21 strong entry list for World RX of Benelux revealed.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media.

The entry list for the Spa World RX of Benelux on May 11-12 has been released by the FIA.

A strong 21 driver line-up will do battle around famous Eau Rouge section of the Formula 1 circuit at the Spa-Francorchamps. 

The 2016 World RX Champion Mattias Ekstrom will return with his 2016 championship winning Audi S1 supercar, now owned by JC Raceteknik. The Swede will be partnered by Belgium’s Enzo Ide, who will make his World RX debut. 

Finnish former GRC champion Joni Wiman will also return to the sport in the third Gronholm RX Hyundai i20 as a teammate to Niclas Gronholm and Timur Timerzyanov. 

Belgium’s Gregoire Demoustier is also making a return for the Belgian round of the championship with Sebastien Loeb Racing team. While Team STARD’s second Ford Fiesta will be raced by Pal Try.

Team STARD could face a €10,000 fine in Belgium should they fail to enter to cars of the same make and model. 

STARD could face World RX fine over rules breach.

Janis Baumanis taking the jump at the 2019 World RX season opener in Abu Dhabi
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media 

Team STARD is facing the prospect of a fine if they fail to present two cars of equal specification by the third race of the season in Belgium. 

The Austrian team expanded to a two-car team for the 2019 championship, with former FIA European Champion Janis Baumanis leading the way.

STARD developed an all-new Ford Fiesta RXS Evo 5 Supercar with the support of Ford Performance, which could bring the team strong results after a promising campaign last year.

Team STARD's garage - Baumanis supercar (left) and Pal Try (right)
PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Banks Photography.

Full-time STARD driver Baumanis will be partnered by multiple drivers in the 2019 season. Pal Try competed at the season opener in Abu Dhabi and will compete in two more rounds this season, while Jani Paasonen will compete in at least five rounds and Jere Kalliokoski in at least two.

Following World RX scrutineering in Abu Dhabi, the Stewards noted that STARD failed to enter two cars of the same make and model, which is a contravention of the FIA World Rallycross Sporting Regulations (Article 8.3): "....a team entered in the said Championship must always present two cars of the same make and model in each event of the Championship."

After consulting with the team. The Stewards took the decision that STARD "is not allowed to collect points in the Teams' classification and will be given a suspended penalty to pay a fine of 10,000 Euros, should they fail to present two cars of the same make and model at Race 3 (Belgium) of the FIA World RX Championship 2019."

Despite Janis Baumanis scoring 20 championship points, his team score zero. 

STARD was not available for comment and it remains unclear they will enter two cars of the same make or model by round 3 of the Championship. 

[Story will be updated should team issue a comment]

Source: FIA World Rallycross Championship Stewards. 
TEXT: Junaid Samodien

Mattias Ekström makes World RX comeback for Spa

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media 

Former World Rallycross Champion Mattias Ekström will return to World RX next month at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Swede called time on his World RX career at the end of the 2018 season following Audi Sport's withdrawal from the sport. 

His career in the World RX championship has seen him claim 10 event wins, 22 podium finishes and the 2016 World RX championship. 

Ekström's EKS team are running three rented 2018 Audi S1 Quattro Supercars in World RX this year for Monster Energy’s RX Cartel and EKS Sport's Krisztian Szabo.


The Former World RX Champion will be reunited with his 2016 title-winning car in his World RX comeback with the JC Raceteknik team. He will be racing alongside Belgium's Enzo Ide in the team's two-car line-up. 

“Being on the sofa at home watching Abu Dhabi I started to imagine racing again and going through Eau Rouge at 200km sideways," said Ekström. "It started to become very tempting. I asked Joel [Christoffersson, JC Raceteknik owner] if he was interested that I could use my old championship-winning car."

Ekström competing in the 2016 World RX championship.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media. 

"If that wouldn’t have been the case I think I wouldn’t have done it. It will be nice to just to go to do a race for fun and enjoy it, because when you do a sport at factory level you have a responsibility and you’re obliged to a lot," he explained. "When you go there for the enjoyment, still for the fans and to put on a good show, for sure I will want to win the race no discussion, but it’s way different to do a wildcard entry versus a full championship."

The Swede is ready and willing to share his experience with the JC Raceteknik team in their first World RX event.  

“On the one side it’s a big pleasure to race, but also to share a bit of experience with someone who’s starting a new chapter," says Ekström. "I would like to give my experience to Joel and his team that they can have a good start with the cars.”  

Ekström will return to the cockpit of his championship winning 2016 Audi S1 Quattro supercar on 11/12 May. 

“I really love that car and always did," he said. "I will enjoy driving it to the limit like I always did, if that’s fast enough then we will go and pick up the trophy, if not then we will just smile."

He has revealed that his 2016 Championship winning Audi S1 Quattro Supercar will feature some updates.

"Some updates firstly from our Japanese friends from KYB, we have new dampers. Also, the engine has got some updates so it will be more power, torque, and driveability. So, can't really what to go there and just have some fun."

TEXT - Junaid Samodien

2019 Chinese GP: FIA Post-Race Press Conference Transcript.

PHOTO CREDIT - FIA.com

Drivers - 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), 2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes), 3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Martin Brundle)

Q: Lewis, congratulations. You’ve won the 1000th championship event. You won the 900th as well, but you seemed to have this race under control from the moment you released the clutch.

Lewis HAMILTON: It’s not been the most straightforward of weekends, but what a fantastic result for the team, everyone has worked so hard. We came here and we didn’t know whereabouts we would stand with the Ferraris; they’d been so quick in the last race. But we turned up, Valtteri had been quick all weekend, he did a great job today and to have a 1-2 together today I think is really special on the 1000th grand prix. But the start was really where I was able to make the difference and after that it was kind of history.

Q: Your 75th victory and pretty impressive of the team to double stack you for that critical pit stop to cover off any safety car issues.

LH: Yeah, the strategists have been really on point for these first three races and we’ve really got to keep that up. You can see still it’s really, really close between us all and I really have no idea how the next race is going to turn out, but I’m super excited. Team LH China have been incredible all weekend, so a big thank you to them. They’ve been welcoming from the moment I arrived at the airport, to the hotel, morning and night, every single day, and here at the race. A big, big thank you to everyone who supported me, and to the family – love you guys. I’m just so happy, man.

Q: Well done again. Valtteri, second place in the grand prix, not quite enough pace today but satisfying nonetheless.

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I think I lost it in the start, honestly. Otherwise, the car was feeling OK and the pace was similar, but in the first stint, in the dirty air I couldn’t follow. But shame about the start, I got some wheel spin when I went over the white line, the start-finish line, which is immediately after my box, so I lost it there

Q: That’s how tough Formula 1 is in 2019 isn’t it? One critical moment like that decides the race.

VB: Yeah, it’s small details but it’s early days in the season and things are looking good. But I’m really proud for the team. We’ve done three perfect weekends so far, so that’s very good.

Q: It’s the first time this year you don’t lead the world championship. You coming back?

VB: Yeah, it’s not a good feeling, so I’m coming back.

Q: OK, good stuff. Sebastian, tell us how that race was for you?

Sebastian VETTEL: Well, happy to be on the podium, but tough, because we tried to stick with them, but we just couldn’t. They were too quick, right from the start. Obviously I had a bit of a race with Max, which was good fun, but the objective was to chase them down, but as I said, they were just too quick for us today. So well done to Lewis and Valtteri.

Q: A great moment with Max. You hung him outside to dry on the outside on the grass, but that was good racing.

SV: Yeah, I saw him coming and the speed delta at the end of the straight is quite big now, so knowing Max as well, I knew that he will try. I was sort of predicting that he would try and go down the inside and try to cut back and it worked. I had a bit of a moment in which I had to open the car a bit, but it was good because I just kept nearly a car length ahead and then at the end going into the last corner for him I guess wasn’t sexy so that was good fun, but as I said, we would have loved to be a bit faster.

Q: The team eased you past your team-mate Charles Leclerc early on, did you feel that was right move?

SV: Yeah, I felt I could go faster. Then it was a bit difficult for me to find the rhythm, so I had a couple of wobbles where I locked up and lost the advantage I gained. But I think it’s fair if you see the whole race that we were just not able to stick with Mercedes. It’s a bit of a shame he couldn’t get Max in the end. I was following the tower in the middle of the track and I was hoping for him to pip Max. I think it was very close. But as I said, plenty of homework for us. Nevertheless, it’s a good result but not a great result.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, it was a difficult start to the weekend, but it ended perfectly. 

LH: I was just thinking how delicious that was. It really has been an interesting first three races. We, as a team, definitely didn’t expect to have three one-twos, but now I’m proud to have been part of the work that everyone has done and to be a part of these results. Valtteri has really stepped up this year and done an exceptional job, so we’re both delivering on the weekends. A little bit of a struggle this weekend for me, but once I got into qualifying, a little bit of a shift in driving style enabled me to unlock a bit more potential with the car, which Valtteri was clearly able to do. And then the start was obviously great, which was really the decisive moment I’d say for the race. And then after that it was fairly straightforward. I managed to have quite good pace today compared to P2, practice two, long run pace, so I’m really, really happy with it. You can see it’s still quite close with us all and I think it’s just down to little small details of overall performance that’s enabling us to come out with the results we’re pulling.

Q: How much work have you done on the starts since the start of the season?

LH: No more than I did in the previous year – but it clearly is an area that I’ve struggled with and it’s not like it’s only this year: it’s been something I’ve struggled with over the years – 2016, you could say, was one of the worst. Probably back in 2007, 2008 was also really poor period of time for starts, particularly against the Ferraris who were very, very strong with it. Last year was actually a really strong year for me. I think I just finished second overall of quickest starts throughout the year to, I think it was Carlos Sainz or something like that. Arguably it was first – but it’s dependent on the GPS! The first few races have been difficult for me off the line, so it’s nice to finally kind of redeem myself and rectify that. Naturally the next 18 races can still be up and down – just have to keep working at it.

Q: Valtteri, coming to you, we’ve just been talking about the start; it was the decisive moment of the grand prix. Do you feel your start was not quite as good as Melbourne, for example?

VB: Well, you could for sure see it. Lewis had a better start and for me, the problem was already on the formation lap start. There was a thick white line just in front of my grid box, so, when you’re still accelerating, and when I went over the white line I got some wheelspin on the formation lap start. For the race start, I thought maybe it’s going to be better with warmer tyres but it wasn’t, so once I hit the white line, got the wheelspin, took too long to recover it, lost a few metres of distance, so Lewis got me. That’s how it goes sometimes.

Q: How was the pace of the car for the rest of the grand prix.

VB: I think for the first stint Lewis had a pretty strong stint. I was initially close by but obviously when you are behind, you are sliding a bit more, overheating the tyres a bit more. I think after the first stint, the second and third stint were very similar. Just about how much you were managing or pushing. So, I think race start was the key – but Lewis did a good job on that. So, that’s how it goes.

Q: Sebastian, your first podium of 2019. Was the car where you wanted it this afternoon?

SV: I think we have to answer with ‘no’. I have to answer with no. We have a very strong car, there’s nothing wrong with it but I think we’re not able to yet put it in the window. Especially for myself, here and there. I’m not entirely happy yet compared to where we started off. Obviously the three tracks we’ve been to now are quite different. The conditions we had are different – but I think we start to see a sort of pattern and understand what – especially throughout a grand prix distance – understand what we need, what I need, to really unlock this car. I think these couple of weeks and the next weeks will be very important for us to understand where we need to go in the next months. Clearly today we were not as fast as Mercedes. Bit of a shame we couldn’t get third and fourth but overall I think we optimised. There were stages in the race where we were strong, and stages of the race where we were weaker compared to where we wanted to be.

Q: You said that you didn’t have the pace of Mercedes. How intimidated are you by the pace of the cars of the guys on your right?

SV: Nothing that shocks us. I think, at this point, it’s a question of putting it together. Obviously Mercedes had a good run with the first three races. I think in Australia we struggled with the conditions, and probably set-up. I think we learned our lessons for Bahrain, it was a lot better. Still, here and there, there are some parts of the race where we are too weak. And I think it showed again this weekend. So, I think we can be very happy with where we are on the engine side. It seems to be strong. I think overall our car is working and there’s nothing wrong with it – but I think it’s just about placing it in the right window and then being able to extract the performance that the car has, which I think Charles was able to show in Bahrain more than myself and yeah, it seems to be there somewhere but at the moment seems to be a bit more difficult to find where it is, to be able to be a fair match to Mercedes at this point.

 QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Sebastian. Have you asked the team to ask Charles to let you past? If not, do you think it was fair to do that?

SV: Well, let’s put it this way, I knew the moment it was happening that I would have to face these questions. Not sure I want to answer because I’m a little bit against the way  you – all of you – work, because you take bits out of answers here and there and put it into the wrong light. So, if you ask me again in half an hour down in the paddock, maybe I give you a straightforward answer and you don’t write it down or record. Seems the way that, not maybe all of you but some of you are working. Yeah, I felt I was faster in the car, I was asked if I can go faster. I answered that I felt I can. I was a bit surprised when I was in free air – not surprised but I was struggling a bit to put the laps together. Once I found a rhythm, I was able to chip away – but yeah, obviously the objective was to try and catch Mercedes. At the point obviously the gap was already quite big.

Q: (David Scheider - Autobild Motorsport) Sebastian, there was an incident yesterday with Max Verstappen in qualifying. How did it feel to fight him today on the track?

SV: Well, yesterday was outside; today was inside! I think it’s very clear. Obviously I went to see the Red Bull team after qualifying and they admitted a mistake by not telling Max, so I think he tried to put himself in a good place and he wasn’t aware of the clocking ticking down. Today had nothing to do with it. I saw him coming down the inside and I knew that he would try something so I was already trying to prepare the exit which worked well for me and into sixteen, the last corner, I wasn’t quite sure whether he would come back or not but it probably didn’t make sense for him so happy to stay ahead and from that point onwards I was able to pull away. The first lap, I think we got a bit unlucky after the stop with the McLaren. I wasn’t quite sure what the McLaren was doing and whether and where he would let me past so it allowed Max to be closer than the following laps.

Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Lewis, given where you and the team thought you were in Barcelona in testing, in relation to Ferrari, now you’ve had three consecutive one-twos, do you think they’ve really been scored against the odds at this opening stage of the season?

LH: Yeah, I think the last race probably wouldn’t have been a one-two if… obviously if they hadn’t have had the reliability issue we would have been second and third or second and fourth, whatever it was. And obviously with the results, Sebastian was also quite quick in the last race so it’s difficult to say but we definitely got through testing, we knew that it was very close, we got the car into a window but we knew that it was within a couple of tenths but we did think that they had the upper hand. I’m just not sure they’ve really hooked up a proper solid weekend just yet but it was looking like it was going to be a solid weekend for them in Bahrain and then it started to tail off. This weekend, they were a bit up and down throughout the weekend. I’m not really sure where they are losing out but they’re gaining something like 0.4s on the straights but losing out on corners so it will be interesting to see how long they adopt that strategy in the coming races but there are still so many races where their car will perhaps outshine ours. They’ve still got the shorter car than ours so it might work better in some other places that we’re going to but it’s a little bit early to say but definitely three one-twos, I think it’s a little bit above what… I think we’re over-delivering a little bit at the moment to our true true potential but there’s still more to come.

Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Lewis, this is the first time since 1992 that one team has scored three one-two finishes in the first races of the season. How impressive is that given the opposition you face compared with then? You know, in 1992 Nigel Mansell and Williams were the only show in town. Obviously Sebastian is aping Nigel’s facial fuzz but therein the similarity ends.

LH: Well, I was just saying to him I can’t grow that to save my life. I know I just inherited it from my Dad; he doesn’t grow much hair on his face so this is the kind of the maximum I can go so I can’t even do a Movember. I had to stick one on. But no, I think, I actually didn’t realise that it had not been that. But I think what’s showing is just how it has been easy to get these three one-twos. The first race was perhaps a little bit more straightforward for us but getting the car to where we needed it to then delivery through the weekends and I think we definitely were lucky in the last race to position a one-two again. It doesn’t really mean a huge amount but it’s a real positive for us as a team and I hope that we can keep up this performance. We know that we’ve got Ferrari knocking at our heels and we know that the Red Bulls are there or thereabouts somewhere but again, they’re not delivering as a whole, as we are as a team and that’s what it takes today, just overall maximum attack. It will be interesting to see how the next races go.

Q: (Panagiotis Seitanidis – Car magazine, Greece) Lewis, you’ve showed again that you have huge team support, you have your mini-me with you. For a little boy starting racing and dreaming about racing to where you are now, having such an impact all around the world, how does it make you feel?

LH: Well actually this weekend I met a young boy who is karting and has won a championship, a minority, and he was 11 years old and he really reminded me or me in 1996 when I went to my first Grand Prix in Spa and it was really cool to see myself within him and see the smile upon his face. He was in the garage during the race today. It is a real privileged position to be in and it is quite surreal to have youngsters and even adults come up to you, shaking or nervous when they are around you but there’s such great energy and ultimately there’s a real strong platform to deliver key messages to a position to inspire. I feel very, very privileged. I try to do it in the best way I can at the same time as living my life and making the mistakes that you do in life. Yeah, you feel like you’re on cloud nine this weekend, from the moment I landed, got off the plane and the fans just fill me up with joy, you know, and they have done all weekend. When I wake up in the morning I’m groggy and I get down to the lobby and they’re outside all smiling. They’ve been there for at least an hour and they’re buzzing and when I get home tonight or back to the hotel in the evening  they’re there again and they travel so far around the world, people save up and spend their money to go to all these different locations to support. It’s incredible, it’s absolutely incredible and it’s very very hard to put it into words just how awesome an experience it is but also how grateful I am.

Q: (David Coath – Motorlat) Lewis, you told us you were struggling with the car yesterday. How soon could you realise today that you had the car underneath you?

LH: Well, it wasn’t like I had a choice.  Once I got the start done, I was like it has to be good enough. Valtteri was really quick, the changes that I made in qualifying, driving style-wise enabled me to be able to deliver fairly decent performance to at least match Valtteri but once you’re in the lead, you gauge it a little bit more, you can utilise your pace, you can see where your weaknesses are  and you can build and work on them lap after lap. But after I got probably the first couple of laps, then all of a sudden I started to get in the groove and I was like OK, I’ve got the pace today, let’s see how I can keep these tyres alive and deliver to the strategy that we were supposed to… it was supposed to be a one-stop but then the Ferraris converted which meant we then converted and it was an interesting play…  but really on point and their decision to do a double stacking pit stop for us today… I didn’t actually know he was behind me in the pit stop. Fantastic job by the team.

2019 Chinese GP: FIA Post-Qualifying Press Conference Transcript.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

Drivers 
1– Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Martin Brundle)

Q: Congratulations Valtteri, the 1000th championship event, the world championship leader, and you’re on pole position; you worked for that one?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it’s been a good weekend so far, I mean, starting from the pole. I felt already really comfortable this morning in the practice. In the qualifying, honestly, I struggled a bit in Q3 to get the perfect lap in, but it was good enough.

Q: It looked like you had it covered, though. You just had an ounce of extra speed. And the lap unfolded nicely?

VB: Yeah, the lap was OK. Like I said, not completely how I wanted, but luckily it was good enough for pole and the car has been really good this weekend. And Lewis also managed to improve a lot during the qualifying; it was super close.

Q: Well, your fans seem very happy up there. Lewis: 59th front-row lockout for the team and second place for you today, though. Valtteri certainly showed some speed, but you didn’t give up on it.

Lewis HAMILTON: No, I didn’t give up. I kept pushing right to the end. Big congratulations to Valtteri, he’s been stellar all weekend. I’ve been struggling and fighting the car all weekend. We’ve been chipping away at it and I’m much, much happier. You know, it was eight tenths at once stage, the gap between us, so to be as close as we are at the end is fantastic. This is an incredible result for the team. There was a little bit more time left on the table there, but that’s cool, I’ll try and get it tomorrow.

Q: So, race pace – you’ve got the Ferraris in your mirrors, are you comfortable for the race?

LH: Well, they’re particularly quick in the straights but it’s evident this weekend that we’ve been able to pull some performance from the corners so just great work from the guys at the factory analyzing the test and the last two races, so this is really, really positive for us, really happy.

Q: Well done. Sebastian, take us through the lap. Mercedes just had a little bit too much for the Ferrari team today?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, unfortunately it seems to be like that. I think right from Q1 they just seemed to start off from a better place. I think we had a good session. Maybe there was a tiny bit more but I actually was quite happy that I managed the final attempt, because I was quite marginal with time, the team told me that we only had 10 seconds margin. So I then hurried up and made sure I crossed the line in time. I think there was maybe a little bit more, but overall not enough to beat these guys today.

Q: So, satisfied with third, but you’ve got a very fast car in a straight line and you’re sitting pretty for the race?

SV: Yeah, but they are bloody quick in the corners! So you choose! For us, obviously when we get close I think we have an advantage in a straight line so maybe we can do something there. But the race is long and we’ll take it from there, but it should be a good day tomorrow.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Valtteri, congratulations, you’ve been quick all weekend. How were those laps in Q3, both of them good enough for pole position?

VB: Yeah, the weekend so far has been very good. Obviously tomorrow is the big day but at least on single lap it’s been competitive and as a team we’ve been super strong. I think in the Q3, honestly, during those two runs I never got the perfect lap, there was always something, but that’s how it goes. The pace was good, so yeah, it was enough for pole.

Q: The one-lap pace is clearly very good, but what’s the long-run pace like?

VB: That’s something we will honestly find out tomorrow but looking from Friday it’s been pretty close among the top three teams, so there are many question marks but today is encouraging and we’ll go for it.

Q: Well done Valtteri, good luck tomorrow. Lewis, you said a moment ago that you’ve been fighting the car this weekend but you seemed to make good gains with it during that qualifying session. Where have you improved it?

LH: The car hasn’t improved from… you can’t change it in qualifying so it was just really… As I said I was struggling with the car throughout the weekend, all day yesterday and even today, even into Q2. But I made a couple of changes to the settings on the wheel and some changes to the line and I managed to bridge the gap. Honestly, I’m quite proud of the job we’ve done considering how far away I was earlier on in the sessions and Valtteri has been quick all weekend, so he deserved the pole.

Q: And what are your thoughts on the gap to Ferrari this weekend?

LH: I don’t even know what it is, so…

Q: Well, given that you were behind them in Bahrain two weeks ago, the pendulum has swung the other way here.

LH: Yeah, I think that’s how it’s going to be from race to race. Some cars suit some tracks better than others.

Q: Sebastian, first of all your thoughts on the gap to Mercedes.

SV: Too big. We’d like it to be the other way around, obviously. I think we had a decent session. Obviously important if we can’t beat them to be right behind them, buying us some options tomorrow, hopefully.

Q: Talk to us a little bit more about that session. How was it for you? How did the track conditions improve?

SV: The track, I think, ramped up. I think you can see the lap times, from where we started in Q1 to Q3. Obviously there’s a bit in yourself, a bit in the engine modes and stuff what people are doing but I think that’s fairly normal. On our side we were able to improve the car from where it was yesterday, so I’m reasonably happy with that, but not entirely happy. I think there was a little bit more. It was a bit tricky today to put the laps together.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Queston for you Seb. There was quite a busy out-lap in Q3, the last one, think you overtook several cars; Max wasn’t happy because he didn’t make his lap. Think the other Red Bull didn’t, both Haas. Can you talk us through that – and is it a general problem in F1 now?

SV: No, I don’t think… I guess everyone timed it around the same, so we all left for the same spot. And if you’re at the end of the train, which I was, then it was quite difficult. And when the team told me we only have ten seconds margin to cross the line in time to make another attempt. I had to think of something. I do not know if others were not told. If everyone would have sped up the way I did, then yeah, we would have all made it. But I obviously prioritised to make the lap. It felt like others were not aware.

Q: (David Coath – Motorlat.com) A question for each of you. It is the 1000th grand prix and we know it’s another race for you. Can you enjoy the moment or is it something you’ll have to look back on more further years down the line?

Lewis?

LH: For me it’s not really much of a moment. It’s just another race. We’re here to win. It’s great for the sport.

Valtteri, your thoughts?

VB: Yeah, here to focus on myself, our team’s job and try to do the best job we can. In the end it’s only numbers but obviously it’s a big one, so congrats to F1.

Sebastian?

SV: Well, it’s not up to us, obviously. It’s a bit more colourful than other races but I think inside the car and for the result itself, it makes no difference.

Q: (Lawrence Edmondson – ESPN) Question for Seb. You said you weren’t very confident with the car in Australia, it seemed to be the same again in Bahrain. Has that changed coming here? Have you started to get what you want? And, if you’re not, how much more is there to get out of this car?

SV: I think we have a strong platform to work from. Obviously we started very well in Barcelona and the feeling was really good, and really strong. Since then, I think we’ve struggled a little bit to repeat that, so yeah, the past two races, we’ve had little issues here and there. Bahrain didn’t go my way. Saturday was not bad, we had a small problem, otherwise I could have been better, Sunday yeah, struggling in the first stint as much as in Australia the second stint. Here and there not happy. Obviously you try to drive around the problems and try to set up the car differently. I think we are getting more and more there, understanding maybe some things related to different tracks, which Barcelona doesn’t show because it’s different but, as I said, the car is strong, so it’s up to us to extract the performance.

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Seb, Bernie Ecclestone was speaking earlier this week suggesting that it could take into consideration that you might want to retire. Do you envisage being in the sport beyond your next contract?

LH: It’s the moustache!

SV: He’s got one too now, I don’t know what you call it when it’s all around. Goatee. Well, certainly I’m not going to drive… I’m not going to be in Formula One as long as he was, that’s for sure. Yeah, but I hope I’m going to be as fit and as sharp as he is today when I’m hopefully that old. Yeah, I don’t know, to be honest. At the moment I feel on top of my game, I feel that I know what I’m doing and yeah, I’m very very self-critical, very ambitious and I put a lot of expectation on to myself. I love driving, I love the sensation of the speed, I love fighting with these guys so there’s a lot of things that at the moment I really like and I’ll miss so that’s why it’s not an option to quit tomorrow, I’m quite happy to race. And then, yeah, I’ve got the contract but that’s a piece of paper and then we see what happens.

Q: (Car Magazine, Greece) Valtteri, you were under a lot of pressure last year and you had an outburst at the beginning of this season with your win. You’re now leading the championship, you have pole position, where are you confidence-wise?

VB: Confidence-wise I’m good, thanks for asking. It’s been a good start of the year, first of all for me personally and for us as a team. It’s been optimal but it’s all at the beginning of the year I feel confident. Today was a good day and hopefully tomorrow will be again, but it’s a long season ahead.

Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Lewis, you said in response to Tom’s question you tried different lines and settings to cure the problems you’ve been having. Was that purely a function of trying to get the tyre temperatures balanced across both axles? It kind of looked – certainly in FP3 around turn three – as if you were having particular difficulty getting the car to bite in at the exit of turn three compared with other people.

LH: I don’t know. Valtteri was particularly quick in the first sector so I was experimenting  throughout the session, finally got the quickest sector in the end but a little bit too late but still, it’s all about making improvements. It wasn’t to do with tyre temperature, it was just really to do a balance and getting the flow, utilising the grip in the right areas. But as I said, I’ve been struggling with the car so I was just battling the thing. It’s obviously a great car but this year I think the first few races are always quite tricky with a new car. You see it shifts a little bit later on in the season when you get a better understanding.

Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-magazin.com) It looked a bit strange with the soft tyre and the medium tyre; I think Lewis, you went in Q2 on another set of mediums and you were the fastest. Do you think it’s a bit strange here, the behaviour between soft and medium? Do you expect that this could swing around something for tomorrow, because you’re probably not going to drive on the soft as you did today?

SV: I’m not sure I understood the question. Yeah, Valtteri understood. Go ahead. No, I didn’t really…

VB: Yeah, I can explain to you and then you answer Well, the thing is here the soft tyre… it’s a very high energy track. There’s long corners which put a lot of load on the tyres and actually the soft degrades more during the lap, even one lap, than the medium so soft might be a lot quicker at the beginning of the lap but by the end of the lap it is slower than the medium tyre, so that’s why there’s no massive time difference. I think tomorrow, as normal, medium’s going to the better tyre after a few laps as usual, but that’s something we will find out tomorrow.

SV: Thank you, Valtteri, for the explanation. It makes complete sense what he was saying so… Yeah, I should listen more in these meetings about tyres. Not much to add. I think it’s always a bit of a surprise to us when we are much closer with the harder compound compared to the softest compound. But Valtteri explained why very well.

2019 Chinese GP: FIA Team Members' Press Conference.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Mattia BINOTTO (Ferrari), Toto WOLFF (Mercedes), Toyoharu TANABE (Honda), Andrew GREEN (Racing Point)

Gentlemen, welcome. I’d like to start by taking a moment to reflect on this being the 1000th world championship race for Formula 1, and to ask each of you why you got involved in Formula 1? What triggered your passion for this great sport? Andrew, perhaps we could start with you.

Andrew GREEN: So, this is my, not quite 500th, but close… 1991 I think was my first race and I was not quite out of college, maybe two years out of college and for me it was the Sunday afternoons sitting down watching those guys racing wheel-to-wheel that really gave me the buzz. That’s why I went to college to study engineering; that’s where I wanted to be. At the time my passion was also cricket. One of the guys I used to play cricket with was Rory Byrne. He was the one who inspired me to write off to all the chiefs and offer my services for free. And that’s how I got into F1 and motorsport all those years ago.

Q: Thank you. Toto?

Toto WOLFF: Less holistic. I was interested in racing cars when I made my driving licence actually but didn’t follow Formula 1 at all, although Austria had a great history of Formula 1 racing drivers. But I somehow got into the sport by the finance side. The passion for racing cars in general and then the business side of Formula 1, that encapsulates everything that the business covers around motor racing that somehow attracted me, a few years ago only.

Q: Thank you, Toto. Mattia?

Mattia BINOTTO: On my side, since I was a child I was watching the races with my grandfather. He was a fantastic, passionate [supporter] of motorsport, but especially of Ferrari. When, as myself, living in Switzerland, you were looking at the red cars, they are something special for Italy, so it was something important for me. So it was since I was a child really a dream, of being part of F1 but even more being part of Ferrari. And to this it might feel even like a mission – try to preserve what is the heritage of this sport and Ferrari.

Q: Thanks, and Tanabe-san?

Toyoharu TANABE: Since I was a child I’m very interested in the car. Then, in Japan, we actually didn’t have a lot of racing in that era. But then Honda started Formula 1 as their second era. Then I joined Honda and then after joining Honda I asked my boss: ‘I want to work in Formula 1’. And now I’m working for Formula 1.

Q: Mission accomplished. Thank you all. A few more questions. Tanabe-san, if we can stay with you: it’s been a very solid start for Honda so far in 2019. How satisfied are you and can you close the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes?

TT: So far, we have started this season with a reasonable performance and reasonable results. But reasonable means not fantastic yet and you see clearly you see there is still a big gap between the top runners and us. So we really need to push to improve our performance, to compete with our competitors here. But we understand it is not to improve our performance immediately but we’ll keep pushing through the year.

Q: What do you think is the performance gap between yourselves and Ferrari and Mercedes?

TT: I don’t tell you specific number but you see the gap at the track.

Q: Thank you. Andrew if I could come to you, please. How do you assess Racing Point’s start to the season and what sort of progress are you making with the car?

AG: It’s been a difficult start. I think the competition is incredibly tight in the midfield this year – tighter than I’ve known it for a long time. I think we’re just slightly behind. We’re not a long way behind but I think our weaknesses were probably exposed in the first couple of races. We’ve got a plan to obviously bring us back to our target level of performance, it’s going to take some time, but I think we have to remember that the car was originally conceived in the mid to late part of last year, when the team was in serious trouble. We were really struggling at that point. We had to make quite a few decisions about the car and the architecture of the car back then, not really knowing what was going to happen with the team, whether there was even going to be a team. We are still getting out of that. It will still take some time. We’re in a much better place now, but improvements take time. It takes time to build the infrastructure up to where we need it to be. It’s easy now to say that we have the bills paid at the end of each month, which we never used to be able to say, so it’s one less thing to worry about. But there are more things to think about, as far as the performance of the car, where we’re going in the future, which is something we’re thinking about a lot, where the regulations are going and where we’re going to go in the future. There’s a lot to think about now.

Q: And a quick word on Lance Stroll as well. It’s his first season with the team. How is he bedding in, what are your first impressions?

AG: First impressions are really good. We saw it at the end of last year when he tested for us post-Abu Dhabi. We could see the talent was there; he’s got some raw talent. We saw it in the simulator as well. He’s done a huge amount of work off-season with us. His dedication is incredible. His enthusiasm is incredible. He’s fitted into the team I think really well, really well, and I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him.

Q: Mattia, losing the Bahrain Grand Prix must have been very tough on everybody in the team but particularly Charles Leclerc. What did you say to him? How could you comfort him after the race?

Mattia BINOTTO: Losing was tough but even more probably frustrating but giving us even more boost for the following races and for here in China. To Charles, what I told him, I think he did a great race, he did a great quali a great race but more than that, I think he has been fantastic on the post-race comments, showing that he’s really a mature driver. So, simply telling him good job but we’re more happy with what you did after the race and during the entire weekend. And that’s enough. Because then I think all of us are simply looking ahead at the next challenge.

Q: Was there any reoccurrence of the problem during the test session in Bahrain after the race?

MB: No, not during the testing, so that’s a problem that occurs only once during the race. Never at the bench, never during testing, never in practices. Ten laps or 12 laps to the end of the race, whatever it was. I think on reliability, you need to be strong, on quality, you need to be strong, but it may always happen and I think it was really unlucky the way it happened. We changed all our units here in China for precaution, even on the other car, so even on Seb’s. Not because the one of Seb got the issues so far, but I think at the moment it’s the best way to protect ourselves with the issue we have. And then we try somehow to understand and verify the quality of all the units we have installed.

Q: And just a quick word if we may on Mick Schumacher who was testing one of your cars in that Bahrain test. How do you assess his performance?

MB: To assess the performance, I think it is very difficult because first, the weather conditions were very bad on that day and because at the end I think that the objective was not really to assess the performance. It was his very first day on an F1 car; more important for him still in the learning phase, day-by-day, is facing a completely new challenge in his F2 season. I think what was certainly positive was the way he approached the exercise, the approach to the day of testing, never pushing to the limit, trying to improve run-by-run, learning the car, learning the team, and I think in that respect he did a very good job: very well focussed, concentrated and tried to do the proper job and learn. I think that’s the most you may expect on such a day.

Q: Did you see any similar character traits with his father?

MB: The very first time I saw him after many years in Maranello, when he came back. If you looked at him, I don’t think he’s looking very similar to Michael but the way he’s behaving is very similar, and the way he’s approaches the exercise and the way he’s interested in the car, discussing it with the technicians. So even in Maranello, you are looking after him, but he’s always in the workshop looking at the car, speaking with the mechanics, and I think that’s very similar to his father.

Q: Toto, you’re leading both of the World Championships but what do you feel is the reality in terms of performance at the moment?

Toto WOLFF: It’s nice to lead the two championships, obviously you’d rather lead than not lead, but we have seen two very different grands prix. We had a very high level of performance in Melbourne, compared to Ferrari, and not a great level in the second level in Bahrain – but it was not only compared to Ferrari, also you benchmark yourself to the other teams and I think that was a race where we didn’t perform as we should have done – but we’ve always said there was one race that was the race over the winter: who comes out of the blocks best; and then there will be the development race throughout the season, and this is certainly a challenging situation for us, as it will be for all the other teams and good for the sport, I think, that you can’t really predict who’s going to win the race on Sunday.

Q: And a quick word on Valtteri Bottas. He’s leading the World Championship. Are you seeing anything different from him this season, compared to previous?

TW: It’s this mania depression of Formula One that people are being written up and written down and after Melbourne he was the reinvented superstar and World Championship contender and after the next race again it was not the case. I think we just need to let them go on with the Championship. He has started the weekend well today. I think it’s the same Valtteri we have seen in the last years. He has all that he needs to compete on a high level, to fight for race victories and eventually championships. I see the same guy.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Question for Toto. Lewis said yesterday that, if Ferrari have established an advantage on the engine side, it will be much more difficult to catch up than if they’d established an advantage on the aero side. Could you elucidate a little bit on that? Is it a factor of the tightness of the regulatory box or the inherent risks of pushing engine development?

TW: First of all, what needs to be said – because when I read articles it’s always not accurately reflected – if somebody does a good job, he does a good job, and that’s fact. And whether he has a good engine and out-performs all the others, or he has a decent amount of downforce and goes quicker around the corners, that is irrelevant. It is always about the performance of the package. As we have seen, Ferrari operating in Bahrain, they were superior to all the other teams and there was massive engine power on the straight – but it’s not always engine power. Obviously drag levels are playing an important role in the calculation. This is something we need to evaluate. This morning there was a frightening lap of Sebastian again, in straightline speed – but it is what it is, we have to stretch ourselves and fight and extract performance out of the chassis and extract performance out of the power unit and certainly see. Having a benchmark like that helps and motivates.

Q: (Julien Billotte – AutoHebdo) Question to Mattia. At the beginning of the season you said that Sebastian will be given priority status in some situations in the early part of the season. Could that philosophy shirt and change towards Charles if he were to repeat the sort of races we saw from him in Bahrain?

MB: Certainly as a team we need to give the priority to the team and try to maximise the team’s points at the end of the race. As I said at the start of the season, if there is any 50-50 situation where we need to take a decision, the advantage would have been given to Sebastian simply because Sebastian has got most of the experience with the team in F1. He won four championships and certainly for us he’s the driver who has most probability to challenge for the title. Something we agreed with both drivers is, in a few races’ time, things may chance for whatever reason – bad luck or whatever could be the situation – we may change our position, no doubt. But on the track, they’re free to fight, on the track I think if there is one driver who is certainly faster, he will get the advantage. I think that Charles, as a matter of fact, he had an opportunity to be in pole in Bahrain, he had the opportunity to fight for the win and he had position in Bahrain.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines / racefans.net) Andrew and Toto, your two companies have recently signed an agreement for Racing Point to use the Mercedes wind tunnel. When does this become effective? What are you trying to achieve through it, Andrew? And then finally, why should we not see this as a precursor to a Haas-Ferrari-type deal?

AG: Later this year we’ll be moving into the Mercedes tunnel in Brackley for purely efficiency reasons. Our aero department happens to be located in Brackley; Mercedes wind tunnel happens to be located in Brackley. It’s a lot easier to go testing in Brackley than it is in Cologne. So, when it was offered as an opportunity for us to go testing there, it was an obvious choice.

And Toto, a closer affiliation between the two teams?

TW: Well, first of all, we are not doing a Haas-Ferrari model because Haas was a new entry, a team created from scratch. These guys exist for a long time. I don’t see what’s so bad in a Haas-Ferrari model actually. We have enabled somebody that was keen to enter Formula One in setting up a team, with the cooperation with Ferrari it got out of the blocks really well, and fights solidly in the midfield. I think that’s good for Formula One. Our model is very different. For the reasons stated before, Andy and his team know pretty well what they want to achieve with the car, they have a solid technical group of people and will go in that direction. They will be using some of our infrastructure and we will see where that moves for the 2021 regulations. Once these are carved out, we will decide which of the areas we want to collaborate and where it is possible, regulatory-wise.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action, Speedsport) Tanabe-san, one year ago you had one team, now you have two teams. How much faster, how much improved is your rate of development?

TT: Yes, so we can get double data compared to the one team (with) two teams and then there are some differences in the team philosophies or ways of working and we learned a lot. Then, not only twice but also more than twice we can receive information and then we had a different driver – four drivers with different characteristics and driving, slightly. It’s very hard how much in some things but two teams appear to supply and accelerate our development definitely.

Q: (Alessandra Retico – La Repubblica) Mattia, Montezemolo said in an interview with my newspaper that you are at risk, in his opinion, to be alone inside the Scuderia, because there is no one to talk with because the president, John Elkan is not so experienced in Formula One and CEO Camilleri is a great manager of course but his job is on the financial side of the company. And like it was Ross Brawn with Jean Todt and Montezemolo himself. Do you have any comment on that?

MB: I didn’t read the article, first, but I think that that’s completely wrong. I got the full support from my chairman and my CEO. I think that both John and Louis are great men, certainly very supportive to the team and I think that I have got plenty of people in Maranello to speak with so I’m well supported by my colleagues and I think that somehow we are quite a big and hungry team with plenty of competence and skills so I think I feel fully supported and hopefully I will have a long life in the team.

Q: (David Coath – Motorlat.com) Toto, we are celebrating the launch of the esports series China championship this weekend. I’m wondering if you are able to see much of the e-sports work, considering you have the reigning championship yourself?

TW: Yes, the virtual world was something I needed to get used to but interestingly, when you watch an esports F1 race there is almost no difference in how you perceive it than on a real on-board so it’s crazy to see how technology develops and the graphics have matured. We obviously enjoy very much. We have set up this programme where we are trying to give young kids a framework around their capabilities, it’s not only the driving and the coaching around but we are giving them a 360 degree support programme. They are little Mercedes works drivers and winning the championship last year was the icing on the cake. You can say somehow that we’ve done it in the real world and we’ve done it in the virtual world and again, as I’ve said before, you’d rather win that one than not. Yeah, I’m happy to see how that develops.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Toto and Matteo, following the Liberty meeting, now that you’ve had time to reflect on what they presented, do your two teams have any red lines about what was presented, particularly with reference to the revenue, the governance and the cost-caps?

TW: (To MB: He is wearing red, he has many red lines). That is a work in progress. I think the meeting was good because in the meeting we… most of Liberty’s thoughts and proposals were made clear to the teams on the cost-cap, on technical regulations and sporting regulations going forward and that was important for us to really open up a thought process around it and this is still very much happening. And in each of those areas, we seem to have an alignment on what we want to achieve. Formula One needs regulations, Formula One needs to stay high tec but on the other side we recognise that if there are areas where we can save costs because these things are not visible to the fans, then we really need to look at them. On the cost-cap, for the big teams, I think it’s an intelligent step to contain the escalation of costs. We are fighting each other with more and more resource and if we are able to stop that and reduce it, it will be for the benefit of all of us, of our bottom lines and eventually it will decrease the funding gap between the smaller teams and the big teams and I think if we were to achieve that in the first step, that’s already a good step going forward. And because of the nature of things, in terms of the prize fund redistribution, nobody’s ever going to be happy. You would want to obviously maximise and optimise on your situation that everybody’s going to have pretty decent arguments why they should have more and this is a discussion which really has just started in my opinion, but obviously, I would say, a good first step.

MB: I think that Toto’s answered well. But I think yes, I think this is the start of the discussion and we’ve got some more clarity. I think it’s important to collaborate, be open with each other. As Toto said, we’ve got common objectives, us and F1. Pretty sure that we will find the right compromise if only through discussions, that we may find it, as we did for the power unit. I think we adopted a change, we considered that we were very back, finally we decided for a common good result which everybody was almost happy with the compromise. I think that’s the same for the revenues, we did the same for the governance, the budget cap, all the technical matters; it’s a discussion on-going but collaboration and discussions are all positive so even if there are some distances at the moment, I’m pretty sure we will find the right compromise at the end.

Q: (Stuart Codling – Autosport) Andrew, just to follow up on Dieter’s question from earlier about the wind tunnel: you take a Mercedes complete power train and now will be using the wind tunnel.  Do you think this is as far as anyone should be allowed to go in terms of team affiliation?

AG: I hope not, because we take their gearbox and hydraulics as well. I’d like that to stay. I think that’s everything that is being discussed for 2021, I think that’s all on the agenda that Toto was referencing earlier and it is what I was referencing earlier as well. It’s where we go forward as a team, thinking ahead for 2021. We want to build our team to be the most efficient team based around those regulations and when those regulations are finalised we will have a clear idea of what we need to do.

Sir Chris Hoy to compete in World RX

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX media.

Six-time Olympic cycling gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy to compete in the 2019 World RX of Catalunya in Spain.

The 43-year-old will get behind the wheel of the Xite Racing-prepared Ford Fiesta Supercar. 

"I am really looking forward to competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Barcelona," said Hoy. "Driving a rallycross car has always been on my bucket list, but to actually race against the world's best will really be something special – and a huge challenge.”

Hoy will be testing the Xite Racing's Ford Fiesta Supercar next week at the Pembrey Circuit ahead of his debut in World RX.

“I will be testing next week with Oliver Bennett and his Xite Racing team, and learning all I can ahead of my World RX debut in Spain.”

The Managing Director of World RX for IMG, Torben Olsen, said: “To have a world class sportsman of the calibre of Sir Chris entering the FIA World Rallycross Championship is quite a coup for the series."

“I have admired his commitment and professionalism as a multiple Olympic champion," he adds. "I am sure we can expect he will bring the same level of dedication and competitive spirit to World RX as he did in becoming one of the greatest cyclists of all time.”

Since Hoy's retirement from competitive cycling, he has taken on a number of motorsport challenges – most notably the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 in the LMP2 class. 

In addition to Sir Chris Hoy's entry, the 19-supercar grid for Barcelona will also include Finland’s Jani Paasonen in the second Team STARD Ford Fiesta Supercar.

Tamas Karai will also join the field as an independent entry with Karai Motorsport Egyesulet in an Audi A1 Supercar, while Frenchman Herve Knapick wraps up the entry list with his Citroen DS3 Supercar.

ENTRY LIST for World Rallycross Round 2.