04/04/2005
NEWS STORY
 |
Although there is a ray of light in the distance, Ferrari came away from Bahrain empty handed. After yet another long, difficult, weekend, team boss Jean Todt sat down to face the press.
Referring to that 'ray of light', Michael Schumacher had put the F2005 on the front row of the grid and spent the first 11 laps shadowing Fernando Alonso.
"It's true that, with Michael, throughout the weekend, we had the possibility to check that the potential of the new F2005 was considerable," he replies. "Unfortunately, we didn't reap the benefits of this potential, given Michael's retirement on the eleventh lap with a hydraulic leak.
"So that's the most disappointing angle," he continues, "the most frustrating. As for Rubens, who was handicapped by a gearbox problem throughout the weekend, he could only do the qualifying sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning and then started on the back row of the grid and fought back superbly. Unfortunately, it was with a car that wasn't ideally suited to him, so that he used his rear tyres too hard and he lost all possibility of scoring points. Having said that, it was an interesting test session which I hope will bear fruit in the next race at Imola."
Having opted to bring the debut of the F2005 forward, Todt was asked if it a surprise how good the car had been, given its lack of testing. "We knew that we had a good car, that was the reason why we brought forward its debut," he responds. "But having said that, a good car isn't enough, you need a car that finishes races and finishes in the points.. and if possible on the top step of the rostrum. That's what we've got used to over the last few years and we have every intention of doing that again as soon as possible."
There is now a break of three weeks before Imola, so in what direction will the team be working. "We want to get to know the car better," he admits, "to cure the reliability problems that we encountered, to work closer with Bridgestone, and then I think if we can do that with some success, then we shouldn't be in too bad a situation for the championship."
Having been so accustomed to regular success, the start of the 2005 campaign mush have come as something of a shock, he is asked. "I know racing so well after so many years," he replies, smiling. "You get to know that things are never easy and that when there are cycles, they can end at one moment or another.
"I hope that the cycle that came to an end at the start of this season is simply a temporary feature; whatever, that's what we hope to prove very quickly. e are always motivated, but that's not enough. You have to work hard and in the right direction and be capable of solving our problems."
Renault has gone on record as saying that they 'forced' Ferrari to introduce the F2005 five weeks early because of their speed, and that consequently you have been pressured into making mistakes with it this weekend.
"I prefer to answer your questions than refer to a competitor's comments," he replies. "I think they do a great job and they should concentrate on that, rather than concentrating…" he pauses, "maybe they have some advice to give us, in which case they should send us some people!" he adds, smiling again.
Due to the extreme heat, the Bridgestones have suffered in the last two races, does her feel that this will be less of a factor at Imola? "We were quite good in the heat today as well," he responds, without a hint of hesitation. "The problem for Michael… but he didn't do enough running to know what would have happened, but he was happy with his tyres and the life duration, the prediction was good until the end of the race. It was more problematic for Rubens because he had a set-up which was very difficult for him to cope with, so he lost a lot of performance because of that."
Rubens has said that, for him, the problem was that he was using Michael's settings: "It contributed and accentuated his problems," says Todt.
It's pointed out that the F2005 didn't have any really long runs, either here or at Mugello, did that mean that everyone was really a bit in the dark? "We had done less testing than usual," he admits, "but enough to know the car sufficiently. The problems that we experienced were a little unexpected."
And what the problems here? "With Michael it was a hydraulic leak, the hydraulic pump," he replies. "Rubens had two different problems. This morning's problem (at the end of second qualifying) was different to the problem he had before.
Imola is colder though, does that give you more confidence? "We are facing some problems at the moment," he replies, "but we have already been facing problems, and the same group was facing problems before and solved the problems, the same group from inside, from outside and I'm confident that we will come back. The only thing we must do is not wait too long before we come back."
It could argue that the opposition is stronger than before; in the past, one year it has been Williams, another year McLaren. Now, Mike Gascoyne is saying that if Ferrari want to beat Renault, they have to beat Toyota first: "I have nothing to say against that," says the Frenchman "We have to… we will try to pass them, that's all I can promise, but I cannot guarantee we will do it."
Was he hearted by the new car's performance, particularly in qualifying on Sunday? "Even on Saturday we had good potential," he says. "The performance looks promising, even if it is not enough. We need to finish races. Our standard has shown that if you take the results over the last six years, I think we finished more races than anybody else, and we never give advice to anybody.
"The current situation seems dark, very bad, which I can understand but I think there's not a lot missing to be able to be in a much stronger position. We just need to be reliable for the whole race weekend and then to work properly with Bridgestone. We have some testing programmes which are going in this direction, and I am convinced we will overcome this difficult period."
He asked if the tyre 'problem' is the central weakness that Ferrari has at this time: "It's an overall problem," he replies.
Despite the 'problems', Todt somehow appears pretty relaxed about it all, he seems to be resigned to it all. Is it so bad, that he can almost laugh at the last two races? "We don't laugh," he answers, without any hesitation. "Then again, we don't cry either.
"For three races it has been no good, but let's wait a little more. Everybody was saying about the domination of Ferrari we are tired and all that, so now I think everybody is excited and we are excited because we want to come back to dominate.
So is the championship still attainable this year? "Definitely yes," he says, most definitely yes. But we must score more points very quickly, because otherwise we will compromise our chances. If from Imola we start what we did in 2004, then if you see the difference in points to the others at the end of last season we could have coped having three bad races. So we will see.
"The atmosphere is very strong in the team to work harder if necessary," he continues. "Of course we prefer success, but as I said before, we have had so much success so we must be prepared…" he pauses.
"That's maybe why we never enjoyed our success as much as we could, because we knew that we would have some tough times, so we are prepared, we are prepared to have a tough time, but we are prepared to have better times as well."
Finally, the Maranello outfit paid its own tribute to the memory of the Pope, who had died earlier in the day. Todt was asked if he had anything to say.
"We were very honoured because we met him about two months ago," said the Frenchman. "He was an old man, a sick man and clearly suffering. However, he was very brave, very strong, and I'm full of admiration to see a man resisting until the very last minute the way he did. I think it will be more peaceful for him now.
"He was a man of soul."