Q&A with Boullier and Perman

21/06/2013
NEWS STORY

Two races without a decent points haul do not constitute a big drama insists Team Principal Eric Boullier, who keenly welcomes a new part-owner to the team with the news of Infinity Racing Partners taking a 35% stake in the squad.

What can you tell us about the ownership of the team?
Eric Boullier: This week we have some very good news which is another step in the development of the team by Genii Capital. A 35% stake has been sold to Infinity Racing Partners, an organisation committed to furthering the team's goals and supporting Genii Capital's vision for the team's future. The day to day running of the team here at Enstone remains unchanged but for the future, access to the global network of Infinity Racing's principal partners means there are major opportunities to secure high level sponsorships. Investors taking a stake in a team is common practice in Formula 1 and other sports, and Genii have been talking to potential partners for some time as they wanted to make sure that they would select the right one. We're happy that a strong investor has been found to help bolster the team's position and allow us to push for the future.

Montreal was the second consecutive event where results fell short of expectations; are the team falling away from the front of the field?
EB: Certainly not. In Monaco it was clear we had the pace and potential to achieve good results. Montreal was a different story, a difficult weekend for us, and we'll take that on the chin. We struggled a little bit in Canada, but we have been able to identify clear reasons why this occurred. We've learnt some valuable lessons and drawn the line under the Canadian Grand Prix. We head to Silverstone with a determined strategy to be back fighting for podiums.

Can the team maintain a championship push?
EB: Yes, and we're certainly not going to let two weekends of poor results stop us in our efforts. We have a very reasonable package to fit to the E21 for Silverstone - with a number of elements which should help with our performance - and we have plenty of other upgrades to come later in the season too.

What are your thoughts on the latest tyre allocations?
EB: We trust Pirelli's judgement in these matters as they have all the data to analyse and listen to the concerns of all the teams; some of whom are very keen to see the tyres changed, some of whom are very keen to have the tyres left as they are. Let's see what happens in the next three races for which the allocations have been made and see how that impacts on future allocations.

How do you rate the performance of both drivers in Canada?
EB: Kimi did a great job when you consider that he was suffering from a brake issue, and he continued his run of points finishes. It's frustrating for him and it's frustrating for us that he's finished without a strong points haul in a second consecutive race, but we have everything in place for Silverstone to reverse that trend. For two of the last three races, Romain's performance has been masked. In Spain our calculations showed a podium was possible were it not for the component failure which led to him retiring, and in Montreal his performance of driving through the field was masked by us having to change our tyre strategy. Had we continued on a one-stop Romain would have finished strongly in the points.

What do you make of Kimi's unbroken run of finishes and points scoring?
EB: Kimi's a points scoring machine and it will be nice if he sets a new record, even if he says he's not bothered by that sort of thing. Since his comeback with us he has been the most reliable driver on the grid for scoring points, and it's interesting to reflect back to the doubt some people had about his return to Formula 1. He's had some bad luck in the last two races, but I'm sure the drivers he's competing with will also have some bad luck too.

After a difficult weekend in Canada, Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane is feeling positive heading to Silverstone, with a useful box of tricks ready to be unleashed from the upgrades cupboard...

Montreal wasn't the weekend we wanted; what have we learnt from the experience?
Alan Permane: We struggled at a low energy circuit in both wet and dry conditions; that much is simple to say. Of course, as a team we go over the whole weekend and dissect every detail - including things like procedures, car setup and so on - to ensure we pick up on any area we may have missed out on and to identify if we could have done things better. Overall, it was very clear we were struggling for grip through the entire weekend in both wet and dry conditions. Romain put in some decent laps on Friday and ended both sessions in P3, but it was difficult to replicate that performance again. It looks like we weren't able to get the tyres into their performance window other than on Friday.

If the team struggles with low energy circuits, is there a concern for the rest of the season?
AP: Fortunately there aren't any more really low energy circuits to come this season. Of the current venues we visit, Montreal, Monaco and Hockenheim can be viewed as low energy and we've visited two of those already so far this year, with the third not being on the 2013 calendar. I'll be surprised if we encounter the issues we did in Montreal again this season.

What is needed from the car in Silverstone?
AP: It's a circuit which is similar to Barcelona in the regard that it exposes weaknesses in downforce. You need an efficient car; one with a decent amount of downforce, but one which remains slippery for the straights. There are two straights where the cars exceed 300kph, so too much drag will hurt here. There are some very high speed corners, with the first sector of the lap consisting entirely of high speed turns. The new layout has brought a few more technical corners, but overall it's still counted as a high-speed track. You need to set up the car aerodynamically to be as quick as possible through the medium and high speed corners and along the straights. The circuit is windy with a scarcity of shelter which - added to unpredictable weather - makes set-up difficult at times. The wind can lead you to run with less than optimum levels of front wing to keep the car consistent.

What upgrades are there for the car?
AP: We have a tighter, figure-hugging bodywork package which should give some benefit; especially if the weather is quite cool at Silverstone. There's a new front wing, suspension profiles and suspension upgrades in addition to various other aero upgrades, which combine to give us what should be our biggest step forward of the year. This is a good thing, of course, but we'll be running them in the context of all our rivals probably unveiling significant upgrade packs too. We conducted a couple of days of straight-line running after Canada with positive results and some of the fruits of this work should be seen in Silverstone.

What do you make of the latest tyre allocations for the next three races?
AP: They certainly seem conservative and contrary to the supposed approach for the tyre allocations in 2013. The individual compounds - supersoft, soft, medium and hard - were made softer for each grade this year in order to present teams with a challenge, which is what we saw at some races earlier in the season. That work is undone if you simply allocate harder compounds for races, as we've seen with those nominated for the next three rounds. It's certainly unusual to take the same tyres to Hungary as to Bahrain and Silverstone. The situation is quite similar to last year when the allocations went harder late in the year and we just ended up doing one-stop races. Of course, there are teams who are eager for the tyres to be more durable; whether through changes to the tyres themselves or changes to the allocations for races. In contrast, we're firmly in the camp that the approach to tyre allocation should remain as agreed by the sport before the start of the season, and not be changed part-way through the year.

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Published: 21/06/2013
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