03/07/2006
NEWS STORY
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In the roller-coaster ride that is Ferrari's 2006 championship season, this has been one of the good weekends, indeed, it has been one of the very best weekends. Consequently, Jean Todt is wearing a broad grin as he enters the room for the post-race media brief..
So, what are his feelings about today? "We are very pleased about the result," he smiles. "We haven't found ourselves in such a strong situation from the beginning of the weekend for a long time and we saw immediately that we were strong.
"Yesterday, once we saw that we had the two Ferraris on the front row, we definitely had a few questions," he admits. "The question marks were mainly over reliability and degradation of the tyres.
"We were reliable, which was important because it was the second race with the engine and the Bridgestone tyres were fantastic. You can see the overall result, and even if you see the quickest lap time during the race, you can see how strong the Bridgestones were this weekend."
It's been said that in light of last year's shambles, Michelin was a little conservative with its tyre choices for Indianapolis, while Bridgestone took a step forward.
"Honestly, I don't know if they were conservative or not," says the Frenchman, "but I have always commented that if you want to win a race, you need to have everything put together, and we managed to have everything put together which gave the final result. And if we manage to put everything as well in some of the next races we can hope to achieve the same result.
"However, if we don't, as has happened unfortunately too often this season, we cannot pretend to make a strong result. It's up to us."
So, following the Indy result, is there more confidence in the team, can Ferrari go forward from this and attack the championship? "You always feel stronger for at least ten days, until the next Grand Prix, if you finish first and second," he admits. "And then, if you see the classification, you wish you would feel stronger, because we are still far behind in the manufacturers' and the drivers' championships. At the moment, we are not the ones to feel stronger but we will do everything we can to improve the situation."
Why it didn't work in Montreal yet worked here? Is it just down to tyres or is there more?
"It's a combination," he replies, "a combination. In Montreal maybe we did not take the best strategy and we did not make the best job. That's all."
Nonetheless, it must be a big relief. It also helps that Michael gained six points against Alonso.
"It's good," he smiles. "So often this year he lost those points against him so this time it went on the good side for us."
When winning a race like this, does it make it slightly easier to sort out the problems, because there are one or two boxes that are ticked?
"Honestly, it makes it easier for the flight home," he smiles. "It's good, you have a good feeling, but tomorrow we will start again."
It has to be asked, were Felipe and Michael allowed to race today and how mindful was Ferrari of the championship?
"They work for Ferrari," he responds. "We are paid by Ferrari. Felipe did a fantastic race, Michael did a fantastic race."
It's pointed out that Michael needed to win because of the championship. "It's our job," he replies. "Our job is try to deliver the best for the company, so we try our best."
This was Felipe's best result for Ferrari and his career. Does Todt think he's made some slight progress, does he think his abilities and confidence have improved after this weekend?
"Felipe is a great guy," says the Frenchman. "I was previously pulling your leg about his good manager," he adds, referring to his own son, Nicholas. "He is a great guy, without needing a good manager. He has a good spirit, he's a team player, he's humble, shy. Probably too humble and too shy for this business, because he's not rated as he should be. But the most important thing is that he's rated by Ferrari.
"He's never advertising himself," he continues. "He has the strongest teammate to compete with. However, I must say they get on very well, because Michael respects Felipe a lot, and of course Felipe respects and admires Michael, so on that subject we have fantastic harmony in the team.
"But very often I'm amazed to see that Felipe is not rated like he should be. Sometimes it makes me smile when I see the notes which are given on Monday. Very often, in my opinion, trying to be really fair, he's two or three or four less than what he should have. That shows that the people who are judging him are probably not the best judges, that's all."
The Brazilian has said that there was some problem with the clutch when going out of the pits after his first stop. "The clutch was slipping," Todt replies.
The difference between Michael and Fernando is now 19 points. After this weekend, how difficult is the job of winning the title?
"It all depends on what we do and what the others do," he admits. "Today, we got six points back so it means that… if we can do the same, if he's able to drive like he did today in the next races… but I don't think it will be so easy."
Asked if today's performance was a general trend or merely a one-off, Todt says: "Today was a good race for us. I hope we have some other good races."
Friday was the deadline for agreement on the engine homologation agreement, but talks continued for much of the weekend, finally concluding in an agreement of sorts, after the 'Maranello proposal' and the 'Monaco proposal', we now have the Indianapolis proposal' or is it the Magny Cours proposal. Todt is asked if it is true that Ferrari hasn't signed?
"There were a few meetings over the weekend to try to find an agreement, to try to find a common agreement and to introduce that without conflict for '07," he replies. "So Ferrari was available for that as long as the cost would not be over the cost from what we called the Maranello proposal. I gave total availability to call this proposal whatever was the most convenient for the others.
"I must say that my priority was to work for the race," he admits. "My people will have a very cautious look at this proposal. We should be close to the one we suggested after the Maranello meeting and if we feel that it does reach our expectation, we don't have any problem to sign it, so we will see. And if we feel that some modifications have to be suggested, we will suggest them and hopefully our colleagues will agree on them."
Asked how quickly this can be done, he replies: "In the coming days."
Could it be done by Wednesday, in time for the Formula One Commission meeting?
"The commission meeting, yes by Wednesday," he says. "We should be able to do that, within the next 48 hours."
So, is it fair to say that in principal Ferrari agrees with what's on the table, that it is simply checking the detail to make sure everything is specifically correct?
"As I said, I agree on the principal to try to find an agreement," says the Frenchman. "I just want to make sure that the agreement does achieve what we want to achieve which is reducing the costs.
"I often say that even if we can stand it, because we are fortunate to have a very strong commercial agreement for the next year, we are in a situation where we are fortunate enough… I say that very cautiously… we are in a situation now where we have to refuse commercial partners because we have the maximum we can have. But it doesn't mean that we have to spend money for the pleasure of spending money. For me, I think we should be in a position for Ferrari to consider Formula One as a business and as a return in profit.
"Definitely the cost will be more expensive than the FIA rules, but if we can get everybody, together, and again, without any controversy, anticipate that for next year, because it will be ridiculous to be facing a situation where we develop the engine until the end of '07, to come back to the Silverstone specification. We have to pay attention to that."
With that he pushes back his chair and leaves to join his team which is keen to celebrate its Indianapolis victory. For now Todt can savour the moment… but then comes the Formula One Commission, testing and, in two weeks, Magny Cours. On and on it goes.