Sunday September 12th, 1999

Jordan

Heinz Harald Frentzen: "This victory here is tremendous for me and the team, and I do not have enough words to express how I feel. The Championship battle is now really close - I cannot believe it. The team and Mugen-Honda have done a fantastic job to make the car fast and reliable. When I saw Mika go off I thought 'bad luck for him, good luck for me'. We have used every opportunity this year to score points when we can and today we made use of a fantastic opportunity. McLaren did not use their potential and if this happens in the next races it will give Eddie (Irvine) and me a chance in the Championship. If at the beginning of the season Eddie Jordan had told me that I would be winning races like this I would have told him he was crazy. It is hard to lead a race because you are in control and you are trying to maintain the gap, save the car and you can lose concentration - which is perhaps what happened to Mika. It is a lot easier to push someone from behind. Once I was in the lead I was trying to save the brakes, tyres and engine to finish the race without any problems and it is difficult when you are thinking about all these things."

Williams

Ralf Schumacher: "This is my best result this season and I am glad I achieved it here. The first few laps of today's race were quite dramatic, as Mika Salo and David Coulthard were trying to overtake me and I was trying to make my car as .wide as possible. I have to say thanks to the team and as well to my team-mate who made it incredibly easy to get by him which allowed me to drive my race. Without his help I think I wouldn't have finished second today. Alex and I have an agreement: if somebody is quicker we help each other, because at the end of the day we are driving for the team to get the best result. No doubt that the FW21 has sensibly improved, I would say that it looks quite another car from what it was in Hungary."

Alex Zanardi: "I could feel something hitting the ground underneath the car early on in the race, around the third lap. It got so bad during the race that it was picking the nose off the ground. Unfortunately, it appears like the floor had come loose. I send my congratulations on a great result to Ralf."

Frank Williams: "A great result for the team after a lot of very hard work. This further underlines Ralf's talents and his remarkable ability to race lap after lap without any mistakes. We are disappointed with the outcome of Alex's race, but despite his handicap he still managed to finish 7th."

Ferrari

Mika Salo: "This is an unbelievable result after two difficult days in practice. To go from 17th on Friday to third today is fantastic. You only have to look at my pit stop to see how well this team works. At the start Ralf (Schumacher) made his car very wide and I could not get by. Then he managed to get away from me when his team mate let him pass. Barrichello passed me because I could not overtake Zanardi as I was slow on the straight. But then a great pit stop helped me get this result. It was fantastic to be on the podium again and it was particularly emotional here in front of all the Italian fans. My car was a bit better today than at the start of the weekend. We are trying very hard to improve our car and we have new parts which we will be testing next week."

Eddie Irvine: "I was a bit cautious at the start as I knew it was vital for me to finish the race and that might have cost me one or two places. Changes to the car meant that it was quicker in terms of top speed, but it was bad on the kerbs. In the end though, I got one point and my nearest rival got none. Now we are going to circuits which will suit our car much better and we will be in a much stronger position to fight for the wins. We knew we would struggle here. I was not worried about Zanardi at the end. I had backed off to make sure I got that valuable one point. At least it feels good to be leading the championship again. Now we must work, work, work.

Jean Todt: "Today was a case of damage limitation in relation to our main competitors. We are naturally pleased to have got five points towards the Constructors' Championship and also happy that Eddie's one point now puts him back in equal first place with Hakkinen. Mika drove a good race and deserved to get on the podium. We paid a heavy price for our grid positions, especially on a track where it is hard to overtake. There are still three races to go and it will be very difficult to achieve our objectives. However, as I have always said, we will try our hardest right to the end. Starting on Tuesday, we will spend two and a half days testing at Mugello, in preparation for the next race, the European GP."

Stewart

Rubens Barrichello: "I would like to dedicate this race to Gonzalo Rodriguez who we lost yesterday during qualifying for the CART race at Laguna Seca. He was a good friend and a real fighter. I spent a lot of the time before the race thinking about him. I'm really pleased with today's result. The car felt very good throughout the race and allowed me to drive very aggressively. The team did a great job giving me a car I could run at the front with. A podium finish was very close at one stage but we lost a little time during the pit stop. Third place would have been a nice reward for Jackie and Paul and the whole Stewart-Ford team and for my future fans here in Italy."

Johnny Herbert: "At the exit to the first chicane Panis stopped ahead of me and I ran into the back of him. Fortunately I must have hit him square on because there was no damage to the front wing but the incident allowed everybody to get by me and I dropped down to 20th position. It just suddenly went when I shifted into sixth gear at the end of the pit straight. It sums up my weekend which has been pretty much up and down. I haven't been able to get the car running consistently."

Paul Stewart, Stewart-Ford Chief Operating Officer: "I'm absolutely delighted. I thought that it would be tough to overtake and maintain position after the pit stop but the strategy we chose worked out and Rubens drove a hell of a race. The most important aspect is moving to fifth place in the Constructors' Championship. Unfortunately Johnny retired with a clutch problem but he kept up a good pace during the race."

Neil Ressler, Vice-President, Research & Vehicle Technology, Ford: "A fabulous drive from Rubens. In the first part of the race he put in an impressive performance when he drove past Coulthard, Salo and Zanardi and in the second half when he held off Coulthard. At the end of the day three points take us to fifth in the Constructors' Championship with three races to go."

McLaren

David Coulthard: "A difficult weekend in which I had a problem finding the balance of the car. The amount of times I ran off the circuit shows that it was a very troublesome race and I believe that I have to be content with two points."

Mika Hakkinen: "Naturally I am very disappointed to have made a mistake which ruined the chance for me to extend my lead in the championship. After the start I pulled out a pretty good lead and I was feeling very comfortable with the car when on lap 29 I went into the first chicane, which I have taken all weekend in second gear and I made a mistake and selected first. The rear wheels partially locked up and I spun off with a stalled engine. Of course I am upset with myself but I will make sure this is the last error I make this year."

Ron Dennis: "Not one of the best days at the office. A rare mistake by Mika, while David struggled in the first part of the race with understeer. David moved up from seventh to sixth position during the pit stop and benefited from Mika's retirement which saw him move up to fifth. However, he was not able to improve on that position in the remainder of the race. The points outcome could certainly have been much worse. A well deserved race win for Jordan and Frentzen."

Norbert Haug: "The result was certainly not what we expected from this race. I feel sorry for Mika - to be in the lead and in control of a race is sometimes a really difficult task. Many World Champions have made mistakes in these circumstances, as has Mika today. We will concentrate now even harder to win the championship. Congratulations to Heinz-Harald and the Jordan team for a well deserved victory."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve: "It was an exciting race, and the car was competitive from the first to the last lap so that I was able to keep pushing. At the start I was probably a bit cautious and could have made up a couple of places if I had been more aggressive, but then I felt that everything was going well, and I was sure that I could finish so I was not worrying about the reliability. In fact I was able to have some fun because the car allowed me to attack. The guys did a great job at the pit stop, allowing me to get in front of Hill (Jordan). Today has been a very positive result and now all we need do is to get some points."

Ricardo Zonta: "I moved up a place at the start and everything seemed to be going well and I had no problems with the car. Then at about half distance, I started to get a vibration in the front wheels and the brakes felt very spongy. The team decided to bring me in for an early pit stop and to check the car, but they couldn't find a problem so they sent me out again. I could tell immediately there was no difference, and was forced to stop on the next lap."

Robert Synge, Team Manager, British American Racing: "Following our dreadful test here last week when Jacques only completed 22 laps, this was a fantastic result for team morale, because he was able to put in competitive lap times and his car did not miss a beat throughout the race. The very quick pit stop (8.5 seconds), allowed Jacques to make up a place, and this is down to sheer hard work by the guys who have been practising more than any other team. It paid off today."

Craig Pollock, Chairman & CEO, British American Racing: "This was a great finish for us, and the whole team did an excellent job. Jacques was able to keep up with the pace of the top cars, and it was good to see him really able to compete. I am very sorry that Ricardo had to retire, as he was running as quickly as Jacques, and could have finished well. He showed today that, when he has a set-up he likes, he can do a good job."