Q:
An interesting strategy from Ferrari, a three stop strategy which
Williams also adopted; what did you think about your opposition
before the start of this race?
JT: Strong, you know. Obviously we have deserved better
than what we've had so far with the potential of the team, the drivers,
the car, but that's racing. It was very important to win today here
at Imola, the first Grand Prix in Europe, I must say, still with
the 2002 car and it was important to give a good end to this unbelievable
car. It was better than just finishing in a normal position, because
its position is on the podium and that's where it finished today.
Q:
Rubens, I guess you're pretty familiar with the sight of a Williams
rear wing by now.
Rubens Barrichello: It was a good fight, a clear one. Obviously
my race was kind of done by the strategy of Williams because I couldn't
overtake Ralf the way Michael did at the first stop, and then on
the second stop it was so close, again, I lost a lot of time, otherwise
it could have been a little bit different, but it was a fun race
in terms of racing and I was quite enthusiastic about the overtaking.
Of course, I think he was going through a problem with his tyres
at that time but it was my chance and I went for it.
Q:
And at the end there with Kimi?
RB: I think he backed off but I didn't care much about
that, I just saw the car coming and if I had a chance I would go.
I tried all I could, but I only really had the last lap where I
was close enough but I didn't have time to do it.
Q:
Before the start of the race, did you at Ferrari feel or guess that
McLaren might be on a two stop and Williams on a three stop?
RB: It's quite difficult to know what people are doing.
McLaren haven't been on a quick pace the whole weekend, but obviously
showing that they had more fuel the whole time. I'm not so sure
that if they were on three stops they could have beaten us in qualifying,
but otherwise they did a good job to go from sixth to second.
Q:
Jean, it seemed that Michael was fairly confident about this weekend;
were you, before the start of the weekend?
JT: Well, we can never be confident, we simply knew that
we had a very strong car, but all people who know something about
Formula One recognize that. We had very good tyres from Bridgestone
and it was just a question of putting everything together, which
was not the case in the first three races of the championship, so
I was wondering if it would be the third time in a row that we wouldn't
be able to do it, or if we would be able to do it. Finally we made
it.
Q:
Did things go pretty perfectly today for you?
JT: Perfectly? No. Ralf did a very strong start and he
overtook Michael. Then for two or three reasons Rubens never had
a clear track in front of him, but he's in a better position to
explain that and that's why he missed out on a better position.
But we are very pleased to be running in this situation, to be able
to score such a result.
Q.
Rubens it seems that your race was compromised by the pit-stop when
you lost five or six seconds. The second stop
RB: Not really. My race was compromised with not having
the track free basically. I had three laps during the whole race
when I could really push on the limit of the car and saying that
I couldn't really use the advantage of my strategy. But having said
that it was a good race in terms of fighting and so on, the last
pit-stop did slow me down yeah, I could have gone through Ralf a
little bit early and probably catch Kimi earlier as well. But the
whole race was okay apart from not having a clear run.
Q.
Michael let you past at one point, that wasn't a problem was it?
RB: No I mean it was very close when he came out of the
pits and I think Ross (Brawn) probably had told him on the radio
his race was secure and by that point I was on an extremely fast
lap into the pits. It was nice of him to let me by at that time.
Questions
from the floor
Q.
A question for Jean Todt. How important is this victory, first victory
of the year for Ferrari?
JT: It is important because we want to fight for the championship
and if we had not scored those points it would have made life more
difficult. Definitely to win the race is important because that
is the way we work. We work to win races, to win championships and
to win here at Imola in front of the 'tifosi', the employees of
the company is something that is really rewarding. Of course we
did not know it would be a difficult situation for Michael so it
puts the family more close together and today is a demonstration.
I keep saying it is better to answer by facts but sometimes the
image is quite nice and just looking at the image of Michael and
Rubens at the finish and it showed the spirit of the team. For us
what is important is what is happening outside more than what is
said outside.
Q.
Two questions for you Jean. One is about the new points system.
You closed the gap to Kimi by two points, how big a concern is that?
Is it something that you need to think about as the season goes
on? And second you mentioned about the new car, how certain is it
that it will race in Spain?
JT: In the points situation, we knew that it was going
to change quite a lot but in a way reliability is more important
than performance. That is the main reason why we decided to go with
the F2002 in Imola, because we knew that the car is reliable. The
F2003-GA is definitely better potential but we were not happy enough
on reliability to decide to enter it in this Grand Prix. Next week
we are going to do a lot of testing in Mugello mainly with the F2003-GA.
We are not far from what we want to achieve in terms of reliability
and we will be in position to see exactly where we are at the end
of the week, but we are quite confident that the car will be ready
for the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks.
Q.
Jean Todt was there any question of Michael not driving today? Was
there a discussion about whether he would race?
JT: He had the choice. I think it was very important he
decided with his brother yesterday to go to Germany and it definitely
had the effect of being more comfortable having been there and then
it was his decision. We at Ferrari would never push the driver to
drive the car if he is not intending to drive the car. It was his
choice, but I must say it was a very respectable choice. I think
it is very important that today Michael has shown what he is as
a driver and a man and it is a shame sometimes that people may want
not to understand what he is. Sometimes we protect him, but today
again I think he has done a great demonstration and we are very
proud of him. I mean it is sad, Rubens is at my side, but we are
very proud of both of our drivers.