October 30, 2004
Qualifying 17th and 22nd when the team needs 7 points more than the EIRE drivers would appear to be a major story to the worlds press, but team boss Andy Graydon didn't show any sign of concern when he was interviewed by his own press team.

Surely the Phoenix F1 cars don't belong towards the back of the grid. What's the story?

"Interlagos is such a short circuit that Qualifying is always close. Up to P19 is seperated by only 1.9 seconds. Usually that gap would be up to around P10. But we decided on a strategy, having followed the weather closely, and I think the team will fare well in the race. It all depends on what the other teams are doing. If we find ourselves on similar fuel strategies, then we could struggle. But it's also down to tyre wear too. We believe we have found a good set-up which should help our strategy work."

Antonio was demoted to the back of the grid, admittedly only from 20th with the time he set. What was the problem?

"It's a technical problem which we are trying to fix as we speak. It's causing some concern and we may have to seek some advice from the Governing Body - and that process has been put in place already."

And the weather forecast?

"The team forecastewrs have indicated that rain will fall before the race, but that it will stop in time for the start. What they can't tell us is how the track will 'dry-up'. That will definitely be an unknown."

Any words to the EIRE team?

"We like to do our talking on the track. However I will say that they've put themselves on a pedestal of 'high and mighty', and we'll try our best to knock them off the top! He he, now wouldn't that be fun."