|
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... |
