Team reaction after race in Monza (part 1)

Third victory of the season for Scuderia Ferrari, once again courtesy of Fernando Alonso, with Felipe Massa bringing home an absolutely brilliant third place. The drivers stood on the podium in the same positions from which they had left the starting grid, but in between there was plenty of excitement and a very close contest throughout the race. This is win number 213 from 807 Grand Prix participations for the Scuderia, the eighteenth in the Italian Grand Prix. For Fernando, it was win number twenty four in Formula 1, his second at the Monza circuit. Thanks to the 25 points he collected today, the Spaniard finds himself third in the Drivers’ classification, 21 points down on the leader, while Felipe, making his fourth podium appearance this season, consolidates his sixth place. The Scuderia is still third in the Constructors’ classification, 60 points off the leader.

Luca di Montezemolo: “This is a very special day for me, and one that involves contrasting and very strong emotions. There is the delight for such a great win, which I want to dedicate to all our fans. I am proud of what the Scuderia has done, both on the track this weekend and back in the factory: it is an extraordinary job. They delivered perfectly, proving to be the sort of people who never give up. For this, I wish to thank Stefano Domenicali and all his colleagues and the drivers – Fernando was brilliant, taking pole yesterday and now the win today while Felipe got a very nice podium finish. But there is also the pain at the loss of a friend, Pietro Calabrese, a great journalist and a fan of ours, and so this victory is also dedicated to him.”

Stefano Domenicali: “This victory was a team effort, which came at the end of a very busy week, which culminated this afternoon. It was fantastic to be on the podium, singing the national anthem along with all our fans: it’s the sort of feeling that gives you goose bumps! It was an extremely close race from the first to the last lap, fighting against a very strong opponent. The win has come at just the right time and at the right place. It is the result of all the work from the Gestione Sportiva and our technical and commercial partners, first and foremost Santander and Shell, who always provide us with vital support. This season continues to throw up surprises: after the knock back in Spa, it might have looked as though we had had it, but we were not ready to think that way. We have always said we are not the sort to throw in the towel. Now the championship situation has opened up again, even if we are still up against very strong opposition. We will enjoy this victory for one night and from tomorrow morning we will be back at work, preparing down to the smallest detail for the next of these finals, namely the one in Singapore.”

Fernando Alonso: “Winning at Monza at the wheel of a Ferrari is something special, which can only stand comparison to when I won in front of my home crowd in Barcelona in 2006. Being on the podium was an incredible feeling: what a sea of people, so many flags! I was stunned by the emotion from the fans, right from the first moment they got here on Thursday. I wish to dedicate this victory to them and to the passion that characterises all Ferrari fans. I got a reasonably good start, but Jenson’s was definitely better and more effective. I tried to attack him at the first corner but I did not manage it and there were some very exciting moments, when I collided with him and with Felipe. I was worried there might be some damage, but fortunately everything was fine. I could always keep up with Jenson: we were working out what might be the best strategy, then he pitted and it was obvious then that I should do one more lap. The pit stop was super: we gained the tenths that made the difference. Today, it was the mechanics who won the race and they produced a real miracle. The whole team was fantastic as was the car. Now we have updates coming for Singapore, but it will not be easy to continue to improve, because we also need to start thinking about 2011. We have to stay focussed and do our best. We cannot allow ourselves the slightest mistake, because we are still behind, but we have definitely taken a good step forward today.”

Felipe Massa: “It was a great day for the team, with a super result in our home race. I got a good start and maybe I might have made up a place, but I did not have good traction coming out of the second corner. Then I felt a knock and it was Hamilton who had hit into the side of my car: fortunately no damage was done. All race long the car worked very well and I was always competitive. The pit stop was not perfect and maybe the time lost there cost me second place. All the same, it was really nice to be on the podium: seeing all the people underneath it was incredible, with the whole straight packed with fans. It was a special feeling, especially as I feel I am part Italian. I am happy for the team and for our home crowd. Now there is much work ahead of us to prepare for the coming races, starting with Singapore. It won’t be easy, but we are up for it. Personally, I will continue to fight for the wins and for the good of the team.”

Chris Dyer: “A fantastic result for the team. We had a difficult weekend, a fortnight ago in Belgium, but after that everyone put in 110% effort to make up for it and be as well prepared as possible for this race. Everyone gave their all, on the track and at home over the past three days, starting with the drivers. It was not easy, as we had to adopt choices that were far from obvious, especially in terms of aerodynamic downforce and the set-up of the car. Then yesterday, Fernando produced a masterpiece in qualifying, which put us in the best possible shape to go after the win. There was a tense moment at the start and on the opening lap, but after that, we knew we had to wait and stop after our rivals to make up ground. We did just that, thanks to a combination of a perfect lap from Fernando and the fact the mechanics did an exceptional job in the pit stop. Felipe also drove a great race and it was nice to see both our drivers on the podium here in Monza. We know that if we can manage a perfect performance in the next five races, then we have a chance of winning.”

Jenson Button: “It was a very tough race mentally, and it was tricky holding off the challenge from behind. I spent the first half of the race either looking in my mirrors or at the TV screens to see where Fernando [Alonso] was.

“I didn’t know until after the race that I’d damaged my diffuser as a result of contact with another car on lap one, and I don’t know whether that affected my pace or not. But, with the downforce level I had, I expected to pull ahead more through the corners. Instead, the car was moving around quite a bit; so I had to drive as smoothly as I could and not make any mistakes.

“Maybe it was the wrong call to pit when we did, but the team felt the new Prime tyres were faster than the Options. But I couldn’t find any grip on the new tyres, and lost a little bit of time on them. When I saw Fernando emerge just of me, I was very disappointed.

“Overall, then, we didn’t quite have the pace to win today. But this weekend was definitely a good one – I scored some good points, and this second place is very useful for my world championship hopes.

“There’s still everything to play for over the next five races.”

Lewis Hamilton: “I made a good start, gained a position, got up to fourth, and, at that moment, perhaps I should have just stayed there for a while. But I put my car up the inside of Felipe [Massa] into Turn Four, trying to get third, and that was probably a little bit too much.

“I was trying to position the car in a certain way, I was too close to Felipe, and his left rear clipped my right front. The car was damaged after that, and there was nothing I could do; you try your best, but some things just don’t go your way.

“Today was a shame, and I want to say sorry to the team. But the championship certainly isn’t over – although I have to admit that days like today don’t help. The good thing is that Jenson scored a nice lot of points for us.

“Now, though, I’m already fully focused on Singapore.”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: “Today Jenson drove a truly fantastic race, coolly and consistently absorbing enormous pressure all afternoon, and holding a secure but slender lead until the pitstops.

“The timing of pitstops is always an inexact science – but, once we saw that Robert [Kubica] was immediately lapping quicker on Prime tyres after his pitstop, we resolved to put Jenson on Primes straight away. That was a logical and therefore sensible thing to do. But, even so, Fernando [Alonso] was just able to squeeze ahead when he in turn made his pitstop. It was incredibly close, and I’m sure it made edge-of-the-seat TV viewing, but on this occasion it went our opponents’ way rather than our way. But that’s racing.

“Like Jenson, Lewis made a very strong start, and was his usual forceful self on lap one. We’ve often seen that trademark lap-one forcefulness herald an equally combative race drive from him, but on this occasion he got involved in what I’d describe as a racing incident. But, again, that’s racing.

“I was asked after the race why Lewis didn’t pull over to the side of the track after the impact, and my answer was: ‘Lewis is a racer, and racers keep driving till the wheels fall off – literally.’ And we wouldn’t want him any other way.

“Looking forward, there are five more rounds of the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship to go, and the points situation in both the drivers’ world championship and the constructors’ world championship is extremely close. So it’s all to play for, and you can be well sure that we at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes will be giving it absolutely everything we’ve got.”

Sebastian Vettel: “Our strategy was a risk today – if it works then you’re the king and if it doesn’t you can be the idiot! Fortunately it worked and the team did a great job. I had a bad start and lost a lot of ground. It was difficult to pass from there, as unfortunately we don’t have extra speed on the straights, so we had to fight in the corners as well as we could. Then around lap 20 something happened to the car, I don’t know what it was, maybe there was some friction in the car, but fortunately the problem solved itself. In the meantime though, I lost connection to the group ahead and the tow, so around three to four seconds. I had to come back from there and it was a tough fight. The cars ahead pitted, so I stayed out as we tried to overshoot them. We were watching the lap times throughout and in the end it worked. So, some good points and we achieved our maximum today, which was fourth place.”

Mark Webber: “We could have got more points today, so it’s a bit disappointing, but at least we got some. We lost out on the start and the first lap. I lost a lot of time behind (Nico) Hulkenburg, he seemed to spend every second lap going through the chicane, but the stewards left him alone which was frustrating. I got him in the end, but I lost a lot of time. I’ve had a better day than Lewis (Hamilton) and got more points, but Fernando (Alonso) won the race. It’s good to get some points, but you always want a bit more. It could have been worse for us today.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: ”As a team performance today it was a great
effort – especially after difficult starts and first corner where positions were lost. Both drivers produced excellent races and I think that the strategy and pit stops were well optimised. The unfortunate thing today was the time that Mark lost behind Hulkenburg, who went off the circuit a few too many times in our opinion. But we got very valuable points. Our objective prior to the weekend was to try to limit the damage, so to come out of the weekend back in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship with Mark, while extending the lead of the Constructors’ Championship is more than we could have expected.”

Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “What a difficult race
for us. We had bad starts with both drivers, so we were far back in the field at the beginning, but we stayed focused. We were very strong during the race and little by little we went up the order. We also tried a different strategy with Sebastian that worked well, so congratulations to our strategy guys. It meant Sebastian went up to fourth place. Mark made some great moves to overtake Michael (Schumacher) and (Nico) Hulkenburg and finished sixth. We took more points from McLaren and more points than Hamilton, so it’s a very good result for us today.”

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher achieved a double-points finish for the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza today as the pair came home in fifth and ninth places respectively.

Both drivers had good starts which helped to make up places on their grid positions as they drove strong races with Nico pitting on lap 35 and Michael making his stop one lap later. Nico was competing with the late-stopping Sebastian Vettel for fourth place in the final laps but was unable to get ahead of the Red Bull driver.

Nico Rosberg: "Fifth place was an ok result today except for losing the place to Sebastian at the end there. It was a tough fight and I was pushing to the maximum throughout the race, firstly with Robert at the start and then with Sebastian towards the end. We got the most out of the car this weekend and another double-points finish is good for the team plus it is nice to be ahead of Robert again in the Drivers’ Championship."

Michael Schumacher: "I had a quite clean race and I am pretty happy about my start. It was tight with lots of action so lots of nice fighting. Unfortunately I had to give away two positions to Sebastian and Mark as I just could not keep them behind me. From there onwards, the race was pretty lonely really. However we got the maximum out of it considering where we started from and together with Nico, we scored some important points for the team, so I would say it was a decent race."

Ross Brawn: "We achieved a very respectable result today with two cars in the points which is just the kind of race that we need to have for the rest of the season. Nico and Michael made great starts, showing their experience and maturity, and then drove strong races. Whilst we were not on the pace of the front-runners, we were the strongest of the group behind and Nico did a fantastic job to try and keep Vettel behind but it just wasn’t quite possible. Michael had a very good race to get up into the points and with good work in the pits by the team, this led to another double-points finish."

Norbert Haug: "We scored points with both drivers today which is good. After a great start, Nico drove a strong race which moved him up two positions to fifth place and he posted the third fastest lap of the race, quicker than three of the four guys ahead of him. Michael improved from 12th place on the grid to ninth position at the finish. Needless to say that we are not satisfied with such positions in the longer term but I am definitely satisfied that the team achieved the best possible results today. Thank you to everyone for all of their hard work here in Monza."

The AT&T Williams team secured a valuable double-points finish in the Italian GP today. Nico Hulkenberg, capitalising on his a strong qualifying performance yesterday, led the team home in a tightly-fought race to P7. His team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, suffered from an early incident, dropping him back into slower traffic and with the field running long first stints, had to wait for an extended period to be released in the pitstops and recover ground. With only a third of race distance remaining, Rubens managed to secure the final points position by finishing in tenth.

Nico Hulkenberg: It was a tough day, but a rewarding one. I lost position off the start line, but managed to recover two places in the first chicane. From then on, I seemed to be fighting one or other of the Red Bulls for the whole afternoon, and there wasn’t a moment when there was any let up in the pressure. It was made all the more difficult as I was struggling with the brake pedal, but it was an exciting afternoon of attacking and defending with great work in the pitstop, so I am pleased with the outcome.

Rubens Barrichello: I had a good start off the line and was alongside Nico, but coming into the first turn, I took the outside line and we all bunched up behind Vettel who had a bad start – it is so tight there – and I lost a part of my nose. But perhaps more significantly, I dropped behind Buemi who was running long, and that pretty much dictated my race, but I am glad that I added a point to our championship position.

Sam Michael, Technical Director: Nico had an excellent drive today and delivered throughout the weekend and the team is really happy with his performance. Rubens was stuck in traffic for most of the race which cost him dearly, but he did manage to score a point. We had no problems on either car today and it was good to see us running competitively with the front runners.

Robert Kubica: I got a great start and passed Hülkenberg off the line, then the two Red Bulls in the first chicane. After Hamilton went off, I was running fifth at the end of the first lap, and from that point on I was managing the gap to Rosberg in front and Hülkenberg behind. I knew that the pit stops would be crucial, and we took the decision to stop earlier than the cars around us. I think it was the right one, because from my out lap I was at least a second quicker, but unfortunately we had a slow stop and lost a couple of seconds. That meant Hülkenberg came out of the pits level with me, and we were wheel-to-wheel under braking. He took a defensive line through the chicane, which meant
Webber also got a run on me through turn three, so I lost two positions. It’s disappointing, but that was our pace this weekend. We’re looking forward to a better performance in Singapore.

Vitaly Petrov: I knew it would be a hard race and, although I managed to pick up five positions on the first lap, it wasn’t enough to get me near the points. It’s very difficult to overtake here because the low downforce makes it tricky to get in the slipstream of another car. I think I did the maximum I could have hoped for this afternoon, but it was my first time here in Formula 1 and this weekend was all part of my learning curve. Hopefully, when I come here next year I won’t need to learn anything; I’ll just be able to show my best level of performance.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: It was an extremely tight race today where every detail counted and the smallest mistake was penalised. The team did a good job with the strategy and we made the right call with Robert, but a slow stop cost us two positions. We must focus on getting all of these details right if we are to catch Mercedes in the championship, especially because they stretched their lead over us today. As for
Vitaly, he had little hope of scoring points. He drove well but just could not make up enough places.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: It was a difficult day for us. Robert made an excellent start and gained three positions, but unfortunately at the pit stop Hülkenberg got in front of us and we then lost another place to Webber in the same fight. Vitaly did a credible job to come from P20 to P13, but scoring points from that far back is always very difficult. We now look forward to going to Singapore, a track that I’m sure will be far more suited to our car, and where we hope to challenge at the front.

Rémi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations: We were missing a little bit of pace today compared to Rosberg and the top three teams, and unfortunately we lost several positions during the pit-stop. On the engine side, it was more or less a trouble-free race. We used two brand new units, both performed well and I expect we will be using them again in Singapore.