Good morning and welcome to Interlagos, Brazil for the Team Principal’s Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian V-Prix – the final race of the 2021 Formula Virtual World Championship. Joining us today, from left to right, are; Ahmed Cheema of Highwind FV Racing, Dylan Lopez from Lopez FV Team, Bradley Downton from Downton FV Team, Felicia Quinn of JFPT Franklin Honda and William Ingram from Ingram V-Prix. Welcome to you all. Scott Parkin – FVTV: We’ll start today’s press conference with you, Bradley. Just after the Mexican V-Prix, the news broke which stunned the world of Virtual Motorsport. Nathaniel Powers leaving Downton after eight years with the team. Nathaniel made it quite clear in his social media post that it was he who made the decision to leave for a new challenge, with your blessing. How much of a loss is this going to be for you as a team, going into 2022 with the second youngest driver pairing on the grid? Bradley Downton: I think Nathaniel has more than proved his worth over the years, and so obviously losing that experience and losing such a long-standing member of the team is going to be a significant change. Would it have been the situation I chose? Absolutely not. But I also wasn't going to sit here and force Nathaniel to sign a contract he no longer felt fully committed to. You see it regularly in football. You can't make someone stay who wants to leave. That would have trashed his enthusiasm and motivation, which in turn would have brought the entire team down. Therefore, this was the best option for the team. I don't think the age of our line-up is in any way relevant. Klaas has run Nathaniel exceptionally close over five years as his team mate, and Matteo has already shown incredible pace in everything he's done. We fully expect it will take him time to get up to speed, but if he does that at the pace he's done everything else - we won't be waiting too long! SP – FVTV: The Downton pairing will certainly be an exciting one in 2022. Felicia, welcome to the press conference room for the first time! Since the last race, there have been various media outlets reporting that the team could be looking at leaving the sport again, citing Jamie’s competitive nature and burn out as possible causes. From your perspective, do you believe Jamie will really leave, or even take a step back from the running of the team? Felicia Quinn: Jamie and I work together closely, especially as I've been given more responsibility and opportunity having progressed through the team, so I'd like to think I know him pretty well. Honestly, it's no surprise he feels the way he does, because he puts more pressure on himself than everyone else combined. He expects the absolute best, and nothing else will do. I believe that's why we've seen him go back on the attack this year. It's almost akin to when you've got a great driver pushing themselves in a difficult car, they're still very capable and will sometimes drag that car into places it doesn't belong, but it's messy. Unlike when they have a great car and can let their talent shine through. That's what we're seeing here with Jamie and I think all of that effort and drive is taking its toll. That's not to say that the team or the car is subpar, but we do still have some way to go before things are running the way we want them to. Whether people respect it or not, he's been a huge driving force in taking this team back to the forefront from where we were last year, but I feel like maybe he expects to be able to make more of a difference and that's something he's struggling with. I think it'd be a great shame if he did step down, but I and many others would be here to support his decision and carry on his legacy if that were to be the case, because he's done a lot for all of us. I think that's a side to him that many people don't see unless they've worked closely with him. SP – FVTV: Well hopefully Jamie makes the right decision for himself and the team. William, coming to you now. James Vasquez drove an absolutely fantastic race in Mexico, managing his medium tyres well and steering clear of any trouble to bring the car home an excellent fifth. It’s the third time this season that James has produced such a drive, and it’s become characteristic of him as a driver since making his FV debut in 2018. Just how important is he to the team, and how do you expect to hold onto him if he continues to improve at the rate he is? William Ingram: James is a driver capable of the spectacular and, in my mind, clearly one of the best drivers on the grid. The aim of both team and driver is to finish as high up the championship as possible, and our plan is to make that journey together. I have no doubts James would win a championship in the right car. It's our job to give it to him. SP – FVTV: I’m sure most would agree with you there. Last week, Highwind confirmed the news that Thierry Xylander will instead partner Zientek for 2022, instead of the previously announced McLaughlin and Bergkvist combination. We have been led to believe that this move was pushed through by Highwind Group CEO John Doe, whilst not being received well by yourself, Ahmed. Could you shed some light on exactly what has led to the change? Ahmed Cheema: Well, I can tell you that I got a call from Franklin over the last weekend, at first I thought maybe the way I walked into the paddock or something rubbed him up the wrong way but it turned out he was offering us Thierry for 2022. We sat down as a team and mulled over it. Eventually we got to the point where we said 'look, we knew that this is extremely harsh on Alex and Sebastian, but how can we pass over Xylander after the season he has had this year?' It was a tough decision but ultimately we all viewed it as the best path forward for Highwind - emphasis on the all by the way, Scott. SP – FVTV: Noted! Hopefully that puts an end to any rumours. This weekend is the final race for Lopez’s most successful driver line up, with Allar and Elroy both leaving the team. Dylan, does it feel like a big shift for the team for 2022, with Max and Sergio stepping into the shoes of such a successful partnership? Dylan Lopez: Of course it’s going to be a big change. Having 2 quality drivers departing in a couple of days makes this weekend one of the most emotional I can remember. With that however comes the opportunities that’ll present themselves to Max and Sergio in the future. But come Sunday evening we’ll struggle to find many dry eyes, and on Tuesday when they spend their final day at the factory I’m sure there may be a flood warning. SP – FVTV: Absolutely, I can imagine it’ll be extremely emotional! The Team Principals will now take questions from the floor. Leyton Smith – Thegrid.net: In the latter part of this season, both Franklin and Lopez have made it clear that there seems to be an issue with qualifying performances, with the former even suggesting that the FVA should be doing more to prevent blocking from other teams. Could you both comment on this? FQ: The politics of the sport isn't exactly my strong suit. It certainly has been frustrating for everyone in the team that it does seem to have had an effect on our results more so than other teams, particularly those we've been fighting with. Now that the issue has gained some traction, we'll have to see how this weekend plays out, because it could be that the threat of a potential investigation from speaking of it publicly would be enough of a deterrent to stop it from happening so often in future. DL: It’s certainly frustrated us just as much that we haven’t been able to get a clean run if our lives depended on it in the past couple of race weekends. It’s more down to the drivers to organise themselves on circuit for me, however Interlagos being one of the shortest circuits on the calendar isn’t necessarily the easiest place to find a lot of space. Hugues Antoinette – Canal+: Salut Will. In France, Jean was the first Formula Virtual hero for the country with his great season in 2013, the population adores him to this day. But, we wish to see ‘Monsieur Fiable’ where he belongs again, to the front. I wish to ask, what has gone wrong for Jean this year? WI: Jean is obviously disappointed with this year, but generally I think he's got the maximum out of our package most weekends. He seems to struggle to pull the qualifying laps that James can at times and I know he's been working on improving that. He remains Monsieur Fiable to me, and I'm sure he'll prove it. Rebecca Parnell – XtremeV: Ahmed, after three seasons with the team since the beginning of it’s Formula Virtual days, this weekend will be the final one at Highwind for Nikolai and Diego; with Nikolai rumoured to be heading back to Ingram, and Diego possibly taking a role in the FVA. How do you, and the team as a whole, feel about the end of this era, and the beginning of a new one in 2022? AC: Hah, it's funny you bring that up actually. When I sat down with Cillian, our media man, to write up the statement announcing Xylander's signing, towards the end I kind of suddenly realised and mentioned to him that this was kind of the end of an era. If you compare next year to 2019, the livery, drivers and team name will be completely different, so from the outside it's like we are a completely different team. It's weird to think about that - I still recall our first qualifying in Australia - and it hurts as well, to be frank. We started off well and then declined rather sharply over the next two years. But eh, crying over the past doesn't fix it, and on the inside the core of the team has and will remain the same. And in a few years’ time, if I look back in this era, I'm going to look back at some of Nikolai's top drives, or Diego's 8th place. It's not all about loss. Neil Allenby – FVTV: The 2021 Formula Virtual season has seen an 11.9% increase in viewership, compared to 2020, with an increase on 2019 and 2018 too. This gradual growth of the series is encouraging and the amount of new fans in recent years has accelerated. What are each of your teams strategies, that you currently have in place or plan to put into place, to increase your own ‘pull’? FQ: The sport certainly deserves to grow and it's good to see that happening. I think we've certainly played some part in that with our Netflix specials set to release. Yes, that's around the Virtual 24 hours, but it's still extra eyes on us, which then in turn should put more eyes on both the Virtual 24 hours as well as Formula Virtual. We've also been investing in local communities to ensure that recreational activities are still able to go ahead during these difficult economic times. And finally, we're beginning to launch our children's programme, which allows kids aged 6-17 get a chance to be involved with Motorsport, whether that's from an interest in management, engineering, racing, or any other number of fields that would require a degree of expertise that may not be as easy to acquire at a young age. Whether those projects increase our own "pull" is up for debate, but we do believe that it's important that we give back. DL: I don’t work in social media. I dunno, ask the social department! AC: Well the best way would be to use a rope or something to pull....... no one? Okay, er, well we're hiring for a second media manager to work alongside Cillian, and you know all the stuff with social media and reach and stuff. We've worked more on trying to spread interest in the sport across Ireland - programs for people interested in kick starting a racing or engineering career, raising awareness about motorsport in general and we are close to cutting a deal between Motorsport Ireland and the FVA to televise races over there. With Doe in charge now as well, he's hoping to spread interest in New Zealand, so watch this space. WI: We just endeavour to make the racing as exciting as possible! What are the viewing figures in Colombia? BD: I wouldn't say there was anything specifically we were doing to increase our 'pull'. Our focus is on winning and being the best we can be, we don't need to encourage people to like us to be doing that, we're just going to be who we are and if people want to be fans then great. For those that are fans there are lots of opportunities to get more involved, attend events and so on, but we're not desperately clambering to draw new fans of the sport to support our team. Theo Parker – VM Magazine: For the fifth year in succession, Downton arrive here in Brazil with at least one driver in the title fight – this year it’s Nathaniel vs Klaas. So Bradley, how will you be managing the title deciding weekend? Will your approach be any different this year, knowing that this is Nathaniel’s last race in orange? BD: Thankfully, there will be very little to manage. Both drivers have been here enough times now to know how to go about it, and are adult enough to know that the team still comes first - as has always been our mantra. This was something that was made quite clear to Nathaniel when he told me he wanted to leave, and something he acknowledged and accepted. Our first and foremost priority is always the team, and this includes doing everything we can to ensure the number one is on our car. With the exception of the drivers themselves and their personal teams, no-one at Downton cares which of our drivers wins, as long as one of them does, but we all want to see the BD10 adorned with the number one in 2022. We’re in a unique situation this season where whoever wins the title, it is for Downton, but one driver is sticking around and one is not. As such, we will be giving Klaas every opportunity to take the Championship in Brazil. I must stress, Nathaniel knew this would be the case before he made his final decision, and that it would only be the situation if we arrived here as we have. It was never going to be considered at any races beforehand, nor would it have even been a conversation if any other driver had been in contention, or the title had already been decided. Obviously he’s not the most delighted with this, but he knows how we operate now and understands the decision is being taken with the best interests of the team in mind. Our ethos has helped him to numerous achievements in the past, so while not happy he is understanding. And it goes to show his mindset too. Already he has been talking about setting the car up differently this weekend, using free practice to test defensive lines, and stating it’s probably quite a useful exercise for him, given it’s been a while since he’s been in a car that isn’t competing right at the front as we expect will be the case next season! SP – FVTV: Okay guys, the Fan Questions will now be presented on the big screen. “To Bradley - Klaas still has a slim shot at the championship. Will you try to help your lead driver for next year win it?” BD: Apologies to whichever fan sent this in, but Theo beat you to it! I'll refer you to my previous answer. “Felicia, given all the high expectations surrounding him coming into this season, how well has Forini performed in your opinion?” FQ: Personally, I've been impressed with Danilo this season. He's taken a mature approach to everything, and particularly in the start of the year seemed to have the upper hand. I think it took Nick more time to get used to how the car had developed in comparison to last year, but has certainly made it more his own in the second half of the season. He will need to show that he can show that level of performance over the whole season though, not just at the beginning. “Question to Ahmed. How angry are you at the fact Czech Republic got a race before Ireland?” AC: Oh you could not imagine my fury, I starting banging my fist against every table in the factory and scheduled a meeting with the Czech Republic president to discuss this horrific scenario. Bad jokes aside though, if the FVA thinks a race there would be better than FV, then fair enough. We had a Czech interested in joining once didn't we? Nice lad, though it may have turned out he wasn't real or something, never found out about that. But yeah, if it attracts more people to FV from an untapped market, I'm not going to argue. “Will, your most famous and greatest driver, Senor Campos, is being linked to a role in the FVA next year. Any comments?” WI: I'm assuming this came from the President of the Diego Campos Fan Club? We remain close to Diego but I know he has big plans for his life post-racing, especially his team Campos Motorsport. He's a very clever driver and I think he could really help the FVA. “Will you do anything special to give Wagner a send-off here in Brazil, Dylan?” DL: We’ve got plans to organise something after the race, as well as a more formal event once we return back to Europe. “Question to all Team Principals. I don’t know how many of you saw the news but last week, Arrow Mechanics and K8ley Racing announced that their partnership from the Virtual 24 Hour entry will be extended into Formula Virtual for next season. Do you think it’s something that we could see replicated by more teams in the future, if not by your own team, possibly by some of the smaller teams?” FQ: It's nice to see that sort of thing happen. It's certainly not out of the realms of possibility in the future, and we are always happy to hear out any potential partners. However, anyone looking to do something like that would need to prove their value to any established organisation. Any relationship like that has to be symbiotic, otherwise it's not likely to last. DL: For our team, with the exception of our alliance with Porsche, we probably aren’t going to follow along down that pathway. But if there’s an opportunity that arises where a partnership that’ll bolster the potential for an outfit then you’d be silly not to take it. AC: Yeah I heard, great news since K8ley has been involved in virtual motorsport for a while now and Rhys has been pretty enthusiastic, I'm sure he'll be a good addition to Arrow. Felicia is spot on though - there's a reason we don't talk about how great some empire or government with two leaders was. Not that it's not going to work but you've both got to be on the same page - basically just echoing her words. As for us, we do have a partnership with Ocelot and it is beneficial. However, in terms of ownership, Highwind probably won't change barring any drastic events. WI: It's a really smart idea and I hope it works out for them. I think new teams certainly could benefit from pooling of ideas. It's obviously a step beyond the engine partnerships we've engaged with before and if it works then maybe it's something we'd explore. BD: I think it absolutely could be yeah, and in all honesty probably already is with most teams, albeit less formal than the Arrow-K8ley agreement. From our point of view, we have the partnership with McLaren, and also a strong relationship with our engines customers Lucas and Phoenix, as well as informal connections to a few teams in the lower series'. So, do I see any similar partnership for Downton? No. But there are already numerous links there, as I think most teams have. SP – FVTV: Absolutely fantastic questions and answers today, thank you to all the fans for submitting questions! Finally; we’ve had some huge news stories in Formula Virtual recently, with Powers leaving Downton, the title going down to the wire, Hoskins returning to Franklin, etcetera. But I couldn’t do this press conference without acknowledging the fantastic career of Elroy Wagner coming to an end following the Brazilian V-Prix. So, as a send-off to Elroy, could each of you give us all your standout memory of his time in FV, and a quick message to him please? FQ: I'm going to miss Elroy. My memories of him weren't really on track, but more from how he was with me and others. He had time for everyone, and was good at lifting spirits. It's simple, but I remember working back at the factory, and him coming over to chat to me about what I was doing. He gave me a pat on the back and just said "you've got this,". I don't remember exactly what we were talking about, but it filled me with confidence. So yeah, Elroy, we'll miss you around the paddock, and I'm sorry that you left Franklin when you did because it'd have been nice to work with you more. DL: To be honest I’m struggling to think of something else to add. I remember from day dot he came to the team with a professionalism that galvanised the team. He quickly turned it into an environment that everybody wanted to succeed in. For me, my favourite moment outside of his title win was his podium at Magny-Cours earlier this year. It was around that time of the year that he was back to his very best, and he was also very unfortunate not to get a podium at Silverstone. It’s certainly far from the first time I’ll be saying it in the next week or so, but thank you so much for the past 5 years buddy. Elroy has been nothing short of the perfect driver, mentor, and friend that we could’ve asked for over the past 5 seasons. We’ll forever be in debt to him, and although he hasn’t always been fighting for those wins and titles, he still goes down for me as one of the modern-day greats of the sport both in and off the track. Enjoy the weekend as much as you would any other mate. Louise and Julian will be waving the chequered flag for you on Sunday, so make sure you wave at them when you finish the race. A little birdie also tells me that Elroy’s got about 80 friends and family who travelled with you for this event. Hospitality certainly rolling a few eyes I’ve heard, haha. I should also say a huge thank you to Allar as well. He’s been the spearhead for the past 2 years, and did what I didn’t even expect him to do at the time, winning our first V-Prix last year. One of the best days I’ve ever lived, and he’s also consistently brought us more podiums this year. He’s a superstar, and to whoever he’s driving with next year, let me tell you now that I already dread anytime we may be battling against him for position. It goes without saying that both drivers will be sorely missed. We still have a race to go though, and the message to both drivers, go get us P3 in the Constructors Championship! AC: Standout memory? Hmmm, what race was it... Malaysia I believe, back in 2013 is what I'm thinking. Wagner started last for some reason, but I remember he drove like a demon that race, was looking at a top 6 finish minimum before his engine failed. He did well in the first race as well before a retirement but after Malaysia you could tell "yeah this guy's pretty good". I swear if I got a cent for every overtake he did that year, I could probably buy him out of retirement. At the end of the day, he's one of four people to have a drivers' title in FV, and everyone who has a problem of that don't include those other three, so take from that what you will. The fact you're asking this question shows just how much Wagner has been a part of the first 9 years in FV, he's leaving behind a fruitful legacy and I wish him best of luck in the future. BD: My standout memory of Elroy was probably at the airport leaving Sao Paulo in 2014. There were rumours abound the paddock that Team 23 were in financial difficulty and on the verge of withdrawing from the series, leaving him without a seat. He was sat all alone at a small table with a coffee, looking incredibly troubled. Despite that though, he noticed a kid with his dad across the way pointing and whispering about him. The kid was evidently very shy but excited to have spotted Elroy, but his dad couldn't convince him to go and say hello, so instead Elroy approached him. He spent the whole of the next twenty minutes waiting for his flight chatting to this kid and his dad, taking pictures with them and signing autographs and he absolutely made that kids year. Despite his own internal worries, he still had time for his fans, and that was incredibly special to witness. As for a message to Elroy? You've an incredible person and a brilliant driver. Never change, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavours. WI: What more is there to say after that? Elroy has been a real credit to the sport and I hope he sticks around in the paddock. Auf Wiedersehen und viel Glück Elroy. SP – FVTV: Some touching tributes and memories there, great stuff. That’s it for the press conference today, so, for the final time this season; thank you for joining us today and we’ll see you tomorrow for Friday Practice!
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