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TEAM PRINCIPALS: Ross BRAWN
(Mercedes), Tony FERNANDES (Lotus), Christian HORNER (Red Bull), Martin
WHITMARSH (McLaren)
Q: First of all a little recap of how the day has gone for all of you. How
have things gone for Lotus Racing?
Tony FERNANDES: Tough day today. We had three gearbox failures, two on
Jarno’s (Trulli) car and one on Heikki’s (Kovalainen). One of those things.
We had some good pace. Heikki managed to get some good pace and we still
feel there is something left in the car. But it was a shame we had the
failures that we had.
Q: Ross, things seem to be better for you?
Ross BRAWN: So far, but we have often had good Fridays and then found the
rest of the weekend more difficult. But the car is not too bad. We are
trying to consolidate more with a couple of the changes we have made over
the last couple of races and get the maximum from them this weekend as
opposed to adding a lot of new stuff. It is a consolidation weekend. Drivers
are reasonably happy today. The car seemed quite respectable on high fuel,
but a bit tricky out there later on with the gusts. We saw a lot of cars
going off. The gusty wind was making it a bit edgy for the drivers but not
too bad.
Q: Christian?
Christian HORNER: Well, it is great to be back at Silverstone and firstly on
a Friday to see so many people here is fantastic. With the changes to the
circuit we were a little concerned that it would take a bit away from the
character of the track, but it seems to have worked pretty well. There are a
couple of bumps that are a bit tricky, but I think it still offers a big
challenge to the drivers. They seem to enjoy the circuit, the new element of
the
circuit. We have run through a pretty standard programme to here, both
drivers testing different aspects, both seem pretty happy and for
Silverstone... I was amazed today to see track temperature at 40 degrees,
something that you wouldn’t usually expect to see. A pretty positive day. We
had an issue with Mark’s (Webber)... an electrical issue on Mark’s car at
the end of the day, nothing major. He got a little bit of down-time at the
end for Mark but overall pretty happy with the way the day has gone.
Q: Martin?
Martin WHITMARSH: I think a difficult day for us really. A new package. I
think we have got to do a lot of learning. I think we have some useful
information. We have now to turn that information into a way in which we can
make the car quicker tomorrow. Really exploring the car. I wouldn’t say a
lot of the time that the drivers were comfortable, but we were learning and
we will take that data and see what we can do this evening.
Q: How important is this event as a home race. You are all based in the UK,
but some of you also have bases elsewhere.
TF: I think it is very important. It is where it all started for me. I met
Mike Gascoyne here a year ago. I feel as though I have been in Formula One
for 100 years, but it was only one year ago that the first idea came out. Of
course it is great for the team to be back here. It is great to see a Lotus
car back at Silverstone, so it is important. Hopefully we can deliver
something to be worthy of the Lotus name. It has been a fantastic start for
us, but expectations grow and grow and grow. Let’s hope we can bring two
cars home. We have had lots and lots of emails, lots and lots of people
saying they are coming. In Snetterton the other day we had 22,000 people
turn up. That was quite an eye-opener for me and many of them said they are
going to be here on Sunday, so let’s hope that we can give a performance
that’s worthy of the name and the support that we are getting.RB: Very
meaningful race for me. It is a circuit where when I was working with Frank
Williams, Frank won his first grand prix with Clay Regazzoni, so it has got
some very fond memories and it is nice to be at a race that some of our
staff can enjoy. We are based here but we are very multi-national. We have
four home grands prix as we have Britain, Hockenheim, Abu Dhabi and with
Petronas we have Malaysia, so we are fortunate that we have four races with
extra pressure.
Q: Christian, an Austrian team but based down the road in Milton Keynes.
CH: It’s our local grand prix and this weekend we have pretty much all the
factory coming up over the course of the weekend. It is the one time that
they get to see the cars in action. It is fantastic to be back at
Silverstone. We all thought that perhaps last year might be the last year
but it is great the work Damon Hill has done with the BRDC to secure the
future of the British Grand Prix here at Silverstone. I think it is one of
the circuits that is
still amongst the favourites of the drivers. It still offers a massive
challenge, an adrenalin rush for the drivers to compete around here. I think
it is important that we retain the historic events combined with the modern
events such as Singapore and Abu Dhabi. It is tremendous to see the turn-out
even on a Friday that is here this weekend. It is one of the highlights of
the calendar and a race we are keen to run well at.MW: I think as the guys
have said it is great for a lot of people at the factory to be able to come
and see the
cars and I think that is important. It is very special for that reason. It
is a campsite grand prix. It is a grand prix where you are very aware of
people who have camped out for three or four days. They are very
knowledgeable, very enthusiastic, and you meet them. I think that is quite
special and it is something which increasingly we don’t have in Formula One
where perhaps we haven’t developed that level of following and that history
in some of the new
circuits that we go to.
Q: Another question to all of you. What has been your drivers’ reaction to
the new circuit? What did they think about it?
TF: The initial thought was they kind of missed the old circuit. But they
grew to like it towards the end, what they did run of it. They felt there
was a little bit of low grip in the new bits but overall they enjoyed the
circuit.
RB: I think they are fine with it. It is not such a dramatic change. There
is a bit of an issue with the bumps adjoining the old and new circuit which
brings a bit of a challenge but they are fine with it and I think it hasn’t
taken anything away from the great character of Silverstone. I am not sure
if it has added a lot but it certainly they are pleased with it and there is
nothing strange.
CH: I think it is an interesting addition to the track. It puts the track
close to six kilometres which is a very long lap now. I think the only thing
probably the circuit has given away is Bridge Corner which was a real
challenge for the drivers and spectacular to see a grand prix car through
there. But it has got a different characteristic, it adds a different
dimension to the track. It puts an added emphasis on slow speed performance
rather than just high speed predominance and it is another dimension and
interesting challenge. The drivers have reasonably enjoyed it. There is a
big bump through Abbey that you probably have all seen which is a little bit
tricky but it is the same for everyone. Different, not necessarily better or
worse, but just different. An added challenge.
MW: I think our guys were spending the day exploring the new car and the
set-ups of that, not so much the circuit, so I don’t think I have got
anything to add to what has already been said. I think we were trying to
understand what we have got here in the way of a car rather than understand
the circuit.
Q: Tony, what have been the repercussions as far as you are concerned within
the Lotus team after the accident at Valencia? Has anything changed?
TF: No, nothing at all. I am still friendly with Christian and vice-versa.
No, nothing at all.
Q: There wasn’t anything that you could have said to the driver?
TF: We were perfectly happy with what Heikki did. He was racing. He braked
at the right place. The telemetry said so. That’s just racing.
Q: Ross, you talked about what you hoped was an improved performance here
and about the various bits that have gone on the car. Has it been already
improving what has gone on the car and really sorting it out, something
which I suspect every team has got to do with these blown rear wings, blown
diffusers etc.?
RB: I think there is an interesting chemistry to this year. With Christian’s
team we have got one team which is setting the standard in terms of pace and
we are all trying to catch up and in trying to do that you take jumps but
sometimes you fall over and with no testing it is very easy to make a
slightly wrong move and the field is so close. I think Nico (Rosberg) in
Valencia was six-tenths off the fastest time in Q2, but he didn’t make it to
Q3. You get a few things wrong in trying to put your package together,
perhaps don’t pay attention to the fundamentals as you are chasing these new
features and you can fall away very quickly. I know Christian said this the
other day and I always said it at Ferrari. There are no silver bullets.
There is no one thing that you turn a switch and you suddenly find a huge
amount of lap time. It is an accumulation of smaller things and because they
are smaller
things they are very often difficult to quantify and know that they are
definite improvements. It is pretty challenging this environment of Formula
One. But it is the same for all the teams, it is just a different type of
challenge now to perhaps the one we had five or 10 years ago and I think it
brings to the fore the need for modelling, simulation, driver-in-loop
simulators, those sort of facilities which the top teams are building up to
substitute for testing.
Q: Martin, the same question to you. You are not at the bottom of the rung
but is that what you are experiencing now, particularly with the bits that
were brought at half-past-one this morning?
MW: Yeah, I think everyone in the factory is pushing hard and we are
bringing the parts here. I think the issue is that often when you are
developing the car you are incrementally bringing downforce to the car, the
balance of the car. The driving set-up characteristics don’t change
dramatically but with the changes that we are evolving all of us on the cars
apart from Christian, then it requires a different approach, a different
driving style, a different
set-up, so in an era where there is not very much testing it is quite
difficult to go and nail that. You have a limited number of tyres, fairly
limited number of time and laps to do it in. That’s the challenge. That’s
the modern era of Formula One and we have got to take all the data we have
got today, make some decisions on what we are going to do tomorrow and
hopefully get it right.
Q: Christian, do you see everyone getting closer and closer to you? And what
does it take with those various bits to then develop them further?
CH: As we all know if you stand still in this business you tend to go
backwards. As a team we are working very well. I think we have managed to
add performance to the car at every grand prix so far this year and we have
got a few little bits here which are helping as well. It is testimony to the
effort that is going on in the factory 10 miles or so from here that as a
group the extra mile they are going to get the components to the car, the
hours that are going in, are just immense. Our performance is very much a
team performance. I cannot speak too highly of the effort that is going in
at the moment. Inevitably when you are setting the pace you are there to be
shot at effectively. People tend to cherry pick bits and pieces or highlight
bits of the car that might add performance but at the end of the day as we
all know it is the package that counts. The guys have done a great job in
evolving that
package and the car, for example, here compared to where it was in Bahrain
at the beginning of the year is considerably different but we can only focus
on our own, getting performance to the car and hopefully that will be enough
to keep us towards the front. We must never underestimate the likes of
McLaren who have got tremendous heritage and also Ferrari and obviously the
other big teams such as Mercedes. It is a very healthy situation for Formula
One that there is not one team running away with things at the front of the
field.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Martin, this new upgraded package was originally
intended for Hockenheim and it’s obviously been a rush to get it here.
Perhaps you can give us some more insight as to how much of a last minute
rush it has been to get everything done?
MW: As has been described, parts were still arriving at 1.30 a.m. There are
a lot of new components on the car. People have worked incredibly long hours
and day and night to just get those parts here. I think all of us, from
Lotus through to Red Bull, we’re all very proud to be part of organisations
that are fighting to improve every fortnight. Formula One is an infectious
business. Wherever you are on the grid you want to be one or two places
further forward and that produces such commitment from people within our
teams that while we are here talking about it, the amount of effort that
people put in is phenomenal. It’s a big effort. You’ve not only got to get
the components, you’ve got to assemble them onto the car. Mechanics here
worked very, very late. I’m sure they’re going to be working through tonight
as well as we consolidate those parts, make sure that they’re working, make
sure that we have the right specification of car tomorrow. We had a number
of different parts on the car here today, we’ve got to try and pick through
the data, make sure that we’ve got the best package that we can provide to
our drivers tomorrow.
Q: (Tom Clarkson – Tom Clarkson and Associates) Christian, you made a
reference there to Bahrain. If you took the RB6 back to Bahrain now, could
you put a number on how much quicker it would be?
CH: Very difficult. Usually Murray (Walker) asks the difficult questions.
Difficult to say, probably somewhere close to a second, possibly. The pace
of development is very high and the thing you never get a chance to do is go
backwards. In the current regulations we have to try and rely on our
simulation tools, be it wind tunnel or CFD and there are very few components
that we’ve put on our car this year which have actually come off. Everything
that’s gone onto the car has pretty much added performance. You’ve got to
assume that you’re probably looking at around a second between now and
Bahrain.
Q: (Bob Bull – BBC Three Counties Radio) You talk about these increments you
make each race, the little additions. How do you actually discover what they
are and how you need them? To the general members of the public over there
it seems a bit strange. Perhaps you could explain why you think or how you
think about a modification that improves the car. What’s the process?
RB: The tools we have, which Christian just touched on: we have the wind
tunnel, we have simulation tools, modelling tools. We know the factors which
make a car go faster. There are some very simple, fundamental factors: if
you have more downforce, or you have less drag, or you have a lower centre
of gravity; those things normally bring added performance. The challenge for
the engineers is that there’s rarely one dimension to any changes you
make. There are often two or three dimensions to the effect that it has on
the car and trying to unravel those extra dimensions come from added
performance or perceived added performance which is very challenging. To
give you an example, it’s very easy to make a front wing which is more
efficient with more downforce but might be more sensitive to the height it
runs at, so on the track, it’s not necessarily a quicker front wing. It’s
when you get
into that added dimension that it becomes complex and where we need to
continue to develop the tools and the assessment methods we use. Years ago
we just went out on the track and pounded round, using dozens of sets of
tyres, and try to establish the performance gains that way. Now it’s
actually quite different. But we all know the things that make a car go
faster. Our aerodynamicists know that if they find more downforce, if they
find less drag, more efficiency, then the car will go faster. So we’ve got
lots of groups of engineers looking at areas and trying to find ways of
improving their area. And it’s not just the aerodynamics, it’s the
mechanical performance, it’s the structural performance, it’s new materials.
Everyone in the company who is responsible for performance is trying to find
five per cent, ten per cent every year and it just accumulates into an
improved car.
Q: (Mike Doodson) In the good old days, if there had been an incident like
the one that we saw in Valencia between Tony’s car and Christian’s, with a
bit of luck, we, the journalists would have been rewarded with the two
drivers rushing to each others’ pits to punch each others’ lights out. It’s
very frustrating to see the two of you being so terribly polite to each
other. It was still a bloody great big shunt. I had a disagreement with a
colleague of mine
about who was to blame. Tony said earlier on that Heikki braked at the
correct point. I’m sure that Mark Webber would disagree with that. It also
looked to me as though Heikki was dithering. He couldn’t decide whether he
was about to be lapped or whether he was racing. Could we perhaps have a
little bit more interplay between the two of you, and perhaps some figures
about who did brake at what point and whether it was correct or not?
TF: First point is that he (Heikki) wasn’t in any position of being lapped,
he was racing. Mark came out of the pits and Heikki was ahead of him and he
was racing for his position. So there was no dithering at all, he kept his
line, he was straight on his line and according to our telemetry, he braked
exactly at the right place, so we hold him at no responsibility at all.
CH: I spoke with Heikki this morning and I said to him that it might be a
good idea to fit some brake lights because the braking point was what took
Mark completely by surprise more than anything. At that point in the race,
Mark knew that he needed to pass Heikki quickly and he was tight in his
slipstream, Heikki was in the middle of the circuit. I think it was not
having followed cars in that proximity, so closely previously, where
previously we’ve only ever lapped them, it just took Mark completely by
surprise how early Heikki braked. There’s obviously a performance difference
between the cars. Yes, Heikki was in the middle of the circuit but the
closing speed was… at that point, Mark was doing just over 300kph and the
resulting impact was quite horrific. At that point of time, all
you can really think about is your driver’s safety. Both drivers ended up
having reasonably sized accidents, Mark’s being the far more spectacular. We
were just relieved to see him get out of the car unaided and without injury,
and it’s testimony to the regulations, to the design of the car, to the
strength of the car that he’s managed to be sitting in a grand prix car this
weekend. I think it’s wrong to place fault at Heikki. Mark was in a
situation
where he knew he had to pass and I think that the closing speed at that
point was just so phenomenal, it just took him completely by surprise. It
was one of those things, but there’s no point of Tony and I getting excited
about it, just relief that certainly our driver was OK.
Q: (Ya’acov Zalel – Hege Magazine) Question to Christian and Martin: both of
you are managing the four drivers who are running for the World
Championship. How much time are you dedicating to managing the relationship
between your two drivers, what resources are invested in this? Are you using
any kind of psychology or scientific methods? And
Christian, it’s the first time that two of your drivers are running for the
World Championship, what kind of experience is this for you?
CH: I think the most important thing is the way that we treat our drivers
with transparency and equality. They’re both competitive, they’re both
hungry, they’re both at different stages in their career and they both get
equal priority and treatment from the team. For us, at the end of the day,
it doesn’t matter which one of those drivers wins a grand prix, so long as
it’s in a team car. As we saw earlier in the year they had an incident in
Istanbul where perhaps they pushed each other a bit too hard but they’ve
raced each other on many occasions where they have gone wheel-to-wheel, such
as in Malaysia and in China to think of two examples this year, and we will
continue to support both drivers equally. They’re not pretending to be best
mates, they’re competitors at the end of the day. That’s what we employ them
to be and the most important thing is that they get the job done, not only
for
themselves but for the team, and that they work together in a very
professional manner and a very constructive manner, they drive the car in a
similar way. I’m sure they won’t be spending Christmas together but it’s a
very constructive and positive environment within the team. I think the most
important thing for any driver is to know that he’s getting equality of
equipment and priority.
MW: I endorse everything that Christian just said. I think that on top of
that, I think that if the drivers are communicating, not just professionally
but socially, then I think that that creates an environment where they are
more likely to understand the motivations and moves that each of them make.
But in both teams, clearly those drivers want to win, they want to beat
their team-mate, so it always has the potential for some tension and I guess
that’s something that the media is looking forward to, some of that tension,
because it’s something to write about, it’s entertaining to see it,
particularly if it goes wrong. I think in both teams at the moment, Red Bull
and McLaren – obviously I know the situation at McLaren rather better than
at Red Bull – I think you’ve got some balanced young men. They want to beat
everybody, they particularly want to beat their team-mates. They’re willing
to race, they’re willing to push it quite hard. Our guys haven’t touched
quite as hard as the Red Bull drivers – yet – but they will continue to race
each other and all four of those drivers in question want to be World
Champion this year. That’s just how it should be. I think if we sat here and
said it will never go wrong, I think that would be ludicrous. I think ‘has
it gone wrong so far in McLaren?’ No, not this year and I hope that it won’t
as the year progresses but I hope that the tension remains because if it
does, it means that they are both still in contention.
Q: (Murray Walker) Martin, since we’re clearly not going to have a punch-up
between Tony and Christian, can I ask you if you’re going to have a punch-up
with Bernie (Ecclestone) about the continuing need for the Formula One Teams
Association, and if so whether your extra height, reach and youth will win
the day?
MW: I think people will draw lines between FOTA, between the FIA and between
FOM. The fact is that Formula One’s got quite a lot of challenge: economic
challenge, we’ve got challenge from all sorts of other forms of
entertainment. The intelligent thing is actually we work on improving the
sport together and it needs the governing body, the competitors and the
commercial rights holder to co-operate. Now, there won’t always be
everything that we
agree upon, but I don’t think we’re trying to compete, fight… we’re really
trying to find ways in which we can work together. Now it’s difficult enough
to have the teams working together. I think what FOTA has been able to
achieve so far has been outstanding. While we talk about team-mates, there’s
always tensions between the teams. I think
providing we’re very honest and straightforward about that – we all want to
beat each other, we all want to get as much of an advantage one each other
as we can – but if we do so without regard to the future of the sport,
developing it and improving it, then we do so at our peril. I think FOTA
demonstrated fantastic compromise between all of the teams, for what it’s
achieved so far, in terms of cost-saving, facilitating the championship,
helping
some teams to be here that wouldn’t otherwise be here. So I think that
there’s a list of achievements. I think we’ re now trying to understand how
we can engage with fans, how we can demonstrate that Formula One can be a
socially responsible sport as well, that we’ve got a lot more work to do and
Formula One is far from perfect, as we all know
here, but underlying it is all the things we talked about earlier on, the
great commitment within the teams, people that work in the sport, the
passion that exists here to try and win. So I think we’re looking forward to
working with Bernie, not slugging it out with him, and making the sport
better. |
