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Who is to blame for the Adrian  
Newey saga ? Have Your Say   
Can Schumacher improve his  
record ? -  Issue 17 - The Heretic  

4 - 7 June News   
Earlier News   

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7-Jun: The Jaguar Racing team announced that they have won an injunction against the McLaren team that prevents them from using the services of Adrian Newey beyond the terms of his existing contract which expires on the 31st of July 2002. The Jaguar statement read "Jaguar Racing this afternoon obtained an injunction at the High Court in London on behalf of Ford Motor Company and Jaguar Racing Limited against McLaren International Limited. The terms of this injunction restrain McLaren International from entering into or continuing any contract of employment with Adrian Newey post 31 July 2002."
The statement was released following the Thursday press conference for the Canadian GP where Jaguar's team boss Bobby Rahal said that they were pursuing all their options.

Earlier, the McLaren team issued a statement explaining their version of the Adrian Newey saga and also explained the reason why Adrian Newey will not be attending the Canadian GP. The statement read "West McLaren Mercedes has noted a variety of incorrect statements regarding the decision of Adrian Newey to extend his commitment to the team. In order to clarify the situation McLaren therefore wish to put on record the following facts.

Adrian has fourteen months of his previous contract with McLaren to run and despite repeated assurances made to McLaren by Jaguar Racing that it was not in dialogue with any member of our organisation, it became clear that they sought aggressively to recruit Adrian. It is a fact that at one point Jaguar Racing had convinced Adrian to leave McLaren. However, at no time in the discussions regarding Adrian`s contract extension were McLaren aware of any binding contract between Adrian and Jaguar Racing.

It was made clear to Jaguar Racing by Adrian on the evening of May 31st, 2001 that he had decided to remain at McLaren. It was agreed during this discussion that Jaguar Racing's planned press release which was scheduled for 08.30 BST on the following day, would not be issued. Despite this Jaguar Racing decided to issue a statement that Adrian was joining them in the clear knowledge that this would not be the case. We cannot account for this decision.

Adrian and the Team decided some time ago that he would not attend the Canadian Grand Prix in order to concentrate on a number of development programmes.

It is the wish of the Team and Adrian to put this matter behind them in order to concentrate on motor racing."

7-Jun: At the Thursday press conference for the Canadian GP, Bobby Rahal is hoping that the improvement the team has shown at the last race in Monaco will also show in Canada and said "Well, we'll see won't we. Obviously Monaco was a great event for us. Eddie did a very good job I thought. The team did a good job. What relevance that will have to here or the rest of the year is a bit unknown at this stage. We tested at Magny-Cours, the test went reasonably well, but again you hate to draw too many conclusions from any one specific test or what have you. We feel probably much better about our possibilities here after Monaco than we would have say a month ago or two months ago. Until we really get going, you hate to make too many statements one way or the other."
On the issue of Adrian Newey, Bobby Rahal indicated that they will pursue all options and said "Naturally our legal team is pursuing all options at this stage. We have a Queen's Counsel has declared it a binding commitment and so we feel we have a contract of sorts, whatever the terminology that you want to use, it's legally binding. I guess we probably we haven't seen the end of this story for some time. Our legal team is pursuing various options at this point in time and we'll see what happens over the course of the next several months, probably."
As for his friendship with Adrian Newey, he said "I think that friendship is always based on trust and good faith and obviously I personally feel that those have been severely damaged in this situation but you know this isn't a case of being a jilted lover, I'm a big boy and life has its ups and downs. Sure there's a disappointment in a personal sense but that's life and you go on."

Craig Pollock indicated that this race is very important for BAR and Jacques Villeneuve and said "It's probably the biggest race of the year for British American Racing, obviously with Jacques being Canadian and all the Canadians being behind him. But I think it's like any other race, we're just here to do our best. Unfortunately up until now, our best hasn't been good enough so let's just hope the changes are going to be there."
On the prospect of Honda concentrating on just one team he said "I think both teams should be slightly worried about it but no, they haven't said anything specifically to me on that subject and obviously they have a binding contract. Until at least the end of next year. I haven't asked Jordan how long their contract is, or Honda."
With regard to the FIA rejecting their appeal against Kimi Raikkonen passing under yellow flags, Pollock said "The FIA very specifically said that there wasn't conclusive evidence to prove that there was a passing move made. We have to accept that. We put forward what we thought was a very very good case and trying to prove, scientifically, that one car had passed the other before the green flag. Our understanding is that the yellow flag zone starts at the yellow flag and terminates at the green flag. The FIA have looked at the footage and have deemed otherwise, so we will respect the decision of the FIA but it leaves open the case of what are they going to do if David Coulthard is behind Michael Schumacher, can he pull up alongside Michael Schumacher under yellow?."
As for their target of finishing 3rd in the championship he said "To be third in the world championship we have to beat Williams, we have to be in front of Jordan. We are behind Jordan, we are behind Williams, I think the car is competitive enough to get up there, we are going to improve it - it's up to us to do our job. Our job is to actually try and give the drivers the best car we can both competitive and safety wise. We are a young team. We are just getting into our third season and, when we started, we were competing against the Minardis, Williams, McLaren - now we're competing against Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari... it has changed and it's going to get harder for all the teams, it's not just us. It's going to get harder for Jordan, it's going to get harder for Jaguar - everybody's putting in extra effort so to answer the question have we done a good job I don't think we've done a bad job to get us up there in such a short time. We've done, actually, a very, very good job but the job is still not good enough to beat the bigger teams."

Michael Schumacher indicated that what Enrique Bernoldi did at Monaco by not letting David Coulthard pass was fine and within the rules and said "I think Enrique did, as he said, everything right. He wasn't doing anything against the rules. If I would have been in the situation, for sure I would have been somewhat frustrated as well, but then that's the way it is. Sometimes you have to accept these circumstances, when you can't pass the driver in front then you can't do it. There is no need to have fifty per cent of people against Enrique because there is nothing against him. He did everything he was allowed to do and the FIA is there to judge whether it's right or it's wrong. They judged it fine and therefore I don't see the argument. When I heard, only two or three days after the race, that Enrique was approached by the team principal then I had no understanding for that honestly because they should know the rules and they should act by the rules and not do what was done."
Regarding how he sees his chances in the fight for the championship compared to last year he said "At the beginning of the season last year, we weren't able to pull away like we did this year. If you look at Zeltweg last year, we were too slow although this year we were challenging them but due to strategy we lost the race even though we were maybe faster. If I look at the consistency, I would say that we were much better off this year honestly, and much more competitive. I don't know the reliability statistics but I think we're looking pretty good there as well. But it is tight. But it was tight last year in the first races. We profited from McLaren not being reliable basically."

David Coulthard explained that his failed start at Monaco was not due to a launch control problem but he was fully confident that have rectified all their problems for Canada and said "The problem in Monaco wasn't actually launch control, it was an engine management something or other. I don't know the technicalities of it all but Barcelona was launch control and Monaco was just unfortunate. As I've said before, of all hundreds of starts I've done using this system, I've only had three failures. One was in testing and two have been in racing. That's just a bit unlucky but we've tested extensively again with the system and we're fully confident we've cured both the problems."
He doesn't feel concerned about the Adrian Newey issue and said "I think that as a driver you look at the whole package. It's not just a designer, it's the engine, it's the tyres, the budget the team has, it's a whole host of things. If you look at all of those factors, you don't have to be a brain surgeon to work out there's a couple of teams that are better positioned than the others. But it's not on my mind at this moment in time, sitting back and enjoying the soap opera that you'll all create and we'll see what the outcomes is at the end."
As for calling Enrique Bernoldi and idiot he said "To qualify why I called him an idiot is because I felt that he was weaving on the track in a way that as a group of drivers we agreed you don't do. There was a couple of occasions on the track - and only I can judge this and you can take my word for it - that I felt were outside the agreement that we have as drivers. As to him holding his position and going racing, that's fine, that's what we're all there to do and I respect him for doing that and I do feel for him that he's got so much flak for doing that. But as an issue between us as drivers, and something that concerns us all in the GPDA, I think it's important that new drivers understand the rules of which we go racing. If you don't have rules, then it becomes a much more dangerous place for us all to race and I felt there were a couple of occasions where he went beyond that, and I think he has to learn from that because it might not be who is behind him the next time, it might be someone else and it results in an accident which could injure a driver. That's the main issue."

Enrique Bernoldi indicated that he got the support from his team regarding holding David Coulthard behind him at Monaco and said "I would say that I had 100 per cent support from my team, and I got a lot of support from the media and the people. I think that the race that I did was what I was supposed to do. I was not blocking, I was concentrating on my race and Monaco is a very difficult circuit on which to overtake. That's why my chance was much higher to stay in front of David because I think on another circuit he would pass me straightaway because I was not so fast there. I would say that I have had quite a lot of support and I think that in my opinion, I did what I had to do."
As for Ron Dennis' claims that he did that for TV coverage, he said "Nobody said anything about this to me. I was in a racing situation and I just was concentrating to do my own speed. My own speed was much slower than David but Monaco is a difficult circuit on which to overtake. I was not there to be on television. I was there to do my race and to do my job."
As for how he felt when Ron Dennis approached him after the race, he said "I came out of the car and I was a little bit tired. You know, 78 laps of Monaco, for me 76, it was not so easy and during the early stages, I had a lot of pressure, almost one hour of pressure from David so I was a little bit tired. So when I came back from the scales. Two people like Ron Dennis and Norbert Haug came to talk to me. I didn't really understand what they meant, you know, because I was doing my job. I spoke with David on Tuesday and for him now it's OK, so I didn't understand what they meant saying these things to me. I think it was not nice. I am a racing driver. I'm doing a sport here and I didn't do anything wrong, otherwise I would have been disqualified and I think that people shouldn't come and say those things to a driver who is just starting in the sport and trying to build his career in Formula One."

7-Jun: "Can Schumacher improve his record ?" is the title of the 17th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2001 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix - Issue 17

7-Jun: Ferrari's Technical Director Jean Todt has indicated that they will do all they can to win in Canada and said "We come to Canada leading both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships, aware that the competition will make our life very difficult. We will do all we can to win and, if we cannot do that, then at least pick up some points, which will be very important in the course of a season which still seems to have a long way to go. Montreal is like a semi-street circuit, very hard on engines and brakes. This means that, once again, reliability will play a determining role in the final outcome. Over the past few years, Ferrari has gone very well in the Canadian Grand Prix. In 2000 we scored a splendid one-two finish at the end of a race shaped by the changing weather conditions. The team is very determined and motivated to reach the objectives we set ourselves at the start of the season, which is to repeat our wins of last year in both titles."

Michael Schumacher couldn't explain the reason for doing so well in Canada in the past as the circuit is not one of his favourites but is optimistic of maintaining his good run and said "I can't say the circuit is a particular favourite of mine. But I have always gone quite well there if you look at the statistics. I don't think there is a particular reason for that, as I am not even sure that the circuit suits my style of driving. I prefer high speed corners, and there are none of them there. So I can't find any real explanation as to why I have been successful here in the past. But I am optimistic that I can maintain my good record this time as well."

7-Jun: Williams Technical Director Patrick Head has indicated that while his current driver pairing are very fast, he isn't convinced that they have a mature partnership and said "In terms of speed, they compare very well with our previous partnerships, but I wouldn't say they rank with the likes of Piquet and Mansell or Jones and Reutemann in terms of wisdom. That's not just because of the bumps in Monaco, though certainly they were accidents we could have done without, as every accident is a limitation to what can be achieved. But generally, I wouldn't say it is a mature partnership. I suppose 10 or 20 years ago the drivers were in their mid-30's, but either they're younger now, or so protected from the ways of the world that they don't become as wise so quickly."

Ex-McLaren designer John Barnard has indicated that he feels for Adrian Newey wanting to leave McLaren to Jaguar. He believes that designers are under intense pressure to perform and given that McLaren are at the top, the task of improving the car gets even harder. Barnard said "Ron doesn't understand the kind of pressure a designer has. After a time you start to wonder how you can keep the momentum up and it is something that requires tremendous effort. I don't think Ron appreciates that - not with me, and now not with Adrian. It's all part of how things happen. There is only a limited amount of time that you can apply yourself 100 percent, and to look for a way that will give you a little more of an easy life is quite attractive. Somebody like Jaguar could probably offer him all sorts of things. I've been in the same situation. I hadn't thought about leaving McLaren until I got a phone call from Ferrari and then I had all the private jet treatment to Maranello and so on".

6-Jun: Jacques Villeneuve has indicated that he wants a podium finish at this year's Canadian GP. Villeneuve has not enjoyed much success here apart from a 2nd place finish in '96. He doesn't believe that his lack of success here is a burden on him and said "I don't see my lack of success in Montreal as a burden I have to carry, it's the people who never stop talking to me about it and tell me it's going to be difficult, that I should prepare myself in a different way. However, it's here that I would like to obtain good results. This is one of the most important races of the season. To come to Montreal after a strong performance in Monaco is good. I want a podium finish in Montreal."
Speaking at his annual GP press conference held at his newly opened restaurant, he is confident that the BAR003 will perform well in a low downforce configuration and said "It will be the first track on which we will run with low downforce this season. We haven't done a lot of testing for this type of configuration, but usually, ever since 1999, the car has behaved well with low downforce settings."
Despite praising BAR, he continued his pressure on the team to perform better and said "The team has made good progress compared to other new teams that have tried their hand in Formula 1 over the years, but we still expected more. So it's a bit deceiving especially since we have a good budget at our disposal. We thought we could have obtained good results more quickly. We have the same resources as the big teams, but less experience. We have to continue working and never give up. After 1999, the team made progress every year, nearly every race. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel. It's still possible for the team to battle for third place in the Constructors' Championship, but it will all depend on the tyres. If the Michelin tyres improve a lot, it will be more difficult. We have to find something special which the other teams will not have in the next four or five races. We need to make a big step forward; we need to discover something new if we want to reduce the gap to the two top teams."
As for their engine supplier Honda, he said "The engine has improved a bit from last year, but not too much. There are some evolutions in the pipeline but I don't know when they will be introduced. It's a huge company which has already had a lot of success in the past. As long as they are supplying two teams, they cannot say that we are the ones at fault. They know that the engine is too slow and they work hard. I trust them."
Villeneuve gave the strongest sign yet that he is committed to BAR and said "There's no reason why I should leave. I am not a person who quits in the middle of a project when I'm seeing that the team is improving all the time."

Earlier Jacques Villeneuve hit back at the criticisms he received from calling his new restaurant 'Newtown' rather than a French name and called them laughable. He said "To tell the truth, to see that people actually get offended by that makes me laugh. You have to see farther than your nose. I've been living outside Canada most of my life. I never grew up with people telling me those things. I grew up a lot of the time in Switzerland where people speak three or four languages and no one gets angry at each other. Languages evolve over centuries. There are a lot of French words in English, so if we use a few English words, we shouldn't get upset. It's too bad that Quebecers lose by being more French than the French."
Villeneuve had acquired the nickname Newtown when racing in the CART series before moving to Formula 1. Newtown is the literal translation of his name. 

6-Jun: "Who is to blame for the Adrian Newey saga ?" Topic of the week - Have Your Say

5-Jun: The McLaren team are hoping to have their launch control problems resolved for the Canadian GP after conducting an extensive test last week at Magny Cours. Ron Dennis is hoping to improve on their impressive record here and said "We have been more successful at this event than any other Constructor, a record we are looking to further this year." 
David Coulthard is hoping to continue his good form and said "The Canadian Grand Prix is one of my favourite races of the season, the track is challenging, offers genuine overtaking opportunities. I am looking forward to the race, following last week's positive test session, and continuing my consistent record of finishing in the points at every race so far this season."
While Mika Hakkinen remains optimistic for the rest of the season and is hoping to repeat his victory of '99 and said "There are still ten races to be contested and the whole team has been working very hard to ensure that we optimise the performance and reliability of the car after the problems experienced so far this season. I am hoping to repeat my victory of 1999."

The Williams team want to put behind them the failures they have encountered in the last 2 races. Dr. Mario Theissen was happy with their results following their testing at Magny Cours and Monza and said "We have achieved very positive results in both the Monza and Magny-Cours tests. In the last few weeks we have been working not only on engine and car performance, but also on reliability. Happily the characteristics of the Canadian track are favourable for our team. After two accidents that were not our fault, four drivers’ mistakes and five technical failures, we hope we can improve our disappointing record of three race finishes out of 14 starts. We want to come back from Canada with some points in the bag."
Ralf Schumacher is also hoping for a points finish and said "I think the Circuit Giles Villeneuve could be pretty favourable to our car as we have a powerful engine, which is essential there. I like Montreal and I am looking forward to being there, hoping this time I will be able to finish my race and be in the points."
While Juan Pablo Montoya wants to improve his finishing record currently at 1 finish out of 7 races and said "I have never been to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve so it is completely unknown to me. In view of this I cannot say if it will suit my driving style, I need to have at least a bunch of laps under my belt before commenting on that. Top priority for me is seeing the chequered flag, which I failed to do too many times so far."

Following their surprising good form at Monaco, the BAR team are aiming to have both cars in the points. Malcolm Oastler said "Having completed a successful three-day test in Magny-Cours we are looking forward to the special challenges of the Canadian Grand Prix. We made progress and gathered some important data during the test which gives us confidence going into the next round. Our aim is to finish in the points with both cars this weekend."

The Arrows team performed well here last year with Jos Verstappen finishing in 5th place. The team believes that their car is suited to this track. Mike Coughlan said "Montreal is a medium downforce track that is very hard on the brakes and the engine. Jos likes it a lot, he scored the team's first points of 2000 there, and I'm pretty sure Enrique will like it too. We've been tyre and component testing in Magny Cours in preparation for this race. It suits our car so we're looking forward to getting on with it."
Jos Verstappen is hoping to finish at least 5th here and said "The Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve is a good track. I like the chicanes and the fact that it's a circuit where you have to brake very late. It's usually an interesting event and it was very good for us last year when it rained half way through the race and we were able to finish fifth. I'm looking forward to it, I like the city and hopefully we can do at least as well as we did last year on the track."

The Benetton team don't expect the track to suit their cars but are hopeful given Giancarlo Fisichella's impressive record here. Mike Gascoyne said "We will be running less downforce in Montreal and it is a circuit that is very heavy on braking. The circuit is unlikely to suit our package like Monaco, but we are very pleased to have made a step forward in our competitiveness. We have no significant changes on the car since Monaco, apart from the fact we will be running a low downforce configuration. Having said that, Giancarlo has always gone well in Montreal, so we hope for a good performance from both him and Jenson. We were disappointed not to score any points in Monaco, but we have identified the reason for Giancarlo's retirement and now have to ensure that we get two cars to the finish in Canada to try and pick-up as good a result as possible."

5-Jun: Michael Schumacher has won more races here than any other Formula 1 driver, he has also won more Pole positions as well. Michael's impressive record goes back to his debut race here in 1992 when he managed to finish 2nd. Since then he has won 4 times, finished in the points twice and only retired twice ('96 & '99). He is almost unstoppable.
His 4 wins make him the driver with the most wins ahead of Nelson Piquet with 3. He also managed to win 5 Pole positions so far making him the driver with the most Poles ahead of both Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna with 3 each. Of the other current drivers, only Jean Alesi and Mika Hakkinen have won here (once each). Giancarlo Fisichella has an impressive record worth mentioning. Since his debut here with Minardi in '96 he has finished every race so far and in the last 4 years he has finished on the podium 4 times.

Looking at the team records, Ferrari and McLaren have won 8 times each ahead of Williams with 6 wins. McLaren have won the most number of Pole positions with 8 ahead of Ferrari, Lotus, Brabham, and Williams each with 5 Poles.

Even though there is always the threat of rain at Montreal this time of the year, since 1980 it has only rained 4 times during the race ('81, '89, '90, and 2000). 

4-Jun: "Will McLaren continue throwing away points ?" The Canadian Grand Prix Preview is now available ... Race Preview

Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix Schedule: