29/05/2006
NEWS STORY
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Monte Carlo, playground of the rich and famous, the bold and the beautiful. To many, one of the most glamorous places on earth… to others a monument to vulgarity.
With the 'business' of the race out of the way, most of the many thousands of visitors to the Principality were able to resume the partying, or in the case of F1's (many) wheelers and dealers, securing the deals that would fund their team's 2007 championship hopes.
For one man however, there was to be no Champagne, no party… no escape.
It was standing room only at the Ferrari post-race media de-brief, the place was heaving as journalists gathered to hear the Italian team's explanation of the events of the past twenty-four hours.
Not for nothing is Jean Todt often referred to as Napoleon. Other than the stature, the other obvious similarity is that the Frenchman doesn't shy away from confrontation.
Outside the parties got underway, while Christian Horner was leaping into the Red Bull swimming pool, Jean Todt was entering the lion's den.
"Can you summarise this weekend for us?" asked a journalist, getting the session underway.
After a short pause, and an obvious sigh, Todt responded: "It's definitely been a disappointing and frustrating weekend," he admitted, "mainly when you have a winning potential and when you finish fifth and ninth with cars.
"If there is a Grand Prix where you have to be in a good position at the start it is Monte Carlo," he continued, "so of course it is not very pleasing to have one car starting from the pit lane and the other car starting from the last position on the grid.
"Saying that, there are explanations for all that. Felipe made a mistake in Q1, and if you make a mistake in this context, that's the price you have to pay.
"It was different for Michael," he added, a cue for the assembled journos to lean forward, as one. "Michael was on pole until he lost the car in the last corner and then the stewards decided, after eight hours of discussions, that he was due to leave from the back of the grid.
"I know, as I said to your colleagues before, it was a big strong wind outside of the team, amongst the Formula One world, about Michael, stating that he did that on purpose so we have tried to demonstrate the evidence that it was a racing incident and it was not considered. So we did not have any other option considering that we did not have the possibility to appeal, either, so we did not have any other option but to accept it and to try to get the best out of the situation.
"I would say that the more encouraging thing, the more rewarding thing, is that we confirmed that the car is very competitive. It was confirmed that the tyres supplied by Bridgestone were very competitive and we could see that on other teams using Bridgestone tyres. So it remains the possibility of doing very well for the end of the championship and it's what we will try to do."
Todt is asked what Ferrari will do about the penalty, even though there is no right of appeal. Will Ferrari simply draw a line under the matter and move on?
"There's nothing we can do," says the Frenchman. "The weekend is over, there is no right of appeal, so we just have to move forwards."
As to whether this will this have a lasting impression on Michael, with regard to his future, Todt says: "Fortunately we are seeing things without having to take that into consideration… we know where we are. Every two weeks we have the opportunity to comment on the good, the bad, so it's no surprise. We know where we are and the last very important thing is to know where you are and to know with whom you work, inside and outside, so we don't have any surprises. Sometimes there are disappointments, sometimes some good reaction, good surprises, but generally speaking we know where we are."
"But what of Michael's reputation before," says a journalist, "we've seen him do things like this before. The FIA have found he did it deliberately, and that he cheated yesterday didn't he?"
The Frenchman's face clouds over. "That's your opinion, that's the stewards' opinion, I agree," he hits back.
"However," he continues, "you know, when you're in front of a judge, or in front of a tribunal it doesn't mean that the opinion is always right, it could be a lengthy discussion and it will not change your opinion, it will not change our opinion, it will not change his opinion, and it will not be the first time either.
"At the end of the day, if you want to get deeper into what is Michael, who is Michael, what he does in Formula One, for Formula One, outside Formula One, it's up to the people to judge. When you have some people, maybe like you, who will think that he's nobody, and some others think that he's somebody. Myself, I am privileged to know him very well and I respect him, I admire him, and I think he's one of the best persons I've ever met. But you know, that's a pre-judgement but again, we cannot avoid people thinking what they want."
Had Todt been surprised by the reactions?
"Yes, I must say I was surprised," he admits. "I was surprised but we are in a world where people very easily over-react. On my side, I try not to over-react and try to understand exactly what is happening.
Saying that, Michael has, in the past, made some mistakes. He has admitted that he has made some mistakes but I don't know any driver, having been World Champion, being in a position to say he never made a mistake.
"Yesterday, Michael simply made a mistake as a driver, but it was not something twisty or unfair towards his competitors, but, as I said, it would be a lengthy discussion. Everybody can give his opinion. I know that the majority of the people around were saying that Michael did it on purpose.
"I feel… when you are facing judges or tribunal, there's what is called the benefit of the doubt, when nobody can really demonstrate intent. And we tried to demonstrate with the information that we had, with the telemetry data we had, that it was a driver's mistake, but it was not taken into consideration. My opinion is that it was a benefit of the doubt. It's what happens. It's over."
"If it had been the other way around and Alonso was on pole and the same thing happened, would you have thought that was a strange manoeuvre," asks a journo. "What would your opinion be?"
"It has happened so many times," Todt replies. "You have a driver who is on a quick lap, he has a yellow flag and simply the lap is fucked. Saying that, I admit that Alonso was on the quicker lap when it happened. There's no doubt about that, but you know, I feel that the severity of the penalty was exaggerated. That's my opinion but again, it's over."
It continues.
"People say maybe he made a mistake and he locked up," shouts a voice from the pack, "but people don't understand what he did with the steering wheel… how he ended up in the barrier and why he didn't try and get out of that situation."
"He explained all that at length," says Todt, visibly wearying of the whole thing, "and we had the telemetry evidence which allowed us to understand. We have, in detail, all the evidence of this special episode."
"People don't understand how, every lap around here, especially in the race today, Michael was probably in a situation like that two or three times a lap, and we never saw him stopping or hitting the barrier today," cries another journo. "How did he lose it?"
"And what happened in Australia," snaps Todt. "I don't think you can have a driver who can say I never lost my car."
"It's very bad sportsmanship," a journo hits out, "once the stewards had made this decision, for you to then criticise the FIA and call the stewards incompetent."
"I said that I don't share their opinion," Todt replies.
"I think you were critical last night in your statement," the journalist continues.
"If it's your opinion, it's your opinion," says Todt, "but I don't change a word of what I said."
"So, have you lost faith in the FIA's stewards?"
"You know," Todt responds, his cheeks reddening, "if there's one team which is respecting the FIA and, I would say, following the FIA's decisions, it is Ferrari. Saying that, we cannot always be of the same opinion. Yesterday we have to accept their decision, but we don't share their decision."
"But in future, can you trust them to make the right decision, in your opinion, after this?" he is asked.
"Of course, of course," snaps the Frenchman. "Each thing is different. When you discuss with people, you can agree with some people sometimes and you can disagree some other times. We did not agree about the heavy consequences they imposed on Michael."
"But one thing I cannot understand," one of the journalists persists, "the data you call evidence, and you gave them this evidence. If you call the data evidence, how can it be that there are two opinions about the data? Is it not clear?"
"It's very easy to have a microphone… on your side, or my side, to criticise, to make some judgements," Todt responds. "I have been sitting in a car for 15 years. I was on the other side of the barrier and probably that has given me the experience to understand a bit better and to see what can happen in the mind of a driver, and it's something which is interesting. Saying that, as I have often said, I cannot change the mind of people if they want to have their thoughts, their opinions, their ideas. It's up to them, but saying that, they cannot push us to have their opinion."
"As a show window for the sport," says another journo, "surely Ferrari and Michael have been hugely damaged this weekend, image-wise."
"Michael has been very much criticised," Todt replies. "The team has supported Michael and I don't see where Ferrari should be damaged in what has happened over the weekend, but again, that's our opinion."
Finally, someone asks today's $64,000 question; "How do you explain that there was nobody out there saying 'I don't think Michael did it deliberately'."
"I was told today, though I did not watch TV, that there was a question raised on a German TV show about the decision, and 75 percent were against the decision and 25 percent was in favour, so…"
"But I'm talking about the paddock," the journalist persists, "it's a little bit surprising that there was nobody saying that here."
"But again, you know the paddock, we have already spoken about the paddock," Todt responds, clearly exasperated. "I cannot make the paddock change its mind. I wonder if all the people who were judging in the paddock are really in the position to judge and should not think about themselves first. Very often I am asked about some events which are happening and I think it's not my position to judge it."
"There are a lot of people in the paddock who have driven Formula One cars and won World Championships who are very critical of what happened," the journalist persists, "and they understand a lot more about what happens in a car than any of us do, and they all share the same opinion."
"Some of them probably," says the Frenchman. "But as I said, we could speculate for hours."
"You know Michael very well," says another journalist, "how do you see this all affecting him?"
"He's a human being," says Todt. "He was not happy, he was very disappointed about this whole issue, but now he has to put it behind him and to think about… today he drove a great race in a difficult situation and now he's looking for the next race."