Length: 4.361 km
Number of Laps: 70 (305.270 Km)
Best Lap: J-P. Montoya - 1'15''960 (2002, BMW Williams)
Record Pole: J-P. Montoya - 1'12''836 (2002, BMW Williams)
2002 Pole: J-P. Montoya - 1'12''836 (Williams)
2002 Podium: M. Schumacher - D. Coulthard - R. Barrichello

Q: Michael, 4.4 seconds covered the first four as they crossed the line, pressure all the way, two great pit stops. Does it get much better than that?
Michael Schumacher: No. That's the ideal result, obviously. It was a tight race, a tough race. We had to be very careful on our brake side so I wasn't able to push all the way through and just drove the pace I needed to and during the pit stop area, that's the area I started to sort of open the gap a little bit. Basically, it was a very tricky and tight race as you said, with the first four cars so close together.

Q: I know you're not into stats, but you've just taken your score of world championship points to 999 now and, of course, you've taken the lead in the world championship.
MS: Well, that's a good number. In Germany that means if you achieve a number like that, you have to give a drink free to everyone, so let's see what we're going to do tonight.

Q: Michael, you said yesterday wait and see what happens on Sunday. It is interesting, in fact, that you had virtually the same fuel load as the Williams drivers.
MS: Yeah, virtually, but just a little bit more which gave us the race, which meant that we won and that's what it takes in the end. It doesn't matter but in the end we were good enough and we were very good on the start, as well. I was a bit worried for the start after what I saw in Monaco. The start went very well and I was just able to stay close and do the right speed at the right moment to give us the lead. The crew, the mechanics, did a great job at the pit stop to get me out in front.

PRESS CONFERENCE

(Ralf attempts to sit in the middle! Laughter)

Q: Michael, well done. You were the challenger during the first stint, but then you had Ralf on your tail for the rest of the race. How tough was it out there?
MS: Basically, I was pushing Ralf in the first stint when he went through a graining phase. It got so close that I started to prepare to overtake. There were one or two laps when he struggled badly with his tyres but it was only basically one lap, and I thought okay, next lap I'm going to get him, but then his tyres were a little bit better and his exit out of turn ten was good enough to just keep me behind. But then we got a little bit into trouble with brakes and I had to preserve them and wasn't able to push and probably their performance picked up throughout the race for whatever reason, so it got very tight. It's difficult to say how much quicker they could have gone or we could have gone if we had the ability to push with our brakes all the way through. At the end of the day, what counts is how it finished and that's obviously to our end and we're obviously very happy.

Q: Leading the World Championship now is obviously important as we go into the second half of the season.
MS: Yeah, it's always important to go into the lead and try to get as many points as you can. The season is going to be a long one and we knew that from the beginning and we've sort of had confirmation by now and it will be a tough fight to the end.

Q: After qualifying yesterday, you didn't really give the message that you could perhaps win this race today.
MS: Well, because I think it was very unclear what is the direction it's going to go, because if you see, for example, in Monte Carlo on the Thursday practice, we were miles ahead, on the Saturday, it was completely the reverse. Yesterday, here, with the green track, it was the complete opposite so I was hoping that maybe in the race it worked in our favour and it did look like it in the first stint so at this stage yesterday, obviously, I wasn't sure of the situation - and I was a little bit pessimistic still with an open mind, obviously.

Q: Michael, you said earlier this week that this is not a track to your liking yet this is the sixth time you have won here. What is it about the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve that you don't like but you keep on winning?
MS: First of all I am surprised you say I don't like this circuit. I haven't said that, honestly, and actually, for overtaking it is a good circuit this one, so I don't know where you got your statements. But the fact is that I have circuits that I feel are a higher challenge, as in Suzuka and Spa. What is the reason why I am doing well here compared to other circuits? I have no idea. I don't know. To my nature, it is actually not the right circuit because I feel I have usually I show up in high-speed corners and other kind of circuits, as Suzuka combinations rather than stop-and-go circuits. So, I have no reason. I guess I just have a good car.

Q: First question, Michael, is that we know it is a custom in your country to buy everyone a round of drinks. I just wanted to let you know that a bunch of my colleagues are going out after and I was just wondering if you would...
MS: You look like you drink a lot.

Touché!

MS: It is going to be expensive for me. Too much beer.

You're right on that point!

Q: Second question, to all three of you. A lot of has been made about the lack of competitiveness in Formula One but today's race showed that is not the case. Can you comment on that?
MS: The nature of sport is that it is unpredictable and that is what we have seen in all the years of many, many sports and that is the way with Formula One. Sometimes there are straight-forward races and sometimes they are very tight races and they come every so often in whatever order, but as I say that's sport.

Q: How do you comment about this disaster for McLaren this weekend.
MS: I think actually to see Kimi going from the pitlane, I think he had a problem with the tyre and then still finished sixth, that's not too bad, honestly. After I heard he had this problem with the tyre I wouldn't have expected him to be in the points.

Q: Michael, after the results of the last two weeks and now you are in front in the drivers' championship, do you see Williams as the biggest threat to you or is it still McLaren or is it both?
MS: If you analyse this season you have clearly to say that there is some character of circuit which seems to suit one and other characters the other team so you simply have to count them both, in terms of championship points, but obviously it is more tight with Kimi and McLaren.

Q: A great race guys. Exciting, tense, close, but the bottom line is at the end, you have four cars and no-one could overtake. Is that a state of this particular race or is it the cars in Formula One in general, or what is the deal?
MS: The deal is that those cars are so competitive and so close together that it is simply too close competition to get the chance of overtaking.