Spanish GP Formula 1 Round 5: Raikkonen/McLaren dominant, Schumacher/Ferrari retire, Alonso /Renault closer to title
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Image Gallery ( 25 images )Mark Webber, BMW Williams F1, 6th: “The start was tricky because I was on the dirty side of the track and I lost one position there. I didn't want to risk too much with Ralf Schumacher at the first corner to protect my position. Then I was stuck for a while behind Ralf and Alonso, which was a shame, because I was lighter than them. We decided to change strategy and go for two stops instead of three but the fuel load was quite hard on the tyres then, causing quite a bit of deterioration and consequent vibrations in the car. At the end of the day we collected some useful points.”
Sam Michael, Technical Director WilliamsF1: “With Mark's car we did not achieve the best possible result. Considering he was 5th after first qualifying yesterday we took a bit of a gamble on strategy by going for a short first stint. But the start was not good enough to make the strategy work so we then changed our schedule when Mark pitted for the first time, after 18 laps. Regarding Nick's car, we raced with the handicap that he had to start from the back of the grid. His race obviously was hampered by traffic but we had no mechanical problems in the race.”
Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: “After qualifying we were hoping for more. Mark had a very bad start and was never in a position to benefit from the strategy that he was on. Nick improved from the end of the grid to tenth position. He was quick when he had no traffic, which was not very often the case. The engines which were built over Friday night in Munich worked fine.”
Juan Pablo Montoya, McLaren Mercedes F1, 7th: "The car was working well throughout but we had not achieved the optimum set-up so I was struggling a bit with understeer to start with. I spun 360 degrees in turn eight on lap seven and lost some time. Obviously the problem in my first stop cost me some time but all in all I'm OK with the result today considering everything that has happened. My shoulder was good but it was tough particularly at turns three and nine and the last two corners where you pull a lot of Gs. At least I'm not going to be starting the first qualifying session in Monaco first, which is a definite advantage."
David Coulthard, Red Bull F1, 8th: “Another point which is very valuable for the team. Obviously it was quite a difficult race in many respects. On my first set of tyres I had some understeer and that switched to oversteer with my second set which slowed me a bit. In the final stint the car was better balanced until I flat-spotted a tyre which gave me a lot of vibration and affected my visibility, so that I had to judge my braking points from memory. My eyeballs are still rolling around in my head! But all in all I am quite happy with my race. I did not make any mistakes and I brought home a point.”
Christian Horner, Sporting Director, Red Bull Racing: “David drove a very good race today, he stuck with it all the way through and he managed to extract another point. With five races and five point scoring finishes he maximised the cars potential, despite a heavy look up, which cause him a big vibration from early on in the race. We can see again, our potential is there as we were competitive with our rivals in lap time in the second half of the race although, we need to make further step in qualifying. Tonio, obviously, had a disappointing race. The car got away from him in corner 7 and unfortunately eliminating him from the race. He is testing next week and I’m sure he’ll be in better shape for Monaco.”
Gunther Steiner, Technical Director, Red Bull Racing: “I am happy with David’s result. His car did not have any problem. His tyre usage was on the limit but he managed it very well and brought home a point. We will now check the car very carefully so that the vibrations did not damage it. Toni had a disappointing race but these things happen. He wasn’t happy with his balance and complained about turn in understeer and snappy oversteer in corner exit. And that is what happened to his car.”
Dave Prigg, Cosworth (Red Bull Racing engine supplier): “Overall a pleasing weekend’s performance from Cosworth, with the TJ2005 engine having now powered Red Bull Racing to point in every round of the 2005 World Championship.”
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