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

    2017 Russian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Pascal Werhlein (Sauber)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Kimi, you’ve been knocking on the door of a podium at every race this year – but judging by your radio messages, you’re still not happy with the car. What feeling is it giving you and how does that change over the course of a grand prix?

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I’m more happy now that I was probably first race. I think in the last race it was pretty good, I was very happy with it but qualifying not so, but the race itself was good. Then we had pretty average Saturday, so the starting place already was not very good. Then pretty bad first lap so was a bit off. Bad start then couldn’t really get past Felipe in the beginning. Then got past him, we had very good speed but then Safety Car was a bit unfortunate after our pitstop. Then the feeling was pretty good. So, you know, you have to make the Saturday better and then obviously you can use the speed.

    Q: How do you see things panning out this weekend between Ferrari and Mercedes?

    KR: I don’t know, you tell me. We’ll see tomorrow how it goes. It’s been pretty close between everybody so far, it the first three. You wouldn’t expect it to be a whole lot different here – but who knows.

    Q: Can you say that there are still a few things for you to iron-out with the car? But is this still the best Ferrari you have raced in Formula One?

    KR: You cannot really compare from the early days but comparing the last few years, then yes. I drove a very good Ferrari when I came first time in Ferrari and, you know, it’s a good car, good package but we have to improve it all the time like anybody who does it but yeah, we just need on my side to put things a bit more better where we want it to be and I’m sure we’ll get the results that we want.

    Q: Daniel, I want to start with a technical question. You struggled with tyre temperature in Bahrain, with track temperatures not expected to be that high here, are you worried that the issue will be the same at this grand prix?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Not worried. I think we learned a bit from that. We had the test on Tuesday after the race. We experimented with a few things, so I don’t expect to be in that position again. So yeah, we’ll see. We know that this track is one where you sometimes circulate for a bit and then do a push lap. The tyres maybe aren’t’ there on that first lap for, say, qualifying but I think for the race we should be OK. We’ll be alright.

    Q: The team is planning to bring pretty much a new car to the Spanish Grand Prix in a couple of weeks’ time. What do you expect from that car – and what are the major problems with the current car that need addressing?

    DR: I expect… I’ll use the word hope, not expect. I hope for a bit of a bullet: something fast. We want to be in a three-way fight with Ferrari and Mercedes. So, that’s what I would hope for: something that puts us in that fight. I look back at least year and think here in qualifying we were over 1.5s off pole and then we went to Barcelona and we were about half a second off pole and we made some gains and then obviously in Monaco we were quick. It’s a time of the year where we should start to see these updates take place and some performance really start to come out of the car. I’m hopeful of that. We just need a bit of everything now. We’ve talked a bit about downforce, feeling a bit in the rear. We’ve had a bit of time to look at Ferrari: they’ve been in front of us for a few races and can study them for a lap or two before they get too far away and yeah, they look strong. Mercedes as well: they’re just carrying a bit more grip in the rear and that’s where all the lap time is in these cars these days.

    Q: You say you want a bullet – but the guys next to you aren’t standing still. Are you confident the upgrade in Spain is going to be enough to make it a three-way fight at the front?

    DR: I hope so. I’m confident it’s going to be better than what we’ve got now and for now that’s all we can ask for is an improvement. A bit like last year: we made that step and were able to just keep chipping away at it. I think to make that first step is important. I believe we will get that in Barcelona and then let’s see where it puts us. If it puts us within half a second, then I think we’re in striking territory soon after that.

    Q: Pascal, great first race back in Bahrain. You then completed 91 laps during testing, so is it safe for us to assume you’re now back to full fitness.

    Pascal WERHLEIN: Yes. Really happy to be back, first of all. I think my first weekend was great, P13 in qualifying, P11 in the race, so couldn’t be more happy about my first weekend. Then obviously the test after the race went well. Nearly did 100 laps and just feeling more and more confident with the car, and also with the team and all of the procedures. Just looking forward to start my season finally now.

    Q: Looking back, how tough, in hindsight, was your recuperation – physically and mentally – to get yourself back to full racing fitness, how tough was it? You posted a picture of you on social media wearing a neckbrace. Was there ever a moment when you felt your career slipping way or were you confident you’d get back and have the sort of race you had in Bahrain?

    PW: No, I fought, of course, very hard to come back and also with the people around me which helped me massively to come back as soon as possible and as quick as possible. We knew that it’s a matter of time but obviously to break a few vertebrae it will take a bit of time and y’know, still it took me only ten weeks to come back to racing and I’m very happy about that. I think, when I posted the picture after Bahrain, people realised more which injury I had, and yeah, as I said, just really happy to be back and to start.

    Q: Daniel has just been telling us about the rate of development at the front of the grid. Given that’s the case, how crucial are the next few races for you, to get points? Do you see the next three as the best chance?

    PW: I don’t think so. Of course we have a disadvantage, especially, I think in the second half of the season with the engine because we have last year’s Ferrari engine but I think we can make bigger progress with the car, then second half of the season, the engine is a disadvantage. Let’s see how the season goes, I will do my best and I’m sure everyone in the team does as well and hopefully we can score a few points.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) The latest information from the FIA says that the cockpit shield has received the nod over the halo for 2018. First of all, which of the two systems do you prefer, what do you think of the shield in any event?

    KR: Well, I have seen a bit of the shield, of what they showed to us. Until we try, it’s very hard to say how it is. Is it better than the halo? I don’t know. Look-wise, I don’t think there’s much difference between either of them.

    DR: Yep. Like Kimi said, we got a presentation in China, I think, all us drivers, about the new shield. I think yeah, we’ve still got to see a bit more but yeah, first impressions seem OK and I guess we’ll now try and get some development on that and then start to run it in some practices as soon as they can put it on the cars and then get some more feedback on it. It’s good that they’re still obviously looking for this head protection stuff so that’s positive.

    PW: I didn’t see the shield yet as I wasn’t in China so I don’t know how it looks. I think it looks similar to the new idea last year, no?

    DR: It’s like a middle of the road look. It looks alright actually.

    PW: I think the halo looked a bit strange so the version of last year of Red Bull. I liked it quite a lot, it looks like a spaceship and very futuristic. I liked it. If it looks similar, it’s good. If it’s more safe, it’s good for us drivers.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Kimi – a similar question that I put to Valtteri – 34 points between yourself and your teammate right now. Have you had a conversation with management about your role in the team this year? Has Sebastian been identified as the number one driver?

    KR: No. Obviously we have our talks at the beginning of the year. We know exactly what we are supposed to do between us as drivers and that hasn’t changed. If it comes to that at the end of the year when either one has no chance, purely on points, then obviously things will fall into place but apart from that, I don’t see anything happening until then.

    Q: (Kiril Zaytsev – 66.ru) Kimi, can you tell us more about your businesses outside of F1? Is it true that you have a karaoke bar in Helsinki? And how can your fans find it to sing some songs, maybe? And do you sing yourself?

    KR: I do some other stuff than F1 in my life but I’ve no interest to tell what I do or where I do. Do I go in bars? Yes, lately less, no time, unfortunately. I’m involved with a few things.

    Q: But Kimi, can you sing?

    KR: Can I sing? Badly. But I can sing. But I don’t think it’s the point of that. It’s more fun than actually trying to sing.

    Q: (Lasse Lehtinen – Ilta Sanomat) Kimi, you’ve been pretty frustrated in the races during this season. What has helped you to handle these disappointments?

    DR: Karaoke!

    KR: No, it’s the normal story I would say. Every year… in any race that you don’t do as well as you hope it’s never going to be fun or easy. It can look either way. I’m lucky that I haven’t been in the position that I have won all the time, so that you get used to these things but on the other hand you would rather be in that position. It’s worse fun. It’s very normal stuff, you know. I want to do better and the fact is that if you don’t do as well as I want then for myself it’s never going to be fun. It’s always more fun when we do have a good result. It’s just go to the next race and try to do better.

    Q: (Marco Mensurati – La Repubblica) Kimi, in Shanghai, Marchionne was not so fine with you. We heard him talking not so gently and I would like to know about your relationship with him and with the team? And the second one: how long do you think your career will last?

    KR: As far as I’ve spoken to our personnel it has always been fine. I know that there’s some things that have been said and written but for me, you can find so many nonsense stories in newspapers, on the web, that I trust much more how my relationship is personal with the team or with him. For me it’s all fine. Like I said before, I expect a good result from myself; when I don’t get them I’m unhappy with myself so if the people aren’t happy that’s fine because I’m not either so it’s not really a big deal for me. What comes to my future I don’t know. There’s always a lot of talk on that since years. I’m not going to try and I’m not going to do this and that. My first thing is that I want to do well and then we’ll see what happens after this year. It’s definitely not the first thing in my mind right now. My first thing in my mind is to do well and here and then the next race and whatever that brings we will see in the future. I have a good relationship with him, I know him well and it depends on many things.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – La Corriere della Serra) Again for Kimi: can we say that Ferrari is definitely at the same level as Mercedes or is Mercedes still having something more than your team?

    KR: I think there are many different ways to look at things. If you look at pure results, if you look at qualifying results. It depends what you look at but I think as a team they have done a very good job for us to bring the car to the level that we have and obviously it’s up to us to make the best out of it. Seb has done good races. As a team I think we’ve come a long way from the last few years. Yes, there are still things that we have to improve all the time and do better but that’s the same with everybody. Are we at the same level as them, Mercedes? I don’t know. It’s not far off, let’s put it that way. In qualifying, I think they’ve been a bit stronger I would say but then in the race it seems to even out. That’s a bit the same trend as it’s been the last few years, that they seem to find something extra on one lap and then it evens out a bit in race conditions. I think it depends a bit on the circuits where  we go but we have a good package and we have to make the best out of it.

    Q: (Angelina Grebtsova – Nation Magazine) To you all: which is your favourite track?

    DR: Favourite track? To drive on: Monaco. Yeah. It’s unique. It’s so tight and twisty and the whole weekend is great as a spectacle but for pure driving and as far as adrenalin goes that’s a stand-out above the rest.

    KR: I don’t think there’s one bad circuit but I enjoy maybe Spa, Monaco. I guess they’re quite opposites. There’s a lot of nice places but maybe those two.

    PW: For me it’s Macau. It was very impressive to be there in Formula Three. I think I was 16 or 17 and driving with a Formula Three car at 280kph on a street circuit was something very impressive and the track is also very nice.

    Q: And Pascal, a Formula One track as well?

    PW: Maybe it’s becoming a Formula One track in the future. No. I love street circuits so maybe Singapore.

    Q: (Angelique Belokopytov – Autodigest) Daniel, your lack of performance, if I can call it that, is it all on your car or is there something missing in the driver and if yes, what is it?

    DR: No, nothing’s missing in the driver. I haven’t forgotten anything. I think just with the car – we know that we can do better, I guess. I think we’ll see that in Barcelona. I think the team’s learned a lot from the past, from testing but also the past few races and also with our feedback, myself and Max’s feedback, I think we’ve been targeting the same things and I think now the team has really understood the point on the car to work on, to focus on and that’s why now they’re bringing this update for Barcelona and that’s as soon as it can come. That’s pretty much that, so for everyone asking why isn’t it here for this weekend… it takes time to build the parts, basically, and then to put them on the car. They test them and then it takes time for the development and all the process but  from Barcelona we should be good. From a driving point of view I feel good, very good.

    Q: (Darya Panova – F1 Only) What is the main feature of Sochi for you?

    KR: I think it’s a nice place to come. The circuit is quite good. It’s been a bit tricky over the last three years. It’s just been very slippery – at least for us – but it’s a nice place to come. Everything is new, everything is well done and I enjoy coming here. It’s a beautiful place.

    PW: I like the track so I’m looking forward to driving turn three, hopefully flat this year. It wasn’t possible last year in the Manor. I think there are some nice corners also, the one after the back straight, hard braking into a left hander. It’s very easy to lock up the tyres. There are a few nice places as a street circuit but with a bit more space so you can lock up, you can go a bit wide sometimes so it’s a good track.

    DR: Yeah, I think the low grip makes it quite tricky, quite unique and a lot of the corners are flat so there’s not really any camber, any positive banking to kind of pull you round the corners so when it’s slippery and you have like a flat corner then it’s a lot more easy to slide and it’s harder to sometimes find the grip so that’s a challenge but quite a fun one. There’s not many tracks we go to now with that feature and yeah, as Pascal said, I guess it’s turn 13 I believe, after the back straight, braking for there is quite tricky. That’s a good one, it can be a passing opportunity as well. If you can pull off a move  there it’s normally a nice one.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Kimi, we saw in the tests in Barcelona, bends number nine, ten that you could brake on the entry, you didn’t have a lot of understeer, and this year you have complained on the radio – we have heard that – that you suffer with understeer. Maybe it’s one of the reasons for a lack of performance between you and Sebastian. What has happened from the winter test to now? And to Daniel, you said about the development of the car; what about the power unit? Is there a development from Renault, from Australia to now?

    KR: I think people always look at the lap times in testing and obviously if you’re the fastest they think everything is perfect but I think the problem is also that you do testing in one place, one circuit and any other circuit is usually a chance to set up and we’ve been not far off but off enough to not be 100 percent happy and like I said, last race already we were a lot happy so let’s hope that this weekend we are even better off and go from there. So just small things but they all make a difference.

    DR: Yup, power unit  – we’ve had a little bit since Australia, so it hasn’t been an upgrade but we’ve been able to squeeze a tenth out of it since then, I would say, and I think around Montreal we’re looking for let’s say that power unit upgrade where we should hopefully find a couple of tenths or something like that. Yeah, we’re obviously still trying to get chassis and power unit stronger but yeah, the big upgrade has not come yet.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, last week or two weeks ago you were in Holland to see the motocross World Championship because you have a team there. Could it be possible to see you there, managing the team when you finish Formula One? You are 37-years old, you said before you are focused on the season to improve yourself but you are in your mind drawing that line to say OK, now that’s enough for me, I want to change my life?

    KR: I don’t want to change my life. I’m happy with my life. I’ve had the World Championship team for many years. I enjoy going there when I have time. Unfortunately I’m quite busy with a lot of stuff so not enough time to go often but it’s good fun, it’s different  to here so I enjoy it also on that side but like I said, we will see what happens in the future. I’ve been in the same position for many years. People always question me on many things but I’m not in a hurry to decide anything and whatever the future brings is what I want also and we will see.

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

    2017 Russian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Daniil KVYAT (Toro Rosso), Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Daniil, welcome and happy birthday for yesterday. It is of course a home race for you but that means an awful lot of commitments. Were you able to even enjoy your birthday?

    Q: Daniil KVYAT: Yeah, I was. Obviously you have to expect that you have a bit more things to do at your home race. I think it’s a privilege for any driver to have a home race and it’s a privilege for me. Of course I was in Moscow a few days earlier for a few events and here also yesterday was quite a busy working day for me to be honest, but it was still enjoyable, I was surrounded by nice people and it was all quite nice. I learned how to do curling, so now another sport on top.

    Q: This is the fourth year of the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi? How do you feel the popularity of the event has grown during that time?

    DK: You know, to be honest I think that since year one there has been quite full grandstands, so it’s been quite good already. Not too much to add since the first year, so it’s a point to maintain this. We will see this year but I am expecting to see quite a lot of people here on Sunday and the weather is nice so everyone should enjoy. Hopefully the race is going to be interesting and that’s it really. I am pleased to see this.

    Q: Let’s talk about your on track performances: you scored points in Australia, but you haven’t had much luck since then. How do you assess your season so far?

    DK: First of all, it was already a privilege to finish the race in Australia, for me. It was a good start but for me it was more important to know that we have the pace to do good results. As you said, China and Bahrain were a bit not our kind of weekends. More important for us to know that we have a package to do things well. The team is operating extremely well this year from the operational side of the things – very professional, especially considering how tight the midfield is, every little thing makes a difference for us. It’s actually quite interesting. Very interesting every qualifying session. You are putting yourself at the limit and the same in the races. It’s very interesting to be there.

    Q: Tell us a little bit more about this year’s car. What are its strengths and weaknesses?

    DK: Our car in particular, I would say, is quite universal. It’s been a similar kind of performance in every track so far – Australia, China, Bahrain, it’s always similar, fighting for points, Q3s. Like I said before, you have to put everything well together and the difference between the fourth best team and the seventh best team is very, very narrow.

    Q: Thank you for that and good luck for the weekend. If we come on to Valtteri now. Valtteri, you made a step forward in qualifying last time out but to use your own words the race was a disappointment. Given you have a record here in Sochi, are you confident that this is the place to make that final step?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I think definitely it has been getter better in each qualifying of the year and feeling that I can definitely extract more and more out of the car and had a nice lap in Bahrain on Saturday but, yeah, it is Sunday that counts and to be honest I think the first race of the year in Melbourne, as a Sunday, was the best one for me. It was the most trouble-free race for me. Been having quite a few difficulties in China and Bahrain – technically, with different kinds of things in the race. So hoping for a good one here. We have a strong package and obviously the fight with Ferrari is extremely close and every single bit is going to count, so yeah, just hoping for a good weekend.

    Q: You just referenced the technical problems you had in Bahrain. But you then went and did 143 laps in testing after the grand prix, during which you said you’d learned a few tricks. I just wondered what those tricks might be?

    VB: Like I said, it’s all about fine details with the fight between us and Ferrari and obviously it’s very close between team-mates as well, so every single bit helps. It was quite critical in Bahrain with the tyres, in terms of keeping them in the right window and with the tyre pressure issues we had it made it even more tricky. Bahrain testing allowed me to try a bit of different things for that really – how to manage the tyres. In terms of race pace and temperatures and pressure and everything we could experience a lot of different things. We found small things as a team, but small things are going to help. It is completely different conditions here in Russia, different tarmac, different temperatures, so we are facing different challenges here.

    Q: Just finally, you’ve now completed your first 100 days as a Mercedes driver. How would you sum it up, how’s it gone?

    VB: Busy! Especially since January when everything was signed and announced it has been a busy time. But I have to say these 100 days, I’ve never in my life learned so much in that short period of time. I feel like I’ve been developing well. I’ve managed to get really into the team, I feel completely part of the team and I feel like I’m in a very good place. The team is really helping me with that. I’ve learned massively but that’s going to continue.

    Q: Thanks for that. Romain, first points of the year last time out in Bahrain. So, how confident are you of another good result here? Do you even know yet how good this year’s car is?

    Romain GROSJEAN: It’s a shame we’re not at the next press conference – I always said I was going to wait four grands prix to see what the car was capable of doing. We’ve had three different track right now and Sochi is the fourth one – very smooth tarmac and last year we had ups and down. This year it looks like the car has been strong everywhere. Only first point in Bahrain but I reckon we should have scored points in Melbourne and in China, we had a little bit of bad luck. So far, so good. Just waiting that grand prix to see how the car is going around and if we can get all we want and if we can get the tyres to work properly and so on. If that’s the case then we know we should be pretty good everywhere and then it’s just going to be down to development.

    Q: Can I ask you about the test last week in Bahrain. You tested Carbone Industrie brakes. How did they compare with the Brembos you have been racing? Are they the solution to the braking problems you’ve had for pretty much the last 18 months?

    RG: To be fair to Brembo, the last update in brakes we had that arrived in China were much better. It took a long time to get them. So then I was not screaming to change to Carbone Industrie but it was in the pipeline, so we tried them, and both drivers were pretty pleased with them. We felt like we had more control under braking. I’m very sensitive to my left pedal, so I really need to get good brakes to get good confidence and push the car to its maximum limit. So we are going to run them here. There is still a little bit of work we need to be doing around the mapping and finding the solution around those brakes but I think yeah, definitely it’s going to help me a little bit to find the last few hundredths.

    So just to clarify you are going to run the Carbone Industrie here in Russia?

    RG: Yes.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Valtteri, as you mentioned, your qualifying has been getting better and better but your race pace has not been what you expected. But it’s especially in the first half of the races that you seem to be struggling more, when the car is on full tanks. Have you find out why is that and in testing in Bahrain did you find a remedy for that?

    VB: Yes, so like I said, I think Australia was the only race when everything was actually working as it should in the car. There was a small mechanical issue in China which was affecting the balance of the car quite a lot and it made the race overall quite tricky. Plus, I didn’t maybe do the best job with the softer compound in the beginning. And in Bahrain my race was compromised with the issue we had with the generator on the grid, meaning the tyre pressures were way too high and the first stint was very poor. We were hoping the second stint would be better, so we fitted another set of supersofts. It was better, but we didn’t manage to be really in the window with the supersoft. At the same time Lewis changed to softs and that was why there was a massive difference with the pace and then we were on different strategy, different points of having the stops and to be honest it made me look really bad in the race and slow, but for sure we had some issues as well. But I feel that with a normal, trouble-free race the good results will come and we can have a strong result with both cars, definitely.

    Q: (Kiril Zaytsev – 66.ru) A question for Daniil Kvyat. Dany, if Max Verstappen strikes somebody off the start, will Dr Marko replace him by you?

    DK: It’s a question for Dr Marko, not for me.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) A question for Valtteri. Valtteri, it looks like it’s going to be tight, obviously, between yourselves and Ferrari this year. With that in mind, have you had a conversation with Toto or any of the management about when one of you or Lewis might become the number one or number two driver?

    VB: No, we have not had the conversation because I don’t think there is any need to. This team never really has had number one or number two drivers and is not planning to. It’s always trying to give and equal chance for both drivers. But what is different this year is, for the team the last three years, the gap to the second quickest team has been bigger. So maybe every single detail – letting the drivers race hard, or one being stuck behind the other at times hasn’t cost anything. But I do understand the fact that this year it can cost points. If for any reason, like for me In Bahrain, the pace of the other car is not good then the team needs to think and be clever and not to lose any points. We’ve only had three races this year and I feel all my good results are still on the way, so at least I am not thinking about anything like that and I’m sure also for the team there’s no need to.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Based on the latest information from the FIA, it appears as though the cockpit Shield has received the nod for 2018 over the Halo. What do you think about the Shield and which one would you prefer the Shield or the Halo?

    RG: Can we choose nothing. I haven’t been a big fan of the Halo and I’m not a huge fan of the Shield either. I don’t want to stop the safety. I think safety in Formula One has to be the number one priority but I don’t want to change what I’ve known as Formula One since ever and the next step is to put a closed canopy on top of the helmet and I don’t want to see Formula One being closed cars.

    DK: I agree with Romain, you know, I think it’s enough for now the way Formula One should look should remain the same. I think we have enough protection so far. Of course if there are good ideas they should be considered but so far I am quite against it to be honest, both of those options.

    VB: I don’t mind the Shield. I think it looks quite OK. I think it’s definitely a good step compared to the Halo. That’s my personal view, how it looks, so I don’t mind that. I think the safety aspect is always important. It’s always important to keep things improving, developing – safety always needs to be improved. So I wouldn’t mind trying out the Shield, seeing how is the visibility and if there are any other issues with that. But I think in terms of safety it would be a good step compared to what we have now.

    Q: (Marco Mensurati – La Repubblica) A question for Valtteri, again about his first 100 days in Mercedes. When you signed, did you expect that it would be so hard, so difficult and which is so far in your opinion the biggest mistake you made?

    VB: I can answer the second question first: spinning behind the safety car in China, I think that’s the biggest mistake I’ve done, it could be through my career most likely…

    RG: I’ve done it, no worries…

    VB: Yeah? Hopefully the last one

    Daniil, have you done it?

    DK: No, but on the out lap…

    Everybody’s done it. Back to you Valtteri.

    VB: For sure I always knew it was going to be a big challenge: a late change of team in mid-January, going up against Lewis, probably one of the quickest drivers ever, so I always knew the facts of changing team. I have to say there was quite a bit more stuff to really get good at, in terms of really learning how the team operates and how the team is setting up the cars – different kind of tools to what I’m used to, and a different way of thinking in some ways. Getting to understand that 100% there has been quite a bit of work. Obviously all kinds of other things: how the car behaves mechanically, new tyres, new cars, which is the same for everyone. So I wouldn’t say I underestimated the change, but it’s definitely been a challenge as I expected but like I say, I’m getting there. My goal was to be able to extract everything there is in the car in the first race, first qualifying. I don’t feel like that I maybe achieved. But also allowed myself some time, not to put too much pressure. I knew that it’s not going to be easy. But like I said, feeling very comfortable now, good with the car, good with the team. Overall a good feeling, just happy to continue and get some results.

    Q: (Andrey Kartashov – Tas News Agency) Question to Daniil. Do you feel the pressure of racing in front of your home stands and what is a decent result here in Sochi for you?

    DK: I’m racing now fourth year here at home. It’s always been a busy week off the track but to be honest on the track starting on Friday it’s been like any other weekend from that point of view – you go out in FP1, you start working on the car set-up with the tools you’ve got. Same position in FP2, FP3 and then you’ve got qualifying and then you’ve got the race. Nothing has really changed for me in those three days of sporting work. It’s important to just focus on your own job and try to do your best.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Question to all drivers. We have seen this year some difficulty to take the tyres to the temperature of the window and here’s a circuit where you have very low tyre wear. Can it be an issue here? And, for Valtteri, can it be an advantage considering you fight with Ferrari which keeps more the tyres but has some difficulty to reach the temperature of the tyres?

    VB: I think this year we’ve struggled a bit more with higher temperatures. I think that’s been a bit of a trend and something we’ve been working very hard on. I think we’ve also managed to find some things in testing in Bahrain. So yeah, I think we prefer these kind of conditions to very hot – but it’s not something we are counting on. We need to keep working on everything. It will be interesting to see how we compare. My estimate is that, again, it is going to be very, very close with Ferrari. We’re talking hundredths, maximum tenths. So, it’s going to be interesting.

    Dany, how about you?

    DK: I think, you know, obviously Pirelli has changed a bit their approach from the last few years to this year, obviously with the big regulation change. So, it’s perhaps slightly more conservative with their compounds but at the same time here of course they’re bringing their softest compounds. In the past this track historically has been very interesting on the tyres. It’s quite different, standing out, and every year we have to understand how to make it work in the correct way. So I think this weekend also will be interesting, but obviously having ultrasoft here as a qualifying compound should be a bit more helpful – but we have to find out only on Friday.

    Romain?

    RG: Yeah, I think tyres have been easier to work than last year, to put in the window, with more downforce on the car. Warm-up was a big issue for Pirelli, or a big concern initially, but I think we haven’t had too much warm-up issue. Here, of course, it’s more tricky but again we’ll see how it goes. We’re hoping with the ultrasoft that warm-up will be good enough and then in the race with the fuel anyway it should balance out and be pretty OK.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) To Valtteri. If you were given an instruction in this race to move over for Lewis, a) would you do that? And as well as that, if they sat you down more broadly over the next few weeks and said: “look, there’s only one way we can get a driver to win this year and we’ve got to back Lewis to do it”, would you agree to do it? Would you say “I understand why I’ve been brought in and that’s the job I’ve got to do. My wages arrive through the Mercedes management and I’ll do their bidding.” Or would you say “no, I’m not there to do that, I won’t yield an inch to Lewis.”

    VB: Your question is very hypothetical. There’s a lot of ‘its’ and I definitely haven’t thought that far about things and I don’t think that is going to happen. So, I prefer not to say much to that – but, y’know, example, if I have some issues in this race, for whatever reason, we are in different strategies or Lewis is stuck behind me, or something, if the team tells me to move over, I will, because we are doing this as a team and our target is to get maximum points for the team. And, of course, as a driver I’m going to do everything I can not to be in that position and have my own race. I like personal results as well but I’ve always been a team player, in the long term that is going to reward you, and the team – but in terms of what’s going to happen in the future between me and Lewis and team orders and so on, y’know we are not planning anything like that. I’m sure we are going to be racing very hard together on track but, like I said before, this year the team needs to be more careful and maybe more clever in terms of how we collect every single point possible in the race. And that one, I completely understand. Nothing more to say.

    Valtteri, if you’re quicker than Lewis, would you expect him to move over for you?

    VB: Of course. If the team thinks there is a possibility to gain more points or, if we are in any way allowed to race freely, it’s no different. We are being respected and handled the same way. It can all be vice versa in this race or the next one. Who knows?

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Romain Grosjean. With the test of the new brakes, did you have time during that day in Bahrain to test other things – new setups?

    RG: Yeah. The brakes actually was not the first test item of the day. We tried different mapping in the car and them over the lunch break went to the brakes. We didn’t lose a lot of time to set them as we wanted – but then had Kevin had a similar problem on the next day. We collected more information, so yeah, we had a very productive testing and hoping that everything we’ve done is going well and we’ll see on track tomorrow.

    Q: (Inaudible) Question for Daniil. Obviously a lot has changed since last year here in Sochi for you. Could you tell us a little bit about your past year. Must have been difficult, maybe, sometimes for you?

    DK: How would you guess! I would say in the end it seems like just some pleasures in my memory to be honest. Now the situation is quite different and it seems like every time I get out on track with the car it all feels quite comfortable, it all feels quite under control. And, as I said, every race is an opportunity for us to do well and that’s how it feels. Sometimes this feeling was very inconsistent, of course, last year, which I guess is normal – but now it seems like it’s back to me. And yeah, the confidence with the car is good, the pace is there and I think we’re only on race four out of 20 so it all looks encouraging for me, so prefer to look ahead rather than behind.

    Q: (Darya Panova – F1 Only) Question to Daniil Kvyat. Happy belated birthday. What is the most memorable gift you got yesterday?

    DK: Thanks! We had a book presentation yesterday about my junior career so it was very nice. A very nice gift. I hope it will be interesting for the young guys from Russia to read. This was actually the idea of showing a bit the curtains from inside the house: how it works, the traditional way to Formula One – but there is not a single word about my Formula One career, of course. Also a game, backgammon, from my father was a very nice gift. So yeah… I can’t think of anything else.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – The Daily Mail) To Valtteri again – you get a lot of this now you’re at Mercedes – you seemed as though you’ve got on well with Lewis. How would you describe the nature of your relationship. Do you speak regularly? Do you see him at the racetrack, do you exchange many words? How does it work on a day-to-day basis?

    VB: So far it’s been very good with Lewis, being his team-mate. I feel we have a good professional team-mate relationship – something I’m very much used to with Williams, with Felipe. We don’t see outside the racetrack. Every now and then we might see each other at the factory – like last Tuesday – and obviously we see each other on the race weekends, sit in the same meetings, y’know, I don’t know, it’s a normal team-mate relationship for me. So far it’s been good: we both respect each other, which is good, and we both can work well as a team. We’re both really trying to help the team because every single thing this year is going to count if we want to win the title. So we are really giving everything we can to make us stronger. So far, very good.

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

    2017 Bahrain Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Kevin MAGNUSSEN (Haas), Jolyon PALMER (Renault)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: So, Fernando, twice a winner here in Bahrain but really only one thing to ask you about this afternoon, which is the Indianapolis 500. First current F1 driver to do Indy, I think, for around 40 years. What’s in it for you, and what’s in it for Formula One?

    Fernando ALONSO: As you said, it’s something that is not very common now. I think the past it was all about the best drivers in the world with the best cars in the world and the best races in the world. Then it became more and more professional, the sport, and everyone was dedicated or fully committed to only one series and I think that changed over time. This possibility, it was there for us this year, and I think I am excited to try a different thing. If I want to be the best driver in the world there are two options: I win eight Formula One World Championships, one more than Michael, which is very unlikely; the second one is to win different series in different moments of my career and be a driver that can race and win in any car, in any series. So, that’s very challenging – but attractive as well. So, this is the reason behind. With the same team is a win-win situation. I think it is good for Formula One. This big market in North America that we’ve been pursuing for many years: I think it’s good to go there now and show the respect for the Indy Car series; good for Indy, I guess, to have some Formula One drivers in the competition, and same for McLaren-Honda. I think, as a team, to be racing in the same day in Monte Carlo and in the Indy 500, two McLaren-Hondas in different series, is an amazing thing for motorsport fans. As I said, I think it’s a win-win series for everyone.

    Q: It’s obviously a very different kind of driving discipline. In terms of the preparation, how many days of running do you expect to get before race day and what kind of preparation do you think you’re going to be able to do?

    FA: There is not a defined plan yet, it’s still on-going, so I cannot answer 100 per cent sure what will be there. The plan, at the moment is that next weekend I will be in Alabama just visiting the race and meeting the team members to see how things go there. Probably on Monday after the race I will do the seat fitting, and then I will fly to Russia for the race. After Russia, I will try to be in Indianapolis for a couple of simulator days and hopefully test the car – but it’s not 100 per cent sure. And after that I will go to the Spanish Grand Prix and then fly to America on Sunday after the race because the free practice is on Monday at midday. So, definitely busy weeks in front. On the planes, I will try to look at some videos and some races from the past years and try to learn as quick as I can. It’s completely different skills that you need there, to adapt to the car, to adapt to the circuit, strategies, ways of racing: that close, at that speed, so many things that I have to learn and I’m not ready yet, at the moment – but in the next couple of weeks I am confident I will be able to adapt as quick as I can.

    Q: Just before you came in, Lewis and Sergio were talking about it and thinking about the challenge ahead of you, they were both saying they think you’ll go great because you’re outstanding at race management: if you need to save fuel, save tyres, managing the tyres – but also moving through traffic. When you look at those races do you feel confident that there’s a lot of areas like that that you’ve got in your game that will really help you?

    FA: Hmmm… not really. I never thought about that before making the decision. I think… I don’t feel prepared now. I don’t feel… let’s say I’m not in my comfort zone driving those cars or thinking about those cars. But I’m not afraid of trying and I’m not afraid of not delivering a good result – but knowing at the same time that there are very important weeks ahead. If I want to win one day the triple crown, I have to make this step. This year was the best opportunity for us as a team.

    Q: Kevin, coming to you. Eighth, obviously, in China, scoring Haas’ first points of the season. We asked Sergio earlier on about the intensity of that midfield battle this year, with Haas’ best-ever result coming here 12 months ago. Do you feel this again is a circuit that gain you can rise on, as a team?

    Kevin MAGNUSSEN: I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be as good as China, or even Melbourne. I think we have a good car that works well in most conditions and I think, yeah, as I said, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to perform here. The midfield is very close and competitive, so getting points, you really need to be on top of everything. That’s our target: to be on top of everything and to try and score points again – but it’s not easy.

    Q: You’ve raced with two well established operations in McLaren and Renault. How different is it racing for a start-up? Does being in a team like this actually suit you?

    KM: In some ways it does. Being small some things are easier, some things are more difficult. I think there’s a lot of talent in the team. They’ve got together a really strong, small group of people that work really well together. In some situations, it’s difficult when you’re small. For example, when we need to go into FP3 with no practice; when we miss Friday like we did in China, it’s not easy because our preparation before the race weekend is not as strong as the big teams, of course. But, we react quickly and we take decisions well and, as I said, if everything goes well, I think we should be strong.

    Q: Jolyon, a brutal weekend in Australia but then in China, qualified 18th but finished 13th, it’s clearly not gone as expected so far? So, what have you had to deal with?

    Jolyon Palmer: Australia was very tough for many reasons but China was much better, to be honest. The car was feeling good, I finally had a clean session in FP3 and we were in the top ten. And then qualifying I really feel I could have been in Q3 as well but I didn’t get a lap in in Q1 really. Starting from the back, it’s difficult to do much and we couldn’t make a lot of inroads in the race. I think the performance of the car is pretty good, as Nico has been showing, especially in China qualifying, so it’s just a matter of putting a clean weekend together, getting some laps on Friday – I think I’ve done about ten so far across two weekends, so yeah, would be nice to have a clean weekend and I think we can get in the points.

    Q: Do you think this generation of cars suits you?

    JP: I like it! That’s for sure. I think probably every driver is enjoying driving one of these cars: there’s a lot of downforce. For me, having never driven a V8 or a V10 era of F1 car, this is really exciting. It’s easily the quickest I’ve ever driven. The downforce is the main thing that we feel and it’s exciting.

    Q: Do you feel you’re more comfortably in race mode than in qualifying? Is qualifying an area that’s a particular focus for you going forward this year?

    JP: No, I just think we’ve had particularly difficult weekends. Qualifying in China would have been fine. The lap that I was on in Q1 would have easily seen me through to Q2, so I’m really sure I could have been in Q3 but it’s just how it goes. The Sauber crashing meant that meant I couldn’t complete the lap properly.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Fernando, if you win in Indianapolis, and you’re able to win at  Le Mans after that – and both are big ifs unfortunately, it would still only pull you level with another double World Champion who won the triple crown. So, what other iconic event could you aim for to really set yourself apart from everybody else, as you said earlier on you’d like to?

    FA: I don’t know. That’s thinking too much ahead. Go-Kart World Champion. I don’t know if the other guy was.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Fernando, two-part question: would this have happened had Ron Dennis still been in charge. And b) more significantly, would you be doing this if you had a competitive car beneath you this season?

    FA: First part of the question, I guess not. Zak is a man who has a bigger vision that other team principals or bosses that I had. He sees motorsports differently; he sees McLaren bigger, not only concentrated in Formula One. McLaren won Le Mans a couple of times, won the Indy 500 in the past as well a couple of times. I think he is a true racer. I think it is great that McLaren and Zak joined forces last year It’s a good thing. Secondly, if the car was competitive this year and we were with 43 points together with the other two guys, you cannot afford to lose 25 points possibility missing one race. So, probably the feeling was different if we were competitive.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Fernando, do you have any idea when you think you’ll be able to race Le Mans?

    FA: I don’t know. It’s between Canada and Baku no? We’ll see how many flight connections there are! No, I think definitely… it was something also on the table this year, also because Zak, as an American was pushing for the Indy 500, Eric as a Frenchman, he was pushing for the Le Mans, so I had two good friends in one moment pursuing the race. I think the McLaren-Honda partnership, to be able to run this in the Indy 500, was very attractive this year. For Le Mans it is something I will do – probably as soon as I can. I don’t know if it will be next year or from the following years. The only and first priority is Formula One, so if I can race together with Formula One and other series, as I’m doing this year, will be great. If not, I will do only Formula One.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Just to follow-up again, on what Ian Parkes was saying, you said this wouldn’t have happened under Ron Dennis potentially but it’s happening under Zak. What about the new owners, Liberty, have they given it their blessing – they don’t have to but have they done so? And could you imagine you being allowed to do this, or would the squeeze have been put on for you to not, one of the leading Formula One drivers to have done this, under Bernie?

    FA: As you said, I don’t think they have a key role on all of these decisions. It’s more of a team decision but yeah, I think they are also more open than in the past. We see that also with all of the things we are allowed to do here now. A little bit more relaxed environment. I think it’s also great for Formula One.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Two part question to Fernando: firstly, who would you like to see replace you in Monaco, who do you think would be the ideal driver to do that? And secondly, when you say good result at Indy, what do you mean? Are you going there for the win, or is it too early to set that target? Do you see winning this year a realistic prospect at Indy?

    FA: I think for the Monaco replacement I don’t know. I have no idea of what the team is thinking of at the moment and I don’t have any preference either. I think whoever will be in the car will do great because the team will try to make the best decision possible. Also I’m sure that Stoffel will put the car where he will need to put it because now with some more races and also testing next week here, I think we will get to the maximum speed as soon as possible, so I’m not concerned for this. It will be a good weekend in Monaco for the team, I’m sure. In Indy, I don’t have a clear target, let’s put it that way. I’m going there just with the feeling of enjoy this experience, learn as much as I can from the track side with the different skills that I will need to drive those cars – and also from the outside which I think… the event is quite big, it’s a 14 day event with many things happening there. So (I’m) very open to anything that comes, but at the same time I’m a racer and if I want to win the triple crown one day I have to win that race. If that win happens earlier than expected it’s welcome. Otherwise I need to go again.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Fernando, was McLaren’s desire to keep you for 2018 any part of these discussions?

    FA: No, no. At the beginning of the year, the team asked me what was my intention  and my thoughts for the future. I told them the same thing that I told you guys at the launch of the car. After the summer I will think and I will make a decision of what I will do next year, so nothing has changed after this discussion. It’s not that I’m thinking ‘away from Formula One’, so this will be my last year because this decision and obviously it’s not that thanks to this decision… You know I’m closer and closer to McLaren and to renew the contract so it’s completely independent. After the summer I will see.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsportweek.com) Fernando, you said you’re open to other things in Indycar as well. Would you be open to other Indycar races, bearing in mind there’s a double-header the week after Indy before Canada, and you’re in North America already? And it’s a street circuit?

    FA: No. I don’t think so. I think it’s a one-off. I will do the Indy 500 because it’s the race, it’s the biggest race in the world and the fastest race in the world but after that, especially after Indy and Canada I will probably be two weeks in the living room watching television and relaxing.

    Q: Just before we move on, I just wanted to ask the other two gentlemen what do you think of this and is it something that you’d like to do?

    JP: I think it’s cool. I think it’s obviously something pretty different, it’s exciting for everyone, for him especially but the whole of F1. For me to do it, we’re in quite different positions right now so maybe in 15 years if I’m in a similar position then maybe.

    KM: Yeah, I can see that with his situation it makes sense and it’s a really cool thing  to do so I can understand it.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Fernando, two parts: was it your idea to go racing elsewhere, Indy or Le Mans, and secondly, you had some tough times physically in Bahrain – I don’t remember when, 2006? Did you prepare differently for this race with the new cars?

    FA: Indy and Le Mans – I don’t know, it was a conversation at dinner in Australia that we were sharing our ambitions for the future: me as a driver, of my karting school and different things, different projects that I’m in and as a driver to win something else other than Formula One that we succeed to win a few things was attractive. Zak was telling me his vision about the team in the near future, expanding McLaren into different series in motorsport so I think it was a conversation that  began casually but it didn’t come from my side or his side. It was just a conversation. And then in Bahrain, it was 2009 when I lost five or six kilos of sweat, five or six litres of water. We had a problem with one of the looms on the radiator. I completely burnt all my back in the race and after the race I was completely off, so hopefully everything will be in place and we will not burn the skin any further than in the sun in the morning.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) Fernando, what is the influence of the difficulties of your team today in your decision to compete in the USA 500? And will this decision interfere in your presence in this Formula One season this year in other races?

    FA: It will not influence anything for the remainder of the year. I will be back in Canada, stronger, hopefully, because there are some improvements also during the year which will put us in a more normal position. Right now we are very uncompetitive and we are not happy with the situation so I think it’s going to be much more fun for us, the remaining races from Spain onwards, let’s say. And what was the first question? Not really. I think it’s true that it’s a good motivation and the possibility to win a big race, a big trophy like the Indy 500 in the middle of a year is like winning a World Championship in one weekend so you have two possibilities in one year, so it’s very attractive but it’s not that it came to our mind because this year we’re struggling or last year or the last two years we’re not competitive. This is something that I keep repeating since 2014. I remember leaving Ferrari and talking about this possibility to Mattiacci and people at Ferrari, even racing the 24 hours of Le Mans with a 458, so you’re competing in two different categories in the first year in the same year. So it’s nothing new because of the performance of this year.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Fernando, given what you’ve just said, if you don’t win in Indianapolis would you consider putting a clause in your future contracts regardless of which team, that you can actually compete in say Le Mans or the Indianapolis 500?

    FA: No, no, I think if it’s something that comes naturally from the team and from myself and we want to do it, it’s one thing but my commitment and my desire to win in Formula One is bigger than any other challenge that I can find outside Formula One so it’s Formula One or nothing at the moment but if, together with a team, we arrive at a decision that maybe could be interesting for both sides to try something else we do it but I will never put a clause or anything in a future contract because Formula One is the only thing that I want to do and the only thing that I’m probably prepared to do. The other things are just a question mark.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Fernando, how hard is it then to miss the race in Monte Carlo, the one where you can probably overcome the deficiencies of the car more than at any other place?

    FA: It’s very hard. Definitely Monte Carlo, we know with the package we have in the last couple of years, it was our best opportunity, it’s where we achieved the best results in the last couple of years so it’s a very magic event in Formula One so with all respect to all the other races, any other race to miss was fantastic compared to Monte Carlo. I will try to follow it from Indianapolis, also that that weekend is more or less free there, it’s only the race on Sunday so I will miss Monaco massively.

    Q: Abhishak Takle – Midday) Fernando, I know that you said you haven’t yet set any targets but you must be reasonably confident of being able to run at the front because without that, to give up competing in Monaco is a pretty big decision.

    FA: Yeah but in a way Monaco is the biggest race of the calendar in Formula One and the event is amazing, not only the race on Sunday but the whole weekend is amazing but the best result that we achieved was last year, fifth. Thinking that we are a little bit less competitive this year, you know and maybe you had a possibility to do another top five or seven or six or wherever, it’s great to have some points but I’ve won a couple of times there already and two times World Champion so to have fifth, seventh or ninth in Monaco will not change my life. In a way, it’s impossible to compare… to have the minimum chance to win the Indy 500 compared to a fifth or sixth or seventh in Monaco. It’s much bigger, the other possibility.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Kevin and Jolyon, your fathers both raced at Le Mans in the endurance championship etc. Could you see yourselves going there?

    JP: It’s possible but yeah, I think for me, I’m so focussed on Formula One at the moment, only my second year so yeah, my position’s pretty different. Still all eyes only on Formula One. I think I love the sprint racing but wheel to wheel racing which is not so much endurance. But Le Mans is still a legendary race so maybe.

    KM: I think, for me, I want to be in Formula One and focus on that but my Dad is still racing, he’s in a competitive team in his series and also racing at Le Mans, so I think it would be a shame not to try and do a race together. Me growing up with him racing all the time, it would be a really special experience to do a race with him and imagining winning something like Le Mans with him would be fantastic. It’s weighing up those two things that Formula One is my main priority, that’s what I want to do and what I want to focus on but there is the desire to do something like that with my Dad as well so we will see what happens.

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) Fernando, just saying then that coming fifth or sixth at Monaco isn’t going to change your life, is that the approach you’re also going to take when you look at where you’re going to be next year as well and who you’re going to be racing for?

    FA: Yeah, yes, definitely. I want to win, I’m here to win. I think this year I prepared harder than ever for this year. There’s also the change of regulations. We have high hopes for this year. I feel great with these cars, I’m able to extract the maximum from the cars while during the last couple of years it was difficult because especially with the tyres you had to manage the tyres in a strange way: the less you push, the more performance was there in the tyres so this year is coming back to more normal Formula One and I really enjoyed the race in Australia and in China as well. We were running and securing eighth place. With the performance we have now, it was completely unexpected. Even the most optimistic simulation we had was telling us that we were around 14th  or 15th. So I think I’m really at the best of my career right now in terms of driving so for next year, the target has to be only one: fighting for the World Championship, so not any more fifth or sixth.

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

    2017 Bahrain Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India), Stoffel VANDOORNE (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Lewis, great win last time out in China, current joint leader of the FIA Formula One World Championship – so far so good?

    Lewis HAMILTON: So far, so good, yeah. Happy to be back in Bahrain; always amazing weather. Yeah, it’s been an awesome season so far. We’re working very hard collectively as a team to try and continue at that level.

    Q: Just following up on some comments after the last race, obviously you are a two-time winner here in Bahrain but given the circuit layout here, and particularly the higher temperatures, which could possible play to Ferrari’s strengths are your expecting an even tougher battle to keep them behind you this weekend?

    LH: I definitely do. I think Ferrari have shown tremendous pace and I think obviously in the first race, particularly in race trim, they’re very, very quick, particularly on the hotter circuit. So, being that it is a hotter race here I think the gap is going to be even closer, if not different that to perhaps it was before, but we shall see.

    Q: Obviously, yesterday Fernando Alonso announced he’s going to race at Indy next month, in the Indianapolis 500. As a motor sport fan yourself, as well as an old rival of Fernando’s, what do you think of him skipping Monaco for Indy?

    LH: I think, firstly, it’s great that a driver is able to do that. I think us drivers should be able to do more than one series. Obviously there was a period of time in the past when there were drivers doing multiples series, so I think it’s pretty cool that he’s doing it. And I hope that Jenson comes back, I think it would be great for the sport to have Jenson back in.

    Q: Thanks for that. Stoffel, coming to you, you obviously made your Formula One race debut here 12 months ago with a points-scoring finish. It’s been a pretty tough first couple of races for you, but what have you taken from them to make you stronger going forward?

    Stoffel VANDOORNE: Yeah, it’s great to be back in Bahrain. I obviously had a good race here last year, which was nice to get that opportunity. A year on, I think it’s a lot different; I’ve now got two races under my belt and a bit more experience. It’s not been an easy situation for us at the moment but I feel in a good position and hopefully this weekend we can prove again that we made a step forward.

    Q: Clearly very tough for you to have that lack of performance from the McLaren-Honda package at the moment. When do you expect a step change and how have you revised your expectations for the season?

    SV: It’s difficult really to put any timeframe on it, when it will get better. Obviously we are all hoping it’s gets better sooner rather than later, I don’t know exactly when we will see a step in performance.

    Q: Thanks for that. Sergio, you finished on the podium here in 2014 and you have a 100 per cent finishing record at this track, so is it one of your favourites?

    Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, I think it’s one of my favourites. I’ve had good races here in the past, certainly the podium the year before. This track suits my style quite well, so hopefully we can have a good finish, close the gap to the cars ahead, especially now that the midfield is so packed and we are probably a little bit behind in that group but hopefully we can keep scoring good points on Sundays.

    Q: Let’s drill down into that a little bit, about the midfield. The team has bagged two double points finishes in a row, but give us an insight into just how tight that midfield battle is and what kind of things make a difference to getting a good result in that battle?

    SP: Basically the whole difference is getting a perfect qualifying because if you don’t get a perfect qualifying it’s the difference between getting P8 and P14 or P15. So having a great qualifying makes a huge difference to your weekend. The first lap counts a lot as well and yeah, just have good strategy calls, executing a perfect weekend. Otherwise, that’s the difference between scoring points and not scoring any points.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) A question for Lewis. You said you love the weather. How have you been working to deal with the heat for Sunday’s race?

    LH: Just running in this heat. I was in Dubai from Tuesday onwards. I was in Dubai for a couple of days and got here this morning. A couple of good runs in this heat always help. It’s hard work, but that’s really all you can do.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday/Motorsportweek.com) A question for all three drivers: with Fernando announcing that he is doing the Indy 500, would any of you like to do the Indy 500 or possibly another iconic race like Le Mans if you were offered?

    SV: Yeah, I think I’ve decided to do the Spa 24 Hours instead of Hungary this year!

    LH: I wouldn’t miss out any of the races in Formula One. I’d definitely continue to do all the races, but I’d like to do MotoGP. I’d like to ride a MotoGP. Is there another race? Probably a NASCAR race, like the Daytona 500 maybe.

    SP: I certainly wouldn’t miss Monaco because for me Monaco is my favourite weekend in the whole calendar, so I wouldn’t miss Monaco and normally you have that clash. But I’d like to do some other racing. I certainly have some interest in IndyCar. The Indy 500 is certainly one of the best races in the world, so I’d definitely to do some.

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) A question for Lewis. I know it’s early days but how does it compare, fighting a four-time world champion at another team as opposed to fighting your own team-mate in the same car? Does it excite you more this year if you were to take it a relative stage as last year say?

    LH: I’ve commented on that same question a couple of times in the last two races but yeah, it is more exciting racing another team, very much like I experience in 2007 and 2008. Also, growing up seeing races with McLaren and Ferrari, the great teams that were at the top competing with each other was always exciting. So to be in amongst the fight with the Silver Arrows and Ferrari, which is also a very historic, great team, I think it’s more exciting than just silver at the front.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.nl) A question for all three drivers. This is a back-to-back race. Can you explain a little bit not how heavy it is for you as drivers but for the team, logistically, physically, mentally?

    SP: Yeah, it’s very hard for our guys. They have such a hard time, the mechanics, they come here very early in the morning and they leave very late at night, pretty much every day, they are coming here since Tuesday, so it’s very hard for the mechanics. I think for us as drivers, it’s not that hard. It’s another race and we have plenty of time to rest. But especially everyone who is involved in the team they have a very hard time. Having two races back-to-back is pretty much the limit, if week have a third one it would be very hard for all the boys in the team.

    Lewis?

    LH: Yeah, I think for the drivers it’s easier doing back-to-backs. Could be back, weekend on, weekend off. Just keeping weekend in, weekend in, I think would be easier for us because staying in the zone between races, it’s just easier that way. When you have the gap you have to switch back into it, so it’s a little bit trickier. But for the team it definitely is very, very tough. It’s time away from the family; they’re on their feet for long, long hours during the day. But in all honesty, a lot of the guys, particularly my guys, they love it. There’s nowhere in the world they’d rather be. So whilst it is very tough for them, for sure, and they definitely feel it, it’s great to see that enthusiasm, and that sheer drive to just keep doing something you love. So, I never, ever see them complain, ever.

    Stoffel?

    SV: I think they pretty much covered everything.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Lewis, when you are racing your team-mate, regardless of who it is, you both have very similar characteristics, similar strengths, weaknesses, you have data. When you are racing someone in a different car, the Ferrari for example, that car has different characteristics, you don’t have data. Which is more difficult to do?

    LH: Ah, I think it’s more difficult for sure racing up against… I wouldn’t say there’s one more difficult than the other, they’re just different. When you’re racing up against another team there are strengths and weaknesses. You know last week when we were qualifying against the Ferrari they looked like they were going to get pole but we were finding a bit more time on the track, in the blind really, because at the time I was the quickest of the two guys in our garage, so I was having to base myself on myself, I couldn’t base myself on Sebastian. Definitely having to push the boundaries on your own is more of a challenge, which I love. When you are comparing data and you are constantly pushing each other, it’s OK, but it’s not as much fun as competing against an unknown.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globosport.com) I’m sorry to come back to the same subject. If you were going to race in the Indy 500, what would be the biggest challenge, considering the average speed you have, the cars are most of the time very close, you have a wall at your side? What would be the main lesson should be important to race there?

    LH: It’s a completely different category; it’s a lot, lot different. I’ve never driven one of those tracks, but it would so much different for us to go and do that – how a car’s set up, because it’s asymmetric I think, I believe the set-ups are asymmetric. The banking, how much you lift, how you use the tyres. It takes us guys forever through these test days to learn how to operate these tyres in the right window, so I would imaging it’s not an easy thing to do in one go, so it’s definitely a tall order in a short space of time, but Jeez, you’ve got one of the best drivers in the world going there, For sure, he will be the best driver in the paddock, but he won’t have the experience any of them have. So I think it will be a very exciting challenge for him, to see how strong he can fare against those who have all that experience.

    Q: What do you think Stoffel? You’ve obviously watched a few of these races. What’s the biggest thing you would be wanting to understand straight away?

    SV: I think it’s a very strategic race. We’ve seen last year Alex Rossi winning the race and doing huge amounts of fuel saving. I think anything is possible. Fernando is a clever guy. He knows what he is doing. Hopefully he comes back with a trophy. I’ll give him a bottle of milk as well.

    Q: Have you spoken to him about it?

    SV: Only a little bit at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll catch up with him over the weekend.

    Q: And what about you Sergio? What would you be thinking about on your first runs around the Speedway?

    SP: Yes, as these guys say, there’s so much to learn from a completely new series. I mean we have been doing this for many years and through the lower series as well, which is something more similar to what we do now, so going to a completely new tyre, new characteristics, new ways of setting up the car, circuits, driving in the traffic. But I think with Fernando that’s probably one of his strengths, how he can manage the race situations, so he’ll be really good on that. Indy really depends on the last 10 laps, so I think he wqill be really good at it.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, you said you’d like to see JB back in the car for Monaco. Can you just elaborate on why you’d want to see him there? And Stoffel, is JB the man you’d like to see back at McLaren replacing Fernando in Monte Carlo?

    SV: It’s not in my hands in the end. I’m sure the team has got everything under control. I don’t know yet who it will be. I’m sure the team will pick the right driver.

    LH: Because I like Jenson and I think he’s still one of the best drivers and his calibre is still higher than any other driver that’s going to be able to take that spot for sure.

    Q: And experience is important in Monaco?

    LH: Yeah, his calibre and his experience for sure

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

    2017 Australian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 2

    PART TWO: DRIVERS – Valtteri BOTTAS (MERCEDES), Esteban OCON (FORCE INDIA), Felipe MASSA (WILLIAMS), Lance STROLL (WILLIAMS)

    Q: It’s been a Mercedes one-two here for the last two seasons. Presumably another one would suit you just fine. Is that why you made this move?

    Valtteri BOTTAS: Sure, that would be a good way to start. Obviously we do need to see where we are standing against all the other teams. It’s a completely new season, a new era of Formula One, a new team for me but that’s always the ultimate target. I feel in a good place and definitely it’s always some kind of dream coming true, being part of a team like this that has pretty much dominated the last three years in Formula One. I feel very happy but just keen to get going.

    Q: We could see from testing that you settled in during the first week and then managed to close up a bit to your teammate Lewis Hamilton’s pace at the second test so are you more or less where you expected to be at the first race?

    VB: I feel well prepared, I feel definitely ready to race. I really think we made the most out of the short period of time I had to prepare with the team and get into everything perfectly. Obviously it’s been a massive learning curve for me, since mid-January until today and that is still going to continue but I felt testing was good. Every single time I was in the car I felt better and better and I’m sure that is just going to continue and I’m feeling more and more part of the team so happy to be here racing.

    Q: Lance, welcome to Formula One, at 18-years of age, the second youngest driver after Max Verstappen to take part in Formula One. How’s the preparation gone and what would success look like for you this year?

    Lance STROLL: Yeah, thank you. I think preparation has been going really well so far. We had a good test in Barcelona, the second week me and Felipe did all the running which was good. I think just a solid year, a clean year, obviously still a lot to learn so I don’t think putting a position or a number would be the right way to approach the whole thing. I think we’re just going to take it race by race. It’s still going to be a big learning curve for me, there’s still a lot for me to understand about everything but listen to the people around me that are there to help me and take it race by race. Looking forward to the whole thing.

    Q: With all the rule changes that have gone on from last year to this year, is this a really good year to come in as a rookie or is it actually quite tough?

    LS: I don’t know. It is what it is and I’m just going to have to make the best of it. I don’t want to look at it as a negative or a positive, it’s the way it is, it’s a new regulation and it’s for everyone. It’s my rookie year and I just have to learn what I have to learn and get on with it.

    Q: Felipe, welcome back. Does this mean we get to have another party? How’s the surprise comeback worked out so far?

    Felipe Massa:  Well, first of all, I didn’t expect to be here on Thursday. Maybe I was planning to be somewhere (else), eating more, getting more fat, whatever, maybe not being here on Thursday which is an amazing day in Formula One. But things change in life – which actually didn’t change, to be honest but for reasons… Yeah, I’m really happy, motivated, ready for this challenge and I think everything I hear, when Claire calls me, and I said ‘I think we need to talk in a proper way’ so then we had a long meeting and everything that I asked,  that needed to be different, especially on the technical side, so many different things that didn’t work in the proper way need to be better and everything she said and everything Williams is doing I believe is correct. So many new people arrived and are still arriving, so many things that we are working hard to make work in a better way so yeah, I’m staying in Formula One, I think to be racing for a team that I believe is professional and important, I feel important as well. Yeah, that’s why I took this decision to carry on. I feel really happy and yeah, so we will see. I think the real answer to where we are we will have here on Sunday but also during the championship. I had some good feelings in the Barcelona test and I’m really looking forward to having another great, competitive season and a nice job also, that gives me pleasure, so I’m really looking forward, really fit and ready for this challenge.

    Q: Just continuing on the theme we spoke of with Lance a minute ago, the challenge of being a rookie. You made your debut when you were obviously very young as well back in 2002. What did you wish that you’d been told then and how did you handle coming into Formula One?

    FM: Well, I am a rookie. I stopped, I retired! We start the first race, two rookies! No, I’m joking. It’s his opportunity, he’s allowed to learn, he shows that he has a talent for that, that all of us had the opportunity at the start and yeah, I met him when he was eight years old, one year more than my son which is really painful, to be honest, and here we are teammates. I have all the happiness to work with him but also to pass on everything I can. We are working for the team, together, both drivers so we need to score as many points as we can. It would be nice to work with him and to have a great championship together and for the team which is the most important thing.

    Q: Esteban, obviously you were a rookie last year, now a move up the grid from Manor to Force India. It’s a team that’s been able to score podiums consistently in the last few years so easy question: is that the target for 2017 for you?

    Esteban OCON: Well, I think it’s a bit early to speak about that at the moment. No one has done a race yet so we see where everyone is. I think in testing everyone had a little bit left in the pocket so you know it’s early to speak about that but I think to start the weekend here, the approach would be to do a strong weekend, to reach the finish line because in the past you always had problems for the other teams and for teams and if you arrive at the finish line you always have a strong result so I think that’s the way to approach it.

    Q: You’re obviously part of the Mercedes Junior programme; do you feel that if you perform now for Force India there’s a real possibility of getting into a Silver Arrows at some point in the near future?

    EO: I’m obviously a Mercedes Junior driver but at the moment I’m a Force India driver and I’m fully focused on this target, to do a strong job this season and I think it’s still early to speak about being a Mercedes F1 driver in the future, so no, at the moment I’m very happy to be with Force India and I’m fully motivated with them.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Esteban, where were you and what did they tell you about your car would be pink this year? What were your first thoughts?

    EO: I was actually at home, I was just training when I had the call. No, I think it’s a really good thing, overall, for the team.  BWT coming in to Formula One is a great thing as well, it also changes the perspective… a pink car – you don’t see one a lot of times so I think it’s a good thing but also a good sponsor like BWT makes money coming into the team and it can only make the car go faster.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, so far you have been three times on the front row. If this is a winning car, would P2 be a satisfying or disappointing result for you?

    VB: Well it depends if your teammate is P1 or… Obviously the result targets are going to be completely different now than what they have been in the past few years but as I said before, we still need to wait and see where we are, really. We will see on Saturday, we will see on Sunday. It’s only the very beginning of the year but for sure as a driver you always want to be on the front row and in the best place, P1, but let’s wait and see and go step by step and day by day.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Felipe, first question is how did you feel coming back into F1 because it’s like the Godfather, you tried to get out but they pushed you right back in again. And what were you doing when Claire did throw up the W and the symbol and you had to put your super suit back on and get back in the car?

    FM: Well, for sure, things change for a reason. I had a lot of support from everybody to carry on. I have a lot of support from my family, a lot of support from my fans. It was really amazing to see everybody pushing me: carry on, carry on. We want to see you there and that everything that happens around the team that… maybe, we will see where we are now which I believe is correct what is happening so then we need to work to make it better. Yeah, to be honest, I had an amazing feeling when I decided to stop in the second part of the season and I didn’t have a reason to carry on. If I don’t have what I believe is correct, which maybe I have now. Then also the feeling that I had in Brazil, also in the last race which gave a lot of happiness in the way that I’m stopping, it’s fantastic you know, but also it was not easy for me to take the decision to carry on because everything was just beautiful. But maybe something has happened for a reason and maybe it was not the reason to stop. I’m ready, motivated and we will see where we are going to be and how the season will be. I’m really 100 percent ready to do it in the right way.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Couple of questions for Valtteri: now you’ve had some time in the car in testing, do you feel that you’re at a stage where you’re able to get the most out of the car now. And second question, I know it’s still early days but assuming you’re sitting in a title-contending car, what’s your approach going to be: step by step, get that first win or do you feel under pressure to mount a fully fledged title challenge?

    VB: Yeah, like I said before, I definitely feel every single time I was stepping into the car and out of the car in testing, I felt like I’d made progress and between the two tests as well. I feel I was getting very close to getting pretty much everything out of the car  and being absolutely perfect. As always, it requires a lot of work, a lot of time in the car and a lot of effort, a lot of talent so as mentioned, I’m sure things will just get better and I will feel more and more comfortable every single day of the race weekend and every single race but I feel that I’m ready to race, I’m ready to bring the car where it should be, what the pace of the car, what the limits of the car is. I feel comfortable with that. About the second question, definitely… I always set my targets very high so from the first race, this race onwards, immediately, I want to perform where the car can be. That is my target. Of course I always go day by day and step by step but I want to start at a very high level and keep getting better from that .

    Q: (Heath McAlpine – Auto Action) Valtteri, Paddy Lowe recently made some comments about Williams having some elements that Mercedes does not. Have you been able to make any comparisons between the teams, after moving in the opposite direction?

    VB: For sure I see a lot of difference between the teams. Definitely there are some things very very good at Williams, some things have been massively impressive at Mercedes. Williams have a great facility, a good bunch of people, a lot of clever engineers so for sure both teams have a lot of strong points, definitely differences in the way they work, so it’s difficult to really point out exactly what parts maybe are better here or better there but overall, as the last few years have shown, Mercedes is a winning team, it definitely has this winning mentality at the moment. No one is standing still, everyone is pushing flat out  – what Williams is also doing is definitely no bad, worse but you just sense that at this point, the group of winners know how to win at the moment and I hope that that can continue but the hunger is definitely still there at Mercedes. But I definitely agree with Paddy: Williams is a great team and has massive potential and it’s a shame that we couldn’t achieve the results together that I think the team deserves, but hopefully the future is good for Williams.

    Q: (Kathy Watt – Inside Sport) I’m just wondering what you do in the off-season to prepare: is it on the bike or running or different other sports to get fit for the season?

    Q: Esteban – you’ve been up a mountain or something?

    EO: Yeah, I was up in the mountains at almost 2000m for almost two months. I felt this was the best way for me to prepare. When you get high in altitude, when you get down again it’s easy to breath so I was training there a lot. It was about nine hours of cardio per week, ten hours of gym per week and all the rest was reaction work, co-ordination work, visual perception work, how the detection is as well, balance of body as well so it was complete training. It was very tough, for sure the toughest of my career but I’m happy that I’ve achieved it now, looking at how the cars are tough to drive.

    LS: I was just moving sports, some biking, some running, some gym work, some strength work, some neck work but just staying fit in all different areas and just gaining fitness by increasing the amount of training I was doing. Just moving and keeping active.

    Q: How about you Felipe? You were eating feijoada and drinking beer and then when the phone call came: stop. Right?

    FM: Which was pretty much straight away actually so I didn’t have enough time to drink and to eat feijoada, I would say, so yeah, I was definitely… most of the drivers didn’t know how the new car was going to be so I was definitely preparing myself in a much different way to how it was in the past, even if I was always training very hard but I took on a new trainer, a guy who is following me everywhere I go, training every day. I had to train more also, for sure cardio but also a lot more my muscles to be stronger, for these loads that we have in the cars now, so I was training in a very different way, to get a little bit stronger and training my neck a lot more which I think works pretty well because on one day in Barcelona I did 168 laps, which was my record in one test and I feel really good, so yeah, ready to start the season and really hope I’m totally fit to accept anything different that we might have this year compared to how it was up to last year.

    Q: (Michael Lamonato – ABC) On a related question: how different have you found these cars in the sense of that strength component? What specifically have you changed in your training and in your first days in the car in testing? Was there anything in particularly that you felt a bit of pain or a bit of strain from the new cars?

    VB: I think always after the winter, it doesn’t matter how much training you do and if  you’re the fittest you’ve ever been starting the year, it’s so unnatural driving a Formula One car for the human being that the first reactions are always a bit strange but very quickly you get used to it, your body gets used to it. Obviously if you have a new seat as I did for this year, it’s tuning those kind of things and yeah, you might get some bruises and stuff but that’s part of the winter testing but specially with the new cars there’s more G-forces, more load going through your body which makes more fatigue and means being able to maintain the same level of focus and alertness – you need to be fitter than before and like every driver have a good preparation for that but the main thing is the G-forces, the cornering speed and that way you maybe need a bit more strength especially the neck.

    Q: (Trent Price – SEN Radio) A question for Felipe and Lance. Paddy Lowe has already identified a few areas where Williams are stronger than Mercedes. What’s your first impressions of Paddy coming into the team. What has he brought in already and how is the relationship building?

    FM: Well, as Valtteri said, Williams has many areas that work pretty well. Definitely we have some other areas that we need to improve, which is what I was saying before, things didn’t work in the proper way, as even Valtteri said. This are the points we need to make better, improving, as quick as we can, because it means results, it means performance, it means everything. But I am sure he is a very important engineer, manager, that he can help to improve things in the right way. Bringing some good ideas from other areas that we were not so strong as a team like Mercedes where he won the last three years the championship – they are really strong. Not only him, but so many people, engineers, people that are working in different areas. That is something we are working very hard on, so he has just arrived, but I’m sure he understands things pretty quick. We are the beginning of a very important work but I believe we can do it in the right way. I really hope that the car is helping, because the car is there; it’s ready. If you have a good car it’s helping the job in so many areas that it needs to be better, it needs to improve. That’s the way I believe it is. I was talking already with Paddy and I’m sure with all the important and very good engineers we have I believe and I hope we can do a very good job.

    Q: Lance I believe you signed before it was clear that Paddy was going to Williams, so what did you feel when you found out?

    LS: Yeah, Felipe said most of it. I’m obviously new this year, so I don’t have the experience that Felipe and also even Valtteri have of Williams, so a lot of it is just new for me. Starting with winter testing, I obviously went to a couple of races last year and I got to know some of the people but really, until you’re a driver and properly involved in everything that’s going on, you don’t pick up on everything. But for sure I think having Paddy in the team is positive for everyone. He’s obviously had great success in recent years and I think it’s just positive energy for the team. I think we have a great group of people at Williams and I think everyone is aiming for the same thing, which is achieve the best possible results we can achieve and Paddy’s here to help us do that. I think it’s all good.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Felipe, how tough an opponent was Valtteri in qualifying and in racing and how was it compared to your time with Kimi at Ferrari?

    FM: Definitely different times. Different cars and everything. I think Valtteri shows his talent. He really improved year by year since he started. I think it’s a great opportunity for him to race for a team like Mercedes. I believe he’s ready for his job, he’s ready to show what he can do and definitely he has an incredible team to work with, very strong team-mate – but I think he’s ready to do a great job. I really hope the best for him. It’ll be nice if he’s behind me – but we will see.

    Q: (Alex Popov – Match TV) A couple of questions for the young drivers. But different questions. Esteban, first of all, your target before the training was to gain 5kg of muscle, and you achieve it. And now I heard – I don’t know if it’s true or not – you have to go back 2kg. If it’s true, how difficult it will be now?

    EO: Yes, it’s true I gained 5kg over the training course, which was very hard but I achieved it and feel good in the car. But then you know, all the teams are quite conservative with parts on testing, and they got heavy parts, and then once they see reliability is good they start to put lighter parts on the car. I think that’s what’s going to happen this race. On myself, I didn’t lose any weight and I kept my weight to feel fresh in the car.

    Q: (Alex Popov – Match TV) For Lance, it’s more about a performance target. Another young driver will fight the team-mate from race one. You’re in the position of having like a coach in the team, like an elder brother. Will you try to not to lose too much or beat your team-mate from race one?

    LS: Felipe’s not here to be a coach. He’s a competitor like everyone else and he has his helmet on racing like everyone else. Everyone sets their targets differently and everyone is in a different situation – but all the teams have two drivers competing for the same thing, which is to try and finish as far up the grid as possible. That doesn’t change – but my targets are obviously different to some other young drivers. Everyone’s in their own situation: I’m just going to focus on my stuff and do the best I can – which is what I always do. That doesn’t change.

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

    2017 Australian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Let’s start with Lewis Hamilton – a two-time Australian Grand Prix winner, record five times pole sitter here at Albert Park? Lewis, you and the other drivers have spoken about how much you enjoy driving this new generation of new cars. Could you perhaps give us an idea from your own point of view of a few areas you particularly like about it?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly, hi everyone, it’s good to see you, it’s good to be back. I don’t know, as racing drivers and in general you want to drive the quickest cars in the world and you always want to go faster and the cars are faster than they were last year. And the challenge of exploiting that speed with your car on track is a great challenge. It’s more in the direction of how Formula One should be, in the sense of the physicality side of it. We are athletes, and Formula One should be the most physically demanding sport in terms of all the driving series. In the previous years that’s not been the case. To the level we train to it’s relatively easy for us to, but now you are going to have to push the boundaries, which I like.

    There’s a saying in sport – never change a winning team. But you have a new Mercedes technical boss and a new team-mate. How’s that all working out?

    LH: So far, great. I sat down with James and had a great conversation with him and he’s really blended well into the team and super-excited to work with him. It’s always great to have great new creative minds and he’s one of the smartest people I have ever met, if not the smartest. I’m excited to see what he can bring out of me and the team and all the guys we’re working with. Valtteri has, as I said before, Valtteri has been gelling really well into the team, working really hard to be the best he can be, which is all I want.

    Sebastian coming to you, of course 2011 Australian Grand Prix winner. You had a good chance to win this race last year and the recent testing would suggest you will be in the hunt again on Sunday. Is there a more solid baseline do you feel to this year’s Ferrari attack.

    Sebastian VETTEL: We’ll see. So far we don’t know anything. For all of us it will be exciting to find out where we are on Saturday/Sunday, to get a first impression. For us a lot of new things last year didn’t really go the way we expected, so I think for this year we have really focused on ourselves. We have tried to do our job back in the factory and in testing… I think testing times, I don’t think they are that crucial, I think it matters much more what you show from here onwards. We’ll see. I think we are a bit in the dark like everyone else, not knowing what other people have done. For ourselves we can be reasonably happy, we did decent mileage, we didn’t have any major issues with the car and hopefully we can carry that momentum into the race.

    Well, the car looks pretty competitive but the real question I guess is how it will do in qualifying. Ferrari have only taken five pole positions this decade, since 2010, so how have you addressed that? Have you got a go-faster engine setting for the final part of qualifying?

    SV: Not necessarily. I think we worked on all areas, trying to improve. Obviously we all know that qualifying is important to have a good race, so the higher up you qualify the better the chance you have in the race. Statistically it doesn’t look that good, so hopefully we can turn that around.

    Fernando, coming to you, 2006 winner here of course, there’s no hiding the fact that McLaren and Honda are in a very difficulty position at this stage. Do you have any expectations at all for this season?

    Fernando ALONSO: Well, I think let’s wait and see. We have only done the testing period, so I think the first race now will put things a little bit more clear. It’s a question mark also for us where we exactly are. We were not able to push the car to anywhere close to the limit at any lap on the testing, due to different problems. Let’s see. If we can have a good first weekend, see a little bit more of the potential of the car and hopefully see where we are. But yeah, still a long way to go for us and a lot of work to do.

    It’s been only three weeks since testing began and the problems came to light. Have you and team been able to put the rescue plan in place yet or is that something that’s going to come in the next few weeks?

    FA: The team is always working to improve the situation – to word as hard we can, to identify the problems and to improve those areas. I guess everyone did the maximum in the last three weeks and let’s see what we can find tomorrow on the track and that’s more a question for Eric and Honda.

    Daniel, it’s a stat they don’t care for much around these parts, but no Australian has won the Australian Grand Prix since it became a championship round in 1985, so come on Dan, are you going to put that right this weekend?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I’ll try. I’ll try to. It would be nice. If anyone could win just one race they’d always say their home, so that’d be cool, it would be good.

    SV: Didn’t Alan Jones win here?

    Not since it became a world championship round, no.

    SV: So what race did he win in 1980?

    DR: That was the world championship. He’s here; I’ll ask him.

    Daniel, do you want to add anything more?

    DR: I’d love to. We’ll see what happens. I’m prepared. As Lewis touched on, it’s more physical this year and I think we’ve all done our work in the pre-season. I’m sure all of us up here feel like we’re coming in as well prepared as possible and it’s been fun to put more emphasis on that, on the training. The cars are more enjoyable. They are going to be fast. For the fans here this weekend to see the cars on track, the cornering speeds, I think they’ll definitely see that. Hopefully we’re cornering quicker than anyone else.

    Well, you got a really good look at your team-mate Max Verstappen in the second half of last season. How tough are the battles between you two this year?

    DR: Hopefully tough. Hopefully we’re fighting for victories, I think that would be something we would welcome. He’s obviously fast. It’s his third year now and although he’s young, he’s no longer a rookie anymore so I think we both carry a bit of experience. I think the team is excited to see how we go and I think everyone else is. They’re starting to hype it up a little bit. Hopefully it’s hyped up by the fact that we’re fighting at the front, that’s what we both want.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) I want to say good afternoon to everyone and I want to wish us good press conferences for the rest of the season and a good, robust conversation. This question is for the entire panel. This year we have some new owners, the sport is owned by Liberty Media and they have a big, bold vision for the future of F1. What would be your top three wishes for the new owners of Formula One?

    DR: A race in Vegas.

    SV: A race in Germany.

    DR: That’s it; I’ve said mine.

    LH: Miami race…. More ladies in the paddock? More paddock access to some women, there’s too many dudes in the paddock.

    SV: V12s.

    LH: V12s, I agree.

    Fernando?

    FA: I agree. I agree with everyone… equal engines for everyone.

    LH: I don’t agree with that one.

    DR: But not electric.

    LH: And not Honda. I’m kidding…

    Q: (Andy Benson – BBC) We had Charlie Whiting in here a couple of hours ago and one of the things he was saying was that the so-called ‘Verstappen rule’ has been removed, just leaving the general catch-all regulation about potentially dangerous driving. Are you all happy with that situation?

    SV: I don’t know. I’m not…

    You’ll be told tomorrow.

    DR: We’ll be told tomorrow? You know everything before us! Let’s see. I think we can… the good part of it is it means less decisions to be made on track. If they leave it up to us I guess the positive is that we sort it out on track. Hopefully we can get redemption if we feel like something has not gone our way. We’ll see., I like being able to race. That’s the positive from it.

    SV: Will I get my trophy back… it makes sense!

    DR: I guess he wants his trophy back from Mexico. It was a pretty small one actually. Right, I’ll shut up.

    Q: (Leon Alepidis – F1fan) A question for Daniel. For many years it has been talked of to have a second grand prix in the USA. In the past Germany, Spain and Italy had a second grand prix in the same year. Your thoughts about a possible second grand prix in Australia and where would you like that to be?

    DR: I’m going to sound greedy if I ask for another one here. We’ve got some great circuits… Seb’s saying Bathurst. That would be an amazing circuit for sure. Adelaide, I believe… I was very young but I did go to the 1993 grand prix, I was very young but I heard Adelaide was amazing, they still do it with the V8 supercars. Phillip Island, they host a great event for MotoGP, so there’s a lot. I wouldn’t say no, but I feel a bit greedy asking for more than we have got already. I think everyone else would like to come here. You guys like Australia, right?

    Q: (Rebecca Williams – News Ltd) A question for Fernando. You were involved in a frightening smash here last year at Albert Park. Just wondering how you feel about your return to the track this year, and if that’s something that’s going to be at the back of your mind when you get out there, specifically at that corner?

    FA: Not really. You try always to forget all the accidents, all the moments you were scared in the car, so yeah, it was a pretty big one here last year but it will be perfectly OK and I’m really looking forward to go back here. I like the circuit. I like how passionate the fans are when we are on the track so it will be a good experience to go through those turns.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere Della Sera) To Sebastian. You said it’s too early to have a judgement on your car. But do you feel this car has enough quality to let you fight for the title?

    SV: Well, it’s March now! I think if you are in a fight for the title that’s a question for October, November. I think looking at the performance of the cars obviously it was expected to be a big step up and that’s how it felt on the track. I think that’s what we all said when we first got out of the car, that it’s a big step forward. It’s not entirely fair to judge to the previous years because it’s a different formula but I think they will be the fastest cars we have ever driven. Naturally, the day I came into Formula One the cars got a bit faster, a bit faster, then they tended stall a little bit. We distributed straight line speed versus cornering speed and I think for us what really gives us a good feeling is cornering speed and I think we are back to the level we were probably ten years ago, and maybe a bit faster. For us it’s always nice to have the feeling that these are the fastest cars we have ever driven. On competitiveness we are all here to find out, that’s why we go racing I guess.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, last year it was very tight between you and Kimi in qualifying. With this better car do you think it can be even tighter or is it easier for you in qualifying against him?

    SV: I think it’s never easy. You try to get the best out of yourself, out of your car for one lap. I think last year has been closer than the year before but it’s always been fairly close. Obviously I want to be in front of him and he wants to be in front of me but I think starting the season priority number one is hopefully we are in front of the others. But as I said its still very, very early. We try to do the best job for ourselves and the team and we go from there.

    Q: (Andre Leslie – DPA) Question for Daniel. Daniel, this week in Australia – I’m sure you’ve been here longer than that – how has it been with the pressure and the reception that you’ve received around the country? Is it something that is a weight on your shoulders or is it something you look forward to?

    DR: It’s not a weight on my shoulders. It means more work, for sure. This week is easily the busiest F1 week of the year for me. But it’s all positive support. It’s kind-of overwhelming actually. I’m surprised that so many people are getting behind me and the event but it’s obviously cool. It’s nice and encouraging to see. I hear that ticket sales and everything is up quite a chunk from last year. I try to enjoy it. I appreciate it won’t last for ever. It’s demanding, it’s a tiring week but it’s pretty cool to see so many people supportive of me and the event. I don’t see it as pressure in terms of, if I don’t win on Sunday, they’re all going to leave the track and say I’m hopeless and never come back. They want to see me do well and that’s how I see it. It’s just a bit of extra motivation for me and I think the drivers’ parade on Sunday I’ll see that and feel it and get me jacked-up for the race.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid Day) Question for Fernando. Fernando, you’ve spoken about how much you’re enjoyed driving these cars, this new generation of cars, despite all the problems in testing. I just wanted to ask you, does the joy of these new cars take away some of the pain – or is it a case that if you’re not competitive then it’s no-longer fun? Thank you.

    FA: No, I think they are two separate things. One is how you enjoy and how much adrenaline these cars are giving to you on the cornering speed. Comparing with the last couple of years I think it’s a good step forward. Not only for us drivers but also for the spectators: for the people here in the grandstands and watching on television they look spectacular and that’s a positive thing. And then, yeah, naturally I think all sportsmen, we are competitive and y’know, when you arrive to race like we are doing now in the first grand prix of the year, you know that joy is together if you are competitive. Let’s see how competitive we can be this year. At least when you are driving alone, you are enjoying. Then when you have a car close to you and they go much faster than you, that’s a little bit less enjoyable.

    Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) Do you think that the new regulation can stop Mercedes’ domination or do you expect Lewis to still be the man to beat this weekend and this year? And Lewis, do you consider yourself the favourite for the Championship?

    SV: Well, I think he must be. Mercedes obviously has been in very, very strong form the last three years and even though we changed the regulations, if a team is strong then they will build a strong car the year after, no matter what you do with the rules. I think it’s very clear who is the favourite. For all of us sitting here, we are trying our best to catch-up. How much we have succeeded, we will see and, as the season goes on, I’m sure the cars will have big progression and all the teams will bring lots of stuff to develop the cars. So, whoever’s in a good place in the beginning and still in a good place at the end will have a chance.

    DR: I think for everyone, it’s like when Red Bull were dominating a few years ago, everyone wanted to see someone else win. So it’s natural. People like change. And for us drivers not being in a Mercedes, we want to see change as well. I think even to have more cars fighting for a win, it makes it more exciting. I’ll let Lewis answer but I think if he wins a race against four of us as opposed to just maybe his team-mate, I think that reward is bigger as well. So, I think if you can win against more, it’s not only good for the fans but that feeling of self-accomplishment is greater. We’ll see. Ferrari showed good pace in testing. If they can maybe take a few points away as well, it opens up the Championship over the long term.

    See it that way Lewis?

    LH: I see Ferrari being the quickest at the moment and I think they will definitely be the favourites but we’ll find out more going into the weekend. It’s interesting to see Sebastian’s usually a lot more hype and I can tell he’s trying to keep a lid on it. But their pace was obviously great in testing. I’m very keen to see what Red Bull bring because they were quite far behind through testing, at least compared to Ferrari and didn’t see them bring many upgrades – or an upgrade as far as I could see. So I’m assuming they’re bringing something here which I’m excited to see what they do bring. And I agree with Daniel in the sense of having more teams and more drivers up at the front fighting for wins, that’s what racing is all about. I’m hoping that’s the case. We, as a team, I don’t believe, as far as I know, no team has won back-to-back through rule regulation changes, so that is our goal as a team. We’re here to win, we’re here to do something no-one else has done. Whether or not we’re in the right place at this moment in the season, we’ll find out. But I have every belief in my team that we can do that.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Can you remember how many cars were on the grid during your first grand prix weekend. And the real question is, is 20 enough to keep the public satisfied.

    FA: Yes. Enough. Obviously, it’s nice to have many cars on track and many teams in Formula One but at the same point it’s a sport that’s quite difficult to get in, quite difficult to stay for many years. We see with some of the smaller teams how they struggle to keep their financial situation healthy in the year. I think to have a good ten teams and 20 cars on track is more or less the number that we see in Formula One for many years. I think it’s OK.

    Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) You just touched on this. The last three years you’ve been fighting for the title, just between you and your team-mate. Would this year be more significant, would you enjoy it more if it was a two- or three-way fight with Ferrari, Red Bull and other drivers. Would it mean more to you?

    LH: Well, as I just mentioned, every year your goal is to beat everyone, of course, and the more of a fight you have, the more satisfying it is when you are victorious, so we’re fully up for a challenge and for a fight. So, that’s what I prepare for. I think it’s not a bad thing. I can’t remember the last time we had three years and then a rule change – but I think they should probably shorten that, maybe, and do more changes. Because there can often be dominance for a certain team and it’s hard to catch up. There’s a limit to how much development you can do through a year, and the top teams can generally develop at a similar pace. If you’ve got a gap already at the beginning it’s hard to squish that gap being that there are rules in terms of how much investment and time you can put into developing your cars. Doing drastic changes kind of spices it up. I’ve never seen the fans so excited about the season as they are this season, being how that it is we don’t know where the cars and the teams are. So, more of these kinds of experiences would, I think, be welcome.

    Q: (Shane McInnes – Radio 3AW) Just about the length of the season, we know it’s 20 races this year but new owners have suggested they might like to see it get out to 25 races. Is 25 too many, and do you think 20 is the right amount or even less, going forward?

    DR: I think it depends on how they structure it. It’s not too many. NASCAR do 36 or something. It’s a lot but the travel’s a lot less because they’re just in the US. So, I think it depends logistically how they do it. It’s all… I don’t know. I like racing. If it means just racing and no testing and less other stuff then… maybe. We spend more days in front of cameras and other things than actually behind the wheel of a racing car. I’d be open to the idea.

    SV: I think 25 is too many. I think 20 is enough. We don’t need more. I think anything between 16 and 20 is the right number. Also, thinking of the efforts going in from the team point of view. For us it’s fairly easy, arriving more or less with hand luggage, doing the job and getting back. I think we’re on the better side. For a lot of the team, for the staff, it’s hard work. So, I think we are having enough races.

    LH: I think if you asked any member of my team whether they’d want to do more races or less, they’d ask for more. It is definitely tough on the guys that are travelling but they love it. They’re addicted to it. They love motor racing and, of course they love time at home but… I’m like Daniel, I love racing so I’m not opposed to more races but I think they’ve got to change the structure, at least on different weekends. If it’s the same four days for 25 races, oh my God I think that would be too much. If they spice it up and make it more… a period during the season that’s perhaps more exciting than another, I think there’s a lot they can do. As long as they are in countries that have a good following. There’s no point in going to a country… for example Turkey, which was a beautiful place but there was no-one that turned up to a race. But if you go to places where there’s a real great atmosphere then you can create a great event, then I think that would be awesome.

    Fernando, any thoughts?

    FA: The same. We all love racing I think so more racing will be always welcome – but in a couple of years’ time.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, how excited are you about the prospect of taking on Seb, a driver that’s won four titles. Obviously, you have three. Do you think this could be the start of a great rivalry that Formula One needs with arguably the two best drivers of their generation going for the title?

    LH: Yeah. I’ve not had a lot of battles with Sebastian on track so, of course, would love to have that. I think the fans want to see that but even between all of us. We need this guy [Fernando] to have a good car so he can get up there and fight with us as well – before his time’s up. We got a hint that it’s another couple of years at least, so that’s good. I feel we’re yet to see the best of Fernando. The sport needs that and he deserves to be able to show that. So, yeah, you want to be racing against the best. I think that’s what the fans want to see. That close racing and sheer competitiveness and see the ups and downs of the best doing their best. I’m definitely looking forward to racing with all these guys and I hope there’s lots of close racing.

    Q: (Andrew Tate – The Age) Lewis, does part of you wish you were racing the reigning champion for the championship this year.

    LH: Not really. When I walked in here I was thinking it was kind of neat because I have a champion here, a champion there and a potential champion here as well.

    DR: Thanks!

    LH: …so it obviously doesn’t make any difference if the reigning champion’s here or not. At the end of the day every year it’s a brand-new year, a brand-new start, it’s a brand-new challenge and a brand-new championship to win. So, I think we’re all out there to beat each other – but as far as I’m aware you don’t say ‘that guy over there’s the current World Champion, I want to go and beat him’. You just want to beat whoever it is you’re up against.

  • 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference (Part I)

    2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference (Part I)

    DRIVERS – PART ONE: Felipe MASSA (Williams), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Felipe NASR (Sauber). PART TWO: Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes) 

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Jenson, if we could start with you: officially you’re on option for 2018 but as there’s a chance this could be your last Formula One grand prix tell us about the adventure of the last 17 years?

    Jenson BUTTON: Wow, we could be here for a little while! First of all I go into this thinking it’s going to be my last race. I think that’s the best way to be and at this moment in time I don’t want to be racing Formula One past this race, and that’s the whole idea. Anyway, I think of this as my last race and hopefully everyone else does as well. Yeah, it’s been a long journey. Since eight years old until now I’ve been racing in motorsport and everything before Formula One was work to try and get to Formula One. You get to Formula One with many dreams and you aspire to be something and hopefully you leave the sport with memories. That’s something I definitely do have from my 17 years of racing in Formula One. Lots of amazing memories, lots of life-changing memories – some good, some bad – and also to walk away with the world championship is a very special feeling as well. To race with two of the teams that I dreamt of racing with when I was a kid – Williams and McLaren – and when I did win the world championship it was with a privateer team, which I think is also pretty special. Obviously a very memorable year of my life and in the future it’s something I’ll hopefully be telling my grandchildren all about, how we came from nothing and we ended up winning the world championship. There are so many memories that I can’t put them all out on the table right now, but that’s a small snippet of my career. Over 300 grands prix. I will definitely step away from Formula One happy with what I’ve achieved and knowing that my life really does start now.

    Q: Ok, well, huge changes going on at McLaren. Are these changes that will leave the team stronger for the future?

    JB: You always hope changes that you make for that reason do work of course. I think there’s still a lot more going on before next year. But of course I will still be working at McLaren-Honda, so yeah you hope that that the change will be positive. New outlook, fresh ideas and certain things that have changed the team definitely needs and hopefully we can put that to good use next year and in the future.

    Q: OK, thank you for that. Felipe coming to you: obviously in Brazil incredible emotions in the pit lane, incredible scenes, unprecedented really in Formula One. Rival teams such as Mercedes and Ferrari were coming out to applaud you as you walked back towards the garages. Describe the emotion of that moment? 

    Felipe MASSA: It’s difficult to describe. It was such an amazing feeling. The first moment after I crashed I was not happy because I wanted to finish the race. My last race at home… I even prepared a Brazilian flag in corner one to do the lap and I was so disappointed to finish like that. But then when I started to walk and I started to kind of talk with the grandstand I just had an amazing feeling. I started to cry, I couldn’t hold. That walk I was doing was like forever. It was an amazing feeling; it’s impossible to describe what I was feeling. And then when I get to the pit lane, I saw all the teams out, I couldn’t believe. It is still in the middle of the race and the race just stopped. For that… that feeling is just impossible to describe, how emotional it was and how thankful I am for everything that I pass through this year. The only thing is to say thank you for everybody, including you guys, including everybody that was around me for this period that I was racing Formula One. I really hope Jenson feels the same here in this race, because it’s a very special feeling and a very special emotion and I’m really thankful for everything that I passed through. And as Jenson said, I’m so happy and proud of my career, even if I couldn’t have the title like him, I was missing one point but anyway I’m so proud for everything I passed through, everything I worked with, or friends, incredible and difficult moments… it was really an amazing feeling.

    Q: Two hundred and fifty and out then this weekend, you are the only driver to have finished in the points in all of your races in Abu Dhabi? How do you want to sign off on Sunday?

    FM: With a good result! That’s what I wanted to finish with also in Brazil! I’m really looking forward that we can have a nice race here. I think a good result is what gives you more happiness. I managed to finish here second two years ago. I know it will be not easy to get the same this race, but if you can take the best out of the car, if you can do a good race that is when you feel happy.

    Q: Thank you for that. Coming to you Kimi, how are you feeling: two of your contemporaries are leaving the scene, are you going to miss them? 

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: I mean I left once already so I kind of know how it feels. Obviously, it’s their choice and I’m sure they will have a lot of fun and I wish them all the best for whatever they do in their lives. For sure, things will change in F1 in the future and all of us will leave one day and that’s just how it goes. They’ve both had a good long career in it and I’m sure they will have some other things to do now.

    Q: Your world title win in 2007 is a good example that anything can happen in a Formula One title showdown race. Hamilton needs something similar to what you got to win the title on Sunday. Tell us how you approach an ‘anything can happen’ mentality and what do you think will happen on Sunday?

    KR: I don’t know what will happen on Sunday obviously, we’ll see on Sunday and over the weekend. When I was in that situation obviously we had nothing to lose, so we go as any other race. We had a strong weekend and a strong last part of the year so obviously that helped. I don’t think there’s a point in doing anything different than you normally do. You always come to a race and try to do the maximum. Our only chance was to try to win and then see what happens to the other guys. As a team they did a very good job of it and then obviously had some luck involved and all things fell into place, so who knows what will happen on Sunday but whoever wins deserves it.

    Q: Thanks for that. Felipe, what story: the pressure on the team, no points for 19 race and then you go and score two of the most valuable points in Formula One history. Describe the emotion of the day and the emotion of the team?

    Felipe NASR: Well, first of all, nice words from these two guys here. I think they both achieved a lot and I definitely… when I was younger I saw them racing and to see them going now is something hard to see. But as I say they both achieved a lot. Talking about Brazil, I wouldn’t imagine a better way of doing it, in my home race, these two points really felt like a victory for us, for the whole team. We have been going through such a difficult year and it was looking like quite an impossible way of achieving those points. But with all the rain, the difficult conditions we had in Brazil, I knew there was going to be an opportunity. It was difficult for everybody. It was a tricky race and when I crossed that finish line and I saw these two points were ours it was an incredible feeling because I know how much we put ourselves in a position… of such hard work to overcome this situation. Saying that, nevertheless we have a last race here to confirm that so we go to keep focused on the weekend and make sure we get away with those points.

    Q: Has the result changed anything with respect to our future in Formula One?

    FN: I would expect that it does help for sure. If anything that a racing driver can do is to contribute to a team with points and I know how much these points are valuable. Let’s put it this way, we know how much these points mean in terms of the championship the points and the restructuring the team will take for ’17, so it’s the best, the best I could have given them.

    Q: Thanks for that. Finally to you Max, you were cast as the bad boy of Formula One not long ago and now you’re being billed, after Interlagos, as the new Senna. How do feel your image and the way you fit in here in Formula One has changed after Brazil?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Difficult to say. I don’t think that’s up to me. I just try to do the best possible race I can. I was definitely enjoying myself in Brazil but I’m not sure if it has changed something for me personally in terms of my reputation.

    Q: Are you and Red Bull feeling fast enough and confident enough to mix it with the Mercedes on Saturday and Sunday and make those title contenders sweat a little bit? 

    MV: We’ll try. I think they will be very strong in the dry anyway, so it will be difficult to beat them but hopefully we can be very close. That would be very positive for us.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport.com) Max, since the Brazilian Grand Prix you’ve been quoted in an interview saying that part of what gave you the skills to perform the banzai drive that we saw in the wet were your years working your way up through karting and Formula 3. Could you elaborate on how the previous racing categories gave you the skills to impress as you did last week?

    MV: I think everybody here did go-karting so you always learn from that as well, but it’s just also when you are not in a competition and you are just having fun with friends, for example, you are driving on the snow or whatever. You are always trying something different; you’re sliding and you’re still competing against your friends, trying to have fun in one way but still trying to beat each other in something. That’s what I’ve always done in winter time for example and somehow in a fun way you are still improving your skills. I think that definitely helps a lot. Then, together with my dad we practice a lot in those circumstances, also in the wet, he was helping me a lot, especially when I was six or seven years old. He was even standing on the track showing me where to drive, trying to find different lines and that definitely helped me a lot our there in Brazil a lot.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Jenson you have been pretty unequivocal now about your feelings about this being your last race, but it wasn’t quite presented in the same way initially. Why the change between Monza and here? 

    JB: Nothing’s changed. I’ve just gone into this last race thinking that it is my last. I don’t want to go into this race thinking that it’s not my last and it is my last. It is true that I have a contract for 2018 but at this moment in time I don’t want to be racing in 2018. But the whole idea about having a contract was that in three months’ time, when I’ve eaten myself stupid and I’m thinking of things to do in the future and I feel like I need Formula One back in my life, but at this moment in time that isn’t the case.  So this is my last race, that’s the way I think about it at the moment, but who knows that could change in six months, eight months, one year.

    Q: (Seff Harding – Xero Xone News) For Felipe and Jenson: as you two get ready to leave the sport there are a lot of changes coming in 2017, what are your hopes for the future of Formula One as you leave the sport?

    FM: Well, I hope to be honest what everybody hopes: to see Formula One more competitive; to see more than one team fighting for the championship; to see more drivers winning the races. That’s what everybody has hoped since a long time in Formula One. That’s what I hope to see when I am watching the television, to see these guys fighting, not to see only one guy winning the races or maybe only one team. So that’s what I hope.

    JB: Yeah, I totally agree. I think coming up through… starting in 2000 and racing here in 2016 the sport has changed quite a lot – a lot for the positive. There are always going to be negatives, especially when you are trying new trends and technologies and what have you. But the main reason why I think people turn on and watch Formula One is the fighting, seeing different teams and different drivers fight for every race. For sure we’ve had it in the past when the have only been two drivers fighting for the championship but it’s been with different teams. Basically Mercedes are doing too good a job and nobody else is doing a good enough job right now. We are all working hard to catch up but it’s tough, because they are very competitive. I think that is what’s going to attract people more next year, if there are more teams fighting at the front, different drivers winning more races, because at the moment if nothing goes wrong with Mercedes, if they don’t have any issues, they win the race and a bad result is finishing second to your team-mate. That’s something that needs to change but obviously we will see if it does. Hopefully the rule changes, which are very big, will help other teams find a new direction and close the gap, because that’s exactly what we want to watch, as Felipe said, and it’s the only reason I’ll be watching Formula One next year.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Felipe Nasr, you’re the only one up there whose future is not clear at the moment. What is the position? Are you taking to Manor? How\’s it going at Sauber?

    FN: There are still negotiations going on. The talks are with Sauber mainly. That’s our priority right now? As I said, I have a great relationship with the team. It’s been two great years. We saw the two sides of the coin. Then first year I had in Formula One I was able to do so much, to achieve so much in a very first year. The second, we had such a difficult time, the car being uncompetitive, but it was nice that we were able to get those two points in Brazil. I’m sure that has given a boost to the team. These two points mean a lot for myself, for the team and hopefully we will know it soon.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Max. Given how well you’ve raced this year, especially the victory that you got and also the performance in Brazil, what are your objectives for next season? What do you see as realistic for you to achieve?

    MV: I think maybe that all depends on the package you get around you, you know? So if it’s the fastest car on track, for sure we can win races. So, we’ll see. I think we’re all very positive about next year but I think it’s important to just wait and see when the car gets to the track. Then we’ll know more. At the moment it’s a bit difficult to say what exactly what I want to achieve for next year because you don’t know what the packages are.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesport.com) To Jenson and to Felipe. With 17 and 15 years of experience in Formula One, what would you do differently to what you did in the past?

    JB: It’s a good question but I think for both of us our job is not to look back. It’s to live in the moment right now. This our last race and I think we’re both looking forward to getting out on the track. There’s no point trying to change the past because you can’t. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes and move forwards. It’s living in the moment and looking forward to the future.

    FM: I think it’s the same. To be honest, you do so many things in this long time of your career. Maybe one or the other you would try to do different now – but I mean, to be honest, I’m really happy for everything I did, really happy for everything I learned. Even with a difficult situation, that it happens, maybe I would do it differently yes, but I was always professional and I gained more by doing that than by doing different, so I’m really happy for everything I passed through and everything I learnt.

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Question to Felipe. You spoke about the emotional send-off you got in Brazil. I wanted to ask you, at the end of the day, leaving with that sort of respect and regard, does it count for me than the trophies and the championships?

    FM: Definitely. I think that is what you represent in the human side. That’s really than a lot bigger than a simple trophy. That really represents a lot and the respect, how you are, I think that’s really important for me as a person. Definitely. People not just looking at you only as a driver, people looking at you as a person, as a driver, as everything. It really represents me massively for everything that happened.

  • 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Felipe MASSA (Williams), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes).

    Charlie WHITING (FIA)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Q: Let’s start with Felipe, your last Brazilian Grand Prix as a Formula One driver, what does this weekend, this occasion, mean to you?

    Felipe MASSA: Well, I think it will be a very special weekend for me, for my last home race, the place where I grew up, the place that I remember I was in the grandstand watching and supporting Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, always dreaming to be here. And then I managed to get here and managed to win two races here in Interlagos, getting quite a lot of times on the podium, so it’s definitely a fantastic place for me. I will miss, definitely, this race. When I see these guys racing next year, I will definitely miss to be here. But I am so happy and proud for everything I passed through these 15 years in Formula One, every people that I met – friends, drivers, the competition I had with these guys for quite a long time. So yeah, I will miss, definitely, this place, some nice races around the world but also some friends. It will be a very special moment for me.

    Q: As you say, so many great memories from your own career here, especially the pole positions, the podiums and those two very special wins with Ferrari. What stands out, though, for you, and what were these guys like to race against?

    FM: Difficult. We are talking about the best drivers in the world. Everybody who got here is here because of talent. They are here because of talent. The competition is really high, but I think I definitely learned a lot. I think it was an amazing life experience that I had. It’s definitely not easy to be a Formula One driver I would say, but I had a fantastic time and so happy to achieve what I managed to achieve and to get here after very long and yeah, I will always remember them as tough drivers on track and I would say maybe the relationship maybe in the last years gets a little bit better outside the track and it will get even better when all of us stop I would say. Just expect the best for them and support them for the future.

    Q: OK, thank you. Lewis, of course that 2008 memory is still very strong. You won the world championship, your first of three world championships, that day but Felipe showed great dignity on the podium, having won the race. What was he like as an adversary?

    Lewis HAMILTON: It’s been great driving alongside Felipe and against him. We’ve had some great times. Even before I got to Formula One, when I was in GP2, we had already become friends back then and had some good experience. But yeah, to have those great, strong battles we had, even beyond 2008, for me was a privilege and something that I will always cherish. At some stage we’ll be a bunch of oldies, replacing the older drivers that are hanging around today and we’ll be coming along, looking at the other youngsters, but yeah I think Formula One is going to miss him for sure.

    Q: OK, and the other drivers, your thoughts on Felipe’s final race here as part of his Formula One career. What kind of atmosphere do we expect at this Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend?

    Nico ROSBERG: It will great. I’m sure the Brazilians will go crazy to support Felipe in his last race here. He’s given a lot to F1 so it’s going to be a loss for the sport, for us, for sure.

    Q: Max?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Of course, I mean the career he has had many want to achieve. That many years in Formula One as well, and being able to fight for four world championships. So I think it will definitely be a very special moment for him and I think, in general, the Brazilian Grand Prix is always very special and a great track and a great atmosphere to be at.

    Q: Seb, you’ve won here a few times, you’ve had a few good battles against Felipe, your thoughts?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I think… well, we don’t need to talk about his talent. I think there’s no doubt that he’s one of the most talented drivers on the grid. But apart from that, he’s a great person. He’s the kind of person you look at and smile, because he’s just smiling from the inside, so I think that will be missed a lot. So I hope he still comes around a couple of times and has a look and a laugh and in that regard I wish him the best. But for this weekend, I think it would be great to see hopefully a lot of Brazilian flags, support for him, because as everyone said, he has had a great career. So, yeah, it’s hid weekend.

    Q: Daniel, final thought?

    FM: Be careful what you say!

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, I’m looking forward to the drivers’ parade on Sunday. It’s always very interesting. For as long as I’ve been doing it at least anyone who is Felipe’s team-mate gets an absolute pounding on the drivers’ parade. He’s going to get some extra love this weekend and we’ll probably get yelled some funny Brazilian names, but it’s all in good humour. The atmosphere is awesome, so I think we are going to have a pretty amazing crowd this weekend.

    Q: Thanks for that. Back to Lewis and Nico then. Two races to go and Nico a win for you on Sunday and you’re world champion. Lewis, a great motivation for you to win a Brazilian Grand Prix you haven’t won before. How are you both feeling going into this? Is the tension rising? Nico, first…

    NR: Yeah, feeling great, of course, because it’s awesome to be fighting for the world championship with two races to go and so, yeah, excited about the weekend, looking forward to it and of course going to try to go for the win.

    Q: Lewis?

    LH: yeah, I’ve had lots of great, or mixed experiences here, so it’s a real challenge to come here and try to win for the first time, something that Nico and Felipe have experienced in the past. That’s my goal and nothing really to lose.

    Q: For the drivers on the back row, with the nature of this track and also the weather forecast we have at the moment for this weekend, what’s the scope for racing against these two guys at the front this? Daniel…

    DR: Yeah, it looks like it’s going to be potentially wet on the weekend, which is going to make it interesting. There’s obviously a little bit less pressure on everyone else but I’m envious of their positions. I’d like to have that little bit of pressure.  Anyway, if there’s an opportunity we still go for it. We race, and that’s how it’s going to be. If it’s wet it’s going to make it interesting. It’s going to be fun. We’ll see how it pans out on Sunday but hopefully we get a good race on Sunday.

    Q: Seb?

    SV: I think this place for some reason has always delivered special races. I don’t know what it is: I think the circuit is good fun, nice to drive, but I think it’s the atmosphere, the weather, all that coming together that has created crazy races in the past. You mentioned the one in 2008, the last race in 2012 was pretty amazing as well. I’m sure we’ll have a great race on Sunday. Obviously for all of us not fighting for the championship, we are fighting for the victory here, but yeah, we’ll see. Weather conditions and so on, as I said, there’s always room to do something.

    Q: Max, a potentially winnable race for you?

    MV: You always try, but I haven’t really experience a lot of mixed conditions here in Brazil. Of course I’ve seen a lot on the TV. But it will be interesting like always. I really enjoyed it last year and hopefully with some rain coming in it would be even more interesting, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Pedro Lopes – GloboEsporte.com) Ricciardo, how was you meat feast yesterday?

    DR: Our meat feat yesterday was… very good. Fortunately it’s no longer with me, otherwise I would still be sweating. But yes, how do you say… muito bon?

    Q: (Kevin Eason – The Times) Seb, can you tell me, do you believe… You’ve had a pretty fruitless year with Ferrari and you started with bit of a dream. Do you believe you’ll ever win a world championship with Ferrari.

    SV: Yes.

    Q: (Kevin Eason – The Times) Why?

    SV: Because, generally I think I’m positive, looking forward. Obviously it was a big step when I decided to change, at the time when I did. It was clear that it would take some time. Obviously we had a great season last year, we got closer and closer to Mercedes, so the hopes and expectations for this year were high. I think it’s normal when you finish second in the Constructors’ you aim to finish first. We haven’t achieved what we set out to achieve but nevertheless our main target is to win the championship, fight for the championship, and I think there is a lot of change that I see, a lot of change that is going on inside the team that will make us stronger, I’m pretty confident about that. I guess it’s a question of time.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) To Nico and then to Lewis. You won the last two races here starting from the pole position and Lewis also I recognise that you were very strong both weekends. Can you explain if you find something special, some special way to win here. And Lewis, why you’ve said he’s so fast and you could not reach him in the last two Brazilian Grands Prix?

    NR: I love the track. It’s a great track, feels good and I’ve always gone well here, so I’m looking forward to the weekend also. Great memories also from those two wins, those were very special. But at the same time, this year we all start from zero. Those past wins are not going to help me get the win this weekend. We all start from the same place and I just need to do a good job this weekend and that’s it.

    LH: I don’t really know why I’ve not won here, so I don’t really have an answer for you. I try every year and I’ll try harder this year.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Felipe, there are going to be a lot emotions leading up to the red lights going out. How difficult will it be to switch off when the red lights go out?

    FM: I think it’s always the same. I think when you are in the car you don’t think about other things, you just think about what you want to do in the best way that you can. I would say that maybe the whole race I will be concentrating on my job, trying to get the best race possible, the best result I can, for me, for my team, especially in this moment that it’s quite important this fight with Force India for Williams Martini. But I think that maybe when I finish the race, after the chequered flag, I think it will be very special. It will be an amazing feeling to do the last lap in Interlagos of my career in Formula One, here, you know. I think during the race you just so much concentrate on everything you need to do but after it may be quite different.

    PRESS CONFERENCE PART 2: QUESTIONS ARISING FROM THE MEXICAN GRAND PRIX

    [Note: Charlie Whiting refers to video clips of the Mexican Grand Prix that were shown in the press conference room to illustrate his answers]

    Q: Charlie, obviously there are several key areas of interest. Firstly, can we talk about the incident with Lewis missing Turn Two at the start and the one later with Max at the same spot and the differences between them?

    Charlie WHITING: Yeah, sure. I think the principal difference between the two was simply that, in Lewis’ case it was felt that he didn’t gain any lasting advantage and it Max’s case, he did. We can show you a couple of videos here just to refresh everyone’s memory: perhaps that will be a help. The first… I think you’re all pretty familiar with it. You can see that Lewis makes a small mistake at the beginning, cuts across, gains significant track advantage but then sets about giving that back immediately. You can see on the straight – or we can see – on the straight between Turns Three and Four he backs off to 80 per cent throttle to give that advantage back. Because obviously he’s got a significant advantage there. Then, about a minute later, the Safety Car’s deployed and that advantage is gone completely. So, the stewards felt no lasting advantage. On the other hand, the case with Max and Sebastian, if Max had done the same thing on the straight between Turns Three and Four, he would certainly have lost the place. I think that’s why the stewards felt that this deserved a penalty because the driver had gained a lasting advantage. That’s the fundamental difference between the two incidents in the eyes of the Stewards.

    Let’s bring the drivers in on this. Max, you had a comment there. What’re your thoughts on what you’ve seen here and what Charlie just said?

    MV: Yeah, well of course I don’t agree with the decision but it doesn’t really make a lot of difference, does it? I’ve got a penalty. I think if you give penalties, give it to both or you don’t give any penalties. But I think what we maybe need to change for the future is that once you go off it should be a penalty on its own instead of the stewards interfering with that to decide a penalty. I think we need to come up with a solution that, once you go off, that should be the penalty on its own.

    Lewis, your thoughts on what we’ve just seen and what Charlie just said?

    LH: I relatively agree with Charlie’s explanation. I don’t really have a particular opinion about it. I think ultimately the stewards have a very, very difficult job because every single scenario is different, as he was mentioning. For example, the Safety Car came out immediately after my incident, for example. Every scenario is a little bit different; it’s not that easy to apply the same rule to every single thing. I also agree with Max that we should work with Charlie – as we have been, I think, through the year – to try and make it easier for them to make decisions and for it to be more clear.

    OK, moving on to another topic of great interest. The moving under braking obviously has been widely discussed throughout the season. You issued a clarificiation at the Austin weekend. Can you tell us about Sebastian’s defence from Daniel at the last race in light of that?

    CW: I think it might be helpful to just go back a little bit to Hungary where there were two incidents involving Kimi and Max. This got thoroughly discussed during the drivers’ meeting in Germany and the consensus of opinion was that moving under braking was something that should not be done. We agreed with this and then we had the incident with Max and Lewis in Japan where the first think that Lewis said on the radio was “He moved. He moved when we were braking.”We looked at it after the race. The stewards, as you know, felt that there wasn’t a case to answer there, which gave rise, of course, to a lengthy discussion in the drivers’ meeting in Austin. I then issued what was a clarification of existing regulations to say exactly what we felt should be reported to the stewards. With that as the backdrop, so to speak, Mexico was really the first race where that rule was applied.

    There are three fundamental points there within the rules. Firstly, if a driver has to take evasive action; if a driver makes an abnormal change of direction in the braking zone; and if it could be potentially dangerous to another driver. If those three conditions are satisfied then the stewards felt that was a dangerous manoeuvre and should be penalised. That’s how the stewards looked at it and they felt Sebastian had moved under braking; that was very clear from the data, and also pretty clear from the video, of course; it was potentially dangerous and it was an abnormal change of direction which could have led to an accident. So I think it we look carefully at some footage here, you’ll probably… there’s one view I doubt anyone has actually seen. This is from the track camera. I think you can see very clearly that both cars are on the left of the track; Sebastian moves to the right and then, in the braking zone, moves to his left and then you can see quite clearly that Daniel had to take evasive action. And then the onboard [footage]. I think you can see very clearly that, had Daniel’s right front hit Sebastian’s left rear it would have been a significantly different scenario. That’s, I think, what the stewards really looked at was that it was a potentially dangerous situation.  It’s close, and I think that’s what the stewards looked at. As I say, those three conditions were satisfied as far as the stewards were concerned and that’s what they felt they should act upon.

    OK, let’s bring the drivers in on this, Daniel first.

    DR: yeah, I think it’s obviously been explained and we were in the stewards’ after the race and, from an outside point of view, for fans – and for drivers – you don’t want to wait so long after a race to then have an outcome but that was that. I felt like the move was as Charlie explained. It’s just when you’re in that braking zone, once you’re committed, and especially when you’re overtaking. You know, we’ve discussed this, drivers, that you’re putting the car on the limit because you’re trying to out-brake someone, so you’re already on the edge, so any sort of move then, you’re not really in control, I guess. Hence why I lock up the brake and it all turns into a bit of a mess. It’s the only real part where we’re not in… it’s not that we’re not in control but we can’t really get out of it much, once we’re on the brakes. When you’re down the straight, if someone defends, if they move one way you can obviously move the other, or whatever, but then once you’ve committed to the braking then it’s hard to pull out of the move. Yeah, so obviously I felt that was the right decision. As I said, from an outside point of view, from I guess fans and that it’s probably a bit hard to understand and digest it all after the race but yeah, obviously we’ll try to keep it… I won’t say clean: I like the hard racing, but we’ll just try to avoid these moving-under-braking things in the future and then these things won’t need to be addressed.

    And Seb, your thoughts?

    SV: Well, obviously I don’t agree with the decision that was made. I think I moved over once to defend my position, after that yeah, I think I gave Daniel enough room on the inside; I kept the car straight for more than the majority of the braking, so I think the reason why, from my point of view, why Daniel locked up so bad is because there was no grip on the inside and it’s something that… yeah… I think we all knew. There were people locking up on other corners when they were offline, so I think it actually looks a bit worse than it was. I don’t think it was actually dangerous for Daniel at that point but OK, I have to deal with the decision.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Charlie, we understood perfectly but the main question we see if that you have different stewards in each race and we are not sure all of them have the same criteria to interpret it. Even why it’s also an interpretation question what we have been seen. Don’t you think it’s a problem? If in one race they follow one criteria and then in another race another criteria. And also, the drivers I believe had complained about that.

    CW: Well, needless to say, I disagree. As Lewis pointed out, every incident is different. Some can look at first sight to be very similar to another incident from a previous race but when you examine then more carefully… You must remember also that the stewards have an enormous amount of images available to them, data, all manner of things available to them which you don’t see. I think it’s easy to say decisions are made inconsistently but more often than not, in my opinion, when you look into it in detail, you find that, in fact, Incident A wasn’t the same as Incident B. They have small differences and that’s where I think further explanation is sometimes needed.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Charlie, one of the things you haven’t addressed so far is the issue of language being used over the radio and specifically what Seb said about you. Could you give us your take on that and your views on driver language and what was said about you?

    CW: I’ll give you my views on what was said about me. I think bad language… it’s not the first time that bad language has been used, of course, and the fact that it was directed at me was unfortunate and I think there are a number of mitigating circumstances that led up to Sebastian’s obvious frustration but the fact that he sought me out very shortly after the race to apologise, for me that was enough and I’m prepared to just forget it and move on. I think that’s really what we should do. Things happen in the heat of the moment. I think you’ve seen what the FIA’s position on this is; and I personally feel that’s enough.

    Sebastian, you have the right to reply if you wish.

    SV: Well, I think it’s all been said but I have no problem saying it again. I’m sorry for what I said. Obviously when we are racing, when we are fighting… I think you can understand why I wasn’t so happy at that point but yeah, for sure I regret what I said and certainly didn’t mean it but yeah, it was very clear for me to look for Charlie right after. I wrote a letter as well. I’m happy that Charlie accepted the apology and happy to, as he said, move on.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) A follow-up. One of the things the FIA said was the impact swearing might have on the younger generation. So perhaps Max could also comment on that.

    MV: Thank you! Thank you very much. I think when you’re in the heat of the moment and you have a radio available you can say bad things. But it’s the same if, let’s say you give a microphone to a football player. Imagine how many words are coming out there during a game. Or another sport, it doesn’t need to be football… rugby, whatever. So I think it’s just, yeah, with the radio around you it’s pretty dangerous. So, I think maybe you shouldn’t broadcast it. That’s another solution. Because you know, we are driving on the limit, in some good fights and then, you know the adrenaline is going really high. So maybe in the future, if it’s bad for the younger generation, just don’t broadcast it.

    Lewis, you’re nodding. Do you agree with Max’s point?

    LH: Someone’s nodding to me in the crowd.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – AutoBild Motorsport) Charlie, what do you think… how often would a guy like Donald Trump, because of the language, after a race, to the stewards? I asked because he’s now the president of the United States. Do you think it’s the right way to show the youth, OK, maybe it’s not the language you have to say it but it’s the language of everybody in the world, in the universities and everywhere?

    CW: To be honest, I’m not sure what Donald Trump’s got to do with this. I think I’ve already answered what I feel about the language that was used there and I think the question of whether or not it should be broadcast is something that needs to be discussed really. I really don’t understand exactly what you’re asking, if I’m honest, but I think my answer to the previous question said what I feel about the actual incident that occurred in Mexico.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, don’t you think that in the last two Grands Prix you needed to revise your image a little bit, your reputation, because of the accident that happened during the race was followed by other accidents… I mean bad languages by other drivers. And the second question is if, when you lose your temper during a race, do you also lose your commitment to attack Verstappen? In that case, do you penalise yourself, losing control of yourself during the race?

    SV: I’m not sure I understood this. First, what happened in Austin then, because you said the last two races, accidents? Well. Can you repeat the question, I’m not sure I….

    Q: The basic gist of the question is about losing your cool.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta Dello Sport) Your reputation in the last two races, if you want to rebuild your reputation…

    SV: I think we actually had two very strong races. I think we started seventh in Mexico and we were fighting for the podium at the end which I think is a great achievement. We had a great race so there’s a lot of positives. Obviously, I think… similar to all other drivers, when you’re fighting, for sure the adrenaline goes up, you’re excited and I was not happy with sitting in fourth which is still a good result coming from seventh. I wanted to attack for the podium because the opportunity was there. I think I tried everything I could. Obviously circumstances weren’t helping but from my point I think I did everything I could at that time. I think we’ve seen many times that overtaking is not so easy. I think I put Max under pressure and then I think we all know what happened but in the end I think it was actually two good races. If there’s anything to criticise, I think it was the performance on Saturday  which wasn’t much in the performance that we could show on the Sunday.

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Charlie – initially – a lot of the problems that arise from drivers going off track come from the fact that there’s no penalty for going off track. You can rejoin and keep your position. Are you looking at changing tracks to make that not the case and would drivers like to see that happen?

    CW: Yes, I think we’ve done this in fact in a number of circuits where you have a situation similar to the one that occurred in Mexico: second chicane in Monza; last chicane in Montreal; Sochi, first corner or turn two in fact. So we’ve developed systems, if you like, that drivers have to take a certain route back onto the track and thereby are automatically slower. This wasn’t a problem last year in Mexico because I think simply because the grass was all new and it was wetter and it was more difficult to drive across. This year, quite clearly, it was quite easy to drive across and hence we had a problem, but it’s very easy, I think, to rectify that and do a similar sort of arrangement to come back onto the track, which will mean that drivers will come back on slower and hence there will be no discussion whether or not they gained an advantage. I think that’s what Max was saying earlier.

    NR: For sure,  I think it would be good if somehow we can automatically get some kind of slowing down system on all run-off areas so that would solve the issue, definitely

    Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) Charlie, the incidents in turn one; was the safety car decisive for not giving Lewis a penalty, because you said ‘not gaining a lasting advantage’ and from what we see from the video, he had a one car length advantage under braking and at the braking at turn four, even though he lifted, a four or five car length advantage. If the safety car hadn’t happened, would it have been alright for his race to continue? And the other drivers who didn’t comment, what do they think about this?

    CW: We were going to ask Lewis to back right off to ensure that he maintained the same distance he had when he went in to the corner but we could see from the data that he had already backed off significantly and then the VSC was deployed followed by the safety car so there was no need to take any further action but had that not happened, yes we would have done that, yes.

    Q: (Erick Gabriel – motorsport.com) To Lewis and Nico, of course Max Verstappen has been a great topic – I think we’re discussing a lot of things because of his driving style. I want to know what do you think about his driving style and if you have any fear that he could interfere with the outcome of the championship?

    NR: Fear? No, definitely not. And driving style? I think it’s just important that we keep on discussing because I think there’s still room for progress in terms of getting continuity in the decisions and that’s it. So it’s something we need to keep going on with, keep discussing to see if we can make improvements there and that’s it. It’s not depending on one specific driver or not, so that would be good to do that.

    LH: Well, firstly I think you should move your phone from down there because it’s kind of dangerous. It’s not healthy to have it there – just so that you know. Radiation, yeah. I’m helping you, seriously. I can only really comment on Max’s driving as I have through the year. He’s obviously a very talented kid and he’s come in and… I’m calling him a kid because he’s a kid to me, he’s still below 20 and he’s still got a lot to learn but he’s obviously done a great job up until now and he’s going to continue to grow and be a force to be reckoned with in Formula One.

    MV: I’m still negotiating with them, who’s going to pay me the most. Yeah, so we’ll see, we’ll see on Sunday.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you apart from Lewis and Nico, will you be more careful during the last two races, when you attack Nico or Lewis because they’re contesting the World Championship?

    DR: Honestly no, because I think that every race is like it’s the start of the season: in Melbourne, you race hard and now it’s the end of the season so I think the championship will work out how it should work out. I don’t think we should… if you like, assist in the outcome if that makes sense. Just because they are fighting doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still try and make an overtake if there’s a door open. I’ll always race, I think, with respect but sure I’ll race hard and if there’s an opportunity… normally if we are fighting with them it means we’ve got a chance to probably win a race. If there’s an opportunity to win, for sure I’ll go for it. I just feel that the championship will end as it probably should. The winner will be the winner and we shouldn’t affect it by staying out of the fight, if you know what I mean.

    SV: First of all, it’s clear that the fact is that you race to see the chequered flag, so you never try to do something that doesn’t allow you to see the chequered flag. Equally it applies when racing against people who are racing for the championship, but for sure, I think it’s something you have to have in mind because credit to them, they did the best job of the season for whatever reason, to put them in that position and I think it’s for the others to respect the fact.

    MV: For sure. Imagine you tell your team like ‘now I’m going to stay out of the fight, I’m just going to cruise round behind them.’ They wouldn’t be happy as well. You always treat it with respect, you never try to hit each other but that’s already the whole season when you try to pull a move on them or when you are in that position. There is the same approach.

    FM: Well, I would love to be fighting with them, to be honest, in the race. If I can be fighting with them, then I think they need to be careful with me because I will try everything I can.

    Q: Nico and Lewis, what you’ve heard from the other drivers is presumably what you expect on Sunday and again in Abu Dhabi.

    NR: Of course, they’re not going to take it easy just because one guy’s fighting for the championship. He’s a competitor like everybody else and that’s completely normal for all us drivers to approach it in that way.

    Q: (Bruno Vicaria – Bandeirantes Radio) Charlie, what’s your opinion about this new Interlagos? Are you satisfied with the structure here?

    CW: Absolutely. It’s given the teams more space, I think it’s a lot better for all. I think the working conditions are greatly improved and I think it’s improved the whole place massively.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Charlie, you started in the seventies as a mechanic and then track engineer and we are discussing here, until now, drivers’ behaviour. Do you think all these rules, concerning drivers’ behaviour, are a step forward in motor sport or not? And what do the drivers think about this subject?

    CW: Unfortunately I think the whole sport has become more complex and there are continual requests to make things clearer and the clearer things need to become, the longer the rules and the more detailed the rules become. For example, all the rules on driving could be summed up in one sentence: drivers must drive safely or something that simple. But when you have a simple rule like that, you are continually asked exactly what does that mean? Can we do this? Can we do that? And then the rule becomes longer and longer and longer, there’s always the request for more detail and more precision and it’s not just in driving, it’s throughout the whole rules, sporting and technical. They naturally become more complex because everyone’s trying that much harder to get everything out of every situation. So I personally don’t see any likelihood of the rules becoming simpler, because we  do have a complex sport, that’s really how it is and that’s how it’s developed over the last twenty or so years, I would say.

    DR: Obviously I was in a position last weekend where I was in a way protesting a move but on the flipside of that, I think that was a specific move as we discussed, under braking, but apart from that, I think that we should be allowed to… and I think they’ve eased the rules over the last couple of years or so. We did make a conscious effort to give us a bit more freedom to race and I think it’s been more fun and better since then. So there’s always going to be incidents where you feel this or that but I definitely feel that we should be allowed to still put it all on the line. I think that’s what makes the sport exciting, it lets out emotions as we’ve heard and it gives us our own personality, I guess, as well. Fans can attract to a driver on the way he races or the way he responds. Yeah, we should definitely… I mean all of us love racing. I’ve said it: you come here to win but if you can’t win you don’t want to drive around on Sunday afternoon by yourself. You want to have a fight and have a battle. We can always make improvements here or there but you don’t want the rules to become that tight that we’re afraid to do anything, but I think we’re OK as we are.

    LH: I agree with what Daniel said. We’re here to race hard but of course we all have different opinions about different rules that are set and how we go about them, obviously, because we have two different opinions for every one scenario and that’s why we need people like Charlie in the middle who really helps, with no bias, to make sure the right decision is made. I think also they allow us to race but of course we can’t be led down the wrong path, the incorrect way.

    MV: It’s normal that you don’t crash or make the other driver lose a lot of positions. I think you can race pretty hard.

    Q: (Ralf Woodall – L’Equipe) Charlie, could you explain or clarify regarding the penalties: why Seb had a ten second penalty and Max a five second penalty?

    CW: I think that in every set of circumstances where a penalty is applied, the stewards have a range of penalties they can choose from: a five second, ten second, drive-through or a ten second stop-and-go. It’s just simply a matter that the stewards felt that it was more serious hence ten seconds was necessary

  • 2016 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Sergio PEREZ (Force India), Esteban GUTIERREZ (Haas), Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Esteban OCON (Manor), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    There is an incredible sense of excitement ahead of this Mexican Grand Prix. Checo, last year, those scenes of you being swamped on the drivers’ parade by the fans, just describe what that sense of adulation is like coming into this race.

    Sergio PEREZ: Yeah, first of all, I’m so happy, I’ve been waiting the whole season for this race and finally to be here with all my people, arriving to Mexico City – as soon as I arrived here on Tuesday for an event, I can see all the energy from all the people is getting bigger. Formula One is getting bigger, it’s growing. It’s something that makes me very proud and I’m so much looking forward to give them a lot of happiness on Sunday. Hopefully I can give then a strong race, a strong performance. They always say that racing at home is an extra two tenths that you have on you. There really is, because the energy that I feel throughout the weekend is just phenomenal and I’m sure that this weekend will be a lot of that and I will be there to give them my best. The weekend goes to fast to me because I’m full of events and full of commitments that I just want to enjoy every single moment and give my best to them.

    And Esteban, same for you really: are you going to find those two tenths in what is your first Mexican Grand Prix?

    Esteban GUTIERREZ: Well, it’s an incredible feeling to be here and see how all the people are excited. I feel honoured to be able to share this great weekend, this great moment, with all the people that are going to be here supporting us – family, friends, fans – it’s just an incredible feeling. It feels like a whole big party through the whole weekend. So, yeah, everybody is excited. I’m very grateful for the support and I’m going to give my best to give the best result possible this weekend and I’m lucky to be here, with another opportunity, thinking that it’s going to be in Mexico, in my home country and enjoying all together.

    Esteban, staying with you, one year ago you were announced as a Haas Formula One driver, how are your plans shaping up for 2017?

    EG: I think Gene has been very clear in the media, they want to wait a few races. Fortunately, we have other options, which we are now considering strongly, and I think it will be important to close something soon, because we cannot risk to just wait a few more races until the end of the season and risk to fall in between two chairs. So we are doing our best and things are looking very good for next season.

    Have you put a deadline for those negotiations to end?

    EG: Yeah, that deadline should be in the next two weeks.

    Checo, back to you, your current team-mate is moving to a works team in 2017, so what do you see in Force India that convinced you to stay there?

    SP: I see a good potential. If you see, since I arrived up to now, every season we have been moving forwards. It hasn’t been easy. Right now we are fourth in the Constructors’ and to go up the next top teams are locked out, they don’t have any vacancy, so really I felt like my next move was going to be sideways or probably backwards. I see going to a new generation of cars that my best future is staying where I am, knowing the people that I am working working, having the stability, and as well Force India has done so much for my career I want to be loyal to them.

    Moving on to Esteban Ocon, you’ve made huge progress in the six races you’ve driven in Formula One and you’re being linked with pretty much every available seat on the grid. How are those negotiations going and who will ultimately decided your future? Is it your decision or is it Mercedes’ decision?

    Esteban OCON: Well first of all I’m already really happy to make the progress we made with the team. Together we have done a really strong job. It hasn’t been an easy thing to arrive half way through the season but I’m happy with the progress. Mercedes is managing my career, so at the moment I’m trying to focus on the remaining races and, yeah, we will see from there on how it goes.

    Do you feel ready for a bigger team or do you think you’d benefit from another season with Manor?

    EO: I don’t know, you know, as I say I’m focusing as much as I can on the remaining races. If you do a strong job there will always be talks and opportunities.

    Marcus, you ran as high as 11th in Austin last weekend. Do you feel that Sauber are now starting to make real progress for the first time since the buyout?

    Marcus ERICSSON: Yeah, I think so. The last few races we’ve really been taking steps in the right direction, starting from Singapore really. Every race we are getting closer to the top ten, both in qualifying and in the races, and as you say, in Austin we had another really good weekend. In Q1 I was P14 on pure pace and that was really positive and then in the race I was running in P11 for a long time and I think it was with less than 10 laps to go I was still 11th but then obviously we struggled with the tyres and I dropped back a couple of positions. But as a team we have been pushing really hard and moved in the right directions. Also, the updates we brought to the car we got to work now better and better, so we realty see we are going in the right direction. But we just need to continue that now, really push our maximum these last three weekends. It’s no secret, we need to aim for that point to jump Manor in the championship and that’s what we are aiming for, but we are definitely moving in the right direction.

    Well, you’re absolutely right, the team really does need that point. Where do you think is your best chance at the remaining three races?

    ME: I think every one of them will be a good chance, but obviously on pure pace it’s going to be difficult because we still miss a couple of tenths it feels like to really take the fight for the top 10. It should be some races where there are some retirements or something like that and that should be a chance for us to benefit. We need to be there and do our maximum and be as high as possible in the races that we can take advantage of these surprising things that can happen. If this race is more chance than other races it’s difficult to say but we just need to be there to take the opportunities when they present themselves.

    Carlos, a tremendous race from you Austin and a great battle with Fernando Alonso. You’ve often said that he is your inspiration. Do you get an extra sense of satisfaction when you are racing him as opposed to the rest of your peers?

    Carlos SAINZ: Well, it’s already a big satisfaction to be a Formula One driver, because you are racing against the 21 best drivers in the world, but yeah, maybe that battle with Fernando was that tiny bit more special. I’ve been growing up looking up at him since he’s in Formula One in 2003. I’ve seen all his races and suddenly I saw myself in a position to fight on the last lap against him in Austin for a P5. It was special, but at that point you don’t really realise the thing you are doing. Maybe when you go to bed and you think a bit more about it, it’s that tiny bit more special, but it was an exciting one I enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t have all the grip available to put up a stronger fight, but I definitely enjoyed it a lot.

    Toro Rosso confirmed last weekend that Daniil Kvyat will be your team-mate next season. It’s going to be one of the most experienced driver line-ups Toro Rosso have ever had and when you combine that with the Renault engine coming your way, how does that affect your ambitions for next year, what do you think you can achieve?

    CS: I think Toro Rosso is in constant progress at the moment. Obviously this year we have been a bit hampered by this power deficit that you all know by now. But if you look at the car and how it was performing in Austin, it’s a pretty decent car I must say. I really enjoy driving it. So as James Key and his team they do a very similar job to this last couple of years and the Renault engine works well, I think Toro Rosso has a good line-up next year to exploit this full potential of the car with Dany and myself and I really think we can move a bit forward in the Constructors’ Championship. We have the right people on board and we just need a bit of straight line speed, a bit more things coming together to put together some stronger results.

    Q: Nico, it’s been a great season for you so far and the upshot of that is that you can clinch the world championship here in Mexico this weekend. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t think about that. How does it change your mindset?

    Nico ROSBERG: I’m well aware of that, and yeah, it’s been a great season so far, which has put me into this position, y’know? It’s exciting to be in this championship battle now with Lewis towards the end of the season. We’ve been there before but anyways, it’s very cool. And that’s it. As I’ve said before, that for me, my way at the moment of achieving the best possible performance is really just to focus on the things that are within my control – and that’s, here in Mexico, try and win the race, and that’s it.

    Q: Given the intensity of your battle with Lewis, how is the atmosphere in the team at the minute? Are there echoes of 2014 or is this different somehow?

    NR: The atmosphere is really, really good. As an example we had a great party on Sunday night after Austin. All the mechanics, engineers together, it’s great. The team has come a long way and, in every area, we’re just so strong now. Even just this team feeling. Pulling in one direction, having a good time together. Everything. The atmosphere is awesome. I think everybody is thrilled by this battle which we’re finding ourselves in.

    Q: What about the dynamic between you and Lewis?

    NR: Not something I think about too much really. I try and do my thing and get the best possible result. That’s it. Of course it’s intense – but at the same time there’s an easy-going side lately.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Nico Rosberg, in Austin we heard some quotes from Bernie Ecclestone. Can you reply to what he said? He said if you win it could be good for you and for the Mercedes team but not necessarily for the sport because there’s nothing to write about you. What do you say about it?

    NR: I spoke to him personally and he said that’s not exactly the way he said it. And anyways, for me it’s not something that’s important to me. For me, I focus on my thing and that’s it.

    Q: (El Grafico – Enrique Gutierrez) Checo, what is your great fears in your life?

    SP: To be honest it’s snakes, probably! Apart from that I don’t fear anything. To me, I don’t have a lot of fears, to be honest.

    Second question, what do you think about the death?

    SP: Nice questions. It’s a point in life that you don’t want to reach but everyone will reach death in their life. Sooner or later everyone will reach it but it’s a point of life no-one wants to reach.

    NR: I wish all Mexicans a great celebration of the dead.

    SP: He asks the question because we have this celebration this Sunday, I think.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Question for Nico, you’ve been racing your entire life: you’ve been in Formula One for ten years, been fighting for the championship for the last three, what would winning the World Championship mean to you?

    NR: It’s a childhood dream. But that’s where it ends for me. As I said, what’s important for me this weekend is winning the Mexican Grand Prix.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Nico. How do you work with Lewis with the battle? Do you copy his settings, do you watch his telemetry or do you work all alone, apart from him?

    NR: It’s as-usual. Everything is open, everything is shared and that’s it. So nothing has changed.

    Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) Here we’re a long way up in the air. What’s it like to drive at altitude or is there anything that you feel when you’re driving and is there anything extra that you need to do to be ready for that?

    NR: Have you noticed that on your run this morning? What do you do 21k? No, for sure you notice it. So it’s one of those races where the fitness is important and it’s one of those I’ve worked towards. But it’s OK because there are long straights also to relax – so it’s not the toughest race of the year.

    Checo, do you have anything to add about racing at altitude?

    SP: You obviously feel it. Whatever you do, not only racing, running, whatever activity you do, you feel it a lot more. As Nico said, the circuit probably helps us with the layout. It has one of the longest straights in the calendar so physically it’s not one of the toughest: we’ve been through those already: Singapore, Malaysia – but it’s quite demanding as well, the race here.

    NR: But it’s just as difficult for car. Not just for us drivers, because the car having less air volume density makes a big difference. For cooling.

    Q: (Lazaro  Montano – Record) Nico, how special will it be to get the championship here in Mexico, considering that last year your good streak started here? After Austin, you began to win here in Mexico? How special would it be to complete the year with a championship here?

    NR: I have great memories from here last year. Winning here was awesome, and also to get so much support from the Mexican people, even after that, through the whole year, social media, it’s really nice to see, so I look forward to meeting everyone again this weekend. The podium is one of the best in the year, in the baseball stadium, it was absolutely phenomenal and in terms of the championship, it’s not within my control if I get it this weekend, so for me it’s all about just winning the race and then we see what happens.

    Q: (Luis Alberto Aguirre – Reform) To Marcus, do you see any chance for yourself to go to Force India next year? Is there any possibility; do you see that seat as a possibility for you?

    ME: I think all the drivers who don’t have a contract for next year are looking at the seat. Obviously Force India is the second best available car at the moment, so it’s definitely an option but also Sauber is exciting for me looking at next year, because they have a very strong project building. So yeah, for me and my management, they are keeping their options open and talking to different teams that have seats left and hopefully sooner rather than later I will know what will happen for next year for me.

    Q: (Ben Hunt –The Sun) Nico, two questions to you: do you think it’s unfair when people say that you’re only leading the championship due to Lewis’s failures? And also, just to bring you up on Bernie’s point, 2016 he said it would not be good for the sport if you were to win. Last year he had another pop at you and said it would be bad for business if you won the title. He seems to be doing you a bit of a disservice, don’t you feel?

    NR: Well, you’re talking a lot about what other think and their opinions. I’m here to win races and not to please everybody that’s out there. There’s always going to be people that have opinions that will be going against me in some way or other. Those are two examples that you’ve given me and that’s the nature of the business, it’s always going to be like that so I like to focus on the people who really support me. And that’s it.

    Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Bernie’s come out and said that he’d like to see walls put around circuits. Now I know that you’re quite keen on driver safety; what do you make of that? He would like to see walls to stop people going off track, increase the drama, to increase the danger. It sounds a bit bonkers to me but I just wanted to get your opinions.

    NR: Well, my opinion is that there are ten other areas which we should look at before… if we want to make the sport even better than it is before we start looking at turning back time on safety. That would be my view on that.

    SP: I certainly agree with Nico. There are so many more areas where we can improve the sport before starting to put safety at risk. I think we can definitely make the circuits a bit more challenging for the drivers, not necessarily with walls but making the driver pay for mistakes if you go off, having a gravel trap and losing time, that kind of thing I think is good for the sport because that forces the drivers not to make any mistakes.

    CS: I fully agree with Checo on that one. For me, obviously safety comes first but also challenges for drivers. I just did a track walk this morning and you know when you see so much tarmac run-off where you can go wide like in Austin, it’s good for safety but I’m convinced we could use some devices to make it a bit more challenging, to make sure you use a bit more of the track. At least you pay something, you don’t gain an advantage. At the moment it’s too risky for us to just miss the braking point a bit, nothing happens, continue and you don’t even lock up the tyres. I fully agree on that one with Checo.

    Q: (Thomas Goubin – AutoHebdo) Sergio, about next season, for you, at what point will it be difficult to replace a competitive driver like Nico and what kind of a driver would you like for next season as a teammate?

    SP: Obviously having someone at the level of Nico is going to be difficult but I just want someone who comes with the right attitude to help the team, that gives good feedback and understands what’s going on with the car and hopefully if he can be fast as well, who pushes me, that would be great. I think that has worked really well with Nico because we push… (Esteban interjects) A Mexican as well, maybe would be good. Someone who pushes you, I think that’s for the benefit of the team and I think a lot of the success that the team has had has been because Nico and I have been pushing each other really hard. Since practice one up to the race, it’s always within half a tenth and that’s always good for the team.

    Q: (Luis Alberto Aguirre – Reform) Regarding that subject, would you like to become Checo’s teammate; would you like to be Esteban’s teammate, Checo?

    EG: Yeah, why not? It would be fantastic. Any teammate is good. Sure.

    Q: Is there any chance we can see you guys wrestling out there later on?

    SP: Why not?

    Q: (Juan Pablo Sanchez – Millenio) Nico, what do you think are the keys to repeat (your victory) here in Mexico on Sunday?

    NR: Well, we’ve seen this year that the results from last year don’t really make a difference to this year except for a positive memory, so we’re all starting from zero and the keys… I think to have a good rhythm through the weekend, starting from FP1, building it up and then the usual things: good qualifying, good start, race pace, those things.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Carlos, we’re in the land of the chilli and your nickname is Chilli. A reader called attribalF1 would like to know who gave you the nickname, when and whether you think it’s descriptive?

    CS: Yeah, this name comes probably from my friends, maybe on nights out or something, they get a bit too drunk and they come up from Carlos to Charlie from Charlie to Chilli and that’s how it ended up being… I don’t like chillis, this the interesting part, that I hate spicy stuff. Yesterday I went to have some tacos and I couldn’t have them because they were too spicy. Chilli is not my favourite.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Again to Nico, it seems that your mindset is very much each race and your mind isn’t on the broader story. Is that a decision that you’ve reached, the way that it works for you  or is it as a result of you having had a word with an expert in the area of mind management? I was just wondering how you stumbled on or decided that the idea that it was one race at a time and that was it.

    NR: It just feels right, it feels right to focus on the things I can influence to keep it simple, be in the moment and it’s been working so just stick with it.

    Q: (Diego Mejia – F1 Canal Latin America) To maybe Nico and if Checo can answer it as well: how would you expect the track to have evolved twelve months on, how will it be different or not from last year and how would you expect the supersoft tyre to be a factor after last year’s experience?

    NR: Normally the track surface gets a bit rougher and that will make it a bit different on the tyres, so that’s the main thing we need to learn and discover and see how that’s gone.

    SP: Same as Nico. I think the track will be rougher and that will have an impact on the degradation and now that we have a compound a step softer that might help the degradation so we might see different strategies. I think last year a lot of people went for one stop and now probably that’s not going to be that easy to be on a one stop.

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  • 2016 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2016 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS – Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Carlos SAINZ (Toro Rosso), Pascal WEHRLEIN (Manor), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Ferrari), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Fernando, there’s been a lot of talk about your starts this year and the fact that in the last five GPs you’ve made up 29 places on the opening lap! Making up places is something you’ve consistently done – in circumstances you’ve had to do it of course – but can you explain a bit about your starts; is it experience, instinct or is it just pure risk taking?

    Fernando ALONSO: I think it’s a little bit of everything probably. A little bit of luck as well. Sometimes you try to recover places and you try to choose a line into turn one – left or right – and you never know what if going to happen in front of you. It’s a little bit of luck also that you need. Over probably 16 years of Formula One, I recover many, many places so it cannot be only luck every single year. Yeah, probably doing a lot of Playstation and starting last – it’s good practice!

    The results seem to be coming through now more consistently for McLaren-Honda, outside of the top three teams on a more consistent basis. Are you seeing the things you need to see at this stage from the team to give you confidence you can fight for podiums more regularly next season and what’s the plan for the new engine you ran in Sepang?

    FA: I think let’s say we are happy with the progress we made this year and definitely we are able to fight with some competitive teams there, like Force India, Williams, and now we finished now like four times seventh after the top three teams in the last five races. Definitely a step forward that we are enjoying, this process of starting to be competitive but I think looking for next year I don’t think we can see anything that is clearly positive or negative. Everything will change massively so we need to work and to be very focused on next year’s car in a way now that is only theoretical – simulators and wind tunnel numbers and dyno numbers etc. I don’t think the performance of the actual car is a reference for next year. So that’s one thing. Yeah, we want to be more competitive next year. I think the biggest step has been done, from last year to this year, but we need another big step next year, which is going from the last Q3 spot and some points to fight for podiums and wins. I think it’s still possible. We have the potential, we have the facilities, we have the talented people. This project, as we have said many times, it’s a question of time that we will be able to win. Hopefully we are trying to make it as short as possible and let’s see. With the new engine, actually it’s just an engine that we fitted in Malaysia just for reliability issues more than performance. Also, we didn’t have engines to finish the season, so we chose Malaysia to fit new engines, to pay the penalty and then have the rest of the races without any more concerns. We plan to use that engine here but, as I said, the engine has exactly the same power, so we will fit the engine and we will try to do our best.

    Thank you. Lewis, coming to you: this has been a happy hunting ground for you recently, with victories in the last couple of years as you moved towards those two world titles. How do you feel going into Suzuka this year?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I feel same as probably last year. I feel good. Excited to get on track, the weather’s great today, I love being here, so ready to get going.

    What did you do then in the three days since Malaysia and what conclusions did you come to when you were thinking about the race: were you concerned about the championship position or were you satisfied about the way you drove, that you did everything right?

    LH: I haven’t been thinking about the last race. Usually when I leave the racetrack I think about a lot of other thing. I have a lot of other stuff going on. I was in Tokyo, enjoying my time. I love being in Tokyo. One of my favourite cities, it’s in my top three favourite cities in the world. That’s about it.

    Any thoughts on the way you performed in Malaysia?

    LH: Yeah, it was good, happy with it. I hope that I can continue performing like that.

    OK. Pascal, looking ahead to the new car Formula One cars of 2017 that Fernando referenced earlier on, you’ve done quite a lot of development work for Mercedes and Pirelli recently, what are you impressions of the changes, particularly with reference to the tyres?

    Pascal WEHRLEIN: It’s faster, but I think I cannot tell you in detail how it was. So yes, it’s faster and therefore more fun, but apart from that I can’t tell you, sorry.

    What about your own racing programme for next season? Are you likely to stay put with Manor but are there other options for you?

    PH: Let’s see. At the moment there are discussions going on and in the next few weeks I think I will know more.

    Fair enough. Kimi, you’ve already scored more points at this stage, you’ve gone past your 2015 points total, with five race to go and you’ve scored in more grands prix than your team-mate has, do you feel satisfied?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: I think it’s a bit difficult to be satisfied with where we are right now. Obviously we want to be in better places, fight in the front, but this is what we have right now. We always try to do our best but obviously the places where we’ve been recently are not, for sure, where we want to be as Ferrari, but we have to keep working and giving our best and hopefully, sooner rather than later we will be up there.

    Picking up on what Pascal was saying, or not saying, about 2017, you are one of very race drivers that has done test work on the 2017 tyres with Ferrari’s mule car. What can you tell us about the difference in feel, for example, and what we can expect next year

    KR: It’s very early days. There’s nothing to really compare, apart from some lap time from the previous race there or testing, but obviously the conditions are different and a lot of things are… there’s a bit more grip but to be fair it’s very early days for Pirelli’s new tyres, so I think we are only going to really see what we have once we have the proper cars next year and the tyres in the first test and the cars are far from what they will be next year, what we’re using in testing. I think it will be faster, but how much and how it’s going to be, how the car is and the tyres together, it’s too early to say.

    Q: Jolyon, coming to you, congratulations on your first championship points finish in Malaysia. You were actually in a points-paying position for much of the race – what made the difference for you last weekend in getting the result?

    Jolyon PALMER: Firstly, I’d say performance-wise we were definitely quicker than we have been. I think on Friday we knew that on quali and also on the long runs we were looking quite good. And then in the race a mixture of keeping the tyres alive and good strategy because starting 19th there was quite a lot of work to do. We did one stop and we used the soft tyre which was quick to the end. So, I have Carlos putting me under a bit of pressure but we managed to keep the pace up and make the one-stop work.

    Q: You’re 3-3 in qualifying with your team-mate for the last six races. Do you feel now that you’re getting a chance to show what you can do? Again, what’s making the difference?

    JP: Well, I feel that the early part of the season was quite difficult but I think after Monaco everything’s been pretty close all the time with Kev. So, I don’t think the last six races, it could be the last ten races is more accurate really, between us there’s never much. Malaysia I think qualifying wasn’t my strong point to be honest. I think I was doing quite well until qualifying but at least I recovered in the race. I think we’re showing what we can do, both of us, pushing hard, always close and I’m sure it’s going to be the case to the end of the year.

    Q: Carlos, you qualified strongly in Singapore but got caught up in that start line incident and other results have slipped away recently. Are you getting a bit frustrated with the second half of your season?

    Carlos SAINZ: No, I wouldn’t use the word frustration to describe that tough end of the season we’re suffering at the moment in Toro Rosso. Singapore was obviously a very big opportunity missed, starting P6, we knew we had the pace to finish at least in the top six, which is when you are fighting with McLaren and Haas for those P6, P7, it’s a lot of points but you cannot keep thinking too much about it. We went to Malaysia; we knew we were not going to be as fast as in Singapore and it got confirmed – but yeah, we are trying to extract the maximum performance out of the car every race, we know our performance can vary a lot from circuit to circuit and we just need to go race-by-race seeing where we stand in every race.

    Q: We’ve heard a little about the 2017 cars, they’re obviously going to be quicker but how are you feeling about the physical side of driving next year? Looking at Malaysia, quite a few drivers said it was tough – I’m interested to know with much faster cars, higher cornering speeds next year, to what extend next year are you all going to have to step up the training in view of that?

    CS: I think for sure we will need to. It’s not a secret we will need to do a step in our physical condition for next year. Already Malaysia this year we were in qualifying nearly as fast as the lap record; the race, because of the tarmac change, was 3-4 seconds per lap quicker than last year and you could already feel it. It’s a challenge that I always welcome. At the end it means OK, more time in the gym, more time on a bike – but it means that also in the race a physical limitation comes into play and it’s where you can make the difference. So, I will welcome it. Also the challenge of driving a faster car is always more difficult, always more selective with drivers, so it can only do good for Formula One.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Manuel Franco – Diario AS) First question for Fernando Alonso, second for Carlos Sainz. Fernando, what’s your opinion about Ferrari’s situation because when you leave all people say were wrong – what’s your opinion now? And for Carlos, last year you were first in FP1 in your first time at Suzuka in rain – are you praying for rain again in the race?

    Fernando?

    FA: Nothing really to comment. They are struggling a little bit now but it didn’t change probably the situation in the last couple of years but yeah, I wish always the best for Ferrari. I will have always Ferrari in my heart. So, hopefully they can improve. Thanks for asking. It’s been a long time that they didn’t ask me about Ferrari. Especially after they won Malaysia last year.

    Carlos?

    CS: I have very good memories of Suzuka last year: first time in Japan; first time in this circuit and first in FP1 in the rain. So… yeah. I know the lines, I know that Toro Rosso normally performs pretty well in the rain, so I would welcome it. I always welcome the rain but particularly these last five races. We need some of that now to score a strong result. There’s some showers around for Saturday and Sunday, so I think also for Formula One, and apart from me it’s always good to have some mixed-weather races.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Motorsport.com) Two questions for Fernando please: first of all, I was wondering what you think of Honda’s philosophy and of their engineering ability? And secondly, I was wondering if you could say how you find working with Honda compared with working with Renault and with Ferrari?

    FA: I found it very interesting from day one working with Honda, the philosophy and the approach they have to racing in general and I think to some extent to life. It’s interesting and I’m a big fan of Japanese culture and Japanese traditions and I think they translate that also into their racing philosophy. They’ve been following their programme, sometimes for us as sportsmen or fans. Sometimes it’s frustrating because we want everything now or everything tomorrow but that is not this magic solution in Formula One. Everything requires some time but yeah, they are doing the job, they are doing the maximum. They are, as I said, they are following the times, everything made in Japan, only with Japanese people and it’s their mission, let’s say, so I’m extremely happy to feel part of this project from day one. Now that the results are coming, I also think they are a little bit more motivated and they are starting to be more creative, let’s say, in terms of design and progress. So, happy and compared to other big manufacturers, big car manufacturers, I think it’s just that. The way they work, the discipline, working and the loyalty also. All the engineers we have in our team, they’ve been working for Honda all their lives, from university. So the university they chose, one way to the other, they chose Honda and they will be with Honda for all their lives so that’s quite different to our culture and also I’m learning a lot.

    Q: (Luc Domenjoz – Le Matin) Lewis, in Sepang you said after the race that possibly ‘the high power’, using your words, would prevent you from winning the championship, so at this stage of your life, how important is religion for you in your culture, in your day-to-day life?

    LH: It doesn’t change, nothing’s changed. I just said it appears that currently the guy above doesn’t really want me to… perhaps doesn’t want me to win right now. But I’ve made a point on my Instagram so I don’t really have much more to say about it.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Kimi, you say you can’t be happy with where you are right now. You’re currently fourth in the championship, third is within reach so two questions: would it make  a difference to you if you finished third, fourth or fifth? And would it make a difference if you finished ahead of your teammate?

    KR: Not really. We are here to try to win and anything less than winning is obviously not why we are here or why all the guys in Ferrari work hard to try to be best. So obviously not winning… second is better than third but it’s not an awful lot in the end. It’s been a more solid year and more consistent, and things are running most… but like I said, we want to be back in the front and fighting consistently for putting ourselves at least to have a good chance of winning. So that’s the aim and then obviously after that it depends on many other things also but we are lacking speed a bit but we’re not giving up and we keep trying and improving and I’m sure we’ll get there. It just takes time. In a way it’s been better than the last few years but it’s still not what we want.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Lewis, is there anything you can share with us what you’re looking at?

    LH: Hunh? Yeah, no, just… it’s quite funny, just some snaps of us drivers, it’s quite funny. That’s about it. Hey man, we’ve been doing this a long long time and it’s the same each time so got to keep adding new things to it.

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, I’ve noticed you’ve posted a series of messages on Facebook about your team last night. I was just wondering why you decided to do that?

    LH: Been planning to do it for a while. We’ve been building that up for a couple of weeks already, so it just turned out to be the appropriate time to do it.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – The Telegraph) Lewis, a lot of your fans, after the race on Sunday, they kind of felt the sense of injustice about your engine blowing up and some of them saying that they think Mercedes are favouring Nico, as they’ve said at different points in the year. I just wonder what your message to them is?

    LH: Well, they just go on my Instagram. I’ve put all my feelings on there so… They have the right to their own opinion but as you see from my posts, you see how passionate I am about this team and about my guys so…