German GP Ferrari race notes

Eddie Irvine: first, 1:21.58.594, 45 laps, chassis 191 Mika Salo: second at 1.007, chassis 195

Jean Todt "This was a great race. Today was really our day. Mika Salo was absolutely fantastic and displayed a great team spirit. Eddie drove a perfect race which is necessary on this track which is a hard test of reliability, brakes and engine. There are six races remaining in the Championship. We always believed we could win the Championship and it is still possible. I felt it was the right thing to do to send our chief mechanic Nigel Stepney onto the podium to represent all the mechanics who have worked so hard, both day and night."

Eddie Irvine "Mika was the star today and he won the race. He is "Boy Wonder"! I will give him my trophy. Now that he is fully on the pace, we can start to think about the Constructors' Championship, which we were not sure about before. It has taken me half the season to lead the Championship again, but I am not thinking about winning because I am realist. At the start, I got boxed in and was sixth after one lap. I also had a problem with my oil temperature, so I was changing gear early to use less revs and moving out of the slipstream to keep the engine cool. I decided to look after my tyres and push hard before the pit-stop and that is what I did. Then the race came to us. Once I had passed Mika I knew I was safe, but Ross Brawn told me to speed up a bit. When I did, the oil temperature went up again. I think Hungary will suit our car better, but we must work on improving the performance of the car, especially in qualifying."

Mika Salo "I am very happy with the best result of my Formula 1 career. When I saw "P1" on my pit board, I could not believe it. My car ran perfectly all day and I had no problems. I did not feel it when Coulthard hit me, but I was glad he was gone, as then I could concentrate on catching another Mika. I let Eddie pass after the pit-stop, but then I asked the team to tell him to speed up a bit as I had Frentzen right behind me. After two races in one week I am looking forward to doing some more testing and getting to know the car even better so that I can be even more ready for Hungary. I spoke to Michael Schumacher when I had just joined the team and he told me: 'Just drive the car and the team will do the rest.' He was right."

Temperatures: air 29 C, track 45 C