By Phil Huff (23/08/2003)
August 23 2003

The FIA's 'Friday Five' press conference took place at the Hungaroring yesterday, and Lucky Strike BAR Honda team boss David Richards was in attendance. Here's what he had to say... Q: You're battling over fifth place in the championship, but at this time of the year, the focus of the teams tends to drift away from this year to next. The testing ban is about to come to an end, how much are you focused on next year rather than this year? What sort of bits and pieces are you still producing to test for this year? Are you expecting to test at Monza? And how important is fifth place in the championship?

David Richards: We're testing in Monza, there is still a load of things coming on stream for the car as well. Many of them, of course, are carry-over parts for next year - not necessarily carry-over but experience that we can incorporate in next year's car which was started some little time ago. So it's a parallel programme and the pressure really starts to come on as everyone returns from summer holidays and has to do the two things in parallel. Fifth place is clearly very closely fought this year and unfortunately the top four are well away from us.

Q: Continuing on that theme, David, I believe you're running the Arden F3000 drivers at Monza?

DR: Well, we have some other testing going on at the time. I don't know the exact schedule for it, but we're just giving them the opportunity to test one of the cars, that's right. We've got to introduce new talent into the sport. There's a big gap between actually running somebody in a car and looking at them from the outside and seeing what they might be doing in Formula 3000 or Formula Three or wherever they might be. You do need to have that opportunity and I think we've got to find better ways of giving young drivers an opportunity to get into the cars so that we can assess them. It's a gamble. You sign up a young driver and you're taking a big risk with a lot of money, especially if you sign them for a season.

Q: Inevitably the speculation continues over your line-up for next year; what's the situation with Jacques at the moment?

DR: No decisions at the moment. We're still carrying on racing this year and that's the priority at the moment. We've had sensible discussions about it and we haven't made a decision as yet.

Q: Is there a timescale, when can we expect an announcement?

DR: Well, I think we have to have it sorted by Melbourne next year. (Chuckles)

Q: The Canadian Grand Prix is one of the most popular races on the schedule and it is off the schedule for next year. What is your view on this whole thing?

DR: Clearly it is a very popular race for us all to attend but there are commercial considerations as well and we have an agreement about the phasing out of cigarette advertising across all of motorsport over the next three years. Our sponsors have actually said they would consider running without livery if it made a difference to going back to the event. However, that has a commercial consideration for it as well and we would be looking to Bernie, if that was an extra event in the championship, to look at the proper compensation for going there.

Q: After the German Grand Prix, Bernie Ecclestone criticised some of the drivers who could hardly bother to wave to the fans in the drivers' parade. What can your drivers do during a race weekend to give more back to the fans?

DR: I think as a collective group... prior to one of the races recently we talked about some initiatives that would bring the fans closer to the sport and bring the drivers closer to the fans themselves and we talked about a range of ideas and we agreed that what was necessary was a proper co-ordinated approach to this rather than just ad-hoc bits and pieces. I think you are going to see a number of initiatives next year that we are going to get the drivers closer to the fans on an organised basis and I know that Bernie is very aware of this as well so it is not something that has been ignored. It is something that all the team principals recognise at the moment and we are looking at a raft of ideas to achieve that.

Q: David, could you tell us what the latest progress is on your becoming an owner of BAR?

DR: I'm not going to tell you about the commercial arrangements between myself and BAT, I'm afraid. That's something between myself and BAT. I don't expect it necessary to make an announcement at all. They are not pressed to sell for some years yet, if ever, and I have a personal arrangement with them and that's that.

Q: I would like to ask David that I understand you might leave Formula One in not too long a time, and the second question is how close have you been to (signing) Alexander Wurz who is now officially staying with McLaren?

DR: The second part of the question: I had coffee with Alexander in my motorhome about two races ago, and it appeared that some journalists were sitting in the motorhome and decided that he was about to join us. Alex has been a pal of mine, because obviously he was driving with me before. I keep in touch with him and his wife but the fact that he comes into my motorhome for a cup of coffee does not automatically mean that he's going to be driving for us next year.

The first part of the question? I should clarify this point. What was being discussed was how I saw my future and what I was doing at the moment? Clearly I have a number of responsibilities, a number of involvements in World rallying, Formula One and with Prodrive and I said my objective, over the next three years, was to rationalise those into a position whereby in three years' time I could make a decision about one particular aspect. I enjoy doing everything at the moment, but clearly I would like to look at one particular element that I would focus on for the long term, or maybe just disappear and go and sit on a beach. I just wanted to rationalise my life over the next few years and put in place clear management structures in each of the organizations so that they did their job properly and I could make that decision. It was not necessarily that I'm going to sit on a beach in three years' time, not necessarily that I'm going to continue running a Formula One team but I want to be able to give myself that choice.