11/12/2020
NEWS STORY
Today's press conference with Zak Brown, Otmar Szafnauer and Cyril Abiteboul.
Cyril, perhaps we could start with you. How come you're not able to join us here inside the paddock?
Cyril Abiteboul: I guess... well, first I'm not very far because I'm just sitting outside the paddock in a room. I guess maybe a sign of these times and of this year, I arrived a bit late so I have to go through the process of waiting for some results to come to be able to join my comrades for the last race of the season.
But I'm sure you kept up to speed with what was going on during FP1. Could you just confirm for us what the problem for Daniel was please?
CA: My understanding - and I was not in the garage - is that it's a fuel pump, so not related to the power unit even if obviously it cut fuel flow - so no damage to the power unit that was anyway going to be changed for FP2 or for tomorrow. So I'm still waiting to hear back from that. It's unfortunately a problem that happened before but a problem that should have no further impact for the remainder of the weekend.
And while we're talking Daniel Ricciardo, this is of course, his last weekend with the team. Can you sum-up what he's given you and what you'll miss about him?
CA: Well, he's given a lot. What he's given first and foremost as a driver, he's been remarkable, in particular this year. I think there is no doubt about the progression of the team this year. It's very much a credit to Daniel who's been clearly leading the charge of the team and behind him a group of people and a group of mechanics and engineers who are doing a remarkable job on track. Off-track, obviously we know Daniel is a great ambassador, is a team leader. He has clearly been instrumental to the changes that we've done last year when we had altogether a disappointing season. So, I'll say that frankly when he joined we knew that it would take a bit of time, that he was not coming into a turnkey organisation. I think I remember those exact words said to Daniel back in the first meeting back in 2018. It was not a turnkey organisation but he made an impact and we are so different today to what we were two years and a half ago when we decided to form this partnership. So, in that respect, frankly, it has delivered. It has delivered positively and the irony in all of this is that I believe we are a much stronger team now and he will have to race a much stronger team next year and obviously all of that we will be missing but y'know, we're also glad to see him in a great team and we look forward to an exciting battle against McLaren and Daniel next year.
Zak and Otmar, a great battle for P3 in the Constructors' Championship is going to be settled this weekend. Zak, perhaps we could start with you. McLaren ten points behind Racing Point. How confident are you of overturning that deficit?
Zak Brown: I think it's going to be very tough. I think they've had a faster car all year. The points swings in the last few races have been quite big but I think on outright pace it will be difficult. I think all the men and women at McLaren this year have done a fantastic job of designing and building and manufacturing a competitive race car and I think our goal coming into the year was to just take a step forward on performance from last season. I think we've done that - and whether that ends up third, fourth or fifth in the Championship - Renault's very close and and also very competitive - we'll see what happens this weekend, but regardless of the final Constructors' Championship, I think the team's done an outstanding job and all credit to them for another step forward in our journey to try to get back to the front of the field.
Otmar, if I could throw this question to you as well, what would it mean for Racing Point to finish P3?
Otmar Szafnauer: Well, it's not going to be easy. I think Zak is absolutely right, we've had great points swings in the last two races and that could very well happen here. We just have to keep our heads down and do a good job this weekend, make sure we have a normal race weekend and we'll see where we finish. It would be a tremendous accomplishment if we could finish P3 but by no means will it be easy. It will be tough.
And Otmar. If I could just throw it back to last weekend. You've had a long career in Formula 1. Was that one-three at Sakhir your greatest moment so far?
OS: I think so. Second race win, first time ever of a double podium. Absolutely. For some teams it's a regular occurrence, for ours it isn't, so when it does happen, for sure it's a great moment.
Zak, just coming back to you, Carlos' last race with McLaren. How would you sum-up his contribution over these past couple of years?
ZB: Carlos has done an outstanding job I think. We would never have signed him if we didn't think he was an excellent grand prix driver. I think it's fair to say he exceeded our expectations. I think he really came into his own in our environment. He's done an outstanding job and he and Lando have helped lead the way these last couple of years - but as you know, in a racing team, your drivers are the superstars, they've been big contributors, so have everyone at McLaren to give them a good, reliable race car. Renault's been a good partner, so it's all really coming together and Carlos and Lando have made the most of the opportunity.
Video Conference
(Edd Straw - The Race) Question for Cyril please. Obviously there's been a of talk about Alonso driving in the test but setting that discussion aside, how much benefit do you think he'll get from a day in the car. I guess he'll - as well as learning more about the car itself, he'll be working with what will largely be his car crew for next season, so quite a useful exercise in gathering information for him and also you about him.
CA: Yeah, absolutely - and I appreciate there has been lots of buzz around that. We started the year with some controversy, we finish the year with another type of controversy but it's good. It keeps the sport alive also. It's very much a human thing that we're doing for Fernando. When we decided with Fernando and Fernando also decided to come back to Formula 1, he's been very clear that he wanted to have as much mileage as possible under his belt before next year. As you know, the regulation put a clear limit to that, so we've done quite a lot, four days with a two years old car and also we thought it would be a nice thing to be able to do that with a current car. We asked, frankly, and the FIA approve it, as simple as that. And that will be an opportunity for him to so see the evolution in two years because a two-years old car we've also spec'd a detuned engine, with tyres that are demo tyres, that are not really representative. It's good - but that will be much more representative of what we expect next year. So, y'know, the car will be changing more than people tend to report for next year with a small change to the aerodynamics which is something that we can't test next week. So, that will be the same for everyone. Now but for the rest it's about him getting into the team, understanding our process, our procedures, the steering wheels and also getting familiar with his engineers and I understand that the dynamic is already very, very good, very, very strong to have as much as possible a good start next year. Bearing in mind we have only three days of Winter Test in February or March.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) To all three of the representatives please. Red Bull and AlphaTauri have got a very close cooperation through their Technologies department. Mercedes and Racing Point are increasingly forging a closer relationship and now Ferrari and Haas are entering into some form of technical partnership whereby the cars will be designed and developed in Maranello in a separate office. Is this the right way forward for Formula 1? And then, specifically to Zak and Cyril, is it a matter of 'to beat them, you've got to join them'?
ZB: There's obviously seen a lot on this topic this year. I think we've seen, at the extreme, what it's capable of producing. I think we feel strongly that it's a Constructors' Championship: you need to design, build, manufacture your own race car. That's what all the men and women at McLaren do. I think McLaren continues to monitor the situation and we need to kind of rely on them to define what those boundaries are. It's clearly a competitive advantage for the teams that are passing along that information or those parts, both financially, sporting and politically, and at the same time the teams that are on the receiving end are able to short-cut and inherit the work of others. As you say, there's many teams doing it now. We'll just have to monitor the situation. I think the FIA has stated that their intent is everyone should be their own independent entity. So that's how McLaren wants to go racing, will continue to go racing. But hey, this is Formula 1. It's tough and so you've got to beat everyone within what the rules are.
Check out our Friday gallery from Yas Island, here.
Otmar, your thoughts please.
OS: I think we've taking a step forward this year in defining the rules. They're much more clear. We continue to hire people, expand our manufacturing capability, expand our design and development capability. We started at a smaller base than some of the others but with Aston Martin coming in, we too are growing and will right-size the business. I think we're going to grow by another twenty-thirty per cent and we too will work hard to design, develop and construct our own car to do the best we can.
And Cyril.
CA: Yeah, well not so much to add. I guess that what is interesting in this press conference is that you have three teams fighting for that third position to a lesser or better degree, but we all have our own models: from Renault being a complete manufacturer building every single thing from the engine to the chassis, every nut and bolt has been designed, manufactured and built by our team, so we are a true constructor. Then you have the other extreme that we have seen this year. It is not a controversy but it is clearly no secret that Racing Point have the model of buying as much as they can from Mercedes. And you have McLaren sitting in the middle and doing a great job at what it is responsible for, which is chassis design. And frankly, to a certain degree, that's fine, that's good, that shows we have an interesting battle that's possible with very different models but we should not lose sight of the fact that we are all still one second or more from the team that is leading the championship. I'm really concerned that we are still no doing enough to bring the sport to a level playing field. There is a lot of progress that has been made with the budget cap but also with clarification to the regulations, but all of that will be as good as the monitoring and enforceability of the system and frankly for that it is only time that will tell us if what we have done is good enough and we also need to be careful in particular with all the movement of personnel between some teams that will have to downsize. Some teams, as Otmar pointed out, that are going to increase their operation, and that's the sort of thing where we need to stick to the regulations for these. We just need to make sure they are enforced properly.
Otmar, you were shaking your head while Cyril was talking.
OS: Well, I don't see us as one of the bookends. Although we don't have the manufacturing capability of some of the others we do have design and development capability and we mustn't forget that very similar to McLaren, when we were renting a Toyota windtunnel it was as capable. We had 400 people designing and developing everything and with that we finished fourth in the championship twice, it should have been three times. With our financial capability now and growing we should be able to compete with those at the midfield and maybe even move up. But I don't think our model is much different to a McLaren model.
The FIA has just released its report into the contribution of motor sport towards health, safety and the environment. F1 played a significant role in the prototyping of ventilators during the early stages of the COVID pandemic. Can those involved talk a little bit about that, and more broadly, give your thoughts on how motor sport can contribute towards environmental protection in the future?
CA: I think it's actually been one of the positives of this crisis, the fact that we all had some time available and facilities and capacity available to do something else than what we normally do, has shown what actually we are capable of doing. It's great, because I guess the problem - the good thing and the bad thing about Formula 1 is that we've got amazing facilities, people, skills, you name it, but we are all focused on what we need to do best which is building a fast car and anything else that we do would be detrimental to our competitiveness, but on this very particular occasion, when the world stopped, we could do something else and advertise, basically, what we are capable of doing. I wonder in the future, if we should not have some form of obligation to allocate a part of our time, a part of our resources, of our facilities to a greater cause, to a different cause, other than Formula 1. Frankly, if we are not forced to do it, I'm afraid that simply it will be extremely marginal or occasional. The one other thing that I am going to mention, that I think that there is a very interesting sort of area that is going to open for energy development. I think Formula 1 will become a sport all about energy, what type of fuel do we want, what type of battery do we want to use also and I see that these things will be very important in terms of breakthrough for the industry and in my opinion, Formula 1 has a great role to play, to lead the way in that respect and clearly these things will have an impact, not just on the sport, it means not just on the automotive but frankly at the very large scale to really look forward, this type of contribution of Formula 1.
Zak?
ZB: Yeah, I think, Formula 1 can have a lot of contribution to the world. I think it has. I think at McLaren we play a big role in that and it's very important to us. The ventilator, which you mentioned was a great experience for the industry to come together. We produced 10 years' worth of ventilators in a couple of months. I think that shows what Formula 1 and grand prix teams are capable of doing. I think it's great. All the men and women were very proud that not only have we historically entertained lives, but in that instance we actually helped to save lives. Mental health is very important to McLaren. That's something that we done a lot with our drivers and our team. I think Formula 1 has this great ability to magnify issues around the world. Mental health is very important to us. Sustainability. Safety. Motorsports in general have always been a leader in developing safety, which you see in today's road cars. We take some of our technologies and work with our marketing partners and share those technologies on how they can pull those through their business from a manufacturing standpoint, to help lower carbon footprint. It's something Formula 1 should be very proud of and we will continue on this journey and not only entertain people around the world but contribute to society to make it a better place.
Otmar?
OS: Well, I tend to agree with both Zak and Cyril. We were fortunate that our location is near one of the ventilator manufacturing facilities so we were able to help with design engineering resource as well as our technicians helping to build the ventilators, which is what we did specifically. I tend to agree, our engineering capabilities and resources are great but we generally tend to focus on making cars go quick and when we do put our efforts into doing something else we can do it very quickly, very efficiently and to a high standard. It's great when Formula 1 gets the opportunity to do those things.
(Luke Smith - Autosport) I think we've seen the two side of F1 politics illustrated in this press conference: we've got the ventilator project where all the teams worked together nicely and then also the some of the controversies Cyril spoke about? I asked Zak this last week, so for Cyril and Otmar, how do you think F1 has worked together this year? Do you think the teams have worked together more are you still fiercely competitive and willing to do anything to get an edge on your rivals?
CA: Yeah, as you mention I think we have seen two extremes. I think what we have been able to demonstrated is that when things became extremely serious, for the world, for the economy, for the sport, for the health and safety of our personnel, the community, the camaraderie and spirit is here. There is no question about that. There is something that pulls us together, the greater good of the sport and sometimes also of the world, as per the initiative we mentioned, it's there. But for the rest, let's not be under any illusion, we are all fierce competitors. If we are in this position, there is no coincidence; it's simply because we want to win. Maybe our aspirations are different, our brands are different but we are all extremely loyal to our brands, our teams and to our desire to win, which means to beat the guy who is next to us. It's as simple as that and I don't think we should expect much more than that.
OS: I tend to agree. When we have a common goal, we come together and work realty well together towards that common goal but when our goals are a bit disparate because we are both trying to beat each other on track, for sure will work very hard to achieve the competitiveness that we need to track. It all depends on the situation. If our goals are the same then we work very well together.
Check out our Friday gallery from Yas Island, here.
(Laurence Edmondson - ESPN) A question for all three. All three teams will new driver line-ups next year. You are all losing pretty talented drivers from your respective line-ups, so how confident are you that the trade you're getting is a trade up and that you will have stronger line-up next year?
ZB: Well, Daniel is someone that we're very excited to have join. He's obviously a proven race winner. He's somebody we tried to get into our car a couple of years ago. Lando continued to mature. He has had a great second season and I think the combination of our driver line up is awesome and looking forward to both of them working together and I don't think there is a combined driver line-up that will be more exciting next year on and off the track. I'm very confident we have got a very strong driver line-up.
OS: Well, we've got a good combination of youth in Lance and good experience in Sebastian. As a four-time world champion we look forward and welcome him to the team and we'll learn from his experiences of winning world championships. Lance is a talented driver. He has great car control. He is still quite young, so I think the combination of youth and talent and experience and all the world championships that Seb has won will bode well for our team next year.
CA: Yeah, I would I think connect the driver line-up to the team's situation. There is no point in having a driver line-up that is inappropriate for where you stand as a team. As far as Renault is concerned we feel extremely comfortable with our line-up next year, given, again, the situation of the team, what it needs to achieve. The mix of experience with Fernando, his desire to come back, a very fierce desire to be back in the sport and also his ability to plan ahead. Fernando knows that the only way to win is to plan in advance and to build in advance and 2021 being a particular year where we need to balance our effort between '21 and '22. We have all together, with Fernando, clearly an eye on '22 and he understands that and he will be completely part of that process and that journey. On the other side we have Esteban. We have also a driver who will be in his second year. We have seen with Daniel the benefit of the second year versus the first year and I hope that the momentum from the podium that he had last weekend in Sakhir into hopefully this weekend first and the next weekend will make him strong and able to deliver more than we have altogether in 2021. So I feel very comfortable with our line up, even obviously if Daniel has been a remarkable asset and we wish him well with McLaren.
(Scott Mitchell - The Race) Otmar, we know that Checo has had to have a new engine for this weekend after and issue was discovered after last week. How close did he come to losing the win and while the victory was obviously huge was it worth the penalty here and the threat that poses to third in the Constructors' Championship?
OS: To answer the first part of the question: I don't think there was a huge risk in that race. We deliberated long and hard what the risk would be for that powertrain to do an even further. Time will tell. Well, it's not a controlled experiment, you don't know if had we not taken a new power train, if that would have lasted. But on the balance of probability we thought it was best to go for a new powertrain and take the penalty. Now, the second part of your question, for sure it's going to make it harder starting towards the back but at the same time we saw what Checo could do last weekend. He will was in last place at one point and he came through the field to win. Might be a little bit more difficult overtaking here but we'll do the best we can with our starting position.
(Christian Nimmervoll - motorsport.com) Zak, how is the sale part of the sale and lease back going? And in terms of your financial restructuring, I mean I understand you are restructuring a lot of debt but it still remains debt in the end, strictly speaking. Are you confident that you will be able to operate on the budget cap which has to be a target in order to be competitive?
ZB: Yep, very comfortable that we will be operating at the budget cap. We will have all the resources we need. Our chairman is, as your know, restructuring the business. He is very experienced in that so everything is going according to plan and very comfortable and excited about our future.
Check out our Friday gallery from Yas Island, here.