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TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Toyoharu TANABE
(Honda), Guenther STEINER (Haas), Frédéric VASSEUR (Alfa Romeo).
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Question to all three of you: we’ve had
calendar announcements this morning with races confirmed at Mugello and
Sochi in September. I would love to get your thoughts on that first of all.
Fred, perhaps we could start with you?
Frédéric VASSEUR: I think it is good news. We are going in the right
direction, to add more and more races. Thanks to Formula 1 to take care of
this. I think it’s a great job and, step-by-step, we are building-up a nice
calendar.
Q: Guenther?
Guenther STEINER: Yeah, the same as Fred. It’s fantastic the job is done
because it must be very difficult to get events organised at the moment. I
think they do a great job, so at least we get a substantial calendar
together, what it seems to be like. Now they’ve got a few more and then we
should have a nice season. It’s very good for us. It’s very good for the
fans and for Formula 1 in general. So, very good and I hope they keep on
pushing to have a few more and then we should be good.
Q: Tanabe-san?
Toyoharu TANABE: Yes, I agree with them. Yes it’s good for all Formula 1
fans and then manufacturers and teams. I would like to say thank you for the
people working very hard to establish this schedule and I hope we can go
there to have a Formula 1 race.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Question for Tanabe-san. We saw both Red Bull
cars were hit with power unit problems during the race last weekend. Could
you expand a bit of what the issue was? Was it an issue on the Red Bull side
or the Honda side. Are there any concerns of it emerging again this weekend?
We know Austria’s quite a difficult race for the cars in terms of cooling in
particular.
TT: The two incidents were not related. On the Max car we had a mechanical
trouble problem which led to an electronic problem on the PU but that’s not
related to the PU in the end. On Alex’s car we saw some unusual data after
he ran over the gravel and then it accelerated and then exceeded our limit,
so we stopped the car. We had a very short period between the last race and
today. We applied very simple and basic, primitive counter-measure. We
changed all related electronic parts on the car, on the PU. We are still
investigating the very detail but it looks, the various reasons, related to
this problem. From the P1 running, the car runs OK. We will keep watching
and then monitor. During the long run and also the race.
Q: (Erik van Haren – De Telegraaf) Do you think Honda is able to match the
power of the Mercedes engine this year? And what’s the difference between
the upgraded Honda engine in Austria and the first one in testing?
TT: I think it’s a little bit difficult to tell the difference between PU
power in the four PU manufacturers. Many functions related to the speed and
lap time. We think we need to work a little bit more hard to catch up the
top runner. The difference between Australia and here, the first race this
year, mainly we cannot work on the big change because of the shutdown.
Mainly reliability and minor changes. We had time to apply some things, even
limited time. So, how can I say? Kind of housekeeping work. That’s it.
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Another power unit question but to Guenther
and Fred. We saw that all the Ferrari-powered cars seemed to be a little bit
slower on the straight than their rivals. Is that something that you
noticed, and have you had an explanation from Ferrari as to why the power
has gone down compared to last year?
GS: Obviously it became apparent that there is a speed-deficit on the
straights and we are slower than last year. All Ferrari-powered cars, I
think we can say that openly. I think people are working hard to find out
what it is, as Tanabe-san said, it’s very difficult to judge other people’s
performance of the engine, you know? Because you don’t have any data, you’ve
got just speed data but the speed of the car eventually, a drag level and so
on. For sure we’re working hard to find out why, in qualifying, here in
Austria, we were faster, and for sure the same as Fred is doing – not that I
need to speak for Fred because he can do that himself. In the race I think
it was less prominent, the difference. We didn’t have a good race,
obviously, but I think there still needs to be work going into it and do see
what is what here actually. And then we can find a conclusion and move on
and sort out if there is a problem.
Q: Fred, let’s get your thoughts?
FV: I’m OK with Guenther. The situation is known and now we have to work on
all sides. I trust Ferrari to be able to be able to recover as much as
possible. My job – and it’s not in my hands, our job is to push on the
chassis side and on the driver and to do a good job. The race pace was
decent but we were able to match the cars in front of us. The deficit was a
bit more important in quali.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Question for Tanabe-san. Can you just talk
through exactly what you’re able to do between races to identify faults like
you had least weekend? There isn’t much time, so how do you action staff in
the UK and Japan to perform your analysis?
TT: As soon as we got the logging data, we analysed the data at the track,
and then later we checked the car, and then, especially for Alex’s car, we
removed the parts from the PU and there’s some shipped to Sakura R&D in
Japan and some shipped to Milton Keynes and then we run those parts from the
suspect PU, run on dyno and recreate very similar conditions as race. Then
we analyse that data again.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Question to all three, mostly to Guenther and
Fred. There’s been a lot of talk about the biosphere and the bubble and
Charles having gone back to Monaco and Valtteri having gone back also to
Monaco. Do you know exactly what you are and aren’t allowed to do in
maintaining this biosphere? And Tanabe-san, you’ve got, as an engine
supplier, you’ve got staff working across different teams. How do you make
sure you keep the bubble and biosphere intact?
FV: The rule is clear, we were allowed to go back to the factory for serious
reasons. I don’t want to comment for the Charles story or Valtteri but the
rule is clear that you have to perform the test again before going back to
the track. I did one, two days ago, and another one this morning. I think
it’s the safest place in the world. Everybody did tonnes of tests and I
think that the rule is respected by everybody.
Q: Guenther, your take on it?
GS: Yeah, as Fred said, it’s a very safe place here, you know? There is
clear rules that when you come in here, you need to be tested, so I don’t
know what happened with Charles and Valtteri but maybe it’s a story on
social media – but if they get checked in the beginning I think that’s OK
and it’s quite clear what you have to do and what not to do here. So, we all
know that and what I’ve seen, all the people working in F1 are very
disciplined. I think we try our best. For sure mistakes happen – always –
but nobody’s trying to undermine the issue intentionally or try to be smart
about it. I feel very safe here. If any of us get it here, I will be very
surprised.
Q: Tanabe-san, is it complicated by you supplying multiple teams?
TT: Yes. It is a little bit difficult for us to work separately but for our
members to be safe, also teams safe, we completely follow the FIA direction,
also team direction. Maybe the same as this conference, we use web meeting
as much as we can and then we communicate between the two teams’ members. So
far it’s worked well but definitely we keep working on our safety. That’s
very important for us and then Formula 1.
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Question for Fred. I just wanted to know if
there are any future plans for Robert Kubica in terms of his practice
outings this year? We saw him make his first appearance of the season today.
What more is he going to be doing in terms of FP1 sessions through this
season?
FV: We plan to do four or five sessions during the season but the issue with
the new calendar is that we have also to reschedule everything. He is racing
in DTM also, it means we have to find solutions but we will do it. I think
it’s a great added value for the team in terms of understanding of the car
and he’s bringing a nice contribution.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Good-day Gentleman. Obviously the budget
cap has been reduced substantially now to $145million but given that a
driver is a performance differentiator, or is accepted as being one, would
you like to see driver salaries, either capped and/or included in the budget
cap? That’s to the two team principals.
GS: I have nothing against a driver cap or a driver salary cap, whatever you
want to call it. I don’t see a problem for us in it because we are so far
off it, whatever it will be. So, I’m not pushing it or anything but I think
at some stage it will be a good idea to put it in the budget cap, because,
as you said, it’s a performance differentiator. So for sure if you spend a
lot of money on a driver then you cannot do other things. That should level
the playing field even more and I think the salaries would adjust by
themselves and they would end up lower than they are now. So, I think, I’m
not faced with the problem, to be high in salaries because we are not even
at the budget cap, so in the end, any of these proposals, I will be OK with
it, so long as the amount is within some reason.
FV: I’m OK with Guenther. The only point is that it would be a bit strange
to exclude the highest salary of the team and not to include the drivers. If
we are taking this direction we have to include everybody into the cost cap.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) To all three please, but mainly the two team
principals. We’re straight back into a ‘normal’ grand prix weekend schedule.
We didn’t have the opportunity in the end to try a reverse grid qualifying
race for the second part of the double header. I just wanted to know what
you make of it being an identical format the second week in a row. Do you
think this was a missed opportunity to try to do something different?
FV: Spielberg would have been difficult because to base the classification
on the result of race one would have been a bit difficult because you can
have the temptation to stop the race if you are not into the points. But I
think I was positive for this for the rest of the season, for Silverstone
and if we have to do another development later into the season I think it
was a good opportunity. It’s also part of the skill of the drivers to be
able to overtake but let’s see for the future. But we have tons of things to
sort out this season.
Q: Guenther, missed opportunity?
GS: Yes, I agree. In my opinion we should have done it and as Fred said it
would have been difficult as it was the first race but we could have used
the standing from last year’s World Championship to start the qualifying
race, or something like this. There would be other opportunities to do that,
how to start that one. Hopefully it comes back on the agenda that we do
this. And as I’ve always said, if it doesn’t work we need to brave enough to
say it didn’t work and go back to what we know from, before. Sometimes
trying helps because there is not a lot we can lose. Again, I hope it comes
back and we try it and then we know and we are not sitting here speculating
whether it is a missed opportunity or not. It worked or it didn’t and we
move one and come up with the next good idea if this didn’t work.
Q: Tanabe-san?
TT: I have no comment.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines/racefans.net) A question for Tanabe-san.
The way that I understand it at the moment, Honda is committed to Formula 1
until the end of 2021. Is there any talk about extending that commitment?
Has any decision been taken in Japan about possibly remaining in Formula 1
after that period?
TT: I’m not involved in the contract scene very much but I just heard that
the discussion is underway. I haven’t heard any result yet. That’s the
current status.
Q: Tanabe-san, how does the freezing of the power unit development affect
you and your plans for 2021 and beyond?
TT: The freezing is not what we want. But that decision is, I think, the
right reaction and the right decision for all of the manufacturers and teams
considering this social situation. I think people need to work very hard on
how to optimize, how to use the PU with kind of the same spec. We need to
spend more time on that kind of simulation or analysing.
Q: Guenther, coming to you. Frustrating weekend for the team last weekend.
Has team owner Gene Haas set the team any goals for this season?
GS: No. it’s very difficult to set goals in a season like this. I think that
went out of the window at the start of the season, when we didn’t know if we
were starting. With the shutdown it’s just that the financial situation has
changed. We obviously have less income and so on. You cannot put a goal on a
season like this – he knows that. I think we try to do our best and make him
happy. It’s very difficult in the moment, as we saw last weekend, a
frustrating weekend. But you never give up. You keep on working and
everybody is working hard to make the situation better within our means.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines/racefans.net) A question for the two team
principals. Jean Todt said last week that there were Concorde Agreement
discussions happening. A) Were you two involved and invited, and B) How do
you see the progress on the Concorde Agreement please?
FV: Yeah, the discussions are ongoing. For sure, we stop a little bit the
discussions during the COVID system and the new regulation answer, but now
we are back to the topic and I hope we will have be able to finalise an
agreement in the next few weeks.
GS: As Fred says, the discussions have started again. To answer one of
Dieter’s questions, we were involved in the beginning on the Concorde
Agreement, obviously a lesser amount than the big teams as they have more
things to sort out but otherwise FOM was trying to be as fair as possible
with all 10 teams.
Q: One last question from me to Fred. More points for Antonio last weekend.
Little bit disappointed not to see you cutting his hair after the race, as
you did last year. What’s the bet with him for 2020?
FV: He did it for me.
GS: He wants it for him the hair; that’s what he wants!
FV: I think he did a good second part of the season last year and he didn’t
race the two years before and we have to keep it in mind. He did a strong
second part of the season and it was a good start to 2020. Now, we have to
keep the same pace and the same path for the next few races but it’s not
just a matter to score points on the first one, but we have to be consistent
and it will be the target for everybody in the team, including Antonio.
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Otmar SZAFNAUER
(Racing Point), Mario ISOLA (Pirelli), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams).
Q: A quick question from me to start. We’ve had
calendar announcements from Formula 1 with confirmation of races at Mugello
and Sochi. I’d love to get your reaction on that please?
Claire WILLIAMS: Firstly, I think Formula 1, the FIA, everybody has done an
extraordinary job to bring us all back racing and to do it so safely. I
imagine it’s incredibly hard work trying to co-ordinate where we are going
racing after these initial eight races that have been confirmed, so to hear
that more races have been put on the calendar is great news. Clearly we want
to go racing as much as possible in the safest possible way. Russia we know.
Mugello is an unknown – I think we used to go testing there many, many moons
ago. Yeah, we’re looking forward it. I think it will give the engineers a
challenge. But I think it’s fantastic that F1 is putting all these new races
on the calendar.
Mario ISOLA: Yeah, I fully agree with Claire. It’s great to be back, it’s
great to have a calendar now made of 10 races. Mugello is a circuit that we
know, because we raced there with other series. It’s quite hard on tyres, so
we need to be well prepared for this circuit. In mid-September it’s also
possible to have high temperatures. Last time we went there with a Formula 1
car was 2012, so a long time ago. But happy to have a second race in Italy.
We are Italians so we like the idea to have a second race in Italy. I hope
it will be a great race and a great celebration of this very nice circuit.
Q: First time since 2006 that we’ll have two races in Italy. And Otmar,
please?
Otmar SZAFNAUER: There isn’t much else to say. I agree with Claire and
Mario. It’s wonderful to see two more races added and I think that’s
testament to the hard work that was done to make sure that we can race
safely. We’ve shown that in the first weekend and with the second weekend
coming up now and if we stick to the protocols that have been put in place
then it looks like we can race safely and that will mean many more races
after Russia as well.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – motorsport.com) A question to Otmar. You have
Checo under contract until 2022 and presumably Lance is on a long-term
commitment as well. So, are you at this point in a position to provide a
firm no towards being able to offer Sebastian Vettel a drive for 2021?
OS: Well, like I’ve said before, it’s flattering that everyone this that a
four-time world champion would come to our team, but maybe that’s because
the car is a bit quicker now. You’re absolutely right, we have long
contracts with both our drivers, so it would only be logical that we don’t
have space.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines/racefans.net) A driver is generally
accepted as being a performance differentiator. Given that we differentiate
performance via the budget cap on aero etc, how do you feel about including
driver salaries within the budget cap or alternatively having a capo on a
driver’s salary? And do you believe that any form of cap would possibly
chase away the superstars from the sport?
OS: I’m definitely in favour of including the driver salaries within the cap
because it forces teams to make those decisions. Do you spend your money on
a driver or do you take one that doesn’t cost you so much and spend it
elsewhere on performance. To answer your first questions, Dieter, I’m in
favour of having the salaries within the budget cap. Your second one is a
hypothetical one as to if that happens will the superstars go do something
else? I believe that even having the driver salaries within the cap their
salaries would still be higher than what they would get at other racing
series.
CW: I would tend to agree with Otmar. As you say, Dieter, drivers are
performance differentiators and in order to get a much more equitable
playing field in this sport, as the financial regulations are there to do,
then I think it’s absolutely critical that anyone who is performance related
should be part of that cost cap. I wholeheartedly agree with it. And again,
as Otmar said, I think that the likelihood of drivers being discouraged from
participating in our sport would probably be minimal, just simply because
this is the highest echelon of motorsport and it’s a destination where
drivers want to be racing.
Q: On the subject of drivers, George said yesterday that his future is in
your hands. What are your plans for him?
CW: I feel quite a lot of pressure, George’s future being in my hands.
George is on a three-year contract with the team, he’s in his second year
and he’s done a fantastic job for Williams. Everybody knows how difficult it
was for all of us last year, not least for George, and he always held his
head up high and he always went out there with an incredibly positive
outlook, even in moments that were difficult for him and we’re incredibly
appreciative of that at Williams. George is a great talent. He’s clearly got
huge ambitions and we want to be able to give him the machinery that he can
get out there and score points with, but at the moment we’ve got two driver
contracted to the team for 2021 and I’m reluctant to say anything else on
the matter.
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Claire, I just wondered if you could give an
update on the team’s look for a possible investor or buyer. You said in the
announcement a couple of months ago there was a three to four-month window
you were looking at. Are there any updates you can give at this point?
CW: Only to say that we are happy with the process and how it is going so
far. We have received a number of interesting potential investors and we are
talking to those at the moment and they are of a high quality, which we are
delighted about and we continue to go through that process at the moment. As
you said, at the start of it we anticipated that it would taker three to
four months and we’re still on that timeline at the moment.
Q: (Abishek Takle – Mid-day) Question to Claire and Otmar. As team
principals, in terms of maintaining this biosphere, what exactly are you
allowed and not allowed to do between races when it comes to travel and
things like that, and activities away from the track? And for Mario, as a
supplier, how difficult is it for you with people working across multiple
teams to maintain the biosphere?
OS: We’ve been pretty strict and discipline is what you need in order to
maintain the biosphere. For example, we’re all in the same hotel and when we
get back to the hotel our team are not allowed to go out in the town fort
dinner for example, we have to eat dinner together within the hotel. We
travel in little groups as well and those groups stay together at the track
too. When we’re here in the paddock we make sure we stay within our team and
we don’t have interaction with others. I think it’s important to have that
vigilance and if we do that and follow the protocol then I’m very confident
that we’ll all stay safe.
CW: We’ve followed the same protocols that Otmar has outlined. We haven’t
been able to all be in the same hotel as one team but the team has remained
in its bubble and we have been very careful to ensure that those guidelines
are being adhered to by all our team personnel. It’s not easy, when everyone
is away. It’s hard and you want to be able to go out, but we want to be able
to do the right thing by our sport. A lot of people have put a lot of hard
work in behind the scenes to make sure that is safe to go racing again and
we don’t want to do anything to jeopardise that. So we have stayed within
our bubble away from the race track, not going out, and obviously we have
followed all the guidelines that have been put in place while we’re here. I
think that Formula 1 has done a fantastic job in the first week that we have
been away. I know that there have been north of 4,000 tests that have taken
place and not one has returned back as a positive. That is testimony to all
the hard work that everybody is putting in in order to make sure that we
respect the protocols that have been put in place.
MI: We instituted similar protocols to the teams, the difference is that we
have people everywhere across the teams. That is why we… at the beginning we
decided to keep a Pirelli bubble rather than allocating engineers inside a
team bubble and thanks to the co-operation of the teams we now have an area
that is dedicated to Pirelli. It is not easy to work like that because
obviously without any access to the garage our engineers have no possibility
to check the tyres and to take data and measurements but it is necessary so
we are happy to continue with this approach for as long as it is necessary
to do that. We have to give a clear indication to our personnel but also to
rely on individual responsibility because obviously that is the main point,
strict protocols and procedures but explaining how important it is to follow
these procedures, not just telling them you have to stay in your room at the
hotel and that’s all, but to make them aware of the risks and consequences
if they behave in not the way we want.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Claire, if I can just follow up Luke’s earlier
question. You mentioned you were talking to a number of potential investors.
When you initially announced this, you talked about anything was on the
table including the potential sale of the team. I wondered if any of the
parameters have changed, whether you’re now talking more about an investment
than an outright sale?
CW: No, the parameters haven’t changed, Alan, and obviously, as everybody
knows, Williams is a listed company, we have to operate as per the takeover
code and panel and their guidelines, that they dictate and that’s why the
strategic review process is as it is. We are looking for either investment
into the team, the disbursement of a minority or a majority shareholder or
core sales. We’re still thinking along any of those lines. The options are
available to us and it will be the board’s decision as to the best option
that’s put on the table.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) To all three of you, but starting with the
two team principals: we’ve obviously not got a reverse grid qualifying race
this weekend. Just wanted to know if you feel that this has been a missed
opportunity and what do you think the reasons are for having an identical
second weekend at the same track?
OS: Well, we discussed the reverse grid qualifying. As you saw, even last
weekend, this track can be really hard on brakes. We saw, perhaps, some
brake failures and unfortunately, to have a reverse grid and then go into
parc fermé and then have another race, our car, for example, wouldn’t have
been able to do that, to have a short race and then with the same car finish
a race. I think those types of decisions have to be made early enough,
before the design process starts, such that you can design the car for those
parameters. And as far as was it a missed opportunity? I think the weather
will show us that although the same track, we’re going to have two different
races here.
CW: For somebody who for many years has always been espousing the real DNA
of our sport, funnily enough I was fairly in favour of the reverse grid, but
maybe that would come as no surprise. I would have loved to have seen a
Williams line up on pole. But you know, it does go against, I think, the
true DNA of our sport and I’m not a person that actually thinks that Formula
1 needs these kind of gimmicky things, I suppose, if I can call them that,
to make the sport more exciting. I think that the sport is incredibly
exciting. I think invariably, pretty much every race we go to delivers some
incredibly exciting racing and I think Austria, the first race that we’ve
been to last weekend, did exactly that and I’m sure, as Otmar just said,
with the weather conditions that we’re anticipating over the next 24 hours,
I think it could be a very different race that we’ll have on Sunday as well.
I’m sure the fans at home are just delighted that we’re all back racing and
that we’re giving them something to watch, some sport to watch on a Saturday
and Sunday afternoons and we just need to put on a good show, and I’m sure
that we will.
MI: Yes, I think it’s not very easy to take the right decision or to
consider that a missed opportunity. I remember when we were in lockdown a
number of proposals had been discussed on how to make the second race at the
same circuit more interesting, or creating some unpredictability. That was
one of the proposals on the table. Another one is what we are going to
implement at Silverstone, for example, with the different compound choices.
So any idea is good. Then we have to consider the pros and cons and come to
a final decision, so I don’t think it’s a missed opportunity, it’s just a
decision that was taken, involving the majority of the people.
Q: Mario, staying with you, it’s the first races for the 18 inch Formula 2
tyres last weekend. What feedback did you get from the teams and the
drivers?
MI: It was a very positive weekend, talking about Formula 2. We had great
racing. Comments from drivers were positive. The 18 inch tyres are different
compared to what they are used to drive but I believe that was a great
start. Last year we had some indication during the development that was a
very good product so happy to have these 18-inch tyres in Formula 2. We have
the possibility to collect useful data also for F1 in 2022. Obviously we are
talking about two completely different championships and cars but it’s nice
to see this product in a real race environment and not during a test, it’s
totally different so it’s good information for us.
Q: (Laurence Edmondson – ESPN) Another question to Claire: since the start
of the year, we’ve seen ROKIT disappear as your title sponsorship. Can you
give any more details on exactly how that relationship broke down and has it
left any shortfall in income that will actually impact the performance and
any updates coming to the car this year?
CW: As you would probably imagine, for legal reasons I can’t go into any
further detail around the termination of our ROKIT sponsorship except to say
that we terminated it and yet we fulfilled all of our contractual
obligations with ROKIT. Unfortunately, it was a fantastic partnership for us
at the beginning and we’re incredibly disappointed that we’re in this
situation but it is what it is and we have to move on. We have some very
clever people at Williams that manage our money and we’ve managed to secure
the funding in order to keep us racing this year so that doesn’t change. So
it has no impact on what we are able to do this season, whether that be with
regards to the upgrades that we had planned etc. But apart from that, I’m
afraid I can’t say a whole lot more.
Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Question for both team principals: we’ve had some
more races on the calendar added today but we don’t have a full schedule
confirmed yet. Obviously that’s where it’s got to be at the moment but is
there anything from a sporting perspective that you find difficult or
challenging from the basis that you started the season not knowing how many
points you’re actually racing for?
OS: Yeah, for sure it’s difficult to plan. I’ll give you an example: we’re
working hard on upgrading this car and it would be really nice to know the
entire schedule so you can plan your upgrades, as one example. But I think,
also, having triple headers… I remember a couple of years back we had one
and I think all the teams complained at that point. It was too difficult and
now it seems like they’re coming thick and fast. We have to get through this
period, I think it’s great that we’re adding races even if it is a triple
header we’ll figure out how to do it and like Claire said earlier, I think
the racing was fantastic in the first one that we had and I believe that
we’ll have some great racing throughout the year, even at the newer circuits
that we haven’t been to for a while.
CW: Yeah, I would just be echoing everything that Otmar said, I suppose. The
only thing that I would add is that clearly we’ve got challenges with the
new schedule. We’ve got racetracks that we don’t know, that we haven’t been
to. We can’t necessarily plan because we don’t know what races are coming
down the line later on in the season. We’ve got a rough estimate that we’re
working to but that obviously could change. But I suppose for us, the most
important thing, and certainly when we had come back from Australia and we
didn’t know what a potential season could look like, the very fact that we
are going racing, the very fact that F1 are working so hard to put as many
races on the calendar as possible, is really all the focus, certainly at
Williams, for a team like ours that is so wholly reliant on that prize fund
money, we need as many races on the calendar as possible, to just make sure
that that prize fund pot doesn’t get depressed even further than it has
already been over having lost the first - however many - eight races at the
beginning of this year, yes, there are challenges but we’re prepared to meet
them and do our best to work against those challenges in order to ensure
that we have as many races on the schedule as possible this season.
Q: Mario, on this topic, how much notice does Pirelli need prior to an
event?
MI: We made a schedule to agree with the FIA and FOM the time we need in
terms of weeks. It is not easy for us to produce and deliver the tyres in
time but obviously with this idea to have a fixed allocation, we are a bit
more flexible. We can start the production even if we don’t know the
calendar exactly so having a stock of tyres that is available we speed up
also the delivery of the tyres, we try to give our contribution to make it
possible, but as you can imagine, it’s a challenge.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racefans/racefans.net) To the two team principals: last
week Jean Todt said that they were visiting the Concorde Agreement
discussions last weekend. How involved have the two of you been in terms of
the Concorde Agreement recently and how hopeful are you that it will all be
signed fairly soon, so that Formula 1 has a direction for next year?
CW: I think prior to Australia and corona taking over, I think that we had
reached a fairly – certainly at Williams, anyway – a fairly good point with
the Concorde negotiations but corona has obviously put a pause on those
discussions, but I know that F1 are looking to put those up now sooner
rather than later and clearly to get that signed would be beneficial for the
sport as a whole but certainly for our team, particularly, based on the
situation that Williams is in at the moment, so we’re looking forward to
picking it up and moving it forward and closing it out sooner rather than
later, as I said.
OS: Recently there hasn’t been much activity around Concorde, not a lot of
work, but I anticipate that will change in the near future.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport.com) Claire, there were reports
recently that Toto Wolff has a five per cent shareholder in Williams, which
is a bit confusing because in 2016 it was communicated that he sold off all
his remaining shares and he has cut his final ties to Williams. Can you
clarify if those reports are correct and if yes, where does this
shareholding originate from?
CW: So the reports weren’t correct. Toto, as everybody knows, bought a
shareholding a long time back now, back in 2010 from Frank and Patrick. He
then, obviously, subsequently joined Mercedes and as part of that move he
obviously had to divest his shareholding. Brad Hollinger, who is one of our
minority shareholders at Williams and a non-exec director, bought the
majority of those shares from Toto but has not completed on that remaining
five per cent so they have returned to Toto’s hands. Toto has not bought new
shares in the business in the recent past or the near past. It was just an
issue with a transaction.
Q: (Philip Horton – Motorsportweek.com, via email) Claire, how pleasing was
it to be back racing again last weekend. Can you be confident that this
isn’t specific to one track and when are you planning to bringing your next
updates?
CW: I’m smiling under my mask at that question! Last weekend was a lovely
turning point for the team and I know I mustn’t get carried away, I know it
was race one, but we have talked for so many months now about the work that
we have been doing at the team, behind the scenes, to bring about that
change in performance. It’s been an incredibly difficult two years for
everybody at Williams, to keep turning up, I have to congratulated the team
both here and at the factory, because everybody has put in so much effort
and everybody particularly coming racing, it’s been incredibly difficult to
keep turning up, knowing that we wouldn’t get out of Q1, that there was no
chance of scoring points etc and so it was really wonderful to show the
world that we have delivered on our promises of bringing progress to our
team and to be able to close that gap to P8/P9. We have a long way to go
still but it certainly felt like exoneration on Sunday, that we had shown
that we had made a step forward. We’ve got work still to do, as I said, but
it just feels wonderful to go racing again. That’s why Williams is in this
sport, to race and to do that on Sunday was wonderful, as I said, and I hope
that we continue to do that over the balance of this season.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) For the two team principals on the COVID
protocol: we know how important these races are for both Formula 1 and the
teams financially, to get the season done. We’ve seen what appeared to have
been some breaches of the COVID protocol. I wondered how concerned either of
you are that this bubble may not hold up because of the actions of
individuals?
OS: That is a concern of mine. I make sure our team and we have other team
members as well – we brought our health and safety officer, for example, to
the first race to make sure that there are no breaches at all in our team.
It’s a difficult thing to do when you have 80 people to look after and you
just have to make sure that we communicate with them, they understand the
risks, they understand the reason for the protocols and once you have a good
understanding yourself it’s a lot easier to adhere to the protocols. First
and foremost, I try to do that with our team but secondly, I think the FIA
should look further and make sure that everybody is doing it. We saw, for
example, in some of the support race paddocks, they’re not quite as vigilant
as we are and then come into our paddock and… We all have to stay vigilant
because, like you say, if there is an outbreak here and we have to miss
races, that would be disastrous.
CW: Yeah, I don’t want to necessarily comment on any particular breaches. I
don’t think it’s my place to do so. All I can say is that in what Otmar has
said, we are doing the best that we can in our team to ensure that everybody
within Williams adheres to the protocols that have been put in place and
respects the guidelines. |
