Friday, July 10, 1998

"Friday Five" press conference

With Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton), Eddie Irvine (Ferrari), Ron Dennis
(McLaren), Frank Williams (Williams), Hirohide Hamashima (Bridgestone)

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Q: Giancarlo, how was today?
GF: I am very happy with sixth place. It is quite good, I hope to be there
tomorrow behind the McLarens and the Ferraris. I feel more confident than
Magny Cours, but the set-up is not very, very good. We have some problems
in low speed corners, the car is very nervous and I hope to improve the
problem tomorrow.

Q: Ahead of Williams tomorrow?
GF: Williams were very quick today. We don't know about the fuel for them,
but we will see tomorrow.

Q: Benetton have signed a new deal with Mecachrome, are you happy about
staying with the team?
GF: Yes, Benetton today signed for two years with Sportec Engines and I am
very, very happy because the engine is very, very good. But I hope to have
some more power in the future.

Q: What has the level of development been like?
GF: Tomorrow we have a new qualifying engine. It should be better in the
high revs, but in the last two or three months there has been more power.

Q: Eddie, were you a bit frustrated after this morning?
EI: Yeah I did that two years ago. I obviously forgot what the feeling was
like! No, it doesn't really set me back too much because we had a problem
with the car which was a similar problem we had on the last day of the test
here, so even I hadn't have gone off I don't think we would have been able
to really do any sensible work today. The good thing is at least we have
sussed it now and we know what the problem is and we can go about doing
some good work tomorrow.

Q: What is the problem with the car?
EI: We had a problem with it and it is not really for public consumption.
It is just something that shouldn't have happened and we are working on it.

Q: Was it just to your car?
EI: Just on my car because I have got a different set-up to Michael. We
have had a problem twice with it now and obviously it is the difference
between the two cars, so we will go back to something different.

Q: You must be pleased with the way the season has gone?
EI: It has gone well in terms that I have got lots of podiums but at the
end of the day I measure myself against Michael and Michael has gone better
than me. So in one way I am disappointed because I want to beat him and
it's a bit like banging your head against a brick wall. It is not the
easiest thing in the world, but sometimes we get close and that is very
satisfying. From that aspect I am not happy but I have to say but compared
to other guys I am fourth in the world championship and only five points
behind Coulthard.

Q: Are you hoping to stay with Ferrari next season?
EI: It's clearly not something one should talk about in the open. I know
what I want to do and I am aiming towards that. We will see what happens.

Q: You were quoted as saying McLaren had blown the championship. Do you
stand by that quote?
EI: I think I would. I think here we are going to have a hard time, it is
like France in the World Cup. They are playing at home and we are not at
100%. I think over the season I would still put my money on Michael.

Q: So you wouldn't say they've actually blown it?
EI: They should have been a lot further ahead than they actually are this
season. They've made strategy mistakes, they've made reliability mistakes
and you have to say that we haven't -- that is something. Ferrari strategy
wise are second to none and reliability wise we are second to none as well.
Okay we need a faster car but we are working on that as well.

Q: Ron, would you reply to that?
EI: He normally does.

RD: I am sure you will all be delighted if I get into a game of tennis with
Eddie. I have respect for all Grand Prix drivers, it is a difficult task to
go well in a Grand Prix car, but it is not a question of responding to what
he said. Most opinions that drivers express are wrong, but the reality of
the situation is that we are a focused, dedicated organisation and we bring
that focus to win every Grand Prix.

In the end there is nothing that anybody can say outside the team that can
incfluence the result. Of course, inevitably, when you are pushing you make
mistakes. We make mistakes, no one can be harder on the team than we are on
ourselves. When somebody wants to occupy themselves with the sort of
observations that Eddie has made then as far as I am concerned a) they are
wasting their time because they should be focused on their own objectives
and b) if anything it motivates us more or less. If there is a
psychological subject behind it then it tends to be misplaced. In the end
you choose how to run your life, choose what you say and how you say it,
and I don't really want to get involved in that sort of approach.

Q: Do you feel your advantage from the beginning of the season has been eroded?
RD: I think we did a very good job in the winter and inevitably if you have
an advantage within a set of regulations if you are closer to optimising
those regulations then you are bouncing closer and closer t the limit of
the regulations and people are going to catch you up. There are obviously
some areas, the tyres, that play a crucial role in the performance of the
team at the beginning of the team. Thanks to Bridgestone for doing a good
job in the first part, but by their own admission we didn't have the best
tyre at the last Grand Prix. But that is motor racing. We worked hard at
the test, responded very well, but we don't know where we are at the
moment. We are more back to where we were before than at Magny Cours.
I'mvery comfortable with the way things are going, I'm disappointed with
the unreliability we suffered, especially from human errors, but we are as
determined to win as error.

Q: Did you get to the bottom of the problem in Magny Cours with David's fuel rig?
RD: The nozzle suffered an internal mechanical problem, it wasn't
attributable to the maintenance procedures laid down by the team but the
innacuracy of some of the components supplied to us. It's right to say it
could have happened to anyone, but you are not permitted under regulations
to change components. And in this specific instance there were components
that weren't quite right and maybe we should have picked up those
inaccuracies. But we didn't.

Q: In Britain the crowd are behind Coulthard. What's David got to do?
RD: He has got to find it in himself. Neither driver ends up with the same
set-up, that's normal, they optimise the car for their own styles and from
circuit to circuit those styles match to a better or worse degree. If Mika
had taken David on in Imola, and I don't think there was anyway that David
was going to get anywhere near Mika in Jerez, in Jarama I mean, it is the
way it swings. It is too early in practice to determine who is going to
come out on top but we are obviously quite competitive at the moment.

Q: Frank, you must be quite happy with your performance today?
FW: Reasonably well but we did enjoy the benefit of new tyres so we will be
starting again tomorrow.

Q: The silly season has started. What is your reaction to the stories?
FW: The truth is I said years ago to never make any iota of contribution to
the silly season. I keep out of it and when I am ready we will announce our
drivers when we are ready to sign them.

Q: But it will be weeks not months?
FW: That is correct. The decision will be sometime soon.

Q: Remain with drivers?
FW: I don't think I'll discuss internal company business in public, I am
sure you will understand.

Q: Hamashima, what do you think about the possibility of a front tyre width limit?
HH: I respect current regulations.

Q: Would you like a front tyre width?
HH: I like freedom.

Q: What about new tyre?
HH: Silverstone is very hard circuit for tyres and we found the solution
last week and then we made it and brought it here.

Q: When decision to run it here?
HH: Ask Ron.

RD: Our tyre choice for this GP was made last Thursday and one of those
tyres was in the programme and one of them wasn't. Between Thursday and now
those tyres were made in Japan and flown here. That is a pretty impressive
turnaround.

Q: Is Eddie's attitude refreshing to the sport?
RD: I believe in freedom of speech, I believe in freedom of choice. From
when we are born up to a certain point I think you have to follow the
opinions of people who have more expertise, like your parents, to guide
you. Then, at 18 or 21, you become a free person and in the society in
which most of us live, the freedon of speech and the freedom of choice is
fundamental to our values. It doesn't matter whether it is Eddie as a Grand
Prix driver, a mechanic or myself the decision is what you say and when you
are say, it is not just a question of being free to say it you have to have
respect and integrity for what you believe.

Q: What has been the secret of Mika's success this season?
RD: I think the question is aimed at an understandable perception that I
favour Mika's performance over David's. As I have tried to say so many
times Mika does have a different relationship with me and with the team
than David but it is so easy to understand why. First of all he has been
with the team longer, second he had a very bad accident in Adelaide and he
recovered, and continued to stay with the team and perform with the team
and therefore as he has had his success and David has had his success,
there is a different emotion there. It is an understandable and human
emotion. Does it influence the outcome of a Grand Prix? The answer is no.
We pride ourselves on trying to give to the best of our abilities the same
opportunity to each driver to win. Inevitably there can only be one winner.

Q: Frank, what do you think about Mecachrome supplying three teams?
FW: I don't think I want to comment about how many teams will be supplied next year.

Q: Who is going to win the World Cup?
RD: What is the World Cup?

GF: I think Brazil because they are more experience but France are at home
and they have a good chance. There are a lot of people supporting them.

EI: Brazil. As long as it is a good game and whoever wins it deserve it,
that's the main thing. We don't want to see a lucky goal or a red card.

FW: I think the French will win on home ground.

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