Q & A with Flavio Briatore

At the same time, the team's management stability was ensured as Flavio Briatore renewed his his contract with the team for two more years. Autosport.com heard from him about the reasons behind his decision and why the team opted for rookie Kovalainen.

Q: Flavio, you have signed for Renault for another two years. Can you tell us how you came to that decision?

Flavio Briatore: ""It was a difficult decision. First you need to have really a motivation to go ahead, but the Renault programme is very strong and we have the new President behind us, and Alain Dassas is as well.

"At one point already we are losing Fernando, and I believe the team need to have a good continuity, at least in the management. So it is better as well for Heikki to be the new guy in Renault. Plus the people - the team.

"I have a lot of responsibility as well, because a few years ago when we started the Renault project, a lot of people who were with me at Benetton came back.

"With Fernando going and the new rules, it is a crucial moment for the team at the moment, both politically and technically. So we discussed the future of the team, the future of the engine for three, four, five years. That really put everything together.

"Formula One gave me a lot, Fernando the driver, and I feel that I need to give back something to everybody. This was the decision to go ahead.

"And the moment you decide to go ahead in this business you know you need 99.99% commitment, and I am happy to make this decision in the end. Now it is like the usual stuff, we need to go ahead. Two years is a long time but I hope we have a fantastic time with Renault."

Q: You have also decided on your drivers, with Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen. What drove you to that decision?

Briatore: "Fisichella represented the continuity in the team. Plus we lose Fernando, and we were again looking around and we felt that we needed new blood to beat what was existing already in F1.

"We tried to have (Kimi) Raikkonen, but at the moment it was not possible, so the best was Kovalainen. It is quite simple. When we felt the best was Fernando, he was first a test driver and then a racing driver.

"We monitored Heikki all winter and we believe in him. Everyone says the same thing - that he has no experience and this and that. But this is utter rubbish, because Montoya has experience and he is not in Formula One any more.

"All these people who want experience, it is a kind of joke. If not, then we keep the same driver for 10 years. It is typical when people are only looking for a name. I believe that we need to bring the new people, the new blood and I am very happy to have Kovalainen in the team."

Q: But you were holding out to get Raikkonen before signing Kovalainen?

Briatore: "You try to do whatever you think is the best. The commitment to Raikkonen was taken very early with Ferrari. We believe, we assume, that next year he is driving for Ferrari with Felipe Massa. They take his option.

"At the same time I don't see anyone else in the series good enough like Kovalainen. We monitor him all winter and I don't know how many kilometres of testing he has had, but I believe it is the right decision.

"But, again, only the timing will tell me if I am right or wrong. I remember the time when I put Fernando in the place of Jenson Button, everybody tell me it was a big mistake. Now we will see what happens."

Q: And what about your two new test drivers?

Briatore: "The team is very complete now. (Nelson) Piquet (Jr) represents a little bit the future. I think he has done quite well in the last part of GP2.

"We see GP2 is fantastic training for a young driver and I was very impressed with the performance of Piquet in GP2, and the performance of Hamilton as well.

"I believe the best two drivers in GP2 are these two, they are fighting for the championship. It was nice to have Piquet for the future of Renault. We need really to look to the future of the team and we see Piquet the future."

Q: Do you see next year as a transition season, or do you think you can fight for the championship?

Briatore: "It is the same. If in 2003 I had the right engine, then I was fighting with Fernando to win the championship."

Q: But Fernando had already done a year in F1 by then?

Briatore: "Yeah, with Minardi. That is like doing testing with someone else, so it didn't make any difference.

"It is always the same in F1, the perception is that everyone is looking for a name. You find a driver by name, not by talent or quality.

"In this moment I am pretty sure that next year Heikki will be doing the job properly. It may be the first year, but now the driver is much more mature than years ago. Really, I don't have any problem to believe that we stay on top."

Q: How close did you come to signing Kimi Raikkonen?

Briatore: "I think it was close enough to lose him! But this was the situation. We were not really expecting to lose Fernando and we moved a little bit late with that situation.

"Kimi chose to sign this pre-contract with Ferrari and good luck to him. We will try to beat him next year. We don't need to worry so much.

"For me the dream for sure was to have Fernando and Kimi, but what is not possible is not possible. You choose to have what you believe is best for yourself and the team."

Q: With your contract, is it likely that you are going to take a more backseat role in 2008?

Briatore: "A backseat? What, on a motorbike? I don't have any backseat. There is only one seat and it is my seat."

Q: So you will be a hands-on team boss for the next two years?

Briatore: "Yeah, if not I sign for one year, or if not I sign for three years. Whatever I sign I deliver."

Q: Was there anyone at Renault who wanted to have a big name instead of Heikki?

Briatore: "Kovalainen is quite a big name if you think about it - it is very long. I think everyone was happy at Renault because the name is very long and big. Montoya was short but unfortunately he is in another series."

Q: When did you give up hope of hiring Raikkonen?

Briatore: "I am not completely crazy about this. When you are in any business you need to see what is going on. But the guy has never won anything. He was in a very good team. If you listen, McLaren look like it is the best technological team in the world. It never wins a championship, but it is the best!

"I believe it was more to look for something, to try any option you have. But we are very, very keen to have Heikki. I fight it, but not fighting until the deadline. I believe when you have a situation like that...it is same as it was with Fernando.

"We had Jenson Button and everybody tell me I was completely mad. Jenson Button was the new star, was British and this and that. And okay, fine. In the end I am very pleased that I made the decision - it was not the media.

"If I make a mistake then I made a mistake. If it is right, it is right. For me, I always said that we won the championship with Benetton and won the championship with Renault. So our management is working well.

"We never won like in the soccer with Chelsea or Manchester United. We won with Bolton or Fiorentina. It is always more difficult, but that is what we like to do."

Q: You have mentioned the comparison between Heikki and Alonso. Do you think the two drivers deserve comparison?

Briatore: "I believe Alonso is a world champion and he is fighting at this moment to be a world champion again. If Heikki is with us, it is because we believe in him. We had the possibility to take the name like Montoya - Juan Pablo was really available for other people as well - but we were not looking for a name.

"If you remember, two years ago when McLaren announced Juan Pablo there was a big party. He looked like he was the guy to resolve every problem there. In the end after one year we have seen what happened.

"There is a lot of emotion in Formula One, but what we try to do is to have two drivers who can do the job. If you are fighting for the championship then it is important you stay on top.

"It happened with Benetton, when we lost Michael [Schumacher], we stay on the top all the time. In 1997 we were still winning races.

"The team is solid; that is more important. The fact is that the management of the team is not changing, the commitment is very strong, is very motivated and will do a perfect job next year."

Q: With the commitment that Renault has made, and the fact you have re-signed for another two years, do you think if you had had this 12 months ago, you could have kept Fernando?

Briatore: "You never know what would have happened. But for sure, put in this way, unfortunately it was not the right moment when Renault really was not decided exactly for the future.

"I believe that if this happened earlier it would have been much better, and I am pretty much sure Fernando would have stayed with us."

Q: This weekend has been dominated by talk about Michael Schumacher. Is it the right time for him to leave the sport now?

Briatore: "It is very, very difficult to decide for somebody else. Michael maybe has the feeling he has done a lot for F1 and he has decided to stop. You see as well there are some very aggressive young drivers now, and at the last race for me Massa was quicker than Michael. Felipe was quick.

"You can feel when is the moment to stop, and for F1 we are losing Michael. But F1 is strong enough to lose a driver who is important. We lost Senna, and Senna was really a star. He was a complete driver and was not only a champion, he was a star.

"Nobody believed amongst us that we needed an F1 without Senna. We need to respect the decision of this driver and if Michael decides to stop then I believe it is the right way for him."

Q: Next year there are a lot of new things. You lose Fernando, McLaren has lost Adrian Newey, Ferrari is losing Ross Brawn and maybe Michael, and there will be a single tyre manufacturer. Could next year be a season of surprise?

Briatore: "You know what? I believe that next year an important issue is the tyre. Everybody at Michelin will be racing with Bridgestone, and something new will happen.

"But in the end, if the team is strong you will see that when you have a good car you can compete at the top level. We hope and our technical people are very motivated and sure we lost Fernando, this is the big loss, but in the meantime we keep everybody together in the team and it is strong.

"If I see the panorama, then what we lose maybe we pick up in the technical side - and some others lose on the technical side.

"We need to take care for next year, we have Red Bull next year and maybe they are strong. They have Adrian Newey and they have a big shopping list. They have been shopping in a lot of places. And [Mark] Webber is there - we don't know how good Webber is as well, and let's see what happens.

"It is interesting for F1 if there are six or seven drivers fighting for a win at each race."

Q: Have you got a replacement title sponsor yet?

Briatore: "We are working on that, like everybody tries to get the best possible in the market. We are not worried so much. We are sure we will finalise soon the title sponsor as well.

"The team has a lot of appeal for sponsors, and the team will never put the name of the driver on the sidepod of the car, that is for sure. We don't have the space."