Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [Pit-Radio] CAN - FIA Thursday press conference

FIA Thursday press conference
 
DRIVERS: Enrique BERNOLDI (ARROWS), David COULTHARD (McLAREN) and
Michael SCHUMACHER (FERRARI).
TEAM PERSONNEL: Craig POLLOCK (BAR) and Bobby RAHAL (JAGUAR).
Q: First of all, do you feel that the performance from Monaco can be
reproduced in the following races?
Bobby RAHAL: Well, we'll see won't we. Obviously Monaco was a great
event for us. Eddie did a very good job I thought. The team did a good
job. What relevance that will have to here or the rest of the year is
a bit unknown at this stage. We tested at Magny-Cours, the test went
reasonably well, but again you hate to draw too many conclusions from
any one specific test or what have you. We feel probably much better
about our possibilities here after Monaco than we would have say a
month ago or two months ago. Until we really get going, you hate to
make too many statements one way or the other. 
Q: What's the situation regarding Adrian Newey as it stands now?
BR: The situation is now different from what was reported the other
day. Naturally our legal team is pursuing all options at this stage.
We have a Queen's Counsel has declared it a binding commitment and so
we feel we have a contract of sorts, whatever the terminology that you
want to use, it's legally binding. I guess we probably we haven't seen
the end of this story for some time. Stay tuned. 
Q: What's the next move?
BR: Our legal team is pursuing various options at this point in time
and we'll see what happens over the course of the next several months,
probably. 
Q: Can you be more precise about what he has or hasn't signed?
BR: I don't want to get into the semantics, but it is a legally
binding agreement, very specific in detail. That probably best
describes it. 
Q: How long had you been working to get Adrian?
BR: Probably since I showed up on the scene as you might imagine. 
Q: So you don't want to let go?
BR: I don't think we should. 
Q: Do you feel that engineers' contracts should be looked at by the
contract recognition board, as drivers' contracts are?
BR: We talked about it in Austria. There's an interesting quote here
from Ron. Basically he said "It does not matter how big a company is,
or whether it's an employer or an employee. When you enter in a
contract agreement, or an agreement that is effectively a contract,
they should honour it unless the parties agree to end it or change it.
Those are the only circumstances in which it is correct." And I really
couldn't agree more with that, as you might imagine. I think it makes
some sense. But it's difficult to know whether you can do that or not,
because it's a free market. That quote was specifically about the
Brunner situation where Paul Stoddart is quite upset because he's in
the middle of a contract. That's different to this(our situation).
This was following on at the cessation of an existing agreement a new
agreement, and I do think that there should probably be an arbitration
board or what you have to determine these things but again, legally, I
don't know in the end whether that would have much jurisdiction or
not, as to what could actually happen. But certainly I think Ron said
it best. 
Q: Craig, as an employer, what are your feelings about it?
Craig POLLOCK: I can remember Ron saying these words. I think you
should respect contracts. I think if you sign a document, it should be
respected all the way through. I think as an employer, I would expect
my employees to do that, and you tend to treat people the way you
expected to be treated. 
Q: Honda have said that they want to concentrate on one team; have
they said that specifically to you; what's the situation? Are you
worried about it?
CP: I think both teams should be slightly worried about it but no,
they haven't said anything specifically to me on that subject and
obviously they have a binding contract. Until at least the end of next
year. I haven't asked Jordan how long their contract is, or Honda. 
Q: Can you give us more details about your appeal, why it was turned
down?
CP: The FIA very specifically said that there wasn't conclusive
evidence to prove that there was a passing move made. We have to
accept that. We put forward what we thought was a very very good case
and trying to prove, scientifically, that one car had passed the other
before the green flag. Our understanding is that the yellow flag zone
starts at the yellow flag and terminates at the green flag. The FIA
have looked at the footage and have deemed otherwise, so we will
respect the decision of the FIA but it leaves open the case of what
are they going to do if David Coulthard is behind Michael Schumacher,
can he pull up alongside Michael Schumacher under yellow?
Q: How important is this race for you?
CP: It's probably the biggest race of the year for British American
Racing, obviously with Jacques being Canadian and all the Canadians
being behind him. But I think it's like any other race, we're just
here to do our best. Unfortunately up until now, our best hasn't been
good enough so let's just hope the changes are going to be there. 
Q: Enrique. First of all, how much support have you had from
journalists, the team, colleagues after the last race? 
Enrique BERNOLDI: I would say that I had 100 per cent support from my
team, and I got a lot of support from the media and the people. I
think that the race that I did was what I was supposed to do. I was
not blocking, I was concentrating on my race and Monaco is a very
difficult circuit on which to overtake. That's why my chance was much
higher to stay in front of David because I think on another circuit he
would pass me straightaway because I was not so fast there. I would
say that I have had quite a lot of support and I think that in my
opinion, I did what I had to do. 
Q: What about the situation that you were told to stay there for
television purposes, so that your car would appear on TV for the
sponsors?
EB: No. Nobody said anything about this to me. I was in a racing
situation and I just was concentrating to do my own speed. My own
speed was much slower than David but Monaco is a difficult circuit on
which to overtake. I was not there to be on television. I was there to
do my race and to do my job. 
Q: How much did you feel threatened after the race by McLaren's team
principals?
EB: I came out of the car and I was a little bit tired. You know, 78
laps of Monaco, for me 76, it was not so easy and during the early
stages, I had a lot of pressure, almost one hour of pressure from
David so I was a little bit tired. So when I came back from the
scales. Two people like Ron Dennis and Norbert Haug came to talk to
me. I didn't really understand what they meant, you know, because I
was doing my job. I spoke with David on Tuesday and for him now it's
OK, so I didn't understand what they meant saying these things to me. 
 
Q: Did you feel threatened by them?
EB: I think it was not nice. I am a racing driver. I'm doing a sport
here and I didn't do anything wrong, otherwise I would have been
disqualified and I think that people shouldn't come and say those
things to a driver who is just starting in the sport and trying to
build his career in Formula One. 
Q: As someone who wasn't involved in the incident at Monaco, at what
point does a driver stop do what he's paid to do and let another
driver past?
Michael SCHUMACHER: I think Enrique did, as he said, everything right.
He wasn't doing anything against the rules. If I would have been in
the situation, for sure I would have been somewhat frustrated as well,
but then that's the way it is. Sometimes you have to accept these
circumstances, when you can't pass the driver in front then you can't
do it. There is no need to have fifty per cent of people against
Enrique because there is nothing again him. He did everything he was
allowed to do and the FIA is there to judge whether it's right or it's
wrong. They judged it fine and therefore I don't see the argument.
When I heard, only two or three days after the race, that Enrique was
approached by team principal then I had no understanding for that
honestly because they should know the rules and they should act by the
rules and not do what was done.
Q: Coming up to half season last year, it almost seems as though
you've had a harder time this year than last year. To what extent do
you put that down to? It seems Formula One is less stable than it was
this time last year?
MS: That may be your point of view. My point of view is slightly
different honestly. At the beginning of the season last year, we
weren't able to pull away like we did this year. If you look at
Zeltweg last year, we were too slow although this year we were
challenging them(McLaren) but due to strategy we lost the race even
though we were maybe faster. If I look at the consistency, I would say
that we were much better off this year honestly, and much more
competitive. I don't the reliability statistics but I think we're
looking pretty good there as well. But it is tight. But it was tight
last year in the first races. We profited from McLaren not being
reliable basically. 
Q: And then the third quarter was the bad one for you really; how
aware of that as we come up to that situation?
MS: You know you always have your good moments and bad moments in a 17
race season and they come whenever they are supposed to come. The
first one we had in Imola but it won't be the last one. To some degree
David has been lucky in finishing all the races, although he has been
unlucky twice not to take off from the grid. In the end it levels out
to some degree.
Q: You've finished ever single race in the points but you've had these
problems with launch control. Once again, we ask if you're confident
it's now going to work?
David COULTHARD: The problem in Monaco wasn't actually launch control,
it was an engine management something or other. I don't know the
technicalities of it all but Barcelona was launch control and Monaco
was just unfortunate. As I've said before, of all hundreds of starts
I've done using this system, I've only had three failures. One was in
testing and two have been in racing. That's just a bit unlucky but
we've tested extensively again with the system and we're fully
confident we've cured both the problems. 
Q: Now we've heard about the possibility of Adrian Newey moving to
Jaguar at some stage. How does that affect a drive? Does a driver
follow an engineer?
DC: I think that as a driver you look at the whole package. It's not
just a designer, it's the engine, it's the tyres, the budget the team
has, it's a whole host of things. If you look at all of those factors,
you don't have to be a brain surgeon to work out there's a couple of
teams that are better positioned than the others. But it's not on my
mind at this moment in time, sitting back and enjoying the soap opera
that you'll all create and we'll see what the outcomes is at the end. 
Q: At one point I'd heard that you'd call Enrique an idiot for what
happened at Monaco, and at another I'd heard you call him quite a good
little driver who didn't make mistakes; which is the case?
DC: I did call him an idiot. I never said he was quite a good little
driver, no one asked me that question. As it happens I do think he's a
good driver and I think he's doing what he should be doing which is to
go racing. To qualify why I called him an idiot is because I felt that
he was weaving on the track in a way that as a group of drivers we
agreed you don't do. There was a couple of occasions on the track -
and only I can judge this and you can take my word for it - that I
felt were outside the agreement that we have as drivers. As to him
holding his position and going racing, that's fine, that's what we're
all there to do and I respect him for doing that and I do feel for him
that he's got so much flak for doing that. But as an issue between us
as drivers, and something that concerns us all in the GPDA, I think
it's important that new drivers understand the rules of which we go
racing. If you don't have rules, then it becomes a much more dangerous
place for us all to race and I felt there were a couple of occasions
where he went beyond that, and I think he has to learn from that
because it might not be who is behind him the next time, it might be
someone else and it results in an accident which could injure a
driver. That's the main issue. 
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Craig, once upon a time there was a great world champion called
Jacques Villeneuve and you were his manager. Since then you and he
have ended your personal management arrangements and Jacques went off
to join a dead-end team unable to meet any of the sporting commitments
that it made to the sponsors and the press and even to Jacques
himself. If you were his personal manager again, what advice would you
give him to get back in contention for the world championship?
CP: The first thing is to respect his contract. Obviously he has to
keep his eyes open the whole time and do what is absolutely right. At
30 years old he's a big boy and he can make his own decisions. If he
doesn't feel that he has the package today to fight in races
competitively then obviously he has to think about it, but it's not me
as a manager of an adult that's going to tell him what to do.
Q: Craig, his contract says that if you're not in the first three as a
manufacturer then he can walk out, he's said he would do that - are
you worried because it doesn't look as though you're going to be third
this year.
CP: To be third in the world championship we have to beat Williams, we
have to be in front of Jordan. We are behind Jordan, we are behind
Williams, I think the car is competitive enough to get up there, we
are going to improve it - it's up to us to do our job. Our job is to
actually try and give the drivers the best car we can both competitive
and safety wise. We are a young team. We are just getting into our
third season and, when we started, we were competing against the
Minardis, Williams, McLaren - now we're competing against Mercedes,
BMW, Ferrari... it has changed and it's going to get harder for all
the teams, it's not just us. It's going to get harder for Jordan, it's
going to get harder for Jaguar - everybody's putting in extra effort
so to answer the question have we done a good job I don't think we've
done a bad job to get us up there in such a short time. We've done,
actually, a very, very good job but the job is still not good enough
to beat the bigger teams.
 
Q: Bobby, with regard to Adrian Newey's services, what kind of
motivation do you think can be expected of someone who has taken a
step back on his decisions and only after a long dispute?
BR: You've got to remember our contract didn't start until the McLaren
contract ended, which is not until the end of July next year so
there's quite a bit of time between now and then. And seeing just how
much changes in the matter of about 12 hours, I imagine that in 14
months a lot can change in that period of time. To speculate on
motivations and situations between now and then, you could do that ad
infinitum and you would probably speculate incorrectly anyway so we've
got a long way to go between now and then.
Q: David and Enrique - David, where in your opinion was Enrique
weaving at Monaco and Enrique, do you think you were weaving?
DC: I can answer his question first of all, I'm sure he'll say 'no'.
As you go up the hill after turn 1 he let past... I think it was
Rubens... I got my nose in alongside him and I think he would say that
the circuit isn't straight as you go up the hill but to me it was a
definite deliberate move of which he couldn't be sure exactly where I
was and that's something I think we've all agreed as drivers that we
shouldn't do. You can't know exactly where another car is so you
shouldn't make a sudden change of direction. We're not trying to take
away the racing aspect, we're just trying to make it as safe as
possible so we can all have as much enjoyment and success as we can
and we can go home at the end of it. The other place was at Mirabeau
and obviously I tried repeatedly there. I have no problem with him
trying to defend his position but there was an occasion when I
actually had the front of my car inside him and he still cut to the
inside. I think in another situation with another driver that
situation could have resulted in an accident which could have flipped
him upside down. That's my only concern for that, not that he was
racing because that's what we're paid to do.
EB: Up the hill the circuit isn't straight and he came and put his
nose on my rear wheel so I had to get the line to go straight. And in
Mirabeau it was as he said, he came with the nose on the inside but at
one stage I had to turn as well otherwise I touch the rubber on the
outside and I crash. I was late on the turning but he was not
alongside me. I had to turn in to go through the corner. 
Q: Bobby, you used to have a friendship with Adrian Newey, how much
are you personally disappointed with recent matters?
BR: I think that friendship is always based on trust and good faith
and obviously I personally feel that those have been severely damaged
in this situation but you know this isn't a case of being a jilted
lover, I'm a big boy and life has its ups and downs. Sure there's a
disappointment in a personal sense but that's life and you go on
Q: With these calls for a recognition board to start looking at
personnel contracts, why does such a board have jurisdiction over a
driver contract and not for another team member?
BR: You have the rule of law in each country, I don't know why you
need a contract recognition board. A contract is a contract is a
contract and to have a contract recognition board only tells you who
has got the contract, the term totally identifies what the job
description of that board but if you're in England the laws of that
country, England, apply. I don't think you need to have some sort of
body out there and I'm not sure if it has any real kind of
jurisdiction anyway. If it really ever got pressed would it really
have any jurisdiction over the laws of any specific country, and I
think that might be arguable.
CP: I think the contracts recognition board is really an agreement
between the team drivers and the team principals and if they all agree
to respect it then it works and it's an independent party, it's not a
party of the FIA, it's just a place where you register a contract so
that the terms of the contract are known by an independent body.
Whether it would work for other team members, I just don't see it and
certainly in Europe there's no way that it would be accepted.
Q: Craig and Bobby, this was always a special race because on the
Wednesday the crowd came out and had a look at the cars. Because you
covered everything up that didn't happen yesterday that didn't happen.
How do you feel about that?
CP: Covered up what?
Q: People can't see the cars, the open day for the fans was cancelled.
CP: I think we're getting to the stage in Formula One where it's
ridiculous and we're showing nothing. You go into the pit lane in
Monaco and what are we doing? Are we putting on a show? Because that's
what we're meant to be doing, what the sponsors want to do, they want
to see these cars, they want to see Formula 1 cars and not a tent put
over them.
BR: I would agree. Everything we can do to promote interest in the
sport, like free Wednesdays, we should do it because I think someone's
forgetting what we're all about here. 
Q: David, is there too much made by people wanting the team principal
saying that they will put all their weight behind one driver?
DC: I think I've got every opportunity at McLaren to go for Grand Prix
wins but it's not something I go to Ron to discuss - or Mika. How can
worrying about what is a competitor initially help me get the best out
of myself and the car and the people who have to work on making it as
fast as possible. I just channel my energy towards things that I can
influence rather than decisions made by other people. I don't know if
there's too much made of it or not, it's part of our sport so it's
inevitable that there are going to be questions asked about it.
Q: David, you've been here in Montreal since Saturday, is that part of
your preparations for this race?
DC: I came out on Saturday to Jacques' restaurant opening. As I turned
up a little bit late I didn't get the chance to try the food, but it's
obviously popular because when I tried to book a table I was declined
but it looks great... he has some great looking waitresses. TO be
honest I've just been training and keeping a low profile in my hotel
room and enjoying the four-poster.
Q: David, do you think McLaren has an advantage in terms of fuel
consumption?
DC: I think we do but we'll find out when we get to the races when you
really hang it out to the maximum. At the moment it looks like we have
a significant advantage.
Q: Michael, I would like to know your opinion on the driving between
David and Enrique from your role as the president of the Grand Prix
Drivers' Association.
MS: I'm not the president of the GPDA.
DC: He's just 'The President'.
MS: We have these meetings to discuss these things between each other
and I think we had a good meeting in Monaco and for sure we will have
another meeting to talk these things through and I think we should
have these meetings between us. It causes less aggravation.
Q: Team principals, the position of Adrian Newey is now a legal matter
but what is the role of the FIA in this? It seems that the sport has
possibly been brought into disrepute over this, can the FIA rule on it
or take action?
CP: The FIA is a governing body but it's got nothing to do with the
employees of somebody else's company so I don't think they would have
anything to say.
BR: I think Craig's right, I don't think that the FIA has any rights
to become involved in situations like this - perhaps they might do it
in public but I don't think that they have any right to jurisdiction
or to mitigate or to create some kind of body to determine this
outcome one way or another.
 
 
--
Ci vuole un grand'uomo ad ammettere quando ha torto, ed uno 
ancora piu' grande a tenere la bocca chiusa quando ha ragione
- Jim Fiebig -
--
Un Ciao in DO maggiore!           -=) Sbaturzio (=-
Un articolo importante:  
http://www.linux.it/GNU/art_44.html

 racing. ......
Non si riferisce a Montoya vero?!
Ciao.
Lighton.