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2007 United States GP
Team Quotes - Sunday 17 June
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso claimed the team's third one-two finish of the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the third consecutive win for the team. After 73 laps, Fernando finished second 1.5 seconds behind Lewis. Both drivers were on two-stop strategies. Lewis came in on laps 21 (8.8 seconds) and 51 (7.1 seconds) whilst Fernando made his stops on laps 22 (7.6 seconds) and 50 (6.5 seconds). In the Drivers' Championship, Lewis extended his lead to 58 points ahead of Fernando with 48 points. After four wins in seven out of the season's 17 races, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes heads the Constructors' table with 106 points ahead of Ferrari on 71.
Ron Dennis: "Lewis and Fernando raced from beginning to end. During the middle stint Fernando pushed hard and caught Lewis and this of course created some positive but tense moments on the pitwall. We were obviously happy to let them race but had to be mindful of the fact that our competition was not threatening our one-two finish. 15 laps from the end both drivers reduced their revs to save the engines for the French Grand Prix but still continued to race. Their sporting behaviour both on track and especially during the podium celebrations made the team proud to have two such great drivers. We will continue to push hard in our development programme which will allow us to bring more performance to the French Grand Prix in two weeks time."
Norbert Haug: "A thrilling race between Lewis and Fernando. I guess we need some good nerves this year. Congratulations to both drivers on a fantastic result. The fourth win of the season with three one-two victories is a great reward for the hard work so far from everybody in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart. The important thing is to continue, the competition was clearly stronger than in the last race. This was certainly a great race for all the American Formula 1 fans."
The ING Renault F1 Team enjoyed a strong afternoon in Indianapolis at the 2007 United States Grand Prix. Heikki Kovalainen raced aggressively from sixth on the grid to a fifth place finish. After making up a position at the start, and leading Kimi Raikkonen throughout the first stint, the young Finn led a Grand Prix for the first time from laps 22 to 26 before making his first stop. He subsequently raced hard against Nick Heidfeld's, pushing the BMW to breaking point, and then brought the car home in a strong fifth place.
Giancarlo Fisichella's one-stop strategy was severely compromised by a mistake on the second lap, when he spun on his way into turn 4 and dropped from 8th position to 19th. He subsequently began a determined fightback, overtaking every car up to 11th place before making his first stop. After this point, he was able to extend his advantage over the cars behind him, but unable to make ground on the next group, some 45 seconds in front.
The 2007 US Grand Prix saw the ING Renault F1 Team out-score championship rivals BMW Sauber for the first time this season, cancelling out the three point advantage they had gained last weekend in Montreal. The team will be aiming to build on this momentum at the next round of the championship, Renault's home race in Magny Cours.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: This was a great race for Heikki, and he did a fantastic job at the end of a perfect weekend. He put pressure on BMW and was very competitive in every stint. Giancarlo could have done something similar, but unfortunately a mistake early in the race ruined his chances. Even so, it's a positive day for us. We took points off our direct championship rivals, and need to continue this trend in the next races.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: It was another controlled and effective race for Heikki, to build on his strong result last week. He has been very competitive all weekend, and these are four more well-deserved points. Unusually, we decided to split our pit-stop strategies at this race, putting Giancarlo on a single stop. Had he not spun on lap 2, he would have finished very close to his team-mate. Overall, our trip to North America has shown that we are pulling our performance level back to where we want it to be, and that is certainly encouraging for everybody working so hard at the track and back at the factories. But equally we are under no illusions, and there is still more to do when we return to Europe.
Jean Todt: As expected, we had a very closely fought race and as was predictable, the final classification followed the grid order, confirming how important it is to start from the front if you want to win. Felipe drove a straightforward error-free race, while Kimi lost two places after the lights and then fought back well. Clearly the situation in the classification is getting more complicated but there are still ten races to go. Next week in Silverstone, we will try out some new developments which should help us in getting back to the level we were at from the start of the championship. We cannot deny we are disappointed with how the last few Grands Prix have turned out, but we strongly insist that we really want to turn the situation around.
Luca Baldisserri: It was a close race if not very dramatic. Felipe got a good start, maintaining third place and stayed in touch with the McLarens in the first part of the race. Then in the second stint, he lost a bit of time with traffic and that built the gap that remained to the end. Kimi, after losing two places in the rush off the grid, drove a good race, which brought him back up to his team-mate. We have seen that in the race, we are competitive compared to our main rivals. We must do better in qualifying because it is crucial to start from the front to get the desired result at the end.
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Jenson Button ended today's United States Grand Prix in 12th position. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello's race ended after a first corner incident in which he tried to avoid Ralf Schumacher's spin and clashed with two other cars. Rubens came into the pits where the team retired him with a broken wishbone and push rod. The damage was too extensive to repair during the race.
Jenson struggled with understeer during the first stint and at his pit stop it was clear that he had sustained quite a lot of damage to the front of the car and the right-hand sidepod and flick-up, which compromised the aerodynamic performance of his car. During the stop the team had a fuel rig pressure valve failure which cost him time in the pitlane and he also received too much fuel, causing him to run heavy in the second stint.
Jacky Eeckelaert, Engineering Director: "Rubens got a good start which allowed him to overtake Rosberg and get on equal terms with Ralf Schumacher. Unfortunately he was involved in a first corner incident which ended his race as the damage to his suspension was beyond repair. Jenson also lost five places in the same incident and sustained damage to the right hand side bodywork which compromised the aerodynamic performance of his car. Despite this he was able to make up six places before his pitstop. At the stop we had a pressure release valve failure on the fuel rig and switching to the second rig lost Jenson precious seconds in the pitlane. The midfield was very close so this lost Jenson three places. Both rigs delivered fuel at the stop so he was also running too heavy in the second stint which compromised his pace during the rest of the race."
The BMW Sauber F1 Team scored one point in the hot race in Indianapolis. Nick Heidfeld retired on lap 56 due to an hydraulic leak, while Sebastian Vettel finished his first Grand Prix in eighth position.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Without doubt this was not the result we had hoped for. Nick was doing well in the race but retired due to a hydraulic leak. I am happy for Sebastian and the team that he has scored a point for us in his maiden Grand Prix. In the first corner he had to learn a lesson the hard way and lost three places. But later he drove a solid race without any mistakes. Robert will have to pass another medical check prior to the next race in Magny-Cours. As soon he has the green light he will be sitting in the race car again.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): We were far away from showing our true potential here. Nick gained one position at the start and had a good pace afterwards. He never lost contact to the three leading cars, which was very positive. Because of a flat spotted tyre we called Nick in early, but he went back out in fourth. Unfortunately he retired later because of the hydraulic leak. Sebastian gave away his chances for a good result in the first corner after the start. This dropped him into a group of slower cars and did not allow him to demonstrate the potential of the car. There he lost the one important second he needed to finish one place higher. We also called him in a little bit early because we tried to free him from the traffic. At least in the end we scored one point.
Panasonic Toyota Racing came away from the United States Grand Prix with three points after a fine performance by Jarno Trulli and the team delivered his best result of the season with sixth place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On another sunny day, with track temperatures at 50°C and air temperature at 35°C, Jarno made a strong start and moved up to seventh in the scramble for the first turn. Unfortunately, Ralf Schumacher's race ended at the first corner when he was involved in a collision with David Coulthard. Ralf's car suffered damage to the front left suspension and he was unable to rejoin. Jarno was able to pull away from the chasing pack at a steady rate during his first stint and he made his first pit stop on lap 31. His next stop came on lap 56 and he battled hard to pass Mark Webber before defending his position until the chequered flag to take three points, making it seven for the season for him and nine for Toyota. The team will now focus on scoring another positive result in the French Grand Prix, with preparations beginning on Tuesday with the start of a three-day test at Silverstone.
Tadashi Yamashina – Vice Chairman: To finish in sixth place in the last race of Tsutomu Tomita's era as Chairman and Team Principal before he leaves at the end of June is fantastic. I am ecstatic. Jarno drove a fantastic race but the result is also due to a great job from the all the team. What happened to Ralf can't be helped but we expect he will have a better result in the next race. It was just a normal incident at the start of a race. It was a weekend which was quite difficult at the start because of the low grip we experienced but this is a good result. It was quite an interesting race. Jarno did a very good job in the race because he was fighting at the end with Mark Webber, who was a little bit faster on top speed but a bit slower in the infield. Our strategy in Q3 yesterday paid off for Jarno because we went quite long on the first stint and that helped him to stay in front of Webber. We had absolutely no technical problems on the car all through the weekend and that is of course good news. Now we will aim to build on this result at the next race in France.
Christian Horner: A problem free race for Mark, and probably his first clean run of the year. It's great for him to finally get on the scoreboard with a solid seventh place today. He very nearly pipped Trulli at the final stop, it was very, very close as he exited the pit lane, and the team did a great job to put him into that position. Unfortunately, David was a victim of somebody else's incident at the first turn of the first lap, but that's just one of those things. We now look forward to Magny Cours.
Fabrice Lom, Renault Principal Engineer, Track Support: The result today is very satisfying although we must admit it's a pity David was not able to race at all after the accident he had in the first corner. As we expected, the car performed pretty well this afternoon and we did not have any reliability problems; Mark had a fantastic race and scores today his first points this season. We were very pleased by the engine performance throughout the weekend and today's result seems encouraging for the French Grand Prix in two weeks.
The team return home from the United States Grand Prix with little reward for their efforts under sweltering conditions at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nico benefited from a good start and his ambitious one stop strategy enabled him to overtake several cars during the second round of pit stops. Just four and a half laps before the finish line, and on his way to equal the best result of his career, Nico's FW29 suffered an oil leak and subsequent fire which inevitably brought about an abrupt end to his race. Despite a strong start in which he gained four positions on the first lap, Alex Wurz's race pace was hindered throughout by slower traffic which ultimately compromised his one stop strategy and left him in tenth place at the chequered flag.
Rod Nelson, Chief Operations Engineer: Today's result is obviously hugely disappointing for the team. Nico drove a storming race on a one stop strategy, which was the right thing to do. He had no tyre problems or any other issues. Unfortunately, he was held up quite badly by back-markers and we really struggled to get enough blue flags out for him in time. It looked like it was going to be an easy sixth place but then an oil leak struck in the last few laps. The cause of the leak is currently under investigation. Alex had a cracking start, but he was caught up behind Liuzzi with no way past. Both drivers gave great performances and today we were looking for two points-scoring finishes. It wasn't to be, though. We will now look into the failure on Nico's car and ensure it doesn't happen again and look ahead to the next race.
Franz Tost: From the start of the weekend we were unable to find grip at the rear. Both drivers said the rear of the car was unstable with oversteer in the infield which meant they could not set competitive lap times. While Scott did manage to bring the car to the flag, Tonio had to retire in the pits with a loss of water pressure. Our programme continues and we now join the other teams in Silverstone starting on Tuesday when we will test our new quick-shift gearbox for the first time. After that we will have a clearer picture of what to expect in Magny-Cours.
Adrian Sutil and Christijan Albers again demonstrated the increasing competitiveness of the Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team in today's gruelling USA Grand Prix. In temperatures touching the high 30s, both drivers were able to fight with the midfield group during the 73-lap event to finish in 14th and 15th positions respectively.
Adrian had an excellent start to move up eight positions from the line. The German then demonstrated an impressive race pace before his first pit stop as he stayed with the Williams of Wurz and kept a chasing pack behind. He dropped back to the rear of the field following his second stop, but kept the gap to 13th place within two seconds to secure his first finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Starting from the back row of the grid, the team chose an aggressive one-stop strategy for Christijan. Despite a heavy fuel load, the Dutchman did keep pace with the group in front in the opening third of the race but later got caught in traffic. A brief stall in his pit stop lost further time, but Christijan had a relatively trouble-free race to finish a solid 15th.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: 'A reasonable weekend and race for us. It's slightly disappointing not to have a better result as today we certainly had the pace to finish in front of some people. Adrian made a good start on a two stop strategy but unfortunately we lost too much time behind the Toro Rosso in the first stint. Although Adrian pushed hard in his middle stint, he just couldn't get enough to jump the cars in front that were on a one stop strategy. He was quicker at the end so it was disappointing not to have finished in front of more cars. Christijan was on a one stop strategy, which was compromised by a stall in his pit stop and lot of blue flags and it didn't really work for him, but overall it was a much better weekend for us; at least we were involved in the race with the group in front. We now have to make sure that we start finishing in front of some of those people, but well done to everyone in the team.'
Colin Kolles, team principal and managing director: 'I am very pleased that we have put the disappointing results of Monaco and Canada behind us now. Both Christijan and Adrian were able to race the group in front and, although it's ultimately a shame not to have finished in front of some people, we did get two cars to the finish and Adrian in particular showed impressive race pace. It's a good footing to go back to Europe now, first for the three-day test in Silverstone and then over to France.'
Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson drove a fantastic race in the Indianapolis heat to take the chequered flag in 11th place, five positions higher than his starting grid position. Unfortunately for Takuma his race ended prematurely on lap 13, but the team is happy with its overall result and progress made over the 2007 US Grand Prix weekend.
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: This was always going to be a difficult weekend and a very demanding race for us. But Anthony did a good job today and Taku was just unlucky. Anthony's lap times were fast and consistent. Overall it was a demanding weekend for the team and we encountered a number of issues, but in the end Anthony and the team did an extremely good job.
Lewis Hamilton hit the bullseye in Bridgestone Motorsport's 180th Grand Prix start by winning an emphatic victory in the United States Grand Prix after fast-paced action under searing temperatures at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Hamilton darted away from the start and was only headed during the pit stops on a day where track temperatures were amongst the highest of the year so far. Bridgestone's two compounds of Potenzas allowed an exciting range of tyre strategies with both the medium and soft mastering the hot weather, high speeds and banked circuit.
It was the second consecutive top step of the podium for Hamilton who won last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, his first Formula One race win. Hamilton withstood race long pressure from team-mate Fernando Alonso who finished in second place. The different tyre strategies employed by drivers enabled exciting overtaking manoeuvres to take place through the duration of the 73 lap race.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was chased across the line by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to finish third and fourth respectively. Raikkonen was the only top driver to start on the medium compound and used the soft compound in his final stint to set the race's fastest lap and put pressure on his team-mate. Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) took fifth with Jarno Trulli (Toyota) taking sixth. Mark Webber (Red Bull) scored his first points of 2007 whilst Sebastian Vettel (BMW Sauber) scored a world championship point on his F1 debut.
Hamilton now leads the drivers' championship with 58 points to Alonso's 48, whilst Massa has 39. McLaren Mercedes lead the constructors' championship with 106 points to Ferrari's 71 with BMW Sauber on 39.
Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres will next be in action this coming Tuesday as nine teams take part in a three day test at Silverstone using the medium and hard compounds and two teams test at Jerez using the medium compound. The next race action is in Magny Cours for the French Grand Prix on 1st July, followed a week later by the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations: It was a fantastic result for Lewis Hamilton and I am happy that the tyres had an influence on the race as both compounds of Bridgestone Potenza allowed any strategy. Not all of the drivers in the points used the same compound for the final stint, and a driver on a single stop strategy was on for a points finish until he had to retire due to a non-tyre related issue. I am extremely proud that cars on our tyres have won at this circuit for the eighth time. For a company which puts safety first, not only on its road tyres but its race tyres too, to master turn 13 at Indianapolis, the most challenging corner on the calendar, is a real accomplishment. Not only did we overcome the notorious banking but the high temperatures too, as the tyres' operating temperatures were well over 100 degrees Celsius today. Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for scoring his first Formula One point on Bridgestone tyres.
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