Five drivers take questions in Bahrain - II
World Champion Fernando Alonso was joined today in the FIA press conference in Bahrain by Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher and Scott Speed.

Q: (Philippe Joubin - L’Equipe) In terms of driving, do you enjoy driving the V8 engines and have you had to change your driving style at all to adapt to the V8s?
FA: Not for me. Basically it is the same. Obviously there are some corners that are now easy flat when last year it was little more challenge, I don’t know. In my opinion, I like to have the most powerful car in my hands, so it’s always better to have the V10 for the feelings but what we really like is the competition and we are all with the same V8. What we really like is to fight with the others.

Q: Michael, you said the car was better balanced with the amount of power from the V8 and the amount of rubber you have.
MS: It’s more in harmony.

Q: So do you enjoy it more?
MS: Yeah. It’s much sharper to drive.

KR: Yeah, I think it goes a bit slower in a straight line and the corner speed is about the same as in previous years. I haven’t changed my driving at all. You just try to go as quickly as you can. Of course, the torque is not as much as in a V10 so there are more details I different areas but it hasn’t really changed much.


Q: (Azrul Anada – Jawa Pos Indonesia) About lap times in Bahrain. In testing we’ve seen Honda and McLaren quite close to last year in Valencia. How much difference will there be in Bahrain and when can you pass the lap time of last year with the V10.
MS: It’s not only a question for here, it’s a general question for all tracks, generally you lose 2-3 seconds going from a V10 to a V8, but our engineers are so efficient so it has not made a big difference. We were off the pace last year but it all depends. Plus it’s unfair to compare to last year. You had to have one tyre for the whole race and our qualifying strategy was completely different to what it will be this weekend. So it’s really unfair to make a comparison.

Q: Fernando, will lap times come down to last year’s level?
FA: I think conditions will be about one second slower this year but it’ true that the qualifying format will be really different. We will run empty fuel at start of qualifying, so those times will be better this year compared to last year.

KR: Nothing to add.

Q: (David Croft – BBC Radio 5) We have some rookies this year. Is there any advice the three guys at the front can give them?
FA: I’m 24, so I don’t have extremely good experience. When I started in Formula One I just enjoyed it and concentrated on doing my job. It’s true there is lots of media attention. The cars are unfortunately so different from one to the other that you cannot find results very quickly.

KR: Hopefully they let us past if we’re behind.

MS: I don’t think they need advice. Generally the young generation have so much time in go-karts. For sure a Formula One car has a lot more horsepower than other cars but apart from that there is not much difference.

Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speedsport News) Scott, you say you’re a bit nervous, but how much of an advantage is it to have raced here in a GP2 car and tested an F1 car ahead of making your F1 debut?
SS: Having tested here in an F1 car certainly makes life a lot easier than if you haven’t tested before. I think Montreal, Malaysia and Australia will be a lot more difficult in terms of learning the track procedures, compared to Bahrain with already a bit of track experience. It’s a big help.

Q: (Jerome Bourret - L’Equipe) Honda have gone very well this winter but are not represented here. What is your opinion on them?
NR: I’ll start. They’ve been really strong in testing in the winter I think, and especially now with Anthony Davidson doing time in Valencia, so I think they’ll be towards the very front.

SS: Certainly when we were testing here with them last month they were for sure showing some good pace, expect them to do very well.

KR: Yeah they’ve been quick, as Renault have been also, so we’ll just have to wait and see for a few days to see what is the real pace of all the teams.

FA: Same comment. They have been very quick but we’ll have to wait to see in races.

Q: (Harry Kiner – ARD Radio) I look at the front row and see Fernando, Michael and Kimi. Am I right in thinking you are the three favourites for the title?
KR: I wish, but it’s the same answer really. We don’t really know exactly. It depends on the cars on what will happen. For sure, everybody of us wants to win championship and everybody does their best.

FA: Same.

MS: I think there’s more than three because honestly as we spoke about Honda who have two drivers. Also, we all have team-mates so it’s got be a nice season for all of us.

Q: (Peter Windsor – Speed Channel) Michael, sorry to ask you but unfortunately it’s the first chance many of us have had to ask this question, but, what happened on the formation lap at Shanghai and what was your opinion on the decision of the stewards afterwards?
MS: Honestly I don’t see any sense in going back into it. It’s decided to what it was and we can’t change it anyway. We don’t have a Minardi team anymore. It’s different now. Sometimes certain things do happen and it`s coincidence, sometimes things come together.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) – Michael, your team came here to test and had some problems with the clutch system. The team decides to test in Mugello. How is the real mechanical situation?
MS: First of all, we did everything to schedule, we did more running than we planned to do. The only difference was that instead of staying in Italy we were going to Valencia and we had only three days available in Valencia, but staying in Italy meant we had six or seven days available for driving. It’s true the weather wasn’t great, but for what we had to do we figured out our issues. Its true as well we would have loved to do more kilometres, but we are now more prepared because the car was quick right from the beginning and even quicker now and I think we can be quite confident to be reliable as well.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) About the new qualifying system. It seems the last part is quite complicated to explain to the people in the grandstand. Are you worried it will change again during the season and what do you think about this mechanism? Worried about changing again?
MS: The only reason we could probably be forced to change is if you explain it the wrong way if people don’t understand so it’s you’re (the journalist’s) job to explain it so we don’t have to.

FA: It will be quite complex, but any qualifying will be difficult for us and for the people behind the TV and hopefully this one will stay for a long time.

KR: It will be interesting and it will take a few races to learn what the best way is. The gap between the sessions is only five minutes I think so three will be a lot of people rushing around. I think it will be okay.

Q: (Ottavio Daviddi - Tuttosport) – Michael, last year you had an expert driver in Rubens, now you have an inexperienced team-mate. Is this a problem to find the solution to problems to find the set-up?
MS: No. First because Felipe is quite experienced in the meantime. Second, it depends on the team and on how you develop, with the team, a new car. The only question we have is in terms of driving style. Maybe we have different driving styles that require to different set-ups so it will be quite interesting to see if I can take profit more than I used to or not.

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