Post race press conference - German GP - Pt.1.

Drivers: Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams), David Coulthard (McLaren), Jarno Trulli (Renault)

TV unilaterals

Q:
Juan, it looked like a perfect day for you....

Juan Pablo Montoya:
Yeah. I think it went really well - the whole weekend went really well from Friday. Ralf was ahead of me on Friday, but we made a different tyre choice and it seemed to pay for the rest of the weekend. We got a lot more work done yesterday and, today, the car was fantastic all day. We got a great start and just went from there. I don't know what happened to Ralf at the start, he may even have touched with somebody but, from then, I just pushed, pushed and I was amazed I couldn't pull away in the first few laps, but then I kept doing the same pace and they seemed to drop away. So I managed to get a bit more out of the car and make a faster lap.

Q:
Everything perfect mechanically with the car?

JPM:
I had a bit of an issue about lap 15 or something, where I lost a bit of top speed, but it wasn't a big issue - it just stayed like that all day, and even like that, we had enough pace to pull away.

Q:
Jarno's not with us at the moment; obviously it's a very very hot day, what were the conditions like from your point of view?

JPM:
For me, it wasn't that bad. Physically, I was pretty good all day. For me, it was a completely different race than for Jarno. For me, it was just keeping the pace all day long, trying not to make a mistake all day long, trying not to make a mistake - whereas Jarno had pressure all day.

Q:
You were on a three-stop strategy, the guys behind were on a two stopper - are you surprised now the way it turned out?

JPM:
Yes and no. I think, from our point of view, three was the best way to go, and I ended up about a minute in front of the second guy, so it seems to work.

Q:
David, great job today from tenth on the grid. First of all, did you see anything of that first corner accident?

David Coulthard:
Well, mostly I saw it on the big screen. It was being replayed while we were behind the safety car. From what I could see, it looked like Kimi was on the outside and there were some cars moving around, jockeying for position, they probably didn't see each other and it caused an incident.

Q:
You got up to sixth as a result of that, then had a very, very long second stint, which enabled you to get in front of Alonso and then really be in touch with Trulli and Michael; take us on from there?

DC:
As you say, a long middle stint. I was struggling a little bit at the beginning of the stint because... my car, when I pitted, was really well balanced, and I thought I was in for a really strong afternoon. After the pit-stop, I picked up quite a bit of understeer, and it took a good ten laps or so for that to dial out, and that was the same on the third set, so that it made it quite difficult to carry the pace behind other cars that I could carry when I was alone.

Obviously, I was trying to size up Michael a lot to overtake when he had the manoeuvre on Jarno, and then I managed to pass him as well. I overcooked a little bit on the brakes, but then managed to get him at the next corner.

Q:
Where were you quicker than Michael in the later stages of the race?

DC:
It was surprising, actually, because it was inconsistent around the track. I tended to be much better on the brakes into the hairpin, and much better into turn eight, which is in front of the Mercedes Benz grandstand. He was very good into the complex, and that made it very difficult to be close to him as I started the lap, to try and set him up for the hairpins. I thought it would take a long time to get into a position to pass him.

Q:
It looked as though you more or less did the same manoeuvre as Michael on Jarno, running wide out of the hairpin - was that a deliberate policy to try and do the same thing?

DC:
No, I just felt confident that I could brake just a bit shy of the hundred yard board. As it happens, because I followed him a little bit for the slipstream, I think I picked up some dirt on the tyres, so I overshot slightly and then obviously he came along and held his line, which didn't really let me get back onto the circuit. But he was on dirty tyres when he went into turn eight and ran wide, while I had better traction.

Q:
You've had a lot of trouble this weekend in the build-up to the race and also, it appears, quite a lot of pressure from outside sources. Describe your feelings now after a race like that?

DC:
Well, obviously delighted to be back on the podium. It's been since Melbourne. It's obviously been a difficult season for me with having difficulty getting the car in the right position for qualifying. My race pace in every other session has been good and, obviously, that's the key for me having future success.

Q:
Juan Pablo, the championship's looking pretty close now. You're in a pretty clear second place and Michael's certainly in [reach].

JPM:
Yeah, I think things have come a long way now from where we were before Monaco, but there are still four races to go and anything can happen. We're definitely in a better position than we were in the beginning of the year, and I think it's very important just to keep scoring points, even if you can't win. You've got to try to be second in all the races, because you never know when somebody's going to go out. Look at Michael today - he looked like a very strong second and, with five laps to go, he's only seventh. So anything can go wrong for anybody.