"Was this my last win?" Berger asks, and then answers: "Yes. Well, that was a very special win - I lost my father some days before in a plane crash. It was a hard time; I had some problems at Benetton with Flavio, I was sick, I was not healthy - but everything came together, and nobody was expecting that I was going to do anything. Everybody was looking at me when I arrived to see what I'm doing there; I missed three races before, and I had a sinus operation. So everyone just had a kind of fake smile for me and said 'Gerhard, you are 37, you're sick, you just lost your father - you should stay at home and stay in bed', and that gave me some extra inspiration.

"That proved to me that really the most you can do is with the head; because this weekend I didn't have a real dominating car, I didn't have the physical conditions to win the race, I didn't have the mental conditions to win the race, but I had pole position, quickest lap and I won the race. So it showed me that it's the mental preparation you need."

DC: I remember watching the race and you were top in every session - you took pole, you were so much faster than you were all season. Do you know why?

Berger: "I'd been in the shit, and when I've been in the shit before and needed to do a new contract I always found another half second in me!"

DC: After this race you announced pretty quickly that you were going to retire.

Berger: "I knew already before. I thought already that I wasn't going to drive for Benetton, but I knew already before that I was going to retire. And if I had a strong character I would have gone away from the podium and said 'bye bye - that's it', and I was thinking about it, but as I'm not strong if it comes to money I said 'oh shit, there's too much money out, and I have to first collect the money!'"

DC: You would have to give them some money back if you didn't finish the season?

Berger: "No - they wouldn't pay me for the rest of the season!"