FIA – Abu Dhabi Conference 4

POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE – November 1, 2009

1. Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull), 1h34m03.414s
2. Mark WEBBER (Red Bull), 1h34m21.271s
3. Jenson BUTTON (Brawn), 1h34m21.881s

TV UNILATERALS

Q: Sebastian, you took the fight to Lewis Hamilton in the early stages. You managed to get ahead of him. It was another powerful performance today.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was. A fantastic race. First of all the start and we had a very good launch. Obviously not good enough to out-accelerate Lewis, but I was very close. I was surprised. Then going on the long back straight he pushed a button and that’s it, he disappeared in the distance. But I was able to stay close enough. We knew that we were a little bit heavier, so the key was to catch up, especially the last sector where the car was a dream today. I was always catching him up quite a lot and I think that was the secret, to stay with him, then with the pit stops and a lot of pressure entering the pit lane, I nearly went a bit wide at the entrance. Then that scary exit through the tunnel but on the limit and enough to get past him. Unfortunately, he then had to retire but up to that point it was a fantastic race. After that I had a little bit of a cushion to Mark and Jenson behind and I was able to pace myself a bit but until the end the car was fantastic and was working brilliantly on both tyres, both compounds. I think the prime was the favoured tyre today but also on the option towards the end it was a pleasure this evening to sit in the car. To sum up the season, it is up and down. I think the second half we have been very strong with four one-two finishes for Red Bull Racing, so congratulations to the team. They have been pushing, working a lot back in the factory, and we can see that the car is getting quicker. It is a shame now that the season ends but it is a perfect day to finish the season on a high.

Q; Mark, fantastic fight with Jenson in the closing stages. Tell us all about it.
Mark WEBBER: Well, first of all from the start I made a pretty good launch and had a bit of a look on the outside of Seb but the main game was really trying to get back on the inside and getting a clean exit as I knew it was a long run down to turn five. I got hit quite hard in the left rear at the first corner and was worried about a puncture but the team kept telling me the tyre had enough pressure, so I was quite relieved I didn’t have a puncture. It looked like Lewis was struggling a little bit in the first few laps, so both of us were able to sit a little bit closer than we expected. Then it started to stabilise and I was pretty happy on the primes. Seb was just that little bit quicker today on both stints, all three stints, especially the last one. I had not much of a feeling on the option and it was the same for me on Friday. I was quite slow on that tyre, so I preferred the stability of the prime. I thought at the end we had a bit of a short fuel, so fortunately JB could do some good laps on the overlap and close the gap down on me. I thought ‘yeah, this is going to be quite tight at the end.’ I just had to make sure I was accurate with my braking points. We know he had a slight top speed advantage but not much and it is a credit to how he has driven all year. We had a good clean fight, on the limit, but I just want to congratulate the team for their patience with me at the start of the year coming back from what happened. It has been very enjoyable driving with Sebastian this year. Renault have given us a fantastic engine and overall Red Bull can be incredibly proud for what they achieved. We have had 16 podiums together, so it is good.

Q: Jenson, that battle from your perspective and also a battle again with Kamui Kobayashi.
Jenson BUTTON: It was a fun race. For me the prime tyre was not my favourite tyre in the race and I had a lot of understeer in the car. But when Kobayashi was on a one-stopper I came out and the first big stop is turn eight and when you have got that much fuel on board it is always very difficult to judge the braking point. I slightly outbraked myself and locked the rears and the fronts and ran a bit wide and he got past. In reality it didn’t make a difference to my race as he was quicker than me at that point. Then I was struggling a little bit with the prime tyre but I tried to make the best out of it. After the second stop I found I had very good grip with the option tyre. I got back the front issues I had with the prime and had very good initial turn in which meant I could carry a lot of speed through. That’s why I was able to close down Mark. The last couple of laps were a lot of fun. I couldn’t make the move stick. I was very excited by the battle and I thought I could pull it off but Mark is always a very difficult person to overtake. We were clean but on the edge, so it was perfect. Disappointed not to get that second place but I really enjoyed the fight today and today for me has been a bonus after winning the championship in Brazil. I have really enjoyed driving this weekend a car that has been very competitive, so I need to thank everyone at Brawn and Mercedes Benz for all their hard work. After Brazil it would have been easy to say ‘right, let’s just enjoy ourselves and not concentrate on Abu Dhabi’ but we did and we have come away with a podium which is a nice way to end the year and everyone should be very proud of themselves for what we have achieved. But lastly I would like to say congratulations to Seb. He did a sterling job today. They had the legs on us and we just couldn’t challenge them which is a pity but all round I think the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a good one and I am looking forward to coming back.

Q: Sebastian, Red Bull has won the last three races of the season, so let’s look forward a little bit. What does that say about where you are going to be going into next season.
SV: It would be very good to continue like that. Now we will face a long winter, especially for all of us drivers, a long break without any testing. Back in England, back in the factory, the guys are pushing very hard. The cars do not change that much next year. The biggest change is that you are not allowed to refuel. But we will see. It is a bit unknown. I think this season was very special. I remember a couple of years back these two were driving and I was watching and it was pretty much set after the first couple of races who was going to win each race. Fair enough there were only two teams. This year it was totally different, very exciting and a lot of overtaking. Different teams on top, so I think a special season all around and hopefully the next one will be as exciting as this one, even a bit more, we will see. Definitely looking forward. I think to sum it up we had a very good season, a lot of positive things, but also some things we probably did wrong. But it is not a shame. We just need to know and understand why that happened and we should come back stronger next year.

Q: Mark, Red Bull a top team. Are you here to stay?
MW: Yes, absolutely. We have got an incredible team back at the factory. We know that we have got under Adrian Newey someone that with him leading these type of regulation changes, particularly with what we had at the start of this year, it was clear as soon as we saw the car that it was going to be a bit of a weapon. Unfortunately in a way Brawn got the start with the double diffuser and things like that but in the end our team responded well with great character and next year there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for us not to be starting at the front again. I would much, much prefer to be in our position than quite a few other teams but we can never get too complacent. This is Formula One and things can change quickly but we are positive about next year, no question about it.

Q: Jenson, no win to round off the season but obviously an upbeat ending for you.
JB: For sure. It is always nice to end on a high but it is the same for everyone out there. It is a very competitive field. It is not just one team at the front. All season it has been up and down for us and for these guys and also for McLaren and the Ferraris. It is a very competitive and challenging season for us all, so for all three of us to be up on the podium at the last race is very enjoyable and it is a great way to round out the year. Now I am going to enjoy myself and celebrate what I have achieved this season.
SV: I hear you are getting married.
JB: Are you proposing?
SV: I heard you will get married.
JB: You know, they write great things in the press. Thank you for that one Seb, but I am going to enjoy this as we often look too far into the future and I want to just enjoy this moment and then I will look to the future after that.

Q: Sebastian, you are the first winner of the first day-night race in Abu Dhabi. Sum up the weekend for you.
SV: Unbelievable. We came here and we tried to prepare as much as possible, looking at the lay-out, doing some laps in the simulator. But driving the first couple of laps it was extremely slippery. It is a new track but it has rubbered in perfectly well. Really enjoyable all race. It is a challenging circuit. Every lap you need to focus and keep up the concentration. It is pretty easy to do a mistake and it can cost a lot of time. There are some corners that are quite tricky and they are made to lead you into mistakes, so you really need to be careful but all in all, starting at day, finishing at night is special. We have a dark tear-off and the moment you rip it off it is like someone has switched on the light, so it is quite unique. All in all a great place. Amazing what they have done here in that short period of time, so winning the race, one-two for Red Bull Racing, I think it cannot be much better.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Sebastian, this gives you an excellent position with second in the championship. What are your feelings about that?
SV: I am very proud. First of all I think there was a misunderstanding in Brazil and didn’t have the chance: so congratulations to Jenson, to Brawn. I think they truly deserve it. Over the season they did the better job. But after Brazil coming here we knew that we had a very, very strong package and the priority for myself was to secure second in the drivers’ championship and we succeeded. To do it with the victory is the best possible result. I am very, very happy. It was a fantastic race. It was a good start but not enough to catch Lewis but good enough to stay close. When we went on the back straight he pushed the button and disappeared. It was quite shocking to see how much it is worth, but we were a little bit heavier but still able to go his pace, stay with him. It is not easy when you follow another car. Even though you are a couple of seconds behind you still feel it is not as if you are on your own in clean air. But that was the key, pushing very hard and then obviously when I had the two overlaps on him it was quite exciting to leave the pits through the tunnel. It was very slippery and on new tyres you have silicon on the surface and it takes a little while. You go through the tunnel and it is very easy to make a mistake. Knowing I am fighting for the lead I knew I had to push. It was enough to get him. Unfortunately he then had to retire. I heard he had a braking problem, but up to that point I enjoyed it very much. It was a nice fight even though it wasn’t wheel-to-wheel but both of us were pushing very hard. After that I had a bit more of a cushion and was able to set my pace according to the pace of the guys behind, so all in all the car was fantastic, both compounds worked surprisingly well. I think the majority favoured the prime, so did we, but even on the option the last stint was great and to win here I am very proud. Starting the race at day time and finishing at night is very special. Great circuit. A great job they did here. Now I think I have said enough.

Q: Mark, tremendous amount of pressure at the end; what was the circuit like to race on, especially as you were having to defend. We also saw you make a little mistake and go off the circuit; how difficult was it to race on?
MW: Well, it was pretty dusty off-line, not massively but a little bit dirty. I got a little bit hot into turn one on one of the laps. Once you get on the Astroturf you just have to open the steering and get behind the kerb. And then at the end, fighting with Jenson, I knew that the two big stops were key to the lap – obviously he wasn’t going to do much anywhere else but Jenson’s form in overtaking this year has been pretty good, so I knew I had to be perfect with my braking points and do the best I could with the last few laps. I turned out to be OK. My last stint clearly wasn’t one of my best this year in terms of I didn’t have a great feeling on the option and that made it a bit more difficult, a few more grey hairs for everyone, but the option was difficult for me on Friday as well, so in the end, second place was as good as I was ever going to get today. Congratulations to Sebastian on the win, he’s had the measure of me in the last sector probably most of the weekend, so I presumed it to be the same again in the race. We did the best job as we could as a team, capitalised on other people’s lack of preparation and we delivered a one-two which is exactly what we came here to achieve. As I said before, I think that’s 16 podiums for the team and that’s something that everyone can be extremely happy about. I’m certainly happy, obviously, off the back of my best season ever. Of course, I would have liked to have had some more points here and there but it could have been a hell of a lot worse for me, so I will take this season, let me tell you.

Q: Jenson, for you, interesting that you mentioned that the option was the better tyre. Do you think that if you did two stints on the option you might have been closer to Red Bull?
JB: Yeah, for sure but we didn’t expect that to be the case. All weekend we’ve been running through our practices thinking that the prime was the better tyre. We’ve been using the prime like the option: for example, saving it for the end of practice two and practice three, so we could get a feel for it for qualifying. It was the best tyre for qualifying but in the race I was really struggling for a balance on the harder tyre. I had a lot of understeer in the car and the colder the circuit temperature got, the more difficult it was for me to get heat into the fronts. So I was suffering with that, especially in the second stint and I don’t know if you could notice, but Rubens was quite close behind me at the start of the second stint, he was sitting right on my tail, but I was able to put a little bit of a gap on him before the second stop, and then when we put the soft tyre on, the car was transformed, it felt great. The lap times were reasonably good and I was able to pull Mark in. The big issue for me on the hard tyres was understeer, so putting the option on… suddenly I had this great front end that I could just carry so much more speed into the corners. I don’t know if you saw on TV, but it was a little bit loose on exit but that’s the way you have to drive the car round here. It was a great race, I really enjoyed it and as I said in the unilateral, this race is a bonus to me, because I got the championship in Brazil, so I came here to enjoy myself and that’s exactly what I did. Qualifying wasn’t perfect but the race was pretty much as good as we could have expected, I think. I had a good tussle with Mark on the last lap, a fair fight but obviously very close and enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t make that move stick but I had a lot of fun. So I’m a little bit disappointed not to be second but I’m on the podium at the last race of the year, a year that’s been exceptional and I’m very happy with what’s happened this season and the way the team has performed. Probably when it’s been toughest, I respect the team for the effort that they’ve put in then, so they should all be very proud of themselves and that’s Brawn GP and Mercedes-Benz for what they’ve achieved. At the moment, I’m just going to enjoy this, this is big and I’m not going to concentrate on next year, I’m going to relax and enjoy this moment.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, now that the season is over, do you have any regrets from the previous Grands Prix?
SV: No. We can’t change yesterday, we can change tomorrow. The key now is obviously, looking back, five races where we didn’t finish. Sometimes we should have brought some points back home and we didn’t, so we need to understand why that was and as I say, change tomorrow, obviously learn, learn a lesson and try to come back stronger for next year. Overall, I think the circumstances sometimes weren’t easy to accept. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it’s just not supposed to be. Sometimes little mistakes happen from whoever’s side. I’m not here to blame anyone in particular. Nevertheless, I think it was a very, very strong season. If anything, I think Mark and myself and the whole team got very, very strong towards the end, we have won the last three races as a team. I think we have learned already, but there is still a lot we can improve for the future, and hopefully we will do so and come back stronger next year.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Mark, you struggled on the options at the end; was it because you had a busy out lap where you had overstressed the tyre or what could have been the reason?
MW: Not really. I think the movement of the tyre was the same on Friday for me. I didn’t really feel the tyre that well. It was just not as stable as the prime and I felt that immediately on Friday and I was hoping that it would be a lot better with a rubbered-in circuit but I couldn’t commit. It was half a tenth every corner, one tenth every corner and it adds up to be a lot, compared to the prime. And then, when you’re getting caught you obviously have to really make sure that you’re not making any mistakes to give him even more of a chance to pounce, so I had to then go into a bit more of a conservative mode and make sure that I didn’t give it too easily. He had to make sure he worked for it. That’s what happened in the last 15 laps.

Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) To all three of you: considering there is a long break before February, I suppose you won’t be on holiday all the time. What is your working programme?
SV: Jenson’s getting married, we heard. So he’s busy.
MW: And we’re all invited as well.
SV: Yeah, everyone.
JB: Next question.
MW: But Japan’s a long way.
SV: Obviously I have a pretty stressful week, following up, stress and fun at the same time. We are going to Beijing, so I am looking forward to that. I’m trying to kick his (Jenson’s) arse. And after that, some things to do back in Germany, yeah, and at the end of the month we will have a big party back in Milton Keynes, with all the team, so I’m looking forward to that. So November is a bit the time probably to be a bit lazy, but back in December and January obviously trying to focus on next year, on the new car. As I said, we will have time and meetings to discuss and obviously analyse what we can do better in the future and then we put our focus on next season. Obviously it’s a long, long time without any testing, any driving for us, so I reckon I will do some karting, that’s for sure, even though it’s cold.
MW: Yeah, similar to Sebastian. Next week is very busy. I’m going to Austria tomorrow, doing some work over there for Red Bull and then also some stuff for Renault next Thursday, so the next few weeks I’ve got some PR work which we’ve put on the backburner during the season, so a few photo-shoots here and there. Then I’m potentially going to drive the GP3 car, the new category car, do a bit in that, to see how that’s going along. It’s a very exciting championship next year which Christian (Horner) and I are involved in, so I might do a little bit of driving in that, but not much, just to get a little bit of press and a little bit of feeling for how it is. And then I think the third week of November I’m going to open my leg up again and get a bit more metal out, and then that’s the end of that problem, so it will be a few weeks relaxing after that and then I go to Australia for Christmas, a few barbecues on the beach and go to the cricket as well, which is 100,000 Australians at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) which is a big highlight at the Boxing Day test match, so I’ve got a few good things to look forward to and then in January, come back to a European winter which is always a test, but anyway, we will do that and get ready for February.
JB: Wow, that’s a lot.
SV: Wait until you start…
JB: I have got nothing planned this winter. I’m going to the RoC (Race of Champions) tomorrow which takes place Tuesday, Wednesday. If you’re interested, head down to the Bird’s Nest in Beijing. The only thing is that I am going to go and enjoy myself with the team tonight, so we will see how I perform on Tuesday and Wednesday. But I’m looking forward to that, it’s always good fun. And then I’m heading to Japan to spend some time there with my girlfriend and then I will have a few more days off and then sort myself out and start thinking about next year. It’s amazing how early it starts, 2010 comes up on you in a flash. I’ve got to sort myself out and focus on that. I’m looking forward to the new challenge, for sure, but it can wait a couple of weeks. Oh, I’ve got my 30th birthday in January as well. Thirty! Imagine that, Sebastian.
SV: It’s a long way to go.
JB: Trust me, it goes by very quickly.

Q: (Chris Lines – Associated Press) Guys, you sit up there as two representatives of the two most dominant teams this season. If we go back a year ago, it was Ferrari and McLaren and they were nowhere in the early part of this year. How confident are you guys that you will be able to carry this form into next season and not pay a price for going all the way through developing the car?
SV: Well, I think we are a team, we are professional. You might read here and there that other teams stopped developing for this year, looking ahead to next year, but as I said earlier on, I think the regulations aren’t changing too much. Obviously the biggest change is no refuelling but other than that the cars will remain similar, similar shapes. I think the people know what they are doing back in Milton Keynes. Obviously this year was a great chance for us and as Mark said, we were able to build quite a weapon. So I’m very confident. I think we can only get stronger. Obviously it was the first time that we were in that position for us, Mark, myself and the team that we were in that position and I think we handled it quite well. We made some mistakes here and there but that’s what happens. We are not the only ones who made these mistakes and if you are fighting and trying to push and trying to get the last bit out of yourself, out of the team, out of the car, then sometimes you might step over the limit. I think it’s totally natural to go through that progress, so we have definitely learned a lot and the important thing is, as I’ve said before, to do it much better next year.
JB: Ferrari and McLaren are going to be competitive next season. They have the resources, they have the expertise, they have competitive drivers. For sure they are going to be quick. They’ve had a different approach over the last few races. If you look at Ferrari, they’ve said that they’ve had no development which is unusual to hear that, as there’s not much that changes for next season. But it seems that McLaren have thrown everything at the car and have been very competitive over the last couple of races. So going into next year, yeah, they’re going to be quicker compared to the start of this season but I don’t think they’re suddenly going to be stronger than Red Bull and Brawn. I think there’s going to be a big battle at the front which is going to be a new thing for all of us, because having four teams fighting it out at the front, that hasn’t happened – could you just keep… ‘scuse me, I’m just trying to talk – you might want to listen to this.
MW: We’re just talking about your wedding day, mate. We’re just trying to clear our schedules.
JB: But with four teams at the front, eight drivers fighting out for wins, I think that’s exciting, so, yeah.

Q: (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) What’s the date for the wedding, Jenson?
JB: It’s my birthday, did you say? By the way, I’m looking forward to my present, thank you very much, Bob. What did you call me before?
BMcK: The World Champion?
JB: That’s the one, thank you. I’m not getting married this year.
SV: Why not? You don’t love her?
MW: Clear up January, clear it up.
JB: I think some things need to be kept private in your life and that’s one of them. Thank you very much.

FIA – Abu Dhabi Conference 3

SATURDAY POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE – October 31, 2009

DRIVERS:
1. Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren Mercedes), 1m40.948s
2. Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull), 1m41.615s
3. Mark WEBBER (Red Bull), 1m41.726s

TV UNILATERALS

Q: Lewis, your fourth pole in seven races. You have been on fire here all weekend in Abu Dhabi. Was it as easy as it looked?
Lewis HAMILTON: Like I always say it is never easy but it definitely was as fun as it looked. The car has been I think probably the best it has been all year. It seems to really feel quite comfortable on this circuit. What they have done here is incredible and I think it is just a real pleasure to drive here and when you have definitely got the car beneath you it is just a great drive. That lap for me, we could have thought about going a bit longer, but I don’t think we were particularly too aggressive but it was quite a smooth lap. It just kept getting better and better. I am very happy with it.

Q: Sebastian, you said coming into the weekend that you wanted to finish the year on a high. Second on the grid is a great way to start.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it is. Just looking ahead both of us are a little bit surprised by the gap. Lewis has been strong all weekend and generally McLaren is very strong here and we could see already in Q1 and Q2 that it would be difficult to match them. But let’s see later when we get the strategies. I think it was the maximum we could do, so very pleased so far. I think tomorrow we should have a good race. The car is working well here. It just seems that our KERS button which we have on the steering wheel is not working, so it is not an easy one but let’s see tomorrow. I think we do have a good race pace. The car is getting better throughout the distance, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Q: Mark, two Red Bulls in the top three and the two Brawns just behind you. A great qualifying performance from you, but do you think you can hold the new champions behind you?
Mark WEBBER: We hope so. The grid tonight is the story of the second part of the championship. Lewis has been here and there at a lot of venues, clearly they are very strong here and we will see when we get the weights, but also Seb and I are pushing as hard as we can. I enjoyed qualifying tonight and Brawn are there as well, so it is very much a message of how the second part of the championship has gone. I was pretty happy, considering when I did my lap within the session, as obviously other people can run after, so I was pretty happy.

Q: Lewis, new circuit, new country. Your feelings on this Yas Marina track and the job that they have done here to create it?
LH: Coming here I had not really seen any pictures. I had seen perhaps a picture of the hotel or something, but the place is just stunning. They all said it would be a great event, but it is mind-blowing. What they have been able to create here is really fantastic and I expect more and more people will want to come here in the future. It is a great race to come to. I definitely will try to bring my family next time. It is a great country, it’s a great part of the world. We came to Bahrain. I have been in Bahrain. I was there earlier in the week, then we came through to Dubai and then here. The weather has always been great. The people have been so respectful and so welcoming and I am sure we are going to put on a great show for everyone, so fingers crossed it is a great day tomorrow.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis were you ever not going to be on pole? You have been dominant so much this weekend.
LH: Anything could have happened. Clearly we have been very competitive all weekend and the car has felt great and I didn’t have any particular doubts in my mind whether we could have done it. But it is still finding the gap, getting your tyres up to temperature, all these different things and it is easy to make mistakes but fortunately I didn’t and put a really nice lap together. Very, very happy with it.

Q: What is suiting the car here particularly? The lack of slow corners, KERS worth four-tenths-of-a-second Heikki (Kovalainen) said yesterday.
LH: Yep, it is the same at every race. You ask that question at every race. KERS, when you press that button, is worth four tenths pretty much everywhere. Three to four tenths. Here in qualifying it is around four-tenths, but obviously you have got to use it to optimise it and get the maximum from it but it works really well. The great thing is the car is working and feeling better than it has all year, so it is such a great feeling for me in the car and also for all the guys. What a great job they have done all year and what a great way to finish at least our practice session and our qualifying session and I want to go out and do the job tomorrow.

Q: What’s the circuit going to be like to race on? A lot of people were worried that off line it might be dirty.
LH: It is always dirty off line but it is not going to be somewhere like Montreal with all the bubbles off line. I don’t think it will be a problem. I have been off line a couple of places and it wasn’t too bad. The track surface, I mean we are always trying to improve other circuits saying the kerbs should be good here or we could improve the rumble strip here, but I can honestly say I think they have really done almost a perfect job at this track. They have really done a good job with the layout, with the track. It is very, very smooth. The kerbs are nice and in the right places and I think for the racing it looks very safe. I think there are quite a few opportunities to overtake, so it should be quite an exciting race, especially for the spectators here.

Q: How was the car on the option tyre?
LH: For me the option and the prime are pretty much the same. Normally we see quite a big difference between them with obviously the option being a lot quicker and a little bit grippier. Here I generally find it is very, very close. There is a different kind of warm-up, different way of using them, but I preferred the prime. For me they just seemed to be a little bit more consistent throughout the lap but no doubt the track will get grippier, so who knows what tyre we will use tomorrow.

Q: Sebastian, what was the tyre choice like for you? Is it fairly simple?
SV: Well, I think it was pretty much the same for everyone. It is difficult to point out how much there is between the tyres. I think you could see that we also favoured the prime. Overall, back to qualifying, I think it was the maximum we could do. Just a little bit surprised by the gap in the end. You know, seven tenths in qualifying is quite a big gap. Looking at the sectors, sector two I think, there are maybe a little bit too many straight lines for us, so we don’t have the button. We do have it, but it doesn’t work.

Q: Was there much difference as the natural light changed?
SV: Well, it is a little bit, but you get used to it quite quickly, so you have to deal a little bit with the visor and use a darker one maybe to start and then a lighter one for the end as when the sun goes down it is a little bit darker. But it is not a big problem. I think they have done a very good job here, similar to Singapore. Even though the lights are further away I think they seem to be strong enough to make us see all the track.

Q: Mark, what about this McLaren performance? Do you think you can take the race to them tomorrow?
MW: Easy. We are not stopping tomorrow. We don’t do a pit stop. We just put the option on for the last lap and we jump them like that, so pretty straightforward.

Q: Sounds a great idea. What’s the truth?
MW: No, look, they did good job. No question about it. They are quick. I am a bit surprised by Lewis’s time, both of us are, but we did our best. As I said before it is a reflection on the second part of the championship with Brawn sitting there as well behind us. These are the guys who have been there most of the season and here we are again, ready to go tomorrow. I enjoyed quali(fying) actually. As always you want a bit more out of it, but it was a good job by the team. We want to finish on a high and we have laid the foundations for a reasonable race tomorrow.

Q: Tell us your thoughts on the circuit, particularly for the race tomorrow?
MW: It’s a pretty good track. I would say the first sector is nice. It’s always difficult to make a track with lots and lots of quick corners because obviously you need a lot of run-off, so I can understand it’s easier in terms of space to have a lot more slower speed corners finishing the lap here. So the rhythm of the lap goes a little bit, especially in turns 11, 12, 13 – all that section up there is a little bit Mickey Mouse, but it’s unique in quite a lot of areas, I would say. Yeah, it’s a pretty good track. For overtaking, there’s obviously a very long straight, that’s clear, but I think everyone’s running pretty similar wing levels for their cars, so it’s not like Interlagos or some other tracks where you maybe have a different opinion on end-of-straight speed. It’s not going to be Interlagos, don’t worry about that, but it might be better than Barcelona.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Sana Bagersh – Abu Dhabi Tempo) What are each of you going to do between now and tomorrow’s race, to prepare mentally or physically? Any specially rituals, any relaxation techniques?
SV: Sleep. It’s quite late already. I think everyone has his own way to get prepared. Obviously everyone is trying to get a good night’s sleep, rest, then tomorrow. I don’t know what the others do, if they have a dance or whatever. I think, for myself, dancing for rain would be pretty useless here, but yeah, just trying to go through. Obviously later we will know a little bit more about strategy and then just trying to prepare, to focus on the start and then seeing how the race goes.
LH: Yeah, same for me really. A little bit different to some of the other tracks. The climate change: it’s so much hotter here, so the race will be very tough tomorrow, so you could perhaps focus on the preparation a little bit more in terms of the amount of rest you get, the fluids through the night, drinking plenty. I will probably have to make a pit stop during the night, because you’ve just got to drink as much as you can for the race tomorrow. And then just good food, we’re staying in town and I’m just going to enjoy myself, make sure I enjoy the weather, might sit on the beach, just relaxing things. I’ve got the girlfriend with me, so just relax.
MW: Yup, pretty similar: yeah, good sleep, good food and I get to the track as late possible tomorrow. No point in getting in too early. But generally the GP2 cars have been my wake-up call at the hotel, so I will sleep until they start up. But it’s very easy for us, we’re staying close here, so relax, there’s no hassle with traffic like some other venues we have like Brazil or in Shanghai. We have a lot of tracks like that where there’s a bit of a palaver getting to the track but here it’s a lot more straightforward, so that helps our preparation.

Q: (Tomas Richter – TV Nova) It looks like the most difficult corners are those before the hotel and turn one. The race will be long and hot; first of all do you agree and secondly do you expect some difficulties during the race?
MW: Yeah, you’re right, there are some difficult corners in the last sector, there’s no question about it, it’s easy to get in there a little bit deep and not hit the apex cleanly. Turn one, you’re right, is the same. It’s easy to get a little bit out of the track there but all the guys are fit these days, there should be no problems tomorrow night. It’s a pretty long race but we’ve had worse. There are a lot of straights you can relax on, so this track is not that physically demanding, it’s just a bit warm.
SV: As Mark said, there are some difficult corners, not only turn one and 15, 16, 17. Turn one is still outstanding; it’s quite quick and it’s blind, so it’s very easy to overshoot, to make a mistake at the entrance and you have a long straight following, obviously turn two, three, four which is flat, but whatever you lose there you pay the price for. 15, 16, 17 is easy to lose the car on the entrance and if you go wide it’s very easy to go off-line and then it’s quite dirty, like everywhere else, but you lose a lot of time easily. Let’s see tomorrow. I think the start is the key, turn one, and then it will be interesting going down the long straight. Obviously I hope I will be ahead of Lewis or at least right on his back, and then have a good space. I hope that Mark and myself will have good space to whoever comes behind us.
LH: I don’t particularly want to comment just on those corners. I think turn one is obviously very important for the beginning of the race but it’s fairly straightforward. The great part of this track is that even though we do have a couple of high speed corners, maybe it will be tough to follow through two, three, four but it’s not difficult to stay behind someone through five, six, seven, so that means you can be close to them and have a good chance of towing them down the back straight. Also braking into eight and nine, again it’s easy to be quite close and then relatively easy to have another shot going down the other back straight. Clearly, then, it gets a bit tighter and a little bit harder to follow, but I think it should provide some good racing, being able to be a little bit closer than normal. You normally have the long flowing corners and you lose a little bit and then you have this long straight and you never really catch up. I hope – I feel it’s designed quite well.

Q: (Vajta Balazs – Autosport Es Formula) For all three drivers: the last two or three days we’ve basically heard only positive words about the track: how great it is, the facilities and everything else. I know it’s also very hard to name negative aspects about yourself, but can you name or point out some negative points about the track?
MW: We’re paid lots of money to say good stuff, obviously. You know that we get backhanders to say that it’s a great track, so we’re not going to say anything negative. The deal is done before we all arrive, so 20 drivers, we get a backhander, easy from there! It’s a great facility, it’s a good track.
LH: (to the journalist) You should try and get in on it!
SV: I think probably the worst thing is that you get a wake-up call from the GP2 cars, if you’re sleeping at the track. Other than that: similar. Just to sum it up as well, and what we all agreed on in the drivers’ briefing: we come to many new circuits, more and more and there are always bits and pieces which can be improved, but here everything is pretty much spot on: kerbs, everything.

Q: (Vajta Balazs – Autosport Es Formula) But were you expecting a boring race because of the track layout?
SV: No, I don’t think so. As they said, you have a very long straight here and the key is that you don’t have high speed corners leading onto that straight like in Shanghai. You have a tight corner leading onto the back straight, but it opens up and then it’s difficult to follow other cars, whereas here you have the complex of five, six, seven which is quite low speed and then obviously the longer straight, leading into another low speed section, eight and nine, which gives you another chance if you’ve used the tow and then stay close to whoever is in front for turn eleven. As we’ve seen in the GP2 race and also the Porsche SuperCup race it should be a good race tomorrow. You are always smarter after a Grand Prix distance but it looks promising so far.

Sutil’s Starring Role

The racing action in Abu Dhabi has yet to be seen, but what we do know is it’s a photographer’s dream. Sutil is in the spotlight this weekend after featuring in the FIA Press Conference with Jarno Trulli and suffering the Italian’s grudge about the Brazilian GP weekend. Sutil would really like to let it go, Trulli not so much.

Credit: Force India F1

FIA – Abu Dhabi Conference 2

FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE – October 30, 2009

TEAM PRINCIPALS:
Bob BELL (Renault),
Ross BRAWN (Brawn GP),
Christian HORNER (Red Bull),
Mario THEISSEN (BMW Sauber)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: A question to you all. Please give us a comment about the circuit, the facilities, the importance about being here in Abu Dhabi and how you felt it has been for you.
Bob BELL: As everyone I sure would agree it is an absolutely fantastic facility and it is a wonderful opportunity for the teams to showcase themselves at a facility like this. We have been well and truly looked after and hosted well. That side of it is all fantastic too. I think it is great for the sport to be on show and operating at new locations throughout the world. I think the teams have settled in. We have not had the greatest of days but overall I think that was down to us, nothing to do with the circuit in particular. I think overall it is a great thing to be here.
Mario THEISSEN: It is a magnificent place, outstanding facilities. I cannot image that this will be topped anywhere else in the world. Very good working conditions for the teams. An interesting track, especially the pit lane exit, which is very special. We feel very well here. I think it is really great and I hope for a good weekend, for a full house and this can establish as the signature event in the coming years.
Christian HORNER: I think it is unbelievable really. The bar has been raised by the introduction of several venues, Singapore included, then we come here and Bernie (Ecclestone) has been winding us up for the past 18 months saying ‘wait until we get to Abu Dhabi.’ I mean it is just unbelievable what the country has done to build a venue such as this. It is quite mind blowing really and the circuit looks a quality circuit as well, not just a pretty background. The drivers seem to be enjoying it. We have been fantastically well looked after. It reminds me a lot of Silverstone.
Ross BRAWN: Just a stunning facility. I think it is a massive credit to the people here and to Bernie. I know we give Bernie a hard time sometimes but he still creates races and encourages people to build facilities like this. It is a stunning facility. It is a very interesting track, quite interesting combinations, quite challenging from a racing perspective. The pit lane is controversial but sometimes I think we are getting a bit sanitized in Formula One, so a bit of extra challenge for the drivers is not necessarily such a bad thing. I think it is just fantastic.

Q: What has been the reaction from the drivers, particularly the change in light if there was any reaction at all? Are there any other concerns that the drivers have mentioned? What do they think of the grip level?
BB: Our drivers have not commented on the lighting. I spoke to Fernando (Alonso) about it and he was quite happy with it. He was quite comfortable. The grip level, I think, he felt was better than perhaps we came here expecting and the circuit did improve but it wasn’t as bad as we imagined it to be. Overall on those two points very good.

Q: Can we include in that the pit lane exit? Were there concerns there?
BB: Well, it obviously raised some eyebrows to start with but we all seem to have got used to it and certainly our drivers have not raised any issues.
MT: Nick (Heidfeld) was very positive about the track right away. Robert wasn’t so sure initially. The pit lane is really difficult, well, the track generally was quite dusty in the morning and during the day and we could see even until the end of the FP2 the times got quicker and quicker. Especially in the pit lane it was apparently even dustier, so they had to be careful there. But other than that only positive comments.
CH: I think both drivers have really enjoyed the circuit. The tyres look a bit conservative and took a while to warm up and come in here. I think the only concerns our guys have raised is how quick these guys (Brawn) are in sector two.
RB: Take the wing off and you will be quick in sector two.
CH: Yeah.
RB: The lighting, no comment from our drivers. It is interesting that the lighting is a long way away from the circuit and it doesn’t seem to be casting any distracting shadows, so the lighting seems very good. They are enjoying the circuit. I think like any new circuit there will be some gentle evolution as the drivers get used to it and no doubt next year there will be a few modifications but nothing major is needed as far as we could see. They are enjoying it a great deal and I think it will be a great racing circuit. The slow entry onto the main straight and the slow exit may give a chance to overtake, so it is going to be quite hard on brakes. That will be a factor in the race and you saw a lot of teams they had problems with the graining of tyres but the track will improve tomorrow and that may not be an issue by Sunday. But as Christian said the tyres are perhaps a little bit conservative and as a result they are graining a little bit but no major issues.

Q: Bob, how is the team working forward to 2010? Are you expecting to remain Team Principal? Some people might suggest it is a rudderless ship in that there isn’t a Team Principal or there is a temporary Team Principal.
BB: We are all focussed on 2010. We do not hold any expectations about 2009 and we are making good progress. The team has picked itself up and is moving on very positively with the support particularly of Renault and all our partners and indeed some new ones as witnessed this weekend which is both good for the team and good for the sport. We are all moving ahead very positively. As for me I am happy to see the team through the next few months. That is my prime concern. There are some big issues we need to get in place and resolve before we go racing next year and that is my clear focus. Beyond that if Renault feel the most appropriate thing is for someone else to take over the helm I don’t have an issue with that and won’t stand in their way and equally if that decision came my way that is something I would have to consider in due course. But right now I am not being distracted by it. It is important that we get to the end of the year in good shape.

Q: Mario, can you update us on the future of BMW Sauber or Sauber as it will be?
MT: Well, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. I think we are making progress but the crucial issue still is the place on the grid. That’s all I can say, so there is no decision right now.

Q: Do you have a time frame when you can expect a decision?
MT: We don’t have a clear deadline but it is clear that time is running and it gets more and more difficult for the team as obviously you can only sign drivers and sponsors when you have a place on the grid.

Q: Is Robert’s problem in the last session going to require a ninth engine?
MT: Well, it has been an engine failure and it is related to our decision some events ago not to pick up a ninth engine for Robert. What we are trying to do is cover the final four race events with one engine, so Robert’s race engine for Sunday has had three races already. The consequence is that especially on this final Friday we had to use an engine with way in excess of 2000kms, so we were aware of the risk. I just had hoped it would blow up in the final lap of the session.

Q: So in fact you have got another engine which you will be using for the rest of the weekend which is still within the eight?
MT: Yes.

Q: Christian, how are you getting on with Sebastian’s (Vettel) engine plan?
CH: We are looking okay now. We got critical after a failure in Valencia. That plus us under quite a bit of pressure but I have to say Renault have supported us brilliantly and managed the mileage and exceeded the mileage with their target kilometres significantly. I think we were one of the highest mileage teams today. Sebastian has a race engine I think he last used in Japan for the race tomorrow, so there is absolutely no risk in terms of us using a ninth engine. Even if that engine failed we have another engine we could utilise. With the help of Renault we have managed to manage the situation.

Q: You’re definitely not going to win the World Championship for drivers and you are definitely going to finish second in the Constructors’. Is there a feeling of disappointment or is there great optimism and enjoyment of finishing in those positions?
CH: I think you have to reflect on the year and you have to reflect where the team has come from as well. This year has presented a significant step for the team. We have emerged as race winners and we were title contenders with both drivers throughout the bulk of the championship. A championship is, obviously this year, over 17 races and hats off to Jenson (Button) and the Brawn team. They quite simply did a stronger job over the duration. They stole a march on us earlier in the year, had great reliability. They dropped three points’ scores to our 12, but when you reflect on the second half of the season I don’t think there is anybody that has scored more points. For the team it has been a huge step and I am extremely proud of what all the guys in Milton Keynes have managed to achieve and we have got good foundations. We have been well supported by Renault as you don’t win races and achieve the kind of results we have had without great support from your engine supplier. There are a lot of lessons that have been learnt for this year and a lot we will take forward into 2010 and with continuity and reasonable stability in the regulations we think we can really build on what we have achieved this year and hopefully take the next step.

Q: Ross, obviously you did take lots of steps this season. What is the atmosphere like in the team back at the factory and here as well since Brazil?
RB: Obviously euphoria at what we have managed to achieve. Firstly, I would like to say the championship has been fought in a great spirit. I know sometimes the media likes grief or needle in the championship but I must say this championship has been notable for the spirit in which it has been fought. Good battles, good spirit within the teams and for me obviously with the results that we had a great championship to be proud of. It probably wasn’t until I got back to the factory that I appreciated how much it had meant to a lot of our people because they have been there a long time and not had any success and the team had won one race up until this year. We have still got people there from the very beginning of this version of the team as the team goes back as far as Tyrrell. It is a long-standing team but guys did come up and say we have worked a very long time for this and it was special to go back and share the pleasure of the championships with a lot of the people there who had been working hard for so long. They never gave up. We had such a difficult winter with no clear vision of where the team was going and the guys still worked enormous hours, made enormous commitments, worked their weekends and did everything that was needed not even knowing if they were going to go past February, so it has been very special in many ways and for me quite exceptional because of the contrast of where we were over the winter and where we are now. I must say in those circumstances I think Mario to a fair degree is seeing it now. Formula One does come together when teams are in difficulty. We had a lot of support from everyone during that period. We have our fierce competition, but I am glad to say Formula One still sticks together to help each other when teams are in difficulty.

Q: There has been quite a lot of focus on your drivers for 2010. Is there anything more you can tell us? Have you got closer to working things out with Jenson?
RB: No, we agreed that we would get through the championship. We agreed that nothing would happen for a few weeks after the championship, so the next two weeks will be pretty busy.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Ross, just on that. You mentioned in a radio interview on Sunday that you were 99 per cent certain that Jenson would re-sign for the team. Jenson remarked yesterday that he would not want to put any kind of percentage on it. What makes you so certain that you will actually re-sign him at the end of the day?
RB: I see the way Jenson works with the team and I see the way we work with him. I think we have given him the equipment this year to show what he can do and he knows our plans for the future. We have got another little matter that we have got to sort out, but I am sure we will find a resolution to that, so that’s why I am reasonably confident. Of course I want to keep Jenson in the team, so we are working hard to find the solution to keep Jenson in the team. He has done a fantastic job this year and I think he will be even stronger in the future with this championship behind him.

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Mario Theissen answered this question in a press conference earlier this weekend, so can I ask the other three gentlemen to give a brief assessment of the direction you would like to see Formula One take now that Jean Todt is the president of the FIA?
BB: I think that one of the things that Formula One needs desperately is good strong leadership and direction. I’m not necessarily suggesting that we didn’t see that in the previous regime – we did, but perhaps it wasn’t always in the direction that we agreed with, but I think the thing we would want most from Jean is clear direction, positive dialogue with the teams, to ensure the direction that we take is in the best interests of the whole of Formula One and is sensibly balanced to meet the needs of the teams that are supported by manufacturers, the manufacturers’ requirements, all the stakeholders, the public, the sponsors, the circuits. There’s a lot of diverse requirements in Formula One and I think the FIA has a role to play in showing strong leadership that marshals all of those needs and does its utmost to ensure that they are all satisfied and I hope that’s what he brings to it and I have to hope that he will. His governance of Ferrari was obviously exceptional and if he can apply the same to Formula One in general then I think we will be in reasonably good shape for the future.
CH: I think I agree with Bob to be honest. I think that the really reassuring fact is that Jean has sat here, he’s had the problems that we face in running a team, so he can relate to the issues that we face in Formula One as he can in World Rally, as he can in sports cars, so his experience of motor sport is quite unique, he’s proved to be a phenomenal manager and achieve great success in his competitive career. He now steps into a different role and one where he’s responsible for fair play, for stability within the rules, for reducing costs, for improving safety and I think he’s a great candidate. I think there’s a real opportunity for the Formula One teams to work closely with Jean and his team, whomever he appoints to really focus on those aspects. Hopefully we can see a renewed close collaboration between the teams and the FIA.
RB: I think he’s an incredibly worthy successor to Max (Mosley) in that role. As Christian just mentioned, he’s experienced our sport and other sports at all levels. He was a navigator and won the World Championship as a rally navigator, ran a World Championship-winning rally team, ran a World Championship-winning Formula One team. There are very few people with that experience. Jean’s very good at bringing people together and finding solutions to difficult problems and finding solutions when there are a lot of different interests involved. He steered the ship of Ferrari over 12 or 13 years, I think, and particularly through the early periods it was very difficult and he managed it extremely well. He’s got a great ability to manage situations, and he particularly likes working in a team environment. He’s very strong at bringing out the qualities of people in a team environment and I know that he’s building a very good team around him at the FIA, so I look forward to the future with a great deal of optimism. A huge amount has been achieved over the last period: safety in Formula One is at a very high level, lots of things in Formula One are great and I think Jean will take that forward.

Q: (Walter Koster – Saarbrücker Zeitung) Quite another question and therefore it’s an unusual one: Mr Theissen, a short test of your memory after ten years in Formula One. Do you remember your colleagues the first time that you were sitting on such a podium as here and do know your first answer to the mediator’s question?
MT: No idea. Have you ever heard of the Alzheimer disease? But I’m sure the mediator knows… (He doesn’t).

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Question to Bob Bell: we heard that Heikki Kovalainen or Timo Glock could join Renault next year, or perhaps another driver. So could you tell us more about this? And the second question which links to it is what would that mean then for the French driver Romain Grosjean who comes from its ranks? Would it mean that Renault can’t keep a guy who comes from its own programme after six or seven races?
BB: It is a fact that there are quite a few drivers on the market at the minute, and I think, to do justice to the team, we have to look at all of the options, which is what we’re doing. We’re in the process of evaluating all of the drivers that are available and we will make a decision on which driver we attempt to reach agreement with as rapidly as we can. It’s important for the team to do that and we’re not ruling out any possibilities. Romain still remains a possibility but, as I say, in fairness to ensuring that we deliver the best driver line-up to the team, we need to look at all the possible options. If Romain does drop out of the equation, yes, it will be sad to lose him from the Renault programme and obviously he’s French, so that carries some consequences for the team but ultimately, and I think Renault fully support us in this, we need to put the best drivers in the car that we can afford for next year and if that’s Romain, fine, if it isn’t, if it’s someone else, then so be it but our objective next year is to have the strongest line-up.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Christian: have you, in your mind, already decided your engine for next year?
CH: We’ve had, as I said earlier, tremendous support from Renault. We have a great working relationship. It hasn’t just been this year, it’s been for the last three years and we’re reaching a critical path now where we’re going to have to make a commitment, taking everything into account. We believe we have all the facts in front of us now and we will be looking to make a decision pretty much imminently – immediately following this race, I think.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Ross, have you met Luca di Montezemolo here as the new World Champion?
RB: No, we’ve spoken on the phone. He’s been very gracious in his congratulations to me. We’ve had a quiet word on the phone but no, he very kindly spoke to me and sent a note both before and after the race, and then we spoke a few days ago.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Christian, you joked at the start about Silverstone, but that track now appears to be the only option for a British Grand Prix next year, bearing in mind that Donington has fallen by the wayside, given its financial difficulties. Bernie said this week that Formula One does not need a British Grand Prix but I’m sure yourself and Ross and Bob as team principals of British-based teams would disagree with him.
CH: Absolutely. You also have to consider the difference in resources available to the different circuits. This circuit has a nation behind it; Silverstone is effectively a private entity. I think Silverstone and the British Grand Prix is a very important and significant part of the calendar. It’s a historic race, it’s been there since the start of the World Championship, it’s a great circuit, the drivers love it, it’s a local Grand Prix to probably more than fifty percent of the teams and I really sincerely hope that now that the Donington bit appears to have stumbled, that a solution can be found between Silverstone and FOM, and I’m sure that every effort is being made to achieve that. We would certainly see Silverstone as a great loss from the calendar should it not be there in 2010.
RB: We saw what was a fantastic event Silverstone was this year, the huge support it had. I think it was Damon Hill who made the point, which I completely concur with, that Formula One is what it is because of the balance of races it has, the history it has, the heritage it has. And the reason that Formula One as a championship and as a series is so attractive to countries like Abu Dhabi and the new races we’re going to is because of that heritage and that history, and if we destroy that, then perhaps we don’t remain as attractive for countries in the future. So we’ve got to get a balance between keeping the history and heritage of Formula One and the new opportunities we have at fantastic circuits like this, so I think it would be a tragedy if we lost Silverstone and I hope Bernie can find a solution with Silverstone to keep the race there. The Donington episode has been an unfortunate distraction but let’s hope that he can find a solution for the BRDC to run the race at Silverstone in the future.
BB: I totally agree with Ross that I think one of the great strengths of Formula One is its diversity and it would be very, very wrong to threaten that with an all new era and so that’s important and equally, as Christian said, it is the home Grand Prix for probably the majority of people who work in Formula One. And I know how important that is to the ordinary members of staff in the factories that turn out the pieces for Formula One and provide the entertainment, and I think it would be a great shame for all of those people and their families if they weren’t able to enjoy it locally. So I’m a great supporter of it, the team is a great supporter of it, and it would be a great shame if it was lost.

Q: (Amina Bentoutah – Al Dhafrah Magazine) What do you have as a project in the future concerning Formula One here in UAE, because we heard that they built a school for learning how to drive this kind of racing cars here in UAE on Yas Island, so will you send your drivers for six months or so next year?
RB: I must apologise, I’m not aware of driver training. What is very interesting is the technology side. There is a lot of interest from a number of countries to set up technology bases and I understand Williams have set one up in Qatar and we’re very interested in that sort of opportunity to share the technology and get benefits from both sides to train people. I’m very keen on the strength of Formula One as a medium for training engineers and developing technology, so I think there are great opportunities in those areas. I’m not so sure about the driving side. I’m not so aware of that, but certainly on the technology side, there’s huge interest in that side.
CH: The main thing is that you’ve got world class facilities, not just here in Abu Dhabi but in Bahrain, there’s a fantastic circuit just up the road in Dubai. Motor sport in the region is obviously taking off, and that’s not just the circuits, that’s the infrastructure behind it and I think karting infrastructures have been put in place and out of that will come drivers, will come technicians and any incentive to help youngsters to enter the world of motor sport we would fully support, and I think it’s only a matter of time before that happens.
MT: We have established Formula BMW in Asia/Pacific some years ago, including a racing centre for driver education in Bahrain. Initially it’s been quite difficult because there was no racing infrastructure. Young talents in Europe usually go karting for four, five or even more years before jumping into a formula car. This is different or has been different here but meanwhile the series has come along quite strongly and so we will continue next year.
BB: We’re not involved in any specific driver training facilities here or elsewhere but I certainly feel that Formula One can benefit and it can benefit the countries that it visits by a technological relationship. For example, we have some partnerships with academic institutions around the world where there are circuits, and I think that’s great for the local community, great for Formula One. It goes on quietly in the background, but it’s part of the business that we do and it’s important.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Back again to Mr Bell: same topic, pretty much. Apart from the fact that he’s young and quite inexperienced, how would you grade Romain Grosjean’s performance this year so far? Apart from the fact that he’s young and inexperienced…
BB: Well, one of those points is fairly key and that is the inexperience. It is genuinely a fact that it is extremely difficult for a young driver now to enter Formula One mid-season with no real testing experience behind him. If he’s fortunate enough to be introduced to the team before the season starts and can get through a winter testing programme then that’s one thing to be dropped (into the team) in mid-season as Romain was. It’s very hard for any of them and so that’s a problem that Formula One has put upon itself, quite rightly so. The reduction in testing was done for good reason, I’m not being critical of it but it does make it difficult for drivers, so he’s had an uphill struggle. He’s done a sound job in dealing with that. He has two problems that he has to confront. Firstly, his team-mate is a double World Champion and that’s a hard metric to judge yourself against as a young driver. And we haven’t given him a particularly good car and that is equally hard for a young driver to come in. So it hasn’t been an easy birth for him in Formula One but that doesn’t deny that he’s got a lot of talent and I’m very sure that in the future we will see that talent exploited.

Trulli’s Two Week Tantrum

The FIA knew what they were doing when they selected Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil to appear at the press conference on Thursday in Abu Dhabi. Trulli rehashed the entire incident from Brazil with his fellow driver, even producing some photographs as evidence. Sutil wasn’t amused, and the pair of them look no closer to being friends.

Credit: Toyota AG

FIA – Abu Dhabi Conference 1

THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE – October 29, 2009

DRIVERS:
Fernando ALONSO (Renault),
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari),
Adrian SUTIL (Force India),
Jarno TRULLI (Toyota)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: A question to you all. What are your reactions to seeing the Yas Island Circuit for the first time. The facilities? The circuit? Adrian, would you like to start?
Adrian SUTIL: Impressive, let’s say. A very nice circuit, very big. I think it is the biggest I’ve ever seen. The facilities are amazing. It is going to be an interesting weekend really.
Jarno TRULLI: I think I agree. I was impressed with the facilities and the place and the circuit. So far it seems to be very well made with the surface and the kerbs. I think the run-off area so far seems pretty good. Obviously before we judge the circuit lay-out we need to have a run.
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: I have only seen the paddock area so far. I haven’t been around the circuit yet. It looks all new and you can see a bit that it is last minute but, overall, it is a very big, massive thing and it will be one of the nicest when everything is ready.
Q: Fernando, have you looked at it on the simulator?
Fernando ALONSO: No, no simulator for us. Not even Play Station this time. It will be the first lap tomorrow. Again, the same as all the others, I am very impressed with all the facilities. The circuit itself and the lay-out I think we need to wait until tomorrow as in the car you have always different feelings and different sensations, so I am looking forward. It will be an interesting weekend especially with the late start for the race, with the lights, so it can be quite a good show for television.

Q: Adrian, you have tried it on the simulator, haven’t you?
AS: Yes, I tried it on the simulator. It is quite good to drive but let’s say, not overwhelming, but let’s see how it is in the real. It is always a different thing.

Q: Do you think you can continue the form you have shown in the last few races here?
AS: Well, hopefully yes. There are long straights on this circuit, so hopefully it will suit our car but it is hard to say where we are. It went really well in the last races, especially in qualifying where our pace was great. But it is a new circuit and we have no set-up here. For everybody it is a big challenge, so let’s see how we go but we try to do the best out of the car and hope for a really good race.

Q: There are a lot of right angle turns here. Do you think they will hurt the car?
AS: Yeah, a long straight and then hairpins. Some second gear corners, some first gear corners, so actually really slow corners everywhere. I am not sure if it suits us but we will have to try and make the best out of it. But when I walked the circuit today I had quite a good feeling, so hopefully it is the truth.

Q: What about your future? What are the chances of staying on at Force India?
AS: Well, at the moment I am still not confirmed but we are talking with Force India for sure and it would be a good thing to do another season there. Both sides are interested and I feel really well with my team at the moment.

Q: Jarno, a similar questions to you really, concerning your form over the last few races and your future.
JT: I think it was really good by the team to show the performance in the last few races after a poor middle of the season. It was nice to be back fighting for the front. I think we missed a little bit of luck but all in all it was nice to prove that Toyota was bouncing back after a fantastic start to the season. But to be honest we have gone through such an up and down season that it is difficult to predict what is going to happen for this race. These hot conditions should suit our car but it is only a hope and we will only find out during the weekend. Regarding the future, I have nothing to say or add at the moment.

Q: Are you talking to other teams as well at the moment?
JT: I prefer not to make any speculation. Obviously I have got some options.

Q: What are your thoughts on possibly leaving Toyota?
JT: Obviously there is a high chance to be leaving Toyota but it difficult to say and talk about. A lot is up in the air.

Q: Kimi, what are your thoughts on leaving Ferrari?
KR: Well, it is not any different than a few races ago. I don’t have a contract anymore with them. It is the last race and we try to make a good result and we will see what happens in the future.

Q: Is your focus totally on Formula One or would you like to pursue your rallying career?
KR: Basically I have a few different options and we will see what is the best one overall and then make my decision.

Q: Would rallying be a consideration?
KR: It is definitely one of them, but I mean it is not just Formula One and rallying. There are other things I could do and we will see what happens.

Q: Just looking back at the second part of the season. You have only scored two points less than the person who has scored the most points. Considering that development has stopped on the car it is a pretty remarkable record, isn’t it?
KR: Yeah, I think we had a good second half. The car is definitely not the fastest but we found a pretty good way of working with the car and getting the best out of. It has been more normal to drive than for a long time before. Once you get something that you have a good feeling with, then usually you get good results. The bigger teams or the better teams who have been faster this year should have done better; better cars, better results and better points overall in the last part but they haven’t and I think we did pretty well.

Q: It seems almost unfair that the focus has been on your team-mates and how fast they have been going whereas you have been racking up points all the time.
KR: It makes no difference for me really. I don’t think they have been going very fast and they can talk to them as much as they want. We just try to score points and get good results. That has been our aim and is still our aim in the last race and hopefully we can get a bit more than McLaren.

Q: Fernando, looking at your future and leaving Renault. What are your thoughts on those?
FA: Well, obviously it is finishing one of the steps that you do in your career and now it is time to move forward and change team. It will be quite an emotional race as it has been many years with Renault now, seven years with them, and I know everybody in the team. Some of them after so many years are good friends to me, so for sure I will miss them in the future but a new challenge is ahead of me now and I am looking forward to next year as well.

Q: When do you go to Ferrari for the first time? Is there a date?
FA: No, there is not a date.

Q: No ideas?
FA: No, soon.

Q: Pretty soon?
FA: Hopefully, yes.

Q: I know for a long time you had somewhere to live in Oxford. Are you going to have somewhere in Maranello?
FA: No, I will be in Switzerland, where I am now, but it is not too far from Maranello. It is only three hours driving or whatever, or two, so it won’t be too difficult to go there.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) If I can ask all of you. Jean Todt is the new President of the FIA. What would you like to see him achieve and accomplish for Formula One?
Q: Jarno, would you like to start?
JT: I mean he knows better than me what Formula One needs at the moment. Probably stability and consistency in terms of rules as this will help the cost cutting. There are plenty of things that will be discussed with the team principals. They really have to work together in order to get Formula One back to where it was last year. This year has been pretty difficult in general. On our side, the drivers’ side, I think we have always had a good relationship with the FIA people. We look after safety and it will be important to talk to each other.
KR: I think he is going to do good work. I think he is a good guy for this work and he is very straightforward and not too much politics. But I know from working with him that he is going to be the right guy.
FA: The same. I think his experience in Formula One will be a huge help to improve things and he will have a better idea of what Formula One needs. He is quite a clever guy, so I am sure we are in good hands now.
AS: Yeah, I think a good President. He has a lot of experience in Formula One and he knows what’s important. I think the biggest point is maybe the drivers can also argue a little bit than just being asked about situations and stuff like that as it did not really happen, I think I had a feeling, in the last years. That will be the most important thing for myself that we are in there for discussions as well sometimes.

Q: (Chris Lines – Associated Press) Question for you all about the late start: starting in the afternoon, going into the evening. We had a situation in Australia, first race of the year, with a similar kind of timing. Towards the end of the race there were complaints from the drivers about the sun getting in their eyes, complaints about the track cooling down, so the grip wasn’t as good. Do you have concerns here for the same reasons?
KR: I don’t think there will be any problems. Of course, it might look a little bit different at some point when the sun disappears but the lights, at least in Singapore, were so good that you hardly see the difference between day and night. Here, it will be quite hot anyhow, so it should be OK.

Q: Would ten degrees make a lot of difference to the track temperature?
FA: I don’t think so. I think in Australia the temperatures were different. Here, the track temperature at the start of the race will maybe be 50 degrees, so it will never be cool enough to give you problems warming up the tyres.
AD: Very similar. I think it won’t be a real problem. The only place where we were quite late this year with the sunset was in Australia. It was a little bit difficult, for sure, in some corners but not a problem for me, and temperature-wise, well, it’s so hot here anyway, so we shouldn’t have a problem. For sure you have to readjust the temperatures but it’s about communicating with the engineers and just doing the right thing at the right time.
JT: I agree. In general temperatures shouldn’t be a problem. The only question mark which we will eventually find out about tomorrow will be the shadows because of the sunset in this twilight race. We’ve got the experience of Australia and all the time schedule has been moved, so already tomorrow we will find out, so we will get an idea.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Question to Jarno and Adrian: I’m just wondering if you two guys have settled your differences after your exchange of words following your first lap accident in Brazil?
JT: I think we’re going to discuss it probably tomorrow in the drivers’ briefing and in the GPDA briefing. Obviously it was very disappointing to end the race like that, especially on the first lap. Obviously I think I had every reason to be extremely furious. I’ve got all the evidence to show that I was there, I was next to him, so I think tomorrow we are going to discuss it.
AS: I think there’s nothing to discuss. It was a quite obvious incident. In the end it was very disappointing for myself, even more, I think, because I was the one who was just driving and he lost control of his car and crashed in my back, so it was not my problem, it was his problem. I don’t know why he’s freaking out like that, to be honest.
JT: (Laughing) If you want, I can show you some pictures. I don’t know if you’re blind but they clearly show you that my front wing is next to your front wing, so…
AS: Yeah, but you’re trying to overtake me on the outside on the kerbing. There was not a problem…
JT: So you mean… you didn’t move there…
AS: No, you were just not going off the power. The same happened in Barcelona where you lost control again and crashed again into a Force India car. You just have to sometimes also…
JT: I just lost…
AS: …expect the limits of the car. If there’s no way to go, you have to back off, that’s how racing is, and I don’t know how long you want to learn it.
JT: In Barcelona I spun and he hit me because he tapped the kerb, he completely cut the circuit and he didn’t slow down, so basically… Anyway, I think it’s better…
FA: (to KR) Shall we go?
AS: No, no. Watch the race in Barcelona. I didn’t hit you, you hit me. I don’t know what’s the problem, but maybe your eyes are a problem.
JT: I don’t have any feeling about him.
AS: I don’t understand, really, sorry.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) I was actually going to ask a similar question, but maybe the two of you can agree on what you said after the incident in Brazil, because obviously Jarno was seen to be gesticulating and saying quite a few things. Could you just tell us what was said at the time?
JT: I was furious because I said ‘didn’t you see me?’ I mean, I was next to him and he kept pushing me going outside until I was obviously on the kerbs. I couldn’t believe…
AS: …the kerbs, not a problem to be on the kerb, I think. Where’s the problem?
JT: Ok, no problem, it’s OK. As long as we know the rules.
AS: I know the rules.
JT: Fantastic.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, you were behind these two guys. Could you give us your point of view and Kimi, we heard something about you taking a sabbatical next year in 2010. Is that true, it’s an option or not?
KR: I can if I want. I can do whatever I want, but like I said before, I haven’t made my decision what I want to do yet.
FA: Yes, I saw everything, more or less. Second or third row, because I had two cars in front of me but as Jarno said, I think tomorrow in the drivers’ briefing we will discuss… deep.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Do you think, the four of you, that Jenson Button is a good champion for the sport, or just that he had the best car this year?
FA: I think he’s a good champion for Formula One and he deserved it. He did a very good job this season. It’s true that in the second half he maybe didn’t score the points that people expected but it was very difficult to keep the same average points as in the first half, when he won all the races. For that reason, you have the feeling that he stepped back a little bit but I think he did a very good job. If you look at the overall view of the championship from race one to the final race, he was the best of us, so he deserved it. It’s good for him, good for Brawn and good for the sport, I think.
AS: Yes, I think he deserved it, definitely. I think it was quite hard in the last races because he was maybe struggling a little bit with the car and the car just wasn’t the fastest anymore, so they were harder races for him, but I think he always made the best of his possibilities and scored points, a few points, sometimes more points but it was definitely enough for the championship, so my congratulations to him. He did a good job this year, yeah.
JT: I think he’s a very well deserved champion because it’s turned out a good season. Obviously he’s had some ups and downs but he managed to handle the situation; when he had the best car he proved he was a race winner and when he had to defend he just drove well, always keeping his head cool. I think in the end, he deserved it.
KR: Yeah, he had the most points, also at the end of the season but whoever gets the most points deserves it, so he’s definitely the right man for that.

Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere dello Sport) Kimi, what would like to tell Fernando as he’s joining Ferrari to replace you?
KR: I don’t think I need to tell him anything; for sure he will find out. He’s been in Formula One a long time and he’s not going to have any issues there. I think he’s probably been there before and met the people already, so there’s not much to say.

Q: (Gautam Sharma – F1 Racing, Middle East) Question for Fernando: do you know anything about the car you will be driving next year and do you have any expectations for the season or are you just taking it as it comes?
FA: I don’t know anything so far, about the 2010 car but hopefully it’s quick enough to fight for the title which is the main goal not only for myself but for the team as well. After one season that was not good for me and maybe not good enough for Ferrari either, I think next year hopefully we have the possibility to fight and then you can win, you lose, it depends on many details but at least there is the possibility to be winning some races and afterwards you will see race by race. You never have any specific programme before the championship. You take it as it comes, later.

Q: (Jonathan Legard – BBC Sport) Question for Kimi: you talk about your options. I just wondered how important it would be if you decided to stay in Formula One, if you found another team, that you could do some rallying as well, like you did with Ferrari or whether that’s something of a stumbling block, wanting to do another form of motor sport as well as doing Formula One?
KR: It’s definitely going to be Formula One, it’s going to be in the contract that I’m allowed to do it (rallying). It’s not going to hurt you. Any kind of driving is always going to give you some experience, so I don’t see what’s the issue. It’s been working well this year, so as long as it doesn’t disturb what you’re doing in Formula One or whatever you do, I don’t see that there’s any problem.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Both championships have been settled. Will this race be the last opportunity to show yourselves, the ones that don’t have a team for next year?
JT: I think we race for the team as well. We don’t only race for us. We always want to do our best and obviously this is the last race and we want to finish on a high, not just for us or the team. Basically we’re in the same boat.
KR: You always try to do your best – at least, I try and it’s the same story in the last race: we try to get back third place in the championship for the team. I think it’s a bit late if you only try to do your best in the last race to try to prove yourself to some other team, then you shouldn’t be there. It’s the same story as any race this year: we try to do the maximum.
AS: For me it makes no difference. I’m always trying to get the best out of the car and do my best. It’s the last race but there’s no difference for me.

Q: (Jonathan Legard – BBC Sport) Fernando, after you won the title in 2005, there were still two races to go. How did you approach those? Just thinking of Jenson Button’s approach; he’s done it now, is there a sense of release, any different approach to the race?
FA: I think he will be more relaxed because you did the job already, and they also won the Constructors’ Championship, so there is nothing really to fight for, so you approach the race relaxed and you enjoy the weekend, while in the last two or three races you maybe had some stress when you arrived at a race. For me, 2005 was different because we were fighting for the Constructors’ Championship until the last race, so there was still a little bit of stress in the weekend, but for him it will be quite a fun weekend.

FIA – Brazilian GP Conference 4

POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE – October 18, 2009

1. Mark WEBBER (Red Bull), 1h32m23.081s
2. Robert KUBICA (BMW Sauber), 1h32m30.707s
3. Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren Mercedes), 1h32m42.025s
TV UNILATERALS

Q: Mark, you took the lead after that first pit stop, set fastest lap, it looked like a walk in the park for you.
Mark WEBBER: You never know in the first stint. I knew Rubens (Barrichello) was a bit shorter, I knew Robert was a bit shorter. I was impressed with Robert’s pace to start with and then when they pitted, I knew I had a nice clear run to get a good gap starting the second stint. I just cleared JB on the out lap which is always nice as well. And then also just making sure the tyres were nice and comfortable for the whole stint, doing enough. A little bit panicky with Robert in the second stint because he started closing and I thought my pace is not too bad, but he’s closing but the guys said he was quite short in that middle stint, so that sort of confirmed that for me. And then I was just asking a few questions: who was option, if anyone was on the option in the middle stint, how did it look, what do I need to do maybe for the first part of the last stint, because the option wasn’t too great for us on Friday, to be honest. And then starting the last start it was nice to have a bit of a buffer, so just controlled that to start with. Obviously the tyres are very good straightaway but you can’t go bananas on them. And just control the gap to Robert at about five-odd seconds and then it looks like it was going to be a stalemate and then backed off a bit earlier towards the end. So that gave me a nice run home. It’s been a fantastic day for the team, to win again. We’ve had quite a few victories this year off the back of some tough seasons at Red Bull, totally confirming second for us in the Constructors. Obviously we weren’t good enough over the whole season to win any championships but we’ve done ourselves very proud as a team, as a unit. I would like to thank Renault as well, the engines have been very good. It’s not an easy environment for them, so yeah, very, very good. It’s a special weekend for Australians because Jason Crump won the World Speedway Championship last night, a very close friend of mine, under very difficult conditions, very badly injured, and Casey (Stoner) won the motorbikes yesterday, so it’s a good weekend for the Australians.

Q: Mark, a tumultuous first lap, a lot going on. Can you talk about the conditions there? Obviously it was wet yesterday going onto a dry track surface, and what the debris was like later on. We saw a lot of debris on the back straight.
MW: Yeah, always coming off the back of a green track overnight you had to get a bit of a feel for it early on. Fuel is back in the car and last time I drove like that was obviously Friday. The track wasn’t too bad, to be honest. It could have been a lot worse, the balance was not too bad as well, but as you say, a bit of debris, safety car early on, making sure we weren’t picking up any punctures or anything stupid like that, because there was some carbon around, and then also towards the end of the race it looked like maybe Heidfeld had a moment down to turn four and put a lot of mud on the track. I was happy they didn’t put the safety car out because it would have undone all my hard work and I don’t think it needed a safety car for a bit of dirt anyway. Yeah, the track cleaned up and then I was just hoping it didn’t rain, which it didn’t, so He looked after me upstairs again today.

Q: And what was the run like on the back straight on the opening lap? It was pretty crowded, a lot of people going for that first corner.
MW: The thing that really surprised me… it’s always the same with the KERS cars, the speed difference is absolutely enormous. Come out of three, to start with, and then I saw Kimi (Räikkönen) massively late. He had a massive speed advantage. I was firm, Kimi would have done the same to me, so it had to be done.

Q: Robert, what a day for you too: first podium for the team since Malaysia, way back at the start of the season. It’s been a difficult year for the team, but for you personally a great drive from eighth place.
Robert KUBICA: Difficult season, as you say, for our team, but I think yesterday we did a big part of the job. We knew it might be a dry race today so we decided to keep our low downforce configuration car like we were running on Friday. It was extremely difficult when there was a lot of water. Nick was out in Q1, I managed to put in a good lap in difficult conditions, it wasn’t an easy car to drive in the wet. I managed to qualify eighth. I think some people were disappointed in this qualifying, I don’t know why because maybe they wondered if miracles could happen every session, like in Q1, but when the track was drying, I had no chance against the quicker cars. And then today I had good pace, consistent. I think I was a bit surprised about the slow pace from Rubens and Mark initially. I was able to keep up with them. We had a problem with the water temperature straightaway. I already had to reduce rpm on lap ten of the race, so for most of the race I drove with lower rpm because our engine was overheating. Yeah, I had to pull out of slipstream every time on the straight. I was just trying to cool down the temperature and bring the car home.

Q: Mark just mentioned the second stint of the race when he was a bit worried about you. How did you feel at that point in terms of what you could do?
RK: I was very unlucky after the first pit stop. I just got behind four cars which I think were Kobayashi, Nakajima, Jenson and Sebastian. They were overtaking, I was heavy, they were light and I had no chance to overtake them. I had to take care about the temperature, about the engine, so I was not pulling and Mark pulled out a nice gap there. I was assuming I was shorter but not as short… We discussed our strategy but not as short as we were, so I had to pit with 28 laps to go and put on option tyres, I was a bit worried because after five laps on Friday, the tyres were finished. I just tried not to over-drive them, to keep them nice and steady but also to look at the gap to Rubens and it paid off. I had some problems with tyre degradation in the last ten laps, but the gaps were quite easy and I brought the car home.

Q: Lewis, on the day that you passed the title of World Champion to your compatriot, Jenson Button, you were on the podium in the Brazilian Grand Prix: a heavy fuel load, a very early stop to get the soft option tyre out of the way and a great run to third place.
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, today’s been an extremely tough day, tough weekend, and today was a huge surprise to me. I had no idea that we would even be able to get into the points. The team did a great job with the strategy but I was on a knife edge the whole way. I feel great, the car felt great. I think there are still some improvements we need to make but to fight all the way up to third from 18th I think is a great job from all the team, so hugely thankful to them for the hard work, the good job they did. I had an incredible battle with Rubens. I must say congratulations to Jenson: a great job from him, a great season.

Q: In the early pit stop there was a drama in your pit crew with Heikki Kovalainen, your team-mate. I guess you were not aware of that and it didn’t play any part in your race?
LH: No, I thought I saw a Ferrari behind me as I was pulling out and I thought it would be close but I didn’t really see that Heikki was actually behind. I didn’t see any dramas that he had but I hope everyone in the pit crew is OK and we will probably have to work on that to find out what went wrong.

Q: And third place in the Constructors’ Championship is still very much alive for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.
LH: Yeah, I’ve got the bosses breathing down my neck to get the job done, so today would have definitely made them happy and we really needed it, considering we were both right at the back and weren’t really looking to get points, so this would go very well. I’m sure the lads in the team are very happy and bosses are too.

Q: Mark, returning to you for some closing thoughts: it’s been a year of domination by one team and then another, Brawn Mercedes and Red Bull particularly. Your second win now, Jenson is the World Champion though. Your thoughts on how the season’s gone and some comments about Jenson.
MW: Well, it’s been a very interesting season in many ways. We started off with double diffusers, some teams with KERS. Then we, as Red Bull, were phenomenal in the middle of the year, the first part of the European races. Then off to the street circuits, back in July and early August and we had a bit of a tough time. The McLaren came back, especially Lewis, and Kimi also had a good run. So there have been many, many teams… six different winners this year, I think, and quite a few different people on the podium. So it’s been a mixed season in terms of performance for people. Jenson, I think, deserves the championship, no question about it. He drove very, very well in the early part. It’s not easy to have error-free weekends, with the exception of Spa, when he had problems at the top of Les Combes when it’s easy to happen when you start in the middle of the pack. He’s driven pretty well, particularly in first stints, when he’s been on the back foot and coming through, doing a pretty good job here and there. Every car has its strengths and weaknesses and Brawn, obviously, have some strengths and a few weaknesses here and there. JB’s done a good job, so I’d like to congratulate him and Brawn as well. I think he will sleep better now, because he’s been incredibly nervous, there’s no question about that. He’s been absolutely bricking himself the last few weeks, so he can sleep better now, and all of us can go to Abu Dhabi and just enjoy the new race there. I don’t think it’s going to be like Suzuka but anyway, it’s another street track.
PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Mark, you probably don’t want to be reminded of this, but your two previous best results here were two ninth places.
MW: I didn’t know it was that, but I had a reasonable idea that I’ve had a pretty rough run here. There have been lots of firsts this year and this is another one, in terms of getting a good result. It was an interesting first lap as usual. There was quite a bit at stake, all the guys know that. KERS cars always liven it up and once we got through all that, we then settled down, and I knew that Rubens and Robert were quite a bit shorter than me in the first stint, so I just managed all that as best as I could. They pitted and then I got a big gap after that first stop. The stop went well, the guys did a good job there. Then I had a long stint on the prime, same for everyone because we knew everyone was probably going to do a little bit of protection against the option. So we just controlled that second stint to a limit. It wasn’t absolutely bananas but it was pushing reasonably hard. Robert was obviously a bit quicker because he was pretty short and then in the last stint I looked after the tyres, got it home and it’s nice when it’s like that. I hoped that it was going to be very boring and it was. It’s good.

Q: How unexpected was the win?
MW: After Friday, I was quite confident that we could go for a victory. Our pace was pretty good, I was a little bit worried about this guy here (Hamilton) because the McLaren, we knew, would do pretty well here with the KERS and he’s also a pretty good driver. We knew he would be a force. Fortunately it was mixed up yesterday and that’s where the foundations were laid, particularly for me and Robert, delivering in those difficult conditions. Again, some cars were different to others, it was not easy to get through, but that’s where the foundations were laid for that type of day today. It didn’t come as a surprise that I had a chance to go for the victory, but it’s always nice with five laps to go that you realise it.

Q: How dry was your car in terms of settings?
MW: Hundred percent. We struggled in Q1, I think, because we all knew that we shouldn’t have run in those conditions. I was lucky to get a lap in which put me through. That was one of the toughest qualifying laps for a long time to get through that session, because I couldn’t believe the pace on my pit board that other people were doing. I thought I’m risking so much here to get through. Thankfully I did, but then when the aquaplaning got lower in Q2, it was a different ballgame and then the car came alive on intermediates in Q3.

Q: Robert, same question: how dry was your car?
RK: Well, we kept 99 percent of Friday’s set-up. Actually we were not really running proper downforce. We were lacking downforce, we didn’t have the proper wings here, so we were already lacking downforce in the dry and especially when it rained, we took a gamble. We hoped for a dry race, we hoped some people would adjust their set-up to the wet conditions, so yesterday I think it was a very good job, especially when Q1 was full of water, I was extremely quick, surprisingly quick. Unfortunately, when the track dried, our pace was not as good. Some people in our team were disappointed about row four, because they thought miracles might happen in every qualifying, like in Q1 when I was third and running very quickly but in changing conditions drivers adapt their driving, the tyres, the pressures, so all in all fourth row was good for me. Today I had a good race.

Q: I understand this result was pretty unexpected, so what will it mean for the team?
RK: I don’t know. I hope they will be on the grid next year. Of course it’s a good result after such a difficult season, which is still not finished. Here we were surprised about which downforce level we should use. We didn’t have it. We had a mixed car: Singapore upgrade with an old front wing. It was very, very tricky and we were just really covering the problems, so I’m very surprised with second place. I was very surprised by the quite slow pace of the top guys in the first stint and yeah, additionally we had water temperature problems after lap eight of the race, so we had to reduce engine revs and it was not easy. I ran most of the race with low revs and tried to keep the car as cool as possible, pulling out of the tow, so all in all I was surprised to be able to keep to Mark and Rubens’s pace.

Q: Lewis, how important was KERS here, particularly for overtaking?
LH: That was probably one of the toughest races I’ve had, not as tough as last year, clearly, but it was good. I think we qualified 18th. We were quite unlucky in qualifying and very fortunate with it being dry today. We had a very good pace, we just stayed out of trouble. KERS definitely helped at the start. If we had the fastest car or as fast a car as maybe Mark here and we had KERS on top we would be light years ahead but KERS, for us, just recovers what we lose in a straight-line because the efficiency of our car is not good at all. But generally today we did a great job, we’ve done a tremendous job to catch up throughout the year and we’re stuck with the car we have. We know it wasn’t the best car, we stuck with it and just kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and we’re doing the best we can and I tell you, there’s not much more if any more we can get out of this car. It’s been a really good learning experience and today was great. I just have to say a big congratulations to Jenson and the Brawn team, great job by them for the whole season. I definitely look forward to having a better car to challenge them next year.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Tom Clarkson – Tom Clarkson & Associates) Mark, how does this win compare to the Nürburgring?
MW: I think the first one was pretty nice, there’s no question about it. It’s nice to get another one, but probably Nürburgring was a little bit better, because it was a big relief more than anything. This one was more of a controlled fashion, I suppose, and although not too dissimilar to the Nürburgring, but I suppose I could only lose this one. I put myself in a very, very good position after yesterday in the first stint to win the race and then I had about 45 laps of getting it home. I went a little bit on the kerbs in a few places here and there and just had to give myself a bit of an uppercut and say ‘mate, just bring it together’ and remind myself that I’m not in tenth, I’m in the lead, so you just control it. It was a pretty good day. Also I just want to add to all the press guys who haven’t come in here but it was a good weekend for a good friend of mine, Jason Crump who won the World Speedway Championship. He’s very, very injured and I’m very happy for him that he’s won the World title and Casey (Stoner) won the motorbikes, so it was a good day for us guys.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Lewis, it’s the first time in 40 years that Britain has had back-to-back World Champions. I wonder if you could offer your thoughts on what this means over the past two years for British motor sport.
LH: I don’t think I have a clue if I’m honest. I think it’s fantastic for our country to have – I think in the last couple of years – such great athletes coming through. It’s been a good couple of years for us, with the Olympics and some seriously good talent coming through. It’s been great for the sport, great for all the fans. I’m sure the fans back home are extremely happy to have two World Champions two years in a row. I can only assume that they are very, very proud, that’s all I can say.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Lewis, would it be fair to suggest to Jenson that he’s only got it on loan for a year?
LH: I don’t know. That’s the plan, for sure. I’m not going to take anything away from his championship. He did an incredible job this year. He kept up the pressure, the pressure was extremely immense for him these last few races and I saw him today and whilst he was trying to keep a cool exterior, I know exactly what he’s going through. I just said to him ‘you don’t have to do it in this race but just keep your cool’ and clearly he did, so I’m very, very happy for him and his family. But I definitely plan on taking it back from him at some stage.

FIA – Brazilian GP Conference 3

SATURDAY POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE – October 17, 2009

DRIVERS:
1. Rubens BARRICHELLO (Brawn GP), 1m19.576s
2. Mark WEBBER (Red Bull), 1m19.668s
3. Adrian SUTIL (Force India), 1m19.912s
TV UNILATERALS

Q: Rubens, you love this circuit. It’s your home grand prix and you love these conditions.
Rubens BARRICHELLO: I do. I do. It is a special time for me. Qualifying is obviously a great time when you go out. If you do have a balance – it doesn’t matter if it is wet or dry – it just feels nice and off you go. There were plenty of strategies. It was A, B, C, D. You never knew what was going to happen next. Come back in, put on a new tyre, stay out. It was so variable but I am so happy. I am very happy. It was a great drive and it may be that we have less fuel than them but it is much better to start at the front and have your own race pace than be towards the middle of the pack. I am very, very happy with the situation and it is great to see that all the people stayed to see it because they went through a heavy period of rain. I was expecting people to leave, but very happy that they stayed to see this.

Q: Mark, welcome back. Top three for the first time since Hungary. Again conditions that you usually revel in as well.
Mark WEBBER: Yeah, it was a very tricky session, especially the first one for both Sebastian (Vettel) and I. The car was quite tricky in the real heavy, wet conditions. We scraped through just and when the track came back a little bit I was much more competitive. We knew that the inters were probably going to come into play in the back part of quali(fying). When I went out I thought ‘woh, this is not too comfortable.’ Then the grip came and the times were quite competitive. I saw that I was going between the top three and pole, third, pole, third and then I would have liked to have another crack at the end there, but my mistake. I think for a lot of guys it is very hard to knit six perfect laps together in those conditions but I am very happy with how I drove in that session. The guys did a great job. As Rubens touched on, it is very difficult to know what to do. A fresh set on inters maybe to get the end of the session home. Tricky, but congratulations to Rubens on his pole here at home and we will give him a race tomorrow.

Q: Adrian, again I have to say you always seem to shine in the wet. We saw you with a few odd angles with the car this weekend and looking like you’ve been driving it on the absolute limit.
Adrian SUTIL: Well, I am always on the limit with this car. You have to be. On Friday it didn’t look great to be honest. In the dry we had a few problems. Therefore I was really hoping for rain the whole weekend and finally I got a lot of rain. We had to wait so long and it was hard to keep the focus up. It was a good session in the end. Q2, with extreme wets, went extremely well. I knew that the balance was right and in the last qualifying I managed to do a good lap in the end and it was enough for P3. Being in the top three is always a great moment and I am so happy that, finally, after such a long wait I am really competitive in the front of the field and it is nice to race here.
PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Rubens, that was an extraordinary qualifying session. You excel in these qualifying sessions, don’t you? It is your sort of weather.
RB: More and more it is amazing and I found it fascinating. I have been using this word again after so many years. After 17 years in Formula One I never got out of the car twice in the middle of qualifying. It was just amazing that things change and you have to be prepared. Then you go out and people are just going mad and then you have to concentrate again and get on the car, so I am very proud of what we achieved today. We were on the borderline in Q2 and we should have gone for intermediates, but we were lucky enough just to make it. I knew the car was competitive. I am keeping my feet on the ground as we have won nothing just yet. We did fantastic today. It is amazing. It is going to be a great night of sleep but we still have to get everything tomorrow.

Q: It is your second pole here, but what does it mean to you being on pole here at Interlagos?
RB: You know it’s obviously great to start from the front. It is a number that goes to the records. What it means to me is that I am doing my job the way I have to. Be as fast as I can, at the front. I am not watching what’s going on on the side. I am just concentrating, focussing on mine, so like I said, I will race as hard as I can to win the race and when the race is finished I will just go on the radio and see where Jenson (Button) and Sebastian finish but it is a great start to the weekend and I am looking very much forward to tomorrow.

Q: Of course, they start 14th and 16th. You must have some thoughts on that.
RB: Well, it is amazing, isn’t it? If you go back and just think that it is an impossible thing to happen. It is impossible to see that Rubens is starting from pole and all of a sudden Sebastian and Jenson are from the back. If you thought that initially then it was impossible, but then the rain came. It is such a lottery and things played in my hand. The best thing is that I have kept quite cool, kept honest and just running as hard as I can. I think everyone of us will have quite a headache as it has been an appalling time. One-and-a-half hours when we said ‘okay, we go out, two laps and then another set.’ But then ‘no, no, we are staying out now for four laps. Oh no, no, come back in. Three laps.’ It has been strategy from A to Z, so it was a lot to think and the team did fantastically well to prepare my car the way I wanted, so I am very happy for the starting position tomorrow.

Q: You say you have those worries and yet we haven’t even got to the weather tomorrow or the potential of safety cars tomorrow.
RB: We saw today… we were not expecting the rain that came down. The worst time of qualifying was when Liuzzi went off. We shouldn’t have restarted qualifying at that time. On that straight, when he went off, I was in fourth gear. You don’t have much pleasure, because of the visibility plus the fact that you are aquaplaning, so you just don’t know what’s going to happen next. But then when the rain came down, it was a good session at the end of Q2 and Q3. I’m sorry for all you guys that you had to wait. I had to wait but I had the pleasure of driving the car after that. It was very much a situation that we need to learn for tomorrow if that’s what’s going to happen tomorrow in terms of rain.

Q: Mark, one better than your Q3 in 2003, but this hasn’t been a fantastic circuit for you in a way.
MW: Well, it hasn’t been too bad, not results-wise, but I enjoy coming here. I think Rubens got pole that year as well. Today was good for us. It was tricky – all the stuff Rubens has touched on, obviously. It was difficult to make the right calls at the right time. We’re very isolated in the cockpit. You obviously only find out where you are each lap when you come round: are you doing enough, are you not doing enough, are you on the right tyre, pushing hard enough, risking enough? Because Q1 was over the edge in terms of conditions and then the start of Q2 got better, obviously – the second part of Q2 – but there were a few times there where obviously it was not really that driveable and a lot of guys survived and some didn’t. Yeah, we’re in a good position. I’m very happy to be starting on the front row and we can hope for some good points off the back of that. Suzuka is really the only time this year that I felt that I missed a big opportunity. The other races sometimes we weren’t quick enough, had a drive-through at Spa, some other things, so I’m happy to be back and it’s five percent of the job done, but a very important five percent done and we start tomorrow in a good position.

Q: Give us some idea of the conditions out there, because we did hear you on the radio saying that there were streams everywhere and standing water.
MW: Yeah, I don’t think it was probably the right thing to start in those conditions. Every driver I’ve spoken to was of the same opinion. Fortunately the right decisions were made in the end but TV drives these things and we’ve got to start on time sometimes. You cannot have a car losing control in the last sector because if that happens we can’t see and you have a sickening crash. We need to have a chance to control the cars and that obviously means accidents will be a lot less. If we are in a much more difficult position to control the cars through the aquaplaning, the standing water was massive and then visibility is also a big thing. We’ve learned today when to drive and when not to. They’re not street cars, they’re Formula One cars. They’re quick, they’re low to the ground and they go off quickly when the car gets it wrong in the conditions. So we’ll make the right decisions tomorrow I’m sure. I’m sure they’ve learned a bit today upstairs (in race control) and we’ll go from there.

Q: From a team point of view, Sebastian is still in contention for the championship. Is there anything you can do to help him; he’s a long way back of course?
MW: At the start, I will back off and pull off straightaway! As I’ve said before, I doubt the situation will arise how we can help each other. To do a normal Grand Prix in itself is generally difficult enough, to get all the ducks lined up. There’s never really been an occasion this year, with the exception of Turkey, where we’ve been together on the track. It’s always been Sebastian up the road a bit or I’ve been up the road a bit: different circumstances. I’m sure that will happen in the next two races. We’ve already seen it’s probably going to happen this weekend. No.

Q: Adrian, 20th and 21st have been your last two qualifying positions here; third today. How crucial was the tyre wear to getting through to Q2?
AS: Yeah, the session was difficult throughout. The first qualifying was definitely on extreme wets. There was so much water you just had to be really careful not to have a spin or something, to drive over the limit. And then there was a long wait. In Q2, there was the cross-over from extreme wets to standard wets. I did my best lap on the extreme wets but you just had one lap and then they started to go off, but it was a clear sign to change tyres for Q3. That’s what we did and it worked out really well, so I’m absolutely happy.

Q: Nice South American connection for you, your father born down here. Are you getting a lot of support?
AS: Yeah, yeah, it feels good to be here in front in Sao Paulo. I like the circuit anyway and for sure there is a good link, close to my father’s country, so there’s a little bit of home feeling here, definitely. As you said, it wasn’t our luckiest circuit in the last two years. Even in the dry here this weekend, I didn’t have such a great feeling. I was really hoping for the rain and I knew in the rain there would be different conditions for me and it happened and turned out really well.

Q: It’s often been said that the Force India car doesn’t have a lot of downforce, and yet in the wet you need downforce. How do you reconcile that?
AS: Yeah, we don’t have enough downforce, that’s absolutely true. That’s why we were struggling a little bit in the dry on Friday. The wet is a condition I really like and maybe I just get 100 percent out of it all the time. I don’t know. Over the last few years, I think everybody could see that I was always much better in the rain than in the dry. Well, when the car was not competitive enough. At Monza we could do it in the dry as well. If you have a problem with the car, if the balance is not right, it’s normally much better if you have rainy conditions and then you are a bit slower in the corners and you can put in much more feeling. If you have a good feeling, if you risk a little bit more than the others, you can be in front.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Alberto Antonini – Autosprint) Rubens, you have driven so many cars under different regulations over the 17 years of your career. Do you think that these cars are trickier than the ones that you started with?
RB: No. I think that the cars were very tricky when we had the grooved tyres, they were very tricky. It was said that, in the first place, when we put the grooves on, we lost sixty percent of grip on the front and only forty at the rear, so to set up the cars, you had a lot of understeer at low speed, so you had to make up for that, and they were tricky. Those cars, 2007/2008 – and 2008 we lost traction control – so 2008 was very, very difficult. Now we have less downforce and on a wet track we put the same tyres as last year and that’s why we need good decisions as to what time we’re going out and so on, because cars aquaplane a lot with the lack of downforce, but I wouldn’t say that this car is any trickier than last year, for example. I think they are a lot safer than when I started, obviously, because of all the rules for the head protection. So many things are much better now.

Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Rubens, do you think that today’s pole is the most special pole of your career?
RB: Well, the most recent is always the most special one. You can see, I am very happy, but I am keeping my feet on the ground. I’m sure we’re going to go out there and people are going to be over the moon, as if we had won the race. I just want to keep it very, very steady. I’ve done great today. I don’t think we had the car to be on pole, especially in the wet, so it may be that we have less fuel than our competitors. But in any case, that’s the rules right now. Next year we qualify without fuel and having said that, it was a great lap, it was on the maximum that I could achieve from the car, so I’m delighted with that, but, like I said, steady. I would love to start from the front, so here I am and now I have no-one in front, so I can have a perfect race. But again, keep my feet on the ground.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Earlier on, Rubens, we saw your children on the TV; is it the first Grand Prix that they’ve been in the pits?
RB: No, they’ve been here before. We keep them quite private and that’s why you don’t see them but they’ve been here last year, they’ve been to Barcelona, Monaco. It was great, it was a great image when I was in the car and all concentrated and all of a sudden you could see Eduardo with Silvana and looking at the TV and saying ‘oh, I’m on TV,’ so I will have to bring them down to earth when I go back home but it was a great feeling.

Q: (Ingo Rörsch – Sportbild) Rubens, in the first part of the season, Jenson was usually in front of you. Now, in the second part of the season, you are always in front of him. Can you explain why it has changed?
RB: I’ve tried to explain to everyone that I had some technical problems with the brakes. My brakes were working perfectly but unfortunately, with this car, the way it’s built, I had the rear callipers running too hot and because of that, I couldn’t run the rear wheel covers for most of the time. The balance was not the same. The car was still good but it wasn’t as good as Jenson had it at times. For the past three years I’ve tried the brakes that Jenson were using and I never liked them. We tried and took them off and just before Silverstone we said we should try them again because we’re losing too much time, and then since Silverstone I’ve been using those brakes and I have the same quality of car that Jenson is using, so since then I’ve made a step forward and I’ve been much happier with the whole condition and been helped by the fact that I could use all the aerodynamic devices on the car.

FIA – Brazilian GP Conference 2

FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE – October 16, 2009
DRIVERS AND TEAM PRINCIPALS:
Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari),
Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren Mercedes),
Felipe MASSA (Ferrari),
Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren Mercedes)
Q: Felipe, can we have an update; a progress report. How are you?
Felipe MASSA: Very good. I mean it would be better to be driving the car but I am quite happy that things are going quite well. The recovery was really great, so I can say I am the same as before. In the last three weeks, which was after the second operation, I started to do fitness and I have to say now I am really the same I was before the accident in terms of the physical side. I did the simulator, not really one day, it was 100kms in Fiorano in the 2007 car and it was very good. To be honest, I was pushing, I was not really slow, everything was normal. Even the consistency was good. Everything was really normal and I am really, really happy.
Q: What is the next step. What more do you have to do?
FM: Now I can do everything, like I was doing before. The only big issue is that everything needs to be 100 per cent ready as our sport is a risk sport. We can have another accident. I hope not, but we can. It is better to be 100 per cent ready to recover from another accident. That is why we are waiting a little bit more and it will be better to wait until next year.
Q: What is it like being here and not driving?
FM: Not easy. I have to say I want to be in the car, driving especially here in Brazil. It would have been fantastic to come back for this race. Unfortunately we need to wait a little bit more. It is not very easy to be on the outside just looking and not doing anything, just discussing what’s happening on the test, but let’s prepare everything for next year to be in a good shape.
Q: Stefano, what more can Ferrari do to help Felipe?
Stefano DOMENICALI: Well, I think what we can do is first of all thinking ahead and looking ahead, to have a good car, a better car than this year. That is the thing that is fundamental, surely. Then, of course, working together and trying to prepare himself and see what we can do in terms of his fitness preparation and work with the engineers, the simulator. This is what we can do and what we will do. We know that it seems a long way to go but the first race next year will be much faster than what we all think and we need to do the right thing to be sure that Felipe will be totally 100 per cent ready with the team at that day.
Q: Since the last race you have also announced your other driver for next year. An interesting mix of drivers. How are you going to manage them?
SD: It is more you are trying to put on the table. That is part of the game. We will have a great couple of drivers who know what the main focus is. The main focus is that the team’s interest has the priority. Felipe has been part of our family for many years and he knows that very well. Fernando (Alonso), I am pretty sure, will understand that as that is the nature of our team and they have to respect it and there will be no problem at all.
Q: Lewis, as you have mentioned, you come here in a very different situation to what you have had for the last couple of years. Explain that and how you are taking it.
Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, I would like to say welcome back to Felipe. It is great to see him. I have not seen him since he disappeared on us and it is the first time we have spoken, so welcome back. I think the sport has missed him and I have missed my battles with him, so I looking forward to next year and seeing him back on the grid and having some great fights again. Coming here it is a much more relaxed environment for me. Last year was extremely intense and I am sure it is the same for Felipe now. We can come here more relaxed. For me, at least I can be in the car and I am very happy I can be in the car and we approach it in the sense that it is not we want to win the championship this weekend. It is more or less go out and win the race, have a great race and see what we can do, so it is quite a different approach. A different feeling at least in the team.
Q: Looking back a year ago when you were here for the championship and the outcome of the championship was almost influenced by another driver, although admittedly he was doing his own race, how much does a driver bear in mind there is a fight going on for the championship when he is racing? How easy is it to do that? Is it something you bear in mind at all?
LH: I think when you are on the track and you know that someone is battling, at least for me the way I see it, is you have respect for all the drivers. I would want to make sure I get out of the way and not ruin anyone’s race. It doesn’t have to be for the championship. It can be any race where you are maybe midfield or being overtaken. I know what it is like leading a race and you don’t want to get held up. I always make sure that I do a good job, so the others will do a good job for me. I am sure the drivers are all aware of it.
Q: Martin, what is your driver situation for next year?
Martin WHITMARSH: Again, just before I answer that one. Felipe is behind me and you have only got to spend 30 seconds in his presence to know he is going to be competitive next year. What a tough little guy. He looks in good shape now in fact. I think that is fantastic for Formula One. He drove a fantastic race here last year and put on a real fight with Lewis, so it is fantastic he is back. I am sure it will be an exciting year next year. Regarding our situation with drivers, we are in a different situation. They were very intense races the last two times we have been here. We have got two young, ambitious drivers in our team, Lewis is one of those, and we are going to concentrate on doing the best job we can here and in Abu Dhabi and try and win some races and enjoy it. We will plan for the future and when we have something to announce we will announce it, but here we are loyal to the two race drivers we have and we want to do as good a job as we can.
Q: Are we likely to hear before the end of the season?
MW: No, I don’t think you are now. The end of the season is accelerating upon us. What we are really concentrating on back in Woking is that we are developing an entirely new car with quite an aggressive engineering programme. We intend to start the season much more competitively than we started this one. That’s the priority and in the meanwhile we will see what we can do in these two races. I think that is our concentration. We will concentrate on some of those other issues after the season now.
Q: You can claim a certain amount of interest in the World Championship via the Mercedes link in the back of the Brawn car. Tell us about the effort that has gone into that engine.
MW: I think it is right that we remain impartial in the championship to a degree. We are going to race and do the best job we can, but it is satisfying for our partner Mercedes Benz. They have done a fantastic job over the last few years and for them to be in line to win a championship when we haven’t had such a good season is good news. It is good for them and well deserved. It is an interesting title fight now. It is there to be lost and we know how difficult that can be. It adds a bit of pressure. In a way for the fans it would be great if the championship went down to the last race in Abu Dhabi but on the other hand I am sure there are some of our friends in Brawn who would be delighted to see it finished off here.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, we saw you shaking hands with Fernando. He said yesterday that he wants to talk to you about next year. Have you already had the chance to speak about that and are you ready to give him some advice for the new partnership?
FM: Well, we’ve just shaken hands. I asked ‘how is it going here,’ he said ‘very difficult,’ so no more than that. We haven’t really spoken about next year, but for sure we’re going to have enough time to speak about next year and I hope that we can have a great team and we can have very good results for Ferrari.
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Stefano, what will be the biggest challenge for Ferrari next season? The arrival of Fernando Alonso, building a new and competitive car or adapting to the new rules?
SD: It’s very simple: the biggest challenge is if I can say what Martin has already anticipated: to have a much quicker and more reliable car at the beginning of the season because if we have a good car then I think everything will be reasonably easy to manage. For sure, this is the biggest challenge. We don’t want to live – not just from the technical point of view but also from the human point of view – the year that we have lived this year, so we are really looking forward to being positive for next year. This, for sure, is the biggest challenge.
Q: (Mark Surer – Sky Germany) Lewis, the engine loses horsepower here because of the altitude. Do you think that because of that, KERS is even more of an advantage, can you feel more help from the KERS?
LH: No. Of course we lose power because of the altitude we’re at right now. That power we can’t recover but fortunately the KERS is not affected by the altitude, so it’s the same as before. We don’t have any more of a gain than we do at other circuits but being quite a short circuit it’s good enough here, it’s as good as anywhere.
Q: (Ingo Rörsch – Sportbild) Lewis, if we say the title decision will be open until Abu Dhabi, can you describe the feeling to come to the last race like last year in Brazil and you only have to score points. What will Jenson (Button) feel then?
LH: It’s different for everyone, I think. It’s different for myself, it’s different for Felipe, it’s different for Jenson. I can’t tell you what he’s feeling or what he’s going to go through but for me, I approached it the same… I arrived here quite relaxed, I was in a good mood, I was in good spirits. It was intense when you arrive at the circuit but that’s just your competitiveness coming out. It was just about balancing your mind and your focus and really looking after your energy and doing the best job you can do. Every race is different, so I can’t say how it’s going to be for these guys.
Q: (Heiko Wasser – RTL) Felipe, first of all, we are happy to see you here. You’re doing the chequered flag job on Sunday; I hope you will get the first one. We’ve seen different scenes here in the past. Would you prefer to show the chequered flag to a red car or to a Brazilian driver? And who do you think is going to be World Champion?
FM: Well, for sure it will be a pretty difficult job for me to do the chequered flag. We at Ferrari are definitely not in a very great position this year. I hope I can show the chequered flag to our team but I hope that Rubens (Barrichello) has a chance to fight for the championship. For sure, if I give the chequered flag to Rubens finishing first I will be very happy. It would be very good for Brazil. After that, we want our car to be first in the race.
To be honest, Jenson has a greater chance in the World Championship. He has a good possibility to score not a lot of points and still be World Champion. I think he has the best possibility to win the championship. Rubens’s case is very difficult but as I told him before, he doesn’t need to think about anything, he just needs to think about winning the race and the result will be what it will be. It doesn’t depend anymore on just Rubens, it depends more on Jenson. I think Jenson has a greater chance.
Q: (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) It’s for Lewis and Felipe: last year you only had to come fifth to seal the title ahead of Felipe. Martin, you decided to perhaps take a more cautious approach to the race. Perhaps you could answer this question too. What would your advice be to Jenson and Brawn: would you say to really go for it and get the title won or would you just say take it easy, take it steadily and get the points in the bag and seal the title?
MW: I think it’s different for everyone but here, last year, we took a relatively defensive strategy and it turned into a very difficult race for us, for all of us. I think it’s a balance. I think that’s what racing drivers are generally pretty good at, assessing the risk benefit, probably better than most humans. I think that he doesn’t have to go all out and win but if you get too defensive, then I think it can hamper your natural flair and flow. For Lewis last year, the team had made some mistakes in the previous year. I think we went flat out when we didn’t need to and Lewis was new at that time. We should have guided him better and so after what happened in 2007, I think there was an enormous amount of pressure, probably a little more so than even with Jenson. But I think the right thing is that they probably can’t be too defensive, it’s very, very competitive in Formula One now. He needs some points and I think if he just does the job normally with the car that he has, with the points’ advantage that he has, he ought to win the championship and he ought to be able to win it here, but anything can happen. We will see. Undeniably there is a lot of pressure on him but he shouldn’t be too cautious.
FM: As I said before about Rubens, you don’t need to care too much. He just needs to do his job, trying to win, and the second result which is Jenson’s doesn’t depend on Rubens. He just needs to try to win and score as many points as possible. I think on Jenson’s side, he just needs to try his best, for sure, not be banging wheels with other cars, that’s the most important thing, not to be too aggressive in terms of overtaking. But he needs to push, otherwise people will catch him and try to overtake and then he’s at risk of finishing outside or whatever. He needs to push, but needs to be careful when it comes to fighting.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere dello Sport) Lewis, Felipe said some days ago that the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix should be cancelled. What do you think about this?
LH: You should ask him. For me, there are 17 or 18 races in a season. There are lots and lots of ‘what ifs?’ What if this happened, what if that happened? That’s all you can really say. At the end of the day we had a great race, it came down to the last race, we had a great season, a great battle and I came out on top. There’s not really much to say on that.

FIA – Brazilian GP Conference 1

THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE – October 15, 2009

DRIVERS:
Rubens BARRICHELLO (Brawn GP),
Jenson BUTTON (Brawn GP),
Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Gentlemen, first of all questions to you all. Are there any particular preparations you have made for this race? Who would like to start? Sebastian. You have prayed for rain obviously.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yes, successfully today. No, we will see. Nothing special really. I have been here a couple of times and I like the circuit. It is up and down but preparation-wise nothing special.

Q: Jenson?
Jenson BUTTON: Not really. I’ve been spending a few days in the sun which is quite nice before coming here. I arrived here on Tuesday to get used to the time zone but it is really strange with the weather. Tuesday it was cold, yesterday it was really hot and today it is raining. It is very up and down with the conditions and it is going to be the same for the weekend. There is a very good chance of rain but also there is the possibility of it being dry, so it’s a tough one. It’s the same for all of us and I am sure we will make the best out of every situation.

Q: Rubens? A few laps with the children?
Rubens BARRICHELLO: I have been spending my time booking churrascarias for friends of mine. I got into Brazil on Tuesday morning after Japan, so just my normal life. Exercising, picking up the kids from school and just being at home exercising nicely. It was a day off last Monday, so we had time to stay away from Sao Paulo a little bit more which was good.

Q: Any particular efforts your team has been making or any modifications coming here?
SV: We had a very good package for Singapore. If you look at the last two races we have been very competitive even though the circuits are very different to each other. For here we have got another couple of things in the bag. As you have probably seen from Japan, Mark (Webber) tested another kind of front wing, so it should be another step forward, so it should be good.
JB: We have got a few changes which should help us here. It should help us around a circuit like this quite a bit. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but in Suzuka we were very quick in sectors two and three. In qualifying I was actually purple but the first sector we struggled massively. Mid-speed changes of direction we really struggled and that’s where we lost all of our time in Suzuka. But the changes that we have got for this race should help out a little bit but also the areas that are crucial on this type of circuit should be a good step forward.
RB: It is good. We know where the problem was the last few races, so we kind of addressed the problems and the track should suit us very well. The weather is the only thing that we should pay attention to but I am quite optimistic for the home grand prix.

Q: All of you have got races that you look back at and think ‘if only such and such hadn’t happened’. Do you do that as the championship gets tighter and tighter?
SV: It doesn’t help. I mean, it’s done. Looking back I had five races where I didn’t finish, so of course it doesn’t help. But we cannot change it now, so nothing to regret. I think it is still a good season for us, the best one we have ever had, so very positive and we can still do it. Of course it is a couple of points in between us and the leader but anything is possible and we are here to win.
JB: I think it is the same for all of us. That’s the way it is over a 17 race season. There are races which you are very happy with and other races which you are not. As Sebastian said it is all in the past and it is about making the most out of the next two races. There are the most important two races for all three of us this season and I am coming into this race looking forward to it. This is a circuit I enjoy. After here we have Abu Dhabi which is new for all of us, so it is going to be a challenge. But there is no point looking back. Mentally I don’t think it is good looking back. I think it is better to look forward and that is exactly what I am doing.
RB: Since I have changed my brake material for Silverstone I have been very happy. In terms of performance it has been quite good and I am just driving a car that I think has been very fast and consistent. The season showed ups and downs for everyone. I think Brawn is the one that when it has been down it has still been okay. I have been very happy. The second part of my season has been quite good and I just hope I can keep it on.

Q: Sebastian, it is a big mountain to climb. Two wins. Surely the pressure is great or would you say the pressure is not great at all?
SV: I mean the only thing I can do is win. The pressure is on the two people in front of me. For me it is pretty straightforward. You don’t have to be a genius to work out that from now on we simply have to win the two races and hope that those two mess it up.

Q: And after Japan are you riding on the crest of a wave?
SV: I think so. Both the last two races, Singapore and Japan, were very good for us. Obviously, Singapore should have been a bit better but it is in the past now and I am just hoping those three points are not missing in the end. But we will see. Japan, obviously, was fantastic for us. The car was great all weekend, so looking forward to the next two races.

Q: Jenson, has it been car confidence? Has it been this change mid-corner or has it been starting behind Rubens? What has been the problem over the last few races?
JB: The last race was obviously difficult because of the starting position and the mistake on Saturday with the yellow flags and in Singapore the qualifying was difficult. We were trying to find the maximum from the car but we went a little bit too far and the car was running a bit low and I hit the brakes and locked up. But the race pace has been very good. I think I have got the most out of the car, what there has been to take in the races and the pace has been good especially in Singapore. But it is always very difficult when you are starting far back. It is very difficult to overtake these days in F1 and every opportunity there is to make a move I have made this season. But starting where I did made it very difficult for me to pick up good points. But the couple of races before that I was happy with the car, I was happy with the balance and the results were reasonably good, so coming into the last two I am reasonably positive. I have a good feeling with the car and our upgrades should help us quite a bit. We will see what happens. Sebastian is saying the pressure is on us. I don’t think that is quite the case. It is the same for all of us. We are all excited about the next two races. It means a lot to us for sure. We are all fighting for the championship. It is the first time I have been fighting for a championship in F1, same for Sebastian and maybe the same for Rubens, so it is an exciting situation to be in but I am the one that has got the lead.

Q: You are team-mates but at the same time rivals with Rubens. Here you are in his backyard with tens of thousands of his closest friends. Aren’t you going to be the villain as it were here?
JB: No, I don’t think so. If we were people that didn’t get on and we hated each other’s guts I think it would be a very different situation. We have worked well over the last four years we have been working together and this year is no exception. Rubens beat me in Silverstone, in my home country, and I would like to do the same to him here. It is a nice feeling when you get beaten by your team-mate in your own country.
RB: Not.
JB: But I think they understand the situation and we are all fighting for something that is far greater than we have achieved in the past. I think they will respect that.

Q: Rubens, is people power an advantage or a pressure? They are all expecting so much of you and they have been thinking that for years.
RB: It has been a long road coming to Brazil and at the beginning, feeling the pressure but learning, more than anything, how to deal with it and changing to get that positive energy and just using that to your advantage. I feel so great to be here. It is really nice and like I said, for me it is a winning year already. I put my hands into the sky to thank for the car I have and for the wins that I have and for the chance I have to win in Brazil. Something that I have been dreaming of for a long, long time, so hopefully the car will be back into the performance that we wish. The second part of the season has been a little tough in terms of getting the performance, especially because the Red Bulls and some other cars are going quite fast but hopefully here I can just put everything out and go for the win as I need it and because I want it so badly.

Q: So is wet weather a good thing for you?
RB: The wet weather has always been good for me. Looking at the forecast it looks like Friday and Saturday could be quite wet and Sunday a little bit better. That’s the first impression that we have. I think the Red Bulls are quite fast on the wet and we could be a little bit better in the dry but having said that it is all the same for everyone and we have got to be prepared for the situations.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Germany) Jenson, it has been kind of a strange season. You have won six races but the last one goes back to Turkey. Since then you have more or less kept the distance to the other. How is it going towards the end and having not won for a long time but still having that lead?
JB: As I said this is not a one race series. It is 17 races and as you’ve said I’ve kept the lead over the last few races. If you look after Monaco I had a 14 or 16 points lead, I cannot remember what it was, and I still have a 14 point lead now. If I knew I would have the same lead after Monaco I would have been very happy at that point of time. I am not in such a bad situation. That’s it.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – APF) Would you say that you have been controlling the whole season?
JB: I have not purposely gone out to finish in the points but not win the race, for sure. I go out to get the best out of the car at every race that I compete in. I have led the championship all the way through the season, so it is a different situation to the people chasing. It has to be. They need to be more aggressive than I am. I don’t want to just finish in the points. That has never been my objective but there are situations that you don’t want to put yourself into and you can have an accident. You have got to be a bit cautious in some areas but also in other areas you need to be aggressive, otherwise you are not picking up points at all. I think I have had a reasonably good balance of that.

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, firstly how do you rate Sao Paulo for your car and, secondly, do you think Mark could be helpful for you in the battle for the championship with the trial he made in Suzuka and the fact he is no longer in the race?
SV: This circuit should suit us. You still have a lot of corners where you need the downforce and it seems that is our strength, so we are looking forward to it. On the other hand you don’t really know what to expect as this year has been very much up and down. You have seen different teams at the top. I think this weekend the teams with KERS will be also very strong as you have got places when you a have a steep uphill and you need the acceleration. It will be exciting to see that. For your second question, I think first of all it is a good thing not to have the situation they (Brawn) are facing, they have to race each other. It is a shame for Mark that he is not any more in the race for the title, but we are a very strong team. We are working together hand in hand and I think if the situation should come up, then I think he is the last one to deny any help.

Q: (Ian Parks – The Press Association) Rubens, you announced earlier in the week that you were in discussions with Williams and you’re also speaking with Brawn. Is it a distraction having to discuss your future while you’re trying to fight for the title and is it also a disappointment that you’re having to look for another team potentially, despite your best season in Formula One with Brawn?
RB: It was a distraction last year when I got here and I had no jobs; that was a distraction because it was tough going in not knowing if I could come back, wishing that I was there all the time. So to be able to talk to teams and just to see myself in a competitive car next year is all I wish. My focus has been a long, long time into this season. In a way I’m so proud that after the race in Silverstone I have kind of turned things around a little bit and I was able to really get a lot of speed out of the car, with the car working for me as well. So no, I’m fine, it’s no distraction, it was really a distraction last year to see if I had to consider it as my last race or not. I didn’t want it to be, but things were tougher than they seemed to be.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, you have used all your eight engines; which kind of engine are you going to use here? Have you already chosen at the previous race? It could be a handicap.
SV: I don’t know exactly which one; one of the ones that we have left. I think the last couple of races were good for us, because it was often wet on the Friday, for instance Spa or Suzuka, and in the wet you have less running, so everyone does less mileage and so did we. So we saved mileage without paying too much of a price. So it shouldn’t be a problem here. Interlagos has always been a circuit that in dry conditions is improving quite a lot. On top of that, we don’t know if it will be wet or dry, so we will see how much and how many cars are running tomorrow. But it shouldn’t be a problem.

Q: (Joris Fioriti – AFP) Jenson, do you think you would have been able to control the season this way five years ago – in other words is it thanks to your maturity or your experience that now you have been able to be in such a good position?
JB: It’s always a difficult question to answer because I wasn’t in this situation five years ago. In 2004, we had a pretty good season with BAR. We were the best of the rest after the Ferraris. In that situation, we had nothing to lose for sure, but the consistency was very good then. I think I got ten or eleven podiums back in ’04, actually more than I’ve got this year so far. But for sure it was a very different situation, because, as I said, I had nothing to lose. I could really go all out because I knew there was no real chance of taking the championship, we could be very aggressive in every race. It’s difficult to know if I would have been the same five years ago. Nobody really knows. I think that people are at their peak at different points in their career. Lewis won the World Championship in his second year in Formula One which you wouldn’t think most drivers could do, so it’s your experience through other formulae and the situation that every single person is in is different. For me, this feels like the right time, for sure, but I’m going to say that…

Q: (MC) You talked about aggression and caution just there; how much has that balance changed this year from the start to now, given the situation?
JB: I think it’s when you’ve got a reasonable lead, you think that you need to be a little bit cautious in certain situations. I think you need to have a balance. For sure you can’t just drive round waving people past, hoping that you’re not going to crash. There has to be a balance there and I think that normally with racing there is anyway, none of us want to crash at turn one, we all want to get through and have a good result, but it’s just making sure that you’re not doing anything stupid and maybe a little bit out of character. It’s nothing extreme, it’s just different than maybe I would have thought five or six years ago.

Q: (MC) But have you been aware of that balance changing throughout this season, as it’s progressed?
JB: Probably a little bit more, I think, when you get a bigger lead, I think it changes a little bit. It’s not suddenly night and day, it’s the smallest of margins, but as I’ve shown in a few races of late that I’m not just going to sit back and hope for the best result. For example Monza with Heikki (Kovalainen), with (Robert) Kubica at the last race. You need to make the moves when you can and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

Q: (Thierry Wilmotte – Le Soir) Rubens, you’ve experienced a lot of bad luck in your races at Interlagos. Firstly, are you thinking about this bad luck this year before the race, and secondly, what are your best and worst memories of this Grand Prix?
RB: Well, first of all I don’t believe in bad luck. I just think that this is… there was a famous phrase from a driver saying that ‘the more I work, the more luck I have.’ It depends on your work and all the problems that I’ve had here in Brazil have sort of been human failures. I’ve actually gone off a few times, so for me it’s not bad luck that I finish a race without fuel in the car. I don’t believe that is bad luck, so I’m fine. I think in life we have what we plan or what we dream, so I have all the possibilities to have the best race of my career here and now and that’s what I’m prepared to do. Obviously, I don’t live in the past and like I said, I don’t care about the results in the past. I care about what I can change and maybe next year you come here and you see that it’s very positive and then you won the race and this and that, so for me it’s more on those terms.
I have plenty of good memories here, because, if you remember, I qualified in the top three with the Stewart and I remember all the people coming down the tribunes. I finished on the podium with the Ferrari. I have plenty; sure, I wish I had won here already but I have really good memories, and I feel that I drive well on this circuit, so it’s just a matter of time for someone who works.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Rubens, you’ve known Felipe Massa for a very long time. It’s seems that since he’s been on the sidelines looking at Formula One from a distance he’s become a lot more outspoken, he’s been talking about his new team-mate recently, saying that he suspects he knew more than he’s been letting on about Singapore. He’s been saying that he was robbed of the championship, he’s been saying that Jenson might bottle the championship. I wonder if you think that he’s changed at all since his absence?
RB: No, I don’t think he has. I think he’s been the same person and all my wishes, when I was at the hospital, were that he was the same guy. And after I saw him with my own eyes and I saw that he was the same, I wished that he could drive the same way, and he went to Fiorano and did that. From all the people that I’ve spoken to and to himself, it looked like he got into the car and on the third lap he was on the pace. But there is one fact that in Formula One if you’re not travelling with everyone all the time and not hearing what the same people are talking about, you just get different ideas and maybe you’re flying on your own ideas. He’s been out for a month and then he comes back in and talks about something and it becomes a lot more important, so it’s not like what we hear every fifteen days or sometimes every week, we talk about the same things and we’re prepared to talk about the same things that you guys are talking about for the whole week. So maybe that’s what causes us to be so much more… for us to give it so much more importance to what he says, but for me it’s just the fact that he’s been out and not living the world that we’re living in.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Jenson, do you feel anything different in yourself when you wake up and know that this weekend you can be World Champion, and, if it’s easier to control your emotions when you are inside the cockpit?
JB: Well, I woke up very happy this morning. I had some pretty good dreams. So I woke up with a smile on my face, sweating, yes. No, I woke up happy and looking forward to the weekend. I don’t think it adds to pressure, knowing that you could win the World Championship that weekend. I think it adds to the excitement, for sure. It’s not a negative, it’s a positive. I’m excited about the weekend, as I’m sure these two are. Inside the car? I don’t know. I haven’t got in it yet. On the way in, I didn’t have any unusual excitement, but we’ll see tomorrow. The exciting thing about this weekend is the weather: it could be wet, it could be dry, so it’s going to be important to make the right decisions over the weekend and not make it too complicated.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) If I could just ask Rubens and Jenson: leaving aside your own personal battle, it looks almost inevitable that you’re going to win the Constructors’ Championship this weekend. I wonder if you could just say a few words on just how extraordinary that is for a team in its first season, given what happened in January and February.
JB: It’s an amazing story and it is a Hollywood movie, for sure. If it happens. It’s not a hundred percent yet. I would like to say that it is but it’s not. Taking us out of it, not talking about ourselves, I think the team has been through a lot this winter and it’s not just whether they could compete in Formula One, it’s whether they had a job that could pay for their kids’ school and what have you. It was a very difficult situation for them over the winter and I think a lot of them found it very tough but they had good leadership and that’s what counted and it gave them hope and it gave them a positive outlook for the future. In the end, we got the deal done and we were able to come racing. I think when everyone saw the car drive for the first time in Barcelona they were very surprised by the pace of the car. They had obviously worked very, very hard over the winter but nothing went wrong. Everything that could have gone wrong didn’t. It was perfect, a perfect test. The bodywork – everything fitted together just so nicely, there was no burning bodywork after the first running in practice, the reliability of everything, it was just a perfect first test and you don’t get those tests unless the season is going to be good. So if we come away with the Constructors’ Championship this season in the first year of Brawn GP, I know it’s not a completely new team and there are a lot of very experienced people in the team, but it will be a very emotional moment for everyone, as it was in Australia when we finished one-two. It’s the first time I’ve seen Ross (Brawn) speechless and if it is going to happen here or in Abu Dhabi I think it will the same situation. Ross has achieved so much in this sport, but to win a championship with his own team is far greater than what he’s achieved in the past, I think. And that goes for everyone within the team. They’ve worked so hard with this team, whatever its name was in the past, they’ve worked very, very hard and they deserve whatever we achieve this season.

Q: (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Similar question to Alan’s: you were talking about the team effort from Brawn, and in that sense, Jenson, would you be able to comment if the title went to Rubens, and Rubens, if it went to Jenson would you able to comment on why it would be deserving, because you guys have both been battling for a long time and I guess both of you would like to win the title?
JB: Wow, that’s an interesting question. If Rubens won the championship I would absolutely hate him! We come here for one thing only and that’s to win the World Championship. That’s our aim in life since we were an eight year old kid or even younger. Your aim is to be the best and to win a championship in Formula One over a season. That’s what we’re all here to do. We are working well together and I think we’re good friends, aren’t we?
RB: Yeah, just here.
JB: Just a little bit. But you come here to win with very competitive people, and if Rubens won I would be very disappointed, for sure. But I would also respect the fact that he did a better job over the 17 races and I would also respect the fact that he’s worked as hard as I have or maybe harder in that case and he’s the better driver over those 17 races.
RB: I think it makes the situation a bit more comfortable because, like Jenson said, we haven’t won the Constructors’ just yet but I believe that it’s very, very close and it should be done, and hopefully this weekend. And by doing that, we have this feeling that we’ve both worked for that, and it’s what we’re giving to the team and the team gave us. So in the other championship, we just have to work for ourselves to win, like Jenson said, we don’t want to lose the chance. I feel that particularly it’s my very first chance, that I really have the chance to… it was put this way, somebody gave me the chance to go for the title and win myself. So for me it feels comfortable that we are working hard to beat each other, but it’s comfortable for the fact that we both work very well together for the Constructors, so the team should be very happy and proud with that.

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