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Question:
BEFORE YOUR SEASON WAS
INTERRUPTED, YOU HAD SUCH A GOOD SEASON GOING. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU FEEL YOU
CAN GAIN FROM GETTING BACK IN THE CAR FOR THESE LAST THREE RACES?
WHAT CAN YOU ACCOMPLISH THAT WILL HELP YOU IN THE FUTURE, WORK TOWARD NEXT YEAR?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Well, definitely this first race is not going to be very easy for me. But I
still think that we can finish in the top-five in the series and still
finish up the season with three very strong races and hopefully that is
going to put me in good shape for next year. But, I am very confident and
the fact that I missed out a little bit definitely is not going to help me.
But I am still very confident and I think that we can be strong in the last
three races.
Question:
I AM GLAD TO HEAR YOU ARE GOING TO BE BACK, CHRISTIAN. DID YOU GIVE ANY
THOUGHT AT ALL TO MAYBE JUST SITTING OUT THE REST OF THE YEAR AND MAKING
SURE EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT AND JUST STARTING FRESH NEXT YEAR, OR WAS IT
REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU GET BACK, IF EVEN FOR ONLY A COUPLE OF RACES?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Well, I think it was very important for me to be back in the car when I was
ready to be back in the car. By no means are we really pushing the issue
here. We waited enough and I am ready to go back in the car. If I was ready
in time to still do three of them that are what I would have done. If not,
if that wasn't the case, I would have waited until like the beginning of
next year. But happily enough, for me, it is not really the case."
Question:
FIRST OF ALL, HOW DO YOU FEEL PHYSICALLY? OBVIOUSLY YOU MUST FEEL PRETTY
GOOD RUNNING THE TRIATHLON BUT I KNOW YOU HAVE HAD SOME HEADACHES. ARE ALL
THOSE GONE NOW? DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE 100% PHYSICALLY?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"I wouldn't say I am
100-percent physically because when you are losing out on driving, no matter
how much you do on the other side, it is never the same as driving. I think
that I am in pretty good shape, but maybe not 100-percent. The head
definitely doesn't have any problem. I don't have anymore headaches and I am
not seeing double or any of that. All of that was really a bad problem for
me on the first two weeks and then it really got better, better, and better
and I haven't had any headaches now for the past three to four weeks."
Question:
I KNOW YOU ARE ON THE SAFETY COMMITTEE FOR THE DRIVERS AND WITH THE TRAGEDY
THAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK - YOU HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN TWO PRETTY SERIOUS
ACCIDENTS YOURSELF - IT COMES UP AGAIN HOW SAFE ARE THE CARS? HOW SAFE ARE
THE CIRCUITS? WHAT IS YOUR REPLY TO THAT AS FAR AS THE SAFETY GOES OF RACING
IN GENERAL?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"I think racing in general is really, really safe nowadays.
Especially if you compare it to like 20 years ago or 25 years ago. How safe
are the cars? How safe are the tracks? They are never too safe. There is
never going to be a point where either the tracks or the cars are over-safe.
The only thing that we have to work on is to make them safer and safer every
time we can to avoid what happened two weeks ago. We can't wait for us to
start reacting and we need to try and make everything, not only the tracks,
but also the cars, safer. I would not say every time we go out there, but as
much as we can and we have to strive for that and I think that is going to
make a very big difference in the sport. But coming back to the first part
of your question, if you compare it to about 30 years ago, or 25 years ago,
there is no doubt that the sport that we do nowadays is like, I would say,
almost up to 100 times safer than it was."
Question:
DESCRIBE IF YOU WILL, YOUR EMOTIONS COMING INTO THIS RACE AND COMING BACK
FROM THE INJURY.
Christian Fittipaldi:
"I don't know what to say. That is a good question. But I
am happy because finally my holiday is finished and I can go back to work. I
was starting to get a little bit bored, to be quite honest with you. I am
happy to be a part of the next race and, as I said before, I think there are
still a few more races to go and we can finish up the season on a high note
and really get revved up for the next year. Bob (Moreno) did a great job
when I was out and I think both myself and the whole team are very happy and
hopefully we can go well."
Question:
IS THERE FRUSTRATION ON YOUR PART KNOWING THAT THERE YOU WERE, WINNING AT
ELKHART AND IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE REALLY GOING TO CONTEND FOR THE TITLE?
DO YOU FEEL FRUSTRATION IN NOT BEING ABLE TO?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Well, I can't say that I am
happy. But what can you do? I am a happier person being over here talking to
you and knowing that everything is normal than actually trying to go for the
title and then something worse happens down the road. So I am a happier
person talking to you here without the title, that you can be sure. But, by
no means, that is definitely my goal. I am still going to fight for that and
I know it won't happen anymore this year, but we will see what is going to
happen next year. But going back to the beginning of your question, I was
upset. Especially in the first couple of days, there is no doubt about it.
When it started sinking in that I was going to lose so many races and I know
it is already very competitive when you don't lose any race and I knew that
the fact that I was going to lose so many races, it was all over for me."
Question:
WHILE YOU WERE AWAY, ERNIE IRVAN HAD A CRASH IN WINSTON CUP AND ANNOUNCED
HIS RETIREMENT. HOW MUCH DID YOU LOOK AT THAT? AND IF YOU DID, DID YOUR MIND
WANDER AND COULD YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ERNIE WAS GOING THROUGH?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"I can
understand what Ernie is going through because obviously he is a great
driver. He is a little bit older than I am. He has been doing motor racing
at that level for a long time. So maybe he fulfilled his racing ambitions
and that is why really he decided to stop. Unfortunately this hasn't --
unfortunately not or -- fortunately or unfortunately, depends how you look
at it, this hasn't come through my mind yet and I haven't fulfilled my
dreams yet. The motivation is still deep inside me and very, very strong. So
I have to continue racing. On the other hand, someone came out with some
rumors, and I got some phone calls even from San Paolo, Brazil saying that I
was going to retire. And I want to keep something very, very clear, the day
that I retire you are going to hear from me. But they are going to hear it
from my mouth and not from what other people say out there. By no means I
never thought of really stopping."
Question:
FOR YOU AND MICHAEL, BEING THAT YOU GUYS HAD SUCH BAD LUCK IN HOUSTON LAST
YEAR, IS THERE SOME EXTRA MOTIVATION COMING TO HOUSTON; ESPECIALLY WITH THE
RACE BEING THE TITLE SPONSOR OF YOUR TEAM TO DO A LOT BETTER THAN THE
MISFORTUNE YOU GUYS HAD HERE LAST YEAR?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Well, definitely the Texaco cars
didn't have a great showing last year. We were both out of the race in like
a lap and a half. It was almost a joke. We are highly motivated to change it
exactly to the opposite way this year. There is no doubt about it. It is
very important race for us and it is really important for myself also
because I am coming back and it is our great sponsor and so it is going to
be very important for us to finish the race and finish very, very well. But
going back to your question, definitely last year wasn't very impressive at
all like the track was great and unfortunately we had a lot of rain when it
came down to the race, but when it came down to race time, as far as
team-wise is concerned, like the performance wasn't very impressive.
Question:
WITH YOU COMING BACK INTO THE COCKPIT, TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU
ARE GOING TO BE TRYING TO DO IN THE CAR THAT FIRST PRACTICE SESSION, ONCE
YOU GET TO TOWN, SHAKING DOWN THE CAR, BUT THEN KIND OF SHAKING YOUR COBWEBS
LOOSE TOO?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Yeah, as I say, taking the webs out of my body and coming back
into working mode and going out nice and steady, but competitive all the
time. I think the team has a very good car on that type of a circuit, so, I
think that it will slowly come, building up, and maybe the first practice we
won't set the whole world on fire but we should get better and better
throughout the whole weekend. As long as I go better throughout the whole
weekend I am going to be very happy."
Question:
WHERE DID YOU TEST BEFORE THE DOCTORS OKAYED YOU THIS WEEK?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"I ran yesterday
at Sebring."
Question:
EVERYTHING OBVIOUSLY WENT PRETTY WELL?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"Yeah, everything went okay. We ran
in the wet because it was raining a lot, but everything went okay."
Question:
THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF ATHLETES OVER THE YEARS THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO
WALK AWAY FROM THEIR CAREERS DUE TO HEAD INJURIES AND HAVING SEVERAL. YOU
HAVE HAD TWO CONCUSSIONS IN THE CAR, AND BOTH OF THEM WERE REASONABLY
SEVERE. HAS THAT PUT THE FEAR INTO YOU THAT ONE MORE HEAD INJURY COULD BE
THE END OF YOUR CAREER? DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY YOU APPROACH ANYTHING?
Christian Fittipaldi:
"I
think the end of my career, or the end of anyone's career, comes when you
think you are not motivated to drive anymore. But, as long as you can
get the job done I don't really think that way. Maybe it is going to be next
year or fifteen years from now I really don't know. But when I hop into the
car and don't feel anything anymore, I am going to stop driving that day. I
don't have to drive because of other people. I drive for myself and I love
what I do. As far as getting involved in accidents and eventually getting
involved in small incidents there is obviously a big concern for all of the
drivers. No one is out there to get hurt. We all try to practice our sport
the best possible way we can. As far as fear is concerned, I don't think
there is one driver out there that doesn't have a little bit of fear.
Everyone has fear because if you don't, you can't drive the car to the
limit. You would never know when to stop, or when to brake, or how quick is
too quick. Sometimes when you forget about the fear you sort of overdrive
the car and that can put you in a complicated situation."
Question:
WHERE DO YOU STAND NOW THAT
CHRISTIAN IS COMING BACK? DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER RIDE LINED UP?
Roberto Moreno:
"At this point
it is too late to get a drive for the weekend. There is a possibility for
the next couple of races after that though, but I don't want to mention too
much about that. What I can say is that I am available and ready to drive
anything that is out there."
Question:
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GO FROM CAR TO CAR LIKE YOU HAVE DONE THIS YEAR AND
BE SUCCESSFUL? IT SEEMS LIKE -- I KNOW THERE ARE A LOT OF VARIATIONS BETWEEN
TEAMS AND BETWEEN CARS AND YET YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT PRETTY
SUCCESSFULLY.
Roberto Moreno:
"Well, it is extremely difficult and very challenging because
you always have to fit into a situation that is out there. It might not be
the ideal for you and might not be the ideal for the team sometimes. You
just have to make it work. So you come in with the attitude to make it work
and you get to know the engineers the best as you can; try to assimilate
their needs and that is the way you fit in best, when you understand the
needs of the team and apply your knowledge to their needs. That is what I
have been able to do. I must say the two teams that I have substituted this
year, PacWest and Newman-Haas, they made my life very easy because they were
ready for me; especially Newman-Haas because I raced with them in the past.
I know all the engineers there. I should say I knew them from the past."
Question:
YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT JUST A MOMENT AGO ABOUT THE SITUATION THAT WOULD BE
BEST OR MOST ADVANTAGEOUS FOR YOU. CAN YOU DESCRIBE A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT
THAT WOULD BE? IS IT A ONE-CAR TEAM, TWO-CAR TEAM OR YOU AS THE NO. 1
DRIVER?
Roberto Moreno:
"Well, what I am referring to is starting the season working on
testing and preparing yourself with a package, whether there is a one-car
team or two-car team. You prepare yourself and you develop the setup of the
car early enough before the season starts so you have a good baseline of the
car, engine package, and tire package that you have and your relationship
with the engineers. So it is very important, it works both ways, the
engineer to know how the driver works and for the driver to know how the
engineer works. That relationship needs to meld into place so you get good
results. This is what I am referring to and it is very important to do the
off-season testing and develop yourself so when you go to the races and
something is wrong on that day you already know how to go back and what to
change to achieve the best result. That is what has been missing on me on
being a substitute. But I didn't have any other choice. I didn't plan to be
a substitute ever. I always been chasing a position in this country to
establish myself as a quick driver and what this has done for me this year
is to achieve that actually."
Question:
OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE DONE BETTER OR POSTED BETTER RESULTS WITH NEWMAN-HAAS
THAN YOU HAD WITH PAC WEST. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO?
Roberto Moreno:
"I think a couple
of things. Myself, developing on the process that the other drivers have
developed themselves through tests both during the off-season and the tests
before the races is hard. I have to do that during the races. Each time you
drive, it is like an airplane, you become better and so half of that I
attribute to developing myself and half of it too jumping into a team that
was already winning races this year and just sort of fitting into a very
competitive situation."
Question:
I KEEP SEEING THIS MENTAL PICTURE OF YOU STANDING AT PIT LANE IN HOUSTON
HOLDING UP A SIGN THAT SAYS "WILL RACE FOR FOOD.
Roberto Moreno:
"Well, I actually get sad
when I hear something like that because it is not my intention. I think this
year I have achieved a level of competitiveness and I hope that will
generate myself a full-time drive. I don't have to hold any signs like that
and it is something that I will be in Houston because as a backup situation
just in case. But if the time -- if I had more time before this decision I
would probably be driving for another team."
Question:
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PRESSURES THAT YOU HAD BEING A SUBSTITUTE? DID YOU
FEEL THAT REALLY YOU DIDN'T HAVE A WHOLE LOT TO LOSE OR YOU COULD DRIVE WITH
A LITTLE MORE FREEDOM THEN YOU MIGHT WITH A TEAM WHERE YOU HAVE GOT A
WEEK-IN, WEEK-OUT PRESSURE OF TRYING TO DEVELOP A CAR?
Roberto Moreno:
"Well, imagine
yourself in the situation. You need to put yourself into my situation a
little bit to understand that. Imagine somebody that came to the U.S.A. in
1996 and was able to do a full-season to learn the racetracks, but not with
a very competitive team. Since then, that person has been chasing a
full-time drive with a competitive team. When you get the opportunity you
don't realize, you try to make the most of it every time because you know it
is going to be for a very short time and you have got to perform in that
time. But the challenge of it is because you -- everything is against you.
And a driver, when he goes racing, he wants to win every race, at least I do
anyhow. You try to make the best out of the situation to achieve that.
Sometimes I might not show it from the outside because everybody thinks I am
a smiling person here and there, but inside, I always perform to my best. I
always had a handicap against me facing situations that other drivers have
-- had more testing and more knowledge before they got there.
A clear example of that is how I performed so well at Chicago when nobody
else tested there straight out of the box. In other places I didn't have
that situation and I had a bigger handicap. So to answer your question, I
always try my best and I always will. I have an energy that motivates me
inside because I don't do anything else in life and I am still looking for
the break to succeed in this country."
Question:
SO IF YOU GET A FULL-TIME RIDE NEXT YEAR WE CAN EXPECT YOU TO BE UP FRONT
EVERY WEEK?
Roberto Moreno:
"Well, I am going to certainly work in every way I can in every
way to achieve that. I also work very hard to try to understand the
engineering side of things so I can share with the engineer his thoughts and
my thoughts and we work like, where I am not driving a little bit, of a help
in a way of developing."
Question:
YOU CERTAINLY HAVE ENCOURAGEMENT TO ALL OF THOSE OF US WHO ARE A LITTLE BIT
OLDER WHO SEE ALL THE YOUNG BUCKS COMING UP, NICE TO SEE YOU DOING SO WELL.
Roberto Moreno:
"You see Old is not in my dictionary. And it is just -- I look at life you
know, the next step, what do I have to do. The best thing in my life is my
wife takes care of my two daughters very well. I don't have to worry about
them when I leave the house, and I just forget about them and I just get on
with the racing."
Question:
YOU HAVE DRIVEN IN THE IRL AND NOW YOU HAVE DRIVEN IN THE CART SERIES, OF
COURSE. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT THESE TWO MACHINES ARE
AS WE CONTINUE TO HEAR TALKS ABOUT REUNIFICATION AND SO FORTH, JUST HOW
DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT ARE THESE MACHINES?
Roberto Moreno:
"One machine, this year anyhow,
could only drive in oval courses to start because the gearbox wasn't really
ready to do any road courses on the IRL. That will change next year, I
believe. But that was one thing that was a big difference. Also if you are
talking about just oval racing, in IRL you just keep your momentum going in
the lap. The power range is much different and lower than the CART cars and
it hasn't got the turbo that kicks in. The power range and how it kicks in,
it is very different. The gearbox is very different because, one, you have
to select each gear - I don't know how to say - the other one is a
sequential gearbox. On the CART car you are always trying to use the power
to the best of your ability. I mean, you set up the car thinking about how
much power you can put onto the ground. On the IRL you try to build momentum
to go fast. That is the two biggest differences."
Question:
LET ME ASK YOU SINCE YOU HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO DRIVE DIFFERENT CHASSIS IN THE
CART SERIES, A LOT OF PEOPLE, OTHER THAN NEWMAN-HAAS, HAD A LOT OF PROBLEMS
SETTING UP THE SWIFT CHASSIS. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE SWIFT CHASSIS
AND YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH IT AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU WERE RUNNING WITH PAC
WEST?
Roberto Moreno:
"They are different. One sets up -- I can't go into details too much,
but one sets up easier than the other, but they both can perform the same
level in my opinion. That is basically it. One you have to worry a little
bit more about the aero package. The other one the mechanical package is
very important. So it is a tradeoff and once you discover each of them, you
go fast. You take, for example, some teams that have Reynard chassis that
until they find the trick that makes the car go fast, they are in the back
of the grid. Then same thing happens with Swift guys and the guys that found
the trick were up front. It is just a matter of finding the key for each
chassis. But I do say one is easier to find than the other one."
Question:
IT OCCURS TO ME THAT THE LAST TIME WE DID YOU ON A CALL WE THOUGHT YOU WERE
FINISHED FOR A WHILE JUST PRIOR TO THE ROAD AMERICA EVENT WHEN WE THOUGHT
MARK BLUNDELL WOULD BE BACK, BUT AS IT TURNS OUT YOU HAVE NOT MISSED A RACE
AND HOPEFULLY YOU WON'T MISS ANOTHER ONE THE REST OF THE SEASON. WE ENJOY
HAVING YOU IN THE SERIES AND WE HOPE YOU WILL STICK AROUND.
Roberto Moreno:
"I hope god
listens to you and I get another chance somehow; not to the expense of
somebody getting injured, but I really hope I can continue. If not, I have
got to thank you very, very much, both teams I drove for in the cart series,
because it has been a tremendous opportunity for me and has developed my
career further. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank
Christian, and wish him all the best for the next races and if he ever needs
me for anything, I will be there for him. Not just for driving, but even to
help him, you know, continue his performance in the team."
Interview provided by Ford Motorsports
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