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DRIVERS – Marcus ERICSSON
(Sauber), Felipe NASR (Sauber), Jolyon PALMER (Renault), Sergio PEREZ (Force
India), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Congratulations on your marriage last week. While your private life is
settled, clearly you will be looking for a new partner in a professional
sense next year, as a team-mate at Williams. What kind of driver would suit,
a rookie or someone more experienced?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Thank you very much. The one thing is it is a fact that I’m
going to have a new team-mate next year and it’s still not obviously
confirmed if I will be with Williams or not, but yeah, new team-mate and
I’ve always said and that’s how I feel, the quicker team-mate you have, it
doesn’t matter who it is, as long as he’s quick it always boosts the
performance of both drivers and helps the team, so that’s always good. And a
team player would be nice, but obviously I have nothing to do with choosing
the team-mate, it’s completely up to the team who I will be racing with so I
hope everything’s OK.
The battle with Force India in the championship is very tight: they were
ahead on points, you moved back ahead after Monza. Where do you think your
relative strengths lie as teams?
VB: I think it’s going to be a great battle between us and Force India, we
been have really close the last six races, really depending on the track;
some tracks they have their strong points and some places us. So I think
overall we are very, very equal in terms of how quick the cars are so it
will be just depending race by race and trying to maximise everything,
getting the strategy right every time and having a good qualifying, trying
to be ahead of them. I’m looking forward to the end of the year and it’s
going to be a good fight.
Marcus, coming to you: congratulations, 50th GP start this weekend, only 4th
Swede to make that mark. Sauber is now hiring again, some solid signings the
last few weeks, how is the team evolving??
Marcus ERICSSON: Thanks a lot. Yeah, 50 sounds like a lot of race, but it’s
nice. With the team I think we are definitely moving in the right direction.
Like you say, we got some new signings, new personnel in the team, and it’s
good, with fresh ideas, it’s positive for everyone I think. Also on the car
side we got some updates going in the last couple of races and it’s
interesting, we’re trying them out, trying to optimise them, and coming here
to Singapore will also be very interesting for us because it will be the
first time we really run the full new package we have introduced after the
summer break, so it will be a very interesting weekend for us to see how far
it gets us really.
What weaknesses were you working on with that update package and what are
you expecting this weekend from the sort of test that Singapore provides?
ME: I think for sure it’s just general downforce that we have been lacking
and hopefully from the signs we have got so far is that we have gained quite
a bit on that side. Like I said, it’s been both Monza and Spa, the last two
races that we have had this package; it’s not been high downforce tracks.
It’s a bit of an unknown, so hopefully here in Singapore it’s obviously a
very high downforce track so we will see then how this update package is
working.
Felipe, coming to you: In points here last year. It’s always a complex race
strategy wise as Valtteri was alluding to earlier on, but with three
different tyre options this season, how do you see the variables playing
out, Saturday and Sunday?
Felipe NASR: Well, yes it is, it’s normally a very challenging track, very
demanding for both the car and the drivers and I feel the tyres will play a
big part on it this weekend, you know having such softer compounds. I will
be curious to see how many stops will be going in the race and I think the
key really is to understand the tyres, how much you can make them last,
understand how the car is reacting on track, with the temperatures here
being very high. So it’s always a challenging weekend and Singapore always
brings some surprises in terms of the racing always being exciting. A lot of
things can happen so hopefully we are in a position to take any profit.
The driver market is in gear now, you’ve been linked with a possible move to
Williams, there may be openings at Renault, obviously Sauber has had
investment. What’s your personal objective regarding next season??
FN: Well, it’s difficult to say. Right now I don’t have any news. Hopefully
soon but right now I don’t have much to say realty. All I can say, at Sauber
things are moving forward. I can see the team really stepping up a lot of
new people coming in, so as I said, it’s still a very attractive place to
be, but it’s still and unknown. Hopefully when I have some news I’ll bring
it in.
OK, thank you very much for that. Sergio, 23-race finishing streak, scored
points in all five of your appearances here in Singapore. What do you like
about Singapore and do you see this as a weekend where you’ll get the edge
back over Williams?
Sergio PEREZ: Yeah well, that’s the target coming here. We obviously want to
close up the gap. We lost out in the battle last race. We knew they were
going to he strong there, so hopefully here we can close up and hopefully
beat them. Singapore is a great place, it’s a very unique race, starting
from racing at night, the way you get your routine; it’s totally different
to any other race, waking up so late, going to bed also. Yesterday I was
running at the track at 1am in the morning. Things like that are just not
common in any other race. Also, the track is a very big challenge –
mentally, physically, it’s just very difficult to finish the race, not
having a contact or a crash. So it’s always important to make it until the
end of the race. So hopefully I can keep my good score in Singapore with the
points on Sunday.
You seem to hold the key to the driver market at present. Force India say
you are definitely with them next year, when will we know for sure your
plans for 2017?
SP: Well, I tried. I was hoping to be able to be in a position to announce
my plans for this weekend. Obviously we got some delays. But I really hope
that bef0re the next race we can definitely announce where I’ll be racing.
Any little hints?
SP: Well, I always say I’ll be very happy if I can stay, if everything is
fine for me to stay where I am.
Jolyon, you won GP2 feature race here in 2013 and you’ve outqualified your
team-mate Magnussen in 3 of the last 4 races, do you feel it’s an important
moment to show what you can do with an eye on securing a seat for next
season?
Jolyon PALMER: I think so, yeah. Still obviously the seats are in doubt, or
up for grabs, so every race from now on is a chance to show what I can do.
It’s a track I really like here and I feel like I’m driving the best I’ve
driven all season at the moment. The results haven’t really shown in the
last couple of races but I feel good within myself. Yeah, it’s a track I
really like, I’ve had some good success here before, so hopefully keep on
the good form at the moment and I think this one will suit our car a little
bit more as well. Hopefully we will be able to challenge a little bit higher
and I can show what I can do a bit more.
That leads on to my next question: Renault have been rather erratic in
qualifying, between row seven and row 11 of the grid depending on which race
track, so is this more of a row seven weekend than a row 11 weekend?
JP: I think it’s more of a row seven. Row 11, Monza was pretty much
everything that we don’t want from a track. It was high speeds; Renault has
made good steps with the engine but we’re still behind Ferrari and Mercedes,
and then slow-speed corners and kerb riding, so it was everything we don’t
want. Here, the straight-line speed is not so much; the corners are more
suited to us. Even though it’s a street circuit, it’s reasonably smooth, so
I think this could be one of our best of the year.
Coming to you Daniel: twice on the podium here, front-row starter last year
and Monaco pole sitter this year, that adds up to making you many people’s
favourite for this weekend, Do you share that view?
Daniel RICCIARDO: I think I’ve got a pretty good chance of the top 10,
absolutely. That’s about it.
Come on, you can do better than that!
DR: I hope so, but top 10 is pretty safe you’d think.
The narrative for this weekend seems to be a chance to put right what went
wrong in Monaco, to take the win that was snatched from you in the
Principality, do you have a sense of unfinished business and are you asking
the team for perfect execution this weekend?
DR: It’s obviously the next closest track to Monaco, so sure we look at it
as a good chance to try to get the victory I’ve been after this season. With
the team, since Monaco, a lot of things have been working better, in terms
of I think we’ve executed a lot more on a Sunday and I’ve left Sundays
feeling a lot happier the last handful of races, so that’s been good on both
sides. I feel I have executed as well good things on Sunday. Let’s see. I’m
not going to put too much pressure on myself or them for this weekend but I
think deep down we obviously want to win. I believe we are a group of
winners, so if there is a bit of pressure on us to get it done then I think
we will thrive off that. Let’s see what happens. I’m definitely prepared and
excited. I don’t know what I’m paying for a top 10, but it’s safe money.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Question for Valtteri, Monza was
supposed to be a very good circuit for your car – and it was, you could
compete with Red Bull. This, on the other hand, shouldn’t be as good, so
what are the expectations for this weekend?
VB: Yeah, definitely. Monza was a lot better than what we’ve seen in the few
races before that with high speed circuits really suiting our car.
Definitely had Red Bull had a bit of an upper hand but definitely we could
keep them behind for quite a long time. And yeah, this is a completely
different circuit. You need so much more downforce from the car, you need
good mechanical grip, you need good tyre life. Last year it wasn’t too bad
for us actually, coming to the weekend slightly carefully but then ending up
fifth in the race with reasonable pace all weekend. So I think there are
still good opportunities here, even though it’s maybe in theory the best –
but I always see every weekend as a new opportunity, especially here where
with a good qualifying, and if we can get a perfect strategy, very strong
points are still possible.
Q: (Wojciech Paprota – Swiatwyscigow.pl) Question to all of the drivers, a
simple one. Do you think it’s the hardest race of the calendar?
ME: Definitely. I think it’s for sure the hardest race of the year. It’s
probably similar heat and humidity to Malaysia but just the fact it’s a
street circuit and not many places to rest makes it the hardest one. But I
like it, it’s a good challenge and you need to be really on top of your
fitness. For me it’s the toughest – but it’s also one of the most enjoyable.
Jolyon?
JP: I’ve never raced it in Formula One but in GP2 it was hard. It was the
hardest of the year in that so I believe these guys – I’m sure they’re all
going to say it’s the hardest.
Felipe?
FN: I agree. I think it’s an amazing event. Night race, very demanding as I
said, for both car and driver. Really it’s an endless track, you’re just
doing corner by corner and to get everything precisely correct, it’s a
challenge. The race itself, normally it brings a lot of surprises here so
I’m looking forward to the weekend, as I said, we’ve been fighting to get,
to sneak into those points, so why not this weekend? Let’s try it again.
Valtteri, you find this the toughest?
VB: It is, at least physically at least it is the toughest. Mentally, I
think it feels a bit like Monaco. It’s very intense and needs to be zero
mistakes during the race.
Daniel, bit of tiredness, fatigue coming in, affecting concentration towards
the end? Always a bit of an enemy there I guess?
DR: Yeah, when you’re a high performance athlete… it is, it’s the toughest,
sure. I think they touched on it, it’s similar heat and humidity to Malaysia
but you’re surrounded by just the city and a lot of concrete, so it’s the
one race I feel where you open your visor to get some air and you’re not
getting any reward for that. It’s just heat and stale air. In Malaysia
there’s a bit of circulation: even though it’s hot you get a bit of a breeze
but here, no. It’s a track that you can’t… if you come here unprepared, then
you can’t luck into a good result. You’ve got to come ready to go.
Sergio?
SP: I don’t feel the heat at all! I think it’s just a normal race. No, just
kidding. I think it’s a really hard race out there. The last ten laps,
twenty laps, you’re really praying for a safety car because it’s just really
hard to finish the race, physically. And mentally as well. Mentally it’s a
very big challenge because every corner, most of the corners, if you do a
mistake you just touch the wall and it’s a puncture or something like that.
I would say for me it’s definitely the most demanding race of the year.
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Daniel, the last couple of
times on the podium you’ve poured the sparkling wine into your shoe and
drank it. What’s the background for all that?
DR: I didn’t start it! Well, as far as I know I started it in Formula One
but not worldwide. It was a few loose Aussies, from what I saw, the Mad
Hueys, they’re surfies and fisherman and just loose guys, they travel the
world fishing, surfing and whatever and they like to drink a bit of beer and
whatnot, and that’s where the shoey began. On their travels they’d get
people to do it as well and it’s just a bit of a laugh. I know Jack Miller
knows a few of the guys from the Mad Hueys, so when he got his win in Assen,
I suspected he was going to do it, and he did, so I thought I’d keep the
Australian tradition going – and now Valentino’s got in on the mix, I saw he
Instagrammed it yesterday and he said “everyone loves a shoey”, and
“delicious”, and all that. A few words I used for it. I think it’s just a
bit of fun now – everyone’s enjoying it.
VB: How does it taste?
DR: Honestly, if the sparkling wine is cold, then it tastes good. Normally
it’s cold on the podium, if it’s warm then sure, you’d get the sweat and
that through it – but the cold taste kills the bad stuff, so it’s delicious,
as we said!
So we can expect a shoe on Sunday if you win?
DR: If I win, sure! If it’s just a second or third probably not now. For a
victory, I’d expect to see a few people do it with me!
Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for Dan, bit different tyre strategy between
Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend in terms of allocation of super soft and
ultra soft. Do you think the tyre strategy will be the key factor here or
will there be something else?
DR: I think it can maybe decide a few things, whether it’s on Sunday I’m not
sure, obviously we’ve got freedom to use any of those tyres during practice.
Maybe us or Ferrari for example, will change our practice runs now and use a
different compound to try and have something similar for the race – but
yeah, it can, here because it’s so hot, the tyres do normally get a hard
time and it’s low speed corners, a lot of traction and the rears can get a
hard time for sure so I think if you’ve got too many softer compounds, you
might run into a bit of trouble in the race but we’ll see. It’s been quite
exciting this year, being able to use three compounds over a weekend and
having been forced to choose them months in advance. Sure, if we could have
picked the tyres this week, we all probably would have done something
different. It’s a bit more of a lottery, makes it exciting and makes our
practice runs perhaps a little bit more calculated.
Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Obviously since Monza, gentlemen, some
quite seismic news in Formula One, new commercial rights holders, new owners
in Liberty Media. As drivers, you keep saying that you’d quite like to have
more of an input in the sport so if the new owners came to you and said what
would you like to see in the future, to maybe make the sport better, to put
a bigger smile on your faces, what would your advice be to them?
SP: I think I would love to see Formula One a lot closer, the competition a
lot closer, closer teams, giving the midfield teams the opportunity to be
capable of winning a race, fighting for titles. I think that would be just
something great for the fans to see one race Williams on top, another race
another team, that would just be very good and for that you need to change
the system, how you divide the money because there’s obviously a massive
difference, so I think that would be a very good thing for the sport.
DR: Nothing springs to mind; obviously we always talk about bits and pieces
but nothing, I guess, that anyone’s heard before. Saturday races, like a
Saturday race as opposed to Sunday, just so we can plan a bigger night on
Saturday. That would be good fun!
VB: Yeah, I think we need to see first of all how next year is going to be
with all the changes already fixed for next year with the new cars, bigger
tyres, more grip. I think we need to see how it goes then.
FN: I would say a bit of what they have already said I agree with but I
think the most important thing is to see closer competition between the
cars, I think that’s what I hear from people or from fans – they always like
to see more fighting on track between car, between teams. I think the
closing line is what were looking for but also next year we have a big
change in terms of the cars being different. I think everything will be a
bit more aggressive in terms of the racing itself so let’s wait and see how
it goes and we’ll take it from there.
JP: Yeah, I would agree with these guys. I think the main thing is closer
competition. At the moment, we turn up for a weekend and we pretty much know
maybe it’s two, four, maximum six drivers can win the race but it would be
nice to turn up here and think maybe, you know, Williams can win or maybe
Force India or maybe someone can put in a big surprise. I think that’s the
biggest thing which would change a lot of fan involvement and make it a lot
more interesting to watch.
ME: Not much to add, I agree with these guys: closer competition throughout
the grid and more teams getting involved in race wins and podiums. I think
that will make a big difference for the attraction to fans. That would be
the biggest thing for me.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For the three drivers in the back row:
not so long ago, you were fighting for championships and winning them and
fighting for victories but you get to two thirds of this season and you have
no points probably for the first time in your careers. Does that play a
little bit on your mind when you go into a race weekend and how do you cope
with it?
FN: Well, I guess I’m experienced at this. Last year I had plenty of
opportunities to score points and it’s very rewarding when you can come into
a weekend knowing that you have something to fight for. As I said, most of
it is the reward you get back but coming to this year, you’re facing a lot
more difficulties but on the other hand, you try to explore areas that
you’re not really giving a hundred percent attention to so I think that as a
driver I feel a lot more complete this year. Any opportunity counts so when
it comes to a race weekend like this in Singapore, we know that there are a
number of facts that happen in the race, you must be ready because they can
come any time so let’s see. Three of us here, we don’t have a point so let’s
see who gets it first, if we can...
JP: I’m not massively focused on it. Of course I want to score points but if
we don’t have the car to score points then there’s nothing we can really do.
I’m focused on my own job, basically doing the best job I can with the
machinery I’ve got. The last two races have been quite difficult. Hungary
was the better chance to score, I think this one will be a better chance to
score but I think for me it’s all about improving as a driver, doing the
best job I can with the machinery I’ve got and then I’m sure... I know in
the future Renault will be fighting for points. If I can do a good job with
what I’ve got at the moment, then the points will come further down the
line.
ME: Yeah, of course it’s different to when we were in junior categories like
I said, fighting for wins every weekend or at least aiming for them. Now
it’s different. When you’re in a smaller team and you know you’re going into
a weekend when even scoring points is a big challenge - it’s a different
mindset but it’s something you have to accept and that’s how it is in
Formula One. I think it’s always been like that as well, that different
teams have different strengths so you need to accept that and try and
maximise the car that you’ve got and that’s all you can do, focusing a lot
on your own performance and maybe not look so much at the results because
it’s more important to try and maximise what you’ve got. But of course, it’s
a lot nicer if you can fight for points.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, you have scored only 26 points
from the last seven races since Canada; what number of points would have
satisfied you from the last seven races?
VB: Yeah, it’s not quite as many as I was hoping for after being on the
podium in Canada but it is what it is at the moment. I can’t say the exact
number of points but the absolute maximum we can... I hope as a team we can
leave every single race weekend at the end of the year feeling that we
maximised the weekend, that we got everything out of it and the same for me
personally. As a driver, that’s the main thing and hopefully that way we
will be ahead of these guys (Force India).
Q: (S. Dipak Ragav – The Hindu) Sergio, for the last two years, Force India
have had a slow start to the season. Do you think it’s a concern for you,
going into the next year with the regulations? And the second part of my
question is if Force India finishes fourth, do you think it has the ability,
in terms of resources and infrastructure, to take the leap to beat the top
three like Red Bull did in 2008, 2009?
SP: Yes, I think the team, especially this season, now that the rules are
more consistent, I think we started with a competitive car. We just needed
to figure out some set-up options on the car to improve the tyre degradation
but the car straight away in qualifying was capable of achieving Q3s in the
early part of the year so that makes a good difference. And when you look at
the past, when we had the massive regulation change for 2014, on my third
race I was on the podium for the team, so it shows that Force India is
capable of adapting well to new regulations so I think we have the potential
to do so. I believe that we are going to be in front of them (Williams) at
the end of the year so I really hope that we move up and hopefully next year
we can do another step forward which is going to be very tough. Now you’re
fighting Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, so it’s going to be very tough but I
fully believe in the team and I think if we manage to finish fourth it will
be a massive bonus for everyone in the team.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Jolyon, have you been given any indication by Renault
when you’ll get a decision for next year?
JP: No, nothing yet, so yeah, nothing changes for me really: just keep doing
the job, I’ll know when I know but yeah, if I just keep doing what I’m
doing. I know I’m in the mix but we’ll just see how things pan out. |
