Q&A: Giancarlo Fisichella - EXCLUSIVE.

by Russell Atkins

Following Fernando Alonso's departure for McLaren, Renault star Giancarlo Fisichella has never had a better opportunity to stake his claim for world championship glory, and he intends to begin the new campaign in the best possible way - with victory.

The Italian has struggled in the shadow of his double world champion team-mate over the past couple of seasons, but now as effectively the Regie's de facto team leader, he is heading into 2007 full of optimism and with a renewed determination to succeed and prove the doubters wrong. Here he tells us about what he hopes to achieve over the next nine months...

Q:
Giancarlo, how are you looking forward to the season ahead?

Giancarlo Fisichella:
I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm really confident, especially after the test in Jerez. We are quite happy with the handling of the car, its performance and especially its reliability. We are confident that if we have built as competitive and reliable a car as we did for the last two years we can do well again.

Q:
Obviously one of the biggest changes for Renault this year is Fernando Alonso not being there anymore, which makes you the team's most established driver. Does that make you feel even more confident for the season?

GF:
For me it's good. All the team is concentrated to win again and there's a big motivation with Fernando having left. They now want to win with me or with Heikki (Kovalainen). It's really important for them to do the best they can.

Q:
You mentioned your new team-mate Heikki. He tested with the team throughout 2006 but is new as a race driver this year. He's very quick too. How are you finding working with him so far?

GF:
It's been very good. Heikki is a very nice guy, and he is really focussed. He will be a rookie, but he already has the right idea about how to approach the championship. He is going to be a very tough opponent.

Q:
So you think he will give you quite a hard challenge, particularly as the season wears on?

GF:
Yes. It's going to be a challenging season, not only with him but with all the other drivers too.

Q:
Do you agree with the general consensus that 2007 could be the best shot at the world championship you've ever had?

GF:
Yeah, I think it's maybe the best chance I've had in my life. It's going to be important to do well this year.

Q:
You know Fernando very well. How do you rate his chances at McLaren? The team didn't win a race last year for the first time in ten years. How difficult do you think it's going to be for him there?

GF:
Fernando is a fantastic driver, and one who has the capacity to do well even having moved to a new team, so I'm sure McLaren will be one of our biggest opponents.

Q:
Ferrari look set to be your other main rivals this year. How do you think they will cope without Michael Schumacher for the first time in more than a decade?

GF:
Who knows? I'm sure they are still a fantastic team, and they have a new driver in Kimi Raikkonen who is really quick. They are going to do well.

Q:
Another change for Renault this year is that onto Bridgestone tyres. How well are you adapting to them so far?

GF:
At the first test it was a bit difficult to understand the behaviour of the car and find a good set-up, but we accumulated a lot of data from the test, and we have been working on the new car in the areas where it was important to improve. The R27 looks to be better - the rear-end stability, the overall grip and especially the consistency over race distances.

Q:
There's clearly going to be a lot of hard work going on between now and the first grand prix in Australia. What are your aims for Melbourne and the rest of the season?

GF:
The aim is to get the best result possible. Next week we will know better where we are compared to other people because we are all going to run together. I think in Australia it will be important to attack straight away. I have good memories from there, so of course I would like to get on the podium for sure, and why not win?