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2005 French GP
Team Quotes - Sunday 3 July
Jean Todt: This was a very disappointing race. This weekend we were among the best in qualifying, but we were unable to match that in the race. Michael finished third and clearly could not have done better. The cars ahead of him were simply quicker. After just a few laps, Rubens found he had a problem with the brakes, which made his race very difficult. As the laps went by, he kept dropping down the order, ending up outside the points. We are disappointed because we hoped to be much more competitive. Now we must analyse the race, along with our technical partners, to try and understand why things did not go the way we had expected.
Ross Brawn: The first part of our race was spoilt being stuck behind Trulli. We were not competitive enough to win the race today, but Michael might have finished one place higher without that early delay. We then tried to make the best of our situation for the rest of the race. So, as always in these situations we will have to go away and see what we can do to be stronger next time. We struggled for most of the race and every time the drivers tried to push harder things became difficult. Rubens lost a lot of grip over the course of the race, whereas Michael’s car was probably a bit better balanced and he was able to do better. All in all, we have to say we were not strong enough with either car. We have not given away too many points and we will keep trying to fight back.
Jenson Button put 5 points on the board for his Lucky Strike BAR Honda team today when he finished the French Grand Prix in 4th position. This much-welcomed result now gives BAR Honda an extra boost ahead of its British Grand Prix campaign at Silverstone next weekend, where Jenson will be eager to build on today's performance in front of his home crowd.
Team-mate Takuma Sato suffered a more frustrating race to finish 11th in Magny Cours. He got off to a great start and soon passed a Ferrari to recover his 4th place starting position. Attempting to replicate the manoeuvre to dispose of Jarno Trulli, he ended up in the gravel and lost four places. Taku found himself in the same position when a car went off track directly in front of him and kicked up sufficient gravel to unsight him and cause another off-track excursion. Nonetheless, both drivers remained positive about the performance of the BAR Honda 007 package this weekend, which bodes well for a more positive second half of the season.
Gil de Ferran: "We are quite happy with what turned out to be quite a competitive race for us. Jenson did a great job to finish fourth, with good strategic work from our engineers during the race. Taku was very strong early in the race but unfortunately his race became incident-filled, which prevented him from scoring any points. We clearly need more pace but overall not a bad day for us and we are looking forward to Silverstone next weekend. Our thanks to Honda for continuing to develop such a strong engine and to Michelin who, after a difficult last race, bounced back with a win and seven cars in the top eight places."
Shuhei Nakamoto: "Jenson worked very hard from start to finish and thoroughly deserves his five points today. Takuma pushed equally hard and it was unfortunate that he was unable to get any points. As expected, the latest Honda engine performed well throughout the race and is another solid step forward for the team as we head straight into one of two our home Grands Prix at Silverstone, where we look forward to points success for both drivers."
Fernando Alonso took a dominant victory for the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team in this afternoon's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. The Spaniard led every lap of the race to take his fifth victory of the season, and the first for a 100% Renault car in the French Grand Prix since 1983. He has extended his lead in the drivers championship by two points, and now has 69 points, 24 ahead of nearest rival Kimi Raikkonen.
Team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella endured a troubled afternoon, suffering problems at two of his three pit-stops and damage to his car which cost him grip from mid-race onwards. He nevertheless delivered a tenacious performance to take sixth position, and further extend the team's advantage in the Constructors' Championship. The team now leads McLaren by 18 points, with a total of 89 points.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: The team gave a fantastic performance today, and Michelin did the same – after the events in Indianapolis, it was great to see them come back so strongly and dominate the weekend. Fernando drove a perfect race, but we are sorry for Fisico and the problems he had again, which were our fault. But even though he did not finish as high as he could have done, his points have made the difference this afternoon, and helped us build the lead to McLaren and Ferrari. Finally, we are delighted for the spectators, and our colleagues who came to the race today – we were proud to offer them this victory.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Congratulations go to Fernando on a superb fifth win of the season. He dominated the weekend, and fully deserved this result. But as a team, we have to focus on why we lost what should have been a double podium finish, through three separate incidents for Giancarlo. The fact that he finished sixth in spite of these is an indication of quite how good a race he drove this afternoon.
The BMW WillismF1 team drivers Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld finished in 12th and 14th position respectively in today's 70-lap race, after both the cars experienced some technical problems. The team will now work to analyse and understand the reason of these in order to improve their performance for the next Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a disappointing race for the team. The performance was not our normal level and we will make the neccessary investigations back at the factory. We also had mechanical problems on both cars that we could also see on the data on the pit-wall. We now need to disassemble and reassemble the cars to confirm what parts have failed in the drive line.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): The race was as weak as the qualifying. Neither of our drivers had a chance to improve. Towards the end of the race, both cars suffered mechanical problems which need to be analyzed. The engines ran without problem. Before the Grand Prix in Silverstone we need to analyse the data of this weekend in order to find the reason for our weak performance here. Testing would be helpful in this situation, but is impossible due to the calendar.
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen claimed second place in today's French Grand Prix, having worked his way up the field from 13th. The Finn also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:16.423. Juan Pablo Montoya was forced to retire with a hydraulic failure caused by a fractured supply pipe on lap 46 whilst lying in third place. Both drivers were on two-stop strategies and came in for their stops on laps 29 (8.8 seconds), 56 (5.8 seconds) for Kimi and 26 (8.8 seconds) for Juan Pablo. Kimi Raikkonen remains second in the Drivers World Championship with 45 points whilst Juan Pablo is 11th with 16 points. Team McLaren Mercedes remains second in the Constructors' battle with 71 points.
Ron Dennis: "Kimi's race from 13th on the grid was complimented by an excellent strategy, and the resulting second place was a good reward for the efforts from the entire team. Juan Pablo's first retirement of the year was as frustrating for us as it was for him especially since a podium finish was a certainty. It is clear to everybody that we have a very competitive car and of course we are already looking forward to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone next week."
Norbert Haug: "An excellent drive by Kimi. Coming from 13th to finish second showed that the speed was there and that he was on the right strategy. Unfortunately Juan Pablo had to retire due to a hydraulics failure, which we will investigate, otherwise he would have been on the podium as well doing comparable times to Kimi. We now look forward to the next Grand Prix at Silverstone where, with the performance of today, we have a good chance."
Sauber driver Jacques Villeneuve scored a point after finishing eighth in today's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, but unfortunately Felipe Massa had to retire with a loss of hydraulic pressure.
Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "This was a championship point that we were able to fight for, so congratulations to Jacques. It was an important point, because it was only the third time we have scored here at Magny-Cours. There are always two perspectives after a race: points and performance. Besides scoring again, we also demonstrated a step forward in performance. I hope that continues at Silverstone next week, where hopefully Felipe will enjoy better fortune after his strong race this afternoon."
There were some glum faces in the Red Bull Racing garage this afternoon, when Christian Klien's French Grand Prix ended just seconds after it had begun. Suffering a loss of fuel pressure in his car, the 22-year-old was forced to pull off the track and out of the race at Turn four, lap two. Meanwhile, David Coulthard set out to salvage what he could from his starting position of 15th on the grid. Delivering a determined drive, the Scot moved up five places through the field to finish in tenth position overall.
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: We'll have to look into the failure on Christian's car in a bit more detail, as we don't have the feedback on that yet. David drove a very aggressive race, but got stuck behind traffic, which he eventually managed to clear. After that, his pace was competitive, especially during the second half of the race. He set some good lap times and repeated the performance he showed in the free practice. I think the thing that hurt us most here was starting so far back on the grid and that's definitely something we need to work on. We've discovered a small brake problem yesterday, which was partly responsible for that, and it's something we'll need to sort out before Silverstone next weekend.
Dave Prigg, Cosworth: We're pleased to see the TJ2005 12 series engine complete it's first cycle with David. Unfortunately, Christian had a fuel system problem at the start of the race, which will be fully investigated before the next event at Silverstone.
Panasonic Toyota Racing is celebrating yet another double points finish after a strong weekend here at the French Grand Prix. On a sweltering Sunday at Magny-Cours, Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher took 5th and 7th places in a race where passing came at a premium. Jarno spent the day fending off attacks from a number of drivers. Ralf had a quieter time, but battled hard all day on the way to his two points. The result is good news for the whole team, bringing home six points and moving Toyota back up to 4th place in the constructors' championship with 53 points.
Jarno Trulli added four points to his championship total after taking 5th place at the French Grand Prix. The Italian had to fight all day, but the result moves him up to 4th in the world championship with 31 points.
Ralf Schumacher secured another points finish after a hard day's work around Magny-Cours. The German started 11th on the grid and worked his way up to 7th by the flag. The result leaves him 8th in the championship on 22 points.
Panasonic Toyota Racing has jumped back up to 4th place in the constructors' championship after a gritty day of racing around the French circuit here today saw the team end up with a haul of six points.
Tsutomu Tomita – Team Principal: "We had high expectations for today's race, so I feel slightly frustrated with this result. Still, we managed to bring both cars home in the points and both drivers did well too so we can be happy with that. Both Jarno and Ralf made good starts, but our race pace wasn't as strong as we hoped because they were both struggling for rear grip, especially when the cars were heavy after the first pit stops. It was a tight call on strategy here, but we changed Ralf from three planned stops to two and he gained a place so that worked out. For him to take 7th place after going out first in qualifying was a good effort. It is a pity that we could not hold onto the podium with Jarno, but it is a sign of the progress we've made as a team that we can be slightly disappointed with both cars scoring a total of six world championship points. Still, we have a long way to go."
Jordan Grand Prix drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro made good starts at the French Grand Prix and drove strongly throughout the race. Both drivers were on a three-stop strategy, which were all superbly executed. Unfortunately, after three laps, Karthikeyan started experiencing gearbox issues, which prevented him pushing his car to a faster pace and allowed Monteiro to pass him. However, Karthikeyan did an excellent job in bringing the car to the chequered flag in 15th position. Monteiro finished 13th, his tenth consecutive finish of the season.
Adrian Burgess: Tiago did an extremely good job as usual. He is now at ten out of ten finishes, which is really impressive for a rookie. Now we need to carry on the development of the new EJ15B and hopefully we will be able to provide our drivers with a faster car to show their talent. Narain had a very good start and was running in front of Klien and Tiago but unfortunately from a very early point, before our first pit stop, we started having gearbox problems which forced Narain to change the way he was driving and cost him a lot of lap time. However, he succeeded in bringing the car home. This will help our qualifying starting order for the next event.
The 2005 French Grand Prix, which marks the mid-point of the current Formula One season, did not turn out to be an auspicious event for the Minardi F1 Team. Drivers Patrick Friesacher and Christijan Albers both retired close to the halfway point of the race, Friesacher after 34 laps, when his left rear tyre deflated at the Adelaide corner, and Albers four laps later, when his car's left rear tyre suffered the same fate, pitching him into a spin on the approach to the Estoril hairpin. Fortunately, the Dutch driver suffered nothing more than a grazed hand in the ensuing impact with the barriers. Subsequent investigation revealed that both incidents were due to tyre valve caps not being refitted during the previous pit stops.
Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth: It's disappointing that both cars retired today as the result of the valve caps not being refitted to the left rear tyres after the drivers' second pit stops. In co-operation with our tyre partner, Bridgestone, we will be investigating the issue further, to understand why it happened and to ensure there is no repeat of the problem. It's a pity for both drivers, and in particular, for Christijan, who was having a good race with the Jordans before his retirement.
Michael Schumacher came away from this afternoon's French Grand Prix with another six valuable points today after finishing third in the 70-lap race. He retains his third place in the drivers' points standings and lies just five points behind second placed Kimi Raikkonen. Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello had a disappointing race, finishing ninth. The Bridgestone shod drivers both got a good, clean, getaway from their third and fifth places on the starting grid but got caught up behind Jarno Trulli in the first stint of the race, leaving them with a lot of work to do. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has subsequently dropped to third place in the constructors' championship but by a marginal two points off McLaren. Jordan Grand Prix, meanwhile, maintained their reputation for reliability this weekend after both drivers finished today's race. Minardi's Patrick Friesacher and Christijan Albers, however, had a disappointing end to their weekend with neither finishing the race.
Hisao Suganuma – Technical Manager – Bridgestone Motorsport: A disappointing result to not see Michael higher up the podium but it was a well earned third place. Rubens had a good start, gaining a place early on, but unfortunately did not have a strong race. After a strong qualifying result yesterday it was a shame to not get more from the race. I am also disappointed for both the Minardi drivers today. The valve cap on both their left rear tyres was not replaced during their pitstops and this caused their tyres to deflate. Taking an overall perspective on today's results, however, we did have some new developments here and we have gained some useful data for the future. We have learnt from this race and once we have combined the information from all the Bridgestone drivers and all the car data, we hope to keep the improvements coming for the future grands prix.
Ross Brawn – Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: The beginning of our race was spoilt by being stuck behind Trulli and we weren't competitive enough to win the race today. Michael may have finished a place higher without the early delay. We made the best of what we had but we weren't really quick enough. As always, we'll have to go away and have a think about how we can be stronger next time. As soon as the drivers tried to push today, the car became difficult. Rubens also lost grip through the race but Michael's car was probably a little better balanced. All in all, we were not really strong enough with either car.
World championship leader Fernando Alonso gave Michelin its ninth victory of the season with a dominant drive in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. The Spaniard qualified on pole position and pulled away from his rivals at more than a second per lap during the early stages. He was never seriously challenged thereafter and went on to finish 11.805 seconds clear , and closest title rival Kimi Räikkönen. It was Michelin's 84th F1 world championship victory, Alonso's fifth of the season – and the first time an all-Renault car has won in France since 1983.
"I am very proud to win here today, for the team, for Renault, for Michelin who have had a difficult time in the last two weeks, and for all the fans who came to support us," said Fernando.
Renault now leads McLaren by 18 points, with a total of 89 points. "The team gave a fantastic performance today, and Michelin did the same – after the events in Indianapolis, it was great to see them come back so strongly and dominate the week-end," added Flavio Briatore - Managing Director- "Finally we are delighted for the spectators, and our colleagues who came to the race today – we were proud to offer them this victory."
Räikkönen's drive was every bit as impressive as Alonso's. The Finn set the third fastest qualifying time – despite having enough fuel on board for 28 laps, considerably more than his rivals – although he had to start 13th after being penalised 10 places for an unscheduled engine change. He made two refuelling stops, one fewer than Alonso, and had established himself in second place after the first of them. His team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya was on course to complete a Michelin 1-2-3, but a hydraulic problem forced him to retire without any gears.
Defending world champion Michael Schumacher inherited third place, ahead of Michelin drivers Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve. Trulli started from the front row and ran second in the early stages, before losing a little ground during each of his two refuelling stops. Fisichella was on course for fourth place until he stalled during his final stop, an incident that allowed Button to sweep through to score his best result of the campaign.
Of the remaining Michelin finishers, David Coulthard took 10th, ahead of Takuma Sato, Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld.
Sato was running with Trulli after the first round of stops, but he ran wide after a failed passing attempt and later lost further ground when he slithered through the gravel. Both Williams drivers had a tough afternoon – Webber needed cold water pouring on him during pit stops, due to cockpit overheating, and Heidfeld pitted six times in an effort to cure a differential problem.
Apart from Montoya, Felipe Massa and Christian Klien were the only Michelin drivers not to reach the chequered flag. They retired with faulty hydraulics and failing fuel pressure respectively.
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director: "It's difficult to see how we could have done much better. Two of our partners opted for different strategies and finished comfortably clear of the opposition. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen set a fantastic pace throughout the race – and the result also underlines the extraordinary job Kimi did during qualifying, when he set third fastest time with enough fuel on board for 28 laps. This has been a fantastic demonstration of the combined excellence of Michelin and its partner teams – and I'd like to congratulate Renault on what, for them as well as us, is a home victory."
Nick Shorrock, director of Michelin F1 activities: "This was a brilliant result at the end of 10 turbulent days – and it confirmed what we have always known: Michelin produces racing tyres that unite speed, durability and safety. The three different types of tyre chosen for the race fulfilled our expectations and we have had no problems at all throughout the weekend. The left front takes a particular pounding here, but from what I have seen they all appear to be in very good shape after 70 laps in hot conditions. This has been a tremendous race for Michelin's team here at the track and for everybody at Clermont-Ferrand. I'd like to thank everybody for their efforts."
Bob Bell, technical director (chassis), Renault F1: "Our tyres have been extremely fast this weekend and have given safe, consistent performance. Michelin's pace relative to that of its rival has been evident for all to see. We are delighted to have played a part in giving the company a victory on home soil."
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