European GP 26th-29th May 2005 - Friday Press Conference

Length: 5.148km
Number of Laps: 60 (308.863 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'29''469 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'28''351 (2004, Ferrari)
2004 Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'28''351 (Ferrari)
2004 Podium: M. Schumacher - R. Barrichello - J. Button

Q: Jean, you thought it would favour Ferrari a little bit.
Jean Todt: No, I didn't say it would favour, I said it would not be a disadvantage. Take it the way you want. But I confirm, we know very well that since the beginning of the season and even sometime last year our weakest point was over qualifying. It has been a bit more this year, and this year we had two qualifying, so once should not be against us.

Q: Jean, I know you have told us in your press conferences on a Sunday night what you feel the problem is with Ferrari at the moment, but can you just explain to a wider audience what the basic problem is?
Jean Todt: I mentioned before, so far mainly we have a problem in qualifying. We did not keep our standard in reliability, we had some problems, which, I mean, the new rules with one set of tyres for qualifying and for the race, I mean, we did not know when the rules were decided but once they were applied we did not interpret it as well as our competitors. And having one engine for two Grands Prix, we had to change one engine on Rubens and he had to start at the back of the grid, which I say is a disadvantage. But the same rules are for everyone, so it is nothing to complain, it is just up to us to deliver better.

And again, the first lap we are too slow, during the race we are quicker, sometimes much quicker than the opposition, but you know a car not specifically of Formula One, a racing car in front, I mean, it is like a wall in front of you, it is very difficult to pass even if you have three or four seconds of difference in lap time. So, I mean, when we start far behind it compromises the race

Q: On another subject, there has obviously been a bit of a dispute between your drivers, what have you been able to sort out? Does it change anything?
Jean Todt: You know, I can understand that it makes a headline, but it is not a problem for me. It is very, very little controversy, which makes you happy and I am happy for you, but honestly I don't care so much. They will be very motivated, which is a good thing. You know, there has been a lot of speculation about team orders over the last years. I knew I was going to be asked this question, so I wanted to be accurate. In six years I think it happened twice that we asked, for the championship, in 2001 and 2002, Rubens to facilitate the race for Michael. When we speak about that it seems like it happened every race, but it happened twice in six years.

So, I would not make a big thing out of it. And, yeah, I can understand Rubens' feeling, he was disappointed, I can understand Michael feeling to try to pass a car that was in front of him. So, I mean, I don't say one should or should not have done it. It is part of racing. The only thing that is important is that they didn't compromise the work of all the team, of the company, by hitting each other. It did not happen, so I have nothing more to say.

Q: Jean, yesterday I asked why the Ferrari drivers will not attend the fans with the drivers' show, when I should have asked why Michael wasn't coming? Who in Ferrari decides which driver is going to attend the promotion and which not?
Jean Todt: I don't know about that, honestly. I know there was some planned promotion with the organiser of the Grand Prix and we agreed to do some promotion. But I arrived late last night and I am not aware of what happened. I will ask for more information and I will make sure that Luca Colajanni is not angry when he gives you the answer. I need an hour and then you can go and see him, and he will have the answer.

Q: Jean, sorry to take you back to the first question which was asked you about the relationship of your two drivers, but I think you have to understand that our editors see two drivers, one of whom says the other one almost killed him; that's an on-going story for all of us. Now you say that you don't want the two drivers to compromise the working of the team by hitting each other but it seems the working relationship between Michael and Rubens is virtually finished, at least if this Italian paper is to be believed. Can you please tell us if that is the case, and if so how are you going to prevent this dispute between your drivers compromising the working of your team?
Jean Todt: You are in this world for many years and you know there is a lot of emotion. So if you ask a driver, and I think what is very important, myself, I have had the possibility in the first part of my career to share the seat close to a driver, being a co-driver, and there is a lot of emotion. Sometimes you don't control your emotion, which is human, and if you ask a driver for comments immediately when he comes out of the car, that comes out. You have two options: either you ignite the statements of the driver, and you have a piece of paper (newspaper cutting) which maybe states that, or you try to calm things down.

In my position I will try to calm things down and make sure that they speak together. It was Rubens' birthday on Monday, Michael called him. They were happy to discuss things. There is no controversy in the team. But it's competition. They have the same ambition, same car, same support, and your first opposition is your team-mate. So it has always been like that. We try to minimise as much as we can the opposition between them, but up to a certain limit.

It is something we have to pay some attention to, because on the other hand, I have always said that what does matter are the interests of the team, of the company, but at the end of the day we did manage quite well over the years and the drivers are happy to be together, they are happy to have dinner together, and very often, I see in this business drivers don't speak to each other. They (our drivers) speak to each other, they share opinions, they share opinions about private life, about business, so I would say that after six years together it is not going too bad.

Q: Does this mean that in your opinion the work of the team has not been compromised by the current dispute?
Jean Todt: No, not at all.

Q: Mr Todt, the perfect race car doesn't exist, nor does the perfect race tyre. Obviously Ferrari is presently experiencing problems. How would you like to proportion a percentage in either direction? Is it 30% or 70% Ferrari-Bridgestone, or vice versa?
Jean Todt: You know, let me thank Bridgestone for all the support they have been giving Ferrari over the last years. Ferrari has been winning six Manufacturers World Championships in a row, Michael won five Drivers' championships, and if you take each race we have won, we emphasise how important was the contribution of Bridgestone in helping us. That was probably one of the biggest advantages over our competitors. This year, definitely, we are at a disadvantage in qualifying mainly. They are a great partner, we are happy together, we will solve the problem together.

If you ask me when, I don't have any idea when, I hope as soon as possible, maybe on Sunday, maybe in two weeks, maybe at the end of the... I don't know. But still, what Bridgestone has been doing is fantastic, and I will not get into playing how much it is the tyres, how much it is the chassis, how much it is the driver: it is the whole package. We need Bridgestone to put tyres on our cars and we want to stay with them.

Q: Jean, would you welcome other teams from Michelin joining Bridgestone for next year?
Jean Todt: It is Bridgestone's choice. If Bridgestone wants to have some other top teams, we are very, very happy about that. And it will definitely help us, but it is not up to us to decide and there is nothing in our contract that says that they cannot have another team, so all that again is wrong speculation.