2004 F1 SEASON: BRAZILIAN GP

MONTOYA WINS - SEASON FINALE

• FINAL F1 RACE FOR JAGUAR TEAM
  Brazilian GP will be the last race for Jaguar team. Its parent company Ford has decided to withdraw from major motorsports. Jaguar drivers Mark Webber will move to Williams next year while Christian Klien's future is uncertain.
  D PITCHFORTH (JAGUAR): "... As we go to Brazil, the final Grand Prix of the 2004 season, and the last race for the team as Jaguar Racing, team morale is still high ... We have a fantastic group of people working inside Jaguar Racing and their response to the announcement that the team is to be sold by Ford Motor Company has been nothing less than outstanding. This is a good team, one that was on the verge of doing something great in F1, and I have no doubt that our staff are our strongest asset."
• DAVID COULTHARD - AFTER 9 YEARS WITH McLAREN, DAVID COULTHARD WILL DRIVE HIS FINAL RACE WITH THE TEAM. HE HAS YET TO SECURE A DRIVE NEXT YEAR.
  "... Brazil will be a weekend of mixed emotions for me, as it has been a great nine seasons with the team. I believe I have the pace, desire and ability to be competitive, and as I have stated I am not ready to retire"

BRAZILIAN GP, Oct 24 - 2004 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX 

R18 of 18, October 24, 2004, BRAZILIAN GP, São Paulo, Brazil

RACE RESULT:

WINNER, MONTOYA (WILLIAMS): "... It is just unbelievable! The very first laps were difficult because I lost some positions at the start before the tyres got up to temperature, but then I seemed to have more grip than the others. Still, the race was decided by a good strategy put together by all of my engineers and by Sam Michael, who called me in to change tyres from intermediate to slick at the right time. Later in the race they made another good call when I had Kimi behind me. They managed to get me out on the track ahead of him by just over a second. I could see him behind and I was thinking I could not afford to make even the smallest mistake! It's fantastic to give such a good end to these four years at Williams BMW. I want to say thanks to Frank and to everyone in the team who made this possible! And if you ask me what was the hardest thing in the race I'd say it was the pain in the neck, since this is an anti-clockwise circuit and we are not very used to all those left turns!"

2ND, RAIKKONEN (McLAREN): "..."I was close to winning but just not close enough. It was a good race and I enjoyed it, but I would have liked to finish on the top step. I started the race on Michelin intermediates and was able to take the lead after a few corners. However, after my first stop I just didn't have the speed to keep up with Juan Pablo. We were side-by-side down the pitlane, and I did what I could to keep him behind me - perhaps in hindsight I could have been a bit more aggressive coming into the corner."

3RD, BARRICHELLO (FERRARI): "... the final result is a bit disappointing after I had been dominant in terms of pace throughout the weekend and I was confident for the race, having qualified with quite a good fuel load. We are best in the rain and best in the dry, but if we have a weak point it is in the damp conditions that we had after a few laps, when we know that those running the other make of tyre can make an earlier change to dry tyres. The weather just did not play into our hands, but I am happy to be on the podium, even if the win is still to come for me here."

SUN, OCT 24, 2004

• 1 Juan Pablo Montoya , Williams BMW
• 2 Kimi Raikkonen , McLaren Mercedes +1s
• 3 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari +24s
• 4 Fernando Alonso , Renault
• 5 Ralf Schumacher , Williams BMW
• 6 Takuma Sato , BAR
• 7 Michael Schumacher , Ferrari
• 8 Felipe Massa , Sauber
• 9 Giancarlo Fisichella , Sauber
• 10 Jacques Villeneuve , Renault
• 11 Coulthard 12 Trulli 13 Zonta 14 Klien 15 Glock 16 Baumgartner 17 Bruni
• DNF: Button, Webber, Heidfeld

QUALIFYING:

GRID, SAT, OCT 23, 2004

1ST, BARRICHELLO (FERRARI): "... I have a very good car for the race and I am feeling very serene. To be honest, the pressure has gone already. Tonight I will go home and play with my son and sleep in my own bed and it will just seem like a normal day. Last year, I was very much prepared to win and I am equally prepared to win tomorrow. This result means the first big battle of the weekend is won, but tomorrow comes a bigger battle. It will be a long race, physically quite hard and a long battle ... One mystery will be the weather"

2ND, MONTOYA (WILLIAMS): "... It's very nice to be on the front row here, because Interlagos is the place where I nearly won my first F1 race in 2001. Still I am very happy with this result because I think I was not able to beat Rubens anyway. I lost most of the time on my lap in the first sector where you can gain or lose it all and unluckily I did not get it right ... I am pleased to give this good result to my team, since it is my last race with them and this is my way to say thank you to WilliamsF1 and BMW for all their hard work. I will do my best tomorrow to give possibly even more. The start will be interesting and we've definitely got a good race car. Hopefully we get it right tomorrow and achieve a happy end to what has been a difficult season for us."

18th, M SCHUMACHER (FERRARI): "... the car picked up some oversteer and I lost control. Sure the track was bumpy, but then it's been bumpy all weekend, so I am not making excuses. I am a bit disappointed with my qualifying lap that was a bit too slow. Even starting so far back, I will keep trying to have a good race."

• 1 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1m 10.646 s (2003 pole: Montoya, Williams, 1m 13.114)
• 2 Juan Pablo Montoya , Williams BMW +0.216s
• 3 Kimi Raikkonen , McLaren
• 4 Felipe Massa , Sauber
• 5 Jenson Button , BAR Honda
• 6 Takuma Sato , BAR Honda
• 7 Ralf Schumacher , Williams BMW
• 8 Fernando Alonso , Renault
• 9 Jarno Trulli , Toyota
• 10 Giancarlo Fisichella , Sauber
• 11 Webber 12 Coulthard 13 Villeneuve 14 Zonta 15 Klien 16 Heidfeld 17 Glock 18 *M Schumacher 19 Baumgartner 20 Bruni
• * Michael Schumacher will start from the back for engine change penalty

FRI, QUALIFYING, OCT 22, 2004

1ST BARRICHELLO (FERRARI): "... I am very pleased and listening to the reaction of the crowd brought a smile to my face. More than that, the car has been behaving quite well throughout today's sessions. It is well balanced and the team has done a good job. Now, we just have to keep our cool and try and improve the car even more and I am sure we will be competitive for the rest of the weekend. The track surface has more grip than last year, but there are still some bumps"

• 1 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1m 11.166s (2003 pole: Montoya, Williams, 1m 13.114)
• 2 Michael Schumacher , Ferrari +0.16
• 3 Kimi Raikkonen , McLaren +0.36
• 4 Jenson Button , BAR +0.56
• 5 *Anthony Davidson , BAR +0.75
• 6 Takuma Sato , BAR +0.82
• 7 Fernando Alonso , Renault
• 8 Felipe Massa , Sauber
• 9 *Ryan Briscoe , Toyota
• 10 Ralf Schumacher , Williams
• 11 Montoya 12 Villeneuve 13 Doornbos 14 Zonta 15 Coulthard 16 Trulli 17 Fisichella 18 Webber 19 Heidfeld 20 Bruni
• * reserve driver

PRE RACE:

• JENSON BUTTON TO STAY WITH BAR
  The F1 Contractual Recognition Board has ruled in favour of BAR so Button will have stay with the team for another year. Williams team is hoepful of securing Button's service in 2006
  BUTTON: "... Naturally I am disappointed but as a matter of principle I firmly believe in standing by the decision ... BAR have been extremely professional at the race track during this process, and I expect this to continue ... I look forward to joining the Williams team in the future."
  FRANK WILLIAMS: "... Naturally we are disappointed with the CRB's conclusion ...We took the view that Jenson was a driver worth challenging for, and based on strong legal advice we have no regrets about making a bid for his services ... The CRB accepted a significant number of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team's arguments, but nevertheless found against us ... We do not believe any further legal action in relation to this matter to be in the broader interests of the sport ... In spite of the CRB's conclusion, which relates to 2005, we will maintain our close relationship with Jenson for 2006."
  DAVID RICHARDS (BAR): ".. I'm delighted to confirm that we just received the official notification that the CRB have ruled in our favour"

QUOTES

COULTHARD (McLAREN) - his final race: "... With two real overtaking opportunities, the Interlagos circuit usually sees exciting racing. The main one is the first corner, if you slipstream along the straight you can pass under braking into the left hander. The race itself tends to be physically quite tough, one of the main causes being the very bumpy surface. It has improved over the years but still causes major vibrations in the car, which can unsettle it and as a consequence your reflexes also need to be 100% for the whole race ... Car set-up is also heavily influenced by this particular characteristic, as we need to ensure it rides well over the bumps and it has high levels of grip. The race is always great fun, because of the fanatic atmosphere the 'paulistas' create, I am looking forward to racing there and hope we can secure a positive result .... There is no denying that Brazil will be a weekend of mixed emotions for me, as it has been a great nine seasons with the team. I believe I have the pace, desire and ability to be competitive, and as I have stated I am not ready to retire. I am continuing to try and get a drive next year, but if I don't then I'll try the following year."

R SCHUMACHER (WILLIAMS) - final race with Williams: "... I really hope we can follow up the great result we had in Suzuka, it is definitely possible with the car we have at the moment. If our Michelin tyre is as good as it was in Japan, we could certainly achieve a podium finish. After six years with the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, I would really like to leave them with a strong result."

FISICHELLA (SAUBER) 2003 RACE WINNER - final race with Sauber: "... It's going to be a special race for me, first of all because I won in Brazil last year, and then it's the last race of the year and my last with Team Sauber Petronas. I am looking forward to it, obviously, but I will be really sorry to leave this team. But that's life, that's Formula One."

BARRICHELLO (FERRARI) home GP - only ever scored points once in Brazil: "... Despite my poor record at the track I am not taking that into account ... I have won two of the last three races and I am telling myself that I will win here this time. I am having a very positive approach to this weekend and why not, when I have the best car and I am driving for the best team ... I'll try to enjoy the weekend with my fans, my home crowd ..."

RAIKKONEN (McLAREN): "... My memories of last year's Brazilian race are of course mixed having been so close to victory, and hopefully this time I will be able to take a good result to end the season with. I think that following Japan, everyone is looking forward to getting back to the normal schedule, although it was nice to have a day off! ... The key feature of the race is that we run in an anti-clockwise direction. This does of course place different physical pressures on us, as the forces as we corner are on the opposite muscles. We tend to run with a set-up compromise at Interlagos to try and be quick in the twisting infield and long, sweeping start-finish straight ... This section of the track is uphill, making qualifying position even more important as the further down the grid you are the steeper the slope to start from, which is of course not ideal. After the race, I will be going on a delayed honeymoon with Jenni, before getting back to testing towards the end of November."

BUTTON (BAR): "... Brazil has always been a race that I have enjoyed. Interlagos is a circuit that has seen some very good racing over the years, especially last year with the wet conditions. It's also a circuit where our car will perform very well, better than in Shanghai and Suzuka I feel. This is the last chance we have of a win this season and probably the best chance over the last few races. You need good braking stability at Interlagos because a lot of the time you're braking and turning in at the same time. I think we have that and so we are looking strong."

SATO (BAR): "... It is a very strange feeling to be going to Brazil after Japan. Usually Suzuka is the last race of the year and I spend some time in Japan after the race. But this time I left Japan immediately to get back to Europe because the time difference between Japan and Brazil is huge. The Interlagos track runs anti-clockwise and is very bumpy. The weather can be unpredictable, so it will be a challenge for us all ... Our focus in recent races has been to score as many points as possible for the Constructors' Championship and we have been very successful with this. I think our car should suit the Brazilian track well. I would love to end the season with a strong race and I am looking forward to it!"

MONTOYA (WILLIAMS) - final race with Williams: "... It's been a very long season, but it's still hard to believe that the next race will be the last. It's a change for the Championship to finish in Brazil, but I like it because it's close to home and I will see relatives and friends. I'll be flying out to Brazil a couple of days early to fulfil some sponsor commitments in Rio. The race in Japan was good, and we proved our car is competitive. Our aim for the last race will be to increase our points and maintain the gap over McLaren ... Last year's race at Interlagos was very hectic and unpredictable because of the wet track conditions and all the accidents that followed. In previous years, though, we have always performed fairly well there. It's a track I like, its fun to drive and the atmosphere is always great. I am always amazed to see all those fans queuing up outside the circuit in the very early morning and I'm hoping to see some Colombian flags waving."

WEBBER (JAGUAR) final race for Jaguar team: "... There are so many reasons why it would be nice to finish the season strongly, not least of all because it's the last race for the team under the Jaguar Racing banner and of course my last race with the team. It's also important we try to stay ahead of Toyota in the championship and if Christian and I can both have a trouble-free weekend, I can see no reason why both of us can't be in the points"

Advertising Enquiry