Following is a transcript of a recent telephone interview by Australian media with 20-year-old Australian racing driver Ryan Briscoe, who will race this year in the International Formula 3000 Championship, starting in Brazil at Easter. Briscoe is also the reserve driver for the new Toyota Formula One team. 

HOST’S INTRODUCTION - Good morning to everyone in Australia and good evening to Ryan Briscoe in Italy. Ryan is no stranger to most of us now and we just wanted to catch up with him ahead of the start of the International Formula 3000 Championship in Brazil. Ryan will be driving for Nordic Racing, the team with which Englishman Justin Wilson won the F3000 title last year in front of Australia’s Mark Webber. In addition, Ryan is already the reserve driver for Toyota’s new Formula One team, so he is attending all the Grands Prix this year, irrespective of whether there is an F3000 round at each particular event. Ryan drove a Toyota F1 car this week in Barcelona and he will be leaving his home in Italy for Brazil early next week. He drove a Ferrari Michelotto in the Cleanevent Nations Cup at the recent Foster’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and you will recall that he won one of the three races in that category. As usual in these conferences, everyone will be invited to ask a question in turn and once we’ve all had a turn Ryan may be happy to take a few more questions, provided we don’t keep him up all night - because it’s already quite late in Italy. 

Q. – Ryan, Mark Webber said last year that he had a bit of difficulty swinging back and forth between the F3000 car and the (Benetton/Renault) F1 car he tested.  Are you anticipating a similar challenge or are you comfortable you can make the change? You’ve now tested the latest F1 car and presumably you’ve been in an F3000 car quite recently too. 

A. - The transition going F3000 to the F1 car probably isn’t going to be the problem, as I’ve just done, but with Brazil coming up now just after my last test in the F1 car, hopefully it won’t be too much of a problem. I have spoken to Mark (Webber) about it and he said you’ve got to be careful, especially with the braking, and also in the fast corners, so I’m going to be preparing myself, but this really will be the first test going into qualifying in Brazil (on Friday, March 29). 

Q. - Being a reserve driver and having to go to every GP, as opposed to a driver who tests maybe occasionally or even quite a lot, is there any special training a reserve driver has to do because you could be called on to race if anyone gets ill suddenly or gets hurt quickly? 

A. - I guess you have to be physically fit and prepared for that occasion, and also you’ve got to know the rules and regulations of the racing and F1 ‑ probably the only two differences from the test driver who only does testing, but in any case if I wasn’t the reserve driver they’d be the norm anyway. 

Q. – How’s your week been with the F3000 testing and then F1? 

A. - My last test of the F3000 was in Silverstone (in England). The weather was all right. We started off both days in wet conditions, which was all right, good to get a feel of the car in the rain, and we made good some progress with the set-up of the car. We have sort of changed directions a bit with the settings and sort of taken a new road from what we started with and it was all looking pretty positive. We didn’t really get to put it into use in good circuit conditions in Silverstone, but it was looking quite good. This week I was in Barcelona testing the F1 and it was interesting, it was good to get back in the car, but we had lots of problems with car hydraulics and electronics, they were trying lots of new systems, and they seemed to be quite unreliable, which was expected anyway, but I would have liked to have gotten more running in while the track was good. At the end of the day we completed a couple of long runs where the car held together, but we were on around 100 kilo fuel load. It was all right and lots of things were found out, that the reliability wasn’t so good. 

Q. - How are you are feeling going into the F3000 season? How competitive do you think you will be? 

A. - I’m hoping that I will be up there. My aim for the first race is to get points, being the top six. I think in practice so far we have been a little bit behind the top guys and we are working hard to lessen the gap. I have had a few meetings with the team engineers and been talking through a lot of stuff and a lot of the things we tested in Silverstone turned out to be very good and hopefully they will bring me close to the front guys in Brazil. 

Q. - It’s been an amazing start really in relation to what a lot of critics suggested might be the case with Toyota in F1 this year. How is the mood in that team? 

A. - The mood is excellent. Everyone is really motivated. I think that (world championship) point they got in Melbourne has really uplifted everyone working there and they can see the car is quite competitive - a lot more competitive than what anyone was expecting. So hopes are high and it’s a good atmosphere within the team. 

Q. - So does this make it harder for you mentally to go back to F3000? 

A. - No, I wouldn’t say so. It’s a separate thing really. 

Q. - What are you finding are the big changes going from the Formula Renault and Formula 3 cars you were running last year to F3000 and then to the F1 car? What are you finding perhaps the most difficult to become accustomed to? 

A. - It’s the beginning of a season and coming out of Formula Renault or at the end of the season my car was working very well. I’d sort of worked on the set-up all during the year and from halfway through the season on I had a car that was working pretty much perfectly for my driving. Getting into this new F3000 car, where the set-up hasn’t been terrific for me, we’re still at the beginning and trying to work it all out. The basic car is quite a lot heavier and bigger, it has got more horsepower, bigger brakes, but that’s not really a concern. It’s more about just trying to find the right set-up, which at the moment has been a bit of a problem. 

Q. - With the F1 car, do they (Toyota) allow you to fiddle with set-up to suit yourself or do you run with parameters that they set and just see how it works? 

A. - At the moment I’m just sort of testing stuff they want to try and it’s not necessary to improve lap time, it’s just to try and get data on the telemetry, so up until now it hasn’t been really set up based around my driving. 

Q. - How many circuits in the F3000 championship have you raced on or tested on? 

A. - I’m missing (have not been on) Spa, Monaco, Nurburgring, Hockenheim - I think that’s it. I’ve done a test in Brazil in an F3 car in January, which was just 40 laps, so that will be quite new as well. 

Q. - That would seem to be about one‑third of the tracks? Are there 12 races at 12 different tracks this year? 

A. - Yes, there are 12 races. 

Q. – So, starting in Brazil, then doing an F3000 race at each of the European GPs, missing Canada, and is there a race at Indianapolis? 

A. - No. Brazil is the only non-European race we (F3000) do; the rest of the races are all in Europe. 

Q. - So Monza would be the last race? 

A. - Yes, Monza is the last race in September. 

Q. - Pertaining to your F1 role and ambitions, do you feel under any pressure particularly to put in a good performance in F3000 this year? 

A. - For sure I’ve got to perform and there’s always pressure and it’s always going to be a part of anyone’s motor racing career, but I’m just going to be out there and trying to do my best, and when I’m driving the car and trying to win Toyota isn’t in my thoughts. 

Q. – What’s it like being at the GPs with the Toyota team, knowing that you are very, very close to being out there competing in the F1 car? 

A. - It’s very interesting. I’m still very new to the scene and it’s just really interesting for me being there in amongst it all and just listening to everything that’s going on. At the time when I’m there it’s quite a funny thought thinking that maybe I could be out there some time soon, but basically while I’m there I’m just trying to learn as much as I can from the other two drivers (Mika Salo and Allan McNish). 

Q. - How do you get on with the other two drivers and do you attend the debriefings after practice, qualifying and the race? 

A. - The attitude of others, I get along fine with them; they are really good guys, they are happy to give me advice most of the time. With the briefings, sometimes after qualifying if it’s all a bit heated I try and stay out of the way, but a lot of the briefings I get involved with. 

Q. - You said that you had spoken to Mark Webber about the business of switching between F3000 racing and F1 test driving. When did you talk to him - before or after his F1 debut in Melbourne? And what did you think of Mark’s debut? 

A. - I’ve spoken to him throughout last year, so it was well before he even knew he was going to be racing F1. I spoke to him quite a bit during the season last year and he was just saying he was having a few difficulties with the switch, but about his GP debut in Melbourne I just think it was fantastic for him. It couldn’t have been any better. 

Q. - How are you approaching the Brazilian F3000 race? It’s a lot bigger than what you’ve been used to ‑ Formula Renault last year was essentially a national series; this is a big international one in front of all the F1 people. Has it changed the way you are going to approach the weekend? 

A. - The general approach is that I’m not going to try and go out there and be a superstar in my first race. I want to just start trying to get points in the beginning and see where I’m at. I hope that in the first race I will be able to be right up there and hopefully get a podium, but at the moment I’m just going to try and be a little bit conservative. I know at the moment we’re not the best cars out there and we’ve still got a lot to learn, so I think for the first race or two it’s just going to be try and get out there and learn as much as possible, try and finish the races. 

Q. - Where do you think you can make most improvement in your F3000 times? 

A. - Well, I think at the moment we’re still a bit off with the set-up so we’ve still got room for improvement with that, and basically every time I get in the car I’m building up confidence so I think as time goes by and the more kilometres I get in the car I will be improving myself just a little bit every time. So I’m feeling confident that things will be getting better as we go on. 

Q. – Who do you reckon is the gun in F3000 this year? 

A. - Well, from the testing that I have seen, it seems like (Czech driver) Tomas Enge is going to be very difficult to beat with Arden (team), although all the testing we have done so far has been in very cold conditions and going to Brazil it’s going to be quite hot and different. Things could turn around. But looking at last year as well, he (Enge) was always very competitive and he is bringing with him a lot of experience. 

Q. - We keep hearing a lot about new cars or all-new cars in F3000 this year.  Can you just enlighten those of us who aren’t all that technical what the basic specs are for the 2002 F3000 cars? 

A. - The difference from last year is it’s basically a narrower, longer car, more like F1 dimensions. We’ve got smaller rear tyres, larger front tyres. The difference to drive I’m not sure, because I didn’t ever drive last year’s (F3000) car, but it’s same engine, it’s a three litre V8 Ford Zytek engine which produces, I think, about 450 horsepower. The car is made by Lola, and it’s is carbon fibre monocoque chassis and it’s basically restricted to changes to springs, bars, dampers, sort of similar rules to the Formula Renault class with what you can change on the car. 

Q. - And a control tyre? 

A. - Controlled Avon tyre. We’ve got slicks and we’ve got rain tyres. 

Q. - So not the four grooves of an F1 tyre? 

A. - No, it’s slick tyre with a harder compound. 

Q. - In that context, do you notice much difference driving an F1 car with four grooves in the tyres compared to a 3000 car with slicks? 

A. - From the tyre point of view, it changes a bit after how many laps the tyre comes on and after how many laps it goes off. Actually, driving the car there’s so much more that’s different that it’s difficult to actually compare what the tyre is doing with the different power and aerodynamics and different chassis it’s difficult to do a comparison of the tyre. 

Q. - With very little practice time in the F3000 before each race, are you going to have time with your Toyota F1 commitments to do a lot of testing in between races with the F3000 team? 

A. - There isn’t much F3000 testing in between the races because we’re limited to a certain number of hours. At the moment I can’t remember exactly what the number is, but it’s not many. I think my first test in the F3000 will be some time after Imola (San Marino GP in mid-April) so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Q. - Just for the record, could you tell us the F1 tests that you’ve done for Toyota, when they were, and basically what you did in terms of number of days or laps at each one? 

A. - My first test was mid‑November last year when I did 80 laps over three days.  It was in last year’s Toyota F1 car. Then I had another drive in February this year in the new car, and that was basically just running on old-spec aerodynamics and nothing special, just a few kilometres to get my “super licence”. And then my first official test was last Wednesday at Barcelona, where I did 55 laps. 

Q. – And the F3000 testing, where have you done that over the past few weeks? 

A. - We have had four official tests at Estoril (in Portugal), Barcelona (Spain), Imola (Italy), and Silverstone (England). The first two tests were restricted to two half days because the FIA weren’t allowing the teams to run two cars at a time and then the third and fourth tests were two full days. 

Q. - Just to divert briefly, what happened to the Ferrari Michelotto in Melbourne?  Why did it spear off the track? 

A. - There was a mechanical failure in the left rear suspension area. 

Q. - Still on the Ferrari, that’s probably the first time you’ve raced a car with a roof. What were your impressions? 

A. - It was my first time, and I thought it was quite a lot of fun. It was very different to racing open wheelers. It’s quite a heavier car and you don’t really feel the power of it, but it was different and the team I was racing for, Prancing Horse, were also very professional and I just had a whole lot of fun racing that car. 

Q. - So you would be up for something in the future, who knows when? You’re not discriminatory against cars with roofs? 

A. - No, I’d definitely be up for something. At the moment, it would just be a sort of one‑off situation, because it’s not the sort of thing I’m looking at racing as a future career. But, definitely, if something popped up and I had time to go and do it I would be out, for sure. 

Q. - We know that you are the reserve driver for Toyota, we also know that they have got another test driver, Stephane Sarrazin, who has been around in F3000 over some years and drove an F1 race in South America a couple of years back. With him around, will that mean that - while you will remain clearly the third driver as the reserve driver - that you perhaps won’t get to do a lot of testing with Toyota this year, or is it likely to be shared up between you and Sarrazin? 

A. - Our testing is going to be shared quite evenly. He had a test a couple of weeks ago at Paul Ricard (circuit, in France). I tested at Barcelona this week. He will be doing a test, I think, in a week or two at Valencia (in Spain), which I won’t be at, but then we will both be present at Mugello (in Italy) after the Imola race and for the rest of the year it will be balanced between us quite evenly. 

Q. - With these new cars in F3000, does that perhaps level the playing field a bit for the drivers in that there are some guys who have been in F3000 for three or four years ‑ guys like Tomas Enge and Mario Haberfeld and maybe some others ‑ against someone who is coming in for the first year? Does the fact that the cars are new mean that you’re perhaps on a better footing to compete against those more experienced guys? 

A. - It’s probably a help, but it sort of levels the playing field more for the teams because, for the driving, adapting to this new car hasn’t been difficult for drivers from last year because it’s very similar. It’s made by the same car company, and they haven’t really changed how the driving of it is dramatically, so it’s more of a levelling of the playing field for the teams. 

Q. - English is your first language and you speak fluent Italian from having lived in Italy for some years now. You mentioned some months back that you were thinking of learning another language or two. How you are going with German and or French? 

A. - I’m not studying German at all, but at the beginning of this year I again started doing a few French lessons, which is part of the Toyota program. But it’s difficult, because when it comes February I’m sort of away 95 per cent of the time and it’s very difficult to continue with lessons. That’s coming on quite slowly, although I’ve picked up a few words, but not really enough to get by in a French conversation. 

Q. - You live in Viareggio on the Mediterranean Coast in Italy, but Toyota’s F1 team is based in Germany and they do a lot of their testing at Paul Ricard in France, and Nordic Racing, the F3000 team, is based in England. It is interesting that you are going to continue to live in Italy, by the sound of it. What’s the reasoning behind that? 

A. - I’ve got the fitness aspect of things here in Italy. The Toyota team doctor (Riccardo Ceccarelli) lives here and he has got a gym and medical centre here, and there are quite a few (racing) drivers living here. There are two other drivers from Toyota’s Young Driver Program who are also living here – (Frenchman) Frank Perera and (Swede) Alex Storckenfeldt ‑ and basically it’s part of the Toyota schedule that I live here - and it’s fine by me. I don’t really need to be in England with Nordic, because if there is ever a need for me to go to the team I will just fly there and go there for the day. All communication is done by phone or e‑mail. In Toyota it’s the same deal: if I’m needed there (in Germany or France) I can just get there in a matter of hours. With the fitness it’s just important to be here every day and being fully on top of that. 

Q. - You just mentioned the other young drivers. Do you have much to do with them? 

A. - They’re racing for the same team I raced for last year in Formula Renault and they live here and we get along fine. I try to help them out as much as I can with the Formula Renault. I’ve got last year’s experience and I can sometimes try to be helpful, but we’re just basically good friends. 

Q. – Do you train with them as well? Do you do things as a group or are you more focused as individuals in terms of training? 

A. - Often we’re at the gym at the same time but we don’t really train together because on each day we have sort of got different programs to do, so not really. 

Q. - Can you tell us a bit about your teammate in the F3000 team, Nordic? We understand he is Hungarian, but can you just tell us a bit about him and what his form is like? 

A. - His name is Zsolt Baumgartner. He raced in F3000 with the Prost team last year and has probably raced in Germany’s F3 Championship. He’s a good guy. He’s a nice character and we get along very well. His pace is all right, he has been sort of around my time, sort of thing, so it’s a good comparison on times. We are able to compare data, which is often useful.

 Q. - Presumably with the experience that he has got, he’s a bit older than you? 

A. - He’s only one year older than me. 

Q. - You have done quite a lot of racing in Europe now and you attended a few GPs last year, and you will attend more this year. In that context, what did you feel about the Foster’s Australian Grand Prix and, in particular, the atmosphere compared to somewhere like Italy where there is a much stronger heritage in F1 racing? 

A. - I was very impressed with the Australian Grand Prix and, from a spectator point of view, I think it was fantastic. There were lots of support classes and there was always something going on, so it was a very interesting place to be. It was just really fantastic. There was always things happening. For sure, in Italy there are lots of enthusiasts for Ferrari, and for F1 in general, and there’s probably a lot more owner passion, let’s take Imola or Monza, but I thought Melbourne was fantastic. 

Q. - Because of your Italian connections ‑ you’ve been there for four, maybe even five years ‑ as a reserve driver for Toyota do you have a sense that the Italian fans are behind you in where you’re going in F1? 

A. - I’m not really sure. I’ve got lots of friends in Italy and lots of friends who are behind me for sure, but I was very surprised in Melbourne. Like, I was a lot more popular than I was expecting. So I wouldn’t say it really compares to Italy, no. 

Q. – Not so much a comparison, but just the fact that you have raced there for three or four years and that you must be fairly well known to the motor sport community in Italy. Whether you’ve felt any sense that they are excited that you are pushing towards F1? 

A. - I mean, definitely, because I have been living in Italy for now five years, and for them it’s good to see that someone is coming from an Italian racing career, sort of moving up the ranks. But, in any case, I’m not Italian and they would really be pushing for Italian nationality drivers, so it’s not really in my case. 

HOST’S CONCLUSION - It must be getting quite late there for Ryan in Italy. At this point we should say thanks very much yet again to Ryan. This is the second or third time that we have had a telephone hook-up with him. Certainly we wish him all the best for the new F3000 season and, as the reserve driver and test driver for Toyota this year, we hope that he continues to press on towards a full‑time F1 race career. 

A. - Thanks a lot. It’s been good fun.