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European GP: Post Race press conference

NEWS STORY
22/07/2007

Fernando, what a day, what a race, incredible conditions, looked as if Ferrari had the better of you in the dry but in the wet, unbelievable closing laps. Talk us through them.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I think the race was so exciting - to drive and also to watch, from the outside, I hope. It's true that we had very different conditions. The first three laps were unbelievable. It was so wet and we had aquaplaning everywhere. The safety car came out and we stopped the race because it was impossible. Then, as you said, in dry conditions I think the Ferraris were a little bit quicker than us, so we probably didn't have enough pace. And yeah, truly, the rain at the end helped us a lot and our car seemed to be a little bit better in wet conditions and luckily enough I had six laps to try to overtake Felipe.

Talk us through that overtaking manoeuvre.
FA: Yeah, it was so close. The racing line was getting drier so to overtake you needed to go a little bit on the outside or the inside, on the wet part. We touched each other two times and I apologise to him (Massa) because I was so stressed when I finished the race because we nearly didn't finish the race. Now I try to enjoy the victory and forget everything.

Fernando, how do you rate this as one of your race victories? You looked ecstatic on the podium.
FA: Yeah, absolutely. I enjoyed the race so much because I like the different conditions, the different weather conditions. I always enjoy these types of races and at one point, when I was second, I said maybe it's not the right time to rain, because I was happy with second place. Lewis was out of the points and Kimi as well, so for me eight points were good enough. But then, obviously now with the final result, I like the rain, there's no doubt. Always when it rains, I'm quite happy and I have some fun. On the podium I was so happy because the race was quite exciting, as I said.

Felipe, you too drove a brilliant race, set Ferrari's 200th fastest race lap today. Fantastic in the dry, talk us through those early conditions and the race from your point of view.
Felipe Massa: Well, I think it was a pretty good start, so I could manage to pass Fernando and almost try and pass Kimi, but it was a good start. And then in the beginning of the race it was very difficult, everybody on grooved tyres and it was raining and it was pretty easy to go off. I almost went off two or three times. And then suddenly I came straight into the pits and just saw Kimi not coming and I thought it was really a chance to pass him as well and I did so. The car was just very good in the dry, a little bit of understeer at the beginning of the stint but then it was really really good. I was able to pull away at a very nice and controlled pace. But then, unfortunately, the rain came again and we put another… I think our car was not so bad even in the rain, but then I don't know what happened. I took a set of tyres which was vibrating a lot from the beginning and I couldn't manage to find the pace. Then Fernando was just getting closer and closer and we had a fight.

We saw some pictures of you not looking too happy as you got out of the car; what are your thoughts on that manoeuvre from Fernando?
FM: I was really surprised when he came to say that I did that on purpose. I would never do something like that on purpose. Like I said in Barcelona, it was normal, here it was normal and it's going to be like that. So if he was a little bit unhappy, it's not my problem.

Mark, great speed in qualifying and the car reliable through to the finish and your first podium since 2005.
Mark Webber: Yeah, it's a podium I can enjoy as well. It was a special day for us, no question about it. The start was not good at all. I had a huge amount of clutch slip, so I was on the back foot going into turn one and then I saw, in turn two, the BMWs which got together, and then the rain was already starting pretty quickly which was absolutely phenomenal. I didn't expect it to come that quick, because we thought it would come at least five or six laps into the race. It was there straight away. Then we obviously had to make some decisions, which wasn't too difficult at the start, to go to intermediates but then the aquaplaning that we had in second or third gear on the run down to turn five and in some other sections… it was just a sheet of water on the track. The FIA did a good job to put the safety car out to try to control and then suspend the race which was sensible. And then after that, we obviously went onto intermediates and then grooves and then we did a really really long stint on the grooves and I struggled a little bit in the middle stint with the rears, but then I was obviously going a lot longer than Heikki and Alex and those guys. That was when I did the damage in terms of securing what was then going to be a podium, when I saw Kimi retire which I must say I wasn't that disappointed about: when you see someone (retire) when you can gain some positions. And then at the end, I thought ‘my God, we've got it all in the bank, it's all fine, let's maybe start to wind the engine down and look after a few things' and then I saw the rain coming towards us and I thought ‘oh my God, they're not going to give it to us easy.' It's interesting to hear Felipe's comments in terms of the vibrations that I had on the last set were massive. I think it's not unusual for us to get this on intermediates. I was much happier if it stayed a bit dry towards the end of the race, given what was at stake. Alex was pretty close at the end but Red Bull deserve… these guys have been through a torrid start to the season, no question about it, and both cars in the points today - David in fifth – the whole team deserve it… the amount of effort that's gone in the background. You can say what you want, you can say it's improving, you can say this but we continue each week to come back with the same old broken record stuff but results are what count and today we've got a few points on the board, albeit due to a little bit of attrition but at the end of the day, it's a 300kms race and we were there at the end and it was really for the team today that we got the points.

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