FIA Post-Qualifying Press Conference - 2019 French GP.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

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

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

Q: Lewis, another solid job, another pole position, you’ve got to be delighted with that? Valtteri’s pushed you all the way this weekend.

Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah. Firstly, a big hello to everyone, bonjour. It’s not an easy track. Obviously there are a lot of run-off areas but it’s quite technical and Valtteri has been quick all weekend. So just chipping away, chipping away, and my last two laps were the ones. The last one I was up nearly half a second but I lost it in the second-to-last corner, so I’m happy that I got the potential our of the car; the team did a fantastic job.

Q: Was that the wind? Everyone was complaining on the last run that it was getting more edgy, losing lap time at the end. Was that where you lost it?

LH: I think so. The wind has been picking up and it’s quite gusty around the track, so you have to be quite dynamic with how you attack the lap. There are certain points at which you can attack and there are others where you kind of have to give way a little bit to the wind. I took a little bit too much into that last corner and the gust just took the back end. But nonetheless I still was up, which was a good thing. Yeah, just really happy. I think we’ve just been working really hard on the engineering side and making sure… Bonno and those guys did a great job. This one’s for Carl in our team, who had a big clean-up earlier on and looked after us. Just overall, great teamwork.

Q: A master class again. Valtteri, it’s looked a very solid weekend, you’ve looked in a class of your own, but just at the end Lewis stepped it up that level and you couldn’t quite get him?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I think Lewis had a really good lap in the end. It’s been super close between us all weekend, all about fine details and hundredths of a second. The qualifying, the win changed completely to the opposite direction and there were a couple of corner where my line didn’t quite work then, so I had to work them out. But I think initially Lewis got it right today, but yeah, as a team it’s good.

Q: I guess still very confident for the race tomorrow? The car has been under you all weekend and similar conditions expected.

VB: Yeah, it’s been a really, really strong package we have had here this weekend so obviously enjoyable and hopefully it will be the same tomorrow. It’s a nice long run into Turn One, so hopefully I can do something there.

Q: So visually tonight you’ve got to focus on the lights and get your reaction time improved?

VB: Yeah, I think the race start is going to be one of the key things tomorrow for me so focus on that.

Q: Charles, you got the biggest cheer when you pulled up here and I know this holds a very special place in your heart, it’s close to home, but these guys have been untouchable this weeke3nd haven’t they?

Charles LECLERC: Yeah, definitely. At the end pretty happy with my lap. Unfortunately today it was not enough but we need to keep working and I’m pretty we’ll close the gap at some point, but yeah, today I think this is the best we could have done.

Q: And expecting similar conditions tomorrow, we know the straights are pretty long here. Can you challenge them on the first lap, can you get involved and make it a fight for them?

CL: Well, that’s definitely the target, so a good start will be very important. We are quite strong on the straights and they are quite strong in the corners…

LH: I’m looking forward to a race with this one!

CL: Yeah, because in Bahrain we couldn’t race so much! Yeah, hopefully tomorrow will be a good race.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Well Lewis, both of your laps in Q3 were good enough for pole position. Can you just describe the challenges of that session for us?

LH: Yeah, we’re all working our butts off out there. It was very hot here. The track is up at 50, nearly 55, nearly 60 degrees, but it’s still challenging with these tyres, making sure you optimise and get everything out of the tyres. We’ve just been chipping away at improving the set-up of the car. Bit by bit…. Qualifying was when it was at its best, so a really great performance there. I think just generally the guys are really great at the timing and everything, getting us out in the right window. I don’t k now if people watching realise how important getting out at the right time is. You know, positioning on track is everything. I think through Q1 and Q2 Valtteri just had the edge and I was still dialling in the car, but once I got to Q3 I knew where I had to find the time, and it’s just about going out and doing it. The first lap was fantastic, really, really happy with it. However, I knew it was still relatively close and I needed to find some more areas in which I could improve. I went out for that second run. The second run, I was on for one of the best laps I have done for a long time. And it’s crazy: it never gets old, it never gets easier, and it’s always such a challenge, regardless of what position you are battling for. I was up four-and-a -half tenths coming into the second-to-last corner, but it’s really gusty out there, and I think I just lost the back end, partly through that or maybe going too quick. Nonetheless, really, really happy. If anything it gets harder and harder to get these poles. Valtteri has been doing some epic laps in practice and qualifying through these first races and the Ferraris have been on our tail – obviously a bit of a bigger gap today – but I’m still thinking the race is going to be a close battle, so I’m really grateful to be where I am.

Q: Your pole time is 1.7 seconds faster than last year. How much of that is car and how much is that track surface?

LH: The track surface for sure definitely helps. The cars have evolved. They are an evolution of last year’s car so it is continuously getting better. Last year when we were here we had a solid package but the changes we made from last year’s faults have just made it better this weekend and yeah, ultimately I think I drove here last year… It wasn’t the first time I’d been here but it was the first time I had raced here. So coming here I had that knowledge, so you naturally improve your understanding of where you can push and where not. I don’t know what percentage is but it is an improvement all round. Again, in the team’s performance, in how we’ve dialled in the car and how we’ve delivered through the session has also improved this year. That’s why we’re such a strong team because on all elements we’re firing on all cylinders.

Q: Valtteri, coming on to you. As Lewis says, you’ve been on fire throughout practice and Q1 and Q2. Where do you feel the car performance slipped away in Q3?

VB: I think the car was behaving well – but all weekend I felt pretty good in the car and in a happy place but obviously I always knew it’s going to be close when it comes to qualifying as it’s been all weekend. I think ultimately in the end Lewis in Q3 managed to get some better laps and he deserved to be on pole. From my side, in Quali 3, the first lap felt OK but the wind direction changed throughout the qualifying, Turns Eight and Nine, I think, struggling all weekend a little bit. At some point I found some good lines there but they didn’t any more work with that wind direction. So small details here and there. There’s no massive things. In the second run I was a bit unlucky with no cars ahead, so I had no tow at all, so losing on all the straights. Tried to make the most of the losses in the last couple of corners and lost it. It’s unfortunate: obviously was hoping to be on pole but second is a good place here, it’s a long run into Turn One.

Q: All three of you in this press conference are going to be starting the grand prix on the Medium tyre tomorrow. In these temperatures, how much of a challenge is tyre wear going to be tomorrow?

VB: If we would be on the Soft tyre, it would be a big challenge. So I think with the Medium, even if it’s warmer, based on what we felt yesterday, it’s pretty robust. I know all cars at the front are on the same tyre, so no big drama there.

Q: Charles, coming on to you. Great performance by you all weekend. How confident were you coming into qualifying today?

CL: Well, I was completely aware that my weak point in the last few grand prix was putting the car in the right window in Q3, so I really worked hard for that and I was very happy to see that there were improvements this weekend on that. My Q3 lap felt good. As Valtteri said, the wind was quite different during the whole Q3, so it was quite tricky and lost quite a lot of time in Turn Eight – Turn Nine but overall, apart from that, it was a good lap, and the car felt good for the right moment, which is in Q3. So, on that, I’m very happy. Then the gap is still quite big so we need to work and hopefully tomorrow it will be an exciting race.

Q: Talk to us a little more about the race tomorrow. How confident are you of taking the fight to these other guys here?

CL: It’s going to be difficult because their race pace on Friday was very, very, very strong. I think a good start will be very important and then we’ll see what happens, and then we’ll see what happens. Obviously if we’re in front at the start it will be easier – but it’s not going to be easy.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, as mentioned just now, you were able to recover from being behind Valtteri from FP2 onwards. Did you feel that you had a bit in hand from practice or did really need to turn it around and pull something out of the bag in qualifying?

LH: No, I think it was very close. It was very close throughout practice and, as you saw at the beginning of qualifying, we are within half a tenth, or point-zero-six between us. I definitely didn’t feel like I had something extra just sitting there. There were just areas to improve and I knew where they were, I just hadn’t done them yet. So, what was most important was that I did them on my first lap in Q3, which is obviously the most important one. And then the second lap was also even more in that direction. Unfortunately lost a large proportion of the time – but still improved nevertheless. I think Valtteri’s been… our cars are very, very similar in set-up and so we kind-of also push towards the same direction, which is really good for the team, and staying ahead of him is not so easy, do definitely had to pull something special out in Q3.

Q: (Luke Smith – crash.net)  Charles, we heard you a couple of times in qualifying asking Ferrari to get Sebastian to create more of a gap to you. Did you feel he compromised your qualifying at all?

CL: No, not at all. The only thing is that I think, twice – can’t remember when exactly – we were very tight on time to go through the finish line, so that is why I was just asking the team to say to Seb to just push because I would be very tight on time, so that was the only reason. But no. He, of course, did not compromise my quali.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, do you feel untouchable at the moment? You’re kind of crushing it out there. I just wondered how you feel every time you get in the car. Is it a close fight? You keep saying it is but when we’re looking at the time sheets you just keep delivering.

LH: I definitely don’t feel untouchable. I never have felt that way. I do feel strong but each weekend I come in and I feel that I’m starting on right foot, Valtteri goes and puts in bloody good laps every time! So, I’m constantly being pushed by Valtteri and obviously the last race obviously a lot closer. There’s some races where we as a team are not being pushed necessarily as hard as we’d like to be by the others. Nonetheless , still there’s the battle within us. If you look at a lot of the races, it’s been half-a-tenth to a tenth-and-a-half between Valtteri and I – so still have my work cut out, still have to perform, still have to deliver. So the work ethic is exactly the same and the stress is just exactly the same as if we were fighting the Ferraris or… yeah… usually I get better when I get into the season. I’m definitely getting a lot more comfortable with the car as we get into the season and I don’t expect that to stop.

Q: (Joe van Burik – Racingnews 365.nl) Charles, would you say there’s a specific area in which you are lacking compared to Mercedes, or is it just general pace?

CL: I think it’s general grip around the corners, to be honest. We are quite quick around the straight or in the straight but in the corners struggling a bit more. This weekend there’s something interesting that we didn’t understand completely yet but sector one and two we don’t seem to be so far off, or at least, during the whole weekend FP1, FP2, FP3 but in the sector three we were losing quite a lot most of the time. I don’t know how it looks in qualifying but it was like this in FP1, FP2, FP3 so we need to work on that and try to understand where is the issue.

Q: (Thierry Vautrat – Sud Ouest) Lewis, I would like to know… you didn’t sleep well on Thursday night, how worried were you to lose your Canadian victory?

LH: No, that wasn’t what kept me up. I just… I don’t know. I don’t sleep a lot in general but this particularly night I was excited to sleep like I am every night and I was just tossing and turning. I was awake and then actually when you’re awake and you’re frustrated with not being able to sleep, your mind rattles and obviously I had lots on my mind but it wasn’t necessarily about that, it was some other things that were going on. But nonetheless, I got really great messages from friends who naturally worry when I post something like that. I think more the reason that sometimes I express that is just because I realise firstly that I have a platform that a lot of people are going through a lot of stuff in their lives and it’s never too late or soon to try and encourage, so that’s what kind of… it was the kind of words of empowerment more, just how I sometimes get low and then I’m like I’m going to get through it, I’m going to fight through it. I got a lot of real positive responses from a lot of my fans who… they’ll write and it will be like ‘I’m going through a really difficult time right now but you’ve just lifted me up’ and so that’s a great feeling when that happens. And my friends did the same for me, lifted me up.  Came in, had a good day yesterday, slept like a baby – not exactly like a baby but like a baby last night – and came here today on a real positive.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis, just to pick up on the same sort of topic; when you posted on Instagram the first message referred specifically to what you were concerned about, coming to the circuit, the reaction you might get on Friday.  Was that in any way related to the fact that you were at the memorial (service) on Thursday? It’s not the first time that I guess you’ve faced criticism or anything for what you’ve decided to do so is it anything to do with that?

LH: No, I think the weekend started off a little bit different, you know. We arrive usually on a Thursday morning or the Wednesday night and then I obviously got here on Thursday evening. We got through our programme, no problem, but if you’re used to a normal four day programme and you change it it’s not always the easiest. For sure, it was definitely odd coming here when I heard that there was… Ferrari was spending time focusing on something else. Naturally, for me, with my team, I would be having them focus mostly on trying to improve the car but then we came here and obviously we had that but then I think when I arrived in the morning I heard that Karun Chandhok had… it was Karun Chandhok’s video that was the new evidence, and I was pretty relaxed after that. Yeah, I just put it behind me. But the last race was obviously… it’s not always easy when you hear boos, for example, but that’s a part of the game and if anything it generally spurs me on. But I know I’ve got a lot of great support when I come to these races, and particularly as I said, on social following I’ve got a lot of great people following me there so even if you feel crap, it’s not a bad time to say something motivational and that’s really where I was.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Charles, how much of Ferrari’s pre-race preparation has been disrupted by this futile appeal and also the other thing I wanted to pick you up on was Lewis says that he’s only going to get stronger. Have you at Ferrari and you individually got anything that can stop that, anything that you can fight back with?

CL: Well, on the penalty thing, I was not concerned personally, so no I didn’t feel any difference in terms of preparation for the weekend. I felt that the team was completely focused on that.

What was the second question? Well, I think, of course, there’s definitely more to come also from us. Whether it will be enough or not, only time will tell, but we are working to get better, race after race. We have brought some updates this weekend, some have been good, some others not and we need to understand why the ones that haven’t been positive, why they haven’t been, and try to understand this to get better in the future.

FIA Team Principals' Press Conference - 2019 French GP.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Frédéric VASSEUR (Alfa Romeo), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Laurent MEKIES (Ferrari), Zak BROWN (McLaren)

Q: I’d like to start with the three Frenchmen on the panel, and ask you about your home grand prix. What does it mean to be racing at home this weekend and what are your first memories of Paul Ricard?

Frédéric VASSEUR: The first memory of Paul Ricard is ’90 or something like this, in Formula Renault. It was during the French Grand Prix and we were at the back of the grid. But it was a good first one, for the first memory at Paul Ricard. For the French Grand Prix, for sure the approach is a bit different. We have more solicitation but we have to stay focused on the race and to consider the race as another one.

Q: And Cyril, home race for you and the team?

Cyril ABITEBOUL: Déja on avait decidé de la faire en Francais cette conference de presse. On en a marre de parler en Anglais un permanence. On est majoritairement Francais, donc on la fait en Francais. Sorry, switching back to English… The French Grand Prix: well, it’s obviously nice to be back here. As far as I’m concerned I don’t have direct memories of racing, because when I started it was Magny Cours. My first memory and first attendance in Paul Ricard was for some testing and for the launch of the Renault F1 car, the Mild Seven blue car, whenever it was, 2004 maybe, we’ll have to check, It was crazy the amount of testing we were doing here. As for this weekend, it’s good to be here. As far as I’m concerned I don’t see it as extra pressure, but more emotion, more opportunity to see some faces that are just smiling and cheering for a result. I know there has been a lot of negativity about the last edition and they are taking that extremely seriously, I’m talking about the traffic situation. We know that there is a limitation with the geography, which is a fantastic place, but it has its own limitation. But unfortunately I think it’s putting under silence some great activities that they are doing, I’m thinking in particular about the 10,000 kids that were running into the paddock yesterday and it’s fantastic and so energetic for everyone to see at first so much activity you have in Formula One. We are talking a lot about not doing enough for young people, the young generation in Formula One and for once there is a promoter doing something about it and I think we need to give a match to that.

Q: Thank you Cyril, and Laurent?

Laurent MEKIES: For me, the first memory here is when my parents took me here back in ’88. Cyril was talking about the kids earlier so we went there yesterday to speak to some of the schools the organisers have brought here and it’s great to be able to pass that on. It actually started here, with my parents, in the grandstand. Then, apart from that, for us it’s technically a more complicated track compared to Canada, but nevertheless we will try to step up at this kind of track where it has been a bit more difficult for us so far.

Q: Thank you. Fréd, if I can come back to you. It’s been a tough few races for Alfa Romeo. What have been the issues with the car and how confident are you of finding a solution?

FV: For sure the last two or three events were a bit more difficult but sometimes it’s so tight that it’s related to the small details. I think in Monaco we were always in the top 10 in the free practice. We made some mistakes in quali, and then we disappeared and we had to start from the back. We have to be probably more efficient on the weekend in terms of exploitation because for sure we did a step back during the last two or three races but the expectation is still to score points and to score points with two cars and to be back in the fight in the midfield.

Q: And a quick progress report on Antonio Giovinazzi. He picked up the Trofeo Bandini last weekend in Italy. How do you sum up his progress so far.

FV: If you have look at the last race in Montréal and Monaco before he is matching Kimi in quali and in the free practice that he is stepping up. For sure in Montréal, Monaco and then at Paul Ricard that he has also to discover the track and it’s not an easy one. But now that we are back in Europe that he knows the next tracks and he has the experience of the first races and he will be into the pace.

Q: Cyril, really solid result for the team in Canada, with both cars in the points. Nico Hulkenberg was in here yesterday and he said that level of performance has always been in the car but that it has been masked by ‘human errors’. Would you agree with that?

CA: Oh yeah, 100 per cent. At the same time it’s good to be able to put Montréal, but for me what was more exceptional and needed to stop is what we were doing before. There was nothing exceptional with Montréal, it’s what is expected, it’s what is planned; it’s what we are capable of doing. It’s more bad races that stopped in Montréal. It’s not that it was a good race. There have been human errors everywhere. There’s not one single area of the team or one single department that was to blame, and therefore why no sanction? I know that we are in a world where people are expecting quick sanctions. I don’t buy into that. I don’t believe that. In particular when mistakes and problems were coming from different area we’ve managed to stay together, to stay focused, to keep our head down, and obviously to get that performance in Montréal. But obviously it has to repeat. It can’t be an isolated one that event.

Q: You’ve brought some upgrades here. How were they performing in FP1?

CA: It’s a bit early to say, in particular because FP1 is always masked by a lot of track evolution. We know that some of the tarmac has been re-surfaced, so it will be interesting to see, and very important also for the decisions we make in terms of set-up, in which direction the track is actually evolving. There is nothing very alarming. There is nothing particularly exciting either but more work to be done and analysis is going on.

Q: You’re now only two points behind McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship. What are your goals for the rest of the season?

CA: The goals for the rest of the season are not changing. It’s a clear P4 that we said we would want to deliver. So that’s that same as last year but a bit further away from the midfield but a bit closer to the top teams. We know it’s going to take a couple of seasons to reduce and hopefully bridge the gap to the top teams. You can’t pretend it’s going to happen in one season or in one winter. To answer your question: trying to beat McLaren. Clearly they have done a step this winter, they have a good car. They also have a good engine. I expect more fights with them, but that’s interesting. We are super happy to be fighting with McLaren. McLaren is a very aspirational brand, they are a carmaker, so very excited to be racing against them.

Q: Thank you Cyril. Zak, perhaps we should come to you. A clear P4 is the goal fro Renault. How confident are you of holding onto it?

Zak BROWN: Well, we’re going to give it everything we’ve got. It’s a very tough midfield. Renault is very strong, but so are three, four other teams and it’s very close. You can see by one good race weekend, this early in the year, I think Renault went from, I think, they were eighth to fifth, two points behind. So, we know that some others can have some good weekends like that and we can have some bad weekends and the order will get mixed up pretty quickly. So we are going to keep giving it all we got. We do have a pretty good car; we do have a good engine. We’ve got two very good drivers. The team is executing very well very pleased with that. And yeah, I think it’s going to be an exciting race in the midfield.

Q: It’s going to be a development race until the end of the season. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your car and how easy is it going to be to develop it?

ZB: It’s faster in some corners and slower in some other corners. Everyone obviously kind of understands their car and the areas in which they need to develop. I think we have a good understanding of where we need to improve our car and that’s exactly the areas that we’re looking to develop. And as you say, it’s going to be a development race. There are just a few tenths between that P4 and P9, so I think development is going to critical to success this year, and execution.

Q: Lando said recently that it has been an up and down season for him. How would you assess his first seven races in Formula One?

ZB: I think he’s done a very good job. He’s been very fast. He’s not made the rookie mistakes. He’s learned each weekend. Carlos is a very good benchmark for him. He has very high expectations, as you would expect. So I think in his eyes, he’s had some ups and downs, but from our point of view, he’s doing everything that we hoped he would do and he’s been very impressive.

Q: Claire, for the second consecutive race Nicholas Latifi has been in the car in FP1. I just wanted to ask you how he is developing?

Claire WILLIAMS: Yeah, he’s doing a great job for us. Anyone that knows Nicholas, he has a really lovely way about him. First and foremost it’s great to have him as part of our team. He’s taking part in several FP1 sessions for us. He took Robert’s car in Canada and it was George’s turn to step out today for him to take over. He’s doing a great job. He’s great at integrating himself into the team and knowing and understanding what’s required of him when he gets into the car. Friday’s are obviously for understanding the new parts that we’re bringing to every race, and he’s just going through the work that needs to be done with the engineers.

Q: I wanted to ask you about how you are developing the car, because it was great to see George Russell raving Magnussen and Albon in Canada. What have you got in the pipeline to help maintain this progress?

CW: Yeah, it’s great, we’re racing for P15! Obviously no one is happy about that at Williams, but I think we have to take the positives out of that, you know, the fact that we started this season qualifying 19th and 20th and invariably finishing in 19th and 20th as well. We’ve had great reliability, so invariably those numbers have been a bit higher, when other cars have dropped out. But George has finished ahead of several cars over the past few races and that’s been really great to see. Obviously so much work has been put in behind the scenes at the factory to bring new test items to every race. We’ve brought some considerable new items over the past few races to address the weaknesses we have. Clearly that’s a work in progress and we’ve got to make greater strides forward and hopefully prior to shutdown we’re going to have a more substantial package to bring to the car, once we’ve got that through manufacturing etc. So it will be good to see where that takes us. We’re only early days in this season so far, but it’s nice to see the incremental gains coming at each and every race and we’ve just got to keep on that pathway.

Q: Thanks. Laurent, there’s a hearing this afternoon about Vettel’s penalty in Canada, so I was wondering if there is anything you can tell us about the new evidence you’ll be presenting?

Laurent MEKIES: I think the first thing that we would like to underline is that we very much respect the work of the stewards. We know it’s a very, very difficult job to take. It’s a complex world, complex races, and therefore we are fully supportive of what they are trying to achieve. Now, in the aftermath of the Grand Prix of Canada, we had access to a number of new evidence, we looked at them and for these reasons we have requested of the FIA this right of review because we believe that this evidence is quite overwhelming when it comes to establishing that Sebastian did not breach any regulations. Now, I think going further would be inappropriate because the hearing is this afternoon so we’ll leave it to the stewards and again we are fully supportive of that process.

Q: It hasn’t been the easiest start to the season for Ferrari. How do you assess the peaks and troughs of the opening seven races, from your position as sporting director?

LM: I think there were tracks where we were competitive, just generally very competitive – think back to Bahrain, to Baku, and obviously Canada, we were able to be a match to Mercedes. And I think it’s also fair to say that on some of the tracks we were simply lacking core performance. Here will be a good benchmark for us, because as I say, it’s a track where normally from a characteristic point of view we have been suffering a bit more this season, so I would be hopeful that we would step up a bit.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Question to all please. Of course, about the new regulations for one year and a half. Every time there is a new regulation, sometimes a new team gains a lot, as we saw with Mercedes against Red Bull the last time the rules changes. As five teams not in position number one, do you think that might occur in 2021?

ZB: yeah, I think any time you have a substantial regulation change it can throw up some surprises. That can be someone figuring it out that maybe hadn’t the year before, and that can also be someone who’s, y’know, been at the front gets it a little bit wrong. I think that’s probably more unlikely because they have the ability to recover quickly if they don't come out of the gate strong – but I think it’s going to be exciting: the new rules; the cars are going to look different; the racing should be better – so I hope it doesn’t just throw up one surprise. I hope it brings the whole field much closer together and have less predictability in the racing that we see.

Laurent. New rules?

LM: I think you’re absolutely right. Every time there is a regulation change, there will be an order change, whether it goes in the right direction or not, will be to be established. As Zak says, there is a lot of good concept in there, we just have collectively a lot of work to do to make sure all the changes that we introduce are positive and they don’t fight back against us.

CA: On the change of regulation, because as you know it’s quite an extensive set of measures, we think that by far the most impactful measures will be ones on the commercial and financial side. So, I think that technical and sporting can have an impact on the show but frankly not really on the pecking order, on the competitiveness because Mercedes, Ferrari can always take advantage of any sort of regulation, given the advantage that they have right now from a financial perspective. That’s why we are so keen and loud about securing things like more equitable prize fund distribution and a budget cap. Those two things, we believe, in the medium to long term are what is going to improve Formula One in terms of overall competitiveness of the grid. 2021 change of technical regulations: for me, it’s a different story. That why the focus, as far as we’re concerned, is more on the financial side.

FV: Yeah, honestly I think that the target of the regulation is more to close the gap between the teams than something else. That the big teams will keep an advantage on the small ones. As a small team, I think the most important is to have the consistency in the new regulations and to keep the regulations for a certain period. If we are changing the regulations each two years, it will be more and more difficult for us to catch up. I’m fully supportive of the new concept and the new regulations but I think that we have to keep it for at least five years.

Claire?

CW: Clearly for a team like us in the position in which we’re in at the moment, having a regulation change is useful. It means that we can hopefully capitalise on it. We’re doing everything at the moment that we can to make sure that we interpret those regulations when they come out to their fullest, so that we can hopefully take advantage of them. It’s our greatest opportunity. I think if we had stable regulations for the next five to ten years it would be much harder work for us. But, as everybody else on the panel has said before me, we need to get to that point of signing them off. They’ve got to be the most positive regulations that they can be, particularly from the technical side – but equally, we need to make sure that, prior to October, the financial regulations that are on the table at the moment remain as they are. They’re still not quite, exactly where we’d like them to be, with the cost cap where it is, including the exclusions, it still takes the cost cap to a higher level than we’d probably like it to be and enables the bigger teams to spend more than we’re able to do against those new technical regulations that are going to come in, and therefore maybe do a better job.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) If I could ask two questions, one to Laurent to follow up your earlier comments about the stewards’ meeting, and then a question to the other four about the regulations. Laurent, you said it’s quite overwhelming, the evidence you’re presenting. Does that mean overwhelming enough to overturn the result of Canada?

LM: I think that’s very much the part where I don’t think it would be appropriate to go through now. I think, again, we are very respectful of the FIA processes and we’ll be meeting with the stewards’ in an hour’s time. So, I think we can probably have the discussions next weekend.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) If I could ask the other four about the regulations. We’re talking a lot about 2021 and technical and sporting regulations – but the other issue, perhaps, is who is running the sport at that point. I think Chase’s contract probably expires at the end of 2020. You may be dealing with somebody who may not be around. How much concern is there about transparency and the actual Formula One side of things? Who’s actually running the show? Some of the names that have been bandied around in speculation – some thoughts on that really.

CW: Clearly we all hear the rumours but it’s not something that’s been discussed in an open forum. We’re just working to the current situation that we have at the moment. I’m too busy with other stuff at Williams to focus on a whole load of speculation in the wider paddock.

FV: Yeah, we have to stay away from the rumours, and we have enough to do and enough topic on the table to deal with. I think it’s enough for the team and for the promoter.

LM: Not much more to add, sorry – apart maybe from the fact it’s a reason why we want to secure what needs to be secured as quickly as possible. There were some discussion about pushing back – it was not just a discussion, it was actually decided – but that’s why. We know the world is changing. People can be changing – but it’s not for that reason that we want security. It’s important for everyone to have some security and stability and visibility on what’s going to happen in 2021, irrespective of individual situations.

ZB: I don’t think I have much to add. Obviously it’s a very important role, whoever does it, whenever they do it, and I think if it can just be done in a transparent manner when that time comes. Obviously leadership of any sport is particularly important, and as Cyril said, we’ve got to get nailed down now what the future looks like because whenever that transition happens, it’ll be coming in to new rules set in place and just need to make sure they execute against it.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines / racefans.net) The way that I understand it all teams last week signed the implementation agreement to delay the 2021 regulatory process and, above all, to waive their right to challenge the financial regulations. Which means that, well Claire, you did make a comment, but for the rest of you, are you then comfortable that the financial regulations address everything that your teams need for the future?

ZB: I think we made a big step forwards, signing-off on the headline number. Like Claire, I think the exclusions are probably a bit too much but I think, as we all know, with ten teams you’ll have ten different views, or probably five or six different views on what the magic number should be. I’m glad we’ve laid out the spirit of what it should look like. I think that’s an important part, again, as Cyril said, y’know when you look at what 2021 looks like, it’s not just the technical and the sporting rules but it’s the economics around it, so I think we made a step forward in ticking one of the boxes.

LM: Mattia was the one driving that for us at Ferrari but I think in principle we have been supportive of the idea of a budget cap. As Zak said, it’s been a long discussion to try to find the headline numbers but now we are moving on, we have definitions. It will never be a 100 per cent system, as you say, it will never tick all the boxes but, as you say, it’s a starting point.

CA: As you know, Renault had some reservations about pushing back that deadline and that vote on the new regulations but on the basis that it looked like an important thing for the governing bodies and some of the teams we accepted to make that happen because obviously it required unanimity of all teams for this to happen, and also on the basis of the guarantees that indeed we have obtained that Zak was mentioning. A budget cap would always be a compromise. It’s a novelty for the sport, it’s a new framework. It exists. I think we all need to be positive about its existence.

FV: As you know, we are ten around the table. Ten teams, with ten different views, ten different structures and you will never find something fitting for everybody. But at the end I think you have five or six teams that will stay more than far away of the cost cap. For some others it’s a bit harsh to manage but at some stage you need to have someone able to take a decision and the decision is done and we’ll have to stick with this.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Cyril just touched on the reservations that Renault had about delaying some elements of the rules. So, for the other four, would you just be able to tell us how easy was it for you to agree to delaying implementing or finalising other elements of the 2021 regulations?

CW: Certainly for us, we were very happy that the technical regulations were going to be or could be delayed. There was clearly quite a lot of work that still needed to be done on those so delaying them to October, we were fine with. I think the concerns for us were around delaying the financial or sporting but it was presented as a package and we had very little choice. So, knowing everyone else had signed it around the table, we conformed, and, in as much as we have been assured those financial and sporting regulations won’t change hugely, we were comfortable with it.

FV: We spent a lot of time over the last months – or more than months probably – on the financial discussion and probably less on the technical and sporting and I think it was a bit in a rush that we have to fix everything for last week. It makes sense to postpone. We had the discussion about financial regulation because we don’t want to open again the discussion to change completely the situation.

LM: It made complete sense for us, given the amount of work that still needs to be done on the technical regulations. It made complete sense to delay them to October. I think we all want to avoid situations where we are locked into something that is not as good as is could be. I think collectively there is a lot of work in the coming months to try to get that to the right level from the concept point of view. We will get there but we need to get all the right details right, so we think it was the right decision.

ZB: I think it was the right decision. We were aware of this date for over a year and so we all agreed a hold about 12 hours before the deadline, so that’s about how smooth the process was. I just hope we can genuinely work together so we’re not agreeing six hours before the October deadline. We know what’s coming. We’ve had a year, year-and-a-half to work on this and I really hope we take advantage of the extra time that we have. There are a handful of meetings set up and that we can genuinely move forward with better rules than we had in June.

Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) To everyone except maybe Laurent: if the decision on Vettel were to be overturned today, are you not afraid that this could open a can of worms and set a precedent whereby decisions could be reviewed more frequently, or perhaps do you see it as an opportunity for you to challenge the FIA stewards more often?

ZB: Well, not knowing what evidence Ferrari has, it’s hard to have a view on if the decision’s changed, was that a good or bad decision? I don’t know, because ultimately we don’t know what case Ferrari’s putting forward. I think in general I’d like to get to a point where… you know, we’ve got so many penalties in Formula One now for a variety of whether driving or mechanical or technical, and I think we need the fans to know that when the race is over, that’s who won, and it doesn’t get changed at a later date. So I don’t really have a view again on the specific Vettel-Hamilton incident but I think as a sport we need to be a little less complicated in the technicalities of all of our rules so it’s a bit easier to follow.

CA: I think Zak’s answer is great. If this is really a problem for the sport, we’ve had some things that we need to look at, irrespective of the decision that’s to come, whether it’s positive or negative and irrespective of the evidence, if we think that there is really a problem with this type of decision, with the intervention of stewards, maybe that’s something that we need to consider. Maybe we need to set up some form of panels of experts, or wise men who have had a look at a number of situations, of other lives, who have had a look at what’s going on in other forms of racing, including in MotoGP, to see what’s done, what’s possible in modern racing without encouraging silly behaviour, because it’s true that we also want to see action, we don’t want to see lawyers, like Seb was saying, driving their car but it’s very difficult, very difficult, and in my opinion we maybe need to disassociate that special case of Seb in Montreal but that of all situations which happen on a very regular basis that is quite negative for Formula One because I don’t see that happening in other racing formulae – or maybe I’m less exposed to that – and we need to sort it out. I’m sure that there is enough brain power to find a solution if there is a problem.

FV: Yeah, nothing to do with the Seb case, but I think we have to avoid to have too many hearings after the races and to fix the results of the Barcelona race in July and so on because it will be a mess for you and for us. And the second thing that I think that we have to keep in mind is that the position of the stewards is not easy. I heard plenty of comments and from tons of drivers, team principals and journalists but we all had 10 looks at the image and we had time to react, we had comments from everybody but they have to take a decision in live, and I think for the sport it makes sense that when you have a drive-through you have a drive-through and end of story, you can’t ask for minus 25 seconds on your race time. At one stage, that makes sense because we need to be fixed on Monday and apart from that, we have too many rules and at the end that, for the stewards also, it’s not easy to stick to the rules during the race.

CW: I’m trying to think of something else that someone hasn’t already said and I’m struggling, so I will just say ditto to my colleagues – except maybe some wise women as well, on the panel, as well as wise men.

Q: (Joe van Burik – Racingnews365.nl) Cyril, obviously you want to keep your momentum going for the rest of this season, moving into 2020. What does this mean for your driver situation in the future and to follow up on that, is there any chance you want to have another look at having Esteban Ocon in the team?

CA: The answer to the first question is in the second part of the question. Frankly, the situation is clear. We have a two-year contract with Daniel. Nico’s contract, the initial term is coming to an end at the end of this year but there is some mechanism of options as has been commented on press which I’m not going to disclose in the details that can kick in, so it’s maybe that we continue our journey with Nico. Frankly, Nico has delivered for the team, clearly, and if you look at where we were when, frankly, Fred actually was leading that process for us… Nico joined us and where we are today, it’s crazy and the change to the team, to the buzz, and clearly the drivers are no stranger to that, it’s not just engineers. So I think we need to give credit to that but also we need to look at the options, like everyone is doing, like I’m sure Nico is doing. So, it’s a long answer to tell you that things are open for him and for us but there is also an option in place so that we can possibly continue our journey together. We will see, we’ll see probably after the summer break will be the right time to sit down, discuss it on the basis of fact and desire also.

Q: (Ben Edwards – Channel 4) Claire, can you update us on Patrick Head’s involvement in terms of how involved he is back at the factory and what kind of areas he’s really been looking into?

CW: Yeah, it hasn’t really changed from when he first started. As everybody knows, we asked him to come on board after Paddy’s leave of absence. He is literally a consultant for the team. He comes in one or two days a week. If he can’t do that, he dials in and he joins the technical management team in their meetings and is literally just acting as a guide, as a sounding board and really helping everybody out. So it’s really nice to have him back around the place.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) The pending financial regulations are obviously going to have an impact on your operations including manpower levels etc, possibly not for all teams but certainly some of the teams. How concerned are you about the impact on your employees and their families etc, particularly in view of some comments made at the last Grand Prix in the same conference?

ZB: Well, very concerned. I know one team principal said he didn’t care about his families or something of that nature; that’s certainly not the case at McLaren. It’s a family business, so putting in the wellbeing of our people is first and foremost important. I think if we go to more races we’re going to have to understand how we do that, because I think a 21 race schedule is pretty taxing on everyone at the circuit and back at the factory, because they’re working equally as hard and as many hours. Getting the right number of races, commercially, is important. I’m not sure what that magic number is and I think we’re going to have to evaluate when these technical and sporting rules come out, along  with how many races we’re doing, how do you re-address that, with your workforce, to make sure that you take into consideration their wellbeing.

LM: I think you’re right Dieter, certainly on our point of view the concern about the people and their family and also the employment law in Italy was central to our discussions around the budget cap and then trying to find a figure that we could agree on precisely for that to first protect the people and then protect the structure. So this is also why it took so long to find an agreement around the headline number. Before knowing the next step, I’m trying to understand how much the product will actually cost, the cars based on the technical regulations we will eventually agree on and how much work first you need to go racing and for how many races is what will need to be assessed next. But the priority will always go to the people, that’s for sure.

CA: We fully appreciate the sensitivity of the situation for a large team, a large organisation, but as far as we are concerned we are far below the budget cap figure, given the exclusion.  As I mentioned previously, we actually built our team in accordance with figures that were previously floated of 150. It’s now 175, so you see the sort of margin and gap that we have, which means that we have a few options in order to stay put and accept the gap to the top teams or decide if we can finance it to… and if it makes sense also to finance it, it’s also a question of value…. to increase our headcount so that we can be a match against the top teams. That sort of decision we need to make now, that we have some certainty about that figure.

FV: Yeah, there are some aspects into the decision. The first one is the cost cap and honestly it won’t affect the majority of the teams and the second point of discussion is the number of races. On this one, it’s a critical situation for the team members because to do 21 races it’s not easy but to do more it will be more and more difficult and we have to investigate different solutions, perhaps to reduce the time on track or to rotate the guys in the team but it won’t be easy for everybody but for sure the team members will remain the first priority of my approach.

CW: Same as Fred; we won’t be impacted by the cost cap from an employee perspective, fortunately. Clearly we sympathise with the bigger teams and those members of the workforce that are clearly going to be worried about the situation. We’re recruiting at Williams. There will still be jobs. I think other teams are looking at those people who may be released from their existing teams, but then talking about the calendar – from our perspective we’re incredibly worried about having or the prospect of having 25, 24 races on the calendar,  the cost implications of that but most importantly the implications on the people who work for us and asking them to travel as much as that. That’s a huge undertaking. It already is; doing 21 race is a considerable amount of time that we’re all spending away from home. It puts pressure on the factory as well, the people that are working there. Bringing new parts to 21 races is hard work, bringing new parts to 25 is going to bring even more pressure on our businesses, so that for me is a huge concern at the moment, how we tackle that and make sure we get the balance right.

FIA Drivers' Press Conference: 2019 French GP.

DRIVERS – Nico HULKENBERG (Renault), Carlos SAINZ (McLaren), Romain GROSJEAN (Haas), Pierre GASLY (Red Bull Racing), Antonio GIOVINAZZI (Alfa Romeo)

Pierre and Romain, it is your home grand prix. Just describe your emotions coming into this weekend and how busy the build-up has been. Pierre, perhaps we can start with you?

Pierre GASLY: Yeah, I think we are pretty lucky because we didn’t have the French Grand Prix for many years; it just came back on the calendar last year, as I started my first full season in F1. I feel pretty lucky to have this chance to have a home race, with the crowd. I think France has always been part of the sport and it’s great to have it back and yeah, I’m just really excited for the weekend.

Q: How has the build-up been for you? I think you were playing football last night weren’t you?

PG: Yeah, we played for Jules [Bianchi]. We played this soccer game for Jules’ association, with all the family, so it was just nice to get all together on the pitch and just to remember him. Then we had another activity with Sébastien Ogier, as a co-pilot, which was pretty intense. Not being at the wheel but like really impressive, so really enjoyable so far.

Q: And Romain how has the build-up been for you?

Romain GROSJEAN: So far it has been quiet and good. Media duty today is a bit more than normal. But nothing too crazy, son happy to be here enjoying the time, and the south of France weather, which has been good, so hopefully we can have a nice event this weekend.

Q: Thank you. Pierre, if we can come back to you. Tell us about car performance, where Red Bull is at? I think you have a new power unit this weekend. What are your expectations coming into this French Grand Prix?

PG: Yeah, we have a new spec, a third-spec Honda. The last we introduced was more on the reliability side, this one will be focused more on the performance, but we don’t expect a massive gain from it. I think the overall performance will be slightly increased, but it’s not like it’s going to change massively, or we’re going to catch the teams ahead of us massively. Let’s see what we can do during the weekend. It will give us a bit more in the race. It’s not going to be a massive difference in qualifying, but a bit more in the race.

Q: And are you hopeful of being more competitive this weekend than you were two weeks ago in Canada?

PG: Yeah, I think it’s a track that probably suits our package a bit more than Canada. You still have many long straights, which for sure are still a bit tricky for us, even though we are making progress. But I think we have new, little bits on the car coming and I think we should be more competitive than we were in Canada.

Q: Thank you. Romain, coming back to you: we’re talking car performance, what can we expect for you and Haas this weekend?

RG: We’ll see. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. Generally, I think there’s been really good performance but other place we’ve been struggling a little bit more. So I’m hoping that here we get a good package that’s works well, that we get the tyres to work correctly and if that’s the case it should be a track that works quite nicely for us, so I’m hoping we’re going to give the midfield a hard time and why not even Red Bull and see where we can end up on the weekend.

Q: And do you expect the new asphalt here at Paul Ricard to help tyre performance on your car?

RG: I do not know. I guess we’ll find out.

Q: And Romain, a quick word about the track layout. Having been here now last year, how much better prepared do you feel coming into this weekend?

RG: Another one I don’t know! I think last year we did some simulator work before coming here and it felt like the starting set-up we had on the car was a good package, so that’s good. Obviously we’ve got the data from last year, which always helps and we’re going to focus on fine-tuning and making sure we understand everything. I think the conditions this weekend are going to be quite hot, so we need to make sure that we get the best of everything in those conditions – tyres and cooling and all of that on the car – to not have a bad surprise on Sunday. So the baseline set-up I think is already pretty good and it’s now just fine-tuning all the bits and pieces on the car to get the best race performance.

Q: Good luck this weekend. Antonio, we spoke to the other two about their preparations this weekend. I know you had an amazing weekend with the Trofeo Bandini in Brisighella last weekend. Perhaps you could tell us about it and what happened?

Antonio GIOVINAZZI: Yeah, it was really nice and I’m really proud to receive this important trophy. It was really a good Saturday, a good day, a lot of Italian fans there. So just really proud and also the list of the drivers that won the trophy before is unbelievable, so I’m just really proud, but of course now I have a quite a lot of responsibility to be there. But in the end I think it was really nice to drive on the normal roads – I did 13km. So it was really nice and it was a really good day.

Q: It’s your first time here in a Formula 1 car. What are you expecting from the track?

AG: Yeah, I don’t have many miles here. I just did two days back in 2017 with an F2 car, so it’s quite new for me the track. It’s a little bit confusing to be honest, it is difficult. I did some work on the simulator and we’ll see tomorrow. The midfield will again be really tight, like every race, but we have a good package and we can be fast enough.

Q: You say you have a good package but it was a difficult weekend for the team in Canada. How confident are you of making a step forward here?

AG: Yeah, the last three races I would say we have been struggling a little bit more compared to the first part of the season, especially compared to the first part of the season. As I say, the midfield is really tight, so small details can make a difference so we are trying to find those details and with a small few tenths you can jump quite a lot of cars. So we are working really hard with the team; I believe in my team, like I think the team is believing in me, and we just need to work hard and find the last details for a good result.

Q: Carlos, coming onto you, I’d like to take you back to Canada as well. That immense stint – 67 laps on one set of tyres – just how hard was that race for you and what lessons have been learnt by you and McLaren?

Carlos SAINZ: Yes, it was hard because it was unexpected and when you got through unexpected circumstances, you definitely have to improvise at bit. We didn’t want to pit in lap three but unfortunately one of these tear-offs got stuck in my brake duct, which meant I had to pit, remove it and try to finish in the points on a 67-lap stint. It nearly worked: we were five seconds away, of race time, from making it. I still think if we had done a perfect job, we could have still have finished in the points, so the whole weekend was a bit messy since Saturday and we missed out on a good points opportunity. I think we’ve learned from it. We know what we need to do better for France and… yeah, hopefully we can improve it.

Q: It’s an increasingly tight midfield battle. McLaren are now only two points ahead of Renault. How confident are you of taking the fight to Renault this weekend?

CS: I’m confident we can take the fight. It’s going to be difficult because I still think teams like Renault and Haas, in qualifying they have a bit more compared to us, so it means that we need to do a better job on Sundays – but it’s good fun because it’s quite an intense battle, it’s super-close, qualifying is incredibly tight and tense in Q2 and Q3. You see drivers always finding the last limit, making small mistakes – and that will give you the opportunity. I’m enjoying it a lot. I think it’s a great battle and I still think we need to do a better job on Sundays because Saturdays are a bit more difficult for us.

Q: Nico, thank you for waiting. Your thoughts on this midfield battle.

Nico HÜLKENBERG: Yeah, there is one, I guess! It’s usually pretty tight and yeah, small margins can make a big difference so it’s important to get it together, like always. Feel good and strong. Obviously this weekend is important and a big one for us but I think the approach is like every other race. You keep calm and do what you have to do, go through the ranks on Friday and Saturday – but of course we want to have another strong finish here and team result like in Canada.

Q: How much progress has Renault made with its car in the last few weeks?

NH: It seems maybe that way if you look at the results prior to Canada and then Canada. I think it was more that the car has been a victim of circumstances. I think the race pace has always been pretty good but for various reasons often we were compromised on the starting position, coming from behind. It’s very difficult to drive through the midfield in the race when there is DRS trains, when cars are difficult to race. So, honestly I feel the car has always been pretty competitive but we just had a lot of issues and also human errors that happened in the first five-six weekends of the year. And we paid that price. For me, Montreal was one of the first weekends where we just stayed clear, made no mistakes and did a solid job and straight away, we got a good reward for it.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Laurie Vermeersch – F1Only.fr) For Nico Hülkenberg. With the update of the car, and the fact that you had a good result in Canada, Do you think you would be able to offer your first podium for Renault here in France, and the first podium for you too?

NH: I would love to  but I think that is still quite some distance away. It is true we have some updates here. But I’m sure other teams are bringing new things as well. I’m curious obviously about how it helps our car. Hopefully we can take a step towards the top three teams and eventually, at some point this year, make their lives harder. Firstly, the main target of the season it to really become clearly fourth team and this upgrade is just part of the journey, part of the process of that year. But, of course, it’s an exciting weekend for us and we want to do France proud.

Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) There’s been a lot of debate about the penalty given to Sebastian Vettel following his fight with Lewis Hamilton in Canada. I just wondered what your thoughts were on it and whether you feel there needs perhaps to be a revision of the rules at all? And does it stifle you from having more hard racing?

NH: There was a penalty? I did not notice that in the press! Hmm. I think my opinion and view of that is just that it’s racing, it is tough to control a car on the grass and how you then make the entry to the race track because we are simply not in full control and we don’t have normal grip. So for me, yeah, it seemed like a racing incident. In terms of rules, I think there are different judgements every weekend, different stewards so I don’t necessarily fear a reason why we need to tweak the rules there now.

RG: So the second part of the question… I think everything that we do on track has a line and a rule and then it’s very hard to deviate from those. I believe there are too many guidelines with penalties that are applied to that guideline and sometimes two penalties that can be very different… ah two incidents that can be very different but with the same penalty. I take an example like I crossed the pit exit line in Monaco with part of my wheel, got a five second penalty and one point on my licence and Verstappen got an unsafe release in the pit lane and had a touch with Bottas and it was a five second and one point penalty because that’s what is written. So I think sometimes it’s hard for the stewards just to decide where they want to go, because everything is written but you never know if you’re in that case or that case. Talking of Seb, I think he’s the only one to know if he could have controlled the car better and left more room on the right hand side. We do not know, we do not have access to his telemetry and I think only Seb knows if he actually saw Lewis, went on the throttle on the grass and made his way fully to drive out. I won’t discuss the penalty or not, I think it’s not my job but I can only say that Seb knows if he could have left more room or not.

PG: I’m going to agree with what has been said but I think it’s really tough when you cross the line first on track and then after we tell you you’re second. I think it depends which perspective you look at it. I think if you look at Seb’s side for sure it’s really tough and really harsh penalty. If you look at Lewis, you say that maybe I could have won the race without this incident, but I think at the end of the day, when you race Formula One cars at that speed, pushing to the limit these things happen and it’s part of racing so it’s difficult to draw a line but I think for me it was quite harsh to lose a victory that way.

CS: Yeah, I think like any other Formula One fan I was disappointed when I saw a penalty, first of all because as a driver I think I would have done exactly the same as Seb. I would just rejoin the track and try and keep first position independently of where the car is. Was it dangerous? Potentially, but what’s not dangerous in Formula One? There’s always a bit of danger, you’re always close to the walls and I think that at any point Lewis was on the real threat of having a huge accident so there was not… I think there was no reason to give a penalty but the rule is written and the stewards applied the rule. So I also don’t understand all this criticism that the stewards have received over the last few weeks because they are just trying to do their job and they have a rule which they need to interpret and they need to apply and that’s what they did. So it’s the fault of the stewards, it’s not the fault of Seb, I think, it’s not the fault of Lewis either, it’s just that there is a rule that I don’t think should be there, which is a bit too drastic and a bit too black and white and doesn’t interpret well the rules of racing, that is race hard and enjoy.

AG: Yeah, I think in the end it’s not nice to lose a race like that but I think it’s the rules, like they say and in the end the important thing is the rules are consistent at every race and to every driver, so I think this is the main thing.

Q: (Mickael Guilmeau – Franceracing.fr) For Nico and Carlos, are you worried that you’re probably losing the German and Spanish GPs respectively?

NH: Carlos, can you start?

CS: Yeah. Am I worried? The question is if I’m worried? Yes, I’m worried because I don’t like losing my home Grand Prix and I think it’s a big loss, not only for Spanish people but for Formula One. I think Barcelona has been part of the calendar for many years, it’s a great track, great venue and everyone enjoys being there. I consider now that it’s one of the classical tracks, like I consider Silverstone or Spa, so losing Barcelona is a big loss for Formula One, I think, and myself. Does it depend on me? Not really or not a lot, it’s a matter of politics and money which I’m not involved in, so we will see what happens.

NH: Yeah, I like going to Hockenheim. I’ve raced cars many, many times there since I’m in a single seater so that goes back to 2004/5. It’s a cool place. I think last year was a huge success, I’ve never seen Hockenheim that busy and so vibrant. So it would be sad to see it go and lose that home Grand Prix but like Carlos said, at the end of the day it’s not down to us, it’s commercial aspects but of course I would prefer to keep it on the calendar.

Q: (Laurie Vermeersch – F1Only.fr) Romain, could you please tell us a few words about your special edition (helmet) design for this Grand Prix de France?


RG: Last year, obviously, I did blue, white, red which is a very nice one, but this year I wanted to do something a bit different so I contacted Richard Orlinski because I’m a big fan of his artwork and I met him here last year and I sent him a white piece of paper and I said can you produce a helmet(design) for me for the French Grand Prix? And he answered yes, I would love to and I was super excited about it and then I received the artwork and I think it does represent Richard very well in the way that the design is done. It’s very very different to anything I’ve been wearing up to date so I like it even more and I think it’s just great that it’s part of the whole show. Richard is doing the trophy for the podium, we can see the ‘Kong’ everywhere around the racetrack and I know there will be my helmet racing on track so it’s pretty cool.

Kevin Hansen claims podium finish despite time penalty.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Kevin Hansen went from the back row in the World RX of Norway Final to claiming a podium finish in Hell, going toe-to-toe with Niclas Gronholm.

After a tricky start on Saturday, the young Swede was classified seventh overall.  

"The first day was tricky," he said. "The speed was there but we had to start from the outside, which is really tricky in Hell."

"For the second day we adopted some of Timmy’s set-up, made some changes, and that seemed to make a difference."

On Sunday morning, the Swede finished second behind older brother Timmy Hansen with a 1-2 finish in Qualifying 3. Another strong run in Qualifying 4 saw him climb to fourth overall in the standings and stamping his pass for the Semi-Finals. 

But there was a plot twist: a sudden downpour turned the track from heavenly too Hell for the Semi-Finals and final. 

Kevin was on the second row of the grid in Semi-Final two and opted for a late joker lap bringing him out just in front of his older brother to claim a back row start for the final. 

“Looking at what happened when the rain came, starting from the second row for the Semi-Final was a lot better than the first, so I was very happy to start there!" he said. 

The young Swede had a good start from the back row and he was up to the second place at the start, which briefly became first by passing Kevin Abbring for the lead.

He dropped one place when taking his joker lap and secured a very hard-fought second place, defending from eventual race winner Niclas Grönholm. 

"I had to drive carefully in the Final as there was wiper fluid spraying everywhere inside the car!" he says. "That also meant I couldn’t clear mud from the windscreen too. But we managed to cope with that well." 

"Gronholm behind me pushed so hard but we kept our cool, did our thing and kept the grip all the way. With a good joker lap we managed to finish P2 but then got a penalty and were P3 instead."

After the race, Hansen was handed a one-second time penalty for unsportsmanlike behavior for the pass on Grönholm on the first lap. 

"It’s not nice when you get a penalty but in the end, I think it was a fair decision,” he concludes.

TEXT - Junaid Samodien

Unlucky De Ridder rakes up yet another 'Slowbergine'

PHOTO CREDIT: GC Kompetition

GCK Academy's Guillaume De Ridder rakes up another 'Slowbergine' in Norway.

The 'Slowbergine' - an Aubergine sticker is awarded to GCK's slowest driver across all free practice sessions. The Aubergine sticker will be attached to the driver's car for the remainder of the season.

De Ridder arrived in Norway with three 'Slowbergines' on his Renault Clio R.S. RX Supercar.

Could the unlucky Belgian turn his luck around in Norway? Unfortunately not! In Qualifying 1, De Ridder opted for an early joker lap, but it ended in disaster as Baumanis clipped the front of Timmy Hansen sending him flying sideways into the joker lap and hitting the side of the Belgian's Clio R.S. RX.

"The weekends follow each other at the moment in that they seem to look alike, unfortunately," he said.  "It was a tough weekend again with tough luck, for example in Q1 we had a great start and were ahead of the others and then got smashed into from behind, so ended up with a DNF."

Things turned around in Qualifying 2 when De Ridder finished in second place in race one but would be classified in sixteenth overnight. 

"Q2 showed some good lap times which is really promising, so I was hoping for a good 2nd day," De Ridder said.

In his Qualifying 3 race, the Belgian finished third but maintained sixteenth overall. 

The final qualifier in Norway saw Guillaume sandwiched between Oliver Bennett and Jani Paasonen in race 1. The Belgian managed to avoid contact and opted for a first lap joker, where he spun out coming to a stop. He was able to restart and crossed the line in third.

"We lost time due to a bad start in Q3 and then had technical issues in Q4," he adds.

"It’s a big shame and I hope that Sweden is able to turn my luck around."

TEXT - Junaid Samodien