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2006 San Marino GP
Team Quotes - Sunday 23 April
The Renault F1 Team took nine points from a dramatic tactical battle in Imola this afternoon, during the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix.
In a spectacular reversal of last year's result, Fernando Alonso's faster Renault R26 shadowed winner Michael Schumacher's Ferrari to the flag, having closed up a lead of almost 15 seconds that the German had built during the opening stint. However, the Imola circuit is known for being one on which it is almost impossible to overtake, and the Spaniard's only hope was to try and pressure his rival into a mistake that never came. However, Fernando's second-place finish extends his championship lead over his nearest rivals, and he has scored 36 points from 40 possible.
Giancarlo Fisichella went into the race knowing he would have a difficult afternoon starting from 11th position on the grid. His R26 failed to show its true pace during the long opening stint of the race, when he struggled for grip, but after that he was able to make up ground on the competitors around him to take the final points-paying position.
The Renault F1 Team now has 51 points in the Constructors' Championship, a lead of 18 points over its closest rival.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: The Renault was very competitive this afternoon, and we only just lost out to Ferrari on a circuit where overtaking is so difficult. Fernando did everything he could, but we just didn't quite have the answers we needed to beat Michael this afternoon. Fisico was always going to have a hard day, but did his best to get to the points, and managed it. We had both cars in the points, Fernando has a big lead in the drivers' championship, and it was another good team performance today.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: We saw a very typical Imola race this afternoon, and an interesting reversal of last year's result. I think the Renault was the faster car but in fact, this appearance was probably exaggerated by the fact that Schumacher had such a dreadful middle stint. With Fernando stuck behind him, we were left with very few options to try and capitalise on our performance advantage, as we believe our planned lap for the second stop was, contrary to what the figures on television seemed to indicate, very close to his. We pulled in early because running longer was unlikely to pay off for us, as the Ferrari's tyres seemed very quick at the start of a stint. So we tried to get Fernando a lap of clean air to beat Michael in the pits and it didn't quite work but as the phrase goes, "nothing ventured, nothing gained". And in this case, nothing lost either. Giancarlo had a steady race, and he was unfortunate not to get ahead of Button at the final stop. Realistically, though, his race was all about mitigating the effects of qualifying yesterday, and he did everything that could be asked of him.
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished today's San Marino Grand Prix in third place, 15.8 seconds behind race winner Michael Schumacher. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen came home in fifth place. Juan Pablo made his pit stops on laps 23 (7.7 seconds) and 44 (7.5 seconds). Kimi was also on a two-stop-strategy and pitted on laps 22 (8.6 seconds) and 47 (6.6 seconds). The Mercedes-Benz Safety Car was deployed for one lap after the first couple of corners following an incident between Christian Albers and Yuji Ide. Kimi is now third in the Drivers' Championship with 18 points. Juan Pablo has 15 points and is fifth with the same points score as Giancarlo Fisichella. Team McLaren Mercedes remains second in the Constructors' rankings with 33 points. The team will test at the Silverstone Circuit in England this coming week with both Kimi and Juan Pablo in action as well as test driver Pedro de la Rosa in preparation for the next round of the 2006 Formula One World Championship at the Nürburgring.
Ron Dennis: "Juan Pablo had a relatively uneventful race. He made a good start but lost of some the advantage when he was squeezed coming into the first corner. However his strategy unfolded well and a fully deserved third place. Kimi's race was badly influenced by a rare mistake in qualifying which cost him some grid positions and was further compounded by him not making a particularly good start. However he drove in a disciplined manner to pick up valuable points for himself and the team. We could have raced a little harder but suffered badly from traffic. Everybody is now looking forward to the Silverstone test next week and the European Grand Prix – both of which should see us move further forward in our competitiveness and World Championship objectives."
Norbert Haug: "A difficult race after an unsatisfactory qualifying during which Juan Pablo and Kimi improved to third and fifth respectively starting from seven and eighth. Once they were out of traffic, which hampered the progress of both drivers during the first half of the race, they showed that the pace was there. Again we demonstrated reliability in the race. We will continue to improve our performance and are looking forward to the first of Mercedes' two home Grands Prix at the Nürburgring in two weeks time."
First win of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. This is the Scuderia's eighth San Marino Grand Prix victory, the 184th from 727 Grand Prix starts. Michael Schumacher took his eighty fifth career win, the seventh at Imola.
Jean Todt: When I was going up to the podium, I said to Michael that I could not remember the way anymore, as it had been such a long time since the last victory! This result comes courtesy of all the hard work over the past few weeks carried out by the team and our partners, first and foremost Bridgestone and Shell and it was made all the better coming in front of so many of our fans and employees who filled their own grandstand here. Michael secured a fantastic win, rounded off with a good fourth place from Felipe. We had expected it to be cooler and the heat saw us suffer a bit, which shows how just the smallest variation in temperature can affect the pecking order. It's and odd thing to say, but in Australia we wanted it hotter and it was cool and here we have the opposite! This result is very encouraging for the future and is a great boost. There are fourteen races still to fight for and we know that if all the parts of the jigsaw puzzle are in place, then we can look for the wins in order to meet our targets.
Ross Brawn: Naturally, we are very happy with this result. Winning in front of our fans is something very special. It was a very tough race and the team did a great job in Michael's final pit stop, which got him back out on track ahead of Alonso. We struggled a bit in the second part of the race, probably because of the tyres, and we could not maintain the pace we had in the first stint. In these laps, Michael drove perfectly, managing to keep Alonso behind him. Felipe drove a strong race. He had some difficult moments but he proved capable of getting out of them in fine form, driving very well. A fantastic result down to great work from the team, from Bridgestone and from Shell. It is the first “real” win for a car designed by Aldo Costa, which is particularly pleasing. Let's hope this is a good omen for the rest of the season.
Panasonic Toyota Racing suffered a frustrating afternoon's work in the San Marino Grand Prix. Both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli qualified in the top ten but they endured mixed fortunes under the sun at Imola. Ralf narrowly missed out on the points, taking 9th place after a battling race on a three-stop strategy. Jarno suffered a problem with his steering column and was forced to retire early on. Toyota is scheduled to test at France's Paul Ricard circuit next week as it bids to make steps forward for the coming races. Then the team will look to bounce back with a stronger performance at the European Grand Prix in two weeks' time.
Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal: "It was a disappointing Sunday for us and the results were not so good. But I'm sure that our car is quicker than it was able to show today. It performed well this weekend and was well matched to the Bridgestone tyre in the conditions. Unfortunately the race started very badly when Jarno had to stop with a mechanical problem with his steering column. We are very disappointed about that so apologies to him. Ralf raced hard on a three-stop strategy which should work here because of the short pit lane. However you risk losing out if you have a safety car in the first stint, which is exactly what happened. That meant the strategy was hampered early on. He had some inconsistency with grip during the race which we need to investigate but Ralf's pace in the last stint when he was free of traffic was good and encouraging. I am sure that our car has the potential to bring better results in the next few races. Nonetheless we clearly need to develop further and push hard to improve performance during the coming tests."
Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1: "It was a good result to get both cars to the finish and improve significantly on our starting positions today. Mark overtook Kimi on the first lap then drove well to sixth place and the strategy he was on worked well. Nico had a a really good start but lost out on the first few corners, but nevertheless improved on his start position of 13th to finish 11th. Bridgestone's new tyre worked well. Overall a satisfactory day, but we are pushing for more."
Simon Corbyn, Head of F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth Ltd: "Great to get a Cosworth powered car back in the points again at Imola and my thanks to everyone at Cosworth for the huge effort put into the CA2006 programme. Once again Cosworth worked very well with WilliamsF1 and this time we came away with something to show for it. We'll need to have a good look through the data and inspect both engines prior to their second event."
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello ended today's San Marino Grand Prix in 7th and 10th positions after pitstop problems overshadowed a good step forward in car race speed. After lining up on the 1st and 2nd rows of the grid, Jenson maintained position through the opening lap whilst Rubens got a bad start and lost two places. During the opening stint of the race, both cars demonstrated good pace and confirmed a sound strategy, but the team went on to encounter a series of problems in the pits.
At Rubens' first pitstop his fuel rig failed to deliver so the team rapidly switched to Jenson's rig. At Jenson's first stop there was a problem with the right rear wheel nut and then in his second stop the lollipop was lifted momentarily before the fuel nozzle was disconnected. As the car pulled away, a number of mechanics were hit by the fuel hose and knocked over. Some fuel was spilt, but thankfully no one was seriously hurt and fire extinguishers were instantly on stand-by but fortunately were not required.
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "Needless to say this was a difficult day for us when unfortunately it all went wrong in the pits. On his first stop, Rubens had a fuel rig failure and on Jenson's second stop the problems were more dramatic but thankfully no one was hurt as a result of the incident. We are certainly all disappointed with the final results, however if we had not had such an uncharacteristically bad day in the pits we would most likely have been fighting for a podium position. Our car pace this weekend was competitive and it is onwards and upwards to the Nürburgring now."
Shuhei Nakamoto: Management Board Member - Honda Racing F1 Team, Engineering Director - Honda Racing Development: "Overall the race was disappointing today. We have not been able to get the best out of the car or ourselves this weekend so we have to refocus for the Nürburgring in two weeks."
Christian Horner: "A very disappointing race with both cars not making it to the finish. It was very difficult to score points today with both Ferraris, Renaults and McLarens coming home in the points. It's clear that we have a lot of work ahead of us, starting next week at the Silverstone test."
The BMW Sauber F1 Team finished the first race of the European Formula 1 season in Imola with their drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld 12th and 13th respectively.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Over this Imola weekend only the free practice on Friday was really good for us. Neither in qualifying nor during the race were the drivers able to set the lap times we expected. It was only in the last stint of the race that Jacques was able to match the speed of the top drivers at certain times. During Jacques’ first pit stop there was a problem when two wheel nuts got stuck, but even without this problem he would not have made it into the points. On the positive side for the first time this season our engines have completed two full race distances at the same time, so they have passed this test successfully.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director Chassis): Our average race speed was not as quick as we expected. After the second stops both drivers were quicker and happier with the balance of the cars, but in the middle of the race we were far to slow. We have to analyse these fluctuating lap times. Jacques had a slow first pit stop due to sticking wheel nuts and this lost him approximately 15 seconds.
Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "It was not such a good weekend, to say the least. Tiago did a good job to bring the car home under difficult circumstances, after his car developed a problem. As for Christijan, well, it's obvious what happened and it was certainly not his fault."
Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer: "Thankfully, Christijan's OK after being shunted off on the first lap. Sadly, it's just one of those things. Tiago brought the car home in P16 and given the problems he had, that was probably the best we could have hoped for. We've got some things to work on to get ready for the next one, but we're up for the challenge."
Gerhard Berger: "We had a good race with strong lap times. Again we brought both cars home which is encouraging and we were stuck in amongst BMW and to be stuck behind a BMW is no bad sign for Toro Rosso. We could have gone quicker if we had been able to pass them. Looking at the lap times, if we qualified a bit better, I think we could run three or four places further forward. Overall, it was actually a reasonable result for us."
It was a disappointing end to a promising race weekend for the Super Aguri. Following an early collision with Christian Albers which damaged his front-left suspension, Yuji Ide later suffered a mechanical failure ending his race on lap 23. Takuma Sato drove a solid race once again and the team executed his pitstops with rapid precision. Unfortunately, his race ended prematurely at turn 15 on lap 44 resulting in the team's first double DNF of the season.
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: "I knew that this would be a tough race as the circuit here makes conditions difficult for us. The team was very excited coming to Italy and has tried its best to get a good result for the first European grand prix. I know that our performance level is not high at the moment, but I see the team and drivers working very hard, so I regret that we have not been able to provide them with a new car as yet. Until we introduce the SA06 we will face a hard time, but we have very high spirits and I believe that the team will continue to do its best."
Bridgestone shod Michael Schumacher claimed a well earned San Marino Grand Prix victory from pole position today in front of thousands of Italian tifosi. It was his 85th career win and the 96th win taken by a Bridgestone driver since entering in 1997. Schumacher's Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro teammate Felipe Massa finished in fourth, giving the team 15 constructors' points. Michael Schumacher moves up the driver rankings to second. Next up for Bridgestone was Mark Webber who drove a very solid race on his latest specification Bridgestone tyres. He finished sixth for his WilliamsF1 team, three places ahead of fellow Bridgestone runner Ralf Schumacher for Panasonic Toyota Racing. Nico Rosberg crossed the line in 11th while Tiago Monteiro finished 16th for his MF1 Racing team. It was a frustrating day for Jarno Trulli who, after qualifying in the top ten yesterday, unfortunately retired with a steering column problem. MF1's Christijan Albers did not complete a lap after contact with another car sent him rolling but a “thumbs up” from the Dutch driver afterwards indicated he will be eager to make amends at the next race. Neither Super Aguri F1 driver finished the race, a frustrating end for them.
Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport: I'm delighted to see a Bridgestone driver back on the top step of the podium. It was a tough race today but Michael managed to keep Alonso behind to take the win. It has been some time since our last win. After all the hard work and effort our engineers and staff in Japan and the UK have put in over the last year and over the winter they deserve this win. However, we do not wish to get carried away. We need to keep focused on the job in hand. Our tyres have performed well in the weekend's practice sessions and qualifying and we saw some fast competitive lap times from several of our runners today. Three Bridgestone drivers finished in the top six. However, we learnt a lot from the race today and we need to analyse a couple of areas of our tyre performance to see if we can improve even further. We need to keep pushing and working hard if our teams are to continue to get good results.
Ross Brawn, Technical Director – Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Obviously we are delighted with this result. Winning in front of our fans is something very special. It was a hard race and the team did a fantastic job in Michael's final pit stop getting him out in front of Alonso. We struggled a bit in the second part of the race as we could not maintain the pace produced in the first stint. Michael drove perfectly to keep Alonso behind and Felipe drove a strong race too. A fantastic result down to great work from the team, from Bridgestone and from Shell.
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test – Panasonic Toyota Racing: I think we had two interesting compounds this weekend. We seem to be on top of the warm-up problems and that was not an issue with the tyre specifications we had here so we are quite satisfied with that. We also saw that when we were running free at the end of the race we could do very competitive lap times.
Fernando Alonso maintained his comfortable Formula One world championship lead with a stirring drive to second place in the fourth race of the year, the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
Starting fifth, the Spaniard gained a place on the opening lap and moved up to second after the first round of pit stops. He then stepped up to challenge leader Michael Schumacher in a thrilling repeat of their 2005 duel – but this time with Alonso playing the role of challenger rather than defender.
Late in the race, the Renault driver ran slightly wide at Turn Six and finally settled down to consolidate his position. After four races this season he has yet to finish lower than second and leads Schumacher by 15 points in the title chase.
Although this was Michelin's first F1 defeat of the season, the company's engineers derived a great deal of satisfaction from their tyres' technical performance because Alonso was clearly the quickest driver on the circuit. He set the race's fastest lap during his pursuit of pole position qualifier Schumacher and at one point was reducing the German's advantage by 1.5s per lap. Catching at Imola is one thing, however, and passing quite another: although he spent the entire second half of the race on Schumacher's tail, there was simply no way through.
Juan Pablo Montoya drove a strong race from seventh on the grid to finish third – his first podium finish of the season – while Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella also scored points on Michelin tyres. For Honda, though, the race was a story of hope unfulfilled. Button and team-mate Rubens Barrichello qualified second and third, but their three-stop strategy failed to pay off and they slipped down the order during the afternoon. Button lost additional time during his second stop, when he tried to rejoin the race with his fuel rig still attached – he had to sit stationary for several seconds while his team rectified the situation. Barrichello eventually finished 10th.
BMW team-mates Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld were 12th and 13th, just ahead of the Michelin-shod Toro Rossos of Vitantonio Liuzzi, who recovered from a spin early in the race, and Scott Speed. The Red Bulls of David Coulthard and Christian Klien were the only Michelin cars not to finish. The Scot retired with suspected driveshaft failure, after 47 laps, while Klien suffered a hydraulic problem after 40.
The race began with a Safety Car period after Dutchman Christijan Albers (MF1) was tipped into a spectacular series of rolls at Turn Six on the opening lap. He was not seriously hurt.
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