By Phil Giles
May 4 2003

Ralph Firman is overjoyed with picking up the first point of his F1 Career. Clearly the man from Norfolk is increasing in confidence, even managing a swipe at the more experienced Ralf Schumacher!

"It's absolutely brilliant for the team to get myself on the scoreboard, it's been an incredible weekend from start to finish. Knowing the circuit has made a big difference. You can start on your set-up from the beginning of the weekend."

"At the end of the race it was difficult to keep Jenson behind me because he had a lot of speed on the straight but I think he had a problem towards the end of the race which made it easier. "

"When the safety car came out my engineer called me in for a pit stop, which obviously worked out well as it effectively changed my strategy to two real stops.  I had a really good middle stint to the third stop but when I came back out Ralf Schumacher had been off the circuit and damaged his car and was weaving all over the circuit." 

"I couldn't get past him, which is ironic as he's usually complaining that people don't move over for him when it's not for position!  Anyway, once the tyres had worn there was no chance of overtaking him but I managed to hold off Button and keep my position, which is great."

Eddie was first to praise Ralph for his drive. "I'm delighted for Ralph scoring his first Championship point in Formula One so early in his first season. The car has let him down at three races so it's only the second one he's finished, and a points result is something for him to be proud of. He rose to the challenge and did a great job. From a team point of view we're glad to add another point to our total, which is already higher than we got all of last season."