14-Apr: At the post Race press conference for the San Marino Grand Prix,
Michael Schumacher was proud to have won on the day he became the
one who drove for Ferrari more than anyone else. He said "There are
obviously many reasons to be proud and happy. We failed last year after a lot
of hopes, both Rubens and myself, and we couldn't deliver as much we were
expecting and this year we've given something back to the tifosi. It's the
first home Grand Prix for us this year. It is a special Grand Prix for me here
today in the history of Ferrari, so therefore I am more than proud to have
done it this way."
He paid tribute to Rory Byrne on a great car (the F2002) and said "He's a
unique person, there's no doubt. I've rarely seen a gentleman like him being
motivated in any circumstances, being such a great person and we have now
worked together I don't know how many years, but most of my Formula One career
I've been working somehow together with him and I have to say that I've really
enjoyed that on the human side and obviously on the technical side. What he
has been delivering to Ferrari I think is such a consistently good job that we
can be more than proud to have a person like him in the team, despite all the
other persons who obviously support him because it's not all due to him, but
he obviously is the main person concerning design. It's great to have such a
person in our team."
Michael didn't expect to be so dominant and put it down to the tyres and said
"No, you couldn't expect it at all. We were close in qualifying. We then
expected the race to become more difficult due to past experience but as we
saw, Bridgestone has brought a new tyre which gives us more consistency and
we're very happy with that and that basically delivers the job, with the
package of the new car and obviously the team doing the job properly. It's
mainly due to the tyre."
Michael expects the upcoming race at the Barcelona track to suit them but
won't be surprised if they struggle their and said "I wouldn't be
surprised if we come to Barcelona, which we maybe feel is an ideal circuit for
us, and we maybe struggle. Maybe things simply change for whatever reason. I
hope it is not the case, I hope we can keep our performance up in Barcelona as
well."
Rubens Barrichello was delighted to have finally
scored some points and was very happy with the new Ferrari (the F2002) and
said "It's basically been three races without any points, so I was
looking forward to finishing a race and it's like Michael said, it's been a
really wonderful time because to finish first and second in front of our
tifosi here, it's really great. I'm proud to have a car like that. It's been
one of my best weekends in terms of car set-up and car balance, because it's
been a really wonderful car."
He believes that he lost a place to Ralf at the start because he was on the
dirty side and said "In all honesty, we are dealing with buttons, with
paddles, and the start was probably the same as Michael's but I was on the
dirty side so Ralf had a jump on me. I had no way to close the door any more
because already on the jump he was by my side. Basically I paid the price for
the time I lost yesterday. If I had kept pole yesterday, probably the story
could have been different, but there is no crying right now. I am very happy
the way things went."
He was furious with Eddie Irvine for holding him up while attempting to lap
him and said "It's so silly. He's the one that talks so much in briefings
blah blah blah blah and then he holds me up for three quarters of a lap. He
let Ralf by in a nice way, he could have let me by in the same place but then
he came in and stayed in for another five or six corners so I just found it
was silly, that's all. He's getting old anyway."
Ralf Schumacher described his third place finish as
the best he could do and said "It was the best we could do. We have a
reasonably good strategy, very similar to Ferrari's. I managed to stay in
front of Rubens in the first stint but then he pitted a lap later so that's
why he got me. I think our car was good today, the team did a great job and we
did the best with what we had today, but it certainly looks like it is not
good enough so we have to improve if we want to win races in the next few
weeks."
While not pinpointing a particular problem with the Williams package, Ralf
highlighted the aerodynamics side as an area they need to work on and said
"We have to sit together and go through all the data we have and analyse
what is wrong. Simply there is something wrong because we finished third with
20 seconds behind Michael, so there is something we have to look at. We never
made a deal out of it that on the aerodynamic side we are lacking a bit. I am
sure the engine is very good so that cannot be a reason for it, and as well
the tyre worked perfectly today. But I mean, if all these factors improve a
bit it is a whole new situation and it is going to look totally different at
the end of the day."
14-Apr: What the teams and
drivers said following the Race at Imola ... Report
14-Apr: San Marino GP
– Race: Michael Schumacher wins ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Ralf
Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya, Jenson Button and David Coulthard make the
top 6 ... Timed
Results ... Report ... Notes.
14-Apr: San Marino GP
– Warm-up Session: Rubens Barrichello sets the fastest time of the
session ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. Nick
Heidfeld, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen make the top 6 ... Timed
Results ... Report ...
Notes
