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TEAM REPRESENTATIVES: Toto
WOLFF (Mercedes), James VOWLES (Williams), Flavio BRIATORE (Alpine)
Q: James, if we could start with
you. Let's start by talking about the business here in Zandvoort this
weekend. The team has been very quick here these past two seasons. How's it
looking this year?
James VOWLES: The good news is it looks like it’s
continued on as it has done. The car works well here. It’s a mixture of the
speed of the corners and the layout, and I think the banking helps us as
well. I don’t quite think where we are in the timing sheets this morning is
representative. We’re a little bit further away than that, but we should
have a car that’s fighting for points here.
Q: Let's go bigger
picture now. Ten races to go. We've all just come back from the break.
You're involved in a very tense battle... Bigger picture: the battle for P5?
Give us an idea of what the message is as we go into these last 10 races.
JV: Yeah. I think we put an upgrade on the car in Spa. That’s our last
upgrade, but it should put us in a position now where it’s going to be
tough. But we are in the fight for fifth to the end of the season. That’s
the reality behind it. We just have to do everything perfectly well. Now, of
course, nothing happens perfectly in Formula 1, but the message to the team
was: we know we’re focused on ‘26, we know we’re asking a lot of you here at
the track to deliver everything you can with the car we have, and we know
that other teams like Aston and potentially Sauber will keep pushing that
car further forward. But you can see, race-on-race, what happens. If you get
the car in the right position at the right time, especially in mixed
conditions, you can walk away with a bag full of points, which will protect
you at the end of the year. So, I mean, the main message now is we have
three races – here, Monza and Baku – where I know our car will perform. So
we need to maximise that. Then beyond there, let’s take every opportunity
that comes our way.
Q: You say the focus is 2026. Of course it is. So
how important is P5 in the Constructors’ Championship? If it’s P5, P6… does
it actually matter to the team? Or as long as you make the step forward next
year, that’s the only thing that matters?
JV: I mean, the money’s
nice, but that’s honestly the only difference between those two. I don’t
care where we start up and down the grid. It doesn’t make a single bit of
difference to me. Internally, the reason why we made decisions we did on
cutting the investment in this year’s car was quite straightforward. If we
finish sixth or seventh, so be it. We have to make sure that we’re making
big steps forward. We have to remember where we came from – is last. That’s
where we were. And we have a long way to go to even get close to the likes
of someone like Mercedes. So let’s forward invest in the future. And if that
means we compromise fifth, so be it. But we’ll fight with our heart until
the end of it.
Q: James, thank you for that. Toto, let’s bring you
in. P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, everyone back to work. What is
your message to your racing team as we go into this second part of the
season?
Toto WOLFF: Go for it. Well, I don’t know what Flavio said
before, but clearly James’ perspective is the right one here. We’re
embarking on a completely new set of regulations, and they’re extremely
complicated. Nobody really knows where you’re going to fall out, and
therefore you need to give it the highest priority. And at the same time, no
racing team will want to give up a season. So how we try to do it is to
deploy our trackside engineering team, a small group of engineers back at
base, on that current project without bringing any more major upgrades, but
really optimising the product, trying to learn as much as possible for next
year. Also, there are certain variables and then there are certain topics
which will continue – like the tyres. And we’re giving it everything to
perform, but also, it’s all about winning a championship. Nobody remembers
who came second, third, fifth or last. And that’s why you need to see the
positives. The further down the chain you are, the more wind tunnel time
you’re going to get for the following year. And that, under the new
regulations, is of a massive advantage.
Q: Does the car – or the
product, as you call it – have the underlying pace to beat Ferrari this
year?
TW: There are big fluctuations in performance. You know, in
this sport, we tend to be manic-depressive. One weekend, Ferrari is great,
and everybody says, well, now they’re on a trajectory to challenge McLaren
and finish second. And the next weekend it’s us again. I think it’s very
difficult to predict.
Q: Now, I’m sure we’re going to hear who your
driver lineup is in 2026 soon. But can I talk about a driver who has
recently been announced as a Cadillac driver: Valtteri Bottas? What does he
bring to a new team, do you think?
TW: Valtteri is a very, very
interesting one because he had the fortune and misfortune to go against
Lewis Hamilton as a team-mate when Lewis was at the peak of his game. James
and I, we’ve been in this for a very long time. Valtteri has tremendous
speed and is, in our opinion, one of the best drivers on the grid. Valtteri
left the Mercedes team because we promoted George Russell – similar to Kimi
today – a young gun that was with Williams for a time because he was in the
junior programme and looked very promising. That was Valtteri. And since
then, he’s dominated every team-mate he’s had in whatever car. I’m really
happy. Obviously, we love Valtteri as a third driver and as a reserve. I
said it before – if one of our works drivers were to have fish poisoning, we
know we [can] put someone in the car that can be as fast and competitive.
There is no compromise by putting Valtteri in the car on a given Saturday or
Sunday. That obviously goes missing now because he’s going to Cadillac. But
at the same time, we’re racers, and we love for him to have the opportunity
of going back onto the grid in an exciting new project, and I’m sure he will
shine.
Q: Thank you for that. Flavio, good to see you again. Can I
bring you in on the subject of Bottas, first of all? Bottas and Pérez – were
they ever an option?
Flavio BRIATORE: No, really. I talked with a lot
of people. I talked with Bottas as well. We talked with Toto as well at the
time, but really, there was never a discussion for Bottas to drive for
Alpine. I think so Alpine helped Bottas a little bit to sign the contract
with Cadillac. We did some marketing. But this is the reason, honestly. I
like Valtteri because he’s a super driver. And what Toto says is exactly the
same. He was unlucky to be in Mercedes at the same time as Lewis, when Lewis
was really at the peak of his driving. We have a different idea, but it’s
nice to have Valtteri back. It’s nice to have a driver back with a lot of
experience, but I’m looking for something else.
Q: Can we talk about
the incumbent now in your second seat – Franco Colapinto? What do you need
to see from him for him to retain that seat?
FB: I think I see
everything already. I don’t need to see anything anymore. It’s difficult.
For this driver, it’s very difficult to cope with this car. These cars are
very, very heavy, very quick. And for a young driver to put in Formula 1,
maybe it was not the timing to have Franco in Formula 1. Maybe he needs
another year or two to be part of Formula 1. And I know that, in the end,
what is important is the result. He tries very hard. He tries very hard with
the engineers to please them in everything, but it’s not what I expect from
Colapinto.
Q: Final one from me. Steve Nielsen starts work for the
team next week. What do you see as job number one for him?
FB: Not
just job number one. When you’re in Formula 1, in one team, it’s a job for
the team. And it will be good. I’ve known Steve a long time – he was with me
at Renault. We need somebody like Steve. We need a team manager. We need
somebody who knows the system and knows the people, and someone who
coordinates the team from A to Z. It’s not just one job I expect from Steve.
I expect Steve to be in charge from A to Z. Basically, it’s what the
managing director is doing. And I’m happy to have Steve next week. I believe
the first day is Monday, and our first race with Steve is in Monza.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Diletta Colombo – AutoMoto.it) A
question for Flavio. Pierre has done an outstanding job in what has been a
very difficult season for your team. Do you feel like he's the right person
to steer the team into the future?
FB: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely,
yes.
Q: Flavio, what impresses you the most about Pierre Gasly?
FB: He’s good. He’s consistent. He’s a team player. I know him very
well. We need some base in the team, and Pierre is a base in the team for
the future.
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-magazin.com) Flavio,
another one for you. Christian Horner could be available for your team. Did
you consider him taking on board the Alpine project? Did you already talk to
him as he's a good friend of yours as well?
FB: I no consider in this
moment anything. Christian is not in Formula 1 in this moment anymore. I
hope he comes back soon. But for the moment, he’s not in the picture of the
team.
Q: (Leonid Kliuev – Grande Premio) Question to all three.
Imagine you’re Graham Lowden, Team Principal of Cadillac, and you have four
candidates for next year: Checo, Valtteri, Felipe Drugovich, and Mick
Schumacher. Who would you choose and why?
TW: They all have pros and
cons. I think what Cadillac went for is something you can understand. They
went for experience. I don’t know how many wins and podiums there are
between Valtteri and Checo, and I think for that stage of the project, it is
understandable they did that.
JV: With all these things, we only have
part of the information. You need to understand what else comes as part of
those packages. But I agree with Toto – their first year is going to be
tricky and difficult, and I think experience may guide the way in where
they’re going.
FB: The same as Toto. Nothing else.
Q: (Ivo
Pakvis – Panorama) Question to Toto. Loyalty has been a very important
factor in your team under your leadership. In a world that demands constant
flexibility and adaptability, how do you maintain that flexibility in the
context of that loyalty?
TW: Flexibility and loyalty – I think what’s
most important in our job is to be transparent. I think Flavio’s always
shown it – he says what he means. With drivers, it’s the same with us. Once
you decide to embark on the road, this is what you do. You are open about
it. For us as a team, integrity and loyalty are key factors. But that
doesn’t mean you’re not flexible. Sometimes you need to readjust,
recalibrate. There’s a change of circumstances. But most important is within
the team to have an open conversation about these things.
Q: (Jon
Noble – The Race) To Flavio. Renault’s got a new CEO who’s just come in
recently. How have your conversations with him gone? What kind of targets
have you laid down together? And do you still see this team on the roadmap
to fight for podiums next year and potentially the championship in ‘27?
FB: The new CEO for Renault – I think Renault in the last thirty years,
it’s not new. He was number two to Luca DeMeo. The new CEO is very
enthusiastic about the Formula 1 programme. Renault wants to stay in Formula
1. I believe François [Provost] is in Monza for the first race. I know him
very well. And really, the programme is the same. The chairman,
[Jean-Dominique] Senard, is very supportive of Formula 1. We need better
results – this is what we need for next year. But this year is very
complicated for us. We put a lot of effort into the 2026 car, like Toto
said. But it’s not easy to interpret the rules. Maybe we made a mistake by
not having any steps from the beginning of the season to now, and we pay for
that. As well, in this moment, two or three tenths, it’s ten or 15 cars. We
know we have a big handicap with power – with the engine. We hope to forget
this year and be happy in 2026. That’s what we hope in this moment. I hope
as well that the new chairman of Renault is very supportive. And for the
moment, in the Renault Group, there’s no drama, no change. Everybody’s
happy.
Q: Is the objective for 2026 podiums?
FB: Yes. Because
if it’s you need to change the job. I change the job – maybe you give me a
job! I have a job with Toto.
Q: Luke Smith (The Athletic) Toto, I
have a question for you on Valtteri. Dan Towriss said that you guys have
spoken a lot through negotiations, and you were still going to chat further
about what Valtteri’s availability would be through the remainder of this
year. What are your thoughts on that? I know Valtteri will be on-site as
reserve for the rest of the season, but how much freedom will he have to
make a head start with Cadillac ahead of next year?
TW: As I said
before, maybe sometimes I’m being a bit naive, but I want to do the best
from a racing standpoint – the best for Valtteri whilst not compromising the
Mercedes status quo. So, I think it’s pretty easy. Valtteri continues to be
our reserve and third driver until the end of the season, and he’s giving it
all. I’ve zero doubt that he’s going to do it with the utmost integrity. At
the same time, I have no problem that he’s starting his job in Cadillac. It
makes it easier that the regulations are totally different for next year.
I’m happy. It was no problem for us to release Valtteri for the announcement
and events that Cadillac did in order to present the drivers, and it will
continue so during the year. I think Graham and Dan, with support from GM,
this is a very strong and ambitious project – good for Formula 1 – and
that’s why we want to do the utmost for them to showcase what they will be
doing. And therefore, if we need to give Valtteri as a driver for events or
for these purposes, no problem.
Q: Toto, would that include a test
program for Cadillac in the second half of the year if that materialises?
TW: I haven’t heard of any test programme so far because they haven’t
got a car. As it stands, we will always be supportive of Valtteri because
those cars are so different next year.
Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport)
A question for Toto. Flavio has just shot the idea down, but the rumours
don’t go away that perhaps Flavio, Christian, and Bernie [Ecclestone] might
unite to buy the Alpine team. What would you make of coming up against a
team potentially owned by Flavio, Christian, and Bernie? One of them a very
old adversary and presumably it would be logistically quite difficult for
you to live in all of their heads rent free?
TW: That would be an
exciting story, I guess, and would create lots of buzz around Formula 1. I
think we need that. Formula 1 has always been about the best racing, with
exciting drivers and great personalities. And when you look back at the
grand era of team owners and team principals – Frank Williams, Ron Dennis,
Flavio, [Luca Di] Montezemolo, and a few others – maybe we need to work on
that. And if there was such an exciting project, these three guys coming
together – all of the mafia reunited – that would give good content, I
guess.
FB: The sharks. The shark mafia.
TW: Three sharks.
Q: (Dan Lloyd – Racecar Engineering) A question for James. How confident
do you feel that Williams can recapture some of its early season form based
on what the Belgium update has been telling you and the team’s response to
the cooling issues you had mid-season?
JV: I don’t think we’ll be
back to where we were at the start of the season. Ferrari have developed at
a really strong rate. Mercedes, you can see, developed at a strong rate. The
midfield now is incredibly tight. Sauber – well done to them – and Aston as
well. It’s really tight in that range. Whereas, at the beginning of the
season, there was a little bit of a gap that we managed to push ourselves
into. I think that’s unrealistic now. What is realistic is – Flavio
described it well – two or three tenths separates fifteen cars near enough.
It’s making sure we’re at the sharp end of that, which allows you to pick up
points.
Q: (Jack Smith (Motorsport Monday / MotorsportWeek.com) A
question for Toto. Helmut Marko was quoted recently as saying that Kimi has
been placed under a bit too much pressure perhaps by making his F1 debut
with Mercedes. What is your response to that? And also, will the choice of
third driver/reserve driver to replace Valtteri be based on how well he can
help Kimi, given how much Kimi has said that he's helped him?
TW: I
think we have put Kimi under maximum pressure, to be honest. Looking at it
now, I felt it was a great idea to have him in FP1 in Monza and present him
there. That was maybe a mistake – not because he wasn’t capable of driving
the car, because if he would have finished that lap without crashing, it
would have been sensational and it would have built the confidence. That’s
why. He’s in a Mercedes, he’s very visible, his results are very visible,
his team-mate is great and is maximising the car. Therefore, he feels
himself under the magnifying glass. The team – we just continue to believe
in him. He needs time. We’ve embarked on this route, so you can say, “Was it
right to put him under so much pressure by putting him in the team?” We’ve
taken that trajectory; we’ve taken that route. We are fully on the mission,
and single race weekends or a session like we had before is not going to
change our opinion. Yeah, short term, we’re going to say, “that’s not good,”
but Kimi is a long-term investment.
Q: Third driver?
TW: We
haven’t figured it out yet. It’s super difficult to replace Valtteri. I
mean, he ticks all the boxes.
Q: (Jon Noble – The Race) Flavio, you
made a driver change earlier on in the season bringing Franco in. Are you
now set until the end of the campaign with Franco? Is there a chance Mick
could come back? And what was the thought process into 2026 for your second
car?
FB: We make not so many changes. We changed, bringing in Franco
Colapinto. And maybe Colapinto – the same problem as what Toto said – too
much pressure to be in Formula 1. Last year, he had two or three races with
James, where he did very well. But maybe to be in the team with a good
driver like Pierre, and always in competition with the team-mate, maybe we
put too much pressure on him. I think we need to consider that. Sometimes we
believe… the driver is a human being and we need to understand what’s going
on in the heads of these kids. These are young kids – 19, 20, 22, 23 years
old – and I think it’s out mistake to underestimate the human part of the
driver. We’re always looking at the timing. Maybe I missed something in the
management of the driver, Colapinto. For the future, honestly, I don’t know.
TW: You can see the younger drivers in smaller teams, they perform,
because it’s a totally different environment. The expectation is so low that
you can only outperform. They are all high potentials for the future. But
this is a big difference – being under the magnifying glass and the pressure
that’s been created, and the expectations that are being set. It’s
different.
Q: James, can we bring you in on this and the performances
that Franco put in in the second half of last year?
JV: I think Toto
and Flavio summed it up well. You have to remember – if something goes wrong
with the Williams in a session, even though we’re fifth in the championship,
it’s not really covered. But we have teams around us – Mercedes is one of
those – where everything is in the limelight and the spotlight. So that’s
change number one: the pressure goes up immensely. When the pressure’s not
there, you’re able to get a lot more out of the driver because they’re not
concerned about an immediate performance having an impact. Therefore, they
can let go. A good example is Franco – the first time I put him in at
Silverstone, he thought it was his only chance ever to get there. My message
to him beforehand was, it’s nothing to do with lap times. It’s about you
relaxing and enjoying the moment because this may never come back to you
again. And he did a stellar performance. I don’t think you can do that in
Monza, in that circumstance, in a Williams. No chance you can do that.
Second change is, again, what Flavio described – three tenths now separates
the grid. So when you make a small mistake – and a small mistake is a tenth
– you’re last. That’s a different world to where you were before, where
frankly, you could be a tenth off your team-mate and no one would know about
it. So I think you’ve got two changes that are making this more difficult
now.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Toto, George spoke yesterday and
he’s still very relaxed about his future and getting the contract sorted. He
said you guys were willing to work through the summer, but he said, “I’d
rather just take that time off.” There’s no rush, I assume. Where are you at
with all of that? And do you just want to get everything right and dot the
I’s and cross the T’s?
TW: Exactly like you say. George is a Mercedes
driver since his junior years and Mercedes management. We clearly know what
we expect from each other, what we want. It’s a formality. But at the same
time, it’s important to discuss even the slightest details – how can we
extract the most performance out of George? What is it we need to optimise
on marketing days, for example? And it’s not the amount of marketing days,
but it’s simply talking about a structure that helps him to perform at his
best. These are the things. We haven’t discussed them over the summer
because we felt we needed to just get out of each other’s face for a while,
and we’re going to pick these discussions up. We have already picked up the
discussions.
Q: (Jon Noble – The Race) Toto, there are some comments
you made recently that have carried a bit of traction. Are you saying next
year’s cars could top 400 kilometres per hour? Is that literally what your
simulator’s saying or was it more just a figure of speech – a nice round
number?
TW: Sounds good, no? Everybody’s talking those engines down,
so I had to figure out – is there anything positive? And that is, if you
were to deploy – obviously it sounds sarcastic – but if you were to deploy
all the energy on a single straight, you could make those cars go 400
kilometres an hour. I don’t know if somebody got afraid by it, but you
could. But there wouldn’t be much electric energy left for the few other
corners on a circuit. |
