CART FEDEX CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GRAND PRIX OF DENVER

August 30, 2002

Adrian Fernandez

Christian Fittipaldi

Tony Kanaan

TONY KANAAN: Well, I think it was completely my mistake. Both times I spun, and I lost my fast lap twice. I guess I didn't do a good job this weekend so far. I'm not saying I had the pole. Definitely wasn't a nice feeling to make two mistakes, especially when we know the track is so slippery, we know we can lose the fast lap. Obviously, I was thinking about it after I spun the first time, so I guaranteed one lap, which was the lap that I kept at the end, and I try a harder one, and I did faster. Morris calls on the radio and says, "Okay, don't make a mistake this time." As soon as he said that I crashed. I think I was a little bit too greedy, but still work out okay for us. I think top three is not bad. Definitely the track is going to get better tomorrow. I'm going to try to not do the same thing again.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: I can't breathe, because it's too high.

TONY KANAAN: I don't have any problems.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: Maybe you're better fit than I am.

TONY KANAAN: I have a bigger nose.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: I'm just joking. Tony and I, we ride bikes together all the time. We hang out a lot together. But apart from that, the track was not smooth; it's a little bit bumpy. Grip level could be a little bit higher. But I guess this is what we have for this weekend, so we just have to make the best out of it and try to make our cars suit the track conditions as opposed to maybe bragging and complaining or this and that. All in all, I think they did a good job over here, and I think that on the race on Sunday, especially at the end of the straight, it's going to be very interesting because it's really wide and you can brake a little bit deeper. It's hard for you to judge your braking point perfectly. I think we're definitely finally going to see a lot of overtaking on Sunday.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Definitely. We unloaded good. The car didn't feel good, but we were fast compared to the rest. We haven't gone really much since this morning. We tried something in the ten minutes that we had for qualifying, I didn't like it, so we went back to what we had in the morning. The car felt reasonably okay. Then in my first round, we had a problem. We made a mistake in our tire pressures. The car wasn't very good. At that time we were pitted, and then I thought that the track was going to be very busy, a lot of incidents because it's so slippery. What I did is I tried to go earlier in both sessions. I think that paid off because. Coming into the back straight, I was discussing this with Tony, I still don't know when I'm braking. It's so wide. Because we are braking sort of three-quarters on the track. It's so big, the marks are very far from what you have for your normal brake marks. It's very difficult to keep very consistent. The only way to be consistent is basically to have consecutive laps, and that way you can keep going quicker and quicker. I'm very pleased for the guys because I damaged my car in Montreal on the chicanes, I think like 12 other guys, coming into the curves. All the cars were getting damaged. So the guys have to get another car, a new top, and they have to work very hard, especially because of the time and the distance. You know, this was the best reward for them, especially after a struggle.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Yes.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Nothing. That's the scary part (laughter). I haven't done anything different. You know, it's just not been one thing, it's been a few different things. That's the frustrating part. It's frustrating because I feel like I'm driving well, I give it my best, I'm training hard. You know, I'm not ready to throw the towel. Even though I'm getting older, I still feel strong. This year I have a trainer so I can completely take half of the day off. I don't have to get involved in the business side of racing and things like that. Just for one or the other reason, things happen, we haven't got the results that we wanted. But I feel that Fernandez Racing is in a better shape than it was last year. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to capitalize on the points. Shinji has done better, is starting to run stronger. Hopefully will come our time. If we can finish top ten, that would be fantastic for us.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: Well, basically what happened is I was on my out lap coming out of the pits. We got to the hairpin. I went way on the part of the turn to give him a clean line to make him get by me. I think he misjudged something. He braked way too late. He just ran into the back of my car. I almost went upside down, landed, damaged my wishbone and my push rod on my rear suspension, then I couldn't steer my car anymore. I was on three wheels running from right to left, then I came slowly back into the pits.

TONY KANAAN: I wouldn't say that. I think today some people didn't even do a run on the second set of tires. I would say we do have, I don't know, a reasonable car. If you look at the lap times, we're still four-tenths off of Adrian - I would say three because I had a faster lap and they took it out. I would say because Adrian put his second set on early, when I saw that, I said, "That's good for him, because the way the track is, it's going to get crazy, and people are going to put a red flag on." Michael was the guy that did it first, then Adrian and myself. We got 13, 14 laps out of it. Other people did nine. If you take out the cool-down laps, warming the tires, it's basically three or four laps. But lucky to be here today. You never know. If it rains tomorrow, we're still there. I'll take it. It's always good. But I think a lot of people are going to come out tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do. I'm pleased. It's a good result for the team. We've been carrying on a good momentum the last four races, so it's a good boost. Obviously, we still have tomorrow and then we have the race. I'm pretty curious to see what's going to happen in this race. It's going to be pretty interesting.

TONY KANAAN: I would say the grip level, it's zero. It's the worst it's ever been.

TONY KANAAN: I don't think so. It's a little better than this morning. Why we put the new tires on, it's because I didn't believe the track would get better at the end. Maybe it will get a lot better tomorrow. From this morning to this afternoon, and to begin this afternoon, that was worse than this morning. I don't know if I made a change in my car that was worse. But definitely for me was a struggle.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Was not much difference between the morning and afternoon.

TONY KANAAN: Exactly. Places to pass, people are going to make a lot of mistakes here. The real one, it's the hairpin, but I think you can pass anywhere because people are going to keep on locking rears and trying to go hard on the braking, going to miss and overshoot. I would say, to be honest, I can't feel the difference between the cement and the asphalt. It's all slippery. And the paint, as well. They paint some curves. You try to go around, it's even slipperier than before. The grip level, it's zero.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: It's a new venue. We have the same problem. I would say it's little bit like Mexico but more bumps because it's a street course. Mexico, they basically paved the whole thing, so it's more like a permanent road course in a way. You just have get a rhythm because between the slippery and the bumps, there is not much there. You know, if you tend to out-brake yourself, it's very easy to lose the rear. You can see from a lot of people doing that. You braking is very important. Sometimes you I think you might brake a little early. Sometimes it's earlier than late because there's just no grip on the rear.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: No. Those two said it all. They said enough.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: It's a Catch-22 situation because I think if we start on the front straightaway, maybe people can take it a little bit easier. There is probably going to be less passing going into turn one. But everyone's going to try to survive coming out of turn one. If you start on the back straightaway going into the hairpin where it's pretty wide, you can be sure that there are going to be a couple of guys out there that are going to bang into the corner. I don't need to say what's going to happen. Probably if we go on the other side, it's going to be more exciting. But 90% sure we're going to have a yellow on the first lap. If we start on the start/finish, it's going to be more conservative. Although it's a lot narrower, I think that we can make it through the first turn without a problem.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: I agree with Christian. I think driving the track, yesterday I thought it probably would be better to start on the back. But driving the corners, especially coming into that part, braking, it's not easy. If you come in, it's very easy to make a lot of mistakes. It's very easy to try to want to brake more. I think the back part probably could cause more accidents than the front straight. But that's just a guess.

TONY KANAAN: This morning when we spoke, I told you I felt the back straightaway would be safer. But I agree with Christian's point of view. I think everybody's going to be extra cautious. It's no different than Houston if you look at it. Obviously in Houston we started on the back straightaway. You give us room, we're going to try to go. I think it's safer to start in the front straightaway.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: Not really. I mean, I'm getting better every week. A week from Montreal, I'm getting better. In Montreal, on Saturday I was having some pain on the fractures. But it's getting better every weekend. I'm stretching every day. Just patient basically. I'm took all the drugs and everything. I'm drug-free now. I can pass the test now (laughter).

TONY KANAAN: I think everybody's concerned about cooling. We definitely made some changes with this track. I see brakes as a big issue. I mean, obviously the engine cooling, the engine department people will take care of that. We're going to make some changes to cut to make this car run cooler. We have the biggest brake ducts we can possibly have, the most cooling we can have. We're already having some brake issues. So I think everybody's going to be extra cautious. In the race, running behind people, you tend to run hotter. It's going to be a problem, definitely going to be a problem.

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ: No.

TONY KANAAN: No. No, it's not, definitely not. Not the first year, not at all.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: I think what Tony said, with all the cars running pretty hot, if you make it to the end on Sunday, you have a very good shot at, believe it or not, winning the race. I think it's going to be wide open on Sunday because, as everyone knows, engine heating, brakes, plus the bumpy track, and just braking a little bit later, sliding a little bit, hitting the wall. I think it's going to be one of those survival and mental races. You just have to keep running, set your pace, believe it or not. Although it's a pretty tight track, no matter where you start on the grid, obviously the guys that are going to start up in the front have an easier time, but even if you start in the back, you have a shot at winning the race.

TONY KANAAN: Even the runoff areas are not forgiving here. You can lose a lot of times if you run to those. Some tracks we go, you can turn around and go. Here, you lose at least 25 seconds. I depends where you go. Who is going to make the last mistakes, save the equipment, has a huge shot to win the race.

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI: Tell Chris Pook that Tony forgot to shave today (laughter).

TONY KANAAN: I already told him that.