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DRIVERS: Fernando ALONSO
(MCLAREN MERCEDES), Giancarlo FISICHELLA (RENAULT), Nick HEIDFELD (BMW
Sauber), Franck MONTAGNY (TOYOTA), Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (FERRARI)
Q: Giancarlo, do you feel encouraged after the test at Silverstone last
week?
Giancarlo FISICHELLA: First of all, I wasn’t there. But it was a good test
for us. I think we made another step forward. We’ve got a new floor and new
rear suspension. You know, it’s a small step which is quite encouraging for
this weekend.
Q: You’ve only had two sixth places here which suggests it is not one of
your favourite or best circuits.
GF: Yeah, unfortunately over the last couple of years I was a little bit
unlucky, especially two years ago when I stalled the engine in the pit stop.
There was a possibility to get on the podium there. But yes, in the past it
hasn’t been good for me, but usually in the qualifying session I was close
to my team-mate or in the first few rows. It’s going to be alright.
Q: You’re quite encouraged then; obviously with Renault in France it’s quite
important.
GF: Yes, it’s very important for us. It’s like our home Grand Prix and there
are a lot of fans, a lot of people coming from the factory, so it’s going to
be a really important weekend.
Q: Franck, you raced here last year of course: 20th on the grid, 16th at the
end; just a one-off, I think.
Franck MONTAGNY: It was good to race here in France, and Super Aguri gave me
the opportunity to do it, so I was grateful and I had a good time with them.
Now it’s a different year and a different team.
Q: Quite difficult for you this year, you did some Friday testing last year
but that’s disappeared and not a lot of other testing either.
FM: No, not a lot of testing. At the beginning of the year it was quite OK.
I had a lot of work to do with the team and we developed the car quite well,
but since the beginning of the year one of the two drivers is struggling a
little bit with the car, so he’s asking to do more testing. We only have one
car, so all my days which were on the planning have been taken off (by him)
unfortunately for me. That’s the deal; when you sign the contract you know
it can be like this. You hope it’s not going to be, but there is the
possibility.
Q: And yet you had a busy week last week; tell us about it?
FM: Every time the car is on track, I am there because I want to be close to
the team and I want to be involved one hundred per cent, so if I’m testing
or not, I want to be there. So last week I spent all the week at Silverstone
and afterwards I went to Goodwood, so I spent all week with the team.
Q: Kimi, at the end of the Silverstone test the team was 0.4s quicker than
anyone else. Were you encouraged by that?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I think we had quite a good test. The car felt good straight
away. The race is always different to testing, but I think we had a good
test.
Q: It’s nearly half season now; is this where you would expect to be or are
you a little bit disappointed, frustrated?
KR: For sure we don’t expect to be in this position but that’s racing and I
think we just try to improve, try to get things how we like and try to start
winning races and that’s our main goal.
Q: Does it make a difference now that we are away from Monaco, the two
overseas races, back in Europe?
KR: I hope so, I hope it makes a difference to the results but as I said,
testing is always one thing but the racing is completely different. We will
see tomorrow how the car is to know whether we can. But hopefully we can
challenge the McLarens.
Q: Similar question to you, Fernando. What are your feelings after the
Silverstone test? It was a very big one for McLaren, according to Martin
Whitmarsh.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, it was a good week for us also. I think as a team we
improved our car and our performance. We had some new bits on the car
improving the aerodynamics, the suspension as well, brakes, so many new
things on the car. You choose the good ones for here, for racing and take
the bad ones back to the factory and try to find the problem. We developed
the car, we improved the car and it should again be competitive here in
France.
Q: How worried were you by those times from Ferrari?
FA: Oh nothing, nothing at all, nothing.
Q: We’re just coming up to the half season. I’m sure it hasn’t quite worked
out the way that you expected it to.
FA: Well, I think that in a way it has been a surprise, a good surprise how
quick the car was. I moved teams, I left Renault last year and I was not so
sure about what the McLarens would be like at the beginning of the season. I
found a very good car straight away and I was able to win two races in the
first seven races of the championship and I’m second in the Drivers’
championship and leading the Constructors’, so it has been a very very
positive first half of the season but for sure, I would like to be first,
leading both championships and for that, I need to be a little bit quicker
than in the first seven races.
Q: You’ve had two pole positions here, one win and twice second in the race;
what are your feelings about this circuit?
FA: I like the circuit a lot. I always enjoy driving here at Magny Cours,
also because I have been driving for Renault here, which is a very important
race for the Renault team and we are in France and I had a lot of fans, a
lot of support here. This year will maybe be a little bit different because
the grandstand will not be with McLaren so much as they were with Renault
but as I said, I love the circuit and it should be a good weekend.
Q: Nick, you left Silverstone with a pain in your back. Is it OK now, what
was the problem?
Nick HEIDFELD: Yes, it’s gone now. I felt that the circuit was quite bumpy
and I think some other drivers actually had back problems as well. I just
played it safe because I knew that in two weeks’ time we would have a race,
so one and a half weeks’ time and now it’s all fine again.
Q: Were you a bit worried by reliability during that test and particularly
your last race at Indianapolis?
NH: No, at the test it was fine. Actually we tried some new things to
rectify the problems that we had at Indy, that I had at Indy. It all worked
OK, and actually the parts that failed we had on for a very long time
before, also during races. Sometimes you can do so much testing and you
still don’t know if something will fail just after however many kilometres.
We tried to change it and I’m quite sure it’s going to be OK now.
Q: Again, an interesting record here at the French Grand Prix, because
you’ve finished all your races and yet your best qualifying is ninth and the
best race finish is sixth in 2001.
NH: Yeah, not a good record, is it?
Q: But the reliability is good?
NH: It’s OK. I like the circuit as well. People say it’s not the most
interesting one to visit because it’s in the middle of nowhere but for me,
as a driver, it’s good fun. The second corner is very nice, the long right
hander and I especially enjoy the two quick chicanes which are probably
outstanding in Formula One. I’ve been going well here in Formula Three and
Formula 3000. It’s a long time ago but I’ve won here and I will try to do
the same in Formula One over the next couple of years.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Kimi, Luca di Montezemolo said in
Gazzetta dello Sport last week that we hadn’t seen the real you yet this
season, a driver that puts fear into other drivers. Do you feel we’ve not
seen the real you and if so why not?
KR: Like I’ve said before, I think I expect better results but there are
certain things that haven’t been right and we try to improve those and then
hopefully at some point we will get it right and we can get the results that
we want and I can drive how I want. This seems to take a bit of a longer
time.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, we know that testing is
one thing and racing is another, but do you thing that the hard times for
Ferrari are over and that here you will be able to fight closer for victory?
KR: As I said, we don’t know because you can always see the results from
testing but you don’t know what the other teams are doing. I think we have
improved the car, for sure. The car felt very good at Silverstone but this a
different circuit, a different place. We need to wait until the race, until
the qualifying to see how it goes, but we have a positive feeling about it.
Q: (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) Fernando, during the last races there were
a lot of rumours about your future: if you are going to leave McLaren before
the end of your contract or not. How is the situation now in your team?
FA: The situation is good. As you said, only rumours have been in the press
and I think this is impossible to stop. I’m second, behind my team-mate, so
all rumours are about myself now and it would be the opposite if I was first
and my team-mate was second. Maybe people would start talking about him. But
the situation is good and I have no problems and no intention to leave the
team before I finish.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) There were also some rumours
about you, Kimi, about Michael Schumacher coming back, in your place or you
swapping places with Fernando. What do you say about those things? Do they
disturb you or you just don’t care?
KR: I haven’t read any magazines for a long time, so I don’t know anything
about it, but I don’t care really what they talk about. I think I’m in a
pretty safe place.
Q: (Sal Zanca – Associated Press) Fernando, you just talked about surprises.
What’s been the biggest surprise this year, that you’re second now, you’re
trailing your team-mate, the car? What’s the biggest surprise?
FA: For me, it has been the tyres, how different they are to drive on. I
think the engines are obviously the same - the new V8s we introduced last
year – the cars are more or less the same, with the same aerodynamic rules,
but the cars are so different to drive this year for everybody, and that’s
because the tyres change the way the car performs and the way you need to
drive the car as well so that has been the biggest surprise for me. I think
for Formula One it’s probably my team-mate, Hamilton. He has performed
really well in the first half of the season and this is maybe not a surprise
because we’ve been testing all winter and in the team, especially when he
was quick. You know, he’s doing very well.
Q: (Heiko Wasser – RTL TV) Fernando, some of us were a bit surprised at your
early second pit stop in Indianapolis. Was that scheduled or was there a
change and if so, why?
FA: No it was according to plan. I had one more lap of fuel, but Lewis was
stopping on that lap, so I had to stop one lap earlier because I was second.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Giancarlo, what is the
target now for Renault at this Grand Prix? And can you make a comeback
before the end of the season to win some races?
GF: Obviously for this weekend it is again to get to the end of the race and
to score points. We would like to fight for the podium because it is a very
important Grand Prix for us, but I think McLaren and Ferrari are maybe a
step forward, maybe two steps forward…
NH: And BMW…
GF: Yes, and BMW, especially Heidfeld! But I think we are quicker than BMW.
Or I hope. And for the rest of the season it is just to make progress as we
have so far. I think for Budapest we will have a new front wing which is a
good step forward. So, we just make progress in each race and get closer to
McLaren, Ferrari and BMW.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, how is the
situation with the strategy? Who decides the strategy – the team or can a
driver just decide which to use during a Grand Prix?
FA: As always, and I think that’s all the teams, the team decides
everything.
Q: (Thierry Wilmotte – Le Soir) For all of you: it seems this will be the
last time here in Magny-Cours. Do you think it will be a loss for Formula
One?
FM: From a drivers’ point of view, we say yes because the circuit I think is
very good. Uphill, downhill, very quick chicane…From a queues’ point of
view, I think it is better to be lost because everybody is complaining about
this track, but with a little effort for the outside of the track, I think
it can be a very good place to come.
GF: It is a nice circuit, one of the smoother circuits so for our backs it
is good and it is in the middle of nowhere, but with the other Grands Prix,
when we go to the other Grands Prix, we go to the hotel, in the morning we
come to the circuit and then we go back to the hotel. So it is nothing very
different. It is even not good for Renault and it is a Renault home Grand
Prix.
NH: For me, it depends on where we go. In fact, if we go to Paul Ricard, I
would rather stay here.
FA: I don’t think Formula One will miss any circuit, but I think we have to
think about it and say that Magny-Cours is ok for everybody, but we all know
it is in the middle of France and in the middle of nowhere, as we have all
said, but I think we will go to Singapore and we will take a flight of 14
hours so I don’t know which one is more convenient.
KR: Like they said, the circuit is nice to drive, but I think that more for
the people it is a bit difficult here. There is nothing really around the
circuit, so I think it depends where we go – if it is nice or not, the new
place. But I don’t think it is going to be missed too much.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To Alonso, this week we had the
opportunity on the Internet to watch some images about the USA Grand Prix.
In the lap following (the one) when you tried to overtake Lewis Hamilton,
you brought the car near the pit-wall and it seemed you were complaining
about something. Is that correct or not?
FA: No, it’s not like that. As I said in Indianapolis, I moved from the
slipstream 15 times in the race, but unfortunately I was only on TV on that
lap when I was behind Lewis after the overtaking that I tried the lap
before. Also, someone in the team said that there was frustration from me
and that was very difficult to understand – why they said that. But as I
said it was just to come off the slipstream and to cool the car because
everything was hot – the brakes were hot, the engine was hot. Everything in
my car was hot after driving 73 laps behind Hamilton’s car.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Kimi, one thing that you still
seem to be struggling with are the starts. Do you feel that you still have
problems or is it one of those things that happens by chance?
KR: No, I think it just happens by accident. The last two races I know the
start has been bad, but it is not something that I can really change. There
is no grip off the line and it is the system that really makes the start
after you let go off the clutch, but that was just a bad thing. We had
different tyres to the rest last race, but I think we will improve the
starts as we have a new part for the clutch so we should be better.
Q: (Ralf Bach – R & B) Fernando, it is usual that the guy who stopped second
to his team-mate at his first stop makes his second stop first. Why?
FA: Well, I think in the first one we stopped with one lap difference, so it
was just a very small difference and with the second one, as I said, we were
going more or less to the same lap and we cannot stop both cars together for
the second stop, so one needs to stop one lap earlier than expected and it
was me because I was second. I think it was just a coincidence also, but we
had fuel for the same laps.
Q: (Marco Degl’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Maybe you have not seen
the on-board camera shot showing you raising your hand. What did you mean?
FA: I raise my hand every time I catch a car that I lap and every time that
I am fighting with someone and if you want to enjoy a race you must watch my
on-board camera because I am always quite emotional.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Kimi, at the last three circuits
we did not have any medium or high-speed curves, which is not the case at
this race or at Silverstone. Can this mean it will help Ferrari?
KR: I think so, we have different speed corners in every race, but maybe the
circuit itself was not ideal for us. I hope it is different here, but like I
said, in testing we did a good time, but testing is different to racing. We
expect to be stronger, but I don’t know how much so we’ll have to wait to
the race to see.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) For Kimi and Felipe, the
weather is not good, it is quite cold. What do you think this means for the
tyres?
KR: Who is first – me or Felipe? (laughter). I don’t know how the weather is
going to be. Today, it looks like it is not so nice, but I just arrived here
and I don’t know what they expect for the weekend, but in the end it is the
same for everybody. Everybody has the same tyres. Hope it is good weather
because that is nicer, but if it is mixed it makes the race more
interesting.
FA: Same thing, I don’t think anybody knows. Its only Thursday and maybe
tomorrow night we will have some better information about the tyres
depending how they perform tomorrow – the hard and soft compounds. In this
temperature, we can see some graining or something like that. We will see
tomorrow and as Kimi said it will be the same for everybody, more or less.
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Fernando, we read, from Ron Dennis,
that you and Lewis are no longer allowed to talk about one another unless
you are in the same room. How do you feel about that?
FA: It is not true. It is not true.
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Why did Ron say it?
FA: I don’t know…
Q: (Julien Fabreau – Radio Monte Carlo) Question for Franck – the French
media are of course waiting for a French driver in Formula One and we expect
Sebastien Bourdais next year. Are there any discussions with the team
actually now for the 2007 line-up or in your opinion is there a possibility?
FM: I always feel there is a possibility. We are only in July or August and
it is the same for all the drivers. We are all speaking with all the teams
and they are speaking with us, so we are working on that and we will see
what happens next. So you will have to be patient for the answers. |
