F1 Madness

Tag: brazilian grand prix

  • 2019 Formula 1 Brazil Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Brazil Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Pierre GASLY (Toro Rosso)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Rubens Barrichello)

     

    Q: What a great race Max. You looked unbeatable today. Did it feel like, driving, that if you had been on any tyres you would have been unbeatable?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Well, Lewis was very quick, so I had to keep pushing. All the time with the strategy he pitted one lap earlier so we had to be really on top of our pit stops. But yeah, two times we had a good move with him, so all the time that brought us back into first and yeah, from there onwards I could control the race with the tyres I had. Unbelievable. It was a lot of fun out there and of course great to win the race.

    Q: With the speed, whenever you overtook the Ferrari onto the last corner, did you think you had that speed to overtake Lewis at the same time?

    MV: Well, I was behind so I was pushing flat out on my our lap to try to be close to him and it was my only shot. Because of that I was close into the DRS. We knew that we had great top speed the whole weekend already, so yeah, then still of course it’s a guess but very happy to get past.

    Q: Well done to you and Honda, it’s a great achievement. Lewis and Pierre, how was this final move. Lewis, when you went to the inside, did you think that you had the gap to go, that you had the speed to get past him on the straight?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Honestly, I didn’t, but he did a great job, he was very fair with where he positioned the car. I massively apologise to Albon. I went for a move… the gap was kind of there, but obviously it closed right at the end and completely my fault. But still, a great race. Max did a fantastic job today. They just outclassed us in terms of overall performance. We couldn’t keep up with them on the straights. Honestly, I raced my heart out,. I gave it everything. I left nothing on the table and I took a lot of risks today, as you saw.

    Q: As you always do. The Brazilians love you. When you are here it’s always pure racing, so we saw pure racing today. [With] Max, do you think any strategy would have done the case with him today. He looked unbeatable today?

    LH: We threw everything and the sink at it. Honestly, we could keep up with them in the corners but they were outshining us on the straights, therefore I don’t think there was anything we could do.

    Q: Well done. Hey, Pierre! After a tough season, is it good to be back on that podium, the podium that you deserve since a long time ago?

    Pierre GASLY: It’s my first podium in Formula 1 and yeah for sure I will never forget it. It’s such a special moment, I don’t know what to say. It’s so emotional and also to get it with these guys, with Toro Rosso; they gave me a fantastic car since I came back and I’m just so happy for Honda, for Toro Rosso, it’s amazing day.

    Q: I know it’s your first [F1] podium but I meant that because you’ve been on the podium for so long in your career that it’s good to be on the podium in Formula 1 isn’t it?

    PG: I’ve been many times on the podium and you kind of forget it and that’s what I love about motor sport – these emotions, the fight. I just kept believing until the end. I saw they were battling and I tried to push as much as I could and the opportunity came to us. A great finish with Lewis as well. I was like trying to get low in the car, trying to get each Kp/h I could, but no, to these guys just a big congrats and a big thanks.

    Q: Well done to you and to Honda. To hold on to that last straight, that corner alongside Lewis must be…

    PG: I was strained. I told me engine to give me everything it had and I think without the progress have made it would have never been possible. I am just so happy; I don’t know what to say.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: Max, can you just explain to us what happened there. It was an inch-perfect race from you. How do you sum it all up?

    MV: Err, long summary! A lot of things happened. I think the start was good enough. I was happy about that. Then, the first stint everything looked quite good. Towards the end of that stint, yeah, just the tyres started to wear off a bit and then I had the traffic with the Williams cars and Lewis of course pitted that lap. It was not very nice. Actually, I did my pit stop and I came out also Robert came out and he almost took me out, I went into the wall. I had to brake there…

    Q: Did you lose any time there?

    MV: yeah, I almost caught the anti-stall, so yeah, it was very close. Then my out lap: luckily for me Lewis got stuck in the middle sector with Charles, so I pushed up to them and luckily I could get by Charles into Turn 12 and then I still had the tow and the DRS of Lewis and yeah, I was on full power and DRS open and I could get Lewis into Turn 1. From there onwards in that stint we managed the tyres quite well. I was waiting for Mercedes to react again but luckily we had enough of a gap to go one lap longer, so we did that. Good pit stop from the guys as well. I think it was 1.9 seconds, so that was incredible. And then on the medium tyre Lewis was pushing hard and I think we were quite closely matched and I think if there wouldn’t be a safety car it would have been a good fight towards the end of the race. But of course then the safety car came out and I think there the team did a really good job calling me in again for soft tyres. At the time I was a bit like, ‘is there going to work, I’m not sure’. But immediately in the re-start I had a good tow off Lewis and went around the outside. We had a good battle in Turn 1 and again in Turn 4. And then you could see that the tyre advantage really helped me of course and we could stay in first and control the race.

    Q: How much did you enjoy your battling with Lewis today?

    MV: Yeah, it was good. If you can battle against the world champion it’s always better than battling someone for P10 or whatever. I think it was a good battle and we gave each other enough room, just enough but I think it was cool.

    Q: Can you just talk us through that last re-start as well, because you got on the power very late?

    MV: Yeah, it was just the way I wanted to do it, so it worked out well. I immediately had a gap so it was good.

    Q: Is that something you learn in karting?

    MV: Yeah, I guess so. You do many re-starts in go-karting. Many things happen all the time. F3 as well, I guess. In F1, you know, we have done so many, not even you being the guy in the lead, but you are in the group. There are always things you can do better, things you can learn.

    Q: Pierre, first podium, just give us your emotions.

    PG: It’s just the best day of my life. As a kid you dream about being in Formula One, and then when it happens it becomes the best day of your life and then after you dream about your first podium. To be fair, I didn’t think this would happen, coming back with Toro Rosso during the second part of the season. I just kept working on myself, tried to push the team as much as I could, telling them, OK, we need to make the best out of all the opportunities we have until the end of the year. And today it just came to us. We had a really strong race before that in P7, behind the top teams, and then, when they started to battle. First the Ferrari, and then I was like: ‘OK, this looks quite similar to Bahrain 2018, in P4’, and then after I knew Lewis would try something. And then yeah, we just managed to get past the two and yeah, quite intense finish and just incredible to get my first podium in Formula 1.

    Q: What were your expectations coming into the race?

    PG: Starting in P6, I felt good in the car the whole weekend. I think we managed to get the car exactly where I wanted. I said OK, if we finish best of the rest again in the race, this will be amazing for us. So, that’s what we were doing. The whole race we had good pace. I was controlling the gap with the guys behind but we always had quite a safe margin. I could push quite nice. Even at the beginning of the race I could see that Albon and Charles weren’t pulling away so much, so I think the car was working really well. With all the safety cars it was like: ‘OK, let’s see what happens,’ and just tried to stay there and get the best out of what happens.

    Q: Can you just describe the view from up on the podium?

    PG: It’s crazy. These guys are used to it. You get used to being on the podium in the lower series, and then after coming into Formula One, it’s a feeling you miss. I was really missing it. My last podium was in Formula 2 when I was champion in 2016. And then, it’s something you want to experience, especially in Formula 1 and yeah, today, to be in the middle, in second place between Max and Lewis, my first podium in F1 is just… yeah, just insane, and amazing and really emotional for me.

    Q: Lewis, coming to you. Such an eventful race for you. Talking about your pace specific to Max, is there anything you could have done differently, strategically or otherwise, that you think could have led to you being faster than him today.

    LH: No, I don’t think so. Firstly congratulations to Max and Pierre, it’s really awesome to see, especially through the experience and journey he’s gone through from being in one team then to the next. To come through is really awesome. We had a close battle right to towards the end. Ultimately, it was a very tough weekend for us, a really tough race, trying to keep up with Max. The Red Bulls have had great race pace, particularly the second half of the season, which is often the case each year. So, fighting him, staying consistent, trying to stay on his tail through the race was… I was giving it absolutely everything. And then obviously we got him through the pitstop and then I got caught up behind a Ferrari and then he just blitzed past me on the straight and there was nothing I could do. Then we had another scenario. But at the end it was kind of… it was impossible at the end with the tyre deficit that we had. I made the call to pit, as they said, I’d only lose one position and it ended up being two. So, I gave it everything. I took a lot of risk at the end and I apologise to Alex. Obviously had no intention of coming together. It’s probably the first time I’ve come together with someone for a long, long time but I saw a door open and I kind of went for it, and it closed very, very quickly. I went straight to him after the race to apologise. Nonetheless, I think it was a great race and it’s great again to see the youngsters coming and driving so well. I’m battling as hard as I can to stay in the mix.

    Q: And Lewis, if you had, for example, put the Medium tyre on instead of a second set of Softs at that first pit stop, do you think it could have been any different?

    LH: I don’t know. I’d have to think about it. Strategy-wise, I think the team did a really, really good job with the strategy and, again, it wasn’t their decision at the end, they offered it as an opportunity for me, and I didn’t think losing one place, it would be so bad considering I’d only come out having lost one place and give me a chance to quickly get past Albon – but it wasn’t the case obviously. I think, when I came out of that first stop, I thought to myself I should have been on the Medium because it generally was a relatively easy overlap – but again, he would have just overtaken me on his out-lap anyway, so I would have still got stuck up by the Ferrari. And it probably would have been hard to have kept up with him with the pace of the Soft. We gave it everything, we threw everything we could at it, and we live to fight another day and I hope we have more great races like that.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Max. As you drove earlier the Toro Rosso and Pierre was your team-mate at the beginning of the season, how did you rate this podium. And question to Lewis and Pierre: how was the battle between the two of you?

    MV: How I rate Pierre’s podium? Incredible. Of course, he anyway already had a great race. I think you were best of the rest, right? That’s already a good result and then yeah, you just stay out of trouble and other people, of course, make mistakes and you profit from that. I think it’s great to see Pierre up here. Now it’s also the second podium for Toro Rosso already this year, so I think they are very happy with this, and yeah, like I said, I’m very happy to see Pierre up on the podium. I always knew he was a very quick driver. I think this year in the beginning maybe didn’t work out the way it should but, as you can see, I think Pierre is very strong and, at Toro Rosso again, he regrouped and he had already before this race a lot of good results. So, this is even, I think, a bigger motivation.

    Q: Pierre, your battle with Lewis.

    PG: Intense. You see your first podium coming together and then you’ve got the World Champion behind you pushing you to the limit. I tried to defend the best way I could, and coming out of the last corner, just flat out and hoping that the engine can give you every single horsepower it can get. I was pressing the overtake button, trying to get low inside the cockpit and I could see his front wing and I was like: ‘please don’t pass me on the light’ ‘cos I’m going to be so pissed off if it happens. I really wanted to keep that second place. And yeah, I must say Honda have been improving so much over the last few months. And then yeah, without this progress it would never have been possible to hold that second place to a Mercedes. Just insane. I think the only thing we have to say is a big congrats and a big thank you to Honda today.

    Q: And Lewis?

    LH: I was very much the same. I was ‘snucking’ down, trying… he did a fantastic job. He put the car in the right place in every section of the track, was very fair and didn’t make any mistakes. So, hat off to him. He did a fantastic job. The Honda’s obviously made some big steps and it’s great to see another manufacturer as strong as they are now. It means that hopefully next year we’re going to have a serious three-way, four-way battle and that’s great for Formula 1.

    How was your car handling after the contact with Alex Albon?

    LH: I’ve had worse! It was OK. I didn’t really seem to lose anything. I never like to see damage on my car, I never like colliding with other drivers and so, naturally for a youngster like Alex, who’s been driving fantastically well, it’s not easy to be a team-mate for sure, of a well-experienced driver like Max but he’s been doing great and I can assure you I know exactly how he feels right now. And I can assure you, it’s not intentional, that’s why I went to apologise to him – and I’m sure I’ll see him shortly after this.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) To Lewis and Max, I don’t know if you’ve seen the incident between Charles and Seb but the two Ferraris colliding was obviously another big story from the race. You two have both got experience of what it’s like when you’ve got an intense fight with your team-mate but one which is usually respectful – but sometimes goes over the line. With what’s going on with Seb and Charles this year, have you seen that as a weakness within that team and are you surprised that it has eventually come to blows like it has today?

    MV: I think it’s always difficult to comment on that when you’re not inside the team. You don’t know what happened because you don’t know all the details. I think it’s very difficult to comment on that. I also haven’t seen the footage so I can’t comment on the incident itself.

    Q: Lewis?

    LH: I’ve not seen it. Naturally it’s never a great one between team-mates. I’ve experienced it first hand. It’s never a great thing for a team. I’m sure it wasn’t’ intentional but naturally you’ve got to… the burden is that there’s so many people behind you, it’s not just about you. When all those people are relying on you to do your job, and something like that happens. It’s not a great feeling. As I said, I haven’t seen it.

    Q: (Gianfranco Papini – MomentoGP) Lewis, you’re surrounded by promising drivers, two young stars. You were young 12 years ago…

    LH: Hey man, I’m still young.

    Q: (Gianfranco Papini – MomentoGP) You had intense battles with other fellow colleagues like them. What is your opinion about this new generation of F1 drivers?

    LH: Well, naturally when you get older you look down on the younger drivers and you think… you point the finger at the… no, I’m kidding. No, it’s inevitable that the youngsters are going to come through. There’s often a wave of young talent that manages to make its way through to Formula One and as I said, I think Formula One’s got a lot of new young blood with a lot of potential and they really are the future of the sport. And as I said, I think fortunately I feel that whilst the number shows a little bit higher, I feel like I’m able to still kick it with these guys and so I’m excited for the future racing with these guys and as I’ve said, if we can get these teams to be closer then we’re going to see more awesome battles like today and I think that would be great.

    Q: (Lars Van Soest – De Telegraaf) Max, how would you rate this weekend comparing it to all your other wins and other good weekends?

    MV: You can never compare weekends but it’s been very positive and I’m just very happy with the progress we have been making I think in the last few races. Just having a whole clean weekend I think is what we are always after and I think that’s what happened this weekend. Of course it’s great at the end of day to also win the race and yeah, it’s promising also for next year. I think we’ve learned a lot of stuff in the last few races so hopefully it’s a good sign to have put a start to next year.

    Q: (Marcelo Teixeira – Reuters) Lewis, how do you see your move on Albon late in the race? Did you think it was not the right time to try it or just a racing incident?

    LH: It’s always a big question, when is the right time to try it. We only had a lap and a half, I think it was, to go. An opportunity came, I was quicker through turn nine and I was within shooting distance so I gave it a shot. Ultimately, in my mind, I’m trying to catch Max… it was highly unlikely but that was the goal. I think I’ve got a penalty so I totally accept the blame as I was coming from behind, and as I said before, it’s not naturally an intention, you don’t hardly ever see me do that, collisions with anyone so… In hindsight, I could have waited, to come across the line but hindsight’s always a great thing. I will live to fight another day. That won’t be the last time that he’s in the position for a podium and he’ll have many more great races so I hope that as hard as it is a pill to swallow, I hope that he can learn from the experience also.

    Q: (Velimer Veljko Jukik – Avtofocus) Max, we have seen quite an advantage in this race, beside your driving skill. Can you attribute this to management of tyres, tactics or was it just pure power?

    MV: It’s a team effort today, I think. The car was working well, I was trying to be as consistent as I could be and the guys did a great job in the pit stops and strategy so I think all that together gave us the victory today. Power was very good, like I said it was a team effort and Honda is part of the team.

    Q: Lewis, can we please just get your reaction to the five second-penalty?

    LH: I just answered it. I fully accept the responsibility. I fully accept I was coming from behind so I’m the one that touched him, not the other way round. I’ve not seen the incident so I don’t know how bad it was but as I said, it looked like there was an opportunity so I went for it and it didn’t quite work out and I apologise to Alex and put my hand up and move forwards.

    Q: (Dario Coronel – Granpremioweb.com) For Max and Pierre;  it’s the first one-two for the Honda engine in 28 years. How do you feel?

    MV: Yeah, I always get reminded with the stats. The pole was the last time in 1991 here in Brazil and then… I think it’s a good time to start doing these things again. We keep relying on the results from the nineties. I think Honda is definitely on a very good way like Pierre said before. Throughout the season they have been improving massively so just very pleased with it.

    PG: Yeah, a similar comment. I think all the work, not only this season but since they came back into Formula One, they have had some tough times and they just kept developing, kept working hard and bringing the upgrades, some things worked, some other things didn’t work but at the end of the day, they are the ones who have improved the most. The attitude and the work they are putting in is just unbelievable and they have been supporting me since quite a few years now, since I was in Super Formula and to be part of the journey with them is just fantastic so today I think I am really happy to be P1 and P2 with Max and really happy we can give them this result.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Pierre, when did you begin to start thinking you could be on the podium? Before the Ferrari accident, before the Albon?

    PG: No, no, I’m not a crazy guy you know. I’m objective. At that time I was like… after Valtteri (retired) we were P6, I knew that we had the pace to stay there so I was like OK, I’m going to see if I could try something at the re-start but in terms of pace I knew that that’s where we were at the time and of course the Ferraris came together so we were in P4. I thought OK, I might have a chance to try something again at the re-start. Actually Lewis, I think… yeah, you pitted so I think I was third. I must say at that time I was hoping the safety car could last slightly longer, I was like I would not mind if we cross the line behind the safety car. And then after we went again and of course I knew Lewis with fresher tyres would try to go for the win and would try to pass quickly so I just thought OK, if I try to stay close, if an opportunity comes I’ll take it. Sometimes things work out the way you want and you need to be… so yeah, we were second and yeah, during that last lap, I saw Lewis was behind whereas we had a gap behind so I knew there was a podium on the cards. I was happy with that but I really wanted to hold on to that second place.

  • 2019 Formula 1 Brazil GP: Friday Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Brazil GP: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Toyoharu TANABE (Honda), Otmar SZAFNAUER (Racing Point), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Frédéric VASSEUR (Alfa Romeo), Mario ISOLA (Pirelli)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: Mario, if we could start with you please. Cast our minds back a couple of weeks please, to Austin, when the 2020 tyres were tested by the teams. The feedback was mixed, what did the teams tell you, and what’s the plan going forward with these tyres?

    Mario ISOLA: Yeah, as you said, the feedback was mixed. I believed that we had quite difficult conditions in Austin. It was very cold and the new tyres are designed with a different philosophy. So the plan now is to test them again in Abu Dhabi where we have a two-day test planned specifically for testing the new construction and new compounds, so we will have a comparison that is more reliable compared to Austin. We tested this new construction during the year with the teams and with their cars and we found an improvement in terms of overheating, in terms of compounds with a wider working range – but mainly the new construction was designed because every year the performance of the cars is increasing and obviously we have to follow this increase in performance. If we don’t change the construction, the only possibility is to raise the starting pressure – and raising the starting pressure is making the overheating worse and the behaviour of the tyre in general worse. So, the new construction has been designed with the target to keep the pressure as low as possible, according to the improvement in the performance of the cars. So, I hope that we can have a test in Abu Dhabi that is more representative. I fully understand during the race weekend all the teams are focussed on the race weekend itself, so they cannot adjust the set-up of the car – the aero-balance of the car – and the new tyres have a different profile. They are wider, especially on the rear, and this has an impact on the downforce of the car, as well as the balance of the car. So, we need a bit more time to test them properly on long runs, to understand if we achieve this target. After that, obviously we are very happy to accept any… not accept any decision but to discuss the result of the test and to see what is better for the sport.

    Q: Looking further ahead, the 18-inch tyres for 2021 were tested by McLaren at Paul Ricard recently. What feedback did you get from the drivers and the team?

    MI: It was positive feedback. They said that the 18-inch tyres were better than expected. They are more reactive, we confirmed some results that we had with Renault at Paul Ricard in September. So now we are finalising the 2020 test plan. Obviously we will have another 25 car-days of tests but I’m very positive. And in any case, what we have developed for the 2020 tyres, we have some concepts that we can transfer to the 18-inch tyres. So, it’s useful to keep this direction for the future.

    Q: Fred, coming on to you. We’ve asked you this question for a while now and you’ve finally got an answer for us: Alfa Romeo have re-signed Antonio Giovinazzi. Can you tell us your reasons for that?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: I think he did a very strong second part of the season, he improved a lot. He is now matching Kimi in quali and I think the issue is not on the driver side. We have to stay focussed on this and keep a consistent line-up, and it will be the best thing to do.

    Q: You say the issue isn’t with the drivers. Let’s turn our attention to the team. How well has this year gone for you and what are your plans for the team in 2020?

    FV: The plan is to do a better job next year for sure. We started pretty well this season, we were P4 after five or six races and then we started to have an issue. Different issues, not always the same, but we didn’t score a point in the second part of the season – or one or two points – but it’s not an issue always with the pace and, at the end of the day, we are doing too many mistakes collectively and this is the big issue.

    Q: Otmar, Checo told us in the press conference yesterday that 2019 has been a difficult and disappointing year for Racing Point. Would you agree with him?

    Otmar SZAFNAUER: Well, it’s not what we wanted. We definitely wanted to be a little bit further ahead. We’re just one point ahead of Toro Rosso and 18 behind Renault, so yeah, we were hoping to be fifth or fourth this year, so from that regard, it’s a bit disappointing. However, having looked back at what happened the year before this, when this year’s car was in development, we were in a bit of turmoil, especially financially, so it’s not surprising – although as a team we always want to do better.

    Q: As you say, you’re 18 points behind Renault, two races to go. How do you fancy your chances of catching them and even beating them?

    OS: Well, we’ll do our best. If we can mind the weighbridge and not start from the pitlane, that should help. Collectively, if we do a good job… but I think it’s not just up to us. I think we’ll need a bit of luck to be able to catch them – but we’ll do the best we can.

    Q: Tanabe-san, has this been a better first season with Red Bull than you expected?

    Toyoharu TANABE: So far, after 19 races in this season with Red Bull, we achieved positive results compared to previous years. And then two wins, one pole position and then, additionally, both teams on the podium in German Grand Prix. We made considerable good progress in the year. We want to do our best in the rest of two races in this season and then we want to carry over this positive progress and the momentum for next year.

    Q: As you say, lots of progress but has it been better than you expected, coming into the relationship?

    TT: In terms of the relationship, I think very good. And then, so far the results of the race depends on the performance compared to other competitors. It’s not easy to say good or bad. As a result, as I said, we got wins and a pole position. It’s good progress in the relationship.

    Q: Thank you. Christian, perhaps I could bring you in on this. How would you sum up progress with Honda during this first season together?

    Christian Horner: I think it’s been really positive. It’s been a great relationship. The two companies are working really well together. In our first year we have achieved seven podiums to date, two grand prix victories, two pole positions – albeit that we only started from pole once – but yes, the progress that has been made with the introduction of each engine has been great to see. Reliability has been strong. This year was always going to be a transitional year in this first year of this new partnership but it feels like momentum has built through the year and with stability of regulations in all areas for 2020, we’re really looking to take the positive momentum from RB15, the current car, into RB16, which will be our 2020 contender.

    Q: Better than expected?

    CH: I think in many respects, yes. I think if you look at… there were a lot of questions as to why we had made the move to Honda. I think very quickly, at the first grand prix, we achieved a podium. We’ve scored more points than we had at this time last year. All around, reliability has been strong, performance has been getting better and better. I think on the chassis side we were affected more than we thought going into the year by the front wing regulation change and Honda have certainly exceeded our expectations in all areas. So, it has been a really very positive start to this partnership.

    Q: Christian, just one more question for you. You’ve re-signed Alex Albon for 2020. Just your reasoning behind that?

    CH: Obviously Alex has done a very good job in his first year in Formula 1. He started the year at Toro Rosso and we then took the opportunity at the summer break to promote him into the senior team. The reason behind that was to have a look at him within our own environment. And since stepping into that seat he’s finished in the top six at every grand prix, sometimes having to start from the back of the grid or even the pit lane. So, he’s driven exceptionally well. He’s given great feedback; his pace is improving and improving, at many circuits at which he’s never been to before or countries he’s never been in, like here in Brazil this weekend. He’s earned the seat on merit. We’re excited about his potential for the future. It was a relatively straightforward decision to come to, to extend his relationship with the team as the partner for Max in 2020.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Christian, on Alex: he’s had a pretty rollercoaster 12 or 13 months from thinking he’s racing in Formula E to getting his F1 opportunity, driving an F1 car for the first time just before pre-season testing in the shake down and then obviously the Red Bull call–up. Now he’s going to be going into next year in a car you hope is going to be fighting for the title. Have you ever seen a turnaround like this in someone’s career and how well do you think has Alex handled that? 

    CH: What it demonstrates from Alex’s side is great tenacity. Originally he was part of the junior programme, he was released from that early on in his career and he really had to fight to retain a career in motorsport and rely on his talent, tenacity and never-give-up attitude. And the way he applied himself, you know, driving for Fred’s team in Formula 3, he pushed Leclerc hard that year. Formula 2 he graduated to and he had a strong career in Formula 2 and then, as you say, he was off to another discipline and then, ironically, trigged by the events created by Daniel’s decision to leave to Renault created this opportunity for him to join Toro Rosso and then very quickly you could see that he had a decent talent and great race craft and that’s continued and grown. And then the opportunity came for us to have a look at him within Red Bull Racing. It just shows that if you have the right commitment, the right attitude then things can turn around and talent does always rise to the top.

    Q: As a follow-up to that, can you compare and contrast Alex with Pierre Gasly?

    CH: I think that obviously for Pierre it was very tough for him coming into the start of the season off the back off two accidents in pre-season and that I think definitely affected his confidence and of course being the team-mate to Max Verstappen is a very tough job to have, having that reference point. For Pierre, it was a difficult first half of the season for him. Obviously we felt that with the pressure building on him, the public pressure, the media scrutiny, it was right to remove him from that and put him into the slightly less pressured environment of Toro Rosso. And since that switch I think he has driven again exceptionally well. You can see his confidence is growing. He’s driven some very strong races and his pace is getting better and better. He looks happier in that environment, which is good to see.

    Q: (Jesus Balseiro – Diario AS) Christian again, also about your drivers. Carlos Sainz used to be a Red Bull driver. What’s your opinion about his performance this year. And also, at any point did you regret losing him, just considering him as a good option for the second Red Bull this season?

    CH: Well, I think it’s been good to see Carlos get into a good car this year and he has done a very good job. He has done a very good job. He has driven well. He has very much been the best of the rest after the group of the top three teams and he’s driven some very strong races this year. We elected to go our different ways but we are still proud that we gave him the opportunity to come into Formula 1 and that he’s managed to use that opportunity to carve himself our a career, albeit now with another team.

    Q: (Marcel Teixeira – Reuters) I would like to know from the three team bosses how useful was this first session, because of the climate conditions, of course? It seems we’re going to have wet weather again this afternoon.

    OS: We didn’t do much running so… We did a little bit of running on the intermediate tyres so it was useful to do that. We gained a bit of understanding and a bit of data on what to do here on the intermediate tyre but we’ll see what the rest of the weekend holds. I believe tomorrow and Sunday will be dry.

    CH: Well, for us it was quite an expensive session. It started good. Alex, first time in Brazil, first time on the track, went fastest on the intermediates and then as the circuit looked like it was starting to get dry, I think there were ten cars that went out on slicks and Max went off at turn two – but on his own this time…

    OS: On his own last time too, by the way!

    CH: And Alex unfortunately, with cold brakes, he locked up into the last turn and did a bit of damage so it’s dented the mechanics’ lunch break to get the car ready for the next session.

    FV: For sure it’s not an easy session, it was much less expensive for me than for Christian, but he has much more money also. But no, at the end, the evolution of the track was so huge that it was difficult to do comparison. You had some cars on track with slicks, with wets, with inters [so] I’m not sure it was the best session of the season.

    Q: (Emerson Furkim – Car Magazine) I would like you to talk a little bit about the new regulations for the 2021 season, so I have two short questions. The first one: do you think that the budget cap will really close the gap between the teams? And the second question is will the fans really see more overtakes on track with the new cars?

    TT: For the PU manufacturers, we don’t have a budget cap. In the regulations, we have a testing time limitation, big reduction required and in terms of the teams, I need to hear from the other people. Also that area of chassis development required (for more overtaking) we will see. From a PU point of view, we try to make a strong PU and then make the race more fun.

    OS: Well, the budget cap… we’re going to be nowhere near it so it will not have a big impact on us but some of the bigger teams that will have to perhaps downsize I’m sure it will have an impact in the short term and then they’ll hit some type of equilibrium where they’ll continue to be strong but I think it will have an impact at the beginning. Will the new regulations help overtaking? I can’t predict that. We thought that the new front wing this year was going to do that and it didn’t so I’m unsure. Hopefully the work that’s been put in with creating a different wake of the leading car will have an impact on the following car but whether it allows more overtaking, I can’t predict that.

    CH: Well the budget cap question… what you have to remember about the budget cap is that it’s fixed for a five year period so for certainly the top three teams it’s a considerable challenge to get into a position to obviously get under that cap for 2021 onwards. And then obviously once we are there we have to stay there for five years, so whilst there may still be some divergence between the smaller teams and the larger teams over a period of time and hopefully as revenues continue to grow within the sport with the plans that Liberty… and the growth that they expect to see during the next five years I think things will naturally converge. I think the frustration about the regulations are it makes next year very expensive because we have effectively three things going on: we have the current car to develop, we have tyre testing on behalf of Pirelli with a sort of an interim car and then we have the development of a new car to a new set of regulations, so next year is a big challenge. And in terms of the outcome to the rules, do they achieve the target? Only time will tell. I think the intention is great in what they are wanting to achieve with this high wake concept. Whether that’s achievable only time will tell. The cars are going to look a lot different, it’s very much a clean sheet of paper, the regulations, so with that you tend to get divergence rather than convergence and obviously the cars are a little simpler, there’s not as many aerodynamic influencing elements all over the car so it’s certainly going to be interesting and hopefully the intention is to get it to be more driver influenced which I think is only a positive thing.

    FV: Yeah, the situation is a bit different compared to the teams but for sure the budget cap won’t affect at all the six or seven teams on the grid. It will affect the top teams but on the other hand they will have more resources to develop the new car next year as Christian said before, but the most important thing for me is the stability of the regulations of other period but if we change the regulations another time in ’23 or ’24 but it will be very difficult for the small teams to have an advantage on this. And then on the overtaking, I think the target is clear but the FIA and the FOM worked pretty hard to reduce the wake of the cars and to have a better understanding of this but now we will see only in Melbourne ’21 what is the situation.

    MI: To reply to the question, we are not subject to the budget cap. About the regulations, I want to be positive because if it is true that the cars that are following are losing a lot less downforce, obviously this is a big help for the tyres not to overheat and to keep the performance and this should help overtaking, then obviously we will know in Melbourne 2021 but I want to be positive. I think we are taking the right direction.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Christian, you mentioned Alex’s off in FP1. Obviously the conditions were quite a significant factor in that, so can you just sort of brush this one aside or has he got a little bit of a nasty habit of this, because we’ve seen a few times in practice this year he’s had quite costly accidents?

    CH: I think today wasn’t… you can’t put on Alex’s account. I think maybe we were a little bit too optimistic getting out there, trying to get him laps in on a track that was still pretty damp in the middle sector. Max, as I say, he had a moment at turn one, turn two. There were other cars that were running wide so I don’t think today we can blame that on Alex but he has had a few little incidents this year. Thankfully they’ve all been on Fridays and Saturday mornings. When it’s come to it in qualifying and the race he’s absolutely delivered.

  • 2019 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2019 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Daniel RICCIARDO (Renault), Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), Sergio PÉREZ (Racing Point), Robert KUBICA (Williams)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

     

    Q: Robert, if we could start with you, please. You finished second here in 2009. Could you just give us your thoughts on being back at Interlagos and your hopes for the weekend ahead?

    Robert KUBICA: Yeah, it has been a long time ago actually. It is difficult to say about expectations, you know. We have been struggling all year, so… although 2009 it has been very surprising for me to finish on the podium as it wasn’t a great year with BMW, but I would say it’s nearly impossible this time that we will be able to fight for anything higher than what we have been doing all year. Although, Interlagos is a bit special and anything can happen, but you have to have the pace. The weather is playing quite an important role. There have been many races, thrilling let’s say races here around this track due to the weather but you have to have pace and that is what we are lacking all year.

    Q: You say you’ve been lacking that all year but we’re now at race 20 of 21, when you look at the bigger picture can you just reflect on your comeback season for us?

    RK: Well, it’s definitely not the easiest season and not the season we were hoping for. I think every member of Williams is not happy with what we have seen this year. The team is working hard but it is not an easy season. There are many things which we could probably handle better. But there are also things which I think that although the season has been difficult we have handled in a good way. I think the guys on track always did a very good job with what we have, especially in the beginning of the season it wasn’t easy and the group stayed strong, united and very, very positive, which is good to see in such a difficult period. But, you know, it’s the kind of situation where the people on track they cannot make your car going one second faster. They can make you car going slower, but not faster. And definitely we need to improve what we get, the pace of the car, and then everything will become easier. And also for the guys on track the work will be more easier; more fun. Of course this will not happen with me, as I’m leaving Williams, but I hope this team will improve their situation for the future, especially because the guys they deserve it. They are really good people and they are working hard, so I hope good times, or better times, will arrive soon for Williams.

    Q: And Robert, what about your own performance this year behind the wheel?

    RK: I think the general picture is massively hidden by what we went through this season and many things did not help and actually did influence in a negative way what I was able to do. But, you know, coming back to a competition sport, as Formula 1 is, on the highest level of motorsport, after a long time and with my limitations a lot of people did not even think I would be able to race. I heard many stories that in Turn 1 that will not be able to react to situations and probably the opening lap is one of the things, which I managed well this season. I heard rumours that I would not be able to race in Monaco, and probably Monaco was one of my best drives during this year, although I was still far behind. But feeling-wise it was positive. I’m leaving this season, of course not happy with the general performance, but pretty happy with how my body, my mind and my brain reacted to the difficult challenge I had this year.

    Q: Thank you Robert and good luck this weekend. Romain, you haven’t finished in the points since Germany. Can you just describe how difficult the season half of the year has been for you and the team?

    Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, good morning all. Well, yes, it’s been a rough season generally. We had a very promising winter testing and got to Australia and things were looking good until the pit stop and that pit stop was kind of a bad curse for the whole season and then we had good quali pace and race pace was more difficult. And yeah, I think we are doing the best we can and honestly on-track and off-track the boys are working very, very hard. And honestly there is not much to say about what we could do better with what we have got but as Robert mentioned I think we’re in a little bit the same position at the minute. The car is just not good enough and everything we do is not reflected on track. Germany, it was good to be in the points. It was a bit of a crazy race and the idea was to finish the race and we did and that was positive but yeah more recently it has been complicated to fight also for the points, but again not the fault of the team – the work is good; it’s just the car we have is not good enough to fight for good points. So I guess the focus was very early on into 2020 and make sure that next year we get a better tool to work with.

    Q: So if this year’s car isn’t good enough, what does the team need to do to ensure it doesn’t have a repeat of 2019 next season?

    RG: I think that’s a good question for Guenther. I think the team knows what needs to be done. There have been a lot of discussions; there has been a lot of, how can I say, I don’t find the word in English, but just the way we operate, the race team, it’s great and many races I think we perform better than we should. You know, being in the top 10 in Russia, in qualifying in Suzuka, not far from the top 10 in America, in quali it just shows that we are outperforming when we can, on new tyres. The race always unfortunately brings back the truth. I know that Guenther has been working very hard with all the boys, our chief engineer, Ayao Komatsu, and make sure that we react well for next year. I think everyone sees that – our partners, like Richard Mille just announced that they are going to carry on with us for one year, so everyone believes that the team is going to do good this year.

    Q: Would you say that this is your most frustrating season in Formula 1?

    RG: It’s been a tough season and obviously when you come to the race and you know that the chances of fighting for a good position is hard, then it’s not easy. But I’ve know that in my career. 2013 was a really good season and then 2014 was very difficult and we didn’t have a good car but then the team, at the time, in Enstone reacted well and 2015 was good again. It’s the same thing as Haas – 2016 was a good start, 2017 a bit more complicated and 2018 really good. So, I’ve got confidence that we can bounce back. Yes, it’s frustrating and I must be a bit crazy, because I’m always looking forward to come to a race and very happy to be in Brazil. Maybe on Sunday when we’ve done 71 laps and we haven’t been able to challenge it’s a bit of a different feeling but it doesn’t matter, we’ll still be happy to go to the next one.

    Q: Thanks Romain and good luck this week. Sergio, you’ve scored in six of the last seven races. At the summer break you set the team the target of having the fourth fastest car at the end of the season. How close to that target have you got?

    Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, I don’t think we have achieved what we wanted this year. It’s been a disappointing season in a way. We knew it was not going to be great since the beginning but we kind of expected to be a bit more competitive by now. I think in the second half of the season we’ve been strong, in different circuits, different places, which is always positive. I think McLaren, in that midfield, has been very consistent, very strong, but I think we have been in the mix with all the others and we’ve scored a good amount of points since the summer break, so I think there are a lot positives to take, but the general picture is, yeah, it’s not where we want to be.

    Q: You haven’t reached Q3 since the Belgian Grand Prix. How much has the car’s lack of qualifying pace compromised your races?

    SP: Yeah, it does. I don’t think we have quite the pace in quali but then come race day we seem to be on the stronger side. Good strategy also from the team. I think the team has been tremendous in that regard. They are always maximizing the maximum, especially in the last couple of races – outsmarting other teams with the strategies, with everything we possibly can. So hopefully we can keep going. There is still tomorrow and a lot to play for. We are in a big battle in the Constructors’ with Toro Rosso at the moment, so hopefully we can finish ahead.

    Q: Just one point the gap to Toro Rosso, but you are only 18 behind Renault. Do you have enough in your armoury to challenge Renault for P5?

    SP: 18?

    Q: Yes.

    SP: Well, it’s not over until it’s over, so we’ll try our best!

    Q: A knowing nod from Daniel Ricciardo. Sergio, thanks for that. So, Daniel, Renault has hit a bit of form. You’ve scored points in the last couple of races and drove a particularly strong race in Austin. Have you found some consistency in the car?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I think so. Like, on Sundays it certainly seems to show a bit more now. The qualifying – we’ve still had a good run of Q3s but we’re not always there, but comparing to, as Sergio says, comparing to McLaren who have been our midfield target this year after their form, it seems like qualifying most weekends they’ve still got a good buffer but come race day we are able to, if not beat them, then get much closer to their pace. We are starting to get some consistency with the car, which is good. I think as well for me, naturally, the more races I do and the more familiar I am with the car, the more I start, just myself, to get consistent; make fewer errors and this and that. But yeah, it’s been a good run of races for sure. What was it, sixth in Austin? It’s like sixth is a big deal and that was quite exciting. Yeah, we’re not spraying champagne on the podium but there is still a lot of satisfaction to take from a sixth place for us.

    Q: You say a good run of races, but what about the season as whole? How do you reflect on year one with Renault? Because there were some people who questioned your move from Red Bull to Renault.

    DR: Yes. I knew they would and I knew all this was going to come but I was very, I guess open-minded for the season. Firstly, I was excited to have a fresh start and a change. I’ve made the mistake in the past of setting to high an expectation and left disappointed, so I more came into the season excited for something new and a new challenge. I didn’t really expect the world from this season. I expect a lot from myself but I knew it would take time to get the team to where we want it to go. We’re still not there but I think in the second half of the season we have had a bit more consistency. That’s been more positive. So looking towards what we are really trying to achieve next year it looks better. We’ll start to expect more – not only from myself but also from the team come 2020. But I think we have learned a lot. Personally I have. The results haven always been what we wanted but I definitely don’t see it being a year to forget or anything like that, far from it.

    Q: So what are you really trying to achieve in 2020?

    DR: Champagne. I mean really, when I signed with the team, 2020 was the target to finish on the podium, at least once. That’s really the target. Yeah, we’re still a little bit away from that but McLaren are proof of the pudding that you can really make a big difference in one season, so I think with a strong off-season it’s not impossible for us to have a chance to fight for that. I think ultimately whether it’s champagne or not we want to closer to the top three and actually be in the fight with those three teams more consistently next year.

    Q: Valtteri, there have been a few celebrations in the UK since the last race, talking about Mercedes’ celebrations obviously, how proud are you of your role in the team’s success this year?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, we had nice celebrations at the factory last week. Actually, when you go there and see all the people and all the smiles and all that you actually realise what we’ve done together as a team. So, that’s always a very, very nice moment, with so much good energy and happiness. So, for sure it means a lot to me, to be part of this team, breaking records, being one of the team members of many who make it possible. And yes, it’s been a much better season from my side than last year, so it’s been nice to contribute properly to the achievements we’ve got as a team. So… yeah. One of the many proud team-members, for sure.

    Q: You say it’s been a better season than last year. Would you say this has been your best season in Formula 1 from a driving point of view?

    VB: I believe if I look at it overall, the season yes, it’s been my best so far in Formula 1 but still not a season that I’m aiming for. Still need a bit more consistency, fewer mistakes but the thing that gives me good feeling and confidence for the future is now actually really starting to see the work we’ve been doing with the engineers and what I’ve been doing with myself and driving-wise, and being really able to target many of the weaknesses I’ve had, and been able to improve my pace in different circumstances quite a lot. So that’s very satisfying to see and makes you want more.

    Q: And now that both championships have been sealed and you’re guaranteed second place in the Championship, can we expect a change in approach from you coming into this weekend or Abu Dhabi?

    VB: I don’t think so. I think it’s the same approach. There’s still two opportunities to win a race and that should be the only goal for me. There’s very positive momentum for me and I want to keep that going – and then continue from there next year. So, look forward to the last two ones.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to all drivers. What kind of memories do you keep from Ayrton Senna and what kind of legacy do you think he left to Formula 1?

    RG: Ayrton has been incredible for the sport. He’s been an icon in Formula 1. I started watching Formula 1, the last few years of Ayrton, fight with Alain Prost. And obviously being French, you wanted to support Alain – but also you couldn’t not support Ayrton, so it was a bit of a hard decision to pick up which one I wanted to support the most. But yeah, Ayrton has been an incredible driver. 25 years later we’re still remembering him as if it were yesterday. We still know what you were doing that day – if you were born – in May ’94. It’s a big, big name in the history of Formula One.

    DR: He’s certainly left a legacy bigger than anyone else really, I think, in terms of the name is still so common 25 years on. Our hotel is – and I know we’re in Brazil – but still it’s filled with Senna memorabilia, artwork. They still hold him very close to their heart and it’s nice to see that. And for me as a driver, and as a kid watching him, and I guess following him, my admiration was his ability to be so loved off track and have, not only Brazil but nearly the whole world behind him, but then on track he was as ruthless as they came, y’know? That competitor in him was amazing but then to have that softness off the track. I would say that was pretty admirable.

    VB: For sure he left a massive mark and legacy. Time goes pretty quickly but his memory is not getting any weaker, for sure, so he’s always going to be on everyone’s minds. For sure here in Brazil, massively, but also all around the world. I think his career, he’s motivated so many young kids, like me and I think all of us, to be better racing drivers. I’m really out of words, he just left a massive mark and it will always continue like that.

    SP: A tremendous character out of the car. What he did for his country, how proud he was. You can see these days how much they still love him. Not just in Brazil, all around the world, and what he did on track was spectacular. Those races where him, purely as a racing driver, made all the difference. I’ve never seen something like that in my career. He definitely left a big mark in the sport and he’s a big hero for all the generations. Especially our generation.

    RK: Yeah, I think as everyone’s said, big name, big historical name. I think it’s impressive that, after 25 years since he passed away, it says everything that we are still talking about his human aspect. We concentrate a lot about the driver but I think he was really a hero of humanity, and that’s why he is still loved and has such respect after 25 years.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Robert, where do things stand now regarding you finalising plans for next year?

    RK: They stand pretty well, I would say. Of course, time is running and the clock is going ahead but I’m pretty confident things are looking good. Of course, every week something is happening, in positive and negatives, but it’s moving. So, I’m pretty relaxed and working, as I always said, since Singapore when I was asked. For me, racing is something which I’m looking forward and working on this and probably also combining different programmes.

    Q: (Emerson Furkim – Car Magazine) Question to all drivers. With the new regulations for the 2021 season. All the teams have limited budget, they spend less money than they used to. Do you think this is going to be indeed the key point to make Formula 1 more competitive; to bring more teams and driver to fight for the championship?

    VB: I think that is one of the good things for the regulations. I think having a bit less of a difference between the budgets of the different teams… obviously there will still budget differences between some teams, but less than in the past. I think there’s lots of other good things as well, that look really interesting with the new regs. If actually, physically, the cars will behave aerodynamically as it says on paper, I think the racing is going to be very close, very tough. Definitively closer between the teams and, also, with quite a few restrictions on the aero side with the design of the cars. Already from that, we’re going see less of the big differences between performance. I think there are lots of good things that I really look forward to finding out. And then eventually getting to drive the car and seeing how it feels and how the racing is going to be. Obviously we’ll find out but I think those are good steps in the right direction and I really hope it will encourage some new teams to arrive in Formula 1, because I always think the more cars we can have on the grid, the more fun we’re going to have racing, so that should be nice.

    DR: Yeah, I really agree with everything Valtteri said. The last point he touched on is an important one. It reminded me of 2008, we raced together the first race of the season in Spa. I think there was 48 cars, or something, and the grid only held 42 so not everyone qualified. But to have a grid so big and full of cars and competitors, that in itself was really exciting. If these changes do encourage more cars, more teams to get on the grid, not only does it give more opportunity to other drivers to get a seat in Formula One but yeah, the more competition in the field and as a spectacle, I think that’s pretty cool. Yeah, hopefully it has positive change in many ways.

    RG: Yeah, I guess I’m the same line. It’s a first step in a good direction. Is it going to be enough or not? Only the track and the 2021 season will say. I guess some teams wanted less budget cap, some teams wanted a stronger budget cap. I think maybe 2021 is not going to be the first season to judge, because 2020 is where you’re going to develop the car, but 2022 and onwards, let’s see what it brings. I think it can only be positive. As I said, I believe it’s a first step and then maybe fine-tuning can be made. But generally, yes, it’s good and if we can get more people involved in Formula One and more teams and so on, it just would be better. Also to bring the young drivers in and have more competition, and not always seeing the same one winning. Not that they’re complaining about it – but we do a little bit.

    SP: Always when there’s a big regulation change it always tends to change a lot the team order, in terms of competition. So that can be very positive for the sport. I think on paper it’s looking a lot more competitive. It’s looking like the field can be very tight and competitive and it’s something I’m looking extremely forward to. When you look at the midfield – how competitive and fun it is to come to a race and you don’t know who is going to come out on top – it’s a feeling that I’m missing a lot. In the whole field, hopefully by 2021 it can be there.

    RK: Yeah. I think we have to split two things. One is closer racing, or the cars which opens up better racing. I think this is looking promising and I hope really Liberty and the FIA can achieve it, what they show us. I think this will definitely make races more exciting for drivers – but also for the fans. Regarding different teams winning. I have my opinion, which often I think we’ve forgotten about talent of the people who are working within the teams. It’s true that money helps but the talent makes the difference. I hope it will put teams closer together – but I have some doubts about it. As we have seen in Formula 1, there has always been domination, or years where one team was winning – and we also see it in Formula 2, Formula 3: the cars are the same but in the end the talent of the people who are operating the cars is even more powerful. We will have to wait and see – but definitely if the cars will open up better racing, this will be something big and everybody is looking forward to this.

    Do you think the driver salaries should have been included in the budget cap?

    RG: Of course!

    DR: What do you think? Let’s throw it back at you?

    Q: Do I think they should have been? Yes! I think they should have been. What do you think?

    DR: I haven’t thought that far ahead – 2021. What’s going to happen tomorrow?

    Q: (Julien Biliotte – AutoHebdo) Valtteri, you always say that you don’t want to play mind games and cross the yellow line when fighting for the title, but when you look at what Nico Rosberg managed to do in 2016 against Lewis by getting under his skin, would you be ready to be more aggressive or political when it comes to racing your teammate?

    VB: Very honest: I’m already slightly bored about that question because every driver is individual. I’m me. I’m not Nico. For sure, I always have plans, finding the different ways how I want to achieve my goal which is ultimately the championship and that obviously requires me to beat my teammate but also many other drivers. I’ve always preferred to do the talking on track and if I can keep up my performances and focus all my energy that I have into my own performance I think that’s going to be the best bet for me. If I start wasting energy elsewhere, it might take my mind off the driving and what really matters, and if I can then perform at the level I want to; normally that tends to upset the other side of the garage a little bit and I know that being on the other side as well, it can lead you to mistakes and so on. I have a plan for next year and I’m not really willing to share it so we will find out.

    Q: (Cezary Gutowski – Prezeglad Sportowi) Question to Romain, Daniel and Valtteri, it seems that amongst you guys only Racing Point and Williams are committed to staying in Formula One past 2020, so my question is, are you worried about the future of Formula One and what you will do if one of your teams or all of them quit?

    RG: Well, if three of the teams leave, then I guess we’re going to play petanque or boules or bowls or whatever it’s called in Monaco. No, I honestly hope that in 2021… I think 2021 is a good step, good direction and I’m hoping that the teams will stay and we’re more on the positive side, not thinking what about if they leave but can we get more teams joining Formula One. Let’s be positive and think that it’s actually going to attract more people.

    DR: Yep, I’m at the positive end of the spectrum. I have faith that everyone will continue in good spirits and keep things going. I won’t think about if not. I like singing but I’m not good enough to make it as a career so yeah, I’ll be struggling.

    VB: Yeah, I’m on the positive side as well. I feel the change is in the right direction, as I said before, so I’m not too worried about the future of Formula One at the moment. Obviously we never know and you never know the case of individual teams but if something happens, then you always need to find something else but I’m pretty relaxed and pretty positive about the future.

    Q: (Andreas Lopez – Motorlat.com) Daniel, what expectations do you have for these last two races?

    DR: I think to keep the momentum going. Until we finally had a few races in a row with good results… you know that was one of the challenging things this year for us. One weekend would go good and we’re ready to go the next weekend and then we don’t get the result that we think we should have got – sometimes through some misfortune, other times maybe we didn’t read the situation as well but yeah, I think now we have some momentum and I think more importantly… I think hopefully… I don’t want to say our position in the championship is secured but we look OK to hold onto the fifth (place) but I think more importantly to bring that momentum through the winter for the factory, for the team who’s going to then put the effort in to get the car on track next year. I think finishing strong has more of an effect than on that part of the championship than the actual position itself for this year, if you know what I mean, so for me personally, to keep going, I prefer finishing sixth than twelfth so I’m going to try and keep finishing well in the points and see where it gets us after Abu Dhabi but as I said, more importantly for everyone to just finish the season with their chin up and a spring in their step and happy to work through the winter with a positive mindset that the following season’s going to be better.

    Q: (Stewart Bell – Maxim, Australia) Obviously Formula One is talking to Rio, potentially for 2021. What does it mean for you to race here at Interlagos and the quality as a race venue?

    RK: I know very little about Rio, I have never ever been there. I think opening up new tracks is something which all drivers look forward to, new challenges and driving on new tracks. Although it’s a short lap here, I still enjoy driving around here and the races have always been quite exciting here for whatever reason. I have no really big thoughts about (Rio).

    SP: I’m always happy for new venues, especially if it can be a good circuit where the racing can be good and interesting. As Robert says, here, for any reasons the Sundays are normally very entertaining and always a lot of things tend to happen. Quite open to it and if that happens, then I guess it can be a good venue for Formula One as well.

    VB: I think this is a very iconic track. It’s been a part of Formula One for a long time, very legendary races so for sure it would be a shame not race here again but at the same time, at least there would still be a race in Brazil which I think should be a part of the Formula One calendar with all the support and all the passion the fans have for the sport here. Then, on the other hand, a new track would be welcome as well but it would be a shame to leave Interlagos.

    DR: I think going to Rio would be cool enough. I’ve never been and a chance to see another part of the world and yeah, I guess to race in another city. I think the important thing is that Brazil keeps a Grand Prix. I think it has such a strong history in the sport so yes, for the locals here it might be a bit upsetting but I think globally for Brazil just to still hold a race I think that holds enough power and Rio is a massive city – never been, but I’ve heard it’s a massive city, I think everyone knows that, and I’d like to check it out and yeah, new challenge, new circuit, that could be fun so I wouldn’t be against it.

    RG: Yeah, Interlagos is one of my favourite circuits so I would greatly miss it if we don’t come here any more but you never know what Rio’s going to look like so why not? I guess, as the guys say, the key is that we still come to Brazil.

    Q: (Carlos Costa – motorsport.com) Continuing on the topic of the Brazilian Grand Prix, I would like you to rank Interlagos in comparison with other tracks on the calendar that we have in F1?

    RG: It’s in the top three. I love it. Suzuka, Spa and Interlagos.

    DR: I like it. It’s a lot like my local track in Perth (Barbagallo). I wish it had more corners. It’s a bit short so the lap’s over very quickly. I would have loved an extension – I don’t know if they’ve got the room – but a few more corners would have made it a bit more exciting. I think to have a real high-speed corner; I think that’s what the circuit misses. I think it’s got a lot of technical low speed – turn one, two is fun but even Turn 6, the right hander, it’s actually not that fast so I wouldn’t even classify that as a high speed corner. For me that’s something which it misses is a corner where you can really – I don’t want to say make the difference – but a bit more of a challenging corner because the rest are kind of mostly – well, they’re not all hairpins but anyway… So yeah, it’s somewhere in there.

    RG: So what’s the final ranking, then?

    DR: It’s alright.

    VB: I like the track. Obviously it is short but it makes it super close in qualifying and always makes good races. I think also the local support here makes it a really unique Grand Prix: always a place to look forward to come to race again. It’s difficult to say the exact position on my list but definitely on the better side of the top ten. It’s good fun; I enjoy it.

    Q: Daniel, would you say top ten?

    RG: Top twenty, he says.

    Q: Checo?

    SP: Yeah, it’s a cool track, very small. I would like it to be a bit longer, more corners, the lap is very short. There was a year when Kimi tried an extension of the track –  somewhere else! I don’t know that part of the circuit but it’s definitely very enjoyable and the racing tends to be very good. The fans are very enthusiastic so it’s a great place. Top five. Top ten! We have too many good circuits.

    DR: Yeah, that’s true.

    RK: I think it’s a bit unfair to rank it. I think it’s a good track and good racing and as the guys have said, it’s short but it’s still challenging and it’s good. It’s exactly the same as it was when I was here for the first time in 2001, not a lot of people remember that I was racing here when I was 16. It’s exactly the same, apart from some of the run-off areas but maybe that’s why we still like it because modern tracks sometimes they are too perfect and here is still quite challenging. Ranking? Politically, top ten.

  • 2018 Brazil Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2018 Brazil Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Brendon HARTLEY (Toro Rosso), Kevin MAGNUSSEN (Haas), Lance STROLL (Williams), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Marcus, if we could start with you. It’s been a busy couple of weeks for you since Mexico. You’ve announced your plans for 2019, in IndyCar. Is that farewell to Formula 1 or do you see IndyCar as a stepping stone back to Formula 1?

    Marcus ERICSSON: I don’t really know the answer to that question; I think that’s what the future will tell. I go to America fully committed to doing a great job over there. I see myself as being there for quite some time. But then in the future you never know what will happen. I’m just super excited to go there. I met the team and it felt really, really good. I think IndyCar, from the outside, looks like a lot of fun, so I can’t wait to get started.

    Q: So that means your Formula 1 tenure is over, at least for now. How do you reflect on the last five years?

    ME: It’s been amazing, I’ve really enjoyed it, but it’s also been tough. Most of the time I’ve been running in back-of-the-grid teams and cars and that’s always tough, especially when you’re used to growing up through the junior ranks and you always fight for wins and podiums and you always go in with that mindset to a race weekend, and then the last five years that’s never been realistic and that’s been the tough part of it. That’s why also I’m so excited about next year, that I can actually be back racing for wins again. I bring a lot of experience and a lot of good memories from these five years, for sure.

    Q: Let’s just finish by talking about the on-track performance of you and your Sauber. You had your sixth points finish of the year in Mexico. How confident are you of repeating that here at Interlagos?

    ME: We are confident that we can be competitive here. I’ve scored points now two weekends in a row and I’m aiming to continue that. I think the car at the moment is competitive. We know it’s very tight there in the midfield but we’ve done a good job all year to improve all the time and we continue to do that and I’m sure we’re going to be in the fight this weekend as well. I feel really good, feel really confident so I’m sure we’re going to be there and fight for those points on Sunday.

    Q: Thank you, Marcus. Stoffel, you’re another driver who has announced plans outside of: is it farewell to Formula 1 or do you see Formula E as a stepping stone back into Formula 1?

    Stoffel VANDOORNE: It’s a bit hard to tell. I’m starting a new challenge, which I’m really looking forward to, with HWA in Formula E. I don’t really have a break this winter, so I’m going straight into that and that will also be… my mindset is to do the best job there. So whatever happens in the future, it’s difficult to tell at the moment. You know, the driver market this summer has been a little bit crazy and no one could have really expected what has happened. Things like that can happen in the future and who knows what is going to happen. But for now I’m just focusing on Formula E and trying to do the best job there.

    Q: So how do you reflect on your couple of seasons with McLaren?

    SV: Definitely it’s not been the best two seasons. I’ve had a great time with McLaren through the junior series and they’ve supported me a lot to make the step into Formula 1. But the two years I’ve had in Formula 1 have been good in terms of experience but I would have much preferred to fight higher up. The timing was right to get to Formula 1 and I think I was with the right team, the right support, but I think just the competitive we’ve had over those two years have not been great. It would have been nice to fight a bit higher up.

    Q: Well, we saw you back in the points in Mexico last time out, where you finished eighth. Just talk us through that result: what changed on the car, did you make a breakthrough, because you were more competitive?

    SV: Nothing changed. That weekend we just looked a little bit more competitive in general. From my side that weekend went really well from the start. Qualifying wasn’t maybe the best for us but we were a little bit closer to the group in front, which usually means on race day we are a little bit better than them. It turned out to be that way. I think the tyre degradation helped us quite a lot there to be a bit more competitive and to make a bit of a difference. It was nice to finish eighth and get some points on the board and also quite important for us for the Constructors’ Championship.

    Q: Thank you. Brendon, we’ve been speaking to these guys about 2019. Any update on your plans for next year?

    Brendon HARTLEY: Pretty much the same stance I’ve had for the last races. It’s probably not worth going into. I’m still very much focused on my own performance, what I can do to get the most out of the weekend, working with the team. I’m focusing on myself and not much has changed, so there’s no real news to give you.

    Q: You’ve started ahead of your team-mate Pierre Gasly in two of the last three races, so it feels like you’re getting a bit of momentum behind you. While we’re in reflective mood, can you just talk us through how you feel you’ve improved as a driver during 2018.

    BH: Yeah, I definitely have improved and there was a lot to learn, being a rookie – an old rookie at 28 years old – but still a rookie in Formula One. Coming from LMP1 there was a lot of similarities, which I’ve touched on many times before but then also a lot of new things to learn. Tyres is a big one that springs to mind. Maybe the environment in Formula One, the style of racing, and I guess some of the external pressures that are sometimes put on you as a driver. I felt through the season… yeah, I’ve maybe hardened my approach, I’ve got stronger, I’ve learnt from mistakes, figured out, with the engineers what’s going to get the most out of the weekend for me, in terms of the car, the set-up. I think I’ve bought a lot of experience to the team and in the second half of the season I’ve definitely been stronger. Qualifying, me and Pierre have been quite aligned: sometimes he’s been just ahead, sometimes I’ve been just ahead. The races haven’t always worked out and I don’t think the points on the board is a true reflection. I think sometimes people do forget it’s also a team sport, it’s not just an individual, it is very much a team sport and I’ve been a team player. I think now the focus is really on making sure we’re ahead of Sauber before the end of the season. That’s the main focus for Toro Rosso right now and I think we’ve got an exciting couple of races ahead. Mexico we had really, really good pace considering we had the older-spec engine. Even with the issue I had on the first lap with the flat spot, I was still in a points position before the penalty and the damage, and I think that, knowing how much performance we can gain from the new engine, and potentially the new aero package that we’ll both have this weekend, I think we can be excited and optimistic for the last couple of races for 2018.

    Q: You mentioned the upgraded Honda engine there. How much of an improvement is that? Is it something you can actually feel in the cockpit?

    BH: It’s a tricky one to answer because these Formula One cars are very light and you have close to 1,000hp – I don’t know the exact number – and the objective from the drivetrain, which is massively complicated with three different engines and all sorts of calculations going on to make it all work but in theory you get power when you put down the throttle pedal and… I guess the point I’m trying to make is that every track we go to, we have different downforce levels, different altitude in Mexico, for example, so to feel a power increase is tricky for a driver but the lap time shows a story and there’s no question from everybody in the team and from all the data that there’s a really big step. I think we suffered a little bit in Mexico, especially in the racing environments and off the start line not having it – but we have it onboard again for the next two races and yeah, it gives us something to be optimistic about.

    Q: Lance, we’ve spoken to everyone else about 2019, so I feel it’s only right that I should ask you the same question. When are you going to tell us what your plans are?

    Lance STROLL: Yeah, well, right now I’m still focussed on the remainder of this season. There’s two races left, that’s where my heads at. We’ll see what the future holds.

    Q: Can we expect an announcement about your future within this season or do you think it’ll be a winter announcement?

    LS: I believe so. Time will tell. That’s all I can say right now.

    Q: I think that’s you telling us to move on. We’re in reflective mood here. You’re coming towards the end of your second season in Formula One. Talk us through your ambitions in the sport now. You’ve been able to observe all the other drivers around you, including the world champions. What do you think you can achieve in Formula One?

    LS: That’s dependent on a lot of things. I mean, right now I’m just taking it day by day, year by year. We’ll see – but there are so many factors in Formula One that are important. You need to be in a good car first of all – this year has been a good example: it’s been a very challenging year with the car. The performance really hasn’t been there and therefore we couldn’t score many points. So that’s a bit part of it – but yeah, I’m not looking too far down the line right now, I’m really just trying to, y’know, focus on the present, make the most of where I am currently and we’ll see down the line what happens. It’s too hard to tell, sitting here today.

    Q: How difficult has it been for you to make the most of where you are currently, because it’s been a difficult season? What do you feel you’ve learned during 2018?

    LS: Yeah, it has been very challenging. The car just hasn’t been there so we’ve just been surviving every weekend rather than actually competing. Been getting knocked out in Q1 a lot, most of the races I’ve had good starts and I’ve been in a points-scoring position, we’ve just fell back down the order so it’s kind of always been the case, we’ve just been on the back foot throughout the whole year. We haven’t really developed the car at all since Australia, I don’t think we’ve really improved the car at all. It’s been tough to see some of our competitors early on, like Sauber, for example, who were neck and neck with us at the beginning, make big steps in the right direction, compared to us. Yeah, it’s been a survival year, that’s all I can say. But I’ve still developed as a driver, I’ve matured as a driver. The second year in Formula One, more seat time, more experience. I’ve absorbed a lot of information, even though it’s been a very challenging year compared to last year but that’s the nature of the sport. As a driver, you have to accept that some years are more challenging than others and that’s part of the game.

    Q: Kevin, we’re talking about 2018, so how do you reflect on the season that’s just been? It’s been a good year for you. You can clinch your qualifying head-to-head against Romain Grosjean this weekend in Brazil.

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN:  Yeah, it has been a pretty good year, I think. It has shown that we are making progress with the team, year by year, and I think our aim should be to keep that up in the next season. I think this year it looks like we’re probably going to finish fifth in the Constructors unless we get some very good weekends in the next two weekends. That leaves us at least one realistic target for next year, to take another step forward. I think this year we’ve had a very fast car. We haven’t always scored the points that we should have for different reasons but the good thing about that is that we can go into next season and know that we can do better, because the performance is there.

    Q: Well, Mexico really hurt the team’s chances of getting P4 in the championship, didn’t it? Both cars knocked out in Q1 for the first time this year; do you understand what the problems were in Mexico?

    KM: Not quite, but I think we understand that it’s probably to do with tyres as we hadn’t changed the car so the only thing that really can be such a big factor is the tyres and I think in Mexico you have these factors like you have very little downforce because of the altitude and that has a lot of knock-on effects on different things so cooling as well and you run the car in a different window in Mexico. I think we got the tyre performance a little bit wrong so we suffered a lot in Mexico and that was a weekend to forget, definitely, but also at the same time we of course are trying to learn from it because last year and the year before the team also had a bad weekend in Mexico, so hopefully next year we can learn a bit more and get there a little bit more prepared, to not have such a big off weekend.

     

    QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ian Parks – New York Times) Stoffel and Kevin; Stoff you touched on your two years at McLaren, can you just expand a little on your relationship with Fernando, what you might take forward from those two years, having worked alongside an experienced double World Champion? And Kevin, could you just give me your thoughts on Fernando as a driver? I know you’ve expressed some disagreements in the past. Does that still hold true and what positives can you say about him?

    SV: Yeah, for me it’s definitely been a good experience to go alongside Fernando, let’s say. The way he prepares a weekend – obviously Fernando’s one of the most experienced drivers on the grid. I think as a rookie it was very valuable for me to learn from that, especially the way he prepares his weekend, through the practice sessions, how he’s building up to the race on Sunday, how he’s trying to extract the most so there’s a definitely a lot I’ve learned over the past two years which I can carry forward.

    KM: My respect for Fernando as a driver is very big. There’s no doubt he’s definitely one of the best drivers on the grid. Even though we’ve had some tough fights and a few arguments, there’s no damage to my respect for him as a driver. I think that’s it.

  • Ocon Penalized for Impeding Palmer during Brazilian GP Qualifying

    Ocon Penalized for Impeding Palmer during Brazilian GP Qualifying

    Manor Racing’s Esteban Ocon will drop 3 places down the grid after stewards found that he impeded Renault’s Jolyon Palmer in Q1.

    Palmer, who was on a flying lap at the time, had to run wide at Turn 4 to avoid Ocon. Despite Palmer still making it through to Q2 Ocon was penalized 3-grid spots and 2-penalty points on his super license.

    “At the end of the Q1 session, the Driver of Car 31 (Ocon) was on a slow lap having aborted his lap previously, while the Driver of Car 30 (Palmer) was on a fast lap,” read the statement by the Stewards in the decision document.

    “Entering the braking area of Turn 4 Ocon stayed on the racing line at the moment when Palmer was approaching, forcing Palmer off the racing line.

    “At that time, Ocon was on the radio with his team, who did not inform him of the approaching car.

    “When Ocon did see Palmer, he moved as far as possible to the right to avoid a dangerous situation, but the Stewards concluded these were not mitigating factors, and that  Ocon clearly impeded Palmer.”

    Photo credit: Manor Racing Formula One Team

  • 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Guenther STEINER (Haas), Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Christian, can we start with you: just looking at the track action that’s been going on today, the long run pace obviously looks quite close to Mercedes, but is it really that offers you the chance to fight for victory, or can you be a little more optimistic after today?

    Christian HORNER: Well, I think under normal circumstances the usual business will happen. Mercedes have been the dominant force all year and there’s no reason to expect any different this weekend. But, race pace over the last few race, on a Sunday we’ve managed to get close to them particularly their tail car. Perhaps with a little bit of weather… there are some unpredictable forecasts over the next few days and opportunities can hopefully present themselves to put a challenge on.

    Either way, there is a pretty good chance that you are going to wrap up second place in the Constructors’ Championship this weekend. Given where you’ve been, in transition from 2015 to 2016, does that constitute a success?

    CH: It would represent an enormous achievement for the whole team. We came into the year thinking, ‘you know what, to get into the top five will be difficult’. But the guys have produced a great car. The people at Renault have done a good job with the engine over the winter. Our season has just grown stronger and stronger. To be sitting here having achieved 14 or so podiums, two grand prix victories, Max’s first victory in Barcelona, Daniel with a one-two finish in Malaysia and to be sitting here ahead of Ferrari on points and the nearest competitor to Mercedes represents and extremely impressive season for the whole team.

    Maurizio, what about your side of that story: the battle with Red Bull. It’s not the team you set our to be battling against this year in the world championship but how and why did they get ahead of you?

    Maurizio ARRIVABENE: I think first of all we need to take into consideration… it’s not an excuse but it is circumstances that happened where we lose position on the grid and you know when you start a bit in front the story is going to change. Having said so, they have a strong reaction, as Christian said, and we are below of our expectation. By the way, as I said many, many times, we are not giving up here and not either in Abu Dhabi. I know it’s tough, but the championship is still not finished.

    Now you told Sebastian yourself, personally over the radio in Mexico, to “calm down”, quote-unquote, and he admitted sitting here yesterday that he did lose his cool in Mexico but he said it was not down to frustration, so how happy have you been in general with his performance?

    MA: I have zero problem with Sebastian. I mean, as I said many, many times, Sebastian is quite emotional. Sometimes he looks a bit more Latino than German. I think Christian knows the matter like I do. He’s very emotional, he’s very passionate, especially when he’s driving and it’s in a racing battle. It’s not a question of frustration. Sometimes he can be unhappy as we are unhappy because our expectations are different. But he’s not a guy who is giving up; he’s a guy that is pushing like hell. Sometimes when the adrenalin is going up to the sky, maybe he’s choosing a word more than what is expected, but then my role, like in Mexico, is also to call him and to invite him to be focused on what he’s doing.

    Paul, you brought soft and medium again this year to Interlagos, but also the hard tyre. It’s quite an unusual move, only the second time this season you’ve brought a harder tyre than the one that came last season. How’s that looking?

    Paul HEMBERY: Well, you wouldn’t want the supersoft here that’s for sure, so it sort of chose itself from that point of view. The soft tyre is suffering. It’s hot, an aggressive track, high wear, so it’s pretty much as we expected, but that was the majority choice as well of the teams.

    Important test coming up for you in Abu Dhabi. Can you give us a preview of what to expect and a general overview on progress, where you are with next year’s tyres?

    PH: Well, we’re clearly homing in on final solutions now. There are still going to be a lot of combinations tested next week in Abu Dhabi. Still some compounding work, we’re still working on some internal aspects of the tyre but we’re progressing as planned.

    Fred, coming to you, you’ve retained Jolyon Palmer for 2017 to drive along Nico Hulkenberg. What were the reasons for that and what do you expect from him in his second year?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: First we had to secure the first one. It was done with Nico around Suzuka, something like this. Then we were able to postpone a little bit the decision. If you have a look at the last event, I think that Jo did a very good job; he is improving. If you have a look also to what he did in the past in the junior series he was always able to improve step by step, year after year and we took the decision to move forward with Jo and I would expect that he will have the same improving curve that he did in the junior series and it will be good.

    Now, a lot hinges for next season, for you team and for Christian’s team, on the Renault engine taking a decent step. So will it?

    FV: I hope so! It’s in the pipe… I think Christian also thinks so… no, no we are working on the project of the new engine and I think everything is going well so far and we will see in Barcelona.

    Guenther, coming to you and continuing on the theme of the drivers, Esteban Gutierrez has said on social media this weekend that he is leaving your team and there are strong suggestions that Magnussen will be leaving Fred’s team to come and join you. What’s most important for you over the next couple of years? Is it to have consistent drivers that you can work with to develop the team and the cars or would you look to bring in an American or a rookie? What’s the most important thing?

    Guenther STEINER: I think the most important… just if somebody hasn’t seen the press release, it just came out maybe 10 minutes ago, we confirmed that Romain and Kevin will join us next year, that just came out 10 minutes ago. We want to grow the team and therefore we wanted some experience of drivers that have been on the podium and that have scored points and Kevin was fitting the bill, therefore we moved forward with him. I would like to take this moment to thanks Esteban for what he did for us over this year. I think he has got a good future; he did a good job and whatever people say he is a good driver. He helped us develop the team from nothing to be where we are so thanks a lot to him.

    Q: The Ferrari partnership has obviously got you started in 2016; you’ve scored plenty of points but as you now move forward, are you now looking to build your own capability in the future to be able to take control of your own destiny.

    GS: No, we have a long-standing contract in place with Ferrari that we can continue the business model we are doing. We are going forward like this for the next few years and then we see, we rethink. But at the moment we are very happy with Ferrari, what they did for us over the year to get again to the point where we are now. Hopefully we finish eighth if Fred’s team doesn’t pull out something very special, and we hope we move up next year. But in the moment, for sure you always develop your team and you keep on getting better and more people in and that will happen – but in general it stays like we are now.

    Q: Coming to you Monisha, staying again on the theme of the drivers, the other teams clearly as we’re hearing have been tying down their drivers and making their announcements, just a few moments ago in the case of Haas. You did yours here a couple of years ago I think. How far off being able to do the same thing are you and should we expect any changes?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well we are still in the process of analysing our options but it’s not going to take that long any more. We still have the target that we do want to announce in the season, so there’s not that much time left. So that’s all I can tell you now.

    Q: Jörg Zander has returned to the team. How had he benefitted from his years with Audi in particular and what will that bring to your team?

    MK: Well, we know Jörg Zander for quite a while. He was the chief designer in our team earlier and now, as we decided to actually take up a technical director again it was quite an obvious person to look at. He’s been working at Audi for very long, he has a lot of motorsport experience now, inside Formula One, outside Formula One, so we do think he fits in very well with that because we also have third party business outside Formula One. I’m sure he’ll bring many new ideas and the team can only benefit from that because we are now in a new era, you know it’s a new chapter in the team history and this kind of influence and these ideas will only be beneficial to move into the right direction.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Alessandro Giannini – Agência O Globo) For you Monisha, I would like to ask you a direct question about Felipe. How are the talks with him and if he has one chance to stay at the Sauber team?

    MK: Well, Felipe is certainly one of our options, that’s clear, we know him well, we know his skills. We’ve had a lot of experiences together with him: good ones, bad ones, so we can assess him very well. So talks are taking place, that’s what I can tell you.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Maurizio, yesterday you present an appeal now for the podium win in Mexico. I would like to know some more details, when you find out the new elements. If you can give us some more details about which are these elements.

    MA: Yes, if we present according with the International Sporting Code Article 14.1, we presented new elements, of course, as we said, what we think are new elements and we have the right to present it. If you want me to present all the elements here, is not something that I’m going to do because in 40 minutes we have a conference call and we have to discuss the matter. I think it’s not correct to share this kind of information here.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) As the previous question proves, there’s been a lot of controversy about the regulations etc and Christian, you and Maurizio have been particularly outspoken about them. You’re both members of the Strategy Group: would you like to take them up in the Strategy Group. Would you like to take them up in the Strategy Group? What would you like to see changed? And if anybody else would like to comment, feel free, please.

    MA: Back, if you refer to Mexico and many other races, I think, I understand the difficulties of the stewards because sometimes they have to take a decision immediately and to take this decision they need to collect in quick time all the available data and material – and it’s not an easy job, I think. That is further complicated by what we said many, many times at the strategy group level about sometimes the complication of the regulation. We ask many, many times to try to find a way to simplify the rules, so I think this is something that we need to think further for the future, making sure that we don’t have a Rule A that is covered by the Rule B that is covered by the Rule C and D and E and F and so on. If there is a rule it is A dot. And then we go to the B. I’m expressing my thought with all the respect for the people that is making the rule. But I think this sport, it is already complicated in terms of technology, in term of what we have to do to build-up the car and to make competitive the car. I think simplifying the rules could be a good help for everybody.

    Christian, your view.

    CH: Yeah, I think that we’re over-regulated in many respects, that the drivers need to take a rulebook with them really on a Sunday now in the car and consult it before they either defend or make an overtaking manoeuvre these days and there’s too much subjectivity and interpretation of different events. So Lewis Hamilton going straight on at the first turn last weekend, comes out half a kilometre up the road, is that an advantage or a disadvantage compared to Max going off and coming back in the same position he went off with, with dirty tyres later in the race. It’s very difficult for the teams, for the drivers and one can only think for the viewers as to what’s permitted and what isn’t. I think, like all things in life, keep it simple. Keep it straightforward. I’d say less rules in terms of… but more clarity in terms of what the rules of engagement are. Nobody wants to see dangerous driving but let the drivers race, let them go wheel to wheel. I mean everybody’s talking about the last five or six laps in Mexico because, let’s face it, the rest of the race was pretty boring. The last ten laps were fantastic and of course there’s been a whole bunch of discussion about it since then and that’s what Formula One needs to be and I think let’s avoid the situation that drivers can cut corners and gain an advantage. Put a gravel trap there. Put something to slow the cars down, and then it takes that subjectivity away from stewards having to interpret ‘well, is that result different to this one. Is that incident different to that?’ We can see so many examples of that that I think for the teams, for the drivers and most importantly for the fans, let’s come up with something straight forward and simple that’s easy to understand and interpret.

    Monisha, do you agree?

    MK: Well I agree with that but I think there’s another element to it which is how you actually apply the rules, and you would need to try to bring some consistency in there. At the end of the day it’s always up to an interpretation, it’s up to the discretion of the people who are doing it, so apart from making things simpler it’s also that you try to have consistency on the people. That you have somebody who is always there, or a group of people because this is how you will bring in certain consistency on how rules are applied. So I think you have to look at both sides: look at the rules themselves but also how they are implemented.

    Fred?

    FV: It’s not an easy point and to know if we are to take the decision during the race or not, the first one is that you will always have someone to complain: that if you take the decision during the race you will say that OK, the steward has to take time before to take a decision and, if they take the decision after the race, OK you will affect the results of the race, after the podium and so on. But for sure we’ll have always issue with the chicane and probably the only solution would be to do all the races in Monaco but even Monaco will be tricky. The solution to slow down the car when they cut the chicane would be the best one to be sure. We have to find a solution that the guy will be directly penalised, that will avoid discussion and the stewards and so and so and so because it will be always the same mess after the race.

    Final thought on this Guenther

    GS: I think everything was said. I think I’m good, y’know, they all spoke and I agree with all of which was said. It’s just to try to simply what we are doing.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Maurizio Arrivabene, just two days ago Bernie Ecclestone said that in his opinion maybe the problem with Ferrari not winning races is because it is 100 percent an Italian team. I would love to know if you agree with that and in which way the passion which we know the team has and which we know is fantastic is a handicap for your work?

    MA: First of all, we all know Bernie. The day after he said the opposite and he also came to me to explain himself without being requested to do so. If I’m not wrong, it’s said that I need somebody nearby me to help. I don’t need it. I’m part of the Ferrari racing department and I have hundreds of people who are nearby me. We have a new technical group led by Mattia Binotto. They are enthusiasts, they are working very very well. So we have a team. In terms of the passion, I was always passionate about Ferrari, all my life, I have to say, even before doing this job and Ferrari is about passion, it’s about emotion. When I’m at the factory and I cross the street to go in the GT department and I’m looking at new GT cars that are coming out from the factory, for me it’s a big emotion. And this is something that is not a handicap, it’s a dream.

    Q: (Andra Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Maurizio, it’s about the arguments of the last Grand Prix. Have you talked to Sebastian, have you tried to make a different approach for this Grand Prix, even because the FIA said they will not forgive another situation like this in the future?

    MA: Listen, first of all I think… I don’t know if you know but Sebastian asked… he excused himself in writing with Charlie and the FIA and the FIA responded to Sebastian in a way that we really appreciated. I spoke every day with Sebastian, and not only after the Mexican race. Somebody maybe thinks we have tension or things like this. No, we are honest  with each other. The word honesty must sometimes be put in the script or in the article, because we have an honest, open, straightforward relationship and if you are asking me, we are always in agreement, like all human beings, sometimes yes, sometimes no. We have a fantastic relationship and it’s based on an honest, day after day feedback. I respect him as a driver, he was four times World Champion. He’s putting all of himself into the job that he’s doing. A couple of months ago, I said sometimes even too much but it was not a criticism. I want to make it clear, once and forever. It’s because he’s putting all of himself – he tries to put all of himself into everything he’s doing and sometimes you just have to say, like in Mexico, ‘hey Seb, calm down, head down, look in front of you and push.’ And there’s nothing wrong with that so you ask me, you can ask him and you have the same version.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) I’m not Italian but the question’s for you, Maurizio, and I’d like to refer to yesterday’s teleconference call by your president to investors after your Q3 results. One of the things that Mr Marchionne didn’t do is rule out Ferrari possibly going into Formula E. And the second thing is that he said that Ferrari can’t continue throwing money at Formula One, which would indicate that the investors are starting to seek more value for money. How do you feel about these two comments? Could we see a red Formula E car and how do you see this for Ferrari’s future, that just maybe investor pressure could turn Ferrari away?

    MA: The strategy in terms of investment at Ferrari is not under my responsibility. Formula E, I think Mr Marchionne was very very clear, at the moment it’s not in the programme of Ferrari. If we’re talking about hybrid, we have Formula One, we are building up our experience in Formula One on that side. We could be but it’s not up to me to decide or to indicate the right strategy but Formula E, I don’t think so.

    Again, it’s not my responsibility to talk to the investors. I can talk about the word pressure. Everybody is talking about pressure when they are referring to our job and everything we are doing but there’s nothing strange in that. If you are working  in a team like this, the day that you sign a contract you know what you are doing, you know that the sport is pointing at you because we are Ferrari. Sometimes I am hearing ‘are you guys under a lot of pressure?’  It makes me laugh. So what, it’s expected when your name is Ferrari

  • Hamilton Leads Rosberg in Brazil Free Practice 2

    Hamilton Leads Rosberg in Brazil Free Practice 2

    Mercedes stamped their authority on the weekend after Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the session with team-mate, Nico Rosberg just 0.030s off the pace in 2nd.

    Hamilton’s best time of 1:12.271 came courtesy of the soft tyres on a qualifying simulation. Rosberg’s time which was just 0.030s off Hamilton’s was done on his second run at a timed lap on the soft, option tyre.

    Williams sprang somewhat of a surprise in FP2 to finish 3rd and 4th. Valtteri Bottas had a best lap 1:12.761 to place him 3rd ahead of Felipe Massa who set a 1:12.789. Williams tend to turn their engines down during practice and turn them back up for FP3 and Qualifying. This turn of pace from Williams is quite refreshing and it sets the weekend up for a very good battle at the top of the field and towards the mid field. The pace will be encouraging as Williams seek to overhaul Force India in the constructors standings for 4th place.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished 5th fastest ahead of Max Versatppen who was 6th fastest. Both Red Bulls were clear of the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who could only manage 7th and 8th respectively with Raikkonen just a little over half a second off the pace.

    Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was 9th fastest just a little over a second off the pace.

    McLaren’s Jenson Button rounded out the top 10 with a best session time of 1:13.299.

    cameraman-alonso_brazil-2016The highlight of the session came courtesy of Fernando Alonso who ended his session prematurely due to an ERS issue. Alonso was told to pull off the track and jump out of his car. He chose the outside of T3 to park his car. Alonso spent the rest of the session track side watching the cars lap the track and relaxing. Images of 2015 of Alonso resting on a camp chair enjoying the sun came to mind.

    Alonso, not satisfied just watching the cars found a FOM remote camera panel and decided to try his hand at being a camera operator. This pleased everyone on track and Twitter came alive with the images of Alonso making a right hash of being a cameraman.

    FP2 confirmed that Mercedes once again have a firm grip over the weekends proceedings. Hamilton does seem to have the early upper hand over Rosberg who needs a win to secure his first world title.

    With the turn of pace from Williams it will be a close fight for the second row of the podium between Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari.

    The long run pace up front has Mercedes ahead of the rest. Red Bull seem to be best of the rest with Williams and Ferrari very similar on pace.

     

    Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

  • Hamilton On Top in Brazil GP Free Practice 1

    Hamilton On Top in Brazil GP Free Practice 1

    Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets at the end of the first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

    Hamilton set his best time of 1:11.895 on the soft tyre just marginally faster than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who set a best time of 1:11.991. Verstappen’s time came mid way through the session on the soft tyres and looks like an early signal that Red Bull will be taking the fight to Mercedes this weekend.

    Nico Rosberg was 3rd fastest at the end of the session setting a best time of 1:12.125 on the soft tyre, 0.230s off Hamilton’s pace. Not far off Rosberg’s pace was Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull in 4th.

    Valtteri Bottas finished 5th fastest in the Williams ahead of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg in 6th and 7th respectively for Force India. Felipe Massa, at his final F1 race in his home country, was 8th fastest.

    Rounding out the top 10 were the two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen more than 1.5s off the pace. Ferrari did not run the soft tyre in the session and stuck to the medium compound tyres. Both Ferrari drivers had just 0.002s between them at the end of the session. Vettel did not look comfortable in the car and made a few mistakes around the circuit. He spun it at Turn 11 just before the end of the session bringing an end to a very anonymous session by both Ferrari’s.

    Red Bull are showing some good early pace which should give Mercedes something to think about going into Qualifying tomorrow. The characteristics of the track suit the Red Bulls and Mercedes may find it tricky keeping the Red Bulls at bay.

    Pos. Driver Team Best Time Gap Laps
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.895s – 32
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.991 +0.096s 29
    3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:12.125 +0.230s 26
    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:12.371 +0.476s 27
    5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:13.129 +1.234s 36
    6 Sergio Perez Force India 1:13.289 +1.394s 31
    7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:13.293 +1.398s 33
    8 Felipe Massa Williams 1:13.318 +1.423s 33
    9 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:13.567 +1.672s 24
    10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:13.569 +1.674s 26
    11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:13.711 +1.816s 22
    12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:14.090 +2.195s 15
    13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:14.252 +2.357s 27
    14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:14.296 +2.401s 26
    15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:14.507 +2.612s 25
    16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:14.631 +2.736s 21
    17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:14.654 +2.759s 23
    18 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:14.827 +2.932s 30
    19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:14.908 +3.013s 32
    20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:14.948 +3.053s 32
    21 Charles Leclerc Haas 1:15.391 +3.496s 27
    22 Sergey Sirotkin Renault 1:15.800 +3.905s 10
  • 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Felipe MASSA (Williams), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes).

    Charlie WHITING (FIA)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Let’s start with Felipe, your last Brazilian Grand Prix as a Formula One driver, what does this weekend, this occasion, mean to you?

    Felipe MASSA: Well, I think it will be a very special weekend for me, for my last home race, the place where I grew up, the place that I remember I was in the grandstand watching and supporting Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, always dreaming to be here. And then I managed to get here and managed to win two races here in Interlagos, getting quite a lot of times on the podium, so it’s definitely a fantastic place for me. I will miss, definitely, this race. When I see these guys racing next year, I will definitely miss to be here. But I am so happy and proud for everything I passed through these 15 years in Formula One, every people that I met – friends, drivers, the competition I had with these guys for quite a long time. So yeah, I will miss, definitely, this place, some nice races around the world but also some friends. It will be a very special moment for me.

    Q: As you say, so many great memories from your own career here, especially the pole positions, the podiums and those two very special wins with Ferrari. What stands out, though, for you, and what were these guys like to race against?

    FM: Difficult. We are talking about the best drivers in the world. Everybody who got here is here because of talent. They are here because of talent. The competition is really high, but I think I definitely learned a lot. I think it was an amazing life experience that I had. It’s definitely not easy to be a Formula One driver I would say, but I had a fantastic time and so happy to achieve what I managed to achieve and to get here after very long and yeah, I will always remember them as tough drivers on track and I would say maybe the relationship maybe in the last years gets a little bit better outside the track and it will get even better when all of us stop I would say. Just expect the best for them and support them for the future.

    Q: OK, thank you. Lewis, of course that 2008 memory is still very strong. You won the world championship, your first of three world championships, that day but Felipe showed great dignity on the podium, having won the race. What was he like as an adversary?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s been great driving alongside Felipe and against him. We’ve had some great times. Even before I got to Formula One, when I was in GP2, we had already become friends back then and had some good experience. But yeah, to have those great, strong battles we had, even beyond 2008, for me was a privilege and something that I will always cherish. At some stage we’ll be a bunch of oldies, replacing the older drivers that are hanging around today and we’ll be coming along, looking at the other youngsters, but yeah I think Formula One is going to miss him for sure.

    Q: OK, and the other drivers, your thoughts on Felipe’s final race here as part of his Formula One career. What kind of atmosphere do we expect at this Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend?

    Nico ROSBERG: It will great. I’m sure the Brazilians will go crazy to support Felipe in his last race here. He’s given a lot to F1 so it’s going to be a loss for the sport, for us, for sure.

    Q: Max?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Of course, I mean the career he has had many want to achieve. That many years in Formula One as well, and being able to fight for four world championships. So I think it will definitely be a very special moment for him and I think, in general, the Brazilian Grand Prix is always very special and a great track and a great atmosphere to be at.

    Q: Seb, you’ve won here a few times, you’ve had a few good battles against Felipe, your thoughts?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I think… well, we don’t need to talk about his talent. I think there’s no doubt that he’s one of the most talented drivers on the grid. But apart from that, he’s a great person. He’s the kind of person you look at and smile, because he’s just smiling from the inside, so I think that will be missed a lot. So I hope he still comes around a couple of times and has a look and a laugh and in that regard I wish him the best. But for this weekend, I think it would be great to see hopefully a lot of Brazilian flags, support for him, because as everyone said, he has had a great career. So, yeah, it’s hid weekend.

    Q: Daniel, final thought?

    FM: Be careful what you say!

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I’m looking forward to the drivers’ parade on Sunday. It’s always very interesting. For as long as I’ve been doing it at least anyone who is Felipe’s team-mate gets an absolute pounding on the drivers’ parade. He’s going to get some extra love this weekend and we’ll probably get yelled some funny Brazilian names, but it’s all in good humour. The atmosphere is awesome, so I think we are going to have a pretty amazing crowd this weekend.

    Q: Thanks for that. Back to Lewis and Nico then. Two races to go and Nico a win for you on Sunday and you’re world champion. Lewis, a great motivation for you to win a Brazilian Grand Prix you haven’t won before. How are you both feeling going into this? Is the tension rising? Nico, first…

    NR: Yeah, feeling great, of course, because it’s awesome to be fighting for the world championship with two races to go and so, yeah, excited about the weekend, looking forward to it and of course going to try to go for the win.

    Q: Lewis?

    LH: yeah, I’ve had lots of great, or mixed experiences here, so it’s a real challenge to come here and try to win for the first time, something that Nico and Felipe have experienced in the past. That’s my goal and nothing really to lose.

    Q: For the drivers on the back row, with the nature of this track and also the weather forecast we have at the moment for this weekend, what’s the scope for racing against these two guys at the front this? Daniel…

    DR: Yeah, it looks like it’s going to be potentially wet on the weekend, which is going to make it interesting. There’s obviously a little bit less pressure on everyone else but I’m envious of their positions. I’d like to have that little bit of pressure.  Anyway, if there’s an opportunity we still go for it. We race, and that’s how it’s going to be. If it’s wet it’s going to make it interesting. It’s going to be fun. We’ll see how it pans out on Sunday but hopefully we get a good race on Sunday.

    Q: Seb?

    SV: I think this place for some reason has always delivered special races. I don’t know what it is: I think the circuit is good fun, nice to drive, but I think it’s the atmosphere, the weather, all that coming together that has created crazy races in the past. You mentioned the one in 2008, the last race in 2012 was pretty amazing as well. I’m sure we’ll have a great race on Sunday. Obviously for all of us not fighting for the championship, we are fighting for the victory here, but yeah, we’ll see. Weather conditions and so on, as I said, there’s always room to do something.

    Q: Max, a potentially winnable race for you?

    MV: You always try, but I haven’t really experience a lot of mixed conditions here in Brazil. Of course I’ve seen a lot on the TV. But it will be interesting like always. I really enjoyed it last year and hopefully with some rain coming in it would be even more interesting, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Pedro Lopes – GloboEsporte.com) Ricciardo, how was you meat feast yesterday?

    DR: Our meat feat yesterday was… very good. Fortunately it’s no longer with me, otherwise I would still be sweating. But yes, how do you say… muito bon?

    Q: (Kevin Eason – The Times) Seb, can you tell me, do you believe… You’ve had a pretty fruitless year with Ferrari and you started with bit of a dream. Do you believe you’ll ever win a world championship with Ferrari.

    SV: Yes.

    Q: (Kevin Eason – The Times) Why?

    SV: Because, generally I think I’m positive, looking forward. Obviously it was a big step when I decided to change, at the time when I did. It was clear that it would take some time. Obviously we had a great season last year, we got closer and closer to Mercedes, so the hopes and expectations for this year were high. I think it’s normal when you finish second in the Constructors’ you aim to finish first. We haven’t achieved what we set out to achieve but nevertheless our main target is to win the championship, fight for the championship, and I think there is a lot of change that I see, a lot of change that is going on inside the team that will make us stronger, I’m pretty confident about that. I guess it’s a question of time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Nico and then to Lewis. You won the last two races here starting from the pole position and Lewis also I recognise that you were very strong both weekends. Can you explain if you find something special, some special way to win here. And Lewis, why you’ve said he’s so fast and you could not reach him in the last two Brazilian Grands Prix?

    NR: I love the track. It’s a great track, feels good and I’ve always gone well here, so I’m looking forward to the weekend also. Great memories also from those two wins, those were very special. But at the same time, this year we all start from zero. Those past wins are not going to help me get the win this weekend. We all start from the same place and I just need to do a good job this weekend and that’s it.

    LH: I don’t really know why I’ve not won here, so I don’t really have an answer for you. I try every year and I’ll try harder this year.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Felipe, there are going to be a lot emotions leading up to the red lights going out. How difficult will it be to switch off when the red lights go out?

    FM: I think it’s always the same. I think when you are in the car you don’t think about other things, you just think about what you want to do in the best way that you can. I would say that maybe the whole race I will be concentrating on my job, trying to get the best race possible, the best result I can, for me, for my team, especially in this moment that it’s quite important this fight with Force India for Williams Martini. But I think that maybe when I finish the race, after the chequered flag, I think it will be very special. It will be an amazing feeling to do the last lap in Interlagos of my career in Formula One, here, you know. I think during the race you just so much concentrate on everything you need to do but after it may be quite different.

    PRESS CONFERENCE PART 2: QUESTIONS ARISING FROM THE MEXICAN GRAND PRIX

    [Note: Charlie Whiting refers to video clips of the Mexican Grand Prix that were shown in the press conference room to illustrate his answers]

    Q: Charlie, obviously there are several key areas of interest. Firstly, can we talk about the incident with Lewis missing Turn Two at the start and the one later with Max at the same spot and the differences between them?

    Charlie WHITING: Yeah, sure. I think the principal difference between the two was simply that, in Lewis’ case it was felt that he didn’t gain any lasting advantage and it Max’s case, he did. We can show you a couple of videos here just to refresh everyone’s memory: perhaps that will be a help. The first… I think you’re all pretty familiar with it. You can see that Lewis makes a small mistake at the beginning, cuts across, gains significant track advantage but then sets about giving that back immediately. You can see on the straight – or we can see – on the straight between Turns Three and Four he backs off to 80 per cent throttle to give that advantage back. Because obviously he’s got a significant advantage there. Then, about a minute later, the Safety Car’s deployed and that advantage is gone completely. So, the stewards felt no lasting advantage. On the other hand, the case with Max and Sebastian, if Max had done the same thing on the straight between Turns Three and Four, he would certainly have lost the place. I think that’s why the stewards felt that this deserved a penalty because the driver had gained a lasting advantage. That’s the fundamental difference between the two incidents in the eyes of the Stewards.

    Let’s bring the drivers in on this. Max, you had a comment there. What’re your thoughts on what you’ve seen here and what Charlie just said?

    MV: Yeah, well of course I don’t agree with the decision but it doesn’t really make a lot of difference, does it? I’ve got a penalty. I think if you give penalties, give it to both or you don’t give any penalties. But I think what we maybe need to change for the future is that once you go off it should be a penalty on its own instead of the stewards interfering with that to decide a penalty. I think we need to come up with a solution that, once you go off, that should be the penalty on its own.

    Lewis, your thoughts on what we’ve just seen and what Charlie just said?

    LH: I relatively agree with Charlie’s explanation. I don’t really have a particular opinion about it. I think ultimately the stewards have a very, very difficult job because every single scenario is different, as he was mentioning. For example, the Safety Car came out immediately after my incident, for example. Every scenario is a little bit different; it’s not that easy to apply the same rule to every single thing. I also agree with Max that we should work with Charlie – as we have been, I think, through the year – to try and make it easier for them to make decisions and for it to be more clear.

    OK, moving on to another topic of great interest. The moving under braking obviously has been widely discussed throughout the season. You issued a clarificiation at the Austin weekend. Can you tell us about Sebastian’s defence from Daniel at the last race in light of that?

    CW: I think it might be helpful to just go back a little bit to Hungary where there were two incidents involving Kimi and Max. This got thoroughly discussed during the drivers’ meeting in Germany and the consensus of opinion was that moving under braking was something that should not be done. We agreed with this and then we had the incident with Max and Lewis in Japan where the first think that Lewis said on the radio was “He moved. He moved when we were braking.”We looked at it after the race. The stewards, as you know, felt that there wasn’t a case to answer there, which gave rise, of course, to a lengthy discussion in the drivers’ meeting in Austin. I then issued what was a clarification of existing regulations to say exactly what we felt should be reported to the stewards. With that as the backdrop, so to speak, Mexico was really the first race where that rule was applied.

    There are three fundamental points there within the rules. Firstly, if a driver has to take evasive action; if a driver makes an abnormal change of direction in the braking zone; and if it could be potentially dangerous to another driver. If those three conditions are satisfied then the stewards felt that was a dangerous manoeuvre and should be penalised. That’s how the stewards looked at it and they felt Sebastian had moved under braking; that was very clear from the data, and also pretty clear from the video, of course; it was potentially dangerous and it was an abnormal change of direction which could have led to an accident. So I think it we look carefully at some footage here, you’ll probably… there’s one view I doubt anyone has actually seen. This is from the track camera. I think you can see very clearly that both cars are on the left of the track; Sebastian moves to the right and then, in the braking zone, moves to his left and then you can see quite clearly that Daniel had to take evasive action. And then the onboard [footage]. I think you can see very clearly that, had Daniel’s right front hit Sebastian’s left rear it would have been a significantly different scenario. That’s, I think, what the stewards really looked at was that it was a potentially dangerous situation.  It’s close, and I think that’s what the stewards looked at. As I say, those three conditions were satisfied as far as the stewards were concerned and that’s what they felt they should act upon.

    OK, let’s bring the drivers in on this, Daniel first.

    DR: yeah, I think it’s obviously been explained and we were in the stewards’ after the race and, from an outside point of view, for fans – and for drivers – you don’t want to wait so long after a race to then have an outcome but that was that. I felt like the move was as Charlie explained. It’s just when you’re in that braking zone, once you’re committed, and especially when you’re overtaking. You know, we’ve discussed this, drivers, that you’re putting the car on the limit because you’re trying to out-brake someone, so you’re already on the edge, so any sort of move then, you’re not really in control, I guess. Hence why I lock up the brake and it all turns into a bit of a mess. It’s the only real part where we’re not in… it’s not that we’re not in control but we can’t really get out of it much, once we’re on the brakes. When you’re down the straight, if someone defends, if they move one way you can obviously move the other, or whatever, but then once you’ve committed to the braking then it’s hard to pull out of the move. Yeah, so obviously I felt that was the right decision. As I said, from an outside point of view, from I guess fans and that it’s probably a bit hard to understand and digest it all after the race but yeah, obviously we’ll try to keep it… I won’t say clean: I like the hard racing, but we’ll just try to avoid these moving-under-braking things in the future and then these things won’t need to be addressed.

    And Seb, your thoughts?

    SV: Well, obviously I don’t agree with the decision that was made. I think I moved over once to defend my position, after that yeah, I think I gave Daniel enough room on the inside; I kept the car straight for more than the majority of the braking, so I think the reason why, from my point of view, why Daniel locked up so bad is because there was no grip on the inside and it’s something that… yeah… I think we all knew. There were people locking up on other corners when they were offline, so I think it actually looks a bit worse than it was. I don’t think it was actually dangerous for Daniel at that point but OK, I have to deal with the decision.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Charlie, we understood perfectly but the main question we see if that you have different stewards in each race and we are not sure all of them have the same criteria to interpret it. Even why it’s also an interpretation question what we have been seen. Don’t you think it’s a problem? If in one race they follow one criteria and then in another race another criteria. And also, the drivers I believe had complained about that.

    CW: Well, needless to say, I disagree. As Lewis pointed out, every incident is different. Some can look at first sight to be very similar to another incident from a previous race but when you examine then more carefully… You must remember also that the stewards have an enormous amount of images available to them, data, all manner of things available to them which you don’t see. I think it’s easy to say decisions are made inconsistently but more often than not, in my opinion, when you look into it in detail, you find that, in fact, Incident A wasn’t the same as Incident B. They have small differences and that’s where I think further explanation is sometimes needed.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Charlie, one of the things you haven’t addressed so far is the issue of language being used over the radio and specifically what Seb said about you. Could you give us your take on that and your views on driver language and what was said about you?

    CW: I’ll give you my views on what was said about me. I think bad language… it’s not the first time that bad language has been used, of course, and the fact that it was directed at me was unfortunate and I think there are a number of mitigating circumstances that led up to Sebastian’s obvious frustration but the fact that he sought me out very shortly after the race to apologise, for me that was enough and I’m prepared to just forget it and move on. I think that’s really what we should do. Things happen in the heat of the moment. I think you’ve seen what the FIA’s position on this is; and I personally feel that’s enough.

    Sebastian, you have the right to reply if you wish.

    SV: Well, I think it’s all been said but I have no problem saying it again. I’m sorry for what I said. Obviously when we are racing, when we are fighting… I think you can understand why I wasn’t so happy at that point but yeah, for sure I regret what I said and certainly didn’t mean it but yeah, it was very clear for me to look for Charlie right after. I wrote a letter as well. I’m happy that Charlie accepted the apology and happy to, as he said, move on.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) A follow-up. One of the things the FIA said was the impact swearing might have on the younger generation. So perhaps Max could also comment on that.

    MV: Thank you! Thank you very much. I think when you’re in the heat of the moment and you have a radio available you can say bad things. But it’s the same if, let’s say you give a microphone to a football player. Imagine how many words are coming out there during a game. Or another sport, it doesn’t need to be football… rugby, whatever. So I think it’s just, yeah, with the radio around you it’s pretty dangerous. So, I think maybe you shouldn’t broadcast it. That’s another solution. Because you know, we are driving on the limit, in some good fights and then, you know the adrenaline is going really high. So maybe in the future, if it’s bad for the younger generation, just don’t broadcast it.

    Lewis, you’re nodding. Do you agree with Max’s point?

    LH: Someone’s nodding to me in the crowd.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – AutoBild Motorsport) Charlie, what do you think… how often would a guy like Donald Trump, because of the language, after a race, to the stewards? I asked because he’s now the president of the United States. Do you think it’s the right way to show the youth, OK, maybe it’s not the language you have to say it but it’s the language of everybody in the world, in the universities and everywhere?

    CW: To be honest, I’m not sure what Donald Trump’s got to do with this. I think I’ve already answered what I feel about the language that was used there and I think the question of whether or not it should be broadcast is something that needs to be discussed really. I really don’t understand exactly what you’re asking, if I’m honest, but I think my answer to the previous question said what I feel about the actual incident that occurred in Mexico.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, don’t you think that in the last two Grands Prix you needed to revise your image a little bit, your reputation, because of the accident that happened during the race was followed by other accidents… I mean bad languages by other drivers. And the second question is if, when you lose your temper during a race, do you also lose your commitment to attack Verstappen? In that case, do you penalise yourself, losing control of yourself during the race?

    SV: I’m not sure I understood this. First, what happened in Austin then, because you said the last two races, accidents? Well. Can you repeat the question, I’m not sure I….

    Q: The basic gist of the question is about losing your cool.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta Dello Sport) Your reputation in the last two races, if you want to rebuild your reputation…

    SV: I think we actually had two very strong races. I think we started seventh in Mexico and we were fighting for the podium at the end which I think is a great achievement. We had a great race so there’s a lot of positives. Obviously, I think… similar to all other drivers, when you’re fighting, for sure the adrenaline goes up, you’re excited and I was not happy with sitting in fourth which is still a good result coming from seventh. I wanted to attack for the podium because the opportunity was there. I think I tried everything I could. Obviously circumstances weren’t helping but from my point I think I did everything I could at that time. I think we’ve seen many times that overtaking is not so easy. I think I put Max under pressure and then I think we all know what happened but in the end I think it was actually two good races. If there’s anything to criticise, I think it was the performance on Saturday  which wasn’t much in the performance that we could show on the Sunday.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Charlie – initially – a lot of the problems that arise from drivers going off track come from the fact that there’s no penalty for going off track. You can rejoin and keep your position. Are you looking at changing tracks to make that not the case and would drivers like to see that happen?

    CW: Yes, I think we’ve done this in fact in a number of circuits where you have a situation similar to the one that occurred in Mexico: second chicane in Monza; last chicane in Montreal; Sochi, first corner or turn two in fact. So we’ve developed systems, if you like, that drivers have to take a certain route back onto the track and thereby are automatically slower. This wasn’t a problem last year in Mexico because I think simply because the grass was all new and it was wetter and it was more difficult to drive across. This year, quite clearly, it was quite easy to drive across and hence we had a problem, but it’s very easy, I think, to rectify that and do a similar sort of arrangement to come back onto the track, which will mean that drivers will come back on slower and hence there will be no discussion whether or not they gained an advantage. I think that’s what Max was saying earlier.

    NR: For sure,  I think it would be good if somehow we can automatically get some kind of slowing down system on all run-off areas so that would solve the issue, definitely

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) Charlie, the incidents in turn one; was the safety car decisive for not giving Lewis a penalty, because you said ‘not gaining a lasting advantage’ and from what we see from the video, he had a one car length advantage under braking and at the braking at turn four, even though he lifted, a four or five car length advantage. If the safety car hadn’t happened, would it have been alright for his race to continue? And the other drivers who didn’t comment, what do they think about this?

    CW: We were going to ask Lewis to back right off to ensure that he maintained the same distance he had when he went in to the corner but we could see from the data that he had already backed off significantly and then the VSC was deployed followed by the safety car so there was no need to take any further action but had that not happened, yes we would have done that, yes.

    Q: (Erick Gabriel – motorsport.com) To Lewis and Nico, of course Max Verstappen has been a great topic – I think we’re discussing a lot of things because of his driving style. I want to know what do you think about his driving style and if you have any fear that he could interfere with the outcome of the championship?

    NR: Fear? No, definitely not. And driving style? I think it’s just important that we keep on discussing because I think there’s still room for progress in terms of getting continuity in the decisions and that’s it. So it’s something we need to keep going on with, keep discussing to see if we can make improvements there and that’s it. It’s not depending on one specific driver or not, so that would be good to do that.

    LH: Well, firstly I think you should move your phone from down there because it’s kind of dangerous. It’s not healthy to have it there – just so that you know. Radiation, yeah. I’m helping you, seriously. I can only really comment on Max’s driving as I have through the year. He’s obviously a very talented kid and he’s come in and… I’m calling him a kid because he’s a kid to me, he’s still below 20 and he’s still got a lot to learn but he’s obviously done a great job up until now and he’s going to continue to grow and be a force to be reckoned with in Formula One.

    MV: I’m still negotiating with them, who’s going to pay me the most. Yeah, so we’ll see, we’ll see on Sunday.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you apart from Lewis and Nico, will you be more careful during the last two races, when you attack Nico or Lewis because they’re contesting the World Championship?

    DR: Honestly no, because I think that every race is like it’s the start of the season: in Melbourne, you race hard and now it’s the end of the season so I think the championship will work out how it should work out. I don’t think we should… if you like, assist in the outcome if that makes sense. Just because they are fighting doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still try and make an overtake if there’s a door open. I’ll always race, I think, with respect but sure I’ll race hard and if there’s an opportunity… normally if we are fighting with them it means we’ve got a chance to probably win a race. If there’s an opportunity to win, for sure I’ll go for it. I just feel that the championship will end as it probably should. The winner will be the winner and we shouldn’t affect it by staying out of the fight, if you know what I mean.

    SV: First of all, it’s clear that the fact is that you race to see the chequered flag, so you never try to do something that doesn’t allow you to see the chequered flag. Equally it applies when racing against people who are racing for the championship, but for sure, I think it’s something you have to have in mind because credit to them, they did the best job of the season for whatever reason, to put them in that position and I think it’s for the others to respect the fact.

    MV: For sure. Imagine you tell your team like ‘now I’m going to stay out of the fight, I’m just going to cruise round behind them.’ They wouldn’t be happy as well. You always treat it with respect, you never try to hit each other but that’s already the whole season when you try to pull a move on them or when you are in that position. There is the same approach.

    FM: Well, I would love to be fighting with them, to be honest, in the race. If I can be fighting with them, then I think they need to be careful with me because I will try everything I can.

    Q: Nico and Lewis, what you’ve heard from the other drivers is presumably what you expect on Sunday and again in Abu Dhabi.

    NR: Of course, they’re not going to take it easy just because one guy’s fighting for the championship. He’s a competitor like everybody else and that’s completely normal for all us drivers to approach it in that way.

    Q: (Bruno Vicaria – Bandeirantes Radio) Charlie, what’s your opinion about this new Interlagos? Are you satisfied with the structure here?

    CW: Absolutely. It’s given the teams more space, I think it’s a lot better for all. I think the working conditions are greatly improved and I think it’s improved the whole place massively.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Charlie, you started in the seventies as a mechanic and then track engineer and we are discussing here, until now, drivers’ behaviour. Do you think all these rules, concerning drivers’ behaviour, are a step forward in motor sport or not? And what do the drivers think about this subject?

    CW: Unfortunately I think the whole sport has become more complex and there are continual requests to make things clearer and the clearer things need to become, the longer the rules and the more detailed the rules become. For example, all the rules on driving could be summed up in one sentence: drivers must drive safely or something that simple. But when you have a simple rule like that, you are continually asked exactly what does that mean? Can we do this? Can we do that? And then the rule becomes longer and longer and longer, there’s always the request for more detail and more precision and it’s not just in driving, it’s throughout the whole rules, sporting and technical. They naturally become more complex because everyone’s trying that much harder to get everything out of every situation. So I personally don’t see any likelihood of the rules becoming simpler, because we  do have a complex sport, that’s really how it is and that’s how it’s developed over the last twenty or so years, I would say.

    DR: Obviously I was in a position last weekend where I was in a way protesting a move but on the flipside of that, I think that was a specific move as we discussed, under braking, but apart from that, I think that we should be allowed to… and I think they’ve eased the rules over the last couple of years or so. We did make a conscious effort to give us a bit more freedom to race and I think it’s been more fun and better since then. So there’s always going to be incidents where you feel this or that but I definitely feel that we should be allowed to still put it all on the line. I think that’s what makes the sport exciting, it lets out emotions as we’ve heard and it gives us our own personality, I guess, as well. Fans can attract to a driver on the way he races or the way he responds. Yeah, we should definitely… I mean all of us love racing. I’ve said it: you come here to win but if you can’t win you don’t want to drive around on Sunday afternoon by yourself. You want to have a fight and have a battle. We can always make improvements here or there but you don’t want the rules to become that tight that we’re afraid to do anything, but I think we’re OK as we are.

    LH: I agree with what Daniel said. We’re here to race hard but of course we all have different opinions about different rules that are set and how we go about them, obviously, because we have two different opinions for every one scenario and that’s why we need people like Charlie in the middle who really helps, with no bias, to make sure the right decision is made. I think also they allow us to race but of course we can’t be led down the wrong path, the incorrect way.

    MV: It’s normal that you don’t crash or make the other driver lose a lot of positions. I think you can race pretty hard.

    Q: (Ralf Woodall – L’Equipe) Charlie, could you explain or clarify regarding the penalties: why Seb had a ten second penalty and Max a five second penalty?

    CW: I think that in every set of circumstances where a penalty is applied, the stewards have a range of penalties they can choose from: a five second, ten second, drive-through or a ten second stop-and-go. It’s just simply a matter that the stewards felt that it was more serious hence ten seconds was necessary

  • Weather Preview for the 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix

    Weather Preview for the 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix

    This week the Formula 1 circus is in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the penultimate round of the Formula One World Championship.

    This weekend has the makings to be the crowning of a new world champion should Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg take victory in Sunday’s race. If his team mate, Lewis Hamilton, were to win and Rosberg placed 2nd, the title battle would move to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi where Rosberg would just need a 2nd place finish to be crowned the 2016 Formula 1 World Champion.

    Further down the paddock the battle between 2nd place in the constructors championship seems to be a done deal with Red Bull ahead of Ferrari with just two races to go.

    The battle between Force India and Williams will step up a notch this weekend as they battle for 4th place in the constructors championship. The characteristics of the Interlagos circuit will suit the Force India better than the Williams cars with it’s medium to slow corners.

    The weather in Sao Paulo can be unpredictable at times. The sudden changes make for great racing. Thunder showers are expected throughout the weekend. Temperatures on Friday will remain in the low 30s. Saturday and Sunday will be much cooler where the temperatures will hover in the low 20s with some cloud and thunder showers expected.