Interview with Jarno Trulli

Despite the body's success in finally getting action on improving safety at testing last week, it has also found itself criticised for failing to have taken action against Schumacher over his actions.

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve even quit the body over that failure after its much talked about meeting at Silverstone last weekend.

Such headline-grabbing events have left many questioning the effectiveness of the GPDA, and highlighted the fact that many within the sport are unsure about the specific role it plays in the sport.

Autosport.com caught up with Jarno Trulli at Silverstone last week to hear the GPDA director explain exactly what the GPDA does and why he believed it was right not to take action against Schumacher.

Jarno Trulli: "Well, do journalists know what the GPDA is about? For me, they don't."

Q. So, tell us.

JT: It is an organisation that works for safety improvements for drivers, teams and spectators. We have been discussing the safety problems we encounter when we go testing or racing.

Q. But to a certain extent GPDA is representing the drivers...

JT: No. The GPDA is the drivers.

Q. Which means it represents the attitude drivers have...

JT: Every driver can behave the way they want and in the end it is the FIA that judges the driver. The GPDA cannot judge a driver.

Q. Sounds a bit too easy to be honest...

JT: It is about safety. I told you. You don't know about GPDA.

Q. I'm just wondering if it's not a bit too easy to go this way and say you don't care about how drivers behave...

JT: I'm not saying we don't care but the GPDA cannot judge, officially, driver behaviour. We can discuss between us personally but I can do that with any other drivers outside of GPDA.

Q. But it was not the journalists who said we need a new man next to David and you?

JT: No. Before the meeting (on the Friday of Silverstone) I personally heard many things from many drivers and absolutely no one came up with a serious concern. I was very surprised because before getting to the meeting I was expecting someone to raise the problem of Monaco and people at the moment seem pretty quiet.

Q. But what changed between Monaco and Silverstone, I don't understand...

JT: Nothing. I mean I have my personal opinion about it and every driver can have, and personally you can speak to anyone, a journalist, whatever. But on your personal opinion you should never involve the GPDA unless you think there is a GPDA problem regarding whatever problem. And then you should talk first in the GPDA meeting and then get a conclusion. Which didn't happen. It happened the opposite.

After Monaco people start raising the matter to the press and the GPDA was involved for whatever reason because people started speculating that someone should not be in the GPDA anymore. Once we said let's sit down at GPDA and talk about it, no one clearly was keen to talk about it. So for me everything was closed. Personally, Michael, for what he did in Monaco, got his penalty, and fair enough. He is working for GPDA in terms of safety.

Q. So for you the case is finished?

JT: The case is finished. He has been judged. He was guilty. He got a penalty. Finished. It has nothing to do with GPDA unless we talk to each other and found that it's something to do with GPDA.

Q. To me it sounds a bit like they are cowards, talking to journalists but then when they are sitting opposite him, nothing coming out...

JT: Personally, if I have a problem with someone and want to raise it, I raise it. But if I don't, then I don't. We are talking about safety at GPDA. If I want to talk with someone I will do it away from GPDA.

Q. Some weeks ago you had a problem with Michael...

JT: Yes, in Imola.

Q. And after this you talked to him?

JT: Yes.

Q. So that was your way to solve the problem.

JT: This should be the way if you have a personal problem with someone. In the press I expressed my anger about this move at the time and was fixed on what I thought. I talked with Michael, Michael apologised about that, but after the Imola problem I wasn't saying that Michael should leave the GPDA or that he's not the right person, etcetera.

Q. But as a driver can you understand another driver doing what he did in Monaco. Could you do the same? Is it in every F1 driver?

JT: I honestly don't know what happened there. All I can say is that the manoeuvre was clear for any driver because it was so obvious. I don't know about other drivers' minds but personally you cannot ask me to do that, I won't do it.

Q. But I was surprised that at least four drivers didn't show up to the GPDA meeting.

JT: I was surprised as well.

Q. So if you are talking about safety and one of the best drivers doesn't show up (world champion Fernando Alonso did not attend), how is that possible?

JT: You have to know that some top drivers are not part of the GPDA because they have decided not to be.

Q. Does it mean you are working for them in a way?

JT: Yes, they don't want to be part of the GPDA, they don't want to discuss safety, they don't care about safety and I cannot force anyone to join when he doesn't believe. We founded the association to do our best to improve safety. We have achieved many things through many years and sometimes you don't see but it doesn't mean that GPDA is wrong or unsuccessful. What we have achieved is a lot.

Q. To what extent is Michael involved?

JT: Michael, David and me are the directors, the ones that do most of the jobs, taking care of things, exchanging e-mails. But all the drivers are very welcome and they give us a lot of input from outside, always regarding safety. So, me, Michael and David represent them but we don't have extra power.

Q. We were told that Michael spends a lot of time working for the GPDA.

JT: Yeah, me too, I can say that it is not an easy thing. In fact when we had last year, another election, and I don't know if it's because I'm nice, beautiful or whatever, they voted me again, Michael again and David again, so we were the three drivers that the drivers voted. I didn't even vote for myself because I didn't want to be anymore working so hard for the association because I did it for many years.

Q. If you take a week, how much work do you spend on GPDA?

JT: A lot of work, exchanging emails, calling Giselle (Sohm, GPDA secretary), explaining problems. I had a problem in Barcelona last week. I went off and went in the gravel and when I rejoined the track there was a huge bump and the car just took off. Then I had kind of an accident and so I spotted a safety problem and I had to report it. That's the way we should do it, the way all drivers should do it.

Then there's preparing the agenda and what we have to discuss. It's an extra job that probably many other drivers do not care about or want the responsibility. And fair enough. I'm not saying they have to. Some others in the association are very sensitive to that and co-operate a lot, some a bit less, but it's the kind of situation you would find anywhere. But it's good that we stick together anyway. Most of the time when we take a decision it is more or less unanimous.

Q. Where does the money come from?

JT: We pay ourselves. Through the points and we pay at the beginning of the season a decision to be part of the GPDA, then when you are part of it, every time you get points you pay, I don't remember, I think 180 Euros per point. And at the end of the year this money normally covers exactly the expenses we have and if we have extra we either keep it for the next year or, if it builds up, we give it to charity.

Q. What exactly do you spend the money on?

JT: There is a person in charge in Monaco, Giselle, and she does a good job. She's at the office, sends and receives e-mails, faxes, contacts Max (Mosley), Charlie Whiting. We cannot do it directly as drivers so we collect information, problems and stuff, send it to Giselle, she organises everything, sends us a letter back, we all agree, normally me, Michael and David, and also the other drivers receive the letter. Some don't respond but you have to look at who says yes, who says no, etc, and if we don't find a solution straight away, this problem is taken on the agenda of the next GPDA meeting.

Q. How many meetings do you have?

JT: At every Grand Prix. After the drivers' briefing. Sometimes Max Mosley joins us, he has been very kind with us, we have had a very good chat last year in Nice and he came recently as well. The association itself, not many journalists know what it's all about but we are working hard even if things are moving slowly.

The big issue we have approached since last year is safety during testing. You cannot imagine how low it has been so far. Compared to races. And in the end we do exactly the same job, with more mileage and less, say, rest, and the safety is much lower. So we have agreed together with the teams to try to increase the safety during testing.

But things are moving quite slowly at the moment because FIA can't act on testing at the moment, it is all about drivers and teams which set everything up and we are discussing with them and they all agree to push safety levels higher but nothing is happening at the moment because the tracks sometimes don't respond.

Recently, actually in the meeting, we have agreed that we should push directly the circuits to increase the safety level and then whenever there is an extra little charge from the testing venue to the team, they will charge us and we will then endorse the invoice to the teams because the teams have agreed to help us.

It's been slow because the teams are busy doing other things but for us drivers it's important. Wurz had a big accident in Barcelona and he reported that he had pieces all over his head, the car was destroyed and the marshal came after three minutes. That is no way acceptable. It should be within one minute. It's something we can't accept anymore.

We don't want exactly the same safety levels as races because we understand it's testing but we need to have at least the minimum. We have gone through much data and Dr (Riccardo) Ceccarelli is working for GPDA and is checking everything. We know exactly how many and what kind of doctors we need, the marshals we need, the ambulance we need, because we sometimes need some people at some post which can reach an accident in one minute and within two minutes a doctor has to be there as well

Q. Are testing days more dangerous than racing?

JT: Yes, we all agree that. We run over 100 laps a day and if we go back five years ago an average good day was 60-70 laps. And we try new parts and so on. Many people are running 120-130 laps. It's two races, which is a lot. It's true we don't have race starts but an accident can come anytime.

How many failures do we see at the start of the season because of new wings - smaller, lighter, whatever? We need to be ready. We don't want to wait for an accident to come. You remember poor (Elio) de Angelis? The accident came and then eventually they increased the safety level. We have to run ahead of the problem.

Q. Do you get fully respected from the federations and commissions?

JT: Yes. Since we started meeting every GP we have had more respect from everyone and the GPDA has been invited now and in Canada there will be another meeting regarding safety in the cockpit and probably Ralf and me will join. We will discuss about the research they are doing into open cockpits and this type of problem.

Q. Has the GPDA talked about fiasco at the US GP last year?

JT: No. We discussed it last year because in a way it was a safety issue. But, honestly, we couldn't race and so there was very little to do there.

Q. What about this year?

JT: The tyre supplier will be a bit more careful on going there I'd think. We had a technical problem and we couldn't race. We have also seen in the past teams not racing because they have had rear wing failures. It was a tough decision but it was the most sensible, taken not from the drivers but from the teams and appreciated by the drivers, that's my point of view.

Q. You said you didn't vote for yourself in the GPDA, is it an open vote where everyone can?

JT: No, no. You write down the three directors you want. Before we were four but we decided to come back to three because it's a better number. We write down on a small bit of paper, close it up, and then open it and the guys with the most votes are elected.

Q. Is it not important that you trust in your GPDA directors as a racing driver, you only have to trust in the things he has to do about safety?

JT: If you have a personal problem with someone and the person is part of GPDA you can decide yourself if you want to leave GPDA because of him.

Q. Did it happen?

JT: Err, actually, Jacques has just resigned, he doesn't want to be in the GPDA anymore. But fair enough I'm not saying he's right or wrong.

Q. Didn't he only just join recently?

JT: Yes. It's true. But I'm not judging him at all. That's his decision.