Tag: f1

Ericsson Cuts All Ties With Caterham

Former Caterham driver, Marcus Ericsson has announced in a statement that he has cut all ties with the Caterham F1 team.

This comes a few weeks after Ericsson was confirmed as a Sauber driver for 2015. This would mean that if Caterham, who are in a middle of a crowd funding venture, were to make it to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, he will not race for the Leafield outfit.

Ericsson’s statement in full:

“Following recent events re Caterham Sports Limited and 1 MRT Sdn Bhd, my adviser Eje Elgh and I have decided to terminate, with immediate effect, all agreements connecting me to the Caterham F1 team.

This is a sad day as we have greatly enjoyed working with the team through a difficult and tough season.

I wish to thank Colin Kolles, Manfredi Ravetto, Cyril Abiteboul and every other member of the Caterham F1 team for your trust and confidence in me, and for making my first Formula 1 season an educational and unforgettable experience.

In addition, I thank my good friend and teammate Kamui Kobayashi for being an inspiring benchmark throughout the year, and hope to see him back on the track soon.”

November 13, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2nd Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

3rd Felipe MASSA (William)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Nelson Piquet)

Nico, what a fantastic race you did. I was really impressed with all your performance. Your father must be very proud of you. But I want to ask you one thing. Of course you are driving there, with Hamilton behind you and with DRS. Do you think this is fair?

Nico ROSBERG: First of all, thank you very, great to see you. No, I’m very happy with the whole weekend. The whole weekend I’ve been feeling comfortable in the car, I was able to attack and control the gap also to Lewis in the race. So that worked out great and I’m very, very happy. Especially in Brazil. The atmosphere is fantastic and also great to see the support that you’re giving Felipe here, that’s awesome, and also for me. So obrigado.

Hamilton, I have been for a long time very jealous of you – not only of your driving but also of your old girlfriend. Where is Nicole?

Lewis Hamilton: …She’s at home.

OK, say hello to her and you did fantastic. I think everything will stay in the last race. It’s very good.

Felipe, fantastic. I have to say in English first. He did a very good race. I want to ask him. What is he going to do to prepare himself to always keep Button behind him?

Felipe MASSA: First of all, I’m so happy for my race. So many mistakes also in my race. I had the drive through, the five seconds for the penalty for the sped limiter. Also I stop in the McLaren [pit box] because it was a similar and it just was prepared before my garage. But the car was fantastic, I’m so grateful for the pace.

Back to Lewis. Tell me about the race? I think it was a very, very difficult race, and I think everything will finish in one race at the end of the year.

LH: It was an amazing race; I had a great time. Obviously I had a big mistake in the mid part of the race but otherwise the car was fantastic, the team did an amazing job and it was a great race with Nico. And great to see Felipe up here. We had the best crowd today. I enjoyed it.

And what do you think about Abu Dhabi?

LH: I’m going to drive pretty much the same. Hopefully I’ll improve. Today, obviously, I lost a little bit of time but otherwise it’s everything to play for in the last race.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: So Nico, many congratulations, you’ve taken it down to the wire then. Pole position trophy won yesterday and then an important win today. Is this one of your best? How good does it feel to have delivered today under pressure?

NR: Yeah, it was a great weekend all in all. Austin was a tough day for me on Sunday, so yeah, it was important for me to just improve, because just didn’t do a good enough job in the race in Austin. Today I managed to do that, so that I’m happy about. I learned from Austin and did better so that’s a big step in the right direction. One race too late but, y’know, there’s still all to play for. Now I’m just hoping for [Abu Dhabi] and need to try and keep this going now. Really feeling good in the car and everything. And it was a great race with Lewis. He had a great race too, just behind me all the time. I always needed to make sure that the gap was always such that there was no chance for him to go for the overtake – unlike Austin. And managed to do that, so that was good.

Q: Lewis, with a 17-point lead the numbers still favour you going into that title showdown – but at the end there we heard your team say to you on the radio “sorry for the stop”. You tried to do two hot laps coming into your second stop, you were fastest lap of the race on the first one but then you spun on the second one, dropped seven seconds to Nico. You managed to close it up – but do you think that spin cost you chance of a victory today?

LH: I think ultimately it cost me the win, yeah. I mean, I was much quicker up until that point and on that lap I’d gone a second quicker whilst Nico pitted and I thought I was going to pit at the end of that lap so I used everything of the tyres. The next lap, I had nothing left. Either way, at the end of the day, I made a mistake, I locked the rears into Turn Four and with the under-rotation, just spun me around. Second time it’s happened this weekend. So, no-one’s fault but mine. Still, great result for the team. Nico drove really well, great, defensive, no mistakes and ultimately we got a one-two. I really was pushing right to the chequered flag, which is what motor racing’s all about. So I really enjoyed it.

Q: It is a record, 11 one-two finishes, beaten the record of Senna and Prost from 1988 – just a quick word from the two of you on another one-two.

NR: It’s fantastic. The team is doing such an awesome job, all-in-all. Just keeping on pushing, development rate through the year also. It’s so great to be a part of that movement. And you can feel it in the team. Everybody is really, really pumped and just fully head-down focussed all the way. Because it’s also… it’s a change now. We used to be always hunting and now we’re the hunted, and that’s a big change. It’s great to see how the team has adapted and not slackened off because that is always difficult, when you get to the front to then stay there. It seems at the moment that we’re really going strong and that’s fantastic.

Lewis, nice bit of history?

LH: Absolutely incredible. This year as a team we’ve broken a couple of records and it’s just an unbelievable job by the team, obviously for us to be able to finish one-two, great reliability and ultimately the car has been the best car I’ve ever driven so big thank you to all the guys at the factory.

Q: Felipe, great response from the crowd here to you today. It’s like a win. Obviously you managed to survive quite a lot of things in that race: a penalty you had to serve for speeding in the pitlane; you went and paid a visit to another pitbox on your way to your own – but you managed to recover from that and get the podium you so badly wanted here this weekend. What made the difference for you today?

FM: I think the race was amazing. Everything that happened in my race today. So, I think the most important thing was that the pace was there, the car was quick. I’ve been so happy with the car during the whole all weekend. The car was so competitive – unfortunately not enough to beat these guys here, which is winning all the races. I’m so happy with the race, not happy with my mistakes today. Just got a problem when I braked for the pitstop, I pressed the pit-limiter but for whatever reason the pit-limiter was not inside, and then just past the speed I brake, I press again and it was a problem I had today. And then I managed to catch the guys trying to put the gap again. The car was fantastic. I managed to overtake many cars, catch Button as well, that he was in front. Then I stop. I was opening the gap compared to Jenson for about five, six seconds, maybe even more. Then I stop in the wrong garage. I stop in the McLaren because they change our garage this race and we are a lot more in the middle and McLaren with the similar colour – not white but y’know – I thought it was our garage. They were ready. Then I just stopped there and lost a lot of time because of that. But anyway, it was not enough to… pushing again, doing quick laps all the time and managing the tyres and just opening again compared to Jenson. It was really a fantastic race, and these people… they’re still here, singing and screaming. It’s amazing. The whole energy that I had this weekend, it’s difficult to explain. Difficult to explain the emotion – so thank you very much for all of our Torcida [fan club] that was pushing the whole weekend, every day. It was amazing.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Question to Nico and Lewis: of course, there are double points for Abu Dhabi, the chase for the title. Would you guys, if you had the chance to change it for a single race, not double points, would you do that and why?

NR: Well, I find it artificial and I don’t like it in general. Of course, now, with the way it is, it’s great for me now, at the moment, but you know that’s just because of the situation but in general… There are other sports which have tried the same sort of thing, like NASCAR and they’ve done this very successfully. The fans love it and everything, so we need to keep on reviewing it. It’s good to try something and we’ll see how it goes this year. The important thing is that the fans are happy, that’s the most important thing, and we need to see if we keep on doing it or change or whatever.

LH: The same as Nico.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, you must win in Abu Dhabi but Lewis has to finish third for you to win the championship. Who could help you? Do you think somebody…

NR: He’s the man (indicating Felipe). I need some Felipe Massa help.

FM: I hope I win!

NR: No, that’s not so much help. Not so fast, in between.

Q: (Vladimir Rogovets – SB – Belarus Segodnya) Felipe, here you were really quick today. You were first after the champions, Mercedes. You are now 36 years old, for example, Max Verstappen will be 17 for his first Grand Prix. How long will you be staying a Formula One driver?

FM: Me? I don’t know. I will stay while I have this type of results, while I am competitive and while I enjoy it, what I’m doing so I’m really enjoying my moment, even if I want to have better results like we’re having today. So I want to keep this moment until I am enjoying myself. I don’t see the point to stop. I’m driving for a fantastic team, they really like me, they really support me, respect me, so I’m here and I think Verstappen is doing a good job. He’s young but he’s quick, he’s won everything he could until now so he has a talent. We cannot forget that we got our opportunity to get into Formula One, we show our talent and we need to understand… It’s true that he’s a little bit too young. If I need to chose, I would prefer to wait a little more, but you have maybe one opportunity in Formula One so you need to be ready. I would say that maybe now it’s a little bit easier with the car, with driving now, how it is with all this technology. Maybe it’s a little bit easier compared to when I started for example. The car was a little bit more difficult to drive, so it was a little more physical as well compared to now. Now it’s so easy to race. I think that in this aspect, it’s a little bit easier for a young driver to start but it’s important to have the talent and to have everything inside his brain so he can do a good job.

Q: (Felipe Siquera – globoesporte.com) Massa, when you came into the McLaren pits, when you pushed the wrong button, did you think you could lose the podium at that moment?

FM: Yeah. I think I could lose the podium because of the first mistake with the five second penalty, speeding in the pit lane. I think I could have lost the podium there. So disappointed that that thing happened and then I was pushing even harder. The problem is that you cannot push so hard because otherwise you use the tyres too much. I managed to take care of the tyres and I managed to put a good pace straightaway, but I was worried by the first mistake. Not the second because Jenson was behind me and it was not enough to lose the position, but the first one, yes.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, when you locked the rears in turn four, was it because of the graining on the rears? We also saw you had a blistered right front; did that have anything to do with it?

LH: No, literally because I took too much… when they told me to push, I was under the impression that I had only one lap to do, so I used all the tyres that I had left, that I had saved and when they told me to go by, I kept pushing but I think the rears were grained, the rears were dead and I just lost a little bit of the grip, but up until then it was looking great. Overall, I’m really happy. I came back, I clearly had a lot more pace than Nico today. I know that he would have seen that, obviously, by closing down the seven seconds (gap) but he did a good job to not make any mistakes while I was there, so I’m looking forward to the next race.

Q: (Ted Kravitz – Sky Sports) Nico, it’s been an immaculate weekend for you. Were you confident that you would have been able to keep Lewis behind you even if he had not had that spin? And you didn’t look particularly happy coming off the podium, what was that about?

NR: No, I am happy, very happy. I don’t know; that was a wrong impression. No, I was confident, yes, definitely, because already in the first stint I could see that I could control the gap and could just make sure that Lewis didn’t come into the region where he could launch an attack, so from that point of view, once I saw that, I was very confident that I could keep on controlling the gap for the whole race. Also, when Lewis had the spin and was further behind, I saved more tyres than I normally would have done and so that I could just make sure that at the end of the stint I had enough, because it was so critical on tyres today and that worked out really well too.

Q: (Leandro Alvares – Auto Esporte) Lewis, Senna was the last champion with a turbo engine; now you have the chance in this new era. As an Ayrton fan, does it mean anything to you?

LH: That he won? I mean winning this championship at the moment has no relation to Senna. No, this is something me and my family have worked very hard to do but of course, for me, Ayrton was my favourite driver of all time. Whenever my name is mentioned in the same sentence, I feel very honoured, very proud and naturally, he was a genius and a perfectionist at what he did and that’s what I aspire to be like.

Q: (Claudio Nogueira – O Globo) For both Lewis and Nico, is it more difficult to fight against your teammate or against a driver from another team, driving for the title?

NR: That’s a difficult one. I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s… I think it’s the same you know. Lewis is a really strong competitor, and OK, he has the same car as me, that has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the car is the same, so that, for example, today I know that he didn’t have more top speed than me so I know exactly what he has. I don’t know, it’s difficult to answer, but of course it is a great challenge, it’s a great battle, fantastic also that the team is always letting us race, letting us battle, and also treating us 100 percent equally at all times. That’s really important. We’re both very lucky to be in that situation and that’s awesome.

LH: They’re both completely different. I would imagine it’s probably harder with the same car because only you can make the difference whereas when you’re racing another team, they will be races where one is quicker, the other is quicker as you saw in the championship with me and Felipe. There were tracks where he was quicker and there were tracks that I was quicker at. It’s a different championship, for sure.

Q: (Renan Couto – Warm-Up) Felipe, are you confident that you keep this pace at the next race in Abu Dhabi?

FM: Yeah, I am. I’ve been confident that we will have the car to fight for the podium in most of the races, as we saw in the last race where we were fighting for the podium. Unfortunately I lost the podium in the last race but we’ve had many podiums in the last races as a team and I really believe we can fight and we can have the possibility to be on the podium again in the next race. The car is good, competitive and I don’t think anybody will have different pieces so whatever things that will make the car quicker than this track, so I really hope we can be very strong on that track as well.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo OnLine) Lewis, the last two times you arrived at the last race of the season with the chance of being World Champion, here at this circuit in 2007 and 2008, you were starting Formula One and you made small mistakes. How do you feel yourself for the next race in the same condition? You are very close to being World Champion; do you feel more prepared, the chance of making small mistakes are maybe reduced? If you remember, you also made a mistake today.

LH: Not really. I think today…. I think it was a lot different back then and obviously today I recovered from it, much better than perhaps I did in the past. Today wasn’t racing to win the World Championship as I was obviously trying to get points. The next one is a different one and as I’m approaching it, I guess I would decide how I approach it.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you were very fast in the first and last sector but you were always losing quite a lot to Nico in the middle one. Was it because there was a little bit of a difference in the set-up? And do you think you had a chance at some point to attack or in the last few laps you were happy with it?

LH: When I was close to him or in general? In the middle sector it’s all downforce. Due to being right behind him, I couldn’t get the exit of turn nine so I would lose out through that middle sector and I couldn’t stay close in the last sector. Obviously if I was in clean air it would be different.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) And to both of you, after Abu Dhabi, when the championship is over, do you think that you’re going to sit together somewhere, go over the season, discuss what happened, about the hard times you had and get over it?

FM: I think they will move to the same apartment.

LH: Well, we live in the same building so…

FM: You’d spend a lot less money living together so it’s easy.

LH: I don’t think so.

NR: Well, we’ll see. At the moment it’s very neutral, the relationship, and that’s where it always comes back to. Of course we’ve had difficult times and then better times. I think it’s always going to be like that. It’s just very competitive, you know? It’s a great competition, exactly the same as it was 15 years ago all over again. Now I just hope that we have a fantastic last race. It’s going to be exciting, that’s for sure and we’ll see who wins.

November 10, 2014
F1 2014: Brazilian GP – Sao Paulo Success For Rosberg

The one thing Nico Rosberg needed to be this weekend was perfect and he came as close to it as any Formula 1 driver could ever dream of.

Nico Rosberg converted his tenth pole position of the season into victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix under serious pressure from teammate Lewis Hamilton. The two Silver Arrows led cleanly off the front-row of the grid and ran line astern for the shortened first stint of the race. As the soft Pirelli tyres were giving up the ghost on the newly re-surfaced Interlagos circuit it was Rosberg who blinked first and dived into the pitlane for a set of the medium compound tyres.

Shrewdly, Hamilton had been biding his time and unleashed an almighty fast lap as Rosberg pitted. It would’ve been enough to give Hamilton the lead of the race and perhaps even the race victory.

A half spin into turn four undid all the Brit’s progress and handed Rosberg a 7.5 second lead after the round of pitstops.

Hamilton brilliantly reduced the gap to little more than half a second but this time not even his unrelenting tenacity was enough to beat Rosberg.

The F1 Gods seemed to be conspiring against local favourite Felipe Massa as the Brazilian had to overcome several dicey moments during his race.

First, the Williams driver was forced to serve a five second penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Later, and quite comically, Massa nearly stopped in the McLaren pitbox, whose mechanics are similarly decked out in white overalls, as he came in for a fresh set of boots.

Nevertheless, much to the pleasure of the crowd Massa secured his first podium of the 2014 season.

The man who clinched his own world title here in 2009, Jenson Button, underlined McLaren’s recent progress with an impressive fourth place at the end of the 71 laps.

Sebastian Vettel completed a quiet run into fifth in a relatively solid afternoon of racing for the four-time champion. Who would have thought, as Vettel went on a nine race winning streak in 2013, that he would ever be racing in quite such anonymity as he did in this Brazilian Grand Prix. But so the wheel of Formula 1 turns, mercilessly and with emphatic certainty.

Ferrari, to some extent, put together a better performance with a sixth and seventh place finish for Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen respectively. The two teammates battled late on in the race as Kimi Raikkonen was the only driver to successfully complete a two-stop strategy.

Eventually, fresher tyres allowed Fernando Alonso past Raikkonen who could’ve had a slightly better afternoon if not for some finger-trouble on the front-jack in the pits which cost the Finn roughly six seconds.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth overall a scant two tenths off Raikkonen while Kevin Magnussen ended a distant ninth in the second McLaren.

Valterri Bottas was never able to recover from a delay in his own pitstop which was owing to a loose safety-belt. Bottas confirmed post-race that severe graining on his tyres significantly affected his pace as well. The only two retirements were in the form of Lotus’ Romain Grosjean who pulled off in a smoking heap and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who suffered a front-left suspension failure.

Perfection is what was called for from Rosberg and what was needed to beat Lewis Hamilton.

He nearly succumbed to the relentless pressure from his teammate but this time unlike in Italy, Russia and the United States, Rosberg’s mental fortitude was resolute.

This victory has repaired some of the psychological damage inflicted by Hamilton and proved that come Abu Dhabi Nico Rosberg will be there fighting tooth and nail until the very last possible second.

November 10, 2014
Video: Bernie Ecclestone Talks About F1’s Finances

Formula 1 ringmaster, Bernie Ecclestone talks about the finances in F1, about three car teams, and a bit about budget caps.

November 9, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix: Saturday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2nd Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

3rd Felipe MASSA (Williams)

TV UNILATERAL

Nico, fastest in all practice sessions, fastest in all qualifying sessions, I guess you would call that a perfect job? How are you feeling?

Nico ROSBERG: Perfect job only if it works out tomorrow, you know, unfortunately. Up to now, of course, it’s been going well and it’s the best place to be in tomorrow but of course I need to make it happen in the race, unlike Austin for example.

Well, very well done. Lewis, a very small margin in the end, a matter of a few hundredths of a second. It looks like you’ve been chasing Nico a little bit all weekend but it seemed to come together; a little mistake possibly in Turn 10 on that final run, but how important for you is it to win tomorrow’s race, how important to just collect points?

Lewis HAMILTON: Just to comment on qualifying: it was great fun, Nico did a great lap and I lost a little bit of time in Turn 10 and perhaps a tiny bit in Turn One. But it was great – just having to keep on going out and fighting. That’s what qualifying is all about and it should always be that kind of gap, that close. So, really exciting and I hope people enjoyed that. And then, of course pole position is the best place to start here but it’s a long race tomorrow. It should be quite exciting with all the pit stops and the weather we don’t really know, so I’m here, I want to win, just as much as anyone else here, so I’m going to work as hard as I can tomorrow and hope we get have a race at least.

Very well done and coming to you Felipe: third place for you and tremendously well received by the Brazilian crowd here. Emotional for you?

Felipe MASSA: Yeah, very emotional. Very emotional to be here in Brazil and to have a competitive car, to start in the top three. I didn’t use everything I could from the car because I just got a lot of traffic, a lot of problems on my last set, that my car wasn’t… we couldn’t leave the engine on, so it was a lot of problems to leave the garage, so I left in the last moment with a lot of traffic around, with Magnussen. So I couldn’t improve my lap time and everybody was improving a little bit on the second set and I was not going to improve maybe enough to beat them but maybe to get very close. So it was very tight between the team-mates. It was very tight between them and very tight between me and Valtteri. But I think that’s a good thing. I’m so happy and I hope that it’s just the beginning and the start for tomorrow, a good result for us as well.

Very well done. Back to you Nico: the points situation obviously means you need to win both the last two races…

NR: Not true.

Well, possibly, shall we say! You’ve been very calm all weekend. I wonder if the pressure is different now you’re in the position you’re in, compared with earlier in the season?

NR: Pressure: it’s pretty much similar. The adrenaline is there, the tension, the excitement, it’s not been changing that much. I’m just here; I’m going for it. I’m pushing myself to stay optimistic all the time. Naturally I am optimistic also. Learn from Austin; I know what I need to do better. So, from that point of view, good to go for tomorrow.

Q: Nico, as we said before, perfect run up to now. Tomorrow is what counts and, of course, this is a particularly tricky first corner, isn’t it? I guess it’s not ideal to have your team-mate alongside you because an awful lot can go wrong in that first Senna S, can’t it? Talk us through your thoughts.

NR: I’m sure the start is going to be great to watch but being on the clean side of the grid, and it’s not such a long run down to Turn One, so that should definitely be helpful.

Q: Lewis, your perspective on Turn One as an opportunity for you to get back on terms, and also whether what happened here six years ago, winning your title here, whether you’re going to be able to channel that into your performance tomorrow.

LH: I’ve not really thought too much about the past here but, as I said, I’m here to win. Going to try to get off the line as quick as possible tomorrow and if I have a shot into Turn One tomorrow, I’ll take it. Otherwise, it’s a long race, 71 laps here so there’s lots of… should be several, two or three stops, so lots can go on during the race. So I’m generally excited and it’s not the only opportunity off the start. Yeah, we just, as I’ve said at all races, I just hope that we can race at least.

Q: Felipe, obviously that’s your best qualifying since Germany – but particularly exciting for you, I guess, is the margin. How close you were to these Mercedes around this track. Your thought on that and also on what you can do in the race. Can you challenge them?

FM: Yeah. Definitely good qualifying today, very tight between us in our team, me and Valtteri. Nico and Lewis as well. They were very, very close to each other so it was not an easy qualifying. I managed to do a good lap straight away but I just had a problem on the second set. Traffic, problem with the engine that it was not firing up. The car is good. I would say the car is competitive and we need to understand how the tyres will behave tomorrow in the race. The weather as well – but I think… I will try everything I can for my best race. I really hope that it can be possible to have some opportunity, even with these two guys. I will try.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Nico, this weekend looks a lot like the Austin weekend. But after your pit stop (in Austin) you suddenly lost performance and Lewis overtook you. What happened exactly and do you think the story will be different here?

NR: You say this looks similar to Austin. I don’t know why. Just pole position. I understand what I needed to improve in Austin: I didn’t find my rhythm in the race and I understand that, we looked at it and so I’m confident that I can improve that for tomorrow. Anyways, it’s a different situation: different track, here we’ve done more long runs, we even did a long run this morning which will help, in exactly the same conditions as we expect tomorrow. So all those things should be very helpful.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo Online) Lewis, would second place already be a good result for you here, even with Nico winning the race? Will you be more conservative or will you go for it, trying to get your sixth victory in a row?

LH: I’m just repeating again: I’ve come here to win so the priority target as always to try and win the race. Of course, on top of that, I want the team to have another one-two which is going to be our target. We know the Williams are very close. Hopefully we’ll have a good battle tomorrow.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, we have seen a Williams which is very very fast in the last sector. Do you think that tomorrow you could have the chance to beat Mercedes if you can manage to stay close to them at the beginning of the race?

FM: I think we were very fast last sector but even also in the first sector. We were just losing in the second sector which is where you need more downforce, and it’s pretty clear what we’re missing a little bit during the championship but it’s also true that we have a good car. We have a competitive car and I don’t know if we will have the chance to be more competitive than Mercedes tomorrow but I hope we will have the chance to be in front of at least one of these guys and I will do everything I can. We know that this race is very important for us and for me, as a Brazilian, and therefore these people as well who are watching and supporting me, so I will try everything I can.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you mentioned the wrong settings; did that happen by accident or didn’t you know or did you find out during driving that other settings would have been better?

NR: No, it was not by accident. It’s a progression, from one run to the next and you learn, with every run. But then the decision is, OK, I know my settings are wrong but if I change them now, the car will be different and that can be quite risky because in qualifying I’m really going flat out on the absolute edge and when I’m on the edge and the car is different, it’s not necessarily going to be quicker and it’s more risky so I just took the decision to stay as it was and that was the right decision, so that worked out well

November 8, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES:

Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull Racing)

Pat FRY (Ferrari)

Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli)

Rob SMEDLEY (Williams)

Sam MICHAEL (McLaren)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Paul Hembery, if we could start with you? Interesting day today to say the least. Obviously a new track surface here at Interlagos [along with] your choice of soft and medium tyres for this weekend. What did you learn today, particularly in the extremely high track temperatures, up around 57-58 degrees [Celsius]?

Paul HEMBERY: Well, the track is very different from last year. We’ve lost a lot of the macro roughness, 50% less than last year, so it’s a very smooth track and in the first sessions we saw a lot of oils coming out from the new tarmac that we’ve got out there, which you get from new surfaces. So a lot of graining going on in the first run on the tyres in P1. It improved a little bit through the day. Having said that it’s a strong pull for something like the softer compound here when you get up to nearly 60 degrees on the track. A little bit of blistering we started to see on the front tyres. But who knows what the rest of the weekend is going to hold. Nobody foresaw having this high temperature today, so there are still a few question marks, I guess, for the rest of the weekend.

What about 2015 tyres? Give us an insight, if you could, about your thinking, what you want to achieve on strategy, performance, that kind of thing?

PH: Well, we’re not planning any great changes. We’re trying to improve a little bit the footprint area of the tyre, which is what you do as a tyre maker. Compounds? Well, again minimal changes. Maybe working on some of the temperature ranges of some of the compounds, but not planning anything dramatic. Primarily because we still want to understand what these technical guys are going to come up with in terms of developments for next season. They’ve had a year to understand the new regulations and we are expecting some quite strong improvements during next season.

Thank you very much. Rob, coming to you, same first question for you as it was for Paul, but from a team’s point of view. What did you find today running with these tyres on this new track surface? Anything you’d like to share with us about it?

Rob SMEDLEY: I think that the track improved quite dramatically through the first session as Paul just said. There were a lot of oils coming out. As you put Formula One cars over the surface you impart a lot of load into the surface and the oil comes out. I think that’s quite normal. And as it did the track gripped up a bit, between the first and the second set there was quite a big track evolution. We started the second session about 17 or 18 degrees hotter than what we finished the first. We were 56 degrees, I think, track temperature, about 34 or 35 ambient and that went up to 57-58 at the end we were measuring at the end. So they were quite extreme temperatures. On the old surface round here with that tyre of temperature you’ll get quite a lot of degradation. And that’s why I think everybody put the option on and the people who looked best on it were simply the people who’d run least in their short runs. Anybody who’d run four or five laps, as our cars had done, we grained the rears and blistered the front. But I think that’s quite normal for these track temperatures. We’re predicting, for what it’s worth, that it will be quite different conditions for tomorrow and Sunday. I think the main thing to take out of it, as always, is that Friday, yes it’s important and it’s good to go and do your homework, but the track can change quite dramatically for the rest of the weekend.

Q: Felipe, yesterday in the press conference was very optimistic about the next steps for Williams. They’ve obviously been a midfield team for a while now but the car and the technology are clearly on the point of being race-winning again. What needs to be done about developing the mentality of the team to that point as well?

RS: It’s a long-term project. You have to change cultures and methodology within the team and, like I’ve always said since I arrived at Williams, it’s very easy to change process, you can change process in a week – but it’s much more difficult to change culture, y’know? The team’s got to get back to being able to win. Being ready to win. Being pretty much ready to beat everybody. If you look at the most recent success – bar Mercedes – in F1 then it’s Red Bull. They started off some years back with not the quickest car and certainly not the best operation and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me saying that. And right now, in terms of their chassis, they still have a fantastic chassis, in terms of how they operate, they operate very well – but it’s because the same core group was there for a long time. And that’s what we have to do at Williams. I think we’ve got reasonably sensible people there now, there’s a good level of competence, a good level of young talent as well – which is always important – it’s not just the people at the top end who make all the decisions but the people who actually do the work as well. And yeah, for the moment it’s working. There’s more to do. We have to go further but as long we stay on the road that we’re on, hopefully it will work out.

Q: Pat, tell us about the contrasting day for your two drivers: obviously Kimi at the top of the timesheets in FP2 and the fire for Fernando. Is that going to mean a penalty?

Pat FRY: The fire, it’s a high-mileage Friday engine to be honest. I’m sure every team’s in a similar boat so it doesn’t really affect the strategy that we run on a Saturday and a Sunday, so that side of things, it looks more spectacular and it’s hard work for us to clean it all up but it’s not that big a deal. I think this morning we, like most people, we struggled with graining of, particularly the right front, and it takes a little bit of a while for us to work out how to deal with that. As the track improved the graining reduced significantly in the second part of FP1. We’ve been trying different setup options with Kimi and he seems happier. We’ve been reviewing… it’s been a constant battle for us to try and work out and give him the front end he wants in the car. We’re a little bit closer and it shows that, if we can give him the car that gives him the right feedback, he’s right there and right on the pace. So, I think that side of things went reasonably well. Long run pace, it’s hard to say really. I think everyone’s long run was disrupted by, firstly, the red flag we caused and then the following red flag. On Fernando’s side, again, similar comments with graining and car balance. I think everyone’s struggling a bit with the tyres and the way they’re behaving here. But yeah, we didn’t get a clean lap on the very first lap but other than that I think they’re relatively close together.

Q: Tell us how the Mattiacci long-term plan is manifesting itself in the technical department.

PF: I think, like all these things I’ve said to you before, to stop and look at what you’re doing and realise where… or start thinking long term, is definitely what we needed to do. It’s good that we’ve done that. Some of the changes that have been emplaced are already paying huge dividends in the way we’re developing next year’s car. Only time will tell really. There’s a huge amount of catching-up we need to do but at least there’s the drive to improve the technical process, invest where we need to. It’s a long-term process but the right path is there to get us back to the top.

Q: Sam, you’ve obviously announced that you’re leaving Formula One after a long career at the end of this season. Why have you decided to leave the sport and what are your plans?

Sam MICHAEL: Thanks James. First thing I wanted to say was that it’s been really been an honour and a privilege to work alongside all the engineers and technicians and drivers, media and all the people that make up Grand Prix racing. It’s an incredibly privileged position to be in and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. There are some fantastic people in this business, it’s one of those businesses where there’s lots of different characters and a great deal of diversity but the one thing that bonds us all together is that we’re all racers. We always have conflicts and fights about whether it’s technical regs or sporting regs or who said what or did at different times. We’re all here to do the best thing for Formula One and if it didn’t exist like that then we wouldn’t be here. It’s been a fantastic run, 21 years with four different teams and I looked at it and thought it’s time to go back to Australia. Looking forward to that, probably spending a bit more time with my family. As you know, yourself, motor racing itself is an incredibly selfish business when it comes to families and I think it got to the point where I thought if I don’t see my kids grow up at this point then I probably never will. So that was basically the driving factor behind it. It’s been a great trip and that’s it.

Q: What’s your favourite period?

SM: I’ve enjoyed all of it really. As I said, I’ve been very lucky to work with some pretty inspirational people right from the beginning with the two Peters, Peter Collins and Peter Wright, the infamous Eddie Jordan, obviously Gary Anderson who was a good teacher at the time, then Frank and Patrick and then obviously Martin and Ron. You could look at each period and say that when you’re winning Grands Prix, they’re the most fantastic results and the highlights, but there’s actually lots of other little areas and little wins that you get, whether it’s coming up with a new technology before someone else in a team, results where you’ve driven from the back… I think of things like when Alex Wurz drove from the back in 2007 and got to the podium. I think of Nico Rosberg’s first Grand Prix in Bahrain where he started a lap down effectively and got back to seventh and had fastest lap of the race. There’s all the wins as well that I had in those teams. I think all those moments are the ones that bonded a race team together and they’re the ones that you remember the most.

Q: Paul Monaghan, great year, obviously for Daniel Ricciardo: three wins, third in the drivers’ championship. Less so for Sebastian Vettel who admitted yesterday that ‘Ricciardo has simply done a better job than me.’ What’s the technical explanation for these two very different seasons?

Paul MONAGHAN: We present two equal cars to the drivers and I think you have to ask Sebastian for a little bit more explanation of his side of what he meant. We service both drivers with the best equipment we can, treat them equally, allow them their requests where we can and field them onto the track in the best state we possibly can. I would have said Sebastian’s coming off five very intense years, isn’t he, and he’s been phenomenally successful and I suppose it concludes with we wish him well.

Q: Well, you’re turning a page, obviously. You’ve got Daniel Kvyat coming in; when do you get to run him for the first time, and more importantly, do you think he’s ready?

PM: He’ll be ready. He’s had a season, hasn’t he? He’s had some glamorous moments. In terms of running him, I think it’s going to be in February and yeah, looking forward to it. It’s a new challenge for us, isn’t it? So off we go, we’ll see what happens.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Rob, Pat Symonds said Alonso could be a disturbing factor for a Williams that is still growing and trying to become a top team to win again. Do you agree with that?

RS: Well, I don’t exactly know what Pat said so I can’t really comment on that. I’m sure that’s not verbatim what you’ve just said to me, it rarely is. I think that Williams is, yes, growing, yes, in a state of transition. But I don’t think that anybody would be a distraction. I think that it’s up to us to be able to integrate people into the team, whoever they are. If they’re good and they offer something, then it’s up to the management and the rest of the team to be able to integrate them. Don’t take this away as a quote that I think that Fernando Alonso’s coming to Williams because he isn’t. You’d have to ask Pat to explain further on what he said, but as far as I’m concerned, I think that Williams is open to everybody.

Q: (Ben Edwards – BBC TV Sport) A question for Paul: I know there were very interrupted race runs that everybody was doing this afternoon but Red Bull did look pretty good. Do you think you can give Mercedes a bit of a run, particularly if the weather conditions change this weekend?

PM: Yes, in summary to your question, we’ll set out to try and win the race. If it’s dry and the race is as we might expect, then we’ll probably watch the Mercedes. If you throw in a bit of inclement weather, a few unexpected pit stops, we’ll do our utmost to finish at the front, yes.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Paul, I would like to follow up on what Rob had said about the core group of people who of course will no longer be around: for example, Adrian’s moving on, Sebastian’s moving on, I believe Rocky is moving on as well, so there will be a total restructure. How do you people see that restructure working internally? Will there be an announcement of people starting to move into positions?

PM: Well, I have to correct you on two out of three points you’ve made. Sebastian is departing the team, he’s one part of the team. We wish him well. Adrian’s not leaving, he’s taking a step back, but he’s still around. Rocky’s staying with the team so the core team to which you refer is still there and I think, as Rob said, we’ve been together for a long time, we work well together, we’re a close knit team so people are changing positions, structures have been in place for a little while now so I don’t envisage a great change in a short period of time. I think, from the outside, you will struggle to see very much in the way of differences and as the core team is staying together, then we expect to be strong if not stronger next year.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pat, we’re hearing in the past few weeks different stories about the new Ferrari, first that it was delayed and that the data was not as good – even worse than this one, then that there have been some improvements. What can you say about the work that you are doing in Maranello? Where are you standing? What are you foreseeing?

PF: Well, I don’t know where you get your information from, to be honest. Yeah, we’ve set ourselves some strong challenging development targets on both the power unit side and on the chassis side. There’s obviously a huge gap we need to catch up. I think things are progressing reasonably well. Have we reached our target? No, far from it but I guess there’s four and a half months to go still – at least – but things are coming along and improving on both fronts really, so I think there’s been good progress there. All the teams are working well together, so only time will tell how much performance everyone else is going to put on. So we’re doing the best we can with the resource we’re applying, so it’s going OK.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speedsport News) Sam, do you plan to be involved in racing when you get back to Australia? And would you consider being involved in the V8 series down there?

SM: Thanks Dan. I think at this point in time, the first thing I want to do is get back to Australia. I’m still on this side of the world (Europe), get back there and get everyone – my family – established and then decide what I’m going to do next. Since it’s become public, it’s been a really interesting time with some quite fascinating and interesting projects but at the moment I’m not going to make any decision until I’m back there. Spend a few days on the beach first. Thanks.

November 8, 2014
Caterham Takes to Crowd Funding

The administrators of the Caterham F1 team have launched a crowd funding campaign in a desperate attempt to raise funds to get the team to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The target is to raise £2.35 million(4.5 Million Euros) by November 14. So far the campaign has raised £320 732 from 785 backers.

The administrator form Smith and Williamson, Finbarr O’Connel who is also the interim team principal at Sauber had this to say about the campaign:”We are working non-stop to get the Caterham F1 team back racing, initially in Abu Dhabi, but hopefully that will be just a stepping stone to get it back racing on a permanent basis, under new ownership.

“In order to achieve that one of our most useful, innovative and effective options right now is crowd-funding.

“We want to get as many sponsors and fans as possible involved this week and make our comeback something we can all be part of.

A website has been setup for this campaign and fans can pledge money or buy items that belonged to the Caterham team. Anything from turning vanes(£2 200) to team overalls(£500) are for sale. You can even pay to have your name on the car(£1 000).

Some people in the paddock don’t agree with the whole crowd-funding idea. Red Bull Team Principal, speaking to Sky Sports, hit out at the whole concept.

“I don’t agree with the fans having to fund a team,” he told Sky Sports.

“The fans pay to be entertained by the teams, they shouldn’t be having to pay for a team.

“The concept of that is wrong and shouldn’t be allowed.”

This crowd-funding initiative was announced on the same day administrators for the Marussia F1 Team said that the team would cease trading. This situation puts Caterham in a rather interesting situation. With Marussia out of the running and with only 10 teams left on the grid (only if Caterham makes it to the final race of the season). It would mean that Caterham finish 10th in the Constructors Championship and take home the prize money for finishing 10th. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. The prize money alone won’t be enough for the team to make it to the 2015 grid. It will need further investment for that to happen.

November 8, 2014
End of the Road For Marussia Formula 1 Team

The administrators for the Marussia F1 Team, FRP Advisory, have announced the team will cease trading and the staff at the will be made redundant.

The Marussia F1 Team was placed under administration last month after running into financial trouble. There was some news that there were two potential investors that could take over the running of the team. It seems like that has not materialized and the only thing left for the administrators was to dissolve the company and the team.

A deadline had been set for the two potential investors to transfer their money over before Friday 12:00 GMT. That deadline came and went with no cash being transferred which left the administrators with no choice.

“It goes without saying that it’s deeply regrettable that a business with such a great following in Britain and worldwide has had to cease trading and close its doors,” said Geoff Rowley, the joint administrator at FRP for the Marussia team.

“Whilst the team made significant progress during its relatively short period of operation, operating a F1 team requires significant ongoing investment.

“The group was put into administration last month following a shortfall in on-going funding and the administration process provided a moratorium to allow for attempts to secure a long term viable solution for the company within in a very limited time-frame.

“Sadly no solution could be achieved to allow for the business to continue in its current form. We would like to thank all the staff for their support during this difficult process.”

“The team will not be participating in the two further rounds of the 2014 championship remaining, in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi.

“The joint administrators will continue with their statutory duties to realise the assets of the business in the best interests of all the creditors.”

This announcement comes a day after the FIA released their list of provisional entries for the 2015 Formula 1 Season.

With the good news that came from Caterham a few days ago, one needs to wonder if they’re headed in the same direction.

November 7, 2014
Button Open To New Opportunities Beyond F1

McLaren’s Jenson Button says that there are other opportunities for him outside of F1 if he does not manage to secure a drive next season.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Button says that because of the uncertainty around his future it opened his eyes to other opportunities.

“It makes you think about other opportunities and other challenges,” said Button

“There’s so much out there, so many other challenges that I’m interested in taking on.”

Button has been linked to a WEC drive at Porsche next year. But there has been no word on that from either party.

When asked if he felt that the team showed him a lack of respect by the way he is being treated, he had this to say: “That is something I’m not going to answer. It’s and unfair question.”

Button went on to say that he was not disappointed, but he was disappointed that he does not have a winning car.

“I only want to be in Formula 1 to win,” he added.

“If I’m not winning next year, I do not want to be in the sport.”

When asked if he would stay on if McLaren gave him the nod, Button gave a very weary smile and after a long pause simply said: “I don’t know.”

November 6, 2014
2014 Formula 1 Petrobras Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

DRIVERS:

Kevin MAGNUSSEN (McLaren)

Adrian SUTIL (Sauber)

Pastor MALDONADO (Lotus)

Jean-Eric VERGNE (Toro Rosso)

Felipe MASSA (Williams)

Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico, if we could start with you? It’s the first time this year, in this championship, that the championship itself is out of your hands, in the sense that two wins, here and in Abu Dhabi, won’t be enough. Do you feel you need to rely on a little bit of luck then and this venue might provide it?

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, it’s clear that I need to rely on something happening. Yeah, for sure there’s not enough for me to win, unfortunately, but that’s the way it is. Anyways, in sport so much can happen, so I’m still very optimistic.

You had a rich run of form from Monaco through to Hockenheim. How would characterise the period since then?

NR: A less rich run of form! What is it? Lewis has done a little bit of a better job since then. That’s it, pretty simple, but as I say, still two races.

OK, thank you. Felipe, coming to you: obviously, you’re a two-time winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Do you feel that with this car this year is your best shot of getting back on the podium, since that great win in ’08.

Felipe MASSA: Yeah, I think so. Anyway, I was on the podium in 2012. It’s a fantastic track for me. A track that I had great results. As you said, two victories, almost three I would say. Three pole positions. I always love this track. I won many races [here] even before Formula One. So I started my career here, on the other side of the wall, which is a go-kart track, at the top. I love this place. I love the energy that I feel here and I’m really looking forward to having a fantastic weekend. I hope our car can be as competitive as shown in the other tracks here as well. We’ll see how far we can be, or maybe even in the middle of these guys here on the left [Mercedes]. Trying to get all the opportunities to have a great race here.

You’ve obviously been a key part of Williams’ renaissance this year. With all the experience you have, tell us how you feel this team can become more competitive in 2015?

FM: Well, first of all you cannot forget how much we grow from the first race until now. I think maybe… I would say it was the team that grows more during the championship. It was a team that gets better, that improved the car in the top level, from the first race to the last race, looking at where we started and where we are now. So, I think definitely the team… when we started at the first test and where we are now, the team changed completely the organisation, the mentality. We are still changing, there are still some improvements we are working to be there before the first race of next year. But I really believe in this team. I think this team has everything to be even more competitive, it has everything to be fighting for victories and I really, really hope for championships as well.

Kevin, coming to you, obviously clear progress for McLaren on the car side in the last few grands prix, that’s clear to see. But the car still seem to have a narrow sweet spot in terms of getting the most out of it during a race weekend. What’s going on there?

Kevin MAGNUSSEN: A lot of it is down to the tyres, making the tyres work. It’s seems that sometimes we get it better than others. Sochi was an example of where we got the tyres working very well and I think Austin was an example of where we didn’t. It’s a little bit hard to understand but we’re trying out best.

Since the summer break you’ve had pretty strong form yourself personally, especially in qualifying. Do you think you’ve done enough to book your seat for 2015?

KM: I can only say I hope so. I think I’ve learned a lot. I’ve improved a lot in many areas and yeah, I’m sure I have a lot more potential even from where I am now. So, I hope so.

Thank you very much. Pastor, coming to you, first points in Austin, a very strong performance. Tell us about your and Lotus’ fight back?

Pastor MALDONADO: It was a very tough season, especially at the beginning, even not able to run the car as we wanted. It was not maybe the best way to start to work with a team. But we did a great job to try to put everything together, to get better and better and at some point we decided to be focused on next year’s car. But the team seems to be quite good, very competitive in terms of spirit. They are used to being in the front. They know how to do a good car, so let’s hope the best for next year.

How do you feel about opportunities for this weekend? This track is always very unpredictable and the weather forecast looks like it’s going to be pretty wet throughout the weekend. A lot of variables there. Opportunities?

PM: Yeah, the main objective is to maintain the performance we had last week in Austin, so we think, as a team, we can continue to fight for the points. That is the main focus at the moment.

Q: Adrian, coming to you, obviously Sauber have announced both their 2015 drivers, so in what direction does your future lie, do you feel?

Adrian SUTIL: I don’t know, so I will see what is possible, what I want and also… yeah, it’s quite a few things to think about and I can’t really say more at the moment.

Q: Are you optimistic that you’ll be in Formula One next year?

AS: At the moment, I don’t know. Maybe. F1 is unpredictable – but as I said, there are a few things to think about first and then the team has to comment the rest.

Q: Obviously great performance in qualifying in Austin, you must have been so disappointed the way that first lap turned out. Have you spoken to Sergio [Pérez] afterwards? Have you been back through it?

AS: No, we didn’t speak. He didn’t apologise, to be honest. But anyway, that’s how it is. Shame, it was for sure a good chance for points. It was a very nice qualifying, it was good to be in Q3 finally with this car. It has been quite a challenge this year, to be honest, so we didn’t expect it – but for some reason it got better and better through the qualifying session and especially on Saturday, the car was better than ever before, so, many things to analyse. We try it of course again here. I look forward to the race weekend. Big chances with weather looking very wet and I think everyone knows how the weather can turn out here in Brazil. We have seen many exciting races.

Q: Jean-Eric, coming to you, some encouraging noises that you may get a chance to retain your Toro Rosso seat for next year. Can you tell us about progress on that and progress on any other options you might have in Formula One?

Jean-Eric VERGNE: Well yeah, there were some good words from many people, especially from Franz [Tost]. Well, you know, it would be a good thing to stay with this team, I really believe in it and I think this year we did get a lot stronger and next year we’ll be again on this up-trend, so I believe we can be again in a better position next year so hopefully we can continue. But you never know. And I don’t know much more about the situation than this.

Q: It’s clear from watching you race in the last period of time, just more recently, that there’s a lot of passion in your driving. Is that coming from the adversity that you’ve been through, the setbacks, or is it anger? What’s driving it?

JEV: Definitely not anger. I believe that I’ve done many races in the past like this but unfortunately the beginning of the year I had a lot of DNF and obviously, when you don’t finish the race, people don’t remember what you’ve been up to in the race. That was a little bit of a shame. I haven’t changed anything. I drive with a lot of passion, I love racing, that’s what I do best and it doesn’t matter what I do next year, I continue, I don’t continue, I’ll always give my best to a hundred percent and try to have the most fun possible. This is when you perform well.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Elmar Dreher – German Press Agency) Adrian, I can imagine that you are very frustrated. Can you describe a little bit your feelings about this bad situation for you?

AS: Well, I’m not frustrated but that’s just how it is in F1 since many years. It’s a little bit a different business. That’s all I can say right now. I look forward to the race and that’s it.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Nico, we know the championship will not finish here in Brazil. Is it an add-point from a psychological point of view that you can have a last chance in Abu Dhabi?

NR: It’s… for sure it’s great. Great news that for sure this year I have a chance to win the championship the way it is now. That’s a good thing. I’m also happy because it’s good for the fans that it’s going to be exciting until the very end. And, yeah, for sure it keeps me very, very optimistic.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, Lewis said that what happened in Spa was kind of a war for him and since then he changes his attitude and everything. What has it changed for you since then and what do you think you have to do now to change the results of the last five races?

NR: Did he say we’re at war? I don’t think anything has changed. It was an intense battle before and it still is an intense battle now. So, I don’t know his exact opinion on things but for me nothing has changed since then.

Q: (Claudio Nogueira – O Gobo) Felipe, can you make an overall evaluation of your first season with the Williams team?

FM: Starting with the team, the team did a fantastic season, looking at how they were last year and looking at how they are now. I think the team did a fantastic season in terms of what I was saying before: improving the car and working in the good areas. We lost some opportunities, I lost many opportunities during the season, so many races that I couldn’t finish for different reasons. Some unlucky races as well, I would say. But I think now, I would say maybe from the middle of the season, things were a lot more consistent for myself, for the races, and I really believe that we can still do a great two races for the end of the championship. I’m really working and looking forward to having a very consistent and good season in 2015.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Kevin, two part question: first of all, I take it you still don’t know exactly what your future is for next year, and secondly, then, if you don’t know what your future is, do you feel a bit let down by the team, that in your rookie year, after you’ve done your best to try and perform on the track, you’ve got two races to go and they still haven’t told you whether you’ve got a drive next year or not?

KM: They’re not doing that to annoy me. They have a reason for it.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Do you feel let down?

KM: No, because I understand why I’ve not been told yet. Some things are still not sorted out from their side and if they could let me know, they would. Yeah, I can only just wait and see what happens. I’m not planning anything else, I’m not looking for anything else. I’m planning as if I’m here next year, so that’s what I’m working for and doing my best to get to.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Adrian, I understood you had a two year contract and it seems that it’s only one year. Is this something you have to talk to Sauber about resolving? You alluded to some issues to sort out still.

AS: Yes, there are certain things to talk about, definitely, yes. They’ve confirmed two drivers but that doesn’t mean the drivers can drive and it doesn’t mean that the team’s going to drive. So there’s no real change from last weekend to this weekend. It’s just an announcement and now, of course, my situation, I think I have to do some talking, to sort out the things.

Q: (Luiz Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) I don’t know which drivers have done a track walk or saw the new pit entry and pit exit but if somebody can comment on what they saw? Maybe Felipe?

FM: Yeah, I saw it. The pit exit is more or less similar, a little bit more inside and I would say corner two is more safe, because the wall is a bit further away, so we won’t see some crashes which we saw many times. I think that corner will be a lot safer now. And the pit entry, I would say, was a good job. You still have the wall there, in a similar place – this is the only thing that we need to be careful of, but the pit entrance is better so I would say it’s more safe, it’s better and I really hope we will see no accidents or less accidents than we saw in the past there. Anyway, we need to drive to see exactly but it looks OK by looking but we just need to drive to be sure about it.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC) At the beginning of the year, Nico, you were quite outspoken against double points, you didn’t like it.

NR: I do now! It’s really a fantastic idea.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC) I’m coming to that, yeah, and last weekend you were also saying you didn’t like it but you could see the positives. If you end up winning the championship because of double points now, the way the season’s gone, some people will say that it was a hollow victory or it shouldn’t have happened or whatever. How would you respond to that?

NR: I wouldn’t respond. Everybody can have their opinion and in sport it’s the points that count in the end and of course, then you can debate who deserved it more or less. That’s always going to be the case.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, we heard that Felipe Nasr is going to race for Sauber next year. You know him pretty well, he’s been the third driver for your team. What do you think he can bring to Sauber and what do you say about him as a driver?

FM: Well, I’m happy for him. I think for Brazil it’s great to have another Brazilian driver racing. I’m quite close to him, we’ve worked together the whole season inside the team. He’s in GP2, maybe his third season in GP2 so it’s his time, his opportunity to go to Formula One, otherwise it starts to be a little bit more difficult after that so I’m happy that he had his opportunity, his chance and I hope the best for him. I hope the best for him and I hope that we can bring our Brazilian flag on the top now with two drivers, not just one, and I hope the best for him. Definitely, it’s not a great moment for Sauber. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to be next year, his team, I don’t know which car and how competitive they can be, seeing that they are suffering a little bit of crisis and crisis is not good for everything you’re doing but anyway, I hope the best for him and I hope he can have a good start and a good experience and being in Formula One for a long time, not just for a few years.

November 6, 2014