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2005 Italy GP
Team Quotes - Sunday 4 September
Jean Todt: Yet another painful day in what has been a difficult season for us. We fought really hard to try and finish in the points, but we did not manage it. This was another big disappointment with both cars making it to the finish but with no points to our name. We are very disappointed for our fans and our staff who were here in the grandstand at Monza. The main problem afflicting us is, as everyone knows, a lack of grip and all we can do is continue to work with our partners at Bridgestone to fix it. Next weekend, in the Belgian Grand Prix, at Spa- Francorchamps, we can once again expect a difficult weekend. But hopefully we can show that this current situation can be turned around in the final three rounds of the championship. Despite the fact that we are going through very difficult times, the team and the drivers have once again worked very hard. We have shown that we are really determined to get the most out of the package we have at our disposal.
Ross Brawn: Obviously this was a difficult race for us. We really needed better starts than we had in order to suit our chosen strategy, so that held us up in the early stages. Rubens had a puncture on his left rear tyre which spoiled his race and then in the closing stages, Michael went off at Turn 8 and did some damage to his car which affected his race. Generally, the cars performed okay, but we simply did not have the overall performance we needed and we must continue working to try and understand and rectify that situation.
BAR Honda's Italian Grand Prix ended with frustration today as the team was unable to carry a promising qualifying result into this afternoon's race. Jenson Button finished 8th to secure a further Championship point but today the team fell short of expectation as a fuel rig problem at Takuma's first stop and a general lack of pace hampered the team's progress.
Both Jenson and Takuma made good starts off the line, Takuma dropping a place into the first corner but regaining it by the end of the first lap. When he made his first scheduled pitstop on lap 15, the fuel rig indicated that the delivery may have been unsuccessful and the team was forced to exercise caution in bringing him in again on the next lap. This unscheduled stop completely threw what it transpires would have been a promising strategy and he finished the race a disappointing 16th.
Gil de Ferran: "Obviously we were hoping for a better result after starting both cars on the second row. After a good start things were going fairly well, however we had a problem with the fuel delivery with both drivers during their first stop which compromised our strategy, particularly for Taku who had to do an extra stop. Furthermore the handling on both cars deteriorated during the race reducing our pace significantly. Although we are disappointed with this weekend's results we are looking forward to a very different challenge in Spa."
Shuhei Nakamoto: "Clearly a disappointing day. Although we had some fuel rig problems in the race it does not hide the fact we did not have enough pace this weekend. I am sure Spa will suit us better."
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team scored its second double podium finish of the 2005 season and its first since the opening race of the season in Melbourne this afternoon at the Italian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso took a strong second place, pressuring Juan-Pablo Montoya's McLaren to the flag, while Giancarlo Fisichella climbed from eighth position to third, his second podium finish of the season and the first podium for an Italian driver at Monza since Michele Alboreto in 1988. Both drivers ran two stop strategies, with Fernando stopping on laps 19 and 39, while Giancarlo pitted on laps 21 and 40. Fernando Alonso extended his lead in the World Drivers' Championship by three points, and now leads Kimi Raikkonen by 27 points with four races remaining, while in the Constructors' race, Renault lost one point to McLaren and maintains an eight point advantage in the overall standings.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: The team had a great race this afternoon. Two drivers on the podium was what we wanted this weekend, and we achieved it. Monza is always a tough circuit for engines, but ours were perfect all the way through; the tyre performance from Michelin was very good; and we had the right strategy. I want to congratulate Giancarlo on a fantastic drive from eighth on the grid to finish on the podium at his home Grand Prix. Fernando did a superb job, and is in a stronger position for the championship now. There is a 27 point gap, but we are taking it week by week and not getting excited. Spa will be another important race in one week's time, so let's see what happens.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Tactically, this was a very tricky race as it always is when your main competitors are spread throughout the field, and in this case also running different strategies. In those circumstances, you have to be able to think on your feet. The whole team did a great job this afternoon, not least the drivers who pushed from start to finish to make the most of their strategies, and they earned a fabulous double podium finish. Fernando's race was relatively straightforward, but with Giancarlo we had to try and respond to Raikkonen's chase from behind and also deal with the threat that Trulli posed all the way through. Fisico did a great job to get ahead of Jarno, and hold off Kimi to the flag. It was a tough afternoon which makes the result all the more satisfying.
Thanks to a strong drive and a good strategy, Antonio Pizzonia scored two points for the BMW WillaimsF1 Team, by finishing seventh, having started 16th on the grid. Pizzonia stood in for Nick Heidfeld, who withdrew yesterday after a crash in testing. Team mate Mark Webber was unfortunately caught in an accident at the first corner, which forced him to pit for a new nose and front wing which compromised his race.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a good drive from Antonio, a fantastic result considering he did not drive the car for some time until yesterday morning. It is a shame that Mark damaged his front wing in the first corner. It became clear as the race unfolded that we have improved the car's pace compared to other teams around us. The gap to McLaren is still our biggest focus. Unfortunately due to the qualifying order we did not maximise the potential of our cars today.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Antonio did a very good job. Just one year ago he had to stand in for Ralf Schumacher here at Monza and since then he has not raced at all. Today he managed to recover from grid position 16th to finish 7th without any mistakes. Unfortunately Mark had a coming together at the first chicane after the start and had to change his front wing. From then on, until his first pit stop he got stuck in traffic and had practically no chance to improve his position. We had no mechanical problems today.
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Juan Pablo Montoya won today's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, which he had started from pole position. It is the first victory for Team McLaren Mercedes at Monza since 1997, Juan Pablo's second win of this season and the sixth of his Formula One career. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen came home fourth in the 53-lap race. Both drivers pitted twice, however Kimi was on a one-stop-strategy and his second stop was caused by a problem with his left rear tyre and the team had to change it on lap 28 (5.0 seconds). Juan Pablo came in for fuel on laps 20 (8.2 seconds) and 40 (7.1 seconds), whilst Kimi's regular pit stop was on lap 25 (11.5 seconds). Kimi remains second and Juan Pablo fourth in the Drivers' World Championship with 76 and 50 points respectively. Team McLaren Mercedes are second in the constructors' ranking with 136 points.
Ron Dennis: "A stressfull race, Juan Pablo did a great job especially looking after the tyre in the final laps of the race. We knew it was not dangerous, and we had the race in control. It was disappointing as our strategists had calculated that Kimi, without his tyre problem, would have moved up to second place after Fernando Alonso's final pitstop. All in all we had a great strategy, and Kimi drove an excellent race. The mathematics clearly demonstrate that we are still capable of winning both World Championships, but of course it is going to be somewhat challenging. As history shows, we love a challenge."
Norbert Haug: "Congratulations to Juan Pablo and the team on a great race victory. Kimi's performance was outstanding and he was the never stopping to fight until the very end and it was impressive how he compensated the big gap, due to traffic he experienced coming from 11th place. With the one-stop strategy the team had applied even a victory was possible for him today despite his starting position after the engine of yesterday. Unfortunately a tyre problem prevented him from making best use of the strategy. The condition of Juan Pablo's left rear tyre got worse during the last laps of the race but he kept his cool and controlled the race to the finish line. We will keep on fighting for both World Championships as long as there is a mathematical chance to win them and we are now looking forward to the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa."
Sauber drivers Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve finished ninth and 11th respectively in today's Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "I can't remember another race where all 20 cars that started made it to the finish. Today it was therefore impossible to benefit from anyone else's unreliability. It was satisfying to go from 12th and 15th on the grid to 11th and ninth in the race, but unfortunately that did not enable us to score any points. It was an exciting Grand Prix, however, which had some dramatic repercussions in the fight for the World Championship."
Red Bull Racing's wings seem to have been clipped for today's Italian Grand Prix. Despite starting from tenth on the grid, David Coulthard suffered an incident on the second corner of the first chicane when he made contact with the back of Giancarlo Fisichella's car and sustained damage to his car's front wing. Forced to make an early pit stop, the Scot dropped to 17th position, lost valuable time and with it any real chance of a strong points-finish. Team-mate Christian Klien set out to finish in the top eight from his starting position of 13th. Delivering a determined drive, the young Austrian moved up to ninth, but struggling with some oversteer, eventually crossed the line in thirteenth position overall.
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: In a race that had remarkable reliability with all competitors finishing, we unfortunately paid the penalty of David's first lap incident when he touched the back of Fisichella's car. He then had to stop early and change the front wing. After that, we changed his strategy to a one-stop, rather than a two. Christian also got delayed on the first lap and, unfortunately, didn't have a strong enough pace to make forward progress. For us, this was a fairly unmemorable race.
Chris Jilbert Cosworth F1 Race Engineering: No problems with the Cosworth 12 series race engines this weekend, but unfortunately no points for the team. Fortunately, the Constructors' Championship is not significantly affected. Both engines now travel to Belgium to face their second race duty at the challenging Spa circuit.
Panasonic Toyota Racing has come away with rich pickings from today's Italian Grand Prix after Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher took 5th and 6th places and a total of seven world championship points. On a hot day at Monza, Trulli had an enjoyable home race while Ralf Schumacher also had a strong afternoon's work, battling through from lower on the grid with the help of shrewd strategy work from the team. The result is yet more good news for Toyota's position in the constructors' championship. The team still holds 4th place with a total of 78 points, but today's haul means the team is now just eight points away from the top three.
Jarno Trulli made the most of his home race, taking 5th place at today's Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The result keeps him in 5th place in the world championship with 43 points.
Ralf Schumacher also made the points with a strong race around Monza. The German made ground over the course of the race from 9th on the grid to an eventual 6th place. He stays in 7th place in the world championship with 35 points.
It was a successful weekend's work for Panasonic Toyota Racing with strong points finishes for both Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher and a timely boost in the constructors' championship.
Tsutomu Tomita Team Principal: "That was a very good race for us. We were the third quickest team behind McLaren and Renault and I don't think we could have done any better. We were very happy with our race strategy. We lost a couple of places early on because other cars were running lighter than us. But our strategy was proved to be right because we ended up ahead of them at the flag. The points mean we are opening a gap to the teams behind us but more importantly we are making ground on Ferrari. Now we are only eight points behind with four races left. We are closing on them and we will push hard to catch them and make it into the top three. We will also continue to work hard on the technical side to close the gap in pace to the top two."
Narain Karthikeyan had a hectic start in the 2005 Italian Grand Prix when he had a contact with Albers at the first corner. This resulted in a punctured left rear tyre and affected the rest of his race. Starting from the 17th position on the grid, Tiago Monteiro had a good start and drove strongly throughout the race to finish his 15th consecutive Grand Prix. On lap 34, after going off the track, Karthikeyan had to pit twice for car examination. Despite some problems with tyre performance, the team is satisfied to bring both cars to the chequered flag and is looking forward to bringing two EJ15B cars to Spa next week.
Adrian Burgess: It was an exciting race as ever. Both cars had good starts off the grid but unfortunately, at the first corner, Narain was rammed from behind, resulting in a left rear puncture, which effectively finished his afternoon in terms of having a good battle with everyone. Tiago kept his head down and got on with his job. However, both cars struggled with tyre performance, which hampered them all the way to the end. Narain had a small off near the end in the gravel which meant we had to have another stop for precautionary checks, as we did not want to endanger him or the car. Both cars went to the end; 15 out of 15 finishes for Tiago. Now we are looking forward to gaining more performance out of the B-car as we get more mileage and data from it. We will have two EJ15Bs at the next race so we are happy with that prospect.
In a race of exceptional reliability 20 cars started and 20 cars finished Minardi F1 Team drivers Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers took the chequered flag in 18th and 19th positions in today's Italian Grand Prix. Despite both cars displaying good pace, neither driver was able to capitalise completely on the situation. Albers' race was compromised by two unscheduled visits to the pits, one to replace a damaged front wing, incurred in an opening lap collision with the Jordan of Narain Karthikeyan, and the other, to comply with a drive-through penalty assessed for failing to let Felipe Massa's Sauber pass quickly enough. By comparison, Doornbos had an untroubled race, completing his two scheduled fuel stops without incident and pressing on, with a string of consistent laps, to the finish.
Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth: It was a somewhat disappointing race from the Minardi standpoint, because although both cars took the chequered flag, our pace suggested we should have finished in better positions than we did. We were ahead of the Jordans on pace and, in fact, our best lap was less than one-and-a-half seconds shy of Michael Schumacher's fastest race lap. Unfortunately, Christijan tangled with Narain Karthikeyan on the first corner of the first lap, which necessitated an unscheduled pit stop, and then, later in the race, he was assessed a drive-through penalty for failing to move over quickly enough for Felipe Massa. Christijan simply didn't hear the call on the radio to do so, and we subsequently apologised to Sauber for this. If Christijan had enjoyed a clean race, I believe he would have finished ahead of both Jordans, and his lap times certainly reflect that. Robert, on the other hand, drove a trouble-free race to finish in P18.
Bridgestone shod Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello will be disappointed not to have scored any points today in the Italian Grand Prix after running as high as fifth and sixth in the opening laps. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro pair each suffered misfortunes with Barrichello picking up a puncture, resulting in an extra stop for a replacement tyre, and Schumacher going off track, damaging his car and his race chances.
There is some consolation in that Schumacher maintains his third place in the Drivers' Championship and Scuderia Ferrari still lies third in the Constructors' Championship. Bridgestone's four remaining drivers from the Jordan and Minardi teams will be pleased to have all taken the chequered flag. Jordan and Tiago Monteiro, in particular, will be relieved with their successful race debut of the new EJ15B.
Hisao Suganuma Technical Manager Bridgestone Motorsport: "A tough race today. Rubens picked up something on track and started to lose air in his left rear tyre. Fortunately the sensor picked it up and he was able to change the tyre before the condition worsened any further. The car-tyre package was just not performing as well as it is capable of so we shall need to analyse the data carefully. We need to improve this performance for the future. There are still four more races to go so we shall try our best to turn the situation around."
Ross Brawn Technical Director Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: "That was obviously a difficult race for us. We didn't get the starts we wanted to on our chosen strategy and got held up at the beginning. Rubens then got a puncture in his left rear tyre, which spoilt his race. Michael went off track and damaged his car, spoiling his race too. However, we were not really in a strong position anyway. The car balance was OK, we just didn't have the overall performance needed."
Juan Pablo Montoya controlled today's Italian Grand Prix from start to finish but Fernando Alonso finished second to extend his world championship advantage to 27 points with only 40 still to play for.
Montoya's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest qualifying time, but he was pushed back 10 places on the grid after having an unscheduled pre-race engine change. The Colombian scorched into the lead from pole and resisted early pressure from fellow front-row starter Alonso, although the Spaniard closed in again towards the end of the race.
Raikkonen took fourth place behind Alonso's team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, who picked his way through the field after qualifying eighth on a heavy fuel load.
Toyota team-mates Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher finished fifth and sixth, while Williams-BMW stand-in Antonio Pizzonia completed a weekend to remember with a strong run to seventh. The Brazilian hadn't raced an F1 car for a year and hadn't driven one at all for almost three months but he was called up to replace Nick Heidfeld after the latter began suffering headaches during Friday's free practice. These are thought to be a corollary of a recent testing accident at the Milanese track. Pizzonia qualified only 16th, but he made steady, flawless progress to pip BAR-Honda star Jenson Button to seventh place.
Sauber drivers Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve finished ninth and 11th, either side of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. The German, who has been world champion since October 8 2000, is now officially out of the reckoning in this year's world championship fight after five straight title successes.
All 20 starters finished the race the first time there have been no retirements from a world championship grand prix since Holland 1961.
Of the other Michelin runners, Christian Klien was 13th ahead of Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Takuma Sato. Webber and Coulthard had to make pit stops after a first-lap clash, while Sato who started alongside team-mate Button on row two lost time because of a refuelling problem during his first scheduled stop.
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director: "Despite McLaren's magnificent victory, the team obviously had some kind of tyre issue today. When we saw Kimi Rδi kkφnen's cut left rear we were curious about the cause, but Montoya's late-race incident illustrates there was a problem of some kind and we will look at this closely with our colleagues from McLaren.
"Tyre wear on the outside edge of a carcase is extremely unusual here normally it's the inside shoulder that bears the bulk of the load down the long straights. We had no problems at illustrates why F1 should remain an open competition between rival companies."
Nick Shorrock, director of Michelin F1 activities: "The overnight rain didn't change the nature of the track a great deal. All our cars ran on the same tyre compound and the race panned out according to plan, with the exception of two specific incidents. Despite those, however, McLaren scored a terrific win and it was another fantastic result for us."
Ron Dennis, McLaren Group chairman: "We obviously had some delamination trouble with both cars but the problem was probably down to our set-up rather than the tyres. That's just part of the sport. Michelin chose the best tyre compound for this race, in my opinion, and despite the difficulties we were able to score a great victory."
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