Sunday Team Quotes

Renault

Giancarlo Fisichella (1st): "It was a perfect race for me, but it was very tough physically and mentally. It was really, really hot out there and I began to feel it from mid-race onwards. I knew it would be hard but there was no choice but to push all the way to the end. So I did. I didn't want to lose concentration in the last laps, and everything went well, the car and engine were perfect too. I am really so happy for this win. And I am especially pleased because I am dedicating the win to a friend who died last week, Pietro. To have my race engineer Alan Permane on the podium alongside me was special too. Thank you to the whole team, this is a brilliant result."

Fernando Alonso (2nd): "From my point of view, I think things could have been different without the problems in qualifying, but today was about making everything we could from P7 on the grid, and I think we did that. I got a great start, and managed to brake late into turn 1 to get the Williams round the outside. I knew Webber was lighter than me, and would have let him go if he had tried to pass, but we had the speed in spite of the heavy fuel load. After that, it was just a question of pushing and letting the strategy work itself out. I have a special feeling for this circuit, it is a fantastic track, and it has always been good to me. I am very pleased to have 18 points out of a possible 20 after only two races, and we are really looking forward to Melbourne."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "We had a fantastic amount of success last season, but the one-two finish eluded us throughout 2005. It is the ultimate team prize, and we are delighted to have achieved it today. What a fantastic result this was for Giancarlo. We saw yesterday that he has real strength of character, as he bounced back from a disappointing weekend in Bahrain, and this just reinforces that. It was a controlling and compelling performance. It is important not to forget Fernando, who was disadvantaged in qualifying by a team problem. He fought through the field to make the most of his race, as he always does. This is a team result, and belongs to every single person at Enstone and Viry."

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: "This was a fantastic performance from the whole Renault team. Every single member of our team put in an exceptional performance today. Fisico and Fernando were fantastic. Giancarlo controlled the race, and Fernando amazed us at the start. The car was so heavy, that to do what he did into turn 1 was something special. I think this performance shows that we interpreted the rules for 2006, with the new V8 engines, in the right way. We have a great group of people, and everybody is pushing in the same direction. I am very happy for the whole Renault Group today, and they should be proud to have an incredible team like this one."

McLaren-Mercedes

Juan Pablo Montoya (4th): "The car was good today and I think we had a solid race. We lost a lot of time in the first stint as my front tyres were graining, but as soon as we changed the tyres the car came back to life and if you look at my pace against Jenson Button later on it was pretty much the same. With the hot temperatures here we did have to look after the engine, which means that we had to sacrifice downforce, so finishing fourth is encouraging. We have scored some more points for the team and I think we look strong going into the next race."

Kimi Raikkonen (DNF, Accident): "I am very disappointed because I had a great car set-up and very good race strategy. I think it was fairly obvious that Christian Klien made a pretty fundamental mistake and ran into the back of me at turn five, breaking my rear suspension in the process. A positive side, the team has had good race reliability in the first two races and I am already looking forward to Melbourne in two weeks."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "Kimi being taken out in the first lap and Juan Pablo's first stint tyre graining problems masked our true competitiveness. We also had to sacrifice some downforce to improve the cooling efficiency of the car. The whole team is looking forward to the scheduled improvements to both the car and engine, which should make us even more competitive in two weeks time. Unlike many teams, we have enjoyed good engine reliability which also supports our positive expectations for Melbourne."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes Motorsport Director: "Kimi was pushed out in the opening lap and we missed him a lot in this race. Our reliability was there and Juan Pablo drove a solid race. I would like to thank everybody in the team in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart for all their efforts over the last busy month to create this level. Our engines ran fine in both races within a week's time. We have a solid basis, however we definitely want to do better and we will continue to work hard."

Ferrari

Felipe Massa (5th): "I'm very pleased with this result and I would like to thank the team for an excellent job. To start from the last row and end up 5th is a good result. Our strategy worked well and I was able to make a good start. During the race I was able to push a bit more at the right moment knowing that during the other phases I would have needed to play more of a waiting game. I lost quite a bit of time behind some of the slower cars but when I had a free track I was able to improve my rhythm keep a good pace. It was a difficult race but finishing fifth gives me that extra bit of motivation for the next races where I hope to be able and compete with the front runners."

Michael Schumacher (6th): "We can accept this result, considering everything that has happened over the weekend. I don't think that we could have achieved much more. On my second stint I wasn't as quick as I was on my first and third one, so now we need to understand the reasons why. All things said and done, the race went basically as I had expected even if one always hopes for something more. During my first pit stop I had to wait a fraction of a second before going out because another car was coming down the pit lane. This was a wise decision from the safety point of view. During the closing stages of the race I was not able to get past Felipe because I just wasn't fast enough and he didn't make any mistakes. This track has always been one of the most difficult for us. Melbourne is a completely different circuit and I hope that it will be better suited to our 248 F1. Now I'm going to take a few days off with my wife Corinna before travelling on to Australia."

Jean Todt, Team Principal: "Considering all the problems that we've had over the weekend, today our objective was to bring home some points and that's what we achieved. The team and the drivers worked well as did the Bridgestone tyres. Today it was very difficult for us because Michael, on a two-stop strategy was starting from 14th place on the grid and Felipe 21st, was on a one-stop strategy. The seven points that we've picked up - four with Felipe and three with Michael - are very important in as far as future prospects are concerned in that we're only at the start of the season. I'm very pleased for Felipe because he deservedly got his first championship points as a Ferrari driver. Now we have to work very hard in all areas so as to improve our competitiveness and reliability."

Ross Brawn, Technical Director: "Obviously this result isn't too bad considering how we qualified. The tyre performance was consistent and this proves that we chose the right compound, especially in the first stint. Michael didn't quite have the pace in the second stint so we need to understand exactly why. That's why he lost the ground to Felipe and Heidfeld."

Toyota

Ralf Schumacher (8th): "That was a very interesting race and it is obviously good news to have scored our first point of the year so we are very happy with today's result. We certainly could not have expected that with a three-stop race from the back of the grid. We are also happy that our times showed that we are again competitive. But it was a difficult race today and of course that does not mean that we have solved all our problems. We have the cooler weather of Melbourne next so we will be testing in Paul Ricard next week to be as prepared as possible for that. We hope to be able to keep up this level of pace at the coming races. We have to keep fighting and try to push for the podium again as soon as possible."

Jarno Trulli (9th): "I'm delighted that we scored a point with Ralf today. We should probably have finished with both cars in the points but it was really bad luck for me today. My afternoon got off to an unfortunate start when I suffered a broken diffuser when someone hit me from behind, just like in Hungary last year. That destroyed the rear of the car and that cost me today because I could have scored points. From then on I was suffering a mixture of oversteer and understeer and it was a big struggle so I just concentrated on driving as quickly as possible. We tried to adjust the car at the pit stops but obviously with the diffuser broken we could do very little. It's good that our pace has shown an improvement since Bahrain and we've gained some important data. We know we will succeed if we keep our heads down and work hard."

Tsutomu Tomita, Team Principal: "That was obviously a much better performance over the whole weekend and a strong performance in the race thanks to a significant improvement in the combination of our car and our Bridgestone tyres. That gives the whole team a very high motivation which is the most important thing that we could gain here. Of course we are delighted that Ralf scored our first point of the year. Ralf was originally scheduled to do two stops but because of high pneumatic consumption we had to switch him to a three-stop strategy. So to score points from last on the grid is especially impressive due to that fact. Jarno struggled with a diffuser that was damaged early on, which meant he really struggled for race pace but he still finished 9th so those are very encouraging results. The team deserved that result for all their hard work, but now we must start pushing to get on the podium. We will go to Paul Ricard next week to test further development of our combination with the Bridgestone tyres in preparation for the next race and then the start of the European season. We will keep pushing hard as we seek further success."

Williams-Cosworth

Mark Webber (DNF, Hydraulics): "My start wasn't too bad, but Fernando's was phenomenal. He closed up really quickly from behind me and passed me. This was a shame because it prevented us from running at our own pace. The hydraulic problem came on as I was on the start-finish line. My engineers confirmed it was terminal, so we had to stop. I am off to Australia tonight and I am really looking forward to seeing my family that I haven't seen for a long time, so naturally I'm looking forward to my home race in a fortnight."

Nico Rosberg (DNF, Engine): "What happened today was a shame because I was going quite well, even if I had lost a couple of places at the start due to wheelspin and also at the first corner where I could have been maybe a bit more aggressive, but after my experience in Bahrain, I just wanted to be careful. Nevertheless, I still thought I could have a good race. But just a few seconds before my engine gave up, I felt there was something wrong with it. It's really unfortunate because I would have loved to finish the race, but that's the way it is and I can't change that. I'll now have a couple of days of holiday and look forward to the race in Australia."

Sam Michael, Technical Director: "It was a shame that we had two DNFs with the cars after a promising start. Both cars got off the line well until the first corner when Alonso went round the outside of both of them. Nico's engine failed early in the race, then we had a problem on Mark's car with the hydraulics - he developed a leak that we couldn't fix in the pitstop and the car stopped about a lap and a half later. It's a disappointing end to the weekend, but car performance-wise we could have been solidly into the points looking at everyone else's pace and we'll go to Melbourne with fixes to these problems with increased determination."

Bernard Ferguson, Cosworth: "With it being the second race for the Cosworth CA2006 V8 engines in both cars, we knew it would be tough, especially in the hot conditions. Unfortunately Nico's engine expired on lap 7 due to an as yet undiagnosed problem. We need to get the failed engine back to our Northampton headquarters as quickly as possible so we can analyse the failure."

Honda

Jenson Button (3rd): "I'm obviously pleased to see us back on the podium but it was the top step that we had in mind, so we are a little disappointed. We want to be winning races and today showed that we are in the fight, but there is still a lot of work to be done before we can achieve that target. Having said that, I was held up by traffic a few times, not least of all by Scott Speed before the second pitstop. Had that not happened, maybe I could have come out of the pits ahead of Alonso. Regardless of that though, we have two weeks and a test in Vallelunga to work through our issues and hopefully we can look forward to better things in Melbourne in two weeks' time."

Rubens Barrichello (10th): "It's certainly been an eventful weekend and it was disappointing to end it with a stop-go penalty when I was in with a chance of at least coming away with a few points. These past two races have been a bit of a learning curve but I'm sure things will pick up for the next few races and we can start to realise more of the car's potential."

Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "We are happy with our first podium of the year. Jenson fought hard all afternoon but in the end we lacked a little pace and he lost some time in traffic during crucial periods of the race, especially around the second stop. Rubens was on course to be fighting for points, but unfortunately got a 10 second stop-go penalty for a pit lane speed violation. Another good note was the reliability of the engine, which in its second race showed no problems in dealing with the hot conditions we have encountered in Malaysia. We are certainly encouraged by our performance so far this season, but at the same time are determined to make further improvements and bring us closer to the fight. Let's see what Australia brings."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Honda Engineering Director: "Aside from the problem with Rubens yesterday, which necessitated an engine change, we have been encouraged by the engine performance in the first two races. We have two weeks to improve for the next race in Australia and will be working hard in testing and with the data we have gathered here to do our best for Melbourne."

Red Bull-Ferrari

Christian Klien (DNF, Hydraulics): "The start was okay, I was in a good place, then in Turn four there were three cars (me and the two McLarens) going into it. I was right on the inside, already over the kerbs. I couldn't go further to the right and mine and Kimi's cars touched. I broke my front suspension and that was basically it. I went to the pits and we tried to fix it just to get some more mileage on the car. We went out once more, but then we had a hydraulics failure and that was the end of the race. It's very disappointing, if you look at the race pace I think we could have been right up there."

David Coulthard (DNF, Hydraulics): "I lost hydraulic pressure in the car, which meant I had no power assistance going into the chicane. With that alone your afternoon's going to be difficult, but as the gearbox is controlled by the hydraulics as well, I became stuck in sixth gear. Once you lose the ability to change gear you've no chance, so unfortunately we had to retire the car. The start of the race was good, I got up behind Michael, I had a long strategy, felt reasonably comfortable, was quick in areas where you could overtake and slow in the bits where you were following people, and I think we could have had easy points today. We're still learning a lot about this car. We lost a lot of winter testing because of the cooling issues, but basically I think the car has good pace, I'm just trying to find a set up that's suitable for me. I feel a lot more confident in the car this weekend so the future is encouraging - the car is definitely capable of scoring points in Grands Prix."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "It's disappointing to have both cars retire here. Christian got involved in an incident on the first lap with Kimi Raikkonen, which caused him to pit for some suspension repairs, but we elected to put him back out in order to gather more information and learn a little bit more about RB2. Unfortunately David had a hydraulics failure. After Christian had completed several more laps, a similar problem occurred on his car. The one positive thing to take away from the race is that the performance and pace of both cars looked very competitive. Christian was doing good times with heavy fuel and David also looked competitive. It's a great shame, but we'll fight back at the next one."

Sauber-BMW

Jacques Villeneuve (7th): "I got held up early on behind Trulli, which was a pity because it cost me time, but once I had overtaken him it was just a question of running to the end. Physically it was an easier race than I had expected and I knew I should be in good shape mechanically because it was the first race for my engine. It was bad luck for Nick, but we've scored the points we should have taken in Bahrain so I am happy. The race pace was strong, so we need now to work on our qualifying."

Nick Heidfeld (DNF, Engine): "I hoped we would be faster than we were in qualifying but I didn't expect us to be so good. I could keep pace with the McLaren and was quicker than either of the Ferraris. I made a superb start and gained places straight away. After that I had a troublefree race apart from delays with blue flags which made lapping backmarkers difficult. After my second pit stop it was pretty close between Felipe and I in Turn 1, but I was able to stay ahead of him. The engine failure came without warning. Fifth place would have been brilliant for us, it's a real shame."

Dr. Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: "We are happy with the first two points for the new team, which we earned in the home country of our premium partner, Petronas. However, overall we are disappointed. Nick was in an excellent position to finish fifth until his engine failure intervened. We had already used that engine in Bahrain, and it will now be analysed in Munich."

Willy Rampf, Technical Director Chassis: "Our cars demonstrated strong performance today, which mirrored what we had expected after practice on Friday. It was a thrilling race for us, particularly for Nick who was able to keep both Ferraris behind him after his second stop. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish the race so instead of five points we only collected two. Both drivers did an excellent job and those two points are the reward for the team."

MF1-Toyota

Christijan Albers (12th): "We had bad luck with the start, because both Tiago and I ended up being held up for a few laps. Afterward, we got caught up in traffic, so that limited what we were able to do for the rest of the race. That part was unfortunate, but it was nice to finally run a full race without problems. My crew did a great job, and I think we can have an even better result in Australia in two weeks."

Tiago Monteiro (13th): "It was kind of a tough race for me. I got stuck behind a couple of slower cars at the beginning, so I think my engineers made a good decision to bring me in early. I really felt I had the pace to get by them, but it was difficult because I was losing ground on the straight sections. I was also disappointed not to be able to put in any quick laps on my fresh tyres because of all the traffic, but that's the way it goes, I guess. We pitted early a second time, which was another good decision, and was able to put in some good laps during that stint. But my race position was pretty much set by that point. I can't say I'm very excited to finish 13th, but in any case, I'd like to congratulate the team on a job well done: the pit stops were quick and clean, and we had good reliability."

Colin Kolles, Managing Director: "I'm pleased that we were able to overcome our reliability issues, which was a positive sign. Our pace was not so bad either, compared to where we were last year. What's more, we were actually getting faster toward the end of the race, so we're continuing to make improvements all the time. We still have a lot to learn about this young car, and there is a lot of room to explore its potential."

Adrian Burgess, Sporting Director: "It was satisfying to have our first double-finish of the year after the problems we had in Bahrain. We were forced to make manual starts with both cars, which compromised our eventual finish quite heavily. As a result of that, we got stuck behind some slower cars off the lights, but after that, we had pretty good pace for the rest of the race. Both our guys drove brilliant races. The pit stops, the cars and everything else ran fine for the rest of the race. We just have to work on the reliability issues that we had with the driveshafts and get our starts back to normal. We know what we have to do and we should have some new parts for Melbourne."

Toro Rosso-Cosworth

Vitantonio Liuzzi (11th): "It was a real pity that I had a tangle with another car on the first lap and had to lose time pitting for a new nose. Apart from that, the car was difficult to drive all through the race, as I was not happy with my brakes or the balance of the car, which meant I kept locking the inside front wheel, which was too light. I could not keep up a good pace and I also seemed to luck out with a load of blue flags. It's been a race to forget so I'm already thinking about Melbourne."

Scott Speed (DNF, Clutch): "I did not get off the line too well, because of the way we had the system set up. It's too bad that I did not finish the race because this was the track where we expected to struggle the most. We were overgripped aerodynamically, but me and my engineer got the set-up about right in the end. After a poor qualifying, we ended up doing a good job, showing decent pace and having a good track position. It's a shame, but I think we can come back stronger in Melbourne, as this place was never going to suit us."

Franz Tost, Team Principal: "If Tonio had not had to pit after the opening lap, I think he could have maybe finished a couple of places higher up. Scott did not finish because of what looks like a failure with the clutch lever on the steering wheel. What we can learn from this weekend is that if the works teams sort out their problems, we will struggle to finish in the top twelve. Williams also look extremely competitive, so it will be very difficult to pick up points this season. We have to up our game, do a really good job especially in qualifying, because if we get into the top ten on the grid, we might bring home some points."

Super Aguri-Honda

Takuma Sato (14th): "Great team work has meant that we have been able to improve on our pitstops since Bahrain and as a result I lost no time and was able to get back into the race and actually challenge a few cars. Of course we struggle on the high downforce corners with our pace, but I had another exciting race and at least we managed to finish the race once again. We still have a lot of hard work to do if we are to catch up to our nearest rivals, but we showed good teamwork today and I am very happy and proud of the team."

Yuji Ide (DNF, Mechanical): "The balance of the car was not good from the start and I had the same mechanical problem as I had in Bahrain. The problem got worse as I continued the race and gradually the car's pace got slower and I could not accelerate on the straight, then I stopped. I really wanted to finish the race, so my goal is to finish the race in Australia and then move on from there."

Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: "I think that the team did a great job during the pitstops and Takuma had a great race. He made a good start today and had better performance than we thought we could achieve from the current chassis. Unfortunately Yuji had a similar mechanical problem to the one he suffered in Bahrain and stopped once again before the checkered flag - but I think that he drove very well today. I am very happy that we have completed our second race and I am very much looking forward to traveling for round three in Australia next week."