Gerhard Berger Q&A

"It's good! It's no question the nicest thing in racing is to drive a racing car and get a win. But the second nicest is to do what I do now and win again!"



"Ralf is an extremely good pilot. He showed this year in the first few races that he's an outstanding pilot, and he's very close to the performance of Michael. I honestly think if you give him top material he's able to win a lot of races like Michael. And in San Marino he proved it once more. As he did already in the first three races, but he was a bit unlucky."



"Not really! If you know this business you don't think you win your first race after 21 races. It's unrealistic."



"It's fantastic. Really I have to say I'm very happy about our people at home. After 21 races, to build an engine like it is fantastic. The other thing is I was pushing very hard for this Michelin thing. I know how good Michelin is, but I didn't expect that we could win already after four races. And the other thing that is great is Williams. It just shows that they are winners, and they are back, and they're as strong as anybody out there, or maybe even stronger."



"Of course, when we go to the next race we'll try to do our best again. Let's say we are going to hope for a second win now, that's clear. But our goal was to win a race and get closer to the front. I think that we've showed it already, and the thing is to get closer and closer."



"Was it really big, the advantage? I think there was not enough room for a mistake. There was no room for a mistake in a pit stop, no room for a mistake from a driver. We had only 10 seconds, and it's still not possible to make any mistakes. I think we were controlling the race, but not in a too easy way."



"We didn't speak specifically about the engine. We were just very happy, because we've tried very hard in the last two and a half years to achieve what we achieved on Sunday. We had a great time, but we also had some friction in our conversations. At the end of the day in the two years we built up a quite strong partnership, we have a lot of respect for each other, and really the success starts already in Le Mans. They were building the car for us for Le Mans, and it started already there, a kind of success and a kind of confidence and a kind of respect. But F1 is a different story. It's very, very difficult, and when you go to the front here, it's really something not easy to achieve, and nobody knows better than Frank how difficult it is also on the engine side to get to a position like we are in now. And I think we are just both very, very happy that we get some prize money - even it all goes into the pocket of Frank!"



"Well, we are all going to be interested in what they are going to change, and we don't know, honestly. I'm sure it's not that easy. It's giving some different stresses to the car and the engine. It could be that there are some difficulties in the reliability, suddenly. But on the other side all that you are looking for is to see if everybody is under the same condition, or is somebody under a different condition? We are all going to know in two weeks. We are working at the moment to set out traction control. We are not ready yet, but I'm confident that we are going to be alright."



"Yes. We're all not happy about it, but it's the only way to be sure that everybody is under the same conditions."



"We all know what happened here in '94. It was a very sad moment, a very sad day. I still sometimes think, how can there be a day like Imola in '94? Not just about Ayrton, but also Ratzenberger, the mechanics, the guys in the grandstand, Barrichello... It's just sometimes interesting how things happen. Nobody has an explanation for it."



"Well, wherever we get it - and I think Frank is the same as me - we're just happy."