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TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Franz
TOST (Toro Rosso), Dave RYAN (Manor Racing), Robert FERNLEY (Force India),
Claire WILLIAMS (Williams)
Not in attendance: Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Paul HEMBERY (Pirelli)
Bob, the car showed some flashes of real speed in pre-season in testing and
in Melbourne you had a good result with seventh. How confident are you that
you’ll be able to take a step on from the fifth place overall the team
achieved last year? ?
Robert FERNLEY: I wouldn’t say that I was overly confident but optimistic. I
think that Toro Rosso have done a good job. Williams are always strong. Red
Bull are coming back and the engine’s proving well there. So I think the
competition for that third to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship
is going to be very, very challenging this year and very tough and we’ve
just got to prove that we’re up for it.
Talking about Toro Rosso and other teams, in the second half of the race in
Melbourne, Romain Grosjean in particular was able to stay ahead of the Force
India. Were you surprised at the pace of the Haas and do you think that
everybody has closed up behind you, quite tightly?
RF: I don’t think that necessarily the Melbourne pace was something
worrying. Melbourne’s just a very difficult circuit to overtake on and I
think the red flag played in the favour very much of Haas. In our case I
think it went against us slightly. So I don’t think it was a pace issue
particularly, just a circuit-related issue.
Thanks for that. Franz, coming to you, you got off to a good start in
Australia, with a double points finish, and the car clearly has some pace.
That obviously puts the team in the spotlight, in many different ways. Does
the improvement in the team’s pace make you attractive again for outside
investors?
Franz TOST: I hope so. At Toro Rosso the doors are always open for people
who bring money, because we have many ideas how to invest it in a proper
way. Of course it’s easier to negotiate with partners if you are successful
at the race track. This year, so far, we have a very competitive package.
The STR11 shows a good performance; also both drivers are very skilled and
very fast. The engine is also good and the team has improved as well and
therefore I expect to have a successful season and I hope that we can find
additional money.
That improvement in pace was evident in Melbourne but you might not have got
the race result you wanted. Obviously, we all saw what happened with Carlos
and with Max in the pit stops. Have you spoken to the drivers in between and
how has that been resolved?
FT: Yeah, we had a very good first part of the race until the red flag.
After the red flag we lost the pace. The reason why we called in Carlos was
that he had a lot of vibration on the front axle and for safety reasons we
wanted to change the tyres. Max then came into the pits and the team didn’t
know this and we were too late with the tyre change. Therefore, he came out
behind the group of Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Palmer and behind Carlos and then
of course there was a little bit of a fight between them. But that’s normal.
That’s competition. We discussed everything after the race, we analysed
everything and we explained to the drivers what happened. Everything is
sorted out and I expect from them a good and competitive race here as well.
The battle between the drivers looks like it might shape up to be one of the
season’s most intense. How do you, in the team’s best interest, manage them,
given that they a relatively young partnership?
FT: You must not forget that both of them are very young. Both of them want
to make a career in Formula One and therefore they are fighting for every
millimetre. This is what we want to see and therefore why we also have them
in the team. At Toro Rosso the philosophy is not to come out with a team
order, to say ‘you have to let the other past’. Only if we change the
strategy, of the drivers are on a different strategy and if we think it will
be an advantage for the team, then of course, but otherwise there are no
team orders. We expect discipline from the drivers. What do I mean by
discipline? That they respect each other, that they let the other driver the
space to survive, that they don’t crash on each other and that they compete
on the race track like people want to see it and then we will see who will
be the better.
Dave, welcome back, a couple of questions for you. Your car seemed fairly
comfortable running in the lower midfield in Melbourne. What kind of result
of results do you expect from the rest of the season, what’s achievable?
Dave RYAN: I’d like to think we can run with the pack. We haven’t been able
to do that in previous years. If we can do that then we can be in a good
position to seize opportunities that come our way. I believe we can score
points and we need to score points, and that’s the goal.
You're almost six months into your tenure at Manor. When you arrived what
did you feel were the things that most urgently needed addressing and now
where do you feel the team is at now in terms of personnel, resource and
operational stability?
DR: The team was clearly, or had been, in a very difficult place. They did a
fantastic job last year. They were in a bit of a holding pattern really.
Most of last year was spent looking forward to getting a package together
for this year. Stephen Fitzpatrick, our team owner, did a great job on that
front: he secured a terrific engine deal, a great transmission arrangement.
After that, it was just a question of putting a good car together, which our
guys have done. So, last was a bit of a holding pattern and it was all about
getting ready for this year. We’ve got a pretty good package. There are no
excuses on the engine front, the driveline, and it’s down to us to show we
belong here – and we do. And we’ve managed to change the team considerably.
We’ve got a lot of new people. There were a lot of good people anyway. Even
from Melbourne to this race it’s developed, it’s changed a lot and we’re
going forward and that’s what we need to see.
And what about your drivers? They are both quite inexperienced. What do you
see is the potential from both of them?
DR: I see huge potential. First of all they’re both young guy, a bit like
Franz was saying. I enjoy their enthusiasm. Having youngsters around is very
invigorating. They’re both very, very switched on young guys. Quite
different personalities but fierce determination in both of them to succeed
and I’m sure we’ll see two very good drivers develop during the year.
OK, thanks. Claire, coming to you, lonely at the front there…
Claire WILLIAMS: I have no friends!
Williams have finished third in the past two seasons. This year, do you see
it as the same battle again, against Red Bull for that third position, or
has there been that step over the winter that will allow you to take the
fight to Ferrari and Mercedes?
CW: I’d like to think so. As you say, we’ve come third in two consecutive
seasons now, which is a fantastic achievement for Williams. But we did come
into this year knowing and understanding that it was going to be much harder
to try to maintain that position, let alone push forward and try to catch
the Ferraris and Mercedes, but of course that was the target for the guys
back at Grove over the winter period. I think in Melbourne it was far too
early to tell really where anybody is on the grid this year, so we’re going
to have to give it a few races to see where we are, but of course the target
for us as a team is always to make improvements. We’d love to be able to
close the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes, but I think we’ve seen in Melbourne
that the competition has closed around us. The Force Indias, the Reds Bulls,
the Toro Rossos, they are all there. We had a great fight in Melbourne and I
expect the rest of the season will be like that, so we have our work cut out
if we are to maintain third, let alone push forward.
One of things you have been working on is the new short nose that is
supposed to be arriving. Are we going to see that tested tomorrow? Has it
arrived? Is it arriving?
CW: It is winging its way here as we speak, so I very much hope it will be
on the car, it’s going on Felipe’s car tomorrow in P3, and we’ll just have
to understand where it is, what performance it’s giving us and then decide
whether we run it in qualifying or not.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Kate Walker – motorsport.com) A question for everybody please. We’ve had
an awful lot of doom and gloom – and I’ve very over that. Could everybody
please tell me one thing that you’re looking forward to about the 2016
season. Something that excites you, that makes you passionate.
RF: If you look at it from the point of view that probably the first… the
manufacturing teams in terms of Mercedes and Ferrari are clearly ahead of
the game, I think what’s exciting for me is what Claire’s just hit upon: I
think we’ve got four or five teams that are really fighting hard for those
third to sixth places. I think that’s going to be an incredible battle
through the year. If that was the front of the Formula One field, think how
wonderful it would be for the fans.
Franz?
FT: We have a very competitive midfield where all the competitors are very
close together, we go to Azerbaijan and see a new race, and we have 21
races.
Claire?
CW: The same as what everyone else has said: I think the competition this
year is going to be phenomenal. I think we’ve had a couple of good years of
racing. As I said, Melbourne really demonstrated that it’s going to be a
really close fight for everybody this year, up and down the order, which is
really exciting. I’m really pleased with what you said about the doom and
gloom, because I’m totally over it as well and I think it would be really
nice if we recognised the positives of our sport, of which there are so
many. I think actually now Formula One, from a strategic perspective, and
looking at where we’re moving forwards to into the future to into the
future, now coming close to signing off the new power unit regulations –
hopefully – in addition to the new 2017 regulations, I think there’s a lot
to hopefully look forwards to. I think the driver aids situation, as much as
there’s been a lot of talk around that, positive and negative, I think
that’s really exciting: the drivers have what they wanted, and that’s to be
drivers in the car again and to take control of their cars. For me, to see
drivers going out there, having a fight, I think it will be a really
exciting season. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
David, it’s a new role for you…
DR: Yes, I endorse that. Melbourne showed, or gave every indication of the
season to come. For me personally it’s going to be… I’m really looking
forward to the season and I’m going to enjoy seeing Manor Racing progress.
That’s what I’m looking forward to most.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) A question to Robert Fernley. Bob,
there’s been a fair amount of negative coverage about your team owner, team
principal Vijay Mallya recently. He’s not here so I need to ask you. Is the
team endangered in any way? We hear some stories of $400million dollars
being offered in repayment. How does that affect the team?
RF: You know Dieter, I didn’t see you behind the camera – I thought I’d got
away with it for this meeting! Vijay’s issues are well publicised but, like
all things, I think there’s been a bit of media over-reaction, especially
from India on all of that. It’s something, just to give you an idea of India
itself, I’ve been in and out of India for well over 30 years and the only
thing I’ve learnt in 30 years is how little I know about India, so I think
you’ve just got to let that flow and for Vijay to deal with it. Force India
is blessed with a very good technical team and that technical team has
progressively moved Force India up the Constructors’ table and I think today
we are realising some of the best returns the team has ever had from the
payments side of things, even though we complain about the disparity – which
is a separate issue. And we also have a very good commercial team. And I
think the commercial team is allowing Force India pretty well now to stand
on its own feet and, whilst the shareholders are always there to help us –
and Vijay’s been the main person in doing that over the last nine years.
It’s not a short term, nine years, to be keeping a Formula One team going. I
don’t think there’s any concerns for Force India.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Claire, very brief one to you. You’ve
just said you’re signing off the 2017 powertrain regulations and ‘hopefully’
the 2017 aero regulations. Can you elaborate on why you use the word
‘hopefully’? I doubt you normally use words willy-nilly.
CW: I think I should have applied ‘hopefully’ to both. We have a Strategy
Group meeting that’s just been scheduled coming up, and as we all know in
Formula One, things are fluid. I said ‘hopefully’ just to temper it. I don’t
think you should put too much emphasis on that word.
…so there is a chance that they may not go through, based on that?
CW: I doubt it. I think it’s becoming far too late in the day. I think we
pushed the date anyway and we need to get these signed off if we’re all to
be ready for 2017.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) My second question to all of you. There’s
been a lot of noise coming from the GPDA recently and one of their points of
concern is that they’re not being heard, particularly when it comes to the
governance structure, regulations changing etc. given that two of you people
are on the Strategy Group and the other two on the Formula One Commission,
have the drivers aired their concerns to you at all as team principals on
the various commissions and groups?
BF: No, I’ve not spoken to any of the drivers on that Dieter. I think the
drivers have got a role to play. They do have a meeting every race weekend
with Charlie so they do represent their views at that meeting and those are
transmitted to us through Charlie, which is the correct way of doing it. I
think it’s very difficult to have a member of the GPDA on the F1 Commission.
It’s very difficult to represent 22 people with one opinion. We have enough
difficulty doing it with six on the Strategy Group, so I’m not sure where
that would go. Clearly the voice of the drivers is very, very important and
we should be listening to them.
Claire?
CW: Yeah, I echo what Bob has said. The drivers are one of the key
stakeholders of our sport, as are the teams, the media and our fans and we
have to listen to all those stakeholders if we’re to create a sport that’s
going to sustain in the long term. I’m pleased that they’ve come out and
talked about their concerns. I think now we have to go away and think about
them and address them and to see how we can engage them. Personally, in the
team we have a constant and open dialogue with both our drivers and they
always feedback information. On the converse, I think drivers have been
listened to, probably more than they have in recent times, talking about the
driver aids and the cars we are producing for them for next year – but as
Bob said, it’s difficult to represent such a wide group. And then, how does
that potentially fit in to the current governance structure that we have at
the moment.
Dave, your thoughts on this.
DR: I think the drivers are the great personalities of this sport. I think
they should be listened to. I think their opinion is really valued and we
should heed what they say. We should certainly take notice, that’s for sure.
Finally, Franz.
FT: Our drivers are fortunately young, they are not so involved in all of
this political issues. Generally the drivers are here for driving and,
regarding the Formula One rules, there are so many parties being involved,
it’s unnecessary to bring in another party. Nevertheless, the drivers can
come up with ideas – but not after regulations are being defined. Like now,
the 2017 regulations. To come now and say ‘this is not good’, it’s too late:
because this has been defined. They should do it before. Generally, they
should be concentrated to drive. That’s their job.
Q: (Sanjeev Palar – Fox Sports Asia) The fans are holding their breath to
try and understand and then figure out what’s happening with qualifying, so
perhaps someone can tell us how is it going to be resolved, are there going
to be any more changes that we see this season, and what is the process and
opportunity to implement such changes?
DR: We’re holding our breath as well.
FT: We’ve discussed this qualifying procedure many times and the reason why
this new qualifying came into play is because the organisers wanted to
increase the show. Now, we saw in Melbourne that qualifying three ended up
in a mess, because during the last four or five minutes no car was out
there, but this was already mentioned before, because the calculation of all
the teams showed that at the end, maybe one or two cars would have tyres to
go out twice in qualifying three. The new qualifying model itself is not so
bad but in qualifying three, the eight cars need to have two sets of tyres
so that all the cars are out there. Why? Because qualifying three is the
most important part of the qualifying, it’s when pole position is being
decided and therefore the cars need to be out on the track and neither the
old qualifying... all this would be good, in combination with the new one
because then the drivers would be out only at the last one or two minutes
and with the new qualifying we know that the last four or five minutes no
one is out any more. Therefore, in my opinion, we should go back to the old
qualifying when we know that the cars will be on the track and will race for
pole position.
CW: In qualifying, the revised form in Australia came out and we said we
would give it a go and if it didn’t work we would revert and come back to
the drawing board, and obviously that meeting happened on Sunday and
everybody agreed that we would revert back to the 2015 format until we could
all come together and decide and actually try and come up with a well
considered revised process for qualifying. Unfortunately that obviously has
happened in the interim, we’ve had a new vote among strategy group members
which then went to the commission. Now we have this hybrid system which
we’re running tomorrow. Personally, from a Williams perspective, we would
have rather to have gone back to the 2015 format as a holding pattern, to
give us time to meet again as a group and to actually have time to go
through what a new system could look like rather than kind of go to a hybrid
system which might not work again. I think we have to wait anyway and see
whether that will work or not tomorrow and then take the time to actually
think about it. I think otherwise our fans are just going to look at our
sport and go ‘what are they doing?’ You can’t do this in the second race of
a championship so it’s really important to us that we get this resolved as
quickly as possible but to do it in a well-thought through manner.
Q: Dave, your drivers were probably disadvantaged in Q1 last time out, it
didn’t probably go according to plan. What’s your feeling about it?
DR: No, it didn’t go according to plan for us in Melbourne. I think the
important thing is that the regulations were changed for Melbourne, we did
give it a try and it clearly didn’t work for many reasons. But the fans have
overwhelming said ‘we didn’t like it’. We did have the meeting on the Sunday
morning and we did agree to change it. However, since then circumstances
have intervened and we’re now back to what we had in Melbourne, so I guess
we’re going to go through it again and just see how it pans out. Maybe we’ll
all be a bit better prepared for it this time round and maybe it will be a
bit different. So let’s see what happens in qualifying tomorrow and we’ll
review it again on Sunday morning.
Q: Bob, do you think teams will be a bit more comfortable with the process
tomorrow and it might go a bit more smoothly than it did in Australia?
BF: For sure I think teams will be better prepared. There still could be
issues with it. From a personal point of view, I would like to have seen the
compromise programme come in because I think that actually Q1 and Q2 were
quite exciting. Clearly we got it wrong for Q3. I would have liked to have
seen a little bit of an adjustment before we stopped everything but we have
to go, at the end of the day, with the way the governance system works and
we are where we are and let’s see how it goes tomorrow.
Q: (Sanjeev Palar – Fox Sports Asia) Everyone has expressed their opinion on
what they prefer but I think what we’re trying to understand and what we’re
trying to convey to the fans is what process happens to decide what the
final qualifying system will be for 2016, because it doesn’t seem like we
have one. We had one in Australia, then we thought it’s gone all over the
place, so what is the actual process to finalise the qualifying system that
we’re going to have for this season?
BF: It has to go through the strategy group and then from the strategy group
it has to go through the F1 commission. You need 100 percent of the votes
from the teams, the F1 commission, and then if it gets the majority that’s
necessary, it will go back to the world council to be put into sanction, so
that’s the process. There is no other process.
DR: I think it’s true to say that once it passes through the strategy group
for the Formula One commission, it can’t be changed so it can only be
approved or disapproved from that point on, both at the Formula One
commission and beyond. We only get what comes through from the strategy
group, so that’s the process and then we vote on it and it’s a yes or a no,
not a maybe we can do this instead, so that’s the process, it is very clear
cut in fact. |
