|
Drivers: Fernando ALONSO
(Renault), Sebastien BUEMI (Toro Rosso), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren Mercedes),
Mark WEBBER (Red Bull)
Q. How have the first official practice sessions been for you? Mark, can you
give a rough run down of how it has been?
Mark WEBBER: It didn't go that well in the first session. We didn't get that
many laps in. We had a problem with the seal on the drive shaft and
obviously we were pretty keen to do a bit more running in the second session
which was going to plan until we had another small problem with the exhaust.
Certainly not ideal in terms of reliability today, but not too bad pace-wise
when we are out there. We will see how it goes for the rest of the weekend
but reasonably encouraged. I have not really had a decent look at the times
to be honest because I had to come straight here, so I don't know what else
went on with other people, but we got on okay.
Q. Sébastien, how was your first day?
Sébastien BUEMI: Everything was new for me today and I had to discover a lot
of things. But I would say that the first practice went quite well and we
did a lot of laps. You have got to learn the circuit as it is quite tricky
out there. In the second session we had some small issues, but in general I
am quite happy with how it went. I still need to learn a lot of things, so
for the moment we are working hard and we will see what we can achieve
tomorrow.
Q. Fernando?
Fernando ALONSO: It was fine. Obviously the first day is always difficult
starting the championship with many things to discover in terms of the car.
It is also the first time we test in warm conditions after being in winter
in Europe, so useful information always on Friday. We try to analyse all the
information tonight and tomorrow and hope to have a better car. That is
quite normal between Friday and Saturday, we test a couple of things
overnight.
Q. Lewis?
Lewis HAMILTON: My day has not been too bad. It is great to be back.
Obviously we are not as quick as we would love to be but we are working very
hard and we got though quite a good programme and made some decent steps for
us at least. Don't really know what everyone else is doing on the track but
I am happy with what we have done today.
Q. Lewis, we heard you say that the car was bottoming all the time and was
really very difficult to drive.
LH: Yeah, it is a very bumpy track, so I think at the time we were just a
bit too low. That's what happens when you are on heavier fuel, so we will
make some changes to make sure that doesn't happen anymore.
Q. You were very quick on the straight as well, fastest by about two or
three kpm. Does that suggest you are not running a lot of downforce?
LH: No, it just means we have got a good Mercedes Benz engine.
Q. But where is the car lacking as testing has not been particularly good?
LH: In general it is a good car, it is just general lack of grip everywhere
pretty much. It is not particularly one area of the track, it is everywhere.
We cannot carry the speeds through the corners that we would like. It is
predominantly aero and we are working very hard. We have made some steps
forward with it and for sure the gap to the others is nowhere near as big as
it was back in Barcelona but we have still got a long way to go. The guys
back at the factory are working very hard to rectify that. There is no quick
fix. It is going to take some time.
Q. Were you still trying new bits today? Is there still a flow of bits
coming from the factory?
LH: No, today we didn't try any new bits. We had everything we needed on but
I am sure over the course of the first few races that there will be some new
bits coming.
Q. How much were you using KERS today and how much were you adjusting the
front wing?
LH: I didn't use the front wings, it wasn't beneficial to me today as I
didn't need it. With the KERS we use it. You use it over a lap. On the
longer runs it is learning how to manage it but we don't seem to have any
problems with that.
Q. Fernando, same question to you. How much were you using the front wing
adjustor and how much were you using KERS?
FA: Same answer. KERS every lap and the front wing I didn't touch it today.
Q. Do you think you might use it more in the race?
FA: No.
Q. How different did the car feel today compared to testing?
FA: No big difference. I think every track is a bit different and you need
to adapt the set-up a little bit to the track and also to the conditions.
Today it was very windy and we expect some windy conditions for tomorrow and
Sunday, so we need to accommodate a little bit to that and we need to do
small set-up changes also for that. It was the same in the winter from
Portimao to Barcelona to Jerez, always different tracks. Some of them a
little bit bumpy, some of them slow speed corners or high speed corners, so
small things that you always adapt to the track and today we tried to work
on that. We came from a set-up more or less similar to what we thought was
the right one from the last test in Jerez and regarding last year's set-up
here as well with last year's car, so between everything we choose our
set-up and now we are just tuning a little bit.
Q. For the first time here you have run late afternoon at the sort of time
the race is going to be run. What was the visibility like, particularly
going down into turn three?
FA: To be honest, it was a little bit worse than practice one and compared
to last year as well as the sun is quite low at this time. It is a little
bit worse but it is not a big problem and hopefully it will be fine for
everyone, but there is no doubt that it is better at 2 o'clock for us in
terms of visibility.
Q. Is it a problem in terms of braking points for example, as sometimes it
is in shadow and sometimes it isn't?
FA: No, but as I said, because it is that low in terms of looking to the
mirrors and some of the corners you don't see as clearly as you see at 2
o'clock in P1. But it was not a huge problem and it will be fine, I am sure.
Q. When there are loads of cars around you is that going to be an issue in
the race?
FA: Hope not. If you have all the cars behind you it is even better, so that
is what we have to try.
Q. Sébastien, what has been the biggest surprise about F1 for you now that
you are actually taking part in the session as you have been doing GP2 and
been in the paddock a lot and you were the medical car driver for three
races last year.
SB: I would say that there is quite a bit of difference, but in a weekend
like that everything goes fast even if we think we have got three hours of
testing. But with all the stuff we have got to test you need to keep your
head cool and analyse everything. We didn't do so much testing with the new
car, so for us it was like a proper testing today. It is going to be a test
for us all weekend, so we are going to test all the stuff on the car and try
to understand it as we didn't run much in Barcelona. But I would say
everything goes fast and you need to analyse everything.
Q. This is one of not very many circuits you don't know. I guess the medical
car experience was quite useful.
SB: Yeah, it was useful at the end of the season on the last couple of
circuits. This circuit was new to me. It is not a street circuit, but it is
not a proper circuit, so it is really green and you have got a big
improvement in the first session, so you need to understand well if it is
what you change on the car or if it is the circuit or if it is yourself, so
you have got to analyse everything.
Q. But you feel you have made a fairly good transition from GP2 to Formula
One?
SB: We had slick tyres in GP2, so it is not such a big change anymore. In
GP2 you work with one engineer and you work with like 15 in F1, so it is bit
more tricky, but I would say that driving the car is not such a big
difference. It is a faster car for sure and you have got the best drivers in
the world, so you have got to be doing everything perfect if you want to be
up there.
Q. Mark, your fastest lap time was fourth fastest and the only non-diffuser
car in amongst there. What was that lap like?
MW: Pretty good. We did a few laps around it as well but as the other guys
said we are chipping away on the car and trying to improve it. We were
dealing a little bit with the wind as well and all the normal things that
you have on a track like this on a Friday, so it wasn't too bad a lap. I was
a bit little surprised to be there to be honest but we will see what fuel
loads people run tomorrow.
Q. Do you think you can do it again tomorrow?
MW: No.
Q. Why not?
MW: Because other people will go faster, I think.
Q. How's the leg holding up?
MW: Very good, very good. Luckily it doesn't give me much grief in the car.
The biggest challenge is walking up and down this pit lane but I'm OK with
it. I just have to rest it each evening as best as I can. I'll be fine after
the first few races; come Shanghai I should be pretty good.
Q. It's taken quite a recovery. It must have been a very bad break.
MW: Oh yeah, my leg was snapped in half, so it takes a while to recover. It
has surprised me how long but the guys say that's exactly how much time it
needs. It's quite a big break. I've had good people around me and I've had
very, very good advice at crucial times to get the right decisions made at
the right time to get the other surgery done and go from there, which was
very, very important for me because we didn't have much time. Also with the
testing, I wanted to make sure I didn't interfere with the testing with the
team, in terms of not being able to do the work that I should have been able
to do. Yeah, I was lucky to have good people and here we are.
Q. These reliability issues that you've had today, have they come as a
surprise or have you had those sorts of problems in testing as well?
MW: The amount of them, yeah. Obviously Sebastian also had a few today as
well, so that was quite a few for the amount of laps we did for both cars in
terms of the little niggles that we had and it only takes a small niggle to
be a show-stopper on Sunday, so we want to make sure that they're not there.
Of course, winter testing doesn't go without its problems, but we were a bit
surprised by some of the problems, yeah.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q. (Frédéric Ferret - L'Equipe) Fernando, were you happy with your first
day, and what are you expecting in qualifying and the race?
FA: I think I'm happy but I could be happier. Pace-wise, it's difficult to
understand. It's only Friday but we were tenth in the first session, twelfth
in the second, so obviously it's not the perfect position from which to
fight for podiums, for wins etc. So hopefully tomorrow we need to find some
more performance in the cars, to be a little bit quicker and we cannot
afford to start the race in the middle of the pack if we want to score some
good points,. So tomorrow expectations for qualifying are more or less the
same and we will try to start the race in the top six, the top eight. If
not, I don't think we can be too happy if we start behind those positions.
Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for all of you: in
the first seven positions there are all the cars with the diffusers except
Mark's, supposedly not within the spirit of the regulations. Do you fear
that it could be a hard championship for those who don't have the diffusers,
that it could be two championships in one?
MW: No one here knows the ultimate pace until we get going on Sunday and
even then we might see some teams not showing their full pace on Sunday if
they've got something up their sleeves. I think that they will be very, very
keen to keep this advantage if they can, legality-wise, which so far they
seem to have done. But I don't fear that there will be two different
championships in the race. I think it will still be a competitive Grand Prix
and that should not get in the way of what the ruling is. I'm sure it will
be looked at a bit further, by the sounds of it, and we will go from there.
As you all know, the drivers can't do much about this stuff, it's up to the
boffins to sort it out.
Q. (James Allen – Financial Times) For Fernando and Lewis, the two drivers
using KERS here, is it simply a case of using it in one place on the track
or have you been experimenting today with perhaps using it out of some
corners and trying different things with it and if so, would you be able to
share some of your discoveries?
LH: I don't think it's rocket science. It's the same for all of us, we use
it as much as we can and we have 400 kilojoules, around six and a half
seconds, I guess, to use over a lap, so you generally try to use two seconds
or a second a time out of every corner if you can use it but you have to
spread it out throughout the lap.
FA: Same. Obviously for optimum lap time normally we follow the instructions
of our team, our engineers which is to use a little bit of KERS every place
they tell you. But we still have the capacity or the possibility of using
all the KERS in one place but that will be maybe more in a race situation if
you are fighting with someone, if you really want to attack in one
manoeuvre, try to overtake him.
Maybe you save all the 400 kilojoules for one time but this is something
that we will discover in the race for the first time because in testing it's
different and it will be the first time that we race with KERS obviously and
it will be a new experience for everybody.
Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Lewis, you've been used to running
at the front in Formula One for the past two years now, pretty much
throughout most of your career. I'm just wondering how difficult it might be
for you in the short term until you hope the car comes good, running towards
the back of the pack, midfield if that's the way it's going to be, looking
at the practice today.
LH: I think it's tough for anyone, but we've got a lot of experience as a
team, but personally I've got a lot of experience of running at the back in
other categories, so it's not completely new to me and we have had some
races where I have been a bit further back but for sure we're not in the
place where we would rather be but we're working extremely hard, as hard as
we can and it's actually a good opportunity for us to try and turn it round.
We've got a steep, very tough challenge ahead of us but if anyone can do it,
I believe my team can and so we've just got to remain positive and keep
pushing.
Q. (Mike Doodson) Mark, I understand that marshals have had to take special
precautions if they are handling a car that's fitted with KERS. I believe
this involves heavy gloves. I wonder if you, your fellow drivers, the GPDA
are concerned at all about the possibility of the delays that this could
create in intervening if there's a serious incident.
MW: That's a very good question. Obviously if there is a large accident,
like Robert's for example, and we need pretty good medical attention and
very fast, it has been mentioned a while ago that we would like it to be
addressed. They're pretty sure that they have the right type of gloves to
still do the procedures that they need to do quite quickly, the important
procedures that they need to do at the scene of such an accident, to make
sure everything's OK, so hopefully we don't have to experience that at all.
As usual, you do gain knowledge and experience sometimes on the front line,
so we will see how it goes. I think that there's not many cars with KERS
anyway, so hopefully they will have some common sense that they know that
the cars with KERS, the cars without KERS, can be treated a bit differently
in the case of a panic or an emergency.
Q. (Mike Doodson) I don't want to put you on the spot, but there was an
incident in Adelaide involving Mika Hakkinen in the nineties when it was
instant intervention which actually saved his life. Presumably you have that
sort of thing in mind as well.
MW: Of course, yeah. Now we know what procedure Mika Hakkinen had on the day
and that was of course what saved his life very quickly. The FIA and the
medical team and all those people understand what we need in a very critical
situation like that, so they need to be aware of it and deliver for us, of
course, they need to do it. I bloody hope so.
Q. (Chris Creswell – Herald Sun) I've just been reading your diary,
Sébastien, it's very funny. Did you really get your Toblerone chocolates
taken off you by the customs?
SB: No, it was a joke.
Q. (Chris Creswell - Herald Sun) And that $350 taxi fare was a joke too?
SB: Yup.
.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q. How have the first official practice sessions been for you? Mark, can you
give a rough run down of how it has been?
Mark WEBBER: It didn't go that well in the first session. We didn't get that
many laps in. We had a problem with the seal on the drive shaft and
obviously we were pretty keen to do a bit more running in the second session
which was going to plan until we had another small problem with the exhaust.
Certainly not ideal in terms of reliability today, but not too bad pace-wise
when we are out there. We will see how it goes for the rest of the weekend
but reasonably encouraged. I have not really had a decent look at the times
to be honest because I had to come straight here, so I don't know what else
went on with other people, but we got on okay.
Q. Sébastien, how was your first day?
Sébastien BUEMI: Everything was new for me today and I had to discover a lot
of things. But I would say that the first practice went quite well and we
did a lot of laps. You have got to learn the circuit as it is quite tricky
out there. In the second session we had some small issues, but in general I
am quite happy with how it went. I still need to learn a lot of things, so
for the moment we are working hard and we will see what we can achieve
tomorrow.
Q. Fernando?
Fernando ALONSO: It was fine. Obviously the first day is always difficult
starting the championship with many things to discover in terms of the car.
It is also the first time we test in warm conditions after being in winter
in Europe, so useful information always on Friday. We try to analyse all the
information tonight and tomorrow and hope to have a better car. That is
quite normal between Friday and Saturday, we test a couple of things
overnight.
Q. Lewis?
Lewis HAMILTON: My day has not been too bad. It is great to be back.
Obviously we are not as quick as we would love to be but we are working very
hard and we got though quite a good programme and made some decent steps for
us at least. Don't really know what everyone else is doing on the track but
I am happy with what we have done today.
Q. Lewis, we heard you say that the car was bottoming all the time and was
really very difficult to drive.
LH: Yeah, it is a very bumpy track, so I think at the time we were just a
bit too low. That's what happens when you are on heavier fuel, so we will
make some changes to make sure that doesn't happen anymore.
Q. You were very quick on the straight as well, fastest by about two or
three kpm. Does that suggest you are not running a lot of downforce?
LH: No, it just means we have got a good Mercedes Benz engine.
Q. But where is the car lacking as testing has not been particularly good?
LH: In general it is a good car, it is just general lack of grip everywhere
pretty much. It is not particularly one area of the track, it is everywhere.
We cannot carry the speeds through the corners that we would like. It is
predominantly aero and we are working very hard. We have made some steps
forward with it and for sure the gap to the others is nowhere near as big as
it was back in Barcelona but we have still got a long way to go. The guys
back at the factory are working very hard to rectify that. There is no quick
fix. It is going to take some time.
Q. Were you still trying new bits today? Is there still a flow of bits
coming from the factory?
LH: No, today we didn't try any new bits. We had everything we needed on but
I am sure over the course of the first few races that there will be some new
bits coming.
Q. How much were you using KERS today and how much were you adjusting the
front wing?
LH: I didn't use the front wings, it wasn't beneficial to me today as I
didn't need it. With the KERS we use it. You use it over a lap. On the
longer runs it is learning how to manage it but we don't seem to have any
problems with that.
Q. Fernando, same question to you. How much were you using the front wing
adjustor and how much were you using KERS?
FA: Same answer. KERS every lap and the front wing I didn't touch it today.
Q. Do you think you might use it more in the race?
FA: No.
Q. How different did the car feel today compared to testing?
FA: No big difference. I think every track is a bit different and you need
to adapt the set-up a little bit to the track and also to the conditions.
Today it was very windy and we expect some windy conditions for tomorrow and
Sunday, so we need to accommodate a little bit to that and we need to do
small set-up changes also for that. It was the same in the winter from
Portimao to Barcelona to Jerez, always different tracks. Some of them a
little bit bumpy, some of them slow speed corners or high speed corners, so
small things that you always adapt to the track and today we tried to work
on that. We came from a set-up more or less similar to what we thought was
the right one from the last test in Jerez and regarding last year's set-up
here as well with last year's car, so between everything we choose our
set-up and now we are just tuning a little bit.
Q. For the first time here you have run late afternoon at the sort of time
the race is going to be run. What was the visibility like, particularly
going down into turn three?
FA: To be honest, it was a little bit worse than practice one and compared
to last year as well as the sun is quite low at this time. It is a little
bit worse but it is not a big problem and hopefully it will be fine for
everyone, but there is no doubt that it is better at 2 o'clock for us in
terms of visibility.
Q. Is it a problem in terms of braking points for example, as sometimes it
is in shadow and sometimes it isn't?
FA: No, but as I said, because it is that low in terms of looking to the
mirrors and some of the corners you don't see as clearly as you see at 2
o'clock in P1. But it was not a huge problem and it will be fine, I am sure.
Q. When there are loads of cars around you is that going to be an issue in
the race?
FA: Hope not. If you have all the cars behind you it is even better, so that
is what we have to try.
Q. Sébastien, what has been the biggest surprise about F1 for you now that
you are actually taking part in the session as you have been doing GP2 and
been in the paddock a lot and you were the medical car driver for three
races last year.
SB: I would say that there is quite a bit of difference, but in a weekend
like that everything goes fast even if we think we have got three hours of
testing. But with all the stuff we have got to test you need to keep your
head cool and analyse everything. We didn't do so much testing with the new
car, so for us it was like a proper testing today. It is going to be a test
for us all weekend, so we are going to test all the stuff on the car and try
to understand it as we didn't run much in Barcelona. But I would say
everything goes fast and you need to analyse everything.
Q. This is one of not very many circuits you don't know. I guess the medical
car experience was quite useful.
SB: Yeah, it was useful at the end of the season on the last couple of
circuits. This circuit was new to me. It is not a street circuit, but it is
not a proper circuit, so it is really green and you have got a big
improvement in the first session, so you need to understand well if it is
what you change on the car or if it is the circuit or if it is yourself, so
you have got to analyse everything.
Q. But you feel you have made a fairly good transition from GP2 to Formula
One?
SB: We had slick tyres in GP2, so it is not such a big change anymore. In
GP2 you work with one engineer and you work with like 15 in F1, so it is bit
more tricky, but I would say that driving the car is not such a big
difference. It is a faster car for sure and you have got the best drivers in
the world, so you have got to be doing everything perfect if you want to be
up there.
Q. Mark, your fastest lap time was fourth fastest and the only non-diffuser
car in amongst there. What was that lap like?
MW: Pretty good. We did a few laps around it as well but as the other guys
said we are chipping away on the car and trying to improve it. We were
dealing a little bit with the wind as well and all the normal things that
you have on a track like this on a Friday, so it wasn't too bad a lap. I was
a bit little surprised to be there to be honest but we will see what fuel
loads people run tomorrow.
Q. Do you think you can do it again tomorrow?
MW: No.
Q. Why not?
MW: Because other people will go faster, I think.
Q. How's the leg holding up?
MW: Very good, very good. Luckily it doesn't give me much grief in the car.
The biggest challenge is walking up and down this pit lane but I'm OK with
it. I just have to rest it each evening as best as I can. I'll be fine after
the first few races; come Shanghai I should be pretty good.
Q. It's taken quite a recovery. It must have been a very bad break.
MW: Oh yeah, my leg was snapped in half, so it takes a while to recover. It
has surprised me how long but the guys say that's exactly how much time it
needs. It's quite a big break. I've had good people around me and I've had
very, very good advice at crucial times to get the right decisions made at
the right time to get the other surgery done and go from there, which was
very, very important for me because we didn't have much time. Also with the
testing, I wanted to make sure I didn't interfere with the testing with the
team, in terms of not being able to do the work that I should have been able
to do. Yeah, I was lucky to have good people and here we are.
Q. These reliability issues that you've had today, have they come as a
surprise or have you had those sorts of problems in testing as well?
MW: The amount of them, yeah. Obviously Sebastian also had a few today as
well, so that was quite a few for the amount of laps we did for both cars in
terms of the little niggles that we had and it only takes a small niggle to
be a show-stopper on Sunday, so we want to make sure that they're not there.
Of course, winter testing doesn't go without its problems, but we were a bit
surprised by some of the problems, yeah.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q. (Frédéric Ferret - L'Equipe) Fernando, were you happy with your first
day, and what are you expecting in qualifying and the race?
FA: I think I'm happy but I could be happier. Pace-wise, it's difficult to
understand. It's only Friday but we were tenth in the first session, twelfth
in the second, so obviously it's not the perfect position from which to
fight for podiums, for wins etc. So hopefully tomorrow we need to find some
more performance in the cars, to be a little bit quicker and we cannot
afford to start the race in the middle of the pack if we want to score some
good points,. So tomorrow expectations for qualifying are more or less the
same and we will try to start the race in the top six, the top eight. If
not, I don't think we can be too happy if we start behind those positions.
Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for all of you: in
the first seven positions there are all the cars with the diffusers except
Mark's, supposedly not within the spirit of the regulations. Do you fear
that it could be a hard championship for those who don't have the diffusers,
that it could be two championships in one?
MW: No one here knows the ultimate pace until we get going on Sunday and
even then we might see some teams not showing their full pace on Sunday if
they've got something up their sleeves. I think that they will be very, very
keen to keep this advantage if they can, legality-wise, which so far they
seem to have done. But I don't fear that there will be two different
championships in the race. I think it will still be a competitive Grand Prix
and that should not get in the way of what the ruling is. I'm sure it will
be looked at a bit further, by the sounds of it, and we will go from there.
As you all know, the drivers can't do much about this stuff, it's up to the
boffins to sort it out.
Q. (James Allen – Financial Times) For Fernando and Lewis, the two drivers
using KERS here, is it simply a case of using it in one place on the track
or have you been experimenting today with perhaps using it out of some
corners and trying different things with it and if so, would you be able to
share some of your discoveries?
LH: I don't think it's rocket science. It's the same for all of us, we use
it as much as we can and we have 400 kilojoules, around six and a half
seconds, I guess, to use over a lap, so you generally try to use two seconds
or a second a time out of every corner if you can use it but you have to
spread it out throughout the lap.
FA: Same. Obviously for optimum lap time normally we follow the instructions
of our team, our engineers which is to use a little bit of KERS every place
they tell you. But we still have the capacity or the possibility of using
all the KERS in one place but that will be maybe more in a race situation if
you are fighting with someone, if you really want to attack in one
manoeuvre, try to overtake him.
Maybe you save all the 400 kilojoules for one time but this is something
that we will discover in the race for the first time because in testing it's
different and it will be the first time that we race with KERS obviously and
it will be a new experience for everybody.
Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Lewis, you've been used to running
at the front in Formula One for the past two years now, pretty much
throughout most of your career. I'm just wondering how difficult it might be
for you in the short term until you hope the car comes good, running towards
the back of the pack, midfield if that's the way it's going to be, looking
at the practice today.
LH: I think it's tough for anyone, but we've got a lot of experience as a
team, but personally I've got a lot of experience of running at the back in
other categories, so it's not completely new to me and we have had some
races where I have been a bit further back but for sure we're not in the
place where we would rather be but we're working extremely hard, as hard as
we can and it's actually a good opportunity for us to try and turn it round.
We've got a steep, very tough challenge ahead of us but if anyone can do it,
I believe my team can and so we've just got to remain positive and keep
pushing.
Q. (Mike Doodson) Mark, I understand that marshals have had to take special
precautions if they are handling a car that's fitted with KERS. I believe
this involves heavy gloves. I wonder if you, your fellow drivers, the GPDA
are concerned at all about the possibility of the delays that this could
create in intervening if there's a serious incident.
MW: That's a very good question. Obviously if there is a large accident,
like Robert's for example, and we need pretty good medical attention and
very fast, it has been mentioned a while ago that we would like it to be
addressed. They're pretty sure that they have the right type of gloves to
still do the procedures that they need to do quite quickly, the important
procedures that they need to do at the scene of such an accident, to make
sure everything's OK, so hopefully we don't have to experience that at all.
As usual, you do gain knowledge and experience sometimes on the front line,
so we will see how it goes. I think that there's not many cars with KERS
anyway, so hopefully they will have some common sense that they know that
the cars with KERS, the cars without KERS, can be treated a bit differently
in the case of a panic or an emergency.
Q. (Mike Doodson) I don't want to put you on the spot, but there was an
incident in Adelaide involving Mika Hakkinen in the nineties when it was
instant intervention which actually saved his life. Presumably you have that
sort of thing in mind as well.
MW: Of course, yeah. Now we know what procedure Mika Hakkinen had on the day
and that was of course what saved his life very quickly. The FIA and the
medical team and all those people understand what we need in a very critical
situation like that, so they need to be aware of it and deliver for us, of
course, they need to do it. I bloody hope so.
Q. (Chris Creswell – Herald Sun) I've just been reading your diary,
Sébastien, it's very funny. Did you really get your Toblerone chocolates
taken off you by the customs?
SB: No, it was a joke.
Q. (Chris Creswell - Herald Sun) And that $350 taxi fare was a joke too?
SB: Yup. |
