LFRS Times - 27 november, 2006 By Roman Ivanov
GP4 2006 - Interview with Fernando Rees
Lately we saw the return of a familiar face at LFRS. Here is the latest news from Fernando Rees.
Q - Hello, Fernando! This is a big surprise to see you returned to Grand Prix 4! Have you planned this return before, or was it spontaneously?
Fernando: Thanks for that. Actually, for more then one year I wanted to go back to GP4, but my driving wheel got broken in the mean time and I didn't want to go back to keys fearing that I could get worst with the wheel later. To see GP4 with new tracks was a big push for me to start playing again.
Q - Do you remember your GPx career good? What events, races, were the most memorable for you?
Fernando: Of course, I remember it really well! My first races in LFRS in 2002 were really great, because all the big guys from GP3 1.13 like Giuseppe Torre, Sandi Zep and others were racing against me and I never thought I could beat them - in the end, it was great surprise! In the next year, when LFRS GP4 came out, the championship against my friend Alex Semjonov and Dennis Hirrle was very nice too - we beated all the world records trying to show to ourselves who was the best. After that, my short career with Analogue mode was very nice too, where I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about GP4.
Q - What do you think about on-line competitions, what simulators can be also interesting for you?
Fernando: Online competitions - or offline but online, like LFRS is - are great. Since I started playing GP2 I looked to LFRS and was an admirer of those good competitors. I spent lots of time watching their hotlaps and just admiring, never hoping to be as good as they were because I never thought it was possible. Now, with the age of GTR and now GTR2, including rFactor, those games are really nice and the online game play is just an invitation for me. I hope to get a new driving wheel soon, so I can play those games.
Q - When did you feel that you are one of the best drivers? How much time was needed for you to become Hotlaps.de Rank Leader and how much was needed to win your first Championship?
Fernando: I felt I became one of the best keyboard drivers when I assumed the HoF3 Ranking lead in 2001, in front of all the guys I admired. To lead Hotlaps.de wasn't very important for me because I didn't have enough time to play anymore as I used to, so I knew that my results there would never be as good as they could be. Anyway, I spent a few months playing against Victor Potsner fighting for the lead of Hotlaps.de - he was very quick! My first championship I won on my debut year in LFRS in 2002, wich as I said before, I never expected to win against those guys.
Q - Let's talk about future now. Are you going to stay in LFRS for the whole next season? What results do you want to show? And will you drive somewhere else?
Fernando: I hope to be around LFRS as much as I can. I'll be moving to Europe in january to follow my real racing career, and that will probably kill some of my time to play racing simulators, but I'll be around when I can, of course. I am not really worried about results anymore, it's just a matter of having fun and playing a nice game now. I don't think I'll drive anywhere else, but I'll probably submit some keyboard laps in the add-on tracks in Hotlaps.de soon.
Q - Now I'd like to ask you also about your real racing career. Where do you drive, where did you start your career, and how?
Fernando: At the moment I am just focusing in finding sponsors to allow me to compete in 2007. I started my career in 1993, racing with go-karts in brazilian national championships. In 1998 I started racing in European championships. In 2000, to complete my karting career I competed in the World Karting Championship. Next year I spent around 6 months testing with F.Ford in Interlagos. In 2002, I did European and Italian F. Renault championships. In 2003, I went back to Brazil and did the South American Formula 3. In 2004 I went back to Europe for the Formula 3 Euroseries. 2005 I did the World Series by Renault championship in Europe as well. In 2006, in march, I suffered a big accident in the first test for the Formula 3000 championship, breaking two vertebraes, the foot and some other injuries, and I am still recovering from it - I still need to visit the doctors in december to check if I'll be OK to compete in 2007 - it was a big accident in Monza, you can see the car after the crach in
www.wikipedia.org searching by the tag Fernando Rees.
Q - How much do sponsors influe at careers of young drivers? What is better: big talent or a lot of money?
Fernando: Sponsors and a lot of money are all you need today to reach any motor racing categorie, even F1, as we can see by some drivers that are there today. It's sad, but it's true. The best drivers of the world are people that we'll never know about because they will never get a chance to show their potential.
Q - How many languages do you speak? Is it hard to communicate with team members at not your native language?
Fernando: I speak portuguese (of course), english and a bit of italian, french and spanish. Normally the team mates need to speak a bit of english because not always the mechanics and engineers speak your native language, so most of my communication with them were in english.
Q - What is the most important thing when joining a new class or team?
Fernando: The most important thing is to learn about everyone and everyone around you. In the case of a new categorie, you must quickly learn the tricks about how to drive that new car. In the case of a new team, you must become friends with your engineer and mechanics, because your success is their success, but you can only have success if they want it to.
Q - What about real racing competitions organization? Is it better than in sim-racing?
Fernando: It's a huge world of politics that we are lucky that it doesn't exist in sim-racing. It's all about politics, and if you are not part of such politics, you don't have a chance. It involves tons of money and people, so it's a very big organization.
Q - What happened to you this spring in Monza this year?
Fernando: I was testing a F3000 car for the International Masters F3000 Championship. It was an extremely heavy rain, and in Monza the track surface accumulates water and when you are behind another car you can't see much. I was coming in a good lap at about 250kmh when suddenly I crashed into someone and started flying - some people said I flew 6 meters high with the car. The other car was at 140kmh in the middle of the track, and I didn't have any time to react. I got very injured and the doctors said I was saved to lose my leg movements by 2mm only - it was very close, very lucky!
Q - The next questions are about both real and virtual motorsports. Do you remember all teams, you were driving in? Where was the best teamplay, and where was the best manager's work?
Fernando: I do remember all the teams I drove in. In sim-racing I competed first in Delta Racing, the russian team from LFRS, invited by Stanislav Zabelin in the end of 2001. Then I moved to IDT team in 2003, where I was team manager togheter with Rafael Geocze, my team mate. In GPC I raced in USR team for a few races. In real racing there were so many teams in different categories, it would take a while to list them all, but all were very important and I remember all of them. The best teamplay in sim-racing was in IDT, where I managed to recrute more then 30 drivers and we shared around 20 emails each day only about LFRS tests. The best teamplay in real racing was probably in ASM Mercedes-Benz F3 team where I developed some new car parts that later gave the F3 Euroseries championship win for the team. Last year with Interwetten in World Series by Renault was very nice as well. The best manager's work in sim-racing was probably done by myself and Rafael Geocze in 2003 for LFRS. For real racing, it was for sure last year in Interwetten, with austrian Michael Schneider as team manager.
Q - What drivers do you remember most of all? Tell us about your main rivals in past and nowadays, in GP4 and real racing.
Fernando: In sim-racing the drivers I remember the most were Sandi Zep and Alex Semjonov. In real racing I remember well Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and other drivers that are close to F1 now that raced with me back in karting times. My main rival in sim-racing was Semjonov, for sure - I really didn't want to lose a single race to him, exactly because I knew that he was the best guy competing against me. Actually, in 2003 I believe that no one at keyboards could challenge us. In real racing my main rival was probably Robert Kubica, in F. Renault in 2002. Although we were team mates, we had lots of fun and rivalries for space inside the team. It was nice! Me and Kubica also spent long hours playing GP3 together, and we probably thought more seriously about the game then the real racing some times - hahaha.
Q - Try to characterize your driving style. What setups and car behaviour do you usually prefer?
Fernando: In sim-racing I tend to be really good in hotlapping, in matching all my perfect sectors in the same lap to get a very nice laptime. I believe I am also good in creating new setups for hotlapping. In real racing I like cars that have a small tendency of oversteer, mainly in corner exit, where you can win time by controlling it on the throttle.
Q - Now let's talk about steering devices in GP4. Hope you don't put keyboard in your real car like I do.
) Was it difficult for you to drive fast with both analog and digital types of driving?
Fernando: Actually I find myself much better with digital mode, maybe because since GP1 I played only with keys, for many years, and I got used to it. Anyway, it's always hard to find the best line with steering help turned on, and there are always many simple tricks to cut the steering help line that helps a lot. With analogue mode my greatest difficulty is to complete races without losing too much time with small mistakes - I tend to be very fast but not very consistent with the wheel.
Q - What strong and weak sides of driver are peculiar to you?
Fernando: I believe a good quality I have is to be able to focus and not get nervous when I see some very fast split times in the middle of a lap. I know many people that get nervous and increase their chances to make mistakes when they see a very quick split time. At the same time, one weak thing I have is that I always go for full performance, and sometimes compromises my consistency in the races.
Q - When do you think you had a peak of your sports form, or is it only in front of your way?
Fernando: I believe that we are always learning and improving in whatever we do in life, so probably my peak in everything I do is still to come - I hope so!
Q - And now let's talk about GP4 Championships organization. What of Championships, in your opinion, is more well-organized? Where is it more pleasant to drive? What positive and negative factors can you allocate?
Fernando: From the championships I raced in, GPC is very organized and counts with lots of nice friends - they all supported me so much after my accident in Monza. LFRS was always pleasant to drive, I don't know exactly why, but maybe because it was a tendency that the best keyboard players were in LFRS and not in GPC. LFRS had to recrute more players, and the small number of players now is a negative factor in my opinion.
Q - What prospects do you see for GP4 in future?
Fernando: I believe that if many new tracks start to come out it will be a nice future. The main reason GP4 stopped being played by many people is because the tracks were all the same, so now is a chance to recover some of the people that left to other games.
Q - What advices would you give to GP4 rookies?
Fernando: In first place, to make sure they are always having fun. Then, if some day they watch laps from other players and believe that's not possible to do or that it might be a cheat or trick that they are missing - believe, there's nothing, you can do it! It happened with me...
Q - Much people would like to know about your personal life for sure, so, if you don't object, I'd like to proceed to some personal questions. Where were you born, what are your life hobbies and main occupations, what purposes do you put before yourself?
Fernando: I was born in S�o Paulo, Brazil, in 1985. My main hobbies are playing sim-racing games, playing the electric guitar and writting stories. My main occupation is my real racing career, and I also try to help my family was much as I can with their company. I believe that, whatever we do, we must feel happy and proud of ourselves, so doesn't matter what I'll be doing, my aim will be that.
Q - Can you tell us anything about your character?
Fernando: Well, I believe I am very shy - I normally don't talk too much with people I don't know, but it's not something I want to do, it's just my style. And and all, I believe I'm a good person and I always think about other people before doing something, that's something I think it's very important.
Q - Do you beleive in God? How are you concerned to mystical and magic things in the world?
Fernando: I do believe in one God, someone or something that helps us separate what's good and what's bad, although I don't have any official religion at the moment. The world is magic, the life is magic, and we are all magic creatures in our own way.
Q - What life credo or motto do you have?
Fernando: Maybe something like "everything comes after justice".
Q - We also wonder, how did you discover Formula 1 and GP4 world for you?
Fernando: Both came in the same way - my interested in racing. Since I was a child I used to watch Ayrton Senna's races in the television, so from there I became interested in the world of racing. After that, all was just a consequence.
Q - Who is your favourite driver and what team?
Fernando: In F1 I really like Fernando Alonso and Renault at the moment. But, from all time, Ayrton Senna and that McLaren of his are the best for me.
Q - What do you think about Michael Schumacher's retirement, what were the main reasons of this?
Fernando: I think it will be good for new perspectives for the current F1 drivers. Now the man to be beaten is Alonso, and before everyone was more concerned with Michael. I believe he left F1 because he wants to have some fun out of the political world of F1.
Q - When have you come to GPx series and what did you want to reach there?
Fernando: I started playing GP1 because it was the only good racing simulator at the time. After that came GP2, GP3 and GP4 and I followed them all because I liked the style of the game. The main reason was always to have fun.
Q - Well, at last, I want to thank you for this interview! Maybe you want to add some words by yourself, if I lost any important moment? You can address to the whole sim-racing community and say anything for a lot of drivers who of course know your name and are happy to observe this press-conference.
Fernando: Thank you very much, it was my pleasure. I just want to thank you for this opportunity and tell everyone to keep pushing and having fun with GP4 so we don't let this wonderful game fade out.
Q - Thank you very much, Fernando! I wish you the best luck at a hard field of your career and virtual career, show the world, that sim-racers are not just "at-home" aces! It was very nice to talk to you, hope we will meet in the future again!
Fernando: Thanks to you Roman, it was my pleasure. I hope to meet you soon as well, maybe in the next races in LFRS.