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Q & A with Mike Gascoyne

Q. What's life been like at Spyker since you joined?

Mike Gascoyne: Obviously it's different. It's not really like going back to Jordan; it's far more like going back to Tyrrell. When I came to Jordan from Tyrrell it was like going to a bigger team, where as this is like what Tyrrell was. It is a very small team, the smallest on the grid.

There are still a lot of good people there. They have had a pretty rough three or four years. In some respects there are some things that are now the norm there that shouldn't be because that's how they have been operating, from hand-to-mouth over the last few years.

But obviously now we've got new owners, but that doesn't mean things will change overnight. There are still a lot of improvements that need to be made in the infrastructure of the team. We need to bring a few new people in key areas.

But the Aerolab deal was very important for us. We now have wind tunnel facilities to match anyone on the grid. And more importantly with Aerolab, they are a turnkey operation, because I set them up and got them to work the way I want them to work - so they really are a turnkey operation. That should hopefully fast track a lot of things in terms of wind tunnel development.

And once we've got a quicker car then that then snowballs. In then you start to get sponsors and investors.

I think it's clear that the guys at Spyker want to build the team up. But that has to be done in a structured way. It isn't as if they are going to walk in and say here's $300 million a year and away you go. We can't do that. We've got to build it up with a proper business model.

So got to make things so that we start having some results and once you've got them you get sponsors off the back of it, you invest that properly and it gains momentum. So that's the plan.

Q. Is this a typical Gascoyne blueprint, like you did at Tyrrell, Jordan and Renault where you move in, sort the infrastructure out and only then work on the car?

MG: Yes, very much so. I mean you can go in and you can fire fight little bits, but you are pissing on a forest fire most of the time. You need to build in some structure.

If you want to build a house that's going to stand up a long time, you need to give it deep foundations. And when you dig foundations, you don't see anything. So when you are doing a lot of this work, you go to the races and the car is still at the back and the car's not going any quicker, then everyone says, 'well, what is he doing?'

But when you get everything right in the background, and the team starts working correctly, you've then still got a lot of work to do before it actually physically gets better. And that's what's going on at the moment.

But a key area in all of that is always the wind tunnel and certainly Aerolab, being the facility it is, will hopefully speed that process up.

Toyota was the only team that I wasn't been able to get on the podium in the first year, instead we did it in the second race of the year after. But that is a big ask here! Let's see what we can do.

Q. Is three years a big ask though? That is what the team management have targeted for a first podium?

MG: No. The key to this year is not where we start but where we end up this year. I want to end up in a situation where we have a car that is capable of racing people in the midfield. I'd like us to be racing rather than driving around at the back.

I think then if we can get some sort of sponsor investment based on being a competitive team, the rest we can deliver.

Q. Do you think it is going to be a tough start to the season?

MG: I think it will be reasonably bloody, yeah! I think you could envisage a scenario in Melbourne where we will be at the back of the grid and we're a second back from all the other teams. That wouldn't surprise me at all. I'm not particularly scared by that.

I'm hoping by then we will already have found performance in the wind tunnel and we will be able to close the gap. But we have to wait and see. It would be nice if there are some teams to race. Red Bull look to be doing their best to give us someone to race!

Q. Will you feel frustrated, having made all this progress and done all this work, if some of your rival teams maybe jumped ahead because of the customer car situation?

MG: I think that would be frustrating. But it was interesting coming here and sitting down with James [Key] and just quickly explaining why the car was not going to be good. You can say well this is what is current and this is what isn't current.

It's quite a hard thing to go, because you see everybody's head drop because they have put so much effort in, and you waltz in saying well: "Great effort guys, but I'm sorry it's crap".

Then you have to explain that its not their fault, and it's not Spyker's fault either, its Jordan and Midland's fault because this car was a result of the mismanagement that went on back then. Not what has happened since the start of November.

But really the hope is that what we are doing now with aero and other things are what Spyker want to do, and we can start showing a level of performance that is Spyker's, and not based on what has happened in the past.

Q. And the B-Spec car, pencilled in for Turkey, is that going to be significantly different?

MG: Apart from the monocoque it will be everything else. It will be new rear end, new gearbox, new rear suspension, totally new bodywork, everything.

It is tentatively put in for Turkey, but we don't have the money to do constant upgrades and we don't have the money to build two or three cars throughout the year. If it cost £100,000 for tooling to do a new bodywork, we can only do that once, so I don't want it too early and it not be a big enough step, and if you do it too late you make a big step but you have less races to go and make an impact.

There are some elements that is really a process of getting ourselves set up for the year after as well. So we have to really play it by ear. I mean, if we had a fluke result and scored 10 points, I might say well we're not going to do we're going to save all those resources for 2008. You have got to really play it by ear and wait and see what happens in Melbourne.

Q. How close is your design philosophy to James Key's. How close is the working relationship?

MG: James has done a great job but he is a young guy learning his trade. Very much like I was when I started with Harvey (Postlethwaite). You make a load of mistakes and you need to learn. It's funny because Colin [Kolles] was very clear, and I was very clear to James what I was doing when I signed.

But you know the fact is that James and I have known each other for seven or eight years and we get on very well together, he worked when I was there before, and we have worked together when I was here before.

I think from day one he was sort of relieved that someone had come in to take a lot of the pressure and be able to say to him: 'Look James, you need to concentrate on this, but we need to that and that, and look I'll go and get the resources and don't waste your time on that.'

And we have been able to very clearly define the roles. As I said to him, I am here with a three-year contract and James will be in a much better position to be a technical director at a top F1 team in three year's time because he has worked for me.

And actually probably before that he was a young guy in danger of sinking because he was probably being run over by it all, and he has a chance to learn his trade and become a good technical director in F1 and have a long career. I think he sees that, so we get on very well.

And conversely, it's a little bit like when I was working with Harvey. He didn't want to be the one there at midnight turning the lights off. He had done all that for 20 years, and he wanted someone else to do it - and that was me then.

And now it's sort of like the roles have reversed, in that James is at that stage of his career and I'm at the stage where it's sort of like, well need to do this, this and this and I'll do that, and yes James you are going to be late tonight, but you know how to do that.

Off you go, I'll make a few phone can and maybe have dinner with someone who might be joining us in six month's time. It's the way the world evolves. And makes me an old fart I suppose!

Q. Is it realistic in an era of manufacturers for a small team like Spyker to be able to take on teams like BMW and Toyota?

MG: Well I loved it at Tyrrell when were in that environment and at Jordan it was fantastic when we were doing it. It would be nice to see it happen again. I think that's one thing that really motivates me.

You know, let's go and put some noses out of joint. Harvey always had the philosophy, and I inherited it from him, that I'm quite happy spending the rest of my life proving that it's not just about how much money you spend, it's an engineering business and you can beat people by being clever and doing good engineering. This is a good opportunity to try and prove that.

Q. How refreshing is it not to have a cloud of politics over your head, and be just allowed to get on with you job?

MG: I think it's great! I miss my two days of media training that I used to do at this time of year with Toyota, because I think it was a really important thing to do!

Actually I was a little bit surprised that we went into this without spending half a day developing key messages that I was meant to get out, and I was allowed to get out and say what I felt! But maybe that's just me being cynical.

Q. Since we're on the subject of speaking your mind, what do you think of the subject of chassis sharing?

MG: Well, I think it is inherently wrong for Formula 1. F1 has been tremendously successful and it is the best racing formula in the world and the only one where everyone has to be a constructor. I think there is a clue in there somewhere.

You take a look at Champ Car or IRL and no one talks about team identities. They make a big deal about drivers and sponsors. They have one car, two cars, three cars, they paint them all different colours, but no one goes on about all the individual teams.

But then what is the strength of F1? Everyone says you can't have F1 without Ferrari. But that's a team identity isn't it? Isn't that what it's all about?

I remember being here in 1999 and 2000, where the place was a sea of yellow when everyone was supporting Jordan. Isn't that what we want? And to me that is inherent in F1. Yes we have to have big budgets but there is enough money in F1 to do that if it is given to the teams.

You have to be sensible about it. F1 needs it team identities and that is why I am in the sport. I love competitive sport and I love engineering, which is why I have got the best team in the world.

And if you look at the FIA's own questionnaire and survey they did, everyone said they wanted F1 cars to be the most technical and advanced cars in the world and be the pinnacle of motorsport. To me that is inherent when everyone enters as a constructor.

Q. Is there more that can be done then to make it economically sensible for teams to be able to come in?

MG: I think it is very difficult to set up a team. There are 11 teams. There are people who can do a job for you. If you have got the right sort of budget and you invest in the right people, then you can do it. I think there are people who try and do it - like Midland who came in and tried to get a Dallara.

That was always going to fail, but if you come in and get the right people to advise you then I don't see why it is impossible. Look at Spyker. They have come in, they have bought a team, they have hired an experienced guy in me to run it for them and if in the middle of next year we are racing and scoring points, then why is it impossible. It is done on sensible money, they have a business plan. It is not impossible.

Q. Do you think a compromise solution will be found?

MG: I hope there is a sensible compromise. The way forward is reasonably clear. If you don't design and make your own chassis then you should not be scoring points in the constructors'. That takes away the financial implications for teams like us and Williams. I think that a sensible way forward is clear.

Q. The tyre rule that is coming in this year of teams having to run hard and soft tyres in races. Are you of the view that it will make the races more exciting?

MG: If you had very soft tyres then it might be something very interesting. But given the fact that the tyres are going to be very hard, so the softer of the tyres will easily do what you want it to do, you will run the soft tyre for the first couple of stints and then for the last one, where all the positions are decided on the track, you will run the hard one. I don't see why you would do anything else.

If the tyres were very soft, and the soft might not last, then maybe there is a different argument. But I don't think that is going to be the case.

Q. What do you think of your drive line-up this year?

MG: I think Christijan is a pretty quick driver. We have to see if we give him a quick car just how quick he is. Obviously with the Dutch connection he was always going to be in the seat and Adrian is a very good choice alongside him. He did a bloody good job on those Fridays last year, he was quick in the car, and he has a good pedigree. And Cheap! So it will be interesting to see.

I think certainly for what we could attract now, it is about as good as you are going to get. I would much rather be Adrian than Lewis Hamilton. He looked pretty good alongside him in F3, and he is not in the limelight. He can work away at the back of the grid, learn his trade, and when we can give him a quicker car then he can get on and make good use of it. I think it is as good as it's going to be at this moment.

Q. The team is certainly stronger than it has been for a few years, isn't it?

MG: Certainly. I wouldn't underestimate the lack of investment for the last two years when it was Jordan, I wouldn't put all the blame on Midland. There was a lot of lack of investment in the final years it was Jordan and it has been pretty difficult for James (Key) and the guys. But by the middle of the year I think we will be on the straight and narrow.

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