F1 Round 3: Renault F1 streets the field again in Melbourne

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F1 Round 3: Renault F1 streets the field again in Melbourne

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Jarno Trulli, Toyota Panasonic F1, DNF: "I'm happy that Ralf did so well and it shows that we have the pace to challenge again. But this has been a disastrous weekend for me and it was a shame to be punted out of the race so early. A couple of corners in I was following Coulthard who was going very slowly and zigzagging on the straight. I went to the inside to overtake him and I was ahead at the corner but he just closed the door on me, hitting me on the back. That broke my rear suspension and put me out of the race. I was just being careful and overtaking a slower car so I don't understand how it happened and I was surprised by what he did. I've had such bad luck this weekend, I just hope that I've had my share for a while. We showed good pace so I hope we can keep that up and my fortunes can improve back in Europe."

Nico Rosberg, Williams Cosworth F1, DNF: “The start of my race into the first corner all went fine but then Massa & Klien got in bit of a tangle and I could see Massa coming sideways in my mirrors on the inside of me. I thought to myself don’t, please don’t, because I had nowhere to go. In the end he just hit me from behind and that was it. My rear wing was off and my radiators were too damaged for me to continue. It’s unfortunate because I was in a good position with a lot of fuel and considering that so many people had gone off or dropped to the back of the field, I was starting to think that today it could have gone my way and I could have scored some good points. I’m going to look forward to Imola now, finally a track that I know well.”

Mark Webber, Williams Cosworth F1, DNF: “We’re not quite sure exactly what happened, we think it is something related to the gearbox. It’s a real shame because we had a great strategy and I was very, very heavy - I had plenty more laps to go and although it might have been tough to keep Kimi and Fernando away from my P1 position, I think we had lots of other people including Jenson and Ralf covered and a podium would have been reasonably straightforward. But saying all of that, you need to get to the chequered flag. The outcome is really disappointing for me, the team, everyone, but we’re all in the boat together – the team and Bridgestone has done a really good job on the car, we have the pace, but now we’ve got to work on our reliability.”

Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1: “Obviously this was a disappointing result for the team. Nico’s race was over at the first corner when he was hit from behind. We were looking strong on Mark’s car, as he was running very long and had a lot more fuel on board, but something failed inside the transmission - we won’t know exactly what until we get the car back and have a look at it. Bridgestone brought a really good tyre to the race, it was a shame we could not make the most of it. The job for us now is obviously to work on our reliability.” Sean O’Mahony, Principal Engineer – F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth Ltd: “Obviously it wasn’t the best day for the team, but we live to fight another day. We were concerned about engine temperatures after the aborted start, but both drivers managed their engine usage sensibly. It was good to see a Cosworth-powered car leading the race and when our luck changes we can hopefully convert the obvious potential of the package into results. So far we have not seen any issues with the engines despite the on-track incidents, but we will need to give them a thorough inspection.”

Tiago Monteiro, Midland F1, DNF: "Overall, I saw it as being quite a positive weekend. We had a great Friday, some problems on Saturday, but then I was having a great race, with some very good lap times compared to the others. There may have even been the possibility of a top ten today, which would have been a high point for us. Unfortunately, problems happen in F1 - something many other teams also experienced - and we had a technical issue that prevented me from finishing. It is frustrating, but I understand that that's how racing goes sometimes. I'm just happy that at least the car was performing well in the race, and that's what motivates me for the next one. Now we need to understand what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again."

Tonio Liuzzi, STR-Cosworth F1: “What happened was a real shame as we were competitive and had a really good pace. I am not very happy as I think Jacques (Villeneuve) might have put me in the wall. I am happy for Scott and the team that he picked up a point. Now I am looking forward to Imola where if the car is as competitive as here we can have a good race.”

Christian Klien, Red Bull F1, DNF: “There was a safety car period at the beginning of the race and it very difficult to warm up my tyres. I struggled a lot with that, it made it really tricky to drive the car and I was also on a very heavy fuel load. On lap five, I touched the brakes, the rear locked or something broke, I’m not sure, and I went off the track into the wall. There was nothing I could do. The crash looked worse than it was I think. It felt as if I got hit twice on the rear of my car on the first lap of the race and nearly went off on the first corner as a result, but I don’t think that was related to my going off the track later on. I’m really disappointed.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, DNF, McLaren Mercedes F1: "There was a lot going on in the race today. As we were lining up on the grid I made a mistake and spun the car. Fortunately the start was aborted, and I was able to take up my original start position in fifth spot. However during the first Safety Car period I had another spin which cost me two positions. Overall I found it rather challenging getting the grip into the tyres today and the four Safety Car periods didn’t make it easier. I think I could have finished on the podium, but as I was pushing to get past Ralf I hit the kerb at the start of the straight and went into a bit of a wobble but managed to save it. Unfortunately the impact activated a default system which switched off the engine and that was the end of my race. It’s a real shame as our package felt fantastic throughout the weekend. We can definitely go into the start of the European season with lots of confidence."

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