Site logo

Hungary GP: Post-race press conference

NEWS STORY
15/08/2004

Q: Michael, superlatives are running out. You are the first man ever to have won 12 races in one season and, in so doing, you have helped to secure the constructors’ championship for Ferrari.
Michael Schumacher: I think the latter one is more important one which we should talk about. To win in the style we have done after the way we, in a way, lost last year is something which shows why we are winning the constructors’ championship so early because everybody is just so great and deserves this win and after even a superb start to the season everybody still kept going. We had this very important test in Jerez where Bridgestone, our partners, ourselves, Shell came up with new solutions and they worked very well for us in Hockenheim and in particular here and that’s the result, that’s why we are there and we have been able to turn around from last year to that great result.

Q: It is your second Grand Slam of the year, you started from pole position, led every lap, set the fastest lap. What are your thoughts on the race today? From the outside, I had to say, it looked easy.
MS: It’s probably the way it looks from the outside but as the circuit is quite demanding it is not so easy. The easy part started after the last pit stop when I had a safe margin. Then I was driving safely but before that I was pushing and Rubens was pushing me as well. That was driving to the limit and I have to say that the car does perform very well. It drives around this difficult circuit superbly well. That’s why maybe it looks so good. But inside there is a little bit more work than very often it looks outside.

Q: Not much overtaking from a racing point of view but a lot of overtaking in terms of the number of cars on the track today that you lapped.
MS: Yeah, a lot of lapping was going on. Unfortunately a couple of guys didn’t seem to respect the blue flags very well. But honestly, it’s difficult here in Hungary to find the right spot to move over. The point is that Hungary, anyway, is a circuit where it is difficult to pass unless a much faster car is coming from the back and then can work its way through as my brother did last year. You can’t really expect overtaking and that was the case this year.

Q: Rubens, a good start but a lot of defence going into the first corner too, obviously from Fernando but also from Juan Pablo (Montoya) quite near you.
Rubens Barrichello: It was actually difficult to see everything that was going on behind me. I actually had a good start and I think that is part of the rain yesterday that cleaned our side a little bit, so I had a good one, I was just following Michael. It was difficult to know where Michael was going to break because I had to defend myself and even try to overtake him if I could. But it worked OK. At the end I didn’t have a chance to go for an overtaking manoeuvre on Michael but I had the chance to keep my position because that was also the main thing, because otherwise he (Alonso) could have damaged my race, so it was really good. Then after that we were just running at our own pace.

Q: How did the car react to the various sets of tyres? Was the balance more or less the same throughout the race.
RB: Well, I had a small problem on my third set, with a bit of graining and it wasn’t going away. The first, the second and the fourth sets were very much perfect. I had a great time. Unfortunately I couldn’t run Michael’s pace, he was on his own. I pushed him a little when he was about nine seconds (ahead), we were running the same pace. Maybe I was fractionally faster at that time, but the third set was just too slow and by the fourth set the race was really finished anyway, but the car was back to behaving very well.

Q: Fernando, a great drive but a lonely drive for you, but let’s talk about that start - fantastic again away from the line.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, it was good. Again at the start I got blocked a little bit by Sato. He tried to close the door a bit and I had to lift off a little bit and probably because of that I lost second place, because I arrived quite close to Rubens but not enough. And after that, the race was quite calm, not very much – there was nothing in the front and nothing in the back, just controlling the gaps and as they said, a lot of traffic, a lot of people lapping which made it a little bit difficult.

Q: A good result in terms of beating BAR Honda, BMW Williams, your nearest opposition in recent races. If you had managed to get in front of Rubens, how do you think it would have gone?
FA: Nothing would have changed, probably. On the pit stops, I think they were much faster than us and even if I started second, in one of the opportunities in the pit stop, if they stopped two laps sooner or later, they should have overtaken me, but it would have been more interesting if I had started second.

Q: Michael, how do you do it? It just goes on and on. You seem to be enjoying your racing more and success comes to you, it appears, even more easily.
MS: It’s just everything goes so well. It’s a great atmosphere we have in the team and the good thing about Formula One is that it’s always going forward. We always have new things coming, new things to expect and automatically they increase your motivation extremely. And particularly after being here last year and not doing very well, knowing our work was so good, it was a good feeling throughout the break. I had great preparation and I pushed very hard during that phase just to be really spot on and ready for the race. It just keeps going and I like to enjoy it as long as it does. One day it will finish and we all know that.

PRESS CONFERENCE

LATEST NEWS

more news >

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images
  • Pitpass.com latest F1/Formula 1 images

POST A COMMENT

or Register for a Pitpass ID to have your say

Please note that all posts are reactively moderated and must adhere to the site's posting rules and etiquette.

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

 

No comments posted as yet, would you like to be the first to have your say?

Share this page

X

Copyright © Pitpass 2002 - 2024. All rights reserved.

about us  |  advertise  |  contact  |  privacy & security  |  rss  |  terms