GP in Spain: Press Conference on Friday – Part 1

Today’s press conference with Günther Steiner, Otmar Szafnauer and Franz Tost.

Franz, you’ve been in the backend of the points for the last couple of races. Are you satisfied or frustrated that you stopped delivering?
Franz Tost: I am annoyed. Because especially the race in Portimao was not good for us. We had problems with the setup because of the special conditions there, with the low grip and the wind and couldn’t offer the drivers the right car and the right race before we made a mistake with Pierre Gasly at Imola and sent him the wrong ones at the beginning Tires out and of course this had a very bad influence on the race result. Yuki did a pretty good job but unfortunately he had a spin in the second half of the race where he lost some good positions. So I hope that we will reset everything properly and be back here in Barcelona with both cars on the points.

We’ll get to Yuki in a moment, but how useful is it for you to be back at a track you know well this weekend – in terms of being a good benchmark for the team?
FT: Of course, Barcelona is now the first circuit this year where we can really evaluate the performance of the different teams. If you are fast here in Barcelona then in my opinion you will be competitive for the rest of the season. If you have problems here, you need to find solutions to catch up. That’s why this race here in Barcelona is very important to us.

In terms of the car’s performance, Pierre said yesterday that slow corners are a weakness for you guys this year. If so, expect some tough races in Monaco and Baku.
FT: Yeah, OK, Monaco is a completely different feature than the car’s setup. All cars will be much softer at maximum downforce. I hope we can sort this out. We had some minor issues in the slow corners today, but I think we can get rid of them. Yuki had a little too much understeer in slow and middle corners, but no major issues, and Pierre was pretty happy with the soft tires. With the hard tires, he said the car was a little disjointed. The engineers sit together hopefully to find the right setting for the FP2 and the rest of the weekend.

The last few races have been pretty tough for Yuki. Why so? And what are your goals for him this weekend in Spain?
FT: The main goal is for him to be able to complete as many laps as possible because a newcomer, even if he knows the circuit well, has to get used to the car and everything on the track. I expect him to be close to the third qualifying. If everything goes well in the race and we find the right line-up, he can collect points.

Otmar, tough race in Portugal for both drivers, but what did you learn? What did the improvements do for Lance’s car in particular?
Otmar Szafnauer: So we only had the upgrade for Lance’s car and yes, it was a tough race for us. Lance started 17th and didn’t have a good lap in the first quarter so he couldn’t get out of the first quarter. In the race he was a bit stronger than Seb and partly due to the fact that he had the upgrade and Seb didn’t. We have the upgrade for both cars here, so we look forward to reviewing it for both cars now.

What does the upgrade bring in terms of performance? Where is the car better?
OS: Well, we have now focused all of our efforts on the downforce reduction introduced by the change in regulations. So the upgrade is supposed to reclaim part of it.

One positive result from last weekend is that Seb seems to be getting things under control. Is that how you see it?
OS: Yeah. We always said it would take a bit of time and sitting in our car and that has been proven right. He did a great job in Q1 and Q2. He made a mistake in the third quarter, finished tenth and also had a lot of sitting time in the race. It looks like he’ll continue to grapple with the car in the first race. After the race he was still not happy with the balance. And as Seb says, “The speed of the car is one thing – but I have to find the right balance and be comfortable in it and I’m still not quite there”. Hopefully this race takes another step in that direction.

Well, if he takes one more step. What are the goals for this weekend – and does your performance on this track last year give you some confidence?
OS: Yes, it’s a track that suits our car a little more than Portimao, for example. If we do a good job by qualifying, it would be beneficial and successful to get both of them into the third quarter.

Günther, both drivers saw the checkered flag in Portugal and Mick in particular had a great race and overtook Nicholas Latifi. How much self-confidence will this performance give Mick?
Günther Steiner: Difficult to say. I mean, it wasn’t a good, very difficult session for both cars this morning for us, but I think Mick was definitely happy with his performance after the Portimao race. I think that’s the best we can do right now and he made everything of it.

And was that his best performance of the year so far for you guys?
GS: Yes, I would say that. Absolutely. You know, he’s learning the car, he’s getting used to Formula 1 and I think hopefully it will continue this way, this understanding of Formula 1 and improving from race to race.

There was a little disagreement between your drivers about the car yesterday. Mick said he took a step forward in Portugal – the car took a step forward – while Nikita disagreed and said it had not. What’s the matter?
GS: I think I wasn’t here so I want to hear this story about the disagreement too. I think Mick may be able to adapt more or faster to what the car is doing. I mean, we all know the car isn’t very good, and we’ve always said that I wish I had one of their cars, as much as my colleagues here have problems. In the end, I think Nikita, we just have to try to get him a better balance too. So the shortcomings of the car to overcome them a little, the car is very unstable when turning and I think Mick may be better able to do that and Nikita struggles a bit more because he wants the rear just to be confident it will sticks. It’s one of the things we have to try to get Nikita to a better place so he can feel safer – because if he doesn’t trust his cars it is very difficult to drive them because, you know, the speeds you’re going at, it’s not easy so that’s what you’re trying to do.

One of your cars hit a Williams last weekend. Is it realistic to think that you can do this in most races?
GS: No. I mean, as long as we can take the fight to them, we’re glad to be honest, you know. Sure we’ll try, I’ve always said we’ll try to achieve something. You can’t come here and do all this work and not try to fight anything. It was a good moment for us. Even if it’s the little things we fight for, you have to keep going and improving. The drivers learn confidently in a race like this. Mick learned a lot about racing in Formula 1 because before we were always behind and basically just did laps – which helps too – but if you start fighting, if you are fighting for more, at least you have it Made it in the backend.

(Luke Smith – Autosport, via email) Franz, it’s for you. At the last meeting of the F1 commission, AlphaTauri sided with Red Bull and Ferrari and refused sporting penalties for procedural violations against the financial regulations. Mattia Binotto said Ferrari wanted more clarity on the rules before they could vote for them. Could you please outline and explain AlphaTauri’s position on this matter?
FT: It’s pretty clear. It’s a change during the season and what we asked for is just a clarification. We are now waiting for the FIA ​​to present this and then we will decide how to proceed. I don’t want to go into details because, as you know, this is confidential content – but AlphaTauri, as you know, is absolutely not against the cost cap or any changes in the cost cap – it has to be done in a and we just have to be in the Define in detail what the FIA ​​wants with this and that is why we asked for this clarification.

video conference

(Dieter Rencken – Racing Lines) To all three according to the same principle. Last week, just before the Portuguese Grand Prix, Zak Brown posted a letter suggesting that certain teams would coordinate with their engine suppliers or technical partners or whatever in the block. Where are the three of you on this matter? All three of you are aligned in one way or another with a different large team? Where do you stand in this regard, please?
GS: I think we always vote for the best of Haas F1. Of course, if it agrees with Ferrari, it helps us to vote with them. We vote on it. For us, like the question asked earlier about the penalty, the example is the sports penalty for exceeding the budget cap that we voted for. We are not under pressure. Of course we talk to Ferrari all the time, we work with them – but we are not required to do what they say and basically build this racket. I think it’s mostly an advantage for us to vote with Ferrari for obvious reasons, but that’s not always the case. We can still do what we do – but we do what is best for Haas F1 – most of the time it depends on what Ferrari is doing. That is our position on it.

Otmar please.
OS: Yes, we also vote for what is best for us. We look at everything that lies ahead and do what is best for the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team.

And Franz please
FT: We vote on what speaks for Scuderia AlphaTauri.

Check out our Friday gallery from Barcelona here.