Hungarian F1 Grand Prix: Raikkonen and Schumacher keep the season alive

Sam Michael, Williams BMW, Technical Director: “We are definitely making progress on the car. We did not choose the best pit stop strategy - Nick should have done a 3 stop, Mark was okay on a 2 stop due to his earlier qualifying yesterday. We went longer than anybody else before the first stop, so we had the most fuel on board in qualifying. On Nick's car we had to turn the engine down during the entire first stint due to some debris in the water radiator duct, which was removed at the 1st pit stop. Most encouraging is the pace improvement of the car. We have been running within 0.8 seconds of the fastest cars on this maximum downforce circuit. Well done to the people who have worked so hard in Grove to contribute to improving the car, we look forward to more.”

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: “We should be satisfied having collected some points after starting from positions 12 and 16. The race gave the explanation for our qualifying positions, since our drivers had the highest fuel load. Still, in the race they were able to climb up the field. Nick had a problem with the engine water temperature because after the hectic first lap he picked up some debris and partly closed the airflow of the radiator. This forced Nick to race at lowered power until his first pit-stop, when the airflow was cleared. Apart from that, both the drivers didn't experience any problems.”

Takuma Sato, B.A.R Honda 007, 8th: “It was a tough race today, not least because of the temperature in the cockpit, so I am pleased with our result. I have finally achieved my first Championship point of the season after a lot of bad luck and I am happy to do so as the team begins a three-week break. I would like to thank everyone for all their hard work during the first part of the season. The first lap of today’s race was quite dramatic and it was very important to me to avoid getting caught up in that. I was able to avoid any problems as well as improve my track position, overtaking Barrichello on the outside of turn two. I am looking forward to the summer break now, and to the team coming back even stronger in Turkey.”

Giancarlo Fisichella, Mild Seven Renault F1, 9th position: “It was a very difficult race for us. In hindsight, this was just not our weekend – the car did not feel good as soon as we ran for the first time on Friday, and in the race I was struggling with oversteer as well as very, very low grip. We made our choice of tyres to try and be strong at the end of the race, but I don’t think it worked for us today – especially because we seemed faster in the early stages, when I was stuck behind Heidfeld. The car was tricky to drive from the second stint onwards, and I lost the rear end a couple of times on the entry to the quick turn 4 – perhaps I could have scored a couple of points without that. Then the engine began losing power because of a problem with the fuel pressure, so they called me in to add some fuel and get to the finish.”

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director, Mild Seven Renault F1: “Neither driver managed to have a clean race this afternoon, and both had problems with the car: Fernando was overheating and had some damage after lap one, while Fisico had a fuel pressure problem when he could maybe have caught Sato at the end. Obviously, we can’t be happy with this results but I think it was a one-off for us, honestly, and we look forward to taking the three week break to come back refreshed in Turkey, and to continue improving the car. Today was just one of those days.”

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering, Mild Seven Renault F1: “Giancarlo’s race this afternoon was compromised in the first stint when he got stuck behind Heidfeld. He was much quicker but could not get past and unfortunately, the time deficit by the time of his first stop was too big to handle. On top of this, we had to alter his strategy with an additional stop on the final lap when he began losing fuel pressure. Fernando was involved in a collision with Ralf Schumacher) on the opening lap which not only required a nose change, but the damage sustained by the car after the front wing broke off led us to severely reduce his revs soon afterwards as the temperatures were too high. We made a repair to the car on his second visit to the pits, but the data also showed he had lost about 7% of total downforce in the incident – a significant amount at a circuit where downforce is key. In total, we think these measures were costing around 1.2 seconds a lap.”

Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, tenth place: “I was a bit unlucky to get caught up in a big fight at the end of the straight. All of a sudden, the pack almost stopped and as I tried to slow down, I locked a wheel and went straight into the back of Trulli. I am really sorry for the team, because today we had a better car and a much better tyre, even though there is still room to improve. Without the incident, I think we could have got both cars on the podium, because I had a good strategy.”

Fernando Alonso, Mild Seven Renault F1, 11th position: “I think I was unlucky today. I was very surprised by how many movements Ralf was making into the first corner, and he just didn’t give me any room at all and hit the front wing: I was right up on the kerb, nearly in the grass. When the wing came off, that did quite a lot of damage to the car, so after that I knew I was just racing to get a good qualifying position in Turkey. The positive thing to take away was the qualifying performance yesterday, honestly, because without the mistake I was competitive with Montoya on the same fuel load, and much faster than the cars around me. We would have been more competitive in a normal race, so I think we have some reasons to be positive for the races ahead.”