Jordan sacrifice Qualifying for race performance.

Work to do
By Phil Giles
March 8 2003

Jordan were unable to improve their Friday Qualifying positions today, when the team finished the final qualifying session in 13th and 17th places. The team were again hit by problems with understeer causing the car to loose vital time in the corners.

Jordan however can be lifted with the power of the Ford Cosworth engine which appears  to be reliable and has the upper hand over main rivals Jaguar.

Giancarlo appeared fairly satisfied with his flying lap but still feels that there is a lot of work to do to ready the car for challenging the others to their top ten qualifying positions.

“My lap was ok but we can see that there is quite a lot of work to do on the car in order to achieve our goal of qualifying inside the top ten,  but it's also impossible to know what fuel loads other teams are running, so we will have to wait and see. We have worked hard to find a balance and set-up for the race and I just have to hope that we can make best use of the strategy we have planned for tomorrow.” said Fisi.

Ralph's first Grand Prix gives him massive hill to climb.  Whilst he's used to racing and driving at similar cornering speeds, there is a lot of learning to do.  Jordan's technical problems during off season testing affected the amount of time that Ralph had in the car but he's now starting to get a feel for how the car handles and where it's limits are.

“I got a good lap but the most important thing is I was able to get a feel for the car in preparation for tomorrow,” he said. “It has a little bit of understeer but I think the balance is fine. We've done a lot of work so far this weekend and I feel pretty good about our preparations for the race. I am really looking forward to it and my objective will be to drive the best race I can and bring the car home.”

The new rules mean that the Jordan techs can't touch the car until the race starts.  No changes can be made to the car and no extra fuel can be put into the tank.  The setup work for the race has to be completed before the final qualifying session begins so the performance of the team during qualifying doesn't necessarily bode badly for the race.  Extra fuel on board means that the car will loose time, however during the race it may provide for one less stop than those running with a lighter fuel load.

“We will have no idea until tomorrow where we really are compared to the other teams. We have done what we think is the best thing for the race.  There have been a few surprises around the grid, for example you find McLaren 11th and 15th but then see an all-Ferrari front row. We'll just have to watch who pits first tomorrow and see what happens after that. We have done the best we can for our drivers, their way of driving and worked to find the best way to get a good result in the race. As such we have sacrificed today.” said Gary Anderson.