Daniel Pelzer (1st Place)
"Had a reasonably good race except for a pretty big rally slide
trying to over take the Minardi (They must have got their license out of a
cornflakes packet). I lapped Frentzen on lap 22 and crossed the finish line
quite pleased with myself."
John Pelzer (2nd Place)
"Had a reasonably good race apart from all the traffic. Couldn't get
a good set-up in the race to match the brilliant one in qualifying. Had one
big spin in the chicane near the end trying to avoid those damned Lola's..."
Jere Santala (4th Place)
"I was able to gain the lead in 2nd lap though I had to start from 17th
position. I decided to make no pitstop, which was a mistake making the
car very hard to drive and causing some awful lap times. This costed me
the point-finish this time."
David Atkinson (5th Place)
"Started 15th, 6th after 1st corner after hitting wheels with Irvine. Passed Alesi and Berger coming up to Frentzen at the end of the main straight I hit him lightly after he pulled out to block me, he skids in front of Schumacher and that enables me to slip inside then to be 2nd behind Villeneuve. On the second lap I manage to get up the inside of Villeneuve through a slow right hander. Villeneue 20 sec behind on lap 7. Lap 14 Tyres feel dreadful I hope they will carry me to the end of the race. Lap 16 My lap time are 3 secs or more off my best time, tyres are getting worse. Finished 1st, tyres managed to hold on. Second was Villeneuve more than a minute behind, Frentzen was third."
Nino Arndt (7th Place)
"I Started from ninth place but within the first 3-4 corners I
was in the lead. Making only one major fault, on the last lap just before the last corner, I
made a 360 degrees spin, but kept the car on the track, lucky!"
Chris Miles (8th Place)
"After starting from 20th position I made a good start
and grabbed 1st position before the end of the first lap. From
there it was a pretty clean race, with only a few little slides
which lost me a few seconds. My only major problem was one of
the Jordan hooligans who held me up for half a lap while I was
trying to lap him..."
Alan Dixon (11th Place)
"Well a very good race with the car feeling much better than at Silverstone. From the green light I
sneaked up the inside into 6th at the chicane, nearly putting Mika Hakinen and myself into the kitty litter.
I was carrying less fuel than the rest, opting for a one stop strategy. So I
quickly caught and passed the guys up-front. Unfortunately Jacques Villeneuve
tried to shut the door as I overtook him at the sharp left turn second
after the Chicane. He ended up in the Gravel and rejoined at the back! After that I just kept my foot as
hard down as I dared and hoped I could get in and out of the pits without losing the lead as I had failed to
do at the Spanish Grand prix. This time I was OK and then just drifted away from
them all finishing 55 seconds ahead of HH-Frentzen."
Kenneth Brisbane (12th Place)
"I had a very good start. I went from 13th to 1st in the first
few corners. I maintained my lap times throughout the race. After
leaving the pits on lap 13 I was happy to see 2nd place driver, Michael
Schumacher, in my rearview mirror. Now, with fresh Goodyear tyres I knew
I would finish in front of him. I finished 1st with 40.1 seconds in
front of 2nd place driver, Michael Schumacher. Thanks goes to the Brizz
Renault Pit Crew...Thanks!"
Ales Jamesk (14th Place)
"Not one of my favourite tracks - as it can be seen from qualifying and race result.
Had to start way back on the grid, from 22nd place. It took me about 5-6 laps to get into the lead, which I
kept until the pit-stops came. Mechanics did great job, managing to let me out from the pits in 7.4
seconds. I rejoined the race in fifth place, but on a new tire set managed to get back into the lead in about
3 laps, where I stayed until the end. Thanks god, Adelaide is behind us now, looking forward to
Monza!"
Hugues De Lachevrotière (15th Place)
"I have get up to the 15th place at the beginning of the race and
I have pass Berger at the 10th lap to come first. I don't really like
this race mainly because there is not a lot of place to pass the other
cars, and that's a problem when you start 20th. I have to make better on
the next qualification..."
Tom Lin (16th Place)
"Starting on grid No.21, I fled up to 11th on the first bend. On lap 14, I collided into Jean Alesi, who retired after the incident. I rode to the pits with a front tyre out, but took around 8.6 secs in the pit to move down to 7th after my pit-stop. On lap 16, I speed round the track to clinch a fastest time of the race. After 20 laps, I led the race to the end."
Stevie Coshott (17th Place)
"I made a brilliant start from 25th position and was amongst the leaders within 2 laps thanks to an inspired choice to use the qualifying setup for the race. On lap 3 took the lead from Villeneuve. However a collision with the wall forced me limp into the pits into the pits on 3 wheels for repairs on lap 11. This put me back into 15th place. Within 8 laps I had regained the lead and I was very careful this time to keep the car on the track. At times the car felt very loose on the corners causing me to oversteer but the speed on the straights and the acceleration more than compensated for it."
Michael Cowley (18th Place)
"After a stock car style first lap (spending more time in the air
than on the ground),I managed to fight my way to first position, where I
remained until later on when a shunt with a backmarker about six laps from
the end forced me into the pits for a new nosecone. the change of tires did
me good too. I removed my nosecone on the penultimate lap, but didn't pit to
have it replaced. Finished with a lead of around 20 seconds. With regards
to the qualifying, to quote a famous Schumacher: "We just f***ed up!"
Peter Grochocki (20th Place)
"After a brilliant start, in which I passed some EIGHT cars, I passed the leader on lap 4. Then I built up a lead of 16 seconds, before my first stop. The stop went according to plan. I was running on half tank so I wasn't very light or very heavy. Then on lap 19, I had a spin, and collided with a Minardi, in which I lost my front left wheel. I had it repaired, and came out in 6th spot. I made my fastest lap on lap 22. I passed the leader, Heinz-Harald Frentzen on the 23rd lap, and built up a gap of 5.6 seconds on the last lap. A good race, the car is reliable, but we still need to develop some speed. Our set-up was interesting, but the soft compound tyres wrecked it. From our first showing, it looks good, but anything can happen during the season."
Rick Kloosterman (21st Place)
"Just Brutal, on a new team with a new car and will take some
time to get used to. Will be taking the car out for testing and will
find all its faults and will be ready for the next race in Italy.."
Leonardo Naves Sousa (DNF)
"I started in 26th position, and had some problems, A LOT of spins."
Denni Winslade (DNF)
"DAMN! All over on lap one...."
James Santi (DNF)
"Good start, made up much ground after missing qualifying.
Unfortunate accident with a few other cars on the first bend, finished in
the gravel minus a wheel and front wing..."
Jonathan Santi (DNF)
"Yet again, my dangerous and aggressive driving was my downfall. I
was involved in an accident on the first corner and didn't complete another
lap..."
Lindsay Wilson, Mark Trembath, Kai Lehtinen, Miki Zupancic,
Tom Lindop, Nick Balanov, Bruno Perron and Marius Gros were
unable to comment as we went to press.
Mail me about anything to do with this page...suggestions, compliments and criticisms welcome.
Updated 20th May 1997
