Every Word: James Vowles Friday Press Conference
Toto said this week that Carlos Sainz is now in his sights again for a seat at Mercedes. The battle remains fierce, how long are you prepared to wait?
He’s a world class driver. The decision isn’t imminent, it isn’t today that we need to make it but what I’ve said all along is that the timeline is less important to me. What’s more important is whatever decision we come to or the driver comes to, it’s about forging a long-term relationship with each other where you both see the journey you’re on and want that to be a part of our lives.
I’m fairly sure we’ll see this cleared up before September. That’s the normal time, we’re just going back into a normal schedule where August is spent doing contracts. I’m pretty sure you’ll find it all cemented by then.
Do you have a plan B ready to go should Carlos choose to go elsewhere?
Fundamentally yes, simple answer to that.
There’s a lot of moving parts to it, more than the world will see but it will make sense when it pans out.
If you were exploring an engine deal, how long would it take to get in place for 2026? (Asked in reference to Alpine reportedly exploring Mercedes)
The more PUs you have in circulation, the more learning you have during a season, there’s no doubt about that. I think it’s also fair to say from our perspective, we have been working alongside HPP in order to get the concept right for 2026 for many months. Whatever you do, you’re going to be 6-12 months behind the three other teams. That’s quite penalizing in the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t mean it’s unachievable but there’s going to be areas where you’re going to be compromising. There’s a tremendous amount of work getting 2026 right and the smallest decision on layout can have quite a large impact.
Would you consider changing your driver lineup before the end of the season?
We’re continually evaluating. What we’ve said to Logan is that it’s a meritocracy. You have to make sure you earn your place in this sport continuously. That’s been the same message for the last 18 months for him. We’re open-minded on things. What I’ve said before and I maintain today, is that our car - and this is the responsibility on my shoulders and the team - isn’t quick enough. It’s not a driver issue we suffer from today. We’ve been outdeveloped and we have to accelerate our process.
You have Alex signed up for the long-term and you’ve said you want the same from his teammate. You had Franco Colapinto in the car, where does he fit into that and what does he need to do to be under consideration in the future?
Today was a reward for a strong F2 season. I like recognizing that we have a strong young driver program. We invested in Logan and we’ll continue to invest in our young driver program; it’s expanding quite significantly in the background. Today wasn’t a showcase or demonstration or a test, it was simply a reward for good progression. We have to do two FP1s in a season, it’s sensible to do it here in Silverstone. I didn’t expect it to be wet then dry then wet but that’s Silverstone for you.
I believe you can burn a driver if you put them in the car too soon. In modern day Formula 1, what you’re seeing is rookies are struggling. It’s not about “Excellent, you’ve done a fairly good job in Formula 2, you’ve got a podium.” Our investment, our commitment to them has to be an amount of time in a historic car, and an amount of time with preparation so if we choose them to go forward, they’re in the strongest place they can be and we haven’t provided that to Franco at this point.