23/05/2005
NEWS STORY
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After yet another difficult race weekend, it was a clearly weary Jean Todt who sat down to answer a few questions before heading off to begin his team's preparations for round seven of the 2005 Formula One World Championship, and the revival that tifosi the world over are waiting for.
Asked for his initial thoughts, regarding what his team must do to improve, the Frenchman answered almost before the question had finished.
"We need to be higher up on the grid," he said. "We were quicker today by three or four seconds than those ahead of us, but it wasn't enough to overtake those ahead of us. We need to be better placed in qualifying."
The observation that the F2005 "seems a good car", is met with a straightforward response: "I wish we could confirm it in qualifying."
So would he single out the tyres, as Luca di Montezemolo appears to be doing?
"The tyres are not sufficiently competitive in qualifying," he replies. "In the race, they are giving much better performance than those of the competition. So the situation is like that, but why should I cite one thing when there is chassis, engine, tyres; they are a combination.
The $64,000 question, can Ferrari retain its titles? "Of course we have hope," he replies, "there are still 13 Grands Prix and we are working hard to get back to where we were last year, so if we manage it, we are trying.
"If it will be enough or not remains to be seen," he adds.
After some thought, he continues: "It is still possible. Difficult but still 13 races to go, so many things can happen. Let's say the others are quite well ahead, but if you take two Grands Prix back, everything was focused on one driver. Then you had Raikkonen, who has won the two last Grands Prix, and immediately things have changed, so let's hope we are the ones to win the next two Grands Prix."
With regards the tyres, is there light at the end of the tunnel? "I don't know," he admits, his shoulders sagging just a little. "We know our weak point but we are not yet in a position to say that we are going to solve it, because otherwise we would have solved it already."
The Italian team has already carried out over thirty days of testing since the season began, has it been positive? "It's very difficult," he admits. "We know the weak point. The tarmac, the asphalt is very different from one race to another. We need to have immediate performance on one lap, that's our weak point.
"We are working on it," he reveals, "we know that during the race we are very competitive. We had another demonstration of it today where, during a certain part of the race, we were over three seconds quicker than the other competitors. Michael was lapped because of the incident he had, whereby he had to refuel earlier to change the front wing and he finished just over 35s behind after being blocked for most of the last part of the race, so it's bit of what we saw in Imola."
He's asked if the new qualifying format will help.
"Something is sure," he smiles, "it will not disturb us."
Seeing the confusion on the faces of the assembled reporters, he adds: "When I say it will not disturb us I mean it will probably be better for us."
Returning to the subject of tyres, he adds: "We don't have good enough tyres for the qualifying and the others don't have good enough tyres for the race. Saying that, at the moment, it seems that it's better to qualify in front rather than to be very strong during the race, so we have to protect our partners. I rate them so highly as human people and as partners. They have been so strong. All the success we have been achieving, they have such a tribute to this success, so it would be very, very, very mean to forget that."
Point taken.
Following the race, Schumacher said that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The German has had his share of good luck in the past, has it now run out?
"He has not been unlucky and we have not been unlucky," says the Frenchman, defiantly. "But it's the same with Rubens. Rubens stalled the engine, then he had this speeding in the pit lane but that's racing, it's happened to the others, it's happened to us sometimes as well."
He's asked if it "annoys" him that Kimi and Alonso are getting all the attention.
"Why should it?" he laughs. "Is it a case of young men with old cars, because if the young guys don't have the cars, they don't move forwards, so I would say I'm more worried about the development that's done on the car than the driver.
"But those young guys you're referring to, they were there last year but their cars were not as good which is why they are now getting their best results. And our old guys, they are quick but they don't have the package to allow them to deliver as they did. That's what annoys me the most."
Asked if Ferrari will test this week, before the European Grand Prix, and at a time when no other team is testing, he replies: "I would say yes. However, if you ask me the test schedule, I don't know, but yes, we are testing.
"We like testing," he adds, with a smile.
So will Ferrari test during the forthcoming intense period? "When we feel it's needed we will test," he replies.
So is the Ferrari quick enough to challenge Renault and McLaren?
"If we start with them, yes," he says, without any hesitation. "You can take the lap times during the race, I think you will see we are better. You see the lap times during the race when we had a clear track, I think it's quite interesting to see that."
Does he have to approach his job differently when the team is struggling a bit, after years of consistent success? Is it a different challenge?
"You become more fragile," he admits. "In adversity you have to be closer, all the people have to be more looked after. Such good people, such a good team, you definitely get frustrated but on the other hand, I think it's rewarding to resist.
"As I said very often on the Sunday after a race, we have been going through this sort of period which was even more difficult and we overcame it. And our competitors as well. You take some of our competitors who are at the top of the classification now, they have been eating shit, if I may say, for many, many years and they have been resisting so we don't do something outstanding."
And how does this period affect Michael?
"He's not happy," says the Frenchman. "He would prefer a better situation, but it's a challenge for him too. Michael has always been so close to the team, he loves the team, he loves what he does, so he's keen to get back to success."
Having just been told of 'eating 'shit', it is unfortunate when Todt is asked if Michael still feels hungry, or is merely frustrated.
"Frustrated," he shoots back. "We are all frustrated. But it's OK."
When he first joined Ferrari it was a 'baptism of fire', how does this period compare with that?
"If everything stopped now, you wouldn't find one team in the last ten years that has been as successful as we have been," he replies. "That's to our credit.
"Saying that, I am the first to say that we must forget that. What is important is the race today and the next race… and you know the biggest difference, when we were living this period ten years ago, we had no hope to improve the situation, because we had to build a winning team. Now we have a winning team and we know what is the problem and what has to be done, so it's just a question of time."
In many sports, sportsmen and managers want to go out at the top, but if Ferrari doesn't return to form, would he remain?
"My plans are clear in my head," he says. "With a few very intimate people, sharing it, nothing will change my plans.
In such a situation however, there is always a temptation to apportion the blame. How hard is it for him to stop that?
"If we have to face judges, then it's not a problem," he says. "I don't have a problem with that. It's not something which really matters to me. I take that into consideration. It's not arrogant to say that I don't take that into consideration. But I know where we are and I know where we want to be and I know where we will be sooner or later."
OK, we know how Todt feels, but how does Michael 'handle it'?
"He's determined," says the Frenchman, "no more or less. He's determined, but he knows that after every race where we don't score as many points as we wished makes it more difficult."
Alain Prost has said that he sees Michael retiring at the end of the year… "If there is somebody who I really respect and admire for his career it is Alain," Told interrupts, "but it makes me unhappy if he starts to quote, I think he should leave that to you. And Michael… that's not something which will affect him."