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Can Coulthard scrape through? - The Heretic 

Michael Schumacher 2001 Ferrari ... more die-cast

Your thoughts on the 2001 season - Have Your Say 

9 - 14 October News  
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14-Oct: At the post Race press conference for the Japanese Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher describes his win as a great win and said "Despite the records, to finish the season with a high in first position, that's what you wish to do and then you go into the long winter break we're going to face now. Obviously, we've had maybe two races which have been a little bit difficult for us, Monza and Indianapolis, now we're back to normality and that's a great end and a great result for the championship we have achieved, to finish off the season for the team, for everyone."
As for why he was able to build a big gap initially but couldn't keep it during the race, Michael said "We had probably the advantage that we were fast in the first couple of laps from our tyres. We then remained very consistent whereas maybe the other guys struggled a little bit in the beginning, but then I started to be consistent and the times started to match. The point was that both times I went out of the pits on my new set of tyres I was always behind Mika, so that I couldn't really use that advantage, I seemed to have initially, for the next two times so I kept the gap to the same margin as before."
Michael doesn't believe that they were dominant this season and had to fight hard to win both championships and said "I think it was a tough challenge. We had an easy run the first two races when we were very competitive and dominated but then after that I thought it got very tight and the races we won, we had to fight for quite hard. We were lucky to do the season so early because of some misfortune for David, some mechanical problems he had, and therefore we finished the season early with the championship, but not because we were so dominant, and even now, if you look, it was a fight in the end, we weren't dominant. But the good thing is to keep first position for you in the end, however."
And as for Michael's expectations for next season, he said "I expect, obviously, a big battle from both of the teams, and whoever is sitting in the cars. I don't think it is possible to point at one driver and say 'he's the one I'm going to face.' I guess everybody agrees that everybody thought at the beginning of the season it was going to be Mika and then it turned out to be David challenging me. You never know what is going to happen."

Juan Pablo Montoya enjoyed the race but was struggling with his tyres in the early laps and said "I think it was a good race up to the end. As you could see, Rubens was on new tyres, I was on old tyres and the first few laps, as Michael says, there's a huge difference. He got by me into the chicane, but he sacrificed the exit and I had a good run at him into turn one and passed him again. Since then, my tyres began to come back a little bit and I managed to pull away from him and that was it really."
He described his season as 'pretty good' and said "It's been a good season, I think. I was very unlucky on a number of occasions when I could have had a good result and the car broke down or something happened, and I missed a lot of points. But being my first season, things have been pretty good."
Montoya is hoping for a better tyre from Michelin over the winter break so that they can be quick from the start and said "I think we're going to have to work really hard on the tyres during the winter to make sure we will be able to run new tyres because it seems that if we don't really scrub the tyres, we're not competitive. I spent yesterday all day scrubbing tyres and that really cost us." 

David Coulthard was happy with finishing on the podium as he wasn't confident of a win and said "I did everything I could this year and that was it, second place was the best I could do. There was a big gap to where Michael finished. I think I was helped a little bit by Mika at the end there, who, I think, didn't want to have to come and talk to you this afternoon, so I thank him for that. It's nice to finish the season, as Michael said, on the podium. To win would have been fantastic but I've never been that good around Suzuka, so it isn't a bad result."
He is hoping that next year McLaren will produce a car that will be as dominant as in '98 and said "There have been some tracks where we've been very competitive to them (Ferrari) and obviously other tracks like here where there has been a big big difference. It's a little difficult to fully understand that but I see no reason why, with the same group of people who were able to design a car in '98 that was dominant, then there's no reason why it's not possible to come back there again. I just hope it's next year."

14-Oct: What the teams and drivers said following the Race at Suzuka ... Report

14-Oct: Japanese Grand Prix - Race: Michael Schumacher wins ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya. Coulthard finishes third ahead of Mika Hakkinen, Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.

14-Oct: Japanese Grand Prix - Warm-up: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of David Coulthard and Nick Heidfeld. Jarno Trulli, Jean Alesi and Mika Hakkinen make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.

13-Oct: At the post Qualifying press conference for the Japanese Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher indicated that he drove the perfect lap as they maximised their opportunities and said "We are so far up front to the rest of them that we have maximised our opportunities and we did, we worked very consistently the whole weekend and things have worked in the end. You can see that as well with my team-mate; he's in a very good pace. As usual, we expected to be fast here and we are."
He added that he and the team will be trying to help Rubens achieve second in the Championship and said "It's pretty obvious what is our aim, which is for Rubens to be in second position in the championship, and if we can do something for that, that's my job and if nothing can be done then my job is to race free. So it depends."
He also expects the race to be very tough and said "It's one of the tougher circuits, because for a whole race distance to go the speed we do right now is difficult, but there are some other circuits which are difficult too, like Barcelona and so on, which have a lot of high G-force corners."

Juan Pablo Montoya indicated his surprise by the speed of Michael but he was still satisfied with his second place and said "I'm surprised at how quick they could flow through the first sector. All the time I was as quick as him in the second sector and I was quicker than him in the third one so everything was in the first sector. I think for my first time here it is not that bad. It seems experience around this place really helps a lot."
Montoya added that he enjoys this track and said "I like it a lot. Yesterday on high fuel the car felt really good. This morning it was quite good but then we got lost a little bit. In the first two runs in qualifying we were OK, then on the third one I really picked up the pace especially through the Esses. It was a place where you gotta flow, but my car didn't have such stability as Michael's and I think that was all the time difference. He can change direction and have the support, so that makes it really hard, but I think second and third for Williams here is pretty good."
As for the race, he is hoping to be able to challenge Michael again and said "At Indy when I passed Michael, I had the better of him and at that point, I think we could have won that race. I pulled out about three seconds in two laps and I thought that was enough that when I came out of the pits I would be ahead of him. I was quick enough to be ahead. I thought the fight would be with Mika at the time. Hopefully tomorrow I can have a good race, I think my car for the race is pretty good. I think Michael has a big advantage having, I think, three new sets of tyres or something, two or three sets, but we will see. It seems that my tyres, when they get older, seem to work a lot better than the Bridgestones."

Ralf Schumacher doesn't believe Williams will be able to challenge Michael in the race and said "To be realistic, no. They are so strong, they were playing games the whole weekend basically. He didn't even need to go out on new tyres this morning, he stayed on one set and they knew what they were able to do. I think it's going to be a difficult race for us."

13-Oct: What the teams and drivers said following Qualifying at Suzuka ... Report

13-Oct: Japanese Grand Prix - Qualifying: Michael Schumacher grabs his 11th Pole of the season ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher. Rubens Barrichello, Mika Hakkinen and Giancarlo Fisichella make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.

13-Oct: Japanese Grand Prix - 2nd Saturday Practice: Ralf Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and David Coulthard. Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli make the top 6  ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.

13-Oct: Japanese Grand Prix - 1st Saturday Practice: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello. David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.

12-Oct: As expected, the Sauber team today announced the signing of Brazilian Felipe Massa as their second driver for 2002 replacing Kimi Raikkonen who will be driving for McLaren. Peter Sauber indicated that the team once again decided to go for the young talent and said "By deciding on Felipe we have once again opted for a talented young driver. He convinced us with his excellent performance during tests at Mugello, where he demonstrated his promising potential in a remarkable manner."
Felipe Massa was delighted with the announcement and said "I am delighted that I will be working with Team RED BULL SAUBER PETRONAS next year. I hope that I will be able to contribute to the team's success and help it to defend this year's outstanding position in the World Championship for constructors "

Click here for the 2002 Team and Driver Line-up 

12-Oct: At the Friday press conference for the Japanese Grand Prix, Eddie Jordan has strongly denied that he signed Japanese driver Takuma Sato in order to keep his Honda engine deal beyond next year and said "It had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with it! They're not linked in any way. I can't understand the analogy, it doesn't even come into consideration. They are completely different. Craig spent a lot of money preparing him, which is very nice and thank you Craig, giving him his testing, and we have him next year and that's the way it works. It's got nothing to do with Honda, it's got nothing to do with engine manufacturers, he's there on talent."

Craig Pollock indicated that letting Sato go to Jordan will not jeopardise his engine deal with Honda and said "I think Honda would be very stupid just looking at a driver and choosing the team that they want to go with in the future if they're going to go down to one team. But they haven't even said that they want to go down to one team. We have a contract until the end of next year with Honda, as I believe does Eddie, and I'm sure they will chose it on other merits, not just the driver."
As for why he let Sato go, Pollock said "Actually it wasn't a question of letting him go. The team believes in Sato as a driver. He's done a very very good job. We obviously have a contract with him until after this race. What we have done is we signed up two drivers in the month of August for next year. We had to do that because we had an option on Olivier that we had to take up at that time. We couldn't offer Sato a race seat and he had an opportunity to buy himself out of his contract which he's decided to do. So all I can say, is 'well done Eddie,' he's got a good driver on his hands and wish Sato all the best for the future and many sandtraps." 

Ron Dennis indicated that David Coulthard will not have the Number One status at McLaren despite Raikkonen's lack of experience and said "No, David won't have Number One status. We don't have Number One status and never have had. We will provide them with equal equipment and the outcome will be the outcome. As regards Kimi's experience, he's had a season in Formula One. It's pretty obvious that he's a talent. How good he's going to be, we will just have to wait and see. I think he's pretty good already. He races very well and that's the important thing. He's going to have the opportunity to show what he can do, hopefully in a competitive car, but I'm not worried about his inexperience. He's got a good head on his shoulders."
As for what would happen if Mika decided to return to Formula 1 in 2003, Ron clarified the situation with Mika and said "Mika opened the dialogue with me in Monte Carlo. It stayed between he and I for quite a long time, and then broadened to Keke and some of the other management of the company. We constructed the plan together. 
He's just tired, wants a year off. Has he lost his motivation to race? No. Does he enjoy racing? Yes. What better example of that than the last Grand Prix, putting aside how this weekend goes. As regards what happens if... It would be a nice problem to have, and if we have that problem, we will take the appropriate decision at the time. We have the ability to take any decision that we want, so from a contractual point of view we have the ability to do anything we want, so we will just wait and see. Mika is adamant that he's coming back, and so would I be if I was in his shoes. I think it will be interesting to see if he's trying to get into the first Grand Prix, knocking the gates down and trying to get into a car, whether he's going to be on the beach in a year saying 'I'm not coming back', but right now he's totally committed to coming back, and we'd love to have the problem."

Alex Yoong has admitted that he is under a lot of pressure from home to perform as he is the first driver from South East Asia to make it to Formula 1 and said "There has been quite a lot of pressure from back home, being in a slightly unique position of being the first driver from south-east Asia. But the team has been great, they've supported me well and I think they've been happy with what I've done so far. It's been good, it's all been positive so far. "

Mika Hakkinen once again confirms that he just wants to take it easy next year and denied any intentions of racing for Keke (his manager) in DTM and said "Like you all understand definitely what I'm planning to do next year is to just take it easy, and to experience the time with the family and to have a lot of good time with them and to stay in one place for a long time and to get the feeling that when you wake up in the morning that you feel hungry to do something and is it going to be racing or something else? We have to wait and see. That's what's going to happen in the future. It's not going to be anything to do with racing DTM in Keke's team."
Mika added that he doesn't see any negative effect from taking a year off and said "There is definitely a couple of examples who have come into Formula One and they have done a tremendous job, so I see no problem at all in that. To be a member of Team McLaren is definitely going to be a great support and opportunities to test if I decide to come back."
As for whether he had any influence in McLaren signing Raikkonen, Hakkinen said "No, I didn't have any influence on the team to take Kimi. But Ron knows that obviously if they want to win, they have to get the Finn."

Heinz Harald Frentzen indicated that while it was very hard switching teams in the middle of the season he doesn't regret it and said "Before I made the decision to drive for the team I had a close look at all the aerodynamics and mechanics of the situation and also Ferrari has got some quite interesting things to offer and basically offer a good racing car. That was on paper, so when I joined the team, there were a few things... there was a lot of work but basically the people are very nice and they are very good to work with. I really have enjoyed it. It was hard work swapping teams mid-season. Normally you have a lot of time over the winter to adapt slowly to all circumstances but it had to go quick, but I have to say it was hard work but I do not regret it."
As for next year, Frentzen is hoping to secure a deal with Prost and said "It's not decided yet. Alain is bringing up the package for next year. The financial situation is not officially announced yet, so it will take a little bit of time. It would be a great pleasure for me to drive for them next year, that's for sure, but we have to see and wait how we get things together."

12-Oct: What the teams and drivers said following Friday Practice at Suzuka ... Report

12-Oct: Japanese Grand Prix - 2nd Friday Practice: Jean Alesi sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Pedro de la Rosa. Mika Hakkinen, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.

12-Oct: Japanese Grand Prix - 1st Friday Practice: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Rubens Barrichello, Jean Alesi and David Coulthard make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes.

12-Oct: "Can Coulthard scrape through?" is the title of the 32nd issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2001 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix - Issue 32

11-Oct: At the Thursday press conference for the Japanese Grand Prix, Jean Alesi once again confirmed that he will not be driving in Formula 1 next year but indicated the he is in serious discussions with Eddie Jordan and said "I finish the season and then I will do something else. At the moment I don't know exactly what I'm going to do. I'm talking seriously with Eddie Jordan. We have some plans together. It's time to stop and even if it's what I love most in my life - it's motor racing - after 200 Grands Prix you need to give the place to the young drivers and I'm glad Honda is happy to have the Japanese Formula Three champion driving for them next year."
Alesi indicated that while he would love to keep going, everything must end at some stage and said "I mean when you love something you never think about stopping and we have to be realistic. There is a start, there is an end. Sunday night is going to be the end of my Formula One life as a driver, as a fighter. I have so many things to say, it's very difficult to explain everything in such a short time. In one sentence, I would like to say that I have loved everything, the people who I work with on the good and bad moments, because it cannot be flat; that's why life is interesting. Driving was exciting as well. I've been very sad and I'm still thinking about the drivers we lost, Ratzenberger and Senna in Imola in '94 but the rest was always very exciting."
As for his best and worst moments of his Formula 1 career, Alesi said "The best one was when I signed for Ferrari and the worst was obviously, when I explained to everyone, talking about the Imola race when we the two drivers died in accidents."

Rubens Barrichello indicated that he will try to win the race and hopefully take second place in the championship and said "I've always said that I think second is better than third and third is better than fourth. At the end of the day, we're fighting for second place which is not I think, the best thing in the world, but I think if you look at the races separately, it went quite well. I had a really big chance of winning in Monza, another big chance of winning in Indianapolis and if it wasn't for that, even if I didn't win Indianapolis, I should have been on the same points as David and then we would decide here. I think that after the team won the championship with Michael, it has been proved that with a little bit of help and a little bit more attention I can do the job. I'm happy for that I think that the last couple of races have been quite good. At the end of the day, I have to win the race and David has to finish fifth (or lower). It's a hard task. I don't wish him bad at all. I'm going to be fighting to win for sure and at the end, we're going to see."
As for whether he asked Michael for help, Rubens hopes the he doesn't need that and said "We never did discuss and we never actually said anything before the race if it was the case. The thing was decided by radio during the race. First I hope I don't have to use him to help me. I had a problem in the Spa race, so his rhythm was much faster. I didn't like the set up with the car and there was a problem. So he won and I didn't have a chance to do that. The other two races I think I've done by myself. He let me past in Indianapolis because I was on a two stop and he was on a one stop so we had to help each other then. It's a bad thing to let somebody by. At the end of the day, you work for a team and you just have to agree with so many things that probably you wouldn't like to. Sometimes it's fair, sometimes it's not. I hope he doesn't have to let me by. I hope things will be different."
Paying tribute to Jean he said "I think Jean is very very fair on the track. He's one of the nicest guys on the track. Probably my best memory is the first time that I finished second, my really first time, was '95 Canada when he won his first race, so we have a fantastic podium. That's my best memory with Jean."

David Coulthard is looking forward to the racing at Suzuka despite not having a good record and said "Quite clearly I've never won here. I've never been particularly strong on the circuit, but it's not that I don't enjoy the track. I enjoy the challenge of it, it's quite a technical circuit, quite narrow. Certainly the high speed nature and finding the line make it a little more tricky than some of the other circuits we race at. I look forward to coming here. I've watched the videos from the last couple of years, and there's a smile on your face when you think of some of the corners here, and obviously we want to try and finish the season with a good result at Suzuka."
On Kimi Raikkonen joining him at McLaren next year, David said "I think inevitably I think I will have the experience of 'this is what we did last year, this is what we did the year before. Remember when we tried this.' Kimi won't have that knowledge but I think that at the end of the day it comes down to working with the car that you're given that year and every car always changes, always has different characteristics so it will be a new car to both of us, a new engine to both of us. You just have to go out and do your job. Whenever we're out there chasing a lap time, experience at that time doesn't probably make a big difference but it's when you're preparing for the race that it does and thinking about the season ahead it maybe helps a little bit."
Paying tribute to Jean he said "When Jean was saying his few words, I probably felt the same as any of you have been doing this for a long time. You feel like putting your head back to hold back the tears, because it's a shame in a way that he's stopping, because of the passion that he has for the sport. He is undoubtedly a unique character in Formula One, of which there is no one like Jean. Stop me if I'm wrong but surely we all feel that loss for sport.
I remember him coming to me and telling me I was the most incorrect driver he's ever raced against! Maybe at that time I was, I don't know. It was a good battle, at Imola in '95. I think what Rubens said was absolutely correct, he's very fair to the point of hindering his own lap time when he's been in situations when the car hasn't been up to his standard and a lot of the younger guys could learn something from that. I think we're all sad that he's stopping."

Hiroshi Yasukawa (Bridgestone) hopes that with Sato and Toyota, Formula 1 will get a boost in Japan and said "I think it's very good for the Japanese market. We used to have lots of spectators but now honestly, it's been going down a bit, but next year Toyota is coming, Sato is coming and maybe everybody else is coming and interest is back for Formula One."
Yasukawa indicated that he was pleased with the outcome of this year with 12 wins against 4 for Michelin and said "I'm very pleased. I think we've done a very good competition. Our people, everybody very happy, and also many people; I would like to say thank you very much to all media for talking about tyres."
Yasukawa is against any change in tyre regulations for next year and said "I think tyre regulations should remain as this year, because if they're always going to change, it's bad for us and also bad for the teams and also our competitors. I think it's better to stay with the same regulations as this year for a few years.
I don't know if the times will come down again next year."

Kazutoshi Nishizawa (Honda) confirmed that Honda will introduce a 'Suzuka Special' engine in Japan and it will be a reasonable step over the current engine and said "We brought a different specification engine for this race. We made a reasonable step so I hope it helps our teams this weekend. Not a little step, a reasonable step."
As for the development on next year's engine he said "Regarding the new engine, at present we are continuing with the dyno testing programme and everything is on schedule. I don't think it's so important (to track test the engine) because so many things can be done with modern dynos. If we can do a track test, it would be helpful but it's not so important, we can do many things on the dynos."
Nishizawa was very pleased about Sato driving for Jordan Honda next year and said "I would like to congratulate Sato as the first Japanese driver to win Formula Three championship overseas. He's also to be congratulated for finding his way into Formula One. So we at Honda are particularly happy because he's a graduate of Honda's racing academy so we hope that more will follow."
Nishizawa once again confirmed that both Jordan and BAR will get the same specification engines for next year.

10-Oct: "Did Jean Alesi leave it too late? " - Topic of the week - Have Your Say

10-Oct: Following the signing of Takuma Sato with the Jordan team for 2002, Jean Alesi has announced that he will not be driving in Formula 1 next season. He said "I retire. I will not race next year. For the moment it is not completely clear what I'm going to do. For sure I will not drive F1 any more."
Eddie Jordan still wants Alesi to remain with Jordan and said "Jean said he doesn't want to race any more but I hope he's going to do some test driving. We need his experience. I think what he said was that he's retiring from racing."
The 37 year old French Sicilian started in Formula 1 in 1989 with the Tyrell Ford team. He has participated in 200 races and had 1 win ('95 in Canada with Ferrari), 32 podium finishes and 2 Pole positions during his career.

Following his worst performance so far in Formula 1, former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has indicated that he still wants to win with the BAR team. Jacques has been heavily criticized for his performance at Indianapolis and to that he said "Indianapolis was a terrible weekend - I think probably the worst in my career! I can understand the criticism after that performance. What irritates me is that people have suggested that I've written myself or B.A.R off. It does annoy me, because we've been the leading Honda car, and we're the only ones with podiums. We've been a lot better off in the races. We haven't really concentrated on qualifying this year, we've concentrated on the races, and we did get the podiums and some points."
Villeneuve is hoping to do well at Suzuka to give the team a boost for next year and said "The car wasn't very competitive in Spa and Suzuka is very similar to Spa. But it's the last race, there is plenty of energy, and we've just got to get it right, and work really, really hard. If we get a perfect weekend we might get a point or two, or with a little bit of luck, a podium. So it's worth it to pour the energy in, and to finish the season on a high note. I think that will help everybody work on the new car in November and December."
As for his expectations for next year, he said "I'm a competitor, and I'm competitive as a person, so of course I've got expectations. But I'm trying to force myself not to have them, because that's what has really hurt this year. Somehow I still end up telling myself next year's car will be brilliant! But I'm also telling myself don't think like that, because that's how we've been thinking for three years in a row now. So I want to let the people get on with their work inside the team. I know they're working hard, and Craig is getting in there to move things along, so there's no reason for it to not be good."

10-Oct: Japanese driver Takuma Sato has signed with the Jordan Grand Prix team. He will be driving alongside Giancarlo Fisichella in 2002. 
This year, Takuma Sato has won the British Formula 3 Championship (with 12 wins), the Marlboro Masters of F3 at Zandvoort, the International Invitation F3 Challenge at Silverstone as well as being an official test driver for BAR.

Eddie Jordan believes that Sato is the first Japanese driver with the potential to become a World Champion and said "Sato is unique in that he is the first Japanese driver to get where he is on his own absolute ability. There is no substitute for speed and talent. He has all the attributes of a potential world champion. Sato has proved himself to be quick and outstandingly talented in the British Formula 3 Championship this year and deserves an opportunity to race in Formula One. Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda is delighted to be the team to give him this opportunity. Sato's contract with Jordan, along side the three year deal we have signed with Giancarlo Fisichella, gives Jordan vital continuity and a strong, long-term driver line up which will be key to our development with Honda. We hope that with the help of Honda and Bridgestone, we can develop Sato to make him the first Japanese driver to win a Grand Prix." 

Takuma Sato was delighted with the announcement and said "Today's announcement makes me extremely happy as it is the goal I set out to achieve by deciding to do a second year in Formula 3 and combine this with Formula One testing. I am very excited about joining Jordan and am looking forward very much to starting work with the team, who I know already from my testing with them last year. I know there will be a lot expected of me on such a big stage and I know I can't afford mistakes. I will try to be a model professional and push myself to the limit."

As for Jean Alesi who currently drives for Jordan, Eddie Jordan is hoping to keep him in a test driver role and said "With regards to Jean, he has been an inspiration to the team and it is our wish that he finds a role within Jordan for the future. It is too early to say, but I would like him to stay on as a teacher. He has a huge knowledge and could help with testing and evaluating." 

Click here for the 2002 Team and Driver Line-up 

9-Oct: "Another Schumacher - Hakkinen battle ?" The Japanese Grand Prix Preview is now available ... Race Preview

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