21/05/2021
NEWS STORY
Today's press conference with Christian Horner, Andreas Seidl and Jost Capito.
Q: Christian, let's start with you: first and third in FP1, but let's rewind the clock back a little. How confident were you and the team coming into this weekend?
Christian Horner: You always look forward to racing in Monaco. It's a different challenge, a different type of circuit. We had a good race here a couple of years ago. We missed not being here last year. It's a great track. The driver is a key factor around here as well. So we look forward to this event, as we do every year.
Q: How do you rate your chances?
CH: Judging by the first four races, it's going to be very tight again. There's not much between the cars at the moment, certainly on a Saturday and that's always crucial around here. So, it's going to be about getting the perfect qualifying together, which will play a key role, as it always does, for the outcome of the race.
Q: Lewis Hamilton has won the last couple of races and he has eked out a bit of an advantage in the points table. How important is this race in terms of turning the tide?
CH: I think it's important that we remain within striking distance and that ideally means beating Lewis this weekend so that has to be our target. Usually to beat Lewis you've got to try and win the race. So we will be doing the very best that we can to get the best result we can.
Q: You said after Spain that you need Checo to qualify better. When you look at his data, where is he missing out when you compare it to Max?
CH: I think he has had a relatively little amount of time in the car. I mean we see it with Daniel in the McLaren. It takes these guys a little bit of time to get completely familiar with their surroundings, the characteristics of the car and so on. Plus, he's got Max as his team-mate. I think that's certainly happening for him on Sundays: his race performances are getting stronger and stronger. And I think just with more time and more experience we will see his Saturday performances just naturally improve.
Q: Is there one particular area where he's missing out though?
CH: It's always difficult to identify one specific area, so I think you can always focus on trying to be a bit better everywhere.
Q: Zak Brown said recently that he thinks it's inevitable that Max and Lewis will collide at some point this season. What are your thoughts on that?
CH: I would think Zak is praying for that, to capitalise. You've got two guys that are racing hard against each other and on my calculations Max has now passed Lewis three times to Lewis' once in the race and they are racing hard and as the championship runs on tensions and pressure will inevitably grow. I don't think it's the intention of either driver to have a collision with each other and I think the racing we have seen so far has been exemplary.
Q: Andreas, you've made an early commitment to Lando Norris, with news of him re-signing for the team. He's had a great start to the year, but what is it about him in particular that impresses you?
Andreas Seidl: His speed. That's the most important thing, because that's something we can't fix if it's not there. I think if you look back now, what he has shown to us in the last two-and-a-half years it's impressive to see how he started in his Formula 1 career, into the top 10 in his first ever qualifying in Melbourne in 2019. And then simply taking these steps from year to year, and also having this great start into this year's season was enough for us to be fully convinced that he is the right guy for us going ahead. Lando is also feeling very, very happy within the team and therefore it was quite an easy and straightforward decision to put the next multi-year agreement in place and I'm obviously very., very happy for the entire team that we have with Daniel and Lando definitely one of the best driver line-ups in Formula 1 in our team and I think it will be key on our journey hopefully getting back towards the front in Formula 1 again in some years.
Q: Is this new deal exclusively for Formula 1 or could we see Lando race in another series - IndyCar or sports cars or something?
AS: That's obviously a question you will have to check with Zak. He's in charge of all the other projects. My focus is on Formula 1. I also think it's important for both Daniel and Lando to have full focus at the moment on Formula 1. This task is big enough. Once we have achieved our goals as a team then I think it's the right time to discuss also other projects within McLaren Racing.
Q: Let's talk about this weekend now. How do you rate your chances coming in, the one lap pace of the car? Toto Wolff a moment ago mentioned McLaren as a team that could do well?
AS: I would say on paper this would definitely not be our strongest weekend. If you look at the start of the season, the first races, I think compared to Ferrari, especially on low speed we were definitely a bit behind. But at the same time, it's obviously a special weekend here in Monaco, a special track, and it's simply important again to focus on ourselves. Let's make sure as a team, together with our drivers, to pull it off when it matters and then hopefully we are in a position again to fight for strong points.
Q: And does Daniel have the necessary confidence in the car to shine this weekend or is it still too early?
AS: I think, as Christian said before, Daniel is still in this process of getting fully familiar with the car, still building up this confidence which you need in the end to operate these complex cars at the limit, to get the last three or four tenths out of these cars, but also here I am very happy with the integration process so far. The team did a great job. Daniel is doing a great job. It's important to simply stay calm. We know it will come but it will take a couple of races.
Q: Jost, Lando's signature on a McLaren contract has placed the focus on other young hotshoes. When can we expect news of George Russell's future?
Jost Capito: (laughs) You can't ask me that! I think George is a Mercedes driver for many years and I don't think they will let him go. But we will see. We've got time to talk about drivers. We are not in the need now to discuss that.
Q: He said yesterday that wherever he ends up next year he would like a multi-year deal. Would you be prepared to give him that?
JC: Of course. He is doing a great job. He is a fantastic driver. We created a really good relationship and I think he would fit very well to Williams for our future as well and if he believes in our future there might be a chance to keep him.
Q: George is brilliant in qualifying; he's had four cracking sessions this year already. What sort of opportunity does this race present him and Williams?
JC: That's very difficult to say. In Monaco anything can happen? You never know. With us being at the back of the grid, normally we can take some risks or strategies that the frontrunners can't do. And that can work out and can not work out. We will think about what we will do this weekend. We might do something different to the others, if that makes sense, as we can afford to do that.
Q: The team is celebrating it's 750th race this weekend. What's your first Williams memory?
JC: My first Williams memory is I think 1993 when I was here with the [Porsche] Supercup and we had our VIP drivers and I discussed with Frank if I could have his reserve driver, I don't remember who it was at the time, for the race, and he said: "What do you pay?" I said by principle we don't pay, but you also don't have to pay if he crashes. And he said: "Jost, you should never have principles in life." I said: "Frank, is that a principle." And he said: "No, that's not a principle." That was my first contact with Frank, in 1993. To think that was nearly 30 years ago!
Q: What a great story. And Andreas, you worked with Williams back in the BMW days. Do you have a highlight from your time there?
AS: My highlight was definitely when I started as a young and keen engineer in the Williams garage, which was a simply great education for me, seeing how committed and passionate these guys were and I still remember how Frank was interacting with his team, which is something I always admired and still try to follow a bit as well - this personal interaction he had every morning, every night, showing up at the track in the morning and greeting everyone by name, including the engine people! That's something I admired a lot and that's what I always have in mind when I think about these days.
Questions From The Floor
Q: (Erik van Haren - De Telegraaf) Jos Verstappen said last weekend that Max makes the RB16B look better than it actually is. Do you agree with him?
CH: Driver's fathers always have an opinion and Jos is obviously a little bit more educated than most drivers. Max is driving the wheels off the car. The car will only ever go as fast it can go. Max is doing a great, great job with it and getting every ounce of performance and obviously driving it at its limit.
Q: (Andrew Benson - BBC) Jost and Christian, because I've already spoken to Andreas about this this morning, although Andreas can chip if he wants to; Mattia Binotto just admitted in the previous press conference that Ferrari were exploiting a flexible rear wing. Does that apply to your teams? If so, why, given that flexible bodywork is illegal and will you have to change any aspect of the design of your cars to comply with the new Technical Directive?
CH: Well, the car is designed to comply with the regulations and of course there are tests that the FIA have for most of it and our car complies with all of those tests. Now, occasionally the FIA will change those tests, which they have the right to do. They've done that and that of course means that effectively it's a change in regulations in many respects so of course there have to be changes made to the product and that's expensive and of course time-consuming. But a lot of focus is on the rear of the car at the moment and I'm sure that in due time that's also going to move round to other areas of the car that other teams will come under scrutiny, so of course it's not just Ferrari and Red Bull that are affected. I think Sauber are quite badly affected by this as well, but that's Formula 1, that's what happens when Technical Directives get issued that change things like the tests that rear wings are subjected to.
JC: I think that for every team it's the same, the same as Christian, it's valid for everybody. For us, it's no impact but we might not have looked carefully enough at the regulation when we designed this car.
AS: Well, I guess I said it today in the morning: I think if you see the pictures and footage from Barcelona, it is clear what's happening there, therefore we also welcome what the Technical Directive of the FIA says, to put an additional or different test in place, which helps them to check the cars here in a pragmatic way at the race tracks. But at the same time, we strongly disagree with the timing of the introduction. For us, there's no reason why it should be late for the two races and if the guys that have designed the cars in order to have these flexi-wings two more races, to have the benefit from it because from our point of view, what these guys are using is clearly against the regulations because the test that is in place is not the only criteria you have to meet in terms of being compliant with the regulations. That's why we are having a dialogue with the FIA at the moment, because I think it's a good opportunity for the FIA to show a strong hand here and not accept this any more, from today onwards and yeah, we take it from there.
Check out our Thursday gallery from Monaco, here.
Q: Christian, what do you feel about the timing?
CH: When you're effectively changing a rule, there has to be a lead time. You can't just magic up components. I think if they changed the test on the front wings, for example, this weekend and we've seen far more performance from front wing flexibility, shall we say, then that would affect every single team, some much greater than others and I think that there has to be a lead time. You can't expect parts just to magicked up overnight with the costs that are incurred with that. The car complies with the regulations that have been there for the last 18 months or so with these load tests and then the test or the regulation has been changed or the test has been changed and there has to be a notice period for that.
Q: (Christian Menath - motorsportmagazin.com) Another one on the flexi-wings for Christian. First of all, would you have been able to reinforce the wings for let's say Baku or do you need this lead time you mentioned? And also, on the other note, do you fear that there will be a protest if it still takes these two races for the new regulations to take in.
CH: Well, the car complies with the test, it complies with the rules, so that's just a statement of fact and I think that obviously there are weight considerations, it's a single pylon rear wing, there are so many things to take into consideration so there has to be a lead time with these things and it's just not just a simplicity of just adding more weight to the car.
Q: (Scott Mitchell - The Race) Slightly different topic, question for Christian: Red Bull has recently increased the number of American partners; a few other teams have as well. F1 clearly thinks that the US is a priority for its own interests; what potential is in there in the US for the teams? How significant is that market to you and maybe Jost might have something extra to say, given Dorilton's interest in Williams?
CH: Well, the US is a crucial market for Formula 1. I think it's great that the interest in the US is growing and it's fantastic to see more and more sponsorship and investment. Recently we've announced two new partnerships coming into Formula 1 from the US as a direct impact of the popularity of the sport growing there and I think obviously there are discussions abreast (sic) about more races, bringing in Miami in the future as well is going to be a fantastic addition, and of course for Red Bull it's also Red Bull's biggest market in the world, so of course, strategically, it's a vital market to embrace and monitor and I think Formula 1 has never quite managed to capture the imagination of the American public previously, and I think there's a real opportunity to do that now, and of course one of the key factors to do that, I think longer term, is to see a really competitive American driver or drivers coming through and running at the front in Formula 1.
JC: Yes, for us it's the same. The US market is not just important for us, it's important for Formula 1 in general as it is a big market. Of course Dorilton is very excited to have Miami having a second US Grand Prix within their portfolio of companies, there are quite a couple of US companies, so there are chances also for us to work with those companies who you've seen on the car recently. Also you've seen that we have on the car the new Dorilton ventures, which goes very much in the same direction. The popularity of Formula 1 in the US is growing a lot and not least because of the Netflix series and it brings also new fans to the sport. I think a lot of female fans came to the sport, especially through the Netflix series in the US and I think that Formula 1 in the US is on a really good track and that's important for all of us.
Q: Andreas, can we get your thoughts on this, because McLaren recently signed a 13-year old American kart driver didn't they?
AS: Yeah. To be honest, not a lot to add really. As we said as well after the announcement of the Miami race, America is an important market for McLaren, for our partners and for Formula 1 and therefore we are looking forward to having two races in the States next year.
Q: (Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) For all three: when we have something like the bendy wing clarification, what does this do to your budget cap spend, because obviously now there's an unforeseen spend. Do you have contingencies for these sorts of things or do you get to the end of the year and you sort of have to suddenly chop any other development programme you may have had planned?
AS: For us it doesn't have any influence because we don't have to change anything on the car. Our car was compliant with the regulations for the first races, it's compliant now and I just want to make it clear as well that the Technical Directive is not a new regulation, it's just an additional or different test, but the basic regulation, especially article 3.8, which is the key one, doesn't change.
CH: Well, I think for a team like us that is obviously running up against the cap, then of course strategically you have to make choices. The impact of something like this is probably about half a million dollars so you've got to... that will prevent something else from happening, so that's the juggling act that we're now having to make with the budget cap and financial regs.
JC: Yes, in this special case, there's no impact to us but our budget is quite a bit below the cost cap but that means we have to work very efficiently because we don't have the resources that the bigger teams have. On the other side, you have to have something in the back, like the crashes that we had in Imola, they are cost effective (sic) and even if you are not with the cost cap it affects your budget and I think you have to have something in the budget for unforeseen accidents, things like this, you have to, and you have to cope with it and I think that what makes... that was the idea and also the sense of the cost cap to cope with this.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll - motorsport.com) Christian, rumours just don't seem to go away that Andy Cowell may be joining Red Bull Powertrains. Toto just said in the earlier part of the press conference that he'd be surprised if that would happen. Are you working on surprising Toto?
CH: Obviously there's a lot of media traction on these topics with personnel joining this obviously new venture but I can say I was surprised to read this story this morning that apparently Andy has agreed to join us because that isn't the case.
Q: (Christian Menath - motorsportmagazin.com) Christian, another question regarding the flexi-wings. You are doing this, exploiting the limits, because of a performance advantage, so how much performance do you lose due to the new regulations?
CH: Well, it's difficult to quantify but it's... You know it's not as much as people think. I've heard comments of six tenths being bandied around which is ludicrous. I mean if you're talking about a tenth, I'd be surprised. Yeah, and all these things have to work in conjunction with every other component on the car, so that's going to vary from circuit to circuit.
Q: (Scott Mitchell - The Race) A follow-up to Christian on the flexi-stuff. In the rules, the load tests aren't the only criteria for judging whether something is legal or not. There is still the part of the rules that stress about aerodynamic influences. How complicated is this, first of all, to police, and secondly, why is it that just because the car has passed these load tests, why would that be considered legal if there is television footage, for example, of the wings bending beyond what appears to be a legal amount?
CH: So trying to address the first part of your question: obviously the cars are built to be optimised to the regulations. It's a competition, at the end of the day, and there are tests that are in place for the FIA to measure that which is what they do, and they vary those tests from time to time, but the whole car is under aerodynamic influence and a lot of noise is being made about the rear wing of the car, but just look at some footage from Imola at the front of our competitor's car and it will show you very clearly flexible aerodynamics which, as we know, the front wing is a far more sensitive part of the car than the rear of the car, so you pick on one part of the car and inevitably that is just going to move around and of course that's very difficult for the FIA to police, which is why they are continually evolving these checks and processes, which each team then obviously has to comply with. But to think that everybody's aerodynamic surface was completely rigid would be a fallacy. On every single car on the grid it's just not the case. You can visibly see that.
Q: (Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) Christian, Toto has recently said something along the lines of he's not afraid of 15 guys in an empty warehouse, referring to your engine programme. Look, I realise it's still early days, but what are you looking at ultimately? You obviously have to go beyond 15 people so what are you looking at ultimately when everything's up and running and you're doing your own engine?
CH: Well, there's obviously a lot of discussion going on about the future engine and what the future powertrain will be and I think, first of all, we need to establish what is that, what are the rules, what are the financial constraints, what are the dyno limitations? And then you package your team around those regulations, so of course we've been very focused on bringing in the leadership team into this project which we have largely now done. We've got some great talent that's joining the business. We're inheriting some phenomenal talent also from HRD and yeah, we're looking forward with interest to see what those new regs are. But of course, cost is also fundamentally at the basis of that and I think there's lessons to be taken from the chassis side into the engine world, to really address those costs, reduce the cost of the power unit, which are just ridiculous, where they currently stand within the regulations that we currently have.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll - motorsport.com) Pat Symonds has been quoted as saying that that eight out of 10 in teams are basically in favour of banning wind tunnels from F1? Christian, do you know who the other two teams are and can you please provide some general comments on F1 wind tunnels?
CH: Well, it's a topic I brought up a few months ago to say take a longer term view because a wind tunnel isn't particularly efficient, it's not very environmentally friendly and with the world evolving in simulations, the tools, the way that CFD is evolving so rapidly - for example, the Valkyrie was developed... it never went in a wind tunnel once during its whole development phase - and I think if you take a 10-year view on this, so it's far enough out that these effectively dinosaurs of machinery that are heavily consuming electricity and power become a thing of the past and Formula 1 should be the cutting edge of technology - we're seeing more and more investment from the tech sector, so why not be the showcase for that tech, with Formula 1 and I think if it is something like 10 years away, then there's a glide path towards it that every team knows it's coming and you adjust your investment over the period of time accordingly.
AS: Yeah, I fully agree with Christian, it's something we supported, just important to have let's say, a good medium- to long-term plan in place with a glide path of introducing this. At the moment, we discuss, at the earliest introduction of banning the wind tunnels from 2030 onwards, which is something we support as well.
JC: I think it's a very complicated and difficult discussion, when the time is evolving, when you see the technology and digitalisation has evolved in the last 10 years. Ten years ago you would have never imagined where we are now and this technology is evolving even quicker. Just to say 2030 is the time to ban wind tunnels; it needs discussion, is that the right timing, yes or no, but these kind of technology discussions have to happen within the FIA Commission and we have to look forward, sustainability, for sure, is very important for all of us but it's more than just wind tunnels, there is a lot, it's also when you look at computing, it needs a lot of energy as well, so we have to look at all the details and then come up with a well-thought and agreeable decision on that. At the moment, I think we all use wind tunnels and it's all still a very important tool and we also run more efficiently because the wind tunnel time is reduced so for us, I can say we run it very efficiently but the future with definitely be different but how the future looks, I think it's too early to say.
Check out our Thursday gallery from Monaco, here.