SAF1 TEAM 2007 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW - An Interview
with Mark Preston, Technical Director
Qu: Mark, at the start of the 2007 season you stated
your goals for the year. Have you achieved them yet?
Mark Preston: Almost all of them. Pre-season I had three
goals for the team: firstly to get through to Q2 in Qualifying
for the first time, secondly to score the team’s first
point and finally to finish in the Top 10 of the Constructors’
Championship. What has actually happened is far beyond what
we could have imagined a year and a half ago. In Melbourne,
not only did we get through to Q2, but one of the cars reached
the final session in Qualifying! Our first point came in Barcelona
with Takuma; it was a memorable event as the team could then
say that it had officially joined the ranks of Formula One.
A point signifies quite a lot and put us well and truly in
the record books.
Qu: And your third goal. What chances do you have
of achieving that?
MP: Obviously the four points we now have will stand us in
good stead for achieving the third goal; however France showed
us how incredibly competitive F1 has become. When you think
that there was a rule that disallowed cars that were slower
that 107% two years ago, and in France most of the grid was
covered by 102%; it has certainly tightened up!
Qu: So do you have any new goals?
MP: With two out of three already achieved the last one is
probably the most difficult. We need to maintain our current
level of competitiveness by adding more performance to the
car. But, a simple goal that could be added to our list would
be to maintain our current position in the Championship. Now
that will certainly be a challenge!
Qu: Is that possible?
MP: It has become fairly obvious to us that unless you start
in the Q2 section of the grid, in a position between eleven
and fourteen to be exact, there is not much chance of scoring
points unless there is an act of God! However, from this position
on the grid a number of teams have proved that it is possible.
The top teams do make it difficult to score points though
due to their reliability.
Part of that process is working with Anthony to achieve a
more consistent Qualifying position. He has the speed to get
through into Q2 and various mistakes made on both sides of
the pitwall have meant that we have not delivered everytime.
This is an important focus.
Qu: Why do you think that SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM has
been able to step up so quickly?
MP: The original group of engineers and Managers that formed
SAF1 Team were very experienced. This combined with a highly
motivated team that is keen to learn and develop has made
it relatively easy! The experience of our team is very important
as is the specialisation of the group members. We have been
able to add a number of specialists to the race team to further
optimise our race weekend package.
Qu: But how does such a small team compete in the
pinnacle of motorsport?
MP: Resource is obviously another important factor. Being
small, people often ask “how do you get more resource”?
Leverage is the answer. We work hard on our technical partnerships
so that they deliver more than just the components that they
supply. For example, our close working relationship with Honda
in Japan affords us access to a vast array of experience and
expertise. If we have a problem with materials we can ask
a number of experts at Honda for ideas, effectively multiplying
our materials workforce and expertise, but in an order of
magnitude! This carries over into a number of areas. Another
example is our use of the Honda gearbox which reduces our
requirements for personnel and testing resource considerably.
Being smaller means that we are also more flexible and are
still evolving our working practices and structures. A simple
example was our communications at the race track. We were
finding it difficult with our radio systems to communicate
with the driver and the race engineering group, so in Barcelona
all the engineers left the pitwall and sat in the cool, calm
quiet of the office in the truck. The improved communication
that resulted was instrumental in achieving our first Championship
point. It was true “Skunkworks” style development!
Qu: You mentioned Anthony earlier, how do you think
he is progressing?
MP: Obviously it has been a big step going from testing to
racing; we saw this last year with Franck Montagny when he
joined our team. He is fitting in with the team well which
takes time as the majority of us have been working together
for a year. There are also a couple of special projects that
he is working on to become more involved, such as our simulator
project.
Qu: Can you tell us more about the simulator project?
MP: This is only a pilot project at the moment and Anthony
is working with the engineers to understand what areas of
a simulator are useful and to develop our understanding of
the pro’s and con’s of such a system.
Qu: How important do you think a simulator will be
in the future?
MP: With testing being limited more in the future, a simulator
becomes more and more important. But it is only a pilot programme
at the moment. Basically Anthony is experimenting with the
types of things that it may be useful and giving us feedback
as to whether he thinks it is accurate enough to deliver useful
data in the future. Interestingly, Fuji could be a good place
to prepare for using a simulator this year with not many of
the drivers having raced there.
Qu: What other developments do you have coming up?
MP: As we showed last year, we will try and match the rate
of development of the teams we are racing by bringing a multitude
of aero devices. After the upgrade to the new Honda gearbox
we were able to bring a new floor that optimizes the packaging
advantages it provides. There will be the normal wing packages
for Monza and a small high downforce upgrade for Hungary.
Qu: Do you have anything special for the European
Grand Prix, the next round of the 2007 Formula One World Championship
at the Nürburgring next week?
MP: As I said before, we will concentrate on getting through
to Q2 as this gives us the best chance to score more points,
or at least race with our direct competitors in order to maintain
our position in the Championship.
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