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2002 San Marino Grand Prix 
What the teams and drivers said - Sunday 

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What the teams and drivers said - Sunday

Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher - 1st, Rubens Barrichello - 2nd ) 

Jean Todt: "To get a one-two finish in a home race is fantastic. Today we saw two exceptional drivers, a great team and extraordinary Bridgestone tyres. Thanks to this result, Michael has increased his lead in the Drivers’ classification, while Ferrari is back in the lead of the Constructors’ championship. We know that not all weekends will be like this and so we will keep our feet on the ground and continue to work hard because there is still a long way to go this season. Now, we can get home quickly as we are just a few kilometres from Maranello, to celebrate this great result."

Michael Schumacher: "There are many reasons to be proud today. We failed here last year and now we have given something back to the tifosi. It was a special grand prix for me and I’m proud of the way it went. It was right that Rory Byrne should be on the podium. He is unique, very motivated and a great person. I seem to have worked with him for most of my F1 career. Of course this result is not all down to him as it is a team effort but he is the main designer. We did not expect to be so dominant today after a close qualifying and I thought the race might be more difficult. Bridgestone has produced a tyre that is more consistent and although the win was down to the whole package it was mainly due to the tyres. We will enjoy a glass of champagne to celebrate with the whole team, but at this early stage in the season we are already thinking about the next race in Spain and we start testing again on Tuesday."

Rubens Barrichello: "I am very happy with this result, especially as I scored no points in the first three races. It is wonderful to finish first and second in front of the tifosi, driving a brilliant car and it had the best balance and set up I have seen. At the start, I think I got away in the same way as Michael, except that I was on the dirty side of the track. Basically I paid the price for the time I lost yesterday. Ralf got the jump on me and I could not close the door. The problem with this track is that it is impossible to overtake so there was not a lot I could do. But I had a fantastic “in” lap before the first pit stop and managed to get ahead. After the second stop, when there was a problem with the left rear wheel, I concentrated on driving the car nicely."

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Williams ( Ralf Schumacher - 3rd, Juan Pablo Montoya - 4th )

Sam Michael: "We have achieved some more points for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team. It was a good effort today from the team and both drivers. The reliability was good and the strategy was right but the Ferraris were obviously quicker. The pit-stops were also very good and consistent. We will push as hard as we can to improve the performance of our cars."

Dr. Mario Thiessen: "It’s clear that Ferrari has built very good cars and they make sure our work and our targets are not over. Nevertheless third and fourth positions are positive result. Also positive is that again we have both the cars finishing the race and in the points. In the past four weeks, when we were leading the championship, we never forgot our outspoken target for this season, which is the second place in the Constructors Championship. With just three points back from Ferrari and a considerable gap from our pursuer, we are placed more than well."

Ralf Schumacher: "I think we have made the most out of it today. We were on a good strategy, I had a good start and stayed ahead of Rubens Barrichello until my first stop. Both pit stops were very good, the engine, the tyres and the chassis as well, but this wasn’t enough. We still need to improve if we want to win some of the next races."

Juan Pablo Montoya: "I am a bit disappointed as I was expecting more from this race. Today there was simply nothing more there, as I had to fight with an imbalance on the car. The car was very good in the warm-up, then we decided to go for some small changes that unfortunately didn’t turn out as positive as we had wished."

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Renault ( Jenson Button - 5th, Jarno Trulli - 9th )

Flavio Briatore: "For us, a very good race. I'm pleased for the whole team. Jenson and Jarno both drove very well today. It's an improvement to get both cars to the finish, especially with one of them ahead of McLaren."

Jean Jacques His: "As an engine builder, the first source of satisfaction is to have two cars finish on a circuit which is extremely demanding in terms of performance and fuel consumption. Jenson's performance showed that the car was quick right up until the finish, and the lap times were very competitive compared to the McLaren. Overall, I'm satisfied with a very good race, which has confirmed our fourth position amongst the constructors."

Jenson Button: "Fantastic! I'm very, very pleased with today's result. The car was extremely consistent, which meant I could really push all the way through the race. It's satisfying to finish in front of one of the McLarens on pure pace. Definitely my best race of the season so far."

Jarno Trulli: "I made a very good start, but the two cars in front - I think it was Montoya and Raikkonen - held me up, which meant Coulthard passed me under braking for the first chicane. During the first five laps, the car was working really well, but I then started to gradually lose performance, possibly because of the high gearbox temperatures. Once again I'm disappointed, but I finished the race, which is still a reason to be pleased."

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McLaren ( David Coulthard - 6th, Kimi Raikkonen - Retired )

Ron Dennis: "Our lack of pace is a direct reflection of those elements of the package, which are not where they need to be. Whilst Kimi’s exhaust failure triggered a prudent decision to stop the car, the reality is that we have known since Malaysia that it’s going to take time to close the gap to the front of the grid. Nothing but hard and focused work over a period of time can fulfil that objective and none of those values are in short supply in the West McLaren Mercedes team."

Norbert Haug: "The weekend’s results show our current performance level. We are too slow and everybody in the team knows that we have to improve and work even harder. Unfortunately Kimi lost fifth place when his exhaust broke and he had to come in."

David Coulthard: "I really lacked grip throughout the race. At the start I had a lot of understeer which took some time to clear and then the rear began to slide. We dropped some wing for the race to increase speed but it didn’t really help. I extracted the maximum I could from the car but we just couldn’t keep up."

Kimi Raikkonen: "A fairly uneventful race for me. The car was handling pretty well, but we just didn’t have the speed to be at the front. The team told me to retire after the exhaust broke, and they detected hot gasses on the suspension. We will continue to work on improving the package and hopefully we will see results soon."

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BAR ( Jacques Villeneuve - 7th, Olivier Panis - Retired )

David Richards: "The team have done a very competent job all weekend. It is always disappointing when all this hard work is still not rewarded with any points but I am sure these will come."

Geoffrey Willis: "We’re very pleased with a 7th place finish today. The pit crew achieved an excellent second stop for Jacques which enabled him to jump two cars. However, we are still unable to run enough downforce on the car and we are under no illusions that there is still plenty of work ahead of us."

Jacques Villeneuve: "We’ve had a good weekend and we fought very hard in the race today. The track and the tyres suited the car so it’s a shame that on the one weekend where we haven’t had any problems we didn’t manage to get any points."

Olivier Panis: "Despite a relatively problem-free weekend we didn’t achieve a consistent balance on my car, which is something we will have to work on. I was hoping to at least finish the race today in order to bring the team some valuable data, but unfortunately the throttle linkage problem cut the engine on my 44th lap."

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Sauber ( Felipe Massa - 8th, Nick Heidfeld - 10th )

Peter Sauber: "Unfortunately, I don't think it was possible to score points today, even if Nick had not made that first unscheduled stop."

Nick Heidfeld: "I thought that the team had called me in on the radio for my first stop, but it turned out that they hadn't. So when I arrived at the pits nothing was ready, and I had to come in again three laps later. Then I got a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. That was annoying, because I felt that the Renaults were holding us up in the early laps even though my car was oversteering quite a bit. It was better on a low fuel load, but with four stops, what can you do? Altogether, a frustrating afternoon."

Felipe Massa: "Well, I drove on the limit all afternoon and I'm pleased with eighth, but it would have been nice after all that effort to score a point. I was keeping up with Nick and the Renaults quite easily in the opening stages, and we were definitely losing time. Later on, I knew I had a chance at Trulli. When it came I decided that it was gonna be all or nothing. I was quite pleased with that."

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Minardi ( Mark Webber - 11th, Alex Yoong - DNQ )

Alex Yoong: Did Not Qualify for the race 

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Arrows ( Enrique Bernoldi - Retired, Heinz Harald Frentzen - Retired )

Mike Coughlan: “Well that was a tough one. Heinz-Harald was going well on a one-stop strategy but experienced a sudden loss of fuel pressure. Enrique's problem is currently unexplained as we lost telemetry. Both drivers had the pace today and it's annoying that we are having these reliability issues. We are testing at Silverstone next week so believe me we will be putting in a few race distances.”

Enrique Bernoldi: "I was approaching "Rivazza", shifted down, and had no power so had to pull off the track. For sure it is disappointing to have my race cut short as I was enjoying myself out there today.”

Heinz Harald Frentzen: “I had a tough start to the race as, while I was defending my position from Fisichella, his team-mate Sato got past. I managed to retake him on the next lap though. The car felt good until I experienced a sudden loss of power a couple of laps before I was due to come in for my pit-stop. We have a lot of work to do at Silverstone next we.”

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

Niki Lauda: "A frustrating weekend for the whole team. It’s a strange thing to have happened, but it appears that both cars were damaged by the kerbing around the chicanes. Furthermore, the Jaguar R3 is clearly not performing at a level that it is capable of and until we understand exactly the aerodynamic issues, we are not likely to see much progress over the next couple races. Our package coupled with the Michelin tyres has performed much better in higher temperatures and we expected these problems before we came to Imola this weekend. Nonetheless, we are acutely aware of the challenge ahead of us and we are pushing forward on development as fast as we possibly can. Our new wind tunnel will not generate solutions overnight and we must be patient while the issues are being addressed and corrected."

Eddie Irvine: "It certainly was not the best weekend we’ve had. I knew that we were going to struggle with this circuit as the temperatures are never as high here as we would like, but given our reliability record, I did not expect to retire. Starting in 18th place on the grid is always a tall order and up to my retirement I was pushing the car all the way to gain as many places as possible. The overall performance, however, is just not there right now. As Niki says, we’ll keep on pushing and take full advantage of the wind tunnel resource that we finally have at our disposal. Our challenge is to unlock the potential that we know the Jaguar R3 has."

Pedro de la Rosa: "I knew that this was going to be a hard race, but I am disappointed to have retired. Our reliability to date has been very good and it is frustrating to have exited the race with a mechanical problem. Having finished the first three races, however, a retirement was on the books at some point, I suppose. Aerodynamically, we have a lot of work ahead of us and all we can do now is to work very hard at correcting the issues. Although the circuit was hotter today than it has been all weekend, we still suffered in terms of outright pace. The lack of downforce we are experiencing is not conducive to getting the best from the Michelin tyres and at an aero circuit like Imola, you get punished very hard for problems like the ones we are currently suffering from."

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Toyota ( Mika Salo - Retired, Allan McNish - Retired  )

Ove Andersson: "Obviously we are disappointed but we have to face reality. We have been quite lucky up to now, and today’s retirements are part of our learning curve. We now have to investigate the cause of the problems and then look forward to our next test in Mugello and the next race in Barcelona."

Mika Salo: "My traction control went early on in the race and then I lost fourth gear just after my pit stop. It is my first retirement this year, but it has been a difficult weekend with handling problems. The Michelin tyres have been good, but our car has not been making the most of them. We now test in Mugello where we have lots to do."

Allan McNish: "Just after the start of the race I lost drive and I could not go forward at all. I had no choice but to pull over to the side and fortunately no-one else was caught up in it. This is the first time we have had such a problem because our reliability has been very good up to now."

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Jordan ( Giancarlo Fisichella - Retired, Takuma Sato - Retired )

Eddie Jordan: "This was a race weekend to forget. We will have a post mortem about it to get to the bottom of where our problems lie. We have a big hill to climb but we have to do it and we will do it."

Giancarlo Fisichella: "I made a good start but then Heinz-Harald closed the door and I went off onto the gravel and lost a lot of places. Then I was doing my race and had overtaken Eddie Irvine, when the car suddenly lost drive. It appears to have been due to a loss of hydraulic pressure, possibly the same problem that I had in qualifying yesterday. Naturally I am very disappointed."

Takuma Sato: "A disappointing end to the weekend. I was on my fourth lap with everything working fine until then, when suddenly I felt a problem with the gear which left me stuck in first gear. I made it back to the pits and the team tried to set the electrics, but the same problem re-occurred as soon as I went out so I had to pull over and retire from the race."

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