Speed is focused for '07

By Andrew Cutler
March 14 2007

American Scott Speed was the last driver to be confirmed for 2007, just weeks before the season opener. Press statements from STR co-owner Gerhard Berger gave the impression that one of the reasons for the hold-up was concerns over Scott's commitment to driving. Now Scott is speaking up about that.

"As far as my commitment -- over the whole winter off season that I had, I spent one week over Christmas with my family in California whom I hadn't seen all year," Speed told reporters in Melbourne. "The rest of the time I spent in Arizona training, because that's where I had the best training opportunities. So I think that should pretty much answer everybody's commitment question. I was always pretty sure that I was going to drive so I just kept my head down, did the training that I needed to do in the off season and here we are,"

"I couldn't say I'm much better prepared than I was at the end of last year, but you surely learn a lot of stuff in Formula One race by race," he said. "Going into this year, I am definitely way ahead of where I was at the beginning of last year."

Scott also talked about the STR2 and his hopes for the 2007 season. "It's been a struggle for us because we've gotten everything so late and we're still having quite a bit of problems. It's such a huge difference for us this car to last year. It's so much more complex and all the guys are still getting used to it. I think it's going to be a slow start for us but I think we have a car that's got a lot of potential. By the end of the season we should be in the points a few times."

All quotes courtesy of Reuters.