2019 Italian GP: FIA Post-Qualifying Press Conference.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

DRIVERS
1 – Charles LECLERC (Ferrari)
2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

Q: Charles, you must have to pinch yourself at the moment, to come here on the back of that win in Spa, to claim pole position in front of Ferrari’s home crowd. And when you get that reception when you draw up, it must be incredible?
Charles LECLERC: It feels unbelievable. Already on Wednesday in Milan was just incredible and today to see so many people feels absolutely amazing. Happy with the pole but it’s a shame that at the end there was a big mess. I hoped for the last lap but that was enough with what happened for the pole.

Q: A pole is a pole, regardless of what happened. But tomorrow there’s a big day ahead. Do you feel that you’ve got the pace to take the win to these home fans?
CL: Yeah, I think the pace was quiet good actually during the race simulations in FP2 so it’s looking positive, better than in Spa, so let’s hope for a good race tomorrow.

Q: Lewis, I know you’re never happy unless you’re getting pole position, but I guess that at the end of the day Ferrari were always going to be strong here. You’re on the row and at the same time you missed out on the last run because of all the tactics for getting that tow. How do you sum it up?
Lewis HAMILTON: To be honest, I have to be grateful that I’m on the front row. We get to have a fight with the Ferraris tomorrow, which is nice. We’ve split them, so as a team it’s a really good position for us to be in. It is definitely a bit of an anti-climax that we couldn’t all go out and do that last final lap, that’s one of the most exciting ones we have. It’s crazy with this timing that we have, the system we have, where everyone backs up, everyone is trying to get a position and they times us out. They basically timed us out. It’s interesting – get pole position in the first run and then just time everyone out.

Q: I know normally you look for free space in qualifying but it seems like the two has been extra important this year. Is it strange as a driver to have that tactic when you go into a session, knowing that you have to be four or five seconds behind someone?
LH: Yeah, definitely. I mean on the out lap it’s dangerous for us all. There are people slowing down, you don’t know who is alongside you and that. It’s definitely risky business out there but it’s kind of enjoyable at the same time. But for us we are down on the Ferraris in a straight line, so we particularly need. I think others also do. I think it’s with this new wing, the drag is much bigger this year, so everyone is focusing on that. But honestly just to be up here on the front row, we can give them a good fight tomorrow.

Q: Valtteri, that was quite a difficult session. You almost had a lap cancelled, just before the red flag came out but it got reinstated, and luckily because that last run didn’t come off.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I was quite unlucky there and also I had a yellow flag in the first run in the last corners so I had to lift off and I believe I lost the pole because of that. Obviously the last run was a bit of a mess for everyone. But the pace was good. Happy still to be very much at the front because it’s tomorrow that counts.

Q: How much fun are these cars to drive around Monza. Is it a place you enjoy?
VB: It’s always good fun. Definitely enjoying it and for sure I’m going to enjoy tomorrow.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Charles, it was very close, less than one tenth of a second separating all three of you on the panel. But you’ve done it, you’ve got pole at Monza, so how does it feel?
CL: Obviously the feeling I got when I went out of the car, hearing the crowd cheer so loud is absolutely amazing. On the other hand a bit of a shame for the team, Seb couldn’t do his second timed lap; he was very quick. I felt like a 1-2 was an opportunity even though these two guys were extremely quick and it was very, very close. But yeah, the whole qualifying was a big mess with all the slipstreaming and having the best one. But very happy with this pole position.

Q: And throwing it forward to tomorrow’s race, do you think you’ve got a closer fight on your hands than you did last week at Spa?
CL: Yes, I think the race pace was more positive compared to what we had the Friday in Spa, so on that we are pretty confident. But the start will be very important, as always. But there is quite a long way here from the start to the first corner so the start will be very important.

Q: Well done, good luck tomorrow. Charles has described the quali session as a bit of a mess. Just talk us through what happened at the end of Q3 from your point of view.
LH: Well, it’s then same as has happened for some races now. The drag is a big issue here, the tow is a key to getting a good lap. Everyone was slowing right down and also blocking the way, so you couldn’t really get through. It was pretty dangerous. I nearly crashed a couple of times trying to stay out of the way of the guys that were braking ahead of me and then people trying to come past me. Nonetheless, Charles did a great job. I was a little bit unfortunate with Kimi spinning in front of me, so I had to lift in the last corner. That was really our pole lap lost there. It would have been nice to have obviously been able to compete on that last lap, get to really thresh out the cars and see who really had that little edge right at the end.

Q: Was there more time in your car?
LH: Definitely. Definitely. But I’m sure it’s the same for all of us. The track progresses so you can find little bits here and there. Also, I was quite close behind Kimi, so I was losing out a little bit through the corners, so you are trying to find the right compromise. But tomorrow there’s still a long, long way to the finish line so we’ll try to put ourselves in the best position. This is great for us to be able to separate the Ferraris and we can work together as a team tomorrow and try to overhaul him and fortunately not have the Ferrari in the way this time… Vettel.

Q: Valtteri, another quite messy qualifying session, with your first time having to be reinstated and then what happened at the end of Q3, so do you feel that the whole thing was a bit of a compromise for you?
VB: It definitely was. I think it was compromised for sure for many drivers so in that kind of messy session it’s always good to be ending up in the top three. The same for me as for Lewis, and I was actually more far back. I had the yellow flags for Kimi so I had to lift off properly and I also feel I lost the pole there. It’s annoying when it could have been possible but it could have been a lot worse today. I hope we can really learn something from the last run because everyone pretty much missed their lap. There were two cars going slow at the front and no one could get by. So not ideal but we are here, very much close to the front and it’s going to be a good fight tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) First part of the question for you Charles: could you talk us through, I think you were behind Seb at the beginning of the lap then did you decide on your own to just go flat-out and make it to the line on time? And for both Mercedes drivers, did you think about ‘OK, I have to go fast now otherwise I won’t make it,’ or is it something that you’re just relying on the team what they say to you?
CL: To be completely honest, the plan was that, in the first run, Seb was giving me the tow and in the second run, I will give him the tow. So, I actually went out of the box in front of him, and then there was the huge mess after Turns One and Two and the McLaren and a Renault – I don’t know whoever that was – they stopped in the middle of the track and we had nowhere to go. Seb overtakes me there, because of the mess, because obviously we were aware it was quite tight on time, and then I stayed, basically, behind Seb, until the last straight where I’ve heard also on the radio “you can overtake Seb,” so I overtook him – but I had no time for me either to start the lap, so yeah, it was a shame – but I don’t think I could have done much more.

And for the Mercedes drivers, how reliant were you on the pitwall? Lewis?
LH: Well, naturally, you’re listening to your delta, understanding whether you’ve still got time left but I tried to get through… I was supposed to be behind Valtteri but I overtook him, knowing that I needed to get further ahead, but I couldn’t overtake everyone, they were weaving and braking and it was like trying to avoid carnage all the time. So, we had a couple of people I think were holding everyone up, trying to, I guess, let people by but yeah, a bit of an anti-climax, I think, probably for all of you. Maybe they should have extended the session or something like that, so we could finish, or something – I’m not really sure how we’re going to get around this. Everyone’s brake testing and slowing down to let others past, just to get a tow. I’m not sure how we’re going to get around that in the future. But… yeah… in hindsight I wish I just went out earlier. Just got out there and got a clean lap. That would have been great.

Valtteri, anything you can add from your point of view?
VB: No, it’s the same. Same view for me. It was a bit of a mess and I was also just behind other cars, exit of Turn Two, and things started to go very slowly and, short on time, and everyone was pretty much in the same boat.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, we heard you over the radio after Q3, and again down on the grid, that it was an interesting tactic from Ferrari – because obviously Charles was on pole after the first run. Do you think it was intentional? A clever play from them to back them up? And how unflattering do you think the whole thing looked for F1?
LH: Honestly, I don’t know how many cars were up ahead, so I don’t know… Charles just said it was a couple of other cars up ahead so maybe it was them – but ultimately it worked out well for them. I really don’t know what else to say. It would have been nice to just finish the lap and both put the pedal to the metal but it didn’t happen and we move forwards.

Lewis, how did it look for Formula 1, just to follow up on Scott’s question?
LH: I don’t think it looks good but I’m not a fan so I’ll let the fans decide on that. I think fans get excited,  at least I remember I used to get really excited about watching qualifying and all the way down to that last minute, so it’s down for you guys to have an opinion. For me, just as a driver, I would have loved to have obviously driven more qualifying. One of the best stages of the weekend. I think some drivers didn’t even have a lap – is it true that Seb didn’t even have a lap? Is that right? Yep, it is the way it is.

Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) This is the second race in a row now that this has happened. Lewis, you used the word ‘dangerous’ both at Spa and here as well. For all three of you, do you think a qualifying format rethink it required to avoid situations like this happening again?
VB: Well, these two tracks, we’ve seen this is really specific on the tows and I think Spa and Monza are the biggest gains on the straightline speed you can get really, being behind another car, and here especially. So, I don’t think it’s going to be an issue in most of the tracks, like at the next race where, for sure, everyone just tried to find a clear gap. But for tracks like this, it’s always been a bit like that, and maybe now a bit more extreme, with the cars getting more draggier and more of a gain being in the slipstream.

Charles?
CL: Yeah, as Valtteri said, it’s only on a few tracks during the season where we have this issue. I’ve got no quick fix to try and help this quickly – but maybe we can all think about to to try and understand. It has always been like this. I think slipstream has always been that way. I don’t really know what to say. We just need to analyse a little bit more, the situation. I think today was special, was definitely not the intention from our side. Obviously there was also Seb that was capable of having the pole position and we obviously didn’t want to sacrifice one car for the pole of the other so, yeah, it was quite tricky. I definitely think that situations like after the second corner shouldn’t happen when there are two cars side-by-side. I cannot go at 20kph, we couldn’t pass and I think most of the drivers behind wanted to pass but didn’t have the opportunity so, yeah, these situations have made a big mess towards the end and that’s why so many cars didn’t make it to start their laps. But yeah, that’s it.

Lewis, your thoughts
LH: I don’t really have an answer, to be honest. I don’t remember every qualifying session this year but it was similar last year, I think. We were all trying to get a gap, which continues to be key. In some places, you want a bigger gap, in some places it’s all about the tow, so each track’s specific. I always through they could do something different on weekends anyways, different weekends, depending on the track but it’s highly unlikely that’s going to happen.

Q: Do you think we’ll see such an extreme case going forwards, looking at the last seven races?
LH: I’m sure it’s going to continue. Positioning is key. If we were to… everyone going out as late as we just did there, for example, with two minutes to go, it’s going to continue to be an issue in places where you particularly need a tow. It won’t be until someone crashes that they’ll change it, most likely.

Q: (Godina Zsolt – f1vilag.hu) Charles, Sebastian is going to start from P4 tomorrow. How difficult will it be to keep behind the Mercedes cars compared to Spa?
CL: Well, it’s obviously going to be very, very difficult because, first of all, they are quick, secondly, slipstream and DRS are very important here – but I think the race pace looks better than what it was in Spa, so on that we are pretty confident – but for sure it’s going to be very difficult to keep them behind. As I said, I think a very good start from myself and also from Seb will be very important for the good result of the team tomorrow.

Q: (Carlo Ferraro - Fuoritraiettoria.com) We saw more than half of the Formula Three field getting grid penalties for driving unnecessarily slowly on their warm-up lap. Do you think this may or should happen today as well?
LH: Honestly I don’t know. It’s not our… it’s the system probably needs to shift a little bit maybe. I don’t think they should start handing out penalties. We just need to look upon it and reflect a little bit and see what we can do to make it better, make it better for the fans and make it less dangerous. Like they already made a change today that we have to finish the out lap within a certain delta time but even that’s still too slow. There’s improvements we can make, for sure, for safety but also for the spectators to watch.

CL: Yeah, I agree and today actually is quite difficult. If you put the penalty to one, you put the penalty to the 10 drivers that were in Q3 because we were all together.

VB: Nothing to say, really.

Q: (Simon Istvan Janos - V4NA) We have seen a very nasty accident this morning in Formula Three at the Parabolica. There was a very high kerb. It has been removed by Formula One qualifying; what was your impression of the accident, very close to Anthoine’s accident, within one week? And my other question is if you, as drivers, were consulted before removing it today?
VB: Yeah, obviously a big accident. I saw it afterwards. At least from me… no one asked me if the kerb should be taken off or not but my view would have been for sure because we’ve seen an accident like this so for sure and it was actually not making any difference to the track limits because people were going off the track before the bump so it was in the wrong place and wrong height obviously. I’m sure there’s a lesson learned. It’s a super high-speed place and if you hit it at the wrong angle obviously those kind of things can happen so… Definitely not so good for safety that one but I’m sure something learned today.

CL: Yeah, I think it was maybe a bit pointless to put a kerb like this, once they said they would look at the track limits there, because anyway if you go out, you have your lap and the next lap deleted. But I was quite a fan of gravel there in the past. I think that was quite a good fix for every track limits.

LH: Did you drive here with the gravel?

CL: Yup, in Formula 3.

LH: Yeah, I agree with him. It was much better when it was grass and gravel on the exit there because I remember you used to come into that corner, you kind of… you were a bit nervous going in too deep because you might end up in the wall. The grass would pull you out wide and you’d pay the price for pushing beyond the limit. So now you can go beyond the limit and that’s the biggest – for me – the biggest problem with all these run-off areas that are tarmac now. We didn’t need to be consulted about the kerb. It’s a band-aid on the issue of putting tarmac there in the first place. I don’t think they needed tarmac round there.

Q: (Joe van Burik – Racing News 365) Lewis, on Instagram you shared an image of an article featuring Max responding to quotes from Nico Rosberg, being a critic of his driving style in Spa. What do you think of a former World Champion being so explicit about how modern day F1 drivers talk?
LH: I don’t really think much of it, to be honest. I thought it was really funny – I think Max is generally a really funny guy so I was cracking up when I saw it. It’s interesting because obviously we know what it’s like – all the drivers have all been here and know what it’s like being criticised from the public and when [they are] in the sport moan about being criticised by people from the outside and then when drivers retire they become those critics, so it’s an interesting dynamic. And also some of those… unfortunately drivers become irrelevant when they retire and ultimate have to hang on to utilise other people’s light to keep them in the light and so… but that’s the way of sport, I guess.

Q: (Fabio Seghetta - Tutomotorsport.com) Charles, did you think that you had more advantage over the Mercedes cars during free practice or do you think that this gap has been reduce during qualifying?
CL: I think they’ve been quick all weekend, to be honest. I expected them to be very quick today. The straightline speeds are not as different compared to Spa. I think we were surprised to see them so quick on the straights during free practice. I think it was the same in qualifying, so yeah, I think it’s been the same from free practice to qualifying.

Q: (Giovanni Messi – News Formula One Italy) Charles, do you think that here Ferrari can be better race pace than in Spa, looking also at the time that we see in free practice yesterday ?
CL: Yeah, as I said earlier, I think in FP2 the race pace was a bit more positive compared to the race pace that we had in FP2 in Spa. It looks a little bit better but again, here the tow and the DRS has a bigger effect, so it’s going to be difficult to lead.

Q: (Christian Menath – MotorsportMagazin.com) Considering the weather forecast for tomorrow, for rain, did any one of you change the set-up for the rain, raise a bit more wing than you would usually have gone for for qualifying?
LH: Position is everything, so you want to go quick on the straight so no, you want to take absolutely everything off as possible to go as quick as you can.
CL: Same for us.
VB: Yup.

2019 Italian GP: FIA Team Principals' Press Conference.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Mattia BINOTTO (Ferrari), Mario ISOLA (Pirelli), Aldo COSTA (Mercedes)

Q: Question to all of you to start with. There was confirmation this week that the Italian Grand Prix will remain on the Formula 1 calendar for at least another five years. How important is it to for the sport to retain races and tracks like this one?

Mattia BINOTTO: Obviously we are very happy with the announcement at first because the Italian Grand Prix – and we believe this obviously as Ferrari but for the sport and the fans – having one race in Italy is key. Fundamental. We’ve celebrated this season the 90th season of Scuderia Ferrari but as well the 90th year of the Italian Grand Prix – so it is something which is part of the F1 history and we cannot miss it.

Franz?
Franz TOST: I think it’s very important and really good news that Monza stays in the calendar because, as we all know, Monza is an essential link to Formula 1, to the history of Formula 1 with highlights but also with tragedies. For me, Monza is one of the most important tracks regarding the history, like Silverstone – there should also be one race in Germany – like Monaco, Spa. These are the tracks where, in Europe we have to have races because the history matters to us.

Claire?
Claire WILLIAMS: I would totally agree with what everybody has said already. Monza is a historic race; the Italian Grand Prix should remain on Formula 1’s calendar. As much as it’s great to have all these new tracks we’re going to in lots of far-flung places across the world, Formula 1 having races remaining in its heartland is absolutely critical to our sport. It’s a wonderful track. The fans here are fantastic – as much as predominantly they’re Ferrari fans, I know there are a few Williams fans in the crowd as well, and that’s great. There’s nothing better than racing in places where you have so many fans turn up to cheer you on.

Mario?
Mario ISOLA: I cannot add a lot more. Monza is our real home race because the company is half an hour from here, so on top of the reasons mentioned by them, I fully agree. It’s feeling at home, it’s great for the fans, great for everybody, so happy to have Monza in the calendar for a long time.

Feeling at home – stay at home as well?
MI: Yes, sleeping at home, not at a hotel. Fantastic.

Aldo?
Aldo COSTA: I can give you the petrolhead answer. It has been my first circuit as a fan, where to see a Formula 1 race, and then, yeah, career has developed with Minardi, Ferrari, Mercedes, a lot of memories. It has been an incredible story around this circuit, and I’m very happy that it will be kept for the future.

Q: Staying with you, Aldo, news broke today that you’re joining Dallara next year. Can you just tell us why you’ve made that change, and tell us about the new role as well?
AC: Yes. It has been, of course, a difficult decision. I have spent, until now, eight years in England at Mercedes and it has been really a fantastic experience: a fantastic experience with the people, with the team. In the team you should see which harmony is there and how great is working for the team. Unfortunately my family stayed in Italy and for us it was quite tough, and at the end, I decided to take an opportunity that will allow me to further develop as an engineer and, in the meantime, to stay closer to home. So, coming back to my land and try to develop the Dallara Group to the next step, and try to develop new talents – something that I love. And, I love as well, working on different cars and not only Formula 1. So, fantastic opportunity combined with a different lifestyle and yeah, was a perfect choice for me.

Q: Eight years at Mercedes, as you say, but more than 30 years in Formula One. How do you reflect on your career so far – your Formula 1 career?
AC: yeah, it has been amazing. I have done three big, long cycles. This is what I like. Minardi; Ferrari; Mercedes: building up a team; building up an organisation; building up processes; building up design capabilities. So, yeah, it has been a career, wonderful for me and a lot of nice memories in all the three environments. And now, yeah, I’m starting the fourth long cycle – I hope.

Q: Franz, you spoke last weekend about how you were going to manage Pierre Gasly on his return to Toro Rosso. So, how do you assess his performance at Spa?
FT: He showed in Spa a very, very good race. A very good performance. I think that Pierre is back underway and he will also come up with good results – hopefully here in Monza as well and I am quite positive. Unfortunately here he has to start from the back of the grid because we change the power unit on his car but nevertheless – and Daniil showed it last week in Spa – it’s possible as well, scoring points and starting at the back of the grid. He gets more and more familiar with the car. The team, he knew already. There’s nothing special. And he is making the progress which we expected.

Q: Monza hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Toro Rosso in the last few years – in the hybrid era. Pierre is at the back but what you do you think you can achieve this weekend with that car?
FT: It depends which weather it is. If it’s wet, I think we’ve a good chance because Daniil was quite happy today with the car and the wet conditions. I hope that we can show this performance as well under dry conditions as it looks like tomorrow – Saturday – will be dry but Sunday could be wet. If we get the set-up together, especially from the aerodynamic side, I think that we are quite competitive because, with the Step 4 engine from Honda, we made a step forward, and therefore I don’t think that we have any disadvantage.

Q: Claire, coming onto you, while we’re talking about performance, we saw your team take a step forward in Hungary a couple of races ago. What can we expect from you this weekend on a very different type of circuit?
CW: I think probably similar levels of performance to that which you saw in Spa. These circuits are particularly penalising when you’ve got quite a lot of drag on car, which unfortunately we do at the moment. So, it’s going to probably be another tough weekend for both George and Robert. I think, probably, long run pace in Spa was better than we expected it to be. The guys had a vaguely decent race. They were able to fight with somebody else rather than just themselves. But, again, Sunday’s going to be difficult for us. Maybe depending on the weather, we might be able to capitalise, is there’s a bit more of a lottery going on – but I think we’re probably more looking forward to Singapore than racing on Sunday afternoon here.

Q: And where are you at in your understanding of this year’s car? In terms of, do you understand the deficiencies enough to be able to implement the correct changes into next year’s car?
CW: I think we’re probably pretty – very – clear on where the deficiencies are. We need more downforce, we need less drag. And obviously the aerodynamics team are working really hard on that. As you all know, we bought a significant package to Germany. We’re still trying to capture a lot of data to truly understand how much that performance did bring for us – and we continue to bring test items to each and every race to dial out some of the issues that we have across other issues that we’re facing at the moment around some of the mechanical areas on the cars. So, we’re doing all of that. We’ve got a very clear pathway moving forwards. A lot of that work will continue to ensure we improve this year’s chassis but also so that we bring performance items this year that will have an impact on the FW43 – the 2020 car.

Q: Mario, coming to you. It’s the Temple of Speed this weekend. The cars exceed 200mph on four occasions around the lap here at Monza. How do those speeds affect tyre performance?
MI: Yes, Monza is a circuit where you need a lot of traction, where you need to protect the rear tyres. There is not a lot of downforce on the cars because they need the speed, so there is an additional stress on the tyres, I believe. We have a good  tyre choice, then a lot will be on weather, because the weather forecast is, for the moment, on a wet race, and maybe we will see a lap record tomorrow in qualifying. That should be dry – but I think it’s not easy for the teams to understand the weather this weekend, so the stress on the tyres is quite high – but more on that is how to understand the condition of the circuit.

Q: Now, looking further ahead than this weekend, big week for you next week when you begin testing the 18-inch tyres with Renault at Paul Ricard. Can you just enlighten us a little bit more about what the programme is for that test?
MI: Yeah. We are ready. We start with a baseline, obviously. The test will be more on construction. That is what happens usually, when you have a new size, a new challenge. I have not a clear idea what to expect. We started already the F2 tests with 18-inches. That is going quite well, so hopefully we have the same result with Formula 1. It’s obviously more… I don’t want to call it a ‘shakedown’, because we are going to test for two days and we have a programme that is quite big. We want to test different solutions to have a better idea. We have these three sessions to understand and assess the baseline for next year and then, obviously, we will have a full year of development next year to finalise. The challenge is big, as I’ve said many times, and happy and excited to start very soon.

Q: Mattia, wonderful celebration of Ferrari’s history on Wednesday evening in Milan. What was it like from your point of view – lots of former team-mates there?
Mattia BINOTTO: It was fantastic to see so many people there, our fans, the passion. The number of people, the guests, was very, very high. The entire square of the Piazza del Duomo was full of people. I think it was a great celebration, because firstly we hoped people would come after such a bad start to the season I would say, but then here it’s where you can really feel the passion of the tifosi of Ferrari. It was incredible. We had many drivers of Ferrari of the past. We got people who somehow had been part of the Ferrari history and I think to see all these people on the stage was something impressive. And from my personal point of view as well being there on the stage and to see so many people it is something that is giving you a boost of energy. After Spa as well it was a great way as well to somehow celebrate the very first victory of the season but certainly a big boost for this weekend as well here in Monza.

Q: Now talking of Spa, Sebastian spoke yesterday about his tyre difficulties. Are you able to explain why he suffered more than Charles in that race?
MB: Obviously after Belgium we did some analysis. I think at first we all had quite high degradation on the medium. That’s true not only for Ferrari but looking as well to our competitors. We believe the degradation was similar but unexpected at least for us that degradation was high on the medium compared to the soft. Obviously also we had a very early pit stop on Sebastian, so let’s say that he got a disadvantage on tyre degradation by the time he was on the track with the other guys on the same compound. Most of the difference between him and the others was simply tyre degradation and not his own pace. Obviously we had to pit him very soon to protect ourselves to Hamilton but that somehow as well put him in a bad position, trying to compete and be on the same pace as the others.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frédéric Ferret – l’Equipe) A question to Mattia. Is being the team principal of Ferrari as difficult as you were expecting and what kind of difficulties have you already met since you became the boss?
MB: I would say it is more enjoyable than what I was expecting, rather than difficult. The reason why it is enjoyable is because I think we have got a great team and a great team spirit and that is somehow giving to the team principal the right confidence and boost and again our tifosi, as I just mentioned before. I think these are circumstances where you may somehow play your role in a proper manner. I would not say difficult but certainly the pressure is there. The first part of the season has been difficult and somehow to manage the situation is never easy. It’s true with the fans, with the media and it’s true within the team. But somehow that will make us even stronger in the future by making sure that we have been able and capable of managing the start of this season.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines/racefans.net) To the four team representatives: Guenther Steiner this week in his team’s preview questioned the need for standardized or prescription parts and a budget cap – basically saying ‘don’t tell us how much money we can spend and then tell us how to spend it’. Would you agree with that?

CW: I think I’ve made Williams’ perspective on this very clear. We very much agree with the cost cap and you know standardization of part again all talks towards cost saving or cost efficiency in Formula 1 and again that’s something we are very much in favour of.

FT: I am also very much in favour of what the FIA and FOM suggest, what hopefully will come within the regulations and I think for me it’s clear and there is nothing more to say.

MB: What Guenther said is not, let me say, a new position for Ferrari since the very starts. We were arguing the standardisation at first because, as he said, there is a budget cap somehow to control the costs and whatever you may do at the end you may standardise but the budget cap, at least for the top teams, will be the level of expenditure for the season. We believe that standardisation may even be a risk for Formula 1 in the future, because at first you don’t know what is the reliability on standard parts at the very start. We had a situation as well, if we look back at F2 for example, on a standard clutch, for many races they simply had to start behind the safety car because the clutch was not reliable enough. So we may accept standardisation but we need to make sure at first that it is reliable, that the level of quality is the right one, that the level of performance is what you may expect for an F1. And more than that we need to make sure that we do not have extra indirect cost by simply developing a standard component. We believes that for most of the standard components that we are proposing currently for 2021, we will all needs to redesign our car, we will need somehow to make sure that whatever is the new component is properly functioning and that’s extra cost. That maybe it’s not costs that you have from 2021 onwards but it will be extra cost from now until 2021.

AC: We are in a similar position. We accept the cost cap. It is a measure that will for sure impact how our teams develops thing, as Ferrari, Red Bull for sure, I don’t know who else. So we accept the challenge. In terms of standardisation, the same concern Mattia was expressing. We need to make sure they are reliable. They will require a lot of redesign around, so we are not convinced that they will be a real cost reduction. The cost reduction can be negligible. But the cost cap will definitely be something quite big for the big teams.

Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) – A question for to the three team principals and Mario, if you have an opinion. When Michael Masi took over from the late Charlie Whiting he naturally had very big shoes to fill. He’s been in the role now for six months, so I just wondered if you could give me an idea of what you have come to expect from Michael and the role he has done so far?
MB: I think Michael is doing very well since Australia and if you look over the first races I don’t there have been, from a race director’s point of view, any mistakes or big mistakes. And as you said it has not been easy for him, obviously in Australia first, because it’s, let me say, with no advice he had to jump into the role. But since then he’s doing really a pretty good job and I’m really happy.

FT: I can only agree with Mattia said. Michael is doing a fantastic job because it was not easy for him because as you said they were big steps he had to go in and he fulfilled it and he is doing the best possible job he can do in this position and so far I would not say that the made any wrong decision we are quite happy with him.

CW: I don’t have much to add. I agree with what Mattia and Franz have said.

MI: I agree. Our position is probably slightly different compared to the teams. We are working with the FIA every day on many subjects. We have different reference people now. Obviously it’s difficult to replace Charlie and Michael has probably a slightly different role compared to Charlie – Charlie was a bit everywhere. He was our… I don’t want say unique reference, but every time we needed something we went to Charlie, and now in the FIA there is a slightly different organization so we have different people but I believe Michael is doing an excellent job.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) A question to Mattia and maybe Aldo as well if you feel you would like to comment. With what needs to be resolved with the 2021 rules, do you expect that it will be resolved within the time that has been set or do you think it could rumble on beyond that either by the bigger teams delaying it or by veto or anything like that?
MB: Well, by the end of October we need to vote and I’m pretty sure that regulations will somehow be somehow voted and accepted by that date. I think obviously the current effort is that when we come to the end of October we are in the best position in terms of compromise or agreement. But regs will be voted and obviously later as well, as they can still be discussed and eventually modified if we may find let me say at least if not unanimity but a majority on what can be the intent. I’m not expecting anything wrong by the end of October. It’s only a matter of collaborating as much as we can from now to there to have to have the first set of regulations which are as best as we can and continuing on them for the future.
AC: Nothing else to add.

Q: Franz or Claire anything you’d like to add?
FT: The major topics must be fixed until the end of October. This is what we agreed. We can’t delay it anymore, because discussions are going on without any results then. I think that currently the different working groups are doing good jobs. We have next week another meeting in Geneva where we hope we will fully decide some important things and as I said before the end of October it must fixed. Maybe afterwards there will be some small fine-tuning but the regulation must stand.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action, Speedsport) Claire, we all know how much Frank loves to be at the race track; he was at Spa, first time out of Britain at a race (sic). How much of a thrill was that for him and how much of a good medicine for him?
CW: Yeah, it’s always great when Frank’s at the track, I think not just for our team – our team thoroughly enjoy having him there. He is our leader, he is our inspiration and just to have him there gives everybody a really boost - but I think for a lot of people in the paddock as well who know Frank, I think they, as well, find it a real joy to have him around. Obviously because he can’t fly any more, Silverstone is invariably the one race that he can get to but we obviously saw how much he enjoyed being at Silverstone, put a plan in place to have him driven over to Spa and he loved the drive. If nothing else, it was great for him to get out of the office and it was great for him to be at the race track, I think. As everybody knows, Frank lives and breathes Formula One. As he says, this is his oxygen, it’s what keeps him going and I think if we can put a plan in place to bring him to more races by car then we will. I think he’s talking about driving to half the races next year. I think that means he’s going to have to set off pretty early for a lot of them. It’s great for him and I think it’s great for Formula One as well.

Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Mattia, the Ferrari’s got a very different performance profile from the Mercedes this year and I think it’s fair to say it’s only competitive at certain types of tracks, so far, anyway. Is that something that’s going to continue for the rest of the year? Is it something that you can’t change without a philosophy change on the car? And are you doing a philosophy change on the car for next year?
MB: Certainly there is quite different characteristics or let’s say that as Ferrari we are certainly lacking in grip-limited areas and this is where we need to improve, and whenever we may got to circuits where there are a lot of corners and where grip-limited is important or maximum downforce will be required to be fast, we are certainly showing our main weakness. How we are addressing that by the end of this season? I don’t think so because the gap is too big in that area. Can we improve the situation? Certainly we are working to address it. And are we putting too much effort into this season or should we concentrate on next year? We are trying to address the issue. Being that the regulations are now stable from now to next year, we believe that whatever we may do this season will be useful for the next one. So yes, there is a gap, it will remain; hopefully we may close it.

Q: (Daniel Horvath – The Paddock Magazine) Claire you touched earlier on the improvements you are working on. That’s your view, how much of a re-set does the team need and what changes can we expect considering 2020?
CW: Yeah, there’s been a huge re-set at Williams which I’ve talked about a lot this year and a re-set invariably takes an inordinate amount of time and time that you wish could go a whole lot faster but we have put in a lot of change in the business and a lot of change that unfortunately a lot of people when they tune in on a Sunday afternoon, they don’t get to really see, but change does take time to bed its way in. But we’ve made those changes, we’ve made a lot of changes over nine months, not just to what we do from a performance perspective on the car but also to how we operate and function as a business, to make sure that Williams really is set up to be prosperous in the future and that’s been really important to us and something that we’ve put a huge amount of energy and time into. I think we’re starting to see the results of some of that work that we’ve done but it is a journey for us, this is going to take us a long time to get ourselves back into the midfield and I suppose we just keep asking for patience and for people not to expect that suddenly the light switch will come on and we will suddenly find ourselves back fighting for P4 and P5, particularly when you look at the competition out there at the moment. The guys ahead of us are doing a fantastic job and it’s up to us to keep taking that fight. And we will. The ambition at Williams is still there. The spirit within our team is probably stronger than it’s ever been. I think we’ve really galvanised our team this year into knowing, understanding what the vision, what the mission is for Williams moving forward and put a timeline in place so people know and understand what they’re working to and I think that’s probably a critical part of what we’ve been doing over the past few months at Williams. We’ve clearly still got some work to do on some personnel issues and we’ve obviously still got to find the performance and that’s the work that the guys across the engineering functions are working really hard on at the factory at the moment, and I’m just hoping that next year’s campaign is a whole lot more successful for us than this year’s one, because this is the second year of pain for Williams and we don’t want to find ourselves at the back of the grid next year. We’re doing everything to make sure that we don’t. Certainly ’21, hopefully, will be a whole lot brighter for us as we continue that campaign of work and then with the new regulations that we’re hoping will be signed off at the end of October will all contribute to making or putting Williams in a better place and giving us greater opportunity moving forward.

Q: (Thomas Maher – FormulaSpy.com) Claire, Jamie Chadwick is here this weekend. Can you outline more about what her role is here this weekend and over the next couple of months and whether there is the possibility we might see her maybe in some older Formula One machinery at some point?
CW: Yes, Jamie joins us tomorrow. She’s actually in an F3 test today. I hope I’m allowed to say that… She’s doing that today. She’ll join us – this is, I think, her third race weekend that she’s joined us at and it’s all part of the driver academy programme that we have in place at Williams, that we established this year and it’s working really well for us. It’s all about obviously taking young talent that we can find and helping develop them, but also for them to help Williams develop. Jamie has been an instrumental part in that this year and when she come to the races with us, when she’s trackside she shadows basically, she watches what’s going on in engineering briefings, she listens to the drivers, she obviously watches all the track action and she just learns how a Formula One weekend operates. I think she’s yet to announce her plans for 2020 but I know she’s got a lot of offers on the table, not surprising considering the job that she did in the W Series this year and just the personality that she has and the ambition and the drive that she has as well, I think it will take her a long way. As for our plans for Jamie, moving forward, we’re obviously working out what we’re going to be doing from a race driver perspective for 2020 at the moment, and once we’ve resolved that then we will start looking and thinking about the plans for the driver academy and who we have in there.

Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Mattia, you planned to put your new power units back here in Monza. Did you use it already today and in this case is it working as you expected?
MB: Yeah, we used the new power already in FP1, that’s normally our normal way of proceeding so on the Friday to make sure everything is working properly and making sure that we are at least tuning the mapping in the best way for Saturday and qualifying and the race. Yes, so far so good. Obviously we had very little running this morning apart from in the wet which are quite different conditions compared to the top speed we may expect for the rest of the weekend and certainly for tomorrow but yeah, we’re all good.

Q: (Davide Russo – NewsF1.it) Mattia, it’s your first time here as Ferrari team principal so what’s your expectation and sensation for the race?
MB: Ok. At first, I didn’t realise it, I didn’t think about it because it’s not my very first time here in Monza which is even more important. Expectations? No doubt that after Spa the expectations can only be high. This is a circuit with long straights and we know that our strengths are on the straights but we know as well from Belgium that we just finished the race a second ahead of our competitors and so there is no margin there. It has been a great and perfect weekend for us in Spa. We know that we can do well here in Monza only if we have a perfect weekend.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Mattia, I wonder if you can clarify a comment that you made earlier on when you said that the regulations will have to be voted for by the 31st of October? We were under the impression that the international sporting code was being used which is why it was deferred from 30th of June to the 31st of October. Has that changed?
MB: No, no. We all agreed by a meeting to postpone it because some more time was required but we are all aware and fully aware that we cannot postpone it even more so that will be the deadline by when we need to vote. To postpone it further would mean not to be ready in 2021.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) … vote side, because the international sporting code doesn’t make provision for a vote.
MB: We should have that to the FIA and F1 but I think their intention is to vote to make sure that somehow all the teams are agreeing.

Q: (Alessandro Bucci – ItaliaRacing.net) Franz, about the aerodynamic content of STR14, how is the ambivalent state of that part after the summer break?

FT: After the summer break. All the new upgrades we’ve decided to put on the car before the summer break, because in the summer break they don’t do anything, and OK, here in Monza a new aero package so all the teams with a different rear wing configuration and also front wing some changes and then we will come up with smaller upgrades to Singapore and some changes on the floor for Suzuka and Mexico we will see then. This is still in the wind tunnel. Don’t know yet.

IMG to reveal electric series Projekt E Supercar at World RX of Latvia

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media.

The FIA World Rallycross Championship series promoters IMG has today confirmed that the first 2020 Projekt E Supercar will be unveiled on Friday, September 13 at the Neste World RX of Latvia.

The electric development series, codenamed 'Projekt E' will use Austrian firm STARD’s [Stohl Advanced Research and Development] “REVelution” EV powertrain systems which will produce up to 450kW (613bhp) combined power, 1100Nm of instantaneous torque and produce a top speed of 240km/h.

Projekt E will showcase electric-powered cars on the same event schedule as traditional World RX Supercars at selected European rounds of the championship in 2020.

The aim of Projekt E is to evaluate electric racecars in a World RX environment in accordance with the roadmap for electrification of the FIA World Rallycross Championship which was has been ratified by the FIA World Motorsport Council.

“The official reveal of the Projekt E racecar at the Neste World RX of Latvia is an important milestone in our path to introducing electrification to the FIA World Rallycross Championship,” said Paul Bellamy, Senior Vice President of IMG Motorsports.

“Projekt E racecars will be an exciting addition to our World RX race weekend at selected events next year. The automotive world is changing and we are ready to embrace that change.”

TEXT - Junaid Samodien

2019 Italian GP: FIA Drivers' Press Conference.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

DRIVERS – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari), Charles LECLERC (Ferrari), Antonio GIOVINAZZI (Alfa Romeo), Pierre GASLY (Toro Rosso), Nico HULKENBERG (Renault)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: A question for you all to start with. Confirmation came through last night that the Italian Grand Prix will remain on the Formula 1 calendar for at least another five years. Can we get your reaction to that and can you tell us what this race and this track mean to you? Sebastian, can we start with you?

Sebastian VETTEL: Very happy obviously. I don’t know if I’ll be here for five years. I think it belongs in the calendar, so I’m very happy that it was confirmed. It’s not really necessary to mention the importance of the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari. It’s our biggest race of the season. It belongs here. Obviously for me, a lot of memories. The win in 2008, my first win, for sure was very special. The ones after that people weren’t so happy, but I guess nowadays they would be happy again.

Q: Charles?
Charles LECLERC: Obviously very happy. There’s nowhere else you can see as many passionate people as there are here. As Seb said, driving for Ferrari it feels very, very special and I definitely hope that I will still be here in five years.

Q: Pierre?
Pierre GASLY: Same comment. The passion you see in Monza is really special. The whole atmosphere during the weekend is really amazing. Plus, the track is really cool and usually good racing, so it’s fantastic news.

Q: Nico?
Nico HULKENBERG: Yeah, definitely good news. It’s always a good weekend and to secure another iconic European in the long term is very positive.

Q: And Antonio?
Antonio GIOVINAZZI: Of course, really important. For me it’s the home grand prix. My first time here in F1, so really great to have the news yesterday that we’ll be here for at least another five years. Good for Italy, good for Ferrari, good for Italian drivers, so yeah, really grateful.

Q: Antonio, staying with you. You say this is your first time here in F1. You won the GP2 feature race back in 2016, which was a big moment in your career then. Can you compare your emotions now coming into this race, your first Italian Grand Prix?

AG: Yeah, it’s incredible, I would say. This was one of the grands prix I always watched when I was young, of course supporting Ferrari. Back in 2016 it was one of the best races of that season and of my career as well – coming from last and I won the race in front of all the tifosi, my friends, my family, so it was a really great memory. Now I am here in F1, so I’m looking forward, I have a lot of people coming here to support me. I hope to have a good result and just enjoy my first weekend here in Italy.

Q: Now, you’re the first Italian to race in the Italian Grand Prix since 2011. Why do you think it has taken so long for another Italian, you, to come through?
AG: I think in go-kart already when you are young and you start to dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver, I think karting now has become too expensive, so there is not much support in Italy to give to the young drivers. I think we have a lot of good Italian drivers now, from watching now like some races in go-kart but of course it is really difficult to do already the next step from karting to Formula 4. I hope this can change. From my side, I did a lot of sacrifices. I was lucky to find [Ricardo] Gelael to support me until here, but it is not easy. This is one of my points that Italian drivers are not any longer in F1, but I think it’s difficult also for the other countries. But I’m really that Italy is back after a long eight years.

Q: Thanks and good luck this weekend. Pierre, it’s been a very eventful month for you. Can you describe how you were able to re-set head of the race at Spa last week and get that great result?
PG: For sure it’s quite a challenging time for me at the moment that I’m facing. Coming into Spa they were really busy and intense days – to get on top of all the new things with Toro Rosso, being back with the team, also a new crew around my car. It was just really intense ahead of the weekend. I tried to extract the best and deliver the best performance straight away and that’s what we tried to do. Yeah, I think just now I know that I have eight more races coming with Toro Rosso. I’m just trying to focus on myself, improve myself and to deliver the best performance I can for the team. For sure, what happened in Spa, it was really tough before the race on Sunday and it was difficult to keep the focus, especially in this kind of moment, it’s really tricky for everyone. It was tough mentally but it was important to deliver the best race I could for the team and for Anthoine and I think we can be really happy with the two points we scored for our first race back together.

Q: What are you goals for the remainder of the 2019 season?
PG: I think it’s quite clear – just be fast and deliver the maximum points for the team. They are in a good position in the championship and I will do everything I can to offer the maximum points to the guys.

Q: OK, good luck with that and with this weekend. Nico, on the face of last weekend’s announcement regarding Esteban Ocon moving to Renault next year leaves your future uncertain. The 2020 grid still seems quite fluid, however, so are your plans taking shape?

NH: Not concrete yet, but there are definitely talks going on. But I think it will still be a while. Like I said last week, the situation is what it is now, but it needs to be the right deal, a good sporting perspective, and I’m in no urgency or hurry to sign anything, just to have signed anything. I think there are options out there but nothing to talk about right now.

Q: And looking ahead to this weekend, what can we expect from you and Renault, because it was a difficult one at Spa for you guys?
NH: Yeah, it was a tricky weekend but quite rewarding in the end, getting four points back on the board. That was quite positive and we’re trying to take that momentum here. It’s obviously a new weekend, so a new approach and we’ll see how the car performs here. But there’s no reason to be skeptical about it. We’ll just be pushing and working hard and for me, in terms of my mindset, I just want to get the maximum out of it every weekend, take it weekend by weekend, enjoy it, and maximum attack.

Q: Thanks for that, Nico. I want to come to both Ferrari drivers now. We saw a fantastic celebration at the Duomo in Milan last night. How was it? Sebastian, tell us what went on?
SV: Very busy, packed! I think it’s very difficult to put into words. It’s a very iconic on it’s own, it it’s empty, that place, but with the red sea, or flooded with people dressed in red, it was definitely prettier than I remembered it. Probably I should never go back, because it’s never going to be as pretty. I think it was special for us as current drivers, but there were also a lot of recent drivers, older drivers from the past of the Scuderia, so I think that was a nice thing to get together and have a chat also later on with them. Obviously some of them are very around, but others you don’t see so often, so enjoyed that. A lot of old important cars, important pieces of the team’s history, so for me it was a great day.

Q: Charles?
CL: Yeah, it was unbelievable. I think Seb said nearly everything. For me it was also the first time I arrived here in Italy for the Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver. Obviously I knew it was going to be special, but as a first day I could not expect any more. So many people, so much passion, it was just incredible and very, very impressive to see so many people coming together on a Wednesday for us and for Ferrari of course. It was crazy.

Q: Staying with you, you’re now Ferrari’s youngest ever winner in Formula 1. You said on Sunday you were struggling to process what had just happened, so how do you reflect on that achievement now, a week later?

CL: Obviously it was a very tough weekend for different reasons – obviously with what happened on Saturday, but also because we knew with the performance we had in the race it was going to be difficult because Mercedes were very, very strong with their race pace so it was a tough weekend. But in the end we managed to put everything together. I think there was great teamwork between myself and especially Seb, who did the job of keeping Lewis behind for a few a laps that have been very helpful for me towards the end of the race. Looking back obviously I am very happy that this first win is done. It’s always difficult to do this first step but once you do it, it takes quite a bit of weight off your shoulders and of that I’m very proud. Not much time to actually think about it because we are already four days later here in Italy and we need to focus fully on the job that we have to do here.

Q: Sebastian, Charles made reference to the race pace of Mercedes at Spa, how do you think it’s going to play out here?

SV: I can’t predict but I think it should be... It’s a similar track, very different but in terms of the way the cars are set up similar to last weekend. I hope we can be as competitive as we were there. In relative terms it’s difficult to say. For sure we’ve seen the trend that in qualifying we have a bit of an edge on these types of tracks, whereas in the race everything moves very close together. As Charles said, they were very quick last weekend, so I expect the main challenge to be looking after the tyres, finding the right set-up, the right balance in the car, to feel comfortable to extract the maximum. I can’t give you any predictions but I guess it will be very tight. I hope we have something to say. Obviously Mercedes has been in a position to win nearly every race this season but for us it hasn’t been like that, so the more chances we get the better it is for us.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net) Question for Sebastian. We saw Charles take his maiden grand prix victory last weekend. He’s made a very strong start to life with Ferrari, only 12 points behind you in the Championship. How impressed have you been with Charles start with the team and has he surprised you at all with how good he’s been this year?
SV: No. I think it’s positive that he’s surprised probably a lot of people outside but inside I think we obviously… he’s been with Ferrari, with the Driver Academy for a while and it was clear to see that he has a lot of potential. I think he had a very strong rookie season with Alfa, so, y’know, it’s good to see that he’s right on the pace straight away and obviously form a team point of view I think the most important is that we work together, not against each other. That seems to work, so that’s important. Otherwise it would be a bit of a waste of energy. So, yeah, I think those are the key things. It’s obviously good, I think it was a big weekend for him last weekend, even though it was shadowed by the circumstances, the passing of Anthoine, so not great but as he said, obviously it was his first one and I’m sure he’ll be around for a while so there will be a lot more.

Can I put that question to Pierre as well. Pierre, you’ve known Charles for such a long time. Have you been surprised, impressed by what he’s done with Ferrari this year?

PG: I’m going to say no, because I know he’s like, super-talented and a super-fast guy but it’s the case and we know each other since we were eight years old. He’s been always on top of all the series he’s competed in. So, we’ve been team-mates. I was always surprised and impressed when we were team-mates how fast he was, and all the battles we had, so no, in a way, I’m not surprised but in a way it’s good that he proved it with his first win and I’m sure there will be many more.

Q: (Joe van Burik – racingnews365.nl) Question to Charles, after the race you mentioned you didn’t say a word during the race. Can you describe the state of mind while you were going for that victory?
CL: To be honest, I’ve got no ideas why I didn’t speak but the engineers… they thought there was something wrong on the radio actually because I was not speaking. I had nothing to say. They were giving me the information I needed, and that’s it. I just focused on the job behind the wheel, and that’s it.

Q: (Jonathan McEvoy – Daily Mail) To both Ferrari drivers. I was wondering, in light of the sad events of last week, whether the drivers thought there was any consideration maybe needed be given to the nature of run-off areas. There’s been less and less gravel for reasons that are well-known, but whether that should be examined, whether gravel could actually slow drivers down and make them stick to track limits better. And b) is there anything that the GPDA have discussed about last week that you will now speak to the FIA about?

SV: I think it’s a question for all of us really but I think the answer will probably be the same one – or should be the same one. I think what happened couldn’t be any worse. I think it will be examined in a very detailed way, which is, I think, correct and what everyone would expect – but I think to draw any conclusions now is probably not right. I think we need to have a full picture of a lot of elements. The ones that you mentioned are definitely part of those – but there might be, or there are, also others. Obviously I’m a fan of holding races in Spa, because it’s a great track, has a great history, a lot of the corners are very unique but for sure, we need to have a very close look and take some time to understand exactly what happened before drawing any conclusions.

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Slightly following on from that question. There were some comments Jackie Stewart this week, who said that last weekend’s accident might serve as a bit of a wake-up call, and drivers perhaps are taking too many liberties, particularly on the first lap. I was just wondering what your responses would be to that?

NH: I think obviously some of it is true. Tarmac runoff areas do invite us to keep pushing – because it doesn’t have an immediate consequence. I think it needs to be policed. There is always the right balance somewhere. Maybe it’s also a case where we need to have a customised solution for particular corners like Eau Rouge which is quite unique in the way that we don’t really see that corner until we come up on the hill and see what’s going on. But yeah, sometimes things get a bit hectic and out-of-control on lap one. I think more particularly – even though that wasn’t lap one it was lap two, but still, early in the race when everyone is very bunched up – sometimes you see that happening more in the junior series. We’ll see. They’re motivated, maybe a bit too excited but yeah, like I say, maybe there’s a solution for every corner a little bit different.

SV: I think, looking back obviously he was racing at a horrible time where drivers passed away, not regularly but obviously a lot more frequently. So, for sure, you cannot compare his era to our era. Obviously he’s been around at that time, he’s been racing so he knows what it felt like and is able to judge whether it’s different or not. I don’t think we can have that judgement. But yes, again, as far as I understand it, it was a bit of a chain of happenings, of situations that led into the final accident but, yeah, I think we all had our moment on Saturday and obviously Sunday, going to the race track and driving the race but to some extent it’s part of motorsport. It is dangerous, it’s part of the thrill – but certainly obviously the last years have been a wake-up with the passing of Jules and now Anthoine. It shows that there are still things – even if people think it’s too safe and boring – I think there are still things we can do better, we must improve, we must work on, because I’d rather have boring Formula 1 championships to the end of ever and bring him back – so I think there’s no question about that trade.

CL: On my side I think I was always aware it was a dangerous sport because any time you go at that speed it will always be dangerous. On the other hand, ever time I’m getting into the car, I’m going with the same mindset. I think we are all trying to do that. Even with what happened on Saturday, which was obviously extremely sad and I think it has shocked all of us. Especially the new generation, we haven’t known that – or actually the generation that is in Formula 1 like Seb, it’s a much safer sport than a long time ago, so yeah, at the end, once you are going into the car, you are trying to be in your zone, trying to think to what you need to do, and you need to race as hard as you can to finish as high as you can. So yeah, I think I’ve always been aware that there was some risk, but sometimes it’s obviously a shock when something like this happens.

NH: I agree with all the comments.
AG: Me too.

Q: (Davide Russo – newsf1.it) Question for Charles. How would you describe your relationship now with Seb?
CL: I think very good. I think we found the right compromise with Seb between competition and also working together to try and improve the car and to work for the team. I think this is extremely important for team-mates. Any time we are getting into the car I want to beat him as much as he wants to beat me – but whenever we are out of the car, we manage to share information, speak together and, yeah, just try to do our best to help the team to move forwards and to bring the car where it should be. I think it’s a very good relationship.

Sebastian, how different is your relationship with Charles to the one you had with Kimi Räikkönen?
SV: More words! That’s it. As Charles touched on, we try to work together. We try to push the team. Our car is not where we want it to be. I said earlier that we didn’t have the car and the ability to win every race so far, and that is our objective, so I think it serves both of us if we push in the same direction because I believe one day we will have that car and then we can fight it out.

Q: (Umberto Zapelloni – L’Automobile) Can you give yourself a vote from one to ten for the first 13 races of this year?

NH: Eight. That’s too short for you, right? You want more! Why not? It wasn’t a ten because it hasn’t been the best of seasons. I’ve also left out a couple of opportunities hence two away from ten.

AG: I would say, looking back, I lost a lot of opportunities for issues or whatever. I don’t know. Five and a half? 5.5, yes.

SV: I don’t know. We have had a question like that. I don’t remember what I answered so maybe I should say nothing now because otherwise I say something different. No, I don’t remember so I’m not going to go with that.

Q: Five? Same as Hungary.
SV: Well, we’ve had one race since Hungary. Was it after Hungary or before? I don’t know. Yeah, I think the bottom line is that we know we haven’t had the season we wanted so far. Obviously we started off in a good place in the second half and hopefully we can keep that up but we know also, being realistic, that Mercedes is the clear favourite. As I said, they’ve been in a position to win every race this year so yeah, that’s something that we haven’t been in and we need to get there, that’s the point.

CL: Yeah, I also think I’ve answered one of those questions. I might change my answer but probably the six first races weren’t that positive for me so maybe around six. After that, more seven and a half. Bit happier in qualifying, especially and now I’m targeting to move a bit higher for the rest of the season.

PG: I never like these kind of ratings so… It hasn’t been the best start of the year but now the new goal is to raise this mark.

Q: (Zsolt Godina – F1Vilag.hu) Sebastian, we have seen some pictures of the new 2021 car in the wind tunnel. How do you like it and how will the new regulations affect your decision regarding the future?

SV: I don’t know, I think we’ve probably also seen renderings from Renault in the past and other teams so I don’t know whether the pictures we’ve seen are actually what it will be because as far as I understand there are no regulations yet for ’21 so it’s a bit pointless to post pictures but maybe that’s what some people would like the cars to look like, I don’t know. I think that there are no rules yet for ’21, no decisions, no hard decisions so it’s a bit pointless to look at pictures. Yeah, I think there’s a great chance to make things better. I think we, as drivers, addressed our main points. Obviously it was very nice and very respectful that we had a sort of say or at least people asked our opinions for the first time ever in this kind of decision, the people who make the decisions asked our opinions. We were definitely pushing to keep things simple. We want closer racing. From our side, I think it’s very clear and then however the cars look, I guess it’s a bit secondary. I think if the racing is great and so on, then the cars will look great as well.

Q: Will the regulations for 2021 have a bearing on your future?
SV: Yeah, for sure. Obviously I don’t know how long the decision to stay with these kind of rules will be but obviously my contract now finishes next year. Everything after that is based on the new rules so for sure you have a look. As I said, I think it’s a huge chance for the sport to position itself in a better… or to be in a better place. Having said, it’s not that now everything is awful so I think we need to remember that. It’s a fine balance but every change is a chance – a chance to do better or worse and hopefully we do better.

Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) You spoke about the passion you saw from the Ferrari fans yesterday at the event. It’s been nine years since the tifosi have been able to cheer on a Ferrari driver to victory here at Monza. How much will it mean to you to end that drought and take that win and be up on that podium?

SV: Well, we’ve been on the podium a couple of times but never on the top step, not that it’s a big thing. This is the biggest race for us, no doubt. It’s a big weekend. Obviously we saw the passion that there is yesterday and I’m sure we will see it throughout the weekend. So hopefully I’m sure it will give us a boost, how much, we will see. I mentioned before, it’s difficult to predict but certainly I think now is the time to sort of over-deliver. Yeah, it’s a big weekend so hopefully we can make it count this time. I think we have a good chance, so we will see. We’re ready, I guess.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Just along the same sort of lines: Sebastian does this race offer you your best realistic chance of ending your drought, if we can call it that: twelve months now since your last win. Must it be this weekend?

SV: I don’t think so. I think we have lots of races ahead but I’m not looking to… I don’t know, where I am in ten races time; this is the weekend I’m focused on. As I said, we’re not the clear favourites. Obviously there are signs that we are aware of and put us in a good position but I think we have to be carefully optimistic and realistic. There’s a lot of elements during a Grand Prix that can make a difference. One lap is one thing but then obviously there’s a lot of laps on Sunday, plus the weather, plus, plus, plus. There are a lot of things. I don’t see it that way, I see it as a chance, simple as that, but then again, I think you always have a chance when you’re on the grid no matter where you start from but surely we want to make sure we start from the front which gives you a higher chance and then carry that into the race.

Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Charles, obviously it was a great day in your life to win your first Formula One race, albeit laden with other emotions but is there anything that you’ve done in the last few days to celebrate or bought yourself anything, and what does it feel like, generally, in your mind to be a Formula One winner?

CL: No, I haven’t done much to celebrate that. Hopefully I will be able to celebrate after this one. As I said earlier, there was not much time to celebrate anything.
SV: He asked what you bought.
CL: I didn’t buy anything.
SV: They tell me you bought a boat!
CL: No, no, that’s not true! Obviously it feels good, it’s something that – until you get it, it feels very far away but once you have it it feels obviously very, very good and it gives you a bit of a confidence boost too, so it’s great. Now it’s done and I can focus on the future and hopefully many more will come.

Q: (Jens Nagler – Bild) Nico, you didn’t always have the best of luck this season but suddenly in Spa that seemed to change. I think Pierre locked up, Antonio crashed out, Lando did not finish. Might that be a turning point for you in that season and do you feel you need a turning point in order to secure a seat for 2020?

NH: If you look across a year, it levels out with luck. Sometimes it’s on your side, sometimes it’s against you. In Spa we did get lucky. We picked up two positions from other people who were unfortunate but yeah, I believe it does somehow, across a year, level out one way or another. I don’t think it needs to change for me to secure a seat. I just need to do my job, for me to focus on it and extract what I can from the car and basically perform. I think then it will all be good.

Q: (Stephane Barbe – L’Equipe) Seb, we’ve seen in Spa a tense game in qualifying with drivers going slowly, looking for a good tow. Do you think you could have the same here in Monza, and what is the importance of the slipstream here in Monza in qualifying and the race?

SV: Yeah, obviously if you look on paper, this is the place where you expect this kind of strange games. Yeah, there’s very little you can do to sort of prepare because it depends on the timing of the session. Here I think the lap is a bit shorter so maybe it buys you a bit more flexibility but yeah, we’ll see on Saturday. I don’t know if it’s going to be dry or wet but obviously in the wet there’s no point, not as much as in the dry. Yeah, it does make a difference, how much it’s difficult to quantify but certainly last year it made a difference and yeah, you need to be on the good side, obviously, and it also depends a bit on tyres, whether it’s easy to prepare them or whether it’s really critical. And then you need to make the trade between tyres being in the right window or being in position for the tow. Could be entertaining but you also hope that obviously you get a nice shot, at least one of the two.

Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Pierre, in a way, could it be more relaxing for you, driving for Toro Rosso than for Red Bull?

PG: No. I think as a driver you always need to deliver the best of yourself with the car you have. Targets are exactly the same on my performance side.