Austrian GP Bridgestone race notes

David Coulthard topped an all-Bridgestone podium with his 11th career win in an Austrian Grand Prix that saw four cars stuck on the grid and the world championship leader take 2nd place at the last corner. Coulthard had stayed out of trouble to climb from 7th place at the start to take the win in his West McLaren Mercedes which reduces Michael Schumacher's championship lead to four points. Schumacher, who started from pole position, was overtaken by the two BMW Williams at the start then was pushed further back by an incident at the Remus Kurve with Juan Pablo Montoya. Rubens Barrichello, who led the race for 30 laps, finished third in the other Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen took 4th place for Red Bull Sauber Petronas and Olivier Panis was 5th in the BAR Honda. Jos Verstappen collected OrangeArrows Asiatech's first point of the season in 6th place, which means all Bridgestone's contracted teams have scored points this year after just six races.

Adrian Newey - Technical Director - West McLaren Mercedes
"David paced himself through the early part of the race and only pushed when he needed to save fuel and go as far as he could before the pit stop. He did well and it worked in our favour. We started with new tyres on both cars on the basis that with a one stop strategy the tyres would still to be in good condition by the time the pit stops came around. We had debated what to do with David at the stop and in the end put new tyres on because we were concerned we might change the balance of the car by fitting used tyres. Mika's difficulty at the start was a problem relating to launch control, something between the system and the driver shall we say."

Ross Brawn - Technical Director - Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
"Problems at the start threatened to spoil the race for us from the beginning but we managed to recover well. Everything was looking quite good but then Montoya's move, when he tried to defend his position, spoiled Michael's race. Rubens was pushing as hard as he could before the pit stop but could not build up sufficient gap. We were very happy with the tyres which were consistent, and we had no particular problems with the car."

Hisao Suganuma - Technical Manager - Bridgestone Motorsport
"Today, our tyres showed that they were the better performers. They were very consistent and meant our teams were able to finish in the first six places. I am proud of the performance of our tyres especially in the cooler conditions, and very pleased with the result. I am really delighted. However, we will continue our tyre development programme during testing in Valencia and Fiorano next week."

-Bridgestone