Quotes of the Week
07/12/09
"It was a good show from the team on how to lose a race today. I'm terribly upset with the way things went. I did all I had to do. I went first on the first corner and then they made me lose the race. If it is really what's going on, we're going to end up losing both championships. I feel sorry for myself, the team. To be very honest, I wish I could get on the plane and go home. I don't want to talk to anyone in the team. It will be all 'bla bla bla' and I don't want to hear that." Rubens Barrichello, Formula 1 driver, Brawn GP, upset after finishing sixth in the German Grand Prix.
"It's an incredible day. I wanted to win so badly after Silverstone, as I thought I had a good chance there, then after yesterday's pole I knew I was in a good position to try and win the race today. The only thing that I thought was going to test me was the rain, but even that held off. It was testing to get the victory today, I lost Rubens completely at the start; I thought he was gone a little bit to the left so I went to the right and banged into him. That's not normally my style and I got a drive-through penalty for that, so had to recover. My engineer kept me calm and I pushed as hard as I could when I needed to, so it's a great day. It was a difficult winter, Sebastian showed in winter testing what the car could do, so that kept my motivation very high when I was hurting a lot with all the rehab. I had great people around me to recover from all the injuries I had and the team have been incredibly patient with me as well. I want to thank Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull and everyone at Red Bull Racing for what they did for me over the winter, everyone in Australia who has supported me on the way through my career – and there are a few people that doubted me too, so hello to them as well. It's just an incredible day for all the people who have helped me get to where I am today." Mark Webber, Formula 1 driver, Red Bull, ecstatic after winning his first F1 race at the German Grand Prix
"A brilliant team performance. A fantastic drive from Mark – he's been on it all weekend and, after all the difficulties that he's been through over the winter, I'm absolutely delighted that's he's managed to get his first win. He thoroughly deserves it. Sebastian recovered from a difficult first lap and put in an excellent performance to back up Mark's win with a second place. A one-two is a brilliant team result and puts us back in the hunt in both championships. It was an important result for the team, but today belongs to Mark Webber, who is a deserved victor." Christian Horner, Sporting Director, Red Bull Racing, commenting after Mark Webber won his first F1 race at the German Grand Prix
"All this is a big misunderstanding. In the interview we were talking about structures and that it can sometimes be good to act and make strong decisions without reservation. I wasn't using Hitler as a positive example, but pointing out that before his dreadful crimes he worked successfully against unemployment and economic problems. It was never my intention to hurt the feelings of any community. Many people in my closest circle of friends are Jewish. Anyone who knows me knows that I would never attack a minority." Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Association
"No team should work with him [Bernie Ecclestone] any more – a boycott would be more than appropriate." A spokesman for Germany’s Central Council of Jews called for teams to abstain from working with Bernie Ecclestone.
"If the disunity continues Melbourne will seriously consider its position on continuing with formula one. In my view Mr. Mosley should walk away from the sport with dignity rather than slowly strangle to death the great brand of formula one. The sport needs fresh and dynamic leadership more than ever before to lead F1 into a new era of motor racing." Ron Walker, chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, said the ideal resolution would be for Mosley to honor his promise to vacate the post as FIA president.
“To say it’s on the backburner doesn’t mean that it’s not still cooking. It doesn’t mean that it’s dead; it means that work is going on. I think some of the parallels in America I would call selective history because yes, it’s true, when CART and IRL separated, it wasn’t good for the sport – but if you go back to the late seventies which was actually when CART split away from USAC who ran Champ Cars in those days, there are a lot more parallels to what happened then to the current situation. I think the CART/IRL split had a lot to do with personalities [and] egos. The formation of CART out of USAC was more to do with issues of governance, issues of finance. I think there are a lot more parallels to what we have in Formula 1 and in fact, the breakaway series was CART [and] it was extremely successful. Everyone apart from A.J. Foyt piled out of the USAC series into the CART series and for many, many years it was extremely successful. Personally, I have no worries about a breakaway series – it can be done. If the necessity is there, I don’t think anyone in FOTA is scared of the prospect." Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering, Renault
"A FOTA series is clearly an option, and we need to know quickly what we are doing. The later we leave it, the more difficult it is. So, I don't think that will be based upon individuals and egos that are in F1, it will be based upon – do we have an acceptable contract? Do we have an entry at the moment? I am a little bit confused about that I suppose. FOTA is not here to campaign against any individual, it is here to try and improve the sport. And we all know that we can improve the sport, and that is not to criticize any one individual or any one organization. We the teams can do a better job, we can work together, and we can work with the governing body, we can work with the commercial rights holder, so we have got to make it better. It may be part of the problem in the situation that all of the parties feel that they can go their own way. If you follow that, you don't always get to a consensus quickly enough." Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal, McLaren
"Tracy and I — I guess we have a long history together I would call. But again, I thought I gave him plenty enough room on the inside. Again this would be the last guy you want to take out here in Canada. So it's the first time I hear, like people going, 'Hey Helio sucks.' So it's kind of interesting. I still love Canada, don't get me wrong." Helio Castroneves, IRL driver, Team Penske, commenting on the racing incident between Helio and Paul Tracy during the Honda Indy Toronto that took both of them out, and the loyal Canadian crowd loudly booed Castroneves.
"I guess we timed it right with strategy. We really struggled in that first stint, towards the end. We really used up the reds and I was struggling. Then I got stuck by some really slow cars in the middle stint – Moraes in particular didn't do the same thing twice in any corner, so I just stayed out of his way, but I couldn't get past him. Then we came in (to the pits) just as it went yellow, and it helped me get close to the front. I passed a couple cars and then on the restarts, I was able to take off. The Target car was fast on the restarts and we were really able to take off. It's 10 years since my first one here and it feel good." (About team owner Chip Ganassi missing the race): "I spent a lot of years chasing the Target cars here and finishing behind. I have to thank Chip. He gave me the opportunity to come back here and drive these cars. So, thanks." Dario Franchitti, IndyCar driver, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, commenting after winning the Honda Indy Toronto
"There have been many questions raised in the industry and in the media about whether any of these recent changes reflect a reduction in the commitment of our family or the IMS to the IRL or the sport of IndyCar. I have been assured by my mother that no such reduction of support or commitment is intended or anticipated. I can assure teams, sponsors, media and fans that our family is sincere in its commitment to the Indianapolis 500, the League and the sport." Tony George, ex-CEO of the Indy Racing League
"That was fun. That's what life's all about right there. These guys (Martin's No. 5 Chevrolet crew) deserved to win. We could have parked the car (Friday) with an hour left in practice. I knew it was awesome. But the best car doesn't usually win. The double-file restarts are to mess the best car up so he doesn't win, to make it good for the fans — and it did — but luckily we pulled it off anyway." Mark Martin, NASCAR driver, Hendrick Motorsports, commenting after winning the Chicagoland race