San Marino Grand Prix – Imola,
Michael Schumacher: 1st 1:31.06.486 62 laps
chassis 254
Felipe Massa: 4th +17.096 62 laps chassis
250
Temperatures: air 26°C, track 36/37 °C
First win of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. This
is the Scuderia’s eighth San Marino Grand Prix victory,
the 184th from 727 Grand Prix starts. Michael Schumacher took
his eighty fifth career win, the seventh at Imola.
Jean Todt: “When I was going up to
the podium, I said to Michael that I could not remember the
way anymore, as it had been such a long time since the last
victory! This result comes courtesy of all the hard work over
the past few weeks carried out by the team and our partners,
first and foremost Bridgestone and Shell and it was made all
the better coming in front of so many of our fans and employees
who filled their own grandstand here. Michael secured a fantastic
win, rounded off with a good fourth place from Felipe. We
had expected it to be cooler and the heat saw us suffer a
bit, which shows how just the smallest variation in temperature
can affect the pecking order. It’s and odd thing to
say, but in Australia we wanted it hotter and it was cool
and here we have the opposite! This result is very encouraging
for the future and is a great boost. There are fourteen races
still to fight for and we know that if all the parts of the
jigsaw puzzle are in place, then we can look for the wins
in order to meet our targets.”
Michael Schumacher: “I am very happy!
The result shows that work pays off and that the effort put
in by everyone – the team and our partners – has
delivered its reward. The key moment was staying ahead after
the second pit stop. As we saw last year, overtaking at this
track it’s almost impossible, unless the guy in front
makes a mistake. With all my years of experience, I knew that
what I wanted to do was keep Alonso behind me, but at my pace,
not pushing flat out and that’s what I did. At this
time I had a bit of graining, as had been the case in free
practice and now we must work out what caused it. I hope we
can keep up this standard in the coming races and I think
that from now on, we will be very competitive.” Felipe
Massa: “It was a very difficult race, but it turned
out well for Ferrari in the end. Michael’s win and my
fourth place make a very nice result. I would have liked to
have been on the podium, but I am still pleased with this
as it was important to bring so many points home. I had some
problems in my second stint, but in the third one I could
push as hard as I wanted again.”
Ross Brawn: “ Naturally, we are very
happy with this result. Winning in front of our fans is something
very special. It was a very tough race and the team did a
great job in Michael’s final pit stop, which got him
back out on track ahead of Alonso. We struggled a bit in the
second part of the race, probably because of the tyres, and
we could not maintain the pace we had in the first stint.
In these laps, Michael drove perfectly, managing to keep Alonso
behind him. Felipe drove a strong race. He had some difficult
moments but he proved capable of getting out of them in fine
form, driving very well. A fantastic result down to great
work from the team, from Bridgestone and from Shell. It is
the first “real” win for a car designed by Aldo
Costa, which is particularly pleasing. Let’s hope this
is a good omen for the rest of the season.”
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