Post-race press conference - San Marino GP - Pt.2.

Drivers:

Fernando Alonso (Renault), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Jenson Button (BAR)

Press Conference:

Q:
Fernando, three in a row, you must feel on top of the world!

Fernando Alonso:
On top of the championship. On top of the world I don't think anyone can beat that. It's true that it's the third (win) for myself and the fourth for the team. We knew that here would be a difficult weekend but even without that, the performance was good. It was competitive, our race pace was not like the Ferrari but anyway, with an advantage on the grid and being conservative over the last couple of laps with Michael, I think I was able to win and this is probably the best of the three I've had so far.

Q:
What did you think of the pace of McLaren early in the race?

FA:
I don't know what fuel load he had. Obviously during the first two laps he was very quick, after that he was opening the gap at maybe two tenths a lap, not more, so probably we hope he had less fuel than us.

Q:
What about those last 12 laps, what is it like to have Michael Schumacher breathing down your neck?

FA:
Well, it was difficult but in the end I managed to be first. Obviously Michael was much quicker than me, more than one second quicker, and I knew that my only possibility was first not to catch the people in front of me and second in the corners where he had the opportunity (to pass) to brake a little bit more in the corner before and have better traction than him. I was playing this game at every corner and at the end it was OK.

Q:
He had a couple of looks around you, didn't he?

FA:
Yeah, there were two moments when we were very close but I think everything was under control. Probably my engineers were more excited than me in the car because every lap they continued to tell me four laps to go, three laps to go, two laps to go. I can do it.

Q:
Michael, did you feel that you were being controlled? Was it quite frustrating behind Fernando?

Michael Schumacher:
No. It would be a quite negative approach to see it that way. It was quite an exciting fight. I was quicker, I knew that, it was quite obvious, and I was trying to find my way through but we know Formula One, there are certain rules you cannot jump and either there would have been a mistake or a Hari Kiri action, none of which happened, and a bit of a good race so that is where we are.

Q:
At the start of the race did you think you could be on the podium?

MS:
No, because it was a bit far away from the podium and having known the pace we had I was not expecting to be that much quicker, although we saw some of that during free practice but normally by Sunday it levels out a bit to normal gaps we have seen in other races and if that had been the case I wouldn't have had a chance to be on the podium today.

Q:
That middle stint when you were catching Jenson, the pace of the car there must give you enormous encouragement.

MS:
It does indeed. Everyone worked extremely hard and this is the payback. Bridgestone got quite heavily criticized and all of us have done a great job to show that you should think about us, we are still there and we will continue to be there.
Q:
Jenson, it must have been frustrating feeling you couldn't go any faster and he was closing on you relentlessly.

Jenson Button:
Yeah, the pace of Michael and Ferrari was staggering. Everyone else seemed to be doing around the same lap times except for Michael, I mean, it was just a staggering performance. When he got past me there was no use fighting him because I knew he was stopping later than me and really I just had to hope he would catch up with Fernando and you never know then.

Q:
But obviously some relief at having opened your score.

JB:
Yeah, it is fantastic, I mean, it's great to get back on the podium again. We have had such a tough season. The first three races I haven't finished and it is great to be back up here and it's fantastic for the team to have two cars in the points. I think we are just going to go forward from here. We are very positive and confident we can make new improvements so I am looking forward to Barcelona.

Q:
The car is obviously better, have you got bits coming that can make it better again?

JB:
There are always bits, always parts to the car to improve it and we are very positive that they are going to make a difference. It has improved in a lot of areas. Obviously, we have got more downforce but it is the drivability that has changed. Now you turn into a corner with confidence that it is actually going to go in and it's not going to go backwards. So I am very happy with the car, we have just got to up our game a bit so we can challenge Ferrari.

Questions from the floor:

Q: Panos Diamantis - Car and Driver
Fernando and Michael, did you believe your fight was justifiable to a new era of competition in Formula One?

FA:
I think it was really a fight because I was first and Michael was the quickest starting from the back but I am sure it is nothing really more than one fight for the Imola Grand Prix. If Kimi was not out, maybe it would have been three in a fight. Every race is different.

MS:
At the end of the day, that is the way it is. The only difference is that Fernando now has a car that he can compete with, which he didn't have in the past. I don't think there is a secret the three of us sitting here are good drivers, and there are some others like Kimi and so on, so it is normal. If they have the right car they fight amongst each other.

Q: Anne Giuntini - L'Equipe
Fernando, can you tell us if you really had some concerns about your engine before the race during the weekend?

FA:
Yes, I think now we can say. From Friday we knew that maybe we had some problems with the engine so we limited the laps on Friday and Saturday morning a lot and that cost me a bit of time, in qualifying one especially because it was my third timed lap of the day. And in the race we were running very low revs and just try to finish the race. I was expecting to be in the points in the Imola Grand Prix and now I have won it. It is the first engine ever to win two Grands Prix, so I think the guys from the team on the engine side did an unbelievable job between Bahrain and here just to analyse and be ready for the Imola Grand Prix with a percentage of security in the engine.

Q: Ottavio Daviddi - Tuttosport
Michael, after the big improvement at Ferrari in the last few weeks, what more do you need to win a race this year?

MS:
Maybe start a little bit further forward!
Q: Michael Schmidt - Auto Motor und Sport
Fernando, which corners were the most difficult to defend against Michael?

FA:
The two on the straights, into turn one and in Rivazza in turn 14 because normally even if it is difficult to overtake that is where you have more possibilities. Due to the characteristics of my car at the end of the race and his car I found turn seven was more dangerous, Tosa was the corner that we were close at a few times, but I knew that corner is quite difficult to overtake on.

Q: Anne Giuntini
Michael, although you didn't win will this race remain in your mind as one of your strongest and your favourites? You enjoyed it a lot I suppose?

MS:
Indeed I did, yeah, but I have a long career behind me, so there are some other races probably of that nature. But it is honestly one of the good ones and I have said many times that it is not always you need to win a race to enjoy a race.

Q: Steve Cooper - F1 Racing
Fernando, your tyres looked to be losing a lot of rubber towards the end of the race, particularly the rear tyres. Was it hard to defend knowing the tyres were going away, do you think they were going away?

FA:
I think the tyres worked again perfectly for me, but as I said before I had no runs on Friday so we chose the tyres based on the other teams and a bit based on Giancarlo's running and for me it was the first time I went out with more than three laps in a long time, so the car was not perfectly ready for the long distance, maybe, or the tyres and the pressure, I don't know, but anyway I was able to push the whole race. In the last ten laps I had some difficulties, probably because I pushed the tyre quite hard due to the fact I was not able to use the whole engine in the race so I pushed the tyres a little bit more to get the timed lap.

Q: Steve Cooper - F1 Racing
Michael, do you think Bridgestone have cured the problems they had in the first three races?

MS:
Obviously, we have cured our problem, otherwise we would not have been able to do what we did.