08/10/2021
NEWS STORY
Today's press conference with Frederic Vasseur, Guenther Steiner and Jost Capito.
Fred, first up, more points for Kimi in Russia. Just how much of a shot in the arm was that for the team?
Frederic Vasseur: I think it was a good couple of laps for the team but I think we had tough events before. We did a good quali in Zandvoort and Monza but we were not able to score points. It was a shame, but in Sochi we achieved it. Now we have still seven or eight events to go and a lot of opportunities to score points and we are still pushing.
Well, seven or eight events to go, you're now 16 points off Williams, are they catchable?
Jost Capito: (Laughing) Of course.
FV: Of course.
Fred, how realistic is that?
FV: It's tough but for sure when you see the situation on the second part of the grid you need to have a chaotic event to score good points. The reliability of the cars is mega now and if everybody finishes the race it's difficult to score points but you know perfectly also that during the season two or three times you will have a chaotic event, as we had in Budapest for example, and we have to be there this weekend. Let's see what could happen.
So you want a chaotic race here?
FV: As long as it's not chaotic for us, yes.
Can we talk drivers? You said a few races back that you were going to make a decision about Valtteri Bottas' team-mate for 2022 in September. We are now well into October. What's the latest, please?
FV: I didn't say which year of September, first! Seriously, we are not in a rush to take a decision. We have a couple of options on the table and we have to take time to decide but we are not in a rush. The situation won't change over the next couple of days and we will take a decision soon.
What is holding the decision up?
FV: Because we are discussing with all the parties involved and it's not an easy choice. We are at the beginning of the new regulation. It's a new journey for the F1 and we have to consider all the points. It would make sense for us to have a look on the last events of the F2, Monza and Sochi. OK, now the situation is like this and we will take a decision in the next couple of weeks most, probably.
Guenther, neither of your drivers has raced here in Turkey before. What are their first impressions of the track?
Guenther Steiner: I think it's just another new track for them, nothing too exciting for them. I mean, nothing more exciting than any other track, because there are quite a few they haven't raced on. They haven't raced on any of the tracks in an F1 car anyway. So, I think they quite like it. They don't like the car too much, there's a lot of understeer we have got in FP1, but otherwise I think they are pretty happy with the track and everything that's going on here.
You have made no secret this season that 2021 has been all about the 2022 car in terms of development co can you give us an update on how that project is coming on?
GS: And I wasn't wrong with that prediction, no? Yeah, the '22 car's development is going well. We are making progress each wind tunnel session. It's look a little bit like '15 or '16 to me, but to say how good we are, I have no idea, because I don't know how good the other nine teams are. But as a team we work now again like we did in '15, '16 and '17, the technical team in Italy, and I'm cautiously optimistic that we will be in the midfield again next year.
And are there any other aspects of the team that you need to develop and bolster ahead of next year as well?
GS: I think there are always... You could bolster everything, always. You can always do better but I think the other aspects of the team they are in good shape I would say, the race team is in good shape and there will be no big changes there, because they just took time this year to get them ready for next year as well. There is nothing big coming otherwise. I think we will be ready. There are still a lot of people from 2018 when we finished fifth in the championship, so these people are still good and they haven't forgotten how to do this. I rely on these people and I am confident they can pull it off again, that we have good result, maybe not fifth but at least being back in the midfield like were in '16 and '17.
Jost, coming to you; another strong weekend for the team in Russia. Are you at the point where you think this car can be competitive everywhere, for the remainder of the season?
JC: That's very difficult to say. It was really unpredictable so far in the season, when we went to tracks where we thought we are not competitive, we have been more competitive than we thought, not really highly competitive and it was the other way round as well, so we'll see and we'll look at every race separately and we'll do the best at every race weekend.
Now you've got seven races left with George Russell, but all the focus at the factory is on 2022. Are you starting to limit George's exposure to further development?
JC: It's not much involvement of the drivers for next year's development yet, so that is not a question we have really... it's not a question for us, so he's doing his job, preparing the races and preparing for the rest of the season.
Will George return to the factory? Is he still doing simulator sessions?
JC: Oh yeah, of course. There's nothing changed after the decision that he's at Mercedes next year.
And would you like to see Alex Albon as soon as possible fill that role and start getting involved?
JC: I think we have to be realistic. He is still working for Red Bull and that will be the case until the last race so we hope that after the last race we can start working with him.
Video Conference
(Scott Mitchell - The Race) Fred, you've mentioned that you wanted to have a bit more time to see what happens in F2. It seems like Monza and Sochi only strengthened Oscar Piastri's case. Does Oscar have a serious chance of being an Alfa Romeo race driver next season?
FV: Oscar is doing a very good job but he was very performant and consistent over the last weekend but as far as I know and I understand, he's linked with Renault... or Alpine.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) To all three team principals: as we head towards the last quarter of this year's championship, who do you think is World Champion? Who would your money be on?
JC: I think it's unpredictable and I don't make too much... I don't spend too much thinking of that because we've got other issues and problems. So, I don't care.
Are you enjoying the championship fight?
JC: Yeah, of course I'm enjoying it but if you are at the pit wall you are so much into what's going on with your cars, so sometimes at the end I have to ask who won?
GS: So the question from Dieter is who do I think will win the championship, yes? Max. Keep it short.
Are you going to give us any more as to why?
GS: No, because there's more points at the end, that is why. I don't know why. That's the answer: Max.
Do you think the Red Bull is the car to beat now?
GS: I said Max is the driver to beat.
Fred?
FV: Difficult to know. It's a very tight fight but I think one of the topics is also the reliability but we saw this morning Lewis will have to introduce a new engine, it will be a penalty and this could be a game-changer for the championship because they are so close. Every single small event could decide for the championship. But I would say Lewis, so it will be 1-1. If Guenther says Max, I have to say Lewis!
Check out our Friday gallery from Istanbul, here.
(Julien Billiotte - AutoHebdo) Fred, there are growing rumours of a potential take-over of Sauber Motorsport and Engineering by Michael Andretti. What can you say on this topic?
FV: I can say nothing because honestly it's not in my parameter. I'm the CEO and team principal and these kind of discussions is not with me, it would be with the shareholders and that we have so many rumours and so on that you have to ask the question to the shareholders of the company.
(Luke Smith - Autosport) Question for Fred about your driver plans for next season: you've got Valtteri Bottas signed on a multi-year deal. Will you be looking for the same with your second driver or would you be open to a one-year contract?
FV: It's a good question, but for sure with Valtteri we secured the future of the company. We could be tempted to have a one-year deal and to not expose the team too much, but I think this will be a large part of the discussion. I would say that a one-year deal is a good option.
(Scott Mitchell - The Race) If I could follow up what Fred said about Oscar before and his link with Alpine. What's the issue there? Do Alpine even need to formally make him available? Do they need to put in some cash to tempt you? Why does Oscar's Alpine link complicate?
FV: Honestly, I didn't discuss with Alpine about this but if you invest in a driver for all the junior series and to have a long-term programme with him, I don't see the point to let him go to another team in F1. It would be strange.
Fred, you have a lot of experience with young drivers. How good to you think Oscar Piastri is?
FV: He won in a row the Formula Renault, the F3 in his first year and now the F2 - it's not done, the F2, because they still have two events to go but for sure, if you compare with the past, that he's doing a very, very strong job but it's crystal clear for me that he's probably one of the best in the field today in the junior series. He did a great job last year also, he was fighting with Theo until the last event and he's one of the young kids that will be successful in F1, for sure.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) Again, to all three: regarding the Sprint Qualifying concept, the original plan was to have three races, then decide which way to go forwards. Yet this week Stefano Domencali said that there would be up to seven sprint races next year. Do you share his optimism or is he being premature, particularly given the fact that there would have to be unanimous agreement for a regulation change to accommodate that?
JC: I haven't seen the outcome of the FOM investigation and there must be a recommendation, based on data, what the fans, what the TV figures, what the value is of this and based on that there should be a discussion then.
What do you think of the Sprint, though?
JC: It doesn't matter what I think. I think it depends... if it adds to the value for the fans and for the event then it's the right thing to do and if it doesn't then it's not the right thing to do. No, I think we have to look what creates more value for Formula 1 for the weekend. As far as I hear from people that it adds something for the Friday, having qualifying on the Friday, it's something exciting for the Friday and the race is exciting as well so I hear positive feedback but we need this based on data and not just be a couple of people talking to me.
GS: I think what Stefano said was not a fact. He said there could be up to seven races, not there will be because obviously he knows the governance of it, but I agree with Jost, we need to look at the data, what is done and how the fans react to it. I personally think the Friday... something to fight for like a qualifying Friday is very good. I think there was set a race or the sprint qualifying race on Saturday, tweak is a little bit, do it a little bit different, maybe that it gets a little bit more interesting. I haven't seen the ideas, I'm sure they, FOM, will present them to us and see what we think about it but in general I'm for it, that we do more of these weekends with the Sprint Qualifying. You know if we can tweak it and make it better and if the fans like it more, I'm for it. At the moment it looks like it's positive on that side so just let's work a little bit more on it and hopefully we will make it that we have a few more because I think having a Friday it's exciting for everybody.
FV: Yeah, I think we agreed to do a test on three events and we have to go until the end of the test and to do Brazil also, but we have perhaps two different aspects. The first one is the show and the fans and as Guenther said before, to have something official on Friday is a step forward. Now, on the sporting side, perhaps it's a bit different because it will change from race to race and track to track and I'm not sure that Monza, on the sporting side, was a great event, that race on Saturday, but Silverstone was a good one. Let's see that we... I think we have to close the loop and to do the test again in Sao Paulo and then we will see what we could decide for next year but I think it's really dependent and related to the layout of the track.
(Edd Straw - The Race) To Fred, again on the question of next year's driver signing. You mentioned, with Oscar Piastri as an example, that it wouldn't make sense for an organisation like Alpine to invest in them and then let them go elsewhere. Does that mean that whoever you chose to sign, it needs to be a driver who can fully be signed rather than on-line so you need full control of that, long term future of would you be happy in principal to take someone with some form of on-line or underlying agreement with another team?
FV: When you are taking a young driver with a new car and so you are starting a new journey for the F1 and for the team, I think it would make much more sense to have the possibility to extend the contract, not a multi-year contract but at least to be sure that you won't lose the driver after year one and it's what I wanted to explain before.
(Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Another for Fred, it's about Oscar again. You know a lot about young drivers from the past but you said that Oscar has what it takes to be in Formula 1 but some young drivers, for all the talent they have, they don't get a chance. Do you think there's a real possibility that he might actually miss out on F1 because he's with a manufacturer or team that only has two slots and they have no other customer teams? Does he have to break ties with Alpine? If he doesn't get in next year or the year after, is that it?
FV: Yeah, but I'm not the manager of Oscar! But first of all, Oscar, so far is leading the championship but he's not champion but he could be in the situation that he could do another season in F2 and for sure, each year that the situation is different with different number of seats in F1 and different situation on the driver side. I think that Renault Alpine, to do the step between Formula Renault, Formula 3, Formula 2, they are supportive with him and that it would be a bit unfair to complain about the situation but you had a couple of drivers in the past doing one year of testing or one year of F2 again if he's not champion and then he will be successful in F1 but it's not because he won't jump in F1 next year that it's the end of the world.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines) Again for all three: if we have a look at next year's weekend format which is effectively three days rather than three and a half or even four days that we have now, does that make it a lot easier to accommodate the triple headers and also to process the triple-headers from the stress perspective or does it make no difference whatsoever?
JC: I say the triple-headers are quite hard on the teams. The guys are four weeks away from home so it's always stressful so everything that is less or shorter would help in that but I think it is what it is.
GS: We actually started to looking yesterday at a meeting about the shortened weekend - let's call it like this - and there is something... we started to discuss that some people could come out later. For sure, everything helps to make the triple-headers having less impact on the people, like a three-day weekend, it will help a little bit but I don't think that if we've got two triple-headers, I think we have to deal with that because there are other things that come with it that we finish the season earlier as Stefano said, which is also good, that we are not going on almost to Christmas like this year, so there is nothing for free but two triple-headers, I think we can get by and for sure, having a three day weekend, a shortened weekend will help a little bit and every little bit helps.
FV: I think we have to be realistic that we can't expect to do more races, to generate more revenue, in a smaller period without triple headers but at one stage it's not possible. For sure that we have to perhaps reduce the weekend, the duration of the weekend and to have a three-day event but at the end of the day, I think also that we have to be happy with the success of the F1 and that we are doing step forwards, we have more and more demand for the F1 and we have to see it as a positive that we don't have to complain about the fact that we are doing too many races and so, that we are going in the direction to do a better championship with more races and so that is a very positive message and signal. For sure we have to find a solution, to accommodate for everybody but I take it as a positive message.
Check out our Friday gallery from Istanbul, here.