Mika Salo Q&A

"Everything is fine now. It took me a long time to fix, and I was wearing a kind of support. I had a little bit of damage on my spine, some bone damage. I probably could have driven earlier, but it's not worth it. I probably could have driven already, but it's not worth it because it's just testing. It's better to fix it completely, because if I had another accident there would be more damage. So I fixed it completely before I started testing again."



"Nothing. It's just time. For sure if I was racing this year, I would have been racing earlier. Because we're not, it's much more clever to stay away for a while."



"It was not serious, but it could be if I didn't take care of it, if I started driving again and made more damage."



"Yes, it happened in a straight line. It wasn't that big, but it was high speed, and I hit a concrete wall head on. It was a frontal impact completely, and it stopped quite soon after that. I've had bigger ones, but it happened to go at a bad angle, so this time it hurt a little bit."



"The engine feels nice - that's the first thing that came to my mind when I started driving. There's a lot of work to do, of course, before we can start going fast. Most of the testing we've done is systems tests, making sure everything works."



"Not really, no. I went to Australia and Monaco. If I stay away, then it's OK. I actually enjoy watching races on TV. It's good for a change to see what's going on. I came to Monaco only because we had a boat so I could go and hide somewhere and disappear! In normal circuits there's no place to go, and when you're doing nothing you have no reason to be there."



"Yeah, definitely. I like Gustav a lot. I knew his reputation, and everybody who has been working with him says that he's good. And I could see already on the first day he was in the office he was doing some changes."



"I think it's very important to have some experienced people in the team. When you're trying to build something from zero, one year is such a short time. You can't learn everything by yourself - you have to buy some experience as well. It helps a lot."



"I'm happy with how everything is going. The testing really starts now."



"David has a chance, but I'm a bit worried about him. He always has a good season and then he loses it at some stage. It's a shame that Mika is out of it, because Michael has it too easy. David can't shake Michael at all, but Mika can a little bit."



"Yeah. There have been really good races, and it's been quite good to see Ralf winning. It's been quite boring, always McLaren and Ferrari, so it's nice to have Williams up there."



"I was fifth last in Monaco last year, and also in Austria I scored points, but then it sort of stopped. But it looks like they have a nice car now. It's working well, and it's reliable."



"He's very good. He learns circuits quickly, and he doesn't do many mistakes."



"It hasn't hit me yet, so ask me again in a few months! For sure it will change. Everyone who has this experience tells me it will change everything, so let's wait and see what happens."