24/04/2005
NEWS STORY
Jean Todt: It was a thrilling race. It is clear we cannot be completely happy, given that Rubens was unable to finish the race because of an electrical problem, the cause of which we still have to identify. Michael had an exceptional race, starting thirteenth and finishing within a hair's breadth of the winner, who had a great race. I am happy for the team, for Michael, for Bridgestone and for Shell, with whom we have just renewed our agreement to the end of 2010. It was an important weekend on the contract front for the Scuderia, as we also signed an agreement to supply Red Bull Racing with our engines for the next two years. We like to respond with our actions and today's performance is our answer to those who thought we would not be more competitive again. We know that championship titles are obtained by winning races and that is what we will be trying to do in the next round in Barcelona.
Michael Schumacher: I am happy in one way and excited after such a race, but on the other hand, I am disappointed after making a mistake this morning, when I braked on a bump with a full fuel load and locked up a wheel. If not for that, this would have been a perfect day for us. But I have a second place and it is due to a stunning effort from everyone, the engineers, the test team, Luca Badoer, Marc Gene and everyone else who worked flat out since the last race. And big, big thanks to Bridgestone whose performance today is just a first step and there is more to come from them. There is more to come from us too and we are still in the fight. I was helped in getting past Jenson because the two Williams put some dust on the track and Jenson slipped on it a bit. I could see that Fernando was not that quick, but there was never a real opportunity to have a proper go at passing him. Basically, he had a good race today and made no mistakes. That's why he won and I did not.
Rubens Barrichello: My car had an electrical problem, but at the moment we don't know the cause. It's a great shame as I knew my car would be very quick, particularly on used tyres and we have made a huge improvement since the last race, but I never got to the point in the race when my tyres would have been at their best. We still have to look at our reliability as it has not been so good recently. On the positive side, the F2005 is very good and was really quick even with a lot of fuel on board.
Ross Brawn: This was a magnificent race for Ferrari and a magnificent race for Formula 1. It was frustrating that Michael got held up for half the race, but once we had the space in front of us, you could see what the car could do and what Michael and the tyres can do. It was fantastic, even though a win would have been an even bigger boost for the team. But the luck will come our way and maybe in the next race we can get on with the job of winning. It was a great shame for Rubens as we did not get to see his potential as he looked in good shape too. We think it was an electrical problem, but we need to investigate.