July 12, 2003
Press conferences are back! Today we have the first three qualifiers of the French GP, Antonio Irisarri for Phoenix F1, Shiro Ryong for SCUM and Mikko Jakonen for Mapes-VO.

Pole Position - Antonio Irisarri (Phoenix F1)

Q. Tony, your first pole of the season (in fact your first ever) and also the first ever pole for your team in very difficult conditions; you must be very pleased. What do you think the main factor was in your sparkling performance?

A. Yes, I'm really pleased and all the team is. In fact it's home race for Renault and to be on pole is great. I found this track difficult to setup so I'm really surprised how the whole package behaved in this condition: the car was perfect, good top speed and performance in the second sector. Real fine.

Q. Jakonen was surprisingly nearly half a second of your pace in the wet, are you confident of holding off the 2002 World Champion if it's dry, given the clear BHP advantage he has?

A. We are no championship contenders, we take it race by race and see what happens but honestly I think Mikko and Daniel [Wilkinson] will be fighting for the championship. I tried to get close as possible but the upcoming races are bhp tracks so we have to fight for third place.

Q. Incredibly you touched wheels with a Stealth car on your Pole lap which could have been disastrous. Can you talk us through the incident?

A. In my warm up lap I watched a Stealth car so I decided to go slow, but maybe the guy in front decided the same, so I started my flying lap and the Stealth car was far but I saw the car getting close too quickly so I thought "it's going to be close at braking in Adelaide". When I hit the brakes at 100 metres I watched the Stealth car starting to turn right so I decided to go inside of him but he did not give enough room to turn so we touched. I think I lost some time because the radius I get was not good and the car lost some speed but I thought, at that moment, "what to do? Go to pits and abort or go and see second sector?" I decided to go second sector when Andy came on the radio and told me that I was half second faster - so I pushed to go to the end and get another two tenths and that was enough.

Q. There has been some talk of Single Lap Qualifying, what are your views on this?

A .I do not like that, I think is less emotion for the fans and also for the drivers: you really have to go for it in 4 laps but one you have to be careful.

2nd Position - Shiro Ryong (SCUM)

Q. Well done Shiro, but you must be disappointed that you didn't get Pole, given your consistently high qualifying performances. Why do you think Irisarri just piped you to the post?

A. I'm a little disappointed, but not as bad as Monaco&ldots; I basically made two mistakes with my lap. First is that I made mistakes in sector 2, particularly at the Adelaide and 180 degree corners and the second is I left the lap too late which caused me to run out of time for a second run.

Q. Second in the Championship in your first season and with a huge BHP disadvantage, what's your secret Shiro?

A. My secret? Work really hard! No, it's the car, the chassis works so well with the Bridgestone tyres that we could almost negate the power disadvantage and run at the front end of the field most of the time.

Q. A dry race! Can you get to the top of the podium for the third time this season?

A. It's going to be tough, our car works great around the corners but that first sector has a pretty long straight so getting a good start and staying in front of Mikko and Daniel will be very important.

Q. There has been some talk of Single Lap Qualifying, what are your views on this?

A. Single Lap Qualifying? I must've been asleep when it was mentioned! Seriously, it doesn't really bother me whether it's one or four laps. However, if race fuel levels are involved it could actually be interesting.

We look forward to seeing you in what is sure to be a hotly contested race!

3rd Position - Mikko Jakonen (Mapes-VO)

Q. We have become accustomed to seeing you on pole Mikko, did you have any technical problems in qualifying or is the just that the opposition are getting quicker?

A. Well, the opposition is certainly getting quicker as the season progresses, and we had some troubles with our wet tyres, which cost us some time at the beginning of the qualifying. But I'm quite happy, 3rd position is a very good place to start the race, it's on the clean side anyway. I think it's quite normal to get some variation in such conditions as today.

Q. Although Mapes VO is clear in the Constructors Championship, Ryong is right behind you in the drivers standings and seems to be getting quicker. Are we looking at a new World Champion for 2003?

A. Hard to say. The championship certainly isn't decided yet, I think anyone who stays 100% committed and consistent throughout the rest of the season will have the best shot at it. We'll just have to wait and see. I at least know I'm able to win it, so there shouldn't be any mental barriers.

Q. There is talk that the Honda engine is now at the limit of its performance and this may lead to reliability problems, have you any fears in the area especially as Ryong's Holden seems to have good reliability?

A. Talk is cheap. Our Honda is a very good unit, but of course at this level there's always a chance of a technical failure. If that happens it happens and we'll have to deal with that, but I'm not particularly worried. Our BHP advantage certainly should compensate, provided the Honda doesn't blow up every race.

Q. There has been some talk of Single Lap Qualifying, what are your views on this?

A. That would suit me just as well, I just think that it's nice to be able to see early laps of other drivers' as well. As long as the rules are the same for everybody, it's fine by me.