Brawn Talks About Sepang
20.3.01

Adam Cooper of Autosport magazine had another of his interesting Q & A sessions with Ross Brawn after the Malaysian GP:

Q: What happened in that terrible first pit stop?
“We got the cars wrong. I saw them spin off and Rubens come back on the track first, then I saw Rubens spin off again. I felt sure that Michael would be in front of him by that stage. Unfortunately our tracking system got screwed up because they were off the track so often! I was pretty confident that Michael was in front of Rubens, and I told the pit crew to get ready for Michael. Those guys don’t look to see who it is, they’re just looking for a car.”

Q: And, of course, the tyres are marked for Michael and can’t be used by Rubens…
“Yes. They went on, and we had to try and get Rubens’ tyres brought forward, and there was some sort of mix up. The tyres that went on were the right type of tyres, but [for] the wrong driver.”

Q: So it was a major team error that was cancelled out by the safety car?
“Yes, we were very lucky. Our stops would have been great if we hadn’t screwed up. The guys initially did a great job and they were all waiting ready to bring the other tyres out, but then chaos reigned.”

Q: Why did you go to intermediates?
“I said to the crew, we’ve got a problem, let’s at least make sure we’ve got the right tyres on the car, because we’ve got a Safety Car, and maybe we can recover something out of it. At that stage your mind is more about maybe scoring a few points. Luckily we tried these tyres at Fiorano last week, and we knew that the intermediate was a very, very good tyre. Ron made a comment about Ferrari being irresponsible fitting those tyres. We had the information that they were very good tyres even in fairly deep water. So I think that’s a bit of an unfortunate comment for him to make without the facts or information that was needed.”

Q: Was it your choice, or did the drivers chose?
“It was a combination to be honest. We were talking about it as they were coming in. We knew there were dry parts of the track and we knew there were wet parts of the track and we knew the tyres were very good in the morning as well. That was what we ran this morning [in the warm-up]. We knew it was very good and we knew it would go into the dry. So it was a combination. I think the drivers were very keen and I was very keen, so it wasn’t a very difficult decision.”

Q: What happened when Michael passed Rubens?
“There was just a little bit of confusion, perhaps. Rubens said to me before the Safety Car came in that we needed to be very careful at the beginning, because the track is quite difficult in places. So we just need to be very careful at the restart of the race. So he said ask Michael not to hassle me because I’m going to need to be a bit careful at the beginning of the race. I spoke to Michael about it, but then Rubens got behind Trulli and got caught, and Michael drove round the outside. So I think it’s not a big issue. Rubens was a bit disappointed, but they’re both very happy.”

Q: So it’s been cleared up?
“Yeah, there’s no problem.”

Q: There were no team orders concerning changing position? “No. It’s too early in the season to be honest. The only team orders would have been if one driver was clearly holding the other one up and there was a compromise. That wasn’t the case today. The only team orders that will apply at this stage of the season is what’s best for the team.”

Q: Were you prepared for the rain in terms of set-up?
“It was a dry set-up. We heard there may be a shower, but we didn’t expect what came. We can make one adjustment to the wing, when we change the tyres. The front wing can be adjusted to change the feeling of the car in the wet, but otherwise it was a normal dry set-up.”

Q: Why did Michael race the T-car?
“When he came in we spotted some fluid on the back of the car. We weren’t sure where it had come from, and rather than take a risk, because there was so little time available, we swapped cars. So, as always, our T-car crew did a great job – they always do a great job – and we’ve got three cars, and sometimes four, that can all be raced, so there’s no hesitation if we have to use the T-car. It’s always the same quality, so we just swap cars.”

Q: What are the strong points of your car this year?
“I think we’ve understood the regulations perhaps more than other teams, and when you get a change of regulations, you sometimes find that somebody gets a better understanding. We’re getting more understanding of the tyres, building a better relationship with Bridgestone. If there’s a tyre war then you’ve got more opportunity to find the best solution for the tyres – the tyres and car work very well together. Last year we had problems with rear tyre temperatures, that seems to be resolved this year. But I expect McLaren to catch up fairly quickly because they’ve obviously got some problem which relates to the new regulations. I’m sure they’ll understand it and they’ll come back very hard.”

Q: How will you stay in front?
“We’ve got to maintain our levels of development the same as we have previous years. There’s a lot of great people in the team who are working very hard to keep the performance going. Rory [Byrne, Ferrari’s chief designer] does a very good car of maintaining performance, not just in designing the car but pushing very hard in all departments to make sure we continue to develop the car. I know there are a lot of things coming through on the aero side in the next few months. There’s some new chassis work at Barcelona this week. We want to try and lose a bit of weight, because a few things worked out heavier than we’d hoped. If we can maintain the level of development that we’ve had in previous years, then I’ve got every reason to be confident. But McLaren will be very strong opposition very soon, I’m sure.”

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