Team Rundown: Friday 2003 Canadian GP

By Andrew Hooper
June 14 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown - Friday Qualifying
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 1st, Michael Schumacher 2nd.

The Ferrari team dominated Friday's wet qualifying session with Rubens Barrichello a second faster than Michael Schumacher who was nearly a second ahead of the next best car.

"I hope it rains again tomorrow," said technical director Ross Brawn. "Both drivers are very happy with their cars in these conditions. The only little problem was aquaplaning and it was not too bad. Definitely the conditions changed during the session which explains the big time gaps. We can only compare ourselves with the drivers who ran at the same sort of time and this shows us that we have a clear tyre advantage in these conditions."

BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 12th, Ralf Schumacher 15th.

It was a disappointing session for Williams with both drivers off the pace. Ralf had a relatively clean lap while Juan Pablo went off at the chicane.

"Juan lost one and a half seconds when he braked late for Turn Eight," said senior operations engineer Sam Michael. "Ralf had just bad luck with the weather conditions. He was out when the rain was at its worst. The two drivers used different tyres: Ralf was on shallow wets but at the last minute Juan opted for extreme weather tyres. As it looks as though the weather might be like this for the rest of the weekend we still have a lot of work to do on the set up."

West McLaren Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen 6th, David Coulthard 8th.

It was not a very inspiring day for McLaren although both drivers managed to avoid major incidents.

"Both drivers made mistakes in the difficult conditions," said managing director Martin Whitmarsh. "Obviously we were unable to do any significant set up work today. It will be a challenging weekend with the variable weather conditions."

Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Fernando Alonso 5th, Jarno Trulli 19th.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for the Renault team with Fernando Alonso doing a good job but Jarno Trulli making a mistake and lost time with a big moment in the chicane.

"Since the new qualifying format was introduced the key to a good performance is in the balance between risk and caution. The conditions today made it more difficult to find that balance. Fernando did it brilliantly but Jarno went out when the rain got heavier and he suffered the consequences of that."

Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 3rd, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 7th.

It was a good day for the Sauber team with both drivers in the top seven.

"Both cars ran really well today," said Willy Rampf. "As far as the balance is concerned the engineers had to guess the settings for the wet but they did a pretty good job and everything worked out. We feel very confident if it stays wet tomorrow."

Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 18th, Ralph Firman 4th.

Like several other teams Jordan a day of mixed fortunes.

"We had the good and the bad of a pretty wet world," said chief engineer Gary Anderson. "Ralph was luckier with the weather and he drove a really good lap and I am very pleased for him. Giancarlo was out at the worst possible moment because the rain was heavier and he really suffered for it . There was not much he could do particularly with the car was aquaplaning like that. The only way to look at it is that we have one car at each end of the order and it that might do us a favour tomorrow, depending on the weather."

Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 9th, Antonio Pizzonia 17th.

Mark Webber had a brush with a wall in the morning test sessions but it did not greatly hinder his progress during the day.

"Things are OK," said team principal Tony Purnell. "The early runners in the session had a bit of an advantage but really we are quite happy. The two drivers were on pretty much the same set-up, although Antonio was not entirely happy with his traction control strategy.

"It was a bit dangerous out there," said PIzzonia. "I was aquaplaning everywhere and the traction-control was not exactly how I wanted it."

Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 14th, Jacques Villeneuve 20th.

It was not a good day for the BAR-Honda team.

"We are disappointed with our performance this afternoon," said technical director Geoff Willis. "Bridgestone had an advantage but you could see that we struggled for grip: our cars looked really nervous. We have got to think about this and try to understand it. In case we have similar conditions tomorrow. This morning the balance of the car was OK and both drivers were happy and this afternoon Jacques's lap was good enough to have been up with Jenson before he spun but to be honest we should have been third or fourth."

European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 11th, Justin Wilson 13th.

It was a good day was Minardi.

"I am not surprised at today's performance," said technical director Gabriele Tredozi. "In fact I would say it was normal given the fact that our car was very well balanced since this morning's free practice. Jos showed already in the final stage of the free practice that he was quick in the rain. We changed a few small things with the aerodynamics but overall it is just coming together more and more at each race."

Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 10th, Cristiano da Matta 16th.

It was a promising session for Toyota.

"We did not have any problems on either car," said team manager Ange Pasquali. "The only problem today was the same for everyone else: the weather. Both Olivier and Cristiano were out when the track was at its worst. Apart from some small traction problems everything was OK. I am pleased with the start to our weekend. It is as we had hoped. We even managed to improve the car between sessions."

Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "We are very happy seeing the performance of our extreme weather tyres. Today's result shows that we have got the right tyre for these conditions and it is better than our rivals. This was highlighted not only by Rubens and Michael but also by drivers like Heidfeld, Firman, Frentzen and the Minardis.

Michelin: Pierre Dupasquier: "This session saw the conditions constantly changing. In consequence we had two types of rain tyre: the traditional ones and the extreme weather tyres. The classification is rather unusual and in order to get any real information one must compare the conditions at the moment when each car went out."
 
 
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