Interview with Giorgio Ascanelli

His close friendship with Toro Rosso co-owner Berger meant rumours of a tie-up have been bubbling away for months, but only now has a deal finally been possible.

Autosport.com met with Ascanelli at his first public appearance in his new role, to find out why he is returning to the sport after almost a decade away and what relevance the thickness of George II's thumbs have to modern F1.

Q: How did your return to Formula One with Scuderia Toro Rosso come about?

Giorgio Ascanelli: It was simply Gerhard Berger, who thought he needed someone to help him. And he asked me to join the team, which I couldn't do at the time he made the first request.

"It was about 16 months ago, but I had contractual obligations with Maserati. And I would say that the main reason I am here is because I want to work with friends."

Q: Did it take a lot of persuasion?

Ascanelli: "Between him, and me? No. Not really. In spite of the fact that I am probably out of touch after these five years, I am not afraid and I am at the stage in my career and my life that I do not need to be in the spotlight.

"I can accept to work from the bottom and hopefully to the top. So clearly the operation has got some risks, which is true of life. So it didn't take much to persuade myself. From the time the first request was formulated I had something to do with Maserati and I had a contractual obligation to them.

"Lots of water went under the bridge; I think I fulfilled my obligation to Maserati and I thank Ferrari and Maserati for allowing me, as my job is completed there, to take on this new challenge."

Q: Were you always looking for a return to Formula One, or did you think after your last spell at Ferrari that it was over?

Ascanelli: "When I left Ferrari the second time in 1989, I packed up a piece of luggage with some suits in it, two pieces of luggage with some books, and I came to England. I thought I would never go back to Italy.

"After five years I had the luck of having a child and this dictated my return to Italy - and again it was for life. When I do changes I do them for life...and then I may change my mind!"

Q: What will your role at Toro Rosso involve, as it is obviously different to other teams where they have their own cars?

Ascanelli: "I cannot be specific at this stage. Remember I have been working for Toro Rosso for 72 hours, so just to work out exactly the way to operate will need a little bit of time. I need to understand what are the strengths and the weaknesses and what are the possibilities to have the most synergetic approach possible.

"The bottom line is that everybody is thinking about costs and this idea of using a large part of shared engineering facilities has got some merit. At the end of the day, for as much as we all want to win we need to put up a show. And to put up a show we need cars, and everybody has got their financial implications.

"I would say that there are strengths and weaknesses, which have to be evaluated and then decided. It is too early to make a judgement on that."

Q: But it is fair to say your role will be more engineering led rather than being a design-led technical director?

Ascanelli: "At the beginning I believe so. That is what I think is expected of me from the beginning. For the future I have no idea. It will mostly depend on how the situation will develop with the Concorde Agreement.

"Someone will have to make decisions, but frankly I think there are two levels of approach to the issue: one is the management side and I think the team principals have to agree what kind of operation, and how the operation will be split between the two teams.

"And secondly there is an agreement of people, people need to find their own place and click into place like pieces of a puzzle."

Q: Can you see potential at Toro Rosso?

Ascanelli: "Nothing stays the same, but nothing changes! I was laying myself under the cars last night and after five years away from F1 it was like just one day, because the floor doesn't fit! So I would say I really don't like labels.

"One of the difficult but enjoyable parts of my early days in Ferrari in 1995 was that the team was the composition of six different cultures - the new Fiat, the old Fiat, the new Ferrari, the old Ferrari, the Englishmen and the Frenchmen. It was a mess. It is a difficulty but it is an opportunity.

"Now, the character of people working in a demanding environment such as F1 is that everybody believes they are a master and everybody is not adequate. But the reality is that everybody has their own strong points and their own weak points and the bottom line is how you put it all together."

Q: Is there a big difference in the working environments between Maserati and Toro Rosso? Will it take long to get used to working back in F1 after such a long break?

Ascanelli: "I don't think so, no. I would say that the technical exercise is quite different. In Maserati the car had to last 25,000km and in F1 the car has to last 25 minutes. So I would say that the scope is quite different, the technicalities are different but the systems have to be the same.

"I have to say that what made Maserati a very special thing was that it was built from scratch and was put together with the target to win - and the exercise was completely self contained so it was easy to handle as a small thing. And everybody had a precise role, so it worked like clockwork."

Q: Do you have a lot of faith that Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost can make this team work?

Ascanelli: "We all have to make this team work; it is not just the top two persons. The management draw the lines but it is up to everybody to make it happen. I think we can do it; otherwise I would not be here."

Q: Since you were in Formula One last time, what have been the biggest changes?

Ascanelli: "Larger motorhomes! Well I think actually it is too early for me to make a statement. I am somehow impressed by the quality of the environment - it is much better than what it used to be. It takes a lot of work to get to this sort of environment.

"When I started in 1984 with the most famous racing team in the world, we would go testing and our set-up would be about 10 people. We had no computers and we had line printers sitting on top of a cardboard box vomiting numbers, and no tools.

"Now there are large amounts of tools. The photographers here take digital pictures, which are published straight away, and the media's work has changed too - and so has our work. It is different. It is a big show; I hope that the show is proficient."

Q: So are you open minded about what your role is and what you can bring to the team? Or do you have some preconceived ideas about what needs to be done?

Ascanelli: "My father taught me two things. The first one was that to react to a problem you need to establish what the problem is. And the first way to fix a problem is to realise that you have one.

"There are things that I obviously don't like but I think they obviously don't like. And if there are things that don't make us happy then there must be a reason. The crucial point is not just what we have to change, but also why. And the reason is not always immediate. I reserve my judgement for when I consider the facts.

"A big part of it is in the operation. It is something that I went through when Ferrari did GTO (Guildford Technical Office) and FDD (Ferrari Design and Development), having half of the company in England. You Brits are famous because of the English Channel. The only reason you drive on the wrong side of the road, and you measure distances with the thickness of the thumb of George II is because Napoleon didn't get there due to the Channel!

"So it is a big implication. I am not saying it with anger, it is simply as it is. You must consider that England is not part of the Euro so fiscal obligations are different, and when you are transferring a part from the UK into Europe, for whatever reason, it becomes extremely more complex. And the core of F1, and it has not changed this, is the time it takes to market.

"The time to market for a normal road car is between two to four years, and only if you are very clever can you do it in two years. The time to market for F1 is five days, so in five days you have to react. If you have a difficulty then you have to react.

"If you have a difficulty then you have to understand it, design parts, make parts, hopefully test it and then if you have got it right you have to produce enough parts to make it available for the following week. And this is all within five days. The logistics of transferring parts, money and know-how from across the Channel is difficult. It is a big challenge."

Q: Will your past relationship with Ferrari have benefits for working with their engine guys now?

Ascanelli: "No, I don't think. I think the people get a value for what they are, not what they have done. It is a different world really. But what I can accept is that I may have some good contacts, because of the good relationship between human beings, with people who are now working at Ferrari.

"I have to say that I must not neglect the fact that the reason I am able to be here today is because of the good human relationship we have with Jean Todt. So I hope that if we do need help then Mr. Todt and his guys will help us. But we need not abuse it. We need not cry wolf unnecessarily."

Q: How far do you think a small team like Toro Rosso can get in the modern world of F1?

Ascanelli: "It depends on us really. I think the limit is the sky. Would anybody have thought that 10 years ago Red Bull could become as powerful as it has become today - to finance every form of motorsport. Red Bull is a good company and it has put tremendous thrust in everything it has done.

"The bottom line is where do you get the money to make the show go on? And that is the challenge - and it is also one of the spirals of F1. You do better then you get more money, then you get better and you get more money. But if you lose money you go worse and then you lose even more money! It doesn't take much to change.

"Of course it will take time, and one of the facts is that the record-breaking Ferrari team started in 1993. And it took from 1993 to 2000, seven years, with the most famous team in the world, which was in those days about 400 people, to start to win all those races - with a major asset like Michael Schumacher.

"From 1996 to 1999 Michael was driving there for four years and the championship wasn't clinched, so these things do take time. I have a long time commitment with Toro Rosso, which I am grateful to Gerhard and Franz for accepting this - and it was one of the conditions. I am not here to disappear in one year. And least that is not the intention."

Q: And Gerhard has given you free reign to get in there, shake things up and do what is needed?

Ascanelli: "I think between reasonable people you have to have respect to each other. I think I will pay respect to everybody, and I think everybody will respect me for what I am meant to do. Is that an answer?"

Q: And this includes drivers?

Ascanelli: "Yes. But I have only met one driver so far, so it is a little bit too early. Colin Chapman used to say that there are five ways to make your car quick - which is more power, less drag, more downforce, less weight and better brakes. And Ken Tyrrell then said: "And change the drivers!" And that has often been the most economical way to improve your performance if you get a good one.

"Fortunately in this sport there are not many of the good ones and people need to learn. I really want everyone to remember that Fernando Alonso started in Minardi and not everybody would have gambled on Alonso. And for what I know today, Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi could be the next Alonso. They don't know and I don't know either."

Q: And you will be at every race?

Ascanelli: "Yep, and at the beginning at every test as well."

Q: When do you expect to start making changes?

Ascanelli: "Today. It is what it is all about. The time to market in F1 is five days. The point is that there are things that you have to think about, and the other one is that you have to take responsibility for taking decisions. You cannot just sit here and stand around and think. There are already some things I have already decided to move."

Q: How much re-education have you had to do before you came here, because you always worked for top teams?

Ascanelli: "That is not true. I would not call Benetton in 1990 a top team. In 1989 Benetton had the worst reliability record of the track, and in 1990 the thing did more miles - and with $8 million and an engine deal we clinched the third place in the drivers' and constructors' championship thanks to an extremely great driver (Nelson Piquet) who was possibly in the sunset of his career.

"It was funny, in 1990, you get to a place and you start getting to know people. And then in April, we were 127 people, and one day of April 37 people, all of the corporates, stepped out of the company simultaneously and went to Reynard. So I was alone in the middle - doing the transport managers job, running the drawing office, technical director, chief mechanics, and the logistics! I did what I had too."

Q: So a similar environment here?

Ascanelli: "Oh, it's much better than Benetton in 1990. If you ask me whether I am scared, the answer is no. I am not scared."

Q: Does a team like Toro Rosso have the same level as McLaren in the early 1990s.

Ascanelli: "No, the numbers are against it. I would say 1993 was more of an equation, because 1992 was a Honda year, but when we had the Cosworth engine McLaren was still well above 400 people. It had premises, good facilities and was not saturated in terms of capacity.

Toro Rosso are starting to build facilities. I saw Minardi three years ago and I saw Toro Rosso today and it is much better. But again it is time. It will take time."