2007 Canadian GP, Sunday - 10 JUN 2007
A dramatic and chaotic Canadian Grand Prix once again saw
a day of mixed fortunes for the ING Renault F1 Team.
After starting dead last, Heikki Kovalainen took an impressive
fourth-place finish in this afternoon's race. Good fortune
certainly played a part but it is often said that you make
your own luck in Formula 1, and the Finnish rookie drove an
assured, mistake-free race as he picked off his competitors,
resisting pressure from Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso
in the final ten laps as he attempted to find a way past Alexander
Wurz – and onto the podium.
Giancarlo Fisichella ran strongly in the opening part of
the race, overtaking rivals at the start and keeping in touch
with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen ahead of him. Although
he never had clean air to show the improved performance of
the R27, his competitiveness was such that a podium finish
would have been within his grasp. However, a mistake after
his pit-stop under the first safety car period saw him leave
the pit-lane while the light was still red, which resulted
in his disqualification on lap 53.
Heikki Kovalainen, 4th position
This was such a satisfying result for me. Of course, I needed
some luck to score points after starting last – but
you have to take advantage of your opportunities, and I think
I did exactly that. I seemed to spend a lot of the afternoon
overtaking other cars, but we had changed the set-up before
qualifying to give me better straightline speed and that definitely
paid off. The conditions were very hard, with a lot of marbles
out on the track, and it was really easy to make mistakes.
I didn't make any, and this is a great reward after two really
hard days here in Montreal. All the problems I had this weekend
only made me more determined to succeed, and it just goes
to show that you should never, ever give up. You have to stay
positive, keep looking ahead and the results will come. Everything
fell into place for me today, and hopefully things will continue
the same way next weekend in Indy.
Giancarlo Fisichella, Disqualified
I was having a great race, but it ended up being a bad day
for me. The podium was within my reach, and it's so frustrating
to miss out on a golden opportunity. In terms of the incident
coming out of the pits, I was concentrating on Kubica who
was alongside me, and so focused on beating him that I didn't
see the red light. On the positive side, though, the car was
clearly competitive today – and we were competitive
with Ferrari. That's positive for next weekend, and I will
be hoping for a better afternoon in Indy.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director
I think the only person who had a trouble-free race this afternoon
was Lewis Hamilton. For everybody else, it was a case of trying
to make as few mistakes as possible. We have some important
positive points to take from the race. Giancarlo was fast
all weekend, and his pace was competitive with Ferrari in
the race. As for Heikki, he showed why we still believe in
him. He held off Raikkonen and Alonso at the end, kept a cool
head all the way through, and did a fantastic job. Congratulations
to him on a great race. Now, the challenge will be to take
the maximum from the improved performance of the car next
weekend in Indy.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
It was a very mixed day for the team, after one of the most
exciting races for many years. On the one hand, we are extremely
disappointed that Giancarlo lost a likely third place through
a simple mistake that, to be honest, anybody can make in the
heat of the moment. Giancarlo's first instinct is to race,
and his concentration at the pit exit was on racing Kubica;
under those circumstances, it is easy to miss the light. In
contrast, Heikki scored a fantastic result. He went from last
place to fourth through a combination of luck, strategy and
excellent driving on his part. It just goes to show that the
race is never over until the chequered flag falls. We also
saw a terrifying accident this afternoon, and we were all
relieved to learn that Kubica was not severely injured. That
he should survive an accident of that magnitude is an eloquent
tribute to the continuous hard work that the teams and the
FIA put into constantly improving the safety standards in
our sport.
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