Full Transcript of Williams' Press Conference
Friday August 6th, 2004
The following is a transcript of Sir Frank Williams' media call on Friday morning, in which he and Technical Director Sam Michael explain the team's contractual position and their hopes for Williams-BMW's 2005 line-up of Australian Mark Webber and Briton Jenson Button.
Statement
Sir Frank WILLIAMS: The first clear and unequivocal point is that we hold a contract with Jenson. It appears that BAR contest this, however we are of the firm opinion, on strong legal advice, that BAR lost the opportunity to obtain Jenson and I have no doubt he will be with the Williams-BMW F1 team for 2005.
Whatever is said about contractual details, one fact is not contestable: Jenson wishes and expects to drive for Williams-BMW in 2005 and 2006 and has made this intention clear.
We have enjoyed a long, open and honest relationship with Jenson since he started with us in Formula One and we have maintained contractual links to his world championship ambitions at the present time.
We wish to open a dialogue privately with BAR to run through all the contractual issues, however BAR pre-empted us, went to press, and we have been obliged to make our position against our wishes clear last night.
Questions From The Phones
Q: Frank, you were talking about contractual links with Jenson and their long-standing, can you tell us what they are?
FW: I don't really want to, you can only take my word on it. I can only repeat what I have said. There is a form of option, and always has been, in place since the end of '00 and indeed that has been with the contract recognition board since the second half of 02.
Q: I'm sure that you would have wanted this to happen in a different way - what it amounts to from BAR's point of view is a betrayal.
FW: This could be their point of view and that is understandable. But John Byfield, that is Jenson's manager, sent a letter pointing out that the option was invalid, not exercised properly, and it already entered into a conflicting contract with Williams for Jenson - point 1. Point 2 - it was important that we wanted to do this quietly and when I called David Richards approximately five minutes after I knew he had received the letter from Jenson Button's management, in that conversation with David I said we believe that this matter should be handled privately between the two teams. If there is disagreement, the first step would be CRB and if necessary it might have to go to court, but we hope not. We had no intention of going to the press but we received a tip-off last night that the story was being filed in the Times for this morning, which indeed turned out to be the case.
Q: Did you regret that you could not keep hold of Jenson in 2000?
FW: To some extent, but clearly we made a decision to go for Juan Pablo (Montoya), as you all know. We had a prior contract with an option for Juan Pablo in which we had invested many, many millions of dollars and we decided to let Jenson to go on a temporary basis in favour of Juan Pablo and that is what we did.
Q: Were you always intent on bringing Jenson back at some time, depending on his development, obviously?
FW: Affirmative.
Q: It seems that everyone speculated on your second driver, everyone thought it was going to be Mark in the car at some point. How recently did you get in contact with John Byfield?
FW: This occurred a very few days before the German Grand Prix when we were contacted by Jenson's management.
Q: Was he on the shopping list at all or had you assumed it was completely out of the question?
FW: We assumed it was out of the question.
Q: How surprised were you to learn of Jenson's availability?
FW: It truly was a great surprise and at this point I must state you must recognise we are a racing team, we are competitive, this was an opportunity, which I have experienced before I have to add in my earlier career several times, and being a racing team we went for it. We have no regrets for going for it.
Q: What is the next step? Given David Richards' response so far, do you expect to resolve this amicably.
FW: It is a difficult one to answer. I really don't know that.
Q: And if it does go to the lawyers is there any chance that there would be any kind of impedance to him driving for you next year?
FW: I wouldn't like to say but I wish to emphasise that we would like to resolve this amicably, of that there is no question. I said earler, we had no wish to go public on this but we were pre-empted and forced to go public to defend our position.
Q: I would just like to know your feelings on whether Jenson can become a world champion with you and how do you see the relationship between your two new drivers developing?
FW: I said earlier, Jenson had a good look at this team, a very thorough look, considered its potential and its resource and we hope and we believe that he believes his best path to the World Championship is with this team. This has been his judgement clearly by signing this contract. Whether our team, with Mark and Jenson together, will be strong enough to beat Ferrari is an unanswerable question because the other part of the equation is our motorcar. Clearly we have been deeply embarrassed by our poor performance this year and there is a lot of, if you like, anger and hard work present in this organisation to try and rectify that situation properly for next year.
Q: We know Williams are not keen on paying huge sums of money, but has there been much discussion with Jenson over the rate of pay? Has it been a major issue in your recent chats with him?
FW: No, I think the hand fitted the glove very comfortably and there was very little discussion about that part of the contract.
Q: Is it also fair to say that if it all works out as you believe and you have Jenson on board then it gets you out of difficult predicament because the list of drivers you had to fill second seat was not particularly attractive?
FW: Put it this way, maybe I am guilty of whistling in the wind, but I have always believed in Formula One's ability to surprise continuously, that we would land something that's useful and very successful, maybe this is it. In fact, certainly this is it.
Q: Sam, what do you think Jenson and Mark will give you that you have not had from your drivers this year?
Sam MICHAEL: The drive for the company is something we have lacked for the last twelve months. Obviously we have two drivers at the moment that are off elsewhere and although they have tried as hard as they can they can never completely motivate the company to succeed like two fresh guys who know they are here for a long time. Obviously the feedback to the design direction, Mark has quite a strong character and so has Jenson and we expect those two guys to drive this company hard. They are young blood, if you like, but they've also got enough experience under the belt now - three or four years now - not to be green so they know what is required to make the cars go fast and help us do that.
Q: Will it help you in your position to develop your role at Williams?
SM: Well, they are fresh blood in terms of coming to Williams but they are not fresh blood in terms of Formula One drivers because they have been driving for three or four seasons. It does help me in my position too, to start relationships with these guys and build that within the company.
Q: Do you suspect Jenson will be available a little sooner than the end of the season?
FW: That has not crossed my mind, but my immediate answer is not a chance. Astonished.
Q: If he did would you like to have him?
FW: You must remember that we have an existing contract with Ralf (Schumacher).
Q: So, to both of you, is it almost a win at all costs season next year? This year was meant to be the make or break year and it was a break year for you. It seems BMW is getting impatient. How radical is next year's campaign going to be?
SM: I think to say there was a break here this year, is, you know, motor racing is an up and down business andit's a matter of putting all the right puzzles together at one point in time. This year we didn't manage to do that. We changed two or three things on the car this year that we acknowledge now were incorrect. There were aerodynamic and mechanical changes and we know we can change them back next year. We have done a couple of them this year. But as I said, there are two or three strong areas on the car that we know we can turn around and start strongly next year. There are clear targets in place for all sorts of areas of performance for the car, we know where our weaknesses are and BMW are happy with the decisions we are taking, they're not happy that we've had a bad year this year but they're part of that as well. BMW-Williams are very much team players and they're happy with the steps we're taking.
Q: Are you changing aero department?
SM: No, we look at the aero department from a technical point of view and structure all the time, we made a few changes to it recently but Antonia's a person who was also responsible for a car that won four races last year and her procedures and methods are very strong and we are behind her. It is a matter of us moving forward and strengthening the department around the rest of the team.
Q: It is all very confusing for us looking in from the outside, you said the BAR option was invalid and not exercised properly, can you give us any more indication of what you mean by that?
FW: I won't because I am well know for saying we don't discuss our contracts and certainly can't discuss anyone else's contracts. You may get more from David but, of course, that is his privilege.
Q: Is it in any way related to Honda?
FW: Zero relationship with Honda in that respect.
Q: Do you believe Williams and John Byfield have acted honourably?
FW: I can't remember precisely what he said but I repeat what I said earlier, that approximately within five minutes of knowing David had received the fax from Button's management, I called David on a very clear and open line with him, I was very straight forward. I state it a different way, that it is our job as a racing team to take opportunities where they exist providing they are straightforward and understandable and that's what we have done.
Q: What was David's reaction?
FW: He was very disappointed that he had received the letter from Jenson's side, clearly it was a heck of a shock to him. I repeat, this was truly within minutes of his receiving the notification from Jenson's management.
Q: Mark (Webber) has been on the record saying he would like a teammate to push him along. Was he consulted on the matter?
FW: No, he was not consulted but I can say his reaction was very positive.
Q: Given way you treated both drivers in the team before, you let them get on with things and it has been a bit destructive in recent years, are you looking at managing the two drivers specifically?
FW: It depends on the character and style of drivers in your team and at any one time. I believe these two guys are our sort of guys. We know Jenson very well and had a good time with him - I remember Patrick saying 'this guy belongs in a racing car and is a driver we'd like to have'. I believe Mark is the same from everything I've heard about him.
Q: You had an option registered with CRB yet you were surprised when Jenson became available. Can you explain that?
FW: The contract has been lying in the CRB for a number of years. I had no anticipation that Jenson would become available on the market.
Q: What, therefore, was the nature of the option?
FW: In simple terms, it was subsidiary to the BAR option without precedent.
Q: If Jenson became your driver when BAR received the fax from John Byfield, wouldn't you think it incumbent on him to speak to David Richards direct to save you some of the potential embarrassment that might follow from the fall-out of this?
FW: I cannot reply to that. |
