Full Throttle

And a Saturday night bull ring NASCAR event appeared on my TV screen. The Monoco Grand Prix certainly departed from what has been mostly a Schumacher parade this season. Drivers reactions:

Jarno Trulli, Renault (1st):

“It is hard to express what I am feeling right now. The team, the car, myself, we have all been improving bit by bit since the start of the season. Yesterday, I took my first pole position and said that all I needed now was a first win. To do so is a wonderful feeling. I believed in myself and the team, and hoped that maybe we could win here. To be honest, the way the race turned out really didn’t help me: each time I built up a gap, the safety car came out, and I had quite a lot of trouble with traffic. But the car was perfect, the strategy correct and the pit-stops were fantastic. I just want to thank everybody in the team, here at the track, at Viry and at Enstone. They have worked so hard this year and this is not just my win, it’s theirs as well.”

Jenson Button, BAR (2nd):

“It was a very tough but incredibly exciting race for me - and I suspect everyone watching at home too! It felt great crossing the line in second place, but ever so slightly frustrating because I was only a second behind the winner! I didn’t get a good start and Alonso was able to get by me, then the traffic was very bad because of the backmarkers and I was getting really frustrated, being stuck behind da Matta for three and a half laps. After I broke free of them I could really start catching Jarno. We had a great strategy today but we just couldn’t quite catch him.”

Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari (3rd):

“I think I was very lucky to finish today and third place was my birthday present from God. At the start, Sato came past me even before I moved off the line. Then, quite early in the race, in Casino Square, the car hit the ground very hard, I was locking the wheels and it felt as though I had a puncture. I told the team on the radio, but they said that if I could, I should stay out and see if the situation improved on my next set of tyres. But after my second pit stop, which I did not make when the Safety Car was out as I had a lot of fuel on board, the car was still hitting the ground and was not turning well. It felt like something was broken in the rear suspension and while the SC was on track I even drove slowly near the pit wall in case the team could see anything. I?m not even sweating after this race, because all I could do was drive slowly to carry the car home. I did not see Michael?s incident in the tunnel.”

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari (DNF):

?Firstly I must congratulate Jarno. He did a fantastic job and I am very happy for him as I work closely with him in the GPDA and we meet on the football pitch. Today, I don?t think I could have really challenged him, but nevertheless when the accident with Montoya happened I was leading the race. So the situation is that the race leader was knocked out of the race after being hit by a back marker. I am sure there was no deliberate intention on his part and I accept the Steward?s decision. I was accelerating and braking just as we do when we go to the grid and in the standard way when running behind the Safety Car. The tunnel was not even the first place I had done it as I had used the same procedure earlier in the lap. A bit of smoke off the wheels is quite normal in these situations as you try to get heat into the front tyres and the brakes. After not the most successful weekend for us, I am really looking forward to next weekend when we will already be at the Nurburgring for one of my home races.?

1 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 77 1:45.46.601 1 10
2 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 77 +0.4 secs 2 8
3 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 77 +75.7 secs 6 6
4 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 76 +1 Lap 9 5
5 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 76 +1 Lap 16 4
6 16 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 76 +1 Lap 15 3
7 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 75 +2 Lap 17 2
8 17 Olivier Panis Toyota 74 +3 Lap 13 1
9 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 71 +6 Lap 19
10 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 69 +8 Lap 12
Ret 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 45 +32 Laps 4
Ret 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 41 +36 Laps 3
Ret 6 Kimi R?ikk?nen McLaren-Mercedes 27 +50 Laps 5
Ret 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 15 +62 Laps 20
Ret 19 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 12 +65 Laps 18
Ret 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 11 +66 Laps 11
Ret 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 2 +75 Laps 7
Ret 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 2 +75 Laps 8
Ret 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 2 +75 Laps 10
Ret 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 0 + 77 laps 14
Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher 1:14.439