Johnny blows Alesi's socks off in Oz!

Martin Brundle interviews Johnny on ITV after qualifying

MB: Tell us how it went at qualifying Johnny.

JH: It went very well and I'm very happy after the problems we had in Barcelona [testing] it started to come right here in Melbourne.

MB: I was one of those at the beginning of the season, I wrote, that you were going to have a really tough year and I had a feeling that Sauber wouldn't get on top of the new Regulations but I was wrong.

JH: I am well aware of that Martin!

MB: Talk us through your qualifying lap.

JH: We changed a lot of things this morning and it improved every time I went out we changed it more and more and it just got better. It was just fortunate that we got the right set-up to play with.

MB: You were 4th when Villeneuve pipped you at the post at the end of qualifying. A stunning performance. A full 2 seconds faster than Jean Alesi. How do you feel about that?

JH: Well I'm obviously very happy about it. I don't think he is very happy about it but I don't think he had any particular problems but obviously I got everything together and happy about the set-up and it was a good performance from my side. He's got to improve his game for the next time.

MB: You have just blown the socks off a world class driver whose won races and is highly regarded and you've just killed him. Do you think that this will have a huge effect on your career or is this just one little blip? It's amazing!

JH: I think I'm like a very good wine that just seems to mature over the years.

MB: So, anyway you have just got to get off the start tomorrow. Last year it was not so easy. Into the first corner you reversed into Eddie Irvine didn't you?!

JH: Yeah, I got in his way, yeah I must have done. I have just got to make a clean start and hopefully that sort of thing will not happen again and obviously with you [MB] out of the way as well I'll pass the second corner!

MB: Of course that happened in 1996 too didn't it! So assuming that you get a good start, what do you think of these new tyres and how do you think that they will go through the race?

JH: Well, I think that there are going to be a lot off spins in the race because the cars are very twitchy and I think that there will be a lot of mistakes made by drivers going off the circuit, there's going to be overtaking to a certain extent with obviously a car off the track it will be very difficult for the drivers we have to concentrate that much more but that may make the race more exciting.

MB: There may be lots of opportunities to spin off and go through the gravel as you say. The McLarens are looking very, very strong and they could just run and hide on those Bridgestones, the cars look good, the drivers look fit and ready to go. How do you feel about the McLarens? Are they catchable?

JH: I think they are catchable but I do not think they are this weekend. Obviously with the package of Adrian Newey coming along and the Bridgestone tyres this has obviously worked very well for them. I think that everybody has to catch up. They do have this braking system that the majority don't have and it's something that we all have to start again after being told again that we couldn't do it to make it work.

MB: Do you not feel that they've actually got a better car, not just the braking system, surely there's a lot more to catch up than just that?

JH: Sure, the whole package that Adrian Newey has done a fantastic job for them coming straight in obviously they've had an enormous amount of time to get it to work and it's very functional at the moment.

Thanks to Carole Aisthorpe Buckley for transcribing the above.
This page prepared 8th March 1998.