Q & A with Ross Brawn

Ross Brawn: Obviously the tyre performance is influenced by the temperature and we are getting a little more graining on the tyres than we would have done if the temperatures had been higher. It may mean paradoxically we may have to pick a harder tyre for Sunday than if the temperatures had been higher.

Q. Are we seeing a repeat of what happened in Hungary?

RB: Perhaps a little bit, but not as severe as Budapest. We have seen from the two types of tyre that the soft tyre is suffering more because of the temperature issue than a conventional degradation issue.

Q. Ross, there has been speculation about your future in recent weeks, linking you to Honda. Would you be attracted to a role of management rather than just on the technical side?

RB: I really don't want to comment until the end of the season and then we can make things clear. I am very happy at Ferrari and certainly not entertaining going to another team but all will become clear at the end of the year.

Q. How do you see the fight against Renault?

RB: I think it will be tight, it has been back and forward and it will depend on how the tyres evolve during the weekend. We have said that before here and there is nothing to change that opinion. Renault are a strong competent team and I hope we are as well. It will depend how the tyres suit this track and suit this surface. I was pleased to see a MotoGP race in Japan was won by Bridgestone recently, which was encouraging.

The last three races will be like that, there will be a swing, the performance difference between the two teams is quite small so it doesn't need a big performance swing between the two teams to be decisive on the weekend. It is too early to say at the moment where we are because we need to see how the tyres settle in for Sunday.

Q. There are a lot of mind games going on. What did you make of Pat Symonds' comments in his preview that he felt Alonso was more able to soak up the pressure than Michael?

RB: Well, I would have thought it very strange if he had said Michael was better able to soak up the pressure than Alonso. He said what he had to say, but whether he believes it or not I don't know. I am quite confident in Michael's ability to soak up the pressure and he has proven it at least seven times before, it's what Pat had to say. I don't know if it will be relevant or not, but we will wait and see.

Q. Now that you are only two points behind, does that change your approach to racing? When you were 25 points behind you obviously took more risks to try and close the gap?

RB: I don't think so. There has been on conscious change of approach, you never know if you tighten up a bit or become a bit more conservative. That is for other people to judge, certainly in terms of philosophy there has been no intent to change the approach. We try to go to a race with a tyre choice, one of which is optimistic and one which is stable or conservative and we will continue to do that.

That is one aspect where you are making the decision. The other decision is in strategy and we have had all sorts of different strategies depending on how we felt the tyres performed and what sort of track we were at.

I don't think it will consciously change our approach but naturally everyone in the team is becoming acutely aware that one mistake at this stage of the championship could be critical for both teams, so drivers, technical directors, engineers, anyone makes a mistake at this stage and it could be critical.

Q. You announced Luca Badoer as your test driver after Monza. Is there any plan to sign another one?

RB: I think one of the problems we have is that the testing programme for next year is not completely clear, or what will be the testing programme. It is a little difficult to commit from both sides. The test drivers if they sign for you want to know how much testing they are going to do and at the moment the whole testing thing is up in the air and until that is settled it is difficult to be clear on what they need to do.

Q. Are the Fridays defined yet in terms of whether you run test drivers or race drivers?

RB: I think it is clear, I think it will be the race drivers. There was some discussion about having to have an alternative driver but personally I think we are going to run on Fridays because we want the crowds to see the cars and the drivers, and in our case you turn up on the Friday and Kimi does not drive half the day because someone else is in the car, I don't think the public are going to be too impressed with that.

The problem is I can see if that the capacity to run younger new drivers is limited because the test programmes are being constrained, the Fridays are being constrained to have some consideration...we have to think about how we can improve that situation because you have to say the Friday running with a third car is a good opportunity for young drivers and we need to see how we can still provide that. But I think banning the race drivers on Friday to force that issue is not the way to do it.

Q. Is that why you have not gone for a young driver then?

RB: I am not sure it has been a completely conscious decision because Felipe was a young driver at Ferrari, he got involved very early in his career. Perhaps we concentrate on other elements a bit more, but if the right situation came along, but it will become more difficult because the teams are pushing quite hard to reduce the testing we do and there will only be two cars per team on a race weekend, so the opportunity to run young drivers is reduced.

Maybe there could be an allowance in the team that for 5,000 or 10,000km a year where they have to run young drivers guys who have not been around for a long time, there could be some criteria introduced. That might be an interesting approach because we are removing it from the Friday running to add it somewhere else. Some of the guys coming through are quite exciting.

Q. Who do you consider exciting?

RB: Kubica is quite impressive, he has done an exceptional job. These are guys that we have never heard of before they arrive, I don't know if you have followed it more closely, but I gather he was very strong in karting and he arrived on the scene doing a very good job and Vettel looks interesting. In reality you only need one or two a year and that keeps the system going.

Q. Can you give us some background on why you signed Kimi Raikkonen last year when Fernando Alonso was available?

RB: I think Kimi was always our first choice. We did not get into a long debate about who it should be. Kimi was always our first choice. We sat down and clearly there are three (top) drivers in F1. And for us we felt he was the quickest with the sort of attitude you like, he is quite, gets on with it and he will fit well in Ferrari.

Q. Why not Alonso?

RB: We never talked to him. We were very happy with Kimi so there was no point going into that.

Q. How do you look at Kimi's playboy lifestyle?

RB: We have to wait and see how that all evolves at Ferrari. Let's wait and see what happens....I might dig myself into a hole.

Q. He doesn't like the attention much in F1?

RB: I don't know him well enough so I can't say. I don't think it is an inability to cope, that is not the most important part of his raison d'etre for F1. He is a driver and he likes to race and he doesn't like the other side so much, but I don't think it is a problem or an issue for us or him.

Q. If you win it this year, will this title mean more because it is Michael's last?

RB: Every new championship is the most important one because the rest are all history. They were nice but you are always fighting for the one you were involved with in the time. Michael stopping this year would be a fantastic leaving present for him to win the championship this year. We have been very fortunate to win championships in the past, but once they are won you put them to one side and you get on with the next one. The most important championship is the one we are involved in now.

Q. Do you have any idea about what role Michael will have in the future with Ferrari?

RB: I think it is too early to say. Michael needs to reflect. It is a big decision that he has come to and I think he needs some time to reflect on it all. There are plenty of options, he is a very bright guy, very experienced in F1, very capable and it is a combination of what he enjoys doing and what fits in with the team, so I think it just needs some time. There is no point in speculating at the moment, I believe he will be involved in the future, he wants to be involved, it could be any range of activities - from an ambassadorial role to a technical role or mixed, but we don't know what that will be.

Q. Do you think he will test the car?

RB: It is possible. To be frank, to drive an F1 car nowadays you have to be really fit and really sharp. I don't know if Michael wants to maintain that level of fitness when he stops, he trains for four to six hours per day and you need to to drive the car.

You saw Premat and his head was falling off after 12-13 laps, it is such a physical experience to drive one of these cars, and if you don't drive them all the time then you will struggle. Michael understands that and I don't think he will want to jump in an F1 car every few months and give a declaration of what it is like because it doesn't work like that. I am not sure that is what he wants to do.

Q. Are you still working to get Kimi to drive the car before January 1?

RB: From a technical point of view, the earlier the better. But there are commercial considerations and Ferrari and McLaren and Kimi's management will be trying to sort that out. From a technical point of view we would be delighted if he could drive the car earlier but we also understand that there are contractual obligations and it is not in McLaren's interest for Kimi to drive the car early, so we will have to wait and see.

Q. What do you make of Alonso as a rival?

RB: As I said earlier, there are three (top) drivers in F1 at the moment and he is one of them. He has got the whole range of skills that you need to be a world champion, as he has proven. He is quick, doesn't make mistakes and knows how to defend his position well so he is a complete F1 driver, so not much to add to that.