Questions from the floor:
Q: (Alan Baldwin –
Reuters)
On the
Super Aguri question, if I could ask Frank to start and then perhaps the others as well, with their departure, to what extent does it facilitate the path towards a new Concorde Agreement? I ask Frank first because obviously his team’s stance was fairly uncompromising towards customer cars.
Frank Williams:
First of all, I would say, if I were Max [Mosley], what Concorde Agreement? There isn’t one and there isn’t going to be one, but if you mean there is, don’t worry, there is one in place by… But at the end of the day it is only for the top ten teams and if they were to have finished at the end of this season in eleventh place, they would still not have been able to receive any of the starting money if you like, but not… they would not have been excluded from the opportunity of earning prize money.
Q: (Ian Parkes –
The Press Association)
Ross, you’ve mentioned that on the one hand you are not too sad to see Super Aguri go, but on the other hand perhaps not unhappy given the drain they were proving on Honda’s finances and what impact that might have had on your team’s plans not only for the end of this season but for next season as well.
Ross Brawn:
First of all, I am sad to see Super Aguri go, but it had no impact on our team. I think Aguri Suzuki made the statement in Japan that he wasn’t able to find the money and continue but there was no strong relevance for our team.
Q: (Alan Baldwin –
Reuters)
Ross, if I could just follow up that question. It seems that Nick Fry has been labelled in some of the media as the guilty party in the Super Aguri exit. Do you feel that he has perhaps been unfairly targeted by some people and by Suzuki? I gather in the press conference he spoke out against him particularly.
RB:
Well, I’m sure it’s a very difficult time for Aguri. He’s worked for two years on this project and I think he realised that the end had come. I think probably when he reflects on the things he said he will reflect a little differently, because what I saw was that Nick was making big efforts at times to try and keep the project alive, far beyond any reason for us, personally. It was because of the connection of Aguri with
Honda that Nick did a lot of work to try and find a viable solution for Aguri and it looked as though the Magma option, which I know Nick worked on very hard to put together, was a strong viable solution. And when that didn’t happen, there were no other viable solutions.
Q: (Tomas Richter –
TV Nova)
How big do you see the probability of other teams joining Formula One in the next two or three years, considering the technical regulation changes?
Norbert Haug:
Well, it’s difficult to judge really. It’s difficult to enter Formula One these days, if you need to build up from scratch and if you need to build your own car. It’s not impossible and maybe there is a chance that more manufacturers are coming. I think there is a more intense fight due to the manufacturers’ involvements and their teams. Most of the manufacturers have their own teams in the meantime, which is good for Formula One, but I think a complete independent team for the future has to try jump very very high to make it into
Formula One. Not impossible, but maybe not very likely in my view, in the next couple of months, weeks, whatever.
Q:
John, can you imagine someone coming in and doing what
Toyota have done?
