Team Rundown Friday Qualifying US GP

By FIA
September 27 2003

	Team Rundown
	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 2nd, Michael Schumacher 8th. It was not an easy day for Ferrari but Rubens Barrichello saved the day with the second fastest time of the first qualifying session. "My car was good right from the first lap this morning," said Barrichello. "It will be a very tight battle between us, Williams McLaren and Renault all weekend." Michael Schumacher suffered from being the first to go out. "Michael again had to clean the dust off the circuit," explained Ross Brawn. "But Rubens did a good lap and that is where we expected to be. Renault could become a pain if they qualify in the top six, particularly taking into account that they tend to have such good starts." BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Ralf Schumacher 4th, Juan Pablo Montoya 5th. It was a solid day for Williams with both drivers in the top five. "I got a little bit of a headache after morning practice," said Ralf Schumacher, "but I have to go through that. My lap was not perfect this afternoon. We did not have enough dry running in the morning to optimize the set-up so there is plenty of room for improvement." Montoya was happy to be the fastest of the three World Championship contenders. "I did not do too many dry laps and I was unsure about the set-up. I braked too early in several places. It seems however that Michelin has a quite a good rain tyre but I would still prefer it to be dry." BMW had slightly more powerful engines for the team. "We are on the safe side in terms of reliability," said Mario Theissen. West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 6th, Kimi Raikkonen 9th. It was a disappointing day for McLaren. "I did only a few timed laps this morning in the dry," said Kimi Raikkonen. "But Michael is behind me. The circuit got quicker as the session went on so we will have to see what happens tomorrow. The car is not great in the wet." David Coulthard said that his day had been "OK". "The performance of the Renaults shows that the extra two hours they had this morning in the dry was a big advantage. They got a lot of dry running while we had to deal with changing conditions and so we did not do things like maximizing the brake points." Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said that the weather was largely to blame. "Both drivers were disrupted by the weather in the morning and there was no time to evaluate the dry tyre options so we went into qualifying without a set-up . Kimi had a big moment and David had a clear lap and got a respectable position but we hope we get some dry running tomorrow." Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Jarno Trulli 1st, Fernando Alonso 7th. It was a good day for Renault with Jarno Trulli fastest. "I am very satisfied with that result," said Trulli. "Everyone did a good job this morning and we improved on the baseline we found during the testing session, which were very useful today. The balance is good and the car is quick. I am very confident for the weekend." Fernando Alonso had too much understeer but was still confident that things will improve. Sauber Petronas: Heinz-Harald Frentzen 13th, Nick Heidfeld 15th. It was a difficult day for Sauber. "It was already raining when I was in the second and third sectors on my lap and I was on dry tyres," said Heinz-Harald Frentzen. "There was nothing I could do. The only thing I will say is that the balance problems we had in the morning were not as bad so we have made some progress." Nick Heidfeld was also caught out by the weather. "My luck could not have been worse today," he said. "It started raining as I left the pits." Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 12th, Ralph Firman 17th. It was a troubled day for Giancarlo Fisichella. "There was a gearbox oil leak in the test session and then the engine went during free practice so that meant that there was not enough time to do all the set-up work for qualifying. The track was a bit wet during the last part of my lap but otherwise the lap was OK. I would not mind changeable conditions for the race on Sunday." Ralph Firman was happy to be back driving again. "I am feeling OK," he said. "It is good to be driving again. I was unlucky with the rain. We put extreme wets on the car because we wanted to see how they were relative to intermediates and to be honest I think the intermediates would have been better in the conditions." Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 3rd, Justin Wilson 18th. "Mark did a stonking lap when the track was just getting damp. That was excellent. Justin was just unlucky. We have one car at each end of the timesheets so we are in a good position if the weather is unpredictable again tomorrow." Mark Webber said that the rain had no effect at all. "It was the first time we had taken the fuel out of the car," said Webber, "and so I am happy. The big question is how the car goes in race trim. We are not nearly as bad as we were in Monza. But we need a dry race." Justin Wilson had little to say. "Just one four letter word," he said "Rain." Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 10th, Jacques Villeneuve 16th. "We were struggling for grip in the cold and dry conditions and it is clearly something we don't fully understand because the drivers are reporting a good balance with the car," said technical director Geoff Willis. "Jacques was caught in the worst conditions as it was half dry and half wet. Cleary we are not happy with today except when it was really raining when things were not bad at all." Jenson Button said that he was happy to have been only three-tenths slower that the Ferraris in the wet in the morning. The car has a good balance but there was simply no grip when I did my qualifying run." European Minardi Cosworth: Nicolas Kiesa 19th, Jos Verstappen No time. "We knew from halfway through the lap the interface between the electronic control unit and the engine was not working properly," said Paul Stoddart. "It would have taken two seconds to fix the problem but with one lap qualifying that is not possible. It was a shame. It was a good job from Nicolas as it was his first run in the wet in F1." Panasonic Toyota Racing: Cristiano da Matta 11th, Olivier Panis 14th. The weather upset Toyotas plans. "This is the second time this year that it has rained just before I was due to go out,' said Olivier Panis. "It is just bad luck. This morning the car was good so in the dry I am quite confident. I just have to forget this afternoon and move on." Cristiano da Matta admitted that he had been much luckier than Panis. "I was out the track was only slippery and given that I am quite happy with 11th place," he said. Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "It was a difficult session for Michael Schumacher as he had to go out first and the track conditions were not good. Barrichello made the most out of his starting position to take second and overall when the rain started we were pleased by our tyres." Michelin: Pascal Vasselon: "The conditions were very changeable today and that disrupted the programmes of all our runners but we are happy with our performance. We were competitive in the rain as Cristiano da Matta's time shows."