Updated: December 27, 2004, 6:33 PM ET

A year of quotable intrigue

Print Share
By Dan Knutson
Special to ESPN.com

Now that the wail of Formula One engines has died down, it's a good time to look back at some of the funny, poignant and sometimes just plain weird quotes made by the F1 fraternity during the course of the 2004 season.

In no particular order, here are this year's jewels:

  • "I've seen people in the grandstands here with suits on, and you won't see that in America!" --Jeff Gordon comparing the crowd at the Spanish Grand Prix to what he sees on the NASCAR circuit.

  • "It is nothing about control. If I would jump around here you would think, 'Well, he is a little bit bananas.'" --Michael Schumacher in Hungary after a journalist asked him why he was so somber in the post race press conference after winning the event and jumping around on the podium.

  • "It is a nice circuit to drive on and to fly on." --Ralf Schumacher talking about the Melbourne circuit in Australia where he had a high-flying accident in 2003.

  • "If you go to the supermarket, it's a nightmare. Anywhere you want to go...you want to have dinner, you gotta have a reservation. Even if you want to go to the toilet, you need a reservation." --Juan Pablo Montoya taking about what a madhouse Monaco turns into on race week.

  • "Is that because you know I would give you a truthful answer? Wouldn't bet on it. I never knowingly told a lie. A lie is always sinful, you know that..." --Team owner Eddie Jordan's opening sentence as he answered a question during a press conference at the United States Grand Prix.

  • "They say Brazilian drivers are good because of the traffic -- they should have many [potential race] drivers here. They should be all in Formula One! Unbelievable!" --Rubens Barrichello on the crazy standards of driving on the roads in Shanghai.

  • "We've got to look behind as well as forward." --Jenson Button, talking about making sure BAR Honda stayed ahead of Renault in the Constructors Championship as well as trying to beat Ferrari in the final races of the season.

  • "I never raced for what is left to do. I just raced for the pleasure of racing, of competing and winning." --M. Schumacher on his total lack of interest in statistics and records.

  • "I am not a Formula One team principal, so I don't change my mind every few minutes." --FIA president Max Mosley when, just after announcing his retirement, he was asked by ESPN.com if he would change his mind and stay on the job. Several weeks later he changed his mind.

  • "In 1994 we spend less than 50 percent than what we spend now, and we had very good races. The escalation of the price is completely crazy: between engine and chassis [personnel] you are talking about 1,000 people [per team]." --Renault team boss Flavio Briatore on how expensive has become.

    <.i> "It was a pretty strong move and next time I will have him off the track." --R. Schumacher after teammate Montoya chopped him off early in the Australian Grand Prix.

  • "Under racing conditions they are free to race; they are free to compete and they are free to bump wheels if that is the only way of getting by. What they are not allowed to do is push their teammates off. That is the divide." --Team owner Frank Williams on the orders he gives his drivers.

  • "I've never been to a Grand Prix before. I'm going to try and sneak into every part of it that I can. These cars, I love them." --Film star George Clooney on his visit to the Monaco Grand Prix.

  • "I'd just be very surprised if he came back to Williams. I remember the days when Frank (Williams) and Patrick (Head) just blamed him for everything and just hated him and wanted to fire him and said he was useless." --R. Schumacher when rumors first began to circulate that Jacques Villeneuve would be making an F1 comeback with Williams.

  • "There is no plan to replace Olivier Panis or Cristiano da Matta during this season." --Toyota team boss Tsutomu Tomita talking in May. In August, da Matta lost his job.

  • "Because we got it wrong in many ways!" --McLaren's F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh when asked why the McLaren MP4-19 (used in the first half of the season) was such a dud.

  • "I have a big respect for Tony (George). What he did here for us I don't forget. It was quite a big thing to do. A massive thing. I don't forget people like him and I don't forget the bad people, either." --Bernie Ecclestone on how Tony George brought F1 back to the U.S. with the F1 facility at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

  • "When I see Stewart I will wrap that kilt 'round his head." --Ecclestone during his war of words with Sir Jackie Stewart over the future of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

  • "I am gutted." --Jarno Trulli after he fell asleep and let Barrichello grab third place just a couple of corners before the end of the French Grand Prix.

  • "I found out things that I didn't have on the car and that the other (Jaguar) driver had. We didn't have the same treatment. I used to get parts one or two races later ... some of them I knew about but most I didn't." --Antonio Pizzonia on his time as a Jaguar driver in 2003.

  • "What a load of bull! The cars were exactly the same, every practice, every race. He said that I had different dampers (shock absorbers) to him at one race, but we had the same dampers for the whole year." --Jaguar driver Mark Webber responding to Pizzonia's charges.

  • "For me, I don't think BAR will be challenging for the championship. They have a very good team but they don't have the resources of a team like Williams. I don't believe that next year will be a great year for them (BAR)." --Button in early September when it was announced that he would be leaving BAR Honda for Williams BMW in 2005.

  • "In a way I do think he is mad because he is in a faster car, but I was talking to him and he said, 'You know, you did the same thing: you were winning races with Williams and you signed for McLaren.' I thought, 'That's a good point!'" --Montoya on Button's decision jump to Williams.

  • "The only reason I thought about moving teams was because I didn't think the contract was valid for next year." --Button, at the end of October when he learned that an arbitration board had ruled that he had to stay with BAR in 2005.

  • "I think if we all stay focused for next season we can still have a very good year." --More Button in late October, now talking about BAR's chances in 2005.

  • "What they are doing is that they are telling a barefaced lie, when they say that, and they know it is a lie, and it is very dishonest for them to say it, because all the engines are new developments." --FIA president Mosley blasting representatives of F1's auto manufacturers for claiming that a switch from V10s to V8s won't save money.

  • "I think that the crowd would have left their seats and chased me into the garage if I made a mistake!" --Barrichello after putting in a perfect lap to win the pole in his home Grand Prix of Brazil.

  • "I went to Turn 1 and I thought that the throttles were stuck wide open because we would have lifted off a lot sooner." --Jimmie Johnson at the Spanish Grand Prix on how late F1 cars can brake into a turn compared to his Nextel Cup car.

    Dan Knutson covers Formula One for National Speed Sport News and ESPN.com.

    • MORE RACING HEADLINES

    MOST SENT STORIES ON ESPN.COM

    Most Sent »