Brazilian GP Benetton race notes

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director:
"This have been an extremely good weekend. Everyone has worked very hard. Fisichella did a great race and the team used a brilliant strategy. It is a great pity for Wurz who has had problems all weekend, but there are another 15 races before the end of the championship. I would like to thank the team who I have seen 100% motivated this weekend, the people in the factory who, as always, have done a great job, and the Supertec guys who also worked very hard."

Pat Symonds, Technical Director :
"I’m really happy for the whole team today. I feel this is the justification for a weekend in which everyone has worked very hard, our progress has been good and it is great to see a good result at the end of it. At the same time I am very sorry for Alex, an engine problem caused his early demise and I am sure he would have had a strong race as well. We used an aggressive strategy today and I must admit that in the early part of the race I was worried whether we were doing the right thing, but it worked out perfectly and I think was just the icing on the cake for the whole weekend."

Giancarlo Fisichella :
"I am so pleased with this result for both myself and the team, its really great. Yesterday I realised the possibility of getting on the podium because the car was good. It was very difficult at the start of the race because our strategy meant that the car had a very heavy fuel load and was very hard to drive with a lot of understeering. Then after about 15 laps the behaviour and grip levels were much better so I was able to keep pushing until the end."

Alexander Wurz :
"On the formation lap I had a problem with the engine and it died so I couldn’t pull away. Then at the start the same thing happened again so I had to start from the pits. Then I realised it really was an engine problem because when I got on to the straight I could only pull in 5th gear so I knew it was just a question of time until I had to stop. It was very bad luck and I am very disappointed because the car was in good shape."