German GP - 28 July 1996.
Red Bull Sauber-Ford Press Release

Sooner or later, our luck has to change. I never expected us to be strong challengers, or even to be really competitive, in Germany, but I did expect things to go a little better for the Red Bull Sauber Ford team than they did.

For me, it was disappointing not to finish the Grand Prix because of gearbox problems while Heinz-Harald at least finished, even if eighth was nothing very much to make a fuss about.

We were never quick enough and although the qualifying engine was pretty good, I must say I am looking forward to the latest revision of the Zetec-R V10 engine from Ford for the Hungarian Grand Prix. We need a bit more grunt and I think we are going to get that plus some extra driveability, and together it should make us a lot more competitive.

The Budapest track, of course, is very different to the one we raced on at Hockenheim too and that may work for us. At Hockenheim, it really is a test of power and engines and although I think we were pretty good with our top speeds on the straight, especially the main ones, we were not quite as good when it came to accelerating out of the corners But then we did not expect it to be much better than that in the first place.

Anyway, as usual, it was hot and crowded at Hockenheim with a tremendous atmosphere and a lot of attention was being paid to Heinz-Harald. I know what it is like at your home Grand Prix and I must say I was surprised a little at the way in which he dealt with all the demands on him - in fact, as I will tell you, I decided to do something a little bit amusing to sort that out for him on one of the morning drives in!

It was on Friday morning, I think. I was in a car following him into the circuit and I was right behind him. I think he was in his girlfriend Tanya's car, but I did not realise that and so when I pushed up close behind him in the traffic jams and bumped his car gently, they were not too amused! How was I to know it was her car and not a hire car?

Well, close to the gates at Hockenheim, there is always a bit of a tailback for cars as they are checked for passes and tickets and that always gives the fans and all the autograph-hunters a chance to get close. Well, as we went in there and slowed down, I noticed that Heinz-Harald had disappeared. I got up real close to check and gave his car another nudge! But he was not there in the car and he didn't turn around... and then I realised he must be hiding from all the fans in the boot.

So, I surprised everyone by jumping out of my car and running round to the back of his and opening up the boot and "hey presto!" there he was - and you should have seen his face. He was really shocked as he looked up from inside there and I was laughing.

There were some fans there too and I tried to get one of them to take some photographs with his camera but he didn't move fast enough and Tanya was soon trying to close it up again as Heinz jumped back across the seats and into the car. I don't think he was too amused at the time - but he soon enjoyed joking and talking about it later on!

Unfortunately, it was just about the only bright moment of the weekend for me because I seemed to have problems with the car all the rest of the time. On Friday, when I worked with one set of tyres all day, I ended up thinking things were not too bad although we were a bit light on downforce, as everyone was, and the car felt loose in the stadium section. It was just manageable.

On Saturday, I had an engine failure in the morning which meant I lost my Ford qualifying engine and had to go back to a standard spec unit. We raised the rev limit as high as we could, but obviously I noticed the difference. Every little bit of extra power helps at Hockenheim.

In the end, I qualified 14th which meant it was obviously going to be very difficult to win the race. I also noticed that I was beginning to feel some strange things coming out of the gearbox and in the end I stopped out on the track with gearbox trouble. I was pretty disappointed really because all in all I knew I was not able to get anything like the best from the car.

On Sunday, not only was it a lot cooler, but it also rained heavily in the morning and we all went out for a wet weather practice - then the sun shone again and we had a dry race... all of which made our preparations a little more unpredictable than usual.

In the race, I felt I had a problem with the engine response from the start. I sensed the blip on the downshifts was not right and I just felt there were things going wrong. It was a big problem under braking and the vibrations just seemed to get worse and worse, with the car jumping and bouncing around, until eventually it got stuck in sixth gear.

I came in once to get it fixed, but afterwards it continued and got worse again and I had no choice but to pack up after 25 laps. Of course, it was a disappointment for me and for Ford, but now we are hoping it will be something that belongs in the past. The new engine should do a lot to help and I am looking forward to it in Hungary.

With thanks to Johnny, Red Bull Sauber Ford and Bob Herbert
This page prepared 31 July 1996. All rights reserved.