Benetton British GP Review

Mild Seven Benetton Playlife Team British GP / Race Report 12 July 1998

WURZ 4th / FISICHELLA 5th Alexander Wurz and Giancarlo Fisichella finished the British Grand Prix in 4th and 5th place respectively, an improvement of six places on their initial grid positions. The race took place on a wet track and the team opted for a two stop strategy for both cars. Both cars used intermediate tyres to start the race and then changed to wets for the final two sectors. Giancarlo Fisichella : 5th "I am pleased with both my and Alexander's result. It was good teamwork: Alexander let me by when I was faster, then at the end when he was close behind me, I let him retake the position that was rightfully his. It was fair and worked well for both of us. It is hard to comment on the set-up and the tyres because the situation changed lap by lap. When the track was really wet, driving was a nightmare, the car was sliding all over the place. The cars with Goodyear tyres didn't seem to have this problem. When the track wasn't quite so wet, the situation was reversed and those of us with Bridgestones were a lot faster. On the drier track again the Goodyears came out on top again." Alexander Wurz : 4th "I am really happy with fourth place, having started the race in 11th position. It means three more well-won points for the team. I am happy to have survived as it was pretty scary at times. I think the race probably could have been stopped because of the rain, but we made the right tyre choice and it went well for me. The two laps before the Safety Car came out were really difficult, but then it was even trickier when it did, as the tyre temperature dropped and the brakes cooled and I nearly spun off a few times." David Richards : Chief Executive "If you consider our position yesterday you can only conclude that everything fell into place for us today. It was all about teamwork, every single member of the team played a part in the result. The car, tyres and drivers all worked perfectly and we also made all the right decisions."