Today's Selected Quotes - British GP

Sunday July 11th, 1999

McLaren

Irvine and Coulthard, todayDavid Coulthard: "That was fantastic. I feel fantastic. I realised that when my team got me out in front of Eddie after both pitstops, that, so long as I kept out of trouble, I could win this one. It was the most nerve wracking time of my career but to win the British Grand Prix is the best feeling ever. My best wishes go to Michael Schumacher whom I hope makes a speedy recovery."

Mika Hakkinen: "I was pleased with my first start, but the race was red flagged early during the first lap just before Michael's accident - I hope he's back with us soon. My second get away was not quite so clean. Things seemed to be going well though until I came in for my first pit stop when I experienced some imbalance on the left hand side of the car. I came in for another pit stop but there was some problem getting my left rear wheel on and as you all saw it came off. Fortunately I was just at the entrance to the pit lane and was able to pit immediately. However, despite going back out again the team came on the radio and told me they had decided that I should retire to eliminate any potential risk."

Ron Dennis: "It was a tremendous race from David with excellent work from the team in the pits. It was disappointing for Mika who suffered a left hand rear wheel problem which we will fully investigate. However, we decided to retire the car as a precaution against a similar problem. Overall this was an historic weekend for the TAG McLaren Group."

Norbert Haug: "Congratulations to David he has deserved this victory for a very long time. I feel very sorry for Michael Schumacher and I hope he is not suffering too much from the consequences of his high speed accident. I wish him all the best and a good recovery."

Ferrari

Eddie Irvine: "I am sorry if my remarks in the press conference about Michael's accident were misunderstood, but I was unaware until after the conference that he had been injured. I wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in the car as soon as possible. I got a good start, then Michael came flying past me with the front wheels locked. I was driving flat out every lap. The car was 'on the nose' and I had to fight oversteer all the time. Any chance of a win was lost at my first long pit stop. I came down the pit lane and the McLaren crew was also out and it unsighted me. The result was I overshot my mark for the refuelling and that was the race gone."

Williams

Mika Hakkinen, todayRalf Schumacher: "I am very happy with my third position, of course, even if it's easy to understand that it is not so nice to go back in the car if your brother has had an accident. Anyway, I knew that Michael was all right because the team kept me informed about his condition even during the race. On the other hand we are professional and the whole team relied on me and I had to do my job. I have to say once more thanks to the team, first of all for the impressive new aerodynamic parts that were fitted on my car this weekend for the first time, and then for the brilliant pit-stops that allowed me to keep my position in front of both Jordans."

Alex Zanardi: "I am glad I finished the race but of course I'm not excited with my performance. I will have to work on this and try to improve."

Patrick Head, technical director: "A brilliant race from Ralf! There are certainly signs that the car is better than previously but we still have some way to go to improve it. It's good to have two cars finishing without problems but nevertheless we've got to try to make improvements so Alex can perform in a stronger way."

Jordan

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: "This was another good race result. We were very close to third place but we were not quick enough in the first two thirds of the race, and although I caught up with Ralf at the end, I was not able to overtake him. Michael's accident looked really bad and I am thinking about him and how he is."

Damon Hill: "There was a lot of pressure before the race so I am very happy to have come through the trials and tribulations to finish fifth. All round it was great for the British fans with David winning and me having one of my best races of the season. I was unlucky at the start because I had a great start first time, but then the race was stopped. At the end of the race I had to back off because of a pneumatic valve pressure problem, but I managed to keep the car going. All in all it was a good and enjoyable race. The strategy was good and gave me a chance to race. The plan now is to have a few beers and think about the future. I am not going to make any decisions today. This whole weekend has been great in terms of the atmosphere from the fans for all the British drivers and I think they have put on a great show for the rest of the world. I had to shut out my emotions and concentrate on the job this weekend, but I am very pleased that the job was done and I had a good result for the team."

Ralf Schumacher, todayEddie Jordan: "It is great to see both cars finishing in the top five. It is a fantastic result for the home crowd. This time last year we had one point, now we have 31! I think this further strengthens our third place in the championship; we have moved away from Benetton and Stewart and even gained a point on Williams. Full marks though to Ralf, who did a good job and pipped us for third. The last four laps were touch and go for Damon because his car had a pneumatic pressure problem, so we told him to back off as we knew we had a good gap from Diniz. It was a great day for him and for the fans - a great British Grand Prix. After Damon's performance today, I am not so sure he will want to stop. It is up to him but the team is behind him and would like him to continue if he can drive the way he drove today. If he keeps this up, he should continue to the end of the season."

Sauber

Pedro Diniz: "I said yesterday that I was looking forward to a good race, but it was a tough one with plenty of pressure. Fisichella in particular was strong competition in the closing stages. My car was pretty difficult to drive, with too much oversteer and my second pit stop was a little long, but otherwise things went quite well and I am really pleased to be in the points again."

Stewart

Rubens Barrichello: "The race was going really well for me - I was really enjoying my battle with Damon early on and I had Frentzen in my sights about mid-race, and he finished fourth. As for the puncture, it's just terrible bad luck. To have to throw away points like that is frustrating. I was charging at the end because you never know what can happen. If one or two of the guys in front had not made the finish then I had another chance to get back in the points. I was really pleased with the way I fought back. It's not very easy to overtake in these cars, but I think I showed it could be done."

Damon Hill, todayJohnny Herbert: "It's such a shame to come away from Silverstone empty-handed when I had a real chance to pick up points. We put in a lot of hard work over the last two days and I was feeling quite comfortable with the car. It was pretty disheartening when I saw the pit board come out telling me I had a stop-go penalty. When we came up to the line for the restart I could sense that Alesi had a problem because I could hear him revving the engine. It seemed to me like he had gear selection trouble so I had to swerve to avoid him. If I had braked I would have been passed by the cars behind me on the restart."

Paul Stewart, Deputy Chairman: "Unfortunately, when things were starting to look really good for us with Rubens fifth and Johnny seventh it all went awry. Rubens had a puncture, which seems to have been caused by a stone piercing the wheel rim. Johnny was also looking good for points when he incurred his penalty. The team did a very good job today: our race strategy worked well and the cars ran reliably. Rubens did particularly well to come up from 13th position to eighth at the finish."

Martin Whitaker, Director, Ford Racing, Europe: "The team put in a really strong performance today with both Rubens and Johnny driving great races and looking set for points-scoring positions going into the final quarter of the race. Sadly it was not to be, with Rubens' puncture and Johnny seemingly caught in a situation he simply couldn't avoid behind Jean Alesi when the pace car came in. We deserved better from today's British Grand Prix."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve: "Having to restart in the spare car was not ideal as it had quite a lot of oversteer, and it was difficult to drive in the early laps on new tyres. We adjusted the front wing at my scheduled stop to try and improve the problem and that helped. When the safety car came out I was feeling pretty confident because I was on a one-stop strategy and this gave us a good chance to get into the points. I don't know why the car suddenly stopped - we are still waiting to find out, but it's obvious that our reliability problem is still not sorted out."

Ricardo Zonta: "It is very disappointing not to finish as I was feeling very confident at the start to get a good result. Things were going well and the car was performing fine until after my second stop when I started to have really bad oversteer all the time. It was difficult to control the car at speed. I came in for new tyres but when I went out it still felt that something was wrong and I spun off shortly afterwards. It felt as if something was broken in the rear suspension."

Craig Pollock, Managing Director, British American Racing: "In spite of high hopes, our cars failed today. Our increased reliability has turned out to be a fallacy, and we now need to work hard on improving it for the next race."


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