PdlR:
My personal point of view is that obviously it's a matter of safety. Running without tyre warmers, tyre blankets, obviously increases the chances… or makes the speed difference between the car that comes out of the pit lane and the car that is on a flying lap much greater, so the possibility of an accident is higher. We have seen the bigger accidents over the past few years happen when one car is slower than another, not necessarily a car is stopped on the track. The speed difference is a safety issue for me, that's my point of view, so that's what I am saying. I've raced all my career without tyre warmers but it's quite different in Formula One, mainly because the compounds or the compound-operating window is very narrow in
Formula One. So until they are at a very high temperature, they do not work at all. In other categories you have a much more progressive build-up of temperature and grip, so it's easier. I find it more difficult here.
RB:
Well, I think there are good and bad points to be honest. On the one hand people want to see some overtaking which is fair. We all want to see that, but the problem is that I think Formula One could become quite boring. People will invent a car that has a big tank again and whoever stays on the track gains the advantage of that one pit stop. I think at the end of the day it will become a little bit too much like IndyCars or something like that which is fine, but I think Formula One is about the competitiveness of what's going on on the track. To add to that, I've also raced throughout my whole career before Formula One without tyre blankets but I never saw something like this. You go out of the pits and you already have a chance to spin out of the garage, and when you get to the first corner, it's like an ice rink and so with that, if you get conditions like we've had at Nürburgring in the past or any race that is very cold and we take the wrong tyres, then it's going to be very, very dangerous.
FA:
Yes, same thing. I think it's dangerous. As Pedro says, the speed difference between the cars and as Rubens said, the races will become boring because you need to stay on the track. When you pit, over the next two laps you will be eight seconds slower, so you cannot be creative with the strategy or anything like that, so it will become more boring. I know that in some other categories they don't have tyre blankets like IndyCars, but they don't have any corners either, they go around. I think Formula One is different, the compounds are different and as Rubens said, we should look for the maximum performance in the car. We are in Formula One, so it needs to be the peak of motor sports. And (the notion of) saving costs is a little bit ridiculous.
KR:
I haven't run the tyres at all, so I don't really have any idea how it will be but I heard that, as Rubens and everybody else said, it's going to be very difficult, so I'm not really in the right place to say. But if it's purely for saving money, it's the wrong place to save money. It's not much and they are going to spend the same money somewhere else anyhow, so…
Q:
So Pedro, is the GPDA planning to do anything about this?
PdlR:
Well, first of all we are going to talk between ourselves to see what is the majority agreement of the GPDA and then we will act accordingly. We are very relaxed about it, we are not in a hurry. We were waiting until this week, because I tested the tyres at
Jerez back in early December, I think, and it was extremely dangerous. It was very cold and I nearly put the car into the pit wall, just coming out of the garage. The car didn't turn and I nearly hit the wall, so it would have been quite embarrassing if I had done so, but I just avoided a stupid accident. And then, when we came here,
Bridgestone has made some further steps and now the tyres are easier to warm up, so they are working at a lower temperature range. They are still difficult; we were waiting for these tests to happen, so that we could have a meeting between the drivers who had done the tests with the tyres and then decide accordingly. We are pretty relaxed, we just know that the
FIA will listen to us and we just have to be sure that we all have the same criteria, that's all.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo).
To all of you, considering the information about the 2009 aerodynamic package that you have, do you think it's a good direction for Formula One? Will it be easier to drive, easier to overtake?
RB:
I think it follows the rule that I think all drivers want which is less aero and better mechanical grip, but whether it will be good or not is a bit too far ahead to know. But I think it is, it's a step that… Honestly, I don't know how we got into the grooves. We raced go-karts, formula cars and everything on slick tyres and all of sudden, for a boy who dreamed of racing in Formula One, they have this tyre that is just ugly. Of course, Bridgestone has done a super job with the tyres because we are going faster and faster, but you saw last week that when we put slick tyres back on the cars, even though it was a hard compound, we went 2.5s faster. That's the way it should be: slick tyres.
PdlR:
I would add that where we are, or where we think that the regulations should be for next year, or what I am aware of, is that it's definitely in the right direction. These new regulations come from a thorough study by the technical working group and everyone involved in the FIA and there's some scientific proof that less downforce and more mechanical grip will improve overtaking opportunities. Still, Formula One will always be Formula One, it's going to be more difficult than motorbikes – here in Spain there's always this tendency of comparing both – and we just have to be aware of that. It's definitely in the right direction. I am very comfortable with that.
RB:
Back in '98, when I first tested the tyre, I had a crash that I really thought I was going to stop, but because of the lack of mechanical grip caused by the tyre, I kept on spinning and crashed. So I think we depend a lot on the grip level of the tyre. If we have the whole tyre on the ground, it's going to help a lot on the safety side as well.
Q: (Carlos Miquel – Diario AS).
Kimi, do you agree with Montezemolo when he says it might not be good for
Ferrari to have
Fernando Alonso as your team-mate?
