Team Rundown: Friday 2003 German GP

By Andrew Hooper
August 2 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown - Friday Qualifying
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 8th, Michael Schumacher 9th.

"Being eighth and ninth is not usual for us," said Jean Todt. "Our competitors seem to be very strong on a flying lap. We don't think that this result is a true picture of what will happen for the whole weekend. This morning we saw that our tyres were very consistent in race conditions."

Tyres are going to be very important and it seems that the two drivers went for different choices of rubber.

"The Michelins seem to have a big drop-off after one fast lap", said Ross Brawn, "but the big question mark is whether that weakness will disappear when there is more rubber on the circuit."

Michael Schumacher, however, remained optimistic. "It does not look very encouraging at the moment but we are very consistent in race conditions. It was not a very special lap for me, but I did not make any mistakes."



BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Ralf Schumacher 1st, Juan Pablo Montoya 2nd.

"The car is perfect," said Ralf Schumacher. "The balance is brilliant and the tyres are working well. This morning I had a small problem with understeer but that was quickly sorted out and we are looking very good here. And the heat is a bonus for us!"

Juan Pablo Montoya was also very pleased. "I am happy," he said. "I have made my tyre choice already and I have a good set-up for qualifying and for the race. Looking at my qualifying lap I think I could have gone faster but I braked too early for the hairpin."

BMW's Gerhard Berger was confident. "In the past Hockenheim was always an engine circuit but with the new track you can no longer say that. The good performance on the new circuit shows that we have a package which is good enough to win."



West McLaren Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen 6th, David Coulthard 11th.

"Michelin has clearly produced some very quick tyre options for teams this weekend," said managing-director Martin Whitmarsh. "It will be a very interesting process for the teams to select the right tyres for the race. Running this morning gave us a useful insight although perhaps this work compromised Kimi's preparations for qualifying this afternoon. David made a couple of small mistakes and so was not as quick as he might have been, but we have some ideas of how to go forward tomorrow, and that is when it really matters."

"It was not too bad," said Raikkonen. "I lost some time in the final sector because of the tyres but we will see what happens tomorrow."



Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Jarno Trulli 3rd, Fernando Alonso 5th.

Renault decided on a change of procedures with the two engines used in testing being changed before qualifying on Friday and then after the free practice on Saturday morning. Up to now the team has started each day with a new engine.

"There were no problems today," said Pat Symonds. "The balance of the cars was good but not perfect and we are working on it. We are competitive but we must work to get better top speed and to figure out the tyres for the race."



Sauber Petronas: Heinz-Harald Frentzen 13th, Nick Heidfeld 14th.

Nick Heidfeld had a difficult day at Hockenheim, going off in the morning and damaging the floor of the car. This was fixed but it meant that the German did not run without a low fuel load.

"It was a bit difficult to be confident in the circumstances and I don't think I got the maximum out of the car," he said.

Frentzen made a mistake on his qualifying run. "This is my first qualifying mistake of the year," he said. "I would have been four tenths faster if that had not happened, and that is encouraging."



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

"This is my first visit to Hockenheim and it has been pretty good so far," said Firman. "I had a bit of understeer this afternoon which I did not expect and I am sure I can find some more time in the final sector. We need to make some improvements."

Giancarlo Fisichella was less happy. "It was nothing special," he said. "When the temperature goes up we seem to lose grip. The rear of the car suddenly seemed nervous even though we made no changes to the car. The lap was not fantastic but clearly it is the start of another difficult weekend."



Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 4th, Justin Wilson 7th.

It was a good day for Jaguar Racing with both cars in the top seven.

"We are very pleased," said Dr Mark Gillan. "The cars ran faultlessly and we ran the T car in testing this morning as well and there were no problems at all. For Justin the track time is the important thing and he was improving run by run. We gave him Mark's set-up and he did not change it that much. Both drivers did good laps without making mistakes and so we are in good shape."

Justin Wilson was delighted to have done so well in his first run with Jaguar. "I am over the moon," he said. "The car was fantastic and if the car under you is feeling nice you can work from there. Everything has gone very smoothly so far. I am learning all the time and that means I am going to get quicker."



Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 12th, Jacques Villeneuve No time.

It was a bitter-sweet day for BAR with Button doing well and Villeneuve in trouble.

"At the first corner I had oversteer on the exit and that cost me about two-tenths of a a second," said Button. "Otherwise the lap was OK. There have been no major problems today but we still need to make more progress with the set-up."

Villeneuve was caught out by a change in the behaviour of the car. "We made changes to the set-up and we went too much the other way. I lost it in the first corner. End of story."



European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 18th, Nicolas Kiesa 19th.

Nicolas Kiesa had a frustrating start to his F1 career. In the morning he went off and broke the nose of his car and damaged a front wing. In qualifying the car stopped before it left the pits.

"I did not stall the engine," he said. "It just cut out by itself. I let out the clutch and for some reason the revs were too low and the anti-stall system activated and the engine was cut."



Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 10th, Cristiano da Matta 15th.

The Toyota team had a new specification of engine with better driveability.

"I am really happy," said Panis. "I feel very confident in the car. The balance was good and we realised our aim of a top 10 position."

Cristiano da Matta was not happy with his lap. "I was rally pleased with the car this morning," he said, "but I made some changes and they did not work out. I had oversteer and I made a couple of small mistakes."



Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "The track was very green so I think there is still performance to be found in the tyres. We have two sessions tomorrow to find it."



Michelin: Pascal Vasselon: "For the first time since we cam back to F1 Michelin has four of its partner teams with cars ahead of Ferrari. We ran both options today and their behaviour was almost identical. It varied according to temperature. We expect a track temperature of 45-degress on Sunday and that will affect the tyre choices tomorrow. The gap to the Ferraris is rather surprising but I think they can go faster."
 
 
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