Tarso Marques Q&A

Like fellow Brazilians Ricardo Zonta and Enrique Bernoldi, Tarso is a native of Curitiba, and he first drove for Minardi in 1996, when he stood in for the injured Luca Badoer in the Brazilian and Argentinian GPs. He had only just turned 20, but did a great job - at least if you were paying attention. In the first race he made a blinding start and passed half the field in the first few corners before spinning. On his second outing he qualified a spectacular 14th, only to collide with Martin Brundle in the race.

He returned to run 10 GPs with the team the following year, but in 1998 found himself out in the cold. He subsequently tried CART, and his future seemed to lie Stateside until the current opportunity came up. Tarso has good contacts - his management team includes former McLaren director Creighton Brown - and still only 25, he may yet make it big in F1, if he can showcase his talent this year. Although that may not be so easy... Adam Cooper spoke to the Brazilian on the eve of the Melbourne race.



"I'm really, really happy, because I was planning to go back, but I knew that once you are out of F1, it's very hard to go back. It's harder than coming here for the first time. To be honest I wasn't planning for this year. We were talking to a few teams since last year, but this came very, very fast. Two weeks ago we started to talk to the team, and one week later we had a contract signed."



"I had a contract with a CART team, and they decided not to race any more. I decided to give up the CART chance to take this chance, and finally we could make the deal and everything worked out."



"No, not yet. Most of the sponsors we have are Alonso's. Of course I will do everything I can to bring sponsors, because the team needs to find as much money as it can get."



"I was 20, but I had quite a lot of experience compared to some drivers that are here today. I was very young, but I had done a lot of races. I had some good opportunities to move up to some other teams, but I couldn't. I had a long contract. Gian Carlo Minardi gave me the chance to start in F1, otherwise I would never have the chance, because I didn't have any sponsors to bring in. That made me stay out for a little while."



"It was really good. The first race in Brazil was frustrating because I missed the weight check, so we started in last place. It started to rain a lot, and I overtook I think 11 cars on the first lap, and I spun in the middle of the straight. It was a shame, because I took a lot of risks to go past a lot of people, and when everything was fine in the middle of the straight I had a big aquaplane and spun. The gears were locked and I couldn't continue. Buenos Aires was really good. We did a great qualifying, 14th, and the race was going pretty well. And then Brundle did a brake test on me! That was really bad because that would have been a really good result for me."



"In 1998 I didn't race, and in '99 I did six races for Penske. It was very hard. Penske was a great team, but it was a bad year. The car wasn't good, the tyres at that time weren't good, and the engine was probably the worst one at that time. So the whole package wasn't good. But I think they did a good job for me, because the team was based for one car. I was supposed to do only two races, but I did six. We took some more mechanics, but we didn't have enough equipment to do two cars, so they did a good job."



"It was a pleasure, but at the same time it was a bit frustrating. The team knew that the car wasn't very good, and we knew that it would be hard. We had a few good races, but not as good as it should have been at Penske's normal level, when they're at their top performance. So it was hard."



"We started about the fifth race of the championship, a little bit late, because we didn't have a team. I was the only one driving a Swift, because the other people that had them returned the cars. It was very difficult, but again they knew that. I think I learned a lot. It was a very hard year because the car was very low on downforce, and that was always our biggest problem, all the time. Especially for the ovals there's nothing you can do - you go flat all the way around, and the car doesn't go fast enough. It was very hard as a driver, but I think I learned a lot."



"I think it was a very competitive series. We were very far away from having the best equipment, and probably we had the worst car. But at some tracks the car was working reasonably well, and we were able to do good races and fight for position. That was good."



"Probably, yes. I think if we are 21st and 22nd we should be happy. The first thing is we need to qualify the car! Fernando has been running F1 last year, doing some tests. He tested the old Minardi, and the Benetton as well. For myself it's much harder. Last time I drove was in '97, and the cars were completely different. I'm having big problems to fit in the car. So it will not be easy. I'm just praying that everything works well on Friday. We can't have big problems, otherwise it will be very difficult. And we don't have a spare car."



"Actually I didn't test. I did the shakedown of Fernando's car, in Vairano, just on the straight. When I jumped in the car it was 4.30pm already, and we had half an hour on the track. I did three or four times on the straight-line, and when I was going to do practice starts they closed the track, so I didn't run. I didn't have a seat in the car, and I was going very slow, just to see how it worked. So I've done nothing. It will be very hard, first of all to make the car work, second to learn how to drive the car, and third to learn the track, because I've never been here! I think we have a good mission ahead of us, so we need to concentrate a lot to do the best we can."



"I think a lot. I think I learned a lot in America, how to be more patient, because the races are very, very long. I learned a lot about concentration, about setting up the car, and things like that I will be able to use."