Formula 1 Austria Press Conference
Earlier today the Austria Press Conference took place with (starting from top row) Kevin Magnussen (Renault), Esteban Gutierrez (Haas), Felipe Nasr (Sauber), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) and finally Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).
Answering questions prior to the race weekend getting started, see the press conference below.
Formula 1 Austria Press Conference
Question: Daniil, can we start with you? Good qualifying session last time out in Baku but the results are proving hard to come by at the moment. Are you full-settled now, back with your team and what are your goals for the rest of the season ahead?
Formula 1 Austria Press Conference – Daniil Kvyat
Daniil Kvyat: ‘Yeah, I think step by step it’s becoming better and better. We had a few competitive race weekends, in terms of pace, and Baku was definitely one of them. I think there are plenty of races left, things are coming better and better and I’m feeling more settled in the team. They are giving me lots of support because obviously coming in like this wasn’t very simple but now things are more clear and I’m just enjoying racing. I’m enjoying myself and to be honest I’m having a really good time.‘
Question: This is another power circuit obviously. Are we starting to see the effects of your one-year old power unit versus all the current units?
Daniil Kvyat: ‘Yeah, we do. To be honest, already Baku was one of those tracks where it wasn’t meant to be easy for us but nevertheless we found good compromises and managed to make a good Saturday. I think it’s going to be another difficult weekend for us here, obviously it’s a power-limited track and most of the time on the straight. This isn’t the biggest friend of us. Still, you know, we have to keep fighting and play the best game with the cars we have in hand, so we will just do our best and then we will see where we are.‘
Formula 1 Austria Press Conference – Felipe Nasr
Question: Thank you for that – Felipe, coming to you, you won the GP2 feature race here back in 2014 and you made the most of the package in Baku, getting into Q2 and then racing up to P12. How satisfied were you with that result, which I think was your best of the season so far?
Felipe Nasr: ‘Oh, it was pretty good. I think it was one of the very first trouble-free weekends I had and I was able extract the maximum from the car and from the strategy we had set out. We actually had pretty good pace in the race and were able to fight the McLarens! I was pretty close to the top 10 and I mean, I know it’s not enough but it was a decent weekend. If we can have something similar here and if we c a n have a bit of fortune on our side then maybe we can score our points of the season.’
Question: It’s now your second year in Formula One. Looking at the rest of the field and prospects for your team, where do you go from here? Do you think or look forward?
Felipe Nasr: ‘Where do I go from here? (Laughs). Well, we still have 13 races to go and there’s so much to go on yet! So many things to roll and happen. I’m still fully committed to the team I’m pretty sure. The situation seems to have gotten better from what I hear and getting all the employees and salaries paid is just a big boost to everyone back at the factory and at the track. I’m sure we can soon start updating the car. All we want is the results on the track, which I think we can have pretty soon. So we just got to keep on doing what we can for now.‘
Question: Thanks for that – Esteban, Haas has fallen from fifth in the Constructors’ championship to eighth. You personally have been on a bit of an upward curve, you out-qualified your team-mate in Monaco and Canada. What’s been making the difference for you?
Formula 1 Austria Press Conference – Esteban Gutierrez
Esteban Gutierrez: ‘Well, I’ve been pretty unfortunate in the first part of the season. It hasn’t been easy to have lots of technical issues and it wasn’t very straightforward therefore I believe it wouldn’t be fair to rate my season based on the points. I’ve been in a lot of positions to score the points and in many races I wasn’t able to finish the race because of different reasons that were out of my control so it’s good now it’s improving a little bit. It hasn’t been easy in the three last grand prix’s because of my health but now I feel so much better and I’m really looking forward to the next four grand prix races which are all pretty close together.‘
Question: The F1 paddock is now starting to think and talk about what’s happening next year – new contracts and such. Have you started the process yet with Haas?
Esteban Gutierrez: ‘Yeah. I know pretty much where I’m going, so…‘
Question: OK, that sounds good. Kevin, coming to you, there have been some notes of optimism coming through from the team’s pre-race preview materials. What is it about your car that’s really not worked recently and that gives them some optimism about this race track?
Formula 1 Austria Press Conference – Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Magnussen: ‘ I think we have tried a lot of very different things to learn more about the car and to get a better understanding of the car we have. Basically we are now going back to something we know and that gives a little bit of optimism. I don’t think it’s going to get a lot better than previous races but hopefully we are able to know what we have now, think everything through and have a better race weekend.‘
Question: Looking at it from the outside it would make sense to stop developing this car and focus 100% on 2017, but what are you, as a driver, asking for and what’s on the horizon?
Kevin Magnussen: ‘As a driver you care about the end of the day and that is winning. We are so far off that in my mind and I would be fine to switch the focus completely because we’re not going to win in this car. The sooner we can start winning, the happier I will be and that’s what I want to focus on. I am not the team principal and there is a reason for that. More qualified people make theses decisions and I trust whatever the team is doing.‘
Formula 1 Austria Press Conference – Kimi Raikkonen
Question: Thanks for that. Kimi, coming to you, 99th race start for Ferrari this weekend, puts you fourth on the all-time list for the Ferrari team. There has been quite a lot of discussion externally, ie within the media and among other teams as well, about Ferrari’s strategy decision-making in the last few grands prix. I know you have been on the wrong side of it a couple of times. Have you reviewed it internally and will you be approaching it any differently as a team?
Kimi Raikkonen: ‘No, I think we did the best that we could. Obviously people outside the team can and will talk as much as they want. We cannot control that and it’s not our business either. We work as a team, one group and as Ferrari. Obviously we always look at what we have done over the weekends and then afterwards we try to learn on everything. The good and the bad. There are some decisions that have to be made over the races and we had no issues with them. We are trying to make the best of it as a team and obviously certain situations have changed in the last race but that’s a normal thing.‘
Question: We’re now coming into the traditional part of the season where the Formula One paddock speculates about your seat at Ferrari for the following year. Do you have any clarity on whether you will carry on next year?
Kimi Raikkonen: ‘I don’t know. I know that I have a contract for this year and I don’t know what will happen next year. A lot of talk and there is a lot of talk every year. It’s nothing new. Same story really and people can say what they want and discuss what they want but they have a very, very little understanding of what’s happening. Well, if I make the decisions then it would be easy to tell what will happen but I don’t. We’ll see. We’ll do our best and try for sure but the team knows my side of the story and that’s enough from me. The rest I have no interest to talk about, in here or anywhere else apart from within the team.’
Formula 1 Austria Press Conference – Daniel Ricciardo
Question: Thank you for that. Daniel, your 27th birthday tomorrow I believe, entering your prime. Just a pair of seventh places in the last two grands prix though, whereas you had a chance to win the two before that. Is it all about the engine or have you personally lost a little bit of momentum?
Daniel Ricciardo: ‘I haven’t lost anything. We had Canada yeah, I think I could have done better than seventh. The second set of tyres flat spotted and we would have tried a one-stop to do the race, if that wasn’t the case, I think it would have been a different story. Baku, that was a great power circuit but also we knew we had gone a little bit wrong after three laps in the race. We haven’t had a perfect weekend since…. I’d probably say for a while but performance wise, there’s still more there. This circuit will test us this weekend. We’ll try to do what we can and hopefully be better than seventh.‘
Question: There’s been quite a bit said recently about your contractual position over the next couple of seasons – discussions about Ferrari, but also discussions about options being taken up for the next couple of years. Can you confirm today that you are staying with Red Bull until at least the end of 2018?
Daniel Ricciardo: ‘Yeah. Yeah.‘
Question: A little more detail, a little more flesh on the bones?
Daniel Ricciardo: ‘Every word I say…one turns into 10 and then 30 and then 50 – so, I’ll just leave it at that.‘
Question: But obviously a big part of that is it is your own decision to do that rather than take any other options or look at other options?
Daniel Ricciardo: ‘Yeah, absolutely. it goes for both sides for sure. It’s a bit like what Kevin touched on. We want to win and this year it’s going to be tough for a world title but obviously where we are this year is where we are. You can’t do anything about that now but I am looking forward to the next year, spending time with the team and seeing what’s ahead. I think it’s the best place to be and try to be a challenge to Mercedes so that’s where it all stems from.’
More to come ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix!
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xxx
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