Quotes

Imola:

Scott Speed: "I'm just happy to have finished after the brake problems we had - it felt like the 24 Hours of Imola out there!"

"I had lunch at Renault today and Flavio asked me if I was going to win - I laughed and said yes!" Heikki obviously had the scoop on the first race.

"I had problems at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of that race.” – but the rest of the Imola race was fine for Nelson Piquet.

Adam Carroll, Imola Race Two: “This is my type of car. It’s got grunt, power and torque. You hit the throttle and it will light the rear wheels up. I love cars that oversteer, too, so this is just perfect.”

"It was lucky for Giorgio really, because if he had hit me and I fell on him I might have crushed him!" – Enrique Scalabroni contemplates a diet after his near miss in Imola.

Hiroki Yoshimoto: "I was just stupid! I spun trying to get the fastest lap on the first lap because of the Formula One rubber. It was all my mistake -­ I want to punch myself in the head!"

Spain:

“I’m a racing driver. I’ll drive anything. Any track, anytime, anywhere. Make some corners up, put me in a car, and I’ll drive them quickly.” – Scott felt relatively confident in Spain.

“Last year was a very difficult season for me because most people saw me as the guy who was at the back, or the guy who could only beat Baumgartner. Today I think I showed them I can beat more than Baumgartner.” – Zsolt wasn’t in the race, Gimmi.

"I think I start about twentieth or something, so for sure I can maybe get a podium!" – Juan Cruz Alvarez felt confident despite destroying his car and getting concussion the previous day in Barcelona.

“I said sorry to him for what happened. It was a shame it finished like that, but we were wearing crash helmets when he came over so I couldn’t really hear what he said.” – Nelson explains his conversational style with friend Adam Carroll after punting him out of race two in Barcelona.

Ryan Sharp: "I'm looking forward to Monaco because I drove there in V6 and it suits my style - I'm smooth and I stay off the kerbs, mostly because I can't afford to pay for a crash!”

Monaco:

“When I was a kid I was a freak about this place, and I knew it so well even then. I can't wait to get out on track!” – Yoshi, who is still waiting to drive in Monaco.

“Monaco really is the ultimate challenge for a racing driver as there’s no room for mistakes.  With no run-off area, you have to be millimetre perfect - an inch too late or an inch too wide and you’ll end up in the barriers.” – Clivio Piccione, who retired from the race after hitting the barriers.

“As we only have one race it’s just going to be really important to qualify well” – said Nelson before qualifying in Monaco - unfortunately Can Artam wasn’t listening.

“I was really happy with the car this morning in free practice, and I was looking pretty good for qualifying, and then this idiot happened. He's been in Formula 3000 before, and now he's just here spending money thinking he's going to get somewhere and then look what happens.” – don’t hold back Nelson – what do you really think?

"I was in the middle of the track and I tried to move across to give him room, but he was already there." – From the Defensive Driving Manual, by Can Artam.

Ryan Sharp: "I think the internals of the gearbox are now external ­ - we can see straight through it."

"The GP2 championship is known as a very tough, lot of work championship. When we ask people would you like to come and race with us they say 'do you have an opening in your F3 team?'" – Alfonso de Orleans describes his employment techniques.

Nurburgring

“The first corner is going to be a mess” Yoshi gazes into his crystal ball and gets it spot on.

Journalist: "That was a bit of a PlayStation moment - it looked as though he was using the other car to get him around the corner. If Carroll wasn't there Garcia would be in Luxembourg by now."

Alfonso: "I don't think that's true - that corner points towards Belgium, actually."

“I’ve got to win a race this year, because I’m so damn fast” – Nico seemed pleased with his drive to third from 24th on the grid at the Nurburgring.

“We’re not going to appeal the decision because it was Borja’s fault.” Alfonso could see the stewards point after Borja was banned for a race after causing a crash at the Nurburgring.

“If you think Formula One is boring then you should look at this now!” Clivio was rightly over the moon after winning race two.

“Good man, hold them up and I’ll be up there in a minute!” – Adam’s thoughts on seeing Neel Jani holding up the field.

“Rubbing is racing!” Adam Carroll describes his race once he got up to the frontrunners.

“My friend, I am so sad - a crocodile, he walked in front of Gimmi’s car and he eat the whole gearbox!” – Paolo Coloni had an unusual problem to face in race two at the Nurburgring.

“I think I made the race interesting! What I didn’t do is zigzag – once I change my direction then there I am, and if you want to you can go around the outside, which they did in the end because I just couldn’t brake late anymore.” Neel Jani on that race.

Legends test

Adrian Campos: “It’s the best car I’ve ever driven in my life!”

Jacques Lafitte: “This car is so fast, it made me feel like a boy again.”

“It really is a very good car - it’s exactly what any young driver needs to prepare him for Formula One” – So said Damon Hill, who arranged for his young driver Steven Kane to drive it too.

Patrick Tambay: “I really shouldn’t have come today. I haven’t driven anything like this in 20 years, and I just want to start racing again.”

France:

“We were not the quickest on any of the days, but we've never been quickest in Ricard and we are still winning races, so that was not the point.” - Try telling Nico that test wasn’t important, Heikki.

“This month is going to be so important, and with this many races in one month it could either make or break the championship” – Adam Carroll, speaking before the month that broke his championship.

Heikki on the month break: “It’s always a bit boring when I’m not doing much.” 

“Yeah, we had a fire on the steering wheel!” Gimmi confirms he had some unexpected problems at the test.

“Oh shit.” Yoshi on being told Borja would line up on the grid behind him in Magny-Cours

“I could tell you, but I’d be pretty stupid to, wouldn’t I!” Nico after being asked what ART had found at the test.

Yoshi to team boss Scalabroni, on the phone: "I did okay - I got sixth yesterday and second today. And it happened the first time you weren't here - I think you should stay away for the rest of the season if that's what happens."

“It’s a bit itchy!” J Lo on a rash he had on his arms and torso in France.

“It’s very, very annoying now” - J Lo’s second day with the rash

“That’s when the Finnish racing spirit comes out, and no one can stop you then!”  Nico ditches his German heritage for a moment.

“Loads of smoke and two cars going off!” Adam explains what he saw of Premat taking off Lopez, Race Two.

Lopez: "He knew it was difficult to pass there anyway, and he just hit me.”

Carroll: "Yeah, and he'd already spun when he hit me!" Alex Premat struggled to make friends in France.

Silverstone

“They’ve clearly found something.” – It’s hard to get anything past Heikki unnoticed.

Nico on Heikki: “the problem is he’s bloody consistent as well, so we won today but bloody hell - he’s only lost two points!”

“The car was very shit in the beginning and then we changed the tyres and then it was a bit better” – Xandi in Silverstone.

“A lot of fucking pressure” – Olivier Pla’s colourful description of his first win at Silverstone.

"We've been to six events - eleven races - and the only time we didn't have any problems was Magny-Cours. But I have to be positive.” Good thing you got that podium, Yoshi.

Hockenheim

“Umm….it depends!” – Alex Premat on being asked whether he was any good in the wet.

“The name may have a negative effect sometimes, and you have to work around that” – so said Nico Whatshisname.

“I got recognised in the street! That’s the first time that’s happened in 25 fucking years.” Dave Price post Silverstone.

J Lo: “That was probably the worst race in my career.”

“I can feel it in my arse” - Heikki had an unusual method for working out whether or not he was fast enough.

“That sounds beautiful!” – Nico on being told his race was “amazing.”

“I’d rather win the race than take the best lap and end up in the gravel!” - GP2’s king of spin Olivier Pla on taking his second win.

“He wasn't fair with me in qualifying, and now in the race he's done another dangerous move. I think when it comes to my chance to do it to him he'll see how bad it is.” - Nelson issues the smack down to Scott.

"I don't think there's any reason to panic - we just need to look at it carefully" – let us know when we should, Heikki.

“Okay, we made a few mistakes with the strategy at Paul Ricard…” - Nicolas Todt, confirming he saw the same race as the rest of us.

“Now everybody is talking about Nico Rosberg, but Nelsinho always beat him in Formula Three. It'll happen here too...” – Nelson Sr took an unbiased look at GP2.

Hungary

“There was oil on the track? I had no idea” – Nico appears to have literally during the Budapest practice.

Neel, after winning in Budapest: “I think tonight I will sleep very well!”

Neel on Heikki’s overtaking attempt: “I'd say he took quite a risk there - he looked more like a Japanese driver than a Finnish one!”

Nico: “It's not that many podiums, really … well, one each weekend since Monaco!”

“It's always difficult to overtake here - you just need to hope that some driver will make a mistake, like I did yesterday to be honest” – Giorgio Pantano is always ready to help his fellow drivers.

“The whole year is like a holiday if you don't need to work to make money - that's like a holiday!” – Nelson explaining why he wouldn’t be taking a break before the next race.

Turkey

“I think that maybe my head isn't working a hundred percent at the track because things are not going in the right direction or going well” – You might want to work on that, Nelson.

“I think now is the time to have some luck!” – Paolo Coloni, stating the obvious in Turkey.

“I think there’s going to be more here than we’ve seen all year. The layout, the braking zones - this place was built for overtaking. Seriously. It's the coolest track” – Sure Scott, but do you like the Istanbul track?

“I was going quick and then along comes Can Artam … I don’t understand … I’m sorry for him but … I hate him! Big time! I was so pissed!” – You can probably scratch Yoshi off your Christmas card list, Can.

“I got through and the others crashed, so something was good!” – Borja got the fundamentals right in Turkey.

“I wasn’t very happy, that’s for sure. I was just thinking … you complete wanker, you’ve fucked your race now” – Adam was less than pleased after stalling on the front row. He got back up to second, though.

“Did I do good? Really? I had no idea - I didn’t even know where I was - I had no clue. There was just everybody everywhere. I was just really careful and going where there was nobody” – If Nico can be that fast in the rain and not even know it, the others should be worried.

“I didn’t know that I was racing the two BCN cars, who were obviously still on wets, and I was thinking ‘where are the flags?’ I managed to get past them pretty easily, and my team told me after the race that I was racing with them!” – Heikki really needs to work on his communication skills during the race.

Scott Speed in the wet, Turkey: “It was quite difficult to tame 600 horsepower!”

“I think the weekend where we have both drivers in the points we’ll go out and have a big party. And you’re invited!” – We’re looking forward to it, Alfonso.

“I was waiting, no problem, because I was able to overtake whenever I wanted, but suddenly everyone started overtaking me – Lauda first” – Ernesto Viso describes that sinking feeling in Turkey.

Monza

Heikki, on the gap back to third in qualifying: “It's a surprise, but I'm not complaining – as long as the gap stays like that tomorrow, it's fine!”

Nico: “Lucky for him I was there with him, because otherwise it would have looked suspicious!”

Adam: “I’m sick of starting at the back!”

Adam: “It felt quite easy today. Testing the F1 car here last week… now that was tiring.”

Olivier: “In Monza we have just one problem – we are slow on the straight – which is a big problem!”

“The first few laps were really good – there were a lot of people crashing, and it was quite exciting!” – Nicolas Lapierre on life in the fast lane, Monza.

“It looked like he made a little twitch and that’s when we made contact… but on the other hand I had a few metres of space on the inside, so why was I that close? In the end it was just stupid. He thinks it’s my fault, and I think it was his fault. There’s no tension between us though, it’s cool” – Nico sending mixed messages after his crash with his teammate in Monza.

“Things are going to get back to normal I think in the next two races, like in Istanbul where he was 1.5 seconds a lap off. I think we're going to have a bit of an edge…” – Feeling confident, Nico?

Neel, who won in Monza, just: “I have to say that Monfardini shunted me in Turkey, but I forgive him after today!”

Spa

Ernesto: “I don't just want to talk about the problems, I'd rather talk about the good things in the season - even if there are not many.”

Gimmi: “If you go back last year to here, in Formula One I qualified as the best qualifying ever for Minardi, ahead of the Jordans, one of the BARs and Toyota, so obviously I like this circuit.”

Nico: “We were really quick this morning, easily quickest, so when it started raining I was like ‘yes!’”

“I don't understand why the GP2 series costs 2.5 million and our team and other teams cost maybe between three and five hundred million - I don’t see what the difference is” – I guess that’s why you’re not an accountant, Flavio.

“I'm really angry at Piquet because he pushes all the drivers, was in contact with the other drivers, and I think this is stupid” – Alex spits the dummy.

“I braked a bit hard, and we were coming from sixth gear to first gear – I locked up a little and unfortunately I touched him, and these things happen sometimes. It was wet, and I was on slicks” – Nelson shrugs.

An understated Heikki, in Spa: “It was not really the best day…”

“Nobody was ready when I came in - they were admiring Alex driving off!” – Nico on ART’s unorthodox pitstop style. Well, they are French, and it did look good.

Nico: “I'm looking forward to Bahrain, where I think we're going to be very strong – I think we're going to be ballistic.” 

“After the safety car someone spun and there was another safety car, and then another one because of Yoshimoto, so it was lucky” – Well, except for your teammate, Ernesto.

“I think I had a good race – I started 21st and finished 5th” – We have to agree, Juan Cruz.

Borja, Spa, Race Two: “It was just difficult on this track, because I couldn't see anything – even my glasses were hard to see through!”

“When it rained it started to get really heavy, and there was some standing water at the top of Eau Rouge – I came through that and it was a little bit squirrelly” – Only a little bit, Adam?

Yoshi: “Until this moment, through every race, I've never bent a suspension arm, and here I've bent about twenty.”

Neel: “I saw there were yellow flags displayed so I slowed down, and I was going through Eau Rouge and suddenly there was a car passing in front of me, and I just hit him. Maybe if I didn't slow down for the yellow flags I would have passed him.”

Neel: “I've got blue knees, blue elbows, blue ribs and all over my back – just everywhere.”

“I think when we won we thought 'okay, now we have to win another one, and another one, and another one', and then we were in the fight for the championship” - Frederic Vasseur caught on fast.

Bahrain

“I don’t think it's the biggest weekend of my life, just because I don't see it like that” – So said Heikki in Bahrain – he clearly has a more interesting life than most. 

“It's bloody difficult in a Formula One car to do more that fifteen laps – it's not easy” – Don’t worry Frank, we’re sure Nico will get up to speed pretty quick.

Nico: “GP2 champion? There's worse things than that, for sure!”

Nico on Heikki’s early pitstop in Bahrain: “I thought 'what the hell are they doing?', and that it was good that they messed up their strategy once in the season too!”

“He drove alone just to get the fastest lap and I drove to get positions, which is a bit more of a race” – Alex feels he was the moral victor in the battle for third in the championship against Scott.

Season Review

Giorgio Mondini works out his problem: “I thought I would be faster at the end frankly, and I could have been if you look at the data, but the main problem was I made mistakes.”

Heikki on his season: “It’s been okay, apart from not winning the championship, obviously.”

Fairuz Fauzy: “The season for me has been quite unlucky – I think in Monaco I could have easily finished in the top five but we had a few problems there.”

Can: “In the early days in testing Scott was pretty quick, but unfortunately we were not able to convert that into results as a team.”

Mathias Lauda tells it like it is: “This year my qualifying performance was totally wrong, totally shit, totally bad.”

Borja: “The first part of the season was too difficult for me and my team.”

“I don’t know if it’s bad luck or what, but I can’t seem to finish races” – Well it’s not good luck, Juan Cruz.

Xandi: “I had some really good races, and also some terrible races!”

Neel’s secret to his success: “That’s where I did a new record this year I think – keeping guys behind me!”