NewsOnF1 - 2001 United States GP - What the teams and drivers said

Please note that most of these quotes were made prior to the announcement that Trulli was excluded from the race results. Some of the quotes may therefore not be very accurate.

McLaren ( Mika Hakkinen - 1st, David Coulthard - 3rd )

Ron Dennis: “The results speak for themselves."

Norbert Haug: "Mika had a fantastic race. The entire team has shown what it was capable of doing.”

Mika Hakkinen: “What a weekend and to finish it by winning a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is very special indeed – one of my most important victories. The fans were so enthusiastic and there was a super atmosphere. Today’s result is due to the efforts of the team. The mechanics worked so hard to get my race car ready after I went off in the closing stages of the warm up, and the engineers made a great car. I really enjoyed it. I was very disappointed when I found out that had to start on the second rather than the front row following the Stewards’ decision. However all the frustration is gone and I’m very happy. I had a good race and we definitely used the right strategy today. We were confident that the car and the Bridgestone tyres could cope with a one stop strategy.”

David Coulthard: "A great day for Mika and the team. I’m happy that we clinched the runner up position in the Constructors’ Championship. To do well at Indianapolis is definitely something every driver wishes. I was lucky to achieve a podium position as we have been struggling with oversteer throughout the weekend. From my perspective the race was rather uneventful. I only had to look after my car and not make any mistakes – I was just running my own race."

Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher - 2nd, Rubens Barrichello - Retired - Classified 14th )

Jean Todt: "I am really disappointed for Rubens, who had driven a great race. He had adopted an aggressive strategy and made a very good start and then some great passing moves. Unfortunately, his engine developed a problem a few laps from the end. Rubens tried to keep going, but with just two laps to go, he had to retire at the side of the track. It’s a shame, because today’s was our first engine failure in a race this season. Now we have to find the cause. However, we have to accept that once a year an engine might break. Michael was on a one stop strategy and was passed when Hakkinen made his stop seven laps later. Then, events in the race brought Michael up to second. With one race remaining this season, the top three places in the Constructors’ classification are now decided, while the fight is still on for second place in the Drivers.’ However, Rubens’ retirement today makes it difficult for him to catch up with Coulthard."

Ross Brawn: "What happened to Rubens was a great shame as we are all fighting to get him second place in the championship. That was our objective for this weekend, but now I am not sure if we can do it. The way the tyres performed in the race didn’t suit our strategy. Then at a crucial part of the race, we got caught up in traffic. We looked pretty strong for a while, especially when Montoya dropped out. But really today, McLaren did a good job and we did a not so good job."

Michael Schumacher: "It was a pretty straightforward race with few exciting moments for me, apart from the one with Montoya. I don’t really know where he came from, because he was a long way behind when I left Turn 11. Then I saw in my mirrors that he was right with me. I tried to make life difficult for him, but at that stage, our tyres were near the end of their life and not as good as theirs. I also had a bit of traffic before my pit stop.
I don’t think our tyre choice was right, because we didn’t have the consistency we expected. That might because the temperatures were different on Friday when we made the choice. When we look at the car, we might find other reasons why we did not have a winning car today. I was happy to let Rubens through, as he was on two stops. I am happy with second, because I was fortunate to get it. I am happy for Mika, because he won it fair and square, but I am disappointed for Rubens naturally.”

Rubens Barrichello: "Since Michael won the championship, I had four races at my disposal to win a grand prix, with the full support of the team. At Spa, things did not go well, while in Monza it looked possible until my pit stop problem. Here also, things were looking good until the engine problem. In the final part of the race, I was gaining around half a second a lap on Hakkinen, when I felt something was not right with the engine. It was a real shame, given that I had to stop, losing even the position I was in. I don’t like the word “unlucky.” These things happen! Michael and I had different strategies, even if there was not much difference between them. Starting from pole, he did not face the prospect of having to overtake, whereas I had to move up the order. Having the spare car at my disposal proves the team believes in the fact I can win and today, I showed that I have the right motivation to succeed in that.”

Jaguar ( Eddie Irvine - 4th following Trulli's exclusion, Pedro de la Rosa - 11th )

Niki Lauda: "The team did a perfect job today and I couldn't have asked for any better. Eddie drove a great race from 14th on the grid to finish in 5th place. Given the difficulties we have suffered at this circuit all weekend, the team did an excellent job today and two points is just reward for their hard work. The Jaguar R2s also performed faultlessly today and that's saying something when you consider that the demands of this race proved too much for Ferrari and the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, both of whom lost a car through attrition. The long straight at Indianapolis places huge demands on engines and brakes and to have both Jaguars cross the finish line is very satisfying indeed – especially in front of over 200,000 spectators. I said before we came here that Benetton-Renault was in our sights and we have gone quite some way to achieving that target today. With Suzuka remaining, we'll now make a committed charge for 7th place in the Constructors Championship."

Eddie Irvine: "That was excellent teamwork. It's a mystery as to why we seem to be so strong in race trim yet qualifying seems to allude us. I'm sure many other teams are just as confused as we are but, at the end of the day, you can't take anything away from the team. After our somewhat disappointing qualifying yesterday, we spoke of the need for a clever race strategy and combined with the Jaguar R2's reliability, the team got what they deserved. The attrition rate amongst other runners was quite high today, higher than anybody expected, and the fact that we finished this race in 5th place is a testament to the good work everybody put in. I started the race with a very heavy fuel load and it was very difficult to make an impact on the race. After my pitstop, however, I knew it was all or bust and I had no choice but to make an aggressive move on Nick Heidfeld. My pace from there on was very good and the car worked well. With only one point separating us from Benetton, we must now take the fight to Suzuka – my favourite circuit. Pedro also has good experience of Suzuka and I think we're well placed to carry the momentum from this race. We have a three-day test in Barcelona next week and we'll put everything into getting a result at the last race of the season."

Pedro de la Rosa: "It was a tough race out there today. The Jaguar R2 was good in race trim and although we may have lacked some top speed, the car performed at its maximum today. Things could have been better had the BAR-Hondas not made my race such a nightmare. I was around one second a lap quicker than both BAR-Hondas and each time I closed in on them, it was impossible to overtake. Other cars were slower on the straight, but the BAR-Hondas were not. I was late braking into Turn One in an effort to catch them, but it was very hard indeed. Jacques, in typical form, made a move that didn't pay off and it cost me. I think he made a mistake on the previous lap and he tried a little too hard to make up for it. The door was open for me and he closed it at the last minute in a very unexpected manner. Nonetheless, we again scored points today and both Eddie and I will be fired-up about repeating it in Suzuka."

Sauber ( Nick Heidfeld - 5th following Trulli's exclusion, Kimi Raikkonen - Retired )

Peter Sauber: "Nick's fine drive today protected our fourth place in the Constructors´ World Championship, in very difficult circumstances. To maintain competitive lap times without first, second and seventh gears for much of the race was a great performance. Unfortunately, Kimi had to retire after an incident in the first corner on the second lap."

Nick Heidfeld: "Originally I expected more from this race, after our performance yesterday. But in the circumstances I am happy to score two valuable points for fifth place, because I lost first, second and seventh gears soon after my first stop. Believe me, they are very important here and I lost at least 20 kmh on the straight and had trouble on the infield too as a result. Initially I was able to fight with Coulthard for sixth place, but after the problem arose I had to focus on surviving. I'm satisfied, though, that we still maintain our fourth place in the championship heading for the final race in Suzuka."

Kimi Raikkonen: "I made a reasonable start and was pushing close with Nick in ninth place at the end of the first lap, but under braking for the first corner Trulli tried to come round the outside of me and pinched me. I hit my nose on Nick when Trulli hit the back of my car. I stopped for a new nose, but a driveshaft had been damaged so I had to stop out on the circuit. I'm disappointed, because we could have scored more points today."

Jordan ( Jean Alesi - 6th, Jarno Trulli - 4th but later excluded )

Eddie Jordan: "We are all delighted with today's result and to have two cars finish in strong positions. Jarno drove an incredible race to score some well deserved points for himself and the team and Jean's performance was as commendable as ever. This has given the team a great morale boost and solid platform to build on for the final race of the season in Suzuka, in our quest to achieve fourth place in the championship."

Jean Alesi: "I really enjoyed my 200th Grand Prix with some great racing and overtaking today, although I am disappointed to have finished just outside of a points position. Unfortunately I didn't have a very good start, so lost a few places at the beginning. Running on new tyres was also quite hard going and it's a shame I couldn't find enough speed to finish in the top six. I pushed the car to the limit and gave my maximum effort today, as always. I am so happy for Jarno to have scored three points today. He has had so much bad luck this season that he and the team deserve this great result."

Jarno Trulli: "I'm very happy. It's a good day for us, for the team, because we got important points in the Constructors' Championship. We've had a lot of bad luck this season during the races, so it feels really satisfying to finish a race and bring home three points, which are vital to our championship fight. I pushed really hard because it's a tough race and I wanted to open as much of a gap as possible but I also just wanted to have a steady race to try and avoid any problems. In fact, the car worked very well and this, combined with a good strategy and a great job by the team in the pits, meant I was in the top six and ready to take advantage of problems others might have. We set up the car with the race in mind and it worked really well. I'm really happy."

Benetton ( Giancarlo Fisichella - 7th following Trulli's exclusion, Jenson Button - 8th )

Mike Gascoyne: "From a reliability point of view, it is very good that our cars finished in the top nine. Both drivers performed well, but conditions were quite difficult because our rear tyres blistered. Neither driver made an excellent start, although we were able to pick up a couple of places on lap one. Jenson in particular made progress in the early stages, but then both their rear tyres started to go off on their cars and they became quite difficult to drive until they made their pit stops. Jenson stopped a little earlier than scheduled, because traffic was quite heavy and he was trying to gain track position for later in the race. He locked his brakes when he came in and got the car sideways, but the mechanics did a great job to recover and got him out without losing any time.
Giancarlo's tyres were in good shape towards the end of his first stint, and he was really able to push. Unfortunately, however, he lost a couple of places to Irvine and Heidfeld, when he made his stop. It wasn't easy work out the correct strategy for this race, because it was tough to predict how the tyres were going to behave. Overall, Giancarlo and Jenson drove strong races, even though the result looks unremarkable."

Giancarlo Fisichella: "I picked up some positions at the first corner, but there was congestion all around the first lap and I lost some ground as a result. Although the car was well balanced at the start, it began to oversteer after about eight laps because the rear tyres were blistering. The car was quite difficult at that stage, although at the end of the race it was much better."

Jenson Button: "I made a good start, but I was unable to profit from it too much because Trulli came alongside and then pulled straight across in front of me. Given the brilliant starts we have made recently, I had been hoping to gain a few places on the run to the first turn. Overall the race went OK, although I made a mistake during my pit stop. Because the rear of the car had been locking up I had all the brake bias wound to the front. I forgot about that when I came into the pits and consequently locked up again, this time at the other end."

Prost ( Heinz Harald Frentzen - 9th following Trulli's exclusion, Tomas Enge - 13th )

Alain Prost: "This Grand Prix obviously leaves us a bit frustrated. We saw we had many things in hand this weekend to achieve a good performance in the race, and fight a bit further up the field. Unfortunately we encountered some difficulties again at the start and both our drivers were held up several times without any possibility to overtake. Both cars suffered some temperature problems which led us to be careful, which also affected a bit of our performance. However every time Heinz Harald was running on his own, he set very good lap times. The race shows overall that we had made the right decisions in terms of strategy and tyre choice. Therefore we know our efforts will be fulfilled when we improve our positions in qualifying as well as our start strategies."

Heinz Harald Frentzen: "I was in a quite good position at the start but had no opportunity to overtake often enough in the race. I was also slightly disappointed that we chose to come in a bit early for my single pit-stop, which prevented me from gaining positions while I was still light on fuel. Finally I managed to overtake just two times. I had a great fight with Jenson Button and also with Olivier Panis, and that was the highlight of my race basically."

Tomas Enge: "Unfortunately I had a clutch problem at the start, and I remained stuck on the grid. I had to start manually and it cost me about ten seconds. Finally I managed to get away, but soon after I was held up for quite a while by Alex Yoong who was slower than me because of a different strategy. I could only take advantage of his pit-stop to be able to pass him, and I started to catch up with the cars in front of me. But I also had to refuel, and spent the rest of the race running as consistently as possible, and gaining experience, without being able to make up for the time lost on the cars ahead. It is somewhat a bit frustrating but at least I am happy I could see the chequered flag for my first race here in Indianapolis and my second race ever in Formula One."

BAR ( Olivier Panis - 10th, Jacques Villeneuve - Retired )

Craig Pollock: "The race weekend started off badly and has unfortunately ended in much the same way. The race team did a fantastic job throughout to ensure the cars were reliable but there is very little satisfaction we can take from this Grand Prix. We have to look long and hard at what we can do to ensure we have a better race in Japan."

Olivier Panis: "Everybody did the best job they could with the car this weekend. 11th place was the best we could achieve which is very disappointing for the team. Now we have to find the problem and fix it so we can be quicker in Japan. Suzuka is one of my favourite tracks and it's an important race for us. I'm looking forward to racing there and I hope we can finish in the points."

Jacques Villeneuve: "Pedro de la Rosa was a little too optimistic with his overtaking manoeuvre and basically that put me out of the race. The left rear of the car could have been damaged and it would have been dangerous to continue. We have to see what we can do to improve our performance for Japan now."

Arrows ( Enrique Bernoldi - 12th, Jos Verstappen - Retired )

Graham Taylor: “Enrique drove a good race today. He started with a very heavy car and was suffering from oversteer at the beginning but that settled down later on. He drove a sensible race and, after having to slow five laps before the end due to debris from De La Rosa's Jaguar in his radiator, got a solid finish. Jos got a storming start and was running strongly in 13th position for a long time. On the in-lap to his pit-stop he spun which lost him a position to his team-mate. Ultimately he succumbed to an engine problem, returning to the pits with a fire in his airbox."

Enrique Bernoldi: "The start of the race was difficult as before I got to the grid my race car had a problem with the mechanical fuel pump so I had to switch to the T-Car which was set-up for Jos. The team did a great job changing it to my settings but it is never the same as your race car. I didn't have launch control so had to do a manual start which wasn't so good but I did manage to pass a few cars during the first few laps. I was able to keep the pace until we had a little problem at the end but overall I am pretty happy."

Jos Verstappen: "I'm really disappointed. After a good warm-up session this morning, where we really got the balance of the car sorted out, I was hoping for a good race. It was a hard race today and too hot for the tyres as we had problems with blisters. Unfortunately I spun on the in-lap for my pit-stop which cost me time. In the end I had an engine problem and that was the end of my race."

Williams ( Juan Pablo Montoya - Retired, Ralf Schumacher - Retired )

Patrick Head: "We had mixed fortunes, although mostly fairly negative. Juan Pablo was on a one stop strategy, was definitely very fast and I am confident he was going to be in a position to challenge for the victory. Ralf was on a two stop strategy. It didn't really work for him, but the car just was not quick enough and on the second set of tyres the handling appeared to be very poor, until eventually it got away from him. Juan Pablo set the fastest lap of the race just before his pit stop and it looks as though there was a failure in the hydraulic system."

Dr. Mario Theissen: "After a strong qualifying performance we didn't do well on race day. In the morning's warm up session the engine of the t- car blew, and we will have to wait until we get back to Munich to find the reason. Juan Pablo was very strong in the race until we suffered a pressure drop in the hydraulic support system and this caused him to park the car. We realise our performance is not consistent yet, especially as we are not always able to do as well as we did in Monza two weeks ago."

Juan Pablo Montoya: "We were doing really well today until I stopped with what I think was hydraulic failure. It is a bit disappointing as I think we could have got a win here which would have been my second F1 win and two back to back here would have been brilliant. It didn't happen but we still have the last race. As for the overtaking manoeuvre on Michael it was good fun I was just going for it basically.”

Ralf Schumacher: "Over the entire weekend we didn't manage to get the car's set up right. After my pit stop the handling became even worse. Juan Pablo and myself were on different strategies as we were not sure what the tyre wear would be. It became clear Juan Pablo had the better strategy. The spin was my mistake, I lost the rear under braking for the corner. I had many great weekends and for me this was not so great."

Minardi ( Fernando Alonso - Retired, Alex Yoong - Retired )

Paul Stoddart: "Sadly today, neither European Minardi driver was able to profit from what, up to that point, had been a constructive weekend. It's particularly frustrating for Fernando, after that brilliant performance in qualifying yesterday, that the gearbox let him down today. With Alex suffering similar problems, it's clear the team needs to work on drive train reliability before the final race, at Suzuka, in two weeks' time.”

Alex Yoong: "It was quite an uneventful race where my intention was simply to maintain a steady pace. On the opening laps, I flat-spotted a tyre, which caused quite a lot of vibration. After my first pit stop, and with a new set of tyres fitted, the car was definitely handling better, but unfortunately, some gearbox problems developed and a couple of laps later my car just stopped. It is a bit disappointing not to finish, especially as it looked like there might be the possibility of a good result today. It's a shame, but all we can do now is address the problems and look forward to the next race.”

Fernando Alonso: "At the beginning of the formation lap, the launch control didn't work and I had a poor start. As a result, I lost some places. After I came in for my first scheduled pit stop, I was unable to continue as the result of a driveshaft failure."

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Session	2001			2000
First Friday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Second Friday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
First Saturday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Second Saturday Practice	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Qualifying	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Warm-up	Results	Report	Notes	Results
Race	Results	Report	Notes	Results
What the teams and drivers said Friday - Saturday - Sunday
The Heretic's Review		Fan Reviews