Post-Race Press Conference

Q. Congratulations, David, you're the champion of the 1999 British Grand Prix. How do you feel?

David Coulthard: Absolutely fantastic! As soon as my team got me back into the race ahead of Eddie at my second stop, I realised that by keeping out of trouble I could win this one. It was more nerve-wracking than any race at any other point in my career, because it had been such a long since I had a win. And with Mika out of the race, I obviously knew that the whole team was relying on me to score those points. But I have to say that this is definitely the best feeling I have ever had in my racing career. This has always been the one that I would trade for any other win. And it is completely down to my mechanics, who both times managed to get me out in front of Eddie. Otherwise we were pretty evenly matched: he was a little quicker at the beginning, I was a little quicker at the end. Whoever had track position today was going to win this race.

Q. Even better than that, you've picked up ten whole points on a day when neither of your closest rivals was able to score. Has this put you in contention for the championship?

Coulthard: It's still too early to say anything about that. I tend not to look at the big picture of the championship because you have to take each race as it comes. And with four non-finishes this year, it has clearly not gone too well so far. No driver ever wants to benefit from an accident to a competitor, so I obviously hope that Michael's injuries are not too severe and he'll be OK. And I sympathise with Mika in having his problem.

Q. Eddie, you led briefly at the beginning but you also lost time with a very long first pit stop. What happened there?

Eddie Irvine: It was the first time I had come into the pits when the McLaren guys were already waiting for their driver. Once I had got past them I suddenly realised how close my guys were to them, and it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to be able to get stopped in time to get into my pit in the right position. I just overshot, which is why they weren't immediately able to get the fuel hose on the nozzle, and ultimately that [mistake] cost us the race.

Q. Your car seemed much quicker today in race trim. Did you work on it a lot this morning?

Irvine: This morning we just tried something to make the tyres live longer, but it although we persevered with it all morning it was a no-hoper, it wasn't going to happen. So we went back to the standard set-up.

Q. With Michael injured you could now find you're likely to find you're the team leader at Ferrari for a few weeks. You're also in the world championship hunt. How will that affect your approach to the next few races?

Irvine: I don't know what Michael's story is. I heard he's alright so I think he should be back for the next race and I hope it's business as usual.

Q. You were running very close to Michael when he crashed. What happened on that first lap after the first start?

Irvine: I got a better start, and Michael made a really bad one. I was getting a run at DC through the fast stuff [at Beckett's], and DC has a very different line from mine through the second part of that section. I had to lift off and brake to avoid hitting the back of his car. That sent me wide, obviously with Michael right behind me. Then coming into Stowe corner he came flying past me with all wheels locked, and he ran straight on. Maybe he damaged his front wing on the back of my car when I had to brake to avoid DC.

Q. Ralf, congratulations on your second 3rd place of the season. It must have been difficult to start this race so soon after your brother had been injured ...

Ralf Schumacher: When the first race was red-flagged, at first I didn't realise what had happened. Then as soon as I realised it was Michael involved, the team told me he was out of the car and it didn't look bad. Obviously it's not very nice when your brother's had an accident to have to get back in the car, but on the other hand the team is relying on me and I have to do my job.

Q. You drove a great race and you had a long battle with Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who won in France. With those aerodynamic modifications your car seems to have improved a lot ...

Ralf Schumacher I want to say what a great job my team did to have brought the new aero-package to this race, because [with the old setup] we had been nowhere in the pre-race test here. Then suddenly we were a lot closer, and in the race my pitstop crew did an incredible job to get me back out in front of Heinz-Harald. From then on, the race went really well.

Q. David, we now go to Austria where last year you drove a storming race from 17th place to 2nd. Is that a circuit where you think you can close the gap on Mika again?

Coulthard: In the past he and I have been very close round that circuit, and I would expect the same again. It's a relatively low-speed track, and the Ferrari appears to have quite good mechanical grip, so I think the Ferrari challenge there will be strong again.