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PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis
HAMILTON (Mercedes), Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull
Racing)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Lewis, four-time champion, amazing scenes at the factory when you went back
there to celebrate your third title with Mercedes, clearly it was very
emotional as well. What’s made this season special?
Lewis HAMILTON: I think every single individual in the team. Their
commitment has never wavered. They’ve been ruthless in how hard they worked
throughout the year. Obviously I’ve been there five years, so to see the
team grow, to see the individuals that I work with grow in their
understanding and in their work ethic. This year being that we were fighting
with Ferrari excited everyone and encouraged everyone to another level. To
go to both factories and to see everyone… at HPP every single race that I’ve
driven has been powered by an engine that they have produced, so it’s been a
great journey with them. And then to go to Brackley and see all the guys
there. I arrived there and they were standing… I had to walk from the gate,
which has never happened before, everyone was standing on the side of the
road. It was just great to have that welcome and to be able to celebrate
both championships with them.
OK, and Sebastian, your side, what’s the mood at Maranello? Have you and
Ferrari improved enough and learned enough during 2017 to believe that you
can go one better and become world champions next year?
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I think if we can do a similar step for next year
then… no, don’t get me wrong, it’s a joke and Germans don’t joke so much,
then it should be a walk in the park. I think what I want to say is that the
step that we have done this year was incredible. The way the team has come
out with a competitive car at the beginning, the way we have improved both
chassis and engine, on all fronts I think it has been outstanding. We have
been close for most of the year, not close enough when it mattered, but
that’s what happened. From that we made our conclusions, we learned our
lessons. So I believe that those will help us next year. We are completely
fired up. Obviously it was bitter but now I actually think it’s a positive
that we have a couple of races to approach, to look forward to and look
forward to next year. So we’ll see. Obviously everybody will be pushing very
hard over the winter. I think we have the right, I think we proved that this
year. We have what we need. It all starts again next year, so let’s see.
And we will have a unique situation with two drivers going for a fifth world
championship, so that’s something to look forward to. For the two of you
then, it’s been a close duel between you for the world championship this
year. Can you pick out one particular highlight of you duel this year.
Lewis?
SV: Shall we start with Baku?
Yeah, let’s start there.
SV: Break the ice. But he didn’t do much. No, I don’t think we need to touch
on that again. I think it’s been a good season, close… More wheel-to-wheel
would be nice.
LH: There needs to be more races like Barcelona kind of thing I would say.
SV: That was a bit too straightforward for you to pass, but it always
depends on what side you’re looking from. But for sure when you’re chasing
down, that’s really intense and really nice. I think Spa was a really
intense race. I was trying to push him all race. I probably had sort of a
chance but he was very clever defending, up the hill, up Eau Rouge. I think
it’s been a fun year. Obviously when you are racing that close, with hardly
any mistakes, I think it’s fair to say also that this year Lewis probably
made less mistakes and in the end he was just the better man and he deserved
to win.
Anything else to say on the subject?
LH: No, I agree with what he said, in the sense that it was great to have
those clos battles. Spa was awesome. To be fighting a four-time world
champion whom you respect, you expect nothing but the best from them and no
mistakes, so when you have races like Spa where it’s really down to one of
you making the smallest mistake, and none of us did, I’m looking forward to
many more of those races in the future.
Great, so do we all. Daniel, I’m sure you guy want to get in on the act as
well. First of all, is that a Movember mo’ you’ve got going on there?
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah.
How’s it growing?
DR: It’s going great. Why not?
Indeed. So, slow start for Red Bull and a strong finish once again. What are
you doing behind the scenes to make sure that it starts strong and that you
are right in the thick of the championship right from the get-go in
Melbourne next year?
DR: On a personal level, just make sure that I fill in the blanks I guess.
There’s been some great races. Obviously I would love all 20 to be great and
not all 20 have been. I think, yeah, for me, just to assess the year once
it’s all settled and then just try to understand what I could have improved.
I’m sure there’s on-track stuff but also off track. Obviously I give every
year a good crack, but give next year a proper crack. I mean between us all
we’ve got eight world titles, so it’s pretty good! But, yeah, obviously we
want nine. It’s cool, I’ve been pretty pleased with the year. I’ve still got
some improvements to make and I’m looking forward to extracting a bit more
from myself.
OK, a final question to all three of you: it’s been a year of significant
changes, Formula 1 has had a different approach in many areas this season,
especially in digital and social. How do you feel things have gone and what
have you appreciated and what remains to be done?
LH: I think it’s been a positive. I think it’s been great to be able to
drive and push the cars as we have. I think there is still work to be done
in lots of different areas. But I think in general, Formula 1 has taken a
good step forward, obviously with Liberty coming in. I think they done an
exceptional job this year. Being that they have very little experience in
Formula 1 I think they have learned a lot and helped move the sport forwards
already. So I’m excited to see what they continue to do moving forwards. I’m
hoping that there are some changes put in place over the next years with the
decision-making process with how they decide what they do with the cars.
Obviously it’s a big power struggle with Ferrari and Mercedes, and then
those that have perhaps even less say, though it shouldn't be like that. So
I hope there are some improvements there. On the racing side, I hope moving
forwards, overtaking gets easier. Not easier, but being able to follow each
other is really what the sport needs. The more overtaking the more fun it is
for people to watch. That’s what I’m hoping for, but this year has been a
positive year and I hope that next year I’m hoping that all three of our
teams, and McLaren as well, can be in the mix. I think that would make the
championship way more fun that it has been this year.
SV: Well, from a driver’s seat the cars are much more fun to drive again,
you can push a lot harder, which is the way I think Lewis and myself we got
to know Formula 1 when we joined, more probably for Lewis than me, because I
was more on the side lines at that time. That’s great, that’s what we
drivers want. It’s great to see that the cars for faster. They’re never fast
enough, because we always complain. I think that’s been great and made the
racing better, the races for us more enjoyable. Whether that ends up in a
better show and better TV, it depends on the race. But I think on that,
wishes for next year is that everybody calms down. Some races are boring, so
what? I don’t see the problem in that. I don’t think we need another record,
another record every race, to have more overtaking and more overtaking. It’s
true that overtaking sometimes, especially if you're behind and you're fast
and you can’t get past for those reasons, it annoys you. But then again if
you make the move there is a massive reward inside the car, sometimes out
the car. What I want to say is that overtaking should be an achievement and
not handed to you. So there’s a difficult balance but as I said, sometimes
just relax and calm down and accept a boring race or a boring two races in a
row and then there will be another great race after that and another one. So
there are some things we can’t foresee even if it’s a time when we want to
control everything, some things are good if they are not in our control.
DR: There have been pros and cons in my opinion. Probably still more pros.
Obviously being able to go faster is always nice but it does come at a price
when following and that. Some tracks have been kind of transparent compared
to last year, you’ve still been able to race hard and follow close but some
tracks you need a pretty big speed advantage to get close or to make a move.
I think Seb’s right in some ways, that’s just the way it is and that’s the
way some tracks are laid out. I think the wider cars and all that look great
and they’ve given us more downforce and grip but when they take up more
space on the track you have less clean air to try to find so it does make
following harder so that one is good and bad. The off-track stuff has been
pretty cool. It’s been interesting. It’s certainly opened up a lot of little
things. The paddock is one area where there has been room for that to be
more exciting for fans. People in the paddock, to have a common area to go
to, to get a bit more of an atmosphere in there, whether it’s through some
music or they’ve set up the bar. Yeah, they're experimenting and it’s going
in the right direction so it’s been cool to be a part of it.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia Efe) The question is for Seb and Lewis.
Your next logical step would be to match Juan Manuel Fangio’s five titles.
What does the name Juan Manuel Fangio say to you?
SV: Certainly we will never match him in how successful he had been in such
a short time and so little races. Obviously back then it was different.
Racing was different. I had the pleasure to chat with Stirling, Stirling
Moss, and if you ask him about Juan Manuel Fangio then I think you get a
much better answer because he knew him and because he knew his skills in a
car. I think as a racing driver if you come to a point where you say that…
because in a way you always tend to think you are the best, otherwise
there’s not much point I guess, but if you reach a point where you say ‘that
guy was just better than me’ it says a lot and if you look at Stirling’s
record I think it has been incredible, not just in Formula 1 but in all the
other categories as well. So he must have been really, really special. And
as I said, to have achieved what he did achieve in that time, where a lot of
things needed to come together, the cars were not as reliable and all of
that, still he managed to be that successful, I think he’s probably the best
we’ve ever had in terms of putting it together, in terms of skill, in terms
of how brave they were at the time. I think racing at its core remained the
same until today but the racing itself has changed massively since the ‘50s
to today.
LH: I agree with Seb. Naturally, he’s just a leading icon in motorsport. To
have achieved what he achieved in the time, when danger was really at its
worst. I think he’s the driver that I think everyone admires most, perhaps
being that it was in the most dangerous period of time in motorsport. I
think to even be as close as we are, I feel very honoured to be this close
to such a great sporting icon. If anything I actually feel like he’s under…
I think he should be celebrated more for his success. It’s not really
mentioned a huge amount. Often you hear about Ayrton and Prost but I feel
he’s the godfather of the sport in terms of the drivers.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere Della Sera) To Sebastian: Ferrari proved to be
closer to Mercedes this season. Now you need the final step. Do you think it
will be a tough one or not?
SV: Yeah, massively tough. The level is very high. Mercedes has been very
competitive the last couple of years and again this year, despite a
regulation change that obviously helped us to get a bit closer. But for next
year it’s the same story – you need to make that step. That final step
you’re talking about is always the hardest. But that’s why we’re here.
That’s the name of the game. As I said, the team is ready. The people in
Maranello are already fired up. I think we have some good projects in the
pipeline. Some will take time, some will come soon, but that’s the normal
fight.
Q: (Frank Wostenberg – De Telegraaf) For all three, what do you consider the
best overtake of the season and can you explain why? Your personal best?
DR: Too many to choose from! The attempts on Valtteri were fun, in Austin.
Kimi in Monza in Turn 1 – that was from downtown, so that was pretty fun.
Baku was a deciding one. There’s a few.
LH: I admit, I have a very bad memory, so I don’t really remember much past
Austin…
SV: Not much to remember, you didn’t have to pass many people this year!
LH: I passed you a couple of times, that was enough! Those were the most
exciting ones.
You had a bit on in Brazil as well.
LH: Yeah, Brazil was awesome, starting from the back. Yeah, I think the
closer race we had were the ones I enjoyed the most. Obviously the worst
ones for me were Monaco and Russia maybe. Other than that I think it was a
pretty solid season.
Seb, how’s your memory?
SV: I don’t know. Thanks to Daniel for mentioning…
DR: Don’t say me in China!
SV: That was actually quite good! I completely forgot that, I was about to
say Valtteri in Barcelona. But yeah, maybe also the one on Daniel as well.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis and Seb, this is obviously the first year you
two have gone toe to toe for the title, well, for most of the year. I was
just wondering if you could assess each other’s strengths, if there’s been
any surprises along the way, and the weaknesses you may wish to exploit in
2018?
LH: erm… yeah… I think at the end of the year you start to sit down and
review those. All I can say is that any weaknesses Sebastian had or feels he
had, or doesn’t think he had, he’ll work on those over the winter, as we all
do. No-one’s perfect. Even I have things I need to work on, so I have to
expect that he’s going to bring… he’s going to raise the bar next year and I
have to make sure I do the same, otherwise the result will be different next
year. There was a comment earlier that Mercedes were the quickest this year.
I think ultimately, overall, obviously we won the Championship, we were more
consistent, we didn’t failures, we made less mistakes – but I think Ferrari
had a very, very good season. If you look at the beginning of the season, at
least half the season, they were in the lead. That wasn’t by sheer luck,
that was because they had a fantastic car and did a great job. Obviously
when you apply the pressure, things… it’s easy to buckle, and I think
towards the end of the year that is what happened. I think next year they’re
going to come very, very strong. I anticipate… or rather I hope Renault
bring a better power unit next year and I think Red Bull are going to be
there with us next year as well. So, I think for us it’s all about raising
your game every single opportunity you get. I would expect nothing less from
either of these drivers to be raising it next year.
And Seb?
SV: Well it was toe-to-toe did you say, for most of the season, but not for
the important part of the season, so in a way I’d love this press conference
to be less relaxed but that’s not the case. I think it’s been fun for us,
obviously, a massive achievement, a massive step. If you look where we were
in 2016, I think we did the biggest step out of all and probably from winter
testing we were right there. I think also one thing that hasn’t been our
strength as a team, was ‘go with the development’ and I think especially
this year, that was probably the most important part to stay in the fight
and I think we proved that we did. I think historically we lost out as the
season progressed but this year were, in my point of it’s been hardest
because there’s so much potential still, so many big steps you can make if
you’re doing well, but we managed to do them as well and we stayed in the
fight. Obviously we had two or three races that turned out to be very
costly, for different reasons and, as Lewis touched on, they’ve been very,
very strong all year, very consistent. But yeah, in the end we weren’t good
enough to take it to the last race and take the championship. So, I think we
know what we need to do. There are lessons that were obvious, some were a
bit more hidden but I’m sure we’ll dig deep enough and try to find all of
them.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, your team-mate has more than 90
races without a victory. How would you feel yourself with that kind of run
of results?
SV: Well, as we just proved, racing drivers don’t have good memories, so I’m
pretty sure if you ask Kimi, he’s not aware of that number. So, yeah, I
think we generally look forward. The sport is teaching us to look forward
too, there’s always the next race, the next update, the next step you’re
looking forward to, so I think in a way it teaches you to… not forget but
just to focus on what’s coming rather than being occupied with what’s behind
you. So I don’t think there’s a big deal. There’s always some sort of
numbers that work in your favour and some numbers that don’t work in your
favour.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) For Daniel, consider the RB14 will be a winning car,
you can hunt for the championship: how do you cope with Max and do you fear
the internal relations in the team then? Will you remain friends?
DR: I hope so, keep him on my birthday list. So we’ll see. We said at the
start of this year it would be a good problem to have. If we’re both
fighting at the front and having some battles. If it’s ultimately deciding a
world title we would happily run with that challenge. So, yeah, we’ll see.
This year we again had high hopes for that. I believe next year we will
close the gap. Is it enough to fight for a title? I think we can certainly
get close but we’ll see. I don’t want to predict too early. I’m sure we’ve
learned a lot this year and I believe we’re going to put in the right work
in the winter to start strong. And then that’ll be exciting. Max improved
this year from last year. I think he… I won’t say came a long way because he
was always there but he certainly improved and I think next year it’s going
to be a lot of fun, so looking forward to that. And hopefully we can add a
world title to the eight that we have.
Q: (Aldona Marciniak – Fakt) To all three of you. Many F1 fans refer to this
race as a last race of a certain era, because it’s the last race without the
Halo. Is it a justified opinion, from your perspective, and will you think
about it, stepping into the car this weekend?
SV: I wasn’t aware… I mean I am aware but I wasn’t thinking about that.
Yeah, probably they are right. I think the cars will look different next
year. Everything I’ve seen so far looks different but on the other hand I
think it’s something that we all get used to – but yeah, it’s no doubt that
the cars look better the way they are now but I’m sure that, as I say, we’ll
get used to it and we’ll work on the aesthetics so it will look fine as
well. So, in the end it’s probably less of a big deal.
Lewis?
LH: It’s the last of the era of cars looking good, I think. It’s the last
race where the cars will look good. I think from next year it’s all downhill
in terms of how it looks – but safety will go up, at least, and… yeah. Maybe
start a new flip-flop brand next year and be successful in some way.
Dan?
DR: Not much more to comment, to be honest. We’ll make sure our helmets are
polished this weekend, so they look good because they’ll be a bit harder to
see next year. It’s fine. I don’t think it’s going to be as dramatic as most
people make it out to be so, yeah, should be fine.
Q: (Graham Caygill – The National) Question for Lewis. This might be a bad
idea because you’ve just said you’ve got a bad memory, can you just talk
through your memories of being at Abu Dhabi. You took pole position in the
first year, you’ve won three times here, you won your second world
championship here, so you clearly go well here. How well motivated are you
to get a fourth win here this weekend?
LH: The first race I was quite determined to win that one because there was
a car that Sebastian ended up getting – I actually got the car anyway, so it
was OK, but there was a car up for grabs if you won the first race, which I
was pretty motivated to get at the time. I was obviously leading and then
the rear brakes failed, so Sebastian won it. But yeah, I think we both have
three, and so… we have this battle of wanting to get ahead of each other
always, so of course I’m extremely driven this weekend to try to finish the
season off as strong as particularly, I’ve been in this second half of the
season. Obviously, in the last race Sebastian won and I don’t particularly
want to give you this one. I’m looking forward to having hopefully at least
a good battle with these guys this weekend. Either way I think it’s just
about approaching it the same: giving it everything, as if you are still
fighting for the championship. Regardless of whether you win or not, as long
as you’ve given it everything, you can walk away proudly, knowing that
you’ve had a solid season.
Just for the record, what was the car in question?
LH: It was a Mercedes SL Black Series. Do you still have yours? I haven’t
managed to get one. How many miles on it?
Q: (Walter Koster – Saarbruecker Zeitung) Lewis, in a few weeks you will
receive your champion award but there are still other awards, like for the
rookie of the year, personality of the year and the action of the year. And
now the Mercedes tyre queue had one for, first time, the first fastest
pitstop award. Do you think that there enough awards – or can you image
other awards? For example, like an award for Fair Play? For a special
friendly action. Or there are no friendly actions in Formula One. What’s
your opinion, and the opinion of Sebastian and Ricciardo for this subject?
LH: That’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of awards. Do I feel there
should be more? I’m probably not the right person to ask…
SV: I should get move of the year, personality of the year and also, what
was the last one, fair play… well, fair play maybe not… but those two for
Baku for sure.
LH: I have a friend who plays a golf tournament in England. It’s called the
Clown Cup, I think, and if you finish last you get the clown. So, there
should be at least something like that. Not for finishing last, but for
someone who doesn’t have the fair play thing. You don’t want to
over-saturate with awards. They did a great job already, the FIA have quite
a lot of awards as it is.
Daniel, what would you add?
DR: Nothing. After how long that question was, imagine there was more
awards, imagine how long you’d talk for?
LH: Longest question? There should be ‘journalist of the year’.
SV: Question of the year.
DR: I don’t know what to say. We don’t need a good sportsman or anything
like that. I remember at school you’d get a ‘good effort’ sticker and it was
just to give you something – but it was meaningless. I think, as Lewis said,
I you start just handing them out… there’s one award that all of us want and
it’s the world title. The rest doesn’t matter. |
