BRITISH GRAND PRIX - Friday quotes
FIA Friday press conference - Great Britain
Team principals: Ross Brawn (Brawn GP), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Adam Parr (Williams), Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren).
Q: Just one question from me. What is your position regarding the current situation in Formula One? Christian, can I start with you please.
Christian Horner: Right. It has obviously been a busy 24 hours but I think it obviously dates back well beyond that. We have effectively reached a position of stalemate between FOTA and the FIA. I think a huge amount of effort has been made by the teams to try and find a compromise because at the end of the day we do have a duty of care to the people that we sit here and represent, the employees, to the fans, to the sponsors and to the public. The intention and effort was to try and find a compromise, a solution. As I say we find ourselves in a position of stalemate and the decisions that were made that resulted in the press release that you all saw this morning weren’t taken lightly and after a lot of deliberation that was the position that collectively the teams arrived at. Whilst it was a difficult decision to make I think unfortunately we have found ourselves in a situation that the conditions of the entries that we looked to put in have been effectively rejected and I think the teams reached the stage where they felt they could go no further. Therefore, as I say, we have effectively reached a stalemate and we are faced with the situation where we either stop or we look at something else. Certainly from a Red Bull perspective we want to race against the best teams, against the best drivers, with the best sponsors in the world. If that cannot be Formula One then we will have to consider what the alternative is but being ever the optimist I think we have gone as far as we can. We have reached this position and that is where we are today. Situations can change but that is certainly where we are.
Ross Brawn: Well, I think after the shock of Honda leaving Formula One there was a lot of concern that we reacted in a correct way and we started with the correct initiatives or intensified those initiatives as in fairness there were a lot of initiatives already started by the teams I think with general support from the FIA. The engine manufacturers within FOTA had introduced the eight million Euro engine and next year it is five million Euros, so for my team that is a godsend. There were a lot of initiatives already underway and perhaps with the economic environment there was a need to review those initiatives and see if we could intensify them but in a structured way and a balance needed to be kept because there were many reasons whey Honda left Formula One but it was not only an economic argument. There was a strategic argument as well and the reaction needed to be the correct reaction. In our view it did not need to be as dramatic as occurred and that is really where the differences of opinion have come in the dramatic reaction the FIA felt was necessary in the circumstances to protect Formula One. I think the balance between the opinion of the teams and the FIA has been different and it has been difficult to reconcile those differences and in trying to reconcile those differences the relationships have suffered. At the present time there is a very difficult relationship between the teams whose, I think, genuine ambition is not to take over Formula One but the teams have a massive investment in Formula One and they want their investment respected. Formula One doesn’t belong to the teams. I don’t believe it belongs to Formula One. It belongs to the people. Formula One belongs to all of us. It is not something which is owned by anybody. It is like the Olympic Games, the World Cup. It is an entity in itself. It needs respecting and nurturing and it needs to be developed. Really the teams do not share the same opinion as the FIA in the way that it needs to be developed and we have ended up with a situation where some teams have now entered Formula One with a different set of regulations to what the other teams wish to race under, with in fairness a proposal from the FIA to change those regulations again but no guarantee that those regulations can change. They have to be changed with the consent of the teams that are already in Formula One, so we are saying ‘come and join us and we will change the rules again’ but what guarantees do we have. It is a very difficult situation. We want to find solutions but if we can’t find solutions we will have to find another championship to race in.
Martin Whitmarsh: I think Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, which is the team I represent, wants to race at the pinnacle of motorsport. It wants to race with all of the teams that are represented here, including Adam. We want to race with all the big names, the stars, the history and the heritage of this sport. Clearly the pressures that exist within the sport were in danger of really dividing most of those names between two camps. I think last night it was clear that the majority of us wanted to be together. We wanted to be at the pinnacle of motorsport. We want transparent governance. We want one tier of regulations and perhaps a philosophical difference as to the future of the sport. I think there have been tremendous efforts from many people to try and find compromise, to find a way forward but time pressures were placed on the teams and under those pressures we had to make a decision. A decision had to be made today and the teams within FOTA have come together. We have had clearly two teams that have slightly different positions from the majority but the majority of teams have worked together incredibly well. Since FOTA was formed in September, the first time that all of the teams in the sport have come together in the history of Formula One, we have worked to try and bring down the costs. There is no doubt that the initiatives that came from FOTA have been the most significant in the history of the sport. We have got certain teams here today that wouldn’t be here but for FOTA. We have put forward a structure to further reduce costs. Everyone wants to reduce costs. There is no doubt that costs were running away in Formula One. FOTA’s position isn’t that we don’t want to save money. Plainly we do. We have put forward proposals and mechanisms by which all of the teams believed that was possible and had already made that progress but ultimately we are very close in many things and that is perhaps the sad thing. If you look at FOTA’s position and you look at the position of the FIA there are a lot of areas where there are very many common views and yet ultimately perhaps because of relationships or whatever we were unable to come together. A deadline was placed upon the teams and consequently we had to make a decision and in fairness to the FIA we had to come forward with our view on that. To take a positive view the teams are working together I think in a most productive way certainly in the 20 years I have been involved in the sport. We look forward to racing with as many teams as we can next year.
Adam Parr: Williams is a Formula One team.
Q: Is that all you are saying.
AP: That’s all there is to say.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) To one or all three of the FOTA members. You will be aware probably that within the last half an hour the FIA have issued legal proceedings against all eight FOTA teams. I just wondered if I could get your thoughts on that first of all. And just beyond that how much has that further damaged the credibility of the sport?
RB: I think it is quite difficult for us. We have not seen the details of what has happened. I don’t want to avoid the question but it is quite difficult for us to answer as we heard just as we were coming into the press conference that that had happened. I think we need to understand what has happened but unfortunately I don’t think any of this episode of what is going on at the moment in the short term helps the sport. We all know that. It is just perhaps with a vision of better things that we are prepared to go through it.
MW: I think it is important that we do not get drawn here. We are at an FIA grand prix and we should respect the fact that a press conference is given here and therefore as Ross said, one we don’t know the facts and two, I think it isn’t the most appropriate format to comment on. I think certainly Formula One squabbling amongst itself is not a positive message. I think we have got to get to try and get to a point where we are concentrating on what happens out there on the tarmac and I think we should avoid getting into an examination of the correspondence that may be going backwards and forwards between FOTA and the FIA.
CH: I completely agree with Ross and Martin. I can only sympathise with the public who must be, as Formula One fans, confused and to a certain degree dismayed with what is currently going on. We have got a wonderful championship this year. It is Silverstone’s last Formula One grand prix and to have politics that are difficult for the general public to comprehend and understand and Formula One should be all about what happens on the track. I think it has taken up far too much of not only our time but other people’s time. We have reached the situation we are in. I think it is impossible for us to comment. I haven’t seen what has been provided by the FIA. I think it is a great shame and certainly from our perspective we have got a race to run this weekend. We are determined to try and stop Jenson Button winning yet another race. That is where our focus now immediately turns to and that’s for every member of our team. We owe that to the fans, to the public and to Silverstone at what is an important weekend.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Adam, on a commercial level how important is it for you as a team to be racing against Ferrari and McLaren? How hard is it going to be for you to go to sponsors and say we want your money but we are racing against Campos, US F1 and Manor?
AP: Well, I think that it is going to be very difficult to raise sponsorship revenues in the future but it has always been difficult in the past. I think one of the reasons why we are doing what we are doing, which is trying to reduce costs in Formula One, is because nobody can sustain the spending that we have had in the past few years. It is simply ridiculous and we have to stop it. Therefore we have supported both as a member of FOTA and now outside the measures that people want to take to reduce costs. That is essential. I don’t think that this situation is good in our discussions with sponsors but I am hoping it will be resolved and I am hoping that nobody really intends to create a breakaway series as I don’t think it is going to be good for anybody if that happens.
Q: (Lee McKenzie – BBC) To the FOTA members. Your proposed championship. Will eight teams be enough to sustain a championship or will you be welcoming invites from other teams, perhaps the likes of Lola and Prodrive?
MW: I think that certainly eight teams would be enough but we would welcome any new teams or existing teams for that matter. Certainly there has been an expression of interest from some of the names you just mentioned and I think a lot of the teams want to be racing against the Ferraris, Red Bulls, the Brawns and hopefully ourselves. Formula One has not done a good job in my view at developing the number of teams that compete and in developing a series which is focussed on what the fans want and I think there is a lot of opportunity to do a better job and to have some fresh energy. Whilst inevitably there is some sadness in a day like today I think you have got to be optimistic about the future. I think sometimes out of these changes, out of these challenges, are new eras, new opportunities and we have got to be positive. But clearly we have had already in the last few hours quite a lot of interest from some other teams that want to be part of this series and we are going to do everything we can to encourage them to be part of it. I think just as FOTA has already demonstrated its assistance to retaining teams and assisting the independent teams I think that has got to be part of the ethos of any new organisation.
Q: (Geoff Sweet – The Sun) Were Max Mosley not the President or if he were to be removed fairly soon could this problem go away virtually overnight?
RB: In no way is it a condition of the conditional entry that the FOTA teams have made that that is the case. It is not something we are pushing for or asking for. It has not entered the discussions. We have had a breakdown in relations and we need to find a way of getting back to a balance between the regulatory body and the competing teams.
CH: I would endorse totally what Ross says. At no point has there ever been a condition from FOTA of anything along those lines. We have actively tried to engage with the FIA over the past few weeks to constructively find a solution. Mr Mosley represents the whole of the FIA, so this is not pointed personally at any individual.
Q: (Mike Doodson) This statement from the FIA seems extremely provocative to me. Are any of you aware of any developments that could prejudice the running of this race meeting this weekend or the remaining races in the championship?
MW: No and I think as we said earlier we have not actually seen any detail at the moment. We heard on the way here and I can’t personally imagine anything that is going to prejudice this weekend and the rest of this season. Certainly that is not the intention, I am sure, of any of the teams represented here or any other teams within FOTA. I think we owe it to the public and the fans to put on as good a show as we can here this weekend and that is what we are going to be concentrating on doing. There is a great championship. Unfortunately we are not participating as closely in it as I would like but the two gentlemen behind are involved in I think an interesting championship and we on the lower steps here have to make sure that we try and drag ourselves as close to that as we can.
RB: Can I just say I hope something does prejudice this weekend as they are too quick. I think we are going to have trouble this weekend.
Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) By any measure this is an unseemly mess. Shouldn’t you all be ashamed of yourselves for allowing it to get to this situation and to become such a shambles? It is the future of Formula One on the line. It is not something that should be taken lightly.
MW: Rightly or wrongly I can only speak for myself. I don’t feel ashamed of the situation. The teams I think have the right values. We are looking to the future of the sport, to seek, to build and develop it for the fans and everyone who is involved with it. We are looking to create stability. I think anyone who has looked on Formula One in recent years there has not been the stability that we should have. There hasn’t been the clarity of what the championship should be for the fans. That is not pointing the finger at anyone. We have all been part of it. Some of us feel that we have got to do a better job than we have done in the past. Can anyone up here say that they have not made a mistake. Clearly lots of mistakes have been made in the evolution and development of Formula One but I think we have taken a positive step to say that we are committed to race together. We were heading whatever happened, it seemed in the last few days, towards a split. It could have been some of those teams currently in FOTA disappearing from the sport completely. I think anyone who has been watching and listening would have been very aware that a number of major manufacturers were almost inextricably leaving the sport and I think that would have been highly damaging. I think we are inviting all those that participate at the moment and any new entrant to participate in what we believe will be the pinnacle of motorsport.
: Again, I fully endorse what Martin says. I think what’s been achieved in the short space of time that FOTA has existed is significant. I think the cost savings that we’ve seen this year have been driven by FOTA and certainly, as an independent team, we have seen the benefits of the lowest-ever engine prices, probably in the last 25 years in Formula One, in budget reductions, probably for all teams, anywhere in the region of 15 and 25 percent, with proposals on the table to reduce budgets by probably up to 40 percent going forward. Each team has had difficult decisions to make and I, in particular, would just like to pay credit to Ross Brawn and the decision and the commitment that he’s shown to FOTA because he’s stuck to and believed in his principles in a situation, as an independent team, and I think that’s absolutely commendable at difficult times. They have no other form of income other than going grand prix racing. Red Bull are involved in other categories, McLaren have other initiatives within their group and I think that the unity that the teams have shown, the way that they’ve worked together and Ferrari have also been a huge player within this and I think that what has been achieved is significant and it’s a great shame that we’ve reached this stalemate because I think progress was being made, albeit, lumpily and positions have obviously hardened recently and we find ourselves in this situation. I certainly think there’s nothing to be ashamed of.
RB: Thank you Christian for your kind comments. I’ve not been an independent for very long but I’ve seen both sides of the coin, and I’ve seen life at Ferrari, I saw life prior to that at Benetton where we won the World Championship on a total of £30m a year and I’ve seen life at Honda and I’ve seen life as an independent and the key to all of this is finely balanced between the needs of all the groups, all the teams in Formula One. We’ve got to have systems so that the smaller independent teams can survive with support from the manufacturers where need be and other initiatives. But if we have systems that shut out the manufacturers completely, I think it’s to the detriment of the sport. The manufacturers bring a huge amount into this industry, they bring a huge amount of investment, they bring a huge amount of employment, people, so manufacturers bring in an awful lot to Formula One and we’ve got to be careful not to destroy that and not to shut that out completely. It can’t be left unharnessed, we all know that but the door shouldn’t shut completely on the input that manufacturers make. It’s the investment of Mercedes-Benz that gives me an eight million Euro engine, five million Euros next year. It’s the investment of Toyota that’s giving Adam an engine at a price that is incredible. Leasing a Ferrari engine a couple of years ago was 25m Euros. We survive because of the manufacturers. They absorb the research costs, they absorb the development costs and they give us an engine – not a subsidy but an engine that is provided on a cost-plus basis and they are not taking any profits out of it, they’re just doing it as a service to independent teams. So we have to find that balance between what Formula One can offer for manufacturers and what it can offer for independents. We can’t go too far in shutting out the manufacturers because it will be to the detriment of the sport.
AP: There’s a lot of what Martin, Ross and Christian are saying that I whole-heartedly agree with. We recognise what the manufacturers have brought to Formula One: tremendous status, as Frank says, fantastic, reliable engines and in many cases they’ve been very good friends to this team over decades. So it’s awfully difficult to find ourselves on the other side of the fence. To some extent, we are I won’t say bystanders because that would be disingenuous but I would say that we have contracts in place with Bernie and we’ve always said with Max as well and we enter the championship in light of those contracts. I’m impressed that Ross, as an independent team next year, let’s say, that actually has to raise money in the way that we do, feels that he has the ability to do that in another championship but we simply could not. There’s no way that we could walk away from our contracts and raise the sort of money that we would need to compete with the manufacturers, the Red Bulls and so forth. So we have a mutual dependence with the FIA and with FOM that is enshrined in contracts that we will honour. But it’s very, very sad for us that in so doing we’ve drifted away from people that we like and we respect and we like racing against. The question is: is it a disgrace that we are sitting here in this situation? I don’t know what we could have done differently than what we’ve done. We’ve tried to be at all times open, transparent, honest about our positions. Nobody can say that they didn’t know what we were going to do or when we did it and it’s very, very difficult for us and very sad. I think that the moment when we were asked to leave the room in the FOTA meeting a few weeks back was absolutely dreadful and something we will always remember with great sadness but I don’t know what we could have done differently. Let’s just be clear of one thing: we are the only team in Formula One this year that will raise money without asking its shareholders for one penny. The only team in Formula One. I’m not saying that others don’t depend on sponsorship because they do but every other team in Formula One raises a significant proportion of their budget from their shareholder or shareholders. We can’t do that. When I look at the future, the past few years that we’ve been through in Williams are just not sustainable, it cannot continue like that for us. Anyway, we are where we are. We’ve made some tough choices, we’ve lost friends as a result of that perhaps but I don’t think we could have done anything differently. We take no pleasure in it but that’s the facts.
Q: (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) This is for the FOTA teams: do we have any preparations that have been made for any new series or are you going into it from nothing? Specifically I would like to know about the Monaco Grand Prix.
MW: As I think people know here, it was a decision made late last night and I think therefore to talk about preparations ten hours later or whatever it is now would be premature. There have been lots of ideas, suggestions that have been thrown at the teams but the fact is that there’s a lot of work ahead of us and that’s a challenge. There are tinges of excitement and concern in it because doing any new venture is just that. But there’s been a lot of interest and a lot of support that’s been voiced for the teams. We’re open to any way forward but I think in the coming weeks and months we’ll naturally be better equipped to answer those questions.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Next Wednesday we will have the World Council meeting in Paris. Do you think there is a better forum to discuss what is best for Formula One next year, where a group of people make decisions on behalf of the FIA instead of an individual?
RB: I think there has been a system for trying to make these decisions, through the F1 Commission, through the teams but unfortunately that system seems to have disappeared or certainly not been used for a long time. There are systems which I think have been established that could be used for this purpose, so I don’t think we necessarily need to invent anything new. The difficulty now is that decisions have been made and how do we reverse out of those decisions? We should learn from what’s happened, to try and avoid getting ourselves into this situation in the future but there was a system under the old Concorde that wasn’t perfect but it meant that the teams were involved in all the key decisions and that seems to have disappeared. I don’t think there’s a need to invent a new system, just refine what was there before.
Q: (Marco Evangelisti – Corriere dello Sport) To the three FOTA members: is there any possibility that you look for any further confrontations with Max Mosley even behind the supposed line of today?
CH: I think the position that we reached yesterday, after a huge amount of deliberation, we’ve felt that significant compromises had been offered and been made and I keep referring to this effective stalemate where we reached a position where the teams felt they could go no more. The FIA obviously made their position known and clearly felt and so effectively we end up in a situation where you have some very difficult decisions to make and the collective and unanimous feeling within that group was that we could go no further, therefore the position, as it was stated late last night, early this morning was one that was arrived at collectively, after a great deal of discussion and debate but it was one that was unanimously reached by each member of FOTA.
Q: (Miran Alisic – Pop TV) For all of you: could you just maybe clarify the last sentence from this last press release from the FIA and your position on it? What is the real reason behind this, that ‘publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold?’
MW: I think all three of us and probably Adam as well were told of the FIA press release on the way here. It’s probably in any case, even if we’d studied it in great depth and had time, it’s not for us to interpret the meaning of that. I suggest that’s got to be something that the FIA would clarify for you if you need that clarification. We understand that the entry list was going to be published today. We had to make a decision last night. We made our decisions last night but any further comment on that is up to the FIA to clarify.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) At the beginning of the year there was a long dispute over the double diffuser and it concerned the members of the FOTA family. How will you deal with problems like this in the future?
MW: I think that in truth the double diffuser argument as it was characterised was a strong test of FOTA and a lot of emotions and that’s good. Formula One is meant to do those sorts of things and going racing and having competition. But I think the fact is that FOTA survived the tensions that arose from that. We’ve all got opinions, whether it’s right, wrong, should have been allowed, shouldn’t have been allowed but I think everyone accepted that all the teams acted in good faith and I think it’s something that could and should have been clarified earlier but out of it came, I think, the realisation that the teams ultimately have a lot of common interest. I think anyone who’s involved in motor racing and Formula One in particular, within the teams&ldots; it takes over your life, you don’t do it unless you’re very passionate about it. We’re very fortunate, all of us here, to be involved in this sport and I think we realised that all the teams have a common interest to sit amongst the teams with Ferrari, McLaren, on the same side of the table, realising that actually our goals are very similar, our approach to the sport is very similar. There’s a developing camaraderie within FOTA which is certainly unique in my experience. I think probably Ross is one here who has been here slightly longer than me but in twenty years it’s unprecedented. I think the manufacturer teams and some of the bigger teams made big compromises, I think, big efforts to reach out to the independent teams to assist during the first phases of FOTA, as a consequence of which the independent teams involved in FOTA see... and Ross talked about a compromise necessary. Inevitably when you’ve got a Toyota involved in Formula One and you’ve got a Toro Rosso at the other end, finding a compromise between those companies at either end of quite a large spectrum is quite a big challenge and unless there’s goodwill and co-operation you won’t find that accommodation and I think it’s been fantastic what’s been achieved within FOTA. I think it’s going from strength to strength. I think people last night knew the scale of the decisions that were being taken and I think people came out of it feeling incredibly positive about what’s been achieved and with a real belief that we can, by working together, we can make the sport greater and better than it’s ever been.
RB: I think this issue of finding compromise between the teams&ldots; I accept Michael’s point it was a pretty fraught period and if this proceeds we have to have a regulatory body that sits and covers those things impartially for the teams. But I think FOTA has been – and I have been there a very long time – it has been a great initiative. It was never set up to be a challenge to any of the authorities within Formula One or the commercial rights holder. It was set up for the teams to try and work together to present solutions which they had all agreed on. If I give you one small example: wind tunnel usage. There are completely different ends of the spectrum in terms of people’s wind tunnel facilities. You’ve got Toyota with two wind tunnels running flat out 24 hours a day, seven days a week and they made a concession to reduce the hours they run in the wind tunnel to sixty hours total, that’s sixty hours total for all their wind tunnels in order to compromise with the smaller teams who didn’t have the budget to run two wind tunnels full time, 24 hours, seven days a week. So that’s one example where compromise has been found, between the FOTA teams, where the large groups have accepted compromise in the interest of the smaller groups. Now, as a smaller group, I can’t ask Toyota to come down completely to my level but I know that there’s a smaller difference there between what we can afford to do in the wind tunnel and what they can afford to do. So there has been incredible movement within FOTA. I mentioned the cost of engines; these are all FOTA initiatives, they’re all things that the teams themselves have worked together to&ldots;. The testing agreement is a totally voluntary agreement between the teams. It wasn’t an initiative started by the FIA, it was an initiative started by the teams. We all agreed to it and to my knowledge nobody has ever breached the testing agreement, and that’s purely voluntary. So it is possible for the teams to see the way forward and act honourably and sensibly in these things. At one end there is a diffuser argument, at the other end there are the teams sitting down and really working hard to find solutions amongst themselves.
Q: (Tony Dodgins – Tony Dodgins Associates) There seems to have been quite a few concessions offered by the FIA at the last debate. What actually stopped a compromise being reached? I notice they are still going to run the Cosworths with the higher rev limit. Was that the stumbling block or is it the fact that you couldn’t sign up to something without any guarantees?
CH: I think the fundamental issue is the concept of entering a championship without regulations fully sorted, without the governance issues that have been raised and discussed and agreed to be debated, without those being dealt with in advance. It’s impossible to enter something and say ‘we’ll sort it out after you’ve entered.’ I think the position was, it has to be sorted, clear, concise, for every member to enter the championship, rather than entering something with goodwill but no clarity, no guarantees, open to debate with other members – we don’t even know who they are at the moment. Therefore, I think that’s very much the position that we found ourselves in, that without that clarity, without those concrete compromises, solutions in place, I think it was an untenable position for the teams.
MW: What was important, I think, to FOTA, was that we had the ten original teams all stating a willingness to enter into a new Concorde Agreement and to compete until at least 2012 and that was an achievement that was brought about by the cost-saving initiatives of FOTA. I think we couldn’t reach a point where all the FOTA members were prepared to dive into a championship without certainty in terms of the Concorde Agreement, in terms of the governance, in terms of the regulations. I think there was a strong feeling that we want to try and stay together, we want to be inclusive, we want to keep as many involved as we could have done. I think any of the teams here had the choice and the opportunity, I’m sure, at various times to break away and to sign up but I think we knew that in doing that, we would be irreparably fracturing the group that currently competes in Formula One and I think that would be very, very damaging. So the view at the end was that we want to race against all the big names that are involved in Formula One today and the path that we’ve chose at the moment represents the best chance of us achieving that.
RB: One of the dilemmas that the teams have, touching on what Christian mentioned, is that the rules are published, five teams have entered under those rules including Adam’s team and the rules, as they stand today, are that next year there’s a £40m budget cap. You can have a movable rear wing, you can have four wheel drive, you can have double strength KERS, you have any number of things. Now in fairness, Max has said that he will correct those, he will put those back to how they should be and we’ll operate under one set of rules but by definition, we’re asking for governance which would mean that the governance needs those teams to agree to those rule changes, otherwise it’s not governance, so how do we get those teams to agree to those rule changes if the governance, by definition, means that they have to agree to it. I don’t know what Adam’s position is, he might quite happily say here that he will agree to all of them but there are five teams involved and there are no guarantees. Max, quite genuinely, may believe that he can swing it but we’ve got to enter the championship on the assumption that those things will be corrected and sorted and I don’t know how it’s done, maybe inducements that are made to the teams to give them support in some way because obviously they’re going to struggle in Formula One but we’ve got ourselves into this sort of vicious loop. Some teams are more relaxed about finding a solution to that than others but collectively, as a group, it was very difficult for FOTA to accept that.
AP: Because Ross has almost asked the question I would like it to make it very clear that Williams would do anything that met with the approval of the FIA and the FOTA teams that could result in a solution. We will never prevent or be party to anything that would prevent that from happening. I have to say, having heard what the three guys have said, that it seems to be that the situation is not intractable because what each of them is talking about are process issues: how do you know what the rules are, how do you get governance sorted out, how do you have guarantees about what you’re entering into? I have to say that having not really spoken to many people for a while, I find it quite encouraging actually. I hope that everybody out there who has an ability to help find a solution is listening carefully because I think what’s being said is that it is possible to find a solution. Certainly Williams will play any part we can in making that happen.
Bridgestone
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
What was significant about today's running?
"Today was a little strange. It was very windy, which affects the cars differently depending on the wind direction and can make it difficult to get the best set-up to make the best use of our tyres. In the morning we saw some graining on the hard front Bridgestones, which were the only tyres used in this session. In the afternoon, the track temperature was warmer and both compounds were used. We did not see the expected amount of graining with the soft tyre, meaning that it worked well, and also there was no graining on the hard. There were not the usual improvements in lap time through this session, and we believe that the wind and fuel levels may have made a difference here."
How do you expect this allocation to work over the weekend?
"The British weather will play a big part in answering this question. Not only did we have relatively high winds at the circuit today, it was also colder than we see at most grands prix. At today's temperatures, the soft Bridgestone could well be the better qualifying and race tyre for most people, however if the temperatures are warmer the hard Bridgestone could look like a more attractive race tyre."
Ferrari
Silverstone, 19 June 2009 - The first day of track action for the British Grand Prix went almost unnoticed as the political side of the sport took centre stage, but for the drivers, engineers and mechanics at Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, it was business as usual. Under past rules, there would have been a week long test at the Silverstone circuit prior to the race, but with the ban on in-season testing, acquiring data on Friday takes on more importance than usual, especially at such a technically demanding circuit. With this in mind, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa racked up an impressive mileage, with the Brazilian completing 60 laps, exactly equivalent to a British GP race distance, and Kimi doing even more. However, they ended the day down in seventeenth and eighteenth places and, although some of the other teams may well have been running more new tyres and with less fuel, both drivers admitted this was going to be a tough weekend: points rather than podiums would seem to be the more realistic target for Sunday afternoon.
While the Brawn duo of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello may head the Drivers’ classification at the moment, they finished fourteenth and sixth respectively on a day when the Red Bull Renaults looked on top form, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber topping both time sheets today, the only men to break under the 1m 20s barrier. A surprising third, given the Force India team’s performance so far this season, was Adrian Sutil, while Kazuki Nakajima was fourth for Williams ahead of the Renault of Fernando Alonso.
There are many traditions surrounding this event and of course one of them has to be the weather. So far, it has been fairly benevolent and although it is cold for mid-June, thanks to a strong wind, there has been no rain so far and in fact the only wet time predicted for the weekend is tomorrow morning, when rain is due to coincide with the end of the final hour of free practice, leaving dry and warm conditions for the afternoon’s qualifying.
Felipe Massa - 17th: "I am not very happy with the way these two free practice sessions went. The track was rather dirty and the wind also had an effect. We didn't manage to find the right way to go to improve the balance of the car. There is definitely a lot of work awaiting us in preparation for qualifying, where the most realistic target at the moment is to get into the top ten."
Kimi Raikkonen - 18th: "Difficult to say where we are in respect to the others: we will have to wait for tomorrow's qualifying to find out. Clearly, looking at today's results, we are definitely not in for an easy weekend. The car's not bad in terms of balance, but doesn't seem to be quick enough. The tyres are the same as in Turkey, but of course it is much cooler here: on the first lap, the performance between the two types is quite different, but then over a longer run, they tend to be similar. As predicted, there's a wind blowing on the track, but it's not as damaging as I'd expected."
Chris Dyer: "We had a few little problems on both cars: nothing particularly serious but enough to slow us down in completing the programme we had planned for the two drivers. We have various new components on the F60 and now we will have to analyse the car's behaviour to try and tackle a weekend that certainly looks like being a tough one, in the best way possible."
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel - 1st: "Overall I think it was a good day for both of us. I don't know what happened to Mark at the end of the second session, but otherwise it was a smooth run through the programme. We were able to do a lot of laps and collect a lot of data.The new parts that we brought here seem to be working well, which is a good sign, but on a Friday it's always difficult to know how quick we really are. I think we've made a step forward though and, just like our team slogan Red Bull Gives You Wings, I think they helped us today for our performance on track."
Mark Webber - 2nd: "It's been a pretty good day for us; we've tried a few new bits here, which seem to be going pretty well. We've tried both sets of tyres and need to go through all the data tonight. My second session ended a little early as I hit a kerb on Turn five, which caused the car's electronics to stop. Silverstone is a spectacular circuit and always has been - it's phenomenal to drive it in a Formula One car. I was lucky enough to talk to some of the fans when I stopped on the track and they said the car was looking incredible, so it's nice to see that they're enjoying what we're doing."
Williams
Objectives P1
• Analysis of new aero components
• Mechanical set-up work
Objectives P2
• Performance evaluations with low and high fuel loads
• Further mechanical set-up work and tyre comparisons
Conclusions - Sam Michael, Technical Director
“That was a good Friday session. We ran through lots of checks with the new parts we‘ve brought here for this race. We’ll go through the data tonight, but everything is working well. We also completed our usual tyre evaluations and cooling checks.”
Nico Rosberg - 1:20.815 (9th) 32 LAPS, 1:20.468 (9th) 42 LAPS
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 8 (scrubbed prime), 6 (scrubbed prime), 11 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime), 11 (new prime), 11 (new option), 4 (new option), 3 (scrubbed option)
“We tried a few things, especially with the car’s aerodynamics, and we definitely learned a lot. The wind made things quite difficult though so it wasn’t so straightforward to find the right set-up direction today, but we made the best of it. It’s always a compromise between the quick corners in the first sector and the slow corners in the last sector. Tyre-wise, maybe the option isn’t quite as good as we would have hoped, but it’s still the better tyre here.”
Kazuki Nakajima - 1:21.489 (17th) 26 LAPS, 1:20.209 (4th) 36 LAPS
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 8 (scrubbed prime), 6 (scrubbed prime), 5 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 4 (scrubbed prime), 6 (new prime), 8 (new option), 10 (new option)
“Today’s sessions went well for us. I was caught up in quite a bit of traffic in the early runs, but managed to get some clear air later on. We tried many different set-ups with the car; some of which were quite interesting, so we now need to look at the data in preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying.”
BRAWN GP
Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello began Brawn GP’s on-track preparations for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone today.
With both cars affected by the strong breezes around the circuit, the afternoon session provided more valuable data as the drivers worked through a series of aerodynamic and set-up evaluations with the latest upgrades for the BGP 001 car.
A busy programme saw Rubens completing 55 laps over the course of the day with Jenson completing 48 laps.
RESULTS
Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Rubens Barrichello 23 BGP 001-01 29 laps 01:20.242 P4 26 laps 01:20.244 P6
Jenson Button 22 BGP 001-02 20 laps 01:20.227 P3 28 laps 01:20.767 P14
Weather Cool and breezy
Temperatures Air: 14-17°C Track: 19-34°C
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
“We had a reasonable day and made some good progress on the balance particularly in the second session. There is a lot of work ahead for us tonight however and the pace of our closest competitors was impressive which we need to have a look at. We will have to see what tomorrow will bring but hopefully the track will come towards us and we can have a good day.”
JENSON BUTTON
“We tried a few different evaluations with the aero today and initially struggled as I had no grip in either the high or low speed corners. The wind also really affected the car’s performance today. We made improvements towards the end of the afternoon session so we have some good information to look at tonight to try and make further progress before qualifying.”
ROSS BRAWN
“The track evolution this morning and the strong winds have combined to make the cars quite difficult to work with today and it has been something of a challenge to achieve our planned programme. However this afternoon’s session was more productive with both Jenson and Rubens giving similar feedback on the characteristics of their cars. We will go through all the information carefully this evening but the data gathered this afternoon should give us the right direction on the set-up and aero configuration required for qualifying tomorrow.”
Renault
Fernando Alonso - 5th: "It was a normal Friday for us. We need to improve the car, but in the second practice session we were quite happy with the result. However, we know that we will have a very tough fight in qualifying tomorrow and that one or two tenths can make a big difference in terms of position. So we are still trying to find a little bit more from the car, some extra tenths to really maximise our potential, but we've definitely moved in the right direction today."
Nelson Piquet - 10th: "It was a busy day and we managed to get a lot done, including the usual set-up work and tyre evaluation. As always at Silverstone it was quite windy, but it didn't cause too many problems and we managed to improve the car quite a bit, especially in the afternoon. We also tried out the new developments that we have this weekend, including the new front wing. We now have a lot of information to go through to try and make the most of the final practice session tomorrow morning."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "I'm quite happy with the competitiveness of the car here. We expected the quick corners to suit us and the sector times seem to indicate that we are quite competitive in the faster parts, hence our overall lap times look to be slightly ahead of our normal position. Having said that, we know it will be an extremely close qualifying session and so I'd still like to find a little bit more speed from the car."
Force India
Adrian Sutil - 3rd: "Today went well as I was happy with the car the whole day. It was a bit surprising to be third in FP2, but it was a really good session, the best position so far this year on a Friday. We ran through our programme, doing a lot of tyre work and the long runs seem to be quite OK. The soft option goes off a little in the rear but should be fine on Sunday, so no real worries there. I don't think it's realistic to expect us to be third for qualifying, but everything is working really well and I am quite confident about making it through to Q2 again. If we can do this again we'd be quite satisfied."
Giancarlo Fisichella - 19th: "This morning was OK and we had some good runs, and the lap time was not bad. This afternoon however I was suffering with oversteer and we made some small changes, but in the end with the new tyres I was suffering with understeer. It wasn't such a great FP2 but the potential is there as Adrian has set a really good time. I think tomorrow we should go in the top 15 in qualifying."
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer: "It was nice to see Adrian close to the top of the times this afternoon, and we've generally been pleased with today's sessions. The team has worked very well today and being so close to the HQ really spurs us on. It was very windy, and that affected the cars' balance this afternoon with a tendency to oversteer being the result. We ran our usual programme to understand the tyre behaviour and we will have to analyse the data thoroughly this evening. The cars ran reliably through more than two race distances over both sessions and we're looking forward to another good qualifying session tomorrow."
McLaren
*Lewis Hamilton - 7th: "It took a while to get used to the car this morning. It feels a little different from what we've been running in previous races. Generally, I'm very happy with the balance but, with a revised car and on a high-speed circuit like this, it takes a bit longer than usual to find the limit."
"It's no secret that we're lacking speed in the faster sections. But the car wasn't too bad today. The balance was good, we've made some set-up changes and it now appears to be fairly consistent. But this has already turned out to be one of the best weekends of the year for me because I'm at my home grand prix and the fans are incredible here - I've seen and felt their support from the very first lap I did today."
Heikki Kovalainen - 12th: "Firstly, it's great to be back at Silverstone because it's a circuit I love. I got pole position last year and I really enjoy driving here. We know we face a tougher weekend this season because we're lacking grip, but the balance of the car didn't feel too bad this morning. As Lewis is running without KERS this weekend, we now have to analyse the balance of both cars and see what we'll do for the rest of the weekend.
"We're definitely making progress. It's still difficult to say whether it's an advantage to be running KERS, but I felt I was getting a laptime benefit from the system. This weekend will be all about developing our car and seeing what difference the changes make to both Lewis's and my pace. The whole team is pushing like crazy and we're getting a better understanding of our car. Whatever happens, we are definitely going to learn a lot of useful things about the car this weekend."
Martin Whitmarsh – team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: "We're fully aware that the characteristics of the Silverstone circuit don't suit our technical package, but we have taken on an aggressive approach for the weekend, splitting our drivers' development programmes to more fully understand the nature of the changes we've made to each car.
"We'll learn some valuable lessons from this approach and are confident that it will pay dividends and allow us to mount an increasingly stronger challenge throughout Saturday and into Sunday's race."
Norbert Haug – vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Lewis today drove without KERS because Silverstone is a circuit where you do not brake too often: you get less of a benefit from the system here than you would on heavy-braking circuits. By way of comparison, Heikki used the system today and our specialists will analyse today's results and decide whether we choose to continue using the system on his car for the rest of the weekend.
"Generally, this great circuit with lots of fast corners does not help our cars to be competitive. "We need further dramatic improvements to come back to the position where we won five of the last 10 British Grands Prix – the last one in most convincing manner with Lewis last year."
BMW Sauber
*Robert Kubica, P1 - 1:21.801, 20th; P2 - 1:20.622, 11th
“It was a difficult day for me. In the morning I had electronic problems on the car which prevented me from doing one single proper outing. Then, in the early stages of the second free practice the engine lost power. A big thank you to the mechanics who did a fantastic job changing it in a very short time! This meant that at least I had the chance to do two problem-free outings in the afternoon and some set-up work.”
Nick Heidfeld, P1 - 1:21.103, 13th; P2 - 1:20.932, 15th
“For me it was a rather normal Friday. I did the tyre comparison and set-up work as planned. The track was very dusty, dirtier than usual, and therefore improved quite quickly during the session. That makes it difficult to make a judgement on the changes and on the new front wing, but I think it is better and gives us more downforce.”
*Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber head of engineering:
“We started the race weekend with a new front wing that just was delivered in during the first session. The first impression was positive. We concentrated fully on set-up work today. Nick finished his programme as scheduled and also did a long-run in preparation for the race in the afternoon. Meanwhile Robert lost some valuable time due to various reasons. In the first session he had cut outs due to the electronics. We changed the relevant parts. In the afternoon he told us he had a sudden loss of power. We immediately called him in, because we did not want to run the risk of him having to stop on the track. The engine was changed in a record time of 35 minutes so he was able to finish part of his programme.”
Toro Rosso
Sebastien Bourdais - 16th: "We ran the two cars with very different settings: I was fairly happy with mine and when I tried Buemi's I didn't like it all, so we went back to our first choice and it was better again, so that gives us a clear indication of which direction we should go in. As for the usual Friday tyre comparison, we've got an accurate picture from today's data. We still lack pace, but it looks better than Turkey and we just have to continue getting the most out of our current package until our major update comes along."
Sebastien Buemi - 20th: "I didn't have such a good day and that was because I did not really find my way with the car set-up on this circuit and the whole thing didn't really come together for me. I tried a different approach to my team-mate, but I think we will end up going in the direction that he took, as it seemed to work better and that should help me make the best of tomorrow. The tyre comparison went well, nothing went wrong with the car and, looking at Bourdais' lap time, I think we can be more competitive than in Turkey, but I need to improve a lot."
Toyota
*Jarno Trulli - 8th: "I had a trouble-free couple of sessions working through the usual programme of evaluating the different tyre compounds and looking at various set-ups. The car feels pretty good but as usual here at Silverstone it was very windy. This makes it quite difficult to set-up the car and it's not ideal when it comes to evaluating different set-ups because the conditions change from lap to lap. But we had no other issues and we just need to improve the outright performance a little bit for tomorrow in order to be closer to the top. I am still optimistic."
Timo Glock - 13th: "It has been a reasonable start for us on the whole. We did quite a few laps and looked at various different set-ups. We had no serious problems but of course there are areas we need to work on before qualifying to get the maximum out of our package. The balance is not ideal at the moment but we have the chance to improve that tomorrow morning. If you look at what happened in Turkey, where we made a big step forward on Saturday morning, then we can be pretty hopeful for this race."
*Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test: "It was a positive day for us. We have got some new aerodynamic components on the car which we successfully tested. Everything looks fine, we had no technical problems so we went smoothly through our programme which is always a good way to start the weekend. In terms of tyres, these are the same compounds we had in Turkey. We don't seem to have a major worry with them for the rest of the weekend and that is good news because sometimes this year there have been occasions when it was a bit of a challenge. So now we are looking to build on this positive Friday over the rest of the weekend."
On the eve of the British Grand Prix, Round eight of the 2009 Formula One World Championship, current Championship leaders Brawn GP are pleased to confirm a new partnership with the iconic British watch marque Graham-London.
Founded in London by George Graham, the renowned 18th century clockmaker known as the ‘Father of the Chronograph’, the Graham-London brand is part of The British Masters, an Anglo-Swiss company based at La Chaux-de-Fonds in Neuchatel, the heart of Switzerland’s watch making industry. Graham-London combines the best of Britain’s watch heritage with the Swiss passion for fine engineering detail to continue the spirit and dedication to timekeeping begun by Graham.
The British Grand Prix weekend will see the launch of two very special limited edition Brawn GP watches designed and created by Graham-London to reflect the distinctive brand and values of the Brawn GP team. The Chronofighter G-BGP-001 and the Silverstone G-BGP-001, available with black or white dials, will be limited to just 250 editions per range.
The Graham-London brand will feature on the wing mirrors of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn-Mercedes race cars from the first practice running at Silverstone today as the team begins its on-track preparations for Sunday’s race,
Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Brawn GP said: “Our home race, the British Grand Prix, is a very special weekend for the Brawn GP team with our factory based just down the road from Silverstone. We are delighted to begin the weekend with the announcement of our partnership with Graham-London, one of the most prestigious watch brands in the world, and a brand with a strong British heritage. The two special edition Brawn GP watches created by Graham have been very thoughtfully designed to reflect the high level of technological and design consideration required in Formula One. We look forward to working closely with Graham-London and The British Masters over the coming months and sharing our on-track successes.”
Eric Loth, CEO and Founder of The British Masters said: “I am delighted to see the start of this fantastic partnership between Graham-London and the Brawn GP team at the British Grand Prix this weekend. For Graham-London, this represents a great opportunity to share two extraordinarily advanced high technologies and an inspiring challenge for us to push our design and technical limits. As a mechanical engineer and materials scientist, my vision of sport is deepened by appreciating it as a science, the highest level of creation and development. Speed, racing, innovation and technology are all brought to mind from the sport of Formula One and we are delighted to launch our two new Brawn GP special edition watches this weekend, the Silverstone and the Chronofighter, designed with these values in mind."
Notes to Editors
Perhaps best known as the ‘Father of the chronograph’, George Graham (1673-1751) was also the brains behind inventions such as the dead-beat cylinder escapement, the first wall chronograph and the mercury pendulum. Commissioned by the Greenwich Royal Observatory to create the Master Clock used by astronomers, he became the first great 18th century clockmaker to be admitted to the Royal Society. Based on inventive concepts determining design, functions and finish, Graham watches evoke a powerful fascination among connoisseurs and collectors with technically and esthetically playful objects that combine originality, exclusivity and avant-garde with the excellence of traditional know-how. Perpetuating this spirit of remarkable innovations and technical expertise, Graham is now a contemporary watch brand dedicated to enthusiasts of the mechanical arts. Open-minded and passionately interested in exchanges with his peers, including in other countries, Graham would have doubtlessly approved of this modern Swiss initiative to revive the finest British horological traditions. The British Masters SA is a private Anglo-Swiss owned firm founded in 1995 by Swiss watchmaking engineer Eric Loth in the Neuchatel canton, Switzerland’s watchmaking heart. The British Masters continues to write the history of two legendary watchmaking names: Graham-London and Arnold & Son.