Q&A: Paul Stoddart - part one.

He may have been through something of a turbulent 2002 campaign - his second as owner of the tiny Minardi team - but ex-pat Australian Paul Stoddart was more than happy to discuss the future of his team and the sport, his relationship with Mark Webber and, of course, those two valuable points, with the Australian media...

MC:
Good evening to Paul Stoddart in England, and good morning to everyone around Australia. We thought it an opportune time to speak to Paul who, of course, is the expatriate Australian businessman who has owned the Minardi Formula One team for two years now.

Minardi gave Mark Webber his start in Formula One this year, and what a start that was, with fifth place at the Foster's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in March. Looking at it from the outside, though, and from this distance, it seems to have been a very tough year for Minardi. The team has not only survived, but now appears to be working flat out to front up again in Melbourne in 2003. So we thought it a good time to speak to Paul and, Paul, thanks for joining us. To start with, perhaps you could just give us a snapshot of how 2002 has been for you and how 2003 is looking.

Paul Stoddart
As you said, 2002 started off in the most fantastic way. I think, not only in Australia, but in the world as a whole, those two points and that memorable fifth place will go down in history as the most popular fifth place in the history of Formula One. Mark could not have expected a better start to the year and, frankly, there is no better place than Australia that it could have happened.

The rest of the year was tough, though. I'm pleased to say that Mark did richly deserve, and did succeed in getting, the 'rookie of the year' award. We went to hell and back again during the year, with various financial battles with [Arrows team principal] Tom Walkinshaw and a general lack of money in Formula One. However, we've survived all that and, as you rightly said in your introduction, we are ready to fight on in 2003 and looking forward to Melbourne.

Q:
Paul, what will be the story at Albert Park next year?

PS:
I highly doubt that we are going to be able - although I hope we can - repeat what we achieved in Melbourne in 2002. But I suspect we will be there, we will be happy to be competing again, we will have the most competitive engine and performance package that Minardi has had in its 19-year history, and a couple of young new exciting drivers for the public to cheer on.

Q:
So there's a realistic chance that you will be competing then?

PS:
It's guaranteed, there is no question now. Things have changed substantially for the better in the past few months, and there is no doubt whatsoever that we will be in Melbourne and we just can't wait.

Q:
And what about the drivers that you hope to have?

PS:
I know one of them now, and I think I know the second one, but, much as I would love to tell you - and I would love Australia to be the first place it's announced - contractually I just can't at this moment in time. What I can say is that one of them is a new rising star, I hope, in Formula One - and we have got a track record, with [Fernando] Alonso in 2001 and, of course, with Mark this year. We are looking forward to continue that, [and to] bring another young driver into the sport.

Q:
There is some talk that slick tyres may be brought back at some time in the future, possibly next year. What are your thoughts on that?

PS:
I highly doubt it. The problem we have with slick tyres is that Formula One cars have been developed - and they are the leading edge of technology, particularly in the automotive field - they have been developed so much over the years that slick tyres on their own would allow us to get to speeds that would seriously compromise safety. As much as we would love to see them, it would have to be part of a package where it reduced the aerodynamic forces on the car so as to not increase the speeds beyond the current safety limits.

Q:
Does it get any easier for you having the first year out of the way?

PS:
I've got the second one out of the way now, and I'm afraid it doesn't - Formula One is truly a challenge. You get good days, like I had in Melbourne - it's the proudest day of my life - but you get an awful lot of bad ones, I'm afraid, that go with it.

Q:
Paul, just to follow on from that question. You talk about challenges in Formula One and it's getting harder to cope with them. Will it get increasingly harder, do you think, financial constraints and all that?

PS:
I think so. I think really what we are looking at here is the question, perhaps, whether the private teams survive - and, to be honest, I don't know. There are three of us left in Formula One now, and we have seen two go in the last twelve months. It's not easy. The world as a whole is not perhaps as easy a place to gather sponsorship from as it was in years gone by, but we are fighting as hard as we know how.

Q:
Is the popularity of the sport waning at all?

PS:
I don't think it is. We have had in certain markets a slight decline in TV figures, but really overall we've got new markets emerging. We've got a Chinese Grand Prix in 2004, we've got a Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004. I think the sport's growing, but only time will tell.

Q:
Any hard feelings about Mark Webber [switching to the Jaguar team in 2003]?
PS:
No. Mark and I are true mates and we discussed his future. I would love to have had the ability to guarantee Mark a very competitive package for 2003 but, at the time, we had to make the decision. I didn't know whether we would be competing in 2003 and, to be honest, Mark will back this up, we made the decision for his career; the most important thing is he goes on to represent Australia as a Formula One champion.

Q:
How do you think overall the confidence of Formula One is going to be? There will probably be some tough times ahead, but is the worst over?

PS:
I don't think the worst is perhaps over yet, but I do think we have made a lot of responsible decisions in the past few months since the end of the season to move Formula One forward in a positive way. Much speculation was said about what we should and should not do - talk about weight penalties, talk about all kinds of things - but I think the package of modifications that we put through was the most sensible, and it will take Formula One forward in a more exciting way for the viewers. Let's face it, we have got to look after the viewers, we have got to look after the people that get up at three o'clock in the morning to watch grands prix in other parts of the world on TV, those that come out in rain, hail or shine to see us, and I think we have tried to address that. Yes, it will be tough, but we will all get through it, I think.

Q:
The alterations that have been made recently to the regulations to try to make it more entertaining, and perhaps to try to cut some of the costs, seem to be playing around at the edges. Do you have any ideas as to what could be done to get some big lumps of cost out of running a Formula One team and also to make the racing more entertaining, less predictable for the public?
PS:
Yes, to be honest, one or two of the ones, or one in particular, that got through - which was the Friday testing session - was my idea, but I think it was very, very hard to find a balance between taking it too far to where it wouldn't be Formula One. Many series around the world race standard production chassis and engines and, really, is that Formula One? And the answer is no. You need to have the technical challenge. But you are absolutely correct; it comes at a phenomenal cost. In Australian dollars there is at least one team that is going to exceed three quarters of a billion Australian dollars of budget next year.
Q:
It's not Minardi?

PS:
I only wish. No, basically there are some phenomenal amounts of money involved in the sport. But we had to do something that would address some of the costs, and we've done that, and we had to do something that would spice up the sport a little bit, and I believe we've done that. To have made radical changes, and believe you me we have a lot more packages - we only met this week to introduce more for 2003, more for 2004, it's a gradual change, I believe, going in the right direction, because if we had done it radically we risk turning a lot of viewers and popularity of the sport away.
Q:
In terms of pay drivers, we have heard that one of your potential drivers you are hoping can bring along a couple of million pounds. Will both your drivers be pay drivers?

PS:
I think it's perhaps wrong to call them 'pay drivers'. What we have is a situation where, because of the amount of drivers that don't actually have anywhere to go next year - and I had, at one point, 21 names on my list of very talented individuals - we made no secrets of the fact that we needed budget to guarantee that we were going to be competing in Australia and every other event next year. We made it clear that no driver would get a seat in the team unless they were able to bring substantial sponsorship to the team. That is a vast difference between somebody who has to bring money to get his drive - I'm talking about guys that are fully talented and worthy of their seat but they are having to bring sponsorship because we have a commercial need - and a 'pay driver'.

Q:
Does that mean that Mark Webber was a year ahead of this sort of drastic requirement that you have in the team now?

PS:
Let's face facts, guys, Mark is Australian, I'm Australian, we are mates, Mark was a special case; I wanted to bring on the next Australian driver. He was worthy of that position and he, as people well know, had a free drive and I'm proud of that and it couldn't have been given to a greater guy.

Q:
FIA president Max Mosley hinted that perhaps in 2003 there might be fewer than the current entry of 20 cars, and I guess he was hinting that some of the private teams might struggle with budget. Your thoughts on that?

PS:
I think, actually, he was a little bit naughty, but I think he was actually referring that there might be less than 22, and, of course, that was the fact with Arrows not being granted an entry so there are now only 20. I would like to think that there will still be 20 at the end of the year but, yes, there are some very, very tough times ahead; nobody is making any secrets of that.

Q:
Just following that up, do you have mixed feelings not having 'Uncle Tom' [Walkinshaw] around?

PS:
Not very mixed from my point!

Q:
I thought you'd probably welcome the fact that it would be two more cars on the grid?

PS:
Have we got somebody from The Australian [newspaper] there by any chance? You may remember the headlines that were in The Australian on the Friday morning after I had my little press release [in Melbourne] last March, so you all know there is no love lost between me and Tom.

Q:
Just as a matter of interest, was Tom Walkinshaw at the meeting of Formula One team owners this week?

PS:
No, he was not.

Q:
Two questions, one very specific. What's the status of the Friday testing, in your view, and have you spoken to other team bosses? Are we likely to have it? Secondly, given all you have been through, given all that lies ahead, is Paul Stoddart's enthusiasm undimmed?

PS:
I'll answer the first question first. The Friday testing was my one [suggestion] and I have a commitment from one other team, certainly, and three others, possibly, so I would say, yes, it is going to go ahead. I think it's incredibly important for you guys as journalists, as well, that we have more to write about on the Thursdays and Fridays. Australia is lucky because it's a fantastic grand prix and it has a support programme that is second to none and every part of the whole weekend is interesting but, at some of the grands prix, not much happens on a Friday and the press do really struggle for things to write about. I believe that bringing local talent in, bringing test drivers that would never, ever have had the opportunity to be seen in front of the world's media, and indeed their home media, is a very important part for the future, and I really hope and believe it will work.

As for the second part of your question... There are tough times ahead, and I made no secret of the fact that we have struggled. This year, we are slightly better off, perhaps, than we were last year, but it's still an uphill battle. The long-term future for private teams is that I think they need equity partners or manufacturers, because we just can't compete with people that have got budgets ten times our budget.