Q:
You're jumping very high, very quickly. Where do you see F1 looming?
RN:
Really, for me it would be good to show this season, because our races are supporting
F1. We are always in the F1 eye, and I hope that I can be competitive and maybe some teams will invite me for rookie tests in an F1 car at the end of the season. That's what I would really like. Furthermore, maybe I'd be able to do what
Mark Webber did and, for 2003, race in the F3000 Championship at the same time as having a full-time testing seat at a top-running F1 team.
Q:
Just as a matter of interest, which of the other Australians who are in the international racing scene now do you know? Obviously there is Ryan Briscoe, who will be in the same series as you. There is Webber, there is James Courtney in England and a couple of other guys around perhaps a little bit further down the track. Which of these guys, if any, do you know and do you have anything to do with?
RN:
Actually, I don't know the Australians in racing, as all these guys you mentioned I have no contacts with. Sometimes I see Ryan, we say 'hello' to each other and that's about it, but none of these other guys. James Courtney, I hear a lot about, but I've never met these guys. Mark Webber I have never met also. The only real Australian that I bump into a lot is Ryan Briscoe, because he is always in the F3000 with me.
Q:
Can you tell us a little more about your family in terms of how many children there are? Presumably the family have a business or something like that? Where they are in Brisbane, which school you went to, and just a bit of that kind of detail?
RN:
I grew up in Mararee, went to primary school in Kennan Hills and Oliver Plunkett and then high school in Villa Nova - I can't remember what suburb it is. I have two brothers and a sister, the third brother is the brother-in-law, and my father and mother. When they first came from Vietnam, you can imagine, in '75. They were very poor back then and we got lucky enough to get some Australian sponsors to help us to come over, and then my father got into the bakery industry and he learned how to bake, and from there he started a bakery himself and then, from that bakery, his children, like my older sister and brother, they also made their own bakeries so, at one stage, we had quite a chain of bakeries running in Brisbane. My parents had enough and we sold pretty much all our bakeries and my parents are retired now and my sister and my brothers are doing business overseas.
Q:
Of the children, are you the youngest, the oldest, in the middle?
RN:
I'm the youngest. I was the only one born in Australia, the rest of my brothers and sister were born in Vietnam.
Q:
Your new team, you have joined them rather suddenly and everything is happening very fast. How are you getting on with them, are you enjoying their company, and are they all excited about your prospects for the year?
RN:
The team, Astromega, is based in Belgium, but it's actually an English team because all the employees are English. The team is fantastic. I think they understand my situation and they are making it very comfortable for me to get comfortable into the car and comfortable with the team to show, and make me learn, as quick as possible how the F3000 works. They made a remarkable job preparing the car, and the team is very professional and they are making things in life a lot easier. It's an English team and always a lot of fun to be around, so it's great. It's great to be with them and looking forward to working with them during the season.
Q:
How are you going on the technical side? Obviously, with your limited experience, it's a big learning curve there. Are you still relying on Mario Haberfeld's input, or are you starting to get a handle on the way the F3000 works?
