Quotes of the Week

MIKE GASCOYNE, Chief Technology Officer, Spyker F1
Gascoyne said Toyota's six podiums in 88 grands prix, considering the $400m a year budget, makes it arguably "the least effective operation" on the grid. "If they continue to follow their corporate philosophy I don't think they've got a hope in hell of winning the championship. The style of the place comes from Cologne. It's (the) senior management who have made all the mistakes. I'm amazed they're still there."

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER, Retired 7-Times F1 World Champion
Commenting on Juan Montoya's move to the NASCAR series, Schumacher said, "Personally, I wouldn't do it. What do you do in NASCAR? What is exciting there? I can't see that, running around on ovals. … I don't know how heavy the cars are, but they are heavy, very low-developed cars compared to Formula One. I don't see the challenge."

JUAN MONTOYA, NASCAR driver, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
"Just take (Schumacher) to (the) Homestead (oval) and tell him to stay half a second off the pace," Montoya said. "He would have a heart attack." (Former grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya has hit back at Michael Schumacher after the retired seven time world champion belittled the NASCAR series.)

JUAN MONTOYA
"I want to really focus myself at the moment on stock cars," Montoya said. "If Chip would come and say, 'I want you to do it (Indy 500)' . . . I don't know. Been there, done that."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, A1GP, Grand-Am and future NASCAR driver
“If it were an ultra-competitive situation of course I’d consider going back to Champ Car, but I’m finding that there are many more options to be competitive in other forms of racing. I’m pretty focused on building a career in NASCAR for my future." Asked if he was short-changed by Champ Car after being dropped by Rocketsports, Hunter-Reay responded, "I'm not sitting here feeling bitter about what happened or anything like that, but yes, I was promised a series of things that ended up not being fulfilled. I guess I put my faith in the powers-that-be over there and at the end of the day things didn’t turn out the way they were promised to me, so I felt very disappointed about it back then. On the other hand, it was a blessing of sorts in a way, since it opened my eyes to seek the NASCAR route, which is what I’m pushing for right now." Asked if Champ Car could do a better job of retaining its American talent, Hunter-Reay commented, “Sure it would be great if they did, wouldn’t it? But one has to say that it doesn’t seem to be much of a priority for them, at least in Champ Car’s case – the IRL does have its fair share of Americans running at or near the front. If Champ Car thinks it’s okay to race primarily on American soil without competitive American drivers, more power to them I guess…"