13/06/2004
NEWS STORY
Timo Glock overcame track incidents and engine trouble to finish a strong race debut in 11th place while Nick Heidfeld finished tenths of a second behind him in 12th position, having missed a potential points finish after losing time due to an incident in his first pit stop. A signalling
misunderstanding caused Heidfeld to pull away before the fuel hose was disconnected and fuel hose operator Mick Gomme was towed with the car for some metres before hitting the ground. Other than shock and bruising, Gomme was unharmed however Heidfeld's race was injured as
he lost up to a minute in the pits and spent the remainder of the Grand Prix chasing team mate Glock to the finish line.
Timo Glock: The start was really good but I damaged my front wing early in the lap which gave me a lot of understeer until my first pit stop when we changed the wing. After the stop, I had too much front
grip and oversteer. Added to that I couldn't find a good rhythm because I had to let the front runners past. That was a big problem for me as I lost a lot of time so I must learn how to do that. After the second stop I was losing engine power or something, it certainly sounded strange so I
just concentrated on saving the engine. Towards the end I had a coming together with Christian Klien who was a lap down from me, I was expecting to pass him on the straight but he moved over at the corner and we touched. It was my target to finish the race and stay close to Nick and I achieved that.
Nick Heidfeld: After our experience in Nurburgring once again we showed that we have quite good race pace. I think a lot of people thought we would stop really early but we didn't - I stopped on lap 20.
Unluckily the pit stop really screwed up my race. The lollipop came up too early and I went over the guy on the fuel nozzle. He's okay, which is the most important thing, but I lost nearly a minute and my race was lost after that. The heat of being stationary for so long cooked the brakes and I had to be careful to cool them afterwards. My second and third stints I struggled with the rear tyres going off, but they came back towards the end. I think it could have been a good race and I'll have to look at it more closely but I might have stayed ahead of Fisichella and he finished 6th. I had a good chance for points, in any case.
James Robinson: It was a hard race for everybody and both our drivers coped very well. The pit stop incident was unfortunate for Nick as it cost him quite a lot of time in the race and he had been looking quite strong at that early stage. Timo drove maturely and did an excellent job in his first race to finish where he did and cope with a number of problems with the car – he had a misfire towards the end
of the race. He handled that and the traffic very well.
Eddie Jordan: It's always nice to have two cars finish but it is a shame that we were running so well with Nick ahead of Fisichella and it didn't come to anything more. Timo will always remember his first race.
He did a good job and thanks to circumstances finished in front of his team mate. It was nice to see them work together.