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DRIVERS – Brendon HARTLEY
(Toro Rosso), Nico HÜLKENBERG (Renault), Sergio PÉREZ (Force India),
Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Brendon, go back to two weeks ago at Silverstone. That was a
horrible-looking crash. How are you now? No lasting effects, I hope.
Brendon HARTLEY: Actually, waking up on the Sunday, I was ready to go.
Almost no knock-on effects, which was a surprise after watching the replay
myself and seeing how spectacular that looked. In fact, the impact was
smaller than what I had in both Canada and Barcelona. I think I’ve probably
taken the top three crashes of the season all by myself! Hoping something
like that doesn’t happen again. But no, I was physically ready already on
Sunday and felt perfectly fine.
Q: Let’s talk to you now about the relationship between Toro Rosso and
Honda, if we can. How do you feel that has developed as the season has gone
on? Do you feel the development rate has increased as the year has
progressed?
BH: It was a really positive start from the first laps in Barcelona testing
where I think a lot of people had written us off before the season had even
started. I think collecting nice laps on that first test was a really
positive start and I think everyone at Toro Rosso saw it as a good
opportunity having Honda on board. We’ve had an update already in Canada and
yeah, the progress keeps moving forward every weekend. I think it’s only
positive, I would say, the relationship between Toro Rosso and Honda.
Q: Do you sense there’s pressure to introduce engine upgrades this year, to
help prepare Honda for next year when they’re going to be with Red Bull
Racing as well.
BH: I think there were always updates planned, one of which has already come
and I know there’s some other stuff in the pipeline – but at least from what
I’ve seen. I haven’t seen any added pressure. Of course, we’ll welcome all
the performance gains that we can – but honestly the way the team’s working
together and systematically going through it, collectively as a team, Toro
Rosso and Honda together. I mean, it’s all going in the right direction.
Q: Brendon, this is your first time here since 2009 when you raced in
Formula 3. What are your expectations of Hockenheim in a Formula One car?
BH: Yeah, looking forward to it. It’s a proper track, it’s got history.
Obviously not the same one that was raced many years ago through the forest.
Yeah, I like it, I’m remaining optimistic. Surprisingly optimistic after the
last few races I’ve had. Most of these bad results over the last few months
have been out of my control, and I still feel strong and in good spirits and
ready to take on this weekend. As we’ve all seen from P7, the last of the
top three teams, to the very back, it’s an extremely tight battle. If we
manage to eke two more tenths out of the car, from any area of development,
that could mean securing quite a few points – or not securing. It’s
extremely tight and we just have to bring our A game and get everything
together over the next two days.
Q: Nico, Brendon’s just giving his thoughts on the German Grand Prix. There
was no German Grand Prix last year – just how special is it for you to be
racing on home soil this weekend?
Nico HÜLKENBERG: Yeah, it’s definitely good to be back. Hockenheim, which is
a place with a lot of memory for me. My first ever race in single seater
racing, Formula BMW in 2005 was here; lots of racing in Formula 3, so, I’ve
always had good moments here, the circuits always been treating me well.
Good results, even in Formula One, two times seventh. So, it’s good to be
here, I like the place, like the area. I hear it’s pretty sold out for this
weekend, which is great news so looking forward to start the weekend here.
Q: We’re pretty much at the halfway point of the season. Just wanted to get
your assessment of yours and Renault’s progress in 2018.
NH: I think it’s been OK. Of course, we missed out a few opportunities and
results here and there. Sometimes technical issues, sometimes just with
having a few difficult weekends. I feel the last two, three, four weekends
have not been brilliant for us, we’ve always had a little hiccup somewhere
and we’ve given away a little bit – but I think that’s just how it goes.
Over 21 races it’s really hard to be perfect all the time. I think in the
bigger picture, we’re fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, which is
pretty decent. We have more developments in the pipeline over the next few
weeks, which hopefully puts us in a good direction for the rest of the
season. Obviously, we want to be more competitive and stay where we are.
Q: Neither car was in Q3 at Silverstone. Did that track reveal the car’s
shortcoming?
NH: Not necessarily. I think it’s a little bit track dependent. We feel
Silverstone wasn’t great for our car. It was just a little bit difficult. We
were boxed in a bit, we felt. Before that we’ve been to Q3 many times. Not
all the time. It’s not always the most important in the midfield battle.
Sometimes it’s actually good to be outside and on a different strategy, to
upset a little bit. Of course, we’re pushing at Renault, everybody, to make
the car more competitive, faster, trying to keep a gap in the midfield
battle. But it’s really tight and it is track-specific. So one track suits
better Haas or Force India, the next weekend the Toro Rosso is faster. I
think, on balance, us as Renault, we have been pretty consistent.
Q: You say the team is working hard to put performance on the car – so how
much quicker is the car than it was in Melbourne?
NH: It’s hard to quantify in terms of lap-time – but for sure we’ve
developed the car since. There’s been quite a few new parts since. Here and
there, some little things. It’s hard to measure – but if you see the gap to
the top three teams, then you still think ‘that’s too big’. We don’t like
that, but they’re doing at the same time, an amazing job and it’s really
hard to catch-up. Yeah, especially as race drivers you always feel you want
more. You want it quicker, you’re impatient. This weekend we had some stuff
which I’m excited to try tomorrow and see how it goes.
Q: Sergio, coming to you. We’re doing a bit of a half-term report. So, tell
us, what’s your assessment of yours and Force India’s season so far?
Sergio PÉREZ: It’s been a bit up and down in the first half of the season.
We were expecting more, up until now but we’re certainly improving; getting
closer to the top of the midfield battle. I think we’re definitely getting
closer and improving there. Still a long way to go and we should be in a
good position. We’re certainly making good progress. I think the season has
started quite slow for us but then we made some good progress and I think
right now we are in a good position to start fighting for good points.
Q: So, who do you feel you’re battling with at the minute. Can you go, on
performance terms, toe-to-toe, with the guy on your left, for example?
SP: I certainly think so. I think there is a good chance. Definitely the
midfield battle, as Nico described, is so much track dependent,
track-to-track, small margins so everything down to the Sunday y’know? To
the Sunday afternoon. There’s a lot to gain, even if you don’t have a great
qualifying, there are still plenty of points that are valuable there. So, I
think we should be in a good position. I still think fourth place is
possible for us in the Constructors’, so that’s the main target.
Sebastian, first thoughts, concerning these new spec, 2017-spec cars really.
It’s the first time we’ve used them here at Hockenheim. How much of a
different experience will it be, compared to 2016 with the old-spec cars?
Sebastian VETTEL: I think it should be more fun. Cars are faster, faster
mostly, or mainly in the corners, so I think it’s always great if the cars
are faster. I think here you have some corners, high-speed corners – Turn
One and also the entry to the stadium, which, yeah, they should be a lot
more fun – but also the medium-speed sections around the track. I think
generally the cars are better, more fun to drive, so it should be better,
more enjoyable than two years ago. And hopefully we are more competitive –
that’s also more enjoyable!
Q: Pole position in 2016 was 1m14.3s. How much do you believe you might be
able to shave off that this weekend?
SV: We’ll see. I think it’s not always straightforward to compare. I think
the cars are faster, as we mentioned, but we also obviously but a lot of
downforce on, so we lose a bit of speed down the straights – but I think we
should be faster. We also have the ultrasoft this weekend for qualifying, so
yeah, how much I don’t know but by quite a bit. As I said, the faster you
go, the more fun it is.
Q: You’re leading the Drivers’ Championship; Ferrari leading the
Constructors’ Championship. The development curve at Ferrari this year has
been very impressive. Have you noticed a step up in that area compared to
last year?
SV: Well, the team is still improving, still growing. Obviously, the team
has been around for a long time and I have been now part of the team for
three and a half years – but I think we are getting stronger, we have a
very, very good group of people, a good mix of people on board. Yeah, you’re
trying all the time. Sometimes obviously, there’s also the element of the
stuff working better than expected, sometimes it works less than expected
but I think overall, I think you can say over the last two years maybe,
since the last time we were here, that, yeah, I think by the end of 2016 we
had a sort of lock opened, and since then I think there was a certain
momentum starting to keep going and to develop. Since then I think we kept
it going. Obviously the ’17 regs gave us the chance as a team to catch up,
because before we were a bit behind – but since then, also last year, I
think we had a great pace, a great car and we were able to develop it.
Missed a little bit of performance at the end of the year. I think we
learned from that and hopefully we can do it better – which still have to be
seen but I think the car has potential.
Q: You’ve won at the Nürburgring but not here. Would winning here on Sunday
mean more to you than simply 25 points?
SV: Yeah. Absolutely. I think the fact that racing in Germany, I’m afraid
that probably this is the last time for a while, as far as I understand –
which would be a shame to lose one of the classic races, and the fact that
I’m literally from here – it’s just half an hour away were I was born and
grew up – so yeah, the area means a lot to me and it would be great to have
a good weekend.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Sonja Kreye – Speed News) Question for Sebastian. As far as I remember,
Nico Rosberg, when he became World Champion in 2016, he dedicated some of
his success to some mental work that he does, like meditation and hypnosis –
don’t know what he does – but do you also follow something like this? Do you
have a mental routine? Do you do some mental work?
SV: I think it’s a very broad subject: I don’t know what Nico was doing or
not but I think we all have our routines. Some of it is conscious, some of
it – a lot of it – is probably sub-conscious. I think everybody knows from
their own experience that you have some things that you run through before
the start, or before a test, or whenever it gets important, we all have some
sort of routine that we follow. Something that we do different to other
people around us. It’s the same for us. Obviously when it comes to
qualifying on Saturday or preparing the race, I think yes, I have certain
things that I try to go through, I try to visualise and go through the track
and so on. I’m not practising meditation or doing some of things that people
maybe think of when they talk about mental preparation. So, as I said, most
of it I think is a certain routine. We have the qualifying, it’s always the
same things happening, so you know what’s coming and it’s important to be
there, to be sharp, to prepare – but yeah, I think we know what to do.
Q: (Wolfgang Monsehr – Rennsportpresse-Agency ) Two questions for Brendon
Hartley. Number one: is there a regular exchange of info or experience with
your sister team, either you and your Red Bull driver colleagues or
engineers. And question number two: you come from a relatively small
country, New Zealand, but with a very rich motorsport background, starting a
long time ago with Bruce McLaren, Mike Thackwell, Chris Amon etc. You’re
representing Formula 1 as a New Zealander, over in America it’s your
countryman Scott Dixon. Both are totally different championships but
nevertheless do you have with him a regular contact and exchange of
experience – Formula 1 to IndyCar and IndyCar to Formula 1?
BH: OK, so the first question was regarding Toro Rosso and Red Bull. They
are two very separate teams. Obviously we share the same catering, so there
is some crossover and I’m also good friends with Max and Daniel, as I am
with some other drivers in the paddock. The crossover in information is
relatively small but probably not my area to discuss but I’m not well
informed on exactly how much information is passed, but I should mention
that they are two different teams and everything on the Toro Rosso is
manufactured by Toro Rosso in Faenza and in Bicester, where the winds
tunnel. The next question: I am very aware of the rich history and I knew
Chris Amon very well. Especially when I travelled away from New Zealand I
realised how rich the history is and you mentioned Scott Dixon and yeah we
do keep in contact. I think that’s the nature of being from a small country
and flying the flag and we’re all very proud of that. I think we’re not the
only two. It’s fair to say there are many other New Zealand drivers
representing on a very level and yeah, I’m proud to be one of many.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Seb, Lewis’ deal with Mercedes as a two-year
extension was announced today. He’s locked in for two years, you’re at
Ferrari for two years and Max is at Red Bull for two years. Your thoughts on
how the future is lining up?
SV: Well, congrats. I don’t know why it took so long. I think it was pretty
clear. Yeah, no reactions. For me it’s clear, that’s what matters to me and
what the others are doing doesn’t really matter. I have my place and my
mission and what I want to achieve and in all honesty, that’s all that
matters.
Q: (Udo Döring – Darmstädter Echo) As you mentioned, Sebastian, it could be
the last German GP maybe, so another question to both of you who are from
Germany, what are you thinking about this and why do you think it’s so
difficult to keep the grand prix in Germany in these times?
NH: Yeah, of course it would be a big shame, Germany being the car nation
that we are, and to not have a grand prix would be disappointing and sad. I
guess it comes down to commercial questions, simple as that. Germany has a
big history in racing and in Formula 1 in particular. Maybe the nation is a
little bit full or tired or racing, I don’t know, but we’ve always been
around for decades, with Michael, with Mercedes, with Seb, with Nico before.
Germans are a bit spoiled when it comes to that, because we’ve always been
successful, we’ve always been around and I don’t know if it’s an effect of
that, but I think ultimately it’s the commercial aspects that play the
biggest part.
Sebastian, have you got anything to add?
SV: I think it would be a shame to lose the German Grand Prix because it has
so much history. As Nico said, for car manufacturers Germany is well known.
We are a car nation. I think probably it’s to do with the fact that
generally you have to pay money to get a grand prix. Other nations are
prepared to pay money. Other countries are prepared to fund the grand prix
and I think that’s where the main problem is; Germany is not ready to spend
money on having the grand prix, to advertise Formula 1, to advertise racing,
to advertise Germany, to attract people coming here. So I think the view on
that is different to other countries and that’s where probably the problem
is. I mean, I know the track well here, I know the people that work for it
and they are working very hard for the event to get people coming here and
it’s tough for them to actually make some money, because simply they have no
funds backing them up from the county or state or I don’t know the country,
supporting them financially.
Q: (Jo van Burik – Autocar.nl) To follow up on Alan’s question regarding
Lewis’ contract, a question to Seb. The battle between you and Lewis’ has
seemed to bring a lot to Formula 1 over the past few years and this season
most notably. Do you look forward to maybe continuing that for another two
years?
SV: Yeah, with the result the other way round, yeah, I look forward to that.
I think any battle is good. Obviously it’s always great if it’s tight at the
top, it’s always great if you have a lot of cars fighting for podiums, for
wins. Now this year already we have six cars, which is already a lot better,
also being part of it, than the previous years I think some years ago we had
even more cars on the podium, fighting for race wins and so on, so that
would be great to see the gap closing. Normally that’s something that
happens naturally if you just let things be. I don’t know what… obviously
for ’19 we have a small change and ’20 should be fairly stable and then we
see what happens in ’21, but that’s quite far away. But in general it’s
always exciting as a driver if you can fight for points and fight for
podiums and then fight for wins and you want to fight the best and Lewis has
been one of the best since he entered Formula 1, so it’s good to be there.
Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Seb, how different would it be for you if
Charles would be your team-mate instead of Kimi?
SV: I don’t know. I don’t know Charles much. I know him a little bit through
the programme. Kimi is Finnish, Charles is French; I think they are quite
different… or Monegasque. Sorry, sorry… sorry. I like Kimi. I think we get
along. We have never any issue. Sometimes on track. I remember I drove into
him, crashed into him. But I think the way we handle things is very similar,
very straightforward, so I think it’s great to work with and great for the
team, but it’s not my decision so we’ll see what happens.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Seb, we saw after the last race some comments from
Lewis and from Mercedes about the events that happened on the first lap. I
know Lewis has since retracted those comments but do you think, in a way,
that you and Ferrari are getting under Lewis’ and Mercedes’ skin this
season?
SV: I’m not a big fan of getting more out of it than there seems to be. I
think it’s fine, you know. Obviously it was silly to say it but we are
racing and we’ve all been there, it’s never great if you get hit without
doing anything wrong, then it’s also fine to express your opinion, even it’s
not right or reasonable, but it’s human. I think it’s fine, so we shouldn’t…
it’s two weeks ago, we move on.
Q: (Frédéric Ferret – l’Equipe) Seb, if you win on Sunday, do you think it
could change the future of the German Grand Prix? And do you feel more
pressure than usual?
SV: No, more excitement. I hope since we had a bad World Cup that people
didn’t put their flags away and they turn up at the weekend and wave them
for Nico and myself. We get a lot of support. From what I hear it should be
packed, so I’m looking forward to that. Obviously if there is a chance to
win, I want to win and if that helps to keep the grand prix, that’s a bonus.
As I say, it would be a shame to lose it. It would be great to come back
next year, or the year after.
Q: (Luke Smith – Crash.net) Sebastian, following up on Heikki’s question: do
you have a strong preference for Ferrari to keep Kimi for next year or are
you more open-minded than in previous years about your team-mate?
SV: What do you mean ‘previous years’? Well, I like Kimi. As I said, I’d be
happy to continue like that, but it’s not for me to mention, to decide.
Charles, one way or the other, will have a great career. He’s a great guy,
he’s fast, he’s got everything, so yeah, definitely, he has no rush. He’s
young, but if you’re young you’re always in a rush with everything. I don’t
know. I don’t know when, what and ultimately who but as I said it really
doesn’t matter to me. For me it’s clear where I am next but I think both of
them would suit into the team.
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-magazin.com) Seb, on paper, at least two
of the three last races of the triple header we’ve had were a bit more in
favour of the Mercedes. Mercedes said they had the strongest car the last
three races. Do you have the feeling you survived the worst part of the
season now?
SV: No, generally I would agree. I think they had the fastest car in the
last couple of races. I think in Silverstone we were a match. Obviously in
quali we just missed out by a little bit. If it’s within the same tenths I
don’t think you can say one is stronger than the other. I think in the race
also we had good pace, which was great for us, because Silverstone has been
a place where we were weak. The places before they were a bit stronger.
We’ll see how things evolve here. We brought some stuff to Silverstone,
which should also work here. I think it’s a constant chase to find the
advantage and then one track suit you more than others but I think we have a
great car and we still have great potential to make it better.
Q: (Alvero Rodriguez-Martin – Momento GP) Nico, sometimes it seems Carlos
and you struggle more than the other teams with degradation. How do you work
on that and do you expect that to be a problem here?
NH: Maybe at some races that’s true, not every race. Again, I think it
depends a little bit on the track and temperatures. Yes, we had some
problems, I think. It comes down to how your car is using the tyres and I
think there are some cases where our car is quite hard on the tyres and then
we pay a price with degradation. We know about it, we try to address it, we
work on it, it’s a constant subject. I think this weekend here with the
temperatures being very hot is going to be a good test for us to see if
we’ve made some improvements there.
Q: (Walter Koster – Saabrucker Zeitung) Seb, during the last race at
Silverstone your teammate Kimi asked for more power but his engineer refused
his wish. Kimi answered indignantly ‘It’s not permitted for me to think for
myself?’ To what extent can you make your own decisions on track and how
much is decided remotely on your behalf by the team? I can tell you all that
I know a lot of people who don’t watch Formula One because the technology is
too complicated and they feel the races are manipulated. Formula One seems
to be more removed from the fans than before. Do you agree with this, and
please remember my first question?
SV: I don’t remember the question! Yeah, I do remember the question. What
was the question now? I think that what happened in Kimi’s race as far as I
remember was more about strategy, not about engine power or energy so it was
more about strategy. In that situation I think it’s fairly simple, you drive
your car and you have a feeling about your tyres, of where you are in the
race. You’re racing the others around you but you can’t see everything
that’s going on around you which obviously the team on the pit wall can see,
all the cars, all the lap times and if you were going to pit, then they know
where you’re going to come out, which is something which we can’t see
because we can’t see 20 seconds behind us. So I think that was the argument
or misunderstanding at the time. I think yes, I agree with your view that
people get the impression from outside that a lot of it is remotely
controlled but that’s not fair. The cars are very complex, the technology
inside the cars is very complex and it needs more than one or two, three
mechanics which maybe Formula One had 40/50 years ago to run a car. You need
a lot of people. Obviously in terms of technology it’s also very impressive
but my view is also that from outside the engine… most of the car is covered
anyway so you can’t see. Some people… if you’re a tech nerd it’s great but
not everybody is and from the outside you want to see cars fighting, you
want to see cars race and are driven by us to the limit and that’s what
matters. I think there’s always been an interaction between technology and
racecraft, driving the cars, in the past. I think the driver is the key
element to driving the car, even though the technology behind it is
complicated to run but equally it’s not our fault and for the future, I
would love to simplify things so that people get a better impression. But I
can understand why they get the impression. Do I think it’s fair? No it’s
not, because I know I’m driving the car and I know these guys are driving
the cars.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) To all of you: if you owned a Formula One team, would
you spend £40m a year on a driver?
SP: Yeah, I would hire myself!
NH: I agree with you, it’s a good way out! I think an individual driver can
make the difference and be worth that. It’s possible, yeah.
Q: Brendon, how important is the driver these days?
BH: I guess the question was is if you’d pay 40 million but I guess it
depends on the budget and which currency. Total budget and currency It’s a
good answer by Sergio, look after ourselves if we’re still driving.
Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – Volksrant) Sebastian, you’re the World Championship
leader driving a Ferrari, still the future of German Grands Prix is unclear.
Getting back to the remark of Nico, I’m curious: are the Germans too spoilt
regarding F1 wins, especially during the Schumacher era? What is your
opinion on that?
SV: Well, by the sounds of it you’re Dutch so… I think Nico has a very valid
point, I think it’s normal that if something happens for the first time
there’s a lot of excitement and I think in Germany Michael was the one that
kicked off Formula One and made Formula One popular. Now it’s different in
different countries. I think in the UK for example, for some reason… they
invented racing maybe, they always had great racing drivers, no matter what
era. Now in the Netherlands, if you look, obviously Max… there’s a certain
boom is created for us, all of us, all the drivers because there’s a lot of
fans coming. Obviously for him it’s fantastic but also for all of us and
also for Formula One, we all benefit from it because people are very excited
about Formula One. We can see that in a lot of places in Europe mostly but
yeah, in Spa but also Austria it was great to see. For Germany, I think it’s
true that Michael was the one that probably had that boom initially and
since then, obviously, it’s great for Germany to have German drivers. We had
a time, I think, when we had five or six Germans. Eight? A lot of German
drivers on the grid, now it’s only Nico and myself. I think that’s something
that’s going up and down but yeah, it’s probably true. Then in general,
Germans are a little bit difficult to get excited. I think other nations are
a bit easier to trigger in that regard so maybe that’s also one of the
things but as a I said, I hope that because of the fact that we failed in
football this year that people saved a little bit of money on barbecues and
so on and they can come here and go camping this weekend. Weather’s supposed
to be great.
Q: (Jo Klausmann – Racingline.hu) Nico, you surely followed the record runs
of Porsche with the 919 Evolution car in Spa and the Nordschleife. Question:
would you have liked to have driven that car and would you like to do
something similar with an evolution Formula One Renault?
NH: Yeah, I would have liked to drive that car but I would have been way off
the record or the pace, you know. You really need an expert for the
Norschleife there. Timo was perfectly qualified for that, I’m not. I’ve done
a few laps there but it’s a crazy circuit and you probably watched the
on-board and you see how bumpy it is, how dynamic. It’s a hell of thing and
the speed he goes, it’s pretty insane, positively insane and a cool thing to
do by Porsche to go and crack a few track records and do some funky stuff.
Yeah, very tempting. I know that car, obviously, but in that conversion it
must be so much fun and cool. The thing with a Formula One, we would be
struggling with ride heights and damper travel and stuff.
SV: We can resurface the track. It’s the fashion these days, so re-surface
the Nordschleife. Let’s go there.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS.nl) For all drivers: if you would change something in
Formula One or you could say let’s keep it more or less the same, what would
you do? Would you be open to reverse grids? Two races in one weekend for
instance?
SP: I think we have a great sport. My main target would be to make it more
competitive. At the moment we seem to have got used to talking about two
groups in Formula One, whether they are a midfield group and the front
runners. I would like to make it a lot closer so that everyone can have the
chance to fight for victories or podiums and I think that would make the
sport a lot bigger.
BH: The reverse grid would have helped me the last few races. I think it’s a
good point from Sergio that the top three teams are obviously out of reach
but actually the midfield battle is really really good but if we could be a
bit closer that would be a way. I don’t know about the technology point that
was raised before. I personally like the fact that Formula One has always
pushed the limits of technology and I like being involved in that but I
guess just making it in a way where the fans can understand it a bit more. I
know, for example, the engine regulations are very tricky to understand,
even for the team members sometimes so maybe a bit more simplicity in
certain areas.
NH: I think we want to have more racing, more wheel-to-wheel action, guys
battling all over the field for corners and I think the aero has become very
dominant; it always has been but especially now maybe more and that
obviously doesn’t create the best racing so if there is a way to
desensitize, keep the performance but lose that characteristic of the cars
to allow a car to be close. Make a move now, it’s really frustrating
sometimes, you make an effort you know you can get behind the car but as
soon as you get there it’s like somebody’s pulling the plug and you’re left
with not much then, your tyres overheat and it’s a downward spiral. So
anything to fight that would help to make a better show, more racing and it
would close the field like Checo says.
SV: I think they’re all valid points. Probably the first action: double the
cylinders, take the batteries out, maybe we need one to start the car,
that’s enough usually.
Q: Sebastian, your reaction to two races in a weekend?
SV: No, no, I think the format is fine. I think it’s wrong to look at
changing the format. It’s not my decision so it’s a bit pointless to talk
about it but I wouldn’t be a fan. I think it has been like that for a long
time for a reason. I think the 300 kilometer Grand Prix is a Grand Prix. If
you should make it half, then maybe for some people then a boring race is
only half as boring but that’s not the way I look it. I think it’s a
challenge, it’s a Grand Prix distance and it’s something that… you do your
first race and you’re surprised by how long the race can be and that’s a
physical and mental challenge for that duration and I think it would be…
yeah, if it becomes a sprint race, I think it would be a different sport in
a way and I wouldn’t mess with the format. I think we need to find other
ways to get excitement and get the grid together and whatever but not the
format. |