09-Nov-09: Toro Rosso Believe in Their Strong Line Up

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Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 9th November 2009.

I can’t work out whether Toro Rosso already confirmed their drivers, or if it has merely been suggested that the current pair will stay, but we now know for certain that is what’s going to happen for 2010. Team boss Franz Tost said: “I’m quite confident that from the middle of next year onwards we will have a good driver line-up, because then Alguersuari will know all the tracks, and Buemi is increasing his performance already. The last few races were quite good.” A glowing recommendation, indeed.

Elsewhere, Nico Rosberg is feeling pretty good about himself, and thinks that the season he has just completed really made him a more valuable driver. He said: “This season has been an important year for me, because I really saw it as a kind of stepping stone to have the chance to fight for race wins next year and even the championship.” He thanks Williams for their support, but he’s off.

That’s it for now, I’ll be back tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

FIA – Italian GP Press Conference

FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE – September 11, 2009

TEAM PRINCIPALS:
Ross BRAWN (Brawn GP),
Aldo COSTA (Ferrari),
Vijay MALLYA (Force India),
Franz TOST (Toro Rosso)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: The regulations this year seem to have been very difficult to interpret. How much do you understand about the regulations and looking forward to next year as well? Ross?
Ross BRAWN: If we knew the answer to that we would not be up and down as we are. I think what happens, particularly with a new set of regulations, is that you focus on one area of performance and that is the best average over the season. You pick a downforce level, you pick a drag level and you develop the car around that target. Sometimes when you move away to circuits like Spa or here where you move into a completely different wing regime, then different factors can become prominent. I think that is what’s happening. I think also the tyres, we are still not all understanding the tyres yet. I think that is adding to the challenge. These slick tyres we still don’t fully understand and why we get them to work at some tracks and not the other is something certainly we have to fix and we are working on solutions for next year but it may take a year or two before we fully understand how the slick tyres are working. But I do know that some of my colleagues, who have been quick at some races and slow at the others, are just as puzzled by the conundrum, so the one that unlocks it the earliest will be the one who has the advantages.

Q: Aldo, your feelings about that?
Aldo COSTA: On top of what Ross said everybody started with a brand new rule from the aerodynamic point of view. The development pace during the season is quite strong for everybody, so the results are also changing because you see cars that in a specific race use an upgraded package and that can make a big difference compared to other cars. This evolution of packages between the cars are making the results a bit more floating than usual.

Q: Vijay, your feelings about this? It has affected you very much in the last couple of races?
Vijay MALLYA: When we started the season I was told by my technical team that they were not clear about the diffuser. What I understand is that we designed the car with the possibility of having a diffuser should the rule get clarified, so we were able to introduce very quickly an interim diffuser in Bahrain and then develop upon it. We always planned to have a significant aero upgrade for Valencia which we introduced and then following on from there for Spa and for Monza and that seems to be working well for us. The car is quick and competitive but if we had started off with more clarity at the beginning of the year, maybe we would have done things differently, maybe not. But going forward into 2010 I hope that there will be clarity up front, so that everybody knows what they are doing and there won’t be many surprises.

Q: Franz?
Franz TOST: I think there are two main reasons. The first is the KERS system because teams that decided to run the KERS system had another philosophy how to design the car than teams not running the KERS system and this was a great influence for the aerodynamics. The second reason for me is the diffuser as this changed the design philosophy, especially the rear of the car. Then during the season some teams decided to stop running KERS which means you have to change the design of the car and all the teams decided to run with a double diffuser which means you also have to design completely the rear part of the car. As we cannot do any tests anymore we are coming to the race tracks and it is really difficult to set up the car in the correct way. Apart from this all the teams are very close together. If you make a small mistake setting up the car or if the driver makes a small mistake you can be three, four or five positions behind because in the past in qualifying there are five or six cars between one-tenth-of-a-second. I think this performance has never been as strong in Formula One as now.

Q: Ross, you have two winning drivers. Also a slight lack of performance over the last few races. How confident are you of improving that now?
RB: We did not have a good race in Spa but we won the one before that. They are both free to race. We feel that is what will take the team forward in a stronger way than having any team orders. They are both free to race and both free to try and win the championship. I think Jenson (Button) has had two races where it hasn’t worked for him. I think the last race he obviously had the incident and Valencia wasn’t great, but the previous races really the car was not working as well as we wanted, so I don’t think you can really lay those races at Jenson’s door. He has had a couple of average races and I think over the season if a guy has a couple of average races as well as all the good ones, he has had a fantastic season. I am pretty optimistic that he is going to have a strong run to the end of the season. The car seems okay here. I think you are quite right in saying that the time gap is quite narrow and I think there are other teams that have perhaps focussed on the race and others who focus more on making sure that they get through qualifying as strong as possible. I think until we get into qualifying we won’t really know the situation. We are reasonably happy with our car this weekend. It seems to be working okay and I see every reason why we should have a decent race here.

Q: It was interesting in Spa, particularly in qualifying, that Jenson seemed to be unhappy with the softer tyre whereas Rubens (Barrichello) seemed to be happy on the softer tyre?
RB: A little bit, yes. I don’t think Jenson found the balance as nice on that tyre. But when the tyres are so close – as these tyres are only one step apart – I think you often find that one driver will prefer one to the other. Today I would struggle to tell you which tyre we are going to race because the tyres seem pretty similar, so it may well be that one driver will prefer one tyre to another. But that is not unusual for one driver to prefer another tyre and probably on reflection we should have stuck with the prime tyre with Jenson throughout qualifying but we didn’t and he wasn’t comfortable.

Q: Aldo, how did Giancarlo (Fisichella) get on today?
AC: He had to learn quite a lot. Even if the formula is the same and the tyre is the same, two cars may have different behaviour. Two teams definitely have got different procedures, different systems on the car, so it was for him a very good learning day and we are quite pleased about what he did and we are looking forward to tomorrow to see the result.

Q: We heard recently that you have stopped development on the car. How much have you had new developments specifically for here?
AC: Yes, we are concentrating mainly on next year’s car. Obviously, you need a specific development for Monza and I have to say that there are other parts of the car which were already in the pipeline and landed already here in Monza for the first time. But from now on there will not be a lot of development on the car.

Q: Vijay, can I ask you about how things developed regarding the transfer of Giancarlo to Ferrari?
VM: Well, it’s pretty simple. Giancarlo came to me and said that it was the dream of every Italian to drive for Ferrari and he had this unique opportunity which would fulfil a lifelong ambition at the end of his career. I said ‘alright, if that’s what you want, and that’s what makes you happy, go,’ because I really honestly feel that if I stood in his way and waved a contract at him and said ‘no, I insist that you stay with us’ he might have been completely demotivated. So I had Tonio Liuzzi as our contracted reserve driver and he’s hungry, he’s motivated, wants to do the job, so I said ‘let’s give him a chance.’

Q: So what does Tonio have to do to stay in the team? Is he OK for the next five races…
VM: Absolutely, he’s OK for the next five races and maybe even beyond. He knows that he needs to perform as well. We’ve done all we can to produce a car that’s now getting competitive and as the driver, he also has to deliver his part of it and he knows that. This game is unpredictable in more ways than one and there aren’t any guarantees attached to either a car or a driver. But I think I would say that I’m quite happy and quite optimistic that the cars will go well and both drivers will do well.

Q: Franz, one thing that you’re having to do at the moment, I suspect, is build up your technical team and facilities because obviously you have to design and build the car next year. How is that going, what does it involve?
FT: It’s going quite well, I must say. We are building up the engineering team around our technical director Giorgio Ascanelli. We have a chief designer, Ben Butler, and so far they have already started on next year’s car. We are running the wind tunnel in England, at Bicester, and also our CFD department is increasing and so far are we are within our planned schedule.

Q: And in terms of drivers, are you thinking that you will keep those two for next year?
FT: In the end it’s the decision of Red Bull but it wouldn’t have made sense to bring both young drivers into the team if you didn’t continue with them for next year, because I must say that they have both improved their performances from race weekend to race weekend and I’m convinced that Red Bull and Toro Rosso can reap the fruits from the middle of next year onwards and especially in 2011 and we are happy with the drivers.

Q: One final question to you all: it’s been interesting that there have been some changes to the first and second chicanes. We saw one team still going over the kerbs; has there been a decision within your teams to kerb or not to kerb, for example in those first two chicanes, and what are your feelings about them?
RB: We weren’t aware of the kerb change until we got here. We’d actually done quite a lot of work on configuring the car on the basis of last year’s kerbs, so it was a little surprise when we heard about the kerbs being changed. We’re not using them to any great degree; the first corrugated bit is easily useable, the mound, the hump, is more difficult to use and our drivers find it unsettles the car too much. A race track is a race track and once you get into having to develop your cars to leap over concrete mounds to get the best lap time, it’s not much fun. I’d rather the cars stayed predominantly on the tarmac and we worked on that basis.
AC: We have seen what happened during the testing today, there are cars which are much more aggressive on these kerbs. I have to say that the cars this year are a bit more vulnerable in some areas like the front wings, for example, so you need to be quite careful jumping in such a big way. Yeah, we are thinking what to do, respecting, of course, what they tell us to do. Personally, I agree with Ross. I don’t like motor racing going over barriers. I like cars staying on the track, but if there is a lap time, we have to do our best for the interpretation of this kerbing.
VM: Well, I remember last year when we were basically racing the Spyker B chassis that the car used to struggle immensely over the kerbs and get completely unsettled, so I know, for a fact, that the 2009 car was designed with kerbs in mind, but I don’t believe that either of our drivers used the kerbs successfully today.
FT: Buemi used the kerbs a couple of times, but he said the car was very unstable and he had the feeling that he lost time. Therefore we will analyse the data and see what we do tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Ross, quite a few respected people – Felipe Massa, Nigel Mansell, Stirling Moss – have remarked on Jenson’s mental state over the past couple of weeks, that perhaps he’s a man now under pressure given the position he’s in in the championship. I’m just wondering whether you’ve noticed any particular difference in him, in his character, his mentality, in particular since the start of the season when everything was easier and he was winning races?
RB: Well, I think there’s naturally been a change, because he’s now leading the World Championship which I don’t think he’s done before, and that’s a new experience for him. Undoubtedly that does influence your everyday thinking. When you’re a driver who turns up to every race and if you can do well it’s great but if you don’t, so what: that’s different to building a championship year and I’ve seen it in every driver I’ve worked with that if you’re in a year when you don’t have a chance to win the championship, the drivers try as hard, they’re just as committed but it has a different flavour, a difficult character to when you’re having to build points, even in different situations. So I do see a change in Jenson, but I see it as a positive change, I see it as something where he’s diligently thinking about how he puts together a championship year, and how he works on trying to maintain his position. But I don’t see anything negative in his approach or his attitude, and just to repeat, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience this many times and even with Michael (Schumacher), who did it seven times, the seventh time was just as tense as the first time. Yeah, sometimes being out in front in a championship is the most difficult position, because the cars behind have a lot to lose. The guy in the front is the one who has everything to lose and it’s the same with a motor race: when you’re leading the motor race, it’s more difficult than the guy who’s behind, who’s trying to have a go and can maybe be a bit more adventurous in his strategy or his driving. That’s the way it is. It’s ten years since Jenson fought for a championship or more, so he’s having to re-engage his thoughts on fighting for a World Championship and what I see is perfectly normal and I don’t see anything negative about it for sure.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Ross, there have been a lot of reports out of Germany in the last week about Mercedes buying a stake in the team. Could you comment on that?
RB: We’ve got our plans in place for next year and we’re happy with where the team’s going. I’m not going to comment on our specific plans, they’ll all be announced in due course: drivers, sponsors, so we’re very comfortable with where we’re going to be next year. That’s as much as I would like to say.

Q: (Eliahu Ayldiz – Sports Channel, Israel) About half an hour ago, Kimi (Räikkönen) said that even though he’s quite happy with the car, he said that the Ferrari has had the same problem for the last few years here. Could you be more specific about why the car is not quick enough at Monza?
AC: To be honest, I didn’t listen to his comments. Yeah, there are cars that perform better or worse on a whole range of circuits, depending on the basic choices that you have made in designing your car. Normally, when we design the car, we try to design the car for the circuits which are more frequent during the championship, so sometimes on the extremely different circuits we would suffer in terms of performance. This is our philosophy really, which has gone very well in the last few years. This year, for some specific problems, maybe the double diffuser at the beginning, it’s not so evident. I think that if you invest a lot of time, a lot of money in designing a car for a specific circuit – all of us work with a fixed amount of money and a fixed amount of resources – you will not reach the optimum results that you can reach, on the contrary, being more focussed on the races which are more frequent during the championship. I know the driver may be pointing out this element but it’s part of the philosophy of the team.

Toro Rosso – GP Hungary, Friday Practice

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)
“We have the new package on the car here, but it’s not a magic trick, where you put something on the car and go a lot faster immediately. At the moment, we are trying to understand what it does in terms of car balance. It is definitely better and now our task is to get the most out of it. In between sessions there is not enough time to go in depth into the data, so this evening we will get a better picture. Generally, it has been a positive day and I think we can have a degree of confidence for qualifying. Having a new team-mate does not affect me that much as I drive my car on my own! The team seems happy and he produced a good performance.”
First Practice Session
Best lap 1.23.998, pos. 19th, 37 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.23.176, pos. 19th, 45 laps

Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)
“I am quite happy with how today has gone, especially this morning, when I had a good pace and felt quite confident. In the second session, my lap time could have been better, but I didn’t get a clean lap on the option tyre. I am learning all the time. The hardest part was the entry into the high speed corners, which I need to take much faster, but that will come as my confidence grows and I do more kilometres. Every time I went out from the garage, I was learning and felt more comfortable with the situation.”
First Practice Session
Best lap 1.24.228, pos. 20th, 42 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.23.942, pos. 20th, 40 laps

Franz Tost: “Jaime did a very good job in his first day of practice in Formula 1. He completed a total of 82 laps without making any mistakes. With every lap, he got more used to the car, to working with his engineers and to the general environment. Overall, it’s been a good preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying and for the race. A fantastic job so far.”

FIA – Hungary GP Press Conference – Friday

FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE – July 24, 2009

TEAM PRINCIPALS:
Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari),
Norbert HAUG (Mercedes),
Christian HORNER (Red Bull),
Franz TOST (Toro Rosso)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Christian, winner of the last two races. How has it affected the team and how has it affected Mark Webber? Do you feel a load is off his shoulders?
Christian HORNER: Yeah, I mean Germany was a fantastic weekend for Mark Webber. It was his first pole position and his first race win after 130 attempts. It was a big milestone in his career and he was very, very quick throughout the weekend. It was thoroughly deserved the result that he achieved. I think hopefully it will be a weight off his shoulders now. There is a big difference between thinking you can win and knowing you can win and he has crossed that line now, so I am sure we will see hopefully more victories for Mark in the near future.

Q: Is there a different atmosphere in the factory now?
CH: Everybody in the factory was extremely motivated coming into this season. We knew we had a good car. The effort that has gone into the development of this car is nothing short of astounding. The commitment that has been shown by so many unsung heroes back in the factory, in the garage here and at every grand prix so far this year has been quite staggering. I think the challenge we have had this year, combined with new regulations, has also been the lack of testing, so I am sure we, like other teams, are rushing though components at breakneck speed to get them to the car. Even components that were on the drawing board 10 days ago are finding themselves getting onto a car at a grand prix weekend which is unprecedented. The whole development pace is fanatical at the moment but the guys at Milton Keynes have risen to the challenge. The design team led by Adrian (Newey) and his guys have responded brilliantly well and that’s resulted in the kind of performances that we have seen in the last couple of races.

Q: You talk about the design team and the pace of development. I am a little surprised that perhaps you haven’t got a little update here. I know you had one a couple of races ago but with the beak coming up and then a double header surely it was important to have an update here?
CH: We have got a few little bits here. We are targeting to get something onto the car every single weekend. It is a challenge and the next challenge is obviously the summer break when we are not allowed to do anything, so we have got a week to produce whatever we are going to do for the next race in Valencia. But we have a few bits and pieces here. This weekend is obviously a big weekend. Theoretically this is Brawn territory and we are going to do our best to take the fight to them but there are a few other cars that also will go pretty quick this weekend.

Q: How do you feel about the balance between Brawn and yourselves over the last couple of races? Is it because they weren’t suited to the conditions but you had made a step forward?
CH: I was very happy with the balance at the last two races. I think that yes, for sure, we have made a step. I think they have a great car and they started the year and came out of the blocks very quickly. I think over the last few races we have made steps. We have understood the double diffuser more and more and I think more than anything that has added performance to the car. We saw the first iteration of that in Monte Carlo, the second in Silverstone, so as we understand more of that philosophy it is just opening up more and more development avenues. I think that will continue throughout the rest of the season.

Q: Franz, first of all I think one of the things you have got to do is building up your own technical department. How is that coming along?
Franz TOST: It is coming along very well I must say. We have currently around 220 employees. We have started to run the wind tunnel in Bicester and in about two or three weeks we will have the CFD installed in Faenza and so far everything is to the time scale.

Q: The modifications here. Did they come from that group of people?
FT: No, the modifications here are coming from Milton Keynes, from Red Bull Technology. We are still getting the drawings from them because this is for this year’s car. Regarding the designer group which is working in Faenza they are doing the job for next year’s car.

Q: And how have those modifications worked out today?
FT: They worked out well and I think we made a step forward. We were out with some fuel in the car today and I expect that tomorrow at least we will be in the second qualifying.

Q: You have a new driver here with Jaime Alguersuari. He is the youngest driver ever to be in Formula One and he has not had a lot of experience in a Formula One seat. What was the thinking behind hiring him and also starting his season at this stage?
FT: The thinking behind is that first we were not happy with another driver which we exchanged. Then, as you know, Red Bull, respectively Dietrich Mateschitz, bought the second team to give young drivers a chance to come into Formula One. As you know Red Bull is running a very successful young driver programme and from these drivers Jaime is currently the most experienced, the fastest and the most mature driver. He is currently the youngest driver in a Formula One field but it does not mean he is inexperienced. He has so far done 118 races, he won 17 races. He had 36 finishes on the podium and he won last year the English Formula Three Championship and also this year in the World Series he has so far done a good job. In Le Mans last Sunday he finished in third position and therefore I don’t think he is as inexperienced as other drivers think he is. Today he did 82 laps without any mistake and I think the times he did were quite impressive and I am quite convinced that Red Bull has chosen the correct driver and I am convinced that we will have a good future with him. The reason why he started here in Hungary is that five weeks ago he drove a race here for the Renault World Series and he finished in sixth position if I remember right. That means he was familiar with the track and it would have been a much greater risk to start with him in Valencia or even later than in Spa. Therefore he should enjoy being here in Hungary. He should enjoy sitting in the car and I am convinced he will do a good race.

Q: Norbert, you have KERS here. The difference in speed was very interesting at the last race, particularly of Lewis (Hamilton) across the start-finish line in comparison to everybody else which I guess was KERS assisted. Would you expect the same sort of thing here?
Norbert HAUG: Yes, so far I am not quite sure whether the timing is right but I hope it is. Then we have a big advantage in the first sector. The times were a little bit all over the place and I am not quite sure if the split times are the correct ones. But it is quite obvious that we have very good top speed at the start-finish line. Looking back at the Nürburgring I think Lewis really would have made it. Mark, certainly not by purpose, hit him and Lewis got a deflated tyre. He definitely would have made it around the corner and I am sure as Heikki (Kovalainen) showed that at least for the first 15 laps or whatever he could have been in the lead and then it would have been a different story, so that was bad luck, it was not on purpose. It could have been the other way around. You can lose or damage your front wing or whatever. It was very tight, Lewis coming from fifth but to overtake four guys ahead of him and such guys in the cars. That means quite something. It is not the longest straight at the Nürburgring, so I think that was a great achievement. And of course I hope for very much the same here. It would be better to be further up the grid but I doubt it. But maybe we can catch some guys in front of us at the start and then we will see how the race develops. I think we need reasonable lap times but definitely we are not in a position to go for race wins but I think since Silverstone, where we have been nowhere basically, we have improved a lot. You could see that at the Nürburgring where hopefully we were going in the right direction. Coming back to the basis of your question, our KERS is a big, big help, not only here but on various race tracks. Even in Monaco that was the case, I think we did competitive lap times. For obvious reasons we could not get the result there but we have been competitive there. We have been absolutely not competitive at the quick ones like Turkey and Silverstone. The Nürburgring is not the quickest either but we did a reasonable job there and hopefully we can continue that direction here.

Q: You stated that it would be nice to have a German driver in the team. What is the situation with the current two?
NH: Well, I am stating that for 15 years to be honest and it is still the truth. Just to put it very clear. There is a lot of speculation going around and the newest one is that Lewis is afraid of a German driver in the team but I can honestly tell you that if you have had Fernando Alonso in your first year in the team and you were evenly matched with Fernando Alonso, then I don’t think you should be afraid of any team-mate. We need to see how things are developing. I think Heikki did a great job. If you look at qualifying times and qualifying positions this is quite evenly matched between both of them and I think Lewis is a match for basically everybody. I think if you are not 9-0 after nine races, then this is positive and I think in Heikki’s case it is quite balanced between both of them. I think we should keep that in mind, so there are no decisions taken. But, of course, I think all of us are looking at the market. This is our job and we are looking to develop opportunities. We helped young drivers a lot. I have to say I am absolutely pleased with the successes of Sebastian Vettel and also the other German guys. They are great guys, good friends. If they are better and quicker than us, then they beat us and that is fine. We just need to do a better job and I think that is the right atmosphere, when you appreciate that somebody else is doing a good job as well. But don’t worry we are going to come back and we will be strong again sooner rather than later.

Q: Since the German Grand Prix there have been doubts about German Grand Prix next year. We haven’t got a French Grand Prix this year. The British Grand Prix has some doubts around it. There is no American Grand Prix. It has been stated that some of the teams are worried about the grands prix in the future in their major markets, the ones that I have just mentioned. What can you do about reinstating those grands prix? What are the hopes of Constructors’ such as yourselves?
NH: First of all I think the British Grand Prix in my view, as being an observer, as being a racer, gave the perfect answer on race day. I was surprised to hear lots of noise and lots of hoorays when I saw on television that Lewis was fighting with Fernando for whatever, 17th position. I think everybody stood up and clapped. These are the real enthusiasts and if Silverstone was not a fantastic race, it was not the most interesting one, we should have done a better job and we should have had more fights. But the people genuinely enjoyed it and not having a race there is, I think, not the right thing to do. Well, they can swap with Donington, it is not my business, but Silverstone proved they are absolutely capable of having a sensational grand prix. It is an historic race track. I like the race track very much. Even if we could not perform there we have won a couple of races there already. But I think races like these should be on the calendar and if they swap one year to the other with Donington, that is fine with me. The same applies to Germany. I think there is still a very good chance for Hockenheim. The Nürburgring was a good race as well, so I think the prospects are not bad to keep these traditional race tracks on the calendar. We, certainly in FOTA, whatever influence we will have, I think, it is our thinking that we would like to have races like these on the calendar.

Q: Stefano, how have this weekend’s modifications worked out today?
Stefano DOMENICALI: Well, of course today we have done quite a different job on the cars. First of all we also started some work in relation to the new year, 2010, because we need to anticipate some development there because we know that from now to the end of the season we can have a lot of running. Secondly, we had some issues relating mainly to the usage of the tyres today. I don’t think Felipe was really happy about the balance of the car in both conditions, even if I have to say that at the end of the day, when he was trying to do a good time on the supersofts, there were always yellow flags at the wrong moment, but that’s part of the game. Kimi (Räikkönen) was not too bad, he felt that the car was reasonably good. I think that the modifications that we brought today gave what we expected, so it’s really a matter of understanding how the situation is within the real framework. We know that in Hungary the situation on the first day is really very difficult to analyse as always in the past on a track that is not really perfect. We saw a lot of drivers having some difficulties, going wide or not being really clean on the track, and of course we need to understand the lap time exactly because the fuel effect is quite high. So we need to be very careful. And above all, this year, with such a different performance situation, day by day, run by run, we need to not draw any conclusions before the chequered flag, I would say. But for sure, we know that… I think Norbert made a good point: I don’t think we are in a position to be ready to win a race from a performance point of view but we need to be ready, just in case something happens. I know that all the competitors are pushing very, very hard to improve their performance and we know that because the gaps are so small, a little step can make the difference. It’s a challenging season. In this condition we need to take that now with a positive approach, when you are performing not at the standard that you wanted to react, so I think that’s the situation today. Let’s see tomorrow.

Q: How much are you working towards next year and how much are you still concentrating on this year?
SD: We are totally concentrating on this year at the track. I think that now, after the August break, we will be fully concentrated on next year’s car.

Q: A lot of people have been talking about Kimi’s performances this year and about his future; what is his future?
SD: I know there is a lot of speculation going around. As we always say, the question is that we don’t ever say something about any driver, if he’s performing well, if he’s performing badly. We are always speaking about the team and that’s our line. You know what the situation is with our two drivers and there’s no change on that. Nothing to add on top of it. Up until 2010 we have an agreement with Kimi and Felipe, and that’s the situation. No more than that.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Stefano, it was suggested in Germany that by now the Concorde Agreement would have been signed. Could you explain what the latest situation is, how close are all three parties now?
SD: I think that we are progressing. I think that we are very, very close to reaching a solution. As always with such a complexity, the closer you get to the goal, the more everyone is trying to squeeze or to find different things around it but I am optimistic that before the August break everything will be sorted out.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Question to Stefano and Norbert: it is being said that we will be down to five engines per driver for next year. How sure are you that it will happen because Cosworth has obviously voiced some concerns about being able to retune their engines and if it will stay at eight engines, will you still be able to offer your engines for five million euros for the independent teams?
SD: What I can say about that is, as I said, that the closer that you get to signatures on a document that also has to incorporate sporting and technical regulations from the baseline, for sure this is not a point that is 100 percent clear. This is the current situation. I think this is one of the most important points that we need to clear up.

Q: (Michael Trawniczek – Rallye and More) Mr Haug, is it true that you said that a crash similar to that of Henry Surtees is not possible in Formula One and if true, why are you so sure?
NH: I never said that.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Stefano, could you explain to us what will happen during the summer break because it’s something new, where you have to close the door?
SD: We are looking forward to it; at least, for us, with one week to go and then, at least in my professional career, I’ve never had two weeks holiday in August, so I’m really looking forward to it. But basically we had to sign an agreement where all the teams would not go ahead with any kind of activity apart from maintenance, things that we need to do in that period to refresh or looking after the maintenance and structure of our buildings, but that there’s no production, no design, no activity. This is something that we decided together in order to follow the rules of saving money for all the teams involved.
CH: As an Italian you should know that the whole of Italy closes for a month anyway and we thought that it was only fair that the rest of the racing community does the same, at least for two weeks. So it’s a very strange thing to have an enforced holiday, telling people that they can’t work, they can’t come into the factory. It’s a compulsory, it’s been agreed by FOTA, it’s documented what we can and can’t do. Yes, it’s a lot of people who are forced to take a break for two weeks.

Q: (MC) Norbert, does that apply to the racing engine departments at Brixworth and Stuttgart as well?
NH: Absolutely.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Your objective is to save money and reduce the costs of Formula One but the teams bring new updates and new steps forward at every single race. So to what level can we say that you are saving money because it seems that development has never been so fast?
FT: OK, but within the new regulations development will be restricted. For example, with homologations next year: front wings, rear wings. They are homologated. You can bring out three new modifications, the floor as well, the monocoque, also only one crash structure. That means that FOTA has worked out quite a good programme where we are convinced that we can reduce costs.
CH: I think that we’ve already seen significant savings this year. I think that the testing ban has saved significant money. I think that the work that was done on the engines and if you look at the decrease in price in engines over the last three years, predominantly through the work of FOTA – the FIA has obviously signed it off – is significant. So I think teams have already reduced budgets this year by between fifteen and thirty percent and I think that there will be further significant savings through the resource restrictions that are planned to be implemented. We’ll even be restricted on the number of people that we potentially plan to take to a race circuit next year. I think Formula One has reacted responsibly. It has moved to get its costs under control. It’s positive to see three new teams entered for next year which would have been impossible, I think, without the resource restrictions that will be introduced.
NH: I think the engine is a very special issue. If you look back two years, an engine lease was four times as much money as it will be next year, and I think that’s quite remarkable. FOTA worked on that. I stress, this is a FOTA idea and of course you need to be in a position to produce these engines, so I think that’s a really perfect fix and something that is a very special price. I don’t think that three years ago anybody could have imagined that this would have happened. In our case, we will spend thirty percent less money as Mercedes Benz than we did last year and this is just the beginning. I’m sure we can improve much more and these resource restrictions are really the way to go and we are very restrictive. These guys put a lot of work into that, much, much more than I did. Martin Whitmarsh, for example, worked flat out and there was a great atmosphere and I think this is the new style of Formula One. You are competitors on the race track but you work together next to the race track and this is really happening, and I think this is a very, very positive development. I think FOTA will improve further and be open, help the media to get the job done and so on and so on and this is not singing a song, this is what we want to do, step by step, what we want to develop, because some things can just be improved and we need to make sure that the spectators like our sport even more, so more interesting races, and so on and so on and there are quite a few ideas and a very constructive co-operation between the teams.
SD: I think that Norbert is totally correct. We don’t have to underestimate that this year it is due to FOTA that we are able to save money, above all in the area of the engine. Now, hopefully we will get all the Concorde (Agreement), all the other things done and now FOTA should concentrate on the main things that we have outlined at the beginning, to try to put ahead ideas on improving the show, put ahead ideas on keeping the restrictions that we have discussed. Now is the time to revert to the main objectives of FOTA, as we said, working together with the FIA in proposing something new and giving back the positiveness of Formula One because otherwise we will loop around something that is not beneficial to anyone. We need to make sure that people or sponsors that were on hold now, because of the situation, once again will give the green light, they will find that Formula One is attractive. This is the job that we have to do because otherwise we will miss our objective and this is what we want to start on. Unfortunately we have delayed with our previous planning but now we have to focus on this.

Q: (Peter Farkas – Auto Motor) Christian has just mentioned the testing ban, so what is the future of the in-season testing ban because I’ve heard some drivers and even team bosses saying that it’s just too much not to have any kind of testing, just some straight-line testing during the season? Is there an intention to change that next year maybe?
CH: I think that the testing for next year is being worked on at the moment within the sporting working group and it will be 15 days of common testing between the teams prior to the season and obviously we then have the three young driver days. I guess this is something that will be debated, as to when you run your young driver days, in order to not prevent youngsters coming in to Formula One. I think it’s finding that balance (that is difficult) but I think that can be done quite easily.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Cutting costs also means cutting jobs; could you give us some figures about teams next season, how many less people in the aerodynamic department, engine department, chassis department, etc?
SD: All that I can say is that we are working on a situation in order to reduce the number of people at races. All the other things are related to something that we will exploit internally because everyone has their own organisation, so we cannot say that everyone is doing the same thing as the others. But for sure what we are aiming at now is to look at the number of people that attend races.

Toro Rosso – Alguersuari Joins Scuderia Toro Rosso

Scuderia Toro Rosso is pleased to announce that, as from this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Jaime Alguersuari will drive for the team, alongside Sebastien Buemi. The 19 year old Spaniard will thus become the youngest ever driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend.

Jaime Alguersuari: “I would like to thank Red Bull for giving me this great opportunity to race in Formula 1. Ever since I started racing this has been my dream and thanks to the Red Bull Junior Programme I will now realise my ambition of lining up on a Grand Prix grid. I am aware that I’m facing a very tough challenge, because coming into Formula 1 is never easy, coming into Formula 1 in the middle of a season is even harder and doing so without any testing is really difficult. But already I feel that I am getting great support from the team, who have quite a reputation for looking after rookie drivers.”

Franz Tost: “Red Bull’s stated aim for Scuderia Toro Rosso is that, when possible, it should be used to provide a seat for products of its Young Driver Programme. We therefore chose Alguersuari as the most mature driver currently in the programme. I am well aware that over the next few months the team and Jaime will face a major challenge, especially because of the testing ban. But Red Bull is always ready for a new challenge. I do not expect anything from him for at least his first three races, during which he has to get used to the car, the team and to the Formula 1 environment.” 

Toro Rosso – Hungarian Grand Prixview

Scuderia Toro Rosso will tackle the final eight races of the season with a new technical upgrade package and one new driver – you will have to wait a few more days to find out who he is. Team Principal Franz Tost and Technical Director Giorgio Ascanelli answer the obvious questions.

Franz Tost
The season got off to a reasonable start with a few points finishes, but then the team appeared to get left behind. Why was that?
Toro Rosso had quite a successful start to the season, scoring points in Australia and China and later, in Monaco, we picked up another one. However, from then on, we lost touch with the other mid-field runners. There are various reasons for this: firstly, the other teams improved their cars, regularly producing updates to their technical package. We introduced a few small updates, but nothing major. For example, we are the only team never to have run with a double diffuser, one of the key elements to car performance this year. Why? It was a financial decision. Rather than incur the costs of constant updates, we chose to keep costs within budget by waiting, before delivering one major update package, which will make its race debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Secondly, apart from the limitations on car development, we also had one driver who did not live up to our expectations.

Can we really expect to see a step forward in the final part of this season?
We expect that the technical upgrades should see us return to a level of competitiveness that we were able to demonstrate in the second half of last season.

How do you rate Buemi’s performance?
Buemi has done a really good job so far. You have to consider that, as the only rookie on the grid this year, he is the first real victim of the in-season testing ban. He had therefore never driven at circuits like Silverstone or the Nurburgring in a Formula 1 car, which is completely different to tackling them in other types of car. While he knows the tracks from Formula 3 or GP2, it is not at all the same, because F1 is much more complex and little details like how track conditions usually change from the third free practice session on Saturday morning, to qualifying that same afternoon, are all part of the package that only comes with experience. Up until this year, we would have done a minimum of three days testing at Silverstone for example, prior to the British Grand Prix and at many other race venues. But you can’t have everything and while we are saving money through not testing, the downside is that young drivers will suffer. What we can say is that Buemi will be a much more complete driver for the 2010 season.

Giorgio Ascanelli
We seem to have slid to the back of the grid over the past few races. Why?
There are several factors why our performance hasn’t matched up to what it was in the second half of last season. The first is that the drivers are very important and last year, Vettel matured enormously, getting over the difficult phase every young driver does, not understanding why he was fast or slow. A second factor was that last year, within the limits of our own capabilities, we went down a different route to Red Bull Racing, particularly with suspension and the braking system that was different to their car. The third point is that last year we were racing in an era where the technical rules had been more or less stable for a decade so performance levels flatten out, making it harder to come up with something new. This year, the pace of development has speeded up enormously and as a small team, we have been unable to keep up with that. Today, Red Bull for example is producing large steps forward in development on a monthly basis. We cannot do that as we don’t have the manpower. Furthermore, with a young and inexperienced driver like Buemi, when we do introduce changes, it is naturally harder for him to adapt to those changes.

Is that a criticism of Buemi?
Absolutely not: to date, he has taken part in just nine grands prix and in four of those he retired early. Add in the fact there is no testing and he is getting very little time in the car. When a young driver first comes into F1, he is like a daredevil, taking risks, but as his understanding increases and he suffers a few set backs, it knocks his confidence which then has to be rebuilt. We cannot expect him to learn any faster: he is trying his best and doing a good job. Remember that when Vettel came to us, he had done one year as a third driver for BMW and had even taken part in one Grand Prix, but he could do no better than qualify eighteenth for us in his first race, in Hungary.

We’ve been talking about this technical upgrade for weeks now. What is it?
In Hungary we have a major upgrade, which includes the floor, rear wing, rear wing endplates, a nose which has had to pass a new impact test, new brake ducts etc. – pretty much the whole damn lot! We’ve worked our hardest to get this modification package and to do it this year is much harder than the work we did last year.

But don’t you just get all the new bits from Red Bull Technology in the UK?
There is a view that the only difference between our car and the Red Bull Racing one is the engine, but that is inaccurate. It involves the engine, gearbox, clutch, hydraulic system, water, oil and electrical systems; and all this on top of the actual aero parts in terms of bodywork. The further complication is that, although we have not run it, our car was designed so that it could incorporate the Ferrari KERS system and that is very different to the one used by Renault, around which the RB5 was designed. Therefore, we are not in a “cut and paste” situation when it came to getting the parts. It was not a case of getting a drawing from Red Bull Technology and simply manufacturing it. The two cars might look the same but if you try and fit the bodywork from one on the other, it would not fit. The rear suspension is also different because, in order to maintain the same wheelbase, it needed a different arrangement.

Will it bring a performance advantage?
I will tell you once we’ve run it at the race track.

If you had to situate our car in Hungary specification with Red Bull Racing’s development, where would it be?
It would be a package equivalent to the one they introduced at the British Grand Prix.

Will it be good enough to score points?
That depends how far forward the other teams have gone, because nothing stays still in this sport. It’s not as simple as saying ‘last year we made a technical step forward for the second half of the year and performed well so the same thing will happen again.’ Last year, the Italian media was keen for me to puff out my chest and say ‘oh yes, I am very clever and I have managed to outperform our Red Bull cousins,’ but the simple answer about the end of last year is that Vettel is a great driver. I wasn’t a genius last year, but I don’t think I am an idiot this year!

10-Jun-09: Toro Rosso Last to Introduce Double Diffuser

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Today is the 10th June 2009 and this is F1 Minute.

No politics today, I promise. Toro Rosso have been suffering at the back of the grid for the past few races but might see a brighter future, as they’re hoping to bring a double diffuser for the Grand Prix in Hungary. Team principal Franz Tost said: “We are the only team currently not running a double diffuser yet, and Giorgio has missed the last two races working hard to prepare the car for a double diffuser. It’s not just a simple bolt on.” He’s referring to Giorgio Ascanelli, technical director for the team. Hungary is still two races away though, so there may be no improvement for the two Sebs just yet.

Elsewhere, BMW favoured aerodynamics over their beloved KERS for the last couple of races, and still aren’t sure when it will make it’s return. First it was due in Turkey, but they postponed that, and now are not yet decided if it will make Silverstone.

That’s all for now, I will be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

22-Apr-09: Bridgestone Evaluating 2010 Tyres

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Today is the 22nd April and this is F1 Minute.

Bridgestone are looking into the option of narrowing the front tyres in 2010 to try and fit with the new regulations. The slick tyres introduced this year have given the cars a lot more grip at the front, which of course affects the handling. Bridgestone have been asked by the teams to find a way to rectify the situation and balance out the cars once more.

In other 2010 news, racing car team Lola are evaluating the possibility of returning to F1. They are running a full investigation into the costs, etc, and it  would see them in the paddock for the first time since 1997. Back then, they rushed their entry a year earlier than expected, only participated in one race and didn’t qualify. That would be why I’ve never heard of them.

Finally, bringing you back to the present, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has said he didn’t expect Buemi to start scoring points until the second half of the season but he isn’t dissatisfied that the rookie has started early.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Bourdais Creates a Spark

One of the official portraits for the Toro Rosso STR4. Franz Tost has admitted today that the team are unlikely to be able to repeat the success of 2008, as there have been so many changes. One thing that remains the same from last season is Bourdais who enters his second year with the team.
Credit: tororosso.com

19-Mar-09: Final Test in Jerez Comes to an End

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 19th March 2009.

Both teams finishing up the F1 testing in Jerez started flying today, as Kovalainen set McLaren’s best time of the week, and then Nakajima beat it by half a second, which in turn was about four tenths faster than Button on Tuesday. Heikki didn’t end the day well, though, stopping out on track as the session drew to a close.

Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher has spoken out about the rule changes, saying that it’s shocking they can be changed so quickly, when in previous years teams have been told things can’t be altered so close to a season starting. He also admitted it makes little sense to have the driver with the most points not necessarily champion.

Finally, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost believes it will be hard for the team to repeat last year’s performance saying: “…to be successful in F1 you need continuity – too many changes are toxic.” Of course, in light of the FIA saga, it’s unclear whether he means within the team or the sport itself.

That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

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