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(Part One): Laurent Mekies (Ferrari),
Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing)
PART ONE
Q: It’s a very vibrant atmosphere out there, so let’s start with a question
to both of you: thoughts on racing in Mexico after two years away.
Christian HORNER: It’s great to be back, and great to be back with a Mexican
driver as well. The reception that the team have had, we’ve been out here
for a few days now, we did a running show car demonstration earlier in the
week and just the enthusiasm for Formula 1, for Checo, for the team, has
been fantastic. They’re such passionate people and it’s such a fantastic
venue with the atmosphere, with the stadium section and so on. I’m expecting
a lot of noise over the course of the weekend.
Laurent MEKIES: It’s fantastic to arrive here after Austin. I think we all
got nicely shocked by the 400,000 people in Austin, it reminded us how great
it was a couple of years ago and you come here and you feel the same warmth.
You’re just waiting to see the stadium completely full tomorrow and the next
day. We certainly missed it and we hope to see many of those now.
Q: Christian, let’s come back to you. Five races to go, what’s the mood in
the camp?
CH: The mood in the camp is good. It’s upbeat, it’s really enjoying this
championship and I think, coming off the back of Austin, it was a big result
for us, a big win, a double podium there as well, so there’s everything to
play for in both championships. Five to go, still a lot of points on the
board, a lot that can go right and can go wrong but the fact that we’ve got
ourselves into this position, the whole team has worked incredibly hard, not
just trackside but behind the scenes, and what’s going on in the factory,
the long hours and, under difficult circumstances at times with the whole
pandemic this year but yeah, it’s exciting, we’re loving taking this title
challenge on.
Q: The team has a fantastic record here in Mexico. How confident are you,
coming into the weekend?
CH: Well, you look at the record, we’ve won as many races as Mercedes have
here, so we’ve always performed reasonably well here, and we’ve had a couple
of victories but, as I said, this year, the form book, you can throw out of
the window because the difference between the two teams has been so tight at
pretty much all of the venues that we’ve been to so far. I see no reason for
that to be different here. It’s going to be about getting everything right
on the day, nailing qualifying, getting the start, the right strategy, the
right reliability and doing all the basics well. That’s going to be crucial
at this phase of the championship.
Q: What did you make of the Mercedes 1-2 in the first practice session?
CH: We can see that they ran a little bit higher power on their performance
laps and it’s a trait that we saw them do again in Austin a couple of weeks
ago. So, I think a positive first session for us, I think there’s areas of
the car that we can improve, it was very dirty and dusty, you can see it’s
still a little way off the pace we were doing a couple of years ago in the
equivalent session. So there are areas we can improve, things that we can
make the car perform a bit better around here and it’s a question of going
with the circuit as it rubbers-in, as it cleans up, because it’s not used a
great deal, that’s going to be a key factor.
Q: Now Christian, can I put a scenario to you? It’s Checo’s home race, it’s
leading on Sunday and Max Verstappen is second, would you deny Checo victory
in his home race?
CH: That’s an incredibly tough one. Our main objective is to win both
Championships, and both drivers know the task involved to achieve that – but
of course so many scenarios, what-ifs, can happen. It will depend where our
opponents are. You can’t rule it out, you can’t rule it in. Our preference
would be to see Checo, if Checo were in that position, to win his home race.
There’s no bigger result for any home driver – but as a team, we have to
keep an eye on both of these championships and know what’s at stake. This
race like any other has the same amount of points attributable to it and
therefore we treat it like any other race.
Q: This World Championship fight is being fought on and off the race track.
Do you think that’s inevitable? Toto Wolff and you are often exchanging
blows in the media. He even described you earlier this week as a protagonist
in a pantomime. What’s your reaction to that?
CH: Yeah, look, we all know Toto has a lot to say. I was quite flattered
actually, I mean, going called a protagonist, if you look at what the
definition of that means, I think you also need an antagonist to have a
protagonist. One could say that perhaps Toto fulfils that role pretty well –
or if it were a pantomime then the pantomime dame role might suit him but
look, it’s all about what goes on, on track. I think it’s a great
competition between the teams, it’s no-holds barred, pit walls going against
pit wall, drivers against drivers, engine suppliers against engine
suppliers, chassis against chassis. It’s fantastic. We’re loving it and
occasionally you’re going to get some flak thrown at you – but take it with
a pinch of salt and sometimes even as a compliment.
Q: Laurent, Charles was pretty confident yesterday about the car’s
performance here in Mexico. Do you share his optimism?
LM: I don’t know if you can call it optimism. I think what we see is that
the performance is getting more consistent, so the results are coming, also
in a more consistent way. So we come to a race track and have a better idea
of where we are going to stand. I think it gives everybody a better feeling
about how to go about the weekend. I think you can see it with Charles, I
think you can see it with Carlos, you can see it with the team. It gives
more confidence to work on the next steps. I think altogether, a little bit
like between Red Bull and Mercedes, we know it’s always going to be a matter
of going and getting the last few hundredths and few tenths to be topping
the midfield honours – but you know you are going to be in that fight, and I
think that’s what Charles and Carlos feel now.
Q: Going to be in the fight – but do you think you can mix it with Mercedes
and Red Bull here?
LM: No. I think the gap to Red Bull and Mercedes is too big. It doesn’t
change the focus on our objective, which is to try to get to just behind
them. This is what we are concentrating on and it still involves the chasing
of every single bit of performance we can, and that’s what the boys are
trying to do.
Q: Now what about this battle for P3 in the Constructors’ Championship with
McLaren. The gap is down to 3.5 points. How confident are you of getting
that position now?
LM: It’s a very good fight, McLaren have had a very strong season. They had
a great win in Monza, it’s a team that is pushing very hard and you know we
are happy to be in that fight. We don’t forget where we were last year. So,
the fact that we have managed to reconstruct to the extent that we can be in
that fight today is a good testimony on the progress made by the team on
that reconstruction. Now, the path is very long to get to where we want but
we think we will be in the fight until the very last races. It will be,
again, who is going to leave a little bit more on the table than the other
one – but we think it is very good training for the team. Hopefully we will
be in bigger battles in the future and what it means is we need to be able
to be at ease in these battles, to operate under pressure and to perform
under pressure – and I think for that, as a team, we take it as a fantastic
challenge to get to the next step.
Q: Fantastic challenge but what does P3 mean to Ferrari?
LM: I think it means turning into facts the progress that we are trying to
make, and that we believe we are making, so that’s what it is all about in
the end.
Q: What about the battle between your two drivers. They’re only separated by
5.5 points. Carlos described it yesterday as tense and too close to call.
How would you describe their battle?
LM: I don’t know if we can call it a battle. Of course these guys are very,
very competitive as they should be but I think we are enjoying at the moment
a level of interaction between our drivers and between our drivers and the
team that is at a very high level. We try to build on that advantage. They
are pushing very hard, pushing not only each other very hard but the team
very hard, always with the right spirit and we think that’s it’s something
that is giving us lap time and will give us more lap time in the future – so
I don’t think that battle will change anything to the spirit that is driving
all of us and altogether I can confidently say they are more focused on
getting the team to third place than on their own fight.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) For Christian please. There’s been some comments
knocking around this week that a Senna-Prost-type collision could determine
how this championship is won. Just wanted to get your response to that. Do
you think it could happen? Do you think the title could end up in bad blood?
CH: Yeah, I was disappointed to read in the comments that that was being
condoned. We want a really fair fight between now and the end of the
championship and I think any driver would want to win the championship on
track. We’re a team of racers and that’s… if we can pull off this feat – and
it’s a massive, massive task – then we wouldn’t want to win a championship
through a collision between the drivers. There’s been enough of those this
year already. I think what we saw in Austin was a great fight between two
drivers at the top of their game. I think a few more races like Austin
between now and the end of the year, I think the biggest winner will be
Formula 1. Nobody wants to see a championship decided in a gravel trap.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – motorsport.com) Question is for Christian. With
the Championship being wide open and Covid numbers on the rise again in
several countries, are there any extra precautions you are taking during
this phase of the championship compared to the summer to protect Max in
particular but also mechanics and engineers from potentially having to miss
a race?
CH: Yeah. Look, it’s always a present danger. You see in Europe the numbers
are continuing to increase, so we’re just trying to be prudent in the way
that we go about racing in these conditions. It’s something that we’ve done
since the pandemic has been around us and we’re just not letting, or
relaxing any of those protocols too much. It’s great to see fans coming back
in, and Austin felt like a normal race but we still have to adhere to some
of the protocols to protect the drivers and the whole team, so I think, as a
team, we’re sticking to that process.
Q: Laurent, could I just put that to you. Any extra precautions at Ferrari
with relation to Covid?
LM: You know, I think the biggest protection is what has been working
extremely well since last year. There are these FIA protocols, they are
proven to be working extremely well. We try to stick to it. We try to not to
get too relaxed and in the meantime you enjoy getting the public back into
the grandstands, you enjoy getting the guests back into the paddock but as a
team, we try to stick to this protocol. We know it is the best way to
protect us, we know it has worked and now it’s a matter of discipline.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To both panelists, could you tell us
first of all whether you’re going to have any kind of tow strategy and, if
so, which driver would get priority please?
LM: You know Dieter, we’ve done that a couple of times this year but it was
very much when we knew one of the drivers was going to have some sort of
grid penalties. I think otherwise it’s probably quite difficult to get right
around here if you are treating your drivers on an equal basis – and that’s
the case for us here. So, I don’t think there will be any great games
between our drivers this weekend for that. Again, it has worked in very
specific situations, we will use it again when we are in those situations
but hopefully we are not planning any grid penalties this weekend and
therefore we’ll go for a more conventional qualifying strategy.
CH: I think at this venue you’ve got as big a chance of screwing it up as
getting it right, so it’s not something that we’ve pursued previously here
and I think that both drivers will focus on doing the best qualifying they
can without tripping over each other or having the potential to trip over
each other so that’s a process we will stick to.
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Laurent, question for you. Ferrari has obviously
taken a huge stride forward this season compared to last year – I know you
guys very much focused on 2022 and returning to the front of the pack but
could you tell me how much the atmosphere has changed around Maranello? How
much differently are people acting given this season’s been a more
successful one compared to last year?
LM: Well, you know, I think the greatest signs of the reconstruction is that
even in the darkest moment of last year the team stayed very united, we know
we were in front of a huge task to turn things around and to get out of the
situation we were in – but even in this darkest moment the team was very,
very strong at sticking together. This year, despite the fact the
regulations were very restrictive in the amount of development you could do
into the car, we’ve seen some progress, it gave confidence, we’re brought
some more developments to the car, they have taken the car in the right
direction. It gave again some more confidence, so I think it’s a
reconstruction phase. The atmosphere, to answer your question, is fantastic.
In a way that there is this very, very strong team spirit that comes from
having gone through the huge difficulty of last year. There is this
incredible drive from Carlos and Charles, and therefore it’s a very, very
positive moment, at the moment to be in the fight for third place – but not
only the fight for the third place, it’s one of the answers this season but
it cannot be the only answer. More important is how much improvement we are
able to make and how many clean weekends we can deliver, one after the
other. We are coming from two strong races and we are hoping to keep
delivering at that level.
Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) A question for Christian. There has been lots of
talk about how Max has stood up to the intensity of the title fight and he
seems to be dealing with that really well. How would you compare the way he
has reacted to his first title fight to 11 years ago when you had Sebastian
Vettel going for his championship and winning it. There were a few mishaps
along the way for him. Do you think Max is dealing with it better as a
first-time title contender than Sebastian did or are there very big
differences in the situations?
CH: It feels quite different. I mean, Sebastian’s championship challenge, we
had a great car but we kept having bad luck, you know, engine blow-ups and
offs and so Sebastian actually wasn’t… he never led the championship until
after the final flag in Abu Dhabi. There were four drivers competing for
that world championship that year and four drivers at the final race that
could have won it. So, Sebastian’s challenge felt different, we had a strong
car, arguably a car advantage that year, but we had quite a few issues
reliability-wise that compromised him. With Max, it’s been so tight between
the two drivers, toing and froing from pretty much that first race in
Bahrain and I think that it’s been an intense battle between the two of them
and I think the way Max has handled that has been totally commendable. It’s
his first time in this situation in Formula 1 but he’s just sticking to his
principles, the way he races, the way he drives and he’s got five or six
seasons behind him now of experience, which he is using to great effect.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – Motorsport.com) Question to both of you
representing engine manufacturers. In terms of future regulations, what are
the remaining stumbling blocks around the table and is it realistic to
expect the December World Council to sign off the regulations?
CH: There are a few open points that need bottoming out. I think one of
things that concerns me is the removal of dyno hours, restrictions for the
new engine in 2026 and I think that would be a big mistake, so just relying
purely on the budget cap is too much pressure on that element of the
regulations. It’s something that was in the regulations and has been removed
and needs to go back in. I think the rest of the regulations are making good
progress and inevitably there are always some elements that do need tidying
up. But there has been constructive discussion with the FIA and hopefully
the remaining issues that are on a relatively short list now can be
addressed before that December World Council meeting.
Q: Laurent?
LM: I think the discussions have been very good between the FIA, F1, the
teams, the PU manufacturers, everybody is trying to push very hard to get
something for the World Motor Sport Council. I think it’s unavoidable… you
know, you will never get something that you would consider as finished
regulations at the moment but at least something that is a good milestone
that you can build on in the following weeks and months so I don’t think
there is a hard line there, I think it is a good occasion to get the path
better defined and I am sure there will be more iterations after that.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) A question for Christian: I don’t know if
you were able to watch yesterday’s conference with the drivers or whether
you have had any feedback but Sebastian said that “even if team orders are
logically very easy to explain, I still think it’s bad and I would be in
favour of not having any team orders ever”. If you cast your mind back to
Multi-21 plus, I believe, various others do you have any comment on that,
please?
CH: It’s a difficult one, you know there are different circumstances…
Sebastian has benefited and been on the receiving end of team orders. Team
orders are part of the sport being a team sport. Formula 1 isn’t just about
the drivers, the drivers are one element of the team. They’re contractors,
they have a contract for the team and the Constructors’ Championship has
equal or more weight to it. Perhaps not the prestige but that’s where the
money is paid out. So when you were asking Laurent about the benefit of
being third versus it’s sort of a few million quid. The benefit is there as
well. So, drivers are part of the team and you know we operate as a team and
that’s why team orders sometimes are necessary for the best interests of the
sport and I’ve got no doubt you will see more and more of that at the sharp
end of this championship over the remaining five races. We’ve seen it to
date and we will see, as teams are going up against each other, whether it’s
for first in the Drivers’ or Constructors’ or P3 in the Constructors’ or
whatever battles are going on beyond that. Formula 1 is a team sport and
everybody has their role to play as part of that team.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Christian, there has been quite a bit of needle
between you and Toto this season and I’ve seen earlier this week he referred
to you as a protagonist in a pantomime. I just wondered to… just
historically, when Red Bull first came in you were referred to as the fizzy
drink company. I wondered how much real needle there is between the two of
you and how much satisfaction it would give you if you do ultimately win
these championships?
CH: To be honest with you as far as we are concerned it is all noise. It all
depends on what you do on the track and if you can do your talking on the
track then that has way more weight and value. Toto likes to throw in a
comment here or there and that’s part of the needle, that’s part of the
sport. He’s got a lot at stake. He’s going for an eighth world championship
with his driver. We are going for a first with Max and to add to the titles
we have already won. Formula 1 is a competition and as the pressure builds
you see people react to pressure in different ways. We are at the business
end of that championship now and you can feel the tension and that will only
grow the longer this goes on. So if Toto wants to make a comment or two, I’m
fine with that. It’s pantomime season coming up anyway, so it is what it is.
Q: Is there mutual respect between you, Christian?
CH: I have no issue with Toto. I think he has done a great job there in a
team he inherited. Yeah of course there is respect, Mercedes are a
phenomenal team. They have achieved great things and there is of course a
respect between the two teams. But it is a competition. You can’t just
accept… if we roll over and accept that Mercedes win every race, it’s pretty
boring… Why do we turn up? We are here to go racing. We want to take the
championship. We have been fighting to get into this position to take the
fight to Mercedes for you know seven long seasons now and of course we have
got ourselves into a competitive position, we want to make sure that we do
our very, very best to convert this between now and the end of the year. It
will be by far our biggest achievement in Formula 1 if we manage to do that
in either of the championships.
Q: And equally, if you don’t convert it, how much will it hurt?
CH: Losing hurts. If it doesn’t hurt, go and do something else. If anybody
is happy about finishing second they are in the wrong job. Sport is about
winning and we are a hungry team, we are a race team and we have worked hard
to get into this position and we have had a phenomenal year so far – nine
race wins, however many podiums, I think 17 odd podiums, some great wins
along the way – but it’s where you finish at the end of the year that really
counts and everybody is very hungry for this and enjoying it. The most
important thing is to enjoy the competition as well. So, if it winds Toto up
a bit, that’s fine by us.
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Christian, looking ahead to next year and Red
Bull Powertrains. Wanted to know how plans are going with that. You have the
work going on at the campus, and similar to the question I asked Laurent, in
terms of the atmosphere at the team both with this title fight and with the
evolution to basically becoming your own power supplier next season, how are
things at the team?
CH: It’s a really exciting phase in Red Bull’s history, I mean, as we
created the Powertrains business, the factory is gathering pace, we are into
week 32 of the build of the facility. That is really taking shape and it
will be operational in spring next year. Each week we are welcoming
newcomers into the team. We are seeing some great talent from many different
areas and different parts of the sport and it’s hugely exciting to be
building this team, and the challenge is massive. The challenge to design
and manufacture our own engine for 2026 is enormous and we are very grateful
to Honda for coming to an agreement for us to be able to use their
technology as we go into the frozen period. Again, it was important for us
that the regulations were becoming crystallised for 2026 to give us that
time to get ourselves up to speed to take on the might of these guys to my
right who have been building engines for 70 years in Formula 1. But we are
going about it in just the same way as we have with the chassis and I think
that what’s so refreshing is that there is so much positivity around the
factory at the moment, and this project with the power unit, taking control
of our own future, bringing it in house, being the only team other than
these guys that have engine and chassis on one campus is an enormous
opportunity and tremendously exciting and one that we are relishing, so the
atmosphere is sky high. The facility is getting better all the time, we work
hard to look after our people and we have been flattered by the amount of
approaches that we have had to come and work for Red Bull in Formula 1.
(Part Two): Franz TOST (AlphaTauri), Laurent
ROSSI (Alpine)
PART TWO
Q: Can we start by getting your thoughts on being back in Mexico City after
two years away. Laurent, perhaps we could start with you?
Laurent ROSSI: Well, it’s always nice. It’s good to have races all over the
world beyond just old Europe. It’s quite aligned with the fact that the
sport is growing globally. It’s a nice race.
Franz TOST: I was also looking forward to coming here to Mexico because it’s
a very exciting track and with a very special atmosphere. There are so many
fans here in Mexico. They are really knowing what’s going on in Formula 1
because of the history with the Rodríguez brothers and now with Pérez and
they understand Formula 1, you can see this on the grandstands. This stadium
is something special, which brings another atmosphere into the sport and I
think it’s fantastic to be here and as far as I know the grandstands are
full, like it was in Austin, and that’s good for Formula 1.
Q: Laurent, positive morning, splitting the two Ferraris. What are the
drivers saying about the car here?
LR: Not much. The track was so dirty that we basically set only one good
time more time, which was at the very end of the session. It’s hard to read
into anything here, I mean we are happy not two seconds off the pace from
the leaders. We are happy we are back somewhere where we normally belong.
But it’s hard to read right now, so we would need the FP2 and FP3 sessions.
Q: You say it’s good to be back where you normally belong. After a tricky
weekend in Austin, how important is it for the team to bounce back with some
points here?
LR: Well, it’s super important, because Franz next door is not going to
leave me alone until the end of the season, so we really need to get back on
our A-game. We knew Austin from the beginning would be difficult because the
bumps are hurting everyone but especially us in terms of traction, that is
our weakness I would say, rear traction, so we basically didn’t enjoy
ourselves so much there but we knew that once we go back into more
classical, normal, regular conditions then it’s game on and we are back on
track. So that’s the good news.
Q: Can we talk more about this battle with AlphaTauri for P5. Ten points the
difference. Are you starting to feel the heat?
LR: Yeah, well it’s nice, it’s racing. It would be quite boring otherwise,
but yes, it’s going to be probably a very nice dance until the end of the
season. We are fighting for small points. The others seem to have hoarded
the first eight positions, so we are probably going to have an intense fight
until the last race.
Q: In your view, who has the faster car at the moment?
LR: I would say it’s us.
Q: And how important is P5 for you in the bigger picture?
LR: Well it’s important because we want to just keep some moment going.
Simply. We were P5 last year, we’re reaching the end of an era and this car
is probably on its knees so we just want to keep the momentum going. The
team has done an outstanding job during the year, scoring 15 races in a row,
which is a great testament to the great work put there, so if only for that,
to reward them for this huge work, despite a rather challenging car, P5 is
important, yes.
Q: Talking more generally about 2021, what do you feel has worked in the
team and what hasn’t? Earlier this week, you said in an interview that you
wouldn’t rule out a possible change of management, for example.
LR: Well, what I mean by that is that this year the team has achieved all of
the details outside of the car performance itself, which obviously they
focus on every race. We’ve decided that we will never let go of any tenth or
hundredth, that would be hidden in anything else, like operation strategy
and so forth and so on, so this is great because they actually improved
greatly on all accounts, like operationally, strategically and so forth and
so on so that has worked very well. Now we are reaching also a plateau in
performance. The team has, I think, done a great work in the past, bringing
Renault back from P9 to P5, P5/P4 where we belong. Arguably we’ve become
amongst the best of the rest but now to get to the best – that’s it – you
need a bit of a different probably structure so I’m still deciding, I’m
still assessing and there might be changes coming at the end of the season
but for now, the team is fully focused on finishing this season strong and
defending the fifth position.
Q: Franz, can we start by talking about this battle with Alpine in the
Constructors’ championship? Is it easier being the hunter than the hunted?
Franz TOST: I would prefer to be in front but it’s how it is. We are 10
points behind and as Laurent just said, it will become an interesting fight
until the end of the season.
Q: How confident are you of catching Alpine?
FT: I’m quite confident because I think we have a faster car. We have two
fantastic drivers and therefore I’m optimistic that they can achieve this
goal.
Q: Now, you say you have two fantastic drivers; I did want to ask you about
Yuki because his recent results suggest he’s made some good progress. Is
that the reality of the situation?
FT: Yes, that’s the reality of the situation. Yuki is improving and is
getting better and better. He’s always better understanding the engineering
side of the car and he has a lot of meetings with his engineers in Faenza to
get a better picture about everything, to get a better feeling, also in the
car, what’s going on and to get a better understanding. This is the work
which you have to do with a rookie driver in the first year and I was
surprised this morning by his performance because you must not forget he is
here for the first time and he showed really a good run in FP1 and I hope
that he can continue during the weekend, although he must start from the
back of the grid, because we changed the power unit but with this
performance, he can overtake, quite optimistic that he can also score some
points.
Q: Why have you decided to change his power unit here?
FT: Because the other power unit ran out of mileage and we thought that
here, Mexico, is the best possibility for all the components which we
analysed and took together. I personally would have preferred Sao Paulo
because I am a little bit worried about the climate situation here in Mexico
but the engineers think this was the best choice which we could make.
Q: And a quick word on Pierre please? What was he saying about the car in
FP1?
FT: He was quite happy with the car, a little bit understeering there or
maybe in the last corners, the rear tyres were a little bit overheating but
generally... he lost some tenths, but generally he was quite happy with the
car and he thinks that the car’s working good.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Laurent, when the team was taken over
from Lotus in the Carlos Ghosn days, he set a three year target for world
championship glory. That’s now been extended my yourself I believe by 100
Grands Prix which adds another four or five years to that. In total, it will
have been almost 20 years since team Enstone won a world championship. What
has taken Renault so long to get back to grips with Formula 1?
LR: Well, I wouldn’t add those periods like that. We all know that in the
past seven years everyone has been a glorious loser besides Mercedes, so the
comment is worse for everyone. What happened with the team in the past few
years, that we were still in an unbridled environment where you could just
come in and pour money at… throw money at problems. That was not helping.
Besides the support of Renault was not always easy to read in terms of long
term because Renault, as you perhaps know, is going through difficult times.
We’re getting out of it now, hopefully, so now we have a bit more of a
stability, bit more of a runway and also more clarity on the fact that the
investments are going to be more of less similar to others, so it’s going to
be down to efficiency, experience, savvy-ness, other criteria, so I would
say this new plan, we intend on fully delivering it and it should be less
disturbed than in the past when, like I said, you could just decide that one
year you’re going to dwarf everyone else with massive investment.
Q: Laurent, this roadmap of 100 races; is it 100 races to win the World
title or just to challenge for the World title?
LR: Both. We want to challenge, we want to be back on the top of the podium,
we want to be a strong contender for victory and if we get enough victories
of course want to claim the world title. We’re not shy of claiming it.
Renault has a lot of titles to its name, especially as a power unit
manufacturer but also as a team. We have, I believe, all it takes to get
back there. It’s going to be a tight fight, for sure, we’re not alone, but
we believe it’s really feasible.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Follow-up to what Dieter was asking really.
This version of the Renault works team originally had the idea, I think, was
five years when it rejoined to be in a position to fight at the front again.
Obviously it’s now had the rebrand and this is the Alpine era, effectively,
so I was just wondering, Laurent, do you consider this almost a …not a total
reset of that original plan for this era of the Renault works team but is it
something where, because of all the things that are changing behind the
scenes, you do have to view this completely separately to the entity that
rejoined the grid back in 2016?
LR: Yeah, no it’s not at all a reset. It would be too easy for me to get
away for me to get away from the question like that. We are building on
solid foundations that have been erected in the past four/five years so it’s
an evolution and we take advantage of a totally new context. The costs are
going to be capped, regulations are changing, everyone is starting from
scratch, almost. This is why we believe that yes, it’s not the same as the
past but we are building with the team that brought Renault back from ninth
to fifth or fourth and now it’s Alpine but it’s still the group Renault
behind and so I would say it’s for me an evolution under very different
conditions and again, I feel like we have a card to play here.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) Franz, is it true that Alexander Albon is
coaching Yuki and if so, in what ways is he coaching and have you seen any
results yet?
FT: It’s true. Alex comes to Yuki, talks with him, explains him the track,
whatever Yuki is asking and you know, it’s a talk between drivers and I
think that’s quite positive for Yuki, because he gets a lot of knowledge
from Alex and therefore it’s seen as very positive.
Q: While we’re talking young drivers, Laurent, can I come back to you? Is
there any news on the futures of Guanyu Zhou or Oscar Piastri?
LR: It’s all under discussion at the moment so I can’t really disclose but
there’s going to be outcomes for the both of them in the following weeks, I
guess.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Laurent, in your remit as Alpine’s CEO, I
wondered how much have you been looking at things on the race team side and
how much on the engine side as well? Obviously earlier this year, you took
the decision with Remi Taffin to split but there’s obviously quite a lot to
go over there, plus the two parts of the Alpine-Renault organisation, so how
have you attacked that because you haven’t had a huge amount of time to go
over it I suppose in this first season so far?
LR: Yeah, try and tackle them with equal time which is hard because for the
most part of the year, it was difficult for me to go to Enstone but I still
have like many points of contact in Enstone and many views on what’s
happening there from meetings and on the track as well. I decided to make a
couple of changes in order to get on par with where we should be on the
engine side. Renault has been in Formula 1 for 45 years continuously as a PU
manufacturer and a quite successful one so I decided we needed to make a bit
of change to recover our former performance and glory, if I may say. And on
the track side, pretty happy with what’s been shown this year, and in
Enstone, plenty of good things, plenty of things that we can improve so I’m
basically going left and right, up and down, looking at everything and
that’s why I said it’s going to take me a full season probably to have a
better view – never complete, but a better view of the situation and where
we can improve, evolve, correct things to pretend at being one of the best
teams.
Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To both of you, what sort of effect has
the high altitude of Mexico City had on your cars, your engines etc? Have
you been able to pick something up off the data, particularly in comparison
to the opposition or competition?
FT: I didn’t get this question to be honest.
Q: How is the altitude affecting the car here?
FT: Less drag because the air is thinner. No. Of course there are
differences here in Mexico, as we can see that all the cars are out with
much more downforce and especially from the power unit mapping, you have to
take care for this, for the turbo, not to over-rev it and also brake ducts
where you have to put on bigger ones, at least we did it to survive and
these are the main points.
LR: Yeah, well, that’s physics so I’m not going to say anything very
different from Franz. Indeed, the turbos are spinning faster to compensate
for the 20-25 percent less oxygen in their air. That changes the mapping but
we know how to tackle that. Then of course, it depends how do you degrade
the performance versus others: less cooling, different geometry for the
cooling, all of those things. More downforce but still some high speed. It’s
a very interesting track in this because we are using tricks that are
normally reserved to different types of tracks and it just provides
something different which is also what makes Mexico quite exciting because
it’s a bit unique in this sense.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Franz, just on Alex and working with Yuki;
was that something that sort of happened organically, because Alex is within
the red Bull family or was it something that you and Red Bull thought that
Yuki would specifically benefit from this so you asked Alex to get a bit
more involved?
FT: Alex is in the Red Bull family and you know, he didn’t have so many free
weekends because he was running in the German touring car championship and
we said when he is at the track, then he should support Yuki and we told
Yuki, please ask him questions that he can help you with, to understand
everything better and it worked very good. |
