Race Reactions - Canadian Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher:

''At the start I knew something had happened to Coulthard, but I just drove my own race. He was not close enough to attack anyway. Then when he had his penalty, I took it easy. I made my pit stop early because we thought something was wrong on the car. But the mechanics could find nothing wrong so I continued. I had to push a bit more when Rubens was behind. The track was very slippery when it started to rain, then it got better and then worse. I locked my brakes at Turn 1 and decided to drive through the gravel.''

''I thank the team for having done a perfect job all weekend and Rubens for protecting me. He is a great team-mate and one day I will repay the favour. I am not thinking about the championship. Only when mathematically you cannot lose, can you do so.''

Rubens Barrichello:

''I made a good start, but Villeneuve made a perfect one because he came past me on the outside. Then when the rain came I had my chance to pass him. After the race at the Nurburgring where I lost a lot of time coming in late for my pit stop, I discussed the situation with the team. I said that even if I had to make an extra stop if the rain stopped, it would be quicker to come in immediately. So I was given the option to come in behind Michael. I have no problem with backing off to protect Michael, when I was asked to do so by the team. In any case, I had a clutch problem. I trust the team and I am sure if I am in front of Michael I will be allowed to win. Really, the only part of the weekend I was not so happy with was my qualifying.''

Giancarlo Fisichella:

''This is a great result for both me and the team. It is fantastic to get on the podium for the fourth time in a row in Montreal. Our strategy was to stop late in the race, so I had a very high fuel load at the beginning. When it started to rain, I got on the radio and then, after one more lap, I came in, which was the perfect timing for our stop.''

''I was then second running second, but we had very low downforce, so the car was difficult to drive in the rain. Rubens got past me, and I knew that Mika Hakkinen was catching me, but I wanted to be cautious, and knew it would be extremely hard for him to overtake me. I want to thank the team for all their hard work.''

Jean Todt [Team manager - Ferrari]:

''This is a dream result but the race was very tough. We think that in the second part there was a problem with a sensor on Michael's car and so he drove cautiously in the closing stages. Rubens drove a great race, making up the places he lost at the start to come up behind Michael in the final laps. At this point, given that our main rivals were a long way back, we had decided that the drivers should maintain their positions so as not to take any unnecessary risks. The team did an exceptional job, performing two pit stops on the same lap so as to get both cars on wet tyres with the minimum loss of time.''

''This result is very important in terms of the championship, allowing us to increase our advantage over our rivals. But we are conscious of the fact we have not yet reached the halfway point of the season, with a further nine races to go. In addition, Michael has broken the recent tradition of drivers not winning from pole.''

Flavio Briatore [Managing director - Benetton Formula]:

''This was a good race and a great result. The team did an excellent job, and used an excellent strategy. Fisichella brought home a podium in what were very difficult conditions for the drivers. Finishing behind the Ferraris, and in front of the McLarens, is more than we could have hoped for yesterday after qualifying so, of course, we are very happy.''

Mika Hakkinen:

''I was quick off the line at the start and managed to get alongside Barrichello coming into the first corner. However Villeneuve managed to get next to me, so I decided to play it safe and ease off rather than ending up in the gravel trap. As a result both Barrichello and myself were stuck behind Villeneuve for a number of laps. Even so, I believe if I had managed to overtake Villeneuve at the same time as Barrichello passed him, I could have got past the Brazilian as well. I finally found a way past Jacques and I was able to go flat out. Then it started to rain and my race was pretty much over.''

Jos Verstappen:

''I'm very very pleased about the race. The car was handling very well, especially in the rain. I think we had a little more downforce than we had planned for the dry, the car was very good on the brakes and that's where I was catching everybody up. The team did a brilliant job to call me in at exactly the right moment as I was in constant contact with them. It started to rain and the track got very slippery and a lot of cars went off, so I came in just at the right moment and made a lot of time.''

''You have to try as 7th position is nothing and you have to try for points and that's what I did. I moved up to 6th position and I felt I could take on Trulli so when he braked very early on a corner I overtook him for my 5th position. It's a great result for the team and me''.

Jarno Trulli:

The car was very good in the beginning but I lost a couple of places at the first corner when I had to back off to make sure Heinz-Harald and I didn't touch. That cost me a couple of places but I was able to pressure Zonta into running wide and move in front of him as a result. I was making good progress in fifth but had to make my pit stop, and then stop again for wet tyres. The car felt good on grooved slicks even though the track was wet.''

''Once I had stopped for wet tyres and the rain got worse the car became very difficult to drive. I came under a lot of pressure but didn't make any mistakes and held on to sixth place. I've never had to work so hard for one point!''

David Coulthard:

''Championship wise I'm not where I wanted to be after winning in Monaco. I stalled the engine just before the formation lap and the team started the car at the last moment, and according to the rules that means a stop-and-go penalty. It was a shame because I was definitely quicker than Schumacher and who knows what would have happened.''

Ricardo Zonta:

''The car was oversteering under power at the beginning of the race, but our strategy was to save a lot of fuel for the later stages. I wanted to fit wets as soon as it started to rain, because it was clear from looking at the sky, that it was not going to be a short shower, but I could not make radio contact with my engineer, and missed the chance to come in on that lap. That meant that I had to stay out for two laps longer than I wanted to in wet conditions, and effectively ended any chance Jacques or I had to score a points finish for the team.''

Alex Wurz:

''My start was OK then, because of the rain, I was called in immediately behind Giancarlo, and my tyres weren't ready, so it was a long stop and I lost time. After my stop, I was stuck behind Trulli, who was running quite slowly. As I came up to lap a Minardi, I had to lift on the straight, so Verstappen got past me. Then Coulthard knocked me off the track. He apologised for it, which is OK, but this didn't help me at all.''

Pedro Diniz:

''My car felt pretty good in the dry part of the race, but once it began to rain it was very difficult. In the incident with de la Rosa, he had made a mistake and I was side by side with him. I just took my normal racing line, and he kept going. I think he would have been wiser to have backed off.''

Jenson Button:

''I had a terrible start, and things did not improve as I simply wasn't fast enough. Only a few laps after my pit stop, I had to come in again as, at the third corner, I damaged the wing of my car. I was running better on wet tyres, but it wasn't enough to recover from the back of the field.''

Gaston Mazzacane:

''It has been a tough race! When the track was dry, I preferred not to push too hard because I felt some strong vibrations in the steering wheel. Later on, in the rain, this problem was almost overcome, but my helmet was completely steamed up. Visibility was really blurred, I couldn't find any points of reference and, therefore, I was not able to keep a steady rhythm. The only positive fact is that this is the sixth time I've crossed the finishing line and I finished my second race in wet conditions.''

Eddie Irvine:

''What else can I say - this was my worst qualifying, worst start and worst race. I could feel there was something wrong with the clutch on the parade lap. At the start it just dropped, the car stalled and that was that. Running lap after lap with a race that you are not part of happening around you is very frustrating. In the wet conditions, the car was behaving like a skate board. There wasn't even a chance to see what sort of times I could set, because I was having to move over to let faster cars through.''

Ralf Schumacher:

''My start was OK, and I was happy with my car's behaviour in the dry. In the wet, it was another story, and my car was sliding everywhere and it was almost out of my control. My race was over when Villeneuve crashed into the right side of my car. He apologised immediately and the matter is closed for me. We have to work hard now, and I have the feeling that we are quite behind in respect to other teams - especially Benetton.''

Jacques Villeneuve:

''Today really was a disappointment. I got a great start, like the others this season - the clutch and engine were easy to control, and I was able to keep wheelspin to a minimum. I was able to go well in the dry, and then, in the wet, the car was really quick. Unfortunately, a miscommunication in the pit-stop meant that we put the wrong tyres on, and I had to return to the pits to have them changed. That spoilt our chances today. I then pushed hard to try and regain some of the places I had lost. Unfortunately, I guess I tried a little bit too hard.''

Marc Gene:

''A very difficult race for me, too. Despite rain had been predicted during the second half of the race, we decided to start in dry trim and as a result, my performance was jeopardised. I had a bad start because I found Irvine standing in front of me and, in the attempt to avoid him, I lost one place with Heidfeld taking an advantage over me. On dry track my car was feeling very good. I was scoring competitive times and was keeping the same rhythm as my rivals... My car became more difficult to drive as soon as the track was getting wetter. ... With only a few laps left to the end I lost the rear of the car and I spun off in the middle of the straight line just before braking. I let the engine off, as a result I am disappointed.''

Pedro de la Rosa:

''This is a major boost to the team and Jos did very well. I was holding a good position and the car was running very well but I came in and changed tyres on my second pit stop and then, about three or four laps later, it started raining which was later than we expected so I had to come in to change tyres again and three pit-stops was too much. That finished my race really and destroyed all my possibilities of finishing in the points.''

''Then there was the incident with Pedro Diniz. I think it's better for everyone to watch it on TV because I don't think he saw me and he didn't leave me anywhere to go. I was next to him and he pushed me onto the grass and then I hit the armco, so I think it was a very dangerous move from him''.

Mika Salo:

''All race, dry or wet, I was struggling to find enough traction. But our pits stop was good and I was pushing hard when the engine stopped on the 42nd lap. I made it back to the pits, but that was it.''

Jean Alesi:

''I had a good start and everything was going fine. The rhythm was good until the hydraulic pressure suddenly tumbled just after my pit stop. We have to find out exactly what happened so that it doesn't happen again.''

Nick Heidfeld:

''I was happy during the early stages of the race as I made a very good start and overtook several cars on the first lap. I had a good fight with Jenson Button who overtook me at the hairpin before I passed him at the last chicane. I was keeping up a very good pace but was held up a bit by a group of cars just in front. I'm not sure why but I started to feel something was going wrong with the engine, and indeed, I had to retire right after my pit-stop.''

Johnny Herbert:

''Early on, I was able to hang on the back of Fisichella, but then I started getting slow downshifts. When Ralf passed me, I couldn't get into second or first gear at the hairpin. I could select all the gears for the rest of the lap but, when I got to the hairpin again, I couldn't get below fourth, and when I got to the chicane, I couldn't get below fifth. Its frustrating because I had a lot of problems in Monaco and another load here when it looked like we could have had a better weekend. We've got to work hard to sort these problems out.''

Pat Symonds [Technical director - Benetton Formula]:

''The strategy today was very interesting. We knew the rain was coming, but it is always difficult to judge exactly when. Our plan was to run just as far as we could, in the hope that the fuel window and the weather window coincided. Luckily it did, and we were able to use this to our advantage. Having said that, the car was competitive here in the race, and both drivers handled the conditions very well. It is great to be back in third place in the championship, and I hope that we can build further on this.''