Force India's Robert Fernley - Photo Credit: Force India F1

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Riad ASMAT (Team Lotus), Jean Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Norbert HAUG (Mercedes), Gerard LOPEZ (Lotus Renault), Sam MICHAEL (Williams)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Bob, first of all, what happened to Paul di Resta today?

Robert FERNLEY: We had a problem with the brakes, the machining of the brakes and the hydraulics. Paul has a lot of steel, he’ll bounce back tomorrow.

Q. Obviously the performances are improving and Vijay Mallya has emphasised that. The thing is carrying it through to next year. That is the task isn’t it?

RF: Well, I think next year is a completely different programme. What we had to do at the beginning of this year was to take a step backwards in order to understand where we lost our way at the end of 2010 and what you see now is the evolution of all that work coming through. Obviously with the change of regulations with the blown floors next year is a completely different ballpark.

Q. Have you already started work on next year? When are you finishing development on this year’s.

RF: We started work on next year’s some time ago. This is probably the last major upgrade that we will do for the 2011 car.

Q. And the battle with Sauber?

RF: Very hard. They are very competitive. They are not going to give in easily, so we will have to work as hard as we can.

Q. Is that something you look forward to?

RF: Yes, very much so. They are a good team, working hard. I mean all the teams in all fairness in that midfield area are incredibly competitive and we are going to have to work very, very hard to hold onto sixth place. Sam managed to beat us last year by one point. I don’t want to repeat it this year.

Q. Jean Francois, you are heading for a World Championship victory I am sure. That is almost certain, but what are Renault’s feelings about it?

Jean Francois CAUBET: I think if we win the championship this year it will be the 10th time in 20 years. We think we did a good choice to sell engines and stop managing a team and I think the long-term strategy we will have with the Red Bull team is a good thing for future of Formula One and Renault.

Q. What is Renault Sport’s position within the Renault group as it were?

JC: Renault Sport is doing only Formula One. We were 200 people last year. We will be 250 next year. It is a key point and the board is pushing Formula One in Renault now for the long term. I think that is good news.

Q. Is that expansion because of the new engine?

JC: Yes, I think we have 25 people coming from Renault mainly to develop the electric side of the V6 but we will have 40 next year and one team is 10 people more.

Q. Riad, a new job as CEO. Tell us about your new job and what it concerns?

Riad ASMAT: Well, I guess we have expanded in actually owning a car company as well as an engineering business and ever since certain developments that is the new role. I look into not just the Formula One side of things but the actual road car and engineering business from this point. A bit more work actually.

Q. So you are in charge of everything?

RA: Well, technically!

Q. You are from Malaysia but also Singapore as well. How do you see the Singapore Grand Prix?

RA: I think it is one of the best on the calendar as well. Just having family from Singapore helps. I am assured support in one form or the other. It is just next to Malaysia so we represent Asia to a certain degree and we hope we will be able to push our name, our brand, into the region.

Q. There are rumours of a name change but also a change of location for the team, whatever it might be called. It has been for so long in Norfolk it is difficult to imagine that Team Lotus will be elsewhere.

RA: I’ll take the one question first which is the location. Our home in Norfolk, in Norwich in Hingham, and that is, for sure, never going to change. That will be maintained as one of our parts but as a team that is growing and progressing we need to have a look at how to get more efficiencies out of the team and one of the main areas is to be in the motorsports belt of the UK. It is something we are looking into and when the time is right we will make the necessary announcement. But for sure Hingham is our home.

Q. Will you keep facilities there?

RA: Yes, we bought the place and it is home for us. We will never go away. On your second point?

Q. The name change?

RA: Name change. No decision as yet. We are still Team Lotus as you can see but as my shareholders have mentioned we are open to anything and we will see how it progresses from this point.

Q. Gerard, we hear about new facilities and new investment in the team. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Gerard LOPEZ: Yes, we essentially wanted to bring the place we are in right now, Enstone, up to the best standards in Formula One and it was missing a couple of things. One was the wind tunnel, which was still only 50 per cent scale. The second one was the driver simulator and then also a couple of logistical areas so we have decided essentially to expand the factory. Improve the wind tunnel up to 60 per cent, which is the maximum allowed and build the new simulator.

Q. Is that really state-of-the-art or even better than anybody else’s?

GL: I think everybody else that is a state-of-the-art team has the 60 per cent tunnel so I think that is matching essentially the best. On the simulator, as far as we know, it is probably going to be one of the very best simulators in the business.

Q. Are there plans for further investment?

GL: We have to invest every day essentially, just because it is a Formula One team so things become obsolete quite quickly. I think we have maxed out in terms of personnel. When we took over there were about 480 people. There are 520 I believe now, so we increase that number. The investments will continue essentially as much as we need to, to try and be where we want to be, which is a top three team in Formula One.

Q. Your third driver is the new GP2 champion Romain Grosjean. What are your plans for him?

GL: It’s a question that I need to take from a different angle, also of a management company that manages his career. I think the plans for a GP 2 winner, especially one that wins it in such a convincing manner, is to be in Formula One. We are going to try and help him sit in a Formula One car next year.

Q. Actually you were in a difficult position until quite recently of having five drivers for two cars potentially.

GL: And more. There’s people that are interested just in case. But right now we have a commitment to Robert (Kubica). He has done amazing things for the team. We know what he is capable of and I think any team would take him if he is capable of delivering the same thing. Our commitment is to try and see if he can come back and we will wonder about anything else afterwards.

Q. Sam, a sad moment for you isn’t it, leaving Williams?

Sam MICHAEL: It’s been a great 11 seasons with them. I think they were such a prestigious name and it has been an honour to work with Frank (Williams) and Patrick (Head). This weekend is the last race and the main thing for me is that we finish everything off properly which we are doing. I leave Williams with a very good relationship with the company. I have nothing but good memories of the place but it is time for a change after so many seasons.

Q. When exactly do you join McLaren?

SM: That’s not decided yet. That is something being discussed privately so it’s not really appropriate to go into that here.

Q. But you’ve got a bit of gardening leave have you?

SM: Well, as I said, I better not discuss that here.

Q. Tell us about the technical challenges of this circuit?

SM: Well it’s a street circuit, so it has very low grip. There is always a lot of oil on the circuit so you always get a lot of progression of lap time during the weekend as the Formula One tyres pick up a lot of the debris and contaminants on the surface. It is similar to Monte Carlo, which is like that as well. The most important thing is slow-speed corners, getting rid of understeer, making sure traction is good. There are no real high-speed corners compared to a normal closed circuit. It’s a maximum downforce track and quite a few kerbs as well around this place. You can do a lot of damage there. Normally quite difficult to overtake around a track like this but with DRS and the tyre situation there should be plenty of overtaking on Sunday.

Q. Is it a little less bumpy than before?

SM: The track itself is. The actual tarmac, but the kerbs are just as big. They are hitting the kerbs even harder now.

Q. We have seen quite a lot of bits and pieces coming off most cars.

SM: That’s right. A lot of that is because they are trying to take more and more kerb as there is lap time in it.

Q. is that something we have seen today or are we going to see that for the rest of the weekend?

SM: Well I think today you will see a lot more of it as the drivers are trying to find out how far they can go and how much damage they can get away with. Then tonight you will repair your car and tell them where you can and can’t drive.

Q. Norbert, Michael Schumacher’s performances over the past couple of grands prix. Two fifth places.

Norbert HAUG: Well I think he was excellent in the last two races. He was very good in some of the other ones, probably not at the right position. Our current car is not capable of doing a much better job and I think especially in the races, especially after the starts, nobody overtook more cars than Michael did in the first lap. He is an excellent starter, still a fantastic racer and the more we improve our technical package the more he will deliver. I think we know from Nico (Rosberg) what he is capable of doing so we have a very strong driver combination. I think a lot of people got excited in Monza. It was fantastic to watch and the guys like us who like racing enjoyed it very much. I can understand Martin (Whitmarsh). I had a word with him afterwards. I can understand Lewis (Hamilton) but if they had been in our position they would not have acted differently and I guess 99 per cent of the television viewers enjoyed it. Probably more than that.

Q. Do you expect those sort of performances to continue for the final six races or was that just the two ow downforce circuits?

NH: Well it certainly fitted much better to the current package we are having. This race here in Singapore, first of all it is a fantastic event I have to say and hopefully it stays forever on the calendar. It is producing the most spectacular television pictures. It is so unique and we all have to thank the organisers and Bernie (Ecclestone) for making this event happen. But it is a challenging track. It probably looks not such a typical street course but you could see what happened today. The walls are very close. The drivers push to the limits. We discussed that right now so I think there will be a lot of surprises here. For us, it will be challenging. We made a good step between first practice and second practice. We’re heading in the right direction. Hopefully there is a little bit more to come but we honestly cannot expect a Monza or a Spa like performance under normal circumstances. But, having said that, this race will have safety cars probably. You need to be there. There is a chance of rain, whatever, so that can be quite a mix up in the field and we need to be prepared. Michael will deliver. There is no doubt he is as committed as ever. I think we have to see that he was outside of Formula One for three years. The formula changed a lot. There is no testing and so on and so on. He gets more mileage and he gets better and better and I think not a lot of drivers could have done a better job than he did in the last two races. His race speed, if you compare it to Nico, looks very balanced and Nico is – and I think Sam can describe that as well – certainly one of the most talented, most experienced ones. One of the definitely top five drivers and if you can compare yourself after a comeback, after a break of three years, with one of the young superstars, then you are heading in the right direction. For me it is a little strange to say Michael will create surprises because he won everything, he won more than anybody else, but believe me the better our car goes the more he will deliver and he is fully committed. He is an asset to the team, doing a fantastic job, keeping the together, motivating everybody and we are 100 per cent pleased to have him with us.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Joris Fioriti – Agence France Presse) A question to all of you. What do you think of Sebastian Vettel’s performances this year. Don’t you think that his domination harmed the sport a little bit and would you want him in your team?

RF: Let’s take it a step at a time. I think Sebastian has done a fantastic job this year as have Red Bull and it is up to the rest of the teams to challenge them. I don’t think Red Bull should be asked to slow down. We need to get our act together and to be competing with them so hat’s off to them and well done. There have been many, many years when a driver has dominated or a team has dominated so I think you have got to look at the overall package this year of racing and I think it’s been outstanding across the board. I think the show is probably the best it’s been for a long, long time. The fact that one team and one driver has dominated I don’t think has detracted from that. Would I like Sebastian in our car? I think we have got two or three rather good drivers. I am quite happy with what we have thank you.

JC: I hope that when Sebastian will have the title, if it is this grand prix or the nest grand prix, he will push a little bit more as I am sure the race will be more interesting at the end. For Renault, it is difficult to ask the engineer to slow down the engine or blow up the engine. I don’t think so.

RA: Well he has done a fantastic job again. I think it is also the team that has done their part. Again, their domination I refer to Bob’s point. We have seen domination and it is up to us to push ourselves. We are from behind but we hope to achieve some sort of success in the future. On him being a part of our team, I don’t think we can afford it, but we have got a good couple of drivers right now and we are happy with what we have and we will push on from there.

GL: I would concur – not trying to be boring – but I think they have the best car and they have somebody who can use it to the maximum, so he deserves to be where he is. I actually know him quite well for a long time already, so I can pretty much tell you that he deserves to be where he is today. And I will say the same thing as far as the drivers go: we have drivers that we like but he’s a great guy.

SM: I think he’s done a fantastic job for the second year in a row now. It’s not the races when Red Bull are dominant, it’s the ones when they are not that show that he’s really something special. He’s won races when perhaps maybe they shouldn’t have won and he’s managed to drag… although the car’s clearly very good, they haven’t been dominant at every single circuit and some of the races that I’ve seen him win this year have been pretty impressive. So definitely hats off, he’s deserved it.

NH: Sebastian is certainly a very special guy, very talented guy. I’ve known him since his early days in Formula BMW ADAC, the supporting races of DTM. Then he was a Formula Three driver with Paul di Resta. He learned a lot, he’s a very focused guy, a very intelligent guy, a very demanding guy and an absolutely nice chap. We absolutely have to take our hats off to him. He’s great, he deserves every single point he has got, probably more because he was unlucky here and there and he deserves what he has got. I don’t think that the World Championship isn’t interesting; in fact I think that this is one of the most thrilling seasons ever and I’ve been around for quite a while. The Pirellis have done a good job, the DRS has done a good job, there have been lots of surprises. There was Jenson Button being last in Canada for example, and then winning, doing lap times two seconds quicker than anybody else all of a sudden. There was Michael’s performance there, as an example. I could continue for hours. There were lots of surprises in Formula One this year, which nobody would have expected, even the specialists. There was always a certain dominance in Formula One. There were the Williams days, I remember, the McLaren-Mercedes days, the battles with Ferrari and now it’s the Red Bull days with Sebastian and also Mark doing a good job. But for sure, no dominance will last forever. We know that from the past. Everybody else will work very hard. We have a good relationship with Sebastian, friendship, I respect him very much and I think it’s the same the other way around. We are, as I pointed out, very satisfied with the drivers we have. We want to climb up the ladder with the combination that we have, make another step next year and then we will see where we are.

Q. (Mat Coch – pitpass.com) Now that you’ve had a couple of weeks to reflect on the Sky – BBC TV deals, how do you guys see it affecting your businesses in relation to marketing and sponsorship?

RF: I think we need a little bit of time for it to evolve with Sky. I think we’re going to see a different format and a lot more depth and it’s very difficult, at this point, to really appreciate what they are going to do. If you listen to the plans, they are very, very exciting. I understand it from a UK point of view that the free-to-air is challenged a little bit but I think there will be different levels of the sport now and different elements that Sky will bring to it which should be very, very exciting. I think we need to give them a little time. I don’t think it’s fair to judge until we’ve seen the sort of product that they’re coming out with.

NH: I think you need to see things right: it was BBC taking the decision if I’m informed correctly and I think it was a great job from Bernie, from Sky, from everybody else to step in and now we will see what the development will bring, but of course the initiative from the BBC. It was not the commercial rights holder selling non-free-to-air and I think that it is very important to keep that in mind. I can understand the BBC’s position but the basic plan was a different one. It’s a good combination still. I think pay TV…this channel in England is completely different, for example, to Germany. I heard that they have ten million or whatever subscribers so basically you can have a lot of viewers. But I’m not qualified to judge that in detail, but I think it is important to realise how it all started.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Riad, if I understand it correctly, if you finish in the top ten again this year as you did last year, you move up a column which obviously brings certain financial benefits under Concorde. But by the same token, you have more to lose if you change your team’s name, unless you get permission from everybody. How are you going to tackle that juggling act if you do change your team’s name?

RA: I guess there is a process that we all have to go through but as I highlighted, it is a process that we will undertake if and when the decision is made but it’s something that hasn’t happened yet so I can’t comment.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Are you confident that you will get that permission?

RA: I’ve got no motion of doing anything right now in terms of changing the name or anything like that so I can’t comment.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Gerard, on the one side we are hearing about massive investments as we heard about early on; on the other side we’re hearing stories of doom and gloom about bank loans and bankruptcies and all sorts of things: selling the team, Group Lotus wanting to buy the team. Could you clarify these issues please?

GL: It’s been one of the surprises for me in Formula One. The fact that any time we have a new driver, any time we announce something, any time I take a trip to Brazil or Russia or whatever, suppose I’m looking for money for the team. The fact is that we’re involved in a lot of businesses. This one, as a matter of fact, is one that we hope is going to be break-even at some point in time. It’s not but it’s not one that needs to make money for us. We make money somewhere else. I used to answer this giving examples and so on. To be honest, I don’t care any more because if it was reality we wouldn’t be there for a long time. I think the team that we took over had about 480 people. We saved those jobs and added about forty jobs to those. Facts speak for themselves. As I said, I used to get quite angry every time I would pick up something like that. Now it’s almost like crying wolf and nobody cares. The fact is that the facts are there: we are investing, we’re adding sponsors. Our drivers, whenever they get called pay drivers, I actually feel bad for them, not for us because at the end of the day, there is no driver that I think or I hope could bring enough money to actually carry this kind of team forward. I find it disrespectful to those guys. I used to find it disrespectful to us, to be honest with you. Now I don’t any more so now what we do is we get on with the things that we have to do. We make the investments that we have to make and at the end of the day we will see – in terms of results – what will be in the future and hopefully we will be wherever our investments carry us, which is to be one of the top three teams.

Q. (Mat Coch – pitpass.com) Sorry, carrying on from my previous question, at the moment there is about 97 percent of people in the UK that watch Formula One on free-to-air TV. Some numbers that we’ve gathered in the last couple of weeks show that only about seven percent of those viewers are going to be interesting buying a subscription. Does that not hurt your sponsors and their interests in the team and their expectations of their payback?

RF: Probably just coming back onto that is that you’ve been very focused on the UK. It’s a global market. Obviously we want to make sure our fans in the UK are serviced as well as possible, but at the end of the day, it was the BBC that made a decision. Bernie put together a super compromise. There will still be the ability to watch it on BBC and watch every race, but then you’ve got the added value… I’m not so sure your numbers are going to be right when it comes down to the real agenda. I think you will find that a lot of people will switch over.

NH: I’m not a specialist in that market but you need to apply the right facts. Where does the figure of seven percent come from? If I’m informed correctly, you can watch each and every Grand Prix free-to-air, this is still the case, and so maybe it’s an addition, if it’s played in the correct way. We have to wait and see but there was no alternative.

Q. But basically you’re not worried about your sponsorship?

NH: No.

Q. (Chris Lyons – Associated Press) Sam, I know your interest is much more on the sporting side than on the financial side of things, but on a broad principle, Williams going forward in the years to come – not just next year but in the years to come – are they in a situation where they will be able to make decisions on drivers based purely upon what they bring to team in terms of ability or is Williams in that situation now where it’s got to look more towards sponsorship and the financial aspects rather than just pure talent?

SM: If you take the first part of your question about Williams financially, they are obviously entering a lot of different areas of their business such as WHP with the hybrid power system – that’s standing out to be a very… an industry that’s going to open up a lot over the next few years. They already have contracts with major motor manufacturers, so that’s one area that’s quite strong. They’re obviously investing pretty heavily in Qatar. There’s the new Jaguar programme as well. There’s lots of different areas that Williams is diversifying into to ensure… which a lot of other teams have done as well. McLaren is a good example, earlier than Williams, and that will continue to be more and more profitable as years go on. That will help Williams put themselves into a good position. Other teams have done it, there’s nothing to say that Williams can’t either so I can’t see that that will be an issue for them in the future. With respect to their finances, if you then come to their drivers, if you look at the two drivers this year. We’ve got Rubens who is obviously an experienced guy, a multiple Grand Prix winner. Although Pastor Maldonado is a rookie, he’s GP2 champion and he’s run pretty close to Rubens all year. If you take out the first four or five races, which is entirely normal for any rookie, I would normally say that a rookie needs a couple of years, but you can definitely start to see the signs as to whether the guy is capable or not by mid-season and I would definitely put Pastor Maldonado in that category. And if he wasn’t in that category, he wouldn’t have kept his drive going forward. So I can see the guy having an even stronger year next year when he knows all the circuits, because he’s still on a slope. He’d never turned a lap around here before this evening, so I would say that to say that Williams are taking their decisions on drivers from a financial point of view is not really correct at the moment, because otherwise they wouldn’t be choosing the drivers that they have. I think Williams will make the choices that are best for the company and the best results. That’s what it will come down to.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Question to Norbert and Jean-Francois regarding engines, both at the moment and 2014 onwards. We used to have a situation where there was a maximum number of teams that an engine supplier could supply. In 2014, we could possibly have as many as five manufacturers supplying twelve teams and when you look at it, somehow five into twelve doesn’t work that well, particularly when you’ve got one manufacturer supplying four teams with engines. What do you people think the maximum should be allowed, both from a sporting and a financial, commercial point of view?

NH: For me it should be an open market, that’s it, basically. I hope we’re in a position to have five engine manufacturers, that would be very pleasing for all of us, I think. This is even more competition, but maybe we have less than five, we will see. It doesn’t look bad at the moment. The rules are heading in the right direction; over a five year period there will be lots of cost saving. All us engine manufacturers work very constructively on that point together with Ferrari and Renault, especially Cosworth also and our target is to save thirty percent budget over a five-year period which is challenging but which is achievable. For us, if five teams chose the engine X, then they should do so, it should be a free and open market. J-FC: By regulation, today it’s four teams, but I share that same advice, I am pushing for an open market because we are in Formula One and regulations cannot solve all the problems. I think the key point is not how many teams, the key point is which teams because when we are dealing with top teams, it’s not easy to have one or two top teams when you provide the same engine. The problem is more with who and how many teams.

Sebastien Buemi - Photo credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

DRIVERS – Sébastien BUEMI (Toro Rosso), Timo GLOCK (Virgin), Sergio PÉREZ (Sauber), Daniel RICCIARDO (HRT), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull).

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Timo, this is probably a circuit that you quite like giving that you finished second here in 2009.

Timo GLOCK: Yeah, definitely. It is one of the best races in the calendar. For me the best or the top three. It is just a really good track. Here if you do one mistake you end up in the wall and it is quite different to all the other tracks and in 2009 it was one of my best races here, finished on the podium, second. Looking forward to be back again.

Q. What are your thoughts about this year given that it could be wet. So far, we have escaped the rain but would that be a great leveller? Is it something you would like?

TG: For us it would be good. It opens up a bit of chance for us. I think in wet conditions it is more difficult here. We will have to see. I think we had one little – I would say –wet practice last year and I felt quite happy with it. It is good fun here so we have to see what we can do if it’s wet.

Q. Is that what would make the difference for you do you feel? Or is the car still developing?

TG: We have a little update here again. I think Monza was quite positive for us. It went in the right direction and the numbers were quite okay. It should be slightly better here but it doesn’t change our position. As I said, if it rains, in wet conditions, the races are different and others maybe make mistakes and that’s where we have to be on top and finish the race.

Q. Sergio, your first time here. Your first impressions?

Sergio PÉREZ: Well yesterday I went to walk the track even though it wasn’t completely finished. I think it is a very difficult circuit to learn. I am looking forward to driving at night. It will be my first experience doing a night race and it’s a street circuit and I always enjoy to drive on the streets.

Q. Both cars retired with gearbox problems in Monza. Was it the same gearbox problem and presumably now it’s been sorted whatever it was?

SP: Yeah, of course. We try to find the problem and we found it. Now we are looking forward. We lost some good points in Monza due to this. But the team is very confident and looking forward to try and catch the competition, which is Force India. We try to get back the position and hopefully we can score some good points here.

Q. The last two circuits you’ve thought of as not being good circuits for you. Is this a better one or is a street circuit a street circuit and it’s the same for everyone?

SP: Well I think in a street circuit a driver can make a little bit more difference so let’s see how it goes. This is the first time in Singapore for me. I hope we can go well. The last races we have been quite good in terms of pace. Very unlucky not to get a result, but it is looking good and hopefully we can do a good job here.

Q. Daniel, first time here. Again, your first impressions?

Daniel RICCIARDO: Bit the same as Sergio. I am looking forward to another street circuit. It is my preferred type of circuit. I really enjoy Monaco and Macau and these ones. It is always nice to come to a new one. Lots of corners. It is going to be quite difficult to remember where it all goes, but I spent some time on the simulator so it should help me out. I think it is going to be quite physical as well. Drivers I have spoken to say it is one of the harder ones over the season. The humidity and the length of the race, it always seems to be pushing around two hours, so good challenge.

Q. What about in the wet?

DR: Another good challenge. Should be fun.

Q. There are so many different things here. The lack of grip, the heat, but what’s the main impression from the simulator?

DR: I think it’s going to be quite hard on traction. Lot of stop, stop, start. Some other corners where you are turning and braking as well so quite easy quite easy to lock an outside front tyre. I guess until I drive I won’t know really where the time is going to be made or where it is going to be lost. But definitely challenging and I expect it to be quite bumpy as well. A typical street circuit. Never easy but always a good challenge and always something the drivers enjoy.

Q. Probably the closest race to home so far. Are many people coming up from Western Australia?

DR: Yeah, it is only a five-hour flight or so from home. Sounds long for European based people but very close for an Australian. My family and a few friends out to enjoy it. Whether they will be watching the race or up in one of the hotels gambling or drinking a few beers, I don’t know but it should be good to have some support.

Q. Sébastien, what is the main thing to take into account for drivers here as there are so many different things: anti-clockwise; it’s a street circuit; temperatures get cooler during the evening; humidity, all that sort of stuff.

Sébastien BUEMI: I think it is going to be a very tough race. Like you said all those points are making it a little bit harder for the drivers and the teams. We will have the super soft tyres and the soft as well so we will have to look after the tyres especially in the first few sessions. The weather is a bit unpredictable. We don’t know if it is going to be rain or not. It takes a long time to dry up as well so you have got to take this into consideration. Then I think the circuit is quite bumpy so you have got to have in a way a soft car, you need to have a lot of downforce but you need to find a good compromise which is never easy with so little running. But still I think it is going to be a very good weekend and we will definitely enjoy it.

Q. For you this is a bit of a milestone. The 50th grand prix. Does that make you feel as though you are just beginning or are you feeling fairly experienced?

SB: I think you always learn whether it is 50 or 100. I don’t know. At the end of the day you learn, you have got more experience, you know better what to do. It’s the third time for me in Singapore and I think it is going to help definitely. Like we said it is a difficult race and you have got to have a bit of experience if you want to come around it pretty well.

Q. As we said before the car seems to be improving. Have you got further modifications here?

SB: We have got a few things, but the main difference is the fact that we will have a lot of downforce here compared to Monza. We closed the gap quite a bit on Force India and Sauber so I would say the fight with them is pretty open for us. Hopefully we will have a good race, but the qualifying we need to see it improve quite a bit but then normally the race pace is quite good so we will see.

Q. Sebastian, you have been second here on the grid, second in the race itself. Is this a good race or a bad race or an average one? Most of them seem to be good for Red Bull Racing?

Sebastian VETTEL: I think it is a very good race. One of the best we have in the season. It’s a night race so very much looking forward to it. The circuit, as we touched on already, is one of the toughest for the drivers. To keep the focus it is extremely important so it should be a good race.

Q. Obviously you will be looking at the same two teams as usual, McLaren and Ferrari, but Fernando Alonso seems to be particularly keen here. He has won here twice.

SV: Yeah, I mean we will have to see. I think it will be a long weekend. A very long race. Nearly two hours. It is longer than all the other races that we have during the season. Ferrari were very competitive here last year. I think we were equally matched. I couldn’t get past on the track, so hopefully this year it is the other way around. I think it will be a long weekend. On this circuit it is hard to predict who is really going to be very competitive. Obviously I think we will be fighting McLaren and Ferrari but also I think Mercedes could have a good chance here so we will see. It is a circuit where the car is important, but I think the driver can make a big difference as well.

Q. Is there still a flow of development parts coming?

SV: I wouldn’t call it a flow. But we have some bits.

Q. A trickle then?

SV: Yeah, we have some bits. You always try to improve the car. It is not another step on Monza package as it is a completely different circuit but it is a step on the car we had on similar tyres of tracks, street circuit, so we will see.

Q. You could actually win the championship here. What are your thoughts on that?

SV: As you said would, could, should. So far we haven’t won anything. We are in a good position but still some way to go. We have to race and do our normal job and try to achieve our best. It is one of the most difficult tracks for the car, for the drivers. It is a long, long way to the chequered flag. A lot of people talk about it but certain things have to happen. It reminds me a little bit of the situation we faced in Abu Dhabi where people came up every two or three minutes giving another option that is possible. Out of I don’t know 1,467 options this could be one. It’s not the objective for this weekend. The target is to optimise our performance and then either we get surprised or not?

Q. So we could say you are not in a hurry?

SV: Generally our target going into the season was to defend our title. We are in a very good position. There is no reason that the target should change. It doesn’t really matter when, it matters to us that it happens and that is what we are working on.

Q. Nico, this is a circuit I think you really enjoy. You have qualified third here and finished second as well.

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, in general I have had very good experiences here in the past few years. Often been right at the front. I had my best ever position here in 2008 second place so it’s a track I enjoy and I hope I can do similarly well again this year.

Q. What is it about the circuit that’s so enjoyable?

NR: It’s just a street circuit. I go well on street circuits. It’s just a big challenge and a lot of fun and quite tough.

Q. When it comes to the circuit and the car is it a good one for the car do you feel?

NR: Not sure. For sure the last couple of races have been good for the car like Spa and Monza where we have seen some progress but here probably a bit less so. But we need to see. We have a few new bits coming here to Singapore and that will improve the car so it remains to be seen. It’s a possibility.

Q. In many ways you are quite a traveller. Do these final six grands prix excite you? The very thought that we are away from Europe now and it becomes a massive World Championship in itself.

NR: Of course I find it very exciting to go to see new places, especially. For example, India is going to be a very nice experience. Never been there. Look forward to that and even coming here is great. Singapore is a fantastic place and Japan. It’s great venues that we have on the calendar.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Ian De Cotta – Today) Sebastian, I know you said ‘it happens when it happens’ but is there any pressure on you to realise the championship in Singapore?

SV: I think there’s always pressure on me and on us because we want to achieve our best every single weekend and achieve our maximum so if there’s a possibility or chance to win, then we want to go for it. I don’t feel any extra pressure trying to win the championship here or trying to win it in one particular place. As I said earlier, we have to just remind ourselves what was the target going into the season and the target was not to win the championship by Singapore or any other race; the target was to win the championship itself. That’s why I think this race is as important as all the other ones, to be able to win the championship.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, last year you were stuck behind Fernando; do you think that DRS could help you to overtake him this year and overtake everyone?

SV: I think we have to wait and see. Sure you might have a better chance with the DRS, simply because of the fact that if you’re close enough, the car behind is allowed to use it and the car in front is not, like at all the other places. But we’ve seen this year, firstly depending on distance – so how big the DRS zone is, and secondly, where the DRS zone is, meaning which circuit, which straights and so on. It can make a big difference, so we will have to wait until we find out here.

Q. (Marco Degl’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) I would like to know from you all – except Sebastian – what is your personal opinion about the next possible World Champion, Sebastian Vettel? How do you judge him as a driver and fellow?

SB: I’ve known Sebastian for quite a long time now. He’s been winning everything that he has raced in so I think he’s doing a really good job, especially last year when he clinched the title in the last race. This year’s he’s had the perfect season, nothing to say. It’s been a wonderful season, winning nearly all the races. He’s just getting the maximum out of the car and the team. He’s done the best job of everyone.

NR: Good driver and deserves to win.

TG: There’s not much to add on that. I think Sebastian won the title last year, had a lot of ups and downs. This year, I think he’s just managed to have a near perfect season up until now. I have my money on him to win the championship this weekend so he has to push for it.

NR: How much did you put on him?

TG: I’m not telling you!

NR: I heard 20,000, is that true?

TG: Not really, no.

SP: I think he’s really a complete driver, and I think he deserves to win the championship this year.

DR: Seb sets a good target for us younger drivers, definitely. I think if we can repeat or maybe even one day try and do better, I think it’s the ultimate. He’s definitely set the benchmark, particular for us Red Bull Juniors. We’ll try and follow.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de São Paulo) Sebastian, this weekend will you take the same risks that you take in other races or will you be more conscious of this race?

SV: Well, it depends. It depends on the race that you’re in. I think one thing is clear. It always depends – given the risks you take – it always depends on the chances you see. If you see that there’s a gap and a chance to pass a car in front, then you go for it. If you think at that moment whether you decide to go for it or not that the risk is too high you don’t do it. It would be wrong to drive around with the handbrake on, just say ‘OK, I need to finish, I need to finish.’ On the other hand, it would be wrong to go into the race and say ‘now I need to risk something.’ So I think you should just race. In the end, we have a long season, a lot of races. Surely sometimes you will make mistakes, it’s natural. But I think the more races you do the more experience you get, ideally the fewer mistakes you make. As I said, we try to get the best out of this race and if we find ourselves in a good position, able to win, and there’s a chance and a gap, we have to go for it. If not, there’s no need to try something stupid.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Jenson is quoted today as saying that despite being fit, that because the race is at night, because of the humidity, the concentration levels, the race is actually a bit long and drivers would like to see it shortened. I wonder what the view is with everybody up there?

NR: Jenson can always stop if he gets a bit tired!

SV: I think it’s fine as it is. It’s the usual distance. Sure the speed is slow here because the average cornering speed is quite slow, so we need a lot of time to manage the 61 laps in the race, but it’s one of the biggest challenges we have, so the focus has to be extremely high throughout the race. It’s very hot, the humidity is very high. It’s very tough for the drivers, the whole thing happens at night, it’s more difficult for your eyes. I think it deserves to be a tough challenge. It’s long but it’s OK.

TG: It’s definitely one of the hardest races but I’m used to [how it was in] 2005 when I did ChampCar. Every race was nearly up to two hours. If you do Milwaukee oval race and you have 225 laps to do, that’s a long one. But I have to say, last year here was one of the toughest races for me because I was eleventh at some point in the race and I could hold up a lot of guys behind me and these 15 laps were some of the hardest I think I have ever had to drive. It’s all about staying focused and quite similar to Monaco. As I said, if you make a mistake, it’s over.

Q. (James Allen – Financial Times) Sebastian, going back to the DRS question earlier on, if you had had DRS last year, knowing what you know about it from this season, do you think you would have been able to get past Fernando, and secondly, there was quite a bit of banter between you and Fernando after the race in Monza about putting you on the grass. Was that always good humoured? You mentioned it a few times, did you feel it was a little bit marginal in the end?

SV:First part: it’s hard to know. The cars were different last year but I think with DRS I would maybe have had a better chance. On the other hand, Fernando would not have waved me past so I would still have had to make the pass. I don’t know. The race is done, we can’t change the result. Overall I’m happy with last year’s outcome, it’s OK. For Monza, I think he didn’t expect me to go on the left, so trying to go on the inside for the second chicane so initially he didn’t see me, but as soon as he saw me, he didn’t back off but he at least pulled to the right and gave me enough room. It was borderline but I know that if I want to get past, I have to try something. Actually, the lap before was more critical, when I was on the right, on the outside for the second chicane and he moved a little bit under braking to the right side and there wasn’t much room for me. We talked about it after the race and I think it’s fine. Generally, if you race people like Fernando and people with a lot of experience and people you respect a lot, you can really push the limits and really go wheel to wheel without thinking about it, because you know that the guy will see you and will know that you are there and will give you just enough room – not a lot but just enough.

Q. (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) Sebastian, on that subject, I understand you went to see the stewards about Fernando’s driving after Monza… that’s not true?

SV:No.

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) As you mentioned already, this is a street circuit like Monte Carlo. For those of you who know this circuit, what are the differences from Monte Carlo in terms of driving challenge and driving technique? Is it more or less difficult here?

TG: I would say Singapore is quite a bit longer than Monaco, but in general it’s not that different –maybe it’s slightly more bumpy here. And that’s it really. It’s at night yeah, but that’s the difference.

SV: In a way it’s tougher than Monaco. Obviously I haven’t been around that long – maybe you should ask Michael – but I think over the last couple of years we have resurfaced (Monaco) again and again, and tried to make it smoother and better, safer. We’ve just been here a couple of times – this is the fourth time – but it’s much rougher than Monaco in a way. It’s very bumpy. At some places there’s not a lot of room for mistakes – generally there’s little or no run-off on street circuits but I think that given the lap is so long and there are so many corners, it’s quite hot, it’s humid, I think it makes it a tougher challenge in a way than Monaco. It’s a different track, but I think it’s tougher around here.

Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, which is more difficult: to catch Massa in the championship or keep Michael behind?

NR: My target is to catch Massa, for sure, but that’s going to be a challenge. It’s also difficult to keep Michael behind, and I just need to keep on scoring points consistently and don’t get taken out in the first corner.

Q. (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Do you think that night racing is an unnecessary expense or is it something more circuits should look to try and consider?

SV: I think it makes it very cool around here, it’s something very special, something we all look forward to. Here and obviously Abu Dhabi, we start just when the sun goes down. It’s exciting for us and I think it’s also more exciting to watch, in a way. It doesn’t meant that all the races have to be night races now, because then it wouldn’t be something special, so I think the rhythm we have is very fine and with one or two – maybe three – races in the future per year. I don’t know where. It could be very nice.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) I would assume that you’ve watched either all or part of the re-run of the Italian Grand Prix. What are your comments about Michael Schumacher’s driving? Was it within the bounds of sporting good behaviour; what are your feelings?

SB: I think that he was really quick on the straight, first of all, and that Lewis had a completely different rear wing setting so that he was on the limiter a lot, which is maybe a better compromise for them in qualifying, but worse in the race. I don’t think it was unfair, I think that what he did was quite fair. It was on the edge, at the limit, but I still think that the biggest problem was that McLaren were really short on seventh gear.

SV: I think it was fun to watch, that’s one thing. Whether it was too hard or not… in a way it’s very easy for us to understand Lewis’s frustration: if you are behind, know that you can go quicker and you’re stuck because you’re short on ratios and the other car is very quick on the straights, and you can’t really get past. I saw the race and one move was arguably a little bit too much. I don’t know if Michael saw him or not, but out of the first chicane, when Lewis tried, with the speed he had, to go on the inside, it looked like Michael didn’t see him so he had to go on the grass.

Q. (Mat Coch – pitpass.com) To Sergio and Daniel: having come from the junior categories, what’s the style of racing like in Formula One compared to the feeder series?

DR: I think it’s definitely different. In a lot of junior categories you go 110 percent from the green light to the finish and you don’t have to worry about other factors coming into play. Fuel effect isn’t really anything and your tyres last the race. I think, for me, the more difficult thing, or the different thing to get used to, is maybe at times driving more conservatively. You’re always tempted to push 100 percent/110 percent but you have to think about what’s best for the tyres and for strategy and situations, so that’s probably a brief summary of the differences that I’m experiencing.

SP: Yes, I think you have a lot more things in Formula One, like different tyre compounds and you have to drive in a different style on each of them, to try to make them last as long as possible. It’s a bit similar to GP2 in that way, in that you have to save the tyres a bit, but you also have to be on the limit and try to save the tyres as much as possible. You are always changing your style during the race. This is something very important and important to learn, and you’ve got to learn during the races, because to make them last and be fast, you have to be changing your style every single lap, every single corner.

Q. Is the track behaviour, is the driving behaviour very different?

SP: Well, I think it’s a combination, it’s a combination of both. I would say it’s quite different.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sergio, how did things go for you today? What are your first impressions?

Sergio Perez: I think it was a good day. I felt comfortable towards the end of the session. Tomorrow I need to improve a bit more. Apart from this I think it is a good first day and hopefully tomorrow can go the same way.

Q. This is your first grand prix, although I am sure you have been to grands prix before with GP2 etcetera, what is your first impression of it?

SP: It is very tough, it is very difficult to get the most out of it with the traffic, with the tyres, with all the things you have to be moving which I was not used to. In GP2 you do not have to move anything like this. It is very critical not to get everything right for just one lap but to be consistent as well, so it is quite a big step but overall I am comfortable.

Q. What’s the most different thing from GP2 for you?

SP: I would say the amount of things you do have. Not only inside of the car, out of the car you have also a lot of people around you. You have to be very focused to be right and don’t do any mistakes as it is very easy to do mistakes. You are very busy moving a lot of things on the steering wheel which I was not used to. You have to worry about the tyres, it is a big package. It is not only one thing, I think it is a bigger picture.

Q. Obviously a good time today.

SP: Yes, today was good day for me.

Q. Paul, you were also quicker than your team-mate as well. Your feelings about today?

PdiR: Again, it is quite difficult to come to your first grand prix. I obviously sat out FP1. Nico (Hulkenberg) was in the car and session two was quite tricky with the weather. Also the traffic, just trying to get some clear laps to give me a good idea going into tomorrow. I think it was quite positive. We ran through the programme we had to so we will certainly need to sit down and analyse it and try just to improve upon myself where I think most of the time will be.

Q. As you say, you sat out the morning session. That must have been quite difficult but on the other hand you had your morning session a year ago.

PdiR: Yeah, the morning session is a bit different. It gives you a bit more time. When you go out with all these guys and they are all up to speed a bit quicker, you obviously have to pace yourself a bit. But it is my first grand prix so I have to work from the bottom and try and work my way to the top. Every lap around Melbourne is key. You can quite easily make a mistake. I had to get through the programme going into tomorrow.

Q. How different for you is Formula One this year from last year?

PdiR: It is quite different. Thankfully I was able to go to all the grands prix last year and also take part in some of the testing in FP1 so it is not that new to me. But at the same time there is extra pressure, extra demands on you as a race driver. But you know what the case is when you take this job. I want to stay very focussed and put the effort in and keep a long-term relationship in Formula One and also with the team.

Q. A lot of people would say you were a touring car driver and now you are a single seater driver. That perhaps is over-extending it, but how different are the cars?

PdiR: They are quite different, there is no denying it. But Formula One has always been my dream to get here. It is the car I want to drive. You can’t really compare them. They are both at a different level. Equally I enjoyed racing DTM with Mercedes-Benz. I had four great years there. I think it has prepared me well but this step is also very big and only time will tell how the transition is. But relatively, up until now, I feel quite confident, quite comfortable. I need to put a lot of effort in and work up.

Q. Jerome, how was today for you. It seemed to be fairly simple but not necessarily, particularly quick at the moment?

JD’A: Well it was a good day for us. Obviously we need to work hard. It is not easy, but we made progress throughout the day and for us in this situation the most important thing in the end is to get better every time we hit the track. That was our case between the two sessions. I believe it will be the case also for tomorrow so this is the main thing really.

Q. This is your first full season of Formula One, but you have driven Formula One cars quite a lot haven’t you?

JD’A: About four morning sessions last year and then the Abu Dhabi rookie days. That was some experience. It was good for me to get up to speed in the winter testing. Last year I didn’t know the buttons and the steering wheel. It is quite complicated with Formula One. But then a race weekend is obviously very different. It is something new. Being quick over a test day is not the same thing. I have got many things to learn from Timo (Glock) so I am really lucky to have him beside me this year so I can learn a lot.

Q. You did the Renault demonstrations as well?

JD’A: Yes.

Q. Which must have been fun anyway?

JD’A: That was fun. That was donuts things. Now I know how to do donuts in a Formula One car, but hopefully I won’t have to use it in a grand prix weekend.

Q. How much of a worry is the 107 per cent rule as you were outside of that today?

JD’A: Well it is really nothing I should worry about as that is not going to be anything productive. The only thing I can do, and we all can do as a team, is to focus on getting the best out of what we have now. We will progress and we will get better but for now, for this weekend, we just have to focus on getting the best out of the package and that is the only thing which will bring us to a result that will hopefully be in the 107.

Q. Your aim for the season?

JD’A: It is difficult to give an aim in terms of results or points or things like that, quite concrete. There is a lot of data missing for that. I think for me I need to learn a lot from Timo and get as close to him as possible through the season. Get closer and closer and that’s the main things really.

Q. Sebastian, World Champion of course. How have things changed for you in 12 months. Sebastian VETTEL: Well in terms of how I approach the first race nothing has changed. It is Friday afternoon, it is a very busy day and I cannot be in the garage now, I have to be here so potentially it is the worst possible moment of the weekend to answer your question unless you can answer me which ratios we put in the car or those sorts of things. But as I said in terms of approach, how you come here, what you want to achieve, nothing has changed. Looking back it makes me very happy and very proud. I think that is the same for everyone in the team as well. We enjoy where we are at the moment, but we know as well we have zero points at this stage just like everybody else.

Q. Looking at the various changes in Formula One. First of all the tyres, how different are the two types of tyres after today’s sessions.

SV: Well they are different. I think it was good finally to come here and start the season and race on a different track. All winter we have been in Barcelona and I think we know it inside out and we know exactly what the tyres do. Today we were, I wouldn’t say surprised, but in a way probably surprised as the tyre behaviour is different. No doubt compared to last year the tyres are different. You cannot compare. There is a big difference. But I think we expected worse conditions here in terms of how long the tyres last etcetera. I think this morning and this afternoon was quite useful and helped us understand what to do in the race on Sunday. So far I think it is positive. Still we cannot race with one stop only. I think we have to come in a couple of times so ultimately we will find out on Sunday if the track improves or not as it is also something we have seen in the test. In four days running the track does not rubber in so we will see how it is here, different tarmac, different track, different lay-out, different conditions but so far we are positively surprised.

Q. What about the Drag Reduction System. It was very interesting watching you how much you use the DRS in one lap today.

SV: Well I think it is not just me it is all the others as well.

Q. No, I don’t think so. I think you used it more than anyone.

SV: Yeah, I don’t think the others need to wake up. We said it often enough that it works in a similar manner to the F-Duct and surely it keeps us busy. Melbourne is a rough track with a lot of bumps, lot of corners and you really feel the speed here in some corners and you don’t have much time between the corners. Everything is following up quickly so it keeps you busy. Similar to the F-Duct, you try to work on it as soon as you can to try to get the biggest benefit. I would be surprised if everyone else is much later operating it. I think that is partly what we have been talking about pre-season and not all of us yet probably do understand. As you can see and as you said it was the first time a lot of people got to see it. Qualifying and practice is very different to a race as in a race ideally you use it once a lap or maybe twice, but you know where and how so it is quite different to practice conditions.

Q. How do you balance using that with using KERS as well?

SV: Yes, you have to do that on top so there is no real balance. Either you do both…

Q. Have you got enough thumbs?

SV: It is up to us, the teams and drivers to find a lay-out that suits you. Nevertheless whatever part you use or if you use your thumb, another finger. Elbow hasn’t come in yet. But you need to find a way according to your liking. It depends or it varies between the drivers. Just practice and get used to it. But I think all of us, you are very busy, with both of those things plus driving. Now imagine the phone rings, then the next wall is very close.

Q. Nick, good to see you but in sad circumstances. I believe you have something on your helmet to acknowledge Robert?

Nick HEIDFELD: Yes, I have his initials, RK, on the front of my helmet.

Q. It was obviously a late change for you to take over his seat. You were obviously working with Pirelli before then as a test driver; how much of an advantage was that?

NH: Well, I think one thing that could have been an advantage was that I helped in the early part of development on the construction, so at least that should have been something that suited me well. I wasn’t there when they developed the compounds and what I found out in testing was that I had no advantage at all in knowing how to set up the car, because you can imagine that when you develop a tyre you don’t try adjusting the set-up, you just put on new tyres, new tyres, new tyres all the time and we didn’t actually touch the set-up.

Q. So how did things go today?

NH: It was OK. It could have been better, could have been worse. We had some small issues on the car, didn’t do all the mileage we wanted but most importantly we learned quite a bit. You spoke about the tyres before with Sebastian; I also thought it was quite interesting. From testing in the winter we thought the soft tyres would only last one lap. I did my quickest lap here today on the second lap; the third lap wasn’t too bad either so this hopefully makes qualifying a bit less of a problem, because we will see more pit stops. And then on top of that, we see that the lap time difference between hard and soft tyres is quite big, huge – at least, compared to last year. That means that maybe only the very quick cars like the Red Bull may be able to use the hard tyres and save some soft tyres, but most other cars will already have to use soft tyres in Q1 to get through. That means that you only have two sets left for later on which you might also have to use in the race, so it makes things very different, quite interesting and complicated.

Q. And obviously if you get through to Q3, you’re probably going to be on soft tyres, you’ve got to start the race on soft tyres.

NH: Yes, definitely. It’s the same as last year. Of course they will last a bit longer but I don’t think that is the big issue; the big question is how many stops is it after that? On simulations, in winter testing in Barcelona, we’ve seen most cars and people doing three stops but you also saw that their lap times became quite slow towards the end of the stint. That was just to find out where the limit is. So it might be that in a real race situation you would have seen four stops. That, again, will be interesting to see. Today’s degradation was obviously a lot better but it should spice up the racing. It will be interesting to see how difficult it is to overtake during the race. It’s going to be new for everybody.

Q. And also there’s the possibility of better weather on Saturday, increased track temperatures as well. How much of a difference will that make?

NH: Nobody knows, because it wasn’t that hot in winter testing. Some people believe that with higher temperatures we will see the circuit improving and the rubber sticking to the surface for once. Now we just see marbles off-line, which might also make overtaking more difficult, but as Sebastian said, throughout winter testing the circuit was pretty much the same from day one to the end.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Frederic Ferret) Nick how difficult was it to find your way back to Formula One in such a short time, and do you feel happy to be there, just as you were in other teams?

NH: Well, of course I’m extremely excited – as we’ve discussed – I’ve said many times that this is not the circumstances I wished for, with Robert’s really, really bad accident, but the team has made it very easy for me. They were very open right from the beginning and I only missed one test so I missed two days of driving. What I missed more was being with the team but the time that I’ve had up to now was enough to make up for that. I was probably a bit busier than the others in those early weeks but now I think I’ve caught up.

Q. (Joris Fioriti) Nick, we were normally used to seeing Robert in front of Vitaly in FP1, 2, 3, qualifying etc last year. Do you think it’s going to happen to you too? Do you have the same level as Robert? How do you see it?

NH: Well, I guess you asked the question because you saw that in P1 I was not in front of Vitaly but of course I will try to do my best, to do the best performance I can. I’m quite confident that I will be able to do that and will show some good performance.

Q. (Andreas Gröbl) I have a question for Sebastian and Nick, maybe. Sebastian was talking about gear ratios before. Can you give us an idea as to how much the new drag reduction system influences gear ratios, in particular your highest gear? And if so, does that compromise you on straights where you’re not using the system?

SV: Basically, that’s the reason why we use it in qualifying and practice. Obviously, as I touched on earlier, it’s like the question why you have to operate it for all of the lap whereas you only have it available at one or two sections of the track in the race. So it would be useful to have the same regulations in qualifying and practice as in the race but that’s not the case. The reason why we’re allowed to use it at all in qualifying and practice is because otherwise we would probably select a different gear – top gear especially in the car – which then would not allow us to overtake because we would be sitting on the limiter as soon as we stalled the wing. So that is obviously the background, so to have the ability in practice and qualifying, to have similar ratios to in the race, working in the same range, so of course, that’s the first time we are now having to make this decision and it’s extremely important. Obviously the engineers can do a lot of work, but I think the driver is still very, very important and his input is as well. Practice just finished half an hour ago, that’s why, to be honest, I’m not so happy to be here now unless, as I said, you can give me an answer on our gear ratios.

Q. (Gert Vermersch) Question to all drivers: the moveable wing was introduced to improve overtaking: did anyone of you use it to overtake somebody, and if yes, was it easier?

NH: Didn’t.

SV: Basically I tried, did not succeed. I tried but it was not enough to get past. In the end, that’s a good thing because you don’t want racing to be artificial, but to really answer this question I think we have to wait until Sunday when everyone is on similarly aged tyres and the same fuel load.

JD’A: I wasn’t really in a position to try, I guess.

PdiR: I think a lot of people have been using the DRS through most of their runs to try and get data on it. In testing, you can’t really get an idea when one car is not using it and one car is allowed to use it. SP: I didn’t try it.

Q. (Thierry Wilmotte) Sebastian, you have a lot of rookies around you. Do you remember your first Grand Prix and do you have some advice to give to them?

SV: Of course I remember, it wasn’t that long ago. I raced with Paul, for instance, in Formula 3. I might have been in Formula One now for a couple of years but it wasn’t that long ago that my memory has suffered. Yeah, it’s always difficult to give advice because everyone at the end of the day has his own style and needs to find his own way. It was a little bit the same when I came in. Of course I wanted to drive as fast as the guys who were winning races but sometimes you have to accept that you’re probably not in the car to win races or finish on the podium, so really I think you need to find your own way and your own happiness, I guess. In the end, I did enjoy racing when I came into Formula One, my first race with BMW and then with Toro Rosso, even though I finished 17th or 12th in some races and obviously I do enjoy it now. I think that’s the most important thing.

Q. (Ian Parkes) Sebastian, you mentioned about Paul being your former teammate. He, of course, beat you that particular year…

SV: Thanks for mentioning it! …are you surprised that it’s taken him so long to get to Formula One? Obviously you went down very different routes after that season, and now that he’s here, what does it meant to have him here?

I had the chance, obviously, to get to know him in ’06 and get used to his Scottish accent. Yes, so I understand him now! As I said, routes can be very different and in the end you have to find your own way, so I think it was quite exceptional the way he came into Formula One finally. I think he rightly deserves to be here. He’s quick enough, he’s proven that many times in DTM and before. I’m not again mentioning… you did it already. You know what happened in 2006 when I finished second. It’s good to have him here and I think we have a lot of young drivers now, but one day we might have old drivers again so if we all get old, we still want to be here and we don’t want new drivers to come in. I’m happy for every single one that has made the step because you know yourself just how hard it is. If you ask Nick the same question, he remembers very well. It never goes according to plan, even though from the outside it might always look easy for some of the people, I don’t think anyone had an easy route to get into Formula One. A lot of things have to turn your way.

Q. (Matthew Cochinos) Jerome, the fact that you’re flirting with the 107 percent rule come qualifying tomorrow, has the comparative lack of performance in the car surprised you or caught the team unawares?

JD’A: Obviously we worked quite hard throughout the whole winter and we probably hoped for better progress but in the end, Formula One is tough, it’s a high level competition and we improved a lot compared to last year. Obviously you guys only see performance, but there are a lot of things that go around that like reliability and things like that. We did make progress – obviously we would like to be quicker but again, sometimes it doesn’t go exactly according to your plan and you’ve got to work hard to catch up and I’m sure we will do it, but we can only get better.

Q. (Luis Aguirre) Sergio, could you tell us a little bit about your first day in Formula One at a grand prix, and are you surprised to see you name in eighth position, and how real is this eighth position for you?

SP: I have to say it was really a good day for me because in the morning it wasn’t so good, because I didn’t know the circuit and I also had some traffic, but I have to say that the second practice was real, if I compare it to my teammate. It was a good session. I learned quite a lot about the tyres. Around here is quite different to what I was used to in testing. The conditions are really different. Normally you get your lap on lap one but now you can take more laps to set a time, so this is really something I experienced today. What really matters is tomorrow in qualifying and the race. We are trying to get the most out of it for tomorrow and try to do a good qualifying.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Kamui, your home race but I don’t think you have raced here for a long, long time. Since you were 17, I think?

Kamui KOBAYASHI: Yes, I think the last race at Suzuka was seven years ago. Quite a long time. I am very excited to drive at Suzuka again.

Q. Last year you did the Friday practice.

KK: It was only testing in wet conditions. This time I think I have more opportunity to know the car and track, so I think I have more opportunity to have a good result here. I think my experience in Suzuka is too poor. I only have experience with Formula One in the wet, but this is… (becomes inaudible).

Q. You made your debut just over a year ago. How have things changed for you and how have you changed in the last year?

KK: I think 2009 was really the turning point for myself. In one year it really changed a lot. I had really a lot of things happening and still here, so I am very happy and it is thanks to many people, the fans and the supporters.

Q. In fact you have already been confirmed to drive for Sauber next year. How do you feel about that?

KK: For me it is a really great thing, to be proud for myself. Normally it is really difficult the start and beginning of this year but finally in last couple of races I scored points quite consistently. The team is happy and we have to make sure we can show all the performance for the rest of the season.

Q. Sakon, are you well today? Are you feeling okay?

Sakon YAMAMOTO: Yes, I feel very good. First of all I would like to mention one thing. At the beginning of this week we got bad news, our colleague he was motor journalist and unfortunately he couldn’t come. He was supposed to come to Suzuka but he couldn’t, so Rest In Peace for him. It is always special for me to be back in Suzuka as I saw Formula One in Suzuka and I started go-kart racing here as well, so it is always special to be back as a Formula One driver. I am really proud to be here and also really looking forward to racing in front of big supporters in Japan.

Q. How do you feel about your future with HRT? For the coming races and next year?

SY: Still we don’t know how I am going to do with HRT next year. But we try to do our best and I am looking forward to working with them again.

Q. Coming back to this circuit. What are the challengers of this particular circuit from your point of view?

SY: Well, my point of view regarding this circuit, sector one is one of the most challenging parts as from turn one to I think turn 10 you don’t have enough time or enough chance to drive straight. You are always going right or left, so it is going to be very challenging. Also that’s one of my favourite parts of this circuit, so in our limited situation it is going to be very tough to drive on that part but we try to do our best.

Q. Adrian, you qualified fourth last year. Admittedly, you didn’t start there but what are the chances of a similar performance this year?

Adrian SUTIL: Hopefully good chances. I think it is a circuit that suits our car a bit better than the last ones. I am looking for a top 10 finish again, score some points. It is very important at the moment to do a consistent job and just bring it home. We need every single point if it is possible. I am looking forward to the race this weekend in general. It is a nice circuit and I have good memories here.

Q. Your future has been mentioned in connection with Renault. What is your take on that?

AS: No comment at the moment really. We will see. Very soon hopefully. I don’t want to wait too long until I make my decision but I will probably make it very soon.

Q. In two weeks time we are going to be in Korea. What sort of preparations have you been able to make for that race? What are you expecting from it?

AS: Well, there is some footage out there of course from the first lap ever done on the circuit. I had a look at that but after this race we have our simulator sessions and then you get used to it a little bit. At least where the corners are and how the circuit is. But it is probably not the best simulation you can have. We all need a little bit of experience out there on the real circuit. Hopefully it will take place. It is still not looking so good when you see the pictures. But in general I am really looking forward to a new circuit, new in the calendar. I think it is a challenge to go somewhere else as well. Korea is a little bit outside of everything but pure racing.

Q. You haven’t been there before? Did you do the F3 races?

AS: No, for me it is the first time in Korea.

Q. Lewis, have you been to Korea before?

Lewis HAMILTON: I have, yes.

Q. What were your memories of racing there?

LH: I remember going there in Formula Three. I think it was a follow-on race from Macau. I cannot really remember the circuit too well but there was a very tight chicane there. I qualified pole. It was my first pole position in I think one of my first races in Formula Three and I remember being taken out by a certain driver but other than that it was a good weekend.

Q. Looking at this circuit, how do you see the challenges of this circuit?

LH: Well, firstly I am very happy to be here. I love being here in Japan. It is great to be back out here. Last year was quite a good race for us and I think generally just coming here it has always been a track that I enjoyed watching whilst I was growing up. Watching Michael race, watching Ayrton (Senna) race down here and (Alain) Prost. It seemed, at least while watching growing up, one of the very tough circuits but very much a driver’s circuit. Coming here for the first time last year was a great experience and looking forward to getting back out there. We did not have enough laps last year. There are never enough laps. It is a very challenging circuit. The first sector is incredible. You just never seem to stop, corner after corner after corner, and it is such a beautiful flow through there and I think the whole track is like that, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. Martin Whitmarsh made a point that only one McLaren has finished the last four races. Obviously he is looking for more finishes than that and the drivers would like to finish as well. You have got to stay out of trouble, but to what extent what can a driver do about it?

LH: As drivers we are always on the ragged edge. We are always trying to gain position whilst staying safe. Some of us are more aggressive than others in those positions. Some people do a lot less overtaking than others. You just try to keep out of trouble. It is not easy. Racing is racing and there are racing incidents every now and then, so that is to be expected. I think I have had a pretty good string of races in my Formula One career. I have scored a lot of points in only four years, so it is not all so bad.

Q. Michael, a remarkable record here. Six wins and half of your starts from pole position as well. What are your feelings about this circuit?

Michael SCHUMACHER: Well, from a driver’s point of view it is probably the highlight of the year. Mentioning the first sector as before that’s the one. That’s what you look forward to. From a driver’s point of view that is the ultimate challenge and I really look forward to this one. It has been through all the years very exceptional.

Q. What about your preparations for Korea? What have you been able to do?

MS: There is not much that can be done from that point of view in terms of simulator. Yes, we have a simulator but nobody has been able to drive the track so, at least for me, it is not anything that I make use of. I will go, as I did in Singapore, arrive there and see the nature of the track and get used to it as I normally do.

Q. You have been asked this many times, but we are getting towards the end of this comeback year for you. Just summarise how you have seen it so far this year.

MS: Well, it has been a much tougher year than we expected. If you think of the performance that the team was able to do last year, expectations were high. We have not been able to fulfil those expectations. At the same time it has been a long-term project and if I look back at how long it took with Benetton and with Ferrari to build up a team and then finally to take success it has never been possible to do that in the short term. The nature of the fact that the team used to be a big team, such as the top three teams, then was reduced to a much smaller team during last year due to circumstances that everybody knows, we are now a rather small team compared to the top running teams. That, in the situation that we are right now, makes it, naturally, a little bit more difficult. But then we have made decisions and steps to get back to the winning route although naturally it will take time.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Carole Capitaine – L’Equipe) Question for Lewis, Adrian and Michael: considering the past and Singapore as another example, we can say that Mark Webber is a fighter on the track and is very difficult to overtake. Do you believe that after the kind of experience in Singapore that this can give more confidence to Mark on the track and can you explain if it’s easy to find the limit up to where you can attack or defend your position?

LH: That’s about overtaking, yeah? I think Singapore is a very tough circuit because it’s clearly a very high downforce circuit, but – I don’t know if there was some overtaking there, I didn’t get to see the race after I was done – but then you come here which generally requires quite a bit of downforce but you have long straights, probably a little bit more opportunity here to overtake and watching over the years, it looks like quite a spectacular race circuit and there is quite a bit of overtaking especially when it’s wet, and I suppose it’s going to be wet this weekend, so I’m sure we will see some overtaking this weekend.

(MC clarifies the question.)

LH: I apologise, I didn’t fully understand. I don’t think it gives him more authority. Every driver is very, very… we make it as hard as possible to let the other guy behind you overtake. Of course, you want to race sensibly and avoid incidents and I think that’s what we all try to do, but of course, when you’re racing wheel-to-wheel at those high speeds, it’s very easy to have incidents. I don’t think the situation that we had in Singapore makes any difference really. It’s just racing.

MS: Principally, you always follow the same path. In Formula One, overtaking is very difficult. The nature of tracks, such as Singapore, don’t make it any easier. The straights are rather short and it needs special circumstances such as probably Robert (Kubica) had in the race, having fresher tyres, having the car with the most top speed. Only with those kind of circumstances may you get into a position to overtake. But under normal circumstances it’s tough. Probably in Brazil and on some exceptional tracks it is possible and on others it is simply impossible, so that’s the nature of our business. Naturally, if you have an opportunity you will go for it and having two cars close to each other then occasionally certain contact will happen, that’s unavoidable.

Q. (MC) But it doesn’t reflect on any particular person?

MS: No, not at all. I think that’s the general situation and I don’t think in Singapore we saw anything that changes the general trend.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) It’s a question for Michael. Before, you talked about a longer period project for Mercedes and you mentioned Benetton and Ferrari. In those days, you were in your mid-twenties and then in your mid-thirties. Now you are a little bit older. Is there any risk that time will run out before you find the target and is there any risk that you can work and somebody else can reap the fruits of your work, like Nico (Rosberg) for example?

MS: That’s why, right from the beginning, we talked about a three-year situation. I hope that within this time I can collect the fruits of it. Certainly we are on the right path. If I see modifications and mistakes and the learning curve – all what has been done to improve next year makes me very confident and comfortable and again, the target is to reduce what used to take four to five years to reduce it in time, so that I take the benefit from it.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Michael, with your experience, if you were having a bet where would your money go on the championship, among the five contenders now?

MS: If you want to lose money, you bet on one of those guys because none can be right and can be correct. If you look at this year, I think it has been a very exceptional year: for the reason to have so many drivers still in the championship and for the fact that there have been so many up and down happenings, retirements and so on, that I don’t think you could have expected, so I wouldn’t bet any money on anybody. I cross fingers for one that I’m good friends with, but that’s about it.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Who would that be?

MS: I’m good friends with Sebastian (Vettel), so my fingers are crossed for him.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Lewis, immediately after the Singapore race, I think you suggested that your title challenge was in a little bit of trouble. Do you still feel, two weeks on, that that’s still the case, and if so, what do you plan to do to make sure it’s not run away from you?

LH: I think at the time I clearly had quite a few tough races with the failure in Hungary, and then we had a win, and then we had two DNFs, so it was just after two tough races. I think it’s very easy to get your emotions mixed up with your thought process, but I think after coming away from it, there are still four races to go and looking back at the history of the sport and looking back particularly at this season and seeing how close it still is, after many people made mistakes and certain situations, it clearly shows that it isn’t impossible to win. I still feel very optimistic. I still know that clearly I have a tough job ahead of me and it’s going to be tough for all of us but I feel that I have as good an opportunity as anyone and so I’m going to work as hard as I can to make sure that I finish the races. Generally, when I finish races it’s not so bad, so fingers crossed that that will be the case.

Q. (Jonathan Legard – BBC Sport) Just following up on that point, Lewis, three retirements in your last four races, do you see any need to – not play percentage – but to make sure you score points? As you say, when you finish you do score heavily but you’ve got to finish, haven’t you? Do you see any need to modify your approach?

LH: I’m clearly looking at all of the races that I’ve done and looking at how my approach has been and trying to evaluate and try to take a step back and try to see it as something I can improve on, of course. It’s difficult to pinpoint one particular part. Of course, I could go and drive around and not overtake anyone and just stay in position, that’s easy enough but that’s not me, so that definitely won’t be happening.

Q. (Marco Degli’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you’ve already partially answered this question but can I have a clear answer from you: as you have not seen the chequered flag for the last two races, how crucial will this race be for you in the fight for the championship?

LH: I don’t think this race will be particularly more crucial than the next three races. I think they’re all very important to score maximum points. Clearly, if I had finished the last three races or the three races that I’ve missed, I’d be in a much stronger position but that’s life and there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t go back and change it; all I can do is try to recover and try to apply myself in the most productive way towards my team and towards myself and towards the racing. My plan, of course, is not to arrive at weekends and see how hard my team works and let them down and let my family down, or let my friends down or let myself down. So I’m doing as much as I can. I hope that this weekend is a stronger weekend. I feel good about it, so we will see.

Q. (Sumie Dan – The Hochi Shimbun) I have a request from the three drivers at the front: I would like to hear some frank opinion as the number of grand prix races has been increasing over the last few races through to this year and next year. How is it for you and your teams?

AS: I think it’s OK. Next year we will have twenty grands prix, so I will look forward to it. It’s very busy, no question, but we have no testing in between. Years back, when there was no testing ban, I think there was even more work to do, and it was more stress and busy but we are still in a good position and of course there is a lot of travelling. But the places we go to are very interesting and therefore I think it’s good that we have twenty races.

LH: Yeah, I agree. From my point of view, I think as a driver I love racing, so I kind of welcome it. However, it is very tiring on the team, time away from the family, but then, I’m pretty much certain that if you go and speak to any of my team members, they would not change a thing. We’re all racers, we’re all here because we love doing what we do. I think one more race, two more races isn’t the let-up.

MS: I very much look forward to it and coming back to the point, twenty races, yes, but if you go back to what it used to be in the past, we used to do racing, testing, racing, testing, racing, testing. We used to do a lot more. It’s only probably the last year or two that we do much less than we used to do, so I guess we, as drivers, naturally prefer more races than all the testing. Occasional testing, yes, I would agree on, but certainly I don’t mind the number of grands prix at all.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Question to Michael and Lewis: what do you need to have a winning car in Suzuka, and do you think the Red Bull can be beaten this weekend?

LH: At this circuit – well, I’ve only been here once, so Michael is probably the best one to start, you’ve won here six times, so there’s no one better to answer that.

MS: In a way, it is a high challenge track, and drivers, yes indeed, can give a great input on this kind of track, especially in the first sector, but nevertheless, the car is mega-important because of this first sector. If the response from the front end in particular, with all these longish corners, is weak, you suffer quite a lot and in this respect, looking at the nature of the Red Bull car, I think it’s going to be very strong in my view, but then I know that McLaren is pushing very hard on developments, so we will see whether they can keep up or not. That’s going to be a tough one.

LH: Well, the Red Bulls are very quick at the moment, so it will be very difficult to beat them. They won here last year, they’ve got very good and efficient downforce but as Michael said, we are all pushing… at least our team is pushing very hard to always close that, so hopefully it will be strong here as we were in the last race and hopefully even closer.

Q. (Nobuaki Tadaki – Tokyo Sankai Shimbun) Question to the three in the front row: it is reported that the Korean International Circuit has started to lay the final pavement, the day before yesterday and going to finish it tomorrow. It means that only two weeks later Formula One cars will drive on it. What do you think of that, particularly from a safety point of view?

MS: I guess we trust that the guys know exactly what they’re doing, because there’s a lot of experience how to build race tracks and I understand Hermann Tilke is involved in the project. We trust that it can all be achieved. I’m sure that they will put in maximum effort to make it happen.

LH: It doesn’t really worry me from a safety point of view. I think the FIA always do a great job and they and the team clearly won’t let us race if it was unsafe. I feel totally comfortable that everything will be done in order to keep us safe and therefore we can continue to race.

AS: Yes, same, very similar. The pictures probably look more dramatic than it actually is but the FIA will for sure make sure that it’s safe enough to race on, otherwise we won’t be going there, so we trust them.

LH: We want to race.

AS: We definitely want to race.

LH: We will keep pushing.

Q. (Yuuki Ishihara – Tokyo Sankei Sports) Michael, people say you are master of Suzuka. You won six times here in Suzuka, many times more than anybody else. I was wondering if you could share some secrets, do you have any reasons why you have been so good here in Suzuka?

MS: I don’t think it is naturally only Suzuka because if you just go for this statistic I have a couple of other tracks where I have been winning many times. It’s just that I’ve been around so long! That’s why maybe the number is so high, plus working with a very professional and fantastic team and doing my best on top of this. That’s what has given the results.

Q. Fernando, a thrilling qualifying battle with the lead changing between you and Sebastian sector by sector on that final run but you did it.

Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, obviously it was not an easy qualifying. We had very little running in dry conditions as it seemed to remain damp on some parts of the circuit during the weekend, so we arrived to qualifying not completely 100 per cent confident in the car in some of the corners. We build up the confidence in Q1 and Q2 and then in Q3 we tried to push at the limits. Both of my tyres worked really well and both attempts were similar in terms of lap time. Obviously in the car we don’t know what others are doing but I was quite happy with my lap. I did not know if it was enough to be on pole, second or fourth but I think we got 100 per cent out of the car today, so that was the main target for us.

Q. There was an engine concern for your team-mate Felipe Massa. You had to re-map your engine. What was the problem?

FA: Well, we tried to understand Felipe’s problem. Looking at the telemetry until the car is back probably we will not know, so we made some safe changes in the car just to avoid any risk. We were running with some experimental things here and after Felipe’s problem we went back to the standard ones. We had a problem the first time we changed it, so in Q2 we were running with the wrong maps in the car and we were lucky to get into Q3 and then in Q3 with the right maps the car was feeling better.

Q. Sebastian, you had a problem on the first run in the final part of qualifying. But where did it get away from you in the end?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was a pretty messy qualifying for us. I think we had a very smooth practice yesterday and this morning. This afternoon never really got into the rhythm, always a little bit in traffic and I just did not get it into one lap as I did in practice. In the final qualifying session, Q3, the first run I misjudged the gap to the car ahead. You don’t want to let your tyres cool down too much and then after four or five corners I was already in the back of Michael (Schumacher). Therefore the first run was lost. Second run I was on a good lap, then in sector two, 11, 12, 13 I was slightly in the wall in the exit and lost too much time there. I could recover from it in the last sector but not enough. In the end I think we had the car to be on pole but unfortunately only second by a little amount of time. But anyway I think we have a very quick car for tomorrow and we should be in a very strong position, so good start. I don’t know about the weather. I think no-one knows. Then we see.

Q. Is this a bit of a surprise for you as everybody up and down the pit lane thought Red Bull had a big advantage here?

SV: Well, I think we have an advantage, yes, but as it turned out in qualifying the others were a little bit closer and we did not get it all together. Probably we should have gone quicker but would, should, could. Can’t change it now. Obviously I am not the happiest today to go to sleep. Fernando is probably a little bit happier. But it was tight. They did a very good job and as he said they got the maximum out and this is what we and I didn’t do today, therefore we are only second.

Q. Lewis, good result for you ahead of your title rival Mark Webber and just a tenth off the Red Bull.

Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, not such a bad qualifying session. A bit of an improvement compared to Monza. I think we had perhaps a little bit more in the car but it is tricky out there making sure you found the gap. I cannot really complain. I am on the clean side of the grid and we have had the best starts for quite some time now, so fingers crossed that will continue tomorrow and it puts us in a good position.

Q. You have won here before. How do you see tomorrow’s race unfolding?

LH: I am sure tomorrow is going to be an extremely tricky race considering how long it took today for the track to dry. I am sure if it does rain this evening or sometime tomorrow it will never dry out. It takes so long. Fingers crossed it doesn’t rain the whole day and it is not a problem but if it is wet, then we have got our work cut out for sure.

Q. Fernando, the momentum is with you and Ferrari. Can you keep it going tomorrow in the race?

FA: Well, obviously it is going to be a tough race. But we are in the best position to start. Pole will help in dry and wet as well in terms of visibility, so let’s try to take the opportunity. As Lewis said I think if it rains anytime during the day probably there will be some parts of the track that remain wet for the whole race, so it is a race to survive in a way as well. As I said, starting on pole is the best thing we can do. We are not too worried about wet or dry. We should be okay in both.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Fernando, your second pole position this year. But tell us about the importance of pole position here.

FA: Well, we know that there are some circuits where pole position is important. This is one. If it is wet tomorrow it doesn’t count too much as it will be very difficult to see on the track. If it rains at anytime in the day it will be wet, so maybe pole means really less in those conditions as you can lose four or five seconds in one lap in those types of corners where they are damp. But it is the best position to start the race. The points are on Sunday afternoon, so in preparation for this Sunday afternoon you need to make a good Saturday and today we did.

Q. What about that first run? A lot of the time seemed to come in the final sector.

FA: Yeah, obviously different characteristics in the car. It seemed to struggle a little bit more in the second sector and being a little bit more comfortable in the third one. Also the behaviour of the tyres and how you prepare the tyres change the picture in terms of level of grip in the three sectors, so we knew that the third sector was giving us some performance there. That is something where we have normally been quick, in the third one, all weekend.

Q. How does that translate into the race itself? What differences does it make for the race?

FA: Nothing different. Obviously the main target is to be on the podium. At the moment Lewis and Mark are in front in the championship, so the target is to finish the race in front of them if we can. If we cannot finish in front we try to finish as close as we can to not lose more points. At the moment the job for tomorrow is to do that. Then when someone else is leading the championship we concentrate on those. But at the moment Lewis and Mark are the two in front.

Q. So a pretty satisfactory day all round?

FA: Yeah, we arrived here knowing that maybe Red Bull was very strong here. We saw yesterday a strong performance from them. This morning as well. Today our pole position is good for us. It is good news. One Red Bull is second, one is fourth here, so this is maybe a surprise for us.

Q. Sebastian, what happened on the first run?

SV: I caught Michael up quicker than I thought. Misjudged the gap a little bit. Probably took it a little bit quicker in the last couple of corners than he did and ended up already close when I crossed the line. I started the lap and thought ‘okay, we will be okay’. I counted to the first corner. It was around three seconds, two-and-a-half and caught him quicker than I thought I would, so I was stuck behind him. Not much I could do. Then for the second run I had a good beginning of the lap. In the middle sector I lost quite a lot of time in the complex 11, 12 and 13. Slightly hit the wall on the exit, so lost out. I tried obviously to finish the lap as I didn’t get a lap in before, so couldn’t risk too much in the last sector and missed pole by a little bit. Obviously we should have been on pole today by a little bit, so didn’t achieve our optimum. It was not a very smooth qualifying session with traffic here and there. Too many mistakes. But that’s how it is. Tomorrow is more important and starting second is not a bad thing considering that they did quite a good job on cleaning the circuit. Looking at other races, second is not as bad as the last couple of years, so we will see. As Fernando said if it rains tomorrow then anything is possible. I think we have a very strong car no matter the conditions, so we will see.

Q. You started second last year, what’s the difference?

SV: Yeah, I lost the position to Nico (Rosberg), I think, who was starting third. Obviously it’s not ideal, I would have loved to have been on pole but that’s not the case, so we have to be happy with second and I still think that if we go second or third into the first corner, depending on the conditions, we have a very good car and we are able to win, so we will see. Tomorrow is much more important than today.

Q. Lewis, I think you had quite a bumpy ride over the chicane on the second run.

LH: Yeah, the session was OK. The first lap I was much too close to Jenson, so in the last sector I think I was losing a bit of downforce but nevertheless, it was still quite a good lap. On the last lap I didn’t improve, it just wasn’t a good lap.

Q. You said yesterday that the Red Bulls were beatable; what are your feelings now?

LH: Yeah, well they are beatable, clearly. Fernando has proved that today and through qualifying. Clearly they don’t have the two second lead that they had at one stage this year, and so that’s a positive for us. I think myself and Jenson are doing a solid job, the team is doing a solid job, the car feels good and our long run pace is even better than our qualifying pace, so I feel that tomorrow we will have a good race.

Q. We were a bit worried about the yellow flag in Q2, did you see that?

LH: Yeah, there was a yellow flag in Q2 in turn five, and as I arrived, it switched off, it disappeared. The light was on and then it disappeared, and they told me it was clear as I went into the corner.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Question to you all: usually qualifying means 90 per cent of the race result on street circuits. Do you think that’s also the case tomorrow?

FA: Well, hopefully yes. I think it depends on the conditions. I think if it’s dry there is no doubt that it’s difficult to overtake here and like all street circuits, if it’s wet or if it’s half dry, half damp, anything can happen, because you can lose or gain a lot of seconds in two or three corners, so that will change positions very quickly in the first or in the middle of the race or whenever, so I think it will depend on the conditions, it will mean more or less the positions of the grid.

SV: I don’t think there’s more to add. It’s a long race here. The weather situation is completely open at this stage, so depending on when it will rain tomorrow it will be wet or half wet but surely it will be tricky. This is one of the longest races at nearly two hours, so it’s a very tough one too and a lot of things can happen. Sure, the further you are up in qualifying the more it helps but obviously the race can still change a couple of things. I think Fernando started here from 15th on the grid and won the race two years ago.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, you started from second last year. Is there a way not to repeat the same start, and how is the grip on the bad side of the grid?

SV: You’ve said it: it’s the bad side of the grid with probably less grip, we will find out tomorrow. But I think judging around the track and also the pit exit, obviously they have a new cleaning machine here for the asphalt which helped a lot throughout the weekend. OK, the water doesn’t disappear, but in terms of dust, I think it’s much better than it used to be for the last two years, so it should be fine. I think there’s a picture right outside here where you can’t even see the last five cars starting into the first corner because there was so much dust. It will be similar tomorrow but probably not as bad which should give us a good chance and we hope for a good start, see what we can do.

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Fernando, how big were the concerns about the engine after Felipe stopped obviously with an engine problem and apparently an electronic problem? Has it anything to do with the underground (railway) which I think might have been the reason for upsetting the electronics in the past?

FA: We don’t know, I don’t know at the moment. When I was in the car they informed me that Felipe had some kind of problems in the car, I think electronic problems but I really don’t know what happened or what is the reason why it happened. In our car, it was running OK. I don’t know, probably the team knows something more now that the car is back.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, I would like to know if you have some new updates on your starting system and the same from Fernando?

SV: If we have the same system as Ferrari? No, I understood! Yeah, lately our starts were not as good as they used to be at the beginning of the season. We struggled a little bit to put consistent starts together, but we’ve done a little bit of homework and I think we should be more resistant tomorrow, even if the grip isn’t that good. I think that all in all, there’s nothing wrong with our starts, just the last couple of races, if you sum it up, sometimes we were a bit unfortunate. In Hockenheim we had some problem with the clutch, Hungary was OK. Silverstone I think we had the same start as the Ferrari behind us, just on the worse side, so therefore I don’t think there’s much to worry about. As I said, we have some improvements – nothing big, we don’t come here with new parts, so pretty much as we have been, just the set-up is slightly different.

FA: No, nothing new. We were happy with our starts so far.

Q. (Jose Carlos Carabias – ABC) Fernando, apart from the weather, what are you more worried about for tomorrow? The performance of your opponents or to manage to do everything with the starting system?

FA: There are no big worries for tomorrow. The start is OK, the pace is OK, the car is OK and the weather is OK, both conditions.

Q. (Carlos Miquel Gomez – Grand Prix Actual) Fernando, five years ago you became World Champion on a day like today. Is this a good present or do you want more?

FA: Well, I didn’t know it was today, the exact day. Obviously there’s no need for presents or anything like that but pole position is a good way to start tomorrow’s race and keep fighting for this 2010 Championship that has been up and down, sometimes in the fight, sometimes not, and if we want to be in the fight until Abu Dhabi we need to be consistent and finish the race tomorrow with strong points.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Lewis, you have Fernando starting in front of you and Mark lining up behind you. Who are you going to be more worried about as you plot your strategy off the start?

LH: Neither. We pretty much have the best starts out of everyone now which is pretty good, so I’m hoping that will continue that way. As you saw, Jenson’s start in the last race was great and he was able to jump ahead of Fernando. Our starts aren’t bad, so we can’t really be too worried. I think tomorrow’s just about getting a decent start, whether it’s dry or wet and staying clean around the first lap. That’s the main goal.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. A question to you all. Can you give us some idea on how your team performed today?

Tony FERNANDES: Heikki (Kovalainen) had a much easier day today. He got through all his set-up work and was quite happy with the car. Jarno (Trulli) struggled to find what he wanted and we are going to have to do a little bit more work with him. Key for us was we overall thought we did better than we planned when we came in and the reliability was quite good, so not a bad day.

Colin KOLLES: We have two drivers who never drove before on this track, so they have to get acquainted to this. We are struggling with the set-up but no major issues. The car is reliable at the moment and this is one of the most important things for us.

Peter SAUBER: It was more or less okay. I think it was difficult for both drivers. For Nick (Heidfeld) it was a new car, new tyres, and for Kamui (Kobayashi) a new track. I think it was okay.

Q. And they ended up twelve-hundredths apart.

PS: Yes, yes that’s good.

Q. Stefano?

Stefano DOMENICALI: In this morning’s session we wanted to do more mileage but considering the condition of the track it was really impossible. We did the minimum considering that we had a lot of things to compare and we didn’t do that because of the situation. In the afternoon I think the situation improved. Difficult to say where we are. We had a little issue with Fernando’s (Alonso) car. It was doing the fastest lap then when they reversed he started again but there was something that we need to understand what has happened and waiting for the car to be back. With Felipe (Massa) I think he was not happy about the grip, the general grip and the balance on the car. I think the condition of the track today was difficult for everyone, so difficult to judge but I think tomorrow could be a good fight.

Q. Are the drivers reporting that it is a smoother circuit this year, not so bumpy?

SD: Not yet discussed it. What we have seen is that the new surface is more slippery as the bitumen is with maybe some dust or oil and you could see also this morning with changeable conditions the oldest part of the track was easier to dry up while the new one took a bit longer.

Q. Another question to you all. Bernie Ecclestone is apparently trying to revive his idea of medals being awarded to grand prix winners. What are your own personal thoughts about that? Do you agree with the idea rather than the points’ system being the decider who wins the World Championship? Would you like the medal system?

TF: I defer to the older guys.

CK: I think we have other issues at the moment. Maybe Ferrari can answer this.

SD: We have not won more medals unfortunately. But apart from that I think it is an exciting idea. No doubt about it. It is something that has been discussed. As always in Formula One we discuss and go back with other solutions. For whatever reason the situation this year is good in terms of what you can recover from the points that you can gain. It is something that can be addressed in a very short time.

PS: I am quite happy with the system that we have.

Q. Do you feel the points system this year is an improvement over last year?

PS: It is much more difficult to count the points.

Q. Tony, can you clarify the situation between Group Lotus and Lotus Racing to become Team Lotus and also the ART link-up and the Renault situation as well.

TF: Well, when Colin Chapman set up the company (becomes inaudible) there was Group Lotus which manufactured cars and there was Team Lotus which was the racing team. What we acquired was Team Lotus. This year we operated under a licence from Group Lotus and next year we will operate under our own ownership. The chassis name still stays the same.

Q. And the link up with ART and with Renault?

TF: I cannot really comment on ART. As to Renault I have no idea what that is. Are you talking about Group Lotus with Renault?

Q. I thought Lotus Racing had a link up with Renault for engines for next year?

TF: We will make an announcement in due course.

Q. And there is no dialogue between Lotus Racing and ART?

TF: No.

Q. Colin, today you had to replace Sakon Yamamoto with Christian Klien. Why did Karun Chandhok not have a chance? What’s his future with your team?

CK: Well, he had his chance. I think Christian deserved also a chance, so therefore Christian is sitting in the car.

Q. Are you saying that Chandhok won’t be driving again as he has had his chance?

CK: I am not saying this. I think it was Christian’s, how could I say… he would be the first choice in this situation.

Q. And you would expect Yamamoto to be back in the car for his home grand prix?

CK: This is what we expect, yes.

Q. Peter, very sad to see Pedro (de la Rosa) going. But nice to see Nick in the car again. What was the thinking behind that? Was there a cut-off point after Monza?

PS: No, nothing to do with the Monza result. The fact is that Kamui and Pedro were more or less the same level but Kamui scored more points. We are simply not sure about the potential of the car. With Nick we have a clear benchmark as we know him well. This is important with regards to the development of the new car.

Q. And Nick will be in the car for the rest of the year?

PS: Yes.

Q. Stefano, Monza obviously was a high-speed circuit where the team did fantastically well. This is very much a different circuit. How are you feeling about the performance, especially after the first practice session here?

SD: I think Monza was a fantastic weekend for us and for our people there. But as I always say we don’t have to be over the moon if we have a great weekend and we don’t have to be a total down if we have a bad weekend. The most important thing is that the team is always focused on the job, trying to do the maximum that we can. We know that this situation is totally different. But we also know that we have to be there trying to do the right thing as what has happened this year in terms of development was not what we really expected on the track. That is something also other teams have coped with and we need to make sure this weekend that we are doing the right step and keep the performance one step ahead. Even if on paper this track is not really the best for us I think our job is to make sure that we do everything perfect and then we will see. The championship is very open for everyone. Everything can happen, so the only thing we have to do is stay focused, not to be too excited when things are going well, but just keep the feet on the ground and work flat out and that is what we are going to do here and at the other grands prix.

Q. And you would expect to continue bringing developments all the way through to the end of the season?

SD: Well, of course for the next couple of grands prix, yes, and then we need to see how the situation is before the last grands prix because of course we need to be focused on the new car project. Resources are limited, so at the moment the more time is passing the more we are swapping and taking people from this year (year’s project) to next year (year’s project). So at every race we need to understand what the potential objective to be achieved is and then we will decide when we really will devote all the resources to the new project.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Joe Saward) I have one question for each of you, all about next year but there are obviously different situations, so different questions. Colin, can you tell us about your plans for next year; are you a Spanish team next year?

CK: I hope so.

Q. (Joe Saward) Are there any other options what the team might be?

CK: I’m used to too many changes in the past. You never know what might happen, but the plan is to be a Spanish team of course.

Q. (Joe Saward) Peter, next year’s plans – you have a big white car at the moment. Presumably you don’t want it to be white next year?

PS: It’s beautiful, the white car.

Q. (Joe Saward ) It doesn’t pay very well, though.

PS: Yeah, that’s true.

Q. (Joe Saward) So do we have any plans actually finalised, apart from Kamui, obviously?

PS: No, but we are in contact with several companies and I’m confident that we will have a solid budget for next season. I hope as big as possible.

Q. (Joe Saward ) Stefano, in relation to Peter – because there have been some rather strange rumours this week about Felipe disappearing off to Sauber and Robert Kubica coming over to you – can you just put that story to bed completely and tell us it’s rubbish?

SD: Absolutely. I totally underline what you’ve said, because I think it’s getting boring news. Every day there is something new on that and I tell you that Peter and I meet a lot of times because we have a good professional relationship, so I can confirm what you said, absolutely.

Q. (Joe Saward ) And we are going to see the same drivers next year?

SD: Yes.

Q. (Joe Saward) Any other changes happening, are we going to see some restructuring technically?

SD: No. I think that for sure, our main structure will not change and the objective is of course to have a good number two who can grow up within the team but I think this is the objective of all the teams but nothing major, I would say. But as I say, once again, on the Felipe story, I think it’s getting a little bit boring.

Q. (Joe Saward) Tony, where to do we start? How about drivers for next year?

TF: We haven’t confirmed our drivers yet but I think over the next two or three weeks we will.

Q. (Joe Saward) And between the chassis and the gearbox you will have something?

TF: Yes, hopefully.

Q. (Joe Saward) And we are expecting to see a green and yellow car?

TF: I would say that that’s the only thing I can confirm one hundred per cent.

Q. (Joris Fioriti) A question to all of you. You always talk in a positive way about the countries visited by Formula One, even when the conditions are not great, in order not to offend anyone, but Singapore truly seems to be appreciated by everyone: night race, glamour, huge audience. Do you think this event should set new standards for Formula One, for the new countries to come or even for the old ones, and if yes, why?

SD: For sure, the standard of this venue is really very high but we need to be realistic in respect of all the different conditions and all the different situations that you have country by country. There are certain places which have behind them the strength of the country, that can invest and can do something what I would say is outstanding. But there are other situations where really you have private organisers that have to live with their own money, keeping up the tradition of the venues that is not really comparable with the power that this kind of situation can offer to the others, so I think it’s a mixed balance that we need to keep in mind and I think that the beautiful thing about Formula One is that you have this kind of mixed situation where you have this fantastic venue and you have the venues that are part of the heritage of Formula One and that are, in any case, very good for the show and for the history and heritage of Formula One.

TF: I think Stefano has answered it very well. Obviously if you have a whole nation behind it (the event) it’s a lot easier. Singapore’s a small country which gets everyone together, it’s easier to get everyone together. Don’t take anything away from it, I think they’ve done a superb job and there’s tremendous excitement here. I continue to say that you obviously need time for the other new venues to really fully mature and it takes time. They haven’t had the racing pedigree of Monza or Monte Carlo or Silverstone, and I think that for the whole Formula One grouping to work harder in making racing second nature in some of the newer countries, I think the potential is huge. The price for getting huge crowds and activity, back up races in all these other countries is very critical but it will take time and it will take work but I think it’s very important that we get all the races up to the standard of a common platform. Obviously there will be some better, some better organised, some better financed, some will be private but I think that we still, as a sport, need to work harder on some of the new venues, because I think there’s a tremendous upside.

Q. (Mark Fogarty) Tony Fernandes, the licensing agreement that you have with Group Lotus is that the extent of Group Lotus’s involvement in your team?

TF: Yes.

Q. (Mark Fogarty) So then how do you claim heritage, because you’ve pointed out that Team Lotus and Group Lotus were separate entities, but in fact back in Colin Chapman’s day they were quite symbiotic, so don’t you need Group Lotus to have some sort of direct involvement in your team to be able to be actually able to claim the lineage?

TF: I don’t want to go into the legal side of it, but there were two separate companies and two very separate pools of goodwill. Of course they co-operated and of course we would like to co-operate but if Group Lotus doesn’t want to then there’s not much we can do about it. That’s not to say that they won’t, I think it makes sense, and maybe the ownership will come under one anyway in due time. So there was co-operation but there was never ownership and there was never racing by Group Lotus and vice versa, Team Lotus never manufactured cars.

Q. (Mark Fogarty) No, but you clearly understand that one fed off the other, image-wise, you know, Group Lotus…

TF: No, I don’t think that if you look at the history of Team Lotus there was much talking about the Esprit or the Elan etc, in fact Group Lotus probably used the imagery of the Formula One team a lot more, if you look at the history.

Q. (Mark Fogarty) So is there any prospect of Group Lotus getting heavily involved?

TF: The door is always open. It makes sense if they did. If I was sitting there and there was a Formula One team that’s going around the world with twenty races, promoting a brand, if I was the CEO, I would definitely want to get involved, especially if I’m not putting any money in it.

Q. (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) You’ve clearly spoken to the management about it. Do you get any feeling of why they’re not involved or why they would want to get involved?

TF: Best you ask them.

Q. (Joris Fioriti) Stefano, Fernando really seemed to be very fast before he stopped, even faster than Sebastian Vettel; do you think it’s possible you may win and be faster than the Red Bulls on Sunday?

SF: I don’t know. I think that for sure the fight will be very tight but I am expecting Red Bull to be a little bit stronger than us here in terms of pure performance. What is going to happen then during the race no one knows but I think I need to be very careful but that’s the picture that I’m getting here at the moment.

Q. (Joris Fioriti) Mr Fernandes, what are the goals for next year? Do you think you can match the tail enders of the established teams? What do you expect for next year?

TF: I think if you look at this year… when I was interviewed it was Formulaone.com and I said to Tom that we had an A, I think we’ve actually done alright this year but reliability could have been better. We had a very short time to develop the car. We stopped developing this car after Silverstone. We’ve put all our investment in next year’s car, so we would have a really respectable amount of time to develop the car and our wind tunnel work is already showing quite good results. We will have a new engine and we will have a new gearbox and internals which I think will help us to propel ourselves. As a first year entry we took two drivers that we paid for which showed our seriousness and we hope to continue that. So if you think that we have time to build… 18 months to build a new car, we can have better internals and a rear end and an engine and two reasonable drivers. We’re hoping we can move up the grid. I can’t say exactly where we are but we’re taking this very seriously and we’ve had a long term plan and slowly but surely we hope we will move up the grid.

Q. (Mat Coch) Colin, there’s been a lot of speculation about the future of Hispania with Durango, Jacques Villeneuve, even Stefan GP in recent weeks. What are the team’s long term goals and ambitions and what are you doing now to really drive the team towards those goals?

CK: To be honest with you, I’m really speechless, that you believe this speculation. Why should I answer you if you mention the name Durango and of the people you just mentioned before? I cannot make any comment because I never spoke to these people. We are working day and night. Obviously Tony has his plans, we have our plans and we will stay with our engine, we will have a different rear end, and we will have a different car but we will stay with Cosworth, this is the plan.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Vitaly, a lot of new circuits coming up that are new to you. This is the first one. What do you do to prepare for a new circuit like this?

Vitaly PETROV: Play PlayStation. Then I try to watch as much as possible the videos from on-board cameras and the team helps me a lot to prepare. I do some simulator work at home and watch a lot of videos from the on-board camera and bits like this.

Q. A lot has been talked about your future. What is your attitude to that as there are some quite heavy hitters being muted to come into your team?

VP: I am not worried. I do my job. I know what I am doing. Why must I worry? They must worry. I think I will continue to do my job and I think everything looks good.

Q. Is this a good circuit for Renault given how well the cars went in Monaco?

VP: Yeah, I think it is a good circuit for our car, our team. I think we will be quite strong here. I hope everything will be good for us. We will see.

Q. Where is the car strong?

VP: Braking, through the corner, exits, everywhere a little. It will be good, I think.

Q. Heikki, the battle with the Virgin cars is the most important for you I guess at this stage of the season.

Heikki KOVALAINEN: Yes, absolutely. We want to finish ahead of them in the championship, so the direct competition is against them and we are not developing our car anymore, so we are not expecting to move forward. That will be our task for next year, I think. At the moment we are trying to maximise the performance we have got and I think we have a good chance to stay ahead of Virgin, so that is our target.

Q. What is your future with the team? Are you signed for next year?

HK: I know where I want to be. That’s all I can say. Otherwise let’s leave it at that at the moment and just focus on the coming weekend.

Q. And the future of the team. How do you see that?

HK: I think there is a lot of potential and I think it will get better. The car will get quicker, so I see it is a very strong future for the team. Who knows how long it will take to arrive at the very top but I think it has got all the potential and the team has got all the commitment, so I think it is a strong option.

Q. Is this a busy grand prix for you as a driver for Lotus?

HK: Yeah, fairly busy. It is one of the busier ones for us. We have a lot of our partners coming to see the race and we pay a lot of visits to different events, so it is going to be quite a busy weekend for us but it is no problem.

Q. Nico, a circuit you like I imagine giving that you had your best ever result here?

Nico ROSBERG: It is probably not one of my favourite race tracks but it is a very challenging track which makes it interesting and also to get the perfect lap is very difficult here as there are so many corners, bumps, curves, different types of corners, so it is good. I have always had a good run here. I think I go well on this track, so I look forward to coming here every time.

Q. Is the potential for rain a bit of a worry? How is that going to affect things?

NR: Yeah, it is a bit of a concern. How is it going to be if there is a lot of rain with the lights, with everything on the track, rivers and things like that. It is very much unknown. But until now I think it has been alright, especially for qualifying and the race. It shouldn’t be wet but first free practice could be very interesting tomorrow.

Q. That is your weather forecast, is it?

NR: I have been here since Sunday and it is pretty much the same every day, so I think that is a good possibility.

Q. The team or the car seem to be better in the race rather than qualifying. Is that a correct take?

NR: It is difficult to say. Maybe we have had a bit of a tendency like that recently but I am not sure. I think in general we are on a level behind the top three teams at the moment and trying to stay ahead of Renault and I think we can do that towards the end of the season.

Q. Mark, is this a better circuit for Red Bull than the last two?

Mark WEBBER: Yeah, I would say so. Without doubt we knew Spa and Monza were going to be probably a little bit more challenging for us. We know we have a fantastic car wherever we go in the world but we probably wouldn’t go to Spa and Monza every day of the week to take our opposition on because there are not many tracks like that on the calendar. We are definitely focused on the tracks where we have the most of them and this is a similar characteristic to how most of the circuits are if you like, so we expect to be a bit more competitive here.

Q. And yet you haven’t actually finished here?

MW: I have only had two races. I think I have had a gearbox and a brake failure. But Brazil was a rubbish track for me in the past and I won there last year. I am ticking a few boxes off, so I hope to do well this weekend.

Q. When you look at the championship how do you see it?

MW: Well, I am leading. There are a few guys that have got a few less points here and there but it is still very interesting. It can move around a little bit either way in a negative or positive way for some people quite quickly. It’s certainly a nice position to be to have a few more points if you like. I’d certainly rather have them than not have them. It doesn’t matter if it is two guys, five guys or eight guys, it doesn’t really change your role or how you go about your job. I am coming here to try and win the race and that’s what we are going to try and do.

Q. It is very tight at the top. Would you prefer to see a few drop off?

MW: Well, eventually they will. Will five of us go to Abu Dhabi? The chances are it could, but it might be unlikely. It might be four. It might be three. It might be one. Who knows. None of us know. But what I do know is that we have to finish races, keep hanging in there. We need to be in the hunt at Abu Dhabi. That’s the important thing. Leading the World Championship in Singapore is not the important thing, leading it at the end is the important thing.

Q. Nick, you have actually had three different jobs in the space of a month which is not bad in Formula One.

Nick HEIDFELD: If they would be paid well, yes.

Q. And if you could do them all at the same time?

NH: Even better, yeah.

Q. But it is quite a fairy-tale return in many ways, isn’t it?

NH: Yes, it is. It was not an easy season for me being a third driver but when the opportunity came along to drive with Pirelli that was an important step for me to get back into the car, to get driving and possibly it could give me an advantage for next year. But when I had the chance to drive for Sauber from Singapore onwards, obviously I had to grab that chance.

Q. Is this a difficult circuit to make a comeback on?

NH: Yes, but I won’t complain as it is one of my favourite tracks. I couldn’t wish for anything better.

Q. It is anti-clockwise and we have got four anti-clockwise circuits out of the next five.

NH: Well, I have tried to stay fit for the whole season. I have not been in the car a lot but I have a simulator at home which I worked in. At least I was lucky enough to do quite a lot of miles with the Toyota car, testing for Pirelli and that should help.

Q. Have you got a particular aim for this race?

NH: Well, as usual I want to perform to the maximum. I want to get the most out of the car but especially for the first weekend it is going to be important to get into a rhythm with the cars and with the tyres as I have not driven this car one kilometre yet. I don’t know this year’s tyres as they have changed from last year, so that’s going to be quite important to just learn things quickly.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Mat Coch – Pitpass.com) Mark, talk to us about the dynamic within the team. Obviously the two of you in the team are going for the championship; historically, it’s proven that two guys in the same team doesn’t really work coming down to the wire – Williams ’87 and McLaren a few years back. Talk to us about how the two of you are working, how you get on professionally at the moment?

MW: Actually, not a lot has changed to be honest, since we started working a few years ago. It’s always been reasonably tight between both of us. The team is doing its absolute utmost to give us both the same opportunities to get the results done, which is the case: to try and beat Ferrari and McLaren week in, week out. To do that, you need to be performing collectively as a group all the time. Seriously, it hasn’t changed too much. Yes, we are coming to an interesting part of the season but every race has been important this year, so our relationship in Bahrain and also the dynamics in the team have been very, very similar to be honest. The briefings after some races this year have been a bit interesting but that’s to be expected. There’s some good healthy rivalry within the team but personally it’s been very rewarding and challenging for myself and I’ve enjoyed every part of the season so far this year mostly. Part of that rivalry – if you want to call it that, you guys like to call it that, but obviously the competition is pushing the car forward as well. That’s what is a big part of this team going forward is both of us pushing hard on development, understanding, working with Adrian and his people. We have some incredibly clever guys and that’s also very rewarding, to work with them, so we both know we’re in a good opportunity, probably more so me because obviously Seb (Vettel) hasn’t been around as long and there will be times when he doesn’t drive competitive cars. At the moment I’m driving one and really enjoying it.

Q. (Chris Lines – Associated Press) Can I get thoughts from all you guys – putting aside Nico’s weather forecast – on the prospects of racing on a wet track at night, what the challenges will be?

MW: Well, we haven’t experienced the rain under the lights yet at this venue. I think one of the biggest things we would like to experience sooner rather than later – if we need to – is the spray. The spray off the cars is also something that we don’t really know how it will work with the clarity of the lights coming through. My money is on that everything will be fine, I don’t think there will be any huge problems. It will be the same rules as normal tracks. If it’s too heavy we obviously can’t race. It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night; if the track is too wet, we can’t have a car race. It’s not about trying to race each other, it becomes a survival thing, but we’ll leave it up to the guys to make sure that it’s safe enough to try and stay on the track. If it’s safe enough to stay on the track, then I think it will be a normal Grand Prix.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nick, what have you learned in the Pirelli tests and what do you expect for next year?

NH: I will speak quietly! It was very interesting, obviously, starting to test with Pirelli and helping them develop the tyres. First of all, I think they’ve done a very good job until now because there wasn’t much time for them after they basically learned that they would supply tyres for next season. At the beginning, we mainly focused on working on constructions. We briefly started with compounds, made some good and major steps forward and I believe it will be a good tyre that we will see next year, but there are still a couple of tests to come and it’s difficult to know exactly what’s going to happen during those tests, but so far they have been reliable, no technical problems whatsoever. The grip level is within the range, so it looks positive for now.

Q. And for next year for you, does it make you a man in demand?

NH: Well, as I said, it should be a help, having driven for Pirelli. Some people would argue that it would have been better to stay testing and have even more of an advantage for next year but as I just said, when I had the chance to sign for Sauber for this year I definitely wanted to come back. I want to race, I believe I can do a good job. I’ve signed only for this season, the situation for next year is completely open with Sauber but also with other teams with which I have already been in talks over the last couple of weeks.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Mark, you keep surprising people, you keep popping back to the top. Of the contenders, three know how to win championships, two of the teams know how to win championships. You and Seb are the outsiders in that regard and the team is also new to these strata of competition. Do you think that puts you at a disadvantage?

MW: Well, in any case where you have slightly unchartered waters it obviously comes with a degree of inexperience but there’s also that great thing that you are incredibly hungry for it – not that McLaren and Ferrari aren’t – but obviously we as a team at Red Bull totally understand how unique this opportunity is and we’re incredibly excited about trying to have a crack at winning some championships this year. Yes, you’re right, JB (Jenson Button), Lewis (Hamilton) and Fernando (Alonso) have won more titles and hats off to them, it’s an incredible thing to have, and something that all of us on the grid would love to have, but I don’t treat them any differently to guys that really haven’t. I can’t. I have respect for all the competitors and that’s the way it is. They have been there but we’re not leading the championship by mistake. We’re here because we have scored the points, you can’t go and buy them, you’ve got to earn them on the track and we’ve done that. We’re looking to add to that pretty solidly this weekend. It’s a track which should be OK for our car; it’s bumpy and a few things here and there which have been pretty good for us in the past, so we’re optimistic that we can continue to chip away, keep boxing and it’s important to do that in the next few weeks and then the closer it gets the more exciting it will be.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Do you find the pressures different and are you up to them for the next few races?

MW: Yeah, I’m not treating this like a normal race, but I’m not far off it. We’ve got to come here and it’s similar how it was at the start of the year. We’ve got to try and get the best as we can out of the car, as they will be, and we’ll see after qualifying where we are, and then we’ll do our best for the race. Very, very… usually you get what you deserve in this game. We know non-finishes are not part of the menu, so we need to make sure we don’t do that and I need to keep scoring. It’s absolutely as boring as anything but that’s what it is: getting as many points as I can and keep chipping away and winning makes a difference. That’s what our goal is, to try and do here. It’s completely suicidal to sit back and say ‘OK, I can pick up fifth and sixth’. That’s not good enough. We know that in Monza, those kind of races, well particularly the race that I had there wasn’t what we want to do for the rest of the year and we’re looking forward to some podiums in the future and that’s what we need to do at this stage, to keep it alive – well, not to keep it alive but keep massively in the hunt.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Hallo Nick, I want to know if you can elaborate a bit more on the conflicting emotions that you’ve had since last season, up until today? Did you ever think that your F1 career was over, was finished?

NH: No, I never thought it was over. Of course you’re never one hundred percent sure, but as I said, we’ve always been in contact with teams and there was and is interest from different teams, so I always believed that I would be back.

Q. (Mat Coch – Pitpass.com) Nick, following on from that, in Melbourne, you took over the chairmanship of the GPDA from Pedro (de la Rosa). You’ve now taken over his seat; is the GPDA chairmanship something that you’re probably going to have to relinquish to someone else, or is that something you intend on fulfilling for the rest of the season?

NH: No, (Rubens) Barrichello took over this job two races ago, I think, because at that time, I didn’t know that I would be here now. I took over the Pirelli job and wasn’t at the circuits anymore and it’s quite important for the director of the GPDA to be at the tracks, to look at the circuits, to be there at the meetings, so Rubens is doing that now.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. A question to you all. Can you tell us about your Monza specifications? What have you changed? Are you running the F-duct if you have an F-duct?

Sam MICHAEL: Our Monza spec is just for Monza really. We didn’t actually put a lot of work into it as it is only one race, so we put a lot of our effort into the next race as it pays off for five grands prix rather than one. We are running an F-duct, so it was pretty clear from our work where our wing was. It was an easy decision to run an F-duct and the rest of the package is pretty standard, so it is just really tune of front and rear wings for this track level. That is what we did.

James KEY: Similar situation to Sam really. It is a Monza specific package as it is such a unique circuit now, so a front wing to suit the circuit and a rear wing too which has also got an F-duct. We had the options of choosing either but as Sam rightly says it is the best thing to do if you can. We have evaluated it today and it seems to work, so happy with it.

Paddy LOWE: We have two new elements this year which is the much larger fuel loads than we have had before and we also have the F-duct element. You probably noticed we have been playing all the games today trying the combinations and we will make our choice tonight.

Adrian NEWEY: Same as everybody else really. We have the F-duct. It is a bespoke rear wing for around here. The front wing is a slightly trimmed down, modified version of our normal one.

Aldo COSTA: No big differences compared to the others. Two solutions to be tested on the rear in terms of F-duct and again front wing developed for here and other modifications around the bodywork but nothing else.

Q. Another question to you all. Are you happy about the new flexi-wing tests or should we have been looking more at the floors of the car? The amount that the nose moves and the floors as well.

SM: I think on the floor the new test is pretty vigorous. What they have done to create this 100 millimetres offset load means that if you had a bib or front edge of the floor that was very soft in torsion as you go over kerbs that wouldn’t be possible to do anymore from Monza onwards and the front wing load test from our point of view didn’t make any difference because it is only really a linearity test. There is potentially more to do on that if that’s what the (becomes inaudible) deems the best thing to do. I think the floor has been tightened up significantly in my view.

Q. And you are happy with that?

SM: Yes.

Q. James?

JK: Similar situation again. The front wing was never an issue for us. As Sam says it is a linearity test. We checked our wings but it wasn’t an issue, so it hasn’t affected us really. On the floor it is tighter with the lateral loading test and we had to do a little bit of work just to make sure we were complying with that 100 per cent. But vertically it hasn’t really affected us. It has tightened up and you can argue it is the right thing to do to be sure everyone is at the same level to a certain extent but for our side it is okay. We are happy with it and we are happy that we are compliant.

PL: I think in general it is better to have good clarity on the regulations and how they are policed. We were pleased with the changes. We have had to change our car in order to meet the new tests but we are happy with that.

Q. And the floor?

PL: That is what I mean with the floor, really. The wing didn’t make any difference to us.

Q. Adrian?

AN: I thought the clarity in the regulation was fine but if there is a mood to change it is the same for everybody, so I have no problem with that. On the floor, we have had to change the front of the floor slightly to increase its torsion stiffness for this new test. It doesn’t make a big difference I don’t think. The front wing, that was introduced at Spa, that particular change, we didn’t have to make any modifications for that because, as has been said, it is a linearity test. Our wing was linear, so there was no problem.

AC: For me it was already clear before all this saga. I don’t know why this saga has been created. We disagreed about the comments that we heard. Okay, now we have got a slightly stiffer, let’s say, front wing test because the references are from the reference plain and not anymore from the nose. We have got a more severe test on the front floor. We have done the modifications on the front floor that were required by the new test. But we didn’t understand why this saga started, so we are still happy about what has been changed.

AN: That is really the thing. I would agree with Aldo. I don’t know why this has all been started as the test has been as it has been for several years and suddenly there is a load of excitement. But, as I say, same for everybody. But I don’t understand why it suddenly became a saga.

AC: We are also happy to further increase the stiffness if we want a front wing that is double the stiffness. It was discussed in the Technical Working Group to have, instead of 10 millimetres deflection, a five millimetre deflection but also engineers who were at this table they didn’t accept to go for a five millimetre deflection.

AN: I think it was Paddy who suggested 10 millimetres.

PL: Yes, it was. Which it still is. It is still 10 millimetres.

Q. This time of year a lot of people are looking at next year’s car but also still trying to win the championship this year. What sort of developments are you expecting to bring through the next five races to the end of the championship?

SM: We have one more upgrade. We have quite a big change to the car for Singapore. We probably should get 90 per cent of that package to Singapore, maybe some of it will trickle over into Suzuka just in terms of timings. But that’s it in terms of our design process. There is no aero design on this year’s car anymore. We stopped that just after the break, so it is just really a production loading, production making those bits at the moment. The design office has been fully focused on next year’s car for quite some time now.

JK: We have some more bits and pieces to come for the end of the season. We are planning to introduce the majority of those also in Singapore, so they hit four, or five I should say now with Korea, reasonably standard tracks, let’s say and that will be an all over the car update. Primarily aerodynamic, but there could be some mechanical changes too. The last bits of that are being finalised now, at the moment. What follows on from that we will have to see depending on initial results but at the moment that is the plan.

PL: With the championship still wide open we will be pushing right to the end, so I cannot imagine we won’t have new pieces at all of the remaining races. We have certainly got a lot in the programme at the moment.

Q. Adrian, the same?

AN: Yeah, we have some new parts for Singapore and then keep pushing. But until you find new parts you can’t say what is coming.

AC: It is quite a tough moment for the company as we are working on two projects. We don’t want to slow down the progress on next year’s car but in the meantime we want to bring bits and pieces for the next few races. We are preparing them, so there will be development planned for the last five races.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) James, you said that Monza is a very unique circuit nowadays. Do you regret that? Do you all regret that? Would you like to see more circuits like this and do you think they are part of the spirit of the sport rather than the stop-go tracks we tend to have these days?

JK: Personally, I think it is good. Monza is obviously a wonderful place anyway. It has got such a history to it and so on, so it is a wonderful place to come to. A few years back we had both Monza and Hockenheim which were a similar spec of car, so it was slightly easier to soak up an aero development package in that respect. Now we just have one, so it is unique. But, certainly I think you wouldn’t want to change that. It is good to have events like this and at the other end of the scale is Monaco which is also unique in its own way. It spreads the situation out from what are quite standard tracks in between in many ways. I think it is good to have events like Monza.

SM: Same for me.

PL: Yeah, variety is great. One of the issues though is that as the regulations drive us into narrower and narrower boxes, then the range of aerodynamic configurations does actually get smaller, so Monza is a very significant (inaudible word) now but actually most of the rest of the races are starting to cluster together which they wouldn’t have done with older regulations.

Q. (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Do any of you regret that?

PL: I think that is just the passage of time with development.

AC: Also, it is a positive element that there is a race that is different from the others. Otherwise if we standardise all the circuits with all the same corners I don’t think it is a big challenge from the spectacle point of view. I like Monza. I like the old Hockenheim. I like the unique circuits like Spa for example. It would be nice to have more different circuits in the championship and not standardised, medium-to-high downforce circuits.

AN: I agree with that. I think variety is a good thing. Certainly if you go way back to my experiences with IndyCar circuits, one of the great things about that was that you had super speedways, short ovals, street tracks and then fast tracks like Elkhart Lake. That did give a variety of challenges to the engineer and the driver and, of course, tended to change the results about a bit which I think is the other positive about different circuits. You can get a change in results. A car which has got a very powerful engine for instance, obviously somewhere like Monza suits it. A car with more downforce somewhere else might suit that, so you do get these changes in performance.

Q. (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) In the regulations that are being discussed for 2013, it seems like we are going in the direction of a small capacity turbo with KERS and other bits and pieces. You guys always say you build cars to the regulations, but do you think that this is the right way for Formula One to go in terms of being green or not being green? What are your views?

PL: Do you mean the engine configuration specifically? I’m not a great expert on this; the engine was defined by the engine working group, working with the FIA with a lot of consultation. I think a lot of philosophy within those proposals has been driven by discussions with manufacturers and trying to promote technologies which will genuinely be transferred into the ultimate market. So the particular configuration they’ve come up with is felt to be the way forward and I think Formula One should not only embrace change but actually lead it. If that’s what they believe is the right direction then I fully support it.

AN: Obviously the correct thing to say is what Paddy said. I think the reality is, it depends… there’s two levels, first of all, do we manage to pick the regulations which truly do forecast the future in terms of road car development, and secondly, if we do manage to do that, then does the technology that goes into developing Formula One engines actually enhance road car products or not. Those are the two questions which I think both need to be ticked for it to be a justified thing. Having said that, of course, the alternative is to stay with the V8s and at some point in the future the V8s will become sort of archaic Harley Davidson-like things, so there has to be a change. It’s very important to get that change right and to try to make sure that the development that then goes into the race engines is truly relevant to the companies that are involved, so that they can justify it into their overall budget, as an engineering exercise rather than just a marketing exercise.

AC: Yes, at Ferrari we are very open on new technology in the engine field, in the KERS field, in energy recovery, in hybrid vehicles. We are also quite happy to get closer and closer to the road cars or to work to introduce things that are road car relevant. Of course, our production is not small capacity engine production but it’s GT car production, so we would like to be closer to our brand in the research that we do in order to be a help for future development. Again, we’re open to discussion, quite interested. I think we need a change. If this change is right or not, we would like to discuss it. Furthermore, we would also like to discuss with our competitors and to find a good direction. To make a drastic change can be very, very positive but can also have some negative aspects that need to be considered very, very carefully before deciding.

SM: I pretty much think the same as Aldo. I think that the four cylinder turbo that they’re talking about… we fully support that direction. I don’t think we see it as the same change really to the sport that some people are talking about. Remember we were running four cylinder and V6 turbos in the mid-eighties and no one said ‘well that’s not really racing’ or ‘that’s too green.’ So I don’t think it’s really going to be the same impact as what some people are potentially saying. Adrian’s right as well in that it’s hard to see in 10, 15, 20 years time that V8s are going to be the stock engine, because manufacturers are all moving away from them, so Formula One has to be careful that it doesn’t get left behind. So we fully support it.

JK: Obviously as a customer team we need to consider what’s important for us, but we’re certainly open as well. We recognise the importance of environmental technologies and how Formula One can help market and lead some of those technologies, so we’re open to it. I think what’s important to us is obviously if the costs are kept under control, because obviously changes cost money, ultimately, and the spectacle is maintained as well. But other than that, it’s something that clearly needs to be done in the future anyway as has been said and we’re open to it.

Q. (Bob Constanduros) Is it a done deal that it’s going to be a 1.6 turbo or is it still under discussion? You give the impression that discussion is still going on.

SM: I don’t think there are any fixed regulations yet but from the engine working group that Paddy was referring to, that’s definitely the spec that they’re drafting around.

Q. (Thibault Larue – Sport Auto) We all watched the first on-board camera lap of the Korean circuit. From the simulation can you say if it’s a real challenge? Because from the outside it seems to be a very fascinating track; what’s the biggest challenge?

SM: From the maps and simulations that we’ve looked at, it looks like a high downforce track. It will be interesting to see if you can overtake because it looks very high load and that normally detracts from that (overtaking) but not necessarily.

JK: We have a similar prediction. Obviously it’s a mix of fairly long straights and high downforce sections, so it’s going to be one of those compromises, potentially. One thing that we’re not sure about at the moment is how the track surface is going to be, being such a new surface. If it’s particularly slippery, for sure it will be high downforce. If it grips in well it then maybe will change, but we won’t know until we get there.

PL: I’m afraid I really can’t make any very interesting comments. I think we’re just looking forward to going there and seeing what we find. It’s a new circuit, it has some differences but we will see.

AN: I concur with Paddy. Until we get there… As James says, the traffic surface is certainly a big unknown. We know the layout but we don’t know how the asphalt is going to behave at the moment.

Q. (Bob Constanduros) You didn’t get any more information from the team when you were there?

AN: Not to my knowledge but the honest answer is that I’m not an expert on the matter within the team I’m afraid.

AC: Not a lot to say. There are things where the amount of information that we had was not great. We don’t know a lot about the kerbing, we don’t know about the details of the corners. We have just a little blot of the track. It seems a high downforce track. Some simulation has been done but not for sure, as you can be when you have a very well known track, so it’s still a work in progress.

Q. (Bob Constanduros) Question to Adrian: what was the problem with Mark (Webber) this afternoon?

AN: We had a water pressure drop-out. I don’t know what the exact cause of that was at the moment.

Q. (Bob Constanduros) Another question Paddy: the on-board camera on Lewis’s (Hamilton) car, particularly, either the camera or the car seems to be moving around, wanders around.

PL: I think that’s in the camera, and how it’s mounted. The car’s not moving like that. It’s there to entertain! There is a bit of an issue and we’re just trying to get to the bottom of it at the moment.

Q. (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Just wondered about the engine numbers that you have a left. James, you have a particular problem with Pedro (de la Rosa). How are you going to get round that problem of not having any engines left?

JL: Yeah, Pedro unfortunately had a difficult situation at the start of the season. We took advantage of the qualifying which didn’t quite go to plan at Spa, to change the engine after qualifying for Pedro, so we limited the impact on the grid position, so basically it was only two positions for him. There is a slight disadvantage to that in that we now only use that engine in a race at the end of the season but we looked at it pretty hard with our colleagues at Ferrari and it works out OK. It’s a little bit tight but it works out OK. I think that at the end of the year we will have a fairly fresh engine for the last race. I think it’s OK.

Q. (Matt Youson – Matt Youson Associates) Question about next season and KERS; does the refuelling ban change the proposition for KERS or will you look at it in the same way as you did in 2009?

SM: I think the biggest influence on KERS is the fixed weight distribution that everyone has for next year. At the end of last year, I think the KERS was quite competitive on the McLaren, and that was with a non-fixed weight distribution, so it made it very difficult to make KERS competitive, but it was towards the end of the year. And if anything, next year, it’s removed quite a big variable, so I think it’s an easy decision. I’m not sure that the fuel load is a primary input to that, because everyone’s got the fuel load in the tank that they’ve got anyway.

AC: I agree with Sam. I don’t see a big correlation or a big link between the fuel capacity and the KERS position. Of course, compared to last year it’s a different layout of car, so you have to make other considerations and also you’ve got a different minimum weight, so you have to make other considerations. Also you have a different minimum weight, a fixed weight distribution, so there are some parameters that have been changed, so they are making the choices slightly different compared to last year but nothing is changing fundamentally because we don’t have refuelling any more.

PL: I just agree. I think the benefit of KERS stands in its own right, irrespective of whether you’re running light fuel or heavy fuel or qualifying or racing. It’s the same as 2009.

AN: I would agree with that. The main thing with KERS is really that it’s quite a heavy system to install and it means that there’s very little ballast left over, so that is probably the biggest challenge, particularly if you have a heavy-ish driver, which I think most of the people sitting here have at least one, so it doesn’t make it quite a challenge.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Jarno, your home race. Tell us what it means to you. New team and all that.

Jarno TRULLI: Yeah, it is always great to be back in a sunny Monza. We know Monza can also be very rainy and wet and no-one really enjoys that kind of circumstance. I enjoy Monza as it is a special atmosphere. It is a home grand prix. We have got the tifosi all around. A big Ferrari support but Italian drivers are always very welcome. Then being in Mona is special this year and it is the temple of motorsport and coming back with a heritage team like Lotus feels special. I feel sure there will be a lot of Lotus fans around as we have had all season and it will be interesting to see the reaction of those people who remember the old days. It is nice.

Q. Do you think you have got the transmission problems sorted out now?

JT: In general I think we have made a step forward in terms of reliability during the last few races. Things have been improved. But the problems are always around the corner. We don’t give up. We still have some races missing. We have to keep pushing as we are 10th in the Constructors’ Championship and that is our target. We don’t want to miss it. So maximum concentration for the rest of the season. Here in Monza should be a good track for us considering what we have shown in Canada with a similar downforce level. We are optimistic.

Q. It is going to be interesting to look at the new teams particularly as they all have to come with a different aero set-up. Is that the sort of thing you are going to be looking at?

JT: Yeah. We have seen already in Canada running with low downforce was pretty good for our car performance wise. That is why we are optimistic. Being the first season for this team we don’t have any reference points, so every race might be different in terms of performance. We are learning, so it is difficult to predict. But based on our previous performance in Canada we were much closer in Canada in terms of performance than we were in the other previous races.

Q. Rubens, 300 grands prix in Belgium. The race itself wasn’t fantastic. Tell us about the build up and what was it like to complete your 300th race?

Rubens BARRICHELLO: It was a fantastic event. On the Thursday I had the pleasure to see the drivers, to see my friends there. Even the young ones they don’t know how they are going to get there and they ask me why I have so much motivation and so much passion for it. It is quite funny to see them saying that as the world of Formula One can make you different. There is a time when you come with all the travelling and all the pressure that you suffer from yourself, from the team and from the country sometimes you forget why you do it. You do it because you love it so much. I have been doing that for such a long time. The Thursday was really nice and the whole preparation was good. It was just very unfortunate that when I came out of the high speed Blanchimont, I didn’t feel it was wet. In actual fact it was a flat corner, so I did not expect it to be so wet when I touched the brakes. The real problem was I was closing the door to (Nico) Rosberg. I was on the inside with everyone braking on the outside such as Fernando. He had time to avoid the cars in front and him and (Adrian) Sutil were the ones that were wide but were able to come back. The other ones went a bit straight. But because I was on the inside I catch him just turning. I don’t know how the hell his car was not broken as mine was a really… the wheels were up in the air. It was really unfortunate. If I could rewind a little bit and go back to there I would have done something different in a race I think we would have had a chance to finish top eight or something as it is those conditions that I love.

Q. What about your feelings for this race? You have won here three times and also finished the last nine consecutive. Monza is a circuit you enjoy, I think?

RB: It is a place that I enjoy very much. Last year to be first and second with Jenson was also a fantastic feeling as I had won for Ferrari which was great. You could see all the tifosi down there, all red. But I think they came to see me last year at the podium as well, so it was a great, great feeling. It is a place that I drive well and a place I enjoy. The combination of corners and the set-up is quite different as well. I am expecting a good weekend. It’s a new package for everyone here because of the conditions of the straight lines and so on, so I am thinking positive that it can be quite a good weekend.

Q. And your hopes for the rest of the season. What can Williams do?

RB: We are bringing a nice package to Singapore and Singapore seems to be a track where Williams go quite well. I am just very positive. We are working flat out on things and hopefully before the end of the season we can move one step ahead once again. Since Istanbul we move into Q3 quite often and one step forward I think is achievable.

Q. Vitantonio, we saw you changing a lot of things in Spa during the two days before the race. Were you happier in the race itself?

Vitantonio LIUZZI: More than the Friday and Saturday morning but still we kept fighting with this issue we have had since the beginning of the season of top speed. But even at Spa it was a nightmare from Friday morning until qualifying. It was better in the race but still it wasn’t working 100 per cent, so it has been another tough weekend but we came back from the race with one point, so it was a good recovery even though it wasn’t many points. We lost a lot of points during the season because of this issue. We are trying to figure it out every time what is happening to the car. Many times for different reasons just in my car unluckily as the team is doing 100 per cent to understand what the problem is. But this is part of the game. We keep fighting and hopefully here we should have less issues as we had a big report after Spa and we believe we could be on top of this problem especially as here we are not sure if we use the F-duct or no F-duct, so it could be a problem less.

Q. What are your chances here as the car was very good last year and the team was good last year?

VL: We did another update from Spa in the car, so we believe we can be even stronger than there. The team is pushing hard with development and even here usually you don’t tend to have much development from Spa. We made quite an interesting step forward, so we believe we could be in a strong position for top 10 again but we have to wait and see tomorrow.

Q. What are your chances of staying with the team next year? Are you looking at that or are you just looking at it race by race at the moment?

VL: I am pretty confident with the team. We have got a good relationship going on and I am linked with them for the long time, so I don’t mind. I am not thinking of the future at the moment. I just concentrate to help the team to finish in sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship, so at the moment we are concentrated on that. I don’t feel any problem for the future but we will think about this later on.

Q. Jenson, second here last year. What are your feelings coming here? You’re with a different team but are you fairly confident?

Jenson BUTTON: I think if you look at Spa our car works very well in low downforce. It is an efficient car, so there is no reason we won’t be competitive here. We should be fighting at the front and everything points towards that.

Q. You didn’t have a very good second half of the championship last year. Are you feeling generally speaking more confident?

JB: There are team situations for different individuals and also for different teams. At the moment I feel we are in a strong position. The car is working very well. We had a couple of tougher races where we weren’t quite as competitive as a couple of the other top teams. But if you look at Spa there was nothing quicker than our car. The team have done a great job of improving the car. Some of it is because of the improvements. The other side of it I think is also because of the lower downforce circuits. We are efficient in these sorts of circuits. They suit our car, so I am positive for the rest of the season. This is one where we are very low downforce and then we go to a circuit where you are putting the downforce back on, so it is a big, big change. But we have improved the car a lot and we have had a lot of time to improve the car since before the break where we had a higher downforce circuit, so we go to Singapore positive that we will still be competitive. We are not fearing anything at the moment but we do know that this circuit is a very good circuit for us.

Q. A question really for you and Fernando. We have seen Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber easing away in the championship. There is a little bit of a gap now between the chasing three behind. What are your feelings about the World Championship at this stage?

JB: It is amazing how much talk there is about the difference at the front back to fourth place or back to third place. That talk has only been for two weeks as it has only been one race that has changed the championship if you like. It can easily go around the other way. We have got six races to go, so it only needs one race really for the leaders to have a bad race. Realistically sat here now I don’t think that we need the leaders to have an incident or to not score or to have a reliability issue. We know there are still a lot of possibilities and it is necessary to be fighting for a win at every race we go to, but that is my aim.

Q. Same question for you, Fernando.

Fernando ALONSO: I think I agree with what Jenson said. I think that before Spa, we were holding a very small difference, a small gap and then after one race the gap did increase but this can change very quickly, race by race. As we saw this year with the new points system, it can change really quickly and then normally with the championships we saw two, maximum three guys fighting in the past. This year, with five or six guys in the front, you can really easily be first or sixth or seventh, you can lose a win, many points, if you do good or no good. Our aim is to do six races at the top level, the best we can, and then we will see what we can do at the end.

Q. How do you think you and Ferrari and going to go here?

FA: I think we should be competitive here. Spa didn’t get us what we expected. The performance we had in Spa was not as good as we wanted obviously, so we’ve made some changes, we’ve made some analysis of what happened in Spa and I think we’ve understood some of the problems and we are arriving here with a better package suited to Monza.

Q. And finally, your reaction to the decision yesterday of the World Council hearing?

FA: Well, I think we were already very concentrated on Monza. We are set, we are aware of the FIA’s decision, so we just have to respect it and I think that is now in the past for us, and we need to concentrate on Monza already.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Tony Lopez – La Vanguardia) Fernando, arriving at this point of the championship, do you feel this is your last opportunity for the championship, and do you need to take more risk?

FA: Well, obviously the less races to the end of the championship, the more problems you have if you have a bad weekend, so maybe not the last but one of our last chances will come here or Singapore maybe, to really recover some good points. There are still six races to go and I am still confident that if we are on the podium for all six and we win some of the races, you can very possibly be a contender in the last race, so we are still more or less calm about our chances but, as you said, knowing that Monza is important, Singapore as well, another DNF or another problem in a race will maybe be our last chance or our bye-bye to the championship, so hopefully we can do well here and start recovering some points. And being more aggressive here? I think we’ve been aggressive more or less every race in the last part of the championship. Halfway through the season we’ve been attacking the races and trying to be on the podium with a more aggressive approach, and here will be the same.

Q. (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Fernando, you came to Ferrari to become a World Champion for them; would you consider it a failure not to be champion this year?

FA: Ah, no. For sure, every championship you start or every first race you arrive to a new season you want to become champion at the end and if you cannot arrive to that goal, for sure it’s a disappointment for yourself and for the team because you’ve been preparing the championship towards the victory at the end. But I think the word failure or disaster or those sort of things are a little bit too extreme. We are in a very competitive sport, we know our opponents are very strong as well, very competitive and the champion at the end is the one that deserves it most. If we are not champions, it’s because we didn’t do enough to do it, so let’s wait and see what happens, but this first season at Ferrari, so far, has been incredible, it has been the best of my life and I’m enjoying… I’m a super-happy man, so we will see what happens in the end.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) We’ve already heard Alonso’s opinion of the World Council’s findings, but what about the rest of you? What did you think?

JB: It’s obviously not down to us. Our opinion doesn’t really matter in this situation. The decision is down to the FIA and the governing body, and the important thing is that we get a clarification of the rule, so we will understand and we are all working towards the same regulations and working with the same regulations and that’s key.

VL: I think the most important thing is that it’s clear for everybody that the rule is that and there are no games as in the past. Everybody did some kind of team play because it’s important for everybody to reach the goal of the championship, but it has to be done in a certain way and it’s important that everything is clear and you do it properly.

RB: I think everyone’s covered the case quite well. Nothing else to add.

JT: I respect the FIA’s decision and I think it’s good to clarify everything, so we know what we have to do for the future.

Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Fernando, how do you feel that the incident in Germany has helped play a significant part in the FIA going forward now and probably changing the rule and maybe even abolishing the team orders regulation?

FA: I think, as I said, that it’s something that is in the past for us and we need to concentrate on this race in Monza, so I think we’ve already talked too much. All the August break we talked about the Germany incident. As my colleagues said now, I’m happy to see that the FIA will try to go deep in the rules and try to clarify if there is anything that is sort of not completely clear what is said in the rules and like this we will all be clearer about everything. No special feeling, nothing to say.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando this is your first Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver. How did you feel this morning arriving at the circuit?

FA: We came in a Fiat 500, very Ferrari red, so I felt a little bit of stress because people were running behind us, because the car is quite attractive, so it was a special feeling for that reason. Nothing changed other than that. It’s a normal Grand Prix for us. Obviously in the team or in the garage, when you are with the mechanics or engineers there is a very good atmosphere here. Some of them bring family to the grandstands or some friends. They really want to do well here, because of being in Italy etc, so for sure I think inside the team it’s a special Grand Prix, so hopefully we can do well to make everybody happy.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Radio Five Live) Fernando, I just wanted to ask you about the decision yesterday. Was there any sense of relief from you at all that Ferrari had escaped further punishment because in a way it’s helped keep your title challenge alive, you’re still in it now?

FA: As I said, now I think we’ve talked too much but you keep asking the same questions but the answers will not change. We were concentrating on Monza or in Spa two weeks ago, completely focused on the performance of the car and tried to be on the podium, trying to win races etc. The decision was something that we were waiting for and we were ready to respect whatever it was. Yesterday was the hearing and we were not playing a big part or a big role in it, the drivers etc, so we were just concentrated on the performance in the car. We respected the decision, we keep everything as it was, points etc, so nothing changed for us.

Q. (Ian Gordon – News of the World) Fernando, you said here, a few years ago, F1 is not a sport and your then team boss said the championship had been fixed around a table when it appeared Ferrari had been a beneficiary. Many people in the sport think you had been a beneficiary yesterday. If you win the title by less than seven points this year, do you think that the title will be as good as 2005/2006 when you were maybe fighting against the odds?

FA: Yes.

Q. (Ian Gordon – News of the World) Why?

FA: Because when you win the title, you win the title.

Q. (Ian Gordon – News of the World) Do you think if you win the title this year you will have won it fairly, on the track, not in the Paris courtroom?

FA: Yes.

Q. (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Jenson, do you think this and Singapore are perhaps the last chances for you to get back into the championship?

JB: It’s obviously not over until there aren’t enough points left on the board to win the championship. I’m in a different position to the one I was in last season. I had a lead at this race last season, but now I’m the man chasing. The difference is that I think I now have a more competitive car than I had at the end of last season, so there’s a lot more possibilities. The good thing is that there are also a lot of people fighting for the championship, there are five of us, I would say, so it’s pretty mixed at the front. As you can see there’s been quite a lot of action this year because the cars have been pretty close on occasions. Yeah, it’s all still to play for. I don’t think you can just say it’s the next two races that will either put me in the championship hunt or out of it. Obviously if I didn’t finish the next two races it would be a big issue. I think I come into this race pretty relaxed and calm, under no pressure and excited about the challenge of fighting for victory round here and that has to be the aim.

Q. (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) I’d like to ask all the drivers, starting with Rubens as he’s been around the longest; yesterday the FIA published a calendar for next year with twenty races on it. I just wanted your thoughts about twenty races on a calendar that starts in early March and ends in late November? How’s it going to be?

RB: I quite enjoyed it when I saw the calendar to be honest because I think the races are better projected in a way, because this year is going to be very tiring to either stay over there for a month, or to come back, stay two days at home and then go back again. If we have twenty races it’s going to be much better for you to go and have two weekends racing in Asia than to fly to Brazil and then go back to Abu Dhabi, so I think this is much more clear to us. To have twenty races… I’ve always said that I wish to have thirty races and no testing because I think that would be more cost-effective and we would have more pleasure. I told my wife that I can race another 15 years. She didn’t like it but yeah, it’s going my way like no testing and more races.

JT: Well, I agree with what Rubens says. I enjoy racing, and obviously having the race schedule in a better way makes it more efficient and easier for us to work because it’s not actually the race itself which stresses us but the travelling around without a proper schedule. This year is going to be a really hard end to the season. Probably the last five races will be harder than the whole season. I think once we can really figure out all the movement schedules and stuff like that, it’s going to be fine, because we don’t test any more. We normally have some time to relax once we’re in Europe, a week off, which we didn’t have in the past so I’m fine with it.

FA: I agree, nothing to add. For the people that have bonus-for-points it will be a good thing to have twenty races.

JB: I think it’s good for the sponsors, more air time, more broadcasting. Racing twenty races during the season, I’m sure we can cope with that. Also I think it’s fantastic having a Grand Prix in India for the sport and obviously great for the sponsors. Yeah, it’s exciting, it’s always exciting having new circuits. There aren’t really any circuits that I want to get rid of, so it’s nice to add to the calendar.

VL: I agree on every point made by all the other drivers, especially what Fernando said. It’s a good point of view. We complained about no testing because we were too long away from circuits without testing between races sometimes, so it’s much better like this, I think.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Fifty percent or even more of the downforce of the cars comes from the flat bottom and the FIA will increase the test of the flexibility of the flat bottoms here. Do you think it will change the grid or the competition we’ve seen up to now?

JB: I’ll start with this one. I hope so. The floor is a big part and the diffuser is a big part of the downforce of the car and I think it’s good that it is, because I think that using the floor to create downforce is a positive thing and may be something that we should look at for the future, so I think we will be able to run closer together and possibly race closer through corners. But as long as we’re all on the same regulations, I think it doesn’t really matter where we are, if we have a lot of downforce through the floor or not, but only as long as we’re all running to the same regulations and we all understand the wording of the regulations. The important thing is that we’re all working from the same hymn sheet.

FA: I don’t think it will change too much to be honest. Before there were some kind of limits and some regulations, so we all passed the checks every weekend, and now there is a tougher regulation and I’m sure we will all pass the checks again. I don’t expect a great order change or whatever.

JT: I don’t see any problems.

VL: Me neither.

RB: I think that teams prepare bottoms differently in the way they – not those, the car ones. There are ways of treating it differently, so at the end of the day they have to pass onto it, and I think there are going to be more severe checks for those things and they can only be good for the sport because we’re going to have… We all want severity with that, whether it’s behaviour on the track, the way you treat the car, because then you know what’s right or wrong. The dubious situations are the ones that leave a margin to do something else, so I quite like that.

Q. (Byron Young – The Daily Mirror) Fernando, could you give me your description please of a worthy Formula One World Champion: the ingredients that make up a worthy champion?

FA: I think that whoever is first at the end is because they have more points than the others and one’s a champion and this is the way it was throughout the history of Formula One and other sports as well: in football, in the Premier League, in tennis etc. This is not too difficult.

Q. (Byron Young – The Daily Mirror) Is points the only ingredient?

FA: Yeah, I think if you are talking… because I’m sure you are talking about the decision of yesterday, you have to respect it and be calm. Respect everything as we do and don’t worry.

Q. (Byron Young – The Daily Mirror) Isn’t talent an ingredient of being a great champion?

FA: Of course.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazetta Dello Sport) Question for Jenson and Fernando: has your team decided whether or not to use the F-duct for this race?

JB: We’re still not sure. We’ve done a lot of testing in the simulator and a lot of set-up work but still don’t know, so we’ll have to wait and see.

FA: Same. I think this is one of the places where it’s not 100 percent, so tomorrow we will try to understand it better in reality and we will see. I think it will be a last moment choice.

Q: Gentlemen, first of all, what did you do during the break? Pedro, with the family I guess?
Pedro de la ROSA: Yes, it has been a very good break. I was always with the family. We went to Majorca, on holiday, where we normally go. Great time I must say, very good. I did a lot of cycling and realised how bad I am at that, but it was very good.
Sébastien BUEMI: I think everybody is the same. I spent some days in Switzerland with my family and then in Monaco and I was one week in Salzburg for some fitness tests, just to check out where we are in the middle of the season. It has been a good break and it was good to relax a bit.
Lewis HAMILTON: For me I went straight from Hungary to the States and spent time out there with some friends and with the girlfriend, so it was good training, good weather, lots of sun and good food.
Michael SCHUMACHER: I have been home with the family. I just took it easy.

Q: Nothing more than that? Lots of riding?
MS: No, other stuff but all from home.

Q: Sebastian?
Sebastian VETTEL: I think like the majority of the drivers, a bit of holiday in the beginning and then as soon as I was back I tried to get back into the rhythm. Lots of training. The weather wasn’t always fantastic in the centre of Europe, but the usual stuff I guess. Then I tried to prepare to come back here.

Q: Pedro, the improvements that Sauber have made, can you maintain those?
PdlR: Well, we hope so. We have introduced quite a lot of changes since Valencia, already for Valencia and since and I think that we have raised our game. We are a lot more competitive, not only in high speed tracks like Silverstone but also in low speed tracks, corners, which were our weakest point like Hungary. That was good for us as we realised that all the changes had worked and we were targeting the right places and we were suddenly a lot more…. We have increased or widened our window of competitivity which is very important.

Q: And yet it was suggested that here you might be hurting a little bit on the straights?
PdlR: Yeah, we still have to do a lot to improve. Don’t get me wrong. We have improved our competitivity but we are still lacking in other areas. One of them is top speed. There are two sectors here – sector one and three – where you will rely heavily on top speed. Pretty sure that sector two will be quite good for us though.

Q: Sébastien, one of the things that I believe you did during the break was a certain amount of self-analysis; having a look at how the season had gone so far. Any changes for the rest of the season?
SB: Obviously when you have two races in a row it is a bit difficult to analyse well what we did well and what we did wrong, so I spent one or two days in Faenza just trying to look at it carefully. We know a little bit more where we have got to improve ourselves, especially in qualifying. This is the place where we seem to be lacking pace, especially with new tyres. We will try some new things on Friday and Saturday just to see if we can improve it a bit. If we can just start a little bit closer to the Q3 then it might help a lot in the race.

Q: Is there much more development coming from the factory? There doesn’t seem to have been a huge amount in comparison to some of the other teams.
SB: Yeah, what I can say it is a big difference for us from last year to this year. Especially this year as we have got to do everything on our own, so it takes a bit of time to get things working well. We have got some good things coming for the future with the F-duct and the blown diffuser but it is still not really planned when but it will come. This is important. We just need to try our best with what we have got now and then when the new parts come we have got to get the maximum out of it. It takes a bit of time but I am pretty sure the team is giving everything to get better and this is important.

Q: Lewis, a similarly interesting comment from Martin Whitmarsh. He feels there is a lot of performance in the car which is still to be unlocked. Is that your feeling as well?
LH: I think for me every time I have gone to the track I have done the Friday and the Saturday and my comments are always ‘this is the best the car has ever felt over these years at this track, but it is still not quick enough compared to others.’ But we believe there is still some untapped downforce in the car which we have not been able to use at the moment or at least draw out, so we are working very hard. The team are working flat out as always to try and pull that out. I am trying to do everything I can to encourage and paying very close attention to what is going on and keeping a close eye on everything.

Q: Yet the feeling is that this circuit suits the car perhaps for exactly that reason, that you haven’t got a massive amount of downforce. It is not so important here.
LH: I think it is still important here. There are a lot of high-speed corners here, so you still need quite efficient downforce I think especially with the long straights. But I think we should be a little bit better here than we were in Hungary. Hopefully. I am looking forward to getting into the car tomorrow. I hope the weather does clear up for us as it doesn’t look so great out there at the moment.

Q: Michael, you have the penalty coming up but your feelings about this circuit as this is an important circuit I think in the history of Michael Schumacher?
MS: Yes, indeed. I have often called it my living room and there are lots of fantastic memories from the past and even good ones to look forward to. We have a mixed weather condition predicted for this weekend. We have the 10 places which makes it extra special and exciting to try and move forward. With mixed conditions that could help. We have worked on the car, so altogether we will try to make it as good as possible but I certainly look forward very much as this is one of my most loved tracks and special excitement.

Q: What are your expectations from the rest of the season given that the team has said that they are beginning to concentrate more on 2011?
MS: I guess that we sort of have to see where maybe we can use the strengths that the car has and where maybe it is a little bit more difficult. That is something to find out and maximise our opportunities. Naturally we want to still take as many points as possible to stay as high up in the Constructors’ position as possible. These are the targets and naturally we keep on working within limits to achieve this but then yes, the focus is on next year’s car.

Q: It is a bit of a balance?
MS: Yeah, exactly but in a way that is for everybody. Some decide this strategy slightly earlier than others.

Q: Sebastian, tell us about the technical challenge for Red Bull here as it has been quite interesting driving 24 seconds at full throttle with your engine balanced against the fast corners in the middle sector and then again very quick on the way back. What are your feelings about the technical balance there?
SV: Yeah, as you said a big part of full throttle here, so lots of straight lines where you cannot do much from the driving point of view. Looking back last year we were very strong in sector two. With all the corners in sector one and three we lost out. This year I think we have a better car in all kinds of conditions and also for all types of corners whereas last year I think in low speed we were probably a little bit behind. We have definitely made a step forward, so we should be strong here as well and for straight lines, yeah. Obviously it is not Hungary. There are lots of straight lines, so we will see how we will get on. But I think we will find the right balance. We don’t know the weather but generally we are positive and carefully optimistic I would say.

Q: When it comes to the rest of the season we heard from Michael how Mercedes perhaps are concentrating more on 2011. Other teams perhaps doing the same thing. How do you see the rivalry at the front of the championship for the rest of the year?
SV: If you are in a position to win the championship that is where your focus is on but I can assure you that we are also working for next year. The cars will change again quite a bit, so you have to focus early enough and start early enough to be there right from the beginning. But, as I said, it is obviously a different situation for us maybe in comparison to other teams. We are in a very good position for this year and obviously the target is for everyone to win races and ultimately the World Championship. We are in a very good position to do so, so that’s where our main focus is.

Q: And do you see the other two or three teams really continuing to push you?
SV: Of course. I think Virgin is obviously focusing on next year, teams like that, but the teams that still have a fair chance – Ferrari and McLaren – I think that of course they have to and they will push until the end, same as us. So they are in a very similar position. We are all very tight on points. Again, the points system this year is different, so even though it might look a big gap of ten, twenty, thirty points, it’s literally nothing. Fernando, for instance, had a couple of good races in the last two or three races and from nowhere, when people said he’s no longer in this championship, he’s back. It shows how quickly things can change. You have to keep pushing until the end.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Michael, we’ve just been speaking with Rubens Barrichello. He mentioned that you sent him a text message today, apologising for what had occurred during the Hungarian Grand Prix. Do you have any plans to speak to him personally this weekend regarding that?
MS: I have no problem speaking to Rubens, absolutely, but there were two reasons I sent him a text and one of the main reasons was that it’s his 300th grand prix. We have quite a history together, so I thought it was appropriate to congratulate him and clarify the point. He sort of felt that I wanted to push him against the wall and very clearly, this was not my ambition. I wanted to race very tightly but without any wall contact and to clarify this point, if he felt this was the case then I was sorry for that.

Q: (Dorothea Jantschke – Bild) Michael, the last third of the season starts with this race, there are a few drivers who have a chance to win the title. Sebastian is third right now, but do you think he has a good chance to be the one in the end, and if so, why?
MS: Why, I guess, is easy. His car seems to be very competitive and very strong. There have been some slightly unfortunate moments during the year, so now it’s up to him to see how consistently his performances can improve and he can take the points, but certainly he’s in a very good position to fight for the championship but as I said before, it’s tight. You depend on your development and so many things and a bit of luck but at the end of the day it’s down to you. He’s had some bits of bad luck already, so let’s hope for the rest of the season he can count on (good) luck.

Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Deutschland) Sebastian, if you look at the performance of your car, you actually should have a few more points. Is there anything in the rest of the season to which you personally and your team will take a different approach to avoid throwing away important points?
SV: I think, yes, we should probably have more points. We have a saying – I don’t know if it makes any sense in English – but where I come from we say ‘if the dog wouldn’t have gone for a shit, he would have got the cat’ which is basically would, could, should. It’s all fine, but at the end of the day what matters are the points you have on the scoreboard. I think we’re very close. Obviously Mark is leading the championship, I’m only ten points behind. We’re first in the Constructors. I think, yes, you could argue we should have scored more points but then again, also other teams and other drivers are in a similar position and they should have scored more than they did, so in the end we are who we are and this is where we are at, so basically the championship starts from more or less zero now and we have to focus on every single race, obviously. With 20 races to go, or 15 races, there’s obviously more chance or probably more room for mistakes and with only seven to go you know that every single one is probably more important.

Q: (Sven Haidinger – Sportwoche) A question for all of you: which corner on the Formula One calendar is your favourite corner and why – as we’re in Spa?
PdlR: I don’t have any favourite, actually. They’re all good. I must say that possibly the most difficult corner and challenging and also because of that, the nicest for me, is Pouhon, turn ten here in Spa. This is an absolutely fantastic feeling. It’s just very fast, very quick. You just don’t brake, you just let the car roll in. It should be like this, this year at least, and for me that is a very challenging corner, it’s very, very difficult. Fantastic.
SB: I think what Pedro said is a good one, Pouhon is a good one, but there’s also Eau Rouge, the Radillion is something special. You don’t have this kind of feeling (anywhere else) when you go up the hill so quickly, so this is my favourite one if I had to choose one.
LH: I think it’s very hard to… as Pedro said, I don’t particularly have a favourite. I think it’s very hard to pick and chose. I think if you looked at all the maps, I’m sure that you could pick out a few that you like perhaps more than others but Pouhon is definitely one that springs to mind, similarly to him.
MS: Obviously we always talk about Eau Rouge and indeed, starting here some years ago – a few – it was thrilling but in this generation of cars it’s certainly a lot easier because the cars are so improved, but what is still – and it’s a different track – a great excitement is Spa and it’s not a single corner, but it’s the first sector all together. That is the most loved place for me.
SV: I should say that I love all the bad corners that we have in Formula One because then obviously it gives you a positive or good feeling in all the nice corners. I think it’s difficult to name only one corner. People often speak about circuits like here, Spa or other tracks with fast corners. In general, I think that corners where cars are on the edge, the drivers are on the edge, are probably the places that you enjoy most. We all love speed, so fast corners like we have a lot of these fast floating corners around here are the ones that I think all of us like and I like best as well.

Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you: as Spa is a special track and something different always happens here, do you have a special memory from this track, good or bad?
PdlR: Yeah, I’m not a specialist of Spa really because I’ve raced here only four times, so I don’t really have extremely good or bad memories. It’s been a very nice track to drive but I remember in 2001 when I qualified P10 and there was an accident and I was on a one-stop strategy then. Everyone was on a two and then the safety car came out and then there was a red flag which basically threw my race. It was strategically a bad move, to do a one-stop strategy with the red flag, but it could have been very, very good. It wasn’t but I always like this track. Let’s hope that this year we have something to remember about it, but I’m not a specialist here.
SV: It is just the second time that I’ve raced F1 here, so obviously I don’t have so many memories but I won some races in small categories, so those were good ones, and last year, obviously, the first time you drive here in Formula One is always a bit special because you get some special feelings that you cannot even come close to with GP2 or whatever, so it has been a good one last year. Now we hope for some points which would make this year a pretty good race.
LH: For me I had some good races here in Formula Renault and especially Formula Three in 2005, I had a good race with Adrian Sutil who was my team-mate, passing through Eau Rouge which was quite good in the wet. But then in Formula One I would say 2008 was still quite a cool memory for me, regardless of the result. I think it was a great race and one that was definitely very interesting.
MS: Well, I like to remember ’95, and probably I’m in a similar position here this weekend. Me being here in Spa, having this situation, having the memory of that year it’s good, look forward.
SV: I broke my finger here in 2006. I had a crash in World Series and then for the first time I was in the medical centre here. They brought me in the ambulance to the hospital. It’s not a nice experience, I don’t want to do it again but it is an experience. I remember I was put into a wheelchair, even though there was nothing wrong with my legs and they gave me this funny dress like an old woman’s dress…
MS: Pictures?
SV: No pictures. Yeah, it’s an experience, something you obviously won’t forget. The driver of the ambulance was probably more crazy than all of us together. And then, I think only two years back in 2008 there was quite a chaotic finish with a bit of drizzle at the end of the race. I think I went from P4 to P8 to P4 within one lap. It was quite special. It’s a very long lap here and a lot of things can happen. You realise on occasions like this, it’s always a nice track where something extra happens.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Lewis, do you think the championship will restart here as we saw in the last few races – Hockenheim, Hungaroring – where Red Bull, Ferrari was on one level and then McLaren a good gap behind, considering the factories were closed?
LH: I don’t think anything’s going to change, not immediately. Obviously we’ve had the shutdown, so I expect our car to be very much the same as it was in the last race. Obviously this is a good point in time where we have to try and do some more tests whilst we’re here on Friday and Saturday, try to get even more information back to try and understand where the extra time is and where the extra downforce is. Only once we’ve done that can we really move forwards. I don’t think it’s restarting again, it’s just continuing. These guys are going to be incredibly quick, especially the Red Bulls and we have to do everything we can to not allow them to pull too far ahead.

Q: (Walter Koster – Saarbrücker Zeitung) Sebastian, what’s your gift for your team-mate tomorrow? The old man has a birthday, 34 years old.
SV: I didn’t know that this was his birthday. I have brought nothing with me. I don’t know. I need to find something. I think they have these free shampoos and this kind of stuff in the hotel, a last minute present. But don’t tell him, of course.

Q: Ross, things seem to be better for you?
Ross BRAWN: So far, but we have often had good Fridays and then found the rest of the weekend more difficult. But the car is not too bad. We are trying to consolidate more with a couple of the changes we have made over the last couple of races and get the maximum from them this weekend as opposed to adding a lot of new stuff. It is a consolidation weekend. Drivers are reasonably happy today. The car seemed quite respectable on high fuel, but a bit tricky out there later on with the gusts. We saw a lot of cars going off. The gusty wind was making it a bit edgy for the drivers but not too bad.

Q: Christian?
Christian HORNER: Well, it is great to be back at Silverstone and firstly on a Friday to  see so many people here is fantastic. With the changes to the circuit we were a little concerned that it would take a bit away from the character of the track, but it seems to have worked pretty well. There are a couple of bumps that are a bit tricky, but I think it still offers a big challenge to the drivers. They seem to enjoy the circuit, the new element of the circuit. We have run through a pretty standard programme to here, both drivers testing different aspects, both seem pretty happy and for Silverstone… I was amazed today to see track temperature at 40 degrees, something that you wouldn’t usually expect to see. A pretty positive day. We had an issue with Mark’s (Webber)… an electrical issue on Mark’s car at the end of the day, nothing major. He got a little bit of down-time at the end for Mark but overall pretty happy with the way the day has gone.

Q: Martin?
Martin WHITMARSH: I think a difficult day for us really. A new package. I think we have got to do a lot of learning. I think we have some useful information. We have now to turn that information into a way in which we can make the car quicker tomorrow. Really exploring the car. I wouldn’t say a lot of the time that the drivers were comfortable, but we were learning and we will take that data and see what we can do this evening.

Q: How important is this event as a home race. You are all based in the UK, but some of you also have bases elsewhere.
TF: I think it is very important. It is where it all started for me. I met Mike Gascoyne here a year ago. I feel as though I have been in Formula One for 100 years, but it was only one year ago that the first idea came out. Of course it is great for the team to be back here. It is great to see a Lotus car back at Silverstone, so it is important. Hopefully we can deliver something to be worthy of the Lotus name. It has been a fantastic start for us, but expectations grow and grow and grow. Let’s hope we can bring two cars home. We have had lots and lots of emails, lots and lots of people saying they are coming. In Snetterton the other day we had 22,000 people turn up. That was quite an eye-opener for me and many of them said they are going to be here on Sunday, so let’s hope that we can give a performance that’s worthy of the name and the support that we are getting.
RB: Very meaningful race for me. It is a circuit where when I was working with Frank Williams,  Frank won his first grand prix with Clay Regazzoni, so it has got some very fond memories and it is nice to be at a race that some of our staff can enjoy. We are based here but we are very multi-national. We have four home grands prix as we have Britain,  Hockenheim, Abu Dhabi and with Petronas we have Malaysia, so we are fortunate that we have four races with extra pressure.

Q: Christian, an Austrian team but based down the road in Milton Keynes.
CH: It’s our local grand prix and this weekend we have pretty much all the factory coming up over the course of the weekend. It is the one time that they get to see the cars in action. It is fantastic to be back at Silverstone. We all thought that perhaps last year might be the last year but it is great the work Damon Hill has done with the BRDC to secure the future of the British Grand Prix here at Silverstone. I think it is one of the circuits that is still amongst the favourites of the drivers. It still offers a massive challenge, an adrenalin rush for the drivers to compete around here. I think it is important that we retain the historic events combined with the modern events such as Singapore and Abu Dhabi. It is tremendous to see the turn-out even on a Friday that is here this weekend. It is one of the highlights of the calendar and a race we are keen to run well at.
MW: I think as the guys have said it is great for a lot of people at the factory to be able to come and see the cars and I think that is important. It is very special for that reason. It is a campsite grand prix. It is a grand prix where you are very aware of people who have camped out for three or four days. They are very knowledgeable, very enthusiastic, and you meet them. I think that is quite special and it is something which increasingly we don’t have in Formula One where perhaps we haven’t developed that level of following and that history in some of the new circuits that we go to.

Q: Another question to all of you. What has been your drivers’ reaction to the new circuit? What did they think about it?
TF: The initial thought was they kind of missed the old circuit. But they grew to like it towards the end, what they did run of it. They felt there was a little bit of low grip in the new bits but overall they enjoyed the circuit.
RB: I think they are fine with it. It is not such a dramatic change. There is a bit of an issue with the bumps adjoining the old and new circuit which brings a bit of a challenge but they are fine with it and I think it hasn’t taken anything away from the great character of Silverstone. I am not sure if it has added a lot but it certainly they are pleased with it and there is nothing strange.
CH: I think it is an interesting addition to the track. It puts the track close to six kilometres which is a very long lap now. I think the only thing probably the circuit has given away is Bridge Corner which was a real challenge for the drivers and spectacular to see a grand prix car through there. But it has got a different characteristic, it adds a different dimension to the track. It puts an added emphasis on slow speed performance rather than just high speed predominance and it is another dimension and interesting challenge. The drivers have reasonably enjoyed it. There is a big bump through Abbey that you probably have all seen which is a little bit tricky but it is the same for everyone. Different, not necessarily better or worse, but just different. An added challenge.
MW: I think our guys were spending the day exploring the new car and the set-ups of that, not so much the circuit,  so I don’t think I have got anything to add to what has already been said. I think we were trying to understand what we have got here in the way of a car rather than understand the circuit.

Q: Tony, what have been the repercussions as far as you are concerned within the Lotus team after the accident at Valencia? Has anything changed?
TF: No, nothing at all. I am still friendly with Christian and vice-versa. No, nothing at all.

Q: There wasn’t anything that you could have said to the driver?
TF: We were perfectly happy with what Heikki did. He was racing. He braked at the right place. The telemetry said so. That’s just racing.

Q: Ross, you talked about what you hoped was an improved performance here and about the various bits that have gone on the car. Has it been already improving what has gone on the car and really sorting it out, something which I suspect every team has got to do with these blown rear wings, blown diffusers etc.?
RB: I think there is an interesting chemistry to this year. With Christian’s team we have got one team which is setting the standard in terms of pace and we are all trying to catch up and in trying to do that you take jumps but sometimes you fall over and with no testing it is very easy to make a slightly wrong move and the field is so close. I think Nico (Rosberg) in Valencia was six-tenths off the fastest time in Q2, but he didn’t make it to Q3. You get a  few things wrong in trying to put your package together, perhaps don’t pay attention to the fundamentals as you are chasing these new features and you can fall away very quickly. I know Christian said this the other day and I always said it at Ferrari. There are no silver bullets. There is no one thing that you turn a switch and you suddenly find a huge amount of lap time. It is an accumulation of smaller things and because they are smaller things they are very often difficult to quantify and know that they are definite improvements. It is pretty challenging this environment of Formula One. But it is the same for all the teams, it is just a different type of challenge now to perhaps the one we had five or 10 years ago and I think it brings to the fore the need for modelling, simulation, driver-in-loop simulators, those sort of facilities which the top teams are building up to substitute for testing.

Q: Martin, the same question to you. You are not at the bottom of the rung but is that what you are experiencing now, particularly with the bits that were brought at half-past-one this morning?
MW: Yeah, I think everyone in the factory is pushing hard and we are bringing the parts here. I think the issue is that often when you are developing the car you are incrementally bringing downforce to the car, the balance of the car. The driving set-up characteristics don’t change dramatically but with the changes that we are evolving all of us on the cars apart from Christian, then it requires a different approach, a different driving style, a different set-up, so in an era where there is not very much testing it is quite difficult to go and nail that. You have a limited number of tyres, fairly limited number of time and laps to do it in. That’s the challenge. That’s the modern era of Formula One and we have got to take all the data we have got today, make some decisions on what we are going to do tomorrow and hopefully get it right.

Q: Christian, do you see everyone getting closer and closer to you? And what does it take with those various bits to then develop them further?
CH: As we all know if you stand still in this business you tend to go backwards. As a team we are working very well. I think we have managed to add performance to the car at every grand prix so far this year and we have got a few little bits here which are helping as well. It is testimony to the effort that is going on in the factory 10 miles or so from here that as a group the extra mile they are going to get the components to the car, the hours that are going in, are just immense. Our performance is very much a team performance. I cannot speak too highly of the effort that is going in at the moment. Inevitably when you are setting the pace you are there to be shot at effectively. People tend to cherry pick bits and pieces or highlight bits of the car that might add performance but at the end of the day as we all know it is the package that counts. The guys have done a great job in evolving that package and the car, for example, here compared to where it was in Bahrain at the beginning of the year is considerably different but we can only focus on our own, getting  performance to the car and hopefully that will be enough to keep us towards the front. We must never underestimate the likes of McLaren who have got tremendous heritage and also Ferrari and obviously the other big teams such as Mercedes. It is a very healthy situation for Formula One that there is not one team running away with things at the front of the field.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Martin, this new upgraded package was originally intended for Hockenheim and it’s obviously been a rush to get it here. Perhaps you can give us some more insight as to how much of a last minute rush it has been to get everything done?
MW: As has been described, parts were still arriving at 1.30 a.m. There are a lot of new components on the car. People have worked incredibly long hours and day and night to just get those parts here. I think all of us, from Lotus through to Red Bull, we’re all very proud to be part of organisations that are fighting to improve every fortnight. Formula One is an infectious business. Wherever you are on the grid you want to be one or two places further forward and that produces such commitment from people within our teams that while we are here talking about it, the amount of effort that people put in is phenomenal. It’s a big effort. You’ve not only got to get the components, you’ve got to assemble them onto the car. Mechanics here worked very, very late. I’m sure they’re going to be working through tonight as well as we consolidate those parts, make sure that they’re working, make sure that we have the right specification of car tomorrow. We had a number of different parts on the car here today, we’ve got to try and pick through the data, make sure that we’ve got the best package that we can provide to our drivers tomorrow.

Q: (Tom Clarkson – Tom Clarkson and Associates) Christian, you made a reference there to Bahrain. If you took the RB6 back to Bahrain now, could you put a number on how much quicker it would be?
CH: Very difficult. Usually Murray (Walker) asks the difficult questions. Difficult to say, probably somewhere close to a second, possibly. The pace of development is very high and the thing you never get a chance to do is go backwards. In the current regulations we have to try and rely on our simulation tools, be it wind tunnel or CFD and there are very few components that we’ve put on our car this year which have actually come off. Everything that’s gone onto the car has pretty much added performance. You’ve got to assume that you’re probably looking at around a second between now and Bahrain.

Q: (Bob Bull – BBC Three Counties Radio) You talk about these increments you make each race, the little additions. How do you actually discover what they are and how you need them? To the general members of the public over there it seems a bit strange. Perhaps you could explain why you think or how you think about a modification that improves the car. What’s the process?
RB: The tools we have, which Christian just touched on: we have the wind tunnel, we have simulation tools, modelling tools. We know the factors which make a car go faster. There are some very simple, fundamental factors: if you have more downforce, or you have less drag, or you have a lower centre of gravity; those things normally bring added performance. The challenge for the engineers is that there’s rarely one dimension to any changes you make. There are often two or three dimensions to the effect that it has on the car and trying to unravel those extra dimensions come from added performance or perceived added performance which is very challenging. To give you an example, it’s very easy to make a front wing which is more efficient with more downforce but might be more sensitive to the height it runs at, so on the track, it’s not necessarily a quicker front wing. It’s when you get into that added dimension that it becomes complex and where we need to continue to develop the tools and the assessment methods we use. Years ago we just went out on the track and pounded round, using dozens of sets of tyres, and try to establish the performance gains that way. Now it’s actually quite different. But we all know the things that make a car go faster. Our aerodynamicists know that if they find more downforce, if they find less drag, more efficiency, then the car will go faster. So we’ve got lots of groups of engineers looking at areas and trying to find ways of improving their area. And it’s not just the aerodynamics, it’s the mechanical performance, it’s the structural performance, it’s new materials. Everyone in the company who is responsible for performance is trying to find five per cent, ten per cent every year and it just accumulates into an improved car.

Q: (Mike Doodson) In the good old days, if there had been an incident like the one that we saw in Valencia between Tony’s car and Christian’s, with a bit of luck, we, the journalists would have been rewarded with the two drivers rushing to each others’ pits to punch each others’ lights out. It’s very frustrating to see the two of you being so terribly polite to each other. It was still a bloody great big shunt. I had a disagreement with a colleague of mine about who was to blame. Tony said earlier on that Heikki braked at the correct point. I’m sure that Mark Webber would disagree with that. It also looked to me as though Heikki was dithering. He couldn’t decide whether he was about to be lapped or whether he was racing. Could we perhaps have a little bit more interplay between the two of you, and perhaps some figures about who did brake at what point and whether it was correct or not?
TF: First point is that he (Heikki) wasn’t in any position of being lapped, he was racing. Mark came out of the pits and Heikki was ahead of him and he was racing for his position. So there was no dithering at all, he kept his line, he was straight on his line and according to our telemetry, he braked exactly at the right place, so we hold him at no responsibility at all.
CH: I spoke with Heikki this morning and I said to him that it might be a good idea to fit some brake lights because the braking point was what took Mark completely by surprise more than anything. At that point in the race, Mark knew that he needed to pass Heikki quickly and he was tight in his slipstream, Heikki was in the middle of the circuit. I think it was not having followed cars in that proximity, so closely previously, where previously we’ve only ever lapped them, it just took Mark completely by surprise how early Heikki braked. There’s obviously a performance difference between the cars. Yes, Heikki was in the middle of the circuit but the closing speed was… at that point, Mark was doing just over 300kph and the resulting impact was quite horrific. At that point of time, all you can really think about is your driver’s safety. Both drivers ended up having reasonably sized accidents, Mark’s being the far more spectacular. We were just relieved to see him get out of the car unaided and without injury, and it’s testimony to the regulations, to the design of the car, to the strength of the car that he’s managed to be sitting in a grand prix car this weekend. I think it’s wrong to place fault at Heikki. Mark was in a situation where he knew he had to pass and I think that the closing speed at that point was just so phenomenal, it just took him completely by surprise. It was one of those things, but there’s no point of Tony and I getting excited about it, just relief that certainly our driver was OK.

Q: (Ya’acov Zalel – Hege Magazine) Question to Christian and Martin: both of you are managing the four drivers who are running for the World Championship. How much time are you dedicating to managing the relationship between your two drivers, what resources are invested in this? Are you using any kind of psychology or scientific methods? And Christian, it’s the first time that two of your drivers are running for the World Championship, what kind of experience is this for you?
CH: I think the most important thing is the way that we treat our drivers with transparency and equality. They’re both competitive, they’re both hungry, they’re both at different stages in their career and they both get equal priority and treatment from the team. For us, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which one of those drivers wins a grand prix, so long as it’s in a team car. As we saw earlier in the year they had an incident in Istanbul where perhaps they pushed each other a bit too hard but they’ve raced each other on many occasions where they have gone wheel-to-wheel, such as in Malaysia and in China to think of two examples this year, and we will continue to support both drivers equally. They’re not pretending to be best mates, they’re competitors at the end of the day. That’s what we employ them to be and the most important thing is that they get the job done, not only for themselves but for the team, and that they work together in a very professional manner and a very constructive manner, they drive the car in a similar way. I’m sure they won’t be spending Christmas together but it’s a very constructive and positive environment within the team. I think the most important thing for any driver is to know that he’s getting equality of equipment and priority.
MW: I endorse everything that Christian just said. I think that on top of that, I think that if the drivers are communicating, not just professionally but socially, then I think that that creates an environment where they are more likely to understand the motivations and moves that each of them make. But in both teams, clearly those drivers want to win, they want to beat their team-mate, so it always has the potential for some tension and I guess that’s something that the media is looking forward to, some of that tension, because it’s something to write about, it’s entertaining to see it, particularly if it goes wrong. I think in both teams at the moment, Red Bull and McLaren – obviously I know the situation at McLaren rather better than at Red Bull – I think you’ve got some balanced young men. They want to beat everybody, they particularly want to beat their team-mates. They’re willing to race, they’re willing to push it quite hard. Our guys haven’t touched quite as hard as the Red Bull drivers – yet – but they will continue to race each other and all four of those drivers in question want to be World Champion this year. That’s just how it should be. I think if we sat here and said it will never go wrong, I think that would be ludicrous. I think ‘has it gone wrong so far in McLaren?’ No, not this year and I hope that it won’t as the year progresses but I hope that the tension remains because if it does, it means that they are both still in contention.

Q: (Murray Walker) Martin, since we’re clearly not going to have a punch-up between Tony and Christian, can I ask you if you’re going to have a punch-up with Bernie (Ecclestone) about the continuing need for the Formula One Teams Association, and if so whether your extra height, reach and youth will win the day?
MW: I think people will draw lines between FOTA, between the FIA and between FOM. The fact is that Formula One’s got quite a lot of challenge: economic challenge, we’ve got challenge from all sorts of other forms of entertainment. The intelligent thing is actually we work on improving the sport together and it needs the governing body, the competitors and the commercial rights holder to co-operate. Now, there won’t always be everything that we agree upon, but I don’t think we’re trying to compete, fight… we’re really trying to find ways in which we can work together. Now it’s difficult enough to have the teams working together. I think what FOTA has been able to achieve so far has been outstanding. While we talk about team-mates, there’s always tensions between the teams. I think providing we’re very honest and straightforward about that – we all want to beat each other, we all want to get as much of an advantage one each other as we can – but if we do so without regard to the future of the sport, developing it and improving it, then we do so at our peril. I think FOTA demonstrated fantastic compromise between all of the teams, for what it’s achieved so far, in terms of cost-saving, facilitating the championship, helping some teams to be here that wouldn’t otherwise be here. So I think that there’s a list of achievements. I think we’re now trying to understand how we can engage with fans, how we can demonstrate that Formula One can be a socially responsible sport as well, that we’ve got a lot more work to do and Formula One is far from perfect, as we all know here, but underlying it is all the things we talked about earlier on, the great commitment within the teams, people that work in the sport, the passion that exists here to try and win. So I think we’re looking forward to working with Bernie, not slugging it out with him, and making the sport better.

Q: Is there anything in particular which will affect your team? Are you worried about the 107 per cent rule or anything like that?
CK: I don’t think we will be worried next year about the 107 per cent rule anymore. This year we are more afraid about the 107 per cent rule. I think it is the right decision to go with Pirelli, we were always in favour of Pirelli.

Q: And the movable rear wing?
CK: The more changes the better for a new team. I see it like this, to have maybe innovative ideas with the right people in the team.

Q: Peter?
Peter SAUBER: About the tyres?

Q: About anything. You can talk about anything, even BMW Sauber if you like.
PS: I speak about the tyres. I think it is a good solution for Formula One. I am confident that they will do a good job. KERS, I think on the one hand, it is important for Formula One to use future technologies. On the other hand it makes the car more complicated and more expensive.

Q: So you are not necessarily in favour of KERS?
PS: I think the faster solution will be the better one. And the rear wing it’s a kind of miracle for me and please ask me again after the first three races next season.

Q: It is interesting to see the number of new ideas to help overtaking.
PS: I think maybe it is a good idea for overtaking, but I think we have different opinions from the technicians.

Q: Doctor Mallya?
Vijay MALLYA: I have the proud privilege to be a member of the World Council as well and as Team Principal of Force India. I am obviously involved with FOTA as well as the F1 Commission. I think that everything is discussed comprehensively first by FOTA, then at the F1 Commission level before it gets to the World Council, so at the World Council level these changes were voted in without any problem whatsoever. I think the FIA is focussed on making the sport more exciting, to promote overtaking on one hand, maintaining and improving safety on the other hand, reducing costs which is a stated objective to make Formula One even more commercially viable and I would go along with these changes except that I would caution against repeated changes going forward. I think right now that we have a package that is to the satisfaction of all the participating teams.

Q: Aldo?
Aldo COSTA: From my side I think the World Council voted for solutions that have been studied for a long time, a lot of work has been done by FOTA teams and a lot of the job has been done by the Technical Working Group. I think we achieved quite a lot of interesting innovation in Formula One. One point that no-one is underling but for me the safety aspect is important. The chassis with several little modifications would be safer for next year. The FIA as usual and the teams have looked at last year and this year’s crashes and, as usual, reacted on that making the chassis safer. We will have the front part of the chassis more robust, the roll loop more robust, the side protection of the chassis more robust. Underneath the chassis in the driver area. The driver will be more protected, so all very positive aspects. KERS, we spoke about already last time here. Ferrari is in favour of KERS. Ferrari would like to do more about KERS but unfortunately the rule that we had last year will be the rule of 2011 which is for us a shame. In terms of aerodynamic change we will have a substantial reduction of downforce without the double diffuser that for us was never a legal option. We will simplify and clarify all the rear wing elemental stuff which I think will be good for the clarity of the rule itself. We will have the introduction of the new adjustable rear wing. I have the same mixed feeling like Mr Sauber. It is a completely new element. We have not tested it. We have studied very, very  little about it. We are going with it next year, so we will see after a few races. Anyway it is a movable option, so the FIA and the teams can always decide to stop it in case it is not good enough or not good for some reason. All in all I think we have done quite a good movement (inaudible word) a rule which is safer, clearer in terms of definition and again trying, a genuine attempt to improve the show.

Q: Colin, what about reliability, progress with the team. How do you feel you are coming along?
CK: Well, regarding reliability we still have some issues on the rear end. We are trying to sort this out obviously. Xtrac is pushing to find solutions. We experienced today in free practice on both cars rear end problems. I hope we will be fine for the weekend but obviously this is not satisfactory. In terms of progress obviously the team is making progress because we were just like  a puzzle in Bahrain which was not really structured, so it has a proper structure now and we have a plan for next year how to move forward and I hope we will be successful with this.

Q: At one point there was some story about the financial situation of the team. Is that all settled down now?
CK: The story which you read was actually corrected one hour after the release because it was a wrong quote taken out of context. Obviously you have to look in a Formula One team every day how you find more sponsorship and how you survive. I think our situation is not better or worse than any of the smaller teams.

Q: Peter, you have had a rotten start to the season. It seems to have gone on and on. Can you see light at the end of the tunnel?
PS: First you have to solve the problem with the reliability, especially on the engine side. We have had a  lot of engine failures, but, nevertheless, our co-operation with Ferrari is very good. Both parties are investigating the problems and are working hard to solve them.

Q: When it comes to other teams, what other teams are you looking at as your major rivals at the moment?
PS: I think it is Toro Rosso, maybe Williams. We are not close to Force India. At the moment they are far away. That’s the rivals.

Q: Doctor Mallya, equally tremendous performance from your team of late.
VM: Yes, you know it has been almost an evolution. When I acquired the team the performance wasn’t anything other than running around as back markers, so we put together a programme with a clear vision that in 2009 we should score some points. We did score some points but we were very lucky to land a podium at Spa. The objective for 2010 was to be a regular points scoring team, meaning running and finishing within the top 10. I think we are pretty much on track. I think we could have had a little bit of better luck in a couple of races but notwithstanding that I think we have 35 points, certainly more than this team has had in a decade. We are clearly capable of being in the top 10. We are racing Renault and Mercedes which is a nice position to be and we hope to keep improving. We haven’t stopped our development on the 2010 car. We will continue that as we want to score as many points as we possibly can this year. As I said next year we hope to target some podium finishes, particularly since the 2011 Indian Grand Prix is now looking like a reality. Nothing would give us more pleasure to be able to have a podium finish at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

Q: Give us some idea of the progress being made in India. How is that coming along?
VM: This is a very substantial group. It is called the JP Group. They are very large real-estate developers and infrastructure developers. They have got a huge tract of land and they are building sport city. On element of the sport city is the Formula One track. It is being designed by Mr Tilke who I think has several of the newer Formula One tracks to his credit. I bumped into him today when I was coming into the paddock and he said everything was on track. We have seen pictures, photographs, and there is some real progress, so now I can safely say that I am personally convinced that the track will be built. It will be completed and that there will be the inaugural grand prix next year.

Q: Aldo, first of all, looking back at Montreal where the team was pretty convinced it could have won, are you winners? Are you now in a position to win on various different types of circuit like here, or Silverstone?
AC: I would like to have the possibility to answer you in a certain way. Unfortunately, we don’t know. We are pushing a lot, we are very, very motivated. We brought a lot of improvements here, more for Silverstone, more in Germany, so we are pushing very, very hard. Canada could have been a very, very good race for us, but for a few circumstances, it wasn’t as great as it could have been. So we are convinced that we can get to the position we like.

Q: Give us some idea of the modifications that you’ve brought here, because the back end of the car is quite substantially modified, I believe?
AC: Yeah. Not only the back of the car but also the bodywork itself, so we have got a new radiator system in terms of the shape and concept, so there’s new bodywork. And the exhaust layout is completely different and the back of the car, as you said – floor, suspension – there are improvements as well in the middle part of the car.
Today was a very intense day because we had to do a massive amount of checks and a lot of kilometres. We solved some issues in free practice one, very, very quickly and in free practice two we were running OK. Felipe spun but this is the game. So everything in FP2 was OK.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Luca di Montezemolo has been talking a lot about third cars. Can I have your views on third cars; from the Ferrari point of view, how easy it is to do it, and from everybody else based on whether you think it’s a good idea, strategically, for Formula One?
CK: For me, two (cars) are enough. We wouldn’t do three cars. I think doing three cars is more for the top teams. We are not in a position to run three cars.
PS: Now we are twelve teams, I don’t think it’s necessary to bring three cars. If you go down to seven teams, it could be necessary.
VM: I’m obviously concerned with the number of cars on the grid. At certain tracks, I personally feel that the number of cars we currently have are perhaps a tad too much, or too many. But I’m not opposed to the idea of a third car at all. The incremental cost of building and running a third car is not that great, so if the need arises, we’re quite happy to do it.
AC: I don’t know what to comment, really. I think Mr Montezemolo’s proposal was done in case there were not many cars on the grid, so big teams would have been available to run three cars. That’s what he thinks. I’m convinced that with a good notice period we can do it, not this year. It would not be possible for us to run three cars, not even next year, because with the current resource restrictions we are running with minimal spares, with very few chassis. I think all teams will be obliged to do that, so overnight we could not run a third car. If we were well programmed, yes, we are keen and available.

Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Just to follow up on that, the FIA made a statement about licences for leading members of teams. How do you feel about being licensed to the FIA, and Vijay, how do you feel about licensing yourself?
VM: I was part of the discussion at the World Council on the whole issue of licensing. I think this has all come about arising out of some recent judgements whether the FIA has authority to impose penalties on people involved in Formula One. If they are licensed by the FIA, then the FIA has some jurisdictional control.
We do nothing wrong, we come here to race, we race cleanly, we race according to the sporting regulations. I don’t care if I have to be licensed, I’m quite happy to be licensed.
AC: I do not have a strong opinion on this.
CK: To be honest with you, if the FIA decides I have to be licensed I’m happy with that. I have no issue.
PS: Yeah, the same for me.

Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) There’s been a lot of movement of technical staff recently. Aldo, you’ve hired a deputy technical director (Pat Fry). Can you tell me what a deputy technical director actually does and is there any truth to the rumours that Nikolas Tombazis is going somewhere else?
AC: When we knew that Pat was free and was looking around for a new challenge, we spoke with him and with other teams as well, because from what we knew, he had quite a lot of contacts and we arrived at a final agreement which for me was very, very good. Pat has got huge experience and I think he can join us and help us to have a stronger team. He’s not coming to replace anyone, so it’s not true that Nikolas will leave. Nikolas is a great asset of Ferrari and we want him to stay with us. So he will join the group and we will re-distribute the job between myself and my first level of engineers, having the possibility, with one more person, probably to follow the technical development in a wider and deeper way with the group of senators.

Q: (Gaetan Vigneron – RTBF) Vijay, following on from that, looking from the outside, in the last few weeks you have lost quite a few people on the technical side in your team. It might look a little bit worrying, so what is the reality and what’s your point of view on that?
VM: You know, the Formula One team is not the only organisation that I run. I have several organisations across the UB Group and my mantra is very clear: nobody is indispensible. Having said that, if people decide to leave and join another team, they are welcome and free to do so and we will find suitable and equally competent individuals to replace them. It’s ironical that most of them are headed to one particular team. I wish them luck.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Dr Mallya, you spoke about the Indian Grand Prix next year; you have the Indian team, the man behind you has the Indian driver. How long will we have to wait for an Indian driver in an Indian team?
VM: Let’s be clear; motor sport is not that advanced in India for a variety of reasons, to throw up drivers who would ultimately reach Formula One. We have drivers – Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok, and a couple of others, Armaan (Ebrahim), and there’s a boy called Patel – they’re talented drivers. Now I must decide whether they suit my requirements in Force India Formula One or not. I have been very fair, I’ve given at least one of them the opportunity in the driving simulator and I put four drivers in and I selected the best one of the lot which happened to be Paul di Resta, so it isn’t as if I’ve got a shut mind here. But I’ve got to start looking for somebody really young, and as I have said to you before and to many others, amongst 1.2 billion people there’s got to be a Lewis Hamilton somewhere. It’s like trying to pick a needle from a haystack, but we are now going to launch a nationwide programme in India to identify young talent and this is a pretty complex exercise. It involves several karting tracks all over the country, a whole organised method of getting people to enter, a competitive environment, a competitive programme and then we will probably take those with exceptional talent, bring them to either England or Europe, pay for them, pay for their education, pay for their karting and literally mentor them through until they can sit in a Formula One cockpit, and we are absolutely committed to do that.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Is that going to be a Force India driver academy, a young driver academy of some sort?
VM: Absolutely, absolutely yes.

Q: (Gaetan Vigneron – RTBF) For all of you: are you watching the GP2 races and what does a GP2 driver eventually have to do to attract your attention and to be in your team eventually next year?
CK: I’m not watching only GP2 races, I’m also watching F3 races and other categories. There’s always a talent around. Sebastian Vettel drove in my Formula Three car when he was 15. He never drove GP2, so you have to look not only at GP2.
AC: As you know, Ferrari has started the activity on a driver academy and actually one of the GP2 drivers, Jules Bianchi, is one of our drivers, so we look at GP2 pretty closely. We are pretty close to Jules as well.
VM: Yes, I do watch GP2 and clearly there are several drivers from GP2 who have graduated into Formula One, so that’s obviously a pool that’s available to chose from. But once again, I’ve got a pretty good line-up of drivers now. I’m quite happy with them. They’re not at the end of their careers, in fact they are at the prime of their careers. But I’d rather identify a good Indian going forward but if the need arises, then obviously GP2 or F3 is probably the most popular hunting ground, isn’t it.
PS: Yes, of course, we follow most series: GP2 and GP3, but it’s not so important for us because we have a rookie in Kamui (Kobayashi) and one is enough.

Q: Was there damage to the chassis? What do you think was the problem with the previous one?
TL: No, basically we changed the first chassis not because of a damage problem, but with a problem on the straight. We were scrubbing speed on the straight for some reason. We couldn’t understand why and that’s why we changed to the new chassis. With the new one we had a handling problem. We tried many different things and in Barcelona we were just where we were all week and we couldn’t understand why. And Turkey was an aero related problem that was adding to the other chassis issue we had, so we still couldn’t find exactly the right problem, so we just went back to the beginning where we started in a strong position at the beginning of the season. That’s all.

Q:  Can Force India maintain the pace of development?
TL: I think the team showed last year that our development curve was really high, maybe one of the best teams in development during 2009. I think they did a really great job and we are still improving. We are working… (becomes inaudible) and we have got a big programme of development, so we are pushing hard. We still believe we can fight to catch Renault in the championship. We will try hard until the end. We have to look at all the others and how they are doing as the other teams are not sleeping, but we are not giving up.

Q: Vitaly, you are almost a local driver here and at least you have experience of the circuit as well. Do you feel that this is a home race for you given that you don’t have a proper home race?
Vitaly PETROV: No, of course my home is in Russia, but this is almost my second home as I was living here for three years as my team was here for three years, so I moved here but now my team is Renault, so I will move to England. I know the circuit quite well as all morning I was running around this circuit.

Q: You are just about to come up to complete your first half of the season. How do you think it has gone for you, a personal self-assessment as it were.
VP: Really I don’t like to speak about this. I don’t like to say something about myself, what was good. It was quite good results, quite bad races also. Canada was not so good. I think I am still learning. I have still a lot of races until the end of the year. I hope I will improve. I am pretty happy.

Q: Do you measure yourself against Robert Kubica? How do you get on with him and are you getting closer to his performances?
VP: Of course I am getting  closer. Each weekend I try to be closer to him.  But anyway I do my job. I try not to focus on him. I just try to focus on myself, my driving, to improve the car with the engineers and try to do good results, for example, like Turkey. Except one touch, but it was okay.

Q: To the front row, it is to some extent a second home race to you guys. What does it mean to you individually?
Jaime ALGUERSUARI: It is always good to drive in Spain. In Barcelona it was a good environment. It is always nice to drive in your home race. For  me that was Barcelona and this race is the second race I did last year after my debut and it is the first race this year that I drove last year, so it is going to be nice. Let’s see how we get on during the weekend. I am really excited.
Fernando ALONSO: It is always good racing in your home country. Hopefully we will put on a good show for all the people here. As Jaime said with Barcelona and Valencia we are lucky to have these two opportunities in front of our people, so as I said hopefully we will put on a good show for them.
Pedro de la ROSA: For me it is a second opportunity in my home country in front of the Spanish fans. In Barcelona I didn’t manage to finish and here I hope we will and hopefully fight for the points as well. A second opportunity and hopefully it won’t slip through my fingers.

Q: An interesting point is that you haven’t raced here before and your team-mate also hasn’t raced, whereas with Toro Rosso both of their drivers have been here before. What does that mean to you? How easy is it to learn the circuit?
PdlR: Well, I think it will not be a problem. We have on Friday two hour-and-a-half sessions and it is more than enough to learn a track. It won’t compromise the weekend, especially knowing the first session normally is very dirty here, so you cannot really learn much on set-up, so we don’t compromise the track time in  changing the car. We will drive the first session, learn the track and get ready for the second one which is always more representative of the track for the Saturday and Sunday. So no issues. Just learn a new track which is always a great pleasure.

Q: You have had a difficult comeback in many ways and it has been difficult for the team as well. Can you see light at the end of the tunnel?
PdlR: Sure, there is. We are getting closer to the end of the tunnel. It has been a  difficult start to the year with the amount of DNFs and the one DNS that I achieved. But we should not forget that the two races I finished I was fighting in the points until the last lap. We just have to finish. We believe if we do that we will get points and that is our aim from the beginning of the year. We have been unlucky really, simple as that.

Q: To come back to Jaime, you have experience of this circuit. How important is it that both of you have experience of this circuit?
JA: I think every time you head to a new track it is always tough, so for me it is another less handicap let’s say when you have a track that you know. Obviously we also drove the simulator before and I raced here last year, I also did some races in Formula Three, so it is always good. Even more it is in Spain, so we are going to have fun.

Q: I understand that quite recently you have been karting. What was the thinking behind you going karting?
JA: Because I love karting. I love karting like Formula One as I like to drive cars. Last year I did the World Cup and this year hopefully I can do another race. Between Formula One races I go to Italy to train and also in Spain  here at some tracks. I train quite a lot. Karting I think is the best method to train for a driver for Formula One, for rally, whatever, as you train a lot of things and you also do cardiovascular training and at the end what you need is to drive. Also the fact I am training quite a lot on karting as we don’t have much testing in Formula One, I mean we have no testing in Formula One, so for me it is always nice and at the end it is another tool to drive.

Q: Fernando, I am sure you and the team felt that you could have won in Montreal. What are the feelings about this race as it has not been a lucky one for you so far?
FA: I think it will be interesting to see this race how it goes. There have been some circuits better, some circuits with problems, some up and down for the team performance in the last couple of races, so hopefully we can continue the performance we saw in Montreal. The line that put us in a competitive level fighting with McLaren and Red Bull. In Turkey we were not quick enough, so just try to confirm the feeling of Canada and be competitive here again and hopefully finish on the podium again.

Q: You have got some developments here I believe with the blown diffuser. What do you think that is going to bring you?
FA: I think we have been improving the car every race more or less, so I think it is a matter of how much the others improve as well to see a clearer step ahead, a step forward. I think we are optimistic. We are happy with the job we have done in these last couple of weeks, so we arrive in Valencia with a good package in our car but we remain very calm about our expectation as other teams were not watching television in these last two weeks, so I think everybody will bring updates here. Hopefully ours is a little bit better than others.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Olav Mol – RTL Netherlands) Jaime and Fernando, do you agree with a lot of fans right now that the ban on refuelling has made racing more intense, whether you’re racing for 14th/15th or first and second, because the cars are more equal during the race, you don’t have three short sprints. You all start on similar weights. So do you agree that the ban on refuelling has been better or worse, or would you like to go back to the old system?
JA: I think it’s obviously different to last year. You find the car is completely different in terms of handling, and obviously the tyre degradation is completely different to last year. It’s difficult to say if it’s better or if it’s worse but definitely for us, who need to take more risks to score points, to go in the front and to always be on the limit, it makes racing fairer, let’s say, because it’s the same for everyone. You find a five second gap from racing to qualifying and the fuel is making a big difference, so I think it’s more driver-handling, how you set up the front wing and manage your tyres a lot, especially on a track like Canada where the degradation is very big and the tyres were quite soft, and this makes racing more fun for the drivers, because you need to fight more with the car, and it makes it more fun for Formula One in general, more overtaking, more competition; it’s a good idea.
FA: I think it depends which race you take this year. If you take Canada with the tyre problems, the lack of refuelling looks good. If you take Turkey, you can switch off the TV because we start and then we put on the prime tyre as soon as possible and the race is over because there are no more pit stops. We also lack a little bit of changing in position in qualifying. Sometimes you were not very competitive, but you were on a more aggressive strategy with five or six laps less fuel and you qualified in front. Now, these days, whatever your position is in qualifying, it’s more or less your finishing position in the race. There are some advantages and some disadvantages. Hopefully people like the races a little bit more now but for us it’s sometimes better, sometimes worse.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Fernando, after Montreal you were very critical of the backmarkers and Luca di Montezemolo also made some comments recently. Is that something you’re going to be talking to Charlie (Whiting) about; do you expect anything different here because it’s not the easiest circuit to overtake on, and are you also happy that the 107 percent rule is coming back next year?
FA: I think the problems lapping people in Canada… there’s nothing we can do now. We still think that we lost the opportunity to do something better out of that race. I think that at the end of the year, over 19 races, everything balances out. So sometimes it happens to us, I’m sure it happens to the others at other races. It’s already happened, and we didn’t realise it and we took advantage maybe in China or Malaysia… we don’t know. It happened to us, it was very obvious because we were fighting for the win but we also know that there were some problems in other races. I think there’s nothing to say in tomorrow’s briefing. We also know that it’s not the easiest part of the race, to drive those cars, but it’s the same for everybody, so we just need to do a better job next time.
And for next year, the 107 percent… I don’t think that next year we will see the difference that we’ve seen this year. I think the three new teams arrived very late this year and I think next year they will be better prepared and the gap will be closer.

Q: (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS) Fernando, you tested the new car at Fiorano; what were your feelings and what do you think the improvement in lap time could be?
FA: The feeling was very good. I was running behind a car with cameras, so it was very good at 60kph, very stable. We also did some laps without a car in front but we had like ten cameras on the car and on the helmet, so it was not very comfortable to drive. It was also my first time driving a Ferrari Formula One car at Fiorano, so I really have no idea but I think tomorrow we will have a better answer. We expect a step up with the car, a little bit quicker but as I said before, I think all the other teams will bring some new parts here, so I think the most important thing is to confirm that we are competitive here, as we did in Canada, and we need to keep improving the car. Silverstone, Hockenheim, Budapest… it’s not one evolution in the car, in the year and you stop. This is a job that we need to keep doing until Abu Dhabi, so there is a long way to go but we are optimistic.

Q: (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS) And Jaime and Pedro, what about your future next season?
PdlR: It’s a good question, really. I don’t really know, it’s very early. June is still too early, we should wait a little bit more, maybe a couple of months. So nothing 100 percent, but I believe I will still be in Formula One, at least that’s what I want, and it’s not looking too bad for next year.
JA: I don’t know. I don’t know what I do next race, so… I hope I can be in Formula One with the same team, with Toro Rosso and we will see.

Q: (Jaime Rodriguez – El Mundo) For all of you, are you following the World Cup and for the three Spanish drivers, what do you expect tomorrow in our match against Chile?
FA: Yes.
JA: Yeah, yeah, we follow. Spain. We will win.
FA: Easy, easy, easy. We will win. That’s for sure.
PdlR: Against Chile or the final?
FA: Chile, if we don’t win, we don’t deserve…
PdlR: Ah, I think this year is a big one for us in the World Cup. I’m very happy that Fernando already has the red T-shirt on. We will do well. I really support Spain, very, very much. I like their attitude and how the players are approaching it.
VL: I will let you know in a few hours if I follow it again. For sure we have a good chance but we will see.
VP: Yeah, I follow it but it’s bad luck the Russian team is not in the World Cup. Yes, I like watching Spain playing and I’m also living here, so I will also support Spain tomorrow.
FA: Good.

Lewis HAMILTON: It has been a tremendous weekend. It has been fantastic. I got here Wednesday and things have just gone so well throughout the weekend. I have had incredible support from the fans. There are so many Brits out here which is great to see and the team did an exceptional job. The race was one of the toughest races so far but that’s what you want to have the hardest fight. These guys did an incredible job. Jenson did a great job and another one-two for us, so I am very happy and proud of the team.

Q. Jenson, your race was really about being patient and taking your opportunities when they came including the pass on Fernando.

Jenson BUTTON: It is a very difficult race, this type of race, as the tyres are so important. You are never sure if you are looking after the tyres enough or if you are pushing enough. I had (Sebastian) Vettel pushing me for about 20 laps, so close to me when I was trying to look after the tyres. I hit some traffic and I was able to pull a gap on him and then reel in these two. But a great race, a really enjoyable race. It was not just a race about being flat every lap. You had to really think about every situation. If you watch the race certain people were very quick at certain parts of the race. That made it very exciting and it is great to be back up here again. Another one-two for the team. Another one to this guy. I’d rather it was the other way around but I must say the team did a great job this weekend. Lewis put in a phenomenal lap yesterday which I couldn’t touch. But it is great to be here.

Q. Fernando, some great battles with both these guys but your face suggests that you think you should have won today.

Fernando ALONSO: I think it was a good day for us. The gap was very competitive here in Canada. We really had a good opportunity to win today. First I fight with Lewis. We overtook thanks to a fantastic pit stop from our guys in the pit lane and then we lost the position with some traffic and then we lost the position with traffic again with a Hispania in front in the last laps of the race with Jenson. In both of those cases we lost 10 points from 25 to 15 but we are still there in the championship. It was a great recovery from the team. We were, I think, 50 seconds behind McLaren in Turkey in P8 and we fight for the win here in Canada, so we are moving in the right direction and I think we are back in the fight.

Q. Lewis, it was a very intense race. Tell us about that fight with Fernando. There were two parts to it coming out of the pit lane and also later.

LH: Well, I think I came in quite bit ahead of him but clearly we did not have the best pit stop and he was able to… I saw him being released and as I pulled away he was in my blind spot. I didn’t even know he was there but I tried to make sure I had enough space. All of a sudden he was right there with me and we raced all the way down to the first corner and he had the inside and got ahead. But after that he had great pace and put up a really good fight and the traffic was very difficult today. That was really the opportunity for all of us today through traffic to get past the guy in front and I capitalized on that, so fair play to them.

Q. Jenson, can you analyse for us what was going on with the tyres today as you had to stop very early on and it seemed everybody was all over the place?

JB: The first couple of laps I was trying to nurse my tyres. I damaged the rears very quickly. I had a mark on the prime tyres as I was pushing very hard. You do everything. You try and knock the div, you take out front wing but it was still not enough, so on the softer tyre I had to pit very early before these guys. But it actually helped me. It moved me closer to the battle in the front. Then I put on the harder tyre and everything was working really well but still you had to look after that tyre as it was easy to grain. You could see the cars around you when the tyre was working for them and when it wasn’t. It was a fun race and the traffic played a big part as Lewis and Fernando have already said. The problem was we were coming up on cars that were fighting for points. One guy makes a mistake in front and the guy behind wants to challenge him even though there was a blue flag for us, so it was a tough race and fighting through the traffic was important.

Q. Fernando, you and Lewis have got quite a history. Tell us about what was going on in your mind when you were coming out side-by-side in the pit lane.

FA: Well, I think it was a very early part of the race, lap nine or something like that so there was still a long way to go. I think it was a better fight on lap 30 or something like that when we were approaching the second stop. We were really close and we had some good fight and l think it is a very good feeling for me to come back now in a position to win the race or be here on the podium after some disappointing races like Turkey.

Q. Lewis, finally to you. A tactical victory also over the Red Bulls. Just sum up where you and the team are right now.

LH: I think we are clearly doing everything we can to close the gap to them. I think perhaps at other circuits where the downforce is a little higher, maybe the gap will be…. maybe they will still be a little bit ahead but we are continuously improving. The guys back at the factory are doing a phenomenal job, so I have no doubts that we can close that gap and again pull ahead. But clearly on the race weekends we are doing a better job, both of us and the team, so hopefully we can continue with that. This is a special day for me as I won my first grand prix and to come back and repeat that after three years is a real pleasure.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Lewis, as you were saying an intense race. Something seemed to be happening to you all the way through. Either you were pushing somebody or somebody was pushing you.

LH: Yeah, it was an interesting race actually. Like Jenson was saying it was difficult to know how much to save your tyres and how much to push, how much longer you had to go and how fast the guy behind you was and whether they were pushing or saving fuel or whatever. It was very, very challenging. It was the ultimate challenge for me at least of the whole year so far and I was really just trying to maintain the correct balance with the different switches that we have. Also again through traffic without losing too much time. Clearly Fernando could see when I was catching traffic and he would close the gap all of a sudden, so it showed he had great pace and it was then trying to get through the traffic without allowing him to pass. It was very, very difficult today. I would say the traffic was almost as bad as Monaco. It was very tricky but we managed to deal with it and it was a tremendous job from myself and Jenson and another one-two. The third one this year I think and the team truly deserved it as I think they have done a great job.

Q. Was the strategy fairly clear right from the start, especially given there wasn’t a safety car?

LH: That was a bit of a surprise, no safety car. The first time for a long time with no safety car at this track. But clearly everyone was safe which is a good thing. I think strategy-wise I have no idea whether the team had planned that. I just knuckled down, kept my head down and tried to pull the gap and do the best job I can. Unfortunately I did lose some time in the pit stop. That is another time where we have lost time in the pit stop and lost another position, so it is important that we try to go away and fix that. But the second pit stop was very good. They did a great job there, which enabled us to get ahead of Fernando.

Q. In the closing stages there how much fuel were you having to save? Others were, but the lap times looked good?

LH: No, I had saved a lot of fuel in the mid part of the race and whilst I was behind Fernando, so I was able to push right to the end without any problems.

Q. Jenson, fifth early on and you came through and you were being pushed by Sebastian. What sort of race was it for you?

JB: It was a great race. It was a very enjoyable race. It is pretty tough racing around here anyway. It is very tough on tyres. The start of the race for me I thought I would try and look after the option tyre but it was very difficult with the Red Bulls shoved up behind me on prime tyres. I pitted early as I just thought ‘what’s the point of staying on this tyre.’ I said to the team ‘is there a clear space for me to drop in to’ and they said ‘yes,’ so I pitted early. I came out and it was the right call as I had pulled on these guys a little bit. In that stint the car was working well again looking after the tyres and the fuel. I thought the stint was going to be a lot longer than it was. It was basically just hanging onto these guys and waiting for the next pit stop and try to close in on them. It wasn’t to be. I got traffic which slowed me down but then the last stint again just looking after the tyres as it was such a long stint. It was longer than I expected. I had Sebastian up behind me pushing me very hard. I didn’t want to go any quicker as I knew I would damage the tyres and then when we hit traffic I made some good passes in traffic and pulled a five second gap on him and then I could focus my attention on catching up with Fernando. It was a really fun race. It is very difficult to judge when to push on the tyres. I think I kicked in a little bit early on the last stint but it got me P2, so I am very happy with that. I have got to say a big thank you to the whole team. They have done a fabulous job this weekend. This guy was phenomenal in qualifying yesterday. I couldn’t touch him, but it is good to finish close in the race and good to get some points.

Q. I believe you had a different race engineer for various reasons?

JB: Yeah, Jakob (Andreason) is poorly this weekend which is a shame. He did all the set-up work initially, so some of this result is down to him for sure. It is very difficult watching it on television. But today I had Phil Prew, who is the chief engineer who has worked with Lewis over the last few years. It was good and it is always interesting working with new people, new ideas, but I hope Jakob is well and hopefully we will see him very soon back at the circuit.

Q. What about the hotter temperatures? The track temperature was about ten degrees higher than we’ve seen so far this weekend.

JB: Yeah, the option was a little bit better than on Friday. The prime tyre, again, was a touch better but still you couldn’t drive flat out on the prime every lap. You got rear graining as you probably saw with quite a few cars out there. When I lapped Hülkenberg, his rear tyres were shredded to bits. You still have to look after that. So it was an exciting race from that point of view. It was great to be up at the front, and watching the fight between these two was also fun and I think that for the viewers this was a great race. It comes down to the tyres being a little bit more difficult than normal, different pit stop strategies and different tyres to start the race and it’s made for a hell of a race.

Q. Fernando, good to see you up there on the rostrum. Is this something that we can expect in the future or is this a one-off?

FA: I think we want to be World Champions, so hopefully we can be here more often.

Q. Have you taken a step forward this week?

FA: Definitely. In Turkey we were a little under-competitive there. We were too slow, just Q2 in Turkey and then in the race we were like 50 seconds behind the McLarens, so here we were fighting wheel to wheel, so it was definitely a step forward. The characteristics of the track seem to be OK for us as well, so we just took this opportunity to be on the podium, to be in front of Red Bull and fight for the win. So it’s definitely been a very positive weekend for us and I am looking forward because I think this result will be a big motivation for the team.

Q. Tell us what happened when you lost second place to Jenson?

FA: I think we had some people in front of us; it was a Virgin I think and a Hispania. We thought the Hispania was letting us go in turn six but he didn’t, he was just on a different racing line, so when he went back to the normal one we just had to brake and then he saw us a little bit late and we exited turn six very slowly; I exited turn six very slowly because of that and Jenson took the opportunity.

Q. And how were the tyres?

FA: I think the tyres were difficult for everybody. The soft tyres were difficult at the beginning with a heavy car, just eight or nine laps and then you lose a lot of performance, so we all stopped around that lap and then with the prime, as Jenson said, it was not easy either, you just needed to take care of the rear graining but as it sometimes happens, our car is very gentle on tyres, so for most of the race I was quite comfortable with the pace.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Lewis, I think you are the fifth or sixth different leader of the championship this year. Is that the way you feel it’s going to go, ebb and flow all the way along to the end of the season?

LH: You can see how tight this championship is; I don’t know whether it’s dependent on the new points scoring system but the field is so close and as I said, all the best drivers are in the top teams and they’re all very, very competitive, so it’s the ultimate challenge, I think, that I’ve experienced in Formula One, perhaps in Formula One history, maybe. There are so many of us up here, pushing right to the wire and I think inevitably that means that the championship will remain close. I’m sure there will be lots of ups and downs – hopefully not for us – during the rest of the season but let’s hope that we’re able to keep on the front line.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, don’t you think that you compromised your win when you tried to pass Sebastien Buemi?

FA: I don’t think so. Again, I think it was lap nine or lap wherever, I think I did the fastest lap after that lap when Lewis stopped and Buemi stopped as well. And on the following lap I lost two and a half seconds overtaking another car. I exited the pits half a second behind Lewis. Without that traffic again, I was in front, so it was a race decided by small details, so I think we made a perfect race, the team did a perfect race with the strategy, with pit stops, very, very quick pit stop, especially the first one to overtake the McLaren, so overall I think we did our job today, finishing on the podium, something which maybe not too many people were thinking before arriving in Canada, that we would be on the podium at the end of the race. So we proved again that we’re strong and that there is a lot more to come in the second part of the championship. So we’re quite optimistic.

Q. (Sudhir Chandran – Chequered Flag, India) Lewis and Jenson, do you think this one-two here will have helped appease the English fans out there who were disappointed with your (World Cup) draw with the US yesterday?

LH: I think so. I think it’s early stages of the World Cup, so I don’t think there will be any disappointment. Our country is always in full support. Of course they are optimistic for the next games. We’re just trying to do our job over here and they’re doing their job as well.

JB: Yeah. Yesterday was a reasonable day for us, could have been worse, could have been better. It’s only the start, I’m sure. We’re all backing the boys and hopefully the next couple of games are good also. For us, this weekend has been a great result as it was two weeks ago. We hope to continue sort of in the same style as here.

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Was it a key of the race that the harder tyre gave more problems than expected because the Red Bulls came on in laps 13 and 14 which nobody expected?

JB: Yeah, maybe they didn’t expect to have any issues at the start of the race. When Webber came past me he was flat out and maybe they just didn’t expect to have issues and that played into our hands, I guess, but even on Friday we were struggling with graining on the prime tyre, so I think we had a good understanding of what would happen with it.

Q. (Jeff Pappone – The Globe and Mail) Yesterday, after qualifying, most people thought that McLaren had taken a gamble on starting on the option tyre, that you were expecting a safety car; it never came and yet your strategy worked out perfectly. Was that a bit of a surprise or do you really think that that was the right way to go yesterday?

LH: Clearly it was the right way to go. It was a choice for us to use the softer tyre and we felt comfortable with the fact that we might have to stop within the first ten laps. We knew it might even be lap five. I’m not sure what lap I stopped on but we anticipated that and we knew that we would be fast again once we got on the prime. We didn’t know how long the prime would last but fortunately for us, whilst we did the prime runs, others like the Red Bulls had to do an option stop at some stage. Neither of us really had an advantage at all. It just promoted some good racing, I think.

JB: Our team actually thought that Red Bull took the gamble yesterday, not us. Depends which way you look at it, I suppose.

Q. (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS) Fernando, do you think that without the traffic problems you would have had the pace to fight with the McLarens, and secondly, your thoughts on the Valencia Grand Prix in front of your home crowd?

FA: I think everybody saw that we had the pace to win. We’ve been competitive all weekend and very competitive in the race – definitely. But traffic sometimes helped us a lot in the first races. I remember Australia; I started last after the incident in the first corner. Most of the cars were in traffic throughout the race and I was alone, so the traffic can sometimes help you and sometimes it hurts you. At the end of the championship, I think everything is balanced. As for Valencia, obviously it’s the second home race for me after Barcelona, so I’m hoping to do well there, hoping to be on the podium. I’ve never been on the podium in Valencia, so it will be a nice feeling in front of the crowd.

Q. (Bill Beacon – The Canadian Press) Lewis, you’ve won two out of three times here in Montreal. Is there something about the race or this track that suits you particularly, and also do you feel that momentum has shifted in the championship with you winning two in a row now?

LH: I think inevitably we have gained momentum for both of us, myself and Jenson, and in our performance and also obviously the results and we just need to continue with that. I don’t know why I go well here but it’s a great track, it’s a fantastic city, great food, great people, amazing support. It’s just overall – and the weather was great today as well. It was such a great turn-out. I think for me this is one of the best races of the whole season. I don’t know why, again. I’m able to dial my car in, feel the car a little bit better here than in other places but we’ve got a long season ahead of us. There will be good races and bad races and I just hope there are more good ones than there are bad.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To Lewis and Jenson, the Valencia circuit is also a street circuit and there are some similarities with this one here. Do you predict that you can maybe do a similar race there or will it be different?

JB: We hope so. It is a similar type of circuit, the asphalt is more abrasive than it is here, it’s very smooth here. It’s going to work the tyres very differently. There are also some high speed corners in Valencia and there aren’t here. So I’m sure we will be competitive, but I don’t think you can forget about Red Bull, Ferrari and maybe Mercedes will have sorted themselves out a little bit by that point. So people are bringing new things to the circuit every race we go to, new parts and if you can’t keep up with that, you drop behind. We’ve just got to hope that every race we go to we are developing and moving forward as much as if not more than everyone else. I’m looking forward – Valencia, I love the circuit, I didn’t have a very good race there last year but it’s a circuit I really enjoy driving and I think this car should work pretty well round there.

LH: Valencia is a good track at least for me and the car seems to have gone very well there over the last couple of years, so I think our car should naturally be quite good there. As Jenson says, it’s about understanding the tyres there, we don’t know what to expect but we will be going there with good momentum, hopefully good pace, good headset and hopefully we will be working on another one-two.

Q. (Daniel Bastien – FM 103.3) Lewis, considering what you said earlier, are you on the verge of buying an ‘I love Montreal’ T-shirt?

LH: I think I should get one, maybe I will get one at the airport or something.

JB: I think they should give him one for free.

LH: Yeah. I’m sure one of the fans will give me one but I should get one, definitely.

Q: Felipe, what comeback for you from injury. Tell us about how you feel today about your journey back here and your performance today.
Felipe MASSA: Well, first of all congratulations to Sebastian he did a great job for the first race of the season. I think it is very nice to be back here racing competitively and in a good direction. I feel very happy to be back after such a difficult time. I was watching the races on television and was pretty excited but it is much better to be sat in the car. I prepared myself in a good direction, testing, driving go-karts, everything was great to be back in the car for racing and if you look at what happened last season with us I think it is a good start to the season for us. After a difficult season where we finished in the last race and where we are starting the season in the first race is always great for the team, great for the guys who did a very tough job inside the factory since a long time, so I feel really positive to start on the first race second. We are second and third and for the team that is really great and we will see how we doing in the race. Red Bull and also some other teams are really strong, so the race will be very difficult but I am very happy to be here fighting for the top.

Q: Fernando, the margins at the end of qualifying were quite a bit bigger than they were at the beginning. What do you put that down to and how do you feel about where you have ended up?
Fernando ALONSO: Well, I think the difference is difficult to read. With such a long lap like this one and with the conditions we were facing, with this very warm temperature, I think it is very difficult to complete that long lap with no mistakes and not any problems. I think the times are related to how the gap was as well and about the competitiveness of the car. I think in different parts of the weekend we saw times that were very tight and times that were split like they are now but I think it is okay. From our point of view we are obviously extremely happy with the result of this weekend so far. The race is tomorrow. We cannot forget this but so far everything has been great and we will keep going as we did all winter testing with a very strong car and  I think competitive in all conditions, qualifying and race, and to be second and third as Felipe said is a great achievement for everybody in the factory at Maranello and the job they did from November last year until now was flat out every day and every night and the first result of the season is very, very positive, so this is a big boost for the team to carry on.

Q: Sebastian, you start the race on the same tyres you qualified on. Just give us a bit of inkling into your thinking on that?
SV: I think we all don‘t know really what will happen tomorrow. It could be exciting. It could be very boring. That is what I hope for. That is what all of us like to be more or less where we start. I think it is a very difficult situation to be in. The first part of the race will be crucial but on the other hand it is not a big secret that you need to take care of your tyres and the question mark is what you do with your strategy. A lot of things unknown I have to say, so all of us we don’t know what to expect tomorrow.

Q: Felipe, how do you feel about the race performance of the Ferrari compared to what you can do over a  single lap in qualifying? Are you stronger in the race, do you think?
FM: I think we did a good job yesterday to prepare the long distance in both tyres. We also swapped. I was on one tyre and Fernando was on the different tyres to do the long run. I think we are in the right direction, so let’s see how the first race is going to be. It is the first race of the season and we need to understand so many things which will happen in the race, on the strategies, let’s wait and see but I am really optimistic.

Q: Fernando, it’s a long season but is this how you expect it to start?
FA: Well, you never know how a new championship will start with a big change in the regulations. For me, also changing teams, you never know, but obviously at the moment everything has been perfect and this is a very good start and I think now in equal conditions, let’s say as quali with low fuel these days show the potential of the cars, so for both Ferraris to be in the top three means we have a nice car. But it is a very long championship, 10 months of developing the car, but it is very important to start scoring points from the first race. If not you are always behind and you need to close the gap and this is not ideal if you want to fight for the world championship and we are here to fight for the World Championship and this is the first step, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Sebastian, how exciting was that for you?
SV: Very exciting. Yesterday I have to admit we were not very happy, especially myself. We knew there was potential in the car but we were just not putting it together. On top of that we had some problems, so we did not do a lot of running. But this morning straight away it has been quite a lot better. In qualifying a very smooth session as per plan but it is never easy especially as I saw in the last lap where I saw myself going around one-and-a-half or two-tenths slower around the lap. I was already thinking I have to push push push and it was really close. At the end of qualifying the circuit got a bit more difficult with the conditions changing all the time. The heat here is different to what we had in testing, so you could see people having quite big jumps in lap time either up or down. But concerning ourselves I think it was a good result and a good position to start from, but tomorrow is going to be a long, long race. It is the first race out of 19. It is not going to be a sprint, it is going to be an endurance event, so you have to take care of your car, tyres and so on. But for sure there is no better position to start from than pole position and finally, and I think I am speaking more or less on behalf of all the drivers, give some great respect to Felipe.
FM: Oh, no.
SV: It is very, very difficult, well, I don’t know, you can ask him, but from the outside big respect for what he has achieved. First race he is back and he is bang, bang bang. It is good to have him back.

Q: Did you do a lot of changes to the car overnight or did the track to some extent come to you?
SV: Well, I think the track was not very good to start with yesterday morning but then rubbered in quickly. There was a lot of rubber. I think it was more transforming your car and making it work in the conditions. We did change a lot overnight. Yesterday we could not show our full performance, we would have wished to do more runs, but I had a braking failure and Mark had a problem with the drive-shaft, so overall we did not do a lot of laps, but nevertheless we could feel the potential. We changed some things, I won’t tell you what, but nothing special, small things, but they had  a big effect in the end. We were trying to read the conditions and what will happen throughout qualifying and it seemed to work quite well. I think we were one of the most consistent.

Q: Felipe, it is a great comeback to be second. How satisfying is it for you and how emotional?
FM: It is just fantastic to hear that definitely. First of all congratulations for the pole. I want to be in your place but I am glad for you. It is just fantastic to hear that. We are here to compete and race each other but there is relationship and respect which go over everything. All drivers have great respect and it is nice to hear that after such difficult times and such difficult accident. Now I am  here 100 per cent ready to fight again and most of the people are happy, so that is fantastic to hear. We always want to do the best possible. I think it was very positive the first qualifying of the season and looking how difficult it was last year and how tough it was to improve the car race by race and to understand the regulations. I think we did a good job at home to prepare the car, to make the car in a good direction,  and that is a very important point to start the season. Fernando and I are second and third and that is great for the team to have a good direction for this very long championship which won’t be easy. It will be very difficult.

Q: What were you expecting for qualifying? Did you have any ideas as the Mercedes seemed to be very competitive but they are not on the first three.
FM: I expected to be, looking at what happened yesterday and this morning, fighting with Mercedes and Red Bull. I think Sebastian made a little step forward if you look this morning and yesterday and did a great lap which you would expect him. I think he did a good job.

Q: Fernando, how satisfying is it for you to be in the top three in the first drive with a new team especially in such a competitive season?
FA: I am very happy. It is the first race and there are many things to answer after a long winter with so big differences in fuel loads in all the tests and yesterday in practice as you never know what the competitors are running. We were really excited about the first qualifying of the season to really know how competitive we were, so now to have both drivers in the top three means we have a very competitive car. We thought so but you never know, you need to confirm it. It has been great. A great day and I think some kind of nice feeling to realise that we are in the fight as you never know until qualifying.

Q: You talked about the rear tyres degrading yesterday – probably everybody did – but how bad is that and is it a worry for the race itself?
FA: I think that is a worry for everybody, and not only here. I think it will be one of the characteristics of this year’s racing. With heavy cars, I think the tyres are stressed a lot more and you just need to take care and also different cars will treat their tyres differently. So hopefully, fingers crossed, we can have a consistent race tomorrow and this thing will come to us.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Felipe, was what you achieved today exactly what you had imagined for several months or much more?
FM: For sure, when I did all the first tests, I expected a good car to drive. For sure for the car the most important thing to think about was how the championship was going to be, and I was quite comfortable driving the car in the first test and the second test and also in Barcelona, so for sure I expected to be competitive. I expected to come here and fight for a good position: first, second, fifth, whatever. I expected to be competitive and I think it’s pretty much been in that direction.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To all of you: what will be the main difficulty in the race tomorrow: saving the tyres, saving fuel in the engine?
SV: Well, in Formula One I think people like to talk about packages; I think it will be the package. As I said, in the past it was probably more a sprint event. You started the race on whatever fuel load – 50, 60, 70, 40 kilos. Of course you had to take care at the beginning and then you could push, more or less which I think everyone of us enjoyed a lot. This year, the challenge is not attacking every lap and pushing and trying to go as fast as you can. It has changed. The challenge is now obviously controlling the package, as I said, trying to listen to your car, listen to your tyres, listen to your brakes, everything. Try to read and understand the race inside the car. There will be a lot of things to learn and also for the pit wall. No one really knows what to expect, I think that’s exciting so far. Hopefully we will have a good race tomorrow. As Felipe and Fernando said already, it will be a long season, so the most important thing is to finish, for sure, but I think everyone is looking forward to tomorrow’s race, so we will see. I think it is a good mix of everything; you have to keep in control to be the best.
FM: I don’t think there’s much more to say, actually. Sebastian said everything. The race is very long, at the beginning we need to understand how the tyres behave, like the package as he said. Then we need to also understand what will be the right moment to stop which no one knows 100 percent at the moment, so we wait and see.
FA: Yes, I think we are in a learning process with the new regulations. Today we learned some things about qualifying and qualifying performance etc but tomorrow can be completely different. Maybe one car which has qualified seventh or eighth or ninth has a very strong pace in the race and he’s taking care of the tyres or he makes a completely different strategy and can make up a lot of positions. We are in completely unknown territory, so we need to discover many things in the first three or four races of the championship.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Considering the degradation of the tyres, especially the super soft which you are using, do you expect the first stint to be very short tomorrow and Alonso, did you have a problem in sector two on your last lap?
FA: I don’t know what the strategy will be tomorrow. I think it will be very flexible. I think we will need to be clever enough to understand the race situation and to make the pit stops whenever is necessary. I don’t think this will be determined or strictly planned before the race any more. I think it will be very flexible.
Second sector, yes, it was not perfect but it was the maximum I could do. I probably lost a couple of tenths but some others did better. This is Formula One.

Q: (Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Deutschland) For everybody: I think nine out of ten cars in Q3 had the soft tyres on. Was it a clear solution to take them or was there any thinking that you should take the hard ones and have a longer first stint?
SV: Well, I think we saw yesterday – I can’t speak on my behalf really, I did one longish run – but especially these two, they did quite a few laps yesterday and if we are speaking about tyre degradation on the super soft it’s not given that the medium tyre or the harder compound around here has zero degradation. It’s also dropping. I think reading the lap times yesterday and assuming what people ran in terms of fuel load we could see that and I think in the end what made the difference is the fact that – I think you saw that throughout qualifying that the soft tyre was quite a bit stronger for initial performance which you need in qualifying. You need only one lap. Whatever happens after usually doesn’t matter; in this case it does. We will see tomorrow. As Fernando said, there are so many things to learn.
It’s quite funny, I think last year the top three drivers sat here on Saturday afternoon and they didn’t want to say when they were going to stop. Now they can’t tell you because we don’t know, so nobody knows. You can work out an optimum for the race, but an optimum is when you’re racing on your own which, as it looks now, is very unlikely to happen. Of course there’s a chance that 23 cars will not reach the grid but I think this chance is quite small.
FM: I think the difference between the super soft and the soft was that the super soft was quite a bit quicker over one lap, so I think nine out of ten cars chose to go for the best strategy in qualifying and I think tomorrow is new for everybody, so it’s slightly difficult to say ‘we definitely need to go on the hard.’ I think in this first race everybody went for the best in qualifying and we’re going to know what happens tomorrow.
FA: I didn’t know that, who was on the hard? (Sutil) Which position is he in? (Tenth) OK.
FM: Maybe it’s a good choice; nobody can say that he’s wrong.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, you mentioned the taste of champagne earlier. How are you now that you’ve finally come back after two difficult struggling seasons?
FA: Yeah, the taste of champagne or the taste of the podium is important to a racing driver. I had no possibilities for two years. I had a strong final part of 2008 and only one podium in 2009 in Singapore, so obviously I missed the podium and I missed the competition and the stress of fighting for a World Championship, so after a long winter, with some good signs of a very competitive car that we were in the fight, it was clear that we needed the confirmation in the first Grand Prix that we were quick enough to be in the fight. After winning or losing a World Championship it’s about the small details but at least we are in a strong position it seems. I think it’s a very positive sign, a very nice feeling to be back in the fight, at least at this first race and I will enjoy tomorrow’s race as much as I can because you are fighting for important positions and not in the middle of the grid.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, everybody knows that the first challenge is the team-mate and so how important has it been to come back and beat the team-mate, even if it is just on Saturday?
FM: As I said, it’s just fantastic to be back in the race. I never had any doubt that I was different than before. Everything I was doing since the accident was really normal. I remember the first time I went to drive the go-karts I even had the doctor there and everybody was watching and waiting to see if I was OK, and on the first lap I was already sideways, pushing hard on the first lap. I don’t really feel any difference to how I was before the accident. It’s always positive when you come back and you are competitive. It’s definitely what I expected. I think we have a good team, me and Fernando working very well with the team and we always want to beat everybody, it doesn’t matter who the driver is, whether he’s a team-mate or Sebastian or whatever. We all want to be first, that’s what we’re aiming for. I think this is just the first qualifying, I’m happy, but we need to prepare ourselves for the race and for the next races as well, which is always very tough. I really feel that we’re going in a good direction.

Q: (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS) Fernando, are you thinking about the possibility to attack Felipe Massa in the first corner, because normally the strategy of the team could be the same in the race?
FM: No, it’s better not to.
FA: It’s the first race, maybe not. We don’t know, we need to see how we start. Maybe I do a very bad start and maybe I need to defend my position from the fourth and the fifth guy. You never know what’s going to happen at the start.
SV: I think you should attack him.
FA: We both overtake Sebastian and we have a relaxed race after that, I hope. (To Sebastian) Third is OK.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Moto und Sport) In the past few years the picture was that on certain circuits a certain car was better than another and on other types of circuit it was the other way around. Do you think, from your experience in testing and now here in Bahrain, it will be the same this year, that it’s track specific who is in front  and who not?
FA: Yes, I really think so. I think it will be track to track performance. Obviously at this track we know that it was maybe one of the good ones for us. I think Red Bull at the moment maybe has some little steps ahead of us in some tracks. We expect Mercedes and McLaren to be very strong also in the coming races, so we need to keep pushing. This is only the start, we have repeated many times but this is a ten months championship. The development  in one month of testing from the first of February to the end of February was huge, so imagine (what it can be) in ten months. We are sitting here now, we are very happy with this top three position but in three or four races you don’t know because the teams are progressing so quickly and developing the car so quickly that you can find yourself seventh or eighth very quickly. We need to keep pushing, we need to keep working. I’m very relaxed, I’m in one of the best teams, so we should be competitive.

Q: Nico?
Nico HÜLKENBERG: I mean it is nice and great to finally be here but I am sure every driver who has come here worked very hard and long for it, same for me. Just happy to be here and looking forward hopefully to a long career.

Q: It is the same thing for Robert and Heikki in a way; a new team for you, Robert. What are your feelings about that?
Robert KUBICA: Quite happy, actually. It is not easy to change after four years being with one team. It is quite a different mentality team, so we have done quite good work in winter to prepare for the new season, new challenge. It is okay.

Q: And for Heikki?
Heikki KOVALAINEN: For me also. Obviously I had a very different winter. We started from zero with the team and have seen the team growing and building all the time. We managed to do a little bit of testing but arrived here a little bit on the back foot. But today has been fantastic. Both cars have been running without any problems so far. It is very good and the atmosphere is very good. I am enjoying it. I think F1 is good as always.

Q: Lucas, tell us about your day today and how things have been going?
LG: I had pretty much a difficult start to the day in P1. I had some small issue in the car which did not allow me to do many laps and I need more mileage. Everything got back to a good position in P2 as I did quite a good run with both sets of tyres and we were able to do a  different set-up change, so it helped a lot.

Q: How do you see the weekend developing for you and the team?
LG: Everybody in the team is pushing really hard. As everybody knows the car came together months ago and we had a lot of problems in testing, so our main reason to be here and our main way of development is to get everything done properly and with it on time. We are not rushing anything. We are making sure the car is having the best performance. The team is working very, very hard and the team worked all night last night, so everyone is giving 100 per cent and I am trying to do the same when I am driving.

Q: Nico, a remarkable day for you ending up sixth. How has it gone?
NH: It was okay. We were able to go through our programme and be able to get comfortable in the car on the track. It ran smoothly without any technical or other problems.

Q: In testing, you held the record for red flags, so you must be happy with the reliability today?
NH: Yeah, I mean again also Williams has pushed very hard and still everyday there is a new guy coming from the UK bringing new parts, not only performance parts but reliability parts, to get our car better. A big thank you to the guys in the factory. Without them we would not be where we are.

Q: How good a teacher is Rubens Barrichello? The most experienced guy on the grid.
NH: He is not really teaching me. I am just looking at what he is doing. As a team-mate he is always transparent. I can see how he drives, how he works, how he approaches the weekend, so in that aspect I can see and learn from him.

Q: You have got a new engine. Is it quite a surprise where you are?
NH: With a new engine? I think Cosworth have also done a good and remarkable job. We did not have any problems during winter testing and again here the engine is running fine and performance wise it is not too bad at all.

Q: Heikki, you had the Mercedes engine last year and you can compare the Cosworth to the Mercedes. How does it come out?
HK: I think to give a direct comparison is probably not fair as the performance of the car at this stage is very different. But I think so far they have done a very good job. Like Nico says, the reliability has been fantastic. I have not had a single problem. I don’t think if anyone had a problem with the engine and just the initial feeling is that the power is competitive. I don’t think that will not be an issue. I think it is good.

Q: What is lacking within the car? Is it your confidence?
HK: It is not confidence. What is lacking is another 10 to 20 months of time and give the team a bit of a chance to put some performance into the car. We built the car and the team in just under six months time and you cannot ask for more than this. We put the car on the track in testing and today we looked like a professional race team. We were running the car first on the track this morning. I mean you cannot expect performance to be better than this yet. I am sure it will be. We have already shown many things that not many teams could do, so I have all the confidence that given a bit of time,  give us a year or two, even less than that, we can put a lot of performance in the car and move up the grid. You have got to start somewhere and we are still growing, we are still building the team so it is not my confidence. I am very confident in fact. I have had a good winter and I feel 100 per cent shape and I feel today I had a very good today and we went forward but we need a bit of time.

Q: How do you see the weekend developing? Do you feel you will be able to close that gap to the established teams?
HK: If we could find three or four seconds it would be pretty good, wouldn’t it. I am sure we will be working hard but we just do not know yet what everybody else has done. We have just focussed on our own preparation today like a professional race team does. We will prepare for the race, we have compared the tyres, we have done various checks with the set-up and tried to tune the car for the circuit and also for myself getting adapted to the circuit. That is what we are really worried about. I am sure eventually we can close the gap to the leaders and that is what we are here for but it will not happen overnight. The teams ahead of us are all good teams. Formula One is incredibly competitive but we have been quite brave. We have entered the competition and from what we have shown today I think we can go with chin up, full steam ahead.

Q: Sebastian, how do you feel about today?
Sebastian VETTEL: I would have loved to run more. I think this morning the circuit was not in very good shape with not a lot of rubber down, especially on the new part of the circuit.  But in the afternoon I think we had quite a lot of rubber, but I did not run very much. I had a problem with the brakes, brake failure, and Mark had a problem as well, so I would have loved to do more laps.

Q: Is it a worry to have that failure? Brakes is a big thing this year.
SV: It is not a nice feeling, but it depends where it happens. I think it happens if you go up in Monaco up to the casino it is the worst place. Here there is quite a lot of run-off, so it was no problem, but it is not something you like to happen.

Q: Fifth fastest with that brake failure. Do you feel that is where you are or do you think it should be better?
SV: I think today is still very difficult to read. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is a bit more difficult, but if you really want to say precisely where everyone is I think at this stage it is still a bit too early. From what I have seen in the session it is no secret that this afternoon Ferrari seemed to run a bit heavier whereas Mercedes tried with a little bit less fuel in the beginning and then put some fuel back into the car for the rest of it. I think at this stage we are in decent shape. I would have loved to run a lot more and get more laps and more data, but at this stage I think Ferrari and McLaren look extremely competitive.

Q: Last year the team did a fantastic job with the development. It is almost certainly going to be a development battle this year. Are you confident in the programme that Red Bull have?
SV: Yeah, as you said it will be the same kind of battle as last year. Obviously that is not very cheap. But for everyone it is the same thing, so where we are now and I am sure the cars will improve a lot as they are still quite young. I think this year there is a lot to discover with the new regulations, no refuelling, the tyres are different, so I think everyone is in a steep learning curve and we will see. The cars we will have at the end of the year they might be better but you get 25 points for a win here as you do at the last race, so we will see.

Q: Robert, your feelings about today? You ended up 15th.
RK: It was quite a good day. It was different running with this temperature compared to winter testing, so we have quite a nice run, smooth without major problems. We have to work a bit on the car to improve it and try to do our best tomorrow which will finally be the day of truth.

Q: You’re a former pole-winner here. What are your feelings about the circuit, particularly the new part?
RK: The new part doesn’t look really interesting, at least for myself it’s a kind of a street circuit, it reminds me of a Monte Carlo a bit, the Monaco race track. It’s very slow, a lot of bumps, quite tough for the tyres and very appropriate compared to the old section of track. Yes, it was quite dirty as Sebastian mentioned. This morning it was quite slippery there. Afterwards it improved but there is still quite a big delta shift between the grip of the new section and the old section.

Q: And you’ve been quoted as saying that Renault could create a surprise?
RK: When did I say this, a long time ago? Well, it depends how it goes but I think we were in pretty good shape in winter testing, maybe not in the last tests but before we were surprisingly good. But we have to keep working. Actually, we are doing it very hard. The guys didn’t go to bed last night, preparing the car because new bits arrived quite late, so it was quite a tough two days for them. But let’s hope we will pay them back on the performance side.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Mikolaj Sokol – Rzeczpospolita) Sebastian and Robert, with 23 cars on the track, some of them significantly slower than you, how can you deal with traffic? Is it a big issue?
SV: Yes, I think it is a big issue, especially practice and at least the first qualifying session. Of course, speaking to Lucas or Timo or the other guys, Heikki, it’s not the easiest time that they have to face. Obviously they are just about to start, so I think it’s fair to give them time. For sure, if you arrive and you have that big delta between the cars and at least six cars are quite a bit slower than the rest and for sure it could be a problem and one or the other will suffer. It will happen in qualifying that you probably don’t get your lap time. These guys are trying their best as well, so you have to respect that, but if you’re five seconds quicker then it’s very difficult to estimate at the start of the lap if you will be fine or not. Here, I think it’s quite OK because you can see quite a lot, but if you go to Singapore or Monaco where half of the circuit is blind anyway then it’s very difficult. We’ve had problems in the past with traffic, it will be quite a mess but that’s life, I guess.
RK: Yeah, I’ve had similar problems to Sebastian. They are there, for sure they are not having an easy time to keep the car on the track, so that’s how it is. They are there and from our side we can only try and get some more space when they are in front of us, but it’s hard for them, it’s hard for us. That’s how it is.

Q: (Tomasz Richter – TV Nova) To you all, do you enjoy the new section of the track or would you prefer to go straight after turn three?
RK: Old one, probably, old section, so old track.
SV: I think that the biggest difficulty is that you have a different level of grip as well, which makes the delta quite high. If you look at the asphalt of the new circuit compared to the new track it’s quite different. That doesn’t make life easy, it’s actually very slow, very bumpy, so I also prefer the old track.
HK: I don’t know the reasons for the change – I don’t know if there is a good reason. I thought the old one was good but for me, if we drove to the centre and back, I don’t really have a preference.
LdeG: I preferred the old one. I raced here in GP2 and it’s quite a fast part of the track which is now a very slow section and very bumpy, so I preferred the old one.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat ) Sebastian, how difficult is it to decide which compound to use for Q3 at this circuit?
SV: Well, I think the biggest unknown is how the racing will look on Sunday. Obviously the temperature should help all of us but I think it will nevertheless be something new. Either it will be total excitement for the spectators, a mess for us in the car, because some drivers will struggle more with tyres, some less, or it will be boring and the cars will just follow each other because they’re stuck behind each other and they can’t do much, so I think we have to see. In qualifying, first of all we need to see what we have done today compared to the others. Then tomorrow morning – the latest at lunchtime, more or less, you have to decide what you want to do in qualifying. I think first of all you have to manage to get into Q3. It looks tight, so it won’t be easy. There is a strong midfield as well, so if you are talking of the top teams, you have a very, very strong midfield and they could easily ruin your day. I don’t know yet. If you ask me now, I have no clue. I also think it makes it more difficult, as I said, because we don’t know how the race will unfold. We will see.

Q: Nico, your ex-partner Nico Rosberg set fastest lap in his first race for Williams, so do you expect the same this year?
NH: No, I don’t expect the same. I hope for a good points’ finish but as Sebastian mentioned, we are still a bit left in the dark as to who is where, even today. There are big differences in lap times, and obviously big differences in fuel loads, so we will have to wait and see where we end up but I hope for a good points result.

Q: (Cezary Gutowski – Przeglad Sportowy) For the Renault-engined guys: there is some noise about getting engines up to parity. Do you think your engines are that under-performing? Do you think you really need more horsepower?
SV: I think an engine here, an engine there. Obviously engine regulations are frozen and yes, last year we didn’t have the easiest time, especially myself. We had some engine failures. Nevertheless, I think we did a very good job recovering. Reliability was fine after we fixed the problem and we did not have to change an engine, so we did not have to take a penalty. I think, last year, everyone had more or less the same opinion that the Mercedes engine was probably a bit ahead of the rest and as I said, the regulations are frozen, so what can you do? I think we don’t have anything to fear, no weakness from that side, so for sure, as I said, a little bit maybe, but it’s very difficult to measure as well. The cars are different. If you look at our top speed compared to the Renault top speed, it’s totally different because the car is a different car, different concept, different amount of drag on the straight, so you can’t really compare just from the speeds.
RK: If the regulations were the same I might have some sort of feeling because I switched from another engine supplier to Renault but we are running much heavier this year, so it’s difficult to compare. I think we just need to wait. Actually, in the past Renault has always been very good with their consumption. I think a lot of people improved that so we maybe still have a bit of an advantage but not as big as it was in the past, for sure. Horsepower is always welcome, more power is always welcome.

Q: (Oliver Knaack – Berliner Zeitung) Sebastian, you missed more than 30 minutes of this last practice, can you describe the exact failure of the brakes, what happened at the front or rear and what was the problem?
SV: Maybe some of you, between the practice and the press conference were able to have a coffee. I was not. I just got out of my suit and had a short de-brief and came here so I don’t know the reason yet for the failure we had, so we need to see. It’s always difficult. You don’t really analyse within the session because you just make sure you change (the damaged part) as quickly as possible and use the amount of time you have left. It was on the front, the front left. I think you could see that from the TV.

Q: (Tomasz Richter – TV Nova) Nico, we could see some black smoke from the front tyres; do you expect some brake issues regarding the heavier cars and are they the same brake specification as last year?
NH: It shouldn’t be a problem but Bahrain is always quite heavy on brakes. I’m sure every team is aware of that. We take that into consideration but it’s just brake dust. If you have big braking from 300kph down to 60 kph, there’s just a lot of smoke but right now I’m not too worried about that.

Jenson BUTTON: The same as all of us I think, and that is getting out there. It has been a few months since we actually raced for three of us here, so getting out there and racing, that’s what we all love. Testing is part of the job but racing is the bit what we really enjoy. I am looking forward to getting out there. It is such a competitive season, it looks like. It is possibly one of the most exciting seasons we have seen in Formula One, so just being a part of that is very special.

Q: Lewis, what are you most looking forward to?

Lewis HAMILTON: Just getting on the track. Testing was good fun but obviously we did not have as much testing as we have had in the past and the more time in the car the more fun we have. Just looking forward to it all kicking off and to see where everyone else sits.

Q: Felipe?

Felipe MASSA: Well, to get back to racing after eight months. It is a long time. I am looking forward to getting back to racing, to starting in a good direction after as Lewis said not many tests. But it is nice to be back racing.

Q: Michael, after an even longer absence what are you looking forward to? And welcome back.

Michael SCHUMACHER: Thank you. The green light or the red light going off.

Q: The green light or rather when the red goes off?

MS: Yes.

FM: You are very motivated. You are already in the overalls.

MS: Exactly.

Q: Fernando?

Fernando ALONSO: The same as everybody. Just starting the competition, the racing. Testing is okay but it is just preparation for the race itself, so looking forward to Sunday.

Q: Who has walked around the circuit? Any of you? Michael, what are your thoughts on the new section of the circuit? It is all probably fairly new to you.

MS: The first part looks quite exciting. The later part a little less exciting, but then you have to drive it and feel it in reality.

Q: Has anyone else been around the circuit to have a look at it? Jenson, been around the circuit?

JB: No, we are going out this afternoon.

Q: Lewis?

LH: The same.

Q: Jenson, a new team. What are the greatest changes and challenges for you?

JB: I think moving teams. I was with my previous team for seven years, so moving teams can be tricky. It is a completely new environment, it is a real challenge and most of us do not really like change, but it has been good. Even after sort of two months I really feel part of the team. We have not even gone racing yet and I feel a big part of the team. I have always worked very hard to make myself fit into a team reasonably well but the team have been great. They are so hungry for a good season. Last year for them was not the best and it has made them hungry for success this year. It has been good and having the simulator there has helped me a lot to get used to the environment of being in this car. I spent a lot of time at the factory, not just with the engineers, just spending time at the factory, so I am part of the furniture there. Testing has gone well as well. It is important to really use every second or every minute you are with the team as it comes around very quickly. We have Friday and Saturday morning before qualifying but it is not a lot of time, so you have got to be ready for when you arrive here in Bahrain.

Q: Having number one and being World Champion on the car. How motivating is that or is it even restrictive?

JB: I can’t see it as restrictive in any way. You should look at it in a positive way. Stepping into the car and seeing the number one on it is a very special feeling, especially here in Bahrain at the first race. Just before I put on my helmet and I look at the car and see the No 1 it is going to be an emotional moment but as soon as you step into the car and close your visor last season is out the window and you are purely focussed on this year.

Q: You won here last year. Is it a good circuit for you?

JB: I like it. It is a fun circuit to drive and it is a place you can overtake which is great. The new section is pretty slow. There are nine new corners on the circuit and most of them are slow now, so it is tricky and I look forward to getting out there and seeing what we make of it as it is difficult walking around it and trying to understand it. The simulator is useful but still in reality it is nice to get out there and feel it in the car. I hope it does make overtaking better but I am not sure if that is going to be the case. I think it could possibly make the racing more exciting as it is very tricky, so I look forward to getting out on the circuit tomorrow morning.

Q: Lewis, the man next to you is the reigning World Champion. How does that change things for you? Is that extra motivation?

LH: I don’t think it makes a huge difference. Jenson has been welcomed into the team and he seems to be doing a great job, very productive, enthusiastic and he has really brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the team. I can only see it as a positive. On my side, for me, just from coming from not so good a year last year but to finish on quite a high I feel just as determined as ever if not more.

Q: Which of the rule changes has been the most challenging as far as you are concerned?

LH: Probably just being a little bit heavier. Otherwise it has been pretty straight forward. Just trying to understand the tyres a little bit and understand the approach to the long stints being a little bit different to last year on lighter fuel but otherwise it is pretty straight forward. I am sure this weekend will be a challenge for everyone but we are all in the same boat.

Q: You finished second here in 2007, the first time you came here.

LH: That seems like a long time ago. We had a good car back then. The last two years things haven’t been particularly special but hopefully this weekend will be a new start for us and hopefully a positive for me and Jenson.

Q: Felipe, a big welcome back to you. What is it like to return, to be back in the car and back at a race meeting again?

FM: It is just nice to be back in business. That is my job for many years. I have lost a bit of races and just nice to be back. I feel really happy and a lot of motivation to get back to the job.

Q: You are a former winner here, but also in the past you have had some slow parts to the season. Is that something you are conscious of and determined to change?

FM: I think it is something that we understood in the past that the first race is important to finish, important to score points. Even in the last years we always had some problems in the car to finish the race. That I hope doesn’t happen. I hope we can finish most of the races in good points as we know at the end of the season it is always important to be there on a good amount of points. Many people say at the beginning of the season what is important is the reliability. Reliability is always important. It is important to finish the race. We did a lot of kilometres in the winter test which helps when you have a good car to start the season.

Q: Michael, what’s it like to be back at a race meeting when you are a driver and fully involved after an absence of three years?

MS: Well, naturally it is a bit more intense. From the morning to the evening with lots more details than you want and naturally you have to pay attention.

Q: How much are you still team building? People have spoken how you built a team at Ferrari. What is happening at Mercedes now?

MS: I think it is difficult to say right now what is going to be the development. Naturally you have to adapt, you have to evolve developing into the team. It is probably the thing that you will find some potential, you still can improve, to understand how at certain moments the team will work, why it will work, how you can combine the two things. But so far I have to say that the guys are good guys. It is good harmony, particularly due to knowing the boss quite well and he knows me too. It makes things a lot easier, a lot smoother, but otherwise I am sure there is some potential we will have to develop.

Q: You are a two-time winner here. What are your feelings about this circuit?

MS: Making it three.

Q: Fernando is a two-time winner as well, aren’t you?

FA: Yes, three also.

Q: But Fernando, again new team, new challenges. What are the major challenges? What are the major changes?

FA: As Jenson said I think every time you change team you need to adapt yourself a little bit to the new people, the new philosophy of working, of preparing the season. It has been a great time so far. I have been very comfortable with the team from day one to now, so I think we arrive at the first race with a good preparation and ready for the fight.

Q: Ferrari have been said to be one of the two top teams. Is that the way you see it?

FA: Not really. We are not comparing too much the times in winter or making many predictions for these first races. We have just been concentrating on our programme to try to be as prepared a possible for the first race. I think the four teams – Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari – any of the four teams can be a favourite for this race and for the first part of the championship with, I am sure, some teams also like Sauber and Force India, they will have a very good race as well. I think we will do our best. We are well prepared for this start of the season but we want to be World Champions in November, not in March. We will do our best but the goal is to win the championship and we know this is not easy at all and we need to work very hard for 10 months, so it is only the start.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Thomas Richtr – TV Nova) For all the drivers. If it was up to you and not working groups or the FIA, would you choose this year’s regulation regarding the refuelling ban and heavy cars at the start or last year’s regulation when it was a sprint from pit stop to pit stop?

FA: I am happy with any decision. It is just a new challenge for all of us. For the engineers, teams, drivers it is change in Formula One, so any change is normally welcome as it offers you the possibility of discovering some new area of our sport. I am happy with the change but I was happy last year. We will see. We need to give some time to the new regulations to see how the races are. If we see more overtaking, if not? Maybe the races are very spectacular or maybe the races are very boring. We need to wait and see a few races to see if the new regulations are working or not.

MS: Last year… yeah, for the simple fact it leaves more scope for strategy. Naturally, as a race driver you want to drive the fastest car and if you have full tanks to half full tanks it naturally makes a big difference.

FM: I think the regulations have to be good for everybody: for the drivers, for the teams but also a lot for the guys who are watching the race. It’s very difficult to say which ones (regulations) I prefer, the new ones or the ones from last year. We haven’t yet done a single race, it’s very early to say which one I prefer, but I think if it’s good to everybody – for the moment I don’t think anybody is against the regulations, so if it’s good for everybody, it should be no problem to change. It’s also a new challenge for everybody, as Fernando says, so we just need to focus on every new point and try to do the best.

LH: I think it’s a new challenge in the sport for all of us and the key is that we’re moving forward, so I’m excited to see how it works and I’m sure we will do everything we can, collectively, to put on a good show.

JB: I think everything’s been said. I think turn one’s going to be pretty interesting with that much fuel – going down to turn one. I think we forget about qualifying as well. Qualifying is different to last year: we will be running on low tanks all the way through, which is great. I think we will have more of an understanding after qualifying than the last couple of seasons with the cars on low fuel. But I think the differences from qualifying to the races will be bigger than we’ve seen before. Some cars will be very good on light fuel, maybe not so good on 150/160 kilos of fuel, so it’s going to be interesting to see.

Q: (Jonathan Legard – BBC Sport) Michael, do you remember how you felt coming into the sport for the first time, up against champions who you had watched, the likes of Senna and Prost and so on? With your record and reputation, you’re very much the man to beat; is it going to be everyone else’s aim to attack you and challenge you on the track?

MS: Yes. Basically when I arrived, I wasn’t that full of confidence to be on the same playing field but being with them the first time, I noticed that I could be (competitive) and I do feel pretty much the same now. There’s no reason why somebody should not feel in the position to fight me because all those guys who will be on the grid on Sunday have good reasons to be there because they’re highly talented. I have the greatest respect for each of them; for me, each one is a big competitor that I have to look at.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Michael, you always said you don’t like understeer in your cars, and this year, due to the weight of the car, the tyres, the nature of the cars, you have understeer. Do you think that because of that we may not see the best of you?

MS: I think it varies very much from car to car, it’s a characteristic which is given to a car. Sometimes, you’re right, it may be given by the tyres, then it’s up to you and your team to get the balance that you want, because in the past, don’t forget a car suited me because I like oversteer, I like a neutral car, the fastest car, whatever that is!

Q: (James Allen – Financial Times) Fernando, you’ve talked about settling in; do you think you’re ready to win? And what do you think of Michael coming back?

FA: Yes, I think I’m ready to win. Every time you arrive at the first race of the championship you’ve been preparing yourself all winter for this moment, so I’ve been waiting very long to be here at Ferrari as well, many years of preparation for this moment, so now I feel ready to fight and hopefully we’re in a position to do that. To have Michael here, OK – it was a surprise for sure when he came back but as I said many times, it’s a very good thing for all of us, for all the drivers, for our sport and that can only help Formula One and because we are part of Formula One, all the drivers, it also helps us, so I am very happy that he’s here and hopefully we can have good fights.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Question to Jenson and Lewis: just been watching the dynamic between you two guys while the other three have been answering questions at the front. You’ve been having a good laugh and a joke, sharing comments etc. Is that a good indicator of the friendship/relationship you two have already developed over the past few weeks together?

JB: It’s all for show! Exactly what we were told to do by Steve (press officer Steve Cooper).

LH: I agree. We’re focusing on a potential move to acting in the future!

JB: And no one’s asking us any questions, so…

Q: (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) I have a question for you, Jenson. How do you feel about defending your title this season against Fernando in the Ferrari, Michael back at Mercedes, Lewis in the same equipment as you will have? Do you feel you will need a dominant start again this weekend?

JB: Yes, I think every championship, for any champion, I think it’s important to be quick out of the blocks. If you look back, normally the guy that really fights for the championship and gets the championship is strong from the word ‘go’, so yes, I think it is important for all of us to be up there at the front here in Bahrain. The competition is very fierce, I must say, but that’s why it is exciting. For a fan of Formula One, this season should be electric, it really should be. If it’s not, we’re doing something seriously wrong. It’s obviously great to have Felipe back after his horrific accident last year. Great to have Michael back because it makes me feel young again! Looking at this race, I don’t think there have been so many competitive drivers in competitive cars for a long time, so it’s great to see.

Q: (Jacques Deschenaux – GP Guide) To all of you, will the new distribution of points with 25 for the first, 18 to the second, change your approach and maybe your strategy for the race?

MS: You still want to score the 25, so that’s the main strategy. It’s certainly a little bit fairer, I think, in a way that if you have somebody who wins most of the races, naturally you will most likely say that he is going to be the champion by the end of the year, rather than somebody there just sitting, waiting and taking second and third places and suddenly being World Champion. I don’t think that makes much sense, as it has been in past years. Actually I think I was the reason why it was implemented, the small gaps, because I was winning so much and nobody could find a way to stop that. I think it’s absolutely correct, the way it is now.

FM: I think it’s correct as well. I think the winner, the victory is always more important than anything, so if you win, maybe to have a little bit more points is always better. So I’m with Michael.

LH: Well, what they said was right. It’s another challenge, it’s a small change to the results. As Felipe said, when you win the race it should be rewarded perhaps a little bit more than the guys who come in second and third. I think it will be interesting to see how it pans out. I’ve not really thought about it too much to be honest.

JB: I think we need to see how it goes. It’s the same as before. You still want to go out and win as many races as you can. Obviously when you’re fighting for a championship – I know how that feels now – it’s about being consistent as well. When you’re fighting for a win, it’s very difficult to hold back and think ‘I’ll come in second and pick up the points.’ We all want to win races and that’s what we’re here to do.

FA: I agree.

Q: (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS) Fernando, in the past you have said Michael is the best driver in history. Now, Michael is back, do you believe the same? And a question for Michael: who could be your biggest rival this year?

FA: Yes, if I said that, it’s because I really think that. If you see the World Championships that Michael has it’s something that is impossible to repeat and part of the history in our sport, as I said. Looking at the numbers, Grand Prix wins, pole positions, championships etc, I think we all agree that Michael is the best ever, so I’m happy that he’s here and as I said, hopefully winning a championship or winning a Grand Prix with Michael on the track has more value, so we will try.

MS: At my age, I keep forgetting things if they are too long away, so what was the question?

Basically, I think there are the four main teams that you’re looking at and in all those cars – so you’re talking about a potential eight drivers, seven around me that I have to look out for. Four of them are sitting here right now and there are three more that aren’t here right now. It’s very tough to mention which is the one, but it doesn’t matter who it is, because you’re focused on the one that it is.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) To all of you apart from Michael Schumacher: you were saying, Fernando, that winning a race ahead of Michael Schumacher would bring more importance. Don’t you think that if Michael starts to win too much, it’s going to be very bad for all of you in the end and for the sport too?

FM: Well, for sure we need to work very hard not to let him win too much. Every team wants to win but it’s the best for the sport to have the best drivers on the track, the best teams fighting on the track and I think that’s always great for the sport. Anyway, everybody wants to win, everybody wants to keep winning all the time. But it’s a big competition, so I think it will be very difficult as we saw in the tests, to see a single car winning every race. But anyway, you never know. The race starts now and we need to wait and see.

LH: We have to wait and see, we have to wait and see.

JB: Yeah. I think you’ve answered it yourself.

FA: I agree!

Q: Jarno, a strong end to what has clearly been a difficult day for the Toyota team and for you personally to have to rebound after your team-mate’s accident.
Jarno TRULLI: Well, obviously the first thing I did was to ask about Timo’s (Glock) condition. They told me he was okay. They were obviously upset about the crash. I don’t know what happened. We will find out later. It was a crazy session but the car has been performing pretty well from the beginning and for this I have to thank the team and my mechanics. They are always doing a very good job with my car and they give me chance to fight for the top again. I knew it would be really hard as I saw straight away that they were very quick. It was all about keeping concentration and getting it right at the right time. That was the best I could pull out of the car and for tomorrow my only concern is tyre degradation as we have seen this morning that tyre degradation is very, very high. As well the start as, unfortunately, we are not known as a good starter. I just hope we can have a good start in my race.

Q: Lewis, your first visit to Suzuka. You were not expecting with the car you have got to be in the top three. How did you get here?
Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly for Suzuka I have dreamt of coming here for many years, so very happy to be here. We have been received very well. The Japanese people have treated us like kings. The track is very special and for any youngster out there who has played it on a computer game or anything it is just as special as you can possibly imagine. We did not expect to be as competitive as we were today. Yesterday was not a good day as it was wet but this morning the car was terrible to drive. We had to make some serious changes but we only had one practice session, so we went into qualifying with all these changes hoping that they were the right step forward and they were. As Sebastian and Jarno commented on, the accidents that happened today, I was happy to see the drivers walk away. It just shows how good a job the FIA and the sport have done on safety. Obviously the medical team here have done a great job, so overall a good day.

Q: Sebastian, the Brawns are down in fifth and seventh on the grid. Is there a chance for you tomorrow to do something in the championship?
SV: Three races to go and quite a big gap, so every race has to be a chance if we still want to keep our chances alive. All we can do is race. We came here to race and we want to win, so I think we are in the best position for tomorrow’s race. The best starting position, so we will see. It is a long race and tough as Jarno mentioned on the tyres. Also I think really tough for the drivers. You have to keep the concentration up especially in the esses. It is pretty amazing how quick…. I think there are physics and some rules but still how quick you can go with the car and how much grip you can produce it is just fantastic. In qualifying when the car is empty it is great. You wish to carry on another lap but to come back we will see tomorrow. It is a long race, but I think we have a very good chance but also looking for the championship.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Sebastian, how was the whole session for you? Was it difficult to concentrate?
SV: I think all of us spent quite a lot of time in the garage sitting there and waiting. What I said also in the press conference (unilateral) was that the first thing, the most important message, is that all the drivers are okay. Three of the drivers went off at turn nine. It is pretty tricky when you get a little bit too wide. Your car is sitting on the kerb and then you cannot really control anymore. By the time you can, it is too late and there is not a lot of run-off. For Timo it looked like he had a problem with the steering and couldn’t steer the car anymore more to the right. It looked pretty scary, so fortunately he is okay. That is all we know. Other than that, sitting quite a long time in the garage waiting to get out again. Obviously with the red flag in Q3 it is quite confusing. It can help you or hurt you, similar to last week regarding the fuel loads. This time I think we were on the good side. Overall obviously happy.

Q: How expected was this pole? Did you expect to be competitive here?
SV: Yes, we expected to be competitive but no, we did not know how competitive. Looking at Q1 it is so tight. This year is up and down and we have seen different cars at the top and then back in the midfield again and the other way around, so therefore we could not really expect to be on pole. We expected to be strong and luckily we were right. Being fastest in Q1, Q2 and Q3, only one run each, was pretty straightforward, pretty good. Shame for Mark. He didn’t really crash hard in the morning, same place at turn nine but had a problem with the car, so they couldn’t fix it and missed the session. Otherwise I think he would have been on top as well as the car seemed to work very well. I was very happy, especially the first sector. It was functioning very well and it was a pleasure every time, especially on low fuel, going up the esses. It is fantastic. It is only my second time here after 2006, so it is a lot of fun. I like this track.

Q: How important was it to come here in 2006? Has that given you a little extra edge after yesterday being wet?
SV: Well, I know at least where to go. To be honest back in 2006 it was wet and when I started I was quite lucky or quite happy to have traction control as I was a little bit lost in the beginning. I didn’t know where to go next. It took a couple of laps. This wasn’t a problem this year. Yesterday it started with the wet conditions. Today, therefore, it was the first time really in the dry. But, of course, knowing a little bit where to go is important. I did a little bit also before the race, before the flyaways, in the simulator back in Milton Keynes, so if any it is only helping.

Q: Jarno, you seem to have been quick all weekend. How important has it been for Toyota to be right up at the front here?
JT: Well, obviously it our home grand prix, so we have got all the supporters. The Japanese support for myself and for Toyota. We were here confident after a strong performance from Time in Singapore that we could achieve a good result. So we are on the path. Qualifying did not look too bad even though it was really hard to keep up with these guys and I really had to pull everything out of myself and the car to be in the top three. It wasn’t easy but I love this track and have always been very strong and competitive. I am happy. Tomorrow’s race is different. My only concern is the start as we have never had a good start here and the tyre condition as we have seen this morning that the tyres suffer quite a lot of degradation.

Q: It is actually your best qualifying position here. I think your previous best was fourth.
JT: Yeah, I wasn’t very lucky in the past. I remember once I was fighting for pole and it started raining when it was my time to go out.

Q: You are the most experienced of the three drivers up here at Suzuka. Tell us about the track conditions and the fact that half of the circuit has been resurfaced and half hasn’t. And the fact that there was rain all last night, so you come in today with the circuit basically green.
JT: To be honest we found quite a good grip straight away, especially on the new tarmac. The old tarmac is looking pretty good and in general it is a very challenging circuit with medium and high speed corners. It is one of the most challenging circuits we can find around the world and it is always a pleasure for most of the drivers to come here and enjoy it. Obviously, it is such a big challenge and so tight we have seen today in qualifying you cannot make a mistake as the run-off area here is quite small compared to new circuits.

Q: Lewis, you said the car was bad this morning. Why was it so bad? What was it doing that you didn’t like?
LH: Everything. No, it was just that clearly we did not have much time to prepare. Everyone was in the same boat but I think we missed the mark in terms of the balance of the car by quite a long way. In the wet it was not bad at all, but in P3 attacking the esses it was impossible really for me to extract the most from the car, so the difference between me and the fastest cars was almost a second in the first sector. I just wasn’t able to commit. But we made some good changes to the car and going into qualifying we really had to make some serious changes. It was kind of ‘hopefully this will work’ and it did, so we are very happy to be third on the grid. Considering there is a long, long run down to turn one and our KERS is working better than ever, so fingers crossed it will put us in a good position.

Q: How much was your concentration affected by the accidents and red flags?
LH: It wasn’t a problem. Clearly when you watch the TV, watch the monitors and see your fellow colleagues coming off and having accidents you worry for them but fortunately they’re all safe, they all walked away. Even Heikki (Kovalainen) had an off. When I came in, straight away I wanted to know if he was OK and fortunately he reported back to the team that he was fine. Clearly the safety in these cars is improving and we’ve done a great job, but I also think the medical team here did a great job, it looked like they’re operating really well, so that’s comforting.

Q: And are those really the two black spots, turn nine and coming out of the chicane? I wouldn’t have thought the latter was. Are those the two difficult spots?
LH: No, coming out of the last corner is not a… it looks like (Glock suffered) a fault, to be honest, at least to my eyes, from the car (on-board camera). Going through turn eight and turn nine, mainly turn eight, it’s such a high speed corner, and it’s a little bit bumpy on the way in. This is a very, very special track, it’s got a really great combination of corners, and I wouldn’t say there’s one particular spot that’s worse than others. The first sector is all a seriously high speed roller coaster and the moment you just push a little bit over the edge or you turn in a meter or a foot later or something you can have the oversteer moment, and there’s not a lot of room to correct it at that high speed. But regardless, it’s still the best track, I think. I don’t know how you guys think. (They all nod).

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Marco Evangelisti – Corriere dello Sport) Sebastian, given the position that you achieved today, how much do you regret the penalty that you got in Singapore, even taking into account that (Jenson) Button and (Rubens) Barrichello can be penalised today because they achieved their time in Q2 under yellow flags?
SV: I think in Singapore we were quick. It already started a little bit on Saturday, obviously, when Rubens went off there was a red flag and you couldn’t continue from there onwards, otherwise maybe we would have put the car on pole, you never know. You never know how good my time might have been in comparison to what other people would have done on their second runs, so it’s all unknown. We obviously had a very good chance to at least finish second; in the end, we didn’t, so I hope that I’m not lacking three points at the end. That’s all.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) How difficult was it to save a fresh set of tyres, because there were so many red flags and presumably you were on a fresh set and had to abort a run?
SV: You obviously make your run plan, you have a rough idea of when to go out, when you want to go out and how many laps you want to do: one timed, two timed, three timed or whatever. Therefore you are either lucky or unlucky. I think in Q2 and Q3 I was lucky because I could come in and abort what was basically the out lap, so I wasn’t yet on a flying lap. But it’s obviously no longer a new set but it’s not that badly worn, especially as the first sector is very demanding for the tyres. You don’t know if there will be another yellow or red flag, it’s out of your hands, so I think it’s pure luck.
JT: It was a bit unlucky for me, as it was for probably many other drivers because in Q2 I had to abort the first attempt. Then I used the same set and I qualified with that lap because eventually I put on a new set at the end and in the middle of my flying lap I had to abort it again because of yellow flags. In the end, we didn’t save much.
LH: As they said, it’s tough and it affects your run plan but at the end of the day you’ve got to get out and do the job and so if anything it makes it more exciting.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Do you change your approach to the curves, knowing that there are no run-off areas and if you leave the track you will hit at an unnecessarily high speed?
JT: You mean do you drive slightly carefully? No. You never know where the barriers are. You look at the track and only when you go off and you’re going to hit the barriers and then you realise that they are close or not but until then, no, you don’t really think about it. If you start thinking about that it’s probably better to stop.
SV: They say that you are going where your eyes are looking, so, as Jarno says, if you start looking at the barriers I think you will soon have an appointment (with them). Obviously here, in the first sector, we know that there’s no run-off but still you have to attack, especially in qualifying. It’s about one lap, so you have to find the maximum. I think it’s a little bit different still if you have to take some corners and you are on a new track and you know that there is gravel (run-off), maybe you start to come off the limit a little bit more carefully whereas when there is tarmac and a huge run-off you have a rough idea of how quickly you can go, how quickly you can go with the car, with the tyres, with the fuel etc. and then you just do it. So with gravel traps or when the barriers are closer you have a little bit more respect to start with but in the end you should keep your eyes on the circuit.

Q: (Takeharu Kusuda – Book People Atlas) Well done, Sebastian, even with three red flags, you did five laps in Q1, five laps in Q2, four laps in Q3; only 14 laps and you got pole. Tell us about your key to success to get pole at Suzuka Circuit, and tell us your impressions about the new Suzuka circuit?
SV: We didn’t do a lot of runs, so we had one run in Q1, one run in Q2 and one in Q3. Obviously it depended a little bit on when the red flag came out, so, as I said before, we were a little bit lucky with that. Yeah, apart from that, the car was functioning really well. First qualifying on low fuel we made it pretty comfortably with the prime tyres, so I was very happy and second qualifying as well, obviously with quite a big gap to the cars behind. I was pretty happy about that. I was able to put everything into the one or two laps that I had. And in Q3 it was a little bit more difficult because you’re back on fuel and to be honest, the Q3 run was probably the worst out of the three but still it was enough. It’s difficult, you go back on fuel and the car is a little bit more lazy, especially in the esses, you can’t be that aggressive. Yeah, I think we’ve already mentioned this fantastic circuit, especially the first sector with the esses, uphill – it’s beautiful. If someone tries to make a beautiful circuit or tries to build one, it would never be like that. It’s totally natural and I think it’s made for Formula One cars, because as I said in the unilateral, it’s amazing to see how much speed you can go there, it’s all fourth, fifth gear, it’s really high speed. You maybe have one of these corners on another circuit or two if you’re lucky. Here you have five, six, seven in a row to start with and then a couple more: Spoon Curve is also very tricky with off-camber, falling away, and the exit is very tricky. It’s a great place and I think we have a bit more space this year compared to three years ago. The paddock used to be quite small – but it was still working, everyone got the job done but it’s more Formula One and more comfortable if you have a bit more room, especially for the guys in the garage, the mechanics, if they have room to put all their stuff. I think it’s a very, very good circuit and as I said, it’s made for Formula One. On top of that, I think the Japanese fans are special. On Thursday, I think we had more spectators here than at some other occasions, so it’s fantastic, the people are very enthusiastic, passionate about race and I think it’s fantastic.

Q: (Silvia Arias – Fox Sports) Concerning the run-off areas, do you three expect any changes next year?
SV: Well, I think first of all the FIA is trying to do their best and I think with the layout of the circuit, sometimes you have a forest or hill in your way which is not that easy to move. It’s not all flat, it’s up and down and therefore it’s limited for the future. Maybe in the places that we’ve seen (accidents happen) today, if there is a possibility it would be good to do something, especially after turn eight which, as Lewis said, is quite a high speed corner, then you go down to turn nine, there is not a lot of run-off. On the other hand, I was there on Thursday when I did the track walk and it’s going down at nearly ninety degrees because there’s the karting track on the other side, so it would be quite an effort to increase the run-off there. I think people are trying their best, we can always improve, that’s for sure.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Lewis, you said that the curve where most accidents took place wasn’t really special but four drivers went off at that exact point, so could you three describe to us how this curve is and what is special about it?
LH: I said it’s special. No, I said it is special, it is a very high speed corner. It’s very exciting and it’s one of the high speed corners on the circuit. There isn’t a huge amount of run-off. Like everywhere there’s not a lot of room for error and if you run just a little bit wide you’re in trouble, as you saw today with a couple of drivers. They ran just a little bit wide and you get on the astro-turf and you can’t stop the car, you’re pretty much in trouble. So finding the limit there and getting to the maximum and stepping over the limit is such a fine line. In some corners there’s probably more margin for error while in others there is even less margin for error. I think that just there, there’s probably one of the least smallest margins.

Q: Do we read into the driver situation that both drivers are free to negotiate their own deals elsewhere if they want to?
JH: I think the market is very fluid. I think we have tried to be fair to the drivers to say that we may not have seats for them and therefore I think it is fair and transparent to do that. We remain in contact with both of them, particularly Timo (Glock). But I do feel there will be movements in the driver market, some movements even that people aren’t speculating about at the moment and therefore we want to be free to consider the best option for the team for next year. We think we will have a strong car and we want good results.

Q: Is (Robert) Kubica on that list?
JH: Yes, definitely we would be interested. I guess we are probably fighting with our friends here on the right (Renault). But we have to see what happens. Hopefully we can manage but if not then there are alternatives.

Q: Has Timo, after an excellent second place in Singapore, strengthened his case?
JH: I think you have to say yes, but on the other hand we would have liked to have seen that result more consistently. His race pace is outstanding. It always has been and sometimes in qualifying he has struggled and makes life extremely hard for himself. We still have a great affinity for Timo and we are still talking and he may well be in the car next year but it is too early to confirm our situation.

Q: Is he definitely going to be in the car tomorrow?
JH: Well, I hope so. He had a temperature of 39.1 this morning. It has dropped now and I hope he will be in the car tomorrow.

Q: It is not necessarily definite? He is still unwell?
JH: Yeah, we think based on the information we have tonight he should be in the car tomorrow. I don’t think he missed that much today to be honest, so I think it was best to keep him out of the wet and in good condition for tomorrow.

Q: Bob, new jobs. Tell us about how life has changed for you and how easy it has been to step into Flavio’s (Briatore) shoes?
Bob BELL: Well, first of all, no intention to step into his shoes. Housekeeping a few of his responsibilities over the coming months but I am no Flavio Briatore and I have no intention to be. It is extra work but it is not just extra work for me, it is extra work for a lot of people in the team. Some of the responsibilities are filtered down the chain. We are set up to deal with that and we are all getting on with it. It has been a bit of a baptism of fire, back to back races on top of other things, so not much time to think about it.

Q: Are you likely to remain team principal or is that not a job that you want to do on a permanent basis?
BB: Quite honestly, it is not a job I am considering whether I do long term or not at the minute. I think actually Renault are probably in the same position. We need to get through these next four races in good shape and do some restructuring in the team and sort out some major issues in good time for next year. I think once we have done that we will take stock of the situation and decide what is best for the team in the long term.

Q: How crucial has it been to lose (Fernando) Alonso for next year?
BB: Fernando has been such a huge part of our team for many years. It is sad to see him go but we wish him well. People move on at all levels of the sport and we have to deal with it and we will hopefully put together a good driver line-up for next year that will see us not suffer too badly for his departure.

Q: What do you think he is going to be like at Ferrari?
BB: I don’t honestly know. There is no doubting his driving abilities. I think he will get on alright there. I think they will accommodate him as an individual and I think he will do a fine job. I think it will work well there for him.

Q: Hiroshi, can I have a comment about the tyre philosophy of compounds? Having compounds one and two removed. How has that gone this year?
Hiroshi YASUKAWA: Actually, last year when we were using two specifications, that time between each specification gap everybody said it was too small. This time we have to provide just one specification. Anyhow if we are concerned about teams and ourselves, some teams we know very well and they know us very well. We thought it better to supply two specifications. Then this year we discussed with the FIA, and the FIA also said it is better to provide two different specifications. Then we supplied sometimes too big a gap. I think this is good as if just one team has a big gap and a different team has a small gap, this is a bit unfair. But our philosophy is that we are going to supply fair treatment, so then always even with different characteristics, different specifications, we are going to supply the same tyres for each team.

Q: Is it going to be the same next year and how is it going to work with the fact there is no refuelling, so the cars are going to be much heavier at the start?
HY: We are going to discuss with the FIA. The front tyre is going to be narrower and the wet tyre, the intermediate, is also going to have narrower front tyres.

Q: Coming back to this grand prix. How much homework have you had to do with the resurfacing here, given that people have already lost one practice day?
HY: Yeah, actually very interesting. But of course we cannot do any test. Fortunately we supply our tyres for Formula Nippon and GT cars and our engineer has quite a big experience especially here in Suzuka. We are going to transfer this knowledge to …. (becomes inaudible).

Q: Do you think it is going to be different? Are they quite different characteristics the two types of circuits?
HY: I don’t think so. We can manage.

Q: You have been official tyre supplier for quite some time. This is the second year of your current three-year agreement. How important is Formula One to Bridgestone?
HY: For us it is very, very important. You remember, before, we were not in Formula One. In this case now many people realise our company name. The Formula One impact is very strong. Each grand prix I understand, 188 countries broadcast the race. This impact is very strong and fortunately we have the rights for signage. This is great. Hopefully we can keep going.

Q: Christian, engine situation inevitably. We saw Sebastian (Vettel) doing quite a few laps today. But obviously it is not so tough on the engine. How many races has this current engine got to do?
Christian HORNER: The race engines are in reasonable shape. The race engine we will use this weekend had its first race in Monza. The race engine we used last weekend had its first race in Spa. We will alternate those engines in the remaining races. The test engines we have been a little bit more limited on, as obviously Sebastian is in to all eight of his engines. But with the help of Renault we have exceeded their target kilometres, especially in Singapore, by some margin to ensure that he is getting the mileage. Hopefully, it will continue as we have and the lack of mileage today because of the weather only helps us for Brazil, so hopefully without any issues we should be able to get through to the end of the year without a penalty.

Q: What is the situation about your engines in the future? When are you going to make a decision on that?
CH: Well, inevitably the design team are fairly enthusiastic to know what they are supposed to be designing their gearbox and chassis around. Adrian (Newey) does not have a habit of releasing chassis early. But, inevitably, we are getting to a point where we do need to make a decision, so in the next few weeks we will have to hone in on a final position.

Q: It is a few weeks, not days?
CH: It depends who you speak to. But Ross Brawn did it in December which demonstrates where there is a will there is a way. But it is not ideal, so ideally we would like to come up with a final solution in the near future.

Q: What as team principal are your views of the World Championship at the moment? Has it completely gone as far as Red Bull is concerned? Mathematically it is still possible.
CH: I mean we have got a mountain to climb and the odds are stacked against us being able to win either the Constructors’ or the Drivers’ but we are in both championships. Sebastian is still in contention for the drivers’ and the constructors’ is still doable. We need a fair bit of good fortune to achieve that but to be honest we are not focussed on the championships. We are thinking about the individual races. We will do our best at each of the remaining three races, try and win all three of them, and the championships will take care of themselves. Kimi (Räikkönen) a couple of years ago came from quite a way behind.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Chris Lines – Associated Press) John, regarding your comments about Kubica. How are you able to know how much you can spend on a driver until you get a final okay from Toyota regarding your budget for next season?
JH: It is fairly easy. To me the budget is going to be roughly this size and you can reduce other areas. It is fairly simple. If you buy a cheaper driver, you can deploy that in other areas. I think a very simple equation for us.

Q: (Chris Lines – Associated Press) You have a rough idea then? It is not something that is going to vary wildly from what it is this year?
JH: No, I mean I guess less than this year but still a very significant and substantial budget.

Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motor Sport News) Question for Bob and John. It seems at the moment that Robert Kubica is either going to go to Renault or Toyota if the rumours are correct. Between the two of you who do you think has got the best chance of signing him?
BB: I think I will say we have and John will say he has, so I think we will let history determine that one.
JH: I mean we wait and see. I think we have an even chance.

Q: (Ralf Bach – R & B) Two questions for Mr Howett. First I read that you are also in touch with Kimi Räikkönen?
JH: Not with Kimi, but with his management, yes.

Q: (Ralf Bach – R & B) Second question. What is the illness of Timo. Is it Kobayashi fever?
JH: I just won’t answer. It is a stupid question and it doesn’t deserve an answer.

Q: Hiroshi, Saturday and Sunday will be different weather from Friday. What is important about the tyre strategy for Saturday and Sunday?
HY: Always the track conditions are changing. When you are coming to the race track this race track surface is normally very rough, but when cars are running and always put on some rubber the conditions get better. Then Friday, Saturday and Sunday it always improves and each time set-up is going to change and you should find a good set-up for good performance for the tyres.

Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motor Sport News) Christian, the GP3 teams were announced last night and you’re going to go into business with Mark (Webber) in a GP3 team. Can you just tell us how that’s going to work out? And also, since you moved over to Red Bull Racing from Arden, the team has never won a championship. Are you going to do anything more with Arden in GP2 and GP3 to ensure an improved level of success?
CH: Arden’s been very successful since I left on a fulltime basis five years ago. They’ve won races every year, they have the capacity to take on more activities, GP3 being an obvious one, supporting grands prix at ten events, unfortunately on a Pirelli tyre – I don’t know what happened there! Mark has been looking at other bits and pieces and he was keen to get involved in something. Arden have the capacity to do it and therefore it made sense. He was keen to put something back into the sport to support young drivers, to set an example, work with them, young Australian drivers in particular. I think it’s a good initiative that he’s got involved in, to be putting something back into the sport, trying to help youngsters come through. There’s a good management structure at Arden, my time is fully focussed on Red Bull Racing but I’ve got no doubt that they’ll do very well.

Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) To all of you, may I ask your opinion on Ross Brawn’s success as team principal? Is it a surprise for you and do you think he’s the man who made the former Honda team into a winning one?
CH: I think it’s thoroughly depressing, the success that he’s had this year! It would have been far better if they had never made the first race! But no, in all seriousness, they have obviously done a very good job, they’ve turned up with a good car, they’ve inherited a good engine and their drivers have done a very good job. It’s been a great season for them and we’re going to make it as difficult as possible for them in the remaining three races.
HY: They are doing a fantastic job, it’s great, but racing is very difficult. It requires much know-how and many things happen. I respect their results.
BB: They’ve done an incredible job considering where they were a year ago – all credit to them. I think it’s a great thing for the sport as well, that surprises like that still occur. I think that’s great for everybody.
JH: I think the results speak for themselves, it’s indisputable and full credit to them.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) To all of you: we all want Formula One to gain an audience but when it’s raining drivers don’t run. It’s quite strange, it doesn’t happen in other sports. Are you quite ashamed of what happened today? They paid 200 Euros for their seats and they didn’t see any cars.
JH: Wimbledon gets rained off quite frequently.
CH: I think one of the things it would be nice to address for next year and maybe Hiroshi can help us on this is that we are a bit limited on wet tyres, so we’re saving them up for the rest of the weekend, because there’s a good chance that there’s a bit of rain tomorrow. If Hiroshi’s a bit more generous with his tyres then you might see a bit more of us on the track on a wet Friday.
HY: It’s a big problem. Our budget is also limited, so we have to strike a balance. Anyhow, our responsibility is that we have to supply equal treatment for everybody. And also, our position is very, very tough. Actually, our main business is selling our tyres for cars but if the car business is very bad, in this case we are not selling which means that we cannot make any profit. Nowadays our board members are very tough on me. I have been doing this business a very long time, so I understand the balance required, so at some stage we need to find a good compromise.
JH: I think on a serious note, it’s a very valid point. It’s something that all the teams are acutely aware of, that we have to increase the value which we deliver to the public at races and all stakeholders. So given more time, through FOTA we can try to address some of these issues and ensure that we deliver solid value and good value particularly to the fans and public.
BB: I agree with John. If we can run and put on a show for the spectators and we can do it safely then we should do and quite rightly so. I’m sure Hiroshi would love to see us running as well, but he’s got real budget issues too. Equally, I’m sure a compromise can be found that will deal with this issue in the future but it does need to be dealt with.

Q: (Ken Kawakita – La Vie Creative) John, can we have a little more detailed update about Timo’s condition? Is it possible he has ‘flu A’ which is spreading widely through Japan?
JH: At the moment the doctor doesn’t think that’s the case, so he’s obviously had quite heavy anti-biotic treatment today and he seems to be responding well. At the moment his fever’s dropping and we feel confident he can probably drive tomorrow. I think the doctor has to wait and see. Obviously he’s had some worry about that. Jarno (Trulli) was actually quite sick on Monday, after the race. He wasn’t too good during the race weekend and I think some of the teams’ technicians have got various colds and fevers. I think quite a few people have suffered throughout the teams. Timo’s definitely rough.

Q: (Ken Kawakita – La Vie Creative) So that means there is still a slim chance for Kamui (Kobayashi) to continue driving for the whole weekend?
JH: I think it’s unlikely, to be honest, because I think Timo’s really determined to drive tomorrow but there is a risk if he’s not in good enough condition then there’s a possibility that Kamui will be in the car but I expect Timo to be here tomorrow and driving the car.

Q: (Chris Lines – Associated Press) Bob, in the past couple of weeks you’ve lost Flavio, Pat (Symonds) and now Fernando. You mentioned earlier that there have to be some major decisions at the end of the season. Should we have any worries about the future of Renault in Formula One, as a team and as an engine supplier?
BB: Well, I’m not worried, if you can read anything into that. I think that for me the most important thing is that Renault are still here, despite the crisis we’ve just been through. It’s been an extremely deep and difficult crisis, not just for the team but for the parent organisation and the fact that Renault have stood by us throughout all of this I think speaks volumes for their commitment, both to the team and to Formula One because their commitments to motor sport, even beyond Formula One, are very broad and long-standing, so it’s not a matter that they take lightly, but they have stood by us and I think that answers the question for you.

Q: (James Allen – Financial Times) To all of you: are we likely to see some testing re-introduced next year?
CH: I think it’s something that’s obviously being discussed within FOTA. We’ve got this young driver test at the end of this year and theoretically when the race drivers step out of the car in Abu Dhabi, the next time they will be in a car is at the beginning of February. I think they get approximately seven days each before the first race. That’s all the testing for the year. The most important thing is that the restrictions in budget and reductions in budget that we achieved this year were significant through reducing testing and I think that what we have to look at responsibly is that if we were to introduce any testing, that it doesn’t necessitate teams needing to build up the resource of re-employing test teams. At the moment, we manage to do the mileage that we do with our race team on a rotational basis but it’s something that for sure will be discussed and debated.
JH: I think we’re in exactly the same position as Christian. I think we’d like to do it but there are some challenges. I think it’s being studied very hard and also the issue of trying to bring young drivers is another challenge associated with the reduction of testing and both those two are major issues which we think need to be resolved, but there are challenges, particularly next year.
BB: I think one of the biggest problems is the young driver problem. I think that’s very real. I think that if we can find a way of introducing some testing that doesn’t involve us spending significantly more money, that it can be done at marginal cost with the existing resources, then it’s something we should consider. But it does have to be under those conditions.
HY: We have to be concerned about our budget as well. If we are spending too much money and if we have more testing then we have to prepare extra tyres and also manpower and logistics as well. We have to be concerned about these issues.

Q: To the three team personnel: the current engine regulations are eight engines per driver, and penalties if you use more. Do you think this rule should be tightened or do you think the teams should press for eight? Should the engine builders try for longer life engines?
JH: I think the proposal from the FOTA teams was to supply five engines per driver per race season, to achieve a lower price to support the smaller teams. But the current regulation is eight engines and honestly, because you do get a reduction in performance from the engine over mileage or kilometres, I think most people will probably be forced to go the route of supplying eight. I think it’s a challenge for teams and the engine engineers. We are competing and if that’s the regulation, our job is to deliver the best possible engine within the parameters that we’re allowed to work in. There is a cost for the smaller teams to actually have a very reliable cheap powertrain.
BB: Any initiative that attempts to sensibly take money out of the sport is worthwhile but it has to be introduced and managed correctly. Given enough notice we can do most of these things, we can make engines live that long or even longer. Let’s just do it in sensible time frames.
CH: All I would say is that when I entered into Formula One five years ago the engine bill was your biggest overhead. Now, it’s well down the list, the reduction in cost of engines over the last few years, the commitment that the manufacturers have committed to and in combination with the regulations has really quite dramatically reduced the engine costs for an independent team. I think that’s extremely commendable and it’s made the engines available at an affordable rate with parity to your supply team.

Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motorsport News) For Bob, John and Christian: Nelson Piquet, as a racing driver, is saying that he obviously wants to find a way back into Formula One at some point in the future. Now regardless of who made what decision and how it all came about, would any of you give him a seat, given what’s happened, and could you see anybody giving him a seat in the future?
JH: That’s a question for Bob, I guess.
BB: I’m not sure I’ll be giving him a seat and that’s really all I can say.
JH: I think on his performance, to be honest, disregarding the issue, I probably would not give him a drive and I would probably be further influenced in that decision by what took place.
CH: I think John has summed it up. I don’t think we would have any interest at Red Bull Racing.

Q: Have you had a look around to see what changes have been made?
AS: Yeah, I had a circuit walk today. It is not too much of a difference. Just the first sector. I think the first two or three corners are different. A new surface and a little bit safer in the run-off areas, but I think everything else looks quite similar.

Q: Some people are saying Force India will be once again suited to this circuit, but I would have thought it is still quite a high downforce circuit, isn’t it?
AS: It is high downforce, but also you need a really good engine which is what we have with the Mercedes. There are also two very long straights, so you need some kind of top speed. I would say it is not comparable with Spa, it is more downforce definitely, but I would say a mix of Spa and Silverstone, so it should suit us much better than the last one.

Q: So you are quite optimistic?
AS: Yes:

Q: Kazuki, tell us about the pressure of racing at home. I think you have had quite a busy lead up already to this grand prix.
Kazuki NAKAJIMA: Well, actually it is not as busy as last year which was quite nice. I managed to have some time off yesterday and I managed to go back to my home as it was on the way from Tokyo to here. There is a pressure, but this is only the second time for me and the first time to be in Suzuka, so I never know what is going to happen. Last year I really enjoyed the Japanese Grand Prix and I didn’t really have too much pressure, so hopefully it is the same for this year. As it is my first time to drive Suzuka with an F1 car I just feel quite excited. Hopefully the weather will be good but it doesn’t look like that at the moment.

Q: It doesn’t look good at the moment. Is that local knowledge?
KN: I haven’t got any special forecast with me. We will see.

Q: How much racing have you done here in other categories?
KN: I have done quite a lot with F3 or like GT but it is the first time since 2005, so it is a long time and I will have to dig into my brain to get it back.

Q: What are your thoughts on your future in terms of F1?
KN: At the moment there is nothing I can say really. I think it is the same for many drivers. I think the situation is really tricky at the moment and we will have to just wait and see. The results have not been there but I think my performance is certainly better than last year. There has been some good races, so I hope that I can do the same job next year.

Q: With Williams or with another team?
KN: No idea. If I could stay with Williams that would be the best but we will see.

Q: Nick, obviously a disappointing end to the grand prix in Singapore but Mario Theissen says there is quite a lot more to come from the car. Would you agree with that?
Nick HEIDFLD: That is what we hope. We don’t have another update here but we had a big package for Singapore. But our feeling is that our car is not the best mechanically and probably it was possible also to see that on the television pictures. We were jumping around quite a bit even though the track was newly resurfaced. Here it should be more of a normal track and we hope our aero package will suit it pretty well, but we will find out.

Q: It is very much a favourite track of yours?
NH: Yes, it has always been my favourite circuit. Last year actually it was Singapore and it is great now having two of my favourites circuits within a week.

Q: What is it about this circuit?
NH: I always find it pretty difficult to explain why you like a circuit and why you don’t like a circuit. You just drive it and get a special sensation. What is obvious here is that it is a relatively long circuit. Therefore you have a lot of different corners. The circuit has got a nice flow to it and especially the esses are special. Each lap you arrive there, you are looking forward to that. It is medium speed – definitely more than 200kph – and it is just a great feeling if you get them right.

Q: And if you get one of them wrong it puts you out for the rest presumably?
NH: Well, it is important to get the first one right as it will have a knock-on effect. But that is also part of the fun. It is very difficult to get it perfectly right, so sometimes you mess up the first corner a bit and then you have to get the rest as perfect as possible. Then you look at the split time and know if it worked out or not.

Q: How do you accept the engine penalties now that you have gone over the eight engines?
NH: Well, I am on my ninth engine now which hasn’t done a lot of kilometres in Singapore. Most likely I will use it here and in Brazil and then I will be allowed to use one of the older engines for Abu Dhabi, not before that, but that will not have a lot of mileage on as well. I changed engines at the last race and got a penalty but from now on I think I am in pretty good shape.

Q: Jenson, we had a quote from you during the week that you are not pushing to seal the title here. What is the policy?
Jenson BUTTON: First of all, good afternoon everyone. I am looking forward to the weekend. This is a circuit that I have enjoyed very much in the past. It is a very fast flowing circuit and I think every driver enjoys racing here. But I don’t come into this race thinking I am going to seal the title here. There are so many possibilities this weekend. There are still three people who can still challenge for the championship. I am one of them, and the most important thing for me to do is work as hard as I can on Friday and Saturday to get the car ready for qualifying and the race and have a good race, the same as all of these guys. I shouldn’t be thinking about anything else.

Q: Do you think you have got the qualifying problems sorted out? You had had a problem with the back end of the car.
JB: No, in Singapore it wasn’t that at all. It was my mistake but we tried a few different things to help the balance of the car in Q2 which was probably the wrong thing to do. We didn’t do two new tyre runs in Q2 which put quite a bit of pressure on the second run and I hit the brakes into turn seven and at about 280kph the front of the car hit the ground and I locked up. With two massive flat spots I couldn’t really do a good lap time. Coming here I am in very good shape. I am looking forward to the weekend. Last weekend was a very interesting race. I still have got a few bruises to show after the bumpiness of the circuit. But it was a good weekend. We came back from a very tough Saturday and had a good Sunday, so I was happy. This weekend the weather is looking interesting. I would rather if it was dry all weekend for sure, but it is what it is and we will make the best out of it. As far as I know it should be wet tomorrow and Saturday, and Sunday more likely dry than wet.

Q: The weather forecast according to Jenson Button.
JB: Yes, 27 degrees, few clouds in the sky and a slight headwind.

Q: Timo, are you optimistic when it comes to your future in F1? Obviously a great result last weekend, but all sorts of stories coming out about your future. Would you tell us the real situation?
Timo GLOCK: I think the stories after the race on Sunday were the funniest I’ve ever read on the Internet. And to be fired on Saturday after qualifying is just b***t and it’s not correct. The point is that we already had a couple of discussions a couple of weeks ago and we are open with Toyota, Toyota is open to me. We have the possibility to look around and that’s it really. There is nothing new, there were no discussions over the weekend about any contract situation or whatever. That’s the only thing that I can say. There are rumours going around and I think maybe for some it was a bit boring on Saturday and they had to find a story for Sunday or after the race on Sunday.

Q: Obviously a great result on Sunday, can you do it again here? How much pressure have you had from Toyota at their home race?
TG: The pressure is normal. I think you have the pressure at every race. Overall, I think we had a good performance in Singapore. Singapore is completely different to Suzuka, for sure, but the improvements that we had in Singapore were already on the positive side. This circuit should suit our car. Spa didn’t look too bad for us, and I think Suzuka should be in the right direction but we will see. The others are strong. I think Brawn and Red Bull will be strong here, McLaren as well and we will see what BMW can do. It will be tight but I hope we can just do a good race. It would be great for me to maybe have wet conditions, I like the wet quite a lot. We will see how it goes and I will just try to fight as hard as possible as I did in Singapore and then we will see the result.

Q: Obviously you were here in 2004 with Jordan; what other experience do you have of this circuit?
TG: I know it. It’s positive that I already know it in wet and dry conditions but that’s a couple of years ago and it’s been resurfaced since then, so we will see how it goes tomorrow. I hope there’s not another typhoon like in 2004, otherwise the rest should be fine.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Marco Degli’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) For all of you: are you envious of Fernando Alonso at the moment?
TG: Why?

Q: (Marco Degli’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) It was the most kept secret in Formula One but now it’s no longer a secret.
JB: I’m pretty happy actually where I’m sat right now. I’m good to go.
TG: There’s nothing to say. I think it was clear for everybody a couple of months ago, so now it’s just official.

Q: (Marco Degli’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) But are you envious of Fernando?
TG: No.
AS: I think it’s good for him but for me nothing has changed. I don’t care.
KN: Same for me.
NH: I think he’s one of the few guys who is in a team for next year where he can believe he might have a better chance to fight for the championship than in many other teams. Ferrari has always been one of the strongest teams in the last couple of years, and on top of that, even though I drive for BMW and I’m very happy there, Ferrari has a special name in the sport, so it must be a special thing. It’s not only for Italians like you, which is why you asked the question, but I think Ferrari is a great team.

Q: (Marc Surer – Sky Germany) Timo, you once said that you never know why you’re quick or why you’re slow with this car. You were so much faster than Jarno (Trulli) in the last race; do you know why – apart from your talent, of course?
TG: I was already quick in Singapore last year. I like street circuits. I don’t know if the ChampCar series in 2005 was experience for me which just made it easier in Singapore but overall I like the circuit, and I think you can make a difference as a driver in Singapore. Overall, it was a possibility for me, with my driving style, to set up the car very much more in my direction. Jarno took over the set-up on Saturday morning and it didn’t work for him, so I just like to drive on circuits like this. You can just go high risk, you can’t make any mistakes. That’s the reason why I was quick in Singapore. I like the circuit quite a lot, it’s good fun, and I think everything came together.

Q: (Jerome Bourret – L’Equipe) Jenson, you’re known as a pretty relaxed and cool guy, but how stressful has this season been? How do you deal with all these ups and downs? And was Singapore really a race for you or not?
JB: It has been a pretty hectic season, obviously with a fantastic start. Then there were a few races when the car wasn’t as good as we had hoped and then there were a couple of races where I didn’t really get the best out of the car. So yeah, the last two races have been good for me. I’ve been happy with my performance, I’ve been very happy with the team’s performance. It sounds silly but it is a bit of a rollercoaster when you’re fighting for a championship, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been fighting for a championship, so you do forget. But if it was easy we’d all be doing it. It’s part of the challenge, it’s a sport that is very emotional for me. I’ve always loved motor racing since I was very, very young and being in the position that I’m in, I’m certainly very privileged and very lucky to be fighting for a championship, so I will never forget that. And I also have some great people around me who keep me grounded and focussed. It’s obviously tough but it’s also very exciting and I wouldn’t change it for the world, for sure.

Q: Jenson, I understand that you’re not trying too hard to win the Japanese Grand Prix here on Sunday. For you, obviously, winning the championship is more important but remembering what happened in Brazil last year, Lewis Hamilton said finishing fifth was actually more difficult than winning some races. What’s your opinion there?
JB: I’ve never said that I don’t want to win this race, for sure. We go to every race to win it. I think you’re getting it confused with… for me the most important thing is to win the World Championship. It’s not when or where, that’s exactly what I said. For sure, I would love to win in Suzuka, it’s a circuit that I love. I’ve got a lot of connections with Japan from the past and from the present. So for sure I’m here to win this weekend and that’s my aim. So the second part of the question is irrelevant.

Q: (Marco Degli’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) I have a question for Adrian: if you can tell us something about your future. Maybe you are going to drive another Mercedes engine somewhere else?
AS: Well, right now I’ve got a real good offer, driving in a winning team… in GP2! I’m going to try to go there!

Q: (Ralf Bach -  R & B) Question to Nick and Adrian: did you speak about your accident in the last race or not?
NH: Yeah, I think the first time we spoke about it was when I came out of the stewards’ room. I asked him what went on. He explained. He said he was sorry and for me that was OK.
JB: That was a big fine!
AS: Yes, big enough.
NH: Just a big verbal fine, but nothing with the hands.
AS: I’ve explained it several times and I think there’s nothing more to say. We saw all the pictures and that’s it. We spoke to each other, twenty thousand is enough.
NH: I didn’t receive it yet.
AS: It’s not for you.

Q: What a lap it is here. It is bumpy, the drivers are complaining about how difficult the chicanes are. It is dusty on the last corner. Talk us through that lap.
LH: The lap was really very relaxed. Clearly I did not get to start my second lap but the car over the weekend has just got better and better as the evolution of the circuit has got a little bit grippier. Just slow improvements and feeling more comfortable in the car. The lap was really very relaxed and I think I was able to go faster. I was quite happy. Hopefully we will see what happens with the strategies but, obviously, I am in the best position to start from the front row.

Q: It looked like your out-lap was going to be quite a rush. What do you think your second run might have been?
LH: The out-lap was not that bad, actually. I had a 10 second window where I didn’t have to push that much, so I had a little bit of time in me. I was just about to start the lap but I think I had a couple of tenths, for sure. Who knows? Maybe it wouldn’t have made the lap, but fortunately it did.

Q: Sebastian, first time in the top three since Hungary. You were purple in sector one when the red light came out, so your take on perhaps what might have been.
Sebastian VETTEL: I don’t know. No-one of us can answer this question. For sure the first run was very important. Unfortunately, then the red flags came out. It was my second run on new tyres, before I was on used tyres, so it wasn’t easy. My lap was maybe not as relaxed as Lewis’s lap, but in the end of the day I think it is great to be back in qualifying. Especially on a street circuit where it is very important. It is so good to be back in the front. We will see with the weights now, but all weekend I think the car was very good. I was feeling very comfortable yesterday and this morning so it is a shame that the red flags came out, but, nevertheless, we kept pushing. We have brought some new stuff for here. It seems to work, so let’s see tomorrow. It is a very long race, 61 laps. It is quite warm in the car, so it will be tough but I think we have all that it takes, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Q: From the outside you really seemed to be enjoying yourself around here. I don’t know if you would agree with that. But there is one wall particularly where you seemed to be getting the award for being the nearest lap after lap. It looks fantastic from the outside.
SV: Yeah, I mean after the practice yesterday and even this morning the guys came to me and said ‘that was close on the wall’. I said ‘where’. There was not one moment. I think there were a couple of moments I had. I like this circuit. It is really great fun to drive here. The speeds are not very high, but it is a great challenge for all the drivers. I really enjoy it. It is bumpy. You have to really push hard and use every bit of the circuit, so it is fantastic and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Q: Nico, first time in the top three in qualifying since early 2006. And quickest in Q2. The fastest lap of the weekend probably. Even this morning someone was talking to you and saying where are you going to be and you said you’d be lucky to be top five, or hoping for top five, but not top three. But here you are third quickest.
Nico ROSBERG: Yes, it has been a really good day. We started the weekend and it was a bit difficult and we really – just all the engineers and the whole team together – we really worked well and made some big changes on the set-up and it improved the car a lot. That has really allowed us to be just quicker and quicker all the time. Even going into qualifying we were not so sure that we would even make it into Q3 as we were having some problems with the tyres and getting the soft tyres to work properly and things like that but then eventually, in Q2, it worked out really fantastically and I got a super lap in. Then Q3 with the heavier fuels it was a bit more difficult but still it was going very well and I think P3 was fantastic for us.

Q: It is extraordinary in this Formula One season how the fortunes change and one team is competitive one weekend and then another team comes along. Thinking back to how you were in Spa and here you are a completely different race car from your point of view.
NR; Yes, that’s the way it is. For Spa and Monza we all take completely different race cars in terms of aerodynamic package. It is just a completely different race car and now we have gone back to the car we used prior to those two races. We were finishing fifth and fourth with this car in every grand prix before that. The team has been pushing well on that and we have put a whole chunk of time into the package, so the car is even faster. Comparing to other people I think we have developed again very rapidly. It is really enjoyable at the moment and I am really pleased for the whole team that we have made another small step towards podium finishes and who knows maybe we can even fight for a win very soon.

Q: Lewis, give us your thoughts of Singapore in general. What is a night race going to be like for you – the heat, the demands of this circuit, the bumps?
LH: Singapore is a fantastic place. It is a beautiful city. The people here have been so welcoming and are treating people so well. The reception I have had here has been phenomenal, so I am very appreciative of all the fans. I think they have put on an even better show here this weekend. A lot more people here. I think they have tried to improve the track. They have tried to make it a little bit less bumpy. It is not as bad as last year, but it is still bumpy. But I don’t see that as such a problem. That gives it a bit of character. I think if it was too smooth, then it wouldn’t be any fun. I thoroughly enjoy driving it and I am very happy for today. Hopefully this can go in to tomorrow and we will get a good result.

Q: I have just got to finish by saying what a difference two weeks make. One minute you are in the wall at Monza and now you are on the pole in Singapore.
LH: I said I would be back to try and redeem myself, so hopefully this is the first step.

Q: Lewis, three poles in four races. But yesterday you weren’t so happy and yet overnight all sorts of changes. Presumably not just to the handling of the car but the whole car as well?
LH: Yeah, I wasn’t actually feeling particularly great yesterday. In the car I wasn’t particularly happy with the balance of the car. I was struggling a little bit. It was quite bumpy and the car wasn’t riding so well and I wasn’t so comfortable in the car. But as always I tried to remain optimistic and we did some work overnight. The guys also had a lot of work to do overnight. They did a great job and we made the right steps with the set-up for this morning and through P3 and also just bit by bit improving the driving. It slowly all came together and each time I was out on the track we seemed to improve a little bit more. It is the same for everyone. I think throughout the weekend probably our last few laps are potentially the most comfortable, so I am very happy.

Q: It must be remarkable having changed so much and made the car better but also changed the chassis as well. As you say the guys were working until 10 o’clock this morning but to then get into the car and be fastest that session.
LH: Yeah, there is never a doubt in my mind that I can get in the car and drive and be the quickest. You really have to try and balance the car as well as possible and you can easily go down the wrong route and be stuck driving a car which you are not comfortable with and don’t have the confidence to push in corners. It is very easy to get into that position but with great help and work from the team and myself we managed to put it together. We definitely didn’t expect to be on pole position today but the pace we showed was good through P3 and Q1 and Q2. In Q2, I think, the pace of Nico was quite impressive, so we will have to wait and see what strategy everyone is on but I feel quite comfortable with what we have.

Q: Obviously you finished here last year but what are 61 laps around here like with the heat and everything else?
LH: It is a nice Sunday night drive. It is obviously quite hot here, so it is intense still. You do sweat as much as you probably do anywhere else but the track is lovely. But, obviously, being a street circuit it is very easy to put a foot wrong, so concentration is vital here.

Q: Sebastian, were you expecting to do as well as you have done with the front row of the grid? Were you expecting that before you came here?
SV: Maybe not before I came here, but I think after yesterday’s practice it looked very good. We had quite a good car initially, a good start, and we were able to improve it bit by bit. It is good to be back. Qualifying is obviously very important. It is a shame in Q3 that we did not get the last run on new tyres but it shows how important every single lap can be. Tomorrow is a long race and we will see. The car behaves well and the team back in England is pushing very hard. I arrived on Thursday but on Tuesday this week I was in England to see all of them there. They are all wishing me good luck and obviously we put on a couple of new parts which all work. Put it together and we are back in the front, so it is good. It is very nice.

Q: You are still the only driver to have got all the way through to Q3 in every single race.
SV: That is not the most important. It would be much nicer to be in Jenson’s (Button) position right now in terms of the championship ranking, not today. We will see tomorrow. It is a long race and as I say qualifying is very important, so it is good to be consistent and good to be always in the top 10 but you don’t score any points on Saturday. You have to finish the race.

Q: You must be optimistic looking at the positions of your championship rivals on the grid.
SV: As I said on Thursday, there’s obviously quite a big gap. For sure, we’re not giving up, we’re here to attack and this is what we do, so let’s see. Anything is still possible. You can see how quickly it goes up and down, just looking at which team is sometimes at the front and how quickly you can be at the back again. Force India was very quick in the last two races; now they’re struggling a little bit again. Williams wasn’t very competitive in the last two races; now they are back again. It’s quite a mess in a way, compared to the years before, compared to what I was used to when I grew up and watched Formula One when it was pretty boring most of the time. We will see. There’s still a long way to go – four races – so we will do all we can.

Q: Nico, second last year here on this circuit and now third on the grid, this must be becoming a favourite track.
NR: It is a pretty cool track. It’s very difficult. There are a lot of corners, very different corners, it’s a very difficult track but I enjoy it. I enjoy coming here to Singapore also. It’s a really great city, really cool. I had a great time last year and I think I’m looking forward to an even stronger race this year.

Q: Is it a relief to be back at the sharp end again?
NR: Relief? Yeah, a little bit. I knew that we would be coming back with this aerodynamic package which is back to the one we had in Valencia, Hungary when we were always in the top four or five in the five races before that. So I was very confident that we could be up there – not this far up. I didn’t expect to be quickest in the second part of qualifying, but the team has worked really well on the package in the meantime. Whilst we were struggling in Monza and Spa, I think they have been putting a lot of effort into this one and I think, again, in terms of development we just develop quicker than other teams which is very impressive and it’s really nice to see.

Q: You called your Q2 lap ‘a super lap’; what constitutes ‘a super lap’ around here?
NR: I guess it’s getting all the corners together because it’s such a long track and it’s difficult to get all the corners right and I did them the way I wanted them to. The car also felt good. It was difficult with the tyres around here. The tyres would sometimes go away by the time you got to the last sector or they wouldn’t quite be there at the start of the lap, so it wasn’t quite so clear with the soft tyres but on that lap they worked very well, so I just got it all together.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you said before that you were starting to redeem yourself after the crash at Monza. What did you mean by that?
LH: I didn’t mean too much by it, just that I was very hard on myself after the last race which was well-deserved. Rather than turn up here and say it was just a mistake, I felt that I would like to lift myself back up, lift the team back up and in a way show an apology to the team by getting a good result and so that’s why I’m quite happy with today. It’s not always possible but obviously we got pole position and when you do get that you can say thanks to the team, that was for you.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Nico, in Q2 you did a 41.1s in the second sector which was 0.3s faster than anybody else and also much faster than on any other lap you did. What was so special about this lap and this sector?
LH: He cut the chicane!
NR: No, I just really got it together. Before that there was always a little mistake here and there and I just didn’t get the best out of it, and on that lap I just completely nailed every corner out there and it was just fantastic and I guess that’s how it came together. I was not quite so happy with the last sector, because Sebastian was again 0.3s quicker in that part although at the end of the session when the track was better… I was struggling a little bit more in the last sector but I don’t know, it just all came together really well.

Q: (Sudhir Chandran – Chequered Flag) Lewis, how important is this pole in Singapore? You seem particularly pleased with yourself after this result.
LH: I’m always happy with a pole position. We’ve had a very, very tough year and even though we’ve got updates on the car, we’re still not clearly the fastest and always right at the front easily. We’re still pushing and pushing as hard as we can, so when you finally get another pole position it’s a great feeling. It’s the perfect position to start from for the race weekend. We really didn’t expect it, so it’s always a surprise, it’s always a real pleasure and it’s great. Like I said, it’s a good boost for all the team. And what a great place here; I would love to win in Singapore. It is a great place. The second night race here, so I would love to win, but we will have to wait and see tomorrow. We’re going to have to push very, very hard. It’s going to be a tough race, for sure, with these guys.

Q: (Ralf Bach – R&B) Lewis, if I look at the time difference between you and your team-mate, it seems that you have two totally different strategies. Is that the case?
LH: I don’t know what Heikki is on if I’m honest. Sometimes we know exactly what we’re on. Rather than say what we’re doing in Q3 and just knowing that we’re going to be in Q3, I would rather just get through Q1 and Q2 first and then when I got to Q3 I found out what lap I was going to… I didn’t ask what Heikki was going to do. Usually we’re quite close. I spoke to him afterwards. I don’t know if he got the lap out but I don’t think there is going to be a huge difference.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, would a safety car situation like last year help you onto the podium or would it be a disadvantage in tomorrow’s race?
NR: I think it would be a disadvantage, for sure, because I can definitely get a podium without a safety car and you never know what’s going to happen with a safety car. So I would say it’s a disadvantage, for sure.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you’re the reigning World Champion. How do you see the Button situation because it looks like the car is there, and everybody was expecting him to be fighting for the pole position but he’s pretty far behind. Do you think he’s suffering some pressure, he’s afraid of winning and he’s finding the situation particularly tough?
LH: Firstly, I wish I was up there, being able to compete with these guys for the World Championship. It’s great to be up here but what I would give to be able to take this car back to earlier on this season, to at least have a fair battle with these guys but that’s all in the past, we look forward. But what I can say about Jenson? You can’t forget that he won six races. He has dominated for quite a lot of the season and Brawn have dominated for quite a lot of the season. It is intense. Everyone is pushing, everyone is making steps forward, so the gap that they used to have is clearly much greater a while ago, but everyone’s closing the gap. The times between all us drivers, us teams, are getting closer and closer. I don’t know the answer as to what’s going on. I didn’t see what happened to them today, but I know that they are pushing as hard as they can and without a doubt, they clearly won the last race, so it’s not like that they don’t have the pace and they are losing it. It’s just one of those racing experiences.

Q: Another question to all of you. Can you give us a little feedback on how the session went and how the drivers have reacted to the changes to the circuit?
SM: It was quite okay. It was very dusty to start with. They spent a lot of time cleaning the track last year and they didn’t do that this year. That first session was ramping up quite a bit. I think in terms of lap time there have been three corners that have changed on the track. Out of those three corners we think it is possibly going to slow the lap time down by about two seconds. P1 last year we were in mid 46’s straight away and qualifying was 44.0, so this year it is about four seconds slower in the first session and maybe two-and-a-half seconds slower in P2 now, so it is definitely a slower track because of the lay-out changes. In terms of our programme everything went okay. We had some new aero parts on the car. A new front wing and rear wing and some diffuser modifications. All that checked out okay and we just did our homework for the race.
MT: Well, we have a big aero upgrade here and in order to bring that to the track we also had to do a new gearbox, a lower gearbox, which helps us to lower the engine cover at the rear end of the car. We had some problems today, both gearbox related. Both new parts but apparently with the new arrangement – and it can even happen with known parts – so Nick (Heidfeld) didn’t lose too much time in the morning. Robert (Kubica) lost 25 minutes in the afternoon. Apart from that it was okay. Performance, not happy yet, but it looks like the car is certainly better than before and I hope we can improve tomorrow.
NH: I would say it looked reasonable. We went through the planned programme. I think it is difficult to judge on the first day here like it was explained before with the dusty track the track really changes and it depends on the fuel load you are carrying, the tyres you are using and at which stage of the session. But all in all I think it looked quite okay. You can probably get an impression from the long runs and then kind of guess what people are doing normally during Fridays and then see where you are and I think that was not too bad. But having said that it will be incredibly tight again. From (Jenson) Button in fifth to Lewis (Hamilton) in ninth position, it is less than half-a-tenth and I think that says it all. I think if you have a situation like that in qualifying, if you lose less than half-a-tenth and this can happen at every corner or every kerb, then that costs you probably five places even if you have the same fuel load. I think it is very important. It is a driver’s track at the end of the day. It is probably not the most interesting in the calendar but during qualifying it will be all about commitment and to get the last half-tenth out of the car. I expect it to be incredibly tight and as Sam has pointed out, the track has changed quite a lot. I think in turn 10 the chicane is quite a tricky one. If you really misjudge it and get it wrong you definitely can ruin the chassis there. I think that is different to last year but all in all it is slower but not less challenging. I think the atmosphere is great and I think everybody will agree that it is probably the best pictures you can produce over a Formula One season.
SD: For us as you already know the situation is that we do not have any more upgrades by choice. We have to manage what we have. This is the situation that we have to face. Today for sure I cannot really add anything to the fact that in terms of the situation of the tyre degradation tomorrow the situation may be different as I think the track will be much better, no doubt. We had a couple of problems today, so we did not run as smoothly as we wanted but this is part of the game and let’s hope that we can fix everything for tomorrow.

Q: Sam, obviously engine plans are still up in the air. How close are you? When do you need to know which engine you are going to be running?
SM: From a technical point of view it is always best to know a long time in front. But we are still in the middle of that decision. That is all I can say as I don’t have any more information on that. As soon as I know, then I will start designing next year’s car around it.

Q: You would like to start already presumably?
SM: As I said with an engine decision you want to know as early as possible. I guess you could say that Brawn proved this year how late you can go, but I am sure they don’t want to plan to do that. It just shows what is possible if you have to.
SD: It is a decision that has to be taken very carefully, so just wait.

Q: Mario, you seem to have an engine but not necessarily an entry. What is the timescale? What has to happen for the Sauber team now?
MT: Well, apparently it is important now to get a solid entry, either number 13 or number 14. We are in the hands of the FIA more or less and we are working on that behind the scenes, but I do not have any confirmation today.

Q: When do you need to know by?
MT: The earlier the better, but for the time being we work towards next season in the same way as if the entry was there already.

Q: Norbert, a lot of people have been talking about your engines. They all seem to want them. What exactly is the capacity? How many teams can you handle?
NH: I think it depends on the final FIA decision to start with. It is still in the rules, it still says one customer team, but there is an exception already made. I think the final decision will be made sooner rather than later. Capacity-wise, due to the new regulations, due to the freeze, we are doing – including core builds, rebuilds – half of the number of engines we did for our own team two years ago. That is certainly going in the right direction. Capacity-wise it would be possible to supply three customer teams. But it is not certain that we are in a position to so, but capacity would not be a problem.

Q: Stefano, it has already been mentioned that one of your drivers, shall we say, is between a Spaniard and a Finn. What is the situation within the team?
SD: I think what I can say is repeat what our president said. In the last couple of days the situation has changed, so we will keep you updated as soon as we can say something. At the moment nothing to add on that.

Q: The Spaniard element of it seems to be the key to everybody else’s drivers.
SD: I have to focus on our problems to be honest. I do not know what the others will do when we have taken the decision.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Mario, can you confirm right now that Ferrari will be the engine supplier next year?
MT: We have been talking to Ferrari and we have got a very positive response from Ferrari but apparently the first thing that we need is a place on the grid.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) If you have a place then you will have a Ferrari engine?
MT: That would be our favourite option.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Question to all: Brawn GP were the fastest in the first session and then Red Bull were fastest in the second. Does it mean that it is going to be a Red Bull-Brawn GP fight like at the beginning of the season?
MT: No idea, let’s see tomorrow.
SD: We will see on Sunday. In my view we need to be pragmatic. I think that not only Red Bull and Brawn have done a step. I think McLaren have done a step. We must not forget that Force India did a big step in the last races. Williams has done a step. As Mario said everyone has done a step, so I think this race we need to be very careful but for sure it will be a tough race between the first teams.
NH: Well, we are certainly working on it that it is not a Brawn and Red Bull race here. We try to interfere but I am not sure if we can do it. I am quite convinced that not everybody in the top five was using the same amount of fuel, so things may change tomorrow. But of course they are strong and as Stefano pointed out other people have made steps as well and if you get your act together there may even be some surprises. I think there are probably five teams in a position, depending on the strategy, to fight for pole position which is very possible for Formula One.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Which are the five teams?
NH: I think it needs to be kept open until tomorrow but I think your opinion is not much different to mine. Whether it is four or six I don’t know, but it is a handful at least.

Q: (Peter Haab – Motorsport Aktuell) Can you give us some information on Felipe Massa’s progress?
SD: With pleasure. Felipe is recovering quite well. He has started a training programme in terms of fitness and again starting his preparation. The next step will be to start a programme on the simulator and then the programme will be to do some kart running. And as soon as these things are fine, then we will decide when to put him back in a proper racing car.

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) A question to all four of you: given that FOTA is all about unity and co-operation, given that some elements in this paddock would like nothing better than to divide and conquer, what do you guys think about Williams going against the grain and running KERS next year?
SM: One thing to be clear on: Williams have always said that we supported KERS, the concept of it, the ability to help Formula One with sustainability and the environment. We haven’t stopped the development of KERS and we never did do that, just like the other teams didn’t. I think at the moment we are discussing with FOTA the potential for an agreement not to run KERS next year. We are in the middle of that, in terms of days, so it would be wrong for us to come out and say that we are going to race KERS next year. In fact we never said that. In any statements, if you read carefully what we said was… at no point did we say we were going to race KERS, we just said we would continue developing it. I think if you ask most of the people who have KERS, they’re doing the same thing. So it’s quite different to say that we’re going against the grain of FOTA. We are in FOTA, we’ve only had one meeting in FOTA since we rejoined, so that is in the middle of process at the moment. I think it’s wrong to say that Williams are going against the grain of FOTA, especially at this time when we are talking to FOTA about exactly this point.

Q: (Tetsuo Tsugawa – Tetsu Enterprise) How much difference do you think there is between the Cosworth engine and the homologation engine? I believe they have still homologated their engine each year, but do you think they have some advantage?
NH: It’s difficult to say. Mario is the specialist.
MT: I have to say that I don’t know and probably none of us knows what they are doing with their original engine. Apparently, the engine was originally designed to (rev to) 20,000rpm plus. Now it’s 18,000. Apparently they have to retune the engine. I have no information where they are performance-wise and reliability-wise or durability-wise. So I just can’t answer the question now. We just have to see what happens when they are on the grid next year.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Mario, will you remain with Sauber next year or do you stay with BMW Motorsport?
MT: That is completely open and I will not deal with this question before the end of the season. We have put in a lot of effort to secure the future of the team and it would have been counter-productive if I had mixed it up with my own future. I’m not concerned about that and I can decide on that later on.

Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) To all of you: as we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the automotive industry is diving headlong into new and different forms of technology for power plants for cars and it seems inevitable that the direction we’re going is away from supplementing the internal combustion engine. Why shouldn’t Formula One in fact be a proving ground for this new engine technology? Wouldn’t it be a place to develop things very quickly?
SD: I think we shouldn’t forget that Formula One should be the pinnacle of motor sport, but in the actual context of the situation that we are facing, we need to make sure that the rules that are decided are well balanced, otherwise we run the risk of having expensive technology, not applicable for all the teams that want to run in Formula One. So for sure the future of the powertrain in 2013 has to be considered very carefully, because for sure, one important element to keep the constructors interested in the Formula One business is to make sure that what we are doing here has a relevance in the automotive industry. But once again, it’s a matter of compromise, it’s a matter of balance: the cost of bringing new technology within the framework of the regulations in Formula One versus the reality that we have to have a lot of teams on the grid and they have to be able to spend money on that.
NH: I think there are really very good plans for the new engine formula, but it takes time, obviously, and that’s why we currently have this engine freeze. But the next engine generation will certainly be very different. Having said that, we’ve got some experience with KERS and I think we are all very much pro-KERS but if you have a competition race and the KERS technique then that just costs a lot of money. The technical guys behind me, especially, would love to have that and I don’t know one technical guy who would not love to go in that direction, but the question is what can you afford and where do you put your money? I think we have to accept that the next engine generation will be something absolutely new and special, but having said that, the specific consumption of the current engine is an absolute world record. I just think sometimes we need to accept that if you need to feed seven hundred and fifty horses you need to give them more than if you need to feed 75 horses and that’s very simple but it’s reality. And I think if we have a total look at Formula One, what’s happening in terms of the environment, it’s still a very positive issue, all in all, but it’s a conflict: what money you can spend, and street cars sometimes require different technical developments to racing cars. KERS hybrid was probably an example but you cannot put it in the same way you are building it for Formula One into a street car. The principle is comparable and you certainly learn, you do learn and we learned and we couldn’t have made it without our people from production development, so all in all, it was a very good example indeed, but an expensive one as well.
MT: Yeah, I think I was one of the strongest campaigners for KERS and I still think it’s been a fantastic opportunity for Formula One and it might well be one in the future, to take the technological lead and to do something to spend our excellent resources on, something that makes sense, that is sensible for the future. On the other hand, we have had a lot of discussions on the effort that you have to put behind it and I’m now in the very different situation of a team that has to survive without a manufacturer next year and you certainly then see the other side. I think we should put in as much innovation as possible, as affordable. We should go for what is possible in Formula One but without losing any competitors. That’s the trade-off we have to make, so this is also why BMW has supported the FOTA decision not to run KERS next year.
SM: Pretty similar to the other guys, in terms of the trade-off of F1 development. Obviously we’re not an engine manufacturer but we do silly things with the engine manufacturers that we work with that trade off to road cars, but as Norbert said, there are very different objectives for road car development as opposed to Formula One. One example is to look at diesel technology, and that was all the rage five or six years ago and that swamped road cars but it’s not necessarily the right thing for Formula One. There are lots of examples like that.

Q: (Ralf Bach – R & B) When the engines were frozen two years ago, everybody thought it was maybe the right thing to do. When Renault was allowed last year to maybe make the engine a little bit better, I thought OK, maybe they were so far away from the competition that they should be allowed to do it. But now I don’t understand anything anymore. Do you think it’s Formula One when Mercedes is forced to reduce the power of the engine, because they maybe have the best engine? Is this Formula One for people and spectators anymore?
SD: First of all, no one has said that the Mercedes engine has to be re-tuned.
NH: If you read the (FIA) press release this is not the case. I think maybe you should go through it once more. It is written very conditionally but it doesn’t speak about Mercedes at all. It’s not a Mercedes issue. It is just a general issue.
SD: We can discuss if freezing everything in Formula One is correct or not but this is a decision that once again went in the direction of trying to reduce the cost of Formula One. I think that, as an engine manufacturer, we have done a lot in order to reduce the cost for customers, in order to make sure that we were able to come and be on the grid in Formula One and I think this is due to FOTA and to the effort that the manufacturers made altogether. Then, if this is correct or not, I would say that’s a question that is difficult to answer. The opposite answer can be that if that was not the case, if we were here with the things that we have on the grid, question mark; we don’t know. But on the other subject, I cannot really answer because it’s not the specific issue that was discussed in the FIA. There is an engine working group that will deal with the engine situation, that will be discussed and we will discuss it within the group as always and see what the situation is but nothing more than that.
MT: Even as an engine guy I have supported the homologation because almost everything that we have achieved in the past two or three years in terms of cost reduction came from the engine side, through homologation and the extension of engine life, so that was certainly a very important and positive step. As you said before, we had the discussion a year ago about the Renault engine. It was dealt with within the engine working group and we came to a conclusion between the engine manufacturers that if there was a situation like this again, it should be dealt with in the same away again, and we would see what the outcome was.

Q: Mark, do you still feel the championship is possible?
MW: The drivers’ championship is very difficult. I think Jenson has to get four or five points on us and it’s all over. I am coming here trying to get the best result for me and looking forward to Suzuka next week as well as we have got a few good tracks hopefully that we can get some good results at. But the championship is much more difficult now.

Q: Last year you had a gearbox problem. How do you feel about reliability this year? Is it a problem at this circuit, particularly with jumping over the kerbs?
MW: I hope that it will be better this year. We have shown this year that we have had a few engine problems but on the chassis side we have been pretty good, so touch wood we will be okay Sunday night and we can get a good chunk of points.

Q: Is it a circuit you feel is more suited to the car?
MW: No, I think we have seen already in Monaco and Valencia that they have not been probably our best circuits of the year compared to some others but it doesn’t mean we are going to be out the back massively. We are still going to be in the hunt but we won’t have an advantage. The stop-start nature of these tracks is something we will look to improve next year.

Q: Nico, Monza was a bit of a nightmare for you. First time I think you have been out of the points for quite some time. What are your feelings about this place?
NR: I mean both Spa and Monza were very difficult. At Spa we were lucky in the middle sector that we could be competitive, so that helped us in general, but we didn’t really deserve points there either. Then Monza was a complete disaster to be honest. I am looking forward to this one as it is back to the car with the aerodynamics that we had used in Valencia where we were running fifth and were very competitive in the race. They have worked on that a lot over the last couple of weeks and we have a good upgrade for this race. I am pretty confident that we are going to be up there again and really battling for some good points which is where I prefer to be obviously.

Q: You were second here last year. You were on the podium and hoping for the same again. Is that possible?
NR: I think the podium is possible this year for sure. We need to be a bit lucky to get there. I think in pure pace we can be in the top six or top five, but if we are a bit lucky we can finish in the top three which would be a great result again for us, similar to last year.

Q: Is it a bit of a frustration that you are knocking on the door of the podium all the time?
NR: A little bit but that’s not that important I guess. What counts is your championship position and we are in quite a good position at the moment being sixth. It is not going to be easy to hold on to that to the end of the year but I will do my best. A podium would be nice. It would be great to have one at least this year, maybe even two, we will see in the last few races. I am sure there will be one or two opportunities.

Q: Lewis, you have been saying that you come here with quite a different attitude to how you came here last year when you were in championship contention.
LH: I cannot really remember saying that. I arrive the same as always.

Q: The attitude was that you were slightly more cautious last year because you were in a championship battle.
LH: Obviously yes, we just wanted to get points last year but nonetheless we went out there to win the race. We started off second, very competitive, but I think with the safety car I got a bit of traffic during one of my stints and wasn’t able to get much better than third. But nonetheless we are generally quite competitive on street circuits. This weekend we do have an upgrade package and it sounds like everyone else has as well, so perhaps we will just be in the same position, who knows. We will have to see if our upgrade package works as good as we hope. But in terms of the race we want to win but I want to finish the race this time, so that’s the plan.

Q: Tell us a bit more about the upgrade. Is it the last one of the year?
LH: Yeah, I mean there is not really much point developing this car. There is not much more we can get from it. There is no real benefit really. We have got four races left which, of course, we want to be at the front competing for wins and challenging the top teams but I think it is wise that we focus and make sure we can compete for the full season next year and give ourselves a fair chance to compete with the faster teams.

Q: So the focus is on next year already?
LH: It will be after this and the next race for sure.

Q: Kimi, you have spoken about not having any more modifications on the Ferrari. What are your expectations for this race?
KR: I think we have a similar weekend than any other this year. It is very hard to say where we are before we even run. Circuits like Monaco and Valencia have been pretty okay for us, so maybe this is more like them. But I mean everybody seems to go forward and we have had no new parts since Hungary. All we have is small ones, but nothing major, but still we have been able to have good results, so hopefully it is the same here. Let’s wait and see for tomorrow and then we will have a much better idea.

Q: What did you take out of last year’s race? It wasn’t a good ending for you.
KR: No, it wasn’t. But that is what happens sometimes. It did not make much difference with my last year’s position. I think overall the car suited this track very well. Usually it is a different car and different tyres we should be okay here and it is a nice circuit. They have changed it a little bit, but we will see how it is.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) Nico, knowing what you now know about what happened here last year, do you consider yourself the rightful winner of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix?
NR: No, not really. It is way too far back now, so I wouldn’t really be in a position to say that, no.

Q: (Pablo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Mark, considering the ban to Flavio Briatore and he is your manager. Do you think he will be missed in Formula One?
MW: He will be missed or I will miss him?

Q: (Pablo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) If Formula One is going to miss a person like Briatore?
MW: Yes, for sure. He was a very good character for our sport and I think a lot of people agree with that but it doesn’t seem like he is going to be around again for a good while, so that is the way it is.

Q: (MC) Can I ask where does that leave you then?
MW: My life has changed massively. It has turned it upside down. You wouldn’t believe. Honestly I have had Flavio looking after me for 11 years. I have never looked at the contract after I signed it on that first day and there are not many people in this paddock you can do that with. He has been sensational for me. I won’t work with anyone else in the future if I can’t work with him.

Q: (Sarah Holt – BBC) Question for all drivers: after we had the Renault ruling this week, do you think that there are still some wider effects from the fall-out of the Renault scandal going into this race, or is it back to business for Formula One, anticipating the next one maybe?
MW: Well, I don’t think it’s ideal for our sport. We all love the sport and so we all strive very hard to get here. It was a dream for all of us to compete at the highest level, so when it’s not about… when I was growing up, the Sennas, the Prosts and those guys were people you aspired to and I’m sure whether it’s photographers or journalists or anyone you want to try and aspire to work at the top end of the sport. It’s a shame that you’re not always reporting about activities that you should be reporting about. There’s been a consistent trend over the last few years like that. I’m certainly running out of patience sticking up for the sport and I’m sure other people are as well.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To all drivers: Nelson Piquet crashed on purpose; do you think there is space for a driver like this in Formula One?
LH: I think it’s a difficult one. Obviously, at least for myself, I can never see myself being in that position and I’m sure it’s the same for the rest of us drivers here. I think yesterday someone said that I said he would be back in Formula One very soon. All I can say is that I wish him well, I was just trying to be positive for him because I know how tough it can be in tough situations and I’m sure he and his family don’t feel so great right now, so all I can do is send some positive energy and hope the best for them.
KR: He admitted it himself but I think it will be difficult for him to get back after that kind of thing. It’s not something I want to be involved in. If he comes back, it’s going to be good for him, if not maybe there is a reason for it.

Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) Lewis and Kimi, as the reigning and previous World Champions, do you not have an opinion on this race fixing scandal? Does it not outrage you, could you not fill us in on what you think about such a serious thing that has happened in your sport, particularly as you’re representatives as World Champions?
LH: It’s not our job, really, to comment on it. Our job is to focus on our race weekend and go out and try and put on a great show for everyone, that’s what we’re here to do.
KR: It’s not our team… Of course it’s not a nice thing but I don’t want to get involved in the whole situation. There’s nothing that I can change there. You say some things and then people write it sometimes wrongly and you end up suddenly being part of it in the wrong way. We try to work in our team. It’s not a nice thing for the sport but unfortunately some kind of scandal seems to happen every year. Hopefully it stops at some point and there’s more about racing.

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Since you’re out there risking your lives, would you feel comfortable to be racing close to another guy who you knew has done something on purpose? He put himself in danger but he could also put you in danger.
KR: Well, accidents can always happen, but I don’t think there are many people who want to have accidents on purpose. It’s a dangerous sport,