01/08/2005
NEWS STORY
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Although his driver, Michael Schumacher, had failed to build upon pole position, his first since Suzuka (2004), it was a slightly more relaxed Jean Todt that sat down to answer some questions yesterday, than we have seen in previous weeks.
He began by explaining how helpful the Hungarian weekend had been in terms of development.
"It was very good for qualifying," he smiled, "even better than we could expect, and then very good for 25 laps during the race, and then a drop of performance because of a drop of grip.
"So slowly but surely we understand the problem with our friends from Bridgestone," he continued, "and we improve the situation. As I said, one week ago, we will come out of it, but it takes a certain amount of time."
The Bridgestone tyre appeared to be the only real change to the package that Ferrari brought to Hungary, but clearly it made a lot of difference. Did Todt think this was 'track specific' or the beginning of a trend, the revival? "It's a general trend," he replies without hesitation.
It's pointed out that the performance of the tyre appeared to fluctuate throughout the race. "That's because it is a completely different philosophy of tyres," he replies. "To be quick on the first lap, you have to change the philosophy, so you start to learn a new situation again.
"We were competitive in qualifying and improved the performance but not as we have the past level, where we were much quicker during the whole race. So slowly and slowly… you know, it's like a cocktail. We are working on it."
"Is it the construction of the tyre or the compound or both?" he asked. "Again, it is the whole philosophy of the tyres to last the whole race," says the Frenchman. "Another clear example, if we would have been in last year's situation we would have changed the tyres every 25 laps and we would have been very competitive for the whole race. Now, we are very competitive for 25 laps and then there is a drop of performance and we have to work on this specific part of the race, and on the tyre."
Sticking - no pun intended - with tyres, this was a new compound that Bridgestone brought this weekend; how long has Ferrari been working with them on this specific compound? "We test about ten compounds every time," he reveals, "it's a lot of compounds and constructions available and slowly but surely we are able to target and to better identify what is needed to be competitive for the whole race."
After qualifying Michael mentioned that the main reason for the major progress is the tyre performance: "I think it has had quite a good effect, yes," says Todt.
Asked to put a 'number' on it, say 60 or 40 per cent, he replies: "I cannot."
So, was it a new construction or new compound? "An evolution of what we had in Hockenheim," he reveals.
Asked if Michael has to be conservative from the beginning of the race, he replies: "Until the 21st lap he was quick, then he started to be conservative."
It's pointed out that he was well off his qualifying pace at the beginning of the race. Todt is clearly impatient, "Qualifying time?" he barks, "you cannot repeat the qualifying time every lap.
"As it is, he was 1.5 seconds off his qualifying pace," he adds. "If you look at the others, they were farther behind."
That's not entirely correct, Raikkonen was on the same strategy and he was closer to the qualifying pace.
"But bear in mind that Raikkonen went out first yesterday," says the Frenchman, "and when you start first you immediately lose a second because the track is dirty. Montoya was quicker than Raikkonen with 13 laps more, which is about 35 kilos, 35 kilos is about four tenths, 14 kilos, so it's 1.4 seconds."
F1 faces a Summer break before the Turkish Grand Prix, will Ferrari continue testing? "We will be testing to prepare the tyres for Turkey and for Monza, for the coming Grands Prix," he reveals.
"We have Badoer for four days at Monza from Monday to Thursday and that's it for the time being," says Luca Colajanni.
He's interrupted by Todt: "No Fiorano, I think it's Fiorano."
"Maybe something at Fiorano on Tuesday," says the Italian, slightly embarrassed.
"Check," adds Todt
Time for a cheeky question… is Felipe Massa scheduled to test for Ferrari before the end of the year? Todt smiles: "Not so far, no, it's not planned."
This weekend, Ferrari appeared to be the only team challenging McLaren. Is this a sign of things to come… and how does he rate the performance of Renault?
"Very good, very good," he replies, without hesitation. "It's not by luck that they are leading both championships, should they be forgotten because this was their only poor race of the year? At the moment, they are leading both championships by far after 13 races."
"But McLaren," he's asked, "do you think you can go on challenging McLaren in the next races instead of Renault?"
"I hope so," he admits. "It will all depend on what comes out… what we find is the best tyre with Bridgestone and all that. We have solved part of qualifying, we have solved the beginning of the race. The next step is the other part of the race. Then we can challenge."
"Is that the secret to the fight-back, tackling it in stages?"
"I'm afraid so," he laughs, "yes".
Asked if the heat helped Ferrari, he replies: "No. Did it help last week in Hockenheim? Let's say it was not disturbing us more than it should have done, but it was not a help."
It's pointed out that he was wearing a pullover on the grid; was there any specific reason?
"No," he smiles. "It doesn't improve performance or damage performance so it's OK.
"I'm not sweating," he adds. "We are not quick enough, that's all. That's the only thing that makes me sweat."
"When the tyre is working better as it was today, does it give Ferrari a much clearer understanding of the car's performance? After all, you've been saying all season that you weren't sure if it was the car, the tyre or a combination?"
"In a way, yes," he replies. "We have a promising package. The only problem is that we've already done 13 races. If we were one month before the championship I think we would have big hopes but now 13 races life more difficult.
"Michael's one second gap in qualifying was really extraordinary. Were you surprised by this? Or looking back should you…?"
He anticipates the question
"We should have put more fuel in," he says. "But we were not expecting it. Yes, it was a surprise. But if you look, apart from Montoya, Raikkonen was lighter, Ralf was lighter. Alonso? We did not see him, he had a problem. Barrichello did a very good performance as well."
So you could Ferrari have possibly put in 20 more kilos of fuel?
"I don't know," he admits. "I said it was 10 kilos for four tenths of a second, you make the calculation yourself."
Asked about media reports that Rubens is heading to BAR next year, he comments: "I read that this morning. At the moment, I don't have any comment to make on that. I don't have a comment to make on that at the moment.
Any denials?
"I don't have any comment," he repeats. "I always say this and I've said it to you as well, so maybe you should take your tape or his tape. I said I want people to be happy in a team with or without contract. If Rubens is demonstrating to me that he would be more happy somewhere else, I am happy to discuss it with him to make him happy. That's why I said, I confirm."
"Have there been discussions with him?" he asked.
"It's something that will have to be finalised soon," says the Frenchman, clearly weary of the subject. "I have said as well, that I will not wait until the end of the racing season, so it's something which will have to happen in the coming days. I don't say that he's unhappy, but maybe he could feel that he would be more happy somewhere else. I don't know so that's what I'm going to debate with him."
And Felipe Massa..
"Please, don't ask me to comment on speculation," he replies, clearly even more weary. "Speculation is the least of my concerns. I prefer to live with facts and so the first step is to verify how happy or unhappy or how more happy he would be rather than thinking about being unhappy and from that we will be able to move in a different situation. If we have to move in a different situation."
"So, how happy are you at the moment?"
"Honestly, I am OK. I'm OK," he laughs. "I was happy yesterday after qualifying, because I knew it was going to be very difficult to win, but as long as I see that things are moving forward I feel good and I think that things are really moving forward.
"It's a good team, good partners, fantastic partners, motivated. I knew that this unbelievable success story would stop. Now I want to make sure that it starts again as soon as possible."
Changing the subject, slightly, he's asked if Michael ever talks about Ayrton Senna's 65 pole positions target?
"Never," says Todt without hesitation. "I think we will have time to speak about that in the future. Then we will have time to speak about that, but it's too early at the moment. I mean when we are retired we can speak about that."
"At the end of the year?" he's asked, somewhat cheekily.
"I'm not going to retire at the end of the year," he hits back, "and neither is Michael… even if it makes some people happy, we are not going to.