FIA press conference - Imola (Thursday)

All the teams are preparing for the San Marino Grand Prix this weekend, but Vitantonio Liuzzi (Toro Rosso), Nico Rosberg (Williams), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and Jarno Trulli (Toyota) found the time to answer the questions on the Thursday FIA press conference.

Nico Rosberg: "I think it’s going to help me, for sure. Just coming here often makes you more comfortable, you know what’s awaiting you, you can go out and you can push straight away, you don’t have to find your way around for the first few laps. So I think that’s going to be a bit of a help for me, for sure."

"Yeah. We’ve worked flat out on the reliability, especially in the factory and also in testing and everything. I think we’ve made some good progress but in the end, we are just going to have to wait and see if we last the race."

"I’ve had a bit of relaxation, actually. I had a nice Easter with the family and everything. It was very nice. It was good to get away from racing also for a couple of days."

"Ah, for sure, now, ready, on it, I feel good and really looking forward to this weekend."

Vitantonio Liuzzi: "It’s not big enough, I think, we can make it better! No, compared to last year it’s a big improvement but now there are two families living in it so maybe the one from last year was a bit small. I think Red Bull have shown again how strong they are in this kind of job and they did really good things with the big motorhome, the big tree house for the engineers. I think we have got a lot of space to play with."

"Both."

"I was really happy because I tested a V8 engine for the first time and I definitely saw the technical difference between the two, and I was really impressed by the difference and how to utilise the two engines. The Red Bull car was pretty interesting because it was quite a big step into the ex-RB1. They did a really good job and the car is really good. Regarding the engine, I think the V8 is different, it has got a really short range of torque but in the areas where it works I think it is really strong, so I don’t think that, as many reports said, that the V10 can be an advantage because I felt the V8 was really strong in that range. For sure, it is a little bit different in the bottom slower corners but after, when you pick up the right revs, I have to say that it has big power. So I was pretty impressed about the car, especially because I think the team did a really good job developing the RB2 and now I think they will soon be getting the results they deserve."

"Yeah, he’s doing a good job, I think. He’s a rookie and he can be quick in qualifying, especially he can make some good laps. But he needs to work a little bit on the consistency but in Formula One you don’t get into it in a few races, you need to learn experience and cover kilometres so I think he’s doing some good performances but for sure he’s still got a lot to learn."

Jarno Trulli: "Slowly, but yes. I’m actually still recovering but I feel much better now."

"Yeah, effectively it was imbalance if I could keep my ears open. As soon as I could close them, it was OK so I spent most of my time with my ears closed, so I couldn’t hear much but I was well balanced and I was actually feeling better."

"Yeah, I have felt OK for the last week. I’ve been taking some specific antibiotics which only affect the ears and now it’s definitely a good step."

"It was definitely a good boost for the team because after a slow start at the beginning, we needed a bit of a result and now the results are coming and we are definitely moving forwards because Ralf’s podium showed that the performance can be reached during a test weekend. And during the last (test) session at Barcelona I showed very good performance, always topping the time (sheets) and this is definitely giving the team a good boost."

"Yeah, this is part of Formula One: people coming and people going and that’s what happened with Mike."

"At the moment, no. He hasn’t really been replaced because Pascal Vasselon has replaced him for the moment before they take a long term decision but in the end, there were a lot of people working behind Mike who have done great things for the team. But anyway, he has also created a lot of people around him, helping him do his job, so at the moment the situation is under control."

Michael Schumacher: "Yeah, I’m not sure what it was worth last year. It’s important to see what we can do this year, and the more information we have, we believe pretty strongly that we can be very competitive here."

"Obviously we have a new engine spec which gives you extra performance. It doesn’t really matter whether this engine is then one or two races old because it is always planned to be for two races and should have equal performance for the first and the second race. So we’re pretty happy that we have been able to bring this engine here and yeah, it’s a step forward, but it was pretty much planned anyway to have it. It wasn’t planned to have it for here, in a way, because naturally we would have raced the same engine here as we did in Australia – but that’s the way it is."

"Not at all because the spec changes are pretty minimal. We can’t talk about big steps - not on the engine side anyway, so I don’t think it makes a big difference, plus, as I said, teams really should have an engine which is as good for the first as it is for the second race."

"We are developing one certainly, but when to use it? We don’t know. We know the worth of it but we don’t want to lose races over it."

"I think that if he believes in that, then great."

There’s been speculation on when you might make up your mind about next year. Have you got anything to add to what you’ve already said? "No."

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

MS: "I agree in that every race from now on is very important. We took our jokers already unfortunately at an early time of the year. From now on we have to make up ground for the points that we lost through problems at the first three races."

MS: "I’m pretty sure that once a decision is taken, we’ll inform everybody who is willing to listen. I haven’t set a specific day or time of the day to make my decision, honestly."

MS: "Basically, the change of one chicane and therefore two kerbs was known to all of us who wanted to listen. As I said, it’s one corner with two kerbs. All the other kerbs are still there."

MS: "Variante Alta."

MS: "It is always good to have good result, but it won’t break us, whatever happens here. There have been people putting words in my mouth that this is a crucial race but it’s not. It’s an important race, but not a crucial one, and whatever happens will happen. We trust in our people and our package and it’s time to stop talking about it – it’s time to show it."

MS: "We made a step forward on the car, so it will be interesting to see who made the biggest one."

MS: "Not really. It would be nice if you do so, but everybody has different priorities and other characters and I believe nothing matters as long as you enjoy it. I always enjoy winning races to losing them."

MS: "Mixed. Very mixed. Honestly there were some very frustrating races, which were not good, and some enjoyable and interesting races – and not necessarily the ones where I finished on the podium. Take Monte Carlo. I really enjoyed that race – I had fun."