Jean Todt: Obviously we are happy about this result in the German Grand Prix. From the beginning of the weekend we were very competitive and when we have a successful weekend like that, it means that everything has been working very well: reliability, tyres. Bridgestone did a great job and when you're dominating a race, it can look, even from outside, quite easy.
Saying that, we were very nervous that something could go wrong because we knew that we had the two quickest cars on the track, and it's very good and it allows us to still think that we can fight for both championships and it's what we are going to try to do for the next and for the last six races, starting from next week.
Ross made the point earlier that psychologically it's important because Alonso now has to beat you. He can't just finish second for the rest of the season.
JT: We still have to beat him, because he's still eleven points in front of us and eleven times this season he's scored points. It's not because… you have a race where it doesn't work for different reasons as well as it has since the beginning of the season and immediately you conclude that you are better. At the moment they are better because they are in front. (!)
Regarding the fact that the next race is next weekend and you can't change the cars and there's a test ban, there's not much time to develop the cars; do you feel this race as a turning point in the championship?
JT: No, for me the turning point is the day that we get in front of the others, that will be the turning point. At the moment, we are still behind.
But does that make you more confident now, this situation, because there will be no big changes to the cars?
JT: We are still hoping to fight for both championships.
Jean, is it the case that your car is working better with the tyres, or are the tyres improving at a quick rate?
JT: Everything's improving. I think we improved the car. Bridgestone did great work on the tyres, probably we learned better how to choose the tyres, which are the best to suit our cars. We are not suffering as we were suffering in the past, from a lack of grip for the qualifying lap. And as for durability we have been quite competitive as well over the last few races.
What are the reasons for that? A better understanding of the car that makes you able to chose the right tyre and get rid of the lap of grip?
JT: I think Bridgestone made a very good step forward. Today, if you see the five or six quickest times during the race, they are all Bridgestone tyres, all Bridgestone runners except Raikkonen with third (quickest) time, but I think the first six quickest during the race are Bridgestone runners.
Are you surprised by Ferrari and Renault?
JT: At this race, yes, but this race is not a reflection of all the rest of the circuits which are going to come, it's one race and I don't know what they did wrong, maybe not the best choice of tyres, maybe not the best… I don't know. But I don't think you have to put Renault in the bin because they did not do a good race here… I think you must be cautious with your judgement. That's my opinion.
That can happen to any team, including yourselves
JT: It happened to us. You forgot? I'm amazed how you guys have short memories very often, huh! It's maybe easier to write news stories but I try not to have a short memory. It happened, we fucked up a lot of times and we paid for it, which I always said is normal. You fuck up, you lose. You do a good result, you score points.
I think that's normal. When it's not normal, when you say somebody does a good job and you say he does a bad job or if he does a bad job and you say he does a good job, that's different, but otherwise it's normal.
But there must be a reason for that, in Australia the tyre choice was obviously very bad…
JT: So we paid. And we improved, because we get good guys. We analyse the situation better.
Do you think the banning of mass dampers has had an effect on this weekend at all?
JT: I don't know by how much. As I said before, you put that because it looks good on the car because you don't see it. If you put it on the car, you do so because you feel it's an advantage of performance. How big an advantage of performance? It's definitely not one second but I don't know how much it can be.
You spoke very warmly about Kimi Raikkonen in your post-race comments.
JT: No I didn't. I made a general comment. I said that on the podium there were my three favourite drivers, which is true, but it's nothing new.
