Question: Could you give an update on how you feel your teams have done so far looking at Australia and today.
Martin Whitmarsh: I think we are already on record as saying that our car is not quick enough and I think that was evident last weekend and it is evident again this weekend. I think after the two massive championship seasons, frankly, fighting through to the end of the year we put a lot of resource into that. It was a decision we felt was right in Brazil but as we stand today we know we have got a lot of catching up to do. On a positive note I think in week 11, Barcelona test, I think we were very slow by comparison to every car. I think the team has made a spirited fight-back to try and drag itself into the pack but the truth is we have got a lot of work to do and we have got a lot of development necessary to get ourselves into a position we would expect to be in.
Question: Martin, you had certain events during last weekend. Any further comment on what was happening last weekend and what continues to happen now?
Martin Whitmarsh: Well, okay obviously I have got to comment on what for our team is a very sad day today. We have suspended a long standing Sporting Director, Dave Ryan. I think many people in this room will know Dave and will know of Dave. He has been with the team for 35 years. I have personally known him for 20 years and I think anyone who knows him, knows that he is a very straight forward, dedicated, hard working individual. However, it has become clear from discussions with Dave last night and through into this morning that during the stewards’ meeting he was not entirely full and truthful in answers that he gave the stewards and consequently we had no alternative today other than to suspend him. As you can imagine I think it is a very sad day for the team. We have got to deal with this weekend and we have got to look in a bit more detail at all of the events that surrounded that. From my perspective obviously it is a point of deep, deep regret. It is not how I wanted this year in particular to start and it is something for which the team and myself are not only deeply embarrassed but deeply regretful. I think for Dave is has been a shattering day for him.
Question: Relating to KERS, how do you feel KERS went and how you have used it so far?
Martin Whitmarsh: I think at the moment it is still early days and frankly we had some difficulties with KERS today and Lewis’s runs in the afternoon were without KERS. It was an incredibly challenging range of technologies to package KERS on a Formula One car. I think Mercedes Benz have done a fantastic job and it was a really successful use of it in Australia. Here it has been a bit challenging but again it is early days. I am confident that we will find our way through those difficulties. It’s a technology that is important to Formula One and there has been just a huge effort to make it work. I can appreciate that some teams have decided wisely not to bowl in there with KERS. I think Mercedes Benz and ourselves rolled our shirt-sleeves up and got stuck into it. It has been a massively expensive and challenging programme. But we are going to stick at it. When it is working there is some advantage and we will, I am sure, have benefit of it as the season progresses.
Question: Will you persevere with it this weekend?
Martin Whitmarsh: Yes, we will. I think we had one glitch which caused us for safety and practical reasons to turn it off. I think we had a small cooling pump failure which meant we couldn’t run with it on Lewis’s car. We will obviously look into that and see whether it is anything particular to these conditions or whether it’s the fact it is a very new technology and we are working hard to develop it and solve those problems.
Question: Talking about what happened to Mr Ryan. Does it mean that he was lying then to the stewards?
Martin Whitmarsh: It means he was not truthful and full in his answer which is what I said (becomes inaudible).
Question: The impression we are getting from the statement is that Dave Ryan did this on his own. Are you telling us that there was no-one else involved in McLaren, senior to him, in this process?
Martin Whitmarsh: Correct, there was no-one else senior. I think anyone who knows Dave will know that he did not set out with any deliberate intention to mislead the stewards. He went to that stewards meeting with Lewis, I am sure, with the intention of being very clear and straightforward but I think during the course of that meeting, as we explored it more with him, over the last 24 hours it became clear that he was not as full and comprehensive as he could have been.
Question: Could you explain also what Lewis’s precise role was because the stewards made it very clear to us that both Dave Ryan and Lewis specifically said that the team had not told them to allow (Jarno) Trulli to go past. So what did Lewis do? Did he follow Ryan?
Martin Whitmarsh: I think Dave was the senior member of the team there and Dave has to take responsibility for leading that process. I think Lewis is going to talk to the media later and I am sure he will give a full account from his perspective. But this is something that was still unfolding until literally minutes before the first practice session. I had to take an incredibly difficult decision. I have personally known Dave for 20 years. If you go around this paddock and ask any team in any organisation of their experiences of Dave in terms of his dedication and commitment, so he is shattered by what has happened today. We need to take stock of that situation but there were two people in with the stewards but Dave is part of the management, he is the Sporting Director of this team, and as such he had the responsibility to ensure that the stewards received a full and entirely truthful account of what happened.
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