Part 1: Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman and Fernando Alonso.
Fernando, perhaps we could start with you. Not quite hometown hero, but home country hero. Look, it’s been a tough start to the season for Aston Martin. Just how much satisfaction did the Monaco weekend and that point give you?
Fernando Alonso: Well, hello everyone. Basically, I don’t think that it made a huge difference on the weekend. We scored a point because different things happened in the race, with penalties and DNFs and things like that, but we cannot hide the truth that we were uncompetitive also in Monaco and we didn’t deserve the point probably, in terms of pure pace. But yet I think this year is going to be difficult to score a point for any team, as the four top teams are always, if everything goes normal, in the top eight positions, and then only remains ninth and tenth. And Alpine could be easily fifth-fastest car, and then as I said, to grab any point I think you need some help from the cars in front and in Monaco it was extra help.
Fernando, for a guy with your record of success, how have the current issues affected your motivation and your belief in the Aston project?
FA: Well, motivation, no big change, as I understand perfectly how this sport works and how everything is in Formula 1, and you need to have the right package to perform and you need to work around your team to get that package in the best place possible, as soon as possible as well, when you are not leading the pack. We see so many examples of drivers that they are out of the top 10, following year they are winning races, vice versa, they are winning races, then out Q1. So motivation is still there because I believe in myself and I have full trust in what I’m able to do. And I feel that when I have the same machinery as any other driver in the world, I never felt uncompetitive in Formula 1 or outside this paddock. I drive many different cars and I felt the same way all my life, and I still feel the same way now. And then the trust in the team? Obviously it’s not ideal when you start a set of regulations on the back foot, because everything takes time. Especially in our case, I think the power unit, we found very quickly that we were not up to speed, and yes, it was a little bit immature, the project itself. So, we realised quickly that we would need time to catch up and we would need time to fix some of the issues. But in Formula 1 you race every two weeks and you need to deliver performance every two weeks. And we understood quite quickly that we were not able to do that and it will be a tough start of the season. But we are navigating through that tough start, and we have higher hopes for the second part of the year. But until then, every weekend is a little bit more or less the same story.
On a lighter one to end with, World Cup starts today. How far will Spain get? Who’s your biggest threat?
FA: Well, I hope we get to the final. I think we are European champions and we are very strong. So hopefully we can get to the final. And the biggest threat, I don’t know. I would say France, as they have a very good team as well and good players. But always you have surprises in the World Cups.
All right, Fernando, thank you very much for that. Ollie, if we could come to you now. Monaco seemed to be a case of what might have been for you. Had you had a clean run in quali and the race, how much pace did the car have?
Oliver Bearman: No, I think we were definitely in the battle for points, actually. I think we were maybe on par with Liam sitting next to me, maybe if it was a normal qualifying, let’s say. Of course it’s never a normal qualifying in Monaco, but we got a bit unfortunate with the red flag, the timing of the red flag. After that, I tried really hard to improve my lap time, but my tyres were just not in the temperature window. And around Monaco, you can’t do anything if you have no grip. And I did my very best but just missed out by a tenth or so. After that the race was the race. We saw some stuff happening, but unfortunately, I had an issue of my own on the brakes and we had to retire the car. But I think in case of a clean quali, I would have liked to think we could have been fighting with the VCARBs, maybe Alpine as well actually. We were quite competitive in Monaco. So yes, I was looking forward to that, but at the end, after a bad quali, you can’t really come back at all.
Do you think that potential you just talked about will translate here in Barcelona?
OB: I hope so. I think these last two weekends we brought this upgrade package to the car in Canada. Honestly, it’s been really tough to optimise and get performance out of it. We managed to salvage a point in Canada, but only because of a lot of cars retiring, and then Monaco was tough as well for other reasons. Both of those circuits are very bumpy. You have to run the car in a very different way, let’s say, to the rest of the year. So, hopefully we’re going to come here, it’s a more favourable track for us, and hopefully we can optimise the package that we have. But actually, Friday we’re going to have to be learning a lot about this car because we’ve come from a Sprint weekend and in Monaco. It’s two very unique weekends on very unique tracks, so this is really a chance to learn about what we have.
OK, thank you for that. A quick World Cup question. How far will England go? Can they bring it home? And who’s the biggest threat?
OB: Oh, you’re testing me now. I’m not the best in football knowledge, but of course I have high hopes for my country. I hope that they can win, but let’s see how it goes. To be honest, the only football tournaments I’m watching, or the only football I’m watching in general, is the World Cup and the Euros. It’s been a while since I watched a football match. I’m excited to see and of course wish England all the best.
Thank you for that. And Liam, let’s come to you now. What a race for you and the team in Monaco. How did your emotions after it compare to the P5 in Baku last year?
Liam Lawson: Yeah, it was very different, honestly. Monaco is very special, and I think especially when we started the weekend we weren’t actually very competitive, and we changed so much on the car over the weekend. And then the Sunday was just an emotional rollercoaster. I didn’t think I was going to race. I got to the garage and the car was in pieces, where it had an issue, and the team did an amazing job to put it together. And I got out, did one lap to the grid basically, so we didn’t really get to feel balance or anything like that. But yeah, we survived, which at the moment I think is a bit of what’s been working for us. Obviously, we’ve got to try and keep that consistency, but we’ve been reasonably competitive, but just in the right place. And when people have had issues, we’ve been able to capitalise on it, and I think that’s really what happened in Monaco. So, it was cool.
You’ve had a great start to the season. How much of that is down to the car, and do you feel you’ve taken a step forward as a driver this year?
LL: I mean, yeah, I think the cars are very interesting this year. We’re all obviously still getting used to them, learning. Development is obviously massive this year. We’re all finding sort of big things most weekends, so we’re all chasing that. And I think on a personal level – probably, I think we’re always evolving and learning. So, the more experience I have, I’m going to get better. And I think compared to last year, I would say I’m in a better place. I think there’s been a bit more consistency this year and that’s been helping.
OK, bit of World Cup chat. New Zealand in Group G. How far will you get?
LL: Honestly, I probably know the least about football in this room. I’m just supporting Tim Payne. That’s really all I can say.
Questions From The Floor
(Harry Benjamin – Sky Sports F1) Question for Fernando. Fernando, when you first came on the scene you were marked out as one of the immediate greats, and it only took you a couple of years before you were fighting for World Championships and sealing those titles. Now we’re seeing Kimi Antonelli, who came to the end of the start this year with no wins and has just done five on the bounce. What do you make of his achievements, and can you give us an insight into the pressure that young drivers deal with at a young age and winning in Formula 1?
FA: Well, I think first we are in a different era of F1 where I think that, thanks to the technology, we are a bit more aware of the technicalities of the car. We have the simulators, we have different tools that help a little bit our arrival into F1. And I think he has an incredible talent. Probably the most noticeable time for him was in karting. I think in the junior formulas, you can argue that it was up and down in terms of results, and some of the drivers of his generation were able to stay in front of him with the same cars, even the one next to me [Bearman]. And now you have a car that is dominating, and you are adapting to that car and you are winning races without making any mistake, as you said, feeling the pressure of leading the Championship and leading a race, which is obviously a very good achievement. But this is Formula 1 and you need to perform at the highest level always. And if you have the opportunity, as he has this year, with a winning car and he’s able to cope with the pressure and achieve the title, obviously it’s an incredible thing for him and happy for him.
(Mariana Becker – TV Globo) Hola, Fernando. At this time, usually for especially us Latin people, during the World Cup, is a time to provoke also, to tease each other, you know, with how’s your team, how’s my team, what we are going to expect and everything. We’ve been here for a while, even when Spain was the champion, I was here also covering and I saw all of you. Who’s the best guy for you to provoke on the grid, or was at that time? And who’s the one who understands best on this subject of soccer and football?
FA: Football, not many people understand in this paddock. A driver that used to be Fisichella and some of the Italians, but now Italy is not in the World Cup for three decades, so I would say Antonelli, but maybe Antonelli will be older when Italy comes back to the World Cup.