By role
August 24 2003

Spanish F1 driver, Fernando Alonso, won his first Grand Prix today at the Hungaroring. Alonso who led the race in all laps but two has set a record by being the younger driver o win a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Alonso made history earlier on the season by being the younger driver to set a pole position when he did it in Malaysia in March.

Alonso, that had set yesterday his second pole of his career, was able to lead from the start and took advantage of the slowing pace of Mark Webber that was able to overtake the Williams BMW of Ralf Schumacher at the start of the race.

Alonso started to lap one second faster than the rest of the field and that meant that he took a 20 second lead by the time he went into the pits:

"At the beginning, for the first two or three laps, I had Mark Webber in the mirror and then, in the eighth or ninth lap, I asked my team 'where are the others?'," the Spaniard said on he press conference. "They told me '15 seconds away' and I thought 'Oh my God, I am very fast now'.

"The first stint was very important for the result of the race and I pushed quite a lot in the first stint and I had a big advantage, big gap and I did the race quite slowly after that." He added.

As Webber pitted on the same lap Raikkonen was able to take the lead for two laps before he himself went into the pits. From there on Alonso, who had rejoined second, leaded to the end of the race getting a marging of up to 25 seconds.

On the last few laps Alonso was even able to lap Michael Schumacher and his teammate Jarno Trulli who finished 8th and 7th today:

"It was a good feeling. When you lap Schumacher, it is always good because you are having a good race, but it was nothing special," he said. "There was also my teammate Jarno there and you know I tried not to disturb them too much in their fight."

Alonso hopes that his next step can be to win the Drivers Championship next year and to become the younger man to win a Championship:

"The next step will be to fight for the World Championship, like these guys, as soon as possible," he said, looking at Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya next to him on the press conference.

"I am in a big team. Next year, we already have a good project, the new car should be a lot better than this year's and hopefully we will close the gap with the top teams and maybe next year we fight for more victories." He added.

Kimi Raikkonen finished 2nd more than 20 seconds in front of Juan Pablo Montoya that finished third just ahead of his teammate Ralf Schumacher after the Colombian spun on the last stages of the race.

David Coulthard finished 5th followed by Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli and Michael Schumacher.

Jarno Trulli was obviously happy with the result of his teammate though a bit dissapointed on he fact that he could not challange for the podium as it was his wish:

"First of all, it is a special day for the team, and I want to congratulate Fernando and all the team. My race began with an excellent start, and made the most of Rubens' mistake to overtake: we had a good fight. However, at the start of each stint, I lost grip almost immediately: the car was sliding all over the place. It is disappointing to lose a position compared to where I qualified, but I still managed to keep Michael behind during the final stint." Th Italian said after the race.

Flavio Briatore, the Team Manager, was exhultant for he result as well:

"A fantastic day for Renault, for the team and for Fernando. He drove a perfect race, and we made the right choices with the strategy. This win proves the work that our people in Viry-Châtillon and Enstone have accomplished. The champagne tastes good: we will now work even harder to make sure the next win isn't too long coming." Said Briatore.

Pat Symonds was also sattisfied for such a great result:

"I think this finally confirms the improvement the team has made this year, and the promise we have shown all season. It is always good to win, but particularly so when it is done in such a dominant fashion, from pole. Before the race, I am sure many thought our strategy was too aggressive: I think we have vindicated our decision. We must not forget Jarno, who fought right through the race and did very well to hold off Michael in the latter stages. I want to congratulate the whole team and all those behind our victory today, including the excellent job done by our technical partners."