2004 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
06.05.2004 	  	 
  	

 
TEAM MEMBERS: Jenson BUTTON and David RICHARDS (BAR)

Q: Jenson, coming here, everyone?s putting pressure on you, they all want
you to win, they think you can win. What do you feel about it?
Jenson BUTTON: Hopefully I am going to win - it?s just how long (it takes)
really. I think our Imola result was very good. We weren?t jumping with
joy, as you might have noticed. I was very happy with the result, but
standing up on the second step of the podium is great but looking up at
Michael, you know, that?s where we want to be and hopefully it?s not going
to take too long for us to get there. Here we?re looking strong. We?ve done
a lot of testing here over the winter and our pace has been good, over one
lap and over a long run. But you know, it?s a different story when you get
to the race, but hopefully we?ve made some good ground compared to Ferrari
over the last two weeks.

Q: David, what are your feelings coming here?
David RICHARDS: As Jenson said, we?ve had very good testing times. I
remember some of you being somewhat sceptical during the winter period when
you looked at the times and at our press launch. I feel reasonably
confident here. But the good thing is ? you talk about pressure ? I always
think that you experience pressure when you believe it?s a once in a
lifetime opportunity and I personally believe that Jenson and BAR will have
many opportunities like this in front of it over the coming years, so I
think we just have to take it as another step in the right direction. And
certainly I think the team is not unduly under any great pressure. I think
it?s feeling more self-confident than it?s ever felt before but hopefully
it?s got its feet firmly planted on the ground and realises that there?s
still an awful lot of work to do if we?re to do this on a consistent basis.

Q: Jenson, going back to the tests, how much was being changed during those
tests? Obviously testing here has been encouraging and also at Mugello last
week.
JB: ?Taku? went very well in testing in Mugello. We found it a little bit
more difficult finding a set-up there but it went very well. We did some
tyre testing, which was positive, and also the car in the wet seemed to
work very well compared to the Ferrari, so that?s very positive. So if it?s
wet or dry here I think we?re confident we have made a step forward.

Q: Has the car advantages here that it didn?t necessarily have at Imola?
JB: I think a good car should work in every area, at every circuit. On the
slow speed circuits it?s proved that it?s fast at Imola and I think here
it?s proved that it?s quick and reliable on a high-speed circuit. There?s
no reason why we can?t perform like we did at Imola and we?ll probably be a
step forward because of what we?ve done in testing. We?ve had a few new
parts on the car.

Q: Do you think that the fact you test here probably more than Ferrari is
going to be a great advantage for you?
JB: You know, they?re obviously a very experienced team and they?ve done
quite a few miles here in testing. I think they know where they stand, so
it?s nice to hear Michael and other people from Ferrari saying that they?re
slightly worried coming to this race, or looking at us knowing that we?re
going to have a good result here. It?s nice to hear that.

Q: One or two people have said they feel that you?ve changed this year in
comparison to last. Would you say that even more so now?
JB: I?ve gained a lot more experience and I?m pushing a lot harder for
results. I?m working a lot better with the team and pushing them very hard
so, yeah, I have changed in my approach, but a lot of it is through
experience, it really is. You know I?ve changed three or four times in
career, supposedly, in Formula One, but not all of them are true. But I
definitely have gained a lot of experience over the last year, 16 months,
and I?m very confident in my ability and also that of the team.

Q: David was talking about pressure. Do you feel a lot of pressure on you
and on the team? How do you react to it?
JB: It?s difficult. I don?t feel under pressure to perform, from outside. I
put a lot of pressure on myself to perform and I seem to work OK under
pressure, under personal pressure anyway. I think I did an OK job in Imola,
so outside pressure is not a problem, it?s personal pressure that is the
tough one.

Q: What about the new haircut, can we have a look at that? An official unveiling?
JB: No I can?t. I?ve got to keep this (cap) on. Yeah, I thought I?d go for
a trim, a nice spring trim.

Q: Yes, a bit more round the chops too, a bit more streamlined?
JB: Yup, a bit less weight, gotta help!

Q: David, you mentioned briefly the team atmosphere, but is it hugely
optimistic or is it cautious? What is the team atmosphere?
DR: I think it?s just growing in self-confidence. The team?s very
realistic, they?ve been around for five years, just taking the odd crumb
off the table, and here we are, each weekend coming to race circuits
expecting, hoping and anticipating to be on the podium, and that?s the sort
of change of attitude, a significant change of attitude which is not just
prevalent in the race team here, it actually goes throughout the whole
factory. It was surprising, at the start of the season, when we set the
goals, when we set our agenda for the year in private back at Brackley, we
all sat down and talked about it, we shared it with the management, we
shared it with the entire team, we set the goals together ? and I was
suspicious that people hadn?t really bought into it. We did a survey,
though, of all the staff, shortly afterwards and in the survey 90 percent
of the staff agreed that our goals for the season were fully achievable and
it?s turning out that way.

Q: You haven?t achieved them yet, then?
DR: No, but we?re slightly ahead of the targets that we set ourselves, and
they were fairly tough targets compared to where we?ve been in the past.

Q: So what?s the step forward here in comparison to Imola?
DR: It?s all small detail. Honda have done another change and they?re
relentlessly moving forward. I think the major step you?ll see in this
year?s engine will not be until Canada. Aero work, there are obviously some
improvements in that area, and we work more closely with Michelin these
days - we?ve been getting better and better in our understanding of the
tyres. Earlier in the year, we didn?t take full advantage of the
opportunities in qualifying in Bahrain. We learned our lesson from that. If
you look at our last race at Imola there were some issues about our pit
stops. We understand those now and we?ve addressed that problem for here.
It is all about identifying the problems and working together to solve them
for the next race.

Q: Do you think Michael genuinely has a case when he says you can win here
over him, or is it just politicking?
DR: Ah, Michael?s incredibly strong. There isn?t a circuit in the world
that he can?t go to with total confidence that he?s the man to beat. You
can let this flattery go to your head and you can slow down your pace and
be caught off guard. We?re working as hard as we ever have done and we will
not let up from now to the last race of the season in Brazil.

Q: On the subject of the meeting at Monaco on Tuesday, it seems
extraordinary that everyone went there with such a positive attitude. How
much politicking, how much preparation was done amongst the team owners
before you even got there?
DR: Well, we obviously discussed the situation. I had a dinner with some of
my colleagues the night before to talk it through, but the fact that you
have to accept is that, with the Concorde Agreement coming to an end in
2007, it is the FIA?s entitlement ? it?s their F1 championship ? to write a
set of regulations going forward which are in their opinion in the best
interests of Formula One. That?s what Max has put forward and he makes no
bones about it. Many issues are contentious, many issues you don?t
necessary agree with, but nonetheless, he?s put that on the table now and
we?ve got to work from that position. I don?t think there?s a team out
there?certainly BAR is totally behind an improvement in the show for
Formula One. We all want the same thing, we just probably have different
ways of going about it. As you say, the meeting was very cordial, there
weren?t any major confrontations or issues there, and I think there?s a
general desire from everybody now to move forward in a positive direction,
as quickly as practice. I think some of the issues that have been put on
the table, the timescales for them, there are some complexities which
haven?t been thought through totally as yet.

Q: What are the contentious issues for you, even just timescale?
DR: I don?t know. The problem is if you go into any detail of any
particular aspect and it has a knock-on effect to another aspect of it. I
think as a total package, I think the great thing about what we?re doing
now is we?re looking at the whole of Formula One in a total way. We?re not
picking up little bits and saying ?it doesn?t work here, let?s change the
qualifying rules,? or ?it doesn?t work for this reason, let?s put another
groove in the tyres.? We?re saying ?let?s look at the whole package again
and see if we can make it all work together? and that?s quite clearly the
right approach to take. It has my full support, even if some of the detail
doesn?t.

Q: So there?s a still a lot to be decided, although the basic policy of
doing what you have to do is agreed upon?
DR: There?s not a lot to be decided about what will happen in 2008, it?s
how we bring it forward from that date that?s the critical thing and
clearly that?s the great desire of the audience out there and I?m sure it
is in this media room as well. And that, naturally, gets embroiled in
vested interests and the politics of the sport, and hopefully people will
look at the bigger picture and take a view on things that maybe the good
health of Formula One should be put ahead of their own personal interests.

Q: But the vested interests didn?t necessarily rear their heads at Monaco on Tuesday?
DR: It probably wasn?t the opportune forum for that.
Q: But they will?
DR: I dare say over the coming few weeks you will see those issues come out
to the fore. One of the fundamental ones for me is Max?s desire to bring
the engine regulation forward to 2006. In the cold light of day, most of
the engine manufacturers could develop a new engine in 18 months? time.
It?s a hard task, but it isn?t impractical. However, if those engine
manufacturers are frantically designing a new engine over the next 18
months and developing it through 2006, where do you think the teams who
don?t have engine manufacturers, or, for that matter, any new teams coming
into Formula One, are going to get their engine from? So maybe the
timescale for that is maybe a little optimistic.

Q: You mentioned qualifying a moment ago. Have you got your own personal
ideas as to how that could be improved?
DR: I?m quite happy to give Bernie my full mandate to come up with whatever
scheme he thinks is appropriate for the TV audience and spectators alike,
and as long as it?s the same for everybody, we?ll support it 100 percent.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Mike Doodson ? Mike Doodson Associates) David, when you finished your
first stint as a manager in Formula One, you said you would only come back
as an owner. When you moved in at BAR, it was probably as cheap as chips.
Due to your own good efforts, peculiarly, the team is now probably very
expensive to buy. I?m assuming that you?ve got some sort of a deal going
with BAT who?ve said that they want to be out of Formula One by a given
date? Can you tell us what your plans are to become a fully fledged team
owner in accordance with your own stated plans?
DR: I?ll give you the same answer I gave you last time Mike, when you asked
the very same question probably in this very same room a year ago. The very
nature of these arrangements are confidential but you?re quite right in
many of your assumptions about my relationship with BAT and the future of
the team.

Q: (Dan Knutson ? National Speed Sports News) David, you talk about this
whole change of atmosphere and attitude in the team. How much is Jacques
Villeneuve being there or not being there having any difference? Was it a
case of maybe the Villeneuve era had run its course and now the team is
going off in a different direction?
DR: I don?t think you can necessarily pinpoint a change in attitude to one
individual. Things have changed over a period of time, and that?s what
happens in organisation and they just quietly adopt a new style, a new
attitude, a new culture, and that?s just an observation I would make and I
certainly wouldn?t pin that down to Jacques or anyone else for that matter.
It?s just how things have evolved over the last couple of years, and
certainly I sense the change. I know Jenson has seen a change, but how that
comes about? I don?t know. It?s better for other people to judge rather
than myself.
DR: I think there?s a tendency for people to look for simplistic answers in
these questions and in an organisation that encompasses the best part of
400 people and a very complex technological challenge in a Formula One
racing car, the answers aren?t simple. They span a wide spectrum from the
drivers at the most obvious end of it to the people back at the factory who
are already designing next year?s car and all the work that goes on in
between. A team and its culture is built up about a whole raft of issues
that all need addressing and given equal priority. If you fail to give the
priority to one individual area that, sure, is going to be area that?s
going to let you down at the end of the day. I always describe it a little
bit like the circus act where the man goes along spinning the plates and
there are 20 plates spinning away and he?s only worried about the one
that?s about to wobble and fall off, because that?s where you?re going to
come unstuck.

Q: (Alan Baldwin ? Reuters) Could I ask you to clarify something that came
up in the meeting on Tuesday. There?s no spare car from 2005 and it may not
affect you next year or thereafter but is the Friday third driver going to
vanish at the end of this season? What?s the plan there?
DR: The Friday third driver wasn?t discussed at all and that?s obviously
something that will be discussed further down the line. The third car
situation is in reality what we have today. The third car is not really
available to us other than on the Friday for the third driver. It?s not
available to the other drivers effectively unless there was a first lap
incident and the race was stopped. In reality, going forward, we?ll have a
car in a box at the back. You will carry a chassis and a tub round the back
and be able to rebuild it should you have an accident that warrants that.
The theory was put forward that in Formula 3000 they have no spare cars and
at no time has anybody failed to take the grid as a result of an incident,
so the argument was did we really need to carry third cars around the
place?
You?ve also got to consider that there?s an interesting point here about
the whole proposals. To my mind, the primary objective has to be to improve
the show, to improve the overall packaging of Formula One. We shouldn?t try
to masquerade things up in cost-saving exercises, because in point of fact,
all we?re doing is moving cost into another area. The reality is that I
will get a budget for next year, it will be the largest budget I can
acquire by whatever means I can and we will allocate a proportion of that
to spend on our racing activities and our job then is to spend that as
effectively as possible.
Now if you turn round and say ?well you?ve got spend less on whatever it
might be, whether it?s gearboxes or suspension? then we?ll look at the next
performance area and we will spend that amount of money in there, so all we
will do is effectively shift expense around the car. What we?ve got to look
at more and more is the enormous disparity we have from one end of the
sport to the other end of the sport and we?ve got to find ways of closing
that gap and whilst you have one or two teams able to spend vast fortunes
to win a world title, and at the other end of the spectrum teams who don?t
have the funds available to them, nor the engines available to them, you
will always have that disparity and it?s a very difficult thing to address
and so the whole notion of saving of cost is? yes, it will have benefits.
But what we should be doing and hopefully will address, is we should
minimise the cost to build a competitive car, i.e., if you were drawing a
graph, the cheaper it is to have a competitive team, and then the more
expensive it is from there on to get those incremental gains, the more
level playing field it will become. But it doesn?t get away from the fact
that if one company just sees it is worth so much money to win this title,
over and above everybody else? motor sport tends to favour those with the
deepest pockets.

Q: (Heinz Pruller ? Kronen Zeitung) David, may I ask you to make a
comparison between the budgets of the big rally teams and the big Formula
One teams?
DR: Yeah, you can say that the rally team budgets are probably about 40
percent of the current Formula One team?s costs. I would estimate that sort
of order. You can take the top rally teams? budgets at? it?s always hard to
judge but I would say they are around the $100m mark, something of that
nature. And then they range down to about $50m, a bit more, $60m.
I came along to Ford with œ1m sponsor that was Rothmans and that
effectively got Ari (Vatanen) and myself into the World Championship. I?d
like to find œ1m sponsor now if anyone knows of any?

Q: David, if you look at the rally situation with those two extremes of
budgets, how much more of a level playing field is rallying than Formula
One and what lessons are there to be learned?
DR: Well, I think it?s a very different discipline, very distinctly, and I
think that what you?ve got there is the driver influence playing a far
bigger part and I would suggest that the top drivers, if they moved around
cars, it would have little influence, it would be the top drivers that
would still win, and I do have to say that some of the proposals that Max
is putting forward should achieve that in Formula One, because I think that
if you tend to look back over the recent past, it?s been a truism that it?s
been the teams, and you look at the rankings and it?s been much as to how
good the car has been, and yes, you still need superb drivers to drive
Formula One cars but the priority has tended to be on the technical side
and hopefully we can move that backwards now to where the driver becomes
more of a dominant force.

Q: (Alastair Moffitt ? PA News) Jenson, leading from pole position at
Imola, how important is that psychologically as you look for your first
win?
JB: Not really. It?s good that I?ve experienced that but I don?t really
think it changes anything. I suppose you?ve got a bit of experience
starting from the front row of the grid with no cars in front of you, but
that?s the easiest place to be at the start of a race, it really is. To me
it feels like less pressure and you?ve just got yourself and the lights
instead of having to worry about other cars around you. So no, I don?t
think it psychologically helps in any way.

Q: (Dan Knutson) Jenson, this year, in battles, we?ve seen cars almost
knocking each other off, pushing one another off on the grass. Where do you
draw the line? What?s fair or not fair when it comes to passing and
fighting?
JB: Well, the regulations aren?t down to me, and I haven?t been in that
position yet this season. But I think that if you?re at high speed, you?ve
just got to use common sense. You can?t drive somebody onto the grass, even
if you?re holding your line, even if you?re coming out of a right hand
corner, ending up on the left hand side of the circuit, I don?t really
think you can push somebody off onto the grass which I saw in DTM the other
week when I was watching it. But I think on a slow speed corner, you can
exit and take your line, as long as it?s safe.

Q: (Joe Saward ? F1 Grand Prix Special) David, there?s been a lot of talk
this year about you and Honda and the relationship; can you tell us where
exactly you stand on that at the moment?
DR: I can?t give you the detail of it all but I can assure you that we will
be with Honda for some years to come.

Q: (Mike Doodson) Jenson, there was only two laps difference between you
and Michael (making your first stops) at Imola. I realise that you?ve got
to balance things out between qualifying and the first stint, but you did
get murdered in the first pit stop. Looking back on it now, do you think
that you could still have been in front and had pole position if you?d had
those extra two laps of fuel in the car?
JB: The thing is, if Michael didn?t make his mistake there was a good
chance of us having a very similar lap time and if we?d put two laps more
fuel in the car, we might not have been on pole position and we would have
been behind already and I think Michael would have just driven away. They
were so much quicker than us throughout the race. I think there was an
average of about 0.8s quicker per lap, so there was no way to beat Ferrari
as long as they did their strategy as they should have done, so it was an
impossible thing to do for us, sorry to say.

Q: And you can be confident of actually catching that up here, that 0.8s?
JB: Eight tenths? No, that?s a big margin, but I think we can be closer and
they might make a mistake or they might not qualify as maybe they thought
they would. There?s a lot of things that could go wrong, but if they do a
perfect race, which they seem to do at every race so far this year, it?s
going to be very difficult to beat them here also.


TEAM MEMBERS: Fernando ALONSO and Flavio BRIATORE (RENAULT)

Q: Fernando, how happy with the season have you been so far?
Fernando ALONSO: I am happy. Obviously, the last three races were a little
bit difficult for me, especially Malaysia and Bahrain because I started
from the back of the grid, and then Imola I started in the normal position
but the race was difficult, always in the traffic, not a very good start
and I had to push a lot and fight a lot to get the fourth position. So at
the end of the day I think the first four races were good for us,
especially for the team. Both drivers have scored points in all the races,
we are second in the constructors? championship and we are quite pleased
with the season.
Q: Reliability has obviously been very good but it is obviously a very fine
line. Do you think the team needs to be a little bit more brave rather than
cautious?
FA: At the moment I don?t think so, considering we had a completely new
engine starting from nothing six or seven months ago. The important thing
for us is to get points and finish the races and to get experience with
this new engine and that is what we are doing at the moment. Maybe the last
half of the season is the time to push a little bit more, but now I hope to
keep this level up and to finish all the races ? that is the only way to
score points and to go up in the championship.

Q: At the start of the season Ferrari said the one team they really feared
was Renault and yet you haven?t really taken the fight to Ferrari.
FA: No, it has been too difficult for us. Only in Australia we were a
little bit competitive compared with them but not even there. Then the last
three races we were not even the second team on the grid, so we have to
push a little bit more to catch and to close that gap and try to be in
front of BAR and Williams, which is not easy at all, and, you know, we have
a long season to go and we have good room to improve because, as I said
before, the engine is completely new and we have many things to improve and
we are in a good position I think.

Q: How do you feel about the car itself, because Jarno has expressed some
reservations about the actual handling and the feeling of the car.
FA: Well, at the start of the season the drivers normally feel a little bit
uncomfortable and difficult with the new cars but we felt the same with the
R22, the R23 and now the R24. It is time to get used to the car, to get to
know the car perfectly, to work with the engineers to set up the car
properly for the races. I am quite confident we have a good potential, a
good package, much better than last year, the chassis and the engine. I
think we are quite competitive and I think it is time to can get more
points, finish the races and maybe to be on the podium a little bit more
often for Jarno and me.

Q: So is that coming, that feeling with the car? Because you are about to
go into six races in eight weeks.
FA: Yes, I hope so. Now, as you said, there are many races in two months
and we have to push a lot now if we want to go with the front group in the
championship or maybe we will go down and not catch them anymore so we need
to be careful of this and, as I said before, to finish the races because
that is the only way to take points.

Q: So, Flavio, do you feel that is what is going to happen, you are going
to take a step up?
Flavio BRIATORE: Well, for the moment we are second in the championship. A
step up would be first. I don?t know what you guys want, basically! Renault
is three years in Formula One, we have done something quite major for that
time, especially with Fernando and with Jarno. I think someone else is
complaining about the results, not Renault, honestly. We never pretended to
be world champions this year, we were always talking about 2005 and if I
see behind us are a lot of big teams. I mean, I think we have done a good
job. Maybe someone else does not.

Q: What are your feelings about the rule changes? You were pushing for
major, major cuts. You wanted 50 percent cost cutting. How do you feel
about the meeting on Tuesday?
FB: It depends on the budget you have. You are cutting 50 percent, if
someone is already cutting 50 percent it is not possible to cut another 50
percent. I believe we need to do something and the meeting was very good
and, really, it is one of the first few meetings good in Formula One in the
last 14 years. I believe that together we need to do something because we
need to take care of our public, our customers, the people watching
television. We need to give them a better race. I don?t think that people
care if, in Fernando?s car, there is a 2.4 litre engine, a three litre,
1.9, people don?t really have an interest in that. What they are interested
in is if Fernando and Michael are fighting together. They want to watch a
race. And our product is so expensive and we never take into consideration
our customer. I mean, it is a very engineering exercise, our business, and
we forget there are millions and millions of people watching us, we forget
the marketing issue, we forget the commercial issue. Ten years I have been
talking about that and everyone thinks that I don?t have the motorsport in
my stomach or this shit. Now everybody has motorsport in the stomach and
everyone has run out of money and it is very good!

Q: You said you have been putting the message across for 14 years?
FB: No, for 10, because the first year I had no idea?if you take my
interview ten years ago with Benetton we discussed already that it would be
possible to do the same with 50 percent of the money, it?s as simple as
that.
Q: So how much did you have to push this view before the meeting?
FB: I don?t think I had to push so much now because it is the closed
market. When you finish the money you stop spending.

Q: But David Richards was saying just now that the self interest will begin
to kick in in the subsequent meetings.
FB: You know, we do so many meetings. I think we are doing some action now
and we expect Bernie to prepare the new Concorde agreement and if somebody
wants to sign then they sign, if they don?t want to sign, don?t sign. I
believe we are in the business to be democratic than to be everybody
together, you know, because, with this 100 percent agreement you achieve
nothing. This has happened in the last 10 years in Formula One, where we
have always needed a majority 100 percent. It is difficult managing a
condominium if you need 100 percent of the votes of the people who live in
the condominium. We need a majority ? 51 percent decide and 49 percent not.
Majority, minority, this is what you call it in a democracy.

Q: So you are pretty happy with the way it went, anyway?
FB: I believe it is something finally that people realise we are not doing
only development in Formula One, not only doing an engineering exercise, we
are doing an event. You know, Formula One is a big television event, it is
not a big engineering exercise. We have all this technology that people are
talking about, they never understand. Really, it is a lot of rubbish!

Q: So have you still got some reservations about the new rules as they
stand at the moment?
FB: No. I believe on one side you need to decrease the cost on the other
side you need to increase the income. For sure, what you need to increase
is the spectacle, the show. Everyone is complaining and we need to do
something. I believe we need to sit together and maybe we will change the
qualifying not only this year but, if everyone is agreed, maybe in the
middle of the season, why not? And at one point we need to put a cap on the
expenses and on another we need to bring more income into the business.

Q: What are your ideas for qualifying?
FB: I no tell you!

Q: Why not?
FB: Because we need to put it together and we are still working on that and
we need to make sure we don?t make another mistake.

Q: In no other sport in the world do participants actually make up the
rules. Do you think it is right that the participants in the sport make
that sort of  decision?
FB: Formula One is not about participants. Each team is 1000 people. I
don?t think it is a sport, Formula One, because you are not running two
cars with 1000 people in sport, if you want racing you go by yourself with
two friends and you go racing. I think Formula One is a business first,
because when you talk about 1000 people in one team, 1000 people means 2000
family, you know, we are not talking about sport, we are taking about
business first and after that is the main television event and then after
that, sure, is the sport, because the sport is about the fight between
drivers, the risks the drivers take. Formula One is a big event with
everything in it, you have the danger, you have the lifestyle, you have the
drivers, you have the rich, whatever. But, I mean, I think it is business
first and everything else is coming second.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Alan Baldwin ? Reuters) Flavio, with these cuts that are planned, how
does that translate to job losses in Formula One and at Renault? How many
people are going to lose their jobs?
FB: It depends on how many people keep the job if you lose somebody. I
mean, we are in the economic environment. Sure, the mentality for
engineering in our business is not firing people and not hiring people,
because we always miss somebody in the company. I started Formula One with
120 people, now we have 400. I think the races was much better when we had
120 people. It was much more fun and the races were much tighter. Sure, the
money is not proportional to what you are doing in the race because there
is not some team that would be seven seconds quicker than someone else.

Q: Flavio, could you describe your feelings about becoming a father this week?
FB: I don?t think we discuss these things. We are talking about Formula One.
Q: (Dan Knutson ? National Speed Sports News) Flavio, you talked about
getting more income. We have now sort of agreed on sporting and technical
regulations but how confident are you that the commercial issues will be
solved and there will be a better distribution of the income?
FB: I believe we have a proposal on the table and the Bernie? proposal at
the time was accepted by all the manufacturers at the table. I mean, the
income in Formula One is enormous money and I think what we need to do is
split 50 percent for the team and 50 percent for the organiser. That is all
the income, we are talking about, not only one part of the income. For
this, I believe the team is quite happy. For the long-term, the income from
the television rights, from the public, for advertising, would be
representing 50 percent of our business, because this is what we are
producing. You see, our job is entertaining people and we need more income
from this side, absolutely. Really there is 50 percent from this side and
50 percent from sponsorship.

Q: (Carlos Miguel Gomes ? Diario AS) Two questions for Flavio. One, are you
still having fun in Formula One, and two, when does your contract with
Renault end?
FB: Ha, ha, ha. I have a lot of fun. But it is not a question of fun, it is
a question of motivation. I am in Formula One to win and I put Renault
together to be on the top. It was not easy, it is not easy, because
competition is very strong. Renault was the last team to arrive in the
picture but if you want to call this fun, this is fun. Building up the team
is fun, when you see Fernando the first time on the podium, this is fun,
when you see Fernando the first time winning a race, it is fun, because
this really is the result of your job, what you risk, or whatever, to give
to the driver the right car to win a race. This is the motivation, why you
are still in Formula One. My contract with Renault is expiring 2005, this
is what is in my contract with Renault.

Q: (Bob Constanduros) Just a quick question for Fernando, you had a
fantastic race here this time last year and obviously your compatriots were
very excited about that. What chances of the same again this weekend?
FA: It is unpredictable, I think, to make a prediction for the race. But I
have good memories from last year, it was a good race, the car was
fantastic here, and I really hope to have the same car, competitive here
all the weekend, and I will have a chance. From my side I will do 200
percent for this race because are a lot of people have come to support me,
I like the track, I like to race here, it is my home Grand Prix and, for
sure, to do something like last year is for me a dream now on Thursday.

Q: (Bob Constanduros) Is there more pressure because it is your home race?
FA: No. No, because, in Formula One, I have honestly not felt the pressure.
Never, from 2001.

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