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2007 Hungary GP
Team Quotes - Sunday 5 August
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. After 70 laps, 306.663 km and a total race time of 1:35:52.991 hrs, Lewis who started from pole position won 0.7sec ahead of Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari). Fernando came home fourth. Both drivers were on two-stop strategies. Lewis came in on laps 19 (9.7seconds) and 50 (4.9 seconds) whilst Fernando pitted on laps 17 (9,9 seconds) and 50 (7.0 seconds). Lewis maintained the lead in the Drivers' Championship with 80 points followed by Fernando in second position with 73 points. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes maintained the lead in the constructors' table with 138 points ahead of Ferrari on 119. This is the team's 50th victory since the beginning of the McLaren and Mercedes-Benz partnership back in 1995.
Ron Dennis: A weekend full of stress and emotion. The issues that faced us, not just this weekend but also in the previous month, has tested the resolve of the whole team. It's at these times that you have to stay true to your principles and values. We will take the time between now and the Turkish Grand Prix to continue to develop the car and strive to maintain our winning streak. Both drivers did great jobs in different but very difficult circumstances.
Norbert Haug: Lewis drove a flawless race from the start to the finish. Lewis achieved his third victory and his 10th podium in only his 11th Formula 1 race. It is also the 50th Grand Prix win of the McLaren Mercedes partnership since our first victory at Melbourne on 10 March 1997. Fernando improved from sixth on the grid to fourth on a track where overtaking is almost impossible. This is our fifth victory within the last seven races and our sixth out of the 11 races so far this year - thanks to everybody in the team for working so hard to get these results. Following our penalty we lead the Constructors' Championship with 19 instead of 34 points, but I am sure that everybody in the team is even more motivated to maintain the lead in both championships until after the final race of the season on 21 October.
The ING Renault F1 Team had a difficult race today on the Hungaroring circuit, which hosted the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix. The 2 Renaults started from 11th (Kovalainen) and 13th (Fisichella, demoted 5 places due to a penalty) and both drove an aggressive race. Heikki Kovalainen was the author of the best comeback in the grand prix and finished in eighth place scoring a point. Giancarlo Fisichella saw the flag in 12th spot after a race in which his chances were compromised by his penalty.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: The Hungaroring circuit has a reputation for being difficult, especially where overtaking is concerned. Today, given our positions on the grid and Fisichella being demoted it was hard to do better. We gave our all. Heikki drove a great race; he was very aggressive and gave nothing away. I'm disappointed for Fisichella who also deserved a place in the points.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Today we paid the penalty for our qualifying issues yesterday. Heikki was very quick in the race, and on a circuit where overtaking is well nigh impossible he managed to pull back 3 places, more than any other driver today. He scored a point after having gone flat out throughout. Giancarlo not only had to cope with his penalty after qualifying, but he also had a car that was difficult to drive after his collision with Davidson, which largely compromised his race today. Now, we're all looking ahead to Turkey, the next round of the championship.
Jean Todt: A second and thirteenth place are a meagre reward for this weekend. There is a slight bitter taste at seeing how competitive we were in the race with Kimi, as it showed yet again that starting from the front is vital, especially at a track like the Hungaroring where overtaking is almost impossible. Of course, Felipe was even more heavily penalized because of the negative outcome of qualifying, given that he was constantly stuck in traffic. We knew this track would not suit us that well. Now we need to try and get both our drivers on the podium all the time to try and make up the gaps in both championships for the remaining third of the season. We have all we need – the team, the car and drivers – but we have not always been able to put them all together to the best effect. If we don't manage it, the championships will not be won.
Luca Baldisserri: We cannot be happy with this result. We saw we had a very competitive race pace but the outcome of qualifying made the situation very difficult especially for Felipe, who was almost never able to run with a clear track ahead of him. Kimi did his best, starting well and always attacking Hamilton, but on this track, overtaking is an impossible task. Apart from the mistakes made with Felipe yesterday, in certain conditions we have serious difficulties in doing a time over the first timed lap, as was clear to see yesterday. We have to analyse the situation well to improve our performance in this area.
A tough conclusion to a troubled weekend for the Honda Racing F1 Team with both RA107s lacking speed today. Rubens Barrichello ended the race where he began in 18th position, whilst Jenson Button endured a similar battle coupled with poor car balance before a throttle sensor problem curtailed his race on lap 36.
Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director: This has been a weekend to forget. Quite simply, we did not have the race pace here. On the first lap Rubens lost some places when he ran wide at turn two. Thereafter, having started 18th on the grid, it was just a case of getting to the end of the race and looking for opportunities. There was nothing more he could have done with the car today. A similar story for Jenson until an engine-related problem stopped him out on the circuit. We have three weeks before the next race and a huge amount of work to do in that time.
In a strategic thriller, Nick Heidfeld secured the fourth podium ever for the BMW Sauber F1 Team at the Hungarian Grand Prix. It is his second podium this season after he finished second in Canada in June. Robert Kubica improved from seventh on the grid to a fifth place finish. Together the two drivers claimed ten points – the most scored in a single weekend in the young team's short history.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): That was not only a great result points wise, but it was also the best result so far for our team. Nick third and on the podium and Robert fifth – that means ten important points. To date we have never managed to get more than that with the BMW Sauber F1 Team in a single race. That is fantastic. Today everything worked well for us. Our race strategy was aggressive. The pit stops were perfect, and today that was very important. A great compliment to the team here at the track and also to our colleagues at home in Hinwil and Munich. Being third in the constructors' championship means now we have a big cushion, and we look forward to going into the summer break highly motivated.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): This race was a wonderful game of chess, in which you could plan where and when to make your moves. Strategically it was extremely enjoyable, and because of a great pit crew it really worked perfectly for us. The performance of the pit crew was a crucial ingredient in this game of chess with the third stops, with the very quick tyre changes, being the most important. Both our drivers were fantastic today. They were fast and consistent and achieved the maximum today.
Panasonic Toyota Racing leaves Budapest with three points after Ralf Schumacher scored his best result of the season in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Ralf drove a fine race to claim 6th place, with Jarno Trulli finishing 10th. After the team's best qualifying result of the season – and penalties for other drivers – both drivers started in the top eight, with Ralf in a season-high 5th. He made a clean start and was battling for 4th before ending the opening lap in 5th, however Jarno lost several positions and dropped to 12th. Ralf fought hard to retain his position and made his first pit stop on lap 18 while Jarno's first visit to the pits came three laps later. Tyre strategy came into play in the second half of the race and Ralf pitted for super soft Bridgestone Potentza tyres on lap 48, with Jarno doing likewise on lap 51. The team's two-stop strategy paid off and Ralf was in the fight for 4th place before traffic cost him time and he finished a strong 6th. Formula 1 now enjoys its traditional summer break but the team will be working as hard as ever to prepare for the next race, the Turkish Grand Prix on August 26.
Tadashi Yamashina – Team Principal: Today we had a very solid race and Ralf was able to score points, which is good. Ideally we hoped for a better result because we had a good race pace here. Next time we will push for that. I was a little disappointed with the result for Jarno and we will analyse what the reasons are for his problem at the start. We will try to improve. What made the race especially interesting was the tyre strategy. We were flexible between two or three stops and we had enough evidence from the first part of the race that the two stop would be better and Ralf almost got past the BMWs with that but he got held up behind Heidfeld. It was very interesting from a strategy point of view and we got it right. Today the whole team worked well and I am very proud of our pit crew's performance. They trained a lot this weekend and I am very satisfied.
Christian Horner: It was a frustrating race, as we were lacking a little bit of pace. With Mark we opted to run a three-stop strategy, which was the quickest way for him to complete the race, but we just missed out on a point. With David, we rolled the dice when we saw Davidson's car beached in a precarious position on the circuit, as we thought the safety car could be deployed. David was out of the points, so we gambled on his position, bought him into the pits and fuelled him to the finish. Unfortunately it didn't work out, but it was worth a try. On a positive note, we got two more finishes today and had 100 per cent reliability all weekend.
Fabrice Lom, Renault Principal Engineer, Track Support: On one hand, this is a good result, as both cars raced reliably, which has not always been the case this year. So, from a technical point of view this was a good day, but in mathematical terms it was not so good with a Toyota in sixth and a Williams in seventh, as we lose points to our main rivals. Therefore, we now have to look at improving performance while maintaining our reliability.
Today's Hungarian Grand Prix yielded another points scoring finish for the team, further consolidating fifth place in the Constructors' standings. Having started the race from fourth, one position ahead of his qualifying result (due to Alonso's penalty), Nico Rosberg came home seventh, thereby collecting two World Championship points to raise him a place in the Drivers' table. Despite a solid drive, Alex Wurz was held up in the opening laps and was therefore unable to capitalise upon a two stop strategy, leaving him in 14th place at the line.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: It was good to get a couple of points in the Constructors' Championship, thanks to Nico. We lost some time in the second stint which we couldn't make up, but he got everything he could out of the car. Alex unfortunately lost a position on the first lap to Davidson and that made his race difficult. Both cars were reliable today. There's a break now before the next race, with no opportunity for testing, but we're looking forward to Istanbul in three weeks' time.
Franz Tost: Tonio did a good job, in a race where we had to change his strategy at the stop, after which he ran at a very strong pace. Unfortunately, he was forced to stop with an electrical problem. As for Sebastian, all weekend he did a really good job, not making any mistakes. This afternoon, he made a good start, after which he ran behind Tonio at the same pace. He lost out a bit when he had to move off the racing line to be lapped. We are happy with what we have seen of him this weekend, which was effectively a three day test session for him.
Spyker's Adrian Sutil put in a spirited drive in today's Hungarian Grand Prix to secure 17th position overall. Demonstrating the improved relative pace of the Spyker F8-VII, Adrian enjoyed a race long fight with the two Hondas to finish 3.6secs ahead of Barrichello.
Sakon Yamamoto had a brief Spyker debut as he spun off the track and into the barriers at turn 11 on the fourth lap of the race.
The championship will now take a three-week hiatus before the next race in Turkey. Over this period, Spyker will be working on and testing its new B-spec car, which is scheduled to make its race debut in Istanbul.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: A good and bad race for us. Sakon made a mistake early on, which is a shame as he'd had a good weekend until that point. Adrian on the other hand had a very good race, showing we were able to match the speed and beat the works Hondas. For a team with our limited resources we can be quite proud of this. We know that the race pace is better than we show in Qualifying, so we must improve this area, but we can look forward to the updated car in Turkey where we can hopefully finish in front of some more people.
Colin Kolles, team principal and managing director: Adrian had a great showing, demonstrating we can beat other teams on race pace. It's hopeful, as with the improved speed of the new car in Turkey, we should be able to take the fight to a few more people. It was bad luck for Sakon, but I am sure as he gets more experience of the team and car he will have better races.
Super Aguri has been tempered by its experiences at the Hungaroring this weekend. Anthony Davidson experienced rear suspension failure during an incident with Fisichella which ended his race on lap 41. Takuma Sato struggled to find grip after a promising start, but was able to pick up the pace following his final pitstop to complete the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix in 15th position.
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: The races are getting very difficult for us due to the reliability of everyone on the grid. Taku and Anthony did a very good job today and it is unfortunate that Anthony was unlucky with a coming together with Fisichella. In the second half of the race Taku's laps times were quick and consistent, however, with all of our competitors also performing strongly, we must continue to develop our car and push harder for the second half of the season.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) employed a soft-soft-super soft tyre strategy to score his third win of his debut Formula One season in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton took the chequered flag 0.7 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari). Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) finished third. Today's podium result means that there have been over 300 F1 podium positions achieved on Bridgestone tyres with the total tally now 302.
Hamilton led from pole to chequered flag, and was under race-long pressure from Raikkonen. The Finn employed the same tyre strategy as Hamilton and set today's fastest lap on the last lap of the race on the super soft. The 1min 20.047secs lap was the 110th fastest lap set in Formula One on Bridgestone Potenza tyres.
Heidfeld employed a three stop strategy to achieve his third place, using the super soft tyres on his final stint. Heidfeld was under pressure from fourth-finishing Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes) at the end of the race. Alonso started from sixth position on the grid after being issued with a penalty for his actions impeding his team-mate in the qualifying session.
Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) mirrored team-mate Heidfeld's three stop tyre strategy to take fifth place. Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) finished sixth on a two stop strategy with the super soft in the final stint. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) used a three stop strategy with the super soft in the final stint to finish seventh.
Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) scored the final point with eighth place, one of only two drivers to use the super soft tyre for two stints. Kovalainen's first stint on this tyre was 27 laps long. Both McLaren Mercedes cars are subject to an FIA Stewards decision meaning they will not score constructors' points from today's race. This decision is being appealed by the team.
Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres will next be in action at the Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix on August 24-26, where Bridgestone's hard and medium compounds will be used.
Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations: So many things have happened over this weekend that one could almost forget that we're witnessing a fantastic championship and a fantastic battle for victory today. I believe Bridgestone plays an important but not deciding part of the very close racing. The soft compound Bridgestone Potenza was a very high performing tyre over the entire weekend whilst the super soft provided a challenge for the drivers and engineers. The track and weather conditions came to the super soft and it performed excellently, setting the race's fastest lap on the final lap of the race. We saw a variety of tyre strategies today, the most interesting conducted by Kovalainen who started on the super soft and completed two stints on this compound on his way to a well-deserved point. It is fair to say that after Friday and Saturday's running I was a little concerned by the performance of the super soft, but the fact it performed so well in the race is a compliment to our engineers in Tokyo who made the correct estimation. All in all I am very satisfied that we brought the correct tyres which worked well today.
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