OPR: Transcript of Sunday's press conference
By Greig Murray
July 28 2002
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Sunday Press Conference - FIA Press Release
1. Michael Schumacher (FERRARI), 1h27m52.078s
2. Juan Pablo Montoya (WILLIAMS), 1h28m02.581s (+ 10.503s)
3. Ralf Schumacher (WILLIAMS), 1h28.06.544s (+ 14.466s)
Q: You said that you really wanted to win the German Grand Prix for Ferrari. Now you've
done it.
Michael Schumacher: Yes, everybody knows that hasn't been the case so far, in the seven
years that I've been driving for Ferrari. It's without words honestly, because we have
achieved so much in this year that it's amazing. I only thank God that he was giving me
this opportunity. The team, again, did a fantastic job. It was a very tight battle today
between Ralf and myself but I think the German fans really loved that. It's obviously a
shame what happened to Ralf. It would have been nice to have two Schumachers in first and
second position but I'm sure we will get more opportunities in the future maybe. Anyway,
I'm more than thankful to have been able to achieve this result. Thank you.
Q: It looked as though you had to push incredibly hard in that first stint.
MS: I think all of us struggled a little bit with temperatures today. The tyres started to
blister, I had quite a lot, especially in the first stint, so I really had to fight very
hard to keep this advantage that we had. We started to lose it, actually, towards the end,
so we were a bit concerned what would happen with the next set of tyres and so on. But
thank God the tyres stayed together with the second and third set and that was the base
for the victory in the end.
Q: Juan Pablo, your fight with Kimi Raikkonen was one of the most exciting of the race.
How did you enjoy that?
Juan Pablo Montoya: It was really good. I think that had cost me most of my race. At the
start, we went off the line really well but then the car just bogged down and Rubens
pulled away and Kimi went by me and I think that really cost me. It took me quite a few
laps to go by him and then I went by him and I was still on the same pace as the guys in
front of me. But it was just way too far back and sometimes it's better to be lucky than
good.
Q: It was looking as though you wouldn't get second, but here you are, thanks to Ralf
having disappointment right at the end.
JPM: Yeah, at the end of the day it's racing. As I said, I've been on pole for the last
five races and out of the last six races, this is my best result - and I wasn't on pole.
Q: Ralf, Michael said you were chasing really hard and then you had to make that extra
stop right at the end. Why?
Ralf Schumacher: It has been a disappointing day for all of us, I think. The team, myself,
everything went wrong which could have done. I was held up by some guys, I couldn't do my
pit stop because someone in front of me was so slow and then, at the end, we had to come
in. It was just a safety stop because we were having a problem with the engine.
Q: It also looked as though you had a problem on your second stop when you tried to leave.
There seemed to be a two-part movement with the lollipop stick.
RS: Yeah, that was a misunderstanding. Simply the lollipop wasn't quick enough so I had to
go without the lollipop being up. That's why I stopped again. But anyway, here we are
being second and third. It's good for the team. We have had worse weekends, I would say.
Q: Michael, an extra week between this Grand Prix and the next one. Are you looking
forward to that?
MS: Yes, certainly, because I think we have good reasons to celebrate and I really look
forward to having that time for my family, to take some time off and then just relax and
recharge my batteries for the last part of the season. We still have to win the
constructors' championship although we are in a very comfortable position but still we
have to do this. Whatever the points position, racing is still a big enjoyment and I look
forward to this, to have some more battles and fights.
Q: Did you enjoy that?
MS: Yes certainly.
Q: The first stint, it was interesting the way the gap went up and down. What was causing
the fluctuations?
MS: I noticed that I got in trouble a little bit with tyres so I started to try to
preserve them. It wasn't very successful, but at one stage I just pushed again very
heavily plus we went through traffic and maybe I went through better than Ralf did in that
stint. I don't know whether that was the issue he was referring to before, probably that
was later in the race. Anyway, it got a bit tighter in the end because he really picked up
pace and I couldn't.
Q: Then in the second stint you seemed to just pull away fairly progressively.
MS: Yes, the second stint was very good, the tyres stayed together and I was able to
attack consistently for the last 10 laps and I had a nice clean run.
Q: Then in the third stint you seemed just to stabilise it.
MS: Yeah, I just settled down and didn't push too hard, still trying to keep the gap down
to the level I thought was necessary.
Q: And the end of it?
MS: The end, obviously, I could take it even more easily because Ralf had to come in and
Juan Pablo was a little further behind, so that allowed me to slow down even further and
drive very safely home. You never know with traffic and so on it could have been a little
tighter.
Q: So, no worries?
MS: No, not really, with the exception of the blistering issue - but I saw the Michelin
tyres and they seemed to struggle for the same reason. Maybe less effect, I don't know
honestly, I never saw the full picture. I just saw Juan's tyres, they didn't look much
better than mine. And sure, there were no particular worries except for this.
Q: Juan Pablo, was Kimi holding you up a bit before you passed him?
JPM: Yeah, it took quite a few laps to go by him and from then on I was just...I was 15
seconds behind when I passed Kimi.
Q: It wasn't all that easy getting past him, was it?
JPM: No, I think the team backed up the revs when I was stuck behind him and we discussed
it and we decided we were losing too much time behind Kimi, we needed to go by him, so
they pumped up the revs and I went past him.
Q: It still took a while.
JPM: Yeah, it was very difficult to pass him because they seemed to get good acceleration
out of turn two and the only place to pass him was the hairpin.
Q: But even then you didn't get past him, you were side-by-side.
JPM: Yeah, it was very interesting!
Q: And when you got to the Sachskurve you thought well this has been going on quite enough
actually!
JPM: No, you know, we came out of the hairpin and he was holding me back a little bit even
though I got up beside him and he put a car length in front ahead of me again and he made
a mistake going out of the new bit going into the stadium and I got him there. He was
trying to run around the outside there and there is not too much room up there.
Q: Michael was talking about tyres. How were yours in the race?
JPM: They were good actually. I didn't seem to get any blistering. They were consistently
quick all day long.
Q: Ralf, you were pushed by Rubens quite hard early on. Was he challenging you?
RS: No. He came close to me when Trulli held me up quite a bit, but that was the only time
I was looking out for Rubens. Mainly I was concentrating on catching up to Michael and not
looking behind me.
Q: You mentioned the problem with the engine and that you came in. How was that affecting
you?
RS: In that I had to come in and lost second place?
Q: But you were pulling away from Juan Pablo at the time.
RS: Yeah, well, the race was perfect, I just had a bit of bad luck with the new track and
then I had a technical problem. That's the way it is in racing sometimes.
Q: Can you tell us what the technical problem was?
RS: No, you will have to ask the team that.
Q: Apart from that, do you think you could have had a go at Michael a little bit more?
RS: In the first stint I would have said yes. After the first pit stop, for a few laps it
was brilliant then I struggled with understeer and had some traffic, then I came back at
the end again and it was reasonable, but by that time Michael was too far away.
Q: What about the tyres on the third stint?
RS: Yeah, they did a good job. As you might have seen we didn't change tyres so that was
perfect. The tyres stayed on, so Michelin provided us with a great tyre today.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Michael, possibly not the brightest question, but do you think you could have won on
the old circuit with this car?
MS: We shall never find out, but I think we have a very good car for all circumstances.
You're going to see that at Monza maybe.
Q: Michael, tell us about the cool-down lap. You seemed to be really enjoying it.
MS: Yeah. You can imagine how much I was dreaming for this result because we have been so
successful in the past three years that this particular race, here in Germany, in
Hockenheim, wasn't supposed to mine so far. Finally being able to win it means a lot to me
and seeing the people, the crowd, after we won the championship last weekend - it's really
a dream come true.
Q: Ralf, what was the advantage of not changing tyres during this race?
RS: Well, there wasn't a necessity for us there to change tyres, since the car would
understeer in the first stint and second stint, after the first pit stop. We didn't want
to hurt the balance by putting on another new set. The tyre wear was so good that there
wasn't a need, basically.
Q: What happened that you made a splash and go at the end?
RS: It was an engine problem, something to do with the engine.
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