Quotes of the Week

"It's fantastic having won this race, especially after the disappointment of Budapest. The team did an amazing job in preparing for this Grand Prix and the benefits of that could be seen right from the very first day. Yesterday, I got pole and today the win, with the race fastest lap as the icing on the cake. You cannot ask for more especially at my one hundredth grand prix with every single one of them powered by a Ferrari engine. I got a good start and I pushed to the maximum right from the early laps. In the second part of the race, the car was exceptional, but also in the final stint, when I had the softer tires, I could do the lap times easily. This is an important moment in my career and I must continue to work in this way. I am sorry for what happened to Kimi: we have to look very carefully at our reliability. I am confident the team knows which countermeasures to take to react to this issue, as it has always done in the past." Felipe Massa, Formula 1 driver, Ferrari, winner of European Grand Prix at Valencia

"Not much to say after a day like this. It was definitely not the weekend I was hoping for but I do not believe that, despite this negative result, I am now out of the running for the title. There are still six races to go and sixty points up for grabs. We have seen that the situation change really quickly, even if I realize things are now more complicated. Today, I lost a place at the start and I was stuck in traffic for all of the first stint. Then, when I had a clear track ahead of me, I was able to push and was doing good lap times. At the second pit stop, I made a mistake and left before I should have done. Fortunately, Pietro (Timpini) is not too badly hurt. I wish him all the best and hope he gets better soon. In any case, it would not have changed anything as then the engine broke. Now we must concentrate on preparing for the next rounds and on improving our qualifying performance." Kimi Raikkonen, Formula 1 driver, Ferrari, DNF European Grand Prix at Valencia due to an engine failure

"It's the best way for me to prepare for a race and not be distracted. All it takes is for one guy to give you hassle or spit in your face." Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1 driver, McLaren, says he is always safely inside his hotel room at Spanish circuits by 9:30 pm because he fears Spanish racists spitting on him.

"It is absolute madness. In the car industry, there are more and more joint ventures; only in Formula One do we all try to reinvent the wheel." Franz Tost, Team Principal, Scuderia Toro Rosso

"This is really the only way to control costs. Everybody forgets what the public wants. I don't see many people interested in our gearbox or our suspension or our brakes. The world has changed, we are in the entertainment business as well." (Briatore faces stiff reprisals from those who believe that more of these sorts of philosophies – like the current frozen engines, standard ECUs and control tires – will render F1 little more than a glorified GP2 championship) Flavio Briatore, Managing Director, Renault Formula 1 team

"The fraternity pulled together with us and helped us get back together. All these guys they are racers, a great group of guys. It is all about people, and Helio and Briscoe really did the job today. We have tough competition out there. Helio wanted to get that win, and wow what a way to do it under the adversity we had this week! I just want to thank everyone who called us and helped us over the last several days." Roger Penske, team owner, Penske Racing, commenting on Penske teammates Castroneves and Briscoe finishing 1-2 at Infineon Raceway

“People kept telling me that the door (to victory lane) would finally open, and today we broke through it. The door was really stuck, but what an incredible effort by Team Penske. I can’t thank them enough. I’m really excited about today, because the car was extremely fast. For me, it was really fun pushing and pushing every lap for the entire race. That’s what it’s all about, and that’s what made us win. We didn’t save any fuel. We just kept going and going, and it paid off in the end. We didn’t plan it like that, but with the traffic, we changed the plans lap by lap and we pitted when we thought we were going to slow down. We never let our guard down. We just kept pushing and we came away with a win. The attitude of those guys is priceless. Everyone has been working so hard since last Wednesday. Taking cars to Charlotte and bringing cars back from Charlotte, converting cars from oval to road course. You’re talking about two days work in 12 hours. When you see guys doing that, you just want to do your best. Not that we don’t always give our best, but you want to make it a special day, and today it was." Helio Castroneves, IndyCar driver, Team Penske, winner of the race at Infineon Raceway

“I am very happy, there couldn’t have been a better place for our first win. We had a lot of our sponsors here today and all of the Dallara guys were here from Italy to watch the car run for the first time. It was great to get the win, set fast lap of the race and the pole position, the car was very fast all weekend." Max Angelelli, Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series driver, SunTrust Racing, winner along with teammate Michael Valiante of race at Infineon Raceway

"I think most racing announcers today are told to be positive, state the party line and avoid controversy. Of course, that sucks because we all know racing is full of hate, cut-throat deals, politics and lying, so all those things should be discussed during a telecast. David Hobbs isn't afraid to say what's on his mind, nor is Darrell Waltrip on occasion. Tommy Kendall was the best at being honest. I really think the viewer is insulted by happy talk and blatant pandering but I guess that's why I've never been asked to be an analyst." Robin Miller, Open Wheel Racing Journalist

"It's one of those deals where I couldn't get by him [Kyle Busch], I couldn't get by him, and I just had to ask myself, 'Would he do that to me?' And he has before, so that's the way it goes. Let's make it real clear — I'm not apologizing for it. We're even. They keep talking about rivalries. We might have one now." Carl Edwards, NASCAR driver, Roush Fenway Racing, winner of Bristol Motor Speedway race

"He hit me getting into Turn 1. Whatever. Carl's going to say he's sorry, that he didn't want to race that way, but he always does. We'll take it, we'll go on and we'll race him that way in the Chase if that's the way he wants to race." Kyle Busch, NASCAR driver, Joe Gibbs Racing, commenting on Carl Edwards bumping and spinning him while he was leading the race at Bristol Motor Speedway

"I've done this for a lot of years. I owe my wife time together before we're dead. And when I'm 70 I'll come back full-time," he said, taking a lighthearted dig at Mark Martin, who will return to a full-time schedule in 2009 for Hendrick Motorsports. "Yeah, I can go to Hendrick." Geoff Smith, Roush Fenway Racing president, is putting plans in place to retire after the 2009 season.