Q & A with Neel Jani

Q. How delighted are you to be A1GP champions for season three?

Neel Jani: Definitely delighted. It was what we worked for all year long and in the end it came together.

Q. Four wins and incredible consistency. All in all a good job all year long then?

NJ: Yeah, well in the end we have to say 'only' four wins, because there were so many races we led and something happened. I was sometimes a little bit frustrated, but I am really happy that it still ended well. We had a great consistency, especially in qualifying. We qualified many times in the top three, and we had I think the most pole positions with six. We had a great season with really good speed on the track.

Q. All the hard work was done in qualifying at Brands when you qualified third twice, while your title rivals New Zealand had a terrible session?

NJ: Yes. After qualifying I was 98% sure that it was done, because it needed to go really bad for something to go wrong. So I was pretty confident for today.

Q. It seemed you took two approaches to the different races. You were cautious in the Sprint Race and more aggressive in the Feature.

NJ: Well in the Sprint Race I had a good start actually, but then they all slowed down for Turn One and that is when Adam [Carroll] came around me. I didn't want to tangle wheels there so I thought I would go for fourth and not do anything stupid, as it was enough for me. And it worked.

Then in the second race it was real racing. After the first pitstop I was back on P6 and I was a little bit worried there. And I had to really push to get back in there.

Q. You seemed really determined to get on the podium in one of the races?

NJ: Definitely! It was my goal to finish one of these races on the podium. After winning the championship with a fourth place it was great, but something was missing in the feeling without being on the podium. And now, in the Feature Race, being on the podium, the atmosphere, doing the doughnuts, it fits for me.

Q. You broke the car doing those!

NJ: Well I told the mechanics that they had better not put new driveshafts in, and they did. I told them that I was going to try to break them and I did as many doughnuts as I could until they broke!

As we will not use the car anymore, it didn't do any harm. I got an old-school drive back into the pits from Robbie.

Q. What's next for you now?

NJ: My plan is still that I hope to get a drive in Formula One for 2009, and that is also my goal. And then in September the new A1GP series will start and I am definitely going to be there, because it doesn't clash with anything else. Plus I want to drive the new car!

Q. You must be looking forward to driving the new Ferrari car?

NJ: I am really looking forward to that and I heard the car should look really good and it's just another good step forward for the whole championship. It gives it another boost.

Q. Yesterday you had all those problems with a sticking throttle in qualifying. Were you nervous at all?

NJ: They saw that there was a lot of dirt in the throttle mechanism and that is why it stuck. After that I didn't think about that anymore because I knew it wouldn't be a problem.

But as I said in the first race it was very close into Turn One, and I nearly ran into Jonathan (Summerton), and then Adam came around the outside. So you know I just thought I don't want to go banging wheels for a stupid thing here. So I settled for fourth as it was enough for me.

I wanted to go for the win in the second race, but my first pitstop wasn't the best and my in-lap was bad too because I put two wheels on the grass at Turn Six, and that cost me the fight for the win. Otherwise I would have been a lot closer to the other guys, definitely for the second pitstop window, because we had a great pitstop.

Q. All the way through the weekend you have seemed remarkably calm, considering you have been on the verge of championship title.

NJ: In the end it's the same as playing Playstation. My neighbour and I are fighting each other over a Champions League final game, and it's the same feeling - you want to win. It takes you over.

Here it is no different, except that here I am actually good at it, so I should be even calmer! That's how my psychology worked this weekend.

Q. What does it mean to be the A1GP champion, and does it mean more to have won it now, in its third year?

NJ: The older it gets, the more it means to win it. Every year it gets more professional, the teams and drivers as well. People like Franck Montagny for example are not slow.

Other people that are considered unknowns, like Franky Cheng are showing that they are actually also quick. They don't have any other opportunities and it's nice that they can do that here. That makes this series big in the end and give it a few more years and it will be really good.