How drivers are feeling about Korea and 20 races in 2011
There must be something in the Japanese water because the press conferences heading into the grand prix this weekend actually are providing interesting questions and answers.
A trio of drivers — Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Adrian Sutil — get to answer two good ones. Let’s get right to it, shall we:
"it is reported that the Korean International Circuit has started to lay the final pavement, the day before yesterday and going to finish it tomorrow. It means that only two weeks later Formula One cars will drive on it. What do you think of that, particularly from a safety point of view?
"
MS: I guess we trust that the guys know exactly what they’re doing, because there’s a lot of experience how to build race tracks and I understand Hermann Tilke is involved in the project. We trust that it can all be achieved. I’m sure that they will put in maximum effort to make it happen.
LH: It doesn’t really worry me from a safety point of view. I think the FIA always do a great job and they and the team clearly won’t let us race if it was unsafe. I feel totally comfortable that everything will be done in order to keep us safe and therefore we can continue to race.
AS: Yes, same, very similar. The pictures probably look more dramatic than it actually is but the FIA will for sure make sure that it’s safe enough to race on, otherwise we won’t be going there, so we trust them.
LH: We want to race.
AS: We definitely want to race.
LH: We will keep pushing.
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Are you with me? I think the safety aspect might be the only thing I’d trust the FIA with… and in this case, I have to say I’d want some extra assurances that Bernie Ecclestone didn’t push something too much. Anyone have a different reaction? Maybe I’m being too callous.
And then there is this about the 2011 calendar:
"I have a request from the three drivers at the front: I would like to hear some frank opinion as the number of grand prix races has been increasing over the last few races through to this year and next year. How is it for you and your teams?
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AS: I think it’s OK. Next year we will have twenty grands prix, so I will look forward to it. It’s very busy, no question, but we have no testing in between. Years back, when there was no testing ban, I think there was even more work to do, and it was more stress and busy but we are still in a good position and of course there is a lot of travelling. But the places we go to are very interesting and therefore I think it’s good that we have twenty races.
LH: Yeah, I agree. From my point of view, I think as a driver I love racing, so I kind of welcome it. However, it is very tiring on the team, time away from the family, but then, I’m pretty much certain that if you go and speak to any of my team members, they would not change a thing. We’re all racers, we’re all here because we love doing what we do. I think one more race, two more races isn’t the let-up.
MS: I very much look forward to it and coming back to the point, twenty races, yes, but if you go back to what it used to be in the past, we used to do racing, testing, racing, testing, racing, testing. We used to do a lot more. It’s only probably the last year or two that we do much less than we used to do, so I guess we, as drivers, naturally prefer more races than all the testing. Occasional testing, yes, I would agree on, but certainly I don’t mind the number of grands prix at all.
Now, I’m not sure how “frank” those answers are, but Michael does hit on the crux of the issue: Without a bunch of testing, drivers aren’t in the car as much as they used to be, so driving in 20 races isn’t a significant issue. In fact, I think part of the subtext to what he says is that the races now have to fill in for the non-existent testing. Is it any wonder that Ferrari and McLaren seem to have pulled closer to Red Bull in the home stretch on 2010? If there had been a dozen races, there wouldn’t have been as much time for development/catching up.
