Team Rundown: Friday 2003 British GP

By Andrew Hooper
July 18 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown - Friday Qualifying
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Michael Schumacher 1st, Rubens Barrichello No time.

It was a day of mixed emotions for the Ferrari team with Michael Schumacher fastest but Rubens Barrichello failing to set a time when he went off at the Brooklands corner.

"I am happy," said Michael Schumacher. "This shows that we have done good work at the last test but also that the characteristics of this circuit are helping us. It was a pity for Rubens but my time today showed that running first tomorrow is not a big disadvantage for Rubens."

Barrichello had a tough day with an engine failure in the morning and then an off in the afternoon.

"In the split times I was very close to Michael," he said. "I pushed very hard and hit a kerb which was probably a bit wet due to the drizzle before the session and I slid off as a result of that. I am not concerned because the car is very well balanced."

"It is good that we are back on top," said Jean Todt, "but it is only Friday."

BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 2nd, Ralf Schumacher 3rd.

It was a solid day of preparation for the Williams team.

"We did our race set-up all day," said senior operations engineer Sam Michael. "We are very well prepared for the race."

Both drivers said that the car had been improved during the day.

"After some problems with the balance this morning I had a very good car in the afternoon," said Montoya, "and I have to thank my engineers for their good work."

Ralf Schumacher said that he had suffered a little from understeer.

"I expected Ferrari to be this strong here," said Ralf, "but the gap shows that we are very close to them."

West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 7th, Kimi Raikkonen 12th.

It was a frustrating day for McLaren with the cars qualifying only seventh and 12th.

"Between the second and the seventh cars there is only two tenths," said managing-director Martin Whitmarsh, "and David is at the back of that group. Kimi struggled to be comfortable with the set-up today and he made a mistake at Stowe on his qualifying run because of oversteer and that cost him most of the time lost. But, at the end of the day, it is not that important. Tomorrow is the day that counts."

"It was a tidy lap," said Coulthard. "It had been spitting a bit before the session and so I drove cautiously in the first sector but after that I went for it and I was happy with the lap."


Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Fernando Alonso 4th, Jarno Trulli 6th.

It was a good qualifying for the Renault team. Trulli had some problems with the stability of the car under braking while Alonso suffered some understeer at the exit of the corners. The set-up was changed after the testing session.

"We expected to be competitive here," said technical director Mike Gascoyne, "and we have proved that today. Fernando is satisfied with the handling of his car but Jarno had troubles this morning. We fixed them but we still need to do some more work if we want to be able to fight for a podium finish."

Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 14th, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 15th.

There was little to report at Sauber.

"Nick had a lot of understeer this morning," said technical director Willi Rampf. "Heinz did not have as much of it but we made a few changes between free practice and qualifying and both cars were much better balanced during qualifying in the afternoon."

Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 16th, Ralph Firman 17th.

It was not a good day for Jordan.

"I don' t have much to say," said Giancarlo Fisichella. "The situation is as frustrating as ever. We just need big improvements all round - with the engine, the chassis and the tyres."

Things were even more complicated for Ralph Firman.

"I was quicker this morning when I was running with more fuel so obviously I was hoping to do better this afternoon. It is frustrating to find that the improvement was not there. I just had lots of oversteer."

Things were not helped by the fact that Firman also had a gearbox oil pump leak in the morning and the team had to change the engine. This meant that Ralph had to switch to the T car for the rest of the session. This was followed by a fuel pressure problem with the new engine.

Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 8th, Antonio Pizzonia 11th.

It was a busy day for Jaguar.

"The track was extremely green," said Dr Mark Gillen. "We struggled a bit dialing the car in for the different types of tyre. It is important to get that sorted out. We delayed the tyre choice until the very last minute and we are pleased with the choice that we have made. But we have done a lot of set-up work despite the fact that Mark had a gearbox problem. He was able to coast into the pits. We then had a bit of switching about between cars. We are very pleased with this afternoon. We are only two-tenths off David Coulthard and things are very close so if we can get a few more tenths we could be right up there."

Pizzonia was happy despite being three places behind Webber.

"My lap was good," said Antonio. "But in the last sector I made a mistake and that cost me a few positions because I guess I lost three or four tenths of a second."

Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 9th, Jacques Villeneuve 13th.

It was a promising day for BAR but neither driver had a particularly good day.

"It is always difficult to find a perfect lap," said Jenson Button. "I am afraid this one was far from it. We have a new aero package on the car, and that will be a big step forward but we still have more work to do on it. But after qualifying we now have a better idea of the way we need to go tomorrow."

Jacques Villeneuve ran on different tyres to Button.

"The ones I was on were not good for the whole lap," Jacques said. "We just could not keep the fronts working right to the end of the lap but at least now we know. The track was not damp when I went out but you never know how much grip there is until you go into the first corner. As it happens the grip today was good and it was not a problem..."

European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 18th, Justin Wilson No time.

It was a less than satisfactory day for Minardi with Justin Wilson failing to get a qualifying run.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "The car simply cut out as I was going down the pitlane. There was no power, no telemetry and no radio. We don't yet know what it was but it looks like a major electrical failure."

"It was a shame for Justin did not get a run," said team boss Paul Stoddart. "And it did not help that he also lost some this morning between the testing and the practice session because of a routine engine change."

The team has some new aerodynamic parts for Silverstone.

Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 5th, Cristiano da Matta 10th.

It was a good day for Toyota.

"We have a new aerodynamic package here," said technical director Gustav Brunner. "The car was pretty well suited to the track in the June test and the new parts have helped us to keep up. To have two cars in the top 10 is fantastic. I think this confirms the progress we have made since Canada and I hope it is the start of a strong weekend."

Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "I am pretty pleased with Michael's performance despite having to be the first to run. Rubens was unfortunate but he could have been very close to Michael's time if he had completed his lap. Overall we are quite confident about our tyre specifications. This morning we saw consistency in the tyres but the track is still very green and showed no signs of improvement throughout the day."

Michelin: Pierre Dupasquier: "The tyres which we have here are very satisfying despite the fact that the track was very green this morning. The choice for the race is not over yet. Our runners used different tyres today and the way the cars use the tyres and the way the track changes might switch the balance between the various choices."
 
 
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