Michael Schumacher did not storm his way to the front of the field in damp conditions at Spa Francorchamps like many had predicted, but he was running strongly and looking to secure a podium position for the Ferrari squad. That was until he was nailed by Takuma Sato into La Source following a safety car period.
Sato simply missed hi braking point and the BAR Honda struck the back of Schumacher`s F2005 ending his race there and them. Schumacher was naturally not happy with the situation.
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello meanwhile admitted that he and his car just did not have the speed and all things considered, was relatively happy with fifth position, his first points since the British Grand Prix.
Rubens Barrichello
“Unfortunately we did not have enough speed today and that was a problem throughout the race. The decisions we made regarding tyre choice were good, as were the decisions about when to make the pit stops. That is the only reason why we managed to bring home some points. At one point we felt it was better to stay on the rain tyres as although they were getting slick they seemed to be working better. Unfortunately, after this stage had passed, the tyres went off quite a bit and I had to stop to change them. Then I lost fourth position because getting the dry tyres warm at the end was very difficult and Webber overtook me very easily. Considering everything that happened today, coming home with four points is not bad.”
Michael Schumacher
“Every accident is unnecessary but this one seemed more unnecessary than usual. Obviously I am not happy about it, I did not see anything and just felt a bump at the rear of the car. It was stupid to finish the race like this when we had hoped that the mixed conditions might help us. We decided to try the dry tyres but it was immediately obvious that it was like driving on ice. We tried to be competitive today and we got a bit closer to that goal, but not close enough.”
Jean Todt
“This was a chaotic and confusing race. We hoped to exploit the unusual weather conditions but this year, it seems that even the luck that can be a fundamental part of motor racing will not come our way. Maybe we have had too much of it in the past few years, but I hope we can now get back in credit on this score as quickly as possible. At the start of the race, Michael was a front runner, while Rubens who had started from further back, was struggling a bit."
"When the Safety Car came, out we tried to gamble on dry tyres on Michael’s car, but very quickly, he realised the car was impossible to drive in these conditions. So another stop was needed to go back to rain tyres, but Michael’s race lasted just one more lap, when he was hit by Sato in the braking area for La Source. This meant all our hopes rested with Rubens, who had moved into the points by this stage. His race was going normally, but when his rain tyres began to go off significantly, he had to pit again to fit dry ones with just a few laps remaining. The time he lost doing this and in getting the dry tyres up to temperature cost him fourth place.”
Ross Brawn
“It was a day when some opportunities presented themselves, but we did not take all of those that came our way. At the beginning of the race we held our positions but we were not that strong. Then, we thought we would take a chance and try dry tyres on Michael’s car when the Safety Car came out, but he realised there was no way he could drive on them. The lap times seemed to indicate that “dries” would work, but for some reason they did not and we had to change back immediately. Then, to finish it off, came the accident with Sato. Rubens struggled at the beginning of the race, then the car got better. But towards the end we tried to stay on the wet tyres, but they got too hot and changing to dries cost us a position. The only good thing is we have slightly increased our lead over Toyota.”


Tags: ferrari, schumacher, barrichello, spa, belgia, podium,