“[2007] was obviously a very hard year,” he acknowledged, “but the good thing was the car performance was very good and both drivers performed very well on the track. We missed out on the drivers' championship by one point with both of them, but it was a very close year and as I say the car was very competitive, so I think it should be quite easy to forget what happened last year and move forward.
“We've got a new driver line-up, and I think we can just look forward to making sure we've got a very competitive car. Obviously [Heikki has] only just joined the team. He signed before Christmas and he hasn't done much work with the team so far, but he's clearly got knowledge of
Formula 1, knowledge of racing and knowledge from his time at
Renault, so hopefully he can get in the car and drive quickly.
“I think we've got a pretty good development package with myself, Pedro [de la Rosa] and Lewis [Hamilton] continuing from last year, and hopefully Heikki can add to that and we can just pull together to produce a car that Lewis and Heikki can go and win races with. I don't think it will be too difficult to get over [last year] – it's obviously going to have its impact, but hopefully we can be winning races from the start and be challenging for the championship again.”
As to the introduction of the ban on electronic aids such as traction control, Paffett was unconcerned, despite several drivers expressing fears that wet races like the one at Fuji last season could turn into demolition derbies under the new regulations.
“There have been some big accidents in wet races
with traction control,” the Bromley-born ace underlined, “so I don't think it's going to change. The problems you have in wet races are normally aquaplaning, and traction control can't help [you] when the wheels aren't touching the ground.
