Quotes of the week

"Danica Patrick was stomping, steaming mad and preparing to rearrange Ryan Briscoe's face. Tony Kanaan was fuming that his Andretti Green teammate, Marco Andretti, made a 'stupid' maneuver that sent Kanaan from first place to the garage area. Marco was angry at his team for making a wing adjustment he didn't want. And the Andrettis, the whole bunch of them, were jumping mad about the way Helio Castroneves was blocking late in the race. Shoot, even nice-guy Ryan Hunter-Reay, the top rookie finisher at sixth, ripped on serial blocker Hideki Mutoh, saying, 'When I passed him, I wanted to throw a 'number one' sign out the door at him, but I couldn't do that.' Now that, my friends, is racing." Bob Kravitz, Indy Star Newspaper

“This has got to be the highlight of my career and I am sure it will continue to be the highlight for the rest of my life. I remember on the last few laps I was just thinking that Ayrton Senna won here a lot of times and to win here would be amazing. But I know anything can happen here and I have to just keep it out of the barriers. But I have to say a big thank you to all of my team back home and over here. You did a fantastic job. And to all my fans – I know I have got a lot of fans here and also back home – I did it for all of you and especially my family who have been here supporting me all weekend and to my mum, lots of love, Mum." Lewis Hamilton, McLaren F1 driver, winner of Monaco Grand Prix

"I was shocked. I think just almost dumbfounded. It's such a strange feeling, and for me, I don't show emotions too much. I don't know, it's almost like you're in a dreamland. It was quite crazy. It's something that you sort of expect somebody to maybe pinch you, and you wake up and you're sleeping in your bed back home. It still hasn't sunk in yet, and it feels so special. I think the parade lap and seeing everybody still out there and driving around such a magnificent circuit with three other people with you and everybody sort of yelling your name was something that I wish I had witnessed previous to now, but it makes you want to go and win this race once again." Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Indy 500 winner

"If Dan wants to lead he can. I don't give a shit." Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Indy 500 winner, to his crew during the race as his teammate Dan Wheldon was pressuring him for the lead early in the race.

"I was going down pit lane, and as people pull out of their pit boxes if you are in the outside lane, then they have to wait to blend in. From what I know, it looked like it was pretty obvious what happened. What are you going to do? The guys worked so hard today. We worked so hard on the car all month. Unfortunately, we didn't get to show for it in the end. Congrats to [Scott] Dixon. He was strong all month and he deserves it." (About what she would like to tell Ryan Briscoe): "It is probably best I didn't get down there anyway, isn't it? We will see if he can find me first." (About her day): "The unfortunate thing is we worked our butts off all month. We were creeping forward slowly, but surely. After the little mishap in the pits early and struggling with the car, but from what I can tell it seemed like it was relatively obvious what happened. You just don't come out of your pit box and swing three lanes out. That's why there is a 'get up to speed' lane and an 'at speed' lane. I was at speed." Danica Patrick, Indy Car driver, Andretti Green Racing, commenting on her 22nd place finish in the Indy 500.

"It's a real shame. I just saw the replay, and it confirmed my thoughts. We were both out there trying to win the Indy 500 today, and when it's time to go, we have to go. But from what I can see, there was still plenty of room on the right side for her to get around and there are people pointing fingers, but that's not the way we are. We both have a brake pedal in our cars, and from what I can tell, there was still plenty of room for her to get around me. I was trying to get around Wheldon, and I was staying in the middle lane. I got ran up in the back, and it's a shame." Ryan Briscoe, Indy Car driver, Team Penske, commenting on incident with Danica Patrick during Indy 500

"[There is] not much reason to care about the Indianapolis 500. Fact is, there hasn't been much reason to care about the race for years. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 will be the best race Sunday. Without Patrick, there would be no nationwide story in the Indianapolis 500." Richard Huff, New York Daily News

"If you ask me, it was sabotage. It was. They [McLaren] wanted him to fail. I don't know, it was a very bad deal. The reality of it was, they had Mika Hakkinen ready to come in for a lot less than what my dad was getting paid, and that's all it was. Right then and there, they had to make him look (bad). They would make the car do weird things in the corner electronically, stuff out of his control. And I think my dad's biggest supporter over there was Ayrton Senna. Because he was one of the few who knew what was really happening in the team, and I think he believed in my father. It was Monza that he really said, 'Give him my car. Give him exactly what I had.'" Marco Andretti, IndyCar driver, Andretti Green Racing

"If you're not with McLaren or Ferrari, you're not going to win a race. I don't like that. I couldn't go there with a backmarker team, because it's too tough on your self esteem, too tough knowing you can't win. Maybe it's just me, and I have to be careful saying this, but I don't find Formula One interesting. "(If) you go over there with a top team, that would be really cool. But if you don't, I find nothing cool about running for 15th every weekend. I can stay here my entire life." Graham Rahal, IndyCar driver, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing

"I sincerely hope that it isn't a declaration of war because, if that's what the message should be, then we'll have to defend ourselves. I don't want to have a war with Max. I hope he doesn't want one with me. It's nothing to do with anything else and I don't quite know why he's come out and said these things. I don't see any problems up until a couple of months ago. Everybody's wrong except him. Everybody was involved in the orgy except him. He is just lashing out at anything he can. If he wants me to be the enemy he should be very careful because if he makes me an enemy I could make sure that he never whips anybody again. Normally Max is more together instead of making silly, outrageous mistakes." Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Association commenting on Max Mosley's letter to the FIA Club Presidents.

"I think it's an entirely private thing. It's something that has happened with grown-up people, nothing which is against the law and I have to say I'm very surprised how many angels there are around in formula one. Suddenly everyone seems to be very clean and very nice. But to connect this to the job of Max Mosley, as an FIA president, I don't think is right. I've been in formula one a long time now. I think there are very few people – maybe nobody – who has had such an impact on safety for motor sport as Max. I think it's not fair to see it through the glasses as some people have tried to see it at the moment. I think it should be totally decided by the automobile clubs and by himself, how the future of the FIA goes, but it should not be run by newspapers or us. I just know one thing: the sport needs a strong guy, a competitive guy, a strong guy who understands the business, and we definitely have this with Max and hopefully we will have in the future. That's all I want to say." Gerhard Berger, ex-F1 driver, co-owner Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team

"When it comes to F1, our score is zero. It kills me. If I could fix it with a trillion yen [nearly 10 billion US dollars, or 6 billion euros]. I would, but it's not a problem that money can solve." Takeo Fukui, CEO of Honda Motor Company

"'Sorry is not the right word, but I do have some regrets because I am still curious to know what I could have done. I was doing well in the testing — it had always been my dream to race with Ferrari. But at that time I was not ready for the jump and I was in the middle of the motorcycles. Driving F1 cars is extremely satisfying. It is less a vehicle and more like an airplane, giving you great sensations. But for a motorcyclist it is also a strange feeling; putting your legs into a black hole. I want to do some more racing (in MotoGP) and then I want to spend some seasons with my passion; the cars. Perhaps rallying, maybe something else." Valentino Rossi, MotoGP Champion