24/08/2018
NEWS STORY
Part 1 of today's press conference with Cyril Abiteboul, Gil de Ferran and Christian Horner.
Cyril, we had Daniel Ricciardo in here yesterday explaining his decision to join Renault. When did you start talks with Daniel and just how did that deal come about from a Renault point of view.
Cyril Abiteboul: Obviously, we have known Daniel since a while for the collaboration we naturally have on the engine side with Red Bull since 12 years. We've had random discussions - jokes - with Daniel since a while. It would be hard to put an exact date on the first joke about this type of switch. But I'd say that's it's a while since we've expressed our interest in him, the fact that we liked him, his style, his skills, his talent, his leadership and the fact that there could be an opportunity for him at Renault. We've always been clear with what we are, what we are not yet, that we are still in the making. That if he was interested in a turnkey organisation, in a turnkey team with a turnkey car that would not be with us - but if he was interested in a project in construction where he could play a role, we would be interested. So, you know, that's where we left it and we accepted also since day one it would take him a bit of time to digest and to consider because it was an important decision, you know such a switch is complex. It's complex in life and in the career of a driver, which is short - but it's also complex in the life of a team, both for all organisations involved. So, we accepted that. We accepted he would be sort-of making and controlling the timing and obviously we had to look at alternative options in parallel in case it would not happen. And yeah, I think he sort of digested the proposal and eventually made his decision.
It seemed to come quite late. Daniel said it was over a 48-hour period that he finally made his call. Did it come as a surprise to you as well when he finally gave you the news?
CA: Yeah, it came both as a surprise but also as a relief because it's positive news. It's great news for Renault, for the team - but it's also news that carrying not just lots of... not just emotions but also responsibility and some obligation to deliver. To deliver cars that are in-line with his expectations, with his talent. We were already obliged to our shareholders, to our sponsors, to our fans, towards the legacy of Renault. Now we are also obliged towards him, and we want this charismatic driver finds what he's come to find and to look for with our organisation. So, we just have a bit more pressure - but it's healthy pressure.
Christian, it's basically the same question to you. When Daniel turned around and said he was leaving Red Bull, he said that that came over a short period, that he made the final decision. Did it catch you out?
Christian Horner: I suppose the whole process with Daniel has dragged on this year. Y'know, we started talking really in February, initially aiming to have something done by Australia and then obviously, that got postponed until after Monaco, and then Monaco got postponed. The whole process has been fairly drawn out. Obviously in recent weeks, Dietrich Mateschitz was involved in the discussions with him in the discussions from Barcelona, in Austria and all indications were that he was going to stay. Certainly, that was the intent from the team's point of view. Obviously, Daniel, when he called on the Thursday, when he landed in the US, having had everything in front of him that he wanted and had required, financially, technically, duration etcetera, etcetera, there was something in him that he still felt he wanted a change. Certainly, that's how he's explained it to us and that he felt the timing was right to do something different. So, of course it was a surprise. We'd expected if he were to leave it would be a for a Mercedes or a Ferrari - but that's obviously his decision and we fully respect that. We've had ten great years. Red Bull invested in him as a junior in Formula Renault. He then went on to win the [British] Formula 3 Championship. I remember going watch him at Silverstone in Formula 3 and seeing even at that stage his talent was very clear. He then obviously graduated through the Renault World Series into Formula One with HRT and from there into Toro Rosso and then from there was selected to partner Sebastian Vettel when Mark Webber retired. We've seen him grow during that time, evolve as a personality and as a driver. He's been a pleasure to have in the team at Red Bull Racing the last five years. He's driven some great races. He's a big character. We've given him a platform to express that and we wish him well for the next journey in his career.
Gil, welcome to the press conference. Fernando was sitting next to Daniel yesterday and spoke a lot about his decision to move on, so we're going to look to the future. You ran Lando Norris in your car this morning. It's unusual for McLaren to run a different driver in FP1, so why that decision?
Gil de Ferran: We've I think been investing in Lando for a fair few years now. We're trying to give him as much exposure as possible. This was an opportunity for him to drive the car at a grand prix weekend, which is a different situation, more people on the track and a lot of track evolution and also a completely different level of downforce - so I think we keep walking the development road.
Looking to the future from a personal point of view, you've now been in the role for couple of months. What are your priorities at McLaren?
GdF: Look, to your point, I've been here two or three months. It feels like a lifetime already! It's been many long hours and I took the first phase of this appointment to really assess what goes on in the team and try to get to know the people better and understand what everybody else does in the team. And one of the things that is clear to me is that there's a lot of talent within the team, up and down the organisation, so I guess my main priority is really to unlock that talent and hopefully turn that into better results.
Questions From The Floor
(Christian Menath - Motorsport-Magazin.com) There's been a lot of confusion about Fernando. He said that he had an offer from Red Bull Racing to race for you next season. Can you clarify that please?
CH: Just to be totally clear, there was no offer to Fernando Alonso for next year. Fernando is a fantastic driver, he's a great talent in Formula One. He's obviously chosen his path. We had an enquiry from Flavio Briatore, and from Liberty Media, but the position within Red Bull has always been very clear that we invest in youth and have a talent pool through the Red Bull Junior Programme. And as has been the case with Sebastian Vettel, Kvyat, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, we're always going to draw upon the talent pool that we have. We have offered Fernando a contract in the past, but that was back in 2007.
(Livio Oricchio - Globoesporte.com) Christian, what was the criteria to choose Gasly instead of Carlos Sainz Jr? And also, the same question I did yesterday to Max - if you see the numbers of both Toro Rosso drivers concerning the engine combustion internal MGU-K, MGU-H, they are over the limit for long and we still have nine races to go. Are you confident that Honda will solve all of these problems from the middle of the season to the next one, and also provide performance?
CH: To deal with the first part of your question, we selected Pierre Gasly based on what we see performance-wise the job he's doing within Toro Rosso. Obviously we'd selected Max Verstappen prior to that having had the choice of either Carlos or Max at the time. To allow Carlos' career to continue to develop we effectively leased him out to Renault to continue that career development. We had the option to bring him back, but faced with the options that we had and looking at relative performances that we chose, Pierre Gasly was the right guy to fill the seat and graduate into Red Bull Racing. Therefore we released Carlos immediately to pursue other options in Formula One. He had an offer on the table from McLaren that we didn't want to in any way impede, make sure that he was free to be able to take that up, and it's great to see that he's now in a good team like McLaren. Regarding Honda, obviously the changes that you talk about - some of which are tactical, not purely based on reliability, in a development phase - they are pushing hard; we have confidence in what we see, in the investment that we see going into the programme, in the quality of personnel that are involved in the programme. Things are very much moving in the right direction; only time will tell, but I think that you'll see inevitably more changes again this year, but it's all part of a development process for 2019 and beyond.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Cyril, after Hungary with the Force India situation you expressed concern that its salvation could turn it into a Mercedes B-team or satellite team type situation, yet I believe that you signed your approval for the team to get its money, et cetera. So what changed your mind? Have you had assurances that this won't happen, or what was the situation?
CA: No, to be extremely clear we did not change our mind in the sense that we never wanted to cause any more difficulty for Force India. We are already at ten teams, which I think is the minimum for a sustainable Formula One. If you look at also, by the way, opportunities for young drivers obviously more teams would be better than less teams - or at least more cars - so clearly we would not want to have caused anything bad for Force India. Having said that, it is true that we have seeked reassurance from the commercial rights holder that in future it will not be a requirement to be part of a group of teams in order to be able to fight for championships or to fight for wins. That's definitely our ambition, to be in that position, but we don't have right now the capacity or the strategy to form any particular alliance such that we would have a junior team or a partner team. We have a partnership with the gentleman on my left on the engine side, which could be expanded with more technology, but that's not really something that we want should be imposed on us as a model in order to be successful. So that's the sort of clarity that we are seeking from the commercial rights holder, that could not be obviously obtained through some new regulations in the interim of time necessary for Force India way forward and survival, but particularly in the context of the work on the budget cap and the restriction on resources, that debate, that discussion, is going to become even more important. We've had discussions, I believe that we share the same vision as Ross Brawn, as Chase Carey, for the future of the sport, we don't have any guarantee, but we understand that we see the world in the same way.
(Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Christian, you said that Liberty approached you after Daniel's decision was made known. Are you suggesting that Liberty were somehow trying to place Fernando with you, or were taking an active role in trying to change his mind to stay in the sport?
CH: There was just an enquiry as to whether we would consider Fernando. Which you can understand from a promoter's point of view: Fernando Alonso is a great asset to Formula One; if he could be in a competitive car I'm sure they would prefer him staying than pursuing his triple crown. I wouldn't expect them to do anything different.
Check out our Friday gallery from Spa, here.
(Scott Mitchell - Autosport) Question for Christian and Gil after Cyril's comments about the Force India situation and the prospect of teams buddying up. Could I just get your comments on the prospect of the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari having that potential increased political power within F1?
GdF: Look, I think that for us at McLaren the highest priority is to have Formula One that is entertaining, that is healthy, that is competitive, and sustainable - where all the competitors are on a level playing field. I think throughout this whole negotiation that has been our main priority. Beyond that I'm probably not the right guy to comment. You should pass that question to Zak, I guess.
CH: I think there's obvious economic benefits, particularly for the smaller teams. We have Toro Rosso under the same ownership as Red Bull Racing, there are obvious economies of scale, but one has to be careful. Certainly something that we've never pursued is utilising wind tunnel time, other technical tools, to the benefit of one team. I think if there can be financial gain through the exchange of technology, that's absolutely fine and something that should be looked at and included moving forward. But what we don't want is that potentially Ferrari have two customer teams, that their capacity is effectively funding research and development of the lead team. That's something I'm sure will get tidied up as we move forwards with the regulations, and particularly I think the golden opportunity to deal with that is the new Concorde Agreement or whatever it chooses to be called after 2020.
(Walter Koster - Saabrucker Zeitung) Mr Horner, you said in a German magazine some weeks ago that 'drivers must be more important. Engines are too significant, they represent 70 percent of performance. That means that 30 percent remains for the chassis, tyres, and pilot. Do you have the impression that constructors and engineers moved the pilots into the background and that Formula One is particularly a championship of constructors and engineers?
CH: I think Formula One today is a little out of balance. My personal view is that the engine within these current regulations plays too prominent a role. I think Formula One needs to be a combination of three factors in equal measure - driver, team/chassis, and engine. If you have two of three of those elements that you can still be in a competitive position, and I think that at the moment we're a little bit out of kilter because the engine is such a dominating factor that you can't compensate if you have two of the other elements. Hopefully, within regulations that are being under discussion and appraisal for 2021, there is the perfect opportunity to try and redress some of that balance, At the end of the day, Formula One - of course it's a team sport, but the most prolific thing is the drivers, and we want to see the best drivers competing against each other more frequently.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Christian and Cyril, picking up on that particular point, and I think it's timely because it was my plan to ask about the engines. Since you were last there, it seems as though the plans to introduce some form of different technology for engines from 2021, that there's been a bit of a U-turn, and in fact in this week's race programme Ross Brawn is saying that possibly the timing of 2021 should be looked at in any event, and that we may in fact keep the current units beyond that. How do you two feel about that, you as a customer and Cyril, you as one of the engine companies?
CA: No, I would agree that I think what Formula One is trying to do for 2021 is extremely ambitious. It may be required, but it's extremely ambitious, and what I mean by that is basically it will be the first time in F1 history I believe that we would at the same time change chassis regulations, engine regulations, Concorde Agreement, governance structure, new budget cap. That's a lot. That's a lot. There might be the risk of trying to embrace too much and not produce and deliver anything. Our view would be to try and be a bit more pragmatic and focus on what is the main emergency for Formula One, and I'm thinking really of the show, of the disparity between the teams, the disparity in the revenue. We think that this is really the main priority. I think some clarity on budget cap or not, because the costs are certainly too high. We don't think that the engine regulations are at that level of priority. Am I satisfied with the engine situation? No. The answer is no, and we need to improve that, but that's mainly by working and by working harder. I think that we've done investment and organisation change, and there is more to come so that we can overcome our deficit, but that's our problem - that's a Renault problem; it shouldn't be a problem for the sport. That's why I believe that we should reduce maybe the weight of that topic, of that issue, within all the list of priorities of Formula One. Stability should be, by definition and by default, the prevailing scenario in this circumstance.
Christian, your thoughts on those changes?
CH: I think I understood what Cyril said! There are broad similarities. I think at the moment our situation is different to where it was two or three months ago. Stability is important. There's no new manufacturers coming in, these regulations are impossible for a new manufacturer, should they come in. I think that rather than making a half-hearted change and getting it half right, I think it's better to take a little bit more time to really consider what is the right engine for Formula One moving forward. If that needs a bit more time, or a couple more years to achieve that, then that's the sensible approach.
How long do you think it would take to plan that out?
CH: I think at the moment now I can't see anything changing before the 2023 season, to be honest with you.
(Luke Smith - Crash.net) Gil, are you able to give any updates on McLaren's Indycar plans for next season. Zak previously said that a decision would need to be made over the summer and we're getting towards the end of the summer and obviously that factors in with Fernando's future as well?
GdF: As you know, IndyCar is still under serious consideration, but we have not made any decisions of yet and I think when we have, we will let you know.
(Arjan Schouten - AD Sport) - A question for Cyril and Christian. We talked a lot about the future and next season, but the fact is this season is not finished yet. You already signed the divorce papers, but there are nine races to go. I don't think that's a very simple position to perform. How do you two look at the last races of this season.
CA: With Red Bull? Frankly, things don't change. We've had 11 years and a half of collaboration and we are not going to run that down for the last six months. I think Red Bull is still in the position to have good results, to secure some podiums, maybe some wins - they have done that already this season, so why not more. We need to have a discussion this weekend regarding the introduction of a new-spec engine, an upgraded spec of engine, which could come as soon as Monza, but we need to have that conversation based on their assessment of reliability risk versus extra performance. That's the type of discussion we are prepared to have, to me in an air of the great of collaboration that we've had, so absolutely no change of philosophy or position on our side.
And Christian, your thoughts on that relationship and also the fact that Daniel is leaving? Is it a tricky situation for you between now and the end of the year?
CH: It's very much business as normal. We've got nine races to go. We go for it every weekend, we try to get the best results we can between now and the end of the year and that obviously includes with Daniel. I sat down with him earlier in the week, after he came back from his holiday and said 'look, we're not going to talk to you about what's going on in 2019, but our objective is to do the best we can between now and the end of the year. The same rules apply as for the past four-and-a-half years. You'll get equal opportunity and we just want them to give their very best until the end of the year, which I've got absolutely no doubt that he will do, but obviously things like simulator time and so on will now become much more restricted.
(Oliver Brown - The Telegraph) Max said yesterday, when asked about Daniel's move, quite pointedly, that it's a change of scenery, but he doesn't think it's the best scenery. You were obviously, during the heat of battle in Hungary, very critical, saying Renault were supplying you with a sub-standard engine. Given the loss of Daniel is very significant, is there any added frustration in losing him to an organisation of which you have been very publicly critical?
CH: I think the decision is Daniel's choice, and as long as he's comfortable looking at himself in the mirror with the choices that he's made, you have to respect that. He is a free spirit. It's the first time in his Formula 1 career that he has been out of contract. He doesn't have a management group around him or anything like that; He comes to his own decisions, and this is a decision he's come to on his own, and you have to respect that at the end of the day. I'm grateful for what he has done for us and for the team. He's driven some phenomenal races. There have been some iconic moments where he's been making people drink out of shoes or whatever else on the podium. The decision to make that change, that life change, is purely his decision, and he has his own reasoning behind that. All he can explain is that he feels he needs a change. It wasn't, as I say, due to any fiscal reason, or contractual reason, or feeling the team was treating him any differently to the other driver, so this is purely his decision, that he feels it is time to try something different.
(Andrew Benson - BBC) On the subject of the sport: Eau Rouge is flat, has been for a while now, Blanchimont's flat, and this morning two of the cars, one of them being yours Christian, appeared to be flat through Pouhon as well. These are iconic corners that aren't corners anymore. Is the grip power ratio wrong in Formula 1?
GdF: My personal belief is that the faster the car, typically the more difficult it is to drive, because you have to perform all the same things in a shorter period of time. That makes it more difficult for you to accomplish that in a very precise way. Having said that, to your point, there are a few corners that were very difficult corners. When I was here, God knows, 20 years ago, Eau Rouge was a very difficult corner and it doesn't appear to be that way any more, so I think the balance between tyre grip, car weight, downforce, and power are really the big knobs you can turn to affect that and maybe they should be looked.
CA: No, I fully agree that power to weight and power to drag are probably not what we need in order to have spectacular races. Not necessarily races, but to have aspirational drivers, because we need to be able to see the drivers fighting against their car, fighting as they enter into every single corner, and we don't see much o that any more. I think this is distorting our image of the drivers, who are still doing a remarkable job, but we don't get the same sensation, emotion, as spectators. So I think that should be one of the priorities of future chassis and engine regulation, because you could increase the power also.
Anything to add, Christian? And were you flat at Pouhon?
CH: If you look at our car and the amount of downforce we are running on the car, some of those corners are pretty exciting for the driver. Some of the corners here, if you look at Eau Rouge, with kerbs being moved around a bit, run-offs being included now there is no penalty, ultimately, for getting it wrong now, You've got safety versus performance discussions there. Some of the corners are perhaps made a little bit too easy as well and it's when you get a variable condition here that then things become really exciting. You get a little bit of rain, and suddenly Eau Rouge becomes a big corner, Blanchimont becomes a big corner. So it's that balance.
(Louis Dekker - NOS) Christian, can you give an indication about the competitiveness Red Bull have on this circuit, knowing you problems with speed etc?
CH: We understand that Mercedes and Ferrari are introducing upgrades this weekend on the power unit, and I think this weekend and next weekend are going to be difficult races for us. But you know there inclement weather around at this circuit, so anything can happen but I think you have to say that Ferrari and Mercedes very much have the upper hand at these two venues. Hopefully when we get to the likes of Singapore and Mexico we'll be able to give them a harder time.
(Dieter Rencken - Racing Lines, Racefans.net) Cyril, Christian has just said and it has also been reported that they were willing to accede to all Daniel's demand. That would have included some sort of substantial fiscal demands. Obviously, to get him you must have matched it or come very close, whichever way. It's no secret that Renault doesn't exactly have the biggest budget in the paddock, so from a commercial perspective, have you had an increase in budget to cover it next year, do you get more money from Renault, are you going to cut back on some of your expenditures or how do you commercially afford him?
CA: Two comments: First, in my opinion, Renault can afford pretty much anything. Renault is the largest car maker involved in Formula 1 - full stop. So we can afford anything as long as it makes sense. Then it's just a question of value for money and whether it makes sense to spend that given where we are in the development of our team. Second, I don't think we were the highest bidder in obtaining Daniel, without going into details. He bought into the project not necessarily because of the money. I don't think it would be great to put this sort of light on Daniel. And lastly, it would not make any sense to bring a driver by having to make some concession on our capacity to finance the development of the engine or the chassis. So, in shorthand, obviously it means an increase of our budget.
Check out our Friday gallery from Spa, here.