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2007 Australia GP
Team Quotes - Sunday 18 March
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton finished today's Australian Grand Prix in second and third places respectively achieving an almost perfect start to the season for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. Lewis' third place was the best performance from a rookie driver since 1996 and the English man even lead the race for a few laps. Today's result puts the team in the lead of the Constructors' Championship. Both drivers were on a two-stop strategy. Fernando came in on laps 22 (9.3 seconds) and 45 (6.5 seconds) and Lewis entered the pitlane on laps 23 (8.7 seconds) and 43 (8.2 seconds).
Ron Dennis: Of course as always we came to Australia to win, but a somewhat unexpected strategy adopted by BMW was very disruptive to our race. Following Heidfeld's first pitstop the gap was just too big to realistically close it and the additional range from our strategy was subsequently wasted. Both drivers did an excellent job giving us a narrow lead in the Constructors' Championship. A special thank you to the test team and the workforce back at the McLaren Technology Centre who have worked so hard during the winter and contributed so much to the faultless reliability that we have enjoyed throughout the weekend. The coming Malaysian test should give us every opportunity to further improve the competitiveness of our cars.
Norbert Haug: The season started well with Fernando and Lewis scoring 14 points out of 18 possible on their debut race for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. Fernando showed with his performance exactly why he is the double world champion whilst Lewis made a perfect start to his Grand Prix career and proved
absolutely worthy of the confidence we have had in him for the past ten years. Although we still have to work hard to further improve our technical package we showed today that throughout the winter we have made improvements. We will now focus on the Malaysia test and are looking forward to the next race. Thanks to everybody in the team in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart, all their efforts will pay off.
The ING Renault F1 Team endured a challenging 2007 ING Australian Grand Prix. A mixed performance in qualifying saw the team's drivers start 6th and 13th, with the hope of making up ground through stronger race pace. Both drivers made clean starts, and Heikki Kovalainen made up two positions to be running P11 at the end of the first lap. However, as the relative performance of the teams emerged during the race, it became clear that, on this circuit at least, the car was not competitive enough to make significant gains relative to other teams. Both drivers ran a two-stop strategy, using the harder Bridgestone Potenza tyre compound through the first two stints before fitting the softer compound for the final shorter stint. Giancarlo gained a position through Kubica's retirement to finish fifth, defending his position stoutly from Massa in the final laps. Heikki was running in the points towards the end of his second stint, but mistakes cost him positions, and he eventually finished tenth. The first race of the season gave the team a clear indication of the work ahead of them during the 2007 season, which will begin with a three-day test in Malaysia from 27 – 29 March.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: This afternoon showed us that we have a lot of work to do to be competitive again. It wasn't a strong race for the team in any department. Giancarlo drove hard to defend his position at the end, and did a good job, while Heikki had a very tough start to his career. But we were expecting more at every level, and we need to work hard to find the performance.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Today's race reflected the trends we have seen in winter testing but, contrary to our expectations, somewhat magnified them too. As a team, we clearly have some work ahead of us before we can challenge at the front. Giancarlo's race was well-structured and he resisted well against intense pressure from Massa at the end. Heikki spent most of his race in traffic, but he pushed hard all the way. A couple of mistakes cost him positions, and he found the car particularly difficult to drive on the last set of tyres. We now have a much clearer idea of the car's performance, and three days of testing ahead of us in Malaysia before the next Grand Prix. Our focus must be on improving our performance so we can take the fight to the current pace-setters.
First round of the championship and first victory for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. On his debut in a Maranello car, Kimi Raikkonen secured the Scuderia's seventh win in this race, thus bringing the total number of victories to 193 in 742 Grand Prix participations. This was the tenth time from 106 starts that Kimi has been the first past the chequered flag.
Jean Todt: That was an exciting Grand Prix! We started with our drivers at opposite ends of the grid, with Kimi on pole and Felipe in last place because of an electrical problem in the gearbox management that had hampered his qualifying yesterday. Both of them put on a great performance. Kimi maintained his first place after the start and then did a very good job of managing the race, while Felipe staged a great climb through the field to take him up to sixth place. A new chapter in Ferrari's history has got off to a very good start. The chassis-engine package proved to be competitive, the team worked with dedicated professionalism and the drivers were impeccable. This all means that we can look forward to the rest of the championship with prudent optimism, even if we have seen there is some very strong and well prepared opposition and some very talented young drivers. We have not yet reached the desired level of reliability and we have to do a lot of work on this as well as on improving our performance. I was very happy to get two telephone calls, the first from Michael as I was going up to the podium, which I handed to Kimi and the other from Luca di Montezemolo who was jumping for joy as if this was our first win in a decade. And indeed that is the feeling for us all!
Luca Baldisserri: This is a very important result for the whole team, as it is the result of the hard work from everyone in the Gestione Sportiva throughout the winter. We took on a significant reorganisation and seeing its efforts rewarded like this is further motivation for pushing on even further. We picked up thirteen points thanks to extraordinary performances from our two drivers. Starting from pole, Kimi was able to control the race right from the start, while Felipe, hampered by yesterday's gearbox failure in qualifying, started last and put on a really impressive climb up the order to finish sixth. The F2007s were competitive and the only problem was a radio malfunction on Kimi's car, which happened soon after the start. Now we must carry on working to improve still further our competitiveness and to get the overall reliability that is still eluding us.
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Rubens Barrichello ended today's Australian Grand Prix in 11th position after a determined fight throughout the 58-lap race.
His team-mate Jenson Button struggled with the balance of his car, then a difficult day was compounded when he incurred a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane approaching his first pit stop.
The team now heads to Malaysia for a three-day test at the Sepang circuit, where it will take advantage of the three-week break between races to complete important development work for the next round.
Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director: "On a positive note, both cars ran reliably today. Rubens drove a strong race from 17th on the grid to 11th place, less than nine seconds outside of the points. Jenson's car balance was not good at any stage of the race, which we believe to be a front end aero problem. On top of that, a drive-through penalty made him lose several places. We now have to improve our race pace as we target points-scoring positions. We have three weeks between the races and we will do everything we can to give our drivers a more competitive car at the next round."
The BMW Sauber F1 Team started the 2007 season off in Melbourne with fourth place for Nick Heidfeld. However, a gearbox problem robbed the team of seeing both drivers in the points, as Robert Kubica retired on lap 36 while lying in fourth place.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Nick drove a good race and his fourth has earned us five points in the season curtain raiser. He was on soft tyres for the first stint and we didn't think they would last very long. In hindsight, we could have done a longer first stint. Robert was strong and showing the same pace as Nick when his gearbox stuck in fifth on lap 36. Now we have to focus on getting our reliability sorted out. The most important lesson today is we have been able to match our testing performance. We have clearly been the third fastest team, and that is a good baseline for the next races.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): Nick's fourth place is a very good result and reflects our qualifying performance, as we were the third quickest team in that. We ran our cars on different strategies as the new tyre regulation stipulates you have to use both compounds in the race. Another reason was the new Safety Car rule which says the pit lane will be closed until the cars are in their proper order on the track. You have to make sure you don't go into such a period with the cars on the same pit stop strategy. Nick was on the softer compound for the start and Robert would have used it at the end, which obviously didn't happen. Both our drivers were quick and strong.
Panasonic Toyota Racing will leave Melbourne with a solitary point courtesy of Ralf Schumacher's eighth place at today's Australian Grand Prix. Jarno Trulli was next home in 9th place, just outside the points on a sunny day at Albert Park when track temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius. After yesterday's strong performance in qualifying, Jarno and Ralf lined up in 8th and 9th on the grid. Ralf made it in front into the first corner and the pair ran in line astern for most of the first stint. The race spaced out after that but they ended up coming home in the same positions. The 2007 rules state that all cars must use both types of tyre during the race and both drivers used the softer tyre for their final stint. Towards the end of the race Ralf started to lose pneumatic pressure in his engine but he made it home to kick off the team's account for 2007. Toyota is next scheduled to test at Malaysia's Sepang circuit starting on March 27 as it looks to build on this result at next month's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Tsutomu Tomita – Team Principal: After the first race of this season we have a valuable one point from Ralf so that is a good start. The starting grid positions were not bad but the race pace of both cars was not quick enough compared to the front-runners. So we are definitely too far away compared to where we want to be and we have some work to do. Jarno had an oil spillage as he left for the parade lap but that was not a major issue. Later on Ralf had a pneumatic consumption problem and it was marginal to reach the finish. Jarno also had trouble with his brakes but in the end it was successful because they both finished the race. After our trouble with reliability during winter testing that is gratifying. The tyres were good but there was some degradation during the final stint on soft tyres. Nevertheless, in good track conditions and good weather, we were not competitive enough so we have to keep working hard to develop our cars.
Christian Horner: It's a shame for Mark not to score points as he was driving well. Unfortunately, his car had a fuel flap problem, which cost him a lot of time at his first stop and then it stuck open, which affected his car's aerodynamic performance. It's a shame, as he deserved a couple of points out of the weekend. David was always looking to make up ground from a low grid position. He was making good progress and his lap times looked respectable, but an optimistic move on Wurz unfortunately resulted in his retirement.
Fabrice Lom, Renault Principal Engineer, Track Support: I think that we concluded our first Grand Prix weekend on a positive note. We looked quite competitive, especially in the first stint. In spite of the incident with David, we were pleased to see Mark's car make it to the finish. The chassis and engine teams have worked very hard during the past few weeks and I truly believe this is a promising start. We now look forward to Malaysia where we hope to continue our progress.
The AT&T Williams team had a positive points start to their 2007 campaign, with Nico Rosberg making up five places on his grid position to finish the race in seventh place, placing the team fifth in the Constructor's Championship after the first race. Nico also posted the fifth fastest time of the Grand Prix, indicative of a strong relative improvement in race pace from the end of last season. Alex Wurz's race was prematurely curtailed when he was hit by David Coulthard eight laps from the finish, but the Austrian driver was unhurt in the incident.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: We had a much better race than our qualifying performance yesterday, which is something we will look at for upcoming Grands Prix. Nico had a great race, did everything right and although he didn't have many laps with a clear track, the ones he did he used properly. It's a shame that Alex was taken out by Coulthard, but he is okay. It's great to get our relationship with Toyota off to a good start by scoring points in the first race.
Gerhard Berger: In one respect I am quite happy, because we got one car through to the finish, even though we did very little pre-season testing, while the other car had a puncture, the cause of which we will have to investigate. With our late start, to get it all together for the race is a big compliment to the team. Tonio drove a good consistent race with no mistakes. We knew we did not have the right set-up to get the most out of the car. We did the most we could with what we had, the cars ran reliably and consistently and we will get a better understanding of the car at the next test and then we can improve it.
Spyker has finished the opening race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, Australia, with Adrian Sutil in 17th position. Christijan Albers retired from the race on lap 10 when he went off the road into a gravel trap.
Christijan had started the race from the pitlane in the spare car but pushed hard to get to 20th position by the end of the first lap. The 27-year-old Dutchman put in a series of quick laps to close on the cars in front, but disappointingly his race came to a premature end when he missed a braking point into turn three and ran wide into a gravel trap and into the barriers.
Formula 1 debutant Adrian Sutil had a good start off the line, but dropped back to the rear of the field when he clashed with Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson through the first corner. Relegated to the back of the field, Adrian fought hard to get back ahead of Briton Davidson and close in on the pack in front, however his charge was halted when he was handed a drivethrough penalty on lap 22 for failing to observe blue flags. Unfortunately, on leaving the pit lane, Adrian made a rookie error and crossed the white line at the exit of the pit lane, bringing on a second drivethrough penalty.
Relegated to the rear of the field, Adrian put in some competitive lap times to edge back closer to Davidson and the rest of the field, but the gap to the pack in front was too great and he finished the race in 17th position, two laps down from eventual race winner Kimi Raikkonen.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: 'Our target for the race was to get two cars to the finish and obviously we didn't make that. Christijan was pretty competitive during his opening stint but unfortunately he made a mistake that ended his race. Adrian too set some competitive lap times however made a couple of errors that earned him drivethrough penalties, which dropped him back into traffic and then the gap was too much to make up. Fortunately you only do your first race once and now he's got all his rookie mistakes out of the way. Now we look forward to Malaysia, where we'll be making some significant aero updates and hope we can be much more competitive.'
Colin Kolles, team principal and managing director: 'We can be quite positive about the weekend. Adrian and Christijan did a good job with the times they set in the race and showed that we are closer to the others in race trim than we are in Qualifying. We know we have to work on ultimate Qualifying pace, but we can improve in Malaysia.'
Super Aguri achieved a two-car finish at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne today, however the race was not without incident for the team. Takuma Sato and new team mate Anthony Davidson finished in 12th and 16th positions respectively, however both drivers experienced different problems on their way to the starting grid.
Takuma made a good race start, holding position, however Anthony’s car failed to get away cleanly which cost him several places down the grid. During an incident with Albers Anthony was hit on the right-hand side which launched the car into the air and winded him as it hit the ground. Despite suffering with back pain and carrying a reasonable amount of bodywork damage for the entire race, Anthony took the chequered flag for the first time in his F1 career.
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: I want to say thank you very much to everybody because this winter has been extremely busy for the team with testing and all of our staff, mechanics and the drivers have done a good job. We were very good in Qualifying yesterday, but during the race we were a little unlucky. Anthony did not start well because of the anti-stall and Taku, who did a good job in the race, was unlucky in his pitstops. His first stop was slow and there was traffic in the pitlane during his second stop which meant that he could not leave the box in good time. On the positive side, our two cars finished the race today and so I think that it is a good start to the season.
Kimi Raikkonen won the ING Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Raikkonen led the race for 52 of the 58 lap race which was run under blue skies at Albert Park.
Second placed Fernando Alonso and third placed Lewis Hamilton both had spells at the head of the field in the race which saw seventeen classified finishers. It was Hamilton's F1 race debut and the reigning GP2 Series champion overtook and led his two-time Formula One world champion team-mate in the early part of the race.
Nick Heidfeld finished fourth for BMW Sauber, ahead of Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella. Felipe Massa started from the back of the grid after an engine and gearbox change and employed a one pitstop strategy to work through the field to finish in sixth position. Nico Rosberg finished in seventh with Ralf Schumacher taking the final championship point. The weekend's fastest lap was set by Raikkonen on lap 41 of the race.
Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operation: "I am very satisfied with the outcome we have seen in this first race of the season. Both specifications of tyres performed as our simulations predicted; the medium compound was very consistent and the soft compound was more of a challenge for the teams. Despite the large quantity of tyres used this weekend, we did not experience any tyre problems. Scott Speed (Toro Rosso) did suffer from falling pressure in his front tyres. From our and the team's investigations we found these to be from air leakage which was not related to the tyres. For Bridgestone Motorsport there was the new dimension this weekend of supplying tyres to all of the grid. We fitted more than 1800 tyres this weekend for which we had to increase our staff. Everybody worked very hard, but in good Japanese tradition there is always room to improve. We have an even better idea what to do for the future and I look forward to the next tough challenge in Sepang."
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