# Dr Mario Theissen chat



## WAM (Jan 30, 2002)

Dr Mario Theissen on Wed Aug 13, on ITV-F1.com


ArchAnGeL: How do you view the 2003 season so far? How do you feel about the likelihood that both titles will go right down to the wire?

Dr Mario Theissen replies: It's certainly more interesting than last season. The championship is open. Juan Pablo is in the mirror of Michael in the drivers' championship so basically with four races to go it's certainly an exciting situation. Very much for the fans and for us as a team as well.

M3: In the early races the car ate up the rear tires and lost performance, has the development of the P83 played a role in correcting the tire wear? 

Not to a big extent, the main progress has been made on the chassis. We did some work on the traction control as well which should help but the main progress was made by Williams on the car side.

ArchAnGeL: BMW probably has the most powerful engine on the grid? What plans do you have in the way of improving the engine for 2004? 

We want to have the strongest engine again next year. The big challenge is to double engine life at the same time, that's why we've started to design next year's engine earlier. So far we are very well on schedule, the engine has been running already and we will certainly be able to put it in the car for rollout before the end of the season so we should have plenty of time to check it before the beginning of next season.

Tonyk: Mario, BMW are opposed to reducing engine capacity from the current 3 litres, why is that? 


We are not generally opposed to any changes on the engine side but we would prefer to see a combined approach. First step should be to identify the objectives which can be lap time, which can be cost reduction or maybe others, improved overtaking and as a second step come up with a set of measures on the car side and the engine side. This is what we would prefer.

ArchAnGeL: There has been a lot of debate regarding traction & launch control vs more driver control. Which side of the fence are you in?

On both sides. As an engineer personally it's a challenge to develop traction control. For BMW it's important to demonstrate the competence in the field as well. As a spectator I'm on the other side. It looks more spectacular to have the driver drive the car without these features.

dkmech: As an engine designer, did you ever want to design an ultimate engine without any regulations or restrictions? What would it be like? How close is the current BMW engine to being an ultimate engine (if you disregard the capacity restrictions)?

Of course every designer would love to do this. I cannot tell you how it would look because it depends on so many factors but I'm quite sure if we opened up the regulations we would see many different concepts and for an engineer this would be an exciting environment to work in.

muddy: Hi Mario. I was just wondering if BMW will be selling any motors to any other teams in F1? Or will you just stay with Williams?

Williams of course is our partner and our long-term partner and for the moment we are not in a position to supply a second team. We support on the other side the activities of the manufacturers to supply engines to the independent teams.

F1Champion: How would you rate your competitors' engines?

Difficult one because we always see the complete package on the track, not just the engine, so it's hard to judge whether the performance comes from the engine or the car. I think certainly Ferrari is very strong, it also has a strong engine as well. Mercedes maybe close to them and the others are really hard to judge for me.

skipper: When the long-life engines rule comes into effect will the engines be less powerful?

Generally speaking yes. The question is how much you lose. To double engine life you have to make each and every part more robust which in turn makes it a bit bigger and heavier, this results in lower maximum engine speed.

Tonyk: Afternoon Mario, With JPM suffering more engine failures than Ralf over the past seasons, is that due to driving style or plain bad luck?! Keep up the championship charge!

Generally the engine has to be able to cope with any driver style. I think Ralf is a driver who very carefully observes the car and the engine during the race and I think he always tries to take care of the car and to get it home.

Shades: Dr Mario Who do you fear talking to most after a BMW engine fails during a race? Sir Frank, Patrick Head or the drivers?

It's our engineers! If tne engine fails in the race we have the complete telemetary data available and we analyse it very carefully, we check all the parts and develop the route cause and decide on measures of how to fix it.

nasos007: How would you rank the current engines in Formula 1, in terms of power and reliability?


They certainly have, especially this year we have seen very few engine failures, much less than I expected and under the new regulations I'm really surprised about the very high level of reliability we've seen this year.

ozzy: As an engine supplier, therefore a major part of the team. Do BMW have a say in the driver line up for the team?


It's quite clear that the driver contract are within our partnership and we are consulted, Frank Williams talks to us, but the final decision is with him.

shazrul: From BMW's perspective, what is the overiding factor for having a presence in F1? The racing spirit or the commercial exposure?

I would say the commercial exposure is a major reason for everybody. The second big factor for BMW is the clear path and the clear aim to create technology transfer from F1 to road cars. It's very closely linked to the corporate side.

ArchAnGeL: F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport because of the R&D involved. How do translate that to your road cars?

We cannot take over any single part from a F1 engine to a road car engine but you can transfer technology. We've built our own F1 parts and manufacturing plants and the trick is that these units are run by the respected departments who do the road car parts as well so they have high speed technology and what we learn from F1 can immediately be taken over to the road car side.

shazrul: If BMW were to run a whole team, do you reckon it would have been able to concentrate on building what arguably is the best engine in F1 at present? 

Running a whole team and designing and developing the complete package would be a much bigger task. If you want to do it, you have to get into everything 100%, you can't step back on anything as you wouldn't be competitive. It would be a very big task and that's the main reason for us to have entered into the partnership with Williams and we think for the future this is the best solution with the best promise.

Ray: Do you think that punishing Ralf for Hockenheim was fair?

In my view it was a normal racing accident, we've seen situations like this several times. I was very surprised by the punishment. It damaged his championship challenge significantly, if we have to start in the second half of the grid in Hungary, it's additional punishment which in my view would almost rule him out.

mschummy: in your opinion what are the differences between Ralf and Juan while driving? 

It's a difficult one. That's one for Patrick Head I think ...

Tinhead: Will you support one driver 'assisting' the other in order to win the championship?


As everybody knows, Williams don't have team orders and hasn't done for many years. Of course there can be specific situations in individual races, such as what happened in France.

skipper: Do you think Michael is still the best driver?

I think if you look not just at what he does in the car but also how he works with his team, I would say yes. In the car, there are some other drivers at the same level, Ralf and Juan Pablo are certainly among these, but to me Michael is still the driver who sees his role in a much broader way, not just driving the car but also he sees himself as a part of the development team and in this respect, he's still number one.

giraldjm: In which of the 4 remaining circuits should we expect a better performance from BMW-Williams?


The most interesting one to me is Hungary because on this track we haven't been good in the past years. This year's car is really different from its predecessors and the strong performances we've shown in Montreal and Hockenheim could mean that we have a very good chance this year. Monza we should be strong at as well, as in previous years. I think I would expect us to be head on with Ferrari at Indy and the most difficult one will probably be Suzuka where I expect Ferrari to be very strong.

Craig: You are most defenitely going to win the constructors championship... what does this mean to BMW?


It would mean a lot for the manufacturer, the constructors championship is very important because in the end BMW is in F1 to demonstrate our competence in technology, innovation, speed and so for us it has equal importance to the drivers' championship.

Murray Ross: Hi Mario, Since you've just signed a new contract with Williams, what are you plans for the coming years? 

To fight for the championship in the coming years. The new partnership is more than just an extension of the current one, we have discussed in depth how to set up the team for future challenges, how to work together and how to contribute and exploit the opportunities and we have come to an agreement which will make the team much stronger in the coming years and it should enable us to be a strong contender to the championship in the coming years.

monty: What education did you have and what degree did you do? How did you get involved with BMW? Thank you.

I studied mechanical engineering at university and from there I went straight to BMW in 1977 as an engine engineer. I've been with road car engine development for almost 15 years. Another 6 years on the car side, building the BMW innovation centres and from there I took over responsibility for BMW motorsport with Gerhard Berger about four years ago.

Icelander: What fascinates you about Formula ? Why is it different from other racing series for you personally and BMW? 

F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. High technology, as an engineer I'm fascinated by the technology but even more by the speed of development. You get a lot of resources, you really can turn your ideas into reality very quickly and you get the response every other week, which is very unusual and it's a really rewarding situation.

skipper: What is your favorite road car?


BMW M5 and that's what I've driven for the past two or three years.

F1Schuey: What do you think about Silverstone's possible demise? 


I think it would be a pity to lose Silverstone because of the heritage of the British Grand Prix. It certainly could get some improvements and if that is happening I think Silverstone should have a chance to stay on the calendar.

Beemer: How do you get on with Frank Williams and is he as an amazing man as people say? 


Frank is an impressive person. I think especially over the past year since we entered discussions on the new partnership, we've become much closer and have had many discussions and gone into much more depth in terms of what it takes to create a successful team and I really respect not just what he did in the past twenty years but also I really respect his attitude and his power to go ahead and challenge for the future.

buzz: do you think jpm will stay with williams

I personally think he will stay with Williams to the end of 2004. After that he currently doesn't have a contract. Certainly there will be negotiations in the coming months, that's just normal. I don't know about the outcome. Obviously we are very satisfied with both drivers and I would personally be happy about both staying in their seats.


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## F1Crazy (Dec 11, 2002)

It's good that Mario openly admitted that JPM was ordered not to pass Ralf at Magny Cours. He certainly had the speed and the balls to do it and the way he drove last stint just shows how mad he was.


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