British Grand Prix – Silverstone, 11th June 2006
Michael Schumacher: 2nd + 13.951 60 laps chassis 254
Felipe Massa: 5th + 31.559 60 laps chassis 250
Temperatures: air 26/27°C, track 36/39 °C
Jean Todt:
“It was a hard fought race, as indeed we had expected.
Strategy played a decisive role: in a positive way for Michael,
who managed to gain a place compared to his starting position
on the grid and in a negative way for Felipe, who lost one.
We are up against very strong opponents, but obviously when
you are going for the win, coming second is reason enough
to be disappointed. However, it also acts as a further stimulus
to try and close the gap that separates us in terms of overall
performance. That would allow us to qualify at the front and
then be able to run an attacking race. There are still ten
races to go to the end of the season. We will fight as hard
as we can to reach our objectives, along with our partners,
especially Bridgestone.”
Michael Schumacher:
“Second place was the best we could today, given our
grid position. Although there were no real problems with the
car this weekend, we were simply not quick enough to win.
We must work very hard now to come back right from the next
race. But all in all, we should still be pleased with these
eight points. There are still ten races to go with a hundred
points to play for. Even though I am twenty three points behind
Alonso, I don’t think the fight for the championship
is over. For much of the race I was behind Kimi even though
I had more potential, which is why I feel this result is not
so bad. The next two races take place on completely different
types of track. It will be interesting to see who has the
upper hand on these circuits. We have to try and get back
on top.”
Felipe Massa:
“Not exactly a great day for us. We were hoping to be
more competitive, but Renault showed itself to be very strong.
I lost a place to Giancarlo in the way the pit stops played
out. I don’t think I could have done better than this
fifth place, which is reasonable. I did not have any particular
problems during the race, even though I had no more sets of
new tyres, having used all of them in free practice and qualifying.
There are important developments on the way for the car and
I hope they will allow us to raise our game.”
Ross Brawn:
“Naturally, we hoped that with Michael we would make
up at least two points, but we ended up losing them. However,
things could have been worse and so we can be reasonably happy
with the final result. We knew that Raikkonen would be a hard
nut to crack. We tried to pass him at the first pit stop,
but we did not manage it and so we had to wait for the second.
We had a good car, the Bridgestone tyres delivered consistent
performance, but we paid the price for how qualifying went
and that made for a difficult race.”
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