"After
qualifying, we knew Rubens would have to make his way through the
field and despite having a very competitive car, it was hard for
him to overtake. He fought for around half the race, making up several
places before retiring with broken front suspension, following a
collision with Coulthard. We were targeting the win here and we
are happy to have succeeded. We were keen to do so for a variety
of reasons, first of all because this is the home race for Bridgestone,
a partner that plays a fundamental role in our success."
"It is
good to see that our will to win is as strong as ever, even though
we have hit all the targets we set ourselves quite a while ago and
our team has set so many new records. Now we want to end the season
on a high what has been the longest season in the history of Formula
1 with another win in Brazil.'
Michael
Schumacher:
"This was a historic day for Formula 1, taking pole
and the win on the same day. It was certainly exciting, but I think
I prefer the old system! This one is quite stressful for the engineers
and mechanics. We wanted to do well for Bridgestone in their home
race to thank them for all their efforts."
"The fact
that I did not do well in China, certainly helped my qualifying
in terms of when I made my run in pre-qualifying. It was clear to
us that we would have a strong race pace, but after the start, I
had Ralf in my mirrors for quite a while and the gap between us
was not growing as quickly as I had expected and he was certainly
hanging on."
"Because
there had been no running yesterday, it was hard to understand what
the other teams' race strategies would be and before the race, I
was concerned about this. But in the end, it all worked out fine
and I had a trouble free race.'
Rubens
Barrichello:
"I was certainly penalised in qualifying by being
first out in the wet pre-qualifying. It was a shame about the incident
with Coulthard. I think I caught him by surprise, he didn't see
me, closed the door and we touched. It was a racing incident. I
was having a great race, the car was very good and I was doing excellent
lap times. In the early stages, I got stuck behind Montoya and Trulli,
but then I was able to push very hard. The set-up was really good
and the team did a fantastic job of finding the right solution in
a rush. Now, I head for Brazil, thinking only of the way things
went in Monza and China."
Ross
Brawn:
"After China, Michael was determined to do well again
and today, we saw him at his best. Everything worked very well and
I must congratulate the whole team for putting the car together
in a way that was pretty much spot-on for the race, with very little
prior practice. Once we saw the others' pit stop strategies, it
was just a case of controlling the race."
"Tyre
choice was the proverbial educated guess and I don't know if it
was the best choice, but the tyres were excellent, consistent and
also quick on the first lap. They worked well with our aggressive
strategy. We are so pleased to have won the race in Japan with Bridgestone,
at their home grand prix. Rubens was having a good race, driving
really quickly and his car was going well, so it was just a shame
that he collided with Coulthard, but he had no option but to push
hard."