Q: Jarno, today Olivier Panis announced that he is not going to be driving as a race driver again with Toyota and for some reason the world seems to think that you’re going to be filling his place. Could you just tell us how sure you are about your place for next year because I have a feeling you’re not going to tell us where it’s going to be?
Jarno Trulli: At the moment I haven’t made any announcement and all I can say is that I will be driving next year - I have a contract – but obviously I am going to have to wait before I can announce it.

Q: Is it going to be rather different from where you’ve been in the past? Is it going to be a rather different challenge?
JT: It will always be Formula One and I will always be challenging for a top position.

Q: In Spa we saw you have a most unusual race where your performance was definitely not up to the standards that you set for yourself and we understand that there may have been something wrong with the car. Can you just go back to that race and tell us what you’ve discovered since the race about what was wrong with your equipment?
JT: Well, to be honest I struggled all weekend to set up the car. I hadn’t been quick until Saturday when it was wet for qualifying. I actually have to say that I was also somehow lucky during qualifying because I took the gamble to use intermediate tyres and then we took a good decision, together with the team. It paid off in qualifying. The pole position was a bit of a surprise. Then on Sunday, when I started the race, I wasn’t so confident because on Friday I wasn’t very quick. But for whatever reason, the first ten laps the car was literally flying. It was really good, as I never had it before. And then after the stop I was struggling again. We didn’t find anything on the car and so we struggled to understand what the problem was and even after, during the race, I was thinking what has happened and looking back, I struggled to understand if anything happened on the car or if anything happened to me because when I analysed the race I can tell you exactly the feeling, what the problem was, but when you don’t see anything you can understand, that’s the worst thing you ever saw.

Q: So it’s not something you can attribute to the chassis. Are you using the same car again this weekend?
JT: To be honest, I don’t know, I don’t think so. I think probably we have changed chassis but to be honest I haven’t checked which chassis I have or which Fernando has. I just don’t understand.

Q: What are your hopes for next year? It’s difficult asking the question since none of knows where you are going next year. I wonder if we could ask you what your feelings are about next year, whether you feel you will be in contention for the World Championship?
JT: As far as I know, if I will be driving, I will be driving to win races. That is my target, that’s my goal. There is some work to do as everywhere and everything. I would just like to have a good team with a lot of support from them which makes me work well and improve the car and try to get close to Ferrari which at the moment is the team to beat. We don’t know anything about next year because we don’t know who is going to be quick or not. We presume that Ferrari will again be the team to beat together with Michael Schumacher. Motivation is always high on my side, especially now because I think I am on top of my career, the top of my experience so I think it’s time to use it.

Q: Have these last few races with Renault been difficult for you - because you are on the record as having said that some peculiar things have happened with the handling? Do you feel a bit despondent, a bit worried about going into these last four races, or can you put yourself into a positive frame of mind?
JT: I’m always positive. I think every race is a different story. I couldn’t believe I would be on pole in Spa and I did it. I just think that I’ve had some bad times, some luck, some mistakes, but things always turn around and I believe that the last races, anyway, will be difficult because we know that we’ve got McLaren coming up very strong and Williams is always there, BAR is always there so as a team, Renault, we are going to have to push very hard if we want to keep second position in the Constructors’ championship. On the other hand, I am absolutely confident with Renault and I would like to finish on top.

Q: I’m sure all of us are interested in how your hair has changed a bit this year and now you’ve shown up here with a beard. Of course, you got married recently. Is growing a beard something you wanted to do but didn’t dare to do until after you got married.
JT: (Laughing) No, no, no. Everything is alright. Long hair was the new look. This beard is because I didn’t have time to shave.

Q: For two weeks?
JT: It’s just one week. I wanted to shave yesterday but I had the football match and I was late, so at the end of the day I didn’t do it. I will do it for tomorrow.

Q: Promise?
JT: Yes.