Grand Prix des Etats-Unis

Question: Michael, once again, congratulations. The wins seem to get better, and the next one is going to be even better.
Michael Schumacher: It is true. I mean, if you see the situation, it just was outstanding in Monza. This tops it again. Who knows what will be the next. But I'm just so delighted and happy about the way things have gone. If you see everything, if you obviously see the amount of pressure that is on, although you handle it, but it's still there. It's just so beautiful when you get the result like that.

Q: How surprised were you to be here after qualifying yesterday?
MS: I was not completely surprised to be at least amongst the first three because I knew from where I started I could make up some positions. I felt I was strong in the race. No, I wasn't too surprised. It was just a matter of whether I would be behind Montoya or in front of him. I thought it would have been difficult to catch Kimi under normal circumstances, but I wouldn't have been too concerned on that knowing the points situation.

Q: How much were you kept in touch with what was happening to the others?
MS: I was in permanent contact by radio, informed myself of what was going on, who was in what position, and what sort of pace was needed.

Q: The tyres were a deciding factor today. Would you agree with that?
MS: Yeah, I would agree pretty much on that. Bridgestone has probably got a lot of criticism this year, as much there will be - how you say - will be pushed up, boosted by the performance we have seen today. The one thing makes me happy, I mean, we have this sort of joker in our hand for so long already, and we never have been able to use it. Today was the first time we were able to use our wet tyres, sort of won the race with it.

Q: Now, quite early in the race, lap seven, you lost several places. We didn't see what happened. Can you tell us what happened then?
MS: I guess it was raining, and under this condition we were slightly - it was for sure more difficult to us on our dry tyres compared to the Michelin dry tyres. They were just able to perform much better in the high-speed area, and I got overtaken.

Q: I believe my colleagues upstairs are talking about a potential moment when you overtook under the yellow flag, when Barrichello was off the circuit. Do you know anything about that?
MS: I know I have overtaken Panis, but well before the yellow flag started. I knew where the yellow flag started. I was by by that time. Just meant that the nose was in front, so it was, so no problem. Braked early enough and was safe for the accident.

Q: Thank you very much for clearing that up. Well done. Kimi, leading the early stages, then you had those two stops. Are you surprised to be in second place after that?
Kimi Raikkonen: A bit unhappy to finish second, really. But I think the weather wasn't in our favor this time. The beginning of the race was good, we were strong. Just our rain tyres are not as good as Bridgestone's. We lost the race pretty much. But second is still OK.

Q: You're still in contention. What are your feelings about that?
KR: Yeah, but it would have been much better to be other way around, to win the race and able to help us more. Again, there is always a chance now. You never know what happens in the next race. It can be another very difficult race for all the people. We just need to make most out of it.

Q: We'll see you in Japan, see what happens. Thank you, Kimi. Heinz-Harald, great to see you on the rostrum again. The decision at the first rain, who took that decision about your tactics?
Heinz-Harald Frentzen: Yeah, we were about anyway to come into the pits. I had to make a decision. The rain was about to come. Then I had to make a decision quickly because we could have put dry tyres on. But I look up in the sky before, and it looked like it was going to rain for quite a long time, so I decided to ask the team to choose for wet tyres.

Q: It was your own decision, your own personal weather forecast?
HHF: Yes. (laughter)

Q: Lap six you also lost a few places as well. Can you remember that?
HHF: Lap six? When it was initially starting, yes, it was starting to rain. It was a little bit slippery. I had I think Webber behind me. He was a bit pushy. He slipped away there, slipped to the inside. I couldn't do anything about it. At that stage they were faster than us.

Q: Now, we don't know what your future is in Formula One, but might this change anything?
HHF: I don't know. I mean, I'm at the moment thinking about what option I have got for the future. Certainly I like motor racing. So I'm weighing up the chances.