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

FIA Thursday press conference
 
DRIVERS: Michael SCHUMACHER(FERRARI), Jean ALESI(PROST), Olivier
PANIS(BAR), Jos VERSTAPPEN(ARROWS)
TEAM PERSONNEL: Jean TODT(FERRARI), Ron DENNIS(McLAREN)
Q: Jos, tell us about that front wing you've been running today? Does
it make any difference?
Jos VERSTAPPEN: It seems to make some difference. 
Q: What's visibility like around it?
JV: It's no problem. You can still see very well and doesn't disturb
the view so it's fine. 
Q: Was today the first time you used it? 
JV: No, we checked it in straight-line testing a couple of weeks ago. 
Q: It's not very pretty is it?
JV: I don't care as long as it's quicker, it's fine. It feels like it
has more downforce on the front to me.
Q: Olivier, we always think back to when you won here in 1996; does it
hold a special affection for you?
Olivier PANIS: Not really. I remember 1996 but it's beginning to fade
a little now. We need to continue to work hard and I need a podium
again. It's good to remember, but I like all circuits. I like Monaco
because for the driver it is maybe a little easier to close the gap,
but it's not just this place. 
Q: Were you expecting Jacques, your team-mate, to be stronger than he
is?
OP: Well, for me, Jacques is a very strong driver, he's quick, and the
best thing is that we work very well together. I push him, he pushes
me, it's very positive for the team. 
Q: Ron, inevitably the question about team orders; could you cover
that so that we don't have to talk about it again?
Ron DENNIS: There are none. We have the contractual ability to
instruct our drivers at any stage during the season to follow an
instruction and that applies at the first Grand Prix through to the
last Grand Prix. We will effect judgement in any given situation and
if we instruct a driver to do something we will tell you. There's no
plan.
Q: In terms of launch control, I think you've had some problems; are
you confident it's OK now, are you going to use it here?
RD: The nature of the problem, which I would rather not share with you
does not create any difficulties for us using it here or the last
Grand Prix. 
Q: So the fact that people have been practising them today suggests
that people are going to use them during the race.
RD: I can't speak for the other teams, but we certainly intend to use
them and the reason that you practise them is not to ensure that they
work, it's to ensure that you are constantly able to optimise the
performance of the system, because of course it's designed to give you
the best possible start given the circumstances. So the surface of
circuits vary a little bit, the adhesion of the tyres vary a little
bit, the fuel load that you start the race with can vary according to
how many times you're going to stop. Therefore you're just optimising
it through the weekend. It's not a 'is it going to break system
situation?' We've performed well over 1000 starts, I think, so it's
not a system issue.
Q: Jean, things seem to be going better here. Is it you, the car, the
circuit?
Jean ALESI: It's always the car when you're going well. For sure it's
important for me to have this chance here in Monte Carlo to try to get
the best result as possible, because it's been quite difficult for us
for the first part of the championship. 
Q: It looked so good pre-season, then not so good thereafter. Can you
see it coming back now?
JA: I hope so. For sure the car is different now. We have a new floor,
we have a new front wing and the whole package looks like it's an
improvement, so I hope to have the chance to get the first good result
here on Sunday. 
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yesterday's drivers' meeting?
Michael SCHUMACHER: The main purpose was that we voted for a new
director and as you may know Jarno Trulli is now the third director.
Then we had a couple of internal discussions, certainly concerning
safety and circuits. There were a couple of other things which were
internal. It's good to get together. We even used the opportunity to
talk between ourselves about behaviour on the circuit and so on, which
was very good. There's a good understanding between the drivers,
although sometimes maybe things get a bit hot in the action but at the
end of the day, when we sit together, everybody is very clear and very
straightforward.
Q: What about the incident in Austria with Juan Pablo? Have you worked
out in your own mind what happened?
MS: Looking at it on video, it looks different that what you see from
the internal car view and I rated it afterwards as a normal racing
situation. 
Q: Can you go through the significance of the re-signing of the
contracts with Michael and Rubens?
Jean TODT: Rubens had a three year contract including an option for
2002 and we had to decide whether we wanted to exercise the option or
not. We thought Rubens was good for the team and we wanted to exercise
the option for him until the end of 2002. For Michael, his contract
ended at the end of 2002 and as you know, we renewed the contract of
the key people at Ferrari until 2004 and we thought that Michael was
part of the key people and that's why we extended his contract until
the end of 2004. 
That means Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, Paolo Martinelli, Michael, myself,
we have a contract until the end of 2004. 
It means we have stability. I think in the past, Ferrari paid a lot
for stability, and Ferrari is getting a lot because of the stability.
We know that, we understand that, the shareholders, the president of
Ferrari, they share this point of view and we thought it was very
important. 
Q: Are you confident with launch control for here? Will you be using
it on Sunday?
JT: Yes, I definitely think we will use it. I mean confident? I'm
always a little bit anxious and I was right to be anxious because of
what has happened in Austria, but I think I share the opinion about
the FIA to decide to have these tests after each session. It's very
important. The grip in Austria was a bit unexpected which created some
problems and here, this morning, we saw few problems, so I'm quite
optimistic about the start on Sunday. We will use launch control.
 
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Jean and Ron, do you worry about other people's launch control?
JT: Yes, we do worry about other people's, but there's not much we can
do about other people's. Hopefully they can solve their problems, and
on top of that, I hope we can be in front of them, not to be facing
this problem. 
RD: I certainly to be hope to be in front. But it's just like any
other device on a Grand Prix car. The systems that control a Grand
Prix are quite sophisticated. Sometimes when they are introduced they
take a little time to de-bug but it's not different than any other
component. If it's not correctly utilised or programmed or assembled
then it's going to fail and the difference between this and the other
systems on a car is that it's failing in a position where all the
other cars are involved, the Grand Prix start. But I would think
anybody, and definitely I would put Jordan in this category, if they
do feel they have a problem they will probably do a manual start. I
don't think they would want to risk not starting the race properly.
Everybody has that option and if they don't feel comfortable which
what they have then they should take that position. 
Q: Michael, have you talked about perhaps starting behind the safety
car?
MS: Before we had launch control and all these systems we have been
able to start as well, and here and there, we've had problems and
that's the way it is. Austria was a very exceptional circumstance. It
was good to give the chance to the teams to test here in order to find
out whether they can fix their problem, and I'm pretty sure that
whoever cannot fix their problem will not risk starting with this
system, because they won't finish the race or even start it. So they
will use a manual system and in the past they have been able to start
manually as well. So I'm not really worried and there's no real point
for the drivers to discuss this because we are not really concerned
with this safety for the future. What happened in Austria happened,
but it will not necessarily happen in the future. 
Q: Mr Todt, has there been any change in Rubens's contract for next
year or is he still number two to Michael? 
JT: As I've said before, we have exercised an option, so that means
the contract was already written. The only thing we had to write was
confirmation that we were exercising this option, so that's it. I was
expecting this question even earlier. Rubens is not number two. The
thing is that since Michael and Rubens comprised the team, most of the
time Michael has been in front and being in front, he has put himself
into a priority situation. If, in the future, it happened that Rubens
or Michael's team-mate is consistently in front of Michael, Michael
will have to help the team and his team-mate. That's the way it has
been, and that's the way it will be in the future. 
Q: Mr Dennis, could you confirm that Mika's problem in Austria was his
mistake?
RD: In this instance, it was Mika's mistake, but there were
extenuating circumstances because he had a stalled car in front of
him. This created the unique situation. 
 
 
--
Le donne possono avere bambini, gli uomini possono avere computers...
--
Un Ciao in DO maggiore!
-=) Sbaturzio da casa (=-

 the contract was already written.
...un'altra dimostrazione di affetto! (Il che probabilmente vuol pure
dire che non ci sono $oldi extra per Rubens, nel caso sperasse)
-- 
Alessio F. Bragadini		
ale...@albourne.com
APL Financial Services		
http://village.albourne.com
Nicosia, Cyprus		 	phone: +357-2-755750
"It is more complicated than you think"
		-- The Eighth Networking Truth from RFC 1925