Race reactions

Barrichello(Ferrari)1st in 1:29:12.420: "It's been good. We knew we would have some trouble with the grainy tyres, but they did a fantastic job. They held up very well and I was able to keep under pressure.

"I had a very good start and was amazed by the grip on the first lap, I could have gone a little bit quicker. Towards the end I didn't push too much, thinking the tyres would be alright, but the grain stayed and it was a little bit difficult."

M.Schumacher (Ferrari)12th at 1 lap: "Certainly it was not my weekend. But I have had so many good weekends this year and we have still won the grand prix with Rubens and those are the important factors."

And on his incident-packed race: "I had to pull the car out of the fire a few times. I thought I was inside Christian [Klien] and he thought he had his nose in front, which resulted in the collision.

"Then I was fighting with (Fernando) Alonso but got too close in the important area of the corner and just spun off. After that I had the tyre failure -- from that moment the race was over."

Button (BAR-Honda)2nd at 1.035: "It was a very tough race. When you know you're on two stops and the other guys are on three, it's very tough mentally. But to push with that much fuel on board, you get a lot of understeer, so it's almost impossible

And on his poor start from third on the grid: "To lose two or almost three places off the start was almost a disaster for us. If we get that right, then we can challenge these guys [Ferrari]. We know we have to work on it, sort it out by Japan, rocket off the line and then we'll be challenging for the win."

Sato (BAR-Honda)6th at 54.791: "I fought a hard battle having heavy fuel on board, but I was able to enjoy the race and at the end of the day to be able to finish in sixth place is a great team effort. I am happy that we have moved even further ahead of Renault."

Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes)3rd at 1.469: "The car was very good throughout the race. We took a risk as I was stuck behind Rubens, but it didn't pay off. But we're in the race to win it, not finish second."

Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)9th at 1:20.619: "There is no doubt that the pace was there, but I got stuck behind one of the Saubers in the opening stages and lost a lot of time."

Alonso (Renault)4th at 32.510: "It was a pretty good race. We started the weekend with quite a lot of problems, we improved the car throughout the weekend and it got better during the race. I think these five points will be important for the championship at the end of the year. The next two circuits should favour us more than the last ones have and I am feeling good."

Villeneuve (Renault)11th at 1 lap, making his F1 comeback after a year out: "To be honest, I just needed too long to get into the rhythm at the start of the race. I made a good start but I hadn't warmed the tyres enough and lost a lot of the positions I had made up."

Fisichella (Sauber)7th at 1:05.464: "I'm happy with seventh place, because my tyres were graining really badly from the start. After each stop the car was very, very competitive on new tyres and the balance came back again, but when the tyres started graining I was two seconds slower than the car's true potential."

Massa (Sauber)8th at 1:20.080: "I had a fantastic opening lap. I really enjoyed my fight with Button and was very happy to overtake him again after he had gone past me. But after two laps I had incredible graining on the tyres and the car was understeering so much I was holding everyone up. I'm actually surprised that I didn't lose more places."

Montoya (Williams-BMW)5th at 45.193: "My start wasn't too bad and I was able to pass Panis but then I went to the inside and it was so dirty that it was like stopping and everybody passed me back.

"I tried to regain my position and I overtook Jacques Villeneuve twice but I didn't have enough traction and he just passed me back. It was real fun!"

R.Schumacher (Williams-BMW)abandoned lap 37: "It's a true pity that my race had an early end. My car had a puncture following contact with Coulthard. He tried to overtake me but I think his move was a bit too optimistic.

"Anyway, I came into the pits to fix the car which we thought had been damaged but after a careful look, the engineers decided that I could continue the race. However, too much time had elapsed by then and it was too late to get out on track again, because I would have been two laps down.

Webber (Jaguar)10th at 1 lap: "I knew that the race was going to be tough and it was. The circuit is very demanding technically for both the driver and the car and we were giving it our all out there. "