Canadian GP Benetton race notes

Giancarlo Fisichella:
"This is a great result for both me and the team. Its 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 perfect timing for our stop. I was then running second, but we had very low downforce so the car was very difficult to drive in the rain. Rubens got past me and I knew 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."

Alexander 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."

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director:
"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."

Pat Symonds, Technical Director:
"The strategy today was very interesting. We knew the rain was coming, but it is always very difficult to judge exactly when. So 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 we can build further on this."