Canadian GP - Friday press conference - Pt.1

Press conference.

Q:
A question to you all. What lessons were learnt after Turkey two weeks ago? Can drivers' problems be expected? Are they the sort of things that are regularly going to happen? Are there any ways of avoiding them? Eric, you are a newcomer to this would you like to start?

Eric Boullier:
I think you should better start in the front row as they have a lot to say I guess about the drivers. I think for us it was pretty good. We had a good race from both drivers and nothing very much to say. We had the best weekend actually we have had this season in terms of pace.

Q:
In terms of driver management though from what you saw in other teams was there something you might have changed?

EB:
I think they managed the situation quite well. I think even if it was a very tricky one.

Q:
Norbert, you were quoted as saying that it was a bit of a 'disaster'. What are your feelings about it?

Norbert Haug:
I think things like that can really happen. I know that from the past, probably not quite to that extent, but a big drama was made about it, but the reality was it was a bit of a misunderstanding. It can happen to us, that's the reality. But of course if you are fighting for first and second place this is not what you want, probably not so problematic if you are seventh or eighth but first and second of course. Our McLaren Mercedes friends gave it a go afterwards, so it was really thrilling. But I can understand the situation at the top. At that speed it happens very quickly.

Martin Whitmarsh:
I don't think we learnt anything new from it. If you go back, and the historians are better than me, I think Indianapolis 2005 Norbert and I were working together and our drivers conspired to take each other out at the first corner. It can happen. We have got competitive racing drivers in most of the teams that are represented here. They want to go out there and race. Inevitably there are occasions when perhaps there is a conflict of interest between the driver's personal ambitions and the intent of the team and things will happen on a race track which afterwards in the cool light of day you wish hadn't. But they happen. They are part of motor racing and part perhaps of the rich entertainment we are here to provide.

Christian Horner:
Sorry, what was the question? I think Istanbul, there has been so much said about that event during the last couple of weeks. If you look at the race I think it was actually a very positive race for Formula One to have four cars running line astern for pretty much 40 laps with a very tight competition between two teams. It was a great shame that the incident happened, but it happened. You have got two guys tied on points in the World Championship, fighting for the lead in a grand prix and as team-mates, and you know 'is it wrong to let the drivers race each other?' I don't think it is. That's what Formula One is about. We allowed the drivers to race each other and unfortunately an incident happened. You can always learn. I am sure the drivers have learnt, the team has learnt and as individuals we all learn from every grand prix weekend. The incident happened, it has been dealt with, it has been discussed and moved on. We have got two excellent drivers. They will be working with each other for another 18 months and they complement each other very well. We have achieved in the last, just over 12 months... we have had six one-two finishes with them. They have raced each other on numerous occasions wheel to wheel without any issue as we have seen on numerous occasions this year. I think answering your question; yes, lessons can always been learnt and are the guys going to race each other this weekend? If they qualify close to each other as they inevitably will do, then yes, they will, but hopefully they won't find themselves in the situation they were in in Istanbul.

Q:
To make it a little bit more specific for Martin and Christian. Is there anything you have changed since Turkey in terms of communication? As to some extent that was the problem with the McLaren team. Is there anything specific you have changed?

CH:
Nothing specific. We just pointed out who the team-mate is. Things were discussed after the event in the coolness of an environment away from the race track. Both drivers regret that the incident happened, but most of all from a team point of view as we were set for an excellent victory having got into a dominant position ahead of the two McLarens. It was a great shame to lose a grand prix and a one-two finish in that manner. But lessons have been learnt and we have moved on.

MW:
I think good clear accurate information is the right way to go. There were questions during that race. Someone responded quickly and intuitively. They made an error in doing that. I am sure that individual has learnt. I am sure we as a team have learnt. We will endeavour to get it right if we are asked for information next time.

Q:
So in a way no specific instructions to that person that they must avoid doing this in the future?

MW:
I think that particular individual is a very experienced person. He was asked for some information. I think he was trying to cause both cars to take it easy as all of the competitive cars in that race have an issue potentially of managing fuel, managing brakes, managing engines, managing tyres, and at that particular point we weren't looking for our drivers to put at risk the prospects of finishing by pushing on the cars anymore than they had to.

Q:
Norbert, are Mercedes at the moment living up to your expectations? Does the team need a big leap forward? Has the leap forward come here?

NH:
We are definitely not where we want to be. That is no secret. We are aware of the situation. I think we had quite a good qualifying result in the last race, otherwise Michael (Schumacher) would have been fourth and Nico (Rosberg) would have been fifth because the cars behind up to 10th place or whatever had a comparable speed. We are working on it and we know that we have to improve. This will take some time and I think we could have done a very good job already in Monaco. The car was competitive there. It didn't look too bad today, so let's wait and see but we are fully motivated. We brought our people down to the right number for next year already. This is certainly not an excuse, it's just an explanation. We are still learning. I think I am positive; we are positive. But we have to realise that we have very tough competitors around us and our Renault friends are catching up. I have to say they are doing an excellent job but probably the team looks like being Renault more than ever before. They are strong, have good drivers. We know how strong McLaren Mercedes is, Red Bull, Ferrari. It is not easy and the time will come. I answered that question very often in the past together with Martin, when will you be competitive again? We never can say an exact date, that's for sure, but we will be competitive and we are working on it.

Q:
So does it need a big leap forward? Is that big leap forward planned or is it just going to be little by little?

NH:
Well, you know you need to be realistic and have a kind of worst case scenario. I could say we were five-and-half-tenths slower than the Red Bulls in the last race but I think it could have been the case that Sebastian Vettel would have been even quicker in qualifying and it would have been seven or eight tenths. That is the realistic gap. We did not post very good lap times at the beginning of the race. When the fuel came down at the very end I think it looked much better. Of course not everybody was pushing but I think Mark (Webber) for example pushed as much as he could at that stage, so towards the end with more grip and less fuel we did comparable lap times. But we are not where we want to be and if I could organise it for tomorrow I would like to have one-and-half seconds per lap but this takes time.

Q:
Eric, is Renault beyond its expectations at the moment?

EB:
Very frankly, we are in the expectation, maybe a little bit better. We are very happy to give some tough times to Mercedes. We need to work still a lot to give some tough times to McLaren or Red Bull but it is good to fight with Ferrari and Mercedes and we are happy with what is going on.

Q:
You have got two very tough drivers. What do you think of the respective characters of your two drivers?

EB:
I think we have two different scenarios. Robert (Kubica) is experienced enough and is pushing hard. He just needs to get a better car maybe to do better qualifying. In the case of Vitaly (Petrov) he still needs to learn, especially like this weekend. He has never raced here, so he has to learn the tracks and still needs to learn Formula One but Istanbul was a good example that with a little bit of experience he is getting the pace and he is getting a good race pace as well and he is able to keep the rhythm.

Q:
A question to all of you. Felipe Massa and Mark Webber have both signed. Felipe until 2012 and Mark until 2011. What does that do to the driver market looking forward to next year?

EB:
Definitely with the recent rumours about the link between Ferrari and Robert it is now closing all the rumours and I think it will not affect very much the driver market and we can now sit down and discuss properly with Robert his future with us.

NH:
I think it is a perfect situation. Very rarely have we had such an intense fight. It was always a big fight, but I think the line-up is great and I think the first five teams probably will have the same driver line-up next year and that's a perfect fit. That's good for Formula One and I think we will see some very good races. Still this year, probably already on Sunday.

MW:
Nothing to add really. Clearly the driver market is more stable than it normally is. The rumours are only starting to gather pace this time of year, so I think we have got other things to concentrate on. As Norbert said, I think we have got four world champions in top teams. We have got really exciting racing. The last six races have been really gripping and hopefully that will carry on for the rest of this year and into next season.

Q:
Christian, obviously you have tied up your two.

CH:
Yes. There is no effect at all for us as we have retained exactly the same pairing. It was a very straightforward decision to come to extend the agreement with Mark which was mutually extended on an annual basis. Mark is very keen that at this stage of his career he also takes things one year at a time. He has no aspirations to hang around Formula One past his sell by date, so we have got two very strong drivers that we are delighted to be working again with in 2011. I think most of the seats are fairly fixed going forwards, so I don't think there is going to be in the front half of the grid too much movement.