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FIA Press Conference

Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Mika Salo, Flavio Briatore, Eddie Jordan, Alain Prost

Q. Eddie, what has your former Technical Director Mike Gascoyne been doing since he parted company with Jordan in July?

Eddie Jordan: He's been sitting in his garden. He has also got a new boat -- everyone in F1 seems to have a new boat -- and he has been sailing that. Flavio has been asking me to release him, though, and I thought that Mike was in an "inhumane" situation because it was quite clear that he felt handcuffed at Jordan. I felt he would be much happier in a new home with Flav.

I don't know where this story has come from. Everybody thinks Flavio is generous, but in fact he is SO tight! I tried to get a few pounds from him, in my usual style, but in this case I thought the greater need was Mike's. So I have released him.

That is a different story. Flavio and I have been in court together so many times, with money always changing hands there. This time it happened that we tried to do it without exchanging money, so we didn't go to court. The great thing about being in court against Flavio is that when you lose against him, you get the money. So I don't know what would happen if we had won...

That's a different story. I'm sure Tom will be able to tell you what the deal is.

I think so. I don't have anything bad with Eddie. It's the same situation we had when Ross Brawn wanted to leave us to join Ferrari. You need people to concentrate 100 per cent on the job, and sometimes the people want to change. I don't know when Mike will start with us, it hasn't been decided yet. But Mike is part of the new structure of the team, which Renault has always said will only be ready in 2002. We have two years -- 2000 and 2001 -- to get the right people and to put the team together. We will continue this process until we feel the team has been set up and is ready to be competitive.

What you need in a team is good people, and whatever your title or position is not important. I believe everybody is working in the same direction, and it makes no difference to me what it says on your business card.

I don't think it's only Giancarlo: it's the team as well. When the car arrived we decided immediately not to improve it at all, because the team did not have the technical capacity to undertake both programmes, i.e. to work on the 2001 car at the same time as developing this year's chassis. Everybody else, though, has been improving: Jordan and BAR, for example, have, while we have done nothing. In F1, everyone wants results yesterday, but when you're planning to build up the team you need to take time. We preferred at this point to concentrate our efforts on 2001. For example, we will have a completely new engine, which will be quite difficult to fit in the car. This sport is completely different from soccer, where you have to move down to the Second Division if you're bad. In F1 there is no Second Division ... and I hope everything changes next year.

Yes, sure. It is not an easy situation, but we have known about it for a long time and we were prepared. You cannot find all the money in one month's time. But this is October and we still have all the winter in which to finalise the budget. We are quite confident now that we will be able to cover it.

It's part of a new programme, a new structure, which I would like to be able to announce in the next few weeks or months. It is looking quite well but I cannot say anything more at the moment. Anything I might tell you could be quite negative for me and the team. It is obviously no secret that the second driver will be chosen in consideration of a new number 1 sponsor coming in. I am waiting a little bit longer. I also want to make it clear that Jean Alesi Will be driving for us next year. The technical director will be announced later, too.

It's no problem. We have a good new engine and big motivations, much credibility, too. There are more people who are ready to join us than there were before. It is still a difficult time, but it is still nice for me to be putting things together, just as I did three years ago. It's like a new project, and I have no problem with that.

I have been fighting with a light rear through the whole day, and I went a little too deep into that corner. It's not cured yet, but it's better in a way. The tyres were not affected, so I was still running the tyres this afternoon that I had this morning, and I had a chance to improve the car. But I had quite a busy day today, with small, silly problems. The result wasn't too bad at the end of the day, but we need to improve the performance for tomorrow.

Everybody has been asking me that. But it's just a normal situation for me and I don't want to put any more pressure on myself that I need to do anything. The situation between Mika and Michael is quite clear now. They have to fight for this championship. Now we must wait until mid-race to see where we are, and if I can help I will help 100 per cent. But if I start thinking now that I have to start doing something else to help the situation, then I would be putting pressure on myself -- which I think would be the completely wrong thing to do.

It's the same answer. Like Rubens, I'm getting the same question. It almost seems that everyone's seeking the answer to the question before the weekend's over, but none of us knows what's going to happen, either tomorrow in qualifying or at the start of the race itself. We have to be patient. There's no plan we can make, other than to do the very best that we can.

The first thing is to wait until the red lights go out. That's all. You can't anticipate when it will go out, although you can prepare yourself, which means staring at the lights and making sure you don't blink. But to actually anticipate it is difficult to do, although there's a rhythm that's built up through the season as to how quickly the lights will normally change. That may be because Charlie Whiting has a rhythm over when he pushes the button. But it will always vary by half a second or one second. I obviously just moved a bit too soon.

In distance, no, but in feelings I guess it is. I raced here in Japan for a long time, and my wife is from here. I have already been here for a week and I will be staying for one week after the race.

Q. Is that to allow you to see Toyota?
MS: It's not planned, although I am sure I will run into them in Tokyo. I have already been to see the factory in Cologne, and it was the first time I was able to go in through the front door! It was quite nice and I was impressed with everything there. There is so much space inside the factory that you could build an indoor circuit there if you wanted to. I met everybody who is working there and I was surprised to meet so many people, many of them friends that I already knew from years ago. I am very impressed with what they have there.

I haven't been given a test schedule yet, but as far as I know the car will be ready for March. If they have some other car for me to test before then, I will be happy to start with them. Otherwise I will have a five months break. I am sure I will find something to do...

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