F1: Hungarian GP winners' press conference

• Myorganisation
• Tue Aug 13 23:03:00 EDT 1996

Q  Well Jacques, you must be very happy so have won the race
   here?

JV I'm very happy because first of all for the championship,
   we had had to beat Damon while he was still on the race
   track so it's a good feeling to do that and this is not
   the type of track that I normally enjoy, so to be
   competitive here makes me happy. The team did a great job
   all weekend and we were right away on the pace.

Q  You made a very good start and you seemed to be right
   behind Michael Schumacher at the beginning of the race.
   If he hadn't faded do you think you could have taken him
   without a problem?

JV I think so, we were quicker than him. I don't know what
   happened with him, we were quicker than him except for
   the first few laps and we just stuck close to him and we
   could fight but we had the pit stops. We had a better pit
   stop because I think he was caught in traffic.

Q  You got into the lead and then on the third pit stop you
   seemed to have a bit of a problem. Were you worried at
   that stage?

JV Yeah because we lost a good ten seconds in the pits.
   Something happened with the wheel and on the last few
   laps I had gone quite a bit slower, I came in the pits
   very slow not to make a mistake because we had a huge
   lead, but to give away ten seconds like that is not an
   easy thing.

Q  Damon caught up with you towards the end of the race. Did
   you at any stage think that he might make a challenge for
   the lead of the race?

JV Well when he started to get closer I wasn't pushing that
   much. Once he got closer I started pushing again. He was
   a little bit quicker but it's very difficult to overtake
   on this track so if there wasn't going to be traffic or
   if I wasn't going to make a mistake then I was going to
   okay and I was concentrating hard not to make mistakes.

Q  Williams have now basically won the constructors
   championship with a total of eight victories now
   equalling that of Ferrari. Does that change your attitude
   towards the end of the season?

JV Well there's a little bit to think about that one, yet we
   had a big lead in the constructors championship so we
   knew we were not going to be very careful in that we were
   going to fight it out hard with Damon.

Q  Damon, you drove a hard race and by the look of your
   speed you could have done a lot better if you hadn't had
   a problem at the start what happened there?

DH Well again I got a poor start and paid the price. I got
   held up by Jean who was doing exactly what I would expect
   him to do, which was to hold his line but he was going a
   lot slower so I lost of track time. For me, I enjoyed the
   race. I had lots to do. There was a lot of communication
   between myself and the pit wall trying to work out the
   best strategy. It was very interesting trying to deal
   with Michael and of course I closed in on Jacques right
   towards the end and I think I had a great race. I'm
   delighted for the team to have sewn up the constructors'
   championship and also finish with another one-two.

Q  At any stage would you have challenged Jacques for the
   lead or were you under team orders, or what was the
   position there, when you caught up with him at the end?

DH No, no. I was aiming to put Jacques under pressure and
   chase him to the finish.

Q  The only people who can win the world championship for
   the drivers now is either you or Jacques. What's your
   feeling towards the last few races?

DH Well I think it's going to be great for the viewers. It's
   going to be pretty tough for the two of us but I'm
   looking forward to it. It's going to be a thrilling last
   four races.

Q  Jean you said this morning, after the warm up, that the
   handling of the car was difficult so you must be very
   pleased to be third here today?

JA Yes of course, especially because I did a good start. I
   was straight away third so because of the characteristic
   of the track you are not able to overtake. I keep this
   position to the first stop and then I was fourth and
   because Michael retired I went on this podium, so
   actually I'm very happy. I'm very pleased for the team
   because they work very hard all the weekend. Since the
   first day the car was really difficult to drive and at
   the end we are again on the podium, so if we can keep
   this second place for the championship for the team
   constructor it would be very good.

Q  What happened when Damon overtook you just after your
   first stop?

JA Nothing. He was quicker than me, I think he did another
   lap when I stop and he got bit of a wheel just in front
   of me so that's why he overtook me.

Q  Towards the end of the race you seemed to slow down a
   bit. Did you know about Gerhard Berger's problem?

JA No, I don't think he had a problem. He just explode the
   engine like it happened in Germany for him.

Q  Well Jacques we now go to Spa which has created some
   interesting races in the past. What is your attitude to
   Spa and the next race?

JV Well it's a very difficult track to learn, I don't know
   if it will be a difficult new experience, but it's got a
   lot of high speed corners and from what I hear it's a
   great track, so I'm looking forward to that one. 

Q  Gentlemen, thank you.

-- 
David Goodwin