Pat Symonds Q&A

"Yes it is, if you look at our objectives. Our stated objective this year is to finish fourth in the World Championship. I think McLaren are the third team at the moment, so to beat them is very satisfying."



"They are a competitor that we have a lot of respect for. They have to be our target, but they are a difficult target. I hope we can beat them, but I don't underestimate them."



"It was interesting. Imola is the first strategic race of the year in many ways, and we certainly spent longer on the strategy than at the previous three races, and looked at many permutations. The long first stint was an interesting one, but in my calculations and in my mind I couldn't quite see how to make it work. I must admit I was worried during the race that I'd got it wrong, but I think that the facts probably proved that our strategy was a better one. Typically you do go a little bit long on the first stint, that's happened before, but I would say this was the longest people have run."



"For sure. I always said last year that it would take time for Jenson to settle into the team, as it does with anyone, and I think it took a lot longer than expected last year because our car was not good. We made no pretence about that. However he integrated into the team quite well, and I believe that towards the end of last year we gave him a car that could be driven. I think the results are showing this year that he's doing a superb job. We're very happy with what he'd doing."



"Jarno is having a terrible run of luck at the moment. I feel desperately sorry for him. But yes, he's fitting in with the team extremely well. He's a great guy to work with, and I'm sure his run of bad luck will come to an end very soon."



"Last year showed an awful lot of the character of the team. I got a lot of satisfaction out of seeing all the guys on the team and back at the factory working so hard on what might have been thought from the outside to have been a bit of a lost cause. I don't think we ever believed it was a lost cause, and it's so nice to justify that now. Of course everyone's happy now. No matter how good you team is, there is no motivation like success. It just makes the job so much easier."



"I'm very happy. All the time you get offers to go to other teams, and it's part of everyone's life. I've been here a long time, I've helped to build it up, I'm very proud of what I've done for the team, and I'm very proud of the team itself. It's very nice to enjoy some of the success with it."



"I hope so. I think that this car doesn't have any serious vices. It was very difficult over the Imola weekend in very tricky weather conditions to really be able to get a set-up on the car very quickly. It's a very well behaved car. Therefore I feel quite confident with pretty well any circuit we go to. We did some good times in Barcelona during the winter, and the car has improved a little bit since then, so yes, I think we can go there with some confidence."