CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 8, 1997

Gil de Ferran

GIL DE FERRAN: I am not at Cleveland. I am at Mid-Ohio right now. And, we are doing a little bit of testing here. And, tonight I am due to go back home and I will be arriving at Cleveland Thursday morning.

GIL DE FERRAN: That was kind of mixed emotions. I didn't really know if I should have been sad or happy at that time. It was, you know, disappointing in one way for losing the win. But, on another point of view, you assumed very good points and that prepared us right to the front of the Championship.

GIL DE FERRAN: I think you just brushed up on one very, very good point as far as IndyCar Racing or at least the CART Championship is concerned. The very fact that we have to go to so many ovals and so many different road -- type of road courses, it makes it very difficult for you to be successful if you were a total specialist in only one of the disciplines. That, by itself, is a great challenge for the drivers. To be able to drive the big ovals well and then you have got to be able to drive the small ovals well as well and you have got to be able to be good in the road courses and good in the street courses, you have to be a very much an all-arounder, and, you know, very versatile type of driver. And, I think, at least for me, it is a great challenge. Obviously, I come from a road course background and the biggest challenge has been to get going on the ovals. It is a challenge that I enjoy very much. In fact, I think it is a plus that the Championship has over any other Series at that level around the world, including Formula I.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, to be quite honest with you, I'd like to think not, because I like to think that I drive the best I can in every track I go, you know. And, to the same level and at most tracks I go to, but obviously, results prove me wrong. There, obviously, must be something, you know, in the way I drive, that suits the track layout quite well. I typically -- my driving style is to carry a lot of speed into the turns and that obviously seems to be quite good both in Cleveland and in Long Beach, actually.

GIL DE FERRAN: It is quite a unique track in many ways. I mean, first, the track is really wide which gives the driver many options in terms of lines. I mean, you can go in tight and exit right, vice versa, have a late apex, early apex, whatever. You can pretty much pick and choose many different lines through all the corners. Not every circuit is like that. Many circuits, they are preset. You have got to take a certain line through a turn and that is that. The second aspect that makes Cleveland quite unique is the amount of run-off area in many of the turns which gives the driver another sense of freedom that you can't really risk going off or risk a spin without being afraid of the -- questioning the car or damaging the car or severely delaying your session. So, that gives you an extra degree of freedom there. Another unique feature, like you say, is the lack of visual references. The track is quite flat. When you are one end, you cannot see across the other side. And, because you are sitting very low, on a flat ground, it is very difficult to pick reference points for you to break, for you to turn. And, so on and so forth. So, it makes it quite a unique track. It is also quite a physical track. The corners are really, really fast and you pull a lot of laterals. On top of that, it is quite a bumpy track which makes it even more physical. And, on top of that, every year it seems to be really, really hot over there which makes it quite tough. Last year I was totally exhausted by the end of the race. I mean, I had blisters in my hand and I was really tired.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, the test in Mid-Ohio, this time, anyway, is more what I call a "research test." We are testing different parts from Honda and for ourselves in trying to develop the chassis and the engine a little bit further. Perhaps not with the intent of particularly setting up the car for this weekend or for Mid-Ohio, but looking more at long-term development parts and everything else. That is what we are doing here this weekend -- these couple of days. And, sometimes it makes it a little tight for the race. But, you know, that is -- the Championship calendar is very tight so that is the only time we had to do it.

GIL DE FERRAN: Sometimes the cones that they put in help you out. You pick up a few surface changes references. Believe it or not, they paint, you know, the runway with those white paints and everything else, sometimes you pick, you know, some references on that. You have got to be careful with the references you pick because sometimes they move it.

GIL DE FERRAN: I got along extremely well long with Bo and Jackie. Bo has become a very good friend of mine. I drove for them for four years when I was racing in Europe, and it seemed, at least to me, anyway, kind of natural that we spoke about that. And, we did talk about that a little bit halfway through last year. But at one point I really was -- I was really trying to win this Championship over here. And, it was kind of a personal objective of mine that -- that was really the main reason why I decided to stay over here. I mean, there was an approach. We really didn't get into the nitty-gritty of hard negotiations. And, basically because I had my mind preset on trying to stay here and win the Championship. I had -- I was quite happy with the number of offers I had at this day and I decided on the Walker deal because I thought it was the best one.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, it was a heck of a feeling. Definitely I had tears in my eyes - I am not too sure for happiness or sadness. You have to understand the whole background to that point. It is a race that started quite a promising way and then with the poor performance of our tires and we fell a long way back and, you know, it was kind of just hanging around there and thinking, well, you know, if I got a finish here, if I get a couple points out of this one, I will be kind of happy with that. Then I have to say that by sheer, you know, feelings from Derrick and the engineers back at the pits, they did a good strategy, they managed to put us back up fighting for the lead. Then once you are in the lead, you start to get pumped up again and you say, listen, I can win this thing. And, you know, obviously you kind of change your objectives from thinking, well, I can get a few points to thinking I can get -- definitely get 21 points here, not only a few. To lose it -- after I managed to hold Mark for the whole lap, I thought, okay, all I have to do is get out of the last turn kind of quick. But, unfortunately, I got a little bit too much wheel spin and the car started to tail and wiggling around and I said to myself, oh, no. At that point I had two options, either try to find the shortest distance between the corner and the start finish line, or try to put Mark in the well. Which is something, you know, which is something that I wouldn't do. And, so I just concentrated, try to get to the start finish line and unfortunately he got a bit more traction and beat me. I mean, it was really exciting racing. Everything was done within the boundaries of legality, you know, and sportsmanship. And, I was happy because we got some good points. And, on the other hand, you know, a win is a win.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, I think at this point there is not much sense in trying to concentrate on the rivals. A lot of people drive to what the rival is doing. I think it is a little bit too early to do that. I think all we have to do is concentrate on our races. I mean, if Paul Tracy finishes in front of me or something like that, so be it. At least my mind right now is, you know, we try to start the further up as we can and we try to race the best we can and we finish where we finish. Then with like three races to go, or something like that, we will see what is the Championship situation. I think only then you start to race with so much of rivals in mind.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, I think particularly in the beginning of last year, we had a definite tire advantage and that tire advantage reduced significantly as the year wore on last year. And, this year, even though Honda came with a brand new engine and a very strong reliable engine, I think the competition, particularly Mercedes-Benz made a little bit of a jump in front of us. And, Honda being Honda, I mean, they are -- I have never seen people work as hard as they are. They really, really work hard to try to improve not only the overall performance of the engine but the fuel economy. But, I think they are making significant gains. And, I hope by the end of year we again have the best engine, because the objective of this exercise is not to be the same. It is to be dominate and be a lot better.

GIL DE FERRAN: I think the team has been extremely solid. I mean, obviously, we didn't collect as many points as perhaps we should have had in the early season. But, you know, that is the way racing goes. Ifs and buts don't really add any points to the table. But, if you look at our overall performance the whole year, I mean, very few occasions we have been off the pace or struggling. In fact, no occasion whatsoever. And, you know, it has been a solid first half of the year. Obviously, I would have liked to have won a race already. But, you know, there you go. At least, I can take some reassurance from the fact that we came very close and we are knocking on the door. I would have been disappointed if we weren't anywhere near the front.

GIL DE FERRAN: I think the top three guys in the Championship are showing a lot of consistency early on this year. I mean, Paul has been right up there all the time. Greg Moore has been very good and he has been very fast in testing as well. And, so is Michael. You can never discount Michael. So, I think the guys that are top 3 in the Championship are definitely on the hunt. On top of that, you know, Pruett is showing consistent speed and he is not that far back on the table. Zanardi is another one. Maybe Vasser to a lesser extent. And, Mauricio has been showing a lot of speed this year, but he doesn't have many points in the Championship. Having said that, there is still 140 points at stake and he could quickly go back up the Championship table.

GIL DE FERRAN: Not really. A race is a race and my frame of mind, I try to maintain it as consistent as I can, you know, which is try to work with the team to get the best result out of it, not only on Sunday, but Friday and Saturday. I think sometimes it is somewhat unfortunate that all the races are crammed in together because, like you said, it puts a lot of strain in the Championship and -- sorry, puts a lot of strain on the mechanics and the whole team, generally speaking. It is a little bit tough for the driver, too.

GIL DE FERRAN: Yeah, that is exactly right. And, one problem having all the races close together like this, and that occurs that not many people think about, it actually increases quite a bit of the cost because if you want to test to be competitive, you have to maybe, you know, hire more mechanics because not to wear out the mechanics you have. You end up having to run a bigger team.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, it is definitely a very different surface because of the grooves that you have and depends which angle you catch those grooves, they really help you or they make the car really slide quite a bit. In the end of the pits straight, the grooves are going 90 degrees to your direction of travel and that means that you can break so deep and so hard that I think deeper and harder than any other racetrack that we go to. It definitely puts a different -- a different kind of use on the tires because of so many different surfaces and catching the grooves at different directions.

GIL DE FERRAN: Yes.

GIL DE FERRAN: I have driven in Seabring. And, I don't think actually Seabring relates to many tracks that we go to. In fact, that is a real debating point during the winter, you know, where is the best place to test. Some people test in Firebird. Some people test in Seabring. And, some people try to split the time between the two. And, I think Seabring is very convenient. It is very convenient for testing during the winter. But, it is a very debatable if it's of significant use or not in terms of gathering use for data.

GIL DE FERRAN: No, I don't think that is really a concern.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, you know, I think it really depends. I mean, there is not a set rule for what is best, one-car team or two-car teams. I think I have seen teams that have been extremely successful running one car and I have seen teams that have been extremely unsuccessful running one car. And, the same goes for two-car teams. I think it really depends on the way the team is structured, in terms of personnel and managed. And, you know, that is really more of a determination factor than the fact that you have one car or two cars.

GIL DE FERRAN: On, my team?

GIL DE FERRAN: We have a one-car team, and up until recently we had a test -- we had a test car and because we don't need to use the test car anymore, we just sold the car to Tasman Motorsports. So, Derrick really put a structure in right from the beginning of the year looking ahead into this difficult schedule, and really structured the team quite well in terms of mechanics and number of cars and everything else. So, I think we have been quite able to cope with the schedule.

GIL DE FERRAN: Oh, no, I like to drive the car every opportunity I can. In fact, if I could test every day of the week I would. I am sure Derrick will attest to that.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, we have come close quite a few times this year. We came close in the first race of the year in Miami. Then we came very close again in Long Beach. And, then we came very close again in Detroit. And, Portland, I think crowned the almost scenario, you know. And, you know, I mean, like I said earlier, it is frustrating in a way because like I said, the whole exercise is try to win everything. But, on the other hand, you know, the consolation, we are right up there and that kind of makes me feel happy.

GIL DE FERRAN: No doubt. I think everything bodes well for this weekend not only our past record in Cleveland, but, you know, all our performances so far this year in road courses, plus our testing here in Mid-Ohio and other places really makes me feel confident going into Cleveland. Hopefully I wouldn't disappoint the expectations out of everybody and myself.

GIL DE FERRAN: I really worked hard on my fitness. I live in Florida and that is really quite easy to train in the winter and everything. I do quite a bit of running and I swim and I do weights. That is mostly what I concentrate on.

GIL DE FERRAN: I don't think it does. Having two cars is really more than enough to cope with the races and the tests that we have until the end of the year. In fact, you know, looking at the schedule with great care and attention between races and tests was the determining factor on that decision. We looked carefully at it. We said, well, we don't need to use the third car anymore, so we might as well change that car into money and reinforce the team's budget.

GIL DE FERRAN: Well, it is just constant change. It is continuous development just trying to get more power and better fuel economy. It is a constant thing and every week Honda is making progress.

GIL DE FERRAN: No, not at this point.

GIL DE FERRAN: No. I have not been surprised by the two wins of Moore and three wins of Paul because they really have not dominated. If you look at Moore's win in Detroit in particular, that was not a dominant win by any means. It was a very genuine win. But, if anybody dominated the race, we did. We definitely had the fastest car over there and just the circumstances, we weren't able to win it. And he did have a dominant performance in Milwaukee though. But, also, if you look at Paul's performance, he did dominate in Nazareth, but you know, he was not dominant in St. Louis even though he won the race. And, he definitely was not dominant in Rio when he won the race. The guy that dominated the race in Rio was Bobby Rahal. And, so, I mean, you know, the reason why those two guys have three wins and two wins, respectively, is more due to circumstances and competence on their behalf than dominance. I think there has not been a person that dominated -- is dominating the Championship at all because it is extremely competitive.

GIL DE FERRAN: They are obviously quite different starting from one is a Texan and the other one is a Scotsman. The similarities, they are both extremely competent in their own way. They have different strengths. But, you know, the end result seems to be quite effective in both cases. I mean, there is obviously a difference in personality, and everything else. I mean, I became very good friends with Jim after the two years we raced together. And, in my relationship with Derrick, it is growing all the time.

GIL DE FERRAN: The thing about that first turn when you are racing, the entrance is very, very wide. So, I mean there is enough room there for a driver, you know, to go on the inside and even go 3 wide on the entrance. But, the problem is there is not enough room to go through it at 3 wide. So, there is only room maybe for one, one and a half, sometimes two, if you force the issue. And this is when the problems happen because you get somebody that thinks, well, maybe I can go right down the inside. And, the other guy that is on the outside, really doesn't see him sometimes turns in and then they end up T-boning each other halfway through the turn. So, I think the problems really stems from the fact that the entrance is really wide, but it narrows down, you know, narrows down to one or two car widths line in the middle.

GIL DE FERRAN: Thank you very much. I want to thank everybody for the time and the very intelligent questions.