EXCLUSIVE: Q+A Franck Montagny
Franck Montagny, the test- and reserve driver of the Super Aguri Formula One Team, who drove 7 races this season, took the time for an exclusive interview with F1Technical. About his future, the Frenchman keeps his lips sealed, but on the other questions we had for him, Franck has crafty answers.
"There are always rumours, you can't say it's true, you can't say it's wrong, but it's just rumour, people talking in Formula One. You get used to that."
Now let's go back to the beginning of your F1 career. After some trouble in F3000 you managed to win Formula Nissan twice. Do you miss that success or does it not matter to you?"It's always nice to win, but it's in the past. It's good to win for sure an international championship against Formula One drivers like Bernoldi, Zonta, Gene and some others but this is not now, so I don't care so much."
You started in F1 as third driver with the Renault F1 Team. Can you tell us something about your time there?
"It was good. It was my beginning in a Formula One team and we won the world title so it was obviously very good."
Do you have the feeling that the success of Renault last season was partly your success as well as you tested the car for such a long time, giving data to engineers to improve the car?"I was the test driver, I covered more than 50,000 km in 2 years so for sure yes, I was part of the team and part of the victory."
How does it feel to move from a team that has been years in F1 to a rookie team like Super Aguri?"Well at the end of 2005 I was hoping for a race seat and unfortunately I couldn't find one. Renault told me that they would help me to do so but, at the end I didn't find anything. So it was a bit disappointing because I potentially had no drive at the beginning of this season so it was really good to be back in Formula One thanks to Super Aguri. And after some races I could be a race driver so it was really good."
Looking backwards on that switch, how much difference is there for you between a Michelin tyre and a Bridgestone tyre?"Well it's really difficult to say because the cars have changed so much from last year. It is not the same engine, it is not the same car, you use now several new tyres and not only one and also the V8 engine, so it's too hard to compare."
You drove 7 races this season. Was there one that was a high for you?"Obviously it was Magny-Cours because I think it was the best weekend we had and one of the best for Super Aguri and to be in front of my home crowd. "
At Turkey you were in the SA06. How is the new car? What is the biggest difference you experience driving the new car and the old car?"Well the SA06 and the SA05 are obviously very, very different. We had some problems during the first sessions and we couldn't test so much. The only thing I can say for sure is that it's a big improvement. We could not change some things on the SA05 because the car was too old and reacted in certain ways, but now we have the possibility to work on the new car so for sure it's really different."
Who will according to you become World Champion this season? Alonso or Schumacher?"One of them."
Just recently the FIA banned the mass dampers, an innovation used and approved last year already. What is your opinion on the FIA banning this device now in a decisive stage of the championship?"Well the FIA fix the rules, and if they fix the rules they can unfix the rules. It is not my job to think about that. I've got my opinion but I don't think it's important to say much about it."
What is your opinion about the upcoming engine freeze? Might it be beneficial for your team?"I think it is. I think there is a lot of money in Formula One and that is why there is so much difference between the teams, so maybe if you reduce a little bit all those costs, maybe you're going to see a little bit more fight on the circuit, so maybe it's going to be good for my team and for Formula One in general."
