Ferrari

Eddie Irvine: "Mika was the star today and he won the race. He is 'Boy Wonder!' I will give him my trophy. Now that he is fully on the pace, we can start to think about the Constructors' Championship, which we were not sure about before. It has taken me half the season to lead the championship again, but I am not thinking about winning it because I am a realist. At the start, I got boxed in and was sixth after one lap. I also had a problem with my oil temperature, so I was changing gear early to use less revs and moving out of the slipstream to keep the engine cool. I decided to look after my tyres and push hard before the pit stop and that is what I did. Then the race came to us. Once I had passed Mika I knew I was safe, but Ross (Brawn) told me to speed up a bit. When I did, the oil temperature went up again. I think Hungary will suit our car better, but we must work on improving the performance of the car, especially in qualifying."

Mika Salo: "I am very happy with the best result of my F1 career. When I saw 'P1' on my pit board, I could not believe it. My car ran perfectly all day and I had no problems. I did not feel it when Coulthard hit me, but I was glad he was gone, as then I could concentrate on catching another Mika. I let Eddie pass after the pit stop, but then I asked the team to tell him to speed up a bit as I had Frentzen right behind me. After two races in one week I am looking forward to doing some more testing and getting to know the car even better so that I can be even more ready for Hungary. I spoke to Michael Schumacher when I had just joined the team and he told me: 'Just drive the car and the team will do the rest.' He was right."

Jean Todt: "This was a great race. Today was really our day. Mika Salo was absolutely fantastic and displayed a great team spirit. Eddie drove a perfect race which is necessary on this track which is a hard test of reliability, brakes and engine. There are six races remaining in the championship. We always believed we could win the championship and it is still possible. I felt it was the right thing to do to send Chief Mechanic Nigel Stepney onto the podium to represent all the mechanics who have worked so hard, both day and night."

Jordan

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: "I didn't make the best getaway at the start of the race, but nor was it the worst. I had to let Mika's Ferrari through, but I was also stuck on the outside and Rubens got me two or three laps later. He was very fast at that stage, but we don?t know yet how much fuel he was running. Anyway, I had to let him through as well. Then I tried to find my pace. I could just keep up with the Ferrari guys, but at that moment I couldn't attack them. Unfortunately, I also flat-spotted a tyre before the fifth lap, which gave me a lot of vibration on the first set of tyres. In the end, Eddie caught me up, but then we made an earlier pit stop than planned, just to change tyres."

Eddie Jordan: "That was a fantastic result for Heinz-Harald. His result has taken him up to third place in the Drivers' championship and the team is maintaining its third place in the Constructors' championship, so I think everyone is happy. He did a great job and proved it was possible to win points here. I need to speak to Damon to see what actually happened and why did not want to continue."

Williams

Ralf Schumacher: "I am very pleased with today's result. I had a very good start, gaining four positions and then I had a clear race from there on which was pretty good for us, because we have definitely got through a lot of work this weekend. I think that this fourth position was a great achievement for the whole team, after several difficulties this weekend. I am aware that each race for the Winfield WilliamsF1 team is getting better and better."

Alex Zanardi: "Something was wrong with my car from the very first lap. Something was seizing and I was losing more and more speed. I realised this already on the installation lap. The team thought it was an engine problem but in truth it was a differential failure. In fact, after a while the differential failed altogether and I lost power and car control under braking. Eventually I was called back into the garage because on telemetry they were seeing problems."

Frank Williams: "I think that Ralf drove ten tenths in every lap, again a display of remorseless aggression in pursuit of the cars in front of him. I am very pleased."

Patrick Head, technical director: "Again we've had rather a repeatable scene, with a poor grid position and a sterling race. Ralf made no mistakes while the team made a very good job at the pit stop, ending up with a fourth place, on a track which is very hard on both car and driver. Unfortunately for Alex, he had a technical problem with his car in the race. A probable mechanical failure was causing excessive drag and eventually he had an electrical shut down that made us conclude that it was better to retire the car."

McLaren

Mika Hakkinen: "Of course I am very disappointed not to finish this Grand Prix but that is motor racing. The start was good and I had pulled out a reasonable lead before my pit stop but there was a problem engaging the fuel nossle, which lost me time. My new left hand rear tyre failed one and half laps later, throwing me into a spin and out of the race."

David Coulthard: "I had no intention of overtaking Mika Salo at the point where we collided, but he braked quite early in front of me and I went to the inside to avoid hitting him. However we touched and I lost part of my front wing which meant that I had to pit for another nose. This dropped me down the order and I was trying to overtake Panis and as we went into the chicane. I wanted to avoid another incident so I cut across the inside of the chicane for which I was surprised to receive a ten second stop go penalty."

Ron Dennis: "A difficult day for the team. Mika had a commanding lead which was eliminated by a jammed refuelling nossle during the pit stop. He had the speed to catch and possibly pass the Ferraris but suffered an instantaneous rear tyre delamination, which spun him into the barriers. Fortunately he suffered no injuries. David's race was no less uneventful. He pitted early as the result of loosing part of his front wing through contact with Salo under braking. We then changed to a two stop strategy but his race was further hampered by a penalty imposed whilst trying to catch the leaders. With six races remaining we will use the strength and depth of the team in order to achieve our goals. There is still a long way to go and this has never been a sport for the faint hearted."

Norbert Haug: "Mika drove a superb race without putting a foot wrong before loosing time during his pit stop. He was still close to the leaders in third place when a tyre failed at high speed sending him out of the race. We are very happy that he was unharmed. David's highly eventful race saw him require two additional unscheduled pitstops, however, he set fastest lap in his climb to fifth place. I am happy about our technical packages, so everything is still possible in the championship."

Prost

Olivier Panis: "It is difficult; I am happy to score a point today and disappointed not to finish in a better position. The work we have done this weekend deserved to see us in perhaps fourth place. I made a bad start, which same me fall from fifth place and possibly fourth. I promise to practice more! To finish this race with a point was necessary as all of the Prost Peugeot team has truly worked very well and this is the least we all deserved. I am very pleased for them and also for Alain as this weekend has been difficult for everyone."

Jarno Trulli: "I made a very good start but I was held up behind Olivier. The cars behind were able to take advantage and go by. At the first and the second chicanes, I gained some places and climbed back to eighth. On the same lap, at the third chicane, when I was following Ralf, I locked up under braking as often happens in this corner. It took me a while to understand that the anti-stall system was activated and I lost some places on the straight. Fortunately, everything quickly returned to normal. I was then able to catch Hill and Wurz and the car went very well before the engine began to struggle. Three laps later, I had to retire. When I think that Ralf finished fourth with the same strategy, I realise I lost a good opportunity again. Fortunately; Olivier finished in the points, a good result which gives great morale to the team."

Alain Prost: "We are very happy overall with the performance of the cars, but at the same time we are disappointed on the one hand by the retirement of Jarno and on the other by the poor start of Olivier. We started with two strategies: one stop for Jarno, two for Olivier. With a good start, Olivier would have been able to score more points. Anyhow, we have demonstrated that our cars are competitive. Now we have to have a trouble-free weekend to give us hope of scoring more points in the next few races. We are going testing in Mugello this week and we will work again very much on the development of the chassis."

Minardi

Marc Gene: "It was quite a good race despite a few little concerns: in fact I did a pretty good start but during the first laps I was hit by Villeneuve first and then by Zonta and I think something happened because since that moment I felt my car's behaviour was quite strange. Only after my pit stop I felt my car more competitive even if I am sure that it was not perfect. However I am very happy I finished the race at full laps."

Luca Badoer: "It could have been a little bit better. I tried to do a regular race by doing interesting lap times even though I experienced brakes and clutch concerns."

Giancarlo Minardi: "I think that both cars crossing the finishing line and one at full laps here at Hockenheim is to be considered a victory for our Team. We are satisfied with the good job done by the Team and the drivers."

Stewart

Johnny Herbert: "It's very frustrating. We should not be having mechanical problems at this stage of the season. We just have to bang our heads together and get it fixed very quickly. I must have done something really bad to someone up there. It does get you down. But rest assured, I'll keep on fighting. I got a clean start and picked up several places in the first few laps. The car felt good and I was able to run at a good pace. I was holding Panis off at the end. He was gaining on me slightly in The Complex but the only way he was going to pass was if I made a mistake so I was confident of finishing fifth."

Rubens Barrichello: "It was great while it lasted. I enjoyed the overtaking and I felt like I had enough power to challenge for third place with the two stop strategy I was on. My aim was to make a good start and gain as many places as I could - that part of the plan worked out fine. In the end I had no throttle and no gearbox. I've been running in the points in the British, Austrian and now the German Grands Prix and have nothing to show for it. Yet again this was a loss of valuable points. We can't afford to hand over points with silly things like this and give the advantage to our Championship rivals."

Paul Stewart, Chief Operating Officer: "At this stage of the season we expected to have far more reliability. We have had too many problems of this nature over the weekend. It is confusing because we had a good four day test at Monza in preparation for this race without any difficulties. The team's focus must now turn to improving reliability for the rest of the season."

Jac Nasser, CEO & President, Ford Motor Company: "It was very disappointing to be so competitive today, yet score no points. I feel especially sad for Johnny, who drove superbly to fight his way into the top six from 17th on the grid within 20 laps. To break down, with gearbox problems, only five laps from home in fifth position was a blow for Johnny and for the team. More than anybody, he is due some good fortune in Hungary in two weeks time."