Good morning and welcome to Melbourne, Australia for the team principal’s Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s Australian V-Prix – the opening race of the 2019 Formula Virtual World Championship. Joining us today, from left to right, are; Lucas Wilson of Lucas V-Prix, Adrian Arnello of Arnello Milner & Ronson Autosport, Bradley Downton from Downton FV Team, Arthur Lapierre of Red Bull DS Automobiles Team Mathershaw, and Dylan Lopez from Lopez FV Team. Welcome to you all gentlemen. Reporter: One of the biggest stories towards the back end of last season and over the winter has been the return of Lucas V-Prix to Formula Virtual. So, we’ll start off today’s press conference with you Lucas, welcome back! It’s the first time we’ve had the Lucas team in the paddock since early 2015, how much has the sport changed since you were last here and do you think things will be different or similar to the team’s original run? Lucas Wilson: Thanks, it’s great to be back! That’s a good question... Lucas takes his purple tinted sunglasses off and sets them down on the table ..I think that the sport has changed tremendously since we last competed – Nic has done a tremendous job with the series. We were around in the earlier years but teams have not stayed still since we were last around so we have a lot more catching up to do. You can see how professional all the outfits have become. The established teams will be able to adapt to the changes quicker whereas we might be a bit slow to start. We know what we have to do but we know it’s going to be hard. It’s sort of like having to walk before you can run. Reporter: Will the team be doing anything to celebrate your return to the sport this weekend? LW: Yes, we are having a massive party to celebrate our return. We’ve just finished putting together our motor home. I’m quite proud of it – it’s the largest motor home in FV history – we can accommodate around one hundred and fifty guests in the motor home over four stories. We’ll be having a concert in the infield in the afternoon. I’ve hired several bands to play there, it’s going to be great! Then we can continue the celebrations in the motor home. You know how we roll – I don’t think we’ll be getting much sleep that night. Reporter: It is a huge place, you certainly can’t miss it! Okay, question for Bradley and Arthur; after a strong showing in testing for both your teams, would you say you’re the pre-season favourites? If not, who do you think is? Arthur Lapierre: I have to be honest and say we definitely don’t see ourselves as favourites. Testing went extremely well for us, with us obtaining all the data we wanted to, enabling us to refine the development path for 2019 and beyond, but I think the times are irrelevant to be honest. In terms of the favourites, I’d have to say Downton and Franklin are right up there from what we’ve seen, but honestly this could be one of the most open seasons in FV history. Bradley Downton: It would be ridiculous if I sat here and said we weren’t expecting to be strong. Testing showed we clearly have reasonable pace, but it’s a matter of how much more pace some other teams have. I think for sure FIRST and Mathershaw are quicker than us, while Franklin are near impossible to place after a really strange pre-season, but I do think we’ll be right in the fight regardless and it’s so close, it could well be track dependant. Reporter: It does look like it could be incredibly close. Coming back to you Arthur, how did the 2018 title battle affect Adrien? Has he had to come into this year with a new approach at all? AL: I don’t think anyone would blame Adrien for finding the end of the season tough to take, but he’s the consummate professional, and he’s reacted exactly how you’d expect. For 2019, he’s going to be taking a bit of a different role within the team outside the car, being more involved with the development process both in terms of our car and the DS Automobiles young driver programme led by Alex [Easton, DS Phoenix team principal], and I know he’s looking forward to some new challenges that we’ve got planned with him this year. We’re all hopeful that this will add up to us seeing the highly motivated Adrien Simon that we know and love. Reporter: Intriguing stuff, I’m sure a lot of people are looking to see how he picks himself up after last season. Sticking with the topic of drivers, Bradley, the Downton pairing of Nathaniel Powers and Klaas van Snelheid are now entering their third season together, how would you say they’ve compared to expectations so far and what are their respective goals heading into 2019? BD: I think they’ve done exactly what has been required of them, nearly. Nathaniel has won the Championship in each of the last two seasons, and you really can’t ask for more from a driver. In 2017 Klaas was right with him all the way and had a fantastic debut season. But by his own admissions, last year was tougher and not quite his best, but he didn’t quite have the car under him that he had the year before. It’s tricky, but he is more determined than ever to come back stronger, and show that he isn’t here to simply sit down as Nathaniel’s number two. The aim for them both this year is the same, they want to be world champion. Reporter: Excellent Bradley, thanks. Question for everyone now; there’ve been various rule changes brought in for 2019, such as a wider range of tyre choices and setups. What effect do you think they will have on Formula Virtual? And do you think that being in an engine partnership with other teams is now an absolute must? LW: I think it’s really going to shake things up. We’ll still have the top teams leading the way – DS Mathershaw, Downton and Franklin – but I think we may be in for some surprises in the early part of the season as each team tries to calibrate their setups and tyre strategies. As for engines, I completely agree that the best way for a privateer such as ourselves to compete was secure a good engine deal. I feel like we have got the best deal possible using Downton engines for our return. We’ve seen the perils in FV of not having a good engine. You could have the most perfectly balanced car on the grid but if the engine doesn’t match it you are going to be nowhere. Dylan Lopez: We saw a lot of variable times during testing because of the new aero rules, so we may not fully understand the pecking order for the first couple of rounds, so it’s all still up in the air in our eyes. Without the engine deal and the help from the big fella sitting in the middle there, I don’t know where we’d be to be honest. Potentially pre-qualifying to be honest, but having one of the best engines on the grid has given us so much more performance which I reckon our mates at Lucas will come to enjoy out on track. AL: The freedom allowed in the regulations in terms of tyres and setups for 2019 is something we are very pleased to see. While the best cars will still be where they should be, I’m hopeful it allows the talented team we have trackside and back at base in Le Mans to make even more of a difference to the outcome of the race – this is a team sport, and anything that enables the best teams to reap those rewards is something we’re very keen on seeing. As for the powertrain side of things, I think it’s crucial in many regards – development of the engine in terms of reliability and outright performance is expedited with multiple teams involved, particularly when we’re working so closely with a team like DS Phoenix; we’re ultimately two sides of the same coin, with no “customer” relationship to deal with, so everything we both do is dedicated to the common goal of producing the best engine in Formula Virtual. For the teams further down the grid, I firmly believe a well thought out engine supply deal could well be the difference between points and Q1, so it’ll be interesting to see what dynamic there is between manufacturers and their customers not only for 2019, but beyond as well. Adrian Arnello: If it improves the show then let it happen! We certainly applaud the partnership changes as it lets us leave the more complex stuff like engines to a proper manufacturer while we worry about the car. It’s also added that layer of unpredictability I feel. BD: I think they’ll have a profound effect, but last time I checked I’m not a parrot, and these guys have pretty much covered it all, so I won’t say it all again. I think for the teams further down the grid, a good engine deal will be vital yes. As others have mentioned, it could make the difference between being on the grid or not. Reporter: Brilliant, we’ll move onto the fan questions now, and the first one here is for Adrian; “Now that you’ve had a year under the new management, are you feeling more confident than last year?” AA: Maybe not as much confident, but stable! We’ve now had that year to settle in. fine tune it a bit, get our eye in as the lads behind the wheel say. It’s a different feeling this year. Less people, but we have a proven engine and a simpler car. Less is more, as they say. So yeah, confident I guess too. Reporter: Next one is for Arthur; “Kangur was just a few tenths of a second away from the title, how has he coped with it in the off-season?” AL: I don’t think it’d be an exaggeration to say that Allar was the revelation of 2018, and while the way he came so close to the title but ultimately didn’t quite manage it was gutting for himself and all of us, he’s got the world at his feet, and as long as we can give him the car he deserves, he’s going to win championships with us. He’s ready to bounce back, and we’ve also been extremely impressed with his attitude towards 2019 – starting potentially off the pace, he’s already proving himself capable of pushing development forward in his work with the technical team over the winter. Reporter: Great stuff. Okay this one’s for you Dylan; “Will you be working more closely with Downton in terms of engines this year as Mathershaw are now using DS engines?” DL: Not a lot has changed other than the fact that DS Mathershaw aren’t using Downton engines, and Lucas now are. All teams have been treated equally in the past and we have no reason or intention to change that, I’m sure you’d say the same ‘ey Bradley? BD: From our side, nothing will change. We continue to work as closely with Mathershaw – and now Phoenix – as ever, they simply don’t have our engine in the back of the car. In terms of us, likewise nothing will change. We have a fantastic relationship with Lopez and Lucas have been a real asset already. Every team has always been treated the same and will continue to be. Reporter: Well, we’ll stay with you Bradley as the last fan question here is for you; “Rewind to the finale at Brazil and tell us about the final part of the race. How did the emotions of the team progress throughout the race?” BD: Oh Christ… By final part, I presume you essentially mean the incident, so I’ll talk sort of about that. As the race went on it became clear to us on the pit wall that we had a real genuine shot at this thing, and I don’t think any of us really started to dream, but it suddenly seemed possible. And then – at the same time you all did – we saw the TV screens, and Nathaniel was dropping, and off the track with a Phoenix, and our hearts sank. We were convinced that was it, any chance was gone. He’d surely have damage or something at least. But he recovered quickly, and when he came past the pits our guys took pictures, and there was some damage but it didn’t seem to be affecting him too much. We were thankful that the only real position he lost was to his team mate, but then suddenly Giodano was all over him. The nerves were through the roof because if Nathaniel had slipped behind, that was the Championship gone. We wanted to swap them – Nathaniel and Klaas – but it was Nathaniel’s error that had cost him in the first place so we felt it wasn’t fair taking a win from Klaas, and also Giodano was too close to risk losing the win completely. The tension on the pitwall was unbelievable, and I’m not sure I breathed on the final lap until he’d crossed the line. It was tense and horrible. I hope we never have a situation like that again! Reporter: Thank you for taking us through that with you Bradley, it’ll surely be remembered for many years to come! Dylan, as one of the original new teams in the sport in 2014, what advice would you give to the new teams entering their first race weekend here in Melbourne? DL: The new teams will most likely find their first season may become a little bit of a grind, especially with pre-qualifying introduced this year. I think it’s made preparations for this season a little more complex for everybody else as well. It may affect the development strategies going forward and therefore all teams need to be smart to be able to improve. For the new teams it’ll be a great opportunity to start experiencing the sport in that aspect. It’s a journey that has its highs and lows, and now that they’re with us I’m sure they’ll settle in quickly and enjoy the ride. Reporter: It’ll certainly be an interesting watch to see how each of the new teams do this season. A question now for you again Dylan, and Adrian; it’s the home race for the AMR team and you Dylan. How has it been coming back here for the start of 2019 in comparison with previous years? DL: Coming back home for me is the best part of the season, and for it to be the first round of the season with all the hype of the new year gets me buzzing every year. I still know all the hot spots, especially out on King Street, if anybody’s keen for a ‘little’ Sunday night sesh post race! AA: It’s a good feeling! It’s nice being where you know the beer’s good. Prefer Melbourne to Phillip Island, so double win. Reporter: I think that’s a fairly unanimous opinion actually! Adrian, you’ll be in Q1 for the first five races this season due to your 2018 championship position, how are the team approaching it? AA: We’re pretty chill about it. Pressure’s on being home race and all, but we’ve worked out where we’re at and think we can get out of it. Reporter: Brilliant, Q1 promises to be extremely interesting! Final question for everyone now – what are your hopes and expectations for this weekend? DL: Given we don’t quite know where we are in the pecking order yet, the goal for both this weekend and the opening two or three rounds is to get as much clean running as we can to allow us to properly assess where we are amongst the rest of the midfield. AL: Hopes? A one-two to start the season would be nice, but I feel that’s a pipe dream. A strong double points finish would be indicative of where we believe we should be, and if the stars align, we believe a podium is a possibility. AA: To be on the grid come race day! Points can wait. LW: It’s our first weekend back so just to be able to qualify for the race would be a massive achievement for the team. Also, we will be hoping that our partners at Downton score a victory, they won’t accept anything less – isn’t that right Bradley? BD: laughs Well that’s certainly going to be the aim. Look, we want the win, we want the one-two – there is no better was to start the season. We’ve never won in Australia before, so we’ve never won the opening race – that would be something nice to achieve. But there is so much competition this season, it’s going to be difficult to execute a perfect weekend in terms of results. Add to that the increasing risk of rain for qualifying on Saturday – which could throw everything up in the air if it hits – and who knows. We’ve never done particularly well in the first race – 2017 being our best team haul with fourth and fifth – but even then we fought back in the Championship. A one-two is the dream, a double podium would be the hope, but solid double points on the board to start our season is the minimum expectation. Reporter: Excellent, thank you very much guys. That’s it for today’s team principal’s press conference, thank you to all team principals in attendance and we’ll see you all tomorrow for the first Friday practice session of the year!
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