By Huw Alban
April 29 2002

The post qualifying quotes from OrangeArrows have a tinge of fustration today, and the general feeling is that 9th and 10th should have been possible. There are the strongest hints yet that the team feels it need more track testing time in order to get the most out of the new car... Heinz-Harald Frentzen, although happy with his 11th position, still feels that the car can be made better. He congratulated the team for the progess made without ony track time testing since Australia, and appears confident for tomorrows race.

"I think we can be happy with the progress we have made since Australia," Frentzen said to the official Arrows website. "The car handles a lot better and I know we are now on the right path. I'm still not 100% happy with the balance of the A23 but it is a good achievement after such a short period of time in the car. We are definitely moving in the right direction so we need to keep up the momentum."

Enrique Bernoldi is angry with himself for making a mistake during the second of his qualifying runs, and from there his session went downhill in his opinion. He shouldn't be too disappointed with 16th though, because at least he stands a good chance of being clear of any 1st corner clashes and like Jos Verstappen last year might end up being able to take advantage of any chaos.

"I was happy with my first run and the time was good but I made a mistake on my second run," he said after the session was over. "I think we went the wrong way with set-up for the third run. The balance wasn't right and I went off onto the grass. We went back to a modified version of my original set-up at the end but the earlier runs cost us. I'm disappointed because, even though I was in the T-Car, I had a good morning today and was hoping for a better position."

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director, still feels that the team were capable of 9th and 10th on the grid today. He hints that the team are perhaps suffering from a lack of track time, in that they are only just learning how to get the most out of the new car and how Heinz-Harald likes his car set up.

"We're still not getting all the speed we could out of the A23. P9 or P10 was definitely possible today as the cars in those positions are definitely beatable. We're only just beginning to see the potential of the car as this is really the first time both drivers have had trouble-free runs. We are still learning about the car and also learning how Heinz-Harald works and what he wants from us. I'm pleased with the progress," Coughlan concluded.