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Italian GP: Friday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
06/09/2013

Stefano, as it's your home race, I'll start with you if I might. First of all, we've had two practice sessions today. Have we seen the same sort of upturn here as you had in Spa in terms of your performance and can you maintain that through the rest of the weekend?
Stefano Domenicali: From what we have seen today, for sure above all in the second session, Red Bull seems to be very strong. I have to say, we have seen them doing a lap time immediately, so normally this is a good sign. Therefore, I am expecting, for sure, them to be very strong, and I'm sure the other team surrounding me they were a little bit doing some other stuff. I think it will be a tough weekend, for everyone, because with this kind of temperature also the car will be under pressure. At the end of the day we need to understand all the data we have collected and make sure that we have selected the right configuration for the car for tomorrow and this is really the work that the engineers will do tonight. I really hope that we can do a good weekend because in front of our people it will be very important and of course, as we know, if you want to put the pressure on the guys who are in front of us we need to try to be faster and faster and it is not enough to try to be very close to them in case they have an issue and then be ready, otherwise we will; lose our opportunities.

Thanks very much, Stefano. Graeme, yesterday Max Chilton told us of his hopes of staying with the team. What chances are there of that? Where are you in terms of drivers for next year and how important is your position in the Constructors' Championship - that 10th place?
Graeme Lowdon: Well, we're all competitive people so every position is important and we want to maintain that 10th place and given half a chance move forward as well. So that's really important. As far as drivers, it's kind of this period onwards when we really start to make some key decisions. Typically it's a lot later in the year that we make any announcements but both drivers have done an extremely good job and at times under quite difficult circumstances. There's a very good harmony in the team and a good team spirit and it would be nice to maintain that but let's wait and see.

Monisha, Sauber have had a very close relationship with Mexico for a few years now, so how important is the Mexican Grand Prix, which is on the draft calendar we have seen this weekend?
Monisha Kaltenborn: It's very important, not only for us a team but for Formula One itself, because we know that Latin America, generally America, is a very important market, so it attracts new partners as well. As far as our partner is concerned, it just shows that the strategy they have with motorsport is being implemented step by step. It was about the drivers coming into Formula One and the next logical step is hosting a race there. So I think it's a great step.

It's important for the team?
MK: It's important for the team because we could see already in Austin last year, we felt like it was a home grand prix there if you could just hear people chant Checo's name. So I'm sure it's going to be a great atmosphere.

Ross, the team has emerged very much as title contenders, but still a big gap to Red Bull Racing. How long can you maintain your challenge before it starts impacting on next year?
Ross Brawn: I think it depends on what work you're talking about. Obviously work that is unique to the current car would be taking away from next year's programme. If it's work that is still relevant for next year of course we're still keen to develop ideas and continue with developments that would be relevant for next year. Those sort of micro-decisions are going on all the time with what we should or shouldn't do. I think I said we'll have a clearer picture after Singapore about our emphasis going from Singapore until the end of the season. I think Spa, a medium-low downforce circuit, Monza, a very low drag circuit, and Singapore, a high downforce circuit, after that mix we'll see where we are. There's very little variability left now in terms of what we can move from '13 to '14 and vice versa, so our programme is pretty set and we think we've got a programme that is not compromising the '14 car at all.

Christian, historically Monza has been quite difficult for you in the past, for Red Bull Racing. What are you expecting this weekend? How good has it been in FP1 and FP2, certainly FP2 looked amazing today, especially the long runs. How do you feel the team is making an impact here?
Christian Horner: We've had a strong start to the weekend, particularly in free practice two. We've worked through a programme and obviously the drivers are tuning themselves into the circuit and fine-tuning set-ups as well for the rest of the weekend. Monza traditionally, bar 2011, has been a difficult hunting ground for us and has exposed some of our weaknesses in previous years, but we just have to do the best that we can. For sure we know that Ferrari will be quick here. We know that Mercedes will be certainly quick and McLaren aren't too fare away either this weekend. I think it's set to be a very competitive grand prix and we've seen so many times that Friday means very little, so hopefully we can be on the podium here. That would be a strong result for us here.

Martin, great celebrations for the 50th anniversary of McLaren. Where do see the current team standing in that heritage?
Martin Whitmarsh: I haven't thought about it that way. I think this isn't the way we want to celebrate the 50th year of McLaren but I think we're immensely proud of what's been achieved over that time and it's been quite incredible how we've been able to grow that business. We'd like to be being more competitive - it's a very hero to zero business. So to come out this year, as tough as it's been, we've been able to pull ourselves a little bit back but we're not with the quicker cars, yet. I think over the last couple of months we've had an unusual situation. Certainly for many years, this time of year we've been fighting for wins or championships and we've been devoting probably too much resource to the here and now and not enough to the next year. We're very clear [now] that we're very concentrated on next year. That's made it quite tough on the race team and the drivers. As we're racers we can't come to a race event without parts to try so Fridays have been experimental days, probably been difficult for the drivers then to do the set-up work they'd like to. But we gather data and we've been able to use the experimental day of Friday to make a little bit of progress and we're probably going to keep doing that because we can't afford to detract from next year's programme in the principal development facilities - wind tunnel, CFD and the like. So I think the team has responded to a kick up the pants we've had for ourselves. The team has pulled together, although we don't like going motor racing without the real prospect of winning. I think we are very close as a team. I think we are working well together under difficult circumstances and we're determined to do a better job in the coming races. But really focused on making sure we come out next year very, very strong.

And would you like a brief word on Mexico as well?
MW: I think Monisha put it very well. It was amazing Texas last year that you felt you were actually in Mexico, not in Texas, although maybe other parts of Texas feel that occasionally as well. It's clear that there's a huge passion there. Some of us, I think Ross at least, remember going to Mexico quite a few years ago. We know it's entertaining, different and certainly passionate, so it's good for the sport. It's a huge and exciting market for Formula One and for some of the teams.

Questions From The Floor

We now have one official candidate for the FIA Presidency elections happening in December. I know that you guys don't have any input on the vote but I would like your opinions on both the elections and the candidate himself.

Stefano?
SD: I heard today that there was a programme announced by the candidate for the presidency. Of course I haven't had the chance to read it but I will do it in the next days. I think that in Formula One it's important to proceed with stability and continuity - it's one of the things that we are always missing. So, I believe that what is important to keep as a relation with the FIA is this kind of thing and so therefore I would like to see this happening - but of course it is not us that will decide that. That's it really.

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