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TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Eric
BOULLIER (Renault), Jean Francois CAUBET (Renault), Robert FERNLEY (Force
India), Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli), Christian HORNER (Red Bull), Riad ASMAT
(Lotus)
Q: Bob, the battle for sixth place in the championship. How important is it
for you?
Robert FERNLEY: It is absolutely vital. I mean we lost it last year by one
point, as you know, it was a disappointment at the last race and we simply
donÕt want that to happen again, so we have really got two objectives this
weekend. One is to secure sixth and the other one is to put Adrian (Sutil)
in the top 10 for drivers.
Q: Fifteen points is quite a lot to gain or even lose, isnÕt it, so itÕs
unlikely to change?
RF: Unlikely, but it could be weather driven and as we all know there is
many a slip so we have to be absolutely sure that we deliver.
Q: Your team owner, Vijay Mallya, said that he would announce the drivers
before the Brazilian Grand Prix. I think he said that, anyway, and we are
still waiting, though, of course, the grand prix hasnÕt happened yet?
RF: Yeah, he might be waiting a little longer before he finalises it.
Q: Is it the drivers he is talking to or whatÕs holding it up?
RF: A number of things really. I think it is only fair we deal, obviously,
with the drivers. We have got three very talented drivers and we need to
make sure that the one that is going to be disappointed has the best
opportunity to position himself and thatÕs our priority. Once we are clear
with all those programmes, Vijay will announce it.
Q: Paul, itÕs interesting that Jenson Button said yesterday that he felt
that at the beginning of the season your [PirelliÕs] policy has been
somewhat more extreme perhaps with the tyres dropping off quite dramatically
whereas perhaps more conservative later on in the season. I think you have
already said that you will be less conservative nest year, but can you talk
about your policy for next year.
Paul HEMBERY: Well, first of all we didnÕt change anything, so I think there
are a lot of other factors involved why maybe there is not that big drop
that we have got now. The only thing that we did change was the hard
compound after the Turkish race. Next year we are going towards softer
compounds. We have too big a gap between some of our choices this year in
terms of peak performance so we are trying to get that down below a second
to try and encourage the strategy. Experience and hindsight are wonderful
things and we can make maybe some more aggressive choices in some circuits.
Q: Apparently the choice of going softer has come in for a certain amount of
criticism, or allegations of favouritism to certain teams that cannot warm
up their tyres very well. What do you say about that?
PH: Well, when we go harder everyone says we are being conservative and the
races are boring, so it is one of those no-win situations. I think the team
you are talking about, when we were in Korea with super softs and softs,
still had some issues so thatÕs rubbish. We are doing it because we are
trying to encourage more exciting racing and I think what we are doing is in
the right direction to try to have the peak of performance much closer
together between the tyres. The harder tyres to be more durable and the
faster tyres to have a degradation so we will see a little bit more of that
strategy we saw earlier in the season.
Q: A question partially for you and partially for Christian about Sebastian
VettelÕs tyre from Abu Dhabi. Is there anything more to report on that?
PH: Well, to be honest we finished looking at that over a week ago. I said
at the time we had a bag of bits and we had a look at the bag of bits and
ruled out a whole host of things. We didnÕt feel there was an integrity
issue with the tyre and as weÕve seen in some races you get debris, a
foreign body that you pick up, and that causes a hole in the tyre. It was
unfortunate: first corner, first lap, world champion, so not the greatest
thing with all the world watching but itÕs what happens so nothing really
else to add.
Q: Christian, anything more from you?
Christian HORNER: No, I think Paul summed it up. There was no smoking gun if
you like. We did a lot of research with the Pirelli engineers and worked
closely to try to understand that bag of bits that came back. Some of it
came back in Mark WebberÕs car but I donÕt think we will ever fully know
exactly what the root cause was. There are lots of theories, but nothing
that you could hand-on-heart say it was that.
Q: Riad, very interesting load of drivers that you used in the Young Driver
test in Abu Dhabi. IÕm thinking particularly, obviously, of Luiz Razia, who
is of interest here in Brazil but also Alexander Rossi. ThatÕs a fairly
important driver as well in terms of, perhaps, your future strategy for the
USA.
Riad ASMAT: I think, bottom line, is that we have always had the capability.
We started a team but at the same time we also had a driver development
programme. We are filtering them through that system right now and hopefully
we get to nurture their talent and hopefully put them in a car in the near
future. As you can see we still have the capacity and capability, so we
select by merit who can do what and when, so itÕs a commitment and we are
sticking to it.
Q: Is it something particularly with Alexander that you are thinking if we
have got an American race we need to have an American driver?
RA: Well, actually, in all honesty that didnÕt come to mind as we had him
even before the American GP was announced and he just had talent. We saw
that in him. We worked with him in the World Series and weÕve now tested him
in GP2 and we will have to determine where he goes next year.
Q: And you have also had a name change. ThatÕs been approved as well. How
important is that?
RA: Well, in a way it is quite sad that we have to move on but at the same
time it gives us the pragmatism of determining our future, having control of
it, and I think we have reached a very amicable parting of the ways. I think
it is good for both parties. For me, it is quite clear what I have to do for
the future with the team and we are just focusing on that.
Q: Similar question for both Jean Francois and Eric. You have both had the
name change as well and does this mean the parting of the ways with Renault
no longer the name of a team. Final severance as it were?
Jean Francois CAUBET: I think the deal was clear. When we sold the team two
years ago we agreed on the transition year, so the name was Lotus Renault
and the chassis name Renault, but the team was controlled by Genii and no
reason to push the name Renault under the ground. The strategy was to move
from the team to engine provider and I think that is quite natural that we
keep the name Renault for the TV rights to help the team to develop and to
have a good balance sheet and I think it was a good strategy.
Eric BOULLIER: Nothing else to add. At least now the situation is clear and
there is Lotus name for next year and Caterham and it is all clear now.
Q: Jean Francois, are you still looking for another team to supply engines
to or has that died down a bit now?
JFC: Last year we had two teams. This year we have three teams, next year
four teams. I think it will be the last step as the problem is not to have
five or six teams, it is to provide a good engine and to have a good
technical partnership with all the teams. To have good reliability I think
four will be the best.
Q: Four is the best?
JFC: Yes.
Q: Just looking back at this season Š fantastic success as well?
JFC: I think it was a good season. We have a fantastic relationship with Red
Bull. It is good to start a new strategy and win. The reliability is not 100
per cent. I think we had an engine blow-up with Jarno (Trulli) in
Silverstone so the goal next year will be to finish all the races.
Q: Christian, just looking back at the season as a whole what was the key to
success. A lot of people would say itÕs the engineering side, itÕs the way
the car has been designed et cetera, it just seems to use its tyres well. It
has the downforce, but what from your point of view is the key to success.
CH: ItÕs a combination of everything working in harmony. Everything, every
department, all the bits that you donÕt see. You see the shop-window
effectively at a grand prix weekend, but itÕs the behind-the-scenes as well.
The production, the thousands of hours that go into forgotten departments
like electronics, like the R&D department, the paint-shop for example. It is
all those factors that have to come together. The drivers have to do their
bit. Obviously Sebastian has driven at an unbelievable level this year but
itÕs the harmonisation of all those aspects that have to come together to
achieve the kind of results that we had. 2010 was a very, very tough year
for the team. It was a championship that went all the way down to the wire,
development went all the way up to that final race so to come out and win
the first race of the year in 2011 after the challenge that went into 2010
was something that was tremendously rewarding. Then to build on that, the
momentum on that through the year was really very, very special.
Q: It does, of course, mean that you are in everyoneÕs sights for next year.
It does put a lot of pressure on you for next year?
CH: Yes, itÕs funny when you start winning you are very popular. When you
win repeatedly you become very unpopular. ThatÕs the nature of sport, the
nature of this business. Of course, if you look at the last 40 races we have
won 23 of them. We have had 25 podiums this year alone, 17 poles. It has
been a remarkable year, or a remarkable period for the team, and with
continuity, with stability, our target is to try and maintain the level of
performance and success that we have worked so hard to achieve over the last
few years. But we are up against phenomenal opponents. Ferrari, the pedigree
of that team, the heritage of that team. The engineering resource of
McLaren. You have only got to see the size and scale of their facility. We
donÕt underestimate our rivals but we are determined, very focused, to build
on and maintain the kind of levels of performance we have achieved not only
this year but in 2010 and in the latter half of 2009.
Q: It has been an amazing feat, but you are probably in the sights of
everybody though?
CH: Inevitably, I think we have been the benchmark and with that comes a
different pressure. It has been a different pressure to defend a
championship and I think we have actually defended the championship
obviously more convincingly than we won it the first time and it doesnÕt get
easier. Of course there are teams that have not won for several years now
that are very determined. Red Bull has only been around for seven years and
we have won four championships in the past two years. There are other great
teams with tremendous depth of resource that are very keen to get back on
top. We can only focus on ourselves, we canÕt control what other teams are
doing and hopefully we can turn up with a good car next year and carry the
kind of form we have enjoyed this year. It is a shame it has to end really.
I know we are in the end of November, but it would be nice if it went on a
bit longer from our perspective.
Q: Eric, can you clarify the Robert Kubica situation at the moment, as that
seems to be going to and fro?
EB: The situation is quite clear. We have a contract with Robert until the
end of this year, terminating this year. This is why we are using our
channel for the communication with him and we agree with his manager,
Daniele Morelli, to issue a press release before this week, which was
entirely approved by both parties before being released. The choice of the
wording is my responsibility and I think the message was clear. We have
waited for Robert. We would like Robert to be back. I think we are the first
one who wish him well and he informed us that, unfortunately, he would not
be able to be at the first test, which means he will not be able to start
the season for me, so thatÕs it. I think the issue came up that some
translation maybe was wrongly done in the far east of Europe and the message
was really that he would not be able to be back in 2012 which is not the
message at all. The message was clear. He will not be at the start of the
season, or the test if you want, but he may come back next year.
Q: So are you looking to sign two or three drivers?
EB: Nothing like this.
Q: Because you may change drivers during the season?
EB: I still have to sit down with Daniele Morelli to discuss or assess the
situation for the future.
Q: When do you think you can announce drivers?
EB: It is a company decision now, itÕs a board decision, so the board will
take the decision. As soon as they sit down they go for it.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Christoph Schulte - Focus Magazine) Eric, what do you think is the
reason that we hear so many negative things about your team.
Technically-wise you are in a free-fall. We had the (Nick) Heidfeld
situation, then we had the choosing of (Bruno) Senna without any success.
Then we had (Vitaly) Petrov complaining and we have the chaotic situation
with Robert. What do you think is the reason as no team is producing so many
negative headlines like your team.
EB: I donÕt think we produce any negative. I think the message can be
released or can be used negatively. It was a difficult choice for the team
to have an accident after the first week of testing which leads into you
missing your leading driver. That doesnÕt help. Then we had a succession of
different situations like also the car not lacking but suffering some
development because we had a too innovative forward exhaust system. At the
end of the season the results are not good and every time the season is not
good enough there is some negative.
Q: (Christoph Schulte Š Focus Magazine) Are you really convinced that you
are right person to be doing this job as Team Principal?
EB: I donÕt know. You need to ask the people who employ me.
Q: (Julien Febreau Š LÕEquipe) Two questions for Eric: what about Romain
GrosjeanÕs performances in Abu Dhabi and here; and how important was this
morningÕs session in order to chose your drivers for next year?
EB: First question: Romain did very well this morning until he had this
clutch problem, so I think the speed was there, the feedback was very good,
the team enjoyed working with him. I cannot say more than this. Second
question: itÕs part of the assessment we decided to go through so we will
see. He did it positively and now it will be reported to the board and then
we will see.
Q: (Kate Walker Š Girl Racer) Paul, in the last few races, weÕve seen a
couple of Fridays where youÕve been trying out new compounds for next year.
Are you able to give us any feedback on what the drivers have been saying
and which ones we are likely to see next year?
PH: ItÕs a little bit confusing with the naming because, for example, the
soft tyre you will have seen here is actually going to be the medium tyre
next year so you will probably get a bit confused and a bit bored if you get
into too much detail. But weÕve had some good feedback from the Abu Dhabi
Friday session, which is the new soft for next season. The hard tyre we had
a go with this morning, which showed a performance which was much closer to
the medium compound which is what we were looking for. The hard tyre that we
had this year was far, far too conservative. It was creating a lot of
problems. So far, we have to say positive. Clearly the young driversÕ test
was an interesting test, because we saw a lot of drivers, didnÕt we? They
were changingÉ we had to check who was in the car because we had a lot of
drivers going through, but it did allow us to get some feedback which weÕve
used to confirm the data that we had ourselves, and also the simulation
data. Of course the teams, by and large, use simulators today to do their
work so theyÕd already run the tyres virtually. We know they need to change
the balance of the car. The rear tyre has increasing grip levels so it
changes the balance; they will have to work with the aero because thereÕs a
different profile. But yeah, so far so good. It is a bit of a limitation for
us, testing. We donÕt have a test car. The Toyota is now in a museum so we
canÕt use that any more. Ideally, we would like to have a more current car
or a more recent car to do our testing sessions with.
Q: (Dieter Rencken Š The Citizen) Christian, for some time now, people have
been suggesting that Red Bull has been marching out of step when it comes to
the RRA document. In Abu Dhabi, you presented a document to all the team
principals. This morning there was a meeting thatÕs been dubbed a
make-or-break meeting; how do you feel now after this meeting?
CH: Confused. No, we met this morning and it has been decided that the RRA
has effectively been taken out of FOTA for the time being, to try and
achieve a solution. I think itÕs important to tryÉ I think an RRA is
important for Formula One and I think all the teams are unanimous on that. I
think the thing that isnÕt quite clear is how to achieve it in a way that
fits everybodyÕs business models, that some of the teams are different, and
I think the key thing for us is that the treatment and transparency of it is
consistent and obvious and probably needs to go beyond the chassis and
incorporate the engine as well. You canÕt cherry-pick, you need to look at
the package as a whole. Hopefully, in discussions prior to the end of the
year a solution can be found but I think that inevitably we come more under
the spotlight because, as I said earlier, perhaps if we hadnÕt had as much
success this year then it would be less pertinent but thatÕs the way of the
world, but from a Red Bull point of view weÕre keen to find a solution and
weÕre hopeful that one can be found between now and the end of 2011.
Q: (Valerian Zukeran Š O Estado de Sao Paulo) For all of you: we know that
you have an economic crisis nowadays in Europe. I would like to know how
much impact that will have in Formula One over the next two years, because
most of the teams have European sponsors? May investment be more
conservative over the next two years because of that?
CH: If I may start, I think Formula One is a World Championship and yes,
Europe is having a tough time at the moment, but South America, your country
here, is doing tremendously well. If you look at Asia as well, those markets
are doing very strongly, and I think that Formula One, through its global
appeal has attracted brands and partners into the sport from those areas and
thatÕs why itÕs so important for us to be racing as a World Championship.
ItÕs important for companies like Renault, for example, to make the
commitment to Formula One, to have made the commitment as an engine supplier
into the future, with the new regulations. ThatÕs why itÕs also very
exciting to be racing in new markets as well. India, this year, was a
tremendous success and obviously new races in future years only endorse the
fact that it is a genuine World Championship.
J-FC: Just one example: for Renault, Brazil is the second market in the
World. The first is France, the second is Brazil and probably the third will
be Russia. So we want to invest in Formula One because for us it is the best
return on investment. ItÕs true that there is a crisis in Europe but thereÕs
no crisis in Brazil, thereÕs no crisis in China, thereÕs no crisis in
Australia. In terms of budget, we cut a lot of budget but we didnÕt cut one
euro from the Formula One budget.
RF: I actually endorse what Christian and Jean-Francois were saying. It is a
global sport. Obviously from a Force India point of view, whilst we
recognise that Europe is struggling a little bit at the moment, it will come
back in time. Our main backing is from India, so being selfish about it,
weÕre probably OK.
EB: ItÕs true that as a global sport we are also looking after some sponsors
in new countries, mainly BRIC countries, where you clearly have some
expansion economically and not some crisis as in Europe.
PH: IÕm only really going to reiterate what everyone else has said: weÕre a
global business, but yes, we do have problems in certain geographical
regions but theyÕre offset by maybe great business performance elsewhere.
Formula One is a great platform for a business like ourselves that has
global expansion plans, very ambitious plans so from our point of view, itÕs
business as normal.
Q: (Ian Parkes Š Press Association) Christian, you mentioned earlier about
the unpopular feeling that you were experiencing nowadays. Does it feel
uncomfortable to be unpopular or does constant winning make it more
bearable?
CH: Winning Grands Prix tends to make up for it, to be honest. ItÕs one of
those things, you canÕt be everybodyÕs darling. For us, we tend to focus on
what weÕre doing and not let other things distract us. ThereÕs a phenomenal
team spirit within the team. Yeah, weÕve set the benchmark over the last
couple of years, but with that comes an added pressure that you go from
being the hunter to being the hunted and thatÕs a different type of pressure
to have to deal with. I think thatÕs one of the things that has really
pleased me this year: how the team has dealt with that different type of
pressure. When youÕre chasing a championship like last year, and almost went
into the last round expecting it to be a long shot to win the championship
but coming out on top, it was a completely different pressure this year and
so the manner in which we conducted our campaign this year was tremendously
rewarding, but we fully respect the calibre of our opponents. Ferrari,
McLaren and Mercedes are all great teams, theyÕve all got great heritage and
great pedigrees and if anything that makes the winning even more satisfying
when youÕre up against opponents of that calibre.
Q: (Dieter Rencken Š The Citizen) Jean- Francois, in Silverstone this year,
the engine manufacturers met to discuss an RRA on engines. How does Renault
see that working, particularly if youÕre supplying four or five teams versus
the three or four of others and the two in the case of Cosworth for next
year and does Renault support it? How can you have an equitable RRA? With
the teams itÕs different, theyÕve all got two chassis but with the engine
suppliers it will be a totally different matter.
J-FC: Yes, it will be totally different but we are working hard with
Mercedes because we share the same philosophy and we want to avoid the same
situation we had three or four years ago. I think in the cost of engines,
you have fixed and variable costs. All the people are selling the engines on
the variable costs, so if you control the fixed costs it will be easier. We
agree with Mercedes to share the same philosophy with Ferrari. It is a
little bit late because all the investment for the 2014 engine has started,
but the problem will be after 2013, probably, to accept the RRA.
Q: (Kate Walker Š Girl Racer) Robert, it was mentioned on the BBC coverage
today that Vijay is actually planning on making the driver announcement at
your team Christmas party. Could you confirm that?
BF: You probably know more than I do if it was put out on the BBC, but IÕm
sure thatÕs the date heÕs always set. If you remember, he said December 15,
that would be consistent with what heÕs always projected.
Q: (Valerian Zukeran Š O Estado de Sao Paulo) Christian, us Brazilians are
in a different situation this year because we used to see the trophy, the
championship completed at our track. This year thatÕs not the case. Is your
team doing something for next year at this race?
CH: At the last few races we have been working hardÉ our motivation has been
to try and win every Grand Prix that we attend. The track time that is
available to Grand Prix teamsÉ this is the last weekend that the cars will
run prior to new cars arriving in February next year, so itÕs important to
make the most of the track time that you have available, so inevitably there
are little things that are tried. There were some things at the young driver
tests that Jean-Eric Vergne tried last week which will be the same for all
the teams, but the priority is to try and win the Grand Prix and I think
youÕre set for a really exciting race this weekend. I think McLarens look
very quick, the Ferraris are going to be quick and the weather looks like it
could be quite British on Sunday, so I think you have all the ingredients
for a great race and I think that Brazil has always produced exciting races.
WeÕve been lucky enough to win the last two races here and we would dearly
love to make it a hat-trick of wins but itÕs going to be a big task. ItÕs
almost like an FA Cup Final, the drivers and teams will really be going for
it to try and win this event. |
