The world"s oldest motorist...
The world"s oldest motorist has died, aged 113, five years after he stopped getting behind the wheel. Fred Hale of New York passed away in his sleep, and once said he quit driving in 1999 because he found slower motorists annoying! He was the official Guinness record-holder because he had his licence renewed when he was 104.
"Without Michael"s problem...
"Without Michael"s problem on the final lap, I"d have been on pole anyway," Alonso countered. "This was one of the races on the calendar I had put a cross beside as I wanted to win it so much."
He was undoubtedly aided by his two principal rivals in the race - Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber - retiring with engine trouble on laps 51 and 49 respectively of the 78-lap race. Both had mounted a stiff challenge to the Spaniard. "Kimi was putting the pressure on, but I was controlling the race to save my tyres," Alonso revealed.
Meanwhile, David Coulthard picked up Red Bull Racing"s first-ever podium. The Scot hadn"t finished in the top three since the 2003 Japanese GP, when he was a McLaren driver. He wore a red cape on the winners" rostrum in deference to his team"s one-race sponsorship for the movie Superman Returns.
"It was tough because I was very heavy with fuel," said Coulthard, who completed the race with only one pitstop. "It"s a very important day for the whole team." Red Bull boss Christian Horner added: "This means a lot. We have all been working very hard for it.
"DC drove a great race today, and without gearbox problems Christian Klien would have scored good points as well. We"ve got some developments for the car coming for the British Grand Prix, and we"ll be pushing as hard as we can to repeat this result there."
Coulthard was helped by Jarno Trulli"s Toyota stopping with three laps left and Rubens Barrichello"s penalty.