NewsOnF1 - 5 July News

5-July: At the Friday press conference for the British Grand Prix, Patrick Head (Williams) indicated that while he doesn't think about championships but rather races, he feels that Ferrari will be nearly impossible to catch and admitted that the Ferrari is a better car than the Williams. He said "I don't really tend to think long term about championships. I tend to think about each individual race and try to do the best we can in each individual race, and sometime around about the end of the year, or near the end of the year, you then look at where you are. But in truth, the Ferrari is an excellent car. It certainly has been better than ours so far and it's very difficult to imagine that we can challenge them in either championship. But that doesn't make us think 'well, we'll give up and think about next year'. We will be trying as hard as we can and anyway, we've got these people (McLaren) warming out tails so we've still got a lot of work to do."
Head also admitted that their cars are harder on tyres than the McLarens but hopes that this issue has been resolved as a result of testing last week and said "It's true the results in the last three races have been poor. I think, undoubtedly we have been rather harder on our rear tyres than certainly McLarens have been and one or two other Michelin teams. That probably helps us in qualifying but hurts us in the race. But in truth, we are much more interested in where we end up on Sunday afternoon than where we are on Saturday afternoon. We've been working hard, we had a very good test at Barcelona last week where we covered an awful lot of ground and learned a lot about how to reduce the damage we do to the rear tyres and we're making progress."

Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren) indicated that his team's aim for the rest of the year would be to win a few races and said "We don't over-resign ourselves to not winning the championship, but the reality is that Ferrari have done a really good job this year with their package and we recognise the difficulty of going out there and trying to win a race, let alone win a championship. But I think you always, throughout the year, strive to improve your car and do a better job. You've got to look and compete throughout the whole season. If you don't try and go out there and compete then I think the momentum of the team falls away and you're not there trying to win races. So certainly, at the moment, we are not looking to the championship, we are looking to try and win a few races during the rest of this year."
Whitmarsh is aware that they are behind both Ferrari and Williams and that Renault are closing in. He aims to continue to close the gap to the two top teams and said "We'd like a better car, a better engine and would like to do a better job, but I think we're working to develop our car and understand that the elements of the package aren't good enough to compete at the moment. I think we've had one or two reasonable races just recently but we recognise those are special conditions and circumstances. The reality is that we are some way off the pace of the Ferrari and the Williams, but we're striving to be better. I think Renault isn't far behind us and we are very conscious of that. That's motivating us as well, so we are trying to continue to improve."

Jenson Button has indicated that he is still evaluating his options for next year and said "I've got some options for next year but again I'm not thinking of where I'm going to be next year yet. I've got to just concentrate on this weekend and the races coming and then when I know what my options are, I will make a decision."
Button indicated that a lot of what he was quoted in the media as saying wasn't true but he didn't want to elaborate further and said "I've been quoted as saying a lot of things that I didn't actually say. That I would drive for less money is a good one. Who would do that? I haven't made a decision as to what's happening next year. I've got some options but I want to see what else there is first before I make my decision.
I think a lot of people know I wouldn't have said some of things that have been in the press lately."

Eddie Irvine once again indicated that his future with the team is tied to the way the new Jaguar package turns out to be and said "If you do good, you stay, if you don't, you go. It's the same for every driver in the pitlane. We've got to just keep working on this car, trying to make it reasonable and then hopefully we can get some results. Until then, I'm not making any decisions, and vice versa."
As for his current thoughts on the new package, he said "Today we would have liked to get some miles in and get a proper feel for it but we weren't lucky in that respect. It's impossible to know what the story is. We got it for Barcelona, I only did 15 laps with it. It was better in some areas, but there were a few issues with it. We haven't had a chance to really do any set-up work with it because it means running the car in a totally different way and we haven't done any running."
Irvine admitted though that it was easier to drive and said "It is honestly; the rear end, for sure, is more stable on the entry but it is way too early to say really what the true story is. For sure, we have got a lot more downforce but it is being able to use it which is the important thing and we probably can't use all the potential. We'll find out tomorrow what the true issue is."

Allan McNish wasn't happy with his Toyota during the wet during practice today and said "Well, from the point of view of the sessions, not fantastic but the actual event itself is obviously a big event. There will be a lot of support throughout the weekend and I think on Sunday it is going to be quite entertaining but from the point of view of today it was like any wet Friday, a bit like Imola in actual fact, where we had similar sort of conditions, and we are working to try to balance the car, something that we didn't really achieve, we didn't get the correct balance or grip or feel into the car."
As for his future with the team, Allan said "At the end of the day we have got to develop the same, we have got to work with the car and I have got to get out there and drive. I have been in the points-scoring positions before and we know that is possible on the right occasion, and I know that we can do it in the qualifying and in the races, so I just keep on doing my job. There are a lot of rumours, but there is not very often very much to substantiate them."

5-July: What the teams and drivers said following Friday practice at Silverstone ... Report

5-June: Following the public outcry over the team orders Ferrari applied at the Austrian Grand Prix, the FIA have announced a review of team orders in the sport and is consulting with all the stakeholders including the fans. The FIA statement read "Ferrari’s win at this season’s Austrian Grand Prix has highlighted the controversial nature of team orders.
Following incidents at the Austrian Grand Prix and the subsequent World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris, the FIA has decided to establish a working group to review team orders and to offer guidelines for their application in future.
As part of this process the FIA has decided to consult all of motor sport’s stakeholders, from motor sport fans to motor sport team principals, before the working group makes its final recommendations.
As part of this process of public consultation the FIA web site (www.fia.com) now includes a section in which the issue of team orders is discussed. The FIA would encourage members of the public to contribute their own suggestions to the review by visiting the FIA web site or by simply emailing comments to teamorders@fia.com.
The deadline for contributions to the review is September 1st, 2002.

5-June: British GP – 2nd Friday Practice Session: Rubens Barrichello sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Michael Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella. Juan Pablo Montoya, Takuma Sato and Jacques Villeneuve make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Report ... Notes

5-June: British GP – 1st Friday Practice Session: Rubens Barrichello sets the fastest time of the session under mainly wet conditions ahead of Jenson Button and David Coulthard. Kimi Raikkonen, Eddie Irvine and Giancarlo Fisichella make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Report ... Notes

5-July: "A three team contest ?" is the title of the 20th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2002 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the upcoming British Grand Prix - Issue 20

British Formula 1 Grand Prix Schedule:

Session	Time (Local / GMT) - Current local time
Friday Practice Session 1 Friday Practice Session 2 Saturday Practice Session 1 Saturday Practice Session 2 Qualifying Session Warm-up Session Race	11 AM Silverstone Time / 10 AM GMT 1 PM Silverstone Time / 12 PM GMT 9:00 AM Silverstone Time / 8:00 AM GMT 10:15 AM Silverstone Time / 9:15 AM GMT 1:00 PM Silverstone Time / 12:00 PM GMT 8:30 AM Silverstone Time / 7:30 AM GMT 1:00 PM Silverstone Time / 12 PM GMT
Go to the British GP Page