With Keith and his team, I found a team of real professionals that made it probably a little bit more funding, a little bit more encouragement, to actually got the job done. My first visit with HVM made me more than curious and that was just after I'd seen you in Australia. And, of course, further negotiations led to today's announcement. And I feel very confident that our investment is.... it is as it was in the Minardi. Our investment is in the people and I think we have a good team of people and I'm looking forward to good results. So that's the main motivation.
And just to correct you on one other thing, I never did raise $300 million.
Q:
I remember you telling me once at the US Grand Prix that your budget was around $58 million and you were only $250m behind
McLaren or somebody.
KW:
It was 45 more than I ever managed in my time [
laughter].
Q:
The only thing we keep hearing is that you're helping with the second European race; that they are trying to get you involved with your contacts over in Europe as far as trying to help be the promoter over there. Is there any truth to that?
PS:
Not in the '07 season. I have already stated that, in future years, I would be more than happy to assist with colleagues and contacts, but, no, I can confirm not for the '07 season.
Q:
Paul, can you talk about your thoughts in pretty much introducing the Minardi brand in the American market?
PS:
I think Minardi has been traditionally known over the years as a team that tries to punch above its weight. As was jokingly said in the last question, was the fact that we had struggled year after year to attain budgets that weren't good enough to fight in F1 and the figure of 50 million was mentioned, and that's a pretty accurate figure. As you know, budgets far less than that can do a lot more in Champ Car, and that's one of the attractions of coming to this series. It's very affordable racing in a professional and well-organised way that gives everyone a reasonable chance without going into the stratosphere to find budget. Certainly, bringing our ability to find a necessary level of money which, in Champ Car, could give us a little bit more than what perhaps it did in
F1. And the other thing I think we probably bring is the Minardi 'never say die' attitude, that when you need to achieve is not necessarily miracles - we used to joke and say miracles take a little bit longer, but the impossible we did straightaway.
Q:
I enjoyed knowing Cedric the Entertainer, will he have any continued involvement with the team?
PS:
Certainly hope so. We've kept the door open for Cedric and we think there's a lot of work and effort into that relationship. Keith is probably a little better qualified to answer that than I am at the moment. But, certainly from a personal point of view, I think he's had a lot to add and it will dovetail nicely into another programme we have heading into Champ Car for '07 and beyond. So, yeah, I hope he stays involved.
KW:
Cedric's name will still be there. We still have the marketing relationship and we'll be with him tomorrow. Again, it just brings all of these elements together to make it just a stronger unit.
