2018 United States GP: FIA Post-Qualifying Press Conference.

DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
3 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Martin Brundle)

Q: Congratulations Lewis, another pole position. Take us through the lap. That was an important one wasn’t it?

Lewis HAMILTON: That was very important. How are you guys doing? You good? That was close. These guys have… I didn’t know how close it was going to be once we got to qualifying, but once we got to the last run I knew it was quite edgy between us and that it was going to require solid laps. The first one was decent, but not good enough, and the second one was just that little better and enabled me to pull that out. You know there have been some races where I’ve not actually done a better time and I’ve had to bail out of the second lap, so I was very, very adamant that today I was going to do a better second lap, so I’m very happy with that.

Q: Just spitting rain a little bit, but any troubles out on track?

LH: No, the track has been incredible. It started out very, very green and slippery in practice three and then once we got into qualifying it was just rubbering in and it was getting faster and faster every session. The wind direction: there is a beautiful headwind going into the Esses. The Esses are just incredible; it’s little bit like Maggots and Becketts. And also, there’s such a big crowd here. We did a fan signing earlier and I’ve never seen the fans so hyped before, so it’s great, but big thank you to the team and everyone here.

Q: Just very briefly: the supersofts – you had to do an extra lap, so your start tyres, are they OK?

LH: We’ll see tomorrow. But the Ferraris are obviously really quick so… I just hope for better weather for everyone that’s in the grandstands watching and I hope that it’s an exciting race tomorrow.

Q: Thank you. Where is Sebastian? Sebastian, great lap, P2, through your Friday pain you’ll start P5 of course. Take us through your qualifying session?

Sebastian VETTEL: It was pretty close obviously. It’s always a bit of a shame when you miss out on just that little time. I think with six hundredths you can always debate you had them somewhere in you. But I was pretty happy with the laps I had. I think it was quite tricky to get everything together. Obviously it’s been dry today and better for us, but the wind was quite tricky for us but it’s the same for everyone. Yeah, pretty happy. I think given the last couple of weeks that we had, pretty happy that we are back in range.

Q: Yeah, Ferrari are back on form aren’t they it seems; you’ve found your pace again?

SV: Yeah, it seems that we are, obviously not in the wet but in the dry it seems that we are better off and I think today has been surprisingly close. I don’t think we expected it to be that close, so that’s good.

Q: So, some work to do in the race from P5?

SV: Yeah, I’m used to it, so I know how to do it now.

Q: Kimi, happy 39th birthday during the week, still plenty of speed there isn’t there?

Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, a little bit too slow, but I can deal with it. No, it’s been a pretty positive day and for sure I think we got pretty close. It’s far from ideal but I feel good with the car. We’ll try tomorrow; it’s going to be a long race, and nobody really knows how the tyre will survive, because of yesterday’s rain, so it will be interesting.

Q: And of course you will start on the ultrasofts, unlike people around you?

KR: Yeah, not much to lose, so we’ll try to make a good start and go from there and see what we can do. I think it should be OK.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, your third pole position here at COTA – but an extremely tight battle with all three of you covered by less than a tenth of a second. Just how intense was that fight out there for you today?

LH: Clearly very intense. Naturally, going into qualifying, really wasn’t sure what to expect – because basically, obviously, we were driving in the wet yesterday. And today, in practice, the Ferraris looked like they’d made some improvements, obviously. They’ve brought an upgrade of some sort and looks like they may have taken it off. But otherwise, anyways, we were very, very close.  So, I knew it was going to take perfection and very, very neat laps to outpace them. I think James had told me, our strategist had told us it was very, very close between us all so give it everything. And I think Q1 and Q2 was fairly straightforward for us – but then once we got to Q3 it was just really about maximising, making sure on the track at the right time and not leaving a millesecond on the track. The first lap was good but obviously quite close between us all. I knew, being that I was less than a tenth, I think it was, ahead, I knew that the next lap, these guys would improve also. So, there was no room for error. And considering there’s been some qualifying Q3s in the past races where I’ve had to bail out of the second one because it wasn’t good enough, so I was very, very strict with myself today. I was like ‘today, you have to make sure you pull through on that second lap’, which I’m so grateful I did. Nonetheless, the team have done really great job this weekend. I think the approach for us has been very sturdy and we’ve not been getting ahead of ourselves. We knew that this weekend it was going to be close, and that we have to do the same due diligence and same work effort and workload as before, and yeah, this a great result. I’m so happy. It was a different feeling today, coming in. I don’t know why. I don’t know if I slept longer or not. I was in a different headspace going into qualifying, which is weird but it was a good one.

Q: Sebastian, Lewis is talking about how fine the margins were today. Do you feel that gap was out there anywhere, or can you not pinpoint where the gap is between the two of you?

SV: I think if it’s less than a tenth, you always think probably there was a little bit left but I was pretty happy with the laps I had, to be honest and I think overall it’s been a positive surprise, I guess for both of us, to see how competitive we’ve been today, given how far we’ve been behind the last events. So, I think there’s probably more positives – but yeah, if you’re that close, you want to be ahead, not behind.

Q: Kimi, similar question to Sebastian really, with the gaps so close. Were you happy with your run, or do you feel you left anything out there?

KR: I think if you do a few more tries then for sure that amount you can improve. It’s just a very small difference somewhere, and you could be suddenly that much quicker – but this is what we got today. I think the last run was pretty good but the previous had very little grip, so then I was surprised how much on the last run I had, so obviously, when you have a bit more consistent grip it’s more easy to know how much you can actually push – but yeah, it was OK.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Question for Sebastian. You talked about it being a positive surprise after the last few races. Why do you think you’ve been able to make that step? Is it an understanding of what happened before? Do you think maybe the cooler conditions helped? And is there in any way an element of frustration to be so close to pole and obviously know that you’ve got the three-place penalty applied?

SV: Well, I can’t change that now. Obviously, it is what it is. We went back with our car quite a long way, and it seems to work better that way.

Q: (Peter Windsor – Peterwindsor.com) Lewis, congratulations. You used the word ‘perfection’ there. I’m interesting to know from your perspective whether that was the perfect lap? I don’t think you were purple in [sector] one but I wonder if that was a function of perfectly using the tyres for the lap?

LH: No, it wasn’t a perfect lap. You know I never talk about perfect laps. Naturally, I think that’s what we’re all striving to achieve but it’s just… there’s so many parameters out there. You get out there and there’s different gusts of wind every time you hit a corner. Tyre temperature differences. You know. A different heartbeat on the different bumps. There’s so many different variables and you’re really just on your tippy-toes the whole way, trying to catch it and grab it and utilise the grip. But anyway, for me, no, I think the first section, for some reason they’re particularly quick there. I think some of that was probably in Turn One, mostly. They generally have a car that’s better in corners like that. But then the rest of the lap was good. There was no mistakes. The first lap was quite good – but there was a little bit of time loss I think maybe, in the exit of… in a couple of corners. Turn 11, Turn 12. Maybe 13 and a little bit in 20 – but that second one, I was obviously able to capitalise and make sure I didn’t drop the ball. So, I mean, it was a good lap but for me the highest one I have still is Singapore. But, I tell you, this track is incredible this year. It’s taken another step for us. That first section, we’re flat-out through Turn Two – which is easy – then Three, Four, Five, all the way into Six, and you’re pretty much flat all the way into Six and halfway through Six. So the G-Force that you’re pulling through there is incredible. And then you don’t really have much of a lift, or much of a lift for Seven. And then you’re braking down, and because there’s a headwind coming from Turn 11, which hits you dead on into Eight, the cars hooked-up through there and it’s really fantastic to drive. So I really enjoyed today’s lap.

Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Looked like in Q2 with the Supersoft tyres, Ferrari had the upper hand. Lewis, are you concerned by that and Sebastian and Kimi, do you see your biggest chance in that?

LH: I’m not really sure where all the time was. They were obviously very quick. I don’t think it was as big as that. What did Kimi have? It was just Sebastian, wasn’t it, so it was about four tenths? Well, I just think it shows… I mean this weekend, we’re pretty much on a par  performance-wise,  I think. As you can see in qualifying, that was the max for all of us and as Kimi said, we could go around and do some improvements, more improvements everywhere but we’re pretty much dicing around the same kind of performance which, as Seb said, they’ve gone back on some of their potential updates and the car is better in the sweet spot and for us, we’ve not brought updates here so we’re on max downforce level here.  I think that’s how it is for us all. I think that’s great to see us so close and still I’m hopeful for the future to have more teams, more qualifyings like that, that are closer, but with more cars involved, that’s got to be the ultimate goal for Formula One.

Q: Sebastian, do you think you’ve got an advantage on the supersoft tyre?

SV: No, I think he probably had a bad lap, I don’t know.

LH: Me? No, it was a good lap. I don’t really do bad laps too often.

SV: Yeah, so if that’s the case, I will take it and we are half a second faster tomorrow on the supersofts. Thank you.

Q: And Kimi, you’ll be starting on the ultrasoft. Do you think the supersoft holds an advantage or are you confident?

KR: I have what I have and I’m happy about it so we will see how it works out tomorrow. It’s a bit impossible to say.

Q: (Peter Windsor – Peterwindsor.com) Lewis, when Max had his problem, did you then have to change the way you used any kerbs at all, did it affect the way you were thinking in terms of kerb strike after Verstappen’s problem? You were told on the radio that he’d hit a kerb…

LH: The team were a little bit more nervous about it. I hadn’t hit the kerb where he had his… Max likes to use a lot of the track as you know from history here so… but there are those big sausage kerbs at the back which… yeah, I don’t know how he damaged the car there but I wasn’t going over that area. I think there was another corner out of the exit of the last corner where there are those bumps also which I might have just clipped the edge of them but it wasn’t really a problem but no, naturally the team were just alerting me to an issue that someone else has had so you can avoid it. But it didn’t really come into my driver thoughts because I wasn’t driving on those areas anyway.

Q: Sebastian, were you told of Max’s problem and did that affect anything, the way you attacked the lap?

SV: Not really, but I saw it on TV and then… yeah, of course, you take action, you don’t want to damage the car so I tried not to go there too much.

2018 United States GP: FIA Team Principal's Press Conference.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Maurizio ARRIVABENE (Ferrari), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Gene HAAS (Haas), Zak BROWN (McLaren)

Maurizio, please can we start with you? After Japan you said that Ferrari needs to challenge the impossible in terms of the title race. Is an unpredictable one like this one, with this weather, an opportunity to hit back?

Maurizio ARRIVABENE: You mean with the weather? I suppose. If you have a good car, the weather conditions, they are no influencing the performance of the car. With the sun, with the rain, you must always be into the situation where you are leading. So for us the rain is not really a factor that is going to determine the result. Of course it’s going to mix it up a bit more but it’s not the main concern.

Yesterday, in the press conference, Lewis sat where you are sitting now and reiterated his support for Sebastian, saying he had been perhaps unfairly criticised at times this season. What is your opinion of that?

MA: My opinion is that Lewis and Sebastian started in 2007 together, they are professional drivers and colleagues. I don’t want to get into the conversation in between the two drivers. It’s normal that being a Formula 1 professional that they are supporting each other, despite what they do at the track. In the track they fight like hell and out of the track they are colleagues and they are supporting each other. Having said so, you mention criticism. For sure the criticism to Sebastian they are not coming from the team, because I have said many, many times, we are winning and losing together. It’s not new news, but I would like reiterate that we win and we lose together – end.

Q: Thank you Maurizio. Claire, you recently announced George Russell as one of your race drivers for next season. Just what will George bring to Williams and why did you sign him?

Claire WILLIAMS: Yes, so we announced George last week and we’re very excited to do so. I think everybody regards George as an exciting talent. We have a few new rookies coming into the sport next year, which obviously is a great thing for the teams and for the fans. I think George’s racing pedigree really speaks for itself. He’s won the F4 championship, the GP3 championship and hopefully later this season he’ll win the F2 championship in Abu Dhabi. So I think his on-track prowess speaks for itself, but overall George, as a person, he’s a very impressive individual. He’s got a great personality. He really is truly determined. He knew exactly what he wanted going into 2019 and he’s got it, and we’re really excited to start working with him.

Q: George will be one of the drivers, but what about your second seat? Is there any news, and who is on your shortlist?

CW: No, unfortunately we haven’t made that decision yet, we’re taking our time with it. We’re not in any mad rush. We have a few drivers on the list; clearly I wouldn’t confirm who they are. But we are

excited about that decision too, we have some exciting prospects that we are evaluating now. We’ve got a number of considerations to factor into that decision and we’ll make an announcement in due course; I’m hoping by the end of the season.

Q: Thank you very much. Zak, speaking of announcements, yesterday you announced that Coca-Cola will partner with McLaren until the end of this season. Just what are you hopes for that partnership?

Zak BROWN: We’re very excited to have Coca-Cola. They are one of the world’s most famous brands. I think they are a great entry into the sport. They will help bring a younger audience and great for McLaren. We’re going to be activating with them in the remaining markets and hopefully it will be a successful partnership that will go on into the future.

Q: Something else that McLaren has being doing a lot of this season is restructuring behind the scenes. You’ve made some big technical changes. Are all of those changes complete? Is everyone in position that would like in position before 2019?

ZB: I’m very happy with the progress and the changes that we have made. I wouldn’t say it was complete. I think a Formula 1 is always reviewing and modifying on almost a race-by-race basis – not necessarily the team in the same way you would a race car – so we are where we wanted to be as far as who we’ve brought in and who we’ve promoted and excited for our future and hard at work on next year’s car, while trying to get the most out of this one here for the last few races.

Thank you. Gene, I think this is the first time we’ve had you in the press conference this season, so if we could just look back over the year, how do you reflect on Haas’ third season in F1 and has it exceeded expectations?

Gene HAAS: Well, this season I think we are stable. I think we’re more stable than we’ve been in the past. The faces are becoming familiar and I think that lends itself to communication, better results. Unfortunately we haven’t had the results that we should have but the potential is there. I feel good about that. The partnerships we have are important but it’s becoming a little bit more transparent as to what our responsibilities are and what we have to do and the learning process has gone well. Unfortunately, we just haven’t gotten the results we should have had, even though we’re fifth in the championship. That by itself looks good. It kind of reflects on how much luck has do with it among all the teams when they are racing. It seems that especially in the mid-pack, who makes the least amount of mistakes is the one that comes out ahead.

You mention being fifth in the championship, but fourth place does look like a realistic proposition over these last four rounds. If you were to achieve that, how do you then go about bridging the gap to the top three teams?

GH: Well, I kind of feel like we’re not really racing in Formula 1, we’re racing in Formula 1.5, so if we were to finish fourth then that would be a win in our series.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

 Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Zak, you’re American, we’re in America and the big race in America is Indianapolis and McLaren would like to do Indianapolis and the Indycar series with Fernando. Any progress?

ZB: For the Indycar series, we’ve taken the decision to not compete on a full-time basis in 2019. We’re simply not ready yet and very focused on Formula 1. So we won’t be doing that in 2019. We do have a desire to do it, as I’ve mentioned before, in the near future. As far as the Indy 500 is concerned, it’s something that remains of interest to us. That will be a decision that ultimately we take in the off-season. I think it’s something that Fernando would like to do as well, but right now we’re still focused on Formula 1 and until we get a little bit of fresh air we’ll remain focused on that.

Q: (Massimo Lopes Pegna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) For Mr Arrivabene. You always of course race to win. Now from Sunday to the last… the next three grands prix, you are kind of forced to win in order to keep alive the hope of winning the championship. In which way would change your, if any way, strategy or how you race these grands prix.

MA: It’s not a question of strategy. The question is to find the right balance in a car that in the last two to three races was not easy to manage – especially in relation to the slow-speed corners. I know that the numbers are all against us in terms of the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships, but our job is to go there, to go to the track, without giving up. We have done analysis in Maranello about the issue that we need to sort to be competitive in the next few races, including this one. We have most probably a certain answer and we will see in the next few days if instead of being a simple answer they are a solution.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) For Gene, Claire and Zak: a little earlier this season, over the summer, one of your midfield rivals, Force India, went through its process of falling into administration and then being rescued. When that happened there was obviously the slightly confusing situation about prize money – what they would and would not be eligible for. I just wanted to know, do you have a resolution on that. Is it a satisfactory resolution and if not what are you hoping will be the outcome from that?

GH: I think from the standpoint of being a participant in Formula 1, we’re just looking for an even enforcement of the rules. Like the stewards in a race they have be non-judgmental and they have to enforce the rules in front of them and every team expects those to be evenly enforced, and our argument with Force India is: is it a new team or a continuation of an existing team, and that’s really where the stumbling block is. We went through the process of becoming a new team. We abided by the rules. The big one is the two-out-of-three-year rule and our argument is that if we had to go through that process we feel that with Racing Point if it’s a new team then it really should have to go through the same process we went through. So the question for FOM is: is it a new team or the continuation of an existing team. We think it’s pretty obvious to us it’s a new team and therefore should have the rules applied as per the Concorde Agreement.

Q: Claire, Williams’ position on this?

CW: Williams has signed the waiver that everybody knows about that would see Force India receive their prize money payments. We’re happy with that. I think from our perspective, the team is operating as it did prior to Lawrence buying it, acquiring it, and so we don’t necessarily consider it to be a new team, as such. I believe, as Gene just said, there are still some issues that need to be ironed our behind the scenes with FOM and the FIA. We’ll wait to see what happens.

Q: And Zak, your comments?

ZB: I agree with what Gene has said. Take a step back: obviously very happy that a Formula 1 team continues in business, that’s good for the sport, but what it did highlight were some of the governance issues and inconsistencies in the sport that need to be tackled moving forward. So I hope that what we do is we learn by this event and other events and not have things be chaotic, as it kind of was. There were different waivers flying around and it was in and it was out, it’s a new team, it’s not, and I think more than anything the sport needs to learn by some of these holes and get a better governance system in place.

Q: (David Tremayne – The Independent) Maurizio, you’ve had a few strategic and operational snafus of late. Can you tell us, have you taken steps to try and solve those problems for this race and the remainder of the season? And do you also envisage having a much more intensive investigation into your structure for those kind of things over the winter?

MA: I mean, I already answered the question. I said, of course, if we are here, we were not sleeping the last few weeks. We were making an analysis, as I said before, to certain weaknesses that we notice in the last few races. We are taking here solutions – but it is the track that is judging if the solution is really a solution – or is not, for sure. We are here to compete, with a mission impossible, but working in this kind of environment, it’s our job.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Claire, George obviously has a long-term Mercedes contract. Is that a factor for him arriving? Basically, shorthand for ‘are you getting a cheaper deal on the engines’? And secondly, the second drive, what are the financial considerations involved in that? Do you need someone to bring financial support with them – and would you be open to having two Mercedes-backed drivers in your line-up.

CW: George has obviously come up through the Mercedes young driver programme but that was not a factor in our decision-making. We purely saw a young talent coming up through the junior championships, as I think we all have. We’ve all recognised the talent that George has, and are probably all pretty excited about the talent that he has coming into this sport. So no, the Mercedes relationship wasn’t a factor. George has a multi-year arrangement with us moving forward and he will be a Williams driver during that period and will focus on being a Williams driver. There were no factors around financial considerations with Mercedes on making that decision. It was purely a decision made on the talent that George has. When it comes to the second seat, clearly as an independent team, and clearly, as everybody knows, independent teams in this sport haven’t had an easy ride over the past few years, the sponsorship landscape is pretty tough out there. The way that the prize fund distribution is at the moment in Formula One doesn’t make it easy, and not least coming tenth in the championship this year puts the squeeze on things a little bit – but we’re managing our finances pretty well, we’ll have a good budget going into 2019, it will be on par with the one that we have raced with this year – but there are a lot of considerations when it comes to choosing the driver for the second seat – but predominantly the main one has to be on talent.

Q: (Les Kiser – Speed City Broadcasting) Gene, I’ve got to ask you, and tell you a little bit, there was a media representative about a year and a half ago, two years more like that, when we mentioned an American team coming to F1, she chuckled, as if it were a joke. You definitely demonstrated the prowess to be on the grid. This team has responded well. You started off with a single name on the car as Haas. We’re seeing it grow. Do you think that is also a reflection of the fan base that is growing in the United States?

GH: Well, it’s all be very positive, as far as the reception of the team and the name Haas Automation on the car. I’ve seen probably the most recognition over in the European markets. There’s a lot of brand name recognition. I was over in Tunisia, I was getting off a plane to go to one of our factory outlets and the person asked: ‘are you with the F1 team?’ which is pretty interesting in North Africa, so we’re getting good brand recognition there. Obviously there’s a huge fan base here in the United States. So, I think as far as my company’s concerned, it’s all been very, very good. Now we have brand recognition. People don’t necessarily know what we do – but at least they know the name. So from that standpoint, I think the enthusiasm of at least American Formula One fans, it’s really done well, really done well. I appreciate all the fans that support us and tell us that. If we can just get them to send us some money, it’d even be better!

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Maurizio, the last time Ferrari had an extended spell without championships was from 1979 to 2000 – 21 years. You’re heading for half that now, having won the last championship in 2008. With a budget cap coming, one of your major advantages, namely the team’s size, is likely to be reduced a fair amount. Can you see Ferrari not winning a championship for 21 years again?

MA: I’m here only since three-and-a-half years, I can respond for my period. I think the budget cap has nothing to do with the performance of the team because the performance is due to the quality of the work that you are doing, due to the professionalism and many other things. The budget cap, it could help to enhance the creativity of the guys: if you have talented guys in the team – and I’m talking about all the various areas, from the chassis, to to aero to the engine – for sure it’s a good thing to do because in the last five, six years, the amount of money teams are spending, it’s really important. These are important numbers. For a car manufacturer like we are, it’s also an investment, especially on the engine part, which can be transferred in terms of research and development and technology to the GT side. But we need to think also about the so-called small teams. I mean, the budget cap, it could be beneficial for us, and also for the teams, can reduce, a bit the gap but hoping that means we keep the DNA of Ferrari and our focus is reducing cap but keeping up the performance and continue the research and development to be transferred into the GT side.

Q: (Massimo Lopes Pegna – La Gazetta dello Sport) In Trento a couple of weeks ago you said you were still not sure if you were going to stay at the helm of Ferrari next season. I was wondering if two weeks later there is any change in this decision? If you know already, or when eventually you would announce the decision?

MA: Every day I hear a different version of what I said in Trento! The latest one, that somebody, the public, said “yeah, you have to say”, I asked to the public, you want me say yes, you have to say it. Then I read, everybody said yes – but you must win. That was not true – because before I asked the question, half an hour before, somebody, talking about another subject said: “guys, when are you going to win?” Then they mix up the two. OK. This is a new version. Of course, when I answered the questions related to Juventus, so we are opening up another topic, I said that my future is in Ferrari – but it was the top management that have to give to me the final blessing. This is the answer.

Q: (Rocio Romera – Motorlat.com) Mr Arrivabene, what will be the reaction of the team if Charles Leclerc can give Vettel a run for position next year? And Mr Zak Brown, letting go a two-times World Champion as Fernando, how will it change the team dynamics?

MA: I mean, I always said Charles is a very, very talented driver. It’s the reason we took him in Ferrari. I think, for the first time in the history, because you have to go back to the Rodríguez brothers that is similar to the one of Leclerc. I said he’s very talented, we took a decision, it’s more or less in line with the decision that all the other teams took. If you look at Mercedes, they took two years ago Bottas, that he was a kind of rookie coming from Claire’s team, Williams. If you look at the other teams, they have Verstappen, a young driver, McLaren the same, Renault the same, so we are more or less aligned. There is no novelty. I mean, it depends what you mean. These two guys, fighting together. Enzo Ferrari always said the first competitor of the driver is his team-mate. Until they are competitors, to try to gain the first and the second position is fine. If they are competitors who crash into each, this is not fine. But, in all honestly and seriously, I think Leclerc, he needs to gain experience to do the job. He needs to try to win races – but the main objective for him is to gain experience and always do his best. We are at the early stage to think that in the future they will fight head-to-head together. Hopefully yes – but I think it’s a bit early.

Zak?

ZB: Yeah, obviously Fernando’s an immense talent with a tremendous amount of experience. Of course, we’ll miss him in the garage but we have two outstanding talents, Carlos Sainz, who has some good experience in Formula One, so while young, he has good experience, and Lando Norris who we think is a great talent who is going to need to get experience – which is what we’ve been giving him in free practice one these last few races – and he has done an excellent job, so we’re very excited for our driver line-up for next year.

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) The new budget cap’s coming in. Do you really think this is the magic bullet which is going to put you all on the same plane? Zak’s talking about competing in F1.5. Do you think it’s going to bring a level playing field to the teams, because you should all be able to make the budget caps, or is there something else missing from the seven smaller teams?

GH: Well, when I watch some of the races and I see how fast the top three teams just blow by us on the racetrack, you’re just somewhat aghast: wow, how do you we miss that? I don’t know how those cars are so much faster but if I talk to Ayao (Komatsu) and he’ll tell you ‘you’ve got a couple of tenths on your tyres, you’ve got a couple of tenths on your aero, your chassis is off a couple of tenths and there’s your second or two’. I know that we’ve put a huge effort into trying to address all those parameters but I just don’t see how we’re ever going to make up a second and a half, two seconds off of these guys. They are just so much faster than we are and it’s evident in the race. Will budget cap help? Probably if it reduces the size of their R&D department. I guess for every person we have they have five people. Personally, I would think that five people would make it more confusing but it does seem to work. If there’s anything that can reduce that gap between the technology they have and what we don’t have, that would probably be very helpful. How you go about doing that without the bigger teams somehow have workarounds I don’t know. There’s something wrong that… I don’t think we can ever make up that gap.

CW: Yeah, I would tend to echo what Gene has said, that there’s unfortunately no way that teams like mine, anyway, that are operating on a budget of around 120m could even consider competing to win races or World Championships against the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, that are spend at least two if not three or four times the budget that we are. For me, that’s not a level playing field and for me, at any rate, that’s not how competitive sport should be. It shouldn’t be about the money that you have, it should be about the talent but talent only takes you so far when teams are outspending you three-to-one. So I am very much looking to the budget cap coming in but I also believe that there’s a whole lot of other work that we need to do in order to make sure that this sport has a sustainable future and one that probably matches the DNA that this sport has grown up with over the past fifty years, that we tend to be veering from at the moment, in my opinion.

ZB: I pretty much echo the same thoughts. I don’t think there’s a silver bullet in anything but I do think the budget cap can play a significant role in balancing the playing field. You also need to do that by having the right regulations moving forward which is something that we’re all very active on but if you do look at the sports, most of them have some sort of budget cap, salary cap and probably one of the most successful being the NFL where everyone’s pretty much on a level playing field and that’s where you see the upsets and the surprise champions and I think that would be healthy for the sport. I still think, at the end of the day, the best teams will rise to the top but it would be good to have some more unpredictability in the sport and have a chance to get back on the top step of the podium.

MA: I think from the financial point of view, of course reducing the cost is always more than welcome. It’s not related to the what, it’s related to the how. If reducing costs means equalisation it’s not for us. Standardisation is one thing, equalisation is another so equalisation is not in the DNA of car manufacturers. Reducing costs? Of course it is, that’s normal but I’m not telling you something new. We always stick to this point, to this direction. The problem is a bit more than the simple question related to the budget cap, that as I said, is very important. The question is related to the overall F1. What we want to do, to increase the interest in the sport, we need to analyse the mistakes of the past, to look forward for solutions in the future and this is also very important and to be honest, with ourselves: how is the level of interest to Formula One versus yesterday? What do we need to do? It’s not the budget cap, it’s one of the solutions but it’s the solution. We need to go back and to re-launch the sport. Launching the sport is kind of complicated and a complex equation but it’s something that we absolutely need to do and analysing also the audience that we have. If at a certain point you have an audience that is becoming older, older, older and you work to retain what you have and (Inaudible) to acquire – I’m talking about the past – and your attention is less focused on acquiring the young generation, this means that you have a problem. If you have a problem, you need to find a solution and the solution is not only related to the budget cap that I underline is important, it’s very very important, but it’s not the only one solution. In terms of competitiveness within the teams, OK, we mentioned NFL but I am European, I mention football. For example, how can you tell to Real Madrid ‘sorry, if you play with – I don’t want to mention a small team – don’t play with your best team, play with your middle team.’ Come on, it’s ridiculous. The sport is done also by the big teams which are participating in the sport and it’s part of the fascination of the sport. In the last few years in Formula One, we saw Ferrari at the time of Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher that they were winning for years. Afterwards, we had the period where Red Bull was winning for years and nobody complained. In the meantime we never focused our attention on the audience and the audience, little by little, became older. This is the exercise that we need to look at. Our competitor today, in my opinion, it’s my personal opinion, they are the Playstations. If you look at Gran Turismo, most probably we need to switch our minds and focus our attention on our competitors. Today we have a broad offer of entertainment and we need to look at everything, not only certain sports and try to equalise everything. Is Playstation a competitor? In my opinion yes. What do you have to do to beat the Playstation? You have to do something that is more interesting, most probably. It’s not a detailed answer to the question but we need to direction our attention to the entertainment industry and today what they offer is bigger than many many years ago. And then you need to ask why other sports - and let me underline football – they are still big numbers - even if they sometimes face crisis - versus us. It’s an enormous and transparent exercise and then you apply the Ryder Cup, you apply whatever you want because if you save money it’s always perfect, everybody is happy. But as I said before, standardisation doesn’t mean equalisation for us.

The World Rallycross TOP 10 are coming to South Africa in November.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross.

The 24th and 25th of November is approaching fast, which is a good thing, because fast is what it’s all about when the Gumtree World Rallycross of South Africa hits Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town on those dates. It’s an event that will definitely satisfy your need for speed, but if you have a need to know more about the incredible drivers who will be burning up the circuit, then read on. They’re a crazy, undeniably energetic bunch, and these are the top ten…

First up is current World Champion Johan Kristoffersson, the speedy Swede whose big interests are family and fitness. And Rallycross, of course. He drives a factory-developed Volkswagen Polo Supercar for PSRX Volkswagen Sweden, and in 2017, he drove it to 11 out of 12 finals, including a record-breaking seven victories, five of them in a row, winning the drivers’ title by a very, very large margin. Johan is currently topping the 2018 Championship Leaderboard and rates Höljes as his favourite World RX track. He can’t go without pasta, believes in pushing hard towards personal goals, and would love to have Jason Statham, Kimi Räikkönen and Barack Obama over for dinner.

Mattias Ekström of EKS Audi Sport is another Swede who has made a huge impact on World RX, winning the Championship in 2016 and racking up his fair share of race wins since then. He’s been hanging round RX paddocks since he was a youngster, watching dad Bengt compete, and has also won the 2004 and 2007 DTM touring car titles. Family, food and tennis make him happy, and his biggest rival can be found staring back at him from the mirror: himself.

Norwegian Petter Solberg is Kristoffersson’s racing partner at PSRX Volkswagen Sweden. He was the first person to be crowned an FIA World Champion in two different motorsport disciplines: a World Rally Championship title in 2003, and two WRX titles in 2014 and 2015. He has, thanks to his crowd-pleasing antics, earned the nickname ‘Hollywood’, and regards drivers Colin McRae and Tommi Mäkinen as his biggest inspiration.

Andreas Bakkerud is also from Norway and races alongside Ekström in the EKS Audi Sport team, driving an Audi S1 Quattro. He started karting at the age of eight and switched to Rallycross when he was fifteen. He is the only driver in WRX history to have amassed maximum points through each stage of an event weekend, which he did in 2016. He enjoys skiing and kickboxing and would, rather cleverly, take a helicopter with to a desert island.

Sébastien Loeb is a legendary Frenchman, the world’s most successful rally driver who has amassed an astounding nine consecutive WRC titles and 78 wins. He’s a more recent star on the WRX circuit and races for the Peugeot Total team. He took six podiums in 2017 and considers the Lohéac track to be his favourite. A fan of rib beef and a lifelong lover of all things racing, Sébastien has seen and done it all…and won over a whole lot of fans in the process.

In addition to these fantastically fast five, triathlon-running Timmy Hansen and his fun-loving brother Kevin, young upstart Niclas Grönholm, Latvian champion Janis Baumanis and experienced Russian Timur Timerzyanov make up the top ten. Fifteen other super-quick drivers will join them over this scintillating weekend, ensuring that you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to finding a favourite.

Des Easom, Executive manager of Killarney International Raceway, concludes, “There is the drama and action of Rallycross cars that out-accelerate Formula One’s and driven by the world’s best drivers on tar and dirt. But WRX offers way more: spectators, friends and families can have a marvellous day out with racing and entertainment on and off track, aerobatic displays, fun activities and enough to eat and drink.”

So make sure you’ve got tickets for you and the whole family. It doesn’t get more exciting. It doesn’t get more entertaining. And it certainly doesn’t get quicker.

Gumtree World Rallycross of South Africa
Killarney International Raceway
Saturday, 24th November 2018 – Sunday 25th November 2018

Tickets: R220 – R750. Kids under 12 are free

Hospitality tickets from R2500

Tickets: www.ticketpros.co.za

For more information go to www.fiaworldrallycross.com

www.wrxsa.co.za

#WRXSA2018

#RXSA2018

2018 United States GP: FIA Drivers' Press Conference.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

DRIVERS – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing), Fernando ALONSO (McLaren), Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, we’re going to start with you. You’ve been hugely successful here in the past and it looks like they’ve had you busy here as well this week, so just talk us through what you’ve been up to in New York this week?

Lewis HAMILTON: It’s just been the normal promotion stuff. I was there with IWC and with the team at the NASDAQ conference that we had… and then a bunch of other TV stuff I just did.

Q: Well, America seems to be a place you have quite an affinity with, and you’ve won the last four races here, as well as the Drivers’ title in 2015. Does it feel like it’s all coming together again for a repeat this weekend?

LH: Not particularly, no. It just feels like another race weekend we have, and we want to win, so it’s a simple goal for us, we just arrive to try and do the same thing. The weather is up and down and our goal is really just to perform as we have in previous races, we’re not thinking about it in any other way.

Q: Thank you. Fernando, you’ve got a huge following here in America after your Indycar exploits, but how special will this final US race in Formula 1 be for you this weekend?

Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, it’s always special racing here, with all the fans. Hopefully we’ll have a good show on the weekend. As Lewis said, the weather is a bit up and down on Friday and Saturday especially, hopefully that will mix things a little bit and we’ll see a good race on Sunday. In our case I think we different targets, to try to score points after two races out of the points. It’s going to be challenging but we’ll try.

Q: You’ve spent a fair bit of time in America this year. Will you be spending even more time here next year? Can you tell us anything about your 2019 plans? 

FA: Yeah, I don’t have 21 races in F1 to travel around to, so with more free time I will come to the States… for a holiday. A little bit more. 

Q: How about from a racing perspective?

FA: Let’s see. As I said many times, the Indy 500 is still very attractive, as it was last year, and after winning Le Mans this year, it’s even more attractive to try to achieve it in the short term. Still working on plans for next year and as soon as they are finalised you will know.

Q: Daniel, you also seem to really enjoy it over here. We’ve seen you’ve been at a Longhorns game this weekend. Is this one of your favourite events of the season?

Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, it is. I love it. I don’t know, I’ve always enjoyed coming here. The football was a really cool experience. It’s amazing how many people go to a college game, how the capacity is that alone. It’s cool to experience new things and yeah, I’ve had a good week!

Q: Well, this season you’ve had two race victories but no podiums alongside that. Is it realistic to expect you to change that record here this weekend.

DR: Yeah, I think so. I think we’ll have a decent car around here. It’s weird, yeah I know, that I haven’t had any actual podiums. So yeah, we’ll try to make it happen. Last year I was going pretty strong in the race but then we had to stop with some mechanicals. It’s definitely a fun track to race on. I enjoy Austin alone, but the circuit as well is really good for racing. You can overtake and it’s pretty unique, so I’m happy if it’s kind of wet for Friday and Saturday but I kind of feel if the race is dry Sunday it will still be pretty exciting.

Q: Thank you. Romain, we’ve talked about the affinity these guys have with America, but it’s a home race for Haas, and you’ve got just four races left to try to overhaul Renault in the Constructors’ Championship. So us there a lot of pressure on this weekend?

Romain GROSJEAN: I think the pressure is always on, to be fair. Different levels, obviously for the top guys to win the championship, and for us to go and try to get Renault in the Constructors’. It’s a great weekend, it’s going to be very busy, a lot of marketing commitments, but I think it’s a good that we’re here, racing here for an American team and coming this year with a competitive car compared to the first two years us great.

Q: If I could just ask you about your own form. You had a tough start to the season, but then I think you scored 31 points in the last nine races. Just how did you go about turning that around?

RG: Thirty-nine. I got eight stolen in Monza.

DR: He’s not still bitter!

RG: No, I think everything is going great since Germany. It was a rough start to the season and things didn’t go my way. A bit of bad luck and bit of mistakes and all together it makes like a snowball effect. At one point I managed to stop that and come back to where I wanted to be. I’m really enjoying driving the car. I think we’ve had some really good races and I’m looking forward to the four last ones and here especially.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Lewis, I know you’re not looking at the championship all the time, but if we would do an overlay from last years championship to this year’s championship it was pretty tight all season but then after the summer break the car and you personally, you really kicked off. Is this just a coincidence or is there anything – that you are understanding the tyres better, the team is understanding the car better? What is your explanation for that?

LH: Yeah, it’s probably just a coincidence that it’s exactly the same but we are improving the car the whole year long. We are improving our knowledge of the car and how to get the most out of it. If we knew what we knew in the second half we would do a lot better at the beginning. That’s just how it is in the sport. That’s how it always is. It’s been the same since I started in 2007. I think it’s probably the same for everyone. Not really much more else to say.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) For all of you, though Fernando I know this doesn’t really affect you for next year. The 2019 regulations state that the drivers weighing under 80 kilos will be ballasted up to 80 kilos, that ballast to be carried within the sort of cockpit area. How do you feel about that? Is that correct or should drivers be allowed to take advantage of their physique, as they can in other sporting activities?

DR: I personally feel that they are just getting us prepared for more races in America.

LH: NASCAR.

DR: All of us will enjoy our food a little more! I’m not complaining about it. It’s not like we’re going to, let’s say, take the piss, it’s more just a lot of us now tend to starve ourselves on race weekends and even training we can’t really do much strength training because we would just put on mass. I think it will just allow us to train harder, eat harder… Eat harder? Eat more. But it’s not like we’re going to have beer bellies or anything, we’re just going to be stronger and I think that’s only a good thing.

LH: I disagree. I think there are going to be some people with bigger bellies.

DR: Well, the small guys can afford to do everything!

Q: Romain, your thoughts on the weight?

RG: I think it’s a great thing. I’ve been the same as… Daniel and Lewis are quite tall. I think it hasn’t been great to starve ourselves and not eat as want to, so a few kilos of margin is going to be great. It will be a challenge for the team, because getting to the minimum weight for the regulation with the 80 kilos for seat and driver together is going to be tricky, but on the other hand it’s going to make our lives an awful lot better.

Lewis, any further thoughts?

LH: I think it’s great. It’s definitely going to open the doors up for people like Will Ferrell and all those who weigh a lot more to come in! It’s always been something we’ve all worked hard to keep in shape and it has been something we’ve worked really hard at; to make sure we’re not overweight. I guess we can eat more pancakes. I think we will prepare more and we can all be a little bit stronger next year. I guess for the people who are struggling to come under the weight; for example there are some of the taller drivers who struggle to be less than 80 kilos. I guess it doesn’t really make much difference for them otherwise.

Q: Fernando, you won’t be racing here next year, but you have raced in other categories where weight balances are different. Do you think this is a good move for Formula 1?

FA: Yeah, I think it is. In Formula 1, I’m obviously not one of the tallest, so it’s more a question for the tall guys and I think it’s fair for everyone, so I think it’s good. In other series, in WEC in particular, where the weight is free, that normally gives and advantage to the lighter and smaller guys, and probably that is unfair in a way, so I think Formula 1 is doing great on that.

DR: Ricky Bobby.

LH: Ricky Bobby.

DR: I caught it, it’s alright.

LH: I noticed. No one else watched Talladega Nights. Ricky Bobby. No? Overweight NASCAR driver. NASCAR drivers can now come over to Formula 1, which is cool.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Daniel, we know you’ve not had the smoothest season, you’ve talked about that before. Your 2019 team, Renault, hasn’t had the smoothest end to the year either: they’ve been quite honest about falling behind on the engine side and the car side. That situation’s changed, obviously, since you agreed to join them. How much of a concern has it been watching their performance, and how encouraging is it to hear they’re planning an all-new engine for next year?

DR: It’s encouraging, obviously. When I signed, I knew that there was work ahead but I know that they’re putting a lot of effort into making things better and expanding a lot of departments and trying to make ’19 stronger and ’20 and whatever. Yeah, the way the last few races have been this year, obviously, it would be nice to see them improve every race and whatever but I honestly don’t look into it too much yet. I think ’19 is a new car and it’s going to be a fresh start again, so I’m not spending too much energy on that at the moment. Obviously, all I can do is, once my year’s done is try to be fully immersed into it all and try to help as much as I can and see how things go from there.

Q: (Jon Massengale – Speed City) We’ve got a lot of American fans excited about the Haas F1 team, the momentum they have coming into Austin for good points – but all four of you up there talk about excited to race in the United States. I want to ask, what can we do to continue the momentum to grow the sport here in the United States?

RG: Well, I think, to me the obviously, answer is to get more races in the US. I think most of the time it’s really hard for the audience to watch the grands prix, it’s the middle of the night. It’s not easy to grow the fan base. I think more races in the US. I think races a bit more exiting as well. If you look at NASCAR, you never know who’s going to win the race. In Formula One I can tell you it’s going to be the Mercedes or Ferrari winning on Sunday. I think that could be improved – but definitely more races in the US to get closer to the fans would be the first thing.

Lewis, your thoughts on how we can grow it here?

LH: I agree with what he said. We do have the one race and this is a big, big country with a lot of sporting heritage. They love intensely-fought games but also have something to look forward to – because there’s a build-up to multiple games. We only have that one race here, so the people, for example in this city or people in the close States that fly over for this one grand prix, which happens once a year, it’s like a festival. You can’t really get too excited about one festival in a season. So, that’s probably something that Liberty will be working on for the future.

Fernando, your thoughts?

FA: More or less the same. Try to get more races here, hopefully one American driver into F1 soon, and that will help. I think it will take a little bit of interest into the sport and have a little bit more unpredictable races is more or less what they have here. To have people expecting the unexpected until the end.

And Daniel, your thoughts on growing the sport here.

DR: I have to agree with all that. Currently they don’t have an American driver. We can do our best to put on an accent and fill those boots. [Approximation of Texan accent] I can try all I can – I don’t know how these boys can do it but I’ll give it a red-hot crack and see how we go.

We wondered how long it would be before you did that…

DR: It was only a matter of time!

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, what’s your explanation for how you’ve taken off, collectively, since the summer break. Is it just stepping forward with the car? Is it personally? Is it mistakes from the opposition? What is it? What’s the biggest factor do you think?

LH: I haven’t really thought about it much. It’s a combination of so many things. Naturally, as a driver, you do improve. Or, at least, I’ve noticed in myself, I can’t speak for everyone – but I’ve noticed I improve throughout the year. How you conduct yourself, how you perform within the team, how you’re able to maximise in the car. If you go back through all the years, you know I always say that by the second half of the season I should be better, and most of the time that’s usually the case. I think also, as a team, we’ve collectively done a better job in every area. And then, the other side, for sure, has not done as good a job in that respect, coming into the second phase. So, I don’t really have a massive explanation for it. My knowledge is as good as yours in that sense.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, you said you’re concentrating one race at a time – but you do stand on the brink of winning a fifth World Championship. What does that mean to you, were you to do that this weekend here in Austin?

LH: Again, really as a team, none of us are saying how cool it would be if it happened this weekend or the next, we’re not focussing on ifs. We’re focussing on making sure that we deliver. There’s still 100 points available. We can just never be complacent in life, and in a Championship as intense as this. We expect Ferrari to punch back hard here this weekend, so we can’t be relaxed in any way, shape or form. We’ve got to make sure we come here and raise the bar again. So, I’m definitely not thinking this weekend, how’s it going to feel if we do the job. Because I’ve got to do the job and that just adds more pressure and you just don’t need more pressure. So, focussing on making sure that I drive the best that I’ve driven all year long and we get the car where we need to get it. It’s going to be wet, I think, all day tomorrow, as far as I’ve heard, and potentially on Saturday, so it’s going to be a tricky weekend. So, nothing is a given.

Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Lewis, given that this season has been a chase for a fifth championship, what does the name Fangio mean to you, his place in history and can you imagine yourself trying to drive the cars he muscled around the track back in his era?

LH: Imaging myself driving some of those cars back then? I have driven some of those cars. Stirling Moss’s car I’ve had a go in, some of the Silver Arrows they had, around the old Monza circuit, for example, with Sir Stirling, which is pretty intense. It’s always really strange to hear the drivers’ mental philosophy back then. Sir Stirling would say you’d want to fall out if the car’s going to crash: you hope that you get thrown out the car. It’s a much more confined space for us. It’s all about being stuck in and being safe. I would have… I don’t know if the 50s was a particularly good time, wasn’t a great time for black people either, so probably wouldn’t have been racing back then, but I’m grateful to be in this era and with the technology that we have and seeing the cars advance. I’m so grateful to be part of this era. Fangio is always… he’s like the godfather of the drivers’ sport for us. He’s the godfather for us, one of the greats from the beginning and will always be admired in the sport. It is crazy to think that I’m embarking on a similar number of championships that he had.

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Fernando, just on Lewis, when you first met him in 2007, did you think this guy would have the credentials to go on and match Fangio, win five titles and all the races? And Lewis, we saw you issued a post in Instagram, just defending Sebastian. Do you think his criticism has been a bit unjust this year?

FA: Well, probably at that time it was difficult to image what the future could bring for Lewis, and for any of the guys on the grid. But yeah, definitely, he had showed the talent from day one, and fighting for the Championship in his rookie year, winning in 2008. Probably at that time, we all agree that five or seven World Championships will be possible. Then, obviously, was a little bit down due to the performance of the car for a couple of years. And then, yeah, switching to Mercedes at that time, we all were thinking that maybe was not positive – because at that time Mercedes was struggling in 2013, and things like that. So, it’s up and down, the feelings. I’m happy for him because he showed the talent from day one. He was able to win races when the car was there to win it but he was able to win races in some of the seasons when the car was not in the top of the form, like 2009 and things like that, he’s still winning a couple of grand prix a year. It’s impressive – and now it’s time to enjoy for him, so I’m happy.

And Lewis, your comments defending Sebastian after Japan?

LH: I think if I was in the same position they would probably do the same thing so it’s more as drivers we are all members of the GPDA and I think we all just need to stick together and I think the respect that we have for one another I think is probably the greatest that it’s been for many years. At least in the years that I’ve been in Formula One. I think ultimately as a four-time World Champion, it is the most intense year that we’ve had. So every hiccup is magnified, naturally, as it is perhaps in any sport at the top. But there have been many – or several – times that I’ve been in the firing range and Seb’s always been really respectful and supported me, so I thought it was only just to do the same.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Two questions, the first for Lewis. Can you explain to us why you do love America so much? And the second one for Fernando; can you give us your top five of the World Champions and what does it mean for you to have one driver equalling Fangio with five titles?

LH: I don’t know if I love it more than everyone else loves it. So many people come out here and… I grew up watching… movies are something I’m massively into… grew up watching these great movies which were filmed here in the States and then dreaming, as a kid, of one day coming to the States: I think it wasn’t until I was 17 and I finally went to New York and loved it and the more and more time I spend out here the more I enjoy it. I love the big roads they have, they do everything generally bigger and better in most cases. They’ve just got some great cities, good energy, good people, music is the centre of the universe for entertainment here so there’s many many reasons. The food is great, they’ve got the best pancakes out here.

FA: I guess it’s difficult to do the top five.

LH: Yourself?

FA: Not really! Probably Michael, Fangio, Senna, Prost, Lewis, probably this will be the top five, probably, that come to my mind but it’s difficult to compare different times and different ways to win those championships. Lewis winning five now and being the same as Fangio, as I said before, it’s a great achievement and if one had to do that in our generation, I’m happy that it’s Lewis because he showed the talent and he showed the commitment, as I said before, when the car was dominating he delivers and won the championship. When the car was not good enough to win the championship, he still put in some performances to show his talent and that’s difficult to see in our days.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Fernando’s already been to Indianapolis but when we as a motor sport of community think of the US we generally think of the Indianapolis 500. A lot of Formula One World Champions, race winners etc have actually raced at Indianapolis. Could you imagine yourselves ever racing there?

DR: Yes and no. The thought of it sounds good. Ovals creep me out a little bit. I won’t lie. It would be cool. I don’t know. I would at least like to have a go, like maybe just a test. Let’s see how things go but yeah, it was cool watching Fernando do it, don’t get me wrong and part of me was like trying to picture myself being there and doing it but yeah, maybe one day. At the moment I don’t say it’s something I’m looking to do in the near future. I don’t know. Probably the older I get, the more scared I’ll become, so if it doesn’t happen now maybe it won’t ever happen. I don’t know.

RG: I’ll join Daniel. It sounds cool, looks cool, it’s a great race. Ovals, yeah…

DR: Who thought turning left could be so hard?

LH: I kind of feel in a similar way. I would definitely like to try it as I’ve never really driven an oval before and the cars are incredibly fast and (I) always want to go faster. I probably will get a chance to have a go. I’m sure if I wanted to have a go I could but it’s never been a series -  naturally, growing up in Europe, it’s never been a series that you grew up aspiring to be in, it was always Formula One being it was the highest technology and has always been – at least growing up – the thought was that it was the highest grade of drivers that you wanted to compete against but they’ve got some great drivers there as well. I think I would prefer to try NASCAR.  Watkins Glen, I’ve always wanted to have a go up there, beer cans in the side. I have driven a NASCAR years ago at Watkins Glen which was awesome so that’s something I could do potentially. I honestly have no desire to do any other racing beyond Formula One if I’m really honest but maybe that will change when you do stop, because you do it your whole life and temptation is always going to be there, I’m always going to be a racing driver at heart.

FA: Well, they need to commit to the race. I think if they just want to do a test they will never do the race after testing the car, because it feels quite bad. It feels quite difficult. The car is self-steering to the left, you go on the straights and you are turning right and it feels very weird to drive the car, but then in the race it is just a different thing. You wake up your competitive instinct and you forget about all these weird things that those cars have and it’s a lot of fun. It’s part of history. I think the biggest thing is to go out of your comfort zone and drive something that you don’t feel ready to handle, ready to control and that adrenaline is magic.

Q: (Craig Slater – Sky Sports) To the two World Champions, Lewis and Fernando: there’s been a lot of attention on Mick Schumacher winning his Formula Three series. I wonder how you feel about him progressing into F1, one being whether the Schumacher name will be an asset or a burden to him?

LH: I don’t think it will be a burden. I think naturally for any of the champions when they have youngsters come through, naturally Michael is named the greatest driver of all time, he’s got the most titles, so there will one hundred percent be a Schumacher back in Formula One, partly because of the name, but secondly because he’s doing a great job. He’s obviously got a lot of talent as his Dad had, just like Keke and Nico, just like when Fernando has kids I’m sure an Alonso will be here again. Even if I have a kid who wants to race and even if he’s no good he can make it Formula One because of the name. But no, he’s doing a really great job and he’s a really great kid as well. He’s come to… and been a part of our team a couple of weekends, I think it was last year, very attentative. He’s got a great talent as his Dad had so I don’t think it will be a burden in my personal opinion. I think it could be great for the sport.

FA: Not much to add. I don’t know him. Obviously I never met him, probably. You only see the results from the outside and he has a great talent and he will be good for the sport, to have the Schumacher name again in F1. Let’s see what the future brings, not putting extra pressure on him which I’m sure he has enough already. Let time decide.

Q: (Chris Bils – Austin American Statesman) Lewis, you’ve had so much success here and really your name has become synonymous with this track. Is there anything in particular, over the years, besides winning that you’ve enjoyed about coming here and also you were talking about the food, pancakes, is there anything that you like to eat while you’re here?

LH: They don’t make tracks really like they did in the olden days. The older circuits that you’d go to, you’d dream of going to, watching the legends drive there, so some of the new tracks aren’t really that good but this is one of those that is, it’s got great character and from day one when we arrived here, there was a massive crowd that came who I’m sure, at least half of them, probably were new to the sport which was great so it had the impact it was meant to have and I think every year it’s kind of been growing but just driving the track is a massive challenge and also you can actually race here, you can follow which is one of the downfalls of some of the circuits: it’s harder to follow. So I think that’s really why I’ve enjoyed it a lot because I’ve had the chance to have races here, real races and obviously there is that great sporting heritage here and people are genuinely super enthusiastic about sports, no matter which sport it is. And the last race here that we had, the whole spectacle, I think, was probably the best of the whole year, the whole build-up and everything I thought was great. It’s great to celebrate the culture wherever you go. I think there was negativity I think I heard after the race about how American it was but I was like ‘we’re in America, we’ve got celebrate America at this Grand Prix particularly’ and I think that should happen in all the countries we go to.

Food-wise, I grew up… for a period of time I lived on an American airbase in England and chicken wings… this guy my Mum was dating did the best chicken wings ever and I used to come out here and have that but I don’t eat chicken any more, being as I’m on a plant-base diet so I don’t know how that’s going to go while I’m here, I might be living on pancakes all weekend but I don’t mind that.

Its a perfect 10 for unstoppable Kristoffersson in Buxtehude.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media.

The 2018 FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson started off where he ended in Austin, Texas by claiming victory in Buxtehude, Germany.

Kristoffersson made it clear heading into the weekend that he is targeting victory at the Estering, having not taking victory since the series inception back in 2014. The Swede did not have it easy throughout the weekend, but muscled his way to the top, and claimed a record breaking 10th victory of the season in 11 rounds. 

“I can tell you now, the view from the top step of the podium in Buxtehude is a good one!," said Kristoffersson. “At times this weekend I was thinking: “It’s Buxtehude again, I’m still not going to make the podium!”

“But I did it," he adds. "It was a shame that Petter and I were in the same semi-final, but we both made it through and going into that first corner after I came from the joker lap was a little bit like syncronised sliding – that was really good fun."

The final was a mixed affair. In the first Final race, Johan got off to a slow start seeing Andreas Bakkerud take the lead, but the Swede quickly muscled his way into the lead. The race was red flagged on lap 3, after Kevin Hansen crashed. At the restart the Swede had a much better launch and controlled the race from there.

“The final worked well, but I’m really sorry for Petter," said Kristoffersson. "You know last time out in Texas, he was the super-quick guy and he was really on it here again. I think we’re going to see Petter even more determined in South Africa."

The 2018 FIA World RX Teams Champions - PSRX Volkswagen Sweden.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross

Although, Motorsport is driven by numbers, the Swede is not interested in the numbers/records that he continues to set this season. “For me, this sport and this championship’s not about numbers," the Swede says. "Winning 10 races is nice, but that’s something to look back on when I’m old and have grandchildren on my knee to tell them the story about when Grampa was a fast driver!" 

Kristoffersson feels that the teams story is more important then his own: "There are so many people who work so hard behind the scenes and today is for them. To win one FIA world title as a team is an amazing achievement, but to win two in the way we have done is a mark of a group of people who truly are the best in the world. I want to thank you all!”