Tuesday, June 20^th, 2000 
F3000 tests, A1-Ring
Bruno Junqueira 

SiMa: If you hadn´t become a racing driver what else could you imagine your profession would be? 

BJ: No idea... 

SiMa: ...no idea? 

BJ: No, because I started racing when I was 10 years old. ...maybe engineering, because I did two years of engineering at university in Brazil, before I came to Europe. Maybe that, I don´t know. 

SiMa: How do you think your life changed since you are racing? I mean there´s a lot of travelling, you had to leave Brazil... 

BJ: Yeah... it´s difficult to say how it changed, because my life has always been about racing, since I was 10. Then when I was like a teenager I used to travel a lot, all over Brazil and South America, instead of staying with friends or going out. I was always travelling. That´s the main thing different. Then I moved to Europe, I live in England, that´s a change.  

SiMa: Actually, how do you feel about being not only a racing driver, but a Brazilian racing driver? 

BJ: Erm...I like to be Brazilian, I always liked to be Brazilian. 

SiMa: Do you have any idols? 

BJ: No. I think I liked Senna, I liked Piquet, the two best Brazilian drivers. 

SiMa: How much do people in Brazil follow the racing scene here? Do they get crazy when they meet you on the street? 

BJ: No. I think the people in my city know me. Some people who like motorsport know me. I´m getting known now because of Formula 1 things and I´m on Brazilian TV more often than before. 

SiMa: What are your dreams for the near future? 

BJ: To race in Formula 1. 

SiMa: ...and this year – is the title a realistic aim? 

BJ: Yeah...it´s not a dream though, it´s something that I´m working on. A dream is F1, here I´m working to get the Formula 3000 title. 

SiMa: And what hopes do you have for the far future? 

BJ: Yes, the hope is to win the F3000 title and to get a Formula 1 drive next year. 

SiMa: Could you tell me your favourite destination, both as a race track and during your private holidays? 

BJ: My two favourite tracks are Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, but I also like this circuit here a lot. And holidays? ...it´s been a long time that I´ve been on holidays, but I like to be at home in Brazil. 

SiMa: What habits do you have before a race? Are there any superstitions? For example some drivers like to get in and out of the car with the right leg first. 

BJ: Yeah. I always get in with the right leg. That´s that I think... and I never take pictures of myself or my family with me once I´m on the track. 

SiMa: What do you do to relax? 

BJ: After a race or between races? 

SiMa: Both. 

BJ: Erm... I like to do sports, that is very helpful. Tennis, cycling, I think there are some things. Play tennis, go to the cinema with friends, that´s something that relaxes me. 

SiMa: Basically, what do you do to prepare for a race? Is there any physical training...the sports you mentioned? 

BJ: Yeah, I go cycling and do a bit of weights in the gym. 

SiMa: Do you have a physical trainer from the team? 

BJ: Yes, not from the team though. I have a physical trainer, Ricardo Cecarelli, the Italian one. 

SiMa: How difficult is it to separate situations – like here you´re sitting together with all the drivers at lunchtime and then you have to fight wheel-to-wheel with them at a race. 

BJ: No, I think I have no problems with the drivers in 3000, and I hope that continues without problems in the race. 

SiMa: ...because it seems like a very familiar atmosphere here... it´s like a big family. 

BJ: Yeah, that´s why I like Formula 3000. It´s nice. 

SiMa: And how exhausting is a day like this when it´s really getting hot? 

BJ: It´s not exhausting like a race, I think the tension of a race is the worse thing. 

SiMa: That would have been my next question: What´s worse testing or racing? 

BJ: Testing is quite relaxed, like at a circuit like here it´s very good to test. There´s good weather. 

SiMa: Apart from testing and the races – do you meet your F3000 colleagues in private? 

BJ: Very often. The team very often, and Jaime Melo, that´s my team mate, he lives in Cambridge as well, and we always meet there. 

SiMa: And the others? From the other teams? 

BJ: Sometimes the one or the other... Ananda Mikola, I met him once in London. Yes, sometimes you can meet someone, but not very often. 

SiMa: Is it difficult not to lose the faith after a disappointment? First in January you lost the shoot-out to Jenson Button, now in Canada you missed the best chance so far to actually race an F1 car... Is it difficult to keep the faith? 

BJ: Erm...I mean in Formula 1 it´s not easy to get in, and really at the end of last year I was thinking to do a good 3000 season and to be Williams test driver, to get from Formula 3000 to Formula 1. And it was twice this year that something happened that was not expected. The first, that´s happened at the start of the year was a little frustrating, because I thought that I went better in the tests than Button. But this time with Ralf, I knew that he´s gonna have a big possibility to drive, I was there, but I think the press makes something bigger, cos they want a new driver... 

SiMa: ...but many journalists were saying Ralf should have stayed at home and cure his wounds. 

BJ: ...yeah, he should, but I knew he´s not gonna do that. I knew that he was gonna race. I even thought that maybe he was not fit enough, I can´t tell, you know, but I knew that he´s gonna race. I was there, if there was an opportunity, but I was not really thinking that I was gonna get the drive this time. Another time maybe. 

SiMa: Can you tell me something about your contract with the Williams team? Is it a one year contract for this year? 

BJ: A one year contract, yeah, for testing.  

SiMa: And do you have any offers from other F1 teams? 

BJ: Yes. 

SiMa: From? 

BJ: I cannot tell you. 

SiMa: I thought you´d say that. If you could choose one of this years F1 cars, which one would you love to drive? 

BJ: I´d love to drive? 

SiMa: Yes, just to try or even to race in the team. 

BJ: At this moment Ferrari, because they are leading the driver´s and the constructor´s championship. If I could choose, then Ferrari, not because it´s Ferrari, because they are in front. Seems this year they were together with McLaren the best cars. Everything can change in Formula 1, but this year they seem to be better and if I´d like to drive a car, that´s Ferrari. 

SiMa: Do you think Rubens has got the same status as Schumacher in the Ferrari team? 

BJ: Status? Of course not, because Schumacher is with Ferrari 5 years, he won twice the world championship and he´s leading the championship. What I think is, yes, Ferrari´s doing everything for Rubens as they do for Schumacher. And they don´t want to build a worse car for Rubens, they try to do the best for Rubens as they can. I think the opportunities are the same, but I mean it´s difficult to say, if you are in the fifth year with the team, you know everything. 

SiMa: And the new guy is the new guy. 

BJ: Yes. For a newcomer in a team, you need time to get to know the team. It takes time, but he´s doing a very good job, I think. 

SiMa: What do you like or don´t like about your job? Cos many drivers say they don´t like at all the press and the promotional duties... 

BJ: What I like is to drive the car. What I don´t like? ...hm... Sometimes it´s a little bit... there is no bad part. It´s hard work, people don´t know that. Like... I raced in Monaco, so one week in Monaco, then I went straight to Monza, after that I went straight to London to get my visa for Canada. I got home on Sunday, Monday straight to Canada. From Canada straight here. Maybe I´ll go to Magny Cours... in the last month I´ve been just one day at home, you know, it´s always travelling, but it´s not bad, because very often you stay in good hotels and it´s something that you get used to. 

SiMa: ...but it´s always good to come back home. 

BJ: Yes, it´s always good to come back home, but it´s a very hard work, people think: oh these Formula 1 drivers, they just came for the weekend, do the race, and then have fun. It´s not like that. It´s a work, where you don´t have weekends or don´t have holidays, you just do the job. But at least I´m doing something that I like. 

© by Marta Simonyi