Tomas Enge Q&A

"I'm very happy. After all the troubles we had on Saturday in free practice and qualifying and then the warm-up with the engine, I'm very happy to finish the race without any problems on the engine side or car side, and on my side as well."



"Finding the braking points, and finding the correct speed going into the corners. And generally how to use the brakes as well, which I found out in the race, obviously."



"It wasn't easy. But I had more in my head about it being my first drive in F1 than the other things around."



"I had no problem with that. Anyway, I started from 20th position, and my main target was to finish the race. I was not prepared to overtake five people in the first chicane, or the second one! So I had no problem with that. I signed the letter, but then on the grid Michael came to us and said that the decision we made after the drivers' briefing was cancelled, and just to keep concentration, don't do any stupid things. And that's what I did. I wouldn't have done any stupid things anyway, but it was helpful to have a four times World Champion come and support me a little bit! The race was fine, except of course at the first chicane when I went over Button's front wing - I couldn't avoid it. That destroyed my bargeboard. Apart from that, everything was fine."



"Of course it was a dream for more than six years, for me, my manager, my father and all the Czech people. So I'm happy to be here. I proud to be Czech, and I hope I can represent our country very well. It means that finally someone from Eastern Europe got into the category where most of the time it's only the West Europeans or Brazilians. It was because of the political situation in the past, and I think it takes a long time from then, but everything was building up. I hope we can stay here as long as possible."



"Well, of course. Not only the political but also the economic situation is now better. There are a few sponsors that helped me to come into F1."



"At the beginning of the week when we said to the press that I was going to drive in Monza there was a big boom, and a lot of people were wishing me good luck. I hope the whole country is behind me."



"I was thinking about this situation, and I think it was better that it happens now, than after the winter. Of course I have mixed emotions because it happened due to Luciano's crash, which I'm very sorry for. I hope that he's going to recover soon and he's going to be back in F1."



"The team is great. I mean the car, engine, everything is perfect, and I'm just very enthusiastic and looking forward to it."



"That's right, two years ago. I can't compare well because the tyres were different, and now they are much softer. And also at that time it wasn't a proper test for me, because I wasn't pushing to the maximum, so I didn't really find how the car is."



"Well, we'll try to do everything to get an F1 drive for next year. It will of course be difficult, but I hope I can help to find a place by my results."