Friday 12 July 2019

FIA Team Members' Press Conference: 2019 British GP.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA.com
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Toyoharu TANABE (Honda), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Claire WILLIAMS (Williams), Zak BROWN (McLaren), Marcin BUDKOWSKI (Renault)

Q: Question for all of you to start with. It was announced on Wednesday that Silverstone has secured a long-term deal to host Formula One. Can each of you give us your best memories of this track?

Marcin BUDKOWSKI: It’s always a track where we enjoy coming because of the public here. I think it’s always a sell-out and it’s a very ‘expert’ crowd, if you like, one which enjoys the racing but also understands the racing. Always claps and supports all the teams and drivers, very little booing, very, very positive crowd, so I think it’s always enjoyable – but I don’t have a stand-out memory personally here. It’s just the quality of the track and of the crowd really that stands out for me.

Zak?

Zak BROWN: Yeah, I think this is a great grand prix, very pleased we’ll be coming back for at least another five years, and I think if I had to pick my favourite British Grand Prix it would be Nigel Mansell in the Williams in 1987 coming back and passing Piquet. That was pretty awesome.

Claire?

Claire WILLIAMS: As Zak said, I’m thrilled that Silverstone has got its place on the calendar long into the future. It’s absolutely what’s right, we all love coming here. As Marcin said, the crowds, the fans here are just wonderful. I’ve been coming here for 43 years, something like that. It was the race we were taken to as children, our special treat, the only race that Dad would let his kids come to. I remember being there in those glory days of Williams. We’ve had so many great races here. I think probably Nigel’s time in 1992 with the crowd invasion and all that stuff. For me, it holds such a special place in my heart. During my tenure at DTP, probably seeing our two cars overtake the Mercedes a few years, when Valtteri and Felipe led the race for a few laps. Fine, we didn’t go on to do what we would have liked to have done but still, those few laps, I suppose, spur me on, because that’s where I want to see Williamses in the future.

Christian?

Christian HORNER: It’s great news that the British Grand Prix is secured here at the home of motorsport at Silverstone. I think it’s the right venue, it’s a great track. I have so many great memories from here, been fortunate enough to win this race a few times, also in support formulas. One of my earliest memories coming here was back in 1992, shortly after I passed my driving test in my pimped-up Volkswagen Beetle, and they used to have a Goodyear tyre test here in June, the month before the grand prix. As an aspiring young karting driver I managed to find a hole in a fence – I don’t know whether it’s still there, around the corner from Copse, go through the tunnel, there’s a hole in the fence there, crawled through that, I managed to get into the pitlane, tried to pretend like I looked like I should be there. I had a karting jacket on at the time and came face to face with Ayrton Senna. It was a huge moment for me, he was one of my heroes. He’d had an accident on a jetski and so he wasn’t doing a lot of driving but he noticed the kart logo I had on my jacket and started asking me about karting. I thought, ‘I can’t top that! This day cannot get any better’ and then I managed to sneak through a garage and get to the front of the pitlane and Nigel was testing his Williams. I managed to get into your [Claire] garage, God knows how, and overhear Nigel. They were asking him what was preventing him going faster through Becketts? I remember him saying ‘I’m struggling to line my eyes up with my eye-sockets, because we’re so fast through there!’ So that was a huge memory for me, just topped the day off. Meeting Senna, then Mansell, and then driving home in my very flash Volkswagen Beetle.

Tanabe-San?

Toyoharu TANABE: Silverstone is the track I have seen, for the first time, a Formula One car. And then I’m very happy to hear the news. Our factory is located in Milton Keynes, also very close, and I’m very happy to hear that news.

Q: Marcin, tough weekend for the team in Austria last time out. How was FP1 this morning? Are you confident there won’t be a repeat here at Silverstone this weekend?

MB: Yes, we had a very difficult weekend in Austria. I think throughout the weekend really, and we didn’t qualify the cars in Q3, we had a difficult race as a result – but also because we didn't’ really have the pace at that circuit. We’re coming to a different circuit, it’s a different challenge here. I think Austria was a particular poor circuit for our car’s weaknesses at the moment and Silverstone is a combination really in terms of track, corners, so we expect to be better here, although we’re not happy with our general level of competitiveness at the moment. FP1 was a good session. It’s a working session. It’s one where we experiment on set-up and on different development directions. I think the track this morning was very green: new surface, very variable grip, so I think there was a lot of evolution and we benefitted from this, as I think, did Pierre in the Red Bull as well  – but it was a good working session, we learned some things, we fine-tuned the set-up so we’re looking forward to the weekend really.

Q: So more confidence ahead of this weekend?

MB: Definitely.

Q: Marcin, you’ve been at the team for pretty much a year now. From a structural point of view, are you happy with how things are working now at Enstone?

MB: yeah, I’ve been there a little bit more than a year now. Obviously joined a team that is still in the process of reconstruction. I’ve found a team that under the previous management and the previous ownership was heavily under-invested. A lot of people left. A little bit, it’s a team left behind by the evolution of F1 – because there was no investment in infrastructure, in tools, in people, and obviously when Renault came back there was a lot of investment made, a lot of recruitment. We increased the workforce by more than 50 per cent now. It takes time to integrate all these people, to get all these new tools online, to get the understanding of the physics involved in designing and racing a Formula One car again. So we’re in that phase of rebuilding still. It’s in a much better place than it was – but there’s still some work to do, and certainly since I arrived I’ve focussed on the organisation structure: putting the right people in the right positions; getting the team to work better; getting the team to be more efficient; to be more creative. It’s getting better but there’s still some amount of work in front of us.

Q: Zak, coming on to you. You’ve re-signed Lando Norris for 2020. What’s impressed you about him this year?

ZB: I’ve been impressed with both our drivers. Really pleased with our driver line-up, which is why we wanted to confirm it ahead of the silly season, which seems to be ramping up. Carlos has been extremely quick every weekend and then Lando specifically, he also is extremely quick, a quick learner. He’s not making some of the mistakes – knock on wood – that you maybe anticipate from a rookie driver. He drives quite mature, his feedback’s good, he gets along with Carlos very well, and both our drivers are driving for the team, so we’re just very pleased with their progress, so we thought we’d get that out of the way so we can continue with our programme, head-down and just keep racing.

Q: It is still relatively early in the season to be committing to next year’s driver line-up. Why have you committed now?

ZB: We like what we see. Both drivers are doing an excelling job. Specifically in Lando’s case, he now has enough races under his belt that we’ve seen him under pressure, we’ve seen him having to race his team-mate, we’ve seen him at the front of the field. We’ve seen enough rounded elements to his driving to know that he’s one of the future stars of the sport. Again with the silly season ramping up, we want to not be part of that, keep our head down and just be focussed on what we’re doing.

Q: Tanabe-san, congratulations on the win in Austria last time out, great for Honda. How was the victory received back in Sakura?

TT: Thank you very much. It was a great result and the win came as a result of all of our Sakura members and the people who have worked for this project and they are very much satisfied and pleased. On the other hand, everyone is motivated now more than before, I believe, and we will keep working very hard to improve our performance.

Q: Does this win influence Honda’s decision to stay in Formula One beyond 2020?

TT: In my position, as the technical director of Honda F1, I’m not very involved with the contract matters – but I feel, after the win, a very good reaction from inside Honda. So, we will see.

Q: And how confident are you being competitive on all circuits going forward?

TT: We had a great race in Austria – but we know our current position compared to the top runners. There is still a gap there. We keep pushing to get more performance, with our members and also the Red Bull team.

Q: Christian, we’re talking about that win in Austria. From your point of view, how unexpected was it?

Christian HORNER: It was totally unexpected. We thought if we could sneak a podium there it would be a great result, going into the grand prix. And then, about three metres after the start, even a top-four or top-five finish looked to be optimistic after Max got an anti-stall at the start and dropped down to P8 during the first lap – and in the meantime flat-spotted his front left as well. But we could see early on in the race that he had got good pace. He came back through the field quite quickly. We went long on the first stint and we had a great turnaround by the pit crew. And Max’s pace in the second half of the race was phenomenal. He was able to catch and pass obviously Sebastian and Valtteri and then close in, and with a few laps to go you think, ‘crikey, this could actually happen’, here at our home race in Austria. There aren’t many races that Dietrich Mateschitz comes to, we had some of the top board members from Honda also in attendance, so to win that race in the manner that Max did was phenomenal. And having come off the back of one of the most boring races in history in France, to have such an exciting race and to come out on top was a phenomenal feeling. And for Honda to win their first race in the V6 hybrid era after the difficult comeback into the sport that they had initially is testimony to the hard work and dedication of all the stuff. It was great to see the emotion and Tanabe-san picking up the trophy on behalf of the team, so it was a great day for the team and Honda all round.

Q: And did Max’s performance surprise you?

CH: Yes and no. I think Max has been delivering at such a high level pretty much since Montreal last year that nothing tends to surprise you with him. But the calmness with which he came back from the anti-stall at the start… He was probably one of the calmest guys out there. He fought hard but fair and was able to control the race and control his situation very well. It was certainly one of his very best victories.

Q: Tanabe-san has spoken about the knock-on effect of the victory within Honda, but what about within Red Bull and how important was the win in ensuring that Max stays with the team?

CH: I think within the whole team, the Monday morning after you win a grand prix, you walk into the factory you just feel that level of increased optimism, that energy. It energises the whole factory. People are working flat out all the time, but when they start to see rewards for what they are working for, it just makes it all worthwhile. I think for sure a huge effort has gone into this season so far, there is a long way still to go, it is still very much a transition year for us, but to see the delight in all the team members faced and to see what it meant to Honda as well was evry satisfying.

Q: Claire, Paddy Lowe has officially left the team. Can you explain the technical structure at Williams now?

Claire WILLIAMS: Did we not announce that a while ago? He has decided to leave the team and we wish him well. We’ve talked about our technical structure over the past few weeks in that we have now a technical management team in effect, that are effectively running the engineering side of the business and that consists of our Chief Aerodynamicist, Doug McKiernan, Dave Robson who is Head of Engineering Operations and then Adam Carter who is our Head of Design, and they are running it very collegiately, in a fantastic way and they are making real progress, which h is great to see. But obviously they have 650 people below them who are all working incredibly hard to make sure we deliver what we need to deliver over the next few races.

Q: Something we touched on a little bit earlier, the history of Williams and Silverstone. It’s 40 years since the team won its first grand prix, here at this track. Of all the team’s achievements where does that one stack up and does your dad still talk about it?

CW: He doesn’t talk about it regularly, but he doesn’t talk about a lot of past memories in Formula One. For Frank, it’s all about the future, but that was the start of what has been a phenomenal career for Frank in this sport. He’d fought long and hard, really, truly long and hard to achieve that. He started his own career racing himself, realised quite quickly he wasn’t any good at it – didn’t quite understand where the brakes were – and decided to be a constructor. It took him a decade to get that first grand prix win here. He fought incredibly hard. He had no money; he came from nothing. He had to sell the team at one point and then he had to again start from nothing. But he never gave up and we talked a lot about that yesterday with the team, Frank’s resilience, his tenacity, and he really deserved that victory in 1979. I think a lot of people around him at the time thought it would never come but as we all know Frank loves this sport. Victories are great for Frank but really, truly, it’s about being in this sport and competing.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Zak, you have a new wind tunnel coming but as far as revamping the team, are you looking for more people or is there anything else that needs to be done to the facilities?

ZB: Well, I’ve got Andreas Seidl now running the racing team. He and James Key are settled in and leading the charge. I think we are happy with the structure that we have and the senior leadership we have, but grand prix teams, especially with the new rules coming up in 2021 are going to have a certain element of reinventing how we go motor racing so I don’t think you are ever sitting still but from my standpoint I have the leadership I want to have in place and now it’s over to Andreas to fine-tune the racing team as he sees fit.

Q: And facilities?

A: Facilities, we’ll continue to invest again. We need to see what the final 2021 outcomes are to make sure we are investing in the right areas. The wind tunnel was certainly something we had been behind on for some time, so that was an investment we knew we needed to make. So I’m very happy that we are moving forward with it. We’ll make other cap-ex as we see fit as we get more visibility on what the future of the sport looks like.

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Claire, much speculation in the media about Robert’s future with the team, which in all fairness the team has said is a non-starter, he is committed with the team. But a lot of rumours have him working very closely with your engineering department, his feedback has apparently been crucial in developing the car. Could you perhaps explain the other side of Robert that we don’t get to see on the TV screens?

CW: Sure. Just to clarify the point about Robert’s situation with the team: Robert is racing with us this year and will continue to do so. I don’t know where this speculation has come from but in the past couple of weeks there seems to be a lot of speculation around about Williams. But one of the reasons that I wanted to bring Robert into the team was, talking to him last year he did a great job for us as a reserve driver, and throughout last year we really saw his strength and his technical ability and his feedback. If you spend any time talking to Robert you know and understand how intelligent he is, how much knowledge he has around the car and its performance and how to get the most out of it. Obviously coming into this year, we knew where we were ahead of time and we knew therefore that we would need somebody, a driver, with that level of engineering intelligence that could really help translate what was going on in the car back to the engineers and back into the factory and that was a key reason why we brought him on board. And he has continued that process with the engineers. He has been invaluable in helping to drive the performance that you are seeing we’re bringing to the car over the course of this season. Robert, as a person, he’s incredibly hard working and he’s very focused on what he’s here to do and we all know where he has come from and the accident that he has had and for anyone to come back into our sport having experienced such an accident is quite remarkable. It shows his resilience. The only other person I’ve seen that in myself, in my lifetime, is Frank. To come back from such serious injuries, to have that level of determination is really quite extraordinary and I think that probably sums Robert up in a nutshell.

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) To Zak and Christian. Zak you talked about wanting to avoid getting involved in the ‘silly season’ by confirming your drivers early. By retaining Carlos and Lando whatever slim chance there was  of Fernando coming back to the grid after taking some time away, with McLaren at least, is not on the cars now., With his ambassadorial role, would you be happy to release him to speak to other teams if an opportunity arose for next year? And for Christian, you’ve been talking about supporting Pierre, there has been a lot of speculation about what will happen with him, even some links with Sebastian returning to the3 team. What’s the Red Bull position with regard to the 2020 driver market?

ZB: Yeah, with Fernando he remains an ambassador with McLaren, we’ve got a great relationship with him and we are speaking with him about some racing programmes in the future that are nor Formula One-related. But we are happy for him, if he wants to get back into Formula One, because we don’t have a seat available to go race for another team, and we will very much support with that if that’s what he wants to do.

CH: Our philosophy at Red Bull has always been to invest in young talent. That’s the purpose of Toro Rosso – it is to nurture and develop young talent. Pierre has had a tough first half of the year. We know ultimately what he’s capable of, which he hasn’t show his full hand yet. We saw a glimpse of it in P1 just now. With time and patience it will come right for him. Formula One is an impatient sport, but our philosophy is very much to invest in youth and to give young talent an opportunity and chance and therefore we obviously keep a very close eye on the nurturing talents at Toro Rosso.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines / Racefans.net) There has been a lot of speculation about an eventual successor for Chase Carey and quite a few names are in the frame. Christian yours is one of the names that has been speculated about. Would you be interested in accepting the position were it to be offered?

CH: I enjoy racing. My commitment is with Red Bull. There is a lot more I want to achieve from a competitive position and my objective is to get Red Bull back into a consistent winning position, challenging for championships. I am not aware that Chase is about to step down imminently, I think there is a lot of speculation but I think it is exactly that, so as far as I am concerned I am very happy doing what I am doing and my focus and commitment is very much on getting Red Bull back into a competitive, consistently winning situation.

Q: (Owari Masahiro – Formula Owari Masahiro) Christian, Doctor Marko says you can win five races this season. What is your opinion? How many races can you win? And which race is your next biggest chance?

CH: Well, there’s no crystal ball so we’re approaching the half point of the season. To have got that first victory is an enormous achievement and a huge milestone for the team and for Honda. We approach things race-by-race. As a team, with try and optimise. We didn’t go into Austria expecting to win that Grand Prix and came out with the first place trophy. That’s how we will approach every single Grand Prix between now and the end of the year. What that leads to in results we’ll know by the end of the year. Helmut obviously has an optimism which he’s already pushing and always going for which is great. I think from the team’s side, it’s a little bit more on a race-by-race basis but of course the target is to try and win as many races as we can between now and the end of the year.

Q: (Kevin Eason – Sunday Times) Much as it’s lovely for Lewis, are you worried that Lewis and Mercedes are killing this sport with their domination which is unprecedented now and how are you going to stop it? When can fans expect to see a level playing field and people like Frank Williams emerging to win Grands Prix against the big boys?

MB: Well, I don’t think you can say something like they are killing the sport, they are doing a really good job and they are deserving their wins and their championships and all of us are sat here and thinking we should look up to them and do the same job and then we will compete with them. I think there are changes coming for 2021 under Liberty’s and the FIA’s guidance to make the sport more competitive, certainly to make it fairer and more sustainable as well. Whether they will be successful… we think they are on the right path. I certainly think the budget cap is probably the biggest impact on the relative competitiveness of the sport so we’re very supportive, we’re very pro-active in helping them writing the regulations and planning what the sport will be from there. Whether they will be sufficiently impactful for all the teams to compete for victories I’m not sure. However, is that what we really want? We want the best working teams to compete for victories. Hopefully there’s more than just one or two.

ZB: Not a lot to build on. First you’ve got to give credit to Mercedes and Lewis for doing an outstanding job. I think we all recognise the sport is not where it needs to be, to have a more level playing and therefore better competition. I think 2021 will be a big step forward so I think we can expect a lot more Lewis and Mercedes victories this year, most likely again next year and then hopefully in 2021 with enough rule change that we will start to see the grid get a little bit more mixed up because certainly we need to be putting on a better show for the fans and when they show up to the British Grand Prix, thinking that there may be seven/eight/ten drivers who can win the race when in reality right now it’s just the few.

CW: Probably just going to repeat everything that everybody else has already said but I don’t think you can take away from Mercedes the extraordinary job that they have done and it’s down to the remaining nine teams to do a better job to take the fight to them. Someone’s got to win, that’s the whole point of this sport, that you employ the best people, you get the best resources you can around you in order to create the most competitive car and they have done the best job of that. Someone has to win in this sport. We don’t obviously want the same team – it’s not great for the health of our sport – for the same team to win in each and every race. I think that’s why huge congratulations have to go to Red Bull because it’s tough to beat Mercedes at the moment and to see another team taking a victory at an event was fantastic, fantastic for the sport. But it’s about creating great racing, isn’t it and making sure that all the regulations collude in order to achieve that and I’m very much hoping obviously that the regulations that are coming on board in 2021, whether that be the technical regulation, the financial regulations all contribute to helping improve the competition that we have, that ensure the sustainability of our sport moving forward into the future.

CH: Everybody has the same set of rules presented to them at the beginning of each year and you’ve got to take your hat off to Mercedes and Lewis for doing such a great and dominant job. I think, for me, the lessons that you learn, particularly over time, is that the more you change things, the more spread you create in the field and the regulations change that we had over the winter didn’t help anything. In fact it made a dominant team even more dominant so I think the aerodynamic changes, the tyre changes that were made actually didn’t do anything to help the sport or the spectacle and I think that’s where we need to be very very careful for 2021 because each team will believe they can get an advantage and ultimately somebody will get it right, somebody will get it wrong but there could be a much bigger spread than there is currently and for me I think the most important thing is once a set of regulations is achieved and found for the future, is consistency. The most important thing is leave it alone for a long period of time and then you will get the grid coming together with stability. The worst thing is dicking and changing something every year which isn’t fully understood that then changes the dynamics of the car. So for me I think you will get absolute convergence with stability and I think that whatever is done for 2021 should be fixed pretty much for a five year period unless there’s some fundamental flaw in it.

TT: Mercedes and Lewis are doing a very good job. They are talking about the 2021 regulations and then the PU manufacturers working on 2021 regulations to have a more competitiveness for each person. Not fixed yet but we will see the result soon, I think.

Q: (Chris Medland – Racer.com) Christian, I wanted to follow up on Dieter’s question actually: your name as a team boss has been linked with running F1 in the future but so has Toto’s as another team boss. What would be your feelings if Toto was to take on that role in the future and perhaps the other three team members to your left, what would be your thoughts if either Christian or Toto were to take on the role of running F1?

CH: Well, Toto already is, by all accounts I think! So look, to be honest with you, it’s an irrelevant question. As far as myself is concerned, I think I’ve made my position clear: I love racing, I love competing, I love the team that I’ve been involved with since the beginning and my goals and ambitions for the future are to very much bring it back into a competitive situation. It’s Liberty’s business at the end of the day. Whoever they chose to run it for them is their choice, it’s not down to the teams, it’s their business, it’s their investment. I think that Chase is doing a great job. I think he’s learned quickly about Formula One. I think if you look at the actual show now, the crowd sizes, the attendance, everything that’s going on around the sport, there’s a lot of great things happening. We just need a better product and I think if the product can be addressed through the regulation changes for 2021 and we get that right then the potential for this sport is phenomenal because even when we’re seeing serial winning, there’s still 140,000 people coming through the gate here. Austria was a sell-out, Canada was a sell-out. Attendance is up everywhere we go and you think crikey, if we can actually put on a great show like Austria was and it doesn’t necessarily mean that that means Red Bull need to be doing the winning, it would be great to see some of these guys doing the winning as well, then I think the potential of Formula One is huge.

CW: Well firstly, I’m quite annoyed that my name hasn’t been put in the mix. Seriously. No, it is pure speculation. I believe it’s never come up about Chase so I don’t know what’s going on there. If you’re genuinely asking me my thoughts around Christian or Toto running Formula One, clearly I think they would both be excellent at it.

ZB: Not a lot to say. I’ve seen a variety of names linked to it. I don’t know how real it is but Toto would certainly be a credible candidate.

CW: What about Christian? You don’t say Christian.

ZB: I was asked about Toto.

MB: I’m not in the running, I can reassure Toto and Christian they’re safe.

Q: (Rob Harris – Associated Press) Just picking up on that theme of leadership: amongst the main headlines earlier this week was a name from the past, Bernie Ecclestone talking about Vladimir Putin which seemed to get lots of headlines, a reminder of how controversy can create headlines. Is the problem with Chase and the Liberty leadership, it’s all a bit dull and between races… do you need someone to whip up a bit of drama and frenzy to actually help the sport overall be top of the agenda all around the world when there’s so many other competing sports?

CH: Bernie’s ability to generate a headline, as he’s demonstrated this past week, is still absolutely right up there with the best. But as I said in my previous answer, I think that Formula One’s doing a lot of good things at the moment. If you look at the fan engagement, if you look at the amount of fans that are getting into the circuit now, things like the hot laps, things like Netflix that were done over the last winter, in terms of digital engagement, the whole digital media strategy. All of that is being embraced and I think the fundamental thing isn’t the promotion of the sport, I think it is the product itself. I think when you look at a race like we’ve had at the majority of races this year they’re too static, they’re too predictable, there’s not enough action. One pit stop races are the most boring races you can have and I think that’s what we need to focus on as a collective group because that’s where ultimately we all benefit out of: If the product is better, the racing is better. Partners, manufacturers, sponsors will want to be there. The fan engagement then goes through the roof. So I think we need Ross Brawn and his team working in conjunction with the FIA to give Chase and Jean Todt a blueprint of this is what Formula One needs to be.

Thursday 11 July 2019

FIA Drivers' Press Conference: 2019 British GP.

DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), George RUSSELL (Williams), Lando NORRIS (McLaren), Daniel RICCIARDO (Renault), Antonio GIOVINAZZI (Alfa Romeo)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Welcome gentlemen. It was announced yesterday that Silverstone has a new long-term deal to remain on the Formula 1 calendar. I’d like to get each of your thoughts on that, starting with Lewis please?

Lewis HAMILTON: Well, good afternoon everyone. It was a good surprise to hear that they had re-signed. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise. As I spoke to you guys before I knew that it was going to happen. It’s clear the Formula 1 can’t exist without the home of motorsport, which is the British Grand Prix. Yeah, really, really happy. It’s great for the fan base and for that to continuously grow over the next years to come.

Q: Thank you Lewis. Lando?

Lando NORRIS: It’s going to be my first race this weekend. I’ve race here in the past. I love driving Silverstone. It would have been a shame to ever see it go, especially if I only would have done this race, this year and not done it again. Glad to see it still here and I look forward to coming back every year.

Q: Thanks. George?

George RUSSELL: Yeah, obviously very pleased for it to be on the calendar again. I think F1 couldn’t live without Silverstone. It’s the home of the British Grand Prix. Formula 1 is a very British sport and overall it’s just an amazing circuit to drive and there’s something special about Silverstone when you come here. Like you said, I’m not surprised it’s continued.

Q: Daniel?

Daniel RICCIARDO: Very happy. It’s a cool track, cool atmosphere. It was eight years ago this weekend, it was my F1 debut here, so it’s always been pretty personal to me. But I’ve enjoyed it. I don’t know how it would feel being somewhere else. It feels normal and right it have it here. It feels like the home of British motorsport. I like that. There’s that real camping atmosphere, that festival vibe. Yeah, the Brits love and we do too.

Q: And Antonio?

Antonio GIOVINAZZI: Yes, it’s a track with a lot of history, so it was really nice to see that this circuit will be here for another five years. With an F1 car I think it’s amazing to drive here, so I can’t wait to start tomorrow and do my first grand prix at Silverstone.

Q: Antonio, if we can stay with you, you got your first world championship point in Austria a couple of weeks ago. How did that feel and how confident are you of maintaining that run of form here?

AG: Yeah, cost me a little bit of my hair! It was for a good reason I would say. It was actually a different bet with Fred, because it all started at Paul Ricard and he said: ‘if you score your first point I will cut your hair’. And then it didn’t happen and then in Austria we said ‘so, if I don’t score points you will my hair’, but I scored points, so it’s a bit of a mess. Yeah, I’m really happy with this. It was a great weekend so far for me and the team. We went to Q3 with both cars and also top 10 for me and Kimi. So we just need to keep working like that. We had a really good car since Paul Ricard and now here we have another upgrade so I hope again that we are on a good direction and I hope we can stay there and keep fighting and take a little bit of the gap from McLaren as they are still a little bit in front of us, so we just need to keep working.

Q: You’ve not raced here before in Formula 1 yet, so just can you tell us a little bit about your preparations. What have you ascertained from the simulator, what are your engineers telling you?

AG: Luckily, I did one FP1, back in 2017 in F1. Of course it will be a completely different story now. Of course I did some simulator, like every driver, I watched some onboard from last year, working with the team. But you know, when you are in the car it will be completely different things but we have FP1, FP2 tomorrow, so we have a lot of time. It’s track I’ve already raced in F3, Formula 2 so yeah, just looking forward to racing it in F1.

Q: Ok, good luck this weekend. Daniel, tricky race for you and the team in Austria. What conclusions have you drawn since then?

DR: It was. It wasn’t a fun one for us really. We obviously got pretty deep into it after and tried to figure out why we were off the pace all weekend. Definitely feel we learned some things with set-up and I think we kind of just started in a direction which we kept pursuing from Friday, thinking it was the right way to go, but I think in hindsight it wasn’t. It’s probably more just a set-up misdirection we went for as opposed to anything crazy we found on the car. I was hoping to find a cracked chassis or something like that! I think the car does have a little bit of a sweet spot and I think we had worked towards that the last few weekends, getting those Q3s and building that confidence within myself and that momentum, but we kind of shifted a little bit away from that in Austria, for reasons that seemed to make sense at the time from a set-up point of view and all that. I think we kind of moved away from something we’d got to know but we’ll try to bring it back this weekend for Silverstone and go back to what we know.

Q: You say the car has a sweet spot. Why is it so difficult to keep it in that area?

DR: I wish I knew. I wish I knew. Sometimes I’m glad I’m not an aerodynamicist or an engineer because it would rattle my brain. For, personally, driving the car, I know where I’m comfortable with it and I know where I like it and when we start going down a certain direction that’s where we run into problems, under braking or whatever. There’s an area where I certainly feel more comfortable and I believe the car is better in that phase. I don’t know, it’s just race cars, mate! As I said, eight years I’ve now been here and you still scratch your head. But I think that’s part of the attraction as well, because when you do get it right and it all kind of works in harmony it’s an amazing feeling.

Q: As you said, you made your F1 debut at Silverstone in 2011. How do you sum up the last eight years of your life?

DR: It’s been fun. I remember vividly the press conference here eight years ago. I actually get embarrassed looking back at photos, I looked like an idiot – an idiot that needed a haircut. Same boat as Antonio! I don’t know, it’s kind of a whirlwind, but it’s amazing how go through it and feel… Obviously I feel much more comfortable here now than I did eight years ago. I guess just that kind of sense of belonging. Eight years ago I was here just like a deer in the headlights, is that the expression? You’re kind of just overwhelmed by everything and it’s like ‘wow, I’m really here now in F1’. You obviously have a lot of belief in yourself but until you really get the results that you believe you can get, there’s always maybe that little bit of doubt. Obviously that has built up well over the years. I don’t feel like one of the older guys yet, I’m kind of getting there, but I still feel young and sharp and good looking.

Q: Thanks Daniel. Lando, many congratulations on your new McLaren deal for 2020. How exciting is that news and what do you feel you and the team can achieve over the next 18 months?

LN: Thank you very much. I’m very excited I guess. It’s just good news. Things have been going reasonably well lately, so to have that news is just a bonus. And of course knowing I’m going to be here next year makes it a bit more comforting overall, but it doesn’t change too much in hindsight. Looking ahead to the next two years let’s say, there’s a lot of progress we’ve got to make. I want to be racing this guy on my right a bit more over the next couple of years, not just myself but as a team that’s our goal. That’s what we are trying to work towards, that’s what we are slowly chipping away at but it’s going to take two years, it’s going to take even more than probably. We’ll take it step by step and see how we go.

Q: As you say, you’re hoping to race Lewis over the next two years, but you actually raced him at the start last time out in Austria, how was that?

LN: It was cool. I got past him in Turn 1, which was very nice of him. He didn’t force me off or anything, it was a nice little bit we did in Turn 1. And then he just had a better position down the straight, behind Valtteri, in the slipstream. It wasn’t a proper fight I don’t think. It would have been nice to hang on a little bit longer than I did, but that position is the aim for us, we want to be in P3, we want to be fighting for the podium. It was nice to be there, very momentarily, but it wasn’t to be. But it is something I would love to look forward to.

Q: As with Antonio, I just wanted to ask you about your preparation for this weekend, but looking slightly longer term, you’ve raced at Silverstone in the FIA’s junior ranks – Formula 4, F3, F2. I just wanted to ask you how different each of those categories is and how they helped prepare you for this moment?

LN: Well, I actually started in 2014 racing Ginettas but that was on the national circuit, so it has stepped up quite a bit since then. But they’ve prepared me more and more I guess. Every lap you do you learn something very small even, but you learn something and that always helps. But I guess the biggest progression is Formula 3 – reasonably high downforce given the size and weight of the car. So you have a very good feeling through Maggots, Becketts, you get to really push the limits and see what it’s like. And it’s kind of a similar feeling when you go to F1 – I think, I’ve not driven it yet – feeling the G-Force, feeling the downforce, that’s something you already start to get a bit of a feel of in Formula 3 and a little but in Formula 2. Nothing in particular, but every step you take is a step forward and it definitely helps.

Q: George, you finished ahead of Kevin Magnussen in Austria last time out, so it seems the car is really starting to make progress now. How confident are you of another strong showing this weekend ?

GR: Yeah, I think it’s a step-by-step process for us at the moment. The team has two very difficult years… or a very difficult year last year, sorry. They wanted to change a lot of the structure and it was almost that we had to make two steps back before we made three steps forward. The groundworks are kind of really in place at the moment to try to bring more performance to the car as the season progresses and I’ve got confident we can do that. But the fact is it’s going to be another difficult weekend for us and we’ve just got to do our maximum week in, week out, but yes, it was nice to be racing someone other than just Robert in Austria.

Q: It’s 40 years since Williams won its first ever race, here at Silverstone, with Clay Regazzoni in 1979. Just how aware are you of your team’s history and how does it make you feel to be lining up with Williams on the grid this weekend?

GR: I’m very aware of the history. I’ve been around the museum a number of times and it still amazes me every time I go there and even last week I was showing my trainer around for the first time and we decided to jump in some of the cars and it was just bonkers to think what these guys were doing back then. I could barely get my feet in this thing and you’ve only got fiberglass protecting you. But like I say, I’m very, very aware of what the team is achieved, it is an honour to race for Williams and like I said, we are almost getting the mickey taken out of us with our performance, but it’s a longer-term project for the team and you could have done a number of short-term things to be good in the moment but the team have bigger and greater things in mind.

Q: Lewis, can you just describe how it feels to be Lewis Hamilton, coming into the British Grand Prix?

Lewis HAMILTON: It feels pretty normal, I would say! It probably feels the same as it is, I would say, for all the drivers here. It’s such a privilege to be here up against the very few that can be a Formula One driver at the pinnacle of the sport. The British Grand Prix is the most special grand prix of the year, being that it’s… just the sheer magnitude of it and just how many people come for the weekend and how many British flags you see around here. It really is a spectacular weekend. I would say it probably just feels… I don't know. There’s excitement, there’s the adrenaline going, there’s pressures. My whole family’s coming this weekend. It is that one weekend where… it’s probably the most special in a sense because you’ve got your family, the closest support, surrounding you. I’ve been very privileged over the years to obviously come here and have some spectacular races. I don’t know what I’ve won here but obviously here to try to improve this weekend. We are here to improve this weekend as a team. The last one was a little bit difficult for us but hopefully this weekend. I think it’ll be close but hopefully we’ll have a better shot.

Q: As you say, Austria was, in effect, the first time you guys tripped up this year, with Valtteri finishing third, yourself fifth. Are you confident that was a one off, or have you got concerns coming into this weekend?

LH: I wouldn’t say that I necessarily have concerns. I don’t weekends necessarily with a negative connotation to start with but, no I think we’re fully aware that the Ferraris and the Red Bulls have taken a step forward and the pace that they had in the last race was great. I think it looked a lot better than… I think it we didn’t have the issues that we had, I think we would have been a lot closer, would have been more in the fight. I expect this weekend it will be closer between us all. Last year Ferrari were super-fast here as well – as were the Red Bulls. I think the Red Bulls were a little bit down but now they’ve got the new engine I think they’ll be even quicker. So, it’s definitely not going to be an easy weekend.

Q: And Lewis, you’ve got 79 wins to your name, five of which have come here at Silverstone.  On Sunday, you can be the first man ever to win six races at this race track. How enticing is that record and what would it mean?

LH: Well, you know me. I’m not really one for records, so if it happens this weekend it does; if it doesn’t, it’s no biggie for me as I’ll try to be here for a little bit longer. Just the fact that that’s even a possibility is quite unreal for me. Ultimately it’s just really important to put that stuff out of your head, out of your mind and just focus on the job at hand. As I said, it’s not going to be an easy weekend for us. It’s really just about being diligent, making sure we leave no stone unturned. As Daniel mentioned, these cars all have sweet spots and it’s trying to… all those sweet spots don’t always work at each track – but this has been a strong track for us in the past. Hopefully this weekend, it’ll be a sweet spot for us.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Lewis and Daniel, last year Silverstone was resurfaced. It was slightly controversial, not all of the drivers were happy with it. It’s been resurfaced again for this year, and there’s also a little bit more gravel around the place in a couple of areas. It’s always been described as a drivers’ track. How interested are you to go out and see what change the changes have made.

DR: Yeah, I was trying to get out there today, I will at some point, probably just on a bike, bit quicker. Yeah, it was pretty bumpy last year but at Red Bull we had one of the smoother-riding cars. A lot of others did say it was pretty bad. So, yeah, I’ll definitely have a look. I don’t normally do track walks or anything but if there is a change, it’s worth seeing, have a browse.

LH: Same same but different.

DR: Different but the same.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – LivioOricchiof1.com) Daniel, when you see what Max did in Spielberg and you see the performance of your team, do you have any regrets of changing team. And also, concerning the asphalt, do you expect any big impact in the performance of the car. I mean, any big changes in comparison to what has been seen at the last few races?

DR: To answer the first part: no. Honestly no regrets. It was actually… part of me was pretty happy for them, and for F1 to just have a good race. It went through such… yeah… quite a lot of… I’m trying think of a better word. You know the word I’m thinking of, it’s a word I can’t really say! It went through a lot of scrutiny after France, so just for the sport to have a good race was awesome. But no, honestly, if I look back, by that time last year, Red Bull had three wins; that was the first. Obviously I’m further back at the moment, absolutely, you’re right but I expected this and really, if I stayed at Red Bull it was to win a title and sure, they got the win last weekend but they’re still a fair way from the title. And that’s not having a dig, that’s just the reality. So I don’t think I would necessarily have achieved anything else than I was already achieving there, so for that, yeah, no regrets. Obviously trying to build something here with Renault and absolutely there’s still a lot of work to do – but equally it’s pretty fulfilling when you do get a little bit of a result and Montreal was one of those moments where, it kind of… even that result alone made the first seven or so races worth it. The little bit of struggle and ups and downs. So yeah, but for the sport, honestly, I’m very happy that the last race went the way it did and hopefully there’s more like that. Hopefully I’m not running in 12th, or wherever I was, because that’s also not fun – but hopefully the battle at the front gets close and says close.

And the asphalt?

DR: I’ll let the others answer. It’s dark, yeah, the asphalt. Conductor of heat.

I think we want to hear from the other drivers. George?

GR: I won’t know until I’ve driving on it. Obviously raced F2 last year, didn’t feel a huge issue. It adds a bit of character, I think, even when it’s bumpy. It is how it is. It’s the same for everyone. You’ve got to adapt to the situation. Sometimes, if it’s too perfect, then it’s almost easier to drive – but obviously they had to do it more for the bikes than for us.

Lando, have you been out to look at the asphalt?

LN: Yeah, I scootered around earlier. Just looks darker than normal, I guess. It depends. I don’t know what kind of tarmac is it. Obviously in Paul Ricard we had the newer patches of tarmac and it was much slippier, or not as grippy as the older bits. So, it depends. We’ll find out tomorrow.

Antonio?

AG: Yeah, I agree with George and Lando. It’s nothing. You need to adapt a little bit.

Q: (Julien Billiotte – AutoHebdo) Question to George. George, timing is everything in Formula One. When you see someone like Lando, who you’ve beaten in Formula Two last year, getting strong results, enjoying strong momentum at McLaren, are you not afraid you might miss out on bigger opportunities? Because you could be driving the best race of your life at the moment and no-one  – or not a lot of people – would take notice.

GR: Yeah, thanks for that! No, not at all. At the end of the day, I know there are only a small number of people that are going to make a difference in my career and that’s Claire and the top people at Williams and Toto and the top people at Mercedes. At the end of the day, those guys are fully aware of the situation. They know exactly if I’ve had a good weekend or not. And even in myself, I’ve come away from some races which I know I’ve performed well, and I’ve come away satisfied, and other races I’ve come away knowing I could have done a better job, even though I ended up in the exact same position. So, but like I said, I’m also happy for Lando and Alex: the younger generation sticking it to the experienced guys and showing that we can do it. I think, y’know, I’m happy for them and if they’re doing a good job, it also looks good for me.

Q: (Giles Richards – The Guardian) Lewis, you’ve achieved remarkable things in the sport, in what has been a very long career – but I was wondering if you could try to think back to when you started in Formula One and remember what your greatest hopes and aspirations were back then – what you thought you might achieve when you began?

LH: I don’t really remember much back then. I think naturally you just want to excel and succeed in everything you do, and just… every driver here has a huge amount of belief in their own ability and we all have some sort of platform and opportunity in front of us and it was just really about maximising the opportunity that we do have, regardless of what team we’re in, what position you’re in. And just like George was saying, that’s really key. You know whether you’re doing the job and the lessons that you go through are huge at the early stages. And these guys are all going a great job, particularly in the early days. Me and Daniel were just saying, we’re having to represent for the 30-crew. It was extremely special but it was a huge learning process for me, as it is for all of us in the early stages. There’s no substitute for experience. That just comes over time. Of course I wanted to win world titles, I think in my first year I wanted to win the world title, that was straight away. Super-ambitious – particularly up against a two-time World Champion but there wasn’t a moment that I doubted myself, that I could do it. I think that’s ultimately what we all have – that confidence in ourselves.

Q: (Oliver Brown – The Telegraph) Lewis, Christian Horner raised a few eyebrows earlier this week by suggesting that, if you and Max were in the same machinery, at the moment he would back Max to prevail. Given you’ve won six of nine races already this year, that seemed a fairly bold claim on his part. I just wondered your response to that and, more broadly, on how you and Max measure up as racers.

LH: Well, firstly I don’t compare myself to anybody. Don’t need to. I don’t really have a response to his claims. Ultimately every now and again someone needs certain attention and… yeah… I think Max has been doing a great job and really, really exciting to watch. I think the last race was really fantastic and it’ll be really interesting to see how they go moving forwards.

Q: (Rob Harris – Associated Press) Lewis, the new Silverstone deal is through to 2024; do you think you will still be driving then or what do you think you’ll be doing in F1? And we could have England in a World Cup final on Sunday, just as you’re racing. Do you think you’re going to have to produce something special to grab the national attention? Not to jinx anything for them today…

LH: What I don’t understand is why the organisers put the race on the same day as all these other big events – Wimbledon – I really don’t understand it. But I hope in future that they put this on a… this is such a special weekend, it needs all the focus of the whole country and just not a small amount. I think people will be switching between channels on Sunday, not sure what to watch. But naturally I come here… there’s quite a few of us Brits but we come here to raise the flag and do the country proud so I’m just going to try and play my part.

2024? Jesus, it feels like a long way away. Who knows whether I will still be here by then but if I’m not, if I’ve stopped racing, I won’t be here in any other capacity.

Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport week.com) Lando, now that you and Carlos have been confirmed next year at McLaren, what is that going to do for you and possibly, speaking on behalf of your teammate, to know that everything is settled, you don’t have to go through these endless questions from us asking what you’re going to do next year? Does this give you an advantage? How do you feel about it and do you think you’ve made the right decision?

LN: Yeah, I think I’ve made the right decision. It wasn’t something I was worried about or asking about so for me, I was pretty confident in the job I had been doing so far this season and because I wasn’t necessarily worried or asking about it in any way, for them to come forward to me with it and the confirmation, then yeah, it made me a bit happier. With me not being worried about it, it wasn’t something I don’t think… or it’s not going to be something which changes how I think about it, it’s not going to make me necessarily more confident or anything. I had all my confidence in the team. I would like to say that they had all theirs in me as well. From all of that, we will keep working hard, keep trying to progress and I’m sure Carlos and myself are going to have a lot more battles and some times together.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) Lewis, ’92, talk about Mansell mania and the crowds coming in to see him. We’ve got a similar situation, Silverstone’s going to be absolutely sold out on Sunday, partly to come and see you with all the success you’re having. Now there’s no question about the support you have with F1 fans, they all adore you and think you’re great for what you’re doing, the titles you’re winning. You’ve also struggled sometimes to win over some of the other British public, non-F1 fans. Can you put your finger on that at all, any reason why you don’t have the same universal adulation as Nigel Mansell had, say?

LH: I don’t really… I don’t know. I don’t really generally feel that but people have the right to chose who they support and what I can say is that… I remember growing up in Stevenage I never in a million years thought I’d have a single supporter besides my Mum and my Dad. I feel really privileged in just even having one but quite a lot of people come here and I’m so grateful just for that, which is more than enough for me, so the more the merrier. I guess the more and more time I spend here, I guess you have more and more opportunity to turn people’s opinions. But ultimately, as I said, I’m grateful for what I do have.

LN: Maybe it’s the moustache!

LH: The moustache? What, the fact that I can’t really grow much!

LN: Well, I can’t do much better either. Mansell’s one was alright.

LH: Mansell had a good moustache. It might be that, I’m not able to grow. This is like as far as it goes. And he had good eyebrows as well. Maybe one weekend I’ll try sticking them on and see if it makes a difference.
PHOTO CREDIT: LAT Images

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, the two chaps to the left of you have got a combined age of 40, if my maths is right. I was just wondering if you have…

LN: (Having exploded with laughter) Don’t worry, it’s nothing to do with your question.

[Reason for laughter: Daniel Ricciardo asked Lando Norris if he has pubic hair]

GR: It’s definitely not suitable for you guys.

DR: I didn’t think it was that funny.

Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) The question was, anyway, it was whether Lewis had any advice for the chaps sitting to his left and what he thought of the job they’re doing?

LH: I don’t think I need to give them any advice. They’ve obviously come through similar ranks to myself and they’re doing exceptional jobs. Both have completely different challenges with George obviously in a team that’s has struggled for some time but is part of helping them take steps to improve and I really really hope… I’m a huge fan of Frank and that team and what they’ve achieved in their history so I really really… I think that’s a team that needs to be up at the top with the rest of them. It’s amazing to see McLaren doing so well. They’ve had some really tough years as well. We got to have a bit of a race in the last race and just watching Lando’s progression is incredibly impressive, to be so young in such an early phase, he’s coming in and keeping a level head and delivering on weekends, also up against a driver who’s got more experience than him. I’m personally excited to continue to watch these two grow and the trials and tribulations that they’ll face and I do hope that we get to do some racing together, as I said, representing the thirties.

Q: (Stephen Camp – Motorsport Monday, Motorsport week.com) Over the past few weeks, if not months, there have been discussions about making life more difficult for the drivers behind the wheel. I was just wondering if there was anything in particular any one of you guys would like to see… perhaps power steering taken away, reduction in downforce? Is there anything in particular that you would like to see making your lives more difficult?

AG: Yeah, of course I think I want better racing but less downforce, better to follow people but yeah, it really differs not from my side. We will see what happens after 2021 but yeah, for now it’s not my decision. We need to see what happens.

DR: Yeah, I guess the racing thing’s a big one, just to be able to… obviously if it was all a bit closer that’s great as well but it’s just the ability to follow. I guess it’s two-fold now. You get close to another car, you lose a chunk of downforce but then also your tyres start to overheat so that then loses you an additional amount of grip so you’re kind of fighting against those two, let’s say, negative forces which don’t help. Power steering? Honestly, with the load and the actual downforce we have now would be literally impossible. I’ve had hydraulic failures; that’s when you lose the power steering and you can’t turn. As brave as I’d like to say I am and as shredded as I am, it wouldn’t suffice. Maybe one lap but not fifty.

LH: I agree. I think what’s really important right now is that the drivers are unified for the first time since I’ve been in the sport. We’re all together as kind of a union and sort of working together with the FIA and hoping that we can have a positive impact on the rules in 2021. So we kind of need to make sure we stay on top of that and stay a part of it. There are definitely subtle changes we can do for sure to make the car a little bit even more physical than it is. It’s by no means easy for us to drive and definitely not taking power steering away would not be key but I think we could probably reduce it if we needed to do. We currently have the option to do that but there’s no need because it doesn’t really make a difference for us really. But yeah, I think there’s a lot of other aspects and ultimately, as Daniel mentioned, if the racing was closer it would really improve racing so that’s key for us, I think.

LN: Nothing (inaudible). Nothing in particular. I think obviously the main thing is the racing which is probably the most important thing for all of us. The physical attributes, I don’t really mind, to be honest. I did suffer a lot since karting, with my size and everything, not really having a clue what to do when I started karting, so I suffered in every category: F4, F3, F2 – not so much F2 but I’ve had to kind of play catch-up quite a bit and in some ways, F1 was a bit nicer with power steering. F2’s much harder, physically on the arms and almost on the whole body than F1 is. So it can change but I don’t really mind, it’s how it is to be honest, I don’t think that’s the priority of F1 right now.

GR: Yes, as the guys said, obviously to be able to race each other closer is the number one priority but I think also allowing us to drive flat-out every single lap, qualifying laps for 70 laps would be pretty cool and that would make the physical demand greater. If you’re constantly lifting-coasting or saving the tyres in high speed corners or doing whatever else, it’s obviously not as a tough as it would be if you’re going flat-out. So those two together would be my idea of what we want.

Tuesday 9 July 2019

Sebastian Eriksson survives engine cooling issues to claim maiden World RX win.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media
Wildcard entry Sebastian Eriksson survived engine cooling issues to hold off Kevin Hansen and claim his maiden World RX victory at the iconic Holjes track in Sweden.

The Swede who combines engineering and mechanic duties for the Olsbergs MSE outfit made his fourth appearance at World RX level in Sweden.

Eriksson, who lives an hour away from Holjes in the forests of Varmland competed at Nordic RX in preparation for his World RX outing and claimed an astonishing victory. 

"This is my fourth (World RX round)," he said. "It's just so special! This is the rallycross race that every rallycross driver wants to win, so to win it in the third attempt and I haven't competed in a race in the World Rallycross Championship for a long long time - so to come back and be able to win it. Is amazing! 

Despite a comfortable lead, Eriksson's Fiesta supercar suffered from overheating issues. The Swede slowed towards the end of the final, and was hunted down by Kevin Hansen on the final lap but held his nerve to take the chequered flag. 

"The start of the final was fine," he explained. "The spotter said 'you are pulling away'. You have a good gap, but then after three or four laps, we starting losing power again and they started to get closer and from then it was a bit more pressure from the spotter."

"We had to take the joker [lap] earlier this time to come out in front and the last laps was more or less keep tight and don't open a gap for Kevin [Hansen] because he was right behind.'' 

"I am quite surprised because I did not think that we will be this competitive, its looking good for the future," he concluded. 

World RX commentator Andrew Coley revealed during the live qualifying broadcasts that Andreas Eriksson's Olsbergs MSE team had a list of 21 things to fix on the Ford Fiesta Supercar. The car entered into the Swedish round is an evolution of the 2018-spec supercar, but only 19 changes were made.

Andrew Coley revealed to Slipstream SA that the remaining areas that Olsberg MSE plan to address is: "more engine work and dampers" before the car is ready for World RX competition. 

A happy Olsbergs MSE team boss Andreas Eriksson says that his team came close to canceling their entry in Sweden after running into issues during testing.

"We have struggled with a lot of problems, we almost canceled the race on Monday based on the test, because we saw after three laps that we have a big problem," Eriksson said.
"We are very fast for three laps, and then we have problems with the oil temperature."


"The car is not ready yet, but as you see the first three laps, we are flying away from them (competitors). We are fast in the straight line compared to everyone, but unfortunately, Kevin's [Eriksson] car didn't make it all the way. It broke in Q4 and Sebastian's car made it all the way. I am very happy!"

"I am putting my own money into this race because I don't have any sponsors this weekend. But I wanted to show that the car is fast," he concludes. "The guys decided after the test on Monday if its fast enough, we will go (racing). If it's not fast enough, we will stay at home."

After a last-corner lunge, Kevin Hansen settled for the second-place finish. In doing so, he took the lead of the drivers’ championship from his brother Timmy who suffered from a puncture and finished in sixth place [last]. 

It was not an easy weekend for Team Hansen MJP, Kevin was ranked ninth and older brother Timmy in sixteenth overall on day one. The brother launched a fight back on Sunday to progress through to the finals. 

“The whole weekend has been completely crazy. Having changeable weather in the qualifying made everything so difficult,” Kevin said. 

“In the final, I had a really bad start. I was fourth into turn two, and then two of the guy's jokered leaving the door open for me to follow Sebastian. I pushed really hard, but he [Sebastian] was very quick at the beginning and I didn't want to do any stupid mistakes - take any track markers or cut anywhere to get a puncture," he explained. 

"Then Timmy came out ahead (from joker lap) and we were second and third and I thought okay, now we can chase him down. Then he stupidly cut the corner in turn nine, got a puncture immediately and I had to do the move to not lose time." 

"Sebastian was quite far ahead, but then I was really surprised because he was slow in the end. On the final lap, I realized I was on his bumper and looking where should I overtake now because I thought he had a puncture," he said.

“In the last corner, I thought ‘OK, if he had a puncture he will be wide’. So, I stuck my nose up the inside in the middle but he didn't have the puncture so I had to back down."

"Anyway, P2 at home feels amazing in the end with a lot of points for the championship.”

Renis Nitiss' Hyundai i20 Supercar rolling
PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media.
In third place was Reinis Nitiss who staged a remarkable comeback after rolling his Hyundai i20 in Q1 on Saturday.

The Latvian took a race win and set the fastest time in Q2. A third place in the semi-final secured his passage to the final.

Nitiss struggled to contain his emotions after Q1.

"I don't think you could imagine how I felt or how we felt," he said. "After that roll... You know what happened in Abu Dhabi. Straight away, first qualifying and first corner - first roll in my life happened on the most amazing track."

"When I jumped out of the car, I thought 'maybe I need to stop with this sport', but all the guys - the mechanics and everyone in the team did an amazing job and people around me helped me get to get the self-confidence back for Q2. I know we were lucky, but we won Q2 and I needed to focus on that and we got back in the game."

"The feeling that Q2 gave to us, it's amazing - and I think this describes the whole weekend." 

“We were really far down but we bounced back," he says. "And that’s why we are here and that is why we are racing; for the emotions we get. To imagine after Q1 to be on the podium this weekend. I don't believe it!"

When asked about competing in future rounds of the 2019 World RX championship, Nitiss said: "I don't know. Probably without these incidents in Abu Dhabi and with the roll, we could have done some more races, but there is still one race. In Latvia, my home race and I will do everything to be there."

"I can not promise anything, but after the race and after these emotions - after these fights. With everything that has happened during this magic weekend...  maybe Magic happens." 

His GRX team-mate Niclas Gronholm progressed to the finals and finished in fourth place, but was handed a five-second time penalty for track marker infringements. 

Dutchman Kevin Abbring, in only his second World RX, inherited the fourth place from Gronholm. 

Monster Energy RX Cartel's Andreas Bakkerud conceded ground in the championship to the Hansen brothers when supercar suffered a broken driveshaft while leading the semi-finals. 

“It could have been a great final, the car felt good and we had the pace,” Bakkerud said. “It would nice to finally give all of our partners and supporters a win, but it wasn’t to be.” 

Having claimed his maiden World RX win, Sebastian Eriksson has become the fifth different winner in sixth rounds of the 2019 World RX season.

Kevin Hansen claimed victory in round one in Abu Dhabi and there have been wins for Timerzyanov in Belgium and Gronholm in Norway. Timmy Hansen is the only dual winner – in Spain and Great Britain.


WATCH THE FINAL HERE:

TEXT - Junaid Samodien

Saturday 6 July 2019

Bakkerud claims overnight TQ in dramatic opening day in Höljes.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media. 
Andreas Bakkerud holds the overnight top qualifiers spot at the World RX of Sweden after a dramatic Q1 session and mixed times from Q1 due to a drying track. 

"It's been a crazy weekend, already," said Bakkerud. "It is the race that everybody would love to win and we have seen mixed conditions and we have seen a result board changing a lot today."

"I went into Q1 with the mindset of I have much more to give," he said. "I did the practice and it felt very good but the lap times weren't there. We did some changes, especially with new tyres on and it helped a lot."

The Monster Energy RX Cartel driver got off to a strong start leading off the line in Q1 and went on to set the fastest time of the session. In behind Bakkerud, Marklund and Abbring spun off the track before turn one. 

Bakkerud's team-mate Doran hit the wall on the outside of the final corner in Q1 after braking steering wheel's universal joint.

Q1 saw a rather dramatic incident involving reigning European RX champion Reinis Nitiss rolling his GRX Set Hyundai i20 after hitting a kerb on the inside of turn one and rolled into the gravel trap on the outside of the track. The Stewards later reprimanded Janis Baumanis for pushing Nitiss and Timerzyanov. 

Championship leader Timmy Hansen ended Q1 well outside the top-12 after a puncture, while younger brother Kevin finished fourth in Q1.

The heavens opened at Höljes for Q2, and with the fastest drivers starting first and they would ultimately have to face the worst conditions as the track would dry through the session. 

Bakkerud led from the front in Q2 to set the initial pace, while Kevin Hansen ended Q2 in seventeenth despite finishing in second behind Bakkerud.

However, track conditions improved significantly through the session meaning the Bakkerud ended the session in twelfth overall. 

Marklund took a comfortable win in the third race of Q2, while Kevin Abbring beat Timmy Hansen to victory in the fourth race. Despite a good start in Q2 for Hansen, he was forced to take an early joker, then lost time in traffic on the opening lap. After passing Jonathan Pailler and Ulrik Linnemann, he pushed a bit too hard in the final corner and nearly spun losing a second to Abbring. 

The fightback of the day came from Nitiss who was 25th overall after Q1. The Latvian make a strong start in the drying conditions, and just about managed to fend off a flying Guerlain Chicherit to claim the fastest time in Q2 and climb up to fifth overall. 


"With Reinis [Nitiss] having a role in Q1 and winning Q2, all of a sudden he's up to fifth," Bakkerud said. "That is unbelievable, that is rallycross." 

Despite claiming the overnight top qualifiers spot, Andreas Bakkerud still thinks that Monster Energy RX Cartel needs to find more performance overnight.

"I still think we need to find more for tomorrow if it's going to be dry to be able to keep it up," he said. "We have had good starts, we are fast in the joker, we struggle a bit in a couple of sections but hopefully, we can look through the data and prepare even more for Q3 and 4. 

A surprised Marklund said he did not expect to be second overall after a bad result in the Q1.

"I think we weren't planning to be here after Q1, but it shows that if you never give up and keep on fighting, you can do it," the Swede said.

"For Q2, we were in this heat where it was going to change. I think we were three cars on slicks and two cars on rain tyres. I won my race on the dry tyres and Timo [Scheider] was P2 with the rain tyres, so we were really on the switch between the dry and wet."

"Even if I would do a mega job, the guys behind me would be quicker in the race four and five," he adds. "I was just trying to keep it cool and not do any mistakes at all and just bring the car to the finish line."

After claiming a podium finish in Silverstone, and momentarily winning the Norwegian round, Marklund believes that GCK is now showing the potential of their Renault Megane R.S. RX. 

"We are again showing that we have great potential in the car, in the team and me as a driver," he said. "What happened in Silverstone and Norway, where we were on the podium was not a coincidence, we have great pace. So, I hope that we can repeat that this weekend and I hope we can fight for another podium finish."

Dutchman Kevin Abbring finds positives after ending the day in third overall. 

"We had the fastest lap time of the day, fastest reaction time and both of those things are important," he said. "So, I think we can take a lot of positives from that. We know that the feeling in the dry is really good."

"Obviously, everyone steps up tomorrow. So, we need to be back even stronger than them." 

Abbring ended Q1 in nineteenth overall and made the leap to third overnight after winning Q2 race 5. Asked if his driving style aided in his fight back - the Dutchman said: "It worked but I was trying to set the boundaries to at least try to understand how the car would behave on the limit and if you are driving on the potential you aren't going to feel it, but I definitely enjoyed it."

The OVERNIGHT RESULTS at the World RX of Sweden.

TEXT - Junaid Samodien

Friday 5 July 2019

PREVIEW - World RX descends on Sweden for 'The Magic Weekend'

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media. 
Five Down, Five to go... Fifteen points separate first from third in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. 

The five rounds to date have seen four different winners. Kevin Hansen claimed victory at round one in Abu Dhabi and there have been victories for Timur Timerzyanov in Belgium and Niclas Gronholm in Norway. Only the current championship leader Timmy Hansen has won twice (Spain and Great Britain).

World RX descends on the Holjes Motorstadion, an old school rallycross track that has been a mainstay of the championship since its inception in 2014.

The Swecon World RX of Sweden will boast a maxed out 25 car entry list. 

Current European Rallycross Champion Reiniss Nitiss will make a return to the fray in a GRX Hyundai i20 in Holjes. “Even though I have spent some time in the GRX car behind the scenes, I have not been in the racing game since the spectacular ending of Abu Dhabi,” the Latvian said.

“It puts some pressure on me, especially with the maxed-out entry list with many wild card entries that can impact everyone’s results.”

Nitiss' GRX team-mate Gronholm, he is looking for back-to-back wins after the success in Hell, Norway. “My goal is to try and maintain the good feeling of the car and the pace I had in Norway and, if I can do that, I can challenge for the win,” he said. 

As for the newcomers, Jere Kalliokoski will make his first appearance of the season for Team STARD, alongside Janis Baumanis.

Kevin Eriksson, who won the 2016 World RX of Germany event, joins Sebastien Eriksson in a pair of Ford Fiestas run by Olbergs MSE. The Swedish outfit will also field a Honda Civic Coupe for the World RX debut with Ulrik Linnemann behind the wheel

Philip Gehrman will compete in a Volkswagen Polo and Kjetil Larsen is also in a Polo for Hedstroms Motorsport.

Fabien and Jonathan Pailler will also make the trip to Holjes to drive their Peugeot 208 Supercars for the Pailler Competition team.

Timmy and Kevin Hansen, currently one and two respectively in the 2019 World RX drivers’ championship standings. Timmy has been on the podium twice in 2015 and 2016 but has yet to ascend the top step on home soil.

The Swedish siblings, in their pair of Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars are separated by a single point at the top of the heap – 107 to 106. 

Kenneth Hansen, Team Hansen MJP team principal is well aware of the challenges of the Holjes track and the importance of doing well at home. “It’s a technical track and one of the biggest tasks is optimising the car for the jumps,” he said. “It’s a very special atmosphere and both Timmy and Kevin are showing they are more than ready for the challenge. So we hope to deliver.

“Along with Loheac, because we have a French car, this is definitely one of the most significant weekends of our year.”


Andreas Bakkerud holds down third place overall on 92 points and is getting ever closer to his first victory of 2019 in his Audi S1.

Holjes is the scene of the Norwegian’s first Supercar triumph in 2013 and he won again in 2016. So far in 2019, he has two-second places and a third on his scorecard.

“Holjes is as we all know the Magic Weekend, also one of the very big highlights in the WorldRX calendar,” Bakkerud said. “It’s the race everyone wants to win. Holjes has treated me well and I’ve been on the podium every year since 2012 when I raced S1600. I hope to continue that strike rate.”

Swede Anton Marklund was denied his maiden victory at the previous round in Norway following a post-race technical inspection – the FIA stewards discovered a discrepancy in the thickness of the front bumper support bar on his GC Kompetition Renault Megane RS.

Dutchman Kevin Abbring impressed on his World RX debut and will make his second World RX start in the ESmotorsport Labas-GAS Skoda Fabia.

“As everything was new for me there (in Norway), there is obviously a lot of room for improvement and Sweden is the right opportunity to show we have learned from Norway to be even more competitive here,” Abbring said.

“It really takes a while to understand the sport, I feel that I don’t need to be that defensive when being in the lead (or in front of someone) and after having some rain metres under my belt now the pace in the wet should definitely be stronger next time."

“The Swedish track looks amazing, the atmosphere and level of competition will be promising. There is no lack of motivation on our side, we are as ready as can be,” he concludes

Timo Scheider has shown good pace this season and has been challenging a podium place in the last two rounds.

Xite Racing’s Oliver Bennett will hope to put the set-up challenges on the Mini Cooper in Hell behind him. “I can’t wait for the Magic Weekend of Holjes to kick off, outside of the spectacle that is the party in the woods, it’s also the best drivers’ track of the year,” Bennett said.

“With our set-up this year, it’s my most anticipated track, although with such a big grid entry, anything is possible.”

Hell was a weekend to forget for the GC Kompetition squad. Apart from Marklund being denied his win, GCK newcomer Rokas Baciuska missed out on the semi-finals after being disqualified in Q3.

Guerlain Chicherit, mounted a spirited fightback from the depths of a double joker penalty in Q1 to reach the semi-finals while GCK Academy drivers, Cyril Raymond, and Guillaume De Ridder missed the cut.

Krisztian Szabo is looking to rebound after his failure to reach the semi-finals for the first time this year in Norway.

“For sure, Holjes is the event of the year!" he said. "I have good memories from the track as the last time I was racing there – in S1600 - I finished second. I can't wait to race again in the magic weekend.”

“My goal is to finish a more successful weekend than in Hell.”

TEXT - Junaid Samodien

Thursday 4 July 2019

Timmy Hansen draws inspiration from Verstappen for World RX of Sweden.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool
Timmy Hansen reveals that he aims to draw some inspiration from Max Verstappen's race-winning drive in Austria last week. The Swede leads the championship by a single point and sets his sight on claiming victory in Sweden.

Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen claimed his first win of the season with a sterling drive in Austria last weekend after recovering from a poor start and to overtake Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc for the race lead with two laps remaining.

"I plan to take some inspiration from Max Verstappen’s drive at the Red Bull Ring: it was an amazing drive and it’s very hard to do what he did," Hansen said. "But I’d rather win the race like he did but making a bit of a better start from the grid!”

"Höljes is an incredibly technical track and it’s a real driver’s circuit," he said. "It’s up and down, it’s got an amazing flow to it."

"We get a lot of local support which is excellent."

Should Timmy claim victory in Sweden, it would be his first home win in the World RX championship, and the Hansen families tenth win at Höljes.

TEXT - Junaid Samodien