July 22, 2003
The comments of the race podium finishers at the recent French GP - Daniel Wilkinson for EIRE, Shiro Ryong for SCUM and Jan Kelder for Phoenix F1.

Race Winner - Daniel Wilkinson (EIRE)

Q. Well done for the second time in two races! Shiro crossed the line 22 seconds behind you, what made the difference?

A. Umm, probably the fact that I did 2 pitstops to his 3. I struggled through my first 2 stints but my last set of tyres were just fantastic. The traffic wasn't too bad either.

Q. You have been quietly chipping away the point's lead of the top two and with Mikko's retirement you are now only 15 points off the top slot. Mikko and Shiro can see you looming large in their mirrors now and will no doubt raise their game to keep you behind, so are we going to see a hat trick at Silverstone, is this a good track for you?

A. A hat trick would be nice. I've always felt comfortable around this track but have never gone well, so an extra effort will have to be put in. Mikko and especially Shiro are driving fast so it should be a good race.

Q. With your consistent performance over the last few races you must now be thinking seriously about the championship. Do you feel confident that you can keep the pressure on the two front runners?

A. Yes I am thinking about the championship for the first time this season. I've had a very ordinary season so far, my heart just hasn't been in it. I don't think I can win the championship without the others having reliability issues. I mean I only took 2 points off Shiro today. Taking Phoenix for 3rd in the constructors is more realistic especially if Willy turns up and has a good run like he did today. 3 invaluable points gave us more points for the day than any other team.

2nd Place - Shiro Ryong (SCUM)

Q. Another podium finish for you Shiro but you must be disappointed that Daniel just got away from you. Where did you lose the time do you think your 3 stop strategy was the problem?

A. No, I don't believe our strategy was the problem, Daniel was simply too fast. He being able to do similar lap times with less stops pretty much decided the outcome of the race.

Q. You are now equal 1st with Mikko as a result of his retirement. You are still considerably disadvantaged on BHP compared to Mikko although your results don't suggest this, is the team working to put this right and can we expect more from you if you had more power?

A. Well, I wouldn't consider myself to be equal first yet because he's got more wins. As for the car, everyone knows more power means higher potential but our priority is still reliability. Hockenheim and Monza might punish us in terms of pace but with a bit of luck there may be the one or two retirements that help us score a decent amount of points.

Q. As I said you are now level with Mikko but Daniel is picking up the pace, if you had to choose one which of the two do you consider the biggest threat?

A. It would have to be Mikko simply because he's the one with more points. The situation might change after the next few races but right now it's Mikko.

3rd Place - Jan Kelder (Phoenix F1)

Q. A terrific performance Jan well done! It's not really a surprise we've been waiting for you to show the younger drivers that experience counts. What a finish with Eric just 4 seconds behind you. Are we going to see you more often on the podium now?

A. During the two pre-season test sessions the Phoenix F1 car proved to be very fast due to the aerodynamic package. Our team boss and test driver Andy Graydon showed the performance of his car on this track with a sparkling fastest lap during one of the test sessions. Everybody in this Championship will remember his marvellous lap for years.

Trying to step out of Andy's shadow here at Magny Cours, was my motivation to finish the race with a good result.

Besides, we are at the begin of the silly season and now it is the correct time to show my performance of course. My manager will take action for extension of the contract, where other teams showed interest.

Now I experienced the taste of the champagne, I will try to repeat it of course.

Q. You stopped 4 times, could you explain this, was it your strategy or did you have a problem?

A. For sure it had all to do with strategy and the only problem was the still underpowered engine. During the practice sessions we did several stints with different fuel loads and we had a very good look at the lap times.

The extra time for pitting in the 4 stops strategy is only abt. 20 -23 sec on this track. The Phoenix car has his best performance with less fuel on board and my race engineer calculated the 4 pit stops strategy was the best, giving the shortest total race time.

Overtaking the stronger cars in the field was more simple for me now. Teams with a stronger engine will have a strategy with less pit stops, as they can overtake the less powered cars quite easy with more fuel on board.

So our strategy is limited.

Q. As we all know a good setup can make a big difference in a race and not all team mates share their data. What relationship do you have with Tony, do you work closely together?

A. Our driving style is not the same and our steering device is a different one.

We exchanged set ups at season's begin, but finally we used our own set ups.

His rain set up seems to be a better one as mine, but his excellent pole time, one second faster as mine, in the wet here was not only due to his soft spring settings.

Q. It's thought that Andy Graydon is a hard man to please, is this true?

A. Unfortunately you have to take hard decisions in this world, leading to success. Our team boss is a very experienced driver and as a test driver he still knows what his drivers are really doing and he can understand and advice them.

Andy is very committed to his Phoenix F1 team and therefore he has much reasons to demand the same of his drivers. He is a typical example for a very good team owner.

I am sure, many teams in the different leagues will be missing such a dedicated leader.