Team Representatives: Dan Towriss, Flavio Briatore and Pedro de la Rosa.

Flavio, if we could start with you, please. Great start to the season for the team. Alpine has already surpassed its points total from last year. What aspect of the performance pleases you the most?
Flavio Briatore: Good afternoon to everybody. What we've done last year, we've not developed the car at all, because if we develop the car still, we are P9 and not P10, there's no big difference, and we're working much better in the wind tunnel, etcetera. We had the agreement with Mercedes, and all this together put the big improvement. We are not there yet, absolutely. The new set-up of the team, with the new engineering [staff] we have in the team, and especially the agreement with Mercedes for the power unit, it makes such a big difference for us. And after you have the driver in the car. Franco is doing better. Pierre is being Pierre, like the performance of Pierre is always consistent, and altogether makes us a little bit better, a little bit more competitive.

Tell us a little bit more about Franco. He's gone much better since Miami. What do you put that down to?
FB: We put a new battery! Franco, he's a young guy, like all these young drivers arriving in Formula 1 with a lot of pressure. At the time, last year, if you remember, you don't know if he was finishing the season or not, finishing the season. He was not really concentrating on the driving; he was concentrating on the gossip. Now he's settled down and all the team like him, and we are very happy with the performance he made just for now. And we don't know how good is Franco. We see, because all these young drivers are difficult to understand what is the limit, what kind of growing still have a driver like Franco. We see. We have the full year to understand where we are.

And off-track, Flavio, you've been busy. Can you give us an update about the sale of the Otro Capital shares?
FB: Really, you have another question? In one way, Otro is nothing to do with the team. Otro, its founders bought 24% of the team, Alpine, two years ago, and in the moment want to sell, like everybody knows. It was negotiated with Toto Wolff behind the Williams team, the Mercedes team. Looks like three days ago the agreement fell, all the negotiation. That's basically what happened. It has nothing to do with the team. We don't have any pressure from Renault Group regarding Otro. This is really the problem. Renault Group is not the problem of the Alpine team.

Do you understand why Toto pulled out?
FB: Very easy. The price was too high. At one point, the guys build up the different price and I think... Toto was very fair. I believe it. I don't think the Otro people are fair. Toto, in all the negotiations was very fair.

Final one. You've announced a big deal with Gucci. Does this feel like Benetton 2.0?
FB: At the time, Benetton was not a luxury brand, it was a brand and we created a winning team with the brand of Benetton. Gucci is one of the big deals done, I think, in all my time in Formula 1. We've done Mild Seven, we've done Telefónica, ING, we've done a lot of things, but this one was really difficult to do because there's too many parties involved, and I'm very happy because they're upgrading the team as well. It's Gucci Alpine, and upgrading the team. And the people with Gucci, unbelievable. When we announced the deal, in three days there was one billion visitors in the Wi-Fi. But I believe it's good for Formula 1. We had two big luxury brands in Formula 1. We had Louis Vuitton in one side, and Louis Vuitton is a sponsor, a supporter of FOM, but in the arena, this is like the spectator. But in the arena, Gucci is in the arena. Gucci is in the car and is a title sponsor. I want to, as well, thank you to BWT. We have an incredible relationship with Andreas and with all the group of BWT, but the position of the team, I want to be, I believe, for growing very quickly for the image, as well financially, the deal with Gucci was perfect. It was really a super deal.

All right, Flavio. Thank you very much. I'm sure there'll be more questions for you in a minute. Dan, if we could come to you now. Why don't we start with some first impressions of Monaco. It's the team's first race here. What do you make of it all?
Dan Towriss: Yeah, I mean it's incredible to be racing in Monaco. As you said, it's our first race for Cadillac Formula 1, and so there's such a special history here, it's such a special race on the Formula 1 circuit, and so this is a big milestone for the team to finally be here racing, for Checo to be back here as a former champion. He's obviously feeling very good, and so we like the progress, we like being here, and very excited.

Well, Checo looked like he was going very well in FP1. Does the unique nature of Monaco offer you guys more of an opportunity?
DT: I think so. I mean, obviously, we've got to continue to execute and we'll see. It was just a first practice, but you never know. Something magical can always happen here. But really, from our standpoint, we're just focused on the progress of the team, just continuing to mature this organisation and make the cars go faster.

Can you tell us more about the progress you've made with the team? Are you satisfied with where you are now compared to where you started in Melbourne?
DT: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's one process to get a Formula 1 car to the track, to get it to the testing, the pre-season testing. It's quite a different process to run a team as you think about upgrades and all the things that happen racing throughout the year. And so, this organisation is maturing before our eyes as it continues to make all the improvements necessary - in every stop, it's performance on the car, it's pit stops, it's organisation in the garage, it's the things we're doing in the factory. All of those work streams are happening simultaneously. And so, I'm very happy with the progress, but at the same time everything's not performing to its maximum, so there's always potential, there's always more out there. It's finding that right balance of being happy and unhappy at the same time.

Tell us about the drivers, the progress they're making and the influence as well that they're having on the team.
DT: Yeah, I mean, obviously their feedback is very important to the development of the car. I think both drivers are doing exactly what we want them to do. I think we've seen a rejuvenated Checo on track. I just really admire how much fun he's having racing. You're seeing the confidence build, the feedback growing. Progress isn't always linear, so obviously Valtteri is not at the same pace as Checo, but he's doing all the things that we're asking, and his feedback is helpful as well as we're looking to do things to secure the rear of the car and things like that. So yeah, it's great, and again, both very instrumental in moving this car forward.

Reaction to the speculation surrounding Valtteri's future at the team?
DT: I think Graeme was very clear in that piece. We're just a few races in and so Valtteri is doing everything that we can ask. And so, I think when I first saw some of the news, my reaction was, "Wow, we've actually shown enough progress that people are starting to mess with our drivers." Apparently, Checo's leaving and Valtteri is going to be sacked, and we'll be left with no drivers. So clearly, we're happy with both of them, they're committed to us and we're committed to them.

All right, Dan, thank you. I'm sure there'll be more questions for you in a minute. Pedro, thanks for waiting. Let's come to you. It's been a tough start for Aston this year. Are you starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel yet?
Pedro de la Rosa: Well, good afternoon to everyone. Definitely not yet. We are where we are. It's a difficult start, especially because we are in a position that we were not expecting to be in. However, there are really a lot of things happening behind the scenes in the factory which makes us believe that the upgrades, all the significant changes that we will introduce around the summer, will deliver. But we have to talk about what we have right now, and what we have right now is a very difficult car, drivers that are doing their best and they're doing absolutely an incredible job to drive the car as fast as they can in a reliable and safe way. But it is difficult. I would prefer to delay this when we see the light, when the actual upgrades are running and we can rely on facts. My words, we've been talking so much about what can be and the light at the end of the tunnel that sometimes it's a bit just repeating ourselves a bit too much.

Are the reliability niggles now sorted? The vibrations, the seat issues for Fernando last time out?
PdlR: Yes. I mean, there are many positives in the sense that the vibration issues are gone, past, it's gone. And Fernando did not say anything over the radio after FP1 about his seat, which is positive as well, which means that all the work that has been done on Tuesday at this track, trying to fit his '25 seat in this '26 car, has worked. However, Lance was complaining about seat problems, so we still have to fix some other problems, but it is going in the right direction.

You talked positively about the drivers a moment ago, but what about Fernando? A guy who's achieved so much in the sport. How difficult a period has this last six months been for him?
PdlR: Well, it's difficult for everyone. I mean, drivers especially, because they have to drive the car, they have to face the car, they have to face the media, they have to explain every race what's going on, very similar questions to known problems. And we know that in the next few races we have no upgrades. However, we can see the upgrades coming, but they're far away. So, the motivation is there, but it is definitely... They've been extremely supportive, they've been working extremely hard in the simulator, they've been working extremely hard in the team, in the race team, in the factory, spending the time. But it's difficult, because when you're not where you are expecting, or you are not where you want to be, it is always more complicated.

Check out our Friday gallery from Monaco here.