Q & A with Willy Rampf

Willy Rampf: "The race pace was on the level that we expected it to be, I think it was quite okay. In qualifying, Robert (Kubica) was not happy with the car from Friday morning onwards and all through qualifying. It was disappointing, but we could not really figure out what was the reason. There was not a single component where we could say, 'okay let's change this'. It was just the balance was not right for him."

Q. Ferrari were also a bit baffled by their pace this weekend, saying it was not just the tyres that caused them problems. Is it something similar you had?

WR: "I think this is really a combination of chassis and tyres. The tyres seem to be very critical. If the tyre pressure is a bit too high or a bit too low, or the temperature is a bit too high or a bit too low, then the balance is easily apart. After that, it is difficult to find the pace in qualifying to do a good lap. If it takes half a lap more to bed in the tyre properly, then the lap is too slow."

Q. Is there a little bit of disappointment that you will not be going to Brazil still in the hunt for the world championship?

WR: "Not at all. For sure it is very nice to fight for the championship and still have the possibility for the championship, but overall we are still competing with the two cars in front. We will do our best in Brazil and I am looking forward to it. We should not be disappointed for what we have achieved this year."

Q. The aim this year was to win a race, which you achieved. Are you happy with your season?

WR: "Yes, I think overall we achieved the targets that we set for ourselves. For sure it would have been great to have won the championship, but it did not happen."

Q. Robert and Mario Theissen have talked about the trail off of development this year, about why the work you were doing did not make such an improvement to the car. Do you understand the reasons why?

WR: "It is not that there was no improvement at all, otherwise we would not have kept the gap to the leading cars. But the development pace and the pace of success of car improvement was definitely smaller than the first half of the season. There were a lot of components that we developed in the wind tunnel that showed good results, but on the track we could not turn it into lap time."

Q. Is that something that can be addressed for next year?

WR: "Yes, we have to understand why this happened and why small changes in the wind tunnel were not positive for the car. It is to do with car balance as well. This could be a crucial factor this year, to find the right balance of the car. You can easily lose or gain a few tenths with the same downforce level."

Q. A lot of people are saying that Robert Kubica is the driver of the season because he did not make any mistakes. What is your feeling?

WR: "He did a great job, really a great job. He has not made any mistakes, he is very consistent in his driving and he is also very clever - especially when it comes to the race starts. Then also during the race he is sometimes asking questions - it is something when a driver has enough time and mental capacity to think about things. He is a very quick driver and also a very intelligent driver."

Q. Has he made a big step forward this year?

WR: "Yes. From the beginning of the season he had a very good pace, he kept his pace and you can count on him."

Q. And he pushes the team hard, doesn't he? He is not afraid to criticise.

WR: "He is not afraid to criticise! But it is okay, an F1 driver cannot be happy if he does not win the race, it is part of their job."