23/11/2023
NEWS STORY
How do you reflect on our competitiveness at the Las Vegas Grand Prix?
Dan Fallows, Technical Director: "Over the last couple of races, we've been experimenting with parts on the car and we've found a good envelope for the car to work in. Brazil and Las Vegas are two fairly different circuits, yet we've managed to be relatively competitive at both. We're pleased to have found a happier place with the car."
Lance recovered brilliantly from P19 to P5 and so did Fernando from a Turn One spin to finish P9. How do you rate our drivers' performance in Las Vegas?
DF: "It was an extraordinary race. Going from Qualifying, where we actually believed we could have qualified a bit better than we did - we thought the pace of the car was a bit stronger - to a race where Fernando was effectively last by the first corner - to turn that around into a double point-scoring result is an extraordinary effort from everybody.
"The Safety Car played into our hands a little bit, but the team took full advantage of the circumstances and the strategy was on point. It was a flawless race from Lance; making it from the back row to the top five was an impressive feat."
As we approach the final race in Abu Dhabi, how do you reflect the hard work and effort from everyone in the team, both trackside and at the AMR Technology Campus?
DF: "It's been a huge amount of work and we shouldn't underestimate how difficult it is to start the season with a strong car and see the field catch up by the middle of the season.
"Then, to find the reserves and motivation to respond and pull that back by the end of the season speaks to our team's talent and resilience. That's a testament to the huge amount of work that people have put in behind the scenes back at the Technology Campus. We still have the hunger and motivation to secure those results, and it's been a real pleasure this season.
"This is also a good indication that we're in a solid place to grow and work towards our goal of fighting for race wins in the years ahead."
In Abu Dhabi, we're looking to secure more points but we're also in the running for P4 in the Constructors' Championship.
DF: "We can only focus on ourselves and do the best job we can. I think we've proved now with the last two races that we shouldn't be worried about the challenge of Yas Marina Circuit. It's a circuit that might suit some of our competitors, but we've proved that we can also compete.
"It's very tight and that can play to our advantage as well. We have to be ready to take advantage of any opportunities."
How is development of next year's car progressing?
DF: "We've done a lot of work on next year's car. We've already released some of the main components for production, and we're putting the final touches to the aerodynamics package for launch.
"The work continues after that. We have a winter shutdown coming up soon and we have to account for that, but as soon as we've got the initial launch car out of the way, it's full steam ahead with the developments for next season. It's non-stop."
Our driver line-up remains unchanged for 2024. How important is that continuity?
DF: "It's really important for us. Lance and Fernando are getting the best out of the car at the moment and that's what we want to continue to do.
"They've been pivotal in helping us to understand where we took some missteps mid-season and how we turned that around. Their feedback has helped us identify where the car was strong, where it was weak and how it can be can improved.
"Having them in the cockpit next year, having that continuity, is really important for the team in terms of developing and understanding the car."
Insight and Speed with Cognizant
• Race interruptions: There have been three Safety Cars in the last five races at Yas Marina Circuit, and three Virtual Safety Car deployments in the last five races - despite ample run-off throughout much of the circuit.
• Overtaking: Two DRS zones between Turns Five and Six and Turns Eight and Nine provide plenty of opportunity for overtaking. Last year, there were 60 overtakes - higher than average.
• Strategy: The C3, C4 and C5 tyres are allocated for this weekend's race - the same allocation as the Las Vegas Grand Prix. One- and two-stop strategies and common at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The pit loss, at 22 seconds, is slightly higher than the season average.