Today's team representatives press conference with Toto Wolff, Adrian Newey and Graeme Lowdon.
Adrian, perhaps we could start with you. The team's been very open about its current challenges, both during testing and here in Melbourne. It looked like you had more issues in FP1. Just talk us through what the problems were, first of all, if you could?
Adrian Newey: We're having continuing problems with the battery, so we've had a fresh problem, if you like, [with] communication internally with the battery to its management system. But the much more underlying problem is the vibration issues that we continue to struggle with.
Honda said that they were coming to this race with hopefully some solutions to the vibrations. I know you haven't done many laps, but is there any evidence of a solution?
AN We tried a different solution in Lance's car today. There's some analysis going on as we speak as to whether that's helped or not. And then depending on that analysis we'll define what we do for FP2.
FP2 and the rest of the weekend, just tell us how it looks. What are you hoping to achieve in FP2, FP3, qualifying and the race? What does it look like for you?
AN Well, obviously 30 laps in each and 50 laps in the race, or whatever it is. I think realistically it's just trying to manage the problem. We are short on batteries. We've only got two batteries left, the two that are in the car, so if we lose one of those then it's obviously a big problem. So we've got to be very careful on how we use the batteries.
Adrian, you've experienced so much in your career. Just on a personal level, is this one of the most challenging moments you've ever experienced?
AN I think it's one where I kind of feel a bit powerless because, clearly, we've got a very significant PU problem, and our lack of running then also means at the same time we're not finding out about the car. So, our information on the car itself is very limited because we've done so little running, and particularly running at low fuel, because running at low fuel... Fuel acts as a damper to the battery. Honda have limited us very much to how much low fuel running we can do. It just becomes a self-feeding problem. And of course it's using a lot of energy, in the human sense as opposed to the kilowatt sense, on our part to try to work with Honda and to produce the best overall solution, because we can turn around and say, "Well, it's not our problem," but it is our problem because ultimately the car is the combination of chassis and PU.
Adrian, thank you very much for that. I'm sure there'll be more questions for you in a minute. Toto, if we could come to you now. Could we start just by talking about FP1? It looked like you got a good number of laps with both cars. Just give us your summary of work done so far at Albert Park.
Toto Wolff: We are certainly not in the magnitude of problems that Adrian has, but it was a difficult birth today also for us, but not unexpected, I guess, when you start with new regulations. We weren't in such a good place on the chassis side, power unit side, but all things that are surmountable. Quite some interesting, exciting challenges to overcome for FP2 and the rest of the weekend, but I would say we are where we are and that's going to be alright.
You are where you are, but George had a quiet confidence about him when he was in this room yesterday. Given everything you've just said about FP1, how confident are you for the rest of the weekend here in Melbourne?
TW: As I've said before, in 15 years or so I have never been confident. Even if we started the season magnificently, I've never been confident enough to say that we are going to be faster, we're going to be on the podium at the end of the race weekend. That is no different to this year. I'm not going to say that because simply we don't know. We had a challenging FP1 but not out of the ordinary, so we've just got to put the work in step by step, do it calmly, and then hopefully be fast enough to fight for a podium or a win on Sunday, but it's not a given.
Okay, Toto, thank you for that. And Graeme, coming to you, your first official Formula 1 session done. Just how did it play out for you?
Graeme Lowdon: Well, it was very hectic because it's the first time we've ever run two cars! I mean, you know, the regulations allow you to run one [in testing]. So far, the whole project has been a series of firsts and today was another one of those. But if we just focus on the work that was done, we had some upgrades here, we ran through a programme, we had a couple of issues during the session, which I don't think is unusual. We lost a couple of wing mirrors, but these are the kind of problems that we can iron out and work on. I think on a project like this it's very easy to see Melbourne as the end objective, and it's not. Obviously, it's our first ever Grand Prix for Cadillac Formula 1 Team, so this isn't our objective. Our objective is to start racing, and that's what it felt like for me. It was the start of a very, very, very long journey.
But quicker than an Alpine with one of your cars. Does that give you confidence for the rest of the weekend here?
GL: Well, I think there's a general lack of confidence in everyone. It's FP1 and nobody knows really where they're at. We know we've got a huge amount of work, but also, I've been super lucky on this project. I've had a front-row seat to see just what's being achieved by everybody, not just in Indianapolis but in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Silverstone. It's hard. This is the greatest team sport in the world but it's the most difficult team sport in the world. The competition is just insane and it's so, so difficult, and we know that. So, do we take confidence? I mean, we have a very, very grounded appreciation of just what it takes to try and build a team, and this is the first step in a long way. Also, I'd very much like to take this opportunity to thank not just everybody in the team but everybody behind everybody in the team, so the families, the friends, the husbands, the wives, the boyfriends, the girlfriends, the family members. That's the rock that we build the team on, and there's no way we could do this without all of that support. So, I just want to take this opportunity to thank all those people, and hopefully a lot of them are at home watching. There's nowhere to hide in Formula 1, so this is our first time we've run two cars and you've got to do it in front of a few hundred million people, but that's Formula 1. That's what we've always wanted to do.
Questions From The Floor
(Mara Sangiorgio - Sky Sport F1) Toto, after Kimi's engine problem in Bahrain, are you worried about reliability preventing you from pushing to the limits now?
TW: Reliability is always an issue, particularly with new cars and new power units. They say, "In order to finish first, first you have to finish," and I guess that's going to be the motto for this first couple of Grands Prix, to see where our limitations are, where our reliability worries are on either component or on any component in the car. So no, not particularly worried about one reliability issue related to the engine, but it's more the overall car concept.
(Mervi Kallio - Viaplay Finland) Adrian, I think everyone in this room and in this paddock wishes you to get better during the season, but what do you see as the worst scenario that can happen to the team?
AN It's very difficult to forecast at the moment. I think there's a very clear action on Honda to try to reduce the vibration which is emanating from the PU. They are working on that. It's not going to be a quick fix because this involves fundamental balancing and damping projects that they will need to conduct. I can't comment how quickly they can achieve that, but that has to be the main drive. Once they've got past that, then they can really start to concentrate on performance, but at the moment this vibration issue is sucking all energy in every area. I mean, as I said, emotionally, I mean our mechanics were up until four o'clock this morning. So of course they're on their knees. The factory has been offering a lot of support, so it's something we really need to try to get on top of as quickly as possible.
(Andrew Benson - BBC Sport) Adrian, this is all very reminiscent of 2015, or 2017 for that matter, but Honda have been in F1 for 12 years now and won the World Championship in between. Have they given any indication to you as to why they're in such a mess? And as a corollary to that, how's Fernando dealing with it?
AN I think, okay, the first question, a bit of history is important there. Honda pulled out at the end of 2021. They then re-entered the sport, kind of, at the end of 2022, so over roughly a year, a year and a bit, out of competition. When they reformed, a lot of the original group had, it now transpires, disbanded and gone to work on solar panels or whatever, and so a lot of the group that reformed are actually fresh to Formula 1. They didn't bring the experience that they had had previously. Plus, when they came back in 2023, that was the first year of the budget cap introduction for engines, so all their rivals had been developing away through '21, '22 with continuity, their existing team, and free of budget cap. They re-entered with, let's say, only, I'm guessing, 30% of their original team, and now in a budget cap era, so they started very much on the back foot and unfortunately, they've struggled to catch back up.
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