TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Riad ASMAT (Team Lotus), Jean Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1), Robert FERNLEY (Force India), Norbert HAUG (Mercedes), Gerard LOPEZ (Lotus Renault), Sam MICHAEL (Williams)
Q. Bob, first of all, what happened to Paul di Resta today?
Robert FERNLEY: We had a problem with the brakes, the machining of the brakes and the hydraulics. Paul has a lot of steel, he'll bounce back tomorrow.
Q. Obviously the performances are improving and Vijay Mallya has emphasized that. The thing is carrying it through to next year. That is the task isn't it?
RF: Well, I think next year is a completely different program. What we had to do at the beginning of this year was to take a step backward in order to understand where we lost our way at the end of 2010 and what you see now is the evolution of all that work coming through. Obviously, with the change of regulations with the blown floors next year is a completely different ballpark.
Q. Have you already started work on next year? When are you finishing development on this year's?
RF: We started work on next year's some time ago. This is probably the last major upgrade that we will do for the 2011 car.
Q. And the battle with Sauber?
RF: Very hard. They are very competitive. They are not going to give in easily, so we will have to work as hard as we can.
Q. Is that something you look forward to?
RF: Yes, very much so. They are a good team, working hard. I mean all the teams in all fairness in that midfield area are incredibly competitive and we are going to have to work very, very hard to hold onto sixth place. Sam managed to beat us last year by one point. I don't want to repeat it this year.
Q. Jean Francois, you are heading for a World Championship victory I am sure. That is almost certain, but what are Renault's feelings about it?
Jean Francois CAUBET: I think if we win the championship this year it will be the 10th time in 20 years. We think we did a good choice to sell engines and stop managing a team and I think the long-term strategy we will have with the Red Bull team is a good thing for future of Formula 1 and Renault.
Q. What is Renault Sport's position within the Renault group as it were?
JC: Renault Sport is doing only Formula 1. We were 200 people last year. We will be 250 next year. It is a key point and the board is pushing Formula 1 in Renault now for the long term. I think that is good news.
Q. Is that expansion because of the new engine?
JC: Yes, I think we have 25 people coming from Renault mainly to develop the electric side of the V6 but we will have 40 next year and one team is 10 people more.
Q. Riad, a new job as CEO. Tell us about your new job and what it concerns?
Riad ASMAT: Well, I guess we have expanded in actually owning a car company as well as an engineering business and ever since certain developments that is the new role. I look into not just the Formula 1 side of things but the actual road car and engineering business from this point. A bit more work actually.
Q. So you are in charge of everything?
RA: Well, technically!
Q. You are from Malaysia but also Singapore as well. How do you see the Singapore Grand Prix?
RA: I think it is one of the best on the calendar as well. Just having family from Singapore helps. I am assured support in one form or the other. It is just next to Malaysia so we represent Asia to a certain degree and we hope we will be able to push our name, our brand, into the region.
Q. There are rumors of a name change but also a change of location for the team, whatever it might be called. It has been for so long in Norfolk it is difficult to imagine that Team Lotus will be elsewhere.
RA: I'll take the one question first, which is the location. Our home in Norfolk, in Norwich in Hingham, and that is, for sure, never going to change. That will be maintained as one of our parts but as a team that is growing and progressing we need to have a look at how to get more efficiency out of the team and one of the main areas is to be in the motorsports belt of the UK. It is something we are looking into and when the time is right we will make the necessary announcement. But for sure Hingham is our home.
Q. Will you keep facilities there?
RA: Yes, we bought the place and it is home for us. We will never go away. On your second point?
Q. The name change?
RA: Name change. No decision as yet. We are still Team Lotus as you can see, but as my shareholders have mentioned we are open to anything and we will see how it progresses from this point.
Q. Gerard, we hear about new facilities and new investment in the team. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Gerard LOPEZ: Yes, we essentially wanted to bring the place we are in right now, Enstone, up to the best standards in Formula 1 and it was missing a couple of things. One was the wind tunnel, which was still only 50 percent scale. The second one was the driver simulator and then also a couple of logistical areas so we have decided essentially to expand the factory. Improve the wind tunnel up to 60 percent, which is the maximum allowed and build the new simulator.
Q. Is that really state of the art or even better than anybody else's?
GL: I think everybody else that is a state-of-the-art team has the 60 percent tunnel so I think that is matching essentially the best. On the simulator, as far as we know, it is probably going to be one of the very best simulators in the business.
Q. Are there plans for further investment?
GL: We have to invest every day essentially, just because it is a Formula 1 team so things become obsolete quite quickly. I think we have maxed out in terms of personnel. When we took over there were about 480 people. There are 520 I believe now, so we increase that number. The investments will continue essentially as much as we need to, to try and be where we want to be, which is a top three team in Formula 1.
Q. Your third driver is the new GP2 champion Romain Grosjean. What are your plans for him?
GL: It's a question that I need to take from a different angle, also of a management company that manages his career. I think the plans for a GP 2 winner, especially one who wins it in such a convincing manner, is to be in Formula 1. We are going to try and help him sit in a Formula 1 car next year.
Q. Actually you were in a difficult position until quite recently of having five drivers for two cars potentially.
GL: And more. There's people who are interested just in case. But right now we have a commitment to Robert (Kubica). He has done amazing things for the team. We know what he is capable of and I think any team would take him if he is capable of delivering the same thing. Our commitment is to try and see if he can come back and we will wonder about anything else afterward.