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TEAM REPRESENTATIVES
Dan TOWRISS (Cadillac), Flavio BRIATORE (Alpine), Pedro DE LA ROSA (Aston
Martin)
Q: Flavio, if we could start
with you, please. Great start to the season for the team. Alpine has already
surpassed its points total from last year. What aspect of the performance
pleases you the most?
Flavio BRIATORE: Good afternoon to everybody. What
we’ve done last year, we’ve not developed the car at all, because if we
develop the car still, we are P9 and not P10, there’s no big difference, and
we’re working much better in the wind tunnel, etcetera. We had the agreement
with Mercedes, and all this together put the big improvement. We are not
there yet, absolutely. The new set-up of the team, with the new engineering
[staff] we have in the team, and especially the agreement with Mercedes for
the power unit, it makes such a big difference for us. And after you have
the driver in the car. Franco is doing better. Pierre is being Pierre, like
the performance of Pierre is always consistent, and altogether makes us a
little bit better, a little bit more competitive.
Q: Tell us a little
bit more about Franco. He’s gone much better since Miami. What do you put
that down to?
FB: We put a new battery! Franco, he’s a young guy, like
all these young drivers arriving in Formula 1 with a lot of pressure. At the
time, last year, if you remember, you don’t know if he was finishing the
season or not, finishing the season. He was not really concentrating on the
driving; he was concentrating on the gossip. Now he’s settled down and all
the team like him, and we are very happy with the performance he made just
for now. And we don’t know how good is Franco. We see, because all these
young drivers are difficult to understand what is the limit, what kind of
growing still have a driver like Franco. We see. We have the full year to
understand where we are.
Q: And off-track, Flavio, you’ve been busy.
Can you give us an update about the sale of the Otro Capital shares?
FB:
Really, you have another question? In one way, Otro is nothing to do with
the team. Otro, its founders bought 24% of the team, Alpine, two years ago,
and in the moment want to sell, like everybody knows. It was negotiated with
Toto Wolff behind the Williams team, the Mercedes team. Looks like three
days ago the agreement fell, all the negotiation. That’s basically what
happened. It has nothing to do with the team. We don’t have any pressure
from Renault Group regarding Otro. This is really the problem. Renault Group
is not the problem of the Alpine team.
Q: Do you understand why Toto
pulled out?
FB: Very easy. The price was too high. At one point, the guys
build up the different price and I think… Toto was very fair. I believe it.
I don’t think the Otro people are fair. Toto, in all the negotiations was
very fair.
Q: Final one. You’ve announced a big deal with Gucci. Does
this feel like Benetton 2.0?
FB: At the time, Benetton was not a luxury
brand, it was a brand and we created a winning team with the brand of
Benetton. Gucci is one of the big deals done, I think, in all my time in
Formula 1. We’ve done Mild Seven, we’ve done Telefónica, ING, we’ve done a
lot of things, but this one was really difficult to do because there’s too
many parties involved, and I’m very happy because they’re upgrading the team
as well. It’s Gucci Alpine, and upgrading the team. And the people with
Gucci, unbelievable. When we announced the deal, in three days there was one
billion visitors in the Wi-Fi. But I believe it’s good for Formula 1. We had
two big luxury brands in Formula 1. We had Louis Vuitton in one side, and
Louis Vuitton is a sponsor, a supporter of FOM, but in the arena, this is
like the spectator. But in the arena, Gucci is in the arena. Gucci is in the
car and is a title sponsor. I want to, as well, thank you to BWT. We have an
incredible relationship with Andreas and with all the group of BWT, but the
position of the team, I want to be, I believe, for growing very quickly for
the image, as well financially, the deal with Gucci was perfect. It was
really a super deal.
Q: All right, Flavio. Thank you very much. I’m
sure there’ll be more questions for you in a minute. Dan, if we could come
to you now. Why don’t we start with some first impressions of Monaco. It’s
the team’s first race here. What do you make of it all?
Dan TOWRISS:
Yeah, I mean it’s incredible to be racing in Monaco. As you said, it’s our
first race for Cadillac Formula 1, and so there’s such a special history
here, it’s such a special race on the Formula 1 circuit, and so this is a
big milestone for the team to finally be here racing, for Checo to be back
here as a former champion. He’s obviously feeling very good, and so we like
the progress, we like being here, and very excited.
Q: Well, Checo
looked like he was going very well in FP1. Does the unique nature of Monaco
offer you guys more of an opportunity?
DT: I think so. I mean, obviously,
we’ve got to continue to execute and we’ll see. It was just a first
practice, but you never know. Something magical can always happen here. But
really, from our standpoint, we’re just focused on the progress of the team,
just continuing to mature this organisation and make the cars go faster.
Q: Can you tell us more about the progress you’ve made with the team?
Are you satisfied with where you are now compared to where you started in
Melbourne?
DT: Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s one process to get a
Formula 1 car to the track, to get it to the testing, the pre-season
testing. It’s quite a different process to run a team as you think about
upgrades and all the things that happen racing throughout the year. And so,
this organisation is maturing before our eyes as it continues to make all
the improvements necessary – in every stop, it’s performance on the car,
it’s pit stops, it’s organisation in the garage, it’s the things we’re doing
in the factory. All of those work streams are happening simultaneously. And
so, I’m very happy with the progress, but at the same time everything’s not
performing to its maximum, so there’s always potential, there’s always more
out there. It’s finding that right balance of being happy and unhappy at the
same time.
Q: Tell us about the drivers, the progress they’re making
and the influence as well that they’re having on the team.
DT: Yeah, I
mean, obviously their feedback is very important to the development of the
car. I think both drivers are doing exactly what we want them to do. I think
we’ve seen a rejuvenated Checo on track. I just really admire how much fun
he’s having racing. You’re seeing the confidence build, the feedback
growing. Progress isn’t always linear, so obviously Valtteri is not at the
same pace as Checo, but he’s doing all the things that we’re asking, and his
feedback is helpful as well as we’re looking to do things to secure the rear
of the car and things like that. So yeah, it’s great, and again, both very
instrumental in moving this car forward.
Q: Reaction to the
speculation surrounding Valtteri’s future at the team?
DT: I think Graeme
was very clear in that piece. We’re just a few races in and so Valtteri is
doing everything that we can ask. And so, I think when I first saw some of
the news, my reaction was, “Wow, we’ve actually shown enough progress that
people are starting to mess with our drivers.” Apparently, Checo’s leaving
and Valtteri is going to be sacked, and we’ll be left with no drivers. So
clearly, we’re happy with both of them, they’re committed to us and we’re
committed to them.
Q: All right, Dan, thank you. I’m sure there’ll be
more questions for you in a minute. Pedro, thanks for waiting. Let’s come to
you. It’s been a tough start for Aston this year. Are you starting to see a
light at the end of the tunnel yet?
Pedro DE LA ROSA: Well, good
afternoon to everyone. Definitely not yet. We are where we are. It’s a
difficult start, especially because we are in a position that we were not
expecting to be in. However, there are really a lot of things happening
behind the scenes in the factory which makes us believe that the upgrades,
all the significant changes that we will introduce around the summer, will
deliver. But we have to talk about what we have right now, and what we have
right now is a very difficult car, drivers that are doing their best and
they’re doing absolutely an incredible job to drive the car as fast as they
can in a reliable and safe way. But it is difficult. I would prefer to delay
this when we see the light, when the actual upgrades are running and we can
rely on facts. My words, we’ve been talking so much about what can be and
the light at the end of the tunnel that sometimes it’s a bit just repeating
ourselves a bit too much.
Q: Are the reliability niggles now sorted?
The vibrations, the seat issues for Fernando last time out?
PDLR: Yes. I
mean, there are many positives in the sense that the vibration issues are
gone, past, it’s gone. And Fernando did not say anything over the radio
after FP1 about his seat, which is positive as well, which means that all
the work that has been done on Tuesday at this track, trying to fit his ’25
seat in this ’26 car, has worked. However, Lance was complaining about seat
problems, so we still have to fix some other problems, but it is going in
the right direction.
Q: You talked positively about the drivers a
moment ago, but what about Fernando? A guy who’s achieved so much in the
sport. How difficult a period has this last six months been for him?
PDLR:
Well, it’s difficult for everyone. I mean, drivers especially, because they
have to drive the car, they have to face the car, they have to face the
media, they have to explain every race what’s going on, very similar
questions to known problems. And we know that in the next few races we have
no upgrades. However, we can see the upgrades coming, but they’re far away.
So, the motivation is there, but it is definitely… They’ve been extremely
supportive, they’ve been working extremely hard in the simulator, they’ve
been working extremely hard in the team, in the race team, in the factory,
spending the time. But it’s difficult, because when you’re not where you are
expecting, or you are not where you want to be, it is always more
complicated.
Q: Final one for me. Can we talk about Adrian Newey?
Because you worked with him at McLaren, I think probably 20 years ago now,
and of course you’re working together at Aston Martin now. Is there any
difference in the two experiences? Do you see any difference in Adrian?
PDLR: Well, I mean, the only difference really is that I’m not driving his
cars anymore, unfortunately. But I see no difference whatsoever on Adrian.
He’s working flat out. His work ethic is outstanding. He’s one of those
engineers that always listens to the driver more than anyone I’ve ever
worked with, which is really beautiful to see as a former driver, because
nowadays in this modern world where data is taking over, you sometimes talk
with an engineer and they’re looking at the screen, they’re looking at your
face, and they don’t know if it’s the data right or you are right. With
Adrian, he’s just writing your comments in a notebook. I remember in
Australia 2005, for example, when I drove the third car, you remember when
we had the third car in free practice? I did a few laps and he asked me one
only question. He said, “Why can’t you go any faster into Turn 1?” And I
said, “Well, I go into Turn 1, I turn the wheel and the car just understeers
off, so I cannot go any faster.” And he said, “Show me how much you steer in
that corner in that corner, in the apex.” And I did like this with the
hands, more or less. And he said, “OK, that’s six degrees.” And he said, “In
the wind tunnel, we cannot go over six degrees, because if we go over six
degrees, we cannot turn the car and generate that yaw and steer.” So, he
said, “But I have some ideas.” So anyway, he wrote down, left hand, and then
came back to the next race, he had made some changes in the front wing and
the car was a lot less steer-sensitive. And that’s Adrian, just listening to
the driver. And what makes him special is that actually he delivers. Anyway,
great to see him in the team, really. He’s a great leader and someone that
is truly inspirational for all of us and for so many young engineers that
have joined Aston Martin.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Craig
Slater – Sky Sports) A question for Flavio. We know Christian Horner’s
consortium is still interested in buying the Otro shareholding. Have you had
any more meetings with him at all, and if he were to be successful, would
you look to involve him in any sense in the running of the team?
FB: Like
I tell you before, Otro is a Renault Group problem. It’s not really the
team’s problem. And we have a lot of negotiation around, different team,
different people, including, at the time, it was including Christian. For
me, whatever solution is found by Renault, I’m very happy to accept whatever
solution is. But whoever buys the share from Otro needs the blessing from
Renault. I see it [as] very difficult for somebody to spend 600 million to
buy a minority in one company if it’s not agreed with the majority. I don’t
understand the political doctrine, honestly, because in this moment it’s not
going to work.
Q: (Panagiotis Seitanidis – ANT1 TV) A question for Mr
Briatore. Not about Otro again. You have been around 35 years, you have seen
different eras of this sport, teams and drivers go up and down. Only Monaco
is still the same. What do you think about this current era of Formula 1 and
what still keeps you going, what gives you excitement travelling around the
world and doing everything that your role has?
FB: Like a tourist!
Formula 1 is more or less the same. It’s competition, but sure it’s
improving a lot. Commercial is improving a lot, media is improving a lot. We
have a lot of races, and United States is the big supporter of Formula 1. In
our time, Pedro as well, because he is not so young, this guy. He looks
young, but he’s not so young. So it was very difficult to race in America.
It was impossible. At the time, Bernie tried to race in America, it was
impossible. Now with Liberty, with the work done by Stefano, really, really
opening a lot of commercial doors. The deal we’ve done with Gucci is part of
the new Formula 1, the new era for this. I believe that Formula 1 is growing
in a very consistent way, very good strong base, and after, it depends on
the team to create the show. But really, Formula 1 now is much, much better.
What we have at 2025 or whatever, or not.
PDLR: Flavio, in ’97 I was
leading the Japanese Formula Nippon Championship and I went to your factory
to meet you.
FB: I remember. Twenty-five years ago?
PDLR: Yes. Well,
28, 29 years ago. I mean, 29 years ago, we were around. And by the way, I
arrived late and you left, so we never met. So long time ago. Anyway,
everything has changed for the better.
Q: (Sam Dejonghe – Play Sports
Belgium) First of all, Pedro, I want to pass on my greetings from Marc
Goosens who I do the analysis with in Belgium, so that’s it. Another
question then. How big of a challenge is Monaco for a team set-up-wise?
Because sometimes it seems people underestimate that challenge, as Monaco is
the slowest circuit on the calendar, where an F1 car doesn’t really perform
at its absolute limit, but still you have to find a balance in which the car
works best and which the driver has confidence with. So how do you manage
that?
PDLR: Obviously Monaco is the most challenging track there is in
the world for many reasons, and just the best thing you can do as a racing
driver is have the patience really to build up the speed. We’ve said it many
times, but I always say, my nephew is racing in Formula 3, and when they
come for advice, I don’t really have much advice other than, “Just remember,
you only need one lap the whole weekend. One lap. All you need is one lap,
but in qualifying. Don’t put it in FP1 because it might be too early, and
then you might crash in FP2. So just make sure that if you crash, it’s when
it matters and it’s qualifying.” That’s my only advice, and for that you
just need to be like a fan, that you slowly get the rhythm until you nail it
in Q3, qualifying, whatever. Don’t need two. Need one.
Q: (Mara
Sangiorgio – Sky Sports Italy) A question to all three of you. You don’t
make engines, but you build cars. When do you need to know what next year’s
power unit will be like as a team? Is there a sort of technical deadline?
PDLR: Well, the earlier the better. No, simple.
FB: Honestly, today it’s
difficult to answer your question because the engineers are working on the
power unit for next year. There’s still a lot of Formula 1 Commission to go
ahead. Honestly, for me, I don’t have any idea what’s going on for next
year.
DT: Yeah, and so I mean, I think as we’re looking at the power
unit, considering any changes, you have to consider what’s the impact on the
chassis for ’27. And so, I think the teams will be hoping that there are no
changes to the chassis for ’27, but obviously time would be of the essence
there. I think, as Pedro said, the sooner the better. Yeah, we’ll see what
happens. There’s a lot of work to do.
Q: (Mervi Kallio – Viaplay).
Dan, for you. As a Finn, I need to ask you, you already mentioned Checo is
on pure pace, has been on it this season. Where is Valtteri lacking, or why
is he lacking a little bit of pure pace compared to Checo, and are you still
confident to have him on the team, as the rumours we talked about?
DT:
Yeah, let me start with the last part. We’re very confident to have Valtteri
on the team. We have the utmost respect for him. And just to be clear, there
have been no discussions about Valtteri’s performance impacting his future
with the team. We’re committed to Valtteri, like I said, and Valtteri is
committed to us. I think as this car is developing, it obviously needs, we
need to continue to find more downforce on the car, and every driver feels
that differently, and progress isn’t always linear in that sense. And so,
what Checo feels today is he’s progressing, and I’m confident that Valtteri
will be there very, very soon.
Q: (Leonid Kliuev –
GrandePrêmio.com.br) Question for all three. Would you say that the 40:60
plan for 2027, which was agreed upon in principle, is still in effect, or
are we back to the previous stage where no such agreement actually exists,
even in principle?
DT: At this point I think it’s still a work in process
as to what it’s going to look like for 2027. So certainly, from my vantage
point, there’s nothing written in stone at this point.
FB: Absolutely the
same. Nothing else to tell.
PDLR: We cannot say things we don’t know,
really.
FB: I mean, if we don’t know. You guys, you ask question we don’t
know. In this moment, we don’t know what’s going on. The FIA has not
decided. Nobody decided. It’s a work in progress. Maybe in a few months,
this question will be fantastic. We’ll see you in a few months.
Q: (Filip
Cleeren – Motorsport.com) For Dan, please. Colton obviously took a really
big gamble this year, leaving his comfort zone of IndyCar behind. I’m sure
it must have hurt him to watch Indy 500 on TV recently. What have you made
of his progress so far? Is that trajectory, that adaptation to European
racing, sort of going as you wanted it to go, even though it’s obviously
with ups and downs?
DT: Yeah, we certainly expected to see the ups and
downs. I think a big part of the Formula 2 journey was to learn tracks and
tyres, and obviously in Formula 1, one-lap pace is so important, being able
to get your tyres ready and go out and do the one lap, as Pedro said. And
these are very different tyres than what Colton’s raced on his entire
career, and so relearning that, learning new tracks as we go – this is his
first time to race in Monaco – it’ll be interesting to see just how quickly
he learns his way around the track. So, love the progress that he’s making,
and everything’s on track, and it’s really going about how we expected.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adam Cooper F1) Another one for Flavio. You’ve been
friends with Christian for over 20 years. Whether it was as a shareholder or
some other capacity, would you be happy to work with him, and if so, what
could he bring to Alpine that you don’t have already?
FB: I’d be happy to
work with anybody, honestly. I don’t think this is the point. I think the
point in this moment is, I don’t know if Christian is involved in some group
that want to buy or not. For me, welcome, I have zero problem, especially
with Christian. I have a super relationship with Christian. I know him 20
years, and we worked together on the engine. I supplied the engine to him at
the time with Renault, we called Nissan, and we were working for five years
together. Super, zero problem. But this is only the question, guys, with
Renault Group. You need to talk with Renault, not with me, honestly.
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin) Another one for you, Dan. Another
one on the engines. Cadillac or General Motors don’t have an engine for ’27,
but as registered power unit manufacturer, you have a vote. So what is your
position on 2027 engine? Do you agree to have a fuel flow that is much
higher than the current one, and what is your position on the future F1
engine?
DT: Yeah, I think with respect to the ’27 engine, again, there’s
just, it’s a work in process. There’s a lot of work to do. I think it’s a
complex negotiation, as you can imagine. One change may benefit one team or
one group more than the other, and there’s a lot of work to do. I think the
main thing is that we can’t go, while time is of the essence, we can’t go
too fast. It’s very complex. There’s a lot of modelling work that needs to
be done to understand what these changes can achieve on track for the
drivers without reopening homologation or doing too much to the chassis as
well. And so that remains to be seen. As to the future power unit, we’re on
track for a V6 power unit in 2029. There’s also talk of a V8 coming later as
well, and I think as GM has gone on the record, we’d be very happy to build
a V8 engine as well. And so, a lot of work, a lot of negotiation across the
power unit manufacturers left to do, and we’ll see what happens.
Q:
(Scott Mitchell-Malm – The Race) A question for Pedro. Fernando’s incident
in FP1 into the chicane, was that related to the gearbox issues that he and
Lance have been talking about? And can you just talk about what happened in
that incident? Because normally when a driver loses control there, they lose
control in a really big way, but he seemed to mitigate the effect of it.
PDLR: Yes. I don’t really know exactly what happened in the sense that it
was rear locking, but I don’t really know, because I haven’t been able to
look at the data, if it was related to the downshift or not. But obviously
it was a massive rear-locking issue. He let go of the brakes at one point
just to recover, otherwise it would have been a full spin, so he did very
well to come out of that with just a little broken front wing. So that was
that. I guess it’s all part of the same problem, the driveability,
predictability of the car when you brake, the downshift, which affects the
brake balance, and then you move it rearwards in a way that it affects the
downshift even further. But I haven’t looked at the data, I haven’t spoken
with Fernando, to be honest. But it is definitely not an easy car to drive.
When you see Fernando locking the rears going to the chicane in that way,
you can imagine how difficult it must be around, because the chicane you
arrive very fast, but there’s a big run-off area. There’s not a lot of
runoff area in Casino, for example, Turn 3, when you go in and you brake
into the apex. So, it’s something that we’re working on – driveability,
predictability. This year, it is still more challenging for the teams and
the power units to deliver a constant torque under downshifting. Drivers are
trying to use a very short gear in the apexes just to recharge more the
battery, which makes it even worse, if the whole downshifting process is not
smooth enough. And that’s where we are. We’re working very hard. But
definitely looking at what happened to Fernando, I don’t know if it was
braking, locking or downshifting first. I don’t care about that. The car is
still too difficult to drive, so we still have to work a lot more.
Q:
(Josh Suttill – The Race) Flavio, given the team’s performance has improved
a lot since last year, have you had more interest from other drivers for
driving for your team, and are you happy with your current line-up going
forward?
FB: We are better, but I’m not happy in the way we are in this
moment, because we [should have done] much better with what we have, because
you have McLaren with the same engine we have, you have Mercedes with the
same engine, and we are six, seven tenths behind. So, we’re improving, but
we’re not improving like I want. This is the problem we have in this moment.
Driver is less improving the package, after the driver. We have the contract
with Pierre. We need looking for Colapinto. But I think you explained it
quite well. The car is much more important in this moment. Sure, the driver
made a difference. If you have one guy like maybe Max, make you two tenths,
three tenths. If you are seven, eight tenths behind, you don’t have any
driver makes this difference. So let’s work on the car, let’s work on the
pit stop, let’s work in doing much, much better aerodynamics on our car. And
after, we’re talking about driver. Driver, for me, is the last part, is the
last bit. If you need to put the financial effort, you need to put the
effort where you have the possibility to win. |
