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TEAM REPRESENTATIVES Tim GOSS
(Racing Bulls), Frédéric VASSEUR (Ferrari), Andrea STELLA (McLaren)
Q: Andrea, why don't we start
with you? It's not a home race for McLaren, but it is a home race for you.
You must have great memories of Emilia, and I'm thinking of battles when you
were at Ferrari between Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. Just tell us
how special this one is for you.
Andrea STELLA: Oh yeah, definitely a
special venue. I work in Formula 1, but I also have quite a lot of passion
for Formula 1, and Imola resonates with this passion. Let me say, first of
all, from a circuit point of view – the layout, the fast, flowing and narrow
track – you don't find many like it. Suzuka is another one. Quite
unforgiving; as soon as you make a mistake, it can be quite penalising. The
going up and downhill. I think it's great for the drivers, it's great for
the fans, and we do hope that this venue will stay as part of the calendar
for the future because this would be fantastic for Formula 1. You talked
about memories, and you mentioned the battles with Fernando Alonso. Yes,
they were very interesting and, interestingly, they were opposite sides in
2005 and 2006. So, it goes back in the years, but I would like to take this
opportunity – especially for the younger fans – to go and take a look at
those two races, 2005 and 2006, because that was, I think in both cases, one
of the closest races we have had in dry conditions. For me, a couple of
additional memories – 2003, this Imola, I'm particularly attached to that
race, because it was the season changer in the championship with Michael
Schumacher. After a difficult start, we won here in Imola. I do remember
that weekend very well, like it was yesterday, and then the season changed
after that success. The final one is the winter testing of 2004. At the
time, you could still take two cars of different seasons, and we had the
2003 and 2004 cars here in Imola, and they were going around at the same
time – one driven by Michael and one driven by Rubens – and we realised that
we had a super car in hand for 2004 because the lap time and the consistency
of that car was great. So, a lot attached to this circuit, definitely from
me. I would like to take advantage, if you allow me – and hopefully I'm not
abusing all my time – as we talked about memories, to pay tribute to
Fabrizio Borra. Fabrizio, I got to know him as Fernando Alonso’s physio in
2010. Since then, we have shared a journey in Formula 1. He has always been,
since then, a great friend to me. Fabrizio was a person of dedication and
generosity – a person that applied this dedication and generosity to the
people, but also to the subject that he was the expert on. For me, I
remember all the chats with Fabrizio – I learned a lot from him. He has been
not only the physio and the reference for Fernando Alonso but also Gianmarco
Tamberi, a gold medallist in high jump, and Marco Pantani in cycling – just
to say the versatility of this individual. So, it's a big, big loss. We are
all very sad. All our thoughts are with the family, and definitely I want to
thank you for giving me the opportunity to pay tribute to Fabrizio.
Q: Thank you for those kind words. Quick performance question now. You
talked about a supercar in the 2004 Ferrari. Clearly the 2025 McLaren can be
talked about in a similar vein. Talk to us about Miami and the dominance you
had there. Do you understand why you were so far ahead?
AS: Talking about
Miami, I think we are understanding the strengths of the MCL39, which
overall is a competitive car, but in some conditions it seems to have a
certain advantage over the rest of the field. These conditions materialised
very well in Miami with the track layout, the speed range, the ambient
temperatures. But we know very well that in some other kinds of circuits
like Saudi or Japan, it's a different story. Everything gets quite a lot
tighter. So, hopefully we will be able to retain this characteristic and
this advantage over the course of the season. But I think this will require
the car to be developed, to be upgraded, because we see that no one is
waiting, no one is standing still. We see upgrades being brought trackside
by our competitors. We do plan to upgrade the MCL39 and try and, if
anything, possibly make the car even more suitable for a wider range of
conditions and cornering speed.
Q: Final one from me: Oscar Piastri
was sitting where you are yesterday. He talked about marginal gains and the
improvements he's made since last year. He said he's looked in every column
of performance but gave no more specifics than that. Where have you seen
Oscar improve?
AS: Well, I think the most important improvement, if
anything, is that Oscar has become a faster driver. I think when you are a
faster driver then you have more opportunity, more time to process, more
bandwidth to process things. And this is true when you are in the car, and
this is also true when you are outside the car. Because the speed is there –
let's process all the other marginal gains that will then then, at the end
of the weekend, constitute the performance that you need to have the kind of
results that he's having at the moment. In addition to that, over the
winter, there's been a very specific amount of work that has gone – has paid
attention to different areas. It's been quite holistic. While Oscar is
definitely the main one to praise for these developments, I would like to
mention the team around Oscar – his engineers and all the support from the
factory with all the analysis – and even the team, Mark Webber, that works
with Oscar. He's definitely a great source of thoughts, insight and
identification of opportunities. So, there's quite a lot of work behind this
progress. But ultimately, hats off to Oscar who has been able to capitalise.
Q: Fred, let's come to you next. Definitely a home race for Ferrari. Can
we start with that? How much of a shot in the arm is it for the team just to
see the tifosi in their thousands?
Frédéric VASSEUR: Yeah, but it's
always a special one. A bit like Monza. This one is different because it's
even closer to the factory. A lot of people of the team live in Bologna or
even closer to the track, and this is a special place for sure. But at the
end of the day, we have to approach the race in the same way as the others
and try to do the best job that we can. It’s perhaps an extra pressure, but
we have to take this as a positive – as a push more than something else. And
to see all the fans and the tifosi in the grandstands is, for sure, an extra
motivation.
Q: Has Lewis commented about it? Is he feeding off the
support?
FV: Yeah. Even this week, you know, from the factory – from
Monday onwards – we had people outside the factory in front of the gate.
This is a huge push for the drivers also. They were there in the morning
when the drivers arrived, and they were there waiting until the evening.
That means... I want to take it – and I think the driver is doing the same –
to take it as extra motivation and a good push.
Q: Let's talk
performance now. You said yesterday that there have been occasions this year
where you've left the Grand Prix feeling you haven't extracted the maximum
from the car. Just how much potential does it have and why is it proving so
difficult to get that performance?
FV: I think except McLaren, who are
flying, we are all in the same situation – sometimes we are in a more or
less good shape, and sometimes not. If you have a look at our performance, I
think in Jeddah in the race we were in a very strong position – we did a
very strong race – and in Miami, it was not the case at all. It means we
have to understand this and make better usage of the car and the tyres if we
want to be more consistent and try to catch up a little bit with McLaren.
Q: You mentioned Miami. It was a frustrating race for the team on many
levels. You've had a bit of distance from it now. Let's start with the radio
traffic. What lessons were learned about that?
FV: We don’t have to learn
something. I took a decision – I think it was a good one – and then we
explained the decision to the drivers. We checked the end and the chapter
was closed. The chapter is still open for you, but not for me.
Q:
Alright, well, let’s throw it forward to Monaco. Charles dominated that race
last year. How much confidence do you go to the principality with next week?
FV: It’s not a matter of being confident when you go somewhere, it’s a
matter of doing a good job and to prepare very well the event. We know that
Monaco is a one-off, a special one. But the situation is a bit different
compared to last year. We have to do the best for Monaco, but exactly the
same way we’re trying to do the best in Imola. Everybody will push for
Monaco – not because it’s a special one that we have to do more or better.
We are all trying to push at every single event of the season. For Charles,
it’s a bit different because he’s at home. But I think now 85% of the
drivers are at home in Monaco. It’s not anymore the case of the past. But
for Charles, it’s a special one – for sure it is – but we don’t have to pay
too much attention to this. We just have to prepare the event in the best
way.
Q: Tim, let's come to you now. Welcome to the FIA press
conference. Nice to be back at a team having done a stint at the FIA?
Tim
GOSS: Thank you very much. Yeah... No, no, don’t laugh, Fred! My time at the
FIA was fantastic, to be honest. You know, it was a real pleasure and an
honour actually to be helping, with the teams, to run the sport, as well as
shaping the future of the sport. And it’s a fantastic place to be. You get
to learn a lot of what's going on. You feel that you're giving a lot back in
terms of the direction of the sport. But you miss the passion and the
competitiveness, and ultimately that draws you back into a team. There's
nothing that beats being there – designing, developing a car, competing,
building a team and an organisation that can work across disciplines, across
locations in our case. So, no – ultimately, it's the excitement and the
passion. When the red lights go out, there’s something that you’re invested
in, as opposed to just watching.
Q: You use the word competitiveness.
This year's car is clearly a very good one. How much potential do you think
it has?
TG: Certainly, we learned a lot from last year's upgrades – what
worked and what didn’t – learned a lot about how we worked together, how we
made those choices, what characteristics were important, and we went about
the 2025 car in a slightly different way. We also recognised during 2024
that our race pace wasn’t good enough. We were qualifying well but spent our
races defending rather than consolidating our position. We built on those
learnings over the winter and concentrated on providing a car that not only
had load improvement but had a platform the race engineers could access more
effectively – in terms of set-up and controllability from the car – and that
allowed the drivers to get more out of the operating envelope. That in
itself is not news to any Formula 1 team, but you have to try to get the
balance of getting those characteristics right against ultimate load. I
think we learned a lot out of 2024 and early 2025 and reaped the rewards
with this car.
Q: Quick one on Isack Hadjar. You've worked with many
drivers in your career. How impressed are you by what he's done so far this
year?
TG: Yeah, very impressed. We’ve got two very young drivers – two
rookies. Clearly, they’re very capable coming out of Formula 2, but they
have a lot to learn – both in terms of the practicalities of going racing
and how to get the most out of these cars. You don’t just go and drive them.
You have to manage out-laps in terms of preparing the car, the tyres. You
have to manage tyres during a race.
I’d like to say we’re experts at
training rookies, but essentially that’s one of our roles here in the Red
Bull family. We take a lot of care in trying to get it right and put a lot
of effort into it. Isaac has really impressed us. Right from the start, he’s
picked up things quickly. He’s been on the case from the start. And he’s
been quick. Put him up against Yuki, who at the beginning of the season was
really on it – had a really good winter, was focused, driving particularly
well, which is obviously why he got the call-up, and Isack was there with
him right from the start. So, very impressed.
QUESTIONS FROM THE
FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – Racing News 365) Question for you, Andrea.
Since McLaren pushed its way to the front, started winning races, won the
Constructors’ Championship last year, various rivals have made claims
against the team as to why the performance is so strong – wing flexing,
water cooling of the tyres, for example. But you’ve always been cleared. Do
you draw any satisfaction from the fact that those rivals have yet to unlock
the secrets of this year’s McLaren?
AS: Let’s say I would like to adapt
the angle of your question in trying to answer on this topic, which can be
answered in different ways. For us, it’s good news when our rivals get their
focus – rather than on themselves – onto some of the aspects that allegedly
are present in our car, and that effectively are not even present. And
certainly, even if they were – let’s say, flexi-wings like a front wing
deflection, like everyone else – it has nothing to do with the reason why
McLaren is very competitive. So, I hope that in the future there will be
more of these kinds of sagas because it means that our rivals keep focusing
on the wrong things, and this is, for us, just good news. It’s just helping
our quest.
Q: (Diletta Colobo – Automoto.it) A question for the three
of you. What do you think of Carlos Sainz Senior’s potential bid for the FIA
presidency?
FV: I have huge respect for Carlos Senior – and Carlos Junior
also – but Carlos Senior, I worked with him a couple of times in my life.
But then I don’t want to enter into any position – it’s not my job to take a
position on the election. I have due respect for him, but it’s another
matter.
AS: To be honest, I don’t have much to comment. I think it’s a
matter that has a lot of subtleties. What’s important for me is that we have
a good process, and that this will lead to the best interests of the FIA and
F1. It’s very, very important that we have proper governance and great
leadership from the institution that leads this sport.
TG: Yeah, from my
side – I mean obviously I’ve got recent experience at the FIA. Everything I
was involved with was mainly outside of the presidential activities and the
Senate. What I can say is that from my experience there, the governance side
of it under Nicolas and Tim Malyon in Sporting, and François Sicard and now
Yann [Monchaux] replacing me… that’s a great team. And it is a very
difficult job, but they do a really fantastic job of it. Not just going on
their own – sometimes you actually have to force things through – but most
of the time we tried to work very collaboratively with the teams. But on
Carlos Sainz, I’m afraid I don’t know him particularly well, so I can’t
really comment.
Q: (Umberto Zapelloni – Gazetta dello Sport) Question
for Andrea Stella. Andrea, is there a moment in which you will give a team
order to Oscar and Lando, or will they always be free to fight each other?
AS: The matter of the internal competition between our two drivers is a
matter that we face using our racing principles and approach. These
principles have been put together not only by the team itself, but also with
the contribution of the drivers. It’s very much based on several good
conversations we’ve had as we’ve been going through this journey together.
These principles and this approach – which I’m not going to disclose, just
for a matter of protecting our IP – so far have worked very well. They would
not be working so well if we didn’t have two drivers like Oscar and Lando
who, not only are they very fast on track, but they’re also two great
individuals. I’ve seen this several times. I see it in the way they race.
There may be situations in which we are challenged as a team, in which the
internal competition gets very tight. We might have to give some direction
from the pit wall. And actually, internally we don’t even say “if,” we say
“when,” because the business is so complex – Formula 1 is so difficult –
that you will have this situation. But for me, what’s important is that we
stick with these principles and this approach, and that we react as a team
in the most constructive way – something that, having Lando and Oscar on
board, makes me quite confident will be the case.
Q: (Leovid Kliuev –
GrandePrêmio.com.br) Question for Andrea. McLaren has a good chance of
winning both championships this year, but how do you plan to manage the
performance as others – probably yourself too – will switch more and more to
the 2026 car?
AS: I think the way we are managing this – to be honest, I
don’t expect it to be very different from what’s happening in the other nine
teams. We are still definitely keeping interest and momentum on this year’s
car because, like I said before, we are not giving anything for granted. We
need to improve the car, especially in some conditions, and we are planning
to do so with some upgrades.
At the same time, there’s so much to do on
the 2026 car that, pretty much from the second of January, we were working
on the 2026 car. At the moment, we’ve been trying to use the resources we
have in the most logical and efficient way. At some stage, we will shift our
focus entirely to 2026. But definitely, even if the championships are in a
good position, we have not given up attention on this year’s car.
Q:
(Carlo Platella – FormulaPassion.it) Andrea, you remembered the 2004 test
when you realised how big the step forward was compared to the previous
year. Did you have a similar feeling this year in any particular situation?
AS: You know, we need to go back to 2004. That car won 12 of the first 13
races with Michael, and the only one we lost was because Michael crashed
with Montoya under the tunnel in Monaco, while Montoya was actually one lap
down during a safety car. Otherwise, likely we would have won 13 out of 13.
That’s a reference that I actually often use even to motivate myself – like,
that’s where we want to be. But I don’t think this will happen this year.
So, there is hard work ahead of us to make sure this happens in the years to
come. I think we are a few steps behind compared to those kinds of
references.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Andrea, another one for
you – Tim or Fred if you want to chip in by all means. Monaco is going to
mandatory two stops from next week. How much extra effort has had to go into
preparations for that? How much of a change do you think it's actually going
to make on the race, and how many curveballs do you think it could provide
for the field?
AS: In fairness, you approach it in the same way, with the
same tools, with the same kind of thought process compared to how you would
approach an event. Let’s say simply, you just have more constraints, so you
have to make some adaptations in terms of how you approach this. But in
itself, I think it's interesting. After the race we had last year, a little
bit of change is an interesting aspect. So, I welcome these kinds of
changes. Actually, I think it will be trickier in wet conditions. So, for
dry conditions, I think it's just interesting. For wet, it could create some
situations that may be a little awkward. But we look forward to it and, like
I say, I welcome the change.
TG: Yeah, I’d probably echo that. It’s going
to change things, but we just work through it with our normal strategy
tools. For us, it’s just another constraint. Hopefully, the main purpose of
it is to make the race more exciting. What we don’t want is one-stops and
processions. And I welcome the effort that went into it. There were lots and
lots of things that were suggested. We’ve been talking about it for many,
many years, and I think really, if it does work out as a success, then
congratulations to the teams, the FIA and Formula 1 that worked together to
come up with the package and the idea.
Q: (Jon Noble – The Race) To
Andrea – on the advantage your team’s got in terms of managing tyre
temperatures. There seems to be a kind of obsession with people finding a
magic bullet solution, but would it be fair to say there are lots of
elements that combine on this – downforce, suspension kinematics, all that
sort of thing? And if that is the case, does that mean it will take your
rivals quite a while to catch up because they’ve got to deal with many, many
aspects?
AS: I would like to give the wrong answer here so that I put all
our rivals down the wrong route. The only thing I can say is that for me,
over the years in Formula 1, I’ve learned that you have to focus on yourself
and focus on the fundamentals. I think when you get too distracted by what
the others are doing, it's normally an alarm bell that you ring in your
factory and should remind you to go back to the basics. So, I’m afraid I’ve
given the right answer, so I’ve helped now my competitors. But you know, I’m
intellectually honest, so I can’t really give the wrong answer tactically.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adamcooperf1.com) For all three of you – on the Monaco
tyre rule again. If it works, would you like to see it introduced at other
circuits in the future? Maybe a bit like a ‘joker’, maybe six times a year,
like we have six sprint races? Or is it purely a one-off for that track?
FV: So far, it's a one-off. On the other hand, I didn’t feel that last year
the race was not exciting. For me, it was a good one. Let’s see after
Monaco, because strategy in Monaco is very difficult – it's also driven by
the Safety Car. So, it will be two times more difficult for this. The
downside could be also that if you have an early Safety Car, I think
everybody will jump into the pit lane, and the pit lane is very narrow – it
can be an issue. But let’s do Monaco like this. I think we were clever
enough to do the experimentation, and we’ll see after Monaco what we can do
and where we can improve the situation.
TG: I think the important thing
here is to keep it on the cusp of a two-stop. What we want is varied
strategies. As soon as you force it and everyone’s doing a two-stop, then
it’s going to take away a lot of excitement. Some of the best races we’ve
had are where someone is hanging out on a one-stop, someone else goes for
the two-stop and is reeling them in over the final 15 laps – at a second a
lap or more – and then their tyre deg goes, and you get to the final 2-3
laps with two cars going head-to-head for the win. So, I think if you force
it on the two-stop, it's not going to work.
Q: (Giles Richards – The
Guardian) This question is for Fred. Fred, I’ve just been out in the fan
zone talking to Ferrari fans, all of whom are terribly excited about seeing
Lewis for the first time in a Ferrari. You mentioned the pressure. I’m just
wondering – there’s the enthusiasm and a huge amount of expectation for the
first time seeing him in a home race. Is this something he’s thriving on? Is
he aware of it? Is it something that he’s enjoying? I mean, you say you
treat it like any other race, but it’s quite hard to do that I would have
thought.
FV: For sure, we want to have the same approach this weekend as
any other one because the motivation is always the same. But we can also see
– even from the garage or from the factory – the tifosi in front of us, and
the fact that they are all mega motivated, committed on Formula 1 and the
project. And they can be sure that we will push until the end to get the
best, to do the best. We are all convinced of this. It’s not absolutely an
issue. I think Andrea was in the same position in the past. You can feel it
from – I told you before – from the factory the week before, you already
have a lot of people around the factory. It was like this all week. It was
like this yesterday in the fan forum, as you said. Let’s take it as extra
motivation and the positive side of this. And my personal feeling on Lewis’
position today is that he’s taking it as a huge opportunity – I don’t want
to say a dream – but it’s a huge opportunity if you think about this: to
race in front of this enthusiasm and honesty. We are all taking it like
this. |
