Hello and welcome to Monza, Italy for the Team Principal’s Thursday press conference ahead of this weekend’s Italian V-Prix – round twelve of the 2021 Formula Virtual World Championship. Joining us today, from left to right, are; Nick Forrest of North Star Racing, Dylan Lopez of Lopez FV Team, Jamie Franklin from JFPT Franklin Honda, Lucas Wilson of Johnnie Walker Lucas V-Prix, and Lilly Westwood from Samsung Galaxy S Porsche UK Team Westwood Racing Technology… phew. Welcome, all of you. Scott Parkin – FVTV: We’ll start today’s press conference with you, Lucas. Congratulations on the fantastic result in Belgium; the team’s best result since Mexico 2013 – eight years ago! The team really seems to be on an upwards trajectory at the moment, how does it feel to be back amongst the big hitters of Formula Virtual after so long? Lucas Wilson: Honestly feels incredible. We were confident in the car but we never thought that we would be in the position that we are in at the moment. I tell the team all the time how proud I am of all the guys and gals there. Getting the podium 2 races ago was really special. I opened the 100 year bottle of wine I had sitting in my locker at work. I always said I'd break into it when we got a podium. So it was a good day, even though I don't remember much of it (laughs). But I do think we can snatch the 5th place in the constructors. That is our aim for this season and everyone in our team is committed to making that a reality. SP – FVTV: That’s certainly a battle to keep a close eye on! Nick; it was an absolutely stellar drive from Johan – and a great strategy call – to get the team’s first point since Mexico last season. Of course, you remain in Q1, but has it given the team much of a lift to have overtaken Arrow in the standings, and to have at least gotten something out of an otherwise very frustrating year? Nick Forrest: It really has, the whole team's been buoyed by the result last time out. Johan was stellar at Spa, as you said, he put in some masterful defensive driving, picked his battles perfectly, and stayed - as always - consistent as a 2x4, and I think he was right when he said it was one of his hardest fought points, but without question, very well deserved. To be having the season that North Star had, after our expectations at the beginning of the year with the new set of regulations, knowing that we ultimately took a wrong turn somewhere down the line with them, it's been very, very tough for us, especially as the teams we're often racing have picked up strong results themselves on occasion. But you can definitely sense the mood in the team is a lot more positive this weekend, knowing that we can grab results ourselves, and hopefully take the fight to them in the last few races. SP – FVTV: It was great to see Johan back up there again. Onto you now Dylan; after yet another impressive drive from Allar in Belgium, you’ve moved back up to second in the Constructors’ Championship. What changes in the team would you most attribute to the transformation over the last few years to be in the position you’re now in, battling it out with the likes of Porsche Mathershaw and Franklin Honda? Dylan Lopez: It’s been a team-wide effort so far this season, and unlike in the past we’ve finally been able to unlock the pace of the car throughout the season. Both Allar and Elroy have had strong performances this season, and off the track everybody is putting in the hours, so they are the big reason we are where we sit today. We’ve certainly missed the podium in recent times, so to return to it on such a historic track has restored the fire in our bellies to go and chase that top step of the podium. And it’s fantastic that we’ve climbed back to 2nd in the Constructor’s, but we’re also still here to win races. We want to be the team there to pounce when Downton are vulnerable, and we need to continue to distance ourselves from Porsche and Franklin. SP – FVTV: Speaking of Franklin; a total of 80 points from the last four races is a vast improvement on the previous four, Jamie, and considerably more than your closest rivals. Second place seemed a long shot earlier in the season, but do you now feel confident of snatching it from Lopez and Porsche Mathershaw? Jamie Franklin: I'm always confident. I know what this team is capable of, but I'm aware it will be a close battle in the final portion of the season. SP – FVTV: It promises to be absolutely enthralling! Lilly; we haven’t spoken to you since Jules secured those eight important points in Turkey. What did it mean to – barring any incredible results – lift yourselves out of the Q1 fight for the remainder of the year? Lilly Westwood: It was a bit of a relief, but moving up in the constructor's was far more valuable. We're in a season where the Highwind and Meteor cars are sort of nowhere, and with reliability on our side this year that made Q1 something of a given that didn't really trouble us. However it was a sensational performance and it was great to make sure we still score points every season, and definitely lifted team morale. SP – FVTV: It certainly was a great drive from Jules. Okay, the Team Principals will now take questions from the assembled media. Kurt West – FOX: Question for Nick. Halvosen was the guy who got all the cheers in Belgium, but Brock was never far behind him and drove an awesome race in his own right. You recently confirmed he will be staying with you for 2022, how has Brock been different to Halvosen’s previous teammates? NF: Well, with Judson [Sikes] and Gabriele [García], they were...I would say almost slightly too eager to prove themselves a match for Johan. Brock, on the other hand, and I think you are right that he's flown under the radar so far this season. He's still a rookie in the sport, and I'll be the first to admit he hasn't had the car to showcase his abilities, but more often than not he's been there or thereabouts on Johan's pace, and he hasn't really made any notable driving errors since the opening round. I think the main thing is that he's a lot more confident in himself, he knows the skill that he possesses, and he seems a lot more comfortable alongside Johan at the team than previous drivers who have been in that admittedly challenging position. Hans-Jurgen Zoller – Auto Motor und Sport: Hi, Lucas. With the team now clearly moving in the right direction, would changing the motor supply ever be a thought? A name like… Volkswagen? LucasW: We are very happy with Downton Engines. I see no reason to change. They give us the best product on the grid in my opinion. It would be foolish to change as far as I am concerned. Layton Smith – Thegrid.net: As someone who has always taken great pride in being the leading team in many of Formula Virtual’s record books, Jamie; how much, if at all, does it hurt to see Downton being able to sustain their position at the top and gradually taking away your records? In some ways, does it spur you and the team on even more? JF: You know what? I'm so glad you asked that. I've been waiting for this question, and it's really come at the right time. There's only one team, other than mine, that deserves the moniker of being seen as the greatest team in Formula Virtual, I'm sure you can all guess who that is. But Downton? No. They can go on to win their fourth title, but I still won't acknowledge that achievement. They spent four years of the sport being nothing more than an afterthought, a team showing up and being paid for it. What other sport would that be acceptable? Practically siphoning money that should have been going to other teams, teams with passion and drive for success, teams that actually were achieving. But no, they were given the freedom to be paid for being failures, and now they're receiving plaudits for using those ill-gotten gains be used to pay for a more dominant car. I've tried to play the nice guy. I came back to enjoy being a part of this great sport, to look at everything in a new light...but I'm done with that. I'm done with the complacency of it. I know that none of you can hold a candle to me. We're not even in the same league. Rebecca Parnell – XtremeV: My question is for Dylan, Nick, Lucas and Lilly. I just wanted to know what you all make of the Franklin recruitment policy for next season, with the unique new method of selecting their drivers for 2021? And to Jamie; Franklin have always tended to do things a little differently and been seen as pioneers for ideas, but where did this idea come from? NF: I think it would make a fantastic Saturday night entertainment show. Stretch it over however many weeks, viewers phone in and vote on which driver they want to get the seat, have eliminations throughout the series, it is very Jamie! And I don't mean that in a disparaging way at all, but he's always liked to add a bit of character and showmanship to Formula Virtual, and this is definitely one way of doing it. However it shakes out, I'm sure the drivers that end up in the seats will be the fastest combo for Franklin, which is ultimately the most important thing for all of the teams when the question of drivers comes up. DL: To be honest I think Netflix should get involved and make a series for Franklin’s driver recruitment. Great business idea, however otherwise I don’t see the logic behind signing 5 drivers and telling 3 of them they won’t be racing for the team in FV. But hey, the man who knows more than others about loaning drivers away is right here. I hope you’ve got my phone number Jamie! LillyW: I'll be perfectly honest, I have a very loose understanding. But from what I do know of it, it fits Jamie's tendency toward showmanship down to a T. In my opinion it's a publicity gimmick and they likely already know the two best guys for their car. LucasW: I agree with with everyone else. Jamie is a showman. Which is good we need guys like that in the spot. I think it's really nice he is trying to imitate our team (laughs). I think it's an interesting method. But again like the other team principals have said before. Jamie runs a slick operation, he has won so many world titles for a reason. He doesn't just put anyone in the car. To be honest I'm surprised he doesn't just drive the car himself! (Laughs). He'll pick the best two drivers no doubt. JF: The idea came from something I've just mentioned - complacency. I don't want anyone thinking that what they've done is enough, unless they're absolutely dominating. That's the level of commitment I want to see. It also comes from the entertainment perspective. We want to give something back to the fans, and who better to give it to them than the greatest team in FV? Freddie Starr – Manchester Evening News: With just five races to go in 2021, it’s no secret that you’ve got a bit of a bottleneck of drivers to choose from for your 2022 line up. Is there anything that anyone can do to put Tumo and Jules under pressure? LillyW: Haha, yeah we have a few contracts. Obviously nobody has yet put pen to paper, so we're exploring all of our options in regards to who is best for us, but also what would be in the best interests of the rest of our little squad of drivers. The only person I'd say may be apply to make Jules and Tumo nervous would be Puccio if he performs well, as the other two are still in more of a testing role. Theo Parker – VM Magazine: It was confirmed a couple of weeks ago that Max Meyer will partner Sergio Alvarez at Lopez next season. Max has, of course, been touted as a future Lopez driver for some time, but do you agree with some in the paddock who have suggested that it’s a slight backwards step from having the likes of Elroy and Allar in the car? DL: Replacing 1 top tier driver is never easy, let alone 2 where 1 is a world champion and the other a multiple times race winner. We’re well aware that on paper, we’re replacing them with 2 drivers who haven’t stepped foot on the podium in FV, and you’re far from the first person to mention backwards or downgrade Theo. Max as you say has been associated with the team for 4 or 5 seasons, and he’s more that earned his opportunity to race with us. Álvarez meanwhile is ready for a fresh start with a new team as he develops into a fine driver. When the time comes the pair of them shall be there ready to absolutely explode. Matt Stevenson – WTFV: Question to everyone. Last race we saw Sergio Alvarez suffering some nasty injuries after one of his wheels came off and impacted quite heavily with his head. Is the safety of the cars something that has changed much over the years in Formula Virtual, and do you think certain teams – like Phoenix – are slacking or cutting corners with safety features like wheel tethers? JF: If anyone is cutting corners with safety, then they should be ashamed of themselves. I mean, the poor driving was bad enough to witness, but come on, if you're risking the safety of your drivers because you're too damn poor to afford to stay in the sport at a competitive level, then move over for someone who can. The sport needs to be more cutthroat with any team that shows to be consistent failures. NF: I feel I should interject here, Jamie, and to you as well, Matt, more specifically. I think it's extremely wrong to be insinuating that Phoenix are in any way at fault here for what was effectively a freak accident at Spa. It could easily have been any other driver on the road behind Hoskins at that point, in any other team, and we've already seen - even in the same race, with Finn Schnyder losing a wheel at much lower speed, just because the force was put through the components in a direction they wouldn't have been designed to handle. Formula Virtual, at the end of the day, is still an open cockpit series, and there are risks involved in that, which we all have to accept whenever we go out on track. Sergio was just very unfortunate in his incident, and we should all be wishing him a full and speedy recovery, and that he can return to the paddock and get back behind the wheel as soon as he can, not throwing out ridiculous conspiracy theories like that. Disgraceful journalism, as far as I'm concerned. Sorry, that got away from me a little bit. DL: I agree with Nick on this. Luckily Sergio is resting and we hope that we’ll see him back to full fitness soon. Otherwise I particularly don’t want to waste oxygen dealing with crap questions and poor journalism. LillyW: I agree with Nick here. No team, especially Phoenix at that, would put their drivers at risk. When you hit the wall hard, stuff will break; it's designed that way on the cars to effectively dissipate that energy away from and around the driver rather than through it. As for Jamie's comment, I don't think any team has shown to be suffering consistent failures, and the rigorous testing the cars go through for safety prior to even racing simply doesn't allow for cutting corners even if we wanted to. On top of that, the 'poor' comment insinuating it would only be backmarkers neglecting anybody's safety is frankly offensive. Big crashes happen, look at Powers in Austria a few years back; that was a top driver at a top team out with injury due to a freak accident. Sometimes we have to accept that the difference we make with safety design is that means a trip to the hospital instead of the morgue. LucasW: I think these guys need a chill pill (laughs). I'll get you all in the jacuzzi back at the garage. Look, what happened at Spa was not good. And I sent my best wishes to Sergio. But unfortunately these things do happen. The FVA has a team of people who associate and liaise with the teams to make sure the cars fit the regulations, the safety regulations rather. And the technical board at the FVA builds in the safety margins on these cars. As has been said before there is inherent risk with an open wheel formula. But unfortunately we cannot eliminate all risk from the sport. SP – FVTV: I think we can all agree that the last question was slightly nonsensical, and we can all be glad that – thanks to the incredible that the FVA safety team do, as well as all the teams on the grid – Sergio Alvarez is thankfully now back home recovering well. Onto the final question of the press conference then, to everyone; as we head into the final third of the season, how has this season panned out in terms of expectations vs reality? For your own team, but also for your expectations of the field as a whole? JF: In the grand scheme of things, I think we're exactly where we expected to be. With having to rebuild from 2020, it was always going to be a transitional period back to our inevitable position at the top of the mountain, so to be fighting for second already, with wins on board is a success in my book. Now we just need to bring it home in the final third to push us forward quicker for next year and beyond. Besides, everyone knows that the battle between the two greatest teams in FV, us and Mathershaw, is the one everyone has their eyes on. The rivalry is iconic, and I'll take far more pleasure in beating them again. NF: Well as I've said, North Star are well below where we'd predicted we would be this season, unfortunately. That's on us, however, and we just have to try and recover as best we can. With the rest of the grid, I think it's great to see Franklin back toward the sharp end of the field, and there's a number of teams - like Lopez and Lucas, for instance - that have taken an even bigger step forward than a lot of us were expecting. That is one of the things that's so great about Formula Virtual, is that you can never tell when a team is going to make that jump and take the fight right to the head of the field, and that only makes it all the more exciting when they do. DL: We’ve had our best season by quite some way, and we want to cap it off with race victories to finish the year. I do also remember at the start of the year I said Addison World Champion and an AMR Podium as a prediction. The Aussie is still mathematically a chance and AMR have 5 races to pluck a result outta the sky. The one thing that has surprised me is the drop off of North Star. We’ve generally been near enough to them in recent seasons, however it seems they may have gone down the wrong R&D path with the new regulations, which clearly hasn’t worked for them. LillyW: I'd be lying if I didn't admit that 2021 has been a failure for Westwood. We slipped up on the rule changes and have been on the back foot from that all year. But we dust ourselves off, take it on the chin and learn from it. A combination of the new ruleset, a bunch of teams making a big push for the upper midfield, and unforeseen changes made to finances and regulations on design carry-over made us have to rapidly reconsider our approach, and engage damage limitation. But the guys have all done a stellar job for what we have this season, and I'm proud of every single one of them. LucasW: Like I said before, I knew we had done a good job but I think we have benefited slightly due to a shake up on the grid. We honestly thought that North Star would be up there this season and they are not having the best of times which is just horrible for the team - I really hope they get back to where they were before. So we need to recognise the advantage and not get ahead of ourselves and keep pushing for 5th. SP – FVTV: That’s brilliant, thank you to the five of you for your excellent answers today. That’s all for the press conference, so we’ll see you tomorrow for Friday Practice ahead of the Italian V-Prix!
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