TEAM PRINCIPALS: Ross BRAWN (Honda), Norbert HAUG (Mercedes), John HOWETT (TOYOTA), Frank WILLIAMS (WILLIAMS)

Q. A question to you all. Your feelings about your performances so far this year in the first two races.

Stefano Domenicali: As always we need to be very cautious. We have seen the reaction of the team after the very difficult race we had in Australia. The performance seems to be there. We saw the performance of the other teams which was different from race to race.

I am expecting to see this kind of variation in terms of performance all through the year. There will be certain tracks for sure where we will have some teams that will be performing better than the other. We need to be very cautious. At the last race we showed that the performance was really there and we hope to keep the pace.

Q. It was a temporary circuit in Australia whereas in Malaysia it is a permanent circuit. We go to more permanent circuits than temporary circuits. Do you feel that you are at an advantage at a permanent circuit than on a temporary circuit?

SD: If you look retrospectively we are more competitive on a permanent circuit. But don't forget that we won races in Australia. That shows as I said we will have a situation where everything varies from time to time. As you know the performance in qualifying is making the difference above all on these kinds of tracks.

Q. John, your feelings?

John Howett: We were encouraged by the performance in Malaysia. It was more or less where we think we should be competing based on the winter test evaluation. We didn't do a particularly god job in bringing the cars home in Australia, but certainly that second bunch behind the two quick teams is very tight.

Q. And that is where you wanted to be?

JH: No, we race to win. But we have to be practical as the gap in our view to Ferrari is still fairly significant.

Q. Christian?

Christian Horner: We had one of our best winters since Red Bull Racing came into Formula One. For the first time ever we have had continuity of engine partner and other areas within the team. We arrived in Australia after quite a positive winter test programme but we had a few incidents there. There was a brake issue with Mark (Webber) in qualifying and then to have both drivers go out in the race in what turned out to be an atypical race with only six finishers was disappointing.

In Malaysia we had a far better sight of our potential. We had a fuel pump issue with Mark in the race, but generally the performance was promising. We can see that the car has got potential. But as John said, it is an immensely tightly fought pack behind the big two teams but certainly we took a lot of encouragement out of Malaysia.

Q. A lot of us were concentrating on the reliability of your cars, particularly after last year. Do you feel you have got that beat or is it still a bit of a niggle?

CH: Having completed almost 10,000kms trouble-free in testing we were disappointed to have a brake failure with Mark in qualifying in Australia. Then there was obviously a track rod issue in free practice on Friday in Malaysia with David (Coulthard) which caused in the end quite a spectacular looking accident. Certainly the transmission problems blighted us last year, but the whole transmission group back in Milton Keynes have done a really good job especially with the new challenge of the four-race gearbox, so hopefully we are now going in a very strong direction.

Q. Just to go back to that track rod issue. Can you tell us how the track rod issue was resolved? What happened in Malaysia? Can you give us an update on that?

CH: We had a component failure with a titanium shroud on a carbon rod that basically de-bonded itself. That caused David to run wide and hit a very large bump. It was a very heavy impact into the side of the kerb which caused spectacular looking damage. It was fairly similar to I think an issue McLaren had here three or four years ago on a rear track rod.

Basically we took precautions and strengthened the components in question. Having completed so many miles per season we really didn't expect it to be an issue, but we took an extra precaution to make sure it doesn't reoccur.

Q. So they have been reinforced?

CH: There has been a very slight process change because the design actually wasn't at fault. I think it was a human error with a component that had infant mortality and it was replaced with a component that had done approximately 2,500kms and trouble free. We have looked at the process very carefully. We worked with the FIA over that and are happy that there are no issues and the suspension is more than integral.

Q. John, the team has tested here as has Ferrari. You were the only two teams. One or two people are sort of saying 'well, we didn't think it was worth it'. Of course they would say that because they weren't here. What are your feelings about the advantages of having been here?

JH: I think one of the reasons we wanted to come was we were running a new cooling operation with a more undercut side pod and we wanted a guarantee of reasonable ambient temperatures and we got it. With two teams here we kept out of each other's way in race simulations and completed them without red flags, so from our side it was an extremely good test and a very high return on the investment.

Q. You have got a new driver in Timo Glock. What sort of effect has that had on the atmosphere within the team and on Jarno (Trulli) who has been there for a little while?

JH: I don't know about Timo but I think it is really great to see Jarno so motivated and so happy at the moment. That's mainly the car. Timo is very quick and I think they are pushing each other. They have a good relationship and at the moment things are going very well.

Q. What do you think about Timo's performances in the first two races?

JH: I think we put him under pressure in the first race. We had a five place penalty for the gear box. We released him late at the end of qualifying, so basically he got a five place penalty because he was clearly in the way. In the race he was performing fairly well. He had a small off and was unfortunate not to come back on the track. In Malaysia basically again he had issues. I think we need to get him there in a good condition and allow him to race. In Malaysia through no fault of his own he was hit from behind.

Q. Stefano, looking at Kimi (Raikkonen) a year ago and a year later. Tell us about the differences in Kimi.

SD: I think that Kimi, of course, after a year's experience understands how to relate better with the team. That's a normal process which we were expecting last year. That's the relationship on both sides - from Kimi to the team and from the team to Kimi. I think that for sure now this package is very good. Kimi fits very well in the team. He likes the way we are working. Everyone is very motivated because we always said that the family constant of our team is always there. I think he has understood that.

Q. What about Felipe. He has had a very tough start to the championship. A bit like last year when he came here and it all changed.

SD: Of course Felipe is the first who is not happy about his start. But once again as we always said we work as a team. We had a problem in the first race, it was something connected to reliability which gave us big problems. In the second race the car was there. We need to look forward. For sure, he has shown that he is very strong. He is very motivated and is willing to come here and to show that for sure the zero scoring is not an achievement that will continue.

Q. What about yourself? Things have changed for you, too. What other surprises? Have you had any surprises in being team principal?

SD: Surprises. You try to anticipate everything mentally beforehand, but it's almost impossible to predict everything. You try to cope with this enormous responsibility and the pressure that you have to handle but that's the way this job is. I'm like that, I try to do my best, because I can count on great people around me and the team is really strong.

Questions From The Floor

Q. (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) John, you said that Jarno is very motivated, but did you expect him to be so competitive in these first races of the season? And do you think that a podium is a possible target for you and for him?

JH: I think he likes the car. Clearly there's a gap between us and, shall we say, third or second place on the podium, so we've just got to keep working and improving the car. I think that given a good car, we have a very strong capability. His race performances have been strong, consistent, and if we can improve the overall speed of the car we will be there.

Q. (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Stefano, you're now team principal. Is Jean Todt still helping you out in any way, giving advice or any help?

SD: Of course. He is still the best and we always said that our strength is to have dynamic changes in the structure and this is part of these changes in a dynamic way. He's still with us, as you can see – he's here – so of course this is a strength, it's not a negative point.

Q. (MC) How many races do you expect him to come to?

SD: I don't know. He will always be there, in any case, even if he's not physically, for sure he will still be on the case. Q. Could you also outline what sort of contact you have with Michael Schumacher during the race weekend?

SD: Telephone is the easiest thing to use, so we are in touch every day by telephone, just an exchange of opinions and of course his opinion is always very useful for our engineering side of the team. Q. Does he have a data read-out at home, how does he follow the race?

SD: He has information that he can follow.

Q. The same as we have, the same monitors?

SD: He has our monitors, our information. Of course, he watches television, he has the television information but he also has our information because we want to keep this as, once again, a help in terms of his experience and trying to analyse what we can do to improve things.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Stefano, we saw Michael riding a KTM at Misano last weekend and yesterday he was at Mugello with MotoGP? What do you think about his situation on two wheels; do you think that in the end he will be starting a new adventure there? And the second question is about Kimi, because Kimi yesterday said he would like to test a MotoGP. Is he allowed to do that? Has he your permission? Are you thinking about it?

SD: With regards to Michael, I think it was two years ago that Michael came to Mugello for the first time to see MotoGP and he realised that the world on two wheels is also a fascinating world. He has racing, speed and new challenges in his DNA but we have to respect that and as far as we know, for sure he has a challenging view of his life but not with any kind of official or a secondary objective. With regards to Kimi, I would say that for sure he's using his motocross bike as we know, because he likes it, but I would say that he's more concentrating on four wheels now up to November and then we will see.

Q. (Ottavio Daviddi – Tuttosport) Stefano, looking at practice today, do you think a one-two result is possible in the race?

SD: I'm going to keep my hands up. No, for sure, our objective is this kind of target but as we always see, as often seen on Friday, the times are misleading, so we need to be very careful. For sure, the performance seems quite competitive and I would say very good but it's too early to say that.

Q. (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Christian, Toyota and three other major manufacturers made their feelings quite clear yesterday regarding the Max Mosley situation. I was just wondering from your own perspective what your thoughts were on Max's position as a team principal, whether you can comment on him to stand down.

CH: Obviously the manufacturers made their position known yesterday. The FIA have responded. The Senate have called a general assembly and it would be inappropriate for me to comment further than that.

Q. (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Question for all three of you: we're only three races into the season, with all the rule changes for next year, where are you guys at with the 2009 programme?

JH: We're working hard. I think there have been some recent meetings to clarify some of the aerodynamic issues because there are some grey areas that need closing, otherwise we don't all go in a straight line, but I think everybody is working hard on KERS, is working hard on the new aerodynamic package. You have to, that's the competitive nature of Formula One.

SD: Yeah, I can confirm what John said. We are working very hard because as you may know, next year the cars will be completely different and if you start with the wrong project then it will be a very difficult season. So I would say that the most difficult thing is, at least for us, is to keep a very high concentration and a very high performance, or try to achieve every time a better performance for this championship, to be very very competitive with the new car because it's a completely new project, a completely new design, new shape plus we have the KERS. This year, for sure, is a very challenging year for us at least, but I'm pretty sure also for the other teams.

CH: I think it's probably a bigger challenge even for us as an independent team, without the depth of resource of my colleagues here because balancing your focus on developing this year's car and facing a radical change in the concept of what a Formula One car is for next year, both aerodynamically and with the new energy recovery system is a challenge. There are areas which we are already focused hard on in Milton Keynes, trying to maintain a balance, not forgetting about 2008. We're only in race three here but it's certainly going to be a very very busy year.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) It's a question for Stefano and Christian: could you explain to us why you remain silent about the embarrassing story about Max?

CH: I've said my bit. I think it would be inappropriate and not the right forum to discuss this further. The FIA have made a statement and we will await the outcome.

SD: From our side, as we have said for the time being, we will not make any kind of declaration but I think it's a matter of role and responsibility. My role here is to be focused on what we have to do, keep the feet on the ground because we are behind in the championships, so my role is that. Everyone has his role and beyond that there is responsibility connected to that and that's i: Ross, Rubens Barrichello is celebrating his 257th Grand Prix. You have worked with him quite a lot with Ferrari and now Honda. How much has he changed? Give us a little appraisal of his current state.
Ross BRAWN: He has not changed at all. But what is great, not only about the achievement of 257 races, is the fact that he is still as strong and as competitive for many more. When Riccardo Patrese reached the record he was retiring, but there are no signs of Rubens needing or wanting to retire in the future.

Q: Do you think he is still learning?
RB: I think every driver keeps learning as do the engineers, technicians and all the other people involved. There is always something to learn in F1.

Q: We saw Jenson Button in the points in Barcelona. Is that the product of new bits and pieces coming through but is it also perhaps a development of the Brawn effect?
RB: There is a good programme of development with the team and with the car. I think there is some benefit from the changes and the progress we have made with the car. From where we were with the car in winter testing I think we can be quite pleased where we are now. What I want to do in the future is start the winter testing with something a lot stronger than we had this past winter. On your second point I hope I have been able to give the team some more confidence in doing the right things. They are all capable of doing a very good job. I think sometimes it just helps to have a reference point with someone who has been fortunate enough to win races and championships and who can say ‘guys you are not that far off, let’s just work hard and focus on the important things and we can do it.’ That’s the thing I have tried to bring to the team.

Q: As well as that, how much has it been a case of putting the right people in the right places?
RB: There is always that in every team. Every successful team is a combination of a lot of very good people, all highly talented people and sometimes it is a question of helping them see each other’s needs as well as their own and getting the whole group to work together. You will only succeed as a group. You will not succeed any other way.

Q: John, Timo Glock is somebody at the other end of the scale than Rubens, having his first season in F1. How do you feel he is developing?
John HOWETT: Very well. He had a good day today and his confidence is growing. We are very happy. He is a cohesive part of the team and he has certainly shown at times that he has the capability to do a very strong performance. We are looking forward in the next few grands prix to really seeing the full potential.

Q: He started off particularly well but the qualifying seems to have dropped off a bit.
JH: I think only the last race in Barcelona. I think he had a very strong race in Barcelona, but he didn’t manage really to get a strong lap that he had shown in the first three that he could actually put in. It is part of the growing experience in F1 and getting used to the tyres, getting used to setting up the car for both the race and qualifying. We are very happy where he is at the moment and we expect a lot more performance in the next two to three races.

Q: We have seen Jarno Trulli in the Top 10 quite a lot in the last few years, but not necessarily confirming that with points finishes. But in three out of the four races this year he has been in the points. What has changed?
JH: I think he just has confidence in the car. He is really sparkling if I can say that this year. From the Bahrain test he had confidence in the car and he is really delivering in qualifying and I think he has an extremely strong race pace.

Q: Frank, a word about Kazuki Nakajima – twice in the points. How do you feel he has got on?
Frank WILLIAMS: Well, he is very young and very sincere and earnest. He works hard at the track and away from the track and spends more time on his fitness than even Nico Rosberg does. I think if his car is good enough he will be as good as the car and he will do well.

Q: Nico seems to have been in and out of the Top 10. Is the problem with the car?
FW: We have seen him spend quite a bit of time out of the Top 10 until the time it really matters. I don’t know how many times we have qualified out of the Top 10, but I don’t think it is more than once or twice this year. But it doesn’t seem to bother him and he always seems to accelerate from 15th to 10th at the first corner and 10th to 8th by the second. It is great to watch.

Q: How do you feel you are getting on with the battle in the midfield as that really is a major battle with everybody?
FW: It is. It is unpredictable every time. You could be at the top of it or the bottom of it only covered by two or three-tenths-of-a-second at two or three circuits. It is not the place to be.

Q: But knowing you are a racer it must be very exciting to see where you are coming out of it.
FW: We worry about the amount of points we collect at the end of every year or have collected. That makes such a difference to the money, of course, and everyone’s morale and the sponsors.

Q: Norbert, we saw Heikki Kovalainen have the accident at the Spanish Grand Prix. You have seen a lot of drivers coming back from big accidents in the past. How do you feel he has come out of it?
Norbert HAUG: I think he is fine and that for us, and I think for the F1 community, is the best message of today. He came and settled into the car and just continued like he drove the car before – very focussed. He had a smile on his face this morning which was very positive. He passed the test yesterday in a very good manner, so we are all very pleased that he is back and can do a very good job.

Q: From an engine supplier’s point of view how much development are you still able to do?
NH: Very, very limited after the start of the season really – just some stuff around the engine and the outside, but not the inside. As the expression says, it is basically frozen.

Q: That was not an expression you liked.
NH: Not at the beginning, that’s right, probably there could be a better one. But in the meantime everybody knows what we want to describe by saying that.

Q: Do you think the disparity has grown in terms of the power of the engines?
NH: I think it is difficult to judge really as it is the whole package at the end of the day. If you look at the data and the top speeds and lap times, if anything, it has closed together. I think it is a really, really intense battle – much more so than in the past. F1 was never easy but it is really unpredictable and if we make a mistake we may end up 10th on the grid or whatever. It is really closed together and if you look at the fastest race laps of the recent races, even in Barcelona which is a very challenging track, I think the whole pack came together in a very impressive way. It is the end of a period with a comparable set of rules and that’s always the case, but I think F1 has never been more challenging as it is now and you can name a lot of teams that are capable and invest a lot of money and have good people. But it is a very intense fight.

Q: To all of you. Your feelings about the loss of the Super Aguri team.
RB: I think it is always a great shame to lose any team from F1, we cannot really afford to be losing teams. I think they showed a lot of character and a lot effort in the past couple of years but circumstances prevailed and they were not able to carry on. But it is a shame that they were not able to find the funding to continue.
JH: Very sad to lose a team, but I would say it is as competitive off the track as it is on the track to maintain a commercial environment and a strong team. I think in the end we are in the premium level of motor sport in the world and we have to compete at all levels – both on and off the track.
FW: I cannot really improve on what’s been said by the two honourable gentlemen behind. They have said it all really. It is a shame.
NH: It is a shame. We all know Aguri, he was driving in F1. He is a particularly nice guy. I think he worked very hard, but the fact that more teams have left F1 than are currently staying in F1 just describes the fact how difficult it is to continue on that basis. In that case it is particularly sad because they have been nice guys, good drivers, very committed. The beginning looked very promising and they had quite a good set-up and made it into F1. At the very last moment I think they went flat out, had good support from Japan and from various people and even more, so it is a shame that they need to quit right now.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) On the Super Aguri question, if I could ask Frank to start and then perhaps the others as well, with their departure, to what extent does it facilitate the path towards a new Concorde Agreement? I ask Frank first because obviously his team’s stance was fairly uncompromising towards customer cars.
FW: First of all I would say, if I were Max (Mosley, President of the FIA), what Concorde Agreement? There isn’t one and there isn’t going to be one, but if you mean there is, don’t worry, there is one in place by… But at the end of the day it is only for the top ten teams and if they were to have finished at the end of this season in eleventh place, they would still not have been able to receive any of the starting money if you like, but not… they would not have been excluded from the opportunity of earning prize money.

Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Ross, you’ve mentioned that on the one hand you are not too sad to see Super Aguri go, but on the other hand perhaps not unhappy given the drain they were proving on Honda’s finances and what impact that might have had on your team’s plans not only for the end of this season but for next season as well.
RB: First of all, I am sad to see Super Aguri go but it had no impact on our team. I think Aguri Suzuki made the statement in Japan that he wasn’t able to find the money and continue but there was no strong relevance for our team.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Ross, if I could just follow up that question. It seems that Nick Fry has been labelled in some of the media as the guilty party in the Super Aguri exit. Do you feel that he has perhaps been unfairly targeted by some people and by Suzuki? I gather in the press conference he spoke out against him particularly.
RB: Well, I’m sure it’s a very difficult time for Aguri. He’s worked for two years on this project and I think he realised that the end had come. I think probably when he reflects on the things he said he will reflect a little differently, because what I saw was that Nick was making big efforts at times to try and keep the project alive, far beyond any reason for us, personally. It was because of the connection of Aguri with Honda that Nick did a lot of work to try and find a viable solution for Aguri and it looked as though the Magma option, which I know Nick worked on very hard to put together, was a strong viable solution. And when that didn’t happen, there were no other viable solutions.

Q: (Tomas Richter – TV Nova) How big do you see the probability of other teams joining Formula One in the next two or three years, considering the technical regulation changes?
NH: Well, it’s difficult to judge really. It’s difficult to enter Formula One these days, if you need to build up from scratch and if you need to build your own car. It’s not impossible and maybe there is a chance that more manufacturers are coming. I think there is a more intense fight due to the manufacturers’ involvements and their teams. Most of the manufacturers have their own teams in the meantime, which is good for Formula One, but I think a complete independent team for the future has to try jump very very high to make it into Formula One. Not impossible, but maybe not very likely in my view, in the next couple of months, weeks, whatever.


Q: (MC) John, can you imagine someone coming in and doing what Toyota have done?
JH: Yeah, personally I can. I think if you look at tracks, basically I guess demand for Grands Prix is higher than supply. We’re seeing a lot of countries, if you like, bidding for it and although economic hardship prevails for Western Europe, we still have to say that India is a booming market, China is a booming market, Russia is growing also, for us it’s the biggest market now in Europe. I foresee that from these countries, where there is very strong economic strength, there is the potential for teams to enter Formula One. It is technically challenging and it probably also depends on what those backers or potential entries perceive as Formula One and the benefit it can offer. So it probably also has some relevance as to the future positioning of Formula One as a sport.

Q: (MC) So you think there are manufacturers out there willing to invest as much as Toyota?
JH: I believe there could be companies, very significantly resourced companies, interested to join and potentially other new developing manufacturers.
RB: I pretty much go along with what John said. I think it’s extremely difficult to see a privateer coming in because of the investment and the facilities needed, but it’s viable for a lot of manufacturers at the moment, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be viable for other manufacturers in the future, particularly the expanding market for Formula One. Different countries are now starting to establish our sport, I think there are a lot of opportunities from that direction in the future.
FW: As a privateer, if a privateer was trying to enter, financially you would find it very difficult right now – assuming you read the Wall Street Journal and the FT (Financial Times) etc. – to raise money, to raise capital and I would imagine that’s what Aguri’s problem was. He just couldn’t find the money. We have a Japanese driver, never yet found a penny of sponsorship for him in Japan, and that’s much cheaper than actually creating a team.

Q: (Dominic Fugere – Le Journal de Montreal) I would like to have your take on the significance of Danica Patrick’s first win in Japan, and what it will take to have a woman back in Formula One as a driver?
JH: Why not? I think it would probably be very good. We just need to see a driver with the capability that could deliver performance because we are basically all focused on winning and track performance. I don’t think there’s any discrimination in terms of anything within our organisation or team, so if we could find a suitable driver, we would be delighted. We have young driver programmes. Unfortunately most of the guys coming into karting at the moment and who are delivering performance are male, but I think it would probably be good but you would need someone who could be competitive.

Q: (Dominic Fugere – Le Journal de Montreal) Does the fact that Danica Patrick has now won change anything?
LH: I think it shows that it’s possible for an extremely talented lady to be competitive, if you like, in what is historically seen as a male environment, so it probably opens people’s eyes to the possibility of that happening, yes.
RB: We can all see the commercial attraction, how exciting it would be to have a female driver in Formula One. I think the key thing is that they can be competitive, because it would be a shame if, purely because they were a female driver, they got put in the car and couldn’t compete properly, but if they can compete properly, absolutely, it would be great.
NH: We ran Sarah Fisher at Indianapolis once. I fully agree with what Ross has said. I think the key is to be competitive and if that is the case, I think motor sport is… it’s certainly not possible in soccer to compete against these fellows. In various sports it’s not possible but it should be basically possible in motor sports as the Indy Racing League has proven; or as, for example, DTM shows but the key is to be competitive. We had a winner in touring cars years ago – many years ago, 16 years ago, I think – with Ellen Lohr beating her team-mate Keke Rosberg at that stage, which was not very pleasing for my friend Keke, but anyway, it is possible and hopefully Formula One will experience that in the future.