Team Rundown: Saturday Qualifying 2003 Austrian GP

By Andrew Hooper
May 18 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown - Saturday Qualifying
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Michael Schumacher 1st, Rubens Barrichello 5th.

Michael Schumacher took pole position by a fraction, beating Kimi Raikkonen on his qualifying run, ending an exciting qualifying session.

"I almost lost the car in the second corner," he said. "I am still surprised that I did not spin. Funnily enough I did not lose much time. The car is perfectly balanced."

Rubens Barrichello was only fifth on the grid, complaining about the graining of the front tyres in the last sector of his flying lap, where he lost four tenths of a second.

BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 3rd, Ralf Schumacher 10th.

Williams had a day of mixed fortunes with Juan Pablo Montoya showing well to qualify third but Ralf Schumacher suffered because of his mistake on Friday.

"We went for a completely new philosophy of set-up compared to what we did yesterday," said Montoya. "It was a radical change but it made the car consistently quick. I did not take any risks in qualifying and I can do 1m09.3s without a problem for a lot of laps because the race set-up is very good."

Ralf Schumacher said that he could not really have hoped for more.

"Obviously it was a disadvantage to go out first. On top of that my lap was not perfect because the car was pretty nervous. I made a mistake at the first corner which cost me a few tenths. In the circumstances I have to be happy with my grid position."

West McLaren Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen 2nd, David Coulthard 14th.

It was a bitter-sweet day for McLaren with Kimi Raikkonen second quickest but David Coulthard down in 14th.

"We were four-thousandth of a second away from being very happy" said McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh. "Kimi did a fantastic job to be on the front row and we have a competitive strategy so we are confident for tomorrow. On the other side of the garage things were not as good. David made a couple of mistakes on his lap because he was still not comfortable with the car and we could not give him a car doing what he wanted it to do."

Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Jarno Trulli 7th, Fernando Alonso 19th.

Jarno Trulli was very happy to be seventh but felt that he could have improved by a couple of tenths. Fernando Alonso on the other hand tried to hard and paid for it.

"I wanted to give 100%," he said and I made a mistake a went off."

Team boss Flavio Briatore hoped that Sunday would bring a good result.

"Along with Imola the A1 Ring was the circuit which should be the least good for us but we are on the third row alongside a Ferrari and that is a good surprise. I was expecting 12th place. We ought to be bale to make up some places at the start and we can have a good race and should be able to score some points."

Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 4th, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 15th.

There was good news for Sauber with Nick Heidfeld qualifying fourth.

"After the warm-up I decided to switch to the T car which was set up exactly the same as my race car," said Heidfeld. "All I had was a set of new tyres. I went a second quicker. I am really happy with the result and thank the team for the quality of the spare car."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen struggled with the balance of his car after a puncture during the warm-up meant he had to change the front left tyre.

"We opted for a conservative approach for qualifying and the race," he said.

Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 9th, Ralph Firman 16th.

"It was a funny old session," said chief engineer Gary Anderson. "There were people in unexpected places but our strategy is good and now we have to wait to see how the race pans out."

Giancarlo Fisichella was happy with his performance.

"We hit our target which was to be in the top 10," he said. "If it was not for a mistake in the last corner I could maybe have been eighth. I am optimistic for the race because this is a reasonable starting place for us."

Ralph Firman complained of understeer but felt that his car in race trim was good.

Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 17th, Antonio Pizzonia 8th.

There was much disappointment at Jaguar after Mark Webber made a mistake at the first corner on his qualifying lap.

"At the last corner on my warming-up lap there was dust all over the road from where Jacques Villeneuve had been off and I guess I picked up some of that and went into the first corner on my flying lap too quickly. I went very wide. After that I was trying to make the best of a bad job. I had nothing to lose and so it was a bit wild. I have only myself to blame but there are a few light cars ahead of us and so I think we can pick up some points tomorrow."

Antonio Pizzonia was eighth fastest but was disappointed.

"I made a mistake in Turn 6 and lost two or three tenths," he said. "I could have been fourth or fifth. We have a good strategy so we will see what happens."

Team boss Tony Purnell was pleased with Pizzonia's performance but frustrated at what happened to Webber.

"Motor racing is like that, isn't it? Everything is going well and then Wham! It all goes wrong and the whole weekend turns around. Tomorrow is going to be tough for Mark but Antonio did a good job and could have gone quicker so that is a good sign."

Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 7th, Jacques Villeneuve 12th.

There was some disappointment at BAR where neither driver did as well as they had hoped to do.

"I made a mistake at the last corner," said Button. "I was dealing with oversteer all the way round the lap and because I lost track time this morning I was really suffering from having had to play catch-up. Still, it is not too bad."

Jacques Villeneuve was much less happy

"I am disappointed," he said. "The car was good on old tyres but this afternoon it was not working. I tried to compensate but ended up driving over-aggressively and I paid for it at the first corner. The car is very quick but unfortunately I am now starting a bit too far back."

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

"I would rather not say anything," said team boss Paul Stoddart. "Jos's car broken its gearbox at Turn 1. This is pretty unusual for our car and we have to look at it. As for Justin he started the qualifying session with the T car due to his crash this morning and the car oversteered a lot. I am pretty disappointed."

Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 11th, Cristiano da Matta 13th.

"It was not a bad session for us," said technical director Gustav Brunner. "We have to be satisfied with it because we are still suffering from the fall-out of our problems on Friday. Both drivers did a good job and neither made a mistake. Considering the circumstances and the fact that we had to qualify early in the session we are higher than we expected to be."

Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "We are extremely pleased with the result and encouraged also by Nick Heidfeld's second row position on the grid. We are pretty confident for the race but we are not giving away anything about our strategy!"

Michelin: Pascal Vasselon (F1 Project Leader): "The track conditions were good with the temperature higher than the other sessions. The qualifying was good for us but would have been better but for the talent of Michael Schumacher. Good for him!"
 
 
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