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Nelson Piquet: "I knew this moment would come"

Nelson, tell us about your race...
NP: I made a good start and so by the end of the first lap I was in 8th place. The car was well balanced and fast, and my strategy was good. Not making it through to Q3 actually turned out to be an advantage: it became 9th on the grid and so I could choose my strategy and we decided to start the race havy on fuel. It was the best solution if it was going to rain. I think I was also helped by the fact that the McLarens were penalised. But, saying that, I was able to hold them off for a long time at the start of the race and I was controlling their pace.


Your start to the season has been difficult. How has it been for you?
NP: There was pressue, of couse, but I never let it turn into something negative. I know what I am capable of, and I never doubted that I would have the chance to finish in the top 8. For me, the result today is just the first step...


First points in F1 on Renault's home ground in the French Grand Prix: it's a symbolic moment isn't it?
NP: Yes, it's the best time to get my first points.


Looking at the weekend overall, could you have done any better?
NP: You can always do better and I would have liked to improve a thousand things. In qualifying, there are things I can improve as I missed out on Q2 by a few hundredths of a second; we must try and understand why.


What are the next steps?
NP: The team starts testing at Silverstone next week, then we have the British Grand Prix. The objective there will be to achieve a similar performance tp what we did today, which should be possible.

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Fernando Alonso: "A big disappointed"

Fernando, what are your feelings after the French Grand Prix?
FA: It made us realise, once again, that we have to be realistic. The Ferraris were a second faster than us, and our pace in the race did not allow us to be as competitive as in qualifying. That means that some cars got ahead - the Toyota of Trulli, the McLaren of Kovalainen etc...We should not be too negative as I know that the team is working very, very hard to allow us to move forward, but we are not yet able to fight for the podium regularly.


Was your strategy unsuitable today?
FA: I think that the best strategies in the world cannot work if you have a car that is missing speed in race conditions. If I had to point out the main problem of the race, it was certainly the start. We had a problem with the mapping and I lost two places. That affected the rest of my race and after that the car was not as good as it was yesterday. That could be because it was not as well suited to the lower track temperatures or because the tyres did not come up to temperature as they should have.


Not too disappointed to lose a pace to Nelson at the end of the race?
FA: No. There was a Force India in front of me and he did not see me coming. He went to the outside and I had to dive down the inside to avoid it. So I lost the racing line and Nelson was there to benefit, and so I only lost a point.