|
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – James
Key (Toro Rosso), Toto WOLFF (Williams), Bob Fearnley (Force India),
Jean-Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren) Tony
FERNANDES (Caterham)
James, welcome back, new shirt, you’ve had your feet under the desk for a
week or two now, what have found at Scuderia Toro Rosso? What are the
strengths and weaknesses?
James KEY: Thanks for the welcome Bob, I think – it’s early days obviously –
but I think one of the big strengths I noticed very quickly in the team is
the enthusiasm everyone has and the ambition to make it succeed. Everyone is
desperate for it to work, there’s a real passion there, as you can imagine,
being Italian in the team’s origin. Primarily it’s a very good atmosphere to
work in, something a little bit familiar to me in a way, there’s a bit of
family atmosphere because it’s a small team that’s grown very rapidly. As a
result of that with the rapid growth it means that it needs a little bit
more gluing together in a way. There’s still separate departments doing a
very good job but it needs to come together – and everyone recognises that.
It’s just a case of going through that process. So, the strength, I think,
is the will and the ambition of everyone. On the weakness side, I think it’s
just still a team that’s growing. There’s no lack of effort from everyone,
it just needs to be given direction. There’s certainly some work to do on
the aero side, which is very clear and mechanical, for that matter, from a
technical point of view. There’s some pretty clear steps. Some of it takes
time, some of it’s fairly obvious for next year.
And what can you do for this year’s car? What can you do for next year’s
car? Can you still put your stamp on next year’s car?
JK: I think for this year, obviously time is short, and this is a time of
year when you’ve really got to prioritise and so we’re doing what we can
with this year’s car. What we can do now is obviously carried over to next
year too. I think for next year, the architecture and a lot of the
suspension geometry was already defined before I arrived, so it’s a case of
picking up what I can, together with the guys in Faenza and at our wind
tunnel in Bicester from this point forward. I’d say there’s probably 40 per
cent of the car still to go, so certainly we can work on that. But I have to
say a lot of very sensible decisions have already been made for next year’s
car, exactly what I would have done. Which is good. So, we’re all aligned in
our direction and we’ll do everything we can in between now and Melbourne.
Toto, obviously a very competitive car this year: we’ve seen it in the top
ten in qualifying quite a lot and of course it’s won a race as well. How
easy is that to preserve and to keep on, and improve on for next year?
Toto WOLFF: I think that most of the teams are going to have a carry-on car
for next year. It’s not going to be a massive development because everybody
is looking forward to 2014, which is a big change. So, I hope we can carry
the momentum and keep the good base of the car and then carry it over for
next year.
And looking at your drivers but particularly one you have an interest in,
what is Valtteri Bottas’ future?
TW: I think Valtteri Bottas’ future is Formula One. We have not decided yet
where we are going to head to because we go on to give maximum support to
the two current drivers. He has been with us for a couple of years now, so
he is definitely part of our thoughts – but no decision has been made until
now.
Bob, first of all, I think you’ve moved on already to next year’s but
already you car looks very competitive here. Last year here we saw Paul Di
Resta do a phenomenal run of 31 laps on the soft tyre. Is this looking like
a good result for you here? What are your thoughts? It’s very early days I
guess.
Bob FEARNLEY: It is early days. You don't know what fuel levels everybody
else has been running on today. But it is reasonably encouraging for the
first two sessions.
Looking at Jules Bianchi, his performance in the Magny Cours test. What’s
his future with the team?
BF: We’re looking for stability for 2013 with all drivers, that’s our first
goal. But I think from the young driver test, it just goes to show how
beneficial running the FP1 programme was, because Jules was very quick all
three days, particularly in the Force India car. So I think it’s a testament
to the team’s effort to having a reserve driver who is really up and running
and competitive all the time.
Jean-Francois, I’m sure you’re expecting a question about alternators. What
is it about Sebastian Vettel that it seems to happen to him and nobody else?
Jean-Francois CAUBET: First of all we started to have a problem in Valencia
with two drivers Sebastian Vettel and Romain (Grosjean). It was not easy to
detect or find because both alternators were completely melted and
destroyed. So we were thinking it was an electric problem and probably the
levels of power in the car, so we decided to change a bit the levels of
power in each car. Spa was OK but again in Monza we have a problem with
Sebastian two times and another driver also. We had a bit of fortune because
we stopped the Lotus car just maybe some problem with the alternator and at
the end it was not an electrical problem, it was a mechanical problem, a
bearing probably. So, we are trying to change something. It is not easy
because we detect that a few days but I think we are quite optimistic. The
problem we have is that we are running the new solution in the dyno but only
the race will give us an answer.
Do you think the heat is going to be a factor here?
J-FC: I don’t know. P1 was OK, P2 was OK. We cross our fingers for P3,
qualifying and the race.
Recently, you lost Monsieur Arbiteboul to Tony over here. How important a
loss is that and what can he expect from his new CEO?
J-FC: I think it is good news for Tony. I was working with Cyril for eight
years. He was working with Flavio in the team. We sold the team. We built a
new strategy on the engine side. I think after eight years at Renault I
think this is a fantastic opportunity for him to do something probably more
concrete, more challenging but why not he will be back one day in Renault
no?
Q: Martin, there's been a lot of speculation about the team, how much of a
distraction has it been?
Martin WHITMARSH: No, I don't think it has been. I think over the last three
races we've got stronger and more focused. I assume that the distraction you
refer to is Lewis but I think anyone who knows Lewis and witnessed Lewis
last weekend (in Italy) and actually also this weekend would say he's very
very focused on doing the job. I think he realises that this year we have a
strong opportunity to win a World Championship and I think we all realise
that the right thing to do is focus and improve the car, don't make mistakes
and maximise the points you can get from each race. I think that's what
we're very much focused on. I know that there are stories and speculation
that swirl around and I guess that's Formula One and I think we're content
to get on with the job quietly.
Q: Excellent performances in the last three races; you must be favourites to
win a World Championship even though there is that huge gap, and there are
seven races to go.
MW: I think you've got to be cautious. I think we were firm favourites going
into the season, we were firm favourites coming out of Australia and it can
change. I think we're very pleased that the last three events have been on
very different circuits and we've been competitive at all of them. I think
we're cautious here. Hopefully we can be competitive. What we haven't done
is just pile in the points that we should have done, given the
competitiveness of our car. I think after 12 or 13 races, I think we've been
on the front row eleven times. We've clearly got a strong package and
therefore we should be disappointed in the number of points that we don't
have rather than the points that we do have. But you don't look back, you
look forward. I think we've got quite a good development momentum so we're
making the car quicker. I think we've got two great racing drivers who are
very much focused on trying to win races and other things, so we're hopeful
that we can get a result here and keep the pressure on. You've got to say
that Fernando's done a great job to be where he is and that's going to take
some effort to overhaul but it's certainly do-able and we're going to keep
pushing as hard as we can.
Q: Tony, you've got a new CEO in Cyril Abiteboul, what was the thinking
behind hiring a CEO when you seem to have a lot of chiefs already?
Tony FERNANDES: Well, I think we're evolving into a little bit of an auto
group with the cars division and technology division that we've put together
which Riad (Asmet) is looking at, and I am not as involved so the team needs
leadershi. Cyril has been someone that I've courted for a while and we've
finally persuaded him - with Renault's blessing - to come over to Caterham.
It provides us with a (inaudible) for the F1 team going forward.
Q: So will he be the team principal?
TF: Not at the moment, no. I will still remain in that job for a while.
Eventually, maybe.
Q: And your thoughts on your drivers for next year; is Heikki staying?
What's the situation with Vitaly?
TF: Well, it's... I don't know. We will have to have a discussion at some
point and we also have options on that front. I would like Heikki to stay,
very much. He's been great for us over the last three and a half years.
We'll have to sit down and decide where we go from here.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Paul Weaver - The Guardian) Martin, you described as fantasy reports
that Lewis might be joining Mercedes. Do you still describe that as fantasy
or did you seriously under-estimate the situation?
MW: I don't remember that but...
Q: (Paul Weaver - The Guardian) I do.
MW: ...good! I think if you told me that he had signed the deal as you said
that was fantasy so in answer to the same question I would give the same
response to that.
Q: (Simon Cass - Daily Mail) Martin, do you accept that Lewis has had an
offer from Mercedes?
MW: I suspect that Tony here has made him an offer as well, he's a very good
racing driver.
TF: I haven't!
MW: He's not ambitious enough, you see.
Q: (Benjamin Hunt - The Sun) Martin, you risk losing a driver, potentially;
have you started even thinking about a replacement yet?
MW: No, as I said earlier, I think we're very focused on trying to do a good
job here.
Q: (Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) To Bob and to Tony: there's a possibility
that the regulations from next year onwards will be decided by the six top
teams as opposed to the Formula One Commission. How do you people, as team
principals of teams that don't fall within those six, feel about that
possibility?
BF: I think that we would like the stability to stay where it is, with all
teams being represented at the F1 Commission, Dieter, so I don't think
there's any doubt about where we would like to be. Tony will have to speak
for himself, but I think it's a much better balance when the teams are fully
represented.
TF: I share the same view obviously. The one thing is though... the key is
that all of us have to find a way of standardising regulations and having
less changes and less irregularities but I think there is a danger that the
six teams are hyper-competitive and sometimes things go on and on and on, so
I do think that there could be an imbalance here but the key to me is not
whether there are six teams or twelve teams or two teams, the key is to have
simple regulations that won't have a tremendous amount of debate and we just
will go racing.
Q: (Byron Young - Daily Mirror) Martin, why has it taken so long to solve
Lewis's situation? Even by Formula One standards it seems to have taken an
age.
MW: I think it seems a long time because of the speculation that people have
made, but when you sit down and seriously put your mind to entering into a
new contract it doesn't take too long. I think it's a question of priorities
and other things we've been doing.
Q: (Simon Cass - Daily Mail) Martin, are you actually trying to pay him less
money for his new contract?
MW: I'm sure he will want more money and I'm sure we will want to pay less -
that's how business normally works.
Q: (Matt Coch - pitpass.com) Tony, you've moved into the new Leafield
facility, an immense complex. It's much bigger than what Caterham as a
Formula One team is. What's the long term plan with the spare capacity
there?
TF: I think over the next few months details will evolve as to what we're
planning. It's not a hidden secret that I got into Formula One to
manufacture cars and Lotus was my initial objective which went spectacularly
wrong in many ways, shape or forms but the ambition and the vision is still
the same and Leafield will play a part in that vision. The brand may have
changed but the vision and the idea of what we're trying to put together
still exists. I think we are putting all the infrastructure in place to have
a reasonable Formula One team. We have a reasonable car now, we just have to
optimise it as much as possible. I think we've got some good people
together, we're in a facility in a location which attracts other people into
it, plus with our other two divisions it will all come together. I think in
the next few months you will see some clarity as to what we're trying to
achieve.
Q: (Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) Jean-Francois, certain people continue
talking about retaining the current V8s for an additional year or two after
2014. In addition to that, you'd said that you people wanted to possibly
supply six teams with your 2014 technology. Where do you stand on these two
points please?
J-FC: I think the V6 will be on the track for all the teams in two years. I
think Mercedes, Ferrari and us are all changing our dynos from V8s to V6s so
now it's impossible to make a change. For the teams, the strategy is to keep
four teams and I don't know if it's possible to do more. I think that if you
want to have good reliability, good performance you need to keep four teams,
but if there will be a need for more, we don't want to close the door.
Q: (Ian Parkes - PA) Martin, I can understand why you would want to laugh
through some of the questions facing Lewis and put on a bit of a brave face
but is part of you seriously appreciating the fact that there could be life
without Lewis from 2013 onwards?
MW: As I said earlier, it's not a question of putting on a brave face, it's
a question of focusing on doing our job, and we're concentrating on this
year's championship. I think speculation on next year is something that we
don't need to entertain or respond to so we're focusing on the here and now.
Q: (Bryon Young - Daily Mirror) So does that mean there won't be an
announcement until after the end of the season, because you've got to focus
on all the races haven't you?
MW: We might wait until then, you never know. |
