British GP 1998 - Race, Comments

Drivers

Rubens Barrichello

"Our decision to take a risk with the slicks seemed to be paying off
until it rained. We lost a lot of time in the first 10 laps which we never
really got back. I felt a little unlucky to loose the car when I did
because, apart from the leaders, my times were pretty good on wet tyres. I
was impressed with the driveability of the engine in the wet. Coming out of
Club the car aquaplaned and I lost it. I guess we all have to go off
sometime, it's a shame it happened here particularly since I felt I had a
chance to gain a couple of places if I kept it together."


David Coulthard

"I made a good start and I was hopeful for a good finish, but a tyre
situation, which saw me running intermediates as opposed to wet tyres when
the rain became heavier, soon meant that I lost grip on the track. The
rest, as they say is history, as I spun off whilst trying to pass a
backmarker."


Giancarlo Fisichella

"I am pleased with both my and Alexander's result. It was good
teamwork. Alexander let me by when I was faster, then at the end when he
was close behind me, I let him retake the position that was rightfully his.
It was fair and worked well for both of us. It is hard to comment on the
set-up and the tyres because the situation changes lap by lap. When the
track was really wet, driving was a nightmare, the car was sliding all over
the place. The cars with Goodyear tyres didn't seem to have this problem.
When the track wasn't quite so wet, the situation was reversed and those of
us with Bridgestone were a lot faster. On the drier track again the
Goodyears came out on top again."


Mika Hakkinen

"We were looking really good until the heavy rain came down and I had
a big spin. I damaged my front wing as I went off and that affected the
down force of the car, which meant that I could not turn in on high speed
corners. With the safety car coming out and closing down my time advantage
over Schumacher, I knew that it would be very difficult to keep him behind
me."


Damon Hill

"I had such a disappointing race and felt so bad about spinning off,
but thanks to what happened with Ralf I will come away from Silverstone
with some happy feelings now that the team has won its first point. I came
to watch the race from the pit wall when I realised Ralf had managed to
move so far up the grid from 21st. It was a tantalising last part of the
race when the safety car was out, waiting to see if he could win us a
point, and he did. It is fantastic, and hopefully this will be the turning
point in the team's luck.

As for me, I was hugely disappointed not to have performed as I had hoped.
I lost the car and spun and then stalled. I feel very sad not to have given
my fans a good result."


Eddie Irvine

"I was not expecting this result after my poor start. On the grid, the
anti-stall device came in and so I changed up and had to start in third. I
was on intermediates until my last stop when I went to wets. We used
qualifying levels of downforce which was obviously the wrong choice. I
enjoyed overtaking all those cars in the early laps - that is what F1 is
all about. I had no trouble, except with Damon Hill who weaved in front of
me. The conditions were very dangerous. As I closed on Mika I thought I
could pass him. I closed on the first part of the lap but then I lost
downforce as I got behind him. After that, I seemed to lose grip and
traction and the rear end was stepping out. I was not sure why, so I
decided to back off."


Michael Schumacher

"At the start I was not as quick as the McLarens. I was happy to see
the Safety Car because the conditions were very dangerous. We made the
wrong choice to start with dry set-up. I do not feel that this and our
intermediate tyres were competitive enough today, however, our rain tyres
definitely gave me an advantage over the others. On my first stop I wanted
to come in early as my tyres were finished but I had to wait one more lap.
After the Safety Car went in, I was able to put pressure on Mika and
luckily for me it worked. I do not know why I got a penalty. Maybe it was
when I passed Fisichella, but I did it after crossing the line, after the
Safety Car had gone in. The team could not tell me, as my radio stopped
working halfway through the race. After our performance in testing and
practice, I did not quite expect this result, but I am very happy to go to
Austria, where we should be very competitive, just two points behind in the
championship."


Ricardo Rosset

"It's always disappointing not to finish, but while it was going on,
this was actually a satisfying race. I had a good start and was
particularly happy with the times during my second stint, when the car was
on intermediates. At that point, I was quicker than the Prost of Olivier
Panis, but I just couldn't pass him. When it really started to rain hard,
and we changed to full wets, the car developed big oversteer and I fell
back. I was really hoping the rain would stop and we could go back to
intermediates, but then I spun. I'm not sure whether Tuero touched the back
of my car or not. I think we may just have spun in the wet conditions at
the same time."


Ralf Schumacher

"I am very happy! We have waited so long for points that it almost
feels like a win today. I think the first points are the hardest to win, so
from now on I hope we can get more and more. I had the best start I think I
have ever had in F1 and a good first lap. The car felt well balanced for
the first half of the race, but when it started to rain it was really hard
to keep the car on the track as we had more or less dry settings. But
overall it was a very nice drive. In the last few laps they told me I was
in 6th place and to take it easy and bring the points home. I counted each
lap, and they felt very long, but I did it!"


Toranosuke Takagi

"I think it is an encouraging result to have finished ninth in a very
difficult race, but I also feel we could have done better. I was not
particularly happy with the handling of my car from Saturday afternoon
onward, but we couldn't really put out finger on the problem in order to
rectify it. As far as tyre choice and pit-stop strategy for the race was
concerned, the team and my engineer, David Brown, got it just right.
Unfortunately, a loss of grip from the tyres toward the end of the race
meant although I was pushing to the maximum, the lap times were not
brilliant. Anyway, we'll see what happens at the next race. We have work to
do between now and then."


Jos Verstappen

"We decided to gamble and choose to start the race on slicks. It
proved to be the wrong choice as the weather conditions gradually got
worse. My race began to improve after we fitted wet tyres but unfortunately
I had a problem with my engine and pulled off at Stowe. It was not an ideal
way to end the team's home Grand Prix."


Alexander Wurz

"I am really happy with fourth place, having started the race from
11th position. It means three more well-won points for the team. I am happy
to have survived as it was pretty scary at times. I think the race probably
could have been stopped because of the rain, but we made the right tyre
choice and it went well for me. The two laps before the Safety Car came out
were really difficult, but then it was even trickier when it did, as the
tyre temperature dropped and the brakes cooled and I nearly spun off a few
times."


Teams

Benetton

David Richards, Chief Executive
"If you consider our positions yesterday you can only conclude that
everything fell into place for us today. It was all about teamwork, every
single member of the team played a part in the result. The car, tyres and
drivers all worked perfectly and we also made all the right
decisions."


Ferrari

Jean Todt, Team Chef
"Once again this was an incredible race. The Safety Car which came out
because of the very bad weather conditions allowed Michael to close the
gap. At the moment, we do not understand when the yellow flag incident
occured which led to Michael's penalty. When the official handed us the
document relating to the penalty, he was unable to tell us if it referred
to Article 56c or 56e, as it was handwritten on the document. Because of
this doubt, we brought Michael in for a stop-go penalty on the last lap, in
conformity with the regulation allowing you to make the stop within three
laps of its notification."


Jordan

Eddie Jordan, Team Owner
"We said after Monaco that we had to re-group, think again about our
work, and be competitive by Silverstone. And that is what we have done. I
thought yesterday that all our good work was for nothing, as, despite
qualifying well, we had problems with the scrutineers which left Ralf at
the back of the grid. But perhaps for a change someone was looking down on
us favourably as Ralf managed to come from 21st to score points. It was a
fantastic drive - brilliant really. Well done to him! At least if the
supporters here could not have a British winner they could have
Silverstone's home team winning our first points of the season. We have
climbed a little mountain, and now we have to climb Everest. I am sure we
can move forward from here."


McLaren

Ron Dennis, Team Chef
"The team are studying the results and have made a protest. Further
comment will be forthcoming in due course."

Norbert Haug, Sporting Director Mercedes Benz
"Mika looked really strong until the heavy rain started, during which
time he spun damaging his front wing. The safety car, which was sent out in
these difficult track conditions, took away his lead of almost 40 seconds.
Owing to the damage sustained when Mika spun, he was unable to push as hard
as he would have liked when the race resumed. When David made his stop the
weather looked as though it was clearing which resulted in the decision for
him to get a new set of intermediate tyres. Mika's stop took place a few
laps later just as the weather changed for the worse meaning that he
changed on to full wet tyres. We still have a very good potential to win
more races and I am looking forward to the next race in Zeltweg."


Stewart

Paul Stewart, Managing Director
"All round this was a disappointing event for the entire team. The car
is clearly not handling to the satisfaction of either driver. It is
difficult to understand why at a circuit like Silverstone we were not
competitive because in Barcelona, a track which has similar characteristics
to here, we were on the pace. We need to find out quickly why the car has
begun to handle differently. We felt our grid positions warranted the
choice of slicks particularly with the wind drying the track before the
start. Our race strategy was for Jos to do two stops and Rubens one but
when the rain came our plans were thrown awry. We found a little more
competitiveness with the other teams on wet tyres. We will be testing in
Monza this week and we have begun to discuss a plan of action to try and
get to the bottom of the current situation."

Martin Whitaker, Ford European Director of Motorsport
"Although we were pleased with the introduction of the new Series 5
engine on Saturday we are all glad to see the end of a difficult weekend in
terms of performance. The weather was responsible for the end of Rubens'
race while Jos stopped with a suspected engine failure."

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