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DRIVERS – Pierre GASLY (Toro
Rosso), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Pierre, if we could start with you please. Let’s start by reflecting on
your sensational result in Bahrain last weekend. How do you reflect on what
happened there, and what kind of reaction have you had around the world?
Pierre GASLY: I must say it’s been amazing. First, just personally, y’know?
It’s a big investment for a long time, since I’m a kid. It’s a lot of work,
a lot of preparation and, of course, it’s my best result in Formula One –
but just to see that all the work I’m doing at the moment is paying off and
actually we are going in the right direction, so of course, I’m really happy
about it. And secondly, for the team, it’s only our second race with Honda
and already we can see that we are actually going in the right direction,
communication-wise everything is going well and the car is competitive. So,
this was really amazing, and also the support I got afterwards, after the
weekend, I’m just super-impressed. A lot of articles, a lot of TVs, and
media writing as well. It was something impressive but really nice, a lot of
support from the people as well. So, it’s been great.
Q: You say the car is competitive. Do you think the performance will
translate to a track like this one?
PG: I’ll tell you tomorrow! I really hope so. I think definitely we
understood much more about our car potential, car setup, about the tyres but
still we need confirmation, as you say, and I think this weekend will be a
good opportunity to see if… definitely to judge our baseline and see if the
potential is the same on other tracks. Definitely we need to be quite
careful. Bahrain has been so good for us and I don’t know if it’s going to
be similar on other tracks. So yeah, hopefully it’s going to be the same but
we’ll find out tomorrow.
Q: And are you coming into this weekend feeling very confident?
PG: Yeah, definitely, we feel more confident than we were, for example, in
Melbourne or for Bahrain. This is going to be my first time in Shanghai, so
it’s also going to be a new track for me. We’ll probably take a bit more
time to adapt myself but definitely we are a bit more confident but still we
need to be careful – because we have no guarantees about the performance –
we know it’s really tight in the midfield. In Bahrain, the car was just
fantastic in terms of balance, in terms of grip – but we know that if we
don't get everything right, suddenly if you lose two or three tenths you can
be at the back of the midfield and it changes your weekend completely. So,
we need to be quite careful and just make sure we do the right things.
Q: Marcus, you’re another man celebrating a tremendous race in Bahrain. How
do you look back on last weekend’s events?
Marcus ERICSSON: Yes, like you say it was a great race for us, great to be
in the points and also a great reward to everyone in the team. It’s been a
lot of things happening over the winter. We’re coming from two very
difficult years, where we’ve been always at the back as a team, and then
this year we’re coming into the year with Alfa Romeo coming on as a main
sponsor, and partner to the team and it’s like a new chapter for Sauber.
It’s been a lot of work put in to make a step forwards and to move up the
grid. And to be already at the second race of the year in the points, it’s,
I think, a great result, a great team result and a great boost for everyone.
So yeah, it was very nice. And also for myself personally, I was super happy
to be back in the points. It’s been a long time. So, yeah, overall it was
very positive.
Q: Tell us a little more about that. It’s been 50 races since you were last
in the points. How much of a relief was it?
ME: Of course, it was big relief. I think I’ve had four times P11 since
then. So, I was close a lot of times, and had some great races but it’s very
difficult when you’re in the worst car on the grid. Some races I had a
perfect race – and finished P14 or something like that. It’s frustrating,
but, yeah, of course we’re all here to try to score points. So to be back in
the points last weekend was a great relief.
Q: You say last year’s car was the worst on the grid. How good is this one?
ME: I think we have a very solid baseline to work from. Like Pierre said,
the midfield is very, very close and I feel that we are very much in that
midfield – but probably in the lower part of that midfield at the moment.
But also like Toro Rosso showed last weekend, if you make a step you can
really move quickly up or down in that midfield group. So, first of all I’m
just very happy that we part of that group on pure speed. Now we need to
work even harder to try to improve that position – but I know everyone does,
both here on track and also in the factory and we have a lot of things
planned for the season. We need to keep working hard, keep pushing hard and
then we should be able to fight every weekend.
I’m sure you’ll keep doing that Marcus. Thank you very much. Max, coming to
you now. As much as the other guys had a good weekend in Bahrain, it was a
very frustrating one for you and Red Bull Racing; I think it was the team’s
first double retirement since Korea in 2010. Can we start by talking about
the car? You were very bullish about it in winter testing but now that we’re
a couple of races in, just how competitive is it?
Max VERSTAPPEN: The car is very quick, I think especially in the race. I
think we know in qualifying we are losing out a bit, just on pure
performance, on top speed. But as soon as that all calms down a bit in the
race, yeah, I was very confident, for example, before we went into the race
to still move up a lot of positions, because I think the car was definitely
capable of just driving back to the podium. So yeah, I’m just looking
forward to get started again here, because we have a good package, and there
are a lot of good things coming. So, yeah, ready to go.
You made a very good start on Sunday and then there was the incident with
Lewis Hamilton. Just one week on how do you reflect on what happened with
Hamilton? Have you seen it on TV?
MV: I was in the car. So I felt it, I saw it! That’s racing. Sometimes it
works, sometimes it doesn’t. You can say whatever you like about the
incident. I think I had a fair shot at it. It was nothing crazy, nothing
risky. But yeah, unfortunately this time it didn’t work out. Looking back,
for example, in Mexico last year it did work out. This time we gave each
maybe not enough space, but that’s racing as well at the end of the day.
Like I said, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad.
Have you spoken to Lewis since the incident?
MV: No.
So looking ahead to this weekend, how important is it for you to get into
the points and might we see a more conservative approach this weekend?
MV: It’s always important to score points and that’s always the target, but
we are here to finish on the podium or win races – that’s why we’re here.
That’s what I will try to do again this weekend. So, for me, there won’t be
a change.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Phil Duncan – Press Association ) Max, did you hear what Lewis had to
say after the race? Do you think you will have a chat with him this weekend?
And do you think that you will address your driving style going forward?
MV: No. I might have a talk with him. It depends if it’s really necessary.
But why should I change something. I don’t think I did anything wrong in
terms of my approach. I was just trying to overtake a car. I think it was a
fair chance. I went for it. For example, last year in Mexico it could have
gone wrong as well – maybe for me, maybe for another car. As you could see
in Mexico it did. It’s racing; it’s very simple. I don’t understand why
everybody is so on top of the topic. Those things happen in racing, you
know.
Q: (Jaap de Groot – De Telegraaf) Max, reflecting on what happened last week
in Bahrain and thinking back to last year here. You also started at P16 and
finished third. Remember the first lap? That was fantastic. Is that also for
an inspiration? You talk about Mexico but over here you even did a better
than that, taking over your opponents.
MV: Yeah, it was. That race was starting on wet tyres, so it’s always easier
to get past people if you have a good feeling and a good car. So yeah,
always in the dry it’s a bit more tricky. Sometimes you have those first
laps where everything works out perfect.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Pierre, your result in Bahrain was Honda’s
best since it came back into Formula 1. It’s obviously made a clear step in
reliability – the changes it introduced after Australia. Performance-wise,
what are you expecting this weekend? The energy recovery system has always
been its limiting factor and there is a long back straight here and a long
start-finish straight as well.
PG: We expect to be quite competitive, after what we learned from Bahrain.
But as I say, we don’t know if we’re going to be on top of the midfield, if
we are going to be in the middle, we just know that to have a similar
performance as Bahrain we really need to be on top of everything and just
make everything perfectly. The track layout, for sure, is not one of our
favourites, or is not going to be as easy, with the long back straight. But
still you need to have a really strong car in the middle part of the track,
so I think we can still expect to be competitive. But to have a clear
picture, we have done only two races. We were pretty slow in Melbourne. We
were very competitive in Bahrain, even faster than what we expected, so it’s
still difficult for us to know for us exactly where is the performance of
the car. I think we are going to be in the fight for the midfield, but
hopefully on top of it.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Gasly, we heard after the
race in Bahrain that you said that we are in the fight now and it seems that
it was a reply to what Fernando said the week before. So I would like to
know your comment on that.
PG: It was simple, it was just a little joke, that’s it. I think we need to
give credit back to Honda. In the end, they have had a tough three years
with McLaren and to finish P4 in the second race with them was just amazing,
so it was a way to give them credit, because they are working really hard
and yeah, I think they need credit for the hard work they are doing. But
don’t get me wrong, I must say I had pretty tough messages after that, after
the race, by some Spanish people who are actually quite crazy. I have huge
respect for Fernando so I’m just making it clear. Don’t get me wrong.
Fernando for sure is one of the best drivers of all time in Formula One, and
one of the drivers I looked up to when I was young, one of my idols
actually. No, I have huge respect for him, so it was nothing related, just a
high comment for Honda because I think they deserved the credit.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Ericsson, you talked before
about a new chapter with Alfa Romeo. I would like to know exactly how the
situation is now, if you can compare it to last year? So what does it feel
to be the first driver to collect points with the Alfa brand on the car?
ME: Like I said, for the team, it’s like a new chapter this year. A lot of
things have been changing over the winter, especially, obviously, with Alfa
Romeo coming on board, a lot of new people coming in to the team. A lot of
things changing, completely different resources. It’s been a big change and
you can feel it inside the team. You can feel the motivation is very high,
people are believing again. It’s a big motivation to move up the grid,
whereas it’s been more about the team surviving the last few years, so it’s
not so much been pushing for performance, it’s been more pushing for trying
to survive every week, every race. Having that mindset, it’s then difficult
to get the results whereas now we go into the season to push, to make
results and to move up the grid. It’s just a completely different mindset.
For me, that’s been very nice to see. So far it’s been very good, but we
still have a long way to go and we need to keep working hard but it’s been
very positive.
On the second part, to score points, being the first one in this new chapter
with Alfa, I think it’s something that makes me proud. First of all I’m
proud to represent Alfa Romeo in Formula One again, I think it’s a very
legendary brand. It’s very special to represent them in Formula One again
and of course to score points with them.
Q: How much of a step forward is this year’s Ferrari power unit compared to
the year-old one you were using in 2017?
ME: It’s very big, not only in power but in everything: driveability, energy
management and all those things. It’s a very very big step. It’s nice not to
have that handicap like we had last year because it was a very big
disadvantage last year.
Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) Max, if the way you were driving you
believe was fine, why do you think Lewis was moved to have a go at you?
MV: Why? Because it’s quite easy and simple to blame the younger driver.
That’s the only way I can see it. Like I said, these things happen. There’s
no reason for me to change anything.
Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – AD Sportwereld) Max, if you would make a list of your
favourite tracks, where would Shanghai be in that list?
MV: Somewhere!
Q: (Rik Spekenbrink – AD Sportwereld) Top five or lower?
MV: Yeah, it’s good actually, yeah, especially for racing, I think it’s a
good track, so it’s definitely on that list.
Q: (Jaap de Groot - De Telegraaf) Max, in Bahrain, several things went wrong
with you and the car of Ricciardo. Did the team already analyse the whole
matter and could you give me some information on that?
MV: Yeah, from my side, we put a new wheel on the car, a new floor, because
that was destroyed. No, I think it was mainly more from Daniel’s car of
course and in the race I think we had the problem quite similar to me last
year in Canada and I think in testing this year as well. So it’s definitely
something to look into but what can you do about it? It’s something that
Renault needs to sort out. They are of course working really hard on that.
They will again try their very best to provide us with the best possible
equipment here. I’m actually not too worried about it and at the end of the
day, if it happens it happens. You can’t prevent it.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Very quick question to Max:
did you have to change the gearbox for this race or not?
MV: Why? I retired anyway so I can do those kind of things. |
