F1: Italian GP winners' press conference

• David Goodwin
• Myorganisation
• Tue Sep 10 21:08:14 EDT 1996

Q  Well Michael congratulations. There hasn't been a Ferrari
   victory here in Monza since 1988. How does it feel?

MS I mean to stay in front of those guys, in such a crowd,
   is just unbelievable. I never have seen so many emotions,
   so many people enjoying themselves it's fantastic, you
   can only see that in Italy. I've just said before I think
   we should allow everywhere the people to come in front of
   the podium to let them celebrate with us, but as they
   celebrate, it's only possible in Italy.

Q  You had a long hard battle with Jean for the first half
   of the race. Do you think you could have overtaken him or
   were you waiting for the pit stops where you've got a
   proven record of being very good?

MS We had the only possibility to wait for the pit stop as
   Jean had a very good top speed, I was not able to
   overtake him to be honest. My car wasn't that good on the
   first set of tyres, on the second set it behaved better.
   Maybe then I had a better opportunity, but to be honest,
   it was the safe strategy to try through the pit stop. I
   knew I have a lot of fuel to stay out very long. I knew
   Benetton would go for the same strategy, I just hoped I
   had a little bit more fuel which apparently worked out,
   so I was very pleased about that situation coming out in
   front and then just taking off.

Q  You set the fastest lap on lap 50, only 3 laps from the
   end. You seemed to be enjoying yourself out there towards
   the end of the race.

MS Yeah I mean I was enjoying but to be honest I didn't push
   that hard. I was driving I would say 90% almost all the
   time. When I was behind Jean I couldn't do anything else
   anyway. I tried to save my brakes my tyres and then
   after, it was quite easy with the car, I have to say. As
   I said, the second set of tyre worked a lot better and
   therefore it was pretty easy to do those times.

Q  There seemed to be just one hairy moment for you when you
   clipped one of the tyres going into the chicane. What
   happened there?

MS Yeah that was a stupid moment. I knew I had a lot of time
   advantage and I got told by the pits 'take it easy for
   the brakes' and as I started to take it even easier as
   compared to before, I got a little bit unconcentrated and
   hit this tyre and I was very surprised that I did. I
   didn't think I would. I thought there would be enough
   space but apparently it wasn't the case so I was quite
   happy that nothing got damaged and could finish.

Q  Jean you had a fantastic start and you went from 6th to
   1st. Can you talk us through that?

JA At the end I speak a little bit with Michael and I said I
   have no idea what is going on but the start is just magic
   for me at this moment. It's a shame the championship is
   nearly finished because qualifying, it looks like it is
   not so important because in the first corner I with them
   again.

Q  You too were going very hard towards the end of the race
   and set your fastest lap towards the end. Did you have a
   better set of tyres at the end, what happened?

JA No I was just pushing a lot because I knew it was a tough
   race for the brakes for everyone so that's why I was
   trying to push Michael to continue to have a kind of high
   speed, so that's why I was trying even the last laps.

Q  You've now been on the podium eight times this season.
   Are you just a little bit disappointed not to have won
   today?

JA Today, honestly, to be on the podium with Michael and see
   these fans waving and screaming like that for this
   Ferrari win is just magic. Today I'm really happy and
   really pleased Ferrari win.

Q  Mika, you were fastest this morning in warm up and you
   were 3rd on the first lap. What happened because we saw
   you come in for a new nose cone?

MH Yeah it was tyres lying in the middle of the second
   chicane. I just couldn't avoid it. I just hit one of the
   tyres and it clipped the left side of the wing flap off
   basically and naturally I had a huge understeer after
   that and I still continue one lap and Michael was still
   following me very closely. I wasn't exactly sure how big
   the damage is because you cannot really see your front
   wing when you sit in the car. I have to come in the pits
   and they change the nose and the tyres at the same time
   and went out again and basically I was last that time.

Q  You were 3rd here last year and 3rd here today you
   obviously enjoy this circuit and caught up quite well
   once you'd dropped back after your pit stop. Is this one
   of your favourite circuits?

MH It's not really my favourite circuit but it seems to go
   always well. I was 2nd here last year and it was great to
   be 3rd again but I had unfortunate luck because of the
   front wing, otherwise I could have been able to go flat
   out very early at the start of the race and go really
   well, but these things happen I'm not too upset about it.

Q  Can we expect good things for the rest of the season from
   you?

MH Oh definitely.

Q  Michael, you've now won three times this season, it's
   once more than Ferrari promised. What can we expect for
   the next two races?

MS If we're again as lucky as we have been today, we have to
   say that because with Damon going into the tyre barrier
   or snapped a tyre, it would have been a lot more
   difficult even. I believe we have been competitive for
   the race as I see the times I think we could have fight
   with the Williams together. Whether we would have taken
   them or not is a different question. This circuit we had
   a lot of testing going on. We were quite well prepared
   but the other circuit we are coming to is going to be a
   lot more difficult, particularly Estoril. The surface is
   very slippery and tyres going to be used very hard over
   there and they will be very difficult to keep the tyres
   together, our car in particular, so I don't think it's
   going to be very good to us to be honest. Suzuka, I
   don't know. I like Suzuka very much. I hope that the car
   will suit Suzuka and hopefully we can do maybe another
   one.

Q  Gentlemen, thank you.




During the race BBC's Tony Jardine interviewed Damon Hill
and David Coulthard...


TJ Damon, catastrophic Italian grand prix for you. What
   happened?   

DH I made a mistake, just no explanation, I just hit the
   tyres. I had it all under control, I made a very, very
   good start and was looking good. I did one of those
   things that, there's no way out of, I have to just admit
   to making a mistake so there's no one to blame except
   myself.

TJ Do you think previous cars might have dislodged the
   tyres?

DH No, as far as I was concerned I went through the chicane
   and just got too close to the tyres and hit it with my
   right front and that was it. I hit it too hard. They're
   bolted down, they don't move.

DJ Up until that point you looked very strong indeed. 

DH Yeah well, it's gone now I'm afraid. That was probably
   quite an easy race victory but I threw it away.

TJ The championship position - if Villeneuve stays outside
   of the points, that's what you're hoping for?

DH Well it's ideal for me, yes if he stays out of the
   points. I've just seen Irvine's gone out of the race so
   he's moved up one place already. I think if I escape from
   this weekend still with 10 points advantage over
   Villeneuve then I can consider myself a very lucky man
   indeed.

TJ Damon, any thoughts now looking ahead to the last two
   races?

DH It's all to play for again. I have to finish ahead of
   Jacques, that's all I have to do. If I go to Estoril I
   have to finish ahead of Jacques but today was a big blow
   to me and I have to live with that.

TJ And to console yourself tonight as well?

DH Well I won't be thinking back too long. I'll be getting
   on with progress and going testing in Austria and getting
   prepared for Estoril.

TJ Thank you for talking to us Damon.


TJ David it's been a grand prix of decimation so far, you
   went out early, what happened to you?

DC Well I got caught up in the tyres at the second chicane.
   I was following Jacques quite closely through the corner,
   he hit the tyres and because they're bolted down with
   wires they moved in and then they bounced out again and
   just as they came out they hit my front wheel and that
   was it, my track rod was broken. It's crazy really that I
   should pay that price for someone else hitting the tyres.

TJ It's exactly the situation we discussed on the start line
   as well about the tyres and you weren't happy about it.

DC No I don't think it's a good solution because it's
   something there to hit. If you hit, don't damage your car
   immediately, go through a fast corner and then it fails,
   it's dangerous. That's exactly what we'll be campaigning
   against. Really I'm as much to blame as the other drivers
   for allowing them to be put there for the race, we really
   need to think about it for the next one.

-- 
David Goodwin