Q: Jean, can I just ask you to clarify your position regarding the potential chicane at Indianapolis because I still hear from people, and you told me on the Sunday night, that you never spoke about a chicane? Can you just clarify that position please?
Jean TODT: No, I didn’t say that to you on Sunday but maybe it was jet lag for you and you misunderstood. I simply said that Bernie (Ecclestone) came and while we were having a meeting… the pre-race meeting with the drivers and with a few technical people including Ross Brawn, and he came into the room which incidentally was close to his office and he asked us ‘what about a chicane?’ And I said, it was not our decision to speak about a chicane or not. During the press conference, I was asked ‘but if you would have been told about the chicane, what was your position?’ and I said ‘we would have been against it.’
Q: And after the US Grand Prix, you were told that Rubens had said he was unhappy about the situation during the race. Can you clarify whether you have spoken to him, whether you’ve sorted that out?
JT: You know, a racing driver always wants to win, whatever the circumstances, but in all fairness, I don’t think that you can talk about the race at Indianapolis. Saying that, our drivers drove a strong race, you could see that, it was obvious, you could see the lap times during the race, and the aim was to win the race. He did not win the race and of course he was frustrated and then, you know, it was like a temperature which has since calmed down and it was over.
Q: So you’ve managed to calm the situation…
JT: I did not manage it, it came on its own, so I did not have to do anything.
Q: Jean, this year, to what extent do you feel that Bridgestone has compromised performance for safety during the first part of this year?
JT: You know I try to avoid getting in to any kind of controversy, so Bridgestone and I have been saying that since years, mainly since the beginning of the season… because if you win then tyres don’t interest anybody. We have been winning so much in the last years, and every time we have said how important (they are) because without Bridgestone we would not have won as much as we did. This year, we did not win, and immediately we tried to find a reason. We tried to find a reason, and of course, it was a lot about the tyres. It is true to say that the biggest difference between last year and this year is the tyre regulations, and together with Bridgestone, we probably didn’t do a good enough job to be as competitive as we wanted. We are working very hard. I think we have improved the situation over the last races and I hope we will improve for the next race. Saying that again, Bridgestone, together with Ferrari at some time decided to compromise performance for safety, which we did. It also happened this year that we had to stop because we simply could not finish the race. You say Rubens in Bahrain, you say Michael in Barcelona. So we learned from that and the tyres we took in Nürburgring, for example, were definitely a compromise. They were not the quickest tyres, but we knew we could finish the race.
Q: Hiroshi, we quite often hear that the specifications of tyres are very very close. Now the FIA say that you should have a primary and the option is the safety net. Is that always the situation?
Hiroshi YASUKAWA: Actually this year’s regulations have had a very strong impact, how to make the tyres. But our company is always concerned about safety issues first. Then afterwards, we discuss with the teams, and we chose different compounds or construction or whatever. But whatever, the first issue is always the safety issue.
Q: Now your teams raced at Indianapolis; how did you find the tyres had worn after the race?
HY: Actually, our engineers went to check on the banking and the course itself and the many forces on the tyres, lateral or vertical or tyre wear. It was exactly the same as it had been for the past five years.
Q: Could both you and Pierre give us some indication how you check your tyres over a race weekend?
HY: Basically we check the tyre temperatures and also tyre wear and also tyre pressures and also the tread surface. We have long experience and we check many aspects. On Friday nights, especially, our engineers are very very busy.
Q: Do they actually cut open the tyres or anything like that?
HY: I think our people do what is needed. In this case, we cut up the tyres.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dominic Fugère – Le Journal de Montreal) Question for Hiroshi-san, what was the input of Firestone, who knew very well the Indianapolis track, as they have been there for almost 100 years and they are one of your companies. How much if an input did they have into the construction of the tyres for Indy?
HY: Actually, now, Pierre mentioned that Indycars and Formula One cars are two totally different cars. And also tyres – one on the one side is a totally slick tyre, one side is grooved tyres. Angles for one side are 30 inches in diameter and on the other 15 inches. Then angles, for down force, are also totally different. It is very difficult to transfer to them our technologies. When we go to Firestone producing our Indycar tyre, their concerned just about the Indy 500 or just oval course race tyres, but Formula One technical people are just concerned about Formula One tyres. But of course sometimes we discuss it, but basically not.
Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speedsport News) Jean, from your point of view was there any way a compromise could have been reached so that 20 cars raced at Indy?
JT: You know there has been too much about that. I think the problem has been clear. We were facing an unprepared situation. I mean some competitors were facing an unprepared situation and no solutions unfortunately could be found. There was so much about the chicane but there could have been some counter point about the chicane. I mean definitely for me the only way… Well I heard that it was not only turn 13 that was difficult for the competitors, but also I heard about turn five as well, as some of you may have overheard, or that in this situation you should have taken different tyres or you should have gone through the pit lane, that for me were the two solutions but definitely the race was compromised due to the situation and I mean a chicane would have raised many other problems that were uncovered.
Q: (Alain Pernot – L’Auto Journal) Question to Jean Todt, there are four Grands Prix in five weeks in July. How difficult is it for teams to deal with such a situation?
JT: It is tough, not just for the team but for all the partners, not only the tyres, but everybody. It is tough already to have back to back races in two weeks, but can you imagine in five weekends to have four Grands Prix? It will definitely give the advantage to the teams that have the best cars at the moment because there is very little time to react to improve the situation in this kind of condition?
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