Team Rundown: Saturday 2003 Malaysian GP

By Andrew Hooper
March 22 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown: Malaysian Saturday Qualifying
 
Scuderia Ferrari: Michael Schumacher 3rd, Rubens Barrichello 5th.

The Ferrari team was pushed back on the grid by the performance of the two Renaults but the team is confident that things will be different in the race.

"We hope that we have the right strategy," said Michael Schumacher. "My lap was OK. There was no big problem but as you could see there was no time for fine-tuning the car between the warm up and qualifying because we had to change the gearbox because of a problem."

BMW Williams F1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 8th, Ralf Schumacher 17th.

The Williams team had a difficult time in qualifying with Ralf Schumacher again having problems on his qualifying lap.

"It is obvious that I have to get used to this new qualifying mode," he said, "because again I made two major mistakes each of which cost me three-tenths of a second. I am not eight-tenths of a second slower than Montoya. I have shown that in the practice. I am pretty sure that our strategy is better than some of our rivals."

Montoya complained of understeer.

"Maybe I should have put on some more front wing for qualifying," he said, "but for the race the set-up is good. When I saw Ralf's time I must say I was a bit worried."

West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 4th, Kimi Raikkonen 7th.

The McLaren team reckons that it sacrificed performance in qualifying in order to have the right strategy in the race.

"I think when we looked at the tyre options we took a slightly conservative approach," said managing director Martin Whitmarsh. "I think we have made the right decision for the race. Renault has been quick all weekend. They have done a good job but I hope they are running less fuel than we are."

Raikkonen made a couple of mistakes on his lap.

"I locked up at the hairpin which is where I lost the time but I managed to keep the car on the road. We'll see what happens. I was further back on the grid in Melbourne."

"We do not know what everyone is doing with fuel loads," said David Coulthard. "We will have to see tomorrow."

Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Fernando Alonso 1st, Jarno Trulli 2nd.

Renault surprised the F1 world with an exciting 1-2 in qualifying.

"We wanted to be on the front three rows of the grid," said technical director Mike Gascoyne, "but we are a little surprised to finish where we have done. This performance is due above all to our drivers. They both did perfect laps. We are confident for tomorrow because we are convinced that we have a good strategy. We have compromised nothing for the race."

It was a big day for Fernando Alonso, who scored his first pole position in Formula 1.

"It is a very special day for me," he said. "It feels like a dream. I was aiming for a good place on the grid but expected to see my name slipping down the list at the end of the. But it didn't happen and I got a great surprise when Michael finished his lap."

"This is an excellent result," said Jarno Trulli. "The team has made a lot of progress after a difficult winter. Now we have to see what we can do tomorrow."

Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 6th, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 10th.

The two Sauber drivers were running different strategies with Heidfeld running with a lighter fuel load than Frentzen.

"The car was a lot better than this morning," Heidfeld said. "We improved the balance, particularly in the last part of the lap and I am pretty happy."

"We chose different strategies because it paid off in Melbourne," said technical director Willy Rampf. "We think we are on target and we did not have any problems."

Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 14th, Ralph Firman 20th.

Fisichella went for the harder of the available tyre compounds, looking ahead to the race.

"His grid position is about right," said chief engineer Gary Anderson. "We thought that maybe we would be in the top 10 but we didn't make it. Ralph had oversteer in the last sector and that affected his time, as did the change in temperature during the session. That definitely affects the balance and grip and we never really got on top of it."

Jaguar Racing: Antonio Pizzonia 15th, Mark Webber 16th.

Despite what seem to be disappointing grid positions there was optimism at Jaguar Racing. Mark Webber was one of the fastest drivers in the second sector.

"It was pretty good," said Webber, "but I have mixed emotions. It was a clean lap but it could have been better. The car had a lot of fuel on board and we have a good strategy for the race. Now the aim is to get to the chequered flag."

Antonio Pizzonia ran a lighter fuel load but was happy not to have any fuel pressure problems, the team having found a short term fix for the problem."

Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 9th, Jacques Villeneuve 12th.

Jenson Button won the battle of the BAR drivers. Jacques Villeneuve made a mistake on his lap and so could have done better.

"It is very difficult to know what to say during these qualifying sessions," said technical director Geoff Willis, "Our target was simply to qualify according to our race strategy and both drivers are reasonably happy, even though Jacques made a small mistake. Overall we are pretty happy we have had no reliability problems."

European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 18th, Justin Wilson 19th.

"We are pretty much where we are supposed to be," said deputy technical director Andy Tilley, "but we know we still have a lot of work ahead to get the maximum out of the car. Luckily the drivers did a perfect job. We ran maximum down force but when you only have four or five days a month in the wind tunnel that is what you get."

Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 10th, Cristiano da Matta 11th.

It was not an easy session for the Toyota team.

"We did a lot of set-up work overnight," said Panis, "and the car is much more competitive. We have a very good strategy for the race. My position could have been a bit better but I am satisfied."

Cristiano da Matta had to switch to the spare car because of a clutch problem in the warm-up.

"The car was good," he said. "It was the same as my race car but we did not have the time to do the fine tuning so in the circumstances I am quite happy."

Bridgestone:

Hisao Suganuma: "I am not very worried about today's result which was deeply influenced by fuel loads. I am confident that our tyres will deliver maximum performance tomorrow in the race."

Michelin:

Pierre Dupasquier: "I think we have to look at qualifying in a relative fashion because the result reflects more the strategy than the performance of the car. I do not know the fuel strategy made by Renault. We do not know how competitive we are against our rival in the race. Contrary to rumours there are not any special tyres for Renault here at Sepang."
 
 
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