|
Team and Driver Quotes following the Race
(selected
team quotes, for a full team and driver preview click on the team name) Renault ( Fernando Alonso -
1st, Giancarlo Fisichella
- Retired ) Flavio Briatore, Managing Director
"I am very happy for the team and Fernando. He did an
incredible job today, and the way he held off Michael in the last ten laps was incredible. I think this was a great race for Formula
1 and congratulations to Ferrari for their performance today. For me, this was a great afternoon for Renault and Fernando, but also
for our sport. I would also like to thank Louis Schweitzer: this is the last F1 victory before he leaves his position as President
of Renault, and we are proud to offer it to him." Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Ferrari
( Michael Schumacher - 2nd, Rubens Barrichello - Retired ) Jean Todt: “It was a thrilling race. It is clear we cannot be completely happy, given
that Rubens was unable to finish the race because of an electrical problem, the cause of which we still have to identify. Michael
had an exceptional race, starting thirteenth and finishing within a hair’s breadth of the winner, who had a great race. I am happy
for the team, for Michael, for Bridgestone and for Shell, with whom we have just renewed our agreement to the end of 2010. It was an
important weekend on the contract front for the Scuderia, as we also signed an agreement to supply Red Bull Racing with our engines
for the next two years. We like to respond with our actions and today’s performance is our answer to those who thought we would
not be more competitive again. We know that championship titles are obtained by winning races and that is what we will be trying to
do in the next round in Barcelona.” Full Team and
Driver Race Report Back to Top BAR Honda (
Jenson Button - 3rd, Takuma Sato - 5th ) Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director
"I am delighted
with the results of this weekend. Personally, it has been a fairytale since this is my first race with B·A·R Honda. In a way I am
not surprised with Jenson and Taku's performance; over the last few weeks that I've been with the team I was able to witness
first-hand the incredible and relentless effort of the whole organisation towards turning our fortunes around - something everyone
achieved with full marks. Certainly our success in Imola gives us confidence not only for a good showing in Barcelona, but also in
our ability to continue to improve as the season goes on. Many congratulations should also be given to both drivers for doing such a
fantastic job all race long. I can't wait to get to Barcelona!" Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top McLaren Mercedes (
Alex Wurz - 4th, Kimi Raikkonen - Retired ) Ron Dennis
"Of course we are very disappointed with the outcome
of the race. Kimi was doing a fantastic job and had already pulled out a healthy lead over Fernando Alonso until a CV joint failed
in the driveshaft. Alex's fourth place was well deserved and again reflected the professional approach he has taken to the weekend
as a whole. Apologies again to Kimi" Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Sauber ( Jacques Villeneuve -
6th, Felipe Massa - 12th ) Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "After qualifying we realised that we had made a significant
step, but it was bigger than we expected. During the race I was even more surprised what we were seeing. Jacques was able to keep a
strong pace and I am particularly happy for him after three difficult races that he should be able to savour this success. It was
clear that Felipe would have a difficult time starting a fuel-heavy car 18th as it is so hard to overtake here, and that must have
been frustrating for him. But overall I am very happy that the car is at a competitive level now. Thanks again to our technical crew
in Hinwil." Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Toyota ( Jarno Trulli -
7th, Ralf Schumacher - 8th ) Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal "We always knew this would be one of the worst
circuits of the year for us, so the team did an excellent job to finish with two cars in the points. Jarno had a very difficult
race, struggling with oversteer and lack of traction, so he did well to hold his position as well as he did during the pitstops.
Ralf had a poor start which compromised his race and meant he was always in traffic. But he also did a good job and excellent
pitstop work from the team meant he was able to get past both Williams cars at the second stop. I'd also like to congratulate Luca
Marmorini and his engine team for getting both engines to the finish again after a tough race in Bahrain. Overall, to come away with
second place in the championship without losing too much ground to the teams behind us is a good result. Now we must work hard to
build on this performance over the next few races." Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Williams
BMW ( Nick Heidfeld - 9th, Mark Webber - 10th ) Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): It is obviously
both a disappointing result and day overall. We had a poor start and we spent the whole race in traffic. Clearly we have to improve
this for the future. That said, the car's competitiveness was not as bad as it might have appeared due to the traffic but it's
certainly not where we expected to be. We had no mechanical problems at all. Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Red Bull (
Vitantonio Liuzzi - 11th, David Coulthard - 13th ) Christian
Horner, Sporting Director
“Obviously 11th and 13th is pretty disappointing after three consecutive point-scoring races.
Tonio drove an excellent race on his grand prix debut. He was consistent throughout and made a very solid start to his F1 career.
David had a couple of knocks from Massa and I think this damaged his car slightly. From a reliability point of view we’re ok, but
we need to take a step forward in performance. We hope to see that at the forthcoming test in Jerez. Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Jordan
( Narain Karthikeyan - 14th, Tiago Monteiro - 15th ) Trevor Carlin, Sporting Director
“We had quite a good
race, where we showed a very good pace with Tiago and especially Narain hanging on to the Red Bull cars and Felipe Massa. Narain
made a small mistake in the pit stop, which unfortunately did not allow us to take advantage of our speed. However, we are very
pleased and encouraged the pace we had during the race.” Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Minardi
( Christijan Albers - Retired, Patrick Friesacher - Retired ) Paul
Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth
“Despite a valiant effort by the drivers and the whole team, it wasn’t
really a surprise that reliability stopped both Minardis in today’s race, as one has to consider that this is the first serious
outing for the PS05. Both failures were gearbox-related, and hopefully, this week’s Mugello test will give the team the
opportunity to perfect certain aspects of the car. On a positive note, though, we believe the overall potential of the new package,
especially of the Cosworth TJ2005 engine, bodes very well for the future.” Full Team
and Driver Race Report Back to Top Bridgestone Hisao
Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport
“I was very impressed with Michael’s race today. We had rain
this morning but it didn’t change the track conditions considerably for the race and he was clearly the quickest driver out there
today. His second stint was particularly impressive when he was lapping two seconds a lap quicker than his rivals. I am only sorry
that Rubens wasn’t able to finish the race. However, our tyre performance here this weekend is undoubtedly an improvement on the
previous races. It was a shame that Michael wasn’t quite able to snatch the lead but from a tyre point of view I think it fair to
say that the Bridgestone was the better tyre today. Having checked the tyres after the race I was also pleased with their
appearance. Having said that, we are not getting carried away. We know we still have to keep pushing and working on improvements. It
was good to see both Jordans finish the race today but I am sorry to see that the Minardis didn’t complete the race. But, we are
sure that as they develop their new car, race finishes will come.” Full
Bridgestone Race Report Back to Top Michelin Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director
“I
would like to congratulate Fernando Alonso on his sterling defence in the face of intense pressure – and Renault for maintaining
Michelin’s unbeaten start to the season.”
“It is clear, though, that the opposition has upped its game. We anticipated a
close battle this weekend – and that is exactly what we got. Although the first part of the race ran pretty much to our
expectations, it is clear that we lost a bit of pace during the second and third stints. We haven’t yet established a definite
reason, although it is clear that Imola – which has several fierce braking zones and lots of hard acceleration – places a
greater load on the current-specification rear tyres than any of the three circuits on which we have previously competed this
season. The rate of wear was slightly higher than expected.”
“It is a pity that Kimi Räikkönen, who was not using the same
tyre specification as Fernando, was forced to retire after his sparkling start. It would have been fascinating to monitor his
progress.” Full
Michelin Race Report Back to Top
Back to Top | 
