DEREK WARWICK INTERVIEW

24SE7EN MAGAZINE (JERSEY)

APRIL 2004

Many thanks to Matt Pomroy of 24SE7EN Magazine, for allowing me to publish this interview with Derek. Matt recently interviewed Derek at Brands Hatch, where he was supporting a young F3 driver, James Walker. This interview was published in 24SE7EN magazine, in Jersey, on 8 April 2004 and, as ever, Derek offers some forthright views on the world of formula one in 2004!

WARWICK ON…TECHNICAL CHANGES TO CAR

Formula 1 still needs to bring the emphasis back to the driver. We need to do without traction control although they’ve stopped launch control, they still really got launch control it in a different way. People like Renault have still got a kind of manual launch control, we’ve still got traction control. There’s only two pedals to push on down in the cockpit because there’s a hand clutch. It’s virtually automatic because it’s just the flick of a button and I think that all those things just take away the natural aptitude of guys being great drivers and we’ve just got a lot of manufactured computer wizzkids out there.

WARWICK ON…DRIVERS

We haven’t got anybody that’s a character that we can get behind, we’ve got nobody who is really controversial, which Formula 1 needs, and I think it’s disappointing. Everyone rants and raves about drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and although he’s got enormous ability, it’s controlled in the wrong way so therefore, he’s never really grown up. There’s a lot of spoilt-kid syndrome out there. They’re all superstar race drivers that are all quite young and haven’t got any real depth about them - it’s a shame. I don’t like the way it’s gone with its rules, regulations, qualifying and structure, but it’s also a bit of a shame when you look at some of drivers we have.

WARWICK ON…BERNIE ECCLESTONE

“Formula 1 wouldn’t be what it is without Bernie Ecclestone. If you know him, and I raced for him for a year so I know him better than most, he’s still an enthusiast, he still loves his racing and he’s built it up to what it is. Not Frank Williams, not Ron Dennis, not Ferrari - it’s been Bernie Ecclestone. You have to remember that 10-15 years ago all the teams had a chance to be part of Bernie Ecclestone and they didn’t want to, they just wanted to run their team. Now that he’s made it into this big machine, they all want a piece of it and they’ve lost sight of what the agreement was a few years ago.

Has he taken too much out of it? Well, if you consider that he’s worth two or three billion, then possibly yes, but what’s he supposed to do? Remember he lost £250 in his TV company, so he does invest in Formula 1 and has made it what it is. It’s watched by millions of people all over the world because of him. I’d argue that he’s got what he deserves – a lot of money. Sure, he could give Minardi £50 million but do you honestly think that if Minardi had another £50 million they’d be any further up the grid? I don’t think so – it would just leather a lot of pockets.

WARWICK ON…WEALTH

Everyone says that Formula 1 is going though a tough time, but let’s not forget that there is not one team that doesn’t turn up in a private jet – including Eddie Jordan who always seems to be hard up for money. All these guys are multi, multi millionaires. Maybe they don’t need the $10 million motor homes and private Lear jets and maybe they should all come back to reality, because I think that Formula 1 has lost reality. It’s got so much money it doesn’t know what to do with it anymore.

I was told a story at Melbourne that McLaren has a Prat-Perch, which is where they watch the race from with the TV monitors and so on, and they’ve got three people employed, being paid all year round, to keep that system working. Three people?! What the hell’s that all about?!

WARWICK ON…THE LOSS OF TOBACCO ADVERTISING

I think it’s going to affect it quite a lot. We’ve even got Japan saying now that tobacco advertising should be removed or banned in motor racing. I’m from the old school and I’ve seen tobacco advertising there for a long time and it’s a part of Formula 1. If we start bringing all there regulations and laws in to ban freedom of speech and freedom of advertising then it’s absolute crap. I’ll make my own decisions, I know smoking kills. The whole world is going crazy at the moment and for people to ban tobacco advertising…c’mon, everybody get a life. Adverts are being banned but there’s more young kids smoking at the moment than I’ve ever seen. By making it anti-social it makes the young kids want to do it more. Banning advertising will hurt a lot of teams though: Ferrari, McLaren, Jordan, BAR, this is massive for Formula 1 and it will reduce a lot of budgets.

WARWICK ON…LACK OF OVERTAKING

People have to understand that unless there are fundamental changes on a Grand Prix car there will never be masses of overtaking. If you want to see lots of overtaking then go and watch British touring cars – it’s got the greatest overtaking manoeuvres in the world. But when you start putting a wing on a car – front wing, side wing etc - it’s almost impossible to create an overtaking manoeuvre. Everything in Formula 1 is data analysed, so a driver can keep on analysing his times and breaking and acceleration points with his team. If you used to have a deficiency you could guard that because it was in your cockpit but now it’s all logged and you can keep chipping and chipping away at these things and everyone is closer together. The commitment, professionalism and level of competitiveness is so great that everybody breaks at the same millimetre spot on the track and if they brake any later they’re going to go off the track anyway. It’s almost impossible and people have to realise that.

WARWICK ON…SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO SCHUMACHER IN THE NEAR FUTURE?

What Michael Schumacher has done is raised the bar for everyone for Formula 1. Because he’s so good, now every driver, right from karting drivers, realises that you have to understand computers and you have to be the fittest person out there.

Rubens Barrichello’s good, but he’s not good enough. People like Eddie Irvine, David Coulthard and Barrichello, they’re good drivers but they’re not great drivers. Great drivers come along very rarely – Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Fangio, Stirling Moss, and so on. If you look at the depth of the Formula 1 field today then it’s Schumacher at the top, then a next level of a couple of drivers that are getting close. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso are fantastic and very much heirs to the throne and they’re going to be here for another 10 years. Then you step down to the next level and you’ve got Jensen Button, Webber, Jarno Trulli, Barrichello and all those guys.

Raikkonen and Alonso are going to push Schumacher but not at the moment because they’re in the wrong cars. Yeah, Alonso’s got a Renault and it’s pretty good but it’s not as good as a Ferrari so we don’t yet know how good he really is. If he was Schumacher’s team mate then we would.

I get p***ed off when people say Schumacher’s a boring German and he’s got no character. He has got a lot of character and a lot of standards and works really hard. He’s the first person on the circuit and he’s the last person to leave and if people say that’s boring then OK, but don’t try and compete with him. If you want to be an Eddie Irvine and turn up five minutes before practise and then go out on your boat for the rest of the day then don’t expect to be as good as Schumacher. I’m not saying one’s right and the others wrong, but Schumacher’s out there on another level.

Interview published courtesy of Matt Pomroy and 24SE7EN magazine, April 2004.