Team Rundown: Friday 2003 French GP

By Andrew Hooper
July 5 2003

	Team Rundown - Friday Qualifying
	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 11th, Michael Schumacher 12th. "The only real lesson that we have got out of the practice was that we are very competitive in the wet," said Jean Todt. "Tomorrow morning will be very important because we expect dry weather for the rest of the weekend and so we will have 90 minutes to get everything set up." Michael Schumacher said that he could not have done much more because of the weather conditions when he was on the circuit. ""The track was at its worst when I was out. There were even some drops of rain." Schumacher explained that he could not have avoided the incident in the morning when he collided with Mark Webber in the pitlane. "This morning's accident was our fault," he admitted. "I just watched the man who gave me the signal and that is how it happened." BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 15th, Ralf Schumacher 18th. It was a frustrating day for Williams. "We are quite happy with the balance of the cars on wet tyres," said technical director Patrick Head, "but we hope that it is dry tomorrow." Juan Pablo Montoya ended up slightly faster than Ralf Schumacher. "The car was not good this morning," said Montoya. "I improved it and as it turned out I was faster than Ralf. I had a problem in the fast chicane and had another in the last section." Schumacher complained of understeer and poor traction. West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 14th, Kimi Raikkonen 17th. Kimi Raikkonen ran at the start of the session when the track was at its dampest and as a result was well off the pace by the end of the qualifying. David Coulthard ran in slightly better conditions but after a good first sector ended up with a time that was only two-tenths better than Raikkonen. "The grid positions reflect nothing except the track conditions," said team boss Ron Dennis. Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Jarno Trulli 16th, Fernando Alonso 19th. It was a frustrating day for Renault. "It was all down to the weather," said chief engineer Pat Symonds. "There was nothing much we could do about it. We all accepted the new regulations at the start of the year and as you can see all the big teams were at the back today. It is a disadvantage but it is not too much of problem because the final qualifying will be in the dry." Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 4th, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 9th. The Sauber team ran its two cars with set up biased towards wet conditions and on the intermediate tyres. "It was difficult to judge the choices but we are happy with the performance and with the reliability of the cars so far." Jordan Ford: Ralph Firman 3rd, Giancarlo Fisichella 13th. "Gary Anderson made a good call on tyres," said Ralph Firman. "It was very difficult because I was trying to be cautious on certain parts of the track. I made a big mistake towards the end of the lap and I was lucky to get away with it but having said that it is great to be third - even if it is only for today." Chief engineer Gary Anderson admitted that the session had been a bit of a lottery. "It worked out OK for us even though we were first out on intermediates with Giancarlo Fisichella and first out on dry tyres with Ralph." Jaguar Racing: Antonio Pizzonia 6th, Mark Webber 8th. It was a promising result for Jaguar but neither driver was very happy. "We were lucky this morning to be out at the right moment and so we were fastest," said Mark Webber. "This afternoon we were unlucky but I was happy with my time in the conditions." Webber said that the incident in the morning with Michael Schumacher in the pit lane was frustrating. "It was a silly mistake by Ferrari," he said, "but it happens. People make mistakes. I was disappointed because you don't need someone smashing up the car when there are certain front wings that you want to use." Antonio Pizzonia was also disappointed. "Friday does not mean anything but I am still disappointed not to be on pole," he said. "There was an opportunity to do that and we made the wrong tyre choice. I went out on intermediates and the front tyres were finished by the second corner. It was a wasted opportunity." Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jacques Villeneuve 7th, Jenson Button 20th. It was a very difficult day for BAR as the cars were unable to run in the morning session because of the legal problems which were only sorted out after the session was over. "It was good to be running again this afternoon after the frustration of the morning," said technical director Geoff Willis. "We watched Rubens Barrichello's lap on extreme wets and Giancarlo Fisichella running on intermediates and we chose to put Jenson on extreme wets. It was probably the wrong choice. He drove a cautious lap because he had oversteer and the car felt very nervous. We knew what to do with Jacques and he did a splendid job. A good neat lap. There is no doubt that the lack of running this morning hurt Jenson a lot." "It was a difficult day today," said Villeneuve. "Because of the lack of running this morning we had to make an educated guess on what to do. Seeing others run in the wet helped and we set up the car as best we could. I was actually able to push the car and drive it as hard as I could. The big problem was that I had to learn the new last corner as I was going through it!" European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 1st, Justin Wilson 2nd * (further to the FIA Technical Delegate’s Report, Justin Wilson’s car has been found to be 2.5 kg under the minimum weight, his final qualification position will therefore be subject to a Stewards’ Decision). Minardi ended the first qualifying first and second on the timesheets, having made the most of the changing weather conditions. "That was fantastic," said Paul Stoddart. "I must have told Jos that he was in P1 about 20 times over radio. Of course the weather played a major role today but it took a gutsy drive from both drivers as there were still a few greasy patches on the track and a few of the other drivers were on dry tyres as well. Tomorrow is when it counts and we must remember that this track has a history of changing weather." Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 5th, Cristiano da Matta 10th. "Today was a typical example of what the new qualifying regulations can bring," said Ange Pasquali. "It was very good for the sport. We are happy with our qualifying. It was a big gamble to put Olivier on intermediates and he said he knew by the first corner that he could have gone to dry tyres. It was a tough choice as the conditions were changing so fast. In Cristiano's case the choice was between extreme wets and and the intermediates and that was also tricky. The team worked very well today and we are happy with our results." Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "Both Ferraris and Button were on extreme weather tyres. The others were on wets except Firman, Verstappen and Wilson. We are pleased about our overall performance in all kinds of weather and particularly what Jacques Villeneuve did with only one run all day." Michelin: Pierre Dupasquier: "Since the start of the season we have been waiting for a session like this and here it is! The testing this morning enables us to say that our wet tyres are good for this track. The few dry laps this morning were really not much use because the track was dirty and we really could not get much information."