NewsOnF1 - 2001 Austrian GP - What the teams and drivers said

Ron Dennis: "The enjoyment of David’s win is certainly matched by the pleasure of our strategy in achieving its objective. A sensational, disciplined and aggressive drive from David was a vital ingredient in the outcome. We will not have a clear understanding regarding Mika’s problem until the data is inspected tomorrow and we will share that information once it’s available. Well done to the whole team."

David Coulthard: "This must have been a great race to watch and it was definitely fun to drive. Lots of close battles and overtakings and I’m really pleased to win. We started the race on quite a heavy fuel load to allow ourselves some flexibility in the strategy. It meant that I could stay out four laps more than Michael Schumacher and three more than Rubens before my pit stop. I did have one or two problems with backmarkers during the race but fortunately it didn’t cost me my position. There were no quiet periods but despite the pressure from Barrichello I felt that I had the race under control."

Mika Hakkinen: "I must admit that I’m extremely disappointed. We are still not sure exactly what the problem was – it could be technical or it could be me. We will have to look at all the data but no matter what it means that my chances of winning the Championship are now somewhat reduced."

Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher - 2nd, Rubens Barrichello - 3rd )

Jean Todt: "We knew the start would be the critical moment. However, it did not go well for us. Both drivers used the electronic system and now we have to look into what happened. The result of this was that our drivers had to fight back. Michael was stuck behind Montoya, who was slower than him, for a long time. Trying to brake right on the limit, the Colombian arrived a bit long at Turn 2 and Michael was forced to run wide to avoid making contact. This incident left us with Rubens in the lead, while Michael was down in sixth place. The second key moment came with the pit stops. Our opposition stopped three laps after us, and that meant they were then running with a lighter car. That is what cost us first place. Rubens drove a great race, running at a very fast pace. On the last lap, the team asked him to let Michael pass, as he is the best placed driver in the championship fight. It is disappointing to leave Austria with this result. We had a competitive car which was capable of winning, but we did not come away with the result we expected.”

Michael Schumacher: "I had some kind of problem at the start. The car did not get off the line the way it should. The systems are all very new. With Montoya, the fight had been fair until the incident. Then he tried to take me out at the corner and I had to go on the grass, because I could not turn in on him. He was not looking where he was going, he was looking where I was going. After that I felt I would have to wait and see what happened with the pit stops. We didn’t know how long everyone would go. But I had to push hard to get past the cars ahead of me, so I had no chance to save fuel and so came in a bit early. I was very happy that Rubens moved over for me. With Hakkinen not finishing, it is clear that McLaren will try and set David up for the championship. If I hadn’t been so close to Rubens, the team would not have asked him. Ferrari might have a different philosophy to McLaren, who have also called this strategy in the past. I feel that as long as we are not breaking the rules, then it is fair."

Rubens Barrichello: "I moved over for Michael, because the team asked me to. I chose to start on used fronts and new rear tyres and at the end of the first stint I was struggling with front end grip, but it was a good choice. My start was not very good and I had a fairly hard race. I think it was one of my best races. Unfortunately, David was able to go a bit further than me before pitting and that paid off for him. Otherwise, I had a good feeling from the car and thought I could have won."

Sauber ( Kimi Raikkonen - 4th, Nick Heidfeld - 9th )

Peter Sauber: "Yet more points confirm our continuing competitive form. It was a great race for Kimi Raikkonen. He was fast and consistent all the way through and it was never a problem for him to keep Panis behind. I am really happy that he could score three points in such a competitive race, only his sixth in F1.

It was very bad for Nick Heidfeld when he could not capitalise on his excellent grid position. His launch control did not function at the start, but we are still investigating why. When he finally got going he too drove a fast and strong race, and I hope that Monaco rewards him for his persistence. Congratulations to the whole team for two fast and reliable cars."

Kimi Raikkonen: "It's been a long wait since Melbourne, so I'm very happy not just to score another three points, but to take Sauber's overall total beyond 100. I had a very good race, though maybe there was some luck at the start. The car was good all the way through and I could keep pushing hard. People are making a lot of fuss because I have the same points now as Mika Hakkinen, but what matters to me is that as a team we had another great result today."

Nick Heidfeld: "I did a manual start to lay some rubber on the formation lap, but at the proper start launch control just didn´t work. After that I wasn´t really in the race because I was a lap behind. I got stuck behind Irvine, then I had to let Villeneuve through. Then I had a very long pit stop when I had some clutch trouble; fortunately the team deliberately dropped the car off the jack and I managed to get away again. It was really hard to keep my motivation, but you never know what will happen and you have to keep pushing hard."

BAR ( Olivier Panis - 5th, Jacques Villeneuve - 8th )

Craig Pollock: "It was a good result for us. Olivier drove an absolutely fantastic race and he deserved the two points, if not more, by the way he was racing. The whole weekend has been exceptional and it gives us confidence going into the next race."

Olivier Panis: "I am very happy for the team and myself with the result today. The two points are very important to us as we look to close the gap in the Championship. Jacques had a podium in the last race and I collected points today so I am happy with the progress that we are making. Next week we will be in Valencia testing and we will be looking to make some improvements as we prepare for the next round in Monaco."

Jacques Villeneuve: "It's a good result for the team. A lot of cars did not get off the line but I had a reasonable start. The first two corners did not go well and I picked up a huge amount of push in the race and I have no idea why. I am disappointed not to have collected points today."

Arrows ( Jos Verstappen - 6th, Enrique Bernoldi - Retired )

Tom Walkinshaw: “It's fantastic for OrangeArrows and Asiatech to get their first point of the season. It's just reward for all the hard work they've put into improving the car over the last few weeks. We just have to keep pushing between now and Monaco. Jos did a great job today, really made the most of the car. As they say, the boy did good.”

Jos Verstappen: "This point is very important for the team and for me as well. They all did a fantastic job. The strategy worked well for us as we could overtake at the beginning of the race and I think it was there that we earned the point. I took a lot of people into the first corner, a couple more on the straight, then two more after the safety car went in. I have to say that I really enjoyed this race, especially the beginning, as I love to race against the top guys. I was a little lonely in the middle of the race but I just concentrated on being as smooth as I could. The car is definitely developing so let's hope this is the first of many points!"

Enrique Bernoldi: “That was showing all the signs of being a really good race for me. I had a good start and the car felt really good. It was pretty hard passing Villeneuve so I was pleased I pulled that one off. After that I was still going well, having a fantastic race, but I had a hydraulics problem and had to pull into the garage. It's a real shame but I'd like to say that I'm really pleased for Jos and all the team. Well done.”

Jaguar ( Eddie Irvine - 7th, Pedro de la Rosa - Retired )

Bobby Rahal: "To be truthful we needed to rely on luck to get a point out of today's race. Eddie drove very well indeed and could not have done more in the circumstances. Our strategy was right and our engineers and mechanics did a fantastic job but at the end of the day the car was simply not fast enough to put us in a position to really challenge for points. It's now common knowledge that we should have a faster car for the next race in Monaco thanks to a significant aerodynamic redesign so we're all eager to test the package and get out racing with it."

Eddie Irvine: "I made a mega start but it was a very close call in that I missed Villeneuve by inches - we may even have touched slightly. The car was off the line in a flash and it felt very good all afternoon, albeit not fast enough to grab points. We have to stop relying on other people to suffer problems and no disrespect to Arrows, but they really shouldn't be beating us. Arrows would normally never beat us but we were too slow and I hope our Valencia test next week proves that our new aerodynamic package has what it takes to get us into points contention. I drove flat out throughout that whole race as I had nothing to lose but it simply wasn't enough today. The tyres were struggling at the beginning of the race but came good eventually. Roll on Monaco.”

Pedro de la Rosa: "I don't know exactly whether my retirement was down to a transmission problem but it seems so. The start to the race was quite good and there were a couple of stalled cars in front of me. I could probably have done a better start but I didn't want to risk hitting the stalled cars. I got through the problems of the first two corners and after that I went racing. The first lap was fine but soon after the balance of the car suffered because the front flap was broken which compromised the aerodynamic efficiency of the car. I tried my level best to live with the problem but it all came to an end on lap 49"

Prost ( Jean Alesi - 10th, Luciano Burti - 11th )

Alain Prost: "Once again during both practice and race, our cars have shown excellent reliability. But we have lacked in performance and throughout the weekend we have never managed to find a satisfactory set up for our cars. We have an important test session next week and we are very confident in the technical development we will soon introduce. It will be a good step ahead in terms of performance. It's the only thing still missing in a team, which on all other aspects is in constant progress."

Jean Alesi: "At the start of the race, I had to avoid the cars stuck on the grid and that wasn't easy. Throughout the whole race, we were not competitive enough to be able to gain positions and get a better result. However we continue to prepare the technical evolutions, which should allow us to improve in the Grands Prix to come."

Luciano Burti: "I am very disappointed, even if it was clear that we were not competitive on this track. At the start, I had to avoid the Jordan cars, which had both stalled. I had to go onto the grass, and this cost me few places. In the first part of the race, I was quite slow because the car balance was not good. I also made some mistakes because of the lack of grip. But after the pit-stop and the tyre- change, the car and the grip kept improving. I was able to increase my speed but it was too late to make a difference in my final result."

Benetton ( Giancarlo Fisichella - Retired, Jenson Button - Retired )

Pat Symonds: "It was a very disappointing day for the whole team and two separate problems affected our cars. We could see from the pit wall that there was a problem with Giancarlo's engine as soon as it was fired up on the grid. To carry on would have been fruitless and could have led to us spoiling someone else's race, so we decided to retire the car immediately. Jenson was making steady progress and seemed to be progressing well on his first set of tyres, despite being held up behind some other cars. After the pit stop it became apparent that we were using quite a lot of oil and, at the same time we had a lost a little of our performance. Ultimately, it appears that he retired because he spun on his own oil."

Jenson Button: "With so many cars having dropped out I was sure we were on course to notch up a decent result at the end of a difficult weekend. My goal was always to finish and it is always very frustrating to retire so close to the finish. As far as the longer term is concerned, at least we picked up some useful data."

Giancarlo Fisichella: "My race engineer called me over the radio on lap four because they could see on the pit monitors that there was a problem with my engine. There was nothing we could do about it there and then, so I had no option but to pull in and retire. It was particularly disappointing, for me and the whole team, because I had made a pretty good start and had gained several places."

Williams ( Juan Pablo Montoya - Retired, Ralf Schumacher - Retired )

Patrick Head: "We had a problem with the rear brakes on Ralf's car, I am not quite certain what but they got very hot. On Juan Pablo's car we have a hydraulic leak but we don't really know on what part of the system of the car. Basically not very impressive on the reliability side."

Juan Pablo Montoya: "I made a good start and during the race the car was behaving better and better. What happened with Michael was just a racing incident, he braked quite late, I braked late as well, I locked the rear tyres and ran wide. At the end we lost hydraulic pressure, I got an alarm two corners before and I knew that was going to be it."

Ralf Schumacher: "I had a great start to the race, which proved our launch control worked really well. I then had a brake pressure problem so my pedal got longer and longer, and at the end I had nearly no pressure left. I had to retire, that is all. Of course I am disappointed."

Minardi ( Fernando Alonso - Retired, Tarso Marques - Retired )

Paul Stoddart: "This year’s Austrian Grand Prix is not an event that European Minardi F1 will wish to remember. The week started badly when the team’s Technical Director breached his contract, and today’s double retirement from the race just adds insult to injury. We will be looking to do rather better in Monaco."

Fernando Alonso: "Although I made a good start, my problems began soon afterwards, causing me to lose several positions. On lap 10, the clutch broke, but I decided to continue all the same. After 20 more laps with no clutch, the gearbox broke. Hopefully, next time will go better."

Tarso Marques: "I managed to gain two or three positions after making a good start, but then I began to lose speed. The car had too much oversteer, although I felt at least it was pretty consistent. Just before my first stop, I found I couldn’t select the gears any more. It is a problem that the team’s technical staff is investigating right now."

Jordan ( Jarno Trulli - Retired, Heinz Harald Frentzen - Retired )

Eddie Jordan: "After the warm-up I really felt that we were in good shape for the race as both cars ran well with good balance. Unfortunately it wasn't to be as Heinz had a gearbox problem that jammed the gears so his car couldn't move, and Jarno's engine stalled after the launch control failed. It would appear that the revs were possibly too low for the launch control to activate, which was a fault by the team and not Honda. Jarno had to retire after being shown a black flag for leaving the pit lane to join the race when the pit exit light was red. It's very disappointing for both drivers and we will be having a debrief to establish the reasons for today's poor performance."

Jarno Trulli: "The launch control system didn't work so the engine stalled. The system wasn't working properly during the warm-up this morning and, although we made some adjustments, it clearly wasn't enough. I was pushed into the pit lane and re-started the race behind the Safety Car. I was shown some blue flags as I was one lap down, but then a black flag (disqualification) for leaving the pit lane while the exit light was red. I am very disappointed."

Heinz Harald Frentzen: "'The gearbox broke at the start and totally jammed the gears. We tried to fix the problem but couldn't, so that was it. I'm very disappointed as the car felt very good and well balanced this morning."

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Main Austrian GP Page

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Session	2001			2000
First Friday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Second Friday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
First Saturday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Second Saturday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Qualifying	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Warm-up	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Race	Results	Report	Notes	Results
What the teams and drivers said Friday - Saturday - Sunday
The Heretic's Review		Fan Reviews