PRESS RELEASE: ARGENTINIAN GRAND PRIX
Buenos Aires, Sunday 12th April

Michael Schumacher won the Argentinian GP and Eddie Irvine ensured both Ferrari drivers were on the podium by finishing third in his F 300. Ferrari is now in second place in the Championship on 21 points. On lap 2 Schumacher was in second place and Irvine fourth, the German taking the lead on lap 5 with Hakkinen and Irvine behind him. Positions did not change until lap 28 when Michael made his first pit stop, with Eddie stopping one lap later. They rejoined in second and fifth places respectively, Irvine moving up to fourth when Coulthard pitted and third after Villeneuve refuelled on lap 37. Hakkinen made his only stop on lap 42, handing Schumacher the lead, which he maintained even when he made his second stop on lap 53, leading Hakkinen by two seconds. In the later stages, Irvine was passed by Wurz who spun two laps later handing a podium finish back to the Irishman. Ten laps from the end it began to rain lightly and on lap 67 Michael went straight on across the grass but kept his lead.

Jean Todt
"When things go well everything is fine. We had already seen in qualifying that the wider front Goodyear tyres were a significant improvement and the same applied in the race. Making two pit stops was a close call but for us it was the best solution from a performance point of view. The team did a great job and the cars' reliability was good. We had two worrying moments with Michael, firstly when he passed Coulthard and secondly when he went off on the grass. Michael did a fantastic job and only he is capable of doing this. With third place on the podium, Eddie completed a fine result for the team".

Michael Schumacher
"I did not make a good start and I will have to look into that. As far as the incident with Coulthard is concerned, he had already run wide at that point on the previous lap so I went for the gap but he seemed to close the door. I did not want to lift off as I felt I had the momentum to get through. The car was damaged and it suffered from understeer in right hand corners. I had to push really hard to be able to make the second pit stop without losing the lead and the boys did a great job under pressure to get me out quickly. Towards the end, it began to drizzle and I lost control where the track surface was shiny. I had seen people have trouble there in the warm-up so I did not even try and brake because I knew where the escape road was. At Imola we can be even stronger as we should make another step forward after testing next week. The new tyres were very consistent."

Eddie Irvine
"I am very pleased with this performance and the car felt well balanced. My biggest problem was inside the cockpit were a bolster to stop my legs banging kept working loose and I had to keep pushing it back into place down the straights. At one point it nearly went into the footwell. I had a good fight with Wurz. He got past me when I locked up and went wide when the rain started. We did touch but there was no damage and off we went again. Then he lost control and I was back on the podium."

Chassis : Schumacher no. 184, Irvine no. 185 Temps : Air 18-20 C, track 17-20 C

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