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2006 Hungary GP
Team Quotes - Sunday 6 July
The Renault F1 Team leaves the most dramatic race of the 2006 season empty-handed after a torrid afternoon on Budapest's sinuous Hungaroring circuit.
Giancarlo Fisichella was caught out by the tricky wet conditions in the early stages of the race, while Fernando Alonso retired after his final pit-stop with a mechanical problem which has yet to be identified. However, the bare statistics fail to tell the true story of a dramatic afternoon of motor racing. Fernando started fifteenth yet occupied third position by lap five as he scythed through the field on Michelin's excellent ‘intermediate' wet tyres. He took the lead on lap 17 as Kimi Raikkonen pitted, and enjoyed a forty second lead when the Safety Car was called into action on lap 27.
Running with a heavy fuel load in the second stint of the race, he had a slender lead over Jenson Button when he pitted on lap 51 for dry tyres. However, as he exited the pits, a failure at the rear end of the car pitched him into a slide at turn 1, and finally out of the race at turn 2. However, the final twist in a dramatic race came when championship rival Michael Schumacher retired from fourth position, meaning the gap between the two championship contenders remains identical at eleven points with five races remaining. While Ferrari reduced the gap by one point in the constructors' chase, the pace showed by the R26 and its Michelin tyres throughout the weekend in widely-varying conditions means the team will approach the next race in Turkey in optimistic, aggressive mood.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: It was the team's mistake today that cost us the win with a car failure. It has not been a nice day, and I am sorry for the team and Fernando: they all did a fantastic job in very demanding circumstances. But on these days, you have to think in terms of the championship as well, and nothing has changed – except we are one race closer to the end. What's more, we showed this weekend that we can bounce back strongly from a hard weekend like Hockenheim – and even from Fernando's penalty on Friday. That gives the advantage back to us at Renault, and we will be fighting hard to make the most of it in Turkey in three weeks' time.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Wet races often bring excitement, but nobody could have predicted how many times the tables turned this afternoon. As a team we have to look at it in two ways. Firstly, I am sure we lost the possibility of scoring eighteen points today. But on the other hand, the damage in both championships is minimal. Fernando was the class of the field this afternoon, and we know his retirement was caused by a failure on the car, although we will not know the exact cause until we physically see the parts. Finally, congratulations to Jenson and Honda: it is always good to see new winners in Formula 1.
Pedro de la Rosa finished today's 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix in second place, scoring his first ever Formula 1 career podium in his fourth race for Team McLaren Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen retired on lap 26 whilst in second place following a coming together with Vitantonio Liuzzi, which resulted in the Mercedes-Benz safety car being deployed. Pedro was on a three-stop strategy, pitting on laps 16 (11.8 seconds), 26 just as the safety car was deployed (11.0 seconds) and lap 51 (7.9 seconds). Kimi pitted on lap 17 (11.0 seconds). With rain falling at the Hungaroring all morning most of the race was run in wet conditions. Kimi fifth in the Drivers' Championship with 49 points and Pedro is 12th with 10 points. Juan Pablo Montoya is seventh with 26 points, and Team McLaren Mercedes is third in the Constructors' standings with 85 points. Formula 1 now enters a three week break from on-track activity until the Turkish Grand Prix at the end of August, however development of the MP4-21 will continue intensively in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart.
Ron Dennis: "I would like to congratulate Pedro on a tremendous, measured and effective drive today scoring a great second place. The team and I are personally delighted for him, and it is a much deserved result and demonstrates the racing quality of a great driver. Whilst the race, I am sure, was exciting to watch it was tinged by some disappointment that we should lose Kimi in such a way. Understandably we feel a race win that should have been eluded us today."
Norbert Haug: "A first class performance by Pedro mastering tricky conditions throughout the race. His second place is well deserved, and he kept his cool in every circumstance. It is a pity that Kimi dropped out after having a misunderstanding followed by a crash with Vitantonio Liuzzi who backed off to let Kimi through. We will now during the summer break continue to work hard to further improve our package, and we want to demonstrate our upwards trend at the next Grand Prix in Turkey. Congratulations to Honda and Jenson Button for their first win.
Jean Todt: Obviously, we leave Budapest very disappointed. We had a great opportunity within our grasp and it slipped through our fingers. It was a very unusual and difficult weekend for the main contenders in the championship. Only Felipe got to the finish, picking up a point which at least serves to slightly reduce the gap in the Constructors' championship. The changing weather affected the behaviour of our package. In the first part, we were not competitive, but then the situation changed in our favour. With just a few laps to go it looked as though we were going to get a good result with Michael, especially given that our closest rival had retired. Our driver was trying to defend his position on normal rain tyres on a track that had dried, against rivals who were on dry weather tyres and were therefore much quicker than him. Unfortunately, he suffered a broken track rod and had to retire. With hindsight, it is easy to say that this situation could have been avoided, but there is no point in crying over spilt milk. There is not much to take home from this grand prix, but we know we have a very competitive package, which means we are very much aware that we can still take the title fight down to the wire in both championships.
Ross Brawn: We had a great opportunity this weekend and we were unable to make the most of it. It's true that, when you look at what happened in the race, the outcome could have been much worse, but it is still hard to swallow. Felipe brought home one welcome point but it does not lessen our disappointment. The first part of the race was very difficult, because we were unable to maintain a good enough pace, but as the track began to dry, then things changed. We were then the quickest cars on track and the arrival of the safety car had closed up the gaps, offering us the chance of a good result. In the final stages, we decided to leave Michael out on track on standard rain tyres, because we hoped we could hang on to a good position. Unfortunately, in a duel with Heidfeld, a track rod broke. We have five races ahead of us and all the necessary potential to reach our goals.
Panasonic Toyota Racing will leave Budapest with three points courtesy of Ralf Schumacher following today's incident-packed Hungarian Grand Prix. After the cool conditions of the first two days, the Hungarian weather had one more surprise for the teams on Sunday, with heavy showers ensuring that much of the race took place on a wet track. Toyota's drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli started from P6 and P8 on the grid respectively with a heavy fuel load for a two-stop race. But both drivers were short of grip at the start and they lost a total of six places each on the first lap. From there it was always going to be a long, hard afternoon's work around the Hungaroring. The task was made even harder when the safety car was brought out just after both had made their first pit stops on lap 25, leaving both a lap down. The two drivers were the first to switch to dry tyres for the final stint and Ralf did well to bring the car home in 6th place. Jarno was less fortunate, suffering an engine failure five laps from home. There is no testing in August so the teams will now take a mini-break before the next race at Turkey's Istanbul Park in three weeks.
Tsutomu Tomita – Team Principal: "First of all we would like to congratulate Honda on their first win since their return to Formula 1. Here at Toyota our weekend started well and we expected a good performance in the race so I am very dissatisfied with this result. In the end it was full of action and incident and events did not play into our hands today. We had taken the risk of rain into account when we decided on our set-up yesterday so we were not too worried. But we made a poor start and we had poor grip in the wet conditions of the early stages when our lap times were worse than those of our tyre competitors. Then the safety car came at the worst possible time for us and we lost a lap compared to cars which we could have passed later in the race. So that lost us the chance to score more points. As the race went on and as it became drier over the last two stints our pace was very good. Ralf did well to finish in 6th place but Jarno was less fortunate and suffered a late engine failure. We are confident we will improve and we will continue pushing to the end of the season."
Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1: "It was a disappointing race with Mark retiring on the second lap and Nico out on lap 20. We were initially struggling for pace on Nico's car but it did start to improve. By then, however, we had lost far too much time. Nico was stopped by what appears to be an electrical problem causing him to lose the car under braking, but we will confirm that later. We have three weeks before the next race in Istanbul and everyone will work relentlessly during the break to ensure we do a lot better there than we did here today."
Chris Jilbert, Principal Engineer, F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth: "Today's race was very eventful and run in treacherous conditions resulting in both of the Williams Cosworth V8 powered cars retiring in the early stages. Engine-wise, there were no issues and we will be carrying out routine inspections back in Northampton before the race in Istanbul. Our race support personnel are now looking forward to a well deserved summer break."
The Honda Racing F1 Team today achieved its first grand prix victory after Jenson Button took the chequered flag in P1 for the first time in his career and for the first win of Honda's third generation of Formula One competition.
There were emotional scenes in the team's garage after Jenson brought a superb drive in the Hungarian Grand Prix to the conclusion that he has been striving for since his F1 career began in 2000.
Takeo Fukui - President and CEO of Honda Motor Co., Ltd: "We are absolutely delighted with this victory today. We have been aiming for victory from the first race of this year, and to have finally reached our goal at the 13th race of the season makes us extremely happy. The drivers and all the members of the team have worked very hard and done a truly outstanding job. Today we share with all our fans the thrill of victory. Tomorrow we will once again be hard at work to achieve yet more Formula One World Championship wins. I would like to express my gratitude to all our fans for their continuing support. Thank you."
Nick Fry - Chief Executive Officer: "There are hardly words to describe this moment. It is an historic day for Honda and the most incredible occasion for the whole team, its associates and fans all over the world. Everyone has worked so hard for so long to savour the taste of victory. Jenson has remained positive, as has the whole team, and I am immensely proud of everyone today, especially as the CEO of Honda Motor Company, Takeo Fukui, was here in Hungary to receive the trophy on our behalf. Now that we have reached this important milestone, we know we have what it takes to go on and do it again and again."
Gil de Ferran - Sporting Director: "This will always be an unforgettable day for the whole Honda team! This fantastic result is the culmination of several years of hard work, dedication and relentless pursuit of perfection by the many members of our team, and on this day everything came right. For Jenson, winning a race was just a matter of time and on a day like today where conditions were incredibly difficult gave him the perfect setting to show the world a talent and class that all of us in the team knew he had all along. Jenson drove the perfect race from start to finish; he was fast and flawless throughout. Needless to say this race was very hard to manage from a strategic standpoint, right from the start when we struggled with what tyres to start the race on. With Rubens we decided to start on extreme wets and Jenson with wets which paid off early on for Rubens, but we had to pit him only after a few laps. The key part of the race came after Jenson caught up to the leader and we decided to split the last stint since we doubted the wets were going to be the right tyre for the conditions at the end but they certainly were when he came in for the second time on lap 46. In the end first and fourth is just reward for the whole team, not to mention Jenson and Rubens who have kept faith and focused through all the hard work. Turkey can't come soon enough!"
Christian Horner: Fifth position is a good team result. David drove an excellent first lap, managed to keep his head down and move up solidly through the order from twelfth to fifth. The strategy worked well for us today. We demonstrated good team work, which bought us a good result. Christian was unlucky and wasn't able to start the race from his grid position due to a fuel leak. He started from the pits in the spare car and was making progress, but unfortunately he suffered a spin, which ended his race.
In its 13th race the new BMW Sauber F1 Team celebrated its first podium. Nick Heidfeld finished third in the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. After a spectacular race F1 debutant Robert Kubica came seventh in his BMW Sauber F1.06. This result means the BMW Sauber F1 Team has claimed back fifth position in the Constructors' World Championship from Toyota.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): We are extremely happy about the first podium for our new team. Nick drove a fantastic race under very difficult conditions und definitely deserved his podium finish. Robert managed to get two points in his first F1 Grand Prix. At the beginning of the race he found his new territory somewhat slippery. This result gives a lot of momentum for the rest of the season. A big thank you goes to the entire team. Not only here at the track but also to the colleagues in Munich and in Hinwil.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): This is a fantastic result after a very exciting race under difficult conditions. When Robert pitted with the nose damaged we had to change his strategy, but it was too early for dry tyres. We were aware of the risk of leaving him on intermediates, but another stop would have cost us at least one position. Robert's pace and performance in his very first F1 race has been very good. He also fought well for positions. For Nick the strategy worked as planned. He drove a race without mistakes and we put him on dry tyres at his second stop. He took every chance offered to improve his race position and finished on the podium.
For the second consecutive race, Midland Formula 1 Racing enjoyed solid reliability and competitive pace on its way to a two-car finish at the most exciting and chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix in recent memory.
Tiago Monteiro survived continuously changing weather conditions to earn the team's second top ten result of the season, with teammate Christijan Albers following him home in 11th position. Although the event began in rain-swept conditions, it began to dry midway through the race, creating havoc for many of the top runners. After changing to dry tyres, Christijan demonstrated the M16's ever improving pace by setting the 8th-fastest lap of the contest.
The race team now returns to Silverstone to prepare for the Turkish Grand Prix in three weeks' time.
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "Unfortunately, we didn't score any points today. We struggled in the rain at the beginning, and I think that's what cost us. Otherwise, toward the end, we had quite competitive lap times. Christijan put in the 8th-quickest lap and Tiago, as usual, did a solid job to bring the car home in difficult conditions. Today, we just needed a bit more luck. or more laps - either would have helped"
Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer: "We got cool, calm drives from both Tiago and Christijan for a good two-car finish, especially in light of the conditions we had. We took a chance with Tiago under the safety car, which seemed to work well for him. Chris making two stops in a race like that was also the right way to go. In the end, I guess we ultimately didn't have the speed to take points today. We'll do an aero test in three days and following that, begin our preparations for Turkey."
Johnny Herbert, Sporting Relations Manager: "It was good to get to the end and earn a top 10 finish, but it's a shame we lost so much time in the wet. Hopefully, we can keep closing ground on our rivals and convert our pace and reliability into some points in the coming races."
Gerhard Berger: After two days where we had not gone too well, the weather conditions gave us the chance to put us back in a reasonable position after the start. Then Tonio had a spin that did not hurt too much. But then came his accident where there was not much he could do about it. As for Scott, he and his crew made the wrong strategic choices.
Super Aguri had another difficult day as the weather made for treacherous racing conditions. Unfortunately Sakon Yamamoto was unable to finish his second race for the team, however Takuma Sato drove a solid race to bring his SA06 home. Takuma endured many problems throughout the race and struggled with the car towards the end. However, through sheer determination and exceptional team work, he was able to cross the finish line in 14th position.
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: It was a difficult race in difficult weather conditions. Sakon made a good start and tried an overtaking manoeuvre at the first corner, but he was too late in braking and unfortunately stalled the car. Taku drove a very good race, especially during the opening laps on the wet tyres. He later suffered a clutch problem and the car became very difficult to drive, however this was then followed by a problem in his gearbox but he managed to keep pushing to finish the race. The team did an extremely good job today, the pitstops were quick and the problems we had remedied, so over all I am happy about that.
This afternoon's Hungarian Grand Prix turned out to be one of the most exciting of the season with Jenson Button finally taking his debut F1 win. However, it was the races of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso which held most people's attention today. Both had a rollercoaster of a day with both looking like podium contenders at various stages of the safety car interrupted race. However, neither was destined to finish ensuring the championship title battles remain wide open with five races still to go this year. All the Bridgestone runners started on standard wet tyres, with the exception of the Super Aguri cars who were on extreme wets, but it was not until the mid-race rain had ceased and the track started to dry up that they were able to capitalize on the operating window of the Bridgestone tyres. Felipe Massa salvaged a point after switching to dry tyres and setting the fastest lap of the race and Panasonic Toyota Racing's Ralf Schumacher took three well earned points for crossing the line in sixth place.
Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport: Today's race was a difficult one. It seems that our standard wet tyre is a bit too hard for this track and therefore in the early stages of the race the Bridgestone runners were slightly disadvantaged. As the track dried up however, they were able to pick up pace and Michael Schumacher did well to climb up to second. Unfortunately, a track-rod problem resulted in his retirement. The other Bridgestone runners also experienced better performance in the drying conditions but they simply lost too much time at the beginning of the race. It is now up to us to learn from this race and make sure we improve our tyre selection for the future. In the meantime, Toyota took three points today, Ferrari one point and the title challenge is still very open. We have five more races in which to push forward and try to gain ground.
Ross Brawn, Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: The first part of the race was very difficult because we weren't quite sure of our performance on the wet track. As the track dried it did start to come towards us and the safety car closed everything up, which gave us an opportunity. We then took a chance on trying to get to the end with the wet tyre and trying not to drop too many places. Unfortunately in one of the tussles Michael's track-rod broke. Felipe took a point however, which was welcome but obviously today was an opportunity we didn't take so we must regroup and make sure we fight back in the remainder of the season. It could have been worse today and we've got five races yet.
Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis – Panasonic Toyota Racing: Obviously when the track was very wet we were lacking some grip today. But later in the race the standard wets were consistent and they allowed a smooth transition between wet and dry tyres, which were competitive. But for the next races we will have a lot of work to do on the wet tyre itself.
Jenson Button scored a memorable debut Formula One victory in today's topsy-turvy Hungarian Grand Prix. Michelin's partners dominated the early stages of the rain-affected race and Button swept to the front of the field on lap 52, when world championship leader Fernando Alonso stopped with a rear wheel problem. The Englishman then maintained a comfortable lead as the leaders switched on to dry tyres in the closing stages.
He led a Michelin clean sweep of the top five, with Pedro de la Rosa finishing a career-best second ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. In his first grand prix, Polish driver Robert Kubica finished second to score a couple of points.
Nick Shorrock, Michelin F1 director: Where to start? Our 101st grand prix success might have been convincing, but this has been a very tough weekend. Track conditions have been very testing and this morning's rain made things worse.
Most of our drivers startedthe race on intermediate tyres and it was immediately apparent that they offered our partners a clear performance advantage. Our teams were obliged to look after their tyres very carefully as the track dried but, again, the inters held up very well and continued to perform strongly.
Switching to dries was obviously a critical moment in the race, but we had no worries at all and our partners continued to post competitive lap times as the race drew towards its closing stages. I'd like to compliment Jenson on spearheading a Michelin clean sweep of the top five – a fantastic tribute to the hard work we did with our partners during the build-up to the race.
It's a shame that Renault was unable to obtain the result its excellent performance merited, but the team still leads both world championships and I'm confident that we will continue to defend these effectively together.
Frédéric Henry-Biabaud, Michelin Motorsport Director: This was a fantastic r ace in which three Michelin drivers finished on the podium and we took a clean sweep of the top five places “I would like to thank all the team at Clermont -Ferrand for the hard work during the past few weeks. The result was a range of tyres that delivered excellent performance in both wet and dry conditions.
It was clear that our partners had a significant advantage here in Budapest. On behalf of everybody at Michelin I would like to compliment Honda on its first F1 victory since 1967 and I'd like to thank them for the confidence they have shown in us since 2004.
Nick Fry, CEO, Honda F1 Racing Team: Michelin did a fantastic job throughout the weekend. On dry tyres we were very quick in qualifying and our wets lasted brilliantly as the race wore on. The dries proved to be equally good when we put them on towards the end. It would have been easy to make a mistake in these conditions, but at end of day we won – and that's the main thing.
Martin Whitmash, CEO Formula One, Team McLaren Mercedes: That was a great drive by Pedro and we're delighted with his second place. Obviously the weather didn't work out as planned, and we're disappointed about what happened to Kimi, but our Michelin wets were terrific and gave us great performance. The rain throws in all sorts of variables, but we came away with a strong second place and look forward to working with Michelin to obtain another good result in Turkey.
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