A transcipt of today's Shell press
conference in Melbourne which included Michael Schumacher, Rubens
Barrichello and Mike Copson.
Michael
Schumacher
Do you need to change your driving style now the engines need to
last 2 races?
"In particular it causes a lot of headaches to you
guys, I believe—to Shell in particular because they have to
work very hard in order to enable us to achieve our goal, to not
lose too much performance from the engine and keep it reliable for
two races. And, indeed [attention is needed] from the driver [as
well] to judge the risk you take or how much you can push at certain
moments. So you really have to look after things like the engine,
the tyres, and other parts, but obviously [you have to look after
the engine much more now]."
Is there less chance of winning this weekend because Ferrari
is using the 2004M?
"Yes, but I mean as I said before you don’t
win a championship by just winning the first race—that’s
not really the point. You have to look at the whole season and you
have to [form] your strategy [correctly] for what you want to achieve.
And that’s to achieve another world championship title, for
the constructer and the driver, and [therefore] that was our decision."
What
keeps you motivated and have you considered retirement?
"I still love the sport, and I think that’s
already enough of a reason to keep on going. Plus, I live in a wonderful
time, with a great team with [whom I have] a great relationship.
I’m 36 but only 36, and I feel good."
Rubens
Barrichello
With the engines having to last 2 races, does this put extra pressure
on both you and the engine?
"We do so much on the car which is globally for the
exercise type of thing, and its hard work for the team and Shell
to make things more reliable, because everything has to run smooth
and [it took a large amount of] work for the engine guys together
with the Shell guys to make it more reliable. You know, at the end
of the day everyone is talking about who is the fastest. [Even if
you are] the fastest guy for [over 99% of the race], if you’re
not there at the end it won’t matter [anyway]."
Do you think Renault will be your main competitor this year?
"Fridays testing here [is going to mean very] little
for everyone I guess. Saturday is the very first time we're going
to answer, “Who is who”? But I get the impression that
Renault is at the top of the list, hopefully not as much as Ferrari,
but they're going to be there or there about."
Your
thoughts on Michael continually winning races.
"I’m sick of losing and I just try to keep on
getting better and better. I think that the space that I earn in
Ferrari today is as big as Michael. The respect that I have was
difficult [to gain] ever since the beginning. The first couple of
years have been quite difficult being a Ferrari driver with Michael
there. Right now I am just proud to have Michael along my side.
I have often been compared to the best but I’m giving my best,
and I’m sure that the day that I feel that Michael is unbeatable
is the day that I go home and stay with my family."
Mike
Copson
What involvement has Shell had since October last year until now?
"We have been flat out since the last race last year,
in fact we started thinking about our portfolio of products for
this year in about April 2004. So we’ve been working very
hard with the team to basically have the broadest range of products
we can give them to offer either performance or reliability or a
combination of both.
You can’t underestimate the challenge of having
to make one of these Formula 1 engines last for 1500km. It’s
an awesome challenge that we hopefully have come up to. Hopefully
we are going to be up to scratch—we have to suck it and see
to a certain amount, but we're pretty optimistic."
How
has Shell increased its involvement for season 2005?"
"Basically Shell’s role has now increased in
2005 for of two reasons. Firstly, because engine reliability is
so important, we have to do a lot more analysis track-side, to actually
predict and monitor the wear of the engine, that we do in our mobile
laboratory. And secondly, because of the tyre rules, there’s
more emphasis on fuelling in terms of the pit stops, so we have
to play a more active role in making sure that we are engaged with
the team and defining the strategy in the right way. We thought
we were busy last year, but this years going to be a whole new ball
game." |
