Patrick Head Q&A

"Basically, the refuelling rig just shut down. It's exactly the same controller for the motor that we had a problem with after the race at Magny-Cours. We used it after the race and it failed, when we were emptying the fuel rig. We delivered it back to Intertechnique, and they sent it back to us saying there's nothing wrong with it. We had to give back the one we'd borrowed from the FIA, take the other one back again, and it has done exactly the same thing it did to us last time. It's a software problem - the software is awful, terrible."



"Yes. You programme it in there, and it controls not just the quantity, but also the flow rate."



"The rig shut down just after it started, and once they worked out it had shut down, the guys switched over to the other rig. Normally we have one rig for one car, and one for the other, but now we're so concerned about the rigs that we always set them for the first driver and then re-set them so that we can swap either way. Schumacher's rig in this case was set as a back-up for Montoya's, and immediately Montoya had done the stop, his rig would have been set as a back-up. You've got a large tank, and you just programme how much to put in."



"Pieces of the refuelling head were not correct."



"They were outside the tolerances of the drawings we were supplied."



"It may have had something to do with it. It can certainly make a difference when you're talking about very high combustion temperatures and things like that."



"Well it's a different problem than the last two races, a completely different problem, and it could well be connected with the long stop, so we'll have to have a look at it."



"Absolutely superb."



"He could have been at least three and half seconds a lap quicker. He was cruising."



"We gave him a rev limit and a lap time. He said if 'I go any slower, I'll go to sleep!'"



"Interesting, and very different..."



"They're going to be getting very old quickly, aren't they!"



"I think he feels it's all a bit of a build up to a championship battle next year. He'll be disappointed, but he's a pretty straightforward character. He'll know he had the measure of everybody else here, and he'll get some satisfaction out of that."



"I think all the ingredients are there, but obviously it depends on the quality of the work we do over the winter, and that goes for BMW and Michelin as well."