Niki Lauda Q&A

"First of all in the group Cosworth and Pi are profit centres. This is the way we organise the group. If you have to have a profit centre philosophy, then you have to establish your own business. So if the manpower there and facilities and whatever are capable of doing it, we better take the decision. There's nothing left to do except moving people around, basically, to be able to support a full engine deal with Arrows. That's why I did it. First of all I do believe that only competition can get you going. If we do not penalise the development of the engine by producing too many, which is certainly guaranteed, then it's the right thing to do."



"No. For me I simply looked into Cosworth and asked them specific questions concerning development and all these sorts of things, which is all not a problem whatsoever, and therefore you don't need to ask any body, it's a logical decision."



"For me it makes no sense to have two types of engine. I want to develop my own engine by running it in another car at the same time. So if I run one [team] on one engine and the other on the other, it doesn't help me. I want to get Cosworth on its own competitive, and with this system, it's easy, because you have four cars running with the same engine, so that reliability, horsepower and all these sorts of things you check in half of the time. So this is basically what it's all about. So really from my point of view they should really always have the same engine as we have, for the reasons I've just explained."


"The real problem is that when you do something different, you need to produce enough parts to generate them for all the engines you have in the market. First of all, the step by step development is so small, it is not a problem. Then as soon as the parts are there in the quantity you need, it will be immediately implemented."



"Correct, but again the difference in horsepower is so little. If you take the whole development through a year it might be 15bhp. But if you work out how it's going to happen, it's maybe 3-3-3... So it's not lack of horsepower that in the end you are missing until the parts are through."



"If then, which will be the next question, the Arrows are quicker than we are, it's our own fault. Because then the car's better. I'm driven by competition and not bullshit, this is my simple way of doing it. So to not give an engine or give a bad engine to somebody doesn't mean that we are going to go quicker. This is the way I think. I can come to straight to the point."



"Some people might say, 'Hey, how is this possible?' It's normal. I don't know if everyone understand the business. It's not the Olympic Games, to be part of it. It is to win. And as I see it it's quicker and more motivating probably to us through somebody else having the same engine. It means the perfect way of going in the right direction."



"They asked for it, and they got it. There have been a couple of teams asking, but in the end Tom came up with the best combination of whatsoever. He wanted a change from Asiatech, and that's what happened."



"The price is not to be discussed, it doesn't matter. But it makes sense for him and it makes sense for Cosworth."



"They have to be involved, because they are half the engine anyway."



"Whatever effects the engine, yes. You cannot divide any more the Pi side of the engine, because without Pi it won't even start up. So you can't give them stuff to make it run and then not give them traction control. It would be ridiculous."