Outside views

HARVEY POSTLETHWAITE

Tyrrell technical director (formerly Ferrari F1 designer, 1982-’88, ’91-’93)

“By the time I left I was beginning to find the whole organisation a little too cumbersome for my taste. I’d had some good times with Ferrari, especially first time round when the Old Man was alive, but by the end I had too many memories of sitting in planning meetings with about 40 other people; all talking, all getting nowhere.

“I reached the conclusion that Ferrari might recover to the point that they might win races, or even a World Championship. But I could never see them stringing it together long enough to win two World Championships and five years down the line they might well be back to square one.”

DAMON HILL

“I saw enough in 1996 to be convinced that Ferrari are coming back hard. Obviously, they have a big asset in Michael, but their car and engine made enormous progress throughout the year. Don’t count them out.”

JEAN ALESI

“Generally, I enjoyed my time at Ferrari, and had a lot of support from Jean Todt. What is so fantastic about Todt is that he is prepared to sit down and go through all your problems with you. When something is not right, you can go to him and he will fix the problem. Even if he doesn’t understand what your problem is, he wants to understand it, wants to know what is the matter. And he almost always will sort out the problem for you.”

FRANK WILLIAMS

“God help us if Michael Schumacher ever gets a decent car which he will for the season ahead. I mean, the Ferrari engine has probably moved on by 20bhp since bloody Suzuka in the middle of last October!”