11/07/2004
NEWS STORY
Tenth win of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, all with Michael Schumacher. Today's was win number 80 of Michael's career, the third at this track. The Scuderia has reached the 177 wins mark from 697 races, 14 of those wins coming in the French Grand Prix.
Jean Todt: I think that the fact Trulli emerged unscathed from such a terrible accident is due primarily to the quality of work carried out by the FIA under the presidency of Max Mosley and that of the teams in terms of safety. The arrival of the Safety Car after this accident practically cancelled out all the advantage that Michael's different strategy had produced. This was because all those behind were able to make their third and final pit stop without losing time to him. From lap 45 onwards therefore we witnessed something of a sprint race, which went in Michael's favour. It was a very exciting afternoon and the result comes from all the hard work of the team, from the car, the drivers and the Bridgestone tyres. Michael's tenth win from eleven races is a unique achievement in the history of Formula 1. Rubens continued his run of being the only driver to have finished all races in the points, having now done so eleven times in a row, nine of them on the podium. Michael has hit the 100 point mark, 9 more than in the whole of last season. The team now has a 95 point lead over its nearest rival and these figures mean we can approach the remaining seven races of the season with optimism. We are also happy with the performance of the Sauber drivers in this race as it is particularly nice to see four Ferrari engines in the top nine.
Michael Schumacher: I am amazed at how the race went. I thought we had a good strategy, where to a certain extent, we sacrificed qualifying for the race, but I never expected it to pay out so early. I was not worried by Kimi's pace at the start because I knew my strategy and even if he had been ahead after my second stop I would not have worried as he had to come in again. I did not want to overdo it and just let the potential of the car do the work. The car was going so well when I had an open track. I lost a comfortable lead with the Safety Car and so I was lucky to have two cars between me and Kimi. The Safety Car was going very slowly and that meant after it went in, I had to fight hard for a couple of laps until my tyres came good and then I was able to pull out a lead again.
Rubens Barrichello: I had a good race but a tough one although I feel I had made the right choice of strategy at the time. After the start it was clear that Kimi's tyres had warmed up quicker and I found it really difficult to match his pace, then I caught him up and was able to pull away from Button. But after the first pit stop the car felt heavy and I struggled again. I also got stuck behind four or five cars fighting for position and that probably lost me second place and maybe the win. I have to say Michael did a superb job to win on two stops. When the Safety Car came out, the race was alive again, but again immediately after my last pit stop I could not push as hard as I wanted and I could not pass Kimi as although I was quicker in the first sector, he was faster in the third.
Ross Brawn: Michael was not entirely happy with the car going into qualifying, so we chose a more conservative strategy for him. Rubens was put on a different, more aggressive strategy as he was happy with the handling of his car. That was our interpretation of the race but it turned out to be the other way round, as Michael's car went very well and Rubens' a bit less so. Probably it was the weather that played in Michael's favour and he was able to put in outstanding laps from lap ten to his pit stop. I was shocked when Michael came out ahead of Kimi. We were a bit worried when the Safety Car came out, as although we have fantastic Bridgestone tyres, they do not get up to temperature quite as quickly as those of our rivals and the re-start was a bit of a tricky moment for us. At the time, the race was in our hands and Rubens could have attacked Raikkonen more strongly than he was able in the last few laps. First and third at Silverstone is another great result for us!