DRIVERS – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes) Charles
LECLERC (Ferrari), Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing), Robert KUBICA
(Williams), Daniel RICCIARDO (Renault)
PRESS CONFERENCE
This week motorsport lost one of its greats when three-time Formula 1 World
Champion Niki Lauda passed away. Valtteri, you worked with Niki at Mercedes
over the last few years, what did he mean to you?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Obviously really, really shocking news to start the week.
For sure, he meant a lot to me but for every single team member of ours, in
the race team and at the factory, and he was a big part of the Mercedes
family. He was a massive motivation for everyone, for myself ass well, for
sure, as a driver because of everything he achieved and with the difficult
career he had, and all the comebacks and everything. But also as a person,
it’s been great, and never forget many, many good moments, and for sure it’s
not nice in terms of mindset for the weekend but I’m sure as a team we can
turn it into a strength and respect Niki by going flat out on track and
bringing a good result.
Q: Thank you. Robert, if I could ask you for your memories of Niki Lauda?
You’ve been around Formula 1 for a long time.
Robert KUBICA: As Valtteri said it’s shocking news. He wrote a big chunk of
the story of this sport, not only as a driver but as a person. I never had
the opportunity to work with him but definitely he was a big racer and all
of us will miss him. At least my personal hopes were to meet him back in the
paddock but unfortunately this will not happen. That’s unfortunately part of
life.
Q: Thanks. Max, we saw a message from you yesterday on social media. Any
thoughts to share about Niki?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, of course. Niki was a legend of the sport. He achieved
a lot in his career, but also after his career he was also a very generous
and funny guy as well. Of course, I’ve never really worked with him, but
with the chats we had, he’s been a great guy and for sure it’s a big loss to
Formula 1, so all thoughts go out to his family right now.
Q: Thank you. Daniel, Niki was in and out of the Red Bull motorhome a lot
when you were there. Any memories of Niki that you have?
Daniel RICCIARDO: Only good ones, for sure. Any interaction I had with him,
any brief chats, or just pleasantries, just a kind man. Most of the world
that follows motorsport knows him as the racer, for sure, and everything he
went through, which was astonishing to say the least. But my personal
moments with him were always kind. For a few years we were competitors but,
yeah, never a bad thing to say. As the guys just touched on, thinking of his
family. The legacy he leaves is pretty amazing and for sure we remember
these good things.
Q: Thank you. Charles, two of Niki’s championships came with Ferrari, what
does he mean to you?
Charles LECLERC: Well, I didn’t have too many chances to speak to Niki, but
the very few times I have been speaking with him he has been extremely nice
to me and was always very disponible… is that the right word?
Q: Available?
CL: Available, yes, sorry. And also very humble for what he achieved. He’s a
great example for the sport in general and he will be missed a lot.
Q: Thank you. If we look ahead to this weekend now, Charles we’ll stay with
you. This is your second time racing at home in Formula 1, but the first
time racing here with Ferrari, so it must be a very special weekend for you?
CL: Yeah, a home grand prix is always a special weekend and even more this
weekend, obviously, coming here in full red with Ferrari and also with the
chance to have a very good result, so we will push. Obviously we’ve had a
difficult start to the season. The low-speed corners weren’t great in
Barcelona, but normally Monaco is pretty different. We will try to turn
things round. It’s not going to be easy but we will give it everything.
Q: Valtteri, you’ve never actually been on the podium, but with the start to
the season Mercedes have enjoyed there must be a big opportunity to change
that this weekend?
VB: Yeah, I’ve not had great races here, but targeting to change that. It’s
been a very promising beginning of the year for us as a team. But we also
have to remember that Monaco is a unique circuit and it needs different
kinds of things from the car to be quick and in the past few years we have
been struggling a little bit and we have not had the quickest car here, even
though we have been quick on other tracks. So, for that we are a little bit
cautious but also very motivated to change that and to be performing here as
well. For me, for sure it’s maybe a tiny bit similar feeling to Charles, you
know, living here, it’s really unique, and it would be an amazing weekend to
do well.
Q: Max, Red Bull traditionally have gone well in Monaco. Are you able to
threaten both Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend, do you think?
MV: I think we get into this weekend seeing Mercedes clearly as the
favourite. I don’t think we are as good as we were last year. But we will
find out. I’m confident that we can fight for a podium, but we have to find
out what step of the podium.
Q: Daniel, Max mentioned last year. You won that race and you obviously have
great memories of that but what is realistic for you to target this season?
DR: I don’t know yet. I’m certainly still coming as excited as I always do.
When I say coming here, I also live here, but it’s still different coming
here for the race or being here for the race. The circuit transforms and
there’s a different feeling in the air. I don’t know, the whole atmosphere
is pretty unreal. So yeah, I’ll see where we’re at tomorrow… Yeah,
tomorrow’s practice. It’s Thursday here; that’s a bit different as well. But
yeah, obviously quietly confident and excited and optimistic that we can do
something good.
Q: Thank you. Robert, Williams has had quite a tricky car so far this
season, but is Monaco still a race you look forward to as a driver?
Robert KUBICA: Oh yeah. Monaco has always been very special and approaching…
coming back here after a long break the feeling in the past was that the
track was pretty narrow but with current F1 cars it will be even more narrow
than it was in the past, because the cars are much bigger, much wider. So
looking forward, it’s always a special feeling going through those streets
and driving an F1 car. But definitely our car is struggling and normally
here whenever you struggle, you struggle even more. But there’s always
something; this track is different; it’s unique, so hopefully it will suit
better our car.
Q: Thank you. Just a final topic before we open this to the floor. This
weekend is the third FIA Volunteers Weekend, celebrating those who give up
their time to support motorsport events. Just wondered if I could get a
message from each of you about the importance of volunteers in motorsport.
Robert if we can start with you?
RK: Yeah, definitely. I think most us don’t realize how many people are
involved to organize this show, in every single aspect, not only on track
but off track to help. Definitely we need those people and I would like to
thank them. They are normally very passionate people and we need those
people more than anyone else.
Q: Max?
MV: Yeah, it’s great to see that there are so many people out there who are
so passionate about the sport and actually willing to risk their lives as
well for us. I think it’s great and I just hope that we all have a great and
safe weekend.
Q: And Charles?
CL: Yeah, as Max said, it’s great to see so many people that are passionate
about the sport and what they are doing for the sport. I came to see them,
especially the marshals training for this grand prix, which was very
impressive. They are putting a lot of time into it and they are doing these
things extremely seriously, so it was a great experience to see them
preparing the grand prix and hopefully we’ll have a safe and good weekend.
Q: Thank you. And Valtteri?
VB: Yeah, for sure, without them the event would not be possible. I’m lucky
to know a couple of them and they have explained to me what it includes and
how much actually they work for it and all the training and everything and
they are so passionate about racing, so from my side, hat’s off to them.
Q: Thank you. And finally, Daniel?
DR: This is a race where I feel they always stand out – how quick they are
able to collect a car or move on, so that our session can be as little or
less disrupted as possible, if that’s the right English, I don’t know.
They’re pretty awesome. They do have pretty good here seats as well,
probably the best seats in the house! But all jokes aside, it’s good that
they get the recognition as well, because it’s easily dismissed at times, so
hat’s off the them and we appreciate it.
PRESS CONFERENCE
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action / Speed Sport) Charles, the drivers that live
here say when it’s not the race week, they can walk around, nobody stops
them. Now you’re a famous Ferrari driver, I see your photo and poster all
over time. How is it now, going around town, not on the race weekend?
CL: To be honest, I think there are drivers more famous than me living in
Monaco. For sure, I’m Monegasque, so it’s a little bit different. Also, in
Monaco, they are quite used to it, so all year around, they don't stop you
that much in the city. When it comes to grand prix time, it’s a bit harder
to go around Monaco because there’s a lot of strangers coming here for the
grand prix and obviously they want to have pictures, etc., During the year
it’s quite OK. But yeah, it’s great to have a weekend at home. It’s a city
that I’ve been growing up in and yeah, it’s a huge honour for me to be
driving in these streets. It’s actually pretty weird because these are the
same streets – I’ve said this story quite a lot of times – but it’s the same
streets I’ve taken on the bus going to school when I was five or six years
old. To take them in a Formula One car feels special.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Charles, after five races, Bahrain stands
out as the obvious highlight for Ferrari in terms of performance. Now that
you’ve had a couple of tests to dig into what’s holding you back at other
races, does Bahrain feels like a one-off, or do you have a better
understanding of what’s stopping you from hitting those peaks at other
tracks as well?
CL: I think during testing we understood a few things. Not enough,
obviously, to be at the level of these guys, or Mercedes – but we understand
a few things. I think we gained a little bit of time. Not enough: we need to
keep working, we need to try and understand what was the main issue but the
engineers are working on that.
Q: (George Boulton – The Sun) Question for Valtteri. We’ve heard how much of
a great character Niki was. Could you reveal your funniest story of having
worked with him so closely?
VB: He was always funny. Full of a good sense of humour and so direct. He
always said whatever he thinks, how things are. He didn’t take different
routes, he always said things directly. So that made for some funny
situations sometimes in meetings and stuff – but I will say the best thing
that will stand in my mind is that he was always there when I had a good
result, to congratulation, and you could always see he was truly happy. But
the main thing was, when I had some bad races, and difficult times, he was
still always available to speak about anything, and really supportive –
because he has the experience himself, as a racer, in life and racing that
there will be setbacks and you can really improve from those. In that sense,
that’s been massive motivation for me and will stay in my mind.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – globoesporte.com) To Max. You’ve taken part in four
editions of this grand prix and your best result is fifth in 2017. Now, with
many people saying you are in the best moment as a driver, does it disturb
you, to think to enjoy your moment, to change your history in this grand
prix?
MV: I’ve done four, hopefully I’ll do another 20, so I have a lot of chances
to do a good result.
Q: (Andrew Frankel – Forza) Max, some of us are old enough to have been to
Zandvoort many, many years ago and obviously we’re terribly excited we’re
going back to Zandvoort. Will the new track be very different from the
existing one?
MV: I think in general the layout will be pretty similar but some corners
might be a bit banked, a bit shorter, a bit more space. The track itself
won’t be changed a lot. It’s good to see that the track is coming back on
the calendar after so many years. It’s very close to the beach, so you can
also chill at the beach after the races if you would like – but as a driver
it’s a really cool track to drive. I just hope we can also have a really
good fight instead of just following each other throughout the race – but
we’ll find out.
Q: (inaudible) Question to Robert. You’re coming here in a difficult
situation but you’ve been here many times before – you won the Monaco Kart
Cup twice, you’ve been on the podium in Formula One twice, you’ve been
leading the Monte Carlo Rally. You won some super stages – so what are your
best memories from Monte Carlo?
RK: As you say, Monaco has been always pretty good for me from a very young
ago, so yeah. Actually probably the first time I have been racing here was
1998, in karting, and probably this was one of the great days. But
definitely finishing on the podium in an F1 car in the F1 race also stands
up. I would say those two – but at the same time, also Rally is something
special – but we shouldn’t be speaking about rally here, I think. There are
more F1 fans and more F1 journalists than rally.
Q: (Lennart Boemhof - Volksrant) Question to all drivers. Last year Daniel
set a lap record here. With the cars getting faster each year, is it getting
harder to race here in Monaco? Is the circuit getting harder?
DR: Last year was pretty easy!
But is it getting harder?
DR: For some! Ah, it’s all good. We also grow with the cars. I think any
car, if you’re pushing any car on the limit, it feels fast, whether it’s a
1m10 or a 1m20s. So, I look back at the onboard lap of last year and I see
places where I think ‘ah, could be quicker here’ – so it’s never fast
enough.
VB: Yeah, every year with the cars getting faster, it gets even more intense
– but like Daniel said, we get used to the cars, and the speed and, in the
end, we would prefer to go still a lot quicker – but for sure it’s quick,
and it’s going to be fun.
CL: I’ve only driven once here in Formula One, so from Formula 2 it was a
huge step up and it really felt extremely quick. To be honest, in no other
places do I have a similar feeling that I have here in qualifying. I think
to be so close to the walls and also, it’s a bit like a karting track, you
have no rest, and this just feels amazing. Then in the race, of course it’s
quite difficult to overtake. Overall, the quali lap is just the best moment
of the weekend for me, as a driver.
Max, has it got more difficult as the cars have got quicker?
MV: I would say easier – because you have more grip, compared to 2015-16
where the car was just sliding around a lot more. The only thing is, if you
want to overtake with these wide cars, it’s almost impossible – because if
the guy just stays in the middle, you can’t really do a lot – but I guess
that’s why you have to make sure you do well in quali.
Robert, are you expecting a very different challenge this weekend?
RK: I’m expecting a unique experience. Definitely it will not be easy but it
is never easy when you are trying to bring whatever car you drive to the
limit. As everybody mentioned, the more grip you have, the faster you go –
but also it makes things more simple in some ways. But still, it’s always a
very challenge track.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Valtteri, you’re obviously replacing Lewis today for
this press conference. How is he, have you had a chance to have a chat with
him today?
VB: Yeah, I saw him today. Everything was normal. I just got a request from
our marketing team to be in the press conference. So that’s all I know
really. He seemed OK.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Daniel, when you were here last year,
obviously it was a pretty strong performance from you all weekend. You made
your mark and I guess this is a slightly different situation coming here
twelve months later. Renault’s been very honest about the performance so
far. When you joined the team, you were very realistic and said that you
weren’t expecting to fight for wins this year but five races in, how would
you assess… or your feelings with the move so far and what are the changes
in the background to try and improve the team’s fortunes?
DR: Yeah, it’s been a… there’s still certainly a process. I wouldn’t say I’m
surprised by anything. Obviously we would have hoped for better results than
what we’ve currently got and we all want that and we’re all honest enough to
admit that but as you’ve said, I didn’t really… it would have been nice to
get a few more seventh places as opposed to struggling for the top tens.
Yeah, we didn’t expect to be in podium contention or anything, certainly not
at this stage, but I still see what I saw when I signed as far as the input
that everyone’s having and the infrastructure is still going up. Motivation
certainly hasn’t dipped, by any means. It’s going to take a bit more time
but I’m certainly trying as well and doing everything I can. I feel that
also, everything that I’ve put in has really been taken on board and the
team is certainly willing to grow and learn. I’m not saying it’s all me but
at least my input has been quite positive, I think. I’m enjoying it, I
really am. Obviously I would love to get better results but as an
environment I am enjoying it so hopefully a special weekend here and that
will kick things off nicely.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) A couple of years ago, when Alonso
made his Indy debut, F1 was extremely impressed with how well he did.
Obviously you will know that he failed to qualify for this year. How much of
a surprise is that to you and perhaps it shows that the difficulty was a bit
underestimated? Two or three drivers? Perhaps Daniel, Valtteri and Robert?
DR: Personally, because I’ve never done it – driven an IndyCar or been on an
oval – I never really had an expectation for Alonso. I didn’t know how easy
or difficult it would be. Obviously I had confidence that he would be able
to hop in and be relatively competitive, because I think he’s obviously a
very very good driver and very capable and still very motivated and driven,
so I think that showed in 2017, was it? But I guess, as well, this year it
looks like obviously you need… you’ve got to be a good driver but set-up and
all those things at those margins is so important. I don’t know the ins and
outs but everything needs to work right and that’s the thing with race cars,
it’s a love-hate relationship. Obviously this year for him was more of a
hate one. It’s sad to see; obviously, as part of the F1 family, we want to
see him do well but yeah, for reasons I honestly couldn’t understand or
explain… I’m not in that world.
VB: I can’t say that much because I didn’t really follow… for sure I heard
that they didn’t qualify and there was some issue with some of the test days
and stuff like this but to be honest, before that I didn’t even know it was
happening.
RK: Not a lot to add, I would say. I would never comment on something that I
don’t know enough information. Looking at the classification it’s too easy
to arrive at the wrong assumptions or conclusions. Fernando, we know what a
great driver he is and he showed two years ago that he was fighting there
and even winning on debut. This year it didn’t work but there is not a lot
to say.
Q: (Maximilian Werdl – Mannheimer Morgen) Mr Leclerc, after the hard start
for Ferrari, how would you describe the atmosphere in the team?
CL: Quite calm, I think. We are all working extremely hard. Obviously the
engineers are trying to understand and trying to push the team forward but
overall I think we are all quite calm which is needed. We obviously want to
improve so everyone is pushing very hard, as I’ve said but I think the most
important thing is that the serenity in the team doesn’t change which it
doesn’t for now.
Q: (Pierre van Vliet – F1i) Charles, do you think that rain can maybe help
you in fighting Mercedes and Red Bull this weekend and if so, how big are
your chances to win your very first Grand Prix at home?
CL: Obviously Monaco is already quite a lottery in the dry so I think in the
rain it will add a little bit more of that so it can go in either way but it
should be exciting if it rains. Whether it will help us or not I don’t
really know but yeah, I would like it to rain, actually, for qualifying to
change things a little bit. In Monaco we don’t see rain very often, so it
would be nice.
Q: (Daniel Ortelli – F1 Only) Max, how surprised are you by the level of
performance of your Honda engine since the beginning of the season, and do
you think it’s a good engine for this track – although it’s not an engine
track?
MV: I’m not really surprised, because it was all just targeted and they
delivered what they promised so just a continuous process which is going
really well and I really enjoy working with them. They really take it all
very seriously and they are very professional so I’m always working with a
big smile on my face and of course, we know that we still have to improve
but from both sides, not just the engine side. We are working very closely
together to try and do that and of course this track is normally a little
bit more competitive for us.
Q: (George Boulton – The Sun) Charles, growing up in these streets, what
were your memories of watching it with your friends and probably being the
most popular man in Monaco this weekend? How are your feelings and pressures
coming into this?
CL: My first memory of the Grand Prix – I was probably about four, something
like this. I always kept this image in my head: I was at a friend’s
apartment, out of turn one, playing with the small cars, watching the Grand
Prix at the same time - I think Michael was at Ferrari – obviously watching
the red cars more than the others and yeah, just enjoying and dreaming of
being there one day. Yeah, as I’ve said before, it feels great to be at
home.
Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportswereld) Max, a year ago, here in Monaco, I
think it was the location – and correct me if I’m wrong – of your last
personal mistake. With everybody speaking about you, they always say ‘after
that, he became more mature.’ How do you see that yourself?
MV: Well, I think not only after that, I think in general, it’s life. I’m
getting older, general life experience but yes, sometimes you have to make
mistakes to become a better driver and so this was one of them.
Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) Valtteri, you lost, at the start, the
last two pole positions and here it’s clearly a place where nobody wants to
a lose a place at the start. Have you got to the bottom of what went wrong
in Barcelona and well, and what has been done to prevent a repetition of
that?
VB: Yeah, for sure, we went through all the details and things to improve
from my side and the team’s side as usual and yeah, we can see the cause of
it. For sure, that clutch physically is out from the pool but also there
were things on the control side in that unfortunate moment which being on
the grip limit allowed some hesitation and variation on the clutch torque.
We’ve done changes to prevent that. Hopefully it will not happen again and
we move on. |