22/03/2008
NEWS STORY
Vitaly Petrov - Barwa International Campos Team (1st): "I made a start good enough to come out of the first lap in 6th place. At the restart, under the rain, it was tricky to stay on track. But I worked my way to the top corner after corner. It is fantastic to offer this win to my team. I want to take some points tomorrow and be able to fight for the championship."
Fairuz Fauzy - Super Nova Racing (2nd): "After Chandhok and Grosjean stalled on the grid and Senna went wide, I was P3. The track conditions were tricky. At the restart, I had a great fight with Buemi, but my tyres were too hot so we decided to pit and change to slick tyres. It took 3 laps to warm up the tyres. I saw Vitaly in front of me and I could have caught him, but Nunes blocked me! This is my home race: I wanted to perform well."
Jérôme d'Ambrosio - Dams (3rd): "At the beginning of the race, when it started to rain, it was very difficult to stay on track. I adapted my driving to the track conditions and then my team had the perfect strategy and we had a great pit-stop during which I passed Pavlovic. When I went back out, I had three great laps. Then, it was impossible to catch up with the two leaders, especially since I had to contain Valsecchi! This is a great result for us with Kamui finishing 5th as well. As for tomorrow, I believe that the weather conditions are going to determine the results. I want to perform well, make no mistake and see where that leads us."
Kamui Kobayashi - DAMS (5th): "We're now definitely heading in the right direction after a few difficult races, and our efforts are starting to pay off. Today's track conditions were very tricky and you really had to fight your way up through the field. Our strategy was the right one; we shod the dry weather tyres at just the right time and got the best out of the changing conditions. Tomorrow, I'm starting from 3rd spot in the short race and I really want to score my first podium finish."
Harald Schlegelmilch - Trident Racing (8th): "I'm satisfied with my on-track job today. Maybe I was too cautious in the final stages on slick tires, but after the contact with Tung I was afraid about the car's condition. I focused in taking the 8th spot, that would have allowed me to take off from the pole. The start was a true mayhem: I tried to move through the huge amount of debris and avoid mistakes. I'm also proud of the sequence of quick laps I was able to turn, finally showing my true potential and the car's performance level. I'm really looking forward to Race 2 and I hope, if I can make a wish, that rain will be back for the whole distance..."
Ho Pin Tung - Trident Racing (DNF): "I think I made a great start, as I found myself in sixth after passing 3 cars right away and, thanks to a contact, I moved up to 4th behind Fairuz Fauzy. At that point I lost time because I was running faster than him, and I committed a mistake that cost me 4 positions. After the pit-stop, I was caught by surprise by the cold slick tires. It's a shame because we had the concrete possibility to clinch a podium finish. We'll see tomorrow: I hope to be back in points".
Bruno Senna - iSport International (DNF): "It's just a really frustrating day after qualifying well and being in the lead on the first lap. After the race was restarted I could never have caught the front runners as I was already about three quarters of a lap behind as I had to be pushed into the pitlane to be restarted. So all I could do was push to the maximum and we were showing fantastic pace but I just hit the bump into turn one and couldn't do anything to get out of the gravel. All I can do now is look to tomorrow and try to get into the points."