Today's team representatives press conference with Ayao Komatsu, Laurent Mekies and James Vowles.
James, why don't we start with you and kick things off by talking about FP1, if we could, and the job that Luke Browning did for you first?
James Vowles: Yeah, Luke did a great job. You have to remember that, for a lot of these rookies, they haven't been in the car for months. To jump straight in and do sensible laps within a few tenths of the main drivers, and then complete the programme we needed, is fantastic. Well done to him in that regard.
What does next year look like for Luke? Do you have a plan for him yet?
JV: Multiple plans that we're etching out. Nothing that we can announce at this point, but racing in other categories all over the world, and then here, still maintaining FP1s and our reserve status.
Okay, now while we're talking drivers, can we reference some comments made by Fernando Alonso after the Grand Prix in Austin, in which he lambasted Alex Albon and the bottom third of the grid? What's your reaction when you read or heard about those?
JV: First of all, Fernando is one of the greats and he's entitled to his opinion, but I disagree with it. There was a racing incident. The stewards looked at it. It's Lap 1. Both were going for the same piece of tarmac. There was actually, I think, one of the Haas cars also, not that it was their fault, but just the gaps were all closing. Simple as that. The grid today is filled with race winners and podium contenders, and that includes Fernando himself at that point. I don't think his comments really stand in that regard.
You've been in Formula 1 a long time. Do you think this is the highest-quality grid we've had in your career?
JV: Yes, I would say so. I was just trying to think back if there's another year. Probably I'll be picked up by some statistician out there, but in my opinion, yes, I think what you're really seeing out there is that we all know there's a pretty close fight between all of us at the back, with only a few milliseconds separating us. Your position on Lap 1 can tend to dominate that, which just means there's a lot more scrapping than there was before.
And just bigger-picture stuff, James. This is proving to be a tough end to the season for Williams. What objectives have you set the team?
JV: Yeah, it's obviously undoubtedly tough. First of all, well done to Carlos and Alex. They are brilliant leaders in this time of difficulty in bringing the team forward. Also, if you were to walk around Williams, you'll see everyone's heads are held high. It's a tough year. We made mistakes 12 months ago that we're paying for even today. But, long story short, I think in part we probably had to go through that in order to make the correction for our future. The main focus to the end of the year is just on getting it right in 2027. That's fixing everything in the background for that to happen.
James, thank you for that. I'm sure there'll be more questions for you in a minute. Laurent, if we could come to you, and let's start with FP1 and the job done by Ayumu Iwasa. It's not often that an FP1 driver outpaces one of the regular guys.
Laurent Mekies: Look, Ayumu did really, really an outstanding job. James described how difficult it is for anyone to jump in, but he has really impressed us from the first lap out there. It's easy to forget that I'm sure we all apply a reasonable amount of pressure on these young drivers to make sure they do not take unnecessary risks and to find that balance and to produce the sort of lap times that Ayumu has produced this morning is very impressive, so very happy. We actually had a proper working session with him in terms of testing a few things, so it was very, very useful.
Quite a lot during the build-up to this race has been made of running these power units at extreme altitude for the first time. Were there any unforeseen issues with your PU?
LM: I think there have been no unforeseen issues so far related to the altitude. In fairness, we did have a PU issue with Isack this morning and lost a bit of track time. The guys did a very good job and managed to send him back on track, but nothing linked with altitude. I think we all expect somewhat the pecking order, both in terms of PU for the altitudes and perhaps also in terms of cars, with all the compromises we all have to make on the cooling side, we expect that this race could be a one-off in terms of pecking order. We don't really have an idea whether we will have an advantage or a deficit this weekend. Only time will tell. But what is sure is that there is a fair amount of lap time, PU side plus chassis side, that is unusually in the game this weekend. So, let's see how it pans out.
In the context of competitiveness, can we throw it back to Austin, where Max described his race as average? What lessons were learned there that you can apply this weekend?
LM: Max is correct. We felt we had a fairly untidy Sunday. In fairness, Kimi and Mercedes were a touch too fast for us, certainly on Sunday in Austin. But we were not at the same sort of performance level as we were in Malaysia and Singapore. Some of that was expected. Some of that was something we feel we can fight back with. So, there are certainly a few things that we will tackle differently this weekend.
Okay, thank you very much, Laurent. Ayao, if we come to you now, can we start with FP1? You were another team running another driver, Ryo Hirakawa in your case, just half a second off Ollie. Tell us about the job he did.
Ayao Komatsu: No, again, he did a very good job, and he's been doing a good job through the TPC programme. It was really good to get him in the car now because the last time he drove the car was our, let's say, previous spec, before the Monza upgrade. Again, it just confirmed the car is night and day better, much more consistent and predictable, echoing what both race drivers are saying. It was really good for him to experience that as well. We had a different programme, brake programme, and he completed that very well. His feedback was good. We don't know exactly what we're going to do with him next year, but we'd like to continue our programme with him this year, regardless of what's happening for next year. So, he's done a good job.
Let's stay with drivers for a minute, because Ollie was in here yesterday talking about 2027. He made it clear that he wants to continue with Haas, and he even said, "If it was up to me, it would already have been announced." So, what's the hold-up?
AK: Yeah, I don't think I can go into the details of what's the hold-up. I'm sorry, I can't answer that question. But look, it's very, very clear from both parties, from Ollie's side and our side, TGR, Haas from the team side, they want to continue working together. We work really well together, push each other, enjoy, really, most importantly, really enjoy working together. He brings a lot to the team, and then we are growing together. So our intentions from both parties are fully aligned. We're trying to find a solution to work together next year, and I'm sure we will.
And we're talking about Ollie at the scene of his great fourth place last year, his best result in Formula 1. In what areas have you seen him evolve and develop since then?
AK: For instance compared to last year... Beginning of this year was good. We came off the block very well, but mid-season we were really struggling. I think this is the first time he experienced that he was driving so well, but he's nowhere near scoring in the top 10. So, you have to almost readjust yourself and refocus yourself to say, "Okay, I'm not fighting where I want to be fighting, in the top 10, for point, even though I'm driving better than ever, I'm finishing P13, P14." But he had to do that. He got to keep that motivation, keep motivating the team, pushing the team forward. At the most frustrating point in his time over the weekend, he sometimes had to think about the team, and he's doing that without actually us saying, "This is how you need to behave." So, I just see a huge maturity and growth in his leadership capability in him, and he's only 21 years old. That is really impressive. I still remember one of the most frustrating races he had. Ten seconds after the chequered flag dropped, he wasn't complaining. He was really trying to motivate the team, whereas somebody else could have just talked about how bad the car was, right? So, that's really huge growth. I think speed, I would say, hasn't changed because he had amazing speed from day one. That hasn't gone. Certainly, he hasn't gone slower, but I'm not sure if he's gone quicker. But he's there. In terms of consistency of delivery, understanding how he gets that speed out of himself all the time and motivating the team, I see huge growth potential.
Questions From The Floor
(Craig Slater - Sky Sports UK) A question for Ayao. Just picking up on what you've been saying about Ollie, clearly you expect the deal to be done soon. Can you clear up some of the things people are reading, that it's excessive wage demands from Ollie's side that are holding things up, that he's asking for six million euros a year or something like that? Has it been a difficult negotiation in that sense? And just further to that, in any sense, do you appreciate he might be thinking about his next move after Haas, and how do you factor that into any deal?
AK: On the first question, can you clarify? Do you understand where that comes from?
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