F1 Madness

Tag: friday press conference

  • 2017 Formula 1 Malaysia Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 Formula 1 Malaysia Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Frédéric VASSEUR (Sauber), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Otmar SZAFNAUER (Force India).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Christian, let’s begin with you and the announcement of the Aston Martin deal. Tell us the scope of that, the ambition and whether there is an engine dimension to it going forward?

    Christian HORNER: Well, it’s great news for our team. We have been working with Aston over the last 18 months now on a project, starting with the Valkyrie road car, and out of the upturn there has been within the Aston business over the last couple of years, they have decided that Formula 1 is the right platform to invest in and have taken up the title sponsorship of our team for the next three years. That collaboration will not only see an on-track, with the team being named Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, it also sees behind the scenes a collaboration on future products that Aston are working on and then producing some of those cars in Milton Keynes, producing more jobs in Milton Keynes – over 100 new positions are going to be created in the future – to hopefully produce some great looking cars.

    And the engine dimension?

    CH: There is no engine dimension at this point in time but what we await with interest is what will the regulations be, what are Liberty’s plans regarding engines and chassis from 2021 onwards. So in an ideal world it would allow an independent manufacturer such as an Ilmor or a Cosworth to be able to compete with the big guns. But until we can see what the scope of those regulations are, it’s difficult to make any assumptions.

    And on the subject of engines, your sister team Toro Rosso has the Honda engines next season and you collaborate technically with that team, so how closely will you be monitoring the progress of Honda?

    CH: I think it’s a really exciting development for Toro Rosso. It’s an opportunity for them to move forward. It keeps Honda in Formula One, which I think is also a positive and we’ll certainly be keeping an interested eye on how things are developing in Italy.

    Otmar, you’ve kept the same two drivers for next season – a very exciting pairing – how are things working out between them since you had a talking to them in Spa and do you feel you have got on top of their issues without blunting their competitiveness?

    Otmar SZAFNAUER: Yeah, they’ve always gotten on. They have their on-track incidents, like you mentioned in Spa. That event kind of focused both their minds and now they have a good understanding that if they come together you never know who the winner or loser is, but for certain the team loses. We all work for a team, we all pull together, we’re all team members. They understand that and they’ll be working for the team going forward.

    You’re a clear fourth in the Constructors’ Championship now, and likely to stay there. Obviously next year with Renault likely to move forward, with McLaren pairing up with Renault and all the other moves going on, will it be an achievement to just stand still in fourth next year, or are you pushing the team to get third?

    OS: Well, it will be difficult next year. Like you say, Renault have shown great steps forward this year from where they started to where they are now. I think it’s no secret that McLaren have a lot of resources and are also capable. It will be difficult for us to remain fourth, but we always set our sights on achievable goals and we will push hard next year to at least stay fourth and someone makes a mistake ahead of us, you never know what can happen.

    Frédéric, you ran Charles Leclerc in FP1. How did he do? And how do you rate him, given that you’ve had so many great young drivers pass through your hands – the Hamiltons, the Hulkenbergs, the Rosbergs – how do you rate Charles against them?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: I won’t rate Charles, only on the FP1 this morning, and it was a tricky session. He did very well this morning. He had not so many laps to do but he was at a good pace from the start and he did a very good session, even on the technical feedback everything went well. If you look on the global picture, he did very well in the junior series, he is doing very well in Formula 2. So far I think he had to be focused on the last part of the championship, to win the title and then you will see for next year.

    It looks like Sauber could be more closely linked to Ferrari next season. You’re obviously an expert in bringing young drivers on, as we’ve just discussed. Is that the best direction, you believe, for Sauber to take?

    FV: For sure there is a huge gap today between Sauber and the top teams and we need to find a way of collaborating with a top team fi we want to improve and if we want to improve quickly. Because the most important thing is to bring the team back into the field and then to be able to compete. OK, with the Ferrari deal we will improve and we will improve a lot and then we have to build up our own project to be able to fight with the guy in front of us.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To all three of you: there has been a resignation this week from a senior member of the FIA’s technical team. He has three months’ ‘gardening leave’, which would then allow him to go to another team in a technical capacity. Does it concern you that he could be taking some secrets from teams with him?

    CH: Well, we take major issue with that if he does end up with another team. Obviously in these individuals you place an enormous amount of trust. In the role that Marcin has been responsible for he has been in an extremely privileged position and extremely recently he has been in people’s wind tunnels and looking at intimate details of knowledge of next year’s cars and I think three months’ notice period for him to then turn up in a competitor team in Formula One is entirely inappropriate. I certainly hope that isn’t the case and I’m sure it will get discussed quite seriously at the next strategy group meeting. It’s an important and vital role and it’s vital that the teams have trust and faith in the governing body that they can discuss their technical know-how, their technical secrets in many respects, which cost millions and millions of pounds, in confidence that that information doesn’t have the ability to end up in a rival team.

    FV: First, we need to know where Marcin will go but I agree with Christian, it is a big issue, because the FIA is fully aware of all the teams’ project and at the end of the day if we can’t be open with the FIA it’s a tricky situation. But first we need to know where Marcin will go.

    OS: I do agree and it would have been nice to know the notice period. Three months I don’t think is long enough and had we known it was three months earlier, perhaps we would have hired him. But I think three months is nowhere near long enough.

    What is?

    OS: I think a year. I mean, it has to be long enough such that the technology that he is aware of becomes, if not obsolete, then not leading edge. There are some sporting regulations as well that prohibit us from selling current-year cars for exactly the same reason. The cars have to be at least one year before we can dispose of them and it’s for that reason and I think notice periods should follow along the same lines.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speed Sport) For the other two gentlemen: what do you think would be an appropriate time, one year or more?

    FV: For sure, one year would fit with the spirit of the regulations but three months is really too short.

    CH: I think industry standard for the type of role that Marcin has been performing would be anywhere between 12 and 18 months. We would look to place senior personnel within our team on at least 12 months.

    Q: (Jake Michaels – ESPN) To all three of you: How can concerning was what we saw at the end of the session, with Romain Grosjean going off?

    FV: For sure it was a huge crash. I am not an expert on the drain cover but I think we have to find a solution for tomorrow because it will be very, very risky, but I think that the FIA is focused on this point and I hope that we will be able to find a solution for tomorrow morning.

    Christian you have experienced this before.

    CH: Yeah, we had an incident quite a while back similar to that. The good thing is that nobody was hurt. Obviously the session was stopped and I’m sure all the covers here will be inspected rigorously before tomorrow’s running. I’m pretty confident and hopefully we won’t see a repeat issue.

    Otmar?

    OS: I think it just teaches that in future we should do it before it happens, have good inspection before something like this happens.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) This question’s for Christian, since your announcement with Aston Martin for 2018, social media has been very creative coming up with some liveries for next year – would you be considering taking some of those ideas from social media, maybe getting the fans involved – because Red Bull’s very good at fan engagement.

    CH: We enjoy the work we do on social media, we have great interaction with the fans and followers of the teams. The livery is pretty much decided for next year but it’s great to see people’s interpretations and ideas and they should keep putting them out there.

    Have you seen anything that’s on the right track?

    CH: No!

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Christian, your team has recently published its financial results – or rather submitted them, filed them with Companies House. When I look at them, first of all, there’s about a £40million contribution from the parent company, but apart from that your budget’s about two and a half times the size of Otmar’s. Do you actually get 250 per cent the value compared to theirs or is this not really proof that there should be some form of budget cap in place?

    CH: Well, I think what you have to look at is what are the cost-drivers in Formula One, and they are absolutely the sporting and technical regulations. We see costs spiralling out of control. We’re not by any means the biggest spender in Formula One as you’re well aware. And I think what’s going to be fascinating to see, hopefully over the next month or so, is what are Liberty’s and FIA’s plans regarding the future – because a budget cap becomes far less emotive if it goes hand-in-hand with sporting and technical regulations that absolutely deal with the costs, because they are the cost drivers. So I think, if the sporting and technical side are dealt with, some form of cap will be easier to bring in but if you put all of the pressure on the cap, then it becomes an accounting world championship and I think that some of the issues we have today with disparity of performance, with the amount of spend that’s going on, with the situation that’s regarding… Red Bull Racing is the only British registered team to be registering a profit, albeit a moderate one, and that shouldn’t be right in this level of sport.

    Otmar?

    OS: We welcome a budget cap or some cost controls within the sport. I mean, even with a cap I don’t think we’ll have the resources to spend up to it but I think it will help reduce some of the disparity in performance and that can only be good for the fans.

    Fred?

    FV: Yeah, we spoke about this in Monza, as I told you, I think the cap won’t be an issue for me.

    CH: Just coming back on Dieter’s point, I think one of the key things within Red Bull’s cost is how much goes into promotion, and promotion of the sport as well, that are contained within that budget. I think Red Bull does more than any other team on the grid with its running show car activities around the world, with the way that we try to promote not just the team and the brand but obviously the sport in general as well.

  • 2017 Singapore GP: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 Singapore GP: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES: Zak BROWN (McLaren), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing)

    Q: Zak, let’s start with you. After much deliberation, you’ve separated from Honda. What was the tipping point, and what sacrifices do you have to make now?

    Zak BROWN: Well, let me start James, and then I’ll come back and answer that question. I want to thank a lot of people because this has been quite a public process and involved a lot of people and required a lot of cooperation to get the outcome that I think was best for the sport. So, starting with the McLaren fans, they’ve been unbelievably supportive as we’ve been through a difficult three years and looking forward to next year. We’re very excited to be partnering with Renault and all the work that Cyril and his team have put in and then it took the collaboration of Christian, to my right, Toro Rosso and Red Bull, and then last but not least Honda’s been a great partner. Obviously, we haven’t had the on-track results that we’d hoped for but they certainly gave it everything they’ve got. We felt it was time to move on, and then the FIA and Ross and Chase. So, there was a lot of people that had to come together to make this happen. Ultimately we knew… I don’t think there was a specific tipping point other than we knew we were in trouble in pre-season testing and we needed to improve upon our 2016 results. So, we knew we were in trouble then. We’ve spent quite a bit of time, most of it has been in the public domain, trying to find ways to get Honda competitive with us, and we ultimately couldn’t get there in the end – but great that they’re staying in the sport. Just want to thank everyone for their assistance. I think everyone’s going to be excited for Australia next year.

    Q: So, does this mean Fernando Alonso will be staying with the team next year?

    ZB: Well, we’re going to turn our attention to Fernando now. We’ve been speaking a lot, he’s been waiting to see what technical solution we came up with. He won his two championships with Renault. He’s very happy with the racing team, we’re very happy with him, so I think in the not too distant future we should be able to get something done and that’ll be the last big piece of the puzzle. Then I’ve got to find us some sponsorship with our commercial team and get ready for next year.

    Q: Cyril, coming to you, we’ve heard from Honda and Toro Rosso in part one of this press conference, their side of the story, we’ve now just heard from McLaren. Tell us about the Renault side. The engine swap and Carlos Sainz coming to you.

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Well, as mentioned by Zak, it’s been a fairly long and complex process for the number of parties that this was involving but I think that the solution reached is one that is good for all parties. It’s in particular one that manages to keep Honda in the sport, and I think it’s very important to keep diversity of manufacturers involved. As far as we’re concerned, it was not an easy decision. We know that we are making a competitor stronger. We know that very well. Having said that, the activity of Renault in Formula One, since 40 years that we are in Formula One is in particular articulated around what we are doing on the engine side: we are a car maker; the engine is at the core of the automotive. That’s what we have always been doing. We have been a works team on and off, we are currently ‘on’ – but it doesn’t remove anything to our engine activity that must be sustainable. In relation to that, what we want to do is to supply aspiration teams, great teams, great drivers. We’ve done 13 years with Williams with five championships, 12 years with Red Bull Racing, four championships as constructors, so we really look forward to the start of this new association with McLaren.

    Q: Can you confirm exactly which teams you’ll be supplying with engines from 2019 onwards?

    CA: Before 2019 there is 2018. And 2018 it is very clear those two gentlemen on my right, and one thing I must stress is they will get equity, and perfect parity of treatment between the Renault works team, McLaren and Red Bull…

    ZB: You said we were going to get better stuff!

    CA: Oh yeah! Sorry! This is a public one! So, this is something that matters. And in relation to 2019, obviously with McLaren today we are announcing a three-year partnership until 2020 and the rest, obviously, is a bit of speculation at this point in time with Red Bull Racing.

    Q: OK, Christian, coming to you, what is Red Bull’s plan for engines form 2019 onwards? I understand that you alluded to this on TV earlier today.

    Christian HORNER: No, I think what you are referring to, I was asked a question about Porsche coming in Formula One and I answered that very clearly that we have an existing relationship with an OEM that don’t make Formula One engines and obviously, that will continue. We are absolutely delighted for Toro Rosso with their Honda announcement. I think it’s great news for Toro Rosso, it’s great news for Honda, it’s great that they’re continuing with Formula One. Obviously, it’s facilitated that Zak has managed to get the Renault engine that he was craving and Carlos Sainz gets to further his career obviously in Cyril’s team while also remaining part of the Red Bull family. So, I think you have a rare occasion in Formula One where everybody’s happy.

    Q: Does any of this make your job more difficult in securing the long-term commitment to Red Bull Racing of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo?

    CH: Well, both of our drivers are currently under contract at least for next year and it’s down to us to produce a good car, be competitive and then, of course, why would the drivers want to be anywhere else? We’re obviously not short of options on drivers but obviously, our preference is absolutely to retain the two that we have in the car at the moment.

    Q: And just a final quick through from you, very strong performance today, particularly in FP2. Daniel was in here yesterday and he said he thought he might have a chance of winning this race. Does everything you’ve seen today – short runs, long runs – give you a bit of encouragement on that front.

    CH: I think both guys have had a strong day today, particularly Daniel this evening had a strong session – but we didn’t really see Ferrari’s true hand, particularly on the short runs, and Mercedes always hold a bit up their sleeves – but it’s been certainly a positive day. I think Daniel’s invigorated by his new haircut that he turned up with the other day and obviously been using that air conditioning to good effect.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Cyril, you described 2019 as ‘speculation’ just then but have you told Red Bull already that you don’t want to supply them in 2019 – and if you have, how do you intend to… are you confident you’ll be able to stick with that given the undertakings you have to Formula One Management?

    CA: Well, obviously Red Bull is well aware of the situation and right now we really want to focus on what’s certain – and what is certain is 2018. Any other year or situation will be looked at vis-à-vis different undertakings that we have with FIA. All manufacturers have got some obligation to supply, so the situation is fairly straight forward. I think that it’s more on the Red Bull camp to define what’s best for them medium- to long-term.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Zak, if I could just ask you, in the Renault press releases they talk about their mid-term goals and challenging for championships in 2020. This is a three year deal – do you see this as a short-term fix for McLaren – and is there any fear of Red Bull picking up a Honda power unit that has turned things around in the future?

    ZB: No, this is not a short-term fix. At the end of the day no-one knows yet what the engine rules are in 2021, so I think it’s hard for anybody to look beyond 2020 because we don’t know what ’21 looks like. We think we’ve got a long-term partnership, the foundation for it. Renault’s got a great history in the sport, won a lot of championships with Red Bull, won a lot of championships themselves, so we’re very happy where we are: we think we’ll be very competitive together.

     

    Any fear or Red Bull-Honda?

    ZB: We’ve got great competition on both sides of me right now and Ferrari and Mercedes. I think probably what we’re most concerned about is not a Red Bull-Honda combination or any combination out there. We need to get budgets under control. I think the reason you see the gaps in the field now is the gaps in budgets between the top two teams and everyone else is way too big. The gaps seem to be getting bigger I think that’s something that Formula One is going to address. That’s probably where our biggest concern is: making sure we get a more level playing field. So, many teams can win races, ’21 onwards.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Cyril, Red Bull and McLaren build very good chassis. You’ll all have equal engines next year – what are you going to do to match them?

    CA: Build a very good chassis! How? Well, frankly, if we are in Formula One it is not just to make up figures. It’s not just to participate. We are here with ambition at some point in order to challenge top team. Those two teams are top teams but there are two others in Mercedes and Ferrari. So, the problem is not just McLaren, it’s all teams that we must be able to fight against by 2020. In relation to that we are recruiting, we are investing, we are hiring obviously young drivers, we are finding new sponsors, we improve the commercial side of the business. We now have a sustainable association with McLaren, so all of these elements are playing a role in that target to be at the top by 2020.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Zak, you spoke about the inequitable budgets and pay outs and whatever else in Formula One. Your team and Christian’s team are two of the four teams that actually receive preferential payments and bonuses from Formula One management. You say you need to get budgets under control – that would tend to indicate that you’re talking about a budget cap of some type or other, as well as an equitable payment structure. All three of you, do you believe that budget caps should be introduced – and how do you feel about the figure of $150million that’s been discussed at the moment – excluding drivers, management and engines?

    ZB: Speaking for McLaren, we’re a fan of budget caps. We think it’s important. Most other sports have it and it will equal the playing field. And we recognise that means, as you mentioned, we’re one of the four teams that get special payments, that might mean some compromise – but we feel if the sport is healthier ultimately that will benefit all of us. We’re a great racing team. There’s lots of great racing teams and we want to race and have the same chance as everyone else. The $150million number that we here, that sounds in the right ballpark. You get into a lot of detail: how do you handle CapEx, executive salaries, overhead etcetera, etcetera, so it’s quite complex – but the concept of the budget cap, yes, and the number of $150million seems to be in the right ballpark.

    Q: Christian, do you and Red Bull’s owner Mr Mateschitz see things in the same way?

    CH: I think we see things slightly differently. We’re fully in favour of reducing costs. I think the problem if you just introduce a budget cap with current regulations is that we’ll end up employing teams of accountants to find smart ways of circumventing the current set of rules. So, I think the biggest cost driver are the technical regulations – and I think FIA, FOM need to get those under control: to get the chassis-side under control, to clean up the cars – they’re starting to look far too messy in terms of all the appendages that are growing on them. And, of course, a key part of that also is the engine. We’re sitting here today with enormous engine bills because of the technology that are involved in these power units. The manufacturer obviously is bearing the brunt of the research and development costs of those engines that one has to question, what is the actual road relevance of? So I think there needs to be an absolute root and branch review of the regulations. I think once that is done, then you can potentially look at a budget cap – because it becomes a far softer mechanism than if you introduce the budget cap tomorrow, then with race teams incorporated as part of larger OEMs it would be almost impossible to effectively police the allocation of resource and spend and facilities, etcetera.

    Cyril?

    CA: Pretty much the view of both McLaren and Red Bull. I would tend to agree that if there is any form of cap or cost control mechanism through the regulation it should also encompass the engine – but not just the cost of supply but also the cost to develop the engine. That’s something we fell short so far. It’s complex – but I understand something that Ross Brawn and Liberty are taking very, very seriously and will come up with some proposal in the near future.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Cyril and possibly a comment from Christian, as part of the package deal that’s been done amongst the teams, you’ve now got Carlos Sainz for 2018. There’s been much speculation that he could be in a Renault seat before the end of this year. Is that something that is potential to happen and if so, Christian, would you be behind it?

    CA: Yeah, you know I want to talk about realities. The reality is that Carlos will be in the car in Melbourne in 2018. Obviously your question makes reference to the situation of Jo, Jolyon Palmer. It’s a speculation that we – him and the team – have had to live with for… I don’t know how many races and frankly it’s really difficult on Jo and a bit unfair on Jo and the team and to a certain degree, it maybe has had a negative impact on his ongoing performance. Right now, what I see is that we have a car that is capable of scoring points in Singapore. That’s the focus and we have an ongoing contract with Jo until the end of the season.

    CH: We’ve lent Carlos out to Renault from 2018. We’ve retained him within the Red Bull family because obviously we rate him as a driver very highly. We will be very interested to see how he performs against Nico Hulkenberg. I think any speculation prior to that is very much Renault’s business.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Zak, Honda brought a significant amount of investment to McLaren which won’t be there now. You spoke about going out and having to raise sponsorship; how do you plan to plug that shortfall and how confident are you that that shortfall can be plugged relatively quickly?

    ZB: Well, I’m very confident. We have control of our finances. We’re a big team, we’re fortunate in that we have very committed shareholders, that the remit is ‘go win races, make the right sporting decisions and then the business will follow.’ It’s certainly going to be a lot easier to find sponsorship partners running towards the front of the field. It’s something that we’ve invested a lot in, the commercial team. It’s a big area of my background, I’m certainly not responsible for the speed of the racecar. And so I’m confident. It will take some time but our shareholders are very committed, very aware and we wouldn’t have made this decision if we weren’t prepared to work through short term economic loss from the lack of Honda income.

    Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) Mr Abiteboul, could you please sum up the strengths of the two drivers you will have in your team next year, and could you please also precise the expectations you will have in terms of results?

    CA: In terms of expectations, maybe it’s a bit too early to talk about expectation for 2018, apart from the fact that it has to be a year that we will continue the construction of the team and the progress toward… from the midfield to the top team. This season is not completely dead. We already have a big job ahead to try and finish better than where we are currently and where I think…  the car is capable of doing much better than eighth in the championship where we are today. As far as the drivers are concerned, I think we will have a perfect combination and balance between experience with Nico – lots of seasons – but also something to prove. He’s still yet to score a podium and we hope to be able to provide him with a car that’s capable of that, starting next year. And Carlos, still young, but already lots of experience in a good team, good organisation, good academy, three years with Toro Rosso. We can also remember the years that he was against Max Verstappen and actually the gap was not huge. I think everyone sort of wondered… the decision of Red Bull which obviously I’m not challenging… of going for Max rather than Carlos, which says something about Carlos’s pace and abilities and also the fact that Red Bull wanted to retain him as a driver and only be prepared to let him go as a loan does say something about the pace of Carlos. And he’s also not well (un)known to the family. He was racing with Renault in junior categories. He won Formula Renault 3.5 and Formula Renault 2.0 so it’s also to a certain degree some form of a return on somethings that we have invested in because sometimes people question why Renault is investing so much in these younger categories and this example is a good example as to why we are doing that.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Cyril, Christian, I’m confused. The story is out there, you’ve not denied it but you’re not confirming it either, so on behalf of everyone who wants a straight answer to a straight question: are Renault supplying engines to Red Bull in 2019 or not?

    CH: Well, look David, anything that is beyond ’18 is speculation, so it’s neither confirming nor denying. So the situation for ’18 is absolutely clear. Anything beyond that will be dealt with behind closed doors, not through the media in terms of what will be the future, so I think the situation post ’18 is very clear. Our focus at the moment is on designing the best car we can for ’18. We will have a TAG Heuer Renault-provided engine and that will be the case for next year. Anything beyond that is speculation, conjecture, and there will be all kinds of rumours, I’m sure, between now and then.

    CA: Nothing to add.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Do you want to supply engines?

    CA: Do we want to supply an engine? We are an engine supplier. Frankly I think Christian has provided the best possible answer. I think that you must appreciate that there are a number of things that need to be considered and discussed. I think, frankly, you can infer from the answer of Christian what is the contractual situation which we have no obligation to disclose at this point in time. We’ve got a number of obligations towards the FIA. There was a reference to the obligations towards FOM; as an engine manufacturer our business Is obviously to supply engines, not under any terms, not under any sort of circumstances and it has to serve a strategic interest which I guess is what will be discussed in the future.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Christian, when McLaren-Honda partnered, I think it was Ron who said that the only way to win championships was to have a works partnership. Do you think that’s going to be the case, going through to the end of 2020 and how difficult is it going to be to change beyond the end of 2020?

    CH: As I said earlier, I think everybody’s genuinely happy and excited about Honda remaining in Formula One. I think it’s great news for Toro Rosso, I think it’s great news for Honda and we’ll certainly be paying very close interest to that. I think that the engine is too much of a performance differentiator in Formula One as it currently stands and it’s wrong that manufacturers and teams find themselves in this situation. I just hope that moving forward… Ross seems to have a really good group of people around him. He seems to be working very well with the FIA to come up with a sensible set of regulations that control costs, of development that controls effectively the spread of performance, controls the supply price to customers and creates a more level playing field than we’ve seen since the introduction of these regulations that have been – really since they’ve been introduced in 2014 – have been extremely divisive and haven’t really added to Formula One that I can see in any way.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) With reference to the answers that I got earlier on regarding the budget cap and also what you’ve just said, Christian would you be prepared to accept a cost cap or budget cap linked to regulations from 2021 onward when the current regulations expire, so that the two get introduced simultaneously?  And then to Cyril, Cyril, does it make sense ramping up your team, knowing that budget caps could actually be in place by then?

    CH: Answering the first part of your question: we’re all in favour of reducing costs. Now the reason that we were previously against budget cap was because, as a team that was just a Formula One team, we were concerned, compared to our rivals that were part of OEMs, that costs could be hidden, could be contained. I think if you deal with the root source of the problem which is the regulations that create the expenditure, then bringing in a cap on top of that, if the two are done hand-in-hand, that’s acceptable to us but they have to go hand-in-hand. If you put all the pressure just on a budget cap, as I say, we’ll end up in a World Championship of accountants and who can hide the most money.

    CA: No, it’s a good question. Anything we are doing, right now, obviously is with the current set of regulations, so it’s very difficult to assume a different set of regulations when you make strategic decisions like investment, like recruitment. Having said that, we really put at the top of our priorities the cost efficiency of the organisation. We accept that the cost efficiency actually… if you want to be a very competitive team in Formula One, you need to accept right now to be very low in terms of cost efficiency. And that’s something we try to see from a different angle. Right now, our commercial structure is slightly different from the top teams. There was reference made previously to the CCB status and others coming from FOM; we do not enjoy that status, so actually, to a certain degree, a cost cap would not hurt us to the same degree as the other teams and we believe that it’s good for the sport. So we are still at that position where we can adjust what is our lending platform in terms of recruitment, so we don’t feel that there is any risk related to that.

    Q: (Michael Lamonato – Class Act Media) Question to all three and to Cyril in your capacity as an engine manufacturer rather than a works team: there’s been a lot of talk about grid penalties all year and particularly after the Italian Grand Prix Ross Brawn said he would perhaps like to see a future without grid penalties. Have you had those discussions with Ross about what those alternatives might be and amongst the three of you, do you have any solutions you believe would be fairer than what we currently have?

    CA: There is a solution which is to have an engine that is reliable or a car that is reliable and that’s our priority, frankly, and we come short of that objective right now. Clearly it’s going in the right direction in the sense that there will be even fewer components alone next season. Having said that, most of the penalties that we have this year are related to the fact that we were very late in the development of our engine this year and we have all the confidence to be much more reliable next year, despite the fact that the life of the engine will be increased. Having said that, I think that grid penalties do not make sense. When you already have a problem on track, there is already a pain. To a certain degree it’s a double hit, a double impact which I think we could easily lose but we will still need, given the cost of the engine, to have some form of limitation in the number of engines that are used. Right now, we are making plans for the regulation and we need to have some form of stability we’ve invested in order to make the move from four power units (to three) per driver per season, I would hate having to go back and having this situation to be changed for next year. Having said that, I guess the penalty could be changed.

    ZB: Well, I consider us to be grid penalty experts and we need to get rid of them. I think it’s confusing for the fans, 65 grid penalties here, we start here, we start there. There’s got to be a better way. Haven’t yet really thought through what the best solution is but I think when fans show up to races they want to see the best drivers set the fastest times sitting at the front, where they belong. So certainly, there needs to be some sort of penalty but I think it’s gotten to the point now where it’s not easy for people to understand what those penalties are so there’s got to be a clearer way to do that.

    CH: As Zak said, I think most importantly for the fans… I mean who on earth could understand what was going on on the grid at Monza? I mean that was just nuts. I think the penalties are inelegant. Why should the driver be penalised? Maybe it should be a team thing as opposed to the driver or maybe the manufacturers should just be fined a disgustingly large amount of money for every failure that there is so that could be another way of… Dieter’s point of wealth distribution.

  • 2017 Singapore GP: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 Singapore GP: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Masashi YAMAMOTO (Honda), Katsuhide MORIYAMA (Honda), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Moriyama-san, today the new partnership with Toro Rosso and also the separation with McLaren was announced. Can you make a comment from Honda’s point of view?

    Katsuhide MORIYAMA: Yes, good afternoon gentlemen, my name is Moriyama and I am the operations officer for Honda and today I am here representing Honda. Well, first of all, before we start, I would like to show my deep appreciation to the FIA and to Liberty Media for giving us such a huge support in order to conclude the deal in such a short period of time and in providing us such a special stage to announce our new start. So now regarding McLaren: it is very disappointing that we have to end the partnership without achieving our target, which we had set at the beginning of the project. Also it is a shame, the fact that we were not able to reach our performance target, that affected a lot the relationship. However, it also my pleasure that we can start a new relationship with Toro Rosso, a team with a very youthful energy and a history of nurturing the stars of the future. I think this is the start of a new chapter for Honda F1 and I’m already looking forward to seeing the opening race in Melbourne next year.

    Moriyama-san there have been suggestions in the past few months that the Honda board actually discussed pulling out of Formula One, and if so why did the board decide that Honda would remain in the sport?

    KM: For Honda, Formula One has started with the dream of our founder Mr Soichiro Honda and we already have a 50-year history in Formula One and for our company obviously Formula One is a very important culture as well as the DNA of our company. It is true that we have gone through a very tough situation now and nobody was satisfied with the current board, especially the board. It is true that we have gone through many discussions due to the dissatisfaction of the present and we discussed the project with the company and how to improve the situation. Quitting F1 was never an option for us. It is out goal to overcome this tough challenge and get back to fighting with the frontrunners of the sport. Our spirit, Honda’s spirit, is going to come back and for next year our goal is to fight for the top three at the front of the grid.

    Thank you very much. Yamamoto-san, you are the person who is actually dealing with all the negotiations with McLaren and with Franz and Toro Rosso. Tell us how it all happened from your point of view.

    Masashi YAMAMOTO: It’s true, because we have been struggling with the goals that we had, it’s true that from the beginning of the season there had been discussions with McLaren about dissolving our relationship. Honda always wished to continue with McLaren towards a good result. Therefore, it is, for us, a shame and a pity, a disappointment, that we have to separate. But as you know, since the Italian Grand Prix the results haven’t been famous and so our thoughts have started to change. So, as you know, in fact from the US Grand Prix last year, we work with Super Formula in Japan and from last year in the US we met with Dr Helmut [Marko] and we have been having conversations regarding the Red Bull [Junior] Pierre Gasly, who races in Super Formula in Japan. So I’ve had many opportunities to speak with Dr Marko since last year regarding the Super Formula and after the Italy Grand Prix, Dr Marko actually mentioned Toro Rosso. In fact, Mr Franz Tost has lived in Japan and knows Japan well, and as you know Toro Rosso is a very young team and I think we have many things in common and we are very much looking forward to working with Mr Tost.

    Yamamoto-san, Honda has obviously had a very difficult in coming back to Formula One, so what makes you confident that you have can success with Toro Rosso?

    MY: Although we do not have much time until the start of the next season, I feel that we are going to have a very good season, a good relationship between Honda and Toro Rosso. I believe that Toro Rosso is a pure racing team. The spirit of Toro Rosso is very similar to the spirit of Honda and in the short time we have I believe we can work smoothly and successfully for the next years.

    Franz why is this the right move for your team and who is going to make the gearbox?

    Franz TOST: First of all, thank you very much to the Honda management, to Moriyama-san and to Yamamoto-san to trust Toro Rosso. We at Toro Rosso are very proud and happy to work together with such an exclusive partner like Honda is and we are convinced that we will have a very successful future. The gearbox will be made by Toro Rosso, like the year before.

    OK, what happens this year and next year with drivers? Dany Kvyat, Pierre Gasly we’ve heard about and also Nobuharu Matsushita. What are your thoughts on the drivers in this situation?

    FT: Well currently we have two quite successful and competitive drivers with Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz and I assume that they will finish the season with us and regarding the drivers for next year and then Red Bull will decide who is driving with us and of course we will also take into consideration any request from our partners.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto week) A question for Yamamoto-san. What have you learned from your experiences in F1 during the past few years?

    MY: Well, I have joined this project last April and I have realised that Formula One is indeed, as it’s said, a top-level championship – quite different from the domestic championships that we have. To keep a good relationship and to keep everyone satisfied is very difficult. As a manufacturer I realise that Formula One’s technology is very high and for Honda, that joined a year later, it has been a struggle for us to keep up with the new technology.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Yamamoto-san it’s not secret that Honda haven’t managed to make a success of Formula One for the past three years, so why should it be more successful for the next three years? For Mr Tost, why do you believe that Honda can actually make a success of Formula One until the end of 2020?

    MY: It’s not that I’m more confident for the next three years but it is that when we compare our policies, Mr Tost’s and Honda’s, Toro Rosso policy and our policies are very similar and so we think we can work in harmony and move forwards for the next three years until the change of the regulations.

    FT: Four years ago, it was in October, before the Suzuka Grand Prix, I visited the Honda factory. They have a fantastic infrastructure and I think in the meantime I think they have learned a lot about the new power unit and I am convinced within the next three years, also within the short term, Honda will improve their performance dramatically. They have already come up with real good upgrades during this season – unfortunately, because McLaren is very close to us – and I am 100% convinced that Honda will make big steps forward in the near future and within the next three years and therefore, once more, as I said before, we are more than happy to work together with such a fantastic partner. I am looking forward to next year because I think that Honda and Toro Rosso will have a successful season.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) A question for Moriyama-san. Now that Honda has committed to come back with Toro Rosso and stay in Formula One for the next three years, what do you think Formula One needs to do to attract more Japanese automakers to come into Formula One as manufacturers?

    MY: One important thing at the moment is that in Japan at the moment Formula One is not broadcast on free-to-air TV. So we believe that the most important factor is that at the moment the fans can only watch through satellite/pay TV, so that is maybe the biggest issue to increase the number. Obviously, us as Honda, it would improve our promotional ways of improving our Honda F1.

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For Franz: Getting a works engine was always one of your targets for Toro Rosso. Now that’s done, do you think that your team has what it takes to fight with the other works teams like Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault?

    FT: Toro Rosso is not Ferrari, Mercedes; we have another infrastructure. But I can promise you that we, within our possibilities, will do the best possible job and then the rest we will see. It is not always and only the money which is decisive for the success. I hope at Toro Rosso we will work efficiently, because this is our slogan, and to get the most out of the package and then the rest then we will see. The future will show. If necessary, then of course, maybe we will bring in more people, increase even the infrastructure, whatever is necessary to have the success that Honda wishes, but this is too early a stage to talk about the details of the infrastructure. But I am convinced we are in a position to fight successfully within the midfield or the forward part of the midfield and the rest then we will see. Then future will see.

    Q: (Sandor Meszaros – Autosport ES) A question for Franz. Congratulations on the Honda deal, but I wanted to ask you about Sean Gelael, who drove today in one of your cars. We saw him, he performed in a very mature way in the Monza F2 races and he was very calm today. How do you see his performance and how do you see his future?

    FT: Sean Gelael was testing with us two times. The first time was in Bahrain after the grand prix. He showed really a very, very good performance there. We were surprised, because I didn’t expect that he would be so fast after I saw his Formula 2 race the day before. The second time he tested in Hungary. There he showed a real good performance, especially in sector one. In Sector two he was matching the times of our drivers. And now today he was out in Free Practice 1. He will do another Free Practice 1 and then we have another test in Abu Dhabi and at the end of the test in Abu Dhabi we will sit together and we will discuss further steps for the future. He will do next year Formula 2 as it looks like and then we will see. It depends always on the driver. If he is doing a fantastic job and improving his performance then of course there are always doors open. But first of all he has to perform really well next year in Formula 2 and then we will see. Today he did a fantastic job, we were really happy with him.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Yamamoto-san, I believe that McLaren Applied Technologies, a sister company to the Formula One team, supplied a lot of the hybrid componentry. Will that continued going forward despite the split?

    MY: For the time being we will continue with that company. Meanwhile, we are already producing most the parts by ourselves, so in the future it will be all produced by Honda.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto week) Moriyama-san. The President of the Honda company says that you need to take more risks to get back to how Honda used to be. Do you think that is one of the problems you have had in Formula One?

    KM: No, we don’t think so. We don’t think that the problem was not taking enough risk. As Mr Yamamoto said earlier, we had a gap when we returned to the Formula One and closing the gap has been the biggest problem. And so to shorten the gap, Honda has done the best we could. We reached everything, we sped up as much as we could to reach a compatible level. Therefore, I believe we have been able to catch up and shorten the gap quite a lot but we understand there is more to be done.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) A question for Franz. You mentioned the driver line-up for the rest of this season, saying you hope to keep Dany and Carlos until the end of the year but does there remain a possibility that your could lose Carlos from the next race onwards and how keen are you to avoid that sort of disruption?

    FT: I’m not aware about this.

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) So there is no possibility?

    FT: No.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) A question to Yamamoto-san. It’s well known that Honda contributed a significant amount to McLaren’s budget. Will that amount now go into Toro Rosso’s budget? How do the financials work out under this new agreement you have with Toro Rosso?

    MY: Well, you probably read a lot of news on the internet. As I want to express here: our relationship with Mr Tost, with Toro Rosso is very amicable and is very leveled. Therefore we are not planning or thinking of having to pay a big budget to keep a position or anything like that.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Yamamoto-san, there were rumours before this deal was announced that Honda was considering purchasing Toro Rosso. Was this ever considered as a possibility and if not, would it be something you would consider in the future?

    KM: Well, me too, I read it in the news. We never discussed that in our company and we haven’t discussed future possibilities either. Anyway, our relationship with Toro Rosso is very good and our ideals and our goals is to get both our strong points, match them together and bring that into a great performance, so it is 50-50.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Autoweek) Yamamoto-san, are you going to supply Red Bull with engines in 2019?

    KM: Well, our main goal now is to absolutely concentrate on 2018 and Toro Rosso, We are going to give our best to achieve our best performance together as a team. But if there is a chance in the future to supply engines, why not. But at the moment track performance is our main goal and that’s what we are focused on.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Yamamoto-san, Moriyama-san, I don’t who can answer this question best, but in the past to Honda Formula One was always a technical exercise but one gets the feeling that since the 2000s or thereabouts it’s actually become a marketing or communications exercise. What is Formula One actually to Honda – is it marketing or engineering, and if it is both, what is the split?

    KM: Well, as I earlier mentioned and as Mr Moriyama mentioned, Honda’s DNA is motor sport and in anything we do work under the racing spirit and therefore it plays a very strong performance in our production, in our challenge, so our workers they have in mind this racing spirit, motor sports as DNA whenever they produce anything. Therefore, we don’t divide it into percentages of marketing or technology. It’s the mentality, the philosophy of motor sport, DNA, racing spirit into creating anything we do.

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

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams) Gene HAAS (Haas)

    Q: Bob, let’s start with you. We’ve seen the Pérez-Ocon situation escalating from a rivalry to something perhaps more damaging. Does the team feel that you’ve managed it well up to this point – and what can you really realistically do to impose instructions in future situations without favouritism?

    RF: I didn’t think I’d get that question! Our team manages things. The outside judges rather than the inside. From an internal point of view we’re working very closely with the drivers. We’re very blessed to have two very talented and equally very competitive drivers. They’re at different stages of their careers. You will expect, as is often the case in that sport, where you’ve got an elbows-out for a little while, that’s happened. I think it probably reached a crescendo in Spa. I think both of them realise they’ve probably not done themselves any good in terms of their reputation or their careers, and Vijay I’m sure has certainly made sure he tells them that form that point of view. What we need to do is to regroup, which we have done. They’ve been individually talked to. They’ve sat down together. I feel very strongly that they’re intelligent and very, very good team players. They’ve just lost their way a bit – and I don’t expect any problems going forwards.

    Q: Obviously there’s a great opportunity for you this weekend for some big points given that both Red Bulls are going to be starting from the back of the grid. You could be fifth and sixth on Sunday – so you have to execute. Right?

    RF: I think the lady next door to me is looking for that! Absolutely. We’ll both be fighting. It’s a Mercedes track. There’s no question it benefits our power unit and we are going to have to optimise that position and we don’t want anybody making in-roads on that fourth position. We want to consolidate it and that will require both our drivers to deliver.

    Q: Quick final question on this. It’s no secret that both of your drivers are on the wishlists of competitor teams for next season – in some cases the same competitor team. How determined are you to retain them both in 2018?

    RF: I think from our side we are fully committed to retaining them both and that will be our objective. There’s no question of that. But, y’know, driver markets are driver markets and it’s quite right and proper that their managers, and in particular Checo’s manager, is out looking at other programmes. He’s got to keep us on our toes. If he didn’t do that, he wouldn’t be doing his job, and we’ve got to make sure that we close that off and retain him for next year and keep the pairing. It’s a phenomenally exciting pairing. Might be difficult to control a little bit – but I’d like to have that problem.

    Q: Gene, already ahead on points compared to last season with eight races still to go so is it time already to take the next step and what kind of investment does that need to go up to that level?

    Gene HAAS: Well, I’m not comfortable with the points lead we have because I think in any given race we could drop back a position or two in the Constructors’ series because we’re all so close. If anything, I feel a little bit on needles because our biggest problem is execution, minimising mistakes, that seems to be our worst (indistinct) ourselves. We’ve had some component failures we’ve executed poorly and I think we’ve left 15 or more points on the table, even at this point. That’s really where we need to perform is just running a race team with less mistakes, more consistency and that’s what’s going to earn us our points. I think both of our drivers are very very capable racers. I think that they’re much much better racers than they are at practice and qualifying. I know Kevin has shown the ability to sometimes get two to three positions just at the start of the race so he’s an aggressive driver. I think Romain’s more reserved, he knows that you have to finish the race to get the points, so I think the combination of these two drivers bodes well for us in the race but we do need to finish the race.

    Q: Now the Ferrari chairman, Sergio Marchionne, said he would like a team to help develop Ferrari’s junior drivers like Giovanazzi and Leclerc. You seem to have gone the opposite way in driver choices for this year and next, as you’ve just highlighted. Do you rule out working with Ferrari on juniors in the future?

    GH: No, I don’t think we rule it out but from a business model it doesn’t really make a lot of sense. There’s no secret that it costs $60m to put a car on the track for the season and if someone gives you a driver and not just from Ferrari, from anybody, and they’re going to pay you five or six million dollars, there’s $55m deficit there somewhere, so it doesn’t really make sense to want to run let’s say a partner or a paid driver for compensation. I think our point of view has always been that we need to obtain points and that’s how we generate moving forward and making money, so that’s our business model. I think Ferrari respects that and based on that, if there’s some mutual agreement that we could come to we probably would be more open to that.

    Q: Claire, obviously this season’s not gone according to plan and the car just clearly isn’t fast enough is the core of it. The 2018 car will be the first obviously under Paddy Lowe’s technical stewardship, what’s he doing to step things up?

    Claire WILLIAMS: Yeah, as you would expect someone of Paddy’s calibre has a plan and ever since he joined us back in March this year he’s been undertaking a full analysis of the team back at the factory but also the race team operations on the ground trackside in order to understand where the weaknesses lie. We’ve gone through that as a board and now we’re looking at how we allocate resources moving forward into 2018 so that we can address those weaknesses. I think a lot of our weaknesses appeared at the midpoint in last year’s season and we can’t go into another season having the same issues that we’ve had so we have full trust in Paddy but also we’ve brought in a number of other senior personnel to work alongside, so Dirk de Beer heads our aerodynamic department now as well, comes from Ferrari this year to us, and some other senior engineers who are hopefully going to turn things around for us. But as I said, we can’t have another year like this.

    Q: You got a bonus year out of Felipe, is there another year in him or are you casting the net wider for a teammate for Lance Stroll for next year?

    CW: Yeah, Felipe has done a fantastic job like you say, it’s been a bonus year for us. He very kindly came back and he’s really delivered for us. Obviously the past couple of races have been tough for him with his medical issue but we’re through that now  and we’re looking forward to him delivering for the rest of the year and we really just have to wait and see. I think I’ve made it really clear that the team at the moment are focusing on the Constructors’ championship, we need to make sure that we consolidate our P5. I don’t think we’re going to close the gap to Bob, unfortunately, but there’s a lot of teams behind us that would love to overtake us and take that P5 and we can’t afford that, so for us the focus really has to be on track performance at the moment rather than diluting that effort with thoughts about driver line-up so there’s still eight races to go, there’s plenty of time to be thinking about next year.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Inaudible) Question to everybody: on Thursday, there was the launch of the new Formula Two car and it’s pretty similar to a Formula One car. On this occasion, Ross Brawn and Charlie Whiting were saying that the plan for the next years FIA and Formula One is to encourage Formula One teams to work closely with Formula Two teams. Do you think that makes sense from your point of view?

    BF: Well, I think historically we’ve tried to do that anyway. It’s not just a case of working closer with the teams. Usually you have some sort of driver link and that’s the bit that brings the two together so I don’t see any changes to that. Where you can, you support it but to have a direct link between the Formula One team and the Formula Two team is not easy. There are certain people who are doing it very well but all teams can’t embrace it because of the costs.

    CW: Yeah, I probably echo what Bob says really. Obviously we’re all looking at drivers in that championship and if there’s ways in which we can work with teams from that perspective then fine but I think from our perspective as a team at the moment we have our own issues that we need to be concentrating our full efforts on rather than diluting that down again with maybe other projects such as working with a Formula Two team.

    GH: We have an association with several F2 drivers and quite frankly it’s a learning experience but going forward, I think we could see ourselves working closely with the teams as development drivers. That would be a great way of bringing up talent which obviously we need. It would be a great way of maybe bringing up some teams, too.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) There’s been a lot of talk about what direction Formula One should take in the future. Auto manufacturers are interested in Formula E. Where, as representatives of independent teams, do you think F1 should go, bearing in mind road car relevance and also that it has to remain entertaining?

    GH: Well, certainly the battery revolution in cars is among us. I think we have to pay attention to these new drivetrain developments because it’s the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do see either more mainstream car companies get involved in this new sport of Formula E. How it relates to Formula One, what we can do, I think… we’re kind of the minnows here so we can’t really drive that technology but certainly today’s engine is somewhat of a hybrid technology, very very similar to the hybrid cars out there. There’s a lot of technology that goes into these cars so I think it’s an exciting new venture. Quite frankly, I don’t think I would mind being in it myself if I understood it better but we have our hands full of Formula One so I think it’s great.

    CW: I think from our perspective and as a business model, looking at it from that perspective I think there are some concerns we would have as an independent team, where Formula One could eventually be heading if we don’t take ownership of that direction now. Obviously we’ve got the manufacturers in our sport who are spending huge amounts of money and then independent teams in the middle that can’t ever dream of achieving that kind of expenditure in Formula One and that delta between our expenditure is creating the situations that we have at the moment in our business, certainly, where we are looking ahead at every year and really trying to make sure that we secure budgets in order just to be sustainable in this sport and that needs to change. There’s a huge amount of money that washes around Formula One and there should be enough for ten teams to be able to compete competitively amongst each other without being four seconds apart on the grid. So from my perspective, I’d really like to see Formula One move in a positive direction from a financial perspective, cost controls and budget caps, and I think that would bring about the entertainment that we need to see remain in Formula One but improving Formula One as well. I think we all want to see Formula One grow and I think the new owners have a handle on that. I think I’m personally really looking forward to seeing what they’re going to bring about from 2018 onwards. From that perspective I think they’ve done some great or brought about some great initiatives this year alone but I think there’s probably more to come and I think we need to grow the sport collaboratively as a whole with everybody’s best interests at heart rather than just a few.

    BF: Yeah, I completely agree with Claire. Force India in particular has been very vocal about the disparity between the top teams and the rest of the grid and you can’t have… we’re almost getting into a two tier championship at the moment where the top three teams are significantly far away from the fourth team and below. And to be able to say well we need to compete… the only way you can compete on that is adding 200m to your budget is quite ridiculous and we need to get that under control.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Taking what the three of you have just said variously in reply to a question, it appears as though Liberty are intent on introducing a budget cap of about $150m by the end of 2020. This will have certain exceptions like engines etc but is $150m or $200m all in; is it actually a realistic figure, can it be policed and what would it do for your individual prospects as race teams compared to the big three or four?

    GH: Well, that would actually be an increase for us so we would fall under that budget cap at the moment. I think the bigger problem though is the bigger teams… I was over at Ferrari yesterday and they have a huge R&D department as I’m sure Mercedes do too and the question is where do these teams go and what they do and that’s even more of a question because they’re the ones that really bring the DNA of Formula One to the track. Formula One is considered to be the ultimate sport and after being in it for a while, I find that’s the most fascinating aspect of it is this technology that they develop and the extent and passion with which a company like Ferrari puts into developing these things. Having a budget cap and suddenly saying that you’re going to have to shelve 500 people is going to be extremely difficult and that’s where the new owners are going to run into some big obstacles when they simply say ‘ah well, here’s your new marching rules.’ If it’s contrary to where a company’s put 50 years into that’s just not going to work so that’s the dilemma they have is, trying to radically change something that’s been around for so long and it’s so firmly put into concrete. You just can’t change it overnight and I’m glad that I don’t have to be part of that decision at the moment.

    CW: There are some points that Gene has made that I would share. I think that it would be very difficult – or will be very difficult – if a cost cap comes in to that degree, $150m for teams like Ferrari and Mercedes and Red Bull to bring down their operations but in the past we’ve operated on those kinds of budgets and I think to say that those teams are the teams that bring the DNA to this sport is just incorrect. I think that teams like Williams are the very fabric of this sport  that we operate in and teams like Williams and Force India, the independents that have been in this sport for 40 years and delivered a huge amount of technology that have had benefits to other industries as a result, need to be protected as well. So from my perspective of course we would be absolutely behind the cost cap whatever that may be but from my perspective equally, I would want to see it come in a lot sooner than that.

    BF: We would want it to come in as soon as possible. The 150m is above our budget but I’d much rather be able to say that Force India was capable of bridging the deficit of 30m than 200m which is where it is at the moment, and I think it’s very important, I think, for the sport to have five or six teams that are capable of achieving a podium on merit. At the moment, that’s not possible. Even the top fourth, fifth and sixth teams are only capable of getting it on opportunity at this point and we need to be able to change that round to make the sport the spectacle that it is and to give the competition there. Teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull will always have the advantage in terms of the fact that drivers’ salaries will be out of that budget cap and they will have the money to spend on the better drivers, but it means that we’re going to be to be looking at talented drivers which means we’re bringing through drivers and drivers become one of the key elements then going forward which to me is very very important.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Gene, the work that your foundation has done, the Gene Haas Foundation which has provided scholarships for young people and their communities, I was curious to know, are you planning to expand or have plans to expand that scholarship programme into your team, to where those young people would be interested in aerospace or engineering or want to get a position in F1?

    GH: Well, the foundation primarily funds the projects in relationship to community projects of teaching young people about manufacturing with an emphasis on machining. Whether a person decides to build race cars or rocket ships or simply work on next generation cars is fully up to them and I try not to… I don’t spend any of our foundation money particularly on racing. We are working in collaboration with Dallara and Ferrari on trying to set up a school that teaches, like, say, five axis machining so that’s probably as close as we’ve got into that so it’s mainly there to teach young people about manufacturing in today’s world and I can look at the racing as being a subset of that but not a primary goal to teach kids about racing. That’s the way we’re running it and that’s probably the way it will continue.

    Q: (Peter Hartig – BMF1) This has nothing to do with economy: Gene, at the magazine, we noticed that you tried the F1 experience so I have two questions for you: how was it to sit to ride on the back of a V10, beautiful noisy V10? And by the way, how is the back of your neck?

    GH: You know, I’ll tell you what, it’s exactly what they say: it’s an F1 experience. I think pulling out of the garage and the acceleration, going through gears, it just throws you in the back and then you come into turn one and your whole body goes to the… you know, slams into the front of the car. I never experienced that and then it feels like you’re pulling 5G side load going through the turns and quite frankly, I started to feel a little queasy doing that. It’s a heck of an experience, I would highly recommend it if you’re a thrill seeker but being an F1 driver is not easy. I don’t think I would ever want to be able to do that because to do that for 50 laps, that must just take the life out of you. It’s exciting, it’s a real experience and they did a great job, from everything from bringing you into the experience with the suit, the helmet, bolting you into the car, it’s all very very nicely done. I say I was pretty much exhausted by the time I got out of the car. It didn’t bother my neck at all. It didn’t bother it at all.

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

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Frédéric VASSEUR (Sauber)

    Maurizio, obviously notable that you have had some very strong updates either side of the summer break, in Hungary and in Spa, which have made the car good on all circuits. Tell us how that’s been achieved and is there more like that coming in the pipeline later in the season?

    Maurizio ARRIVABENE: I mean it’s not really a big achievement. You’ve got a big achievement when you are winning the race and we are not winning the race. Having said so, Belgium and also even Monza they are not races that are good for the technical point of view for our car, we know that. Knowing that even before we were working a lot but for the type of project related to our car, we are still… these guys, they are stronger than us.

    You’ve committed to next year with Kimi and Sebastian, providing stability. Can you tell us why they work so well as a pair? And also some thoughts on your plans for your young drivers Leclerc and Giovinazzi.

    MA: The reason why I think is quite clear. They went through the last three years with great co-operating within them. They feel very good together, being part of the team and translating this spirit to the overall team, I think we don’t find any reason why not confirming them together. Talking about the young drivers, they are growing, our objective is to of course to grow up young drivers and maybe to see them in the future with us. This is the final goal. But, before that they need to demonstrate in Formula One that they deserve it.

    Thank you. Toto, following up on the first question to Maurizio, after dominating as you did at Silverstone, were you shocked or surprised the Ferrari was on a similar type of circuit, in Spa, and have you had to scale up your response?

    Toto WOLFF: Ferrari’s response in Spa was very strong indeed. I don’t think that you should be shocked by anything in Formula but we knew that the DNA of the car and the performance of the car is very good on twisty circuits and they came to Spa and they were competitive. It’s the same thing we in Monza today also. Second free practice gave a good indication that Ferrari is to be expected to be fast tomorrow and on Sunday. I think this is the narrative of the season. It’s a tough fight between the two teams. It’s rare that you can say on Sunday who has had the faster car. You have to just put it all together, and hopefully the drivers put it all together, and then you can win the race. I think this is going to go to the very end.

    Only one of the top four seats not confirmed for next year. Can you give us an update on Valtteri’s situation? And with him being 41 points off the championship lead, does he need a win here in Monza for Mercedes to maintain a two-driver challenge for the championship?

    TW: It is a no-brainer for the team to continue with Valtteri for the very same reason that Maurizio mentioned – within the team the dynamic between the drivers is important in order to extract the best possible result. We’re very happy with Valtteri. It’s his first year with the team. He had very good moments, like in Sochi, and he had more difficult races, like in Spa. But we are not manic depressive and therefore stability is important and we want to keep him in the team and it’s just down to the contractual situation – the nailing it and signing it and hopefully we can do this.

    And the second part of the question?

    TW: Which was what?

    Does he need a win here for Mercedes to feel you are maintaining a two-driver challenge for the championship?

    TW: Again, Ferrari has a situation where Sebastian has been scoring lots of points and Kimi, for whatever reasons, not so much. Therefore, for them it’s probably a little bit easier. Our boys were pretty close together, until probably Spa. The situation is a little bit different now, but we would like to keep all options open and evaluate the situation in every race and see how it develops.

    Thank you for that. Fred, your Ferrari engine deal all signed, can you tell us the benefits of that relationship? Also, Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has said he would like a Ferrari junior team. Do you see it that way, with a chance to take either Leclerc or Giovinazzi, or both?

    Frédéric VASSEUR: First of all, the deal is based on the powertrain, which means it’s the engine and the gearbox and then we will discuss together the fact that we could extend the deal on another parameter for some other parts. On the driver point of view, I think that if it’s regarding Charles for example, I think he has to be focused on the Formula 2 Championship, still a couple of races to go and it’s a bit too early to discuss about this. I hope we will have the discussion at some stage! But I think, to be honest, even for Charles it’s a bit too early to put it on the table.

    You’ve had some time now – not much! – but you have had some time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Sauber. What are you telling the owners that the team needs to move forwards?

    FV: The problem is that we are in a tough situation because we started the project very, very late last year. We are also running of the previous year, but I think our biggest weakness is on the development of the chassis, because we started very late. We decided to switch on the ’18 car quite early also. But we knew perfectly the situation before the season for the team, and before I joined. For me it’s clear that we won’t be able to change the situation before the end of the season. We just have to keep the pressure, to race and to keep the team on their motivation. That’s very important in terms of preparation for next year also. But we know that the end of the season will be difficult, it’s not a surprise.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) A question or Maurizio. Coming here to Monza, if you have never been here and you are walking around this track, this place. I wanted to ask you what does Monza mean to you and to Ferrari?

    MA: Monza is the Grand Prix of Italy and we are an Italian team, so of course for us, it’s like… it’s unbelievable – the atmosphere, the tradition, the history. Even Enzo Ferrari was talking always about the Italian Grand Prix as the grand prix. This is the emotional part. The public is fantastic; we can feel the vibe. I think even yesterday, it was only Thursday but we were feeling, all the team, the drivers etc, they were feeling the vibe of the tifosi and they were pushing us. The expectation is very, very high. Despite that we need to be humble because we know the natural [characteristics] of this year’s car and we know that Monza is not really the best track for us. Having said so, our attitude will be humble, but not surrendering. This is what I can promise to our tifosi and I hope they are going to support us big time tomorrow and also on Sunday.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) A question for Toto and Maurizio. Toto, regarding this engine oil-burning situation, there have been some conflicting reports in the press. Some said that you brought forward the engine so that you could adhere to the old 1.2-litre limit and others said you voluntarily adhered to the 1.9. What’s the truth and how do you see it going forward. Maurizio, what’s Ferrari’s stance on the whole situation?

    MA: First of all, we have no conflict. I don’t want to comment on this kind of thing. Mercedes introduced early one engine that have also disadvantages during the course of the season, because you have no more development and this is the end of my comment.

    TW: I think it was completely blown out of proportion. Exactly what Maurizio said, the reasons we have introduced it early was in order to bring some performance to the track, with the risk of having to do many races until the end of the season – more races than our direct competitors, number one. Number two, you lack for further development. The longer you wait for the last introduction of engine, the more you can probably add the upgrade. So these are the reasons we brought it and not in order to extract a performance advantage out of the capability of burning more oil. So, if you ask the FIA you will be quite interested to see what the results are, and they are pretty much all the same. I don’t know where that rumour came and it was nothing that was ever a problem or discussion among us.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Maurizio, Kimi said that his target is a race win in the second part of the season. Do you think he is a capable of getting it?

    MA: He demonstrated that he could be capable to do it in Monaco. Also in Hungary he was nearly there. I would be happy if Kimi is going to win a race during the course of this season. For me, it could be a dream, because he was working so hard during the last three years and I think if he is going to win I can be happy.

    Q: (Peter Hartig – BMF1) A question for Frédéric. I would ask you the main difference between being a team principal at Sauber, compared to Renault. It could be internally, it could be a little close that answer, and also according to the drivers?

    FV: There is not big difference to be honest. The two teams are passionate and it’s a real racing team, in both cases. Now I am taking the team in approximately the same direction, because when I joined Renault last year, we were in a restructuring situation and it’s exactly the same with Sauber. I hope that I will have some other challenge in the future because it’s a bit tough. But, on the other hand, it’s a good challenge, it’s exciting, because we know where we are today and we know that we have a lot of work in front of us. On the driver situation, it’s also quite similar: they are young, they are doing a good job, they win a couple of races, a couple of championships in the junior series but we have to still improve – the same for the team, the same for everybody and we have to keep everybody under pressure, including drivers to try to improve and to get the best from them also.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The commercial rights holder, Liberty, seems intent on introducing a cost cap of about $150 million from 2021 onwards, with a glide path through until the end of 2020. This of course has massive impact on your head count levels etc, because you would probably have to cut your head counts by 50 per cent in the case of Mercedes and Ferrari. Could you still see yourself still participating in Formula One after that has happened, to Toto and Maurizio?

    TW: It’s the first time I hear the number. It’s good that you tell us, so we are warned!

    MA: Thank you!

    TW: And the glide path until 2020. I think we are all living in the same financial reality and we have seen teams growing dramatically over the years and we are all very sensible that we want to somehow contain it. It needs to be done in a way that it is good for the sport, that it respects the structures that have been created, so it needs a glide path, and it needs to be fair. That is very important. We have all different set-ups, the way we are organised in different ways. Ferrari is a fully integrated team within the larger road car company. We are a separate entity in the UK. You look at all the teams; it’s very different. You need a governance that functions and you need a strict set of rules and then it just needs to cover everybody. The discussions that have been happening, at a very early stage, I think there is no big disagreement.

    MA: I agree with Toto. Having said so, we need to take into consideration that this year, thanks to the battle between Mercedes and us, you can see, all the tracks they are full of people and I mean, maybe Liberty have to think about that.

    Fred, any comment from you? Obviously head count won’t be an issue for you but…

    FV: I won’t have to cut my head counts first – at least that’s a good news. NO but for sure at one stage we will have to work on it but it’s also difficult. We have to find a fair way. If we want to do something like this we need to find the best way to do it and it’s not so easy to police after the decision and to be sure everybody is sticking to the decision. For sure it will be in the common interest of the championship also to have close competition and to close a little bit the gap on the grid.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – Gazzetta dello Sport) A question for Maurizio. It’s a fact that introducing your fourth power unit in the last part of the season, you will be forced to respect a lower oil consumption limit because of the rules. Are you confident you can compensate for this disadvantage with respect to Mercedes with your new upgrades?

    MA: First of all, we are not introducing out power unit number four for that reason. It has nothing to do with that. We have a plan since the beginning of the year and we would like to introduce power unit number at the right time and with the right power. This is the answer, but nothing to do with the oil consumption.

    Q: (Agris Lauzinieks – Kapitals) Question to all three team principals. According to President of International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde in the world there is unprecedented economic situation where countries are doing really well economically – does this mean that there is also a boom time in the sponsors market that teams are having lots of demand and monies flowing into teams easily and will you have next year some new names printed on cars? Thank you.

    TW: The market is a challenging market. I think in my experience I have seen years that were more difficult but due to the intense fight between Ferrari and Mercedes at the moment and growing audiences in many territories we have a quite a good pipeline and solid interest from potential sponsors and I’m optimistic that we can close some of these discussions.

    MA: First of all, we are perfectly fine with our sponsors. Having said so, you notice on the car that some of them, they leave their spaces on the car and on driver overalls to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Ferrari and this is also a very good sign. Having said so, I can confirm what Toto said about Mercedes. We have contact every day with sponsors. They are calling us and the interest due to the battle between us and Mercedes is growing every day. Today the problem is to select the sponsor and find the space on the car – but not the other way around.

    Fred?

    FV: For sure on our side it is a little bit different. The situation is difficult for sure but I think it’s also coming from the fact that we have much more sport on the TV and proposals than we had in the past. On the other hand, I think we have much more contact for Sauber than we had in the past and I think we can be optimistic for the future.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Getting back to this glide path and the budget cap. I’ve calculated that collectively the four or five teams that employ in excess of the sort-of 500 figure would have to retrench or redeploy something like 1500 engineers or staff members. How does one go about this and is that actually a responsible alternative?

    TW: Again, I think that where we are at the moment, everybody at Liberty, the FIA are pretty conscious about the structures that have been created and it needs to be a consensus about how these numbers can be reduced to a sensible level, find out what a sensible level is and discuss the glide path and, in any case, avoid any hardship for anybody involved. So, it’s early days. It’s 2017 and once we agree on a way forward, we will have three, four, five years to adapt our structures to whatever the end result will be.

    Maurizio?

    MA: I agree with Toto, every structure has a number of employees that is related to the business request, the objective and the performance and so on. I mean I’m not questioning the number of people that is working for Liberty or for FIA but of course to find an agreement we need to sit everybody around a table and we need to have a good confrontation about what is the reality of our companies today and to work on that. I’m not telling you that our intention is to do nothing but at least if they are sharing with us their thoughts we can discuss about that. Having said so, as I said before, linking my answer related to the sponsors, saying no to some of them, we are already applying a budget cut somehow.

    Fred?

    FV: Yeah, at Sauber I can’t be against this regulation for sure but on the other hand I think the most important thing for everybody is that if we want to introduce new rules we have to be sure that we will be able to monitor the point. For me this is the most important. We will introduce into the system new discussion and it won’t be good point. When you want to make a rule you have to be sure you will be able to monitor it.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Toto and Maurizio. It just occurred to me that, in the past, we have seen some really fierce rivalries between teams fighting for the World Championship. The rivalry has often gone off-track, literally, there was some animosity between the teams but to me, from the outside at least, it seems that now Ferrari and Mercedes are in a surprisingly harmonious relationship and it didn’t go off track even though there were some issues where it could have. Could you explain why your relationship is so friendly – at least it seems so.

    TW: You want Maurizio and I coming out here?

    MA: I’m always surprised when I’m hearing this kind of comments. If you want we can organise a boxing match, if you want, just to create some spectacular relation but we don’t need to. We need to get used to a kind of civil relationship between the teams out of the competition. Out of the track there is nothing wrong if you are taking a coffee together and at the track we are punching each other. Because there is the competition, it’s not out of there. I can respect Toto as a person, not as a competitor, he knows that. I’m not going to take a coffee with everybody. With certain people I get on very well, with other people not at all. This is my personal choice. Having said so, I think that a civil and a gentle education is the minimum that is requested in all sports. Otherwise instead of being team principals we can be defined as hooligans – and we’re not.

    TW: Many topics covered. First of all, I’m not going to let the sport ruin a respect that I have for a personality off-track. As Maurizio said, you get on with somebody or you don’t. Number two, I like the analogy to rugby: that you can be fierce and tough competitors and trying to punch each other during the match and win with all the necessary emotions – but you’re still able to have a beer afterwards. This is the attitude that we’ve had over the years: that we can be fierce competitors and we wouldn’t want to have a coffee during the race with each other. But it’s necessary for my third point of view, we are all stakeholders in this giant platform. And if this giant platform is successful, it makes the teams successful and it makes the sport successful and we are all benefitting from this. I think in the past – not only in the past, still today – there are individuals that are very narrow-mindedly focussed on Formula One as is there was nothing else besides it. And the truth is that there are many interests that we share besides the fierce competition on track. And Formula One is at a crucial point with new shareholders, with new management. We all want the sport to do well and it is necessary that we are capable to sit around a table and discuss the sport and be able to take our Ferrari or Mercedes or Sauber head off and say what in this particular situation is important for us to understand in terms of doing good for the sport. And this is the discussion we are having regularly and this is influencing our relationship.

    MA: We’re not only discussing sport. With certain people you can… life is not only about Formula One, we can discuss about everything: about music, art, many, many other topics like all the other human beings.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Again Toto and Maurizio, back to the same topic, if they do actually reduce the cost of competing to around about $200million all in, would you be prepared, as the recipients of by far and away the largest slice of Formula One’s revenues to receive less – possibly half of what you’re getting at the moment, because the costs will be cut in half?

    TW: You changed the number!

    No – I said $200million including. The $150million is the basic cap excluding marketing, executive pay, drivers and engines. Adding up to about $200million.

    TW: Again, I didn’t hear the number before.

    Well whatever. If it comes in.

    TW: I think it depends on the situation. I have… you wouldn’t want to reduce your salary of what you have now. And then just smile and walk off and say “that’s great.” We are all… within our responsibility is the sporting aspect of the team’s performance and there is the business aspect of the team’s performance and we are all going to try to maximise our revenue and keep the team healthy. It’s clear what the answer to your question is.

    Maurizio?

    MA: I agree with Toto. In addition I would like to say that we… it’s the beginning of the story we were hearing many, many times. Everybody is focussed on making sure the sport is growing and so on. So, let us see the economics first: the earnings, the loss etcetera, etcetera and then we can discuss with pleasure. But we are at the early stage. We don’t have to rush that much before seeing the result and the number related.

  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault), Carlos SAINZ (Scuderia Toro Rosso)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Romain, strong run in Spa, seventh place finish means that Haas have actually now gone past their 2016 points total with another eight races to go, so does that feel like progress or is it just a case of having two drivers that are scoring points?

    Romain GROSJEAN: I think it’s progress. Last year we scored most of our points in the first two races and then we struggled a little bit to get them but this year we’ve been a bit more consistent. We still need to improve that aspect, clearly, because there are a few races where we were fighting at the front like Austria or Belgium but some other races like Budapest where we were really struggling. It’s all part of the learning curve, we have only a year and a half experience but I think we are much stronger in year two than we were in year one.

    Q: Can you clear up for us what’s being going on with the brakes in particular because it seems to have been a bit of a running narrative with your car; either it flies like in Spa or you’re on the radio saying these brakes are doing my head in. Can you explain what the problem is, why it’s taking a while to get on top of it?

    RG: I think the problem is the media. I haven’t complained – yeah, in Spa we had one set where one brake – the front left – we had an issue with that brake and we only had two sets and one wasn’t working so we tried to make it work, couldn’t better. Since… actually after Baku or Canada we’ve had the parts that we want to run and we’ve been swapping with CI and Brembo, depending on the track layout and it’s been fine.

    Q: So what was it, what was the issue?

    RG: Inconsistency, some of it was the running temperature that was… it was the way we were operating the brakes, some of the materials of the brake being inconsistent but in between those two factors we’ve struggled a little bit to find the right balance. It’s better, I would say we’ve reached 100 percent but to be fair, we haven’t complained much about it recently.

    Q: Nico, you’ve had more top six finishes than Renault managed in the previous three years combined and you’ve started seventh or better on the grid four times this year and that made Cyril Abiteboul – in our press conference in Belgium – say that he believes now you clearly have the fourth fastest car in Formula One. What will it take to make the next step?

    Nico HULKENBERG:  It will take more hard work and more of the same of what we’re doing. Obviously we had three races in a row where we were the fourth fastest team so that’s pretty good. The team is working extremely hard. Every weekend we have new bits arriving but it’s all in the detail so you can just feel the package coming together, better and better. That allows me to push harder, build my confidence. Just a nice feeling overall. But yeah, obviously the gap to the top three teams is very large. Also I saw Kimi, how he came flying past me in Spa after his penalty; it’s quite amazing to see the pace they have so it will take a lot of hard work from us and all the other teams to try and close that gap.

    Q: The seat alongside you next season is now pretty much the most attractive one on the driver market. What’s the right experience profile for your teammate if your team is to move forward, as you’ve just talked about?

    NH: You’re asking me that? Why?

    Q: I’m just interested!

    NH: I think it’s not my decision at all so probably a decision for Cyril and the management. I think they just want a good competitive driver package. I’d be happy to race with anyone, alongside anyone. For me, I’m obviously focused on myself and make sure everything is moving in the right direction there with me.

    Q: And Carlos, coming to you, your 23rd birthday tomorrow, I believe, so happy birthday in advance.

    Carlos SAINZ: Thank you very much.

    Q: You’ve scored points in every race you’ve finished this season and you reached 100 career points with Toro Rosso which makes you, in points terms, Toro Rosso’s most successful driver ever. So does it feel like a positive year and do you feel that you’re moving forward in your career?

    CS: Yeah, many nice statistics coming together there. Thanks for the info, I didn’t really know but yeah, I think we’ve had quite a successful year for us. We’ve been pushing hard all year to get into the points and the result of that is whenever we finish, we finish in the  points, so hopefully we can keep that statistic going. I think the team can be extremely proud of that and we will push hard to continue like that.

    Q: And intriguingly, you’re one of four teams, including the two alongside, four teams in midfield from fifth place to eighth place which I believe are separated by just I think it’s 11 points, something like that, so does every race feel like a tense battle for points, and does Toro Rosso have enough in the pipeline to finish on the right side of this battle?

    CS: It is a very interesting situation, a very tight battle that we’ve been doing… going on the whole year, really, in which every single detail makes a difference. At the moment, I think it’s even more interesting because we have Williams at the front which are maybe struggling a bit but then Renault and McLaren coming from behind, pushing very hard with development, so I expect the second half of the season will be really really exciting. We will do our best to keep ourselves in P5, P6, in that area there but I know it’s going to be tough.

    Q: Before we throw it open to the floor, just asking everyone about Ferrari’s seventieth anniversary being celebrated this weekend, just one particularly Ferrari Formula One memory… can be from your childhood or from your racing experience in Formula One. Just pick one in particular. Romain?

    RG: Ferrari is… when you’re a kid, one of my first cars must have been red and that’s the Ferrari spirit. Memories in Formula One, I guess every time they went to Monza I could see all the tifosi going crazy and it’s very very special and I guess being a Ferrari driver is one of the best things in the world.

    NH: Memories obviously going back to when I was still a teenager and I was a kid, looking at Michael when he was scoring many many world titles with Ferrari. These were the years when I was dreaming about Formula One and obviously working towards it and a lot of history written there and a very special brand.

    CS: Yes, probably the same as Nico, watching Michael either win or lose titles when I was starting to follow Formula One, was probably my best and biggest memory at the moment but the thing that really impressed me a lot is when I arrived to Monza in 2015 for my first Formula One race and I saw all the tifosi queueing in the paddock and trying to get an autograph of all the drivers. It’s probably the most special feeling you can have, to see them all queueing, doing half an hour of queues every day just to get a sign and it’s incredible.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Manuel Franco – Diaros As) Carlos, has there been any change about your future because there are rumours of Honda, Toro Rosso, Renault and a question to Nico, do you like Carlos as teammate for next year?

    CS: I’ll go first. Well, one thing I’ve learned this year is to comment in (indistinct) is not the best thing to do in press conferences.

    RG: What are you talking about?

    CS: Apart from that, I think I was very clear after Austria what I want and I want of my future. I have full trust in Red Bull that they’re going to do the right thing for me. It’s all in their hands. I have full trust in them, they’ve always done the right thing for me in my career and I hope it goes like that.

    Q: Nico, you shook your head when he asked the question.

    NH: Yeah, to go back to your question, 23 is too young, sorry!

    Q: (Alex Combralier – Nextgen-Auto) Romain, we know that in Monza it is one of the toughest braking points of the season and particularly at the first turn so do you now have full confidence in your brakes, in Carbon or Brembo?

    RG: I think we are on top of things.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Nico, it’s been mentioned that the Renault car is now very quick, also in race trim, not only in qualifying. Could you please describe how different the car behaviour feels from the cockpit since the latest big aerodynamic update with the new floor, where it feels quicker especially in quick corners, slow corners, braking things like that?

    NH: Well, everywhere pretty much. The updates that we’ve introduced at Silverstone just made the car a lot more competitive so especially the aerodynamics, I think they work a lot better, allows me to brake later, to carry more speed into the corners, to get on the power earlier so overall it’s just a much better (indistinct) scenario, more grip, allows you to go faster, quite simple.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Carlos and Nico, there’s been a lot of talk in the Dutch press about Max, his problems with the Renault engine and the reliability. Can you tell us what your experience has been in the twelve races?
    CS:     I think the works driver can answer that better.

    NH: Well, what did I have, I think I had the gearbox problem in Monaco. Apart from that, obviously another gearbox penalty in Budapest but engine-wise I think I’ve been pretty OK.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) For all three drivers: which are the new parts or modifications do you have for this race and especially on your cars?

    RG: We’ve got a rear wing for here. There’s a front wing flap going with it, that’s mainly what we’ve got here.

    NH: Yeah, it’s just the low downforce configuration really for Monza, a few small things to try, to test tomorrow on the floor, that’s it.

    CS: Same really: low downforce configuration for the weekend and we will try some bits and bobs for hopefully upcoming races but nothing that we will run.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Romain, with all this good food here in Italy and you love to cook, what is your favourite Italian dish?

    RG: That’s a good question, how long have you got in front of you? Italian kitchen cooking is amazing. Between the north and the south it is so different that I cannot really pick up one. From the simple pizza that you can find on the motorway to the three Michelin star chefs that I know in Italy, it’s all amazing.

  • 2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 Italian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Esteban OCON (Force India), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Sebastian, let’s start with you. There seems to have been a real bounce. If you can fight with Mercedes, especially at Spa, then you can fight them anywhere. Has the success of the updates you brought to Hungary and Spa given you clear belief as far as the Championship is concerned?

    Sebastian VETTEL: No. It wasn’t necessary. I think there was always belief. If you’re going to come into the race and you don’t have the feeling, or belief that you can achieve something for one race or many races in succession then there’s not much point. But, to really answer your question, I guess, the form we showed in Spa was real and the speed was there in particular in the race which weeks ago, on a similar type of track, maybe wasn’t the case. So that’s very positive. Obviously, we had a smoother weekend all around but still, I think we’ve made improvements on all fronts. So, I was very, very happy with the performance last week.

    Q: It’s been a while since a Ferrari driver came to Monza leading the Drivers’ World Championship. With the new commitment that you’ve just made to Ferrari for three more years, do you feel now the full force of tifosi support and is it worth a tenth or two, do you think?

    SV: Well it’s worth something! Obviously, we get out tomorrow and then we see for the first time how many people show up but I guess it ramps up also during the weekend. This morning was fairly quiet but considering –  I walked the track –  but considering it’s only Thursday there were still a lot of people with flags around the track – definitely more than in other places. So, yeah, difficult to quantify but I guess there’s something there. Obviously, it’s a grand prix that the whole team enjoys and it’s very special to be part of. So, need to make sure we enjoy it.

    Q: Sergio, coming to you, your battle with Esteban has been one of the stories, one of the talking points of the season. Things started to get a little tricky in Canada, then obviously in Baku there was a collision, a little bit of contact in Budapest and then obviously, we had Spa last weekend. Why have things escalated and what’s your side the story?

    Sergio PÉREZ: We’ve been racing very closely lately. As you say, we’ve had a couple of incidents in the last races. I think, I had a really good conversation with him, personally, between him and me, and I think it’s time to move forwards. Everyone had his opinion of what happened. The engineers have one opinion, the fans, us… have different opinions on what has been happening. The most important thing is that, from now, we move forwards. The main objective as a team is to finish fourth in the Constructors’ and we cannot afford to lose any more points. I think we’ve lost quite a lot of points in those races you’ve just mentioned, so we will move forwards and I’m very sure that these things will not happen again.

    Q: Esteban, what’s your side of the story. Why did things escalate, and escalate particularly during the race in Belgium?

    Esteban OCON: We’ve been racing really closely, as Sergio was saying, we’re always fighting for the last tenths in qualifying, or in the race so, for sure, it’s really close between us. But yeah, what has happened before has happened. Now we can’t change what happened before. We have to move forwards. As Sergio was saying, we had a talk this morning together, just us two. Yeah, it is time we forget all that, that we work hard for the team. It’s important – that’s what they deserve as well – that we behave as professionals and yeah, we want to keep challenging the others, keep pushing them and we have to keep that fourth place until the end.

    Q: So, you look forward. Sergio, the team has indicated they won’t let this happen again, that instructions will be given. As the more senior driver, how would you like that to be managed?

    SP: I think we are both mature enough. Esteban has been racing for a long time as well and I think we both know how to handle things. Yeah, although there will be some instructions coming out for us, I think we will put everything in place to make sure the interests of the team come first before us.

    Q: And Esteban, is it important for your development that you’ll be allowed to push to the maximum at every event – and how will team instructions affect that?

    EO: No, I mean, it doesn’t matter if I’m a rookie or if I have experience or not. At the end, what matters at the end is the result for us, the result for the team and yeah, if there is a team instruction, I will follow it. There is no other points.

    Q: Sebastian, quick one for you, at your previous team, you experienced a similarly tense battle with your team-mate. Does there come a point in a relationship where a line is crossed that you can’t go back from – and how do you avoid that?

    SV: No, I don’t think… I think you can always talk to each other. On track, let’s be fair, you have occasions where things may not turn out the way both want to. I don’t think any driver ever has really bad intentions over his team mate or any other guy but for sure the duel with your team-mate is a bit more intense. You’re driving the same car, you are therefore naturally fighting for the same position around the track. So, yeah, you want to stay ahead. I think inside the car you want to be the one that is in front. At the time maybe you don’t care much about what else is going on, as they both mentioned. Obviously, the team behind, they don’t really care which driver because they see their cars. It’s a tough line in terms of, y’know, you have to be, in a way, egoistic inside a car. Equally, you want to do the best for the team. But there’s never a line, I think, you cross you can never can come back from. They obviously took the opportunity to talk to each other and y’know, if I look now with Mark, obviously, I guess that’s the one you’re talking about, I have a very good relationship with him and we talked also about stuff that happened years ago with a lot of distance and y’know, now we can laugh about it. We both have our views, I think we both have different views, maybe now on some things that we had back but that’s normal as you go forwards. That’s why I think you can also cross a line again.

    Q: Quick question to all three of you: it is Ferrari’s 70th anniversary, as Sebastian’s hat tells us. A quick specific Ferrari memory, either from your childhood or your racing career, any special Ferrari Formula One memory.

    SP: I think the one that’s comes to my mind was the first test that I did for Ferrari when I was a member of the Ferrari academy. Was a very special day and that will stick with me forever. Ferrari is the team that we all admire, that we all want to do well as a Formula One fan. So that moment was very special.

    EO: Yeah, also, I tested for Ferrari back in 2014, at the end of the year. It was just magical. Testing in Fiorano on that beautiful track, driving a Ferrari, working with Italian engineers, Italian mechanics. I also speak Italian, I’ve lived in Italy, I’ve raced a lot in go-kart in Italy and you know what Ferrari is for motorsport. It’s something massive. I’m also a big fan of Michael and I was watching on TV when I was really young and I will also remember looking at the Ferrari ahead.

    And finally Sebastian, you’ve obviously got a pretty decent scrapbook of your own memories of Ferrari – any before that in particular?

    SV: Yeah, as another big admirer of Michael, most of my memories as a child of watching Formula One are linked to Michael and in that case linked to Ferrari. So, big admiration for him but for the car he was racing, for the team and obviously the dream came true when I was able to join the team – but yeah, lots of memories. Childhood, I remember I was always racing with toy cars and the red car always won. Don’t know why! It’s sort of what I was taught by the world around me, I guess, is that that car should be in the front, or has to be in front. Yeah, and obviously since then when I had the opportunity through Michael to be in the Ferrari garage for the time, I think Nürburgring 2003 for a short time. Just magical to see the guys moving around, everybody dressed in red. These kind of things really matter to you as a child and make a difference. Now, obviously, I’m there whenever I want to be, which is quite nice. So, lots of very, very special memories.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to both Force India drivers. Can we know when you talked to each other and what was the talking about. What have you said?

    SP: It was this morning and it was mainly… I went to Esteban’s room and I had a talk with him. We basically said like… I mean… the engineers have their view, it’s pointless going again through each of the incidents because everyone has their point to say, so let’s just move on together. Let’s forget the past and go forwards together. I believe that a new relationship can start from now on and I really hope that from now on we can be working as a team and we can put the interests of the team first, and we both came to that agreement and it was quite simple.

    Esteban?

    EO: He said everything.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To both Force India drivers. Obviously given the fact you’re so closely matched in the same cars it’s inevitable you’re going to be together, whether it’s this year or next year. Is it not possibly time that one of you considered going elsewhere. You’re both in the frame for a Renault drive – who’s going to sign first?

    SP: I think that’s not the way I look at things. I want to do the best for the current team that I am with and I want to do the best results. I think we both know that we have done wrong in the past for this team so my main target, I’m not thinking to run away. I believe that working with Esteban is still possible. It can still be a successful partnership and I’m not thinking to move elsewhere.

    EO: I think I’m not thinking of that at the moment. There is a big challenge ahead. We have a car and a great team behind us, which we can score points at every race doing a great job, so at the moment I’m focussing to the drive with Force India and not to next year – but I fully trust my management side and I’m sure I will have an opportunity to drive F1 next year.

    Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) Sorry guys, another question for Esteban and Sergio, who mentioned the points that Force India have lost this year. Esteban you say you need to behave as professionals. Do you both feel that you haven’t behaved as professionals on the track at times this year. Is that a fair comment to make?

    EO: I think we both crossed the line, that’s for sure. We touched so of course something was wrong in there. I’m not going to argue because it’s all behind now and we want to move forwards but for sure we crossed the line and we can’t do that in the future for the purpose of the team and even for us.

    SP: Same.

    Q: (Marco Privitera – LiveGP.it) A question for Seb. We have seen a big fight in Spa with Lewis in the final part of the race. If you would be here in Monza in the same situation, would you attack him in a stronger way in order to make a special gift to Ferrari’s tifosi, or would you rather think about your championship hopes?

    SV: I think you are racing to win the race. I think that has priority. Obviously you need to be aware of what you are doing but it wasn’t like I was saving myself. I tried everything I had at the time. I stick with him the whole race, so I was battling, I think the whole race with him. Maybe not wheel-to-wheel but it was really close and intense from a driving point of view. So I enjoyed that a lot but obviously he had the upper hand in the end. So there can be only one of the top step of the podium. I think there are some things that I learned from Spa, that we learned as a team but I learned as a driver. Things that I would do a bit different. But at the time it felt like the right thing to do, with hindsight it was a bit more clever. Here I think it’s a different track. Generally it’s possible to overtake. We’ll see where we are in the race. I think going into this weekend we need to be fair and say that the track layout suits Mercedes but the performance that we showed last week gives us hope. So, we tried to do the best. Obviously, yeah, there should be quite a good atmosphere and a lot of support so for sure we try to give all the love and passion that we’ve received so far this year, we try to also give something back from our side.

    Q: (Peter Hardy – BMF1) Sorry Sebastian, this is for the two guys. From a psychological point of view, how is it to be called into an interview like this where you know that you will be asked a lot of questions about the incidents that have happened?

    EO: It’s part of the job, you know. You know that when you are a Formula One driver that you will be facing a lot of media, it’s not only the driving side, it’s also looking at this that you have to handle yourself and face what the journalists are going to say. At the end, it’s, as I said, part of the job.

    Sergio?

    SP: Yeah, I think Esteban is doing well.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Seb, if you had the possibility to choose, what would be important to you: to win one championship with Ferrari or two with another team?

    SV: Well, I’m not with another team, so I think I prioritise to win here. Obviously I have been very, very fortunate in the past to have the success I have had. It’s like a drug, you want to do it again, you want to get that feeling again, you want to stand on top of the podium and yeah, I think if you manage to achieve your target at the end of the year – talking about the championship – then it makes it very, very special. It’s something that has been a while and I want to do it again. For sure, it always feels a bit different if you are with a different team. How it feels with Ferrari, I don’t know, that’s what I’m trying to find out.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sportbild) A question to Seb. Coming back to Spa, it was the first situation after Baku where you were behind him with the safety car. Do you think he learned from Baku and his behaviour was better? What do you think about what he did?

    SV: What, specifically? The re-start?

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sportbild) Braking, not braking?

    SV: I don’t know how it felt… I was the first one following, I don’t know how it felt further down

    EO: Quite scary.

    SV: I tried to react. There have been a couple of re-starts, everybody has his style and you need to obviously try and do your best. I wasn’t thinking about Baku too much to be honest. I was thinking of trying… basically the same things as in Baku, trying to stay as close as possible and have a good re-start. I had a chance and I wanted to make sure I stay with him and use it. All went well, so nothing to think about, but I can understand if further back it was feeling a bit stop and go.

    Q: (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) A question for Checo. I want to know your memories about 2012. I don’t know if that was the greatest moment, or at least one of the greatest, for you in Formula One?

    SP: Yeah, it was a very special day that race, beating both Ferraris in Monza and making it to the podium; getting so close to the win actually. It was definitely one of my best races; had incredible pace. So yeah, definitely great memories of that day.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volksrant) A question for Sebastian. In Spa you said Ferrari has something that other teams don’t have. Can you tell me what that is and do you think F1 is more important for Ferrari or is it the other way round?

    SV: How can I describe? I guess, don’t get me wrong, maybe you have, but I guess you don’t have a Ferrari? No. Have you ever sat in a Ferrari? No. Then I strongly recommend that you do. Just to sit in a Ferrari… there are a lot of great sports cars around the planet, I don’t know all of them, at least that’s the way I feel and that for me is something unique and it’s similar and it probably describes or answers your questions, or tries to at least. It’s the feeling when you step into a Ferrari, when you sit in a Ferrari, I don’t know, you can step into another car but you don’t get the same feeling. When the engine then starts and you have the chance to drive yourself then I think everybody who likes cars and has a passion for racing falls in love with the cars straight away. Maybe you should ask whoever you are writing for to give you the opportunity to sign off a day in a Ferrari. That would be the best way to answer the question.

    Q: (Ibriam Ignacio Artimuno – Momento GP) A question for Sebastian. How does it feel to return to a circuit where you won for the first time?

    SV: Yeah, it’s a special place. It’s many years ago, a long time ago, but still a very strong emotion. There are people inside the team now that I have been working with back then. Obviously we had a Ferrari engine in the car with Toro Rosso in those days. The whole weekend was magical. Saturday to have the pole, and to win the race on Sunday the way we did. Pretty amazing memories and when I walked the track this morning there are some pictures coming back. In fact, I’m working with the same race engineer now as I did back then, with Ricardo. It’s a memory we shared together and yeah, it makes this place definitely one of the most special places for me.

    Q: (Alex Combralier – Nextgen-Auto) A question for Sebastian. At Mercedes we could see team orders between Hamilton and Bottas this week. Do you think that team orders are now necessary in your team and do you think that Räikkönen would agree with that?

    SV: No, and I think the second part of your questions is also no. I am a bit surprised by the way things are put. I think Kimi and myself, I can’t speak for other people, but Kimi and myself I think we have been racing each other all year. I read or I heard after the Hungarian Grand Prix that he was protecting me. I think if you speak to him he can make it pretty clear. He was, how can I say, I don’t think he was leaving anything behind. I think if he had the opportunity properly to pass me he would have tried and that’s fair enough. I think it would have been the same the other way round. I think we are racing for the team, we’re both trying to our best, if it happens that you race for the same spot then you might meet yourself on track, as these guys have proven. You’re both fighting for yourself but you’re also fighting for the team, so it’s something you need to keep in the back of your mind. I don’t know what other teams are doing, but for us, I think we both go flat out and see what happens. Normally you can always talk about a lot of things, scenarios and so on, but it always turns out to be a bit different from that.

    Q: (Benjamin Vinel – Motorsport.com) A question for Esteban and Sergio. Do you think with the standings currently, with Force India extremely likely to finish fourth, quite far away from Red Bull but quite far ahead of other teams, that the team could afford to let you race until the end of the year?

    SP: Well, what we cannot afford, us, is to lose more points. Things change really quickly in Formula One. We see other teams are closing up in terms of pace. We definitely need to score in strong races, such as Spa and Monza, they are probably the two strongest races for us, so we definitely have to make sure that we score as many points as we possibly can. That’s just for the good of the team you know. Everyone works so hard at the track, at the factory, we really need to take the maximum out of both cars every single weekend. It’s not only about finishing fourth; it’s about how we do it and that’s why we definitely have to make sure we do it properly.

    EO: Yeah, I agree with Sergio. We have to get the bosses’ trust back and maybe after some races they will let us race again.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Sebastian, your car has been pretty reliable this year in general, apart from that hiccup in Hungary with the steering. Have the team discovered what the problem was, was it a mechanical problem, or just an impact? Did you have to take any countermeasures to make sure it doesn’t happen again? 

    SV: In Hungary? Yeah, we found the issue; it was an issue with the track rod. It was mechanical, we fixed it and it was fine ever after the race. Yeah, I think in terms of reliability, it’s true, things have been going really well. You’re trying to push the limits as hard as possible, but certainly we are not yet where we want to be. We can always improve. There is a lot of work and effort going on but certainly in Hungary it was a bit uncertain, also in the car, how the race would finish, if I would finish at all. I saved the car as much as I could, which turned out to be the right thing before it could have led to a DNF.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Sebastian, the way that Mercedes have played the oil burn regulation: do you believe they have stolen a march over Ferrari, that maybe Ferrari missed a trick after Spa?

    SV: No, not really. I don’t know whether that was always the plan for them, or whether they reacted to that and pulled it forward. I think for us we are pretty much on target. Obviously we know the change that is happening from here, on what is it? We don’t have a new engine for this weekend. I think it would be quite silly to miss for that, if that was your purposes, just for one week, so I think we are on plan, but as I said, I don’t know whether that was their sole intention or whether they had other issues.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) A question for Sebastian: the new cars they will be quicker than last year and it is a power circuit but the difference will be in the corners I think. Can you give a description of what it will be like?

    SV: Well, here I guess it will be fairly small, the difference, because on paper it’s probably the track that suits the old cars best, meaning that with long straights and more drag this year and because of more downforce naturally the cars will be a bit slower down the straights. They will still be quick because the engines are a bit better and so on, but yeah, I don’t know, the lap time will I guess be similar. I don’t expect it to be faster, like we went in Spa, not by that amount. But I don’t know, generally it’s lower downforce here, so the car is very light, but there are some epic corners on this track – the two Lesmos, especially the first one, it’s one of my favourites, Ascari, Parabolica, so with more grip normally they feel nicer, so they should be quite enjoyable this year.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Can you explain to us the difficulty of towing during qualifying and are you planning to use that on Saturday?

    SP: Yeah, it’s a great challenge to get it right. You have to kind of wait around five to six seconds, but it depends a lot what the car in front does. With Kimi, last time, I was close to him, it worked well but he aborted the lap in sector two so I got too close to him and then you lose a lot of downforce. If you can do it without it, it’s just better.

    SV: It’s always very difficult to time and you need to be lucky to get the most out of it. It’s one of those things…  you can’t plan what other people are doing. You can’t plan ahead and you can only look after yourself. For sure you can position yourself so that it should be helping you or not helping but whether it works out or not is very difficult to time, unless you do something that you agree on before with your teammate or others. Let’s put it this way: the likelihood of getting it wrong is far higher than getting it right.

    EO: Yeah, you always want a tow, basically, in a straight line but then the guy to move over before the corner so it’s pretty difficult to get. You are maybe lucky once in every three or four years to get that but as Seb just said, if you can get it without, it’s always the best solution.

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

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM PERSONNEL: Yusuke HASEGAWA (Honda), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Zak BROWN (McLaren)

    Q: Zak, let’s begin with you. Hungary, obviously a strong performance, the best performance of the season so far. How do you feel about the level of that performance that weekend and the steps on the journey back to competitiveness for your team?

    Zak BROWN: Hungary was definitely a step forward. Good to see both cars get home in the points. Sixth and tenth isn’t exactly what gets McLaren too excited but it was definitely forward progress.

    Q: Where are you now on the long-term plans in terms of power units. Obviously we’ve heard all these stories of various steps along the way from winter testing right through to the summer break. Has anything changed? What can you tell us?

    ZB: I think like all racing teams, we’re working on our 2018 drivers. We obviously announced Stoffel, which was never in doubt that he was going to continue with us, and we’re working on our second driver, some two-time World Champion, and making sure we have the most competitive race car for next year.

    Q: Hasegawa-san, coming to you, your side of that story. Obviously Hungary, a step forward, your updated engine here, and also where do you feel it’s going, the relationship with McLaren?

    Yusuke HASEGAWA: Of course, in Hungary we are very happy. Actually, we are very relieved we get the points. That is performance we are not satisfied with but it is a minimum level of performance we have to achieve, so we are relieved about that. So, still the matter, we need to update our engine performance definitely to convince McLaren as well and to satisfy us.

    Q: And the updated engine this weekend, what can you tell us about that? How much more performance is there in Stoffel’s car?

    YH: OK, it’s actually… we had planned to introduce a spec-4 engine here but we failed. Actually we didn’t match to the schedule. So that we have a halfway upgrade. We called it 3.5 and 3.6 but I think we can introduce some decent upgrade here but we don’t stop the improvement.

    Q: You have Franz next to you this afternoon. Is Toro Rosso still a possible contender for a second supply of engines in 2018? Are those talks still live?

    YH:  I don’t think so. We don’t have an official conversation about that. So although Mr Yamamoto visited Dr Marko, because we need to discuss about Super Formula, the Japanese formula series, and we have Pierre Gasly the Red Bull young driver, so that we have some communication with him – but other than that the Formula One engine supply, we didn’t have an actual conversation.

    Q: Franz, just picking up on that, as far as you’re concerned, that was never really something that was in the offing; you’re sticking with what you’ve got: Renault engines going forward.

    Franz TOST:  No, Hasegawa-san has just answered that there has never an official negotiation or talks between Honda and Toro Rosso.

    Q: We spoke to Christian in the first part of this press conference about your Red Bull Young Driver programme – obviously it’s been tremendously successful over the years but he was saying there’s no real hot prospects. You’ve got some young drivers in the pipeline but it’s just that sometimes there’s plenty of good drivers and sometimes there aren’t. I just wanted to know what your perspective was on what’s been achieved if you like and whether there’s still that same enthusiasm on the Red Bull side, when you consider that McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes have all got some very hot prospects on the threshold of Formula One now?

    FT: I think Red Bull is in a fantastic situation because there are four drivers who are able to win races which they’ve showed in the past: Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat and there’s the reigning Formula Two champion, Pierre Gasly who is in the pipeline, who is also very successful in Japan. That means this infrastructure which Red Bull has built up is so successful and why should they change anything? You should also take into consideration that something can happen at Red Bull Racing – an accident and so on – and they can just take a driver from Toro Rosso and this is why Toro Rosso is educating drivers for Red Bull. Young drivers are coming but it takes another two or three years maybe until we can discuss to bring them into Formula One and I think that Red Bull is really in a fantastic position with the driver line-up.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Franz, Carlos Sainz is going to be spending his fourth year next year in Toro Rosso if we take Christian’s comments in Austria that they’ve activated his contract for next year. This will be the first time that a driver has actually spent a fourth season in the team. Who will be sitting next to him? Have you decided? Will it be Daniil next year as well or would you be evaluating that later in the season?

    FT: We will see. As I just mentioned before, Red Bull is in a fantastic situation. Why should they dismiss these highly skilled drivers? Red Bull has financed all the careers so far of Carlos Sainz and now he is ready to win races if he has a proper car so why give him to another team, to an opponent or whatever? And Daniil Kvyat was this year a little bit unlucky because many times we couldn’t provide him with a reliable and fast car and I’m convinced that once he gets this car that he will show his talent, because he did it already in the past. He won the GP3 championship before he came to us. He finished on the podium at Red Bull Racing in China and he can race and he has the ability to be successful and as I mentioned before, Pierre Gasly is in the pipelines, which means Red Bull is really in a very strong position and there’s no necessity to change something, but we will see. The driver line-up will be decided by Red Bull in the next months.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) To Zak and Hasegawa-san: firstly, the upgrades that you introduced this weekend, have they delivered as promised, and secondly, it’s been reported that Honda has been working with Ilmor and has discovered some good gains on the power unit front. Hasegawa-san, firstly, can you confirm that you’re working with Ilmor and Zak, couldn’t Ilmor’s involvement convince McLaren to stick with Honda for the future?

    YH: First of all, about the performance upgrade, it is very difficult to compare the previous engine to this engine because this is a completely different circuit but from the data point of view, we see some good upgrade of the performance here.

    And regarding Ilmor consultancy, we do not disclose any partner of a consultancy or a supplier or any partnership. But we don’t deny about any kind of consultancy or partnership from outside. We have many partners in the development.

    ZB: A good question was what do we think about Ilmor. As Hasegawa-san said, it’s really up to Honda to discuss what their activities are. All I would say is that Ilmor as an organisation that has worked with McLaren in the past and is very successful and very good at what they do.

    I wouldn’t think we’ve been satisfied all year but I think Hasegawa-san’s not been satisfied with how things have gone so we have seen some improvements here at Spa, not to the level we’d hoped for but some improvement nonetheless.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Zak, bearing in mind what the other two gentlemen said about there being no official discussions between Honda and Toro Rosso although there were talks at high echelons, I believe that the McLaren/Honda  contract has got some form of veto or approval clause where you’ve got to approve somebody else which I believe you did with Sauber. Have you been asked to bless some form of Toro Rosso/Honda deal at all? Has that come up?

    ZB: We did bless the Sauber arrangement which we were official asked to do and in fact started to get to work on a gearbox. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to disclose any conversations we’ve had. What I would say is we would be very supportive of Honda having a relationship with Toro Rosso and have been asked by Christian if we would be in a position to help with a gearbox if asked, so I think that’s about as far as I will go on sharing any conversations.

    YH: We didn’t ask to start a conversation with Toro Rosso to McLaren actually because we didn’t have any official conversation so that it is…

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Zak, it looks like Ferrari and Mercedes won’t supply the power units to McLaren, in the case that McLaren has decided not to continue working with Honda. And also, we believe, as Cyril said, that very possibly Renault won’t also supply, so it looks like you don’t have other options. Is that correct?

    ZB: No. We’re not going to give a running commentary on our power unit situation. I know it’s of keen interest to everyone but we’ll say something when we have something to say.

    Q: (Inaudible) Zak, do you feel within the team a difference for Stoffel now that his contract for ’18 has been announced and this weekend, racing at home, is there more pressure, is he different or is he relieved that he will continue for next year for you?

    ZB: Well, we always intended to put him in the car in ’18. Of course, any driver, when it becomes public at their home Grand Prix, I think that’s a nice feeling so Stoffel has been great all year for a rookie. He has been in a very difficult situation, we’ve not given him a faster, reliable race car which is that much more difficult when you don’t have the experience of someone like your teammate so he’s been a treat to work with and Hasegawa-san, I think you would agree, he’s been a real star this year.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport Week.com) Zak, on the assumption – and it’s obviously an assumption – that you persuade Fernando to stay for next year, and he was wanting to do this, would we see another possible attempt at the Indy 500, given that this year he was very competitive and could have possibly won it on his first time out? Is that something you would perhaps dangle as a carrot to keep him there for next year?

    ZB: No. We would love to go back to Indianapolis, Fernando would love to go back to Indianapolis. He did an unbelievable job but it will conflict with Monaco again and we’re not going to be in the same situation that we were this year in Monaco, so unfortunately he can’t be in two places at once but we’d certainly love to do it with him again in the future.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) A follow-up to what you said earlier, Zak, on not giving a running commentary on the power unit situation, how soon though do you need to have something to say? How soon do you need to be in a position to announce something because obviously whichever way you go will those influence your signing of Fernando for next year?

    ZB: Well, I think all racing teams right now – whether it’s McLaren or Toro Rosso or anyone else down the grid – we’re heading into 2018 so we need to be finalising all of our activities, whether that’s driver, car design so that will be soon.  As we all know, soon as the summer break is over it seems like it all starts to happen in Formula One so the timetable we’ve got to work to to get ready for next year.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) This week, we talked about e-sports and how some e-sports events have been a platform for inspiring young drivers to have a way into motorsports. And now this week F1 has launched an e-sports championship. Do you feel these platforms are good for young people who are interested in motorsports and that could possibly find an inroad into motorsports through this?

    FT: I said already two years ago that you have to do something for e-sports because if you want to attract the young people, then e-sports is a very important game. What I said is that maybe ten or may nine o’ clock in the morning on Sunday there should be an e-game race here at the racetrack, just to attract the young people, to come to Formula One, to see Formula One and to involve them in this complete package. Therefore I’m really happy that Liberty media managed to come up with this game.

    YH: Sorry, actually I don’t have many opinions about the current operation or situation but I expect to make it a very attractive sport especially for the younger people.

    ZB: Yeah, I think e-sports is great. McLaren was the first team to announce our World’s Fastest Gamer and whoever ultimately wins that will be our simulator driver next year. I think it’s great what Liberty and Formula One have done and I think ultimately what you have with these sports is… Motor racing is a very expensive and difficult sport to get youngsters involved in, unlike football where you can go to school and you have a football and a pitch all ready to go so I think e-sports not only will generate a younger audience but it will also almost become the grass roots of motorsports and be able to expose a younger audience to what it’s like to drive a race car in a more inexpensive user-friendly way, so I think it’s great that we’re all embracing it.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Zak, I’m not asking for a running commentary but I would just like to address the issue of engine supply to the teams, the FIA regulation being that you can only supply three teams with an engine. Now at the end of the day, unless you can persuade somebody to take the Honda engine it looks like you’re going to have to approach somebody to supply a fourth engine supply. How do you stand with the FIA on this issue?

    ZB: We speak with the FIA on a regular basis on lots of topics, being that they’re the governing body of the sport so I’ll leave the conversations that we’ve had, power-unit related, to ourselves and see what transpires.

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

    2017 Belgian Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Guenther STEINER (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Cyril, it seems that in terms of patterns of performance, Nico generally qualifies well but finishes behind his qualifying position – couple of exceptions to that but in general that has been the picture – whereas for Jolyon the opposite is the case. Can you shed any light on that?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Well, I think indeed we started the season with generally a good pace on Saturday that we were not managing to convert on Sunday. So at this point in time and as we were waiting for some big developments that came further into the season we sort of trade some quali performance for some race performance by playing mainly with set-ups – by playing mainly with set-ups, stiffness and so on and so forth – which we did, which we achieved, which delivered some points. Then at some point, in Silverstone, we managed to bring that big development I was referring to. So that pattern that you are referring that you sort of underperform on Sunday compared to Saturday is not so true anymore. We will have to see here if that pattern, if that step that we made in performance both on Saturday and on Sunday in Silverstone and as confirmed in Budapest, which are two very different tracks, is confirmed here or not. When it comes to driver difference, no I can’t… I think that indeed, Jo doesn’t necessarily have the sort of pace as Nico on Saturday. Clearly, Nico is an amazing qualifier. Maybe he is one of the best of the grid. It doesn’t always… it’s not always visible because he didn’t maybe have the car to demonstrate that but it is really amazing what he’s capable of doing and Jo maybe doesn’t have that pace on Saturday but was managing to extract more from the car on Sunday. We’ll see. The short answer to your question is that the car is improving. The car is now fourth in terms of pace after the top three teams, which is clearly where we wanted to be at this point of the season. Obviously the championship position is slightly different so that’s what we need to focus on.

    Comprehensive answer; thanks very much for that. On Robert Kubica, everything was built up to the Hungary test. Things gained their own momentum; he did well. So what happens next?

    CA: What happens next: good question. That was a test. Frankly, we said that we wanted to be extremely methodical and analytic about the way we were approaching things with Robert. It’s not a PR exercise; it’s not a coup. It’s something we are taking very seriously and we are trying to leave the emotion on the side. We don’t have all the answers that we potentially wanted to get from that test, after his test. In relation to that, Formula One is very restrictive in terms of tests you can do, so in a perfect world we would want to do more of this type of test to see if he can race again at the level that he and we could have wanted. It may or may not be possible. We will see.

    Thank you. Christian, coming to you: performance today, it looked like you were in touch. Last year you were front-row qualifiers and got a podium. Do you think that’s possible again this year, and also could you explain why you went for such a radically different selection of tyres for your two drivers compared to Ferrari and Mercedes? It’s not usually such a radical difference among the frontrunners?

    Christian HORNER: Firstly, today: it’s been a relatively sensible day. We’ve been looking at different set-ups and configurations and fourth and sixth in the second session is reasonably encouraging, particularly at this type of circuit. I’m sure the others have still got a little bit up their sleeves for tomorrow, if it’s dry. But hopefully we can consolidate where we are and be competitive on Sunday afternoon. Regarding the tyre choice: you obviously don’t see what others are doing before you submit your choice so our engineering team felt that this is the best way to attack the weekend. As we often see, you start off with a different hand of tyres but by the time you’ve gone through the practice sessions it always seems to converge by the time you get to qualifying anyway. What on paper looks quite racy at the beginning of the weekend, by the time you’ve gone through the practice sessions tends to even itself out. I think by the time we end up in qualifying we won’t be too far out of kilter and obviously we quite like the ultrasoft tyre.

    Clearly. Can we explore what Red Bull’s attitude now is to the young driver programme. You’ve produced some great drivers over the last decade – world champions, race winners – but it’s not so easy to see where the next candidates for Formula One apprenticeship are coming from. In the meantime, your rivals such as Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari have stepped up on that side and all have exciting candidates on the doorstep ready to go. Is it still a priority for you and Red Bull?

    CH: Very much so. We still have Pierre Gasly, who won his first last weekend in Japan. We have Nico Kari in GP3, we have Dan Ticktum in Formula Renault and Verschoor and Verhagen. I think there are periods of stellar drivers that seem to come through the sport. For me if I look outside of Formula One at the moment, there seems to be a bit of a gap. There are a couple strong drivers in F2, there are a couple of strong drivers in GP3, but there seems to be a bit of a void. We’re going to grass roots, we’re looking at karting, we’re supporting some youngsters even in karting at the moment. But talents like Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel or Daniel Ricciardo don’t come along every season.

    OK. Guenther, a question to you on drivers as well: you have confirmed both of your current drivers for next year, not taking either of Ferrari’s development drivers, Giovinazzi or Leclerc. Can you give us the thinking on that?

    Guenther STEINER: Our drivers have got a contract when we signed them. Romain two years ago now, he had a three-year contract and Kevin last year has a two-year contract, so it’s quite clear what we are doing. There is no reasoning or nothing behind it. We, at the time, wanted the best drivers available on the market to get as much points as possible and that’s why we did it and there is no other reason behind it.

    OK, that’s the drivers sorted out. When you look ahead to season three, where else do you think you need to strengthen the team personnel in order to move forward?

    GS: I think everywhere a little bit. It’s not like there’s one void [to fill] to grow the team. We are still very small, I think the smallest one, we have got not more than 200 people at the moment. We need to strengthen it everywhere. That’s what we are doing. We are now already looking for people for next year because it takes quite a long time to get good people, but we will increase again by 10 or 15 per cent – nothing compared with the big teams, how they grow – but that is what we are doing and that is what we want to continue to do. But we keep on getting… I wouldn’t say bigger, we try to get better without getting bigger, which is very difficult, but at least we try to stay efficient because that is where we want to be.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Pierre Van Vliet – F1i.com) A question for Cyril about the Robert Kubica situation. You are telling is that you have some questions with no answers yet. What are they? And after the Budapest test – 142 laps in the heat and the lap times he did – he seems to be ready, no?

    CA: Well, obviously we have access to some information that the public, the media don’t have access to and I feel that is privy information to the team and Robert and I would not want to speak without his control. But no, you know, there are various things to do to come back into a racing car at this level, a car that is extremely different from the car that he’s been driving six or seven years ago, as well the car that he drove in the test that he has done in Le Castellet, which was a car from 2012, much lighter, less downforce. So without going into too much detail, you could see what it could involve to go one step further. The problem, as I said, is we are restricted in our ability to test and to reproduce this test. And addition to that, testing in isolation, private test, one car, in control on the amount, without rain, without the first-lap action you can always encounter. All of that needs to be factored into the decision of pursuing or not pursuing, so as I said I don’t want to go further than this, I don’t want to create speculation and I don’t want to put in the team that the team would have some obligation to go further because there is an interest, a willingness from the public to see Robert back. We would all like Robert to be back, but it has to make sense.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Guenther, I see from the internet that your sporting director, either former, ex-, present or whatever, Dave O’Neill, has started his own company, together with one of Christian’s former employers Kenny Handkammer. Could you confirm that? Is he still with you? Is he leaving? And what are you going to do about replacing him if that is the case?

    GS: He’s leaving. He’s not here but he is coming to a few more races. I don’t know about Kenny Handkammer, and Christian I think doesn’t know any more. But Dave is leaving because for family reasons he relocated to the United States. I don’t know any details about his company but he’s free to do that. We have got a good relationship. He helped a lot in bringing us to where we are. But for family reasons he had to relocate to the US and that doesn’t work for us. So he will be around for a few more races and then he will be gone.

    And a replacement?

    GS: Replacement: we have got plans in place and we will announce them when there are ready to be announced.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) A question for Cyril. Do you have a date in mind when you will take a decision with regard to Robert and can you say when that is?

    CA: Deciding on Robert is deciding our line-up the second part of our line-up for next year. It’s well reported that Nico has a multi-year contract when Jo has a one-year contract. So obviously we have one driver to decide for next year. So we have also the restrictions I was referring to on Robert and we’ll also need to consistent with the timing of deciding for a second driver and as the market is starting to sort of go, with the different announcements this week of Ferrari and McLaren, and I expect there will be some other announcements at some points, because usually these things do not go in isolation, so we cannot just be sitting on our work and making up our plans and our timing ourselves. It has to follow the timing of all the drivers.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) A question for Christian. The orange army will invade the country again like last year, especially on Sunday. Is it realistic to dream of a Max victory?

    CH: Everybody is free to dream, but realism and dreams are sometimes a little bit different. It’s fantastic to see the support for a driver that there is here in Spa. It’s a sellout crowd, everything is absolutely rammed and to see so much orange around the place for Max is quite phenomenal and obviously last year was quite disappointing for all those fans that turned up when his race was effectively over within 50 or 60 metres and we’re hoping that it will last a little bit longer this year. He’s had a lot of bad luck so far this season and where better place for it change but than here at what is effectively his home grand prix.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) A question for Cyril about engines. There has been a lot of talk about McLaren talking to Renault about an engine supply, about Toro Rosso talking to Honda. Can you give an update, because it seems that neither of those two avenues have gone very far? And also, how many teams could Renault actually supply engine with next season, because I think Christian said three is the maximum?

    CA: Well, the situation is that we have multi-year contracts with Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, so frankly we are open to discussions. I can confirm that there has been discussion with McLaren. But as you mentioned at the end, right now there is a restriction in the regulation, if we wanted to supply more than three teams first. And in addition to that, I don’t think it would be reasonable to believe that we could supply more than three without degrading the level of service, the quality of the service for the other teams, so we’ve had discussions. Frankly, again, we have contracts in place. We value the relationship with Red Bull. It’s a longstanding relationship and we would like to carry this relationship until it’s term in 2020 but if there is something to be done, why not, but right now understand that things are very quiet and certainly we are not necessarily proactively pushing for anything.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) It’s a rather historical question for Guenther. Amongst all the anniversaries this weekend, it’s also the 50th anniversary of the only win in Formula One by an all-American team. I was wondering how much that historic win influenced your team and whether that is something Haas is aware of and pushing to become the next?

    CH: Were you aware of it?

    GS: No! Thank you for making me aware of it. I didn’t know that it was an anniversary but it’s good to know. I think it will be a few more years until we get down to that level. It’s a lot more difficult than it was 50 years ago. It’s different; it’s not more difficult. It was difficult at the time; I’m not trying to say it was not difficult. What we will try to do is get an American team on the podium as soon as possible but for a victory I think we are a few years out. But it’s always good to know these things and thanks for letting me know.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question for Christian, the Toro Rosso-Honda negotiations that apparently happened during the shutdown. I know that you’re not directly responsible for Toro Rosso but how would such a deal fit into the overall Red Bull Racing scheme of things?

    CH: Well it doesn’t really affect Red Bull Racing so whatever engine Toro Rosso takes, the only affect it has is the synergies between the teams in terms of gearboxes and so on. We need to know pretty quickly, within the next couple of weeks, what the scenario is. I think the gentlemen in the next press conference, Zak and Hasegawa, they should be able answer all of your questions in extreme detail.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Have you got a predictable weather forecast for me for Sunday and, if not, what would you hope?

    CA: Forecast, I think the forecast for today was that it would be dry, so it says a lot about the quality and accuracy of forecast in Spa. So otherwise it will be about being capable of reacting and being on the right tyre at the right time.

    Christian, presumably you feel you could win in the wet?

    CH: Well, we’d love it to absolutely piss down with rain for the whole day but I don’t think that’s likely to happen. It’s going to be usual Spa weather: bring your suncream and an umbrella.

    GS: I was told two hours ago it will rain for about two minutes but it will dry out quite quickly. So, I’m a little bit with Cyril on that, y’know? Let’s see what is happening. Normally I don’t hope: we just deal with what is happening. Whatever comes we will deal with it as best we can.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) We asked drivers what their preparations were during the holiday, and getting ready for the second half of the season. So what did you all do to prepare yourself for the second half of the season during the holiday?

    CH: Well, obviously training hard, like my drivers, dieting, all the usual stuff… no, in all seriousness, it was an important time to have a bit of time out with family, for them to remember who you are. I think it’s a good thing within the Formula One calendar to have that time out. Not so much for us but for the mechanics and all the people in the backroom that work such incredibly long and hard hours. So to have that period of time as a bit of downtime, to spend time with family and friends, is very important. The only exciting thing that happened to me was getting stung by a jellyfish.

    Cyril, any jellyfish in your summer?

    CA: No, no-no. Sleeping a lot. All that Christian said is absolutely accurate. Time with friends aand family. Sleeping, because I personally do not get enough of that and in addition to that I think it’s important to come back with this willingness of being back racing again. We’ve got a long calendar and sometimes you motivation is sort of fading away with what the sport is demanding in terms of energy. So it’s good to be back and being willing to go for it for that second half.

    Guenther?

    GS: Same for me. I stayed with my family and I can just say what Christian said. It’s good for all the mechanics which work far harder that we do, to be honest. So for them to have some time off, to spend some time with family, and just did some things that I don’t get to do during the season because I am sitting a lot in an aeroplanes. I stayed in Europe. Happy to be back.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Cyril, could you confirm that your team coordinator has resigned recently and is it coincidental that that position is resigned at the same time Haas has a new position in a similar capacity?

    CA: You’re talking about Geoff? Our racing coordinator. Yes, I can confirm that – and we may or may not be making some announcements in relation to him. Geoff was, and is, an important person at Enstone. Because not just Renault, Lotus, Enstone Benetton before if I go in reverse order. Geoff has been part of the Enstone family, so we have to prepare a big farewell party, even though he’s not going… he may or may not be going very far. But I can confirm the first part of the move at least.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) To all three of you, Chase Carey has recently said that he’s looking at increasing the number of races each year. Possibly up to as many as 25. Now, the number of weekends available between March and November is limited: would you be prepared a)to agree to that type of number and b)we’d be seeing a lot more back-to-backs and even triples – would it not be a better idea to perhaps lengthen the season, start earlier and perhaps end first week in December.

    CH: Look at next year’s calendar, we’ve got a triple header this time next year followed by a double-header with a weekend gap in between, so already the calendar is… my feeling, at saturation point. 21 races is, I think, the absolute limit. To go beyond that, I think we’re pushing teams, we are pushing engineers, we’re pushing travelling staff too far. So then you’re going to end up in rotational shifts. As soon as you do that then the costs will become exponential with it because you’ll end up with a much bigger workforce to accommodate that. And it will be expensive. Of course ultimately anything is possible but it comes at a price – and to increase to that amount would be significant. I’d far rather look at the venues we’ve got and pick… y’know if there are ones that aren’t coming up to scratch at the moment, replace them with better ones and have the competition to be in a tighter championship than going to 25 races. That’s pretty much every other weekend during the year. At some point you reach saturation.

    Guenther?

    GS: I think it’s a fine line here. If it makes economical sense for Chase how to do this, I think it can be done. To answer the question, should the season be longer or should there be more back-to-backs, I think it will be both of them because you cannot get it in otherwise. Otherwise you have just back-to-backs and that is almost not possible, and also there are other ways to accommodate 25 races. Maybe shorten the weekends, shorten the time we setup our garages and stuff like this. Control that a little bit more. Again, in the moment, Chase is saying it but there is not the fact that it is 25 races and he never came back to the Strategy Group proposing this in a way, as you just say it. He said he likes to do it – but I think Chase, before doing it, will come back to the Strategy Group and get real answers of actually what teams can do and cannot do. He’s not going to go ahead and organise something which we then cannot do – because then he hasn’t got a show. I think it’s a plan but I think there are more than one way to do it, and one way would be to not do it, one way would be to make a longer season, shorter race weekends, shorter events. But first of all he must come back. What happens if it costs money for us and there is no revenue coming back in. Why should we be willing to do it.

    Cyril?

    CA: It think all has been said by Christian and Guenther. I think it’s all about quality over quantity and I would focus on quality rather than quantity. I think we need races that are absolutely iconic, huge races, something that is really, really big and create the expectation of seeing those races. If you look back in the history of Formula One, you didn’t need to have that many races in order to have Formula One popular, and in not even more popular than it is today. So that will be my answer, in addition to the economic factor which should not be underestimated with the cost to Formula One and all the teams travelling.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto Week) On the subject of saturation, do you think that more races is something that the public actually want – or do you think they’re happy with what they’ve got now?

    GS: I think you will get different views on that but in general I think it’s a 50-50. Some people want more races, some are happy with it, some want less. I think it’s quite equally split, and the good thing with a lot of races is that you can decide not to watch them – if you don’t have them, you cannot decide to watch them because they are not there. So, in the end it’s a little bit like ‘what is saturation’? That’s my opinion about it.

    Christian, is there a risk that if people watching sometimes they might stop watching all together, do you think?

    CH: I can’t even remember what happened earlier in the season, let alone if we go up to 25 races. It’s like any good book. There’s so many chapters that make up a good book and not all the chapters are going to be exciting and riveting – but you do reach a point where you can overfill it and I think that, as Cyril was saying earlier. Pick the premium events, pick big events, promote them, make them fantastic and go for quality over quantity would certainly be our preference.

    CA: I would only add that we need to be careful. We will never reach the number of events like American sport, NASCAR, or even NBA. It’s hundreds of games, so we may move from 21 to 25 but it’s not going to hugely impact on the profile of Formula One. It’s still on a limited number of weekends. I don’t think we should work on quantity. We should focus on quality.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Guenther Steiner. We recently read in an interview to F1.com from Gene Haas that he will confirm your actual driver line-up for 2018. That means the Danish Magnussen and the French Romain Grosjean – but you recently also tested the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi of Ferrari and last year Charles Leclerc that is another young driver of Ferrari. Do you see a chance for them in the next future? In the short term, I mean.

    GS: Next year it was made pretty clear also from me that in ’18 we are set with our drivers. In ’19 we don’t know and we haven’t talked about it. Yes, we they tested for us both. Charles and Antonio. Charles last year and Antonio this year, and he will do more FP1’s this year, Antonio – but there is no decision taken for ’19. There is no plan. What we know is Antonio will do another six FP1s this year and that’s about it and then we need to see again what we do next year.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Just to follow up on the 25 races for all three of you. You spoke about costs and putting the quality before the quantity but what about the drivers? Do you think they could handle 25 races or would they not want to? It seems a lot.

    CA: I can’t see why not but like any sportsman there is a time for recover but it doesn’t look to me that they are particularly struggling when there is a back-to-back. 21 or 25 isn’t going to make a huge difference – but, as always, I think that every single individual working in Formula One needs to have some form of huge motivation in order to be racing and providing the best in terms of sporting performance or show and so on and so forth. I don’t think that if we wereto go too far in terms of figures, that motivation may be impacted. Physically, I don’t see any limitation, as far as I can see.

    CH: I think as far as the drivers are concerned, most of these guys are in their 20s, early 30s, most of them are paid several million pounds to drive the best cars in the world 21 weekends of the year. It doesn’t sound that bad a deal to me. They don’t have to go testing any more. So, if you look at the demands on a driver now, compared to where it was ten or 15 years ago, they’d have been leaving here on Sunday to go straight to Jerez to run around there for three days and then on to the next grand prix. So, life as a grand prix driver, compared to what it used to be, is far more focussed on racing, and they get a lot more free time than they would have done, as I say, ten or fifteen years ago.

    Anything to add Guenther?

    GS: No, I have nothing to add. I think physically it’s no problem for the drivers and, as Christian and Cyril said, life is pretty good for them. So, to do four Sundays more, it wouldn’t bother them.

  • 2017 Hungarian GP: Friday Press Conference Part 2

    2017 Hungarian GP: Friday Press Conference Part 2

    PART TWO: TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Paddy LOWE (Williams), Nick CHESTER (Renault), Paul MONAGHAN (Red Bull)

    Q: Nick, if we can start with you, it’s been a difficult day for Jolyon in particular. Incidents in both of those sessions. What state is his car in now? He had the new floor this morning: how much damage this afternoon?

    Nick CHESTER: Well, we’ve got a little bit of work to do as you can probably guess from seeing the TV, so we’ll be changing his gearbox anyway because we normally change it on a Friday night, so the rear suspension will get refreshed with that. The floor that was damaged this morning will be repaired and that will go on tomorrow, so he’ll have the news-spec floor. To be honest there’s nothing that we’re not used to repairing. We’ll get it all sorted for tomorrow.

    Q: Silverstone a couple of weekends ago was a tremendous weekend for Nico Hülkenberg. The new floor seemed to give a lot of advantages there. Does that translate to even more performance around here? How is the performance of the car?

    NC: From what we’ve seen so far today it looks pretty similar. So, we’re seeing a pretty good performance here. I think Nico was seventh in P2. It’s performing like Silverstone really and we’re seeing that performance gain that we did see at Silverstone.

    Q: Given the different characteristics of the two circuits, is that very encouraging for you?

    NC: It is, yeah, because they’re two circuits that are very far apart, so if you can perform on Silverstone and Hungary, you should be in a reasonable place for the rest of the year.

    Q: And final question from me is about the Halo. Obviously it’s been confirmed that it’s going to be introduced in 2018. Do you see it an aero opportunity, as well as obviously the safety benefits. Are there any performance benefits that could come from it?

    NC: No, not really. I think Halo, for starters, it’s good to have something there that’s going to give the driver more protection and everyone’s behind that and wants to put it on the car for that reason. But in terms of aero, if anything it’s a detriment and, if anything, you have to work around it being fitted to the car. So, I don’t think they’ll be any huge tricks with it.  I think everyone will just want to put it on the car and make it the best they can for the drivers.

    Q: Paddy, you’ve been in this game a long time. Your thoughts on the Halo?

    Paddy LOWE: Yeah, there’s obviously a lot being written about it. It seems to be quite controversial, let’s say. I think it’s worth bearing in mind the context. Probably five or six years ago the TRM themselves had identified that the big risk they could see still in the sport was to the driver’s head and there were a number of near-misses, typically one per year that we all saw go by and thought one day that could end in tragedy. So that was the background to developing a solution, and we ended up here with the best option being the Halo. I know it’s not the most attractive device but I do think it’s the right decision to get it on the car. At least then we’re started, we can always make it better in the future. I’m sure we can improve it year on year but at least we’ve put in place that protection that we intended from the start.

    Q: Looking at today’s performance, difficult day for the team but in fact it’s been a difficult few races for the team and, if you look at the points this year versus last year, you’re on 41 now, at the same stage in 2016 you had 92 points. Obviously it’s a tougher season but where is the performance lacking this year with the FW40?

    PL: Yeah, definitely at the half-term report stage we’re not looking as good as we’d like. We’re very disappointed, the car is quicker than that points table would reflect. I think one of our biggest problems has been that we haven’t been scoring the points we should have done at the track with our speed of car. That’s for a number of different reasons. On top of that, we’ve seen a lot of variation from circuit to circuit. There are places that we significantly under-perform and we really need to have a car that will perform more equally at different destinations, so that’s a big focus for next year.

    Q: Have you ascertained why the car underperformed at those tracks?

    PL: Some of those things we understand, some of them we don’t. So there’s a lot of work to do. But we’re very much hoping we can have a better second half of the season and put some of that right.

    Q: Paul, well a very promising start to the weekend for you guys, particularly with Daniel. Your thoughts on how today’s gone – and what is Daniel saying about the car?

    Paul MONAGHAN: Today offers a lot of encouragement, doesn’t it? Both our drivers seem competitive and sadly we haven’t got 43 points from Friday afternoon. The bit that remains in our control is our car, so we’ll try to work on it overnight, improve it, get the drivers more settled with their setup choices and so on and so forth, and we’ll deploy ourselves tomorrow, keep it in good order and see what our competitiveness is like in qualifying and then obviously on Sunday in the race. That’s about all we can actually do. The pace of our competitors is down to them, isn’t it?

    Q: Is this performance track-specific or are you confident you can go forward and be competitive everywhere now?

    PM: Up until Silverstone I think Daniel had five podiums in a row, didn’t he, so we’ve been competitive at tracks where we thought we might be a bit weaker, we might have thought we might have been a bit better. In general our car is adept at dealing with most of the tracks. Some will suit us a bit more than others. That’s inevitable and that’s something true of all the cars in the pitlane. Coming to this one, OK, some of our weaknesses are masked, others are highlighted, but the bit that remains in our control is our car, and let’s see what we can do with it tomorrow.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport . com) For all three of you please, on the halo: in the briefing yesterday, Charlie was saying that while there are aesthetic objections, you guys have got opportunities with fairings and whatnot to make the device slightly more palatable. I was wondering to what extent you’ve already begun looking at improving the aesthetics and the performance of the halo or is 2018 just going to be spec and move on from there?

    PM: The fairings were, I believe, agreed around about July 2016 or the extent of them. We will make use of the fairings, as Nick alluded to, to reduce the aerodynamic detriment of the halo and I think, beyond that, the aesthetics of it. Yes, if we can have a fairing which reduces some of the aerodynamic detriment and makes it –  to the eye of the beholder, shall we say, slightly more aesthetic, we’ll take that solution but I think the aesthetics of it, it’s not put on there for that reason, is it? It’s put on there as a safety device. We’ll put the fairings on it, we’ll do the work that Nick’s talking about, to reduce the detriment and that will be on for 2018.

    PL: Well, firstly the definition isn’t finally issued yet so we don’t exactly know what opportunities we’ll have but I believe we’ll have the space to minimise the aerodynamic detriment as Nick was saying, and hope within that, generally, we try and find a good aesthetic and these things often go together.

    NC: Not much to add. The fairings are allowed; it’s a fairly small fairing and as Paddy has said, not all of the regulations for fairings are finalised yet. We’ll be doing a little bit to reduce the aerodynamic deficit.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Nick, you’re testing Robert Kubica again on Wednesday. Can I ask you a few questions in one about that? How it initially came about? How long the team had stayed in touch with him? Who contacted who? Why now, after six and a half years? The mental fortitude and struggle it’s taken him to get to this point and what you’ve seen so far about his readiness to return to Formula One? 

    NC: OK. Yeah, quite a few questions there. Yeah, to start off, the background… I must admit I don’t fully know the background or how the contact was made but obviously we know Robert, we know him from when he drove in Renault before. He was a super driver. It’s nice to give him the opportunity to get back in a V8, get some mileage, see how he can handle it and then he’ll get another opportunity in current machinery in the test after Hungary and it’s a good opportunity to see what he can do and whether he can come back to Formula One someday.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) From what you’ve seen so far, what would you say about his readiness and his physical limitations and whether they affect him in the car and what changes you’ve had to make to the car to adapt to those?

    NC: Yeah, well from what we’ve seen so far his mental fortitude is great, he’s pushed very hard to come back. Physically I think he’s passed all of his fitness tests and we’ve had to do very little to the car so he’s actually managed pretty well in a modern F1 car.

    Q: Nick, can you give us any more details about the steering wheel, have you had to make changes to how he changes gear or anything like that? 

    NC: We’ve made some little adaptations but nothing too serious.

    Q: (Roksana Cwik – SwiatWyscigow) Mr Lowe, we saw in the second practice that Felipe had a lot of problems in turns four and five. He also asked for the car to be checked. Can you say something more about those problems?

    PL: Yeah, Felipe did have a couple of spins in P2 which took him by surprise so we are still trying to understand and analyse those. At this point, we haven’t understood it. It was interesting that in that session, a lot of cars were going off at corner entry with very unstable balance so we don’t know whether it might be something to do with the tyres, some general characteristic or not or something to do with our car.

    Q: (Istvan Simon – Auto Magazin) Mr Chester, we have seen a pretty bad accident by Jolyon in free practice when he basically crashed the undertray of the car or the diffuser of the car. Do you know the reason? Was it a driver failure or a failure of the kerbs or anything else? 

    NC: Yeah, I think you’re probably referring to the free practice one accident. Yeah, he ran wide over the kerbs and just… there is a little drop on the outside of the kerbs and that’s enough to bounce the chassis and the floor and the front wing so yeah, it was just enough to rip the front wing off.

    Q: (Istvan Simon – Auto Magazin) Is it the same as we had last year?

    NC: The kerbs are slightly different so there was a single row last year, there’s now a double row so they are different and really the intention is the drivers shouldn’t be going right over the second set of kerbs.

    Q: (Istvan Simon – Auto Magazin) Do you have a spare part for this? 

    NC: Yeah, we do, fortunately. We’ve got a reasonably good stock of front wings and we’re repairing floors for him so we will be in good shape from tomorrow.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) This is primarily for Paul but all three of you please… Even in P1 we saw a spectacular time from Daniel. He was only a couple of hundredths from the lap record, set in 2004 so was it a surprise that the track was so quick, even in P1? But in P2, there didn’t seem to be such a huge track evolution. I mean he only went a little bit better so do you have an explanation for that, did it surprise you that it was already so quick in P1 and why it wasn’t so much quicker in P2? 

    PM: OK. Hungary, as we used to come here years ago, you would see the plumes of dust behind the cars in P1 and there was a huge track evolution. I think to all of our benefits, the track is now superbly cleaned before we start running and as such on the slightly cooler track, if that suits your car and tyres a little bit better, then P1 is an opportunity to operate the car near its limits without being grip limited by dust and so on and exploiting track evolution. Therefore, as the track warms up, it’s not always possible to then have the evolution you typically see from some of the other tracks in P2 and I’m not surprised we didn’t see big steps for the second practice, to be perfectly honest. As for the actual lap time, when you do a simulation, you can obviously factor in an amount of grip on the track; we put in what we think is the aero model, what we think is the engine model, verification actually happens at the track so… Everybody can have a go at their simulation and then we’ll all say yes, we’re on it, or no we’re not or we’re quicker, we’re slower. It doesn’t actually matter. We don’t race the simulation tool. That helps the preparation, it helps everybody and now it’s down to Saturday and Sunday for the competition.

    Q: Paul, can you give us a guesstimate of what you think pole position might be tomorrow? What time?

    PM: I’m not going to do that, no. I’m going to duck that issue on the basis I can’t tell you how fast our competitors’ cars could be and nor am I going to tell you how fast our one can be.

    Q: From Paddy and Nick: any thoughts on the grip level available in FP1 and the track evolution or not?

    PL: Only to say, as Paul was saying, one of the tricky things in modern Formula One is tracking the evolution of the track but what was the track temperatures, these tyres are very sensitive to track temperature. It’s one of the challenges we face and you know that today was no better example.

    NC: Yeah, very similar. I think the cars are very sensitive to tyre temperature. The track temperature came up for the second session and it was a little bit windier as well so I think that made it a bit tougher for some of the drivers.