Sunday March 12th, 2000

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher: This was the fifth time we have tried to win in Australia and to be competitive at the start of the season. The first time I sat in the car I knew I would be able to fight for the championship right from the start. I was not worried yesterday. I thought Mika could celebrate pole - and I could celebrate the win! We still have to work to improve our starts, but I could match the pace at the front and I decided to take it easy and push before the pitstops. I was disappointed when the McLarens retired, because I would have preferred to race them to the end to show what we could do. Towards the end, I had no need to push and I let Rubens pass, as he had to make a second stop and he was fighting for second place. I am looking forward to the rest of the season. We have a car which will be competitive everywhere and we also know how to develop it.

Rubens Barrichello: I did not make a very good start and even though the car was good, I was stuck behind Frentzen. It is very difficult to overtake here. I tried very hard, but then I decided to back off. He was holding me up. I was talking to the team all the time on the radio and we decided to switch to a two-stop strategy to get me ahead. My only problem was when I found myself in neutral briefly as I was leaving the pits. Now I am looking forward to the next race. Maybe we can switch places, so that I can win in Brazil...

Jean Todt: We could have made a better start. This is the first 1-2 finish with our new driver line-up. The cars went really well in this opening race. I was worried about the reliability. We got the best result, while those we expected to be our main rivals failed to score. The championship is a difficult obstacle race with 16 rounds to go. Now we have a great opportunity which we must exploit. The whole team worked very well. Michael used the car rebuilt after Friday's accident, thanks to excellent work from the mechanics. We changed Barrichello's strategy in order to get him past Frentzen and all went according to plan.

Williams

Ralf Schumacher: "I am very happy about the start of the new season. I didn't really expect a podium place at the first race! The team did a great job with the preparation of the FW22 and the BMW engine performed in the best way, showing to be reliable and driveable. I want to thank the WilliamsF1 team and BMW for the great job they did in Grove and Munich. We are going to celebrate today's great success together. The car ran really well throughout, and there were no major problems."

Frank Williams: "WilliamsF1 and BMW are just delighted, astonished for what happened today and despite Jenson's lack of a finish his underlying performance, pace and rhythm, promise great things. I must say my very best congratulations to BMR. I don't believe - without checking - that any other engine supplier or engine manufacturer has achieved a podium place with the first race of their engine until you go back to 1967 and the debut of the Ford Cosworth engine."

Gerhard Berger, BMW Motorsport Director: "This is a dream start for BMW in F1. I can't remember the last time a manufacturer entered Formula One with a podium finish. We didn't expect this, but we had a good feeling! It is hard work from the BMW WilliamsF1 Tean, good technical ability and good drivers that have made this result possible. Ralf did a super job, especially after his pitstop. His lap times were simply incredible. Also, after Jenson's performance today, all those people who said he was too young for F1, should now be quiet. Of course there will disappointments in the future. This is F1 and we are still learning. But you can see from the result today that the potential is there and that we have begun on a high note."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve: "It feels great to have finished where we did. I knew we would be able to score points today, and after the struggle of the last year, it is good to finally achieve this. To do it in our first race with Honda is really good. I had hoped we could get onto the podium but Ralf(Schumacher) passed me in the pit stops, although I really didn't think the Williams would last the distance. This is a great start to the season and gives us something to build on. It's been very hard, but even after 12 months like the year we've had, fourth is still not good enough. I'm disappointed we missed the podium because of the pit stop. I know that there are more developments; we should get some good things for Silverstone."

Ricardo Zonta: "I had a lot of understeer throughout the race and this cost me some time in the fast corners. I thought I was going to finish sixth and score a point, but I couldn't do anything about Salo coming past me. I had a few problems this weekend, but today the car and engine ran perfectly. It's obviously good to get two cars in the top seven, but I really wanted that point." (Zonta was later elevated to 6th, after Mika Salo qas disqualified)

Benetton

Giancarlo Fisichella: "I had a bad start as there was a problem with the clutch and I lost a couple of places. Then either someone touched me or something on the rear of my car broke because it became really loose and I had massive oversteer in the corners and I couldn't drive the car like I did in the warm-up. But once I learnt how to control it I was able to be fairly competitive but just couldn't risk going off the line. I am pleased to get two points in the first race, it's a good start for the season."

Alexander Wurz: "Unfortunately I had a problem with my clutch at the start and I couldn't start properly, so I spent the rest of the race trying to catch up. Then I lost a place in the pit-stop and when there is only 2 seconds between 4th and 8th position you can't afford the slightest error. It is a good result for the team to have both cars finish the first race in a very competitive way though."

Rocco Benetton: "I am happy with our performance today. Obviously reliability was the protagonist and in spite of a problem on the rear of Giancarlo's car after the incident between Irvine and De la Rosa, we still managed to finish in the points. We have to work more on the tuning of the clutch to improve the starts, but nevertheless the first objective of creating a competitive and reliable car for the first race has been fully achieved."

Prost

Jean Alesi: "I started this race with the spare car after having an engine electro-hydraulic problem on my car. I had to start from the pits in a car that was prepared for my team-mate. I had a lot of physical problems and the set-up was not adapted for me. In the end, my race ended early with an engine problem. It is the end of a difficult week-end in which everyone has worked very hard; but there is still a lot to do before the next race."

Nick Heidfeld: "I am truly happy to have finished this race in particular for the whole team. However, it is evident that we lack a lot of reliability in certain areas. Jean had some engine problems and I was worried by my brakes, which caused me to come back to the pits. Unfortunately, at the same time, we had a radio communications problem and the team was not ready when I came in. I think my times on the track were not bad in the end even if I would have liked to have done even better. We are now going to do all we can to improve from our experience of this opening race."

Alain Prost: "We knew this first race was going to be a big test, our first real one. And despite all the problems we have had this week-end, we are relatively satisfied with the 10th place achieved by Nick, encouraged by the level of reliability despite the brakes problem he experienced. As for Jean, it was a pity he could not race in his racecar. In terms of performance, it would have been interesting for us to see him fighting his way through the field longer than he could. Today, he had the capacity to do so. Clearly there are a lot of problems to fix in the brief break and this is a big job for the team to tackle together in full cooperation."

Corrado Provera, Peugeot Sport Director: "We knew the first race of the season would be very difficult. That Nick Heidfeld finished the race, in effect our first full distance this year in real conditions, should be considered quite satisfying. Plenty of problems remain to be resolved to improve our reliability and make us more competitive. A very important job has been done by both Prost Grand Prix and Peugeot Sport in conceiving and developing the AP03 in often-difficult conditions. This first chequered flag which few observers believed we would see has given us all encouragement and a strong motivation to work."

Jordan

Heinz Harald Frentzen: "I am really disappointed with this result as I was in a strong position and could have finished on the podium."

Jarno Trulli: "I made a very good start but unfortunately I was stopped by Schumacher and Barrichello and I wasn’t able to move up from sixth. I was comfortably following Barrichello and Heinz-Harald (Frentzen) for the majority of the race. Then, several laps after the Safety Car had gone in, I had a problem with the exhaust which lead to the end of my race. The car is potentially very good - we just need to improve the reliability."

McLaren

Mika Hakkinen: "Obviously I'm disappointed to leave Australia and the first race of the season without any points, particularly since I didn't score any points here last year either. I was very happy with the car until I was forced to retire with a technical failure. We will identify exactly what caused the problem and work hard to solve it before the next race."

David Coulthard: "I made a good start and was feeling comfortable in second place when the engine developed a misfire just after the safety car pulled in. I went into the pits to change the engine mapping but the problem could not be cured and unfortunately that was the end of my Australian Grand Prix."

Ron Dennis: "This is an understandably disappointing outcome to a race that we were controlling from the front. We can at least be positive about the fact that the failures we experienced in the race are the same as those in practice which means it should not be particularly difficult to find a solution as its in an area where we have never incurred problems before. As is obvious we are quick enough to win. We were conserving fuel because Mika and David were very happy with their cars but as always to finish first – you first have to finish."

Norbert Haug: "The same problem on the engine's pneumatic valve system, which caused failures yesterday, stopped us today. We have to fix that rapidly in order not only to be quick but to finish races."

Jaguar

Johnny Herbert: "It's been a difficult weekend for everybody. I had a great start, got into a good position then the clutch started to slip on the exit of turn two and gradually got worse. It's very frustrating as I haven't done many laps since I've been here. When the car runs we have shown that we are competitive. We are still moving forward. Everyone will get their heads together and get on with the job. These are still early stages for the team and I believe we can push ahead quickly."

Eddie Irvine: "I was following De la Rosa when he hit the wall," said Irvine. "I lifted off to avoid him and spun to a halt. I would have like to have finished the race but not in the manner it turned out for me. As you can see from the make-up of the final results, it was a day to finish. I'm not too disheartened but we do have a lot of problems to address. We know what we have to do - we all need to get on and sort things out."

Arrows

Jos Verstappen: "I had a reasonable start and going into the second corner decided to go to the right and passed three cars there, which was a good move. During the race it was obvious our cars were very good at top speed and it was great to be able to pass people. I had a scary moment due to a problem with the front steering arm and had to come in. The team changed that part, but when Pedro got back to the pits they decided to pull me out of the race so not to risk the driver or the car. I was very pleased with the car and think it is looking good for this season."

Pedro de la Rosa: "Until the accident it was a good race for us. It was a shame, but there was nothing I could do the car just went straight and I couldn't turn. The first laps were good with overtaking and we were really going very well. Looking at the race result it would have been interesting for us as we are definitely competitive."

Tom Walkinshaw: "Of course I am disappointed with the outcome of the race. When I see how many cars have retired I know we could have been in the points. However, the cars ran well in the early laps and both drivers were able to overtake. We are now confident that we have competitive cars and that the A21 and Supertec package is working well."