FIA Post-Qualifying Press Conference - 2019 Monaco GP

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com

DRIVERS

1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing) 

TRACK INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Paul Di Resta)

Q: Lewis, you’re pretty excited about that. They say 95% per cent of the job gets done today but to qualify here on pole at Monaco, it’s an incredible result. 

Lewis HAMILTON: It really is. Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to the crowd that’s here. I love it here; it’s my home. This is the race that every driver dreams of, from being kid. It doesn’t matter how many times you come here, it’s still a dream. You still put absolutely everything you’ve got, all the work we’ve put in, all the guys back at the factory have just worked tirelessly. So we’ve arrived with a great car and then a great battle with Valtteri, who has just been quick all weekend and all these races up until now, and just the desire and the will to get this pole; it means so much to me. I had to dig was deeper than ever. And I’m so glad that I could get that deep. I’m just really grateful to my team and the lap was beautiful. So I feel amazing, and just super grateful. 

Q: When you get in the zone around here, do you have to get in the spirit of the lap and let the car do the work, pushing all the way through? I mean Valtteri, he was on fire today as well, wasn’t he? What extra did you have to do to get that? 

LH: It Well, obvouisly we have got a great package but what people need to realize is that all of us drivers, as you know, whatever car we have, fast or slow, we take it to the limit. And when you take it to the limit, it’s like wrestling a bull or whatever you want to say it is. It’s out of control the whole time, so it’s really trying to balance it, react at the right times. The lap was hard and particularly at the end I had an oversteer moment coming in Rascasse and I just managed to pull it off, you know. And then coming out of the last corner I was losing a little bit out of the last corner but still I was coming across the line hoping ‘OK, just that one millisecond, I hope that makes the difference’. I don’t know what the gap is, but I’ll take it whatever it is. It’s perfect.

Q: It’s enough. It’s a front row start. All the best. Valtteri, it was pretty incredible the lap you did in the first run in Q3, but you didn’t get a second attempt. How do you feel?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I’m disappointed. I still felt after the first lap that there were plenty of places I could improve so I left that for the last run. On the out lap I had a lot of traffic and I couldn’t the get the tyres hot enough for the timed lap and that was it. I felt I had it today but obviously not. 

Q: A front-row start still. You’ve been on fire all weekend. Ultimately Lewis has won the last couple of grands prix starting from P2, so can you still win this tomorrow, do you feel that starting from P2? 

VB: Well, anything can happen. Obviously it would have been nice to be on pole, but there is no point giving up after Saturday. There is a long race ahead and for sure I will try to do everything I can to get it back.

Q: Max, P3 today. It looked like at one point, in Q2, you were going to be able to split these Mercedes, or at least get in the fight, but just at the end they had too much for you? 

Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think they were a bit quick. My lap in Q2 was good but then in Q3 my first lap I lost it a bit in Turn 1, a bit of cold tyres. Still it was a reasonable lap. In these streets to push, your heart rate goes up quite a lot, as you know. Then my second lap, just my out lap was too slow, so I went into Turn 1 already, cold tyres, and as soon as you see you are two tenths up, you can’t risk it anymore. I decided to abort, but still P3 was good, because 10 minutes before the session there was not even a floor on the car so the mechanics did a great job today to bring the car in a full piece before we went out. 

Q: And the journey you’ve had in the last year has been quite incredible. If you look where you were this time last year, you’re a bit further up, so you should be more in the fight shouldn’t you?

MV: I didn’t do many qualifyings here so of course very happy to be third. 

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, your second pole position of this season, but you said you had to dig deeper than ever to get this one. Tell us what it means? 

LH: Yeah, this is definitely one of the best poles that I can remember. We’ve had lots of success over the years, but I can’t really remember one that means as much this one, being that is has been such a difficult week for the whole team. Personally, it has been quite a difficult weekend, so… Obviously the goal here was always to get pole; it’s such a difficult circuit. It’s amazing that we have turned up, as a team, continuing to take strides forward together, collectively, and get stronger and improve our performance weekend-in, weekend out, so I’m so proud of everyone. But to have a little bit of a cloud over us this weekend, we’re really, really trying to lift each other up and trying to deliver for Niki. Valtteri had been doing a sensational job. I think practice one and practice two were good for me and then today the car didn’t feel anywhere near as good as it did on Thursday, so digging deep to turn the car round. Valtteri did a great lap the first lap. I was struggling to get the first lap time out on the tyres, so I did a prep lap for my first lap and the second one was not very good. So I pushed for that first lap at the end, and naturally I had to gain two tenths because Valtteri was ahead and I thought Valtteri would be up, so I was just throwing the car around. I’m pretty sure I touched a couple of barriers along the way but there’s no better way of doing it around Monaco. I’ve not had a huge amount of success here over the years. It’s always been a track that I’ve been quick at, but never quite get that perfect lap. I think today was about as close as I could get to it, so this one is for Niki. 

Q: You mentioned how tough this weekend has been for the team. How difficult is it as a driver to then get in and have to put the helmet on and perform and put that all out of your mind when you get in the car? 

LH: Ultimately we’re professionals so you get in and do what you love doing. Niki would just want us to get in and Niki and would always just say ‘give it arseholes’, so that’s what I try to do every time I get in the car. That’s honestly what he says all the time. We just try to walk around with a smile and really try to lift each other up, as I said, and do him proud. I think so far hopefully we are and we have to continue to try to pull out something special tomorrow. Max has been really quick this weekend as well, so anything can happen still tomorrow, so still got a good job to do tomorrow. But there’s no better place to start. 

Q: Valtteri you were on provisional pole at the end of those first runs, so where do you think pole position got away from you today?

VB: Well, first of all, congrats to Lewis for the pole, he definitely did a good job and as a team really proud again being one-two again. My feelings at the moment, I’m really, really disappointed with the qualifying. I really felt I had the speed today. I felt really good in the car all day. In the first run, I felt there were two or three tenths I could still improve, so I should have done a better job on the first run. On the second run I had quite a bit of traffic on the out lap so had to go off the line in a few places on the out laps and the tyres just didn’t work on the second run, so disappointing. 

Q: Obviously track position is king here, so how do you approach the start of tomorrow’s race alongside your team-mate on such a narrow run to Turn 1? 

VB: Well, for sure we always aim for a good start but here it’s a super short distance from start to the first corner so normally not many position changes but obviously I’ll try to do a good start and as a team we want to be one-two again. Obviously for me then it’s going to be waiting for any opportunities that come up. 

Q: Max, you were quickest in Q2, heading into to Q3, what was the target, what was realistic and are you satisfied with third place?

MV: Yeah, all in all yes. I think in general, when you look to the weekend I think we were just missing that two or three tenths at the end but yeah, Q2 was a very good lap but also the tyres were switched on so around here, when your tyres work that makes quite a bit of a difference and in Q3, my first run, I went into turn one and the rear tyres were still not gripping up fully so I lost a bit of time there and basically from there on my lap was pretty stable compared to Q2 so it was not bad. And then in my final run in Q3 I had a bit of traffic on my out lap and when I started the lap, the tyres just felt cold, no grip and I was already 0.2s above it so I decided to abort. But in general I think we did a good job. I think coming into this weekend I already had the feeling we were not as strong as we were last year here but for myself I think it was a good qualifying. I think this is my first qualifying here but I’ve only done three now. It’s really good to be here.

Q: What can you do in tomorrow’s race to try and put some pressure on the two guys ahead of you?

MV: There’s not much you can do but the funny thing is that two of my practice starts have been from P3 so I’ve rubbered in my own box so that’s good, so we will see what’s going to happen but normally in the race you need to be a bit lucky. I’m happy about today and let’s see what brings tomorrow.

Q: Lewis, just returning to you, what are going to be the big threats in tomorrow’s race? Obviously starting from pole is the best place to start but what do you have to look out for?

LH: Hopefully the weather stays something like today. I heard that there’s a potential chance of rain tomorrow but it will be the same for all of us and if anything that makes it more exciting at this track but I guess ultimately, when you’re on pole, you hope it will be just smooth sailing, a dry, safety car kind of day but yeah, the tyres that we have, it’s a one-stop race generally, it has been for a long time here, so it’s really just about keeping calm, cool and collected and just delivering on what we’ve practised throughout the weekend. But you know, this race – as you’ve seen in the previous years – lots of things get thrown at you so we’ve just got to stay on our toes. But I honestly feel that were the best prepared, we’ve had a really solid weekend of preparation. We’ve had good years of experience too but that doesn’t mean that there are unknowns ahead but we’ll face it together. We always win and lose together so we’ll do what we can tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Oliver Brown – The Telegraph) Lewis, Niki Lauda was clearly instrumental in bringing you to a team where you’ve won four of your five world titles, also a man known for his very blunt advice to his drivers. Just how influential do you reflect that he was on your development as a driver?

LH: Firstly, the other day it was quite… I didn’t feel like I was really ready I think Toto also felt fairly similar and maybe Valtteri as well. There was time for us to really dig deep into our feelings because we were still reminiscing over the lots of experiences that we’ve had. Me and Toto have had multiple conversations this week and also myself and Birgit. I was really in touch with Niki a lot, through this past eight months. We would be sending videos back and forth to each other and it was always difficult because some days he looked good and he was really perky and ‘I’m coming back, I’m coming strong and I’ll be at this race’ and then there’s other days where he had immediately lost a lot of weight. So it was definitely tough from afar and then I was very fortunate that I got to see him and when I found out the other day I was just thinking because I was here at home in Monaco, I was down by the pool where I live and I remember getting a call from Niki in 2012 and we had never really spoken, me and Niki so he’s on the phone and he’s like, no you should come to Mercedes, this is where you need to be and I remember that was the first time we started talking. I had always talked about how Ross was the convincing element in me coming to the team because when I went and sat down with him, he explained what the team was doing, where it was going, their plans, Mercedes and I truly believed in that vision but Niki was the one that brought it to me and got it across the line. And in all of these years, he’s kind of been my partner in crime: all negotiations, when we were pushing for improvements on the car he was such a racer and even though he wasn’t racing himself he would come up to us and say ‘what could we do better, what needs to be improved on the car?’  You would say front suspension or it’s downforce or it’s the engine and he would say OK and he will go to the factory and he’ll be giving them arseholes like he would always say! So yeah, ultimately he was part of the process of changing my life. If I hadn’t had the call all that time ago, I would be a one time World Champion now and probably 22 wins whatever it was when I was at McLaren and I sit here a five time World Champion and I definitely feel like I owe him a lot. So it was very very difficult at the beginning of the week. Everyone’s posting pictures and… I don’t feel like I have to conform to how everyone operates. I took my time and again, coming here on Wednesday I didn’t feel like it was the time to do that but we all love him and miss him and it’s hard to imagine or to think that when someone goes, you’re never going to get to see them again or to talk to them or have conversations but I’ve got the greatest of memories with him so he will live on in all our memories.

Q: (Giovanni Messi – newsf1.it) My question is for Lewis. Hi Lewis. In my opinion, at this time you are happy than the other qualifying for the result? Maybe because seeing the speed of Valtteri after the first run, you didn’t believe in this result?

LH: No, I think it’s a combination of things. It’s a tough – very, very tough track to get the pole. Often when you’re qualifying, in qualifying and particularly here, the first lap is even more important. The second lap is the one where we take all the risks and often it’s the one that there’s usually yellow flags or traffic or something – so the percentage, the chances of you improving on the second lap are smaller and also Valtteri had the opportunity to improve on that second lap. And again, because it had been a difficult week, the desire to perform well and get that first, it was just elevated. So, to get it, to come across the line, I went across the line, I knew that I was up on my time, and I knew that I’d be pole for a second – because I came out of Turn One, and I could see the screen but I didn’t know where Valtteri was. I could see a Red Bull come by, and then I was past the screen and I didn’t know where Valtteri was. It was quiet for some time. I think it was until I got to the tunnel to the chicane where they came and told me. So, after that, you’re just sitting there with your fingers crossed kind of thing – not that I really had my fingers crossed – but that kind of feeling. It’s just great because I’ve been doing this for such a long time, y’know? And to still have that desire and that will and that excitement, it’s encouraging, because I want to be here for a little bit longer if I can.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) To the two Mercedes drivers. Valtteri, obviously frustrated with what happened for you. Is that because you feel it was the tyre prep or the warm-up that cost you pole – or do you feel that there’s something you could have done differently? And Lewis, you mention that feeling, waiting to find out what the result was. What was that feeling, when it come over you? We saw that reaction afterwards, jumping up on the fence. Can you just talk us through those moments please?

VB: The issue for me was the traffic on the out-lap. There was a couple of cars I was stuck behind and then pass off the line, and obviously you collect a bit of dust on the tyres and you can’t get enough temperature. This track is really critical and, yeah, already at Turn One I felt the tyres were not there. It was just every corner slower and slower until I had a big snap in Turn Eight or something. Yeah, that was it. Like Lewis saw on the screen, he was in the lead, I saw at the Swimming Pool area that he did manage to improve his lap, and I knew that’s game over. That’s the name of the game.

Lewis, your emotions when you were told by the team that you’d got it?

LH: Through the qualifying session, through practice I wasn’t able to get the first timed lap, so that’s why I went into Q3 and I was like ‘I want to do a prep lap’, and then I did a prep lap and, the start of my lap, the first sector was terrible and it didn’t pay off. And often, when you don’t have the foundation level, the first banker lap to then build upon, the second one you have to dig deeper. So, normally you do a good time, maybe you’re half a tenth behind or half a tenth ahead, you can build on that. You don’t have to take drastic risk but you can just improve on that and hopefully hold position. But I was two-tenths behind. Normally he would probably improve another tenth or two, as the track does improve, so I’m digging deeper and going a little bit further into an unknown and it was really on the ragged edge the whole way. I mean, that how it should be but Jeez, yeah, when I came across the line I didn’t know if it was enough. I think I came out of the Swimming Pool, I was .039 up, and then came out of the last corner and that just started to drop down to .033, or something like that. And it could have been that half a tenth that could have been the difference, who knows? I was just waiting for a long, long time to find out. I was like ‘where the hell is Valtteri?’ Talk about sitting on the edge of your seat, not knowing what’s happening. And when you’re getting that call, whether it’s good or bad, it’s horrible either way, the way sometimes you get it, and it wasn’t good enough, and you’re like ‘damn it!’ y’know? And then you start to reminisce over the lap, thinking OK, I could have done better here if I’d done that. You know how the race has gone – but fortunately it was a positive call. It’s always great. Bono’s been with me for seven years, the longest relationship I’ve had with an engineer. It’s always great to see his encouragement and his excitement as well.

And then just a spontaneous decision to jump on the fence with the fans?

LH: Oh man, I was just so super-hyped, I couldn’t help it. As I tried to hold it in. The fans are great here. There’s a lot of Brits and a lot of British flags and, I don’t know, I just spare a moment… I felt the fence was going to come over actually. Luckily it didn't’. But yeah, I think ultimately in life, probably for all of us, there’s great things that happen in our lives and we probably don't always celebrate them, y’know? I’ve won races and you just go straight into a meeting and then you go home and sit and watch TV and just sit and do normal stuff and don’t actually capture the moment. And so that’s… I think it was just important for me to enjoy the moment – because you never know when your next pole is going to be. You never know when that moment’s ever going to happen again – so I’m grateful for it.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Question for Lewis. Earlier on you used the term ‘best prepared’ to describe how well Mercedes have been preparing for several seasons now. Given that, is it astonishing for you, as a consummate professional, to see the baffling – and quite frankly bizarre – mistakes that Ferrari are making?

LH: Well I don’t know what… I’ve not really watched them today, so I don’t know what mistakes. Obviously Sebastian, which is very easy to do here. The Red Bull’s always really quick here and Max did a great job, so I don’t really know where the whole layout is. I think they’ve got a really good car. For some reason it’s really quick on the straights and a bit slower through the corners. We’re quicker through the corners in general – I think the same for the Red Bulls. So, I think this year they have taken a slightly different philosophy and naturally it’s currently not working everywhere but I think they were quite quick at some points through the session. But, you know, it’s such an intense battle naturally still. Whatever package you have, you’re still trying to squeeze every little drop out of it and more. And when you’re on that knife-edge, you’re prone to make more mistakes, y’know? When your car is off the pace, you hope, as a driver, you can bring another two, three, four tenths, whatever it is, so you push it beyond the limit and you make more mistakes. That’s the natural thing. I don’t look at it as anything less than them just pushing as hard as they can.

That question was because Charles got knocked out in Q1

LH: I didn’t know that. What happened? Just didn’t get a lap?

Didn’t go out at the end of the session.

LH: Ah.

Didn’t do a final run and Seb was the last guy across the line to knock him out.

LH: Ah, OK, I didn’t know that. So that’s just all about preparation. It’s really a formality. We sit down and we talk a lot the plan – even until going into Q3, we were talking about the timings and the preparation and what we were going to be doing. The communication is constant. That relationship is so, so important. We’ve got great, great people within our team that are just not making mistakes and they’re delivering on their word, as we are.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Sorry Lewis, just to clarify what I meant by my question, Leclerc had said on TV that it’s absolutely unacceptable what happened to him in Q1, that they kept him in and didn’t send him out – probably to save tyres – and he just couldn’t understand the decision-making. That was also part of the question.

LH: Sometimes it happens, y’know? They’ll have a minimum time, the knock-out time. They’ll say the least time is this, and they’ll predict that the track is going to improve a certain amount. You go out, you do a lap, and they say you’re safe. My first lap, they said I was safe – but I could stay out and do more. I decided to stay out and better my time and see the track improve. I’ve, in the past, been sat in the garage and they’re like: “we’re on the edge, we might go out again, we might not.” They chose to risk it. We don’t really take many risks like that.

Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) For the two Mercedes drivers, this wasn’t a great track for you over the last two years but now you’ve dominated it. Do you see any areas where the car needs to improve?

VB: For sure it’s very nice to feel that in the car, the improvements we’ve made here, for example how it felt here last year or the year before, but even to last year, the car gives a lot more confidence to the driver and it’s more driveable on this kind of track now and that allows me and Lewis to really push on the limit and really kiss the walls and so on and it makes it more enjoyable. So for sure, we’ve improved a lot but there’s always things we can improve, there’s still some things with the handling, some corners are still a lot trickier in terms of balance to the others and a bit more grip, a bit more power is always better.

LH: Yeah, the same. The great thing with technology is that you can always improve and that’s the beauty of what our job is you know. We’re always evolving, we’re always improving, there’s always something more. We’ll go back right now and – yes, we’ve got one-two but we’ll say constructive criticism, this could be improved, that could be improved. Hey, so-and-so, work on that area and they’ll be like dammit, when it’s going to be enough? It’s never enough, that’s why it’s a great sport, we’re always pushing.

Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Max, they are so quick here, nearly half a second quicker than you. Is it discouraging or do you think there’s still time to catch up and beat them?

MV: Well, I don’t think it’s half a second anyway but in Q3 we just didn’t get the tyres to work so round here that’s very crucial because in Q2 we were competitive. We know that we have some more work to do to catch up but as a team we keep pushing very hard to try and do that as soon as possible.

Q: (Andrew Frankel- Forza) I’m just wondering with you gentlemen being first and second and with the church of Ste Devote being just up the road, can we expect team orders, at least as far as the first corner is concerned? It’s quite hairy up there.

Q: We’re only (inaudible) for like a second and a half or two seconds, that’s really short. We don’t have team orders, we’re currently fighting for a World Championship. The great thing is that Toto and the team allows us to race, to battle it out. We’re responsible men, we always talk about turn one in every scenario, whatever the track, the last one, every single one, when we’re one and two and how we respect or we can be aggressive but ultimately we still want to be one and two so we both know where the limitations are.

Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Max, Saturday in Monaco last year is spoken about widely as being a key point for you. Christian said the other day that he thought it was the lowest point of your career. To be here 12 months later in the top three press conference and having taken the fight to the Mercedes drivers, is there a certain level of redemption and satisfaction that you can take from that transformation?

MV: No. I also don’t think it was the lowest point of my career. Those things happen, unfortunately and of course last year we had a great opportunity to win it and yes, sometimes you need the ones which hurt a bit more to become a better driver and that’s exactly what happened last year.

Q: (Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes, from Finland) Does anyone know the ice hockey game, Finland-Russia, how did it end up?

Answer (off mike): Zero-zero after…

Q: (Daniel Horva – Racing Line) Valtteri, you said in Barcelona that strange clutch behaviour had cost you the win. I think the team changed it for you this weekend but have you already found what caused that problem?

VB: Well, on Wednesday I have so many questions about this already so I don’t know. I’m sure the information is somewhere but yes, we’ve found issues and we fixed those and there’s no concerns on that.

Q: (Christian Menarth – Motorsportmagazin.com) For both Mercedes drivers: I don’t know who it was but one of you had a really big drift at the Lowes hairpin. Can you explain it because it looked really really cool and I’ve never seen anything like that in a modern Formula One car?

VB: Yeah, actually last week I went rallying in France so I had like a black-out in rally mode for one lap so… No, I just used a bit too much brake pressure at the rear and I had a drift, obviously not the quickest way around with this car.

Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD) Max, outside of the qualifying you mentioned some problems with the floor, I think? Can you explain something more?

MV: Yep, we were still building the car together.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, but I remember in 2005 you celebrated your two victories in Formula Three and today you are celebrating again. Can you make a bridge between these two periods? At that time, did you imagine you could reach the point you have reached today in Formula One?

LH: I have a pretty good imagination but it’s more like space stuff but I definitely… Where I am today is beyond my dreams, I would say. Yes, I was in Formula Three, I was obviously at McLaren and Mercedes and this was the perfect platform to be able to show your ability and I had a really great team. I had two really awesome races. I think the first one was pretty straightforward and the second one I clipped the barrier and I had a broken rear pullrod I think it was and I managed to pull it home and so I guess that was a cool demonstration of still being able to keep your cool even though you’ve made a mistake. And then the following year, I was fortunate enough to know Felipe so I got to spend a little bit of time with Felipe as he lived here and I had a really awesome time in GP2 and I know I was getting close. I remember when I was in GP2 winning the race here and I knew I was getting close and I didn’t know when the opportunity was going to come to get to Formula One but every now and then I was like, I’m sure I can compete with the guys at the front, I’m sure, but obviously that was a long long time ago, but I still have fond memories of it. Honestly I prefer the older cars that we… the old go-karts back in the day were better than the go-karts today. You’ve got the water-cooled stuff today and the Formula Three cars that we had before were way cooler than the cars… they made much better noise and then obviously when I got to Formula One in 2005/2006, those cars started better than they do today but still the sport is fantastic but yeah, jeez, I’m re-writing the story or that story’s being written as we go along and it’s… who would have known it would be as great as this?

Team Hansen MJP targets podium in Silverstone

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool. 

Team Hansen MJP heads to Silverstone for the fourth round World RX Championship, where they will defend their lead in both the drivers' and teams' championships. 

Last time out at Spa-Francorchamps, Kevin Hansen missed out on a place in the Final by less than a tenth of a second, while older brother Timmy turned in a good recovery drive and ended fourth overall in the final.

While Team Hansen MJP were sent home licking their wounds after a tyre strategy error on Saturday forcing a fightback on Sunday. The Swedish outfit is positive heading to Silverstone. 

Last year's event at Silverstone, the first since the switch from Lydden Hill, resulted in Timmy setting the fastest lap of the weekend, although unfortunately, a car problem forced him to retire from the Semi-Final.

“I'm looking forward to Silverstone because I know we have the pace to succeed here; I have the track record for fastest lap as it stands, after all!" said Timmy Hansen. "A problem with the car last year stopped me from making the Final but generally speaking our Peugeot 208 WRX is tough as nails."

The Swede's Peugeot 208 WRX took quite a beating in Abu Dhabi after Andreas Bakkerud and Timmy collided in Q3 requiring extensive bodyshell repairs. Spa-Francorchamps was no different for the Swede brushing the walls and making content with his rivals through the weekend.

"It took a beating in the rough gravel at the final turn at Spa, plus we brushed the wall, but it was still quick regardless," he said. "Of course I'll be keeping an eye on the big jump and the sometimes heavy landings it can generate but I've got the speed to win, so I'll be pushing as hard as ever.”

Younger brother Kevin made it through to the Final at Silverstone in 2018.

“I'm really looking forward to Silverstone because it's a track that I know really well. It's quite technical and I think it suits my driving style," said Kevin Hansen. 

"I went well there last year. Spa-Francorchamps wasn't so easy for us, so I'm looking forward to getting to Silverstone and seeing what we can do."

Kevin leads older brother Timmy by 11 points in the drivers' standings heading into Britain, while the team has a single point in hand over rival GRX Taneco.

"We're leading the championship but that doesn't mean we're thinking about the championship situation and the points," he said.

The young Swede hopes to squeeze a little bit extra out of himself to gain strong result in Great Britain.

"I really want to push hard at Silverstone and squeeze a little extra out of myself to see what I can do. Obviously, that comes with a little more risk, but it's a risk that's worth the reward. I've got some confidence, so let's see what happens.”

TEXT - Junaid Samodien

High hopes for GRX Taneco in Silverstone.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media.

Fresh from their first win at Spa-Francorchamps, GRX Taneco heads to the fourth round of FIA World Rallycross Championship at Silverstone with high expectations. 

Spa-Francorchamps race winner Timur Timerzyanov will lead the team, while Niclas Grönholm recovers from appendicitis surgery. Fellow Finn Joni Wiman will step in to score points for the Team’s Championship pending the FIA's approval. 

“After the win in SPA, I am confident that we can have a perfect result in any venue and compete with the toughest rivals," said Timerzyanov. "But to repeat our success in the races to come, we must focus on details and do our homework before every event.” 

The World RX of Great Britain track is 972 m in length and uses part of the Stowe circuit and consists of 40% gravel and 60% tarmac.

“The rallycross track at Silverstone is quite tricky, it is narrow on the gravel part, it has a massive jump and the loose surface can turn really slippery under wet conditions," the Russian adds.

Joni Wiman was the revelation of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps claiming a third-place finish behind his teammate Timerzyanov (first) and Andreas Bakkerud (second). 

Wiman is set to replace Niclas Grönholm in Silverstone pending the approval by the FIA. 

“I feel for Niclas and wish him a speedy recovery," said Wiman.

The Finn targets points and a podium finish in Silverstone. "My main mission in Silverstone will be to collect as many points for the team as possible, but for sure – after SPA – I want to go all the way to the podium."

World RX shifts into high gear for SpeedMachine Festival.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media. 

All roads lead to Silverstone this weekend for the fourth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship for the World RX of Great Britain.

The opening three events of 2019, have served up fiercely-competitive racing and plenty of incidents. Silverstone promises to be a thriller.

GRX Taneco's Timerzyanov heads to the British event fresh from his maiden World RX victory at Spa-Francorchamps. The Russian will look to progress beyond the semi-final place he secured in 2018.

“It is great to visit such a famous track as Silverstone which has seen a lot of champions and a lot of great drivers over the years,” he said.

“The track is technical and it is often hard to find the right grip but that’s part of the challenge I guess."

“I waited for 64 starts for my first World RX win in Spa-Francorchamps, I am really looking forward to getting another one as soon as possible," he adds.

The Hansen brothers in a pair of Team Hansen MJP Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars lead the drivers' standings in first and second respectively with Timmy 11 points behind his younger brother. 

At Spa-Francorchamps, the Hansen brothers found themselves down the pecking order after day one after a tyre strategy gamble in the wet conditions but Timmy mounted a spirited recovery to reach the final where he finished fourth.

“Spa-Francorchamps wasn't ideal but we're still recovering well from our setback at Abu Dhabi. I'm looking forward to Silverstone because I know we have the pace to succeed here; I have the track record for fastest lap as it stands, after all," said Timmy Hansen.

"A problem with the car last year stopped me from making the Final but generally speaking our Peugeot 208 WRX is tough as nails. It took a beating in the rough gravel at the final turn at Spa, plus we brushed the wall, but it was still quick regardless. Of course, I'll be keeping an eye on the big jump and the sometimes heavy landings it can generate but I've got the speed to win, so I'll be pushing as hard as ever.”

Younger brother Kevin, meanwhile, narrowly missed the final at Spa-Francorchamps, the first time he has been absent this season.

“I'm really looking forward to Silverstone because it's a track that I know really well. It's quite technical and I think it suits my driving style. I went well there last year," he said.

"Spa-Francorchamps wasn't so easy for us, so I'm looking forward to getting to Silverstone and seeing what we can do. We're leading the championship but that doesn't mean we're thinking about the championship situation and the points."

"I really want to push hard at Silverstone and squeeze a little extra out of myself to see what I can do. Obviously, that comes with a little more risk, but it's a risk that's worth the reward. I've got some confidence, so let's see what happens,” he adds.

Monster Energy RX Cartel’s Liam Doran had set the pace after Q2 in Belgium, advanced to the final, but ran into the back of Baumanis and his teammate at the Raidillon hairpin in the final and finished sixth.

“I had built some momentum in qualifying at Spa a track I really loved, so to miss out in the final was tough to take,” he said. 

At Silverstone, the British Bomb is well aware of British expectations. “It will be intense in front of my home crowd but I’m aiming to put on a show,” he added.

Fellow Briton Xite Racing’s Oliver Bennett claimed his first qualifying win of 2019 in Spa-Francorchamps and is finding improvement in the Mini Cooper.

British Rallycross Champion Mark Higgins will be behind the wheel of a Peugeot 208 in his second successive home appearance as a wild card.

Niclas Gronholm, who sat out the Belgian round after an appendicitis operation will again miss the British round. He will be replaced, pending stewards approval, by Joni Wiman alongside Timerzyanov. Wiman, who stood in for his fellow Finn at Spa-Francorchamps, finished third in the final after a great recovery drive in only his second World RX outing. 

Andreas Bakkerud was second to Timerzyanov in round three in Spa-Francorchamps. He was also second to title-winner Johan Kristoffersson in the Silverstone final last year and has a British victory from 2014 on his CV.

Team STARD’s Janis Baumanis is the only man to feature in all three finals in 2019 and currently lies fourth in the overall standings on 52 points. The Latvian will be joined by Finland’s Jani Paasonen in the second STARD Ford Fiesta. The Austrian outfit faces a 10,000 euro fine if they fail to field two cars of the same make and model in Silverstone. 

Christian Szabo had a DNF in Q4 at Spa-Francorchamps though he did manage to make it to the semi-finals – a feat he has achieved at all three events to date capped by a final appearance in the opening event in Abu Dhabi.

Sweden’s Anton Marklund was an early pacesetter in Belgium for GC Kompetition but finished out of the placings in his semi-final along with GC Academy’s Cyril Raymond. Fellow Frenchman and team boss Guerlain Chicherit and Belgium’s Guillaume De Ridder will go in search of a change of fortune.

It promises to be a busy weekend for the ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport team. Timo Scheider in World RX, team boss Rene Muennich and Mandie August will also race Seat Ibizas in the European Supercar event.

FIA Team Principals' Press Conference - 2019 Monaco GP.

PHOTO CREDIT: Karun Chandhok

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Renault), Zak BROWN (McLaren), Andrew GREEN (Racing Point)

Q: Following the passing of three-time Formula One World Champion Niki Lauda this week, we asked all of the drivers yesterday for their memories and thoughts of Niki. We’d like to start in the same fashion with you today please. Cyril, is we could start with you: your thoughts and memories of Niki?

Cyril ABITEBOUL: It’s another sad news for the Formula One community. Frankly, I had not a lot of interaction with Niki, but clearly he was one of the role models that form our youth and the reason we are admiring Formula One – for the fantastic animal that you come across in life. He was a model of resilience. He was taking the fighting spirit very, very hard and impressive what he managed to do over his career. Any meeting with him was kind of fun. You never knew what could happen. He will be another person badly missed in Formula One.

Christian?

Christian HORNER: It’s a huge loss for Formula One - the whole paddock. Obviously for Mercedes where he was so active as well. I think it was a shock for everyone. Obviously he’s not been in great health for the last pretty much 12 months. He was an iconic person. What he achieved in the sport was phenomenal. Just the most remarkable story. You only have to watch the movie, which I think is a pretty decent representation of actually what happened and the fight back that he had, which obviously happened prior to my really understanding of who he was. When I really came across him, he was working as a commentator, quite an outspoken commentator at that time, and he managed to where all these hats, commentating for RTL, running the Mercedes team as their chairman. He was just a larger than life character, obviously as an Austrian, and us an Austrian team, he spent a lot of time with us, particularly Helmut Marko, a very close friend of his, as they pretty much had grown up together. We’ll certainly miss the breakfast where he would come, pretty much every morning and Helmut and he would be like the two old guys in the Muppet Show, Waldorf and Statler I think it was, and they’d basically be commenting on all aspects of life, none of what I’m going to repeat here, that’s for sure – but his openness, his sense of humour, his ability to say “how did you screw that up?” something “was rubbish” – or complement you when you’d done well. He was a great guy, a great personality and he’ll be very, very sadly missed.

Claire, your thoughts?

Claire WILLIAMS: I obviously had the pleasure of knowing Niki through our relationship with Mercedes. I can’t profess to knowing him extremely well but everything that he’s achieved in motorsport is extraordinary and, as Christian said, watching that film really demonstrates exactly the kind of character that he was. Latterly, working with him in the Strategy Group meetings, he was always the voice of reason. When Niki talked, people listened. Personally, we always had a bit of a joke about my single status. I think I probably wouldn’t have got married as quickly as I have if Niki wasn’t pressuring my husband into proposing – so that will always be a nice memory for me. The sport has lost an icon, hasn’t it. Our thoughts go out to his family.

Zak?

Zak BROWN: Yes, I echo what everyone has said before me. He was an absolute legend of the sport. A loss for all of us. Never met anyone who didn’t like Niki. He was a real likeable guy, a real racer, had a strong opinion and when you look at what he came back from , that’s a real inspiration. I think not many would have been as brave as he was – not only to come back, but to go on, win World Championships. He won his last World Championship with McLaren. So, a lot of people in our factory, Mansour Ojjeh, one of our owners, were was super-close to Niki, so it feels like we lost a member of our family and, of course, the whole racing community has. Just wish his family the best and just grateful to have the fond memories here in Formula One forever.

Andy?

Andrew GREEN: Unfortunately I never had the honour to work with Niki. He was the background to my youth when I was watching Formula One. He was a big part of it. Some very big images from back then, and part of why I got into the sport. What he did from then until now is just incredible. He’s a real icon and will be sorely missed.

Q: We’ll now turn our focus to this current season. Christian, we’ll start with you. For Red Bull it’s been a consistent start to the year. Max Verstappen in the top four at every race and this is usually a race that you target victory at. After the way FP1 has gone, is that a realistic target for you again this weekend?

CH: I think it’s been a strong start to the year after the engine change over the winter. I think we’ve been very consistent, we’ve had two podium positions, we’ve finished in fourth place every other grand prix. Obviously, having introduced some upgrades in Barcelona, you ought to try to optimise those and Monte Carlos has always represented a track that we’ve performed well at. We’ve had an encouraging first practice but I think having seen Mercedes’ performance, particularly in the slow speed sector of Barcelona, they are absolutely the stand-out favourites for this event, so if we can get anywhere near them, and put a little bit of pressure on that, that would certainly be our target going in to the weekend.

Q: Cyril, you’ve got last year’s Monaco Grand Prix winner driving for you this season – but currently sitting eighth in the Constructors’ Championship. Were you expecting to be a little bit higher at this stage of the season?

CA: Yeah, of course, I think you can even say that it’s not the season start that we wanted, that we were ambitioning working for and advertised. It takes clearly a reaction from all of us. In my opinion obviously there has been a collection of issues, not excuse, but issues over the first five races that do not reflect the ambition, the level of our drivers, the level of the team. So it’s up to us to react and come up with clear answers to the different issues. We hope to see those answers starting to kick off with this weekend. Indeed, we have last year’s grand prix winner. It just creates another obligation to come up with the best possible car at this point of our journey.

Q: Claire, the start to the season probably not gone the way Williams would have envisaged either – but since the start of the year you’ve had better qualifying performance in Barcelona and then the test, working on some new ideas. Do you feel like there are shoots of recovery now? Are you starting that rebuilding process?

CW: Yeah, you say it wasn't the start to the season that we envisaged – but I think we anticipated what was coming. Yeah, I definitely feel that we can see some light at the end of the tunnel now and I think probably just from the time sheets and the last race in Barcelona, we demonstrated that we are closing that gap. It may be slow but we all know that it takes time to bring performance to your car. There’s definitely a lot of good work going on back at the factory that people may not necessarily be seeing yet. The aero team are doing a great job finding performance in the tunnel and we’re going to be bringing that to races over the coming weeks and months with a package coming mid-way through the season that we will hope will bring some significant performance to us. Yes, there are definitely signs of improvement. I think there’s a certain positivity in the team at the moment. Morale is still pretty good, and that’s all we can ask of everyone: just fighting hard, not giving up and keep on bringing performance to the car.

Q: And Zak. I’m sure you’ll be facing questions about last weekend’s events in Indianapolis from the floor but focusing on Formula One right now, McLaren actually extended its advantage in fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in Barcelona. Would you say that’s actually ahead of expectations for this season?

ZB: It’s early in the season and the midfield is so tight, I think the swing can swing at any one race. We’re pleased that we’re sitting fourth in the Championship. We think that’s realistically, on our road to recovery, about as much as we’re going to be able to realistically achieve. So we will fight hard to retain that position, and those behind us are going to fight hard, of course, to knock us out of fourth, and we’ve got a long way to go, so I think anything can happen – but I’m really pleased with all the effort everyone at McLaren has put together. We had a better winter testing, and certainly have built a better race car. Drivers are doing an excellent job, we’re quick on pit stops now, so you can feel the team’s coming together. We have Andreas Seidl now and James Key who’ve joined, so I feel I’ve got all the right players on the field, so to speak and now we just need to put our head down and execute.

Q: Andrew, if we look at Racing Point, that’s one of the teams looking to close down McLaren. You introduced a new upgrade package in Barcelona – but it looked like a tough weekend for you. So, what worked with the update and what still needs to be optimised?

AG: Yeah, we were sort-of anticipating Barcelona was going to be a tough race for us. It has been, it’s been part of the DNA of the car for while, which is something we’re actively working on back at the factory. From what we see the upgrades did what they were supposed to do. I think we were quite content. We’ve got a route forwards and the car is evolving quite quickly and it will do over the next half a dozen races. We think we’ve got a good direction to go in – it just takes time. Like Clare said: you can’t change cars overnight, these things do take some time to evolve in the factory and come to the track. We’re happy with the route we’re going in. Are we happy with where we are now? No. But we can see that we’re going in the right direction.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Claire, in the build-up to this week you announced Jamie Chadwick as a development driver. You explained that it will involve simulator responsibilities to begin with. Is there a plan – or a hope – to give her on-track opportunities or the opportunity for that partnership to maybe evolve in the future?

CW: Like you say, we’re delighted that Jamie’s joined the team. She’s obviously part of the W Series Championship this year. She won the first event and then she had a good run in Zolder last weekend. We announced her on Monday, she’s going to be doing simulator work, as you said. Full immersion in the factory, working with the engineers to support her campaign this year and to just help… well it all goes to promoting women in motorsport. Doing this for her is hopefully going to elevate her competitiveness. At the moment it is reserved to simulator work and then coming to a few races with us to see the team trackside and how we operate in F1. There are no plans at the moment to put her in an F1 car at this stage.

Q: (Oliver Brown – The Telegraph) Question for Zak. The Indy 500. You gave a fairly remarkable interview to the Associated Press about the full reasons behind Fernando’s failure to qualify. I just wonder, how embarrassing has this episode been and how do you explain how a company of McLaren’s sophistication can make these kinds of errors.

ZB: I’ve spoken a lot about Indy Car, as you pointed out, and I think this is a Formula One environment, I have my Formula One shirt on, so I prefer to talk about Formula One. To answer your question, we got it wrong and I thought it was important to be transparent and open as much as sometimes the truth hurts. I think the industry isn’t necessarily that open, that often. And we got it wrong and I’m responsible for that. I felt I needed to share with everyone. There’s of course little stories behind each of those individual issues and how they transpired but y’know, we didn’t execute and therefore we didn't qualify for the Indy 500. It’s happened to the best of them before and we learned a lot. I was watching this morning, a little tribute to Niki and, when he grabbed his Laureus award, talked about how he learned more from losing, which is what made him a winner, so we’ll dust ourselves off. We’re racers. It was a big, public failure. I wanted to communicate what happened. Yeah, it’s embarrassing. It’s not to the McLaren standard. It’s not acceptable – but it happened and we’re going to learn from it and we’ll come back stronger.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines/racefans.net) A question for all of you. Give or take a week we’re a month away from Formula One’s self-imposed deadline on the regulation changes for 2021. Given the magnitude of everything that’s required – governance, commercial, sporting, technical etc – can it actually get done in time?

Q: Shall we work our way along the line with that one, starting with Cyril?

CA: Thank you! It’s vast question and the usual question. Will we have a signed contract by FIA, Formula One and all 10 teams by end of June or mid-June for the World Motor Council? No, obviously no. But in my opinion there has been a lot of groundwork already covered. I think it’s all about trying to agree what will be the key principles for 2021, from a commercial perspective, financial perspective, the key principles on the technical side and the sporting side. And in my opinion we are probably 80% or 90% from that point, from that milestone, so with enough faith and enough goodwill from all participants and probably a bit of a push from the key stakeholders, FIA and Formula One, there is no reason why something cannot be presented at the World Motor Sport Council that will be advanced enough to give useful guidelines for the remainder of the year, so that we have a complete set of guidelines for the end of the year. That’s my opinion, obviously, but there is still some work to cover.

Q: Christian?

CH: I didn’t understand any of that.

CA: We are not partners anymore. You can’t make fun of me anymore. It’s not part of the contract anymore!

CH: But it’s still enjoyable. Sorry, what was your question about? Regulations coming out. Look I’m sure something is going to be presented. It will probably nowhere near what actually gets signed. I’m sure the regulations will change and evolve. Something will come out in June, it will change in September, October, probably in November, and yeah, there’s plenty of ground to cover, but there is a watershed where something will be put in front of us fairly shortly and then the fun really begins.

Q: Claire, is June realistic?

CW: I’m going to be really boring now after that, aren’t I? Clearly we’re getting close to ’21. When we first started these negotiations, it was a long time ago and we’re now at that point where we need to have that full set of regulations so that we can plan and prepare out businesses for that season. As Christian says, I’m sure there are going to be some further negotiations after that point. For a team in our position clearly when it comes top the technical regulations we wouldn’t want too much movement after that. People are going to start working on those, people are already working, and we don’t need to be wasting resources with a huge change subsequent to the issuance of the first draft. I don’t think there’s much choice. We have to get those regulations out and so I believe it should be done and I’m sure it can be done.

Q: And Zak?

ZB: I agree with everything that I’ve head. I don’t believe we’ll get it done in June and it will play out over the second half of the year and we’ll get there and racing will go on.

Q: And Andy?

AG: I can only speak from a technical aspect, but I know that the FIA and F1 have done a huge amount of work in the background on this. We were exposed to some of it last week in a technical working group meeting. We could see that it’s quite well evolved. It’s going to need some tidying up for sure. We have meetings planned from now until the end of the year, which is where we all anticipate it’s going to go to. It’s a significant set of changes, bit like I said, they have done a huge amount of work in the background and I think we can get there.

Q: (Sam Collins – Racecar Engineering) Predictably, another question on regulations, but this time the 2025 power unit regulations, which we hear will be completely different to what we have now. I’d like to ask the whole panel this, as there are some different opinions on this, what you’d like to see in the new power unit for 2025, what technologies and what things are good and what things are bad?

Q: We’ll reverse the order then and start with technical thoughts first.

AG: What a question: 2025! I think what we have now is an incredible piece of engineering in the back of the car. But it could just be too incredible. I think what we have is potentially something where the technology bar of the power unit is just way too high and I think I would like to see something that is just slightly simpler. That’s my view. I think I’d never say no to more horsepower. I think the sport can’t have enough horsepower. We need to make the cars harder to drive. I think more power; a simpler power unit. That’s where I would be going.

Q: Zak, your thoughts?

ZB: More power would be great. Less expensive would be outstanding.

CA: There is the message!

ZB: And I don’t know that it’s achievable but if we could have some diversity in the engine itself and not be limited to a certain amount of cylinders, things of that nature, I think would maybe spice up the show. But whether that’s achievable or not… We don’t build engines, so Cyril is best to answer whether a scenario like that would be feasible.

Q: Claire, your thoughts on 2025?

CW: Again, at Williams we don’t build engines and I’m certainly not an engineer who is educated enough to give you a sensible answer. But from our perspective, as Zak says, something that is cost-efficient, environmentally appropriate and loud. Noisy would be nice.

Q: And Christian?

CH: Emotionally, a normally-aspirated, high-revving V10 or V12 engine would be a wonderful thing to have back in Formula One, but unfortunately I think they’re rather outdated now. I think as Andy was saying, the technology in these engines is phenomenal. We’ve now got a period of stability with the engines until 2023 I think or 2024, so it’s important that Formula One makes the right decision for the future. Obviously the automotive sector is moving an awful lot at the moment and what technologies are going to relevant then? Because when that engine comes in in 2025 that’s going to have to be for a 5-10- year period, so we’re actually talking up to 2035, which is a long way down the pipelines. The romantic in me says go back – loud, noise, high revs, normally aspirated.

Q: And Cyril, from a power unit supplier point of view?

CA: The romantic in me would say the same thing, but obviously in 2025 the world will be different, that’s for sure. Electrification will be a profound trend, so it’s not going to go away. In my opinion we need to look at the next couple of years to form an opinion regarding MGU-H road relevance, because it’s clearly a component that was introduced for that purpose. Right now, we don’t’ see any application on road cars but it may come. It may actually be in the pipeline of some manufacturers, so we need to be careful not to be basically in reverse in that respect. And then diversity of technology would be great but we need to be careful not to open up the field and create some discrepancy. One thing that might be interesting that starts to be discussed is not necessarily not the next generation of engine but the next generation of fuel, because we still believe that Formula One is about hybrid technology, not full electric, for a number of reasons. Clearly we need more power and sustainable power and long races, but there will be new forms of fuel coming up in the next few years, whether you are talking about more bio-fuel, so a different composition, or even synthesis fuel, coming from non-fossil sources, that could be attractive and that would require new development. So, probably the way forwards. Less exciting, obviously, than a very high-revving, normally-aspirated engine, but still probably the way forward if we want to be relevant, not just to car makers, but to society.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) A question for Zak. Just picking up on what you said earlier about the need for transparency and coming forward with the reasons for what happened. Is the motivation behind that because fans are owed those explanations or more the sense that the people who did not do their job properly need to face up to that or is it a combination of both that prompts that?

ZB: No, I think anyone that maybe didn’t get the job done, you have a private conversation with them. I don’t think that would be ever be appropriate to discuss in an open forum, which is why names in a variety of areas were mentioned, and that was about being transparent with our fans and partners and not glossing over something that was not as minor miss but was a major miss. I felt obligated to explain that to the world and the best way to do that was via the media, to get the message out, and I’m glad we did it.

Q: (Julien Billotte – Auto Hebdo) – A question for whoever would like to answer. There was some hope at the start of the season that the new regulations, the 2019 regulations, could shake things up a bit in terms of the pecking order, and here we are five races in, Mercedes is winning everything and the top three are miles ahead of the midfield. What makes you confident that 2021 can be the game changer that Formula 1 probably needs?

Q: It was whoever wants to answer and you all look delighted to jump in. Christian, why don’t you start?

CH: Thank you very much. Look, the regulation change this year; the outcome was rather predictable unfortunately and it’s up to us, the teams competing against Mercedes to close that gap down. I think for 2021 it’s a clean sheet of paper, it will be a big regulation change and I think one of the things that we debated is that you need to be a little bit careful, because if you release very early regulations then quite the teams that have more resource quite simply put that resource earlier on than the smaller teams. So it’s about finding that balance of when is the right time for full regulations to be released. And I think the cars will be a lot simpler. Inevitably teams will get it right and teams will get it wrong. But hopefully the concept of what they are looking at should put more inference on the driver to be a bigger variable than he or she currently can be. And that’s what Formula One desperately needs. It needs the drivers very much to be the stars, to be modern day chariot racers and that we have wheel-to-wheel, exciting, and to a degree, unpredictable racing, because serial winning like we have at the moment, the teams in many respects are getting too good at predicting the outcome of a weekend with the updates they introduce. Hats off to Mercedes, they’ve done a better job than anybody to be in the position they are, but hopefully the technical regulations will be the biggest driver to shuffle that around and change that, and hopefully introduce more variance.

Q: Claire, for a team playing catch-up at the moment, does the late release of regulations do you think benefit you and equalise things a little bit across the field?

CW: Yeah, as Christian said, if we can have those regulations released slightly later then clearly for a team like ours, then we’re not going to be battling as a team like Christian’s or Toto and Ferrari, who can all put so much resource across three programmes. For a team like ours, it’s much harder to do that but it’s just more about having clarity on when those regulations come out for us and to make sure that those regulations are defined as when they come out rather than people tinkering with them in the TWG or whatever and then there’s a second draft to them. We just need them as soon as possible but not too soon so that people can’t put an arms race against them.

Q: Zak?

ZB: Well, yeah, I would agree with what I’ve heard the additional add I would have is it’s going to come along with the budget cap so not only would the rules be very different, there also won’t hopefully be unlimited budgets to be able to put against developing the new car. As far as timing, coming out, I think later the better but they have such great resources, the teams at the front, that they will just have the ability to push out more boats in more directions over a shorter period of time so I think the technical rules, tied to the budget cap is what’s going to maybe drive some change in the sport.

Q: Andy, from a technical point of view does it feel like a big opportunity?

AG: Potentially. I think the technical regulations definitely focused on allowing cars to follow more closely, I think that’s quite clear, but I think, with every season there’ll always be teams that do a better job than the others so there’s always going to be a quicker team and a slower team and the problem is, you line those teams up and that’s the  order on Sunday afternoon and I think you’re going to get the same result so I think that somewhere along the line, there needs to be a look at the sporting aspect as well as just the technical side, otherwise we’re just going to end up with cars that can follow each other but they’re going to follow each other in a procession.

Q: And Cyril?

CA: The only thing I would say is that we basically need to do the opposite of what’s been done this year. I don’t think the intent of this year was really to change the pecking order; it could have been a secondary benefit but this year it was a superficial change, late and we need a drastic change early if we want to change things, in my opinion.

Q: (Stuart Codling – F1 Racing) Claire, right at the top of the press conference you said you had a big development step coming in the next few months. Now, bearing in mind what you’ve already just said about the 2021 regulations, what is the Williams development road map over the next few months? How far do you take development of the current car? When do you start looking at 2020? Does 2020 in effect become a write-off as you start thinking about 2021?

CW: No, nothing is a write-off at Williams, ever. It never has been and it never would be, regardless of where we are. It’s just not our mindset a Williams. We don’t write a season off just because we aren’t doing well. For us, at the moment, we’re really looking at ’19 and ’20 very much as almost two seasons, where it’s just evolution and development and we’ve just got to keep bringing performance at each and every race, and as I said earlier, we’ve definitely seen that we’ve done that, we’re closing the gap to the ninth-placed team and we’ve got to keep doing that as the season progresses and we’re looking at obviously what 2020 looks like from a development perspective, what we’re going to be focusing our resources and attention on, to make sure that we certainly do a whole lot better job next year for us. And then again, we’ve got to look at ’21 and make sure we’ve got the right resources in place and the focus in place to take advantage of that situation. Clearly, as everyone knows and have talked about a lot, ’21 could be a really great opportunity for us with the cost cap that’s coming and with whole new technical regulations.

Q: (Daniel Horvath – Racing Line) Zak, Nyck de Vries is no longer part of the McLaren Junior programme. Could you tell us what was behind this decision?

ZB: Well, we’ve got our junior drivers, junior driver and Sergio and we’ve got two very young – well, one very young Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz who we’re extremely happy with and we don’t see the need, at this point, to stack up some drivers and then run into a situation where you don’t have a home for them, so we felt that it was best – because we felt it would be highly unlikely he would end up in a McLaren, given our current driver situation – that he would be a free agent to be able to drive for other teams because often, when a Junior driver is under a contract that then deters other teams from taking them and then ultimately can end up sometimes hurting their career which we don’t think is the right thing to do.

Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Christian, do you agree that this is your best chance to beat Mercedes and is Max ready for redemption in Monaco after difficult years?

CH: Well Max’s track record here has been a tricky one and I think particularly last year, obviously, was a tough weekend for him. We had promising pace in the first session. I think Mercedes is a mighty machine this year but Max has been in the form of his life, he’s driving incredibly well and it probably does represent our best chance since the beginning of the year to at least get close to them and hopefully put them under a little bit of pressure. Yeah, hopefully we can build on the first session and through the rest of the weekend.

Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Zak, how much did last week’s failure to qualify for Indy impact your relationship with Fernando Alonso with McLaren? And how involved are you in helping outline Fernando’s future racing plans beyond the end of the current WEC season?

ZB: Our relationship with Fernando has never been stronger. He was obviously very disappointed. We let him down, he deserved to be in the race, he was an absolute star as he always has been when he’s raced with us, and my personal relationship in working with him. What he does post-Le Mans is up to Fernando. We have a contract with him for some McLaren activities. I think when you come off an emotional weekend like that you want to take some time to reflect and see what he wants to do in the future and if that aligns with some of McLaren’s activities then that would be great but just like he’s been driving with Toyota, I think he’s a bit undecided on what he wants to do yet so we will pick up those conversations when I see him in Le Mans.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines, Racefans.net) The equivalent FIA conference in Spain two weeks ago, Mattia Binotto said that they were negotiating to retain the Ferrari veto, the implication being that this was in order to save the teams or to protect the teams from any sort of dubious rule changes. How do you feel about them retaining the veto and do you think that Ferrari should be the watchdog?

Q: Claire, can we start with you?

CW: Why do you keep coming to me? No, I think it’s just silly if I can be honest. I have a problem in our sport anyway in the fact that I feel it’s far too democratic. I’ve been quite open about that. I feel that F1 and the FIA should take more ownership of the regulations. We run it too much in a collegiate way, which is detrimental when we all have our own agendas. We need to be looking at this sport and its sustainability into the future and protecting it and protecting the true DNA of that. By doing that by committee I think can be very difficult. And I really don’t feel that one team should have a right, a veto. That makes no sense to me at all.

CH: It’s pretty outdated now. That veto was put in place – from my understanding – years and years ago to stop regulations changes. Ferrari had V12 engines, they didn’t suddenly want that to be vetoed, those rules to be changed because there were all these British garagista teams that were coming into the sport. But that was in the sixties and things have obviously moved on. I think it’s a right – if I’m not wrong – for the longest standing team, not bespoke just for Ferrari but they are the longest standing team. You can view it two weeks: you can say, OK, it’s a safety net, if they are there representing the teams, but ultimately they are there representing Ferrari. Probably, if we’re going for a clean sheet of paper it makes sense for it not to be there and as Claire says, same rules for everyone.

CA: I would concur. I think we need Formula One to be progressive rather than defensive and the ability to block due process can be perceived or decided to be a positive for the sport is probably not good. Having said that, we completely recognise the specific value of Ferrari to the sport but which can be reflected probably in the commercial agreement and not in the governance.

ZB: I think it’s very kind of him to offer to represent the teams’ interests but I think, as has been said before me, we all have varying interests and I think like Claire said, Formula One themselves want to do what’s in the best interests of the sport which I think ultimately is in the best interests of all us and we we’re best having our own individual negotiations when and if that is appropriate and as Cyril said, I think Ferrari bring a tremendous amount to the sport and that can be recognised in other ways.

AG: I try hard not to get involved in F1 politics.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Christian, you were speaking about Max being in the form of his life. Yesterday he said he’s matured a bit, do you sense that and is that linked to his form and in what ways do you think he has matured if he has?

CH: I think really if you wind the clock back 12 months it was probably the lowest weekend, last year, of his career, having a car capable of winning and crashing in FP3 and not being able to take part in qualifying. That was very tough for him and I think he went away from that race and he reflected hard on it. Since Montreal last year he’s really just stepped things up a gear and he’s been a phenomenal force whenever he’s been in the car. The way he started this season has been outstanding. He’s overachieved in certain aspects and I think he’s got that roundedness of maturity and is very much leading the team development-wise. I think he’s enjoying and relishing that role as well, so yeah, if you compare Max Verstappen May 23, 2019 to the equivalent time last year he’s evolved a tremendous amount and I think that’s again the benefit of experience as well.