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  • 2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso)

    Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)

    Rio HARYANTO (Manor)

    Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

    Fernando ALONSO (McLaren)

    Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Fernando, you were here earlier in the year in your capacity as an ambassador for this race. How much has changed since then? 

    Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, a few things have changed then. Obviously the circuit now is ready and all the garage, the pit lane, the grandstands and also the weather! It was quite cold in March and I remember to have two jackets walking on the circuit and now it’s quite hot, windy and the race will be different on that aspect. But I think the job they have done is fantastic. Everything is ready. Also the fans are well into F1 and they are very prepared, very enthusiastic for the race on Sunday and everything is ready for a good show.

    In terms of the layout, which bit looks most interesting? 

    FA: A few things that we need to discover in the car. Obviously walking is always different, in the simulator it’s different, so let’s see. Turn 8, 9 and 10, the narrow section on the uphill will be quite interesting to drive there and see how we can maximise the car limits there. The very unique theme on this circuit is probably the straight-line speed, which will be very high, and to be on a street circuit those kind of speeds will be quite unique. We need to check if it’s really flat out from Turn 16 to Turn 1 or if Turn 19 and 20 you need make a lift there. Anyway, it’s quite interesting and will be for some teams a little bit more painful, probably for us, in terms of the distance on the straight. I should have made some modifications when I came here in March to make it a little bit slower, but that’s the way it is and we will see.

    Thank you Fernando. Valtteri, if we could come on to you. Montreal marked your first podium of the year. How much of a sense of relief was there in the Williams team? 

    Valtteri BOTTAS: It definitely makes a difference to the team, having a good race by the team, with the strategy and pit stop and everything, it was a good weekend, especially Sunday was a very strong performance by us. It always does give a lot of confidence to every single guy in the race team but also at the factory to push even harder. So yeah it is overall a good positive feeling in the team. We know we can do good results, so it’s nice to continue from here.

    Was that result track specific or are we witnessing the start of a mid-season resurgence from Williams?

    VB: Montreal definitely was one of the good tracks for our car, really its within the strengths of the car, but there are still plenty of good races to come. I don’t think this is going to be too bad for us and also the next three races after. I’m pretty sure we can still, with a good weekend, if we keep developing the car, we can fight for the podium and that should be the goal for us as a team.

    Thank you. Rio, if we come to you. You’ve been making steady progress this year. You’ve outqualified your highly-rate team-mate three times. Are you feeling comfortable in the car now? Just give us a resume of how you feel it’s gone so far in 2016? 

    Rio HARYANTO: Yes, I have been progress every time, each race. It feels great to be able to be fighting quite close between the team-mates but our goal is still quite a long way, we wanted to really improve and to get the best results we can for the team.

    Just give us a word on how things are back home in Indonesia, the popularity of Formula One there and how it’s growing?

    RH: I think it’s been really good. The popularity has kept increasing and I believe that as they have broadcast the Formula One races on the national channel the popularity is increasing and I think it’s good for Formula One.

    Thank you. Nico, points finishes at the last two races in Monaco and Montreal. Can we expect to see you continue that rich vein of form here in Baku? 

    Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah, I hope so. Obviously it’s a new venue: no data, no knowledge, no previous laps here, so everybody starts from scratch pretty much, which could be interesting. Obviously the track looks quite exciting, as we’ve all seen now. I think we’ve made a massive step since Barcelona with the car. The upgrade there really made a big change to our game. Since then we’ve really been a points scoring contender on every track, so I feel confident that we can keep it up, yeah.

    You say everybody starts from scratch. Just give us a few words on how a driver prepares for a new race like this. Is there much correlation between the simulator and how much will you be relying on those opening laps tomorrow? 

    NH: I think it’s different from team to team. Some teams have a simulator, they have the track already, we don’t, so for us it’s really going to be starting from scratch, those opening laps are going to be very crucial and important – discovering the track, finding the limit, getting the lines etc. Correlation of simulator, sometimes it’s really good, sometimes not so good. I guess at the end we all have to come here, do the real thing, learn and work from there.

    Thanks. Carlos, coming to you, 20th to ninth last weekend in Canada, how satisfying was that result? 

    Carlos SAINZ: It was very satisfying, especially after the disappointment on Saturday, as you can imagine. To manage to recover well and come back from 20th to ninth was an achievement not only for me but also for the team. We had a bit of a scrappy Sunday in Monaco with some issues on the pit box and all that side and we managed to arrive to Canada and we managed to put on a very good race from the back, with perfect strategy, perfect pit stops and it was a also relief in those terms. Yeah, to manage to split the two Force Indias coming from all the way back was a huge achievement and now we need to keep working, because we need to keep this up and keep going for it.

    How difficult is it going to be to keep it up, because other teams are getting a lot of engine upgrades at the minute? How do you rate the competitiveness of the Toro Rosso now with the year-old Ferrari engine? 

    CS: It’s going to be tough. Already you know… you put an example, in Australia we managed to qualify P5 and P7 and now in places like Canada or Azerbaijan we will struggle to get into Q3, so for sure we are going a bit backwards. We haven’t put that many upgrades on the car since Australia, but thanks to the good effort of the team we are not that much falling back, no? And we are still in the game, we are still fighting for P5 in the Constructors’, with the same car as in Australia, which is a huge achievement, even though you take into account how many upgrades Force India and McLaren are bringing and we are still there trying to hold on.

    OK, thank you. Sebastian, thank you for waiting, on to you. Now, this is a coastal location, there is probably going to be a lot of seagulls around, so how do you think that is going to affect your race?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Well, technically I think it’s a lake; it’s not a sea. I think I read some… before I knew we would be coming here, I read some years ago that it is the biggest lake in the world. So I shouldn’t be afraid of any seagulls. There will be some, but hopefully they won’t sit in front of the car.

    Canada was Ferrari’s most competitive showing of the season. Is that the pace that you have been threatening to do all season or did the upgrades make the difference? 

    SV: For sure, upgrades help. I think everything we brought to Canada – there was a lot of talk about the turbo update – did make a difference, so that was good. But I think it was just a clean weekend in particular, because the weekends before were a bit messy, in particular in qualifying we weren’t able to show the pace or release the pace of the car, so in this regard Saturday was strong. I think we qualified where the car belongs and on Sunday we had a trouble-free race. Obviously we were able to put Lewis under a lot of pressure, because simply the speed was. I think you just seem to a nicer and easier Sunday where you can do your thing if Saturday goes well and this has to remains the target. As for here, as we’ve been through, it’s a completely new track, but it looks very, very exciting, so I’m very much looking forward to it.

    Would you say that Canada was Ferrari’s cleanest weekend of the year so far? 

    SV: Well, certainly for me it was. I think it’s also a track where last year we have been fairly competitive. It’s probably right to say the characteristics suit us, but I think we should be strong everywhere to be honest, so yeah, the weekends before weren’t entirely clean.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport-total.com) I realise that this is a hypothetical question but if you put all the drivers in the same car on an average track like Barcelona, what do you think would be the difference between the fast and slowest driver? And Sebastian, after Canada, did you have an offer from the World Wildlife Fund or PETA or similar organisations?

    SV: No. I start on the first question. I don’t think it would be much, a lot less than what we see now, we know that. I think Formula One has always been like that. I don’t know, to give you and idea, I’d probably say half a second.

    Would you agree with that Fernando? If you were all in the same car – half a second? 

    FA: Very difficult question, I don’t know… maybe.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how would you rank this latest podium of yours compared to the eight previous ones and how much that meant for you personally? 

    VB: I actually think, yeah, that must have been one of my best ones, because it was one of my best races. I think that was the feeling after the race. I managed to get that long stint to work, with consistent lap times, and you just do feel as a driver when you do a good race compared to some of the other races and I had this feeling after. But it’s difficult to say exactly which one is the best, but of course I’m not too pleased because I want to win races. I’m not 100% satisfied with being third. That’s always the goal. But, of course, it’s been a difficult season for us so that’s a good result for everyone, for me, but we definitely want more.

    Q: (Joe Saward – Auto X) Just a question about this circuit: it’s very, very fast, did the drivers get any input on the design? Because Turn Three, for example, you’re going in there at very high speed and there’s about 50m of run-off area. Do you have any thoughts about the circuit, or were you involved at all?

    FA: No, obviously we don’t get involved in any of the layout or any of the decisions but, yeah, there are some corners that probably we will talk about. Some others that we need to go on the car first and see how they feel. We saw Singapore also making some small modifications to some corners year after year until we find a good compromise. I guess it’s going to be quite similar here. I think next year maybe some tweaks can be done after we go in the car. But yeah, in terms of safety I think FIA, y’know, ran many simulations in terms of how to make the run-off area safe enough. Obviously some of them are more than enough, some of them, maybe they look small but it’s always better than Monaco, for example. It cannot be any worse than that.

    Does anyone have anything else to add. Nico?

    NH: No, perfect answer.

    Q: (Oana Popoiou – Fanzone) Rio, could you tell us how much a driver can learn while racing for a team that struggles in terms of performances?

    RH: I think as a rookie you can certainly learn a lot on your first year with a team like Manor. I think this year they have made huge progress, a huge step compared to last year and certainly in some occasions we’ve been able to race with some other teams as well, like Sauber and Renault – so I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – Autohebdo sport) A question for Fernando and for Carlos. Question is very simply: who will be the first Spanish driver in the table at the end of the championship?

    CS: Hopefully me! I don’t know. It looks tough because Honda keeps bringing upgrades, McLaren keep improving and improving so we will not know where they will end up at the end of the year. But obviously I will try to do my best to keep it up there. I think now we are equal? More or less same points. If we’ve been ahead for seven races and he’s still fighting with us – it means it could be a good fight from now on until the end of the year.

    Fernando, will you be ahead?

    FA: We’ll see obviously. I would be happy if Carlos is ahead this year and I’m able to fight for the championship next one. It’s not a huge satisfaction to finish ninth or tenth or whatever. Definitely I will be in front of Carlos at the end of the year anyway! I miss two races this year and we are equal so…

    Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Question for Sebastian and Fernando: any concerns about the pit entry here because it looks as though it’s a pretty fast approach and then it’s a chicane before you get to the speed limit. Any concerns about that?

    SV: No, actually I don’t understand why this has been the second type of question of the same nature. I walked the track and I was looking on the track, not so much on the runoffs. I think it looks exciting. I’m thrilled to get in the car tomorrow and excited to get out and get a feel. Pit entry looks a challenge – but then again I think that’s why we’re here. And, as I say, I certainly have the plan to stay on track and not use the run-off or the off-track.

    FA: Same. Let’s see in the car, how it is. Similar to Brazil a couple of years ago maybe, and some other pit entries. It was no problem.

    Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) I would like to know, from all of you, in normal conditions in a new track how many laps do you need in a new track to find the limit?

    VB: Well, to find the absolute limit you won’t be able to build up all those small details until the qualifying really. Normally in qualifying you manage to do the best lap of the weekend – but you get very close to that very quickly, I think, with all the preparation we can do nowadays: simulator etc., In Practice One you already have, after the first run, second run you are already very close to the optimal lap time you can do in those kind of conditions. It’s not that long.

    Nico, you don’t have access to a simulator. How long until you’ll be exploring the limits tomorrow?

    NH: I don’t know. At a guess after ten laps you have a really good idea of the track. You have it in your mind by then. You know what’s coming. From there onwards it’s work-in-progress really. You keep finding little bits here and there. The track will progress as well: there will be more rubber so it will keep moving on and go faster and faster, so you just have to go with that. But, I think, to give you a number, ten laps and you’re at a pretty good level.

    Fernando. Ten laps for you as well?

    FA: Two!

    SV: I do it in one and a half!

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) To all drivers. From the exit of bend 12 to the braking of 15 you have bend number 13 & 14 in the middle. Looks like flat-out all the time and wall both sides: like oval in principle but in a straight circuit. Would you comment on that please?

    CS: From the laps I did on the simulator, looks like it could well be flat with some good walls waiting for you. Maybe behind a car with a bit less downforce it becomes more tricky. But the interesting part, I think, comes after those two flat-out corners. That is a good downhill that you brake and turn that is, again, not much run-off area so I remember the simulator being quite tricky there and hopefully it stays the same tomorrow and is a challenging corner. The more challenges at the end you face, the more exciting it is for the driver, the more open to mistakes also for the driver, and maybe the more exciting qualis and races that we have. Looks definitely an interesting point on the track.

    Sebastian?

    SV: Well, again, I’m trying to look at what’s coming rather than what I pass. I think the whole part there looks very exciting, starting from Turn Eight. Basically going around the old town. It’s nice to see, when I walk the track, it’s quite some gradient. It goes up, there should be a blind apex around 10-11, which is a big challenge and then obviously those two corners you mentioned at fairly high speed. In terms of safety standards, I think they’ve done everything they could. I’m a lot happier to have the wall that close to the track rather than have a run-off and then some tyres or something waiting for you. Plus there’s a safer wall which is working well, also in tracks like Brazil. I think in that regard should be fine. And the whole bit leading around the old part of the city looks quite spectacular. Hopefully it feels like that as well.

    Q: (Jose Carlos Carabias – Journal ABC) Question for Fernando. In this moment of the season do you believe in your car or are you thinking in the next year?

    FA: I think a little bit of both. Obviously we want to be fighting for the World Championship. We are not in that position this year and we are making, I think, progress and we are moving in the right direction to achieve that goal in the future but still a long way to go for us. Definitely we need to think on next year’s car, next year’s project and put some focus on there and try to be more competitive next year. At the same time we cannot forget 2016 yet because we are only in June, many races to come, many good possibility to score points, to go a little bit higher on the Constructors’ Championship that will help the team also for next year. And some of the progress and updates we can bring this year will be quite useful for next year as well. Especially on the power unit side. That doesn’t change so much in the regulations. So, still working on both projects and still very motivated to score many points this year and to do a good season.

    Q: (Alex Popov – Match TV) This is to all drivers about the ultrasofts, because we used it for two consecutive races, Monaco and Montreal, so how much did you rate it and will you miss these tyres here? 

    NH: It’s difficult to say without having done a lap here but personally I’m always a fan of the softer compound because they simply give you more grip, especially on one lap in qualifying, so it’s more fun, naturally. I think they performed quite well in Monaco and Montreal. Here we just have to work with what we’re given but we know it’s not here.

    VB: Not a lot to add really. Of course it gives you more grip which is nice but on the other hand it wears more and it’s completely unknown if it would be any use here. I doubt it a little bit, because of the track temperature. It’s difficult to say.

    SV: Well, I think it was working fine, the grip is high, the principal problem that we had in the last Grands Prix to be fair was that it was cooler than we all expected. We raced in Monaco, it was wet and it was only just shy of 20 degrees ambient. We raced in Canada, it was quite cool, again, so I think the tyre will work better when it’s hotter. I think that’s what it’s made for. Here it should be hot, it shouldn’t be wet but given that it’s the first year, the first race here, it’s unknown how the track is and how the stress on the tyres will be, I think you can understand the choice. For sure, as a driver, the softer the tyres, the quicker you go, the more fun you have so in this regard maybe we miss it but it should be fine with the tyres we have.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoEsporte.com) We have a uncommon situation of a straight of 2000 meters. I would like to hear your comment about that, concerning the brake temperature, the tyres and mainly the DRS that you’re going to use in the middle of the straight. 

    FA: Well, I think all the circuits have their own unique features and this one will be the longest straight in the calendar, the longest straight on any circuit in the world, so that will be challenging in terms of set-up of the car and making your preference in terms of downforce and the settings so that will be a good thing, I think, for F1 and yeah, I don’t have any concerns about brakes or anything like that, so I think it’s OK. Definitely Monaco is Monaco, a very unique circuit and a very unique event. Singapore: racing at night and all the things that are unique there. Valencia was a little bit of a unique circuit and with unique features and here in Baku it’s a similar thing. All the street circuits have one thing and the long straight will be this one, I think we will talk about it with Baku.

    VB: I don’t think it’s too bad for us, that kind of straight but of course we need to see. Of course, this track with that long straight it makes it more difficult because for that straight we probably need to run a little bit less downforce so it means that you’re maybe struggling slightly more in the corners but you need to find a good compromise and I’m sure that’s what everyone is going to focus on quite a lot in practice, to find the right set-up in terms of aero.

    Q: Carlos, with that year-old Ferrari power unit, are you going to have to trim the car quite heavily down this long straight? 

    CS: I don’t know, maybe we need to take off the rear wing! It could be a challenge for us, for sure. We will be working a lot on the set-up to try to find a good compromise but you know in Canada we were expecting to be weak and we were not at all weak, we actually had really good pace in the race, so it doesn’t mean that because of that long straight here we cannot compensate with our good car, our good package and be strong. Obviously we are not going to be as fast as in Monaco or Barcelona for sure but hopefully we can still fight the teams that we are fighting now – Force India, McLaren – for those top ten positions.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Question to Seb and Fernando as the most experienced guys here and especially Fernando as an ambassador. I know this is likely to be a slightly unpopular question because you’re here to compete, first and foremost, but the race does take place against the wider backdrop and several respected organisations have been critical of the human rights situation here in Baku. Unlike in Bahrain, I don’t think anyone’s calling for a boycott or anything like that, they just ask leading figures in the sport to offer their views on the situation and whether they would ever criticise the regime here. I just wonder if that’s anything that even enters your head before a race or if that’s something you would ever get involved in? Did you think about politics at all before you agreed to be an ambassador for the race here?

    FA: Well, I think we completely rely on the FIA in terms of the places and the venues we race. On that aspect – at least in my case – I think we never think any further than that. I totally put all my trust and my confidence on the federation and on the decisions that they make. If we are racing here it’s because everything was good for them and so it’s good for us. We are promoting the sport around the world and we are promoting the values of the sport around the world and that will always be welcome in any country.
    SV: Well said, nothing to add.

    Q: (Joe Saward – AutoX) Just to ask each one of you, how many simulated laps have you done of this track so we get an idea of who’s done what? 

    RH: Well yes, I think firstly it’s good for track familiarisation and secondly again, we don’t know much what to expect but it’s good to have a rough idea of the long straights and the corners.

    Q: (Joe Saward – AutoX) Just a number, number of laps? 

    RH: About 80 laps.

    NH: (Indicates none)

    CS: Good question, around 80, 100, it’s quite a long track so you cannot do many.

    VB: I don’t know the exact number but I think more than a race distance, plus a couple of laps running.

    FA: I didn’t make any, zero.

    SV: One this morning and in the simulator, between 50 and 100, I don’t remember. Maybe 70, something like that.

    Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport Total.com) Obviously this weekend Le Mans is going on, the 24 hour race and this is a question to Fernando and Nico in particular. Are you going to follow the race and if so, do you have any favourites as to who is going to win it? 

    NH: You ask if I have a favourite or not? Obviously I’m supporting Porsche and my guys from last year. I’ll be quite busy here but I’ll follow it as much as I can and tune in or watch the live ticker and try to follow it a little bit.

    FA: Yeah, same, perfect answer!

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Seb, people talk about winning teams, like Mercedes, they get in the groove, they get used to different situations arising and conversely, people talk about a team forgetting how to win. Do you think there’s any merit in that argument whatsoever, people saying that because Ferrari haven’t been winning ten races a year for the last five years they become a bit less agile in dealing with situations at the front? 

    SV: Well, I don’t know about other teams but I disagree when it comes to us. Obviously I joined the team last year and I think it’s a very strong team and I think in the end the mentality is responsible for the fact whether you win or not. Ultimately, obviously, every day you can chose one hundred different reasons. First of all, if you’re competitive enough or not, usually that’s one of the main reasons but in terms of mentality, I see a team full of winning people. I think there’s definitely the desire to win from everyone involved. This is also one of the things that makes me very confident that we will start winning sooner or later. Of course the ambition for anyone involved is always to win, some achieve it and some don’t and there are reasons for that, as I said. If you look at the cars’ performance etc which will help you or not but I think what really makes you a winner is not just the fact that you have a car that’s quick enough, it’s the people that operate the car ultimately and in this regard I think we’re a very very strong team. We can be stronger, so there’s stuff that we can learn and will always have to learn but I haven’t seen a winner yet – a winning team or a winning person – that has learned all the lessons in life or everything there is to learn and in this regard we’re complete. I think naturally if you look at our sport, the way it’s changing, evolving etc, there’s always things that you can learn as a team. There’s definitely things you can learn as a driver, how to drive the car so yeah, I think this never stops but I think it’s the mentality that is most responsible for whether you make it or not.

  • FIA post-race press conference – Singapore GP

    FIA post-race press conference – Singapore GP

    DRIVERS: 1 – Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari); 2 – Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull); 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Eddie Jordan) 

    Q: Sebastian, was this you best ever race, or one of?

    Sebastian Vettel: It must be one of; I think it was pretty intense. Obviously we had a bit of a breather with the safety car. Still, lots of pressure from behind. I think Daniel had a very good race, looking after his tyres very well, which made it a bit tactical towards the end with the stints. Second stint I was dictating the pace. Obviously around here it’s not so easy to overtake, so I was using that. And from then, at some point, chipping away, trying to control the gap. Fortunately that worked. It’s obviously a great day; we had a really great weekend, thanks to the team.

    Q: So, we want to know also, because on Friday a little bird told me you were quietly confident, you thought you had a lot left over, and then you did that magic qualifying lap yesterday; you kind of showboated a bit didn’t you, you just wanted to rub it in, to see how good you were?

    Sebastian Vettel: Not really. Friday was not perfect I would say but we improved the car overnight, which was very important and then we picked up so much pace. The car was fantastic yesterday with one lap. Amazing the feeling I got; so much adrenalin in qualifying. And the same today. I was able to look after my tyres, control the pace, so all in all a perfect weekend so very, very happy.

    Q: I’m coming back to you, don’t you worry. Daniel Ricciardo, ladies and gentleman. Looks like you’re a bit of a local boy here? There are a lot of Aussie flags here. You have a lot of support. Come on let’s hear you. Come on you can tell me, I know he’s your old team-mate but he did back you up didn’t he? He did try to stumble you. He wanted you to let go, so that Kimi could pass you?

    Daniel Ricciardo: I think Seb experimented a bit today. The start of the race he just went, but realised towards the end of the stint I was coming. I think if wasn’t for the safety car it would have got pretty close in terms of the pit stop – maybe an undercut was possible. But, yeah, then the second stint seemed like he had learned for the first, backed us up and then just went after that. I think both safety cars came out at a pretty crucial time. Nonetheless, his pace was good and it was quite representative of qualifying, you know. We seemed to be the two quickest cars today.

    Q: You talk about being the quickest car: were you surprised, because you targeted this race didn’t you? You always thought that Red Bull would be strong here.

    Daniel Ricciardo: Yeah, it’s really good to back it up. We came in here pretty confident. I’m always careful not to be overconfident but yeah I think the pace we showed all weekend was strong. The race pace was good; I think we matched Seb, so we’ve got to be pretty happy with this weekend. It’s nice again to capitalise; Budapest we had a chance and we’ve done it again here.

    Singapore GP Podium, Kimi RaikkonenQ: Kimi, hot race. Last time you were on the podium it was in Bahrain and this is the first time this year we’ve seen the two Ferrari drivers on the podium. Is this the sign of the future?

    Kimi Raikkonen: Obviously we hope that. I must say Friday was fine for me and yesterday we struggled for whatever reason and I didn’t expect much better today. I was a bit surprised to finish third yesterday with how difficult the car felt and today was a struggle again but obviously we had enough speed to be in third place but I had no chance to do anything about the first two. I could follow them at the beginning but once my tyres dropped off that just went. It wasn’t that nice to have that kind of difficulties but you know we still finished third and when you have a bad few days and you finish third it’s pretty good and for the team nice and hopefully we can repeat them.

    Q: I just ask you one tiny question: how many starts did you do on the simulator after Monza?

    Kimi Raikkonen: Two.

    Q: That’s not what I heard. He’s lying to us. Seb, you must love this place, don’t you? Four-time winner here. What is it about Singapore? 

    Sebastian Vettel: The party on Sunday night I guess.

    Q: Are you going to party tonight? 

    Sebastian Vettel: I think we will have some drinks, yes, definitely. My drinks bottle failed half-way through the race, so I’m quite thirsty. We need to make sure we….

    Q: What’s the plan now? Six races left. Can Ferrari really take it to Mercedes?

    Sebastian Vettel: If we have more weekend like this, yes. But all we have to do is look after ourselves, maximum attack and then what they do is not in our hands. We still have a small chance, maybe we can make the impossible possible; we’ll definitely go for it.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Singapore GP Podium, Sebastian VettelQ: Sebastian, obviously you controlled the race throughout, from your first Ferrari pole position. First stint you attacked from the outset; beginning of the second stint you did the opposite and were pacing yourself. How did you perceive the threat from Hamilton and Rosberg at that point of race? You then speeded up and how much did losing the lead, on the one hand, to the two safety cars balance out against the fact that in both cases you were able to stop under the safety car? How did that help you? 

    Sebastian Vettel: First it was fairly simple: you drive a bit into the unknown, so I was trying to put a gap. I was surprised by the opening laps to put five seconds straight away. Then eased off; probably was pushing a bit hard at the beginning, which allowed Daniel to just be that two, three, four tenths quicker at the end. Obviously I had a bit of margin left but the safety car answered all the questions about the first stop. And the same for the second stop. I think it was pretty straightforward when to stop, because you obviously take the advantage of losing less time through the pit lane. I did pretty much the opposite on the second stint. I knew that it’s impossible for Daniel, for anyone, to go 40-odd laps on the prime tyre, it will just fall apart at the end, so I think some 35 or 36 laps to go, I knew we were approaching the pit stop window plus. I knew that one of the Mercedes was on the prime tyre, which obviously allows them to be on the option for the final stint, so I said, ‘OK a couple of laps to go’. When the pit stop window more of less opened for the final stint, allowing to finish on the prime, to go for it, open a gap, put some three or four seconds between me and Daniel, so that we can react in case he dives into the pits and he doesn’t get the undercut. So it worked pretty well. I was controlling the pace in the second stint for a while and then, as I said, went for it. In the last stint I knew that with the prime they were a bit more resilient – obviously the safety car answered all the questions, as I said, and I could maintain the gap. I wanted to put, fairly quickly, two or three seconds between us, to make sure that Daniel doesn’t get too excited, to try and attack in the end. And it worked. I new that the prime tyre would favour us probably a bit – and it did. At the end we faced some traffic but he never really got close, so I could control the end fairly well.

    Q: Very well done. Daniel, your best result of the season so far. After the first stint your engineer said that your pace and degradation were both very good, so was there any optimism at any point that you might get the win today or did both stops coming under the safety car put paid to chance of doing something with strategy that might have helped you? 

    Daniel Ricciardo: I think that sort of dictated the race really. I’m not saying there were any guarantees but I think in the first stint we were coming on quite strong. It was obvious Seb pushed pretty hard at the beginning to break let’s say the DRS and all of that, but then as the laps were ticking down we were starting to come alive, I was able lean on the tyres a bit more and I could see it was working in my hands. So when I saw the safety car come out I was a bit frustrated, but I knew there was one more stop in the race, so I knew there was one more chance to do the same thing, replicate the same, let’s say, procedure. Seb learned a little bit from the first stint – started off a little bit easier in the second stint, then broke away. Then I think again as the laps ticked down I was probably able to make the tyres last a bit better on the option and close in, but then safety car again. So, thanks to the guy on the track, appreciate it. I was tempted to swerve, clip him! That was that and then with the prime, as Seb said, that was pretty much it. It’s hard to overtake here but we tried to do what we could. We just got the fastest lap at the end, so we proved our pace all weekend. I’m proud of that. Good to get another podium. Really happy for the team. As I said yesterday they’ve done a really good job, particularly the last couple of races I think the chassis has really come alive, so thank you to them for that. So, yeah, congrats to Seb, it was a good race.

    Q: Kimi, your 79th career podium. On the radio you were getting messages about the tyres being out of range and bringing them back into range. Is that what prevented you from doing more today?

    Kimi Raikkonen: No, not really. I think for whatever reason yesterday morning already in the practice we had difficult handling with the car and then through qualifying it was not exactly what we wanted and was a bit surprised to still be third. Obviously it was good, with all the difficulties I felt. It kept happening in the race. Obviously when you have new tyres the car’s more or less OK and then Sebastian was not pushing on the second set and the last set, the stints, it was quite easy but once we started to push I started to struggle straight way with the same issues with the rear end. It obviously was a bit tricky race but in the end with the difficulties we’ve had in the last few days we still finished third. It’s OK. It’s not ideal but I’ll take it and, for the team, it’s a great result. Hopefully we can improve on this and all the areas and try to keep it going for longer and longer and build on this one again. I think we’ve done an amazing job as a team and we keep doing the same things, I’m sure we’re going as a team the right direction and we get where we want to be in the end, for the future. So I think it was OK. Not ideal but I’ll take it.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) Seb, just talk us through, from your perspective, what it was like when the man came on the track. What did you see? I guess that kind of thing is pretty worrying from your seat.

    Singapore GP Podium, Sebastian VettelSebastian Vettel: I don’t know. I had to look again because I wasn’t sure whether I had a problem with my eyesight or I saw somebody crossing the track. I went on the radio and said “some guy’s running across the track!” I think I saw him taking a picture. I don’t know. I hope it was a good one at least. I hope it was in focus! Yeah, pretty crazy, we approach that corner at around 280-290klicks so, I don’t know, I wouldn’t cross the track if I was him. It was crazy, obviously, and we had a Safety Car straight away. Maybe in the next year we need to block the Singapore grandstands a bit better. Fortunately nothing happened to us and nothing happened to him – as far as I know. The other guys didn’t see him, so I was the first one to come around.

    [off-mic follow up]

    Sebastian Vettel: Not necessarily. I think he did a pretty good job. He was a quick runner, crossing from the right to the left but yeah, pretty odd. Obviously that’s not what you expect when you come around, looking into the next corner.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) I have been waiting for a while to ask this question: to Sebastian and Kimi, does it feel any different to be first time as team-mates in the podium compared to previous times?

    Sebastian Vettel: Honest answer: no. I’ve always liked Kimi because from the very first day I joined Formula One he was one of the guys who showed me most respect. There were other guys who lost a little bit the ground under their feet but Kimi was definitely not one of them. At that time I was nobody in F1 and he was a great champion already. It was great to see that he pays that much respect. And since that day he hasn’t changed. I think people love him for the fact that there’s no bullshit – as he often quotes – he’s here for the racing bit and that’s ultimately why we’re all here: we love racing. So, I don’t know, I think we get along well. Obviously I had a better day, compared to him today – but if it’s the other way around I think it’s only fair to be as fair as him today.

    And Kimi, does it feel any different to you to be team-mates for the first time on the podium?

    Kimi Raikkonen: Maybe a little bit. Obviously you try to beat your team-mates. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win but I think in the end you are happy the team did well. So, I’d rather be with him in the same team and he wins and I’m in a third place than he’s in another team other than Ferrari. So obviously it’s a win-win situation. I didn’t have the best few days but I mean, fair enough, he was faster and I can take the third place and we try next weekend again and I’m sure we will have other good battles in the future and I think, as a team, we work well. And that’s the most important thing. If there would ever come a day when we have issues, then we can talk about it and sort it out. Not a big deal about it but we’re working well. I’m happy for him and for the team first of all that we can have a good result. Obviously we want always better but it’s going in the right direction for all of us.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Daniel, despite a good race you had today, at the moment your team doesn’t have an engine for next year and it doesn’t look like there’s a solution tomorrow on the table. Are you worried? And then, obviously to Seb, what would you say if Red Bull would drive similar engines, the same engines as you next year?

    Daniel Ricciardo: I think it’s… now I’m not worried. I think we’ve still got time. It’s not December yet, so if we’re in this position in December then, maybe I’m a bit worried. Maybe I’m facing a year of getting paid to do nothing.

    Sebastian Vettel: You renewed your contract?

    Daniel Ricciardo: Yeah! I don’t know how that would feel but for sure I want to be here, want to be racing. Obviously I’m at a bit of a peak of my career, I’m learning all the time but enjoying it and want to keep racing definitely and keep racing at the front. So, firstly it’s great to be back on the podium and fighting where I want to be fighting. For next year, in time it will get solved. Obviously the sooner the better for everyone to start working and preparing the car for next year. Obviously it depends on what engine you have: you design the car around that, the set of geometry of the engine – but yeah, we’ll see how we go in the next few weeks, hopefully we’ll get an answer.

    And your part of that question Seb?

    Sebastian Vettel: Well, it’s not in my hands. Obviously I think Daniel answered that question fairly well. I think as a racing driver you want to race and not worry about these kind of things. I cannot really provide him with an engine, I’m not making the decisions. It’s other people to ask… and probably the champagne hits more than I thought so it’s maybe better for me to shut up at this point!

    Daniel Ricciardo: Do you want some water?

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and SpeedSport Magazines) Daniel, looking at the shorter term, as you say, the chassis has really come alive. On which of the upcoming tracks do you think you will be able to really exploit that and get a good result? 

    Daniel Ricciardo: I think this was our best chance, so we got close. I think we can still be proud of what we did this weekend. As I said on the podium, I think it’s good that we – in a way – capitalise or make the most of our opportunities. This year, I believe we have had two: Budapest and here and we’ve got podiums in those races. A bit like last year, when we had the chance to win we did. I still think we’re maximising everything we’ve got at the moment. Moving forward, Suzuka is normally a good track for us. I don’t think we can expect as strong a performance as here but we can still look at the top five and maybe better. Then after that, I’m not sure. Mexico is new for everyone, so we will see how that goes but I was there already and they’ve got a pretty long straight, so I’m not sure how that will play in our hands. Yeah, looking forward to the last part of the season. Austin’s pretty good so yes, see how we get on.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, after Bahrain it took eight races for you to get a podium. Does it feel any better now after that kind of long wait? 

    Kimi Raikkonen: No, not really. I have mixed feelings, you know. I am happy to be in third place after how difficult it’s felt in the last two days with some issues that we had. But it’s disappointing in that on Friday we knew that we were faring pretty well and then to get third place is fine but it’s not what we are here for. It’s a bit mixed feelings but I think I take the third place. We’ve had some other chances to be on the podium quite a few times but either I made a mistake or something else happened. It’s been a bit of an up and down year but hopefully we keep building, we learn a lot and obviously we are still some way to go to be exactly where we want to be. It’s getting there and to be happy as a team in what we’re doing I think the team should get a big big thanks from everyone, from us, for what a great job they are doing for us. Obviously the things that we are doing are definitely going in the right direction. For the future it is the good way. We just have to have some patience to build on this.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, this is your third win in your first season with Ferrari as Michael had in 1996 and one more than Senna. Does it mean something special for you? 

    Sebastian Vettel: One more than? Was Senna ever with Ferrari? No. Ah, overall you mean. I think I could consider myself the luckiest racing driver in the world if there were as many race wins to come as there was with Michael. I don’t think you can really draw that comparison. In all fairness, I think the car he had in 1996 was a lot worse than what we have this year which shows again what a great racing driver he was. I don’t know. I think looking back it has been incredible. You know the way I was growing up, I just enjoyed racing and then to find myself nowadays having a teammate that I looked up to when I was young, racing him and seeing what he does, racing on a similar level to him and racing other guys that are really great like Daniel, like Lewis, like Nico. I can consider myself very very lucky that I got in a position always to have a great team around me, the last couple of years, and keep going that way. As Kimi described in his answer before, I think looking at our current situation with Ferrari, things are definitely improving. I think the spirit is very high in the team. I haven’t been with the team in the last couple of years but as far as I have learned, it’s a lot better so I think the direction is the right one and obviously we are very happy with today’s result, very happy with the car this year in general but not yet where we want to be. We know that there’s still a lot of work to do so expectations are already fairly high but I think they are always, especially in Italy, when you talk about Ferrari. So we have to keep our feet on the ground because there’s still a lot of homework to do.

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawke’s Bay Today) Just adding to that, Sebastian, 42 wins, you’re third now in the all-time list behind Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher. Do you think you will stay around long enough to obviously surpass Prost’s record but what about Schumacher’s record? Is that in your sights or do you not think about it? 

    Sebastian Vettel: Well, I think, to be honest, Prost’s is in sight somehow. I’m 28 so I’m not the youngest any more especially if the kids start racing at 17 now. But Michael’s is just ridiculous: number of wins, number of poles, number of fastest laps. I think all the statistics you can go for you compare yourself to him or anyone to him, so I think that’s far away. So if you have 23 corners in Singapore, I consider myself being in turn one and Michael in turn 23. I’m not really looking at that. As I said, I’m having a great time. I think I can consider myself very lucky and blessed the way things have turned out. I’ve always had a more or less competitive car, competitive team, so if it keeps going that way then I can consider myself very lucky.

    Q: (Don Kennedy – Hawke’s Bay Today) Damon Hill was 35 when he won the championship so you’ve got plenty of time. 

    Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, and Michael still kept racing some years ago when he was 43. I think Kimi is now 33, 34, 35, 36! OK. I think it’s impossible to predict the future. I think we are now on a good track with the team, Kimi and myself, so I think we’ve got some years ahead of us which we can enjoy. In a way you can forget the statistics, I think the most important thing is the sheer fun in life and get paid for it, that’s a great thing.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you: do you think that the fact that there is no Mercedes driver on the podium this weekend is only Singapore track-related or is it the fact that Ferrari and Red Bull are progressing? 

    Daniel Ricciardo: I think for us it’s very much track-related. With all that being said, we expected to be strong here. I think we’re all surprised that Mercedes – or at least one of them – isn’t up here or not even… OK, I think Rosberg was fourth but we never really saw them all race in the mirrors or in qualifying so definitely an off weekend for them. I expect them to be back in Suzuka but for whatever reason, if it is that we’ve made so much progress – Ferrari and us – then obviously hopefully you will see us up here a few more times this year.

    Kimi Raikkonen: It’s hard to say obviously. I feel as a team Ferrari did the same thing that we do going into every race weekend. I don’t feel that we really made something magic, it’s not like that we did something really different to other race weekends. We are there. I think we were more surprised at the last race in Monza to be that close to the Mercedes and maybe that shows us that we made a step there and maybe we just kept doing the same things here. But it’s very hard to say what they did. I think everybody’s surprised where they’ve been all weekend and who knows what happens in the next race. We can see from the last race to this race has been completely different. I think it’s better to wait and see what happens in Suzuka.

    Sebastian Vettel: Big surprise, so same as Daniel and Kimi. I guess they should be back in Suzuka. If they’re not, in all honesty we don’t mind.

    Photo Credits:

    Singapore GP podium images, FOM / F1.com

     

     

  • Austrian Grand Prix Post-race Press Conference

    Austrian Grand Prix Post-race Press Conference

    Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa faced both Gerhard Berger and the media after Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix. Transcripts of the podium interviews as well as the post-race press conference below.

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Gerhard Berger)

    Nico congratulations. My first question is: Nico why you don’t drive every race like this?

    Nico Rosberg: I will try from now on, I promise!

    I have to say you did a brilliant start, that’s where you really made it until the first corner, and then I saw you coming into the pits and I say ‘shit, that’s really on the limit’. You blocked all four wheels; you went sideways on the line, just. I say ‘well, that’s close to a penalty’ but you did it well. You were pushing from the first [corner] until the end. Tell us how did you feel it and how do you feel today?

    Nico Rosberg: It’s an awesome feeling, of course, to win again here. Very, very happy. The start made the race. It was a great start and I managed to defend in the first couple of corners and then I really just tried to push flat out this time. I was really happy with the car and happy to see the gap open up to Lewis, so it really worked out perfectly today.

    Well done, Lewis…

    Nico Rosberg: Nico, but it’s easy to confuse us!

    Ah, Nico. Well done, let’s go to Lewis.

    austrian-gp-nico-rosberg-lewis-hamiltonLewis, you are one of the quickest guys I’ve ever seen in Formula One. You are really great. You have a quick car. But you must say, well, that you have a headache in the team. Whenever, you think you are just going away, winning the championship, he’s coming back again and he’s fighting back and again and keep you honest. I think it’s great to watch you both…

    Lewis Hamilton: It’s great to see your enthusiasm man. It’s really great to see your enthusiasm. Nico did a fantastic job today. At the end of the day, he was quicker during the race. I had a really bad start, which obviously lost me ground and after that I was just really pushing as hard as I could. I think in the second stint it was really just about making the distance and that’s what I was trying to do.

    We are watching you and you guys are really giving everything – you can see lap-by-lap, it’s qualifying every lap. I think it’s really great to see you both fighting since the karting time up to the Formula One.

    Lewis Hamilton: It’s been a long time.

    Well done, Lewis, keep pushing.

    Lewis Hamilton: Thank you.

    Felipe – old men! When I saw Sebastian catching you, I said, ‘well, Felipe is very, very experienced, has a Mercedes engine in the back, he’s going to be very difficult to overtake’. So Sebastian is waiting always for a mistake or a problem on the Mercedes side and Felipe is always just in the back of Sebastian on the Ferrari, see how he can put himself into next position. He did a fantastic job. But you are every year going extremely well here in Austria. What is it motivating you here? Is it the dirndls of the girls on the starting grid?

    Felipe Massa: Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. For sure it’s great people here supporting. It’s always fantastic to be here. I think it was a fantastic race today. So we managed to get Sebastian, with his problem that he had in his pit stop, which I didn’t see, I don’t know what’s happened, but I managed to pass him there. I understood that maybe at the end of the race he would be behind me, because they were maybe one or two tenths quicker every lap. At the end he got there and I juts managed to keep the line and not making any mistake, just using a little bit of experience and I’m so happy. It was an amazing race and it was a fantastic result for the whole team, so happy.

    I think, Felipe, there was a lot of experience involved, because I saw you fighting the tyres, you were a little bit off-line already in some corners but you kept in front. Well done.

    Felipe Massa: Thank you.

    POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, many congratulations, a fantastic start from you, set you up for that win. You did sound a little worried on the radio towards the end. That chequered flag couldn’t come soon enough I guess?

    Nico Rosberg: It was just a vibration picking up on the right front. So, just telling them to keep an eye on it – but it was fine in the end. It sort-of stabilised so it was not a problem. It just came from the tyre wear and just feels a bit uncomfortable when that happens – but, no, it was all fine.

    Q: You’ve got a one hundred per cent record around this track that a lot of people describe as ‘difficult’. Why is it you’re so good around here?

    Nico Rosberg: I don’t know if there’s a trend on this track or anything. It’s just today was just a great day. Good start and then good pace also in the race – and that’s what I’m most happy about. The car felt good, I was able to push from the first lap onwards all the way, so that’s cool. I think this year I found what I needed to find last year in terms of race, y’know, and just doing a little bit better in the races and that’s really working out for me this year.

    Q: Lewis, a tough start for you, not the start you would have wanted. Just talk us through how your race unfolded from there.

    Lewis Hamilton: It was pretty straightforward there. Just keeping up with Nico in the first stint, and then in the second stint Nico generally had better pace so he did a fantastic job today, so congratulations to him and otherwise it was just bringing the car home.

    Q: What happened at the start?

    Lewis Hamilton: I had a problem with the wait revs. I took my foot off the gas and it was still on – like the throttle was still on – and then I dumped the clutch and just lots and lots of wheelspin. So, it’s, y’know, not the best way to start the race – but something we will work on to improve on my side of the garage.

    Q: Felipe, a thousand career points now, your son even predicted you’d finish third today – but talk us through those final laps as well as your race when you knew that Sebastian was bearing down on you.

    Felipe Massa: Yeah, I think it was a great result today. So we managed to get the opportunities, which it was a mistake of another team or Sebastian, I don’t know what’s happened so I cannot say, but enough, and we managed to keep the pace, which was good – but maybe a little bit slower compared to him. I expect him to be close to me at the end of the race and he was but I managed to keep him behind which was the most important thing, so I’m so happy for our results today, working for the team and everything. My son said I was going to finish third so he’s right and, yeah, just hope we can celebrate after this interview.

    Q: A third and a fifth for the team today though, that’s some important points over Ferrari as well, isn’t it?

    Felipe Massa: Yeah, I think it was very good for the team. It was important points against Ferrari, also, looking what’s happened to Kimi today. So, we are not giving up, we will fight until the end. We understand that maybe they have a little bit of a quicker car compared to us but we are working very hard to improve and to be there and really trying to get back the points that they are in front, which is not easy but it is what we’re trying.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Lewis Hamilton, penalty at the Austrian GPQ: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Lewis, could you please explain what exactly happened at the pit exit? Were you just too much in a hurry or looking at the dash?

    Lewis Hamilton: I have no idea, to be honest. I don’t think I went over anything, so…

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Felipe, did you believe that Vettel could overtake you; did you defend yourself hard at any moment?

    Felipe Massa: Well, I think he got very close with maybe ten laps to go. I thought it could have been possible. We know that Ferrari manage the tyres very well, especially at the end of the race. We did maybe 40 laps, maybe more with these tyres so I expected him to be strong at the end of the race and he was. But you never know, I had to defend myself so I think when you are defending, you don’t know what’s going to happen so you just need to try and do your best and not make any mistakes. I think that was the only point that I had in mind, so I tried not to make any mistakes and if he was going overtake me because he managed to get the right line or pass me, you don’t know, but I was trying and we managed to make this happen.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) To all three of you; I’m sure you haven’t seen the footage yet but there was an accident on the first lap between Kimi and Fernando where Fernando’s car was lifted up and was only centimetres away from Kimi. If you see something like that, do you wish to have a closed cockpit in Formula One or is it still a risk you can live with?

    Nico Rosberg: Well, I haven’t seen it of course but it’s an ongoing process you know? We know that that’s an area of concern still, this open cockpit and the risks that there are in that sense so of course it’s an ongoing investigation to try and improve the safety, step by step and we need to see what we can do about it in the near future.

    Lewis Hamilton: I must say that, to be honest, I don’t really have an opinion about it.

    Felipe Massa: Yeah, I agree with Nico. Definitely we always need to look where we can improve  so if you see that after what happened to me in my accident, they improved the helmets, they improved the visors and I think we definitely always need to look where to look. I don’t know if completely closing the cockpit… We have some improvements to do – we need to do it.

    Q: (Zsolt Godina – Fana Media) Felipe, could you please tell me something about the new updates on your car and about your chances in the next races?

    Felipe Massa: Everything we brought here we are using on the car, so for sure there is still some work we need to do to make the pieces that we brought even better. It’s definitely positive, so everything we saw in the wind tunnel we can see here at the track, but there is still some more working, some details that we need to improve but I’m sure we’re going to do that. Yeah, I think maybe next race we can be competitive. We cannot forget that Ferrari have a strong car so even today they were a little bit quicker than me, so we need to push hard and we need to try to make this car maybe a little bit quicker, then we can fight at a good level, maybe being quicker than them in the next races, so that’s what we want.

    Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Nico, in the middle of the first stint you seemed to increase the gap to Lewis a bit and then towards the end he seemed to come back to you again. Did you maybe have some problems with the tyres, your right front seemed to be graining a bit, and how confident were you of staying ahead after the pit stops?

    Nico Rosberg: Yeah, it was the graining on the right front and it’s very difficult to predict how it comes, when it comes and I suppose that I just got more than Lewis at the time. But yeah, I was confident that I could stay ahead because the guy who stops first then has the new tyres and I could push and definitely open up the gap again, so that was all fine.

    Post-race press conference Photo Credits:

    Mercedes AMG Petronas

    Sky F1 screenshot

     

  • Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015: Saturday Press Conference

    Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015: Saturday Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1st Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2nd Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

    3rd Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Lewis, it’s seems to strange that it’s your first pole at Monaco, what does it mean to you?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It does, it’s been a long, long time. I can’t express to you just how happy I am. It wasn’t the easiest session. I had a lot of things that kind of [would easily] throw you off your rhythm. Which it did. I didn’t have the rhythm until the last two laps. So I was really, really happy with it and coming across the line just hoping for once that you’ve got it. This is incredibly special for me and for my guys who have worked so hard this weekend, so I’m very, very happy.

    At one point, as you say, you weren’t terribly happy and you said to your engineer, and to yourself it seemed as well, ‘OK guys, we all just need to calm down here and refocus’. Can you just tell us a bit about what was going on and what was going on in your mind?

    LH: At this track it’s so hard. It’s difficult to express just how difficult this track is. We do it because we’ve been racing for years, but getting your head around it and improving… it’s important to get into a rhythm and it’s really important to continue to improve. It’s like climbing a ladder and every time you’ve got to be taking one step and if you slide back down it’s sometimes harder to get back up. In our session we had some problems with tyres and we had some problem with some wing and traffic, so, you know, it wasn’t easy. It makes it even more special, because normally if you just back-to-back good laps, good laps, good laps you can kind of expect it but we had some really bad laps, didn’t get the quickest laps in Q1 or Q2. So, anyways, I’m blabbing on, it was great; I’m really happy.

    Well done. Coming to you Nico, not your year this year, as far as qualifying is concerned anyway. A couple of lock-ups in Q2 at the end there and also it seemed at the end in Q3. What was going today?

    Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, probably a bit the opposite to Lewis. I had a good rhythm starting off qualifying, which I didn’t have all weekend, so it was good to get into it in qualifying and then just lost touch a little bit towards the end. Of course going for it, because I have to, because I know Lewis is going to be quick. So I needed to go for it and it didn’t work out. That’s it.

    That banker lap, that first run in Q3 is the important one isn’t it? You had it last year and obviously Lewis got it this time. How hard is the recovery if you don’t have it after that first run in Q3?

    NR: Recovery? I didn’t really see it as too much of a problem because it was very close and I was confident that I could improve on my lap time. I changed my balance also, because on the first run I had too much understeer so I went up on the front flap by a good step. I was confident it was going to come my way, but it didn’t.

    Well done anyway. Sebastian, coming to you, back up the front again in qualifying, third again. Did you get the most out of the car today?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Not really. Generally happy with the result but I think it was a bit too cool for us today. I think everyone was struggling a little bit with warming up the tyres. It sounds surprising because it’s the supersoft. It was a shame the sun was hiding behind the clouds. Nevertheless, I think it was a good session for us and P3 is a good place to start from tomorrow. Hopefully we can split the Mercedes and therefore have an exciting race tomorrow.

    Some of the midfield and backmarker cars were doing some quick laps on the supersoft in Q1, yet you and Kimi both chose to stay in the garage. Were you completely calm for those final few moments of Q1?

    SV: No, not completely calm! Obviously I knew roughly that the time should be fine with what we thought will be enough. But it was close and then when you see yourself dropping down and the time ticking away from you and you can’t really react and go out and have another run it’s not nice but in the end it was OK for both of us. So we did the right thing and targeted to prepare for the last part of qualifying. Unfortunately it was not enough to get really, really close to them and put them under pressure, but tomorrow is another day.

    Well done. Back to you Lewis, what percentage of the job is now done do you think, given the nature of this circuit and the way the race unfolds and how do you see the race unfolding tomorrow?

    LH: Oh, this is… not even half the job is done. There’s so much to do tomorrow. There’s a long, long way to go, many, many laps here. It’s going to be mentally and physically challenging. Again just so happy; nothing was able to get in my way today in this. I’m just sitting here thinking about all the previous years and things that kind of got in the way or that I wasn’t good enough or whatever it may be. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I think 2006 in GP2 was the last time I started on pole here. It’s a very special day and again just a big thank you to the team. The performance we have with our car is outstanding and the guys have been perfect all weekend, so I hope we can get a real result for them tomorrow.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, can you tell us a little about bringing the tyres in and what was the ideal lap for these supersoft tyres. Because obviously you hadn’t done any running on them prior to this morning due to the rain on Thursday etcetera. There was various different teams with various messages about which was the ideal lap, how many timed laps etcetera. How did you find your way to the ideal moment to use them?

    LH: Well, I guess I’m going to have to choose my words carefully. These tyres, they take a quite a long time to bring in. We have to push quite a lot to get the tyres to start working. They’re very hard. Considering they’re the soft and supersoft, they’re incredibly hard. When I looked at the wear life yesterday, there’s a lot of laps you can do. A lot of laps, and so to bring the tyres in you… this morning was OK. The track was a bit grippier at one point so the tyres came in really nicely, quite soon. But this afternoon, being a little cooler perhaps, we had to do the two… kind of an out-lap, a warm-up lap and then the fast lap. Even on that fast lap, they were so-so. It’s interesting that you have to do that with both tyres.

    Q: Nico, Lewis just said a moment ago in the Unilateral that he doesn’t consider even half of the job is done yet with this pole position. What’s your view on what you can do from where you are? He feels there’s clearly a threat from you and from Sebastian. Can strategy help you?

    NR: I am very glad to hear Lewis’ opinion on that! Yeah, I’m going to try and keep the pressure up, of course. That’s all I can do tomorrow. Well, that’s what I need to do tomorrow. And I’ll do it.

    Q: Sebastian, the gap is again that stubborn three-quarters of a second between you and the Mercedes. It doesn’t seem to be changing too much at the moment. Obviously Lewis won from third on the grid, I think back in 2008, so it can be done. Drawing some encouragement from that?

    SV: Definitely. I think, y’know, so far nobody has scored any points so everything is possible tomorrow for sure. We know it’s Monaco, we know it’s difficult to pass, so if you start on pole you have a good chance of winning the race – but there’s 78 laps to do. The start will be important. I start on the inside which obviously gives me the possibility with a good start, yeah, to split them, and then we’ll see what happens. In terms of strategy it’s pretty straightforward: it’s statistically not the most exciting race but if you take 2008 as an example it was very exciting. I think there was some rain, I remember it was very slippery. I don’t know the forecast for tomorrow but who knows? Anything can happen around here.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) For Sebastian, you mentioned the weather forecast – do you prefer a wet race tomorrow or not?

    SV: Well, it’s very easy to look at it: if it’s wet there’s a lot more chances. Also, there’s higher risk. So, y’know, if you’re on the good side, you take the chance, if you get it wrong and hit the risk the wrong way then it goes, y’know, in the wrong direction. So, in the end the weather, thanks God, is something we cannot influence and we have to deal with it. Sometimes it makes things a lot more exciting. But we see tomorrow. I think nonetheless we should have a good car in the race. Obviously we weren’t really able to have a look in long runs, no-one was. But the car feels good around here and hopefully we can put some pressure onto these two guys tomorrow.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Question to Sebastian. Do you think that today’s performance is confirmation of what we have seen in Barcelona or are you now back to where you have been in the first four races?

    SV: No, I don’t think you can compare this race to Barcelona. It’s a completely different track. I think today was significantly cooler. Probably it’s true with a little bit higher temperatures we could have been a little bit closer. As it stands today, obviously we were quite far away again but tomorrow we should be a bit closer to them.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you finally achieved this pole position; you are a fan of Ayrton Senna. How did you miss this pole position? Do you feel that this is an important milestone in your career, to get this pole position on this track?

    LH: I don’t feel like it’s a milestone, but I definitely feel like it’s an important day for me because, as I was saying, since 2007 it wasn’t great, 2008 wasn’t great again, and every year, generally, it’s been quite poor. Some years I’ve had the car to do it, sometimes – at least once or twice – some things have got in the way. Sometimes I’ve not actually had the car to do so and if I have, I have not executed it. So yeah, I’ve got a long way to go to get anywhere near what Ayrton achieved here but this is kind of… maybe this is the first step in the sense of Monte Carlo. And as this is now my home for the past three or four years, it makes it even more special. I wake up here, I’ve never been so happy living here with the views and the way of life here. You get to drive the track every day when I’m here so it’s a very special day.

    Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Lewis, here in Monaco, we know that fans are really close to the drivers and sometimes maybe movie actors and even athletes don’t like this proximity. How do you feel about it, very close to the fans here in Monaco?

    LH: This is probably the best track… for me, this is the best track not only to drive on but because the fans get close. There’s a lot of races where we go to and the grandstand is 100 meters away from the side of the track. People are having to use binoculars to watch the cars. It’s so much more exciting when you can get close up. I was watching the Renault cars going round – the V6 is it, World series – and I was watching at Rascasse and I was standing right by the barrier and I’ve seen them come by and I’m thinking this is how racing should be, this is how spectating should be. Not that I can change anything but as a spectator, I think this is the best place to come and watch.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) Nico, I’m sorry to put it this way, but you have a first problem to start behind Lewis. The second is, two sets of tyres on which you’ve locked the front left tyre. Will it be a problem for the race condition?

    NR: First problem, you are right, to start behind Lewis. Second problem is not a problem because it’s one stop so I don’t have to use those tyres because we just start on soft(er) and then one stop and then the hard(er) tyre, so I don’t have to use the soft tyres that I flat-spotted. And the set that I’m starting the race with is my Q2 set which I did my lap time with in Q2 and there was no blocking there. That one’s fine.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, in the last part of Q2 you had an exit at Ste Devote. Did you have any psychological handicap about it in Q3?

    NR: Well, of course it’s not ideal: better not to have such a thing of course in the middle of qualifying, but I had two shots in Q3 afterwards, so with two solid runs, it doesn’t have an influence, eventually then, so not really, no.

  • 2014 Canadian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2014 Canadian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Adrian SUTIL (Sauber)

    Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)

    Kamui KOBAYASHI (Caterham)

    Felipe MASSA (Williams)

    Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Jenson, we’ll start with you if we may. A 2011 winner here, of course, memorably, and you’re currently eighth in the championship. This circuit has the famous wall of champions on the outside of the final corner. The back of the cars this year, of these designs, is quite light. I wonder if you could a little bit about how you read the challenge of driving these cars around this track this weekend.

    Jenson BUTTON: OK. Good morning. Yeah, it’s going to be tricky here, It always is, especially with the cold circuit temperatures we’ll probably have on Friday. So yeah, the last corner will be tricky, but we’re sort of used to that I think. We’ve been driving these cars all year and if we can drive these cars around Monaco I think we’ll be alright around here. It should be an interesting circuit. It’s a circuit where you don’t really use downforce so much, it’s a lot more mechanical grip. There are long straights, so we can use the power of the engine – for us that’s great, with the Mercedes engine. And it’s about working with the tyres. I think it’s going to be tricky around here. It’s supposed to be hot on Sunday, so you’re going to have to really look after them. But we’re reasonably good at that.

    Talking about McLaren’s situation: how do you compare this year to last year and the competitiveness and the problems that you have? Are they more fixable than last year’s problems?

    JB: Yeah, I think from the outside it doesn’t look spectacular, our season this year, and you’d say it looks quite similar to last year but it’s very different. In terms of the feel of the car, it’s much better. In terms of the development of the car, it is working and we’re going in the right direction. Yeah, it’s tough. When you’ve been fighting for wins and the team is used to fighting for wins, it’s difficult when you find yourself in this situation. But also there are a lot of positives right now. With Ron back in charge, and Eric, I think they’re doing a great job of really moving the team on and changing certain things so that we will be fighting at the front again. But it just takes time. Things don’t change overnight, even though we’re pushing very hard.

    OK, thank you. Coming to you now Lewis. You’re a three-time winner here, three times on pole here. What is it about you and this Montreal circuit and it’s walls around the outside? Is it the braking? Is about technique? What is it that somehow clicks with you here?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I’m not sure. Good morning everyone. I guess there are certain tracks you like more than others and this is one of those circuits I particularly like. I really like coming out to Canada, I always have a great response from the fans here. It is one of the best grands prix of the year in terms of the turnout, the city, just in general the weekend, it’s a good fun weekend and I guess all of that packed into one makes it fun to drive.

    You’ve said this week that you and your team-mate Nico Rosberg are friends again after Monaco. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

    LH: There’s not really much to say. I said it in my message. We spoke after the race and just like friends we have our ups and down, we’ve known each other a long, long time, so it’s done and dusted and we look forward to working together to try to help this team win the Constructors’ Championship.

    OK, thank you for that. Coming on to Felipe. Three seventh-place finishes so far this season, your best result here in Montreal a fourth. Williams is tied with McLaren at the moment in the Constructors’ Championship with 52 points after six races. Is that in line with your expectations?

    Felipe MASSA: No. Definitely I think I didn’t have great results until now. It should be much better than what I had until now. So IFelipe Massa_Press Conference had not very great races, starting with the race, where I didn’t get to corner two and you know in Bahrain I was fighting for third, fourth the whole race and then I lost a lot of positions because of the safety car. So I think it was not very great results but I’m sure we can do much better and I hope this track can be also a bit better for our car compared to Monaco, compared to other tracks. So really looking forward that we can have a lot better results, starting here in Montreal, a lot better than seventh I hope.

    I wonder if you could tell us what Rob Smedley has brought to the team, because you obviously have got a very long working relationship with him. He’s now in a senior role on the engineering side, can you tell a little bit about what he’s brought to the team?

    FM: A lot of experience. A lot of good direction, different things in terms of how to work, you know, in many different areas. I think he’s a very intelligent engineer, has a lot of experience. For sure, things don’t change from one day to the other, so it takes a little bit of time but not just him, we have a lot of great engineers, a lot of good people and things are getting better all the time inside the team and I’m really looking forward that from now until the end of the of the championship things will get better and better all the time.

    Nico, coming to you. Fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and points scored in every round so far but no podium personally yet. Given the confidence that Force India has in the package for this weekend in Montreal, is this you weekend do you think?

    Nico HULKENBERG: I don’t know. Obviously I hope and like every weekend we’re going to try to make the most of our chances here. I think the track should be OK for us. Also, it’s one of my favourite grands prix, so I really look forward to this weekend – the track, the city, everything is pretty cool. So hopefully we can have a strong result again.

    Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Canadian Grand Prix - Preparation Day - Montreal, CanadaQ: Monaco showed that you can get results by doing a different strategy from the people around you. As a midfield team I wonder, is that something you feel you need to do to get the results or do you feel you can compete with front running teams on equal terms?

    NH: Not really, and I think looking back in hindsight we made it a bit harder for ourselves, starting on the harder tyre – the other way around with how it turned out, Safety Car etcetera may have been easier – but I think it’s always different and you always have to look at each race and each case and decide then but, generally, we’re having a good package, we’re competitive and that puts us in a good position in general.

    Q: Kamui, you’ve twice finished in the points here in Montreal but after Marussia’s result at the last round in Monaco I wonder what the reaction was in the Caterham team? Is it encouragement that it’s possible to score points or concern about the position it leaves you in?

    Kamui KOBAYASHI:

    For us the Monaco result for us was a bit of a pain but at least we know Marussia made a great step from their updates so I have to say, I think, we have to say it’s a well done job. I think for us for sure I think we need to work. I think what happened in Monaco was a little bit… strange but at least we check with the FIA and that’s through so we have nothing to say but at least we have some upgrades for that first point.

    Q: So what is the way forward for the Caterham team this season?

    KK: The thing about a Formula One team is we cannot change day-by-day. We progress. Of course, it’s not an easy life for us, it’s a difficult moment right now but for sure everybody is working really hard and we know, I think, that we will progress. We need a little bit of time and we are looking forward to more later on this season.

    Q: Adrian, two points finishes also for you in your career here in Montreal – but still none this year for you with the Sauber team.  Your thoughts on the start that the team has made and how the upgrades have worked out so far.

    Adrian SUTIL: Well, a difficult start of course. I thought it would be a little bit more easy but that’s how it is. That’s how our situation is. We try, of course, to get out and improve the car, improve general performance – yeah, coming here we try it again. We had a tough weekend in Monaco but I think Monaco was a little bit more on the better side, the car was behaving a little bit better and so it’s not only bad everything. There are a few positive things – but it’s very complicated to make it altogether at the moment. To understand the car is quite difficult for us still, so we have to work on that and we need a bit more time and hopefully it really goes soon in the right direction. It’s quite hard to be in the back there always, lot of problems come together in racing at the back.

    Q: And tell us from your perspective what you think it will be like to race these hybrid turbo cars around this circuit – the specific challenges of this circuit?

    F1 Grand Prix of China - PreviewsAS: Well I think here we’re going to have quite high top speeds, with the new engines and the low drag the cars have so we should really be quick on the straights, maybe also a quicker overall lap time than last year – maybe – so I don’t know. It should be a circuit that suits the car in general. All the Formula One cars, not only us. And, as everyone said, it’s quite an enjoyable track with a lot of possibilities to overtake. The race should be quite interesting as well. Lot of chicanes… yeah, good weekend and I look forward to it, hopefully with a quite good result in the end.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Jenson, I don’t know if you read the team’s pre-race press release this week but there were some very complimentary words from Eric Boullier with regard to yourself, taking about your quality of input, your experience, your ambassadorial role. It all sounded very positive and almost as if they’re looking to next year, perhaps wanting to keep you. Any further progress on that? As I say, it was all very complimentary towards yourself.

    JB: er…no. No more progress at all. But that’s just the way it is. We’re here, we’ve spent four good years together already. In our fifth year together. And we both want to work together in the future but it’s just not time yet. Not the right time. We have a lot of other issues to solve first before we start thinking about the future too much. We’re in a good place and y’know, I think my experience does help me a lot. I still feel very young at heart, fitter than ever and I have all that experience. I’m in a great position and I feel I’ve got a lot more to give in the future in Formula One. I definitely can’t see an end to my career. This is my life and where I want to be in the future.

    Q: (Bill Beacon – La Presse Canadienne) Because this track is different to most with the braking and long straights and everything, do you think that that in any way will close the gap between Mercedes and the rest of the field?

    LH: I’d be guessing but I don’t feel that will be the case. We’re particularly strong on the straights, Mercedes are but I don’t know, maybe we will be surprised this weekend but long straights do suit us very well. We have a very good power curve on our engine, Mercedes have done the best job with the engines. Renault and Ferrari would have to have done an exceptional job coming into this weekend, in terms of that area, to be  able to keep up with us on the straights..

    FM: Definitely it can be a good track for most of the cars that are using Mercedes (engines) so I think maybe we will see even maybe a big difference compared to Mercedes and the other teams, because as Lewis said, the engine is amazing, it’s been a very good job done by Mercedes and they have a good car under braking and everything, so for sure maybe we can see maybe even a big difference.

    NH: I don’t think it will be very different to the other weeks before.

    Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Lewis, you said that the air has been cleared between yourself and Nico between races. Did you feel the need to do the same with the team and was anything different with the way the team handled the two of you between Monaco and coming here now?

    LH: There was no difference. Collectively with the team… me and Nico spoke and we individually spoke to the team and saw the team. Nothing’s really changed. We know the team has done a great job in terms of supporting us and the way it’s run with Paddy and Toto. Their support for the both of us has been great. We’re now full steam ahead. We had dinner with the team yesterday and things have never been better. We’re just going from strength to strength. People have ups and downs, as I said, so it’s no different to any other experience me and Nico have had in our whole – God knows how many years we’ve been racing together. We move on, we’re pushing forward. There’s a long long way to go in the season so we’re looking forward to that battle.

    Q: (Gerhard Kuntschik – Salzburger Nachrichten) Jenson, as kind of the older statesman, you raced on the old A1 Ring; we’re coming up to Austria again, Red Bull Ring, in a fortnight; what are your memories of the Austrian Grand Prix?

    JB: Lots of campsites and lots of very merry Austrians over the Grand Prix weekend. It’s one of those races that they really embrace the sort of party scene and the camping scene, which is really cool. It reminds me very much of Spa, British Grand Prix and those sort of races. It’s a true racing fan’s Grand Prix, I feel. The circuit itself… you look at it and you think ‘there’s like seven corners, it can’t be that fun to drive.’ But it is, it’s a really good circuit. I’ve enjoyed racing there in the past, I don’t know what it’s going to be like with these cars. I’ve always had fun racing there. I don’t know how much has changed, either. Turn one, we used to drive off through the gravel because that was the quickest way on the exit. I’m sure it’s not going to be the case any more. I think we’re in for a good Grand Prix.

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) To all drivers: the World Cup is coming and your countries are going to be there, playing, so on a personal note, how much are you interested in football? Are you going to follow all the matches or you don’t care much about what’s going on there? And a second brief question: who do you think is going to win the World Cup?

    Q: Kamui, would you like to kick us off?

    KK: Me? On soccer? I don’t really care so I don’t follow anything. All I know is that Japan is not really strong so I don’t…

    NH: Well I hope that Gemany is going to be good but I’m not a football expert but I’m sure I’m going to be behind the TV following the World Cup.

    AS: I’ll be watching, cheering for Uruguay and Germany, because I’m half Uruguayan.

    FM: Yeah, I love football, I watch everything, so I will maybe be watching most of the games. I really hope that Brazil can be there in the final. To win the championship at home would be fantastic so I will be there watching and supporting Brazil.

    LH: I don’t follow it as much (as I used to) but I will probably catch a few games and I want to try and see if we can go out to one of the games at least. The dream will be to go and watch Brazil and England play, that would be pretty awesome.

    JB: Yes, I totally agree. I’m not a massive football fan, I don’t support a team but when it comes to nationalities, countries playing, obviously I will be supporting England and I’m really looking forward to it.

     

  • 2014 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix: Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES

    Pat FRY (Ferrari)

    Charlie WHITING (FIA)

    Yasuhisa ARAI (Honda)

    Andy COWELL (Mercedes AMG HPP)

    Rob WHITE (Renault Sport F1)

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    If we can start with you Charlie? The new power units have excited a lot of debate since the beginning of the year. Will you once again briefly take us through the philosophy behind this technology and why F1 believes it was the right time to introduce it?

    Charlie WHITING: I think it was fairly clear, we’re going back a little while now, that Formula One, being the foremost single seat category, should be at the forefront of technology. I think bit was also clear at the time that the motor manufacturers were also looking towards conservation. So we felt we had to go that way. I think to ignore that would have been rather silly. I think we would have possibly lost some manufacturers and certainly deterred others from coming in.

    I guess efficiency plays a part in that as well?

    CW: Of course that was the major goal. We started four years ago with the engine manufacturers. We had quite big meeting with lots of them assembled in Paris. It was the 27th of April, in fact, in 2010. We assembled them all together and the initial goal was to have a 50 per cent increase in efficiency but over a period of time that became diluted somewhat because it appeared that was rather ambitious for the start of this new engine era. So we ended up with what we have now and that is an engine that everyone can see is about 35 per cent more efficient than the previous engines.

    So, Andy Cowell, does that represent a small step in the right direction or a giant leap?

    Andy COWELL: It represents a giant leap – going from internal combustion engines, naturally aspirated at about 30 per cent thermal efficiency up to engines where we’re all targeting 40 per cent thermal efficiency is a huge step, a huge introduction of new technology both on the internal combustion engine for efficiency and also on the two energy recovery systems that we’ve got on the power unit.

    What do Mercedes expect to get from this project in terms of technology that can be eventually transferred to the road? Is that a long way in the future or is it already happening?

    AC: It’s already happening. The regulations were specifically written to take some of the ideas are already in the road car world, so downsizing, downspeeding and turbocharging but adding some new, interesting technologies in there such as the electric turbocharger as a specific example and those sort of projects are already being worked on.

    Can I ask the same question of Rob White. What does Renault expect to get from this project in terms of road cars.

    Rob WHITE: It’s a big leap, as Andy says. I share the remarks that transfers are already happening. The transfers are not only specific technologies, the e-turbo being one of them, but also the fundamental alignment of the mission we have. Our challenge now is to race, to go as fast as we can with the given fuel allocation, which is a very, very similar mission to our road car colleagues who have to use the smallest amount of fuel to get a given mission done and that’s extremely close.

    There’s been quite a lot of talk about how the power units are contributing to racing and we’ve heard some unusual suggestions for things might be changed. Firstly, do you think there are problems with the racing this year? Secondly, what do you think of ideas such as shortening races, raising fuel limits etc. Do those suggestions miss the point?

    RW: The main problem I see so far is that Andy has won rather more than I’d like and we have win less than I’d like. The specific suggestions are just shifting the goalposts rather than doing anything fundamental and I think as Charlie indicated the basic parameters that we’re now racing with were decided well upstream in sufficient time that we knew what to do with them. I honestly feel that the numbers were well judged and I think the 100kg/h fuel limit and the 100kg for the race, as well as having the benefit of being nice round numbers, also play out more or less as predicted in terms of the level of performance and the level of fuel saving needed to get to the end of the race. I think we’ve seen in the early races that there hasn’t been an excessive amount of fuel saving that would perhaps have damaged the show. I think we’ve seen more recently, particularly in Bahrain… We all enjoyed the race there, it was the first one I saw from the comfort of my living room and it was certainly an exciting one to watch.

    Now we’ve heard from two of the manufacturers currently involved in F1 but let’s get the thoughts of a manufacturer that will next year return to the sport after six seasons away? Thank you very much Mr Arai for coming to our press conference. What is it in the new regulations that has encouraged Honda to come back into Formula One at this time?

    Yasuhisa ARAI: Thank you very much. I am delighted to be here and to be given this opportunity by the FIA to speak at this conference. As you mentioned we will return in the year 2015 for the Formula One. One of the major reasons for our decision was the new regulation introduced this year and that the various environment… I mean green technologies in the new Formula One power unit, as well as the total energy management are both very challenging and significant. The new regulation encourages each power unit supplier to pursue the ultimate combustions efficiency and high pressure direct injections, such as many, many new technology. Thus the challenge is to convert each unit of gasoline into energy and this is expected to be reflected on the huge production mode. That’s the reason why.

    Q: You’re setting up a new base at Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom. What will that facility be responsible for in the coming years?

    YA: That, we will open June this year. Now still under construction but that factory is to do the engine maintenance for the races and rebuilding the Formula One engine and also to go to the race-track for the trackside service. That’s Milton Keynes.

    Pat Fry_Press ConferenceQ: Pat, as someone more responsible for the chassis side of things at Ferrari, let’s talk about how you integrate these new power units with the cars. Have you found that the chassis and engine departments have needed to work closer together this year or is the relationship pretty much the same as always?

    Pat FRY: I think with the changes to the power unit this year, there’s obviously a huge amount more technology to understand and that has definitely pulled the chassis department and the engine department closer together. That starts everywhere from the simple, basic simulations that you do before an event to tuning the car. Everything is now inter-related. So where you used to play with a diff and brake balance and whatever, you’ve now got all the various ERS levels of charging and deciding what to do with waste gates and turbos. So there’s a huge amount more interaction between the two groups.

    Q: Has the engine department given you a power unit on the minimum weight or are you having to shed weight from the car?

    PF: We’re fairly close to the weight limit. I’m sure everyone is struggling. The combination of an engine on the weight limit and just all the bits and pieces we want on a standard car, it’s quite a challenge to get down to the weight limit anyway. But yeah, we’re just on that limit.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Question to Andy and Rob and Mr Arai if you would like to contribute as well please: Andy, you were talking about 40 per cent efficiency. Now, we’ve got relatively immature technology at the moment. What sort of progress in terms of efficiency do you engine manufacturers foresee over the seven-year lifecycle of these engines?

    AC: It’s a difficult one to predict. We’re working hard to improve the efficiency of the internal combustion engine, make sure that every single drop of fuel that goes in… and that’s where working with Petronas helps tremendously to get us to the point we’re at today and to move forwards race by race with fuel developments. And then it’s just mastering the conversion efficiencies – so every single step where we’re converting the energy, just improving little by little and then with a new power unit homologated next year. I guess I’m not coming up with a prediction for exactly how much we’re going to improve year by year – but I imagine it’s going to be very similar to when we were in the naturally-aspirated era, where there were times when we thought 13,000rpm was impressive and we all ended up well over 20,000rpm. So it’ll be a similar level of development.

    Rob?

    RW: I think Andy was cautious when saying 40 per cent. I think to be competitive you need to be a bit better than 40 per cent already. I think we shouldn’t underestimate just how important that is in terms of automotive technology. I think these power units are fantastic pieces of kit in terms of the raw, thermal efficiency that is achieved. Better than any road car engine by a margin. And I think it’s also important to draw attention to the fact that the energy management challenge is also part of the real efficiency of the race car which is in addition to the thermal efficiency of the power unit. There will be rapid progress even during the course of this year. We’ve seen progress in the early races without any change to the underlying hardware. That’s something that will continue during the season. That’s something that will take another step forward over the winter – as Andy as suggested – when we homologate a new version of the power unit for 2015. This is another mirror-image of what happens in the big, wide world outside, where every iteration of our road car product brings with it a significant step forward in fuel consumption, which of course is the same thing for us: a step forward in performance for the same fuel flow or fuel limit.

    Mr Arai, would you like to comment or is it a bit too early for you to make any predictions.

    YA: There is a strange feeling because our door for 2015 is still not open yet. So I can make just a small comment. How to make the good efficiency is just a three major fields. Technology fields. One is combustion itself – combustion chamber design, another one is how to recover the energy, that’s very important for these new regulations and finally the torque management. Positive and negative torque management is very important to make a good, fast car. That’s my comment.

    Q: (Gary Anderson – Autosport) As you were saying Andy, revs, that’s always been the push, everybody wanted to get more revs, more revs, more revs. This year the regulation maximum is 15,000 but on a good day you might see twelve. Do you see that changing, and if it did change do you see that helping the noise?

    AC: You’re correct with regard to the revs that we’re running on the track. I don’t see that changing, I don’t see the need for the revs to change to change the noise of the power unit. The principal reason why the engine is quieter is the turbine wheel and the muffling effect that you get from that. That’s one of the key technologies for recycling the waste energy that would normally go down the tailpipe so it’s a key aspect of the technology that we’ve got. There are other things we can do though with the tailpipe, perhaps, to change the noise.

    Q: (Gary Anderson – Autosport) Could I just add a second part: why is it 12,000 rpm instead of 15,000rpm?

    AC: The fundamental reason is the fuel flow rate formula so you get the 100 kilograms per hour once you’re at 10,500 rpm. If you rev an engine faster, you generate more friction and friction is the enemy of an engine and the enemy of a race car because you have to reject it to the radiators and there’s then an aerodynamic deficit from doing that. None of us want to be below 10,500 rpm but none of us want to be at high revs because all you do is create heat.

    RW: There’s not much to add. The fuel flow curve, the fuel law is the thing that fixes the engine speed as Andy indicated. We hear a little bit less about the slope below 10,500 than the maximum which is 100 kilos but it is that knee point that fixes the rpm at which the engines make the best power and best efficiency and the engine speed above that is to do with the spread needed to pass the gear ratios.

    Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) It’s in a similar direction, my question for the motor engineers: what can you do to increase the noise? There’s a lot of talk about it but I haven’t heard a solution yet.

    RW: First thing to say is that the noise of the current engine is a consequence of the overall layout, the architecture and so forth. I think in terms of the possible adjustments to change the noise it makes, I think we’re at the beginning of a consultative process that will kick off in about an hour’s time. Andy’s alluded to tail pipe changes – that’s something that could be a way to go. I think the scope to fundamentally and profoundly alter the noise of the engines is extremely limited by the type of technology that we have deployed and therefore I think we need to be realistic about the scope of any action that we might take but of course we’re sensitive to the subject and we’ll certainly participate in any of the studies that might lead to actions being taken.

    PF: I think the engine people in the room know the problem a lot more than I do. I think what Andy said about… you’ve got the turbo there to try and take all the energy that we can out, so it’s always going to be quieter. There’s a round of meetings starting today, in fact, that will discuss and try and work out how to improve the situation.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Mr Arai, if we have a look at Mercedes, they’re supplying their own team and three customers. Renault are doing four customers; Ferrari are doing one plus two. Next year, you’ve got McLaren. Could you give us some insight into your plans for both 2015 and thereafter in terms of customer teams, whether your relationship with McLaren actually permits that, please?

    YA: So, for year 2015, McLaren is our only customer. I don’t think about the future, because we want to concentrate on next season.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) I understand your philosophy there but surely you must have done costing and recovery against the units and that must surely include some sort of sale or customer-type project or do you not have any plans for customers at all?

    YA: Of course we want to have good results next season and see the results from other manufacturers. Please chose our power unit for next season. If teams want to use our engine or power unit, we can deliver after year 2016 but right now there are no plans.

    Charlie WhitingQ: (Gary Anderson – FOM) Rob, it’s been fairly well documented that you obviously haven’t started the season the way you intended to. Do Renault need any concessions from other manufacturers or the FIA, to do the improvements that you need or are you happy to work within the regulations and do what you’re allowed at the moment to catch up?

    RW: I think the first thing to say is that the technical and sporting regulations are the same for all the engine suppliers. We knew what we were getting into and we’re in it now. We’re not lobbying for any regulatory change. I think that for the time being our priority is to continue the recovery actions that we’ve put in place and I expect to pursue that over the course of this season.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Question to Charlie: the rules allow changes to the engines if it is for reliability, cost-saving and safety. But let’s say if you do a change for reliability reasons and you make a certain component stronger, isn’t that – let’s say – automatically gaining horsepower through the back door?

    CW: I think that the system that we have now is the same as it’s been since 2006. If an engine manufacturer asks for changes for reliability, we always assess that, we always try to see if there is a possible – as you put it – back door route to get more performance but we are absolutely confident that the changes that we’ve allowed so far this season are purely for reliability and we also have the fall-back of consulting all the other engine manufacturers so if we agree to some changes for reliability and we then circulate it among the other engine manufacturers, they have the opportunity to highlight any potential back door treatment, as you put it.

  • FIA Monaco Grand Prix post-race press conference

    FIA Monaco Grand Prix post-race press conference

    Below is the transcript of the post race press conference following the Monaco Grand Prix.

    Q: Nico, you controlled the race from pole position but you had to deal with two safety cars, a red flag, a lot of mental resets no doubt, but describe your feelings right now, you’re a Monaco Grand Prix winner?
    Nico Rosberg:     Yeah, amazing! This is my home, I’ve grown up here lived all my life here, I’ve gone to school here. So now to win at home is very special; a very special day for me. The whole weekend really went perfectly, qualifying [everything]. The start was very close. I had a terrible start! I was close to Sebastian and then with Lewis also, but then that worked out well. After that I could control the pace. The car was really good, the tyres held on ok, so that was really the key to the victory. So massive thanks to the team for having improved from Barcelona and I’m just ecstatic

    Q: Sebastian, podium for you today, I guess you must be delighted that you’ve extended your championship lead?
    Sebastian Vettel:     Yeah, I think overall I’m very happy and pleased with the result. We know that it’s very difficult to overtake here. I think first of all congratulations to Nico, he did a very good job, a very controlled race. I think he had the pace and the tyres to respond whenever we tried to get a little bit closer, yeah. The start of the race… fantastic start but no room. I think I could have gone past both Mercedes but didn’t have the room, had to lift. Then Mark came and it was tight into the first corner. And after that I was a bit surprised by the slow pace in the opening laps. Usually you expect two silver arrows in front of you and there were two buses today going for a cruise – at least in the first couple of laps. But obviously the strategy was clear and they did a very good job. We were lucky on the strategy point of view. The team did a fantastic job to get past Lewis, so yeah. After that, with the restart: pretty difficult. Warm-up was very, very tricky. I saw Lewis was all over Mark behind me, so I think we can happy with the result. Great achievement from the team again. We seem to like this place the last couple of years so very happy. Congratulations, thank you, thanks to our partners as well. Thanks to Infinity, they are pushing an awful lot in the last couple of months to help us and I think it goes without saying, thanks to Renault as well, two cars out of three on the podium again powered by Renault – in ‘Little France’ in a way, so it’s sort of a home grand prix for them so congratulations as well. Overall, as I said, pretty happy.

    Q: Mark, fourth in the opening stint but obviously the safety car at the first stop gave you and the team the opportunity to jump ahead of Hamilton. Important moment for you?
    Mark Webber:     Yes. First of all, congratulations to Nico. It’s a very special place to win at so, yeah, he had a seamless weekend and that’s what you need to do here. It’s never easy when you’re leading, you still have to pull it off. So, well done to Nico and Mercedes. For us, we knew it was a little against us starting on the second row but got an absolutely incredible start – and sod’s law it’s the shortest run to the first corner so, I think Seb and I had nowhere to go really so we were lifting. It’s looking like Nico and Lewis had pretty tricky ones, so we’ll try to save some of those starts for future reference. And then after that it was just basically saving tyres and making the one-stop work. It was completely predictable that if the race was going to stack up then the two-stop was not really an option to come back into traffic. So we had to go very long, all the drivers were nursing the cars very aggressively and as you say, it was nice to get Lewis. Obviously it’s never nice to lose positions around the stop so I’m sure he’s not too pleased with it but in the end we’ll take that position. It was difficult to get the restarts going on the primes but in general just really driving around, saving the tyres and waiting for the chequered flag.

    Q: Nico, first son of a former Monaco Grand Prix winner to repeat the feat. Congratulations. 30 years on from your father Keke’s victory here at Monaco. Did that add a certain extra-special something to this win today.
    NR:     It is special to hear that, yes but honestly that’s not what I was thinking about when I was crossing the finishing line, definitely not. Just extremely happy to win this race. Also, we’ve had again such a difficult time behind us. In the last couple of races pole position and dropping back so much. There was always that a little bit in the back of my mind today in the race: ‘I hope that it’s going to last and I’ll be able to pull it off today and not drop back again.’ Because it’s not nice when you’re starting in front and dropping back. And then today the team gave me a great car. It’s really fantastic to see how they’ve been able to improve in such a short space of time. Little improvement here and there but on this track – this track suited us anyway – and so it was enough to make it happen.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, what was it like to be in control of a race but then have to mentally reset each time? There was nothing straightforward about the way that race unfolded for you today.
    NR:     No, definitely not. It wasn’t very nice y’know? Because I was in a great rhythm on those prime tyres, trying to nurse them towards the end and then all of a sudden a race stoppage. It’s never nice to get out of that rhythm y’know? Because especially around Monaco it’s so easy to have a quick concentration error and then you’re in the tyre barrier and it’s the end of the race. So, it was really important today to remain concentrated and that didn’t make it easy, all those safety cars and the red flag and everything – but fortunately in the end it all worked out.

    Q: Did you think at any point about the school runs you used to do down these roads and the fact that you were actually going to be winning a race on the roads you used to go to school on?
    NR:     No! There was a lot of thoughts going through my mind, definitely, but not about the roads to school. Various things. Even, to be honest, winning Monaco in a silver arrow. I was thinking about that and that’s very special to me.

    sebastian-vettel-monacoQ: Sebastian, you hinted in your answer in the unilateral that the Mercedes were slower in the opening stint than you expected them to be. You said it was fair play to them but you could tell they were driving to a tactic today.
    SV:     Yes, definitely. I think we could see that the field didn’t spread out, so as I said, they did what worked best for them. Obviously Lewis lost a couple of positions with the safety car – I’m sure he’s not too pleased about that – but we took that, no question. Yeah, I think it was very marginal on one stop. I think the red flag helped all of us to put a fresh set of tyres on to save that ten, eleven laps, total race distance. It was clear what they were doing a couple of laps after the start. They were going quite slow and trying to obviously make the one stop happen. And fair play, they were in the lead, around here it’s very tricky to pass. Every time I tried to get a little bit closer with Lewis… in the beginning with Lewis it was quite close, yeah they reacted, they had the pace, so they could afford to go slow and then if they had to, they had the pace to pick it up again. In that regard, not the most exciting race because you just wait for the chequered flag. It’s still a lot of laps, looking after the tyres wasn’t straightforward for us today – so overall, happy with the result we got.

    Q: Obviously when the safety car came out that caught Lewis out, the Mercedes had just completed a lap. Where exactly were you when you got the message to come into the pits.
    SV:     The safety car wasn’t out yet. Obviously it was a very, very good call from the team. Initially we wanted to pit a lap earlier but then we aborted that. Obviously there was a yellow and in the end I think we were just a little bit lucky. So we decided to pit and when I changed tyres and went back out, at the same moment the safety car came – which probably helped us a little bit. I don’t know if Lewis had a problem with the stop or if it was just down to the fact that the safety car came at the wrong time for him. But, yeah, it was nice. At some stage I was hoping that it might be enough to get Nico as well but he obviously was in the lead by quite a bit at that time, before we came in.

    Q: Mark, there were quite a lot of incidents today, obviously a couple of safety cars, red flags. Some drivers were making passes today but did it feel very touch-and-go, very marginal out there to you?
    MW:     To make moves? Yeah, I think so. Especially when you’re with the guys I was with today, very experienced and they know what they need to do and where to put the car so, unless you had a big discrepancy in tyre performance, like I did after my pitstop – I had to clear Nico Hülkenberg pretty quick and try to make that undercut work a little bit – but in general after that, as the guys have touched upon, it was measured, controlled aggression, if you like, trying to nurse the tyres as best you can. It became very, very obvious early in the grand prix that the tyres were going pretty well. Obviously the pace wasn’t electric and, fair enough, that’s how… you can do that if you’re at the front of the race, as I did last year, so you can do that. And when the options were starting to go that far – the supersoft – the one-stop started to become viable for everybody and that’s why it probably wasn’t a super-exciting race today for the fans. But even if it was two-stops, it would probably have just been a bit more action around the pitstops and obviously not much on circuit because that’s the sort of track it is.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Der Spiegel) Nico, the two secret test days that you had in Barcelona. How helpful were those days for you?
    NR:     That you have to ask, you have to ask Pirelli about all this, about this issue. I’m not going to comment. I’m not going to comment on that. You have to ask Pirelli.

    Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Nico, we often hear drivers say that the most exciting race to win other than their home Grand Prix is Monaco. Obviously this is both for you. Could you please give us a bit of a sense of the elation and euphoria you must be feeling? What was it like doing that slowing down lap?
    NR:     Unbelievable. If there’s maybe a childhood dream… when I was quite young, watching the race, always. First memories were of Ayrton Senna with his yellow helmet, red and white winning, a childhood dream to one day win the Grand Prix of Monaco, because it is my home and that’s the most special race for me to win, so the feeling was just incredible, it was unreal. That’s what’s so special about the sport: these emotions that you then get and that makes up for all the difficult moments that have gone before, those great moments of joy and winning. Amazing.

    Q: (Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung) Nico, now that everything is going well, I would like to rate the percentage of your chances of winning the title?
    NR:     I haven’t thought about that at all yet, because just two weeks we ago were seventy seconds away in the race and even today, tyre degradation was still an issue. I think we were in a better position, much better definitely, but it’s also a different track, very different track, different circumstances. I had the possibility of taking it easy and dictating the pace initially to save tyres, so we shouldn’t get over-excited now, for the next couple of races. We still have a bit of an issue with our race pace and that’s still what we need to work on, and also the development race. Everybody’s pushing forward, flat out, and we need to make sure to keep up with that as we have been doing at the moment, which is great to see, because that was one of our weaknesses last year, we dropped away mid-season. For now it’s going really well, so thanks to everybody back in the factory, doing a really cool job. But we have to wait and see. I’m definitely not thinking about the championship, I’m just thinking about today, winning Monaco.

    Q: (Jussi Jakala – YLE) Nico, do you think this was maybe the final seal to get rid of the status of being Keke’s son, so that you have achieved everything by your own skills now?
    NR:     Don’t know, that’s for you to judge. I don’t think about that in that sense so you need to judge that for yourself. I can’t comment on that.

    mark-webber-monacoQ: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speedsport News) Mark, before the red flag, Lewis got right up alongside you at Rascasse. What happened, did he maybe catch you by surprise there?
    MW:     No, I was probably just saving my tyres a bit too much and yeah, he was going for a little bit of a surge also, I think. They were probably a little bit more comfortable on the primes in certain performance areas of the circuit and also the car characteristics, so, yeah, he was a little bit more comfortable on that section of the track. I was also just… we knew we had a long way to go in the race and also I had four or five laps less on my tyres, because I did the undercut on these guys. I had to give him room. I think experience helps in those scenarios. I thought he might tap me… I could just see him in the mirror. I thought ‘mmm, he’s in there somewhere’ but I had to give him the room and then thank God we got round Rascasse together somehow. I think that was probably not that straightforward. Not possible for GP2 drivers but us boys managed to pull it off which we should be able to so it was a rewarding little battle.

    Q: (Bob McKenzie – Daily Express) Nico, referring back to that previous question about your father; have you at times, when you were younger or when you came into Formula One, did you feel any pressure from the fact that your father was so well known, being a World Champion, that sort of thing?
    NR:     I’ve always felt very fortunate to have had my father… what he achieved and everything… to have his support and extra pressure? It’s a normality for me you know, having my father World Champion. I grew up with that, started racing like that, so it’s not something where I feel any extra pressure because for me that’s normal.

    Q: (Jacqueline Magnay – News LTD Australia) Mark, I’m just wondering whether you have an opinion on this secret tyre testing, whether it had any impact, and whether you think there was any advantage to Mercedes having done the testing?
    MW:     That’s a fair question. I think we were probably a little bit surprised that it happened. I don’t think it probably had a huge bearing on today’s result. I think their car was always going to perform pretty well round here, to be fair, but yeah, you can’t unlearn what went on at the test obviously, so we need to see how the test came about and whether it’s within the rules or not. I’m sure Mercedes thought it was OK, so that’s why they did it, so time will tell. But I don’t think it affected today’s result.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, what was the most difficult thing for your victory today, getting the pole yesterday, starting after the safety car, or the last lap with the emotion?
    NR:     Qualifying was difficult because of the conditions. The start was very difficult because I had a bad start. Those were the two keys. Once those two things were done, from then on it was OK. There were still some challenges with the safety car, because the tyres were very cold on those prime tyres, for example so there were other challenges but the main ones were qualifying and the start.

  • Post-qualifying Press Conference – Spanish F1 Grand Prix

    Here is the transcript of the post-qualifying press conference ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix in Barcelona.

    Q: Nico, two in a row. Just looking at the lap there on the monitors, it looked like a very clean lap. Tell us about where you found the speed today?

    Nico Rosberg: It’s just been… things just worked really well the whole weekend, just optimised everything. Of course, after Bahrain thinking about the race a lot, also, so surprised that we could be that quick today. But it all went perfectly in qualifying and I had a really good lap in the end. I’m really, really happy with that. It’s always a good motivation boost and everything, especially for the team – front row, fantastic. But of course I have to be a bit cautious because of what happened in Bahrain, so for sure, nice but to be enjoyed with caution.

    Q: Lewis, as Nico said a one-two for Mercedes and for you just a couple of tenths off Nico. Where did it get away from you?

    Lewis Hamilton: Firstly, congratulations to Nico, he did a great job, so very happy, but also really happy for the team because it’s down to the great work that everyone is doing back at the factory, so I’m very proud to be able to get a front row for the team. But, as Nico said, we’ve got to approach it with caution because tomorrow is going to be tough but today I didn’t have two option sets at the end, which would have helped a little bit but I think was just quicker today.

    Q: Well done and Sebastian – final sector it would appear where Mercedes had it over you today, just two or three tenths of a second, I think, on the final laps. Is that where it got away from you today?

    Sebastian Vettel: To be honest, no. I was pretty happy with the last sector because historically it has been a bit weak for me. After a couple of years now I finally understood a little bit better the last couple of corners. I’m quite happy to be honest because yesterday and this morning I wasn’t really happy, particularly in the last sector. I think we improved the car. Things calmed down and we had a pretty smooth qualifying session. Again a little bit different approach than the majority of people – using option tyres only. Whether that helps us tomorrow we’ll have to wait and see. But for sure it will be an interesting race. It will be all about tyre degradation. I think we’ve seen this in the winter. We didn’t really get very far, all of us. So now I think with the conditions it’s helping a little bit but still it’s a tough challenge and the tyres don’t last as well as we’d probably all like but that’s the challenge we have to face tomorrow. I’m happy with today’s result. It’s good historically to start this grand prix a little bit further up, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

    Q: Nico, let’s talk a little bit about the race tomorrow. You mentioned that you don’t want to get too overconfident after what happened in Bahrain, but tell us a bit about the work done behind the scenes to avoid a repeat of what happened to you in Bahrain?
    NR:     Yeah, for sure, everyone has been working really, really hard back in the factory to understand even better our problems. You know it’s really an ongoing process, understanding how to get the most out of these tyres. It’s really, really complex, for us drivers, for the engineers, for everybody and we’re just a bit behind at the moment. I’m sure we’ve caught up now. But then you come here and there’s different issues again because here it’s more the graining of the tyres that’s the main issue. And so then again here we were trying to catch up and make the most of that situation. I think we’ve improved things. This morning things were looking at little bit better, so I’m a little bit more confident for tomorrow but still the race is going to a whole different thing, with the tyres it’s a big challenge.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Nico, pole position has been vital here in the past. Do you feel that’s still the case? I guess you’re hoping it is?

    NR: For sure it’s a benefit to start first. Yeah, definitely. Clean air – hopefully – after the start, starting on the better side of the grid, so that’s all great but the race is very long. To win it’s not good enough to start from pole, you need to have the fastest race car. As we’ve seen, there’s so many differences in speeds through the race and strategy and everything. And if you don’t have a very, very quick car there’s no chance. So, just really need to wait and see.

    Q: Lewis, give us your thoughts on how you feel the race will evolve tomorrow. Obviously you starting on the front row of the grid, historically it’s the place to be.

    LH: It is, but my side of the grid isn’t really the place to be. These two have a good position on the cleaner side but we’ll do the best job we can from the start but I think more the concern is tyre degradation. Looking after those tyres is going to be an interesting one. I really hope that we can try and get into turn one first, in a 1-2, that’d be really good for the team.

    Q: Sebastian, still no pole for you in Barcelona. What is it about this place?

    SV: I think today we can be very happy. Mercedes was too quick, both Lewis and Nico. So, I think we can be happy with the result, as I said. Historically, I didn’t really like the last sector and the new corners they implemented a couple of years ago. This year it seems to be that, for the first time, I found a better way around, after trying so many times – which is quite funny if you think that we come here more than once a year. So, I’m happy with that. And for tomorrow hopefully I can prove statistics wrong. I know it’s very important to start from the front row. We just missed it – but I’m confident for the race. I think this year will be a lot about tyres. Nico touched on it earlier. I think generally everybody is suffering quite a lot, so let’s see if we can make our strategy work and have a fast race from where we are.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, congratulations for the pole. Did you practice to take it already during pre-season testing?

    NR: Did I practice the pole position? No. But I mean of course. We practiced with lower fuel during the winter to simulator pole position – well, not pole position, to simulate qualifying. Just as for the car, us drivers, y’know it’s also good to practice a little bit – so I was quite confident coming here because I know that I feel comfortable with the car on this track and things went really well today, definitely.

    Q: (Livio Orrichio – O Estado de São Paulo) Both Mercedes drivers, your team said many times that you must better the car in race conditions – and all the improvements you try to do for this race was in this direction, and the free practice yesterday and today morning. Do you think the car can be in race condition better than the previous race?

    NR: Better for sure, yeah. Because in Bahrain the temperatures and the circuit and everything exposed our small weaknesses in a very extreme way. So a) we’re in a different track and everything so naturally it’s going to be a bit better, and b) we also really tried to understand what went wrong in Bahrain, and we do understand better what’s going on there and have improved things. But still, for sure, I’m not going to sit here and say I’m very confident that I can go for the win tomorrow. No, the target needs to be a little bit less than that I think – maybe a podium – but there are so many unknowns for tomorrow because the situation is completely different again, with graining. And so, we just have to see how it goes.

    Q: And Lewis, your thoughts on that and whether you’ve had to adapt anything in terms of the way you drive, in terms of looking after the rear tyres on the Mercedes?

    LH: Not really, it’s the same as the last race for me.

    Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Nico, in the past few years, Lewis’ team-mates were just blown away by him in the qualifyings and now you’re beating him on a regular basis. How does it feel?

    NR: Of course I’m pleased, yeah, to be ahead of Lewis, very happy with that because I know that he’s very, very high level in terms of his driving. He’s one of the best out there. When I can be in front of him I’m extremely happy.

    Q: (Adrian R. Huber – Agencia EFE) Question for both Nico and Lewis. Did you guys expect in the pre-season this beginning of the season – or is this working out much better than you expected? Less?

    LH: I don’t think we expected it, definitely not. Especially for Nico, in the last couple of years have had a really difficult time in the team with the cars, and me coming to the team I definitely didn’t expect to have such a competitive car. But obviously massively pleased that we do and it’s great to be able to put on performances like we have today for encouraging the team and the guys back at the factory to keep pushing to improve and bring more developments. We’re not there yet but this is a good starting point for us.

    Q: (Pierre Van Vliet – F1i.com) Sebastian, you had only one run in Q3. What’s the point of saving tyres and how to you expect that to play a role tomorrow in race pace?

    SV: What’s the point? I think it’s pretty easy: the tyres don’t last so the fresher the tyres are, the longer they last. Ideally they are new. That’s why we decided to save as many sets as we can. Obviously a bit different to other people but that’s the idea behind. Whether it works or not we’ll know tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the big challenge – as both of them touched on – to look after the tyres and make them last, try to suffer as little graining as possible, which I think we all do suffer, some people more, some people less.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) Lewis, do you have a problem with your car today? When will we see you win in a Mercedes?

    LH: Generally this weekend I haven’t had the best of weekends up until now. Obviously this is still great for us today, to be one and two on the grid but I’ve just been struggling all weekend generally. Even my long runs have been pretty poor but on one lap pace, the car doesn’t seem to be too bad but I’ve just been a little bit lost generally, not really knowing what things to change and which direction to go, so I kind of didn’t really make many changes into P3 and into qualifying, I just left the car the same. I didn’t really make any changes to it, I wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable but I knew that it was good enough to do what we did today. As for the win, we’ve got improve our race pace but obviously we have very good qualifying pace. I hope in the near future we will get our win, but we’ll work for it tomorrow.

    Q: Nico, you used the word confidence before. Did you use a used set of tyres in Q2 to get through?

    NR: I used a used set…

    Q: Yeah, because Lewis was tearing it up in Q2 and you came in Q3 with a new set of tyres, so you obviously felt very confident then?

    NR: Confident, yeah, in general, confident, yeah. It was more a question of Lewis didn’t quite manage to get his lap right with the used set in Q2 and I managed to get it right so it was enough to go into Q3. That was the difference.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) There’s some talk about this penalty points system being discussed; something could be implemented in the future. I just wanted to get each of your opinions on what you think of this proposal if it happens.

    SV: I don’t like it. I don’t know, maybe I’m a little bit too old fashioned, I don’t want to make this too long but I think we had a lot of penalties in the past. I think from a drivers’ point of view we’ve been pushing for penalties and right now we are probably in a situation where we have more penalties than we would like so it’s a little bit of a vicious circle . I think the catalogue is not released entirely. I’ve seen some sketch of it but I think you have the potential of scoring points for some things that are not entirely in our hands and small things and at the end of the day the consequence could be very big. I don’t know if that’s the idea. Surely, if you want to adapt a system that everybody uses on the road, which is the idea, there might be some logic behind it, but at the end of the day we are not driving on the road, we are racing.

    LH: I’m not really bothered by it. I don’t really have much of an opinion about it.

    NR: I don’t know enough about it so it’s not worth commenting on.

    Q: (Rosanna Tennant – Pole Position) A light-hearted question: Lewis, how’s Roscoe finding his race?

    LH: Go and ask Roscoe! He’s much better. He was a bit ill – not ill, but he was injured earlier in the week but he’s recovered so I might bring him down later on or tomorrow, with his new team coat, yeah, race suit.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, taking account that maybe the other two guys have a problem with long pace, the long race distance, who do you think could be your main challenger tomorrow, Kimi or Fernando?

    SV: Well, I think first of all them (the two Mercedes drivers), they are in front of us right now so to be honest, I think they had some long runs and they didn’t look too bad. Historically the Mercedes is pretty aggressive when it comes to looking after the tyres. How that turns out tomorrow we will have to wait and see. Other than that, eye-balling the long runs yesterday, I think Ferrari and Lotus were pretty competitive, so I think we can expect them to be very strong in the race as well.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Nico and Lewis, what kind of help do you really expect from your new development driver Daniel Juncadella?

    NR: For sure he’s been doing a good job in the simulator from what I hear but why he is here this weekend is mainly as a gesture from Mercedes DTM to give him race experience and to see what it’s like at the pinnacle of motor sport. For sure, in DTM, there are a lot of things they can learn from where we are in F1.

    LH: I think that’s a good answer really. It’s good fun to be here to experience… (interrupted, inaudible)

    Q: (Valenti Fradera – El 9 Esportiu) Following on the question about Nico beating you in qualifying, Lewis do you feel somehow disappointed to having been pipped by Nico again?

    LH: No. Sometimes you get beat, sometimes you get ahead. It’s the name of the game and at the end of the day he was quicker today and it just means for me that I have to work harder. Simple.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com) Hallo everyone: Lewis, you in particular seemed to be fastest in the final sector, as did you, Nico as well, that’s where the Mercedes seemed to find its time which is interesting because it’s the slower part of the track. So that might bode well for Monaco, perhaps, but what about this track tomorrow, which might suit the Red Bulls more which are faster in the first two sectors? Talk about tomorrow and Monaco if you like.

    NR: I don’t think you can understand something from that for how it’s going to go in tomorrow’s race in terms of degradation and race speed. Of course it is an interesting thing to have a look at and OK, it’s definitely not a bad thing for Monaco to be quick in that last sector with all the tight corners and last year we had a very good car in Monaco, I think the fastest of everybody, so I’m looking forward to Monaco, but in general we have to really play it low because it’s always great to be in front on Saturday but then if you’re not able to win on Sunday – which has been our issue and our weakness, has been our race pace, so we need to be very careful and just try and do better than the last race. Last race, I think Lewis managed to finish fifth and the target is to be a bit better than that.

  • F1 Bahrain 2013: Post-qualifying press conference

    F1 Bahrain 2013: Post-qualifying press conference

    Q: Congratulations Nico, you’re first ever top four start in Bahrain and you did it in style. Were you as surprised as some people that pole was yours today?
    Nico Rosberg:     A little bit, yeah. It wasn’t really clear before who was the quickest car, especially over one lap. I was a bit closer this morning already, so I was a bit more happy than yesterday for sure, so as a team I think we worked really during the night to improve the car because yesterday we were really struggling. So that’s been going well. I’m really, really happy, that’s a fantastic result. That’s great for tomorrow. Of course tomorrow it’s going to be a tough race for sure, with rear tyre degradation especially, so a lot can still happen.

    Q: We’ll talk more about the race in a couple of moments. Sebastian, you’re qualifying today: was that the pace of the Red Bull or was it a lap that could have been better? Are you disappointed with second place?
    Sebastian Vettel:     Definitely not disappointed. I think congratulations to Nico; he put a very strong lap in. I think it was all his today. Initially when I crossed the line I saw that I didn’t go first, so I saw second placed on one of the screens but I didn’t know how much was missing, because the lap was fine. You always a little bit here or there but, yeah, when I got told the gap to P1, to Nico, it was clear that even with the perfect lap he was unbeatable today. But nevertheless, very happy. I think we managed to save some tyres throughout qualifying. As Nico touched on it will be all about tyres and tyre degradation tomorrow, once again. So, we’ll see what happens but for sure it’s good to start from the front.

    Q: Today, Fernando, was all about the dash for pole, though, and it was a lap, your second lap, that contained a couple of errors right at the end and you came back into the pits. Was that trying too hard because Nico’s lap was too fast or were you just not happy with the balance of the car or what?
    Fernando Alonso:     Well, in the car obviously you don’t know Nico’s lap, we don’t have TV in the car yet! So we tried to complete the second lap and it was very, very similar until the last corner and in the last corner the exit I saw it was half a tenth or one tenth slower than the previous lap so we decided to come in just to save one lap on those tyres. You never know if you have to use them again in the race, so very, very happy with third place. Normally in qualifying we’re struggling a lot but today the car was very competitive in qualifying and this puts us in a strong position to start tomorrow’s race with the group of the leaders and fight for the podium with a little bit more margin.

    Q: Nico, both Sebastian and Fernando have hinted at tyre degradation sorting out tomorrow’s race. It’s something that Mercedes have suffered from in the past, so is today your day for celebration and is tomorrow just a day to limit your losses?
    NR:     I really want to kick-start my season. It’s really been a rough ride in the first three races and so today’s really been the first normal qualifying up to now, so I just want to kick-start everything now, my whole season. I’m OK for the race tomorrow, you know. For sure the competition is going to be tough, definitely. Difficult to say if we have enough pace to win the race tomorrow but for sure we’re going to try and I look forward to starting first – definitely.

     

    Questions from the floor

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday). Question to Fernando: you must be pretty confident heading into tomorrow because you’ve shown good long-run pace and a strong start could set you up for the win, don’t you think?

    Fernando Alonso: Well, let’s see. I think the race is very long so we need to wait and see how the pace is tomorrow. It’s true that on Sundays normally we do improve our performance and we seem more competitive on Sunday than on Saturday. Friday also the long runs were more or less OK and not a big drama with the tyres. So, let’s wait and see tomorrow. The conditions keep changing all the time here in Bahrain with the circuit running more and more categories, not only the Formula One, so I think tomorrow will be a good opportunity for us, first of all to win the podium and try to get some consistency and races in the podium and if we can fight for the win, even better.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe). Question to all three drivers: are you surprised by the times of the two Lotus’?

    Nico Rosberg: Where are they? [Ninth and eleventh] In that case, yeah, for sure, because all weekend they’ve been looking very quick.

    Sebastian Vettel: Did they run in Q3 or not? [Räikkönen qualified and ran] Yeah. Same as Nico, it’s a big surprise. I don’t know, that’s why I was asking. I don’t know what’s their plan for tomorrow but yeah, they were quite quick this morning, for sure. It didn’t matter the compound, they were quite quick all weekend so something must have gone wrong.

    Q: Fernando? Fernando Alonso: Yeah, same.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo). Nico, the race simulation you did in free practice, you have indication that you have a good pace for the race or maybe it will be like in the last races where you were very fast in qualifying, not so much in race?

    Nico Rosberg: I think it’s not going to be… we’re not going to be as quick as we were in qualifying compared to everybody else. I think it’s much closer tomorrow on race fuel but you just have to wait. There’s so many factors that influence that, you just have to wait and see. For sure it will be much more difficult, yeah.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). Nico, when we met yesterday, we were joking a little bit with bad words in Italian about your situation.

    Nico Rosberg: What were we talking about? Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). We were joking with a bad word… Nico Rosberg: Ah yeah. You said that, yeah? Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). Yes, I know, my apologies. How did you improve the car? Nico Rosberg: Yesterday we were in a difficult situation. We were not where we wanted to be and not where we were in the last couple of races, so it was all bit question marks and a bit surprising. But as a team, we really did a fantastic job to turn it around and to be absolute quickest today, it’s great. That’s just down to having done really really good work last night and this morning.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport). Sebastian, can you explain to us why you saved all three sets of the harder tyres? Do believe that there will be four pit stops tomorrow?

    Sebastian Vettel: To be honest with you, I don’t know how many stops we have to do. I think you don’t have to be a genius… one stop is impossible for everybody, two stops is impossible for most, I think, and then it’s between three and four stops. I think we decided to do what we did because we think it’s the best way. In qualifying we were not exactly sure how quick we would be. We didn’t want to take any risks, we wanted to make sure that we finish in front and we believed that the soft tyre was faster, or the medium tyre, so we went for that in qualifying.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta). Fernando, are you afraid of Massa starting on hard tyres in fourth position? And after your 1m 32.8s on hard, could it have been better to qualify on hard tyres?

    Fernando Alonso: Well, I think it’s fantastic that Felipe is fourth. He finished sixth in qualifying but with (the penalties for) Webber and Hamilton he will be fourth, so it’s better to start alongside Felipe than to start alongside Lewis to be honest. I really prefer this combination of results, that I should help the first corner attack and hopefully we can both do a good start and hopefully – with these different strategies that we have – can cover some more scenarios in the race than maybe wouldn’t be in our control if we had the same tyres. It’s true that we felt comfortable on the hard tyre in Q1. He also felt comfortable on the hard tyres in Q1, but he chose them for Q3. I think they are very close together and I think that when you gain something in qualifying you can lose it in the race; when you lose in the race, you gain something in qualifying so it’s a difficult trade-off but I’m extremely happy with our strategy and I’m extremely happy that we’re third and fourth. Tomorrow, we both need to think about being on the podium. It will be really important for the Constructors’ championship as well.

    Photo: BBC.co.uk

     

  • Bahrain GP Qualifying Top 3 Press Conference Video

    Bahrain GP Qualifying Top 3 Press Conference Video