27/08/2006
NEWS STORY
Sixth win of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the first from Felipe Massa. This is win number 189 from 737 races. Felipe took his maiden career win at his sixty seventh participation in a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Jean Todt: We are very happy about Felipe's win, the first of his career having driven impeccably. Today, we had the potential to finish first and second, but the arrival of the Safety Car on lap 14 compromised our chances of achieving this result. The fact we were unable to use all 100% of our potential takes the edge off the satisfaction in finishing first and third, but it is comforting to know that we have everything in place to succeed in the forthcoming races. In Monza and at the three races outside Europe, we will have many changes on the car and, thanks to the great work being done by our technical partners, first and foremost Bridgestone and also Shell, we will be in the best possible shape to try and win both championships.
Felipe Massa: Today is an incredible day that I will never forget. To take my first race win, especially with Ferrari is a historic moment and I am thinking of all the people who have helped me get here – my family, my girlfriend and my friends and all those who gave me the strength to achieve this. The team was sensational and they gave me a perfect car to win. I am very emotional and very happy. The race? I had a very good start and the car felt very well balanced. As we left the grid, I could see Michael and Fernando fighting but I was able to pull away from them immediately. After the Safety Car and the pit stop the car was still working well and that is how it stayed in all the stints of the race. It has always been my dream to drive for Ferrari and to take my first ever Formula 1 with them, makes this day even more special. It is an amazing dream come true for me. The championships are still open with four races to go and both titles are still within our reach.
Michael Schumacher: First of all, I want to congratulate Felipe, who once again today did a fantastic job, clearly deserving to win. Obviously, this weekend things did not go my way, either yesterday in qualifying or today in the race. For some reason, in the second stint, the car was not going as well as it had done in Friday's free practice. It was rather nervous and the fact that it had a pretty heavy fuel load certainly didn't help and neither did my mistake at Turn 8 on lap 28. On top of that, the set of tyres in this stint did not perform as well as the others and they also blistered. In the end I tried to stick with my rival in case he made a mistake. Today, I have lost two points in the Drivers' championship but I still believe I can win the title.
Ross Brawn: A really fantastic result for Felipe, who drove exceptionally well all weekend. My compliments to him and to his team of engineers and mechanics, who got his car to work really well. He had great pace and the arrival of the Safety Car did not really do him any harm. However, it was frustrating that the Safety Car came out at a time that really did affect Michael's race badly, because today, our cars were fast enough, the Bridgestone tyres were very good and I think that we could have finished first and second. We then tried to recover the situation for Michael, but for some reason which we will need to look into, we picked up some blisters on his second set of tyres and he was unable to push in the middle stint, when of course it was crucial to close down the gap to Alonso. However, we remain confident: all the elements are in place for us to win both titles and we will fight right to the very end to achieve that.
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