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TEAM PRINCIPALS: Ron Dennis
(McLaren Mercedes), Norbert Haug (McLaren Mercedes), Christian Horner ( Red
Bull), Adrian Newey (Red Bull)
Q: Colin, what has been the
effect of the Spyker take-over, has it already made a difference?
Colin KOLLES: Well, obviously everybody is very motivated. I think there is
a very clear direction. We are associated with a car manufacturer, it’s not
the largest car manufacturer in this world but it’s still a much better
position for us than before.
Q: We’ve seen that already, they’ve changed the livery for instance, and are
advertising for many more people, is there going to be much more investment
in terms of recruitment?
CK: No, we were actually recruiting people all the time but obviously, now,
we will run the wind tunnel 24 hours a day and we will have certain
requirements and therefore we placed this advertisement.
Q: What other financial effect has it had in terms of development?
CK: Well, we always put, as efficiently as possible, all the money into
development. Obviously we don’t have the same funds as the big manufacturers
but we try to do the best and work in an efficient way and we will see what
we will achieve.
Q: Do you think there will be a ‘Gascoyne effect’ when Mike joins; will he
ask for more people?
CK: No, we are very clear with Mike in this direction. I think it’s not the
quantity, it’s the quality of the people.
Q: And how close are you to deciding on your engine for next year?
CK: Very close. Maybe we can announce it this weekend.
Q: Nick, talking of engines, we are quite used to getting a Suzuka-spec
engine from Honda, are we going to get that?
Nick FRY: No, it’s not here. We are using the same engine that we used at
the last race. The ones that we had some problems with on Friday in Monza, a
version of that engine will be the one we run at Suzuka and subsequently in
Brazil. In fact the problems we found at Monza were more related to
manufacturing and build issues; it wasn’t anything to do with the so-called
Stage Four developments that we had in place, so the so-called Stage Four
engines ran reliably at Jerez in the couple of tests we’ve done since then,
did more than the 1500 kilometres that we usually require so we will be
going forward in Japan with that specification and that’s the engine that
will start the freeze process for the next couple of years.
Q: What is the challenge of these two back-to-back races, particularly with
Suzuka coming up?
NF: I think from a logistics point of view we are well-versed in
back-to-back races. I think for us, it’s more dealing with the number of
guests we have. Obviously here, with 555 sponsorship on the car, we’ve got a
substantial number of guests with us. In Japan, clearly with the Honda and
other Japanese sponsors that we’ve got, there’s a lot of people there, and
in Brazil it will be British American Tobacco’s or Lucky Strike’s last race
so it’s the end of an era, so we have a large number of people there, so our
concerns are more handling that side of it rather than the logistics of
running the car.
Q: It’s been a season of ups and downs for you. Looking back, early on, a
bit disappointing then latterly, of course, more competitive. What have you
learned from this year?
NF: I think this year, in fact, has been the best year that our team has
had. Clearly 2004 was better from a results’ point of view but I think that
was probably as much to do with other people not having a good season rather
than particular brilliance on our part, when we look back. I think this year
we have understood a lot more about how the car works, delivering the full
size wind tunnel ahead of time and in fact getting it calibrated and working
in a very satisfactory way and in a very short period of time has been a
huge achievement and our improvement over the last few races is really down
to using that piece of equipment effectively, so I think we now know a lot
more technically that we did before. Winning the race in Hungary was an
obvious bonus but based on the knowledge that we’ve now got we can continue
to progress.
Q: Mario, we’ve seen you use young drivers this year to remarkable effect:
obviously Robert Kubica but also latterly Sebastian Vettel as well. What is
BMW’s policy regarding young drivers? You have a staircase of talent with
Formula BMW, tell us your policy.
Mario THEISSEN: Well, the general policy with our entire Formula One project
is to groom the team in-house rather than take on people from the outside.
Obviously, if you want to ramp up (your personnel) by 150 people in one and
a half years you have to take on people from the outside, but wherever
possible, we take young people on the engineering side as well as on the
driving side and develop them on our own. On the drivers’ side, there is a
particular resource with Formula BMW. Guys go there at the age of 15 or 16
so we have quite a close relationship, get a very good idea of what they are
capable of, and then we have them on our screen as they go up through the
other formulae, so I think it’s quite a successful approach to watch young
drivers and to evaluate them. That led us to taking on Sebastian Vettel
which certainly is extraordinary for a 19-year old guy. Generally, I’m not
proposing to take on younger and younger drivers into Formula One but in the
case of Sebastian, we thought he’s there, he’s ready to take the job and
apparently he’s proved that. If you are successful doing so, I think it’s
the best approach you can take. You have to be careful to pick the right
guys.
Q: We saw you have a good podium with Robert Kubica in Monza. Was that a
one-off, was it unexpected?
MT: Well, it was actually the second podium, already, and that was quite
satisfying because we only expected podiums next year. Our podium in
Budapest was certainly because we were lucky, it was dependant on the
circumstances. In Monza, it was a podium on our own strength. In a way, it
was a one-off, in the way that you use a specific aero package in Monza
which is not used at any time either before or after that race. Apparently
our aerodynamicists hit the point exactly so the car was really perfectly
set up for Monza, but apart from that, we can see an upgrade slope, which is
very good. It indicates what goes on behind the scenes which obviously is
much more than what you see on stage at the race weekend and it precedes the
results at the race weekend by nine to twelve months. And this is the first
year in the existence of the original Sauber team that competitiveness
didn’t decrease over the season but increased and that is a really strong
indication that we are on track.
Q: It’s a young team in its new form, so we see it as a team still in
development. Can you give us an update on recent developments in terms of
personnel and facilities?
KT: We basically established our plan in the middle of last year,
immediately after our decision to take over Sauber by the end of last year,
so there were some actions taken before. As I said before, we have a
personnel plan which ramps up the team on the Swiss side from 275 to 430
people. Currently we are at 370 so more than halfway down the road. We have
decided to expand the factory in order to house the people but also to
expand the laboratories and workshops. Currently there is a big hole close
to the existing building and everything will be in place by the end of next
season, so basically it’s a two year ramp-up plan and we are almost halfway
down the road.
Q: Flavio, we see the championship battle getting closer and closer; what is
your view of it as we come to these last three races.
Flavio BRIATORE: It is very interesting, because we have three races to
fight with Ferrari and we try our best, what can I say?
Q: Will it be down to tyres, different types of circuit, engines and
development?
FB: There’s a lot of stuff that has made the championship more interesting,
it’s everything: not only tyres and engine, there’s a lot of stuff going on
but we believe we have a good possibility to win the championship, we
believe we have as strong a team as Ferrari and we believe we can do it.
Q: We saw the developments this time last year where you kept pushing, kept
pushing. Do we presume the same thing is happening this year?
FB: In Budapest I think it was our mistake, but we were in front in a big
way in comparison to Ferrari. In Monza, as well. We are pushing the engine
very hard, maybe too hard for the position we have, but if normally we start
fifth as we qualified, our prediction is that it was quite easy to win the
race. Every race is different and let’s see what happens in China. The
weather conditions today were not great for anybody but Michelin people are
quite happy about the tyres. We didn’t have any problems with the engine so
let’s see what happens tomorrow, but tomorrow qualifying is fundamental
because this is another circuit where it’s very very difficult to overtake.
We are always talking about overtaking but I believe that we need to ensure
that it’s easier to overtake on new circuits. But this is like Budapest,
it’s very very difficult to overtake here.
Q: Going back to the engine problems that you had at Monza and also testing;
was that the same problem all the way through and easily solved?
FB: Easily solved? No, because nothing magic happens in the engine. Sure, we
know what the problem is and this is the first step, but the problem is that
it’s always the same problem. We have a different spec here in China and we
are confident. We are fighting for the championship so we push very hard to
the limit, this is really what we need to do in our situation and we were on
the limit, so it’s possible these things happen but here we go back to the
normal engine and we have very very little possibility to have any problem
but because this happens at Monza… in testing, it’s normal, this is the
reason why you test.
Q: Flavio, you understand the mind of a driver, you’ve run Michael
Schumacher. How do think the fact that he’s made his retirement announcement
is going to affect him?
FB: I don’t know. I don’t think it will affect him, but for sure, Fernando
is very strong. It’s amazing to see somebody so young, so determined, so
strong. I don’t know what affects Michael, honestly, but Michael has been in
Formula One a long time, and I’m sure he’s managing the pressure, but let’s
see the team, because Ferrari has everything to lose now. If they don’t win
this year, it will be difficult in the future as well. Ferrari really needs
to win this championship and we need to win it as well.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speedsport News) Colin, today you confirmed
Christijan Albers. As far as your second driver goes, how is that developing
and how good a chance does Tiago have of staying with you?
CK: Tiago is one of the many options that we have.
Q: You have run a lot of drivers… How many?
CK: I don’t know. I don’t count them, but there are quite a few and they
have proved themselves in other formulas. We will make a decision. Tiago has
been doing a good job since two years and we will see.
Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speedsport News) For Mario, the young drivers
have had all the attention this year, but what is your impression of how
Heidfeld has been doing?
MT: I think he is doing quite well. He has always been a strong development
driver with good input for the engineers and he did the main part of the
development work in the first half of the season and he is still doing that
and on top of that I think when we put Robert in the car I think it helped
the entire team, including Nick, to improve so I saw two very strong
qualifying sessions from Nick at the last two races and I think he is
exploiting his potential again.
Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Mario, on Robert Kubica, I wondered why you have
been waiting if you are going to confirm him – is he looking elsewhere? Are
you looking somewhere else?
MT: Unfortunately I said at the start of the season that I would confirm our
driver line-up at the end of the season so I have to stick to that. There is
no other reason behind it.
Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speedsport News) Could I ask all of you what you
think of the 30,000 kilometres testing limit?
NF: I think we need to have an agreement on testing and we were successful
in agreeing something between all the teams last year and I am sure we can
do the same this year. I along with everyone else agreed to 30,000
kilometres and I take it that if that is what we agreed to in concept then
that is what we are going to stick to and now we only have to fill out the
details and that needs more dialogue with Bridgestone because there is
obviously a large logistical task to support a number of teams. The bottom
line is that we support an agreement and I am sure we can hammer something
out that suits everybody.
CK: We are supporting it too, but it is in the hands of Bridgestone at the
end of the day.
FB: Same thing. We always were tracking costs and already for everybody
Friday twice 90 minutes is plenty of time to testing and so I am quite happy
with 30,000 and if someone proposed me 25,000 I would be quite happy as
well. I mean the only problem we always had was Ferrari who were always
wanting to go testing at Fiorano and now this is decided, because if you
don’t have tyres you don’t go testing. I hope it is the same for everybody
because that is what is most important of all for Formula One – to have
Bridgestone with Ferrari, with Renault, with BMW, with everybody competing
in Formula One. This is what we believe in for next year.
MT: I always said it makes no sense to test four times the mileage that we
race because the test kilometre is just as expensive as the race kilometre
and it is spending the money without spectators, nothing else. What we have
achieved, with everybody agreeing to 30,000 k, I certainly support that, and
now we have to take the next step on this basis and develop a test schedule.
It is not just about the mileage it is also about where we go, when we go
there and what we need now is a schedule that tells at what circuit we will
be and at what times and how we can distribute the 30,000 ks over the year
without spending unnecessary money again.
Q: Will it be over a calendar year?
MT: To my understanding it is 2007 so the winter tests in November and
December are not affected.
Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) According to an FIA opinion poll published this
week, McLaren are a far more popular team than Renault and Michael
Schumacher is four times more popular than Fernando Alonso. Is that a fair
reflection of reality?
FB: I think Schumacher is 20 years in Formula One or ten, 15 years or I
don’t know, but this I can’t remember, 16 years, Michael in Formula One and
Fernando, basically, has won one championship and Michael has won seven --
and Ferrari has been in Formula One forever and Renault, we started our
project five years ago and this is the reason why, for sure, and I am not
complaining about it… But popularity, you know, I never see so many flags
for McLaren anyway, maybe it is a very special – but you go to every circuit
and you see Ferrari flags and you see our flag, but you never see Ferrari
(meaning McLaren) flag. This way you see the popularity with the flags with
the spectators. I have never seen, honestly, one Ferrari, I mean McLaren
flag. This is what I see…
Q: (Heinz Prüller – Kronen Zeitung) How much will Formula One change without
Schumacher and who will be the dominant driver for the next 10 or 12 years?
And what will change for the public image of Formula One with regard to who
wins the championship this year?
FB: You know, Formula One, I believe the sport is so strong. Whatever actors
you have in this movie, sooner or later the actors stop and the movie is
going on. We remember Senna and he is the classic example. We talk about
Mansell, about Senna and we talk about Prost. Unfortunately, after what
happened to Senna, I remember every magazine and newspaper said Formula One
is finished. It was the headline in every newspaper. And there was no
Michael there. But nothing changes. I don’t think anything changes,
honestly. We remember Michael, we remember Prost and we remember other one
driver because the number of Michael is very impressive number because he
won seven championships… I don’t know who is the next dominant, but what is
important in Formula One now is that the young drivers arrive. BMW have done
that and other teams hope to do it. We always need new stock. It is
fundamental to Formula One. We have a lot of champions now, a lot of good
drivers, quick drivers and really we need another star in Formula One in the
driver’s side and this is something we are missing and I hope that in this
group of young drivers coming into Formula One that we can find a star for
the future.
MT: People might reflect now on before and with Michael and without Michael,
but the show goes on and new guys are there the new guys are performing and
attracting the fans and it will help the initial for more than a few months.
Q: And a new star?
MT: There are several young guys in the pipeline. I heard complaints earlier
this year that we do not honour the experience of the experienced drivers
anymore and I think it is a very healthy development to take new guys into
Formula One and from what I have seen this year it is quite fun with Nico
earlier in the season and now we have got Robert Kubica and I think with
these young guys maybe they will mix up the grid. That is good for Formula
One.
NF: Formula One, as Flavio said, is big enough and strong enough not to
depend on any one person whether it be us, or any one driver. I think it
relies on the strength of the show and now that we have some of the
technical things agreed I think the major task for the next 12 months is to
continue to improve it and there were some good signs from the FIA survey
that things like the change to qualifying had improved the situation and now
we have to build on that. I think that all the drivers can be the ‘star’. I
think there are enough coming up through the system from enough different
nationalities that what we need to do is make each of them a star by
improving accessibility to them. I think we have got to do a lot more to
improve the show. From our side, I think we should think about making some
things more compulsory; for example, in other formulas I have worked in,
drivers and team members have been required to be in the pit during pit lane
walkabout -- and some of the promoters now are putting on very good events
during the evenings and maybe it should be mandatory to attend those. (Also)
interviews on the grid and dedicated media time, like they have in rallying,
I think that if we can put in place some of those things we can work with
all of the drivers to make them all big stars around the world as a whole
and I think that is what we need to work on.
CK: My opinion is that the show will go on and we are practicing to bring
young drivers more than anybody else so I think there won’t be a problem.
New star? My opinion, except for Alonso and Räikkönen, well I think
Sebastian Vettel is a very good driver. He had the first drive in a Formula
Three car in my car and I have known him for years and I have known Robert
Kubica for years since he was a Mercedes driver and we were a Mercedes team
in Formula Three and all of these guys are very strong drivers, all coming
out of Formula Three, Mercedes juniors, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes junior, and
this is the future.
Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Nick, do you have a starting date for Ross Brawn
at Honda?
NF: I am intrigued by that one! Apart from chatting socially with Ross we
have had no contact on a professional basis so you can put that one firmly
to bed |
