Formula 1 News: 2024 Mexico City GP Friday Press Conference
Three Formula 1 Team Principals met with the media Friday ahead of the 2024 Mexico City GP at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
TEAM REPRESENTATIVES:
- Ayao KOMATSU (Haas)
- Mike KRACK (Aston Martin)
- Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing)
Q: Mike, can we start with you, first of all? One of your drivers is celebrating a landmark occasion this weekend, 400 races. Can we just start by discussing what makes Fernando Alonso so special?
Mike KRACK: Yeah, I think that is a question that we could ask many, many people in the F1 paddock. He has worked with a lot of teams already. I think we are privileged to be able to organize the celebration now with the party, but I think it’s tribute to everybody that has worked with him for all these years in the first place. But then, obviously, the individual, incredible career over the last 20-plus years, 400 race starts. I wish I could give him a winning car on Sunday. It would be difficult, but I think all in all, if you look back, or if you look at how at an advanced stage of the career he’s still performing, it’s incredible. So if you ask about character or adjectives, there are many, but I think what you need to really point out is the talent, obviously, as many people are having, but then the discipline and foremost, I think the desire, the desire to compete, super competitive. So super competitive, super disciplined and super talented.
Q: Can I bring in the other two on this particular topic? Ayao, you worked with Fernando when you were at Renault. What is your overriding memory of that time?
Ayao KOMATSU: Yes, I was a tire engineer back then. So I was doing lots of tire testing with Fernando. And what struck me was just unbelievable ability to understand. If you give him, ‘OK, I want you to do a 20-lap stint on these tires. I want you to do these laps times for the final five laps of the stint, and then completely use up the tire on the in-lap’, he can just do that, bang on, knows exactly what it’s going to be like by lap two, lap three, how he drives. He knows what the tire’s going to be like on lap 20. And he never underused or overused the tires. He can really hit that, bang on. I was really amazed at that ability. And also, like Mike said, just the desire. He loves the sport, doesn’t he? And just the desire. But yeah, that was really an eye-opener for me.
Q: Christian, I believe you nearly signed Fernando on a couple of occasions. What was it like to negotiate with him?
Christian HORNER: He’s a formidable competitor. At the end of his McLaren stint, the first one in 2008, I remember going to Madrid and pushing to get him in the car. We wanted to do a two-year deal, and he was only prepared to sign for one year. And we were convinced he had a Ferrari contract in his back pocket at that point. So we didn’t get to a deal. And had he come to us in 2009, maybe things could have looked slightly differently. And even halfway through the 2009 season, he was convinced if he got in our car, he could still win the championship that year. So that was that point. We then had a conversation… I remember meeting with him with Adrian in the back of a hire car at Spa Airport. I think that was around 2011, ‘11 or ’12, about coming across from Ferrari and then even as early as the beginning of this year. So it’s incredible the longevity that he’s had, the competitiveness that he has, and the statistics for the talent that he has and the ability he has. Two World Championships don’t do him justice. He should have won more than that.
Q: Alright, thanks. Mike, let’s come back to you. How is Fernando, first of all? He wasn’t at the track yesterday because he was feeling poorly. Is he OK today?
MK: Yeah, he came this morning all normal. We were in touch, obviously, all the time. So he’s fine and he will drive now the second session.
Q: Alright, let’s talk car performance now, with regards to Aston. You had the upgrade in Austin last weekend. Did it perform as expected and will that translate here in Mexico?
MK: Yeah, I mean, if you look at it, it was a Sprint weekend. We decided to start with both cars identical, basically throwing everything at it. And it was not easy the whole weekend. We turned the car up, we turned it down, we went stiff, we went soft. But we couldn’t really extract the performance that we wanted to extract from it. As I said, it was tough. And from this, we said, ‘OK, we come to Mexico, and then we have to do a little bit more homework’. We will have a bit more time. You have seen probably both cars had big rakes on today. They ran with different specifications and they will run also different specifications this afternoon. So it’s about understanding what we have not understood yet and do better going forward.
Q: It seems you’re experimenting a lot at the moment. How are you viewing these last five races of the season? Is it all about 2025 and preparing yourself as best as possible for that?
MK: Yeah, I think that is the case for most of the teams. Everybody has his eyes on ‘25, except if you have big ambitions for the championship or different championship positions. So it’s about learning the maximum. But then we also, this is not only a learning exercise. We’re not here for learning only. I think when Saturday and Sunday start, you have to go racing and you have to go with the best car you have, so I think the Friday is good to experiment and to try and learn for the future, prepare as much as you can, but then come Saturday, Sunday, I think you have to run what you think is the fastest you have.
Q: Thank you. A final one from me, Mike. Andy Cowell, Group CEO, was at Austin. It was his first race with the team. How was the debrief after the race weekend? What comments did he have about the team?
MK: Well, it was very good to have Andy around in Austin so that he gets an overview of how we operate at the track. He was at the factory already for a couple of weeks. It’s obviously a lot about getting to know the people, getting to know how we do things. And I have to say, I’m very, very positive about how we went so far. A very calm, very structured approach, very factual. which is very promising. And from the early talks, early beginnings or early conversations, I think I get an understanding why he was so successful in the places where he was before.
Q: Mike, thank you for that. I’m sure there’ll be more questions for you in a minute. Ayao, can we come to you now? So five consecutive points finishes for the team. Just tell us, first of all, what is the atmosphere like inside Haas at the moment?
AK: Yeah, atmosphere is really good, so obviously scoring points is difficult, but we have to put everything together, so to do that in five consecutive events is great. So, yeah, atmosphere is really positive.
Q: Now, let’s talk upgrades. Obviously, it was a big upgrade in Austin, it worked, but it appears that all of the upgrades you’re introducing this year are working when you put them on the car. That hasn’t always been the case for the team. What’s changed?
AK: Yes, so this year, all the upgrades, it’s not like everything worked completely perfectly, but none of the upgrades made our car slower, so every time we put upgrades on the car, we actually made the car faster. What’s changed, it’s really, we’ve still got the similar people, same people, really, so details about communication, trying to work together as a team, listen to each other, give people freedom. so really those are let’s say simple fundamental things that we really focused on and I’m really pleased that they’re now you know seeing the result of it
Q: And you’re in a an intense battle in the Constructors’ championship with VCARB, just two points the difference and at the moment you’re ahead. Who do you feel has the faster car at the moment?
AK: I think it really depends on the event. You know, they’ve got upgrades here as well. And then, so, like, FP1, they looked quick. We’re not very happy with the car. So I think it really depends every event. And also, like, even track temperature, that can swing things as well. So it’s very difficult to say who’s got upper hand for remaining five races. I think we’ve got to maximize everything you’ve got every day, every race.
Q: Okay, final one from me. The technical partnership with Toyota. You announced that before the Austin weekend. You went to Japan for the announcement. It’s working in addition to your existing relationships with Dallara and Ferrari. Can you just tell us a little bit more about how you’re weaving it all together to work in harmony?
AK: Yeah, obviously, Ferrari and Dallara has been amazing partners since day one. And then as you can see, you know, Ferrari, obviously, the PU partner, gearbox, suspension, hydraulics, et cetera. Those areas, obviously, Toyota’s not touching. You know, the area that Toyota’s touching is the area that we don’t get support from Ferrari, and that we’ve been doing it on our own. So, yeah, that really just adds to our capability and then a chance to understand the car better so that we can make our team more competitive.
Q: And how long-term is this deal with Toyota? I mean, hypothetically, if Gene Haas were to say one day that he wanted to sell his team, do Toyota have first refusal on buying it?
AK: To start with, Gene’s not selling the team. Every single time he’s asking me, how can we go better? What can we do to make the car go faster? He’s not interested in selling. I believe he had so many offers, actually, but he refused every single one of them. So the team’s not up for sale. And then we haven’t even spoken about a first refusal or anything like that. That’s not being on the topic. It is a long term, very long term.
Q: Alright Ayao, thank you for that. I’m sure there’ll be more questions for you in a minute. Christian, coming to you now. Max was saying last weekend in Austin that the RB20 has taken a step forward. Just how big a step?
CH: I think it was a positive step, I mean, to get the pole for the Sprint, to win the Sprint race. Arguably, we were certainly in contention for the pole for the Grand Prix, qualified ultimately on the front row. The bit that we under-delivered on, I think with the set-up changes perhaps after the Sprint race that we perhaps overcompensated, was the Grand Prix itself, where we just had too much understeer in the car. So a Sprint race win, a fighting third, was a very positive weekend. And I think that the engineers, design team and manufacturing, supply chain, they’ve been all working tremendously hard back in the UK and it’s good to see performance getting through to the car.
Q: Okay, there was a slight engine problem on Max’s car this morning, but have you seen enough already in FP1 to believe that the performance will translate here in Mexico?
CH: It’s a different circuit. It’s a different challenge. Obviously, the altitude here, things work a bit differently. We hit a piece of signage that fell off the bridge in the first session, which did a little bit of damage to the floor, but that’s been repaired. The engine issue, thankfully, was a menial issue and has been rectified, hopefully, for the next session.
Q: So, let’s talk about Checo, home race this weekend. Now in the press conference yesterday, he described 2024, and I’m quoting him now, as a terrible season. How would you describe it?
CH: I think he’s summed it up perfectly. It’s been a bad year for Checo. He started strongly and obviously he’s struggled for form since pretty much Imola onwards and it’s been sporadic. We saw flashes of performance, Azerbaijan, arguably he could have won that race almost a month ago. So we know what he’s capable of and we’re hoping that we can give him a set-up and the confidence in the car to extract the kind of performances that we know he’s very capable of.
Q: What does the future hold for Checo?
CH: Look, Checo’s our driver. He’s contracted for 2025. He’s competitive. He’s hungry. He’s not happy with where he currently is. So as a team, we’re doing our very best to support him. Obviously, the big weekend for him here, huge support. I think he’s endorsing every product from Uber Eats to toilet roll this weekend, so it’s impressive how many endorsements he’s managed to line up for himself.
Q: Christian, this is probably a nice segue to talk about Liam Lawson. How impressed were you by his comeback race in Austin?
CH: I was very impressed. I mean, to jump in the car, a circuit that he’d not been to before, the pressure of just having to get in and get on with it over a Sprint weekend, I thought he acquitted himself very well. And I think that to go from the back to ninth and score points on his seasonal debut, I thought he did a super job.
Q: What do you think he’d do in a Red Bull?
CH: I mean, that’s difficult to hypothesize. I mean, he’s obviously a talented guy. We know a bit about him from the work he’s been doing in tire testing and so on. And he’s a talent that’s continuing to nurture and continuing to grow. So it’s interesting to see how he performs over these remaining five races.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Christian, on the driver front, Helmut has suggested it might be at the end of the season that you guys make a decision on where drivers are placed next year between Liam and Checo. Is that the plan? Are you going to get to the end of the year to give it the fullness of time to assess everything? And what can Checo do in these final five races to ensure he’s definitely in that seat next year?
CH: Well, as I mentioned earlier, Checo has a contract for next year, so he’s currently our driver for 2025. Obviously, there is a seat available at VCARB, and they’re all Red Bull racing drivers that are on loan. So, you know, we have the benefit of time to sit down with Laurent and Peter and look at all the options.
Q: (Niharika Ghorpade – Sportskeeda) Christian, there has been a war of words between you and McLaren. And Andrea Stella, after the race, clearly denied appealing against the decision by the stewards in the race against Norris. And now they have applied for appeal against it today and there’s a summoning for Red Bull. So does there seem to be some kind of vendetta that McLaren have towards Red Bull? Is it just speculation that such a narrative has been doing the rounds?
CH: I didn’t catch all of that. I think it was mainly about McLaren and accusations that are being made. Well, first of all, in terms of war of words, I’m always intrigued to read that because I don’t think we’ve been making too many comments about McLaren. Obviously, they’ve raised their right of review over last weekend, which is their right. And the FIA will hear that through their process. Now, inevitably, when you’re running at the sharp end, then everything comes under more scrutiny. And you can feel that, you know, certainly McLaren are being quite vocal in certain aspects, you know, about many, many parts ofour team, our car, stewards, et cetera, et cetera.
Q: (Dan Lawrence – Motorsport Monday) Question for Christian. I’ve noticed throughout the year you’ve seen the praises of your junior driver, Arvid Lindblad. So I was just wondering if you could go into more detail about what impresses you so much about him. And secondly, with him progressing to F2 next year, Isack in an F2 title fight this year, does that sort of have an implication on how you structure the 2025 F1 driver line-up across the two teams?
CH: Well, firstly, both the juniors are very impressive, Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad. Isack competing, as you say, for that Formula 2 championship and showing great promise this year. And when you see the quality of the F2 guys jumping in and delivering the way they are, I think it shows the level and the standard that’s currently in the junior category. You know, Arvid is definitely a talent for the future. I think that he’s got the right attitude. He’s got the right approach and determination. And certainly what we’ve seen in some of his racing, Silverstone in particular this year, you know, he’s a very talented driver. So only time will tell how good he is and how far he can go. But certainly he and Isack are both talents that we’re quite excited about.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Another question to Christian on a very similar topic actually. I wondered if you could give us your overall assessment of the health of the Red Bull Young Driver Program. I mean in the past you’ve brought a significant number of drivers into Formula 1, some of whom wouldn’t have made it without your backing, but of late seems to be a little bit more of a struggle to get young drivers through and certainly to get them successful. So what’s going on there and what do you think about it?
CH: I think the junior program has been tremendously successful over the years. We’re giving many, many drivers the opportunity of getting to Formula 1, and even if that’s not with Red Bull Racing, that they’ve gone on to have careers in other teams. And the program has changed a little. It was, in previous years, quite top-heavy in talent in Formula 2, Formula 3. That’s been inverted now, so we’re going further down the chain. I think Helmut has just signed his first nine-year-old. So, you know, we’ve got youngsters in karting, we’ve got youngsters in the junior formally, and it’s always been a philosophy of Red Bull to invest in young talent. And, you know, that continues to very much be the case.
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-magazin.com) Another question for you, Christian. You talked earlier about Fernando and the three times you were talking to him about a potential contract with Red Bull Racing. The first two, I think, are more or less well documented so far. The third one you mentioned was at the beginning of the year. Given the fact that you have two drivers on the contract, what was the scenario you discussed with Fernando at the beginning of the year?
CH: Well, at that time, Sergio’s contract hadn’t been extended, so as Fernando is a seasoned operator, you know, he always wants to know all of his options, and between him and his manager or advisor of many years, Flavio, they’re always, you know, testing the market, and it just shows how hungry and competitive he is. And, you know, he’s still delivering at 42 years of age. Is he 42? 43. He’s still in great shape and it just shows that age is just a number. So, yeah, you know, he’s still a very, very capable Grand Prix driver and given the tools, I’m sure he’d be at the front.
Q: (Erwin Jaeggi – Motorsport.com) Another question for Christian. Honda has been pushing for a Red Bull F1 test for Yuki. Yuki has been asking for it. Where are you currently with this? And do you think Yuki is deserving of a Red Bull F1 test chance, given his current performance?
CH: Well, Yuki, obviously, again, is a member of the junior team. It’s something that we have discussed with Honda. We gave Yuki a run up the hill at Goodwood earlier the year, that was unexpected. And he was the first driver to drive a current Formula 1 car in an open-faced helmet and goggles. So he will test the car again at the test following the conclusion of the season. It’s something that’s been agreed for quite some time and it will again be good to give him a run and get the opportunity to work with Red Bull Racing engineers and see how he performs in a Red Bull Racing car.
Q: (Tim Hauraney – TSN) Question for all three of you. Following on from the battle between Max and Lando at Circuit of the America’s a conversation around track deterrence has come up. I just wanted to get your guys’ opinions on track deterrence because all three of you have been in motorsports for a very long time.
AK: Yeah, I think sometimes we have rules that are not really solving the fundamental issues. I think for me, like a qualifying maximum safety guideline time is the same thing, then these driving guidelines, it creates other problems, right? So for me, I’d like to see much simpler solution where drivers can race more freely. That’s my personal opinion.
MK: Yeah, there has been a lot of discussions around it over the last weeks. I think mainly because it was the two championship contenders, but there has been other overtakes with letting each other room or not room or trying to pass on the outside. To be honest, I think the majority of incidents have been judged correctly, if you take the guidelines as they are. Now you can discuss are the guidelines the right way to go racing or not, but I think that is something that FIA and the drivers have agreed at the start of the year and that is what is being applied. To be honest, I do not really get why there is such a such an uproar at the moment about it. we had a circuit where obviously you can run on the outside and then you also try to use it to your advantage. So, all in all, I think you know early on the year we were among the concerned at time. We had a good look at it and we think that in the majority as I said it has been dealt with in the correct way.
CH: Yeah, I think these things are discussed at length with the team managers and drivers, and I think we’ve got a set of guidelines that are pretty clear. In some cases, they make cricket look simple. But I think the fundamental thing about last weekend is it’s natural that two drivers are going to push each other hard, and you can’t overtake off the circuit. Now, for me, there would be a much simpler solution that… We saw it in Austria. You put gravel on the exit of a corner, drivers won’t go there. And I know that cost and restrictions come in from that perspective, but I think if you have a deterrent on the exit of a corner, like Turn 12, for example, in Austin, and you wouldn’t find a driver running wide because he’s going to go significantly slower, maybe damage his car and cost him significant time. So for me, keep it simple. Try and go back to basics.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) For all three of you, Ollie Oakes has joined your gang this year as the newest F1 team principal. I just want to get your thoughts on. have you found working with Ollie so far? And Christian, your experience as being a very young team principal, he’s 36, not too far off your age when you started.
CH: Well, it’s great to see, you know, a bunch of new guys coming in, whether it’s Ayao or Ollie. And, you know, it was interesting. I remember my first Formula 1 Commission meeting that I attended at Heathrow back in 2005. And, you know, Ron Dennis was there, and Flavio was there, and Jean Todt was there for Ferrari. Bernie was running it with Max Mosley and so on, and I remember sitting through the meeting and loads of things were discussed but absolutely was nothing was agreed and coming out of the meeting I was quite confused as to, other than the day of the week it was and when the next meeting was going to be, nothing had been concluded. And O was glad to see the progress in the last 20 years has been significant because I got the impression from Ollie following the meeting that he had no idea what had been agreed or that there was any conclusions to anything. But it’s great to see new blood coming into Formula 1.
MK: Yeah, there’s some similarities to when I joined. I thought about this. It’s very similar to you, Christian. And I think Ollie thought the same. But I think Ollie is not a beginner. He was very successful in junior categories with Hitech. I think he has been a great driver. So I think he knows or understands racing inside out. You have to be careful. He comes across as very young and junior, but he knows everything about racing and how teams are run and operated. He has been a nice addition. He’s a great guy, a nice guy. I met him in Austin on Wednesday, by coincidence, and we had a small chat. He’s a good guy and a great addition to the club. Maybe you ask him next time when he’s sitting here to see what he thinks about it.
AK: Yeah, I’ve only started in January, so I’m in the same boat, you know. No, it’s an exciting opportunity, interesting opportunity. I’m sure he’s highly capable and he’s really enjoying that. So, yeah, good to have him.
Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Christian, I had an answer for you prepared about gravel, but you already did. So I’ve got another question about engines, gearboxes, et cetera. Do you think MAX will need to take more grid penalties in the remaining races, or are you safe?
CH: I don’t think you’re ever safe, as we’ve just seen in the last session. But hopefully, that’s just a small issue. I think it’s something probably more of a question for our engine partner as to how comfortable they feel getting to the end of the year. But you’re always on the limit.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adam Cooper F1) Another question for Christian. Can I ask you about the right of review from McLaren? I know it’s ongoing. Were you surprised that suddenly popped up, considering how rarely they ever succeed? Do you know what their new evidence is? Does it have any merit at all?
CH: Well, obviously, there’s a criteria that it has to fill. Whether it fills that, I’m not sure. I don’t think there is any new evidence. So, look, I mean, you have to trust in the process. I think the Stewards are in difficult positions. I felt that the calls they made were absolutely fair and right at the weekend. You can’t overtake a car off the circuit. So, you know, that’s where we are. It’s McLaren’s right to invoke that. Yeah, they’re probably ruining the fact that they didn’t let Max back past because they had such a pace advantage at that part of the race with the overlap of the fresher tire that they would have probably quite easily passed Max in those last four laps anyway.
Q: (Esteban Aceves – ESPN Mexico) Christian, I would like to ask you about race engineer Hugh Bird. In Mexico, he has been criticized alongside Checo Perez’s performance. What do you think about that?
CH: Look, I mean, when you put yourself out there as a race engineer, and you’re the voice speaking to the driver, in today’s world of digital media, everybody has an opinion. Everybody has their own view on things. Now, I think Hugh does a super job. He’s a really bright guy. He’s grown up in the team. He’s out there giving his best for his driver, for his team. And I think it’s very harsh for people to judge and criticize from the outside when they have about 1% of the facts of what he’s actually dealing with. So, yeah, I mean, the great thing about opening up everything in Formula 1 is the access that we now give. The downside is the amount of armchair specialists and experts that we get that it opens up to. Hugh Bird is a very talented engineer and an important part of our team, and I think any criticism of him is unfair.