Sunday, March 16, 2008

Bad day for Raikkonen and Ferrari



Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen: "It's really disappointing not to finish the race, but at least the point is better than nothing. I had an engine problem, the reason for which now needs to be analysed. The car was good and I had a good pace when I found a free track ahead of me.

"I spun a couple of times trying to pass those ahead of me, but the first time, with Glock, I put a wheel on the grass and the second time, with Kovalainen, I was a bit too optimistic. This result is obviously not the best start to the season but it is a very long one and we are well aware that we are capable of recovering from far worse situations than this. We have to put everything in place and then we will be really competitive."

Felipe Massa: "A horrible start to the season. We had engine problems which is unusual for a team like ours. We have to understand what happened and react immediately. I was fighting my way up the order all race long. At the first corner I lost control of the car while battling with Kovalainen and ended up off the track. Then I moved up the order and could have finished in the points.

"The incident with Coulthard? I was on the inside and he closed the door on me, probably because he hadn't seen me. Our championship will have to start again in Malaysia. We know we have a good car we have to work to be able to use it as intended."

Toyota:
Timo Glock: That was a hard way to return to racing in F1. Given our starting position this was always going to be a difficult afternoon's work. I had contact with two other cars at the start but despite our heavy fuel load we were able to make up some ground in the early part of the race. Still, the car felt a bit strange in terms of understeer and that's what we have to work on to improve the car. After the pit stop it was hard work to drive and my race ended with the crash. I feel fine but I'm disappointed and we will hope for better fortunes next week."

Jarno Trulli: From early on in the race the battery was too hot. Then when I stopped in the pits it just gave up. That is a pity because the car felt good and I was doing pretty well. I was running comfortably in the points so it is unfortunate to lose out on a scoring start to the year. Still, the car is better than last year's and there is performance to come. Here we didn't look too strong because we didn't work the tyres perfectly but even so we could have had a good result. So I'm sure we can fight well this year and I hope to be stronger in Malaysia."

Super Aguri:
Takuma Sato: It was a difficult race for us. I did not get off the start well, but after that I fought back for position and gained a few places in the first lap, and that was an exciting moment battling in the first stint. After the first pitstop and a few laps we had a problem and I had to stop, which is a shame as everyone has done such a good job to get us here and make it happen. But I think that we collected very valuable information and data today, so I cannot wait to get started again in Malaysia."

Anthony Davidson: It is disappointing to have an early retirement from the Australian Grand Prix. I am really frustrated that I couldn't do the laps that I wanted to today and finish the race, as that was my main aim. We haven't had much time in the car this weekend or in testing and it was really important to get that done today, so it is gutting not to have done that. I feel that through no fault of my own I was sandwiched between two cars, trying to avoid the inevitable. I tried to brake to get away from it and the cars right and left just rode over my front wheels, so there was no where for me to go."