Jean Todt: Fifteen wins, thirteen of them with Michael, from the seventeen races held so far. The numbers say it all. After taking a fantastic pole this morning, Michael dominated the race, leading from start to finish. The car was perfect, the Bridgestone tyres were perfect, and the team did a perfect job of handling this day which was different to any other, because of what happened yesterday. After qualifying, we knew Rubens would have to make his way through the field and despite having a very competitive car, it was hard for him to overtake. He fought for around half the race, making up several places before retiring with broken front suspension, following a collision with Coulthard. We were targeting the win here and we are happy to have succeeded. We were keen to do so for a variety of reasons, first of all because this is the home race for Bridgestone, a partner that plays a fundamental role in our success. It is good to see that our will to win is as strong as ever, even though we have hit all the targets we set ourselves quite a while ago and our team has set so many new records. Now we want to end the season on a high what has been the longest season in the history of Formula 1 with another win in Brazil.

Ross Brawn: After China, Michael was determined to do well again and today, we saw him at his best. Everything worked very well and I must congratulate the whole team for putting the car together in a way that was pretty much spot-on for the race, with very little prior practice. Once we saw the others' pit stop strategies, it was just a case of controlling the race. Tyre choice was the proverbial educated guess and I don't know if it was the best choice, but the tyres were excellent, consistent and also quick on the first lap. They worked well with our aggressive strategy. We are so pleased to have won the race in Japan with Bridgestone, at their home grand prix. Rubens was having a good race, driving really quickly and his car was going well, so it was just a shame that he collided with Coulthard, but he had no option but to push hard.

Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): Today we achieved a good result with regards to the FW26 performance and constructors' points. Ralf drove a fantastic race, typical text book style. The fast work of the pit crew at the stops was fundamental to get Ralf's result, to help him avoid traffic. Juan did a good job to come from where he qualified helped by some aggressive overtaking. Both cars were well balanced for the race, which is interesting after the little time we had to look after the set-up. We had no mechanical problems.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Considering the difficult circumstances of this year's Japanese Grand Prix, it has been a very successful weekend for our team. Ralf demonstrated excellent performance in the qualifying and in the race. After he had quite a hard time he achieved a podium again. This means fresh motivation for the entire team after a difficult season. Today's positive result was completed by the fact that Juan Pablo managed to grasp two points after having started 13th. Furthermore regarding the engines everything ran according to plan.

Ron Dennis: "The finishing positions of the race pretty much reflected qualifying, which unusually took place on a Sunday morning on a drying circuit. David was lying fifth until the collision with Rubens. Kimi's sixth place from 12th on the grid was the result of the team's strategy which served both drivers well. We now all look forward to the final round of the 2004 World Championship in Brazil."

Norbert Haug: "Not the result that we had hoped for but coming from grid positions eight and 12th your chances are limited. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding between David and Rubens which cost David a good points scoring position because he was able to keep up with Takuma Sato and Jenson Button. Considering his grid position Kimi did a good job finishing sixth. We now look forward to the last race in Sao Paolo where we want to finish the season on a high."

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: "Overall, this was a disappointing result after a difficult weekend for everybody. I think Fernando did the maximum today but the car was not quick enough to allow him to fight the cars in front. Looking to Brazil, it is hard to remain hopeful about our championship chances but as long as we have a possibility of re-gaining second position, then we will be motivated to try and seize it."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "It was a very different day to normal and we had to choose strategies and tyres with a minimum of information, but of course everybody found themselves in the same situation. Fernando drove a strong race and had he not lost time early in his third stint, he might have been able to beat Sato. Jacques struggled with significant amounts of understeer, owing to the lack of time we had to set up the car, and that penalised him in the race."

Jenson got a strong start off the line, manoeuvring his way into 3rd place ahead of his team-mate. Takuma gained a place from 4th to 5th at the start but their differing strategies allowed him to move ahead of his team-mate for the first two stints of his race. Jenson gained the advantage in the last stint, bringing his own podium tally to 10 this season and the team's combined number of podium finishes to 11. Today's result means BAR has consolidated its 2nd position in the Constructors' standings and pulled out a lead of 16 points from 3rd placed Renault with just one race remaining.

David Richards, Team Principal: "3rd and 4th is an excellent result; giving us our 11th podium of the season, and for the second race in a row, BAR is the top scoring team. This really shows how consistently the combined efforts of BAR, Honda and Michelin are delivering, and gives us a tremendous foundation on which to build for next year. Taku is achieving very solid results, and despite the pressure of his home Grand Prix, he kept it all together and drove a faultless race. The fact that Jenson was two-stopping really underlined the strength of his fifth place on the grid, and he did well to keep up the pace on heavy fuel. In the end we still have a lot of work to do to take the race to Ferrari, but we are on the right track."

Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director: "In the last three races BAR has scored 33 points with another two-car finish and its 11th podium place at this important 'home' race We ran different race strategies with the two drivers and in the end Takuma was not quite able to make the small advantage of the three-stop work. It was difficult to find a good race set-up without any dry-running and this showed up with both drivers finding the car balance poor and low grip throughout the race. We have recently been working on improving our starts and this start showed the benefits with Takuma jumping Webber and Jenson beating them both. After the first few laps running just in front of Takuma, Jenson let him pass to allow them both to run at their own strategy pace. After that both drivers' races went much to plan. We were not quite quick enough to get ahead of Ralf Schumacher at the second stop and were helped by the collision between Coulthard and Barrichello, but were able to keep ahead of the Renaults throughout most of the race. This is just the result the team needed for the Constructors' Championship 2nd-place battle, allowing us to go to the last race with a 16-point advantage."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development: "A tenth podium for Jenson, and Taku's best-ever Suzuka finish is a pleasing result. Both drivers coped really well with qualifying on a drying track and drove very solid races. If I'm being greedy, I'd say it's a shame Taku couldn't join Jenson on the podium at his home race. We'll be aiming to round off the season with a strong performance at Interlagos!"

Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "Apart from the extra point we scored, the highlight of today's race was the performance of Giancarlo and Felipe. Giancarlo proved his complete professionalism by recovering strongly from his moment and pushing hard all the way, while Felipe's drive demonstrated once more his great fighting spirit. Together, they proved that overtaking is possible in Formula One. My compliments to the team, who once again underlined the reliability and speed of the SAUBER PETRONAS C23."

Dr Mark Gillan - Head of Vehicle Performance: Mark's start was not good and he lost three places by the first corner. He then started to fight back and was being held up by Jarno Trulli. On lap seven he mentioned the increase in temperature in his cockpit area and when he first pitted we tried to sort it. A forced pit stop later to further investigate the problem and it was clear that the heat was only getting worse. Eventually on lap twenty-one he had to stop racing due to the dangerous conditions being generated by the heat. This is of course frustrating for us all, but the pace of the car was excellent this morning and given the lap numbers when other teams carried out their first-stop you know that his pace in qualifying was impressive. Christian did a good job today since he has had no dry practice on this circuit and actually only twelve laps in total before the race. He brought the car home and drove solidly. It's been a bit of a roller-coaster ride of emotions today but we know what we are capable of and we will travel to Brazil focused on the task ahead and upbeat about our potential as a team.

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth: In what proved to be a difficult weekend for Minardi, it was satisfying at least to get one car home, with Gimmi taking the chequered flag. Both drivers drove solid races, although Zsolt unfortunately spun off just after making his final pit stop of the afternoon and failed to finish.

Shigeo Watanabe – President & C.E.O – Bridgestone Corporation: This year's Japanese Grand Prix was an unusual and exciting event with qualifying and the race on the same day. Our congratulations to Michael Schumacher on his great victory from pole position. Bridgestone is delighted that Ferrari has achieved its 15th victory from 17 races in front of more than 1,000 Bridgestone employees, who were in the grandstands today. Bridgestone now moves to Brazil and we will continue to provide the best service to our four teams.

Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport: Another great victory for Michael made all the more special in front of our colleagues and fellow Bridgestone employees on home territory. It is a fantastic way to continue what has become a hugely rewarding season and Ferrari has now equalled its 2002 record with 15 victories in 17 races. Unfortunately for Rubens, he was unable to finish the race but his race pace was impressive and he was pushing consistently hard having started on the grid from 15th. He went on to set the fastest lap of the race with a 1m32.730 on lap 30. We hope he has better luck in Brazil in two weeks. And we saw another constructive and rewarding race for Sauber. This is the fifth consecutive race that Giancarlo Fisichella has scored points, demonstrating the team's clear progress as the season has developed. Importantly Giancarlo and Felipe were running consistently fast times with the front runners while Michael and Rubens were clearly relishing their tyres' performance today. It was not easy to make a decision on dry tyres this weekend but based on Friday's wet tyre running we were able to draw enough information and it seems it was the right choice. We will now concentrate on finalising our tyre specifications for the final round in Brazil.

Ross Brawn – Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: After China, Michael was determined to make his mark again and today we saw Michael at his best. Everything worked very well: the team putting everything together with no practice, the car was pretty much spot on for the race and the tyres fantastic. The whole thing ran very well. Once we saw the others' pitstops it was just a matter of controlling the rest of the race. Qualifying was an educated guess. The Bridgestones were consistent, quick on the first lap and quick on the last. They complemented our very aggressive strategy. The tyres were excellent today. We are so pleased to win this race in Japan for Bridgestone – their home grand prix. It was a shame Rubens got knocked out as he was running a couple of seconds a lap faster than the car ahead at the time and making good progress.

The younger Schumacher returned to the cockpit only recently after an injury layoff and this was his first podium result of the season. "The start went ok and I was surprised I was able to follow Michaël. Our car was good today. We choose the right strategy and the result speaks for itself." and Ralf confirmed that his tyres choice was good. "You are always on the right tyre if you have a Michelin on the car, that's pretty clear."

While the top two opted for three-stop strategies, Jenson Button (BAR-Honda/Michelin) pitted just twice - a tactic that allowed him to move up from fifth on the grid to third at the flag - his 10th podium finish of the campaign. The Englishman headed team-mate - and crowd favourite - Takuma Sato across the line. The result has taken BAR to within striking distance of clinching second place in the world championship for constructors.

Fernando Alonso (Renault/Michelin) fought his way through the field and worked his way up from 11th on the opening lap to fifth at the end. David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes/Michelin) ran ahead of the Spaniard initially, but slipped behind him during the final round of stops. After one of his strongest races of the season, however, the Scot clashed with Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) as the pair battled for sixth and both drivers were forced to retire. That allowed Michelin drivers Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren-Mercedes) and Juan Pablo Montoya (BMW WilliamsF1 Team) to move up to sixth and seventh positions. Montoya moved ahead of the Finn early in the race, but he slipped back again after running wide at the chicane.

Jacques Villeneuve (Renault, 10th) was best of the remaining Michelin finishers, ahead of Jarno Trulli (11th on his Toyota debut), Christian Klien (Jaguar, 12th) and Olivier Panis (14th in the last scheduled race of his F1 career).

Mark Webber qualified a brilliant third for Jaguar/Michelin. He ran sixth in the early stages but was forced to retire with a persistent technical problem after 21 laps.

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director: "This has been an unusual weekend for Formula One, but our engineers and staff coped extremely well with the need to qualify and race on the same day and we had no logistical problems at all. Once again, we saw how Michelin is able to provide F1 tyres that work extremely effectively on a wide range of cars: most of our partner teams were able to run in the top six at some stage - and that was on merit, not just because pit stops shuffled the race order.

"Even though the luck of testing has compromised some car balance during the race, we had the satisfaction of seeing two different Michelin compounds delivering quick, consistent performance at one of the sport's most demanding tracks."