Post-race press conference - Japanese Grand Prix.

Drivers: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Mika Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes), David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)

Q:
Michael, driver's world champion year 2000. How do you feel?

Michael Schumacher:
Similar to Monza, but do not expect me to cry, to be in tears now. But again, it is difficult to find proper words for such feeling. I mean there were such an outbreak of emotions when I crossed the line. The conditions were difficult today. Rain, no rain, little bit, little bit more. The up to down through the season, that was difficult too. The victory, the way we did it, until today. It's simply outstanding, no words to explain.

Q:
It's been five years since your last World Championship, were there periods during that time when you thought 'it's not going to happen again?'

MS:
No, I didn't think that it was never going to happen again, but obviously every year it didn't happen, it got longer and longer and you somehow get more upset that it doesn't work, even though we always thought we had an opportunity. Finally doing it - it's simply great! I mean - imagine what is going on now in Italy - that must be simply amazing!

Q:
The race turned on the second pit-stop, and we heard you on the driver's audio thanking Ross - what was the conversation between you two around that stop?

MS:
Basically, as we saw Mika going in for his pit-stop, we knew we had a couple more laps to go, and these were the crucial laps. The problem was I had traffic, and I wouldn't say it was too easy to pass them because it cost me a little bit of time. As I entered the pits, there was this Benetton spinning in front of me, going backwards, and I didn't know which way he was going to go. I thought it wasn't enough, simply because it was spitting with rain and I didn't think I was going as fast as I should have done - then I came out and Ross said 'it's looking good, it's looking good, it's looking good'. As I came down the pit-lane at 80kph, I was just looking for the words 'it's not looking good enough'. You think things like this as you cannot see where your competitor is, and then he said 'it's looking bloody good', and that was obviously an amazing moment. From then on, you simply hope nothing breaks. The rain which was going on and off again wasn't helpful, as you are in front you do not want to make a mistake and if you are behind you somehow have nothing to lose you can keep on pushing. It wasn't the ideal circumstance but, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if it was the ideal circumstance - it was enough.

Q:
Mika, you have been superb world champion for the last two years but, for now, your reign is over - how do you feel?

Mika Hakkinen:
So sad. But, anyway, congratulations for Michael. It really has been a great season, really tough. It's definitely been very interesting this year and also very up and down for us. On the other hand, I understand that it is sometime another driver's turn to win, and to be a good winner sometimes you have to be a good loser too. It doesn't mean you have to be very happy about it to be second or to lose, but to give the enjoyment and pleasure for the driver who has won. Michael, at the moment, he has done the best possible job for the year and we were not able to do it. So I feel a bit disappointed, but also I feel I have won two years in a row - 1998 and 1999 - so life continues and racing continues, and you have to keep fighting. I am sure we will see exciting races in the future too.

Q:
Talking about the race, it was the second pit-stop, as we said, where things changed. How do you see it from McLaren's point of view.?

MH:
You know, the time that I went into the pits for my second stop, everything looked pretty good. The pit-stop went fine, the mechanics and the team did fantastic work, I went back on the track and automatically realised Michael had not stopped and automatically had the advantage to push. Before I pitted I knew the gap was 1.2 to 1.5secs, so I knew it was going to be very, very tough. So, when I went out, I had first of all little bit traffic and, for some reason, it started to rain sometimes a little bit more, so I was sliding all over the place, not able to get the grip out the tyres. That gave the opportunity to Michael to get in front of me in the second stop, and after that it was trying to keep up. Trying to go flat out the conditions were difficult but I thought on the final lap Michael would probably slow down, and I went over the limit just to catch on the last lap and I got quite close but not enough.

Q:
David, I'm afraid we were concentrating on the battle between the top two there. What was your race like?

David Coulthard:
I completely understand. I had a quite quiet race from the start. I didn't have too much of a battle and it was just a matter of trying to keep the car on the track in the conditions

Q:
OK. Michael, as you said, Italy is already celebrating the first Ferrari World Champion for 21 years. How are you going to celebrate tonight?

MS:
I guess we haven't planned anything as I told them not to plan anything because I simply felt it gives bad luck. We will improvise. As you say, we will do something, I'm sure.