April 21, 2004
Sorry for the delay, but here is the long awaited race press conference from the last race in Austria. It's also been added to the race page as usual.

Winner - Scott Whiteman (EIRE)

Great race again scott, how did it go?

Quite well, i really didn't expect to be so dominant here at the Bahrain, since all week the air pressure was much lower than you'd expect at a sea level track, more like we were in the mountains really, and low air pressure really suits the higher power engines more.

You seemed to be in complete control throughout the race, is that the case?

For the most part of the race i was in control, there was probably a short period where i pushed a little too hard, but from the halfway point it was clean sailing.

Were you informed of Ross' problems and told to be conservative, or was it a one-off failure?

When Ross' car broke down it was tragic, at first i was concerned for his safety since the car was a write off, but once i was informed that he was ok i was more disappointed for him since he definately had the pace to be in the points again.

On to Imola next, can you make it 4 from 4?

I'd like to think it is possible, Tim and Peter will be testing at Monza and hopefully iron out the little glitches the car has shown in the opening races, but the track at San Marino is not a favourite and will require a great effort to walk away with another victory.

2nd Place - Mikko Jakonen (Mapes-VO)

Another podium Mikko, how did it go?

It was a tough 90 minutes again. At the start Shiro managed to push past me and I wasn't able to gain any positions before the front runners' first pitstops. Through the race I pretty much kept my pace, tried not to make any mistakes and make sure I kept running according to our strategy, which pretty much worked out as expected. Scott managed to get a nice 10 second lead in the rush of the first stint, that went up to 15 seconds on my last pitstop, and at that point I wasn't able to get that back anymore, so I decided to slow it down a bit and make sure I kept the 2nd place, as Shiro and Steve were on fresh tyres and could've easily got past me if I had made a mistake. So not much drama in the race, the Michelin tyre was again a bit disappointing, Scott was able to maintain the advantage he had in qualifying. Second place again, I'm quite pleased with it, this wasn't the day to beat Scott yet.

Was strategy a key element in this race?

Based on last year's data we were confident that a 2 stop strategy would suit us best, and it did work out quite well. I might have been able to fight for victory better if I could've gained a few more places at the start, but instead I had to drive behind Shiro who made a nice move at the start. That first stint allowed Scott to gain most of his lead. So in hindsight a lighter car with 3 stops might've been better. But this was a good learning experience, the car and the tyres worked ok with the heavier fuel load, which might prove valuable later in the season. After all, I did gain 3 positions from guys running with a 3 stop strategy, so you could say the strategy did work well.

Scott looks to be running away with the title this year, can the Mapes VO team catch him?

Well he certainly has had a good start to the season, the car suits him very well and he's been really fast and consistent. I'm still quite confident that we can beat him, it certainly requires hard work and everything going right. We are going to have an important test session at Monza where we'll hopefully be able to sort out some problems we've had with the aero package of the 04 chassis. At least so far I've managed to clear out the rest of the opposition, so I can concentrate on beating Scott, which should help. At Malaysia we almost did it, and EIRE seemed to have some technical problems this weekend, so I believe we'll have a scenario quite soon where we can beat him. Hopefully at Imola, as I like the track immensely more than Austria.

How did you like the podium ceremony, with non-alcoholic drinks?

Well it was a bit strange. I'm not complaining, the rose water tasted ok, but we do have a case of Bollinger in the motorhome and it's waiting to be destroyed. Don't tell the officials though.

3rd Place - Shiro Ryong (SCUM)

Welcome back to the press conference's here in F1VWC Shiro! How does it feel to be back?

It's great to be back. I was beginning to miss this stuff, but somehow my race was good enough to get me here.

A very consistant race, and some good battles throughout, how did it go?

It was very exciting. The battles were fun, especially the one with Steve which took most of the race. The pitstops in the end helped me out there with a nice set of fresh of tyres to help me get past him in the last stint.

Obviously your time away from the racing scene hasn't affected your pace at all! Has this surprised you?

In some way, yes but also no. Before the weekend started I thought I would only be going for a low points battle because I haven't done any proper race preparation for some time but then seeing the times I was able to consistenly produce in the practise sessions, I knew it wouldn't be too bad.

Will we be seeing more of the 2003 champion in 2004?

You probably will. There are a couple of tracks that I really like and with time permitting I'll be there.