Marcos Ambrose won the last round in 2002 at Sandown.

A great weekend for you (at Sandown), I suppose we'll start with that. Could you have dreamed of a better end to the season?

No, it was extremely satisfying. When we started the weekend, we knew that we had a potential to finish second in the Championship. I didn't expect to finish second or third - really I just wanted to finish in front of Steven Richards. We wanted to get ourselves further up pitlane. And to jump up to third was just the absolute perfect result. And, you know, we haven't won a race all year apart from one which was quite lucky. We actually won on fair terms, we controlled the race, we had plenty of car speed and it's an absolutely dream result.

Bezzy was damn quick as well; clearly you could lay claim to being best Ford team, couldn't you?

Yeah, I think we deserved that. Both Dave and myself were the first two in there, or not quite, but we were all right at that championship. We gave it a great performance in the second half of the season and it's been great to have two cars running at the front, because you need that for testing purposes and for good information ... you get good feedback from both cars. This team is so dedicated and that's what it's coming from. You can't do what we did on the weekend without great equipment. I've been driving the same all year: in some races you struggle, in some races you dominate, like we did this weekend, and that's because the car's right, the team's right.

Were you aware when Bezzy copped his drive-through penalty that he was going to be standing on the podium with you?

No, I didn't know, but it would have been a great achievement, considering that he had to stop in pitlane with an engine fire, so, you know, yeah, he's driven very, very well in the second half of the season.

And shaking the champagne yesterday, you've made it a bit of a tradition now with chasing people up the road.

Yeah, it's all about the crew. We're a tight group and we're all good friends, and I don't deserve to spray champagne any more than those guys deserve to. So, I just like to share it with them. I don't want to spray the girls because they haven't done anything for me, you know. It's my mates in pitlane.

The big discussion coming out of yesterday: your car just looked sensational. Every time a safety car came out and closed the gap, you easily put in a second or few seconds to keep pulling away. Is there really a parity problem?

Oh, there's no doubt there's a parity problem. The Sandown track, when you put it on paper, is two long straights with a couple of squiggles. And our problem has been all year having to get the car to work on high-speed corners or medium to high-speed corners, and we have to get it to work for those corners, because there's so much time in them, and then we have to sacrifice traction. And it's the only track we come to where we can just focus on traction, which we did, and we had better power down there than anyone else and we just lifted it on the corners that, you know, there was at least one high-speed corner there, which is worth no time. So, it definitely is a parity problem. Over the course of the year we've just got to look at that. We haven't tried any harder this weekend to get a result, it's just we have had a huge disadvantage this year and I'm pleased that the year is gone and that the AU is buried and we can look forward to the BA.

People keep saying that you guys have lost races by mistakes. At Bathurst, you had the big problem with your front tyres, in NZ there was that tyre blow. What do you say about this?

Well, this weekend, when we finally got a grip on the track and the car everything happened much easier. We weren't pushing 100 per cent all race, we were pushing 100 per cent at certain times of the race, but for the rest we were under control. But when we were in position before, we were having to drive too hard and the whole team was trying too hard, and we were always behind the eight ball, if you like. We were always trying to catch up and to do something special to get the win. And you can see when you've got the car speed and everything's together you can do it and you can do it comfortably. This weekend there was no doubt that had we got off the line and had no mechanical problems we were going to win the race, because we had great car speed and everybody was under control, myself included. That flat spot at Pukekohe was a result of having to be pushed too hard with a damaged car, damaged from pushing too hard. Just try to keep up with the HRT cars of Greg Murphy and Jason Bright. Absolutely no way, you win races by being fast and consistent and you've got to have good car speed.

You've been doing this class now for two years, but you still can't start the bloody things, can you?

No, I'm learning to fly and I can't land either, so it must be something about being in touch with the ground. It's just technique. In the formula cars I've driven before, they've been relatively low horsepower and light weight, you know, 300 horsepower and maybe 500 kg. But now I've got 630 or 600-odd horsepower and 1300 kg and the technique is way different. And I'm racing against guys up the front of the field; I'm exposed, because Murphy and Skaife, Bright, all these guys have been racing these cars for five, six years, seven years and their technique is very good and I haven't got it right yet. I'm improving, I know what I need to do but under pressure I have trouble doing it. But my starts have become better. I'm not losing three or four spots now, I only lose one or perhaps none if I have a reasonable start. But over the Christmas break we'll be working on it - it's just one of those disciplines I haven't got right yet.

Yesterday was interesting, I thought, because you had enough car speed to have a slightly longer pitstop without causing a tragedy. You stopped to check front suspension earlier in the race and it didn't really cost you that much. Is that what it's all about?

It is: when you dictate the race, you can control it. When you've got the car speed, you can control what's happening. And we knew that we could come in and check and have a safe pitstop, not a lightning pitstop, but a safe one, and come out in front comfortably. And the same with the field: I didn't panic when I was overtaken by Murphy, because I knew if I stayed calm and we pressed on when we had the chance, we could get the lead back, which we did. We did it on the track, not on the pitstops. That's what it's all about.

Just a couple of things, let's roll through some thoughts. HRT, do you think they were on some sort of engine development program lately?

Well, it looks like the case, doesn't it? Skaife had no mechanical problems whatsoever until he locked up the championship, and then they had lots of them.

The BA, you're obviously pretty excited about that program?

Very excited. Let's just hope that Project Blueprint works as it should, and that we can get the downforce that we need from the front within the rules. And if that happens, it'll be a great year for us.

Do you worry about things like traction control in the other teams, or do you reckon that's just bullshit from people?

Oh, I think it's bullshit. I think the series is a see-through device. You can look at other people's television footage, but when I'm driving the cars on the road, I know when someone's pulling away from me that my car's not working properly, so therefore, theirs must be - it's not because they've got traction controls, it's because my car's not working properly. I know that when I'm out there; I see it, I feel it. And I know that we're running by the rule book. Traction control, I don't think is happening. I don't think it's an issue. I think some teams are very smart with what they do within the rules, and that's fine.

And next year? Do you reckon you're a good chance for the title?

I'd like to think I am a good chance for the title, yeah. If the Fords are up to it, I think the team will be up to it. And if we have a good year we might pull it off.

And Russell Ingall as your teammate?

I'm not allowed to say that (he laughs). I don't know anything: I'm a driver.

You mentioned in the press conference yesterday that you have to get three cars ready for the start of next year. Is that just the spare?

Yes. Yep.

So we're going to see three cars from SBR?

We only have a franchise for two cars. So you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out what's going on.