Friday June 30th, 2000

Participating: Alain Prost (Prost), Pierre Dupasquier (Michelin), Hiroshi Yasukawa (Bridgestone), Jos Verstappen (Arrows), Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton) and Jarno Trulli (Jordan).

Q. Alain, let's try to be positive about this season. Please tell us about the latest Peugeot engine.

Alain Prost: It is an evolution of the existing V10, which we tested for the first time last week. It looks to be quite good. On the track it shows a bigger step forward than we had expected. This proves that small details can sometimes make a big difference in F1. We didn't use the new engine today, though: we plan to keep it just for qualifying tomorrow.

Q. Looking ahead, do you expect this engine to change things for your team in the second half of the season?

AP: Performance is one side. Reliability is another. You have to work [equally hard] on both sides. Obviously we have not been very good on performance this year, but if you look at the results from the beginning of the year the biggest and most obvious problem is [our lack of] reliability. In the winter we could not run at all with the new car, and even after Imola we could hardly manage to do more than 20 laps in one day of testing, which is almost nothing. We are still struggling to do some tests between races. Things are now getting better, and as reliability improves we will be able to develop the car. The last couple of races showed that it is not a bad car. We need to improve the performance of chassis and engine all the time, without compromising reliability. But when you have started behind, it is very difficult to catch up during the season.

Q. Pierre, can you tell us, please, how much track testing has been completed on the prototype Michelin grooved F1 tyres?

Pierre Dupasquier: We have done some testing, but until you have been out on the real circuit, with a true F1 car, facing the latest competition, you can have no idea of where you are [in relation to them]. We must just work in an analytical way in our attempts to understand more and to find how to cope with the grooves.

Q. Are you allowed to test at the same time and in the same place as the cars in the current field?

PD: No, not at all. It is not permitted under the rules. What we have done is to build a future structure, helped of course by our future partners, [which is made up of] pieces of the front, a piece of the rear and with an engine in the middle. Using a non-F1 driver on a dirty track, it is not easy.

Q. There have been repeated reports that Michelin plans to introduce a range of racing tyres coloured differently to represent the liveries of different teams. Can you explain if such tyres are a possibility?

PD: To explain this is easy, because frankly speaking we already have a lot to do and we have no intention of paying attention to coloured tyres, or anything like that. Talking of coloured tyres, there are plenty of other tricky little details to take care of before we start thinking of coloured rubber. Technically, though, it is feasible, although according to the rules it is illegal. As you will very well know, the FIA has the right to pick tyres at random, to hand them directly to pre-selected teams. I guess that means certain teams would not be happy to have a blue, or red, or yellow tyre appearing on their cars.

Q. How big is your organisation now? How big will it eventually become?

PD: We have between 150 and 160 people working directly on racing, and Formula 1 is just a little part of our organisation. We will have four or five more people engaged for the F1 programme - and that's it. An F1 tyre may be good or it may be bad, but it doesn't take a lot of people to make it.

Q. What changes do you expect to see with the arrival of Michelin next year?

Hiroshi Yasukawa: We will have to concentrate on improving lap times. Our engineers are already looking into many aspects of this. At present we are supplying all the teams with an identical choice of tyre, but next year we will be concentrating on just our six teams and 12 cars. That will make a difference.

Q. Do you welcome the arrival of Michelin, or fear it?

HY: Of course we welcome Mr Dupasquier - and Michelin! I am very pleased to know that everyone will be talking about tyres again. But not too much ...

Q. Jos, You had a good race in Canada. Can you repeat it here?

Jos Verstappen: If it rains, yes. Everything worked out well in Canada, but this circuit is completely different from Montreal. Today wasn't perfect, and because I had to miss some of the testing in my big accident here last week there is still a lot of hard work for me to do here.

Q. Giancarlo, you did a lot of pre-season testing without your car ever showing signs of being competitive, yet you have already scored three podium places ...

Giancarlo Fisichella: Yes. I am very happy about the recent results, especially my podium places in the last two GPs. The car is showing itself to be reliable, and the chassis has good balance. We did a very good job on strategy and pit stops. We must still improve our qualifying, because the car is still too nervous and we lose grip at the rear. That will make it very difficult tomorrow. I was disappointed after the first two tests of the year, but then we started some excellent development and things are going well. Monte Carlo and Canada have been the best circuits so far. I definitely don't expect much here: maybe we will be good again in Austria and Hungary.

Q. Following yesterday's announcement of a tie-up between Jordan and Honda, what changes do you expect next year?

Jarno Trulli: Quite a lot will change on the team. The contract with Honda gives us better opportunities now that everyone is getting closer and the racing is becoming more competitive. The link with Honda makes us very motivated, in spite of a lot of bad luck this year.

Q. (From Mario Luini - La Tribune de Genève) For Mr Yasukawa and M Dupasquier. What will be the maximum required depth of the groove in next year's tyres?

HY: There is no depth specified in the regulations.

Q. (From Mario Luini - La Tribune de Genève) Can you envisage a situation in which the competition between the two tyre companies results in tyres being worn down to slicks?

PD: We think this is an important question, because ever since there has been just one tyre manufacturer in F1 there seems to have been a gentlemen's agreement about the [state of the tyres at the end of a race]. Nobody pays attention to the shape of the poor things at the end of the races. But in most cases the races finish [with the cars] running on what are almost slick tyres. This is therefore a question for the tyre suppliers, and Mr Yasukawa and I have put a question to the FIA about specifying [the limits] to make sure that there will be no question of races having to be decided the following day on the basis of post-race tyre checks, because that would be ridiculous. Without any better information, and unless we have everything precisely set out in writing, we will all be running on slick tyres. We have told the federation that if it wants us to run on slick tyres, we will be able to do so. It means, for sure, that we will all be running slick tyres next year. That was never the intention of the FIA, because tyres [that have worn down to slicks] will be significantly faster than what we have today.

Q. When can we expect a response from the FIA?

PD: As soon as possible will be best. There is one way to control tyres in racing, and that is to go to slicks, period: that is for sure. It would make it significantly faster to run slick tyres [from the beginning].

HY: Our attitude to this question is a little bit different because we don't know how much the time lap situation can improve when the tyre starts to [lose its grooves] and become a slick. Our position is that we prefer to stay with the regulations as they were written for this year.

PD: We don't disagree with the rules. We will follow the regulations on tyres, but we need more specific [guidelines] on the [extent of] the checking that will be carried out on the tyres after the race. Nobody wants to see a driver winning a Grand Prix and drinking the champagne, only for someone to say two hours later that he is to be disqualified because there was too much wear on his tyres. That makes no sense. We are desperately trying to find a way. But if we don't succeed, then we will protest the results of every race.