Jean Todt: It was an incident packed race, with the early stages marked by two Safety Car periods, caused by various spectacular accidents which fortunately and most importantly did not result in any serious injuries. In the end, it all worked out in the best possible way for us. The team, the drivers and the cars were perfect. Our reliability proved to be exceptional and I wish to thank every member of the Gestione Sportiva for this. These results are down to their efforts and dedication. Michael took his eighth win of the season ahead of Rubens, who was very quick all weekend. After this race, he is now the only driver to have always finished in the points so far this season. Indianapolis brings the first half of the season to a close. It has gone fantastically well for us, thanks also to the support of our partners, first and foremost Bridgestone and Shell, but now we are looking to the future. There will be enough time to enjoy these results when we are old..

Ross Brawn: An incredibly eventful race, during which our team and drivers reacted correctly to the changing situation. The Safety Car meant we had to react quickly to change our strategies. Rubens was very strong all weekend and Michael managed his re-start well, but I think that if Rubens had not had a problem in his first pit stop, he might have beaten Michael. Our drivers were free to race one another and we just told them to be sensible and not have an accident. After the second stop, Michael had a heavy fuel load and Rubens was on fresh tyres and for these two reasons, he was quicker than his team mate for a few laps.

Team mate Juan Pablo Montoya was excluded from the race by the FIA Stewards after 57 laps as a result of not leaving the grid within the requisite 15 seconds prior to the start of the formation lap after his intended race car could not be started on the grid and the team decided to let him start in the spare car from pit lane. After 56 laps he was in third position just prior to his second pit stop and the subsequent exclusion.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): Thankfully Ralf will be ok. He had a puncture, which caused him to crash. The reason for Juan Pablo's black flag is that when we tried to start the engine on the grid, the starter would not engage into the back of the car and we decided therefore that Juan Pablo should get into the T-car. However, according to the FIA's article No.85 Juan Pablo would need to have left the grid within 15 seconds before the start of the formation lap and we were a few seconds too late. Obviously two disappointing results in a row is not good. However we are fighter and intend to come back strongly.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Of course our race was over-shadowed by Ralf's accident. I visited him in the medical centre during the race, where he was undergoing a first check. I could even speak with him shortly. We all hope now that Ralf recovers quickly. After Juan Pablo had his problem at the start, he fought hard and managed to get into the points but was excluded with 16 laps to go to the end of the race.

Ron Dennis: "An eventful day for everybody at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Both Kimi and David were on strong strategies in an incident-filled race and were able to run competitively. There is no doubt that Kimi could have finished on the podium had his race not been badly hampered by a faulty engine air compressor, which forced him to make two unscheduled stops. David had to make an additional stop after a piece of polystyrene debris lodged itself underneath the car. At least we managed to score five points, which is a small consolation in a race where we would have been truly competitive."

Norbert Haug: "At least we scored five points, although Kimi could have managed a better result if he hadn't suffered problems with the pneumatic system forcing him into the pits two additional times, which made a total four. Unfortunately David's race was hampered by a polystyrene piece, which had to be removed during an unscheduled third pitstop."

His team-mate Fernando Alonso made a magnificent start from ninth on the grid and overtook five cars (after Montoya was forced to start from the pit-lane) to claim third place at the first corner. However, his race ended with a violent accident on lap 9 under braking for the first corner; at this stage, the team believes the cause to have been a puncture of the right-rear tyre, owing to debris on the circuit following a first-lap accident.

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: "We had a tough weekend, but Jarno's fourth place is some consolation. He drove a strong race, but is also disappointed not to be on the podium. Fernando didn't have any luck, just when he looked like producing a great drive. We are satisfied to maintain our position, but hope to improve our level of performance ahead of Magny-Cours."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "It was a dramatic race today and given that we are slightly disappointed to come away with only a fourth place finish, I think we must be positive about our achievements. From ninth and twentieth on the grid, it was never going to be an easy race, but both drivers made excellent starts to make up position on the first lap. Fernando was unlucky today, and we currently believe that his accident was caused by a puncture. We took advantage of the second safety car period to bring Jarno's first stop forward, and we then needed to keep a good pace and let the strategy unfold. He seemed to lose some performance in the last stint, and was frustrated to be overtaken by Sato, However, we maintained our championship position today, and remain optimistic for the next race, our home Grand Prix."

By contrast, Jenson Button experienced his first retirement of the season, suffering a mechanical problem with the gearbox after 26 laps.

At times Takuma was the fastest driver on the track, underlining BAR's continued improvement. His result notched up a further six points for himself and the team, taking BAR to within eight points of second place in the Constructors' Championship and promoting himself to seventh in the Drivers' standings, whilst Jenson remains third despite his retirement.

David Richards, Team Principal: "A great day both for Taku and the team; the first podium for him and seven podiums for the team out of nine races. At the same time we are still in need of a greater level of consistency, and Jenson's failure was a missed opportunity. As we head back to Europe at the half-way point of the season I am pleased with the progress we have made, and in particular how Honda and Michelin have worked so well as a team to continue development during the year. As for the rest of the season, I think that we have a real battle on our hands but we will clearly be aiming for even greater things in the next nine races."

Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director: "Congratulations to Takuma on a well-earned first podium place in a very dramatic race. We had very poor starts, particularly Jenson, but after that our car was extremely quick but unfortunately we did not get the opportunity to race the Ferraris. The situation was complex; we decided not to pit at the second safety car and this should have worked well for us had Schumacher not managed to get back out in front of us behind the safety car. After that, both cars were held up by the Ferraris until our first planned stops. After Jenson's first stop it was clear that we had problems with his gearbox so we had to retire his car. Takuma was consistently very fast throughout the rest of the race and quickly caught up Trulli, who made a mistake allowing Takuma to pass him for third place."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development: "I have to say congratulations to Takuma for his drive today - he battled hard for the whole race and really deserves his first podium finish. I feel for Jenson as he could have had a strong result as well. I am also particularly pleased to hear that Ralf is OK."

Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "We had a very turbulent race, which brought us only negative 'highlights'. Felipe was an innocent victim in the first corner accident, and Giancarlo was frustrated to be trapped once again behind Heidfeld all through his first stint. Our tyre problem on lap 48 lost us seventh place, and this inflicted further damage to the car which subsequently robbed us of an eighth place finish due to an hydraulic leak."

Dr Mark Gillan Head of Vehicle Performance: It has been a weekend of mixed emotions for us here in Indianapolis. We came to this race very well prepared and focused on the task ahead of us. Points were our goal and we should have scored three with Mark today. Both Christian and Mark made clean starts and cleared the first corner. As Christian entered the second corner, it appears that the Toyota of Da Matta breaked heavily leaving Christian with no-where to go other than into the back of him. This was unfortunately the end of Christian's race. He has shown promise all weekend with increasing pace on track and I would have liked to have seen his performance today. Mark's race was very stong and despite the safety car deployment for nearly the first twenty laps he maintained his position and was racing for a sixth place finish when he suffered an oil leak and came to a stop on lap 60. Prior to that there had been a lot of debris on the track after the incident involving the BMW-Williams of Ralf Schumacher and it appears that Mark ran over the front wing that had been on the track causing him to damage his front wing end plate, floor and to lose his left bargeboard. We managed to make the repairs during his first pit-stop and there was minimal loss to his position and time as this was carried out during the safety-car deployment. Although it would be fair to say that I am disappointed with the end result, I am very proud of the team-work that I have witnessed over the last two weeks and particularly the morale of everyone involved with the team.

We now travel to Barcelona (Spain) to complete our three day, two-car test in peparation for the next race in Magny-Cours, France.

James Robinson: It was a disappointing race for us. Giorgio made an excellent start and was way up there towards the front when he got caught out in somebody else's accident. Nick was running well, benefiting from a good strategy which involved pitting under the safety car but unfortunately we had an engine problem at the end which meant he didn't finish. It's a shame as we were looking quite strong.

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Wilux Minardi Cosworth: What a fantastic ending to an action-packed United States Grand Prix! Firstly, our thoughts are with Ralf after his heavy accident, although we understand from first reports that he's okay. That aside, this race had everything, and when a team like Minardi that struggles so hard against the odds scores a point, it is an occasion for great celebration. As for Zsolt, what can I say? He has driven with tremendous maturity all weekend and his pace has been strong and consistent. Today's result was just reward for a gritty performance because, as we all know, to finish first, first you have to finish. As the first Hungarian Formula One driver to score a World Championship point, he will go down in history, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. To all the people on the team who work week in and week out for so little reward, I can only say ‘well done'!

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director – Bridgestone Motorsport: Naturally I am delighted for Ferrari today on their fantastic result but I would also like to congratulate Zsolt Baumgartner and the Wilux Minardi Cosworth team on taking their first point of the year. They have worked extremely hard all season and this must be very rewarding for them. Being a Japanese company, I would also like to congratulate Takuma Sato on his third place podium – the first time a Japanese driver has finished on the podium in 14 years. Today's race, however, was extremely eventful and I would like to send our best wishes to Ralf Schumacher. We hope he is OK and back at the track as soon as possible.

Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport: What a fantastic 1-2 for Ferrari! This is their sixth 1-2 of the season but by no means an easy one from a tyre point of view. The Speedway is a very challenging track for a tyre manufacturer so I was pleased to see the way our tyres performed in these conditions and in the heat. It was marginal but being able to support Ferrari in their two-stop strategy was very satisfying. It was also great to see Minardi take their first point of 2004. This was down to their endless efforts and I am very happy for them and Zsolt [Baumgartner]. It was, however, a little disappointing not to see more Bridgestone runners finish the race this afternoon due to a number of circumstances but we expect to see everyone back up to speed upon our return to Europe.

Ross Brawn – Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: The Bridgestone tyres were very good today. We had to run some quite high fuel loads because of the way the race worked out and there were times when we had a lot of fuel in the cars which meant we had to nurse the tyres a little bit but really they were perfect. The important thing was that they gave us a qualifying performance when we needed it and then held up well in the race – they were fantastic.

Sato and team-mate Jenson Button were in a distinct minority when they opted not to refuel during the second safety car period, necessitated when Ralf Schumacher (BMW WilliamsF1 Team/Michelin) crashed heavily at the final corner. It took rescue crews several laps to free the German, who was bruised and shaken but otherwise unhurt. This put the BARs out of synch with their rivals, but Sato fought his way back through the traffic to take third. Button was ultimately thwarted by a technical problem - the first time this season he has failed to score a point.

Jarno Trulli (Renault/Michelin) started at the back of the field after an electronic problem prevented him posting a qualifying time, but he finished fourth ahead of Olivier Panis (Toyota/Michelin, fifth), Kimi Räikkönen (Team McLaren Mercedes/Michelin, sixth), David Coulthard (Team McLaren Mercedes/Michelin, seventh) and Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner - who scored the first F1 point of his career and Minardi's first since Australia 2002.

Juan Pablo Montoya (BMW WilliamsF1 Team/Michelin) started from the pit lane in his spare car after his race chassis developed a problem on the grid, but he was disqualified for a procedural error after working his way into the top five.

A late engine failure cost Jaguar/Michelin driver Mark Webber an opportunity to add to his seasonal points tally and there was no joy for the remaining Michelin runners, either. Fernando Alonso (Renault) sprinted from ninth to third at the start, but retired early on when he crashed after a punctured right rear tyre due to debris on the circuit. Cristiano da Matta (Toyota) was plagued by technical problems from the start and Christian Klien (Jaguar) was one of four drivers eliminated at the first corner. Only eight cars were still running at the end of the season's most gruelling event so far.

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director: "This was a race any one of several Michelin drivers could definitely have won, but the two safety car periods and other circumstances contrived to thwart us. It's a shame, because our tyres have performed extremely well all weekend. They have been fast and consistent in equal measure, and we have had absolutely no blistering problems despite the fierce heat.

"As far as the two accidents early in the race are concerned, Fernando Alonso and Ralf Schumacher suffered deflated right and left rear tyres respectively. We have examined the tyres and it is clear that both were damaged by debris that had been picked up from the track, probably in the wake of the multiple pile-up at the first corner."

Pascal Vasselon, Michelin Formula One programme manager: "This has been a weekend of mixed emotions. It is very satisfying that our tyres showed a clear technical advantage, but frustrating that reasons beyond our control prevented us from capitalising on the situation. That's motor racing."