JULIE WILKINSON MOTORSPORT JOURNALISM AWARD - presented by Bridgestone/Firestone
Entry Number 1: Interview with Gerhard Berger
(Originally appeared in The Toronto Star Wheels section)
Carte Blanche
by
Jim Kenzie
Gerhard
Berger interview
What’s
with Austrians and Formula One racing?
I
mean, Austria is a little country, about eight million people, almost hidden
beneath Germany, the Colossus of Europe.
Yet
two of the most important people in Formula One are Austrian - Niki Lauda at
Jaguar and Gerhard Berger, BMW’s Director of Motorsport.
(OK,
Berger’s F1 responsibilities are shared by BMW’s Technical Director Mario
Theissen and team owner/manager Sir Frank Williams.)
I
had a chance to chat with Berger during the off-season, and while I’m a bit
late getting this to you, his comments still resonate on the eve of the 2002
Canadian Grand Prix.
Berger
was a late-comer to racing. It wasn’t quite “the first race he ever went to,
he won’‘, but it wasn’t far off either.
“I
can’t really remember my first car, but I was probably 14. I’d buy them, fix
them up, and sell them to make money.
“One
day when I was about 19 I bought an Alfasud, which had been prepared for a
showroom-stock racing series in Austria. It didn’t have an engine, so I found
one and got the car running. Someone suggested I give racing a try, and it went
pretty well.
“We
won the championship the next year. The local Alfa dealer also ran a Formula
Three team. He said he’d give me engines if I bought a car. So we tried that,
and a couple of years later won the German championship.’‘
Berger
also raced in the European Touring Car championship in a BMW 635CSi, an
almost-spooky precursor to his long association with BMW.
The
back-marker ATS Formula One team, which began when a German industrialist bought
the remains of Roger Penske’s squad in 1976, offered Berger a ride for 1984.
Ironically, they also used BMW engines; Berger finished sixth in just his second
Grand Prix.
So,
hardly the karting-from-age-six trajectory of most modern F1 drivers?
“No.
But it seemed to work for me!’‘
His
was a good if not legendary career - 10 wins, 12 poles and 21 fastest laps in
210 races over 14 seasons, often partnering with such demi-gods as Alain Prost
and Ayrton Senna. His highest championship finish was third with Ferrari in
1994.
We
tend to think of Teutonic guys as being dour. Not Berger - he was the ultimate
party animal.
“If
I had partied less on Saturday, I might have won more on Sunday!’‘
Berger
had a particularly close relationship with the enigmatic Senna. In one famous
incident, Berger tossed Senna’s briefcase out the window of a helicopter...
“He
taught me a lot about our sport; I taught him to laugh...
“There’s
so much more money involved today, it’s difficult if you go over the top like
Eddie Irvine does sometimes. It’s a pity because it was really good fun!’‘
How
did he get his current position?
“Bernd
Pischetsrieder [now chairman of Volkswagen, then-chairman of BMW] wanted a
strong motorsport division. He contacted me while I was still driving for
Ferrari. It took me half a year to say yes. A lot of people were surprised I got
this job.’‘
Maybe
behind this fun-loving racing driver, Pischetsrieder saw an astute businessman?
“Maybe
he was looking for more parties!
“
My friends were laughing at me, about how I put myself into a big pile of shit.
‘How are you going to get a big manufacturer to work the way a racing team has
to work?’
“I
didn’t feel good about it because I know how different the two worlds are.
“Our
first project was the Le Mans car in 1999 [which BMW won in its first and only
crack]. I didn’t have any Le Mans experience, and I can’t take much credit
for the success, but it proved we had a strong team.
“Everybody
was there - Audi, Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes. I remember they didn’t take us
seriously, and when we went quick on the first testing day, they said, ‘Well,
wait until Mercedes runs with full tanks’.
“Well,
we were still quick, and we won the race.’‘
Did
you learn anything on the technical side that helped the Formula One project?
“No.
Toyota was the quickest car, but they had an automatic gearbox, a lot of
technology. We decided to go with a simple car, a normal gearbox. Audi said they
could change a gearbox is seven minutes. Toyota said they could do it in five.
We said we’d need half an hour but we don’t want to change the gearbox at
all!
“We
tried to make a very light car, a real racing car, a go-kart for 24 hours.
Williams was a big help [with the chassis]; aerodynamically it was all right.
“We
had a fantastic operation, the shortest pit stops, no mistakes.
“It
was more race craft, team building, rather than technical advancements that won
it for us, and some of that carried over into the Formula One team.’‘
There
are romantic stories told about an underground group of BMW engineers who kept
building F1 engines in their basements to keep abreast of the technology while
BMW wasn’t formally involved in the sport.
Berger
admits they were never totally out of it, but that effort didn’t really play a
major role in their initial successes.
“In
the old days of John Barnard [ex-Ferrari] or Gordon Murray [ex-Williams], you
had one ‘star’. Now it’s more a group of people working together, with the
right resources, the right budget.
“The
first idea was to go to the competitors, find out who the good guys are, and
hire them out. Then we said that will just put us back in the shit again because
if we can hire them away, the next team like Toyota comes along and hires our
guys away again’‘ - which is exactly what Toyota has done.
“We
had to find a new way. Engine building is physics, and BMW already has the
highest standards of engineering, so we said, ‘Let’s find good guys within
BMW’.
“Our
engine development is done in Munich, not in England, where most Formula One
engineering takes place. We think this is an advantage for us. Our people are
BMW people. They are here not just for the money. They live here, they feel
close to the brand, and won’t run away at the first better offer.
“Our
biggest strength today is we build the engines in-house. We have our own
foundry, our own machine shop, our own completion centre. We use the whole
knowledge of BMW.’‘
The
BMW engine is reputed to be the most powerful in the field. The 2000 engine was
quick right out of the box, the 2001 was even better - and it was a completely
new engine.
“BMW
knows a bit about engines...’‘ Berger says with a grin.
“The
deal with Williams was done before I arrived. We work well together, we are both
technically oriented.
“So
we are with a strong team with a strong engine.’‘
And
two strong drivers, in Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya.
“I
think it is the best pairing on the grid. Both are 24 - 25 years old, both very
competitive. They may not be best of friends off the track, but they work well
together on the team.’‘
Team
- that word comes up all the time.
“And
by luck, one is a German and one is South American.’‘
There
was no pressure from BMW to have a German driver?
“Not
at all. In this business, if he’s Chinese and he goes quicker, you pick the
Chinese!’‘
You
actually have three good drivers, with Jensen Button currently on loan to
Renault.
“I
had the feeling we had something special there [with Button]. He did a great job
for us in 2000, but he’s still young, he needs to grow up, another two years
to see how he develops.
“Juan
Pablo was on contract with Frank already and we would have lost him if we
didn’t sign him. I know Juan Pablo from Formula 3000, and I remember him as
somebody special.’‘
So
a decision may have to be made down the road?
“It’s
a nice problem!’‘
Everyone
seems to have picked Montoya as the heir-apparent to Schumacher-the-Elder.
“Montoya
is very quick, has great car control. But I actually think that Ralf might have
more pure speed even than Michael.’‘
Is
Montoya rougher on the cars?
“Not
at all. There have been some technical failures, some driving errors, but
there’s no real reason behind it.’‘
At
this writing (prior to the Monaco Grand Prix), Montoya sits second in the
driver’s championship, orders of magnitude behind Michael but only three
points ahead of Ralf.
How
much difference can a driver make? After all, not even Michael could strap a
Minardi onto his back and win a race.
“I’m
not sure! [A driver’s effect] is enormous. Every race, every time, Michael is
just there. He has the race won already before it starts. He knows the game.
“Michael
is so hard to beat because he doesn’t give you any openings, there are no weak
points you can attack. He may not be the very best in every area, but he is
very, very good in every area. He is absolutely the fittest driver out there, he
works harder than anybody, he motivates his team to do their very best.
“He
also has a particular form of intelligence that lets him get the absolute utmost
from the car’s technology. He knows how to make it work for him, where some
drivers seem to fight it.
“He
makes one or two mistakes, but he doesn’t crash much and he doesn’t break
the machinery.
“No
doubt he also has the best car right now, but then he attracts people like Ross
Braun and Rory Byrne, who can make a great car.’‘
Same
with his team.
“Ferrari
might not be best at everything - maybe McLaren has better aerodynamics, maybe
we have a better engine. But they are strong everywhere.’‘
Berger’s
comments on other drivers:
“Jacques
Villeneuve is a strong talent, a strong personality. I don’t understand at all
why he kept going in this direction [staying with BAR]. After one year it was
clear that it wasn’t going forward in a way that could deliver what he needs.
“Three
years ago I would have bet all my money he was going to McLaren, it would have
been perfect for him. Now it is getting dangerous for him to get into a routine
[of not winning]. “Three years ago he would have been every team’s first
choice. Now, they might go for a talented young guy - lately I see him giving
up. I think he’s wasting the best years of his career.’‘
Finnish
wunderkind Kimi Raikkonen, who has taken former World Champion Mika Hakkinen’s
seat at McLaren?
“There’s
a big difference driving for a middle-class team [like Raikkonen’s former
Sauber team] and a top team. Heinz-Harald Frentzen for example cannot cope with
the pressure of being in a top team. In a middle-class team there’s more of a
family atmosphere. But what I have seen of Raikkonen so far I think he’ll be
quite good.’‘
Can
Hakkinen come back after a sabbatical?
“I
think he can - he’s not that old. It’ll be interesting to see what happens
with the three of them [McLaren’s team leader David Coulthard, Raikkonen and
Hakkinen].’‘
Any
Americans on the horizon?
“Jeff
Gordon [perennial NASCAR champion] seems to be very good, but it’s difficult
for an American to spend the time necessary in Europe to develop.’‘
Are
you ever tempted to “pull a Lauda’‘ and get into a current F1 car yourself
to see what it’s like? You did a drive in one of your old McLaren-Hondas a
while ago.
“No.
You have to be on the limit to have any fun, and you can’t get there [if
you’re not in shape] so it doesn’t prove anything. If you’re unlucky then
you break your legs!’‘
What
about Formula One in general - is it a better or worse show than the old days?
“In
general, you always have had three or four boring races, four or five normal
races and a few really big races. Today is no different.
“Today’s
aerodynamics make it difficult to overtake. If you have a long straight like at
Indianapolis, you get can more passing.
“Tracks
like Spa and Suzuka are drivers’ favourites for the challenge.’‘
What
can be done to make Formula One more exciting?
He
makes a typical Bergerian analogy in pointing out the ever-rising attendance and
TV figures for the series.
“Well,
it’s like a dance hall. If it’s full every night and the girls are ugly,
you’re not going to change the girls. If nobody comes, then you’ll change
the girls!’‘
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