Drivers: Jenson Button (Honda),
Heikki Kovalainen (
McLaren Mercedes),
Robert Kubica (
BMW Sauber) and
Kazuki Nakajima (Williams).
Questions from the floor.
Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motorsport News).
Just a few words from all four on the current level of safety and the job that the
FIA does to ensure you guys are all safe over a grand prix weekend.
Heikki Kovalainen:
As I have said already, I think all the parts of the accident – the car, the barrier and then the lift from the car and to the medical centre and then further to the medical centre in the city - that all worked very well. It is not only luck that I came out of the crash. It is really the work that has paid off. I can’t be more than thankful about that. But we should carry on working on improving as much as we can. If there are any other areas we think we can improve then we should go for it.
Robert Kubica:
I think similar to Heikki. The FIA has done a fantastic job. His accident and my accident in Canada have shown that safety standards in
F1 are very high and we have people working on it trying to improve more. I think these two accidents have shown that standards are very high.
Jenson Button:
Everything that has been said. It is great that all the time we are taking a view to try and help safety. As the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association that’s our main aim as well. It is good that we are all working together for a safer sport. It is never going to be the safest sport in the world, we all know that. But there are certain things we can work on to not take away the excitement but to make the sport a little bit safer.
Kazuki Nakajima:
Same for everybody. Safety has improved a lot. It is good to work together with the FIA and the drivers to help improve. We just need to do that.
Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motorsport News).
For Jenson, Robert and Heikki: Jenson, Monaco 2003, Robert last year in Canada, and Heikki in Spain. I believe all three of you lost consciousness and had no real recollection of the crashes that you had. Having no recollection, how much does that actually help you get over it, not having the mental image in your mind of exactly how it all played out?
JB:
I think when you walk away and you’re fine the next day, you get over it very quickly. So obviously if you have an injury you think about it more, but when the accident’s happened, you know you’ve walked away from a situation which you probably didn’t think you would walk away from. You have a lot of confidence in the car that you’re driving and the circuits that you’re racing on.
RK:
I think very similarly. It was a bit different in my case, I think, because I remember most of my accident. When I was asked if I had seen my accident, I saw it for real. It was just what Jenson said: it gives you more confidence and in some ways you are lucky but in other ways it shows how safe
Formula One is and how strong F1 cars are.
