Post-race race press conference - US GP - Pt. 2.

Drivers: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) and Tiago Monteiro (Jordan).

Questions from the floor.

Q: Bruce Martin - National Speedsport News.
Is there a concern that the events of the day may ultimately be the end of this event in the United States?

Michael Schumacher:
No, I don't think so. It is a strange one, a very unique one. But in the end we have had good ones, we have had a difficult one, and we will have good ones again.

Rubens Barrichello:
I hope not. I love to come here, I love to show my pace here. There are two races at this time of year that are fantastic for the public and for overtaking, Canada and this one. I really wish we could come here always. When I was a boy I could see the Dallas Grand Prix, the Detroit Grand Prix, and when I came in there was no US Grand Prix and it was very sad. All of a sudden they had this one, and we had problems, but I hope there is no problem.

Q: Mark Fogarty - Auto Action.
Michael, I mean, it is not your fault, but with the farcical spectacle you have had to endure, do you think this is Formula One's darkest day? How must this look to the rest of the world?

MS:
I think we have had much darker days, honestly, you remember 1994.

Q: Mark Fogarty - Auto Action.
I am leaving aside that, you know.

MS:
This is a sporting situation with some mechanical situation, a mixture, which makes it strange, but it is obviously better that the teams make a decision to go safe than sorry and that means it is only six cars. Just stick to what it is.

Q: Curt Cavin - Indianapolis Star.
As a sportsman, surely this must be the most hollow of victories?

MS:
I have won 84 races. I can afford to have one strange one.

Q:
You only call it strange? You are such a strong competitor, to be driving around by yourselves.

MS:
I had a race going with Rubens and, as I said, we had a car to win here anyway today. I am sorry the other guys did not show up and I have nothing more to add.

Q: Curt Cavin - Indianapolis Star.
I understand that you did not make the decision but can you tell my why Ferrari was not in favour of having a chicane put in at the last minute?

MS:
I tell you one story, not so long ago. In Monza we had the death of a marshal and all of us drivers agreed we would want yellow flags for the first two chicanes, and there was no less than two or three team owners that told their drivers 'you will not respect the yellow flag, just ignore what you have said or not said, we want you to race and we force you to race' and it is the same people who have been on the other side today. So, Formula One is a tough business, we are working very hard and as I mentioned before we had a tyre that was quicker but we didn't use it because we knew what was going to face us here. I am not saying the others purposefully chose something wrong, but whatever it is, it is their problem, not our problem. I don't think you can ask the people who are not responsible for it to take the responsibility.

Q: Dan Knutson - National Speed Sport news.
What does Formula One need to do to restore its image in the United States?

MS:
Just keep on racing properly, and we will do that. Everyone learned from what happened today and everyone will make sure this doesn't happen (again) because the penalty is very big to everyone, the fans, the teams who didn't race, and nobody liked that.

Tiago Monteiro:
As Michael said, if you race again here you can show again how things should not be a problem. People have to understand that there are sometimes mess-ups. This was one of them, but I think in the future at least this kind of problem will not happen again. I am sure there will be others, but this one will be sorted and we will have great races again in the future.

RB:
For something like that not to happen you need to change the rules, only, because then you are not going to face a tyre that last the whole race. But I don't know if you can blame the rules or blame Michelin, it is very difficult because I am on Bridgestone tyres and I don't know what their problems are. I have been hearing something like having less testing, but having the whole Friday, three hours in the morning, three in the afternoon, and bring four different types of tyres on the side. Less testing and more testing on a Friday would probably have helped the Grand Prix to go well. So, something like that.

Q: Alberto Antonini - Autosprint.
To what extent were you aware on the starting grid what the Michelin teams were going to do?

RB:
The toughest thing was that after the parade lap I went to rest, like we normally can, woke up thinking okay, someone is going to tell me something and there was nothing, there was really nothing. I came with my car on the grid and there was really nothing. It was unbelievable because for a minute it looked like the cars were not coming out at all. Then they positioned their cars and the public got excited and everything and all of a sudden they pulled into the pits. To be honest, I had been told they would take part in the start then sometime after that it would stop, so I was surprised when they came into the pits.

MS:
There was very little information, yes.

TM:
Like Rubens, I thought they would do a few laps then stop.

Q: Bruce Martin - National Speedsport News.
Michael, you must have mixed emotions because it was a situation with Ralf, his tyre failure on Friday, that kind of started all this. Obviously, safety is a major concern with you, so the fact something like that happened to your brother, what was going through your mind?

MS:
What I looked after coming in from my run Ralf was out of the car. I saw his car was damaged but I hadn't seen what happened. Afterwards I saw what happened, but knowing he was out of the car and talking to the doctor made me quite relaxed. But it actually started with Ricardo Zonta, who had a similar failure just in a different place, and then afterwards they figured out that plenty of teams and cars had the start of that failure.

Q:
Michael and Rubens, I only want to know if it's true that this morning you agreed with the other drivers that a chicane was needed.

MS:
No, we didn't agree on anything like this. It is not our position to agree, it's the FIA's position to agree on this, not us.

RB:
I mean, if I had changed one of the corners in Bahrain, my tyre would have finished, it wouldn't be in such a problem and I probably would have finished even on the podium. So why would we have to agree to that? People think, okay, you put in a chicane, but we haven't tested with that chicane so that could have been even more dangerous. If you take a different line and people spin to the other side, crash into the side wall, how can we do it? It's silly.

Q:
Michael and Rubens, after what happened today, do you think that could be better for Formula One it would be only one tyre and factory supplier?

MS:
Obviously we have the wrong people here to talk to. Maybe you should talk to the teams, to Max, check with them.

RB:
I have nothing further to say.

Q: Joe Saward - F1 Grand Prix Special.
Can I ask all three of you, if your tyre manufacturer said to you that your tyre couldn't make it more than ten laps, would you race?

MS:
No, there's no point.

TM:
No, you can't take the risk and probably anyway your team owners wouldn't let you race anyway. It's a big responsibility.

RB:
There was only one solution. If the problem was on 13, just come into the pits every lap.

MS:
Yeah.

RB:
And then they would finish seventh and eighth.

MS:
Honestly I understood from talking to one of the drivers that despite turn 13, they would have had the problem anyway, with chicane or without chicane.

Q: Dieter Rencken - The Citizen.
Michael, as chairman of the GPDA, could you tell me where the organization stands on this matter and where its responsibilities start and stop in terms of this sort of dangerous situation?

MS:
We're sort of more looking into circuit safety. In this kind of situation, put it this way, there are certain drivers that don't have the power to take decisions, so there is no point in forcing somebody or trying something. It's not the region we would consider to talk about. We have regions where it concerns all of us where we quite clearly don't have any competition influence when we can get active and when we do get active.

Q: Bruce Martin - National Speedsport News.
If the future of this event can be saved, do you see that there needs to be a permanent modification of this racecourse?

MS:
We have been here now how many years? Six. And we have now this problem? I'm pretty sure everybody will be much better prepared next year. So I don't see any reason why the circuit should be changed. We can adapt everything to fit the circuit.

Q: Griff Allen - ESPN.
Is there any way that the event could have worked with an alternate tyre brought in by the other brand?

MS:
I don't know, maybe ask the others.

TM:
It's against the rules.

MS:
First of all, it is against the rules, you have to ask the FIA, and second, I don't know.

Q: Joe Saward - F1 Grand Prix Special.
Do you think that the spectators should get their money back today?

MS:
Why don't you talk to Bernie?

Q: Bruce Martin - National Speedsport News.
Also, Michael and Rubens, obviously you did not celebrate the victory up on the podium in your normal fashion. You both had rather solemn looks on your faces, much like now. I'm sure the reason is obvious, but from your point of view why did you not really see this as a victory to really celebrate?

MS:
Because of everything we have said so far. I have nothing to add.

RB:
It was fifty percent for that and 50 percent because I was disappointed to not have won the race, sure.

Q: Anthony Rowlinson - Autosport.
Tiago, did you ever think you would be standing on the podium this season when you signed for Jordan this year?

TM:
Are you kidding? No, of course not. We don't have a competitive car for that. I'm a rookie and I'm learning a lot every race. It's impossible. Just situations like this or a big storm or something like that. We are always hoping for a crazy race to manage to get to the points, you know, rain, stuff like that, but I would never imagine a situation like this. Again, it is a sad race, it's a shame what happened but I'm happy and I'm happy for the team and I'm really excited myself. You know, I was there and you have to be there in those situations.