Group Representatives: Andrea Stella, Mario Isola, Frederic Vasseur and Christian Horner.
Fred, can we begin with you please. Your first race on Italian soil as crew principal of Ferrari. How is that this totally different to something you’ve got carried out earlier than?Frederic Vasseur: From the start of the week, I’m attempting to say that it’s not totally different, to maintain all people calm and targeted – however the actuality is that it’s a bit totally different. We have had a tonne of friends from the start of the weekend, we have had tifosi on the manufacturing facility each single day of the week. For certain it is totally different. It is loads of emotion however now we have to attempt to hold it underneath management.
What response are you getting from the tifosi? What are they saying to you? FV: They’re very enthusiastic and constructive and it is a good push and a very good motivation for the crew and I hope that we can give them one thing on Sunday.
And Fred, it’s, after all, your first race right here as Ferrari boss however are you able to keep in mind the primary time you got here to Monza?FV: I believe it was for the F3. The Grand Prix della Lotteria di Monza or one thing like this was 30 years in the past – or a bit extra.
Inform us about efficiency then, we have simply had FP1. How a lot confidence do you’ve gotten in Ferrari’s low downforce bundle?FV: This morning the FP1 went fairly properly. Now it’s fairly tough, that we used to have a reference, in comparison with the opposite on the same old format. At present it is a bit totally different, we did not have the identical run plan, we do not know precisely what stage of gas and setup of the engine that everybody is utilizing. We’re far more used to the conventional format – nevertheless it seems to be OK. The steadiness was OK and we’re targeted on ourselves. I believe we can have a greater image tonight.
Enrico Cardile instructed us within the press convention final week that Ferrari is on high of the entire points with the present automotive. So, are you able to clear up them within the short-term or are we going to have to attend till 2024?FV: If you wish to enhance, it’s a must to do two steps. The primary one is to know the place you’re weak and the second is to repair it. I believe now we have most likely a greater image of true weak point at this time and we’re engaged on it, attempt to enhance earlier than the top of the season nevertheless it’s not a simple one with the calendar and at the least for subsequent 12 months.
Effectively, let’s discuss subsequent 12 months. You will have instructed the media that the automotive goes to be very totally different. If you have a look at the progress made by McLaren, for instance… FV: You’re making the query and the reply! As a result of final time you ask ‘will you carry over the automotive?’ I say ‘no’, and I reply the automotive will likely be utterly totally different.
However Fred, realizing the jumps that different groups have made, do you suppose that you could in a single winter be part of Pink Bull on the entrance?FV: Actually, I believe it is not the query. At present, the most effective job is to do the most effective job that we will. To attempt to enhance on ourselves, to enhance on ourselves, to work on ourselves, to repair the weaknesses that now we have on the automotive. Then we are going to see the end result – as a result of I’m not within the wind tunnel of Christian and I do not know what they’re doing. It implies that we simply should be focussed on ourselves and never attempt all the time to check with the others – at the least throughout the growth. Subsequent 12 months will likely be one other story.
Last one from me then. What’s the objective this weekend? Do you suppose a podium is achievable, as we noticed with Charles at Spa, a few races in the past?FV: If we did it at Spa, we will think about to have the ability to do it in Monza. However, you probably have seemed from the start of the season, it is so tight and such a giant combine. I’d say that Max is probably in a unique state of affairs however between P2 and P11-P12, each single weekend it’s a totally different order. It implies that the main target is to not make a forecast and prediction and it’s to work on the automotive that now we have and attempt to get the most effective from it.
Christian, you’ve got been a thorn in Ferrari’s facet for a few years now. I wished to start out by asking: what sort of reception you get and the crew will get from the tifosi?Christian Horner: Effectively, to be sincere, I imply, they’re so enthusiastic and clearly very, very passionate however all the time additionally respectful. It is a noisy crowd and a really supportive crowd of something in purple – however we have all the time had a very good rapport and all the time a improbable reception every time we come right here.
Fred first got here right here 30 years in the past. When was your first journey?CH: Effectively, clearly I am not fairly as outdated as Fred. I first got here right here in… I believe I drove right here in 1997 at a check, within the fog in October. It simply struck me simply how briskly the circuit is. I used to be scared driving at most circuits in these occasions, nevertheless it was scary as a result of it was so slim, and so quick. And there is such an environment while you drive into the park and so forth right here. It is simply phenomenal. The Temple of Pace is a really apt title for this place.
Your record-breaking profitable streak continued at Zandvoort final weekend. Let’s discuss that to begin with. How is that this run of success affecting the crew?CH: Everyone is simply immensely happy with what we’re doing and having fun with this golden second for the crew. So to have gained 13 consecutive races this season, and for Max to match that report of consecutive victories for a driver, was an outstanding achievement in Zandvoort, regardless of the climate doing its finest to upset issues. Yeah, it is unimaginable. Motivation is sky-high within the manufacturing facility. It was fascinating listening to Fred saying he’d wish to know what is going on on in our wind tunnel – however we’re rarely in our wind tunnel. It is extremely, to be sincere with you, and testimony to the whole lot happening behind the scenes, as a result of the race crew and what you see track-side is the entrance face, is the store window of what we do – however what goes on behind the scenes, the lengthy hours, the exhausting work by all of the totally different division that go into producing these unimaginable vehicles.
What feelings do you are feeling coming right into a weekend now. How nervous are you about this profitable streak, and do you dread dropping it?CH: Effectively look, you’ve got simply acquired to take issues one step at a time. You guys have been asking a couple of profitable streak since about Race Three. So, you get used to that, and I believe from our perspective as a crew, we simply attempt to take issues one session at a time, one qualifying at a time, one race at a time and keep within the now, moderately than undertaking too far into the longer term.
Max had the whole lot thrown at him final weekend but he nonetheless got here out on high. Have you ever ever labored with a driver so impervious to strain?CH: Final week once more was insane. The quantity of strain. The noise on the grid, the ambiance, the demand from the gang. It is principally like being in a three-day techno-party all through that weekend. To see how he handled that. I imply, Qualifying was the primary problem, then within the race, the rain on the grid, and clearly we pitted on the finish of the second lap and that had dropped him down the order. A variety of drivers, it might have gotten to them at that time, however he stored his head, he stored calm after which his tempo from thereafter was completely phenomenal and once more, one other very spectacular race, a masterclass from him and underneath such strain it is very spectacular how he offers with that.
However have you ever labored with a driver like him earlier than?CH: No. Sebastian Vettel was a unique driver and achieved extremely spectacular outcomes however a really totally different character to Max. The way in which he offers with that strain, while you’ve acquired the royal household queuing up at your automotive to want you properly, simply earlier than you step in, and no matter else in his house nation, I imply, it is massively spectacular, the best way that he is handled that expectation and that strain. The one purpose we’re racing in Zandvoort is due to him. That is a giant burden on his shoulders.
No indicators of him tightening up at any level?CH: No. To be sincere, I believe in Q1 when he went straight on on the first flip, after which we did not get a lap, he acquired baulked and the climate was coming, that was most likely the… nevertheless it was extra on the pitwall that we had been aware of getting a lap in than definitely him on the automotive. Regardless of attempting circumstances, he copes with it extremely properly.
Mario, house race for Pirelli. Do you do something in a different way this weekend?Mario Isola: No, probably not, aside from that now we have a unique format for the tyre allocation that clearly is impacting our operation. However the remaining is similar.
I meant extra off-track actually. Do you keep at house?MI: I keep at house, yeah! I can sleep at house. That is good for folks travelling as a lot as we do. It is a good alternative.
You talked about the ATA – the Various Tyre Allocation – what’s your evaluation of the way it went the final time we trialled it, in Budapest?MI: I’m constructive about that. I heard some drivers complaining concerning the new format. I consider that, with some fine-tuning it might work. In Budapest, we had FP1, that was affected by rain, and so it was determined to remain on the identical format with a view to perceive if it really works or if we’d like – not Pirelli, after I say ‘we’ it seems to be like Pirelli, no, it is the game that wishes to go on this path. Inform your drivers to not complain concerning the lack of tyres – no, I am joking. I am constructive now we have seen this FP1 with loads of vehicles working, totally different methods: anyone utilizing the Laborious; anyone utilizing the Medium or the Comfortable, so all of the three compounds is usually a good choice for the race. We determined to go one step softer, this due to the format, as a result of they’ve for the race, at the least two units of Hards; two units of Medium; two units of Softs. An excellent breakdown for the race. The qualifying format is totally different however in a standard, normal format, clearly all of the groups are specializing in retaining as many Comfortable as potential for Qualifying and that is affecting the race allocation, so I am nonetheless constructive on it and I am certain we will discover a good resolution for the longer term.
Take a look at our Friday gallery from Monza right here.
