Team Rundown: Saturday Practice 2003 Spanish GP

By FIA
May 3 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown - Saturday Practice
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 2nd, Michael Schumacher 4th.

The Ferrari team did a lot of mechanical set-up work in the two morning sessions, each driver using two sets of tyres. There were no specific problems apart from Rubens Barrichello who had a spin in the first of the two sessions but the car stayed on the road and he was able to carry on without a drama.

"The problem with this circuit is that it is so inconsistent," said technical director Ross Brawn. "Yesterday morning we thought we had a problem with the car because we were struggling for traction but now things seem to be OK."

BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 15th, Ralf Schumacher 16th.

It was a difficult morning for the Williams team.

"The car was very nervous at the beginning of the session," said Ralf Schumacher. "I had a lot of oversteer but after we changed the tyre pressures and the wing settings it became much easier to drive but it was still not ideal by the end of the session."

Montoya's practice was spoiled by a spin.

"I had a lot of oversteer at the beginning of the session and that was why I went off. We got the car back and made some adjustments but the handling was still very inconsistent."

West McLaren Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen 5th, David Coulthard 6th.

The two McLarens were better than on Friday.

"It is all OK," said Kimi Raikkonen. "It is not too bad but I am still not 100% happy with the balance, I think that the race will be a similar story to Imola with some cars on two stops and some on three stops but we will have to wait and see."

David Coulthard was working on his race set-up and found the conditions to be very difficult.

"We are not yet getting the best out of the tyres over one lap but overall I think the pace is good."

Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Fernando Alonso 1st, Jarno Trulli 3rd.

Renault was again very quick but it remains to be seen what team the strategy is using.

"I am really happy with the way in which the cars is handling today," said chief engineer Pat Symonds. "Yesterday the car was not quite right and we had to adjust it a bit but the tyres are working really well. These are the best we have ever had here. As usual we don't have any precise information about what the others are doing and so we just have to follow our own path."

Sauber Petronas: Heinz-Harald Frentzen 13th, Nick Heidfeld 18th.

The Sauber team had improved the cars slightly over night but the Swiss team is still struggling.

"We found a bit of time overnight with a slightly better compromise on the car," said Heinz Harald Frentzen. "Things have improved it - I hope."

Nick Heidfeld continued to struggle for a balance.

"Every time I tried to stop the oversteer I ended up with understeer," he said.

Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 14th, Ralph Firman 17th.

Things were slightly better for the Jordan team after a very disappointing Friday.

"The car is OK," said chief engineer Gary Anderson. "We started off in the cool conditions but we started losing grip as the temperature went up. Dealing with it is difficult. We know what is needed but cannot necessarily provide a fix straight away. It is tricky sorting everything out what with different fuel loads and tyres and so on. But we had no real problems for either driver."

Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 9th, Antonio Pizzonia 10th.

"Things are much better," said Antonio Pizzonia. "I had no problems today except that I was struggling a bit with the balance. At Barcelona it is always difficult to get the balance right as the track changes so much when the temperature rises. And it is a big problem when the tyres go off."

Mark Webber was confident that he would be able to qualify in the top 10.

"I did plenty of laps again which is a good thing," said Webber. "I did a couple of longer runs on the harder tyres and the first lap is good but then there is a big drop off in performance. We are close to Toyota on the same sort of fuel loads so we will have to see what happens. It looks OK."

Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 8th, Jacques Villeneuve 12th.

The BAR team had a difficult morning with Jacques Villeneuve ending the second session with a sizeable crash which left the rear end of the car badly damaged.

"We are chasing the track conditions," said technical director Geoff Willis. "It is difficult getting the right set-up but we think we have a couple of solutions and we are working on them. Jenson's car was OK yesterday but things change when you are running a little bit more fuel and trying old tyres. Jacques was a lot happier than yesterday but the car was not perfect. We made a set up change but that gave Jacques oversteer which is what caused the crash. The rear was badly damaged in the crash but as we have to change the rear end anyway before qualifying he will be using his race car as normal."

European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 19th, Justin Wilson 20th.

Minardi has been working on tyres.

"We ran with pretty heavy fuel loads," said Jos Verstappen, "but our tyres started to look like slicks after about 12 laps. We haven't got the latest spec tyres compared to other teams and we have had a lot of front graining. It is impossible for us to run the softer option here. But at least we are reliable."

Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 5th, Cristiano da Matta 11th.

Olivier Panis did a lot of work on preparing for the race.

"Michelin has brought two very good tyres and we need to study the data to see which is the better choice. I had a slight handling problem but I am feeling confident."

Cristiano da Matta was also feeling confident although he felt that car was not as good as it had been on Friday.

Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "Not much to say except that all teams are now finalising their decisions. The graining has reduced and it looks positive for us even for different strategies. We have seven specs of tyres in total."

Michelin: Pierre Dupasquier: The track is continuing to get better. This morning it was much more like we expected. It is still a hard track. This weekend choosing the fastest tyre may not pay off..."
 
 
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