Alex Wurz: 'A few business things were going on...'

2000 CHAMPIONSHIP: 15th, 2pts
5th, Monza
5th, Sepang
Made up for earlier disappointments by finishing fifth at Monza and running unexpectedly well in the Malaysian finale.
Finding himself an unwanted man at Benetton and lurking in the rear of the field for much of the season.
Will attempt to 'do a Panis' as McLaren test driver.

How do you assess Alex Wurz's 2000 season? Let's face it, on paper he looked a bit of a plonker. Although he outqualified his team mate four times out of 17, the overall impression was that Giancarlo Fisichella was in a different league. And in a sense, it seems he was. As the year went on it became clear that Wurz was a second class citizen at as far as the returning boss of his team was concerned, and in such circumstances a driver's performance is hardly going to improve. Later it became apparent that Giancarlo had access to clearly superior equipment, at least for qualifying. It was a peculiar twist on what happened in 1997, when Wurz himself appeared to be the second coming, the team fell in love with him, and both Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi suddenly looked very ordinary. Strange business, F1. It is to Alex's credit that he kept his cool and saw out the season with his dignity intact. And when he got the 'qualifying car' for Malaysia, at a time when Giancarlo seemed to be in the doghouse with Sr Briatore, he qualified fifth. Fortunately not everyone based their opinions on overall results, and McLaren regards Wurz as the ideal replacement for the departing Olivier Panis. Better the devil you know - his spell in the Mercedes GT team in 1997 will have done his cause no harm, although Alex himself denies any insider dealing. Thoughtful and articulate, he will make an ideal third driver, and will surely slip easily into the role of McLaren 'corporate spokesman' on race weekends. Still only 26, he may yet get another chance. Adam Cooper spoke to the Austrian.

"Very difficult, character building and very tough. You realise that when the team doesn't want it or certain people don't want it, you're limited in what you can do."

"The car suited me, but just take the simple fact that we had one qualifying car, we had special parts on the car which he always got, and after testing it up and down a few hundred times as well that's always worth three tenths. Look back to the qualifying results of the year and add three tenths to his time, or take it off my time, and you will see that the qualifying results seem so much different than they do now. It would be normal. Keep in mind that there was big political shit going on against me, which for me is completely crazy and senseless from a team point of view. But it was there, when you know the facts behind it - which I'm not going to tell you, but it's obvious. It was a bad season."

"Yes..."

"Yes, the fifth place in Monza was good, but it's just a shame that it happened in a race where someone lost his life while working for us. I'm very sorry for the family. Still, for me it was a good race. The team put the clutch in the wrong car this time, because Giancarlo went out with a clutch problem!"

"Yes, like Hungary or maybe Spa. In Hungary I raced from the first lap to the last lap, over the limit, but it wasn't worth points because the car wasn't good enough."

"Not just with the car, but the whole situation! There have been a few times when I was annoyed with myself, like in Magny-Cours, where I made a driving mistake. I tried to overtake Alesi for eighth or ninth place and went straight on. It was a bit crazy, or maybe stupid. But every driver does this, once or twice. Frustration? In Spa before qualifying I had nearly no laps the whole weekend. Then qualifying didn't go OK; the first split time was quickest, quicker than Hakkinen, but then I had an engine blow up. Then I had to go into Giancarlo's T-car for just one run. The race was OK, and I pushed hard at the limit. Now we can laugh, but before qualifying in Monza I had to ask Giancarlo where he was braking before the first chicane, because I didn't do any timed laps! How can you work like that..."

"Normally you might not understand why from a team point of view, but when you know the things behind it, you will understand. I'm not going to tell you these things now. It's something to do with when I came into F1 in 1997. There were a few business things going on which I didn't understand, because I was just told to drive. It didn't matter because Flavio went out of the team, and out of the area I worked with. With him coming back, it became a whole issue again, and so suddenly I realised 'Oops'... and I realised it much too late."

"I'm always fighting hard, I always take a chance, and I'm never giving up. That's not what Alex Wurz is like. It's just found out in the middle of the season that the harder I fight, I'm not moving anything here, it's just wasting energy. So I moved more towards hanging loose, taking it as it is, and trying to make the best out of it. It worked a bit better. Also my direction became clear for next year, and certain people had got other big problems, so their hobby of Alex Wurz became less interesting! I had an easy life..."

"For readers of the magazine or other people this looks all a bit strange and hilarious. And even to me! But just the people who know what was going on see the clear picture and understand."

"I think it's a great thing. It's one of the best cockpits you can get. I think taking the route that Olivier Panis took is long term for the career, but especially being young, or for any driver in my situation, it's the way to go. I sit in the best car, work with the best team, who appreciate exactly my working style, and my kind of understanding on how you should work as a team. Coming back after one or two years and catching a seat, maybe in this team or another team, is I think long term a better way than maybe going to a lower budget team, and maybe having again a troubled season - there are no best teams for me in F1, just teams with higher possibilities and budget than others. As well I move out of the area of political trouble, and come more to what I want. I just want to race and make the car quicker."

"Just wait and see."

"I had chances to race in F1, but I think it's the better solution."

"No. To be honest they were just simply looking for the best available guy for the job."

"There will be so many miles for me that I'll maybe have more miles than the race drivers."

"I forgot that size is still an issue, because Benetton constructed a car for me. And bloody hell, all the other cars are super small! But it's not difficult to make a car around me. It's just a little bit different way to construct the dashboard for the knees. All the rest is fine."