British GP 1998 - Race, Comments [II]

Drivers

Jean Alesi

"I made another great start, and the car felt strong throughout the
race. My two-stop strategy worked very well and fourth place seemed
definite. But even while the safety car was out close to the finish the
team could see on the telemetry that the electrical system was losing its
charge. That in turn affected the electro-hydraulic gearshift mechanism on
the car. I was thus in trouble even before the race restarted, and though
we tried all we could to keep up sufficient charge, it was no good. This is
like Monaco, a good result lost in the closing stages."


Pedro Diniz

"It's a real shame, as it wasn't a bad race for me. When I came into
the pits for the second time it started to rain heavily, there was a river
running down the pits which made me spin off and crash the rear wing on the
barriers. I returned to the pits later for repairs, but lost a lot of time
and eventually spun off on the track, ending the race for me."


Johnny Herbert

"I was on a one-stop-strategy and that seemed to be going well. I was
aware that it was Jean right behind me on the 24th lap, but I was driving
my own race. Then the team began talking to me on the radio shortly
afterwards, but it was impossible to hear what anybody was actually saying
because of the interference. Going into Priory on the 27th lap I started to
wave him by, but it's difficult when you are racing in such conditions,
trying to decipher a radio message, and watching your mirrors. I spun off
into the dirt, and as soon as I felt the marshals pushing me I knew it was
over because outside assistance in such situations is illegal. I just drove
round to the pits to retire. For me, a very frustrating British GP on a day
when I could have scored some points."


Shinji Nakano

"I am happy with my result, finally, mostly because after
disappointing performances on Friday and Saturday, I didn't expect it.
Today, track conditions were really bad: when it started pouring I couldn't
even keep the car straight, not even on the straight lines. It was like
surfing! Although I did make some mistakes, we obtained this good result,
thanks to my car which performed well and to the mechanics, who allowed me
to make a very quick pit-stop. It was time for such a positive note, after
two black days!"


Mika Salo

"I had a good start, but had a really big oversteer problem when it
was dry and I was on inter-mediate tyres. My first stop was also very good,
but then my car developed a throttle problem. I was really lucky to make it
that far, as the car became impossible to drive. Sadly, I did not make it
back to the pits for the necessary repairs which is a real shame because I
felt we could have scored some points today."


Esteban Tuero

"My race was quite slow, but I could not go faster. I lost a lot of
time in the first part of the race, when the track was getting dry and my
tyres were getting worse lap after lap. Then, thank God, it started raining
once again. At the half-way of the race I was behind Rosset, who I tried to
pass a couple of times. Unfortunately, when he went off the track, I made a
mistake and I ...followed him onto the sand."


Teams

Minardi

Gian Carlo Minardi, Team Owner
"Shinji made a very good race. Unfortunately it started raining only
after 12 laps, because our car were prepared for wet track conditions, as
it was proved by Nakano's performance. To reach a 8th place close to the
'top' teams, is for all of us a significant result."

Trevor Knowles, Ford Cosworth Support Engineer
"After the warm up we found an oil leak on Nakano's race engine. There
was not time to do a full investigation so we decided to change the engine
(once more M3 spec)After it was found that it was a leaking pipe union.
Both engines performed well through the race: probably the weather
conditions helped with the rain giving the engine an easy time."


Sauber

Peter Sauber, Team Owner
"Today I don't want to say any more!"

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