10-Oct: Due to the
declining TV figures and the complete dominance of Ferrari this season,
the FIA are believed to be proposing some radical changes to
Formula 1 with the view to make it more interesting. However, the teams
will have to agree to these proposals for them to become part of the
regulations.
Some of the ideas believed to be proposed include 2 day qualifying, test
limitations, aerodynamic restrictions. There are even proposals for driver
swapping and adding ballast to the faster cars!.
These proposals are expected to be discussed with the teams later this
month.
10-Oct: At the
Thursday press conference for the Japanese GP, Rubens Barrichello
tried to explain his view of the finish at the US GP and said "I
didn't have many views, to be honest. I was as confused as everybody else.
There have been so many pictures with me looking at the sign, as you can
see, I didn't know what was going on, as nothing was said beforehand, so
when I saw Michael going up, the first thing that came on my mind was
that, OK, he's going to try to give me back Austria. So I went in but I
didn't go up beside him and say yes, this is it, I still backed off
because maybe it wasn't the idea and I wasn't going to think, OK, just
give me this win and I'll take it but then beside me he backed off and I
then I just finished in front. I didn't know where the line was, I didn't
know what was going on. I didn't know if I'd won the race or not, so it
was just a big confusion that, at the end, what I understand was that
Michael wanted to give it back from Austria, that's it."
Asked about why Bridgestone performs well with Ferrari but not so with the
other Bridgestone runners and he said "I don't know and it is very
difficult to speak on behalf of the other teams and I can speak only on
Ferrari's behalf. We test every day with two test drivers and two drivers
and we develop the tyre for them (Bridgestone) and any other team has the
possibility to test the tyre as well and to say 'yes, it's good' or 'no,
it's not'. I can only say that, yes, we have more influence on the
Bridgestone minds to say which we think we could go. But I don't know why
the other teams don't go as fast."
David Coulthard declined to comment on what the team
was testing last week and said "I never really want to say too much
about what we are testing and there are always seems to be more knowledge
as to what we have actually been testing than there should be. I was
testing a McLaren, developing it for the future, this weekend, for future
races. Everyone always seems to know before you've even run anything
nowadays what you've been doing."
As for Alex Wurz's new lap record at Barcelona, David was positive and
said "I think that the test was really positive. The only thing that
you can say is that the track temperature was ten degrees cooler than when
we were there before, it's such an influential thing on the lap time, and
it's typical to do quick lap times in the winter. You think you're making
big progress towards the end of the season because it's cool in Europe and
through the winter you set quick lap times and then you get to Melbourne
and you get a reality check because it's warm. I think you have to be
careful looking at the lap times from the outside. The true gauge of
performance is always a Grand Prix weekend."
Mika Salo who retires from Formula 1 this weekend
has yet to decide what he'll be doing next year and said "Not at the
moment. I think I am just going to finish this last race and then have a
nice holiday and then sometime in November see what I have on offer on the
table and if there is something interesting I'll take it. I still love
driving, but I want a little bit less stress and I want to stay at home a
bit more. I had 20 days at home this year and it was too much travelling
for me so I will see what I have then and I will decide if I continue, but
if I want to drive for many years more I have to drive something next year
so if I don't drive next year I'll never drive again."
When asked what he though of the job done by Toyota this year he said
"I think it's gone quite well for the first year. Of course we had a
good start to the year because we were very well prepared. We had a one
year to prepare for it, so I think it started well, and then it was up and
down but overall I think it's gone quite well, they've learned a lot, but
still it's going to be difficult for them next year also. This time they
will have the normal testing like everyone else with the new car and they
start at the same level so it will be more difficult. But for sure, the
car will be better, it can't be much worse. There are some areas where
they are doing a really good job and some where it's not so good. I think
this year has been reasonable."
Olivier Panis who races with BAR for the last time
this weekend before switching to Toyota is ready for the challenge and
said "I want to say I feel positive, because I have been working a
long time with Honda and we have a very good relationship but what I feel
about the Toyota team is that it's still Japanese but I also feel that
there are a lot of European people who work inside, which makes it a bit
different but I'm still really happy to continue to work with Japanese
people.
I know next year we have a lot to do but I've taken the challenge and I'm
really looking forward to next year but first of all, I don't know the
car, I don't have some ideas but I want to say that I agree with Mika, we
have a lot to do to continue to develop the car."
Takuma Sato will race his first Formula 1 race in
front of his home crowd and described his feelings by saying "It's
just amazing. It hasn't started yet, the Grand Prix weekend, but I can see
all the fans are already excited a lot and this morning, when I came out
here from the hotel, there were already fans out there and it was a great
feeling. I feel something very strange here. This is my home and obviously
all the Grand Prix teams have moved from Europe and what we have done
today is exactly the same as all the other Grands Prix, but the atmosphere
has been slightly different for me, so it's going to be a great weekend,
I'm sure."
As for his future with the team next season, he is confident and said
"I have a contract with the team for two years so next year I will be
with Jordan. But my feeling now is that I want to concentrate on this
weekend. It is more important than that. That's all I can say because I
have a contract with the team. Obviously I have a very good feeling from
the team and I am confident. So I think it is alright."
The drivers also commented negatively to some of the radical
ideas that would make Formula 1 more exciting. Ideas such as adding ballast to
the fastest cars and drivers swapping cars. David Coulthard said "I know that there have been speculative
ideas, some of them a bit silly. At the risk of giving a quick answer is that
they need the thought that they probably require. But the knee-jerk reaction
of putting in ballast and trying to handicap that have done a better job to
improve the show, I don't think is right. I think it goes against what Formula
One stands for which is a set of regulations of which the people with the
cleverest minds and the best budgets do the best job." Olivier Panis said "Well, definitely I want to swap my car with
Rubens but I don't think he want that. But after that, I feel that sure, we
need something, but it's very complicated. I think it would be quite a good
idea if the drivers spoke with Max and Bernie maybe, because somebody will
have different ideas on that. But I don't have the best ones. If I do, I will
tell you, but I think it's quite complicated. Also we need to be fair to the
best teams.
I don't think ballast is the solution. Maybe it's a bit too quick to say that.
Maybe it's the easy answer, the quicker one but for the future of Formula One,
maybe it's not the best. Takuma Sato said "Well, I think the ballast situation would make
more exciting battles for those outside the circuit in a fairly spectacular
way, but for me on the inside, it would be a slight problem because it's not
the performance from the car and driver. If you look at touring cars and GT
cars, it would be fine because the performance is due to the car's performance
and you can see how much the weight affects it and Japanese GT has that
regulation which works out OK for those battles, but in Formula One it would
be different, because the drivers are affected more than that. That's what I
believe." Rubens Barrichello said "I don't want to change cars with Olivier,
that's for sure!. You can be my guest sometime. To be honest, I don't want to
comment too much because a lot of things have been said and I want to wait
until they have really been proposed and we see what we're going to have
because it's a bit too much up in the air right now and if you think, I think
that grooved tyres are already against the spirit of Formula One. We have
grooved tyres in Formula One, but we don't have them on go-karts, we don't
have them on Formula 3000, Formula Three so why do we have them in Formula
One? Because we dream about Formula One and it's already against... (that
philosophy). So I want to wait until they have some decision on it before I
comment." Mika Salo said "I agree with Rubens, I don't really know, it's not
my position to start commenting about it. I also agree with David, that it's
not fair if teams are doing a good job and they have worked and they have the
best car and then someone puts weight on it to slow it down, it's not fair.
And I'm not here next year, so that's another point."
9-Oct:
The Quali-flyer's predictions for the 'Real Race' at the Japanese GP ... Report
Friday
Practice Session 1
Friday Practice Session 2
Saturday Practice Session 1
Saturday Practice Session 2 Qualifying Session
Warm-up Session Race
11
AM Suzuka Time / 2 AM GMT
1 PM Suzuka Time / 4 AM GMT
9:00 AM Suzuka Time / 1 2:00 AM GMT
10:15 AM Suzuka Time /
1:15 AM GMT 1:00 PM Suzuka Time /
4:00 AM GMT 10:00 AM Suzuka Time /
1:00 AM GMT 2:30 PM Suzuka Time /
5:30 AM GMT
