Site logo

Bahrain GP: Friday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
24/04/2009

It has been likened to a football match starting and then all the football players sitting down for the first 15 minutes. Flavio, I don't know what would happen at Queens Park Rangers but when we had the free practice this morning everyone stayed in the pits for the first half hour. We don't have any testing. Why doesn't everyone want to go out?
Flavio Briatore: I believe everybody was waiting for somebody to go out to clean the circuit. It looked like at one point that everybody would go out together. This is the reason.

Do you think it is a waste of time, Christian?
Christian Horner: I think the problem is we are tyre limited as well on a day like today. The amount of tyres that we have for the two sessions is not enough. If we had another couple of sets of tyres... But unfortunately we cannot afford to waste them and in the first half an hour when the circuit is very dusty or green you end up in that stand-off situation where everybody is waiting. I think a couple more sets of tyres would certainly help seeing more cars on track early.

Stefano?
Stefano Domenicali: I totally agree with Christian and Flavio for sure. We have seen for example our situation. We went out and for a different reason we had a spin, so we destroyed a set of tyres for our drivers, so then we had to use only that in the morning.

A question for Christian and Stefano about diffusers. When do you see your cars being able to run them and give us some idea about developments?
SD: On our side we should be able to get ready with the first version of the diffuser at the next Grand Prix in Spain. For sure we have seen that in terms of development, let's say the situation gives you massive possibility for future development but it will take time. But at least for our side the first prototype should be ready for the next race.

CH: We heard that Flavio has set up a business for diffusers with holes in. He is coming to the market very shortly with it, so I am sure we will be taking one very soon. No, in all seriousness, Adrian (Newey) has again stayed home this weekend to focus on integrating it onto our car. It is going to be one of the early European races, most probably Monaco. For us it is quite a big job because of the different back end solution that we have compared to our competitors.

You had a problem with the drive shaft last weekend. Has that been solved? Will we see any evidence of it this weekend?
CH: It was solved one hundred per cent. Going into the race we felt very confident in China. We believed that it was a batch problem. We had done over 6000km of racing and testing and there was no problem in the race on Sunday and no problems at all here, so it looks like a rogue batch.

Let's go back five days. Fantastic win, your first ever. How were your feelings and how is the atmosphere within the team?
CH: It was a fantastic result for the team, for Red Bull, for Mr Mateschitz who has put so much effort into the teams and into Formula One. It was a massive high. It was a monkey off our back to get the first pole, first win and a one-two. We have had great support from our partners. A quite good engine and I thank Flavio and Renault for that. It has just been a great week and the whole team in Milton Keynes have worked tremendously hard to achieve that result. We have just got to do it again now. We did not have long to enjoy it and we are focussed on the next one.

Flavio, it is a point that your engine won but not your chassis. What makes the difference?
FB: The chassis.

And where in the chassis? What part of the performance?
FB: Red Bull at this moment do a better job. We have no excuse. What we need is to improve the chassis and we have our first version of the diffuser which is not what we believe is the best but at least we have done something. In Barcelona we will have another step and I am sure in Monte Carlo we will have a big one. We started very late like everybody and we try to have the short cut and to be ready, at least in Monte Carlo, to be competitive and to fight for the podium and to win races.

How do you feel about the performance of the two drivers for the start of the season?
FB: The problem is that in two races we were gambling and in the last race we made a mistake to call Fernando (Alonso) in too early. And this was our own mistake and after Fernando spun we did not finish in the points. With Piquet it is not possible to tell you he is happy as he is not. This is the first race that is normal if you want, with a normal situation, so let's see what happens. The performance of the team as well, we have not done well at all and it is quite frustrating. But we need to catch up. We need to catch up to Red Bull. Red Bull have the best car without a diffuser in the business at this moment and we need to catch quickly Brawn and all the hole people. We need to catch up these people.

Stefano, I don't know how to describe it but you have had an awful start to the season.
SD: It is easy to say. It is not difficult, I would say.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images

POST A COMMENT

or Register for a Pitpass ID to have your say

Please note that all posts are reactively moderated and must adhere to the site's posting rules and etiquette.

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

 

No comments posted as yet, would you like to be the first to have your say?

Share this page

X

Copyright © Pitpass 2002 - 2024. All rights reserved.

about us  |  advertise  |  contact  |  privacy & security  |  rss  |  terms