29.05.2004 'I have lost a great friend with whom I shared both pleasant AND difficult moments of my life', Ferrari F1 team members AT THE NURBURGRING react to the death of Umberto Agnelli

News of the death of Fiat Group Chairman Umberto Agnelli cast a dark shadow over the Ferrari team as the took part in yesterday's opening free practice sessions at the Nurburgring for Sunday's European Grand Prix

Luca di Montezemolo: 'With the passing of Umberto Agnelli I have lost a great friend, someone with whom, for over thirty years, I shared both pleasant and difficult moments of my life. He was always there to support me.

'He always valued the family and had a great sense of what was just. He was inspirational in the work field and was not afraid of making courageous choices.

'He had the strength of character to cope with immense family trauma and did not hold back when he had to be there in person for FIAT. I am happy for the sporting, football and motoring satisfaction that we shared over the years. I would like to thank him, also on behalf of everyone at Ferrari, for the support he always gave us. I will really miss him.'

Jean Todt: 'This is no ordinary day as the tragic death of Umberto Agnelli has touched us deeply. This morning the whole team got together to ensure we could focus on doing the best job possible, but naturally our thoughts were with the Agnelli family. As for the day on track, we carried out the usual set-up and tyre programme. Now we have to study the data to get the most out of our package, taking into consideration the demands of one-lap qualifying and the race.'

Michael Schumacher: 'I was shocked this morning to hear of the death of Umberto Agnelli. Our thoughts are with his family, especially his son Andrea. I have so many memories of Mr. Agnelli, who always supported us and with whom I spent many happy times. Here at the circuit, my day was slightly handicapped by a hydraulic problem and we will now have to investigate to see what caused it. In general, we have enough data to make a tyre choice thanks to the work done by Rubens.'

Rubens Barrichello: 'Over the years I have been with Ferrari, I have come to know the Agnelli family and I have a good friend in Andrea. News of the death of his father hit me hard, so at this difficult time my thoughts are with Andrea and his family. From a work point of view, I can say that it was a good day for me. We gathered sufficient data, so now we must prepare as well as possible for qualifying and the race. From what we have seen today it will however be a very tough weekend.'

Ross Brawn: 'The second session was not so good for us as we had a hydraulic problem on Michael’s car which curtailed his running. So we did not get much work done on that car. Rubens worked on a tyre comparison programme, so we will be able to study all the data to decide which type to use for the rest of the weekend. As usual we have one that has better performance over the opening lap and is less consistent and the second where the opposite applies. So we have to weigh up the various strategic options in order to make the best choice.'