F1 Madness

Tag: british grand prix

  • 2019 British Grand Prix – Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2019 British Grand Prix – Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    3 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

     

    Q: Valtteri Bottas, pole position here at Silverstone. It’s been a while – Barcelona your last one – but you must be particularly proud of that one?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it feels very good. It just reminds you of why you do this, these kinds of feelings, but yeah, it’s been pretty close all weekend, and today, with Lewis and just really, really happy to get a good lap and be on pole.

    Q: Put us in the cockpit. You had the provisional pole you would look at the overlay and realise that Lewis had made a mistake at Brooklands and you know you have to dig deep and find something. You didn’t manage to improve on that time but where was your mind on the lap in terms of know how good the previous one was?

    VB: Yeah, I knew the first lap was good but it was not perfect. Honestly I should have improved on the second run. I didn’t quite get the lap together, especially in the first part of the lap, but I’m glad it was enough. It’s not easy to get a good lap together, it’s easy to do mistakes and I think everyone was struggling a bit, so happy to be on top.

    Q: I’m not sure the crowd are happy with what you’ve done but congratulations? 

    VB: Thank you.

    Q: Lewis Hamilton, it was close and you worked that hard, but we saw you had that little wobble in the second-last lap in qualifying. Tell us about your actual ultimate lap, it’s a tiny gap between you and Valtteri.

    Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, firstly, congratulations to Valtteri, he did a solid job throughout qualifying. Ultimately not good enough, We had worked hard throughout the session but it just got a little bit away from us. We sacrificed a lap in Q2, which would have helped get a reading of where the car was, but we didn’t end up doing that. At the end I had that mistake on the first lap and the second one just wasn’t that great so fair play to Valtteri he did the job. But it’s a long race tomorrow, we’ve got a great crowd here and hopefully I can do something good for them tomorrow.

    Q: The crowd are willing you on. It’s another grand prix, or is it? It’s more than just a grand prix, the British Grand Prix for you?

    LH: Yeah, completely. It’s the best grand prix of the year and it’s really because of the energy the3 people bring. These tracks are great layouts and designs and areas of space but without people like this to fill it up and bring energy it’s nothing. That’s why we’ve got the best fans here in England.

    Q: Charles, well done, fastest Ferrari driver but that’s ultimately not your goal. We looked through free practice and Ferrari looked like they could challenge Mercedes but in the end it was a tough one for you?

    Charles LECLERC: Yeah, well, I think also in Q2, up to Q2 we were quite good but then in Q3 Mercedes turned up a little bit the engine, and they were very, very quick also round the corners, that’s where we need to work, we know it. Third place is the best we could have done today and I’m very happy about it.

    Q: I saw you having a close look at the Mercedes car. This is the one time on a weekend when it’s acceptable to be a little bit nosy. Anything standing out there that you like?

    CL: No, just looking at the state of the tyres, that’s nothing special.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Valtteri, a tremendous lap by you at the start of Q3. Very tight between you and your team-mate. Just how good was that first lap?

    VB: It was good. Obviously good enough for pole. There was not much in it between me and Lewis in the end. But still, going into the second run, there were a couple of place where it was clear there was margin to improve so I wouldn’t say it was a perfect lap, but I doubt anyone got a perfect lap today. It was not easy to get everything right and super-sensitive to tiny mistakes here and there with this new tarmac and also with a bit of wind. But yeah, I’m happy that it was enough and it’s definitely a good feeling.

    Q: Valtteri, you now have more poles this season than any other driver. Is that significant to you and have you worked specifically on qualifying this year, something more than previous seasons?

    VB: It’s not that I have been specifically been working on it. Obviously you always try to improve your performance both on low- and high-fuel, short and long runs. I think the biggest thing for me to work on is the pure race pace definitely, in some kinds of conditions. I mean, year-by-year you are always learning and you get quicker if you work. The main thing is to turn those poles into wins and that’s the main thing for tomorrow.

    Q: Congratulations. Lewis, motorsport is full of ifs, buts and maybes. Had you not made that error at Brooklands on your first lap in Q3 and got a complete lap in might it have been different?

    LH: It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. You can’t go back, you can only go forwards. Valtteri did the job, so congratulations to him. And for us, yeah, it just wasn’t the best of qualifying sessions. But there’s a long race tomorrow so I just have to see how I can convert the position I’m in to progress forward. I think the long run yesterday was good, so I hope we can utilise the tyre advantage we have, in the sense of starting on the mediums, so hopefully we can do a good job with that tomorrow.

    Q: Did the track conditions fluctuate a lot during that session?

    LH: Not really. It’s a little bit gusty here. That’s why it’s so great here at Silverstone, because it’s spread over such a vast piece of land and sometimes it’s raining on one section of the track and not another and it’s gusty in some places and not so much in other places. It really bodes well for a tough track to finish a lap on.

    Q: Charles, like Lewis, you came on the radio and said you had made a mistake on that first run in Q3. Do you feel there was more out there today?

    CL: No, I don’t think so. Very, very happy with my lap. I think in the last corner I maybe could have done a little bit better, but not much. Overall, I think we are very happy with the performance, very close to Mercedes and we did not expect it. We thought we would be struggling more this weekend. We have been struggling since FP1 with the front end of the car, still in qualifying, but a little bit less. So yeah, it’s a good qualifying session for us. Of course, I would have hoped for a higher position, but third is the best we could have done today.

    Q: As with Austria you will start the race on the soft tyre, the guys next to you are going to be on the medium tyre. How do you see the tyre war playing out .

    CL: Again, it was thought. So we wanted to do that. Again, in Austria it wasn’t a bad choice. That’s not what made us finish second there so we are pretty happy here too.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Charles, just following up on the Q2 and the soft tyre. You made the first run on the medium tyre and then set the fastest lap on the soft. Was it always the plan to qualify with the soft, because yesterday’s long runs didn’t look that great and it was a bit surprising to us that you improved your time?

    CL: Yes, it was planned like this. The race run was not great yesterday but it was not due to the tyre, as I said. We had some issues with the front end and I think it got better today, so we will see tomorrow whether we have a significant improvement on the long runs, but it was not due to the tyre.

    Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Valtteri and Lewis: Lewis, after practice yesterday you talked about having a little bit of difficulty with the balance of the car, the rear was stepping out a bit. Did that carry into today or were you happy with the car. Valtteri, you started strongly yesterday, has that just continued and do you just feel very happy with the balance of the car?

    VB: Well, yeah, from the very beginning, since the first practice the feeling was quite nice. There was definitely room for improvement, especially with the rear end of the car, mainly on the entry of the corners. I think we managed to get it a bit better. It was still the weakness in a couple of places the rear end of the car but it’s not been a massive drama. I managed to build up from yesterday, except for practice three, I was a bit off the pace. I just tried to reset and remind myself of everything I was capable of doing yesterday and it turned out to be good.

    Q: And Lewis?

    LH: Yeah the car was good. We made a big step forward, so no problems.

    Q: (Simon Amberley – Nevis Radio) To Charles: it was mentioned yesterday that maybe the Ferrari race pace wasn’t quite as strong as Mercedes, but with the gaps today and the difference on the tyres do you think possibly if you get a jump at the start, of getting Valtteri and Lewis, do you think you can maybe dictate the pace a bit more?

    CL: That’s definitely the target  – to try to use our tyre advantage, especially at the start, to gain positions and then try to keep them. Keeping them will be very difficult because they are extremely quick in race runs but that’s the target.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – liviooricchiof1.com) Lewis, from the outside it didn’t appear that you had the car in your hands all the time. Is it because of the circumstances or maybe you have a set-up thinking more of the race?

    LH: No, the set-up suited race trim best and I think yesterday I really did struggle with it on a single lap and of course I was trying to improve it over the evening and into today. It felt great into P3 and it felt really good at the star5 of the Q sessions and it kind of deteriorated through the session, so it got harder and harder, back towards a similar problem we had yesterday – as you saw in Turn 6 for example. But it was also windy. The race trim is still good. I didn’t want to move from the set-up I had, too far away, because it worked so well on the long run yesterday. Fingers crossed the strength in the race should be quite good but again it depends on what position we are in and how the wind is and a bunch of other factors.

    Q: (Yassmin Abdel-Magied – The Guardian) I’ve got a slightly less technical question. Lewis, this is your home race and  there’s lot of British flags out there and you’ve talked about loving coming back to the UK but there’s contention because you live in Monaco, and your accent isn’t maybe as British as others because you spend a lot of time in the US. So, why do you think that people question your Britishness.

    LH: I don’t really know. I don’t really have a good answer for that.

    VB: We all live in Monaco!

    LH: We all do live in Monaco. It’s crazy now because every driver… I remember growing up, you remember watching Jenson Button and all the youngsters come through, and every one migrated to Monaco and no-one ever said anything about it at the time. Of course, when I did, they had something to say about it. But no matter how often you go abroad or elsewhere in the world, you come back to the UK and you see the beautiful countryside, you see this great… y’know, the history of Formula One and motorsport which is really here, and I see all my family who are also here and this is, of course, feels like where my heart is and ultimately fully British. Of course, I still like to honour my family heritage. My family are from the Caribbean. But… I don’t know. People have a right to their own opinion. If you look around, there’s a lot of Team LH caps. The support that I’ve had has been just incredible and it’s been growing over the years, and whilst, of course, there’s always going to be people with negative views on things, I feel like every day is an opportunity to try to turn those that do have a negative view on things. I guess over time I’ll do more and more positive things for the country. Ultimately, I go to all these race and I lift the British flag proudly. There’s no-one else in this sport that’s raised it so high. At the moment, probably that’s not enough. I’ll keep looking out for what else I can do. And for those who do follow me, I really do appreciate their support.

    Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Lewis, there’s been some dramas here at Silverstone with the surface and they seem to have got everything done pretty quickly, but there were quite a lot of incidents at Turn Six yesterday. I wonder if you could tell us – you had one too, I think, there – can you tell us what was wrong there and is it better today and is the circuit settling down?

    LH: Ultimately last year, we’d come out of Turn Four and it was the bumpiest straight that probably you’ve ever been on before, rattling your teeth out for most of us. Also, for the motorbikes, it was quite bumpy then. In other areas it was OK. I think they’ve redone it this year; it’s much better on that straight but there are – and I guess it’s just the way it goes – but bumps into Turn Six are pretty hardcore but I think more so it’s the crosswind people are struggling with there. Maybe the bumps and also the crosswind that you have there, which everyone struggles with, and I’ve also struggled with – but then there’s also Turn Seven, it’s very bumpy but then the straight down to Copse is good, and then up to Maggotts and Becketts it’s good. It’s fantastic, and then after Maggotts and Becketts, down Stowe Straight it’s great, 15, 16, 17. So, it’s pretty much spot-on, perfect, apart from three bumps at the entry of Six and exit of Seven.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to all three drivers. What kind of weather do you expect tomorrow and what is the weather that will suit more the strategy you chose for the first tyre you will start on.

    CL: I haven’t watched the forecast yet, so I don’t really know – but I guess, yeah, in Silverstone it’s often very unpredictable, and as we’ve seen in the last two days, you can have drops any time. So, it will make the race quite interesting if it’s like this. Then, if I can choose, the best would probably have a good start on the Soft, do seven laps and then big rain and keep this position. But I don’t choose. I think it will be very unpredictable anyway.

    VB: Like yesterday there was no proper chance of rain but it still had a bit of drizzle, so I think anything can come from the sky, you never know – and no idea what will be best for us. At least it’s cooler than Austria, so that’s always good news but anything else, we should be OK.

    LH: I’m down for some good old English weather tomorrow! Good old English weather is sunny, hale, rain! Sun, snow, the whole mixture. No, naturally it’s better for all the fans when it’s dry but I don’t mind if it rains either way. It’s really great, this track, in the wet. I guess we’ll all discuss whether we do the rain dance tonight or not.

    Q: (Rob Harris – AP) Hi Lewis, it came down to six milliseconds today. Some quotes around from Nico Rosberg saying that, if he’d been travelling and partying in LA, then he’d be qualifying down in tenth – but you can cope with it, he was suggesting. When you assess things, do you think the clearing of the mind outweighs the travel by… sort of… going to LA between races like that and having the trips?

    LH: I think naturally it’s easy to say that. People to have views. I do have five world titles. They didn’t come on their own. You know me.

    VB: I think you gain time by partying. As a Finn, it’s a feeling.

    LH: Valtteri parties way more than me!

    VB: I have a party, I gain lap time, so…

    LH: I think ultimately, when I started doing the travels and focussing on these other things, people always had… there was always the issue and people would have comments on it. Particularly the pressure of then having to arrive and making sure you definitely delivered the same. It took a long time to break that mould, and I’ve done it time and time and time again. My preparation comes first. I’ve felt fantastic all weekend. The pressure’s quite high here, obviously being your home grand prix, and so I don’t look upon that lightly, and I prepare the best way I can. But also, I do what I want – I don’t do what you think I should do, or anyone else thinks I should do. Only I know what’s right for me – and again, that’s what’s led me to five world titles. And don’t forget the amount of wins I have, all of that stuff, so… yeah.

    Q: (Keith Collantine – racefans.net) Question for Charles, you’ve said a few times in recent races you feel you’ve raised your game in qualifying recently. The clearest way we can see that is you’ve just out-qualified Sebastian for the third race in a row – but how much more do you think there is that you can find in the Ferrari? And particularly today, was there the extra eight hundredths of a second that you needed to be sitting where Valtteri is sitting?

    CL: At the time, as I said earlier, I think out main issue is the front end. Once we’ll fix this, I’m pretty sure there will be quite a bit of performance in that – because also again, in qualifying today, especially the third sector, I was struggling quite a lot with the front end to grip-up. So yeah, there’s still a lot of performance into that, whether we’ll know how to overcome this issue is another matter, so we need to be working very hard on that, and hopefully some performance will come when we fix this.

    Q: (Tom Jackson – City Press) Charles, both Red Bulls split you and Sebastian today. Do you think tomorrow you will be able to comfortably stay ahead of them or do you expect a fight with them more than you do with the Mercedes?

    CL: If we look at the Friday race simulations, I think it’s going to be very difficult to fight with  – or at least Lewis’s race run was very very strong so yeah, we need to work on that but Red Bull seems to be very quick also in the race runs so it’s going to be tricky. If we manage to gain some positions at the start, it’s a track where it’s quite hard to overtake so then we have some chances to keep them but if not I guess it’s going to be very difficult to fight with them.

    Q: (Laurence Edmonson – ESPN) Valtteri, two of your pole positions earlier this year didn’t quite go to plan, the starts didn’t work out. Can you just explain if you’ve anything to try and rectify that and how the other starts have been and whether you’ve found a solution to it?

    VB: Yeah, I’ve definitely been working a lot on the starts this year and especially after the couple of not ideal ones, so I’ve been focusing a lot and feel much more comfortable  with the starts than earlier in the year. Obviously every start is going to be different, we always have different circumstances, different set of tyres, temperatures but yeah, feel more confident and obviously aiming for a good start tomorrow and use the good grid position.

    Q: (Sam Hall – Autoweek) Lewis, this year it seems that you’ve found qualifying a little bit harder to get pole on the Saturdays. Is the car a bit more difficult to get the one lap pace out of or is it something that’s changed with you as a driver?

    LH: No, I think… we’re not halfway through the year yet. We’ve definitely had some poles but Valtteri has done some great laps throughout qualifying. It definitely has been a car that’s a little bit… I think with the tyres it’s a little bit harder to get it perfect every single time but it’s just qualifying, if you’ve seen a lot of the races, it doesn’t necessarily always determine what happens always in the race. Of course it’s great to always start at the front. It makes your day a little bit more simple but nonetheless it’s really great that we continue to work forwards as a team and lock out the front row. I’m really proud to be a part of that and still to get a one-two today is still significant, considering we have all of our team actually coming this weekend. Of course, Valtteri and I, I think we have a great relationship, we always want to beat each other but I’ll go back, look at the data today, did a better job and tomorrow you’ll do a great job as well and the duel tomorrow is who can do a better job tomorrow. There’s plenty more pole positions up for grabs between all of us so just got to keep working hard.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Valtteri and Lewis; Valtteri, when we spoke you said the time is now for you to start effectively getting your elbows out. Indeed, is this the time that you’re starting to sense that? Lewis, are you prepared to race against what I guess we could call Valtteri 2.1, new version, newly enthused, ready to go again after a good start and obviously a bit of a slump but coming back?

    VB: Well, if you look at the points, for sure the championship fight is still on. Obviously I’m the one chasing, I’m behind with I don’t know the exact number but roughly thirty points or something but so many races to go and it’s going to be a lot up to me and my performance, so definitely every single opportunity there is I need to get those and if I don’t get those then Lewis is going to be far away and not be able to reach in terms of points so tomorrow is super important, but so is the race after and the race after. The season is still long so I really need to try and take those opportunities and for sure will do everything I can to keep that lead tomorrow.

    Q: Lewis, your thoughts on Valtteri 2.1?

    LH: 2.1 or 2.4 or what’s the difference? I work closely with this guy, it’s Valtteri. I just see him as the man he is. Obviously we’re still fighting for the title. I don’t feel necessarily that he’s the only one chasing, I’m still chasing. I try to put an imaginary individual ahead of yourself. For me, I generally kind of put the previous year’s performances so last year’s myself ahead of me, for example and that’s my target: to improve and beat that, but on days like this I’m behind another so he’s now the guy that I’m chasing. So as long as you’ve always got a goal to chase, then you can always make improvements, you always have strides to make and so that’s my approach always.

    Q: (Simon Amberley – Nevis Radio) The past couple of races we’ve had incidents that have been reviewed after the race which have either potentially affected the result or have affected the result. Has this been discussed within the drivers’ meetings and can we expect results to actually stand at the end of the race and drivers to be able to race more aggressively in future races including here?

    LW: I was focusing on folding… I don’t know what the question was.

    CL: I’m always up for hard racing so very happy if they relax a little bit on the fights but I think consistency is key. At the end, I think they also need time to review some incidents or sometimes it be bad to wait for the results but at the end I think it’s the best way to take the right decision.

    VB: Yeah, I’m a big fan of hard racing as well so the harder we can race, but safe and fair, is always good and obviously for everyone it’s always better to have the results as quickly as possible and penalties as quickly as possible but sometimes they need to review more which is understandable.

    LH: I feel exactly the same as these two guys. I still don’t know what the question was really! But close racing is always yeah, what he just said. Sorry. It wasn’t intentional to miss what the question was. About tough racing, was it? I haven’t discussed it. No. I don’t think it was brought up in the drivers’ briefing either. I think the last race was good. I don’t know what Charles thought of the incident he had.

    CL: No, I thought it was OK. The only thing is consistency as I said. I feel like there have been some incidents in the past this year that have been not analysed or penalised, sorry, for much less than that, so that’s the only thing. I think consistency is very important but if it’s clear that we can race that way then I’m more than happy to race like this and I think every driver likes to race that way.

    LH: I agree again! I think it’s really hard with the consistency thing because we’ve got these rules that… but every scenario is different but you have to apply the same rule to it so it’s… that’s why they’ve got some of the guys that are at the stewards, some even have to interpret certain a way what has happened at certain way and as Charles said, consistency is really what we want to try and get. But I think every year you go through all the lessons or they, together in the sport, go through the lessons and learn and improve and people told us that it needs to get better and so I’m sure we will.

  • External Damage to Blame for Raikkonen’s British GP Tyre Failure

    External Damage to Blame for Raikkonen’s British GP Tyre Failure

    After revealing their findings on Sebastian Vettel’s tyre failure at the British Grand Prix, Pirelli has now announced their findings on Kimi Raikkonen’s tyre failure and have concluded that damage to the tyre was caused by an external source effectively absolving he Italian tyre manufacturer of any blame.

    Pirelli say that they uncovered damage to the tyre in two places near the edge of the belt close to the internal shoulder area of the tyre and that the same type of damage was not found anywhere else on the tyre.

    “The results of the analysis on Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen’s front-left soft compound tyre, which experienced an issue at the end of the recent British Grand Prix, reveal specific damage in two places at the edge of the belt close to the internal shoulder area,” said Pirelli in a statement.

    “This damage is not present throughout any other areas of the tyre whatsoever. Furthermore, the belt and the structure do not show any signs of fatigue.”

    The damage may have come from an object that may have made contact with the edge of the tyre according to Pirelli.

    “The possible initial cause of this damage is consistent with contact against an external body, leading to a partial separation of the belt from the carcass in the two affected areas. In one of these two places, as a logical consequence, part of the tread also became detached,” added Pirelli in their statement.

    While this may have damaged the rubber tread of they tyre, the tyre remained structurally sound and was not compromised as Raikkonen was able to make it back to the pits on the tyre still inflated.

    Further tests were carried out by Pirelli on tyres that have done similar or more mileage than Raikkonen’s tyres and it was found there were no signs of any detachment, fatigue, or laceration on the tyres.

    This lead Pirelli to conclude that the construction of the tyre and integrity of the tyre was sound and that the damage was caused by an external object.

    “A number of detailed tests have since been carried out, both destructive and nondestructive, on other tyres used by frontrunners at the British Grand Prix with a similar or bigger distance on them compared to the set used by Raikkonen (for 25 laps). On no occasion was there any sign of fatigue, detachment or laceration or even the beginning of such problems – that affected the structure of the tyre.

    “In conclusion, Pirelli can confirm that no issues have emerged connected with the tyre itself.”

  • Pirelli Concludes Investigation into Vettel’s British GP Tyre Failure

    Pirelli Concludes Investigation into Vettel’s British GP Tyre Failure

    Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has concluded the investigation into the tyre failure that dropped Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel from 4th to 7th.

    Pirelli say that a slow puncture was the cause of the first failure. Vettel ran off the track out of Brooklands 2-laps before the end of the race as a result of his tyre failure but was able to make his way to the pits and finish the race. Pirelli say that further damage to the tyre was caused by Vettel driving back to the pits.

    “As appeared clear since Sunday afternoon, a full investigation has now confirmed that the original cause of the failure was a slow puncture,” said Pirelli in a statement.

    “The consequent driving back to the pits on an under-inflated and then flat tyre led to the final failure.”

    Vettel’s tyre failure came almost immediately after team mate Kimi Raikkonen suffered, what looked like a similar tyre failure. Replays of Raikkonen’s tyre failure showed otherwise and initially it looked like the rubber de-laminated form the tyre canvas.

    Pirelli say that they are still investigating the cause of Raikkonen’s tyre failure but they expect to conclude their investigation in a few more days.

    “Kimi Raikkonen’s damaged tyre shows less evidence of what occurred, so further tests and analysis are still ongoing in Pirelli’s laboratories and indoor testing facilities,” added Pirelli in a statement.

    “It will take a few more days to reach a definitive conclusion.”

     

     

    Photo by courtesy Pirelli

  • 2017 British Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2017 British Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS: 1 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2 – Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 3 – Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Owen WILSON and Jenson BUTTON)

    Owen Wilson: Congratulations, what an exciting race. You made it look easy out there.

    Lewis Hamilton: It was not so easy. It’s never easy.

    OW: How are you guys doing? Great British win.

    LH: That was the feeling I can’t really describe. It feels amazing to be up here, so proud to see all these great flags everywhere. The support this weekend has been immense and I’m really proud that I could do this for you all. Thank you so much for all your support, pushing us, the team faultless this weekend. Valtteri did an exceptional job as well so it’s a perfect weekend for us.

    OW: What’s next? Are you going to win the championship?

    LH: That’s the plan. That’s the plan. And then I want to be in Cars 4.

    OW: Done!

    LH: No, it’s been… I really… there’s a long long way to go.

    Jenson Button: I’m actually going to move past you for a second, Lewis. Valtteri, well, starting back of the top ten is always going to be tricky but an awesome strategy and obviously a few issues from these boys over here: P2. 1-2 for Mercedes. How awesome.

    Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, thank you. You know I’m really happy for today. It was definitely not easy, the whole race, to start from P9 and there were many cars not easy to get through but the team did an absolutely perfect strategy and just get my head down, get going and in the end, also with the puncture with Kimi, we got a bit lucky but a perfect weekend for us and well done to Lewis and thank you guys for all the support, thank you.

    JB: Awesome, good lad. But again, you got to make the best of a tough situation and you did that, you brought home some massive points for the team, so congrats, buddy.

    VB: Thank you.

    JB: Kimi, that was a tough race. It looked like you and Lewis were disappearing off into the distance, it looked easy although obviously it’s never easy but it looked it. And then you had the problem, but pretty awesome still to fight back to third position. How do you feel about it?

    Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, I think we got more or less most of the part of the race, the car in the race. They were just a bit faster today. Tried at some point to go a little bit to go faster but then unfortunately there seemed to be an unlucky situation which keeps following us and for whatever reason the front left not really exploded but the canvas came off from the tyre. Luckily I could get back quite fast and the car stayed in one piece. Unfortunately, Seb had the same thing a lap later more or less the same place. Not happy but better than nothing.

    JB: A strong weekend, which is nice to see. Lastly, Lewis, this is the first time I’ve actually stood on this podium so it’s great to stand here with this guy who did an absolutely amazing job. Look at what you’ve done. Look how happy all these people are with that awesome performance.

    LH: It’s incredible, man. Thank you. You deserved to be up here so many times when you were racing here. But it’s great that there are now two Brits up here still. Thanks so much and again, just a big thanks to everyone. You guys, I’m coming over to crowd surf, just so you know. Be ready for me! And everyone who’s watching, thank you so much for the support, all the kids, Billy, you guys down here. I really want to say thank you so much for coming. You guys have inspired me this weekend, and this race is for you. Thank you.

    JB: Awesome, well congratulations to you guys up here, especially you. And thank you so much for this. This is spectacular. The British fans are the best in world and Silverstone was a very special Grand Prix this weekend because of these guys. That’s it from here; see you in two weeks at the Hungaroring.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Congratulations; the win in numbers: your 57th career win, fourth successive here at Silverstone and fifth overall, tying the record with Jim Clark. And of course in the Drivers’ championship you’re now just one point behind Sebastian Vettel. A very dramatic Grand Prix; you seemed to be completely in control but it was all going on around you. How aware were you of what was going on around you and how in control did you feel?

    LH: Yeah, I was very very fortunate, firstly the team did an exceptional job this weekend. The car felt great and really was generally faultless. So proud of everyone at the factory. Valtteri did an exceptional job to come back from way back in eighth, I believe. Perfect weekend for us as a team. I was up front, got a very good start and after that I was really able to manage the gap between myself and Kimi and just bit by bit, extend… We were planning on stopping on lap 19 or something like that so I was able to extend it by quite a bit and then at the end, I was… I had a decent gap and it was just about managing that 12-14s gap I had to Kimi. I could see on the TV screens at a few places around the track Valtteri’s race. I got to see a bit of the race. And then I heard at the end that there were some tyre blow-outs and I had some graining and some vibration on mine so the last couple of laps I took it easy because I knew that others were having trouble. But yeah, coming across the line, I could have kept going, I felt like I could have kept going. I think we really had the legs this weekend. You just saw the crowd… I’m sweating not necessarily because of the race but because I was just running outside and got to crowd-surf with everyone. The support has been immense this weekend. The crowd… I’m glad that the rain held off. The amount of flags, the amount of support, the energy was tremendous. I had some really great support from some Great Ormond Street children, Starlight Foundation children and Billy Monger has come down and given us… he really blessed the team and also a new friend of mine, Michael, who’s fighting cancer has come down from South Africa and he was down by the car as I was on the podium so really this is a dedication to him and to all those children who are fighting.

    Q: And just very quickly, you really extended either side of the pit stops; the gap went right out to Kimi either side… just very quickly, how did you do that?

    LH: At which point?

    Q: Either side of the pit stops, the gap went right out to Kimi.

    LH: Yeah, I’m not really following. Either side of it, yeah, sorry? Yeah, I think at that point once I got my tyres to balance and temperature, then I started to pick up the pace. I knew that I had three or four laps to go so I gave it everything and in that period of time, I happened to be just over a second up on Kimi per lap so that was really where I was able to make the difference. The pit stop was flawless and so I think overall the whole pit stop period of time was bang on. And then my out lap was great and those next few laps… because Valtteri was behind, it was important that I didn’t hold him up so I was trying to get away and get away enough that I didn’t also disturb his air.

    Q: Valtteri, from ninth to second, 36 laps on the soft. Tell us about that, did you encounter any issues such as the Ferraris did later in the race, towards the end of that stint and also you were looking for that gap to try and attack Vettel. Tell us about that?

    VB: Yes, so for us, as a team, really perfect weekend for circumstances, how we started today, me in ninth place. It’s just amazing what we’ve done today. The car was so good to drive today. It was really quick and the team did a perfect strategy for both of us, I think, me and Lewis. I did start the race on the soft tyre and had to run really long and we actually had to extend the first stint quite a bit because everything was still looking good. Yeah, towards the end, when I went to the supersoft the pace was quick with the fresh tyre. Sebastian was closing on Kimi. I think realistically he would have been a bit too far away, definitely, for me to get P2 but then I got lucky, on the other hand, he got unlucky to lose his second place in the end but 1-2 is perfect.

    Q: Kimi, finally, Max Verstappen held up Vettel in the early stages creating a nice opportunity to build a good lead. Did you think at that point you were pretty comfortable in second place and then tell us about the dramas at the end? Was there any kind of warning before that left front went? Did you hit any debris?

    KR: We were quite comfortable in second place, but it wasn’t the easiest feeling. We had a weekend in which it was quite difficult in some places. In the race it was similar to how it was on Friday so I tried to hang on to Lewis and tried to keep the gap but I just didn’t have enough speed today. Everything was going more or less smoothly and the gap was fine for us but then two laps from the end, I don’t know what happened, just before turn six, the left tyre didn’t explode but the rubber part came off suddenly in the middle of the straight and I don’t think I hit anything. Everything felt normal before that moment and luckily I came back quite fast. I think I destroyed the front wing after that because the tyre was flapping around but we managed to get a decent position. I was very unlucky but in a way lucky. I didn’t want to… the same happened to Seb a lap later. I think the same happened to him. I don’t know, I don’t know what happened. We could have been second today but we didn’t really have the speed against Lewis today. Obviously we have some work to be done. We had a decent start but once we fell behind, we had no real chance to beat them.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Mike Doodson – GP Plus) Lewis, warmest congratulations. You have now equalled Jim Clark and Alain Prost with five wins in this great race and we know how much you treasure that perpetual gold trophy. I was just wondering if you were planning to commission of your own, because you don’t get to keep it, if you haven’t done so already?

    LH: I’ve been wanting to get a copy of it for a long time. I don’t know if I have one yet, to be honest I haven’t seen any of my trophies for a long time; I put them in storage! But one day I will see, but I definitely want to get a copy of that one, it’s a beautiful looking trophy, it has so many legends stamped on it. I’m proud to see that the Hamilton name is there, fully ingrained in it and will be there way beyond my time.

    Q: (Andrew Dillon – The Sun) Lewis, where for the next race will the preparations be – Disneyland maybe, something like that? What does it say about you as a driver and this season that you can go on your controversial trip, as you did, and come back here and win so convincingly. What does it tell us about you that you are able to do that, please?

    LH: I think it… there is no reason to question my preparations. I have more poles than most. I am obviously building up the wins that I have. My performance is second to none. If you don’t know now that my preparation is mostly on point, then I guess you never will. I will be training hard next week in different locations, as I always do. I have work, so I will be working and focusing all week and then I will be in the UK for at least two days when I will be at the factory and then I will go to the race.

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawkes Bay Today) Lewis, congratulations on your fifth win. Obviously the speed of the Mercedes indicates that a fourth world championship for you now is more than a real possibility. If you were to achieve that would you consider retirement, which has been mentioned in the media a few times or would you carry on for a fifth title?

    LH: I think that’s so far ahead, to be honest. We’ve got so long to go in the season. At the moment I’m loving driving. I feel like I’m at my prime. I feel like I’m driving better than ever and I’m loving driving with the team. So I can’t imagine… there is no current reason to want to have to stop. I’m still enjoying it and I still have a contract with the team for at least a year so I plan to see that out at the moment.

    Q: (Andrew Dillon – The Sun) Lewis again, two parts please: can you a) can you talk about the feelings of crowd-surfing out there and b) what it means to have cut the lead at the top to just one point at the half way point, and to do it today at Silverstone?

    LH: Growing up watching the TV and seeing Nigel and seeing the greats, to see the reception they got from the fans, I had never seen it on TV at any other circuit with any driver, that kind of experience. It was always “how amazing that would be, I wonder what that feels like?” And every year for the last four years I have got to feel that and each year it feels like it has grown and got bigger, more accepted and like I just now went and did the crowd-surfing and they pulled me out into the crowd. The reception has just been amazing and so energising and really fuelling up the inspiration to go out there and put a weekend’s performance in like that. I saw that… I was constantly looking up where Vettel was and I could see that he was in third and hoping that Valtteri was going to catch him and then I saw the battle and I was like “yes!” I was super happy when he got past him. I was thinking: “we’ll take that”, firstly for the team and secondly it’s great for the result. But then I couldn’t have imagined or dreamed that he would have the problem at the end. So to have that close up this close at the British Grand Prix, that’s fantastic, so happy. Yeah, we just got to keep pushing, keep fighting. Clearly this weekend we have shown we are a team that is pushing. For the first time in history to come into a second era of car and still be in the fight I think it’s great. I think the fans are enjoying it. Kimi drove a great race and he was very quick today and I think it’s great to have this constant battle with the red cars.

    Q: (Sef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, first of all congratulations and thanks for taking everyone on this wonderful Sunday drive through this beautiful English countryside. I want you to describe this weekend, how it felt to take this win, to equal Jim Clark, to do this in front of people who love. Your brother is here, you have people who supporting you. What’s that feeling been like to do that as a British driver and to keep that lineage of success for British drivers in representing your country?

    LH: It just doesn’t feel… it does feel real I have to say. Not that it doesn’t feel real, it just feels… it’s hard to find the words. When I was racing here I just couldn’t imagine I’d be. I could imagine one day driving a Formula One car and maybe winning the championship but I couldn’t imagine having the poles I have, matching the likes of Jim Clark and Aytron Senna and having the Hamilton name amongst those stars. I’m really proud and I have to really take it back again to the incredible dedication from my family, my dad. The upbringing that I have had is obviously the reason that I’m able to do what I do. The opportunity that was provided by my dad. And then the love that I get here is pretty… It’s one of the most special, if not the most special thing that happens in the season for me. You don’t get it anywhere else and I don’t even think any other driver gets it in any national country like it is at the British Grand Prix. So there is no way we can lose this grand prix. There is just no way it is going to happen as far as I’m concerned.

    Q: (Chiara Rainis – tuttomotoriweb.com) Question to Kimi, at one point you said there was something in your cockpit that was moving around. What was it?

    KR: I don’t remember which part, halfway through the race there was something going around underneath my heels, around the pedals and it moved… I don’t know, there was something. I haven’t looked and it didn’t bother me too much, apart from going under my heels a few times but then, y’know, we’ll find out later what it was. Maybe there’s some rubber than flew into the cockpit or stuff like that. It happens sometimes. It bothered me a few times and then flew somewhere into a corner and didn’t really disturb me anymore.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Two questions, one for Valtteri, one for Kimi. Valtteri, obviously the first part of the plan went really well when you got past the two Force Indias, Vandoorne and Hülkenberg very quickly – but then you started to close on Max and Seb as they were fighting. Was there a temptation to get into that fight – or you needed to give some space to keep your tyres alive. Second part of the question, are you happy with the way Sebastian defended on the second part of the race. And for Kimi, again, closer in racing then in qualifying – but not close enough as you said. Is this circuit-related or do you think Mercedes has taken an extra step here?

    KR: I don’t know whether we’re closer or not. I think the first part, yes but around the pitstops, probably not, so I have to say, obviously we have to look and try to learn. For sure last few circuits hasn’t been ideal for us. I’m sure Hungary should be a better circuit for us, and our strengths – but we wait and see. Need to keep working hard and try to improve. Try to keep fighting as much as we can.

    VB: For me, in the first stint, that’s when the start of the race was very good. Got through a couple of cars pretty quickly with the strong car that we had, that made it definitely easier with the good pace since lap one really. And when I was getting closer to Seb and Max, they were battling and it is always – even though you have pace – it is always difficult to get through if there’s two cars because one car between has the DRS. So, for me at that point, I knew I had to run long in that stint to make my strategy work. So it was kind of just managing the gap. Kind of hoping they would get themselves into some kind of trouble, by fighting that hard, and just waiting for my opportunity. The opportunity came later: they both pitted, I still had good tyres left and it was up to me to try to maximise whatever was left in the tyre. The fight with Sebastian for first time I tried to get past. I was going on the outside, he was defending on the inside, I think we were pretty much side-by-side. Yeah, for me there was no more space than to go off the track. Yeah, that is racing. For sure he was defending hard and I was trying hard from the outside, so no drama on that. Next lap, tried again, got a bit closer and managed to do the same move. That was OK.

    Q: (Sunni Upal – The Sun) Hi Lewis, five wins here now, going to Hungary soon, another track you’ve won many times at. These are longevity records but you’re still at the peak of your career. How many more years do you think you have in you? How many more wins around here?

    LH: I still feel young, so y’know… I still feel young, still feel fit. I’m sure I can go for a long time if I really wanted but yeah, I really have no idea what the future holds. All I can do is make sure that I maximise every single day and every opportunity that I get that comes ahead of me, I continue to enjoy my life the way I want to enjoy my life, regardless of what people say. Yeah, hopefully continue to make my family proud and my team proud and my fans proud. Yeah.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, you were very down after Austria, understandably and you were good with us and explained why, saying you were disappointed because you care so much, you’d had bad luck. This race, you’ve had a great race, good fortune as well with seeing Sebastian go off – just wondered what it does for you mentally, psychologically – a boost in the title race, really. What this actually means, if you can just describe it.

    LH: I personally don’t take much from the incident with Sebastian. More so just on our performance this weekend: through practice, through… even more so arriving with all the smoke and mirrors that was happening around, so much negativity trying to pull the weekend down but obviously it had no affect, and it didn’t affect… the fans were out-and-out loving and supporting all weekend, regardless. Yeah, and just to be able to go out there and perform. Just really proud of all the hard work that all the team have done, the engineers, our work ethic. As I said, in the last few races I think we’ve had the pace, it’s just unfortunate our hard work has really not shown in the results. So to come here and have that weekend, still not perfectly faultless but there’s more faultless races to come in the future. So, yeah, we’ve got Budapest… we didn’t even bring an upgrade here. We’ve got more coming hopefully in the future. It’s going to be a close race, I think. It’s going to go right down to the wire, clearly. But I’m hoping for a cleaner stint of races for Valtteri and I.

    Q: (Stephen Camp – Paddock Magazine) Question to Lewis for the first part and probably to you and Valtteri for the second part. Do you feel that now, at the halfway point of the season, the gap is now one point, do you feel it’s a turning point for yourself in the season – and second part to both of you, do you feel that Mercedes have perhaps maybe stepped ahead of Ferrari in terms of the competitiveness of both cars?

    LH: I think it’s difficult to ever say it’s a turning point. I think ultimately there’s constantly turns and you guys about the pendulum, back and forth. Obviously the pendulum swung a little bit this weekend and I think that’s only good for Formula One, it’s only good for the fans, probably super-exciting for them to see the close battle that we’re continuing to have. Without a doubt we hope it stays the way that it’s swung this time but, as you know, a pendulum swings. We’re just hoping that we can be on our toes to react to whatever is thrown at us in the next races.

    Valtteri?

    VB: Well, like Lewis said, we didn’t bring anything new really for this race. For sure it is always going to be track-specific. This seemed to be a strong one for us but as Lewis said as well, as a team we’ve been working really well together and the team has been flat-out since our struggles earlier in the year. That kind of is now paying off, all the hard work, and the car is feeling better and better, every weekend. So, can’t really still be too satisfied and say that we are ahead. We need to keep trying, try and get the car better, keep working on it, like we are doing now.

  • 2017 British Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 British Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL(Ferrari)

     

    TRACKSIDE INTERVIEWS (Conducted by David Coulthard and Jenson Button)

    David COULTHARD: Lewis, we’re going to come straight to you. Fantastic qualifying, unbelievable. You must be feeling good about that?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I feel great about it, especially with a great crowd like this all the way round the track. Thank you guys so much for your support. I hope you liked the lap.

    Jenson BUTTON: It’s the first time I’ve watched qualifying live and just seeing the cars through Becketts, it just looked awesome. We all love Silverstone, for the circuit itself but these guys… when you crossed the finish line and put it P1, the cheer that went up was absolutely amazing.

    LH: I always try and save the last ‘til best – the best ‘til last. So how much support I’ve had this weekend; I needed to make sure I got that lap in. I didn’t do it the last race so really made sure I saved it this weekend. Thank you guys so much. I hope you’re happy with it.

    JB: Qualifying, around this track anyway, in those conditions, when it was wet at the start of qualifying, I know what it’s like, it’s so tough, when you’ve  got a good crowd, you just want it to be dry the whole way through so wet to start with must have been a bit tricky.

    LH: I mean, I mean, I generally like it to be dry but I quite like the conditions when they’re tricky. These are typical English conditions, this is where I grew up, this is what we grew up racing in, you know, so I felt very comfortable and the team did a fantastic job. And then when it dried up, that’s when you can… particularly when it’s just quite cool, the tyres were working perfectly and that high speed section, as you said, was incredible.

    JB: And Copse is flat?

    LH: Copse is not flat! You can do it flat but it’s actually slower because you’re exiting in eighth (gear) so it’s almost flat but what’s really interesting is turn 11, 12, 13 is flat.

    JB: So Maggotts and Becketts?

    LH: Yeah, you go in and the lefthander is flat which wasn’t before.

    JB: That looked awesome mate and tomorrow, exciting?

    LH: Yeah, well it’s definitely the best position to start from. The long runs were looking great so I need to make sure I do it for these guys.

    JB: Great job, Kimi, how did it feel out there?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: Felt OK. I think in the morning it felt a little bit more tricky. Obviously conditions were not easy, changing a lot but I think the car behaved as good as it could, the best that it’s been this weekend but obviously still not fast enough for the first place.

    JB: But from my point of view it looks a lot closer to the Mercedes than a lot of us expected. Do you think in the race there’s a good chance that you can…

    KR: We try, we try, we try and see what happens. I obviously have nothing to lose so we try to make a good race for the team and catch up on the podium.

    JB: Good job, buddy. Sebastian! I was saying to Lewis, it was the first time I’ve ever watched qualifying live and to see the cars through Becketts is just awesome. Last year was good but this year to see the cars… with this much downforce, it must be awesome to drive.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I don’t think we know yet how good it is. One day we will look back and say ‘yeah, it’s unbelievable.’ It’s basically flat until – what’s the last part? – Chapel. Yeah. It’s flat through turn 12, it’s eighth gear, it’s unbelievable. The car just sticks.

    JB: As I was saying to Kimi, you guys seem to be a lot closer than what I expected anyway, going into qualifying. Obviously now I know everything!

    SV: Thank you. It felt good this morning, to be fair. The car really came alive. I think yesterday we weren’t really happy but this morning was really good. Shame in the last run in Q3 I think there was a bit more but I think in the end we got the best that we could.

    JB: I know the fans here are loving that Lewis is on pole, it’s awesome for British motor sport but I must say that having you fighting with Lewis makes the championship. It really does and for me, it’s been awesome to watch you two fighting and that’s what Formula One is all about. So congratulations for that, buddy.

    SV: Thank you, thank you.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Congratulations to Lewis, a fifth British Grand Prix pole position, four years in a row here, sixth of 2017 and, perhaps most important of all, one short of the all-time record. Clearly an inspired lap there, massive challenge with the conditions and pole by half a second. Quite a statement. A statement you obviously came here intending to make, and tomorrow you go for a record-equalling win.

    LH: Well, firstly I want to say a big thank you to all the fans that have come out.  Every year it’s amazing to see how many people are here from the Thursday onwards. I fly in so I get to see all of the campsites and everything and know that they’re there way before the majority of us and just every lap, every time I come through the corners I can see them on the left out of the corner of my eye, waving support. So it really means the world to me, and I can feel it, and that energy absolutely inspires me to get laps like that. It’s your home race. I love this track as well. The track just feels incredible. We worked very hard and the engineers did a fantastic job to get the setup where I needed it and, of course, a tricky qualifying as always with the overcast, and a bit of rain – but as I said on the grid, that’s the conditions I grew up in, so I felt very much at home. And then when it dried up I was really able to utilise the tyres. That final lap felt fantastic. Of course I wasn’t expecting to have a gap like that but the gap… that’s what is the target. It definitely felt great and very proud and, as I said, I’m thankful.

    Q: Kimi, coming to you, saved the best ‘til last clearly. You’ve always been very quick here but what’s it like driving around here with these 2017 cars? And also, given that there’s two of you here and Valtteri’s starting some way back, opportunity tomorrow for the two of you to try something on Lewis with strategy? Undercuts, overcuts, etcetera. What do you think?

    KR: Obviously, there is always opportunities. What we’re going to do, and whatever we do, is it going to work out? That’s a different story always. The car… obviously conditions were tricky, especially at the beginning. It was getting better and better and it was pretty OK in the end. The car felt OK. I don’t know exactly how far we were from first but I have a pretty good guess where we were giving away lap time. I think we have a good car, unfortunately not fast enough but for the race hopefully we can challenge them and give a good run, we’re two, both of us there so we try to make the best out of it.

    Q: Coming to you Sebastian, it sounded on the radio as you came back in to the pits as though you were unhappy with where you’d been put out onto the track. Was it for that final run that it hadn’t worked out for you? Maybe you could clarify that message – and also do you think you’ve got the race pace between you to have a go at Lewis tomorrow?

    SV: Obviously as Kimi said, there’s always opportunities, so we’ll see. Obviously, the target is to put him under pressure but, yeah, they’ve certainly been competitive all weekend. Nevertheless, I think it’s been a positive day for us. We improved the car. In quali the car was great. Last run, yeah, I was a bit compromised, the first sector especially, because the tyres were not where they should have been. Maybe I should have seen that better ont eh outlap but I was a bit in traffic and we were, I think, a bunch of three or four cars. Not ideal but anyways, I think it’s a decent result. As I said, the most important is that the car is good. We improved it for today and also tomorrow should be better.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Congratulations Lewis, great lap. Valtteri ran the soft tyre in Q2. I wondered whether that was an option for you, whether the team wanted the split strategy, and indeed with being on the supersoft for Q2 and being able to do that time in Q3 and have the feel for the grip?

    LH: Well, Valtteri’s on a different strategy due to… he had a gearbox change I believe, so just gives him a bit of a more open strategy tomorrow, being that it sets him back. And this is  a track where I think you can potentially overtake so it was not a bad place to take it. It’s not the greatest when you are on a softer tyre and then you go… on the soft and then to the supersoft next. The balance generally is a little bit different – but nonetheless I’ve experienced that in the last race and this one obviously I was able to stay on plan, on a target without any issues, which is very much needed. The car just felt like it progressed really well. I think actually the rain was a blessing at the beginning because didn’t have to use the slick tyres at the beginning. Saved them to have two runs in Q2 and then two runs in Q3. So it was just a nice, steady build-up.

    Q: (Sara Palmer – BBC Northampton) How would you feel about Silverstone losing the British Grand Prix if they can’t reach a deal with Liberty Media?

    LH: Is that to me? Well, I’ve said it many times, I feel like this is the home of motorsport. The UK, we’ve obviously got lots of teams here. You see the crowd that we have every grand prix. There’s no reason to not have a grand prix. I could understand if there was no-one turning up and it was costing a lot – but the fans save up and spend so much money on these weekends. I think it would be a real shame to lose it. I don’t believe for a second that we will lose the British Grand Prix because the world would erupt, I think. The world of sport. I will do whatever I can to encourage them and make sure it does happen. We do have a lot of great circuits in the UK, be great to be able to utilise this one and another one. We used to have two grands prix in Spain, the second one wasn’t any good – the track – so it would be kinda cool to use another great one here, maybe. Potentially. Who knows?

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xero Xone News) Lewis, you hooked it up out there today and you have a lot of milestones here, you tied Clark in poles today, you could tie him tomorrow in wins. You see the banners, you see the flags, you see your people out there rooting for you, you have a lot of love pushing you tomorrow. Tell us how that feels heading into tomorrow’s race?

    LH: It’s really hard to put into words because… of course I grew up watching TV, I remember seeing Nigel with the support and thinking, “wow, I wonder what that feels like?” I’m sure we’ve all done that. I wonder what it feels like having all that focus and attention and support pointing into one spot, into me. I’ve been really privileged over the past ten years to come here and receive that love. I feel like I’ve really grown with the fans over this time. It definitely helps when you have good results. The fans leave… regardless if we do win they still have a great weekend but of course it helps when you have a Brit win the grand prix and British flags at P1. It really is, it’s so energizing. I think Nigel mentioned years ago, I think he said it gives you a second, maybe it’s half a second. It definitely feels like it gives you something. You carry that energy. I think that applies to life in general. If you are feeling positive on a day, your day just generally goes a lot better, or if you are around positive people you generally have a better day. Every time I leave the garage, every time I come out of the pit lane, the crowd on the left, go through Brooklands and Turn 7, Priory I guess it is maybe… it’s not Priority is it?

    SV: Is it Woodcote?

    LH: Woodcote? I don’t know, but Turn 7, and you can see the crowd on the left it’s massively encouraging. This weekend I’ve got Billy [Monger] here, my brother’s here, and others, the Great Ormond Street kids are here, the Starlight children are here, so many inspiring kids as well, so there’s just a lot of positive energy, a lot of inspiration around.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, can you tell us how much different the section from Copse to Chapel is, in terms of gear, speeds. I heard you saying on the TV that Copse could be flat but it’s better not to, can you explain it?

    LH: Yeah, I mean the downforce is incredible. One of the reasons also why this track is so great is that we always generally have through that section a headwind. So it’s like being in a wind tunnel with just the optimum downforce package. Copse… obviously we were building up to it because it was a little bit damp at the beginning. You can take it flat in eighth but it’s not necessarily that quick, you scrub quite a lot of speed off and then the RPM potentially would drop a little bit too much, so I don’t personally do it flat and it didn’t seem to cost me any time. And then when you come through Maggots and Becketts, that section is just on fire, you just can’t imagine how incredible it is when you come through 10, 11… 10 is obviously always flat, 11 has been flat for years, 12, from 2007 to now, just bit by bit, you’re letting off later and later and now you’re kind of still on the gas through 12 or into 12 at least. And then 13 is a fantastic corner because it’s very bumpy through there. You’ve got maximum downforce, a lot of compression on the tyres and it’s all about the exit. And then obviously coming down to Stowe, which is again, the way the corner is it, you’re turning already as you start to brake and you’re trail-braking all the way in. You only dab the brake and you’re straight back on the gas. It’s unbelievable! There’s great G. I don’t know how much quicker we are through those corners but I’m assuming we’re 10k, 20k faster than previous years.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) A question for Sebastian. Without the problems you described do you think you would have had a shot at Lewis’ time in the end?

    SV: No.

    Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Was he some kind of unbeatable today?

    SV: Well, I think the time he put in especially in the end was very strong. I think the one he put in before we were able to beat but yeah, obviously the gap at the end was bigger, around half a second, a bit bigger, so I think he owned the pole position today.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Autobild Motor Sport) A question for Lewis and both Ferrari drivers: the engine mapping you used in Q3, can you use it in the race as well or do you have to turn down?

    KR: We don’t have much to push in qualifying. At least from what we have seen in the past it’s a bit of a different story with them at least what we have seen in the past and I think probably [inaudible] I dunno if you can run the same settings in the race, so I have no idea.

    LH: I didn’t actually follow what you said there but for me, we are able to use it in the race but the engine has to last a long period of time, so it depends how you want to share it. But I think it’s the same among us all, I think we all have a max power setting and you have to divide the spend over those races, so…

    SV: I’m using the same engine as Kimi.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, I don’t want to dampen your afternoon, but you are under investigation by the stewards for blocking Romain Grosjean during Q3. Do you know anything about the incident. Did you block him?

    LH: I need to watch the replay. I was coming round to start my lap, Valtteri was up ahead and I was, as we all do, trying to get the space. Behind me was one of the Force Indias who then came in, so there was no one behind me. Literally, as I was about to get on the gas I looked in the mirror and I saw there was a car coming so I went as quick as I could. I don’t know if I got in the way, and if I did I apologise. I obviously wasn’t… I had no indication from the team that there was anyone coming. I think I just got away without blocking him but, as I said, I need to look at the footage… I don’t think he was that close when I had pulled away but I will have a look.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Lewis, you were just describing that section with the head wind and the downforce effect. I think yesterday, with the crosswind, you had a bit of a moment going into Becketts and I wonder if you would just describe that characteristic of Silverstone as well: the effect of the crosswind? Because for us, even on motorways, when we feel the car move, it’s pretty scary, and I wonder what it’s like at that speed and how you can react to that?

    LH: Yeah, I think, at that point you’re completely sunken into the seat so you feel absolutely everything, more than ever. You’re just squashed into the car. Every moment, every bump you really do feel that. Yeah, every now and then you commit to 12, as you attack it, sometimes you have… whether it is a crosswind or just the back just gets loose, it’s actually  quite easy to correct it. It’s much harder in the rain, for example. I had another similar… I went in turn 9, Copse, big snap and that’s a lot harder to catch because it happens quicker. I think when you’re at the high speed, I don’t know, maybe just prepared, it’s easier because the grip comes back easier but yeah, the correction, I find doing the correction is not too bad. I might be good at rallying.

    Q: (Agris Lauzinieks – Kapitals) Lewis, do you miss competing against Nico this season or Sebastian is offering enough of a challenge? And why?

    LH: No, to your first question, and the second, I think Sebastian and Kimi are putting up a serious fight. Ferraris have been exceptional this year, they’ve not really made any mistakes. Consistency is really why they’re in the lead, they’ve got a great car and they’re performing on the top level. It’s great that we have this battle going between us all:  at some points to practise within a tenth, just the top three, which is great to see, I think, within Formula One. To see Red Bull picking up their pace as well but I really think you generally have the top top drivers in the bunch, really fighting it out at the front. Obviously there’s a couple of others that could be there if they had the car but it’s obviously not the case.

    Q: (Daniele Sparisci – Corriera della Sera) To the Ferrari drivers: do you expect tomorrow to be closer to Mercedes and do you (inaudible) as it already happens in the other races?

    SV: Yes. I think we’ve always been close on Sundays so I think sitting here, having expectations I think the answer is yes, but we will see tomorrow.

    KR: Nothing more to add.

  • Hamilton Keeps Mercedes Ahead in 3rd Free Practice for British Grand Prix

    Hamilton Keeps Mercedes Ahead in 3rd Free Practice for British Grand Prix

    Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time for the 3rd Free Practice session for the British Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel just 0.032s slower.

    The session got underway under cloudy and windy conditions with and 80% chance of rain forecast for the session. Drivers were out setting times quite early in the session before the rain. The rain did eventually start falling with about 17mins left in the session.

    Hamilton’s time of 1:28.063 on the super softs gave him the top spot. Behind him Valtteri Bottas crossed the line just 0.074s slower than Hamilton in 1:28.137. Vettel was on a very quick lap behind the Mercedes pair and set the fastest 1st and 2nd sectors to go on and split the Mercedes drivers finishing just 0.032s off Hamilton’s benchmark. Vettel’s best time of 1:28.095, split the Mercedes and gave him the 2nd fastest spot of the session.

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished 4th fastest more than half a second off the pace ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in 5th.

    Red Bull were slightly caught out by the rain later in the session with Max Verstappen but Daniel Ricciardo was able to set a time on the super softs to place him 6th fastest. Verstappen caught the rain on his flying lap on the super softs and went off at Turn 6 bringing out the yellow flags. His time of 1:29.904 was set on the soft tyres and earned him 8th place.

    Splitting the Red Bulls was Haas’ Romain Grosjean in 7th.

    Rounding out the top 10 was Felipe Massa in the Williams and Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren. Vandoorne this time just edging out Alonso for the top 10 spot.

    The rain that started falling in the last 17mins of FP3 is forecast to stop well before qualifying. We are expecting a dry track for qualifying but we just may see things mixed up with the rain.

  • 2017 British Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 British Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Andy COWELL (Mercedes), Jonathan NEALE (McLaren)

    Q: Cyril, 40th anniversary for Renault in Formula One. The retro look that we saw in London, I hear it might roll out again with the team again later this weekend, retro cars on parade. Tell us about this moment and what F1 has meant to Renault?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: How long have you got! Forty years, that’s a lot. Lots of success. I think the best way I would summarise it, every time we’ve been in Formula One and attacking Formula One we’ve been successful, whether in the late 80s-90s with Williams, 2005-6 obviously with Fernando in the blue car and then later with Red Bull Racing. That’s why obviously the pressure is very big, that we’ve been successful and the expectations are high, that we get back at that level. For Renault it meant also that Renault has moved from being a French carmaker to a European and then a global carmaker. A global brand. Part of a very large alliance and about to become the largest carmaker in the world with Nissan and Mitsubishi. So obviously everything has changed. Formula One has changed. We have changed and that’s what we want to celebrate with this anniversary.

    Q: Now, Robert Kubica. The comeback seems to be gathering pace. He had a second test this week at Ricard. What can you tell us about that. What are the plans for the Hungary post-grand prix test in the 2017 car, and how close is he to being ready to race in Formula One again?

    CA: Well, that’s a second test after obviously a first test. The first test was nothing more than an opportunity for him to get back behind the steering wheel into a Formula One car – but there is a big caveat, is that it’s a Formula One car from 2012 with demo tyres, with V8 engine, normally-aspirated, fantastic noise but doesn’t exactly match the current F1 car. So, whatever we do is not quite representative. That second test, however, we sort-of walked more towards what could look like a plan in order to assess, to give both him and us the opportunity to assess a little bit more his limitation and his abilities. What I can tell you is that he is still quick, he is still very consistent and, more importantly, he still has this energy, this drive, this sort of enthusiasm that he has always had, he always carried to him and to the team. Really too early to talk about next steps. I don’t want to add to the speculation. Right now the focus is on, y’know, getting the most out of the overall line-up and package that we have and then we’ll be thinking about 2018 in due course – which is not just now.

    Q: Has the evaluation shown that he is capable of racing a Formula One car?

    CA: I would not say that – and I don’t want to say yes or no. It’s not like a test that you’re passing at an exam. We’ve not seen any obvious road blocks. Having said that, you know, again testing in this circumstance and testing in a more modern car is something completely different. So, you know, again, this situation is complex. We are not doing that for PR purposes, even though we see that it is creating a lot of media expectation and focus. It’s not what we’re doing. We care so much more for Robert than this.

    Q: Andy, coming to you. New engine for both the works drivers. How far ahead is it from the previous one.

    Andy COWELL: Yes. Phase 2.1 engine, installed for both Lewis and Valtteri today. In terms of improvement compared to the previous one, it’s actually very similar. It’s exactly the same spec as we installed with the customers in Canada and today’s been an exercise in checking the health of it and dialling it in from a calibration perspective.

    Q: We had an interesting discussion in the previous session about the next generation engines – obviously it’s a big decision. Christian Horner was saying that it could be around for ten years. The car industry in 2030 could be unrecognisable compared to where it is today, but it does seem that there is a bit of consensus from the high-ups about what Formula One should do next on the engine rules in terms of parts. From your point of view, as an engine builder, what do you feel about the direction going forward? What would you like to see?

    AC: I think there have been two very constructive meetings held in Paris, chaired by the FIA but with Ross Brawn and his team present, with the existing manufacturers and other OEMs that might be interested in coming in and also independent engine manufacturers and suppliers as well, component suppliers. And everybody’s expressed their opinion on what 2021 should bring and I think you touch on a very good point that we need to make sure that the technology that’s introduced in Formula One in 2021 is ahead of the road car world in 2021 and perhaps mimicking  what will be in the showrooms in 2026, so that it’s a lead in to it but there’s a whole load of other topics that need to be discussed and the conclusion of the second meeting is that we need to do some more work. We need to break out into expert groups and that’s not necessarily us, that’s people from outside of Formula One that understand about engine noise and how that brings pleasure to people that are hearing it and that’s not necessarily (indistinct), the musicality of it, and then more scientific studies that we will be involved in like removing the MGU-H –  we have single turbo or twin turbos. And so the FIA are going to chair several meetings, several working groups that conclude over the summer on their particular subject matter and then in September, bring that back together and try and condense that into one overall package. As ever, there will be compromise but I think if we come up with the best package for Formula One, for the manufacturers, for the fans, for the drivers, for the chassis teams etc then it will be a good step.

    Q: Jonathan, coming to you: obviously now, six, seven months into the new management structure, working with Zak Brown, can we expect restructuring of the McLaren team as you look to the future? What do you… so good evaluation period, six, seven months, what can we expect going forward now?

    Jonathan NEALE:  I think it’s great for the whole business that we have the kind of footprint that we do, where we have the premium sports car business, a Formula One and the applied technology business, the opportunity to bring that back together under one shareholding is something that I think all of us internally are pleased about. Certainly in terms of our customers, then they don’t really differentiate between which group of shareholders own which bit of the product range, so that simplifies things. The executive committee with Mohamed and Mansour are steadfast in terms of the direction of travel of the business and I think what we will see is progressive evolution. I don’t think we are going to see another step change or complete restructuring, just a bringing back together, some re-clarification of what the brand is and what the brand isn’t and we’ve got an exciting growth agenda, both in the sports car business and in the applied technologies group and obviously we’ve got a job of work to do to make our Formula One programme competitive again.

    Q: Obviously there’s an awful lot of talk about the relationship with Honda; can you clarify the decision-making process and timescale from here; does it depend on the step they make later this year to define where the relationship goes and indeed, whether it even continues?

    JN: The simple answer to both questions is no. I can’t clarify the process or the timescale because there is no track or no set path. We have a contract with Honda and we’re working through some of the challenges that we have and I can’t duck the issue that for both Honda and McLaren we’re not where we need to be and that this season is not only challenging but frustrating. I think when Hasegawa-san was here last week he recognised some of that frustration and whilst making progress he also acknowledged – and I thought that was very honest of him – that there is still a long way to go between where Honda are currently and the benchmark with the gentlemen either side of me. So, Formula One is all about where the best come to compete and competition is tough and unforgiving. I don’t think it’s something that we can just sit on lightly – either Honda or McLaren – so that we’re having those kind of conversations. They’re uncomfortable conversations as you would expect and they’re things that we best do behind closed doors. I recognise the speculation, it’s Formula One. I’ve only been in it for 17 years now so one thing I recognise is that when anybody says they’re not talking to anybody, the answer is everybody’s talking to everybody. Drivers talk to everybody, teams talk to everybody so I don’t want to duck that. But we’re working through our issues with Honda. We need to get it fixed. It is not sustainable in its current form.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) Cyril, you have a new floor on your car. Does it work?

    CA: When you say that, everyone wants to keep from everyone, everyone knows everything about everyone too. I’m sorry about that… it’s a decent step, you know, but more importantly it’s a completely different function philosophy. So it’s not just one part in isolation, it’s also the start of something: a development programme that we’re going to carry through the break and through the later part of the season. And it’s going in the direction that we’re hoping as far as we are talking on Friday afternoon.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Jonathan, you said everybody talks to everybody, so that obviously leads to the assumption that you’ve been talking to Cyril, you’ve been talking to Andy, you’ve probably been talking to Honda again and again, and whatever else. But where do you go from here? I mean have you set a deadline for any form of performance improvement whereby you say ‘right, that’s the notice period’ and can you then just simply tear up the contract and go and strike a deal with Andy? What do you do?

    JN: It’s like speed dating, isn’t it? You can’t tear up contracts… let’s start there. As Cyril and Andy will attest, there are no performance guarantees, looking forward, so of course we all set our plans. We set plans for chassis, plans for drivers, plans for engines, in terms of making that level of progression where nothing is guaranteed. As I said earlier about there being a set process or some set timescale, then I think that’s unrealistic. I think naturally we reach a point of inflection with Honda where we ask ourselves, internally, where do we go from here? What do we have to do differently to restore that level of competitiveness? There are clear constraints and  rules, within the sporting regulations… as you pitched at me this morning, you’re right, in order for an engine manufacturer to supply more than three teams does require FIA approval. The precedent for that –  both the gentlemen either side of me have supplied four teams, I think Andy in ’15, ’16 and I think Cyril 2014. Ferrari have also supplied four teams in the past but there is a… what we want to do is to try and make sure that what we’re doing is professional and good for the sport. It is good having Honda in Formula One and there isn’t anybody who doesn’t want to see a successful Honda in Formula One. And I say that regardless of anything that’s currently going on. Honda are investing a lot and putting a lot of resource into the programme and we’re working very hard with them but the fact is, given where we are in the Constructors’  championship at the moment, we’re not getting the job done. So there are constraints, as I say, in the sporting regulations. Everybody’s talking to everybody, we are making sure that we maintain our good relationships with FOM and the FIA during this process, while we work through a difficult situation.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Cyril and Andy, possibly some comments. You are both manufacturers and you both would like to keep Honda in Formula One because more competition is good but clearly they are lagging far behind. Would either of you be prepared to assist them in perhaps improving their performance and have they come to you yet or is that something you are not prepared to say or if they do, would you be prepared to help them?

    CA: I think there has been some speculation in the past about that and the speculation was not in relation to Renault. But you know from here, in Formula One – in today’s Formula One – the engine has become a performance differentiator and even though at the end of this season, as part of the  Constructors’ definition, I think that as soon as it becomes a performance differentiator, it should be in keeping in the spirit of the regulations that there should not be any IP transfer or support for something that is making a primary impact on the overall performance of the package. So frankly I don’t remember anyone volunteering for helping us when we had our problems in the past. I don’t think it’s something that we would love and I don’t think it’s something that Honda would really entertain, in all honesty. I think it’s really a time issue. I don’t think it’s a matter of resource, it’s not a matter of skill set, it’s a matter of… basically when they stepped out of Formula One and when you get out, it takes an awful lot of time to rebuild and that’s the sort of time for the manufacturers on the one hand and the customer on the other hand, that is the main limit. It’s not about an interim measure and plus, it’s extremely difficult to implement such support because their engine architecture will be very different from mine so apart from supplying an engine to Honda, I’m not going to be about to help them. No, I don’t think this is really credible.

    AC: I think collectively we’ve helped with convergence in Formula One in the opening season, performance development through the year, but then the opportunity to do a big change with Honda coming in, we all agreed that Honda could have that same opportunity to change everything in the first year and then the request came from manufacturers in addition to Honda saying ‘please can we take this crazy token table away because it’s bad for the sport?’ It’s bad if somebody can’t train to get better and so we agreed, yeah, take the table away because it’s better for the sport because it means that you can innovate, you can introduce whatever you like and I think none of us should underestimate the technical prowess of Honda and of McLaren and I think my money is on that combination coming good and coming good pretty quickly. No pressure!

    Q: (Matthieu Piccon – Motorsinside) Cyril, you’re lying eighth in the championship. For you is it more linked to the performance of your car or the fact that you’re only scoring points with one driver and not two?

    CA: You know, it’s a combination. I can’t break down the elements like that. It’s true that if we had two times 18 points that it would be 36, we may have a different position in the championship but equally Jo has had several reliability issues that has hurt him, starting in winter, then in the opening races of the season where in particular we were a bit more competitive than we have been in recent races which has sort of eroded the confidence that he had in himself, in the package which we are trying to rebuild. So it’s a combination, but what I can say is that standing eighth in the championship is absolutely not in line with what both the plan and expectation and history that we were mentioning before, of the 40 years of Renault in Formula One. So action must be taken to make a quick change. These things take a bit of time, there are still a number of things happening in the background, we’ve just had our new head of aero who started last week. Obviously that person is not going to make an impact in the next few races, it’s going to take a bit of time but we have to… more importantly, we have to build confidence in ourselves and in the team that what we have, what we are doing will help us be where we want to be which is fighting for the podium in the next few years.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Andy, last year in September, I think, Tobias Moers announced the AMG Project One Hypercar project. Further details have come to light. I wonder if you could confirm some of them please. I believe 275 engines will be built by your factory and also something like a 30,000 service interval or something like that. Will you be building them, do you have that durability in those engines and is it based on your Formula One power unit?

    AC: It’s a fascinating project, the AMG Project One Hypercar. It is taking the Formula One power unit and putting it into the back of a two seater sports car and then two MGU-Ks on the front axle, so independent drive to the two wheels, so 160hp per wheel. So the combined power is over 1000hp. It is a pretty incredible power train, to be honest, both in terms of creating a car that can go round the Nurburgring in impressive lap times but also in terms of driving across town and on a dual carriageway. The fuel economy is impressive; this is something that… Tobias came up with the idea, rang me up, said is it possible? I rang him back after two weeks of doing a little bit of work during lunchtimes, to see what we could. We’ve now got a group of about 150 people. At Brixworth, that group will grow over the coming year and the target is to build 275 power trains so the power train will be built at Brixworth, having done the development work. Fascinating actually doing that development work and doing the transition from Formula One to road car. The vast majority of it carries across. Clearly things like fuel and emissions need to be managed but that works fairly seamlessly. We’re targeting 50,000 kilometers so about that and in terms of the duty cycle it is quite considerably different. If you look at a high performance road car – Jonathan will know this from his McLaren  road cars – if you’ve got somebody that drives at five percent of the time at full throttle, that’s quite remarkable. Today we’ve got people driving Formula One cars round this track with 70 per cent full throttle and so that’s where you gain an awful lot of the benefit, swapped from the bespoke fuels that all the fuel companies develop for Formula One into a pump fuel, the cylinder pressure drops, the loading drops and everything comes to you, so in terms of that, that durability, that’s the easy bit.

  • 2017 British Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 British Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Vijay MALLYA (Force India)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Vijay, the target for this year was to match, or even improve, on last year’s Constructors’ standings. So far you’re pretty clearly in fourth. Tell us about that and the upgrade you have on the car this weekend.

    Vijay MALLYA: Well, there is a specific upgrade for Silverstone. We take this particular race very seriously because it’s our home race and there’s no question that development must continue through the season, given that this is a brand-new car, and we are in fourth with a fairly comfortable lead over Williams but nothing can be taken for granted and we wouldn’t like to be complacent. When I launched the car I said we must retain fourth or even aim higher. That still remains the objective – because I believe in setting the bar high – but whether we can actually catch Red Bull or not remains to be seen, particularly towards the tail-end of the season but we are pretty focussed on getting the job done.

    Q: What’s the strategy, could you share it with us, with regards to the name and the brand of your team going forward?

    VM: When I bought this team ten years ago – and we’re all very proud of the fact that, as an independent team we have survived amidst a great amount of speculation for ten years and are still going strong. It was Force India because it was the first time an Indian team showed up on a Formula One grid. It met the aspirations of millions of young Indians who never thought that would be possible but then we were running around in P23 and P24 and the then management seemed very happy about it. Since we have consistently now improved and are a serious contender on the grid, it’s time to broaden our horizons, attract more international sponsors and sadly there is no Indian Grand Prix any more. Indian sponsors seem to be passionate about putting all of their money into cricket and so we must appeal to a more international audience and so the idea of changing the name of the team was mooted. We’ve had several discussions, no decision has been taken but we have listed a few options and we’ll take it forward at the appropriate time.

    Q: Christian, Daniel was here in the press conference yesterday, talking about the upgrades situation, saying a decent step is expected for Budapest. From what you’re seeing from your relative development rates to the top two teams, are you likely to converge, do you think, in the second half of the season?

    Christian HORNER: I think certainly since the first European Grand Prix in Barcelona we’ve consistently managed to chip away and get closer to the front of the field. Daniel’s had a great run: five consecutive podiums including a victory in Azerbaijan, and I think our most competitive race of the season to date was actually last weekend in Austria, finishing within six seconds of the leader without any safety cars and obviously beating a Mercedes. So, incrementally, we’re getting the performance on the cars and hopefully that can continue over forthcoming grands prix.

    Q: You were with your peers in London at the live event this week. As the boss of a leading team and particularly one that has a strong marketing background, give us your opinion of that and what it all meant.

    CH: Well, of course, as Red Bull we’ve done an awful lot of those kind of events around the world with a team that we have dedicated to running show car activities but I think the London event was fantastic: it was taking Formula One to the public, it was free of charge, it was combining a music festival with running the Formula One cars, under the background of Big Ben, up to Trafalgar Square, around, y’know, from Whitehall. It was fantastic to see it so well supported and so many people coming out and the enthusiasm and passion and excitement. I think also to see the drivers having fun and enjoying it as well was a great advert. So hats off to FOM and the Liberty guys for putting the event on… As their first big statement of promoting Formula One.

    Q: The same question to you Claire, really. Your thoughts on what it did for Formula One in the UK – and is there open support from the teams for this kind of thing?

    Claire WILLIAMS: As Christian said, it was a fantastic event for all of us to be involved in. It’s great to see the new owners are thinking and having that kind of vision and involving all of the teams in doing something like that. And to come to London, it’s an iconic venue for us. To have all the teams there, the cars, the drivers, was just great to be able to take Formula One to a new audience and I’m sure a lot of those people probably haven’t been to a race before or watched us on TV, so hopefully it will extend our audience but the activities going on ahead of the actual running itself were fantastic as well – the education pieces that are so important as well. We had Dare to be Different, Formula One in Schools was there, we had a presence there, it was just really good to see all the children there as well.

    Q: Big weekend for Williams at the moment, for the team and for the family with the anniversary, with the film. Tell us what the feeling is about where the team – and the family – is at this major milestone.

    CW: It’s been quite a busy week! We launched the Williams film on Tuesday, which was very nice. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been about three years in the making. We had 300 people in London watching that on Tuesday night. We had a bit of rain which kind of dampened things a little bit but it was reviewed really positively, which is nice to see, and obviously it doesn’t tell the traditional story that that you might expect: a chronological tale of Williams and our track performance over our four decades in Formula One but rather the human story and the kind of story of my parents’ involvement in the team over those 40 years. So it’s a very personal account of Williams and one that we just hope Formula One fans, and fans maybe that aren’t fans of the sport, will enjoy seeing as well. Then, obviously, we’re celebrating 40 years here, so we seem to be celebrating 40 years a lot this year! The marketing team at Williams have been really busy but it’s been really good fun and it’s just great to be able to do all of that, and this weekend we’re showcasing a couple of our heritage cars: Nigel’s 1992 Red Five and the six-wheeler as well. Great to be able to show those to the fans here.

    Q: Just a quick one, Felipe Massa seems to be going along well, are you both thinking of going again next season?

    CW: Yeah, there’s a lot of talk already isn’t there, about drivers across the paddock. For us, we’ve decided we’re going to hold off a bit on our driver decision. We’ve got a fight on our hands on the race track at the moment and to be distracted by those kinds of conversations isn’t something that we want to be happening at the moment. As Vijay said earlier, they’ve got a nice points haul on us at the moment we need to focus on, rather than anything else.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Given that the mission of a Formula One team is effectively to market performance and Wednesday in London was actually a major marketing exercise, both for the teams and for the sport, would you ever consider making attendance at an event optional for your drivers?

    Christian?

    CH: Good old Dieter, he gets stuck in. Look, all the drivers were there, bar one. I thought it was a great turnout from the drivers. We didn’t insist our drivers had to be there, we asked them to attend and they were very happy to turn up and take part and I think they actually really enjoyed it as well. So, it was a shame there wasn’t a full complement but I don’t think it detracted from the show. The reaction from all the fans to pretty much all the drivers was fantastic.

    Vijay, your thoughts on that?

    VM: I thought it was an excellent event. I’m glad to see, at least in my ten years of time in Formula One, some very serious marketing that Liberty has commenced. Whether it’s social media, whether it’s the F1 event in London, I think Chase Carey summarised it when he said he wants every Formula One weekend to be like a Superbowl final. That can be only good for the sport. It will only promote the sport, get more revenue and hopefully we’ll get a share of it too.

    And on the subject of drivers turning up being optional Claire?

    CW: Yeah, I don’t want to get sit in judgement on anyone who didn’t turn up on that day when I don’t know the real facts behind it. I’d rather focus on the drivers that were there and the great job that they did. Ricciardo did a fantastic job – I think breaking a lot of the rules that all the drivers were told in the briefing!

    CH: They were controlled turns!

    CW: They were great turns. I thought they were fantastic turns! He did a great job, they all did a great job and to see our drivers… when Lance came in and was able to do the controlled turns, etc., the grin on their faces was great. I think they did a great job to promote Formula One, the drivers out there. To see them all in one place and to see them walk down Whitehall was a fantastic event. Talking about that, and the positives rather than anything else is what I would rather do.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Vijay, now that you’re spending all of your time in the UK, have you changed how much time you spend on the day-to-day running of the team?

    VM: In the past I used to be at the race track but, as I’ve always said, in any enterprise, there’s the front office and the back office. Both the front office and the back office are equally important. The team has enjoyed considerable success, particularly over the last two years. I’ve been more a part of the back office than the front office over the last year or so – but I’m delighted at the way things are going for us.

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) Question for Christian. What is your opinion about the start of Bottas in Austria?

    CH: It was the perfect start. He had an unbelievable reaction and didn’t get caught – so in that case it was the perfect start. Daniel came on the radio and said that he thought Valtteri had jumped the start because he saw a little bit of movement. But I think a little bit of movement has been permitted because sometimes when the cars select a gear there’s a bit of movement, etcetera, etcetera. I think perhaps it’s something for the FIA to look at, the tolerances that are allowed because of course because sometimes a precedent gets set and then engineers try to grab that little bit of an advantage. Of course if you are moving slightly then it helps to pick up traction, you can see exploitation happening – so hopefully the relevant guys in the FIA will look to tighten it down so there’s very little tolerance.

    Q: (Pierre Durocher – Montréal Journal) Question for Claire. We made the trip to follow naturally Lance, I would like to get your comments on the progress Lance has made since the Canadian Grand Prix and, the second part of the question, it’s a weekend of celebration for Williams but at the same time I would like to know how you feel about the recent comments that Jacques Villeneuve made about Lance. He’s been quite hard on him. I wonder how you feel about it?

    CW: Hopefully I’ll have forgotten the second part of your question by the time I come to it. Lance has done a fantastic job in the last few races but he has actually all year. You may have only just seen the results on the race track but if you could see the hard work he’s put in behind the scenes over the course of the year, it’s been really impressive. We came out at the start of the year and said he, as a rookie, is going to take some time in order in order to familiarise himself with Formula One. This is a big step-up from the junior formulae. I think people can underestimate that step at times. So he’s taken the first few races to get used to Formula One, acclimatise himself, acclimatise himself with the engineering side of things, with the new circuits that he hasn’t been on before. And that’s taken some time but as you saw in Canada he broke that duck and scored his first points and then went to Azerbaijan and had a fantastic race and similarly in Austria after a really difficult weekend for the team, both our drivers managed to score points. So he’s delivered against everything we expected of him and I’m looking forward to seeing how he’ll move forward for the rest of the year. It’s great to now have two cars that are scoring points for us in the Constructors’ Championship. With regard to Jacques’ comments, he’s obviously been pretty vocal in the media. I don’t want to go into a huge amount of detail about it. I don’t think there’s any need. The way that Lance describes it, he just wants to get on and let his track performance do the talking. I think that’s what we should do – because that’s when the critics will stop: when Lance proves he deserves to be in Formula One, which we all at Williams believe anyway.

    Q: (Rob Harris – AP) Question to Vijay. Is removing India from the name of the team some sort of retaliation? Because obviously you have been charged with money laundering and they are fighting your extradition.

    VM: I’ve been charged with a whole variety of things – but let that be kept to one side and let the legal process take its own course. The potential removal of the word ‘India’ from the team name is nothing to do with the events surrounding me. As I’ve said before, we need to appeal to a more international audience. We need to cater to the needs of sponsors who have global businesses – and sponsoring Formula One isn’t exactly cheap. It was ten years ago that the team was named Force India in the hope that there would be an Indian Grand Prix, which took place but sadly stopped after that, in the hope that we would have a whole bunch of Indian sponsors – but they preferred to put their money into cricket. So I have to look elsewhere. And in doing so I also need to give a more international platform for the team for the next ten years. You can’t keep thinking of name changes every year or every other year. So, this is in a work-in-progress stage right now but certainly it’s something we are seriously thinking about.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) To shift gears a little bit, this is for Vijay Mallya. As well as the success of the team you’ve also brought in a new sponsor and with that you’ve brought a unique colour to the grid but along with that it has allowed you to bring in a great organisation like breast cancer care. What is it like working with that group and what about your new sponsors this year?

    VM: Well, the car is pink because the sponsor, BWT, wanted a pink car. They sponsor other forms of motorsport and if you notice they also insist on pink cars. Now, at the end of the day I think that pink looks pretty attractive. As far as association with the breast cancer initiative is concerned, I have always supported charities. I have supported more than 20 different charities in my life. It came naturally to us, with a pink car, so we are very happy to be able to assist in this initiative.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) A question to all three of you: you’re sitting third, fourth and fifth in the race for the world championship and none of you are works teams. A question in two parts: one, what would you name as the single thing you most want to take you to that next step to fight Ferrari and Mercedes constantly, and second, with the new engine formula for 2020 are you looking further afield to bring in, possibly, new automotive suppliers to make you into works teams. Is it something you are discussing?

    CH: I think the first part of your answer is, we would love the engine to be a non-performance differentiator. Obviously there is still a pecking order and these engines are also extremely expensive, so as a customer it’s disproportionate the amount of money we are spending on these engines. I think what’s really interesting is that Formula One is effectively at a crossroads with the new regulations, because those regulations theoretically come in 2021 and there will be probably and eight to ten-year life on those engines, so what we are looking at is actually is Formula One’s relevance pretty much up to 2030. Now, by 2030 how many people are actually going to be driving cars? Are they going to be autonomous? Are they going to be electric? The world is changing so fast in that sector. So Formula One has some serious questions that it needs to answer today in the choice it makes for the engine for the future. What is Formula One’s primary purpose? Is it technology or is it a sport and entertainment, and man and machine at the absolute limit? I sense that with the new ownership that has come into Formula One that creating great entertainment, creating great content, the noise, the sound, the exhilaration of seeing the drivers as the star is of absolute primary concern to them. So I hope that with the opportunity there is with the regulation change that is being discussed at the moment that the fundamental aspects of cost, performance and attractiveness to the fans, therefore the noise, the acoustics of these engines, are a key factor in the set of regulations they come up with and I think that in turn will produce good racing, reduce costs and bring back some to the appeal that engines of a bygone era used to produce.

    CW: In answer to your first question, which was how would Williams improve on our position, lying currently in fifth. Probably the answer is twofold. We have to make sure that we have the resource in place back at Grove so that we could achieve that, whether that be personnel, equipment or budget. A lot of it is down to budget, as obviously the former doesn’t come without the latter. Budget for us comes through greater sponsor acquisition, a partnership with a manufacturer for example, or the redistribution of income in Formula One. So any of those would be great, they would considerably help us. As much as I always say it’s not about the money, it’s what you do with it, when you are competing with teams with three times the size of your budget it’s always going to be really difficult to make that jump into the top three in the championship. When it comes to engines, I think Christian answered it more eloquently than I probably could. We are looking at a road map for the next decade in Formula One where the engines are going to be and we must make sure that they probably aren’t as dominant as they have been, as much as we have benefited from our wonderful partnership with Mercedes, I think for engines not to play such a role in the performance differentiation would be a good thing and then, equally, as an independent team, for engines not to cost as much money would be really useful for us. But then the wider aspects of fan engagement, having engines that are lovely and noisy is something that we would like to see back in Formula One.

    VM: Well, we have always had a limited budget compared to the big teams in Formula One. We have a culture within our team to spend our money wisely and to get the maximum bang for buck and at the end of the day everybody is passionate about pushing that last pound as hard as you can. Having said that, if we get more sponsors we might spend a little bit more money, but I wouldn’t spent all of it, I would give some back to shareholders because I don’t believe that money can necessarily ensure that I’m going to be at the front of the grid. There may be people who spend a lot of money and who are able to therefore develop a car that is more easily at the front of the grid than we can, but if somebody turned up and gave me a hundred million more and asked me “well, can you beat Mercedes?” I don’t think I’m going to say “yes, I will”. It’s how you spend your money that is more important. The income distribution pattern: I think everybody knows my views, it’s completely lopsided and needs to be addressed. With a little bit more in our pocket we can make that incremental step and certainly fight in the top three consistently. As far as engines are concerned, as Claire has mentioned, we have also benefited from a fantastic power unit with Mercedes. I have been with Mercedes for nine years already and they are a fantastic partner but they are expensive. Going forward, as Christian said, looking ahead to let’s say 2030, we definitely need an independent engine our there at a reasonable cost, which is available to anybody.

    Q: (Luis Aguirre – Reforma Group) A question for Mr Mallya. I would like to ask you about the situation between Checo and Esteban in Baku and Montreal. How was it for you to see that fight and to watch your team having the big team’s troubles, no, I mean the fight between them and how is going to be the approach of the team to avoid those kind of things in the future?

    VM: You know, what happened in Montreal is not something that really concerns me. Esteban wanted to overtake Checo because he felt he could attack Ricciardo. Checo felt he was better placed to do the same job. Ultimately none of them succeeded in doing that but nevertheless the team scored points. What happened in Baku clearly was a great loss to the team, otherwise there was almost a podium for us. That’s unacceptable with our two cars hitting each other. I don’t think it’s road rage. I don’t think it was deliberate in any way. It was just the excitement of the moment and an error of judgement. Both drivers have been spoken to. We don’t believe in making team rules or giving team orders but at the end of the day I think both of them fully appreciate that is their responsibility to bring the cars home and score as many points for the team, because that’s precisely what Claire is going to be doing with her drivers and we need to stay ahead.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Taking everything that has been said earlier on about the Mercedes advantage, the engine differentiation, going to the next step etc there is a team/engine partnership that appears to have got its calculations wrong and they are looking at possibly taking a Mercedes engine next year. Given that this would require certain regulatory concessions, or so it appears, how do you feel about the fact that Mercedes could actually be supplying a team with substantially better resources than both the Mercedes engines and Christian how do you feel about a team that could suddenly possibly beat you?

    CH: First of all, it’s got to happen first. We’ve been there before, from our side of the fence, and it didn’t happen. Speaking to Zak the other day he said he thought he was watching the same movie that we lived through a couple of years ago, so it didn’t sound particularly hopeful that there was going to be a Mercedes in the back of a McLaren next year. But whatever issues there are it’s McLaren’s business and if they had that engine… they have had it before… if they had that engine they would be more competitive than they are today.

    CW: I’m not privy to the conversations that may or may not be going on between McLaren and Mercedes. Clearly, it would not be ideal for us but I don’t think Williams have a place to interfere with that. Those are conversations that need to going on without us.

    VM: We all want McLaren to be competitive. It’s a team with great history, a great presence in Formula One and I’m personally sorry to see them struggling the way they are. So it would be good for the sport in general if McLaren returned to being as competitive as they have been always. But having said that, if they want a Mercedes engine it’s really between Mercedes and them. As far as regulatory aspects are concerned well those have to be ironed out, because I don’t believe that the FIA are going to silent spectators to a situation where McLaren has no engine. But that’s a second step. Clearly, Mercedes has to agree to supply McLaren, if McLaren indeed disengages with Honda. But, if I remember correctly, at the last press conference that happened, I believe in Austria, both McLaren and Honda confirmed that they were still together.

  • 2017 British Grand Prix Free Practice Round Up

    2017 British Grand Prix Free Practice Round Up

    Free Practice 1

    Valtteri Bottas kicked off his Friday morning by carrying the momentum from his win in Austria and finished fastest at the end of the first free practice session for the British Grand Prix.

    Bottas’ time of 1:29.106 came courtesy of the yellow-marked soft compound tyres – which they ran for the entire session. Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was not that far off the pace in 2nd with a best time of 1:29.184, 0.078s slower than Bottas’ time. Mercedes looked quite strong throughout the session with very little drama coming from the drivers. With a green track and few drivers spinning off the Mercedes drivers were able to keep it on the black stuff.

    Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished 3rd and 4th fastest respectively for Red Bull. Their times came courtesy of the super soft compound tyres. While on the faster tyre their times were still quite a way off the Mercedes. Verstappen’s best time was a 1:29.604, +0.498s off Bottas’ pace while Ricciardo’s best time was just shy of a second off the pace.

    Ferrari finished 5th and 6th fastest with Kimi Raikkonen faster of the two drivers. His best time was a touch over a second off his fellow countryman’s time in the Mercedes. When the session started Sebastian Vettel ran Ferrari’s interpretation of the new aero-screen head protection for a lap. The two Ferrari drivers worked together with Kimi following and passing Vettel at various points around the circuit to asses the visibility. The test lasted all of one installation lap after Vettel decided he had enough. When asked about it after the session he said that the screen made him feel “dizzy” and that there was distortion from the curvature of the screen.

    Daniil “Torpedo” Kvyat ended his session 7th fastest ahead of the McLaren of Fernando Alonso in 8th. McLaren have brought a “spec 3” engine to Silverstone this weekend and expect to be higher up the order and the results are clear to see. Before the session McLaren changed Alonso’s Control Electronics which was his 5th for the season. This means that he will drop 5-places down the grid for Sunday’s race.

    Splitting the McLarens was the Williams of Felipe Massa. Rounding out the top 10 was Stoffel Vandoorne in the second McLaren.

    There were a few spins and off track excursions with Vettel spinning early on in the session. Lance Stroll took a trip over the grass at Becketts after getting out of shape on the exit.

    Free Practice 2

    Valtteri Bottas picked up right where he left off in FP1 for FP2. Bottas once again claimed the top spot of the time sheets with a 1:28.496 on the super soft tyres. Hamilton was just a whisker off with only 0.047s separating the two Mercedes drivers. Hamilton’s best time was a 1:28.543.

    Ferrari were bound to take things a little conservatively during FP1 with their engine upgrade this weekend, but they turned up the engine a bit in FP2 and finished higher up the order. Kimi Raikkonen, again, finished ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen’s 3rd fastest time of 1:28.828 was 0.332s off Bottas’ pace. Vettel was a little bit slower than Raikkonen with a best time of 1:28.956.

    Essentially just swapping around with Ferrari from FP1, the Red Bull duo finished 5th and 6th with Max Verstappen faster than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. There was a moment for Ricciardo as he got out of shape at the exit of Becketts. The rear of his Red Bull stepped out on him but he was able to catch the slide before it turned into a full blown spin.

    Nico Hulkenberg finished a rather impressive 7th fastest for the Renault F1 Team. His best time of 1:29.936 came courtesy of the super softs.

    Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were back in the top 10 in 8th and 9th respectively with Force India’s Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10.

    Before practice it was expected that the new 2017 cars would be much faster around the Silverstone Circuit this year. The question was by how much. The speed the drivers were carrying into the corners baffled some and it was truly impressive to watch the cars take Copse at such an impressive speed. According to data collected by Pirelli, the drivers are doing in excess of 280km/h through Copse with a lateral load exceeding 5G.

    The best thing about these stats is that the drivers are going to get quicker through FP3 and Qualifying.

  • 2017 British GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 British GP: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Pascal WEHRLEIN (Sauber)

    Q: Lewis, four-time British Grand Prix winner, looking to equal the record of five. How have you spent the last few days in the build-up to the race and are we set to get a strong statement from you on track here, as so often in the past?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s good to be here. I tried to prepare in the best way I can, quite relaxed the past few days and I’ve come here excited for the weekend, as always. You’ve got the championship, which is obviously the most important thing, but a very close second, if not tied, is the British Grand Prix, being a home grand prix, the home of motorsport, such an incredible, intense weekend. Every year it is a must-win for a British driver, so yeah I tried to prepare the best way I could.

    Q: Daniel, you looked like you were having fun in London yesterday evening, but you’ve also been having fun on track with 70 points from the last four races I think it is, second best tally in the field. What does that say about your competitiveness now?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: It’s certainly getting better. The season started slow but we’ve found some good momentum the last few races. I think Austria was a bit of a breakthrough in a way. It was a third, obviously not as good on paper as Baku, but in terms of actual performance we finished six or seven seconds off the win and there were no safety cars and it felt like really for once this year had genuine pace and we could run pretty much with the pace of the leaders. So that was super encouraging. Last few laps it was looking like it was going to get tight. I’d held that podium spot the whole race and I could see Lewis closing in, so I was relieved to have stayed on the podium when it looked like he was going to come past pretty easily at some point. It felt like from one lap to the next he was in my mirrors. I didn’t really have to look in the mirrors most for the race but then I saw a car and I was hoping it was a car that had come out of the pits, out of sequence, and it stayed in my mirrors for a few corners. Then I had a proper look and it was a silver car and I knew it wasn’t Valtteri, so I knew we would have a bit on the last few laps but it’s been a good run, so we’re building.

    And last night?

    DR: Oh last night, yeah, it was a good event. Look, I’m sure that would have been pretty difficult to organise and get that all going but I felt like it was a success and you know, we had a bit of time on track to try to give the fans what they wanted to see. I doubt they left disappointed.

    Q: Daniil, we had a big discussion in part one about the idea of using street promotions and the kind of thing we saw yesterday. What do you think of the idea of putting events on like that and reaching out to fans, in a place like Moscow for example?

    Daniil KVYAT: I think it would work – not in January! But in summer yes, I think why not. I mean if every year, once a year, they could rotate this kind of event between one of the biggest cities of the world to promote the sport, then I think why not. Like Daniel said it was a good success yesterday I think. A lot of people there in the city centre of London. It was a cool and enjoyable atmosphere and I think it was nice for sure.

    Q: Pascal, coming to you, how are you finding life at Sauber without Monisha Kaltenborn, but with the prospect of Fred Vasseur arriving as the new team principal.

    Pascal WEHRLEIN: I’m looking forward that Fred is coming. I respect him a lot for what he has done in motorsport so far, like in junior categories and last year in Formula One. So, looking forward to working with him and let’s see where he can bring Sauber.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Just repeating a question from a colleague from the previous session. Lewis, Copse corner this year? Do we think it will be flat in eighth and if so what is that going to be like and if so how will it compare with Becketts in terms of fun factor?

    LH: I think Copse is going to be flat this year. I would imagine quite easy, yeah. I would imagine probably eighth, you should get to eighth by then. It’s going to be rapid. I don’t think any of us are prepared for how quick Silverstone is going to be compared to previous years. It was awesome in the last race. Maggots and Becketts, again, are going to be the same. It’s going to be a physical race for us, being that it is mostly medium and high-speed corners. The G that we are going to be pulling is definitely going to be one up, maybe two, who knows, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.

    Daniel, you’re nodding and smiling, as if you’re looking forward to this?

    LH: It’s because he’s got an upgrade package!

    DR: Ha! We’ve got more coming later. It’s going to be fun. I love high-speed corners. From Turn 9 to 15, Copse to Stowe, it’s some of the coolest sequences… probably [the best] mile of race track we go on all year. We got a taste of it, as Lewis said, in Austria. The second, third sector we were carrying some serious speed, so it’s a sign of what this weekend is going to be like I think.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) If they organised an event such as last night’s again in London, would you all go?

    DK: You mean every day or what? Probably no. But next year again? Why not. Wednesday? Yeah I think why not, of course.

    LH: I guess I’ll decide when the time comes.

    DR: Yeah.

    PW: Yeah I would and I would do more donuts, as Daniel did.

    DR: That was controlled sliding.

    Q: Is that what you told the council?

    DR: It’s alright… arrest me.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, just in your words, why were you the only driver not there when your colleagues were there and you were missing?

    LH: I don’t why I was the only one. Everyone had the right to make their decision for themselves. For me, I felt that it’s been a pretty intense season so far and I felt for me, I needed to prepare the best way that I could for this weekend. The season’s the most important thing for me. That’s really it.

    Q: (Rachel Brookes – Sky TV) Lewis, just following on, from what you saw of yesterday’s event and the crowd that turned out that was there, you’re someone who talks a lot about what you get from the fans and how much it helps you. Looking at those pictures and what happened, do you feel that actually being there yesterday might have helped you coming into this weekend and given you a boost a day early even, coming into the British Grand Prix?

    LH: I generally haven’t been on my phone the last couple of days, I tried to switch off, I switch on a couple of times just to receive a message but otherwise I’ve tried to stay away from it. Personally, I feel I prepared the best way for this weekend and that’s really all I can do. Of course, there are people who have other opinions about it but I’m trying to do the best… it’s a very intense season, I’m trying to prepare the best way I can. Other people will have different ways of doing so. I love this Grand Prix, I love this race so I feel yesterday, personally, plays any role in how great this weekend is for me. Every season, for the last years has been incredible, it’s been growing every year. You get people who have saved up so much through the year to come up to this Grand Prix and I think you will have seen over the previous years how much I appreciate and respect that and tried to give and enjoy the weekend with the fans and that doesn’t change.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Lewis, on the same topic, there’s suggestions that there has been some sort of disagreement over the use of your image for this particular event, that you wanted to be paid or something like that. Can you refute that categorically?

    LH: Yeah, that’s… No, I mean I told the organisers last week that I wouldn’t be going. I spoke to Toto, informed the team which was very understanding and understood and respectful of the decision. Yeah, I think they used my image so that wasn’t a problem.

    Q: (Rob Harris – AP) Lewis, first of all, how is flying for what, seven or eight hours round trip to Greece better preparation than staying in the UK? And you were booed by the fans in London, they obviously are unhappy with you, this was a big event, used by the F1 owners to try and engage with fans. You are the biggest British driver. What were your thoughts when you heard they actually booed you?

    LH: To be honest, I didn’t really know about it. In terms of flying, I don’t live here so I wouldn’t have been here anyway as I was back in Monaco first, but I fly a lot longer than that for trips and I usually arrive pretty good. But you know, right now my focus is on this weekend, making sure I put every bit of energy into this great weekend that we have and I received incredible love from the fans every single year that I’ve come here. Yeah, looking forward to seeing them.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, sorry to keep harping on about yesterday, but do you still stand by your decision and do you think it was the right decision, given you were the only driver missing? You’re the home star, you’re the home favourite. Do you think you got it wrong?

    LH: Well, I mean, like I said, I think I’ve felt like I’ve answered as much as I really want to. I’m solely focused on this weekend now, I feel great, being here, I feel the best prepared I could be.

    Q: (Stephen Camp – Paddock Magazine) I was just wondering, I asked the last four drivers if there was anything that Liberty had come to you about, what you would like to give back to the fans. Are there any ideas that you would like to give back to the fans, anything that you would like to do to widen the audience of the sport?

    DR: Not anything right now, off the top of my head. Yeah. You’ve kind of got me. I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting to be asked the question. We’ll come back…

    DK: Well, I just drive the car, you know. I think that’s what I should be focused on. I think there are other people who know how to do their job a bit better for that.

    LH: I don’t really have all the ideas. I think there are people who make those decisions.

    DR: Probably more locations, where we go. I think we can keep expanding in different parts of the world perhaps. I guess put F1 on the map in places that it’s not currently. That can always help to raise awareness of our sport and give people an interest. Yeah, that’s something that comes to mind.

    PW: I think that after yesterday some louder engines again. It was really nice to hear the old V8 engines, that was great. Hopefully we can have the same in the future again.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, I’m not going to ask about London! This weekend – it’s obviously been very close between Mercedes and Ferrari all season – but with the different characteristics between the two cars, do you feel that this might be one of the tracks that’s more suited to Mercedes and it could be a particularly strong weekend for the team?

    LH: I hope so but I think that being that we’re (indistinct) on the car you would have hoped that it would have worked better in the medium and high speed corners but if you look at previous races, the last one, the Ferraris were very strong, the Red Bulls were very strong in all sections but there is also that balance of the high speed as well and drag. I think it will be very very close but I’ve heard that these guys have brought a big upgrade. He’s always smiling anyway so he smiling a little bit more…

    DR: I’m good at bluffing, I always smile because you never know. We’ve got more.

    LH: You’ve got more. They did a great job in the last race so to see Red Bull up there I think is great, to see a three way team challenge competition and I think this weekend’s going to be… you know, they were very very strong here last year, particularly on intermediates, in the race, so I think it’s going to be a spectacular British Grand Prix in that respect.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Daniel Ricciardo, you seem to be really getting into the shoey business on the podium and the podiums are becoming more and more regular. You are persuading the interviewers to drink but you’re not having very much luck with your fellow drivers. Can you think of any way to encourage them to join you, and to the other three: should you be up there with Daniel, would you be partaking of the amber nectar?

    DR: Well, most of the last ones have actually come from the others wanting – not the drivers – but the interviewees if you call them (he means interviewers) – they’ve been wanting to do it. I honestly didn’t plan on doing it in even Baku – I was ‘ah, I won’t do it.’ But DC took my shoes off and then Austria, Martin was like frothing for it. So I feel that there are some really sick bastards around here. I never thought it would continue like this. Even yesterday, people were shouting it. I’m just walking along, minding my business and they’re like shouting ‘do a shoey.’ I don’t actually just take my shoe off while I’m walking in the street and drink out of it. I feel like I’ve dug a hole for myself with this one. On that note, I feel like it’s been fun. I want to say it’s run its course. We’ll see what happens but I heard that the Finns drink, I really heard that. But Valtteri did not carry his flag well last Sunday. I mean shame on him! He needed vodka in it, so Valtteri Bottas – disappointed. And that’s it. No more shoeys.

    Lewis, you’ve avoided it so far…

    LH: Absolutely. I still stand firm on… I told you… the juice from the foot is not something that I wish to drink, especially someone else’s!

    DR: It’s risky with back-to-backs. It is! We put – all the podium guys could end up in hospital for a week. Yeah.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) For all of you: we heard that Red Bull has a great update on the car. What are the updates of Toro Rosso, Sauber, Mercedes, Red Bull here and in the future; what is planned? 

    DK: Well, it’s probably not as much as these guys but we also try, we try hard and hopefully there will be some, maybe Budapest. I think we’re working on it and I think that it will be efficient so let’s see.

    PW: We expect a big one in Budapest. I was in the factory two weeks ago and I was told in Budapest there’s a big one coming, hopefully.

    Q: Any particular reason why there?

    PW: I don’t know. As soon as possible, hopefully.

    So you’ve obviously got a massive upgrade this weekend, Daniel, another one coming…

    DR: No, I do believe we’ve got something significant for Budapest and this weekend it’s usual bits and pieces which we kind of bring now nearly every race but Budapest is probably more of an  advertised update as opposed to this weekend.

    Q: And the reason why it’s there?

    DR: I think mostly it seems it just takes time, but yeah, it’s a high downforce package.

    LH: We had a small upgrade in the last race and I think we’ve got some small bits here but nothing major. Similar to what Daniel was saying, and I think in the next race there will be some small parts as well. I think after the break there will be more substantial bits coming.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) The day before the hearing, the FIA hearing into Sebastian Vettel and his accident with Lewis, the boss of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, went to a birthday party to celebrate the thirtieth of Sebastian Vettel. I was wondering, from all drivers, would you be surprised most relevantly for Lewis, but would you be surprised and see it as maybe an act of loyalty or otherwise for your boss to go to a birthday of a rival with whom you’ve just had an accident before the hearing?

    DR: Free alcohol. Doesn’t matter how much money you make, you don’t turn that down.

    Unless it’s out of your shoe.

    DR: Yeah, actually, good point.

    LH: All I can do is laugh at that one. I don’t really have an answer for that one to be honest. That’s the dumbest question I’ve had so far.

    PW: I think Seb is a really nice guy so I would also go to his birthday.

    DR: Why weren’t you invited?

    PW: I don’t know! Maybe he doesn’t think that I’m nice.

    Q: Daniil, were you washing your hair that evening or did you go as well?

    DK: I was hoping you’d forgotten about me already. I don’t have an answer for you. I cannot even imagine.

    DR: There was an invite for the torpedo. I saw it. Not so cool.

    DK: You have a good memory.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Lewis, sorry to return to this but it’s quite a big issue: you’ve always tried to connect… you’ve made a point of trying to connect with your fans. Do you think it was a missed opportunity not attending yesterday, given that a lot of people who were there, who were attending, would be kids and people who can’t afford to go Grands Prix, so this was a really good chance to connect with those people who just can’t make it to Silverstone?

    LH: Like I’ve said, I feel like I’ve said everything I want to say on the subject but I like to think that I do everything I can to connect with the fans. I do have the biggest following in Formula One and I communicate with them as much as I can. The fans mean everything to me and they always have. I’ve made no secret of that. I think hopefully my commitments to the sport over the last ten years and what I do actually outside the sport, things that perhaps you don’t comment on such as when I go and visit the hospitals and spend time with young kids who can’t come to a Grand Prix. That’s not something you report on but that’ s actually very important to me and that’s where I put my energy mostly. I think lots of us have decisions to make and you have to stand firm with the decisions you make and feel proud of the decisions you make and I personally do and this weekend, as I say, coming here and give everything to shine as much light and raise the flag in the best way I can, and try the best I can. The goal is to win the British Grand Prix for my home crowd. I’ve been very fortunate the last few years to do that and the yearning and the need to do that again is greater than ever.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To the three non-Mercedes drivers: you’ve heard what Lewis said; do you guys feel that you’ve prepared any less intensively for this race by being in London and not being on a beach in Greece, for example? And just because you’re not leading the championship or up there, do you feel that you haven’t prepared as well for this weekend?

    DR: Each to their own. We’re all adults now. Obviously the spotlight’s on Lewis because he was the only one that wasn’t there, out of all of us, so I understand that but yeah, he’s been doing it long enough to know what he needs to do. For me, personally, I thought it was a good event. I thought it was a good opportunity to reach out, obviously, to a few more fans but it also gives Liberty some more encouragement. They’re trying to start something now so just to get behind that and see where we can take it.

    PW: Nothing to add.

    DK: I think Lewis justified it very clearly. I think everyone has different preparations. I think it’s enough said on the topic.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing ) Daniil, this year Toro Rosso has shown some real pace on occasions but it seems to be quite difficult for the team to have a consistent weekend from Friday morning to Sunday night, Austria being a good example: very quick and then it fell away in qualifying. What is your feeling about that, why did it happen in Austria, for example?

    DK: I think in Austria we know really what happened in qualifying, and we dropped a bit out of the working window in the important session. Coming to the year, I would say that for my personal case, Sundays, for one reason or another, on the good days the races were not finished and I think it’s very important because that’s when the points are given on that day and I think that’s what I’m looking for really. I’ve had really good Fridays, really good Saturdays, good Sundays until the car stopped but now what we’re looking for is to put all three days together and that should bring good things to my side of the garage