TEAM REPRESENTATIVES
Mike KRACK (Aston Martin), James VOWLES (Williams), Laurent MEKIES (RB)
Q: James, perhaps we’ll start with you. Now, it’s been a tough run for Williams of late. Can you just paint a picture for us? How tough has it been, both for the guys and girls here at the track and back at the factory?
James VOWLES: Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. I think teams aren’t built to take, what is it, six major crashes. Generally speaking, we’ll hold a stock of parts that’s about four, maybe five of each component. That’s about where you want to be. And so it doesn’t take long to figure out that once you crash five or six of them, you’re in trouble. Huge effort by both the trackside team and those in the factory. I’ve had people that are part-time or even on shift work just asking what more can they do to come in and do it. And that’s an incredible feeling when you’re part of an organisation that goes above and beyond to make sure we have two racing cars on the grid every week. It’s a distraction away from ‘25, there’s no doubt about it. Not so much from ‘26, but you have to pull your effort into just making sure you’re here on track fighting with your competitors around you.
Q: You mentioned 2025. I did want to ask, what are the mid to long-term ramifications of this in terms of the cost cap, in terms of spares, just to finish this season?
JV: You’re effectively just moving elements around from what you can do. No one here would have accounted, I hope anyway, for this amount of attrition this late on in the season. So the implication is you have to take a little bit away from next year’s cost cap. That’s the frustration behind it. You’re moving things around. But to a certain extent as well… What’s the implication? We have elements that we’re fixing for the long term, which is around process structure, infrastructure. It doesn’t hinder any of those. And those are the big gains. What we’re talking about is a few hundreds of thousands that I wish we weren’t spending this year that we could spend next year.
Q: What about Franco Colapinto? Has his confidence taken a knock with the series of crashes he’s had?
JV: Short answer, no. If you speak to him today, I think hopefully you have the opportunity to. You’ll see he’s the same calm, collected individual that was there back in Monza. He takes, one of his huge strengths, all of this on his shoulders and just wants more. He just wants to keep performing. Not at all.
Q: Have you asked him to change his approach for these last two races?
JV: No. The only thing I asked both drivers to do, and this is before Las Vegas, is free practice. you need to take and a level of care. But qualifying is qualifying race is race. Do what you do best. You’re one of the 20 best drivers in the world.
Q: James, this is the last time you’re going to be in the FIA press conference…
JV: Ever? Is there something I don’t know?
Q: This week, this year! I’ll make sure you’re in for Australia next year, just to start as we mean to go on. But can we look back just at 2024? Alex Albon said yesterday that the season has been better than it looks on paper. Do you agree with him?
JV: Yeah, I mean, ultimately, the position of the championship is the position of the championship. But we have a car that’s able to, since we’ve updated it, fight for qualifying three. We had a car that in Brazil was still up there in that top three position before we crashed. We had a lap in Vegas from Franco that… We started far too close to a car behind, but we were doing a lap time that would have been faster than Gasly. So the pace of the cars there, which is what Alex was reflecting on, but with 15, I think it is, crashes. this year, we’ve had a lot of focus more on just getting ourselves back on the grid rather than striving forward. And as we discussed at the beginning of the year, we made some monumental changes in what we’re doing internally. And by the way, still are. But the result of that was we didn’t produce a car on the weight limit, which really hurt us in that first part of the year. So I think it’s fair to say there’s more progress than the championship position would highlight. But ultimately, we’re adjudicated by where we are in the championship.
Q: Alright, James, many thanks for that. I’m sure there’ll be more questions for you in a minute. Mike, let’s come to you now. Aston Martin have had a rough run since Singapore in particular as well. Can we start by just talking about the mood in the team? How is confidence at Aston?
Mike KRACK: Surprisingly good, I have to say. We are realistic. We know, or let’s say we are not trying to hide the facts where we are with the car, with the performance, and then it’s a matter of communicating this appropriately. Formula 1 teams always try to get the maximum of what they have, whatever it is, and there is nobody that is down on this. It’s reality. Last year it was much easier to get more points at once. Now it is very, very difficult to get small points. But that’s the reality and that is something that we have to accept and do the maximum with it. But to be honest, there has not been many frustrations. As James was saying, for Franco, for example, you have to put these things behind and look forward all the time, because if you dwell too much on the past, then you become frustrated.
Q: But you can learn from the past, can’t you? And have the recent difficulties come as a surprise to the team?
MK: Well, the surprises come when you try to upgrade the car and you do not see the performance improvement. That is a surprise because you want to improve it and it doesn’t improve. Then you have to obviously question how you have done it and if you should have done it differently. So the answer is yes, it comes as a surprise, because nobody wants to upgrade the car with stuff that doesn’t work. So at the end of the day, yes.
Q: Can we talk about Dan Fallows? He’s been moved off F1 projects at Aston. Is that linked to the lack of development with the car?
MK: Well, I think, you know, we spoke about the result just now with James. The only thing that matters is the result and the performance at the end. And if the performance is not there, there is change. That is, I think, normal in our business. This is not different in any professional sport. If the performance doesn’t come, then the team decides to make changes. And this is the case.
Q: What about the drivers? How have they dealt with the difficulties of recent times?
MK: Well, I think, you know, hats off to both our drivers. They have not accepted, but they’re challenging us internally, but externally they are excellent team players, and this is of great help, obviously, because if the difficulties are taken to the outside, it gets much more difficult. So they have really conducted themselves remarkably well. It’s frustrating for them as well. We came from a good start in ‘23 and since it has not really progressed. And they have the microphone in front of them each time they get out of the car and are being confronted with negative questions, which is normal. And when you have adrenaline and these kind of things, it’s very difficult to stay positive, which they have done. So, yeah, credit to them.
Q: And what about the season as a whole then? How will you reflect on 2024? And do you feel, despite the results, you’ve put the foundations in place for a better 2025?
MK: Yeah, I think the answer to the first question is we cannot be happy with our season. We started the year in a position where we finished it, where we finished the previous one. And our target was really to close the gap a little bit to the front. And the exact opposite happened. So we can’t be happy with that. Then, it is clear that more buildings have come into service. More tools are coming into service. Not everything is ready yet. So yes foundations are being built in the background but we have to run a car also in this season and the next season and this is not dependent on ‘am I finished yet with my wind tunnel or not?’ Nobody will be interested in that after all.
Q: OK. Thank you very much, Mike. I’m sure there’ll be more questions for you in a minute. Laurent, let’s come to you now and start by talking about the battle for P6. It is incredibly close, just four points separating P6 to P8. How do you view the battle?
Laurent MEKIES: Look, it’s a crazy intense battle. Of course, it gets a bit less interest compared to what’s happening at the very top. But to have three teams after 22 races separated by four points, it’s very much, you work all these years as mechanics, as engineers, as staff to be involved in this sort of battle. That’s why you love the sport. So I think it’s great for the team to be part of that. It’s pushing us to improve. It’s pushing us to learn, sometimes in a hard way. But it’s a great battle to be involved in. And, you know, I think it’s good that these three teams, we are in the very, very final part of the seasons. We all have a car that is able to produce a top 10. So, you know, everybody has been trying to develop their cars throughout the whole seasons and the fact that at the very end of that we have a car that is able to fight for P10 is a good sign. So I don’t know how it will finish in Abu Dhabi, but for sure in terms of the team growing through that battle, it was extremely helpful.
Q: And what has been your message to the team and to the drivers going into these last couple of races?
LM: The message is that we try to focus on ourselves. It will be easy to get a bit obsessed with where is Haas or where is Alpine as we go into these last two races. But the truth is, if we extract all the performance of the car, if we really nail the weekend as team plus drivers, then we will beat these guys by a very, very tiny margin, not by two tenths, not by one tenth. We’ll probably only beat them by a few hundreds if we nail everything. So the message that we all try to go with is, let’s focus on ourselves. Let’s extract everything so that on Sunday night, we can look at each other’s eyes and know that we got everything out of it. And then the classifications will be a consequence of that.
Q: And when you look at the classification at the end of the year, whether you finish P6 or P8 is a very different message, isn’t it? How will you reflect on this year, irrespective of the classification?
LM: You know, in a competitive sport, it’s very difficult not to consider the classifications. But you’re right, there were much bigger pictures for us in 2024. It was year one of this new project. We have tried to build these stronger foundations for the future. And in the middle of that, we were involved in that fantastic battle for the top of the midfield. So we tried to separate both elements. As James and Mike mentioned, we have made, as well, a fairly large change in the company to try to future proof it, to try be able to be credible in the future, fighting for the top of the midfield. As we were doing that, we also had to race every two weeks and get into this year’s fight. So I think there are, again, a lot of positives from this year, from the way the team has grown, from the way the team has taken that battle, from the changes that we have been making for the years to come. And hopefully the end result will also give us a sign that we are going into the right direction.
Q: Quick word on the drivers. Let’s start with Yuki. Points in the last couple of races. Is he impressing you as much now as he did earlier on in the season?
LM: Of course he is. Of course he is. Yuki qualified P7 last week on the dry. He qualified P3 the week before in Brazil on the wet. So, of course, if you look at the driver’s performance, it very much followed the team’s performance through the year. You know, we had a slow start and a fantastic string of races and a more difficult time when we hit the some issues with our development. And then finally, we managed to put the car back in the right window for this final part of the season. And the drivers’ results have been following that. But when I see Yuki again performing at that level like he did in the last few races, It was all together an outstanding season from his side. I think he has made a step this season that nobody could forecast and it’s something he should be proud of.
Q: And he’s testing for Red Bull Racing next week. Do you expect him to excel in that test? And if a space becomes available, do you think he’s ready to make the step up?
LM: Well, I think a guy at that level that has been scoring the amount of points he’s scored this year, a guy that has put the car in P7 or in P3 in the last two races in qualifying, of course I think he’s ready to get a faster car. We are hoping to provide him with this faster car, but of course, I think he’s ready for a faster car and a faster team or a bigger team. So the short answer is yes. And as for the test you will do with them, you know, I think it’s been very important for our drivers to get a chance into the bigger team, into our brother team. It’s one of our key DNA aspects for this team to be able to grow our drivers and to make them attractive enough so that Red Bull Racing want to have them. So we are very happy that you have this test and I’m confident it will perform well.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adam Cooper F1) For all three of you. The 11th team for ‘26 was confirmed this week. What are your thoughts on that? Is your share of the dilution fee enough to compensate for the extra competition for prize money, for sponsors, for staff and even for drivers?
MK: Well, This came a little bit by surprise or came a little bit unexpected. And I do not have so much information about it, to be honest. So I think we have to trust F1 there, FIA, how this is going to go. I don’t know about what payments are being made or have to be made. I think this will have to be defined going forward. So, yeah, I can’t say much except that, yeah, we will have to trust F1 that this is going the way it should go.
JV: I think, first of all, it’s a sign of how well the sport is doing that we have a major OEM like GM joining us. I think it’s just a sign of the growth, a sign of where Formula 1 is going. I don’t think there’s actually any defined amount of dilution fee. I think that’s a part of a ‘26 Concorde, which hasn’t been ratified at this point. What I’ve said all the way through is it will have financial loss for existing teams. What we have to do now is grow the sport sufficiently and from need to be aware of that in order to make things good for everyone.
LM: I mean, echoing what James said, I think all together it’s a fantastic sign for the sport. It’s going to be pretty much all car manufacturers probably, except for Williams and us. You know, even Haas is also linked to a car manufacturers now. So it’s a battle of giants, and it’s another sign that the sport is going towards the direction of a battle of giants. And the details of the financials, they are still under discussion, and hopefully they become small in the big pictures of where the sport can go for its next level.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) James, to follow up on that, in the past you said you were strongly against the expansion of the grid while teams are financially unstable, was I think how you worded it. Has that stance softened at all or is GM, is that too big for F1 to turn down, do you think?
JV: So there’s two things I said. I think it was actually here a year ago. But one of them was we welcome GM open-armed, and they still maintain that. It’s a large brand that comes with it, a different significance to an independent body that’s joining us at our point. What I still maintain, and it’s there, and it’s in the answer to the previous question, is this will have a large financial impact on existing teams. But Formula 1 are aware, and it’s down to them to put forward a correct proposal.
Q: (Stuart Codling – GP Racing) Question for James. I hope this isn’t the last one I get to ask you in a press conference.
JV: What has happened? Is there something I need to know about?
Q: (Stuart Codling – GP Racing) You might think otherwise after I’ve finished asking it, Rebecca certainly will. Lots of interest in Franco at the moment, obviously, probably more than you expected. What are the challenges going to be in terms of developing a driver like that when you don’t have a race seat for them? And linked to that, what are the challenges of ensuring that other interested parties keep their hands off him, other than, I don’t know, putting snipers on the roof of the factory to catch Christian Horner out as he sneaks in under cover of darkness?
JV: Wow, this has taken a turn, this press conference. Answering that one, if Franco is not in a racing seat next year, we’ll have a historic car, two-year-old car. He’ll be running that plenty in order to get a lot of speed. I’ve done this before in a previous life with Esteban when he took a year out. And you’re able to… Effectively, Esteban’s here today and still a strong driver. There are things we can do effectively around it to maintain his strength. There is interest, but more than that, I can’t really say at this point in time. I think those teams need to figure out what seats they have and don’t have going into next year before we can ascertain where he’s going, if he’s going there.
Q: (Erwin Jaeggi – Motorsport.com) A question for James. Franco told TV after the race in Vegas that he actually suffered a concussion from his crashing qualifying. Can you clarify that? And how worried were you that he wouldn’t be able to race in Vegas?
JV: I don’t think there was a formal concussion check done as a result of it. What I can say is that we asked the medical team to assess him the following day. Once he’s had a night’s rest, they assessed him in a number of different ways and cleared him to race as a result of it. What I would say is the FIA did a brilliant job because it’s a massive hit. 50 G is just enormous. And what I wanted to make sure is before we put someone back in the car that they were completely clear and fit in that regard. And for Franco, it’s probably the largest single accident he’s ever suffered by a long way in his life as a result of it. For me, the more important thing is that he’s healthy and good. I think in the race you saw he did a good job. It’s always hard when you start from the back, but he was fighting his way back through the field. I don’t think we quite had everything right with the car there and the car wasn’t really the best we’ve ever particularly made. But yeah, that’s pretty much it. The main thing is he was cleared to race by the FIA the following day.
Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Question two all three. Just going back to the GM stuff. What has Formula 1 told you, if anything, is different about the current entry effort, aside from the name change?
LM: Well, I think what they told us is what you have seen in the release, really. General Motors is coming with their Cadillac brand and with the commitment to do their own PU. And pretty much once you have said that, I think it was pretty obvious in the room or in the virtual room that it’s something it would be very difficult to say no to.
JV: I think that was it. we found out pretty much when you found out with the same news/ They’re coming with their own power unit towards the end of the uh this regulation set. that’s about all we know on that one and it isn’t the same proposition that was there before. um in as much as there’s a serious commitment and amount of investment going behind it. More than that we know no more than you do.
MK: I can only echo. I think the big difference is here that we have a big OEM committing, like Laurent said, with the PU, so maybe the boundary conditions have changed a little bit and this led to the change.
Q: (Jon Noble – Motorsport.com) To Laurent, you’re singing the praises of Yuki, but it’s long been known that Red Bull is sceptical about his consistency, his technical feedback, his temperament, his radio messages. Do you think their scepticism is fair? Is it based on how he was in the past? And do you think he’s now in a position to wipe away their doubts?
LM: All I can tell you is that the steps he has been doing this year have been, I think, a surprise to everyone and hopefully the surprise has also been for Red Bull Racing. I think we are in a business where everybody looks at the results and the second a driver starts to perform or to outperform compared to the expectations, then everybody will then change their opinions very, very fast. So I think for Yuki, it’s all about continuing to perform at a mega high level on the track. And we are all very quick to change our mind as soon as we see a guy performing. And I think it’s good news for the sport.
Q: (James Ellingworth – Associated Press) A question to all three. Obviously, there are some restrictions on what you can do with regard to 2026 and the rules until the end of this year. Do you have any concerns about a potential head start for the new GM team in that regard, being able to get a head start on those rules?
JV: They should not, and I don’t believe they do, have a set of regulations. A) because they’re not finished and need to be ratified. So in the last F1 commission, we still have quite a few aerodynamic elements that are outstanding. And it’s the wet surfaces that are the tricky bit of it. Following that, if they are due to enter into 2026, they should fall under FIA ATR and also cost cap regulations in 2025. So is there a head start? It’s potential this year, for example, when they’re completely outside of any caps, maybe. But I think it’s controlled fairly well under some FIA regulations. It’s for the FIA to regulate next year.
MK: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s a monumental task to try now setting up a team for 2026 with also a completely different set of regulations. So there is also no governance around the time before N-12, so to say. So whatever anyone does before that is up to him, the FIA, or nobody has any means to regulate it. But then I think from January 1, it’s only 12 months to set all this up and make a car. I think that is a big task. So even if there was a small head start, I think it will balance out very quickly.
LM: It was very well explained. I think as much as you can consider 2024 as being a space where you could have a head start, by the time January 1st turns up, then everything will be well controlled by the regulations and the task is still huge after that.
Q: (Adam Cooper – Adam Cooper F1) For all three of you, there’s been a lot of turbulence around the FIA recently in terms of key people leaving and not just the ones in the last couple of weeks that we’ve heard about. Do you have any concerns about that trend and the lack of continuity? And are you guys being kept informed about what’s happening or do you find out from the media?
LM: No, we haven’t had any specific communications, certainly not for all of them. When it comes to the functions that are closer to us, we have been informed by the FIA. So, typically for the Race Directors, Nicolas had informed the teams of the chance that was going to happen. We have no say into it. We can only try to be as supportive as we can in assisting the FIA when they have this large change of personnel to make sure that whoever is coming in, especially in season, that we can give them the right support. I don’t think it’s in any team’s interest to have a weak FIA. And therefore, we can only witness the changes and try to be as supportive helpful and supportive as possible with the new people that are coming in.
JV: I think nothing more to add, that’s well said.
MK: Nothing to add.
Q: (Jon Noble – Motorsport.com) To Mike, you’ve obviously got some bright long-term future plans in place with the wind tunnel and simulator, Adrian Newey, Enrique Cardile, the factory, but the impact of that is not going to be felt for a while. What is the reality of your potential at the start of next season? Do you think it will be a continuation of where you are now or do you think there is enough already in the system to make a step into 2025?
MK: I think it’s the last year of these wrecks. I think by now everybody should know what he has to do to make the car better. And this is the same for us. So we have set ourselves some targets. We can’t wait until the people that you have mentioned are there or until everything is ready. We have to produce a ‘25 car that has to be faster than the 24 car. We cannot continue on that level. So an improvement has to come.
Q: Can we see you return to 2023 levels next year?
MK: Beginning of season or end of season? I think we need to be realistic. 2023, start of season was a combination of a solid job from our side and probably less solid job from other teams. That puts you in a different competitive place. In absolute performance terms, there was still a significant gap to the leading teams. So I think it would be nice if we would start the year in that position, but I think we should be realistic, see what happens over the last 18 months and try to do better than we have done there.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) James, a question for you about Kimi Antonelli. I know you played a big role in his development when you were at Mercedes, him coming on the grid next year. How excited are you about seeing his potential, and particularly a top team from the get-go? And is there a certain degree of pride that you take as well, seeing a young driver that you’ve helped nurture come onto the grid?
JV: Always when you follow the journey of someone… I think he was 11 years old the first time I met him, always when you follow the journey of someone, you have an amount of pride when they have success. But it wasn’t just me involved in the journey, Toto was there, Gwen was there as well as a part of it. And they’re doing a brilliant job, I think, just keeping him on the right track. It’s a very big step, big step already into Formula 2, then another big step into a Formula 1 car. I would say they’ve done really good preparation, sort of have hints of what they’re doing around the world. And I very much look forward to how he gets on in his first few races.
ENDS
Source : Fia
