May 04, 2002
Mikko Jakonen was caught wandering in the Silverstone paddock area during the testing session, and we asked how he has liked working with Mapes-VO Honda so far. This is what we were able to get out of the introvert Finn:

"Well, initially I didn't really know what to expect when I moved into the bigger circles of international F1 racing. Right from the first private test with the team I could immediately say that the car was very good, it handled better than any car I've driven so far. Of course the Honda engine was and still is the main culprit of the package, but on most tracks we can cover for that with the good aerodynamics we have. The working conditions have been great, Matt and Peter are exceptional managers who have it in their heart to make sure the team develops. I'm getting along fine with Kieran as well, we help each other and hang out now and then, we do have quite an age difference but that only means we both have things to learn from each other. I haven't yet talked much to our test driver but I hope that's going to change.

During the race weekends the whole team is 100% in the effort of getting points, the feeling in the paddocks is suberb then. On the other hand, between races there sometimes are some problems with internal communications; for example on both 2 last test sessions we have missed a day of testing because of logistical and scheduling problems, which is not acceptable if we want to be able to hold on to the 2nd place in the constructors champ we've been able to get. Also the PR department of the team could get their act together, as we seem to having our press releases posted later than all the other teams. A rising team like ourselves needs all the positive publicity it can get, if for nothing else than just to keep the sponsors happy.

But as I said, I've really been enjoying the past 2 months at Mapes-VO, and I feel the team is supporting me as well. And I'm confident we'll come on strong during the rest of the season as well; we just have to make sure other teams don't get any technical breakthroughs that would leave us in the dust.

I'll test on Friday here at Silverstone... I'll concentrate on refining the front suspension as this is a good track for that, and I'll also do some Honda runs, to work out some things about the reliability of the engine. I'll try to do a couple of light runs as well to get near the top in the timesheets.. to get the press interested :)".