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  • 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.

  • F1 2017: Monaco Gp Preview – The Eternally Sublime Monte Carlo

    F1 2017: Monaco Gp Preview – The Eternally Sublime Monte Carlo

    The Formula 1 paddock arrives in the Principality of Monaco this weekend for the sixth round of the 2017 season around the famous streets of Monte Carlo.

    The Monaco grand prix has long since been regarded at the most glamorous and prestigious race on the calendar. Celebrities pour into the Principality and parties spring up in every corner of the Monegasque country. But, truthfully, this isn’t what makes the Monaco grand prix exceptional. Instead it’s the severe juxtaposition of trying to thread an immensely fast racing car through such tight confines.

    Like the tickets to the grand prix passing is at a premium on the Monaco streets. Its tight and twisting nature means that any overtake is attempted is at a high risk. This year it will be exponentially more difficult given the increased width of the cars. The best opportunity for overtaking on this track has always been under braking into Ste Devote, turn one, and at the exit of the Tunnel under braking for the Nouvelle chicane. Traditionally, the start of a race has been the best time to make up positions and given the difficulty of overtaking here it could translate into a frenetic opening lap.

    A lap of the Antony Noghès circuit, at 3.3 km in length, lasts just over seventy-three seconds. But its intimidatingly tight and the walls lurk ready to punish the smallest of errors. “There is no such thing as a low risk lap in Monaco, it doesn’t exist if you want to be fast because you have to be on the limit,” says Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.  So unique is the Monaco grand prix that the first two practice session for the grand prix take place on Thursday.

    Monaco 2015_T1Track position around Monaco is king and For Red Bull and all other teams Saturday qualifying could be the most important day of the weekend given how challenging it is to overtake on the streets. While there are still 73 important laps to survive on Sunday a good lap in qualifying is nearly half the job done.

    The lesser focus on power unit performance could bring Red Bull into the mix, especially if they choose to optimize their one-lap performance. The Austrian team is still lacking quite a bit in race pace but has edged closer in quali-performance. Still, Mercedes and Ferrari should have enough in hand to see of the Ricciardo-Verstappen threat. The combination of tyre compound, ultra- and supersoft, will be to Ferrari’s advantage. The key to good tyre performance will be the ability of the driver to limit rear tyre wear.

    Felipe Massa_Monaco 2015An old friend returns to the paddock too in the form of Jenson Button who steps into Fernando Alonso’s McLaren cockpit while the Spaniard runs his first Indy 500 race in the United States. It certainly wont be an easy weekend for Button given McLaren’s woes. However, a few things will count in his favour. The race in Monaco is often a war of attrition and if he can manage to get to the chequered flag there is a possibility of scoring some points.

    The Honda-powered team is also introducing the second part of the major upgrade package in Monaco, which they hope will catapult them into the points paying positions. The final aspect in his favour this weekend is that JB is a bit of a Monaco specialist who has always shone on the Monaco streets.

    Though it is one of the shortest laps on the calendar and not as physically demanding as others the Monaco grand prix is the jewel in Formula 1’s crown and victory here means immortality.

  • 2017 Spanish GP: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 Spanish GP: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM REPRESENTATIVE – Maurizio Arrivabene (Ferrari), Christian HORNER (Red Bull), Monisha Kaltenborn (Sauber)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Christian, there was talk of the Red Bull for this Spanish Grand Prix being a substantial step ahead of the car that started the season. How different is it in the end, and how satisfied are you with the performance on day one?

    Christian HORNER: I think it’s probably been overstated slightly in various media outlets but it’s a pretty significant upgrade, it’s an aerodynamic upgrade, most of which is pretty visible. It’s the knock-on from those elements and probably the bits that you can’t see that obviously involve a great deal of work, a great deal of time and effort from back in the factory. They’ve done an incredible job to get it all turned around and on the car in time for today’s running.

    Q: Cyril Abiteboul was with us a few moments ago in part one and told us that the full potential of the Renault 2017 engine would really come with the third iteration of the season. What’s your view?

    CH: Well I was trying to ask him the question at the back that you wouldn’t give me the microphone for in the previous version, because I was very keen to learn when that third edition will come. Obviously for us, the sooner the better. It seems that Renault has chosen a path that is showing true potential but I think they’ve got some complications in terms of being able to extract the power unit’s full potential. Hopefully they’ll be able to release that sooner rather than later.

    Q: Yesterday, here in the press conference, we talked with the top drivers about the driver market and possible moves for next year. Is it the case that you know already that both of your drivers are locked into your team for 2018?

    CH: Yes, absolutely.

    Q: Monisha, moving on you. Obviously you announced the Honda deal which means that eight months from now you’ll be bolting a Honda into your 2018 car to go testing. How far up the road from where they are today do you expect them to be at that point?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, we certainly expect that they’ll have sorted out all the issues they have been facing so far and we expect that to also happen still in this season. Looking at the talks we’ve had with Honda and having seen their facilities, knowing how determined they are, we have no reason to doubt that.

    Q: Are these conversations that you’ve had with them for some time? In Honda just generally about participation together with you?

    MK: It’s been going on for some time but, you know, we looked at all the options we had. We had a couple of talks going on for a long time.

    Q: What does the Honda partnership allow you to do from the point of view of sponsorship, driver choices etcetera, does it open things up for you?

    MK: Well, regarding drivers, I’ve said before, at the end of the day it’s the team’s decision, and also the team’s responsibility to have good drivers. And like we’ve done in the past, even with our current engine supplier, Ferrari, that we’ve discussed these kind of issues with the key partner. And we have also taken drivers from our engine supplier because it was the right thing to do there. It’s something that we’re open to and we’ll see how it pans out. In terms of sponsorship I think it’s far too early to look at these things. We’ve just announced the deal. So we’ll see how that develops as well.

    Q: Maurizio, could you have imagined that, after four races, your driver would be two wins to the good and 13 points in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, much of that, I guess, you would say, by being bold, which is what you called for the team to be, you and Sergio Marchionne.

    Maurizio ARRIVABENE: OK, we are happy, of course, we were not expecting to be here but I’ll add that the hard work is paying back, so, I mean I’m very, very pleased for the overall team, for the guys that are here, the guys in Maranello, that they are working very, very hard. Having said so, I saw how Red Bull was growing here in Barcelona and how they are competitive. Mercedes have to defend the title of the World Champion, and we are still focussed on the race after race work and we try to do all our best to make the race interesting.

    Q: We spoke with Toto a few minutes ago in part one of this press conference about the dramatic-looking car that Mercedes have brought here this weekend and asked him if he was satisfied with the performance of it. What are your thoughts on how of the balance of competitiveness between you and them, where that lies now going forwards through this weekend and the next few races ahead of us?

    MA: One of the lessons that we learned last year is to look at all of our competitors. Visually the Mercedes is very impressive because yesterday we were looking at the Mercedes but we were looking also at the Red Bull and you have two schools: one that is the one of Mercedes that is quite interesting, creative and surprising, the other one is the Red Bull school where maybe something is not really evident but it’s extremely efficient. We need to take in consideration what they do, to be able to compete with them and to continue our development. One of the mantra this year is that we are looking, if there is something interesting, we are investigating, but we follow our way, we have our programme and we want to continue to follow our programme without distraction.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport network) I’m sure you’re aware that the FIA are currently celebrating all of the volunteers who allow motor sport to happen in every category. I was wondering if you could give us your thoughts on the importance of celebrating these men and women and any sort of positive experiences you’ve had with circuit officials around the world?

    CH: It’s quite incredible the job that they do, not just at Formula One events but racing events and categories around the world, from club racing upwards and quite an awful lot of them are doing it out of the love of their hearts, their passion for the sport. Again, all the medical assistance, the doctors etc etc, I’m only full of admiration for them and without them we quite simply wouldn’t be able to operate. They make it look easy but do a wonderful wonderful job.

    MA: I’ve a good case that is when I was young and crazy for Formula One that I tried to apply to be a voluntary marshal but my objective was only – the money was not a lot in my case – just to be near by the car and to see the race. Then they asked a couple of questions, they discovered that I was just a Formula One supporter and they threw me out. This is really… I have to say Chapeau to the Federation because that means that the guys are not only passionate for Formula One, they are here  working for free but they are also experts in the world that they are doing for all of us who have a great respect for all of them.

    MK: Well, I think it’s very important that you have a day like this because this is really the moment that you can focus on all the volunteers who are doing such a great job. They are doing it really out of passion and without them, like Christian said…  such difficult  situations can be sorted out and just have such a smooth way things go so we should try to really show, like this, so many more examples where people are in the sport at whatever their level, whatever category , that it takes so much more than just what you maybe see during the race, the teams or the drivers, it takes so many more people to bring across all this.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Maurizio, we saw in P1 big time differences between the Ferraris and the Mercedes. Did you have any issue and how was it so big? And the second question: do you believe that Mercedes still have an advantage on a single lap and it’s tough to catch them now?

    MA: I received the same question in Australia on Friday, I remember, and the gap in FP1 was the same, it was one second between us and Mercedes. On that occasion, I answered the question as I answer today. Chapeau to Mercedes for what they have done but we are not going to change our programme. We have a programme for this weekend, starting from Friday, improving Saturday and looking also for Sunday. This is what we want to do and what we are focused to do. Having said that, as I’ve said many many times, they are the World Champions and they have to defend their title of course. They are stronger, they are the reference for all of us and what we have to do is just try to create them some problems.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Maurizio, nice to see you here on a Friday. We’re seeing more of your drivers on a Sunday but a lot less of you; Liberty Media want the teams to do more for the fans, more media. I think I’m right in saying your team is probably the one that does less media this year than last year. Could you perhaps explain some of that and is that because it was a distraction last year, is it stress reduction or… what is the thinking behind it?

    MA: I’m surprised, honestly, because we were doing social media for two races on Thursday with one driver and then we continue to do what we were doing last year, so what are we talking about? This is my simple answer. Liberty, of course, they would like to have more and more and more interviews but they are also talking about digital so we try to balance the first two races and now we are back to what we were doing in the past so my opinion… all of you have the newspaper (version) but they also have a digital version of the newspaper so I don’t see where the problem is. We are really focused on what we are doing, that’s true.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Maurizio, just to follow up on that, but I thought you would usually speak after the race…

    MA: Yes, if you received the press release, I’m putting a statement on paper what we are going to think. It’s also true – your colleague mentioned Liberty before. One of the things we are pushing for is to have the driver that somehow they are the heroes of the show. The role of the team principal is to manage the team, to put the driver up, to do their job. At the moment, we are really really focused and I am focused with all the team to do their job and I tell you, it’s quite hard to fight with a monster like Mercedes and to look at what these guys are doing, so that’s a question of concentration, to give statements to the media when we have to do it, on Sunday after the race. That’s it, there is no other intention.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Sure, I was slightly distracted. What I was going to ask you – though it’s useful in a sense than just a statement, that we can ask you things and you can respond to them rather than it’s just a blank statement that we can’t really get back to. But that’s slightly by the by. I was actually going to ask you, before that, was would you rule out having Fernando Alonso back as a driver at Ferrari or not?

    MA: Ah, this is the real question! Is there a reason why you want me to talk… It’s not different to the answer that I gave to you before. You need to understand the spirit of our team this year. We are really working as a team and the two guys, the two drivers, they are part – an integral part – of this team. We are so concentrated on what we are doing, we are working so hard, all together that the conversation about contracts is not a priority. I don’t want to be… I tell you the truth. We are working well together, we are feeling very very well together so we want to do our best, to work on the performance of the car and for us it’s… the contract is not a priority. The atmosphere is great, why we have to start talking about something that is distracting us? We look each other in the eyes and we understand that we are a team.

    Q: (Martin Vriezema – NOS) Christian, we just had an interview with Max and he said in a very realistic way ‘we are still the third team.’ And there was also a bit of frustration, maybe he was a little bit sad even. How do you deal with this ambitious driver who realises he’s not the number one yet… which also counts for Ricciardo of course, and do they ask for a different approach from your side?

    CH: Well, first of all, he’s probably right in his observation that yes, today we are still currently the third team but I think it has concertina-ed, I think we are closer to Ferrari and Mercedes than we’ve been at any points so far this season. I think we’ve bought some performance to the car. There’s still some fine tuning that needs to be done and understanding of what we’ve introduced but I don’t sense any frustration with him. He’s focused, he’s motivated, he goes for it on every lap that he’s out on the track. He’s enjoying being a Grand Prix driver. Of course he’s hungry and ambitious but that applies to Daniel as well. I don’t sense any frustration; he’s certainly not requesting any change to our approach. He can see the effort that’s going on behind the scenes, the hours that people are working, because it is a sport at the end of the day and department after department are competing against some enormous adversaries in the likes of Ferrari here and obviously Mercedes.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Christian, about six or seven years ago you seemed to be totally opposed to any form of cost-control, cost caps etc, yet recently you’ve been reported as coming out as saying that you’re in favour of some sort of budget cap. Why do you think it could now be controlled when a couple of years ago it couldn’t be and also some input from the other two if they would like to comment on that as well?

    CH: Well, firstly, just to clarify, I’m not at all in favour of cost caps. I think they’re unworkable, un-policeable and our biggest concern throughout that whole discussion four or five years ago was how on earth do you equate what’s going on within a subsidiary company of an automotive manufacturer within research and development? So I’m not in favour of a cost cap, what I am in favour of and I would expect probably every Grand Prix team to be in favour of is to try and control the amount that we’re currently spending through perhaps simplicity of the regulations, perhaps de-cluttering the regulations because Formula One moves at such a pace that every area is under scrutiny and that means spend and that drives spend and I think there’s an opportunity with a new commercial rights holder in conjunction with the FIA to really look at what are the key cost drivers and go upstream and deal with those and then that will naturally have an effect on the outcome of how much you can and can’t spend, and there’s certain aspects that, you know, people sitting in the grandstand today have no idea about and probably know interest about in terms of some of the technology that we’re all spending a fortune on, so I think simplification would definitely be an effective way forward.

    MK: Well, it’s good to hear that from Red Bull because we, together particularly with Force India, have been exactly saying this, that we need to get the costs down and at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter to us if you have a budget cap or you have other tools of cost control, they should look at prescriptive parts if you makes the rules simpler. The important thing is to bring these costs down and actually make sure that the teams can be run in a sustainable way and then focus on the show and I think now, listening to the new owners of the sport, we certainly see that they share this view and they will actively work on this, I hope very soon, and present their proposals.

    MA: I think before talking about a cost cap we need to understand how in the future the actual commercial owner wants to grow the business of Formula One, to create more interest and also to work on the split-up of the relationships of Formula One and how we are in the hands of everything we are doing, especially (inaudible). I remember that we were talking about digital – I mean Liberty, not us – they were talking about digital that is representing only the one per cent of the potential commercial business for the future, so this is an area that we need to work on. Concerning the cap, I always said that we are in favour of cost reduction, then there is not a perfect formula to do it but for sure we are ready to take into consideration any kind of sporting regulation that they could help to reduce the costs without touching  the performance, because if you reduce the costs and the performance is going down then you have no spectacularisation somehow. So I think this is what I said in the past and what I continue to remark for the future. It’s also important to understand how is the commitment of the so-called small teams because compared to other sports they are not small at all. I think we also need people who are really committed to this sport. They want to work in the profession and they are also well-equipped financially. I think the worst image that Formula One could have is people who are building up a team, they are coming in for two or three years and then they are going out. Those are question that we need to ask of ourselves together with, as Christian said very very well, together with regulations  that are helping all of us to reduce the costs.

    Q: (Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Christian, you have had a couple of brake issues this year which have hurt your race performance. You seem to be on the same brake material as Ferrari; I’m assuming therefore it’s not related to that. I wonder if you could just talk us through that. It’s a bit strange.

    CH: We’ve had two issues, one in Bahrain and then one obviously at the re-start in Sochi. Whilst the outcome was the same, the failure was different. In the failure that Max had in Bahrain… it was actually a crack that allowed hot air to blow over a seal on the caliper which then failed and then he lost hydraulic fluid in the caliper itself, so that was an incident within the brake drum. The incident with Daniel was far harder to understand because it was after a safety car so the car had been going slowly, the brake temperatures were all under control and then he obviously had what was an instantaneous failure pretty much at the restart and there’s been an awful lot of work and analysis going into that and we believe we have a solution that we’ve tried and tested hopefully today

  • 2017 Australian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    2017 Australian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Paddy LOWE (Williams)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Opening question to all of you gentlemen: obviously it’s the opening day of a new season of Formula One. Lots of changes on the cars but sum up how your first day went? Eric why don’t you kick us off?

    Eric BOULLIER: Reasonably well. Obviously we didn’t add as many laps as we were expecting but if you compare with the testing it was a little bit better. Obviously the cars look more spectacular more aggressive, It was a good working day for us.

    Christian, obviously you had the incident with Max that lost you a lot of track time but Daniel’s long run looked pretty reasonable.

    Christian HORNER: Yes, not too bad. Certainly the first session today was encouraging. The few changes that we made the drivers didn’t like too much. Max did a little bit of grass mowing at Turn 12 and that compromised his session in the late afternoon but we got a lot of good information and we’re generally quite encouraged.

    And Paddy, how was your first day of action at Williams?

    Paddy LOWE: It was sort of a mixed day because we had a great first session, some encouraging pace. [It was] Lance’s first practice ever in Formula One, so he was taking it steady, step-by-step, making good progress. But into the afternoon we had an electrical problem on Felipe’s car, a short circuit, and that really ended his session very early. So we didn’t get the homework we would have liked on that car. But overall, quite encouraging for tomorrow.

    Maurizio, did today go as you thought it would?

    Maurizio ARRIVABENE: We were working mainly on car balance. This morning we were struggling a bit more than normal. But then in the afternoon we were still working on the car balance, but nothing different versus our Friday programme.

    Toto, Lewis looking very much the man to beat.

    Toto WOLFF: Yes, he had a very good day overall. For the team it was one of the better Fridays. Having had some question marks over testing in Barcelona it was encouraging to bounce back in that way, but it is a day that doesn’t matter.

    Q: Eric, coming back to you. We hear you are collecting quite a lot of air miles at the moment going forwards and backwards to Japan. How serious are your problems and what steps are you taking with Honda to resolve them?

    EB: Well, obviously we had a very bad winter testing, a lot of troubles, didn’t do many miles, no race simulations but like you said we are having many, many meetings with Honda. We both take it very seriously. All the options are open. Today we discussed how we can catch up and recover from that situation.

    Q: Toto, they say you should never change a winning team, but here you are after three dominant seasons with a new technical chief and a new driver, so how has the dynamic in the team changed?

    TW: It’s a very large organization, between Brixworth and Brackley it’s almost 1500 people and the dynamic is positive. Every year we are trying to reinvent ourselves without compromising performance and we are in good spirits.

    Q: Christian, a slightly quieter testing period than with Ferrari and Mercedes, but lots of new parts arriving on the car today. Tell us how the development race will impact this year’s championship. Is it going to be the deciding factor and are you going to come out on the right side of it?

    CH: Well, I think it’s going to be a big factor. These regulations are still very immature and there are going to be a lot of gains in a short space of time and it’s a matter of who can most efficiently develop their car and effectively get components on the car that drive performance forward. It wouldn’t be unrealistic to expect the cars to be 1.5s quicker by the time we get to Abu Dhabi than where we are here today. It will ebb and flow during the season but at the front of the grid hopefully we get a bit closer to Toto’s guys and have some closer races this year.

    Q: Paddy, you’ve gone back to the team you did some winning with back in the early 1990s, a dominant period with Mansell and Prost. Why is this move to Williams the right thing to do at this time of your career?

    PL: I had a great three years in my previous team, some great success there, but there was a great opportunity, a challenge at Williams. As you say, it’s going back to the team where I started my career in Formula One. It was quite emotional and special going back there a week ago, seeing people I literally hadn’t seen for 24 years, but fantastic team and we look forward to making substantial progress over the years to come.

    Q: Maurizio you have been downplaying expectations going into this season, but what I’d like to know is, inside the team, how hard it was to build what looks to be a very competitive car given all the technical changes and staff upheaval that you had in the second half of last year?

    MA: If you change something, it’s for the better, not to get worse. We have a change, the team is working very well together. Over the winter the guys were exchanging information; they have a common goal. Working all together, having a common goal and exchanging all the information they have, the car becomes not the car of one but the car of everybody and this is what has driven us until today and into the future.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (John McEvoy – Daily Mail) To Maurizio. Liberty have arrived, and one of the things they have said they want to do early on is make everyone more available to the media, but after arriving here it seems you have gone in the other direction. One of your drivers was unavailable yesterday in advance of this big race at the beginning of the season, from an organization as big as Ferrari. I was wondering why that is, whether that will go on or whether that will be addressed?

    MA: Define media. What do you mean by media? Today, defining media is quite large in terms of communication media. It’s also social media. It’s not only what we are thinking about. Yesterday we had Sebastian who was talking and we were using social media and posting something related to Kimi. Liberty also said that in this business at the moment the digital platforms are used at only 1% of the potential. So, the good thing is to find the right balance. Instead of having two drivers on Thursday and talking and doing a copy and paste of one versus the other with the same questions we made sure that Sebastian was talking in one way and Kimi in the other. So we cover all the communication platform. Making happy also Generation Z.

    Q: (Seff Harding – Xero Xone News) – To follow up on that, a question for all of you, do you feel that there does need to be a change in accessibility to the press, to arrange interviews that may be on social media, Facebook Live, Instagram, to reach out to other audiences, in other markets and of course to other demographics?

    CH: I think the changes that have been put in place this year have been positive. I think that relaxing the rules regarding the digital platforms, allowing content to be generated… non-circuit content giving the ability for fans and followers to get a little bit beneath the covers and closer to seeing the personalities of the drivers in the build-up to a grand prix or pre-season is certainly positive. It’s a media business at the end of the day. Formula One is a media business. We have to engage with the media. It’s important that we give access to the drivers, access to the fans or how else are we going to promote the sport.

    Toto?

    TW: I think like Maurizio said, we have to cover three different generations. We have to cover the long-time followers, so-called middle ages, the Millennials and Generation Z. You kind of need to play the full span. For example, when we launched the car we put some time into the car launch, which is a risk on the engineering side, you’re compromising your time, and we did a Facebook Live launch, 360, and we had almost a million views in 24 hours and it was successful. We have to embrace all that, not forget any audiences within these groups but target all of them and Liberty’s approach has been right so far, in opening up.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Question for all of you: we’ve had the big regulation change this season, can you tell me whether you think we will actually see better racing and the reason why this is so or why if not?

    Eric, why don’t you start?

    EB: I think the car, obviously it’s a hot topic with everybody talking about overtaking numbers and manoeuvres and whatever. I think 90 per cent of the overtaking is thanks to DRS since this device has been introduced. So as far as we are concerned the DRS is still on so I don’t think there will be many changes on this: the number of overtaking. The car philosophy stays the same as the previous generation and, as long as it is dictated by this front wing, you will have this loss of downforce effect into the corners. On the positive side, I think the drivers were the ones lobbying us, all of us, to have a faster car, fastest cornering cars and clearly we have achieved this, I think, with bigger tyres, more downforce, fastest cars today and obviously that’s going to facilitate, or help the bravest drivers to try or attempt some manoeuvres to overtake. So, I don’t think there will be a big difference compared with before. I think, and the drivers as well, I can already feel – and I’m talking for McLaren only – Fernando clearly was the one who was complaining about the previous generation, and he’s clearly happier now with this kind of car. He enjoys driving the car and you can see the cars today, in some fast corners they are flat-out already on Friday afternoon – so I think it’s a good sign about what we wanted to achieve. I think all the drivers happier should make the show better.

    Paddy, any thoughts?

    PL: Yeah, I agree with what Eric said but on top of that I think the other element we will see with much higher loads now in the car, with higher cornering speeds, driver endurance is much more demanding, so we may see more mistakes in races, drivers more on their human limits. So, I think that could be another interesting factor.

    Anything to add Christian?

    CH: I think the guys have covered it pretty well. I think the cars are going to stretch the drivers. I think sitting here, and we don’t know whether the racing is going to be better over the year or not, but I think the drivers are going to be working harder, you’re going to get perhaps more differential between drivers and they’re going to have to work harder for overtakes when arguably some of them have been a little bit too easy over recent years.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Based on comments that Ross [Brawn] made earlier today and also previously, it appears that the Commercial Rights Holder could play a more active role in the regulatory process. Which means that possibly entertainment could take precedence over technology etc. How do you feel about this? About the commercial rights holder getting increasingly involved in the regulatory process?

    Toto?

    TW: This is an entertainment platform and it should be around the entertainment of the fans and I think with Ross in place it’s the right individual. He has seen it from the other side; he knows pretty much what matters to the teams and now trying to seek a good balance between keeping the DNA of Formula One, keeping it at the pinnacle for racing drivers and for engineering and equally making sure it’s the best possible show for our fans will be the main priority. I think we are definitely in an interesting place and it looks positive.

    Maurizio?

    MA: I think for the future cost and performance, they are two key factors. Reducing the cost and increasing the performance, they are the two key factors. Then, of course, it’s an entertainment, what we are doing here. It’s part of the entertainment business. Everybody, they’re open to discuss and talk about new ideas in the appropriate places. At the moment we have governance, so talking to everybody to help the sport to grow is fine until we are all aligned to the actual governance. Or, if we want to change it, we have to sit and discuss about this.

    Paddy?

    PL: yeah, we welcome a focus on entertainment. That is what this sport is all about. I think the really encouraging thing is that Ross is building a team behind him who are going to do proper research into proposals that are under consideration, so I think there’s every reason to feel positive about the future.

    CH: I personally think there is far too much emphasis on technology at the moment and we’re spectacularly bad at communicating that. I think the average fan and viewer understands very little about the technology that’s in a Formula One car which, as Maurizio alluded, is enormously expensive. So, I think the Commercial Rights Holder, it’s their business at the end of the day. They have to decide what they want the sport to be and, if the route is fan-attraction and creating a really exciting product, and at the end of the day they want to create great content on TV then it’s vital they come up with an outline of what their vision of Formula One is. And then, obviously, the FIA have a regulatory position and the teams need to be involved in that process. We have a process that that can be achieved in if two of the three parties agree.

    EB: All has been said I think

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Maurizio, given the results of the test and what happened today, do you have an accurate idea of the position of Ferrari?

    MA: Yes, we have it in Barcelona and in Barcelona we have our programme, we follow our programme since the last week and as well it’s what we are doing here on Friday. On Friday we are working on the balance of the car, as on Day One in Barcelona we were working on finding the best performance day after day without panicking, without being under pressure and being focussed on what we were doing.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Another one for Maurizio. Daniel Ricciardo recently told us in an interview that Sebastian Vettel becomes even quicker and more motivated when he has a winning car in his hands. Do you expect him to give an extra performance this season? And what do you need: Ferrari and Seb to go home together, to sign another contract for 2018?

    MA: I’ll start from the end of the question. Talking about contracts now is only distracting the attention of our drivers so I’m not ready to talk about any contracts. Then, I would like to see Sebastian happy during the season because if Sebastian’s is happy that means the car is very quick.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Maurizio, do you have as much belief that you can win this race now, as you did this morning. I hear what you’ve said and the work you’ve done during the day – but do you have as much belief that you can win it as you did at the start of the day?

    MA: We want to keep our feet on the ground. It’s Friday. We have to work this evening. Tomorrow we continue our job and then, until Sunday, we have a lot of things to do, still. So, I don’t want to do any prediction.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) For Christian. It’s only Friday but can you imagine Daniel winning on Sunday or is the gap too big?

    CH: I think, being realistic, the performance we’ve seen today from Lewis, he’s the absolute favourite. He was the favourite coming here and all today has done is underline that. But then it’s motor racing and anything can happen. We’ve seen spurious results in opening grands prix in previous years and obviously to have a home winner would be an unbelievable result – but if you look at the pecking order at the moment that is a long shot.

    Q: (Andre Leslie – DPA) Question for Mr Wolff, to do with the makeup of your team this season, with Valtteri Bottas now replacing Nico Rosberg, obviously Nico leaves a big hole in the team but Valtteri is keeping pace brilliantly today – we’ve seen twice. How do you see his role going forwards this season?

    TW: It’s obviously very big shoes to fill. Nico is the reigning World Champion and Valtteri has to fill those shoes. He has a couple of days of testing behind him which were very positive and the work with the engineers went very well and today was the first proper day on a race weekend. I think that in terms of the mindset, he has settled in very well into the team and how he has to find his grip and benchmark himself against probably the best driver in Formula One at this time. I’m very confident he is going to find the pace and his place in the team.

    Q: (Heath McAlpine – Auto Action) For all of you: today’s first practice session saw minimal running from the teams worried about engine mileage. Would you support a change in the engine regulations to increase the Friday running for your teams?

    EB: Good question. I think if we don’t run it is because we may have some technical limitation or let’s say no interest to gather data at that stage so if we do between let’s say 18 and 30 laps per session it’s because it depends on the engine plan generally. I know you can have a different regulation to have more laps but we could do it simply by making sure there is an interest for the teams to run.

    PL: I don’t entirely agree with what you’re saying, really. I think the teams are running pretty much a full programme during both sessions. If anything they’re limited by tyres more than engine mileage.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) I would imagine that this is the first Grand Prix that any of you have attended without having Bernie Ecclestone in overall control and charge. Have you, today, thought about the fact that you can’t just pick up the phone and phone Bernie if there’s some sort of issue?

    CH: How do you know he’s not still in charge? What Bernie’s done for Formula One has been amazing. The sport is what it is today because of what he created. I think in the role that he has, he’s still going to be in a position to contribute, he still has a huge amount of historical knowledge, respect and relationships around the world and I think that harnessed and used in the right way is an asset to Formula One. I’m sure he’ll be at some forthcoming events and yeah, I think hopefully the new owners can use him constructively and beneficially to build on the good work that’s already been done.

    MA: I think that Bernie deserves all our respect because if we are here and if the sport grows it is thanks to him. I think that the new group that is owning Formula One is here to make this sport grow even more so there is no future without the good historical base. If we have a good historical base then I think the new owners are looking forward to continue to grow and that’s thanks to Bernie for everything he’s done and now we need to look forward.

    Q: (Mat Coch – pitpass.com) Earlier there was a question about cars not running on the circuit; what can be done in the interests of entertainment to spice up the Friday action which is comparatively dry for those at the circuit, given that everyone’s involved in their own programmes, preparing for the weekend?

    PL: I don’t know. We used to have qualifying on Friday as well as Saturday back in the old days. Maybe that could be considered. I think the great thing now is that we have an evolving process to consider the rules properly and develop a sport that incorporates new ideas.

    TW: I think you need to differentiate because we had a very busy afternoon with lots of track action. We had a morning which is completely normal and a green track so there is not a lot of interest in testing cars on a track that’s going to develop a lot with the limitation on tyres, with the limitation on engine mileage and if you start to open that up it’s like Pandora’s box because we’re trying to limit costs. The question is that as much as you need an entertainment most of the time entertainment on track, I think we have a good compromise at the moment.

    Q: (Sam Tickell – Flagworld.com) We’ve had a lot of positive reaction to the change and the look and the appearance of the cars this year and it was mentioned previously that Liberty are looking to research for the future. How radical to the change in the appearance of the car would teams like to go to in the future, should the research suggest that a major change should be needed?

    MA: Radical change with the new rules, everybody already changed their car and I think these regulations are offering the possibility to the designers of the cars, to the aeros, to exploit even more in terms of creative approach is the first step and then in the future we can do something more. We need to make sure that the car it’s still looking like a car and not something that is a bit strange, that’s for sure.

    CH: I think the looks of the car… I think they currently look great. I think it’s all about evolution. I think that rather than focus on the looks I would prefer to focus on the sound. I think the best sounding car we have here this weekend is a 12-year old Minardi that 12 years ago had the worst sounding engine in it and was hopelessly uncompetitive and I think that when you hear the acoustics of a V10, you’ve only got to go and see the faces around the circuit to see what it embodies in fans of Formula One, so I would be far more focused on addressing that element than the aesthetics of the cars at the moment.

    TW: I think we’ve changed the aesthetics of the car. I think trying to figure out what we could do next is maybe too far. Like Christian says, if we can work on the sound of the car and if we look into a future generation of engines that is something that needs to be considered. There wasn’t enough emphasis on the sound in the past and if we can combine great technology, affordable technology with a lot of horsepower and a good sound, that would be really ticking a box.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Last year Ferrari lost the pace compared to Red Bull for example in the second part of the season. Are you confident you can have a quick and a more efficient development during the season this year?

    MA: What I can tell you is that we are putting all our effort to do all our work best to avoid the same result as last year. That’s it. What more can I say?

    Q: (Leon Alepidis – F1fan) Regarding the new commercial deal and the discussions that will be taking place soon, we have already heard from the new owners that they are planning to scrap the historical status for a team and the money that that brings. Would you agree that in order to have a more fair distribution of the prize money and a more competitive sport or not and why?

    MA: This kind of discussion you do it with the people who have the contract with you and not in public.

    EB: I guess if you ask the people for more money they will be against and you ask less money they will be in favour but this is a discussion behind the scenes, not to be done in public.

    CH: Well, there’s probably not a team principal in the paddock that would say they are happy to take less money. If they are, they’re mad so therefore I think it’s a question of bringing the bottom up rather than the top down and hopefully that may well be achievable.

    PL: Sounds like a good idea, we’ll support that one, yeah

  • Red Bull, Haas, and Toro Rosso Launch 2017 Challengers

    Red Bull, Haas, and Toro Rosso Launch 2017 Challengers

    No less than three Formula 1 teams launched their 2017 challengers on the 26th of February.

    On the eve of the commencement of official testing in Barcelona, Spain Red Bull Racing, Haas F1, and Scuderia Toro Rosso took the opportunity to launch their new-for-2017 F1 cars.

    Red Bull Racing’s RB13

    Red Bull was first out of the gate with a short and sweet pre-recorded clip released on several social media sites. The premise of Red Bull’s launch video centered on superstition as 2017 car is the 13th built by the Austrian team. The RB13 retains, mostly, the same livery as in 2016 with subtle changes including a bit more red than is normally present. Nevertheless, the matte finish, introduced, in 2016 has been maintained for the new season. Along with the launch of the RB13 the team touted a new hashtag playing up the connotations of the number 13.

    “We are like a swan on the surface and paddling furiously underneath but that is the same as every preseason so generally we are on target,” said Team Principal Christian Horner.

    Chief Engineering Officer Rob Marshall said: “The car is expected to be between three and five seconds a lap faster and most of that gain will come through cornering speeds where the increased downforce on the car will mean the car will go around the corners quicker.”

     

    Haas F1 Launches the VF-17

    VF17_RIGHT_FRONT_TQA day after filming day pictures were leaked on Twitter, the Haas Formula One team launched their 2017 contender the VF-17.

    In their second year in Formula 1 and their first rule change, the Haas F1 team had a monumental task ahead of them in developing their 2017 car.

    After starting very well in 2016 their season tapered off and although picking up some points they did not finish the 2016 season as strongly as they started.

    The 2017 car with some major changes seems promising for the Kanapolis based team in their mid field fight.

    “I think the pedal box is the same, but all the rest is very different from last year’s car,” said Guenther Steiner, Team Principal of Haas F1.

    “You always try to make a faster car, which is normally a lighter car. Now we can put on more ballast and get better weight distribution.

    “The aero is completely new, as are the tires, so we needed to have some built-in adjustability.

    “Aesthetically, the car has a more aggressive look. It’s lighter and more aerodynamically efficient. Everything we learned from our first car has been applied to our new car.”

     


    Scuderia Toro Rosso’s STR12

    Toro Rosso was the last team to launch their car for the 2017 season. The launch took place at the Circuit de Catalunya a day before the first day of the pre-season test.

    Toro Rosso unveiled their new car the STR12 with a striking new blue and chrome livery. We at F1Madness think that this is the best livery from all the teams.

    Speaking about the new car, Technical Director James Key says that the 2017 rule changes are the biggest changes he’s seen on a car that he can remember.

    “In my 20 years in F1 it’s the biggest chassis change I can remember,” said James Key.

    “In ’98 the narrow track had just arrived and there were various tweaks up to 2009, when a larger change occurred, but other than the front wing it was still based around principles that we knew. These rules however, include a track change, significantly different tyres and a new aero regulation as well.

    “From a chassis point of view it’s all encompassing with a lot of new things to learn.”

    Key believes that teams now have more aerodynamic freedom with car development this season.

    “It’s nice to have a bit more freedom. We probably haven’t had as many aerodynamic tools to play with since 2008, But then the rules tightened up in 2009 and even further in 2014. Now, some freedom has returned and that’s a great challenge for the aero department.”

    Toro Rosso are expecting more this year after switching to Renault Power Units and feel that after last years turn around they can finish higher in the points this season.

     

  • Red Bull Extends TAG Heuer Partnership for Two More Years

    Red Bull Extends TAG Heuer Partnership for Two More Years

    Red Bull and Tag Heuer have announced that the team will continue to run the TAG Heuer branded engines till 2019.

    Towards the end of 2015 Red Bull threatened to leave F1 after struggling to find a replacement engine supplier after the poor performance of the Renault engines that previously powered the team to 4 Constructors Championships. At the beginning of the 2016 season Red Bull agreed to continue to use the Renault engines but they would be branded with the TAG Heuer name.

    Since the partnership Red Bull have had a more successful 2016 and have 2nd place in the constructors championship within their grasp.

    “I am very pleased to be extending our engine partnership with TAG Heuer today,” said Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner.

    “TAG Heuer and Red Bull Racing are two brands which both have a passion for racing and a drive to do things differently, and this forms the basis of our partnership.

    “The TAG Heuer motto of ‘Don’t Crack Under Pressure’ is something that we at Red Bull Racing live by day-to-day, so we look forward to helping TAG Heuer tell that story in the seasons ahead.”

    TAG Heuer Global Sports Director, Marc Biver added: “Formula One is part of TAG Heuer’s DNA.

    “Red Bull Racing is a young, dynamic and driven team, perfectly in tune with our marketing strategy.

    “This extension will give us even greater visibility, with a real focus on the future. We have a lot of different projects ahead of us in 2017, projects that are both creative and exciting.

    “Our motto #DontCrackUnderPressure is our guiding principle in all our actions, with the support of the Red Bull Racing team and its highly contagious enthusiasm.”

     

    Photo credit: Red Bull Racing Formula One Team

  • 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

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

    PRESS CONFERENCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Christian, your view.

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

    Monisha, do you agree?

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

    Fred?

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

    Final thought on this Guenther

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    EAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Eric BOULLIER (McLaren), Frédéric VASSEUR (Renault), Robert FERNLEY (Force India)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Eric, if we could start with you please. Let’s start by talking about the updated power unit you’re running in both cars this weekend. Where is it better than the old one and do you have any further reliability worries after what happened to Alonso this morning?

    Eric BOULLIER: As whole it’s very easy to understand. The first is engine power from the ICE and obviously the power recovery you can get from the turbo and the MGU-H. So on that [Honda] did a brilliant job to improve both compounds, let’s say, on both systems. In terms of reliability, no, we don’t have any concerns. It was a small issue, which cost us a full power unit this morning and the session but you could see in practice two both cars ran faultlessly, so I think it’s far?

    Can you put a number on the lap time gain you’ve found with this power unit?

    EB: Yes I can, but I will not share it with you!

    We’ve seen former motorsport director of Volkswagen Jost Capito with McLaren this weekend. When does he start with the team and can you explain to us where he’ll fit into the current management structure?

    EB: Yeah, it’s very easy. He’s going to start very soon; it’s a question of days. He is here this weekend as an observer, that’s why he’s not wearing any team uniform. He’s going to be CEO of McLaren Racing, so chief executive officer.

    Thank you, Eric. Claire if we could move onto you. I’d like to start by talking about drivers. Your technical boss Pat Symonds was quoted recently as saying that Williams is ready to sign a top driver. Now, one of the interpretations of that is that you don’t currently have a top driver, do you agree with him?

    Claire WILLIAMS: I think actually Pat’s comments in that article that came out over shutdown were comments that were made in January, so it’s quite odd that they are now brought out. But Pat, when he was making those comments, was making a reference to one particular driver. It was not in reference to our current two. I think as we have said very clearly we are very happy with the job Felipe and Valtteri have done for us. I know everybody is waiting for our announcement now that lots of other teams have made theirs, but we are not ready to announce our line-up for ‘17 yet but we are working through all our options but I hope we will be able to make that announcement shortly.

    When do you think we will get an announcement from you?

    CW: By the end of the year.

    OK. Moving on to Spa: this is a track where you have traditionally been very strong, although you seemed to have a few issues this afternoon, just 16th and 17th fastest. How confident are you of a good result this weekend?

    CW: I think after our performance in the past few races where we expected the circuits to suit our car, it wasn’t the case for a number of reasons. We’ve obviously been working hard to try to analyse where we are going wrong and it is really frustrating fro the team and we do have a really tough battle with Force India at the moment – we don’t want them to take our fourth in the championship. It’s going to be another tough weekend, as much as this circuit does suit our care, but there are also elements of it that don’t. So I don’t know. After today’s performance, where we’re finishing 16th and 17th, we obviously had some issues, I’m not entirely sure where we are going to finish on Sunday but I certainly hope it’s in the points.

    OK thank you Claire. Bob, Force India is another team that has a very good record here and things clearly going very well for you so far – third and fifth quickest this afternoon. You’re quick here today, do you have Williams in your sights, do you think you can beat them this weekend and what about the Constructors’ Championship?

    Robert FERNLEY: Well, I think we’d like to beat them, but I think you have to look at it that probably Spa and Monza are going to be quite critical races, because as you rightly said earlier, they do tend to favour Williams. So, at the end of Monza we need to look at where the situation is and whether we’ve got ‘game on’ for a hard fight until the end of the season. I think these two races are quite critical because historically and on normal expectations you’d expect Williams to be stronger.

    Let’s talk about drivers as well. Vijay Mallya said at the British Grand Prix that both Nico and Checo are under contract for 2017 but Checo has said that he’d make a decision after the summer break. Has he done that?

    RF: Well first of all both Checo and Nico are both under contract and that’s the normal way you would work as obviously we need continuity in the drivers, we’d very much like to keep the two together, but with Checo come highly sophisticated and complex commercial negotiations and those obviously have got to play their part as well. But that can only come after we’ve secured the two drivers in the first place. That’s the process we’re under now and I would be very surprised if we’re not staying with the two drivers in 2017.

    Fred, coming to you, your driver situation is equally fluid, so when do you expect to make a decision for next year?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: Quite similar to Claire, before the end of the year. We are not under pressure to take a decision. We will take a decision in the next few weeks or months.

    Are drivers for 2017 a priority for you or is it more important to get the technical structure of the team sorted?

    FV: Drivers is the priority for everybody, you can’t race without being concerned by the drivers. [Remainder of answer inaudible]

    What is the likelihood of Esteban Ocon coming back to you for next year as a race driver, because he’s done some FP1 sessions for you this year, he’s now gone to Manor. Is he a possible for next season for you?

    FV: It is possible. Don’t worry we will take a decision soon.

    Q: Monisha, like Renault, Sauber are rebuilding. Now that you’ve had new investment, what is the plan for the rebuilding? Is there a timeline?

    Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, you want to do things as quickly as you can because we still have to achieve a few things this year and there are not than many races left. At the same time, we have such a big change coming up for next year where you also really don’t want to lose time, and get on straight away to that year. We are already in that process but now, with the new ownership we have, the trust we’ve been given, we are of course on a very different basis. Simultaneously and very quickly we have to look at the technical structures, people, drivers, the financial status. All of that has to be done actually in parallel, and is already happening.

    Q: You said you still have things you want to achieve this year. Is one of those scoring points? You’re the only team on the grid that hasn’t done that this year, so we’ve got upgrades on the car this weekend, are we going to see more as you keep pushing to get that point?

    MK: We’ll see a few bits and pieces still coming but nothing really extremely big because we are already on to the new car – but staying where we are is certainly no option. Now, we’ve had a season before where we didn’t score points. It had many reasons but it’s not enough to say that we’ll just manage it somehow again. We have to score at least a point, if not more and make sure that we’re getting back into the usual routine, the way we’re used to working.

    Q: Christian, the team moved ahead of Ferrari at Hockenheim, last time out, on the evidence of today, you’ve stayed ahead. What are the prospects for the coming races. Do you see yourselves as staying ahead of Ferrari? Can you challenge Mercedes?

    CH: They’re two very different things. One, staying ahead of Ferrari, obviously that’s our target and goal. I think the next two races represent our biggest challenges of the nine races remaining. Very power-dominated circuits, here at Spa and Monza in a week’s time. I think Mercedes, we know there’s a significant gap to. We’ve been closer at some races than others. Hopefully there will be opportunities in some of the race venues coming up – circuits spring to mind like Singapore – that we can give them a harder time. And, of course, they’ve got some issues to deal with this weekend with one of their cars. So that represents other opportunities.

    Q: How important is second place in the Constructors’ Championship to you – or is it all about 2017. Is that the only thing that matters?

    CH: It’s worth a few million pounds, obviously, like all these positions do, so it has a significant value to us. So there is a big push to carry the momentum that we’ve built over the last few races, right to the last race in Abu Dhabi. And then, of course, behind the scenes, as with all the teams, there’s a big development programme under way on the 2017 car with a big regulation change coming. So it’s a busy time, certainly in the factory at the moment.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) A question for Fred Vasseur. Today, I think it was a premier that a car started on the track. Can you explain, first of all how it stopped and secondly how you got it restarted?

    FV: During the session we had a sensor failure and we stopped the car, we decided to stop the car. Then we restarted the car with the MGU-K and the battery. It’s not the first time we did it. I think all the other teams did it in the past.

    Q: (Oana Popoiou – F1 Zone) Question for Mr Fernley. Force India has a good chance this year to finish fourth. Is there a compromise to be made by focussing on the battle this year and developing the next year’s car?

    RF: No. They’re two completely separate programmes. The battle obviously is for us to take to Williams. Williams are in the lead, they’re an extremely competitive and competent team and we’ve just got to battle hard to try to overtake them. As far as the ’17 car is concerned, that’s a factory issue and we’re flat-out in the factory, as I’m sure all the other teams are as well. So they’re two separate programmes entirely.

    Q: (Thomas Lund Hansen – Morgenavissen Jyllands Posten) I have two questions for Mr Vasseur. You’ve said that Renault needs a leader. What characterises a leader and does Kevin Magnussen have these qualifications?

    FV: We have to build up the project on a driver because I think it’s also a catalyst for the project, for the team. He needs to motivate the team. If you have a look at the success stories of the past, Sebastian with Red Bull or Michael Schumacher with Ferrari, all the good story and long success stories was built up also on the drivers. We have to do the same for the next six or seven years. Kevin is doing the job. I won’t come back on the fact that I have to take a decision on the drivers. I will do it quite soon, be sure, he is doing the job. We know that we have to improve too on the structure and it’s not a question just on the drivers be sure. I’m happy with my guys.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The current engine regulations took over five years to agree and they currently have about four and a bit years left to run before they expire at the end of 2020. We have an interesting spread here in that we have four customer teams, an exclusive partner team and a manufacturer. When do you believe that we should start looking at the new regulations for 2021 onwards and also what would you like to see included and enshrined in those regulations?

    CH: Well, it’s very simple really: cheap, loud, fast engines. I think what we have now… obviously to abandon that fully would be irresponsible, an awful lot of development and R&D has gone into these engines but I think cost is a significant element, particularly for the teams that are paying for the engines. I think that  we’re addressing the chassis side of things already for next year, making the car more aggressive, faster and so on, I think one of the elements that is missing from Formula One at the moment is the sound and I think that’s a key aspect that needs to be addressed in engine regulations moving forward. But probably not moving too far away from the architecture that we currently have. I think to rip it up in its entirety this far into the game would probably be the wrong thing to do.

    EB: I think that if you want to address the cost and obviously the convergence of performance we believe that the regulations should be extended after 2020 with the current ones. As Christian said, part of the show is maybe we miss better sound or better quality sound for the engines so that’s something that needs to be addressed technically but clearly if you have stability in the regulations and some longer term projects, obviously the convergence of performance will happen quicker and the cost will go down.

    CW: I would echo what Christian and Eric have said. Obviously from an independent team’s perspective whereby we are a customer, having those regulations outlined beyond 2020 and stabilised inevitably will help us if we are to go out and look for our own engine partner past 2020 when our Mercedes relationship will come to an end will be really important. I obviously believe that the hybrid element of the current power unit is part of the architecture that we should maintain. I think it’s a very important message that Formula One can send out but yeah, I would echo everything that Christian and Eric have said.

    FV: It’s quite similar to everybody else in that  if you want to have more exciting racing then to close the gap between everybody, we need to get the convergence on the engine also and by the way, we would be able to reduce the cost for the future, but if you drastically change the regulations you will increase the costs because you will have to do research and development and at the other end you will increase the potential gap between everybody. But I think we have to stick to the current ones and for sure we have to adapt some points because it makes sense but not to change the regulations drastically.

    MK: As an independent team that pays for its engines, for us of course the costs are extremely important and one thing is with stability to bring the cost down but equally important is the changes.  Ancillary costs can get very high and this is something which independent teams equally suffer from because in addition to the costs with the engine itself brought in which were much higher than the previous engine, the costs you had around building that engine in the chassis side were extremely high for us so stability is very important. Of course as Christian said, you have to keep in mind that the show has to be a good one and we have seen this time a lot went wrong in introducing the engine. At the same time, you also have to make sure that the interests of the manufacturers are looke at because they have vital interests in introducing certain technologies. So I think looking at all these very different positions, it’s very important to start talks now, because we’ve seen in the past that engines were cancelled overnight, whilst different concepts were introduced, we really need a long time to be able to agree something sensible and not again be in a situation where in six months time you have to decide something.

    BF: I think I would endorse what Christian said. We need to have something that’s very competitively priced, addresses the issues in terms of noise but I think we’re fooling ourselves if we think that as independent teams we have any say in these things. At the end of the day the manufacturers will decide what they’re going to do and we will be given a take-it or leave-it  situation.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For M. Bouillier, yesterday Fernando Alonso said he is not enjoying this Formula One. I would love to know what are your feelings about that, what it means to have a driver who is not enjoying driving?

    EB: Well, I think we have been working on changing the regulations for next year and as McLaren was concerned we were pushing a little bit harder. It’s true that the regulations today… drivers enjoy qualifying today because we are now breaking records so I think it’s fast enough. Drivers enjoying driving a physical car to drive and clearly Fernando is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid so he remembers the cars in 2005 and 2006 where they were much more lateral Gs than cornering speed and this is what the drivers like. I think next year’s regulations will fix part of or most of the issues actually. They may have today by not enjoying the cars, the tyres get fatter, the cars… now you have to save fuel, save tyres to be competitive during the race and I think by changing the regulations they will enjoy it more. So we have discussed this matter many times, it’s understandable and  I think F1 anyway should have this wow aspect. When a young driver comes in and realises that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and even including driving the car is the most difficult car to drive.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.NL) Christian, it’s been a long time since Red Bull had a one-two in a race. Imagine there’s a possibility on Sunday in the closing stages, Ricciardo leading the race, Verstappen very quick, wants to win his home race. How do you prevent Mercedes-like problems in the closing stages?

    CH: Well, we talk about these things beforehand, you discuss tactics, you try and come up with set rules in certain situations and then the race starts and everything gets forgotten. The guys are racers at the end of the day and if we were in a fortunate enough position to be racing for a victory and you’ve got a driver racing in front of – well, I think half of Holland is coming here this weekend by the looks of things – I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t go for it. I think it would be wrong for us to interfere with a race like that. All we ask of the drivers is give each other enough space to work with. If you’re going to race each other, race fairly and remember you’re carrying the aspirations of the 750-odd people that you represent when you’re driving those cars. It’s not just about the drivers.

  • F1 2016: Sainz At Toro Rosso for 2017

    F1 2016: Sainz At Toro Rosso for 2017

    Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has announced that Carlos Sainz Jr. will remain at Toro Rosso for 2017.

    It believed that Red Bull has enforced its option to retain the young Spaniard for next season. “We took up his option earlier this week, so he is committed to Red Bull for an extra 12 months,” said Horner.

    “As with all the drivers they are contracted to Red Bull Racing, and then we have the ability to place them where we want.Of course, he is currently at Toro Rosso which is where he will be next year.We had until the end of the year to take up the option, and we chose to do it early to put his mind at rest.”

    The 21-year-old driver is currently in his second year at the Toro Rosso team and has scored 36 points to date. His best finish to date is 6th with a best qualifying position of 5th place.

     

  • Red Bull Puts Ricciardo’s Pit Stop Blunder Down to Tyre Unavailability

    Red Bull Puts Ricciardo’s Pit Stop Blunder Down to Tyre Unavailability

    Red Bull have revealed that Ricciardo’s pit stop  blunder was down to unavailability of tyres required because they were at the back of the garage.

    The race started under safety car conditions and once the race got going he was able to open up a good lead over the Mercedes pair. After his first stop on the intermediates after starting on the full wets, he was able to stay close to 1st place driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton chose to stay out on the full wet tyres, a move that would later prove to be a race winning move.

    As conditions improved and a dry line started appearing and drivers switched over to dry weather tyres. Hamilton came in for a set of ultra softs first, Ricciardo was in the pits a few laps later. It was supposed to be a routine stop for the Australian and he was expected to rejoin the race in the lead.

    Red Bull did not have any tyres ready for him and Ricciardo was delayed in the pits. He eventually rejoined the race behind Hamilton.

    The plan, according to Red Bull was to fit the softs on Ricciardo’s car but then changed their minds to fit on the super softs that he ran during Q2.

    Believing that there was enough time to get those tyres ready for Ricciardo it soon emerged that the tyres were at the back of the garage which sent the mechanics scrambling for tyres at the back of the garage.

    “Based on how we are set up here in Monaco, the pit wall is upstairs and the garage is downstairs,” said Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner

    “The tyres are on heat both in the garage and behind the garage, and unfortunately the set of tyres that were called for were not readily to hand, and were at the back of the garage.

    “There was a scramble with the mechanics, originally having the soft tyre ready, the yellow tyre. And when that change [to supersoft] was requested to go to the super soft, those tyres were actually right at the back of the garage.

    “A very disappointing day.

    “We as a team owe Daniel a huge apology today as we failed to support him in the way we did to get him to his first pole position yesterday.

    “The delay at his pit stop cost him the lead and despite some excellent driving to get close to Lewis, he couldn’t get past, as is so often the case here in Monaco.

     

    Photo Credit: Red Bull Racing