March 18, 2004
You could tell Phoenix F1 boss Andy Graydon was in no mood to talk to the press following the teams performance in Australia! Body language, the staring into blank space - all the signs of a man with things to do, problems to solve. The last place he wanted to be was sat in front of the world's press trying to explain why his team only got one car to the finish and that only in 7th place!

"You could say we had a wake-up call in Australia. Antonio did the best he could with the car we provided him with, but the team did not back him up as it should do. Our worst problem was in the Pitstops. Antonio's stops were simply not up to scratch compared to the other teams down the pitlane. He lost precious seconds on all three stops he made - and in this race I believe that was the difference between beating Loukasmaki who took 6th place only 4 seconds ahead".

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Irisarri locks the front right wheel into Ascari - set-up issues compromised race pace. Added to pit-stop errors costing precious time at all 3 stops made!

Andy continued: "However, our other issue was with the performance of the Michelin tyres. There is no doubt that Bridgestone have laid down the marker here in Australia. Allied to wear rates on heavy fuel loads, and slight set-up problems, Antonio was struggling to challenge as we all know he can."

Graydon then went on to explain that it was expected that Michelin would perform better in Malaysia (if the weather remained sunny), and the team would be practicing their pitstops for the next race.

However, of more concern was the issues surrounding new driver Adam Fretter.

"Adam had a problem with his steering wheel in Qualifying, resulting in his lowly 18th slot on the grid. However, we believed we had rectified the problem for the race, but when the lights went green and he accelerated away, he has indicated that suddenly there was no resistance from the steering column - effectively the wheel had come loose in his hands! The car veered to the left where he tapped wheels with the car behind which sent him into the barriers. His car has sustained Major Damage as a result".

Because of the F1VWC contract clause rules, Phoenix F1 will lose out to the tune of over £500,000 in expected appearance fees for Fretter in Australia, plus a repair bill in the region of £100,000 on Fretter's damaged car.

Clear reason to see the concern on the Phoenix F1 boss' face! Tight fisted Yorkshiremen don't like losing money at the best of times!

"We'll have new procedures in place in the next day or so, which will enable me to have a more hands-on approach to our race practices" commented Graydon.

"Let's see if we can put things back on track in Malaysia - I sincerely hope we do" was his parting shot before leaving the Press to ponder his comments.