Wednesday, July 27, 2005
An interview with Adrian Newey - McLaren Technical Director
Q:
What’s your overall verdict on the weekend?
Adrian Newey:
After the engine problem that came up withy Kimi yesterday, to bounce back to first and third is the most we could possibly hope for. The start was the key for Juan Pablo, absolutely.
Q:
Will this give Juan Pablo a boost?
AN:
I would hope so. I think it’s always a difficult thing. Often when drivers have had their first win for instance, people then forecast now this guy is really on his way. And then you wait for two years before he wins another one. I don’t know. It’s not his first win obviously, it’s his first for the team, and hopefully it will give him a bit of confidence, because he’s had a pretty rough year so far. Going right back to his tennis accident. To bounce back like this, after the disappointments of Montreal and Magny-Cours, is great. Hopefully we’ll see the benefit of it.
Q:
What about Kimi’s performance?
AN:
I think Kimi did a great race. His pace in the middle stint was pretty spectacular, actually.
Q:
You managed find him some clear track after the stop?
AN:
Yes. It was key that we got him past Michael and Trulli at the first stop, and he managed that. That enabled him to gain ground. In fact we were a little bit lucky because if Fisichella hadn’t stalled at the last stop, he would have been fourth. But we’ll take it.
Q:
Before the race did you accept that third was the best you could realistically achieve with Kimi?
AN:
We thought that third would be the absolute best. We were kind of resigned to somewhere between fourth and fifth. We managed to get up to second last weekend, but that was in fairly special circumstances, where a lot of people two-stopped and most importantly Trulli held the pack up. Unfortunately today Trulli held the pack up again, but it hindered rather than helped...
Q:
Would he have got much closer to Alonso if he hadn’t been held up?
AN:
I would say definitely, because obviously Fisichella was not far off the hunt when he stalled it in the final pit stop. If he’d got past Michael and Trulli he would have been on the back of Fisichella, so there’s no reason why it couldn’t have been like that.
Q:
How were the Michelins today?
AN:
The tyres were absolutely fine. Juan had a little bit of oversteer to start with, and you probably saw we adjusted the front wing at the first stop, and that helped. We were fairly comfortable from then on.
Q:
What can you do at Hockenheim?
AN:
I don’t know. I find it very hard to predict from one race to another what’s going to suit the car and what isn’t. We just hope to have a good race and see where we get to.
Q:
After your recent success in historics with your GT40, do you know what it feels like to be a winner?
AN:
It was only a class win!
What’s your overall verdict on the weekend?
Adrian Newey:
After the engine problem that came up withy Kimi yesterday, to bounce back to first and third is the most we could possibly hope for. The start was the key for Juan Pablo, absolutely.
Q:
Will this give Juan Pablo a boost?
AN:
I would hope so. I think it’s always a difficult thing. Often when drivers have had their first win for instance, people then forecast now this guy is really on his way. And then you wait for two years before he wins another one. I don’t know. It’s not his first win obviously, it’s his first for the team, and hopefully it will give him a bit of confidence, because he’s had a pretty rough year so far. Going right back to his tennis accident. To bounce back like this, after the disappointments of Montreal and Magny-Cours, is great. Hopefully we’ll see the benefit of it.
Q:
What about Kimi’s performance?
AN:
I think Kimi did a great race. His pace in the middle stint was pretty spectacular, actually.
Q:
You managed find him some clear track after the stop?
AN:
Yes. It was key that we got him past Michael and Trulli at the first stop, and he managed that. That enabled him to gain ground. In fact we were a little bit lucky because if Fisichella hadn’t stalled at the last stop, he would have been fourth. But we’ll take it.
Q:
Before the race did you accept that third was the best you could realistically achieve with Kimi?
AN:
We thought that third would be the absolute best. We were kind of resigned to somewhere between fourth and fifth. We managed to get up to second last weekend, but that was in fairly special circumstances, where a lot of people two-stopped and most importantly Trulli held the pack up. Unfortunately today Trulli held the pack up again, but it hindered rather than helped...
Q:
Would he have got much closer to Alonso if he hadn’t been held up?
AN:
I would say definitely, because obviously Fisichella was not far off the hunt when he stalled it in the final pit stop. If he’d got past Michael and Trulli he would have been on the back of Fisichella, so there’s no reason why it couldn’t have been like that.
Q:
How were the Michelins today?
AN:
The tyres were absolutely fine. Juan had a little bit of oversteer to start with, and you probably saw we adjusted the front wing at the first stop, and that helped. We were fairly comfortable from then on.
Q:
What can you do at Hockenheim?
AN:
I don’t know. I find it very hard to predict from one race to another what’s going to suit the car and what isn’t. We just hope to have a good race and see where we get to.
Q:
After your recent success in historics with your GT40, do you know what it feels like to be a winner?
AN:
It was only a class win!
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