28/08/2020
NEWS STORY
Today's press conference with Guenther Steiner, Christian Horner and Toyoharu Tanabe.
Guenther, first of all, a quick resume of FP1 and the problems that both of your drivers had please.
Guenther Steiner: The resume is very quick because we didn't do a lap. We had both engine issues, non-related one between the two of them and we have to change engines now for FP2 and hopefully we can get it done in time.
Let's talk about some positive news. Haas has signed the Concorde Agreement last week. In the weeks and months leading up to that, how concerned were you about the future and what were your conversations with Gene Haas throughout all that?
GS: I personally was not concerned. I worked hard to present a case which works for Mr Haas, you know? Because it still makes sense to use Formula 1 as a global marketing tool for his company. We just needed to reduce costs and get more efficient and that's what I did in the time we had off in the pandemic at home, working hard on plans, how to help finance the teams and how to do the next five years. And then, I presented that to him, and it took him a few weeks to think about it and he decided he wants to continue because it still works for his company.
...and of course the deal means that you can now start planning things like driver line-ups. Have those conversations started, and can you give us the strengths of Romain and Kevin please?
GS: No, the conversations haven't started yet because I always said I wanted to first to get the Concorde deal done - or we want to get the Concorde deal done, and then we think about it. Gene hopefully comes to some of the next races and then I can sit down with him and discuss our drivers, or what he will do for the future, which direction we go. I think their strengths are they are both experienced drivers now. They are both with us a long time, Romain even a year longer that Kevin and in the end they did a good job for us - but sometimes you need change. But we don't know. I'm not saying here that we change them: I just don't know what we're going to do. I'm not thinking a lot about that one right now. That will come as well to sit down with Gene and have discussions with him and then for sure he will have his ideas and we'll put everything together and come up with a solution for it.
Christian, coming to you, on the subject of the Concorde Agreement, you signed it first in Barcelona. What was it about the agreement that prompted you to commit so quickly?
Christian Horner: Well, I think we've been talking about this agreement for almost two years now so you have to take a holistic view on these things. I think we'd reached a point where the agreement was what it was and you've got to take a view on it. Liberty have been very clear since the beginning. It's been a lot less fun negotiating with Chase than with Bernie but he's been scrupulously fair and so I think there is a different distribution now, with things like the cost cap and a more even spread of distribution. Teams like Haas will certainly benefit from that. From a Red Bull perspective, obviously, seeing how Liberty have been running the sport the last few years, it feels like commercially they're going in the right direction and this agreement feels less binding than other agreements that we've signed in the past but it's more of a partnership I would say. It's now down to the teams to work collectively with the promoter to improve the show and the appeal of Formula 1. And this is an opportunity by all the participants signing to that to work collectively on that.
Now, looking at this season, we've just had the 17-race calendar confirmed. Given that you're behind in the points, Max 37 points behind Lewis Hamilton, how significant is it that extra races have been added? How beneficial to you?
CH: Well, hopefully it helps! Obviously there's still a long way to go. Usually after what would have been the summer break we'd have had nine or so races left, now we've got 11. It's just great to be racing and obviously every measure and precaution is taken to keep Formula 1 active and going to some interesting new circuits. Circuits that we haven't been to for many years. The last time I was in Mugello I was racing there in 1997. I just hope we do a little better than I did then. To go back to Imola, Nurburgring, Istanbul, again another great circuit, so there's some good challenges coming up. I think the races come thick and fast. Hopefully we can put more performance on the car and it'll be nice to have more days like we had at Silverstone a few weeks ago.
Tanabe-san, starting with the Concorde Agreement, both Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri have committed to Formula 1 for the next five years. Are Honda going to do the same?
Toyoharu Tanabe: As a PU manufacturer, we are not involved in this. I think it's a good thing all teams signed to the agreement for the next five years. Regarding your question, I'm taking care of the trackside technical things. I'm not involved in the discussion for the Honda future - but I know that talks are ongoing.
Looking to next weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, there are going to be restrictions on the power unit modes that can be used. What will be the effect of that on how Honda operates over a race weekend?
TT: It happened very fast and actually we are working on how to operate our PU in the qualifying and the race - I mean with the same mode. We need to consider the performance and the reliability, balancing and then, as you said, we have 17 races now confirmed. We need to make a picture to the end of this season, so how to use the PU and how to compete in each race.
Video Conference
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) Question for Christian and Guenther please. Christian, you referenced the fact that there was less of a commitment in this particular Concorde. There are constant comments about it being a five-year commitment, is it not more a case of it being a one year commitment for a five-year period? In other words an annual decision that can be taken before the end of March each year? And the other question is, did this particular element make it any easier to sign the Concorde Agreement?
CH: Obviously Dieter, as you well know, the agreement is strictly confidential between the teams and the commercial rights holder, so I'm not going to divulge any of the information within that agreement. But I think that previously parent company guarantees have had to be provided which hasn't been the case in this agreement, so it obviously makes it a lot more tenable in certain areas. It's, as I say, important to see the agreement as a collaboration that we all work for the benefit of Formula 1 to make sure that the product improves, that the racing improves and as a result the stakeholders, the fans, get a better product out of it.
GS: The only thing to add to what Christian just said there - which is completely correct - it's also that you have to see it as... the teams are pretty big, even with the budget cap, the teams will be still big and you cannot plan just months ahead because then you will never be successful. The practical issue of it is that, even if there is a theoretical out, you can do it but you cannot plan for it. Because if you plan for that one, you will not be successful and you will just be wasting your time and money by going year-by-year. So, I think it's as good as it gets and I think most of the teams see it as a five-year agreement, not with the intention to stop it any earlier.
(Christian Nimmervoll - motorsport.com) Question to Christian. You've had Sebastian Vettel in your team between 2010 and 2013 when he was winning all those championships with blown diffuser cars, pre-hybrid. Do you think part of his struggle at the moment is the formula has changed, and that was a particular formula, those blown diffuser cars, that suited him?
CH: Not really. I mean, Sebastian drove with refuelling, no refuelling, blown diffusers, no diffusers, F-Ducts, no F-Ducts, DRS, no DRS so, he drove a whole variance of different cars over the years and obviously what he achieved in the period during those years with Red Bull was quite special. I think he's the third most successful driver in the history of the sport and he's achieved some incredible things - many records which will stand for some time. For whatever reason, things aren't working for him at the moment. I think any driver has to be happy in their environment and you can see that he's carrying quite a lot of weight on his shoulders and that has a bearing on any sportsman, on any athlete. I don't think we're seeing the real Sebastian Vettel at the moment. He's obviously having a difficult time with the product that he has at the moment - but yeah, you can't take away anything that he's achieved, obviously, in his career to date.
(Andrew Benson - BBC) Christian, you had high hopes of challenging Mercedes this year. What's gone wrong? Why is the car not performing as well as you'd hoped? And how concerning is it this repeated pattern of starting seasons slowly?
CH: I think Mercedes have done a great job over the closed season. They've come out with a very competitive car. We're still splitting the Mercedes at the moment which is a phenomenal achievement by Max and yeah, we are working very hard to close that down - but they are a big machine, a well-oiled machine, a well-funded machine and obviously, as a package they're doing a very, very good job at the moment, so we're working very hard, we've had a good run of results and obviously we want to close that gap down because it's not just this year, it's also next year that it applies to. I think hopefully we have stuff in the pipeline, hopefully a better understanding of some of our issues from earlier in the year which will see a stronger vein of development could through onto the car.
Check out our Friday gallery from Spa, here.
(Luke Smith - Autosport) Question to all three. We've had the announcement about 20 minutes ago that Bahrain, for the second race, will be using the outer, oval-style layout for that circuit. Can I just get your reaction to that - and how impressed have you been with how creative F1 has managed to get with this year's calendar, given all the challenges that have been put in place?
GS: I haven't looked at any detail of the new circuit layout in Bahrain - but I think it's a very nice thing if you're staying two times in the same place to have a different circuit layout, if it is two in Bahrain, is doable. I think that will be good - also for the spectators on TV, to see how it works. The more important thing is how Liberty dealt with this, to find locations and to dig deep to find the places to go, which are new, which makes it interesting for the rest of the season. For this season, it's fantastic. For sure, there's a lot of work involved in very short periods of time and financially it all needs to work as well. I think it was a difficult task but they dealt with it very good. It's like as Christian said before, going to race tracks you haven't been to for a long time, it's actually very nice. It's something new, something to think about, something different - so for the spectators and for us I think it's just a very good achievement from them.
CH: We're always so welcome in Bahrain and they've got a great facility there so the fact that we're using an oval is really interesting. It's a big different for Formula 1. Honda - Tanabe-san - has a great deal more experience of oval racing having just won the Indianapolis 500 last weekend. We'll be looking to benefit and draw on all of their experience and knowledge and, I have to say, congratulations to Honda on that 1-2-3 finish in Indianapolis last weekend. I don't think it's going to be an Indianapolis-type circuit but I think the challenge of an oval type layout, that part of the circuit is going to be different. It's going to be a short lap and should be exciting. So yeah, we're looking forward to it.
TT: I think it's good to have a different type of track at the same place. Christian gave me a big pressure to improve our performance in the new layout - so it's a challenge. We work on the simulation and improve our PU management to achieve the maximum performance at the circuit.
(Erik van Haren - De Telegraaf) Christian, there are lots of stories and opinions about Alex Albon and the way he struggles besides Max Verstappen. You defend him and try to give him confidence. Is there a different approach from you guys towards Alex, compared to Pierre Gasly last year?
CH: Well everybody's obviously got an opinion on this topic but they don't have really the facts. So I think that Alex is doing a good job in what's been a difficult car this year. It's a different car to last year, I'd say the car's harder to drive than 12 months ago. When he got in the car 12 months ago he did a much stronger job than Pierre had done up to that point in the year. I think Alex has got a lot of talent that obviously we haven't seen come to the surface yet. His racing has been very strong on a Sunday but he's struggled with the car over a single lap. And, of course, Max has been so strong at getting the most out of the car. You think back to some of the great drivers, whether it's a Schumacher or a Senna, and being a driver alongside those guys was very tough. I think that's a similar situation that the seat alongside Max has at the moment. Alex is only going to get better: he's still pretty young and inexperienced. This is only his second season of F1 racing and we're doing all that we can to support him and develop him. And as we've seen, this is a driver that nearly won the first race of the year. Strategically we were sharp. He obviously got turned-around by Lewis that race. He was fighting for the podium and should have been on the podium in Brazil at the end of last year. I think he'll have more Sundays like that in the coming races where he's competing and fighting for podium finishes on merit. So, the team has confidence in him and belief in him and we're happy with our choice.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) For Christian and Guenther. One of the criticisms of the previous commercial agreement was that the fact that it didn't treat all of the teams equally. Could you two gentlemen please confirm that the current Concorde Agreement, in other words the '21 to '25 Concorde does treat everybody equally, with the exception of Ferrari who get their 5% and of course the protection right, or veto, as it is called. Does everybody else get treated exactly the same?
GS: I think it is a difficult answer, because the prize money is divided by your position you finish, so if I say it's equal it isn't right to say that. The rest of it is like everything has got a value and I think it is as equal as it can be for the show we are putting on. For sure, the smaller teams will be never happy until they get more and it gets 'inequal' in their favour. As far as going into details, I don't want to here, of the commercial agreement, it's between the parties, but I think it was made a big step from the last one to this one. To make 10 people completely happy, which are structured different between the 10 of us, is almost impossible, so I think it was a good step made in that direction and I guess everybody was happy, because everybody signed it. Because if somebody wasn't happy, they wouldn't have signed it, Dieter.
CH: I think it's a fair agreement. I think as Guenther has pointed out if people didn't like it, they wouldn't have signed it. I think that everybody is treated equally. I'm sure in your world Dieter all journalists should be the same as well. So, the details of the content of the agreement is going to remain confidential between the parties and that's the way it will remain.
GS: I'm sure Dieter, if he has the choice, he would like to be treated better than the other ones. It's what I said before: you will never have everybody happy, so I think it is quite a good agreement for us. And Dieter will get more than all the other journalists anyway.
(Edd Straw - The Race) A question for Tanabe-san, please. On the Bahrain Outer Circuit, how big a challenge is that track going to be for the engines, in terms of lots of full throttle, quite demanding and also establishing a good ERS recovery strategy for the whole lap? Is it going to be particularly difficult?
TT: I haven't looked at the layout at all. Once we receive the detail, we will analyse and consider how to use the PU, in terms of an engine reliability point of view because of the high load, wide open and also the energy management. We will see.
(Julien Billiotte - Auto Hebdo) A question fro Christian. You kept a fairly low profile on the Racing Point saga. What does Red Bull make of Renault's decision to withdraw their appeals and are you as confident as they seem to be that the 2021 regulations will prevent a repeat of the RP20?
CH: I'm sure that Renault must have confidence that will be dealt with in the forthcoming presentation of regulations for 2021 onwards. Otherwise I can't believe that they would have withdrawn that appeal. I haven't had any discussions with Renault to understand their rationale behind withdrawing, but one can only assume that they must have that confidence that this issue is going to be fully addressed. From a Red Bull perspective, it's just important for us, because we just want to know what is allowed and what isn't, because Red Bull uniquely own 100% of two teams. There's not another two teams in that situation. So of course if the Racing Point model is allowed, we will go that route and turn up with four identical looking cars next year. But I believe that in what has been agreed and in what is presented and which will be voted on has addressed that.
(Andrew Benson - BBC, via email) You've changed frontal aero philosophy this year, adopting a cape rather than J-vanes. Is this partly the cause of the problems with the car's unpredictable behaviour and do you and Adrian Newey believe that the high-rake philosophy has been proven now to be the wrong route given Mercedes' success?
CH: Not really, because I think Mercedes have been raising and raising their rear ride height. If you look at how much it has increased over the last few years, it's not a long way off where we are. So I would disagree with that comment. These cars are incredibly complicated aerodynamically now. You have only got to look at the components that make up a barge board, a front wing, the underside of a front wing and inevitably sometimes you can get things that don't work in perfect harmony or in different conditions. I think we have got a decent understanding of what hasn't been behaving on the car and have some hopefully good, positive steps in the pipeline. Our priority at the moment is to try to get the most out of this weekend and see what it brings. It looks like there could be some interesting weather on Sunday and that could also introduce another factor.
(Joe Saward - Autoweek) I've got a question for Guenther on the Ferrari engine performance. Does it make sense for the team to talk to Renault, who don't have any partners in the future and might be looking for one?
GS: It would be very difficult for us, how we are set up in the moment, to make a quick change. It would need to be made over a few seasons. It cannot be made, for example, for next year or something like this. At the moment we go through the tough times with Ferrari and hopefully we can both get out at the end in a better state and that is what we are doing at the moment.
Tanabe-san a question for you. Looking at the list of power unit components used so far this season, Honda appears to have used the most. Do you have reliability concerns for the remainder of this year?
TT: No. We are working on our PU usage plan, according to the current allowed number of PUs. It looks like more than the other PU manufacturers but we have no plan to take a penalty because of the new unit introduction. So far we are on schedule.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) Guenther, you previously said that until there was clarity about the number of races for this season and also for the future of the team there wouldn't be any upgrades in the pipeline. Now that we know how many races there are going to be - there are going to be 17 - now that you have signed the Concorde for next year, where next year's car is basically based on this year's car, will you now be embarking on an upgrade programme this year?
GS: Not for this year, Dieter. We are not planning any upgrades this year. For sure, next year we need to do some stuff because the aero regulations changed to reduce the loads for the rear tyres. We are working on that but for this year we haven't planned anything. We would run out of time anyway. If you had started now to designs something, wind tunnel test it and then produce it, it would make very little sense to make, because it would maybe two or three races. We decided not to do any upgrades this year and just focus on next year and then on the new regulation in 2022, which is our biggest opportunity in the mid-term.
Check out our Friday gallery from Spa, here.