Race Reactions - Australian Grand Prix.

Eddie Irvine:


"When the Safety Car pulled in, I saw Hakkinen had a problem and pushed hard to build a lead. Then I had to do it all over again [when the second Safety Car period occurred]. I was sure I had made the right choice to pick the soft tyres and, after the pit-stop, I began to tell myself that I was going to win as I did not feel under pressure from Heinz-Harald [Frentzen]. I was held up by a BAR for a few laps and I was worried that I would go off on his oil [when his engine broke]."


"It is amazing and fantastic to do it [win] with Ferrari. All weekend I have been working with Luca - my engineer - and I knew that we were going the right way. This is the best balanced car I have ever driven - now we must make it quicker. It also feels great to win with Bridgestone - having been beaten by them so often in Japanese F3000!"

"After such a long time, I want to thank everyone who has helped me since the start of my career. I could be here for hours because there are so many of them!"

Heinz-Harald Frentzen:

"Eddie was really going fast and I tried to keep up with him, but it was difficult to beat him today. He drove a fantastic race. I thought he was going to make a second stop as I knew he was on soft tyres, but he just kept going. My tactic was then to simply drive as fast as possible and get the best result for me and Jordan."

"I am very happy for myself and everyone at my new team, Jordan, and at Mugen-Honda. This was a great result."

Ralf Schumacher:

"Looking at the Friday and Saturday practice sessions, I am really pleased to have finished on the podium in my first race for the Winfield Williams team. The car was well balanced, and I was quite happy with its performance. I lost one of the barge boards towards the end of the race, but this did not influence the handling of the car."

Jean Todt (Ferrari tem manager):


"I am very happy for Eddie - he drove a great race and made the most of the situation to take his first win - but it was a strange race."


"On the other hand, I am disappointed for Michael, as he was unlucky. He had a problem with a control on the steering wheel, which prevented him from getting off the line and then had a puncture."


"The important thing after this race is that we must calmly strive to understand and develop the car. We must also learn more about the tyres from Bridgestone, who have worked so hard with us at the start of the season. We are optimistic, but realistic. There is a team with a higher performance level us and, even if they are behind us in the points, they are still the team to beat."



Giancarlo Fisichella:


"This was a great, but very hard, race for me. On the first corner, I locked my wheels and got a flat spot on the tyres. This caused vibrations on the car which I had to fight against for 17 laps. Then the Safety Ca came out and, when it went back in, I collided with [Jarno] Trulli and lost my front wing. I was hoping to finish fourth or fifth, and we achieved this objective."



Rubens Barrichello:


Obviously I am happy to score two points, but I am also a little upset because I felt like I could have won the race."

"The car handled fantastically - I feel it's going to be a good year."


"The ten second penalty was tough because I had nowhere else to go when I overtook Michael Schumacher under yellow flags. something happened ahead of the pack, Michael slowed and I went to the right to avoid him."



Pedro de la Rosa:

"Needless to say that I am completely happy about my result today - something which could not have been achieved without the dedication and hard work of my team."


"I felt very relaxed throughout the race, the car was good to drive and I managed to stay out of trouble. I was convinced throughout the weekend that the car had the reliability to perform well in the race and I was proved right."



Michael Schumacher:


"I must congratulate Eddie - like the rest of the team, I am very happy that he has won his first race. He really deserves it after so many years of hard work - and such good work."


"We faced some problems we had not expected this weekend. At the first start, I could not engage first gear because of a problem on the steering wheel, and I had problems with it during the race when it caused the gearbox to occasionally slip into neutral, especially in the corners. We changed the wheel and the car came back to normal."



Johnny Herbert:


"It's very frustrating that both cars should be struck down on the starting grid and, for me, it's a bad way to end a very promising weekend. However, this race tells us that we have a very competitive car, and we have cause for optimism for the rest of the season."

Jacques Villeneuve:

"That's not the way I would have liked my first race of the season to end! The crash proabably looked worse than it was because I just headed straight towards the wall after the rear wing failed, but I am fine. It's disappointing because I was making good progress to catch the cars in front of me."



Craig Pollock (BAR team principal):


"This was an excellent show of team work. Everybody operated extremely well together. We believe that, with Jacques, we had a perfect strategy and, if the rear wing had not fallen off, we could have been fighting for the top positions."

Alex Zanardi:


"I don't really know what happened. I was having quite a few problems and was quite a few seconds off the pace. I just turned into a corner and lost the back [of the car]. I am very disappointed not to have done better, and all I can do is gather my thoughts in preparation for the next race."