Talking to Pitpass editor Chris Balfe recently, Red Bull managing director David Pitchforth, admitted that despite the speculation, the Austrian company's purchase of the Jaguar Racing team was not 'plain sailing'. Asked how close the talks, and consequently the deal, came to collapsing, and the team going missing from F1's radar screen, along with the loss of several hundred jobs, Pitchforth admitted that at one stage he had begun preparing the redundancy letters.

Thankfully, following some serious hard-ball, the deal was concluded, and Red Bull Racing will line up on the grid in Melbourne on March 6.

Therefore, the atmosphere at the Milton Keynes outfit's Christmas 'bash' was one of great relief, as the team looked ahead to 2005 and a new beginning.

After a most agreeable lunch, and a couple of glasses of wine, team principal Tony Purnell sat down with Autosport.com editor Jonathan Noble, Reuters' Alan Baldwin and Pitpass' Chris Balfe, to air his views on a number of issues relating to the current state of Formula One.

In the first part of this (almost) exclusive interview, Purnell talks about world champion Michael Schumacher, and his impact on the sport. Schumacher's name was first raised when we asked if there was a 'quick fix' by which the racing on a Sunday afternoon might be improved.

"I don't think there is a quick fix," said the Englishman. "Michael to retire probably, that would be a quick fix," he added, smiling.

"I admire Michael," the Red Bull team principal continued, "he is easily the best driver in F1 and I think it is right that he should win. I would just like it to be more difficult."

Does that mean that F1 is essentially going to be in a state of limbo, for the next two or three seasons, until the German retires?

"No," he replies, without hesitation. "Everybody is on a different agenda, I will say that Flavio Briatore is a guy who is outspoken at wanting to entertain the public and he realizes how good F1 is and how much it has to offer and he has been in it a long time and he is very guarded against any extreme statements that this is wrong or that is wrong and I think he feels, and I think we are aligned, that it is quite good but it can be better. So you need to be measured in your analysis."

So what sort of season can we expect in 2005, more of the same?

"Yes, I think it will be much the same as last year," he replies. "The fantastic thing about human beings is that you can keep slapping them down but they jump up for more, and people, presumably when Michael retires, know it will be a new era, but people admire Michael as really, deep in everyone's heart, him winning all the time, that is okay, because he is the best.

"And I believe he really is the best," he adds. "Bernie says that it is good for the sport because we have got a bit of a legend in our midst and you can see his point."

Asked if he thinks it is good for the sport, Purnell replies: "You can see his point...