Brought to you by TheJudge13 contributor Mattpt55 – the best in FIA Press Conferences looked at slightly irreverently
Ever wonder what the drivers and team principals really think at the pressers? Wonder if the Telly left anything out? Now you can find out yourself in the all new #TJ13 Feature Presser Notebook ready for you to peruse at your leisure. Enjoy. Like technical documents, too, but can’t find them anymore on the FIA site? Worry not, just check out the #TechF1 series published before each Grand Prix, right here on #TJ13.
Drivers Presser Austrian Grand Prix
In germany and Belgium and the hollandland we do not say comparing apples and oranges. We say comparing apples and pears.
Lol suspected as much. But couldn’t help myself
With regards Red Bull and the talk of it being an embarrassment for them to have to take so many grid penalties at their ‘home’ race, surely that completely plays into their hands? By that I mean that:
1 – It points out the failings of the Renault power unit which they’ve been saying all year. They’ve even started bringing the knives out again before the weekend which all feeds into the “We’re being let down by our engine supplier” narrative. Consequently, it doesn’t reflect badly on them.
2 – Red Bull are fairly stuck in the middle of the pack, and are unlikely to generate much excitement by just circulating largely in a race of their own. However, look at Vettel in Canada – he got plenty of TV coverage and plaudits for driving up through the field from the back, and it’s not hard to imagine the Red Bulls being able to get a reasonable amount of overtaking of the bottom/lower middle teams done thus guaranteeing them more TV coverage.
3 – A drive through the field to their usual-ish position allows them to shift the narrative to “Brave fightback” mode rather than “Continued mediocrity” mode in terms of how they portray their race to the press.
It just makes a lot of sense to me for them to take the maximum possible penalties at this race, then have a stronger platform to move forward in the next races too.
@UpsideDown
“With regards Red Bull and the talk of it being an embarrassment for them to have to take so many grid penalties at their ‘home’ race, surely that completely plays into their hands?”
My thoughts precisely. Taking the grid penalties in Styria (instead of, e.g. Canada) gives them an even more prominent platform to whine their way through this year, put Renault on the spot, and try to force changes that would advantage themselves relative to the competition. Clearly the only thought on the Styrian Spice Boys minds is “Red Bull MUST win for the good of the sport“.
The very little respect I still had for Red Bull is quickly vanishing into thin air…