Giancarlo Fisichella flew
the Bridgestone flag today in a thrilling but incident packed race
giving the Jordan Ford driver a well deserved second place podium.
The experienced Italian, who also took a second place finish at
Sao Paulo in 2000, narrowly missed out on a win after the race was
red flagged following two crashes involving Mark Webber and third
placed finisher Fernando Alonso. As Fisichella's Bridgestone wet
tyres came into their optimum performance range, Fisichella did
in fact overtake race leader Kimi Raikkonen. However with the race
stopped, results were declared as of lap 53.
Next up for Bridgestone were Sauber Petronas
driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen in fifth place and Lucky Strike B.A.R
Honda driver Jacques Villeneuve in sixth. Both drove superbly in
the difficult wet conditions. Unfortunately for Ferrari, however,
neither of their drivers finished the race. Michael Schumacher spun
off at the same corner that claimed four other drivers and local
hero and one time race leader Rubens Barrichello pulled over on
lap 47. The Brazilian had previously set the fastest lap of the
race (1:22.032).
Hisao Suganuma - Technical Manager - Bridgestone
Motorsport
"We believe today's real winner was
Giancarlo Fisichella - he drove superbly in very difficult conditions.
Although not at their best at the beginning of the race due to the
amount of water on track, our tyres did well in the tough conditions.
It was quite evident though, that as soon as water levels dropped
slightly, the Bridgestone cars were really able to push whilst our
rivals began to struggle."
"Rubens set the fastest lap of the race
on lap 46 demonstrating the strength of our tyre's performance.
With the ability of our wet tyres to connect to the drier side of
conditions, I think it gave the Bridgestone runners the advantage
over our rivals, giving us the better overall performance. Frentzen
and Villeneuve also benefited from this and they deserve a mention
for their impressive performances today. There were many incidents
today and we hope all those drivers involved are OK."
Gary Anderson - Technical Manager - Jordan
Ford
"The tyres lasted well today and Giancarlo
was quite quick at the end there as he came into Bridgestone territory.
He was quick enough even to pass Raikkonen. Unfortunately we could
have done with one lap more. But I'll take second!"
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