Willy Rampf Talks about Proposed Regulations
By FIA Press Conference
August 14 2004
Willy Rampf talks about next year's technical and sporting regulation proposals in the FIA Thursday press conference before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
First of all, I would like to start off with what is a talking point as far as the press is concerned, and that is the Jenson Button affair, over whether he should or shouldn’t be joining Williams. David Richards has asked for the team owners’ support. Can you give him that support? What are your feelings about the affair itself? Willy, any comment?
Willy RAMPF: No, I cannot really comment. I don’t have enough background information about the contract situation of Jenson Button.
Next question, the rules. I would like to ask, first of all, the front row, if you feel happy that you have agreed on the rules and the back row, the fact that it is so late, how it affects you guys, as independents, presumably with smaller budgets than those in the front row. Can I ask you guys in the front row how you feel the rules meetings are going?
WR: On the engine side I think we are in a good situation because we have discussed the situation and we are quite confident that next year’s engine is reliable and quite powerful so this is not an issue really and a point of concern for us. On the tyre side, we don’t exactly know what the tyre regulation will look like but if the tyre regulation does change the strategy for next year- say one and two stops instead of three stops – this would obsolete the different chassis concepts and when we are in the design phase, I mean, fuel cell volume is something you cannot change during a season so we have to make a best guess what is the fuel cell volume for next year. On the technical regulations changes, we support them because we think it is a good chance for us, as a smaller team, now with our new wind tunnel as a good and reliable tool, we could benefit. The problem is, if the decision is very late then it is very costly for us because we don’t have a parallel team developing the new car, we have one team of aerodynamicists and the later we decide about these things and the technical regulation is defined, the more difficult it is for us because we have already started with next year’s car concept in the wind tunnel and whatever we have done up to now I think we can throw into the bin because it is not valid any more if the new regulations come in. So the regulation change is fine for us, but the later the final definition the more we are against it because it’s costly, that’s the main reason, and I hope the final decision is fairly soon.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR:
(Joe Saward – F1 Grand Prix Special) Looking at the viewing figures that we have for this year, they’re actually not that bad at all. They’re actually on the same level as in previous years. Is all this talk about changing absolutely necessary or is it all about battling egos among the people who are making decisions?
WR: I think overall it’s the right decision to make some changes specifically to improve the safety of the cars because the cars are getting quicker and quicker in top speed and in lap time. And I think it’s also the right time to make changes to the technical regulations. And as I mentioned before, we are in favour of changes to technical regulations if they come early enough, because we see a good opportunity for us and I think it’s up to us, the Technical Working Group, to come up with a proposal, or to define a proposal that the cars and the races are still interesting.