Formula One: Ford Motorsport this Week
21 August 1998
Week starting: 17th August 1998FORD IN FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix saw Stewart-Ford driver Rubens Barrichello retiring with gearbox problems. Team mate Jos Verstappen finished 13th.
The Stewart-Ford team will spend Wednesday and Thursday testing at the Silverstone circuit in preparation for the Belgian Grand Prix in two weeks.
'In the light of recent performances it was satisfying to achieve a finish
with Jos. However, Rubens' retirement with gearbox problems again
underlines that we have to concentrate on reliability before we can
achieve consistent finishes.'
Martin Whitaker, Ford European Director of Motorsport
'It was nice that we got a race finish with Jos but obviously it's
disappointing for Rubens that we couldn't get him to the end. There
weren't as many incidents as usual at Hungaroring so neither driver was
able to make any improvement on their starting positions early in the
race. It's frustrating that there still is clearly some handling
difficulty which is preventing our car from being as competitive and
manageable as we would like. With only four races remaining we have to do
all we can to rectify the situation. All four pit stops went well today,
the mechanics did a terrific job to make sure of that and the engine
performed well all weekend.'
Paul Stewart, Managing Director
'The car bogged down at the start which cost me a couple of places off the
line. I fought as hard as I could in the race but I couldn't really make
any impression on Diniz who was ahead of me. Since Friday the car has been
difficult to drive. We have been struggling for mechanical grip and never
really found the optimum set-up for a circuit like this. It is a weekend I
would rather forget.'
Rubens Barrichello, Stewart-Ford driver
'I didn't get away to the best of starts because I found the car difficult
to drive on the first set of tyres. I didn't feel like I could catch the
people in front. We adjusted the pressure on the second set which helped a
little but throughout the race the steering was very heavy. My arms are
really sore and because the track is so bumpy my head was rocked about
quite a lot. I felt like I was getting hit by Mike Tyson every lap. On
the positive side, it's important for the team to get a race finish.'
Jos Verstappen, Stewart-Ford driver
FORD IN FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
After the longest journey of the year to New Zealand, the Ford World Rally team makes the somewhat shorter trip to Scandinavia this week for round 10 of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Rally Finland, which begins in Jyvskyl on Friday. Regular works drivers Juha Kankkunen, bidding for a record fifth world crown, and Bruno Thiry will drive their usual Valvoline-backed Escort World Rally Cars. They will be joined for this event by 1981 world champion Ari Vatanen, who will drive a third Ford-entered Escort on his home rally. This will be Vatanen's third World Championship outing of the season, having replaced the injured Thiry in both Kenya and Portugal. The three-day gravel rally, famous for its high speeds and huge jumps, is one of the classic events in the championship. Drivers face 24 special stages covering 384km in a total route of 1271km. It finishes on Sunday afternoon. Rally organisers are arranging a comprehensive multi-language radio station service to update the huge crowds following the event with news and results from the stages.
"This is my home event so obviously I want to finish in a strong position. Doing well in Finland in front of my own fans is always nice but to win in any part of the world gives me great pleasure, personally and for the Ford team. There is a huge media interest around this rally and being Finns much of that is focused on the fight between myself and my fellow countryman Tommi Mkinen. But I've been competing on this rally for more than 15 years and so I'm quite used to the pressures from the media. Anyway I don't think the rally will be simply a battle between Tommi and myself. There are many other drivers who could win the rally but having said that I'm confident about Ford's chances. The Escort is a good rally car. We spent a week testing in Finland last month and won the Channel Four Rally, a round of the Finnish Championship, after the test so we know the ideal set-up for the car and we know it goes well on Finnish roads." said Juha Kankkunen. "The Rally Finland is difficult for foreign drivers to come to terms with. The most important aspect in driving quickly is to use all the road to obtain the best line through the corners. You have to know precisely where to position the wheels to ensure maximum speed through the bends. This is where the Finns are so good because they understand the flowing nature of the roads. But for foreign drivers it's not so easy because if you cut the corners by just 10cm too much you can end up in a heavy accident. It's one of the fastest gravel rallies in the world and it's hard to translate the roads from the pace notes. Because it's so fast the co-drivers don't have the time to explain every bump, twist and turn and that just adds to the difficulty. But for a driver like myself who really enjoys the best aspects of the sport, this rally is superb. It's perhaps the most beautiful event in the World Championship, so fast and so enjoyable when a stage goes well," said Bruno Thiry.
"Experience is the key to this rally and Finnish drivers have a big advantage over those not used to the roads in my country. The nature of Finnish stages is unique, you find nothing like them on any other rally in the world. They are not rough, just fast, wide and very flowing with constant turns and enormous jumps requiring huge commitment from the drivers. It's a Grand Prix on gravel roads. It takes great courage from the drivers and a heavy reliance on your pace notes to attack blind jumps at maximum speed, knowing in the back of your mind that the road almost certainly twists one way or the other over the crest. That's why selecting the correct line before a jump is so crucial," said Ari Vatanen.
FORD IN AUTOTRADER RAC BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP (BTCC)
There was a surprise in store for Ford Mondeo Racing's Craig Baird, as he went from 18th place to lead round 20 of the 1998 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship which took place this weekend at the Knockhill circuit in Scotland. Baird - who had hinted at his true pace three weeks before, with a sixth place at Snetterton - took advantage of slippery conditions in his sure-footed Ford Mondeo, to climb steadily through the field from the last row of the grid and lead for three laps.
Dry qualifying had given neither Mondeo the grid position they wanted, but in tricky conditions on race day, the Ford Mondeo Racing team took a tactical decision to start Baird on intermediate tyres - a decision which seemed inspired as the race unfolded and the weather deteriorated.
After a lightning start, team-mate Will Hoy took advantage of an early Safety Car appearance to duck into the pits for his own intermediate tyres and made similar rapid progress through the field, reveling in the Mondeo's legendary wet-weather prowess to put himself in third, behind the leading Baird. Ultimately, the deciding factor was the unpredictable Knockhill weather, with worsening rain making the track too wet even for an intermediate-shod Mondeo. Baird slipped back down the order to 13th and Hoy slipped off the track completely in the closing laps, leaving the team to contemplate the clever tactics which had made the day very nearly theirs.
Ford Mondeo Racing will be back in action at Brands Hatch on August 31, when double World Champion, Nigel Mansell will make his second of three appearances for the team, after his stunning debut at Donington Park in June
