Thursday press conference - US GP - Pt. 1.

Drivers: Fernando Alonso (Renault), Tiago Monteiro (Midland), Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and Scott Speed (Toro Rosso).

Press conference.

Q:
Here we are, the press conference about to start with Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Speed and Tiago Monteiro. Gentlemen, welcome. Doesn't seem to be very long since I last saw you.

Tiago, obviously here, great memories from last year, on the podium.

Tiago Monteiro:
Yeah, well, obviously very special moment for us. We all know the circumstances. But we were there, we took it, we took this opportunity. We enjoyed it as much as we could, and we took advantage of it.

It was great, definitely. I had a lot of fun. My team had a lot of fun. I can't thank Bridgestone, Toyota and the team for all that, can't thank them enough.

Q:
Since then, remarkable reliability in every single race. Twenty-six finishes out of 28 races.

TM:
Yeah, well, it's good. Definitely it's very good reliability. We would like to have a little bit more pace, as well. But it's getting a lot better. We definitely improved since - I remember during Barcelona, the car made a real step forward. We're getting closer and closer. We're averaging 1.8 seconds off the pole position at the moment. Definitely quicker. If we can keep this reliability and getting quicker and quicker, that's what we looking for. To be fighting with some guys up there, we really need like between 3- and 5/10ths. We should be there soon.

Q:
Any animosity after last weekend when the two of you came together, you and your team-mate?

TM:
Well, no. I went there and apologised. I made a mistake. I locked my rear wheels. I went straight to him and apologised. No problems. We talk. Everything is clear.

Q:
You got your football team to knock out his football team.

TM:
He's not happy about that, that's for sure. I think he took that part worse than the crash on track (laughter). He's a big football fan.

No, now we got the English soon, so looking forward to that, as well.

Q:
I'm sure you are.

TM:
I have my whole team on top of you.

Q:
Scott, obviously your first half of the Grand Prix season over, and here you are at your home race. Give us an assessment of your season so far.

Scott Speed:
For me, it's been fantastic. You know, when you first get into Formula One, there's always a question,: 'Do I belong here? Am I good enough to stay?' I got a lot of confidence now with that. My team has been very supportive of me. Just feels great to be back here at home, I got to tell you.

Q:
The good parts? The bad parts?

SS:
Those came in the same weekend. The good part was briefly having a point in Australia, and the bad part was getting it taken away.

Q:
What are the major surprises for you?

SS:
I think after the first race, there hasn't been so many surprises. You always have to do your first Grand Prix sometime. It's an experience that you have to go through. There's a steep learning curve at the beginning. Now we're just all trying to improve as much as we can. It's a bit difficult for us, because of our engine situation, to keep up. Having a 10th place last weekend was a great result for us this late in the game. The team is doing some big steps forward.

Q:
You have the V10 Cosworth engine as opposed to everybody else's V8s. Is it an advantage or disadvantage?

SS:
Certainly at a track like Canada and here it's going to hurt us because we don't have the top horsepower. But surprisingly we were still pretty competitive in Canada. I'm still optimistic for this weekend.

Q:
Michael, you've always managed to be fairly anonymous in the USA. Is that still the situation over the last few days?

Michael Schumacher:
Yeah, even after being racing in the States, it's still the same, basically. Depends where you go, honestly. There's some places a bit different, but generally that's the case.

Q:
You've managed to enjoy yourself over the last couple days then?

MS:
Yes.

Q:
Can we ask what you've been up to?

MS:
A nice ride with the bikes.

Q:
Did you do Pikes Peak then?

MS:
Pikes Peak, no.

Q:
Some people have done that hill climb.

MS:
No.

Q:
What we've heard is great optimism from the team all the time, that we can at some stage beat Renault all the time. Yet it hasn't happened. You haven't led a lap since Spain. Is that optimism well-founded or not, do you feel?

MS:
Yeah, it is. I mean, there is clearly progress happening. If you go back to the races sort of before England, we looked pretty strong. If you see the development we have done, it looked optimistic for us. Obviously, the other guys don't stand still, either.

Q:
And the development, are you expecting obviously more development in France? Is that going to happen? Can it happen there?

MS:
I mean, we keep on developing. There's nothing else for us to do. I mean, we keep on fighting and see what happens.

Q:
You said at the start of the season, it's all about the rate of development. Have you been surprised at the rate of Renault's development?

MS:
In a way, yes. I mean, you should think that we should have more resources available. But then there is the two areas of development. You have the tyre development, and you have the car development. It depends in which area or what area you compare and you look at.

Q:
It was interesting last weekend. Two Bridgestone runners obviously made a mistake in terms of their tyre choice, including your brother. Seemed to be such a huge difference in performance just from making that wrong tyre choice.

MS:
Well, I mean, I'm not involved in what they did, so I will look at our own situation. We clearly weren't strong enough. That's what came out.

Q:
But here, no one has a better record than you or the team. Four wins. Ferrari have won five out of six races. You personally have led every one of those six races. You never finished lower than second. Does that mean anything?

MS:
I still have a good record in Canada, as well. It doesn't really mean anything, honestly. End of the day, you have to look at the now situation. We have a find out whether our package suits the circuit.

Q:
Whereas Fernando, you've never finished here. You've done nine laps since 2003, I think. Again, does that mean anything?

Fernando Alonso:
Been quite bad for me. Quite unlucky. I never finish this race. I never cross the line. So hopefully this time is the good one. If I can be on the podium, even better.

Q:
You've been doing some promotional work for Michelin. What is the mood amongst the fans here?

FA:
I think the fans are really enthusiastic about this year's race after what happened last year. I think everyone is expecting a good show on Sunday. We will put a good show for them. I think, you know, after what happened last year, we all want to go on the track tomorrow and to enjoy the weekend.

Q:
Talking about Michael being fairly anonymous here, what about yourself? Now you're a world champion. Do people come up and recognise you?

FA:
No, no, not at all. Only the Spanish people.

Q:
There's a few of them, though.

FA:
Too many (laughter).

Q:
Juan Pablo, I'm sure they [the fans] recognise you probably more than your two neighbours there.

Juan Pablo Montoya:
Yeah, I race here before. Here in Indianapolis, I get recognised quite a lot. It's OK. I spend a lot of time in Miami. There's a lot of Latins there, so. But it's OK.

Q:
In fact, you won, of course, Indianapolis 2000. But since then, you've just had sort of incidents and all sorts of things have happened to you.

JPM:
Yeah, we done pretty good in our crash with Ralf (Schumacher) here. We had all kinds of things. But it's exciting. It a bit, you know, tricky track. It's quite slow. It has a very long straight. It's an interesting balance in between how much downforce you want for the car in the corners and sacrifice on the straight. I think simulations most of the time show very similar lap time whatever you do.

Q:
How are you going to stay out of trouble?

JPM:
I don't know. You know, last race, it's a bit of a shame. We had a quick car. I collided with (Nico) Rosberg. Just one of those racing things that happens. I had a quick car, I needed to make sure before Fernando went into the distance that I moved forward. I was trying to do that.

Q:
What about your future? Where do you see your future? People have talked about Williams. People talk about you coming back here to the States.

JPM:
I don't know yet. I'm looking at it. When I make a decision, you'll find out. You know, I think the difference between myself and a lot of guys, I don't make my discussions public. You know, I don't talk through the press. I talk through the teams, and that's it.

You know, you guys don't hear anything, but I know what's happening.

Q:
Are you happy with what's happening?

JPM:
Yeah, yeah, very. You know, I'm very comfortable, and we'll see.