Bridgestone Motorsport’s engineers were boosted today by the race pace of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro cars in the 63rd Monaco Grand Prix which saw Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of the race. Although he and Barrichello crossed the finishing line in seventh and eighth respectively, the competitiveness of their car and tyre package was evident. Hampered by a poor first qualifying performance on Saturday, the pair started the 78-lap race from eighth and tenth on the grid. Unfortunately, a spin by a back marker brought out the Safety Car, followed by Barrichello stalling in the pits and a subsequent drive through penalty for speeding in pitlane stacked the odds against the pair. The Scuderia team now lies fifth in the Constructors’ Championship. Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers of the Jordan and Minardi teams will both be pleased to have finished one of the most challenging and prestigious races on the F1 calendar. Unfortunately their teammates did not fare so well and Patrick Friesacher in particular will be disappointed after looking strong all weekend.

Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport
“Overall we’re pleased with the performance in the race today but disappointed with the final result. During the race we saw the two Ferraris looking very quick with Michael setting the fastest lap on lap 40. We are also pleased with the status of our tyres after the race, we didn’t experience any problems with wear or blisters, everything was fine and we kept the performance during the whole race. However, it is a shame that the Ferrari drivers could not qualify in a better position and the overall qualifying performance of the car and tyre package needs to be improved.”

Ross Brawn – Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
“That was a very frustrating race because the potential of the car was huge in the middle of the race. Michael set the fastest lap with a lot of fuel still in the car but it is a typical Monaco race if you don’t qualify well as you end up following everybody else. In the race, the Bridgestone tyres were very good, they were perfect for it but we couldn’t get the qualifying lap and we paid for it here. In amongst all that it was unfortunate that Michael got caught up in the mess behind the Minardi as things could have been different. Rubens stalled in the pits which cost him a few places as well. So, not a great weekend with bags of potential.”

2005 Monaco Grand Prix - Main Page
2005 Monaco Grand Prix - Team and Driver Race Reports Page

Latest Formula 1 News from Bridgestone: