Quotes of the Week

"There have been races this year where I've been in a position to challenge for victory but had something go wrong for me. Halfway through this race, things started working for me and I started pushing Felipe hard, and it worked. I feel sorry for Felipe because he drove a great race, but my car felt good and I knew I could push for the victory. This is a great moment for me, something I've been targeting for many years. Hopefully, this victory will be the first of many." Heikki Kovalainen, Formula 1 driver, McLaren-Mercedes, commenting on his maiden F1 win in the Hungarian Grand Prix

"It happened completely without warning, without giving the slightest indication. I was managing the race, because I had a good advantage over second place after Hamilton was delayed with a problem and I was taking no risks whatsoever. I am very frustrated at the moment, because today we had a great car and we had done everything perfectly until just a few kilometers from the finish. Unfortunately, racing can be a cruel sport. We had given it our all, but these things can happen. Now we must not give up, but instead we must react quickly. There are seven races to go and 70 points up for grabs, which means there is plenty of time to make up ground. Our rivals are strong but we have shown we are at their level." Felipe Massa, Formula 1 driver, Ferrari, commenting on his comfortable lead in the Hungarian Grand Prix when his engine suddenly blew up with just three laps to go

"You can't see any strings leading to Heikki's shoulders or you can't see anyone's hands up his back. When you're in a team and you know your teammate has the opportunity to win the race and you don't, if you have the right values that are not lodged solely and exclusively in your own motives and your own objectives and your own selfishness, then you take a decision which is to allow the driver past and allow him a chance to win the race." Dennis insisted that "only one" former McLaren driver has ever complained about driver inequality. Alonso suggested in Hungary that if had he stayed at McLaren in 2008, he would have been forced to accept a support role alongside Lewis Hamilton. Ron Dennis, Team Principal, McLaren Formula 1 team, commenting on Fernando Alonso's criticism of the McLaren team

“It started off a little bit rough. Scott [Pruett] got into the back of me at the start and spun me around which pretty much put me dead-last. We came from the back of the pack and the car was great. I think we had the fastest lap of the race during my stint. I think I passed all the way to seventh. Then I passed it off to Mark and he did a great job. He kept us in contention. He did a great job of conserving fuel, short shifting and coasting into the braking zones. We also need to thank Ford, because I think we had the best fuel mileage today and we have great power every time. I feel for the No. 58 guys. They’ve been knocking on the door all year. Darren drove a beautiful race today. At the same time, we’ve had terrible luck all year. I had my heart ripped out at Barber. But that’s just racing. Sometimes it breaks you and sometimes it’s awesome. Today was just awesome." Brian Frisselle, Grand-Am driver, AIM Autosport, winner along with teammate Mark Wilkins, of closest Grand-Am race in history in Montreal

“Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, NASCAR filled up the whiner trough with slop, and all the hogs have jumped in there, and there’s no room at the trough. I’d just as soon hang out with a higher-quality person anyway. What this does is, I’m a little concerned about potential violation of trust because I feel like our teams have to trust these guys to look after our interests. But we also understand that they have to look after everyone’s interests. And we have to understand that everyone’s who’s been at that whiner trough soaking up all that slop has been characterizing that their sponsors don’t have any opportunities unless they have a Toyota. I'm almost of the opinion that being singled out in this fashion is the highest compliment that NASCAR could have paid us for our effort, our hard work, the materials we have, the expertise we have, our teams, our drivers." Lee White, Toyota Racing Development President and General Manager referring to Ford's Jack Roush and other habitual whiners

"You know, I can't say enough how sorry we are, and you know, it's our responsibility being NASCAR that we don't go through this situation again. We've already got after it, and we're moving forward with a plan to get ahead of the situation so we don't go through this again. Once again, you know, I think it deserves to be said that the race [Allstate 400 at the Brickyard] didn't come off like we had hoped. The fans didn't get what they exactly wanted, and we'll do everything in our power and it won't happen again, I can tell you that much. So we're going to put a lot of effort towards it and get a better plan moving forward. I just want to let everybody know and get ahead of that and try to put this behind us and we'll work hard, all us that are involved at Indianapolis – from the tire manufacturer [Goodyear] to NASCAR, to Indianapolis Motor Speedway." Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition

"It was ugly. It was absurd. It was inexcusable. And it was flat-out embarrassing. Other than that, the 2008 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was a swell event. I will dispense with the particulars about who won (Jimmie Johnson), driving what (Hendrick Motorsports-prepared Car of Today), etc., because it doesn't matter at this point. What matters is that NASCAR and Goodyear conspired – by way of their incompetence and a stunning lack of preparation – to turn the second most prestigious event on the racing organization's schedule into a total and utter fiasco." Peter De Lorenzo, Motorsports Journalist, Autoextremist.com

"He [Woman E's husband] knew exactly who (Mosley) was." The prostitute said that her husband is "keen and knowledgeable about motor racing" and knew that Mosley was "wealthy, powerful and successful." She said, "Never in a million years did we think it would cause so many problems." She mentioned that her hidden camera, concealed in her uniform, was "all fixed up" by the News of the World. "Nobody from any organization including MI5 spoke to either my husband or myself before or after he contacted the newspaper. It was entirely our decision and the result of a moment of madness." Woman E, one of the prostitutes who took part in the sexual escapade with Max Mosley.

"The judge disagreed with our claim that Mosley engaged in Nazi role-play, although he acknowledged that we had an honest belief that he had." News of the World further said the orgy "was not intended to be, and was not Nazi in character." News of the World statement in response to the High Court verdict regarding Max Mosley's escapade with five prostitutes

"The idea that has been put around that if someone is the head of a big company they would have to resign – that was true 20 years ago but if you take someone like Lord Browne, the head of BP, I don’t think he had to resign because he was gay and had a rent boy, as they call it; he had to resign because he told a lie about it. You mustn’t lie about what you have done. People are interested in whether you can do the job. If someone is the right man for the job and there’s no one around who can do it better you’d be crazy to throw him out because of something he does in his private life. Times have moved on. Winning the case was good because it stopped all the nonsense about Nazism and in terms of my ability to do the job, now with the Nazism thing out of the way, it will have no effect at all on me." Max Mosley, President FIA

"It’s not been easy for Bernie. He didn’t invite the ladies into a basement in Chelsea; it’s not his fault. He was under tremendous pressure from one or two people. People rang him up and told him it was damaging to F1 and so he reacted to that. We’ve had frank discussions about the whole thing and it’s now behind us. Sometimes he said things he didn’t need to say and I was a little bit pissed off, but we all do that from time to time. It was the Nazi thing really, but a lot of people should have been more robust and rung me up and I would have told them it was nonsense." Max Mosley, President FIA