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TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Mark
SMITH (Caterham), John BOOTH (Marussia), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Norbert
HAUG (Mercedes), Peter SAUBER (Sauber)
Mark, if I can start with you. First of all, we’ve seen a certain number of
developments over the last couple of races. How promising were those? Are we
going to see further upgrades in the coming races as well?
Mark SMITH: We took an upgrade to Silverstone. We were hoping for some dry
running, which obviously was forecast very early on not to happen. That
hampered us quite a lot actually. We genuinely believed we’d have the
opportunity to have some dry running in Hockenheim and we’ve had very little
so far. So really, we’re struggling to develop the car around the updates
that we have, predominantly because of the lack of dry running. We know from
the running we did at Silverstone we have performance on the car but we
probably extracted about 40% of it at most.
You have a team move coming up: how disruptive is that going to be?
Obviously it’s planned to be as least disruptive as possible but it is
mid-season.
MS: It is mid-season, but it is during the two-week shut down, so it’s never
going to be ideal but I think it will be fairly painless. One of the biggest
challenges is probably the IT infrastructure. Work is already underway with
respect to that. Things like CFD clusters represent the biggest challenge in
that respect. The rest of it? If you think about the race team, they can
live out of an F1 facility and operate anywhere in the world fairly
self-sufficiently. So for the race team, post-Hungary, they’ll go back to
Leafield and the rest of us will move after the shutdown on August 20th. The
majority of us.
John, you had updates at Silverstone as well, despite a difficult
development period leading up to that. Did they show the promise you were
hoping for and will they lift Timo back into the peloton as it were?
John BOOTH: As Mark said, it was pretty difficult at Silverstone and again
here to verify where we think we are. The upgrades were substantial and
significant in that it was our first upgrade derived from the wind tunnel
programme and our partnership with MAT. Some of it looks very promising so
we take heart from that and we also have a few more bits here to give Timo
that extra boost.
It’s been 13 days since Maria’s terrible accident and everyone in the press
room is very appreciative of the statements you’ve put out, particularly the
last one, but in terms of questions still unanswered, there are still one or
two. So where does that leave us, the press?
JB: We had two priorities immediately after the accident, first being
Maria’s welfare of course, that was foremost in our minds. The second was to
start to investigate the cause and clear the car of any part of that of
course, with Silverstone coming up. We established that but then revisited
our findings straight after Silverstone and now we’re 100% confident that
the car was not to blame in the slightest. As for the wider investigation,
that is ongoing and will be a very long process, as in England it has to be,
it’s taken very seriously there, as you know. It will be some time before we
know the final outcome. It would inappropriate for me to comment any further
on that.
Question for the front row regarding German Grands Prix. We have
representatives of Germany, Switzerland and Austria - how important is this
German Grand Prix to you?
FT: For me the German Grand Prix is a classic grand prix. In Europe from the
history we have four grands prix which are very important. That’s
Silverstone, one grand prix in Germany at the Nürburgring or the
Hockenheimring, it’s Monza and Spa… and of course also Monaco. The German
Grand Prix has a high level of importance and also, if you think how many
German drivers in the meantime in Formula One and also Germany is a very
healthy country from the economical side and therefore it’s very, very
important that this grand prix takes place here in this country.
Norbert, obviously very important for Mercedes…
NH: Yeah, absolutely. It’s very special for us. We have more that one home
grand prix: we have the British Grand Prix; we have another home grand prix
in Abu Dhabi where our shareholder Aabar is at home but this, just 100km
from the main facilities of Mercedes, from Stuttgart… I personally have
great memories from when I was a young boy already I was here, looking
mainly at motorbike races, so Hockenheim is just home turf – and it’s of
course it’s good having a good performance here – we try. I remember winning
2008 with McLaren-Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, which is a great memory. And
yeah, there’s a lot of spectators, a lot of guests, the Mercedes grandstand,
a great programme there, a very busy weekend for all of us. It didn’t start
in a typically Hockenheim way: normally it’s hot; today it was more the
Silverstone way, which we experienced a fortnight ago. So, it seems to be
the same tomorrow: rain again, and probably sun on race day – so parallel to
what we experienced two weeks ago. But still, a very important race of
course.
Peter, is this as close to a home race as you get?
PS: Yes, I think it’s a home race – similar to Monza, both grands prix are
very close to the factory in Hinwil. But I have a special relationship with
Hockenheim. I drove many, many races here. I started I think in 1967 with my
first race here, with a Volkswagen Beetle.
Question then to all of you again, on a similar subject: how important is
the Nürburgring? It’s got problems of it’s own at the moment, can they be
solved? How important is it that they are solved and it remains one of the
homes of the German Grand Prix.
FT: The Nürburgring as well has a very, very interesting and important
history. Everybody in the world knows the Nürburgring who’s involved in
motor racing. I just hope that all the politicians find a solution to get
the money together that the Nürburgring will survive. Because in the
meantime a fantastic infrastructure has been built up around the Nürburgring
with all the hotels and, apart from this, there are many workshops where
parts for racing cars have been produced. It would be a shame if people
would lose their jobs from this. There are many, many races over there: the
24 Hours for example, and a lot of other races, and especially Formula One.
I just hope that in future we will also have a race there because the
Nürburgring is history for motorsport in general and especially for Formula
One.
And a huge heritage again for Mercedes, Norbert?
NH: Yes, absolutely. There is a great heritage and I hope and think it will
continue. We definitely have a DTM race at the Nürburgring after the summer
break, the 19th of August, so that is confirmed. And I think there are good
chances for a grand prix in the future – but it’s probably too early to talk
about that and to speculate. I think they built great facilities and
probably the plan was a good one but it didn’t turn out in the right way. I
think what is very important to know is that the Nürburgring is booked in a
fantastic way – so the industry has lots of bookings there, not only
Nordschleife but also grand prix circuit where the Grand Prix takes place. I
think this is a positive development for the Nürburgring: I just think they
got in financial problems but hopefully they are solvable.
Peter, I’m sure Saubers have raced there. Did the Beetle make it that far?
PS: Not just the Beetle. ’86 we won the first sportscar race, together with
Mercedes. I think with Pescarolo and Thackwell on the car. I think it’s
important for this very traditional race track that the responsible people
find a solution to save the situation.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Edd Straw - Autosport) Franz, we understand that Giorgio Ascanelli is
out of the team or should we say on his way out of the team, and is
certainly no longer in active service. Can you confirm exactly what his
status is and what the reasons are behind this move, please?
FT: I can only tell you that Giorgio Ascanelli is on holiday and there's
confidentiality between the two parties. That's all that I can say to this.
Q: (Edd Straw - Autosport) Can you just, in general terms, make any comment
as to whether it's sensible to let your technical director be on holiday
during a Grand Prix? Obviously we can read into this the fact that there is
something clearly going on.
FT: Sorry. I've said everything.
Q: (Sonya Kreye - Speed News) Norbert, the season is wide open - this is a
more general question - is this for you more enjoyable or does it put stress
on you?
NH: Well, I would say it's positive pressure and you grade your pressure
inside the team. None of the guys you see here on the podium doesn't like to
be in the best possible position, and the best possible position is
ultimately P1, but you need to work very hard. This is a very very
competitive environment. We've seen very very good races this year. We've
seen surprising results. We saw guys winning who nobody probably thought
would win, so it's very good for the spectator. I think we have seven or
eight teams that are in a position to clinch podium positions and as far as
I can remember, that was never the case in Formula One. All the teams of
course want to finally dominate. This is the plan but first of all you have
to score points, then podiums then race wins, and it's a very very good
mixture for the spectator this year and yes, it is demanding but I think we
all do what our destiny is, what we want to do and we are not forced to do
this but we enjoy it; not every second, not if you have bad results, if you
do not achieve what you wanted to achieve, but this is part of the game.
Even more, you can enjoy the good part of it if you really got on the
podium, if you get a race win, if you get a feeling like China, with Nico,
that's fantastic. I'm sure Peter can describe his feelings from Malaysia,
fighting for victory which was a deserved result and a very positive
surprise.
Q: (Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) To the four team principals: during the
Silverstone weekend, an article was published in The Daily Mail in London in
which Mr Ecclestone was quoted that commercially the Concorde Agreement was
all agreed, saying that the commercial terms for the replacement of the
present Concorde had been agreed with everybody. Could you four team
principals confirm that you have actually signed a document with Mr
Ecclestone, which forms part of the replacement for the 2013 Concorde?
FT: Toro Rosso signed a Concorde agreement.
NH: I'm not one of the four.
PS: I think... we have an agreement with Bernie, yes. We have signed an
agreement with Bernie.
JB: We haven't signed an agreement.
Q: (Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) Mr Haug, you may not be a team principal
but you are here as a Mercedes Benz representative. To the best of your
knowledge has Mercedes signed a document with Bernie.
NH: Well, I can only tell you that we are in constructive discussion still,
so that implies that we didn't sign yet.
Q: (Matt Coch - pitpass.com) In terms of younger drivers coming up, how
actively do you look at the supporting categories and the feeder series and
how much interest do you take and how active a part do you play?
FT: From my side, I only look at Formula Three races, Formula Renault races,
the two litre and 3.5 litre, GP3 and GP2 of course and to get an overview of
skilled drivers, because, as you know, Toro Rosso is a team which is
responsible to Red Bull to provide good, young, skilled drivers.
NH: Well, I'm looking at it, traditionally, as much as I have time. I'm
following it as well as I can, if I'm not busy.
PS: With Esteban Gutierriez we have a test and spare driver in the GP2
series, but for us, it is not possible to support some drivers and some
teams in this series.
MS: As a team we are obviously involved in the formulae and look closely at
potential young drivers. As an individual, I have limited time to do that.
JB: Yes, we are actively involved in GP3 and GP2 and in fact we gave our GP2
drivers a run out at Silverstone last week in the young drivers' test, so we
watch all categories but particularly GP2 and GP3.
Q: (Gary Meenaghan - The National) Following on from the young driver
testing, I was wondering if the other four guys could talk about where
they're planning their young driver test this year. I understand Mercedes is
considering running in France. Is that correct?
NH: No. It's probably not finally decided.
PS: We will test in Abu Dhabi, I think so. I hope we can do the test there
with three different drivers and with Esteban Gutierrez of course.
FT: As it looks now, we will also drive in Abu Dhabi, but it's not 100
percent decided with which drivers we are running there.
JB: We had a look at the calendar at the end of the year and Abu Dhabi would
have meant that the mechanics were working or travelling for five
consecutive weeks and five weeks away from home. We didn't feel that we had
the necessary manpower or human resource or parts for the car to conduct
that kind of the test, so we opted to use Silverstone last week.
MS: We plan to be in Abu Dhabi.
Q: (Edd Straw - Autosport) Franz, this season has been a little bit
disappointing for Toro Rosso. Could you just give an overview of what you
think has gone wrong with the team, and where you can maybe improve to get
the kind of results that you would expect?
FT: The season's not over yet. So far we started the season quite well. We
scored points at the beginning and then we struggled a little bit. For
example, in Monaco, Jean-Eric Vergne was in seventh place ten laps from the
end but then it started to rain a little bit and di Resta and some others
passed him. In Valencia, Daniel had a good chance to score points but then
he had a crash with Petrov. I think that we will come up with some new
upgrades for the next races and I hope that it's wet tomorrow here and on
Sunday because it looks as if the car and the drivers together are quite
competitive in the wet. And I'm quite positive and optimistic for the second
half of the season.
Q: (Stefan Skolik - Mannheimer Morgen) Can you comment on Michael's accident
at the end of practice, Mr Haug?
NH: He just lost it. He was on the radio and he said 'not fully
concentrated.' Things like that just happen, it's not an ideal situation but
we can recover, I'm sure.
Q: (Vanessa Ruiz - ESPN Radio) Norbert and Peter mainly; we're now reaching
the middle of the season; how do you see the development? Do you believe
that we already have the top three teams in a situation where it will be
difficult for the others to catch up? Or do you understand that it's still
open as many people say, in terms of winning races?
PS: I think it's still open. It's not so easy for us. Maybe it's easier for
Norbert, I don't know.
NH: I think it's still open, and if you look, there were possibilities. I
think Peter can tell some stories and has some memories of that. I have some
where we didn't score the points which were possible. Probably other people
as well. But I would not say that there is a big gap at the moment. You
really need to get your act together, get the set-up right and then, as I
said before, we can have quite a few cars that are very competitive and I
can see the situation not changing in the short term.
Q: (Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) Talking about the young driver test - and
here I'm talking generally, not a specific, this year situation - but if we
have a look at some teams testing at Silverstone, some at Abu Dhabi, I
believe that some are going to Magny Cours after Monza, others are looking
at Jerez in early December; is it impossible for 12 teams to actually agree
on three days out of 365 to go testing?
FT: We were discussing this for a long time and as John just mentioned
before, one of the main arguments against Abu Dhabi for some teams was that
the mechanics would have been out for five weeks and then we decided, OK, to
split the test with Silverstone, because teams which are situated in England
wanted to do the test at Silverstone and OK, now a third race track, Magny
Cours, has come into the plan and normally we should say OK, let's do the
test altogether, three days at the end of the season, but you know we are in
a democratic world and therefore it was decided to split it. |
