Team Rundown: Saturday 2003 Canadian GP

By FIA
June 15 2003

	Team Rundown - Saturday Qualifying
	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Michael Schumacher 3rd, Rubens Barrichello 5th. It was a disappointing session for the Ferrari team with Michael Schumacher third and Rubens Barrichello fifth. "The track was very green," said technical director Ross Brawn. "That did not help us but it looks as though it was an advantage for the Michelin runners. I hope that when more rubber goes down on the track it will be easier for us. If not we are going to have a problem. Having said that it is a relief that Kimi is at the back of the grid." Schumacher said that her very nearly made the same mistake as Raikkonen. "I did not take it easy after I saw that Raikkonen was off because I wanted to use my chance to the full but I made a mistake, At the moment it looks like Michelin has an advantage but there is still a question mark over the fuel loads." Barrichello locked up at the first corner and flat-spotted a tyre. "After that the vibration was so bad that I could hardly see the track," said Rubens. BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Ralf Schumacher 1st, Juan Pablo Montoya 2nd. The Williams-BMW team blew away the opposition in qualifying with the Canadian GP. "It is a fantastic day for us," said senior operations engineer Sam Michael. "It was a super job, both from the drivers and from the engineers, particularly as it was effectively the first time that we had done any real dry weather running. Knowing the fuel loads we have I am very confident for the race." Ralf Schumacher remained a little cautious. "The car was very well-balanced," he said, "but as Monaco showed it is only the race that counts." Montoya seems to have changed his mind of strategies at the last minute. "I changed my tyres just before the session and so I made a few small mistakes." West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 11th, Kimi Raikkonen No time. It was a disappointing performance from McLaren particularly given that the Michelin cars were obviously much more competitive in the dry conditions. "David was not satisfied with his run," said managing director Martin Whitmarsh. "Kimi will be annoyed at his mistake at the first corner. That is it really!" Coulthard explained that his car stepped sideways over a kerb at the final corner. "The car was capable of doing a mid 1m16s lap," he said. "So I guess I could have been sixth or seventh. We will have to wait and see what happens in the race but it is pretty difficult from back there." Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Fernando Alonso 4th, Jarno Trulli 8th. "We are delighted with the result today," said chief engineer Pat Symonds. "This shows how the Heathrow Agreement has been good for us, even on a track which in theory should not suit us. Jarno did a good job with the T-car which had been set-up for Alonso. Fernando did a great job. He is one thousandths of a second slower than Michael Schumacher. That is a bit frustrating. Maybe if we had 10 grammes of fuel in the car we would have been quicker!" Sauber Petronas: Heinz-Harald Frentzen 10th, Nick Heidfeld 12th. It was a good day for Sauber despite the fact that the Bridgestone cars seemed to be at a disadvantage. "My lap was not as good as yesterday's," said Nick Heidfeld. "We did not really expect it to be anyway in the circumstances but I think we compare pretty well with the other Bridgestone runners. I did not make any mistakes." Heinz-Harald Frentzen was very happy with his performance considering his problems in the morning. "The team did a great job to get the car fixed just in time for qualifying and I was happy with my performance," he said. Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 16th, Ralph Firman 19th. It was a disappointing session for Jordan. "Both drivers lost it all at the first corner," said chief engineer Gary Anderson. "They both flat-spotted their tyres and when that happens really the rest of the lap is lost. It did not work out the way we had hoped. Giancarlo reckoned he would have been in the top 10 and maybe that would have been possible but it is irrelevant." Fisichella was frustrated. "I just locked up and lost time," he said. "Then I did it again at Turn Seven and went onto the grass." Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 6th, Antonio Pizzonia 13th. There was a good performance again from Mark Webber. "Well to be honest we surprised ourselves," Webber said. "We did not expect to be that quick. I am pretty happy about it. It would have been nice to have beaten one of the Ferraris but it is not bad to be disappointed when you get beaten by a Ferrari!" Antonio Pizzonia was also quite happy but admitted having made a mistake. "I went a bit wide at the first corner," he admitted. "I lost maybe two-tenths but the car was very impressive particularly as we increased the fuel load and the car did not get worse. We will have to see how the tyres last tomorrow." Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jacques Villeneuve 14th, Jenson Button 17th. "Naturally we are very disappointed with this," said Geoff Willis, the BAR technical director. "For some reason we did not get the best out of the car when it mattered. Jacques was at a disadvantage going first but even so his lap was OK until the third sector where he made a small mistake. Jenson made a bigger mistake at the last corner and that gave him a very slow time." European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 15th, Justin Wilson 18th. Paul Stoddart was delighted with the performance of his cars in qualifying. "There is justice in the world," he said. "Both of our drivers beat a Jordan and they are both ahead of a McLaren! The guys who gave us most trouble yesterday are now behind us and we will be racing the McLaren tomorrow! We are running a big fuel load but we hope we have a wet race as it levels out the differences in horsepower. We are fuelled up, fired up and with the two drivers we have we could score a point." Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 7th, Cristiano da Matta 9th. Toyota had a very good day. "I am really happy," said Panis, "especially after I damaged the car this morning and it needed to be repaired. We seem to be pretty competitive and I think the Michelins are pretty strong and helped us a lot." Da Matta complained of lack of track time but was happy at having recorded his best grid position yet in F1. Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "You never know how much fuel our rivals were running. We will only find that out tomorrow at the first pit stop. Having said that I am fairly confident that our cars will be competitive." Michelin: Pierre Dupasquier: "Our tyres performed excellently today and we have seven cars in the top 10. We have competitive dry weather tyres so we think we are well placed for tomorrow. Hats off to Williams, who have proved that Monaco was not a flash in the pan."