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2005 Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix
What the teams and drivers said - Sunday

Team and Driver Quotes following the Race

(selected team quotes, for a full team and driver report click on the team name)

McLaren Mercedes ( Kimi Raikkonen - 1st, Juan Pablo Montoya - 14th - Accident )

RON DENNIS
"Both drivers put in a faultless performance today which should have given the team maximum points. Kimi claimed his win in a disciplined and controlled manner in very difficult conditions. Juan Pablo was the innocent victim of other people's mistakes but this should not distract from his race which was executed with true team spirit. We of course take some satisfaction from winning eight of the last 11 Grands Prix. As you can imagine we are looking forward to Brazil in a positive frame of mind"

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Renault ( Fernando Alonso - 2nd, Giancarlo Fisichella - Retired )

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director
"This was a very difficult race, and Fernando has got another fantastic result. The whole team did a great job, with some perfect stops and the strategy was what we needed. Everybody did a great job today. Fisico was pushing hard and really flying when he crashed. I think he did a great job too, but sometimes accidents happen – as we saw with Montoya as well. Fernando did the job he needed to, and now I think it will be difficult for Raikkonen to catch him; but the constructors' championship is much closer, and we will stay focused on that until the end."

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

BAR Honda ( Jenson Button - 3rd, Takuma Sato - Retired )

GIL DE FERRAN, SPORTING DIRECTOR
"Exciting is probably a gross understatement to describe Jenson's race today. To finish on the podium from where we were earlier on in the race was fantastic. After good starts by both drivers the strategy became quite complex during the first safety car period. At that point it is fair to say we underestimated how low the level of grip was and how long it would eventually take for the track conditions to improve enough for dry tyres. Having put drys on at our first stop, we came back in to fit wet tyres and fell to the back of the pack for the restart. Unfortunately for Taku, who was having a very good day, the race ended soon afterwards with the turn one incident. From that point on, all went well for us as Jenson drove a real stormer in the late stages and was the fastest man on the track for many laps. The crew did a fantastic job under a lot a pressure, executing many pit stops perfectly in close succession. It is always good to go into the next race after a podium so onwards to Brazil!"

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Williams BMW ( Mark Webber - 4th, Antonio Pizzonia - 15th - Accident )

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): "Today's race was a very exciting one for everybody. We picked up some good points with Mark. It was a good to go on dry tyres for the last laps. We tried earlier in the race to put both cars on dry tyres as did a lot of other teams. But it didn't work and both needed to pick up intermediates again. The Stewarts are investigating what happened when Antonio came together with Juan Pablo."

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Ferrari ( Rubens Barrichello - 5th - Michael Schumacher - Retired )

Jean Todt: “This was a chaotic and confusing race. We hoped to exploit the unusual weather conditions but this year, it seems that even the luck that can be a fundamental part of motor racing will not come our way. Maybe we have had too much of it in the past few years, but I hope we can now get back in credit on this score as quickly as possible. At the start of the race, Michael was a front runner, while Rubens who had started from further back, was struggling a bit. When the Safety Car came, out we tried to gamble on dry tyres on Michael’s car, but very quickly, he realised the car was impossible to drive in these conditions. So another stop was needed to go back to rain tyres, but Michael’s race lasted just one more lap, when he was hit by Sato in the braking area for La Source. This meant all our hopes rested with Rubens, who had moved into the points by this stage. His race was going normally, but when his rain tyres began to go off significantly, he had to pit again to fit dry ones with just a few laps remaining. The time he lost doing this and in getting the dry tyres up to temperature cost him fourth place.”

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Sauber ( Jacques Villeneuve - 6th, Felipe Massa - 10th )

Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "This was a dramatic race for everyone. Jacques had a very good drive to sixth and it had not been easy for him to go with the decision to adopt a one-stop strategy. In particular he did a very good job handling a fuel-heavy car in difficult conditions. Felipe was on schedule for a top finishing position, but we agreed with him to take a calculated risk to change to dry tyres, and unfortunately it did not pay off. His second stop came just a bit too early in retrospect, because the track changed five laps later, but at Team SAUBER PETRONAS we are here to race and sometimes these things happen."

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Toyota ( Ralf Schumacher - 7th, Jarno Trulli - Retired  )

Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"It's obviously very disappointing to have lost out on two possible podiums today, but we took a challenging gamble which didn't pay off. Our pace in the first stint was very quick and we were able to compete with the top cars. At that point were heading for very good results but once the safety car came out we made the wrong decisions on the tyre changes so it didn't work out. The timing of the safety car worked well for Ralf, but we switched Jarno to dry tyres because we could see the line was drying slightly. We had to make a call but we made the wrong call. Then we made another tight call at Ralf's second pit stop and that cost him too. Nevertheless I am happy with the strategy decisions we took today. We are in Formula 1 to win and I prefer that we take a challenging gamble like that to make it to the top than settle for second best. At least today we gained valuable experience about how to race in wet conditions."

Full Team and Driver Race Report  Back to Top

Jordan ( Tiago Monteiro - 8th, Narain Karthikeyan - 11th )

ADRIAN BURGESS, SPORTING DIRECTOR
“It is a fantastic result for everybody. Tiago and Narain drove storming races and avoided the trouble. 16 out of 16 for Tiago and another finish for Narain. After Indianapolis, we would not have thought we could take any more points but this is really great for everybody involved here at the circuit and back at the factory, plus our partners Bridgestone and Toyota.”

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Red Bull ( Christian Klien - 9th, David Coulthard - Retired )

Christian Horner, Sporting Director:
“The cross over point at which we could change from intermediate to slick tyres wasn't very obvious. I think we timed Christian going onto slicks near to the end of the race at the right time, but, by then, we'd given away too much track position. When we went to slicks earlier in the race, David immediately said it was still too wet and came back in along with Webber, Trulli and a few others who had also tried slicks. Christian did an extra lap before coming back in, which cost him around 25 seconds and probably lost him a point. But, he drove a good race and didn't make any mistakes. When we put him on slicks the second time, he was one of the quickest cars on the track. Unfortunately, David suffered the first engine failure of the year, it's disappointing but to get to the 16th race of the year without any before is pretty good going.”

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Minardi ( Christijan Albers - 12th, Robert Doornbos - 13th )

PAUL STODDART, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth
“We took a gamble today on the rain that didn’t come and started on full-wet tyres. From that point onwards, our race was effectively compromised. That said, both drivers, and indeed, the whole team, got through a difficult race and a most difficult weekend. Full marks to Tiago for scoring a well-deserved point, and my thanks to the whole Minardi Team, including factory-based staff in Faenza, for their support.”

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Bridgestone

Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport

“That was a difficult race today. Track conditions were very tricky and tough on the tyres. In the initial stages Michael was running with the leading pack and we were expecting him to be able to close the gap until he had his unfortunate collision with Takuma Sato. Rubens on the other hand was caught midfield but did his best to climb through to take fifth place. It was quite a messy race with lots of tyre changing going on. Of the other Bridgestone runners it was Tiago Monteiro who impressed most. He had a steady race in difficult conditions and has done well to take a point for eighth place. Today was the first time this year where we have had such wet race conditions. We have gained plenty of valuable data today for further wet tyre development. Looking ahead now, we have three races to the end of the season and we shall be pushing hard to finish the season on a high.”

Full Bridgestone Race Report  Back to Top

Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director
“There were lots of questions to be answered at the start of the race. How might our rivals fare? Would the confidence we have in our latest wets prove to be justified in the wake of so many encouraging tests? I think we can be very satisfied with the answers.
“We knew from our dominant victory in last season’s rain-hit Brazilian GP that we had made progress with our wet-weather rubber – and we have continued to build on that. Today’s result proved the point in no uncertain terms. We picked up lots of useful data today and this was a very satisfying victory.”

Full Michelin Race Report  Back to Top

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