With Berger, Briatore, Dennis, Suzuki & Todt – II
What follows is the second part of the team principal press conference in Bahrain. Gerhard Berger is joined by Flavio Briatore, Ron Dennis, Aguri Suzuki and Jean Todt.

Q: (Ralf Bach – R&B) Mr Dennis, will you be talking about changing the engine on Montoya’s car?
RD: No, the engines are absolutely fine. There’s no difference between the engines and there is a difference between gearing. When you run at lower revs in order to protect the engine, you end up with less than optimised mapping and that does make the engine a little uncomfortable to drive. When you move into the area of preparing for racing and qualifying, it’s a different area where we have to look at the engines, but they’re exactly the same.

Q: (Ralf Bach – R&B) Are there any concerns at all for Bahrain?
RD: No. The engines are fine. Q: (Patrick Briggs – Bahrain Tribune) We had a lot of third drivers out there and a number of them did pretty well. What do you think was going on?
RD: I’m sure perhaps if people don’t come to all the Grand Prix, and I think you fall into that category, it can be very confusing and for some even more confusing because the teams are doing different things for different reasons. Certainly third drivers, I suppose, one part of their payment for contributing to the team’s performance is to get the chance to run with low fuel and new tyres in today sessions which will help them to jump to the top of the timesheets.
Those teams who have been testing here have confidence in their car’s set-up, and it reflects very much on first day. It allows them to get some good running in before they make their tyre evaluation in the second session. The first day of testing is the day that benefits those who have been testing here the most. Whether that benefit flows through to the race remains to be seen but maybe it must be very confusing for people such as you, but you shouldn’t read too much into it.

Q: (Giorgio Tardozzi – RAI) We have heard Gerhard talk about his point of view on Toro Rosso. But the real deal is that Toro Rosso cannot have points because it is not a V10 engine and do we discuss this every time or not?
JT: When it was decided to allow some private teams to have access to V10 with a restrictor we informed the FIA that we could object depending on the outcome of the championship with the car, so I am confident it is going to happen. Of course we cannot avoid having agreements like this one, but I am confident that the FIA can do the right thing.

FB: Of course, the main reason to allow this with engines is that private teams have no finance for engines so that is the reason they still have them (V10s).

RD: I think there’s maybe two points to supplement what’s been said. First of all, all teams who had committed to running V8s very much appreciated that there was going to be an advantage from running V10s and going down an equivalency route. We undertook with each other, signed a document that undertook to each other that we would run V8s, in other words, permitting, in writing, to run V8s. The team that was given the concession to run V10s was Minardi, and it was given the concession for financial reasons, not for performance reasons, and there are several parameters of the engine that must be addressed when achieving an equivalency. Horsepower is one, and it is something that absolutely you can achieve, but a V10 engine will always give more torque and you cannot tweak the engine due to all the air restrictors and that sort of thing. It might or it might not form an equivalency, but it’s important to remember that the reason for the engine issue in the first place was for cost reasons, not a formula by which people had a choice. That formula has been contracted out deliberately by people who wanted V8 engines. That is a clean, clear, analytical statement of fact.

FB: It’s the same situation we have with the third cars, we applied to get third cars for the economical effect to help small teams. It was not for Ferrari, McLaren, Honda to use. That is why we are all talking about the third car.

GB: I have to say, we took over a team from Minardi. We had a contract with the team and with the engine. … Should we be penalised for using the engine or should the FIA try to put it into a fair position. I agree with Ron, it is very difficult to charge it correctly, but there are some other areas where it’s not just about the engine and we are improving elsewhere.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Flavio, you’re one of the manufacturers who hasn’t yet signed a deal with Bernie Ecclestone. Can you fill us in on how long it will take?
FB: I think we are very close to finalising with Bernie. Maybe it can happen in the next weeks. We are very much agreed.

RD: I think everybody has agreed that they are of the view that it’s all about money. Money’s all that’s talked about in Grand Prix racing. Here, it is very important to understand that this is the future of Grand Prix Racing until at least 2012 and maybe beyond. The document which is a memorandum of understanding that is being worked on, at the moment really deals with many issues. I think the discussions that have taken place in the last month really are those that will determine where we push in manner of the long-term interest of F1. The buyout by the CVC has been most positively felt because they want stability and also in terms of how we participate in that growth. Now, it’s much more of a common interest in terms of how that document is sustained in the long term, so now we are, I will say, more than a day less than a month away, but it will happen in that period of time.

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