Today's team representatives press conference with Zak Brown, Frederic Vasseur and Steve Nielsen
Zak, your team is at the centre of attention this week regarding driver rumours. What can you tell us about the chats you've been having with Max Verstappen and his team?
Zak Brown: They're rumours? No conversations. I usually don't talk about my dinners but last night I had dinner with Nigel Mansell, which was really cool. He's won this race a bunch. I'm very happy with my two racing drivers, Lando and Oscar, and I think any time a name like Max is thrown around everyone gets pretty excited. Four-time World Champion, but very happy with our driver line-up.
So, if a move were to happen one day, it's not going to be any time soon?
ZB: Correct.
OK. What about performance, then? There was a bit of a dip last weekend in Austria. Do you understand why?
ZB: Yeah. Wasn't really much of a dip. We've not been at the front and Austria was no different. Oscar had a very good race. Lando's race wasn't as good but we understand why. We don't have much development on the car this weekend. We've got stuff coming but you've got to say Ferrari is doing an outstanding job. Red Bull took a nice step forward and, of course, Mercedes has been competitive from the word go. So, we have some work to do. We will catch up. I think we'll be winning races this year, so quite optimistic for the future.
So, in terms of the rest of the season, are you getting 2024 vibes? Do you think it could follow a similar pattern?
ZB: I hadn't really thought about comparing it to any particular season but we're a third of the way through, so we've seen over the last couple of years how much a championship can swing. So I think the Constructors', I think the Drivers' is open. We've got a lot of work ahead of us but it looks like the top four teams will have, I think we'll all win races this year, the field will tighten up, and we just need to get some more development on the car. We need to get the current Mercedes engine. We're the only one without the new engine, which will be coming for us shortly. So I think when you put those all together, if we can find some tenths here and there, then hopefully we'll be able to take it to Fred and company.
How much of a frustration is it that you're not running the latest-spec Merc here at Silverstone?
ZB: Yeah, of course we'd like to have it. Any time you have performance that you know is coming but you don't have it on your car yet, you want to get it as quickly as possible. But I wouldn't say it's a frustration. It just is what it is and we just keep our head down and keep pushing hard and it'll be in the back in not too long.
Zak, final one for me. You talk about winning races. Can you put a timeline on that? When you look at your car, is there a particular racetrack where you're going to be hopeful?
ZB: I don't think it's necessarily track-specific as much as all the hard work that the men and women at McLaren are doing, getting this bolted on the race car. So, I think in the next couple of races we should see a step forward. You don't know what the other competition's going to do. Fred upgrades his car every week and they've done a great job. I think it shows what you can do. And yeah, I'd like to think in and around the summer break we should be at the front of the field, but I don't think it's a track-specific thing.
Zak, thank you very much for that. Fred, let's come to you now. After the high of Barcelona, Lewis called Austria a reality check. What's your take on Ferrari's performance last weekend?
Fred Vasseur: It was not a good race at all for us. I think the performance in quali was decent, that we had a good quali, even if Kimi would have been in front of us. But the race didn't work at all and we work on it to try to avoid doing the same this weekend. But as Zak said, the field is tight. We are at the first stage of the development of the cars. It's true for everybody. We have to understand the tyres and I think everybody is a bit more up and down than we were last year after five years with the same car and the same tyres, that we are still doing some mistakes on set-up, on tyre management, and it was much less the case last year. I think for me it's the reason that you have evolution of results like this from one week to the other.
What did you learn in Austria that could help you be more competitive in Silverstone?
FV: This I will keep it for me.
OK. Now, look, can we talk about drivers? Lewis is clearly enjoying these 2026 cars, while Charles has found it hard to find his comfort zone. Where has he been struggling and what solutions are you putting in place to help?
FV: Yes, but I think your conclusion was the opposite after China, Japan. It's not because you have two races at the top of your team-mate or two races, the next two races behind him, that it's changing completely the picture. Charles is struggling the last two or three races probably a bit more with the set-up, but he was on the first row last week in Austria.
How have you helped? Has he needed any help on a personal level?
FV: I think they all need to have support from the team and the team needs the support of the drivers. We are working as a team in every single circumstance. Even when you are in front, you support the driver and the driver is pushing the team.
OK. Final one. Let's talk upgrades. Zak referenced it a moment ago. You've been pushing hard with developments on the car. Tell us how hard it is to balance the introduction of upgrades with, of course, the budget cap.
FV: You are referring to the comments of Toto? I found it quite ironic from Toto, coming from Toto and Mercedes. When Red Bull is developing or when Mercedes is developing, they are genius. When we are developing, we are cheating. I think you have to calm down with this. We didn't bring more parts than Red Bull or another one. I don't know if it was a joke, but...
Fred, do you think Toto was accusing you of cheating?
FV: If you think that we overshoot the cost cap, for me it's... going into this direction.
Fred, thank you very much. Steve, let's come to you now. You've been riding the crest of a wave for much of this season, scoring points at every race until we got to Austria. Do you understand why the competitiveness dropped off last weekend?
Steve Nielsen: Honestly, we weren't fast enough. It's simple. We did well at the first, I think, seven races. We got lucky a few times but we were always there or thereabouts in the mix of scoring points. And in Austria that just didn't come. We didn't qualify well enough, our starts weren't good enough and our high-fuel pace was not good enough, which was disappointing because we had quite a big development on the car. We need to understand why it didn't give us what we thought and we're flat out doing that at the moment.
So, I was going to say, what conclusions have you reached ahead of this weekend?
SN: Don't race on tracks where it's 60-degree track temp. Honestly, we've got a few things to try. Some of what happened in Austria was self-inflicted, to be honest, and we put that right for here. We tried two different set-ups in FP1 just now to give us a direction to try and confirm some of the stuff we think went wrong in Austria, and we've got a path to go there.
OK. And when we look at the Constructors' Championship this year, you have the top four teams and then there's yourselves and Racing Bulls in particular, fighting tooth and nail just behind. How do you view that battle with Racing Bulls? You're ahead at the moment. Do you think there's enough of a buffer for the remainder of the season?
SN: No. We're not even halfway through, are we? What is it? Ten, 11, 12 races left? No, there's no way we can relax. It only takes a small, sort of chaotic race - we've had some of those already - and if Racing Bulls are ahead of us, they can collect big. I think the gap in points is something like 13, so that could change in a weekend. So no, we're a long way from relaxing and we're in a development war with them, with Racing Bulls. And I keep hearing stories that some of the other teams - Aston Martin, Williams - are also bringing big upgrades, so we'll see. There's an awful long way to go and we're not taking anything for granted.
OK. And on the topic of drivers, quickly. Pierre is locked in for next season. Franco is not. Is he doing enough?
SN: Well, everybody wants more. I think Franco is a driver that has been a slow starter, dare I say it. He's getting better. He's produced some good runs this year already. Miami was good. China was good. He's improving. So I think he's there on merit and when the time comes, we'll make the decisions. If he's good enough, he'll stay, and if he's not, then there's a better option. That's just Formula 1.
In what areas has he improved the most?
SN: I think his consistency, particularly in races, is a lot better than it was and his ability to hang on to Pierre. He did a little bit of that last year but our car last year was so bad it was difficult to separate wheat from the chaff. But I think this year there's been a few times where he's been a match for Pierre and that's good to see.
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