Q: Well, maybe something to do with the track surface there. It was interesting that you were both on light fuel, so it was even more reason to have perhaps been quicker away from the line?
MS: You would think so. Maybe the answer is that the cars behind were on a more clean line than we were. We were the first cars, we had to put the line for everyone and then everyone can follow in the good one. Maybe that was the difference, who knows, but it came as it came and it turned out, finally, to be very good for us.

Q: It turned out to be a great race for you - a three-stop strategy, safety car just on time and great closing phase of the race. How did Kimi compare with you in those closing laps?
MS: I guess I was about the same if not a bit quicker but it is not really enough to then go by in a normal situation. Obviously, I was hoping for something odd and he gave me a favour but he did not wait long enough until I was close enough to use it. Anyway, we are quite happy with our result and particularly Rubens having an unfortunate qualifying and making his way to third is a great result for us this weekend.

Q: And what does this mean for you and the team in the races ahead?
MS: You see, if you look through the race, at certain stages we had the performance to follow and to go a reasonable pace. That was not so obvious on Friday, not at all actually, and we developed the car very well. We just still have to work on the package to get it right at every moment in track condition.

Q: Rubens, a superb drive from the back of the grid. Not the first time you have had to do that, from the pitlane indeed.
Rubens BARRICHELLO: Well, that is the very first time, after 200-and-something Grands Prix, the first time I started from the pitlane. So I guess I am still quite young and quite enjoying the racing because it is still something new after 200 Grands Prix. I had a fantastic race. It was actually difficult at the beginning to overtake one of the Minardi cars, which was quite fast on the straight, because I was very, very heavy. Eventually I managed to overtake and then I was catching up all the time. I was pushing the whole time, I had good overtaking, the pit crew did a fantastic job to call me in as soon as possible. I didn’t have a radio from the very first lap and I didn’t have the water working, so that was my only problem throughout the race.

Q: And what was the car like to drive with that heavy fuel load early on?
RB: Well, I guess with that amount of fuel in the car I used my rear tyres quite a bit, because the car was a bit oversteery and I was locking up the rear brakes a bit too much. That compromised my race a little bit forward but I was still good to overtake people and I was lucky that on the restart Webber went in too fast into turn one, he ran wide and Massa had to stop to take avoiding action and I overtook both on the inside, so that was quite a good run.

Q: And, despite the two transmission problems in practice, it was great reliability from Ferrari with Felipe Massa’s engine also going well.
RB: Yeah, absolutely. In a way I am just sorry we had quite a bit of a problem in qualifying because we could have hoped for even more. But saying that I am quite happy today because from dead last to first is a good achievement.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Michael, obviously a tremendous result for you as well. You mentioned a problem at the start that you and Jenson had, did you mean the grip on the track, or what did you mean?
MS: Simply that we went backwards and the others forwards. There was no grip for us. It was a great start for everybody except us, I think. Everybody just came flying past us. I don’t think it was just the Renaults in particular, from my point of view at least, but you have a better vision

Q: What about the car’s brakes and tyres in particular during the race?
MS: We had no problems whatsoever: tyres were good, brakes as well.

Q: Chasing Kimi at the end there, you got so close but not quite close enough…
MS: Yeah, I lost a little bit of time with some backmarkers and I was obviously trying to go for it, hoping that after his little excursion in turn four who knows what can happen. But he didn’t give another favour.

Q: But you seem really happy with the result anyway.
MS: Yeah, we have to be. We started off very well but after the first lap, where we had been, to end up second wasn’t supposed to be with our strategy anyway, so in this respect we can be very happy.

Q: Rubens, you told me before the race ‘I’ve won from 18th on the grid so anything can happen from 20th.’ Here you are on the rostrum, but still not to be expected perhaps.
RB: I think in life you have to expect everything. If I didn’t expect to be on the podium today I might as well have gone home yesterday. Life is there to experiment everything and yesterday it was very depressing in a way because I had my problem but there is still one more chance. If that thing had happened on the first lap of the race it would have been even worse, so it happened at a time when I was still able to recover and I guess third place today is a really good compliment.

Q: You started in the pit lane, was there a big change of strategy after the problems yesterday?
RB: Yeah, I had to put in a little bit more fuel, to change the strategy a little bit because there was no point in stopping when everybody would stop – just behind – because it would have made my race a bit more difficult so I was able to do that. The beginning of the race was quite hard and I lost my radio very early on. I could see that I was talking to them, and they never replied. All of a sudden I saw that they replied to me, but they couldn’t hear me, so in a way it was just trying to make gestures and accepting that one press was yes, two presses was no so it was actually a good race from that point of view.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Michael and Rubens, how do you think the Ferrari will go at Indianapolis next weekend, and a question to all three of you: could you please comment on the atmosphere at Indy and the enthusiasm of the fans there please?
RB: I think we will go very well, we have always been quite fast there. This year we still think that we are catching McLaren and Renault. But we have to see. It’s a big decision to chose the tyres for Indy and we shall go quite well. There’s going to be a fantastic atmosphere at Indy because over the last few years it has been quite good already, and I guess everybody is going to go to see Scott Speed driving the Red Bull car on Friday practice, so I guess this is good motivation to see the Americans come out and check it out.

MS: I think we have great enthusiasm at Indy, sometimes more than at some European races honestly, because you find that there are a lot of spectators who are foreigners living in the States who don’t have a chance to go to European races and they are so hot to come to that race that it’s sometimes more difficult to get into the circuit than elsewhere, so I look forward to it, the atmosphere. It has been going well in the past and I hope for a good race as well this year.

Q: (Tony Marinaro - The Team 990) Michael, as the race went on how did your tyres respond?
MS: Actually, as the race went on the tyres became better and better in comparison. We struggled a bit at the very beginning when the track was still greenish but then it went quite well.

Q: (Tony Marinaro - The Team 990) Were you hoping for rain?
MS: In a way yes. We know we are quite strong in the rain. We had some rain at some part of the end of the race, around the safety car. It was drizzling, at least, so I was dancing in the car. (Laughter)

Q: (Tony Marinaro - The Team 990) Was the progress encouraging for between now and the end of the year? The progress that Bridgestone made as compared to the last race?
MS: Oh yes, we do constant progress and we are pretty confident that we will arrive there at some stage to be competitive at all stages.

Q: (Matthias Brunner – Motor Sport Aktuell) Michael, how did the repaired parts of the circuit hold up during the race?
MS: No problem, the track was in good condition.

Q: (Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Deutschland) Michael, obviously it helped you here that Renault had to retire, but where do you see Ferrari after this race?
MS: It is difficult to really precisely comment on this because I drove my race but I don’t know how the others were doing. As I said, at the beginning of the race, we were clearly not competitive considering the level of fuel we had but then after the first stop I thought my pace was quite good. But compared to the others I don’t know, so I should look into that.

Q: (Alberto Antonini - Autosprint) Michael, was there any second during the race when you thought you could win it?
MS: Yes, there was. Kimi obviously went off in turn four and I was thinking ‘great’, it’s going to be my turn now but he recovered.