Monaco GP Ferrari Thursday notes

From the: Monaco GP - Thursday's FIA Press Conference

No team orders, says Dennis Ron Dennis has confirmed that for the moment, there will be no team orders within the McLaren team - but there could be at a later date. Asked about the potential imposition of team orders prior to this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, the McLaren team principal, said "there are none. We have the contractual ability to instruct our drivers at any stage during the season to follow an instruction and that applies at the first Grand Prix through to the last Grand Prix.

We will effect judgement in any given situation and if we instruct a driver to do something we will tell you. There's no plan." Stability the key, says Todt Ferrari team principal Jean Todt has said that stability was the priority in the team's decision to re-sign Michael Schumacher until 2004 and Rubens Barrichello until 2002. Todt explained that "Rubens had a three year contract including an option for 2002 and we had to decide whether we wanted to exercise the option or not. We thought Rubens was good for the team and we wanted to exercise the option for him until the end of 2002.

"For Michael, his contract ended at the end of 2002 and as you know, we renewed the contract of the key people at Ferrari until 2004 and we thought that Michael was part of the key people and that's why we extended his contract until the end of 2004. That means Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, Paolo Martinelli, Michael, myself, we have a contract until the end of 2004. "It means we have stability," continued Todt. "I think in the past, Ferrari paid a lot for stability, and Ferrari is getting a lot because of the stability. We know that, we understand that, the shareholders, the president of Ferrari share this point of view and we thought it was very important."

Todt went on to say that nothing has changed in Barrichello's contract. "As I've said before, we have exercised an option, so that means the contract was already written. The only thing we had to write was confirmation that we were exercising this option, so that's it." However, he went on to repudiate suggestions that the Brazilian was the second driver to Schumacher. "Rubens is not number two. The thing is that since Michael and Rubens comprised the team, most of the time Michael has been in front and being in front, he has put himself into a priority situation. If, in the future, it happened that Rubens or Michael's teammate is consistently in front of Michael, Michael will have to help the team and his teammate. That's the way it has been, and that's the way it will be in the future."

"A racing incident," says Michael

Michael Schumacher has admitted that his tangle with Juan Pablo Montoya in the Austrian Grand Prix was a racing incident. "Looking at it on video, it looks different to what you see from inside the car. I rated it afterwards as a normal racing situation."

-Ferrari-