Giancarlo Happy and Relieved

By Renault f1
September 6 2005

Giancarlo fisichella delighted and relieved with his third place finish in Monza Italy after not being on the podiuim since Australia

The Italian ended his podium drought yesterday with third place at Monza… in his home race!


Giancarlo, are you pleased to be back on the podium?
GF: Definitely! It is the first time I have had champagne since the start of the year in Melbourne, so I’m feeling really happy – and a bit relieved. It was a difficult qualifying session, and my aim was to finish third, which I what I did. To have a nearly perfect race after all the different problems this year was really nice!

How did your race go?
GF: I had a good start, and I got through the first corner without any problems, which was my first target. After that, we ran the strategy exactly as planned: attacking from start to finish. The grip levels were low, but we dealt with it. I had to think about Raikkonen attacking from behind, and also get ahead of Trulli. It wasn’t easy, but we managed it. And the pit-stops were perfect.

It also means you climb to sixth in the championship…
GF: It will be really important to keep the momentum. I need the points for the drivers championship, but also to help the team win the constructors. We only lost one point to McLaren yesterday, and that is very good. There are four races left this year – and I want to win at least one of them