NewsOnF1 - 17 - 20 June News

20-June: At the Thursday press conference for the European Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher indicated that his approach to the race would be similar to any other but hopes to put on a good show for his fans and said "You feel sort of comfortable to be here, you come a little bit earlier to the country to see friends and the whole environment is familiar. Obviously with the circuit change it's another new challenge to learn. I'm quite happy from the point of view that the circuit owners have changed the circuit to make it more interesting for us drivers, to have more overtaking opportunities, even to increase spectator facilities. So all in all I'm looking forward to coming here and doing well in front of our fans."
The second practice session on Friday will clash with the first half of the Germany vs. USA game in the World Cup and Michael will be kept informed of the score throughout the session via the telemetry between the pits and his car. He said "I would like to see the match but then we have reasons not to do the first part of it, but I'm going to watch the rest. I think it's the end which is the most important part to watch. I will keep my fingers crossed while I'm driving.
We have bi-directional telemetry, so I'm sort of aware all the time what the scores are."

Ralf Schumacher was confident that the BMW engine failures the team suffered over the last 2 races have been resolved and said "That's the reason why we have one of the best engines in Formula One, that's why we have this consistent development and we go to the limits. Certainly, if you go to the limits, things like this do happen. But it's not a problem."
When asked about a his lack of overtaking attempts in Canada and Brazil earlier this season, he said "In Brazil, there was never a chance and as long as I'm in the car I'm the one to decide when to overtake and when not to. If there is not a chance I'm not going to do a stupid move and lose points. I was never ever close enough in Brazil. Concerning Canada, when I had the chance, we both... at least Kimi went straight over the kerb, so did I because I couldn't go anywhere else and then I wasn't allowed to overtake and then after that I didn't have the chance. That's the way it is. We certainly weren't good enough out of corners, tractionwise I always lost slightly, and we weren't quick enough on the straights as well to close up and overtake. That was it. Whenever there's a chance, I will overtake. When there isn't, I can't."
As for his expectations for the weekend, he said "We've never really had a bad car this year, so it's going to be another reasonable race for us. Although I haven't seen the first corners, they look a lot tighter, certainly it has become a bit slower, which hasn't been really good for us, but we will see. Last year the car looked reasonable, we have a better car this year, so it should be fine."

David Coulthard believes McLaren will still be chasing Ferrari and Williams here but is counting on strong tyre performance and said "We have two tyres here that we have a lot of experience of, and we hope we will be quite racy. Even the not so soft option should still be racy, even if we can't get away with the first one. I wouldn't expect a big turnaround in Ferrari's performance so we are probably still chasing them and chasing Williams but we shall wait and see what happens. The new entry may create something that suits our car."
Regarding the rumours that he could be driving for Toyota next season, he said "Actually I spoke to Ron in the week and I can't remember the wording exactly, but I put it in my Scottish way. My position with the team is clear, but the team are going to wait to make an announcement once the other positions of other people are clear, or something like that."

Hiroshi Yasukawa (Bridgestone) gave his thoughts on the suggested tyre regulation of just one tyre specification per race and said "I think we have to consider the safety issues, cost issues and the image of Formula One. If you want to change specification down to one, we are very pleased cost-wise, we can reduce things in our costs. Now with things like these new corners and the new course at Hockenheim, and for the future, perhaps we are going to a new course, in this case we don't have any spare tyres, this is a bit risky and we have to avoid spoiling the Formula One race. If cars are going to start on worn out tyres, this is a very bad image and also this brings in all sorts of safety issues too. At Bridgestone we prefer keeping a good image, and this image has to work closely with a team."
Pierre Dupasquier (Michelin) agreed and said "The risk is if you screw up with your tyre selection, then you have no race at all. There is no back up, no nothing. Safety wise...if we were to have to change three or four times, that's alright, we would get through the race, but it would be ridiculous, and sometimes we would be stuffed after five or ten laps because if you get 40-42 degrees instead of 18 or 20 that were expected, then you are in trouble. Also, development wise, we like to develop our knowledge. If we are trapped with only one tyre, it is less development, you just gamble. We understand the target, but we don't like it too much."

19-June: Despite expressing his confidence of a strong showing at the Nurburgring, Michael Schumacher has admitted that the competition is getting closer and pointed to the fact that Ferrari have not won Pole in the last 2 races and said "The most important thing for the Nurburgring is to have a well balanced car, which is not easy to achieve. The cars tend to understeer on this track. But I feel we can be confident and competitive even here at the Nurburgring. However, it is clear to see that the competition has got closer, as can be seen from the fact we did not get pole position at either of the last two races. I think it could be the same situation at the Nurburgring. I think BMW-Williams will go very well there. It is obvious that in Canada, they would have been ahead of the McLaren-Mercedes if they had not had problems. I reckon they will be even stronger than McLaren. The tyres will be very important in terms of the overall package. We will have to wait and see who has the better tyre to suit the conditions."

Juan Pablo Montoya who retired from the last 2 races with engine problems is ready to bounce back and is hoping for a good result on the track that gave him his second podium finish of 2001. He said "A few days have passed since the Canadian Grand Prix and I have finally recovered from the great disappointment. I feel like some recompense is due for the last two races, where I was denied from picking up a good handful of points. The team has been working hard to address the problems we had and therefore I hope the Nurburgring track will be able to reward our efforts. Also I want to add to the very good result I had there last year. It was my second podium of the 2001 season and I had a really good car, but I am confident that we have an even better car this year. The new modifications to the track are going to be a good challenge as it will mean the circuit is ‘new’ to everyone in the field. I am certain it is going to be an interesting race because there should be more overtaking opportunity than recently."

19-June: "Designed for Ferrari" is the title of the 18th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2002 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the upcoming European Grand Prix - Issue 18

18-June: The Quali-flyer's predictions for the 'Real Race' at the European GP ... Report

17-June: Australian Mark Webber who currently drives for the Minardi team will be testing for the Jaguar team at their upcoming test session in Barcelona on the 28th of June.
Jaguar are looking at their options for their 2003 driver line-up as Eddie Irvine's contract runs out at the end of this season. Jaguar however have denied any plans to change either of their drivers during this season.
Jaguar spokesperson Nav Sidhu said "We can confirm that Mark Webber will be testing the Jaguar R3 in Barcelona on Friday, June 28. This one day test is aimed at evaluating Mark and subsequently exploring our options for the 2003 season.
We have not yet begun official discussions with Eddie Irvine for next season and in the event that the two sides agree to part company, Mark's test is nothing more than a possible contingency option. This is a perfectly normal procedure and we are not looking to change our driver line-up for the remainder of this season."
At the end of last month, Jaguar gave Renault test driver Fernando Alonso the opportunity to test the R3.
Webber has been very impressive in his debut season with the Minardi team finishing fifth in his first ever Grand Prix and out-qualifying a number of other drivers in better cars on a number of occasions.

17-June: "Return to domination for Ferrari ?" - The European Grand Prix Preview is now available ... Race Preview

European 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 Nurburg Time / 9 AM GMT 1 PM Nurburg Time / 11 AM GMT 8:15 AM Nurburg Time / 6:15 AM GMT 9:30 AM Nurburg Time / 7:30 AM GMT 12:15 PM Nurburg Time / 10:15 PM GMT 9:30 AM Nurburg Time / 7:30 AM GMT 2 PM Nurburg Time / 12 PM GMT
Go to the European GP Page