03/07/2005
NEWS STORY
In Ferrari's post-race press release, Jean Todt admitted that he found the French Grand Prix to be a "very disappointing race" for his team.
A couple of hours later he sat down to answer a few questions.
After qualifying, Ferrari looked to be far more competitive, so what happened in the race?
He gives a typically Gallic shrug, and replies: "We thought the same thing… we made a mistake.
"Basically, in the race, we never succeeded in matching the rhythm of our main rivals," he continued, "and Michael, nevertheless, still managed to hold onto third place which, in terms of the championship, isn't bad, even though we thought it was insufficient.
"Rubens, apart from a lack of pure performance also had a problem with brakes which also lost him time and he found himself at the wrong end of the field in terms of strategy, and in terms of traffic which left him in ninth place and which prevented us from taking a single point in the Constructors championship."
So what went wrong today?
"In the light of what we saw on Friday and Saturday in free practice and in qualifying I was hoping that we would be stronger," he admits. "It's true that Michael had a tough start like a lot of cars because he was following Trulli who was slow in front of them. It created a big gap to the leader of the race, but still, in all fairness, I don't think it would have changed a lot the final result for Michael.
"We thought we had better pace," he continues. "I think the others had less difference between qualifying and the race than we had. Everybody was much slower today than yesterday because of the temperature but we were over a second slower than the others. You see Michael's time, 1.2s and Rubens was 1.5s I think, so that's what was missing today.
Asked if Ferrari has discovered the weaknesses which separates it from its rivals, he sighs: "No, it's too early.
"We have to look at it carefully with all our other technical partners and make an in depth analysis and then we work out exactly what happened in order to understand it for future races."
But with three more races in four weeks, can Ferrari still continue with development? "It's more difficult, harder," he admits, "but we still try."
Asked if his team has gone 'backward' since Canada, he replies: "I think we have to moderate our views on this. It wasn't pleasing but not too bad. We expected better performance and it wasn't the case.
"Whatever it takes, I can assure you that we will do everything we can to try and turn it around. Whether we manage it or not is not possible to predict," he adds.
Asked about Fernando's fifth win of the season, Todt is clearly impressed: "It's remarkable," he admits. "It's good work by the team that they've done with Alonso who makes almost no mistakes. He finishes nearly all his races, and we've had the privilege to have a similar performance during years past so we know that when things go well, it allows you to score good points and win championships.
"That happened to him today, but things aren't over yet. I think we can still see a good battle for the Drivers' and Constructors' title because there are still three teams with three drivers who can still win the championship."
Asked if the Spaniard reminds him of Schumacher when he was brought to Ferrari, Todt responds: "He reminds me of Schumacher in terms of a driver, he's a great driver but I think as a person they are fundamentally different."
Looking ahead, next week we travel to Silverstone, how difficult is that going to be?
"Honestly, I don't know," he replies. "I think each race is different, but not only for us. You look at some teams that have been doing very, very well; today they were nowhere.
"We have tested very little in Silverstone," he continues, "but that's not an excuse not to be competitive. Testing is very much linked to tyre testing. We did some improvement in qualifying and today I would say that what we got in qualifying we lost in the race, compared to the previous races. So we were more ahead but we did not get the advantage of using it was we could have done if we would have been quicker during the race."
Changing the subject, slightly, it's pointed out that the document submitted to the World Council last Wednesday, had the signatures of 19 F1 race and third drivers, but that Michael and Rubens' signatures were missing. He's asked if this was due to pressure from Ferrari.
"Not at all," he says, without hesitation. "I never put pressure on our drivers. I think it would be unfair. If they feel they have to do something, they have to do it."
Asked if he understands why they did not sign this document, he replies: "Normally they are not involved with that. You must understand that it's a big pressure to the drivers.
"You have seen that… you have two, three meetings a week with Michelin runners: team principals, drivers, drivers inviting team principals, team principals inviting drivers. Why should our drivers be involved with that? And why should I put pressure on them. We try to put pressure in the tyres, that's more important."
And with that he was gone, off to prepare for Silverstone, as both titles appear to be slipping out of reach.