Bob, there seems to be a perception that the team's season has tailed off in the second half. Do you agree?
Bob Bell, Technical Director: Although we lost second place in the championship to BAR after the last race, we are very confident in our ability to regain that position. We have not scored as many points as we would have hoped to in the second half of the season, but I think this actually belies the fact that our package is extremely competitive at the moment: we have had some small reliability glitches, but also our fair share of bad luck and racing incidents We did not expect to be as strong in Monza as Fernando proved to be, and we continue to make good progress with both the chassis and the engine. The R24 is definitely good enough to achieve the goal of taking second place: while BAR have the edge over us at some circuits, we hold an advantage at others - and we believe we are heading to some circuits where we can demonstrate our strengths.
Will you be running any new developments in China?
BB: We will run new front and rear wings for this race, and also introduce two new lightweight chassis that we have tested successfully at Monza and Silverstone, all of which represent a useful step forward in terms of performance. The new chassis is part of our on-going weight reduction programme aimed at optimising the car's performance, and the fact that we are introducing such major developments at this stage of the season indicates how hard we are pushing to regain our position in the constructors' championship. I said at the start of the season, that we expected the championship battle to come down to a matter of several points at the end of the season, and it has turned out exactly that way.
Could you tell us a little about the motivation of the team at Viry to regain second place in the championship?
Rob White, Engine Technical Director: The battle for second place in the constructors' championship will go down to the wire. There are still fifty four points to play for and to win back second place, we need to score four points more than BAR in the three races to come. At this stage of the season, we know that we have the performance to score points on all types of circuit and to fight for podiums on those that favour us. The team will focus its efforts on getting both cars to the end of the races and extracting maximum potential from them. If we are able to make the most of all our opportunities, we can certainly fight back to second in the championship.
Will engine development continue for the final three races?
RW: The RS24 continues to evolve. The main elements of the engine are now fixed to the end of the season, but there are still small improvements to come. Reliability remains the first objective: we must work to minimise the risk of new incidents. We will continue to work to improve the performance, in order to capitalise on the results test work completed at Viry. The individual demands of the final three circuits will contribute to the definition of the performance spec.
China is a brand new circuit: how much work can you do to prepare for its challenges?
RW: The race in China will be interesting for everyone - a new event in a fantastic country with unique culture. The Shanghai circuit combines elements similar to other circuits on which we race, so along with analytical and simulation work, the teams should be able to be well prepared. In terms of duty-cycle, Shanghai sits in a group with the majority of circuits we visit, so is not a high duty-cycle circuit like Monza or Spa, but not a low duty-cycle like Hungary or Monaco. Defining and verifying the operating conditions for the engine is an important part of our preparation, and will allow the drivers to use the engines to their maximum potential according to the demands of the particular circuit. In concrete terms, this means estimating the duty-cycle based on previous experience, and then dyno testing to simulate the conditions of the race weekend.
