German F1 GP: Alonso's sixth win, Renault's seventh
from Automotive (1608 articles)
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Image Gallery ( 31 images )Felipe Massa, Sauber, Eighth: "I think I made a pretty good start, huh? I just saw a space and braked a lot later than anyone else into Turn One, and then let the car run wide and passed maybe four cars coming out. In Turn Two I again braked late and passed another, so it was very, very good! The pace after that was reasonable and consistent, and the balance of the car was good. Overall I think that was one of my best races to date, and scoring a point after starting so far back really keeps me motivated to keep on fighting. I’m very happy!"
Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "Considering where we started on the grid, a point for eighth place was the best we had any right to hope for. After making a fantastic start Felipe got to the position he would have liked to start from, and was always in a position then to fight for a point. He drove a strong and flawless race, passed Heidfeld in the pits and was able to keep Barrichello behind, and really deserved his result. Jacques seemed to be everybody’s target today and ran from one problem to the next. For sure a painful race for him, and one he will want to forget."
Christian Klien, Red Bull racing, ninth place: “I think it was a very tough race and the car was very difficult to drive, especially when it was carrying a lot of fuel. I didn’t make such a great start. I was on the right hand side of the track where there was a lot of dirt, and I lost a couple of places. I pushed really hard during the race and made two good overtaking manoeuvres on Barrichello, but apart from that there was not so much good action.”
Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, 10th: “The race started well for me and I even managed to move up a few places. Then, just after the start, another car came up the inside of me and I had no option but to move to the outside of the corner, which is how I collided with Villeneuve. After that, I spent the rest of the race fighting a lack of grip from the tyres. The grip I was expecting to improve in the race compared to the way it was in qualifying did not in fact do so. The choice I made yesterday did not pay off.”
Nick Heidfeld, Williams BMW F1, 11th: “I had a good start, making up two positions. In the beginning it was not bad and I could clearly keep the pace of Michael Schumacher and Button who were both just in front of me. I was unlucky after the pit-stop, just falling behind some two-stoppers and I couldn't go at my own pace anymore. I actually think the biggest problem was that at the end of the first stint something in the rear of the car changed and affected the balance. I was never able to do the lap times after that. Towards the end of the race I had a bit more oversteer and also the engine power was turned down as there was nothing more we could gain. I am disappointed because I thought we could score some points today.”
Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1: “Obviously Mark had a coming together with Takuma into the first corner. The right rear suspension was damaged so we spent some time in the pits repairing this then he continued with the view to the qualifying slot for the next Grand Prix. On Nick's car we did not manage to make enough progress towards the end of his first stint. Afterwards it was difficult to come back into the points positions. Compared to the last two races we have improved the cars, but it is clear that we still have a lot of work to do.”
Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: “In spite of our three-stop strategy, in qualifying we saw some improvement compared to Silverstone, which was not the case in the race. Nick was doing okay until his first pit-stop, but then the lap times never became the same again. This didn't depend on our strategy, as we were just not fast enough for some reason. Mark dropped back due to the collision at the first corner.”
Takuma Sato, Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda, 12th: "The race was a very big disappointment for me today, particularly as we had qualified with so much fuel on-board so I felt we were in a strong position. I had a small incident in turn one but the car was OK. I was following Fisichella through turn three which is usually flat, when for some reason he lifted and there was no way to avoid hitting him. We had to change the nose and I knew then that I was going to have a very difficult race but kept going. It was a big shame because the team had done a very good job, the car was performing well and getting better and better. Now I have to keep motivated and look forward to Hungary next weekend."
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