to say, because we still need to develop a very strong car. So, we’ll find out next year. I think initially we may be not strong enough to really fight for a victory but I think throughout the season we’ll definitely catch up. That’s how we’re planning. So hopefully it will work out like that.

    Q: (Carlos Alberto Velazquez – Reforma) Question for Kimi. In the last three races here in Mexico there has been three different winners. It’s time to you and Ferrari to win. Do you feel that this weekend as confident as in Austin to make all the Ferrari Mexican fans happy this weekend?

    KR: For sure as a team we’ll give our best – but we cannot guarantee anything. Right now we’ll work as normal from Friday to Sunday and then at the end of the race we’ll see what we get out from it. But we’ll do our maximum and hopefully we’ll be up there fighting for the victory.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Sergio, over the five years that you’ve been at Force India, you’ve been able to establish yourself as a major player for the team, both through results and although through your commercial partners etc., But for next year, your team-mate is highly likely to be the son of the team owner. How do you think that will affect the team dynamic?

    SP: I don’t think it will change. At the end of the day, the interests of all the team, even the team buyer, the team owner is that the team is very successful. So, for that you need both cars to be at 100 per cent and for the team to develop as quickly as possible. So, for that you really need full performance. So, I think if that happens, he’s coming in to a great team with great people, engineers, where he’s going to grow a lot. I see great things for the team. I think we have all the guidance, we just need the budget and I think we can be a massive surprise next year.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) To all the drivers, except Kimi. Do you think you would have won the Championship if you had been driving for Ferrari this year?

    MV: I’m not driving for Ferrari so I’d prefer not to comment.

    Pierre, anything to add?

    PG: Similar. It’s difficult to say something about a car you’ve never tried – but probably with my experience it would have been difficult.

    Checo?

    SP: Very, very hard to know. Certainly I would have been a lot closer!

    Carlos?

    CS: Impossible to say. Nothing. I don’t know. If I try the car I’ll let you know. Impossible to say.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Max and Kimi, do you think this circuit is a true Mercedes circuit or can all three teams fight for victory? And does it make your life easier that Lewis doesn’t need a win?

    KR: I think that if you look at the past years, all three teams being up there, and then it really depends on the small things whoever came out on top. It’s impossible… it’s pointless to start guessing right now who’s going to be up there, or if one team is going to be better than another. We don’t know. If we look at previous races it can go either way. I don’t know if it’s going to be any easier if he only needs three points to get the championship but who knows?

    MV: I don’t know. It will be close between them in qualifying and I think we will be a little bit behind but in the race we definitely have a chance, I think. And about Lewis, I think as a driver you always want to win so I don’t think that changes a lot.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Carlos, Kimi and Pierre: you guys are all switching teams for next season. The Abu Dhabi test, after the race, is an opportunity to get first experience of that new team. Have you thought about driving for your new team in Abu Dhabi and do you believe that that will happen?

    CS: Yeah, as you said, it’s a good opportunity to try this year’s car – obviously not next year’s car which is not the same. I’m focussing on these three races. I think my management and company are looking into whether it’s possible or not but at the moment it’s not decided yet or nothing has been clarified.

    Q: Kimi, any decisions about you and Sauber?

    KR: We’ll see. I think we’re quite open to any decisions.

    PG: At the moment it’s not really decided so we’ll see what happens in the next four weeks but it will be a good opportunity to start working with the team ahead of next year.

    Q: (Jaap de Groot – De Telegraaf) Max, could you tell us what the positive and negative effects are of racing at altitude, technical and physical?

    MV: I think the engines will be a little bit closer because it’s just a bit more difficult for them to breath. Downforce-wise you lose a lot of performance and then it’s more about mechanical grip and stuff because even with the biggest wing here you have less downforce than in Monza and I think our car is very good mechanically, anyway, also aerodynamically. Of course, that’s less of a factor so that’s why I think we are normally more competitive on this track than others, even though there is a super long straight in the track, so I think that just explains a lot. Physically it’s not a big deal because it’s so low grip.

    Q: (Francisco Alcalà – Global Com Group) What are your thoughts about Fernando Alonso leaving this season and will you miss him at the end of it?

    PG: Of course. Fernando is a legend of Formula One. I used to watch him before I even started karting, when I was eight years old. For me he’s always been a guy I’ve looked at when I was young. He’s been on top. He won championships with a French team and I remember he was big news, all over the magazines back in France. He’s a fantastic driver, for sure it’s a shame to lose a character like him but he probably has other challenges ahead of him and I’m sure we will keep hearing great things about his future.

    MV: Yeah, I think Fernando is a winner and he wants to win races so he didn’t see that happening in the near future and of course he has already tried for a few years so I think I can understand why he’s leaving. Probably some new advantage where he can probably win again. I think that will motivate him very much and then we will see what happens in the future, if he comes back or not.

    KR: We have had some good battles over the years. It’s how it is, unfortunately, and the fact is that we’re all going to stop at some point. We always know that’s coming and us older ones have to go at some point. That’s how it goes and I’m sure he will find some exciting racing for him and who knows what happens in the future.

    SP: Yeah, as Kimi says, at some point we are all going to stop so I think for Fernando the time came. He’s had a tremendous career, he’s a tremendous character, a great guy, one of the guys I get on with so we will definitely miss him but you never know, maybe he comes back in the future, maybe he doesn’t but he’s definitely one of the legends of the sport.

    CS: The fact that he’s leaving I think is a big loss for Formula One, to not have one of the best drivers or the best driver in motor sport on the grid at the moment is a big loss so I think it is something for Formula One and everyone to consider why one of the best drivers is leaving and why we cannot have a bit more competitive grid where many drivers can fight for wins or for podiums. I think it’s a thing to consider and something to think about for the future.

    Q: How much of an influence did he have on you becoming a Formula One driver?

    CS: Obviously the biggest influence on anyone. I followed Formula One, I met him back in 2005, I also remember meeting Kimi back then. Since then, I really decided that I wanted to become a Formula One driver and gave it all to get here. I managed to compete against him for the last four years which have been a dream come true and of course we will miss him.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) To all drivers, although Kimi, you might chose not to answer it: are you a bit surprised by the mistakes that Sebastian Vettel has made this year and do you think that he has thrown this championship away, given the commanding lead he had at the early stages of the season?

    CS: Well, I think it’s always difficult to judge the performance of any other driver and car because you don’t know what they are going through. Of course, there have been some mistakes that we’ve all seen but I think it’s very easy to judge it from the outside and not know what is clearly going on in there. I really respect Sebastian, I think he’s a four time World Champion for a meaning (reason) because he deserves to be a four time World Champion and he will come back eventually. I think he might have gone through a tough moment but I think he will be back.

    SP: Yeah, similar to Carlos. I think Sebastian is a fantastic driver. It’s very hard to judge the performance of someone when you’re not in the team and you don’t know exactly what’s going on. So it makes no sense for me to say. Obviously we have seen some mistakes. Probably at the end he was just desperate, trying to achieve what was probably not possible but he’s a four time World Champion for that reason so he has a great team and he will be back to fight again and he has a great opportunity to fight Lewis. Mercedes also have a fantastic car so it was very hard for him.

    KR: Well the first thing is that sometimes it happens and he pushes and pushes and sometimes he gets it wrong and unfortunately it happened to him a few times. I think we’ve all gone through it, it’s part of the game.

    MV: I can only look at myself. I think it makes no sense to comment on another driver so I don’t want to piss anyone off.

    PG: I think it’s part of racing. You’re always driving at the limit. I think he probably over-performed with the car he had at the beginning of the season. A couple of times he managed to win races which probably they probably didn’t have the potential to win and then of course, expectations were really high. He did a couple of mistakes in the second part of the season. I think he’s the only one who could answer why. When you’re fighting for the championship, you’re so much on the limit all the time, trying to achieve things, as Sergio said, was probably not achievable with the car he had a couple of times and then things happen. They all say he’s a four time World Champion, I think he knows how to manage a championship. It’s not the first time he’s in this position but he’s the only one who could answer that question.

  • 2018 USGP: Post Race Press Conference

    2018 USGP: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Martin Brundle)

     

    Q: Kimi Räikkönen, congratulations, you’ve made a lot of Formula 1 fans around the world very, very happy today, maybe not quite as happy as you are.

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Who knows, maybe they are happier even. No, honestly, it’s been a good weekend. I think the car has been pretty good all the time. I got a good start. I needed to push hard. It was tight a few times and in the end the tyres were not in the best shape but I think it was a bit similar for Max, obviously Lewis had more tyres left for the end. I had enough speed; we kept it consistent and just tried to keep the tyres alive until the end, so a long time, you know, but here we are.

     

    Q: Your first victory since Australia 2013. It’s been a long time coming. You must be more pumped up than that?

    KR: Obviously I’m much happier than finishing second. I’m happy but let’s see… later on. But great job.

     

    Q: Three critical points: the start, then when you were running a very wide car… the second one actually was when you were pretending you coming into the pit lane and Lewis had to come in instead; he was going to do the opposite to you, and then obviously holding him up for about eight seconds. Everything put together, that’s what made you the victory.

    KR: I think it was obviously coming in at the right time and having enough tyres both times. It was a bit of a balancing act but we did it pretty well, well enough to win it, so it was OK, and a good battle and I think that’s what we all want as drivers and also the people here.

     

    Q: OK, well done again. Max, P18 to P2 – great drive.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, a bit unexpected but a good start, a good first lap, and then very quickly we were back into P5, P4 and we could just follow the leaders and we had really good pace. We made the right call to undercut Valtteri and from there onwards we could do our own race. I think in the end we could put a bit of pressure on, but unfortunately in the last three or four laps I ran out of tyres on the supersoft compared to the guys on the soft around me. But yeah, still very happy. I destroyed my shoe; I think I was pushing a bit hard, but it felt good.

     

    Q: Take us through that battle with Lewis right near the end of the race, through 14, 15, 16 and 17 and Turn 18?

    MV: So at that time I was really struggling with the rear tyres. I locked up through Turn 12 and then there was a good fight through the Esses, through the hairpin and in the right-hand corner I was just pushing as much as I could but hanging on but clearly also Lewis was already on the edge, so happy to stay in second.

     

    Q: Congratulations. Lewis, the championship goes on for another week, but you had some adventures during that grand prix. How do you feel about the race?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, first of all a bog congratulations to Kimi, he did a great job today. No mistakes, he had a great start and managed it all the way. Also Verstappen did a great job as well. He was on a slightly better tyre than us at the end so naturally a bit of a struggle. I naturally thought we would have been able to do better but this is the best we were able to do in the end. But it was great that we actually got to do some racing at least but yeah, we just have to keep working, keep pushing for the next race.

     

    Q: That pivotal moment where you were told to do the opposite to Kimi and you came in on lap 11. It gave you a long way to go didn’t it? You did a cheap pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car, but you just ran out of tyres.

    LH: Yeah, I think ultimately I came out and the pit window was very, very close, but then after I did my stop it was 12 seconds and it was way, way too far to catch up. I’m not really quite sure how the strategy ended up like that. It’s always difficult. You only have a certain amount of life with the brand new tyre to make a difference and once you put 12 seconds up there’s none left. But anyway, I’m really happy. We still got a top three. It’s still close; Ferrari picked up their game this weekend, so we’ve go to push hard for the next race.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Two questions for Kimi. How difficult was that balancing you were talking to Martin about, of pushing very hard at the start of your second stint to catch Lewis and to have enough of a gap to be in front and saving those tyres until the end of the race for the last 10 laps with the two guys behind?

    KR: Yeah, I think it was already during the first stint, maybe one lap, two laps, and then you try to take of tyres, fuel, things like that, but it’s more guessing, obviously you kind of go by feeling. At a certain point the tyres are going to fall off and there is not a lot you can do. We had a pretty good battle. I tried to stay as far as I could. I could hold him back. And then once we did the pit stops obviously I just needed to keep the gap. I caught up a little bit and then keep the gap and aiming for certain lap times and looking after the tyres, because it will be an issue in the end. So you never know how it’s going to play out, especially after a Friday like we had. I was pretty confident after the first stint that it will be OK, but like we saw it got pretty close and 10 laps I was a bit probably not the most happiest guy in the world. But the closer we got to the end, the closer they got to me, it’s more dfificult for them and then it was OK.

     

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) And the second question is what’s more satisfying: getting the win and, as you said, shutting your critics out; or knowing for now that for a long time none of us is going to ask you when is the next time you are going to win a race?

    KR: (Laughs) it might be next weekend already! I don’t know. I’m happy with how it went. I’m happy for the team. Obviously we had a pretty rough two races and I’m proving people certain things. I might be getting older but it’s not too bad still. Maybe I’m OK to be [here] a few years more. I enjoy it, so we are here to try to win. I always try to do it, but obviously it’s not easy, otherwise anybody could do it. So, I think this weekend we have been pretty solid in many ways. I just had a good feeling with the car. We’ll see what happens in the next race, but so far it’s been OK. I don’t complain a lot. We’ll have for sure some fun tonight and we go next week to the next one.

     

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, do you think you had the speed to win today, had you been on the same strategy as the other guys?

    LH: I think it would have been… Kimi, one he was ahead, I didn’t have the greatest pace to really challenge him. Obviously, I was relatively close, I think, after the… in that first stint, second half. We were kind of exchanging lap times and kept beating each other’s times. And he was on the better tyre but he eked it out for quite some time with that safety car. Pace-wise, I think we were very, very close – but the whole deficit, they kept putting me so far behind, I could have told you exactly what was going to happen once we had those big gaps that we had to catch. With the tyres, it’s a very, very aggressive circuit on tyres and yeah, I think it we would have pitted at the same time, or around the same time, we would probably have come out behind him and we would have been racing right to the end on the same set of tyres. So, ultimately… yeah, it’s all if, but and whens. He did a great job at the end of the day.

     

    Q: (Joey Barnes – Motorsports Tribune) Kimi, your last win, five years ago, you weren’t quite known as the family man. So, now that have this one, how special is this, that you get to share it with your family?

    KR: They’ve been asking for a while, so more interested in the Pirelli cap than probably the win itself. I know that we can buy it also but I know it’s not fair play to bring them if I had to buy it. So yeah. I have a lovely wife and kids and I’m sure they’re happy. I’m not sure if the kids… they probably fall asleep during the race but the wife probably looked at it. I’m more than happy for all of us. It’s nice. Yeah… I don’t know. It’s nice to win again – but like I said, it doesn’t change my life or they don’t look at me differently. My son asked the previous race that he wants a new Pirelli – the same tyre from the qualifying – because he wants to play with it. Again, I’m sure they’re happy and I’m happy to help them, more than happy. We’ll have a nice talk when we get home.

     

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-magazin.com) Question for Lewis, you said you knew what’s going to happen with these tyres when you have to catch up this much. Do you mean the Pirelli tyres or the soft tyres in particular? Because we saw that it was blistering quite a lot when you pushed at the beginning.

    LH: I was meaning the tyres in general but the soft tyre was not a great tyre for us today. I was actually a little bit surprised at the end that we were put back on a soft tyre, knowing that Max was on a supersoft. I knew that… when you compete with someone that has a slight advantage then you know that you’re at a deficit but I was hoping I would close the gap in time but again, as I said, the tyre wouldn’t last as long as it is to catch a 12 seconds gap, was a lot to ask for.

     

    Q: (Jaap de Groot – De Telegraaf) Question for Max. At the end, when Lewis tried to overtake you, it was a sensational part of the race. Could you describe in detail how you underwent that action.

    MV: So, following Kimi that closely, of course it’s not great for my tyres, so I was struggling a bit more with the tyres. So then Lewis came close and yeah, we had a few corners where I had to close the door a little bit. Then he tried around the outside – but I was on the edge already in the fast corners so I was just sliding a lot. Then I saw also that Lewis ran out of room and then, of course, if you go a bit wide you get a lot of marbles on the tyres so it takes like a lap before they have grip again.

     

    LH: Was it close between us? I think I gave you too much space

     

    MV: I think you could have squeezed a bit more! Yeah!

     

    LH: I never know with you. I didn’t want a coming to come together…

     

    MV: A bit of wheel-banging is… I was also thinking ‘I don’t know what Lewis is going to do here!’

     

    LH: I couldn’t see you!

     

    MV: It was alright – I was just really struggling with the tyres the last two or three laps but, yeah, made it a bit more fun!

     

    Q: (Les Kiser – Speed City Broadcasting) Lewis and Max, we saw your tyres going away. Lewis, we saw you go wide, as you just mentioned, on the last lap. If the race was one lap longer, Lewis, what in your opinion would have been the result of that lap and Max, the same?

    LH: I think I was too… I was catching towards the end but we probably needed another few laps to be honest. That wide moment meant that I picked up a lot of dirt on my tyres and it took at least a lap to get rid of it, to get rid of that top surface so you lose a lot of temperature and everything so I don’t think any extra would have really made much of a difference but a few more laps, if we were able to extend it, these guys were on older tyres so it would have been interesting in that respect but ultimately we ran out of time.

    MV: Yeah, if the race would be a few laps longer or a lap longer, I think at one point you have to start to do a two stop but we planned the strategy around the amount of laps we had.

     

    Q: (John Haverlin – ESPN Albuquerque) Lewis, as you were battling Max towards the end there, were you thinking about – heat of the moment, OK, I’m racing for position or were you thinking about how the championship could be clinched if you were able to get around him?

    LH: Honestly I was trying to win the race but you look at the two guys next to me, they’re not fighting for a championship so I had to be very very careful how I navigated around them. Championships are not won by fighting and making silly mistakes so that’s really… I was trying to… as I said, I went through that corner, I gave him way too much space just to be sure that I didn’t get clipped, for example, didn’t get taken out because I didn’t know if you would understeer into me or could be aggressive. I didn’t know. If that was me and Seb, for example, I would have been a lot more tighter and more aggressive if we were fighting for the championship, for example, but there was no need. The key was that I at least finished ahead of Seb and for me it doesn’t matter when you win the championship as long as you get it done. Ultimately we wanted to win the race today and I think going backwards two steps is not a good result but as I said, you can’t win them all, you can’t always get them perfect.

     

    Q: Just on the wheel-to-wheel racing, Max does it come into your thinking when you’re racing Lewis that he’s got a title on the line at the moment?

    MV: I think at the end of the day you always try to be sensible, yeah.

     

    Q: And similarly Kimi, with you, when you were defending from Lewis, I think you said on team radio about not doing anything silly.

    KR: Yeah, for sure my purpose is not to be any more aggressive against him than anybody else. I don’t believe in doing crazy things. I want to do my race and do the best that I can do. If that impacts the championship then that’s how it is but I will not do any crazy stuff to be a part of it. My job is purely to try to do win, I’m here for that and I will play as fair as is possible and that’s how it’s going to be and how it’s always going to be. We know what is fair and what is not and I got a bit close once because I lost a bit of grip but there was nothing crazy going on.

     

    Q: (Peter Windsor – Peterwindsor.com) The first question, Kimi, I’m asking on behalf of Heikki Kulta who I’ve just spoken to. He can barely talk he was so excited but he wanted me to ask you what you were thinking and what it felt like to be the listening to the Finnish national anthem?

    KR: Obviously I wanted to win, that’s for sure. I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen or not because sometimes it’s been close and something maybe happened.  With five laps to go it was going to be OK because I knew my tyres were still OK and once they get close enough,  it’s so difficult to follow. It’s nice to hear it, for sure, especially if you’ve won. Obviously that is what you always want, at any race we come to, all of us want to win, but like I said, I’m happy for that, it was a great day to prove some people wrong and having a good race but it doesn’t really change anything for me. It’s just a number. Life goes on.

     

    Q: (Peter Windsor – Peterwindsor.com) Lewis, you mentioned how aggressive the circuit was with tyres and you talked a little bit about the championship. Is there an argument for saying that the strategy that actually they had on the pit wall was a conservative strategy, possibly defined by the championship rather than specifically trying to get you to win the race, which leads me to my real question which is how much pre-race was the strategy potentially affected by your championship rather just wanting to win on the day?

    LH: My strategy was the same, because I wanted to win the race. We were on pole position, same straightforward approach going throughout the weekend but in strategy they were talking about different scenarios as we do every weekend but there’s a different feeling, for sure, with the performance and decisions that were taken today as opposed to previous races but I don’t think we needed to make any changes. I don’t know why they would not want to win the race. I think they did want to win the race, it just didn’t play out the way that we had planned and I think it already started from Q2. I think that tyre was the wrong tyre to start on. We had already seen, a long long time ago in the year Kimi starting on a softer tyre, I think it was in Austria. We already knew there was a big difference between the start performances on these different tyres yet we fell for something that we already knew was potentially not the way forward and obviously lost position to him and then wasn’t able to keep up because he had clean air and a better tyre. There was definitely a lesson learned for us and we’ll definitely go to the drawing board but performance-wise it wasn’t our greatest weekend but we’ve had some incredible weekends this year and still to get a third, I’m still grateful for that but naturally starting first and finishing third is never a good thing.

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, given you were told by the team that Seb had spun on the opening lap and you were in a good position, were you surprised that the title hasn’t been clinched in this race? And to Kimi, you mentioned about proving people wrong; do you think you’ve proved that you should still be in a Ferrari next season?

    LH: I’m not surprised, I finished third. My job… I had to win the race today. I’m not really sure what happened in the race behind but obviously he did a good job to come back but as a team, we clearly struggled. Valtteri struggled to keep Seb behind, even when Seb was obviously… must have been quite far behind, so performance-wise we were definitely off this weekend but I think Kimi’s given me a lot of confidence, so that I can keep getting better. He’s 38? 39?

    KR: 39. Next year 40, so… I’ll invite you to the party.

    LH: Hope I get an invite for the 40th.

    KR: We can call.

     

    Q: And Kimi, do you think this result shows that you should still be in a Ferrari next year?

    KR: No. For sure I didn’t mean on that side. I think people don’t understand I’m actually very happy where I’m going. I had my time with Ferrari, I won the championship with them. I won many races with them and for me, as a driver, I want different challenges, I want different things and I’m actually very happy to go there. It’s roughly 40 minutes from my home. For sure my family will be happy, I’m happy to be with my family. I think it’s probably the best thing. I wasn’t really disappointed with the decision at any point. The only thing that I was interested in was to know what was going to happen and that’s the only thing. The rest, I’ve been long enough in F1 to know that things… it doesn’t matter if you have contracts or not, things happen for different reasons but I think the end result is that I’m very excited about it.

     

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Kimi, you’re now up to third in the championship and Ferrari closed the gap to Mercedes. The Constructors championship is far more open than the Drivers’ championship. Are these two important goals for you, one more important than the other or do you just want to win more races until the end of the year?

    KR: I can only do my best. Whatever the end result is, that’s how it’s going to play out. For sure, if we have a chance to fight for a championship I will do my job and that would be  absolutely perfect for all of us but we can only do our best, I said that before the race and before many races and you know, whatever the end result is, that was our best and if today we would be second or third, it wouldn’t really feel too bad because I knew that I did the best I could and today was like this so I’m happy about it. We’ll go next weekend and try to do the best that we can. We keep fighting until the last race and then we see what happens after that.

  • F1 2018: USA Gp Review – Masterful Raikkonen Lassos Texas Win

    F1 2018: USA Gp Review – Masterful Raikkonen Lassos Texas Win

    The United States grand prix weekend produced a race for every F1 fan to relish, regardless of where loyalties may lie. There is little doubt that the Circuit of the Americas produced a race that will be long remembered as, so far, the most absorbing and exceptional of the 2018 season.

    It didn’t start off that way as torrential rain-washed out Friday’s free practice sessions. This ultimately meant that drivers and teams were in unknown territory as far as tyre degradation was concerned. Instead of terabytes of data team strategists had to rely on the feel and feedback of their respective drivers.

    Saturday qualifying went the way of Lewis Hamilton but the top three were covered by less than a tenth of a second. But while Sebastian Vettel qualified a mere 0.060 off Hamilton as a result of speeding under the red flag during Friday’s practice session Vettel was demoted three places on the grid. This promoted Kimi Raikkonen, who was only 0.071 adrift, onto the front row. While Valtteri Bottas shared the second row of the starting grid with Daniel Ricciardo the sister Red Bull of Max Verstappen was all the way down in 18th after having broken the rear-suspension in the first session of qualifying.

    With Vettel in fifth Hamilton seemed set for victory and a fifth world title. But Raikkonen swooped into the lead and held off the Merc relatively easily. But as Raikkonen seized the lead of the race Vettel, once again, found himself spinning on the first lap after banging wheels with Ricciardo. It dropped the German down to 15thand seemingly handed the title to Hamilton.

    0148Despite being second to the number 7 Ferrari Hamilton started on the more durable SuperSoft tyre as opposed to Raikkonen who was on the Ultrasoft compound, which should’ve forced the Finn into the pits earlier than the Mercedes driver. However, a virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed to recover the stricken Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.  By this stage Verstappen, true to form, had roared back into contention and ran comfortably in the top six.

    Under the VSC Hamilton pitted while Raikkonen carried on. Because of the reduced speed of the cars on track during the VSC Hamilton effectively gained nine second on Raikkonen. At the time it looked as if Ferrari, by not pitting, had handed the advantage to Mercedes on a silver platter. The Ferrari strategists seemed sure that with so much of the race to run Hamilton would need to pit again. It didn’t seem a smart move though as Hamilton closed down Raikkonen by two seconds a lap. But the Finn is by far one of the most experienced and savvy drivers on the grid and was able to hold off Hamilton and cost him a significant amount of time; thereby effectively wiping out the advantage he’d gained with the cheap pitstop under the VSC.It turned out that Ferrari were right as Hamilton dived into the pits for a second stop on lap 38. He rejoined in fourth behind teammate Bottas and Red Bull’s Verstappen while Raikkonen took back the lead of the race. Meanwhile Vettel had recovered to fifth and was closing down Bottas, who ceded position to Hamilton, at a rate of knots.

    What followed was, arguably, the best eleven laps of racing that the 2018 season has seen so far. Hamilton needing second to win the title and on significantly fresher tyres demolished the 12-second gap to Verstappen who in turn was never more than 1.5 second behind Raikkonen. But the Brit could go no further once he ran into the Dutch roadblock in the shape of Verstappen. The penultimate lap was the closest Hamilton came to second-place as he went wheel-to-wheel with Verstappen for several corners. But the resolute defending of the Red Bull driver was enough to keep Hamilton in third where he eventually finished.

    0151The Verstappen/Hamilton fight afforded Raikkonen some breathing room as he went on to take the chequered flag in what is undoubtedly a popular win. So spectacular was the race that even Hamilton who started from pole and finished third was clearly chuffed with the day’s racing in the post-race interview. Verstappen too was thrilled with yet another stunning drive through the field to the podium.

    Elsewhere, Vettel recovered to fourth while Bottas trundled home in fifth. It was good day for Renault as Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz finished sixth and seventh. Esteban Ocon finished eighth on track but was later, along with Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen, disqualified for exceeding fuel-flow regulations. It meant that Sergio Perez inherited eighth as Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson completed the top ten.

    Where has Ferrari sudden resurgence come from? It turns out that the upgrade package, introduced in Singapore, was the catalyst for the team’s downturn in pace over the last three races. It was only after on Friday in Texas that Ferrari reverted to the car they ran in Belgium that the pace re-appeared. It’s a case of too little, too late for the Italian team though as Hamilton needs to outscore Vettel by only five points to win the 2018 title.

    This victory for Raikkonen has been a long time coming and it put on display the best of his considerable talents. It’s even more poetic when you consider that on the very same day in 2007 he became world champion. Those who are more than casual viewers of the sport will recognize that at the age of 39 Kimi Raikkonen clearly hasn’t lost any of his skill or speed.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport
  • 2018 USGP: Thursday Press Conference

    2018 USGP: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, we’re going to start with you. You’ve been hugely successful here in the past and it looks like they’ve had you busy here as well this week, so just talk us through what you’ve been up to in New York this week?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s just been the normal promotion stuff. I was there with IWC and with the team at the NASDAQ conference that we had… and then a bunch of other TV stuff I just did.

    Q: Well, America seems to be a place you have quite an affinity with, and you’ve won the last four races here, as well as the Drivers’ title in 2015. Does it feel like it’s all coming together again for a repeat this weekend?

    LH: Not particularly, no. It just feels like another race weekend we have, and we want to win, so it’s a simple goal for us, we just arrive to try and do the same thing. The weather is up and down and our goal is really just to perform as we have in previous races, we’re not thinking about it in any other way.

    Q: Thank you. Fernando, you’ve got a huge following here in America after your Indycar exploits, but how special will this final US race in Formula 1 be for you this weekend?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, it’s always special racing here, with all the fans. Hopefully we’ll have a good show on the weekend. As Lewis said, the weather is a bit up and down on Friday and Saturday especially, hopefully that will mix things a little bit and we’ll see a good race on Sunday. In our case I think we different targets, to try to score points after two races out of the points. It’s going to be challenging but we’ll try.

    Q: You’ve spent a fair bit of time in America this year. Will you be spending even more time here next year? Can you tell us anything about your 2019 plans? 

    FA: Yeah, I don’t have 21 races in F1 to travel around to, so with more free time I will come to the States… for a holiday. A little bit more.

    Q: How about from a racing perspective?

    FA: Let’s see. As I said many times, the Indy 500 is still very attractive, as it was last year, and after winning Le Mans this year, it’s even more attractive to try to achieve it in the short term. Still working on plans for next year and as soon as they are finalised you will know.

    Q: Daniel, you also seem to really enjoy it over here. We’ve seen you’ve been at a Longhorns game this weekend. Is this one of your favourite events of the season?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, it is. I love it. I don’t know, I’ve always enjoyed coming here. The football was a really cool experience. It’s amazing how many people go to a college game, how the capacity is that alone. It’s cool to experience new things and yeah, I’ve had a good week!

    Q: Well, this season you’ve had two race victories but no podiums alongside that. Is it realistic to expect you to change that record here this weekend.

    DR: Yeah, I think so. I think we’ll have a decent car around here. It’s weird, yeah I know, that I haven’t had any actual podiums. So yeah, we’ll try to make it happen. Last year I was going pretty strong in the race but then we had to stop with some mechanicals. It’s definitely a fun track to race on. I enjoy Austin alone, but the circuit as well is really good for racing. You can overtake and it’s pretty unique, so I’m happy if it’s kind of wet for Friday and Saturday but I kind of feel if the race is dry Sunday it will still be pretty exciting.

    Q: Thank you. Romain, we’ve talked about the affinity these guys have with America, but it’s a home race for Haas, and you’ve got just four races left to try to overhaul Renault in the Constructors’ Championship. So us there a lot of pressure on this weekend?

    Romain GROSJEAN: I think the pressure is always on, to be fair. Different levels, obviously for the top guys to win the championship, and for us to go and try to get Renault in the Constructors’. It’s a great weekend, it’s going to be very busy, a lot of marketing commitments, but I think it’s a good that we’re here, racing here for an American team and coming this year with a competitive car compared to the first two years us great.

    Q: If I could just ask you about your own form. You had a tough start to the season, but then I think you scored 31 points in the last nine races. Just how did you go about turning that around?

    RG: Thirty-nine. I got eight stolen in Monza.

    DR: He’s not still bitter!

    RG: No, I think everything is going great since Germany. It was a rough start to the season and things didn’t go my way. A bit of bad luck and bit of mistakes and all together it makes like a snowball effect. At one point I managed to stop that and come back to where I wanted to be. I’m really enjoying driving the car. I think we’ve had some really good races and I’m looking forward to the four last ones and here especially.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Lewis, I know you’re not looking at the championship all the time, but if we would do an overlay from last years championship to this year’s championship it was pretty tight all season but then after the summer break the car and you personally, you really kicked off. Is this just a coincidence or is there anything – that you are understanding the tyres better, the team is understanding the car better? What is your explanation for that?

    LH: Yeah, it’s probably just a coincidence that it’s exactly the same but we are improving the car the whole year long. We are improving our knowledge of the car and how to get the most out of it. If we knew what we knew in the second half we would do a lot better at the beginning. That’s just how it is in the sport. That’s how it always is. It’s been the same since I started in 2007. I think it’s probably the same for everyone. Not really much more else to say.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) For all of you, though Fernando I know this doesn’t really affect you for next year. The 2019 regulations state that the drivers weighing under 80 kilos will be ballasted up to 80 kilos, that ballast to be carried within the sort of cockpit area. How do you feel about that? Is that correct or should drivers be allowed to take advantage of their physique, as they can in other sporting activities?

    DR: I personally feel that they are just getting us prepared for more races in America.

    LH: NASCAR.

    DR: All of us will enjoy our food a little more! I’m not complaining about it. It’s not like we’re going to, let’s say, take the piss, it’s more just a lot of us now tend to starve ourselves on race weekends and even training we can’t really do much strength training because we would just put on mass. I think it will just allow us to train harder, eat harder… Eat harder? Eat more. But it’s not like we’re going to have beer bellies or anything, we’re just going to be stronger and I think that’s only a good thing.

    LH: I disagree. I think there are going to be some people with bigger bellies.

    DR: Well, the small guys can afford to do everything!

    Q: Romain, your thoughts on the weight?

    RG: I think it’s a great thing. I’ve been the same as… Daniel and Lewis are quite tall. I think it hasn’t been great to starve ourselves and not eat as want to, so a few kilos of margin is going to be great. It will be a challenge for the team, because getting to the minimum weight for the regulation with the 80 kilos for seat and driver together is going to be tricky, but on the other hand it’s going to make our lives an awful lot better.

    Lewis, any further thoughts?

    LH: I think it’s great. It’s definitely going to open the doors up for people like Will Ferrell and all those who weigh a lot more to come in! It’s always been something we’ve all worked hard to keep in shape and it has been something we’ve worked really hard at; to make sure we’re not overweight. I guess we can eat more pancakes. I think we will prepare more and we can all be a little bit stronger next year. I guess for the people who are struggling to come under the weight; for example there are some of the taller drivers who struggle to be less than 80 kilos. I guess it doesn’t really make much difference for them otherwise.

    Q: Fernando, you won’t be racing here next year, but you have raced in other categories where weight balances are different. Do you think this is a good move for Formula 1?

    FA: Yeah, I think it is. In Formula 1, I’m obviously not one of the tallest, so it’s more a question for the tall guys and I think it’s fair for everyone, so I think it’s good. In other series, in WEC in particular, where the weight is free, that normally gives and advantage to the lighter and smaller guys, and probably that is unfair in a way, so I think Formula 1 is doing great on that.

    DR: Ricky Bobby.

    LH: Ricky Bobby.

    DR: I caught it, it’s alright.

    LH: I noticed. No one else watched Talladega Nights. Ricky Bobby. No? Overweight NASCAR driver. NASCAR drivers can now come over to Formula 1, which is cool.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Daniel, we know you’ve not had the smoothest season, you’ve talked about that before. Your 2019 team, Renault, hasn’t had the smoothest end to the year either: they’ve been quite honest about falling behind on the engine side and the car side. That situation’s changed, obviously, since you agreed to join them. How much of a concern has it been watching their performance, and how encouraging is it to hear they’re planning an all-new engine for next year?

    DR: It’s encouraging, obviously. When I signed, I knew that there was work ahead but I know that they’re putting a lot of effort into making things better and expanding a lot of departments and trying to make ’19 stronger and ’20 and whatever. Yeah, the way the last few races have been this year, obviously, it would be nice to see them improve every race and whatever but I honestly don’t look into it too much yet. I think ’19 is a new car and it’s going to be a fresh start again, so I’m not spending too much energy on that at the moment. Obviously, all I can do is, once my year’s done is try to be fully immersed into it all and try to help as much as I can and see how things go from there.

    Q: (Jon Massengale – Speed City) We’ve got a lot of American fans excited about the Haas F1 team, the momentum they have coming into Austin for good points – but all four of you up there talk about excited to race in the United States. I want to ask, what can we do to continue the momentum to grow the sport here in the United States?

    RG: Well, I think, to me the obviously, answer is to get more races in the US. I think most of the time it’s really hard for the audience to watch the grands prix, it’s the middle of the night. It’s not easy to grow the fan base. I think more races in the US. I think races a bit more exiting as well. If you look at NASCAR, you never know who’s going to win the race. In Formula One I can tell you it’s going to be the Mercedes or Ferrari winning on Sunday. I think that could be improved – but definitely more races in the US to get closer to the fans would be the first thing.

    Lewis, your thoughts on how we can grow it here?

    LH: I agree with what he said. We do have the one race and this is a big, big country with a lot of sporting heritage. They love intensely-fought games but also have something to look forward to – because there’s a build-up to multiple games. We only have that one race here, so the people, for example in this city or people in the close States that fly over for this one grand prix, which happens once a year, it’s like a festival. You can’t really get too excited about one festival in a season. So, that’s probably something that Liberty will be working on for the future.

    Fernando, your thoughts?

    FA: More or less the same. Try to get more races here, hopefully one American driver into F1 soon, and that will help. I think it will take a little bit of interest into the sport and have a little bit more unpredictable races is more or less what they have here. To have people expecting the unexpected until the end.

    And Daniel, your thoughts on growing the sport here.

    DR: I have to agree with all that. Currently they don’t have an American driver. We can do our best to put on an accent and fill those boots. [Approximation of Texan accent] I can try all I can – I don’t know how these boys can do it but I’ll give it a red-hot crack and see how we go.

    We wondered how long it would be before you did that…

    DR: It was only a matter of time!

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, what’s your explanation for how you’ve taken off, collectively, since the summer break. Is it just stepping forward with the car? Is it personally? Is it mistakes from the opposition? What is it? What’s the biggest factor do you think?

    LH: I haven’t really thought about it much. It’s a combination of so many things. Naturally, as a driver, you do improve. Or, at least, I’ve noticed in myself, I can’t speak for everyone – but I’ve noticed I improve throughout the year. How you conduct yourself, how you perform within the team, how you’re able to maximise in the car. If you go back through all the years, you know I always say that by the second half of the season I should be better, and most of the time that’s usually the case. I think also, as a team, we’ve collectively done a better job in every area. And then, the other side, for sure, has not done as good a job in that respect, coming into the second phase. So, I don’t really have a massive explanation for it. My knowledge is as good as yours in that sense.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, you said you’re concentrating one race at a time – but you do stand on the brink of winning a fifth World Championship. What does that mean to you, were you to do that this weekend here in Austin?

    LH: Again, really as a team, none of us are saying how cool it would be if it happened this weekend or the next, we’re not focussing on ifs. We’re focussing on making sure that we deliver. There’s still 100 points available. We can just never be complacent in life, and in a Championship as intense as this. We expect Ferrari to punch back hard here this weekend, so we can’t be relaxed in any way, shape or form. We’ve got to make sure we come here and raise the bar again. So, I’m definitely not thinking this weekend, how’s it going to feel if we do the job. Because I’ve got to do the job and that just adds more pressure and you just don’t need more pressure. So, focussing on making sure that I drive the best that I’ve driven all year long and we get the car where we need to get it. It’s going to be wet, I think, all day tomorrow, as far as I’ve heard, and potentially on Saturday, so it’s going to be a tricky weekend. So, nothing is a given.

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Lewis, given that this season has been a chase for a fifth championship, what does the name Fangio mean to you, his place in history and can you imagine yourself trying to drive the cars he muscled around the track back in his era?

    LH: Imaging myself driving some of those cars back then? I have driven some of those cars. Stirling Moss’s car I’ve had a go in, some of the Silver Arrows they had, around the old Monza circuit, for example, with Sir Stirling, which is pretty intense. It’s always really strange to hear the drivers’ mental philosophy back then. Sir Stirling would say you’d want to fall out if the car’s going to crash: you hope that you get thrown out the car. It’s a much more confined space for us. It’s all about being stuck in and being safe. I would have… I don’t know if the 50s was a particularly good time, wasn’t a great time for black people either, so probably wouldn’t have been racing back then, but I’m grateful to be in this era and with the technology that we have and seeing the cars advance. I’m so grateful to be part of this era. Fangio is always… he’s like the godfather of the drivers’ sport for us. He’s the godfather for us, one of the greats from the beginning and will always be admired in the sport. It is crazy to think that I’m embarking on a similar number of championships that he had.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Fernando, just on Lewis, when you first met him in 2007, did you think this guy would have the credentials to go on and match Fangio, win five titles and all the races? And Lewis, we saw you issued a post in Instagram, just defending Sebastian. Do you think his criticism has been a bit unjust this year?

    FA: Well, probably at that time it was difficult to image what the future could bring for Lewis, and for any of the guys on the grid. But yeah, definitely, he had showed the talent from day one, and fighting for the Championship in his rookie year, winning in 2008. Probably at that time, we all agree that five or seven World Championships will be possible. Then, obviously, was a little bit down due to the performance of the car for a couple of years. And then, yeah, switching to Mercedes at that time, we all were thinking that maybe was not positive – because at that time Mercedes was struggling in 2013, and things like that. So, it’s up and down, the feelings. I’m happy for him because he showed the talent from day one. He was able to win races when the car was there to win it but he was able to win races in some of the seasons when the car was not in the top of the form, like 2009 and things like that, he’s still winning a couple of grand prix a year. It’s impressive – and now it’s time to enjoy for him, so I’m happy.

    And Lewis, your comments defending Sebastian after Japan?

    LH: I think if I was in the same position they would probably do the same thing so it’s more as drivers we are all members of the GPDA and I think we all just need to stick together and I think the respect that we have for one another I think is probably the greatest that it’s been for many years. At least in the years that I’ve been in Formula One. I think ultimately as a four-time World Champion, it is the most intense year that we’ve had. So every hiccup is magnified, naturally, as it is perhaps in any sport at the top. But there have been many – or several – times that I’ve been in the firing range and Seb’s always been really respectful and supported me, so I thought it was only just to do the same.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Two questions, the first for Lewis. Can you explain to us why you do love America so much? And the second one for Fernando; can you give us your top five of the World Champions and what does it mean for you to have one driver equalling Fangio with five titles?

    LH: I don’t know if I love it more than everyone else loves it. So many people come out here and… I grew up watching… movies are something I’m massively into… grew up watching these great movies which were filmed here in the States and then dreaming, as a kid, of one day coming to the States: I think it wasn’t until I was 17 and I finally went to New York and loved it and the more and more time I spend out here the more I enjoy it. I love the big roads they have, they do everything generally bigger and better in most cases. They’ve just got some great cities, good energy, good people, music is the centre of the universe for entertainment here so there’s many many reasons. The food is great, they’ve got the best pancakes out here.

    FA: I guess it’s difficult to do the top five.

    LH: Yourself?

    FA: Not really! Probably Michael, Fangio, Senna, Prost, Lewis, probably this will be the top five, probably, that come to my mind but it’s difficult to compare different times and different ways to win those championships. Lewis winning five now and being the same as Fangio, as I said before, it’s a great achievement and if one had to do that in our generation, I’m happy that it’s Lewis because he showed the talent and he showed the commitment, as I said before, when the car was dominating he delivers and won the championship. When the car was not good enough to win the championship, he still put in some performances to show his talent and that’s difficult to see in our days.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Fernando’s already been to Indianapolis but when we as a motor sport of community think of the US we generally think of the Indianapolis 500. A lot of Formula One World Champions, race winners etc have actually raced at Indianapolis. Could you imagine yourselves ever racing there?

    DR: Yes and no. The thought of it sounds good. Ovals creep me out a little bit. I won’t lie. It would be cool. I don’t know. I would at least like to have a go, like maybe just a test. Let’s see how things go but yeah, it was cool watching Fernando do it, don’t get me wrong and part of me was like trying to picture myself being there and doing it but yeah, maybe one day. At the moment I don’t say it’s something I’m looking to do in the near future. I don’t know. Probably the older I get, the more scared I’ll become, so if it doesn’t happen now maybe it won’t ever happen. I don’t know.

    RG: I’ll join Daniel. It sounds cool, looks cool, it’s a great race. Ovals, yeah…

    DR: Who thought turning left could be so hard?

    LH: I kind of feel in a similar way. I would definitely like to try it as I’ve never really driven an oval before and the cars are incredibly fast and (I) always want to go faster. I probably will get a chance to have a go. I’m sure if I wanted to have a go I could but it’s never been a series –  naturally, growing up in Europe, it’s never been a series that you grew up aspiring to be in, it was always Formula One being it was the highest technology and has always been – at least growing up – the thought was that it was the highest grade of drivers that you wanted to compete against but they’ve got some great drivers there as well. I think I would prefer to try NASCAR.  Watkins Glen, I’ve always wanted to have a go up there, beer cans in the side. I have driven a NASCAR years ago at Watkins Glen which was awesome so that’s something I could do potentially. I honestly have no desire to do any other racing beyond Formula One if I’m really honest but maybe that will change when you do stop, because you do it your whole life and temptation is always going to be there, I’m always going to be a racing driver at heart.

    FA: Well, they need to commit to the race. I think if they just want to do a test they will never do the race after testing the car, because it feels quite bad. It feels quite difficult. The car is self-steering to the left, you go on the straights and you are turning right and it feels very weird to drive the car, but then in the race it is just a different thing. You wake up your competitive instinct and you forget about all these weird things that those cars have and it’s a lot of fun. It’s part of history. I think the biggest thing is to go out of your comfort zone and drive something that you don’t feel ready to handle, ready to control and that adrenaline is magic.

    Q: (Craig Slater – Sky Sports) To the two World Champions, Lewis and Fernando: there’s been a lot of attention on Mick Schumacher winning his Formula Three series. I wonder how you feel about him progressing into F1, one being whether the Schumacher name will be an asset or a burden to him?

    LH: I don’t think it will be a burden. I think naturally for any of the champions when they have youngsters come through, naturally Michael is named the greatest driver of all time, he’s got the most titles, so there will one hundred percent be a Schumacher back in Formula One, partly because of the name, but secondly because he’s doing a great job. He’s obviously got a lot of talent as his Dad had, just like Keke and Nico, just like when Fernando has kids I’m sure an Alonso will be here again. Even if I have a kid who wants to race and even if he’s no good he can make it Formula One because of the name. But no, he’s doing a really great job and he’s a really great kid as well. He’s come to… and been a part of our team a couple of weekends, I think it was last year, very attentative. He’s got a great talent as his Dad had so I don’t think it will be a burden in my personal opinion. I think it could be great for the sport.

    FA: Not much to add. I don’t know him. Obviously I never met him, probably. You only see the results from the outside and he has a great talent and he will be good for the sport, to have the Schumacher name again in F1. Let’s see what the future brings, not putting extra pressure on him which I’m sure he has enough already. Let time decide.

    Q: (Chris Bils – Austin American Statesman) Lewis, you’ve had so much success here and really your name has become synonymous with this track. Is there anything in particular, over the years, besides winning that you’ve enjoyed about coming here and also you were talking about the food, pancakes, is there anything that you like to eat while you’re here?

    LH: They don’t make tracks really like they did in the olden days. The older circuits that you’d go to, you’d dream of going to, watching the legends drive there, so some of the new tracks aren’t really that good but this is one of those that is, it’s got great character and from day one when we arrived here, there was a massive crowd that came who I’m sure, at least half of them, probably were new to the sport which was great so it had the impact it was meant to have and I think every year it’s kind of been growing but just driving the track is a massive challenge and also you can actually race here, you can follow which is one of the downfalls of some of the circuits: it’s harder to follow. So I think that’s really why I’ve enjoyed it a lot because I’ve had the chance to have races here, real races and obviously there is that great sporting heritage here and people are genuinely super enthusiastic about sports, no matter which sport it is. And the last race here that we had, the whole spectacle, I think, was probably the best of the whole year, the whole build-up and everything I thought was great. It’s great to celebrate the culture wherever you go. I think there was negativity I think I heard after the race about how American it was but I was like ‘we’re in America, we’ve got celebrate America at this Grand Prix particularly’ and I think that should happen in all the countries we go to.

    Food-wise, I grew up… for a period of time I lived on an American airbase in England and chicken wings… this guy my Mum was dating did the best chicken wings ever and I used to come out here and have that but I don’t eat chicken any more, being as I’m on a plant-base diet so I don’t know how that’s going to go while I’m here, I might be living on pancakes all weekend but I don’t mind that.

  • F1 2018: USA Gp Preview – Texas Tailor-made for Hamilton

    F1 2018: USA Gp Preview – Texas Tailor-made for Hamilton

    Given how the 2018 season started it’s rather bizarre to know that if Lewis Hamilton scores eight more points than Sebastian Vettel this weekend he will be crowned the 2018 F1 champion.

    It wasn’t that long ago that Vettel himself enjoyed a ‘comfortable’ lead in the title race. But since the Belgian grand prix it’s not only evaporated but has also swung appreciably, emphatically even, towards Hamilton and Mercedes. A plethora of reasons have combined to form the situation Vettel and Ferrari currently finds itself in, all well detailed in previous columns. It’s not about to get any easier for the Italian team either.

    This weekend’s race is in Texas and around the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) where Hamilton has been near impossible to beat. He’s won around COTA on five previous occasions that includes a hat trick of victories in the last three races. Add to this a win at Indianapolis in 2007 and clear that Hamilton is very much a North-American specialist.

    As if to add insult to Ferrari’s noticeably low level of morale the Mercedes car is likely to shine in Texas. Designed by Herman Tilke COTA’s first sector is noticeably ruled a fast and flowing Esses section somewhat akin to Silverstone’s iconic Maggots-Becketts complex though a more elongated version. At five and a half kilometers in length the circuit further comprises medium to high-speed corners that will reward a good aero package, right up Mercedes ally. Added to this are a few big braking points preceding hairpin turns which will encourage overtaking.

    Romain Grosjean_Germany 2016The start of the season should’ve netted the Haas team a bag full of points but a combination of mistakes, unreliability, and driver error meant they’ve left those points on the table. But Haas is clearly a well-run team and they’ve picked themselves up pretty impressively. So too has Romain Grosjean whose first half of the season had many speculating that he might be given the boot. The Frenchman, inherently quick, cleaned up his act and has delivered several impressive performances that have guaranteed his place for 2019. And who knows if he keeps turning in impressive performances there could even be a drive in a certain red in a few years time. Danish driver Kevin Magnussen too has performed well enough to retain his drive at Haas for 2019, which is an especially impressive feat given that he’s had to make a comeback from a near-disastrous year as a McLaren driver.

    There has been several American teams who have tried to cut in F1 but few have done as well as the Haas F1 team has in its short existence. And that in an era of the sport where major manufacturer teams hold all the cards and advantage.

    At this point in time Formula 1 is a sport dominated by big money. Theoretically, smaller teams, like Haas, with less money shouldn’t be able to trouble full works teams. But the American team, despite its tardy start to the season is proving to be more than a thorn in Renault’s side. With the added lift of home ground advantage they have a relatively good chance of overhauling the French team this weekend.

    cota-aerialThe fight between Haas and Renault isn’t the only one worth keeping an eye on as the driver’s standings in the mid-field is an incredibly close fought battle. In fact, only four points currently cover points 7 through 11 with Force India’s Sergio Perez currently heading the pack.

    As intriguing as the mid-field battle may be all attention will be on Lewis Hamilton as he stands on the cusp of becoming only the third driver in Formula 1 history to win five driver’s world titles.

  • 2019 F1 Calendar Confirmed and Other Rules Changes from the FIA World Motorsport Council

    2019 F1 Calendar Confirmed and Other Rules Changes from the FIA World Motorsport Council

    The third FIA World Motorsport Council of 2018 was held today in Paris where a number of decisions regarding sporting and technical regulations were taken.

    The 2019 F1 Calendar was approved. Not much will change from this year except there will not be any triple header next year. The United Stated Grand Prix is subject to approval but should be confirmed for 2019.

    In addition to the calendar being confirmed, technical and sporting regulations were confirmed for the 2019 season.

    Sporting Regulations confirmed for 2019:

    • Changes to the Safety Car regulations to ensure there is a consistent point at which drivers may overtake when the Safety Car returns to the pits. This will now be the same in all three types of restart
    • The teams will now be responsible for initial scrutineering of their cars. Before the cars go on track for the first time, teams must declare conformity with all safety related matters
    • The official end-of-race signal will now be a chequered light panel, although the chequered flag will still be shown
    • The team personnel curfew will increase from eight to nine hours

    Technical Regulations confirmed for 2019:

    • Changes to the mirror regulations and also associated rear wing changes (height) for rear view visibility and safety (Articles 3.6 and 14.3)
    • The on-board camera regulations will be modified to improve the TV spectacle (Article 21)
    • Rear endplate lights are to be added for safety (Article 14.5)
    • Minor modifications to the halo fairing (Article 15.2.6) are to be made for safety reasons during a potential driver extraction

    2019 F1 Calendar:

    2019 Calendar

  • F1 2018: Japanes Gp Review – Hamilton Win Virtually Assures Title

    F1 2018: Japanes Gp Review – Hamilton Win Virtually Assures Title

    It’s not pretentious at all to declare that Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are assured of being champions, again, in 2018. Victory in Japan makes it six wins in the last seven races for Hamilton and with a mammoth 63-point he is every bit the champion presumptive.

    A faultless weekend from Mercedes ensured a front-row lock out on Saturday while an unnerved Ferrari was left scrambling. On Saturday as the clouds rolled in Ferrari’s senseless decision-making reared its head again as both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were sent out onto a dry track with Intermediate tyres. Though there was enough team for both drivers to switch to dry tyres it left them with only one lap in the final part of qualifying. While Raikkonen secured fourth Vettel ran off track and was relegated to the fourth row of the grid.

    All wasn’t lost for the would-be championship contender as a good start to Sunday’s race saw him quickly into fourth. But while Hamilton and Bottas pulled away up front Vettel’s impatience got the better of him. Verstappen, who started third, was correctly given a five second time penalty for re-joining the circuit in an unsafe manner at the final chicane. The Red Bull driver had driven into the side of Raikkonen allowing Vettel to pass his teammate and settle on the Verstappen’s gearbox. Clearly faster it appeared to be a matter of time until the Ferrari would find its way past. But Vettel threw caution to the wind and attempted an overtake on Verstappen in Spoon corner. Not only didn’t he make the move stick but he also sent himself into a spin that left him plumb last. He eventually recovered to finish sixth.

    Australian GP Qualifying - Sebastian Vettel, FerrariThere is no denying that from an operational standpoint Ferrari has had some embarrassing blunders on strategy. But the mistakes in the races lay firmly at Vettel’s feet. The lock-up in Baku, the crash with Bottas in France, the bizarre crash while leading in Germany, the crash with Hamilton in Italy, the mistake on the Q3 lap in Japan, and finally the crash with Verstappen in the race.

    Together all of these moments have ensured that unless some truly miraculous happens in the last four races Sebastian Vettel will not be the 2018 champion.

    It’s clear too that Vettel, in 2018, is a far cry from the driver that won four consecutive titles between 2010 and 2013. The reason could very well be the cockpit he’s currently sitting in. The pressure of being a Ferrari driver and the constant demand and expectation to win in unlike any other and its evident that Vettel has cracked under that pressure.

    Meanwhile, it could hardly be any better if you’re Lewis Hamilton. Yes, Vettel and Ferrari’s mistakes have contributed to his enormous points lead but he’s still delivered. There’s a mental switch that happens with Hamilton in the second half of the season that means he raises his game to a level no one, with the exception of Nico Rosberg, has been able to match. Plainly put, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes has wiped the floor with Vettel and Ferrari.

    jap1While Hamilton cruised to victory the ever-dutiful Valtteri Bottas followed him home in second while Max Verstappen snapped up the final step on the podium. The sister Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, once again felled by mechanical issues in quali, recovered to an impressive fourth. Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for Ferrari while Vettel trundled home in sixth.

    Sergio Perez proved to be best-of-the-rest for Force India in seventh while Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon, and Carlos Sainz completed the top ten on a day where the mid-field battle proved the most scintillating part of the race. In fact, the battle behind Merc, Ferrari, and Red Bull is so close that only four points cover positions seven through eleven in the driver’s standings.

    Victory in Japan indicates that Lewis Hamilton’s fifth world championship crown is a mere formality. With a 63-point lead and four races remaining in 2018 it’s not if Hamilton will win the big prize but rather when.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport 

  • 2018 Japanese GP: Post Race Press Conference

    2018 Japanese GP: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

     

    Q: Lewis, congratulations, another dominant display. You were enjoying that.

    Lewis HAMILTON: I loved it. I was actually very, very happy. I think the whole weekend’s been very strong from the team, it’s a great 1-2 from Mercedes, it a true showing of the great strength in depth we have as a team. This track is the best track in the world. I don’t know why they don’t make tracks like this anymore but every second of the run it was just great fun. I was able to look after my tyres the way I wanted and just managed the pace. It’s really weird – obviously I have been racing a long, long time, but the happiness I have inside is as high as always. It’s a great feeling.

     

    Q: Well just looking at your tyres, you don’t seem to be too bad on blistering, so you were just able to manage, but we did hear that you had some engine issues earlier in the grand prix, so it wasn’t all plain sailing?

    LH: Yeah, I asked the team but they said it was OK. But really, these guys here you see at the track, the guys back at the factory, these guys work so hard to create this… this beast, and I’m so proud and grateful to have the chance to do what I do with it. I’ve been racing a long, long time now but, as I said, it feels like one of the first.

     

    Q: If you win in America in two weeks’ time and Sebastian is not second, you will win your fifth world title.

    LH: Honestly, I’ll take it one step at a time. Each week you have a positive weekend and you go to another grand prix and you’re not sure how you’re going to fare and how you’re going to perform, because there are still gaps in between, but I think we have gone from strength to strength this year as a team, so I really hope that we can… Austin is usually a good track for us, so I can’t wait to unleash this beast there.

     

    Q: Congratulations, Lewis, great drive. Valtteri, you were absolutely setting the pace in Russia but it looked like you struggled a little bit more on this circuit and you had some real tyre management to do at the end against Max.

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Well, yeah. Initially during the race, everything felt good, I knew what I had to do and I was really just executing the plan. The pace felt good. But at the end of the second stint I had some blistering, which made it a bit more tricky, but anyway, for me the job was to get to the finish line in P2.

     

    Q: We heard from Lewis that he had some engine management issues early in the grand prix. Did you have anything like that or was it just the tyre blistering that was your main concern?

    VB: Not really, no. No issues. We managed to save the engine to save the engine a bit because the pace was so good. But no issues otherwise.

     

    Q: Max, you’re pretty consistent here in Japan: third straight podium. It was very close with Valtteri at the end, but you locked up into the hairpin on the last lap. So did the opportunity slip away?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, we didn’t really have a chance, but in general I think to nurse the car home with the damage I had on the floor, we did a great job. The strategy initially was a bit tricky, with the supersoft tyres, but then once we got the soft tyres on it was actually working really well, and you could see that near the end we had the pace, even with the damage, so I’m happy about that.

     

    Q: You had two incidents with the Ferrari drivers. First of all with Kimi, and you got a five-second penalty for that, which we heard on the radio you weren’t happy about, and then a failed attempt from Sebastian to overtake you down into Spoon. Take us through those two?

    MV: Yes, I braked a little bit too late into the chicane, so I did everything I could to get back onto the track and I think I did it in a safe way, because I was not crazy-fast onto the track, but Kimi chose the wrong line in the chicane. He could have also just waited for me to come back on the track. We touched a little bit, but I think it’s really ridiculous those five seconds. But anyway, we managed to survive that and then even before the pit stop, the touch with Sebastian – in that corner you can’t overtake. I even gave him space, but he understeered into my car. It’s a shame, but still happy to be on the podium.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, you talked a bit about coming back stronger for the second half of the season and that you imagined having this run-in but you’ve been dominant, especially compared to Sebastian. You’ve not made mistakes, he’s been making mistakes. Are you surprised at how he’s faded from the title picture?

    LH: Well, what I meant is that you have to set your sights high and so naturally, as you come into the season, you set the goal high, set the target high. When we got to mid-season we got that win going into the break and then again, really pushing to make sure that we come back even stronger so again, set the bar high. That’s what we were hoping to achieve, it’s not always the case, it’s really not always the case that you achieve your target but I think we have through really great hard work from everyone. In terms of Sebastian’s performance… Of course, I didn’t expect… Up until the mid-part of the season they were very strong and then we obviously got to Monza and then after that they were still quite strong from Monza, Singapore and then at Singapore was when it really started to tail off. I definitely hadn’t anticipated that they would tail off as they have. Not only have they lost a lot of performance, lost performance… just performances have not been coming in the same as they had before, as strong as they were before. I don’t really have an answer for that and it’s not something I’m really focused on. I’m sure Sebastian could tell you why. We’ve just been focusing on trying to do the best job we can and maximise the potential of our own ability, that’s all we can do.

     

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how much are you hoping that Lewis will win the championship already in Austin to get more normal circumstances for the last three races to challenge him?

    VB: You know of course I’m still able to challenge him. It just depends on the situation like the race in Russia so I’m still trying everything I can to keep upbeat for every race and trying to challenge. I felt yesterday in the qualifying it was really getting better and better for me and it was pretty close in the end between us. Today, after the start, I knew what was going to be the case. We had to bring one-two home and that was it. There are not that many races left and at some point I would guess he’s going to get the title hopefully and then we will see.

     

    Q: (Andre Venema – Formula 1 Magazine NL) Max, speaking of penalties, do you think Vettel deserved a penalty as well, for what he did to you?

    MV: Well, I’m not the one who makes the rules. I think otherwise a lot of penalties would have been avoided anyway in Formula One. I think it’s a similar scenario to what I had in China with him. Of course, we didn’t spin off the track but he drove into the side of my car. I think we could have been a bit more careful.

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) At the moment, we have a lot of situations where you’re having to either avoid or manage blistering. I just wondered… on that phenomenon, is that more of a problem this year? How bad is it and how much are you having to manage it over the course of this season?

    LH: Honestly, I think Pirelli have done a really good job this year. The cars are faster than ever before, we have more downforce than ever before so there’s more force going through the tyres. And so every time they improve the tyres, we improve the car and we pretty much have a similar issue of blistering, but they do have the lower gauged tyre which we used earlier in the year on which we didn’t see any blistering. I’m not really sure why they didn’t continue using that for the year but I’m sure that’s probably something they will engage in next year. We have definitely not been able to go flat out all the time and we are having to manage temperatures in order to make a one stop race work –  the loss in the pit lane is so big you want to always try and make sure you do a one stop. But I don’t particularly have a problem with it. I think it takes skill and management to keep the pace up and lose as little as possible whilst still keeping the tyre alive. Would we prefer to have no blistering? For sure, if we could keep pushing the whole way and not having rear overheating, that would definitely enable us to follow for longer and race for longer but that’s something that they are constantly trying to battle, I’m sure.

    VB: I think we had to do a lot of management at pretty much every race this season and especially at the last few there have been issues with the blistering. Once we are getting to a certain temperature, we know it’s going to happen at some point, so then we’re just not pushing to go over those temperatures and trying to manage. At some places, like today, when it’s hot, in this high energy track, laterally, it’s pretty difficult and it does feel at times that you are completely cruising round which is not ideal. You know there’s so much potential in these cars and my thinking is if everyone did one stop today, if you do one stop pushing flat out it would be more fun but that’s the issue for everyone now. The cars are quicker than ever. I was involved in some of the testing for next year’s tyres a couple of weeks ago and I’m sure they are pushing flat out and hopefully it’s going to be a bit better next year.

    MV: I think like Lewis said, it was well explained.

  • 2018 Japanese GP: Friday Press Conference

    2018 Japanese GP: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Frédéric VASSEUR (Sauber), Masashi YAMAMOTO (Honda)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Yamamoto-san, you introduced an engine upgrade in Russia. How much of a step forward is that? And in more general terms, how much progress have Honda made this season?

    Masashi YAMAMOTO: Regarding this season, we were not as quick in the development as we would have wanted to. However, recently, everything has been much better, especially regarding the combustion chamber. We have upgraded it, and it’s finally complete, and very successfully complete. Regarding Russia, and the problems we had with the other engine, it had regard to the calibrations but we have fixed it since Russia, and within this one week before the race in Suzuka, we have fixed that issue and so I suppose Mr Tost can look forward to great weekend.

    Q: How are preparations going for 2019 with Red Bull Racing? Do you feel a big pressure to deliver top results?

    MY: Yes, regarding 2019, we are very pleased to also work with another top team. We believe Red Bull is a top team in Formula One. We – me and Christian – we have had great communication throughout the year, and obviously there is pressure, however this pressure, we turn it into good energy, and this good energy will bring us fantastic and fabulous results. Of course, with Team Toro Rosso, Team Red Bull on both sides, pressure into great energy, great results for 2019.

    Q: Franz, you had a busy week leading up to Honda’s home grand prix. I believe Sakura on Tuesday, Wako Wednesday, Suzuka factory yesterday morning. Just tell us what you found in each place and about your experiences this week.

    Franz TOST: And Tochigi! You forgot another company. No, it was fantastic, the visit with the two drivers, all the different factories here, the research and development factories from Honda. The people were very enthusiastic and they liked to talk to us, to ask questions and I must say the Honda employees are really Formula One fans and I hope that we can provide them with good results, so they can see all the hard work which they have done in the last months come to a successful end.

    Q: It was announced recently that Daniil Kvyat is going to return to Toro Rosso next year. After a year with Ferrari, what kind of a driver are you expecting back in the Toro Rosso fold?

    FT: I was with Daniil Kvyat out in Sochi, we had a fantastic dinner together, he is relaxed, I have the feeling he is much more measured that the year before. I expect a competitive Daniil Kvyat. We all know he is very fast, that he has a very high level of natural speed and he just has to sit in the car, push the right-hand pedal and you will see he will show good results because he can do it. We all know this.

    Q: Christian, we’ve just heard from Yamamoto-san about Honda’s preparations, their hope for good results next season, can we just get your take on how things are going with Honda. How are advanced you are.

    Christian HORNER: We’ve been very impressed with the progress that Honda have been making during the course of this year. Obviously, we’re now working closely regarding… incorporating the engine into RB15 for next year. I have to say the communication has been excellent between both companies. We’re hugely impressed by the effort, commitment, desire, determination to succeed that there is in Honda. Certainly, when Yamamoto-san talks of energy, we’re not lacking any energy within Red Bull Racing, regarding the 2019 season.

    Q: Bringing it back to this year, you’re now 101 points ahead of Renault in the Constructors’ Championship, so you’re pretty much nailed-on for third place. How has that affected your preparations for next year? Have you started work on the new car earlier than would be normal?

    CH: Well, we have a regulation change coming for next year, the front wing changes the characteristics of the car quite significantly, so we’re effectively in no-man’s land in the Constructors’ Championship, so obviously, a large amount of resource is already being placed into next year’s programme – but of course any updates we can introduce and learn from, we’re bringing trackside.

    Q: When did you start work on next year’s car?

    CH: It becomes a transient process. So, obviously as soon as the regulations are released, you start to look at kind of impact that there is and then that ramps up through the summer months. So, pretty much all the design team now are obviously focussed on 2019.

    Q: Fred, excitement is building about Charles Leclerc and his move to Ferrari in 2019. We saw another great race from him in Sochi last weekend. Just wanted to ask you how much Charles has changed as a driver, and as a person? The driver who turned up in Melbourne, compared to the driver that’s now racing in Japan.

    Frederic VASSEUR: Compared to Melbourne, for sure he’s got a lot of experience. He struggled a little bit on the first event of the season with management, mainly due to the fact we had a very short winter session in Barcelona due to the weather. The first week. The first races were a bit difficult for him but then step-by-step, after second or third race he was able to put everything together and he improved consistently. I think he’s still improving.

    Q: Let’s throw it ahead now to 2019. Kimi Räikkönen was at your Hinwil factory a couple of weeks ago. What sort of work was he getting on with there?

    FV: He’s not designing the next car! We tried to sit him into the car. The next year car. It went well!

    Q: What about Giovinazzi? How excited are you about him joining the team?

    FV: For the whole team it’s a huge push that we have still a couple of guys who were there when Kimi drove for the team, and the reputation of Kimi at Sauber is still huge. When we did the announcement, that it was a great push for everybody and I think it will be helpful for the team.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Question for Franz, Christian and Yamamoto-san. Regarding Honda’s upgrade and the progress we’ve seen so far. Franz, what are you expecting the difference that will make in the midfield battle? Christian, do you agree with some of the comments from last weekend, that it puts Honda at least level, maybe ahead of Renault, and Yamamoto-san, how do you feel about the comments, the positivity the upgrade has had from Red Bull and Toro Rosso?

    MY: Regarding Spec-3, which we have brought in Russia, well, actually, obviously as you know, it hasn’t raced yet, so it will be the first opportunity to race with the new spec. According to the results that we’ll have after the race, it will be more comparable. We can start comparing data with the other ones that we have used before. So, not only the engine but of course the entire performance with the car.

    CH: Well, it’s obvious that progress – and good progress – is being made and that’s really encouraging for us. Our focus is not on where our current position is. It’s where the lead position is. That’s the same goal that Honda share. In-roads are being made to reduce that gap to the benchmark in Formula One. You need all elements to be performing to win in this sport, and of course the engine is a key element. We’re looking very much forward to 2019 and starting this relationship with Honda.

    FT: With the spec-3 engine we must be in Q3 and we must stay ahead of Sauber because they put a lot of pressure on us in the Constructors’ Championship. That’s the target.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) A question to Christian and Franz. In the past the Red Bull group has had very close relations with the VW group across various categories – rally, DTM, etc. I believe that: a) you are reducing your DTM involvement and secondly, the relationship you now have with Honda covers two Formula 1 teams and MotoGP. Does this supersede your previous VW relationship or replace it or what are your plans going forward?

    CH: Obviously there was a historical relationship with VW across different elements of motorsport. The withdrawal from DTM coincides with other movements going on within DTM. Obviously it’s a growing partnership with Honda. And of course Red Bull, who operate in many categories of motorsport, work with many different manufacturers but of course this relationship in Formula 1 is extremely important. There has been a long and successful partnership within MotoGP and we hope some of that success will be mirrored in our Formula 1 activities.

    Franz, anything to add?

    FT: There’s not much to add. Toro Rosso was together with Volkswagen at the beginning and we had a real good co-operation also with them, especially on the sponsorship side, but then we changed the engines to Renault and now to Honda there was not any more the possibility to work together with Volkswagen and we are now with Honda for the next years and we are very happy about this.

    Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) A question for Yamamoto-san. Could I get a progress update on the Honda young drivers, Makino and Fukuzumi, in Formula 2 for 2019 and your plans to keep them there? And how important is it for Honda to get a Japanese driver on the F1 grid in the coming years?

    MY: Yes, obviously to have a Japanese driver on the Formula 1 grid is very important for Japan and for ourselves for the future of this motorsport in Japan. Regarding Making and Fukuzumi. As you know he has won in Monza. Regarding the series that they run in, as you know, the teams have been working with the new regulations, a lot of changes, trying rolling starts etc so it hasn’t been a very stable series this series itself. But they are both very good drivers and we are educating them for a bright future.

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) A question for all four, please. There is a lot of talk about the longer-term future of Formula 1, 2021 and beyond, and there are a lot of competing objectives: cost reduction, making sure the on-track competition is close, the look of the cars, road relevance, driving technology. How do these competing objectives get balanced up, particularly with the fact that technology and road relevance often tend to drive up costs and sometimes have made the racing worse?

    CH: Formula 1 ultimately is a show, it’s an entertainment, and to be entertaining the racing has to be good, the drivers have to be the heroes and I think we need to improve the spectacle of what we currently have. I know a lot of work is going into trying to create cars that are easier to follow or promote better racing. Of course technology has a role to play in that but it shouldn’t be the predominant factor, it should be a complimenting factor, and I think if you get the ground rules and the shape of what the product should be and then the other elements will fit in with that and so we’re relying very heavily on Ross Brawn and his group and the experience that he has, together with the FIA, to come up with a set of regulations, both technical and sporting, that deliver the product, that deliver the spectacle and obviously the commercial terms that are allied with that will follow.

    Yamamoto-san, your thoughts?

    MY: As Christian has mentioned, Formula 1 is the top motorsports platform for the future and it is very important for us as a car manufacturer also to develop, an important platform to develop the latest technology. Also not only the technology itself but thinking about the world environment, so the future in all these different perspectives is very important and this is the perfect platform for us, so as Honda and Formula 1, branding, the fans, the entertainment point of view is very important, as well as the development of the technology of the future that will be released to the world.

    Franz?

    FT: Formula 1 is entertainment and currently, fortunately thanks to Hamilton and Vettel, we have two drivers who keep this entertainment on a higher level. But generally speaking there are three teams and the rest are far behind. That means that the FIA and FOM must come up with a regulation from a) the sporting side and b) the technical side, and they must also look that the costs come down. The cost cap is I think an idea that can be realised, that a minimum of five or six drivers are able to fight for the championship, because this is what the spectators want to see. In addition to this, there is always enough space and room for the manufacturers to develop, for example, the power unit or whatever, and that Formula 1 stays at the pinnacle of motorsports. Once more FIA and FOM has to come up now with solutions, because time is running away. We are talking about 2021 and we still don’t have a 100% fixed regulation a) for the chassis, and b) for the power unit and this needs to be clarified as soon as possible.

    And Fred?

    FV: Yeah, for sure it’s quite obvious that we need to improve to improve the show. That Sochi was a race with less than five overtaking, if I don’t consider the two red Bulls, but you won’t start from the back very single weekend and now for the target for the second part of the grid is to avoid to be lapped, more or less. Even when you are the first of the second pack, success is when you are not lapped. I think that we would have to find a solution to allow talented drivers in a small team to be not too far away from the podium in exceptional circumstances, and today we are far away from this. We saw last weekend that even though Ricciardo and Verstappen started from the back, after 25 laps they were five and six or something like this. We are not racing in the same competition.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) A question for Fréd, Franz and Christian. You all respectively have experience of working with drivers who are either F1 rookies or new to the team and in a high-pressure situation. What do you need from your driver to get the most out of them in that scenario, how important is their attitude and approach and how important is the team environment to helping them succeed?

    FT: First of all, the driver must be skilled. Second he must be passionate – that means 365 days Formula 1. Then he must be disciplined and he must be, I call it innovative. That means he must think about how best he can improve himself and then he has to be integrated into the team and of course with a young inexperienced driver the team has to take much more attention to him, take much more care of him and preparation, nutrition, physical preparation, then simulator work, then all the technical stuff. A young driver is many times during the winter months in our factory, sitting together with our engineers, discussing all the different topics regarding setting up the car, regarding power unit management from the steering wheel. It’s a lot of stuff. It’s a lot of work and therefore you need a 100% committed driver to bring him to the front.

    FV: For sure, the pace is the first skill. If you do not have the pace then you can forget about it. On the top of this we have a lot of guys with good pace who are not able to achieve in F1. Mainly for the same reasons. There is a huge step between the junior series and F1; you have much more things to manage. You have not so much test days. We spoke about it before but with the four days you have in Barcelona, it’s quote short and when two of them are under snow it’s a nightmare. Then they have a huge pressure from the press, from you mainly, at the first events, when it’s not working well. I would like to remember to everybody that after two races I had in the press conference questions about Leclerc, if it was not too early, it was a mistake to take him in F1. We have to be patient, because it’s a huge step and we have to take it step by step and to let them work. But they have to be fully committed and I think that when we are speaking about the young kids that we have I am convinced that that they are more than committed.

    CH: For us it’s very simple. We send our youngsters to Franz. If they can survive his 365-day training programme and graduate with that then they might make it into Red Bull Racing, so we’re very grateful for the education that Franz gives these young drivers and it’s obviously proved successful over the years.

    You’ve got Pierre Gasly coming into the team next year and Max Verstappen is still young. What do you have within the team to help these young guys?

    CH: Well, what annoys me about those two drivers is that their combined age, for the first time, is younger than my age. I think, again, it’s about creating the right environment, about creating an environment in which the drivers feel confidence, they feel heard, but they also know what their side of the deal is, what they have to deliver, because the expectation in Formula 1 is extremely high, especially in a front-running team, where you’re not just driving for yourself, you’re driving for the aspirations of 800 people within a team, all the partners and the shareholders that they represent as well. So the pressure is significantly higher. I think it’s finding that balance, that they still can enjoy what they do, but they still recognise the responsibility that they have.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) To the three team principals: it’s just a little over two years since Liberty acquired Formula One’s commercial rights and just under two years since they formalised it. Obviously there were great expectations, great hopes. Have they actually managed the rights up to your expectations so far after two years?

    CH: I think Liberty have obviously gone through a learning process. They’ve had to understand what they’ve bought, what is Formula One and I think that there are many aspects that are easier than previously. They’ve invested heavily in marketing the sport, they’ve put on promotions, roadshows. They’ve opened up digital platforms, social networks etc to bring new eyeballs into the sport. They’ve introduced e-sports, so they’re exploring new territories with Formula One and I think the key element for them going forward is not so much the promotion, which they are proving to be well-equipped with, it’s what the product is and I think that’s what the key part now to the success moving forwards is, what are those regulations for 2021 going to be? What does Formula One look like over the next ten years? And obviously there’s a responsibility on Liberty and the FIA to get that right.

    FT: OK, up until now, they took over something that was very well organised from Bernie. There are contracts until 2020 and that means their influence was not so dramatic but nevertheless they’ve done a good job in promoting Formula One with all these new ideas, especially on the media side with social media and so on. But their decisive job is, as already said, to create the new regulations and to bring Formula One into this new period and then we will see how good they are working from 2022, 2023 onwards when the new regulations are really on top. They are quite well organised, they are very experienced people within FOM and together with the FIA they should be in a position to sort out all the smaller problems which Formula One, especially on the starting field that everything is more on an equal level and also on the money distribution and of course, also that the revenues stay on the level which was the case in Bernie’s time. These are the main topics they have to face and I’m quite convinced that they will do a good job.

    FV: Yeah, for sure they very open, they are investigating new projects, launching new ideas, opening new doors and so on but I think at one stage we will need to get results, that everybody will need to get results and we will see what will be the next step.

    Q: (Oleg Karpov – Motorsport.com) To all four gentlemen: Cyril Abiteboul and Toto Wolff recently said that Formula One should maybe think about reducing the number of races to 15 or 16, so the product is more exclusive. First of all, do you agree with that and secondly, if you do how could we achieve that? Should we reduce the number of races just like that or should we rotate races like Hockenheim and Nurburgring, something like that?

    MY:  Well, as you know, we are not constructors so we will accept what FIA and FOM decide.

    CH: Well, we are a constructor. 21 races, I think, is about saturation point. I think that there’s only so many chapters you can have in a book and I think at some point you go beyond what’s relevant. I think to go as low as 15 or 16 I think is too low – maybe Cyril was looking at grid penalties or something – but I think that 21 is the upper end. It’s tough. It’s tough for the guys in the garage, for the travelling staff, it’s tough for everybody involved and I think for the spectator and fans as well, beyond 24 races it reaches saturation, so I think it’s finding that balance. I think the really encouraging thing is that there are some great venues that want to host Formula One races and events and I think that that should provide natural competition for the venues that are already on the calendar.

    Q: Christian, what’s the ideal number?

    CH: I think we are it, I think 21 is max.

    FT: I think it’s not the number of races or the size, it’s the show which we offer and the level of the entertainment. If you have 15 boring races people will not watch any more. No, I think we should have around 20, 22 races and I think this is a good number and the exclusivity once more depends how good we are and we also should not forget that we are a global player and therefore we need a certain number of races to stay a global player. And I would absolutely refuse to go below 20 races. The year has 52 weeks, therefore we have a lot of time.

    FV: For sure we will never go more than 21 because that is, from my point of view, far too much and we have to keep…

    CH: If we could keep Christmas it would be good.

    FT: We should prefer a race at Christmas and New Year, far away, in New Zealand or…

    FV: I think at one stage also we are losing the exceptional of the event; the more races you are doing, everybody is used to and at one stage we have to keep the exceptional side of the races and for me it’s a bit too much but I will follow the calendar for sure. I won’t stop after 18 next year.

    Q: Fred, what’s the magic number for you? How many races?

    FV: Magic number? I think that below 20 would be fine but between 18 and 20 would be fine for me.

    Q: (Kazuki Kasahara – Car Watch) Question for Yamamoto-san: this Grand Prix is a Honda supported brand name (title sponsor)? Could you tell me why and also give your motivation for another 30 years?

    MY: Yes, well, as you well know, Honda started joining Formula One in 1964 and it has developed along the years, along with Formula One, so Honda has developed, F1 has grown and so it’s been a mutual development throughout the 30 years. In honour of this relationship that we have had for 30 years, we’ve decided to sponsor the title of the event in Japan here this year, just to thank everyone, including the fans, I know, for this great support and collaboration.

  • 2018 Japanese GP: Thursday Press Conference

    2018 Japanese GP: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren), Esteban OCON (Racing Point Force India), Lance STROLL (Williams).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Three of the four of you are without a contract for 2019, so let’s start with that topic, and perhaps you could just tell us the latest. Let’s start with Esteban.

    Esteban OCON: Yeah, that is true, so far. I still don’t have any news to tell you, unfortunately. For sure I am trying to get a seat for next year but if I don’t, I will be sitting on the side, but the sure thing is I will be back for 2020 and I will push my maximum to be back in 2020 anyway.

    Lance?

    Lance STROLL: Right now, still have five more races to go so I’m going to take it weekend by weekend. Yeah, we’ll see what the future holds.

    Stoffel?

    Stoffel VANDOORNE: So far not much news from my side, to be honest. Formula One seems very unlikely, obviously, and like I said last week, there’s been a lot of talks with different series, different teams, and there are a lot of possibilities. So, I hope I can tell you a bit more in the next couple of weeks.

    Q: Esteban, the car is performing very well at the moment, had a good race in Russia and you have a very good record here at Suzuka: qualified fifth last year, finished sixth. So, what are your expectations for the weekend?

    EO: Yeah, definitely big expectations. We have a strong car since a couple of races now. We had a strong upgrade now and we are fighting to be the fourth fastest team each time so definitely looking forward to be racing on this track. As you said, I have great memories, so I can’t wait. It’s a track that suits my driving style quite well, and it’s one I’ve been successful at, so I look forward.

    Q: Lance, Russia was a tough weekend for you and the team. Can you tell us, what are the car’s shortcomings, and how difficult is it to drive at the moment?

    LS: In terms of result it was a tough weekend. We didn’t pick up any points or anything but I still think we had a decent race, y’know? The position is not what we’re hoping for and not what we’re aiming for but y’know, we had some pace during the race. I was behind Fernando throughout the whole race, challenging him, trying to get by – but the nature of the track, it’s very, very difficult to overtake. Yeah, and y’know, where we stand now, I believe there’s no more upgrades for the rest of the season, but we’re still going to be doing everything we can every weekend to try to improve the balance of the car. I’m going to try to get everything I can out of the package that we have for the rest of the season.

    Q: Stoffel, I believe you came down on the bullet train this morning from Tokyo, I just wanted to explore your love affair with Japan. You raced here, of course, a couple of years ago in Super Formula. Just what is it about Japan that you love so much and perhaps you could tell us a secret about Suzuka as well – because you won your last race in Super Formula here at Suzuka.

    StV: Yeah, I’ve got some good memories from Japan, racing here in Super Formula. I think first of all the fans are always pretty amazing and it’s quite exciting to come back here and see what they bring for all the drivers. I think they really support everyone. So, definitely good memories from my year in Super Formula. Also, one of the greatest circuits. I think the feelings you have here in a Formula One car is probably the best you can have. Very challenging and looking forward to being back here this weekend.

    Q: Sebastian, we saw quite a gap in performance between yourselves and Mercedes last weekend in Russia, particularly over one lap. How confident are you of closing that gap here at Suzuka – particularly at a track that’s been very kind to you in the past.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, within a week you can’t do too many things differently, so we hope that the track suits us a bit better and we have a better weekend than in Russia. I think we nevertheless managed to get and squeeze everything out of the car. I think in race pace we were hopefully a bit closer – so let’s see where we start off here.

    Q: One of the highlights for us, observers of the Sochi weekend, was seeing you and Lewis going wheel-to-wheel. He spoke after the race about how much he enjoys the challenge of racing against a driver of your calibre. I just wanted to get your thoughts on him. How much are you enjoying the challenge of racing Lewis Hamilton this year? And in what areas does he impress you the most?

    SeV: Well, first of all I think you always enjoy when you race somebody on track and you tend to enjoy more when you come out ahead – so I’m sure he had more fun last weekend than I had. But yeah, obviously, it’s tough to have a wheel-to-wheel battle on the track but then if you do, you appreciate it a lot more, so I think… it’s been intense races and challenging races we had but not that much wheel-to-wheel racing but yeah, as I said, I enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy it probably as much as he did. I would have liked it to have lastest a little bit longer, for more laps, but that was probably the only chance that we had. Apart from that, obviously, it’s always difficult to compare. These days, I think racing is very different to maybe the way it has been many years ago. You don’t spend much time with each other even though you share the track for all the sessions, you don’t see each other very often until the race, and then even in the race it depends on how the race unfolds – but I think it’s also fine like that, in a way, that some races are more intense than others. I think if every race would be intense then they would all be normal again. Naturally, obviously you enjoy it more when you come out on top.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Sebastian, you talked about getting the most out of the car last weekend in Sochi. In the last swinging fight with Mercedes, over the last couple of weekends have you been surprised to be behind Mercedes at a couple of tracks where they struggled at in the past, especially when you seemed to have a performance advantage in Belgium and then again in Italy in qualifying?

    SeV: I think I answered it many times. I think I’ve said many times that we have a strong car, but I don’t think, against the people’s opinions, that we had a dominant car at any point this year. I think the highlights that you mentioned or the races that mentioned, in qualifying we were not ahead. In the race I think it was very close and I think it has been very close all year. I think there were too many races from our side where we weren’t close enough. A race like last weekend, the way they could play with us in the race, usually means they had more pace. There were other races in the season where we didn’t have the pace they had. But I think we have always been very close, most of the races close enough to have a good fight. So we’ll hope that we have the same performance here. Hopefully we are closer in qualifying, which matters obviously to place the car well to then have a strong car and show that pace, because once you are behind, for the reasons I mentioned earlier we don’t have a lot of wheel-to-wheel racing, it’s not that easy to follow close, and then if you are racing for the same tenth, even if the cars were easier to overtake it wouldn’t be that straightforward because ultimately you go as quick as the guys around you, but hopefully we are a bit closer.

    Q: (Julien Billotte – AutoHebdo) Sebastian, do you think that Ferrari is not pragmatic enough when it comes to team orders? We saw in Sochi that Mercedes was quite open to ask Valtteri to move aside and if we think about Germany or Italy, you guys seemed a bit more reluctant with Kimi, so do you think they have the edge in that area?

    SeV: Generally, I think it is a sensitive topic or subject, obviously for the reasons that we have seen after last weekend. I don’t think we have been in the same position as they have, probably, during the race, so I think it is more a question for the team and not for me.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Sebastian, given that you have finished behind Lewis at five of the last six races, how do you, personally, as a driver, keep your confidence up and do you head into this weekend thinking it’s now or never in terms of the championship?

    SeV: I don’t like the now or never approach. I don’t think there’s much sense in that. I didn’t know it was five out of six, now I know, so the secret before just now has been not to count. No, I think you attack every weekend, every weekend is different, the track is different, the circumstances are different, so I’m very happy to be here. I love this track, it’s my favourite track in the world, so I’d better enjoy it and not spoil it by starting to count the things that are against me and focus on the things that are working for me.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, the weather forecast, it seems that it will be bad until Sunday, only Sunday there will be the dry track. In rain conditions, the last few races you were not very lucky. It is a handicap? And the second question, technically did you lose a little bit the direction in these few races after Monza?

    SeV: How do you know about our technical direction? Sorry, but I don’t think it’s true; I don’t think we lost direction. We made progress with our cars, the steps that we planned, the steps have been coming. Now, you never know where you are in comparison to others, maybe they have done smaller steps or bigger steps, I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure speaking to all our engineers that we are where we would like to be or where we wanted to be. Of course you would like to be always further with more performance, but that’s the same for everyone. And the first question, I think there is nothing that speaks against us in wet conditions. I think as you said, here and there it didn’t play into our hands but it won’t be like that forever, so I’m not afraid if it’s wet.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) A question for all four drivers. It’s one of the few tracks where we don’t have tow DRS zones. I know if you had DRS down the back straight, maybe 130R wouldn’t be flat or would be more of a challenge but do you think there should be a second DRS zone at that part of the circuit?

    LS: I would say so. Whether 130R is flat or not is car dependent and depends on how much risk you are willing to take. I don’t think that’s really the reason why we should debate whether there is a DRS zone or not on the back straight. I think it could only help overtaking. It’s already a track where due to the nature of the track it’s very difficult to follow, with all the high-speed corners and all that, so if there is a way of helping overtaking, helping the show, it would be good.

    Esteban?

    EO: I think it would be quite a challenge to have DRS there, even harder than Silverstone, Turn 1 really. Let’s see what’s going to happen in the future, it could be interesting.

    So you would like to see a second DRS on that straight?

    EO: As Lance said, it could only help overtaking into the last chicane. In the race it would not probably flat, especially following other cars, but in qualifying it could be an interesting challenge.

    Sebastian?

    SeV: I’m not a big fan of DRS, so I don’t know. Now we are in Japan, I think Mario Kart, if you remember, it might be more fun to throw bananas out of the cockpit, so maybe it’s a better idea to have bananas than DRS. I don’t like it, I think it’s artificial. I think we should find a different way to make the cars follower each other closer and not rely on DRS.

    Stoffel?

    StV: I agree with Seb. I think the fact that we are talking about DRS probably shows how difficult it has been for cars to follow each other and to race each other, so I think in the future if we could have much closer racing and do the old school overtakes, that would be the best.

    How difficult was it to overtake in Super Formula here?

    StV: It wasn’t easy, because obviously the cars are all the same as well and the competition was tough as well, but there were possibilities and those cars didn’t have DRS as well.

    Q: (Masahiro Owari – Formula Owari Masahiro) This is the 30th Japanese Grand Prix. Do you remember which Grand Prix, which year, did you see your first Japanese Grand Prix on TV, and do you remember who won?

    StV: I don’t remember it! No, I don’t. One I remember was when Kamui was racing and got on the podium. Which was 2012? Quite late. Yeah.

    SeV: I watched all of the races that Michael ran later with Ferrari but I always fell asleep in the second part because it was very early and usually he was in the lead. It was sort of clear after half the race or after the first couple of laps. But I remember the one where… when did Ayrton win here? ’88? Yeah, this I don’t remember. I was one. Later, did he win again? 1991? Yeah. 1993? Maybe that one. ’88, for sure not, because that would be unrealistic, I was one year old. But ’93, that sort of makes sense. That was the first memories anyway and I remember how he lifted the cup, and I think the cup here is beautiful as well, the trophy. It was the same back then as it is now. Yeah, I remember that. Not so much the race but I remember the moment on the podium.

    Q: Do you get a kick that the track is pretty similar to how it was back then when Ayrton was racing on it?

    SeV: Yeah, I do. I think it’s one of the… it’s my favourite track and I think it’s one of the original tracks that haven’t been messed with. I think it’s… like Stoffel described earlier, I think the feeling you get inside here, in the car, is probably the best all season, when you throw the car from one side to the other up the hill and then you’ve got some really characteristic… how you say?…

    EO: Iconic.

    SeV: Iconic, thank you French, iconic corners like Spoon, 130R nowadays maybe not as tough as it was back then but overall it’s a great track.

    EO: Yeah, I don’t remember the first time I’ve watched this track or this Formula One Grand Prix but the first thing that comes into my mind is always the fight Alain against Ayrton Senna, obviously, in the last chicane and also the first corner the following year, that’s the first thing that comes to my mind, like for sure, historic stories.

    LS: Yeah, same. I don’t remember a race in particular. We saw Schumacher take off and win the race round here but that’s probably when I started watching Formula One but I’ve watched the replays of Senna and Prost fighting around here and making contact in the last chicane. Those are historic moments.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) You may have seen that the Strategy Group has discussed changing qualifying into four Qs so it will be four out, then four, then four and then finally leaving eight for the final Q1 shoot-out. What do you think about that? Will it make any difference? Will it help you? How do you feel about it?

    LS: That’s the first time I’ve heard of that format. There’s more entertainment for the fans and gives the drivers a bigger chance, maybe can mix up the top three teams a bit more and increase the risk of getting into the last qualifying session. Could spice things up.

    EO: Could be a good challenge for the midfield teams, you know, so you could have two drivers in Q4 so it could be fun but then I don’t know how it would change things for the top teams. It would probably be the same.

    SeV: Just wondering what we will discuss in ten years’ time, whether we will be talking about Q9 and Q10, if that makes sense. I don’t know. Probably not but I don’t know, maybe we should go less. Without going too deep, my personal opinion is that nowadays I think we need too much entertainment to be happy. I think it would be nice to settle for something less as well. My preferred qualifying was back in the days when they had one hour and you could do what you want. Obviously qualifying for some people will never be as exciting as the race but for other people it’s more exciting than the race so it depends on your tastes, but I think it’s about getting the perfect lap and I don’t think it matters how many qualifying sessions you have. Now we have three and the one that most people look out for is the last one, so if you have Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7 what’s going to change?

    Q: Do you think the current format needs changing?

    SeV: No but that’s my opinion, so I might be wrong.

    StV: Yeah, not much to say to that, really. I don’t think this is the biggest problem so far. As Seb says, I think we don’t really need to have an extra session. We’re out in Q1 anyway so… It doesn’t change for me.