Good morning everyone, welcome to Silverstone ahead of this weekend’s British V-Prix, round five of the 2018 season. Joining us today for the Thursday press conference; on the back row we have Adam Blocker of FIRST Motorsport and Alex Easton from Phoenix Motorsport FV Team. On the front row are Dylan Lopez from Lopez FV Team, Arthur Lapierre; team principal of DS Automobiles Team Mathershaw, and Will Ingram of Ingram Grand Prix. Welcome everyone! Reporter: Now, before we recap on events in Malaysia a fortnight ago, we must address the rather unexpected and shocking news that Westwood Renault Sport have unfortunately had to pull out of the sport after they lost sponsors backing. Could we get all of your thoughts and feelings on that? Arthur, if you could start off please.
Arthur Lapierre: We were all shocked to hear it, and it’s such a shame that the sport has lost one of it’s most colourful teams. The sponsorship situation is a big thing, as in this financial climate we all have to deliver a return on investment – I feel this with DS Automobiles all the time; as soon as it’s not beneficial for DS to be involved in Formula Virtual, we will have to restructure our involvement in the sport, possibly to the extreme of leaving. However, this certainly isn’t on the cards at the moment! I also know that from Robert’s point of view as well as mine, the loss of Harry as a team principal is a shame on a personal level as we share a very good friendship – both Robert and I are very pleased that Harry will be remaining in the paddock as commentator and in other roles. Will Ingram: It certainly was a massive shock to everyone in the paddock. Finances are a difficult game to play and it is very disappointing that Westwood have been forced to withdraw because of it. I echo Arthur’s sentiments and I am also happy that Harry will stick around the paddock and I would not be surprised to see him offering his advice to anyone who will listen! I don’t know how Nic will deal with us being a team down for 2019 but I hope Westwood can get back on their feet and return to the grid. Dylan Lopez: I was caught out completely to be quite honest. I never saw it coming, even when he was hinting toward it during the week. It’s made us feel grateful to simply sit here and have these conferences, participate in races, scoring.. for once and having a good time all the way. I know Harry relatively well and he’s a hilarious bloke, and he’s gonna be missed as a team principal around the paddock. Adam Blocker: I am mostly just surprised. I certainly wasn’t expecting it. Harry has been a valuable member to this community and I hope that he sticks around. I wish Westwood would have at least finished the season to give us a proper chance to give them a send-off. Alex Easton: It’s mad that Westwood aren’t competing anymore, it still seems unreal to be honest. I think it’ll only really set in when we line up on the grid here in Silverstone and those two racing green cars aren’t there. As Arthur and Will touched on; financing a Formula Virtual team is so tricky, as we at Phoenix know full well, but if they’ve had sponsors pull out mid-season then yeah, there’s almost no coming back from that, it’s just a body blow y’know? But yeah I, like the others here and everyone else in the paddock, am so glad to see that Harry’s gonna be sticking around.. as if anyone would think we could get rid of him that easily! Reporter: Where does this leave you standing in regard to Sergio? Will he be allowed to race this weekend, after his extraordinary drive last time out? AE: Tough one that, yeah. We’re working with Nic on it but it should all be okay. He’ll be in the car this weekend yeah. And as for Sepang, wow, yeah it was mental. Of course, as I said after the race, it was soul destroying to retire so close to the line, but everyone quickly realised how huge two points in only our fourth race was and we celebrated like we’d won the race! Reporter: Yeah, so I’ve heard! Arthur, Adrien looked almost scared to challenge Powers in Malaysia, do you think he was looking at the bigger picture in terms of the championship or was it purely the conditions being so dreadful that prevented him from pushing harder? AL: Adrien is a very clever man, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he was looking at the Malaysian V-Prix in the context of the 18-race season rather than in isolation. Of course, as a racer he wants to win, but the prize of a world title is worth more than any individual race win, so it would have been irresponsible for him to make a do or die move that risked a DNF. I personally think there are a few drivers that could benefit from adopting this approach, and there is one in particular that I’m sure you will be able to work out that I think should definitely stop being so irresponsible on track and maybe accept what they have rather than making ludicrous moves. Reporter: I believe we are all aware of who you mean! Now, Adam, Malaysia was a huge result for FIRST despite being well off the pace, wasn’t it? It lifted you to eighth in the standings and was made even sweeter as Phoenix missed out on ten extra points. How huge do you think that result could be for this season? AB: That Malaysia result is absolutely massive. It is at minimum a safety net against the very back of the field. I don’t know where we will finish because normally the pecking order can shift a good bit during the season, but based on previous seasons, this puts us in a great position relative to our cars current pace. Reporter: It was also huge for Lopez; Dylan, what was the reaction like in the garage when Elroy crossed the line? And how important was that for Lopez’s season? DL: I’m quite amazed this story never got out, but one of our pit crew had a cheeky little dare that the amount of points Wagner scored, he’d have a cup of rain water. We had about twenty lined up across the pits when the heavens opened up, and when Elroy crossed the line he sculled them. He may have regretted it that night, but now he’s back to his normal self and retired from the dares. Reporter: Fantastic! Okay, question to everyone now; on the eve of the Malaysian V-Prix it was officially revealed by series CEO Nic Morley that we will have five tyre compounds in 2019, provided by Goodyear. Word on the street seems to suggest that the new tyre will be a ‘super-hard’ but that’s purely speculation. What name and colour would you all like to see added to the current four? Arthur? AL: If it’s going to be harder than the current hard tyre, make it grey and call it the rock tyre. If I’m honest, I don’t see the need for it when the current four compound setup is producing such consistently good racing. WI: I also hope the new compound isn’t a harder tyre. While I get the nice idea that the medium tyre should be the middle tyre I do not see a need for a ‘super-hard’. Last season the hard was seldom used and this year, while it’s popularity has increased it achieves one stop races. There is no need for a harder tyre. If we are to have new tyres I’d prefer a step softer to see faster lap times and potentially more varied strategies. I love the idea of a super-duper soft, tongue firmly in cheek, but realistically ultra-soft would be a better addition than a ‘super-hard’. DL: In my opinion from a fan’s P.O.V, I think a tyre compound labelled as the ‘super-hard’ sounds pretty lame. Something along the lines of an ultra-soft would add to the spectacle of speed I reckon. The colour doesn’t really matter to me, but as a fan, a stone-brick tyre is something I wouldn’t be getting excited about. AB: Assuming we add a compound to the hard end of the range, I wouldn’t mind ‘super-hard’. That way we give the tyre range naming symmetry on the extremes, as we already have the super soft. I don’t care about the colour. AE: If we’re bothered about symmetry, and I’ve heard a fair few guys in the paddock talk about wanting that, then maybe we could change all the tyres names, so we have; the old super softs changed to softs, the old softs changed to slightly softs, the new tyre could be mediums, the old mediums changed to slightly hards, then the old hards remain as hards…? I’m gonna guess from the bemused looks that that’s a no then! Laughter No, but in all seriousness, you can see why it’s a tough decision because everyone wants different tyres for different reasons. I’ll leave it in the overly capable hands of Nic and Goodyear to sort out. Reporter: Okay thanks guys. Now, we’re trialling out a new addition to the press conferences where the fans send in some questions; so we have one ‘fan question’ for each of you here. We’ll start with you Adam. So far this year, Zozulya has looked better than Perez, who should be doing better as FV2 champion. Klien has looked good despite retiring from three races so far in VWRS, could he be considered soon if Perez doesn’t show his worth? AB: We are four races into the season. I’m not going to talk about driver spots yet, but I will say I am pleased with the performance of all three drivers so far. Felix specifically is showing promise in early races and has fared well against Oleksandr, who is basically a season ahead of Felix in terms of acclimatising to FV. I’m confident Felix will be successful in FV. Reporter: Thanks Adam. Next one is for Dylan; Ostberg hasn’t done great this season. Could he be out of Lopez if he doesn’t improve? DL: Not getting the opportunity to strut his stuff in the wet didn’t really help his cause, but it’s still only his rookie season. He’s still got another fourteen races to prove himself and he’ll have our support every step of the way. Reporter: That was a shame, I think we were all looking forward to seeing how Viktor would do when the rain came down! Okay Arthur, this one says; the DS Mathershaw is the fastest car, but you’re not leading the championship. Is someone to blame or is it down to luck? AL: It’s a long season, and Adrien leads the driver’s championship, but Downton have a very strong driver pairing combined with their excellent car. We believe we are faster on raw pace, but on race day anything can happen. The luck hasn’t always been there, particularly last time out when Allar was eliminated from contention when he looked set for a very good result indeed, but there’s certainly more to come from some quarters. Reporter: Thanks Arthur. Alex; James Thompson was supposed to run in practice in Malaysia but didn’t, what happened there? AE: Haha, yeah, poor old James. Basically, the plan this season was to have James run in four practice sessions over the course of the season, Malaysia being one of them. He was scheduled to take Sergio’s car for the session, but anyway it got well past the time we expected him to turn up and no one had heard off him, so we had no choice but to quickly get Sergio into the session, and the lad absolutely flew, setting the tenth quickest time! Eventually, a few hours later, James appeared looking like a drown’t rat with no phone or anything. He’d got lost and got everything nicked in some shady street apparently. Tried to hop in a taxi claiming to be a Formula Virtual reserve driver but no one believed him! All’s well that ends well though, his phone was handed in and returned to him.. it was one of those dead old ones, y’know those like bricks? - Imitates holding a brick - I don’t think anyone wanted it! Reporter: Oh dear.. at least he got it back. Right, final fan question is for you Will; what was it like to see one of your drivers, especially one from your youth academy, on the podium after a terrible season last year? And do you think Vasquez could be a future world champion? WI: It was fantastic – a brilliant feeling for the team. 2017 was the hardest year we’ve had in FV and to score a podium this soon after those lows really makes it worth it. I hope the fans enjoyed it as much as we did! While James was part of our academy, we really brought him on board quite late, his rise is pretty much entirely down to his own talent – we just hope we can give him a car which shows it off. Talk of a world championship is premature but James has certainly got his admirers. Reporter: Great, thanks everyone for those answers and to the fans who submitted their questions! Now, looking ahead to this weekend and sticking with you Will; Silverstone is the official home race for five of the current twelve Formula Virtual teams, two of which are Ingram and Phoenix. So Will, Alex; what’s it like coming here to Silverstone compared to other races? Do you feel a lot more love and support? WI: I personally love coming to Silverstone, and you do get a buzz being at your home race. We’ve had decent results here, a couple of fifth places if I remember correctly, but I’d love to see an Ingram on the podium at home. We certainly see a few more Ingram flags here than elsewhere! I hope Alex will enjoy his first home race, we Brits love an underdog and I imagine they’ll be jumping for Phoenix. AE: Cheers Will, I hope we have a good one! It’s a difficult one to gauge for us; it’s only our fifth race and the support has been gradually growing in each of the previous four races, but yeah it does look like there’s actually a fair bit of love for Phoenix here, even this early in the race weekend! I think Sergio’s race last time out really put us on the map, we were shown on the TV screens a fair bit during that race and to see Sergio passing Ruiz at one point towards the end was pretty surreal, I’m sure that did our reputation no harm at all! But yeah, I do love it here at Silverstone, I just feel so at home, even if it’s mostly a load of Southerners! Reporter: Alright, thanks guys. Now movi… sorry, Arthur, did you want to say something? AL: I knew we should have sent Rob to this one for his home race! It’s kind of our second home because of course the team has roots in Britain, and the level of support is always really amazing for us here – it’s always been somewhere we’ve gone well at, with a one-two finish twice, so hopefully we can give our fans something to shout about again in 2018! Reporter: I do apologise for forgetting you in that question, Arthur! Anyway, sticking with you; could we get your hopes for the weekend and also, where do you think the Westwood drivers will end up amid ongoing rumours? AL: Being our second home race, hopefully we can mark it with a win. I’d like to see Karl end up anywhere but in a Franklin – seeing him in the Ocelot would be nice, while Finn is a solid peddler, and the rumours that he is set to replace Beyer for the race he is banned seem to be accurate, and I’d like to see how he does. Reporter: Thank you Arthur, the same question to the rest of you, please. WI: I don’t think we can expect another podium – both cars in the points would be ideal. Both drivers are clearly in high demand and it’s public knowledge that some big teams are in the hunt for them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Karl race this season, Olen’s seat has been under threat since he got it – unfairly in my book – and I know Jamie has been actively searching for a replacement, so this has sort of fallen into his hands. Schnyder could end up anywhere and I personally believe he needs another year in the midfield before getting a top seat. DL: More of the same from Elroy, and for Ostberg to get through a clean weekend. Something’s always hampered him on every weekend; crash in Australian quali, most recent incident in Sepang comes to mind too. If he can get on a streak of clean weekends the results will start to come to him. On Westwood, I think AMR are interested in Schnyder, and then a few others want Beckenbauer. I’m not really buying into anything though until the press release comes out. AB: My hope for the weekend is to beat the Meteors and AMRs. AMR for Schnyder and Franklin for Beckenbauer. AE: Well, after such highs in Sepang, I think we’re gonna be back down to reality here. Scrapping with AMR, Meteor, and FIRST to be the tenth fastest team. If we can beat those guys, that’d be a good weekend. As for Finn and Karl; I fully expect Karl to end up at Franklin, which would be really interesting to see actually. And Finn, I’m really not too sure.. AMR looks like the most likely new home, although I’m not sure they’ll be able to get all the paperwork done in time to get him in the car this weekend? Either way, I think Finn will shine against his teammate if he does end up at AMR. Reporter: Excellent, it’ll definitely be interesting to see some potential upcoming driver movements. Anyway, that’s the end of today’s Thursday press conference, I hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you to all the team principals here today and we’ll see you tomorrow for Friday practice! Comments are closed.
|
|